"Sounds So Hot And So Fun!" - Sen. Thom Tillis's Democratic Rival Admits To Sexting With Veteran's Wife

"Sounds So Hot And So Fun!" - Sen. Thom Tillis's Democratic Rival Admits To Sexting With Veteran's Wife Tyler Durden Sat, 10/03/2020 - 10:58 One North Carolina political blogger opined in a column published back in September that Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is facing a tough re-election bid against Democratic contender Cal Cunningham, who has led Tillis in most polls all year. The race is one of a handful of key "tossups" that Wall Street analysts fear could turn the Senate blue. And that was before Tillis got COVID-19. Now, the political ramifications of Tillis's diagnosis aren't yet clear, though the virus will likely take him out of action for at least 10-14 days. But in a huge gift to Republicans, the Raleigh, Cunningham has become embroiled in a sexting scandal involving a woman who is not his wife. Cunningham is a married father of two, yet he confessed to sending "text messages of a sexual nature" to Arlene Guzman, a public relations strategist from California. The text messages were first reported Thursday night by a conservative website called National File, which revealed that the Democratic Candidate and retired military officer had exchanged "sexts" with another veteran's wife. Reporter Patrick Howley - the same reporter who broke the Gov. Ralph Northam blackface scandal - even labeled the PR professional as Cunningham's "paramour", suggesting that the two were in the process of planning a romantic tryst. Cal Cunningham, who is a married father of two, has focused his U.S. Senate campaign against Republican Thom Tillis on Cunningham’s service as a veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Cunningham is evidently engaged in extramarital activity with the wife of a fellow veteran. Cunningham refers to Guzman Todd in the text messages below as "historically sexy," imagines kissing her, says he has been dreaming "of our time together," and the two plan for Cunningham to make up an excuse for his family and ditch a staffer so the two can meet and, in Guzman Todd’s words, “kiss a lot.” Guzman Todd says she wants "a night with you" and Cunningham agrees that he wants that too. Guzman Todd says that "the only thing I want on my to do list is you" and Cunningham says that "Sounds so hot and so fun!" The news took a day to hit the mainstream political news channels, but Twitter users came together to mock Cunningham over his laughably childish sexts. When Cunningham's "paramour" texted that the only thing she wanted on her to-do list was "you", Cunningham replied "that sounds so hot and fun!" Judging by the contact name in the heading, the texts appear to have been taken from Guzman's phone. Also the sexts in question are just... what? https://t.co/zTyuRwkJ2w pic.twitter.com/cCisiKqVdi — Claire Perry (@sclaire_perry) October 3, 2020 Cal Cunningham sexting someone who isn’t his wife is the cherry on top of this ridiculous day https://t.co/dLuXMMygox — sara p the skeleton queen (@sara__pequeno) October 3, 2020 According to the News & Observer, a newspaper based in Raleigh, NC, Cunningham's campaign has confirmed the authenticity of these text messages. Cunningham apologized for his behavior, but said Friday night that he is not dropping out of the race. "I have hurt my family, disappointed my friends, and am deeply sorry. The first step in repairing those relationships is taking complete responsibility, which I do. I ask that my family’s privacy be respected in this personal matter,” Cunningham said in a statement sent to The News & Observer. "I remain grateful and humbled by the ongoing support that North Carolinians have extended in this campaign, and in the remaining weeks before this election I will continue to work to earn the opportunity to fight for the people of our state." The texts appear to have been exchanged some time in late July-early August. Cunningham, 47, is a Lt. Col. in the US Army Reserve and a lawyer. He previously served in the North Carolina state Senate and ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the senate seat in 2010, but lost. Tillis and Cunningham met Thursday night for their third and final debate. According to Real Clear Politics, Tillis is still trailing in the polls. But Cunningham wouldn't be the first Democratic candidate to be felled by a sexting scandal.
http://dlvr.it/Rht61v

Can The Stock Market Protect Wealth Better Than Gold And Silver?

Can The Stock Market Protect Wealth Better Than Gold And Silver? Tyler Durden Sat, 10/03/2020 - 10:30 Authored by Doug French via The Mises Institute, Trying to stay ahead of the government printing press is the modern citizen’s constant worry. There are no hard money central bankers, let alone politicians. Central bankers have stood the idea of present value on its head in attempts to stimulate dead economies and zombie enterprises while providing interest bills to governments with the possibility, although remote, of actually being serviced. In the United States, in the attempt to outrun the Fed and the Treasury, individuals have taken to the stock market. Investor’s Business Daily’s Matt Krantz tells us, “Meet a new force in the markets: An army of mostly young, highly engaged beginning investors looking to outmaneuver the pros.” Krantz attributes time and technology to the new burst in stock market trading by novices. “Online brokers are reporting a surge of new accounts and trading activity from individual investors and traders — many with little or no experience but an intense willingness to learn,” he writes. “The trend could put more Americans on a path to greater wealth and financial security,” Krantz writes, presumably with a straight face. “But it remains to be seen if the beginning investors will stick around for the long haul — or if they'll have the investing skills to avoid losses when stocks take a tumble.” With the Fed pushing rates to zero, individual investors figure they should cash in on the roaring stock market. Trading by individuals has grown since 2017, but  Krantz writes that “The trend is now on hyperdrive. Trading volumes at the big three brokers spiked in the first quarter, hitting nearly 270 million shares, Alphacution Research Conservatory says, citing the most recent data available. That's more than double the trading activity in the first quarter of 2019.” It’s not just young people who are risking capital in the boom market. Krantz explains, The momentum keeps going, and not just because of young people. “We're seeing high levels of investor engagement in the current environment — increased trading levels and (net new assets) across all age groups,” said Michael Cianfrocca, spokesman at Schwab. Investors like Melanie Melville, 69, started buying and selling individual stocks more seriously this year, “fulfilling a dream I've had a long time.” She added: “I retired last year, found some free money and decided I would try again.” Her father followed markets and paid for her college with profits from CAN SLIM stock investing. In his book The Ethics of Money Production, Jörg Guido Hülsmann explains, “Carpenters, masons, tailors, and farmers are usually not very astute observers of the international capital markets.” Hülsmann reminds us of the old (and simpler) days when “Putting some gold coins under their mattress or into a safe deposit box saved them many sleepless nights, and it made them independent of financial intermediaries.” While stock trading is the craze in the US, in Turkey, where the currency (the lira) is under great duress, Turks are doing what they’ve always done, trading the paper their government relentlessly depreciates for gold. “Turks are piling into gold, long their favorite investment, as the country’s financial system unravels,” write David Gauthier-Villars and Caitlin Ostroff for the Wall Street Journal. When Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar reopened in June, long lines of people waited outside the its many gold shops to buy gold coins (favored by older Turks) or mini-ingots (favored by the young). Demand for gold was so strong this summer that the national mint asked employees to work overtime, on weekends, and even during Ramadan to fill orders, Gauthier-Villars and Ostroff write. While Americans are buying FAANG stocks on their phones, Turks are taking an old-school approach. Gold plays an outsize role in Turkey, both in the financial system and as households’ preferred “under-the-mattress” way to protect their savings against a weakening currency and historically high inflation. The pile of gold Turks keep at home is estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 metric tons. That’s between $190 billion and $310 billion at current market prices, or between 25% and 40% of Turkey’s yearly output. The Turkish central bank “allows lenders to keep up to 15% of their mandatory reserves in the form of scrap gold collected from depositors, as well as 20% in standard gold,” the WSJ reporters write. “The Turkish treasury regularly issues gold bonds while banks have opened gold accounts and experimented with gold credit cards and gold ATMs.” Turkish residents have $33 billion in gold deposits at banks. But the government raised its sales tax on gold from 0.2 percent to 1 percent, pushing buyers to the Grand Bazaar and other “gray markets” where the tax isn’t charged. Gold has outperformed domestic stocks, bonds, and real estate over the past ten years. Safe-box maker and seller Mustafa Tuzcuoglu has seen a 50 percent increase in demand. His customers “keep half of their savings at the bank and half at home. That’s what I’m doing too.” Hülsmann provides the best reason to hoard gold and silver. “Most importantly, they…[are] extremely suitable for ordinary people.” You can’t say the same about shares of Tesla.
http://dlvr.it/Rht2Y5

Is The UK Heading Toward Medical Martial Law?

Is The UK Heading Toward Medical Martial Law? Tyler Durden Sat, 10/03/2020 - 09:20 Via Off-Guardian.org, On the 28th September Tobias Ellwood, Tory MP for Bournemouth East, stood up in Parliament and suggested that the British Army and the Ministry of Defense be in charge of distributing and administering “millions of doses” of the Sars-Cov-2 vaccines, as well as issuing “vaccination certificates” which will “allow travel”. And that’s just the highlights, there’s a lot more vaguely sinister language, camouflaged in his rather drab monotone voice. (You can watch the whole speech here, go to 20:24). This is a concerning development, one very much worth keeping an eye on. The BBC don’t think so, of course, because the call for what would easily amount to medical martial law didn’t even make it into their “Today in Parliament” programme. This is not new behaviour for Ellwood. He has always been a consistent voice for use of the military in response to the “pandemic”. On the 18th of September he requested the Prime Minister make “greater use of our fine armed forces”. He specifically mentions “managing the narrative”, which is no surprise considering his role as a former Army officer, a current reserves officer, and his known affiliation with the 77th Brigade. For those who don’t know: The 77th is the British army’s team of “facebook warriors”. An information warfare unit whose job is to “counter misinformation”, “manage the narrative” and generally corral and control the internet conversation. That’s not a “conspiracy theory”, their existence is readily acknowledged by both the government and the mainstream media. Considering they’re currently employed “countering covid misinformation“, they will likely be in the comments of this post (Hi guys!). Other countries around the world have already moved on to this “war footing”, and the UK is likely not far behind.
http://dlvr.it/Rhsv3G

71 Year Old Former Wall Street Trader Gets 5 Years In Prison For $20 Million Ponzi Scheme

71 Year Old Former Wall Street Trader Gets 5 Years In Prison For $20 Million Ponzi Scheme Tyler Durden Sat, 10/03/2020 - 08:45 A former Wall Street trader was sentenced to more than 5 years in prison on Tuesday for raising $20 million from investors and then spending the money on himself. 71 year old Paul A. Rinfret pleaded guilty last October to securities and wire fraud and was sentenced on Tuesday to 63 months in prisons. Rinfret defrauded investors using an entity he created called Plandome Partners, LP, from 2016 to 2019, according to Bloomberg.  Rinfret was accused of selling limited partnership interests in Plandome while telling investors he was using their money to trade S&P futures contracts using a "proprietary algorithm". And there's your first warning sign.  Rinfret (Photo: Daily Mail) He used only a "small portion" of the money for investing, returned $8 million to previous investors, spent $30,000 on an engagement party for his son, rented a $50,000 Hamptons vacation home and bought $35,000 worth of custom kitchen cabinets with the rest.  According to The Daily Mail, he spent "$170,000 on jewelry, watches and cars; more than $105,000 on wine and other alcohol; approximately $12,000 on cigars; and more than $130,000 at restaurants." On top of that, he lost $3 million trading, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods commented: “Mr. Rinfret’s crimes were reprehensible. They were properly described as brazen.” Rinfret went "full Madoff" and also sent fake monthly account statements that reported false returns to keep his investors from making withdrawals and to convince additional people to give him money. Rinfret's public defender described him as  “genuinely remorseful” and said he had "lost everything", including his money and two of his three children who refuse to talk to him. His lawyer also said that his wife left him on the day of his arrest, which was also his 44th wedding anniversary. Jennifer Willis, his lawyer, said: “He is a man who has been punished by the collateral consequences of his actions.” Prosecutors argued for a 63 to 78 month sentence, despite this, telling the judge: “The defendant simply wanted to live a more extravagant life than he was already living and give that appearance to others. That’s it.” Coincidentally enough, today also seems like a good day to remind people that, to this day, nobody has gone to jail for the 2008 housing crisis. 
http://dlvr.it/RhspZx

Friday Night ANTIFA Smackdown Episode 5

Watch the latest edition below.
http://dlvr.it/RhrWpc

Migrant Caravan "Blows Through Guatemalan Border" Towards US

Migrant Caravan "Blows Through Guatemalan Border" Towards US Tyler Durden Fri, 10/02/2020 - 10:39 Around 1,000 migrants began walking Wednesday from northern Honduras toward the Guatemala border, hoping to reach the United States for better living conditions as coronavirus paralyzed Central America's economy.  By Thursday, Al Jazeera reports, the caravan of migrants "had crossed the border from Honduras without proper documentation on their path to the U.S."  Guatemalan authorities are reporting at least 1,000 people had crossed the border from Honduras late this week. The incident was caught on camera:  Here’s the latest migrant caravan blowing through half-hearted Guatemalan police pic.twitter.com/3LIJSxkOJF — Todd Bensman (@BensmanTodd) October 2, 2020 Governments in Central America are aware of the caravan traversing the Guatemala–Honduras border. Mexico's immigration agency released a statement saying it would ensure "safe, orderly and legal" migration is seen. It also said it would not support the caravan nor help promote its size.  The U.S. Embassy in Honduras tweeted Thursday that it will be "more difficult to cross the United States border illegally. The journey has become even more dangerous, given the current global pandemic of #COVID19."  The latest caravan comes as the Central American economy has imploded, bounded by insurmountable debts, a virus pandemic, high unemployment, and food insecurity woes. The U.N.'s ILO said Wednesday that 34 million jobs had been lost in Latin America due to the virus-induced downturn.  CBS News quoted local television program Hoy Mismo, who interviewed one caravan migrant, who said:  "I'm leaving with my husband and my two children. There is no work here. There is nothing to do, and if you find a job they only pay you 100 lempiras ($4) a day," the migrant said.  After a series of migrant caravans (read: here & here & here), the U.S. government has strengthened its border defenses against illegals over the last few years. The virus pandemic has also allowed the government to shut down the asylum system at its southern border. The Trump administration has also pressured Mexico to take a more aggressive approach toward migrants by deploying the National Guard to intercept them.  And now, the next migrant caravan could arrive at the US southern border by the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential elections.
http://dlvr.it/Rhpy3d

US Factory Orders Disappoint In August

US Factory Orders Disappoint In August Tyler Durden Fri, 10/02/2020 - 10:06 US Factories disappointed in August with orders rising only 0.7% MoM (well down from the +6.5% MoM jump in July)... Source: Bloomberg This leaves YoY orders still down 5.4% as The "V" appears to be stalling... Source: Bloomberg Fiscal stimulus stat!!
http://dlvr.it/Rhps43