Month: September 2023

Arbitrators, Like Judges, Are Immune from Libel Lawsuits Based on Their Opinions

From today’s decision by Judge Jia Cobb in Seltzer v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority:

Plaintiff Susan Seltzer participated in an arbitration proceeding before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The arbitration concluded with a written award that was published online. Seltzer alleges that the award defamed her by incorrectly describing her actions in the arbitration proceeding. She also contends that FINRA took actions to “tag” the award to her name in a Google search. Seeking to recover for the harms she allegedly suffered from the publication of those statements, Seltzer sued FINRA….

The Court can make out the following from Seltzer’s allegations. The events giving rise to this case involve an arbitration Seltzer initiated in FINRA’s arbitration forum in 2017. The arbitration panel issued a written award dismissing Seltzer’s claim. The award included some descriptions of the arbitration proceedings and characterized Seltzer as acting “vicious[ly]” and making “ad hominem attacks” against other parties, among other things. Seltzer acknowledges that FINRA’s Codes of Arbitration Procedure requires that it make all arbitration awards publicly available. Accordingly, FINRA posted the arbitration award online…. Seltzer knew about the statements as early as November 6, 2018 ….

Seltzer also alleges that on July 13, 2020, FINRA began “publish[ing] the false and defamatory award tagged to [her] name in a Google Search.”  Seltzer does not clearly explain how she claims FINRA did this, but she seems to allege that FINRA was responsible for the award appearing in Google searches of her name. She alleges that in 2022, FINRA created “knowledge graphs” that also linked the “defamatory award” to her. Her Complaint includes allegations that FINRA altered the complaint that she filed in the arbitration by removing the names of certain individuals, but she does not allege that FINRA altered any allegedly defamatory statements in the award.

The court held that plaintiff’s claims were barred by D.C.’s one-year statute of limitations for libel claims:

Seltzer tries to avoid the statute of limitations problem by alleging that FINRA somehow linked the award to her on the web, or otherwise caused the award to appear in Google search results for her name and business, in 2021 and 2022, well after FINRA first posted the award. Seltzer contends that by manipulating Google search results to “tag” the award to online searches that include her name, FINRA republished the defamatory statements (or caused them to be republished) and thus restarted the statute of limitations clock.

The Court disagrees. In the District of Columbia, the “single publication” rule governs the statute of limitations for defamatory statements. Under this rule, the statute of limitations begins to run on the date the statement is published or is “first generally available to the public.” The statute of limitations does not restart simply because “[c]opies of the original” are made, as such copies are “still part of the single publication.” However, the statute of limitations will restart if the statement is republished in a “a new publication” that is intended to “reach a new audience.” Although this rule is most easily applied to traditional media, courts resolving claims for web-based defamation have found that “a statement on a website is not republished unless the statement itself is substantively altered or added to, or the website is directed to a new audience.” …

Certainly, the statute of limitations does not restart every time that Seltzer performs a Google search and can pull up the arbitration award or other information about her. The award is available on the same online portal and has not been republished. Even taking Seltzer’s factual assertions as true, she seems to describe Google’s search engine operating as it normally does. There is nothing surprising or nefarious about Seltzer’s allegation that when she enters “FINRA Awards Seltzer” into the Google search engine, the arbitration award and other results relating to Seltzer appear. And if the Court has misunderstood Seltzer’s allegations, FINRA has not republished the arbitration panel’s conclusions to a “new audience” simply because a third-party search engine brings up a previously published award when a user searches related key terms….

And the court held that FINRA was in any event protected by arbitral immunity:

“Judges, advocates, and witnesses” enjoy “absolute immunity” when acting in their official capacity “because of the special nature of their responsibilities” and because the “loser in one forum will frequently seek another, charging the participants in the first with unconstitutional animus” or other wrongs. Absolute immunity is thus “necessary to assure judges, advocates, and witnesses can perform their respective functions without harassment or intimidation.” Courts in this District, in agreement with most circuit courts that have considered the issue, have extended this privilege to cover both individual arbitrators and arbitration forums because of their quasi-judicial nature.  The Court is persuaded by this precedent and finds that FINRA is immune from suit….

The post Arbitrators, Like Judges, Are Immune from Libel Lawsuits Based on Their Opinions appeared first on Reason.com.

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The University of Michigan Will Force Students With COVID To Leave Campus


University of Michigan sign | Paul Brady | Dreamstime.com

Students who test positive for COVID-19 at the University of Michigan this fall will be forced in many cases to leave campus—an extreme measure that may well encourage sick people to avoid seeking medical attention at all.

Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine and health policy at Stanford University who has frequently challenged prevailing orthodoxies about pandemic restrictions, called attention to the policies on X, describing them as “cruel.”

According to the Care and Isolation section of the university’s website, students are required to report a positive COVID-19 test to the health authorities—unless, of course, they tested vis-à-vis the school’s medical system, in which case the authorities already have the result. The university will then contact the students to discuss their isolation; importantly, students living in dormitories are required to temporarily move out, even if they reside in single units.

The rules suggest that students should return home, especially if they can get there without using public transportation. While the university specifies that students should consider returning home if there they have access to their own bedrooms and bathrooms, it does not acknowledge that sending students home may be the very worst idea of all, given that their parents are probably at greater risk of a negative COVID-19 outcome than their college roommates.

The rules are so extreme and disruptive that many students will probably avoid taking COVID-19 tests, even if they are seriously ill. Imagine a student who presumes he has a bacterial infection and desperately needs antibiotics; does he dare risk going to the university hospital and testing positive for COVID-19, especially if that means ejection from his dormitory?

Instead of creating a police state to punish students for contracting COVID-19—something that is, let’s face it, wholly unavoidable—perhaps university health officials could work harder to provide accommodations for students who get sick and voluntarily agree to quarantine. Alas, the website notes that “isolation spaces on campus are extremely limited.” Making them less limited seems like a better use of time than hunting down COVID-positive students and exiling them from campus.

The university did not respond to a request for comment.

The post The University of Michigan Will Force Students With COVID To Leave Campus appeared first on Reason.com.

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Do the Proud Boys Deserve To Be in Prison Forever?


Enrique Tarrio | Pedro Portal/TNS/Newscom

In this week’s The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch and Katherine Mangu-Ward welcome special guests C.J. Ciaramella and Joe Lancaster to consider the particularly long prison sentences handed out to Proud Boys leaders for their roles in the January 6 Capitol riot and discuss President Joe Biden’s use of email aliases.

2:19: Proud Boys leaders sentenced for their roles in the January 6 Capitol riot

20:24: President Joe Biden’s email aliases

30:44: Weekly Listener Question

48:38: The aftermath of Hurricane Idalia

Mentioned in this podcast:

“Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison Over January 6 Riot,” by Robby Soave

“Punishing Rioters Is Wise. Bogus ‘Seditious Conspiracy’ Charges Are Not.” by J.D. Tuccille

“Do These Seditious Conspiracy Convictions Prove the Capitol Riot ‘Was Not Spontaneous’?” by Jacob Sullum

“Fani Willis Is Abusing Georgia’s Terrible RICO Law,” by Joe Lancaster

“Joe Biden’s Email Aliases Are a Potentially Serious Transparency Problem,” by C.J. Ciaramella

“Protecting Kids on Social Media Act Cloaks Attack on Privacy Behind Concern for Children,” by J.D. Tuccille

“In Scathing Rulings, Federal Courts Block Arkansas and Texas Age Verification Laws,” by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

“Federal Prison Guards Confessed to Rape and Got Away With It,” by C.J. Ciaramella

“Subsidized Flood Insurance Makes Storm Damage Worse,” by Joe Lancaster

“Immigrants Welcome Here: Puzzle #5,” by Stella Zawistowski

Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

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Audio production by Ian Keyser; assistant production by Hunt Beaty.

Music: “Angeline,” by The Brothers Steve

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Cuba Busts “Human Trafficking Network” To Ship Cubans To Russia’s Frontlines

Cuba Busts “Human Trafficking Network” To Ship Cubans To Russia’s Frontlines

On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry of Cuba said it has ‘neutralized’ and ‘dismantled’ a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to recruit Cubans to the Russian frontlines to fight against Ukraine. 

“Cuba faces human trafficking operations for the purpose of military recruitment,” the ministry said, adding: 

“The Ministry of the Interior detected and is working on the neutralization and dismantling of a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine. Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against people involved in these activities.”

The ministry said, “Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine,” and denounced “any form of human trafficking for the purpose of recruitment or mercenarism for Cuban citizens to use arms against any country.”  

Bloomberg said this comes one week after two Cuban teenagers told YouTube influencer Alain Paparazzi Cubano that Russia scammed them under the impression they would work construction jobs but instead ended up on the frontlines digging trenches and were not paid. 

“We are 19-year-old boys, we are in Russia supposedly for a contract, but everything has been a scam, a hoax,” they told YouTuber Cubano. 

“They told us that (we were going) for the construction, to fix the houses devastated by the war, trenches, rubble. Everything has been a scam,” they said.

“They haven’t paid us, we don’t have passports, we don’t have documents. They kept everything as soon as we got here,” they said.

“We have been to more than seven Russian cities, in the hospitals that we arrived they do the same tests, nobody knows about us,” they complained.

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has yet to comment on Cuba’s claim, but it comes at a period when the country has experienced a historic population decline due to low birth rates, high emigration, and losses in the war in Ukraine. 

Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 17:20

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Proof That Bidenomics Has Been A Catastrophic Failure

Proof That Bidenomics Has Been A Catastrophic Failure

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Joe Biden just can’t quit fibbing.  On Labor Day, he traveled to Philadelphia where he delivered a speech touting the success of “Bidenomics”.  Who does he think he is fooling?  The American people aren’t buying that nonsense.  They know that prices are out of control at the grocery store.  They know that the cost of living has been rising much faster than their paychecks have been.  They know that high interest rates have made it much harder to buy a home.  And they can see that lots of people are starting to lose their jobs.  The truth is that Joe Biden’s time in the White House has been an economic nightmare, and it appears that conditions are likely to get even worse before he is scheduled to leave.

According to a Wall Street Journal poll that was just released, 59 percent of U.S. voters do not approve of how Biden is handling the economy, and voters are particularly concerned about where inflation is headed…

The Wall Street Journal poll, conducted from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30, found that 59% of voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy. Nearly 3 in 4 voters say that inflation “is headed in the wrong direction,” the outlet reported.

Voters overwhelmingly think Biden, who is 80 years old, is too old to run for reelection and only 39% of voters had a favorable view of the president.

I wrote about rapidly rising food prices yesterday, and if you have been to the grocery store lately you know how painful they have become.

Earlier in the summer, Republicans in the U.S. Senate released some figures about inflation during the Biden administration that are quite alarming…

Senate Republican leadership released a report in July showing inflation has soared by 16.6% since Biden took office. Grocery prices have increased by 20%, the report said, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, while energy prices have increased 38%.

Of course those numbers only tell part of the story.

If inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would still be well into double digit territory.

The cost of living has been soaring, and our standard of living has been steadily going down.

As a result, over 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck at this point, and debt levels are rising to unprecedented levels.

Because consumers have so little disposable income these days, retailers all over the nation are experiencing difficulty.

In fact, UBS is projecting that 50,000 stores could close in the United States by the end of 2027…

Analysts at investment bank UBS are forecasting that some 50,000 U.S. stores are likely to close by the end of 2027, because of expected cutbacks in consumer spending, tighter credit and the continued shift to ecommerce.

Store closings could accelerate to 70,000 to 90,000 if retail sales turn out to be weaker than expected, according to UBS.

Actually, I think that losing 50,000 stores is a wildly optimistic scenario.

Hopefully I am wrong about that.

The housing market has also been going haywire.

According to Fortune, the month of August “will become the worst month for housing affordability this century”…

On Monday, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 7.48%, marking the highest level since the year 2000. Even prior to this recent surge in mortgage rates, housing affordability, as monitored by the Atlanta Fed, had already deteriorated beyond the levels seen at the housing bubble’s peak in 2006. Once this latest mortgage rate surge is factored in, August 2023 will become the worst month for housing affordability this century.

Wow.

Thanks Joe Biden.

Home prices are going to have to come down, and in some areas they have already fallen quite a bit…

Homeowners are sitting on a negative equity timebomb after losing $108.4 billion on their property values this year, experts say.

The average borrower saw their home equity plummet by $5,400 in the first quarter of 2023 compared to last year – with households in Washington, California and Utah worst affected.

Do you remember the housing crash of 2008 and 2009?

Well, now the next housing crash is here, and it isn’t going to be fun.

For a while there, Joe Biden and his minions could at least boast about the employment market.

But now large companies all over America are laying off workers, and it is being reported that a staggering 1.223 million native-born Americans lost their jobs during the months of July and August…

Staggering figures have revealed that over 1.2 million US-born workers lost their jobs last month while the foreign-born workforce increased by nearly 700,000 – as migrants continue to flood across the border under the Biden administration.

Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics show that between July and August, there was a staggering decrease of 1.223 million native-born people in the workforce – which is a low not beaten since the jobs crash when Covid hit in April 2020.

The numbers that I have shared with you are nothing to brag about.

But Joe Biden is going to keep trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people anyway.

Unfortunately for Biden, it has become quite clear that most Americans have lost faith in him.  According to the same Wall Street Journal poll that I mentioned above, 73 percent of U.S. voters now believe that Biden “is too old to run for president”…

For Biden, one of his biggest challenges is age. The Wall Street Journal poll found that about 73% of voters think Biden is too old to run for president while only 47% think Trump is too old. Thirty-six percent of voters think that Biden is mentally up for the job while 46% of voters think Trump is mentally capable of being president.

We have never seen numbers like this for any other president.

It is obvious that Biden is in a very advanced state of decline, and this is happening during one of the most critical periods in our history.

Sadly, Biden fully intends to run again.

And the Democrats will get behind him, because at this point no other candidate is posing a serious threat to Biden.

So it appears that a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is coming in 2024, and that promises to be quite a chaotic affair.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 17:00

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Corrupt Billionaire Behind Zelensky’s Rise To Fame & Power Arrested

Corrupt Billionaire Behind Zelensky’s Rise To Fame & Power Arrested

With an estimated fortune of just under $1.7 billion, Ihor Kolomoisky is among Ukraine’s top five richest citizens. Over the weekend he was arrested by Ukraine authorities on an array of fraud and money laundering charges, at a sensitive moment the government is trying to show the world it can tackle deeply rooted corruption.

A Saturday statement from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that the billionaire, referred to as the “de facto owner of a large financial and industrial group” – had allegedly tried to launder over 500 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($13.5 million) by “transferring it abroad, while using the infrastructure of banking institutions controlled by him.”

Ihor Kolomoisky file image

A Kyiv court has ordered him to pretrial detention for two months amid an ongoing investigation, with bail having been set at a whopping $14 million.

Importantly, The New York Times in its Tuesday coverage of Kolomoisky’s arrest highlighted that he was an early major backer of now President Volodymyr Zelensky who had a hand in bringing him to power. He’s also widely believed to have funded extremist private militia armies at various times.

Writes the NY Times: “His business interests have included oil and banking, and he was once considered a patron of Mr. Zelensky, a former comedian whose popular shows were broadcast on Mr. Kolomoisky’s television channel before he successfully ran for the presidency.”

And further very revealing details are included in the Times report as follows:

Suspicions of corruption and embezzlement have dogged Mr. Kolomoisky for years. In 2017, he left Ukraine for Switzerland and Israel after the government of then-President Petro O. Poroshenko seized a bank he co-owned and accused him of a large-scale fraud that threatened to destabilize Ukraine’s economy.

He returned in 2019 after Mr. Zelensky’s defeat of Mr. Poroshenko, raising fears that his ties to the new president would help him regain his economic and political clout.

So naturally, Western mainstream press is now presenting this as a “big fish” prosecution showing Zelensky is getting “tough” and finally going gloves-off on exposing long-standing corruption.

The timing is also interesting given Zelensky just sacked his own defense minister, an announcement which came the same weekend as billionaire Kolomoisky’s arrest. “This week, parliament will be asked to make a personnel decision … I have decided to replace the minister of defense of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has gone through more than 550 days of full-scale war,” Zelensky said over the weekend. 

And guess who was degrees of separation away from Hunter Biden, related to shady Bursima relationships? “Besides being connected through the Burisma energy giant, Hunter Biden did business with Igor Kolomoisky’s bank,” one prior report reads.

As for the dismissed defense minister, Reznikov was at the center of an anti-graft probe into the military’s paying inflated prices for imported items, sometimes at triple or more the cost, the profits of which are believed to have lined the pockets of top military officials. There’s also the recent recruiting scandal, where top military recruiters were given large bribes to allow individuals to avoid conscription.

In the backdrop is Ukraine’s application to join the European Union. Of course, the fact that Ukraine tops the list of Europe’s most corrupt societies will remain a major hurdle likely for years to come.

Russian media has meanwhile pointed out that Kolomoysky has personally entered the political arena at times, and that his money has hugely impacted the country in ways known and unknown:

Kolomoysky burst on to the political scene in 2014, when he was appointed governor of the southeastern Dnepropetrovsk Region following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. A year later, however, he was dismissed from his post over a conflict with then-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko amid a struggle for control of Ukrnafta and state-owned oil pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta.

In 2016, Ukrainian authorities also nationalized Kolomoysky’s PrivatBank, after declaring it a major threat to the country’s financial system, following allegations of large-scale fraud.

Kolomoysky is also widely considered to have played a major role in the rise to power of President Vladimir Zelensky. Before launching his political campaign in 2019, Zelensky was a comedian, whose show was hosted by a Kolomoysky-controlled media holding. The magnate himself said he “wanted” Zelensky to become president, but denied close contacts with him.

In this particular case it’s very likely Washington has brought pressure to bear on Kyiv, given that as far back as 2021 the US State Dept. sanctioned Kolomoysky and his family members. A US statement at the time said he was engaged “in corrupt acts that undermined rule of law and the Ukrainian public’s faith in their government’s democratic institutions.”

He may have at one point even been stripped of his Ukrainian passport, but he’s personally dismissed these reports as well as the widespread allegations of corruption as being “nonsense” and without merit.

* * *

Perhaps this is why it was easy for Zelensky to now (after all these years of “open” corruption) deliver him to the courts? Starting in 2019 Kolomoisky began making some pro-Moscow statements, in a major reverse-course…

Ukraine should give up on the West and go back into Russia’s fold, influential Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky said in an interview with The New York Times Wednesday.

Kolomoisky’s business ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have been under heavy scrutiny since the start of the former comedian’s election campaign this year. Both men have rejected suggestions that Kolomoisky has behind-the-scenes influence over Zelenskiy. 

The Moscow Times picked out quotes from Kolomoisky’s emotional and profanity-laced interview that The New York Times says marks a “remarkable change of heart” for Russia’s former opponent.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 16:40

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Sidney Powell Alleges Falsehoods In Georgia Trump Indictment

Sidney Powell Alleges Falsehoods In Georgia Trump Indictment

Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Lawyer and former prosecutor Sidney Powell alleged false claims in the indictment against former President Donald Trump in Georgia.

Sidney Powell speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Alpharetta, Ga., on Dec. 2, 2020. (NTD)

Ms. Powell, who’s a co-defendant in the case, contradicted several claims in the indictment in an Aug. 30 court filing, asking for her case to be tried separately from the other 18 defendants, including President Trump.

Most of the charges don’t involve her and those that do “fatally depend on demonstrably false premises,” the filing said.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged in the Aug. 14 indictment that Ms. Powell participated in a racketeering conspiracy by tampering with election machines and computers and stealing data from them.

She “entered into a contract” with data forensic company SullivanStrickler and “caused” its employees to copy data from election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, after the 2020 election, the indictment said.

In fact, Ms. Powell asserted, that though her name was printed on the SullivanStrickler contract, she never signed it.

“There was no contract for SullivanStrickler to conduct forensic imaging of the Coffee County Voting Systems,” her filing said.

“Ms. Powell signed no such contract. … Ms. Powell did not plan or organize the Coffee County trip. … Ms. Powell did not request SullivanStrickler to undertake that project,” it said.

As for the breach of the equipment, the firm claimed in a separate lawsuit that its employees believed they were authorized to copy the data. They said at least one Coffee County election official was present during their work.

“A unanimous Coffee County Election Board gave permission for the forensic inspection, and nothing was stolen,” the Powell filing said.

The prosecution rests on the assertion that the county officials themselves weren’t authorized to make such a decision.

Ms. Powell also argued that she wasn’t a part of any conspiracy on behalf of President Trump because she wasn’t involved in most of the actions alleged in the indictment, wasn’t in contact with most of the people allegedly involved, and was in fact mostly at odds with them.

“Ms. Powell did not agree with any of her purported coconspirators to do anything improper, and many of her purported coconspirators publicly shunned and disparaged Ms. Powell beginning in November 2020. Others she does not know or had no contact with at all,” the filing said.

The main thrust of the indictment focuses on a strategy devised by several lawyers advising President Trump to arrange alternative slates of electors in several states and thus delay the counting of the electoral votes. It alleges the strategy amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Ms. Powell said she had no involvement in those efforts.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 16:20

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‘Value’ Stocks Puked, ‘Growth’ Gains, As Heavy Flow Hammers Bonds

‘Value’ Stocks Puked, ‘Growth’ Gains, As Heavy Flow Hammers Bonds

A long weekend to think about how ‘not-goldilocks’ the jobs data really was combined with disappointing manufacturing orders data this morning prompted a bid for Nasdaq (safety in the MAG7) and selling in Small Caps as rates rose (this is since the Friday close and include futures from yesterday). Some late-day selling pressure wiped some of the lipstic off the tech pig leaving Russell 2000 down over 2%, Dow & S&P down around 0.5% and Nasdaq only marginally higher from Friday’s close…

This was the Nasdaq’s second best performance relative to the Russell 2000 since Nov 2021, breaking out to a new cycle high. The last time Nasdaq/Russell 2000 traded here was March 2000 – the very peak of the dotcom bubble…

Value stocks saw their 2nd biggest decline relative to growth since May today, breaking below July’s lows…

To its weakest since Dec 2021…

After surging last week, Homebuilders were hammered lower today as fears of higher rates and cooling labor markets finally weighed on the stocks…

…but they’ve got a long way to fall given the macro data…

Source: Bloomberg

‘Most Shorted’ stocks were slammed lower, erasing Friday’s post-payrolls squeeze…

Source: Bloomberg

Bonds were a non-stop sell-fest today thanks to a very heavy calendar with the entire curve up around 7-8bps (after rising 2bps in futures land yesterday)…

Source: Bloomberg

As Bloomberg notes, at least 40 businesses are tapping high-grade bond markets around the world on Tuesday, looking to lock in borrowing costs ahead of crucial releases of economic data and central bank policy decisions. About half of those deals are underway in the US, where it’s shaping up to be the busiest day of issuance since Jan. 3. At least six US high-grade corporate bond issuers have slated offerings for Tuesday; sales are expected to total about $120b this month, a seasonally heavy month that normally sees issuance concentrated in the week or so after US Labor Day.

Well the weight of the issuance on the Treasury market did nothing to scare off equity investors who shrugged off the recent strong relationship between yields and equity prices…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar soared higher today (best day since March), up 3 of the last 4 days to its strongest since March (biggest 4-day jump since Feb)…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin slid lower, back below $26,000…

Source: Bloomberg

Dollar strength weighed on gold, dragging the precious metal (spot) down to $1925

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices soared after the OPEC+ headlines, pushing WTI above $88 (its highest since Nov 2022). WTI is up 8 straight days today…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, we note that, with a US recession on the horizon, gold will probably outperform stocks. As Bloomberg’s Nour Al Ali reports, measured using the ratio of gold prices to S&P 500 total returns, the metal has comfortably come out on top from the start to the end of each of the past three US recessions…

Source: Bloomberg

During the 2000 event, the ratio went from 0.15 to 0.17 over the period defined by NBER. During the global financial crisis it nearly doubled from 0.34 to 0.62, and in the Covid recession, it climbed from 0.23 to 0.28.

So today’s decline in the barbarous relic is a buying opportunity?

Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 16:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/Jf4BOYK Tyler Durden

Mexican Officials Place Slab Of Berlin Wall Next To Open US Border As “A Lesson”

Mexican Officials Place Slab Of Berlin Wall Next To Open US Border As “A Lesson”

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

The mayor of Tijuana, Mexico and a former Mexican foreign secretary have placed a large slab of the former Berlin Wall next to the U.S. southern border fence there in an action designed to teach “a lesson” about barriers.

Fox News reports that a plaque on the piece of the wall that once divided the East and West of Germany reads “May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges.”

The report notes that Montserrat Caballero, the mayor of Tijuana, personally penned the message, and at the unveiling of the slab said “We are a government that believes more in building bridges, than walls that are useless.”

She continued, “The social and political conflict is different than the Berlin Wall, but it’s a wall at the end of the day. And a wall is always a sphinx that divides and bloodies nations.”

Caballero further claimed that the U.S. border barriers represent “violence” and “family separation.”

However, there is a slight problem with the display:

Related:

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Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/05/2023 – 15:45

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Police Tore Up His Protest Sign. Now They Owe Him $50,000


Police officer writing a ticket | Peterfactors / Dreamstime.com

Last year, Delaware police prevented 54-year-old Jonathan Guessford from holding a sign warning drivers about a speed trap and wrongfully cited him for “improper hand signal” after he flipped off the officers who seized and tore up his sign. Police have now agreed to pay Guessford $50,000 as part of a settlement reached in a lawsuit alleging that police violated his civil rights.

Following several run-ins with the police, Guessford decided to “stage protests whenever he saw police officers stopping unsuspected vehicles using a radar gun,” according to legal documents. On March 11, 2022, his protest consisted of standing by the side of the road, holding a homemade sign reading, “Radar Ahead!” Guessford was soon confronted by several Delaware State Police officers, who took his sign and tore it up.

As Guessford drove away after the encounter, he flipped off the officers, leading them to eventually cite him for “improper hand signal” under a statute governing hand signals for nonmotorized vehicles like bicycles. However, body camera footage showed that officers knew that the citation was incongruous and would likely be dropped.

“Yeah, you can’t do that. That’ll get dropped,” Officer Christopher Popp said during a phone call to another officer, who replied, referring to a third officer, “I told him that’s going to get thrown out….Eventually, [Guessford is] going to do something really stupid, and then we are going to be able to really lock him up.”

Guessford filed a lawsuit against the officers in February, alleging that they violated his First Amendment rights by destroying his sign and issuing an improper citation. Last week, the officers settled the lawsuit, agreeing to give Guessford a $50,000 payout. 

The officer’s “initiation of the traffic stop, and issuance of a bogus traffic ticket to Plaintiff Guessford, was an adverse action taken in retaliation for his exercise of constitutionally protected symbolic speech and expression,” reads the lawsuit. “As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ violations of the First Amendment, Plaintiff Guessford has suffered irreparable harm, including the loss of his clearly established fundamental constitutional right to free speech and expression.”

The post Police Tore Up His Protest Sign. Now They Owe Him $50,000 appeared first on Reason.com.

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