Category: zerohedge

Authored by Jonathan Turley, op-ed via The Hill,

The Washington press corps seems engaged in a collective demonstration of the legal concept of willful blindness, or deliberately ignoring the facts, following the release of yet another declassified document which directly refutes prior statements about the investigation into Russia collusion. The document shows that FBI officials used a national security briefing of then candidate Donald Trump and his top aides to gather possible evidence for Crossfire Hurricane, its code name for the Russia investigation.

It is astonishing that the media refuses to see what is one of the biggest stories in decades. The Obama administration targeted the campaign of the opposing party based on false evidence. The media covered Obama administration officials ridiculing the suggestions of spying on the Trump campaign and of improper conduct with the Russia investigation. When Attorney General William Barr told the Senate last year that he believed spying did occur, he was lambasted in the media, including by James Comey and others involved in that investigation. The mocking “wow” response of the fired FBI director received extensive coverage.

The new document shows that, in summer 2016, FBI agent Joe Pientka briefed Trump campaign advisers Michael Flynn and Chris Christie over national security issues, standard practice ahead of the election. It had a discussion of Russian interference. But this was different. The document detailing the questions asked by Trump and his aides and their reactions was filed several days after that meeting under Crossfire Hurricane and Crossfire Razor, the FBI investigation of Flynn. The two FBI officials listed who approved the report are Kevin Clinesmith and Peter Strzok.

Clinesmith is the former FBI lawyer responsible for the FISA surveillance conducted on members of the Trump campaign. He opposed Trump and sent an email after the election declaring “viva the resistance.” He is now under review for possible criminal charges for altering a FISA court filing. The FBI used Trump adviser Carter Page as the basis for the original FISA application, due to his contacts with Russians. After that surveillance was approved, however, federal officials discredited the collusion allegations and noted that Page was a CIA asset. Clinesmith had allegedly changed the information to state that Page was not working for the CIA.

Strzok is the FBI agent whose violation of FBI rules led Justice Department officials to refer him for possible criminal charges. Strzok did not hide his intense loathing of Trump and famously referenced an “insurance policy” if Trump were to win the election. After FBI officials concluded there was no evidence of any crime by Flynn at the end of 2016, Strzok prevented the closing of the investigation as FBI officials searched for any crime that might be used to charge the incoming national security adviser.

Documents show Comey briefed President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the investigation shortly before the inauguration of Trump. When Comey admitted the communications between Flynn and Russian officials appeared legitimate, Biden reportedly suggested using the Logan Act, a law widely seen as unconstitutional and never been used to successfully convict a single person, as an alternative charge against Flynn. The memo contradicts eventual claims by Biden that he did not know about the Flynn investigation. Let us detail some proven but mostly unseen facts.

• First, the Russia collusion allegations were based in large  part on the dossier funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Clinton campaign repeatedly denied paying for the dossier until after the election, when it was confronted with irrefutable evidence that the money had been buried among legal expenditures. As New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman wrote, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it and with sanctimony for a year.”

• Second, FBI agents had warned that dossier author Christopher Steele may have been used by Russian intelligence to plant false information to disrupt the election. His source for the most serious allegations claims that Steele misrepresented what he had said and that it was little more than rumors that were recast by Steele as reliable intelligence.

• Third, the Obama administration had been told that the basis for the FISA application was dubious and likely false. Yet it continued the investigation, and then someone leaked its existence to the media. Another declassified document shows that, after the New York Times ran a leaked story on the investigation, even Strzok had balked at the account as misleading and inaccurate. His early 2017 memo affirmed that there was no evidence of any individuals in contact with Russians. This information came as the collusion stories were turning into a frenzy that would last years.

• Fourth, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and inspectors general found no evidence of collusion or knowing contact between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. What inspectors general did find were false statements or possible criminal conduct by Comey and others. While unable to say it was the reason for their decisions, they also found statements of animus against Trump and his campaign by the FBI officials who were leading the investigation. Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified he never would have approved renewal of the FISA surveillance and encouraged further investigation into such bias.

• Finally, Obama and Biden were aware of the investigation, as were the administration officials who publicly ridiculed Trump when he said there was spying on his campaign. Others, like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, declared they had evidence of collusion but never produced it. Countless reporters, columnists, and analysts still continue to deride, as writer Max Boot said it, the spinning of “absurd conspiracy theories” about how the FBI “supposedly spied on the Trump campaign.”

Willful blindness has its advantages. The media covered the original leak and the collusion narrative, despite mounting evidence that it was false. They filled hours of cable news shows and pages of print with a collusion story discredited by the FBI. Virtually none of these journalists or experts have acknowledged that the collusion leaks were proven false, let alone pursue the troubling implications of national security powers being used to target the political opponents of an administration. But in Washington, success often depends not on what you see but what you can unsee.

Here’s an innovation that could dramatically reduce the mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

In Germany, a group of researchers claim to have trained dogs to identify people infected with the virus, according to a report from a prestigious German veterinary university. 

The study involved eight dogs from the German armed forces, according to Bloomberg.

Eight dogs from Germany’s armed forces were trained for only a week and were able to accurately identify the virus with a 94% success rate, according to a pilot project led by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.

Researchers challenged the dogs to sniff out Covid-19 in the saliva of more than 1,000 healthy and infected people.

“We think that this works because the metabolic processes in the body of a diseased patient are completely changed,” Maren von Koeckritz-Blickwede, a professor at the university, said in a YouTube video about the project.

“We think that the dogs are able to detect a specific smell.”

Trained dogs stationed at vulnerable choke points – airports, nursing homes, etc – could in theory help curb the virus’s spread among the most vulnerable groups. There’s great potential to gradually reduce both spread and mortality, the researchers said.

Dogs, which have a sense of smell around 1,000 times more sensitive than humans, could be deployed to detect infections at places such as airports, border crossings and sporting events with the proper training, according to the researchers. The study was conducted jointly with the German armed forces, the Hannover Medical School and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Von Koeckritz-Blickwede said that the next step will be to train dogs to differentiate Covid samples from other diseases like influenza.

As we reported last night, citing data just released by the Florida Department of Health, roughly 46% of deaths confirmed in the state of Florida have been traced back to long-term care facilities, including both staff and patients, but overwhelmingly patients. That’s only 1/3rd the total of nursing home deaths in New York, a state where Gov Andrew Cuomo’s failure to change a policy that called for hospitals to return COVID-19 positive patients to their care facilities just might be remembered as the biggest policy blunder of the American coronavirus response.

That’s not to say that Cuomo doesn’t have some stiff competition.

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter says, “Gold is like a tractor in first gear pulling up a hill,” as it touches all-time highs once again. 

Holter thinks the “gold tractor” is going to be shifting up a few gears in the not-so-distant future.  Holter, who has been dubbed the new “Mr. Gold” by the reigning “Mr. Gold,” Jim Sinclair, explains,

“There is no rush like a gold rush.  The reason being is you get momentum followers.  You get people who are greedy who want to make money.  Then you have the fear trade, and the fear trade is probably the most powerful emotion. 

What you are seeing around the world is big money understands we have a credit implosion coming, which is going to take the currencies with it. 

Where do you hide?  The place to hide is in gold and silver.”

As much as Holter likes gold, he says silver is way undervalued compared to gold.  Holter has long said when silver prices takes off, “it will be like gold on steroids.”  Holter says,

“The reason silver is undervalued is it comes out of the earth at 10 (ounces of silver) to 1(ounce of gold).  That’s God’s ratio.  Man’s ratio had gotten to 120 to 1.  I can tell you which ratio is right and which ratio is wrong.”  Holter thinks God’s ratio is the correct one.

Holter says, “All roads lead to gold” especially in today’s economic environment.  Holter explains,

“Gold is the arch enemy of fiat currencies. . . . You can just use your common sense and see we have a big, big problem out there, and capital is going to need a place to hide.  Gold and silver are the only money that do not have any liability.  Gold and silver are proof that labor, capital and equipment were used to create that.  It already has been done, whereas everything else is a future promise, and promises are made to be broken . . . . .

The central banks must either inflate or die. . . . The central banks have to reflate or inflate, whatever you want to call it; otherwise, the entire credit system comes down.  If they don’t inflate and they let the credit system come down, then you have a massive deflationary event where credit implodes.  All the currencies themselves are credit.  So, if the credit system comes down, it also takes the currencies with it. . . .

With all the debt out there, the central banks must hyper-inflate.  Where’s the best place to be in a hyperinflation?  Gold and silver.  If they don’t hyper-inflate, and they let the credit markets completely collapse and everything defaults, what’s the best place to hide?  Gold and silver because they have no liability.  They are pure money.  That’s why all roads lead to gold.”

Holter goes on to say, “You could have both.  We could have a credit implosion, and the Fed creates $100 trillion and puts it into the system.  That’s the only response they have if things get out of hand. . . .  It’s inflate or die.”

In closing, Holter warns people to get ready and buy physical assets.  This include food and water and anything else you might need.  Holter predicts,

“You are going to lose purchasing power.  Just look at history.  Every time a currency has failed, the population loses its purchasing power.  Just because this is the United States, it doesn’t mean we can break the laws of Mother Nature.  We are going to face a huge drop in purchasing power and a huge drop in our standard of living.  We have said this for years and have been trolled for years, and now here we are.”

Holter also points out the legendary gold investor Jim Sinclair is the original Mr. Gold, and Holter says, “Jim is Mr. Gold emeritus.”

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with the new “Mr. Gold” Bill Holter of JSMineset.com.

To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

The US economic recovery is stalling, and economic growth is beginning to reverse. 

Last week, initial jobless claims broke a 15-week streak of lower claims, as new concerns the labor recovery has hit a snag. 

JPMorgan Chase recently said, “Chase card spending suggests recovery has stalled” and “data through July 18, our tracker of spending by a panel of 30 million Chase credit and debit cardholders are little changed since late June, suggesting that the rapid economic rebound was seen in May and early June has lost momentum.” 

Readers may recall the economy is facing fiscal cliffs which could cause consumption to crash, with four particular areas of focus:

1. expiration of extended unemployment insurance,
2. the fading support from stimulus checks,
3. exhaustion of PPP
4. stress from state and local aid gov’ts.

Besides a fiscal cliff, at least ten million Americans saw rent moratoriums expire last Friday. This means landlords can now file eviction paperwork for tenants who haven’t paid rent for 30 days, and or, as we’ve noted, some folks haven’t paid in months. While it’s customary renters get 30 days notice, an eviction wave could be ahead.

Goldman Sach’s latest recovery tracker shows 80% of the US population are in regions where the recovery has paused or reversed, due to a rise in coronavirus cases and deaths. 

The Trump administration was out on Sunday morning, making their pump rounds on mainstream media outlets, indicating a “V-shaped” recovery is ahead, and more direct deposits are coming for consumers. 

This all suggests stabilization in the economy thanks to trillions of dollars in fiscal and monetary injections are quickly wearing off, as it now appears there will be no V-shaped recovery. Take a look at the economic surprise index, it’s ready to move lower. 

Searching for clues about a reversing recovery and crisis reemerging, Twitter handle “Alastair Williamson” posted a video of what appears to be a Baltimore food bank line at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. 

Williamson said, “behind the scenes: a “massive food bank line” is what one official told me.” 

behind the scenes: a “massive food bank line” is what one official told me pic.twitter.com/MPktSSx46Y

— Alastair Williamson (@StockBoardAsset) July 26, 2020

He tweets a video of what appears to be a line of cars of “hungry and broke families” in front of refrigerated trucks. 

behind the scenes: food bank line in Baltimore just getting started – a lot of hungry and broke families as fiscal cliff begins pic.twitter.com/30C1OBJDSP

— Alastair Williamson (@StockBoardAsset) July 26, 2020

Williamson tweets several images of empty commercial retail space, as he describes it as a “CRE apocalypse.” He said the “fiscal cliff hitting, permanent job loss, recovery stalled in late June” is creating a perfect storm in Baltimore. 

The recovery has stalled; a crisis in households is reemerging while Wall Street is partying with record-high stock prices as the Trump administration and Federal Reserve bailed out corporate elites. We did some digging, and the food bank line is happening in a wealthy suburban area!

The economic crisis is far from over. 

Authored by Heather Lalley, of Restaurant Business,

Gina Restivo has held virtually every restaurant job during her 30 years in the industry. Dishwasher, cook, host, bartender, server. But, after being exposed to COVID-19 while working as the general manager of a high-volume restaurant in Ocean City, Md., Restivo put in her resignation and is currently looking for jobs in other industries.

“I’m considering really anything,” Restivo said. “I would literally do any job right now that is not working in a restaurant.”

After self-quarantining in her back bedroom, away from her boyfriend, following her exposure at work, Restivo tested negative, she said. But 13 cases have so far been tied back to her former restaurant, she said. “People who are not in the industry don’t realize the instances you could have contracted this in a single day,” she said. “Something as small as the sink handle where everyone washes their hands, or touching people’s dirty silverware or dirty dishes in the bus tub. You’re also dealing with people who are racing around.”

A shrinking talent pool?

As the pandemic is still raging in many states, the full picture of its impacts on restaurant employment is unclear.

Around the country, restaurants are closing every day, leaving workers unemployed and potentially forced to find other lines of work.

The unemployment rate in the leisure and hospitality industries, including restaurants, soared from 5.7% in February to 39.3% in April, and in June was still at an unprecedented 28.9%. By comparison, the overall unemployment rate is 11.1%, and no other industry comes close to restaurants’ level.

The restaurant industry employed nearly 9.2 million people in June, almost 3 million more than in April but still 25% below where it was in February. Anecdotally, though, restaurant workers—even those who’ve spent decades in the industry—say they’re looking to get out. The line of work that had been stable, geographically flexible, reliable and largely safe for generations is no more, they say.

Pre-pandemic, some of the biggest stressors for restaurant operators had been recruiting, hiring and retaining employees. It’s a headache that could potentially intensify as industry conditions normalize and operators find that their employee pool has shrunk.

A recent post on an industry-focused Facebook page asking for a “show of hands” on whether people are thinking of leaving bar-restaurant work drew more than 100 responses, most from people saying they are seeking other jobs.

‘It’s in my blood’

Michelle A., who asked that her last name not be published, is currently furloughed from her job as a server at a large casual-dining chain restaurant on Long Island, N.Y. She said it “breaks my heart” to think about leaving the industry.

“I’m so conflicted,” she said. “It’s either in your blood, you have it, or you don’t. It’s in my blood. I love what I do. I’m so sad that I’m watching an industry that I’ve been in for 25 years not only crumble into chaos but be decimated … I sat down with a glass of wine and cried. This industry has seen me through so much and done so much for me.”

Michelle always counted on a restaurant job, no matter where she moved in the country. Now, however, she worries about the lack of stability with frequent closures as well as the safety risks amid the pandemic.

“I’m not sure I’ll have a job to go back to,” she said. “I’m 39 years old and I need to make a living. I need health insurance.”

Plus, she said, “My mom is very high-risk. If I go back to work, I’m never going to be able to see my parents again because it’s never going to be safe.”

‘A heartbreaking decision’

Matt DeAngelo started cooking at 15 while working his first job at a bowling alley snack bar. He eventually moved into fine dining and was the chef at a steakhouse in Woodstock, Ga., when coronavirus hit.

Today, he’s working at an auto repair shop as a mechanic. The lack of communication from his restaurant’s owner, coupled with mounting concerns over pay and safety, led to his decision to leave the industry, he said.

“It was a heartbreaking decision,” DeAngelo said. “It was not easy. It’s still not easy. Some weeks I make like $6 an hour. It’s hard to go from the top of my field … It broke my heart. It’s like breaking up with a spouse when you’ve been in a really toxic relationship. That’s how it feels.”

We have often wondered why people pay for the “privilege” to live in places like California; where taxes are sky high, likely heading higher, the government is bloated and intrusive and Democratic leadership seems to have no real interest in either being fiscally responsible or (lately) maintaining law and order.

Perhaps that’s what the world’s most popular podcaster, Joe Rogan has also wondered. Because according to a new report by The Blaze, Rogan is on his way out of California and heading to Texas because he wants “a little bit more freedom”. 

On one of his latest podcasts, Rogan said: “I’m outta here. I’m gonna go to Texas. I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country, somewhere it’s easier to travel to both places, and somewhere where you have a little bit more freedom.”

He continued: “Also I think that um, where we live right here in Los Angeles is overcrowded. And I think, most of the time that’s not a problem. But I think it’s exposing the fact that it’s a real issue, when you look at the number of people that uh, are catching COVID because of this overpopulation issue.”

“When you look at the traffic, when you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that’s accelerated radically over the last six, seven, ten years, I think there’s too many people here,” he continued.

“I think it’s not tenable, I don’t think that it’s manageable. And every mayor does a shit job of doing it because I don’t think anybody could do a great job of it. I think there’s certain things you’re gonna have to deal with when you have a population of whatever the f**k L.A. is, it’s like twenty million plus people,” Rogan said.

Several months ago, Rogan had said that the coronavirus lockdown had enticed him into the idea of moving: “If California continues to be this restrictive, I don’t know if this is a good place to live. I might jet. I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding, this is silly. I don’t need to be here.”

You can watch video of Rogan explaining his decision here:

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management, first published in Jan 2017

“There’s this whole culture of liberal art grads,” said the investor.

“They spend their youth in safe spaces, isolated from micro-aggressions.” Then it’s off to big cities. “They surround themselves with people whose political beliefs mirror their own; it borders on religion.” Political disagreement becomes anathema. They’re incapable of processing it.

“Why does anyone think Trump cares about these people?” he asked. “Does he actually care about a few million protestors from the bubble cities that didn’t vote for him and never will?” Nope.

“You see these people prancing around with placards, talking about a ripe time for revolution.” And he paused, sighed.

“What they miss is that they’re generally not the ones who do well in a revolution. These are the people who prosper in a rules-based, stable society where prosperity is more or less achieved based on education, merit.”

As societies grow more prosperous, they generally become more homogeneous. Increases in wealth support a stable social and economic structure, until severe downturns tear the national fabric. But that’s not where we are today.

Despite Trump’s rhetoric about American carnage, his arrival comes at a time of growing income inequality and general prosperity.

“This is not a scary time for America, rather it may be the opposite.” The strength of democracy is its flexibility, and Trumpism may, in time, be seen to be a deep knee bend.

“If The Donald fails to create a sense of greater shared prosperity, that will be scary. It’s a severe downturn during Trump’s term that should really worry us.” It’s hard to imagine that would not usher in socialism, or something even worse.

“The real problems in society emerge when their fabric is torn, when a candidate wins under controversial circumstances and the military intervenes. So we should all relax for the time being, because we’re not anywhere close to there yet.”

Again, this was first published just days after Trump’s inauguration in Jan 2017.

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) has resigned from the board of directors of the Christian charity, Bread for the World, after he allegedly told Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) she was “disgusting” and a “fucking bitch” over her comments excusing the rampant violence, looting and property damage during the ongoing BLM protests as nothing more than people who “feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night.”

AOC on increased NYC crime: “Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent & are scared to pay their rent & so they go out & they need to feed their child & they don’t have money so… they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.” pic.twitter.com/oHSTWWJZ6a

— The Hill (@thehill) July 12, 2020

The bipartisan organization devoted to targeting hunger and poverty around the world said in a Saturday statement that it called for Yoho’s resignation, as his actions are “not reflective of the ethical standards expected of members of our Board of Directors,” according to The Hill.

Bread indeed…

Hungry Americans foraging for bread. Sadly this beauty supply store was out. pic.twitter.com/G0a2E5IrnD

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) July 19, 2020

I mean, they just “need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.” @redsteeze pic.twitter.com/DRTR4bQip5

— I Might Be Donna (@Crypsis12) July 12, 2020

Watch the necessary and justified looting of this shoe-shaped bread in @AOC’s district.

pic.twitter.com/O9OL3LfEG0

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) July 18, 2020

As the Heritage Foundation notes: 

New York recorded 528 shootings from the beginning of the year to the end of last month. Year-to-date, New York City has seen a 53.5% increase in shooting incidents, a 63% increase in shooting victims, and a 27% increase in murders. Burglary has also increased 45% and theft of automobiles is up 61%.

This spike in violent crimes follows months of anti-police protests and riots, as well as New York City’s decision to disband the New York City Police Department Anti-Crime Unit.

Following the altercation – which Yoho denies happened, AOC took to the floor of the House, where she dropped an F-bomb in a dramatic recounting of the alleged exchange.

We wonder if Yoho come under similar scrutiny if he made the alleged comments to a male colleague?

Authored by Maria Copeland via CampusReform.org,

Amid a nationwide call for anti-racist education, White Fragilityby Robin DiAngelo has gained massive popularity and university endorsement. 

The book, which shot to the top of best-seller lists following the death of George Floyd and subsequent widespread movements, has been highlighted on recommended reading lists by universities nationwide, including Ivy League schools such as Cornell, Harvard, and Yale.

Campus Reform decided to find out why. 

The angle that sets this book apart from similar texts is likely its development of “white fragility” as the catalyst of all racial conflict.  

White fragility, according to DiAngelo, is a phenomenon that occurs when people of color confront white people on race-related issues. Categorically, white people will react with “a range of defensive responses,” which include “emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and withdrawal from the stress-inducing situation” and which “work to reinstate white equilibrium as they repel the challenge, return our racial comfort, and maintain our dominance within the racial hierarchy.”

This behavior, DiAngelo clarifies, “is born of superiority and entitlement. White fragility is not weakness per se. In fact, it is a powerful means of white racial control and the protection of white advantage.” 

Essentially, she argues that white people’s distaste for racial confrontation is responsible for perpetuating white supremacy. 

Additionally, DiAngelo recognizes that white people do not like to be classified at large under a broad category, and she predicts throughout the text that white readers will reject her arguments because of this sensitivity, which is a tendency that they must simply learn to overcome.

DiAngelo makes the case that “racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of our society,” saying that all racist acts stem from institutional racism. This means that “only whites can be racist” because “in the United States, only whites have the collective social and institutional power and privilege over people of color.” She acknowledges the occurrence of individual racist acts, but says such actions are “part of a larger system of interlocking dynamics.” Consequently, according to her standards, racism is a behavior unique to white people that cannot be demonstrated by people of color.

Not only have all white people demonstrated racism, DiAngelo says,  but they are doomed to do so indefinitely. She suggests that there is no way for white people to grow up without being racist, because white parents cannot raise their children in such a way that they do not benefit from and perpetuate racism in America. Not only that, but white parents cannot teach their children not to be racially prejudiced, and if they train their children not to express racism verbally, they are only teaching censorship. 

Further, she suggests, race always influences a situation, so there is nothing coincidental about the color of someone’s skin and any conflict in which they are involved: “On some level, race is always at play, even in its supposed absence.” 

Another concept DiAngelo redefines is that of white supremacy. 

“White supremacy describes the culture we live in, a culture that positions white people and all that is associated with them (whiteness) as ideal. White supremacy is more than the idea that whites are superior to people of color; it is the deeper premise that supports this idea—the definition of whites as the norm or standard for human, and people of color as a deviation from that norm.” 

Under this description — which neglects to acknowledge the impact of its traditional connotations, such as ties to the KKK — all white behavior can be categorized as not only racist but also as white supremacist. No one likes to be broadly categorized, but the author anticipates that and understands such behavior to be yet another manifestation of white fragility.

DiAngelo asserts that black women were unable to vote until 1964, explains that “there was no concept of race before the need to justify the enslavement of Africans,” and ultimately descends into reflecting on the nature of white and black identity. 

“White is a false identity, an identity of false superiority. In that sense, whiteness isn’t real. The dream is the ‘perfect world,’ unpolluted by blacks. If whites are to construct this world, blacks must be separated through state violence. Yet they still must exist, for the existence of blacks provides the needed other against which whites may rise. Thus, white identity depends in particular on the projection of inferiority onto blacks and the oppression this inferior status justifies for the white collective.” 

The book’s primary points, distilled: 

• White people must acknowledge the grim consequences of their actions, although they are far too frail to do so

• White people are responsible to repair a system in which racism runs rampant, although nothing they can do will ever be enough 

• White guilt is unhelpful because it does not advance any real change, although white people must reflect seriously on the extent of what they have done 

• White people should be appalled at what they have brought about, although ‘white women’s tears’ only exacerbate the situation and reinforce white privilege

You’re Welcome, America!

Aside from the ‘safe-haven’ status amid the global money-printing fiasco occurring in fiat-land, the major run in the largest cryptocurrencies in recent days appears to have been driven by two technical factors (over-leveraged shorts unwinding and traders taking profit from over-extended altcoins).

Overnight saw Bitcoin top $10,000…

Source: Bloomberg

As CoinTelegraph reports, when Bitcoin initially broke over $10,000, it triggered over-leveraged short contracts to become liquidated. When BTC reached $10,200, it caused a cascade of liquidations to occur, totaling $74 million.

Bitcoin has seen many phases when more than $50 million worth of short or long contracts gets liquidated. But for this to occur within a span of a few hours is less typical.

The mass liquidations of long contracts at $10,000 also suggest that the $10,000 to $10,200 remains as a heavy resistance area. As soon as BTC hit $10,200, the price dropped below $10,000, marking a short-lived rally.

Will it hold this time?

Source: Bloomberg

As CoinTelegraph goes on to note,  as the price of Bitcoin recovered strongly in recent weeks, some industry executives and investors expressed optimism toward BTC and ETH.

“Are you ready?” Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert tweeted when Ether price broke out of the dreaded $280 resistance level on July 25.

Well-known trader Peter Brandt, meanwhile, expects the price of Bitcoin to hit a new record high and eventually make its way to $50,000. He said:

“That is actually where my head is. Massive symmetrical triangle in $BTC points to ATHs, then $50k.”

But some variables could affect the short-term price trend of BTC price. First, the funding rate of Bitcoin is projected to be over 0.04% on BitMEX. That is nearly four times higher than the average funding rate of 0.01%. It signifies that the majority of the market is taking long positions.

Second, $10,000 has acted as a key psychological level for Bitcoin since October 2019. If BTC rejects at $10,200, it would still be lower than the previous peak in February 2020 at $10,473. 

Although it would be far-fetched to call it a lower high formation, it might show that BTC price has not cleanly broken out of the multi-month range.

Additionally, as the big ‘core’ cryptos have exploded higher in recent days, the previously popular DeFi Tokens have taken a significant hit…

Source: CoinMarketCap

And that cash has seemingly rotated into Ethereum, driving the cryptocurrency to its highest in over a year…

Source: Bloomberg

Having topped $300, investors are looking for the $350 spike highs from June of last year…

Source: Bloomberg

And investors are looking for more as optimism over Ethereum 2.0 and the rise in options and spot demand accelerate.

As CoinTelegraph details,  especially since the beginning of the second quarter of 2020, the Ethereum market has seen high options and spot demand. Previous rallies have been led by the futures market. The funding rate of Ether during the February 2020 peak was hovering at 0.2% on BitMEX. That means long holders had to incentivize short holders with substantial fees due to market imbalance. 

During the recent rally, the funding rate of Ether futures contracts stayed relatively low. Despite a 30% increase in the past five days, the funding rate of ETH on BitMEX is well below 0.2%. It is likely due to the spot and options market playing a big role in ETH’s ongoing rally.

On July 24, the Deribit team said it had reached a record high for ETH options volume and open interest. Deribit accounts for 93% of the Ether options market in terms of open interest, tweeting: “We have a new record high for ETH Options volume and open interest! With a peak 24hr volume of $49 million, the Deribit ETH options OI sits at $241 million (and currently 93% of the global Ethereum market share)!”

Santiment researchers also noted ETH does have room for additional growth, relative to the performance of leading altcoins. Cryptocurrencies like Chainlink’s LINK have hit new highs in July, significantly outperforming top crypto assets. Possibly due to the lack of involvement of the futures market in the Ether rally, some analysts see a room for a bigger rally for ETH. Santiment stated on Twitter:

“The top 100 market cap #blockchains in the past 30 days show that $ETH still has a long way to go to catch most other #altcoins. This is a positive sign for current #Ethereum holders, currently +16.3% in the last 30d vs. an avg. top 100 return of +32.7%.”

In the longer-term, Ethereum 2.0 could act as a newfound catalyst, especially as ETH approaches Q4 2020. Earlier this week, Ethereum developers, led by fork coordinator Afri Schoedon, said that the official testnet launch of Ethereum 2.0 would begin on August 4. 

The first phase of Ethereum 2.0 is called the beacon chain. For it to be activated or launched, developers need to develop testnets to mimic the conditions of the beacon chain. Stable and long-term testnets are necessary to ensure a seamless launch of Ethereum 2.0, Schoedon wrote on GitHub. The Medalla testnet is expected to be the final testnet before the mainnet launch, as Schoedon said:

“Before such a mainnet can be launched, we need testnets that mimic mainnet conditions as good as possible. This requires us to have stable, long-term, and persistent testnets up and running that are supported by not only one client but multiple clients, ideally, all clients.”

Positive progress on Ethereum 2.0, specifically on the Medalla testnet, could further boost the sentiment around Ether in the coming months. A confluence of rapidly-growing DeFi market and growing demand on the spot and options market, combined with Ethereum 2.0 hype, appear to be fueling a strong ETH rally.

Despite all these recent gains, it seems it is still not going to save John McAfee from having to eat his own dick.