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Following roughly 2 weeks of existence that have been characterized by an incessant stream of video showing beatdowns, brazen theft, armed robbery and myriad other crimes and/or ‘revolutionary’ acts, Seattle’s autonomous zone has finally sustained its first casualty since “declaring independence” from the US.

According to the Seattle PD twitter account, the shooting has been ruled a homicide.

Police investigating shooting at 10th Avenue and East Pine. Will update with additional information when available.

— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) June 20, 2020

Updated information on overnight homicide inside protest zone. https://t.co/AcmOeR06ZW

— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) June 20, 2020

At least one person is dead with another in critical condition after a shooting early Saturday morning in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP (as they’re now calling it). The shooting comes after the mayor of Seattle decided to appease the group of mostly fringe leftists and anarchists by barring cops from using tear gas and other crowd control methods.

According to the city’s official statement, when officers arrived on scene while responding to the shooting (and to try and administer aid to the then-mortally wounded victim) a violent crowd of CHOP denizens prevented the police from reaching the individual, who soon succumbed to his wounds.

Read the full press release below:

Homicide detectives are investigating following a fatal shooting that occurred early Saturday morning at 10th Avenue and East Pine Street. One man was declared deceased at the hospital and another male is being treated for life-threatening injuries.

On June 20th, at approximately 2:30 AM, East Precinct officers responded to a report of shots fired in Cal Anderson Park. This is inside the area referred to as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP). Officers attempted to locate a shooting victim but were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers safe access to the victims. Officers were later informed that the victims, both males, had been transported to Harborview Medical Center by CHOP medics.

Officers responded to Harborview and were informed that one of the victims, a 19-year-old male, had died from injuries. The other victim, also a male, unknown age, remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The suspect or suspect(s) fled and are still at large. There is no description at this time.

Homicide detectives responded and are conducting a thorough investigation, despite the challenges presented by the circumstances.
Anyone with information about this shooting, or who may have video, is asked to contact the Seattle Police Department’s Violent Crime tip line at (206) 233-5000.

This remains an active and on-going homicide investigation. This post will be updated as additional information becomes available.

Though according to Omari Salisbury, a resident CHOP “journalist”, the victims had already been transported to the hospital by car before police arrive. It’s not clear whether this is accurate or not. It’s also unclear how police plant to investigate the shooting.

#CHAZ / #CHOP – The @SeattlePD entered the zone with a force of about 10 officers. They asked the crowd to step back and that they were there to extract the victim out of the zone. The victim who was deceased at that time had just been transported a few minutes prior.

— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) June 20, 2020

According to a clip of the scene when the shots rang out, it appears 7 shots in total were fired.

Here’s my clip that picked up the gunfire audio. I counted 7 shots fired @ 2:18:39, one more @ 2:19:16 pic.twitter.com/ku22c4tHcH

— Subpixel Alchemist (@MarcusKulik) June 20, 2020

Salisbury claims the shootings, which occurred “one block apart” were entirely separate incidents, which deviates from the statement given by the Seattle PD.

#CHAZ / #CHOP Two people shot in the zone tonight. Two separate shootings one block apart and moments apart.

— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) June 20, 2020

 

Just as we long suspected, this bizarre experiment in appeasing the intellectually bankrupt fringe left has resulted in bloodshed, despite its members purported commitment to peace, justice and equality.

 

 

 

 

 

Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,

Straight Talk

What I really like about our Straight Talk episodes is that it they are completely agenda free, there are no restrictions, it’s just the 3 of us talking and discussing the issues on our minds. What you see is what you get. Our honest opinions. You may not agree with us and that’s completely fine, but these discussions are meant to highlight fact based topics that we care about discussing them in a hopefully intelligently and digestible manner, make others think as well and hopefully educate in a setting that permits us to go into a bit more depth.

Many market discussions are agenda driven or constrained by time. Speaking for myself I also learn things during these discussions and I very much enjoy the banter we have going.

In this week’s episode of Straight Talk Guy Adami, Dan Nathan and I are diving into the debate of bubble vs mania, the difference between the two, we speak about the new retail phenomenon, the risks associated with it, we touch also the political influence on markets via headlines. Some people do not like us to touch upon the political and we get that, but one can’t deny the influence the political world has on markets and in our view it would be neglectful not to address their influence on markets and to highlight what’s real or not from our perspective. Again: Anyone is free to disagree with our views and we all have different ones, but as Guy said this week: Civility is a sign of strength not of weakness and Dan’s appeal for civility is a much needed in our age where people hate on each other for having different opinions.

We also discuss some technical charts and issues of valuations and for context see also my appearance on CNBC Fast Money this week:

Thanks @MelissaLeeCNBC & @CNBCFastMoney for having me on the show.

Well, at least you know where I stand 😉 https://t.co/UZNuPceDAO

— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) June 17, 2020

Yes I know, old pic prior to quarantine buzzcut, one day we’ll update it perhaps 😉

One of the issues I mentioned on the show was the fact that in the past few years market moves have become ever more extreme, to the upside as well as to the downside. In the meantime volatility has moved from one compression pattern to the next and ultimately it breaks out. Same with the rallies, they extend higher and higher on ever tightening patterns and then at some point they snap violently:

We just had such a snap in the past 2 weeks and this week’s Fed driven (Corporate bond buying) rally could not repair that damage.

Underlying it all is the again a very pronounced lag in equal weight and, as you can see in the chart above ($XVG), equal weight is hovering around the December 2018 lows when $SPX was trading around 2350.

Hence we also discuss the banks, Wells Fargo, JPM, and the signals they may be sending about the larger economy.

And it may be an ominous one. Yes central banks, with never before seen liquidity injections that make 2009 look like child’s play, have managed to levitate asset prices to unseen valuations inside a recession. Yet there are major divergent issues going on in these markets including the over reliance on price gains coming from overnight gaps to the upside, many of them unfilled and we discuss these as well.

Hence let’s not lose sight of history which suggests what would/could happen if central banks lose control:

Wild if true.

Global Dow Jones index.
Largest liquidity driven bear market rally since 1929 creating the largest asset bubble inside of the worst global recession in decades.

“If” central banks lose control history, fundamentals and technicals suggest new lows coming. pic.twitter.com/YZLTVCpRZ7

— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) June 19, 2020

Control over the virus could prove to be an illusion as cases are increasing to ever higher levels and many states in the US are seeing record spikes, hence $AAPL again shut down its stores in key states. A “V” shaped recovery presumed by markets at these valuations may disappoint in size and scope and then what do we have besides a historically disconnected in asset bubble?

No, the risk factors may be currently ignored by liquidity soaked markets, but reality keeps knocking at the door and one day may suddenly open it.

Without further ado here’s this week’s episode of Straight Talk and we hope you enjoy it:

*  *  *

Separately, for those interested, I’ll be posting a detailed rundown on the latest market technicals. If not already subscribed you can register here: Market Videos.

For the latest public analysis please visit NorthmanTrader. To subscribe to our market products please visit Services.

Summary:

• US reports 30k new cases
• India now 4th largest outbreak with ~400k cases
• India reports another record jump
• Florida reports 3rd straight record jump
• Russia reports fewer than 8k new cases
• South Korea reports 67 new cases, largest jump since May
• China reports just 27 new cases

* * *

For the first time since May 1, the US reported more than 30,000 coronavirus cases in a single day as Texas, Florida, Arizona and a handful of other states reported their latest record totals for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row, for some cases. While NY, NJ and a handful of surrounding states see cases continue to decline to negligible levels, following a pattern seen in Europe, roughly 20 states have seen numbers continue to rise, and about half of those are seeing new cases hit record levels well above where they were during the US’s ‘peak’ back in April.

Even stocks are beginning to notice as the market sold off last week in recognition of the fact that even if states don’t go the shutdown route, as the White House has insisted won’t happen, the spike in infections, and the inevitable jump in deaths to follow, will ensure that the V-shaped recovery doesn’t happen.

The US tallied 31,630 new confirmed cases on Friday, according to data from the Washington Post. The last time new daily cases in the United States topped 30,000 was on May 1, when 33,263 new infections were reported. That was right as the US ‘peak’ was beginning to pass. Around the world, 177k new cases were reported yesterday. Ironically, the number of new cases reported in the city of Tulsa hit a new high on Friday, one day before Trump’s big campaign rally.

Thanks to the flurry of red states like Arizona, Florida, Texas etc. that lowered their guard too quickly, the US just can’t seem to bend that curve.

More than 2.1 million cases of the virus have been confirmed across the US as of Saturday morning. With 119,158 confirmed deaths, the US is on the cusp of passing 120k fatalities, while closely watched projections suggest that number could hit 200k by October.

As Brazil passed the 1 million-case mark, a major milestone in what has become Latin America’s biggest and most threatening outbreak, the WHO’s Dr. Tedros warned yesterday that the pandemic “was accelerating”.

In other US news, Florida on Saturday reported yet another record jump in new cases, its third in a row and fourth in the last 8 days. Florida health officials reported 4,049 new cases as well as 40 deaths across the state. Saturday’s numbers bring the total number of cases in the state to 93,797 and the death toll to 3,144.

ANOTHER RECORD: #COVID19 update from @HealthyFla this morning reports 4,049 new positive cases of #coronavirus in #Florida. Total # of cases now at 93,797

CONTEXT: Started off the week reporting over 2,000 cases… Experts expect us to see 6,000 a day in just 2 weeks @10TampaBay pic.twitter.com/0E7E5ixfAG

— Angelina Salcedo (@AngelinaWTSP) June 20, 2020

US State Department said Saturday that COVID-19 infections have been reported at its embassy in the Afghan capital and the staff who are affected include diplomats, contractors and locally employed staff.

It didn’t say how many were impacted, though another source told AJ that as many as 20 could be impacted.

“The embassy is implementing all appropriate measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” the US State department said. The infected staff are in isolation in the embassy while the remainder on the compound are being tested, said the embassy official, who also said the embassy staff have been told they can expect tighter isolation orders.

Russia reported 7,889 new cases of the virus, pushing its nationwide tally to 576,952 since the crisis began. The national coronavirus response center said 161 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 8,002.

India, meanwhile, recorded its highest single-day jump yet with 14,516, bringing its total to 395,048, according to health officials. Another 375 deaths brought the death toll to 12,948 as India registered over 10,000 cases for the ninth day in a row. This latest batch of cases put India over the top on Saturday, making it the world’s fourth largest outbreak behind the US, Brazil and Russia. Several countries and Hong Kong continued with plans to evacuate their citizens from India, amid concerns hospitals in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai may be overwhelmed.

In its biggest daily increase in weeks, South Korea reported 67 new cases of coronavirus, 16 of which health authorities said were from Pakistan. And as Beijing continues to bring its latest flare up under control, China reported 27 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 22 new cases in Beijing.

Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

The Federal Reserve continues to destroy true price discovery in this market by executing short squeeze after short squeeze. Moral hazard be damned, the Fed’s desire to support the market has overruled common sense. We have seen this time after time with well-timed announcements being made simply to fire up bullish enthusiasm and spark a rally. We recently observed this when a Fed announcement resulted in a dramatic intraday reversal causing the S&P500 to surge more than 100 points from session lows and closing above its 200-day moving average.

Fed’s Action Obliterates True Price Discovery

This time it was because the Fed announced it would start to buy corporate bonds the next day. A late Bloomberg report that Trump was seeking a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to stimulate the economy also added fuel to the fire. Trump’s proposal focused on 5G and rural broadband. The report added it was still under discussion and would need the backing of Congress to move forward. Still, this is an indication the false economy continues to ramp up. Government stimulus has been a key feature of the global equities rally even as unemployment has soared and signs that a second wave of the virus has started to emerge.

Until now, the size and pace of Fed balance sheet expansion have put a floor under global equity markets and driven equities higher. Yet Powell is going out of his way to signal that more economic support is on the way. The problem with market manipulation is that once it starts, where does it end? This is an area of moral hazard that once breached is difficult to turn back. Another issue is that the Fed is not alone in playing this game, the Trump administration also has invested a great deal in keeping markets moving higher. In recent years we have witnessed more central banks and government intervention in markets. This supports the argument that true price discovery has been massively distorted.

The BOJ Buying ETFs Is Distorting Markets

In many ways, government entities investing in or buying stock, are transferring part of industry or commerce from the private-sector to state ownership or control. While the state may not choose to exercise control over various decisions a company makes the entity that owns the stocks can control perceived valuations by being the market maker that sets prices. True price discovery and properly pricing assets are the bedrock of free markets. The feedback loops between asset prices and input signals are critical in determining value, this is especially true when we focus on assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, or paper promises that carry no utility value and can perform no useful task.

The Federal Reserve was intended to act as the “lender of last resort” but as Nomi Prins says, “As if the Fed hasn’t done enough to destroy honest markets, now it plans to start buying individual corporate bonds. It’s just another step closer to the Fed deciding the winners and losers in the market.” This has forced even the most bearish of us to finally concede that, for whatever reason you want to claim, the Fed under the leadership of its Chairman J. Powell has crossed the Rubicon and the point of no return. 

Crossing the Rubicon means the point of no return. This high-level idiom comes from an event in ancient Roman history. In 49 BC Julius Caesar’s army crossed the Rubicon River, this was forbidden. It was an event from which he knew  there is no way back. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he started a five-year Roman civil war. At the war’s end, Julius Caesar was declared dictator for life. Putting the Fed’s recent actions into context and what it means for investors, the miserable policies adopted by the Fed, which has allowed other central banks to do the same, has created a new environment redefining risk and value. This highlights the fact there is nothing normal about what is happening, this is far from normal.

Savers, investors, and a new wave of speculators as a result of Central banks expanding balance sheets while reducing interest rates are now embracing any investment that promises yield. This combined with rising government spending has disaster written all over it, not just in America but across the globe. This and a slew of other horrible moves have created a bubble in bond and equities. Only the claim that no inflation exists and this is the only way to halt deflation allows this reckless policy to continue, however, when people realize the fallacy of this assertion it will be to late too stop the economic and financial carnage it will create.

The Shrinking Private Sector

Unfortunately, the money flowing from the Government-Financial complex is not reaching the parts of the economy where it is most needed. For a small business, the economy remains a disaster. Investors should remember the true unemployment picture has yet to reveal itself. As the government grew larger it seems to have become oblivious to the importance and fragility of many small businesses or how much it cost a community when they close. Small business has been the big loser over the last several months and hundreds of thousands will soon have to close.  With so many tenants looking at foregoing rent small landlords that don’t have deep pockets also face huge problems.

The idea we are about to experience a “V-shaped recovery” is rubbish. Many people are afraid to fly, travel, or eat out at a restaurant. The government’s solution to give the masses just enough to silence their outrage is a bizarre extension of crony capitalism. It feeds large businesses with access to cheap capital are the winners and the big losers are the middle-class, small businesses, and social mobility. All those people that want a higher minimum wage can forget that ever happening as tens of millions remain out of work. It is difficult to argue true price discovery exists and risk is not being discounted when prices fail to reflect unemployment at around 20% and ignore news of a sharp escalation in Korean tensions or the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese border troops.

Bubbles always pop, this time is not different. Exacerbating the current situation, many of those invested in paper promises have become over-leveraged putting themselves at great risk if a sudden decline in the value of these assets occurs. The disconnect that has taken place between Wall Street and the economy is not logical. We are in uncharted waters and should consider the possibility the destruction of true price discovery will only add to the demise of fiat currencies across the world. I contend this will fuel the desire of people to once again hold tangible assets rather than trusting the promises now being made. To say things are messed up is an understatement.

Clearly we’ve reached the level of an advancing tit-for-tat ‘intercept war’ over waters near Alaska as well as off Russia’s far east, now that we’re now approaching a dozen intercept incidents (8 off Alaska alone) in the remote region this year alone.

This week’s tensions began Tuesday night when NORAD F-22 Raptors were scrambled in order to chase off a pair of long-range Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers along with their Russian fighter jet escorts, which came within about 30 miles of US territory. 

And now on Friday, Russia has announced its armed forces answered the prior US intercept with its own aerial intervention against two US Air Force B-52H bombers flying over the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia’s coast, according to a defense ministry statement.

“On June 19, 2020, the air defense quick reaction alert forces of the Eastern Military District spotted and started tracking a pair of US Air Force B-52H bombers over the Sea of Okhotsk,” Russia’s defense ministry said.

Multiple reports say, however, that the incident occurred Thursday night. The US aircraft stayed over neutral waters the whole time while moving near Russian territory.

The Sea of Okhotsk is the northwestern section of the Pacific Ocean off Russia’s eastern coast, surrounded on three sides by Russian coastline, with Japanese islands to the south – and next to the Bering Sea which separates North America from the vast land mass of the Russian Federation.

Russia’s military published cockpit video of the US-52 mission while making the intercept:

“At a considerable distance from the state border of the Russian Federation, the US Air Force planes were continuously tracked by Russian monitoring capabilities,” the MoD statement added. “Su-30, Su-35 and MiG-31 fighters from the air defense quick reaction alert forces of the Eastern Military District were scrambled to intercept the targets.”

Like with the Bering Sea area incident from earlier in the week, Russia released cockpit video of a Russian fighter tracking one of the US bombers off Russia’s coast. 

Significantly, this particular US bomber route is said to be a “first”. The Drive reports:

This the first time B-52Hs have flown into this body water, which is surrounded on three sides by Russian territory and where American combat aircraft typically have not ventured in the past, in recent memory. This flight also comes nearly a month after a B-1B conducted a long-range training mission along a similar route as part of the implementation of a new concept of operations for U.S. heavy bomber sorties earlier this year.

The tense encounters are becoming more frequent of late, not only over the Bering Sea, but over the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Black Sea regions as well.

Authored by Scott Galloway via ProfGalloway.com,

Addiction is the inability to stop consuming a chemical or pursuing an activity although it’s causing harm.

I engage with almost every substance or behavior associated with addiction: alcohol, drugs, coffee, porn, sex, gambling, work, spending, devices, and social media. I’ve abused all of them, but don’t think I’m addicted. On a balanced scorecard, these substances and behaviors, abuse and all, have been a net positive in my life, even @twitter.

Most disease and hardship for our species has been a function of scarcity — too little salt, sugar, fat, approval, safety, opportunities to mate. As a result, when we find these things, our brain produces the ultimate reward, the pleasure hormone dopamine. And it makes sense. Nature rewards behaviors that ensure the propagation of the species.

The assembly line, processing power, and Amazon Prime have not only met the minimum thresholds for survival but created a new threat to our species: superabundance. Diabetes, income inequality, and fake news — all are a function of our belief that more is better. Jeff Bezos capturing and hoarding the GDP of Norway doesn’t make sense for the species, but his instincts (fear of starvation, wielding power) reign supreme.

Survival, propagation, and consumption should result in a next generation that’s smarter, faster, and stronger. Where things have come off the rails is a function of our innovation economy moving faster than our instincts. Historically, humans have engaged in activities that have natural stopping cues — the end of a chapter, the end credits. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix have systematically eradicated stopping cues. Even casinos are deliberately laid out without hard angles, so it’s all one continuous space and you keep moving through it, on to the next game.

Technological progress lapping the calibration of our instincts culminates in endless scroll. We’re unable to find the off switch. Unlike our parents and grandparents, for us dopamine release no longer depends on sacrifice, engagement, or grit, but on sitting still, as in 15, 14, 13 seconds episode 5 of Killing Eve will begin. There are more filtered photos, more porn, more equities, more margin, more dopa … more time without the nuisance of needing to engage in … life.

The most recent crack dealers are online trading platforms (OTPs). What does endless scroll look like on a trading platform?

• Confetti falls to celebrate transactions

• Colorful candy crush interface

• Gamification: users can tap up to 1000x per day to improve their position on the waitlist for Robinhood’s cash management feature (essentially a high-yield checking account on the app)

The Ratio

Our institutions (courts, Congress, the SEC) are supposed to slow our thinking so our reflexive instincts are checked and we can decide not to discriminate, not to pour mercury into the rivers, and not to let a bankrupt car rental firm (Hertz) issue shares bound to be worthless. You lose, they win.

Technological change is vastly outpacing our species’ ability to adapt to an endless barrage of stimuli. This discrepancy in modulation has exploded our levels of teen depression and social chaos. We are in a Supermarine Spitfire, accelerating every day, hoping the fuselage holds together as we approach the sound barrier — streaming 31 seasons of The Simpsons, lifelike video games, ubiquitous porn of increasing extremes, high-def documentation in real time of the party your 15-year-old daughter wasn’t invited to, social media algorithms fueled on emotion vs. veracity, and immediate approval of margin for a “bull put spread.”

A Mess

I was a fu**ing mess yesterday after learning of the suicide of Alexander Kearns, a 20-year-old from Naperville, IL, who was interested in the markets and began trading stocks. Alex mistakenly believed he was down $730,000 after trading options on the Robinhood app and took his own life. We don’t know what other factors were at play here, and young men taking their own lives after losing money in the market is not a new phenomenon.

Facebook and Twitter do what CNN and Fox have been doing for decades, but better. I’m afraid Robinhood might become an addictive platform — Instagram for trading. Robinhood users skew young (32% of visitors are between 25-34). The firm reported 3 million new accounts in Q1 2020. Half were first-time traders. In addition, with Vegas and sports wagering all but shut down, OTPs have become the place where emerging gambling addiction can take root and/or a rehab facility where your sponsor is a dealer.

Learning to invest and understanding the markets are good things, as is connecting with friends online … to a point. Social media and gambling have the same addictive psychological mechanism: variable rewards — when you keep performing an action in hopes of getting a possible but unlikely reward. This is the type of behavior that’s the “most addictive and hardest to stop.” Robinhood management and investors have taken cues from big tech, and made a conscious decision to disregard the well-being of our youth for personal enrichment.

Some additional data on the surge in online trading:

• Excessive trading may be triggered by an addictive process.

• 12% of all trading activity is from day-traders, yet day-traders are only 1.6% of all profitable traders. 

• Men trade more than women, and unmarried men trade more than married men.

• Stock market crashes have been linked to upticks in suicide. 

• Investors with a large differential between their existing economic conditions and their aspiration levels hold riskier stocks in their portfolios.

Most articles will focus on what we, Americans, view as the profound risk with the surge in rookie online traders … that the markets might go down. Most market tops coincide with retail investors entering. We haven’t, to my knowledge, seen the scale of a market crash driven by twentysomethings investing government rescue funds, levered up via preapproval on their smartphones.

Our elected officials and gross idolatry of money and innovators have overrun the institutions charged with slowing our thinking and keeping our kids safe. Joe Scarborough put it well: “Mark, Sheryl, and Jack, you have revealed yourselves to be vapid vulgarians who put at risk Americans’ health, racial justice, fair elections, and basic truths.”

Where do we turn? The bulk of the pressure to protect kids from device addiction falls on parents — limiting use (severely) and getting other parents at school to limit use as well, so kids don’t feel they are an exception. It’s difficult, and it needs to be done. An “electronics fast,” perhaps for the whole family, can allow the nervous system to reset. Lowering your dopamine threshold allows a smaller amount of pleasure to be satisfying.

The threat of addiction has been slowing our household down. One of our sons demonstrates behavior consistent with device addiction. It’s terrifying. Everything he does, says, and works toward, is in pursuit of the dopa hit waiting on his iPad. His mom and I are doing what most parents would do — reading, seeking outside help, limiting use. But more than anything, we’re trying to slow things down. Time with him, especially outdoors or with books. Time in bed with him telling him stories about his grandfather becoming a frogman in the Royal Navy. Slowing everything down. It appears to be working.

I see Alex Kearns, and I see my oldest son. A nerd, with a big smile, fascinated by the markets and seeking dopa hits. I can’t imagine the pain of that family. I can’t imagine how we’ve lost the script, letting the meaningful, innovation and money, trump the profound, our kids. The youth suicide rate has increased 56% in a decade. Girls between 10 and 14 had a tripling of self-harm episodes between 2009 and 2015. Teens who are on social media for 5+ hrs a day are twice more likely to be depressed than those who are on for less than an hour.

Is it any wonder Tim Cook doesn’t want his nephew on social media? If he wasn’t Tim Cook, would he also say, I don’t want him to have an iPad either?

The weapons are our phones and tablets, and the bullets are social media firms headed by sociopathic oligarchs. And now, we may have a new menace preying on young men: online trading platforms.

We are a virus-ravaged nation where curfew alerts are sent to our phones. Innovation has become synonymous with exploitation. We find solace in the market being high, but the market is not a reflection of the economy or progress, but increasingly of a few firms’ ability to arbitrage the gap between the pace of technology and regulation.

It’s depressing. What to do? I’ll check my likes, mentions, and stocks.

While massive protests continue to rage across the country (and beyond) in the name of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors admitted during a Friday night interview with CNN that “our goal is to get Trump out.”

Cullors, who described BLM organizers in 2015 as “trained Marxists,” compared Trump to Hitler after refusing to meet with him, and referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the Gestapo, told CNN‘s Jake Tapper (via Breitbart‘s Josh Caplan):

JAKE TAPPER: I’ve heard a lot of criticism of former Vice President Joe Biden from civil rights activists. The election, obviously, will be a choice. How do you think Biden matches up compared to President Trump when it comes to these issues that are important to you?

PATRISSE CULLORS: Trump not only needs to not be in office in November but he should resign now. Trump needs to be out of office. He is not fit for office. And so what we are going to push for is a move to get Trump out. While we’re also going to continue to push and pressure vice president Joe Biden around his policies and relationship to policing and criminalization. That’s going to be important. But our goal is to get Trump out.

President “Trump not only needs to not be in office in November but he should resign now,” says co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Patrisse Cullors. “Trump needs to be out of office. He is not fit for office.” pic.twitter.com/T6mLZ11cEv

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) June 19, 2020

In 2015, Cullors said that BLM would take “any opportunity we have to shut down a Republican convention.”

Was Tucker Carlson right when he said (and was punished with an advertiser walkout from the ‘cancel’ crew at Sleeping Giants) that Black Lives Matter is now a political party?

“Black [Lives] Matter is more popular by double digits than both the Democratic and Republican parties.

It is almost as popular as the U.S. military. It is much more popular than the pope.”@TuckerCarlson warns that the Black Lives Matter movement wields significant influence. pic.twitter.com/1AhsGqHBzo

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 16, 2020