Tag: news

Tropical Storm Isaias was upgraded in the overnight hours to a Category 1 hurricane. 

Hurricane Isaia has maximum sustained winds at 80 mph and is quickly moving northwest at 17 mph, located 15 miles south-southwest of Great Inagua Island, reported CBS Orlando. 

Isaia is expected to pass over the southeastern Bahamas early Friday, then central Bahamas Friday evening, and should close in on South Florida by Saturday. The storm is expected to hug the Florida coast through the weekend.

Most spaghetti models show the hurricane could move up the East Coast and head to the Outer Banks by late Monday. A couple of models show the storm tracks more into the Atlantic. There’s even a model of the storm heading into the Gulf of Mexico. 

“As of now, the center of Isaias is expected to remain off the coast of Florida,” News 6 meteorologist Jonathan Kegges said. “The worst of the weather is on the northern and western side of the storm.”

A more precise track will be determined later in the day on Friday.

While the trade-weighted dollar has only just begun to breakdown…

Gold has been signaling something very different in the ‘currency’ markets for a few years now, and its recently accelerated dramatically…

So what is that message?

FFTT’s Luke Gromen  laid out in a few short tweets his take on what is being priced in (by some assets)…

1/ Let’s pretend the currency system is a human body.

The US says it wants to de-couple from China; 20 yrs ago, we could’ve de-coupled & it would’ve been like amputating a finger or a hand.

2/ Even 10-15 years ago, perhaps “de-coupling from China” would’ve been like amputating an arm, or a leg from our currency system.

However, after 20+ years of $200-400B surpluses (USD exports), & China’s (generally) savvy reinvesting of those USD exports…

3/ “De-coupling from China” is no longer amputating an arm or a leg off the currency system; it is like cutting out some critical organ like heart, the lungs, or the liver out of the currency system…

4/ Yes, we can do it, & it’s probably the right thing to do, but the cold, hard math of the situation is that “US de-coupling from China” means the currency system as we have known it for 50+ yrs will die on the table, shortly after the critical organs are removed,

UNLESS…

5/ Some entity or entities can provide the financial equivalent of a blood transfusion, or kidney dialysis, etc. to the currency system that will be left dying on the table without it.

Guess what that is? Yup, you guessed it…

6/ This is a take on gold as we have been looking at it for our clients at FFTT for some time.

On the same day that Trump shocked by suggesting “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” — China has charged the White House with stoking a new Cold War for the cynical purpose of finding a scapegoat to gem up fervor among Trump’s base.

China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said Thursday in response to a media question that linked the ongoing trade war with the November US election that “It is not China that has become assertive. It’s the other side of the Pacific Ocean who want to start new Cold War on China, so we have to make response to that,” Reuters reports.

“We have all seen what is happening in the United States, they tried to scapegoat China, they want to blame China for their problems,” he said. “We all know this is an election year,” the ambassador said.

“They want to do anything including treating China as an enemy,” Liu said. “Probably they think they need an enemy, they think they want a Cold War but we have no interest, we keep telling America, China is not your enemy, China is your friend, your partner.”

While not referencing Trump over Democratic contender Joe Biden directly, Liu’s comments were clearly directed at the ratcheting Trump administration pressure campaign targeting Beijing.

The interview and comments came on the heels a state-run Global Times article the day prior. GT often serves as an unofficial foreign policy arm of Beijing signaling the communist government’s intent and messages to the West.

The publication strongly suggested Wednesday that soaring tensions with China will be used of Trump to facilitate an October surprise.

It began by saying that “Chinese experts said on Tuesday that China could be restrained on retaliating to new US provocations on politics, diplomacy or economy, because Chinese policymakers will not let the Trump administration use them for his reelection, and will wait for the presidential election result to decide how to respond.”

“However, if Washington launches military provocations to challenge the bottom line of China’s national security and sovereignty, China will make immediate and effective retaliations. Experts said whether or not the two major powers can avoid military conflict in the next three months depends on the White House, and China needs to make its deterrence ‘more visible’ to warn the US about how dangerous a war could be,” Global Times wrote.

Authored (satirically) by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

Today’s Caitlin Johnstone essay has been replaced with a National News Conglomerate op-ed by General Hank Hammerfist. NNC: Obey.

The Trump administration has begun slashing the US military presence in Germany from an almost satisfactory 36,000 troops to a practically microscopic 24,000. I think we can all agree that this is the single worst thing that has ever happened in the history of Germany, and arguably the universe.

While most Americans were until now unaware that their government had that many troops in a nation known predominantly for beer and bleak documentaries, pundits and politicians in the know have been rightly proclaiming their outrage at this catastrophic event which disrupts God’s natural plan of endless military expansionism until the entire planet is an undifferentiated sea of camouflage fatigues and tiny American flag patches.

“Trump’s decision to withdraw US Forces from Germany shows a broad lack of strategic understanding. It sends the wrong signal to our adversaries and leaves our allies vulnerable in the face of increasing global threats. It’s simply unacceptable,” tweeted former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who as we all know is always correct about military matters.

“Did Trump give Putin a heads up on the removal of 12,000 US troops from Germany? Was there an implication it was a kind of down payment for election help, a taste of what could follow in a second term?” asks super smart foreign policy expert Bill Kristol.

“US to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany in move that will cost billions and take years,” warns a CNN headline that is both helpful and totally sane.

NPR’s national security correspondent David Welna informs us that the move is “a slap at a longtime ally frequently reviled by President Trump.”

“There’s no strategy behind the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Germany,” says Slate foreign policy pundit Fred Kaplan.

“It’s about the president’s anger and ego.”

“The plan outlined by the Administration today to remove thousands of U.S. troops from Germany is a grave error,” said Senator Mitt Romney in a statement. “It is a slap in the face at a friend and ally when we should instead be drawing closer in our mutual commitment to deter Russian and Chinese aggression. And it is a gift to Russia coming at a time when we just have learned of its support for the Taliban and reports of bounties on killing American troops.”

“A special gift to Putin and a blow to NATO,” tweeted former National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

“Donald Trump is not playing on America’s team.”

So as you can see, this troop withdrawal is being met with righteous garment rending by all the best people. What more evidence do you need that we should regard endless military expansionism as the norm and treat even the slightest most peripheral deviation from that path as a freakish apocalyptic travesty?

I weep for the poor Germans, who are doubtless stricken with inconsolable terror at the loss of one third of their benevolent protectors. Who will protect Germany from being occupied by a violent and brutal regime without a robust occupying US military force?

I for one can’t wait until we get this evil, despotic monster out of the White House and replace him with someone who understands what America is really all about…

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Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

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American public health experts, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, have struggled over the past couple of months to push a specific narrative on the public: Wearing a mask doesn’t so much protect you from being infected with SARS-CoV-2, but if you are infected, wearing a mask could stop you from passing the virus to someone else.

The mainstream media has backed up these assertions with vague references to “science” and “research”, while a coalition of celebrities and progressive activists have tried to tar anybody who doubts this narrative – or, worse, refuses to wear a mask at all times outside their home – as a “denier”.

Well, if everybody who is skeptical of the “masks save lives, period” is a “denier”, then how does one explain the Dutch government’s decision to refuse to mandate mask wearing (the only place where masks must be worn in the Netherlands is on public transit).

On Thursday, Reuters reported that the Dutch government had decided the day before that it would not advise the public to wear masks to slow the spread of coronavirus because their effectiveness has not yet been proven.

The decision was announced by the Netherlands Minister for Medical Care Tamara van Ark following a review by the country’s National Institute for Health. Following a resurgence in cases over the past week or so, the Dutch government has decided it will instead seek better adherence to social distancing rules.

“Because from a medical perspective there is no proven effectiveness of masks, the Cabinet has decided that there will be no national obligation for wearing non-medical masks” Van Ark said.

Many European countries have made masks mandatory in public indoor stores and in crowded outdoor places. The US has generally followed suit, though some overzealous governors and local officials are also requiring people to wear masks in most outdoor scenarios, even when they aren’t in a large crowd. And NY Gov Andrew Cuomo has pledged to launch an “investigation” into a “drive thru” concert on Long Island where the Chainsmokers and “DJ D-Sol” provided entertainment. This, despite the fact that a growing body of research and experience suggests that outdoor gatherings don’t present a major risk of spread. Case in point: Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are allowing protests to continue unabated, without question, despite the complete absence of evidence to suggest that COVID-19 cares about your personal politics.

Last week, nearby Belgium made face masks mandatory in more public places, and in England they have become compulsory in shops.

Even President Donald Trump has done an about-face on masks, swallowing his tremendous ego and donning a mask for the press.

However, in the Netherlands, masks are mandatory only on public transport. And Van Ark and her peers on the government committee aren’t the only experts to question whether masks contribute anything. Anne Wensing, a virologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht, has also questioned whether masks “actually contribute anything extra.”

The Dutch government insists that it’s strictly following the advice of the experts in the so-called Outbreak Management Team, which doesn’t believe in the general use of masks.

Dutch virologist Jaap van Dissel from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said Wednesday that masks can lead to a “false sense of security”. When wearing masks, people might not follow other social distancing rules like keeping their distance which also help prevent spread. 

Mask-wearing may also prompt people to touch their face more frequently, putting them at risk of accidentally infecting themselves while adjusting their masks.

Belgium and the Netherlands both managed to flatten the curve. However, it’s become clear that it’s tilting upward once again.

As Politico points out, there are also questions about legality surrounding compulsory mask wearing.

Moreover, legal experts in the country are skeptical about the legality of compulsory masks. One law professor, Jan Brouwer, told NRC that a widespread mask mandate goes against the constitution. According to Brouwer and other experts, there needs to be a separate law on masks to make this regulation possible.

But critics charge that the evidence is sufficient to implement masks in places such as hairdressers, reports NOS. In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge, a group of experts, including epidemiologist Arnold Bosman, called for quick action.

Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst, meanwhile, warned the Dutch government on Wednesday that it will have to make masks mandatory in crowded places if the Dutch want to avoid a complete lockdown.

“As in Belgium, the corona curve in the Netherlands has been increasing since July 10,” he told local media. “If the number of infections continues to rise, you will not be able to avoid a face mask obligation.”

Over the past week, almost 1,400 new COVID-19 cases were reported, or 342 more than the prior week, in the Netherlands.

Those who insist that masks can stop the outbreak (yes, many Americans have apparently bought into this notion, despite little in the way of evidence to back it up) might benefit from reflecting on how we go there. As Politico reports, the science surrounding wearing a face mask in the community has evolved during the pandemic. In March, the WHO said that healthy people don’t need to wear masks unless they’re caring for a sick person.

Then in early April, the WHO changed its view, saying that in countries where other preventive measures are hard to adopt, the widespread use of masks could be useful. After that, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control issued a new recommendation signaling support for masks. Last month, the WHO issued advice suggesting masks worn in public could help stop the spread of the virus. During the early days of the outbreak, some countries like the Czech Republic and Slovakia saw promising results as they mandated mask wearing. In April and May, Greece, Spain and Germany mandated masks in spaces where social distancing was impossible – including shops.

Research suggests that social distancing measures, including the selective wearing of masks, help slow the spread of the outbreak. But the notion that “science” has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that wearing masks in public can protect the wearer and/or – more importantly – innocent bystanders simply isn’t true.

Which begs the question: Why is the media so determined to sell it as fact – and denounce all who question as demented loons or, worse, self-dealing snakeoil sellers – when dissent is still so obviously warranted?