China Phasing Out All NEV Subsidies By 2023

China Phasing Out All NEV Subsidies By 2023

There’s no doubt that new energy vehicle growth in China has been off the charts. Despite lackluster auto sales numbers heading into the backend of 2020, NEV sales continued to grow, rising 121% in November

Additionally, the playing field of EV companies in China has become massive. The country leads the world in sheer number of major EV players, all jostling for position in what is still a burgeoning industry. 

This saturation and sales growth could be why China’s Ministry of Finance, along with several other ministries, has announced that subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEV) in China will be slashed 30% heading into 2022. The subsidies are expected to be phased out by 2023, CNEVPOST reported

For some areas, like city buses, cabs and postal deliveries, subsidies will only be slashed by 20% heading into 2022. 

But more importantly, “the policy will not continue to be implemented starting in 2023,” the report said. 

Grace Tao, Tesla’s global vice president, told The Beijing News earlier this week that the NEV industry is has become more “mature” and that rolling back subsidies will place a focus on product strength. 

“This is good for the whole industry, for consumers,” she commented.

Recall, Chinese auto sales have fallen for the last seven months of 2021, we wrote in mid-December. 

Sales were down 9.1% from the year prior as the industry continued to struggle with what is now becoming a year’s long semiconductor shortage and the country posted total sales of 2.52 million vehicles in November, once again led by sales of new energy and electric vehicles.

Total new energy vehicles grew 121% to 450,000 units from the year prior, helped along by the government pushing to further rein in pollution. New energy vehicles include battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in petrol-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, Reuters wrote.

CAAM spokesperson Chen Shihua commented: “Consumer acceptance of new energy vehicles continues to rise. The market has shifted from policy-motivated to demand-driven.”

Among the top sellers in China were Tesla, who sold 52,859 vehicles (which we highlighted analyst analysis of days ago) and Nio, who sold a record 10,878 cars last month. Xpeng sold 15,613 vehicles and Volkswagen sold over 14,000 of its ID series electric vehicles. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 18:30

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3mLzc83 Tyler Durden

US, South Korea Agree On Draft Declaration To End Korean War

US, South Korea Agree On Draft Declaration To End Korean War

Authored by Dave Decamp via AntiWar.com,

On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Seoul and Washington have “effectively” agreed on a draft declaration that would finally put an official end to the Korean War.

Chung said the US and South Korea have discussed “the importance of the declaration” and are now considering ways to start negotiations with North Korea on the matter. South Korean President Moon Jae-in ultimately favors reunification with the North and sees the end of war declaration as a vital first step.

Image: South Korean Defense Ministry/Reuters

“Our government views that an end-of-war declaration is a crucial step that we must go through in the process of achieving complete denuclearization and a lasting peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula,” Chung said.

While the fighting ended in 1953, a peace treaty was never signed to formally end the war. The US has been standing in the way of the declaration, as many hawks in Washington view the move as a “reward” for Pyongyang.

Since President Biden took office, peace talks between Pyongyang and Seoul have been stalled. “Our government views that an end-of-war declaration provides a very useful opportunity to resume dialogue in a current deadlock in talks with North Korea,” Chung said.

In September, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kin Jong-un, released a statement speaking favorably of the idea of declaring an end to the war.

“We have discussed the end of war declaration at several opportunities in the past since we have appreciated of the necessity and meaning of the [declaration], which can be the beginning of the establishment of a system to ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula,” she said.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 18:05

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Mapped: Top Trending Searches Of 2021 In Every US State

Mapped: Top Trending Searches Of 2021 In Every US State

Google’s data editor Simon Rogers once said, “You’re never as honest as you are with your search engine. You get a sense of what people genuinely care about and genuinely want to know.”

As Visual Capitalist’s Anshool Deshmukh details below, this look at trending searches for every U.S. state is a window into the topics people were truly curious about in 2021. From political tensions to meme stocks, and from Elon Musk to a devastating tornado, we saw a wide range of trending searches throughout the year.

In the above animated video, Reddit user u/V1Analytics pulls together the top trending search terms from Google’s 2021 Year in Search summary (for the period before mid-November 2021) and Google’s Daily Search Trends page (from mid-November to December 20th) to illustrate the daily trends for each state.

It’s fascinating to see what Americans were looking up this year.

Trending Searches Offer a Glimpse of American Psyche

In the year when COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, many Americans turned to the world’s most popular search engine to figure out how to come back to a life of normalcy.

In 2021, the search entries spoke to people’s interest in alternative assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs, as well as persistent economic insecurity, evidenced by questions about when they would get their stimulus checks.

Entertainers and billionaires trended throughout the year, and so did topics of significant cultural impact at those moments in time.

Here is a look at the trending searches of 2021 and when they were searched most:

Notable Trending Searches in 2021

Here’s a look at a few of the notable searches that trended across the U.S. in 2021:

President Biden and Capitol

Unsurprisingly, the year started with news of the presidential election and the U.S. Capitol riot, as President Biden was set to take office.

In six states, however, the top trending search was still related to the Mega Millions jackpot, even as individuals stormed the Capitol Building.

Valheim

One of the most sought-after games of the year, Valheim, came on the market in February, 2021. By August, it had garnered over 8 million users. The developing company’s new Hearth and Home patch has skyrocketed the game’s appeal even more.

Stimulus Check

In March, the U.S. government unveiled their plan to distribute the third stimulus check to Americans.

People started looking for more information about when they would be getting their checks and if there had been any changes in the amount they would receive.

Dogecoin

Created in 2013 as a parody of Bitcoin, Dogecoin saw record trading levels in May 2021. This was in part due to Elon Musk supporting the cryptocurrency.

The Dogecoin market capitalization surged to a peak of $88 billion, worth more than three-quarters of the companies in the S&P 500.

AMC Stock

After suffering significant losses due to the pandemic-related shuttering of theaters across the country, AMC Entertainment became a fan favorite of Reddit-based retail traders who drove the share price up beyond what most analysts considered reasonable.

AMC’s stock price rose by 95% in a couple of days, reaching a record high of $63 per share. This was the latest phase of the meme stock frenzy.

Afghanistan

President Biden decided to completely withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11th, 2021, ending the longest war the country has ever fought.

As an immediate consequence of the withdrawal, the Taliban militia took over the country and the government. The event, which was broadcast in near real-time, caused widespread panic among the citizens as some attempted to flee the country.

What’s in Store for 2022

It’s going to be everyone’s best guess as to what the trending searches for 2022 will be. Based on the events that dominated the news throughout the year, a few predictions could be made.

Experts predict that we will be moving to an endemic stage of the pandemic, which is bound to profoundly impact how we live in 2022.

New trends, movies, TV shows, and even newer gadgets will surely catch everyone’s attention next year. It will be fascinating to see what’s on the minds of people in the coming 12 months.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 17:40

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3JuhVtD Tyler Durden

COVID Testing Has Become Ridiculous & Even Counterproductive

COVID Testing Has Become Ridiculous & Even Counterproductive

Authored by Andrea Widburg via AmericanThinker.com,

The Omicron version of COVID is so mild that it’s indistinguishable from a cold. Many people are asymptomatic. We also know now that early COVID counts were almost certainly wrong because the dominant test used was unable to distinguish between COVID and the regular flu. Nevertheless, Joe Biden has invested almost $140 million dollars in a German company that will build a home-test plant in America…by 2024.

It’s no secret at this point that Omicron was O-versold. It’s so negligible that many people know they have it only because they’ve been tested. Even those who have symptoms feel only as if they’ve got a cold. They just identify as Omicron-sick. You only need to look at the hugely different trend lines between cases and deaths to understand that Omicron is a big nothing:

Indeed, Omicron may or may not be extremely contagious. That’s hard to know because the CDC, after announcing that 73% of all COVID cases in America were now Omicron, backtracked and now says that only 23% are, with the remainder being the Delta variant. But if these cases are the Delta variant, they must be pretty darn mild if they’re indistinguishable from Omicron and cases are dropping.

In any event, it’s entirely possible that COVID has been grossly overcounted from the beginning. That’s because it turns out that the PCR test was unable to distinguish between COVID and the flu. Democrats insisted that the flu vanished because of the masks and social distancing but it now appears the flu dropped off the radar because all cases were misclassified as COVID.

And of course, there’s the little problem that vaccinated people are the ones most likely to get Omicron. Thankfully, they’re not getting very sick but that fact utterly destroys the narrative about the unvaccinated keeping COVID alive in America.

Currently, the only thing that’s keeping COVID in the headlines is the mania for testing. I know a woman who posts on Facebook at least once a month about getting tested. It’s not clear that she’s ever been seriously symptomatic. Instead, every sniffle or cough sends her rushing out to get a test. The tests are a hypochondriac’s dream.

Image: Home COVID testFreepik license.

Using as his starting point the home COVID tests that D.C. is handing out Christopher Bedford explains why those tests are so stupid:

Staring at this kit Wednesday morning, sniffling, I thought, “Why would I do that?”

Seriously, why the hell would I do that? Do I live in Florida, where if seriously ill, I’ll be given access to monoclonal antibody treatments while family, friends, and neighbors go about their lives? Do I live in Georgia or Texas, where I’d receive the same? Or Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana?

Or do I live in a city where the numbers will be rushed to the press, schools will be shuttered, mask mandates will be extended, new restrictions on the eternally wicked “unvaccinated” will be rolled out, and if I have a bad case I’ll have to drive hours to find a pharmacy willing to fill a doctor’s prescription?

The tests do nothing but allow bureaucrats and the media to keep the panic going. It’s over.

But Biden understands the continued need for panic. That’s why he just signed a deal for $137 million with a German company to build a Wisconsin factory to produce more COVID test kids…by late 2024:

The Biden administration struck a $137 million deal to build a new factory in the U.S. to ramp up production of COVID-19 testing kits – but the new facility won’t be completed until late 2024 at the earliest.

MilliporeSigma, a brand formed by Germany’s Merck KGaA, will build a new factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the Defense Department announced as the U.S. hit a high record of 489,267 COVID cases on Wednesday

While the contract gives the company three years to complete the facility, it is not immediately clear when it will ramp up to full production, which is expected to pump out 83.3 million tests per month.

This plan is not as stupid as it appears. Democrats have figured out that the descendants of those Americans who fought a revolution during a smallpox epidemic, who battled through the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and both Gulf Wars; who survived journeys (voluntary or enslaved) across dangerous oceans; who lived through Depressions and recessions; who traveled thousands of miles in covered wagons; and who populated a dangerous wilderness can be controlled completely if they’re told they have a cold or the flu with a 1% mortality rate for people who are very old or have comorbidities.

Knowing that, if you wanted permanent political power, wouldn’t you also make sure that Americans are constantly told that they’re very, very sick?

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 17:15

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California Distillers Get a New Year’s Eve Reprieve From Ban on Shipping Booze Direct to Customers


Photo 91614066 © Hola2you71 | Dreamstime.com

2021 was a challenging year for California distillers, but it’s ending with some good news. Yesterday the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) extended emergency regulatory relief for distillers that will allow them to continue shipping spirits directly to consumers, a measure that was set to expire on January 1. The new extension will last until March 31, 2022.

As Reason reported on Tuesday, liberalization of direct shipping rules has helped California distillers offset sales lost in other channels during the pandemic, such as tasting room visits and in-store tastings. Along with legalizing to-go cocktails and relaxing restrictions on outdoor dining and drinking, these rule changes helped small businesses survive the pandemic. But while these latter two changes have been extended, direct shipping of spirits was stuck in regulatory limbo: The state legislature is considering a bill to legalize it permanently, but a vote wouldn’t be expected until months after the emergency order expired.

A coalition of state senators, California distillers, and trade groups urged Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state ABC to extend direct shipping long enough for the legislature to take up the question. Senate bill S.B. 620 would allow California distilleries and some other entities to make direct shipping to consumers a part of their business for the long term. It would also put California distillers on even footing with wineries and breweries, who already enjoy this privilege.

“I’m relieved that I’m not getting cut off from a huge portion of my customer base,” says Aaron Bergh, president and distiller at Calwise Spirits in Paso Robles, California. “But we haven’t cleared the hurdles yet and could find ourselves back in a precarious position in three months if we don’t make our voices heard. I hope the legislature ultimately votes to pass S.B. 620 so we can continue to run our businesses responsibly and foster consumer choice, marketplace competition, and safety.”

“We appreciate the governor and ABC giving California small distillers some breathing room to keep our businesses afloat as we work this legislation through the process,” says Alex Villicana of Re:Find Distillery, also in Paso Robles. “Craft distillers have dedicated a lot of human and financial resources to this issue and we hope to gain parity with wineries on direct to consumer shipping in the upcoming months.”

If passed, California will join nine other states that have legalized direct shipping of spirits, along with 46 others in which direct shipping of wine is permitted. The pandemic response has vastly accelerated liberalization of alcohol laws despite opposition from temperance groups concerned about easier access to drink. Long term, these changes promise to expand access to the longtail of niche spirits, many of which are inconvenient or impossible to purchase due to requirements to sell through a three-tier system in which distributors act as a mandatory middleman between producers and consumers.

 

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Watch: Kamala Harris Gives Bizarre Answer To Inflation Question

Watch: Kamala Harris Gives Bizarre Answer To Inflation Question

We’re not sure what this means, but it’s how Vice President Kamala Harris led off an attempted answer – or more likely clumsy and bizarre effort to dodge – a simple question on inflation… Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked, “Was it wrong to consider inflation transitory? These price spikes seem like they’re going to be with us for a while.”

Harris said: “We have to address the fact that we have got to deal with the fact that folks are paying for gas, paying for groceries, and… need solutions to it. So let’s talk about that”. Watch

The barely coherent response and flubbed answer to a simple straightforward question comes, as Fox and others note, amid continued internal criticisms from her staff that she “repeatedly refuses to read briefing materials and prepare for meetings.”

The report described:

“It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,” one former staffer said. “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully and it’s not really clear why.”

Several Harris staffers have since left their positions in the year since she and Biden took office.

In this latest encounter with the media, she certainly didn’t do her boss Joe Biden any favors, given the question originated in reference to White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently claiming that inflation is merely “transitory” – for many months issuing various forms of “it’s nothing to worry about” and will go away in a year…

The above exchange comes after a series of media encounters where VP Harris spouts bizarre non-answers that essentially go in circles or are not to the point. 

Take for example another recent response. She was asked what should be for most politicians a softball question meant to boost approval ratings over her “greatest accomplishment”. She then droned on about “inspiring kids”

“Well, that is a great question. Umm, when I go to an event, whatever it is, and some dad or some mom brings their kids — daughters, sons – and says ‘That’s your vice president,’ and challenges their kids to think about who does what, as a way, I think, of empowering their kids to know they can do anything they want – not be confined by who has traditionally done what – I think that is, that’s one of the things I, that gives me joy, is to know that, that might be a possible impact.”

And when she can’t string enough words together, there’s always the good ole “but it’s classified” response…

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 16:50

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3qBfn4l Tyler Durden

California Distillers Get a New Year’s Eve Reprieve From Ban on Shipping Booze Direct to Customers


Photo 91614066 © Hola2you71 | Dreamstime.com

2021 was a challenging year for California distillers, but it’s ending with some good news. Yesterday the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) extended emergency regulatory relief for distillers that will allow them to continue shipping spirits directly to consumers, a measure that was set to expire on January 1. The new extension will last until March 31, 2022.

As Reason reported on Tuesday, liberalization of direct shipping rules has helped California distillers offset sales lost in other channels during the pandemic, such as tasting room visits and in-store tastings. Along with legalizing to-go cocktails and relaxing restrictions on outdoor dining and drinking, these rule changes helped small businesses survive the pandemic. But while these latter two changes have been extended, direct shipping of spirits was stuck in regulatory limbo: The state legislature is considering a bill to legalize it permanently, but a vote wouldn’t be expected until months after the emergency order expired.

A coalition of state senators, California distillers, and trade groups urged Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state ABC to extend direct shipping long enough for the legislature to take up the question. Senate bill S.B. 620 would allow California distilleries and some other entities to make direct shipping to consumers a part of their business for the long term. It would also put California distillers on even footing with wineries and breweries, who already enjoy this privilege.

“I’m relieved that I’m not getting cut off from a huge portion of my customer base,” says Aaron Bergh, president and distiller at Calwise Spirits in Paso Robles, California. “But we haven’t cleared the hurdles yet and could find ourselves back in a precarious position in three months if we don’t make our voices heard. I hope the legislature ultimately votes to pass S.B. 620 so we can continue to run our businesses responsibly and foster consumer choice, marketplace competition, and safety.”

“We appreciate the governor and ABC giving California small distillers some breathing room to keep our businesses afloat as we work this legislation through the process,” says Alex Villicana of Re:Find Distillery, also in Paso Robles. “Craft distillers have dedicated a lot of human and financial resources to this issue and we hope to gain parity with wineries on direct to consumer shipping in the upcoming months.”

If passed, California will join nine other states that have legalized direct shipping of spirits, along with 46 others in which direct shipping of wine is permitted. The pandemic response has vastly accelerated liberalization of alcohol laws despite opposition from temperance groups concerned about easier access to drink. Long term, these changes promise to expand access to the longtail of niche spirits, many of which are inconvenient or impossible to purchase due to requirements to sell through a three-tier system in which distributors act as a mandatory middleman between producers and consumers.

 

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The Fall Of The Mainstream Media And The Biggest Lies They Told In 2021

The Fall Of The Mainstream Media And The Biggest Lies They Told In 2021

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

If the past year has confirmed anything it is that the mainstream media is thoroughly dishonest. Yes, most people already suspected this, but the last 12 months have provided more confirmation than the past several years combined. 2021 has made is clear that the mainstream media is a propaganda arm of political and corporate elitists, from big government to big pharma.

While there have been a few shining examples of independent and mostly unbiased journalism in the MSM, these moments are as rare as Loch Ness Monster sightings and almost as unbelievable. The public has been lied to so consistently that sometimes we ignore legitimate journalism when it pops up because it’s safer to assume the media is disingenuous at all times.

I’ve personally noticed a wash of commercials lately paid for by major legacy media platforms like the New York Times desperately trying to convince the public that they are still relevant. The message is that they are the only “true source” of news information while they beg people to start subscribing and reading their hot garbage once again. Leftist media is crumbling, with online propaganda peddlers and click-bait prostitutes like Buzzfeed and Vox imploding. The lack of profits is obvious and the layoffs have been aggressive.

These platforms survived for the past few years on tech media hype and venture startup capital, but the free money has run out and now they don’t know what to do. Buzzfeed’s scheme was to go public and sell shares, but this plan failed so completely and the company’s stock plunged so hard that the event has exposed all other fledgling tech media to wider scrutiny. In other words no one has faith in these outlets, at least not enough to invest in them, and now the veil of their supposed “success” has been lifted. Buzzfeed used to claim they were worth $1.5 billion; reality revealed they are worth almost nothing.

Legacy media has also seen its audience numbers plummet over the past ten years, but the the last year in particular has been especially unkind to them. ALL of the major corporate news channels saw their audience ratings decline, with CNN seeing the largest drop overall. CNN is facing an epic decline of 68% in it’s prime time numbers in 2021, while MSNBC now has the smallest prime time audience it has witnessed since 2016. Fox also dealt with audience declines but continues to remain the most watched cable news outlet so far, probably because of the continued popularity of commenters like Tucker Carlson .

Some might blame the loss of election coverage, but it’s not as if there hasn’t been enough news to hype in 2021. With millions of people still working from home and facing intermittent covid restrictions this year (in blue states), you would think that this would represent a captive audience for the fear machine. Hell, even YouTube and other social media platforms are forcing MSM content into our faces daily while burying any alternatives. Yet, their numbers are still plunging and audiences are laughing.

YouTube has even removed the “Dislike” button just to protect the corporate media and the White House from the hilarious bombardment of thumbs down they receive on every video. It’s unacceptable for us peasants to have the ability to voice our discontent.

So, where are people turning for their news if not the mainstream? While stats are not as well tracked for independent sources, it is obvious from viewership and subscription numbers that the alternative media is quickly becoming the dominant force in information. My own audience numbers have jumped at least 30% in the past two years alone and this seems to be the trend across the board for conservative and libertarian media. Websites like Social Blade, which tracks YouTube channel stats, support the conclusion that the alternative media is becoming the go-to media.

Why is this happening? It’s actually been a long time coming. Mainstream media numbers have been in decline for many years and their audience age brackets have been increasing dramatically. This accelerated after 2016 when the mainstream media mask came off completely and what we now know as the “Culture War” revealed itself.

The migration of audiences is undeniable in entertainment and pop culture media. Mainstream platforms funded by a steady cash flow from the corporate coffers of Disney, Time Warner, Comcast, Viacom, etc, used to reign supreme in entertainment publications. Moderately sized tech media operations clamored to remain in the good graces of these corporations in exchange for favors and special access. Now, operations with billions of dollars behind them are being thwarted by low cost do-it-yourself YouTube channels like Geeks And Gamers, The Quartering, Nerdrotic, Clownfish TV, etc.

The bloodletting has been so horrific that social media companies (with a shared agenda) have partnered with the majors to suppress these types of channels, demonetizing them or erasing them from public view with their algorithms. Alternative channels get so much attention because they offer something people want – An honest opinion and analysis instead of an opinion bought and paid for with corporate dollars.

In the political and social sphere there have been numerous success stories, including Joe Rogan’s podcast, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, Blaze TV’s ‘You Are Here’, Tim Pool the list goes on and on. In economic media, outlets like Zero Hedge continue to bring in millions of readers that most other mainstream institutions WISH they had.

To be sure, some of these information sources are still playing catch-up to those of us once considered “conspiracy theorists” a few years ago. That’s okay. I’m not saying that there isn’t more that could be done. What I’m saying is that there is a revolution happening in how people consume media and at least some truths are getting out there to the normies.

I have been working and publishing within the alternative media for 16 years and I don’t think many who are new to the field realize how much Americans have broken free from the mainstream narrative in that time. When I got started, to even dream of the audience numbers we now have was considered naive fantasy. Today I continue to find great hope in the growth of independent journalism.

The fact of the matter is, for decades corporate institutions conned the masses into believing only THEY were qualified to act as gatekeepers and guardians of the information bottleneck. Only they were the true “journalists.” They have now lost the respect of the public and their gatekeeping is over.

On that note, lets examine just a few of the reasons why trust in the mainstream has imploded. Lets look at some of the biggest lies perpetuated by the MSM in 2021…

The Jan 6th “Insurrection”

Probably one of the most fake news stories of the decade. The mainstream media has relentlessly parroted the propaganda that the conservative protest at the Capitol Building on Jan 6th was some kind of planned attempt at a national takeover and violent coup resulting in multiple deaths. The reality was much less sexy.

First, the FBI has been forced to admit there is no evidence supporting the claim that the protest was an organized coup. And when an institution that is extremely hostile to patriots admits this, you know the government has NOTHING.

Not a single death originally attributed to the Jan 6 protesters was actually caused by them, so that tall tale has been tossed down the memory hole. While there was violence and an unarmed protester was shot and killed by police (Ashli Babbitt), the result of the event was nothing close to an insurrection. Protesters walked in, milled around for a little while, some people stole some souvenirs, and then everyone left. It can barely be considered a “riot.” Compare this to the BLM riots across the country which resulted in multiple actual killings by people directly participating, not to mention billions of dollars in property damage. The media called these riots “peaceful protests” while condemning the Jan 6 participants as monsters.

When conservatives protest something at least we go to the source instead of burning down the homes and businesses of innocent people. And I want to explain something else to leftists because I don’t think they get it – When you do see a conservative “insurrection” (rebellion against centralized tyranny), they will not be unarmed like they were on Jan 6 and they will not stop until all corrupt elements of the establishment are removed from power. If you were hiding under your beds over the events of Jan 6th, you really have no clue.

The Texas Power Grid Failure

Wow, what a politically charged mess the coverage of this event was. Multiple people die from a freak winter storm hitting Texas and taking down parts of their independent power grid and the first thing the mainstream media does is write hatchet stories about how this “proves they could never secede from the union.” These people are obsessed with centralization to the point that they lose their minds if you generate your own electricity.

Paul Krugman, a notorious spin doctor for the establishment, went on a tirade in the New York Times dismissing any and all evidence that federally funded Wind Turbine failures led to the Texas power grid crisis. The facts on this are buried to this day.

The numbers prove Paul Krugman and the MSM utterly wrong. The Mises Institute published a comprehensive article on this based on analysis from the Institute For Energy Research, but I’ll summarize:

The MSM and Paul Krugman argued that the entire incident was caused by Texas’ ill prepared natural gas powered grid and that Wind Turbines had nothing to do with it. By extension, the MSM asserted that this makes any notion of a state like Texas becoming independent from centralized governance and a centralized grid “laughable.” It’s important to note that Krugman offers no real stats to support his arguments. An “economist” should know better.

The truth is that failing wind turbines were indeed the primary source of the power grid decline. Leading up to the winter storm in February, wind turbines were generating around 28% (nearly one third) of Texas power while natural gas was providing 43%. By the end of the freeze wind power had dropped to 6% while natural gas took up the slack and increased to 65% of the grid. In other words, Krugman either lied, or he was oblivious to the actual stats. While there were failures in some natural gas plants, the majority of the fault was in federally funded wind power. During the grid down crisis, natural gas lost 7% of its overall output while the federally funded wind turbines lost 47% output. THIS IS A FACT.

Also keep in mind that power demand in the state skyrocketed at this time breaking all previous records, perhaps because the state population jumped from 29 million to 30 million from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2021. Millions of people had just transplanted to Texas in a matter of months to escape blue state policies such as high taxes and oppressive covid mandates. And here is where we find what is likely the core motive behind the media’s lies about Texas – The establishment does not want Americans to migrate and congregate to fight against the mandates. Lying about Texas at any opportunity, even during tragedy, reveals their underlying fears.

Fauci’s Gain Of Function Research

Anthony Fauci is perhaps the highest paid liar in recent history, but his lies go beyond simply acting as a propagandist for the government. The covid pandemic has luckily resulted in a very low average Infection Fatality Rate (only 0.27% officially), meaning, over 99.7% of the population at any given time has very little to worry about from the virus. With the mild Omicron variant now in circulation the death numbers are falling even further. However, there have been fatalities that did not need to happen and Fauci is partly to blame.

Despite the fact that the largest Level 4 virology lab in Asia is in Wuhan, China right down the street from the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, the mainstream media at the behest of the government and the medical establishment has fought tooth and nail to deny any connection. If this was a murder investigation it would be like a detective walking in a room to find a dead body and a neighbor standing over it with a bloody knife, and then buying the suspect ice cream and sending him on his merry way. If you didn’t witness the actual stabbing, why investigate further?

Why was the media so adamant about ignoring the obvious? Maybe because government agencies like the NIAD and NIH under the direction of Anthony Fauci were involved in funding clandestine “Gain of Function” research of corona viruses at that very lab in Wuhan. This would explain why the initial strain of Covid that spread around the world in early 2020 was a 96% match to samples held at the lab since 2013. The other 4% could be attributed to genetic manipulation through gain of function.

Fauci denied any involvement in gain of function research, which is predominantly used for the weaponization of a virus or other microorganisms. The media violently defended him and accused anyone critical of Fauci of being crackpot conspiracy theorists. Well, it turns out he was lying again. The release of over 900 documents related to coronavirus research funded by Fauci and the US government in Wuhan proves the media either blindly defended Fauci without looking at the evidence, or that they share the same agenda.

The Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated

“Breakout case” is now a common term used in the media to describe fully vaccinated people who still get sick from and die from covid infection. But not long ago the narrative was that anyone and everyone falling ill from the virus was unvaccinated. The media and the government still push the notion that unvaccinated people are filling up hospitals and ICU beds, but there is ZERO evidence to support these claims. Meanwhile, the most vaccinated countries on the planet are also dealing with some of the highest infection rates on the planet and continuing deaths.

In Ireland, for example, over 63% of recent covid deaths were fully vaccinated individuals. In Israel, nearly 60% of covid hospitalizations are fully vaccinated. Uruguay, Bahrain, Maldives and Chile all have overwhelming majority vaccinations and all of them have seen spikes in covid deaths and infections.

If the vaccines actually work, then how is this possible? Conclusion: The vaccines don’t work, at least not in the way that pharmaceutical companies initially claimed. Add to this the fact that people with natural immunity are 13 to 27 times more protected from covid than people who submit to the jab. On has to ask – What is the point of these experimental mRNA vaccines with no long term data to prove their safety?

Transitory” Stagflation

Mainstream media denial of US inflation has been commonplace for some time. Now, they can’t hide it anymore. With price inflation hitting 40 year highs (according to official numbers), the pocketbook of the average American is taking a massive hit, and its only going to get worse from here on.

The media appears to be specifically invested in hiding real economic data from the public and protecting the Federal Reserve and central banking practices in general. I won’t get into my theories on why this is the case (I already wrote extensively on this issue in my last article), I’ll only say that an unprepared populace is an easy to control populace when an economic crash occurs.

Covid Keeping Audiences From The Movie Theaters?

The movie industry was on the decline well before the covid pandemic happened, and it is undeniable that this was largely due to the extreme leftist propaganda implanted into Hollywood films since 2016. Yes, Hollywood was woke before then, but nowhere near as bad as the industry has become in the past five years. Hollywood calls this politicization of films “inclusivity,” but having more black and brown people in films is not the issue. Rather, it is the injection of leftist woke ideology and cultism into everything from films to TV series to commercials.

The culture war is VERY real, and sadly, the biggest mistake of conservatives was to mostly ignore the fight in popular entertainment until recently. There is hope, however, and it is found in the mantra of “Get Woke Go Broke!” Audiences are voting with their wallets and the consensus is that they do not want woke politics poisoning their entertainment. For the past couple years leftists in the media have said that the crash in theater profits has been caused by public fear over covid. This excuse was recently destroyed by the latest Spiderman film, which has no woke politics and had audiences coming to theaters by the millions. The film made over $1 billion in 5 days breaking previous records.

Clearly, covid is not a factor at all, but if you look at almost every failed movie this past year there is a thread that connects them – Woke propaganda. No one wants it, no one likes it. The media has no other means of denying it any longer.

There are many other lies I did not get a chance to cover here, but I think you get the picture. Who knows what the next year will bring in terms of spin from our corporate gatekeepers? At least, for now, the alternative media has stepped up to fill the void and bring facts where there was once only deception. In order to get rid of the truth, they will have to get rid of us. Otherwise, the free market has spoken.

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 16:25

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3EDphaJ Tyler Durden

Cryptos & Crude Soar As Stocks End 2021 At Most Expensive Level Ever

Cryptos & Crude Soar As Stocks End 2021 At Most Expensive Level Ever

Biden ‘outperformed’ Trump in terms of the number of Americans who died from/with COVID under his watch…

Source: Bloomberg

Despite more deaths, more cases, and a lack of the big stimmy BBB deal, all the major US equity indices were upon the year with Trannies leading the way (and Small Caps lagging, but still up over 14%)…

Source: Bloomberg

For some recent context, The Dow and S&P managed to close around 1-2% higher since Omicron’s unleashing, Nasdaq faded back in the red today and Small Caps are down almost 4% since the new variant headlines hit…

All of which left US stocks at their most expensive ever…

Source: Bloomberg

And the “Buffett Indicator” has never been higher…

With the biggest 10 stocks trading at a level the 10 largest stocks have traded at before…

Chinese stocks lagged heavily on the year and while European markets put in a good performance, they lagged US…

Source: Bloomberg

So-called “bubble markets” ended the year on a big downswing…

Source: Bloomberg

Unprofitable tech stocks had quite a year, ripping higher to start 2021, giving back all their gains and then slumping into year-end…

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, ‘Meme’ Stocks managed to hold on to gains overall (though many individual stocks did not)…

Source: Bloomberg

Despite all the optimism, the recent Omicron wave hammered ‘recovery’ stocks leaving them big underperformers on the year…

Source: Bloomberg

Energy stocks were 2021’s biggest winners while Utes and Staples lagged…

Source: Bloomberg

Nasdaq has pushed ahead recently relative to Small Caps, suggesting real yields are going lower again…

Source: Bloomberg

Value/Momentum stocks have decoupled from the yield curve that it hugged all year…

Source: Bloomberg

STIRs have surged higher matching The Fed’s renewed hawkish jawboning with 1 full rate-hike priced in by May 2022 and 3 full hikes by Dec 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields were all higher on the year but the last few months, since The Fed shifted tone towards hawkish, has seen the belly underperforming as the long-end rallied…

Source: Bloomberg

The yield curve flattened on the year with 2s30s down around 35bps…

Source: Bloomberg

The Dollar ended 2021 higher, but faded back below its 50DMA on the last day of the year (and below 2019’s closing price)…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos had another big year (even with headlines more than willing to focus on recent price action). Bitcoin ended the year up 65% while Ethereum rose over 400%…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin has been hovering around its 200DMA for a few weeks…

Source: Bloomberg

Ethereum’s major outperformance pushed it to the strongest relative to Bitcoin since early 2018…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices saw their biggest annual gain since 2009, but gold was lower and Silver suffered its worst year since 2014…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold did managed to get back above $1800…

Given where real yields ended the year, we suspect gold has some upside…

Source: Bloomberg

And while WTI did take a hit from Omicron and Biden’s jawboning, it’s back above $75 again now…

Unfortunately for President Biden, the de minimums drop in gas prices of the last few days is likely as good as it gets as oil and wholesale gasoline prices have rebounded amid fading omicron fears…

Source: Bloomberg

One of the biggest stories of the year was European NatGas prices, but the last week has seen an armada of LNG vessels heading across the Atlantic to solve Europe’s demand and EU gas prices have crashed back to reality. The following chart compares apples to apples across us/uk/eu energy prices (in oil barrel equivalents)…

Finally, global central banks added over $2 trillion to their balance sheets in 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

But remember, correlation is not causation, this is just a coincidence and it’s all about fun-durr-mentals…

Source: Bloomberg

And on that note, happy new year!

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/31/2021 – 16:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3sP0zlk Tyler Durden

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions

Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature from the Institute for Justice.

  • Plaintiffs: Amtrak has started including an arbitration requirement in the terms and conditions of every ticket it sells, in violation (say we) of the Petition Clause, Article III of the Constitution, and all that is good and holy. D.C. Circuit: What say you guys fight about all this once Amtrak actually tries to make you arbitrate something? Case dismissed.
  • Do three stray Supreme Court comments have the requisite Big Dicta Energy to control the outcome of this challenge to bond procedures used to detain noncitizens during the pendency of removal proceedings? First Circuit (over a dissent): They do indeed, and they tell us that class relief is unavailable.
  • Nice elder-care facility you have there. Be a shame if someone mixed up patient identifying information (including patient wrist bands, door name plates, and dietary requirement documents), altered medical records, damaged or hid medical equipment, and vandalized laundry equipment. Third Circuit: A reasonable jury could infer that union members—who went on strike the next day—were responsible for the vandalism, but the unions themselves can’t be held liable without clear evidence that they were directly involved. Dissent: That same jury could find that the unions’ encouragement of “greater and more militant” activity immediately before the sabotage meets this standard.
  • Pound, Va. inmate tussles with two prison guards, leaving all three injured. Inmate (2015): Roll the video—it shows I was shackled on the floor while the officers injured each other. Prison officials: Nah. We’ll just believe the guards’ testimony and strip you of nine months of good-time credit. Fourth Circuit (2019): Inmates facing the loss of good-time credit have a right to the video. Fourth Circuit (2021) (over a dissent): But that doesn’t apply retroactively, so the inmate is out of luck.
  • Internet troll Chuck Johnson—who once stated that he “agree[d] with [Holocaust denier] David Cole about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real” and that he “do[es] not and never ha[s] believed the six million figure” of Jews killed in the Holocaust—sues HuffPost for libel over an article calling him a Holocaust denier. Truth is an absolute defense? Fifth Circuit: Don’t even need to get that far. HuffPost is based in New York and incorporated in Delaware; can’t sue them in Texas just because that’s where you read the article. Dissent: HuffPost isn’t found in Texas by accident; it actively courts Texas readers and runs Texas-specific advertising. That’s enough for jurisdiction.
  • “The Wegbreits’ rambling brief spans 78 pages yet somehow develops only two coherent arguments remotely related to the tax court’s decision. And those two arguments are baseless.” Not a great start for the Wegbreits or their lawyer, the latter of whom must show cause to the Seventh Circuit for why he shouldn’t be sanctioned for filing a frivolous appeal (after having been warned about this sort of thing before).
  • Another life tip via the Seventh Circuit: If you are going to steal tens of millions of dollars from a family whose assets you manage, naming your kids after your victims might be seen as “aggravating.” 200-month sentence affirmed.
  • Relatives of workers who died after allegedly contracting COVID-19 at Waterloo, Iowa pork processing facility in March and April 2020 sue Tyson Foods in state court for fraudulent misrepresentation and gross negligence. Tyson: The feds encouraged us to keep the plant open to keep grocery store shelves stocked, so this case should be removed to federal court. Eighth Circuit: Nope, it goes in state court.
  • Google Street View provides panoramic street-level pictures from across the world, which it obtained from special camera cars. Google: Whoops, our cars also took substantive info, like passwords, photos, and documents, transmitted over unencrypted Wi-Fi. Much litigation ensues. A class action covering 60 million people settles for $13 mil, with the money going to attorneys’ fees, various costs, and an assortment of nonprofits that promise to use the money “to promote the protection of Internet privacy”—and not a penny to the people whose privacy was violated. Ninth Circuit: That’s fine. Concurrence: It’s time for us to reconsider our precedent okaying monetary awards to third parties instead of damages for class members.
  • After a jury finds St. Petersburg, Fla. oncology practice knowingly billed Medicare improperly on 214 occasions, defrauding the feds of a total of $755.54, the district court orders the practice to pay $1.17 mil ($350k of which goes to the practice’s billing manager, who blew the whistle). An unconstitutionally excessive fine? Eleventh Circuit: It might be a “very harsh” fine. But it’s not excessive. Two-judge concurrence: It seems like our precedent on what counts as excessive is too deferential to Congress—”a bit like letting the driver set the speed limit.”
  • And in en banc news, the Tenth Circuit will not reconsider its decision that individuals born in American Samoa are not U.S. citizens. Judge Bacharach, dissenting: “We bear an obligation to interpret the geographic scope of the Citizenship Clause based on the text and its historical context. When we do, there is only one answer: The Territory of American Samoa lies within the United States.”

To comply with Pasadena, Texas’s minimum parking ordinance, Azael Sepulveda, who runs a one-man, by-appointment-only auto repair business, must add 23 parking spaces outside his shop. That’s a prohibitively expensive and totally unnecessary burden on Azael, who has a reputation for honest and high-quality service (don’t take our word for it) and a YouTube channel with over 73k subscribers. So this month, IJ and Azael joined forces to challenge the law under the Texas Constitution. Click here to learn more.

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