Tag: news

Via AlMasdarNews.com,

Iran has defied the U.S. threats and sanctions by increasing their oil shipments in the month of September, Reuters reported on Friday, citing details from TankerTrackers.

Details from TankerTrackers and two other unnamed firms revealed that the exports are rising, “although the figures fall into a wide range of between 400,000 bpd and 1.5 million bpd, reflecting the difficulty in tracking the shipments.”

“Exports are way up right now. We are seeing close to 1.5 million bpd in both crude and condensate so far this month,” Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers, told Reuters.

The TankerTrackers data showed Iran’s oil exports for the month of September are double the numbers from August.

Exports have shrunk from over 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) since the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions in 2018. Still, Iran has been working to get around the measures and keep exports flowing.

Data from TankerTrackers and two other firms, who asked not to be named, indicated exports are rising in September, although the figures fall into a wide range of between 400,000 bpd and 1.5 million bpd, reflecting the difficulty in tracking the shipments. — Reuters

“Data from TankerTrackers, which tracks shipments and oil storage, showed almost half of Iranian exports were picked up by foreign vessels via ship-to-ship transfers, making it difficult to determine final destinations,” Reuters added.

TankerTrackers noted further, “These are levels we haven’t seen in a year and a half.”

The rise in oil exports comes at a time of time of increased turmoil between the United States and Iran, as both nations have repeatedly exchanged diplomatic attacks in the international arena.

President Trump has again pointed attention to Joe Biden’s apparent slowness from ageing, or even the possibility of dementia, ahead of Tuesday night’s debate, calling on Biden to agree to take a ‘test’.

In a Sunday morning tweet Trump specifically demanded “a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night” which the president said he would undergo as well. In the past the demands have been focused on mental fitness tests, however.

Trump suggested that given prior instances of the seeming inability of Biden to speak well and coherently in fielding random media questions (especially when there’s no teleprompter), those instances where he speaks articulately must be due to drugs.

I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also. His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2020

The president questioned: 

His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???

Meanwhile The New York Times on Sunday acknowledged that recent Trump campaign claims of Biden lacking proper mental acuity to lead the nation will be to some degree affirmed or ultimately disproven Tuesday night:

President Trump has framed the first general election debate as a test for his opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Yet he has simultaneously set the bar so low for so long that many of his supporters — having watched unflattering, often manipulated clips of Mr. Biden in Trump campaign advertisements or on Fox News — are now expecting the president to mop the floor with an incoherent opponent in something resembling a W.W.E. match.

Democrats — and even some Republicans — believe that is not likely to happen.

The Trump campaign has been seizing on Biden’s series of gaffes and momentary melt-downs in simple presentations of his points, which sometimes appear due to confusion or not really knowing what he’s saying (or reading off a screen):

Joe Biden: “It’s estimated that 200 million people will die, probably by the time I finish this talk.”

That’s nearly 2/3 of the U.S. population. pic.twitter.com/lp23K11K3o

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) September 20, 2020

Broadly, it’s unfortunate that this is where we now are in American politics — essentially having to weigh whether a candidate is mentally present enough to participate in a debate and take the highest office in the land, with the other throwing out accusations of drug use. 

* * *

And there’s always this option…

Drugs should be administered to both candidates in equal doses, live and before opening statements, by someone with expertise – like the road manager of a metal band. https://t.co/vFwLf4jbpc

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 27, 2020

Authored by L.Brent Bozell III via The American Mind,

A fact-check solution to a constitutional crisis…

The war between conservatives and Silicon Valley is on. The scions of social media are no longer hiding their disdain for an entire movement. They know the outcome of this high-stakes presidential election could jeopardize their rule over the American people and unmake the oligarchy they’ve built with the rest of the ruling class. If we are to save the republic, we must realize this too—and act.

Tens of millions of individual users who dare question leftist orthodoxy are being targeted and silenced by Big Tech. There are no limits on who they censor, including the President of the United States.

That’s why the Media Research Center is fighting back with the Free Speech Alliance, which includes over 70 groups and The Claremont Institute. We also just released our database effort to document the bias at CensorTrack.org.

One key weapon being deployed to punish conservatives is the so-called “fact check.” It’s being used to censor thousands of conservatives communicating with millions of followers. It’s happened tens of thousands of times, and it’s getting worse. Facebook is one of the worst offenders.

Facebook, with 2.7 billion users, is dramatically skewed to the left in its fact-checking operation. It now has an international “Oversight Committee” dominated by George Soros-funded entities that make a mockery of unbiased review. Citizens wanting to rally in support of reopening the country have been banned because some public gatherings in some states are forbidden. Antifa, however, thrives largely unchecked and unchallenged as it riots in the streets and harasses members of Congress in their homes.

Conservatives have made good-faith attempts to resolve these many conflicts, but to no avail.

Covid-19 has sent social media sites into censorship overdrive. If you disagree with the social media prescription for the virus, you are silenced. Ask the president, or his son, or countless doctors.

Social media censorship is the most direct threat to free speech worldwide coming from the most powerful companies in the history of man. As a consequence, some conservatives are actively supporting the effort to strip from these social media giants the Section 230 protections that they certainly have abused.

Just like newspapers such as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, these social media giants need to be held legally accountable for content on their own sites. But 230 protects companies from lawsuits when publishing the content of others. This has given Big Tech firms like Facebook the power to block conservatives from the public conversation while encouraging hate-filled, dishonest speech toward conservatives—all with virtual impunity.

Taking Action

U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R., MI), Lindsey Graham (R., SC), and Marsha Blackburn (R., TN) have proposed legislation that “would clarify the original intent of the law and increase accountability for content moderation practices.”

Others, including 51 state attorneys general, are exploring antitrust remedies to break the monopolies and allow competition that might embrace free speech.

These are very encouraging steps in the right direction.

But there might be an easier solution to resolve at least part of the problem: let’s fix fact-checking.

Silicon Valley, its allies in the “old” media, and the academy are the ones clamoring for fact-checking, not the public.

There’s no market demand for any corporate fact-checking. None.

This is not to suggest that social media sites shouldn’t be monitored, and restrictions placed on them. But those restrictions should be imposed only where absolutely necessary and legally required in cases of criminal activity, terrorism, and pornography.

That should be the full extent of Big Tech’s direct involvement in the fact-checking process.

Let the public make the call: allow them to opt in to fact-checking.

We offer a simple framework.

1. Create a Social Media Charter: A task force would produce a simple document outlining what can and will be banned by the social media community. Every company will be asked to sign the charter.

2. Demand Equal Fact-Checkers: Each social media company would recruit a set number of official fact-checkers—say, ten. These fact-checkers would run the political gamut and share in valuing true diversity of thought. For every leftist enterprise there would be a conservative alternative. Any existing “fact-checking” operations would need to disclose their true bias. Pure objectivity does not exist.

3. Insist on Transparency: Each fact-checking organization would be required to fill out a Transparency Statement, to include the organization’s official mission statement and describe all other organizational activities, political affiliations, sources of major funding and the qualifications of all staff participating in their operation.

4. Pay Fact-Checkers: As cable companies do with C-SPAN, so too would the social media giants fund these fact-checking organizations as a public service. Fact-checkers would be paid their salaries a year in advance, just as ombudsmen are, to mitigate against any possible interference.

5. Publicize Options: Social media companies would prominently list the names of all fact-checkers and encourage their audiences to read them.

6. Track Actions: Social media companies would agree to maintain a public log of all disciplinary action taken by the companies against users, be they personal or corporate.

7. Impose Biannual Oversight: A blue-ribbon “Oversight Board” would be convened biannually to review these fact-checkers. If the Oversight Board determined a fact-checker’s record to be unacceptable, it could terminate the contract while recruiting a similar replacement.

8. Limit Fact-checks: Fact-checks wouldn’t be used to shut down, suspend, or in any other way discipline users or organizations. They would be attached to stories for the users who opted in. They would provide additional information, not censor by dictate.

This will naturally require tweaking, but the outline ought to provide satisfaction for all parties. Social media sites will become self-policing communities; freedom of speech will be guaranteed, warts and all; conservatives will have the assurance they are no longer being targeted for censorship; and the reasons for legal or legislative action against these social media giants will be minimized, if not negated altogether.

In other words, one piece of the debate just might be resolved by the private sector, for the private sector. And maybe liberals will get back to defending free speech, as they once did.

Some times, people just can’t catch a break.

Such was the case of Argentinian lawmaker Juan Emilio Ameri, who has resigned after getting caught on a live camera pulling down his girlfriend’s top to kiss her newly enhanced breasts.

Ameri sat through parts of a virtual session of congress seemingly unaware that his camera was turned on, but well aware that he was turned on, with a woman sitting on his lap. At one point, he pulled down part of the woman’s shirt and exposed her breast, before kissing it, according to the Post.

Ameri thought he was off camera because his internet had gone down several times and admitted his girlfriend recently had her breasts enhanced.

He said:

 “I saw that my partner came out of the bathroom and I asked how she was, due to the operation. At that moment she sat with me and I kissed her on the breast without realizing that the connection had returned.”

And that was your first mistake, Juan.

He continued:

 “It was a moment of intimacy with my partner that leaked. It was serious, really, I take charge and I am very ashamed. I am very distressed by what is happening.”

“I apologize to the citizens, to my family, to my partner, for all this situation. I want to apologize to my mother, my sisters, my daughters, with whom I have not yet spoken,” he continued.

The session was then interrupted by House president Sergio Massa, who called it a “serious offense” and suspended Ameri for 180 days. Ameri resigned shortly thereafter, stating: “It was serious, really. I take responsibility. I’m very ashamed.”

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

A tape has surfaced of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden bizarrely claiming that he “started” at a historically black college in speaking to supporters in South Carolina during the primary. Biden has never made any mention of going to Delaware State University and it is not clear why the many reporters in attendance at the event did not ask when he attended a HBCU. Indeed, he would be the first president to claim such a distinction. He might also have been inartfully referencing his start as a politician. Alternatively, this would seem like an academic version of cultural appropriation. It would seem a valid point of clarification for the media.

This story obviously created an immediate buzz among professors who tend to track academic credentials and associations of presidents and other leaders. It would certainly be a significant story if a president attended a HBCU but I am not sure what Biden meant by his statement.

Most obvious interpretation was that Biden was claiming to have been a student at Delaware State when he spoke at October 2019 town hall event held at the historic Wilson High School in Florence. The school was founded in 1866 by the Freedmen’s Bureau for Black children.  He stated “I got started out of an HBCU, Delaware State — now, I don’t want to hear anything negative about Delaware State,” Biden told the crowd, as shown on video. “They’re my folks.”

The university has stated that he was never a student there. It said that it has only records of a couple of visits as a commencement speaker.

The statement is so weird that I have tried to find an alternative meaning.  One possibility was that he got a job teaching there. However, he never claims such a position.  I am not sure when that could have happened. He became a bar member in 1969 and was elected the very next year to the New Castle County Council in 1970. Two years later he was elected to the United States Senate.

Another possibility is that he is claiming that he started his political career at the school, but again the campaign has said nothing and his own book does not mention the connection.  Did he launch his campaign for the New Castle County Council at the university? I believe the university is about 45 minutes away in Dover from New Castle.  He might be referencing his start for the Senate.  The campaign however has gone days without explaining if there was a speech launching his campaign from the university (though that would raise some issues on the use of a state school).  Absent such an explanation, the clear impression is that he attended a HCBU as a student.

Biden has been previously criticized for false claims ranging from graduating in the top half of his class to having three degrees from college to being the first in his family to attend college to coming from a family of coal miners  to being arrested in trying to meet with Nelson Mandela.

Obviously, President Donald Trump has also been regularly and correctly flagged for false statements, including denials of his prior statements. I have joined in that criticism. Yet, that is no reason to also demand accuracy or explanations from his opponent.  If President Trump made such a statement, it would have had every network and newspaper demanding clarification or proof.

The story also magnifies the concerns over the lack of serious journalism surrounding Biden, who has been routinely given softball questions and faced little scrutiny from the press corp. Interviews with Biden have been cringeworthy as reporters from major media seem to actively assist the campaign in staging favorable pressers. I could not find any reporting of this extraordinary statement when it was made in the primary. There is still little reporting. If this video is false, it is a major story. If it is true, it is an even greater story. Yet, once again, there has been virtually no coverage of the claim. I seriously do not know what to make of the story but there seems very little interest in whether Biden is the product of a HCBU or falsely claimed such a status.  Biden can simply clarify the point. As an academic, I am honestly interested in what role a HCBU played in his career and I do not believe that this is a major scandal. Yet, if it was a reference to launching his career from the Delaware State campus, it is incredibly interesting. Indeed, with the discussion of HCBU funding throughout the campaign (including in his speech), it would seem something that the campaign would have been emphasizing.

Summary:

• COVID-19 deaths near 1 million
• Global cases hit 32.8 million
• France, Italy oppose new lockdowns
• Deaths climb in Iran
• Moscow cases hit 4 month high
• Dr. Fauci says therapeutics could be “bridge” to COVID-19 vaccine

* * *

US cases continued to accelerate over the weekend, with cases climbing 0.7% on Saturday, in line with the recent increase in the 7-day average. The pace of deaths slowed, however, with the US seeing only 740 new deaths yesterday, snapping a 4-day streak of 900+ deaths.

However, global numbers are more important right now.  Countries around the world reported just 277,937 new cases on Saturday, down from a peak a few days ago.

This brought the total to 32.8 million. Another 5,279 deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 994,000, within striking distance of the 1 million-death milestone.

As local authorities placed more than 1 million people in and around Madrid on lockdown this week, at least one local official felt this wasn’t a strong enough response, and demanded that local officials review their efforts.

As thousands continue to rally in London over the weekend, the sheer unpopularity of lockdowns was reflected in an announcement across the English Channel, where French Health Minister Olivier Veran rejected the possibility of another lockdown.

“We don’t want to bring the economic, social, cultural, sports and family life of the French people to a complete standstill,” he said on LCI television. “That’s why we take decisions that are adapted to the seriousness of the moment, region by region.”

Elsewhere, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also spoke out against the possibility of another lockdown, saying the country is “in a completely different situation” compared with the beginning of the year.

said there won’t be a new national lockdown as the country is “in a completely different situation” compared with the beginning of the year. Saying that the government has strengthened the health system, he added that there may be more stringent measures in specific clusters or areas “but in a limited, circumscribed way.”

In the US, Silicon Valley VC Bill Gurley tweeted a chart noting the hospitalization rates for students infected with COVID-19 on America’s college campuses.

This deserves discussion. pic.twitter.com/HAdLY7oANr

— Bill Gurley (@bgurley) September 27, 2020

The notion that colleges should keep students on campus for as long as possible to prevent a massive pre-holiday outbreak as students return home isn’t exactly controversial, yet colleges seem dead set against this (possibly for financial reasons).

Here’s other news on COVID-19 from overnight:

Iran’s death count from the virus reached 25,589 on Sunday, with 195 more fatalities overnight, up from 172 during the prior day. New cases increased by 3,362  – compared with 3,204 the day prior – bringing the total to 446,448, according to the latest Health Ministry figures. Over 374,000 patients have recovered from the virus in Iran while 4,059 people are in critical condition (Source: Bloomberg).

Czech Health Minister Roman Prymula said the country will limit gatherings of people in public next week, with the government discussing whether a 10- or 20-person limit is most appropriate. The nation of 10.7 million recorded 2,946 cases on Friday, the second highest since the beginning of the pandemic in March. Prymula said his country is currently among the four European nations being hit hardest by Covid-19’s spread (Source: Bloomberg).

As the number of cases in Moscow reached its highest level in almost four months, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin admitted on his blog on Sunday that heating, which is centrally controlled, would be switched on earlier than usual so that people isolating at home or in country houses would be more comfortable. He also cautioned that those over 65 or with high-risk illnesses should remain at home as much as possible during the coming weeks. He also advised companies to switch as many employees as possible back to working from home. There were 99  deaths counted yesterday, bringing Russia’s total to 20,324 (Source: Bloomberg).

And finally, Dr. Fauci says in a recent interview that antibody-based medications potentially even the convalescent plasma approach could act as a “bridge” to help society endure until a vaccine can be found.

“We are focusing very heavily now on treatment of early infection and, or prevention of infection,” Dr. Fauci told the Journal of the American Medical Association in an interview Friday. “And that’s the bridge to the vaccine.”

Authored by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,

The year 1971 saw the trajectories of nearly every major trend relative to our way of life shift massively.

That year is such a noticeable inflection point in so many data sets, that an intriguing website WTFHappenedIn1971.com has been created to drive the point home.

The website is a parade of data series visually showing how the world changed that year.

Be it income…

…the cost of living…

….political polarization…

… the divorce rate…

…and a kitchen sink’s worth of other statistics — from the national debt to deficit spending, childhood obesity, the incarceration rate, energy use per capita — pretty much all aspects of life as we know it changed materially and permanently in the early 1970s.

This week’s guest experts, Ben Prentice and Collin, founders of WTFHappenedIn1971.com, explain how virtually all of these changes are a direct or indirect result of the monetary system “breaking” that year with the Nixon Shock and the end of the Bretton Woods System.

On a personal note, interviewing Ben and Collin was an unexpected pleasure, as I found it encouraging to discover that members of the Millennial generation are engaging with the shortcomings of our modern debt-based fiat currency system with the same passion and critical thinking as we older cohorts. Perhaps the future might just turn out OK in their hands after all…

That said, Ben and Collin echo similar concerns and advice as our previous experts. The system is unfair, unsustainable, and in desperate need of reform. The prudent investor shouldn’t expect any real positive change until a painful enough shock forces an abandonment of the status quo — so it’s best to use the time now to position prudently in advance for that inevitability:

*  *  *

Anyone interested in scheduling a free consultation and portfolio review with Mike Preston and John Llodra and their team at New Harbor Financial can do so by clicking here.

After Metropolitan Police claimed they would only crack down on marchers flagrantly violating social distancing rules (though the hated “rule of six” had been suspended due to the gathering’s “protest” status), German professor Dr. Heiko Schoening was arrested by a gang of British officers – he was filmed being loaded into a paddy wagon –  after speaking out against using tactics like economy-destroying mandatory lockdowns during yesterday’s “We Do Not Consent” rally in London.

Video of the arrest was shared on Twitter.

LONDON – Respected German Doctor Heiko Schöning was arrested by Met Police for speaking about Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/RmU5705hi3

— ShatteredWorldMedia (@MediaShattered) September 27, 2020

Several purported bystanders tweeted in protest, by the story appears to have gone largely unnoticed.

Dr. Heiko Schöning has just been arrested and put into a police van @garethicke Shame on the UK #FacismIsHere https://t.co/DVTsecfu38

— Medea Matters (@Medea_Matters) September 26, 2020

Here’s video of the doctor speaking to a reporter at the event yesterday. This was filmed before he was arrested.

German Doctor Dr. Heiko Schöning was arrested yesterday, he has not been charged but is still being held in custody.

When doctors speak out the truth and are silenced, locked up, you know we are in deep deep trouble.pic.twitter.com/JMAytuyWiC

— Darren of Plymouth 🇬🇧 (@DarrenPlymouth) September 27, 2020

 

The rally was organized by groups opposing a second lockdown in the UK, along with mandatory vaccination efforts by the government once a vaccine is approved. The doctor was pat of a group of hundreds of German doctors and scientists who have signed on to investigate and analyze whether the heavy handed measures favored by governments to combat the virus were the appropriate response.

Purported friends of the professor claimed that his wife was calling supporters to attend a peaceful demonstration on Sunday outside Wandsworth police station (146 Wandsworth High St).