Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, The US is constantly accusing countries like Russia and China of carrying out cyberattacks, and comments from President Biden on Tuesday suggest he could use these claims as a pretext for military intervention. He warned that if Washington ended up in a “real shooting war with a major power,” […]

As concerns about China’s demographic deterioration intensifies (stoked by news that the country’s birthrate fell to its lowest level in 2020 since CCP record-keeping began in 1949), one city in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province is offering couples subsidies per month to make babies.  China is battling not one but three demons: insurmountable debts, deflation, and demographics […]

Not to be outdone by the federal government, the state of California and it’s top public health officials have decided to implement and even more restrictive indoor masking mandate than the CDC unveiled yesterday. The LA Times reports that California is urging everybody – whether fully vaccinated or not – to mask up indoors when […]

Ecuador this week took the major step of revoking WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s citizenship at a moment he’s languishing in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison while awaiting further US extradition request legal proceedings. The Australian had initially received Ecuadorian citizenship in January 2018 as part of a failed bid of then-President Lenín Moreno, an avid supporter of […]

Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov via The Epoch Times, A top Biden-appointed immigration official issued a memo last week directing immigration judges to stop using the term “illegal aliens” to describe illegal aliens. In a July 23 memo titled “Terminology,” Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) Jean King directed immigration judges to […]

Scientists initially estimated that 60 to 70 percent of a population would have to acquire resistance to Covid-19 in order for herd immunity to take effect, a threshold that has been revised upwards since the start of the year with 80 to 85 percent quoted in some cases. Additionally, as Statista’s Niall McCarthy notes that […]

Two additional whistleblowers have come forward, accusing federal contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department of Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, TX of mistreating children and telling them to downplay hundreds of COVID-19 infections among the children detained at the facility. “Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread […]

Almost two years ago, before the world’s central banks coordinated to inject tens of trillions of liquidity into the financial system under the pretext of fighting a virus, we said that Masa Son’s Japanese bizarro conglomerate SoftBank will one day be the bubble era’s Short of the Century, and we still stand by this suggestion. […]

A restaurant in Huntington Beach, California is requiring that patrons show proof they’re unvaccinated before they can receive service. “PROOF OF BEING UNVACCINATED REQUIRED,” reads a sign taped to the window at Basilico’s Pasta e Vino, according to NBC LA. “Our American way of life is under attack,” wrote owner Tony Roman in a statement […]

By Nate Tabak of FreightWaves, Thousands of Canada Border Services Agency personnel have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike – something that could throw a wrench into port, cross-border trucking, airfreight and international parcel operations.  The strike could happen as early as Aug. 6, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and its Customs and Immigration […]

While CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Anthony Fauci insist that Americans must get vaccinated to protect “the children” from the delta variant (although the vaccines can’t offer a guarantee of protection against it), it’s refreshing to hear from another public health expert who disagrees with the official approach. Often since the start of the […]

By Michael Every of Rabobank Mask/On It’s kabuki time again, folks. First, re: China. Markets continue to be buffeted by regulatory actions, with even the likes of giant Tencent conflated with -10% (actually -8.9% on the day, -20.9% YTD). As I underlined yesterday, in order to guess where the sectoral crack-down goes next, one needs […]

Just like clockwork, now that the CDC has ordered up another mask mandate, we’re seeing cities revive their efforts to incentivize citizens to get the vaccine by offering perks like monetary handouts. To wit, NYC just announced that it will start giving out $100 to any New Yorker who gets their first COVID shot. The […]

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com, For months, the markets have anticipated the Fed tightening monetary policy in order to take on rising inflation. At the June FOMC meeting, the central bank even hinted that it might start raising interest rates in 2023 instead of 2024, and the central bankers apparently talked about talking about tapering […]

China’s latest US sanctions countermeasures focusing on Hong Kong and Macau said to be under preparation look to be the furthest reaching in terms of outright barring any foreign entity that complies with Washington. The new laws for Hong Kong and Macau would proactively prevent foreign entities and individuals from complying with US-led sanctions by […]

Summary: as Newsquawk recaps, summarizing the broad sellside consensus going into today’s FOMC meeting, there is still not enough information for the Fed to cast judgement on whether the ‘substantial further progress’ threshold for pivoting towards tighter policy has been met. Indeed, the Fed is unlikely to get clarity on these questions until later this […]

Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov via The Epoch Times, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a teleconference on Tuesday that her biggest concern is that the CCP virus may be “just a few mutations” away from being able to evade vaccines. “The largest concern that I think we in public […]

A ‘bipartisan’ group of Senators on Wednesday have finally reached a deal on a $1.2 trillion “hard” infrastructure package, following ‘weeks of long nights and endless Zoom calls,’ according to Axios. “We now have an agreement on the major issues,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), lead GOP negotiator for a group of Republicans which includes […]

Just hours after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky unveiled the agency’s new indoor mask mandate, Dr. Anthony Fauci was dispatched to MSNBC, his favorite network, to push the Biden Administration’s narrative for reversing course and tightening federal restrictions despite repeated promises not to. He also tried to shift the focus to the risk to children, who […]

A derecho, otherwise known as a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm, is expected to traverse parts of the Midwest Wednesday night and early Thursday, according to The Weather Channel.  Derechos can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, torrential rains, and flash floods. This one could wreak havoc in the areas shaded in purple below.  What’s important to note […]

Authored by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute, “The executive power in our government is not the only, perhaps not even the principal, object of my solicitude. The tyranny of the legislature is really the danger most to be feared, and will continue to be so for many years to come. […]

Meet Russia’s state of the art, currently in development, ‘Doomsday plane’, which is intended to transport the country’s senior political and military leadership in any future instance of a nuclear attack: The Russian Air Force and Space Forces will receive two airborne commanding posts based on the Il-96-400M plane, according to Russian government news agency […]

Authored by Daniel Teng via The Epoch Times, One law professor says describing protestors as “anarchists” is incorrect, and instead, the thousands-strong rallies on the weekend was a “reminder” to political leaders that they were accountable to the public, not just health officials. On July 24, thousands of people took the streets of Sydney and […]

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released the results of its fourth seroprevalence study which was conducted across 21 states in June and July with 36,227 people participating, including 7,252 healthcare workers. It found that 67.6 percent of people over six years of age, some two-thirds of India’s population, have Sars-CoV-2 antibodies. However, as Statista’s […]

Authored by Charlotte Cuthbertson via The Epoch Times, South Texas’s Rio Grande Valley has been the busiest border sector for illegal alien crossings for years. But last week a sudden spike in numbers saw Border Patrol apprehend more than 20,000 illegal immigrants in one week. “It’s the hottest part of the summer and apprehensions are […]

Despite recently being seen as among the most supportive JCPOA signatories who want to see a completed nuclear deal, France is now accusing Iran of needlessly dragging out indirect negotiations with the US in Vienna. The talks have remained stalled ahead of the seventh round of talks, which the Iranian side said would resume after Iran’s […]

Earlier today we said that with Chinese stocks suffering historic losses, HK’s tech sector imploding.. … and liquidation fears spreading to other, more serious products such as bonds and FX, it was only a matter of time before China’s “National Team”, i.e., the local plunge protection team, came out in full force to preserve confidence […]

A former Air Force intelligence analyst turned whistleblower who leaked America’s drone secrets to the press was sentenced to 45 months behind bars in an Alexandria, VA federal court on Tuesday. 33-year old Daniel Hale is now widely understood to be the leaker of classified info to Intercept journalist Jeremy Scahill, who wrote a series of reports on […]

California Governor Gavin Newsom pulled his children from a summer camp after photos surfaced of his son attending without a mask while indoors – in clear violation of Newsom’s own guidance. And while the camp explicitly tells parents “Masks will not be enforced,” Newsom – who’s facing a recall – is playing it off like […]

Submitted by Joseph Carson, former chief economist at Alliance Bernstein Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in 2021 faces a similar challenge that former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan faced in 1994. Fast growth as the economy re-opened triggered substantial cyclical inflation pressures, somewhat similar to 1994 when headwinds from tight credit and balance sheets strains faded. […]

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for Democratic Rep. Philip Cortez, who fled the state along with other Democrats to Washington DC in order to stonewall a pair of GOP-backed election integrity bills (and then became super-spreaders). Speaker Dade Phelan presides over the Texas House of Representatives. Photo: Jordan […]

As Deutsche credit strategist Jim Reid reminds clients this morning, looking back at his list of biggest risks for 2021 at the very top was the (low) probability that the tech bubble – far bigger today than it ever was during the dot com frenzy – would finally burst. Well, as Reid writes, “it seems […]

Ahead of today’s auction, there was the usual split among rates traders, with half saying the auction should tail due to today’s drop in yields and due to the risk of tomorrow’s FOMC meeting, and the other half expecting a stop through thanks to today’s general risk off sentiment. Well, both were wrong because moments […]

With central banks getting ever closer to the day when in a desperation attempt to overhaul the failing monetary system they will all issue their own digital currencies – which despite the name have absolutely nothing in common with cryptocurrencies and in fact seek to eliminate every last trace of user privacy while enabling central […]

Authored by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com, Great news: The US economy is officially out of recession. We know this because the National Bureau of Economic Research’s official recession-calling committee said so this week. The economy has been in an expansion phase since last April, making this the shortest recession on record at only two months. The NBER […]

After urging agency heads at the July 19 meeting to “act quickly” to ensure stablecoins face appropriate rules, according to a brief Treasury Department statement: Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen convened the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG), joined by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance […]

Authored by John Sexton via HotAir.com, Earlier this month Jeff Bezos flew about 66 miles up on his Blue Origin New Shepard launch vehicle. Today, Bezos is making a play for the next step in Blue Origin’s development. He’s asking NASA to reconsider it’s decision to award SpaceX the sole contract to bring astronauts back […]

The general consensus in the aftermath of Monday’s high level diplomatic meeting between US officials led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman with the Chinese delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng in the northern Chines port city of Tianjin is that the only ‘positive’ outcome is that the hostilities weren’t on as open a […]

Submitted by Harley Bassman, creator of the bond VIX and author of the Convexity Maven blog Open Letter To The Fed (pdf link) In 1986 Herbert Stein, a University of Chicago economist and onetime Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, modestly proposed Stein’s Law: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” […]

Just when you thought it was over… they reel you back in to wearing masks and shrug off all the science they said was settled. The stock markets do not like the news as growth is slammed (also not helped by contagion from China tech). Nasdaq ansd Small Caps are leading the plunge. This is […]

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times, The race is already on to build and extend Afghanistan’s shattered infrastructure as rival powers advance competing initiatives… Afghan security forces deployed and start operations against Taliban around Torkham border point between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on July 23, 2021. Photo: AFP via Anadolu […]

Over half of those hospitalized with Covid-19 in the UK only tested positive after admission – suggesting that “vast numbers are being classed as hospitalised by Covid when they were admitted with other ailments, with the virus picked up by routine testing,” according to The Telegraph, citing leaked government figures. The takeaway? Oft-cited statistics published […]

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, Cincinnati has once again topped the list of major U.S. cities where renters can afford to live alone, according to a recent report. SmartAsset, an online resource for personal financial advice, said in its most recent annual report on the most affordable cities for solo renters that Ohio’s third […]

A Texas Black Lives Matter group called Dallas Justice Now (DJN) has sent a letter to white Democrats in two wealthy Texas neighborhoods demanding that white parents pledge not to let their kids attend Ivy League schools so that black students can attend instead. “We are writing to you because we understand you are white […]

Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times, While at a stoplight in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Shaneika Joyner and her daughter watched an amorphous, cloud-like body glide across the sky. “Is it a ship?” Joyner’s daughter asked in the video, filmed early in July. Joyner told The Epoch Times she watched it for several […]

Just days after we learned that Goldman is quietly clearing and settling cryptocurrency exchange-traded products for some hedge fund clients in Europe, on Monday the bank which has been increasingly ramping up its exposure to crypto currencies in recent months, filed an application with the SEC for a crypto ETF, and not just any ETF […]

Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com, “This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal that absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.” George Orwell, Animal Farm Everything is now political. ESG, climate change, racism, gender, vaccines. Ask yourself why is it that  all of these things are non-negotiable? Why can’t they […]

Approximately 59 million Americans spanning five states can’t buy Dell’s high-end Alienware brand desktop PCs “due to power consumption regulations.” When one goes to the Dell Alienware online configurator to buy an Aurora R12 gaming desktop, a special notice appears which reads: This product cannot be shipped to the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, […]

Authored by Peter Ridd via ClimateChangeDispatch.com, The annual data on coral cover for the Great Barrier Reef, produced by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, was released on Monday showing the amount of coral on the reef is at record high levels. Record high, despite all the doom stories by our reef science and management […]

A United Nations monitor issued figures on Monday showing that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have soared over the period the United States began rapidly withdrawing forces ahead of Biden’s declared full exit, which is to be accomplished before the symbolic date of September 11.  Civilian casualties in the war-torn country hit record highs for the […]