Tag: finance

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

In a video produced by Campus Reform, young Americans displayed a complete lack of knowledge about the 4th July holiday, instead bleating about how the country is racist.

When asked what the holiday commemorates and other details concerning the Declaration of Independence, most of those interviewed had no clue.

While some guessed that the US gained Independence after the Civil War, World War I, or even World War II, others complained that the ‘real’ history of America isn’t being taught in schools.

“I just know that teachers do not want to teach it,” one student claimed, with another ironically chiming in that“Everyone should learn about our history.”

“America was built off of slavery,” one respondent said when asked to justify why she believes the country is racist.

Another respondent said President Trump is proof that the country is racist, and commented “Our country most definitely has a bad legacy.”

Watch the Full clip below:

President Trump kicked off Independence Day weekend on Friday by delivering a fiery address in front of Mount Rushmore – a site undoubtedly chosen as left-wing protesters shift focus from removing confederate statues to destroying monuments of US presidents.

“Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities,” said Trump – who added “There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. Not gonna happen to us.”

“Make no mistake, this left wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American revolution,” Trump told the crowd of more than 7,000. “Our children are taught in school to hate their own country.”

Trump then announced that under an Executive Order signed last week, “people who damage or deface federal statues or monuments will get a minimum of 10 years in prison.”

Trump then vowed that Mount Rushmore will “never be defaced.”

President Trump at Mount Rushmore: “This monument will never be desecrated. These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never, ever be destroyed. Their achievements will never be forgotten.”

“Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers.” pic.twitter.com/ruAY8iUKW4

— Kyle Morris (@RealKyleMorris) July 4, 2020

History Lesson

Trump then slammed those who would teach children “to believe that the men and women who built [America] were villains.”

The radical view of American history is a web of lies, all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition. This movement is openly attacking the legacies of every person on Mount Rushmore. They defiled the memory of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Today we will set history and history’s record straight.

The president then delivered highlights of the accomplishments of all four presidents on Mount Rushmore – describing why they represent the “best of America.”

“They were American giants in full flesh and blood. Gallant men, whose intrepid deeds unleashed the greatest leap of human advancement the world has ever known,” said Trump, adding “Tonight, I will tell you — and most importantly, the youth of our nation — the true stories of these great men” (via Breitbart).

George Washington:

From head to toe, George Washington represented the strength, grace, and dignity of the American people. From a small volunteer force of citizen farmers, he created the Continental Army out of nothing and rallied them to stand against the most powerful military on earth through eight long years. … After forcing the surrender of the most powerful empire on the planet at Yorktown, General Washington did not claim power, but simply returned to Mount Vernon as a private citizen. When called upon again, he presided over the constitutional convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected our first president. … When he stepped down after two terms, his former adversary King George called him the greatest man of the age. He remains first in our hearts to this day. For as long as Americans love this land, we will honor and cherish the father of our country, George Washington

Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson, the great Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old when he traveled north to Pennsylvania and brilliantly authored one of the greatest treasures of human history, the Declaration of Independence. He also drafted Virginia’s constitution and conceived and wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a model for our cherished First Amendment. After serving as the first secretary of state and then vice president, he was elected to the presidency. He ordered American warriors to crush Barbary pirates. He doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana purchase, and he sent the famous explorers Lewis and Clark into the West on a daring expedition to the Pacific Ocean. He was an architect, an inventor, a diplomat, a scholar, the founder of one of the world’s great universities, and an ardent defender of liberty. Americans will forever admire the author of American freedom.

Abraham Lincoln:

The savior of our union was a self-taught country lawyer who grew up in a log cabin on the American frontier. The first Republican president, he rose to high office from obscurity based on the force and clarity of his anti-slavery convictions. He signed the law that built the transcontinental railroad. He signed the Homestead Act, given to some … ordinary citizens, free land to settle anywhere in the American West. And he led the country through the darkest hours of American history, giving every ounce of strength that he had to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people did not perish from this earth. He served as commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces during our bloodiest war. … Ultimately his determination to preserve our nation, and our union cost him his life. For as long as we live, Americans will uphold and revere the immortal memory of President Abraham Lincoln.

Teddy Roosevelt:

Teddy Roosevelt exemplified the unbridled confidence of our national culture and identity. He saw the grandeur of America’s mission in the world, and he pursued it with overwhelming energy and zeal. As a lieutenant colonel during the Spanish American War, he led the famous rough riders to defeat the enemy at San Juan Hill. He cleaned up corruption as police commissioner of New York City then served as the governor of New York, vice president, and at 42 years old, became the youngest ever president of the United States. He sent our great new naval fleet around that world to announce America’s arrival as a world power. He gave us many of our national parks, including the Grand Canyon. He oversaw the construction of the all inspiring, Panama Canal, and he is the only person ever awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was American freedom personified. And for that the American people will never relinquish the bold, beautiful and untamed spirit of Theodore Roosevelt.

Trump also announced on Friday that he would sign an executive order for a new monument which pays tribute to “giants of our past,” and will establish a “National Garden of American Heroes” described as “a vast outdoor park that will feature statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived.” 

Watch Trump’s entire speech below:

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

There is a truly bizarre criminal case out of South Beach in Miami.  Nachem Gross, 72, is charged with aggravated battery for an attack on Gerald Steiglitz, 86, in an elevator.  Putting aside the fact that both are elderly, the battery was an effort of Gross to maintain social distancing to avoid Covid-19.  The incident was caught on video. The world has gone mad.

In the video from the 44-story Portofino Tower in South Beach, Gross successfully waves off a young woman who tried to enter the elevator. When it came to ejecting or blocking Steiglitz, Gross seems to struggle with how to shove back the man in a Covid-19 way. He ends up using his elbow like a variation of a Covid handshake.

Gross, who is elderly, faces an aggravated charge due to the victim being elderly.  Presumably, the same conduct would not have been charged as an aggravated battery if he shoved away the young woman on the preceding floor.

The concept of battery to preserve social distancing may seem a tad odd, but Gross’ attorney, Michael Grieco, says that “This is a straight-up Stand Your Ground self-defense case.” This needs some unpacking.  The idea is that you can stand your ground to prevent the statistically small chance of contraction by physically assaulting a person to maintain social distancing.  This logic by the way sends you to a police station with a far greater chance of exposure to the virus.

If the virus does not cause permanent damage, working through that logic will.

The shove is not forceful but it was enough to send the 86 year old into a hallway table where he suffered a bruise. To his credit, Gross does get out of the elevator to check on Steiglitz.

Gross is now facing a third-degree felony.

The relevant provision appears to be:

784.08 Assault or battery on persons 65 years of age or older; reclassification of offenses; minimum sentence.—

(1) A person who is convicted of an aggravated assault or aggravated battery upon a person 65 years of age or older shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years and fined not more than $10,000 and shall also be ordered by the sentencing judge to make restitution to the victim of such offense and to perform up to 500 hours of community service work. Restitution and community service work shall be in addition to any fine or sentence which may be imposed and shall not be in lieu thereof.

(2) Whenever a person is charged with committing an assault or aggravated assault or a battery or aggravated battery upon a person 65 years of age or older, regardless of whether he or she knows or has reason to know the age of the victim, the offense for which the person is charged shall be reclassified as follows:

(a) In the case of aggravated battery, from a felony of the second degree to a felony of the first degree.

(b) In the case of aggravated assault, from a felony of the third degree to a felony of the second degree.

(c) In the case of battery, from a misdemeanor of the first degree to a felony of the third degree.

(d) In the case of assault, from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 948.01, adjudication of guilt or imposition of sentence shall not be suspended, deferred, or withheld.

It obviously will not result in any likely jail time and could be dropped entirely as leveler heads prevail.

“The narrative is the product. They don’t make money selling cars,” Jim Chanos said about Tesla on Twitter Friday.

It’s a line that makes sense at almost every turn that Tesla makes as a company: constantly announcing and taking reservations for new products, while hurriedly trying to produce the model du jour (now the Model Y), which seems to fall apart almost as quickly as it rolls of the production line, according to a collection of recent reviews.

But that hasn’t stopped Tesla from opening up reservations for the Cybertruck in China. It’s yet another cash grab that will materialize in actual vehicles at a point in time that nobody seems to know yet. 

The reservations page for the Cybertruck on Tesla’s China page went live last week after the truck was unveiled in November of last year. Even in the U.S., the truck isn’t expected to go into production until late 2022. The Cybertruck already has over 250,000 reservations totaling $100 each. 

China’s appetite for the market is unknown. It’s not historically a county that comes to mind when you think about places to sell pickup trucks. Many trucks in China are even banned in city centers for emissions reasons, electrek writes. They also believe Tesla could be looking to establish “local Cybertruck production in China”. We guess demand doesn’t even matter at this point. 

And hey, what could be more cost efficient and space efficient during the midst of a global recession and in a densely packed country of 1.3 billion plus people than – well, this:

The reservation cost coverts to about $141, slightly more than the U.S. reservations. “Holders can lock in the Full Self-Driving package price at $9,000,” electrek writes.

As a reminder, full self driving does not exist. 

Submitted by GEFIRA,

We all remember those shots. American troops are entering Baghdad. A tank stops somewhere in the city, cautiously, in the vicinity of a Saddam Hussein monument. After a few minutes of apparent inactivity, a crowd is beginning to form around the monument. The crowd is not all that big. It rallies around the figure of Iraq’s president. Soon an American soldier climbs the monument and puts an American flag on it. An Iraqi intervenes, so the flag is replaced with the Iraqi one. And then, then some individuals begin to climb the statue, a crane arrives from somewhere, a steel rope is attached to the monument and the crane drives slowly back, taunting the line and gradually slanting the president’s image to its feet. Eventually the figure drops to the ground and the cheering people dance around it, deliver it kicks and carry some of the pieces that fell off in the process away.

The alien forces have conquered the capital city of the enemy and performed an age-old ritual that victors used to perform in the presence of the vanquished: Americans demolished the material symbol of the enemy’s sovereignty and by doing it they also humiliated the routed nation.

In the nineties of the 20th century we could all see angry Russians in Moscow, but also angry Poles in Warsaw and equally angry residents of other European capitals tearing down monuments from the communist era, especially those of Comrade Felix Dzerzhinsky, the notorious head of the Cheka (from: Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, i.e. Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya = The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission).

Since the dawn of history monuments would be put up and torn down. Either act reflected a huge political, social, religious or demographic change. Monuments are erected by common consent of the majority of a given (national, social, religious, political) community, in which case they are wanted as a tribute to or a memory of the community’s most cherished heroes or values, or they are enforced by occupying forces, in which case they are hated by those against whose will they have been put up.

Monuments are only desecrated, defaced, toppled or destroyed by the enemies of those who built them. Americans in Iraq and a part of Iraqi nation was against Saddam Hussein; a rather large part of the Russian nation nurtured bitter memories concerning the henchmen of their ancestors like Felix Dzerzhinsky, so they vented their anger on his images the moment an opportunity presented itself. The divide between those who put up the monuments and those who hated the sight of them was in each case insurmountable. What was dear to the former, was abhorrent to the latter.

Recently a huge wave of monument desecration and monument removal has swept the United States and to a much lesser extent Europe. It is mostly the heroes of the American South – generals of the Army of the Confederate States – that are targeted, but not only. Also abolitionists,¹⁾ fighters for American independence of other nationalities,²⁾ Christian missionaries³⁾ and even Jesus Christ himself.⁴⁾ John Wayne may not be spared the same fate either⁵⁾ so much so that a monument to a Portland elk – his ancestor was presumably a slave owner and the elk – a confirmed racist – fell victim to the rage of American iconoclasts.⁶⁾

All this is taking place amid riots caused by the death of a frequent prison inmate who was caught by the police while suspected of paying with counterfeit money. The activists of the Black Lives Matter movement, supported by Antifa⁷⁾ and heavily sponsored by the powers that be and spurned on by the democrats performed the usual acts of protest: burning cars and looting shops. This time two qualitatively new elements have been added: one is the toppling or desecration of monuments and the other is forcing the police officers to knee to the rioters. All this is happening because it is wanted by at least a significant part of the establishment, democrats in the first place, who having failed to impeach Donald Trump, having stopped America’s and the world’s economies due to the so called pandemic now are playing another trump card in yet another effort to thwart the president incumbent from being elected for the second term.

The democrats have decided to use American blacks to create chaos and make a distressing impression on US citizens who should come to the conclusion that Donald Trump is not capable of running the country. History provides ample examples when a part of the elites willing to topple the current ruler would resort to the help of the masses in order to force the ruler’s abdication or resignation. Such was the case in France in the run-up to the French Revolution, such was the case in Russia in the run-up to the Russian revolution. In France it was the so-called third class that was used for the purpose, in Russia it was the proletariat, now in the United States it is the easily excitable blacks. History teaches us that a genie let out of the bottle cannot be put back at a moment’s notice. Either the democrats have not been attentive during their history classes or their hatred of Donald Trump is so intense that they don’t care.

What is happening now in the Land of the Free makes the whole world wonder. It fits the definition of a cultural revolution – modelled on its Chinese or Bolshevik predecessors – or a colour revolution known from the streets of Belgrade, Tunis, Cairo, Tbilisi, Kiev and many other places. If the latter is the correct interpretation then the question arises whether this time the process was initiated – as usual – by the CIA or whether it is the boomerang hitting back the thrower. Be that as it may – power struggle apart – the events reveal a few important things.

[1] Americans are not a uniform, coherent nation and never will be: it is always blacks against whites, though the discrimination laws are a thing of the past, how much more slavery. Assimilation or integration – so much propagated in Europe in view of the influx of the people from the Third World – does not work in the least. The two races share the same terrain, language and religion and still remain far part.

[2] Monument desecration and removal is a fight against memory. Memoriae damnatio or the Orwellian black hole is a well-known historical phenomenon. Invaders of Egypt necessarily obliterated the images of pharaohs; Arab conquerors smashed images of ancient heroes or Christian saints; Christians would destroy pagan idols; Byzantine iconoclasts raised their hands against paintings depicting Jesus Christ and saints; protestants would do the same a couple of centuries later in northern and western Europe; French revolutionaries would even stoop down to extracting corpses of the long-dead French kings – Capetians, Valois, Bourbons – and desecrating them; Bolsheviks in Russia would do the same with the remnants of the tsarist past; even worse: factions of Bolsheviks would delete from very recent memory yesterday’s comrades.

[3] The BLM movement is racist to the core. It is aimed against whites and whites alone. It is strong because it is supported by the democratic party and its adherents and a number of foundations. That it is anti-white is evident. White actors have been discouraged from impersonating or even voicing characters of colour, which, however, is not the case when it comes to black actors who are increasingly frequently cast in typically white roles. It is only and exclusively whites who are accused of being racist.

[4] Humiliation of the white population and especially of the police. The pictures of white people kneeling to blacks and of the policemen – armed to their teeth – to the rioters have been spread worldwide. It is an act of humiliation pure touted of course as an act of interracial reconciliation and mutual respect.

[5] As usual, whenever a black gets killed in a squabble or a scuffle African-Americans, Antifa and the mainstream media are quick to pass judgement without waiting for the court sentence, which runs counter to the well-established procedure that no one is deemed guilty until proven. The pressure exerted by the rioters and the media without doubt negatively affects the decision of the judges who later deal with the case.

[6] What is happening is certainly wanted by a large part of the establishment or else it wouldn’t have been happening. Black rioters know that they can enjoy a lot of leeway and they act accordingly, looting and burning and showing disrespect for the law and the police. Many a mayor or police chief – usually a democrat and a black – under the pretext of deescalating the conflicts withdraws the law enforcement units from parts of the city that they are in charge of. Consider the so-called autonomous zones in Seattle and New York held for a time by rioters. The powers that be could suppress the riots within 24 hours if they only wanted to. As it is, they are using irascible black communities (agitated by Antifa activists) to create turmoil and thus to achieve political goals. Just picture to yourself a rally of genuine Nazis raising their hands in the Roman salute: how long would they hold a public space?

Welcome to the DSA: the Dis-United States of America!

People occupying parts of the city called autonomous zones remind the Kiev Maidan protesters. They spend days and nights doing nothing, but somehow they do not go hungry. In both cases the police are either inactive or indolent. The Maidan riots in Kiev brought about the change of the government. The powers that be must be counting on the same in the Dis-United States of America.

How do we know that the riots are instigated, sponsored and used by the powers that be? Precisely because of the inactivity and indolence of the police, because of the inactivity and indolence of local; authorities, because of the media’s condoning tone towards the events. Lastly, history teaches us that revolutions, are made by means of popular protests and these protests are paid by very rich individuals. Professional revolutionaries whose task it was to destabilize Russia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries were in the pocket of Alexander Parvus (born: Israel Gelfand) and Jacob Schiff. Individuals that later became the driving forces of the coup d’etat – Leon Trotsky (born: Lev Bronstein), creator of the Red Army – did not have to bother about their living.

The deletion of historical memory and the renunciation of the heroes of the past paves the way for replacing the United States of America with something new. Maybe the Union of Soviet States of America? At present it is the images, effigies, and monuments that are beheaded, trampled upon, kicked and drowned. Tomorrow it may very likely be people. Such are the dynamics of any revolutionary movement.

References:

Two Seattle protesters are in the hospital after a driver in a white Jaguar plowed into a group of Black Lives Matter activists early Saturday morning during a protest-related freeway closure.

CAR CRASHES INTO SEATTLE PROTESTERS AT HIGH RATE OF SPEED
pic.twitter.com/4oYockSMNO

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) July 4, 2020

A nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5” from Diaz Love ended abruptly; with about 15 seconds left, shouts of “Car!” can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tires and the sound of impact are heard. –AP

Moment before impact at the BLM protest in Seattle. The protest had gone on for almost 2 hours, moving from street to street before reaching the highway, where they parked vans on the road and prepared to block vehicles. With the van obscuring the road, few saw the car coming. pic.twitter.com/iVITRLPgND

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 4, 2020

The incident which occurred just after 1:30 a.m. left a 24-year-old woman from Seattle with critical, life-threatening injuries and a 32-year-old woman from Bellingham with serious injuries, according to the Associated Press.

The police pursued the vehicle that hit the two protesters on I-5 in Seattle. Same people who wanna abolish the police. pic.twitter.com/eJRyGvr57V

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 4, 2020

Police arrested the driver, a 27-year-old Seattle man, according to Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead, who added that the man’s motive and point of entry onto the interstate are under investigation, but that he faces multiple felony charges and is suspected to have entered the roadway by driving the wrong way on a ramp.

Here are two pictures of the suspect vehicle that struck two protesters on I-5 this morning. Investigation into motive and point of entry in to I-5 are still under investigation. pic.twitter.com/gU1QH6TFTu

— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) July 4, 2020

Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests. Dozens of people were arrested this past week in connection with protests as demonstrations continue after authorities cleared the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone Wednesday morning.

Mead said at the press conference that protesters had shut down the interstate for 19 days in a row. He emphasized that the freeway is “simply not a safe place” for pedestrians, and said he hoped protesters would cease what he termed “unlawful behavior” in blocking the interstate. –AP

“My hope is, as a result of this tragedy, protesters will reconsider their desire to be on the interstate because I cannot guarantee their safety, plain and simple,” said Mead.

 

On the eve of Independence Day, the White House is once again stoking tensions with Beijing, as President Trump continues to embrace aggressive rhetoric toward China as a key campaign issue that (he hopes) will help bring out more Trump voters worried about Biden and/or members of his family’s dubious business ties to China and Ukraine.

Media reports claim that the US is sending not one but two aircraft carriers into the South China Sea, one of the hottest flashpoints on earth right now (at least, one of the hottest flash points that’s not situated along India’s land-border), as the US Navy holds military exercises in the area, a major middle finger to Beijing and the PLA-Navy.

The USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz are scheduled to hold some of the Navy’s largest exercises in recent years in the area, which is frequently beset upon by American destroyers sailing within 12 miles of certain islands developed by China that are the subject of competing international claims.

The exercise will involve the two carriers as well as 4 other warships along with round-the-clock fights and missions.

The news comes as Peter Navarro, who has seemingly been relegated back to a supply closet office in the West Wing now that the trade deal is dead in the water, has apparently been let out of his cage long enough to rant about Beijing and the CCP leadership’s unforgivable failure to contain the coronavirus.

Navarro: They spawned the virus, they hid the virus, they send hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals over here to seed and spread the virus pic.twitter.com/nda7cWghoj

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) July 3, 2020

Perhaps it’s because China has seemingly been on a agricultural commodity buying spree in Latin America?

For a while there, it seemed like China would buy up ever-more American agricultural products for the simple reason that they were cheap and China needed the supplies.

But now that China is walking away with its money, we wouldn’t be too surprised to hear Navarro once again declare the trade deal to be “over” (like he did the other week before Beijing and his colleagues leaned on him to recant). Though he didn’t go quite to that extreme here, at this point, his rhetoric is probably the best barometer, and if he starts talking about the deal being “over” again, it might be time to start listening.

Authored by Robert Curry via RealClearPolitics.com,

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

We have heard these words all our lives. But can we still hear the dynamite in them? According to tradition, when the British under Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, their musicians played “The World Turned Upside Down.” The American victory over Britain was more than a military victory; it changed everything.

The world in those days operated on the basis of utter inequality. The self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence contradicted the entire experience of mankind. Whether the ruler was a king who claimed to rule by divine right or an emperor who claimed the mandate of Heaven, it was everywhere the same. Because the Founders’ idea of government by, for, and of the people is so deeply engrained in our imaginations, it is difficult for us to conceive of human life as it then was.

America’s truly incredible social and political success put this older world on the road to extinction. Foreign observers went from confidently predicting that America would fail to living through the collapse of their own regimes, made illegitimate by America’s shining example. Kings and emperors are gone now or reduced to mere ceremonial figures. Today, only peculiar and backward places, like Saudi Arabia, operate according to something like the old way of governance, and everyone knows that this anomaly will last only as long as the Saudi royals can continue to bribe their subjects.

Make no mistake, the Founders understood America’s significance for all humankind. They knew that they had put the world on the path to turning right-side up at last. Here is how Thomas Jefferson put it, near the end of his life:

“All eyes are open to or opening to…the palpable truth that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.”

You may be familiar with these words, too, but have you noticed how that “by the grace of God” works here? People everywhere had been operating according to the belief that God had put saddles on their backs and rulers in the saddle. It was simply accepted as the way of things. Jefferson was declaring the end of all that. The old idea of hereditary monarchs backed by an official state religion was over.

You may have noticed that the Declaration keeps God in the picture, but in a wholly different way. The Creator, it says, creates us as equals. Equal how? We are obviously not equal in our gifts and talents; we are each as unique in our capacities as we are uniquely recognizable to one another. The plain meaning of the Declaration is this: We are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights, rights that are inherent and essential elements of our nature as human beings. Those rights belong to us equally. There are none born with the right to rule and none born with only the right to be ruled.

It was the work of ages of human striving to arrive at the understanding of equality contained in the Declaration, and it took the brilliance and courage and determination of America’s real greatest generation — the Founders’ generation — to make that understanding the foundation of America’s political and social order. As my friend Chris Flannery has written:

That men throughout most of history (and throughout most of the world still today) tyrannized one another in an infinite variety of ways was not proof that human beings do not possess equal rights by nature — rather, it was proof of how rare and difficult a thing it is to secure them.

Even today, much of mankind is not fortunate enough to live in a country where those equal rights we humans possess by nature are observed and respected. Yet every person who incorporates the Founders’ vision brings us closer to the time when equal rights can be secured for all.

That we live in the country dedicated from its very birth to securing equal rights for all citizens is the precious gift of the Founders — one we celebrate each year on the Fourth of July.

Summary:

• US reports another record daily jump with 53k+ cases
• Deaths continue to decline
• Midwest now seeing cases trend higher
• Northeast now only region in US where cases are still declining
• Catalonia places 200k on travel restrictions
• Tokyo asks residents not to leave the city
• Russia cases continue to trend lower
• India reports another daily jump
• Brazil case total tops 1.5 million

* * *

As President Trump prepares to celebrate the 4th at Mount Rushmore in a move that his critics will inevitably decry (with some justification) as another mistaken play to the base at a time when he should be focused on courting the moderates he needs to win a second term in November.

Some have suggested that Trump secretly doesn’t want to win a second term, and would prefer to move back into Trump Tower (with round-the-clock secret service protection for life, with the taxpayer’s footing the bill) than spend another 4 years in DC. at any rate, the US reported another record jump in new coronavirus cases, likely a result of a surge in new tests, with the US running more than 700k tests in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began.

Globally, the world is reporting more cases per day than it ever has, with the world reporting about 180k yesterday, with another 200k projected for today (what would be another record high).

While the media will inevitably spin these figures in the worst possible light, it’s worth noting that, despite a handful of individual outliers reported over the past 7 days, deaths nationally have continued to trend lower, even as hospital capacity in Arizona and Texas is starting to look dangerously stretched.

On Friday, the US reported more than 53k cases, according to the Atlantic-sponsored COVID Tracking Project.

Our daily update is published. States reported over 57K new cases today — another record day for cases, the third this week.

We’re at 721K new tests today, a huge jump and our first day over 700K.

There were 635 reported deaths today. pic.twitter.com/pQKDKZgrgr

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) July 3, 2020

Once again, the south and the west were the biggest contributors at the regional level, with record numbers seen from South Carolina to Georgia to Texas over the past few days.

The record new cases are coming from many states. Notable jumps in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. (Ohio looks bad today but this number is for two days.) pic.twitter.com/L6CJXXbuuP

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) July 3, 2020

One of the most discouraging trends over the past week is the midwest, where the trajectory of new cases has shifted from plateauing to moving decidedly higher. That means the Northeast is now the only region where daily case totals aren’t rising.

In fact, 3 out of the 4 US Census regions — Midwest, South, and West — are now seeing clear case increases. pic.twitter.com/fQdE3WBpVJ

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) July 3, 2020

Note: The Pacific region, which includes Hawaii, Alaska, and several non-state island territories, hasn’t seen much of an uptick in new cases.

(Earlier in this thread we mentioned “3 of 4” US Census regions. There are 5 regions, counting the Pacific region, which includes Alaska and Hawaii. Apologies to our non-contiguous readers. —@kissane)

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) July 3, 2020

In the Midwest, states like Michigan, Ohio (one of the five worst-hit states in the country) and Missouri have been big contributors. Early on, Chicago saw one of the first outbreaks to take shape, and Illinois has also seen cases trend higher over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, Florida officially passed NJ to become the fourth-worst-hit state in the US, judging by the number of cases.

Fortunately, deaths across the US have continued to trend lower, as the median age of hospitalized has dropped sharply. In Florida’s Broward County, the median age has fallen to 33, down from 60+.

Sadly, we had some historical data adjustments come in right after we pulled the numbers for these tweets. They nudged deaths up, pushing the 7-day average back over 500. Here’s what the data like now: https://t.co/xUbNxLzYNm pic.twitter.com/tATgQDL6l3

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) July 3, 2020

Looking toward Europe, the biggest news overnight is the decision by the Spanish government and local officials to place 200,000 people in Catalonia back on lockdown. Catalonia (situated in northeastern Spain and the home of a powerful separatist movement that tried and failed to secede from Spain a few years back) has placed a travel ban affecting 200,000 people near the town of Lleida. From 4 pm local time on Saturday, no one will be able to enter or leave the region. Regional health ministry data showed there were 3,706 cases in the Lleida region on Friday, up from 3,551 the previous day, a jump that’s simply too alarming for the government in Madrid to ignore, even as it struggles to help the country’s essential tourism industry salvage what’s left of the summer season.

The Catalonians aren’t the only ones implementing new travel restrictions: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Saturday urged residents of the Japanese capital not to travel beyond its borders as the city reported more than 100 new COVID-19 infections for a third day. The capital city reported 131 new cases Saturday.

Cases in Tokyo have risen to a two-month high as young people have returned to nightlife spots, exhibiting a similar dynamic to the US.

As the UK pushes to reopen its battered economy, Chancellor the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and PM Boris Johnson have urged Britons to do their ‘patriotic’ duty’ and eat out.

It was great to meet the Chief Executive of Fuller’s @BellandCrownW4 yesterday.

They are bringing more than 700 people off furlough today as a result of the reopening of hospitality. #4thofJuly pic.twitter.com/JOhVIM1FEz

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2020

The UK’s shutdown has been one of Europe’s longest and most fraught because of the country’s surprisingly high death toll of 44,131, which has left it with one of the highest mortality rates in the world (rivaling only Sweden in Europe).

The WHO continued to urge countries to take the outbreak more seriously, warning that more nations (including, of course, the US) need to “wake up” to the seriousness of this threat and “take control” of the pandemic.

India reported yet another record daily spike of 22,772 cases on Saturday, along with another 442 deaths, according to the Indian Ministry of Health. Total positive cases now stand at 648,315, with 18,655 of those having died from the virus.

As its daily case totals continue to decline, Russia reported 6,632 new cases of the virus on Saturday, raising the nationwide tally to 674,515. 168 Russians died, bringing the official death toll to 10,027, though some argue the total is actually much higher. As it continues to report daily infections at around the same level as the US, Brazil has seen its case total pass 1.5 million.

Circling back to the US, another major COVID-19 related headline is that Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., has tested positive for COVID-19, further cementing the media narrative that everyone around the president has, or has already been infected with, the virus.

Habits change in the midst of a global recession, not to mention a global pandemic. We have already looked at how the pandemic has caused seismic shifts in many industries, but it is also causing a shift in how people think about, handle and (in this case) hoard cash. 

While we have been told non-stop that the pandemic is going to prompt the demise of paper currency and the words “digital dollar” continue to make appearances in government white papers and studies, the Bank of England found that there was actually a marked increase in bills in circulation in places like the U.S., Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Australia and Russia. 

And while we continue to hear arguments about a cashless society being more efficient and less virus-friendly, it would still pose a major challenge to implement and would – in the case of this study – directly contradict how people are handing their cash during the global pandemic, according to Bloomberg. 

Charles Goodhart and co-author Jonathan Ashworth wrote in their study: “While the economic shutdowns and increased use of online retailing are currently diminishing cash’s traditional function as a medium of exchange, it seems that this is being more than offset by panic driven hoarding of banknotes.”

“Cash in circulation has actually been growing strongly,” they continued. And while it may just be a small portion of a percentage of the cash that Central Banks have printed, the velocity of money can’t be ignore for inflationary purposes.

The research stands at odds with President Donald Trump’s former economic adviser Gary Cohn, who recently advocated for the disappearance of cash. Up until now, cash use has been on the decline due to credit cards and electronic transferring of money. 

Michele Bullock, an assistant governor at Australia’s central bank, also argued against cash, calling Covid-19 the “ultimate disrupter of the payment system”. 

But a study from the Bank of International Settlements also supports the B of E study. It says that the rise in digital transactions during the pandemic wasn’t at the expense of cash use. 

“Precautionary holdings of cash have risen in some economies – even as its use in daily transactions has fallen,” the study found.