Authored by Jordan Schachtel via ‘The Dossier’ substack,

One of the biggest mysteries of “the pandemic” involves the supposed disappearance of the flu. Did the flu really disappear during the covid hysteria era, or is something else afoot?

Here’s the grand mystery, in meme format.

Now, during the confusion and panic of the last few years, there have been lots of explanations advanced about the supposed disappearance of the flu. The lockdowners and their credentialed institutions often claimed that masked worked (lol) to stop the flu, despite not working for covid. Others claimed that covid had some kind of viral dominance effect that defeated influenza strains.

But neither explanation really solves the “where did the flu go” mystery.

The evidence seems to point to two main reasons for the flu’s disappearance: the physical disappearance of flu testing kits and a misunderstanding of what the flu actually means.

The flu tests were not physically available in healthcare systems

The Dossier surveyed several individuals and organizations with access to hospital system records and supply chain management, and we pooled together lots of anecdotal information to paint a greater picture of what happened.

We found that, at least in the United States, there was virtually no access to flu testing during the covid hysteria years, particularly from 2020 to 2021. Virtually all testing manufacturers pivoted to covid testing, leaving the influenza kits behind. According to Pharma and Government Health, Covid was a much bigger priority, both from a healthcare perspective and a business perspective, so the flu industry was no longer lucrative and kicked to the curb.

The second reason, however, is even more important.

The flu is not understood in its proper context

Prior to the establishment of the covid testing industrial complex (which brought in well over $100 billion a year at its peak), flu was almost always diagnosed by symptoms, not by a swab test. And again, covid symptoms are virtually identical to flu symptoms. In the vast majority of cases, what is “the flu” is traditionally understood not as a viral influenza diagnosis but a general diagnosis of countless potential symptoms categorized in a broad category as “flu.” Very few doctor-diagnosed “flu” cases actually come from influenza strains. This is why it is the perfect rationale to understand covid as the flu but with scarier branding. Both flu and covid share the same symptoms, so a potential flu case/illness/death instead was generally diagnosed as a covid case/illness/death.

But enough from your humble correspondent. Let’s read a more detailed response from someone who knows this issue very well.

I also posed this question to Dr Norman Pieniazek (follow him on Twitter), a renowned molecular biologist who worked at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as the head of its molecular diagnostic laboratory for 24 years. Dr Pieniazek is an expert in PCR testing diagnostics and has a fascinating perspective on the shoddy science behind “the pandemic.”

Here’s his reply to my question:

From Dr. Norman J. Pieniazek:

Did the flu disappear during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I will try to answer this question; however, first, I must explain the terms common cold and flu (influenza).

Do you know that over 200 viruses cause colds and that people in the United States suffer from an estimated 1 billion colds yearly (1)?

Nonetheless, can we clearly say who suffers from the common cold and the flu?

What about PCR, the technique used to monitor the cases of COVID-19?

Unfortunately, PCR was found to be impractical for the diagnosis of infections of the respiratory tract for at least two reasons.

The first problem is the diagnostic sample.

Mucus samples, taken from deep nostrils (nasal swab), throat (oropharyngeal swab), and nasopharynx (nasopharyngeal swab), in essence, test the human air filter. The nasal passages have ridges that cause the air to swirl, similar to the Dyson vacuum cleaner principle. As the nasal passages and the whole respiratory tract are lined with mucus, it traps viruses, bacteria, pollen, fungal spores, and dust. This layer with trapped particles is moved by ciliated cells out of the airways. When the mucus is tested with PCR, detecting a part of a virus in the air filter doesn’t mean that this virus caused the infection. This problem with swabs has been known for a long time. The consensus is that broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) is the most appropriate specimen for detecting respiratory tract viral infections. Unfortunately, collecting the BAL sample is complex and may not be approved by the patient.

The second problem was signaled above.

With more than 200 possible infection causes (etiology), testing for all suspects is not feasible. While in a scientific study, no stone would be left unturned to diagnose patients enrolled in a project, surveillance cannot be done this way.

CDC has developed a sentinel system for monitoring colds in the US population. This system monitors visits for respiratory illnesses, including fever, cough, or sore throat. Such visits are classified as Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI). Please note that this designation doesn’t imply laboratory-confirmed influenza and captures patient visits due to all respiratory pathogens that cause similar symptoms. In addition to this system, CDC collects data on confirmed influenza cases; however, only about 1% of samples tested are usually positive. The take-home message is that no one knows how many flu cases are in the US annually. The reported number of ILI may be only the tip of the iceberg.

With the arrival of the Wuhan virus in January 2020, all lessons of prior seasons were forgotten.

People were forced to be tested even when they showed no symptoms. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, PCR done from swabs was suddenly advertised as the gold standard for diagnosis of infections of the respiratory system. Consider another important fact. In a carefully conducted study of hospitalized pneumonia patients diagnosed on classical X-Ray or CAT scans, the cause of the infection (etiology) could not be established in 62% of cases. How is it possible that during the pandemic in the US, there were 107,201,630 COVID infections and 1,166,899 COVID deaths as of today? Where are infections with other viruses? Where are conditions of unknown etiology?

The answer is straightforward. The results of PCR testing just for one virus are meaningless. This scam should be obvious to anyone versed in diagnosing respiratory infections.

*  *  *

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In late breaking news that will shock absolutely no one, The Fed reports that the 23 largest US banks passed The Fed’s stress tests.

“Today’s results confirm that the banking system remains strong and resilient,” Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr said.

“At the same time, this stress test is only one way to measure that strength. We should remain humble about how risks can arise and continue our work to ensure that banks are resilient to a range of economic scenarios, market shocks, and other stresses.”

The aggregate and individual bank post-stress common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratios remain well above the required minimum levels throughout the projection horizon.

The regulator’s yearly stress testing of the banks, which it started performing after the 2008 financial crisis, revealed that they could withstand a 40%  drop in commercial real estate prices and aggregated losses of more than half a trillion dollars without failing.

The scenarios that the 23 biggest banks faced also included a severe economic recession, 10% unemployment and a large drop in home prices.

For the first time, the Board conducted an exploratory market shock on the trading books of the largest banks, testing them against greater inflationary pressures and rising interest rates. This exploratory market shock will not contribute to banks’ capital requirements but was used to further understand the risks with their trading activities and to assess the potential for testing banks against multiple scenarios in the future. The results showed that the largest banks’ trading books were resilient to the rising rate environment tested.

The $541 billion in total projected losses includes over $100 billion in losses from commercial real estate and residential mortgages, and $120 billion in credit card losses, both higher than the losses projected in last year’s test. The aggregate 2.3 percentage point decline in capital is slightly less than the 2.7 percentage point decline from last year’s test but is comparable to declines projected from the stress test in recent years.

The results vary significantly across the institutions based on banks’ business lines, portfolio composition, and securities and loan risk characteristics, which drive changes in the magnitude and timing of loss, revenue, and expense projections.

So now we just wait for the next bank to blow up? And remember – no one could have seen that coming.

Read the full stress test report here:

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

The “coup” in Russia is over but there’s a very worrying development going on in Ukraine right now that should frighten everyone.

That’s the growing risk of a nuclear war. I’m not being hyperbolic.

Let’s break it all down…

President Biden is accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of preparing to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The theory is that if Russia is in danger of military collapse in Ukraine, Putin will resort to the use of tactical nuclear weapons out of desperation.

But you can basically rule that out because Russia isn’t losing the war in Ukraine. In fact, it’s winning the war and continues to gain momentum.

Russia is crushing the much-anticipated Ukrainian offensive and is either advancing or holding the line in other sectors.

Meanwhile, Russian arms factories are churning out massive amounts of weapons and ammunition while the West is scraping the bottom of the barrel to find enough weapons and ammo to send to Ukraine.

It’s a war of attrition and there’s no practical way that Ukraine can win that war.

So why would Putin need to use nuclear weapons?

The answer, of course, is that he wouldn’t. He’s winning the war.

Nuclear Swordsmanship

But such warnings about Putin using nuclear weapons are not new. Biden has been accusing Russia of threatening to use nuclear weapons since the start of the war last February.

Some perspective is needed to assess this claim. For the record, the United States is the first and only country to conduct a nuclear war, which it did between Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, killing about a quarter-million civilians.

Putin has made it clear that Russia will not use nuclear weapons unless the U.S. or NATO allies do so first.

The U.S. has not made a similar pledge.

Biden based his threat assessment on the fact that Putin recently moved tactical nuclear weapons to its ally, Belarus, which is closer to Kyiv.

That’s true, but it conveniently ignores the facts that the U.S. has placed nuclear weapons in Germany, that the U.K. and France are nuclear powers in their own rights and that U.S. Navy submarines and destroyers with nuclear missiles are deployed around Russia.

Belarus also had nuclear weapons when it was part of the Soviet Union prior to 1991. In short, there was nothing particularly provocative about Putin’s move relative to prior positioning and the U.S. deployment of nukes.

MADness!

What is provocative is a recent article by Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Rubin recommended that the U.S. should provide tactical nuclear weapons to the Ukrainians themselves.

The rationale is a version of the doctrine of mutually assured destruction, MAD, that maintained stability between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union (really Russia) during the Cold War.

The idea is if each side has enough nuclear weapons to survive a first strike by the other and launch a second strike of its own, then neither side will start a nuclear war because it would be destroyed in turn.

There’s merit to the MAD doctrine subject to a long list of conditions including large arsenals, secure command-and-control procedures, good communication between the protagonists (such as the “hot line”) and rational leadership on both sides.

None of those conditions applies to Ukraine. It would have a modest arsenal (not enough to survive a first strike), has weak command-and-control, has almost no communication with Russia and has desperate and insecure leadership.

It’s almost as if Rubin’s proposal is designed to force Putin to attack any Ukrainian nuclear capacity as a way to justify escalation by the U.S. and get U.S. and NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine.

That’s a short path to World War III. Any talk of giving Ukraine nuclear weapons is reckless.

Rubin’s idea could be behind Putin’s plan to move nuclear weapons to Belarus as a way to dissuade the U.S. from going further.

Of course, Putin’s actions in Belarus are an example of escalation, which may be exactly what Rubin and the other warmongers in the U.S. wanted.

Simply put, Rubin’s idea is reckless and moves the world closer to nuclear war.

When you hear Biden talk about Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons, it’s critical to bear in mind that the U.S. is the real threat and is acting with a view to escalating the war and dragging NATO into a direct war with Russia.

Will Ukraine Conduct a “False Flag” Attack on a Nuclear Power Plant?

But that’s not all.

There’s the possibility that an increasingly desperate Ukraine could try to stage a “false flag” attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in the Kherson region and blame it on Russia.

Both Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and the head of Ukrainian intelligence services have warned recently about a possible Russian attack on the plant.

In other words, they could be putting the conditions in place for a false flag attack.

“See, we warned you this would happen!”

Such an attack could potentially spread nuclear radiation throughout the region and possibly beyond.

It wouldn’t be on the level of Chernobyl because the plant is operating at a much smaller capacity than Chernobyl.

But still, it would be seen as an unacceptable war crime by Russia, which would spark international outrage and set the stage for direct NATO intervention.

Incidentally, ZNPP is currently under Russian control, but much of the surrounding territory is still held by the Ukrainians.

How might an attack on the plant go down? Here’s some more detail:

• Ukraine (under direction of the U.S. and with U.S. help) could send a commando team to the facility, plant heavy explosives and then detonate them in a way intended to cause a partial meltdown and release of radiation.

• Prevailing winds would carry the radiation in the direction of Romania, Poland and Slovakia, all of whom are members of NATO.

• Once the radiation reaches those countries it will be regarded as an “attack” on NATO members.

• This will trigger Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which says that an attack on one is an attack on all.

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, in fact, just proposed legislation stating that Russian nuclear weapons use in Ukraine would be considered a direct attack on NATO.

Bombing a nuclear power plant isn’t the same as employing tactical nuclear weapons, but do you really think they’d draw that distinction?

The Article 5 trigger would provide legal cover to the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and the rest of the coalition to send troops to Ukraine to prop up the failing offensive.

The next step would be direct combat between U.S. and Russian troops. And that’s a direct gateway to World War III.

Is This Really Just Conspiratorial Nonsense?

You might dismiss all this talk as conspiratorial nonsense. After all, why would Ukraine want to create a serious nuclear incident on its own soil?

I’d just remind you that there’s credible evidence (according to German intelligence) that Ukrainian security agencies were responsible for the destruction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the largest act of eco-terrrorism ever conducted.

In fairness, there’s also credible evidence that the U.S. carried out the attack, so it might not have been Ukraine. But it remains a legitimate possibility.

It’s also probable that Ukraine destroyed the Nova Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam earlier this month in an effort to undermine Russia’s position in the area.

The result was an environmental disaster.

As with Nord Stream 2, there’s no definitive proof that Ukraine was responsible. Of course, as with the pipeline, Ukraine blamed Russia.

While it’s possible Russia did it, Russia stood to lose much more than Ukraine from the dam’s destruction and the subsequent flooding.

If you were a detective, Ukraine would be your prime suspect.

Assuming Ukraine was responsible for both the pipeline and dam incidents, would it be out of the question for it to stage a nuclear incident if that meant bringing NATO directly into the war?

I don’t think it would be.

Again, I have no proof that Ukraine was actually responsible for the destruction of the pipeline or the dam. But it is a reasonable possibility.

That’s why you shouldn’t rule out the possibility of a false flag attack on the nuclear power plant.

Again, Ukraine is getting desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures.

So if there is an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the days to come, you’ll know who was responsible.

You’ll also know that the world is one step closer to nuclear war.

A quiet day for macro but all eyes were glued to The ECB’s panel with the ‘Big Four’ Central Bankers.

The persistence of inflation was a major theme for Bailey, Lagarde and Powell, who all pointed to the strength of underlying prices so far, and how they are adapting policy to that.

Powell reiterated that more tightening is what the Fed expects, saying that he didn’t see US core inflation getting to 2% this year or next.

Lagarde’s view on current fiscal policy suggested don’t expect any dovish help there:

“A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

…but now it’s time to roll back the measures that have been decided to deal with Covid and the energy crisis.

All-in-all, hawkish without a drop of dovish (despite the ‘data-dependent’ bullshit), which sent Fed rate-trajectory higher...

Source: Bloomberg

Stocks were very choppy on the day with The Dow lagging and Small Caps leading. Nasdaq and S&P toyed with unch all day. We note there was an odd panic bid in futs right as the cash market closed and after likely thanks to Micron.

Banks were lower ahead of tonight’s stress test results…

Tech was weighed down by some selling in chip stocks (AI) after NVDA was hit on headlines about increased crackdowns by Biden admin on chip exports to China. But the machines battled to keep NVDA above the critical $400 level…

0-DTE traders were actively supporting NVDA on the day…

Source: SpotGamma

It was another short-squeeze day with ‘most shorted’ stocks closing at their highs – up 6.5% from yesterdays’ open…

Source: Bloomberg

A strong 7Y auction helped support bonds further but yields were lower across the curve by 4-6bps (belly outperformed). This dragged all yields lower on the week…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar ramped higher today again to 3-week highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin was pressured back below $30,000…

Source: Bloomberg

Another lower high and lower low today in gold…

Oil rebounded off the recent rang lows

Finally, Apple inches ever closer to the $3 trillion market cap level…

Source: Bloomberg

Will that be the top… again?

Source: Bloomberg

Is a new more aggressive crackdown on chip exports to China the end of this boom?

A couple months back the leftist media including Rolling Stone attempted to “debunk” the mantra of “get woke, go broke” with a series of articles and reports suggesting that corporations that embrace social justice ideology and ESG related policies are actually more profitable than ever.  At the time, the momentum for conservative boycotts of companies like Anheuser-Busch and eventually Target had just started to roll forward, and as is often the case with the media, they jumped the gun and made assumptions before the dust had settled on the issue. 

They said the boycott against Bud Light wouldn’t last long, but it has been three months now and Bud Light just suffered its worst weekly loss so far, with sales down 30% at the end of June.  Stock losses for A-B were also in the $27 billion range.  The company is now preparing for the possibility that these losses are permanent and that customers are not coming back.

In response, A-B fired the marketing department responsible for the branding campaign using trans activist Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesman.  Take note that the corporate media including the Associated Press tried to “fact check” this claim, arguing that A-B didn’t actually fire the marketing team and that the assertion was “satire” mistaken as reality.  According to text messages made by executive staff and obtained by the Daily Caller, the team was actually let go by A-B. 

The Bud Light texts note that the people involved are not allowed to use the word “fired” when discussing the marketing incident.  This fits with a common theme we are seeing lately with woke companies, which is that when they have to cut activist employees loose they try to hide the fact from the public.  Why?  Probably because this would be an admission that going woke is a disastrous prospect.  ESG driven organizations care more about optics than they do about admitting the problem and taking action to fix it.  

Target suffered at least $15 billion in share losses after their their line of trans clothing for kids sparked a mass boycott of the retailer.  Overall profit losses will not be known until next year and the company was already dealing with flat sales, but the effects of the boycott will likely be felt by Target for many months to come.     

Generally, establishment journalists will use base gross profit numbers as their “smoking gun evidence” that woke companies are doing great while ignoring the various factors that add up to those profits.  Using Disney as an example, we can see that if we only go by gross profits, the company appears to be doing well with $28 billion in 2022.  What the media doesn’t take into account is the fact that Disney gross profits today compared to pre-covid profits are actually flat.

Furthermore, gross profits are meaningless unless we also take into account project cuts, overhead cuts and employee layoffs.  Disney has lost almost $1 billion on multiple woke box office failures in 2023 alone, and its stock performance has been crippled, not to mention they still have a $48 billion debt balance.  This spring, Disney cut over $5.5 billion (so far) in overhead and operating costs along with 7000 employees.  Meaning, even if Disney’s gross profits maintain at around $28 billion for 2023, they still had to chop $5 billion in spending and fire 7000 workers just to hit that number.  They wouldn’t have to do any of this if going woke was profitable.

We also have to ask why, if going woke is such a sure bet, has Disney’s “chief diversity officer” (head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) suddenly left the company after six years?  The diversity officer is a pointless job that represents the pinnacle of corporate wokeness.  Could it be that she was fired, and Disney is desperately trying to salvage the rest of 2023 into 2024 by finding a DEI chief that is a little less woke?  It’s hard to say.  As mentioned, activist employees never seem to get officially “fired,” they are simply given a leave of absence or a vacation that they never return from, or they “resign.”

A common argument among leftists and the media is that conservatives and moderates will have to boycott so many companies due to widespread woke policies they will end up making all their own clothes and growing all their own food.  In other words, they think there’s no way Americans can boycott them all.  But Americans don’t need to – They just need to boycott enough companies to force the rest to accept the reality that they can’t survive on ESG alone.  

This is, in an interesting way, also an admission by activists that the corporate world completely backs the political left.  Far from being socialist rebels fighting the evil capitalist empire, leftists are actually useful shills and defenders for the corporate cabal.

Beyond that, their attitude reveals an elitism that is corporate-centric.  They seem to forget that small businesses are half the US economy and that Americans don’t have to pander to left-leaning companies to get what they want.  Not to mention, if said companies continue on their current path of self destruction through ESG devotion they might just implode, leaving localized businesses behind to pick up the pieces.  

The social justice crowd might want to seriously consider learning to grow their own food and produce their own necessities.  The frail left is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to living in a world that doesn’t cater to their every convenience.        

ViaGreg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong was forecasting “chaos” in 2023, and that’s exactly what we got. 

His cycle work says don’t look for it to get better anytime soon. 

Armstrong explains, “We are in the midst of a coup…”

“We have all these people who have been neocons for 30 years.  Even Ron Paul said recently that the neocons have been waging war for 30 years and have not won a one single one.  This is what they live for.  Look at the clip of Lindsey Graham saying this is the best money we ever spent killing Russians.  How can you take pleasure in that statement that this is the best money we ever spent killing Russians.  This is not defense.  These are the words of a psychopath in my mind…

They are not about to accept anybody who is going to be against war.  The neocons are in full control of the government—period.  We are living in the time of a coup.  The United States is not the free country you thought it was…”

Armstrong also predicts that the neocons will rig the 2024 election so Biden (or some other neocon) gets a second term. 

Is there any way to stop this election rigging and fraud in 2024?  Armstrong says,

“I don’t believe so.  Our computers show that holy hell breaks loose starting in 2025.  I think the problem will be the cheating will be in everybody’s face this time.”

Armstrong also says the neocons will try to start a war before the 2024 election so Biden will win because a wartime president has never lost an election.  Armstrong says the cheating will be necessary because the real poll numbers for Biden are in the single digits and not the 40% approval ratings the Lying Legacy Media tells you.  Armstrong contends Biden’s approval number is still stuck at 9.5% with his deadly accurate Socrates computer program, but the big reason for Biden and his crew to worry is the real inflation number. 

Armstrong says, “Inflation is subsiding a little bit, but it is basically still over 26%.”

Armstrong says Biden’s approval numbers are so low and inflation is so high that they have to have war with Russia. 

War is the reason they had to remove Trump out of the White House because Trump was against constant war.  Armstrong adds,

“No way they are going to allow a free election.  It you think the CIA cannot rig the vote, I don’t know what planet you live on.”

Don’t expect Fed Head Jay Powell to lower interest rates.  It will be just the opposite.  Armstrong explains,

“What is Powell looking at?  War is the number one cause of inflation.  He can’t say because you people are dumping all this money into Ukraine, inflation is only going to go higher because then he is criticizing the government.  So, he just says he’s looking at ‘international considerations.’ 

Look what the Vietnam war did.  It broke the back of Bretton Woods.  War is always the number one problem.  The neocons only care about winning, and they do not care about the country.  The do not care about your 401-k or your retirement.  They could care less.”

In closing, Armstrong warns, “Russia is like a wild animal, and if it is cornered, it will attack.” 

This means the whole thing in Ukraine could go nuclear if Russia is pushed into a corner.  And what about all that debt the western world has built up?  Armstrong says,

“They intend to default on all the sovereign debt. . . .I don’t see this succeeding.  I think it’s all going to collapse.  The reason why they are doing this is they realize they are losing power.  They feel it slipping out of their fingers.  The more that happens, the more they become aggressive.  That’s what this is all about.”

There is much more in the 53-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong, cycle expert and author of the new book “The Plot to Seize Russia” for 6.27.23.

To Donate to USAWatchdog.com, Click Here

There is lots of free information, analysis and articles on ArmstrongEconomics.com.

What was already a terrible year for oil trader (and political activist) Pierre Andurand has just gotten worse.

One month after we reported that the French trader and oil permabull had suffered an already record loss of 46% through May 19, today we learn that Andurand’s losses accelerated in June, with his hedge fund slumping to its worst-ever phase of decline, and seeing its AUM cut by more than half in less than 6 months.

According to Bloomberg, the flagship Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund, which makes leveraged bets, fell by another 7% this month through June 23, extending this year’s losses to about 51%.

While Bloomberg writes that it’s not clear what led to the recent losses, it safe to say that the continued slide in oil – in big part thanks to Joe Biden’s relentless drain of the Strategic Political Reserve – was the culprit.

Andurand – who is vehemently anti-Putin yet who benefited immensely from the oil squeeze prompted by the Ukraine war in 2022 which sent Brent soaring above $120, earlier this year predicted that oil prices may exceed $140 a barrel by the end of 2023. But those bullish calls have met with the commodity sliding on elevated inventory levels, a torrent of supply from Russia and rising shipments from two of OPEC’s most troubled exporters, Iran and Venezuela.

The money manager, who generated a 7x increase in his clients’ invested capital over the previous three years, has been hit by his worst-ever phase of losses for the strategy. The fund that Andurand runs with no set risk limits has lost money every month this year.

Andurand has been among several high-profile hedge fund traders who have seen fortunes turn after a strong gains last year. Said Haidar’s Jupiter macro money pool and billionaire Chris Rokos macro hedge fund suffered double-digit declines after volatile markets in March, while veteran macro trader Adam Levinson shut down his hedge fund after being hit by losses.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

I recently wrote a column entitled “Who is Lying? Merrick Garland or the Whistleblowers?” after the allegations of IRS whistleblowers and the categorical denial of Attorney General Merrick Garland on the Hunter Biden investigation.

I noted that it would not be a difficult question to answer given the highly specific account of the whistleblowers of meetings, including witnesses.

Now the New York Times has confirmed one of the key allegations. While the newspaper buried the major fact in the 21st paragraph of the story, it confirmed that U.S. Attorney David Weiss did attempt to bring additional charges in California and D.C. but was blocked.

Many have observed that the placement of the disclosure in the Times is a classic example of “burying the lede.” If this were Bill Barr, the confirmation of the story would have been a banner headline. Instead, the confirmation is found in with the baggage 21 cars down the train. That is where you will find this bombshell:

“But in mid-2022, Mr. Weiss reached out to the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Matthew Graves, to ask his office to pursue charges and was rebuffed, according to Mr. Shapley’s testimony. A similar request to prosecutors in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, was also rejected, Mr. Shapley testified. A second former I.R.S. official, who has not been identified, told House Republicans the same story. That episode was confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation.”

If the New York Times is confirming that the “episode” was the repeated blocking of Weiss, Garland stands contradicted in statements that he has made for months, including just days ago. Garland appeared irate at the suggestion that Weiss was denied any opportunity to bring charges anywhere:

He stated

“As I said at the outset, Mr. Weiss, who was appointed by President Trump as the U.S Attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration, would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to… I don’t know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution, given that he has this authority.”

He also denied the allegation that Weiss asked for special counsel status.

I am not sure what is worse: that Garland was clueless or duplicitous. Despite my support for his nomination, Garland has not been a success at Justice. Indeed, from the start, he seemed to shrink from view.

There is also a danger of willful blindness on the part of Garland in avoiding such knowledge as underlings undermined Weiss. We simply do not know, but we need to know.

In speaking with people at Justice, Garland does not appear to be a hands-on manager in the model of Bill Barr. While he cannot be called a figurehead, he is certainly not someone who conveys operational or active control of the department.

If Weiss was refused the ability to charge in two other jurisdictions, the key question is whether he did in fact ask for special counsel status. If so, Garland could be facing serious consequences, even an impeachment effort.

The coverage by the New York Times suggests that the media may be forced to cover this story albeit reluctantly. For Democratic members, it is now becoming even more embarrassing. Democrats unanimously opposed the release of the recent evidence and have opposed efforts to investigate the Biden corruption scandal.

What is clear is that Congress now has ample basis to pursue these answers fully and aggressively. With both potential criminal and impeachable questions, the authority of Congress is at its apex in using subpoenas to get to the bottom of this scandal.

An attorney for former President Donald Trump slammed the Biden DOJ for leaking a tape to CNN featuring Trump allegedly discussing a classified document with an author and publisher working on Mark Meadows’ memoir, in front of two Trump staffers, at his Bedminster, New Jersey club in July 2021. The document pertains to the US military’s war plans against Iran.

“Here’s the good news, we know who leaked it and that’s the DOJ, because I didn’t have it. The DOJ did. They keep everything close to their chest until they realize they’re losing … so then they leak something and tell the American people, ‘listen to what he said,’” attorney Alina Habba told “Fox News Tonight” host Lawrence Jones. “Well, let’s think about what he said. He said what the presidential record act says. The president has the right to declassify documents. Who doesn’t? A non-president. A senator like Joe Biden when he had classified documents and took them out 40 years ago, 30 years ago and had no right to do it.”

CNN aired the two minute clip on Monday, during which Trump joked about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s server in her Westchester, NY home.

“I can tell you who hasn’t done any leaks and who has been listening to everything the judge said and that’s Donald Trump. President Trump was told by a judge he can’t talk about any of the evidence, so explain to me how then, evidence is being leaked the week that Hunter Biden is getting indicted … misdemeanor charges for things that he should have been going to jail for, let’s be honest and if it was a Trumper, would have gone to jail for, but nobody talks about that,” said Habba, adding “What do they want to talk about? ‘Trump, Trump, Trump, submarine,’ oh, I know, release a tape. Release a tape saying what? The presidential record act allows a president to declassify documents.”

“He is the only person who has the power to single-handedly do that. That’s what the tape says.”

“There better be some consequences” for the leak, she added.

Meanwhile, CBS‘s Catherine Herridge notes that the classified documents in question, regarding the Iran plans, weren’t among the charges levied against the former president by special counsel Jack Smith earlier this month (fast fwd to the last 15 seconds for the buried lead!).

Former President Trump heard in audio recording seeming to show and discuss secret documents at his NJ golf club. The Iran memo isn’t among the records underlying Trump’s illegal retention charges, a source confirms @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/UgPQeRRPYt

— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) June 28, 2023

But, of course, that ‘fact’ never stopped the MSM from spreading this leaked recording as some smoking gun.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

The Biden Department of Education held a ‘Pride’ seminar last week where it presented, among other things, an eighth grader advocating puberty blockers for children.

The event, titled Creating Inclusive and Nondiscriminatory School Environments for LGBTQI+ Students, was closed to the press. However, video of the seminar has emerged, which also involved officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Civil Rights, and the Centers for Disease Control.

It featured a thirteen year old trans identifying child named ‘Hildy Edwards’ imploring “please just let [my generation] access their health care that they need, because I just started estrogen and I have never felt even more like a woman if I’m being honest.”

The student, who claims to have been trans since the age of five, continued “Like I feel so womanly, and I feel so much more like myself and it just feels so good. I have never been happier.”

“You have to talk about us…we’re not going to tone down our queerness…you can tell us to shut up but we’re not going to, we are loud and we are really really really queer”

https://t.co/4brifEYnv7 via @YouTube

— Higher Ground (@highergroundUT) June 27, 2023

The eighth-grader also admitted reporting other classmates for ‘dead-naming’ and ‘misgendering’.

“I have had to report people at school a lot more than I would have wanted to this year for multiple reasons, like dead-naming, misgendering, slurs,” the student said, adding “But the time that I did get dead-named, I was literally like freaking out. I was like ‘how? I haven’t told anyone my dead-name since like five-years-old ever since I first transitioned.”

“A day later [the principal] was like ‘[the student] confessed, he was very sorry’ blah blah blah, ‘he will get lunch detention,” the trans student continued, adding “And I was like yes. I feel heard. He is getting punished. Sucker. When you mess with me, you have to pay.”

Title IX is being weaponized against students and used to punish wrong speak that doesn’t conform to the LGBTQ agenda

The Feds are empowering LGBTQ kids to bully and snitch on kids who won’t affirm the insanity

Schools are toast, you can’t get out fast enough https://t.co/yS9EnT0vqD pic.twitter.com/GughiRDcb0

— Higher Ground (@highergroundUT) June 22, 2023

Another trans student on the panel celebrated feeling “affirmed” when an Alabama school principal checked whether their gender transition should be kept a secret from their parents.

“He pulled me aside and he was like, ‘are you out to your mom?’ ‘What name should I use when I talk to her?’ ‘What pronouns do you use?’ and things of that nature. I just remember chills going through my body,” the student stated.

The event also featured trans Biden official ‘Admiral’ Rachel Levine advocating gender altering surgery on children as “medically necessary.”

Dept. of Health & Human Services’ Rachel Levine pushes body butchery for kids this happy pride month

“Gender affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective for transgender and nonbinary youth and adolescents”https://t.co/lEvtOK6GYz via @YouTube

— Higher Ground (@highergroundUT) June 27, 2023

Biden’s Secretary of Education also chimed in to relate the message that ‘acceptance isn’t enough.’

Miguel Cardona Secretary of Dept. of Education strokes the egos of LGBTQ students:
“Acceptance isn’t the ultimate goal, it’s actually the minimum. We’ve got to celebrate each and every one of you.” https://t.co/neQhF3tL5w via @YouTube

— Higher Ground (@highergroundUT) June 27, 2023

DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark also discussed prosecuting ‘harassment and taunts’ against LGBTQ+ students, taking on cases where schools have been preventing biological male students from competing against girls in sports, and scoring ‘victories’ in certain states for trans surgeries on children.

The event coincides with the administration releasing an LGBTQ toolkit for schools that discourages the use of the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ and encourages schools to support student ‘sexuality clubs’.

Related:

Video: Biden Trans ‘Health’ Official Claims Gender Surgery On Kids Is “Literally Suicide-prevention Care”

250 Hollywood Celebrities Sign Letter Demanding Big Tech Censor Anyone Who Opposes Trans Surgeries On Kids

Report: Washington School District Declines Requests For Students To Opt Out Of ‘Pride’ Lessons

Biden Creates New LGBTQ+ “Book Ban” Resistance Within Department Of Education

Video: Washington Students Marched To Principal’s Office And Lectured For Wearing ‘There Are Only Two Genders’ Shirts

“We’re Not After Your Kids”

Report: The Pentagon Created A ‘Pride’ Coloring Book For Kids

California Bill Would Punish Parents For Misgendering Children

Video: High School Kids Threatened With Detention For Booing LGBT Video

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