Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

Rapidly rising food, housing, medical, and tuition prices are squeezing Americans, and many do not understand the real cause of their falling living standards…

That confusion opens the door for opportunistic politicians who promise supposed freebies to ease the pain of inflation. Many, unfortunately, succumb to this siren’s call.

Perverse as it is, the policies offered to people suffering from inflation create even more inflation. In other words, inflation has a way of perpetuating itself, much like a heroin addiction.

We are already seeing cockamamie schemes in the US, like “inflation relief checks,” which attempt to solve the problems of inflation by creating more inflation.

The political-inflation cycle follows a clear pattern:

Step #1: In a fiat currency system, the government will inevitably print an ever-increasing amount of currency to finance itself.

Step #2: This makes prices and living costs rise faster than wages.

Step #3: The average person feels the pain but doesn’t understand what’s happening.

Step #4: More people support politicians who promise freebies to relieve the pain inflation causes.

Step #5: The government prints more currency to pay for the freebies.

Step #6: This creates even more inflation, and the cycle repeats.

At this point, we have to ask ourselves whether the political situation in the US will improve.

Unfortunately, the data points to a troubling but inevitable answer… “no.”

Reason #1… is simple: a growing majority of US voters receive government money.

When you count everyone who lives off political dollars instead of free-market dollars, we’re already well north of 50% of the US population.

In other words, the US has already crossed the Rubicon. There’s no going back.

The growing majority of voters who collect net benefits from the government is a built-in constituency to perpetuate policies financed by ever-increasing inflation. That’s why I think the US has entered an unstoppable inflation death spiral.

The notion that people living off government largesse and political dollars will come around to a libertarian way of thinking is a pipe dream.

In short, there is simply no hope for positive change from the political system. That means one thing is sure: an ever-increasing amount of inflation to pay for all these government programs.

For many decades, Argentina has infamously been trapped in a perpetual cycle of hyperinflation and socialism from which it cannot escape. And now, the US has entered that same inescapable cycle.

Reason #2: Central Planning Doesn’t Work

Although many don’t realize it, interest rates are simply the price of money.

And they are the most important prices in all of capitalism.

They have an enormous impact on banks, the real estate market, and the auto industry. It’s hard to think of a business that interest rates don’t affect in some meaningful way.

However, interest rates are controlled by a politburo of central planners at the Federal Reserve, not set by the market like any other price.

It’s bizarre that most people don’t understand the implications of this or thoughtlessly accept it as a “normal” part of a supposed free-market economy.

Further, it should be self-evident to everyone that economic central planning doesn’t work.

In Marx’s Communist Manifesto, the 5th plank calls for the “centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

That is a perfect description of the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

In reality, the Fed is nothing more than a politburo of bureaucrats attempting to centrally plan the economy by tinkering with the money and interest rates—the most important prices in all of capitalism.

Even if we presume the Fed has benign intentions—which it doesn’t—central planning is impossible, and failure is inevitable.

That’s why the Fed is in a mission-impossible situation—much like it was impossible for the Soviets to centrally plan their economy.

Here’s the bottom line…

The Fed can’t save the day any more than the State Planning Committee of the USSR could.

Reason #3: Inflation Is the Only Way To Manage an Impossible Debt Load

The media, politicians, and financial analysts often flippantly use the word “trillion” without appreciating what it means.

A trillion is a massive, almost unfathomable number.

The human brain has trouble understanding something so huge. Let me put it into perspective.

If you earned $1 per second, it would take 11 days to make a million dollars.

If you earned $1 per second, it would take 31 and a half years to make a billion dollars.

And if you earned $1 per second, it would take 31,688 years to make a trillion dollars.

So that’s how enormous a trillion is.

When politicians carelessly spend and print money measured in the trillions, you are in dangerous territory.

It took until 1981 for the US government to rack up its first trillion in debt. The second trillion only took four years. After that, the next trillions came in increasingly shorter intervals.

Today, Congress has normalized multi-trillion dollar federal spending deficits.

The US federal debt has gone parabolic and is well over $31 trillion.

If you earned $1 per second, it would take over 995,000 YEARS to pay off the current US federal debt.

And that’s with the unrealistic assumption that it would stop growing.

The US federal government has the largest debt in the history of the world. And it’s continuing to grow at a rapid, unstoppable pace.

The debt will keep piling up as the US government continues to pay for political promises. It’s virtually inevitable.

Below is a chart of the Congressional Budget Office’s deficit projections for the next decade. These estimates will almost certainly be too rosy, as they often are.

Even by the CBO’s optimistic projections, the US government will have a cumulative deficit of over $15 trillion for the next ten years.

Historically, there has been a vast foreign appetite for US federal debt, but not anymore.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US government has launched its most aggressive sanctions campaign ever.

As part of this, the US government seized the US dollar reserves of the Russian central bank—the accumulated savings of the nation.

It was a stunning illustration of the dollar’s political risk. The US government can seize another sovereign country’s dollar reserves at the flip of a switch.

The Wall Street Journal, in an article titled “If Russian Currency Reserves Aren’t Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock,” noted:

“Sanctions have shown that currency reserves accumulated by central banks can be taken away. With China taking note, this may reshape geopolitics, economic management and even the international role of the U.S. dollar.”

China is one of the largest holders of US Treasuries, and it indeed took note of what happened to Russia. It’s probably why Beijing cut its Treasury holdings to a 12-year low.

Even US allies, like Japan, have also cut their Treasury holdings.

There are numerous other examples. But it’s clear the world isn’t hungry for more US debt right now.

So, who is going to finance these incomprehensible budget shortfalls? The only entity capable is the Fed’s printing presses.

In other words, the government has no choice but to finance itself through legalized counterfeiting and debasing the currency.

Allow me to simplify this fraud in three steps.

Step #1: Congress spends trillions more than the federal government takes in from taxes.

Step #2: The Treasury issues debt to cover the difference.

Step #3: The Federal Reserve creates US dollars out of thin air to buy the debt.

It’s also crucial to note that inflation is a big bonus to debtors. It allows you to borrow in dollars and repay in dimes.

And since the US government is the biggest debtor in the history of the world, it is the single largest beneficiary of inflation.

The US government can only finance itself with the Fed’s printing presses. It is also incentivized to debase the currency as it attempts to deal with its impossible debt burden.

What Happens Next

When you put together the pieces, the big picture becomes clear.

I believe the US has entered an inflationary death spiral for three reasons:

Reason #1: A growing majority of voters who collect net benefits from the government is a built-in constituency to perpetuate policies financed by ever-increasing inflation.

Reason #2: Even if we presume the Fed has benign intentions—which it doesn’t—central planning is impossible, and failure is inevitable.

Reason #3: The US government cannot finance itself without the Fed’s printing presses. It is also incentivized to debase the currency as it attempts to deal with its impossible debt burden.

In short, it’s game over.

The US government is fast approaching the financial endgame.

They have no choice but to “reset” the system—that’s what governments do when they are trapped.

Think of it like this.

Imagine a spoiled child playing a board game, and rather than admit he is losing, he flips the board.

This is what governments will do now that they are financially checkmated. They can’t win, even in their own rigged game, and now they are left with the choice of losing power or flipping the board. Since power does not relinquish itself voluntarily, we should presume they’ll choose to flip the board.

I suspect it could all go down soon… and it won’t be pretty.

It could result in an enormous wealth transfer from you to the parasitical class—politicians, central bankers, and those connected to them.

What exactly will the “reset” look like?

What can the average person do about it?

I just released an urgent PDF guide, “Survive and Thrive During the Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years.” Download this free report to discover the top 3 strategies you need to implement today to protect yourself and potentially come out ahead.

With the global economy in turmoil and the threat of a “Great Reset” looming, this guide is a must-read. Click here to download it now. 

After a catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, early last month, President Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, corporate media outlets, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Environmental Protection Agency, and some local officials have ensured air monitoring and water sample tests show everything is under control. 

But is it? Well, not according to the local newspaper Ohio Star. Reporter Hannah Poling said a confidential source told her that a wildlife biologist and consultant for the federal forestry received hundreds of reports over the last several days from forestry workers discovering “hundreds of dead animals in Ohio’s parks.” 

Several labs across the country have received specimens of whole minks, deer, elk, worms and livers of such animals, and they are finding toxicities that are off the charts, the source said. 

“These highly toxic levels are the exact chemicals that were released from East Palestine. Wayne National Forest and Shawnee State Forest in Ohio, are downriver from East Palestine and are two parks where samples are from,” the source continued. 

Meanwhile, the BBC reported: 

Nearly 45,000 animals have died as a result of a toxic train crash this month in an Ohio town, environmental officials have said.

 The figure from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources updates the initial estimate of 3,500 animals dead after the 3 February derailment.

The source also told the Ohio Star that Governor DeWine attempted to block scientists from entering state parks:

The governor and the railroad were blocking scientists from getting soil samples in East Palestine, but they were able to still grab some for testing. Likewise, the soils are highly contaminated,” the source said.

The source claims that the Ohio governor only uses his own hand-picked scientists to “give him the results he wants.”

“It is heartbreaking to me that politicians like DeWine make an issue like this political. It should not be. He should be doing all he can to protect people, animals and the environment and not just cover his own behind,” the source added.

There have been countless reports of health concerns by the residents of East Palestine and surrounding communities following the derailment of ten railcars carrying hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, that first responders eventually burned off. 

After the burn, “some residents say they have been diagnosed with bronchitis, lung issues, and rashes that doctors and nurses suspect are linked to the chemical exposure,” said Ohio Star. 

According to local TV station WKBN, residents have sent a list of demands for Norfolk Southern and the federal government, outlining the much-needed help their community deserves after a botched response. 

Below is the list of demands:

1. Relocation for anyone who wants it. Folks don’t feel safe and aren’t getting their questions answered. Anyone who wants to be relocated to hotels or safe housing should have the opportunity to do so, paid for by Norfolk Southern.
2. Independent environmental testing. The EPA must immediately begin and continue to test soil, water, and air, including for dioxins throughout the region, and commit to regular public meetings to explain findings. Norfolk Southern must pay for an independent scientist, hired by residents, to represent the community and participate in all technical meetings regarding testing, cleanup, and safety plans.  
3. Ongoing medical testing and monitoring: We still don’t know what the short and long-term health impacts of this disaster will be. Federal Health & Human Services must provide ongoing health monitoring to evaluate those in the impacted region, guarantee health coverage, and Norfolk Southern must cover the cost.
4. Dispose of the toxic waste safely: The EPA cannot take the solid waste from the derailment and dispose of it in the Heritage Thermal toxic incinerator, in nearby East Liverpool, that has already been polluting our communities for years. This will only further spread the contaminants. Norfolk Southern must stop destroying evidence – we need a safety plan before resuming cleanup from the derailment site.
5. Norfolk Southern pays 100% of the costs. Taxpayers shouldn’t foot this bill. Norfolk Southern made this mess, they should clean it up. The company must commit to paying 100% of the costs for testing, relocation, cleanup, medical monitoring and costs, and an independent science advisor.

The Biden administration’s lack of leadership and physical presence after the train derailment was a crucial mistake. What happened is that Biden’s opponents, such as former President Trump, seized on this opportunity for political points ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle. Trump met with local officials and residents last week. Some have said this is “Biden’s Katrina.” 

Authored by Rea S. Hederman, Jr. via RealClear Wire,

As America teeters on the edge of recession, various factors have contributed to its broken supply chains, historic inflation, and depleted workforces. One factor that has gone largely overlooked has been a silent burden for employers and employees alike: obesity. This is one of many critical topics highlighted during Obesity Care Week.

Recent national studies highlight the economic costs that obesity imposes on America’s beleaguered workforce. According to a National Institute of Health study, workers with obesity are almost twice as likely to miss work. More likely to be sick or absent from work for longer periods of time, these workers lag in work experience, which reduces their future pay. Researchers estimate that such productivity losses cost America $1.0 trillion annually.

Similarly, workers with obesity are more likely to suffer diabetes and other debilitating diseases that increase healthcare, health insurance, and workers’ compensation costs for employers. A study by Duke Health, for example, revealed that workers with obesity filed twice as many workers’ compensation claims and that average medical claims per 100 employees were more than $50,000 for those with obesity compared to only $7,500 for those without.

Obesity’s indirect costs are expensive, too. Adults with obesity are more likely to remain under employed or forfeit better wages. A Journal of Business and Psychology study warned that workers suffering obesity may lose more than $114,000 in earnings due to productivity losses. And adults with obesity are more likely to remain unemployed entirely, costing them a lifetime of potential income and savings.

Ohio feels the negative side effects of obesity more acutely than most states. With one-third of its workforce fighting obesity, Ohio ranks 15th in the nation. Over the last several years, obesity-related health issues have cost the Ohio Department of Medicaid hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, a forthcoming study by The Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center estimates that obesity has sidelined more than 32,000 workers — more than enough to construct and fully staff Intel’s new semiconductor plant in central Ohio. And those missing workers have deprived the state of nearly $20 million in tax revenue.  

Other states have already taken promising steps to better help those suffering obesity. Ohio should do the same. 

Nutrition counseling, surgery, and medication are helpful to obesity sufferers, and Ohio’s state employee health plans have adopted an “all of the above” approach to fighting obesity and getting people with the disease back into the workforce. As those efforts proceed, researchers, employers, and regulators should monitor the results — in Ohio and across the country — and enhance the most successful.

In the meantime, Ohio should also pursue commonsense regulatory reforms to make access to obesity treatments easier and more affordable. Ohio’s nutrition licensing requirements, for example, remain some of the nation’s worst and most stringent, restricting access to diet and nutrition counseling and artificially raising prices. Relaxing those regulatory requirements will lower prices and increase access to life-changing counseling for thousands.

Reducing obesity through prevention and better care in the workforce is a win-win-win for Ohio, employers, and employees battling obesity. Bringing obesity-sufferers back into the labor force will reduce state-funded healthcare costs, boost tax revenue, help alleviate worker shortages and supply chain woes, and provide or increase earnings for those under- or unemployed. Studying obesity prevention and treatment methods, encouraging the public and private sectors alike to implement best practices, and prudent regulatory reforms like relaxing nutrition counseling licensing requirements could help get Ohio on the road to recovery and wellness.

Rea S. Hederman Jr. is executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute.

Investor Michael Burry says “terrible consequences” are in store if student loans are forgiven.

“Let’s not forget that the student debt problem is built on a foundation of terrible major choices,” Burry tweeted on Tuesday.

“Bailing generations out of those bad choices will mean more bad choices, tuition hikes, and terrible consequences for America.”

Burry’s comments come as the US Supreme Court considers Tuesday oral arguments over President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, which was legally justified based on the pandemic. The program offered up to $20,000 of loan forgiveness per borrower – an initiative which has been put on hold while the high court debates the case, according to Politico.

During more than three hours of oral argument, conservative justices on the court repeatedly questioned whether the Education Department had the legal authority it claimed to discharge federal student loan debt to help borrowers recover economically from the national emergency spurred by Covid-19.

Chief Justice John Roberts emerged as one of the most hostile voices on the court towards the debt relief plan, repeatedly invoking its overall cost and raising questions about its fairness. -Politico

“We’re talking about half a trillion dollars and 43 million Americans,” said Roberts early into the arguments, who also slammed the Biden administration’s claim that the debt cancellation plan wasn’t much different than existing programs that forgive student debts in specific circumstances.

“Because there’s a provision to allow [a] waiver when your school closes…because of that Congress shouldn’t have been surprised when half a trillion dollars is wiped off the books?” asked Roberts, who added that the administration’s decision not to wait for Congress to craft debt-forgiveness legislation may have cut short debates Congress could have had over special treatment vs. people who have paid off their loans.

“Nobody’s telling the person who was trying to set up the lawn service business that he doesn’t have to pay his loan,” said Roberts. “He still does, even though his tax dollars are going to support the forgiveness of a loan for the college graduate who’s not going to make a lot more than him over the course of his lifetime.”

The 51-year-old Burry who rose to fame betting against the housing market before the 2008 crash took on “well into six figures of educational debt” going to UCLA and then Vanderbilt University for his medical degree. He began his residency at Stanford University, but dropped out to focus on investing.

Meanwhile, Justice Samuel Alito hammered the fairness aspect as well.

“Why is it fair? Why is it fair?….Why was it done?” Alito asked Biden administration lawyer, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.

In all, four of the conservative justices–Roberts, Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch–seemed most skeptical of the claimed legal basis for the debt relief plan, while all three of the court’s liberals appeared inclined to reject the challenges to the program.

The high court’s two other members–Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett–were less clear in their views. Barrett, notably, questioned some of the GOP states’ arguments that they had standing to bring the lawsuit. -Politico

Prelogar focused her argument on how the Biden administration was acting within the law to avoid borrower distress during national emergencies, and refuted claims by the plaintiffs that they had been harmed in any way by the policy.

When asked by Justice Clarence Thomas how “half a trillion dollars” fits uinder the “normal understanding of ‘modifying'” falls under the scope of the so-called Heroes Act, Preloger countered that the heart of the provision’s purpose was to allow the secretary to ensure that borrowers don’t suffer financially during a crisis.

Justice Elena Kagan agreed.

“This is an emergency provision,” she said, comparing the pandemic to an earthquake. “You don’t think Congress wanted to give … the secretary power to say, ’Oh, my gosh, people have had their homes wiped out, we’re going to discharge their student loans?'”

As Bloomberg notes, in 1970 the average student debt was just $1,070 – which rose to $31,100 in 2021, an increase of more than 2,800%.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

In a hearing Tuesday, Senator Josh Hawley completely eviscerated Joe Biden’s National Archivist nominee by presenting her with her own past tweets which are extremely partisan.

During the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Hawley exposed how Dr. Colleen Shogan routinely criticised Republican representatives and their policies, despite the fact that she had locked her Twitter account as soon as she was nominated for the supposedly non-partisan role heading up the National Archives and Records Administration.

As Hawley presented each of her past statements, Shogan refused to comment, prompting the Senator to accuse her of stonewalling.

Hawley noted that in February of 2022 Shogan tweeted complaining about mask mandates being lifted.

“I asked you to provide the public posts that had previously been available on Twitter because the ones that we have were pretty disturbing,” Hawley noted, adding “You responded as follows, and I quote, ‘My personal Twitter account is comprised of posts about my mystery novels, events at the White House Historical Association, Pittsburgh sports teams, travels and my dog.’ Is this an accurate statement?”

“My social media is in my personal capacity,” Shogan responded.

Hawley shot back, “Answer my question, please, because you’ve testified under oath that you only posted about your dog, and sports teams and novels, and you also said you wouldn’t give this committee any of your public posts.”

Shogan still refused to answer, prompting Hawley to remind her “You are under oath before this committee, and I have to say, you have placed this issue squarely in record by repeatedly refusing to answer.”

The deluge continued for over 7 straight minutes, as Hawley presented anti-Trump tweets, anti-second amendment tweets and anti-religion tweets, proving once again that the Biden administration is only interested in filling the government with people who will follow its agenda in lockstep.

Hawley noted “I have never seen a witness stonewall like this before. Never. And I’ve seen a lot. This is extraordinary. … I mean, this is unbelievable, and you want to be the archivist of the United States. You lied to us under oath, you lied to us in your [Questions for the Record], you just lied to me a second ago under oath, and now you’re sitting here stonewalling, not answering questions about public posts that you’ve made.”

The Senator continued, “I have never seen a witness blatantly lie under oath like Dr. Shogan has just done to this committee, stonewalled this committee, and just repeatedly refused to answer my questions about her own posts that are in public.”

“For these reasons, I will oppose your nomination and I strongly, strongly urge this committee to take action on this and force this witness to own up to the fact that she is misleading us right now before our eyes,” Hawley asserted.

Watch:

Despite all of this, Shogan will likely be confirmed, given the Democratic majority in the Senate. 

Elsewhere during the hearing, Senator Rand Paul noted that last month the National Archives had forced visiting students, in Washington for the March for Life, to remove clothing with pro-life messages on it.

“It’s hard to imagine a more offensive way to violate their freedom of speech,” Paul noted, adding “Nothing like this can ever happen again. We must understand who ordered it.”

Paul also further told the nominee, “The difference in how Archives appear to have handled disputes over documents held by former President Trump and Vice President Pence, and President Biden on the other hand, raised questions about the impartiality of the agency.”

“Specifically, the agency seems to have aggressively publicized the search for documents at President Trump and Vice President Pence’s residences, but tried to keep quiet about the documents President Biden kept at, at least three locations,” Paul added.

*  *  *

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In defiance of US pressure, Brazilian authorities have allowed a pair of Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro this week. This ships were welcomed despite specific warnings from Biden administration officials. 

The IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena warships pulled into port on Sunday morning, Rio’s port authority confirmed at the start of the week. Initially, just after his historic defeat of incumbent Blair Bolsonaro, far-Left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had vowed to deny Tehran’s request for the ships to stop in Brazil.

But that decision which was meant to appease the Biden administration just after Lula’s election win was clearly reversed, with Brazilian Navy Vice Admiral Carlos Eduardo Horta Arentz having given his approval for the ships to dock between February 26 and March 4.

In mid-February US Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley ramped up the pressure on the Brazilian government in the following appeal: 

“In the past, those ships facilitated illegal trade and terrorist activities, and have also been sanctioned by the United States. Brazil is a sovereign nation, but we firmly believe those ships should not dock anywhere,” she said.

Additionally, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson in a statement had earlier said “The United States will continue to aggressively target all elements of Iran’s UAV program.”

Photos confirmed the presence of the two Iranian ships at Rio’s port…

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Moudge-class frigate IRINS Dena (75) coming into Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – February 26, 2023 #irinsdena

SRC: webcam pic.twitter.com/mUILUUiTZ2

— WarshipCam (@WarshipCam) February 27, 2023

It’s likely the Iranian ships have military drones aboard, and that they could be launched with ease. In early February, the threat of sanctions was invoked for any third party caught coordinating and cooperating with banned Iranian entities. 

“[P]ersons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals or entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals or entities … could be subject to U.S. sanctions,” reads the statement.

Currently, Washington policy-makers in their thinking still adhere to the Monroe Doctrine in some form or fashion. They’ve long accused both Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah of making inroads into Latin America, also with charges of drug and weapons trafficking. 

Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Metropolitan Police Department officer wielding a wooden flagpole like a medieval lance inside the U.S. Capitol tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021, later bragged to fellow officers that the long wooden dowel was “my best weapon,” newly released bodycam video shows.

Video recorded by Officer Michael Dowling’s bodycam shows him climbing onto a narrow ledge in the Lower West Terrace tunnel and attacking a woman in a white coat standing near the entrance.

As Dowling jabbed at the woman—including two contacts to the head—she hurried to get off the ledge and escape the tunnel.

“I’m trying!” she cried out.

Someone at the front of the tunnel shouted at her, “Get the [expletive] out of here!”

Dowling picked up the flagpole from the floor of the tunnel entrance at 3:19 p.m. and moved into the tunnel.

After dislodging the woman in white, Dowling jabbed at a number of men at the front line who faced inward toward the police. That drew the ire of protest leader Anthony Alexander Antonio of Wilmington, Delaware, who had been addressing the crowd with a bullhorn.

“Quit that [expletive],” Antonio shouted at Dowling. “Quit that [expletive].”

Two hours later, after the crowds were pushed from the Lower West Terrace, Dowling met up with MPD Officer Jeffrey Leslie.

“I lost my flagpole,” Dowling lamented. “That was my best weapon.”

“You did well with that, sir,” Leslie replied. When another officer approached, Leslie told him, “This guy’s the man with the flagpole.”

Dowling explained, “I started jabbing people with the flagpole.”

A fourth officer joined the conversation. “You got a few people with it?” he asked.

“Oh yeah,” Dowling replied.

“Good!”

“It snapped, and then they took it back,” Dowling said.

After that conversation, Dowling went back into the Capitol and spoke with another MPD officer at the top of a staircase.

“Listen, I would have never thought I’d have the occasion to hit a man with the American flag in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building,” the officer told Dowling. “And I got to today.”

The Epoch Times asked the Metropolitan Police Department for comment on Dowling’s use of force, but did not receive a reply.

The tone for the afternoon was set at 2:41 p.m., when an officer in the staging area just inside the Capitol shouted instructions.

‘We need an old-school CDU [civil-disturbance unit] for these doors, you hear me? Old-school CDU,” the officer said. “Nightstick out. We are not losing the U.S. Capitol today! Do you hear me? We are not losing the U.S. Capitol!”

At 2:49 p.m., someone discharged a fire extinguisher into the tunnel, causing the interior Capitol hallways to fill with a dry airborne chemical.

‘Sordid Record’

Brad Geyer, the Jan. 6 defense attorney who posted the Dowling bodycam on Twitter, said the videos are peeling back the court-enforced veneer that, in many cases, hid the truth.

Read more here…

After a very strong start to the year for financial markets, February saw much of the early momentum go into reverse, with losses across equities, credit, sovereign bonds and commodities. That, as DB’s Henry Allen explains in his monthly performance review note, came “amidst growing concern about the persistence of inflation, which in turn led investors to ramp up their expectations for central bank rate hikes.” When all was said and done, it was an awful month for bonds, with Bloomberg’s global aggregate bond index experiencing its worst February performance since its inception in 1990 just one month after its best ever January. At the same time, February also marked a recovery for the US Dollar, while European equities proved resilient amidst the broader losses elsewhere. Furthermore, the YTD performance of financial assets is still generally positive, with most of those tracked by Deutsche Bank still higher over 2023 so far.

Below we excerpt from DB’s Month in Review, starting with the high-level macro overview

Having just experienced a strong rally in January, the initial mood in markets was pretty positive as February began. However, that all changed on the third day of the month, when the US jobs report for January was released. It showed that nonfarm payrolls had risen by credibility-busting 517k in January, marking the strongest job growth in six months. Furthermore, the unemployment rate fell to a 53-year low of 3.4%. The data raised fears that inflation would prove more persistent than previously thought. This led to a sharp re-appraisal on how fast the Fed would be hiking rates, with futures pricing for the December 2023 meeting up by +22.2bps on the day of the jobs report, and then a further +20.5bps on the following Monday. As of today, the terminal rate has shot up by 60bps in the past month, as more than two additional rate have been priced in.

This positive news on the employment side was then followed by upward revisions to inflation data from late-2022. These showed that CPI had fallen less rapidly than thought over Q4, with the 3-month annualized rate of core CPI in December being revised up from 3.14% to 4.25%. Then we had the January CPI data, where headline and core CPI remained hot, as did the PCE measure closely watched by the Fed.

With stronger data on the labor market and inflation, there was growing speculation that the economy could be in for a “no landing” scenario, rather than a hard or a soft landing. Unlike the hard or soft landing, which both see inflation coming down, the “no landing” would involve inflation remaining high, with growth remaining strong, and the Fed needing to hike rates even further in order to bear down on inflation. By the end of the  month, this meant that expectations of the Fed’s terminal rate had risen from 4.92% to 5.42%. And if you look at the rate priced by the December 2023 meeting, it went up from 4.48% to 5.28%, an increase of +80.5bps over the month. Investors’ expectations of inflation also saw a sharp move higher, with the 2yr breakeven up from 2.33% to 3.18% over the month.

This trend wasn’t confined in the United States: In the Euro Area, core inflation rose to a new record of +5.3% in January, and initial country releases for February from France, Spain and Germany are still showing high inflation. Similarly, the latest data shows Euro Area unemployment remaining at a joint record low of 6.6% in December, and there was further support on the growth side as natural gas prices declined a further -18.6%. Meanwhile in Japan, headline and core CPI for January reached their highest level since 1981.

The result of all this was a dramatic slide in global bonds. US Treasuries (-2.4%) suffered their worst monthly performance since September, and Bloomberg’s Global Aggregate Bond Index (-3.3%) saw its worst February performance since its inception back in 1990. Equities also struggled, with the S&P 500 peaking for the month on the day before the jobs report came out, before closing -2.4% lower. However, one of the few assets that benefited from this shift in Fed pricing was the US Dollar, with the dollar index (+2.7%) ending a run of 4 consecutive monthly declines.

Which assets saw the biggest gains in February?

• European Equities: The outperformance of European equities continued into February, with further gains for the STOXX 600 (+1.9%), the FTSE 100 (+1.8%) and the DAX (+1.6%). That leaves European equities as some of the best YTD performers in our sample, particularly in southern Europe. For instance on a YTD basis, there are now double-digit gains for Spain’s IBEX 35 (+14.7%), Italy’s FTSE MIB (+16.4%) and Greece’s ASE General Index (+21.5%).
• US Dollar: After a run of 4 consecutive monthly losses, the dollar index strengthened +2.7% in February. Indeed, it strengthened against every other G10 currency. The Swedish Krona was the next best performer among the G10, only weakening -0.04% against the US Dollar, which followed the Riksbank’s announcement that QT would be starting from April and they expected to raise the policy rate further in the spring.

Which assets saw the biggest losses in February?

• US Equities: Unlike their counterparts in Europe, US equities fell back amidst the prospect of further rate hikes. For instance, the S&P 500 fell -2.4%, the NASDAQ fell -1.0%, and the Dow Jones fell -3.9%. For the S&P 500, that brought its YTD gains back down to +3.7%.
• Sovereign Bonds: The prospect of higher inflation and more rate hikes was bad news for sovereign bonds. US Treasuries (-2.4%) and Euro Sovereigns (-2.3%) gave up most of their January gains, whilst gilts (-3.3%) are now in negative territory on a YTD basis.
• Credit: As with sovereign bonds, it was a rough month for credit. USD credit saw the worst performance on a relative basis, with US IG non-fin down -3.5%. However, EUR IG non-fin was still down -1.6%, and GBP IG non-fin was down -2.8%. HY also outperformed IG, with USD HY only down -1.6%, whilst EUR HY (-0.1%) was only just in negative territory. In terms of spreads, EUR IG (-22bps) and EUR HY (-4bps) tightened over February, as did US HY (-8bps). But US IG (+7bps) saw spreads widen for the first time since September.
• EM Assets: After a very strong performance in January, it was a bad month for EM assets. For equities, the MSCI EM index was down -6.5%. EM bonds fell back too, with a -2.7% decline. And for EM FX, there was a -1.7% decline.
• Commodities: All the major commodity groups lost ground in February. For energy, there were significant declines in European natural gas (-18.6%) along with smaller losses for Brent crude (-0.7%) and WTI (-2.3%) oil prices. Metals struggled too, with copper (-3.0%) and gold (-5.3%) both falling after three consecutive monthly gains. And agricultural goods lost ground as well, with corn (-7.4%) and wheat (-9.2%) posting noticeable declines.

Finally, here is a visual breakdown of the best and worst performing assets in February…

… and YTD.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Following a 30 second bit on SNL where he branded big pharma as a ‘cartel’ forcing it’s drugs on people with government consent, actor Woody Harrelson has further spoken out against COVID mandates.

In an interview with the New York Times, Harrelson warned that America is no longer a free country, branding COVID protocols as “rather absurd.”

Woody doubles down. https://t.co/JoWUxI0zxJ

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 28, 2023

When asked what was “absurd about the COVID protocols,” Harrelson replied, “The fact that they’re still going on!”

“I don’t think that anybody should have the right to demand that you’re forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask and forced to get vaccinated three years on,” the Zombieland star asserted.

Woody Harrelson: “The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media…”

Media: pic.twitter.com/y26cghklo9

— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 28, 2023

“I’m just like, let’s be done with this nonsense,” Harrelson continued, adding “It’s not fair to the crews. I don’t have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How’s that not up to the individual? I shouldn’t be talking about this [expletive].”

“It makes me angry for the crew. The anarchist part of me, I don’t feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination,” he continued.

“That’s not a free country,” he further warned, adding

“Really I’m talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I’m not in the same position they’re in, but it’s wrong. It’s three years. Stop.”

Cue the normie backlash…

Woody Harrelson: “The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media…”

Media: pic.twitter.com/6qGOLpr6AQ

— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 26, 2023

Woody Harrelson accuses the media of being owned by the big pharma drug cartel and the media immediately proves his point. pic.twitter.com/RF4S1JU2FT

— Janebond (@Janebon34813396) February 28, 2023

Woody Harrelson accused the media of being in lock step with the Big Pharma Cartel.
The media then goes on to immediately prove him correct.#WoodyHarrelson #SNL pic.twitter.com/5H4JswFsY2

— Jake Dials (@TheJakeDials) February 26, 2023

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Authored by Gary Bai via The Epoch Times,

Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter and Tesla, stood in the crosshairs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when he chipped in on the discussion on the origin of COVID-19 and brought attention to the theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

The world’s richest person joined in comments about a Wall Street Journal article on Sunday, Feb. 26, which reported that a classified intelligence report by the Energy Department said the virus likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The Chinese regime denies the lab leak theory and has accused its proponents of being conspiracy theorists.

Musk’s Comments

The billionaire hopped on discussions on Twitter following the news, with some users accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of funding gain-of-function research at the WIV before the virus began spreading in early 2020.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, lied to Congress about it, and now both the FBI & the Department of Energy have concluded that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan lab,” wrote a Twitter user with the handle @KanekoaTheGreat. “Does that mean Dr. Anthony Fauci funded the development of COVID-19?”

“[Fauci] did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth),” Musk wrote in a reply, referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and former White House Chief Medical Advisor. Fauci’s NIAID sent $3.4 million in research grants via non-profit EcoHealth Alliance to the Wuhan laboratory.

Though that comment from Musk came as the latest of a series of jabs at Fauci, it stepped on a few nerves across the Pacific.

“Anti-China political forces in America have yet again hyped up the rumor that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” reads a Feb. 28 article published in the Global Times, the CCP’s mouthpiece publication, titled “‘Elon Musk, are you smashing China’s pot?” which translates into the western euphemism “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

“Even the famous Tesla boss Elon Musk has joined in,” the article reads. 

“Some may think [Musk] made those remarks only to attack Fauci, but the posts he reposted almost all linked the origins of COVID-19 to China. And the argument is repeatedly used by the hostile-to-China U.S. right-wing and anti-China media to frame China.”

The Global Times piece then said the collaboration between the Wuhan laboratory worked and EcoHealth Alliance had “no relation” to researching the coronavirus or gain-of-function research (research that makes the virus more potent or more transmissible, or both), calling anyone who suggests otherwise “internet conspiracy theorists” and “anti-China forces.”

‘Smashing China’s Wok’

The comments from the state-owned media are a signal that the Chinese regime is discontent with the billionaire’s remarks.

The authoritarian regime keeps a close tab on Western businesses that operate in China and often has drastic reactions when it deems any entities to have stepped out of line. These reactions have included exerting pressure on companies to stick to the regime’s narrative or boycotting the companies altogether.

In 2019, in response to an undated statement from retail company H&M that said it is “deeply concerned by … accusations of forced labor” in Xinjiang, the Communist Youth League, following the calling of China’s state television, initiated a boycott campaign. It came amid reports of the detention of more than 1 million Muslim Uyghurs, along with forced sterilization, forced labor, and torture.

Notably, part of the comment by the Youth League is in almost identical wording to that posted by the Global Times on Tuesday, namely: “don’t expect to get fed by the Chinese and smash the Chinese wok at the same time.”

Following the boycott campaign, H&M was removed from online platforms such as Tmall and Alibaba and has seen significant drops in sales in the country.

In Musk’s case, the Chinese regime’s Tuesday signal had a significant shift in tone from the last time Musk waded into Chinese politics.

In an interview with the Financial Times in October 2022, Musk said that he recommends a “special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable” and that such an “arrangement” between Taiwan and the Chinese regime could probably be “more lenient than Hong Kong.” That comment won support from Chinese propagandists who saw Musk’s remarks as supportive of the regime’s clear intentions to claim Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, as its own territory.

China is Tesla’s second-largest market, with a year-to-date average sales of 1,016 daily in 2023, according to Reuters. But the automaker currently faces strong headwinds from competitors in China such as BYD, who have been introducing new models and interior designs in its electric car products.

The Epoch Times contacted Tesla for comment.