Month: September 2024

School districts across the country are in a mad dash to spend their remaining post-COVID relief grant money, or they have to return it to the US Treasury.

The $122 billion program aimed at boosting learning recovery in the wake of the pandemic expires Sept. 30, leaving just 30 days.

According to Georgetown University’s Edunomics lab, which tracks how the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds have been spent, nine districts have yet to submit more than $30 million of previously granted funds for reimbursement.

According to the Lab, most of the grant funds were spent on labor, including additional teachers, classroom aides, counselors, tutors, reading coaches, subject area specialists and administrators.

As the Epoch Times notes further, in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times, the U.S. Department of Education affirmed that it cannot extend the deadline for expenditure approvals past Sept. 30, and it will not allow them to transfer any leftover money to a “rainy day account.”

Districts can request additional time to spend down the money if the U.S. Department of Education approves the expenditure prior to Sept. 30. Liquidation extension requests are due Dec. 31.

The smallest of the nine districts on the $30 million plus unspent list, Syracuse city in New York, has used 68.4 percent of its allocation, or $74.45 million out of $108.86 million. The largest district, Clark County in Nevada (Las Vegas area), so far spent 95.4 percent of its ESSER money, or $1.15 billion out of $1.20 billion. Neither district replied to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) in Wisconsin has spent $570.22 million of its total $786.41 million allocation, or 72.5 percent, according to the Edunomics Lab.

All told, MPS spent its ESSER money on providing Chromebooks for students, upgrading athletic facilities, tutoring services, learning camps that took place when school wasn’t in session, mental health services, afterschool clubs, free sports physicals, and free drivers’ education classes, said Stephen Davis, MPS media relations manager, in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times.

As for the amount currently listed as unspent, he added, contracts and purchase orders for goods and services have been approved, so the district is authorized to make final payments on those items several months from now.

“MPS is on track to spend the entire budget,” he said.

Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida received $766.23 million. The data indicate that 85.3 percent of that amount has been spent. Tanya Arja, district chief of communications, said $24 million of the remaining money has gone to charter schools whose expenditures don’t require authorization from the district office.

Arja said the district’s current unallocated amount, $19 million, will go toward curriculum, school supplies, and information technology improvements that are expected to be approved by both the Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education in the coming weeks.

“This will ensure all district funds will be obligated by Sept. 30 and liquidated by November. We do not plan on sending anything back,” Arja said in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times.

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has spent $566.15 million of its $846.78 million total allocation, or 66.9 percent, according to the data. However, unlike the other districts with unspent money, DISD’s remaining balance is attributed not to the last phase of ESSER but to the first two phases: $12.41 million of $61.98 million for phase one, and $49.32 million of $241.73 million for the second phase.

DISD officials replied to The Epoch Times’ request for comment and, noting that a new chief financial officer is still onboarding, said further information will be provided at a later date.

The other districts with remaining balances above $30 million include Minneapolis, with 62 percent of $249.40 million; Newark, New Jersey, with 83.4 percent of $277.08 million; DeKalb County, Georgia, with 76.7 percent of $486.57 million; and Stockton, California, with 79.6 percent of $241.56 million. Representatives from those districts did not respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.

In the prior ESSER rounds, there were a small number of school districts that failed to spend their grants on time and had to return the money, according to a news release on the Edunomics Lab website. For the program’s last phase, a far greater amount of money is at stake, considering the rapidly approaching deadline.

“With one month left on this 42-month grant, many districts are cutting it close,” the news release said. “Is it worth spending ESSER down to the final penny? Depends on who you ask. Spending for the sake of spending can seem wasteful. Besides, isn’t $1,000 just a rounding error in a budget of millions?” it said.

“Then again, try telling a kindergarten teacher that you send the money back instead of replacing that dirty old circle-time rug that little Sophia threw up on last week. Or the PTA chair who spent countless hours getting the kids to sell chocolate to pay for honor roll prizes.”

Authored by Bruce Davidson via The Brownstone Institute,

At a formal ceremony for retiring professors at my university, each retiree got an opportunity to make a short speech. In my own speech, I mentioned that my last few years coincided with the Covid panic. Far more than the disease itself, what shocked me was the worldwide mass mind that sprang into existence seemingly overnight.

All over the world, suddenly people were subjected to all-encompassing propaganda and pressures to conform to the same Covid policies. In contrast, a university should be a place to protect and encourage individual thinking, I maintained.

Aside from the Covid phenomenon, in recent years I have often observed the tendency for novel ideas to spread rapidly around the world and quickly become established orthodoxy that precludes debate and criticism. This amounts to a kind of toxic global conformism.

“Toxic conformism” can be defined as aggressively promoted compliance with evil and/or harmful behavior in order to remain in good standing with others. In response to Covid, the universal, rapid implementation of toxic conformity may be unique in history.

There is nothing wrong with conformity per se, as long as it represents adhering to the reasonable expectations of a sane society. For example, conformity to norms of politeness has great merit in most circumstances, as anyone can appreciate who participates in a civil society, such as Japan’s. Only the immature and maladjusted believe that defying reasonable norms of behavior is somehow always commendable.

However, the kind of conformity we currently observe on an international scale is not organic or reasonable. It is imposed by fiat from those with power and influence, despite the doubts and objections of many. It is not the product of wholesome social development and rational, willing acceptance.

These days a great problem for Japanese people–as well as for citizens of other nations–is not conformity to their own society and culture; it is mandatory conformity to powerful international organizations like the UN and the WEF. Since their agendas are often foolish and unreasonable, conforming to their expectations often causes great harm.

Whenever I hear about a new idea rapidly spreading in Western media and cultural circles–e.g., “People should eat bugs”–I know that in a matter of weeks or months, I will be hearing the same idea in the Japanese media and elsewhere. News stories about bug farms, recipes for preparing meals with bugs, and propaganda explaining that bugs are not repulsive but rather tasty and nutritious will soon be everywhere. Actually, this very thing is happening at present.

Obediently, most in Japan will think and do as they are told, or at least they will accept the superior wisdom and virtue of bug-eating, though they may not personally feel inclined to embrace a diet of bugs.

A few years later (or even sooner), the Gospel of Bug Eating will likely also be widespread in the religious world, especially among academic pundits and megachurch/parachurch leaders. They will go through the Bible and church history with a magnifying glass looking for texts and traditions to support insect consumption. Since he subsisted on a diet of locusts and honey (Mark 1:6), even John the Baptist will find himself on the bandwagon (more on this phenomenon later).

The pace of global conformism has been immeasurably amplified through the power of social media and the Internet. Therefore, international bodies like the WEF and the UN, along with national governments, are very anxious to control online communication. As the French thinker Jacques Ellul put it, “Propaganda must be total” or it fails in its goal of making people “psychologically unified.”

Long before the Internet, Ellul analyzed powerful modern influences tending to create a mass mind in his books Propaganda and The Technological Society. Instead of serious reading, which develops rational thought, in modern times people are often swayed by emotionally charged (but often misleading) visual images and verbal sloganeering from movies and TV. More recent technological innovations have made Ellul’s observations and warnings even more pertinent.

Largely as a result of social media, somehow it became “cool” to be a global conformist in the eyes of many. During the Covid experimental injection mania, many posted “I got my Covid 19 vaccine” on Facebook, even in their profile pictures.

Similarly, trendy buzzwords from abroad like diversity and sustainability were quickly adopted in business and educational circles in Japan, even though many native English speakers have found such terms to be vague and irrational. In regard to the “sustainability” bandwagon, one Japanese think-tank consultant commented to me recently about his business-world associates, “These people really believe putting SDG badges on their suits is such a cool thing to do–I think it’s embarrassing.”

Japanese adoption of the overseas term diversity seems especially odd in light of Japan’s obviously monocultural society. In reality, uniformity has often been their strength, for better or worse. Moreover, a fixation on diversity has been a pretext for discriminating against Japanese and other Asians in American university admissions.

In other unlikely places, one meets with striking examples of the new global conformism, such as the traditional religious world. As Meghan Basham reveals in her book Shepherds for Sale, the new globalism has even captured many evangelical Christian elites. Though the Apostle Paul urged in one of his letters “Do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2), many evangelical leaders now eagerly align themselves with various globalist causes.

For instance, bestselling author and megachurch leader Rick Warren brags about his ties to the WEF and the UN. One incentive for these leaders has been to obtain funding from secular globalist institutions and wealthy influencers, such as George Soros and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Likewise, working with the CDC and the NIH, The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College created the website “Coronavirus and the Church” to promote Covid 19 injections and other governmental Covid policies. Franklin Graham notably declared that Jesus would get a Covid shot.

In my view, such declarations by prominent religious figures and organizations are not only ignorant and foolish but also abusive. No one is under any moral obligation to be injected with experimental substances. Unsurprisingly, some wits lampooned statements like Graham’s with “Woke Jesus” memes depicting him insisting that his followers wear masks and get Covid shots.

Nevertheless, opposition to global conformism does not mean retreating into an attitude of suspicion and hostility to all things foreign, new, or unfamiliar. Even without pressure from the powerful to implement the desires of international elites, the world’s various peoples often influence each other by the attractions and achievements of their respective societies.

For example, Korean dramas and Japanese anime now have a multitude of fans all over the world. Furthermore, innovative, beneficial medical practices in the West eventually have been adopted by many Korean and Japanese doctors. However, nowadays aggressive global conformism often propagates detrimental practices and ideas around the world.

Hayman Capital Management founder and CIO Kyle Bass explained in a Bloomberg interview that the mounting backlash against environmental, social, and governance investing in recent years is primarily a response to the extreme demands of radical climate activists, or “green” defenders. Bass argued that these activists were so disconnected from reality that their uncompromising stance on blackballing the fossil fuel industry—without acknowledging that energy transitions can take upwards of half a century—has fueled the backlash. He said plans to moderate fossil fuel usage over decades from the start would’ve possibly prevented the backlash.

Bass said the ESG backlash derives from climate activists’ demands that fossil fuels be abandoned immediately. He said the demands were never realistic. 

“There were all of these idiots that were just saying, if anyone is doing hydrocarbons, we’re going to blackball them from doing business or from receiving capital,” Bass said, adding, “And so Texas lashed back and said, if you’re going to blackball someone that’s producing hydrocarbons, we’re not going to do business with you either.”

He said, “Energy transitions take 40 or 50 years,” pointing out that people “think we can just turn hydrocarbons off and turn on alternative power. But they have no idea how the grid works and no idea how business works.”

Bass said the focus should now be on efficiency and electrification. He said the long-term goal should be the energy transition to nuclear. Until then, he noted, fossil fuels and renewable energy sources are “going to coexist for decades and decades to come.” 

In a separate interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in 2022, Bass said, “The desire for the world to engage in alternative energy is one that I think we all would love to see happen, but there are certain scientific realities, and there are certain narratives that get pushed by NGOs and teenagers. And I think we’ve been taking policy cues from NGOs and teenagers for a long time.”

Bass pointed out that a proper energy transition takes upwards of a half-century. In the interview with CNBC, he said, “The move from coal to natural gas took forty years. They take a very, very, very long time. We can’t just flip a switch.” 

In his most recent interview with Bloomberg, Bass said, “Skirting hydrocarbons is like bringing politics into investing,” adding, “If you’re willing to give up returns for that, then so be it. But I think that’s naive and it’s a breach of fiduciary duty.”

The latest Bloomberg data shows that about half of the US power grid is powered by natural gas generators. This summer, renewable energy power has slid, with coal now producing more power than wind and solar.

In recent years, ESG policies have discouraged investment by banks, funds, pensions, and other entities in the natural gas and coal industries. The problem with this is that unreliable solar and wind can’t power artificial data centers 24/7. We’ve noted that the financial industry’s initial rush to commit to net zero carbon footprints has hit a reality check in a note titled “ESG Frustration And Backlash In The Banking Sector Continues.” 

The big takeaway is that anyone who puts their climate crisis or woke religion first ahead of rational decision-making is doomed to fail.

Global equities began September on the back foot as investors prepared for what’s typically the worst month for stocks in general, and tech in particular.

After the S&P 500 came close to an all-time high on Friday, US equity futures were fractionally in the red ahead of today’s holiday closure in the cash session thanks to the Labor Day holiday. The Treasury market was also closed while the dollar was steady.

September has traditionally been a very ugly month for stocks over the past four years, while the dollar typically outperforms. The VIX has risen every September since 2021, a month which has proven to be the ugliest for the S&P over the past decade.

And if this Friday’s job report is ugly, the trend will likely continue, although now that nearly 1 million jobs have been “revised” away, it is much more likely that the payrolls print will come in well stronger than expected: after all, the BLS has to make sure it generates enough fake data to ensure that the deep state’s chosen candidate wins. Meanwhile, traders are pricing the US easing cycle will begin this month, with a roughly one-in-four chance of a 50 basis-point cut.

“I think the market is pretty well versed with what it thinks is going to happen — there will be some kind of cut,” Fiona Boal, global head of equities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, told Bloomberg Television. “As we move through autumn, we will see the VIX move more to thinking about the markets, thinking about political issues.”

Ahead of the Friday payrolls report we will get the latest figures on July job vacancies in Wednesday’s JOLTS report. The number of open positions, a measure of labor demand, is seen easing to a three-month low of 8.1 million — just above a more than three-year low.

Meanwhile, reprising the role of JPM’s favorite now-departed uber bear Marko Kolanovic, another Croat at the world’s largest bank, Mislav Matejka, wrote that the equity-market rally may stall even if the Fed starts its rate-cutting cycle as any policy easing would be in response to slowing growth, while the seasonal trend for September would be another impediment.  “We are not out of the woods yet,” Matejka said, reiterating his preference for defensive sectors against the backdrop of a pullback in bond yields. “Sentiment and positioning indicators look far from attractive, political and geopolitical uncertainty is elevated, and seasonals are more challenging.”

Elsewhere, as reported over the weekend, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition was punished in two regional elections on Sunday, with the far right clinching its first triumph in a state ballot since World War II. Still, political parties moved to block the Alternative for Germany from power in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony.

Taking a look at markets that are actually open, Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell 0.4% from Friday’s record high, with the automotive and consumer goods sectors particularly affected. This downturn followed data showing a fourth consecutive month of contraction in Chinese manufacturing activity, alongside a deepening slump in the country’s residential property market. Europe’s mining giants such as Rio Tinto and BHP Group slumped after iron ore prices dropped. In London, Rightmove surged more than 20% after Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group Ltd. said it’s exploring a possible cash and share offer.

Earlier in the session, most Asian stock markets started the new month under pressure following weak Chinese data over the weekend. Hang Seng dropped about 1.8% and H shares tumble almost 2%. Chinese equities had rallied on Friday after Bloomberg reported that the government is considering allowing homeowners to refinance as much as $5.4 trillion of mortgages to lower borrowing costs. But the benchmark gauge fell 1.7% on Monday, wiping out all of Friday’s gain, and tumbling to a seven-month low, helping to push the emerging-market benchmark lower for the fourth time in five days, as data showing weakness in the world’s second-biggest economy stoked concern Beijing’s stimulus plan isn’t working.

The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index dropped to lowest level since Feb. 5, as mainland stocks that have erased $1.12 trillion since May extend losses.

Weekend releases showed factory activity contracted for fourth straight month, value of new-home sales fell almost 27% from year earlier and disappointing earnings from companies including China Vanke also soured sentiment.  With consumer demand already weak, data show industry also slowing, raising urgency for further stimulus.

“I think there’s a huge problem — by now everybody recognizes that,” Hao Ong, chief economist at Grow Investment Group, told Bloomberg’s David Ingles and Yvonne Man in an interview. “The government needs to do substantially more.”

Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese indexes reversed opening gains while those in Taiwan and Australia weaken.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is slightly higher in a quiet session while the yen resumes its plunge, and was last trading 147/USD while kiwi dollar underperforms G-10 peers.

In rates, TSY futures consolidate around 113-18 with cash Treasuries closed for US holiday. Australian yields rise 3-4bps across the curve. JGB futures remain better offered ahead of this week’s long-end supply.

In commodities, oil steadied as traders weigh a planned production increase from OPEC+ next month against currently lower output in Libya, while staying mindful of economic headwinds in China.

Top Overnight News

• China has threatened severe economic retaliation against Japan if Tokyo further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, complicating US-led efforts to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from advanced technology.
• Political parties in two eastern regions moved to block the Alternative for Germany from power after the far-right party won Sunday’s election in Thuringia and came a close second in neighboring Saxony.
• Israel’s largest labor union led a nationwide strike on Monday in protest over the government’s failure to secure a hostage-release deal, after the killing by Hamas of six hostages in captivity spurred one of the largest mass demonstrations since the Oct. 7 attack that started the war in Gaza: WSJ
• Super Micro Computer (SMCI) said it filed a non-timely 10-k with US SEC. Parties working diligently to complete review. Does not anticipate form 10-k NT will contain any material changes to results for FY and quarter ended June 30th, 2024.
• Microsoft backed OpenAI is considering changes to its corporate structure amid latest funding talks. OpenAI named political veteran Chris Lehane as head of global policy, according to NYT.
• Intel CEO is to present a plan to the board to sell off assets, according to Reuters source. CEO and executives will present plans at the mid-September board meeting, and plans could include selling Altera programmable chip unit, sources say. Sources added capital spending cuts may include a German factory which is expected to cost USD 32bln, but Intel has no current plans to sell its manufacturing business.
• Hospitality union Unite Here said about 10k hotel workers across US are on strike at 24 hotels in eight cities: Reuters.
• The equity market rally may stall near record highs even if the Federal Reserve starts a highly anticipated rate-cutting cycle: JPMorgan
• China’s remaining growth engines are showing signs of sputtering while the property market continues to drag on the economy, highlighting the urgency of government intervention to keep an increasingly unlikely growth target in sight: BBG
• September has traditionally been a terrible month for traders and risks being even harder to navigate in 2024 given lingering questions about the Federal Reserve’s anticipated interest-rate cut: BBG

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks traded mostly lower despite the gains seen on Wall Street on Friday, with the mood in the APAC region dampened by the continued decline in Chinese NBS Manufacturing PMI whilst traders look ahead to key risks this week including the US jobs report amid the Fed’s shifted focus on employment. ASX 200 opened with modest gains but quickly fell into the red, with the gold miners seeing the deepest losses following the USD-induced losses in the yellow metal on Friday. Nikkei 225 initially outperformed and was underpinned by the weaker JPY, although gains gradually faded throughout the session. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp fell in which Hong Kong was the regional laggard with property name New World slumping double-digit percentages after it said on Friday it is to post its first annual loss in two decades. Furthermore, auto stocks are slipping after earnings. Meanwhile, the mainland was lower after seeing mixed PMI data in which the NBS manufacturing fell to a six-month low whilst the Caixin Manufacturing saw a revision to above 50.0.

Top Asian News

• China reportedly warns Japan of retaliation over new potential new chip curbs, according to Bloomberg.
• China’s Global Times, on the Caixin Manufacturing PMI, says “The data indicates a pickup in demand, steady employment levels, and improving business confidence.”
• PBoC injected CNY 3.5bln via 7-day Reverse Repo at maintained rate of 1.70%.

FX

• DXY resided in a tight 101.64-79 range after Friday’s rise from 101.24 lows to 101.78 highs, with the next level to the upside the 21 DMA (102.02).
• EUR/USD was trading in tandem with the USD in a 1.1040-55 range vs Friday’s 1.1043-94 parameter, with the pair finding support near its 21 DMA (1.1042)
• GBP/USD saw movement in-fitting with Dollar action, with the pair caged in a 1.3117-38 parameter and well within Friday’s bounds between 1.3106-1.3199.
• USD/JPY experiencing modest upside as APAC traders react to Friday’s USD and bond movement. Little reaction was seen to Japanese data which included higher-than-prior Q2 Capex and a revision higher in August manufacturing PMI. USD/JPY resided in a 145.89-146.59 range after rising above its 21 DMA (145.97) on Friday
• Antipodeans eventually fell with the NZD lagging and giving back some of last week’s gains, whilst the AUD fell in tandem with base metals but recovered off worst levels.
• Yuan was weaker following the Chinese NBS Manufacturing figure over the weekend, with little reaction seen to the Caixin metric.
• PBoC sets USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1027 vs exp. 7.1030 (prev. 7.1124); strongest CNY fixing since May 16th

Fixed Income

• 10yr UST futures experienced uneventful trade after Friday’s selloff, with price action today likely to be limited amid the absence of US traders on account of the Labor Day holiday.
• Bund futures was slightly softer and catching up to some of the UST losses on Friday, with sentiment across German bonds also somewhat dampened by German regional elections in which the AfD’s projected win in Thuringia “would mark the first time since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II that a far-right party has won a statewide election in the country”, dpa said.
• 10yr JGB futures was subdued following price action in USTs on Friday with the contract in a 144.51-76 range thus far vs Friday’s 144.49-80 parameter.

Commodities

• Crude futures traded lower amid a lack of major geopolitical escalations over the weekend coupled with the Chinese NBS Manufacturing PMI data falling to a six-month low, not boding well for the China-related demand side of the equation. Furthermore, APAC players reacted to OPEC sources from Friday which suggested OPEC+ is likely to proceed with a planned gradual oil production increase from October.
• Spot gold gradually edged lower in-fitting with broader price action across commodities and dipped under the USD 2,500/oz mark.
• Copper futures were subdued with upside capped by the disappointing Chinese NBS Manufacturing data which showed a decline to a six-month low.
• Baker Hughes Rig Count: Oil unchanged at 483, Natgas -2 at 95, Total -2 at 583.
• Libya’s NOC said recent oilfields closures have caused loss of approximately 63% of total oil production.
• Iraq to offer 10 gas exploration blocks for US firms, according to the Iraqi oil minister.
• Russian President Putin says preparatory works on construction of Russia’s gas pipeline to China via Mongolia are proceeding as scheduled, according to Reuters.

Geopolitics: Middle East

• US President Biden is considering presenting Israel and Hamas a final proposal for a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal later this week, according to Axios sources.
• Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza, according to Sky News.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu, following the weekend death of six hostages in Gaza, said Israel will not rest until it reaches those in Hamas who murdered the hostages. He added that he and his government are committed to achieving a deal to release remaining hostages and ensure Israel’s security, according to a statement.
• Hamas official blamed Israel for the death of hostages, and said Israel is unwilling to reach a deal, according to Reuters.
• Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted MV Groton vessel in Gulf of Aden for second time, according to Reuters.
• UKMTO said it has received report of an incident 70NM northwest of Yemen’s Saleef, according to Reuters.
• “US official: Washington will hold intensive contacts in the coming hours to see the possibility of reaching an agreement”, according to Sky News Arabia.
• Israel union calls for general strike as protesters across country demand Gaza hostage deal, according to BBC.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• Russia will make changes to its nuclear doctrine, according to TASS citing the Deputy Foreign Minister.
• A fire caused by an drone strike at the Moscow Oil Refinery has been contained, according to TASS.
• Several blasts heard in Ukraine capital Kyiv, according to Reuters witnesses. “A series of explosions in Kyiv… as Russians attacked with a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones.”, according to KyivPost.
• Poland activated its aircraft to ensure airspace security, Polish Armed Forces said, following Russia’s air attack on Ukraine.

Geopolitics: Other

• A China Coast Guard vessel deliberately collided three times with a Philippine Coast Guard vessel exercising its freedom of navigation in the Philippines, according to US State Department.

US Event Calendar

• Labor Day holiday closure

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Welcome to September. Although given the track record of recent years, perhaps we should say beware rather than welcome. For what it’s worth, the S&P 500 and the STOXX 600 have lost ground in each of the last 4 Septembers. And if you’re hoping for respite in fixed income, there hasn’t been any there either. In fact, Bloomberg’s global bond aggregate is down in each of the last 7 Septembers. So if we do manage to get some positivity this month, that would fly in the face of a succession of negative performances.

Given it’s the start of the month, we’ve also just released our monthly performance review for August. Despite the turmoil at the start, which led to sharp losses across global markets, August was actually a pretty decent month overall in performance terms. For instance, both the S&P 500 and US Treasuries advanced for a 4th consecutive month. That said, there were points of weakness, and the Dollar index had its worst month since last November as investors priced in more aggressive rate cuts from the Fed.

Speaking of the Fed, all roads this week lead to the US jobs report on Friday, which is going to be pivotal in terms of how much they cut rates by at their next meeting. As it stands, futures still see a 25bp move as more likely, but a 50bp move is being priced with a 31% probability this morning, so it’s in the balance as far as markets are concerned. And as we found out last month, an underwhelming jobs report can quickly shift expectations.

In terms of what to expect this time around, DB’s US economists are forecasting that nonfarm payrolls will come in at +150k in August. That assumes a rebound from potential weather-related disruptions in the July report, and they also see the unemployment rate ticking down a tenth to 4.2%. Of course, much of the focus will be on how Fed officials react, although they won’t have long to discuss the data, as the blackout period ahead of the September meeting begins the day after the jobs report.
Although last month’s jobs report was underwhelming, it’s also worth noting that much of the data since then has looked more positive. The weekly initial jobless claims have fallen from their levels in late-July, the latest retail sales print was very strong as well, and the revisions to Q2 GDP growth saw it adjusted up to an annualised pace of +3.0%, which isn’t consistent with a recession. Moreover, Friday saw the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow estimate for Q3 move up to +2.5%, so again pointing away from a recession. This week we should get some more details on the August picture, as we’ll get the ISM manufacturing and services prints, which are coming out on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. The JOLTS report on Wednesday will also be worth looking at, although that’s a bit more backward-looking as it’s the July reading.

Aside from the US data, it’s a fairly subdued calendar this week, and US markets are themselves closed today for the Labor Day holiday. One thing we will get though is the Bank of Canada’s latest policy decision on Wednesday, where they’re widely expected to cut rates by 25bps for a third consecutive meeting, which would take their policy rate down to 4.25%.

As the week begins, markets in Asia have got off to a weak start. In part, that’s been driven by concerns about the Chinese economy, and the official manufacturing PMI that came out on Saturday fell to a 6-month low of 49.1 in August (vs. 49.5 expected). The non-manufacturing PMI did pick up to 50.3 (vs. 50.1 expected), but this was barely above the 50.2 reading from the previous month, which had marked the lowest print so far this year. In light of this, Chinese equities have fallen back this morning, including the CSI 300 (-1.21%) and the Shanghai Comp (-0.62%). Elsewhere, things are a bit stronger though, with Japan’s Nikkei (+0.03%) seeing little change, while the KOSPI is up by +0.26%.

Meanwhile over the weekend, there were important political developments in Germany, where state elections took place in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony. In Thuringia, the far-right AfD came in first place with 32.8% of the vote on the preliminary results, which is the first time that the party have come first in a German state election. And in Saxony, the AfD were in second place on 30.6% of the vote, not far behind the CDU on 31.9%. At the same time, the results were poor for the three parties in the federal coalition, with Chancellor Scholz’s SPD scoring just 6.1% in Thuringia and 7.3% in Saxony. The Greens were even further behind, on just 3.2% in Thuringia and 5.1% in Saxony. And the FDP was on just 1.1% in Thuringia and 0.9% in Saxony. The next state election is taking place in Brandenburg on September 22.

Recapping last week now, markets put in a decent performance overall, with the S&P 500 climbing +0.24% last week (+1.01% Friday). That was its 3rd consecutive weekly gain, and it now leaves the index just -0.33% beneath its all-time high from mid-July. However, the index was held back by the Magnificent 7, which fell -1.89% over the week (+1.57% Friday), including a -7.73% decline for Nvidia (+1.51% Friday) amidst its latest earnings announcement. Aside from the weakness in US tech stocks though, several indices hit all-time records by Friday, including the equal-weighted S&P 500 and the Dow Jones. Meanwhile in Europe, the STOXX 600 closed at an all-time high as well, having posted a +1.34% gain last week (+0.09% Friday).

On Friday itself, the main development came from the latest US PCE inflation data for July, which is the measure the Fed officially target. That showed core PCE coming in at a monthly pace of +0.16%, which brought down the 3m annualised rate falling to +1.7%. The year-on-year rate also remained at +2.6% for a third consecutive month (vs. +2.7% expected). So the report was seen as confirming that the Fed would still be able to cut rates next month, and there were also some positive details in the components For instance, the core services ex housing measure, which Powell has cited in the past, fell to just +2.0% on a 3m annualised basis, which is the lowest it’s been since November 2020.

Friday also brought some inflation data from the Euro Area, where the flash CPI release for August came in at +2.2% as expected. That’s the lowest inflation for the Euro Area since July 2021, so that was seen as keeping the path open to another ECB rate cut at the September meeting. In addition, core inflation fell to +2.8% as expected.

With all that data in hand, investors remained confident that central banks would be delivering substantial rate cuts over the months ahead. In the US, they slightly dialled back the cuts priced in, with the chance of a 50bp move in September falling from 35% to 32% over the week. Similarly, the number of cuts priced in by December’s meeting fell back a bit from 103bps to 100bps. In response, the 2yr Treasury yield was little changed over the week, up just +0.1bp to 3.92%, whilst the 10yr yield saw a larger +10.5bps move to 3.90%. Meanwhile in Europe, yields on 10yr bunds ended the week up +7.4bps at 2.30%.

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

Consider Mark Zuckerberg’s revelation and its implications for our understanding of the last four years, and what it means for the future. 

On many subjects important to public life today, vast numbers of people know the truth, and yet the official channels of information sharing are reluctant to admit it. The Fed admits no fault in inflation and neither do most members of Congress. The food companies don’t admit the harm of the mainstream American diet. The pharmaceutical companies are loath to admit any injury. Media companies deny any bias. So on it goes. 

And yet everyone else does know, already and more and more so.

This is why the admission of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was so startling. It’s not what he admitted. We already knew what he revealed. What’s new is that he admitted it. We are simply used to living in a world swimming in lies. It rattles us when a major figure tells us what is true or even partially or slightly true. We almost cannot believe it, and we wonder what the motivation might be. 

In his letter to Congressional investigators, he flat-out said what everyone else has been saying for years now. 

In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree….I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction – and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.

A few clarifications. The censorship began much earlier than that, from March 2020 at the very least if not earlier. We all experienced it, almost immediately following lockdowns. 

After a few weeks, using that platform to get the word out proved impossible. Facebook once made a mistake and let my piece on Woodstock and the 1969 flu go through but they would never make that mistake again. For the most part, every single opponent of the terrible policies was deplatformed at all levels. 

The implications are far more significant than the bloodless letter of Zuckerberg suggests. People consistently underestimate the power that Facebook has over the public mind. This was especially true in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. 

The difference in having an article unthrottled much less amplified by Facebook in these years was in the millionfold. When my article went through, I experienced a level of traffic that I had never seen in my career. It was mind-boggling. When the article was shut down some two weeks later – after focused troll accounts alerted Facebook that the algorithms had made a mistake – traffic fell to the usual trickle. 

Again, in my entire career of closely following internet traffic patterns, I had never seen anything like this. 

Facebook as an information source offers power like we’ve never seen before, especially because so many people, especially among the voting public, believe that the information they are seeing is from their friends and family and sources they trust. The experience of Facebook and other platforms framed the reality that people believed existed outside of themselves. 

Every dissident, and every normal person who had some sense that something odd was going on, was made to feel like some sort of crazy cretin who held nutty and probably dangerous views that were completely out of touch with the mainstream. 

What does it mean that Zuckerberg now openly admits that he excluded from view anything that contradicted government wishes? It means that any opinions on lockdowns, masks, or vaccine mandates – and all that is associated with that including church and school closures plus vaccine harms – were not part of the public debate. 

We had lived through and were living through the most significant far-reaching attacks on our rights and liberties in our lifetimes, or, arguably, on the history record in terms of scale and reach, and it was not part of any serious public debate. Zuckerberg played an enormous role in this. 

People like me had come to believe that average people were simply cowards or stupid not to object. Now we know that this might not have been true at all! The people who objected were simply silenced! 

During two election cycles, the Covid response was not really in play as a public controversy. This helps account for why. It also means that any candidate who attempted to make this an issue was automatically downgraded in terms of reach. 

How many candidates are we talking about here? Considering all the US elections at the federal, state, and local levels, we are talking about several thousand at least. In every case, the candidate who was speaking out about the most egregious attacks on liberty came to be effectively silenced. 

A good example is the Minnesota governor’s race in 2022 that was won by Tim Walz, now running as VP with Kamala Harris. The election pitted Walz against a knowledgeable and highly credentialed medical expert, Dr. Scott Jensen, who made the Covid response a campaign issue. Here is how the vote totals lined up.

Of course, Dr. Jensen could get no traction at all on Facebook, which was enormously influential in this election and which just admitted that it was following government guidelines in censoring posts. In fact, Facebook banned him from advertising completely. It reduced his reach by 90% and likely lost him the election. 

You can listen to Jensen’s account here: 

IMPOTENT PAWNS – Joe Biden conspired with Facebook to reduce Americans to impotent pawns! pic.twitter.com/k5SxQknNRL

— Scott Jensen (@drscottjensen) August 27, 2024

Consider how many other elections were affected. It’s astonishing to think of the implications of this. It means that quite possibly an entire generation of elected leaders in this country was not legitimately elected, if by legitimate we mean a well-informed public that is given a choice concerning the issues that affect their lives. 

Zuckerberg’s censorship – and this pertains to Google, Instagram, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and Twitter 1.0 – denied the public a choice on the central matter of lockdowns, masking, and shot mandates, the very issues that have fundamentally roiled the whole of civilization and set the path of history on a dark course. 

And it is not just the US. These are all global companies, meaning that elections in every other country, all over the globe, were similarly affected. It was a global shutdown of all opposition to radical, egregious, unworkable, and deeply damaging policies. 

When you think about it this way, this is not just some minor error in judgment. This was an earth-shattering decision that goes way beyond managerial cowardice. It goes beyond even election manipulation. It is an outright coup that overthrew an entire generation of leaders who stood up for freedom and replaced them with a generation of leaders who acquiesced to power exactly at the time it mattered the most. 

Why did Zuckerberg choose now to make this announcement and publicly reveal the inside play? He was obviously unnerved by the assassination attempt on Trump’s life, as he said. 

WATCH: Facebook @Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said seeing President Trump get up and pump his fist after being shot in the face at his rally in Pennsylvania is “one of the most badass things” he’s ever seen.

Looks like Zuck is trying to say nice things to avoid all responsibility… pic.twitter.com/wKnOFGYZCA

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 19, 2024

Then also you have the French arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, an event which surely rattles any major CEO of a communication platform. You have the arrest and incarceration of other dissidents like Steve Bannon and many others. 

You also have the litigation over free speech back in play now that RFK, Jr has been cleared as having standing, kicking the case of Missouri v. Biden back to the Supreme Court, which wrongly decided last time to deny standing to other plaintiffs. 

Zuckerberg of all people knows the stakes. He understands the implications and the scale of the problem, as well as the depths of the corruption and deception at play in the US, EU, UK, and all over the world. He may figure that everything is going to come out at some point, so he might as well get ahead of the curve. 

Of all the companies in the world that would have a real handle on the state of public opinion right now, it would be Facebook. They see the scale of the support for Trump. And Trump has said on multiple occasions, including in a new book coming out in early September, that he believes Zuckerberg should be prosecuted for his role in manipulating election outcomes. What if, for example, his own internal data is showing 10 to 1 support for Trump over Kamala, completely contradicting the polls which are not credible anyway? That alone could account for his change of heart. 

It becomes especially pressing since the person who did the censoring at the Biden White House, Rob Flaherty, now serves as Digital Communications Strategist for the Harris/Walz campaign. There can be no question that the DNC intends to deploy all the same tools, many times over and far more powerful, should they take back the White House. 

“Under Rob’s leadership,” said Biden upon Flaherty’s resignation, “we’ve built the largest Office of Digital Strategy in history and, with it, a digital strategy and culture that brought people together instead of dividing them.”

At this point, it’s safe to assume that even the most well-informed outsider knows about 0.5% of the whole of the manipulation, deception, and backroom machinations that have taken place over the past five or so years. Investigators on the case have said that there are hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence that are not classified but have yet to be revealed to the public. Maybe all of this will pour forth starting in the new year. 

Therefore, the Zuckerberg admission has much larger implications than anyone has yet admitted.

It provides a first official and confirmed peek into the greatest scandal of our times, the global silencing of critics at all levels of society, resulting in manipulating election outcomes, a distorted public culture, the marginalization of dissent, the overriding of all free speech protections, and gaslighting as a way of life of government in our times. 

In 2022, an estimated 292 million people worldwide were using illegal drugs, with 60 million consuming opioids such as morphine, codeine, or heroin, according to the latest United Nations World Drug Report. This makes opioids the second most widely used class of illicit drugs, trailing behind cannabis, which has approximately 228 million users.

While cannabis use is more widespread and carries a relatively low risk of addiction, it does not result in overdose deaths. The same cannot be said for the far more potent and dangerous class of opioids. As highlighted in the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioids like fentanyl have become the leading cause of the rising number of drug overdose deaths.

Of the nearly 108,000 recorded overdose deaths in 2022, almost 74,000 were directly linked to synthetic opioids, with fentanyl being the most prevalent. Fentanyl is said to be 50 times more potent than heroin and has become a preferred choice for illegal drug manufacturers due to its ease of production and low cost, unlike traditional opioids that rely on crop cultivation. The impact is even more severe among younger populations. In the 15 to 24 age group, 81 percent of the 6,696 overdose deaths in 2022 were attributed to synthetic opioids, with related fatalities increasing fivefold from 2015 to 2022.

On a global scale, opioid use has remained relatively stable since 2019, with reported users even decreasing slightly from 62 million in the year before the coronavirus pandemic. According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the global prevalence rate of opioid use was 1.2% in 2022. However, certain regions reported significantly higher rates: 3.2% in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, 2.7% in North America, and 2.0% in Australia and New Zealand.

While cannabis use continues to dominate in terms of sheer numbers, the stark difference in overdose risks highlights the urgency in addressing the ongoing opioid crisis, particularly the lethal threat posed by synthetic variants like fentanyl.

As visualized by Statista:

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Almost 1.7 million foreigners residing in the U.K. are out of work or “economically inactive,” costing taxpayers an estimated £8.5 billion per year according to a new report.

An analysis of government figures by the Centre for Immigration Control shows that the current levels are the highest ever, surpassing a previous high of 1,628,000, recorded in 2012.

The £8.5 billion estimate doesn’t even include the costs of asylum seekers, who are routinely placed into four star hotels, as well as foreign students, meaning the actual cost to a British taxpayers is probably much higher.

In addition, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed that the Home Office spent a staggering £7.9 billion in just three years on asylum, border, and visa management when its budget was just £320 million.

They went £7.6 BILLION over budget.

‘Woeful budgeting’ at the Home Office caused repeated overspends on asylum, says watchdog https://t.co/YmME83HdM0

— LBC (@LBC) August 28, 2024

IFS research economist Max Warner told the BBC “When there is a one-off unexpected spike in costs or demand, spending more than was budgeted is entirely understandable. But when it is happening year after year, something is going wrong with the budgeting process.”

Robert Bates, of the Centre for Migration Control research director, told The Daily Mail that “For all the talk of a fiscal ‘black hole’, the Labour Government seem to be missing the glaringly obvious fact that mass migration is causing economic pandemonium.”

“There is no reason for us to continue handing out so many long-term visas when we are currently having to bail out over a million migrants who are already in Britain but not working,” Bates further noted.

Record numbers of migrants living in Britain are jobless with more than 1.6 million unemployed or ‘economically inactive’ people costing taxpayers an estimated £8billion https://t.co/xhbMpRJOVT pic.twitter.com/LmNfchWRjE

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 30, 2024

“This is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme, and we will only compound the problem if we do not change course soon,” he urged.

“Our elderly are facing a potentially deadly winter as Keir Starmer cancels the lifeline of the winter fuel allowance, but at the same time he is doing nothing to clamp down on workless migrants,” Bates emphasised.

In response to the report, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage commented “The economic arguments for mass migration are over.”

The economic arguments for mass migration are over. https://t.co/gyv1MrMG6n

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) August 30, 2024

Farage previously addressed the loophole of foreign students in the UK being given visas for their entire families, urging that they shouldn’t be able to “bring mum” to university.

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Authored by Pete Menzies via The Epoch Times,

We need to talk about Julie Sweeney.

She’s a 53-year-old English woman who used to live in Church Lawton, Cheshire, and she once had a Facebook account. Today, she’s in prison, serving a 15-month sentence after being convicted under new Criminal Code provisions in the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act.

From all available accounts, Ms. Sweeney had—at least until this summer—lived without causing any trouble or having any negative interactions with the local constabulary. Then, on Aug. 3, she lost her temper during the height of the British riots that ensued following the murders of little girls in a Taylor Swift dance class and wrote something really nasty on a local community group Facebook page.

“Don’t protect the mosques,” she posted to the 5,100-member group. “Blow the mosque up with the adults in it.”

That’s a very ugly thing to say and within hours one individual who read it complained to the police, who promptly arrested Ms. Sweeney. According to the Crown prosecutor, upon being taken into custody, Ms. Sweeney told officers, “I’m not being rude but there are a lot of people saying it.”

 

That’s not good. But it is important to note that while there was indeed violence directed towards the mosque, Ms. Sweeney’s comments related to the aftermath. There is no evidence which I can find in the coverage of the case that her post inspired anyone to do harm to the building, to anyone in or around it, or that it became a rallying cry of any kind. Nor was there any proof offered that she seriously wished for the mosque “with the adults in it” to be blown up.

We can all agree that it was a truly dreadful thing to say. And we should all acknowledge that, other than writing and hitting “send,” Ms. Sweeney’s crime is entirely about something hideous that she said—in a post later deleted—not something she did or inspired someone to do.

She admitted in court that the post was made in anger, that it was unacceptable, and that she didn’t intend to inspire fear which, if you were a regular attendee at the mosque, you likely would have felt if you read it.

People can debate whether statements of that nature should be censured by civil society through shaming, shunning, and blocking or through the intervention of the state.

What really catches the eye in this case, though, is the intensity with which the presiding judge punished her upon accepting her guilty plea.

According to the Daily Mail, her lawyer had told the court that Ms. Sweeney “accepts it was stupid.”

“This was a single comment on a single day,” he said.

“She lives a quiet, sheltered life in Cheshire and has not troubled the courts in her long life. Her character references show she lives a kind and compassionate lifestyle. She has been primary carer for her husband since 2015.”

The judge said he took Sweeney’s good character and what he termed a “heart-rending” letter from her husband into account but that “even people like you need to go to prison because a message must go out that, if you do these terrible acts, the court will say to you, “You must go to prison.”

Really? Even if one thinks speech should be a matter for the Criminal Code, wouldn’t it seem more appropriate for the outcome to be something along the lines of a summary conviction or a suspended sentence with a ban on using social media?

Sending Ms. Sweeney to prison, particularly when the UK’s prisons are so overcrowded the government was already preparing to release thousands of criminals early, really speaks to the mindset of the Crown and the judge when it comes to cracking down on online speech.

Clearly this sort of speech has, in their view, become a more serious matter than common physical assault, the sentence for which is a maximum of six months, which can be elevated up to two years if motivated by race or religion.

Why should Canadians care? Because Ms. Sweeney and her nation’s Online Safety Act may very well be the canaries in our coalmine.

Justice Minister Araf Virani, architect of Canada’s Online Harms Act, has already cited the UK experience as something that has informed his approach. To be fair, he hasn’t said he agrees with it all, but he is the man who has been appointing the judges who will be sentencing people convicted of Bill C-63’s new offences once they become law. He will also be in charge of hiring the Human Rights Commissioner, big job given it will be tasked with managing thousands of complaints from people made to feel uncomfortable by something someone posts online.

When that’s done, he’ll be looking for someone to fill the role of Digital Safety Commissioner to patrol how social media companies in Canada manage speech deemed to be problematic.

If those appointees see the world the same way Ms. Sweeney’s judge does—that speech is more harmful than action—some very interesting times are just around Canada’s corner.

*  *  *

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

August 30 marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Enforced disappearances are the arrest or abduction of a person by or on behalf of the state, followed by that same authorities’ refusal to acknowledge it. The move is used as a means to silence opposition and to spread terror.

The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, looks specifically at the number of media workers that have disappeared over the past 24 years. According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) database, at least 217 media workers have disappeared since the year 2000. This includes those who are victims of enforced disappearance as well as those who have disappeared at the hands of non-state related groups.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Mexico is the country from which the highest number of media professionals have disappeared in this time frame, counting 37 in total. Of these, 31 are listed as “ongoing” cases. According to RSF, an additional 152 media professionals have been verified as killed in Mexico between 2000 and 2024, three of whom died in 2024.

Commenting on the global pattern of disappearances, RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said:

“China invented the ‘enforced vacation,’ Syria developed mass disappearances and Africa copied South America, which sadly pioneered enforced disappearance.”

“Instead of decreasing, this barbaric practice is diversifying, spreading all over the world and creating more and more victims among journalists and bloggers every year. We deplore the impunity usually enjoyed by the perpetrators of these crimes and the lack of commitment by democratic governments to bring them to an end.”

With 35 cases, Syria is the country with the second highest number of media professionals who have disappeared worldwide between 2000 and 2024. While the majority of these (26) disappeared between 2011 and 2014, five people were recorded as having disappeared as recently as 2019.

According to estimates of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, there have been at least 65,000 victims of enforced disappearances in Syria since 2011.

It must officially be fall in the United States…after all, what’s more American than leaves falling, sweatshirt weather, pumpkin spice lattes…and massive brawls outside of high school football games?

That’s exactly what took place in Norristown, just miles outside of Philadelphia, where a fight at the Norristown Area High School’s football stadium caused a game to be cancelled. 

During the annual “Battle of the Bridge” varsity football game between Norristown and Upper Merion, no issues occurred inside the stadium. However, a “series of altercations” erupted in the parking lot at halftime on the 1900 block of Eagle Drive.

Five juveniles from Norristown Area High School were taken into custody, according to ABC News 6.

“That’s a shame because it is a small group of individuals that went out into the parking lot and started to fight. So I mean people have to act responsible and parents have to be responsible,” said West Norriton Police Chief Michael Kelly. 

“We want to emphasize that these incidents were not as a result of any conflict between Norristown Area High School and Upper Merion Area High School,” a statement said.

“Both schools share a commitment to sportsmanship and respect, and the actions of a few individuals do not reflect the values of our student-athletes and supporters,” the statement continued.

The ABC News 6 report says that the game will continue on Saturday at 10 a.m. without any spectators and will be live-streamed, officials announced. Both school districts will meet with their police departments to discuss future football game security.

This isn’t the first season with issues. Last year, a Cheltenham student brought a gun to the Abington-Cheltenham game, causing its suspension. This year, Abington has chosen not to play that game.