US equity futures dipped ahead of the MLK day holiday, while global equities were little changed after their best start to a year in a generation as investors assessed whether the recent torrid rally has gone too far given the outlook for inflation, growth and earnings. European stocks rose, while Asian stock fell, erasing earlier gains.

As of 8am, US equity futures traded around 4,010, down 0.2% from the Friday close and erasing modest earlier gains. Futures dipped as the dollar snapped a three-day losing streak and reversed an earlier drop that pushed it to an 8 month low, before gaining 0.2% against a basket of currencies, as investors await a slew of US economic data, speeches by ECB President Christine Lagarde and a policy meeting by the Bank of Japan where outgoing head Kuroda may expand the BOJ’s Yield Curve Control from 0.50% to 1.00%.

The MSCI ACWI Index slipped for the first time in seven days after posting the biggest advance for the first two weeks in data going back to 1988.

While inflation in the US appears to have peaked, continued policy tightening by the Federal Reserve “just to make sure” and other central banks risks pushing the global economy into a recession that could hurt corporate profits. The World Bank last week added to the gloomy outlook, warning of “one of the sharpest slowdowns we have seen in the past five decades.”

“The fear of missing out currently represents a key driver for equities,” Credit Agricole CIB strategists led by Jean-François Paren wrote in a note. “The market is getting a bit ahead of itself right now.”

European stocks picked up where they left off last week, adding to their best start to the year on record. Stoxx 600 rises 0.2% with real estate, health care and financial services leading gains while travel and miners fall. Here are some of the biggest European movers on Monday:

• Temenos shares rise as much as 6.4% as investors greet the Swiss software company’s CEO change as a positive; ZKB says move should help to rebuild investor confidence over time
• Yspomed shares climb as much as 12% after Credit Suisse raised the Swiss company’s shares to outperform, saying it’s the fastest-growth European mid-cap med-tech company
• Verbund shares rise as much as 2.8% after being raised to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse, with the broker saying the Austrian power firm’s shares now look fairly valued
• Sika shares rise as much as 1.3% after the Swiss construction material manufacturer agreed to sell some concrete additive assets to Ineos to win approval for its acquisition of MBCC Group
• Covestro shares drop as much as 5.1% after preliminary results that analysts said looked weak and would likely put pressure on the chemicals company’s dividends
• Just Eat and HelloFresh shares fall in early Monday trading after Exane BNP Paribas downgrades both stocks to neutral, taking a more cautious stance on the online food sector
• Proximus falls as much as 6.1% after the Belgian telecom operator said it would cut its dividend by half from 2024 to reduce leverage
• ITM Power slumped as much as 19% after issuing a profit warning, which RBC said shows there are still uncertainties related to the timing of large purchase orders and ramp-up costs
• Tecan Group shares fall as much as 5.6% after Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Maja Pataki cut the recommendation to hold from buy, citing “limited upside nearer term”
• AutoStore falls as much as 14% after DNB initiated coverage of the shares with a sell recommendation, calling it an “exciting company with an overly stretched valuation”
• IQE shares plunge as much as 21% after the semiconductor wafer-products maker said that demand from existing customers could take a hit from industry-wide “some destocking”

Asian stocks edged lower as investors braced for another possible surprise from the Bank of Japan later this week, while Chinese shares continued to rally on hopes for reopening and eased regulation. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gave up gains of as much as 0.6% to fall 0.4%, dragged by consumer discretionary and industrial shares. Japanese stocks faltered as the yen strengthened ahead of the BOJ’s policy decision Wednesday. The onshore Chinese market and the Philippines led gains around the region. China’s CSI 300 Index jumped 1.6% to an almost five-month high as overseas investors stepped up purchases of the nation’s shares amid broader optimism on border reopening. Also boosting sentiment was news that Didi Global Inc. has secured the green light to resume signing up new users, another sign that China’s tech crackdown is over.

Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China added less cash than expected into the banking system via policy loans while keeping the rate unchanged this month, even with funding demand increasing into Lunar New Year holidays. China’s reopening rally has “more to go” and “there will be a rotation in the region, which is already playing out from India and Australia, which were the leaders in 2022, to North Asia, China, and Korea,” said Sunil Koul, Asia Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, in a Bloomberg TV interview. While Chinese stocks have been among the region’s best performers this year, Japanese shares have ranked among the worst. Investors have been cautious on Japan equity as the yen climbed with the BOJ expected to continue to move away from its years of ultra-easy monetary policy after lifting a cap on bond yields last month

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Index slipped its lowest level since April, before gaining 0.2% as traders weigh the prospects of slowing Fed hikes. Investors await a slew of US economic data, speeches by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and a policy meeting by the Bank of Japan for more clues into how much further the battered US currency can weaken. The euro edged up to 1.0874, its highest in eight months, before easing in European trade.

Selling in the greenback petered out as macro accounts picked up dollars in thin trade after the London open, two Europe-based traders say, adding that volumes were around around 70% of recent averages as US market are closed for Martin Luther King Day.

Market participants are increasingly expecting more weakness in the dollar, given growing confidence that the Federal Reserve may pause its interest rate rises in the coming months. Short-term US inflation expectations cooled in early January to the lowest level since April 2021, the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey reading showed.

“Positive risk sentiment and rising speculation of an impending Fed pause has driven the US dollar steadily lower in the past week,” Alvin Tan, strategist at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note. The dollar could be in for more losses this week if a raft of US economic data, including retail sales, PPI industrial production and the Fed’s Beige Book, suggest price pressures continue to ease. Focus will also be on two speeches by the ECB’s Lagarde later in the week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Markets are set to pay great attention to Lagarde’s remarks following evidence that price pressure is easing in many countries worldwide and given the further EUR/USD appreciation at the start of 2023,” Unicredit analysts wrote in a note. Given its revised forecast for the ECB to raise rates more than the Fed this year, Unicredit has raised its EUR/USD targets to 1.12 for Q4 23 and 1.16 for Q4 24, compared with its previous targets for 1.07 and 1.12, respectively. “A tighter difference between the two policy rates this year and even more in 2024 calls for a higher EUR-USD,” they write.

The Bank of Japan’s rate review on Wednesday will also be a key focus, as investors remain on high alert for further policy tweaks after December’s shock decision to raise the bar on yield movements

In rates, European bonds decline with 10-year borrowing costs in Germany and the UK climbing 4bps and 5bps respectively. Treasury futures are also lower, with no cash trading today due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday

In commodities, WTI drifts 0.3% lower to trade near $79.60. Spot gold falls roughly $3 to trade near $1,917/oz.

Bitcoin slipped below $21,000 following a rebound over the weekend, when it surged amid optimism that it may have bottomed.

While US calendar is empty Monday with the US closed for MLK day, earnings will be a key catalyst moving forward as traders assess whether companies were able to navigate headwinds including higher interest rates. The busy week will also be punctuated by corporate earnings, including top banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Additionally, a host of Fed officials will be speaking this week, providing more clues for investors. The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting kicks off in Davos, Switzerland, with speakers there including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and the International Monetary Fund’s Kristalina Georgieva.

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 futures down 0.4% to 4,002.25
• STOXX Europe 600 up 0.2% to 453.40
• MXAP down 0.3% to 165.60
• MXAPJ up 0.3% to 545.98
• Nikkei down 1.1% to 25,822.32
• Topix down 0.9% to 1,886.31
• Hang Seng Index little changed at 21,746.72
• Shanghai Composite up 1.0% to 3,227.59
• Sensex down 0.3% to 60,087.56
• Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.8% to 7,388.18
• Kospi up 0.6% to 2,399.86
• German 10Y yield little changed at 2.20%
• Euro down 0.1% to $1.0819
• Brent Futures down 0.5% to $84.87/bbl
• Brent Futures down 0.5% to $84.87/bbl
• Gold spot down 0.3% to $1,915.19
• U.S. Dollar Index up 0.16% to 102.37

Top Overnight News

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• Citi Names Tibor Pandi as Singapore Country Head
• Lithium’s Next Big Risk Is Grand Supply Plans Falling Short
• China Reopening Will Boost Global Economy at Crucial Moment
• Energy, Chips, Taiwan: Flashpoints for 2023 in a Fractured World
• Ukraine Latest: Zelenskiy Says Donbas Is Key to Stopping Russia
• Biden Missteps on Secret Papers Create Self-Inflicted Crisis
• At Least 68 Dead as Nepal Plane Crashes Seconds Before Landing
• GOP Lawmaker’s ‘Won’t Budge’ on Debt Limit Softened by McCarthy
• Stock Buyers Can Finally Catch Their Breath as Volatility Eases

For the second time in weeks, another bulk carrier hauling farm goods from Ukraine has run aground in a critical waterway, causing disruptions to shipping traffic. 

Early Monday morning, MKK 1 (IMO: 8902929), a bulk carrier hauling 13,000 tons of peas from Ukraine, was grounded in Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait, a strait that connects the Black Sea with global markets. 

Footage on social media shows the bow of the bulk carrier lodged into the ground near the coastline on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. 

The good news is that an army of tugboats managed to refloat the vessel. CNN Turk television said the ship experienced a “steering” failure. 

Ukrayna’dan İstanbul’a seyir halindeyken Beykoz Anadolu Kavağı önlerinde dümen arızası nedeniyle karaya oturan MKK-1 isimli 142 metre boyundaki dökme yük gemisi, römorkörler ile çekilerek oturduğu yerden hareket ettirildi. pic.twitter.com/POqu1SdCAR

— 41 Saat Haber (@41SaatHaber) January 16, 2023

Kıyı Emniyeti Genel Müdürlüğü, bu sabah Ukrayna’dan İstanbul’a seyir halindeyken Umuryeri’nde karaya oturan MKK-1 isimli 142 metre boyundaki dökme yük gemisinin kurtarıldığını bildirdi.https://t.co/FwF5FEdybO pic.twitter.com/j9MYwbUHOi

— ANKA Haber Ajansı (@ankahabera) January 16, 2023

#repost @salvage_and_wreck
Bulk carrier MKK-1 grounded in the #Bosphorus strait on January 16 2023.

The vessel was underway from Ukraine to Turkey, carrying cargo under the UN’s Black Sea grain initiative. pic.twitter.com/DpLA4j1EZu

— ⚓️MarioDeFenza⚓️ (@MarioDeFenza) January 16, 2023

MKK-1 isimli gemi, balık adam ekibimizin incelemesi sonrası bulunduğu yerden kurtarılıp yüzdürülerek İstanbul GTH Merkezimiz koordinasyonunda Kurtarma Uzmanımız, NENE HATUN Gemimiz, NAZIM TUR, KURTARMA- 8, 9 Römorkörlerimiz ve KEGM-8 Botumuz refakatinde Büyükdere’ye demirletildi. pic.twitter.com/LNt4Nxf2RW

— KEGM (@kiyiemniyet) January 16, 2023

Reuters quoted the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which operates the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal mission, said the MKK 1 was traveling from Pivdennyi, a commercial seaport in the Ukrainian city of Yuzhne near Odesa, to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin.

No damage on MKK 1 has been found. Even though the vessel was refloated, Bloomberg said, “the strait has not yet reopened to shipping traffic.”

Less than a week ago, another bulk carrier hauling Ukrainian farm goods suffered “equipment failure” and went aground in the Suez Canal. The vessel was refloated, and canal traffic was restored before major disruptions plagued the Egyptian waterway.  

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

If you only play one video this year, the video below is the one you should play…

Annual CO2 emissions chart from Data in Our World.

This is an absolutely brilliant speech by British satirist, Konstantine Kisin.

Brilliant speech addressed to our ‘woke’ youth fighting #climatechange by Konstantine Kisin. pic.twitter.com/mFS8w0t2ip

— Brandon Taylor Moore (@LetsGoBrando45) January 14, 2023

Is Kisin’s Video For You?

• If you think that you, president Biden, Gretta, Al Gore, or anyone in government will do anything that matters about climate change, the video is for you.

• If you think that you, president Biden, Gretta, Al Gore, or anyone in government will not do anything that matters about climate change, the video is also for you.

It’s less than seven minutes long. Play it.

Play the video then think about the lead chart and the path of China and India while noting the whole continent of Africa is not even on the scale. 

By the way, the population of India will soon to surpass China. 

Importantly, and on a personal level, the single best thing you can do for the environment is to not have kids. 

Climate Deniers

I have been accused of being a climate denier. Mercy. Actually, I am a climate realist.

Climate change is real and constant and has been ever since the earth formed. 

The debate is over how much is manmade and even more importantly, what to do about it, whether it’s manmade or not.

Regarding what percentage is manmade, I don’t know, nor does anyone else. But let’s say you disagree. 

Then OK, I agree with you. Let’s assume recent climate change is 100% manmade. So what do we do about it?

That has been my line of questioning for a long time. I just have never been able to express my line of thinking as clearly as Kisin in the above video.

A Big Green Mess in Germany With Coal a Stunning 31 Percent of Electricity

Assume there is a problem, then if there is a solution, it will not be the like of Gretta, AOC, Al Gore, president Biden, or the Green Party hypocrites who will fix it.

Look no further than the Big Green Mess in Germany for what happens when politicians are faced with the decision to heat homes cheaply or cut back on CO2. 

The EU plans to tax other nations for not addressing climate change, while Germany bulldozes a town to increase the size of a coal mine. It’s also lignite coal, the dirtiest kind.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green who is Germany’s economy and climate minister, defended the agreement as “a good decision for climate protection” that fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saves five other villages from demolition.

World’s Largest Tax Scheme

For discussion of the EU’s hypocritical carbon tax scheme, please see EU Imposes the World’s Largest Carbon Tax Scheme.

Meanwhile, the US is marching down an idiotic path towards electric vehicle mandates with no plan on where to get the minerals for the batteries. Nor does president Biden have an reasonable plan for the infrastructure needed. 

Fed Chair Warns President Biden “We will not be a climate policymaker”

Preposterous ideas have gotten so out of hand that Fed Chair Warns President Biden “We will not be a climate policymaker”

“Without explicit congressional legislation, it would be inappropriate for us to use our monetary policy or supervisory tools to promote a greener economy or to achieve other climate-based goals. We are not, and will not be, a climate policymaker,” said Jerome Powell.

I am not one who often praises the Fed, but that paragraph deserves a standing ovation. 

Constant Hype

The hype is constant and has been consistently wrong. In 2019 I noted Ocasio-Cortez Says World Will End in 12 Years: Here’s What to Do About It

The world will still be here in 2050.

On October 29, 2022, I noted UN Seeks $4 to 6 Trillion Per Year to Address Climate

Yeah right. Politicians are going to give Africa, India, and third world countries trillions of dollars and tax the hell out of them if they don’t comply.

The Hope of Fusion vs the Pomp of Politicians and Climate Activists

If there is a climate problem, science will find the answer, not politicians or activists.

For discussion, please see The Hope of Fusion vs the Pomp of Politicians and Climate Activists

Nonetheless, there’s A Mad Rush to Build More EV Factories despite the fact we have no idea or plan to secure the minerals needed for the batteries. 

And Germany has turned to bulldozing towns to produce more coal. 

What a hoot.

*  *  *

Like these reports? I hope so, and if you do, please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

A junior forward on the #4 Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball team has been charged with capital murder after an early-morning shooting near the school’s Tuscaloosa campus.  

The player, 23-year-old Darius Hairston Miles, is one of two men facing murder charges following the shooting death of a woman, 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harrison, of Birmingham, who was mother to a five-year-old. 

“It appears at this time that the shooting was the result of a minor argument that occurred between the victims and suspects after they encountered each other along the strip,” said Tuscaloosa Police Captain Jack Kennedy. The Strip is an area of bars, restaurants and retail shops along University Boulevard, and is a focal point of the college town’s night life. 

As a handcuffed Miles was escorted from Tuscaloosa County Jail into a police vehicle, he could be seen crying, “I swear, I love you more than you imagine.” It wasn’t clear whom he was addressing. The capital murder charge springs from the fact that fatal shots were fired into a vehicle. 

Alabama basketball player Darius Miles has been arrested in connection with the savage, brutal and heartless slaughter of a young woman.

He faces execution if convicted of capital murder. pic.twitter.com/HAEzvskJNC

— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) January 16, 2023

The incident involved four people in two cars. At approximately 1:45 am, the driver of a vehicle approached campus police near the Walk of Champions at Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. He said someone had shot into his vehicle, striking his passenger, Harrison. The driver said he’d returned fire and thought he’d hit someone. 

23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris life ended tragically early Sunday morning following a shooting near The Strip in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Harris’ death has been on hard on her entire family. Former @AlabamaMBB player Darius Miles and another man face capital murder charges. pic.twitter.com/sJsENt18BU

— Juan Hustle (@JuanHustle) January 16, 2023

Police arrested Miles and 20-year-old Michael Lynn Davis of Charles County, Maryland. Of the four, only Miles was affiliated with the university.

After interviewing witnesses and viewing surveillance video, police quickly identified their two suspects. One of the them was treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wound, but police didn’t say who that was. Nor have they said who fired at the other car.

Earlier in the season, Miles missed a few games because of an unspecified “personal matter.” Before  Alabama’s Saturday afternoon 106-66 home rout of the LSU Tigers, the sports information department announced that he was out for the season with an ankle injury. Though he played substantial minutes off the bench last season, the Washington DC native played only 40 minutes in six games during the 2022-23 campaign.

Alabama says he’s been “removed from campus” and is no longer on the team. His biography page has been wiped from the Crimson Tide athletic site.  

An Associated Press photo captured a jubilant Miles celebrating a play during Saturday’s game…just a matter of hours before a “minor argument” would put him on a potential path to lethal injection. It’s a reminder to all of us that de-escalation is an essential skill in being a proficient self-defender. 

Update: Alabama’s Darius Miles will be out for the remainder of the season (murder) https://t.co/S9qsJJTwcv

— jared z ⛵️ (@SheWentToJared4) January 16, 2023

Alabama’s Darius Miles has entered the prison portal

— ArtPlugFLA (@RealArtPlug_Fla) January 16, 2023

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

Norway became Germany’s single-largest natural gas supplier in 2022, overtaking Russia, as total German gas imports dropped by 12.3% compared to 2021, the German Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, said on Friday.

Norway provided 33% of the gas Germany imported last year, followed by Russia, whose share fell to 22% for last year, compared to a 52% share in 2021, said the German regulator.

Last year, Russia started gradually cutting gas supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany in June until shutting down the pipeline in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines for the pumping stations due to Western sanctions.    

The lack of gas deliveries from Russia was partly compensated for by additional imports, including from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway, the German network agency said today.

Europe’s biggest economy also saved a lot of gas in 2022, partly due to household saving and to industrial production curtailments due to soaring gas prices.

According to Bundesnetzagentur, Germany’s natural gas consumption dropped by 14% in 2022 compared to the average consumption for the past four years. Industrial demand fell by 15% compared to the average for the past four years. Between October and December, industrial gas consumption fell by 23%, and consumption by private consumers and businesses was 21% below the previous years.

As supply from Russia fell and then stopped in early September, Germany started looking at importing LNG and began construction of regasification terminals to be able to welcome cargoes. The first such terminal, a floating LNG import terminal, officially opened at the end of 2022 at Wilhelmshaven on Germany’s North Sea coast. 

Earlier this week, Germany welcomed the first tanker carrying LNG at the newly opened LNG import terminal at Wilhelmshaven, with the cargo arriving from the Calcasieu Pass export facility in the United States. 

Authored by Nick Rendell via DailySceptic.org,

What attracted the biggest TV audiences of 2022? Top of the list was the Queen’s funeral, with 25 million viewers. Then came England’s World Cup quarter final exit with 21.3 million. Some 17.4 million watched the Women’s European Cup victory. We then drop down into the top TV shows. The final of I’m Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here had 11.9 million glued to their TV sets. 10.5 million watched the final of Strictly and 9.1 million tuned in to Eurovision.

It’s unlikely that there’ll be a big royal funeral or wedding in 2023. There’s a Rugby World Cup but not a football one. There are no Olympic Games. So, where can the TV Networks find their big hits for the coming year?

Well, courtesy of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Dr. Aseem Malhotra may just have provided 2023’s biggest TV moment. 

BREAKING BBC News:

Cardiologist says likely contributory factor to excess cardiovascular deaths is covid mRNA vaccine and roll out should be suspended pending an inquiry.

We did it. We broke mainstream broadcast media 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/F72YS7JAuE

— Dr Aseem Malhotra (@DrAseemMalhotra) January 13, 2023

A few minutes into the conversation, he began discussing what people should do to reduce the risk of heart disease. He said, “One of the reasons this is coming to the news just now, obviously there has been a big concern about excess deaths… since the pandemic there has been 30,000 excess deaths specifically due to coronary heart disease, that’s my area of expertise… What my own research has found and this is something that is probably a likely contributing factor, is that the COVID mRNA vaccines do carry cardiovascular risk.”

He added that a likely cause of his own father’s death after he had a cardiac arrest was the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine he received six months earlier.

Burak asked him, “That’s been proven medically, has it?”

He responded claiming there was “lots of data” to support his claim. He added, “The vaccine has certainly helped people who are high risk, but now we should be reassured that [the] Omicron circulating is really no worse than the flu. This is really time to pause the vaccine rollout.”

During the interview, he said that he called for the vaccine rollout to be suspended pending an inquiry because of the “uncertainty” behind excess deaths.

As I write this, the seven minute clip of him being interviewed on a BBC news show on January 14th passed 14.8 million views [ZH: 17.8 million now]. Now, wouldn’t you think that merited some form of acknowledgement from the BBC? If you were the BBC’s Head of Programmes wouldn’t you think: “Wow, we’ve had 14.8 million views, there’s a programme in this?”

It seems incredible that the BBC and, by association, the Government, think they can just bury the story. As if, so long as it isn’t mentioned, the other 50-odd million people in the country won’t also think, “Hmm, there’s something not quite right about these vaccines”. Surely radio silence only adds to the unease. Since the creation of the ‘Trusted News Initiative’, I’ve lost all trust in the BBC. Its obsessive focus on Net Zero and intersectionality sounds suspiciously like a USSR era Pravda piece about tractor production in Murmansk.

I suspect the reason the Malhotra clip has cut through so far and fast is because it perfectly resonates with people’s ‘lived experience’; everyone knows someone whom they suspect has been harmed by the vaccines.

My own sister-in-law dropped dead of SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome) back in August 2022. A fit, size 10, keen cyclist, found dead in her garden one morning.  She had been just about to set off on a bike ride. The autopsy could find no specific cause, noted some small clotting in the heart, but nothing that the pathologist seemed to think should have killed her.  

She’d had three doses of the vaccine. I’ve no idea whether the vaccines were the cause or contributory to her death, but I did feel that if a more open debate about the safety (or otherwise) of the vaccines had been allowed, at least the pathologist might have been open to considering it, even if only to dismiss it for specific reasons. 

But, of course, whether the vaccines were responsible or not, there was absolutely no reason for her to have been vaccinated in the first place. Like everyone else who is not vulnerable, she was never at any risk from Covid. She’d had Covid in 2020: a day in bed, slight headache, backache. It held no fears for her, but she wanted to go on holiday.

It wasn’t only her family that were taken aback by my sister-in-law’s death. In the small Cumbrian town in which she lived, a bloke keeled over in the street with a heart attack. In a nearby village someone else died suddenly, all within a week or so. To everyone it seemed odd – it was the talk of the town. And though the talk was always in hushed voices, word of mouth is a powerful medium.

A friend told her neighbour, a hospital nurse, about my sister-in-law’s death. “Oh,” she replied, “we call it a Covax death,” as if they happen all the time. Another friend, on hearing the tale told me of her nephew, 27 years-old, had a stroke a couple of weeks after his second vaccine. Everyone has a story.

The start of the 2021 football season kicked off a similar round of whispers. Trevor Sinclair, the football pundit, got in trouble for even daring to raise the issue on air. Virtually every game seemed to have either a medical emergency on the pitch or one in the crowd, sometimes more than one. I was at a Mansfield Town game many years ago when they were having an FA cup run. In a game against West Ham, someone in the crowd had a heart attack. It was quite a thing, but in all the hundreds of games I’ve ever watched, that’s the only time I remember a game stopping for such an incident. Then suddenly last year it was happening every week.  Related to the vaccines? I don’t know, but I think someone should be looking into it, not gaslighting the millions watching into believing this was normal.

Of course, people are going to speculate. The BBC do themselves no favours by pretending it isn’t a real concern.

But, what’s becoming interesting now are the conspiracy theories. Cock-up or strategy? Could a BBC news producer or editor really be so detached from the biggest story of the past two years to not know that Dr. Aseem Malhotra is a vaccine sceptic? The shock on the face of the interviewer is perhaps more understandable if all she does is read autocues, but for someone who is responsible for a BBC news programme not to be aware is frankly incredible, in the true sense of the word. If it’s ‘incredible’, so the conspiracists argue, then it must have been planned. Does this signify a change in the mood music? The producer should be grateful that the BBC’s Trusted News Initiative’ has yet to fully embrace Pravda’s modus operandi, or else they’d have been taken outside and shot. A fate that might yet, metaphorically, befall both the BBC producer and Dr. Malhotra, courtesy of the GMC.

The Chinese Communist Party didn’t abandon ‘Zero Covid’ because of a few protests, but because it wasn’t working. Infections were taking off regardless of strict lockdown measures. It’s the same with vaccine scepticism. Doubts about vaccination will only continue to grow while deaths exceed normal levels. Dr. Malhotra’s piece may yet push us past the tipping point where these concerns have to be addressed.

My personal view is that vaccines played an important part in breaking us out of the unsustainable lockdown loop. I don’t think vaccines made much difference to lives lost – the emergence of Omicron and prior natural immunity did that – but vaccination gave the elderly the confidence to emerge from behind their locked doors. We’d have been as well off giving everyone a saline shot rather than blowing billions on vaccines. No, the real crime lay in extending vaccines to those who didn’t need them.

If we’d stuck with Plan A, articulated by both Kate Bingham and Matt Hancock back in late 2020, and only offered vaccines to the elderly and vulnerable, confidence in all vaccines wouldn’t now be at all-time low.

It’s worth remembering that boosters haven’t been offered to the non-vulnerable under-50s for about 18 months [ZH: in the UK], and since not even the manufacturers claim any ongoing efficacy for vaccines after about six months, then the only possible reason for not offering additional vaccine boosters to the under-50s is because it’s thought they’ll do more harm than good.

So, does the Dr. Malhotra appearance herald a change in tack by the BBC? Are the vaccines about to be thrown under a bus? I doubt it, but I bet there are a few TV production companies lining up a debate somewhere and just looking for a TV broadcaster to commission it. You never know, maybe Twitter could air it live, there’s a record TV audience just waiting to watch it. I’m sure such a debate could ‘educate, entertain and inform’. Something the BBC was once quite good at.

Authored by Pete Hoekstra via The Gatestone Institute,

Over the last few years, there has been much written about the destruction of American democracy. Frequently the threat has been of alleged interference in U.S. elections by Russia, China or other state actors. Government agencies, the name of election integrity, were assigned to identify and disrupt these foreign intrusions. As more and more information is revealed about these agencies, it seems that America’s Intelligence Community participated in these activities domestically, and in a way that poses a grave threat to both election integrity and American democracy.

Just last week it was revealed that the FBI again withheld pertinent information from the American public, for past two months, until after the November 8, 2022 federal election. As with the Bureau’s reported cover-up of evidence influence-peddling reportedly found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, agents knew, since November 2, 2022, about at least some of the three sets of classified material that illegally found their way into the garage and library of President Joe Biden and into the Penn Biden Center think tank at the University of Pennsylvania — to which anonymous members of the Chinese Communist Party have donated $54.6 million.

Their existence only became known this week, after the newly elected Republican-majority House of Representatives announced that it would hold hearings on “how the [Justice] department handled investigations into classified materials found at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home and those found at President Joe Biden’s office in a Washington think tank bearing his name and his Delaware home…”

In addition, the recent release of the “Twitter Files” has raised at least two major concerns regarding actions by the Intelligence Community. The first is that the wall of separation between the Intelligence Community and the U.S. media has not only sprung a leak, it has totally collapsed. The report that officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) met weekly with Twitter executives to coordinate information is totally inappropriate. Would officials from the ODNI review, affirm or label certain sets of information as false? When ODNI was created, no one intended its officials to have a role in these types of discussions.

It also appears that intelligence officials in recent years have politically weaponized intelligence. The combination of a politically weaponized Intelligence Community, operating hand-in-hand with organizations that are the main gateways for information to millions of Americans, poses a serious threat to American democracy and the integrity of our elections.

Let us just briefly look at the steep slope of lying, deceit and corruption that has seeped into the leadership of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

First, there are not enough words to praise our Intelligence Community and the men and women who risk their lives to keep America safe. These are the rank-and-file professionals that form the core of the Intelligence Community. Most are dedicated to the mission of gathering the necessary information to protect our nation. Their leaders have a responsibility to serve these individuals. Too often, however, as the current array of whistleblowers indicates, those leaders have let these individuals down.

Imagine their reaction in 2013 when, in response to a question from Senator Ron Wyden to then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper about whether the National Security Agency (NSA) collects “any type of data on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans,” Clapper answered, “No sir, not wittingly.” Clapper, who had been given the question the previous day, was asked after the hearing if he wanted to amend the answer, and declined. It was shortly thereafter that a massive NSA program containing millions of pieces of Americans’ data was revealed. Clapper was caught in a huge lie — to U.S. Senator Wyden and the American people.

On January 12, 2017, CNN reported that President-elect Donald Trump had been briefed by DNI Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and NSA Director Michael Rogers. The topic: “Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Donald Trump.” It was intended to inform the President-elect that these allegations “are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress, and other government officials in Washington.” The briefing also touched on other major allegations they claimed were “circulating.”

Having this false information — some of which the FBI actually altered — in the public domain was evidently intended to damage Trump. The Russian “hoax” allegations would haunt and damage the Trump presidency for almost two years. Clapper himself stated:

“I express my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press … they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.”

Clapper also released a statement that neither he nor anyone else in the Intelligence Community were responsible for the leaks. How did this highly classified information, then, get into the public domain?

A House Republican investigation provides the answer. Clapper denied leaking the dossier but admitted to discussing the dossier with CNN correspondent Jake Tapper and perhaps other journalists in early January 2017. Later in 2017, Clapper would go on to join CNN as a “national security” contributor and CNN would receive an award for its reporting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

Today we know that the “Russia hoax” was a lie. After a 22-month investigation, no evidence of collusion between any element of the Trump campaign and Russia was uncovered. The supposedly compromising evidence had never existed; the information in the “Steele dossier” was false — and the FBI had known it was from the start. The entire fabrication had been an attempt to attack and politically weaken Trump.

In October 2020, shortly before the elections 51 former intelligence professionals had even signed a joint letter stating that the Hunter Biden laptop had “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” They stated that their national security experience made them “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.” They went on:

“If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we strongly believe that Americans need to be aware of this.”

The New York Times raised questions about the authenticity of the materials found on the laptop. Bill Evanina, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director, had indicated in August that Russia was trying to denigrate the Biden campaign. All these manufactured “facts” were apparently intended to create circumstances where reasonable people would have to conclude that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.

Signatories of the 2020 letter included Clapper, Brennan, Michael Hayden, Jeremy Bash and David Buckley. Clapper and Brennan are familiar names. They were involved in the January 2017 briefing to President Donald Trump on the fake Steele dossier. Jeremy Bash and David Buckley are worth mentioning because they continue to play significant roles in domestic and national security areas in the U.S. government. Buckley was the majority staff director on the House Select Committee investigating January 6th. Bash has been named to co-chair a government commission to review the war in Afghanistan.

The fraudulent efforts by the U.S. government, Clapper, Brennan and the 49 others — along with Hillary Clinton, her campaign committee, the Democratic National Committee and the suppression of the media and social media (here and here) — to influence the public unfortunately met with some success. For almost two years, the authenticity of the material found on Hunter Biden’s laptop was questioned. Today, its authenticity has been verified; the information is real and damning. As summarized by the New York Post:

“Yes that letter from the Dirty 51 had all the classic earmarks of a disinformation operation, all right – one designed to ensure Joe Biden won the presidency. And it was essentially a CIA operation, considering 43 of the 51 signatories were former CIA.”

One final example of the Intelligence Community involving itself in domestic politics comes from the recent release of the “Twitter Files.” According to tweet #20 of the third tranche released:

“This post about the Hunter Biden laptop situation shows that Roth not only met weekly with the FBI and DHS, but with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

Tweet #17 states: “executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content.”

Finally, the FBI paid Twitter $3.5 million reportedly to “handle requests from the bureau.”

We now know what happened. Twitter suppressed discussion of the Hunter Biden laptop story and suppressed conservative messaging, while at the same time it appears the FBI, DHS and the ODNI had literally had set up shop at Twitter.

The American people should be outraged. This level of collaboration between federal law enforcement and a private sector company on controlling speech is terrifying. Having our Intelligence Community, which is supposed to be focused on foreign intelligence collection, involved is even more terrifying.

DNI James Clapper lying to the American people in 2013 about government surveillance of them, the promoting of the Russian hoax theory in 2017 by CIA Director Brennan, DNI Clapper, FBI Director Comey and others, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story by 51 former intelligence professionals, and the close working arrangement between the FBI, DHS and the ODNI in 2020-2022 raises a staggering series of questions:

• Can our government, law enforcement, and the Intelligence Community still be trusted?

• Have those federal government agencies literally weaponized law enforcement and intelligence against political opponents in the U.S.?

• Has more than one solitary person — former FBI attorney Kevin Clinemith, for altering an email — been held accountable for these egregious abuses of power?

• Why wasn’t there a more powerful response from the Intelligence Community and the law enforcement community about the disinformation from the 51 former intelligence professionals?

• Who authorized the cozy relationship between law enforcement, the intelligence community with Twitter?

• Who in these government agencies reviewed and approved of the output and decisions coming from these joint efforts?

• Were political appointees in the review loop?

• Who has the records, notes and decisions that emanated from these groups?

It is clear that our law enforcement community needs to be investigated, but most importantly we need to investigate how our Intelligence Community has evolved from having literally a non-existent relationship with speech in America to being inside the room determining what speech is allowed.

There also needs to be a significant investigation by an outside, non-government group to understand how far this massive government overreach into free speech and election manipulation went.

Clearly the government has been influencing what we get to see and hear. It needs to stop — now — before our democracy is destroyed.

On average, there are 250 babies born every minute around the world. As Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes details below, this adds up to over 130 million new human beings entering the world every year.

Then it’s no surprise that the world’s population, which now stands at a whopping 8 billion, has more than tripled since the mid-20th century.

This graphic by Truman Du uses December 2022 population data from the UN and summaries from the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) to show the unequal rise and fall of the world’s population by 2050.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these population trends.

Most Populous Countries: 2022 vs. 2050

The Asian countries of India and China have topped the rankings of the world’s most populous countries for hundreds of years.

China currently holds the number one spot on this list. But the population of India is expected to surpass that of China’s by later this year, eventually reaching a total of 1.67 billion in 2050.

The United States, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Indonesia are the next most populous countries in 2022, and they are expected to hold onto these spots until 2050. However, they have a long way to go before catching up with the top two, as their combined population doesn’t add up to half that of India and China’s total.

Interestingly, it is estimated that Nigeria’s population will shoot up to 375 million by 2050, almost matching the population of the United States. In 2022, the African country’s population was just around 219 million. This expected spike is largely due to a high birth rate and booming economy, and the resultant rural-to-urban migration.

Countries with Declining Populations

While many countries will be seeing their populations boom over the next three decades, other nations such as China are expected to experience the opposite.

Several countries in the world are expected to see their populations decline over the next 30 years. And the main reason for this: extremely low birth rates.

South Korea, which has the world’s lowest fertility rate, is expected to see a sharp decline of almost 12% in its population as it falls to 46 million by 2050.

Changing world population trends like this can pose challenges for economies around the world, such as labor shortages, aging populations, and an increasing financial burden on younger generations.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest,” the main character’s search for his true name comes to a head when he finally demands “would you kindly inform me who I am?” In an astonishing filing this week, Hunter Biden answered that question for his four-year-old daughter Navy Joan and effectively declared “you are no Biden.”

Hunter Biden’s disgraceful treatment of his daughter has long been on display in Arkansas where he long denied being her father, fought paternity, and was threatened with contempt of court over his failure to supply needed documents. After DNA testing was forced by a court, Hunter was found to be the father but he continued to resist efforts to force him to pay child support and supply financial records.

Recently, Lunden Roberts sought to have a surname change for her daughter to Biden. Even after his long and abusive treatment of his daughter in court, Hunter Biden’s opposition is breathtaking.  He opposes his daughter using his name and says that, if she does, she will never have a “peaceful existence.”

Of course, Biden did not feel that way with his other four children. They are all true Bidens and living peaceful existences. It is only Navy Joan who he does not want to bear the family name.

Hunter’s concern for Navy Joan’s peaceful existence is a bit odd since he has reportedly never even seen his daughter after fighting for years to deny his paternal status and child support.

While living in a luxurious mansion in Malibu, Hunter continued to fight his obligations under child support and requested in September 2022 to have the payments lowered, bemoaning how his “financial circumstances” were difficult for him.  The public pays more for his security in his mansion than he does in monthly support for his daughter.

Hunter is asking Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer to deny Navy Joan the ability to use her father’s surname and claiming that it is in her best interest. The filing is so self-serving and transparently dishonest that it does what was once thought impossible: reach a new low for Hunter. All of his reported selfies having sex and doing drugs with prostitutes were shocking. His attacks on his former sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, widow of the deceased brother (with whom Hunter later had a romantic relationship), were appalling. However, the craven effort to deny this child his name reaches a level of cad that stands unrivaled.

The position of Hunter in court has been disgraceful, but the media has largely ignored the matter. It has also ignored the utter lack of support from President Joe Biden and the First Lady, who tellingly omitted a stocking for Navy Joan as one of their grandchildren. (The dog and cat did receive stockings). There is no record that Joe or Jill Biden have ever sought to meet, let alone embrace, their grandchild. The President has, however, sought to deny the child security protection (despite his son’s concern for her “peaceful existence”).

Joe Biden has long campaigned against “deadbeat Dads” but when a Fox reporter asked about Hunter’s refusal to pay child support, President Biden snapped at him and refused to answer the question on the “personal matter.” (The media also ignored Hunter’s deadbeat dad record in fawning interviews about this “bravery” in writing a book on his life).

The obvious effort of the Biden family in this filing is to preserve distance from this child. The legal standard for a name change in Arkansas has been based on the “best interests of the child,” not the political interest of the father and his family. Indeed, historically, Arkansas courts followed a presumption in favor of a child have the surname of its father.

More recently, the Arkansas Supreme Court in Huffman v. Fisher laid out various factors to balance including (1) the child’s preference; (2) the effect on the child’s relationship with each parent; (3) the length of time that the child has borne the prior surname; (4) the community respect for the rivaling surnames; (5) the social difficulties that could arise from the adoption of the new surname; and (6) the presence of any parental misconduct or neglect.

The petition is based on the best interest of the child.  Roberts’ lawyer claims that the Biden name is “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.” The “financially acute” part did jump out for many of us who have followed Hunter Biden’s scandals for years.  The Bidens have certainly made themselves wealthy during Joe Biden’s time in office. However, they are synonymous not with financial acuity but influence peddling. While influence peddling has long been the leading industry in Washington, the Bidens have long taken it to levels unimagined by other powerful families with millions in windfall payments from foreign sources, including some connected to foreign intelligence operations.

Nevertheless, the child is clearly better off with the Biden surname, particularly in establishing the very connection that Hunter, Joe, and Jill Biden seem committed to conceal or ignore.  Navy Joan is the grandchild of the 47th President of the United States. That alone makes the change beneficial. Navy Joan will be able to benefit from the cache of that connection in applying to college, seeking employment, and other pursuits. It also establishes (despite the efforts of the Bidens) that she is part of the family’s legacy.

Joe Biden often talks about his Irish roots and his family tree. The familial legacy also includes Navy Joan. Those are her relatives even if they refuse to recognize or embrace her.

There is no real doubt about the best interests of his child in his filing.  For their part, the Bidens have made it clear what is in their best interest. It is not this child. The court should make fast work of this petition and change Navy Joan’s surname to Biden. That will not make the family more loving or supportive or accepting. She will have to eventually deal emotionally with this latest effort to conceal her true identity.

Yet, she is a Biden and could easily prove the best of the lot.