Tag: finance

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

The suspect who drove a vehicle through a voter registration tent occupied by Trump supporters in Jacksonville admitted to police that he had an anti-Trump motive and told authorities “someone had to take a stand.”

27-year-old Gregory Timm drove his van into a pro-Trump Republican voter registration drive tent at a Jacksonville Walmart on Saturday and was subsequently arrested and charged with aggravated assault, criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license.

According to an arrest report obtained by Action News Jax, Timm told police he drove his van through the tent because “someone had to take a stand.”

BREAKING: Suspect in Jacksonville van attack confirmed anti-Trump political motive to police, and willingly showed them cell phone video of himself driving at the stand full of Trump volunteers

“Someone had to take a stand” @OANN pic.twitter.com/biwHmGveGi

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 11, 2020

He also showed police a video he made of himself driving towards the tent as the victims stood in front of it. The video ended before Timm actually drove into the tent, a moment he described to police as “the good part.”

Timm also told police he made a video of himself prior to driving through the tent, but this video has not been made public.

Release the video. It’s in the public interest for @JSOPIO to release the video statement Gregory Timm made prior to his vehicular attack on Trump supporters in Jax. https://t.co/pPXmu1cbuw

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 11, 2020

“The suspect advised that he does not like President Trump,” according to the police report. Timm “did not show any emotion, recorded the aftermath of the incident and gave an obscene gesture,” according to Action News Jax.

“What’s clear is, this individual drove up to a tent and was clearly registering voters with Donald Trump’s name and attire around them. And drove a vehicle at volunteers that’s what we know, looks pretty political to me,” said Mayor Lenny Curry.

Nobody was injured during the incident, although victims were left in a state of severe shock.

Will the media now dig through Timm’s social media history to discover who radicalized him into attempting this act of terror?

Or will the story completely disappear by the end of the week?

Don’t hold your breath.

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Sanders, who soundly defeated Hillary Clinton here in 2016 and is from neighboring Vermont, has been expected to perform well here, and while MSNC has been crowing about the decline in support that Bernie is seeing this year compared to 2016, they forget to mention that it was him and Hillary last time – and not the smorgasbord of billionaires and upstarts that the Democratic field consists of today.

Elizabeth Warren, like Sanders, is a senator from a neighboring state, and was also hoping to finish near the top here. However, that was not be in and her losing speech, she criticizes the negative campaigning and says to get the turnout to beat Donald Trump, Democrats will need a candidate that people can get behind.

“We cannot afford to fall into factions,” she says.

“We win when we come together.”

In the early poll results, Sanders is dominating, with Buttigieg and Klobuchar fighting it out for second. Hunter Biden’s dad has fallen down to 5th place behind Warren…

Andrew Yang plans to announce he is suspending his presidential campaign during a speech Tuesday night in New Hampshire, two sources tell CNN.  It’s the end to an upstart run that vaulted the businessman from obscurity to a Democratic contender backed by a devoted following known as the Yang Gang.

“The math just didn’t work out,” Yang Campaign Manager Zach Graumann says.

And as the first results from New Hampshire arrive, and following his disastrous showing in Iowa, Joe Biden is already on the ground in South Carolina, where his campaign believes he is better represented due to the more diverse demographics than states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

CNN’s John King proclaimed a very bad night for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden…

“You’re not first, you’re not second, you’re not third anywhere on the map. That’s the definition of a very bad night,” he said of Biden’s campaign.

LOL Biden is toast

CNN happily points out he’s in second in one town – where the leader has 2 votes and he is tied for second – with 1 vote pic.twitter.com/FryQuwTKLJ

— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) February 12, 2020

As a reminder, in modern history, candidates don’t place worse than second in New Hampshire and still go on to become the nominee.

We suspect it’s all over for Hunter Biden’s dad. And the money thinks so too…

Source: Bloomberg

CNN, helpfully, predicts that Trump will win the New Hampshire GOP Primary.

Earlier today we highlighted the aggressive censorship that is underway in China to keep “control of the narrative.” Sadly, the citizens that were charged with trying to keep “control of the people” were potentially treated even worse as The Epoch Times reports, thanks to a lack of information (or perhaps withholding) from Beijing, thousands of soldiers and officers of the People’s Liberation Army, as well as police have been diagnosed with the deadly virus and are currently under quarantine.

It is reported that dozens of military and law enforcement have been diagnosed with the new virus, and thousands are being quarantined.

A staff member at the Central Theater General Hospital (Hankou Hospital) in Wuhan confirmed armed police officers were hospitalized.

 Among them, 1,500 Chinese soldiers and 1,000 armed police are being quarantined, and China Human Rights and Democracy Information Center, headquartered in Hong Kong, reported on February 10 that 10 CCP soldiers and 15 armed police have been diagnosed with the new virus in Hubei province.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital (Hainan) Hospital in Sanya is preparing to test 3,000 people for new virus pneumonia samples.

300 armed police were isolated to a training site of the Hubei Provincial Corps of the Armed Police.

An epidemic has emerged in the Chinese Navy. After a serviceman of the Navy Submarine Force in Sanya, Hainan, was diagnosed with Covid-19, 300 sailors were isolated, and training programs on nuclear submarines, scheduled to start this month, have been suspended.

The Information Center’s report confirms that many tests in recent days have shown “false negatives”, and the incubation period may be as high as 24 days. Therefore, even if the test results of all personnel before the departure are “negative”, there may still be people carrying the virus, and those carrying the virus are likely to be transmitted to most officers and men

Recently, the Central Military Commission has issued 12 emergency notifications about the epidemic situation, and is enforcing strict regulations on the “leaders of epidemic work”, “the epidemic situation in the camp and family areas”, “isolation observation”, etc.

Alleged violations will result in disciplinary action or dismissal.

Most critically, these diagnosed cases (and quarantines) – and who knows how many dead – are not being reported as Epoch Times reports…

…confidential documents stipulate that if the military’s epidemic situation involves military secrets, it may not be reported to the local provincial and municipal governments. Therefore, current illnesses in the military and the armed police are not reported to the territories on the grounds of confidentiality.   

The situation among these personnel, charged with keeping order and maintaining curfews during the early days of the virus, is notably worse than it could have been thanks to Chinese Communist authorities denials and delays early on. As Epoch Times notes:

Wuhan pneumonia started as early as December of last year, but the Chinese Communist authorities have concealed the epidemic from the local to the central government, making the epidemic out of control.

The Chinese Communist Party did not publicly acknowledge that the virus would be “person-to-person” until January 20, and the city was closed to Wuhan on the 23rd, but at that time the epidemic had spread to dozens of countries and regions across the mainland and overseas. By now the epidemic has been completely out of control.

Recently, Xu Zhangrun, a former professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, stated that under the outbreak of China, the CCP’s organizational disorder caused human disasters to be greater than natural disasters, which may lead to great changes. The article said,

“The anger of the people has erupted like a volcano, and the angry people will no longer be afraid.”

“The CCP ’s defeat has arrived, and the countdown has begun.”

We suspect the military and law enforcement who were “just doing their jobs” are now getting more than a little angry too – who will control the rising social unrest if the police and military turn on the CCP?

President Trump withdrew the nomination of former US attorney for DC, Jessie Liu to the #3 spot at the Treasury – which she quit her job last month in anticipation of.

Liu oversaw several politically charged prosecutions, including Trump associates Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and others, according to Axios, following a scoop by OAN‘s Jack Posobiec.

UPDATE: Jessie Liu’s nomination has been withdrawn by President Trump https://t.co/nHcfvwSnrA

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 12, 2020

The move comes hours after four prosecutors in the Roger Stone case tendered their resignations because the DOJ rejected their absurdly punitive sentencing recommendations in Stone’s case.

Liu was confirmed in September 2017 to oversee the DC US attorney’s office, and was expected to stay through her nomination. Instead, she was unexpectedly informed last month that she would be replaced by Attorney General Bill Barr’s close adviser, Timothy Shea, per Axios – which adds that her withdrawn nomination to the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes was the “president’s call,” according to a former administration official familiar with the situation.

On top of that, Liu came under fire last week for declining to press charges against two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot a harmless and unarmed driver four times in the head.

The Conservative Treehouse has covered Liu extensively. Read more about her here.

In short – the swamp just got a little lower. 

Wait wait, what?

WHAT???!!!

Trump got Liu to step down as US Attorney for DC by nominating her to a top Treasury Dept. Job, then appointed Timothy O’Shea to be the new US Attorney for DC…and then he WITHDREW LIU’S NOMINATION the same day all these prosecutor’s are QUITTING?!

— Brian Cates // Digital Soldier for Flynn ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (@drawandstrike) February 12, 2020

The alleged fake athletic resume used by actress Lori Loughlin’s daughter to try and falsely obtain admission to colleges has now leaked on the internet, after the prosecution introduced it as evidence this week.

The document doesn’t specify which daughter the resume corresponds to, but the high school graduation date corresponds with Olivia Jade Loughlin, according to the NY Post. 

The resume claims that the daughter was an award winning crew athlete, but neither of Loughlin’s daughters is believed to have participated in the sport. The resume also brags about gold medal wins at the San Diego Crew Classic and “awareness, organization, direction and steering” skills.

It calls the daughter “highly talented”. And that may not be false – it just has nothing to do with rowing. Daughter Olivia was best known as an online influencer, racking up millions of online followers and using her platform to advertise hair and makeup products. 

As the Post notes, there were also copies of two checks included in the prosecution’s evidence. Each check was for $50,000 and were made out to “USC Women’s Athletics”. 

Loughlin and her 56-year-old husband Mossimo Giannulli have been accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California. They contend they are not guilty, and that federal prosecutors have intentionally withheld evidence in their case.

 

Just days ago, we noted that Ex-PIMCO CEO Douglas Hodge, got 9 months in prison for his role in the scandal. 

In April 2019, we reported that Hodge was suiting up to muster an aggressive legal defense alongside of Loughlin. In retrospect, it did not work.

Meanwhile, as we followed up earlier this month, Loughlin faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all charges – though the chances of this actually happening fall somewhere between slim and none based on the short sentences handed out to other offenders in the scandal. Loughlin had faced two years under a plea deal she declined, according to TMZ.

The Obamas might not be able to save Jussie Smollett this time, after the unemployed “Empire” star was slapped with a six-count indictment on Tuesday following a six-month investigation by Cook County special prosecutor Dan Webb, according to Fox4. Smollett is accused of staging a hate crime hoax last year.

Webb found that Smollett filed four separate police reports claiming he was attacked last January by two masked men as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop in an upscale Chicago neighborhood at around 2 a.m. The actor – who is openly gay and black – said that the attackers recognized him from Empire and began shouting racial and homophobic slurs. 

It was later discovered that the two men, brothers from Nigeria, were associates of Smollett’s who say the actor paid them $3,500 to stage the whole thing. Last November, Smollett filed a lawsuit against the brothers for ‘concocting the whole thing.’

Smollett – whose sisters worked for President Obama, was originally slapped with a 16-count indictment for lying to the police, however the Cook County State Attorney’s office suddenly dropped the charges after  Michelle Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Tina Tchen, pressured Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx, to transfer the case to the FBI. When that wasn’t done, Foxx’s office decided not to pursue the case. 

Explaining their decision to drop the case, Foxx’s office said: “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition & appropriate resolution.”

In a Tuesday statement following the indictment, Webb said:

“Pursuant to the first part of Judge Toomin’s mandate, in connection with whether to further prosecute Jussie Smollett, the grand jury’s investigation revealed that Jussie Smollett planned and participated  in  a  staged  hate  crime  attack,  and  thereafter  made  numerous  false  statements  to  Chicago Police Department officers on multiple occasions, reporting a heinous hate crime that he, in fact, knew had not occurred.  Therefore, Mr. Webb has determined that reasonable grounds exist to further prosecute Mr. Smollett.”

Webb also wrote that his office has obtained “sufficient factual evidence to determine that it disagrees with how the CCSAO resolved the Smollett case,” and that when he was hit with the 16 count indictment, the Cook County State Attorney’s Office “had concluded that the evidence against Mr. Smollett was strong.“

A day after the number of American soldiers diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to the Jan. 8 Iranian ballistic missile attack on Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraq spiked once again — this time from 64 to 109 (before that going from zero to 11 to 34 to 50) — Iran’s elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) which orchestrated the attack charged that the Pentagon is still hiding the true extent of casualties. 

IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said on Tuesday at a rally marking the anniversary of the country’s Islamic Revolution: “The word dead in the US lexicon has been changed with traumatic brain injury and they conceal their damages and tolls of our attack against Ein al-Assad,” according to semi-official Fars. 

He asserted that the United States is using the steadily rising TBI count to conceal that there were American troops killed in the attack. 

Iranian state media had claimed in the immediate aftermath of the attack that scores were dead and wounded, which was immediately dismissed in the West as propaganda. 

However, the Pentagon’s steadily rising injury count has left many scratching their heads, and certainly shows Trump’s prior dismissal of the injuries as but mere “headaches” to be the White House’s own propaganda spin on the incident. It was later confirmed that many of the wounded had to be medevacked out of Iraq to Germany for treatment and observation, and some among those were taken back to the United States for continued observation. 

The IRGC appears to be seizing upon the ever-changing injury count offered by the Pentagon as ‘proof’ the US is lying about the true nature of the Jan.8 ballistic missile attack.

Alluding to the Jan.3 US assassination by drone strike of Qassem Soleimani, Gen. Sharif added the following threat: “Rest assured that assassination of General Soleimani will make the US and Israel leave the region.”

If indeed US personnel had died in the attack, this would have forced a US military response, paving the way for a massive war. It appears the White House downplayed initial casualties in the first place in order to avoid this scenario.

While it seems near impossible that the Pentagon could hide fatalities, something like head injuries appears easier to conceal and downplay — this appears precisely what happened. 

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Joe Scarborough is celebrating the fact that a demographic “freight train” will secure electoral success for Democrats far into the future and lead to the “collapse” of the GOP.

The former Congressman and current MSNBC host tweeted, “Democrats have won the popular vote 6 of the last 7 elections. They won a record landslide in 2018. Demographics are a freight train carrying them into the future. The GOPs actions will accelerate their collapse. The future belongs to Democrats if they work hard & focus on 2020.”

Democrats have won the popular vote 6 of the last 7 elections.
They won a record landslide in 2018. Demographics are a freight train carrying them into the future. The GOPs actions will accelerate their collapse. The future belongs to Democrats if they work hard & focus on 2020. https://t.co/Rrvm39xi4n

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 10, 2020

Scarborough’s rhetoric is similar that of presidential candidate Joe Biden, who previously hailed an “unrelenting stream of immigration,” leading to whites becoming a minority, which he said was “not a bad thing” and something to be “proud of.”

Biden: Whites being a minority in America is a “good thing”. pic.twitter.com/drQ0FxtUtM

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 22, 2016

It also sounds similar to what was said at a recent Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights when a speaker referenced what had happened in South Africa before remarking, “People say that demographics aren’t destiny, well we are trying to make it destiny.”

This is yet another example of how it’s only considered acceptable to talk about huge demographic changes if you’re in favor of them.

Suggesting that a drastic decline in the white population will change America for the worse is treated as at best virulent racism and at worst a dog whistle to genocidal neo-nazis.

Meanwhile, celebrating the demographic decline and replacement of white people in order to turn traditionally red states blue is exalted as some kind of progressive virtue.

Last month, the New York Times published a story lauding the fact that changing demographics had turned Virginia solid blue.

The “more lasting force at work is demographics,” admitted the newspaper.

How Voters Turned #Virginia from Deep Red to Solid Blue.🇺🇸💙

“People are just sick and appalled (at @realDonaldTrump). He’s the best thing Republicans have done for Democrats in a long time.”😎#BlueWave #VoteBlue2020 https://t.co/IjcSkDv2dl

— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) November 10, 2019

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Today the NY Fed published its latest quarterly consumer credit report which found that aggregate household debt increased 1.4%, or by $193 billion in the fourth quarter 2019, its 22nd consecutive increase, for the first time ever surpassing $14 trillion ($14.15 trillion to be exact) some $601 billion higher than a year ago. This was the single biggest monthly increase in household debt since before the financial crisis.

Household debt balances have been steadily rising for the past five years and in aggregate are now $1.5 trillion higher than the previous peak of $12.68 trillion reached in Q3, 2008. Overall household debt is now 26.8% above the Q2 2013 trough.

The surge in consumer debt was led by mortgage debt which rose by $120BN in Q4, to $9.56 trillion, while balances on home equity lines of credit saw a $6 billion decline, bringing the outstanding balance to $390 billion and continuing the 10 year downward trend. The dramatic increase in new mortgage debt took place as the rate on a 30-year mortgage fell by about 100 basis points over the past year, adding to home purchasers’ buying power.

“Mortgage originations, including refinances, increased significantly in the final quarter of 2019, with auto loan originations also remaining at the brisk pace seen throughout the year,” said Wilbert Van Der Klaauw, senior vice president at the New York Fed. “The data also show that transitions into delinquency among credit card borrowers have steadily risen since 2016, notably among younger borrowers.”

Mortgage originations jumped to the highest volume seen since Q4 2005, rising to $752 billion in the fourth quarter from $528 billion in Q3 2019, due to a large increase in refinance activities. Among newly originating mortgage borrowers, the median credit score stood at 770, a 5-point increase from the Q3 2019, reflecting higher share of refinances.

And with interest rates near record low, only about 1.0% of current mortgage balances became 30 or more days delinquent in the fourth quarter, near the lowest level observed in the data history. At the same time, just 71,000 individuals had a new foreclosure notation added to their credit reports between October 1 and December31, as foreclosures remained historically low.

Non-housing balances increased by $79 billion in the fourth quarter, with increases across the board, including $16 billion in auto loans, $46 billion in credit card balances, and $10 billion in student loans.

• Outstanding student debt stood at $1.51 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019, an increase of $10 billion from Q3 2019.
• 11.1% of aggregate student debt was 90+ days delinquent or in default in Q4 2019. The transition rate into 90+ day delinquency among student loans was 9.2%.
• Auto loan balances stood at $1.33 trillion in Q4 2019, an increase of $16 billion from the previous quarter. The transition rate into serious (90+ days) delinquency among auto loans rose to 2.36% in the fourth quarter from 2.34% in Q3 2019.  

The large increase in credit card balances reflects, in part, a shifting of balances across debt types as portfolios have shifted by among lender.

Auto loan originations, which include both newly opened loans and leases, at $159 billion, were about flat with the previous quarter’s high level. Auto debt, which has risen for 35 consecutive quarters, increased $16 billion from the previous quarter. Almost 5% of auto loans are 90 days of more delinquent. This is the highest percentage since the third quarter of 2011.

After several years of easing standards, auto loans saw tightening in underwriting standards, with a 4 point increase in the median originating credit score. The volume of subprime auto originations was $31 billion, a level on par with the last several years.

Aggregate credit limits on credit cards also increased, by $96 billion, and continuing a 10-year upward trend.

And yet despite near all time low rates, there was one especially troubling trend: credit card delinquencies rose to 8.36% an 18-month high, while auto loan delinquencies approached all time highs.

NY Fed economists said in a blog post that credit cards have again surpassed student loans as the most common form of initial credit history among young borrowers, following several years after the crisis when student loans were higher.

“The data also show that transitions into delinquency among credit card borrowers have steadily risen since 2016, notably among younger borrowers,” Wilbert Van Der Klaauw, senior vice president at the New York Fed, said in a statement.

And speaking of student loans, the total amount of debt stood at $1.51 trillion in the fourth quarter, up by $10 billion from 2019 Q3, with more than 11% of aggregate student debt 90+ days delinquent or in default in 2019 Q4. Far more troubling, about half of student loans are currently in deferment, in grace periods or in forbearance and therefore temporarily not in the repayment cycle. Once these loans enter that cycle, delinquency rates are projected to be roughly twice as high, according to the Fed report, but for now everyone is pretending that the US does not have a student loan crisis.

Authored by Daniel Lacalle via DLacalle.com,

Central banks have tried to create inflation at any cost under the misguided view that this will boost growth and help reduce the debt burden. Just as a pilot driving a Ferrari with the instructions of a Ford T, central banks are pushing the accelerator looking at the rearview mirror and screaming “go faster, we have not crashed yet!”.

The first problem with governments’ calculation of inflation is that it massively misrepresents some important factors. Housing is not reflecting either real rental prices or actual mortgage payments, healthcare and education weigh only 8.5% and 6.5% respectively on CPI but are two of the largest expenditures of an average family. It is not a surprise that protests against the rising cost of living are spreading all over the world while central banks say there is no inflation. The recent case in China is also symptomatic. China CPI came at 5.4% but pork prices rose 116% while vegetables soared 17% and transport-related fuel price inflation increased 7.2 percent year on year.

CPI components for Germany and France, where protests have increased in the past two years over rising consumer prices, also show the disparity: In Germany, the food price index rose 40% more than the official CPI, in an economy where GDP narrowly escaped recession. In France, food and services also rose higher than official inflation (between 90% and 30% higher, respectively), also in an economy where growth was weak. These may seem low figures for central bank officials, but the house price index, rental costs, and food price indicators are rising faster than after-tax real wages and the economy. Without entering into a debate about the calculation of CPI, these figures can help us understand why consumer habits are changing and why investment and consumption remain weak or negative in many economies. Consumers are more prudent because they perceive higher levels of inflation and cost of living in a weak wage growth environment while companies invest less as growth expectations are revised down and overcapacity is incentivized via low rates and high liquidity.

Protests against the rising cost of living were spreading globally many months before the coronavirus impact on Chinese prices, and even in China pork and food prices were seeing double-digit growths before the lockdowns and outbreaks. From Iran to Chile, Nicaragua to France or Spain, this is not an isolated or temporary issue, and the demonstrations also coincide with the ongoing downward revisions of global and countr-specific growth rates with central banks accelerating financial repression and trying to disguise the problem with more liquidity.

Why should investors and economists care about stagflation risks? Because central banks have no tool to combat it, and fiscal policies do not help. One can argue that central banks have no tool to combat economic cycles, but no one can disagree that stagflation cannot be solved with money printing, low rates, and government spending. Those measures exacerbate the issue. For investors, it is a true challenge, as macro and earnings disappoint, but global liquidity continues to disguise problems. Furthermore, governments tend to implement more interventionist measures when stagflation arrives. Do non-replicable good prices rise? Governments decide to intervene with price controls, which causes less investment, regulatory and legal security risk and, in turn, even lower growth.

No government or central bank will admit that rising inflation in essential goods is a direct consequence of financial and fiscal repression, and economic history always shows us that their reaction to rising discontent will be more financial repression and economic intervention.

We need to monitor these changes in patterns of inflation and growth as it is happening in more economies every year.

With the global supply chain significantly impacted by the epidemic in China and the estimates of global growth significantly downgrades, stagflation is a word most economists and policymakers do not want to mention, but one that may become a real risk in very little time.