lewrockwell--2020-09-11--A Focused Trump Can Still Pull It Out

A Focused Trump Can Still Pull It Out

If Donald Trump loses the election , history will attribute his defeat to a pandemic that killed 200,000 Americans during his reelection campaign , and a historic depression deliberately induced to put the economy in a coma as the nation suffered through that pandemic .
But despite the worst hand dealt a sitting president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 , Trump is by no means cooked .
Since the conventions of the DNC and RNC , Trump has narrowed the gap in several battleground states that will decide the winner of the Electoral College .
One Florida poll found that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ margin and pulled even .
Blackout : How Black Am ... Owens , Candace Buy New $ 16.73 Trump ’ s denunciations of the riots that have gripped U.S. cities since the Memorial Day death of George Floyd have already forced Biden to come out of his basement to deplore the violence .
And the contrast in their appearances has been dramatic .
Trump speaks out in the open , before huge crowds , in arenas and airport hangers .
Biden , a socially distancing septuagenarian who is sheltering in place , looks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home residency .
This may explain why Trump has made marginal gains among African American voters and more impressive gains among Hispanic voters .
Biden is also hurt by the mental and verbal lapses he seems to experience with every set of remarks , reinforcing the impression that he has lost more than a step to Father Time .
But Trump has had his problems as well since the GOP convention , beginning with book-length attacks on his character by his niece , Mary Trump , and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ editor Jeffrey Goldberg alleging that Trump had disparaged the sacrifices of dead and wounded U.S. soldiers from World War I , Vietnam and the Middle East wars .
The 21 Biggest Lies ab ... Schlichter , Kurt Best Price : $ 19.46 Buy New $ 21.49 Though Goldberg relied on anonymous sources to carry out his takedown of Trump , more than a dozen Trump staffers and advisers present at the meetings where Trump allegedly demeaned America ’ s warriors denied Goldberg ’ s allegations .
The Atlantic article was a kill shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media .
While it did not succeed , it drew blood , and the White House recoil testified to that .
Comes now “ Rage , ” the latest book by Bob Woodward , to which Trump contributed 18 interviews .
The book is damaging because , at the least , a national debate about the issues raised by Woodward distracts massively from Trump ’ s campaign imperative — taking down Biden so that he is seen as an unacceptable alternative to Trump .
Biden ’ s strategy remains what it has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on whether the American electorate wants four more years of Donald Trump .
As Trump ’ s approval rating has been underwater since taking the oath on Jan. 20 , 2017 , such a referendum should result in a rejection of Trump and , de facto , a victory for Biden .
Secret Empires : How th ... Peter Schweizer Best Price : $ 9.41 Buy New $ 14.90 Trump must instead present this election as a binary choice : Which of the two , Biden or Trump , has the leadership capacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues , and the ability to carry out his agenda ?
Trump needs to convert a Mr. Congeniality contest into a decision of whom you want to lead the nation in this perilous hour .
Whom do you want in the Oval Office dealing with the current crises : Mr. Nice Guy or the guy who showed he could get the job done before the pandemic came ashore ?
With seven weeks left in the campaign , Trump ’ s agenda of issues appears more appealing than Biden ’ s .
Trump wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flood of illegal migrants from the global south while Biden ’ s party is pro-amnesty and open borders , and favors sanctuary cities and abolishing ICE .
Trump wants to extricate America from the forever wars of the Middle East , as do most Americans .
Where Biden is going to raise taxes by trillions , Trump is a proven low-tax and less-regulations leader .
Trump has appointed 200 federal judges and two Supreme Court justices and sought to elevate constitutionalists to the federal courts .
Biden has thus far declined to engage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urban anarchy , Biden is playing catch-up .
His convention did not even address the issues raised by the Portland , Seattle and Minneapolis riots and the soaring murder rates in Chicago and New York .
On abortion , Trump has proven solidly pro-life , while Biden wants all taxpayers , including fellow Catholics , to subsidize what his Church teaches is the cold-blooded killing of the innocent unborn .
Trump needs to stay focused on the issues where the divisions are clear and compelling .
The debates will show whether Joe has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the destiny of the republic .
The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan

Shop all books by Pat Buchanan
If Donald Trump loses the election, history will attribute his defeat to a pandemic that killed 200,000 Americans during his reelection campaign, and a historic depression deliberately induced to put the economy in a coma as the nation suffered through that pandemic.
But despite the worst hand dealt a sitting president since Herbert Hoover in 1932, Trump is by no means cooked.
Since the conventions of the DNC and RNC, Trump has narrowed the gap in several battleground states that will decide the winner of the Electoral College. One Florida poll found that Trump had erased Joe Biden’s margin and pulled even. Blackout: How Black Am... Owens, Candace Buy New $16.73 (as of 06:22 UTC - Details)
Trump’s denunciations of the riots that have gripped U.S. cities since the Memorial Day death of George Floyd have already forced Biden to come out of his basement to deplore the violence. And the contrast in their appearances has been dramatic.
Trump speaks out in the open, before huge crowds, in arenas and airport hangers. Biden, a socially distancing septuagenarian who is sheltering in place, looks more like an applicant for a retirement home residency. This may explain why Trump has made marginal gains among African American voters and more impressive gains among Hispanic voters.
Biden is also hurt by the mental and verbal lapses he seems to experience with every set of remarks, reinforcing the impression that he has lost more than a step to Father Time.
But Trump has had his problems as well since the GOP convention, beginning with book-length attacks on his character by his niece, Mary Trump, and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
This month brought an Atlantic article by editor Jeffrey Goldberg alleging that Trump had disparaged the sacrifices of dead and wounded U.S. soldiers from World War I, Vietnam and the Middle East wars. The 21 Biggest Lies ab... Schlichter, Kurt Best Price: $19.46 Buy New $21.49 (as of 05:03 UTC - Details)
Though Goldberg relied on anonymous sources to carry out his takedown of Trump, more than a dozen Trump staffers and advisers present at the meetings where Trump allegedly demeaned America’s warriors denied Goldberg’s allegations.
The Atlantic article was a kill shot aimed at the president by a hostile media. While it did not succeed, it drew blood, and the White House recoil testified to that.
Comes now “Rage,” the latest book by Bob Woodward, to which Trump contributed 18 interviews. The book is damaging because, at the least, a national debate about the issues raised by Woodward distracts massively from Trump’s campaign imperative — taking down Biden so that he is seen as an unacceptable alternative to Trump.
Biden’s strategy remains what it has been: Turn the election into a referendum on whether the American electorate wants four more years of Donald Trump. As Trump’s approval rating has been underwater since taking the oath on Jan. 20, 2017, such a referendum should result in a rejection of Trump and, de facto, a victory for Biden.
Secret Empires: How th... Peter Schweizer Best Price: $9.41 Buy New $14.90 (as of 10:05 UTC - Details) Trump must instead present this election as a binary choice: Which of the two, Biden or Trump, has the leadership capacity, the superior ideas on the critical issues, and the ability to carry out his agenda?
Trump needs to convert a Mr. Congeniality contest into a decision of whom you want to lead the nation in this perilous hour. Whom do you want in the Oval Office dealing with the current crises: Mr. Nice Guy or the guy who showed he could get the job done before the pandemic came ashore?
With seven weeks left in the campaign, Trump’s agenda of issues appears more appealing than Biden’s.
Trump wants to secure the border against any new flood of illegal migrants from the global south while Biden’s party is pro-amnesty and open borders, and favors sanctuary cities and abolishing ICE.
Trump wants to extricate America from the forever wars of the Middle East, as do most Americans. Where Biden is going to raise taxes by trillions, Trump is a proven low-tax and less-regulations leader.
Trump has appointed 200 federal judges and two Supreme Court justices and sought to elevate constitutionalists to the federal courts. Biden has thus far declined to engage on the issue.
On putting down urban anarchy, Biden is playing catch-up. His convention did not even address the issues raised by the Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis riots and the soaring murder rates in Chicago and New York.
On abortion, Trump has proven solidly pro-life, while Biden wants all taxpayers, including fellow Catholics, to subsidize what his Church teaches is the cold-blooded killing of the innocent unborn.
Trump needs to stay focused on the issues where the divisions are clear and compelling. The debates will show whether Joe has lost it and cannot be entrusted with the destiny of the republic.
The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan


lewrockwell--2020-09-11--Coroner Says Covid-19 Counts May Be Wrong, Leading to Unnecessary Fear

A Mississippi county coroner said his state ’ s death count from coronavirus could be incorrect , adding that possible misreporting has led to “ unnecessary fear in the public.
” Joshua Pounder , coroner for DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi , included a breakdown of all causes of death in the county in July on his Facebook page .
The Mississippi State Department of Health demands that anyone who has a positive coronavirus test at the time of their death is reported as a COVID-19 death without acknowledging the fact that “ many of them were terminal prior to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pounder said .
Undercover Epicenter N ... Olszewski , Erin Marie Buy New $ 24.29 Pounder ’ s office reported 144 deaths in July , and he attributed the highest number of deaths to heart conditions , cancer , lung or vascular diseases and strokes .
Of the 11 causes of death , coronavirus was not among them .
What is your risk for developing COVID-19 ?
Take the two-minute COVID risk quiz to find out .
The quiz was designed by a coalition of health experts dedicated to help stop COVID cold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll also get a free report designed to provide proven , natural , safe , effective and inexpensive ways to enhance your immune system .
The Best of Joseph Mercola

A Mississippi county coroner said his state’s death count from coronavirus could be incorrect, adding that possible misreporting has led to “unnecessary fear in the public.” Joshua Pounder, coroner for DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi, included a breakdown of all causes of death in the county in July on his Facebook page.
The Mississippi State Department of Health demands that anyone who has a positive coronavirus test at the time of their death is reported as a COVID-19 death without acknowledging the fact that “many of them were terminal prior to a [positive] test,” Pounder said.
Undercover Epicenter N... Olszewski, Erin Marie Buy New $24.29 (as of 02:20 UTC - Details) Pounder’s office reported 144 deaths in July, and he attributed the highest number of deaths to heart conditions, cancer, lung or vascular diseases and strokes. Of the 11 causes of death, coronavirus was not among them.
Source: Newsweek August 8, 2020
What is your risk for developing COVID-19? Take the two-minute COVID risk quiz to find out. The quiz was designed by a coalition of health experts dedicated to help stop COVID cold.
Check My COVID Risk
After taking the quiz you’ll also get a free report designed to provide proven, natural, safe, effective and inexpensive ways to enhance your immune system.
The Best of Dr. Joseph Mercola


lewrockwell--2020-09-12--Hospitals May Be Slow To Add Vitamin D To Covid-19 Treatment Regimens Because of Loss of Income

A growing body of published studies indicate vitamin D supplementation may allay the symptoms and severity of COVID-19 infections , enough to keep hospitalized patients out of the intensive care unit .
The most recent of these studies , published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ( Aug 29,2020 ) is more than convincing .
But this remarkable study is not likely to change the practices of modern medicine , even though it completely abolished COVID-19-related deaths in the intensive care unit ( ICU ) and reduced admission from a standard COVID-19 care ward to the ICU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The study involved 76 hospitalized patients who were COVID-19-positive and had symptoms of coronavirus infection such as dry cough , shortness of breath , fever and diarrhea who were on a standard-care COVID-19 hospital ward .
The Miraculous Results ... Jeff T Bowles Best Price : $ 4.97 Buy New $ 9.99 Critics say the study is not large enough , co-morbid conditions such as obesity , diabetes and autoimmunity were grouped rather than identified specifically , and there were no vitamin D blood levels taken before and after treatment .
Yet there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what harm could come from a hospital giving vitamin D to all patients on its COVID-19 ward ?
The following chart reveals just 2 % of COVID-19 COVID-19-infected patients given VITAMIN D25 ( as prescription-only calcifediol ( cal-siff-i-die-ol ) , needed to be transferred to the ICU ( intensive care unit ) from a standard care ward whereas 50 % of those COVID-19 infected patients NOT given vitamin D worsened to the point where intensive care and ventilator support was required .
Non-prescription vitamin D3 ( cholecalciferol ) is converted to vitamin D25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calcifediol works faster than non-Rx vitamin D3 .
Vitamin D is known to inhibit the buildup of bradykinin ( bray-dih-kî-nin ) , a natural internally-produced blood vessel dilator which helps control blood pressure .
Excessive bradykinin can induce contraction of the bronchus , an airway to the lungs , thus impairing breathing .
The Miraculous Cure Fo ... Bowles , Jeff T. Best Price : $ 7.71 Buy New $ 10.68 For ethical reasons , vitamin D could not be compared against an inactive placebo pill .
( However , there is no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ myth of modern medicine . )
Vitamin D is also be talked about by physicians as an injectable 300,000 unit mega-dose for wintertime protection from COVID-19 coronavirus infections altogether .
Patients were selected to receive vitamin D randomly .
For ethical reasons , vitamin D could not be compared against an inactive placebo pill .
( However , there is no such thing as placebo effect , another myth of modern medicine . )
Financial Incentives For Treatment Not Prevention The 49 of 50 COVID-19 patients who did not require admission to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The story going around is that hospitals face a steep decline in income-generating surgical procedures in the COVID-19 era as sick patients are delaying care or even avoiding the hospital altogether .
So COVID-19-generated income has to make up for lost revenues .
Hospitals have financial incentives to classify all of their acute pneumonia , sepsis , tuberculosis and other viral lung infections that require admission to the intensive care unit as COVID-19 cases because hospitals have financial incentives to do so .
A report posted at the Kaiser Family Foundation website @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presumably younger ) hospitalized COVID-19 cases require hospitalization with mild cases being billed at $ 13,297 and severe cases ( requiring ventilator support for greater than 96 hours ) at $ 40,218 .
Other sources generally confirm these numbers .
According to a report in USA TODAY , for a typical case of pneumonia hospitals are reimbursed $ 5000 ; COVID-19 cases $ 13,000 ; and COVID-19 cases on ventilators at $ 39,000 .
That gives plenty of incentive for hospitals to up-code their garden-variety pneumonia cases as COVID-19 .
How Not To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Best Price : $ 18.23 Buy New $ 17.97 Hopefully a Medicare audit would rectify any overbilling .
But that doesn ’ t keep patients out of the ICU which is frankly a death arena nowadays .
Patients May Not Have Covid-19 At All A confounding problem is that hospitalized patients with lung infections may coincidentally test positive for COVID-19 coronavirus but that may be due to prior bouts with coronaviruses or an outright false-positive blood test .
For example , hospitalized patients with HIV may falsely test positive for COVID-19 coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ may also test positive for COVID-19 .
So , some patients admitted as COVID-19 positive patients may not have COVID-19 infection at all , but the hospital collects extra reimbursement over a flawed test .
To make matters worse , ICU patients are completely deprived of sun exposure which is the primary source of vitamin D. The very reason why coronavirus infections spike upwards from January to April in the northern hemisphere is because solar radiation is dimmed by the tilting of the earth away from the sun during winter months .

A growing body of published studies indicate vitamin D supplementation may allay the symptoms and severity of COVID-19 infections, enough to keep hospitalized patients out of the intensive care unit. The most recent of these studies, published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Aug 29,2020) is more than convincing.
But this remarkable study is not likely to change the practices of modern medicine, even though it completely abolished COVID-19-related deaths in the intensive care unit (ICU) and reduced admission from a standard COVID-19 care ward to the ICU from 50% to 2%.
The study involved 76 hospitalized patients who were COVID-19-positive and had symptoms of coronavirus infection such as dry cough, shortness of breath, fever and diarrhea who were on a standard-care COVID-19 hospital ward. The Miraculous Results... Bowles, Jeff T Best Price: $4.25 Buy New $6.99 (as of 01:50 UTC - Details)
Critics say the study is not large enough, co-morbid conditions such as obesity, diabetes and autoimmunity were grouped rather than identified specifically, and there were no vitamin D blood levels taken before and after treatment. Yet there were no adverse reactions. So, what harm could come from a hospital giving vitamin D to all patients on its COVID-19 ward?
THE CONVINCING DATA
The following chart reveals just 2% of COVID-19 COVID-19-infected patients given VITAMIN D25 (as prescription-only calcifediol (cal-siff-i-die-ol), needed to be transferred to the ICU (intensive care unit) from a standard care ward whereas 50% of those COVID-19 infected patients NOT given vitamin D worsened to the point where intensive care and ventilator support was required.
Non-prescription vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is converted to vitamin D25 calcifediol in the liver. Therefore Rx-only calcifediol works faster than non-Rx vitamin D3.
Vitamin D inhibits newly recognized cause of COVID-19 death
Vitamin D is known to inhibit the buildup of bradykinin (bray-dih-kî-nin), a natural internally-produced blood vessel dilator which helps control blood pressure. Excessive bradykinin can induce contraction of the bronchus, an airway to the lungs, thus impairing breathing. The Miraculous Cure Fo... Bowles, Jeff T. Best Price: $7.71 Buy New $10.68 (as of 04:34 UTC - Details)
For ethical reasons, vitamin D could not be compared against an inactive placebo pill. (However, there is no such thing as placebo effect, another myth of modern medicine.)
Vitamin D is also be talked about by physicians as an injectable 300,000 unit mega-dose for wintertime protection from COVID-19 coronavirus infections altogether.
Scientific validity
Patients were selected to receive vitamin D randomly. For ethical reasons, vitamin D could not be compared against an inactive placebo pill. (However, there is no such thing as placebo effect, another myth of modern medicine.)
Financial Incentives For Treatment Not Prevention
The 49 of 50 COVID-19 patients who did not require admission to the ICU would have saved Medicare $1,274,000.
The story going around is that hospitals face a steep decline in income-generating surgical procedures in the COVID-19 era as sick patients are delaying care or even avoiding the hospital altogether. So COVID-19-generated income has to make up for lost revenues.
Hospitals have financial incentives to classify all of their acute pneumonia, sepsis, tuberculosis and other viral lung infections that require admission to the intensive care unit as COVID-19 cases because hospitals have financial incentives to do so.
A report posted at the Kaiser Family Foundation website indicates ~15% of uninsured (and presumably younger) hospitalized COVID-19 cases require hospitalization with mild cases being billed at $13,297 and severe cases (requiring ventilator support for greater than 96 hours) at $40,218. Other sources generally confirm these numbers.
According to a report in USA TODAY, for a typical case of pneumonia hospitals are reimbursed $5000; COVID-19 cases $13,000; and COVID-19 cases on ventilators at $39,000. That gives plenty of incentive for hospitals to up-code their garden-variety pneumonia cases as COVID-19. How Not To Die With Tr... Henriques, Tiago Best Price: $18.23 Buy New $17.97 (as of 08:00 UTC - Details)
Hopefully a Medicare audit would rectify any overbilling. But that doesn’t keep patients out of the ICU which is frankly a death arena nowadays.
Patients May Not Have Covid-19 At All
A confounding problem is that hospitalized patients with lung infections may coincidentally test positive for COVID-19 coronavirus but that may be due to prior bouts with coronaviruses or an outright false-positive blood test. For example, hospitalized patients with HIV may falsely test positive for COVID-19 coronavirus. Prior “common cold” coronavirus infections may also test positive for COVID-19. So, some patients admitted as COVID-19 positive patients may not have COVID-19 infection at all, but the hospital collects extra reimbursement over a flawed test.
Sun Deprivation
To make matters worse, ICU patients are completely deprived of sun exposure which is the primary source of vitamin D. The very reason why coronavirus infections spike upwards from January to April in the northern hemisphere is because solar radiation is dimmed by the tilting of the earth away from the sun during winter months.


lewrockwell--2020-09-12--Calling Chomsky Out: The Riots Are a Full-Fledged Attack by the Hard Left To Topple American Society

Professor Noam Chomsky , formerly of MIT , has the distinction of being the most frequently quoted academic and is arguably the best known public intellectual in the world .
He recently gave an interview in which he spoke , among other things , about the BLM sponsored riots that are taking place across the United States .
This is what he had to say on this subject : “ The Black Lives Matter protests which is a huge , incredible development : the biggest social movement in American history .
A huge number of people involved spontaneously , solidarity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , develop good programs , really great things happening… At the fringes they are people who are breaking windows , intimidating somebody at the restaurant… Things like this shouldn ’ t be happening , but that ’ s not what ’ s going on .
What ’ s going on is a massive , non-violent , constructive social movement.
” As the tennis great John McEnroe used to say to wayward referees , “ You can not be serious .
You just can not be serious , sir.
” Professor Chomsky has made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hypocrisy .
Today we must call out his own .
Who Rules the World ?
( ... Chomsky , Noam Best Price : $ 12.13 Buy New $ 11.70 Below are some news pieces Professor Chomsky may want to read at his leisure .
“ Nationwide , Floyd related protests and riots lasted 3 weeks in 140 U.S. cities , including Washington , D.C. , New York ; Chicago , Philadelphia and Los Angeles .
By June 4 at least 40 cities in 23 states had imposed curfews .
High-end boutiques in Beverly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chanel were looted , luxury stores in Santa Monica and big box retailers like Target and Macy ’ s across the US have suffered tens of millions in losses.
” The costliest civil disorder in U.S. history : That ’ s what insurance experts and city officials say the riots and demonstrations following the death of George Floyd are shaping up to be .
From police overtime to losses from fire – as well as theft and other destruction – costs of the unrest are adding up .
And for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the insurance industry has labeled this a “ riot and civil disorder ” catastrophe in multiple states .
In Minneapolis , where some 400 businesses were damaged , owners and insurance experts estimate costs of the damage to exceed $ 500 million , according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune .
Manufacturing Consent : ... Chomsky , Noam Best Price : $ 10.99 Buy New $ 13.53 A quote from another news item : “ From police injuries to financial losses from looters , the aftermath from weeks of cross-country protests is bringing some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is an assessment of those peaceful and constructive protests by an insurance industry journal : “ The civil disturbance that started in Minneapolis after the killing by police of George Floyd spread to 20 other states — an unprecedented property insurance catastrophe that will likely impact policy renewals and could even persuade some insurers to exclude coverage for damage caused by riots , executives for Verisk ’ s Property Claim Services said .
In the U.S. , there has been no precedent for a riot catastrophe like this , ” Tom Johansmeyer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not mention Portland which has been burning for over one hundred days running and New York City which has been essentially hollowed out ?
Some people on the “ fringes breaking windows ?
” Is that really what ’ s happening , Professor ?
The above reports are from weeks ago .
The damage has only grown much worse since .
There can be little doubt that when all is said and done the cumulative costs and losses will run into hundreds of billions of dollars .
And that ’ s if we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the process .
DOKEHOM 82L Large Laun ... Buy New $ 17.99 This catastrophic destruction is not the work of some far-off fringe .
After all , how could a small minority on the periphery wreak such immense havoc ?
No , this kind of violence is the thrust and focus of this criminal enterprise which is being disingenuously portrayed by the Left as a “ social justice ” movement .
Do you want to know who is on the fringes of this campaign ?
They are those gullible enough to show up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be peaceful marching .
These people are what Lenin used to call “ useful idiots.
” The real heart of this “ peaceful movement ” are the violent vandals who have done an excellent job indeed .
They have wrecked half the country .
“ Constructive ” and “ non-violent ?
” Did you really say that Professor Chomsky ?
What exactly is “ non-violent ” about all this terrible violence ?
And what is “ constructive ” about a crusade launched under false pretenses ?
A sham claim is made – that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and violence is let loose .
This movement is not constructive – it is destructive .
The whole travesty is based on a bogus allegation and conducted under a fake guise .
Since he is someone who has always portrayed himself as a scholar of complete intellectual honesty and integrity , we call upon Professor Chomsky to retract his statements about the situation on the ground which run in complete contravention of reality .
Luxe Bidet Neo 120 - S ... Best Price : $ 32.19 Buy New $ 34.95 It is difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mind would describe these devastating riots “ non-violent ” and “ constructive.
” But this is what leftists do , for they are masters of reality inversion .
To listen to the leftist-speak is to enter a Twilight Zone .
To them white is black and black is white .
To them a violent insurrection is a gentle demonstration .
To leftists a man is a woman and a woman is a man , and if you do not agree to their insanities you get cancelled and fired .
And then you get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your life .
This is the Left ’ s modus operandi , which is not surprising since psychologically and ideologically they hail from the same root as tyrants and totalitarians .
We have shown this in the graphic called the Ideological Pedigree Table of Values and Views .
Please do take a look if you have time .
Here is what is happening before our eyes : With America mired in a multi-prong crisis – which , sadly , is largely of our own making – the Hard Left has sensed that our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where it can be toppled .
Taking advantage of the present weakness , the radicals are now trying to achieve their goal .
From the very beginning , they have done all they could to encourage the vandals on the streets who have risen to the task by unleashing brutality that has caused heavy damage on many fronts and levels and shook America to its core .
The army of wreckers have beaten and injured countless people , destroyed thousands of businesses and brought ruin to a number of cities .
Rowing gangs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swathes of the American population .
The violence and chicanery have shaken this country deeply , pushing it to the brink .
These domestic terrorists have been all along cheered on and protected by their enablers and shills in the media , in academia , in the courts and in the Democrat Party .
What we are witnessing right now is nothing other than a full-fledged , coordinated assault against America by the elements of the Hard Left .
The objective of this attack is the overthrow of our society .
Requiem for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Price : $ 7.02 Buy New $ 12.76 These are no civil rights protests to bring justice and equality to an oppressed minority .
The charge of systemic institutionalized racism against black people is completely false ( see here , here and here ) .
The only form of institutional racism that exists in the United States is discrimination against whites and Asians in education and employment .
Just recently the US Justice Department found a leading IVY League university guilty of gross discrimination against white and Asian applicants whereby such applicants had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ admitted than black candidates with comparable scores .
From a US Department of Justice press release : “ The Department of Justice today notified Yale University of its findings that Yale illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act .
The findings are the result of a two-year investigation in response to a complaint by Asian American groups concerning Yale ’ s conduct.
” If this is not racism what is , asks Patrick Buchanan in his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ League .
This kind of anti-white , anti-Asian racism is the common practice in academia as well as in other spheres of our societal life such as government employment and contracts .
The truth is that black Americans are the beneficiaries of reverse discrimination and numerous other forms of preferential treatment .
Please make no mistake .
The specious charge of anti-black racism is a mere cover for unleashing violence dressed up as a “ social justice movement ” whose real purpose is to destabilize our society and bring about the Hard Left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Best of Vasko Kohlmayer

Professor Noam Chomsky, formerly of MIT, has the distinction of being the most frequently quoted academic and is arguably the best known public intellectual in the world. He recently gave an interview in which he spoke, among other things, about the BLM sponsored riots that are taking place across the United States. This is what he had to say on this subject:
“The Black Lives Matter protests which is a huge, incredible development: the biggest social movement in American history. A huge number of people involved spontaneously, solidarity black and white together, constructive goals, develop good programs, really great things happening… At the fringes they are people who are breaking windows, intimidating somebody at the restaurant… Things like this shouldn’t be happening, but that’s not what’s going on. What’s going on is a massive, non-violent, constructive social movement.”
As the tennis great John McEnroe used to say to wayward referees, “You cannot be serious. You just cannot be serious, sir.”
Professor Chomsky has made a career of calling out lying and hypocrisy. Today we must call out his own. Who Rules the World? (... Chomsky, Noam Best Price: $12.13 Buy New $11.70 (as of 04:35 UTC - Details)
Below are some news pieces Professor Chomsky may want to read at his leisure.
From a Fox News report of June 29:
“Nationwide, Floyd related protests and riots lasted 3 weeks in 140 U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., New York; Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. By June 4 at least 40 cities in 23 states had imposed curfews. High-end boutiques in Beverly Hills and New York like Gucci and Chanel were looted, luxury stores in Santa Monica and big box retailers like Target and Macy’s across the US have suffered tens of millions in losses.”
And this:
The costliest civil disorder in U.S. history: That’s what insurance experts and city officials say the riots and demonstrations following the death of George Floyd are shaping up to be. From police overtime to losses from fire – as well as theft and other destruction – costs of the unrest are adding up. And for the first time since statistics were collected in 1950, the insurance industry has labeled this a “riot and civil disorder” catastrophe in multiple states. In Minneapolis, where some 400 businesses were damaged, owners and insurance experts estimate costs of the damage to exceed $500 million, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Manufacturing Consent:... Chomsky, Noam Best Price: $10.99 Buy New $13.53 (as of 11:05 UTC - Details)
A quote from another news item: “From police injuries to financial losses from looters, the aftermath from weeks of cross-country protests is bringing some cities to their knees.”
And here is an assessment of those peaceful and constructive protests by an insurance industry journal:
“The civil disturbance that started in Minneapolis after the killing by police of George Floyd spread to 20 other states — an unprecedented property insurance catastrophe that will likely impact policy renewals and could even persuade some insurers to exclude coverage for damage caused by riots, executives for Verisk’s Property Claim Services said. In the U.S., there has been no precedent for a riot catastrophe like this,” Tom Johansmeyer, head of PCS.”
And should we not mention Portland which has been burning for over one hundred days running and New York City which has been essentially hollowed out?
Some people on the “fringes breaking windows?” Is that really what’s happening, Professor?
The above reports are from weeks ago. The damage has only grown much worse since. There can be little doubt that when all is said and done the cumulative costs and losses will run into hundreds of billions of dollars. And that’s if we are lucky enough not to disintegrate in the process. DOKEHOM 82L Large Laun... Buy New $17.99 (as of 04:35 UTC - Details)
This catastrophic destruction is not the work of some far-off fringe. After all, how could a small minority on the periphery wreak such immense havoc? No, this kind of violence is the thrust and focus of this criminal enterprise which is being disingenuously portrayed by the Left as a “social justice” movement.
Do you want to know who is on the fringes of this campaign? They are those gullible enough to show up at the protests believing that there will be peaceful marching. These people are what Lenin used to call “useful idiots.”
The real heart of this “peaceful movement” are the violent vandals who have done an excellent job indeed. They have wrecked half the country.
“Constructive” and “non-violent?” Did you really say that Professor Chomsky?
What exactly is “non-violent” about all this terrible violence?
And what is “constructive” about a crusade launched under false pretenses? A sham claim is made – that the US is a racist country – and violence is let loose. This movement is not constructive – it is destructive. The whole travesty is based on a bogus allegation and conducted under a fake guise.
Since he is someone who has always portrayed himself as a scholar of complete intellectual honesty and integrity, we call upon Professor Chomsky to retract his statements about the situation on the ground which run in complete contravention of reality. Luxe Bidet Neo 120 - S... Best Price: $32.19 Buy New $34.95 (as of 04:35 UTC - Details)
It is difficult to believe that anyone in his right mind would describe these devastating riots “non-violent” and “constructive.” But this is what leftists do, for they are masters of reality inversion. To listen to the leftist-speak is to enter a Twilight Zone. To them white is black and black is white. To them a violent insurrection is a gentle demonstration. To leftists a man is a woman and a woman is a man, and if you do not agree to their insanities you get cancelled and fired. And then you get threatened and you have to run for your life. This is the Left’s modus operandi, which is not surprising since psychologically and ideologically they hail from the same root as tyrants and totalitarians. We have shown this in the graphic called the Ideological Pedigree Table of Values and Views. Please do take a look if you have time.
Here is what is happening before our eyes: With America mired in a multi-prong crisis – which, sadly, is largely of our own making – the Hard Left has sensed that our society has been weakened to the point where it can be toppled. Taking advantage of the present weakness, the radicals are now trying to achieve their goal. From the very beginning, they have done all they could to encourage the vandals on the streets who have risen to the task by unleashing brutality that has caused heavy damage on many fronts and levels and shook America to its core. The army of wreckers have beaten and injured countless people, destroyed thousands of businesses and brought ruin to a number of cities. Rowing gangs of looters have terrorized and demoralized large swathes of the American population. The violence and chicanery have shaken this country deeply, pushing it to the brink. These domestic terrorists have been all along cheered on and protected by their enablers and shills in the media, in academia, in the courts and in the Democrat Party. What we are witnessing right now is nothing other than a full-fledged, coordinated assault against America by the elements of the Hard Left. The objective of this attack is the overthrow of our society. Requiem for the Americ... Chomsky, Noam Best Price: $7.02 Buy New $12.76 (as of 04:15 UTC - Details)
These are no civil rights protests to bring justice and equality to an oppressed minority. The charge of systemic institutionalized racism against black people is completely false (see here, here and here). The only form of institutional racism that exists in the United States is discrimination against whites and Asians in education and employment. Just recently the US Justice Department found a leading IVY League university guilty of gross discrimination against white and Asian applicants whereby such applicants had a ninety percent lower chance of being admitted than black candidates with comparable scores. From a US Department of Justice press release:
“The Department of Justice today notified Yale University of its findings that Yale illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The findings are the result of a two-year investigation in response to a complaint by Asian American groups concerning Yale’s conduct.”
If this is not racism what is, asks Patrick Buchanan in his column The Progressive Racism Of The Ivy League. This kind of anti-white, anti-Asian racism is the common practice in academia as well as in other spheres of our societal life such as government employment and contracts. The truth is that black Americans are the beneficiaries of reverse discrimination and numerous other forms of preferential treatment.
Please make no mistake. The specious charge of anti-black racism is a mere cover for unleashing violence dressed up as a “social justice movement” whose real purpose is to destabilize our society and bring about the Hard Left’s extra-electoral coup d’état.
The Best of Vasko Kohlmayer


lewrockwell--2020-09-12--Delusions and Tyranny in the Time of Covid

Here they go again .
After a mere three day outbreak of a modicum of sanity on Wall Street , the robo-machines and Robin Hooders were back to scooping up the dip yesterday and giving it back today .
But still , what are they thinking ?
Truly .
With nearly every S & P 500 company having reported its Q2 results , LTM earnings on a GAAP basis posted at $ 65.00 per share and on a so-called ex-items or “ operating earnings ” basis the LTM figure was $ 125.40 per share .
So at today ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ P 500 , the current trailing PE ratio ranges between 51.4X the earnings CEOs/CFOs certify on penalty of jail time or 26.6X the Wall Street curated and burnished version of earnings from which all asset write-offs , restructuring charges and other one-timers/mistakes have been deleted .
Nearly Natural 5299 Fi ... Buy New $ 53.94 Of course , these deleted GAAP charges reflect the consumption of real corporate resources , such as purchase price goodwill that gets written off when an M & A deal goes sour or the write-down of investments in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closed ; and , as such , they absolutely do diminish company resources and shareholder net worth over time .
But for decades now Wall Street has so relentlessly and assiduously ripped anything that smells like a “ one-timer ” out of company SEC earnings filings that it no longer even knows what GAAP earnings actually are ; and it pretends that these discarded debits ( and credits ) to income are simply lumpy things that even out in the wash over time .
They do not .
If ex-items reporting was merely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earnings and “ operating earnings ” would be equal when aggregated over several years or even a full business cycle .
Yet during the last 100 quarters there have been essentially zero instances in which reported GAAP earnings exceeded “ operating income ” .
So in aggregate terms , several trillions of corporate write-downs and losses have been swept under the rug .
During Q2 2020 , for example , GAAP earnings reported to the SEC totaled $ 145.8 billion for the S & P 500 companies , while the ex-items earnings curated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billion .
That amounted to the deletion of nearly $ 77 billion of write-downs and mistakes , and it inflated the aggregate earnings number by more that 52 % !
Needless to say , the game is all about goosing the earnings number in order to minimize the apparent PE multiple , thereby supporting the fiction that stocks are reasonably valued and that nary a bubble is to be found , at least in the broad market represented by the S & P 500 .
Donald J. Trump Signat ... Buy New $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 51X LTM earnings during the present parlous moment in time – or even nearly 27X if you want to give the financial engineering jockeys in the C-suites a hall pass for $ 77 billion of mistakes and losses this quarter alone–is nothing short of nuts .
Yet the gamblers in the casino hardly know it .
Wall Street has already decided that current year results don ’ t matter a whit : The nosebleed level trailing PE multiples being racked-up currently are simply being shoved into the memory hole on the presumption that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will come true about 4-quarters into the future ; and if they don ’ t , a heavy dose of ex-items bark stripping will gussy-up actual earnings when they come in .
Still , if you think that a forward PE multiple of , say , 17.5X is just fine and that flushing the one-timers is OK , then you still need $ 195 per share of operating earnings by Q2 2021 to justify today ’ s index level .
Then again , we think a 56 % gain in operating earnings over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ per share in Q2 2021 versus $ 125 per share in Q2 2020 ) is not simply a tall order ; it ’ s downright delusional .
Here ’ s why .
You can ’ t take even passing note of the fraught political and economic landscape and conclude that a “ V ” shaped economy and earnings path lies ahead .
Yet , obviously , the willing suspension of disbelief currently levitating the market to absurd heights is predicated upon the notion that the Covid vaccines will function as a silver bullet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shots to the arm ( 2 for each of mankind ) , the pre-Covid status quo ante will be restored fast and in full .
Nearly Natural 6720 in ... Best Price : $ 40.91 Buy New $ 45.35 But if you accept that bromide , you might as well believe in the tooth fairy .
Or stated differently , the White House ’ s $ 15 billion Operation Warp Speed has been likened to the Manhattan Project , but the likely similarity is that both produced a bomb at the end .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine candidates , but each is fraught with considerable risks and potential delays .
These include one co-developed by Moderna Inc. with Dr. Fauci at the National Institutes of Health and another from Pfizer Inc. and Germany-based BioNTech .
A third is from AstraZeneca and Oxford University .
The latter is now on hold owing to a “ serious adverse reaction ” in one of the trial patients per yesterday ’ s headlines .
The cause of the pause was apparently a case of transverse myelitis , an inflammation of the spinal cord @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pain , weakness in the arms and legs , difficulty walking , incontinence and digestive problems .
According to the National Institutes of Health , roughly 1,400 cases of it are diagnosed each year .
As Paul Offit , a pediatrician and vaccine expert at the Children ’ s Hospital of Philadelphia , noted , “ ….the AstraZeneca shot involves giving large doses of a monkey adenovirus engineered so it can ’ t replicate .
It is therefore important for researchers to investigate whether the adverse event wasn ’ t somehow being triggered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dose ” Of course , the company and the Pharma Chorus are all saying , “ nothing to see here ” because such pauses happen in trials all the time out of an abundance of caution and scientific rigor .
That may be true , but what is also true is that most vaccines require 5-10 years to develop , not 5-10 months .
What is also not noted is that there has never been a successful vaccine against coronaviruses ; that the one developed in 2011 against a previous coronavirus turned out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ animal subjects ; and that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are as novel as the disease itself : That is , they involve tampering with your genes , not the injection of small bits of a cultured virus designed to induce immunity to the disease via the production of antibodies against it .
Besti Make America Gre ... Buy New $ 14.95 This latter point is crucial because it turns out that the White House ballyhoo about a mass scale vaccine by election day was based on the availability of these two novel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently sent documents to state officials that lay out various scenarios , including availability of a limited number of doses of two vaccines by the end of October , but as the Wall Street Journal noted this AM , The CDC document doesn ’ t name the two vaccines that could become available but describes characteristics that match those of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna .
Now , what those novel vaccines do is inject so-called mRNA ( m=messenger ) into the patient for the purpose of instructing cellular DNA to generate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stated differently , your body becomes a virus factory in order to trick its own immune system into manufacturing antibodies to counterattack these self-generated pathogens .
This approach to vaccinated immunity may well turn out to be one of the great medical breakthroughs of the present age , but it is also the case that there has never been a vaccine based on RNA and DNA engineering , let alone approved for and tested under conditions of mass use .
Obviously , when the public learns that the ballyhooed shot in the arm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or if there are just a few cases of serious or fatal illnesses from runaway virus production in vaccinated patients during the trials or early weeks of use , the screaming chyrons of cable TV are likely to produce huge resistance to use of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines ; and that ’ s especially the case because in his inimitable way , the Donald will like crow so much about his success in bringing them to the market super-fast that they will be viewed warily as the “ Trump Vaccines ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Beyond that , the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer could run into severe supply chain and logistics hurdles owing to the ultra-cold handling and storage requirements of both vaccines .
According to some experts , these super-cold temperature conditions may become “ severely limiting ” to distributors ’ ability to ship the shots and to clinics ’ ability to administer them to a wide swath of patients .
And we do mean super-cold .
The Pfizer vaccine , dubbed BNT162b2 , has especially raised eyebrows : The vaccine reportedly needs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fahrenheit , and will last for only 24 hours if refrigerated at normal temps between 35.6° and 46.4° .
Likewise , the Moderna version requires handling temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit .
MyGift Set of 3 Artifi ... Best Price : $ 26.13 Buy New $ 29.99 Undoubtedly , these logistical requirements will be eventually solved with the development of new storage equipment and handling infrastructure , but again , this will not happen overnight and not in a manner which will permit a scale-up to the delivery of tens of millions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again in full swing .
That is to say , the symptoms and the counting of ordinary influenza and pneumonia cases have now become so thoroughly conflated with the Covid that there is nearly a guaranteed “ second wave ” of cases and deaths coming during the October-April flu season , whether they are attributable strictly to the Covid or not ; and there is precious little prospect that the purported silver bullet – mass scale Covid inoculations – will arrive in time and on the scale needed to change the picture .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ we end up with a hung election and Electoral College stand-off , and if in the interim the Dems go on the warpath , as Nancy Pelosi has already hinted , against what will be alleged to be the rash and unsafe release of the “ Trump Vaccines ” .
In practical terms , therefore , what lies ahead is another entire flu season in which the Virus Patrol will be fully mobilized and empowered to implement the very kind of non-pharmaceutical interventions ( i.e .
lockdowns and mass quarantine orders ) that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last spring .
Indeed , the Blue State governors and mayors have turned the unconstitutional and economically destructive garroting and regimentation of their own economies into a form of anti-Trump virtue signaling that will cast a heavy pall for years to come .
That ’ s because most of the worst offenders ( Cuomo , Murphy , Pritzker , Whitmer , Newsom ) are not up for re-election in November .
Moreover , beneath the unstated anti-Trump reasons for the extreme lockdowns is the now embedded predicate that state and local officials have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorized or even imaginary executive powers to order absolutely capricious forms of economic marshal law in a misbegotten quest to extinguish the coronavirus .
Call it Covid Prohibitionism and you are not far off the mark .
In fact , this week ’ s announcement by the twin Gauleiters of the New York Virus Patrol , Governor Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio , that New York City restaurants can open for indoor dinning on September 30 under conditions that are guaranteed to mean their extinction is all the proof you need .
Incrediblegifts Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out loud , a limit to 25 % of capacity and six foot table spacing ( per the chart below ) would be fatal for most any seated restaurant in the nation .
But in New York City , where sky-high real estate costs cause tables and patrons to be jammed check-by-jowl in small spaces , it ’ s a virtual death sentence .
Last time we checked there were about 26,000 restaurants in NYC including 10,000 in Manhattan alone .
These eateries , bars and delis employ upwards of 400,000 workers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gross receipts per year .
But by the time you get done table spacing , temperature checking , contact info extracting , HVAC upgrading , mask-enforcing and bar closing those numbers are going to shrink drastically .
And devastation of the restaurant sector is barely the half of it .
NYC is fast losing the finance industry to remote locations and work-from-home modalities and the tech firms don ’ t need to locate there , either , when more accommodating places like Austin , Raleigh , Charlotte , Dallas , Boulder , Columbus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has only two remaining industries – the giant hospital/sick care complex and tourism – to sustain the economy for more than 8 million citizens .
We doubt , however , whether the overwhelmingly non-profit and low-pay health care sector can support the city ; and we are quite certain that with heavily regimented and badly crippled restaurants , theaters , museums and mass sporting and entertainments venues that the city ’ s 65 million annual tourists will not continue to return and that its 120,000 hotel rooms will not even come close to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the thing .
Why in the world are the twin Gauleiters aiming to virtually snuff out the economic life-blood of a city whose finances are already creaking under a giant load of pensions , sky-high municipal salaries and a massive welfare state burden for health care , housing , education and cash aid for a large low-income and poor population ?
The answer , of course , is Covid Prohibitionism .
After all , the number of new cases , hospitalizations and deaths WITH-Covid have virtually disappeared from NYC and New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between outcomes during the last 30 days and those during the peak Covid outbreak in April is so dramatic as to suggest that the Covid-Prohibitionists running the state and city are , figuratively speaking , determined to apprehend every last bootlegger and shutdown every single moonshine still operating in the state .
During the interval between August 9 and September 9 , the only metric which was higher was the number of Covid tests administered .
That was up 3.5X from 23,180 per day in April to 82,220 per day during the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was left unturned , but for all the effort not much actually turned up .
To wit , during April there were 7,620 new cases per day , representing 33 % of those tested .
By contrast , during the last 30 days there have been only 676 new cases per day – a reduction of 91 % – which represented just 0.8 % of those tested .
To put it more dramatically , during the last month New York reported 2,466,520 new tests , but less than 1 % of them were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also know from the New York Times exposé last week that the overwhelming share of even this diminutive “ positive ” fraction represented PCR cycle runs above 30 , which means they were carrying viral loads so small as to cause neither sickness nor contagion , or even hurt a flea for that matter .
That much is evident from the comparative hospitalization and mortality data .
Back in April there were an average of 2,000 new hospitalizations per day , representing 26 % of the new cases , while during the last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increase in hospitalizations at all , and the daily average census of Covid patients is down by more than 90 % .
Even more importantly , the daily mortality rate has plunged by 98.9 % .
That ’ s right , there were 560 deaths per day in April , but only 6 per day during the last 30-day period .
For all practical purposes , therefore , New York is a Covid free zone , yet the newly empowered Virus Patrol in the state is determined to kill not only the restaurant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its very economic viability as a center for tourism and entertainment .
These unassailable facts of life highlight the Fake Science which underlies the entire Covid-Hysteria and Lockdown mania that has enveloped not only the state of New York , but much of the nation .
The fact is NYC ’ s restaurants , tourism and entertainment venues should never have been shut-down in the first place because the overwhelming share of their patrons were never lethal spreaders of the virus or its victims .
Indeed , NYC was the very epicenter of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but that unfortunate turn preponderantly occurred among the institutionalized elderly and those already suffering from one or more life-threatening conditions .
For instance , among the 25,377 WITH-Covid deaths in New York state to date , 14 % or 3,590 occurred among persons 90 years or older–a population that is inherently burdened with a high incidence of life-threatening medical conditions .
According to state data , in fact , there were 6,082 cases of the top ten comorbidities or 1.7 cases for each WITH-Covid death .
These included 1,724 cases of hypertension @ @ @ @ @ @ @ casualties suffered from high blood pressure , as well as 1,133 , 702 and 653 cases of dementia , diabetes and high cholesterol , respectively , plus another 2,890 cases of maladies like renal diseases , coronary artery disease , COPD , cancer , stroke , etc .
Stated crudely , these Covid victims were already on the Grim Reaper ’ s countdown clock .
Would it have been too much trouble for the Gauleiter Twins to have suggested that during their remaining days they stay away from restaurants , Broadway , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Square Garden ?
Likewise , another 26 % or 6,539 of the New York deaths were among the 80-89 year old cohort .
But again there were 12,700 cases of the top ten comorbidities among them or 1.94 per victim , including 3,645 cases of hypertension , 2,050 cases of diabetes , 1,377 cases of dementia and 697 cases of renal disease , among others .
Another 6,576 deaths ( 26 % of the total ) are attributed to the population 70-79 and they too were rife with the top ten comorbidities .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 13,000 or an average of 2.0 per victim including nearly 4,000 cases of hypertension and another 4,000 cases of diabetes and dementia .
In all , 16,700 or 66 % of the New York state WITH-Covid deaths were among a very small put highly vulnerable population of the aged and infirm .
The 70 and over age cohort in New York totals 2.32 million persons or just 11.9 % of the state ’ s population , and the sub-population among that group in long-term care facilities and/or afflicted with life-threatening comorbidities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contrast , the New York population 50 years and under totals 12.44 million or 64 % of the state ’ s population , but it accounted for only 1,317 or 5.1 % of the Covid deaths .
And , again , even among this younger population , those who succumbed to the Covid were afflicted with comorbidities at very high rates .
For example , among the 2.53 million New Yorkers in the 40-49 years cohort there were 870 WITH-Covid deaths but also 800 comorbidities among the small fraction of this age group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It boils down to this .
Notwithstanding New York ’ s high death count overall ( 25,377 ) , the mortality rate for the 12.4 million souls 50 years or under was just 10.5 per 100,000 , which in the scheme of annual mortality rates for this population ( @ 300 per 100,000 ) is a rounding error .
It ’ s a risk of death factor that no rational society should try to prevent with blunderbuss lockdowns and one that a free society should not even contemplate .
By contrast , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and older experienced a WITH-Covid mortality rate of 720 per 100,000 or 69X higher .
As we said , would it have been too much to leave the social congregation venues open , as did Sweden , while mobilizing education and outreach campaigns to the elderly urging them to stay away from restaurants , bars , gyms , shows and concerts ?
The question answers itself , of course .
No lockdown Sweden is also now largely Covid-free as demonstrated in the chart below .
It ended up experiencing a WITH-Covid mortality rate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than half of those occurred in extended care homes , not among the working age and school age population ( there was only 1 WITH-Covid death among its 2.2 million 20-years and under population ) .
By contrast , the full monty lockdowns of the Gauleiter Twins resulted in a 130 per 100,000 mortality rate – even as their a misbegotten regime of economic marshal law wreaked destruction on workers , businesses and the tax base alike , and will continue to do so in its modified forms for months yet to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not an aberrational island of insanity , but is simply the advance guard for the Virus Patrol that has its boot heels hard upon the population of much of Blue State America , and will continue to do so for months to come as winter influenza returns and the silver bullet of mass vaccination comes a cropper .
So , yes , under those conditions paying 51X for current earnings is not only delusional ; it ’ s tantamount to suicidal .
The Best of David Stockman

Here they go again. After a mere three day outbreak of a modicum of sanity on Wall Street, the robo-machines and Robin Hooders were back to scooping up the dip yesterday and giving it back today.
But still, what are they thinking? Truly.
With nearly every S&P 500 company having reported its Q2 results, LTM earnings on a GAAP basis posted at $65.00 per share and on a so-called ex-items or “operating earnings” basis the LTM figure was $125.40 per share.
So at today’s 3339 closing price on the S&P 500, the current trailing PE ratio ranges between 51.4X the earnings CEOs/CFOs certify on penalty of jail time or 26.6X the Wall Street curated and burnished version of earnings from which all asset write-offs, restructuring charges and other one-timers/mistakes have been deleted. Nearly Natural 5299 Fi... Buy New $53.94 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
Of course, these deleted GAAP charges reflect the consumption of real corporate resources, such as purchase price goodwill that gets written off when an M&A deal goes sour or the write-down of investments in factories, warehouses and stores which get closed; and, as such, they absolutely do diminish company resources and shareholder net worth over time.
But for decades now Wall Street has so relentlessly and assiduously ripped anything that smells like a “one-timer” out of company SEC earnings filings that it no longer even knows what GAAP earnings actually are; and it pretends that these discarded debits (and credits) to income are simply lumpy things that even out in the wash over time.
They do not. If ex-items reporting was merely a neutral smoothing mechanism, reported GAAP earnings and “operating earnings” would be equal when aggregated over several years or even a full business cycle.
Yet during the last 100 quarters there have been essentially zero instances in which reported GAAP earnings exceeded “operating income”. So in aggregate terms, several trillions of corporate write-downs and losses have been swept under the rug.
During Q2 2020, for example, GAAP earnings reported to the SEC totaled $145.8 billion for the S&P 500 companies, while the ex-items earnings curated by the street posted at $222.3 billion. That amounted to the deletion of nearly $77 billion of write-downs and mistakes, and it inflated the aggregate earnings number by more that 52%!
Needless to say, the game is all about goosing the earnings number in order to minimize the apparent PE multiple, thereby supporting the fiction that stocks are reasonably valued and that nary a bubble is to be found, at least in the broad market represented by the S&P 500. Donald J. Trump Signat... Buy New $49.95 (as of 03:36 UTC - Details)
Still, valuing the market at 51X LTM earnings during the present parlous moment in time – or even nearly 27X if you want to give the financial engineering jockeys in the C-suites a hall pass for $77 billion of mistakes and losses this quarter alone–is nothing short of nuts.
Yet the gamblers in the casino hardly know it. Wall Street has already decided that current year results don’t matter a whit: The nosebleed level trailing PE multiples being racked-up currently are simply being shoved into the memory hole on the presumption that the sell-side’s evergreen hockey sticks will come true about 4-quarters into the future; and if they don’t, a heavy dose of ex-items bark stripping will gussy-up actual earnings when they come in.
Still, if you think that a forward PE multiple of, say, 17.5X is just fine and that flushing the one-timers is OK, then you still need $195 per share of operating earnings by Q2 2021 to justify today’s index level.
Then again, we think a 56% gain in operating earnings over the next four quarters ($195 per share in Q2 2021 versus $125 per share in Q2 2020) is not simply a tall order; it’s downright delusional.
Here’s why. You can’t take even passing note of the fraught political and economic landscape and conclude that a “V” shaped economy and earnings path lies ahead.
Yet, obviously, the willing suspension of disbelief currently levitating the market to absurd heights is predicated upon the notion that the Covid vaccines will function as a silver bullet, and that after approximately 15 billion shots to the arm (2 for each of mankind), the pre-Covid status quo ante will be restored fast and in full. Nearly Natural 6720 in... Best Price: $40.91 Buy New $45.35 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
But if you accept that bromide, you might as well believe in the tooth fairy. Or stated differently, the White House’s $15 billion Operation Warp Speed has been likened to the Manhattan Project, but the likely similarity is that both produced a bomb at the end.
At the moment there are three leading vaccine candidates, but each is fraught with considerable risks and potential delays. These include one co-developed by Moderna Inc. with Dr. Fauci at the National Institutes of Health and another from Pfizer Inc. and Germany-based BioNTech. A third is from AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The latter is now on hold owing to a “serious adverse reaction” in one of the trial patients per yesterday’s headlines. The cause of the pause was apparently a case of transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord that causes symptoms such as lower back pain, weakness in the arms and legs, difficulty walking, incontinence and digestive problems. According to the National Institutes of Health, roughly 1,400 cases of it are diagnosed each year.
As Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, noted,
“….the AstraZeneca shot involves giving large doses of a monkey adenovirus engineered so it can’t replicate. It is therefore important for researchers to investigate whether the adverse event wasn’t somehow being triggered by a reaction to that large viral dose”
Of course, the company and the Pharma Chorus are all saying, “nothing to see here” because such pauses happen in trials all the time out of an abundance of caution and scientific rigor. That may be true, but what is also true is that most vaccines require 5-10 years to develop, not 5-10 months.
What is also not noted is that there has never been a successful vaccine against coronaviruses; that the one developed in 2011 against a previous coronavirus turned out to be a killer when tested on animal subjects; and that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are as novel as the disease itself: That is, they involve tampering with your genes, not the injection of small bits of a cultured virus designed to induce immunity to the disease via the production of antibodies against it. Besti Make America Gre... Buy New $14.95 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
This latter point is crucial because it turns out that the White House ballyhoo about a mass scale vaccine by election day was based on the availability of these two novel vaccines. To wit, the CDC recently sent documents to state officials that lay out various scenarios, including availability of a limited number of doses of two vaccines by the end of October, but as the Wall Street Journal noted this AM,
The CDC document doesn’t name the two vaccines that could become available but describes characteristics that match those of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
Now, what those novel vaccines do is inject so-called mRNA (m=messenger) into the patient for the purpose of instructing cellular DNA to generate the spiked proteins that cause Covid-19. Stated differently, your body becomes a virus factory in order to trick its own immune system into manufacturing antibodies to counterattack these self-generated pathogens.
This approach to vaccinated immunity may well turn out to be one of the great medical breakthroughs of the present age, but it is also the case that there has never been a vaccine based on RNA and DNA engineering, let alone approved for and tested under conditions of mass use.
Obviously, when the public learns that the ballyhooed shot in the arm turns their bodies into a virus factory, or if there are just a few cases of serious or fatal illnesses from runaway virus production in vaccinated patients during the trials or early weeks of use, the screaming chyrons of cable TV are likely to produce huge resistance to use of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines; and that’s especially the case because in his inimitable way, the Donald will like crow so much about his success in bringing them to the market super-fast that they will be viewed warily as the “Trump Vaccines” by a considerable share of the public.
Beyond that, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer could run into severe supply chain and logistics hurdles owing to the ultra-cold handling and storage requirements of both vaccines. According to some experts, these super-cold temperature conditions may become “severely limiting” to distributors’ ability to ship the shots and to clinics’ ability to administer them to a wide swath of patients.
And we do mean super-cold. The Pfizer vaccine, dubbed BNT162b2, has especially raised eyebrows: The vaccine reportedly needs to be held in storage at -94° Fahrenheit, and will last for only 24 hours if refrigerated at normal temps between 35.6° and 46.4°. Likewise, the Moderna version requires handling temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit. MyGift Set of 3 Artifi... Best Price: $26.13 Buy New $29.99 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
Undoubtedly, these logistical requirements will be eventually solved with the development of new storage equipment and handling infrastructure, but again, this will not happen overnight and not in a manner which will permit a scale-up to the delivery of tens of millions of shots before the fall/winter flu season is again in full swing.
That is to say, the symptoms and the counting of ordinary influenza and pneumonia cases have now become so thoroughly conflated with the Covid that there is nearly a guaranteed “second wave” of cases and deaths coming during the October-April flu season, whether they are attributable strictly to the Covid or not; and there is precious little prospect that the purported silver bullet – mass scale Covid inoculations – will arrive in time and on the scale needed to change the picture.
And that is surely the case if we end up with a hung election and Electoral College stand-off, and if in the interim the Dems go on the warpath, as Nancy Pelosi has already hinted, against what will be alleged to be the rash and unsafe release of the “Trump Vaccines”.
In practical terms, therefore, what lies ahead is another entire flu season in which the Virus Patrol will be fully mobilized and empowered to implement the very kind of non-pharmaceutical interventions (i.e. lockdowns and mass quarantine orders) that brought the US economy to its knees last spring.
Indeed, the Blue State governors and mayors have turned the unconstitutional and economically destructive garroting and regimentation of their own economies into a form of anti-Trump virtue signaling that will cast a heavy pall for years to come. That’s because most of the worst offenders (Cuomo, Murphy, Pritzker, Whitmer, Newsom) are not up for re-election in November.
Moreover, beneath the unstated anti-Trump reasons for the extreme lockdowns is the now embedded predicate that state and local officials have the right and obligation to use vaguely authorized or even imaginary executive powers to order absolutely capricious forms of economic marshal law in a misbegotten quest to extinguish the coronavirus.
Call it Covid Prohibitionism and you are not far off the mark. In fact, this week’s announcement by the twin Gauleiters of the New York Virus Patrol, Governor Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio, that New York City restaurants can open for indoor dinning on September 30 under conditions that are guaranteed to mean their extinction is all the proof you need. Incrediblegifts Donald... Buy New $13.90 (as of 04:37 UTC - Details)
For crying out loud, a limit to 25% of capacity and six foot table spacing (per the chart below) would be fatal for most any seated restaurant in the nation. But in New York City, where sky-high real estate costs cause tables and patrons to be jammed check-by-jowl in small spaces, it’s a virtual death sentence.
Last time we checked there were about 26,000 restaurants in NYC including 10,000 in Manhattan alone. These eateries, bars and delis employ upwards of 400,000 workers and generate more than $35 billion of gross receipts per year. But by the time you get done table spacing, temperature checking, contact info extracting, HVAC upgrading, mask-enforcing and bar closing those numbers are going to shrink drastically.
And devastation of the restaurant sector is barely the half of it. NYC is fast losing the finance industry to remote locations and work-from-home modalities and the tech firms don’t need to locate there, either, when more accommodating places like Austin, Raleigh, Charlotte, Dallas, Boulder, Columbus and Jacksonville will do.
So NYC has only two remaining industries – the giant hospital/sick care complex and tourism – to sustain the economy for more than 8 million citizens.
We doubt, however, whether the overwhelmingly non-profit and low-pay health care sector can support the city; and we are quite certain that with heavily regimented and badly crippled restaurants, theaters, museums and mass sporting and entertainments venues that the city’s 65 million annual tourists will not continue to return and that its 120,000 hotel rooms will not even come close to break-even occupancy rates.
But here’s the thing. Why in the world are the twin Gauleiters aiming to virtually snuff out the economic life-blood of a city whose finances are already creaking under a giant load of pensions, sky-high municipal salaries and a massive welfare state burden for health care, housing, education and cash aid for a large low-income and poor population?
The answer, of course, is Covid Prohibitionism. After all, the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths WITH-Covid have virtually disappeared from NYC and New York state.
In fact, the contrast between outcomes during the last 30 days and those during the peak Covid outbreak in April is so dramatic as to suggest that the Covid-Prohibitionists running the state and city are, figuratively speaking, determined to apprehend every last bootlegger and shutdown every single moonshine still operating in the state.
During the interval between August 9 and September 9, the only metric which was higher was the number of Covid tests administered. That was up 3.5X from 23,180 per day in April to 82,220 per day during the most recent 30-day period.
So no stone was left unturned, but for all the effort not much actually turned up. To wit, during April there were 7,620 new cases per day, representing 33% of those tested. By contrast, during the last 30 days there have been only 676 new cases per day – a reduction of 91% – which represented just 0.8% of those tested.
To put it more dramatically, during the last month New York reported 2,466,520 new tests, but less than 1% of them were positive for the Covid; and we also know from the New York Times exposé last week that the overwhelming share of even this diminutive “positive” fraction represented PCR cycle runs above 30, which means they were carrying viral loads so small as to cause neither sickness nor contagion, or even hurt a flea for that matter.
That much is evident from the comparative hospitalization and mortality data. Back in April there were an average of 2,000 new hospitalizations per day, representing 26% of the new cases, while during the last thirty days there has been no net increase in hospitalizations at all, and the daily average census of Covid patients is down by more than 90%.
Even more importantly, the daily mortality rate has plunged by 98.9%. That’s right, there were 560 deaths per day in April, but only 6 per day during the last 30-day period.
For all practical purposes, therefore, New York is a Covid free zone, yet the newly empowered Virus Patrol in the state is determined to kill not only the restaurant industry of New York City, but its very economic viability as a center for tourism and entertainment.
These unassailable facts of life highlight the Fake Science which underlies the entire Covid-Hysteria and Lockdown mania that has enveloped not only the state of New York, but much of the nation.
The fact is NYC’s restaurants, tourism and entertainment venues should never have been shut-down in the first place because the overwhelming share of their patrons were never lethal spreaders of the virus or its victims. Indeed, NYC was the very epicenter of serious illness and deaths WITH the Covid, but that unfortunate turn preponderantly occurred among the institutionalized elderly and those already suffering from one or more life-threatening conditions.
For instance, among the 25,377 WITH-Covid deaths in New York state to date, 14% or 3,590 occurred among persons 90 years or older–a population that is inherently burdened with a high incidence of life-threatening medical conditions.
According to state data, in fact, there were 6,082 cases of the top ten comorbidities or 1.7 cases for each WITH-Covid death. These included 1,724 cases of hypertension, meaning that nearly half of the casualties suffered from high blood pressure, as well as 1,133, 702 and 653 cases of dementia, diabetes and high cholesterol, respectively, plus another 2,890 cases of maladies like renal diseases, coronary artery disease, COPD, cancer, stroke, etc.
Stated crudely, these Covid victims were already on the Grim Reaper’s countdown clock. Would it have been too much trouble for the Gauleiter Twins to have suggested that during their remaining days they stay away from restaurants, Broadway, the Guggenheim Museum and rock concerts at Madison Square Garden?
Likewise, another 26% or 6,539 of the New York deaths were among the 80-89 year old cohort. But again there were 12,700 cases of the top ten comorbidities among them or 1.94 per victim, including 3,645 cases of hypertension, 2,050 cases of diabetes, 1,377 cases of dementia and 697 cases of renal disease, among others.
Another 6,576 deaths (26% of the total) are attributed to the population 70-79 and they too were rife with the top ten comorbidities. In this cohort, these conditions totaled more than 13,000 or an average of 2.0 per victim including nearly 4,000 cases of hypertension and another 4,000 cases of diabetes and dementia.
In all, 16,700 or 66% of the New York state WITH-Covid deaths were among a very small put highly vulnerable population of the aged and infirm. The 70 and over age cohort in New York totals 2.32 million persons or just 11.9% of the state’s population, and the sub-population among that group in long-term care facilities and/or afflicted with life-threatening comorbidities is an even smaller subset.
By contrast, the New York population 50 years and under totals 12.44 million or 64% of the state’s population, but it accounted for only 1,317 or 5.1% of the Covid deaths.
And, again, even among this younger population, those who succumbed to the Covid were afflicted with comorbidities at very high rates. For example, among the 2.53 million New Yorkers in the 40-49 years cohort there were 870 WITH-Covid deaths but also 800 comorbidities among the small fraction of this age group (0.03%) which succumbed.
It boils down to this. Notwithstanding New York’s high death count overall (25,377), the mortality rate for the 12.4 million souls 50 years or under was just 10.5 per 100,000, which in the scheme of annual mortality rates for this population (@300 per 100,000) is a rounding error. It’s a risk of death factor that no rational society should try to prevent with blunderbuss lockdowns and one that a free society should not even contemplate.
By contrast, the 11.9% of the population 70 years and older experienced a WITH-Covid mortality rate of 720 per 100,000 or 69X higher.
As we said, would it have been too much to leave the social congregation venues open, as did Sweden, while mobilizing education and outreach campaigns to the elderly urging them to stay away from restaurants, bars, gyms, shows and concerts?
The question answers itself, of course. No lockdown Sweden is also now largely Covid-free as demonstrated in the chart below. It ended up experiencing a WITH-Covid mortality rate of 64 per 100,000, and more than half of those occurred in extended care homes, not among the working age and school age population (there was only 1 WITH-Covid death among its 2.2 million 20-years and under population).
By contrast, the full monty lockdowns of the Gauleiter Twins resulted in a 130 per 100,000 mortality rate – even as their a misbegotten regime of economic marshal law wreaked destruction on workers, businesses and the tax base alike, and will continue to do so in its modified forms for months yet to come.
Needless to say, New York is not an aberrational island of insanity, but is simply the advance guard for the Virus Patrol that has its boot heels hard upon the population of much of Blue State America, and will continue to do so for months to come as winter influenza returns and the silver bullet of mass vaccination comes a cropper.
So, yes, under those conditions paying 51X for current earnings is not only delusional; it’s tantamount to suicidal.
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Reprinted with permission from David Stockman’s Contra Corner.
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