Crime Is Skyrocketing All Over America And Cops Are Killing Themselves

Crime Is Skyrocketing All Over America And Cops Are Killing Themselves Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2020 - 14:45 Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog, What did they think was going to happen?  For weeks, the mainstream media and many politicians on the left have been relentlessly praising the chaos, rioting and violence that has been taking place in major cities all across America.  Meanwhile, the mainstream media and many politicians on the left have also been demonizing the police and have been promoting those that are calling for them to be defunded.  It was inevitable that there would be consequences, and they have been quite dramatic.  Crime rates are skyrocketing all over the nation, and demoralized police officers are committing suicide.  And if the mainstream media and many politicians on the left do not end their irresponsible rhetoric, things will get even worse. Are there bad police officers?  Of course there are, just like there are bad individuals in any profession.  But to demonize all police officers because of the actions of a few is something that no responsible journalist or politician should ever do. Without the police, our society would rapidly devolve into complete and utter chaos.  I am so thankful for the men and women in blue that put their lives on the line every single day to protect all of us, and I certainly would not want to live in a society that did not have any police. Over the past couple of months, the entire profession has been relentlessly demonized by the media and by many of our politicians, and this has resulted in a crisis of morale in police departments all over the nation that is absolutely unprecedented. And as they see the police being publicly trashed on television, many average Americans have decided that it is fair game for them to do the same thing, and this has especially been true in our major cities.  The way that police officers are being treated in many parts of the country has been completely and utterly shameful, and it was inevitable that some officers would be pushed past their breaking points. On Tuesday, a newly promoted officer in Chicago named Dion Boyd shocked the entire city when he shot himself in the head… A newly promoted Chicago police deputy chief was found dead Tuesday morning of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Homan Square police facility on the West Side. The death of Dion Boyd, 57, was announced at Chicago Police Department headquarters Tuesday afternoon by Supt. David Brown. And then just one day later, on Wednesday, a police officer in New Jersey named Daniel Pagnotta decided that he couldn’t take any more… A veteran Trenton police officer took his own life in a parking lot Wednesday, officials said. Sgt. Daniel Pagnotta, a 21-year-veteran of the department, died this morning in Plainsboro, according to a city spokesman. These men leave behind a lot of people that loved them.  It greatly saddened me to read that Pagnotta was a “father of two who loved soccer”… The statement described Pagnotta as a devoted husband and father of two who loved soccer and making people laugh. His father, also named Dan, is a retired Trenton police officer. What are those children supposed to do now? Their father is gone and he is never coming back again. Sadly, life for police officers in America is only going to get rougher because crime rates are absolutely skyrocketing. According to reporter Alex Berenson, murder rates are up dramatically “in practically every big city”… It’s not just a few cities: homicides are up 10-50% year-over-year in practically every big city – Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, St. Louis, Miami – everywhere. Forget the crack epidemic. Murder rates haven’t gone this bad this fast since the late 1960s. But it wasn’t as if someone suddenly flipped a switch at the beginning of January.  The truth is that crime rates didn’t start to explode until the riots came along. Once everyone saw what the rioters were getting away with and that the media approved, it changed everything.  Criminals all over the country suddenly felt like they had a green light to go absolutely crazy, and that is precisely what we have been witnessing. The tragic death of George Floyd should have brought us together as a nation and should have caused all of us to value human life more. Ironically, in the very city where George Floyd died there have already been more murders in 2020 than “in all of 2019”. The criminals in Minneapolis have become extremely brazen.  Robberies are up 36 percent so far this year, car theft is up 46 percent, and many of these crimes are being committed in broad daylight. It is not just a coincidence that Democrats run nearly all of the major cities where crime rates are absolutely exploding. Tolerating the rioting, looting and chaos that the protesters have been engaging in has been a huge mistake, because it just invites even more crime. The mainstream media and many politicians on the left keep referring to the riots as “peaceful protests” even though everyone can see the violence that is happening.  It is almost as if they believe that if they just say the phrase “peaceful protests” enough that we will all be brainwashed into believing the narrative that they are trying to push. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Representative Jim Jordan played a video montage of the violence that is happening during these riots, and that has gotten him a lot of attention. But even though most of the “journalists” in the mainstream media are criticizing him, I greatly applaud him for having the courage to condemn the rioters. There is no place in a civilized society for such violence, and it needs to end. Unfortunately, what we have seen so far is just the beginning, because a lot more civil unrest is coming. In America today, “right” has become “wrong” and “wrong” has become “right”, and we have raised an entire generation without any moral foundation whatsoever. Now we are experiencing the consequences for raising our children so poorly, and they are going to be very bitter consequences indeed.
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Apple Being Investigated By "Majority" Of States Over Claims Of Deliberately Slowing Old iPhones

Apple Being Investigated By "Majority" Of States Over Claims Of Deliberately Slowing Old iPhones Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2020 - 14:25 Just ask Apple: it's easy to crush earnings expectations - especially if you are forcing droves of iPhone owners to ditch their old phones and buy new ones.  Right around the time that Apple stock was surging to new highs thanks to a better than expected earnings report and stock split, another story was surfacing: Arizona is leading a multi-state investigation into whether or not Apple is deliberately slowing its old iPhones, and whether such practices would violate deceptive trade laws.  A probe has been ongoing "since 2018" and investigators are focusing on data that shows "unexpected shutdowns" of old Apple iPhones and the company's potential slowing down of devices using power management software, according to Reuters.  Documents obtained last week from a Texas watchdog group showed that the Texas AG was also involved in the investigation. Sources told Reuters that a "majority of U.S. states", with AGs spanning both parties, are involved and are "teaming up" together in the probe.  Recall, in 2017, Apple came under fire after Primate Labs revealed that iPhones slowed down as they aged. Apple conceded that reduced power demands led to the slowdowns and that its adjustments were necessary to prevent phones from shutting down due to "unexpected" power spikes. We guess now they only have expected shutdowns. Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a related class action lawsuit earlier this year.  Apple shares are now at record levels after second-quarter results that prompted multiple price-target increases from Wall Street analysts, and reassured that the iPhone-maker’s business was weathering any impact from the pandemic. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said that they had underestimated how much people were spending to support their working and studying from home, as well as the amount of cash that had been freed up as consumers cut back spending on areas like entertainment and gas. Piper Sandler analysts said they see further strength for Apple’s business, which should benefit from the launch of its new 5G-enabled iPhone, expected later this year. Keep an eye on your current iPhone to see if it slows down around that time...
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HEROES vs HEALS: Will Congress Blink?

HEROES vs HEALS: Will Congress Blink? Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2020 - 14:04 One month ago we warned that, absent a deal to extend the record US fiscal stimulus underwritten during the covid shutdowns, the US economy was "about to fly off a fiscal cliff", resulting an even bigger hit to US consumption than that seen in Q2, and since it makes up 70% of US GDP, leading to another devastating hit to the economy. With the official deadline now past and the $600 in weekly expanded unemployment benefits ending today, have we flown off the cliff, or will - as Bank of America writes this morning - Congress blink after all? HEROES vs. HEALS As BOfA's chief economist Michelle Meyer recaps today, the next round of stimulus - considered to be Phase IV - is proving to be harder to get through than the first three. The Democrats have put forward the HEROES bill of $3.4tr while the Republicans have their HEALS bill of $1.1tr. The two bills are summarized in the exhibit below based on work from the Center for Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). Not only is there a significant difference in the dollar amount but also the intent of the policy. For what it's worth, BofA continues to expect that a bill is passed in early August likely coming in above the HEALS act but still significantly short of the HEREOS. The bank's economists review the various pressure points and assess the impact on the economy. Can’t we all get along As BofA summarizes, the main area of agreement is over stimulus checks as both the Reps and Dems are calling for a second round of checks along the same lines of the CARES act – up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for joint filers - though the HEROES act includes $1,200/dependent for up to three, while the HEALS act includes $500 for all dependents. According to CRFB, this provision would amount to $300bn under the Republican proposal and $413bn under the Democratic proposal. The stimulus checks should be able to be rolled out fairly quickly. The CARES Act was signed on March 27 and money started to hit bank accounts on April 15th with about three-quarters of funds being distributed by the end of the month. If the legislation is signed into law in the first half of August, we should start to see the money flow in before the end of the month with the biggest support in early September. What does this do for the economy? A working paper by the Chicago Fed (Karger E. and Rajan A.) found that 48% of the checks were spent over a 2-week period. The rest was saved or used to pay down debt (frankly, we think this is dead wrong as billions of stimulus funds clearly funneled into brokerage accounts as the Robinhood euphoria has made all too clear). Plugging in this marginal propensity to consumer (MPC) to the $300-413bn range of stimulus funds and assume that about three-quarters will be distributed efficiently, it could boost the level of consumer spending by about 10%, likely showing up most significantly for the September retail sales report. The stimulus checks create a “hump-like” trajectory for income and savings. We simulate the path for income and spending going forward to capture the impact of the stimulus checks (assuming the Republican proposal for unemployment benefits). You can clearly see: * hump in income; * temporary bounce in savings; * lagged response in consumer spending No way, no how There are two main areas of disagreement over the stimulus: unemployment benefits and state & local aid. The CARES Act added an additional $600/week to unemployment insurance (UI) and expanded eligibility to self-employed and gig workers. To put this into perspective, prior to CARES, the average weekly UI was $373/week in 2020 1Q. As such, the “replacement” income from UI spiked higher from an average of 38%. If the average weekly wage of UI recipients was unchanged, the replacement rate will be just under 100%. More likely, however, is that the average weekly wage of UI recipients has declined given that the recession had a disproportionate effect on hourly and low income workers. Indeed Ganong et al. estimate the current median  replacement rate to be 134%. The Democrats are calling for this program to be extended through January, while the Republicans are calling for two stages: 1) additional UI declines to $200/week through September; 2) formula imposed where UI goes to 70% of income. However, state unemployment offices have argued that it will be very challenging to put in place a  formula even with the additional money allocated by the Republican bill to update systems. We can estimate the impact to income and spending from these proposals. If the current policy continues, spending should remain at current levels. Job creation—and therefore labor income— will slowly reduce the unemployment benefits but it will simply be a substitution of income and therefore spending should continue to be supported. Assuming the current 30 million people on UI (standard program and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, although the true number is likely somewhat smaller given PUA counts retroactive weeks as a separate claim), the reduction to $200/week would slice about $12bn of personal income/week. BofA estimates the transition to a replacement rate of 70% would then boost the benefit to a little more than $300/week, on average. Therefore, personal income relative to the $600/week benefit would be reduced by about $9bn/week beginning in October. Assuming a MPC of about 70%, this proposal would reduce purchasing power by around $7.5bn/week in August and September, and by $5bn/week beginning in October. When will we see the impact? It will be a bit confusing because the stimulus check will provide an offset so the hit to consumer spending might not be clear until mid-to-late September. The other consideration is that we should see the number of people on UI decline as jobs return, reducing the shock to the consumer. More immediately BofA is quite concerned about the possibility of a temporary lapse of UI given that the CARES UI program expires on July 31st. There has been some discussion of a stopgap bill to prevent the decline in stimulus, but it doesn’t look like the central case. As such, for the next two weeks, we could see a decline in income of $18bn/week. This could weaken near-term spending — we will carefully monitor the aggregated BAC credit and debit card data to determine the impact. Of course, Congress could theoretically backdate the UI payments to make up for these lost weeks. State and local stress The Dems propose nearly $1tr for S&L aid while the Reps allow for greater flexibility to use the $150bn that has been allocated through the CARES Act. These funds could now be used to cover shortfalls in the FY2019 year. There is also a difference in education funding where the Reps allocate $105bn for education with 2/3rd reserved to help schools reopen for in-person education. To receive funding, the schools would need to meet “minimum opening requirements”. According to data compiled by NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) 32 states and DC have all revised down their revenue projections for FY2021from their preCOVID levels, illustrating the breadth of need for some type of state and local aid. Without additional funds, the risk is that S&L governments will continue to cut back on expenditures and employment. We have already seen 1.5mn jobs lost in S&L gov’ts since February You down with PPP 2.0? The Reps are calling for a new round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as well as more money for emergency business loans. The Reps PPP 2.0 would leave about $190bn of support for second loans for PPP recipients (which uses about $100bn from PPP 1.0) and change the eligibility to businesses with fewer than 300 employees (vs. the current 500) while requiring that firms demonstrate that their revenue fell by at least 50%. The change in business size would likely be marginal in terms of outreach as 86% of small business jobs are in companies with fewer than 250 employees. They also call for a liability shield to protect businesses from COVID-related lawsuits. The latter is a “red-line” for the Reps but Dems have argued that the liability shield would give large employers the ability to escape damages to their workers. It is difficult to precisely quantify the impact to the economy from this program but presumably it will help to keep small businesses afloat, supporting the labor market and likely resulting in a faster recovery of jobs. Bottom line: fiscal stimulus has been critical to restoring the health of the economy. As Chart 4 shows, the labor marker only recovered a third of the way back but yet retail spending has made a full recovery. How can the US solve for this differential? Only stimulus (and lot more of it). What comes next will determine the path forward for the economy. 
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Stocks Are Overvalued On 17 Of 20 Metrics; Growth Is A 6-Sigma Outlier To Value

Stocks Are Overvalued On 17 Of 20 Metrics; Growth Is A 6-Sigma Outlier To Value Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2020 - 13:50 With the S&P once again near all time highs even as profits are in freefall, pushing the EV/fwd EBITDA multiple to new all time highs... ... now seems a good time to ask the $64 trillion question: just how overvalued is the market? The answer: according to BofA's Savita Subramanian, the S&P 500 forward PE expanded in July to 21.8x from 21.5x in June, as returns (+4%) have outpaced estimate revisions (+ 2%). The current multiple is two standard deviations above the historical average of 15.4x (since 1986) - the highest since the Tech Bubble. Stepping back, BofA finds that stocks are trading above average on all but three of the 20 measures its tracks. Most notably, the forward PEG is at record highs (2.3x) and the median forward PE (20.7x) is in-line with the prior record of 20.8x. Only on the equity risk premium (i.e., relative to bonds) and on free cash flow (artificially depressed from low capex) does the S&P appear statistically inexpensive. Both of those metrics are due to the Fed's direct purchases of billions in bonds every single day. But wait, it gets crazier, because BofA also finds that the "Growth vs. Value" relative price/book value is in the 6-sigma "stratosphere". As Subramanian writes, "we have seen increasingly extended relative valuations for Growth and Value stocks, supporting our preference for Value for at least the next few months." To wit, on some valuation measures, the Russell 1000 Growth index trades at a historical discount to Value index on Price to L/T EPS Growth (PEG), it trades at a premium on other metrics (such as sales or trailing/forward earnings), but nowhere is the distorted valuation more visible than on a Price/Book basis where the relative multiple looks to have gone "vertical". In short, value stocks trade at near-record levels of cheapness vs. Momentum (relative forward P/E ~2 standard deviations below average and at lowest levels since Tech Bubble extremes), yet none of this matters as the Fed's now constant market interventions make growth stocks the consistent winner at the expense of value.
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US GDP Seen Rebounding 11.9% In Q3 By Atlanta Fed

US GDP Seen Rebounding 11.9% In Q3 By Atlanta Fed Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2020 - 12:46 One day after the BEA reported that US GDP crashed an annualized 32.9% in the second quarter, the biggest drop since the great depression... ... moments ago, the Atlanta Fed published its first GDPNow "nowcast" estimate for the third quarter, which is a relatively healthy 11.9%, and follows the regional Fed's Q2 GDP estimate which was 0.8% above the official BEA print, at -32.1%. The Atlanta Fed's Q3 estimate is most pessimistic than the 18% Q3 GDP consensus estimate from 63 economists polled by Bloomberg, although both of these numbers will be woefully inaccurate if more US states decide to follow through with another round of shutdowns. It goes without saying that if Congress fails to roll over the expiring unemployment benefits into August- which as noted earlier now are instrumental in the record 25% of personal income that is funded by the US government... ... Q3 GDP will be another unmitigated disaster and far below any official estimates.
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Trader Joe's Reverses Course, Refuses To Kowtow To Outrage Mob

Trader Joe's Reverses Course, Refuses To Kowtow To Outrage Mob Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2020 - 14:45 Authored by Monica Showalter via AmericanThinker.com, Have we reached Peak Corporate Cave-In? It kind of looks like it - Trader Joe's has decided to reverse course and not change all the brand labels of its products to satisfy the wokeness demands of a tiny, largely white, racism-parsing left-wing mob. Here's their statement: (emphasis ours) To Our Valued Customers: In light of recent feedback and attention we’ve received about our product naming, we have some things we’d like to say to clarify our approach.  A few weeks ago, an online petition was launched calling on us to “remove racist packaging from [our] products.” Following were inaccurate reports that the petition prompted us to take action. We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions.  We make decisions based on what customers purchase, as well as the feedback we receive from our customers and Crew Members. If we feel there is need for change, we do not hesitate to take action.  Decades ago, our Buying Team started using product names, like Trader Giotto’s, Trader José’s, Trader Ming’s, etc. We thought then—and still do—that this naming of products could be fun and show appreciation for other cultures. For example, we named our Mexican beer “Trader José Premium” and a couple guacamole products are called “Avocado’s Number” in a kitschy reference to a mathematical theory.  These products have been really popular with our customers, including some budding mathematicians.   We constantly reevaluate what we are doing to ensure it makes sense for our business and aligns with customers’ expectations. A couple years ago we asked our Buying Team to review all our products to see if we needed to update any older packages, and also see if the associated brands developed years ago needed to be refreshed. We found that some of the older names or products just weren’t connecting or selling very well; so, they were discontinued. It’s kind of what we do. Recently we have heard from many customers reaffirming that these name variations are largely viewed in exactly the way they were intended­—as an attempt to have fun with our product marketing. We continue our ongoing evaluation, and those products that resonate with our customers and sell well will remain on our shelves. Trader Joe’s has been a unique, fun and neighborly place to shop for over 50 years. We look forward to taking care of our wonderful customers for many future decades. That's a big change from all the cancel culture that's taking every minority face off food-label packaging, from Mrs. Butterworth, to the Cream of Wheat man, to Aunt Jemima, to Eskimo Pies, to the Land O'Lakes Indian maiden and more, leaving just the faces of whites on the packages. Trader Jose, Trader Ming, Arabian Joe, Maitre Pierre, Trader Giotto, Trader Joe San and the rest, though, look like they might just stay, just as their customers like. Reading through the lines of the corporate statement tells us a lot of just why, and almost all of it is commendable: 1. They refute flat out that their products are racist: We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. Glad they got that out of the way, nice to see a full frontal from what had been a bunch of corporate jellyfish. 2. They note that they are hearing from people: We make decisions based on what customers purchase, as well as the feedback we receive from our customers and Crew Members. ...and... Recently we have heard from many customers reaffirming that these name variations are largely viewed in exactly the way they were intended­—as an attempt to have fun with our product marketing.  ...and it's scaring them straight. They must have been flooded with angry customers disgusted at seeing their beloved company cave in to political correctness. What next, replacing all the spicy food with bland pabulum, to keep all the cultural appropriation out and satisfy the far-left mob? Make the high-chair spoon throwers happy? Obviously, the customers rebelled. 3. They remember that they are a business: We make decisions based on what customers purchase,  ...and... those products that resonate with our customers and sell well will remain on our shelves. Nice to see a company remember what it is -- no Silicon Valley/Portland/Seattle-style claptrap about 'changing the world' from them. If something's profitable, they keep their customers happy. And what's more, customers agree. Here are some very recent comments that went onto the Change.org petition to force the company to take its cutesy ethnic names off its products: One little white lie mars Trader Joe's excellent pullback from its earlier stance - its claim that the petition to take the names off the shelves had no effect on it. Here's an excerpt of what they were saying via the Change.org petition to shut their brands down: “While this approach to product naming may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect— one that is contrary to the welcoming, rewarding customer experience we strive to create every day.” “…we made the decision several years ago to use only the Trader Joe's name on our products moving forward. Since then, we have been in the process of updating older labels and replacing any variations with the name Trader Joe's, and we will continue do so until we complete this important work.” Yes, it did have an effect, and now the lefties are gathering more signatures to complain further. See how Change.org arranged the two statements and framed the issue on its site. They thought they had a cave-in from Big Corporate, and now are upset that they don't. But the rest of us see something good happening. Trader Joe's must have taken a look at who was behind the petition and decided it was total bee ess. Who's behind it? A rich little wokester white high school teenager no doubt eager to please her teachers and college admissions committees named Briones Bedell. Rest assured she knows nothing about racism, she's just another Karen looking to 'atone.' Second, she drew very few signatures to her petition, a miserable 4,900 at last count, falling short of her 5,000 goal. This, despite fawning media profiles linked on her Twitter feed and copious glowing press. Seriously, she got less than 5,000 signatures and a lot of people trolling her. That doesn't sound like the person who's earned a right to push around big corporations, except that she knows they'll let her. Maybe not now. The remark by the Trader Joe's employee above tells the real story - that Trader Joe's introduces Americans to a wonderful variety of unique food they might not ever taste were there no Trader Joe's. It's cultural sharing in the best sense of the word and it delights millions and millions. Who would have tasted Alsace Tarte Tatin or Dukkah spice (please, please Trader Joe's BRING IT BACK), or Mandarin orange chicken, the top-selling item in the store, or Salvadoran coffee, or Indian Palak Paneer, or Thai eggplant, or Peruvian chimichurri rice without it? So many tasty things to be found there, and tons of things that adapt to special diets, love the sugar-free sliced turkey they stock, try to find it elsewhere. The Middle Eastern ghee, by the way, should be labeled 'ghee' and not 'clarified butter' and come in a bigger jar, what's with the white-bread sanitizing there? Bottom line, though, is that Trader Joe's introduces American palates to new kinds of foods and that's a heckuva lot better than mushed blandness, the same no matter where you go, all designed for high-chair wokester tastes. What this sniveling ignorant little white teenager doesn't get is there's a difference between appropriation and appreciation, as a far smarter and more brilliant black teenager has explained exquisitely here: Morgan Bullock is an African-American Irish dancer from Richmond, Virginia After a TikTok video of her lightning-footed jigs went viral, she was accused of "cultural appropriation" Then she got a call from Riverdance...💃 https://t.co/R5DSqf9jlG pic.twitter.com/sCCFXhl5br — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 18, 2020 Q: You were misappropriating the Irish dancing culture? A: I mean, my understanding of the term is that it means, when you're taking something from another culture, claiming it as your own without recognizing where it comes from, and that couldn't be further from what I'm doing. It's important for people to recognize that there's a difference between appropriation and appreciation. (The lovely video clip is edifying and well worth the time to watch). Here's more backstory to that. And as long as we are deep in teenager world, teen affairs being more important than, say Chinese espionage, let's return to a previous story about appropriation and appreciation - remember this? or this, via Fox News: When Keziah Daum sported a traditional, Chinese cheongsam dress to her senior prom in Utah last month, she likely never intended her photos to go viral or be slammed as a “closet racist” over accusations of cultural appropriation. But days later, the 18-year-old began winning praise from an unexpected source — Chinese audiences and social media users. PROM pic.twitter.com/gsJ0LtsCmP — Keziah (@daumkeziah) April 22, 2018 “Very elegant and beautiful! Really don’t understand the people who are against her, they are wrong!” a supporter chimed in of the cheongsam, otherwise known as a qiapo. “I suggest the Chinese government, state television or fashion company invite her to China to display her cheongsam!” “It is not cultural theft. It is cultural appreciation and cultural respect,” another agreed. and this nonsense from someone who nakedly appropriates British culture, combined with sensible smackdowns from China, from Glamour: "I suppose I was frustrated by it mainly because it looks out of context,” says Melissa Legarda, 25, a Filipino British journalist who initially shared the story with the group. "I always have such a skepticism when I see a [non-POC] wearing a dress of another country or tradition that's not [their own] because most of the time, they don't appreciate the traditions involved in that culture." Legarda's sentiment mirrors the reaction shared by many Asians in the West who have taken to Twitter to voice their dissent. One particular tweet, accusing Daum of cultural appropriation, has been retweeted over 41,000 times at publish time. On Facebook, where I still keep in touch with my friends from Hong Kong, my feed tells a completely different story. Karen Chiang, one of my Hong Kong–based friends, shared a BuzzFeed article covering the controversy, writing, “This girl rocked it. Full stop.” Other commenters agreed, echoing the effusive feedback thousands of Chinese netizens have shared on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter. The message was clear: To the Chinese, Daum totally rocked the dress—no offense taken. "I didn’t think there was a more appropriate or respectful way for a foreigner to pay homage to qipaos and the Chinese culture, especially compared to occasions where Chinese culture is reduced to a fans, dragons, and chopstick-in-a-top-bun kind of moment," Chiang writes in an email. The 25-year-old wellness blogger and freelance writer grew up in Hong Kong, and has seen many white expats in Hong Kong partake in the aforementioned type of dress—but didn’t see any hints of malice or racism. "I probably raised an eyebrow [at these people], because they look quite silly most of the time. But as long as people are trying their best to respect and appreciate a culture, I’m cool with it. It’s still better than if they didn’t bother to open their minds at all." It seems the good guys are winning now. Enjoying another culture is not racism, it's white Karenism, done by wokester teens with absolutely nothing intelligent to say. Glad Trader Joe's woke up and smelled the coffee.
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Fitton Fumes After Adam Schiff Gets Away With Doxing High Profile Conservatives

Fitton Fumes After Adam Schiff Gets Away With Doxing High Profile Conservatives Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2020 - 14:24 Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton is spitting mad after a federal court decision allowing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to get away with doxing high-profile conservatives. Aafter obtaining their phone records through impeachment-related subpoenas, Schiff published the phone numbers of Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), journalist John Solomon, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, attorney Victoria Toensing and others.  As John Solomon wrote at the time of Schiff: His committee secretly authorized subpoenas to AT&T earlier this year for the phone records of President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and an associate. He then arbitrarily extracted information about certain private calls and made them public. Many of the calls Mr. Schiff chose to publicize fell into the special-circumstances categories: a fellow member of Congress ( Rep. Devin Nunes, the Intelligence Committee’s ranking Republican), two lawyers (Mr. Giuliani and fellow Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow ) and a journalist (me). More alarming, the released call records involve figures who have sometimes criticized or clashed with Mr. Schiff. -John Solomon Judicial watch sued to obtain the subpoenas - which Schiff's Committee claimed "sovereign immunity" and a "Speech or Debate Clause" privilege trumps the Freedom of Information Act. On Monday, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, an Obama appointee, sided with Schiff - ruling that the legal watchdog organization "has no right to demand disclosure of the requested subpoenas," and ordered the case "dismissed with prejudice." In response, Fitton said in a statement: "Adam Schiff secretly subpoenaed, without court authorization, the phone records of Rudy Giuliani and then published the phone records of innocent Americans, including President Trump’s lawyers, a member of Congress, and a journalist. And now a federal court ruled today that Schiff, or any member of Congress can’t be held accountable for this unprecedented and potentially criminal abuse of power. Every American should be concerned about a ruling that suggests Congress has unlimited power to take and publish their private phone records!" Judicial Watch may appeal the decision.
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Senate Committee Moves To Allow Americans To Sue China Over COVID-19

Senate Committee Moves To Allow Americans To Sue China Over COVID-19 Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2020 - 13:50 Marking the culmination of a process that began more than a month ago, a Senate committee is backing a bill that would allow Americans to sue China for failing to stop the coronavirus pandemic. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill (S 4212) that would allow U.S. citizens to sue China for physical or economic damages related to COVID-19.— Caroline Simon (@carolinesimon66) July 30, 2020 GOP supporters said the bill would hold China accountable for actions related to the disease's spread. "The CCP’s lies and deceit and incompetence helped turn the COVID-19 disaster from would have been a very deadly but local disease into a worldwide pandemic," said @HawleyMO.— Caroline Simon (@carolinesimon66) July 30, 2020 Democrats were opposed, worried it would leave the U.S. open to similar litigation. "If we eliminate sovereign immunity for countries engaging in reckless behavior that contributed to the spread of COVID-19, other countries may very well do the same to us," said @SenFeinstein.— Caroline Simon (@carolinesimon66) July 30, 2020 It's the latest in a growing list of antagonistic tit-for-tat actions including ordering the closure of China's consulate in Houston, the first to open in the US following President Nixon's historic meeting with Mao back in the early 1970s. China retaliated by closing a US consulate in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan Province.
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Are Americans Too Poor For New Cars? Older Vehicles Dominate Highways

Are Americans Too Poor For New Cars? Older Vehicles Dominate Highways Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2020 - 13:45 Even before the virus-induced recession, Americans were quickly spiraling down a financial hole with insurmountable debts and no savings. Their ability to afford a home, nevertheless, a vehicle, was becoming harder by the year.  One way to gauge the economic mobility of consumers is to track the average vehicle age of a car, sport utility vehicle, and pickup truck. If the average age is within several years, it would mean there's a high turnover as consumers can swap out older cars for newer ones.  But a new report via Reuters, citing IHS Markit Ltd. data, has made a troubling discovery, indicating the average age of vehicles on US highways has increased to 11.9 years in January, an increase from 11.8 years for the prior year, which is a two-decade high. Todd Campau, associate director of aftermarket solutions for IHS Markit, said the pandemic crushed the economy and resulted in sharp declines in vehicle sales is likely to lead to the average vehicle age on roads to breach the 12-year level.  "We definitely expect to eclipse the 12-year barrier," he said. People working from home could put fewer miles on vehicles, allowing them to last longer, he said. Campau said, "average age of cars and light trucks has been increasing steadily for nearly 20 years, reflecting rising prices for new vehicles and improved durability that allows older vehicles to travel more miles with more owners before they are scrapped." IHS Markit said older cars on roads could be beneficial for repair shops.  But there's a major, as we outlined last week, the virus pandemic has led to "14 million fewer cars" on highways. The ripple effect of older cars and an overall decline in vehicles on roadways suggest America's economy has been shifted into low gear for a couple of years.
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Black Faculty at Columbia Demand School ‘Unlearn Whiteness’

Claim university is rife with white supremacy
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Russia Hopes To Register World's First COVID-19 Vaccine By Aug. 12

Russia Hopes To Register World's First COVID-19 Vaccine By Aug. 12 Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2020 - 14:45 As the English-language science and financial press focuses on vaccine candidates created by Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech or AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, we've seen surprisingly little reported about a Russian vaccine candidate that has already been administered to members of the Russian business elite. With Moderna reportedly planning to charge an outrageous $60 per course for its experimental vaccine candidate, Russia is hoping to beat its western rivals to the punch by registering the coronavirus vaccine by Aug. 10-12, clearing the way for Russia to secure the mantle of winning the first official approval of a vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2. After winning approval, the vaccine developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute (bolstered by financing from the Russian government) could be approved for civilian use within 7 days. Here's more from Bloomberg: The drug developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund may be approved for civilian use within three to seven days of registration by regulators, according to a person familiar with the process, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The Gamaleya vaccine is expected to get conditional registration in August, meaning it will still need to conduct trials on another 1,600 people, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said in a televised meeting of officials with President Vladimir Putin Wednesday. Production should begin in September, she said. "The key requirements for a vaccine are its proven effectiveness and safety so everything needs to be done very carefully and accurately," Putin said at the end of the meeting. “Our confidence in the vaccine must be absolute." To be sure, the speed with which the vaccine has been developed, and the opacity surrounding the research, have raised questions abroad. But not enough to stop Phase 3 trials that are set to begin next week in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Russia has the fourth-largest outbreak in the world, after the US, Brazil and India. With more than 800,000 confirmed cases. While the vaccine has been touted by its developers as safe and potentially the first to reach the public, the data hasn’t been published and the speed with which developers are moving has raised questions in other countries. Gamaleya is scheduled to begin Phase 3 trials next week in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Russia has more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fourth-most in the world. While the number of new daily infections is down by more than half from its peak, Putin has reportedly criticized some regions of the country for reopening too quickly. "The situation remains difficult and can, as they say, swing in any direction," Putin said. "There is no reason for complacency, to relax, to forget about the recommendations of doctors." Researchers and pharmaceutical companies in other countries including the US, the UK, Japan and China are also racing to develop vaccines. And both the US and the UK have accused Russia for sending shadowy state-backed hackers to infiltrate vaccine research in the UK and the US. Despite the risks, rushing a product to market would be a great PR victory for Putin, whose popularity has reportedly been sagging due to the outbreak, which his government failed to prevent. The Russian vaccine will be provided to health professionals before clinical trials are complete, according to the Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko. The ministry doesn't expect vaccine to be widely available until late in the year.
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Watch Live: Fed Chair Powell Explain How The Fed Will "Out-Dove" The Market

Watch Live: Fed Chair Powell Explain How The Fed Will "Out-Dove" The Market Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2020 - 14:25 With bond yields at record lows, the dollar tumbling, and gold at record highs, one side of the market is screaming that The Fed is entirely out of control while stocks remain near record highs, increasingly echoing the early days of Venezuela's or Zimbabwe's epic stock rallies. Simply put, as we noted in our preview, Fed Chair Powell will have to explain to his audience of "give me moar or die" day-traders how he will "out-dove" the already uber-dovish expectations (all without negative rates). Watch Live (the virtual press conference is due to start at 1430ET):
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NFL Player Stephon Tuitt: "I'm Not Kneeling For The Flag & Screw Anybody Who Have A Problem With That"

NFL Player Stephon Tuitt: "I'm Not Kneeling For The Flag & Screw Anybody Who Have A Problem With That" Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2020 - 13:50 The NFL's Stephon Tuitt is not going to be kneeling for the flag during upcoming games this year and also has a message with anybody who takes exception with his decision: "Screw anybody who have a problem with that". Tuitt took to Twitter on Sunday and wrote about the success of his grandmother - an immigrant from the Caribbean - to explain why he refuses to disrespect the flag.  "I’m not kneeling for the flag and screw anybody who have a problem with that," he said. "My grandmother was a immigrant from the Carribean and age worked her ass off to bring 20 people over the right way. She had no money and educated herself to be a nurse. She living good now." Tuitt joins a very short list of professional athletes, including San Francisco Giants Relief Pitcher Sam Coonrod, who have broken from the liberal groupthink haze our country is in by refusing to disrespect the nation and its flag. Last Thursday, Coonrod was the only player who didn't kneel during a Giants and Dodgers game. "I only kneel before God," Coonrod said, when questioned about his decision. NFL Hall of Famer Mike Ditka also weighed in recently, saying those who can't respect the flag should "get the hell out of the country".
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Peter Schiff: The Fed Doesn't Have Another Rabbit In Its Hat

Peter Schiff: The Fed Doesn't Have Another Rabbit In Its Hat Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2020 - 13:30 Via SchiffGold.com, Gold has rallied above its previous all-time record high this week. But can it sustain this bull run? Peter Schiff thinks it can and will. It’s not about the coronavirus, as many mainstream analysts seem to think. It’s the government and central bank response to the pandemic — the borrowing, the spending, and the money printing. Peter believes that ultimately the Fed’s monetary policy is going to collapse the dollar and it will lose its reserve status. In this podcast, he talked about what this portends. He also explained why he doesn’t think the Fed can kick the can down the road again. Peter has been talking about a looming dollar collapse for years. He admits he was wrong on the timing. He thought it would happen a lot sooner than this. But he doesn’t think he is wrong now just because he was wrong back then. The problems are so much bigger now than they were a decade ago, and therefore, I think our ability to kick the can down the road again, I think is gone. I mean, yes, I underestimated that ability before, but at this point, it’s impossible. And so I don’t really see how the US government, the Federal Reserve, is going to stop gold from going up.” Looking back, gold’s first major rally was in the 1970s when the price went from around $35 to over $800. At the time, Fed Chair Paul Volker’s willingness to get out of the way and allow interest rates to rise sharply to wherever the market was going to take them stopped that rally and kicked off a 20-year bear market in gold. “The Fed did what it took,” Peter said. “They did the right thing.” The second gold rally started after the dot-com bubble popped and ended after gold set its previous record high just over $1,900 back in 2011. What stopped that? What caused gold to pull back from $1,900? Somehow, they were able to convince the world and everybody who was worried that QE would end in disaster and that zero percent interest rates would be a failure – the Fed was able to convince everybody that the programs worked, and because they worked, they were temporary and would be ended, and that the Fed was going to start normalizing interest rates and shrink the balance sheet back down to pre-2008 crisis levels. And the market actually believed it.” In effect, the Fed never had to raise rates to stop the gold rally. It just had to convince the world that it would raise rates. Of course, the Fed never did normalize because it couldn’t normalize. When the central bank finally tried to slowly notch rates up, it broke the stock market in the fall of 2018. That led to the “Powell Pause” followed by three rate cuts in 2019 and the launch of a quantitative easing program that the Fed refused to call quantitative easing. The other thing that kept the dollar propped up was the rest of the world slashing interest rates and running their own quantitative easing programs. The dollar got a lot of help from bad monetary policy abroad that made US policy look not as bad in comparison. As Peter put it, “We were the cleanest dirty shirt in the hamper.” So here we are now. We have another big rally in gold that actually started in 2015 at just over $1,000 an ounce. Peter asks the operative question: what rabbit is the Fed going to pull out of its hat to stop the gold rally this time? I think the hat’s empty. There are no more rabbits in there.” Peter said that the Fed can’t raise rates like it did in 1980. The country can’t afford it. There is too much debt. There isn’t enough savings. And the Fed can’t pretend it’s going to raise rates like it did in 2008. Nobody will believe it. So what are they going to do? Nothing. There is nothing they can do. Now, is there something that I haven’t thought of? I don’t know. Maybe. But obviously, since I can’t think of it, I can’t discuss it. So, is it possible that there’s a rabbit in there that I can’t see? Maybe. And so that’s why we’re not going to go all in. Because you don’t know what you don’t know. So, it is possible that there is a way to kick this can down the road again. I just can’t see it. But the bottom line is we don’t have to go all in. There is so much opportunity in the foreign markets, in the emerging markets, that just having an allocation in gold and gold stocks is all you need.” Peter went on to talk about the mainstream talking points about this gold rally and the fact that people are actually starting to talk about the dollar losing its reserve status.
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Rubino Warns "World On Verge Of Spinning Out Of Control"

Rubino Warns "World On Verge Of Spinning Out Of Control" Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2020 - 12:35 Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com, Financial writer John Rubino says gold is at new all-time highs, silver is vaulting upward and there is no end in sight for the massive money printing around the world.  Rubino say’s if you look deeper, you can see the “real message” in the unfolding events.  Rubino explains, “It’s fun to be a gold bug and see your stacks getting more valuable, but the real message here is the world is on the verge of spinning out of control.  That’s what gold and silver are signaling.  We’re just a mess with no way out of this because even before the pandemic hit, we were running deficits in the U.S. of a trillion dollars a year.  That is an emergency level of government borrowing, but we were doing it in the 10th year of a recovery or expansion.  Normally, everybody is back at work, paying taxes, government debt goes way down and sometimes it even turns into surpluses, but that wasn’t happening this time, which is a sign the monetary experiment that began in 1971 when we went off the gold standard and went to all fiat currencies everywhere was ending.  We are no longer able to manage economies with this much debt just by printing new currency and borrowing more money.  The system was going to break down anyway, but the pandemic has come along and accelerated the process.” Rubino goes on to say, “So, now people ask:  Is there a pain free way of getting out of this and getting back to normality?" "And the answer is probably no.  We have to get rid of this debt somehow.  I think the global debt to GDP is in the 350% to 400% range, which is the highest ever.  We have never had a society that has borrowed this much money before.  Past societies have seen their monetary system breakdown before they got to this point.  So, we are now an historical outlier as to how much debt we have taken on. . . . This means when all this debt gets wiped out, this might be historically worse than anything we have seen in the past.” Rubino predicts, “We don’t have a tool to fix this if the dollar starts to fall..." "That is the end game scenario in the financial system.  When the world’s reserve currency starts to lose value and the central bank that’s managing it doesn’t have any way to stop it, then, basically, everything falls apart everywhere. . . . When it happens, the early stage of it will feel like the past few months here.  I am not predicting we are heading straight to a dollar collapse or a fiat currency collapse, but when it happens, it’s going to start feeling a lot like it is now.” In closing, Rubino says, “The reason why so many groups are so angry right now is because the system no longer works for most people.  We have an aristocracy that is harvesting the rest of us.  1% of the population gets richer and richer year after year at the expense of everybody else.” Rubino says look for corrections in the gold and silver markets that will be “pretty scary” but adds, “This is a buy the dip market . . . . The long term trend for gold and silver are in place, and nothing is going to stop them short of their ultimate fair value.” Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with John Rubino, creator of the popular website DollarCollapse.com. To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here
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Gartman: "I'm Getting Out Of Gold"

Gartman: "I'm Getting Out Of Gold" Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 14:40 Ever since Dennis Gartman quit the newsletter business on Dec 31, 2019, there has been a distinct void in the markets, with both algos, daytraders and institutions unsure how to trade and what to do now that there is no "sure thing" to fade (in fact, some have speculated whether the dismal volumes and lack of institutional participation in the market outside of the March crash have something to do with the lack of the contrarianism spawned by the Gartman Letter). Well, good news. Perhaps missing the media spotlight that having a daily newsletter afforded him, Dennis Gartman finally made a long-anticipated appearance this morning, discussing the one topic that is on everyone's lips: precious metals. And goldbugs take heart: after last night's sudden, sharp drop in the price of gold moments after the Dec future hit $2,000, there has been some speculation that this could be it for the current runup higher in gold. Maybe... although if Gartman's infamous "contrarianism" is any indication, what happens next is nothing short of a historic surge even higher in gold (in line with what even Goldman now expects). Speaking to Fox Business News this morning, Gartman - who apparently is now the University of Akron Endowment Committee Chair - said that he is "getting out of gold"... This is the best buy signal for #gold yet. pic.twitter.com/rFtSNc64es — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 28, 2020 ... which coming from the man who famously once said that oil would never rise above $44/barrel in his lifetime, is all gold bulls needed to hear, and may explain why after slumping early on Tuesday, the precious metals complex has been on a tear again, with gold trading at $1,950 and silver above $24. To be fair to Gartman, he is not the only one getting out of gold. Lombard Odier Chief Economist Samy Chaar told CNBC on Monday that his team had sold half of their position in gold. Chaar said that while holding some gold was important in a world where a lot of debt is negative-yielding, the deep negativity of U.S. real interest rates creates some "vulnerability" for gold at the current price levels, since such low rates are not sustainable given the economic outlook. Another strategist, whose work we have come to appreciate quite a bit in recent months, and who also decided to take profits on gold, is Nordea's Andreas Steno Larsen, who this morning tweeted that he is also "out of my long Gold position" I am also out of my long Gold position, fwiw. pic.twitter.com/fXjTOuYdVj — AndreasStenoLarsen (@AndreasSteno) July 28, 2020 Which begs the possibility that perhaps Gartman will be right this time: after all, as Bloomberg noted this morning, with spot gold's RSI hitting a massive 85 yesterday, "only the fifth time that the bullion was so overbought since 2000" gold may be in for a brief retreat in the next few days before resuming its rally, if history is any guide. In all four previous occasions, gold declined over the next 10 days, with an average loss of 0.83%, according to Bloomberg’s trading signal function. So the pullback this morning after seven straight days of gains is in line with the historical norm. That said, as Bloomberg's Ye Xie points out, this indicator does not spell the end of gold's rally as in the past, the precious metal eventually resumed the rally after brief periods of consolidation in the previous four occasions: "The most recent one when RSI hit above 85 occurred on Jan. 6, with gold at $1566 per ounce. Bullion has since climbed 24%." Meanwhile, as Goldman explained earlier, in the current environment where both real yields and the dollar are likely to drop more, "it’s likely that gold will continue to shine in the months to come." And what better way to ensure that this prediction comes to light than having Dave Portnoy, who is enjoying a bit of a personal vendetta with Gartman, to tell his retail daytrading army to go all in gold.
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Tech CEOs In The Hot Seat: What To Expect From Tomorrow's Congressional Testimony

Tech CEOs In The Hot Seat: What To Expect From Tomorrow's Congressional Testimony Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 14:25 On Wednesday, the CEOs of Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook will testify before House lawmakers over allegations of anticompetitive practices. For members of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, it will be their sixth hearing in their investigation into Silicon Valley antitrust accusations. Composite photo via Business Insider As Politico notes, "The session also arrives as scrutiny of the behemoths is surging across the globe, including an expected Justice Department antitrust case against Google and the recent launch of two European probes of potential anticompetitive behavior by Apple." It will also mark the first time Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, has offered testimony before Congress - albeit via videoconference, while House Judiciary lawmakers will attend both virtually and in-person in a hybrid format, according to the report. That said, tomorrow's 'showdown' could go one of two ways; fireworks, or snoozefest. If House Democrats jump off script from antitrust issues and press the CEOs over online hate speech, or if GOP members drill them on anti-conservative bias, things could get interesting. Even the format of the questioning — four elite CEOs, all appearing by videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic — could make it harder for the members to land a glove on the companies’ varied issues, ranging from Google's and Facebook’s command of digital ad revenue to Apple's control of its App Store and questions about whether Amazon misled Congress. -Politico "The discussion will go well beyond antitrust," said Carl Szabo, VP and General Counsel of NetChoice, a tech trade group which counts Google, Amazon and Facebook as members. "It will go into issues of election interference, or conservative bias, or any of the other issues de jour on which we like to saddle tech." Here's what to expect assuming things go according to plan: Lawmakers will likely question Bezos about whether an Amazon lawyer misled the Judiciary Committee last summer by claiming the company doesn't use data collected from third-party vendors to launch competing products of its own. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon employees did just that - which prompted Judiciary leaders to question whether a criminal referral was appropriate for perjury charges. The company disputed WSJ's report, and said it did not 'intentionally mislead' the Committee - while also promising to conduct an internal investigation. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg will likely face questions over acquisitions of former rivals WhatsApp and Instagram, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and others have called for regulators to break up the social media giant. Other items of inquiry will include how Facebook handles its trove of data collected from more than 2 billion users, including whether it is for anticompetitive purposes. "There's a real fear that no other competitor could ever successfully launch a social media platform because it could never match Facebook's troves of data, which, given their record, it's a serious threat to users," Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) told Politico. Google's Sundar Pichai will have to answer for whether the company amplifies its own search services to the detriment of competitors and consumers seeking maps, videos or other services. Separately, questions will be asked over whether their domination of online advertising has harmed smaller businesses as well as news outlets. The committee has also accused the company of being less than forthright in its past testimony, including on questions such as what percentage of searches on the company's engine lead to website referrals not on Google. Google has separately been a frequent target of Republican allegations of anti-conservative bias on its video sharing platform YouTube, a topic that is expected to come up again at Monday's hearing. Google and other major tech platforms deny those charges. Democrats, meanwhile, have taken issue with the company's handling of hate speech and misinformation on YouTube. -Politico Lastly, Apple CEO Tim Cook will face questions over how the company has handled its app store. "Because of the market power that Apple has, it is charging exorbitant rents — highway robbery, basically — bullying people to pay 30 percent or denying access to their market," Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) told The Verge in June. "It’s crushing small developers who simply can’t survive with those kinds of payments. If there were real competition in this marketplace, this wouldn’t happen."
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"Like Nothing We’ve Ever Seen": Imminent Eviction Wave Is Coming To These States

"Like Nothing We’ve Ever Seen": Imminent Eviction Wave Is Coming To These States Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 13:45 The eviction moratorium expired last Friday nearly four months after the US economy effectively shutdown due to the covid pandemic, and more than 12 million renters - all behind on rent payments because of the virus-induced recession - are now at imminent risk of getting booted to the curb.  This Friday, some 25 million Americans will no longer receive their weekly $600 federal unemployment checks, and the next round of government handouts, currently discussed by Republicans and Democrats, could see benefits slashed from $600 to $200 (or be nothing at all if no deal is reached in Congress). This would crush household finances across middle-class America, resulting in an even higher number of households unable to pay their rent bill in the months ahead.  That said, Trump's top economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who has religiously pumped stocks with meaningless headlines any time the S&P is even barely in the red, recently said an extension for the eviction moratorium program could be seen. But what if there isn't one? In late July, more than 31 million Americans collected unemployment benefits of some form. The economic recovery reversed in late June, as the next crisis among households looms.  “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen,”  said John Pollock, coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.  In 2016, there were 2.3 million evictions, Pollock said. “There could be that many evictions in August,” he said.  On Sunday, food bank lines reemerged as people's benefits ran out. The number of jobless Americans is staggering and downright, depressionary, suggesting no labor market recovery this year or next.  With a fiscal cliff unfolding, benefits set to run out, and a rebound in the economy reversing, Household Pulse Data from mid-July outlines an even gloomier rent crisis unfolding. The analysis is based on Household Pulse Data from mid-July and it found that some states will be hit harder than others. For example, West Virginia is estimated to have the highest share of renter households facing eviction at close to 60%. Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana are all among the states set to be worst impacted with shares at 50% or higher. Elsewhere, Vermont is the state where renters will be at the lowest risk of eviction, though 22% of them will potentially lose their homes over the course of the crisis. - Forbes  Shown below (charted by Statista), here are the states where renters will be pressured the most.  The Trump administration doesn't have the tools to solve the crisis - fiscal and monetary policy can only delay round two of the economic crash until after the elections. Meanwhile chaos and disagreement on Capitol Hill means that there is still no deal on a rent moratorium extension, which means that the coming weeks could see the largest ever US rent crisis, one which would make 2008 look like child's play.  
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Blistering Demand For Record Big 7Y Treasury Auction

Blistering Demand For Record Big 7Y Treasury Auction Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 13:19 After two ugly auctions to start the abbreviated Treasury week on Monday (due to the FOMC on Thursday), moments ago the Treasury sold another record-sized batch of paper, this time in the form of $44 billion of 7 Year notes, and unlike yesterday's 2Y and 5Y sles, this one went without a glitch. As has been the case recently, the auction priced at a record low yield of just 0.446%, which was not only well below last month's 0.511%, but also stopped through the 0.452% When Issued by 0.6bps.  The bid to cover was a slight drop from last month's 2.489 to 2.449, which was below the 2.54 six-auction average, but the internals were solid, with Indirects taking down 63.9%, the highest since April and above the 62.7% recent average, while Directs took down 16.8%, above the 13.3% average leaving Dealers with 19.3% of the take down. Overall, another stellar auction at the belly of the curve, which comes just before the FOMC, suggesting that any fears prompted by yesterday's ugly auctions were session specific and nothing has fundamentally changed with investor demand for US debt... of which a record amount will be sold in the coming years.
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"Lies Spread Faster Than The Truth On Social Media" - Gates Slams COVID-19 Vaccine "Conspiracy Theories"

"Lies Spread Faster Than The Truth On Social Media" - Gates Slams COVID-19 Vaccine "Conspiracy Theories" Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 12:28 Bill Gates insisted last week that 'conspiracy theories' involving the Gates Foundation and the Microsoft founder's alleged hidden agenda to use vaccines as a cover for his nefarious micro-chipping project were utter nonsense. Apparently, Gates failed to grasp that this is exactly the kind of denial that a villainous billionaire might give. Whether or not you take the Gates-related 'conspiracy theories' seriously, the Microsoft founder clearly sees them as enough of an annoyance that he felt compelled to address the trend again during a Tuesday morning appearance on CNBC. Responding to a question from interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin about social media's role in spreading the conspiracies, Gates on Wednesday denied conspiracy theories that accuse the tech mogul and philanthropist of wanting to use coronavirus vaccines to implant tracking devices in people, and also said he hoped that the public's understanding of "the truth" would improve as the world gets closer to a vaccine. "Very incorrect things that are very titillating...can spread much faster than the truth on social media, and we've always seen that with vaccines....social media can make that even worse...these social media companies can see what is being said on their platform and take things that are absolutely wrong and remove those things from the platform." "How you divide that up, and draw that line...these are complex issues. It has been a spreader of lot of things...and how do you strike a balance?" Would Gates take a harder line, the Sork asked, citing Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to be "all over" this type of misinformation. Gates responded that Facebook can't intervene on Whatsapp since communications between users are encrypted. "Is that appropriate?" Gates said, expressing some skepticism about the risk of fostering criminal activity, though he said he doubted it would come up in tomorrow's hearing. Asked to weigh in on the anti-trust push targeting Silicon Valley, Gates offered a mealymouthed response that was tantamount to a soft-endorsement of the status quo as far as 'Big Tech' is concerned. "I do think people underestimate that natural competitive forces do come into this space...as mobile phones came in that was very competitive...even without massive regulation, there will be a lot of innovation," Gates said. Is that really a surprise? After all, Gates and his wife may have donated nearly $2 billion to the vaccine research cause over the past few months. Gates insists that all he wants is to help defeat the coronavirus, and that may be true. But intelligent, capable people can still fall victim to their own biases. And whether a vaccine will ultimately bring about the end of the global pandemic still remains to be seen. In February, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it was donating $100 million to vaccine research and treatment efforts for the coronavirus. It was announced as part of the WHO’s request for $675 million in contributions to fight the spread of the virus. In June, the foundation pledged an additional $1.6 billion to the Gavi vaccine alliance, an organization focused on efforts to immunize children amid the coronavirus pandemic. But whatever Gates hoped to accomplish with these responses, adding his voice to the growing chorus of people calling for expanded censorship on social media certainly isn't going to help dissuade his critics. If anything, that just leads to unnecessary controversies like this:
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NJ Gym Owners Accuse Gov Of "Flexing His Little Tyrant Muscles" After Being Arrested For Contempt

NJ Gym Owners Accuse Gov Of "Flexing His Little Tyrant Muscles" After Being Arrested For Contempt Tyler Durden Mon, 07/27/2020 - 14:40 The owners of Atilis Gym, a gym in Bellmawr, NJ that was ordered by a New Jersey judge to close immediately, have been arrested on charges of contempt of court after refusing to comply. Since it first defied the state and decided to reopen 2 months ago, the gym has become a local fixation, attracting protesters sympathetic with its cause. The report below, published earlier today, includes footage from some rallies that have been held at the gym. Gym owners Ian Smith, 33, of Delanco Township, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, of Williamstown were charged with contempt of court, along with violating a disaster control act, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. The owners of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr were arrested and released early Monday morning after continuing to operate their business despite a judge issuing a contempt order against them on Friday, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer. Ian Smith, 33, of Delanco Township, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, of Williamstown, are charged with one count of fourth-degree Contempt, one count of Obstruction, and one count of Violation of a Disaster Control Act, both disorderly persons summons. On July 24, the Honorable Judge Robert T. Lougy, issued a court order for Trumbetti and Smith to vacate the gym and cease operations. From July 24 through July 27, a number of individuals were observed entered and using the gym, a direct violation of the court order. Trumbetti and Smith were transported to the Bellmawr Police Department where they were charged and released. All persons charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The gym owners have become a cause celebre in the movement to oppose lockdowns. In other local news, dozens of New Jersey lifeguards have now tested positive for COVID-19, as public health officials worry about an outbreak focused around some of the state's beaches. Inspired in part by this string of infections, states from Connecticut to Rhode Island have ordered beaches to close to out-of-state residents, according to ABC News. More than two dozen lifeguards from two New Jersey beach towns have tested positive for the coronavirus after having been together socially, authorities said. Officials said the lifeguards are from Harvey Cedars and Surf City, neighboring boroughs on Long Beach Island. Mayor Jonathan Oldham of Harvey Cedars said island health officials alerted the borough to the cluster Thursday and the lifeguards were being quarantined until they are cleared by doctors. Long Beach Island's health director said the guards were apparently together at two "social gatherings" earlier this month. Harvey Cedars said Saturday that 17 lifeguards, all of whom had "attended a party in Surf City," had tested positive for COVID-19. The island's health director earlier said a dozen Surf City lifeguards had tested positive. Harvey Cedars said on its website that it has 73 lifeguards and therefore "our beaches will remain fully staffed with all safety protocols in place.'' Surf City said its beaches "will remain protected from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily" but "adjustments may be made from day to day to ensure the safety of all patrons and guards." New Jersey officials earlier announced more than 500 new positive COVID-19 cases and an additional 11 deaths confirmed as associated with the virus, bringing the total number of deaths associated with the virus in the state to 13,867. In a post on the gym’s Facebook page published Monday morning, Smith attacked NJ Gov Phil Murphy for “flexing his little tyrant muscles." Despite the life guard infections, Murphy has continued to allow all protest-related activities to continue without any restrictions, even joining the marchers in person on occasion. Maybe they can hook the governor up with a membership when all this is said and done?
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Kyle Bass Slams TikTok As 'CCP Trojan Horse' Following Disturbing ProtonMail Exposé

Kyle Bass Slams TikTok As 'CCP Trojan Horse' Following Disturbing ProtonMail Exposé Tyler Durden Mon, 07/27/2020 - 14:20 Before using Chinese video-sharing app TikTok, one might want to read this article from encrypted email company ProtonMail, as recommended by Kyle Bass: TikTok IS the Communist Party of China's Trojan Horse. Please read this piece...they are logging everything you do once you download the app. #tiktok #china #spies #Erased #DeleteTikTok https://t.co/5N7ZNChcOR — 🇺🇸Kyle Bass🇺🇸 (@Jkylebass) July 27, 2020 *  *  * Authored by Richie Koch via ProtonMail TikTok and the privacy perils of China’s first international social media platform TikTok, the video-sharing platform owned by the Chinese social media giant ByteDance, is one of the most popular social media services in the world, with an estimated 800 million users. However, its zealous data collection, use of Chinese infrastructure, and its parent company’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party make it a perfect tool for massive surveillance and data collection by the Chinese government.  After reviewing TikTok’s data collection policies, lawsuits, cybersecurity white papers, past security vulnerabilities, and its privacy policy, we find TikTok to be a grave privacy threat that likely shares data with the Chinese government. We recommend everyone approach TikTok with great caution, especially if your threat model includes the questionable use of your personal data or Chinese government surveillance. How much user data does TikTok collect? As with just about every social media platform, the answer is: “a lot.” According to its privacy policy, even if you just download and open the app but never create an account, TikTok will collect your: * IP address * Browsing history (i.e., the content you viewed on TikTok) * Mobile carrier  * Location data if you are using a mobile device (including GPS coordinates and WiFi and mobile cell data) * Info on the device you used to access TikTok (for Android devices, this includes your IMEI number, which is essentially your device’s fingerprint so it can be identified, and potentially your IMSI number, which is used to track users from one phone to another) To open an account, you must enter a phone number or email and your date of birth. Once you have created an account, TikTok asks your permission for access to your social media accounts (like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), your phone’s contact list, and GPS data.  Once you start using the app, TikTok logs details about: * Every video you upload * How long you watch videos * Which videos you like * Which videos you share  * Any messages you exchange in the app  Finally, if you buy coins, the in-app currency you can use to support your favorite video creators, TikTok will store your payment information. According to TikTok, if you delete your account, the company will delete your account data, videos, and information within 30 days. This claim is impossible to independently verify, as is the case with most social media companies.  TikTok’s data collection is extreme, even for a social media platform that collects its users’ data to serve them with targeted ads. And TikTok explicitly states in its privacy policy that it shares your browsing data and email address with third parties so that it can serve you with targeted advertising.  TikTok faces multiple class-action lawsuits in the US On November 27, 2019, a group of TikTok users in California filed a class action lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance, saying the TikTok app “includes Chinese surveillance software.” The lawsuit claims TikTok collects all videos shot on the app, even if the videos are not published or even saved. The lawsuit goes on to allege that TikTok uses the videos and photos users upload to collect biometric data (such as face scans) without user permission and that even after you close the app, TikTok continues to collect biometric data. This lawsuit also alleges that TikTok surreptitiously sends user data to China, something we will address below.  There is a similar class action lawsuit from users in Illinois. This suit also alleges that TikTok uses facial recognition technology and AI to collect users’ facial geometry without informing their users. Illinois has a strict law that requires companies to receive consent before they collect any biometric data. Does TikTok share data with the Chinese government? What distinguishes TikTok from other social media giants is that it is owned and operated by a Chinese company. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is headquartered in Beijing and is worth over $100 billion. Chinese domestic laws and regulations, along with internal party politics, can make it hard to parse whether a company is independent or coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party. Even if ByteDance wanted to resist Chinese Communist Party control, it would have little real prospect of doing so. China’s National Intelligence Law, passed in 2017, allows the government to compel any Chinese company to provide practically any information it requests, including data on foreign citizens. Furthermore, Chinese laws also can force these requests to be kept secret and not disclosed via transparency reports. The lack of an independent judiciary system makes it almost impossible for a company to appeal a request from the Chinese government. On top of that, Chinese companies of any real size are legally required to have Communist Party “cells” inside them to ensure adherence to the party line. However, there is little evidence ByteDance wants to resist the Chinese government. In fact, there are numerous examples that it is complicit in the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian policies. In 2018, ByteDance shut down Neihan Duanzi, a Chinese social media platform that was primarily used to share jokes and comedy, after state censors accused it of hosting “vulgar” content. Afterward, ByteDance said that it would “deepen cooperation” with the Chinese communist party. It then hired 2,000 more “content reviewers” and stated that “strong political sensitivity” would be an asset for the position. ByteDance has repeatedly made the case that TikTok is not available in China and that user data is not stored in China. This is misleading. In its privacy policy, TikTok explicitly reserves the right to share user information with other members of its “corporate group” (i.e., ByteDance).  Additionally, a white paper by the cybersecurity firm Penetrum found that over one-third of the IP addresses the TikTok APK connects to are based in China. The majority of these IP addresses are hosted by Alibaba, another Chinese tech giant. These IP addresses are what led to the allegations in the California lawsuit that TikTok secretly sends data to China. According to the Penetrum report, “TikTok does an excessive amount of tracking on its users and that the data collected is partially if not fully stored on Chinese servers with the ISP Alibaba.” Alibaba works closely with the Chinese Communist Party and supports its invasive surveillance and censorship. It has a police post at its headquarters to facilitate data sharing with authorities and developed a popular Chinese propaganda app.  The Chinese government has long used the data it collects from Chinese tech companies to monitor, censor, and control its citizens. The all-seeing surveillance system they have created to monitor Uyghurs in Xinjiang is just one example. It also maintains an Orwellian “blacklist” that the government uses to prevent over 13 million “untrustworthy” citizens from purchasing plane or train tickets. One can only imagine what the Chinese government would do if it were able to extend its data collection beyond its borders. TikTok and censorship There are also concerns that the Chinese government and ByteDance are using TikTok as a tool to extend China’s censorship. American employees reported to the Washington Post that they were pressured by administrators in Beijing to restrict any political content. New: Former TikTok employees told us the company's Beijing-based leadership often overrode their censorship concerns and restricted lots of social and political videos. "They want to be a global company ... but the decisions all come from China" https://t.co/AlUiibLPb8 @TonyRomm — Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) November 5, 2019 The Guardian reported on TikTok guidelines that require moderators to block videos that “distort” historic events, such as “Tiananmen Square incidents.” In one example, a teenage girl from Florida had her account shut down after she brought attention to the plight of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China. (TikTok later reinstated her, claiming her ban was an error.) Is TikTok secure? In December 2019, the cybersecurity researchers at Check Point Research discovered multiple vulnerabilities, including ones that would allow attackers to delete user videos, make hidden videos public, or upload unauthorized videos. The researchers worked with the TikTok team, and they say that these vulnerabilities have now been resolved.  In April 2020, security researchers discovered that some versions of the TikTok app for Android and iOS rely on HTTP connections. By not using HTTPS, TikTok makes it easy for attackers to monitor user activity and even alter the videos the user sees without their knowledge.  TikTok says a fix is already underway, but this certainly isn’t a strong track record when it comes to security. TikTok and children Given the demographics of TikTok users and the amount of data TikTok collects, the company has faced criticism for collecting data from children. In February 2019, Musical.ly, the Chinese social media app that ByteDance bought and then merged with TikTok, paid a $5.7 million fine to the FTC to settle allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by letting children under 13 sign up to its platform without their parents’ consent.  In May 2020, 20 advocacy groups alleged that TikTok is still violating COPPA. They said the company never deleted the personal information it collected from children under 13 prior to the 2019 FTC settlement, is still not obtaining parents’ consent before collecting children’s personal info, and does not allow parents to review or delete the personal information it collects from their children. Scrutiny of TikTok increases Since February, politicians in Australia have been calling for greater scrutiny of the company’s data collection and possible censorship. On June 29, the Indian government banned TikTok, along with over 50 other Chinese apps. And now, the US government is also weighing whether they should impose a ban on the app.   As one US lawmaker said to the Wall Street Journal, “all it takes is one knock on the door of their parent company [ByteDance], based in China, from a Communist Party official for that data to be transferred [from TikTok] to the Chinese government’s hands, whenever they need it.” Recently, US politicians have floated the idea of ByteDance selling TikTok as one way for the social media company to avoid questions over what it does with its users’ data. However, Chinese infrastructure and control are clearly deeply integrated into TikTok’s system, and it would be extremely hard for any company that purchased it to undo.  Our take on TikTok We stand for freedom of expression, and we want everyone to be able to voice their opinion. However, social media giants from TikTok to Facebook demand troves of personal data in exchange for the use of their platform. Often this data collection verges into the extreme. Does TikTok need access to your device’s ID number to deliver its service? The fact that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, one that has explicitly said it would deepen its cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, makes this excessive data collection even more concerning. The Chinese government has a history of strong-arming and co-opting Chinese tech companies into sharing their data and then using this data to intimidate, threaten, censor, or engage in human rights abuses. For these reasons, it is our opinion that, from a security and privacy standpoint, TikTok is an extremely dangerous social media platform. Its potential for mass collection of data from hundreds of millions of adults, teenagers, and children poses a grave risk to privacy. We believe that TikTok should be viewed with great caution, and if this concerns you, you should strongly consider deleting TikTok and its associated data.  You can get a free secure email account from ProtonMail here. We also provide a free VPN service to protect your privacy. ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are funded by community contributions. If you would like to support our development efforts, you can upgrade to a paid plan. Thank you for your support.
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Platts: 5 Commodity Charts To Watch This Week

Platts: 5 Commodity Charts To Watch This Week Tyler Durden Mon, 07/27/2020 - 13:45 Via S&P Global Platts Insight blog, The relentless rise of gold prices is in focus this week in S&P Global Platts editors’ roundup of energy and raw materials trends. Plus, freight rates react to Brent’s slight recovery, coal generation in Germany fizzles out, and more. 1. Gold keeps smashing records on COVID fears, global debt What’s happening? Gold pushed higher July 27 early in the European trading day, and took down the previous all-time high of $1,921/oz. Safe-haven buying has continued to spur the metal higher, boosted by a weaker US dollar, continued uncertainty regarding the US’s response to COVID-19, the probability of another multi-trillion US economic stimulus package, and the colossal global debt stimulated by central banks and governments worldwide. What’s next? With the above factors likely now to be priced in, momentum may decrease with the yellow metal susceptible to short-term pullbacks. However, with rising inflation expectations as well as unprecedented fiscal stimuli and increasing government debt, many investment banking and financial services have increased their gold price forecasts for Q4 2020 as well as 2021. The elusive $2,000/oz mark may potentially materialise sooner than later. 2. Freight rates start to slump as oil rebounds What’s happening? Tanker freight rates nosedived after experiencing a floating storage bonanza in April which saw rates for VLCCs on a WAF-East voyage near record-highs of over $70/mt in early April.  A pick up in crude demand has seen Dated Brent prices recover from the April lows, but on the sea, this has served to worsen floating storage economics. What’s next? According to S&P Global Platts Analytics, freight rates on the dirty tankers market will likely remain under pressure until OPEC+ cuts are reversed. OPEC and its allies aim to ease its 9.7 million b/d production cut to 7.7 million b/d in August, but even then, it remains to be seen how the improved production profile translates into seaborne exports. 3. China fuel inventory mounts after floods hit domestic demand What’s happening? Since June, 23 provinces in China and Chongqing municipality have been suffering from heavy rains and floods. As a result, the regions’ transportation, construction and broader industrial activities came to a grinding halt, putting the brakes on domestic fuel demand recovery. Despite the setback, Chinese refineries have been maintaining high run rates in order to digest record-high crude imports, prompting oil product inventory to surge. What next? The glut of fuel inventory has put a lot of pressure on China’s major exporters to actively seek overseas outlets to clear their excess supplies at home. China is expected to export 1.3 million-1.5 million mt of gasoline in August, while gasoil exports could possibly hit 2 million mt. In comparison, China exported only 676,000 mt of gasoline and 1.45 million mt of gasoil in May, latest data from General Administration of Customs showed. 4. German coal-fired generation hits rock bottom What happened: German year-ahead coal-fired generation margins hit record lows this month while comparable gas-fired margins edged up. Behind the reversal of fortunes is a 30% fall in year-ahead TTF gas prices in 12 months, while the price of front-year coal into Europe has only fallen 12%. European carbon prices, a key driver of coal burn, hit a 14-year high July 13, easing since but remaining historically high. The trend has prompted RWE and Uniper to return mothballed gas plants to service while Vattenfall has booked a $1 billion impairment on its Hamburg coal plant, commissioned in 2015. What’s next: German coal plants face closure under the country’s exit law approved July 3. A first auction for closure compensation for 4 GW of hard coal capacity is expected this September, the process targeting older units no longer in the market. Further auctions in the coming years will reduce capacity from 20 GW to a maximum of 8 GW by 2030. German hard coal generation only accounted for 6% of the power mix in H1 with 2020 coal imports set to shrink by up to 40%. 5. Ukraine maintenance shift could boost summer gas storage What’s happening? In June, Ukraine’s gas grid operator GTSOU blindsided European gas traders with an announcement that maintenance would take place on a pipeline bringing gas via Slovakia into Ukraine at the Budince interconnection point between August 11-October 1, spanning part of the traditional stock-building season. But GTSOU has now shortened the work period to September 1-21, meaning that gas traders who bought gas for August delivery in the hope of injecting it into Ukraine’s under-utilized gas storage facilities via Slovakia will now be able to do just that. What’s next? The shortening of the maintenance period comes as Ukraine continues to market spare capacity in its storage sites. According to data from UkrTransGaz and S&P Global Platts Analytics, Ukraine held 21.3 Bcm in stock at the beginning of Week 30, up 42% from a year ago and already close to the record high stocks of 21.8 Bcm set in late October last year. Ukraine can hold close to 31 Bcm in stock, and with injections set to continue through August, gas reserves in the country are likely to be significantly higher than in previous years. Importantly, the storage sites are able to act as a European gas storage “overflow”, given that stocks in the EU are currently 84% full.
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