Category: zerohedge

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

President Donald Trump has continued to tweet on cracking down on the riots as well as controversy over his tweets on Twitter.  Like former Vice President Joe Biden, he is now calling for the outright elimination of Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act.  While supported by many liberal members and commentators, Twitter continues to build a case against itself – and ultimately free speech on the Internet.

Free speech, our defining right in the United States, seems to be dangling on social media. Twitter added warnings on tweets from President Trump, marking a major escalation of speech controls on the internet, something that has been demanded by Democrats. While the company clarified that Trump did not violate the rules, it still intervened between him and all his followers to add its own view of the truth on a political controversy.

The action against Trump on his mail voting tweets is the realization of the fear of free speech advocates. People sign up for updates from Trump, not Twitter, but the company decided to force his 80 million followers to view its own position on this issue. Imagine if a telephone company listened for errant political statements on calls to flag its business concerns.

Unfortunately, Trump added his own threat to free speech by pledging to “shut down” Twitter and others if they do not change their positions. It is akin to denouncing people without fire detectors by threatening to burn down their homes. His new executive order would seek to eliminate key liability protections for social media companies while calling for federal investigations into political bias. But without legislative support, such a crackdown on these companies is highly unlikely to succeed. However, Congress has been angling to curb online free speech for years.

Curtailing free speech has now become an article of faith in many circles. News host Don Lemon told Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey to “stop hiding behind the First Amendment” and censor Trump. Democrats such as Representative Adam Schiff sent letters to social media platforms to demand greater regulation and removal of certain statements that are seen as misleading, which many of us warned is a potential abuse of free speech. Former Vice President Joe Biden added his voice to the call this week for Twitter to remove any statements deemed to be false.

The choice to target a political statement on Twitter was no accident. This is precisely the type of statement that Democrats have been searching for years with threats of a federal takeover. During one hearing, Senator Mark Warner boomed that “the era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end.” That intolerable Wild West is the existence of an area of relatively unregulated free speech. Indeed, like those pioneers of democracy, many people have gone on social media to speak their minds openly.

That frontier of free speech may now be vanishing. On the mail voting tweets, Twitter dispensed with any discernible standard to intervene in political exchanges. Speech regulation will evidently go back in time to retroactively mark unreliable views. The website archive service called Wayback Machine claims it will label articles as “disinformation” when faced with views it deems false or misleading. Now there will be both censorship and retroactive action taken against past thoughts.

The mail voting tweets from Trump are based on a widespread view of the dangers of using such a system on a large scale basis in an election. This concern was certainly raised when multiple ballots for a primary race next week were mailed mistakenly to several voters across Pittsburgh and Allegheny County in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Officials have said barcoding will prevent anyone from voting more than once.

Such insistence of Trump that mail voting is “substantially fraudulent” is unsupported, while there are good faith arguments that mail voting may increase participation in an election. Yet it is also just as unsupported to suggest there is no danger in sending ballots to every home to be filled out without supervision or confirmation. Some households will receive multiple ballots, including for some who may be uninterested. The only reliable way to confirm mail voting fraud would be to do what no state could do and demand that voters must verify who they voted for.

The danger of stolen mail ballots is probably less pronounced, since such criminal acts would likely produce traceable multiple votes if the victims sought to vote in person or by other means. Then there are the concerns over ballot harvesting, where a third party can collect such ballots. Some Democrats want to make ballot harvesting legal across the nation.

If races in swing states like Pennsylvania prove as close as expected, that increase in mail ballots may pose challenges. We have never relied to this extent on mail ballots with at least 40 million voters able to use them. The logistical or criminal interruptions may undermine our faith in the election results. The prospect of using this novel system this fall is stressful. There is a relatively short window, as we saw in 2000, between Election Day and the required certification before inauguration. The reliance on mail voting, therefore, may trim the period for challenges and delay the results.

I do not believe the sweeping claims of fraud any more than I believe the sweeping dismissals of concerns. This is an important matter for debate. Yet Twitter has labeled one side of that debate to be presumptively false. That is why this concern is not about free elections but free speech. The warning tells Trump followers to “get the facts” about mail voting. When you click the added link, it takes you to a page that says Trump made an “unsubstantiated claim” that mail ballots will lead to voter fraud.

The issue is whether websites will label other views as unreliable. Would Wayback Machine label all those false tweets from Democrats that claim evidence of Russian collusion in the 2016 election? What about all those tweets on the discredited dossier? We have learned that several Obama officials testified privately that they had never seen evidence of Russian collusion. Indeed, the Twitter standard seems to mean intervention with claims that Schiff had “ample evidence” of Russian collusion. Would his followers now be warned to “get the facts” on Russian collusion?

The executive order to eliminate protections for companies is precisely the type of retaliation that some Democrats have threatened in the past. Indeed, it may bring an involuntary response from Democrats to oppose the very crackdown they previously threatened. They could also defend the free speech rights of Twitter despite not wanting recognition of free speech rights for the companies in cases such as Citizens United.

There is, however, an alternative. These companies could return to being neutral forums for free speech, and Trump can return to using rather than regulating social media. Otherwise, before they seek to engage with their friends and followers on social media, citizens should first “get the facts” on free speech before it dies with the cheerful chirping of a tweet.

In what should not come as a surprise to many (especially those with open minds and open eyes), President Trump has tweeted that he is designating Antifa a terrorist organization.

The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020

Trump added:

The Lamestream Media is doing everything within their power to foment hatred and anarchy. As long as everybody understands what they are doing, that they are FAKE NEWS and truly bad people with a sick agenda, we can easily work through them to GREATNESS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020

This decision comes almost a year after he first tweeted that he was considering labeling the militant, black-clad, mask-wearing ‘anti-fascist’ group as a terrorist organization.

“Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others),” tweeted Trump, adding “Would make it easier for police to do their job!”

Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others). Would make it easier for police to do their job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019

And As Politico pointed out in September 2017, previously unreported FBI and Department of Homeland Security studies found that “anarchist extremist” group like Antifa have been the “primary instigators of violence at public rallies” going back to at least April 2016 when the reports were first published.

The question is what does this mean in terms of response. Deadly force allowed?

One thing is certain:

Trump’s new order means a whole lot of Democrats have been donating money to a terrorist group

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 31, 2020

And, as Jordan Rachel (@TheJordanRachel) asks: “Why is the Attorney General of Minnesota holding a terrorist handbook! “

Somehow, we suspect this will not ease the tensions.

*  *  *

By way of background, we remind readers that Antifa has gained notoriety since the 2016 election for instigating violent confrontations with conservatives – most recently journalist Andy Ngo, who was beaten and robbed by members of Portland’s Antifa cell, sending him to the hospital. 

In July, 2018, the same Portland groupl, Rose City Antifa, planned a “direct confontation” with participants at a pro-Trump rally – “calling for militant antifascist resistance against Patriot Prayer,” according to a call to action on the leftist website, “It’s Going Down.“

The previous month, a clash between the groups ended up in a viral video of an Antifa member using an object to assault conservative Ethan Michael Nordean, also known as Rufio – who subsequently knocked out the ‘terrorist’ (or so he would be classified under the new declaration). 

Last week, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced a bill to classify Antifa as domestic terrorists – defining it as “a movement that intentionally combines violence with the group’s alt-left positions,” and “represents opposition to the democratic ideals of peaceful assembly and free speech for all.” 

As noted by The Blaze, however, labeling Antifa as “Domestic Terrorists” may also require an entirely new law. 

federal law does not have the same clear-cut designation for domestic terrorism organizations that it does for foreign terror organizations (FTOs), explained Andy McCarthy in a 2017 column at National Review. 

“There are federal-law processes for designating foreign and international terrorism because defending against foreign threats to national security is primarily a federal responsibility,” McCarthy explained, because foreign operatives have fewer civil rights protections than American citizens and that the best weapon against domestic terror is local law enforcement, not federal. –The Blaze

Why is the left so violent?

 

 

Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog,

Even as the stock market chugs up the wall of worry, we were reminded last week that the economic fundamentals remain mired in simply unprecedented territory. As you can see in the first chart below, April saw both the largest increase ever in personal income (blue line) and the largest ever decline in personal consumption expenditure. Importantly, personal consumption expenditure fell fully 30% more than personal income rose, implying that all that “income” (i.e. stimulus payments) was saved.

Indeed, the second chart below shows that savings rate rose to 33%, for which there really are no words.

Sure, that is April data reflective of when the economy was shut down and so can be thought of as a “one off”. I get it.

But what if, as seems likely, the savings rate remains elevated for some time as companies rationalize labor on the back of lower sales? A US consumer that saves more and spends less is a recipe for lower price earnings ratios, as can be seen in the next chart below. Indeed, the savings rate is highly inversely correlated with the S&P 500 PE ratio.

So what does this say about current valuations? It implies that the equity market is expecting a full recovery in consumption.

Place your bets.

Summary:

• Spain pushes for another 2-week lockdown extension
• Country hopes to receive €140 billion from EU rescue fund
• Global COVID-19 cases pass 6 mil
• Russia cases pass 400k
• Iran case total passes 150k
• India reports record jump in new cases after extending lockdown
• China reports new asymptomatic cases tied to German chartered flight

* * *

A day after India extended its lockdown for the fourth time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is asking parliament to approve one more 15-day extension of Spain’s lockdown – which has already been moderately eased even in some of the worst-hit areas like Madrid  – until June 21 “to finish with the pandemic once and for all.”

Sanchez said he would ask parliament to approve a final two-week extension to the stay at home rule. According to the proposal, a national state of emergency wouldn’t end until June 21, at which time citizens would be allowed to move freely. Beginning July 1, citizens will be able to move across the country, El Pais reports.

Spain’s death toll rose by two on Sunday to 27,127, while the number of COVID-19 infections rose by 96 overnight to 239,429. The country has recently been supplanted in global rankings of the worst outbreaks by Russia and Brazil.

Spain first imposed the state of emergency on March 14, imposing a strict lockdown where people were only allowed to leave their homes to buy food, seek medical care or for work. In the beginning, children were confined inside all day.

Despite opposition to the most recent lockdown extension from conservatives and demonstrations across Spain, a deal struck by Sanchez  with a Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya should guarantee his minority government secures enough support to extend the lockdown.

A recent uptick in recorded deaths was caused by a revision to the official figures. Experts praised Spain’s government for bringing the outbreak to heel weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the global outbreak reached a new milestone Sunday morning, passing 6 million cases a little over a week after passing the 5 million mark. Out-of-control outbreaks in Brazil, Russia and across Latin America have driven the explosion of new cases recently.

In other news pertaining to Spain, Sanchez said he hoped Spain would receive €140 billion ($155.37 billion) from a new EU recovery fund. The EU is set to borrow €750 billion for the fund, which will offer a mix of grants and loans to the bloc’s most hard-hit economies, which include Spain and Italy, two of its largest economies.

Meanwhile, after announcing its latest lockdown extension yesterday, India reported more than 8,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, another record high, after also posting the deadliest week of the country’s outbreak so far.

Confirmed infections have risen to 182,143, with 5,164 fatalities, including 193 deaths in the past day, according to health officials.

Overall, more than 60% of the virus fatalities have been reported from only two states: Maharashtra, India’s financial hub, and Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New cases have largely been concentrated in six Indian states, including Delhi, home state of the capital, New Delhi. Delhi on Sunday reported 1,295 new cases of coronavirus, its biggest daily jump so far, bringing the state’s total to 19,844 cases.

Russia reported 9,268 new coronavirus cases Sunday raising its total to 405,843, surpassing 400k. 138 deaths were also recorded, bringing the death toll to 4,693.

Following 2 recent outbreaks, China announced two new confirmed coronavirus cases and four new asymptomatic cases that it allegedly traced back to a chartered flight from Germany. The two confirmed cases in Shandong province on Saturday compared with four cases the day before, data from the country’s health authority showed.

Finally, Iran said its caseload of coronavirus infections passed a grim milestone of 150,000, as the country struggles with what appears to be the beginning of a second wave of infections. The country reported 2,516 new cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 151,466.

As cities across the country reckon with the aftermath of a weekend of chaos and destruction, new footage published Sunday morning shows George Floyd violently struggling with Minneapolis cops inside a squad car minutes before he was killed.

The clip, which was posted Saturday by BLM activist Shaun King, clearly shows one Minneapolis officer leaning inside the rear left passenger door, seemingly struggling with Floyd following his arrest for trying to use a fake $20 bill at a nearby store. Derek Chauvin, who was charged with murder after pinning Floyd by his neck and killing him, can be seen running around to the right side of the car.

By the end of the clip, Chauvin was in the position where he would eventually apply the hold to Floyd. But the video sheds more light on the struggle that ended with Floyd’s death. All four officers involved in his arrest have been fired, and Chauvin was charged with murder.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREAKING: Just got this new video. It’s all coming together. Police were in the car beating the shit out of George Floyd. One stands watch, while the others attacked him.

A post shared by Shaun King (@shaunking) on May 30, 2020 at 3:17pm PDT

 

Floyd’s family has said through their attorney that they expected a first-degree murder charge for Chauvin.

It’s amazing how fast the threat of global pandemic receded in the headlines amid the raging George Floyd protests, also as multiple American cities are on fire. 

The same cities which spent over the last two months on lockdown and social distancing orders, are now seeing throngs of tens of thousands congregate, often in close-quarter stand-offs with police. One has to wonder about what all of this will do in terms of “flattening the curve”. 

The mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, addressed this, warning demonstrators: “If you were out protesting last night, you probably need to go get a COVID test this week.”

“There is still a pandemic in America that’s killing black and brown people at higher numbers,” she added. 

And last week Minneapolis health commissioner warned protestors that the large-scale gatherings and crowd riot behavior will “very predictably accelerate the spread.”

With 1.7 million Americans having tested positive, including over US 100,000 deaths, Axios observes, “A potential surge in cases stemming from the protests would come as many states are weeks into their phased reopening plans.”

Coronavirus fears amid large-scale protests are also a global concern, for example with the latest flare-up of tensions and clashes with police in Hong Kong.

Civil unrest in the United States over repeated racial injustice is raising fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in a country that has seen more infections and deaths than anywhere else in the world.https://t.co/EA4Ncasne0

— WISH-TV (@WISH_TV) May 31, 2020

As the AP reports:

As emergency orders are lifted and beaches and businesses reopen, add protests to the list of concerns about a possible second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. It’s also an issue from Paris to Hong Kong, where anti-government protesters accuse police of using social distancing rules to break up their rallies.

Health experts fear that silent carriers of the virus who have no symptoms could unwittingly infect others at gatherings with people packed cheek to jowl and cheering and jeering, many without masks.

Some cities are leveraging the coronavirus public safety factor as a way to limit protest gathering sizes in public places: “When Los Angeles officials announced the reopening of stores last week, they said political protests could resume but with a cap of 100 people,” AP notes.

The supreme irony is that just as stores re-open, many of the same are getting burned to the ground. 

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Market Breaks Above The 200-DMA

In last week’s missive, we discussed how the market remained stuck between the 50- and 200-dma. At that time, we noted the risk/reward ranges, which encompassed a breakout or retracement within that range. (The chart is updated through Friday’s close.)

The shaded blue area shows the containment of the market between the two moving averages. With the market very overbought short-term (orange indicator in the background), there is downside pressure on prices short-term.

While the market did break above the 200-dma, such does not change the negative risk/reward characteristics of the market.

• -2.8% to the 200-dma vs. +1.7% to the March peak. Negative

• -9.2% to the 50-dma vs. 5.6% to February gap down. Negative

• -10.5% to the consolidation support vs. +10.1% to all-time highs. Neutral

• -19.7% to April 1st lows vs. +10.1% to all-time highs. Negative

• -27% to March 23rd lows vs. +10.1% to all-time highs. Negative

However, as stated last week, the break above the 200-dma is currently changing the complexion of the market.

“If the markets can break above the 200-dma, and maintain that level, it would suggest the bull market is back in play. Such would change the focus from a retest of previous support to a push back to all-time highs.

While such would be hard to believe, given the economic devastation currently at hand, technically, it would suggest the decline in March was only a ‘correction’ and not the beginning of a ‘bear market.’”

While the negative risk/reward dynamics are evident, the more negative outcomes are becoming less probabilistic. However, on a longer-term basis, a deeper correction becomes more possible, given the deviation in prices from the underlying fundamentals.

Are Market Bulls Too Optimistic

Currently, the markets are rallying in hopes of a “V-Shaped” economic recovery, which will be supported by a COVID-19 vaccine and no second wave of the virus. If such is the case, then it is expected the depression level readings of unemployment and GDP will quickly reverse, supporting the stock market’s current valuations.

There are several underlying problems with this narrative:

1. There is a very high probability that as states reopen their economies, there will be a “second-wave” of COVID-19.

2. Out of the dozens of companies that are in the process of developing both therapeutics and a potential vaccine, the odds are incredibly high the vast majority, if not all, will fail.

3. Corporate profits and earnings were already struggling, heading into the recession. While they will rebound as the recession passes, they are unlikely to return to levels to support current valuations.

4. Unemployment will likely remain higher for longer than expected. Up to 50% of small businesses, which account for about 25% of all employment, are expected to shutdown. Consumption, which is where earnings and profits come from, will be cut accordingly. 

Currently, investors have gotten back to more extreme stages of bullishness as the market has relentlessly rallied from the lows. 

Valuations Matter Long-Term

However, the complete detachment from the underlying fundamentals is likely to weigh on the markets soon than later. Irrespective of Fed stimulus, valuations do matter over the longer-term time and will drive forward returns.

The problem is the valuation levels are worse than shown as earnings are still being revised lower, and will get worse. We know this because corporate profits were released this past week for Q1 and showed a record drop. That drop was for a quarter where the shutdown accounted for only 2-weeks of the reporting period. The decline in the second quarter will be materially worse as the entire month was lost to the pandemic.

Castle Of Sand

We can see the deviation between GAAP earnings and corporate profits if we use the data for first-quarter.

The shaded areas show the lag between the decline in profits and the decline in GAAP earnings. Over the next couple of quarters, profits are forecasting a much deeper decline for S&P 500 earnings. With estimates still in the $95/share range, we could see a rather substantial decline.

As stated, investors have priced in a “perfect” economic recovery story. Such leaves much room for disappointment as the deviation between what investors “expect,” and “reality” is at the highest level on record.

Historically, sharp declines in corporate profits are met by equally sharp declines in GAAP earnings.

While investors are “hopeful” this time will be different, the reality of 40-million unemployed, mass failures of small businesses, and a contraction in consumption, argues differently.

“It’s too ‘happy days are here again. It’s just not going to work like that. Not with 38 million unemployed. You can’t keep building on a castle of sand. I see a lot of quicksand underneath some moves. I wish we would just calm down and digest some of these things.” – Jim Cramer, Mad Money

Technical Review Of The Market

No matter how you want to slice the data, the markets are back to more egregious overbought conditions on a short-term basis. With the markets very overbought, and in a very tight ascending wedge, watch for a break to the downside to signal the start of a correction.

Also, with roughly 95% of stocks now trading above the 50-dma, such has historically signaled short-term corrections to resolve the overbought condition.

While much of the media has been talking about positive returns from stocks over the next 12-24 months, we could also have a 2015-2016 type scenario.

At that time, the markets climbed above the 200-dma, combined with a “Golden Cross” as the 50-dma also “crossed the Rubicon.”  While the media bristled with bullish excitement, it was quickly extinguished as the markets set new lows as “Brexit” engulfed the headlines.

Importantly, while concerns about a “Brexit” on the global economy were valid, “Brexit” never materialized. Conversely, the economic devastation in the U.S., and globally, is occurring in real-time. The risk of a market failure as “reality” collides with “fantasy” should not be dismissed. It CAN happen.

Lastly, speaking of the number of stocks above the 50-dma, that indicator is laid behind the S&P 500 in the chart below. Historically, whenever all of the overbought/sold indicators have aligned, along with the vast majority of stocks being above the 50-dma, corrections were close.

Such doesn’t mean the next great “bear market” is about to start. It does mean that a correction back to support that reverts those overbought conditions is likely. Therefore, some prudent risk management may be in order.

A night of widespread social unrest unfolded across dozens of major US cities on Saturday night. Violent clashes between protesters and police were seen, police vehicles and government buildings were lit on fire, businesses were also looted, and some were even torched following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday (May 25). 

What started as mostly peaceful protests in Minneapolis on Tuesday (May 26), quickly spiraled out of control into some of the worst social unrest this county has ever seen. By Wednesday evening (May 27), peaceful demonstrations spread to other major US metros, and almost immediately, violence erupted in the streets, and communities were transformed into warzones in a matter of hours. 

By Sunday (May 31) — the nation is burning, it’s time for President Trump to address the country, and stop pretending how everything is awesome for election year purposes.

The nation, at the moment, is imploding, the economy has crashed, 40 million unemployed, Floyd’s death was merely a trigger for the social unrest, as it is clear, the working-class poor (experiencing the worst wealth gap in modern history) are angry, broke, and jobless in the “greatest economy ever,” as their only hope to be heard is through rioting. 

While burning businesses and harming human life is by no means a sufficient response to voice one’s frustrations of a failed system or a failed American social experiment that is quickly collapsing on itself, it has been the undeniable path many have taken in the last week. 

The riots in Ferguson (2014) and Baltimore (2015) were just the appetizers of today’s social unrest, the full course meal has yet to come, although we could be in the early chapters of it.

As a result of the chaos, lockdowns are beginning, and this time not for virus-related reasons, as curfews were enacted in two dozen cities and National Guard has been activated in 12 states and the District of Columbia this weekend. Policy response on a state and federal level suggests the next card that the government could play is martial law or a variant form of it. 

Most important riot headlines from the overnight: 

• Police arrest 1,700 people across 22 cities in 3 days
• National Guard activated in 12 states 
• Trump’s conservative media allies urge him to address the nation
• Target temporarily closes 175 stores in 13 states due to riots
• Curfews enacted in two dozen major cities; Los Angeles issues mandatory curfew for the entire city
• 345 people arrested in NYC on Saturday, 33 officers injured
• One killed in Indianapolis in shooting amid protests
• Biden states protests urges understanding but cautions against “needless destruction”
• 28 arrested in Nashville during riots
• Atlanta police arrest 70 people amid social unrest
• Denver police arrest 18 as demonstrations ease from the previous two nights
• Miami-Dade Police arrest 38 people, suspends all transit services on Sunday

Top riot scenes from the overnight: 

An explosion was seen near the White House.

Developing from near the White House. pic.twitter.com/dcCNQmTfPd

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 31, 2020

Currently at the White House pic.twitter.com/6DTRbFAqo6

— FreeZerohedge (@freezerohedge) May 30, 2020

National Gaurd arrives in Washington, D.C. 

BREAKING: U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy activates D.C. National Guard to help maintain order near the White House pic.twitter.com/Jkaicv9rhB

— BNO News (@BNONews) May 31, 2020

Protest steels AR-15 rifle from a police car, then is quickly snatched by, what is likely, an undercover cop. 

So many undercover cops inside the protest / Riots pic.twitter.com/mJM3AIPBCu

— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) May 31, 2020

NYPD police car pushes people out of the way.

The police riot across the United States after one of their own murders an innocent black man pic.twitter.com/n7BTNAedYD

— Owen Jones says join a union🌹 (@OwenJones84) May 31, 2020

Coast to coast — scenes of chaos across America. 

George Floyd riots spiral out of control as violence erupts across the country for a fifth day https://t.co/cYq7auOrgb pic.twitter.com/JZ47t4DsGO

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) May 31, 2020

Vicious beating of a man during the Dallas riots.  

BREAKING: man critically injured at Dallas riots

It appears he attempted to defend a shop with a large sword

Looters ran at him, then he charged rioters

They then beat him with a skateboard and stoned him with medium sized rocks

I called an Ambulance and it’s on the way pic.twitter.com/kFxl3kjsBC

— ELIJAH (@ElijahSchaffer) May 31, 2020

Looters across the country ransacked many retail stores — here’s a Nike store robbed of all its shoes. 

Riots reported in several U.S. cities as unrest continues in the wake of George Floyd’s death pic.twitter.com/gS0MGMstxO

— BNO News (@BNONews) May 31, 2020

Philadelphia burned on Saturday evening.   

Center City Philly riots… I’m speechless pic.twitter.com/WTBfIV3RVQ

— BrianPark (@bparkcritcare) May 30, 2020

COP CAR ON FIRE, APPLE STORE LOOTED IN PHILLY
pic.twitter.com/g4Zsi5ySku

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

Demonstrators found the need to steal Louis Vuitton purses. 

I no longer feel any compassion or sympathy for the “outrage” that sparked the riots. It’s gone now.
At a certain point you have to wonder if these ppl are HOPING something like George Floyd will happen so that they CAN do this. pic.twitter.com/07XwPiX45c

— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) May 30, 2020

 Protester sings: “I don’t know what y’all been told, this racist shit is getting old.” 

Protester climbs on top of burning car with police riot shield raised #GeorgeFloyd #GeorgeFloydprotest
pic.twitter.com/0PAn4dxVkp

— NighSide (@NighSide) May 30, 2020

Beverly Hills protesters chant “eat the rich.”

Socialists gather in Beverly Hills to chant “eat the rich.” pic.twitter.com/aY7JatKqhm

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 30, 2020

Chaos on the streets of Los Angeles. 

WATCH LIVE: Police vehicles are on fire, as protests continue in the LA area. https://t.co/sdJnPr4jDD pic.twitter.com/Er28ThjWVp

— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) May 30, 2020

The government’s attempt to thwart social unrest during an economic depression was the deployment of helicopter money, i.e., Trump stimulus checks, while that move has widely failed in the last week, the next card is already being played: activate the National Guard across the country. Unrest will likely spill over into next week. 

A Tesla was discovered early last week, mysteriously wrecked at the bottom of a cliff in Santa Clara County, its driver found dead.  According to the California Highway Patrol, the Tesla “went over” the cliff, and the driver, 60-year-old Pleasanton resident James Yacorzynski, was found dead at the scene. 

The car was found off of Mines Road near Turner Gulch Road, northeast of Mount Hamilton. Mines Road is described as “a windy, mountainous road that runs along the eastern Diablo Range and connects Santa Clara County with Livermore in the East Bay.”

California Highway Patrol officer Ross Lee commented that authorities were unsure how long the Tesla had been sitting at the bottom of the cliff. 

“It might have been a day,” he told NBC Bay Area. The Highway Patrol continues to try and “unravel the mystery” of what caused the accident and when it took place, according to CBS. 

“For some reason, the man’s Tesla careened off the cliff, but all else remains a mystery,” CBS reported. While there is still no known cause for the accident, we will keep an eye on the story as it develops. There has been no confirmation as to whether or not Autopilot was involved in the accident.

However, of interest may be this Quora thread, which asks the question: “Does Tesla’s autopilot work on winding mountain roads?” One Tesla owner responded:

“It depends on the curvature of the road (presuming you meant “winding”). Over time, I’ve observed AutoPilot safely handling tighter and tighter curves at appropriate speeds. Currently, my Tesla can handle the relatively tight curve of a round-about with aplomb. Recently, it finally navigated a series of right-angle turns in an access road — albeit wobbly and just barely avoiding crossing either line.”

“Any time you’re off a well-marked motorway/freeway, you’re in an area which the current generation of Autopilot does less well,” a second Tesla owner says.

Recall, earlier this year the NTSB revealed that Autopilot had played a role in a fatal 2019 Model 3 accident in Delray Beach, Florida. The driver had set the car to go 69 miles per hour 12.3 seconds before the crash took place on a highway that had a speed limit of 55 mph, according to Bloomberg. The NTSB also revealed that the driver’s hands were not on the wheel for the final 7.7 seconds before the crash. 

The NTSB had also arrived at similar findings regarding a 2016 Florida crash where another Tesla driver didn’t react to a truck in the roadway. In that instance, the NTSB found that Tesla’s Autopilot design contributed to the cause of the accident. 

Via AlMasdarNews.com,

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez announced that his country may start exploring for oil in the eastern Mediterranean within 3 or 4 months, in accordance with the controversial maritime border agreement with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA).

Speaking at a ceremony marking the start of the sailing of the Turkish ship “Fateh” to explore for oil and gas to the Black Sea, Donmez said that the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, which requested the permit for exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, will begin operations in areas within the scope of its license after the completion of the process.

“In the framework of the agreement that we reached with Libya, we will be able to start our oil exploration operations there within 3 or 4 months,” Donmez said.

He added that the new “legal” Turkish exploration ship would also go to the Mediterranean later this year.

The Turkish authorities and the Libyan Government of National Accord signed the Maritime Boundary Demarcation Agreement on November 27, 2019 in Istanbul in the presence of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj.

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and other countries oppose the agreement and describe it as “illegal”, a charge rejected by Turkey, which is the largest external supporter of the reconciliation government in its confrontation with the “Libyan National Army” led by Khalifa Haftar.

#Turkey says may begin oil exploration under #Libya deal in 3-4 months #Greek Armed Forces are ready for any aggression with #Turkey and we are not afraid

Turkey may begin oil exploration in the eastern #Mediterranean within 3 or 4 months under a deal it signed with Libya pic.twitter.com/a8a7cbb9wM

— Andreas Mountzouroulias (@andreasmoun) May 30, 2020

Greece has gone so far as to threaten military action if any Turkish vessels breach its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The move is expected to exacerbate tensions in the region, as Turkey has been locked in disputes for years with Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel over ownership of natural resources, as well as the possibility of European Union sanctions against Ankara.