Rockwell: Keep Us Out Of War!
[3:21 PM | 0 comments ]

Rockwell: Keep Us Out Of War!

Authored by Llewellyn Rockwell,

People have different opinions about the battle between Israel and Hamas, but one thing should be clear to all of us. America must stay out of the conflict and follow our traditional non-interventionist foreign policy, magnificently defended by Murray Rothbard and Dr. Ron Paul.

Steve Berger gets to the essential issue:

“[We need a] non-interventionist policy that doesn’t stir up hornets nests or in words of JQA [Jon Quincy Adams] doesn’t go abroad in search of monsters to destroy is not inconsistent with protecting our own borders or citizens. Economic law all about tradeoffs. Security sent abroad makes us more vulnerable to infiltration of terrorists here as you outlined dramatically in your recent podcast. Biden called all the arms etc. we are sending over there a dividend for our security. Maybe it’s just a dividend for our military corporate contractors as Smedley Butler would conclude.  I have no issue if a private citizen wishes to go over and help Israel just as I had no issue if someone wanted freely and with informed consent wished to take a covid shot. I don’t like being called an anti-vaxxer for protesting mandates or raising issues of efficacy or safety. I don’t like being called an antisemite for questioning  our foreign policy decisions or Israel’s even though I condemn the atrocities and murders for what they are.”

Brain dead-Biden and his gang of neocon controllers are taking precisely the wrong path.

They are shipping a massive amount of arms and money to this troubled region. If we don’t stop them, we could find ourselves in a three-front war.

This could lead to the thermonuclear annihilation of the world. Dr. Ron Paul warns us:

“President Joe Biden announced last week that the United States would be funding – and possibly fighting – three wars in three different parts of the world at the same time. It is an ambitious foreign policy for a president who doesn’t even seem to be able to express a coherent thought without the help of a teleprompter.

Nearly every word of Biden’s speech was untrue, including the preposterous suggestion that “American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe.”

US interventionism in Ukraine for over ten years and in the Middle East for decades has brought those two regions to the brink of an explosion unlike anything seen before. And if that is not enough, Biden’s neocons are also determined to take us to war with China over Taiwan. The world is literally falling apart in front of us as Biden claims we are the only thing holding it together!

After a brutal attack on Israel by Hamas earlier this month, Israel declared war not just on the terrorists who attacked its territory, but on the entire population of Gaza itself. Israel’s policy of collective punishment – razing Gaza to the ground – has inflamed Muslims from the Middle East to Asia to Western capitals. The anger rages more fiercely than we have seen in decades, perhaps since the founding of Israel in 1948.

Yet instead of trying to help facilitate a ceasefire and a peaceful solution, Biden has poured gasoline onto the fire, sending two US carrier groups and at least 15,000 troops, while threatening war on Lebanon, Iran, and Syria if they intervene in Israel’s war on the Palestinians. What might Russia do if the US attacks Russian forces in Syria or Russia’s allies in Tehran?

Biden also repeated the line that “Israel has the right to defend itself.” While that may be true, it is not Israel defending itself. It’s the US government intervening to defend Israel. And as the entire Muslim world rages against Israel over the destruction of Gaza, how do we think they will feel about us as the financiers and facilitators of that destruction?

By dragging the United States into this war, President Biden has planted the seeds of innumerable 9/11-style blowback attacks on the US. Yet he has the audacity to claim that all of this is keeping us safe.

Recent polls show that most Americans disagree with Biden. A CBS/YouGov poll taken last week shows that the majority of Americans oppose sending weapons to Israel. His Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured us that “we can afford” to finance two wars because the US economy is doing “exceptionally well.” Maybe the American people know something Yellen and the elites do not.

As Biden demands another $105 billion to fund the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan, his speech seemed to have a touch of campaign rhetoric in it. “I’m told I was the first American [president] to enter a warzone not controlled by the United States military since President Lincoln,” he said in his speech. The statement is blatantly false, but he must believe it gives him an air of bravado.

They say that it is advantageous to be seen as a “wartime president” when elections roll around, but Joe Biden may have miscalculated the level of support he will get for being a “World-War-Three-time president.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/31/2023 - 16:20
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ADL Caves After 'Libs of Tik Tok' Levies Legal Threat Over Defamation
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ADL Caves After 'Libs of Tik Tok' Levies Legal Threat Over Defamation

The ADL, which now exists to fuel censorship of opinions which diverge from establishment orthodoxy, has bent the knee to Chaya Raichik, better known on "X" as 'Libs of TikTok.'

Last Tuesday Raichik threatened to sue the ADL for including her in their "Glossary of Extremism."

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I’m calling on the @ADL to immediately remove my name from their ‘Glossary of Extremism.’ Not only have they defamed me, they also lumped me in with terrorist organizations like Hamas," she wrote on X. "They have until Oct 31st to remove this defamatory entry before I’m forced to take more action."

Over the weekend, she was removed from the glossary.

The move was widely celebrated as a victory for free speech.

And of course, arguments have broken out.

The ADL is most recently known for remaining silent for more than a week after the Canadian parliament honored an actual Nazi.

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Breakthrough Study 'Infects' Animals With Human Alzheimer’s Through Microbiome
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Breakthrough Study 'Infects' Animals With Human Alzheimer’s Through Microbiome

Authored by Amy Denney via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Researchers recently discovered that they could give young, healthy animals Alzheimer’s disease by transferring the gut microbiome of human subjects with Alzheimer’s into germ-free rats.

(Lightspring/Shutterstock)

Published on Oct. 18 in Brain, the findings solidify that the microbiome—the collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live mostly in the colon—has a role in the development of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, affecting 6.7 million Americans.

“This study represents an important step forward in our understanding of the disease, confirming that the makeup of our gut microbiota has a causal role in the development of the disease,” King’s College London neuroscience professor Sandrine Thuret, one of the study’s senior authors, said in a statement.

Our intestines are home to trillions of these microscopic bugs, which mostly live in symbiosis with the human body. Many factors, including antibiotics, glyphosate, medications, and stress, have been proven to kill beneficial microorganisms and cause an imbalance often referred to as dysbiosis.

Exactly what causes the microbial shift in people with Alzheimer’s disease is unclear.

“Bigger picture, it is likely that no one factor, food or lifestyle change will, on its own, reduce the risk of developing cognitive decline as we age," Percy Griffin, Alzheimer’s Association director of scientific engagement, said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

"Although this work is intriguing, it is still very preliminary. Larger studies in animal models, and then in humans, are required to make generalizations on what can be done in this area to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.”

Transferring Impairments

There were 69 healthy control subjects and 64 Alzheimer’s patients in the study. Patients with Alzheimer's had a higher abundance of inflammation-promoting bacteria in fecal samples, and these changes were associated with their cognitive status. Those traits were then found through a battery of behavior tests in only the rats that were given transplants from Alzheimer's patients.

“The memory tests we investigated rely on the growth of new nerve cells in the hippocampus region of the brain. We saw that animals with gut bacteria from people with Alzheimer’s produced fewer new nerve cells and had impaired memory,” lead author professor Yvonne Nolan said.

Alzheimer’s disease's link to the microbiome has already been explored in recent studies, although it’s been largely unclear whether the disease caused the dysbiosis or if—as this research indicates—alterations in the intestinal community cause symptoms of dementia.

Mr. Griffin, who holds a doctorate in molecular cell biology from Washington University in St. Louis, noted that studies in rats don’t always indicate that similar findings will occur in the human body. To build credibility, the research needs to be replicated, he said.

“This is an interesting study that adds to our growing understanding of how the bacteria in the gut may contribute to risk for Alzheimer’s disease. But this study is in rats, and rats are not people,” he said. “That said, these findings demonstrate a possible role for gut bacteria in affecting the areas of the brain that are (a) associated with memory and (b) involved in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Presymptomatic Identification of Disease

However, dysregulation of the microbiome could give early insights into disease, which has long been associated with systemic inflammation.

“Understanding the role of gut microbes during prodromal–or early stage—dementia, before the potential onset of symptoms may open avenues for new therapy development, or even individualized intervention,” Ms. Nolan said. “People with Alzheimer’s are typically diagnosed at or after the onset of cognitive symptoms, which may be too late, at least for current therapeutic approaches.”

A study in Cell Death and Differentiation in 2019 found that impaired neurogenesis is a biomarker for Alzheimer’s. Neurogenesis is the continued development of neurons that occurs in two parts of the adult brain, including the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory.

“Remarkably, it has been recently described that neurogenesis persists in cognitively healthy people until the end of life, but drops off dramatically as AD [Alzheimer's disease] pathology takes hold,” the study reads.

New research is showing that neurogenesis impairment begins before amyloid-plaque formation, the clumping of protein pieces found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Taken together, neurogenesis and the microbiome offer evidence that suggests that the disease can be identified in stages in which its development could be halted before symptoms set in.

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia, which is marked by memory loss and other cognitive disabilities that interfere with daily life. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 1 in 3 people are likely to develop Alzheimer's.

“Alzheimer’s is an insidious condition that there is yet no effective treatment for,” Ms. Thuret said. “This collaborative research has laid the groundwork for future research into this area, and my hope is that it will lead to potential advances in therapeutic interventions.”

What's Influencing the Microbiome?

The microbiome is a key area of Alzheimer's research worldwide due to its vulnerability to lifestyle and environmental factors.

The Alzheimer’s Association is leading the U.S. POINTER study, which finished recruitment in March and is expected to begin reporting results in 2025. The two-year clinical trial is evaluating whether lifestyle interventions that simultaneously target many risk factors can protect cognitive function in older adults who are at increased risk for cognitive decline.

“All of our body systems are interconnected, and it is important to understand how they work together to impact the risk and resilience against Alzheimer’s,” Mr. Griffin said. “For ongoing and overall good health, people should speak to their doctors about their digestive health and ways to keep it operating healthfully, such as drinking enough water and eating enough dietary fiber.”

He’s hopeful that the POINTER study will help determine a sustainable, community-based lifestyle intervention recipe to reduce the risk of developing cognitive decline as we age.

It’s the kind of work that some organizations have already been doing, even without studies that fill in the blanks of causation with Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Dale Bredesen has been reversing symptoms with a research-based protocol. Sharp Again Naturally offers programs that address nutrition and create a healthy gut microbiome to help participants preserve and improve their brain health.

The new study is hopeful, according to the board chair of Sharp Again Naturally, Steve Ledvina, who’s also a certified health and wellness coach and the founder of Knowing Alz.

“This exciting study extends the evidence for the strong connection between the gut microbiome and the brain and suggests poor gut health has a causal role in Alzheimer's symptoms,” Mr. Ledvina wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “For individuals, it emphasizes that intentionally maintaining or healing our guts and promoting a healthier gut microbiome is essential to keeping our brains healthy.”

He said potential causes of poor gut health include excessive sugar or alcohol consumption, antibiotics or other gut-disrupting medicines, and stress.

“We can promote our gut health by eating prebiotic fiber in vegetables like asparagus and artichoke hearts and probiotics like sauerkraut, kimchi, and low-sugar kombucha,” Mr. Ledvina said.

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The Influence Of Influencers Is Rising... Except In China
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The Influence Of Influencers Is Rising... Except In China

Most people trust the opinion of their social circle when making purchasing decisions.

But, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, data from Statista Consumer Insights shows many also trust the friendly people who freely share their lives with us on social media and at least feel like our acquaintances: influencers.

Infographic: The Influence of Influencers | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Influencers currently yield the biggest power over people’s purchasing decisions in Brazil, China and India, according to the survey which is representative of the countries’ online populations.

While influencers' sway has only become larger in Brazil and India, it has recently decreased in China, but stayed on a high level nonetheless.

In most other countries, the trend to follow influencers' lead when deciding on a purchase gained traction.

Denmark and Japan were among the countries paying influencers little mind, even though their following was growing in these nations also.

Among Europeans, Italians were most "under the influence", at 24 percent saying in 2023 that they had made a purchase because a celebrity or influencer advertised the product.

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Jack Smith's War On Free Speech: AG Garland Should Rein In His Special Counsel
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Jack Smith's War On Free Speech: AG Garland Should Rein In His Special Counsel

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in The Messenger on the renewed effort of Special Counsel Jack Smith to gag former President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Judge Arthur Engoron has repeatedly fined Trump for his public statements about the New York fraud case. Engoron declared this week “Anybody can run for president. I am going to protect my staff.”

There is widespread support for barring attacks on court staff and Trump did attack the Court’s clerk in a prior posting. However, most of his comments have been directed at Engoron and his alleged hostility toward Trump. Where to draw this line is the subject of this column. In my view, criticism of the case, the court, and the prosecutor should be treated as protected speech.

Here is the column:

In 2016, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion overturning a conviction that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had seemed willing to secure at whatever cost to the rule of law. The case involved the prosecution of former governor Bob McDonnell (R-Va.), and the lead DOJ prosecutor was now-special counsel Jack Smith. The court dismissed the “tawdry tales” offered by the DOJ and declared that it was far more concerned with the damage that Smith was causing to the legal system with his virtually limitless interpretation of criminality.

The rebuke came to mind this week as Smith continued his unrelenting effort to gag former president Donald Trump before the 2024 election. Some of us have previously denounced the gag order issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan as unconstitutional, but even that order was more limited than what Smith had demanded.

Even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a leading critic of Trump, has come out against Smith’s efforts as an attack on the First Amendment.

Undeterred, Smith now wants to reinstate and expand the gag on Trump, citing Trump’s comments about his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who reportedly has been given an immunity deal by Smith. (Meadows’ lawyer disputes those reports.)

Smith wants to bar Trump from criticizing any witnesses as well as the prosecution and the court. That would include criticisms of former Vice President Mike Pence, currently one of his opponents for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, on his allegations linked to the earlier election.[Update: after this column ran, Pence withdrew from the presidential campaign]

Of course, gagging Trump will not materially affect the jury pool in the case. The Smith prosecutions are one of the biggest issues in this election. Moreover, it will not protect potential witnesses from withering criticism in the middle of an election that could turn on the public view of these cases.

Indeed, Smith has insisted on trying Trump before the election but now also wants to prevent him from speaking fully about the case before the election. Trump alone would be gagged, even as other politicians and pundits debate the merits of the cases and the countervailing allegations of the weaponization of the criminal justice system.

The prior order issued by Judge Chutkan is shockingly vague and overbroad. It bars Trump from “targeting” Smith or his staff or potential witnesses or the “substance of their testimony.” It leaves an undefined and uncertain line as Trump campaigns on what he (and millions of citizens) view as the abuse of the criminal justice system to target President Biden’s main political opponent.

Smith would add to the scope and ambiguity of the order in his latest motion. He is arguing that the court should “modify the defendant’s conditions of release … by clarifying that the existing condition barring communication with witnesses about the facts of the case includes indirect messages to witnesses made publicly on social media or in speeches.”

Consider that for a moment: Smith would treat comments about witnesses, such as Meadows or Pence, as an effort to communicate with a witness.

Thus, Smith continues to litigate with a sense of utter abandon, showing his signature lack of concern for the implications of his legal arguments. It is the type of blind purpose that leads — as it did in the McDonnell case — to a unanimous ruling against you on an otherwise divided Supreme Court.

Ironically, it calls for a level of self-restraint that the trial court itself failed to show in the past. In sentencing a rioter in 2022, Judge Chutkan said that January 6 defendants “were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man — not to the Constitution.” She added that it was “a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.”

Despite clearly indicating with her comment that she believed Trump should be jailed (long before he was indicted), Chutkan has refused to recuse herself in this trial.

The lack of restraint shown by Smith only magnifies the lack of leadership from Attorney General Merrick Garland. The attorney general has repeatedly said that he would give the special counsel full authority and independence. However, that would not ordinarily mean that the attorney general would reduce himself to a mere pedestrian in this process.

This is an example of the ever-shrinking profile of Garland at the Justice Department. He has often told Congress that his knowledge of controversies is limited to what he has read in press accounts. Even beyond the special counsel’s investigations, he seems as proactive as a ficus plant.

Yet, this new gag motion presents a far more serious cost to Garland’s passive role at the department. Smith is taking a hatchet to the First Amendment in these motions. In doing so, he is fueling anger over the perception of a weaponized criminal justice system.

Smith’s deafening attacks on free speech are matched equally by Garland’s utter silence. The attorney general seems to believe that removing himself entirely from these investigations is more important than guaranteeing that his department does not become the enemy of core constitutional rights.

As Smith seems intent on inviting another unanimous Supreme Court opinion against his department, Garland may want to consider voicing a modicum of concern over the cost to free speech in Smith’s efforts to gag Donald Trump.

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House Weaponization Panel Gets IRS To End 'Abusive' Surprise Visits; Taibbi Thanks Jim Jordan
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House Weaponization Panel Gets IRS To End 'Abusive' Surprise Visits; Taibbi Thanks Jim Jordan

House Republicans on the GOP's "weaponization" subcommittee said in a Friday report that the IRS has agreed to end its "abusive" policy of surprise visits to taxpayers' homes following pressure from the panel.

"The Committee’s and Select Subcommittee’s oversight revealed, and led to the swift end of, the IRS’s weaponization of unannounced field visits to harass, intimidate, and target taxpayers," reads the report. "Taxpayers can now rest assured the IRS will not come knocking without providing prior notice—something that should have been the IRS’s practice all along."

The IRS announced in July that it would end most unannounced agent visits to the homes of Americans, citing security concerns.

But it also came after the agency engaged in what appeared to be witness intimidation, after visiting the New Jersey home of journalist Matt Taibbi on the same day he appeared before Congress to testify on government abuse.

Following the incident, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded answers from the IRS, writing "In light of the hostile reaction to Mr. Taibbi’s reporting among left-wing activists, and the IRS’s history as a tool of government abuse, the IRS’s action could be interpreted as an attempt to intimidate a witness before Congress."

Taibbi thanked Jordan on Saturday, writing in response to the report:

One of the cases outlined is my own. My home was visited by the IRS while I was testifying before Jordan’s Committee about the Twitter Files on March 9th. Sincere thanks are due to Chairman Jordan, whose staff not only demanded and got answers in my case, but achieved a concrete policy change, as IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel announced in July new procedures that would “end most” home visits.

Anticipating criticism for expressing public thanks to a Republican congressman, I’d like to ask Democratic Party partisans: to which elected Democrat should I have appealed for help in this matter? The one who called me a “so-called journalist” on the House floor? The one who told me to take off my “tinfoil hat” and put greater trust in intelligence services? The ones in leadership who threatened me with jail time? I gave votes to the party for thirty years. Which elected Democrat would have performed basic constituent services in my case? Feel free to raise a hand.

If silence is the answer, why should I ever vote for a Democrat again? -Racket News

Taibbi had opined earlier in the day on the disturbing IRS home visits, writing in Racket that: perhaps the most 'unsettling revelations' happened after his case - when on April 25, 2023 a woman was visited by an IRS agent using a fake name.

On that date, a woman was visited at her home by a man identifying himself as “Bill Haus” from the IRS’s Criminal Division. He then “informed the taxpayer he was at her home to discuss issues concerning an estate for which the taxpayer was the fiduciary,” and after sharing “details about the estate that only the IRS would know,” the taxpayer “let him into her home.”

The woman informed “Haus” that the estate issues had been resolved, and furnished documents to prove it. At this point, he informed her of his real purpose, claiming she was delinquent on several tax filings and provided “several documents to the taxpayer for her to complete.”

Hesitating, the woman offered to put him on the phone with her accountant, but when he didn’t answer the phone, she contacted an attorney, who “repeatedly told Agent ‘Haus’ to leave the taxpayer’s home since the taxpayer had not received any prior notice from the IRS of any issue.” The agent reportedly replied that he was with the IRS and could go into anyone’s house at any time, and before leaving told the taxpayer she had “exactly one week to satisfy the remaining balance or he would freeze all her assets and put a lien on her house,” as the Committee report put it.

Once “Haus” left, the taxpayer feared a scam and had the good sense to immediately contact the Marion, Ohio Police Department (MPD), upon whose reports this story ends up being based. (Emails published below.) The MPD ran the plate of “Bill Haus” and found it came back to a car owned by someone with a different name. The police contacted the car owner, who “attested that he was an IRS agent but admitted Bill Haus was not his real name; he was using an alias.”

*  *  *

Taibbi also notes that "Agent Haus" was pissed after his identity was discovered, and then filed a complaint with the Treasury Department's Inspector General against the MPD for outing him. It was only after a senior MPD offer called the Inspector General (TIGTA) that they were able to confirm that Haus was an actual IRS agent.

As Taibbi further considers:

Pause here to consider the numerous problems already confirmed, to police, by the IRS:

  1. IRS agents make field visits using aliases;

  2. IRS agents make “pretext” visits, i.e. they announce they’re asking about one thing, when really by their own admission, they might be investigating something else;

  3. The IRS makes local, covert home visits without informing local authorities.

Think of the problems that could arise from the last issue alone. According to the exchanges, the IRS isn’t required to inform local officials of investigative activity, but as noted by the TIGTA official in communications with the MPD, this is something they should do, to avoid mixups. Here for instance, even after a lengthy inquiry, local police were unsure “Agent Haus” really worked for the Treasury. Imagine if the taxpayer called police to come over during her visit, and think of the things could go wrong. It’s insanity that the Treasury would have investigators using aliases making Clockwork Orange-style “surprise visits” without informing local officials.

Amazing.

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"I Made A Number Of Larger Mistakes": SBF Takes The Stand Friday, Admits "A Lot Of People Got Hurt"
[2:22 PM | 0 comments ]

"I Made A Number Of Larger Mistakes": SBF Takes The Stand Friday, Admits "A Lot Of People Got Hurt"

In what could be the world's most obvious admission and largest combined understatement ever, Sam Bankman-Fried took to the stand to testify in his own trial on Friday, admitting to the court making “a number of larger mistakes”. 

While testifying on Friday, Financial Times reported that Bankman-Fried said he thought him and his team, “might be able to build the best product on the market” and “move the [cryptocurrency] ecosystem forward” by forming FTX.

At first he said there was “a ton of excitement, a ton of demand” for crypto, but that “the banks weren’t involved, the brokers were not involved”. FTX  “turned out basically the opposite” of his goals of being the best product on the market, he said, noting "a lot of people got hurt". 

According to FT, he also added: “I made a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes,” stating that “by far the biggest mistake was that we did not have a dedicated risk management team . . . and there were significant oversights”.

When he founded Alameda in 2017, he admitted to having "absolutely no idea" how crypto worked, but thought “there might be really, really large arbitrage opportunities available”. 

Cross-examination is set for late in the day Friday. Following the testimony, we wouldn't be surprised if SBF's team advises him on pleading out and taking a deal.

As we noted days ago, generally when the accused wind up taking the stand in their own defense, it can be seen as a last minute "hail mary" by the defense. And recall, just days ago we published this take from The Epoch Times explaining why the trial doesn't seem to be going SBF's way so far. 

The paper wrote that the trial "...has thus far strongly supported the prosecution’s charges of securities fraud, analysts say; meanwhile, any questions regarding his massive political donations have been put off for another day."

Since its start on Oct. 3, the trial has featured compelling testimony from former colleagues FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, both of whom pointed the finger at Mr. Bankman-Fried—also known by his initials, SBF—as the ringmaster of one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. The defense has struggled to make its case, although Mr. Bankman-Fried’s attorneys may still have cards to play, The Epoch Times wrote.

“As of now, it’s not going well for the defense,” Braden Perry, a former federal enforcement attorney who's currently a partner at Kennyhertz Perry, told The Epoch Times. “Both Ellison and Wang have testified that SBF directed them to commit the crimes.”

We're not sure SBF's admissions today are going to make things any better...

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'2 Billion Could Die In Current War Cycle' - Charles Nenner Says Buy Gold & The Two-Year Treasury
[3:20 PM | 0 comments ]

'2 Billion Could Die In Current War Cycle' - Charles Nenner Says Buy Gold & The Two-Year Treasury

ViaGreg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning a once every 120-year war cycle is coming, and with hostilities in the Middle East, it is clearly here. 

This cycle is for big wars such as WWI and WWII.  These two wars were part of one big war cycle according to Nenner, and history is now repeating.  

Keep in mind, this war cycle comes with many countries in possession of nuclear arsenals.  Nenner explains,

“If you do cycles on war games and war cycles, you can calculate how many people are going to die in such a war.  We discussed this in the past, and it now looks ugly.  We are talking about a lot of people.  There are so many things bad going on in the world, so I would like to not to tell you the number.”

Nenner has said this war cycle will top all other war cycles in body counts.  Nenner predicts,

“This war cycle is going to be worse than World War II.  So, the question is what do we do and where do we go?  A lot of my clients are not interested in ‘how do I make money,’ but where should we go.  So, I am studying where are the best places to go.  This is what I am trying to find out, and I have been very busy with this.”

Back to the death toll that Nenner knows is coming. 

So, I ask again, how many people will die in the current war cycle?  Nenner blurts out,

“It could be a quarter of the population of the world.” 

That’s roughly 2 billion people that could be killed in the current war cycle. 

Nenner goes on to say,

“This may not be in the next war because this is going to continue for many years.  It could be in the war after this. 

What I see now is the Chinese going to the Middle East and the United States helping Israel because if they don’t do that, nobody would trust the United States anymore.  I guess the Chinese are going to watch how tough the United States is going to be because, otherwise, they take over Tiawan just like that.  They may still do it because everybody is busy with Ukraine and Israel...

The U.S. is going to have to prove themselves, otherwise, they will be laughed off the world.”

Nenner also sees a war cycle coming to America through the Southern U.S. border. 

America will be attacked like never before in this war cycle.  Nenner says,

“There will be terror attacks in the U.S. and maybe much more because I don’t know how many of them are in there already.  They are catching Iranians on a terror list.  How did Iranians get to Mexico?”

Nenner thinks the dollar is stable–for now.  Interest rates are going to continue to climb but will take a short downward path in the near term.  Inflation is going to be going back up soon.  Nenner is not a long-term buyer of stocks, and he still thinks the Dow’s downside is 5,000 and global war could take it there in a hurry.  The greatest depression in history is still a few years away, but Nenner is 100% sure it is coming.  Nenner’s cycles say it will most likely happen in the 2027-2028 time period.  Nenner does like gold and silver and thinks gold will be well over $2,500 per ounce within a year and a half.  Nenner’s best financial advice is “buy the 2-year Treasury,” and lock in a 5% return with zero risk.

There is much more in the 44-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner for 10.24.23.

*  *  *

To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

There is free information and analysis on CharlesNenner.com. You can also sign up to be a subscriber for Nenner’s cutting edge cycle work with a free trial period by clicking here.

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Watch: Senator Accuses Biden Admin Of "Facilitating The Largest Child Trafficking Ring In American History"
[2:20 PM | 0 comments ]

Watch: Senator Accuses Biden Admin Of "Facilitating The Largest Child Trafficking Ring In American History"

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

During a hearing Wednesday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley exposed how Biden Administration officials have no idea what is happening to masses of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) after they are released into the country.

Hawley grilled Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Robin Dunn Marcos, noting that trafficking of migrant children has skyrocketed under Biden.

The New York Times recently reported that the Department of Health and Human Services has completely lost content with at least 85,000 UACs since they were released to adult sponsors.

“How many kids, right now, of the 430,000 approximately unaccompanied children who have crossed the border under this administration — it’s an astounding number — how many are you in regular contact with right now?” Hawley asked the official.

After attempting to skirt around the answer, Marcos said “I don’t have the specific number.”

“How can you not know? Why would you come to this hearing and not know?” an astounded Hawley replied.

The Senator continued, “Respectfully, I would like you to do your job and not release children to human traffickers. Respectfully, that’s what I would like. I would like you to not facilitate the largest child trafficking ring in American history.”

Marcos also could not give any details of how many background checks are carried out on adult sponsors.

“Do you do home visits in these cases where you can actually see where these children are being released, whose care you’re putting them in?” Hawley asked, to which Dunn Marcos responded, “We do not do home visits in all cases.”

“Do you really think that you are helping these children by releasing them to labor traffickers and yes, sex traffickers?” Hawley further noted, adding “85,000 children whom you have no contact with and your answer is—we gave them a presentation before we turned them over to these people who are exploiting them on a scale not seen in this country for 100 years.”

Watch the full exchange:

Hawley previously slammed DHS head Mayorkas for overseeing child slavery inside the U.S.:

The rest of Wednesday’s hearing exposed how Biden officials seem to be totally clueless about what is happening to the millions of illegal immigrants that are entering the country:

Democrats continue to assert that by raising such questions Republicans are engaged in an effort to “sabotage” the Biden administration’s effort to “fix” the border:

*  *  *

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Jim Grant: The Fed Needs Some Grounding In Financial History & Common Sense
[2:22 PM | 0 comments ]

Jim Grant: The Fed Needs Some Grounding In Financial History & Common Sense

Via SchiffGold.com,

Will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates again? Or is this hiking cycle over? Will it really hold rates higher longer, or will it cut in the near future? Everybody in the financial world is trying to predict the central bank’s next move.

Fed members insist they are data-dependent and will go where the numbers lead them. But in an interview on CNBC, financial analyst Jim Grant said data alone isn’t enough. You need to put the data into context.

The whole “data-dependent” canard is questionable to begin with. How long did Jerome Powell and other central bankers insist that inflation was “transitory” despite the data indicating otherwise?

When the Federal Reserve could no longer pretend price inflation was “transitory,” finally launched a war on inflation and rapidly hiked interest rates. Currently, rates are at between 5.25 and 5.5%. Many people in the mainstream think the hiking cycle is over. Paul Krugman even went so far as to say the war was over, and he declared, “We won.”

But if you believe the data, price inflation might be down, but it isn’t out.

So, has the Fed done enough?

Jerome Powell delivered a speech last week at the Economic Club of New York. Grant said like every “Delphic prophet,” the Fed chair was “just ambiguous enough.”

During the speech, Powell claimed that interest rates are currently restrictive. Grant said this “isn’t born out by what the Fed likes to call the data.”

There are four or five indices of financial conditions, and four of the five say that notwithstanding this rise in rates and QT and the like, conditions in finance are generally accommodative. It makes you wonder what stringency would feel like because certainly on kind of a tactile basis it does feel as if things are rather taut.”

Grant noted that these indices were flashing “tight” when the Fed went to battle with the inflation of the 1970s.

Peter Schiff recently said the real problem isn’t the 5% interest rates of today. It was the zero percent interest rates the Fed maintained for more than a decade. That precipitated a “decade of reckless spending financed by debt.” Not only has the federal government run up a massive debt, so have corporations and American households.

"Everybody has gorged themselves on this debt fest that was served by the Federal Reserve,” Schiff said.

Grant put it another way, saying the long run of artificially low interest rates “introduced a fragility in the economy that 5% is now testing,” and he said we’re now seeing the characteristic consequences of very low, “money grows on trees” interest rates.

As an example, Grant pointed out the Bezos/Gates-backed trucking company Convoy that shuttered operations. In April 2022, Convoy was valued at over $3.5 billion. The Convoy CEO Dan Lewis cited contractionary credit markets as one of the reasons for the shutdown.

Grant said we’re not seeing this kind of situation far and wide, “but it is beginning to happen.”

I think as time goes on, you’ll see much more of it.”

Meanwhile, the Fed keeps insisting that it is “data dependent.” But the data is always backward-looking. And as Grant pointed out, it is also subject to revision.

One shouldn’t be utterly dependent on them [data]. Jay Powell at his summertime speech in Jackson Hole said something like, ‘The Fed is navigating by the stars under cloudy skies,” which I think is most apt.”

Data alone isn’t sufficient without a framework or a theory in which to contextualize it.

I would submit to you that a common sense approach might be helpful. For example, you can reason that if you’ve been repressing interest rates, you being the central banks collectively worldwide, but suppressing them for the better part of 10 years, and if at one point, an extreme point, some $16 trillion of securities were priced to yield less than nothing – the lowest rates in 4,000 years of recorded rate history – in those circumstances, you’d expect that the proverbial beach ball held underwater would pop up again and not just stop at the surface, but rather shoot a little bit up in the air.”

Grant concluded that one can’t be a prisoner to data.

You have to have some grounding in financial history and some grounding in common sense.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/25/2023 - 15:40
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Microsoft Soars As 'Everything Beats', Azure Growth Re-Accelerates
[2:21 PM | 0 comments ]

Microsoft Soars As 'Everything Beats', Azure Growth Re-Accelerates

Microsoft shares are soaring after hours following a top- and bottom-line beat

  • Revenue was $56.5 billion (better than the expected $54.54 billion) and increased 13% (up 12% in constant currency).

  • Diluted earnings per share was $2.99 (better than the $2.65 expected) and increased 27% (up 26% in constant currency).

Under the hood, all the segments beat expectations...

  • *MICROSOFT 1Q PRODUCTIVITY REV $18.59B, EST. $18.29B

  • *MICROSOFT 1Q MORE PERSONAL COMPUTING REV. $13.67B, EST. $12.89B

...but heavily AI-exposed intelligent cloud unit was the highlight.

  • *MICROSOFT 1Q CLOUD REV. $31.8B, EST. $31.19B

  • *MICROSOFT 1Q INTELLIGENT CLOUD REV. $24.26B, EST. $23.61B

With growth re-accelerating...

No wonder Pichai is smiling...

"With copilots, we are making the age of AI real for people and businesses everywhere," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.

"We are rapidly infusing AI across every layer of the tech stack and for every role and business process to drive productivity gains for our customers.”

Revenue just from Azure jumped 29% during the quarter, faster than the 26% consensus, and above the 27% last quarter..

“Consistent execution by our sales teams and partners drove a strong start to the fiscal year with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $31.8 billion, up 24% (up 23% in constant currency) year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

It would appear - at first glance - that MSFT is beating GOOGL at the AI/Cloud game as the former beat and the latter missed.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/24/2023 - 16:17
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Bitcoin & The Dollar Soar, Squeeze Saves Stocks As Yield Curve Re-Inverts
[2:21 PM | 0 comments ]

Bitcoin & The Dollar Soar, Squeeze Saves Stocks As Yield Curve Re-Inverts

PMI beats caught the headlines but most missed the big tumbles in the regional Fed surveys which is starting to drag 'soft' survey data lower...

Source: Bloomberg

But, crypto was the story du jour with Bitcoin soaring over $2500 to top $35,000 for the first time since May 2022...

Source: Bloomberg

We discussed catalysts for the move in detail here, but note on the day, BTC did come back a little after tagging $35,000...

Source: Bloomberg

Ethereum also rallied early on but gave a lot of its gains back, as ETH relative to BTC plunged back near Jun 2022 spike lows...

Source: Bloomberg

Stocks were stronger overnight - because WW3 hadn't started - then ramped on better than expected PMIs (see here for that malarkey) but that stalled into the European close sending stocks all the way to unchanged and to the lows of the day. From there they bounced with Nasdaq leading the charge ahead of tonight's GOOGL, MSFT earnings...

The S&P broke back below its 200DMA, but found support...

Thanks in large part to a giant short squeeze at the open...

VIX was clubbed a baby seal once again, back down to almost an 18 handle from above 23 at Monday's open....

As Nomura's Charlie McElligott notes: "The Vol selling in Equities Options space has continued at an unrelenting pace these past 2 sessions, as funds look to exploit the recently “rich” VRP off the back of 1) the shock FCI tightening risking a “cycle-turn,” 2) geopol stress “fat tails” and 3) the legacy VIX Dealer “short upside convexity” problem which has made Index iVol so suddenly “squeezy,” evidenced by recent “extreme VIX Beta to SPX” and Vol of Vol."

Bonds were mixed on the day with the long-end outperforming (30Y -5bps, 2Y +5bps), which leaves the 2Y yield alone higher on the week...

Source: Bloomberg

The 30Y yield closed back below 5.00%...

Source: Bloomberg

Which, obviously, flattened the yield curve dramatically with 2s30s now inverted again...

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar bounced hard off its pre-CPI lows, erasing all of yesterday's tumble...

Source: Bloomberg

Gold was basically flat on the day (in USD) but not in JPY where it reached a new record high...

Source: Bloomberg

Oil was pummeled ahead of tonight's API data, because WW3 never erupted?

As Bloomberg's Eddie Spence notes, gold’s explosive rally since Hamas’s attack on Israel has moved in tandem with oil prices, a sign some traders are hedging against stagflation.

The 15-day correlation between spot bullion and Brent crude is now at the highest in over a year. The relationship between the two commodities typically strengthens when oil begins to spike.

Finally, are stocks starting to catch down to central bank balance sheet realities?

Source: Bloomberg

...or will The Fed (et al.) pivot to QE before that gaping spread compresses from above?

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Kunstler: Who Is 'Joe Biden' Working For?
[3:21 PM | 0 comments ]

Kunstler: Who Is 'Joe Biden' Working For?

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Halloween Parable

“We are at an inflection point, a threshold, where weak, brittle, effete personality structures are a threat to human civilization.”

- JD Haltigan on X

 

The Dead Rise on John Street

 

You might have noticed that the massive investment in Halloween yard shrines by families growing broke in America reflects the ghoulish convergence of malevolent events undermining and overtaking what used to be normal life in this land.

Nothing is normal anymore. The groaning mummies, howling werewolves, and shrieking skeletons are trying to tell us something.

The message might be: detach from reality long enough and death comes creeping ’round your door.

You see where consensual madness has gotten us? Believe enough things that are not true and nemesis comes roaring in, all fangs and claws, to gleefully shred you. So. Maybe it’s time to stop believing things that are not true.

Start with the first principle of US life in our time: that anything goes and nothing matters. This proposition has ruled for as long as most of us can remember. Consequence was exiled on Main Street so you can get away with anything now — until you discover that, somehow, everything is broken.

Your livelihood is broken. Your community is broken. Your household is broken. Your car is broken. Your children are broken. Your health is broken. Your faith is broken. Your country is broken.

Here’s a first principle worth considering: court death and it will oblige you. Granted, there is a certain libido for nonexistence in the human psyche because life is so hard sometimes that you yearn to be relieved of it. But not everyone in America seeks to walk that way. Probably fewer than half of us. So why do we allow that other half to drag us to the bone orchard? Do you see what it means to get your mind right when times get hard and the path is uncertain?

Everybody knows that a ghoul was installed in the now-haunted White House. And everybody knows that the method of his installation was a fraud, a gigantic falsehood. The catch is that the fewer than half of us liked it that way, they celebrated it, did a victory dance, and then rubbed it in with prosecutions against the rest of us who saw exactly what happened and didn’t like it. They acted like it didn’t matter what you saw.

They tried to control the transmission of ideas and sentiment about these matters by placing half the CIA and the FBI on Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Nice try, but only cads and fools think that you can stuff reality in a black box, lock it up, and throw away the key.

Reality has Houdini-like powers to escape because reality is true magic. Reality is the ultimate super-power.

Reality is not some asshole in a spandex suit with a cape and a mask. Reality is the white light that reveals the world.

Reality is telling us that the war project in Ukraine started by the neocon pseudopod of our Deep State blob is not working out.

The fiasco could not be more rank. Instead of weakening Russia, it crippled the USA. V. Putin is not the enemy of Western Civ, he’s one of its last remaining defenders. Was it not in everyone’s interest that for seventy-five years Ukraine existed as an inert borderland, making trouble for nobody, itself especially? Could we not respect that reality and leave it alone?

Reality is telling us that Israel refuses to be massacred out of existence. Israel will defend itself with us or without us.

It’s possible they’ll manage it intelligently. You might ask: will we defend ourselves against the same antagonist that wants to wipe all of Western Civ off the face of the earth, us included? Notice that your own will to survive is being subverted by useful idiots while warrior cadres of mysterious origin pour across the Mexican border. Everyone knows it’s a clear and present danger and who will move to stop the invasion? Do we have to wait for a catastrophe?

Who is “Joe Biden” working for? Wouldn’t you like to know? Not much is left of him in mind or body, though he made a fortune in a short span of years for doing effectively nothing but retailing his favor before landing so uncannily in the seat of power. The truth about it is all over the place now and might provoke constitutional procedures that will induce the de-platforming he likely deserves. All that is going to unspool now whether The New York Times pays attention to it or not, and no matter what the fewer than half of us want to pretend about the evil legerdemain that put him where he is.

The extended festival of ghouls and dancing skeletons comes to an end in a week with the Day of the Dead, also known as All Saints Day. That is your cue to stop celebrating wickedness for its own sake. Remember, we are the living. While we are here, we have an obligation to those who come after us. The dead can take care of themselves. It is possible to have faith in ourselves. Even as the days grow shorter, the people of this land can gather in the remaining light instead of worshipping the darkness. A new season will be upon us soon. Hark, the herald angels sing!

*  *  *

Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page

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