Biden is on the verge of making the same dangerous mistakes as the presidents before him

President Joe Biden during his inauguration at the US Capitol, January 20, 2021. Patrick Semansky/Pool via AP

 

If the escalating tensions between the United States and China aren’t causing you concern yet, you’ve not been paying attention. There’s a lot going on right now in our Covid-besieged world. Antagonism between the United States and China is only one source of concern. The broken relationship between the US and Iran is another.

Iran responded by firing missiles at Iraqi air bases housing US forces. The bad blood between Tehran and Washington derives from many sources. Yet one proximate cause stems from the Trump administration’s unilateral decision to exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the so-called Iran nuclear deal, as a part of a crude «maximum pressure» campaign. That campaign failed abysmally, and in a hopeful sign, the Biden administration has now signalled its interest in rejoining the JCPOA.

As Lumber Prices Hit Record High, Homebuilders Urge Biden To Intervene

 

By Robert Dalheim of Woodworking Network,

«The extreme price increases, as reflected in today’s producer price index report and other sources, are harming contractors on existing projects and making it difficult to bid new work at a profitable level,» said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. «While contractors have kept bids nearly flat until now, project owners and budget officials should anticipate the prospect that contractors will have to pass along their higher costs in upcoming bids». « This could include easing cross-border truck and rail shipments, unloading at ports, hauling of logs and other raw materials to mills and engineered-wood producers, and shipping wood products to distributors and construction sites». Once that happens the clients are lost forever.

Diane Francis: Why it's time to resurrect Energy East

A map of the route of the proposed Energy East pipeline at a news conference in 2013. PHOTO BY GAVIN YOUNG/CALGARY HERALD FILES

 

Would help us deal with loss of Keystone XL and provide added benefit of displacing imported oil from Saudi Arabia

«The revoking of Keystone XL’s permit by U. President Joe Biden his first day in office highlights the risk for Canada of depending on a single country for its petroleum product exports,» wrote Miguel Ouellette in his report. «This economic note points out that the construction of new pipelines on Canadian soil would help the country reduce this risk and maximize revenues from oil exports, thus encouraging job creation and improving Canadians’ living standards». Its paper, titled «Canada Must Reconsider Its Pipeline Strategy,» is a breath of fresh air in a national conversation that has been mired since 2015 in prime ministerial incompetence, ethical breaches, vaccine shortages, environmental claptrap and anti-enterprise bias in Ottawa. The reality is that, whether the environmentalists like it or not, demand for oil will persist for decades to come and Canada’s oil and gas will be needed.

How Ottawa's mistakes ensured you'll likely be vaccinated six months later than everyone else

 

A cascade of government failures ensured Canada will be gripped by COVID-19 long after the rest of the G7 has reopened

Canada is now so far behind the rest of the developed world in its vaccination rollout that it’s generatinginternationalheadlines. As you might have noticed if you’re a Canadian, not many of us are vaccinated against COVID-19 right now. As of publication, a mere 2.8% of us have gotten the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and only 1% of us have gotten both doses. So, in all of Canada, the amount of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is roughly equivalent to the population of London, Ont.

Keystone XL's death sparks rush to ship oilsands crude by rail

Oil tankers sit at a rail yard at the Kinder Morgan Inc. facility in Richmond, California. PHOTO BY DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG FILES

 

Rail poised to become more important way to send Canadian oil to U. President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline is sparking renewed interest in shipping Canadian oilsands crude by rail, and that comes with its own environmental risks. have increasingly turned to trains to move their crude, with oil exports by rail from Canada more than tripling since July. Now, Gibson Energy Inc. Without Keystone XL, which was scheduled to enter service in 2023, rail is poised to become a more important way for Canadian oil to reach U. Gibson expects that by the third or fourth quarter it will start a 50,000-barrel-a-day facility that will maximize the crude content in rail shipments by removing diluent used to move the crude through pipelines to its terminal in Hardisty, Alberta.

Read more.

Source: Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg News | Financial Post

The risks of communicating extreme climate forecasts

In a new paper published in the International Journal of Global Warming, Carnegie Mellon University’s David Rode and Paul Fischbeck argue that making such forecasts can be counterproductive. Rode and Fischbeck, professor of Social & Decision Sciences and Engineering & Public Policy, collected 79 predictions of climate-caused apocalypse going back to the first Earth Day in 1970. In fact, 48 of the predictions have already expired as of the end of 2020. “Fischbeck noted, “from a forecasting perspective, the ‘problem’ is not only that all of the expired forecasts were wrong, but also that so many of them never admitted to any uncertainty about the date.

William Watson: 1,000,000,000,000

We used to talk billions in fiscal policy. Now, increasingly, we talk trillions. PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

 

Will Ottawa borrowing $100 million more produce more benefits than leaving the money with Canadians to spend?

A trillion. Or, if you like, a thousand billion. Or, the one I find most impressive, a million million. President Joe Biden’s proposed COVID package is US$1.9 trillion , though the Wall Street Journal argues only a measly US$825 billion is even remotely related to COVID, the rest being progressive visioning made flesh.

Will Inflation Make a Comeback?

 

Those who heed current consensus forecasts of persistently low price growth could be in for a rude awakening. ZURICH — Current forecasts by many banks, central banks, and other institutions suggest that inflation will not be a problem in the foreseeable future. The International Monetary Fund, for example, expects global inflation to remain subdued until the end of its forecast horizon in 2025. Economic models have long been notoriously inaccurate in predicting inflation, and COVID-19 has further complicated the challenge.

We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April

ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN KOZLOWSKI

 

Covid cases have dropped 77% in six weeks. Experts should level with the public about the good news. In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing. Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus.

Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity. As of this week, 15% of Americans have received the vaccine, and the figure is rising fast. There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of infection. As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected.

Four Key Reasons Gold Can Enhance Your Portfolio

 

Why buy gold?

The Relevance of Gold as a Strategic Asset report released by the World Gold Council offers four reasons to add gold to your portfolio.

What makes gold a strategic asset in the first place? The World Gold Council provides a quick summary of gold’s qualities.

Horowitz: With no mask mandate and schools open, Florida ranks 11th lowest in COVID deaths per capita among seniors

Raul Rodriguez/Getty Images

 

There’s a reason why the Biden regime is trying to attack Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and create an illusion of a disproportionate viral crisis in the state. With no declared emergency restrictions in place at the state level since last September, the fact that Florida is doing better than the national average completely exposes the lie of lockdown and masks having any effect whatsoever on the fixed natural progression of the virus.

When Government Spends You Pay — One Way or Another

 

The US government is spending money at a torrid pace. As Peter Schiff explains in this short clip from his talk at the Virtual Money Show, there are really only three ways the government can pay its bills. And ultimately, the money comes out of your pocket. The most honest way the government pays its bills is through current taxation.

CDC Exposed: Inflated Covid Deaths By 1600% Throughout The Election, "Violated Multiple Federal Laws" Peer-Reviewed Study Finds…State, Local Governments Must Act

100 Percent Fed Up reports — Throughout the election, Donald Trump was battered by CCP Virus statistics in order to hurt the American economy and his political campaign. Now that Biden has been installed into the office of president, he promises to increase Covid lockdown measures and extend them further into your ability to travel and force unscientific mask-wearing for at least 100 days.

A major point is that testing inaccuracies and unreliability combined with unscientific procedures and methods resulted in demonstrably massive false-positive spikes

Harper says world governments are headed for a debt crisis

 

Harper made the observation during an online three-day conference hosted by the finance firm Cambridge House International Inc. « That’s completely different than what we were trying to do in 2008–2009 I should add, much more dangerous in the long term,» said Harper. During Harper’s first term as prime minister, his government managed to weather the storm through the financial crisis in 2008. « We will leave this recession, the world, with a debt overhang that dwarfs what we saw in 2008, 2009. And what we saw after 2008, 2009 was after a financial crisis, recession and somewhat of a recovery was then a series of sovereign debt crises in several countries, in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland,» said Harper.

Deaths of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, but Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona in Pomona, Calif., on Feb. 5, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Two small clusters of deaths after COVID-19 vaccination have been reported among nursing homes in Kentucky and Arkansas. In Kentucky, four seniors died the same day of their vaccination on Dec. Deaths after vaccination don’t necessarily mean the vaccine is to blame. Of those receiving coronavirus vaccines, many are elderly and frail, or already suffering from serious illnesses.

Kentucky Nursing Home Deaths

Study finds CDC inflated COVID numbers by 1,600%

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Chorny troubleshoots medical equipment in a laboratory on the hospital ship USNS Mercy in Los Angeles, May 12, 2020. The Mercy deployed in support of the nation's COVID-19 response efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden)

 

The study asserts that the CDC willfully violated multiple federal laws, including the Information Quality Act, Paperwork Reduction Act and Administrative Procedures Act, reported the National File. In January, as WND reported, the World Health Organization admitted the «gold-standard» PCR tests used to determine whether or not a person is infected with COVID-19 are not reliable on the first try and a second test might be needed. Among the notable findings in the study is the conclusion that the CDC «illegally enacted new rules for data collection and reporting exclusively for COVID-19 that resulted in a 1,600% inflation of current COVID-19 fatality totals,» the watchdog group All Concerned Citizens said in a statement provided to National File. «The research demonstrates that the CDC failed to apply for mandatory federal oversight and failed to open a mandatory period for public scientific comment in both instances as is required by federal law before enacting new rules for data collection and reporting,» the group said.

Achtung Baby! (It's Cold Outside) – Germany's "Green" Energy Fail Rescued By Coal And Gas

No one is being hit with this sobering reality more than the Europe’s premier green trailblazer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is currently in the grips of Europe’s record-breaking freeze this winter. Germany’s held up as the world’s wind and solar capital. Its millions of solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice and breathless, freezing weather is encouraging its 30,000 wind turbines to do absolutely nothing, at all. With a Nationwide blackout a heartbeat away, the German obsession with unreliable wind and solar is like a time bomb set to explode.

Berlin’s power supply severely strained

Repeat After Me: Canada is Uninhabitable Without Fossil Fuels – David Yager

Without heat from carbon-based plants and animals — either long dead in the form of coal, oil or gas or not yet fossilized wood or grass — we’d all have frozen to death. On January 15, the coldest day of the period, the Alberta Electrical System Operator reported electricity generated in Alberta came 34.2% from toxic coal and 60.2% from that menace-in-the-making, methane or natural gas. Solar was zero and wind 0.002% . Alberta set an all-time record for electricity consumption during this period.

Back out the 2.3% from hydro and 97.7% of our electricity came from carbon-based sources. The cold was not confined to Alberta. Numerous communities in BC set new cold weather records. Malahat on Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert on the Northern Coast plummeted below the previous lows set in 2007 and 1969 respectively.

Bernier speaks out against Quebec lockdown: province has most radical lockdown in North America, and it’s a failure

 

«We have decided to merge our riding associations to make them more efficient and this will be important in view of the next general election,» explained Maxime Bernier. Next week, the right-wing libertarian party will start recruiting candidates for the next election, which could take place at any time because of the minority status of the Trudeau government. «We totally disagree with these radical measures, because it goes against individual freedom and responsibility, which are sacred principles for our party,» he said. He believes that the Legault government should have trusted Quebecers instead of treating them like children.

Tin Faces Historic Squeeze as Electronics Boom Erodes Stockpiles

The London tin market is facing the biggest supply squeeze in at least three decades as dwindling inventories, robust industrial demand and rising investor interest boost spot prices. Official London Metal Exchange cash prices on Monday settled at the biggest premium to three-month futures since at least 1990. «The fund community has certainly started looking at it in much more depth,» Geordie Wilkes, head of research at Sucden Financial, said by phone from London. in London, bucking declines among other metals.

Read more.

Source: Mark Burton | Bloomberg

Top Senate Democrats: We’ll Legalize Marijuana

Cannabis activists have been lobbying Congress for decades. Will the Biden administration finally legalize marijuana? (PHOTO BY CAROLINE BREHMAN/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES)

 

Bills that would allow legal cannabis businesses to access banks or claim normal business deductions have passed the House of Representatives. In a joint statement, new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Corey Booker and Ron Wyden said they would pursue and prioritize «comprehensive cannabis reform legislation» in the current session. In addition to legalizing cannabis on the federal level, the senators pledged to also pursue measures that would enrich and empower people of color, who continue to be arrested and incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses at disproportionate rates.

Why the silver longs, and Eric Sprott, can defeat the silver shorts – an education in 4D chess

 

Quick note: was just linked in Sprott Money’s twitter and facebook. Also wanted to give a quick shout out to the guys at wallstreetsilver for getting me some exposure. Be sure to check them out as I think they might be looking to pick up some steam and get in on some silver buying!!

Worldwide silver shortage. Bullion stores sold out for weeks, if not months. No one selling their product to them for spot price. Bullion priced $10-$13 over spot. Silver deficit of mine supply of 350 million ounces.

Habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection: a prospective study in UK Biobank

ABSTRACT

Background

Previous studies have related vitamin D supplementation to a lower risk of acute respiratory tract infection. Emerging evidence suggests that vitamin D insufficiency is related to a higher risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection.

Objectives

Kathryn Marshall: The cancel culture mob could come looking for you, too

Cancel culture is a toxic practice that we should cancel, writes Kathryn Marshall. PHOTO BY SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

 

No one could have predicted how online public shaming would mutate into the ubiquitous and toxic cancel culture that has become so powerful today.

«A medieval mob, roaming the streets looking for someone to burn» 
— ROWAN ATKINSON

Jack M. Mintz: Per capita economic growth has stalled

Canada has just gone through the worst five-year period for per capita economic growth since the Great Depression. PHOTO BY GEOFF ROBINS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILES

 

Lagging investment, stalled innovation are flatlining Canada’s economy and causing immeasurable harm

It stopped Canada’s economy dead in its tracks. What’s even more surprising, though, is that we have just gone through the worst five-year period for per capita economic growth since the Great Depression. At the end of 2015, real per capita GDP was $51,158 . After the initial shock of the Great Depression, good years always more than made up for bad so over any five-year period growth was always positive.

Alarming numbers around men's mental health indicate need for national response

Men account for more than 75 per cent of suicides in Canada, and surveys indicate that Canadian men are around three times more likely to experience addiction and substance abuse compared to Canadian women.

 

A growing body of research indicates that a significant number of men and boys are facing substantial psycho-social difficulties, which manifest in a number of worrying statistics involving mental health, addiction and suicide. To start, males account for more than 75 per cent of suicides in Canada. Similarly, surveys indicate that Canadian men are around three times more likely to experience addiction and substance abuse compared to Canadian women. Highlighting the scale of the problem, the British Columbia Coroners Service reports that males accounted for 81 per cent of drug overdose deaths in that province in 2020.

Singer Says Long-Term Bonds Are a ‘Senseless’ Speculative Trade

Paul Singer Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

 

«There’s a really good chance of a tremendous surprise, and a surprise in the relatively near future,» said Singer, speaking on the likelihood of consumer prices spiking higher. Expansionary fiscal policy is helping to drive the change in outlook, even as the Federal Reserve, which holds a meeting next week, has struggled to gin up much inflation in the past decade with its own tools. Singer, whose Elliott Management Corp. Along with inflation expectations bubbling higher, long-term government bond yields have surged, with the 10-year Treasury yield hovering near 1.09%, up 18 basis points just this year.

Interest Rate Effects on Equities: Valuation Impacts

 

When it comes to determining a fair value for equities, interest rates are an important variable to consider.

As rates rise or fall, they affect the appropriate valuations for different stocks in different ways. This article provides a brief overview of how that works.

The Equity Risk Premium

Equities are not priced in a vacuum; they are always compared to other alternatives.

Legendary investor Jeremy Grantham says Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan would make the stock market bubble even worse

Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for ReSource 2012 Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for ReSource 2012

 

The GMO cofounder told Erik Schatzker that he had «no doubt» some of the federal money would end up in the market. Grantham said that if a $1.9 trillion package were passed, it could lead to the dangerous end of the bubble. «If it’s as big as they talk about, this would be a very good making of a top for the market, just of the kind that the history books would enjoy,» Grantham said. Grantham has long warned of what he sees as a ballooning bubble in the US stock market.

WHO warns that PCR COVID tests are more likely to give false positives

 

The notice was issued only one hour after President Joe Biden was sworn into office, leading some observers to question the timing of the release. The World Health Organization issued a notice on Wednesday warning medical professionals to follow instructions of PCR tests for coronavirus to avoid getting false positive results. The notice was released only one hour after President Joe Biden was sworn into office, leading some observers to question the timing of the release. If the PCR tests are resulting in false-positives, and that information is now used to mitigate the large positivity numbers, the number of case counts will begin to drop.

Ontario lockdown 'not supported by strong science,' says former chief medical officer of health

Dr. Richard Schabas, former medical officer of health for Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, sits in his office at Hastings and Prince Edward Public Health headquarters in Belleville, Ont. Wednesday, November 5, 2014. PHOTO BY LUKE HENDRY /The Intelligencer

 

The province’s top doctor for most of the ’90s says the Ford government’s COVID-19 response is ‘misguided’

Richard Schabas held the senior position from 1987 to 1997 and served as chief of staff at York Central Hospital during the 2003 SARS crisis. «Lockdown was never part of our planned pandemic response nor is it supported by strong science,» Schabas wrote. Schabas says that the COVID-19 modelling the province is working with is faulty and that fatality rates have declined as doctors and scientists have learned more about the disease. «Reasonable estimates of the infection fatality rate from Covid have been declining as we learn more,» he said.

History Repeating Itself

For anyone inside or outside of the U.S., it goes without saying that things are indeed heating up in the land of the free.

President Trump faces an unprecedented second impeachment just days before the Biden administration is scheduled to take the keys to the White House in a transition of power that has been anything but orderly, as the recent march on the U.S. Capital made graphically clear.

Those seeking financial guidance, however, don’t need political commentary from market professionals or arm-chair sociologists.

Janet Yellen to tell confirmation hearing that US should ‘act big’

Janet Yellen, the former Fed chair, is scheduled to appear before the Senate finance committee on Tuesday © REUTERS

 

Treasury nominee says with rates low, lawmakers should spend now and worry about deficits later

Janet Yellen will lay out the case for President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9tn relief package at her confirmation hearing as Treasury secretary on Tuesday, arguing that «the smartest thing we can do is act big». In prepared remarks obtained by the Financial Times ahead of her appearance before the Senate finance committee, Ms Yellen said the US risked «a longer, more painful recession» and «long-term scarring» if it did not move quickly to inject more government spending into the economy.

«We have to rebuild our economy so that it creates more prosperity for more people.» 
Janet Yellen

Peter Schiff: Inflation Is Really a Tax

 

Peter Schiff recently spoke at the January 2021 Virtual Money Show. He explained why the coming financial crisis will be much worse than 2008, and how the Federal Reserve and the US government are driving us toward this crisis with their inflationary monetary policy. «The cause of the looming crisis is the same — the Federal Reserve and its monetary policy, along with government borrowing and spending that is helping drive the reckless monetary policy. » Peter said you should not just consider inflation as an expansion of the money supply and the resulting increase in consumer and asset prices.

Peter Schiff: Economic “Rescue” Plan Like Throwing a Drowning Man an Anchor

 

President-elect Joe Biden unveiled his massive stimulus plan last week touted as the “American Rescue Plan.” In his podcast, Peter Schiff said it was more like throwing a drowning man an anchor. Before Biden announced his stimulus plan, Jerome Powell spoke and reassured everybody that the Fed will continue with its loose monetary policy. He emphasized that the central bank will hike interest rates “no time soon.” He also pushed back against some of the other Fed presidents, particularly Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who hinted the central bank might consider “pulling back” on asset purchases in the near future. Powell seems to sincerely believe that the Fed can stimulate economic growth and create jobs by printing money.

Peter Foster: Not his father's Liberal? Don't be so sure

Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

 

Since the days of Pierre, the urge to regulate, redistribute and centrally plan has not disappeared, despite the intervening collapse of the Berlin Wall. Indeed, the urge has swelled to global proportions on the back of projected catastrophic man-made climate change. The climate issue — whose existential seriousness Trudeau claims to believe, and which dominates his government’s immediate future — seeks to demonize all oil companies, promote local green champions, direct corporate activity towards «technologies of the future,» and load on carbon taxes. More than that, the climate agenda seeks to put all economic activity under global control.

Why Canada Could Be Next To Allow Psychedelic Therapy (And How It’s Already Changing Lives)

Canada's federal health minister has recently granted patients, therapists and doctors with exemptions to use psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic purposes. GETTY

 

Canada has an international reputation for progressive health policies, take for example its publicly funded healthcare program and its assisted dying laws. While one has gone the route of using existing legislation to help individuals apply for exemptions, another is encouraging policy changes that would allow doctors to seek access to restricted drugs for their patients.

‘The Unknown Of What Can Happen After You Die Doesn’t Feel So Unknown To Me Anymore’

An Economic Analysis of Ethereum

 

The anonymous founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, solved the hard problems associated with digital scarcity with a white paper in 2008, and launched Bitcoin in 2009.

After that invention, numerous other projects came in its wake. There are now over 8,000 separate digital assets that CoinMarketCap recognizes.

Of these, Ethereum is the second largest digital asset in the world by market capitalization after Bitcoin, and it enables a big ecosystem of other tokens on top of it. This gives it the only other major network effect in the space.

Surging Shipping Rates Pose New Headwind for the Global Economy

Shipping Industry Challenges in 2021

 

Shocks to supply chains are engulfing a wider swath of the global economy as the pandemic rages on, threatening to stifle Asia’s trade-led recovery just as soaring freight rates make it harder for businesses to weather another year like 2020. Compounding the industrial imbalances are transport woes plaguing consumer and health-care sectors still dealing with a dearth of available shipping containers to move components and finished products out of China, Taiwan, South Korea and Asia’s other export powers. Nerijus Poskus, vice president for global ocean at San Francisco-based freight forwarder Flexport Inc. , reckons the world needs the equivalent of 500,000 more 20-foot containers — roughly enough to fill 25 of the largest ships in operation — to satisfy the current demand. In the meantime, standard container rates on transpacific routes are quadruple what they were a year ago.

Peter Schiff: Commodity Boom Isn’t About Economic Growth; It’s About Inflation

 

A lot of people seem to think this is a sign of pending economic growth. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff said it’s really a sign of inflation. Most of the investment world continues to focus on the stock market and they’re not really paying attention to what going on in the commodities markets. We’re seeing five-year highs on many commodities.

It’s not just agricultural commodities charting big price increases. Industrial metals are also up. What’s driving commodity prices higher is the record growth in money supply. The Fed is cranking out money like it’s going out of style.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defends Trump ban, but admits company's power sets 'dangerous' precedent

«I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump, or how we got here,» Dorsey began a lengthy Twitter thread. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all. « While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. » « If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service,» Dorsey wrote.

«This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet,» Dorsey said. «A company making a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government removing access, yet can feel much the same. Yes, we all need to look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement. All this can’t erode a free and open global internet».

Canadian health care struggles to find a cure for hallway medicine

The hallway in Surrey Memorial Hospital where Karen Sidhu stayed for three days. Karen Sidhu

 

Jack Webb died in a Halifax hospital on Feb. 1, after sitting in a chilly emergency room hallway for six hours and being bumped from a room by another dying patient during his five-day stay. Over the last few months, there have been a flurry of stories from patients across Canada, complaining that they were kept in hospital hallways because of overcrowding. recently spent three days in the hallway, after being admitted for internal bleeding. «When my doctor came to see me, there were people standing around and he was talking about my private, personal information about the treatment I was about to go through,» the woman, Karen Sidhu, told Global News.

Not enough beds in hospital wards

Russia for First Time Holds More Gold Than U.S. Dollars in $583 Billion Reserves

 

A multi-year drive to reduce exposure to U.S. assets has pushed the share of gold in Russia’s $583 billion international reserves above dollars for the first time on record. Gold made up 23% of the central bank’s stockpile as of the end of June 2020, the latest date for which data on the breakdown is available, according to a report published late Monday. Gold is now the second-biggest component of the central bank’s reserves after the euro, which makes up about of a third of total assets. The increase in Russia’s gold reserves was aided by a 26% surge in prices between June 2019 and June 2020.

Sprott Monthly Report: 2021 Top 10 Watch List

2020, A Year Unlike Any Other

Spot gold closed at $1,898, an increase of $381/oz or 25.12%, the eighth-best annual return in 50 years. Gold, measured in every currency, made all-time highs by a wide margin. The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the U. Gold is the primary beneficiary of this Fed action and continues to outperform the market’s main equity and bond asset classes. As this new year unfolds, we see gold continuing to perform well and exhibiting the unique characteristics that will further increase gold’s attractiveness in multi-asset portfolios.

Rex Murphy: Don't even try to pretend there's such a thing as free speech anymore

The suspended Twitter account of U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on an iPhone screen on Jan. 8, 2021. PHOTO BY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

 

Dorsey and his plutocratic allies may have the ‘right’ to strip-mine all opposing views from their platforms, but they should not simultaneously be allowed to preach that they are speaking truth to power

A palace guard: Sire, the peasants are revolting.

The King: You can say that again.

LSD Could Be the Key to Alleviating the Mental Health Crisis—if Government Allows It

The general public is starting to warm to the idea that psychedelics, just like marijuana, should be legalized, or, at the very least, removed from the Schedule I list. On April 16, 1943, a Swiss chemist by the name of Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested a drug he created five years earlier while working at Sandoz Laboratories and began to experience very unusual sensations and hallucinations. What eventually came to be known as psychedelic or psychedelic-assisted therapy was first pioneered in Canada by Abram Hoffer and Humphrey Osmond roughly a decade after Dr. Hofmann’s accidental LSD trip. Humphrey Osmond initially speculated that, by giving a high dose of LSD to individuals suffering from alcoholism, he could frighten them to the point where they would want to quit drinking.

Trump Plans Defiant Final Week as Many Democrats Urge His Ouster

Capitol, President Donald Trump and a dwindling circle of advisers plan a defiant final week in office, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump is confident Vice President Mike Pence and members of his cabinet won’t attempt to remove him under the 25th Amendment, the people said. One adviser called Democratic consideration of impeachment a political gift to Trump.

Border Wall

New York GOP congresswomen blast Nancy Pelosi’s new House gender rules

Rep. Elise Stefanik. AP

 

«Obviously she is triggered by the historic number of GOP women elected to Congress who will fire Nancy Pelosi once and for all in 2022». «There are millions of Americans suffering, our economy is hurting, vaccine distribution is lagging and Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats are worried about this nonsense,» she said. Proposed changes to the rules of the House of Representatives would «honor all gender identities» by eliminating such specific terms as mother and father, son and daughter, and aunt and uncle. Instead, only gender-neutral terms such as «parent,» «child,» «sibling» and «parent’s sibling» would be allowed in the text of the House rules.

Louis Gave: «Inflation Will Come Back With a Vengeance»

Louis-Vincent Gave, CEO and co-founder of Gavekal Research, sees a dramatic paradigm shift playing out in the world economy. In this in-depth conversation, he explains how investors should position themselves for the future.

Louis-Vincent Gave is a master of the big picture. The co-founder of Hong Kong-based research boutique Gavekal is one of the most esteemed writers about geopolitical and macroeconomic developments and their impact on financial markets.

Canadian expert's research finds lockdown harms are 10 times greater than benefits

A closed sign is seen in the window of a small business. PHOTO BY OLIVIER DOULIERY /AFP via Getty Images / Files

 

You were a strong proponent of lockdowns initially but have since changed your mind. There are a few reasons why I supported lockdowns at first. First, initial data falsely suggested that the infection fatality rate was up to 2–3%, that over 80% of the population would be infected, and modelling suggested repeated lockdowns would be necessary. Second, I am an infectious diseases and critical care physician, and am not trained to make public policy decisions.

The University as the Woke Mission Field: A Dissident Women’s Studies Ph.D. Speaks Out

 

I write under a pseudonym because, if my colleagues were to find out about my criticisms of this field, I would be unable to find any employment in academia. That someone who critiques the axioms of a field of study feels compelled to write under an assumed name tells you everything you need to know about the authoritarianism underpinning this ideology. I have seen this ideology up close and seen how it consumes and even destroys people, while dehumanizing anyone who dissents. Because Critical Social Justice ideology is now the dominant paradigm in American academia, it has flowed into all other major societal institutions, the media, and even corporations.

To Heal, We Must First Acknowledge Plummeting Public Trust Is Reasonable

«If you feel like you gave the majority of your life to your country and you’re not being listened to, that is a hard pill to swallow. That’s why she was upset,» said Roger Witthoeft, the brother of Ashli Babbitt, in an interview with The New York Times. Babbitt served four tours of duty in her 14 years of military service. Having survived deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Babbitt died in the U. Capitol.

She’d stormed the building with a riotous mob, seeking to fight back against an election the rioters firmly believe was stolen from Donald Trump. She was shot by a Capitol Police officer. Her final, bloody moments were broadcast and immortalized on social media. The struggling small business owner left a social media footprint that speaks volumes.

Banks, QE, and Money-Printing

 

Lately, it has become fashionable to debate what is, or is not, “money-printing” by central banks.

This debate is natural, due to the extreme policy nature of 2020, with massive fiscal expenditures, huge increases in central bank balance sheets, and changes in central bank inflation targets. It’s important to know what is inflationary, and what isn’t, and to what extent.

Because people have very different understandings of how central bank policy and fiscal policy work, there have been analyst calls this year ranging from hyperinflation to deep deflation, and everything in between.

GOLDSTEIN: Politicians have lost the moral authority to lead in a pandemic

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference at Rideau Cottage, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada January 5, 2021. PHOTO BY BLAIR GABLE /REUTERS

 

How far can the political leaders of rule-breaking politicians push law-abiding citizens to follow pandemic lockdown rules which seem increasingly arbitrary, nonsensical and unfair. «Don’t go to church» coming from governments whose members flew out of the country for sun and fun.

January 2021 Liquidity Update

Many market participants continue to be surprised by the resiliency of the stock market, even in the face of rising bond yields and the recent scene at the capitol.

Banks tend to prefer steeper yield curves, and that’s exactly what the market has been giving them. This is the second longest stretch since the inception of the TIPS market where 10-year yields remained below the inflation rate, as priced by the TIPS market. Real yields, as measured by the 10-year yield minus the 10-year inflation breakeven rate that the TIPS market is pricing, has been retesting the lows set in late August, at below -1%. The Fed’s overall positioning seems to be to let long-duration yields rise until it reaches a pain point for the market, similar to what occurred in Q4 2018.

Liberals spent nearly $150M on faulty coronavirus test kits without checking if they worked

 

The tests, which claimed to «diagnose COVID-19 in less than an hour,» were sourced from Ottawa company Spartan Bioscience Inc. «The Government of Canada has a procurement contract with Spartan to secure supply of these devices,» a Health Canada briefing note from May stated. «The contract is conditional on the Spartan test kit being Health Canada authorized for sale». «If successful, its diagnostic platform and COVID-19 test could be used in airports and clinics,» Industry Minister Navdeep Bains said of Spartan’s technology in March 2020. As of December 14, Spartan Bioscience had reapplied for a license to fulfill its federal contract, saying that they are «confident» that the deal will succeed this time.

Read more.

Source: True North Wire

Teaching ‘white fragility’ is bad for kids of color

Alamy

 

Last month, my 8-year-old sister came home from school deflated and torn. Thankfully, her school took the incident seriously, and the boy ended up writing a letter of apology to my sister, saying he was «sorry for being mean» and that he «will work harder at being a better friend». I felt happy that the system had done its job in combating racism. But then, in that same week, my 15-year-old brother told me he is learning about the concept of «systemic racism» in his English class.

Bitcoin: tulipmania or the store of value for the new millenia?

 

Bitcoin continues to be the investment industry’s swaggering upstart, derided by some, not trusted by many but undoubtedly making its volatile mark. The swings are a reminder of its notorious volatility, with its price nevertheless having more than quadrupled over the past year. The cryptocurrency’s market capitalization of around US$575 billion would have to rise by 4.6 times to match the total private sector investment in gold via exchange-traded funds or bars and coins. The strategists, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, said this outlook depends on the volatility of Bitcoin converging with that of gold to encourage more institutional investment, a process that will take some time.

Canadian public health officials have no record of SARS-COV-2 isolation/purification performed anywhere, ever

By Christine Massey, M.Sc., exclusively for People For Justice Canada

Further down this page you will see a screenshot of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that was submitted to the Public Health Agency of Canada and many other Canadian institutions requesting evidence that is absolutely essential (but not on its own sufficient) for establishing the existence of the alleged “COVID-19 virus” aka “SARS-COV-2”.

The request is for records describing the isolation (aka purification) of the alleged “COVID-19” virus, from a patient sample that was not first adulterated with additional genetic material (typically monkey kidney cells and fetal bovine serum). The same request has been submitted to 16 Canadian institutions in total.

Peter Foster: Sustainable Newspeak by 2050

Peter Foster: In fact, there is no climate “crisis” or “emergency.” However, as Orwell noted, the language of fear and panic is one of the main instruments of political control. PHOTO BY MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILES

 

The instrument of this dumbing down in Nineteen Eighty-Four was Newspeak, the official language of the English Socialist Party . Newspeak was a sort of Totalitarian Esperanto that sought gradually to diminish the range of what was thinkable by eliminating, contracting and manufacturing words. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1949. Meanwhile, there is another significant date in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

12 In-Depth Tactics to Seriously Boost your Energy

 

It’s often said that time is money, but I don’t think that’s precise enough.

The way I see it, energy is money. The more you can accomplish in a certain amount of time, and the more “hustle” you have in general, the more you can get done and the more you’ll want to do.

You can create more, learn more, travel more, give more, and love more.

Whether you’re trying to improve your station at work, build your wealth, run your business, ace your schooling, improve your health, or be the best mom you can be, energy is essential.

David Rosenberg: Two big problems with the 'pent-up demand' everybody is counting on

The candidates for “pent-up demand release” come to the grand total of 8.5 per cent of total consumer spending. PHOTO BY REUTERS/CHRIS HELGREN

 

Here’s why the boost could be disappointing

How mRNA went from a scientific backwater to a pandemic crusher

Credit: Getty Images / WIRED

 In 1995, Katalin Karikó was at her lowest ebb. A biochemist at the University of Pennsylvania , Karikó had dedicated much of the previous two decades to finding a way to turn one of the most fundamental building blocks of life, mRNA, into a whole new category of therapeutics. More often than not, Karikó found herself hitting dead ends. By the mid 1990s, Karikó’s bosses at UPenn had run out of patience.