Authored by Ciaran Lyons via CoinTelegraph.com,

Bitcoin remains in demand among Argentines as the ARS has lost fourfold value against the US dollar in the last year, dropping from 0.0049 USD per ARS in March 2023 to 0.0012 USD at present.

Argentines’ efforts to preserve their savings amid the ongoing decline of their national currency, the Argentine peso (ARS), has resulted in the nation recently hitting its highest demand for Bitcoin in 20 months, according to a recent report.

On March 20, Bloomberg reported data sourced from cryptocurrency exchange Lemon Cash revealing nearly 35,000 customers in Argentina purchased Bitcoin in the week ending March 10, which is double the weekly average compared to 2023.

Bitcoin purchases in Argentina Jan 2023 – March 2024. Source: Bloomberg

A major factor for the increase in demand is the ongoing decline of the nation’s currency. 

Over the past twelve months, the ARS value against the US dollar has plummeted, dropping from 0.0049 USD per ARS in March 2023 to 0.0012 USD at the time of publication.

However, it was noted that Lemon wasn’t the only platform seeing a surge in demand. Other major exchanges in Argentina, such as Ripio and Belo, reported similar trends.

According to the CEO of the digital wallet Belo, Manuel Beaudroi, stablecoin purchases in Argentina declined from 70% to 60% as Bitcoin’s recent price surge attracted more interest.

“The user decides to buy Bitcoin when they see the news that the currency is going up, while stablecoin is more pragmatic and many times used for transactional purposes, as a vehicle to make payments abroad.”

He also claimed that Belo has seen volume in Bitcoin and Ether increase “tenfold so far in 2024 compared to the same period last year.” 

However, a recent report suggests that interest in stablecoins might still exist, as Argentines are possibly choosing not to use the well-known exchanges within the country for purchasing them.

On Feb. 12 Cointelegraph reported that Argentines are using black market exchanges, known locally as “crypto caves,” to buy USD stablecoins in an effort to escape strict currency controls and the rising inflation of the ARS.

Meanwhile, the use of digital currency for specific transactions is slowly gaining traction within the country.

In December 2023, Diana Mondino, the minister of foreign affairs, international trade and worship, claimed that a decree aimed at economic reform and deregulation would allow the use of Bitcoin and other cryptos in the country under certain conditions.

Following the ruling, a local landlord and a tenant in Rosario, the third most populated city in Argentina, sealed a rental agreement where the latter would pay monthly rent in Bitcoin.

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has from the start of the Israel-Hamas war been among the most aggressive and fiercest critics of Israel and especially its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While Erdogan has long denounced Israel’s operation in Gaza, on Thursday he unleashed his harshest rhetoric yet, which came close to perhaps being a direct threat against Netanyahu’s life. In an election rally the Turkish president vowed to “send [Netanyahu] to Allah to take care of him, make him miserable and curse him.”

The threatening and inflammatory words were widely picked up in Israeli press reports, causing outrage. He additionally described that “Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, like today’s Nazis.”

Another media outlet which covers regional events translated Erdogan’s words as follows:

In a fresh attack on the Israeli prime minister over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Erdogan told the crowd gathered at an election rally in central Anatolia on Thursday, “I’m leaving the person called Netanyahu in the Lord’s hands.” He then added, “May the Lord damn him.”

Thus depending on how the remarks are translated, the statement leaves itself open to interpretation possibly as a direct threat against the Israeli leader.

A livid Israeli government immediately summoned the Turkish ambassador, demanding answers. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said that Turkey’s charges d’affaires Mehmet Sekerci was summoned in order to “convey a clear message to Erdogan.”

“There is no God who will listen to those who support the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by your barbaric Hamas friends,” Katz stated. “Be quiet and shame on you!”

Erdogan has consistently called Hamas “not a terrorist organization” but “a group of mujahideen defending their lands” – in reference to those who engage in ‘jihad’.

From Tel Aviv’s perspective, Erdogan’s ratcheting rhetoric in denouncing Israeli actions will likely been seen as unforgiveable, even after this current crisis is over. Turkey and Israel have long clashed over the Palestinian issue, and these tensions have now exploded back into full force. Ties between the two countries are at a historical low point.

Authored by Milt Harris via PJMedia.com,

Murrieta is a city in Southern California with just over 100,000 residents. Even though it isn’t a huge city, the Neighborhood Scout, a website that tracks local statistics for potential homebuyers or renters, reported this about the municipality on its website:

The crime rate in Murrieta is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 15 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Murrieta is 1 in 65. Based on FBI crime data, Murrieta is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to California, Murrieta has a crime rate that is higher than 40% of the state’s cities and towns of all sizes.

It’s common for the public to be interested in the details of an arrest, including the crime committed and the appearance of the suspect. However, in California, there is a law that prioritizes the rights of the suspect over the public’s right to know by requiring that the faces of certain suspects be concealed. In Murietta, this law has been taken to an extreme level, where police hide suspects’ faces with Lego heads.

In an Instagram post, the police department explained the new law this way:

On January 1st, a new law went into effect that restricts the how and when law enforcement agencies in California share suspect photos & mugshots. The new law, Assembly Bill 994 & Penal Code 13665, now prohibits law enforcement from sharing suspect photos for nonviolent crimes, unless specified circumstances exist. Additionally, the new law requires agencies to remove suspect mugshots from social media after 14 days, unless special circumstances exist.

The Murrieta Police Department prides itself in its transparency with the community but also honors everyone’s rights & protections as afforded by law, even suspects. In order to share what is happening in Murrieta, we chose to cover the faces of suspects to protect their identity while still aligning with the new law.

Using something so ridiculous minimizes the severity of crimes and turns serious events into cartoons. People may understand the need to comply with the law, but this approach is inappropriate.

Judge for yourself:

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Murrieta Police Department (@murrietapd)

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Murrieta Police Department (@murrietapd)

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Murrieta Police Department (@murrietapd)

The bill: 

Requires a police department or sheriff’s office to remove a booking photo shared on the department’s social media page within 14 days unless specific circumstances exist and requires a police department or sheriff’s office sharing a booking photo on social media to use the name and pronouns given by the subject of that photo.

Those specific circumstances are described as: 

A police department or sheriff’s office has determined that the suspect is a fugitive or an imminent threat to an individual or to public safety and releasing or disseminating the suspect’s image will assist in locating or apprehending the suspect or reducing or eliminating the threat, or if a judge orders the release or dissemination of the suspect’s image based on a finding that the release or dissemination is in furtherance of a legitimate law enforcement interest.

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Going forward, the left will undoubtedly continue to be soft on crime. However, the Murietta police will no longer use Lego heads to further diminish the seriousness of any criminal’s actions. Lego has instructed the department to stop digitally adding Lego heads onto photos of suspects. Murrieta Police Department Lt. Jeremy Durrant told Fox News Digital in a statement that: 

The Lego Group reached out to us and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content which of course we understand and will comply with. We are currently exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers.

Durrant’s choice of words to describe the way his department reports criminal activities is revealing. While the reports are supposed to be truthful and informative, Durrant uses them as a chance to downplay the severity of the crimes and make them seem less serious. He uses terms like “engaging” and “interesting” to describe police reports, which is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Murietta.

Thankfully, Lego stepped in and eliminated the visual aspect of this farce. I guess the simple blurring out of the faces wasn’t entertaining enough for the people that Durrant refers to as the department’s “followers.” 

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

For the first time in the history of the report, the US dropped out of the top twenty happiest nations. The youth poll (30 and under) is a disaster for the US, Germany, Canada, France, Japan, and China.

Please consider the World Happiness Report for 2024.

Key Happiness Details

• Overall Rankings: The top 10 countries have remained much the same since before COVID. Finland is still top, with Denmark now very close, and all five Nordic countries in the top 10. But in the next 10, there is more change, with the transition countries of Eastern Europe rising in happiness (especially Czechia, Lithuania and Slovenia). Partly for this reason the United States and Germany have fallen to 23 and 24 in the rankings.

• Happiness Trends by Age Group: In North America, happiness has fallen so sharply for the young that they are now less happy than the old. By contrast, in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the young are much happier than the old.

• Global Trends: In most countries life satisfaction drops gradually from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Globally, young people aged 15-24 still report higher life satisfaction than older adults. But the picture varied by region. Youth wellbeing fell in North America, Western Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia. In the rest of the world it rose.

• Negativity: Negative emotions are more frequent than in 2006-2010 everywhere except East Asia and both parts of Europe.

• Millennials and Zoomers: Age and generation both matter for happiness. As between generations, those born before 1965 (Boomers and their predecessors) have life evaluations about one-quarter of a point higher than those born after 1980 (Millennials and Gen Z). Within each generation, life evaluations rise with age for those in the older generations and fall with age for the younger ones, with little age effect for those in between.

Happiness Age 30 and Below

Clearly this was taken before the Hamas attack in Israel.

Q: Where’s the US?
A: #62

Australia is #19, Germany is #47, France #48, Canada #58, Japan #73, China #79.

Happiness Age 60 and Above

The US, Canada, and Australia are in the top ten list of happiness age 60 and older.

Serious Economic Implications

Unhappy 30-year-olds don’t have kids because they don’t see a future.

In the US, those age 30 and younger believe they will be worse off than their parents. I think they are correct in that assessment.

The economy is allegedly booming, but only the asset holders have benefitted.

Gen Z, the Most Pessimistic Generation in History

Young adults are more skeptical of government and pessimistic about the future than any living generation before them. This is with reason, and it’s likely to decide the election.

Economic Reality

Gen Z may be the first generation in US history that is not better off than their parents.

Many have given up on the idea they will ever be able to afford a home.

The economy is allegedly booming (I disagree). Regardless, stress over debt is high with younger millennials and zoomers.

This has been a constant theme of mine for many months.

Credit Card and Auto Delinquencies Soar

Credit card debt surged to a record high in the fourth quarter. Even more troubling is a steep climb in 90 day or longer delinquencies.

Record High Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt rose to a new record high of $1.13 trillion, up $50 billion in the quarter. Even more troubling is the surge in serious delinquencies, defined as 90 days or more past due.

For nearly all age groups, serious delinquencies are the highest since 2011.

Auto Loan Delinquencies

Serious delinquencies on auto loans have jumped from under 3 percent in mid-2021 to to 5 percent at the end of 2023 for age group 18-29.Age group 30-39 is also troubling. Serious delinquencies for age groups 18-29 and 30-39 are at the highest levels since 2010.

For further discussion please see Credit Card and Auto Delinquencies Soar, Especially Age Group 18 to 39

Generational Homeownership Rates

Home ownership rates courtesy of Apartment List

The above chart is from the Apartment List’s 2023 Millennial Homeownership Report

Those struggling with rent are more likely to be Millennials and Zoomers than Generation X, Baby Boomers, or members of the Silent Generation.

The same age groups struggling with credit card and auto delinquencies.

On Average Everything is Great

Average it up, and things look pretty good. This is why we have seen countless stories attempting to explain why people should be happy.

Krugman Blames Partisanship

With the recent rise in consumer sentiment, time to revisit this excellent Briefing Book paper. On reflection, I’d do it a bit differently; same basic conclusion, but I think partisan asymmetry explains even more of the remaining low numbers 1/ https://t.co/4lqm7X4472

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 17, 2024

OK, there is a fair amount of partisanship in the polls.

However, Biden isn’t struggling from partisanship alone. If that was the reason, Biden would not be polling so miserably with Democrats in general, blacks, and younger voters.

This allegedly booming economy left behind the renters and everyone under the age of 40 struggling to make ends meet.

Many Are Addicted to “Buy Now, Pay Later” Plans

Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, plans are increasingly popular. It’s another sign of consumer credit stress.

For discussion, please see Many Are Addicted to “Buy Now, Pay Later” Plans, It’s a Big Trap

The study did not break things down by home owners vs renters, but I strongly suspect most of the BNPL use is by renters.

What About Jobs?

Another seemingly strong jobs headline falls apart on closer scrutiny. The massive divergence between jobs and employment continued into February.

Nonfarm payrolls and employment levels from the BLS, chart by Mish.

Payrolls vs Employment Gains Since March 2023

• Nonfarm Payrolls: 2,602,000

• Employment Level: +144,000

• Full Time Employment: -284,000

For more details of the weakening labor markets, please see Jobs Up 275,000 Employment Down 184,000

CPI Hot Again

CPI Data from the BLS, chart by Mish.

For discussion of the CPI inflation data for February, please see CPI Hot Again, Rent Up at Least 0.4 Percent for 30 Straight Months

Also note the Producer Price Index (PPI) Much Hotter Than Expected in February

Major Economic Cracks

There are economic cracks in spending, cracks in employment, and cracks in delinquencies.

But there are no cracks in the CPI. It’s coming down much slower than expected. And the PPI appears to have bottomed.

Add it up: Inflation + Recession = Stagflation.

Election Impact

In 2020, younger voters turned out in the biggest wave in history. And they voted for Biden.

Younger voters are not as likely to vote in 2024, and they are less likely to vote for Biden.

The Journal noted nearly one-third of voters under 30 have an unfavorable view of both Biden and Trump, a higher number than all older voters. Sixty-three percent of young voters think neither party adequately represents them.

Young voters in 2020 were energized to vote against Trump. Now they have thrown in the towel.

And Biden telling everyone how great the economy is only rubs salt in the wound.

Conclusions

Two completely different polls show millennials and zoomers are unhappy. And they are unhappy for the reasons I stated.

Many have concluded they will never be able to afford a house or have kids. Those who have concluded that are likely correct.

For more discussion, please see Gen Z, the Most Pessimistic Generation in History, May Decide the Election

Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times,

The government spending bill that House lawmakers passed on Friday included an effective ban on pride flags flying over diplomatic buildings but dropped nearly all of the 45 GOP-included provisions targeting LGBT concerns.

Specifically, the bill states that appropriated funds can only be used to fly certain official flags over U.S. diplomatic facilities, effectively banning the LGBT pride flag.

According to the bill’s text, (pdf) “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State other than” the listed flags, which did not include the pride flag.

The permitted flags include the U.S. flag, foreign service flag, POW/MIA flag, hostage and wrongful detainee flag; the flag of a state, insular area, or the District of Columbia at domestic locations; the flag of an Indian tribal government; the official branded flag of a U.S. agency; or the sovereign flag of other countries.

Two-thirds of House lawmakers passed a $1.2 trillion bill on Friday to fully fund 70 percent of the government without the support of most Republicans, just ahead of a deadline.

The legislation is now in the Senate for consideration ahead of a midnight deadline, after which the government shutdown will begin if lawmakers there do not clear it.

House Republicans “failed” to keep more than 45 provisions aimed at limiting funding for transgender procedures, certain drag shows, and executive orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion issued by President Joe Biden, according to the Congressional Equality Caucus.

The only two measures that Democrats in the caucus described as “anti-equality” that made it through were the measure banning pride flags and cuts to funding for LGBT community funding projects.

“Unfortunately, Republicans fought to maintain a rider that restricts Pride flag displays at State Department buildings, and the final funding bills did not include some LGBTQI+ community funding projects,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the caucus, said in a statement.

‘Business as Usual In the Swamp’

Staunchly conservative Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus had pleaded with their colleagues to reject the spending deal in the days leading up to the vote, arguing that it funds the very Biden administration policies they’ve been fighting against.

“This is business as usual in the swamp,“ said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on the House floor before the vote. He went on to warn his GOP colleagues that should they campaign against ”open borders,” they’ll be laughed at.

“Because today, if you vote for this abomination of a bill, you will be voting to fund it,” he added.

Republicans in both chambers lamented the lack of inclusion of stronger border security measures in the spending deal and expressed criticism of its passage in the House shortly after.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who called the bill’s passage with the speaker’s support “a betrayal,” moved to oust Mr. Johnson from the speaker’s office for his role in the deal.

She filed a motion to vacate the speaker on Friday as House members voted on the package.

“The ‘Republican-controlled’ House just passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill that doesn’t secure our border but funds full-term abortion and trans ideology on our youth. I filed a Motion to Vacate because the House needs a Speaker who’s able to win for Republicans and our constituents,” she said.

Before the vote, Ms. Greene spoke on the House floor and said no House Republican can in “good conscience can vote for this bill,” calling it a “complete departure” from the conservative party’s principles.

The bill was unveiled on Thursday and fast-tracked to approval in a process that required a two-thirds majority vote for passage, as well as the House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) waiving a rule that requires 72 hours for members to review the legislation before it can be moved.

The bill would fund the departments of State, Defense, Treasury, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Shortly before midnight on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that voting on the deal would soon begin after resolving an impasse.

However, the deadline was missed, and the government entered a partial, albeit short-lived, shutdown.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries continued in the overnight hours, with two separate attacks. The latest wave of drone attacks on the Russian refinery system has forced the swing producer’s daily average oil refining rate to drop to a ten-month low.

Bloomberg reports a suicide drone caused a fire at the Kuibyshev refinery in Russia’s Samara region. The fire was extinguished at the refinery, which has an annual capacity of 7 million tons of oil. There was no word on damage or how much output was affected. 

The Russian Kuibyshev Oil Refinery in Samara continued to burn into this morning, several hours after a successful overnight Ukrainian drone attack.

The fire was reportedly only controlled by 10 AM local. pic.twitter.com/JZN89XtFhk

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 23, 2024

Meanwhile, Rosneft Kuibyshev refinery in Samara has been hit. Hey, Financial Times, are you keeping up with refineries bingo card? pic.twitter.com/qzKHJQa8eJ

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 23, 2024

A second drone attack was reported at the nearby Novokuibyshevsk refinery. However, local governor Dmitry Azarov said defense personnel repelled the drone without causing any damage. 

“There were drone attacks on oil refineries in the region. At the Kuibyshev refinery, there was a fire at the primary oil refining column,” Azarov said, as quoted by Interfax news service. 

The latest attacks come as new data sourced from Bloomberg shows Russia’s average daily oil refining rate was around 5.03 million barrels between March 14 and 20, down more than 400,000 barrels a day from the average for the first 13 days of the month—or a ten-month low. 

A new phase of the war is underway as Ukraine’s replacement for artillery is cheap suicide drones targeting the Russian oil export machine deep within the country. 

So far, drones have targeted 13 major refineries and two smaller plants, reducing processing capacity by about 480,000 and 900,000 barrels a day. 

According to a person familiar with the data, Rosneft PJSC accounted for half of Russia’s lost processing capacity in the last week after drones damaged two major facilities. 

Russia’s reduced refining rates indicate that authorities will focus on boosting domestic supplies, resulting in lower crude product exports worldwide. 

“The latest attacks targeted primary refining processing units resulting in Russian waterborne product exports decreasing by an average 1 million b/d over the last two weeks,” Wood Mackenzie Emma Howsham wrote in a note. 

Howsham noted the disruption so far is “still unlikely to move the needle or impact sentiment around the softening global diesel/gasoil market.” 

Meanwhile, Washington officials warned senior officials at Ukraine’s state security service and military intelligence directorate that repeated drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure could drive up global oil prices. 

Of course, the Biden administration would be concerned about these attacks because the last thing the White House needs is soaring energy prices reigniting consumer and/or producer prices. Also, higher crude prices would complicate the Federal Reserve’s planned pivot. 

In the Middle East, there are increasing fears that Iran could be on the cusp of weaponizing crude as Houthis could launch a drone and missile attack on processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in eastern Saudi Arabia (read: “The Weaponization Of Crude Could Trigger The Next Financial Shock”). 

Successful attacks on these refineries would be enough to push Brent into triple-digit territory. 

Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

High school students at a New York high school staged a massive walk-out protest this week in opposition to the district’s attempts to force them to share restrooms with the opposite gender, in the name of “transgender” acceptance.

Breitbart reports that the Wappingers Central School District, which oversees John Jay High School and other campuses, is set to allow students to choose whichever restrooms they want to use, rather than assigning them on the basis of their actual gender.

The protest consisted entirely of students who do not support the policy, with one student, Shauna Neilan, saying that “a bunch of people from our school, John Jay, feel uncomfortable.”

“We want to change that and give them their own spaces to make us more comfortable and them more comfortable,” she added.

In response, a small counter-protest was also held consisting mostly of adults.

Whereas the original protest was organic and organized by the students, the counter-protest was manufactured by the far-left group Defense of Democracy, which describes its goal as being to “educate the public about the value of inclusivity and the importance of emotional and physical safety for all individuals within the American public-school and library systems.”

A petition had previously been circulated among the students claiming that several incidents involving so-called “transgender” students had taken place in the school’s bathrooms.

The petition has since been deleted.

District Superintendent Dwight Bonk claimed to be unaware of any such incidents, and said in a statement that “we are going to continue to provide a safe environment for all of our students. And all means all, each and every one of them.”

New York State currently has laws in place ordering public school districts to provide any and all “transgender” students with access to the restroom of their choice.

Bonk cited this law as part of the reason for the district’s new policy, saying that “we want to support all of their rights, but we’re also going to be following the proper protocol that we are responsible for following.”

The superintendent also threatened the students who participated in the protest, declaring that they will soon have to undergo conduct-related conversations.

The official death toll from Russian authorities in the wake of Friday’s terror attack on a Moscow concert hall has reached 133 killed, with some unofficial reports saying there could be as many as 140 or more. As the scene continues to be processed and investigated, and given some of the hospitalized are in critical condition, the death toll is likely to rise. Over 150 were wounded in the attack, which involved a group of well-equipped attackers sporadically shooting into crowds as they walked through the mall and into the concert hall. Three children are still in the hospital, with one in critical condition.

The mall and complex at the Crocus City Hall music venue appears to have burned for many hours through the night. Russia’s Investigative Committee later said more bodies were recovered from be smoldering building. Importantly, authorities on Saturday announced the capture of four suspected gunmen, also amid unconfirmed social media videos purporting to show some of the detained alleged gunmen.

Eleven people total have been detained connected with the terror attack which the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said includes “four terrorists who were directly involved in the terrorist attack on Crocus.”

After the Friday night rampage at the venue just outside Moscow, “the perpetrators tried to escape by car, fleeing towards the Russian-Ukrainian border,” the FSB said Saturday “The criminals intended to cross the Russia-Ukraine border and had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side,” the FSB statement alleged.

The four alleged gunmen were detained “not far from the border with Ukraine”. This has raised suspicion in the Kremlin over Ukraine’s involvement, despite the widespread media reports in the West that it was ISIS-K. As we noted earlier, Russian media has not echoed the Western reports highlighting an ISIS-K statement of responsibility.

Instead, in addressing the crisis President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish the perpetrators of the barbaric terrorist act while also charging that Ukraine prepared a “window” to help the terrorists escape.

At one point during the five-and-a-half minute video address, Putin said: “All perpetrators, organizers and customers of this crime will suffer fair and inevitable punishment. Whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this attack on Russia, on our people.”

🚨One of Moscow Crocus City Hall terrorists has been captured and is being interrogated. Which names will he give up? pic.twitter.com/5mcxiwD9XC

— Aussie Cossack (@aussiecossack) March 23, 2024

He continued while pointing the finger at Ukraine: “All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained. They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. A total of 11 people were detained.”

Putin then added: “The Federal Security Service of Russia and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire accomplice base of terrorists: those who provided them with transport, outlined escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, caches of weapons and ammunition.”

“The main goal now is to prevent those who are behind this bloodbath from committing new crimes,” the Russian leader stressed.

But both Washington and Kiev have been quick to reject any narrative of Ukraine’s involvement. White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday, “The images are just horrible. Just hard to watch, and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack,” before emphasizing that there’s “No indication at this time that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved in the shooting.”

US intelligence officials speaking to The New York Times said the Islamic State (ISIS-K) was behind it, and claimed Washington even tried to warn Moscow that some kind of big terror attack was coming.

Early this month the US Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert calling for all US nationals in Russia to avoid public venues. This has since raised questions, resulting in Russia’s foreign ministry to demand answers as to what US intelligence officials knew and when did they know it.

🚨🇷🇺 THEY CAPTURED THE THIRD ALLEGED TERRORIST

He was trying to hide in the forests of the Bryansk region.https://t.co/RWjTaYsplZ

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 23, 2024

The Ukrainian government itself quickly sought to distance itself from the attack, with adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, stating the following: 

“Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia),” Podolyak said in his post. “It makes no sense whatsoever.”

“First of all, Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian army for more than two years. And everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield,” Podolyak continued. “Only by the quantity of weapons and qualitative military decisions. Terrorist attacks do not solve any problems…”

Complicating matters for Moscow, or perhaps clarifying them, is that ISIS has reportedly issued follow-up statements claiming responsibility…

ISIS has now released an additional Statement in which they claim Responsibility for the Terrorist Attack last night against the Crocus Concert Hall in the Russian Capital of Moscow; while also Posting a Picture of the Attackers only minutes before the Shooting began, in which… pic.twitter.com/zmsH9degmD

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 23, 2024

Still on Saturday Kremlin authorities kept up their accusations centered on Ukraine, and also hit out at the West, with foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying on Telegram, “The main point is that American authorities don’t forget how their information and political environment linked the terrorists who shot people in Crocus City Hall to the banned terrorist organization ISIS.”

“Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from persecution — Ukraine,” Zakharova continued. “The same country which for ten years has been turning via Western liberal regimes into a center of terrorism spread in Europe.”

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

It’s an interesting juxtaposition when a black swan that you expected crosses your path but looks a bit different than you had previously suspected it would.

This was exactly the case yesterday when the Department of Justice brought its “landmark” antitrust lawsuit against Apple. At first, I wrote it off as just yet another antitrust case that would eventually be settled and become ancient history. After all, antitrust headlines hit the wire what seems like every single day. As a market observer, it is pretty routine, and I don’t pay much attention to them. Here’s yesterday’s story from CNBC:

The Department of Justice sued Apple on Thursday, saying its iPhone ecosystem is a monopoly that drove its “astronomical valuation” at the expense of consumers, developers and rival phone makers.

The government has not ruled out breaking up one of the largest companies in the world, with a Justice Department official saying on a briefing call that structural relief was on the table if the U.S. were to win.

The lawsuit claims Apple’s anti-competitive practices extend beyond the iPhone and Apple Watch businesses, citing Apple’s advertising, browser, FaceTime and news offerings.

“Each step in Apple’s course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly,” according to the suit, filed by the DOJ and 16 attorneys general in New Jersey federal court.

Forgive me for asking, but isn’t ‘winning’ at the expense of rival product makers what the business world is all about?

This is a sprawling suit that didn’t raise any issues I personally found alarming. But maybe this is just because I am a happy iPhone user and former Apple employee who generally likes their products. I know that I certainly never felt as though I was using Apple products because they had some type of monopoly; I always just used them because I thought they were better than whatever else was out there.

But I’m not here to argue the merits of the case or play judge and jury. That will play out in court and in a long legal battle that will likely end in some type of settlement several years from now after both sides jostle back and forth and make their respective arguments.

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I am, however, really interested in this case due to the chilling effect it could put on Apple as an investment. It was revealed yesterday that, as part of the potential outcomes for the case, Apple could be forced to subdivide its businesses or split off portions of its business. This reminded me a lot of the famed antitrust suit lodged against Microsoft back in 2001. I went back to read about that suit, which ultimately saw its decree take 10 years to pass, and noticed that Microsoft stock hardly moved in the decade from the time the suit was brought until the time the decree expired. While Microsoft was busy resolving the suit, Apple and Google took flight as competitors:

The case marks one of the most important turning points in Microsoft’s history, up there with its first agreement to build an operating system for IBM and the introduction of the first version of Windows that featured graphic icons.

While the technology landscape has left the browser wars at the heart of the dispute far behind, and Microsoft continues to make billions from Windows and Office, the case left deep scars.

When the settlement of the landmark antitrust lawsuit against the company was proposed Nov. 2, 2001, the stock traded at $27.63 a share. On Wednesday the stock closed at $25.36 per share.

Meanwhile, competitors like Apple have soared and new rivals like Google have taken flight. — Seattle Times, May 11, 2011

Granted, it was a time which encompassed the post-2000 bubble crash and the 2008 housing crisis. But it started to make me think more about the case I had previously made about Apple potentially being a black swan back in September of last year: A Second Black Swan For Markets Emerges

As I noted on this blog, Apple is as close to being the quintessential American stock as you can possibly get. It’s a component in almost any ETF you can think of and is held so widely that even entities like the Swiss National Bank hold it on their balance sheet. It is a dividend payer, it is replete with cash, it makes products that almost everybody owns, and has simply become the king of technology and the king of smartphones.

Again, this is a position I believe it has earned for itself by creating a superior product. I worked for Apple during the first iPhone launch, and I remember using one for the first time and having my hair blown back. I thought to myself, “This is unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

And so, because the product was so exceptionally innovative, Apple has earned its place at the top as the king of the mountain. Following suit, Apple stock has also earned its place at the top of the heap.

Now, what would be a better proxy for putting a chill on the entire stock market than Apple stock?

If you had to pick one name right now that could cool sentiment in the market, across dividend payers, index ETFs, technology ETFs and blue chips, wouldn’t it be Apple?

As I noted in my September article, which raised concerns about the Vision Pro being an innovation flop and essentially the anti-iPhone for Apple going forward, I noted that the stock was robustly valued, along with pretty much anything else that trades publicly in the United States right now.

This significant multiple expansion means the market expects significant growth.

This means that eventually, growth is going to have to come from new segments of the business.

And, it’s common sense that finding aggressive growth in new segments is going to be a difficult task with antitrust regulators breathing down your neck and pushing for a breakup of the business.

How can you position yourself for new segment growth and innovation when you don’t even know what the company will look like post anti-trust settlement?

This uncertainty, combined with the fact that every single fucking thing not nailed down to the floor is overvalued right now, and the fact that euphoria is everywhere in markets while rates are at 5 1/2% and liquidity is drying up before our eyes, means that a stall in Apple could wind up becoming a stall for the broader market.

And it is going to be difficult to conjure up animal spirits when 1/7th of the magnificent 7 is bedridden with fleas.

The way the market is priced now, everything needs to be excellent or beyond excellent. All growth targets need to be hit, and companies need to exceed expectations. On top of that, liquidity needs to continue to mysteriously fall from the sky as the inevitable drying up of liquidity continues with rates at multi-decade highs.

Apple stalling out and essentially trading like the Japanese stock market over the next couple of years, due to this antitrust suit, could wind up being one of numerous wet blankets that finally smothers the animal spirits the market somehow continues to pull out of thin air. And so, aside from basically every fundamental overvaluation argument you could possibly make, I continue to watch Apple as a potential black swan indicator for the sentiment of the broader market going forward.

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New York Post’s Jennie Taer is on the ground at the southern border wall and was the first to report the shocking invasion footage in El Paso, Texas, one day ago, when migrants attacked US National Guard troops. In response, the federal government has blocked media access to at least one stretch of the wall because the footage is extremely shocking and embarrassing for the White House. 

“Media now being blocked from the scene where we captured a breach by hundreds of migrants in El Paso yesterday, how do we do our jobs now?” Taer posted on X on Friday evening. 

Media now being blocked from the scene where we captured a breach by hundreds of migrants in El Paso yesterday, how do we do our jobs now? pic.twitter.com/0AnJ9K8VxT

— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 22, 2024

One day before, the NYPost journo captured this video that shocked the nation. 

This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today

We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here. pic.twitter.com/VN6Kf663ie

— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024

Somehow, delusional White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blames Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the migrant chaos. She believes the American people are stupid enough to believe her lies. However, we know Americans are fed up with the bullshit the White House peddles because polling data for this rogue administration has imploded. 

No. This is not a deep fake. She thinks y’all are THAT stupid (or is gaslighting you)…https://t.co/GGUggL5JJr

— Dave Collum (@DavidBCollum) March 23, 2024

Of course, the Biden administration blames Trump. But ignore the radical progressives in the White House who reversed the former president’s border security measures and facilitated the greatest invasion of more than ten million migrants into this country. At the same time, a shadowy network of taxpayer-funded NGOs supported the invasion. Also, mega-corporations cheer as there will be a lot of cheap labor to exploit.  

The Biden administration has responded to a viral video showing a large group of illegal immigrants charging Texas National Guard troops at the U.S. southern border, saying that former President Donald Trump is to blame for the ensuing “chaos.”

MORE: https://t.co/d9OXuaJChY pic.twitter.com/4EzspRptSv

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 23, 2024

Here’s what X users are saying about the government-enforced media blackout at the border:

Cuz you know, this administration is all about “transparency”.

— Julzee (@BalanceBeam100) March 22, 2024

The regime got embarrassed, and the optics are devastating for them, which is not allowed.

— JBrandonG 🇺🇸 ❤️ TX (@ag4lyf) March 22, 2024

I wonder who will be the first arrested Press Member for disregarding this signage.

— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) March 22, 2024

That’s not a law.
They sighted zero statutes on that sign.

— Capitalist Mike 🇺🇲 (@Capitalist_Mike) March 22, 2024

Try showing up in drag. We are not allowed to tell them “no.”

— The Crazzzy Conservative (@canderson93) March 22, 2024

Biden Censorship Regime doing what they do

— Tony (@tonyphoneshome) March 22, 2024

Biden administration wants to hide the mass releases. They don’t like the media exposing them.

KJP will gaslight everyone tomorrow and tell us how great of a job Biden is doing on securing the border.

— John Fabbricatore (@JohnE_Fabb) March 23, 2024

Under this administration, ‘freedom of the press’ is quickly eroding as radical progressives in the White House utilize federal agencies and their leftist allies in corporate media to shield the truth from the masses while censoring any political opponent (this is what dictators in third world countries do).