Today’s News 8th December 2022

• The WEF Isn't A Cabal, It's A Cult
  The WEF Isn’t A Cabal, It’s A Cult

  Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

  World Domination in An Age for Lucifer

  “This book explores a strange new spirituality about to enter into competition with other established religions. My purpose here is to convince you that its emergence is probable, if not inevitable.

  

  I begin this exploration with an unproven assumption based on Darwinian evolutionary principles: a new predator will appear on our planet, an evolutionary prototype designed to prey on humans. Another assumption then follows: this predator will evolve gradually and incrementally from humanity, just as we apparently evolved from lower forms to prey on them.

  A further assumption suggests that these predators have already appeared as evolutionary prototypes, as new humans with advanced methods of survival and new forms of spiritual expression and religious organization designed to support and advance their predation.“

  — Robert C Tucker, An Age For Lucifer: Predatory Spirituality & The Quest for Godhood

  Robert C. Tucker was a Canadian psychologist who worked with an organization called COMA – Council On Mind Abuse (not to be confused with his namesake, an American political scientist who covered the Soviet Union and wrote a biography of Stalin).

  Our Tucker worked with “adult survivors and child victims of ritual abuse“ and spent time interviewing self-described “Satanists”. His book was more of a thought experiment, which tried to identify an impelling idea behind the ideology of a cult:

  “with destructive cultism, however, I sensed something else animating these stories of Satanic activity and ritual abuse, something familiar yet unspoken. Satanism was a puzzle behind which it hid, or a myth beneath which it lived. Like cultism, Satanism seemed to point at something beyond itself“.

  Tucker’s book is not about Satanism: it’s about a theorized class of spiritual predators he called Luciferians. In later chapters, Satanists are almost dismissed as cartoonish, lower order predators. They would be shunned by truly elite Luciferians. “Distant cousins”, at best.

  Where Satanists pursue unrestrained ego and impulse gratification, Luciferians play the longest game of them all, and seek to attain Godhood itself. Pure power.

  Tucker posits that this type of impulse would emerge out of evolutionary imperatives and that it would begin to form its own psycho-spiritual framework among participants – possibly on a subconscious level.

  COMA spent much of its existence waging legal battles with the cults they sought to protect the public from. However, after a protracted lawsuit from the Church of Scientology, Tucker announced COMA’s dissolution in 1992.

  But there is something in Tucker’s book, particularly how he ‘described the merging goals of cults and corporations:

  “We have to recognize that cults are successful organizations with techniques now being borrowed by other successful organizations”’

  Arguably one of the most successful organizations in existence today, is the World Economic Forum. World leaders are known to emerge from annual conclaves chanting the same mantra, nation states actively fund them, the WEF boasts of having penetrated the world’s governments and even the UN seems to take its cues from Davos.

  In past articles, I’ve been looked at the thin scab of elites that sits atop the global cap table.

  

  Class structure, now and future

  And the story so far is:

  • John Maynard Keynes, from whose work the modern economic system is derived, was a Marxist.

  • The super-wealthy 0.1% of the 1%  who coagulate into supra-national policy organizations are Malthusians.

  • The core premise driving their ideology is a radical reductionist materialism.

  While many view the Davos elites as a global, all-encompassing cabal, which Controls Everything™, I could never quite bring myself to accept that description. The fact is, the world is inherently uncontrollable.

  We can stipulate that people and groups can acquire outsized influence, then use it to do morally bankrupt things in order to further their own aims. We can further agree that the higher up the sociopolitical hierarchy from where these agendas originate, the more likely it is that the consequences  are borne most heavily by the plebes. Most of the time, those whose machinations were responsible for catastrophic outcomes, escape being held to account for it.

  

  I said most of the time

  But the world we live in today is proof positive of one thing: nobody is in control of anything.

  However, like Tucker, I look at agendas like Stakeholder Capitalism, The Great Reset or The Great Narrative (or whatever it’s being called these days), and sense something behind it. “Something that points beyond itself”.

  Years ago, in what feels like another life-line (a.k.a “Before Covid”), I was supposed to be writing  a book about the dangers of techno-utopianism. In it, I was already recognizing transhumanism as a kind of religion, and deemed it one of the four ideological pillars of techno-utopianism (the other three being: AI, technocracy and fully automated luxury communism).

  Very early in my work on that, I concluded that techno-utopianism was ultimately a Luciferian construct. Not necessarily literally Lucifer, but that the aspiration to “usurp God” was Luciferian in character (the plan was for the final section of the book to propose a counter-framework called “techno-realism”, based on humanity’s hyper-adaptability as a superior approach to central planning).

  When we seek to shape the world through technocracy – not to mention reality itself through transhumanism and AI – we are pursuing a uniquely eschatological event known as “The Singularity”: a point in time when our technology becomes the base layer of reality.

  It is probably not the first time we thought we were capable of leveraging our gizmos into Godhood. The legend of Babel hints at a prior iteration, one that didn’t end well. We don’t know for sure where mythology borders pre-history, but whatever happened most certainly left deep grooves in our collective psyche.

  When you consider the positioning and branding of the WEF, with their certitude and paternalism, it all makes a lot more sense when viewed  as a cult instead of a cabal. Cultists know all, they have the inside track – and most importantly, they claim moral authority over us all by Divine Right.

  

  The stated objectives of the World Economic Forum:

  From their institutional report “to stakeholders”, the WEF pursues  three Phases of Interaction:

  Our activities drive communities through three phases of interaction, each resulting in increased impact:

  1) stimulating dialogues and generating insights;

  2) shaping agendas and developing influence; and

  3) catalysing initiatives and generating impact.

  …which in that characteristically banal WEF-speak, is a dog whistle for world domination.

  They feel no compunction about it.  An Age for Lucifer posits the emergence of a type of human whose beliefs hold the adherents to be higher up the spiritual food chain than everybody else. Literally a breed above.

  The key component of Luciferian metaphysics is predation.

  “reality is layered from the physical to the spiritual. Pure power thrums only in the higher reaches of the spiritual domains. The higher dominates the lower. Spirit determines matter, not the reverse… Elitism is of the essence here; only powerful spiritual adepts and Luciferian masters deserve to occupy the higher realms and to enjoy the the benefits found only there.”

  If we replace all instances of “spiritual” in the above passage with “intellectual”, then we have an accurate model for the ideological framework of “Davos Man”, because the entire elite ontology (or what passes for it) rests upon radical material reductionism.

  And materialism, at its core, is pure nihilism.

  There is no spirit. We have no souls. There is only matter, and lower humans are merely “hackable animals”.

  Everyone has likely seen this montage, but it does capture “The Essential Harari”, who I personally think talks about all this in more of a descriptive than prescriptive timbre. But he is undeniably a Davos darling and when you get him going, he has that pronounced Dr. Strangelove-style glee.

  Through the utter domination of what is intellectually permissible – and with expert technocratic oversight – matter can be subjugated to models …and elites can ascend to Godhood. All in a metaverse of their own making.

  Cabals are self-serving and mundane. And while Davos Man is certainly that, a cabal is missing that essential element that makes for full-throated commitment – that thing that “points beyond itself”. Participants in a cabal will abandon it the moment it ceases to serve their interests… but cultists will double-down. They will burn themselves alive and eat their children. They are ideological berserkers.

  What is this thing “that points beyond itself?”

  I frequently say that the reason I think Bitcoin ultimately prevails, and industrial-era central planning fails, is because the former has sprung forth from a higher order of intellectual abstraction than the hierarchical, centrally-planned one.

  This is all part of an inexorable progression, an unfolding, if you will. It distinguishes itself from a techno-utopian singularity, in that it is not something we’ve seized control of and are expertly managing, it’s something coursing through us. Impelling us, in fact all living things, forward.

  I’ve never found a great word to describe this “thing beyond itself” that runs through everything; obviously it’s the inspiration for spiritual movements throughout the ages, for mythological constructs.  I’ve always just called it “The Great Externality”. It’s the indescribable (“the Tao which can be explained is not The Tao”), and ineffable. It can be experienced as “I am”, but if you try to put that into a Ted Talk it’ll probably stiff.

  When I talk about how the architecture of intellectual abstraction has shifted from centralized to networked, that’s just a surface attribute. I’ve never really done an adequate job of explaining the fundamental change in the level of intellectual abstraction and how important that is. Jean Gebser called it the aperspectival world in “Ever Present Origin”, his exhaustive study of the evolution of consciousness itself.

  “The condition of today’s world cannot be transformed by technocratic rationality, since both technocracy and rationality are apparently nearing their apex; nor can it be transcended by preaching or admonishing a return to ethics and morality, or in fact, by any form of return to the past.

  We have only one option: in examining the manifestations of our age, we must penetrate them with sufficient breadth and depth that we do not come under their demonic and destructive spell.

  We must not focus our view merely on these phenomenon, but rather on the the humus of the decaying world beneath, where the seedlings of the future are growing, immeasurable in their potential and vigor”

  Gebser wrote Ever Present Origin in 1949; it wasn’t translated into English until 1985. He understood that crises of modernity were brought about not by differing political views or even economic incentives, but in collisions between successive iterations of consciousness itself. Humanity, according to Gebser, arced over three broad phases of Unperspectival (we could barely differentiate our own minds from the wider experience of the world), Perspectival (linearity and rationality) and into Aperspectival (what comes next – a level that integrates those which came before).

  Perhaps one way to make the analogy is to frame it as the layering of dimensional orders:

  In the Unperspectival world, our minds basically merged with reality; we were largely undifferentiated as self-aware creatures. It was a zero-to-one dimensional existence:

  ‘The initial, archaic structure is zero-dimensional; it is thus spatial and temporal, although our present mentality, if it grasps this at all, will see this in a paradox. It is origin; only in a terminological sense is it a “first” structure emanating from that perfect identity existing “before” (or behind) all oneness or unity which it initially might have represented. It is akin, if not identical, to the original state of biblical paradise: a time where the soul is yet dormant, a time of complete non-differentiation of man and the universe.’

  Over the Perspectival Era, we became self-aware and to underwent individuation, straddling two-to-three dimensional constructs. I’ve mentioned before W R Clement’s “Quantum Jump”, which described the Enlightenment as a leveling up in mental abstraction. The discovery of perspective in art both impelled and signified this jump.

  

  The fiat, technocratic era, is essentially the tail end of this Perspectival mindset – and what comes next contains yet another higher-order dimension, an axis into an Aperspectival construct… like a hypercube.

  

  How high does the dimensional ladder go?

  String theory posits a universe existing in ten dimensions.

  A ten dimensional hypercube? Who in their right mind comes up with this stuff.

  

  Anyway, this thing that points beyond itself isn’t arising from within the 3D construct that materialists assume forms the edges of existence. It comes from one level beyond.

  There are phenomena that exist in this larger, super-reality that when experienced here, from within the perspective of our limited awareness, we struggle to contain within our senses. We may experience them as egregores or morphic fields, even a zeitgeist.  The Russian mystic Vedim Zeland’s concept of “The Pendulum” has aspects of both absorbing and channelling thought energy:

  An energy pendulum is created when a group of people begin to think in a certain way and then:

  “their thought energy finally unites into a single current. When this happens, as if in the middle of an entire ocean of energy, a separate, independent energy-information structure is created which is referred to as an energy pendulum. Eventually this structure begins to live its own life and subjugate to its laws the very people who created it.

  The structure is referred to as a pendulum because the more people-adherents that feed it with their energy, the more powerfully it sways”
  — from Vadim Zeland’s ‘Transurfing’

  A pendulum is self-perpetuating with a single imperative: to draw as much energy into itself as possible. More importantly, it is agnostic about the energy charge – it doesn’t matter if people are in harmony with the pendulum or opposed to it. Both poles create the energy that the pendulum craves.

  This is why the New Thought philosopher Neville Goddard’s advice about the need to renounce evil rather than resist it, is so important.

  There is a great difference between resisting evil and renouncing it. When you resist evil, you give it your attention; you continue to make it real.

  When you renounce evil, you take your attention away from it and give your attention to what you want.

  Now is the time to control your imagination and give your energy to what you want.”

  — Neville Goddard, The Power of Awareness

  Pendulums can be benign or malevolent – the conditions that bring them forth make it so.

  The world’s great religions can be seen as super-pendulums. Movements and cults could be minor ones.  In any case, once the pendulum has formed, active opposition to it only has one effect: to give it more energy and amplify it.

  Techno-communism as typified by the WEF, and crypto-anarchism as embodied by Bitcoin, are both pendulums.

  This is why taking up arms against the WEF doesn’t hurt the WEF – it strengthens it. And this is also why Bitcoin is an anti-fragile honey badger.

  Pendulums feed on the energy of both their adherents and opponents, but their centre of gravity forms an axis through our experiential world and anchors them into The Great Externality.

  The WEF pendulum is distinctly Ahrimanic. 

  Ahriman is traditionally an evil spirit of chaos from Zoroastrianism, however I’m drawing on the work of the Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner, who had been trying to warn us of the coming Age of Ahriman almost exactly a century ago.

  From lecture GA 191 delivered on 1 November 1919, Dornach (excuse the length):

  Whenever preparation is being made for incarnations of this character, we must be alert to certain indicative trends in evolution. A Being like Ahriman, who will incarnate in the West in time to come, prepares for this incarnation in advance. With a view to his incarnation on the earth, Ahriman guides certain forces in evolution in such a way that they may be of the greatest possible advantage to him….

  The right stand can be taken only by recognising in one or another series of events the preparation that is being made by Ahriman for his earthly existence. And the time has now come for individual men to know which tendencies and events around them are machinations of Ahriman, helping him to prepare for his approaching incarnation.

  It would undoubtedly be of the greatest benefit to Ahriman… if the vast majority of men were to regard these preparations for the Ahriman-incarnation as progressive and good for evolution. If Ahriman were able to slink into a humanity unaware of his coming, that would gladden him most of all. 

  Here’s the punch line:

  One of the developments in which Ahriman’s impulse is clearly evident is the spread of the belief that the mechanistic, mathematical conceptions inaugurated by Galileo, Copernicus and others, explain what is happening in the cosmos.

  Pure materialism. Pure reductionism. Pure Harari.

  Steiner warns that:

  “The consciousness of those human beings whom I have called devourers of soul and spirit is in a condition of dimness…; for by not accepting the spiritual into their human nature, they drive straight into the Luciferic stream everything they introduce … What men eat and drink without spirituality goes straight to Lucifer!”

  Here Steiner is talking about spiritual predation and warning those who think they’re the predators, are actually the prey for the egregores they serve. (Ahriman and Lucifer were two separate incarnations in Steiner’s cosmology, yet they worked in concert across the three thousand years that separate their physical incarnations in earthly terms).

  This materialist undercurrent that forms the basis of our conventional paradigm is anchored in this, and it cleaves our earthly existence away from our souls. Is it any wonder why reductive, technocratic impulses and hyper-normality increasingly permeate our elite institutions?

  “Too little attention has been paid to the fact that politics lures disordered, Messianic personalities into positions of power”.
  — Rees-Mogg & Davidson, The Sovereign Individual 

  It isn’t so much  cognitive incoherence afflicting the psyches of those both attracted to and ensnared within the corridors of power, as aperspectival madness – a term coined by Ken Wilber, the integral theory philosopher who has picked up the baton from Gebser here in the West.

  Wilber used the phrase in his 2017 ‘Trump in a Post-Truth World’, which is arguably a book from the left about excessive wokery and Trump Derangement Syndrome. We’re seeing these types of infections of the psyche play out in escalating waves, going under different names:

  Hyper-normality; TDS; …apersepectival madness.

  “Mass Formation Psychosis” being most recent.

  Of course, our expert overlords are having none of it…

  

  Some day they will inform us that “Experts say there is no higher-order reality” (string theory having been stricken down by MSM fact checkers).

  But this soul sickness that threatens to overrun the world is the result of ignoring these higher order constructs, and of attempting to pack reality into a 3-dimensional, materialist box. Everything has to warp just to attempt to fit it all in there.

  Pick Your Pendulum

  The Party at Davos is increasingly being regarded as a malevolent and controlling force on society, and with ample justification.

  Yet they seemingly wield so much power and wealth; how can one hope to counter their influence?

  By actively going out there and resisting the WEF, you are giving your energy to it.

  The key is to put your energy into what you want, not what you don’t want.

  The counterbalancing pendulum to the Luciferian-inspired fully automated luxury communism of the WEF  is a distinctly Promethean construct – an impulse that had been building for decades, perhaps longer, and then revealed itself during the Global Financial Crisis.

  

  Via TheBitcoinTimes

  That emergent impulse manifested in Bitcoin. I’ve described elsewhere the seemingly preternatural circumstances behind its emergence and the mind-boggling synchronicities I’ve personally experienced around it.

  That trend has continued.

  We’ve already had certain warnings  of the similarities between CBDCs and Revelations-style “number of the Beast” prophecies even before the freakishly numbered WIPO Patent 2020/060606 which described implantable digital-currency systems:

  

  (Owned by Microsoft, btw.)

  That previous article put me in touch with someone who made me aware of Revelations 2:17:

  “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

  You mean everybody gets their own private key? Kinda sounds like it.

  So on one side, we have an implant or a mark on the hand or head “without which one cannot buy or sell or conduct business of any kind” – while on the other there’s this group of the victorious who have possession of their own private keys.

  As I said in the other article, I don’t subscribe to Biblical prophesy in the literal sense that it predicts the future. What I do believe is that we exist in a multi-faceted reality that transcends the material, 3-D reduction, which conventional thought insists upon. These mythologies attempt to describe something glimpsed in hyper-dimensional constructs from beyond linear time.

  Sidebar: Life is but a dream

  (Here’s an analogy for how I look at these concepts: think of a dream. My guess is whatever is happening in them, is happening at light-speed. The reason why is because you can experience a dream in which you seemingly pass hours, or even a lifetime – and then your snooze goes off, again. Turns out it’s been 10 minutes.

  

  Then in that dream, something starts to happen, usually a sound but maybe it manifests in other ways, and when you wake up and you realize that your dream was reacting to something external to it, something happening in your waking world, like the doorbell ringing or a loud truck driving by.

  When we wake up we have a hard time parsing what we experienced in the dream state – my theory there is because we dream in at least one additional dimensional axis – so of course it would be near impossible to unpack what happened in the hypercube back into 3D experience.)

  I went on that tangent because I often suspect something like that is happening with synchronicities. Even prophesies or premonitions may be akin to this: an incursion into our waking world from some stimulus originating from a higher dimensional order outside of our conventional state. It would be exceptionally hard to make any sense of it because we’re missing a dimensional axis when we even try to think about it.

  Our collective thought energies are responding to higher-order impulses, and we create or join pendulums. Those pendulums are further shaped by larger, underlying morphic fields and act as filters or bridges to The Great Externality. We gravitate into benign, healthy pendulums or malevolent self-defeating ones.

  If we persistently engage in contemplative or spiritual practices, we may garner enough self-awareness to recognize these larger currents and make conscious decisions about which ones to put our energy into.

  Conventional material reductionism would have it that our minds are just something our brains are gassing off, and there’s nothing more to it. But there is more to it than that, a lot more – and we aren’t consciously choosing what to think or how to steer our own evolution, as much as we’re akin to iron filings arranging ourselves in line with one magnetic field or another.

  If we’re really aware, we can make a conscious decision around which one to align with. The majority of people just go with whatever ones they get swept up in.

  

  Digesting it all

  There will never be path function where the WEF either loses their power or reforms their ideals. The only option is irrelevance (which is why I’ve always told the cancel-culture and deplatforming crazies that the one, true magic bullet for killing a truly indefensible idea, is indifference).

  The Party at Davos is under the impression that they are the vanguard of neo-Darwinist evolution – when it’s looking instead like they are functionaries of a larger morphic field that is distinctly Luciferian or Ahrimanic in character. This field encapsulates transhumanism, techno-Marxism, technocracy and social credit.

  The antidote in our age is to choose a life path of radical sovereign individuality, and to embrace the Promethean impulse that gave rise to Bitcoin, public cryptography, and decentralization. This field is expressed through crypto-anarchy and network societies, yet with a grounding in spiritual expression, contemplative practices, family, community and tribes.

  So when the next Davos meeting comes around, don’t bother picking up a placard and demonstrating in the streets; stack some sats and orange-pill your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. That’s how we win.

  I cover macro tensions between the globalists and sovereign-individual extensively in The Bitcoin Capitalist Letter, along with a tactical focus on CBDCs, pending legislation, digital assets and crypto stocks. Get the overall investment / macro thesis free when you join the Bombthrower mafia. Follow on Twitter here,  Gettr, or join the Bombthrower Telegram

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 23:40

• G-7 Offers $15 Billion To Vietnam, Up From $2 Billion, To Transition To Renewables Months After Country Snubbed Climate Ambassadors
  G-7 Offers $15 Billion To Vietnam, Up From $2 Billion, To Transition To Renewables Months After Country Snubbed Climate Ambassadors

  You know the old saying: when bribery doesn’t work…just bribe using more money…

  Such is the unfolding case in Vietnam, where G-7 nations have made a $15 billion offer to the country to try and wean it off of its reliance on coal, according to a report by Reuters. The country is among the top 20 coal users in the world and had previously turned down or ignored prior offers, the report notes.

  Vietnam had already agreed to sign up for an “energy transition partnership with G7 nations” at a global climate summer this November, but high-level talks “broke off” before the meeting, the report says.

  To bring the country back to the bargaining table, the EU and Britain are leading negotiations on behalf of the West, who have offered a financial package that includes $7.5 billion in loans from the public sector and loans totaling about the same amount from the private sector. 

  Sources told Reuters this was the West’s “final offer” from the G7 before a December 14 deadline, when a summit of EU and Asian nations will take place. As Reuters notes, this $15 billion offer has grown from an “initial pledge” that was just $2 billion in public funds. 

  Despite the bigger offer, it “remains unclear whether Vietnam would be prepared to accept the increased offer”, Reuters wrote. 

  

  Vietnam had previously asked for more grants instead of loans, because the country is “traditionally opposed” to taking on loans. Sources indicated the chance of a deal getting done was at “50/50”, while others said talks are ongoing. 

  After Vietnam walked from talks in November, its authorities cancelled a planned meeting with US and EU climate ambassadors and instead drafted a new long-term power plan that actually increased the country’s use of coal. 

  The country is left to consider how much of its energy security could be put at risk during a switch to renewables, the report says. A transition “may result in power shortages in the booming nation without a credible backup in the event of low power output from wind farms or solar panels”. 

  Personally, if we’re Vietnam, we hold out for $100 billion. At the pace with which the G-7 keeps upping its offer, it should only take a couple of weeks…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 23:20

• Philly Or Fallujah? Gas Station Owners Hire Militarized Security, City Imposes Curfew
  Philly Or Fallujah? Gas Station Owners Hire Militarized Security, City Imposes Curfew

  It’s no secret Philadelphia is a dangerous city.

  In 2019, the murder rate was 22.47 per 100,000 residents according to FBI data, with 331 homicides that year. Fast forward three years, and there have been 480 murders year-to-date.

  

   Most affected are black males between the age of 18 and 45.

  

  According to city statistics released in September, overall shootings have increased by 3% over last year, while violent crime is up 7%. Robberies involving guns are up 60%, while rapes are down more than 25%. Property crimes are up over 30%. Businesses getting hit particularly hard – with commercial burglaries up a staggering 50%, according to Axios Philadelphia. What’s more, the city’s drug crisis is spiraling further out of control with a new drug called “Tranq” – an anesthetic and pain reliever used to treat horses and cattle, and which turns people into zombies.

  Crime is so out of control that the Philadelphia City Council recently approved a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under the age of 18 – making a temporary summertime law permanent.

  To combat the crime wave, Philadelphia gas station owners have turned to hiring heavily armed guards.

  “They are forcing us to hire the security, high-level security, state level,” said Karco gas station owner, Neil Patel, who has recruited Kevlar-clad S.I.T.E. agents packing AR-15s or shotguns. “We are tired of this nonsense; robbery, drug trafficking, hanging around, gangs,” Fox5 reports.

  The final straw for Patel after his business was reportedly vandalized by young people who stole an ATM machine. His car has also been a casualty of crime, according to the report.

  “We wear Kevlar, we are trained, my guards go to training every other week, they’re proficient with [their guns] and with their taser, they know the law,” said police chief Andre Boyer.

  A realtime online poll on Fox5‘s website reveals that 93% say they feel safer with guards who have AR-15s at gas stations:

  

  When asked about residents who are concerned over the gun-toting guards, Patel said: “I listen to them, but according to some people, violent people, they carry the guns, they’re not afraid of them? This is the protection for the neighborhood and the customers.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 22:40

• Transgender Activists Attack Feminists Protesting Men In Women's Prisons
  Transgender Activists Attack Feminists Protesting Men In Women’s Prisons

  Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times,

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison were attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5.

  The women, representing mainly feminist and lesbian groups, said they are opposed to a California law that allows male inmates who self-identify as women to request to be housed in women’s prisons.

  Watch a woman peak in real time

  She begins by using ‘she’ for murderer #DanaRivers “Do you think it’s justice if she’s put in a violent prison with other men?”

  Seconds later “What the hell? I don’t get that! They took your sign! OMG freedom of expression Who are these people? pic.twitter.com/YjB4xG7aig

  — mazeks (@JeanMazeks) December 7, 2022

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

  One hooded assailant was caught on video, obtained by The Epoch Times, throwing an egg into the group of women and also seen striking one with an umbrella, while another attacker in all black garb with red armbands on a bicycle plowed into the women from the opposite direction.

  

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison were attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  The women, who wore sashes reading “Woman Adult Human Female,” and carried signs saying “No Men In Women’s Prisons” and “Dana Rivers Is A Man,” were also pelted with pies in the video.

  Rivers, born David Warfield, was convicted last month on three counts of first-degree murder and felony arson. He was found guilty in the 2016 slayings of lesbian couple Charlotte Reed and Patricia Wright, and their teenage son, Benny Diambu-Wright, as well as setting their home in Oakland on fire.

  According to multiple news reports, Rivers shot Reed multiple times and stabbed and bludgeoned her. He also shot Wright twice and the teen in the heart.

  A hearing to determine Rivers’ mental competency at the time of the murders began Dec. 5. If found “insane,” Rivers is expected to be sent to a mental hospital for part of or all of his impending sentence.

  Rivers waived his right to a jury for the insanity plea phase of the trial.

  If the judge overseeing the trial determines Rivers was sane when he committed the murders, it is unclear if he will be sent to a women’s or men’s prison.

  Several sources told The Epoch Times he is currently being held in protective custody in the women’s section of the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif., in Alameda County.

  “We are firmly opposed to housing any men in women’s prisons under any circumstances, including Dana Rivers,” Kara Dansky, president of Women’s Declaration International, told The Epoch Times preceding the protest. “All men are male, regardless of any administration of hormones and/or surgeries, and our view is that women’s prisons ought to be for female inmates only, which is in alignment with the principles of international law.”

  Dansky said the women had planned the peaceful protest to demand justice and stand in solidarity with lesbians and incarcerated women.

  

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison are attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison are attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison are attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  

  Women protesting the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison were attacked outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  In 2020, the California State Legislature passed Senate Bill 132, The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act, authored by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  The law, which was enacted on Jan. 1, 2021, allows prisoners who identify as transgender, non-binary, and intersex “to request to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity,” according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

  There are currently 1,657 incarcerated people in California prisons who identify as transgender, non-binary and intersex,” according to the corrections and rehabilitation department. The agency additionally reports 342 men requested transfers to women’s jails since the end of November. Of those, 47 have been approved for transfer, 19 were denied, and 31 changed their minds. The remaining requests remain under review.

  

  Women protest the possible transfer of convicted killer Dana Rivers—a biological man who identifies as female—to a women’s prison outside of the Alameda County Superior Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of Women’s Declaration International, U.S.A.)

  “It’s happening in numerous other states. We just rarely hear about it because the media doesn’t like to talk about it,” Dansky said. “We know that the state of Washington also houses male prisoners in the women’s prison on the basis of their so-called female gender identity. We know that it’s happening in New Jersey on the basis of a settlement that was entered into between the state and the ACLU.”

  Danksy, who is also the author of “The Abolition of Sex: How the ‘Transgender Agenda Harms Women and Girls,” said her chapter of the organization has more than 5,000 U.S. signatories supporting its declaration, “ to advance women’s sex-based rates in law and throughout society all over the world.”
  Lierre Keith, of the Women’s Liberation Front, a group that is suing the state over the issue of biological males in women’s prisons, said female inmates are “living in terror” of violent male prisoners entering women’s facilities.

  “Right now, in California, any man can simply declare he is a woman and get transferred to a women’s prison—even if he’s murdered two women, even if he stabbed a woman 28 times in the face,” she said.

  Jesika Gonzalez of TERF Collective, a group “working to end the international campaign of female erasure that is transgender ideology,” also spoke at the protest.

  “In California … even the most dangerous men are moved to women’s prisons upon request. Dana Rivers is the kind of man that proves the need for single-sex prisons,” Gonzalez said.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 22:20

• Feds Probing Bankman-Fried's Manipulation Of TerraUSD, Luna… Which Eventually Crushed FTX
  Feds Probing Bankman-Fried’s Manipulation Of TerraUSD, Luna… Which Eventually Crushed FTX

  Oh the irony…

  While questions remain over what was known and by whom about commingled FTX client funds being used to fill a vast and leaking bucket of a balance sheet at Alameda, it appears, based on a report from The New York Times (NYT), that the catalyst for this whole debacle could have been none other than the world’s (second) greatest Democrat donor and (ineffective) altruist – Sam Bankman-Fried.

  NYT reports that federal prosecutors are investigating whether FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his hedge fund orchestrated trades in a way that led to the collapse of two cryptocurrencies in May – TerraUSD and Luna.

  Specifically, Manhattan prosecutors (US attorney for the Southern District of New York) are examining the possibility that Bankman-Fried steered the prices of two algorithmically-interlinked currencies to benefit entities he controlled, including FTX and Alameda Research.

  According to two people with knowledge of the matter, NYT reports that the focus on possible market manipulation adds to the legal storm brewing around Mr. Bankman-Fried.

  It is illegal for an individual to knowingly stage market activity designed to move the price of an asset up or down.

  TerraUSD was a so-called stablecoin, but unlike other stablecoins, its value wasn’t backed directly by the U.S. dollar. Rather, it maintained its value from a second coin called Luna through a complex set of algorithms. Traders within the digital ecosystem could mint these coins, the prices of which would fluctuate based on how many were in circulation. Anytime the price of TerraUSD fell, the supply of Luna would increase, as traders created more Luna to try to capitalize on the difference.

  In May, major cryptocurrency market makers — exchanges or individuals who arrange for buyers and sellers to be matched — noticed a flood of “sell” orders coming in for TerraUSD, said one person with knowledge of the market activity.

  The orders were in small denominations, but they were placed very quickly, the person said.

  The sudden jump in sell orders for TerraUSD overwhelmed the system, making it hard to find matching “buy” orders for them. Under normal conditions, any sell orders that remained unfulfilled for too long would be matched with buy orders at a lower price.

  The longer the orders lingered without being matched, the more they forced down the price of TerraUSD and caused a corresponding drop in Luna prices because of the way the two coins were linked..

  

  The exact causes of the collapse of the two cryptocurrencies remain unclear. However, the bulk of the sell orders for TerraUSD appeared to be coming from one place: Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency trading firm, which also placed a big bet on the price of Luna falling, according to the person with knowledge of the market activity.

  [ZH: Note the action in late January, early February, when pressure to the downside on Luna saw a positive reaction (flight to safety perhaps) into FTX’s Token (FTT). Did Bankman-Fried and his girlfriend think the same would happen when they tried to pressure Luna lower in May?]

  Had the trade gone as expected, the price declines in Luna could have yielded a fat profit.

  Instead, the bottom fell out of the entire TerraUSD-Luna ecosystem.

  The collapse caused more trouble in the cryptocurrency industry, sending several prominent companies into bankruptcy and erasing about $1 trillion in value from the crypto market.

  The ripple effects from the Luna crash ultimately contributed to the collapse of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s business empire.

  

  Bankman Fried reportedly told NYT that he was “not aware of any market manipulation and certainly never intended to engage in market manipulation.”

  “To the best of my knowledge, all transactions were for investment or for hedging,” he added.

  NYT does note that the investigation in early stages and that it is unclear if prosecutors have determined any wrongdoing by Bankman-Fried. All of which would be glorious for the screenplay of this whole farce as the ‘smartest man in the room’ – having been trained on ‘arbing’ such assets for ‘months’ – suddenly fell victim to the first lesson learned in any veteran arb-trader’s risk management book – volatility wounds but liquidity kills – just ask the Nobel-prize winners at LTCM.

  Not realizing that the interlinked and levered chaos that his Luna short’s success could cause is perhaps the greatest sin of someone who – for all intent and purpose – could see almost the entire market (positioning, inter-linkage, leverage, and liquidity) through his two toys – FTX and Alameda.

  And don’t forget that FTX is also under investigation for violating U.S. money-laundering laws that require money transfer businesses to know who their customers are and flag any potentially illegal activity to law enforcement authorities (but we are sure Bankman-Fried had no knowledge of any of that).

  On Tuesday, Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao called Bankman-Fried a “master manipulator” and “one of the greatest fraudsters in history.”

  

  Still, we are sure that Maxine Waters will ask him all about this during the hearing next week.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 22:00

• Cosco Pulls China-Canada-US Express Service
  Cosco Pulls China-Canada-US Express Service

  By Martina Lu of Container-News

  COSCO Shipping Lines has withdrawn its express China-Canada-US intermodal service that was launched in October 2021, as carriers continue to trim capacity to respond to falling demand.

  

  Container News was informed that the CEN-EXPRESS service had its last sailing when the Xin Ying Kou arrived at Prince Rupert on 29 November.

  The service used five 4,250 TEU ships to move containers from Qingdao and Shanghai in China to Prince Rupert in Canada, from where the containers were railed from DP World’s terminal in Prince Rupert port, via the Canadian National Railway, to Chicago in the United States.

  The ships have since been redeployed to COSCO’s Pacific Northwest services.

  At the time it was launched, CEN-EXPRESS was marketed as an alternative way for shippers to move boxes from China to the US West Coast; at the time, the lane was suffering unprecedented congestion due to Covid-19 restrictions. Since then, however, the situation has reversed, as global economic uncertainties and inflation affects consumption.

  Freight rates have fallen to almost the low levels seen before the pandemic, and carriers have been blanking sailings as a result.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 21:40

• Loudoun School Officials 'Dropped The Ball' Over Transgender Bathroom Rape: Report
  Loudoun School Officials ‘Dropped The Ball’ Over Transgender Bathroom Rape: Report

  Loudoun County Public School officials put their own interests above that of their students in their handling of two sexual assaults committed by the same transgender student, according to a 24-page grand jury report released on Monday.

  

  “LCPS administrators were looking out for their own interests instead of the best interests of LCPS. This invariably led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability both to the public and the special grand jury,” reads the report, after the grand jury uncovered evidence that the district was aware of multiple sexual assaults that occurred on two high school campuses in 2021 – yet failed to inform community members about them over ‘privacy concerns.’

  On May 28, 2021 a transgender teenage boy raped another student in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn. The rapist, 15, was convicted on one count of forcible sodomy and one count of forcible fellatio, both felonies, local media reported. The boy was found guilty of sexual assault in October, 2021 by a Virginia judge.

  After the incident, Scott Smith, the father of the 15-year-old victim, says he was told by school officials that there had been a ‘physical altercation.’ After he arrived on scene, he learned that she had actually been raped. According to Smith the school staff said they wanted to handle the situation ‘internally,’ and chose not to call the police.

  Smith became furious and challenged their decision, after which officials called Loudon County Sheriff’s deputies.

  “I went nuts. I called the principal a pussy. Six cop cars showed up like a fucking SWAT team,” said Smith, adding that he had “exploded with rage.”

  

  Smith and the family’s attorney say a rape kit and other tests prove a sexual assault occurred. After presenting the evidence to the police, a case was opened.

  “Thank God that I drew enough attention to it, without getting arrested, that we got an escort to the hospital and they administered a rape kit that night,” he said.

  Two months after the incident, the boy was arrested for forced sodomy along with other counts, according to the family’s attorney.

  Three weeks after the alleged rape, Smith attended a school board meeting on June 22, where a discussion on a proposal to protect transgender students was on the agenda. After he was dragged out of the meeting, he was ridiculed on social media, and painted as a right-wing anti-trans bigot by the left.

  The school covered up a crime. The justice system behaved in a flagrantly political manner. And the media was happy to participate in the politically-useful smearing, as usual. Morally appalling failures from top to bottom.

  — Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) October 13, 2021

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

  “My wife and I are gay- and lesbian-friendly,” Smith told the Daily Wire. “We’re not into this children transgender stuff. The person that attacked our daughter is apparently bisexual and occasionally wears dresses because he likes them. So this kid is technically not what the school board was fighting about. The point is kids are using it as an advantage to get into the bathrooms.”

  Cover-up

  During the June 22, 2021 meeting, school board member Beth Barts claimed not to know of any assaults happening in bathrooms or locker rooms during the trans student discussion. Superintendent Scott Ziegler echoed that sentiment, saying “To my knowledge, we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” adding “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.”

  He went on to quote Time magazine research that he said disproved the notion transgender kids might sexually attack cisgender kids, and said: ‘I think it’s important to keep our perspective on this, we’ve heard it several times tonight from our public speakers but the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.’ 

  Smith said he became irate. He started arguing with another woman at the meeting, labeling her a ‘b***h’ after she allegedly denied his daughter’s claim. 

  He was then charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. –Daily Mail

  Smith told the Wire that he was attacked by an activist who insisted his daughter was not assaulted, during which an officer came over.

  “The next thing I know, I’m getting touched from all over the place. I didn’t know who was touching me, who was grabbing me. I turn around, the police are grabbing me and next thing I know, I’m tackled to the ground. I’m just shocked and horrified,” Smith told Fox News.

  Dropped The Ball

  According to the Grand Jury, “LCPS dropped the ball in this instance in alerting the community about this incident,” reads the report.

  The jury noted there were several instances where senior division administrators, including the superintendent, could have been transparent and could have avoided the sexual assault at Broad Run High School.

  The jury stated in the documents they believed the Oct. 6 abduction and sexual assault “could have and should have been prevented,” saying administrators were ultimately to blame for the second assault.  –LoudounNow

  “Had any one of a number of individuals across a variety of entities spoken up or realized a serious problem was brewing regarding earlier incidents at BRHS then the sexual assault most likely would not have occurred. But nobody did,” they wrote, adding “Not a single person with knowledge of the student’s history or of this current action stepped in to do anything. Instead, discipline was left to the BRHS principal, who did nothing more than issue him a verbal reprimand.”

  2: The grand jury found that LCPS administration was looking out for its own interests, not the best interests of @LCPSOfficial. This led to a “stunning” lack of transparency and accountability by the admin which “failed at every juncture” with respect to the sexual assaults. pic.twitter.com/tSeFznOEU2

  — Ian Prior (@iandprior) December 5, 2022

  The grand jury made eight recommendations based on its investigation, according to LoudonNow:

  • Increase transparency and foster better communication and recommended the school division include as much information as reasonably possible when informing the public about significant events happening on school property, a bus or a school sponsored event.
  • Re-examine its transfer process and create a formalized protocol emphasizing better communication.
  • Greater involvement from the division’s director of safety and security in situations that threaten the safety and security of students, faculty and staff. 
  • The School Board should tighten polices about the apps available to students on their school-issued devices.
  • The School Board should limit the degree to which legitimate matters and information of public concern are shielded from the public under the cloak of attorney-client privilege.
  • Improved communication, cooperation and coordination across all agencies when addressing criminal conduct by students, faculty and staff. 
  • Strengthen support and advocacy for faculty and staff who are faced with challenging scenarios that could be dangerous.
  • The superintendent’s recommendation for the non-renewal of a teacher’s contract should be the subject of a separate agenda item and not placed on the School Board’s consent agenda. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 21:20

• Border Patrol Agents Eviscerate Biden For Saying He's Got "More Important Things" To Worry About
  Border Patrol Agents Eviscerate Biden For Saying He’s Got “More Important Things” To Worry About

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  Joe Biden declared Tuesday that he has “more important things” to worry about than visiting the border, despite the fact that he was in Arizona anyway for an appearance.

  

  It started with the White House attempting to avoid the issue altogether:

  Then Fox News reporter Peter Doocy outright asked Biden why he wasn’t going to check on the border despite being only a few miles away.

  Watch:

  Biden skipped checking out the border, instead visiting visit a computer chip plant.

  Here is the “more important thing” Biden was referring to. A thing Biden clearly has zero understanding of:

  Joe Biden reminding America that he isn’t with it.

  “It will construct a second fab here in Phoenix to build chips, three nano chips, three nano chip, chips that are three nano. Anyway, you know what I’m saying. Nano Nono, I don’t know.” pic.twitter.com/LRLybudhto

  — Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 6, 2022

  As we have repeatedly highlighted, there is an all our crisis on the border that is about to get even worse:

  Border patrol agents were not impressed, with one commenting to the Daily Caller “MORE IMPORTANT THINGS? This is HIS disaster, he created this catastrophe. The border crisis is a total breach of National Security. Give me a fucking break…I can’t wait for this clown to be out of office.”

  Another Border agent charged that Biden’s comments betray “another example of how delusional he is.”

  “It’s in their narrative to downplay the destabilization of the U.S. What could possibly be more important than criminals and terrorists infiltrating the country and tens of thousands of fentanyl overdoses, mostly being young adults,” the agent added.

  National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd added “The President’s most fundamental job is the safety and security of the American people. He’s failing. With a record number of people and dangerous drugs flowing across our borders, the President owes it to this country to go to the border and develop a strategy of security.”

  “Unfortunately, President Biden’s record speaks for itself. He cares more about politics than American lives,” Judd asserted.

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

  In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here. Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Also, we urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 21:00

• US Targets Illicit Pakistan Nuclear Activity As Part Of Russia-Related Sanctions Blacklist
  US Targets Illicit Pakistan Nuclear Activity As Part Of Russia-Related Sanctions Blacklist

  The Biden administration has unveiled a sanctions blacklist of two dozen companies and other entities accused of supporting Russia militarily, as well as who have violated sanctions on Iran. But perhaps most surprising is that among the 24 companies also includes entities charged with illicit activities related to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. 

  The US Commerce Department identified companies based in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore and Switzerland, including Russia’s AO Kraftway Corporation, considered among the country’s largest IT companies. 

  Fiber Optic Solutions in Latvia is named as well as Russian AO Scientific Research Center for Electronic Computing, LLC Fibersense, and Scientific Production Company Optolin, AO PKK Milandr; Milandr EK; Milandr ICC JSC; Milur IS; Microelectronic Production Complex (MPK) Milandr; and Ruselectronics JSC and Swiss based Milur SA, according to a press release.

  Regarding the Iran-related sanctions, “The Commerce Department also added four trading and supply companies in Singapore for supplying or attempting to supply an Iranian electronics company, Pardazan System Namad Arman,” which as Reuters recounts was initially subject of US Treasury sanctions in 2018 following the Trump administration’s pullout of the Iran nuclear deal.

  While over the past many months sanctions on Russia and Iran have become a normative thing in Washington, the Pakistan-related development is what’s most interesting. As Reuters explains:

  The Biden administration also added 10 companies in Pakistan and UAE that it says pose unacceptable risks of using or diverting items for Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities or are involved Pakistan’s “nuclear activities and missile proliferation-related activities.”

  

  Pakistan, it must be remembered, is a nuclear-armed ally of Washington, but one which has always made US officials incredibly nervous given the alarming possibility of nukes ‘falling into the wrong hands’. Of course some of the world’s most notorious Islamic terror groups have had a significant presence inside Pakistan and especially along the Af-Pak border for decades.

  Following the Taliban reconquering of Kabul in the wake of the US pullout from the country, the Brookings Institution warned of the following: 

  The president will not have to look too far. Bordering Afghanistan, now again under Taliban rule, is Pakistan, one of America’s oddest “allies.” Governed by a shaky coalition of ineffective politicians and trained military leaders trying desperately to contain the challenge of domestic terrorism, Pakistan may be the best definition yet of a highly combustible threat that, if left unchecked, might lead to the nightmare of nightmares: jihadis taking control of a nuclear weapons arsenal of something in the neighborhood of 200 warheads.

  Wednesday’s fresh US Commerce sanctions apparently have the above unpredictable nature of the Pakistani political and security landscape still fresh in mind. Currently Pakistan has the sixth largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 20:40

• 4 Takeaways From Sen. Johnson's Panel On COVID-19 Vaccines
  4 Takeaways From Sen. Johnson’s Panel On COVID-19 Vaccines

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) held a panel on COVID-19 vaccines in Washington on Dec. 7, featuring experts including Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter McCullough.

  Experts discussed vaccine development, vaccine composition, data from insurance and adverse event systems, and other topics.

  Here are four takeaways from the panel.

  

  Insurance Experts Record Jump in Excess Mortality

  Edward Dowd, a former BlackRock analyst now with the Humanity Project, showed data from the Society of Actuaries 2021 Group Life Insurance survey that showed a jump in excess mortality among young and middle-aged adults starting around the time the vaccines began being administered.

  The only thing that changed at the time, Dowd said, was “vaccines and mandates.”

  He pointed out that Denmark and the United Kingdom, among other countries, have stopped recommending or entirely halted vaccination of young, healthy people because of growing concerns over side effects like heart inflammation that can lead to death.

  “Why are our health authorities still pushing this vaccine if other countries are backing off?” Dowd asked.

  Representatives from major U.S. health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were invited to the discussion but did not attend.

  Josh Stirling, an insurance analyst, presented an analysis of data from the United Kingdom that concluded death rates were higher among the vaccinated as of May 2022.

  Doctors Report Increase in Heart Inflammation Since Pandemic Started

  Several vaccines have been linked to side effects such as myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can turn deadly.

  Doctors testifying during the panel said they’ve seen an increase in patients with the inflammation.

  “It’s been very high,” Dr. Reneta Moon, a clinical associate professor at the Washington State University College of Medicine.

  Moon said she saw a handful of cases in her 20 years of practicing before the pandemic. The number has jumped since the pandemic started, she said.

  Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatrician based in Hawaii, said he’s also seen more cases.

  Milhoan said that the research that’s emerged shows myocarditis and a related condition, pericarditis, are caused by the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

  Moderna and Pfizer have not responded to requests for comment on heart inflammation.

  The studies show that the spike protein, which the vaccines cause the body to make, is “cardiotoxic and cause the heart to be inflamed,” Milhoan said. “Let that sink in, the current public health plan is asking our own body to make a cardiotoxin.”

  COVID-19 can also cause myocarditis, according to some studies, though other research has challenged that view.

  

  Young People at Little Risk From COVID-19

  Dr. Harvey Risch, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, presented data from the CDC that show young people face little risk from COVID-19.

  The share of infection among those aged 0 to 17 that led to death, for instance, was just 0.01 percent through September 2021, while the share was 0.05 percent among those 18 to 29.

  “When you have such low or nonexistent mortality in these low age groups, the potential severe adverse effects of the vaccine will surmount the nonexistent mortality of these age groups and therefore, what we’ve been told, that everybody has to be vaccinated … had no reason to be there in the first place, because there was no mortality they were trying to prevent,” Risch said.

  The share was much higher among older people. Among those 85 and older, for example, the share was 24.6 percent.

  Because vaccines have little to no impact on transmission or infection, the only point of getting vaccinated is for treatment, but most young people “had no reason to choose that when mortality from infection is orders of magnitude is much less than from vaccination,” Risch said.

  No Strong Trials

  As the vaccines have performed worse and worse against infection, health officials say they should still be taken to protect against severe disease.

  But McCullough, chief scientific officer of The Wellness Company, said that no randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial has shown the vaccines reduce hospitalization or death.

  Such trials, known as RCTs, are generally considered the highest form of evidence for a drug.

  Both the emergency authorization and approval for the vaccines have been on the basis of preventing infection. In fact sheets, prospective recipients are told the vaccines “have been shown to prevent COVID-19.” There’s no mention of severe illness or death.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 20:20

• End Of An Era: Final Boeing 747 Rolls Off Assembly Line
  End Of An Era: Final Boeing 747 Rolls Off Assembly Line

  The last Boeing 747 jumbo jet rolled off the production line at the company’s factory in Everett, Washington, on Tuesday night, marking a close to a significant chapter in aviation history. 

  

  Aviation historians call the 747 the original jumbo jet was first produced in 1967. Three years later, Pan Am started flying the double-decker jumbo jet that could haul over 500 passengers worldwide. 

  “For more than half a century, tens of thousands of dedicated Boeing employees have designed and built this magnificent airplane that has truly changed the world. We are proud that this plane will continue to fly across the globe for years to come,” Kim Smith, Boeing vice president and general manager, 747 and 767 programs, wrote in a press release. 

  Last night, the 1,574th 747 rolled out of the Everett factory. 

  There she goes!

  The last 747 has left our Everett factory ahead of delivery to Atlas Air in early 2023. #QueenOfTheSkies

  Photos: Boeing/Paul Weatherman pic.twitter.com/duzgr6MzQl

  — Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) December 7, 2022

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

  The 747 was once the premiere choice of aircraft for airlines and has since been replaced with a twin-engine, wide-body aircraft that is more fuel-efficient. Still, 341 of these jumbos are in use but only as freighters. 

  “The 747-8 is an incredibly capable aircraft, with capacity that is unmatched by any other freighter in production,” UPS wrote in a statement in 2020 when Boeing said production of the jet would end in late 2022. 

  “With a maximum payload of 307,000 lbs., we use them on long, high-volume routes, connecting Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East,” the shipper continued. 

  The last 747 was sold to air freighter Atlas Air which will use the aircraft to haul goods worldwide. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 20:00

• A Big Theory Of Boom And Bust
  A Big Theory Of Boom And Bust

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via DailyReckoning.com,

  Our times of boom to bust are the perfect illustration of the credit cycle first presented in its fullness in the 1920s. Why then? Because this was the first decade after most countries created central banks. They caused some very odd behavior that made 19th-century-style economics seem to have less explanatory power.

  

  That was when a few economists working in Vienna put together a model for understanding how business cycles work in a modern economy. Their names were Friedrich von Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. They drew on their theoretical knowledge based on the following inputs:

  Richard Cantillon (1680–1734) observed that when governments inflate the money supply, the effects are unevenly distributed among economic sectors, affecting some more than others and in different ways.

  Adam Smith (1723–1790) explained that a critical element of rising wealth is embedded in the division of labor, in which individuals specialize in tasks and cooperate across firms and those firms cooperate with each other.

  Carl Menger (1840–1921) saw money as an organic market creation, not an invention of the state, which implies that it should be produced like any other good or service.

  Knut Wicksell (1851–1926) demonstrated that interest rates function as a price mechanism to allocate investment decisions over time, which is why the yield curve exists. Manipulation of the interest rate disturbs the natural allocation of resources.

  Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk (1851–1914) explained the structure of production as consisting of far more than just consumer and capital goods. Capital itself is heterogeneous in that investment decisions include a forecast of time expectations, and the interest rate is crucial to coordinating them.

  You can put all those pieces together to come up with a mental model of a well-functioning economy as described by Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) who saw the alignment of supply and demand as a law of economics, which is to say that a market economy is inherently stable.

  The Central Bank

  One can see, then, how a central bank messes everything up. By lowering the interest rate, the central bank fuels the creation of new bank credit that otherwise would not exist. An artificially lowered interest rate acts like fake savings.

  Savings are resources drawn from deferred consumption. They serve as the basis for sustainable investment. But artificially low rates signal the existence of savings that are not there.

  Not only do low interest rates create fake savings, but they actually draw real savings away from short-term projects toward longer-term projects, thus distorting the production structure as described above. They create a kind of subsidy toward capital products that would not exist had the interest rate stayed at its natural market-based level.

  Massive Distortion

  The result then is not just inflation, as the monetarists would describe it. It is also a distortion of the production structure.

  Capital gets a subsidy over consumption goods, and not only that, but longer-term projects get a boost over shorter-term projects.

  Bottom line: The last 14 years of zero-interest rates have created a paradigmatic case of the Austrian business cycle theory. It has massively distorted interest rates, more so than ever before. This was Ben Bernanke’s wonderful innovation. Many people thought his move in 2008 would generate inflation but he found a workaround.

  Bernanke paid the banks to keep their new and faked resources locked away in the vaults of the Fed. This kept the hot money off the streets and kept prices stable. But that only solved one problem. It created another: It created huge malinvestments in a whole series of sectors in tech and media and housing yet again!

  What resulted was a disgustingly overbuilt tech world replete with Zoom-class employees with college degrees earning six figures without limit. Central bank credit caused the creation of an overclass that eventually caused all sorts of mischief, economic and cultural. They invented idiotic ideas like ESG, DEI and woke philosophy in general.

  None of this nonsense had anything to do with reality but in Bernanke’s world, reality didn’t matter anymore. This sector got so huge that it became a critical number to push lockdowns under the slogan “Stay home, stay safe.” These privileged elites forced the working classes to serve them food at their doorsteps and face the virus while they luxuriated in their fancy apartments pretending to work on laptops.

  The Chart That Reveals All

  So that we understand the radical nature of this experiment, please study the following chart carefully. This is the federal funds rate adjusted for inflation. What we see is the longest period of production distortion in American history. This chart goes from 1950s to the present.

  

  This whole policy becomes unsustainable once the value of the dollar begins to fall due to price inflation. At some point, the central bank has to turn things around. When things become shaky or prices start to shift and the central bank starts to back off its pillaging policies, the house of cards starts to fall apart, as resources are drained from long-term speculation to shorter-term consumption and the restarting of real savings.

  That’s precisely where we’re in the cycle. Long-term projects are falling apart. Consumers and investors are turning away from the long parts of the yield curve to make money in the short term. Resources in general are going through a massive shift in terms of time allocation as interest rates shift.

  The Yield Curve

  That the yield curve has dramatically inverted is hardly a surprise. It is a sign that the ship of production is turning very slowly, and investors are unconvinced yet that the Fed will keep this up.

  But that point is that the Fed must keep this up if it intends to get inflation rates back to the target. The federal funds rate will have to enter back into positive territory in real terms. That means 6%, 8% or even 10%, pushing long yields far into the double-digit range.

  To be sure, we should all in a macroeconomic sense look forward to a new age of more honest finance. The disaster of zero-interest rate policy is finally coming to an end. Former Fed chief Ben Bernanke’s Nobel Prize notwithstanding, this policy massively distorted capital allocation in the economy and around the world for the better part of 14 years. With its end, we’re going to get a taste of some economic and financial rationality.

  We might even be able to save money without losing money. So in that sense, the man who bears the main responsibility for inflation, current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, is the same guy who will finally fix what Bernanke broke all those years ago. Remember those days when everything seemed too good to be true? There was a financial crisis that the Fed magically fixed with no downside.

  Except that there was a huge economic, cultural and social downside. Frugality and prudence gave way to massive excess and a level of craziness in culture that we never imagined we would experience.

  What made this preposterously unjust system possible was the Fed with Bernanke at the helm. Quantitative easing turns out to mean upending all normal life and paying the horrid price for this a decade and a half later.

  Someday historians will look back at our times as a great turning point. We’ve been through calamity, and it worsens by the day. Will we enter into a new Dark Age? Or find the light and crawl our way toward it before it’s too late?

  If we find our way, it will be because the Austrian economists of old will guide us.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 19:40

• San Francisco Backpedals On Killer Cop Bots
  San Francisco Backpedals On Killer Cop Bots

  One week after San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to give police the ability to use lethal, remote-controlled robots, wisdom has prevailed.

  

  Following heavy criticism from civil liberties groups, and anyone with a brain, the Board of Supervisors thought twice about giving cops the ability to ‘take down’ suspects at the push of a button. After sending the measure to committee for further review, the city reversed course.

  The vote came following a new California law requiring city police forces to keep inventories of military-grade equipment and seek approval for their use.

  Dr Catherine Connolly, from the group Stop Killer Robots, told the BBC the move was a “slippery slope” that could distance humans from killing.

  Protesters and several dissenting board members gathered on the steps of city hall to call for the city to reverse its decision. –BBC

  Opponents also said the robots would lead to the further militarization of the police force.

  

  The original proposal will need to be completely revamped, or entirely scrapped.

  Advocates for the killer robots say they would only be used in ‘extreme’ circumstances, with a spokesperson for the SFPD saying that “robots could potentially be equipped with explosive charges to breach fortified structures containing violent, armed, or dangerous subjects.”

  Under the original proposal, “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when [1] risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and [2] officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics options, **or** conclude that they will not be able to subdue the threat after evaluating alternative force options or de-escalation tactics. Only the Chief of Police, Assistant Chief, or Deputy Chief of Special Operations may authorize the use of robot deadly force options.”

  But as the EFF‘s Matt Guariglia noted last week; The “or” in this policy (emphasis added) does a lot of work. Police can use deadly force after “evaluating alternative force options or de-escalation tactics,” meaning that they don’t have to actually try them before remotely killing someone with a robot strapped with a bomb.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 19:20

• On-Chain Data Shows 'Potential Bottom' For Bitcoin But Macro Headwinds Remain
  On-Chain Data Shows ‘Potential Bottom’ For Bitcoin But Macro Headwinds Remain

  Authored by Dylan LeClair and Sam Rule via Bitcoin Magazine Pro,

  Bitcoin has seen significant capitulation from its all-time high and many on-chain indicators suggest the worst may be behind us. Yet, significant macro challenges remain. Is the bottom truly in?

  On-Chain Data Trends

  November was a painful month. By looking at on-chain realized profit and loss data, we can see that this was true for many forced-sellers of bitcoin. Before any bitcoin price bottom, a hallmark sign that you want to see is extended periods of forced selling, capitulation and rise in realized losses. One way to view this is by looking at the sum of realized profit and loss for each month relative to bitcoin’s total market cap. We saw these bottom signals in November 2022, and similarly in the July 2022 Terra/LUNA crash, March 2020 COVID fear and December 2018 cycle bottom capitulation events.

  

  Looking at the raw profit and loss numbers without normalizing to market cap, we saw $17.85 billion in realized losses over the last 30 days, which is fairly significant this cycle, but less than LUNA crash losses of $26.68 billion.

  

  Looking at the 2018 cycle, the end was marked by excess realized losses, although this was much different with the forced liquidations and cascades of private balance sheet leverage and paper bitcoin unwinding that we saw this year. 

  

  We’ve talked about the current drawdown in bitcoin’s price and how that compares to previous cycles many times over the last few months. Another way to look at cyclical drawdowns is to focus on bitcoin’s realized market capitalization — the average cost basis of the network which tracks the latest price where each UTXO moved last. With price being more volatile, realized price is a more stable view of bitcoin’s growth and capital inflows. The realized market capitalization is now down 17.33% which is significantly higher than 2015 and 2018 cycles of 14.13% and 16.51%, respectively.

  

  Bitcoin looks to be monetizing in phases or cycles, and by using the realized price metric which converts the exchange rate/market capitalization into much more precise metrics, we can evaluate the bitcoin monetization cycles using the rate of change in the realized price. The chart below shows the 30-day rate of change in the realized price.

  

  As for duration, we’re 176 total days into the price being below bitcoin’s realized price. Those aren’t consecutive days as price can temporarily go above realized price, but price trends below realized price in bear market periods. For context, trends in 2018 were short-lived at around 134 days and the trends in 2014-15 lasted 384 days. 

  On one hand, bitcoin’s realized market capitalization has taken a significant hit in the previous round of capitulation. That’s a promising bottom-like sign. On the other hand, there’s a case to be made that price being below realized price could easily last another six months from historical cycles and the lack of capitulation in equity markets is still a major headwind and concern. 

  In both charts below, you’ll see annotations for the ratio between price and realized price: market-value-to-realized-value ratio (MVRV).

  

  

  If you standardize the MVRV metric, bitcoin is in the 6th percentile of historical readings in terms of its market exchange rate relative to its average cost basis.

  

  

  As per the net-unrealized-profit/loss (NUPL) ratio, we are firmly in the capitulation phase. NUPL can be calculated by subtracting the realized cap from market cap and dividing the result by the market cap, as described in this article authored by By Tuur Demeester, Tamás Blummer and Michiel Lescrauwaet. 

  There is no denying it: For bitcoin-native cycles, we are firmly in the capitulation phase. Currently, only 56% of circulating supply was last moved on-chain in profit. On a two-week moving average basis, under 50% supply was last moved above the current exchange rate, which is something that has only ever happened in the depths of previous bear-market lows.

  

  

  

  When thinking of the bitcoin exchange rate, the numerator side of the equation is historically cheap. The Bitcoin network continues to produce a block approximately every 10 minutes in an unabated fashion, as hash rate ticks higher and as the ledger offers an immutable settlement layer for global value. The speculation, leverage and fraud of the previous cycle is washing to shore and bitcoin continues to exchange hands.

  Bitcoin is objectively cheap relative to its all time history and adoption phases. The real question over the immediate future is the denominator. We have talked at length about the global liquidity cycle and its current track. Despite being historically cheap, bitcoin is not immune to a sudden strengthening in the dollar because nothing truly is. Exchange rates are relative and if the dollar is squeezing higher, then everything else will subsequently fall — at least momentarily. As always, position sizing and time preference is key for all. 

  As for the catalyst for a surge higher in the dollar denominator of the bitcoin exchange rate (BTC/USD), there are 80 trillion possible catalysts…

  BANK OF INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE SWAP POSITIONS POINT TO OVER $80 TRILLION OF HIDDEN US DOLLAR DEBT, REPORTED OFF-BALANCE SHEET.

  — Breaking Market News ⚡️ (@financialjuice) December 5, 2022

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

  *  * *

  Thank you for reading Bitcoin Magazine Pro, we sincerely appreciate your support! Please consider leaving a like and comment if you enjoyed this piece. As well, sharing goes a long way toward helping us reach a wider audience!

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 19:00

• A New Drug Called "Tranq" Is Worsening Philadelphia's Already Out-Of-Control Drug Problem
  A New Drug Called “Tranq” Is Worsening Philadelphia’s Already Out-Of-Control Drug Problem

  As if Philadelphia didn’t have a big enough problem on its hands with its “zombie streets” in the Northeast lined with drug users…

  …a new drug is making its way out into the city. Philly Voice published a new piece this week detailing the veterinary sedative xylazine, also known as “tranq”, which is now being “pervasive” in the drug scene and is mixed with fentanyl. 

  It is responsible for “more complex overdoses and painful skin wounds,” the report says. The drug is a “anesthetic and pain reliever” that “is used by vets to treat horses and cattle”. The appeal of mixing it with Fentanyl is that it can extend the perception of a person’s high. 

  It has been found in 90% of dope samples that the city tested last year, the report says. Last year, it was found in 44% of Fentanyl overdose deaths in the city and was found in 34% of all overdose deaths. It marks a 39% increase from the year prior. 

  Jennifer Shinefeld, a field epidemiologist for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, commented: “Xylazine was initially added into the drug supply because a heroin high lasts for 6-8 hours, but a fentanyl high lasts from 1-2 hours.”

  “The tranquilizer was being added to mimic a traditional heroin high, but also to allegedly prolong the effects.”

  Fentanyl is already responsible for the lion’s share of the city’s overdoses, the report notes:

  Among Philadelphia’s 1,276 fatal overdoses in 2021 — the city’s deadliest year on record — fentanyl was linked to 71% of fatalities. The drug was present in 94% of fatal overdoses in which opioids were found, showing the extent to which fentanyl has supplanted heroin as the predominant opioid.

  And now using xylazine as an additive is “further complicating drug interactions in people who use these substances, requiring urgent changes to Philadelphia’s public health response”.

  

  In other words, Philadelphia’s drug crisis has (once again) taken a turn for the worse – and the city is being labeled “ground zero” for the new drug, which made its way from Puerto Rico:

  Xylazine first emerged as a recreational drug in Puerto Rico during the early 2000s, years before fentanyl became a staple of the U.S. drug supply.

  “It was seen among folks who were residing in towns where there was higher veterinary use of it,” said Jewell Johnson, a substance use epidemiologist in Philadelphia’s health department.

  As fentanyl spread first in the Northeast, then westward over the last decade, xylazine came to be seen by drug suppliers as an appealing substance to offset the shorter run of a fentanyl high. The drug doesn’t make opioids last any longer, but it prolongs the mental state of being on a drug.

  Philadelphia, long an epicenter of the nation’s opioid epidemic, became an ideal place for tranq dope to flourish.

  “Outside of Puerto Rico, for lack of a better word, Philadelphia is ground zero for xylazine,” Shinefeld said.

  Shinefeld concluded: “Xylazine is the primary adulterate (in the drug supply), I say that because we no longer consider fentanyl a primary adulterate, but (rather) the primary component. Fentanyl started to take over the drug supply in 2010. There’s not very much heroin left. There are certain areas where you can still get it, but all of the bags that we’ve ever tested that had actual heroin also had fentanyl present in them.”

  You can read Philly Voice’s full report on the drug here. 

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 18:40

• Ted Cruz On Twitter Files Revelations: "This Was All About Weaponizing Big Tech"
  Ted Cruz On Twitter Files Revelations: “This Was All About Weaponizing Big Tech”

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  Republican Senator Ted Cruz has weighed in on the revelations in Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ publication, urging that it is “evidence of corruption that goes to the highest level of government.”

  

  Appearing on Fox News, Cruz asserted that the effort to crush the Hunter Biden laptop story went “to the highest level of the FBI. And it goes to the highest level of Big Tech.”

  “We’ve known for a long time that big tech is censoring conservatives,” Cruz said, adding that “what Elon did here is he just laid naked all of the lies that the corporate media has told.”

  “It’s clear during the 2020 election, over and over and over again, the Biden campaign and the DNC would reach out to their buddies at Twitter and say, hey we don’t like this, and their response is ‘handled,’ and they’d take it down, over and over and over again,” Cruz stated.

  He continued, “And in particular, all of the exchange back and forth when the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, it was evidence that the leadership at Twitter knew within hours that their ridiculous, fake excuse that it was hacked was a ridiculous fake excuse.”

  “Even James Baker, who…had been the FBI’s general counsel and then was at Twitter — even he acknowledged well, gosh, we don’t have the evidence on this, but it doesn’t matter, Let’s block it anyway,” Cruz noted, referring to the now fired Twitter Fed, who continued to try to censor Musk’s data dump.

  Cruz further highlighted that in “one of the exchanges back and forth they reveal the reason, which is they say we want to avoid — we want to avoid what happened in 2016, Donald Trump winning.”

  Thank goodness for the @FBI otherwise we mighthave accidentally elected the wrong person president https://t.co/YihaIWdHhn

  — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 5, 2022

  “This was all about weaponizing big tech. It is absolutely corrupt. And what is amazing is the Democrats were fully in on it,” Cruz charged, adding “The corporate media was fully in on it, and Elon’s released the receipts, which shows all of them are willing to abuse power to stay in power.”

  * * *

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 18:20

• Senate Committee To Subpoena SBF If He Does Not Testify Voluntarily
  Senate Committee To Subpoena SBF If He Does Not Testify Voluntarily

  Update (8:20pm ET): Following a tidal wave of disgust, outrage and loathing at corrupt politicians, Maxine Waters took to twitter to slam the earlier CNBC report that she wouldn’t subpoena SBF as a “lie” even though just one sentence lower in her tweet she confirms that she has, in fact, not done anything yet and that a “subpoena is definitely on the table.”

  Furthermore, she notes that SBF has “been requested to testify” even though as everyone knows by now, he turned down said “request” and unless he is compelled (i.e., issued a subpoena) he won’t go. But it’s cool: “A subpoena is definitely on the table.” The question is whether the check to Maxine clear and it stays there or someone actually signs it and delivers it to the prominent Democratic donor.

  Lies are circulating @CNBC that I am not willing to subpoena @SBF_FTX. He has been requested to testify at the December 13th hearing. A subpoena is definitely on the table. Stay tuned.

  — Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) December 8, 2022

  The responses suggest that America’s corrupt politicians no longer fool anyone.

  pic.twitter.com/gQC4uqUEEv

  — Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) December 8, 2022

  “On the table” LOL. You coward. You can’t even do damage control right. $32 billion valuation collapse and your party is worried about $600 Venmo transactions from some Uber driver. You know as much about economics and meaningful consequences as I know about not being bald.

  — Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) December 8, 2022

  This you? https://t.co/OBI594jhtS

  — Hank Rogers (@HankRogers17) December 8, 2022

  And while Maxine counts her inbound wire transfers and donations from SBF for a cost-benefit analysis of what the humiliated rep should do next, at least two US senators have no such qualms, and the two highest rated members of the Senate Banking Committee told Sam Bankman-Fried they expect him to appear before them next week in person to discuss the collapse of FTX, and will subpoena him if he does not appear voluntarily, a letter from its leaders said Wednesday.

  As Coindesk first reported, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), respectively the chair and ranking member of the committee, wrote a public letter to Bankman-Fried, who resigned from the exchange the same day it filed for bankruptcy last month. The committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 14, a day after the House Financial Services Committee holds its own hearing on the exchange.

  “FTX’s collapse has caused real financial harm to consumers, and effects have spilled over into other parts of the crypto industry. The American people need answers about Sam Bankman-Fried’s misconduct at FTX,” the lawmakers said in a prepared statement. “The Committee has requested that he testify at our upcoming hearing on FTX’s collapse, and will consider further action if he does not comply.”

  Normally witnesses appear voluntarily, the lawmakers said in the letter. If Bankman-Fried does not confirm his participation by Thursday, “I am prepared, along with Ranking Member Pat Toomey, to issue a subpoena to compel your testimony,” the letter signed by Brown said.

  He now faces a number of investigations, including an investigation by federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, who are investigating whether Bankman-Fried may have tried to manipulate the price of TerraUSD and Luna, which collapsed in their own dramatic fashion earlier this year, according to the New York Times.

  * * *

  Just when you thought House Democrat, and easily one of the smartest people in Congress, Maxine Waters couldn’t humiliate herself and outrage the peasantry any further with her white-glove treatment of Sam Bankman-Fried, whose fraud was behind the largest ponzi scheme since Bernie Madoff, she has bested herself once more.

  Waters, the House Financial Services Committee Chair, is not planning on subpoenaing Sam Bankman-Fried, or is that Sam Bankman-Freed – to testify at the upcoming December 13th Congressional hearing about the collapse of FTX. 

  “Waters informed committee members of her decision at a private meeting Tuesday with Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler on Capitol Hill,” CNBC reported late in the day on Wednesday. 

  Waters apparently said “she wants committee staff try to convince Bankman-Fried to voluntarily testify”.

  

  And if he disagrees? Well… oops, but that’s what all those tens of millions in donations to Democrats were for. Or is that billions?

  That’s just the publicly disclosed number. His actual support of Dem elections is probably over $1B. The money went somewhere, so where did it go?

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2022

  For those still confused, one month after the historic implosion, Bankman-Fried appears to be getting away with one of the most blatant heists in history and still has not been held to account by any regulatory agency, other than what appeared to be some perfunctory palm greasing that may have taken place in the Bahamas. 

  Baffled by why there has been no consequences for Bankman-Fried, even while Democrats and the Biden administration perpetually rail against billionaires and the upper class? Well, there’s the small detail that Bankman-Fried and FTX associates gave $300,000 to the very same House Committee members that are investigating him, per the Washington Free Beacon:

  Bankman-Fried and his co-founders at FTX contributed $300,351 to nine members of the House Financial Services Committee, according to Federal Election Commission records. Some of the largest contributions were to Democrats on the committee’s Digital Assets Working Group, which worked on regulation of the crypto industry. 

  Recall that Maxine Waters has been already widely lampooned and ridiculed for the gentle treatment she has given Bankman-Fried thus far.  In an endearing sounding Tweet to SBF on December 2, 2022, asking him to testify in front of Conrgess, she wrote: “We appreciate that you’ve been candid in your discussions about what happened at FTX. Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.”

  The public was not amused by Waters’ approach.

  “If you don’t arrest him I will have lost all faith in our government being the tiniest bit of just,” bitcoin advocate Dan Held responded to Waters. 

  “Rep. Waters, we appreciate that you’re holding a hearing on the 13th, and we look forward to substantive fact-finding about what happened at FTX. I am certain that factfinding will show that SBF has not, in fact, been candid in his discussions. He committed fraud, full stop,” commented Lawyer Jake Chervinsky.

  And then Bankman-Fried himself humiliated Waters by publicly shunning her offer to testify, telling Waters he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to testify on December 13th. 

  “Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain,” he wrote to her on Twitter. 

  Rep. Waters, and the House Committee on Financial Services:

  Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain.

  I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it does, I will testify. https://t.co/c0P8yKlyQt

  — SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 4, 2022

  And to think, SBF dodging the question of an appearance before the House on December 13 came even after Waters blew Bankman-Fried a kiss…

  CAUGHT: Maxine Waters appears to blow a kiss at FTX’s chief fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried at a Congressional hearing while the cameras were still rolling

  She’s the one who’s supposed to grill SBF next month?

  pic.twitter.com/qxWXuNsyuK

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 18, 2022

  We guess the ole’ Willie Brown treatment doesn’t quite work with the charm it used to. Maybe Maxine can have Kamala Harris stand in for her next time. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 18:00

• Russia's Oil Exports Nosedive Following Price Cap
  Russia’s Oil Exports Nosedive Following Price Cap

  By Alex Kimani of OilPrice.com

  Russian crude-oil exports have taken a serious hit since new sanctions and a price cap came into force earlier in the week, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that figures from two data providers on Russian crude both show a big fall, though their magnitudes differ. 

  

  According to one commodity-analytics firm Kpler, Russia’s seaborne exports fell by nearly 500,000 barrels per day on Tuesday, a 16% decline from the November average of 3.08 million bpd. 

  Meanwhile, TankerTrackers.com, which tracks sea vessels using signals and satellite images, has reported that Russia’s crude exports fell by nearly 50%. With shipments from the Black Sea and Baltic ports accounting for most of the fall.

  According to Samir Madani, cofounder of TankerTrackers.com, this is a notable drop rather than a blip, “Russian exports have been moving steadily up until now. The two biggest visible snags are in the Black and Baltic seas. Pacific and Arctic regions remain unaffected, at least for now”.

  Analysts at StanChart have predicted that Russia’s crude production is set to fall sharply in the coming year, noting that the key unknown is whether Russia can transport oil to its major consumers (including providing adequate insurance) without using EU or other G7 services. 

  According to StanChart, Russia has acquired a large enough ‘shadow’ tanker fleet since its invasion of Ukraine that it can use to move most of the displaced volumes; however, the analysts note that the insurance aspect is likely to cause significant issues. This situation leads analysts to predict that Russian crude output is likely to fall by 1.44 million barrels per day in 2023 thanks to a progressive shortage of high-quality equipment and a lack of access to international service companies.

  At the same time, we are seeing a traffic jam of more than a dozen oil tankers stuck in the Turkish Straits thanks to a dispute between maritime insurers and the local authorities due to the new sanctions and price cap.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 17:40

• China Confirms It Is "Mystery" Massive Gold Buyer With First Official Purchase In 3 Years
  China Confirms It Is “Mystery” Massive Gold Buyer With First Official Purchase In 3 Years

  One month ago, we sparked a frenzy across precious metals circles when we reported that a “mystery” buyer had bought some 300 tons of gold, roughly three quarters of what would be a record 399 tons of central bank gold purchases in the third quarter.

  

  While regular readers already know the details (which we laid out here), here again is the bigger picture: Central banks bought a net 399.3 tonnes of gold in the July-September period, more than quadrupling on the year, according to the November report by the World Gold Council. The latest amount marks a steep jump from 186 tonnes in the preceding quarter and 87.7 tonnes in the first quarter, while the year-to-date total alone surpasses any full year since 1967.

  Buyers such as the central banks of Turkey, Uzbekistan and India reported purchases of 31.2 tonnes, 26.1 tonnes and 17.5 tonnes, respectively. The problem, as we calculated at the start of November, is that those amounts only add up to roughly 90 tonnes – “meaning it is unclear who bought the remaining roughly 300 tonnes net.”

  And while we clearly had one name as the most likely suspect behind the residual buying, it wasn’t until a report two weeks later by Japan’s Nikkei that said name emerged front and center.

  According to the Nikkei, which paraphrased verbatim what we had previously said, with central banks snapping up gold this year amid uncertainty which ones are behind most of that shopping spree, “speculation emerged that China is a big player.” And citing analysts, the Nikkei then goes on to suggest that seeing how Russia has been hit by monetary sanctions by the West, “China and some other countries must be hurrying to reduce dependence on the dollar.“

  “Seeing how Russia’s overseas assets were frozen after its invasion of Ukraine, anti-Western countries are eager to accumulate gold holdings on hand,” said Emin Yurumazu, a Japan-based economist from Turkey.

  Those familiar with China’s gold buying patterns are all too aware that Beijing has made similar moves in the past. After keeping radio-silent since 2009, Beijing shocked the market in 2015 when it disclosed it had boosted gold holdings by about 600 tonnes. It has not reported any activity since September 2019.

  “China likely bought a substantial amount of gold from Russia,” added market analyst Itsuo Toshima. According to Toshima, the People’s Bank of China likely bought a portion of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation’s gold holdings of over 2,000 tonnes.

  * * *

  Fast forward to today when while we still don’t know if Russia sold some of its gold to China – all we know is that Russia did sell some gold in recent months after its holdings hit a record in 2020…

  

  … what we do know for a fact is that China was indeed loading up on gold.

  We know this, because overnight the PBOC officially reported an increase in its gold reserves for the first time in more than three years, confirming that the world’s most populous country was indeed the mystery buyer in the bullion market.

  In keeping with a time-honored practice of masking its purchases for years (the “dormant” period between 2009 and 2015 when China did not reveal any purchases, and then suddenly reported a 57% jump in reserves being the most famous) and then only gradually letting on how much it had purchased, on Wednesday the Chinese central bank raised its holdings by 32 tons in November from the month before and really from the last official update in Sept 2019, according to data on its website.

  

  That brought its total to 1,980 tons (or 63.67m fine troy ounces) the sixth-biggest central bank bullion hoard in the world, but similar to previous disclosures it is likely that China has purchased far more in the past three years but will only reveal just how much in coming months. That said, China has a long way to go for its gold holdings to catch up to the US (which may or may not have the gold it represents), and even if combined with Russia’s holdings, the two countries would still not be the world’s largest gold holder.

  

  Why now? Well, as Bloomberg reports, echoing Nikkei above, “for China, the need to find an alternative to dollars, which dominate its reserves, has rarely been greater.” Tensions with the US have been high since measures taken against its semiconductor firms, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated Washington’s willingness to sanction central bank reserves. In other words, now that the US has shown it is ready to weaponize the dollar, any USD reserves held by the Fed, Western banks or any other counterparty, could and will be promptly confiscated if China does something unpalatable… like invading Taiwan. Which is why China is desperately seeking money without counterparty risk. Here it has just two choices: crypto or gold. For now, it has picked the latter.

  Others echoed this dedollarization thesis which we have been pushing for years: according to UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, the PBOC’s purchases may be part of a plan to diversify its reserves away from the dollar: “Gold holdings in China as part of the total reserves are still very low, so there is probably room for further purchases down the road.”

  As regular readers are well aware, China has previously gone long periods without disclosing changes in its gold holdings. When the central bank announced a 57% jump in reserves to 53.3 million ounces in mid-2015, it was the first update in six years. It took another breather from the end of October 2016, before resuming reporting purchases in December 2018.

  While central bank buying rarely drives sustainable gold rallies, it can provide an important pillar of support when prices fall. The precious metal has been under pressure this year from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening, though it has held up relatively well against moves in the dollar and Treasury yields.

  “As deglobalisation accelerates, the non-G-10 nations are expected to ‘re-commoditize’ and ramp up gold holdings,” said Nicky Shiels, head of strategy at MKS PAMP SA.

  Meanwhile, as Zoltan Pozsar wrote yesterday in a must-read note, the role of gold may be changing as first Russia, then other countries (China) seek to force out the petrodollar and replace it with petrogold, a move which would finally lead to substantial price upside for the yellow metal which has gone nowhere in the past 2 years.

  Gold rose to $1,782 an ounce by 12:30pm ET. Bullion had a shortlived rally back above $1,800 on Friday, and is down about 3% this year.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/07/2022 – 17:30

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