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Blain’s Morning Porridge – June 11 2020: The illusion wears thin
Blain’s Morning Porridge – June 11 2020: The illusion wears thin
“It is the system that deserves to be blamed. What those who wish to perpetuate the system deserve is another question.”
The Fed did exactly what was expected – nay, demanded! Asset purchase volumes will be maintained while rates will remain near zero for the next 2 years. Hallelujah! The market shrugged aside indications a second virus wave is hitting across parts of the US and Europe…
If Fed-Head Jay Powell has said anything else, there would have been a hissy-fit mini-taper-tantrum. The dominant force on markets will remain central banks juicing markets – and all the entails in terms of distortion. The immediate lesson for investors is – keep buying! The Fed and the other CBs have got your back. They can’t afford for markets to stumble.
Problem is… little the Fed said is likely to change the reality of the coming recession. The downturn might not be as deep or as bad as we originally feared, but whatever nonsense some analysts are spouting in terms of hopes for a V-Shape recovery… recession is coming. It might be less damaging, and less long-lived than we fear… But..
There is a new and growing dimension to this crisis…
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations around the globe highlight the threat of social unrest, and political dislocation. When the virus kicked in, I commented a few times how lockdown frustrations and hot summer nights could be a recipe for riots. But, what’s happened is much more fundamental – and should be a critical concern for investors in terms of how it changes the political narrative.
Unrest is a political issue – and politics have a seriously underestimated ability to roil markets.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
The oppressed rise to their feet. Police sink to their knees. Silence is violence.
And violence is speech.
From sea to glittering sea, from one continent to the next… protests yet rage.
An injustice somewhere on a Minneapolis street evidently threatens justice everywhere.
It certainly threatens the peace everywhere.
Here in Baltimore, storefronts up Charles Street and down Charles Street are barricaded against bricks:
Is there a greater symbol of hope, of love, than a plywood sheet stretched across a storefront window?
We have yet to encounter one in this world.
“When a Man Enters a Crowd He Exits Civilization”
We have nothing to say against protests, of course. If a man wishes to march against perceived injustice, let him march… lest the heavens fall.
Yet our spacious and tolerant disposition places us in a pickle jar. For a man in a protest is a man in a crowd…
And when a man enters a crowd he exits civilization.
He goes in, his blood goes up… and his reason goes out.
As Herr Nietzsche observed, madness is a rarity in individuals — but the rule in crowds.
Or as argued Mr. Charles Mackay, author of the 1841 classic Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds:
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
“A Crowd Runs Not on Thought but on Hormones”
A man in a crowd ceases to be a man but a face.
He ceases to be an independent unit but a cog in a lunatic machine.
A man in a crowd does not think for himself. The crowd thinks for him.
That is, the man ceases to think whatsoever.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Police, Protests, And Human Transformation: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Police, Protests, And Human Transformation: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
One of the many good things coming out of these protests is a widening mainstream awareness of what a garbage president Obama was.
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“Without the police you’d have vigilantism!”
Vigilantism? You mean like when a band of armed thugs inflict extrajudicial violence upon someone who pissed them off? Like the police do constantly?
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Right wingers seem completely incapable of distinguishing between the ideology that’s all about holding massive demonstrations with the goal of dismantling the police and the ideology that’s all about kneeling in front of cameras wearing Kente cloth. This makes cross-ideological communication nearly impossible, about this subject and many others as well.
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Mainstream America learning that their country is a militarized authoritarian police state is not what the narrative managers wanted. Blows my mind that this isn’t more obvious to more analysts.
If these massive protests look suspicious to you, it’s because they conflict with your expectations of what an expression of grassroots energy would look like. If they conflict with your expectations of what an expression of grassroots energy would look like, it’s because you’re out of touch with where the zeitgeist is at. If you’re out of touch with where the zeitgeist is at, it’s time to revise your media viewing habits.
There are two ways of looking at these protests:
- Elite manipulators are controlling them, and are shoring up more control.
- Elite manipulators are not in control of them, and are losing control.
If you believe #1 then the establishment institutions expressing support for the protests are doing so because they like them. If you believe #2 then they’re doing it with the goal of mollifying, neutralizing and co-opting (see entire Obama administration). Given that we’re talking about a dying empire, #2 seems much more likely to me.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Three crises, one solution
Three crises, one solution
The paroxysm of anger that has erupted across the US in the wake of the murder of George Floyd has been called by some observers “a tipping point”. A multicultural younger generation is showing that it is genuinely concerned about social injustice, racial inequality, and the climate crisis.
The astonishing scenes on the streets of America have echoed around the world including in the UK, Canada, and Australia. But is it a tipping point? We have been through this before, at least since the violent riots that wracked Los Angeles almost 30 years ago in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating—captured on video. If there’s a single technology that has to some degree protected the Black community in America and Canada against racial injustice at the hands of the police, one could argue it’s the video camera and the smart phone. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a million.
The pandemic
The widespread protests against police violence have almost overshadowed the sombre news about the Covid-19 pandemic. Around the world, over 400,000 people have died—more than a quarter of them in the US. The death toll in America is certain to rise—ironically because the protest marches bring thousands of people into close proximity at a time when the contagion in the US has barely abated.
But behind the nightly news programmes showing protesters on the streets in cities around the world, and warnings from public health professionals about the continuing pandemic, there is another simmering crisis. This one is slow-burning, but much more dangerous.
The climate
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Increased Violence Reflects an Energy Problem
Increased Violence Reflects an Energy Problem
Why are we seeing so much violence recently? One explanation is that people are sympathizing with those in the Minneapolis area who are upset at the death of George Floyd. They believe that a white cop used excessive force in subduing Floyd, leading to his death.
I believe that there is a much deeper story involved. As I wrote in my recent post, Understanding Our Pandemic – Economy Predicament, the problem we are facing is too many people relative to resources, particularly energy resources. This leads to a condition sometimes referred to as “overshoot and collapse.” The economy grows for a while, may stabilize for a time, and then heads in a downward direction, essentially because energy consumption per capita falls too low.
Strangely enough, this energy crisis looks like a crisis of affordability. The young and the poor, especially, cannot afford to buy goods and services that they need, such as a home in which to raise their children and a vehicle to drive. Trying to do so leaves them with excessive debt. If the affordability problem changes for the worse, the young and the poor are likely to protest. In fact, these protests may become violent.
The pandemic tends to make the affordability problem worse for minorities and young people because they are disproportionately affected by job losses associated with lockdowns. In many cases, the poor catch COVID-19 more frequently because they live and/or work in crowded conditions where the disease spreads easily. In the US, blacks seem to be especially hard hit, both by COVID-19 and through the loss of jobs. These issues, plus the availability of guns, makes the situation particularly explosive in the US.
Let me explain these issues further.
[1] Energy is required for all aspects of the economy.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Social Contract Between Government and People Is Unraveling – Quicktake
The Social Contract Between Government and People Is Unraveling – Quicktake
Numbers, budgets, charts and graphs about government finances. That’s what we do here. We try to understand where public money should be spent and what it accomplishes.
Through that lens, it’s difficult to know where to begin on what has befallen the Chicago area and most of the country.
For now, this simple observation seems paramount: The most fundamental element of the social contract between government and the people is cracking. That’s the obligation of government to keep its citizens safe. For that, we surrender a portion of of our freedom and wealth to government for the collective good.
That arrangement has been recognized as a foundational philosophy of civil society since Thomas Hobbes articulated it over 300 years ago.
Citizens expect government to protect them from rioting and looting just as they expect it to protect their lives and adhere to to a civil process when being arrested. Both expectations are now broken.
“The sight of looters and arsonists pillaging stores at will has shaken the confidence of many that law enforcement is capable of maintaining the peace. It has also tainted the very real grief felt over the tragic loss of life.” That’s not from a source that’s unsympathetic to George Floyd or protesters. It’s from an editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
What will be the consequences breaking the social contract? Speculate if you want, but know that it may extend far beyond George Floyd’s murder and the resulting violence.
Hong Kong Erupts: Tear Gas Deployed As Thousands Fill Streets To Oppose China’s National Security Law
Hong Kong Erupts: Tear Gas Deployed As Thousands Fill Streets To Oppose China’s National Security Law
After months of relative quiet amid the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Hong Kong, defying the city’s ban on gatherings to voice their opposition to a new “national security” law proposed by Beijing which would threaten the city’s autonomy and the civil liberties of its residents.
May glory be to thee, #HongKong! Call us terrorists, whatever you want, after the #WuhanVirus outbreak, #China has no more credibility in the world. #HongKongProtests #NationalSecurityLaw #StandWithHongKong
Hundreds of riot police charge at protest lines outside Sogo. Some protesters arrested #HongKongProtests #HongKong
Oh boy what a shot@ohboywhatashot
Mainstream media, what is happening in #HongKong?
The protesters, most of whom could be seen donning masks, were hit with tear gas less than an hour after the start of the demonstrations which resulted in at least 120 arrests – including 40 of which were people accused of blocking Gloucester Road. A water cannon truck was also deployed according to SCMP.“LucyO@Lucy0HKer
Tear gas in causeway bay 24May #HongKong
The first rounds of tear gas were fired around 1:30 p.m. local time outside a Causeway Bay shopping mall. 20 minutes later, the first arrest was made, according to the Epoch Times.
Rounds of tear gas are fired in Causeway Bay on Sunday
Video: SCMP/Phila Siu
Tank man in #HongKong today. #YouCantStopUs #StandWithHongKong
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Huge Protests in Germany Against Government’s Lockdowns
Huge Protests in Germany Against Government’s Lockdowns
The German Press is starting to wake up at last after a period of just saying Yes mam! They have run the story that if we acted rationally, we could quickly overcome the consequences of the corona crisis. But politics is deliberately spreading panic among the population and stirring up fear – and in this way causes a severe economic crisis.
For today, the initiative “lateral thinking 711” announced a rally with 500,000 participants in Stuttgart have registered. But there are protests rising in Munich and Berlin. The number of people may reach 1 million.
The government is trying with the aid of most press to label these people as right-wing racists because they cannot address their actions on false forecasts. Meanwhile, unknown persons have set up a replica tombstone in front of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) constituency office in Stralsund symbolizing her reign some call of Terror between the refugees and now the virus over-reaction has destroy their lib=vlihoods and their future.
On top of that, the rising resentment against the Eurozone control from Brussels has many wanting to kill the Euro and return to national currencies. I have warned that the cultural divides are far too great and this virus is being used for a total environmental reconstruction of the economy by sheer force. The lack of a transition or any planning whatsoever has cast the livelihoods and future of the world population is tremendous jeopardy and has drastically increased the outcome of our forecasts for not just the collapse of the Euro, but the rise in civil unrest and international war.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The People are Rising Up – Journalists & Politicians Beware
The People are Rising Up – Journalists & Politicians Beware
A former respected journalist has come out quite angry and has called for the people to overthrow the Merkel government. He states he is willing to go to prison but begs everyone for the sake of the country and their families to reject Merkel and her links to Bill Gates and is effectively calling for a non-violent Revolution. He is not even offering a specific alternative. Just to throw out the Merkel government.
This video has been going viral in Germany and a lot of people are getting really angry at this entire destruction of the world economy they see has been orchestrated by Bill Gates. This video has accused the press in Germany of just supporting whatever Bill Gates directs. They have been compelled to come out and try to attack this video rather than reflect upon the coverage they have provided.
Our computer model warned that protest would start after week four. However, violence would typically start to emerge after week six. All around the globe we are starting to see protests and people refusing to comply with these lockdown orders which are clearly against international human rights.
In Germany, there were 171,000 confirmed cases with 7,510 deaths. The total German population is about 83 million. That is only about 0.00008%. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but this is beyond foolery. The people are starting to wake up that they have been played for fools. By mid-May, we would be looking at major protests lining up around the globe, particularly the week of May 18th.
The journalists who have supported Gates should really look at what they are doing. They may be putting their own families at risk if this erupts into massive civil unrest because they have aided the loss of jobs, savings, and homes. Caesar – Beware the week of May 18th.
A Handful of Cops Are Standing Up To Tyranny With the People
A HANDFUL OF COPS ARE STANDING UP TO TYRANNY WITH THE PEOPLE
Some police officers have awoken to the world they are leaving for their children and are standing with the people against tyranny. While these instances are still few and far between, it’s a good sign that at least a few may be realizing what kind of world they are enforcing at this point in human history.
For a long time, police officers and the military have done nothing more than blindly obey the commands of politicians and enforce even the most immoral of laws on the public. That seems to be changing, and we can always hope it will change more rapidly in the coming days.
David Icke To LEOs & Military: “Look Your Children In The Eye” & Tell Them YOU Enforced Tyranny
According to a report from the Federalist, police chiefs from Texas to Washington are standing up against the draconian orders from local power-hunger tyrants demanding strict adherence to extreme social distancing measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Even with manipulated statics designed to strike fear into the masses being blasted all over the news, there is no excuse for the tyranny we are seeing spread all over the planet at a much more rapid rate than this virus could ever hope to achieve. People, by and large, have started looking beyond the falsified “facts” provided by those who don’t care about your health, only about controlling you.
Lies & Data Manipulation: NYC Adds 3,700 Who Never Tested Positive To COVID-19 Death Toll
Anit-Body Study Shows COVID-19 Is Already “Widespread” & Death Toll Much Lower Than We Were Told
The following are examples of police standing against tyranny:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Pandemic And Economic Collapse: The Next 60 Days
Pandemic And Economic Collapse: The Next 60 Days
The news cycle moves so quickly these days writing analysis on current events becomes difficult; the moment you publish an examination of the situation people have already moved on to the next disaster. So, today I’m not going to do that. Instead, let’s look at current trends and project what is likely to happen in the next couple of months. In my article ‘How The Pandemic Crisis Will Probably Develop Over The Next Year’ published in early March, I outlined what I believed would be the major developments on a longer timetable. Some of these predictions have already occurred.
Now I would like to tackle a shorter timetable and focus more specifically on the economic side of things, along with the effects of government lockdowns and how they will continue. Yes, that’s right, if you think the “reopening” of the economy is going to be widespread, or that it will last, don’t get your hopes up. I am using a 60 day model because I have observed that the average non-aware person appears to be about two months behind those of us in the liberty movement in terms of seeing the dangers ahead.
First and foremost, the lockdown issue is on almost everyone’s mind, and as I’ve been saying for the past month, it would not take long before people start freaking out about their financial prospects once they realize this thing may not be over “in two weeks” as we keep hearing every two weeks from the mainstream media, state governments and Donald Trump. The “two weeks until reopen” mantra is designed to keep the public placated and docile, and the establishment will continue to use it until people are finally fed up, which is already beginning to happen.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
RCMP Accused of Creating ‘Crisis of Press Freedom’ in Wet’suwet’en Raids
RCMP Accused of Creating ‘Crisis of Press Freedom’ in Wet’suwet’en Raids
Limits on reporters’ access, threats of arrest bring criticism from media, journalism groups.
The RCMP’s handling of the enforcement of an injunction in Wet’suwet’en territory has generated accusations that police unnecessarily interfered with reporters doing their jobs.
“This is them trying to control the media and block information getting out to the public, and that’s why it’s a misuse of police power,” said Karyn Pugliese, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists.
“Regardless of whether or not we get it perfect every time, we just can’t have a functioning democracy without media keeping an eye on the state and reporting back to the public on what they’re seeing so the public can make critical decisions about what kind of country they want to live in.”
An RCMP spokesperson says the police did what they needed to do to ensure safety as they enforced the injunction, and B.C. Premier John Horgan says anyone who feels their rights were infringed has recourse through law enforcement and the courts.
But Ethan Cox, an editor for Ricochet Media based in Montreal, said the police actions were an attack on journalists and the public’s right to know.
“This is a situation, a flash point, a very severe crisis of press freedom that’s happening in British Columbia,” he said. “This is a crisis, and we clearly have a police force that is not respecting the rights of the media and that’s a constitutional problem. That’s not some small potatoes issue.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Horgan’s Pipeline Push Betrays His Reconciliation Promise
Horgan’s Pipeline Push Betrays His Reconciliation Promise
First Nations expected a new era; instead the government has embraced colonialism and ignored UNDRIP law.
It’s the same old story Indigenous Peoples have heard for generations.
B.C. Premier John Horgan tells the public “the rule of law” demands the Coastal GasLink pipeline go ahead. Permits are in place, and the courts have approved construction.
The opposition of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs is not important to Horgan, as he points to 20 First Nations that have signed agreements to allow the pipeline and negotiated benefits. The five clans who have not agreed don’t seem to count.
Is this a scorecard of how many First Nations say yes compared to those who say no? Is that how we measure rights and title?
Are we not in a new era of reconciliation? A new decade? The decade of the enactment of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Act in this province?
What would I expect from the premier in this new era, in this particular situation when he needs credibility with First Nations if his commitment to UNDRIP is to be taken seriously?
I would expect the premier to look back on past decisions and ensure they were made in the spirit of UNDRIP — including approval of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. His party was making political promises to uphold UNDRIP long before the NDP were in government.
In the 2014 Supreme Court of Canada Tsilhqot’in decision, the justices stated clearly that provincial and federal governments need to be prepared to cancel already approved projects if First Nations establish title to the land and oppose them.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
A news chronology of France in 2019: The year of Yellow Vest rebellion
A news chronology of France in 2019: The year of Yellow Vest rebellion
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of the books ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’ and the upcoming ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism.’
But before I list the (often unnoticed, misunderstood or covered-up) chronological facts of France’s incredible Yellow Vest year, allow me to briefly summarise it with a personal anecdote:
In mid-April I finally was able to get out of Paris for a few days in between Saturdays and I headed to the countryside, which I adore (in any nation). After a day of decompression something hit me: the metronomic sadism of certain, massive state violence every weekend was not at all a normal state of affairs… and yet Parisians were expending all their psychic energy to convince themselves that everything was indeed “normal”.
What was “everything” from January to mid-April? Every Saturday: Eight thousand cops on the streets of Paris, entire city areas shut down, guaranteed images of violence against unarmed protesters, indiscriminate tear gassings and police brutality, the world aghast at French-style democracy, the knowledge that no way was “President Jupiter” Emmanuel Macron going to make any concessions and that for many people (like me) every Saturday meant certainly risking limb and quite possibly life.
What I realised was that during the first third of the year Parisians did their typical best to be blasé; to act as if all this was quite nothing new whatsoever; to act like getting upset over it was quite poor taste; to act typically Parisian.
That, of course, was total nonsense – pure poseur.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Iran Again Blocks Internet & Mobile Service Ahead Of Protesters’ Funerals
Iran Again Blocks Internet & Mobile Service Ahead Of Protesters’ Funerals
Fearing the potential for renewed protests and violent clashes with police, Iran has again blocked internet and mobile access to broad section of the country on Wednesday.
This as several funerals will be held over the coming days for protesters killed last month amid a severe government crackdown, which also witness an unprecedented nationwide internet blockage which lasted for a week or more in some provinces.
Citing Iranian state media, Bloomberg reports, “The mourning services are scheduled to begin on Thursday. The independent Shargh newspaper said five unidentified provinces will be subject to the blackout, while ILNA said internet users in those areas will have access to a limited number of state-approved Iran websites and applications.”
Government authorities are reportedly acting in response to relatives of some among the killed who have posted to social media calling for renewed protests to be held on Thursday in conjunction with ceremonies commemorating the victims (various estimates put those killed from the November protests ranging from 200 to over 300, with the US State Dept. claiming multiple times that number).
The US as well as various human rights organizations have accused Tehran authorities of quelling protests — initially sparked by a huge gas price hike when subsidies were slashed — with live ammunition and other brutal tactics.
Thus it appears the government is making a move to prevent large-scale protests before they gain momentum. State-run ILNA said of the mobile and internet blockage: “According to this source, it is possible that more provinces will be affected by the shutdown of mobile international connectivity,” after it appeared to spread on Wednesday.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
