Authored by Scottie Barnes via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

If voters approve a pending ballot measure, Oregon would have the strictest gun laws in the nation—which opponents claim would virtually end the legal sale of firearms in the state.

The “Reduction of Gun Violence Act” (Measure 114) would require a permit to obtain any type of firearm.

Magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds would be outlawed. Commonly used pump shotguns would be banned. And state police would be required to maintain an electronically searchable, publicly available database of all permit applications.

Backers of the measure, including a coalition of faith-based leaders and Ceasefire Oregon, say the new restrictions would help prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands, as well as reduce gun homicides, suicides, and trafficking.

The ballot measure is currently polling at 51 percent.

But opponents say the measure was poorly written and the explanatory language in the voters’ pamphlet was misleading.

They argue that the measure would create a bureaucratic nightmare that would only impact law-abiding gun owners, be impossible to comply with, violate the Second Amendment, and put an onerous burden on law enforcement.

And, though the pamphlet says the “financial impact is ‘indeterminate,” opponents claim it would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The main problem with the ‘Reduction of Gun Violence Act’ is it doesn’t address violent crime,” Aiobheann Cline, National Rifle Association of Oregon state director wrote. “That’s because it ignores criminals who break the law and instead penalizes law-abiding citizens.”

“The law fails to mandate sentences for gun-related criminals or put an end to the soft-on-crime policies that have made many Oregon cities into nightmares,” she added.

The Oregon State Sheriff’s Association (OSSA) cites the burden it would place on financially-strapped law enforcement agencies.

The measure would enact a law that requires a permit issued by a local law enforcement agency in order to purchase any type of firearm. Applicants would have to pay a fee, be fingerprinted, complete safety training, and pass a criminal background check.

“This measure will require law enforcement agencies to create and operate a massive permit-to-purchase and training program out of local budgets,” explained OSSA president and Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson in a video message shared on social media.

“It will move very scarce resources away from protecting our communities to doing background checks and issuing permits at a time when crime is skyrocketing and law enforcement numbers are at their lowest in decades.”

Leonard Williamson, an Oregon trial attorney who specializes in firearms law and who served on the explanatory statement committee shares OSSA’s concerns.

“In order to obtain the permit, an applicant would have to show up with a firearm to demonstrate the ability to load, fire, unload, and store the firearm,” he told The Epoch Times.

“But you can’t get a firearm without the permit. And under Oregon’s highly restrictive gun storage laws, no one can legally loan a firearm to another. That creates an impassable barrier.”

The permit and training programs also create an unfunded mandate with no enforcement measures, opponents claim.

“The measure calls upon the Oregon State Police to come up with these [permitting and training] programs, but there’s no consequence if they don’t and there’s no timeframe for coming up with them,” explained H.K. Kahng, an engineer and NRA firearms instructor.

Nelson said that implementing the measure would cost local law enforcement agencies just over $49 million annually, with expected permit fees covering only $19.5 million. That means local law enforcement would need to shift about $30 million of their budgets to fund the programs.

Amy Patrick, the policy director for the Oregon Hunters Association, told The Epoch Times that it will take at least two years to set up the permitting system.

“In the meantime, federal, firearm license, gun sales would cease until purchase permits could be issued, potentially putting gun shops out of business,” she claims.

In Oregon, the sporting arms and ammunition industry is responsible for 3,668 jobs with an average wage of $59,541 and total economic contribution to the state of $1.78 billion annually, Michael Findlay, the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s director of government affairs told The Epoch Times.

Loss of that revenue could have a devastating impact on fish and wildlife conservation funding through the Pittman-Robertson Act.

Enacted in 1937, that act collects an 11 percent federal excise tax on all firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment. Those funds are then remitted to states.

Oregon is among the top 10 recipients of those funds.

“Pittman-Robertson funding brought $44 million to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in the last biennium,” Patrick explained. “Those funds are specifically used for fish and wildlife conservation.”

A record setting high of more than $1 billion was collected in the past year and has yet to be distributed to the states, Findlay added.

Those economic contributions to the state budget would cease unless a court grants a legal injunction.

“I don’t think you’ll find any precedent in U.S. history in which a citizen has to go through so many hoops to exercise Constitutional rights,” Williamson said. “This is the first of its kind and, if it passes, it will wind up in court.”

Taxpayers will pay for the litigation.

The revival of the Hummer brand as GMC’s high-end EV has been a smashing hit. Demand is so high that pickup and SUV models are “sold out for two years or more,” according to the auto blog GM Authority. 

The Detroit-based automaker has received 90,000 reservations for both versions of the Hummer EV. GM Authority said all new orders had been halted since last month. 

For reference, GM has only produced 2,570 units of the Hummer EV Pickup as of September 2022, a far-cry from the 90,000 units needed just to meet reservations. 

However, production has been picking up as of late, as GM produced 700 Hummer EV Pickups in September, which represents almost 30 percent of all units built. 

In order to meet demand, this growth needs to continue, which will be facilitated by the opening of the first Ultium Cells plant in Ohio. 

Unfortunately, GM has also announced that Hummer EV production will idled for November as the plant undergoes upgrades to produce future products. — GM Authority

It’s hard to say whether GM can ramp up supply to meet the orders in 2023. Some of these 1,000 horsepower vehicles have been auctioned off at mindboggling prices in the last several months. 

A Hummer EV sold for a whopping $324,500 at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas event in July. Another sold at Barrett-Jackson in Houston for $225,000 on Oct. 22. Others were recently auctioned off at Bring A Trailer website between $164,000 to $275,000. The list price for the full-size truck is $112,000. 

Supplies of the Hummer EV are set to worsen before they improve, which may keep secondary market prices elevated. 

Authored by Beth Brelje via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Switching genders is expensive. But low-income children in Pennsylvania are covered under medical assistance through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Pennsylvania taxpayers have unknowingly paid more than $16 million under Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to fund sex reassignment and gender transition services for children.

Each year since 2015, when Wolf took office, state spending on childhood sex change treatments has increased, data obtained by the Pennsylvania Family Institute shows.

In 2015, Pennsylvania paid $78,000 for services related to sex reassignment for children under 18. In 2021, the state spent $3.9 million.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) provided data to the Pennsylvania Family Institute through a Right to Know request seeking records reflecting the amount of money Pennsylvania has spent for minors through CHIP to receive “services related to sex reassignment and transition related services and drugs, from 2015 to present.”

“This level of state-endorsed harm upon children is reprehensible,” Alexis Sneller of the Pennsylvania Family Institute said in a statement. “While we knew the Wolf administration was funding services related to these irreversible procedures on minors, now seeing the exact numbers–millions spent towards these detrimental acts—is still shocking.”

Taxpayer Funded Treatments

The data includes basic codes and descriptions for each treatment, but it’s unclear how many treatments were used for each patient, so the total number of minors who received the medications and procedures is unknown.

Treatments listed in the data include androgenic agents, which are used in the transition from female to male; and estrogenic agents, which are feminizing hormones powerful enough to cause a male to develop breasts.

Some girls were given Yuvafem, a vaginal insert tablet used to reduce symptoms of menopause, and Estring, another menopause insert in the form of a flexible ring that continuously releases estrogen. The Estring safety indications include a warning that using the product may increase the chance of developing dementia, and that estrogens should be used at the lowest dose possible and only for as long as needed.

Many treatments are hormones in the form of gels, creams, patches, and pills normally used for women in menopause and post-menopause. Others are testosterone replacements, normally used in men who don’t make enough on their own.

All are being prescribed for off-label use.

“Since no drugs are specifically for sex reassignment or transition related services, pharmacy claims were only included where the recipient had a previous gender identity disorder diagnosis or personal history of sex reassignment diagnosis within the specified service dates,” the PA DHS said in a note included in the answer to the Right to Know request. “Data is limited to recipients aged 18 and younger.”

The data is from Jan. 1, 2015, to Oct. 21, 2022.

Homeless Kids Get Gender Treatment

During a Pennsylvania House Health Committee hearing, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) gender clinic co-founder Nadia Dowshen testified that her clinic receives referrals from foster care and homeless shelters.

“We’re really getting referrals from a variety of resources,” Dowshen testified. “We’re getting a lot more referrals from institutions and other youth serving professionals working with youth in other capacities, sometimes from within the foster care system, or the mental health system, or through homeless shelters for youth who are in need of support.”

In another presentation, Dowshen praised Dr. Rachel Levine, calling the former Pennsylvania secretary of health “a wonderful advocate … doing amazing work to make sure young people have coverage of these medications.”

Levine is a transgender individual who served in Pennsylvania until President Joe Biden appointed Levine as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Levine is a former professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine and a longtime advocate of “gender affirming care,” which includes puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgeries with life-altering consequences for children and adolescents who want to change their bodies and live as the opposite sex.

Read more here…

The Chinese government is now barring celebrities with “lapsed morals” from making product endorsements — and blocking all celebrities from endorsing health, education and financial products. Authorities said the new restrictions are “guided by Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.”

The socio-economic move comes on the heels of the Chinese Communist Parties twice-a-decade congress, in which President Xi Jinping was elected to an unprecedented third team as party chairman and unveiled a new leadership team stacked with loyalists as he further consolidates his power.  

“The latest clampdown was announced as the Chinese president intensifies his drive to reform social values and youth culture in the world’s most populous country, under the banner of common prosperity’,” reports the Financial Times. 

“Celebrities should consciously practice socialist core values ​​in their advertising endorsement activities, and endorsement activities should conform to social morals and traditional virtues,” the new regulations say. 

Moving forward, companies are barred from using any celebrity to promote healthcare, medical equipment, baby formula, private tutoring, tobacco products and e-cigarettes. The rules encompass social media, commercials, livestreaming, interviews and other such avenues. 

Celebrities with “lax morals” are off limits for any product advertising. That includes those who’ve engaged in illegal activities such as drunkenness, drug use, fraud and tax evasion.

“The media is lax, allowing illegal and immoral stars to participate in advertising endorsements,” said Chinese authorities. “The chaos in the field of advertising endorsements has seriously infringed upon the rights and interests of consumers, disrupted the market order and polluted the social atmosphere, and the people have expressed strong reactions.”

Last week, Xi urged China’s younger generation to “abandon the finicky lifestyle and complacent attitude.” He did so against the symbolic backdrop of the Hongqi or “red flag” canal — a 44-mile irrigation canal initiated in 1960 during China’s “Great Leap Forward.” Spanning mountains and rocky terrain, it was built by hand with simple tools over the ensuing 9 years. 

“We need to educate people, especially the youths, with the Hongqi canal spirit that China’s socialism is won by hard work, struggles and even sacrifice of lives. This was not only true in the past but also true in the new era,” said Xi. 

At a time when China is struggling with high youth unemployment, Xi’s remarks are seemingly meant to combat a sort of stagnation that’s setting in among Chinese youth. It’s encapsulated by a recently-popularized phrase in China: “tang ping,” which means “lying flat.” Similar to the American notion of “quiet quitting,” tang ping represents a lifestyle that embraces low expectations for professional and financial success.

Speaking about the new endorsement regulations, Zhang Guohua, president of a Chinese advertising association, said, “This does not mean that celebrity endorsements will be limited, but everyone will be more cautious, and the artists will be more responsible and self-disciplined.” Speaking of celebrities, he added, “You have such an industry status and influence, so you should be cautious in your words and deeds.” 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Officials in an Arizona county have been sued over their plan to hand count ballots cast in next week’s midterm election.

The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans said Cochise County officials are poised to violate the law with the hand count and have asked a state judge to block the plan.

A.R.S. Section 16-602(F), the plaintiffs said, outlines that hand counts may only be conducted with specific parameters, including counting a sample of no more than 5,000 ballots.

“Arizona law thus clearly and expressly prohibits county officials from conducting a hand count audit of ballots beyond the limited sample size allowed by statute, let alone all early ballots cast in the election,” they said.

The plan to count more votes violates the law, according to the suit.

The Cochise County’s Board of Supervisors, Cochise County Recorder David Stevens, and Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra were named as defendants.

The board’s 2–1 vote in October ran along party lines. Republican Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby approved the hand count. Democrat Supervisor Ann English voted against it.

County lawyers told the board that the hand count would be illegal.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat running for governor, initially said the plan was against the law but later said the board committed to only counting some of the ballots and to delivering the results on time.

Members of the board said in an Oct. 26 meeting that the hand count would follow state law, but that they interpreted state law as allowing a full hand count in contested races.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said that an expanded hand count of 100 percent of the ballots is legal, provided the hand count was limited to “five contested statewide and federal races appearing on the 2022 General Election ballot.”

Board members said at a Nov. 1 special meeting that they were aware of the lawsuit but that it hadn’t been served yet.

Read more here…

A simplistic, superficial take of today’s jobs report would conclude that the red hot jump in nonfarm payrolls indicates a “strong hiring market” (just ignore the jump in the unemployment rate). Nothing could be further from the truth.

Recall that back in August and September, we showed that a stark divergence had opened between the Household and Establishment surveys that comprise the monthly jobs report, and since March the former has been stagnant while the latter has been rising every single month. In addition to that, full-time jobs were plunging while part-time jobs were soaring.

Fast forward to today when the inconsistencies not only continue to grow, but in some cases have becoming downright grotesque.

Consider the following: the closely followed Establishment survey came in above expectations at 261K, above the 195K expected, and down modestly from last month’s upward revised 319K…

… numbers which confirm that at a time when virtually every major tech company is announcing mass layoffs…

Layoffs announced in the last day:

– Lyft 13% of workers
– Opendoor 18%
– Stripe 14%
– Chime 12%
– Twitter 50%
– Morgan Stanley (% unknown)

— Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) November 3, 2022

… the BLS has a single, political agenda – not to spoil the political climate less than a week ahead of the payrolls by painting a “suboptimal” labor market picture.

Alas, there is only so much the Department of Labor can hide under the rug because when looking at the abovementioned gap between the Household and Establishment surveys which we have been pounding the table on since the summer, it just blew out by a whopping 589K, the most since June’s 608K, as a result of the 261K increase in the number of nonfarm payrolls (tracked by the Household survey) offset by a perplexing plunge in the number of people actually employed which tumbled by 328K (tracked by Establishment survey).

What is even more perplexing, is that despite the continued rise in nonfarm payrolls, the Household survey continues to telegraph growing weakness, and as of Oct 31, the gap that opened in March has since grown to a whopping 2.3 million “workers” which may or may not exist anywhere besides the spreadsheet model of some BLS political activist!

Showing this another way, there were 158.5 million employed workers in March 2022… and 158.6 million in October 2022 an increase of just 150K, during a period in which the number of payrolls (which as a reminder is the number the market follows) reportedly increased by 2.5 million!

As an aside, it appears this is not the first time the “apolitical” Bureau of Labor Statistics has pulled such a bizarre divergence off: it happened right before Obama’s reelection:

And then again: right before Hillary’s “100% guaranteed election (because one wouldn’t want a soft economy to adversely impact her re-election odds).

It gets better: digging in even deeper into the far more accurate and nuanced Household Survey, we find that the October plunge in Employment was the result of a massive collapse in full-time jobs offset by a modest increase in part-time jobs:

In fact, as shown below, since March, the US has lost 490K full-time employees offset by an almost identical gain of 492K part-time employees, while 126K workers were forced to get more than one job over the same period.

Finally, the cherry on top: the number of Unemployed workers – also tracked by the Household Survey – jumped by 306K, rising to 6.059 million, the highest since February!

So what’s going on here? The simple answer: there has been no change in the number of people actually employed, but due to deterioration in the economy, more people are losing their higher-paying, full-time jobs, and switching into much lower- paying, benefits-free part-time jobs, which also forces many to work more than one job, a rotation which picked up in earnest some time in March and which has only been captured by the Household survey. Meanwhile the Establishment survey plows on ahead with its politically-motivated approximations, seasonal adjustments, and other labor market goalseeking meant to make the Biden admin look good at least until after the midterms .

And since the Establishment survey is far slower to pick up on the nuances in employment composition, while the Household Survey has gone nowhere since March, the BLS data engineers have been busy goalseeking the Establishment Survey (with the occasional nudge from the White House especially with midterms looming) to make it appear as if the economy is growing strongly, when in reality all they are doing is applying the same erroneous seasonal adjustment factor that gave such a wrong perspective of the labor market in the aftermath of the covid pandemic (until it was all adjusted away a year ago). In other words, while the labor market is already cracking, it will take the BLS several months of veering away from reality before the government bureaucrats accept and admit what is truly taking place.

As we said back in August, “We expect that “realization” to take place just after the midterms, because the last thing the Biden administration can afford is admit the labor market is crashing in addition to the continued surge in inflation.” We still hold on to this prediction: expect big negative payroll prints as soon as December.

“Many believe we are approaching a tipping point, that we are on the verge of a ‘revelatory storm,’ that the truth is finally coming out… What if we never reach it? What if the guilty are never held to account? What if we forget only to transgress again and again?”

 -Julie Ponese, The Epoch Times, October 7, 2022

Authored by Mark Glennon via Wirepoints.org,

Years ago in Texas, I went to a luncheon talk by Pres. Lyndon Johnson’s former press secretary, George Christian. He said he and the rest of Johnson’s staff tried to stick to just three themes in most every message from Johnson: “help the poor, educate the kids and beat up on the communists.”

The themes change but that’s widely accepted wisdom for politicians – maintain the discipline to stick to very few issues that work for you because that’s about all most voters can digest. Most research says the average American spends only about an hour per day following the news.

That’s far too little time for voters to digest the number and gravity of the catastrophes America and Illinois are suffering through, most of which were inflicted by our own government.

The far left now controlling Illinois and the federal government lie and lie and lie again, at a pace too fast for the public to follow.

They’ve flooded the zone, as said in sports. Most voters are simply too busy busting their backs to keep the bills paid, or are too indifferent, to get the entirety of what has become of us into their consciousness.

Most importantly, public understanding has been willfully retarded through censorship by most of the traditional media, big tech platforms and the government itself.

Many of those failures are genuinely existential threats to the nation and Illinois. To wit:

An open southern border and broken immigration system; inflation and a stagnant economy; energy independence thrown away; unaffordable renewable energy goals; censorship by tech platforms, media and the government; incompetent and dishonest healthcare officials as exposed in the Covid pandemic, particularly on school shutdowns; higher education that despises viewpoint diversity; schools teaching hateful racialism; violent crime; criminal prosecutors unwilling to prosecute; plummeting academic and school performance; a dangerously senile president; school officials openly opposing parental control; multiple scandals exposed by the Hunter Biden laptop; a healthcare system that costs far too much; widespread perception of gross wealth and income inequality; breathtaking government incompetence reflected in the Afghanistan withdrawal process; and national debt with an annual interest cost now approaching $1 trillion per year. Particular to Illinois, uncompetitive tax burdens; the highest unemployment rate in the nation; fleeing population and tax base; one-party rule protected by gerrymandered maps; endless public corruption; and an unsustainable pension burden.

What may prove still more important are things being missed because we are preoccupied with that list. Columnist Michael Barone recently pointed out that, even in ordinary times, pending crises are often overlooked in election debates.

“I don’t remember any candidates talking about Islamic terrorism in the midterm elections of 1998 or about the risk of investing in mortgage-backed securities in 2006,” he wrote.

“Going back a ways, I can’t recall much discussion about how to win or de-escalate the Vietnam War in 1966 or to cope with rising inflation in 1970.”

He’s right. Foreign policy matters have gone entirely unmentioned this year. The only exception was a group of progressives who recently questioned our level of commitment to Ukraine, but they were immediately slapped down into silence by their own party.

Or how about a questions on what age is too young for trans-gender surgery and medication? Europe is years ahead of us on that debate (and increasingly banning those treatments below a certain age), yet debate has barely reached our shores.

Ponese, that Epoch Times author quoted above, fears that the truth may never come out thanks to censorship by the establishment and our own blind trust.

“We have relied for too long on institutions to do the remembering for us, to generate moral responsibility on our behalf,” she wrote.

“In the era of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, personal accountability has been trained out of us. We were taught to believe that institutions would act as our surrogate moral conscience, taking account and making apology for us.”

That much is true, but things are changing. Alternative voices exposing the truth are being heard, though gradually. Polls show overwhelming, bipartisan distrust of traditional media. Most everybody knows we are being lied to, though it will take time to assimilate just how thoroughly we’ve been lied to.

That full scope of understanding won’t come before this election.

But when it comes, it will indeed be a “revelatory storm” – a grand epiphany causing future generations to ask how ours could have been so thoroughly duped.

Chatter about China easing its Zero-COVID strategy sparked some joy overnight (in crude prices), but the labor market report was a smorgasbord of confusion for algos (keying off the ‘beat’ on the payrolls print and slowing wage growth) and traders (who dug below the surface and saw the real shitshow of job-losses and lack of participation):

• Good: payrolls beat expectations (tightening not working – bad for stocks)

• Bad: wage growth slowed modestly (less-flation – good for stocks?), full-time workers dropped 490k (economic weakness – not good for stocks)

• Ugly: number of unemployed Americans highest since Feb (recession reality – bad for stocks)

On the day, the market took a dovish angle on all this and cut terminal rate-hike expectations. But on the week, short-term interest rates signaled a notably hawkish tone shift…

Source: Bloomberg

But then the FedSpeak began again:

• 1000ET: Boston Fed’s Susan Collins: “…it is time to shift focus from how rapidly to raise rates, or the pace, to how high… followed by a period of holding rates at a sufficiently restrictive level for some time.”

• 1005ET: Richmond Fed’s Tom Barkin: “Fed has more work to do as labor market still tight… with a longer period of rate increases and potentially higher terminal rate…”

It took a while for that set in and the algos to calm down, but as Europe closed, US equity markets puked all their gains back. The majors hovered around unch to weaker until the last hour or so then started to magically levitate back into the green and beyond into the close. By the cash close, Nasdaq was the day’s biggest gainer but everything traded together as the machines ran the show…

On the week, it was all about Powell’s rug-pull. Nasdaq was the biggest loser (down around 6% while The Dow was the prettiest horse in the glue factory, down only 1.5% on the week). This was the Nasdaq’s worst week since January…

Or for those who learn through visuals…

All the majors broke down below key technical levels this week…

Value stocks dramatically outperformed Growth on the week, surging up to pre-COVID levels relative to one another. Value has outperformed growth for 7 of the last 8 days. This week was the biggest value outperformance of growth since Jan 7th…

Source: Bloomberg

That fits with the fact that US Tech stocks puked around 8% on the week while Energy stocks outperformed (up 2% on the week)…

Source: Bloomberg

And before we leave stock-land, Bloomberg notes that the outlook for US corporate profits outside the energy sector is deteriorating fast. Blended earnings estimates for the S&P 500 Ex-Energy Index have been slashed so much since June that they are now back to last December levels.

Source: Bloomberg

While energy companies are benefiting from higher oil prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the broader corporate world is feeling the pinch of raging inflation, higher rates and slowing demand.

VIX and Stocks completely decoupled since Powell dropped the hammer as traders monetized hedges…

Source: Bloomberg

…but were not fearful enough to reload on downside put protection (until today a little)…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasuries were very mixed on the day with the long-end underperforming (30Y +6bps, 2Y -5bps), but on the week, its the opposite picture with 2Y yield sup 25bps and 30Y up only 10bps as the entire curve repriced higher in yields…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar ended the week almost perfectly unchanged after puking back all of the mid-week post-Powell gains today…

Source: Bloomberg

China’s Yuan soared today (by the most since 2005), but that only lifted it back to one-week highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos rallied today lifting them into the green for the week (Litecoin outperformed)…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin rallied back above $21k…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold rallied today, hitting its highest in 3 weeks (futs above $1680)…

Oil prices soared this week (helped by chatter about easing China COVID restrictions) with WTI back above $92 (at 3-mo highs)…

Finally, some bad news America, pump prices are about to start soaring again as crude and wholesale gasoline prices are back at 3-month highs…

Source: Bloomberg

And we know who to blame right?

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

In the wake of fresh revelations that The Department of Homeland Security has been working relentlessly to shut down speech it deems to be ‘dangerous’ or ‘disinformation,’ Senator Rand Paul has promised to introduce legislation that would make it illegal for government agencies and private big tech to secretly collude on such enterprises.

Appearing on Fox News, Paul said of the Democratic Party, “You know, for all the talk of democracy, it seems to be that they’re undermining the very basic principles of our constitutional republic.”

“Freedom of speech was listed in the first amendment because it was one of the most important rights that our Founders thought should be protected. But having the government collude with Big Tech to censor speech is something that goes against every grain of everything that anyone has ever spoken about as far as freedom of speech,” Paul urged.

The Senator continued, “So when we get back in session, I’m going to introduce legislation that will forbid the government from colluding with private companies to censor speech.”

Paul further explained that “this is a tricky situation because many people believe that the First Amendment doesn’t allow us to regulate the speech of private companies. But without question, we can regulate the government, and we can prevent and forbid the government from colluding with private tech on speech.”

“I think we should also preclude them and prohibit them from gathering up our data,” Paul further asserted, adding “we can’t really tell people on the Internet they can’t collect our data, you know, for sales and for marketing. But we can tell the government they can’t collect that data, because I don’t want the government profiling every citizen.”

“That goes against everything that we all believe in as far as the foundation of our constitutional republic,” The Senator proclaimed.

Paul further charged that Democrats “actually want to emulate China,” noting that “They would weld your doors shut if they could.”

“This is the party of authoritarianism. The impulse to authoritarianism came with COVID. But the impulse to gather our information actually probably started with the Patriot act, all the way back to 2001. There was this impulse — we must be safe, we must be protected from terrorists,” Paul explained.

Referring to his father former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, The Senator noted “my dad warned — he warned early on that this kind of going after terrorists would ultimately be used on us.”

“When they finally came and used the Patriot Act on Donald Trump, that was when we knew this wasn’t about terrorism, it was about suppressing dissent from people they disagree with,” Paul stated.

As we highlighted yesterday, ‘fact checking’ isn’t the real principle driving the Biden regime’s drive to censor, as they continue to pump out their own disinformation on social media.

*  * *

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By Howard Wang of Convoy Investments

Jerome Powell has been talking tough on inflation and clearly wants to leave a Volcker-like legacy. But the US is far different today than it was in the 80s. The recent Q3 US government borrowing report may throw a wrench in his plans.

US debt servicing costs skyrocketed in Q3 as the rate shock propagated to the $31 trillion worth of federal debt, a number that continues to grow at a $1.5 trillion per year clip. Because of the high debt base, any small changes in average financing rate has a huge impact on ultimate debt costs to the government.

This number will only worsen as we continue to retire cheaper old debt and replace it with costlier new debt.

If the current ~4.5% average yield curve rate propagates to all $31 trillion worth of debt, we are looking at $1.4 trillion per year just in interest payments. This would be 29% of the 2022 FY total Federal tax receipt.

The US government may become the most leveraged and vulnerable player to rate shocks. When you rack up the kinds of debt that our government has, you can lose the luxury of rapidly clamping down on inflation like Volcker did in the 80s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yellen is, along with the rest of the market, privately begging Powell to slow down.