Lockheed Martin Awarded Second Contract Worth $480mn For Hypersonic Missile Weapons

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a second contract not to exceed $480 million to Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control to develop a hypersonic weapon prototype that would travel five times faster than the speed of sound to overcome Russian and Chinese missile defense systems.

The contract will cover the critical design review, test, and production readiness support for the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), according to a US Air Force statement.

“We are going to go fast and leverage the best technology available to get hypersonic capability to the warfighter as soon as possible,” said Secretary of the Air Force Heather A. Wilson.

The AARW program now consists of two hypersonic weapon prototyping efforts administered by the Air Force to expedite hypersonic research and development. Lockheed was awarded the first $929 million contract back on April 18, which was for the design and manufacture of the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), a new air-launched weapon system.

Officials from the Defense Department, Missile Defense Agency, Air Force, Navy, and Army signed a memorandum June 28 to work jointly on the development of “hypersonic boost-glide” technology, the release said.

“The Joint Team requires the right mix of agile capabilities to compete, deter and win across the spectrum of competition and conflict,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “We must push the boundaries of technology and own the high ground in this era of great power competition and beyond.”

“The ARRW effort is ‘pushing the art-of-the-possible’ by leveraging the technical base established by the Air Force/[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] partnership,” the release said. “The HCSW effort is using mature technologies that have not been integrated for an air-launched delivery system.”

The Air Force said the second contract remains as an undefinitized contract to allow Lockheed to begin work immediately. The final price and negotiated terms will be agreed upon later this year, it said.

The second contract indicates that Pentagon officials understand American exceptionalism is dying, while rivals Russia and China have created far superior hypersonic national programs.

“We have lost our technical advantage in hypersonics; we haven’t lost the hypersonics fight,” Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Paul Selva told reporters in January. “China has made it a national program, so China’s willing to spend tens to up to hundreds of billions to solve the problem of hypersonic flight, hypersonic target designation, and then ultimately engagement.”

In March, the United States Strategic Commander told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. is vulnerable to future attack via hypersonic missiles and is quickly falling behind the technological curve for hypersonics.

“We [U.S.] don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon [hypersonic missiles] against us,” warned Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command.

Hyten further said, “both Russia and China are aggressively pursuing hypersonic capabilities. We have watched them test those capabilities.”

“I think we have stability with Russia on the nuclear side,” he added. “We have an advantage with China on the nuclear side. But they are gaining ground quickly, especially when you look at space and cyber.”

Earlier this year, we reported that Russia test-fired a high-precision Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile from a MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jet in the South Military District in Russia’s southwest.

“The launch went according to plan, the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation declared.

The defense ministry released exclusive video showing the hypersonic missile air launch from the underbelly of the MiG-31.

In late 2017, China conducted several tests of a hypersonic glide vehicle that could be used to defeat U.S. missile defense systems.

Earlier this month, China claimed to have successfully tested a new hypersonic missile that would be capable of penetrating any missile defense system in the world. The Starry Sky-2, which is an experimental design known as “waverider,” rides the shock waves generated during flight. The missile could one day carry conventional and or nuclear warheads undetected through US missile defense shields.

The arms race in hypersonic weapons has ushered in the next Cold War between the US, Russia, and China. It is a repeating war cycle of madness where billions of dollars are being diverted to the military-industrial-complex. So, it is no surprise that Lockheed Martin has been awarded nearly $1.5 billion in the span of a few months to develop and field hypersonic missiles for the Air Force.

Hypersonics will not make the world safer, but more dangerous with global superpowers having the capabilities of hurling projectiles at March five or higher. The 53.7 Year War Cycle is telling us something, perhaps, war is nearing.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2Oy4efU Tyler Durden

Ultra-Wealthy Having Their Brains Frozen So They Can “Come Back To Life” 100s Of Years From Now

Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog,

If you could live forever, would you do it? Throughout history, money has allowed the elite to buy just about anything they want – except an escape from death. Many super-rich individuals are deeply haunted by the knowledge that they have spent their lives working incredibly hard to accumulate vast amounts of wealth but they only have a very limited amount of time in which to enjoy it. As a result, many of them are absolutely obsessed with finding a way to cheat death.

The quest for eternal life is very much alive today – especially in tech hotbeds such as Silicon Valley. As technology continues to increase at an exponential rate, many among the elite are absolutely convinced that eternal life will be possible someday, and they are determined to stick around long enough to be a part of that revolution.

One way that some ultra-wealthy people are attempting to extend their lifespans into the future is through the emerging science of cryogenics. Some are having their entire bodies frozen, and others are having just their brains frozen, but it is very expensive

The super-rich are having their brains frozen for £80,000 ($100,000) in the hope of being re-born in as little as 200 years time.

Cryogenics, which involves deep freezing the body to -196°C (-321°F), is increasingly being seen as a way to beat death.

There are several companies that currently perform this kind of “service” around the world right now. In total, several hundred people have already been frozen, and a few thousand more have signed up and are waiting to die.

And even though nobody has ever been successfully “brought back”, there is a very fervent belief that someday in the future it will be possible to return to the land of the living and “experience a whole new life”

One businessman believes he will wake up in the future and ‘experience a whole new life’ after having his head placed on the body of another human being.

The British-born man, who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the topic, says he ‘can’t think of anything more exciting’.

One of the largest cryogenics companies is “the Alcor Life Extension Foundation” in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is already storing 149 dead bodies, and it has more than 1,000 “paying members” overall.

Once death is near, technicians from Alcor need to be close at hand in order to start the freezing process

Only when death has been legally declared can technicians start packing the body in ice while attaching a “heart-lung resuscitator” to get the blood circulating.

They then administer 16 different medications meant to protect the cells from crystallising.

Currently there are 149 dead “patients” at Alcor’s facility, including US baseball legend Ted Williams and the youngest person to ever be cryopreserved, Matheryn Naovaratpong, aged two, from Thailand.

Of course this technology will never be available to everyone because it is extremely expensive.

So could we someday have a small minority of “super-wealthy immortals” ruling over all the rest of us?

Probably not, but that isn’t going to stop the elite from continuing to pursue eternal life.

Cryogenics is one method that is being pursued, but it is not the only one. Transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil are absolutely convinced that “the Singularity” will soon enable people to live indefinitely, while Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov wants to rip our brains out and put them into robots

Inventor and futurist Ray “The-Singularity-is-Near”Kurzweil, now the director of engineering at Google, and Russian billionaire news magnate Dmitry Itskov want to bring our minds from the analog into the digital.

Kurzweil believes in a future where tiny nanobots will swim through our bloodstreams, repairing and augmenting us on a molecular level until our dependence on them makes us more machine than man. Itskov has a less nuanced approach: He wants to rip our brains out of our bodies and put them into robotic avatars—and he wants the ability to do it by 2025.

To you and I all of this talk may seem like it is coming from “Crazytown”, but these wealthy elitists actually believe this stuff.

And in places such as Silicon Valley, enormous amounts of money is being poured into the quest for eternal life…

Larry Ellison, the eccentric co-founder of software conglomerate Oracle, donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to life-extension therapies every year. “I don’t understand how someone can be here, then not be here,” he says. We’re not sure if Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and unofficial technology advisor to US president Donald Trump, really transfused blood from younger men into his own in a search for eternal youth, but he’s definitely made an enemy of getting older. “I’ve always had this really strong sense that death was a terrible, terrible thing,” he told the Washington Post, reflecting on the millions of dollars he has donated to anti-aging research.

Without a doubt, there are ways to extend our lifespans. Eating well and getting regular exercise are a couple of them. But very few people ever make it much past 100, and the maximum age that anyone ever gets to is about 120.

We are only here for a limited amount of time, and this is something that the greatest thinkers throughout human history have always wrestled with. And despite all of our advanced technology, we still have not figured out a way to cheat death, although the mavens in Silicon Valley will inevitably give it their best shot. Many of them will put their faith in cryogenics, transhumanism or putting their brains into robots, but in the end they will discover that their faith has been badly misplaced.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2KT0fYY Tyler Durden

Hedge Funds Piled Into Facebook Just Before The Crash: Full Q2 13-F Summary

It wasn’t just David Einhorn who picked just the wrong time to dump most of his Apple stock: in the second quarter, some of the most iconic hedge funds like Duquesne’s Stanley Druckenmiller, Moore Capital Coatue Management and Jana Partners either bought or added to stakes in Facebook in the second quarter… just days before the company’s biggest crash in history.

Other weres luckier, and the rich(est) got richer, as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway boosted its stake in Apple from 239.6 million shares to 252 million shares, and added to Teva and Goldman Sachs, while trimming holdings in Wells Fargo, American Airlines, and United Continental.

Also observed during Q2: hedge fund managers made big Q2 bets that the U.S. economy would continue to expand despite increasing concerns about a broadening trade war. Third Point added new positions in payment companies PayPal Holdings and Visa, both of which are up more than 19% year to date. Greenlight Capital, run by billionaire investor David Einhorn, added new positions in low-to-middle income retailers including Dollar Tree, Dollar General , Gap Inc and TJX Companies (or maybe he just hired a new and convincing retail analyst).

At the same time, Reuters notes that some other large hedge fund managers cut their positions in FAANG stocks – Third Point sold all of its stake in Alphabet and divested 1 million shares of Facebook, reducing its position in the company by 25 percent. At the same time, it increased its stake in Microsoft by nearly 310 percent, buying 1.7 million shares. Omega Advisors, meanwhile, sold all of its position in Netflix.

As noted earlier, a number of prominent HF managers sharply cut their stake in Apple only weeks before it became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be worth more than $1 trillion. Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital slashed its stake by 77%, while Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management got rid of 95%. Advisory firm Diamond Hill Capital Management cut its stake by 27%. Other big holders, including Sanders Capital and Adage Capital Partners, trimmed only small amounts in the second quarter. On the other side of the trades were Warren Buffett and a variety of central banks and sovereign wealth funds.

Some other observations from the latest set of 13Fs:

  • Hedge funds hummed their way into holding Spotify stock in Q2, as the company was acquired by Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Maverick Capital, Moore Capital and Soros Fund Management
  • Davidson Kempner, Soroban either exited or sold down stakes in NXP Semiconductors in the quarter before the company’s deal with Qualcomm was terminated last month, while Third Point and Highfields Capital Management added a new stake.
  • Soros Fund Management cuts bank holdings including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup
  • Jana Partners added shares of broad-based exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes and took new positions in Wells Fargo & Co and food delivery company GrubHub.
  • Greenlight Capital trimmed its stake in Apple along with Coatue Management before shares jumped 13 percent since the end of June.
  • Eminence Capital exited its position in Papa John’s before shares dove following news that John Schnatter, the firm’s founder and then-chairman, used a racial slur, leading him to resign.
  • Activist Corvex, fresh off Tuesday’s news that its target Energen is being purchased by Diamondback Energy, reported a new stake in MGM.

Courtesy of Bloomberg, below is a summary of the biggest buys and sells from the latest round of 13F filings as of June 30.

ADAGE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: NVT, PEG, VST, MAS, D, F, OGE, FCX, TRU, BV
  • Top exits: NKTR, RTN, CQH, VVC, ETR, AGR, NDSN, PX, AEP, WCN
  • Boosted stakes in SHPG, AET, MRK, AMZN, LMT, WFC, SRPT, HON, MMM
  • Cut stakes in CC, DE, WRK, EMR, ITW, CI, PNC, BAC, DLTR, FTV

ANCORA ADVISORS

  • Top new buys: AVGO, MIK, CLBK, HSIC, TRNC
  • Top exits: PRF, AFSI, ALLE, SKYW, RCII
  • Boosted stakes in LBRDK, PAH, MATW, HILI, GHL
  • Cut stakes in GLIBA, ARCH, HDV, GLW, IWM

APPALOOSA MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: KEY, SYMC, CFG, VST, EDU, NXPI
  • Top exits: QQQ, AMAT, SMH, ALL, NVDA, HCA, BTU, URI
  • Boosted stakes in MU, WDC, LNG, WFC, PAH, PCG, KNX, KMT, SUM
  • Cut stakes in BABA, NRG, BAC, MGM, ALLY, AGN, XPO, GOOG, AMLP

BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: T, BBY, WMT, ERJ, LNC
  • Top exits: BURL, AIG, VIPS, URI, HTZ
  • Boosted stakes in WFC, STI, DLTR, EVRG, DWDP
  • Cut stakes in DIS, AA, NTRS, V, DRI

BAUPOST GROUP

  • Top new buys: TRCO, SBGI, TBIO, SHPG
  • Top exits: PBF, IMOS, FWP, OREXQ
  • Boosted stakes in FOXA, FOX, PCG, ABC, AGN, TMQ, VSAT, MCK
  • Cut stakes in LN

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

  • Top exits: VRSK
  • Boosted stakes in AAPL, USB, TEVA, BK, DAL, GM, GS, LUV, AXTA
  • Cut stakes in AAL, PSX, CHTR, UAL, WFC

BLUE HARBOUR GROUP

  • Top new buys: GWR
  • Top exits: FTNT, JACK, RDC, MDRX
  • Boosted stakes in WCC, IWM, FCE/A, AXTA, SPY, OTEX, COMM
  • Cut stakes in XLNX, MD, ON, ISBC

BRIDGEWATER ASSOCIATES

  • Top new buys: CMI, AMAT, BABA, BMY, WMT, JNJ, LMT, AKAM, PHM, INTC
  • Top exits: PG, GE, DVA, RIG, PEP, CPB, AMGN, FCX, DRI, MAS
  • Boosted stakes in TD, RY, IEMG, TOL, CVX, MCD, SU, TEL, BNS, CAT
  • Cut stakes in VWO, EEM, SPY, NFX, FB, SWN, CLF, BBBY, ABC, BIIB

CITADEL ADVISORS

  • Top new buys: KDP, EQH, EVRG, BNS, BJ SBUX
  • Top exits: AMD, USG, BABA
  • Boosted stakes in C, AMAT, AMZN, V, KEY, DVN, MU
  • Cut stakes in AVGO, ADI, LRCX, UTX, CSCO, ABT

CLINTON GROUP INC

  • Top new buys: EL, CAT, LMT, MCK, VZ, CCE, FITB, LOPE, AGNC, ABX
  • Top exits: MON, DRI, MA, LLY, JNPR, BCO, PEP, TWTR, HDS, CDNS
  • Boosted stakes in PGR, HRB, COLM, WLK, DNB, ITW, CMD, ROK, MO, SNPS
  • Cut stakes in FB, D, GOOGL, ABBV, AVY, REG, WCG, AMGN, EA, HSY

COATUE MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: SPOT, INTC, NOW, AAXN, HTZ, HUYA
  • Top exits: SNAP, RHT, WDC, CGNX, LRCX
  • Boosted stakes in FB, MSFT, ADBE, ATVI, PYPL, TAL
  • Cuts stakes in MU, AAPL, AVGO, BABA, FWONK

CORVEX MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: MGM, VNO, MDB, MHK, CHTR, LCA, FOXA, CTL
  • Top exits: BABA, EVHC, KDP, IQ
  • Boosted stakes in TMUS, NXPI, JBLU, BAC, MSFT
  • Cut stakes in EGN, CRM, GOOGL, MDCO, FG, NOW, ICE, FB

DUQUESNE FAMILY OFFICE

  • Top new buys: FB, GILD, OIH, MPC, SPLK, ADSK, DVN, ATVI, XLE, HD
  • Top exits: INTC, NKTR, MU, JD, QCOM, YNDX, VIPS, STL
  • Boosted stakes in MSFT, BABA, WDAY, CTRP, PAGS
  • Cut stakes in GOOGL, STMP, AMZN

ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: DVN, VMW, FOX, SRE
  • Top exits: EGN, TER, NOMD, VICI
  • Boosted stakes in HES, DISH, EQT, MFGP, QQQ, ATHN, WIN, NXPI
  • Cut stakes in CDK, ISBC, WIT, IMPV

EMINENCE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: BERY, SYMC, QSR, HLT, HAIN, MHK, BECN, CPLG, CTRP, EQIX
  • Top exits: PZZA, NEWR, JACK
  • Boosted stakes in ELLI, TTWO, VMC, LEN, CF, EFX, EA, GOOG
  • Cut stakes in WEN, ICE, MSFT, CBRE, ADSK, PYPL, IQV, FB, CYBR

ENGAGED CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: UEIC, CASY, GRPN
  • Top exits: FNSR, MX, IWM
  • Boosted stakes in APOG, STKL, BHE, BW, NCR, PETX
  • Cut stakes in CCRN

FAIRHOLME CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: C
  • Top exits: SRG
  • Boosted stakes in T, VSTO, OAK
  • Cut stakes in JOE, SHLD, VST

GLENVIEW CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: NVT, MSFT, FBHS, HOLX
  • Top exits: TMUS, CAH, RLGY, CMCSA, V, HUM, FB
  • Boosted stakes in ESRX, FDC, CHTR, AET, ENDP, AGN, ARMK, MTOR, MCK, CNDT
  • Cut stakes in HCA, LH, ANTM, CAR, IQV, UHS, NWL, CVS, WBA, APTV

GOLDEN GATE CAPITAL

  • New buy: GWR
  • Exits: KLXI
  • Boosted stakes in ARCC, HXL, ADS, WCC, ALB
  • Cut stakes in NGVT, TNET

GREENLIGHT CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: GPS, DG, TJX, AZO, DLTR, BBY
  • Top exits: CEIX, DDS, TPR, BLMN, FIVE, ANF, PYPL, URBN, SFM, ODP
  • Boosted stakes in IAC, BHF
  • Cut stakes in MU, AER, AAPL, MYL, VOYA, PRGO, CNDT, ADNT, CNX, DSW

HIGHFIELDS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: NXPI, CVS, FB, LEN, PBR/A, SNE, ESRX, ACWI, MHK
  • Top exits: EXPE, HDS, DLTR, IVZ, ENB, HAL, X, PE, MDLZ, TGT
  • Boosted stakes in CHTR, AET, GOOGL, DIS, GOOG, EQT, RJF, MIK
  • Cut stakes in HCA, FOXA, FDX, CMCSA, PXD, HLT, VER, H, VOD, CCE

ICAHN ASSOCIATES

  • Top new buys: EGN, VMW, AFSI, CI
  • Boosted stakes in IEP, NWL
  • Cut stakes in HLF, LNG

JANA PARTNERS

  • Top new buys: FB, BABA, MSFT, WFC, DXC, GOOGL, RPM, GRUB, ATUS
  • Top exits: BLMN, NOC, KDP, WRK, CI, DISCK, IQ, ILG, ILPT, DBX
  • Boosted stakes in PF, SPY, EA, CAG, A, AAPL
  • Cut stakes in TIF, LRCX, HDS, ADSK, BSX, GM, ZBH, FDC, JACK, ANTM

LAKEWOOD CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: ESRX, ASND, FB
  • Top exits: CJ, ABG,
  • Boosted stakes in C, BIDY, WRK, CMCSA
  • Cut stakes in CIT, ADNT, RLGY

LAND & BUILDINGS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

  • New buy: DHI
  • Top exits: RLJ, MAR, RESI, VTI, HST
  • Boosted stakes in CLI, BKD, LEN, INVH, PLD
  • Cut stakes in LSI, MAC, QTS

LONE PINE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: CP, NVDA, MHK
  • Top exits: AVGO, TSM, BLK, TMUS, EXAS
  • Boosted stakes in WYNN, TDG, MSFT, BABA, NOW, MELI, GOOG, IQV, BKNG, PAGS
  • Cut stakes in FB, PYPL, STZ, ADBE, AMZN, FLT, EA, TRU, CSX, UNH

MARCATO CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: IMAX, CPLG
  • Boosted stakes in TEX, THRM
  • Cut stakes in IAC, ITRI, DXC, BLDR, AIR, TPHS, VRTS

MAVERICK CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: DIS, AAOI, GPK, SPOT, ALNY, PRSP, COMM, CASY, GPS, TGT
  • Top exits: TAP, SNAP, MGM, PM, LVS, CAR, WING, DPZ, ETSY, EAT
  • Boosted stakes in DLTR, MA, CNC, TMUS, MHK, CIEN, BUD, MSFT, KORS, SCHW
  • Cut stakes in V, UHS, EVHC, DWDP, AMRX, ADBE, WTW, VFC, TIF, TPR

MARSHALL WACE

  • Top new buys: TMUS, AXGN, TSM, BRX, IDXX, GPS, CMG, ACGL, JEC, MTN
  • Top exits: SCI, NTRS, CME, NKE, MU, SRCL, JPM, IBN, FLT, AXP
  • Boosted stakes in TFX, ATVI, BBY, DGX, SPGI, MCD, BURL, ROST, ZTS, VRTX
  • Cut stakes in BABA, BAC, DISCK, AVGO, UNH, SAGE, GS, AJG, GILD

MOORE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: NXPI, GOOGL, WFC, MA, SPOT, TGT, FDC, AMP, KMX
  • Top exits: MS, AAPL, GS, LMT, NOC, RTN, GD, COF, BPOP, PLNT
  • Boosted stakes in GCP, FB, EQT, PX, FBP, MOMO, NVDA, CME, GM, TMUS
  • Cut stakes in BABA, BAC, MSFT, AVGO, CCI, ISBC, V, TWTR, EA, VOYA

OMEGA ADVISORS

  • Top new buys: NRG, IQV, LEN, MPC, CVS, KKR, MGY, WRD, CDAY, IMMU
  • Top exits: BMY, WFC, NAVI, NFLX, NYCB, GWPH, GLPI, D, BKI, NINE
  • Boosted stakes in SBGI, ASH, HUM, TRN, C, FTSI, MU, TMO, PE, FRAC
  • Cut stakes in SHPG, ANDV, MXL, PVH, DXC, DISH, AER, VVV, PFSI, ALLY

PAULSON & CO

  • Top new buys: MITL, AKRX, CMCSA, ATUS, FOXA, LHO
  • Top exits: MDR
  • Boosted stakes in DISCK, NXPI, FOX, AET, XL, TMUS
  • Cut stakes in GOLD, IAG, COL, AEM, GG, SHPG

PERSHING SQUARE

  • Top new buys: LOW
  • Boosted stakes in UTX, MDLZ
  • Cut stakes in ADP, QSR

POINT72 ASSET MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: MPC, FOXA, TEVA, SGEN, WMGI, PNC, SGMS, AZO, LOXO, HUM
  • Top exits: ANDV, NFLX, HON, LOW, MCD, AIG, NVDA, BYD, ETN, CAH
  • Boosted stakes in GOOGL, HLT, BMY, PE, BIDU, SYK, DVN, CMCSA, DXC
  • Cut stakes in WYNN, AVGO, STZ, OXY, ATVI, FB, BKNG, DWDP, BABA, LRCX

POINTSTATE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: MPC, FB, CVX, TEVA, PXD, NXPI, STM, USFD, NOW, APC
  • Top exits: BAC, CFG, AVGO, DE, RF, FCAU, MYL, GS, NOC, GILD
  • Boosted stakes in TRGP, AET, FE, NFLX, SHPG, MSFT, BABA, ADBE, VRTX, JD
  • Cut stakes in CRM, LRCX, LNG, LOW, DWDP, LOMA, BMA, LLL, LYB, X

RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES

  • Top new buys: AAPL, FB, MSFT, MS, AXP, ITW, CME, WY, FL, AMG
  • Top exits: BKNG, VZ, MON, PG, WFC, SLB, TWX, KO, CVS, BDX
  • Boosted stakes in VMW, ABMD, JNJ, WMT, VRTX, HLF, ABEV, WWE, GS, CTXS
  • Cut stakes in HD, AMZN, BMY, LLY, PEP, UNH, NXPI, PM, CL, GILD

SANDELL ASSET MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: KLXI, PAY, ANDV, GPT, EVHC, ILG, EDR, PF, COTV
  • Top exits: STB, BABA, AKRX, BKS
  • Boosted stakes in COL, NXPI, AVA, ORBK, XL, FB, AMZN, AAPL, MSFT, GOOG
  • Cut stakes in OCLR, MGI, KS

SENATOR INVESTMENT

  • Top new buys: MRK, FOXA, HD, BKI, LNG
  • Top exits: AVGO, ARNC, LOW, BUD, CMCSA
  • Boosted stakes in CZR, ICE, APTV, FDC, BA
  • Cut stakes in DWDP, DHI, JAZZ, FG, XPO

SOROBAN CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: GOOGL, UTX, GRA, MHK
  • Top exits: BUD, CMCSA, LBRDK, FB, CHTR
  • Boosted stakes in SAP, NSC, AXTA
  • Cuts stake in NXPI, UNP, MGM, AVGO, FWONK, GOOG

SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: SPOT, P, COUP, FB, DVN, EXR, HUBS, HLT
  • Top exits: KW, LRCX, AMLP, ZAYO, BAX, TMO, LH, TGT, CI, KRE
  • Boosted stakes in NXPI, XL, I, LPLA, NOW, CRM, TTWO, LULU, CVE, ETFC

STARBOARD VALUE

  • Top new buys: WEB, RPM, SCOR
  • Top exits: EVHC, BCO
  • Boosted stakes in BMS, IWN, PRGO
  • Cut stakes in NWL, MAC, CARS, BAX, DEPO

TEMASEK HOLDINGS

  • Top new buys: ASLN
  • Top exits: KRE, JPM, BAC, WFC, MS, GS, SENS, RDUS
  • Boosted stakes in CTL, HDB, PYPL, V, GPN, MA, PTLA, DWDP, WP, AVGO
  • Cut stakes in VIRT, AMRS, NETS, AMZN, BABA

TIGER GLOBAL

  • Top new buys: UXIN, COUP, ADBE, GDS, HUYA, PVTL, DOCU, NEW, CDAY
  • Top exits: EHIC, SINA, ARCC, UAL
  • Boosted stakes in TWTR, FB, NOW, MELI, RUN, BABA, SE, APO, CRM, ADSK
  • Cut stakes in RDFN, JD, TDG, MSFT

THIRD POINT

  • Top new buys: NXPI, PYPL, V, CPB, DE, FPAC, EGN, PVH, CWH
  • Top exits: GOOGL, ICE, MHK, PAGS, ANTM, GGAL, GRBK, PAM, BKI, SUPV
  • Boosted stakes in MSFT, ADBE, EA, MPC, UTX, DWDP, CRM, SHY, DOV
  • Cut stakes in BLK, WP, STZ, FB, LEN, WYNN, SPGI, SHW, VMC

TRIAN

  • Top new buys: NVT
  • Boosted stakes in BK, GE, MDLZ
  • Cut stakes in PNR, WEN, SYY
  • Activist investor Trian takes new stake in undisclosed company

TUDOR INVESTMENT

  • Top new buys: AVHI, HD, CHFN, SHPG, VZ, FFKT, LHO, FBNK, NKE, ANDV
  • Top exits: SPB, SBUX, DLTR, DECK, DXC, MSI, PEP, AIG, SPGI, IR
  • Boosted stakes in PF, FOXA, TGT, TJX, BIDU, COL, AAPL, AET, JPM, CMCSA
  • Cut stakes in SPY, NXPI, AMZN, C, WBA, MU, PAGS, BKNG, PDCO

VALUEACT

  • Top new buys: UFI, LIND, STRA, AES, EVA
  • Boosted stakes in C, SLM, ADS, BHC, STX, AFI, MS
  • Cut stakes in FOX

VIKING GLOBAL

  • Top new buys: GE, DWDP, MIDD, TMUS, ILMN, HBI, OLN, PTEN, CNC
  • Top exits: WFC, ADS, TDG, WDC, VOYA, XEC, CVS, MOMO, NTES, CLR
  • Boosted stakes in UTX, DIS, TMO, PE, AMZN, HIG, BMRN, MSFT, LNC, ANTM
  • Cut stakes in XRAY, GOOGL, TD, FB, CP, NFLX, EFX, V, BUD, ADSK

YORK CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: NVT, CNC, USG, PRSP, T, ATUS
  • Top exits: GRA, SHPG, EVHC, WHR
  • Boosted stakes in NXPI, XL, FMC, ESRX
  • Cut stakes in TRCO, AABA, AVGO

Source: Bloomberg

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Visualizing What You Have To Make Each Year To Reach The Top 1% In Each State

In 2015, the top 1% of Americans made 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent – an increase from 2013, when they earned 25.3 times as much, according to a recent study released by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C. think tank.

The study found that from 2009 to 2015, the incomes of the top 1 percent grew faster than the incomes of the bottom 99% in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

While we’ve covered this study before, we thought it’d be helpful to visualize what it takes to enter the top 1% income bracket in each state. The below infographic map presents the minimum annual income required to be in the top one percent.

* * *

A few key quick takeaways 

The top five highest one percent income states are on the East Coast. They are…

  • Connecticut ($701K)
  • DC ($598K)
  • New Jersey ($589K)
  • Massachusetts ($583K)
  • New York ($550K)

Here’s what it looks like at the lower end of the top one percent income states…

  • Mississippi ($254K) 
  • Arkansas ($255K) 
  • New Mexico ($255K) 
  • West Virginia ($258K) 
  • Kentucky (275K)
  • Alabama ($298K) 
  • Maine ($304)
  • Hawaii ($311K) 
  • Idaho ($315K) 

And a surprise: why is North Dakota not too far below a state like California, or only in a single category under New York?

  • California ($515K) 
  • New York ($550K)
  • North Dakota ($445K) …well, though it doesn’t have Manhattan – one of the largest financial centers in the world – North Dakota did have a recent oil boom up through 2014. In 2015 its top one percent income level was at an incredible $502K. But since 2015 due to a global decline in oil prices the number dropped to $445K.

Places with no state income taxes…

  • Texas ($441K)
  • Nevada ($341K)
  • Alaska ($400K)
  • Florida ($418)
  • Wyoming ($406K)
  • Washington (451K)
  • South Dakota (407K)

To be in the top 1 percent nationally in 2015, a family needed an income of $421,926.

* * *

So it turns out, you have to be rich, but not that rich…

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Ryan Zinke Shifts Wildfire Debate From ‘Global Warming’ To Anti-Logging ‘Environmental Terrorists’

Authored by Michael Bastasch via The Daily Caller,

  • Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lambasted “environmental terrorists groups that have not allowed public access, that refuse to allow harvest of timber.”

  • Environmentalists use litigation to keep federal agencies from thinning forests, clearing debris or allowing logging.

  • Activists want to blame global warming for wildfires, but experts say the relationship between climate and fires is complicated.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent the last week targeting environmental groups that have for years opposed activities, like logging and thinning, to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires on federal lands.

The former Montana congressman blamed “litigation from radical environmentalists who would rather see forests and communities burn than see a logger in the woods,” in a USA Today op-ed published Wednesday.

Zinke also called out “extreme environmentalists” in an interview with KCRA that aired Sunday. The day before that, Zinke lambasted “environmental terrorists groups that have not allowed public access, that refuse to allow harvest of timber” in an interview with Breitbart Radio.

Deadly wildfires have consumed over 1 million acres in West Coast states, damaging structures and forcing thousands to flee their homes. The recent death of a firefighter battling the nearly 350,000-acre Mendocino Complex Fire brings the death toll to six for this season.

So what’s the point of attacking environmentalists? Zinke is taking the conversation away from global warming and bringing it back to land management, including the litigation and environmental laws that keep officials from actively managing the forests.

Instead, activists focus on global warming, arguing human-caused warming has expanded wildfire season due to longer hotter, drier conditions in the western states. At the same time, these groups often oppose efforts to clear forests of debris and dead wood that fuel fires when hot, dry weather sets in every year.

“I’ve heard the climate change argument back and forth,” Zinke told the Sacramento-based KCRA. “This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management.”

Wildfire experts tend to see land management and urban growth as prime drivers of wildfires.

Many experts also see global warming as a factor in the rise of fires, but admit the relationship is more complicated than the media lets on.

“The story can’t be a simply that warming is increasing the numbers of wildfires in California because the number of fires is declining. And area burned has not been increasing either,” University of Washington climate scientist Cliff Mass wrote in a recent blog post.

In fact, the recent National Climate Assessment special report gave “low to medium confidence for a detectable human climate change contribution in the western United States based on existing studies.”

Most wildfires are caused by humans, mostly unintentionally. Sparks from vehicles or equipment, power lines, arson and cigarettes are some of the ways humans cause massive blazes. Lightning is the cause of wildfires humans don’t spark.

In California, for example, humans caused 95 percent of all wildfires, with power lines and utility equipment becoming a growing problem. Research also shows that wildfire season has primarily grown from population growth in fire-prone areas, increasing the chances of a fire-causing spark.

Environmentalists have obviously not taken kindly to Zinke’s remarks, but are particularly incensed by his dismissal of global warming as a driver of catastrophic wildfires.

Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration is missing the main issue by being dismissive of climate change’s effect on the fires.

“Climate change creates drought, high wind conditions, low humidity. Fire creates its own weather,” Randi Spivak, the public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Hill.

“You can thin all you want till the cows come home but fire will overtake that,” Spivak said, adding “what is misleading is people like Zinke and other people who refuse to talk about climate change and how we need to tackle that.”

“Name calling and finger pointing won’t change the truth that climate change is exacerbating wildfires,” echoed the Sierra Club’s Athan Manuel. “The long-term safety of our communities relies on reducing carbon pollution.”

Zinke actually did say fire season had gotten longer and temperatures had warmed, but added that “doesn’t relieve you of the responsibility to remove the dead and dying timber and manage our forests so you don’t have these catastrophic burns.”

But Zinke is correct that environmental litigation has kept federal agencies, including the Interior Department and U.S. Forest Service, from thinning, clearing debris and conducting prescribed burns to keep forest growth in check.

A 2014 study published in the Journal of Forestry found “[v]egetative management, or logging projects continued to be the dominant type of management activity involved in Forest Service land management litigation, representing nearly three times more cases than any other type of management activity.”

The Forest Service was found more likely to lose cases “where plaintiffs advocated for less resource use,” particularly in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals where the agency won less than half its cases.

In fact, the 9th Circuit on Monday overturned a Forest Service plan for part of Idaho’s Payette National Forest. The judge sided with environmental groups and ruled “renders the Project inconsistent with the desired vegetative conditions set forth in the Payette Forest Plan” from 2003.

The service’s plan that got overturned included getting “fire conditions toward historical range of variability to reduce wildland fire risk, improve wildlife habitat” through “mechanical thinning, harvest and prescribed burning.”

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LA Subway Becomes First In Nation To Deploy Portable Body Scanners

The Los Angeles subway will become the first mass transit system in the nation to deploy portable body scanners to screen passengers for explosives and weapons, officials announced on Tuesday. 

The scanners, made by UK screening company ThruVision, are able to screen passengers walking through the station without slowing them down and will be deployed over the next few months according to Alex Wiggins, head of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation’s law enforcement division. 

“We’re looking specifically for weapons that have the ability to cause a mass-casualty event,” Wiggins said. “We’re looking for explosive vests, we’re looking for assault rifles. We’re not necessarily looking for smaller weapons that don’t have the ability to inflict mass casualties.”

The machines scan for metallic and non-metallic objects on a person’s body, can detect suspicious items from 30 feet (9 meters) away and have the capability of scanning more than 2,000 passengers per hour. –AP

We’re dealing with persistent threats to our transportation systems in our country,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Our job is to ensure security in the transportation systems so that a terrorist incident does not happen on our watch.”

And before you worry about your kibbles and bits getting scanned into some secret database, rest assured that ThruVision’s technology is “safe and respectful,” which their website describes as “Completely safe, with no anatomical detail revealed and physical ‘pat-downs’ no longer needed.” 

Thruvision is a proven people-screening camera able to detect any type of object hidden under clothing. Based on patented, passive terahertz technology, Thruvision provides safe and respectful real-time imagery of items concealed in travelers’ clothing, allowing law enforcement agents to take decisive, pre-emptive action if suspicious items are seen. –ThruVision

The technology is reportedly passive, meaning it doesn’t shoot beams of radiation through one’s body. 

Los Angeles will post signs at various stations notifying passengers they are subject to body scanner screening. And while Wiggins wants you to know that the screening process is totally voluntary – those who refuse won’t be able to ride on the subway. Around 150,000 passengers ride on Los Angeles’ Metro Red Line daily, while over 112 million riders used the system last year. 

We can picture it now. 

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QT Redepemption Day Looms… Again

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist,

Although I have a theory that on Quantitative Tightening expiry days the stock market is weak, the last two haven’t worked out.

To be fair, I warned you about this past one as it coincided with the day before the FOMC meeting – a period long known to be subject to abnormal stock market strength due to the FOMC drift.

But here we are, with tomorrow (Wednesday August 15th), having just a shade over $23 billion of bonds expiring.

So even though I am not one to hop upon the “world-is-ending-because-of-EM-contagion-bandwagon”, I am taking a flyer on the short side for tomorrow’s trading.

Recently QT expiry days have coincided with month-end and it will be interesting to have a large redemption day occur on a more “regular” trading day. It will be a great test of the theory in a more “pure” environment.

Don’t mistake this punt as a change of heart to the bearish side. It’s purely a one-day-trading position.

Let’s hope it’s not three in a row as that cat looks really mean…

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Musk Mutiny: Two Major Tesla Shareholders Slashed Stakes In Q2

During a quarter of broken or barely-kept promises, unprofessional outbursts on conference calls, rationality-questioning tweets, and a record loss, it is perhaps no surprise that some of Elon Musk’s biggest backers are committing mutiny.

As Reuters reports, Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price Group – two of the largest investors in Tesla – disclosed in their quarterly filings tonight that they each cut their stakes in the electric automaker by more than 20%.

Additionally, Bloomberg notes that Susquehanna exited almost all of their 1.266 million shares.

It was not clear why T. Rowe Price and Fidelity reduced their Tesla holdings or whether they support a move by the company to go private.

“A lot of these mutual funds, who are the large shareholders, they can’t necessarily buy and hold private company’s stock,” said CFRA analsyt Efraim Levy.

However, bear in mind that this exodus came before Tesla CEO Musk dropped a 140-character bombshell that he may take his company private; something that had left many smaller investors wondering if mutual fund giants will stick with the company if it does go private.

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Does The Politically Correct Western Media Keep Covering Up Violent Attacks By Extremists?

Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

All over the world, specifically motivated arson attacks, shootings, knifings, and gang violence eruptions are occurring. But mainstream media outlets in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the US are reluctant to report the stories without a pro-immigration bias, quietly glossing over the common thread in the attacks. Extremists with ties to Northern Africa seem to be waging a war, but you won’t hear this from the media or the respective governments.

Before someone starts calling me a racist, please understand that in my following report, I am certainly not trying to paint every person who has migrated with the same brush. I’m talking about extremists, and as I’ve written many times, extremists are usually the ones who get all the press. The other thing that is rarely reported on is the families who relocate to another country and embrace the new way of life, becoming valuable members of society. It seems to me that if there weren’t a large number of these people who quietly integrate, we’d be hearing about it.

This is a different story, however. It’s a story about how numerous attacks that have happened in just the past few weeks are being glossed over by the media and the governments of the countries where they happened.

Canada

Havoc was unleashed in Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood on July 23rd when a gunman opened fire on diners in restaurants and cafes, killing two people and injuring thirteen more. The victims were 18-year-old and 10-year-old girls.

A video from one witness shows a man dressed in black clothes and a black hat walking quickly and firing three shots from the sidewalk into at least one shop or restaurant in Toronto’s Greektown, a lively residential area with crowded Greek restaurants and cafes…

…Witnesses heard many shots and described the suspect walking past restaurants and cafes and patios on both sides of the street and firing into them. (source)

The gunman was identified as Faisal Hussain. Hussain’s parents were Canadian citizens from Pakistan, so he himself was not actually a migrant. He was born in Canada. There are some clues that he was, however, an extremist., but we’ll never know for sure since he was reported to have killed himself during an exchange of gunfire with the police.

ISIS quickly took credit for the attack. (It’s important to note that ISIS often takes credit for attacks in which they are not necessarily involved.) But in this case, the initial evidence leaned toward Hussain actually being a terrorist, despite a statement to the contrary from the public safety minister.

“At this stage, based on the state of the investigation, which is led by the Toronto police service, there is no connection between that individual and national security,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.

But a law enforcement source told CBS News that Faisal Hussain visited Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) websites and may have expressed support for the terrorist group. They were looking into whether Hussain may have lived at one time in Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan,the source said. There is no indication that Hussain was directed by ISIS to carry out the attack. (source)

There were other ties, too. His brother Fahad overdosed last year while awaiting a trial for dealing crack. The brothers were friends with Maisum Ansari, who was charged with the possession of 53 kilograms of carfentanil, a synthetic drug that is 100 times stronger than fentanyl. This was the largest seizure of carfentanil in Canadian history.

During the investigation into Ansari’s drug operations, police discovered a weapons cache in the basement of his rented-out house. This is possibly an example of the intersection of the drug trade and terrorism. Furthermore, carfentanil, specifically, has been of concern to the US government as a drug that also could be used as a chemical weapon. (source)

The story quickly changed as soon as there was a whiff of ties to Islamic terror. A statement was released, ostensibly by the Hussain family, that talked of serious mental health issues. The media jumped on this immediately as the truth. But as it turns out, that statement was not written by Hussain’s mom and dad.

It emerged, however, that the so-called Hussain “family statement” had not been written by the murderer’s parents at all, but rather by Mohammed Hashim, a professional activist who served as chairman of the “Stronger Together” program of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM, formerly the Council of American Islamic Relations Canada or CAIR CAN). Its American parent organization, as stated in its own documents, is CAIR, designated as a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates. (source)

An investigation by the National Post also shed some doubt on the claims of mental health issues.

The National Post has learned that Toronto Police files show little evidence of the typical history of a person with a florid mental illness such as “psychosis,” as his family said.

A senior police source, while cautioning that this doesn’t mean Hussain wasn’t mentally ill, said that often with such people, there are frequent encounters with police — calls from the family for help, suicide attempts or committals to hospital under the Mental Health Act.

With Hussain, the source said, “we have very little of that.”

The third party, who had distributed the family’s statement, didn’t reply to a Post email Tuesday, asking if he had any light to shed on the apparent contradiction between the statement and police files. (source)

This is only the most recent in a series of extremist attacks in Canada, according to the Gatestone Institute:

Australia

Police in the city of Melbourne made no arrests during a rampage that left residents of the Taylors Lake neighborhood terrified in their homes.

“Dozens” of Sudanese-Australian young people descended on the neighborhood. Police told residents to “stay inside and lock their doors” during the fray. They also stated that there was “no risk to public safety.” The residents, however, had a different story.

Local media heard police had said the youths had gathered “for war” as they told people to stay inside their homes, with one resident telling reporters: “They told me to stay inside, lock the doors and yeah, it’s scary, I’ve got a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old and they’re scared.”

Another Taylors Hill local described youths threatening his family, asking “what are you looking at, you white trash” before warning him not to be shocked if they decided to “raid” his home, and he added that the group seemed completely unafraid of police in the area.

A recurring theme in locals’ testimony was the desire to feel safe in their own homes amidst rising African violence in Melbourne. “I thought this isn’t right. I should be able to come out here and feel safe,” said one resident, who told 9NEWS she was branded a “racist” by female troublemakers on her property she tried to confront during the chaos.

“They were everywhere, I don’t know if I’m over exaggerating but it looked like hundreds,” resident Maree Delaney said, recalling she was “scared they were going to start smashing cars, breaking doors down, everything.” (source)

Some Melbourne residents say they’ve added security doors and roller shutters. Others have begun stockpiling weapons, no easy feat in a country with strict gun control.

The frightening incident was glossed over in a report by ABC:

Achol Marial, the secretary of youth affairs for the South Sudanese Community Association in Victoria, said the incident was disappointing but was not gang-related.

“It was just immature young people having a misunderstanding and it led to a fight,” she said. “It’s been spread around, which has caused others that were not involved in the fight to come and witness it.

“We are disappointed … about what happened. We will do the best that we can to get those particular young girls on board and just advise them a little bit on how to behave.

“We will speak to their parents to keep an eye on them. I think parents need to be more aware of what their children may be up to.” (source)

You know. Just kids being kids. Boys fighting over girls.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told ABC Radio Melbourne the dispute revolved around “a couple of girlfriends”.

“[They were] having a bit of a clash there. I think it was over a couple of girlfriends or somethinglike that,” he said. “It’s just the case of two groups coming together to want to fight about it.”

Local resident Jeb said police told them to go inside and stay there. “[There was] a whole bunch of African youths running around,” he said. “I’d say they were being a bit abusive in terms of … they were sledging the coppers and the police were clearly outnumbered. That was pretty clear.

“There were a lot of females and they were being most vocal just swearing, and carrying on.  (source)

No arrests were made, but Commander Hansen said there “could” be some later for “anything from an affray, through to criminal damage through to riotous behavior would be the sort of type of offenses we’d be considering.”

Back in January, Australia’s Prime Minister caused outrage when he warned of “gang violence” by African migrants. He was immediately accused of “willfully stoking anxieties about migration, assimilation and sentencing for political purposes.”

Victoria crime statistics show that Sudanese immigrants are overrepresented in criminal arrests. About 1.5 percent of offenders in Victoria are Sudanese, though Sudanese and South Sudanese immigrants make up about half a percent of the state’s population, according to a parliamentary inquiry last year. (source)

Sweden

And again, we’re back to Sweden. I’ve written before about the no-go zones, the strained welfare system, and the increased violence against women. Police officers who talk about the migrant extremist issues are disciplined for “inciting racial hatred.

This week, the inundated country has seen a rash of firebombs in what looks like a coordinated attack in different cities. On Monday night, more than 80 cars were set on fire in the cities of Gothenburg and in Trollhättan. A translated article states that this is a huge increase.

“We’ve had periods of many fires but …”

“It’s closer to some 60 cars that have burned or vandalized in several places, and we have found several rocks and bangs,” said police inspector Claes Dahlström in place at Frölunda square at 23 pm.

Later it was reported that the figure has risen to 80 vehicles that have been burned or damaged in other ways.

“We have had periods of many fires but on one and the same evening and in such a short space of time, in so many different places, I do not know if we have had before,” said Ulla Brehm, President of the Police in the West West…

“Young people have thrown stones against the police who came to ensure the scheme. They have been masked with hoodies and with cap over the face so that one can not easily identify someone, he says.

Eyewitnesses describe how dark-colored people turned fire on the cars. Pictures from Frölunda show how many people turn on fire by car after car in the parking lot. (source)

Here’s a photo from SVT, a Swedish news source.

Some Swedish politicians expressed outrage.

“I get pissed off for real,” Prime Minister Stefan Löfven hit out in an interview with Swedish radio ahead of the September 9th election, adding he wanted to ask the perpetrators “what the hell are you doing?”

“Society will come back hard on this,” said the Social Democrat leader, who also raised questions about the scope and timing of the attacks, which police suspect were coordinated via social media.

“It looks very coordinated, almost like a military operation,” Löfven said, adding that the police probe would show if the car fires were down to vandalism, organized crime or something else.

Justice and Interior Minister Morgan Johansson called the attacks “despicable”…

…Ulf Kristersson, leader of the centre-right opposition party the Moderates, wrote on Facebook that “dreadful scenes are being played out in Gothenburg”. “These are no ‘protests’, this is sabotage. Sweden has tolerated this far too long. It has to end,” he added. (source)

USA Today described the arson attacks as “gang violence.”

Police did not say what might have motivated the “organized and prepared” attacks, only confirming that gangs of youths were involved without specifying numbers.

Witnesses told police the alleged offenders were dressed in dark clothing and hoodies.

“It seems very organized, almost like a military operation,” Lofven said in an interview on Swedish radio but did not say who might have been behind the attacks. (source)

Really, migrant extremists are waging all-out war in parts of the country. But as far as local reporting goes, my source in Sweden said, “Nothing to see here.”

Here’s an example:

The police killing of a 69-year-old man who wielded a machete in a suburb of Stockholm, prompted accusations of police brutality in 2013 and saw rioting by hundreds of youths in the capital. (source)

What do you think?

Meanwhile, in America, we have our own extremists, whose threats to shoot political adversaries have been largely ignored by our mainstream media. It’s pretty blatant that we’re watching a massive cover-up happening all over the western world.

There’s one very important lesson in all this: If you want to know what’s really going on in the event of something politically incorrect, you can’t depend on the mainstream media or the government to tell you. And when things like this are happening? You really need to know in order to keep your family safe.

How far will political correctness stretch before these things can no longer be covered up?

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What’s the Best Way To Make Poor Countries Rich? Joseph Stiglitz, William Easterly at Reason/Soho Forum 8/27

“Is the best way to end global poverty free markets or government action?”

That’s the proposition under discussion at the next Reason-Soho Forum event, which features Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former World Bank economist William Easterly. The conversation will be moderated by the Soho Forum’s co-founder, Gene Epstein.

The event takes place on Monday, August 27 at New York’s Subculture theater on Bleecker Street. Tickets cost between $12 and $24 and include entry to a reception featuring light fare and a cash bar. All tickets must be purchased online in advance (and they are going fast!).

Here’s more information about the participants and their basic positions:

William Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University and Co-director of the NYU Development Research Institute. He is the author of three books: The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (2014), The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (2006), which won the FA Hayek Award from the Manhattan Institute, and The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (2001). He has published 69 peer-reviewed academic articles, and has written columns and reviews for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and Washington Post. He has written: “Remember, aid cannot achieve the end of poverty. Only homegrown development based on the dynamism of individuals and firms in free markets can do that.”

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. A recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979), he is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the (US president’s) Council of Economic Advisers. In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He has written “[Whenever information is imperfect and markets incomplete, which is to say always, and especially in developing countries,then the invisible hand works most imperfectly. Significantly, there are desirable government interventions which, in principle, can improve upon the efficiency of the market.” [italics in original]

And here are event details:

Cash bar opens at 5:45pm
Event starts at 6:30pm
Subculture Theater
45 Bleecker St
NY, 10012

Seating must be reserved in advance.

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein

Each Soho Forum is released as a Reason TV video and a Reason Podcast (subscribe for free!). Recent events have included Peter Schiff and Erik Vorhees debating whether bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the future of money, economists Bryan Caplan and Edward Glaesar arguing over government funding for higher education, and Cathy Young and Michael Kimmel discussing “rape culture” on college campuses.

For a full archive, go here.

Here’s the video of the Reason-Soho Forum about bitcoin and the future of money.

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