from Timcast IRL
Sedition Cases Against Capitol Rioters ‘Will Bear Fruit Very Soon,’ Says FBI
Plus: Senators call impeachment trial unconstitutional, Biden cancels private prison contracts, Apple sued over Telegram, and more…
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason.com
Sedition charges in the works for Capitol rioters. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that it will bring sedition charges against people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The punishment for seditious conspiracy is up to 20 years in prison.
So far, the Capitol riot has spawned more than 150 federal cases and more than 50 cases in D.C. court, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono said yesterday, adding that the FBI has opened more than 400 subject case files. (Back on January 15, only 42 people faced federal charges.)
As for seditious conspiracy cases: “Yes, we’re working on those cases, and I think those results will bear fruit very soon,” D’Antuono said.
Buyer’s Remorse? Let’s Blame the Press
by Andrea Widburg
American Thinker
In his first week in office President Asterisk has done his old boss proud. In just six days, lunch bucket Joe has signed 36 executive orders and put tens of thousands of jobs at risk. He’s cancelled major construction projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and the border wall — resulting in lost jobs for the very unions who endorsed him. He is reestablishing a moratorium on energy exploration on federal lands and rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change. These orders will cause further job losses in the energy sector and lost revenue in states that supported him. If that were not enough, his relaxation of border control and immigration enforcement will result in an influx of illegal immigrants competing for the remaining jobs. Luckily, Joe has also thoughtfully issued and order expanding food assistance programs. Thousands of unemployed workers may need it.
The January FOMC and Gold
by Craig Hemke
Sprott Money
Wednesday brings the conclusion of the first FOMC meeting in 2021. As usual, we’ll get a summary at 2:00 pm EST followed by a press conference with Chairman Powell at 2:30 EST. What will he say, and what should we expect the impact to be on COMEX gold and silver prices?
For the obvious reasons, predicting what the Fed may or may not say and do from meeting to meeting is a fool’s errand. I mean, how am I or anyone else outside of the Fed’s inner circle supposed to know what they’ll do? But they’ve given you some hints, so let’s give it a shot anyway.
To that end, we can look at The Big Picture and begin to formulate some ideas regarding the direction of Fed policy in 2021, and the statements that will follow on Wednesday may begin to foreshadow a timeline for what lies ahead.
Texas Judge Blocks Biden’s Plan to Pause Deportations
by Penka Arsova
LaCorte News
A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked Joe Biden’s decision to halt deportations of some undocumented immigrants.
How we got here: During his campaign, the president promised a 100-day moratorium on deportations if elected, in stark contrast to how his processor, former president Trump handled immigration policies. When Biden took office, the Department of Homeland Security, said in a memo that they’re pausing many deportations to give the department room to better deal with “operation challenges” at the southern border amid the pandemic.
The moratorium went into effect last week on Friday. Biden also put a stop to the border wall construction.
Texas’ lawsuit: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a legal complaint on Friday, arguing that the move would have devastating effects on the state. The lawsuit said that if more immigrants remained in Texas, the state would face financial harm, including increased healthcare and education costs.
The Dystopian Reality of Big Tech
Online platforms are now censoring speech on an industrial scale.
by Andrew Orlowski
Spiked
Anyone who hoped the internet would be a great leveller 25 years ago will be dumbfounded by how it looks today. Big Tech has seized the role of policing opinion, as the enforcer of Upper Normie, high-status opinion – and is censoring speech on an industrial scale.
Late last year, as the presidential election campaign neared its conclusion, and as Trump’s tweets began to be embroidered with nanny-ish health warnings, the New York Post published a sparse factual story detailing Hunter Biden’s business dealings. It implicated the Biden family, and, by inference, then presidential candidate Joe Biden in Chinese business deals. Twitter then blocked distribution of the story on its own platform on the grounds that it violated a policy on hacked materials. Which always seemed a convenient excuse not to damage Biden’s electoral chances. And so it proved, with the FBI now one of several agencies belatedly investigating Biden Jr.
Oh… Canada: This Teen Was a Celebrated Ringette Goalie in Quebec – Until the League Learned He Was Transgender
Dawson Ovenden-Beaudry was told to stop playing in female league or his team would be disqualified
[Ed. Note: Are we at peak stupidity yet? We’re now allowing biological men to compete against women by claiming that they are women, and we’re kicking biological women out of women’s sports leagues for claiming that they’re men. It’s time for ‘XX’ and ‘XY’ sports leagues.]
by Jonathan Ore
CBC
For most of 19-year-old Dawson Ovenden-Beaudry’s life, ringette was more than a sport — it was an identity.
But when he came out as transgender three years ago, the sport he loved and his gender identity clashed in heartbreaking fashion.
“There was this one game … there was a parent in the stands who started yelling, kind of like: ‘There’s a boy on the ice!’ Like, ‘Ref! Ref! Check! There’s a boy — the goalie’s a boy!'” the Montreal teen recalled.
After the game, Ovenden-Beaudry’s teammates walked out of the dressing room together to protect him from any potential attackers. He remembers getting into his car and crying.
“I was like, ‘I hate this. I don’t want to live my life like this.'”
WHO Now Saying You Do Not Need to Wear a Mask
by John O’Sullivan
Rainbow Warrior 2005
In a telling admission made on January 22, 2021, the World Health Organization now say there is no scientific medical reason for any healthy person to wear a mask outside of a hospital. Sadly, our corrupt politicians and mainstream media only relate the bad news.
If you do not have any respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, or runny nose, you do not need to wear a medical mask. When used alone, masks can give you a false feeling of protection and can even be a source of infection when not used correctly.
Watch the video of the press announcement at www.who.int
How Long Before Washington’s Demonization of Russia, China, and Iran Leads to War?
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Biden, the current occupant of the White House, and President Putin of Russia have had their first telephone meeting. President Putin stressed that it is in the interest of the US, Russia, and the entire world for the tense relationship between Washington and the Kremlin to be normalized. Biden apparently, was noncommittal on this overriding issue and although indicating agreement to renew the 1991 treaty to limit and reduct strategic offensive arms, Biden mainly raised American propaganda issues with Russia.
Considering Washington’s record since the Clinton regime of simply abandoning out of hand previous agreements with Russia, renewing the START Treaty might not mean much. The important issue is the normalization of relations between the nuclear superpowers. As Russia can wipe the US off of the face of Earth, Washington needs to be careful what impression it creates in the Kremlin.
Wisconsin Senate Approves Measure to Kill Mask Mandate, All Other Covid-Related Emergency Orders
“There is no such thing as a perpetual emergency”
by RT
Info Wars
Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Senate has voted to end Governor Tony Evers’ face mask order, with lawmakers arguing the government overstepped its authority by extending emergency mandates without approval from the legislature.
The state Senate voted 18-13 to pass the joint resolution on Tuesday, deeming the Democratic governor’s emergency health orders “unlawful.” The bill applies not only to Evers’ most recent declaration last week, but to “all actions of the governor and all emergency orders” issued throughout the pandemic, including the statewide requirement for mask-wearing in public.
Fear is Gone, Complacency Rules, Higher Prices on the S&P 500 with Chris Vermeulen
from Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network
Caution is the byword. Bonds are coming back to life and utilities are bouncing back. Defensive money is heading into safety. The markets need to take a break. Big volatility coming to the markets. The VIX can be deadly. Chris Vermeulen no longer trade it. Watch out for the Boyz. Investors have gotten slammed as a result. Will it spike that big this time? Not enough fear in the markets. When everything is more expensive than ever before, then selling could be very advantageous. You don’t have to hold stocks. If you step aside and wait for the next upturn, you’ll profit handsomely. Following investing rules is the most important thing you can do. If S&P drops below it’s 50 moving day average, it’s time to unload. Precious metals are going nowhere. They’re at the bottom of Chris’s list. Mining stocks have lost their momentum. Long term is still bullish. Short term, they’re dead money. Buy signal in tech. Some of the tech industries are in the midst of large moves. Even the solar sector gave a new buy signal today. Interests are likely to drift for the present.
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Don’t Outlive Your Money in Retirement with Mark Singer
from Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network
As president of Safe Harbor Retirement Planning, Mark Singer has served as a relentless retirement guide to thousands of individuals since 1986. The secret to his longevity has been asking the questions other advisors simply don’t ask; it allows him to make the best decisions for each client’s unique situation and ensure retirement success. Take the least amount of risk to provide the cash flow you need for retirement. Mark is a former radio talk show host, is an author, and has become the go-to financial educator in the media. His most recent book Don’t Outlive Your Money in Retirement! 7 Key Steps, unveils the step-by-step process used to help maximize the retirement journey. Mark has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC news.com, FOXNews.com, and Bloomberg Radio, as well as locally (Boston) on NECN and WRKO. He is also a multiyear recipient of Boston Magazine’s 5 Star Wealth Manager Award.
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GameStop Only Goes Up, Buy the Dippers with Nick Santiago (Ep #196)
from Daily Market Wisdom with Nick Santiago
For more than 20 years, Master Trader Nick Santiago has been beating the markets. He’s made some incredible calls along the way and now he’s looking to spread the word. There’s no reason that the average trader should be coming up short. So now we’ve started a daily show to bring you up to date on the latest market developments. Nick will be sharing trades and concepts and discussing current trends.
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CopperBank’s 10-Bagger Strategy Explained by CEO Gianni Kovacevic
CopperBank Resources Corp. (CSE:CBK – FWB:9CM – OTCQX:CPPKF) founder and CEO Gianni Kovacevic and his team strategically built CopperBank to maximize shareholder value in a copper bull market. CopperBank has consolidated world-class copper properties and offer a unique “pounds in the ground” copper investment vehicle. The company’s strategy is to accretively advance its portfolio while managing the core business like owner operators and vehemently protecting the value offering on a per share basis. Due to CopperBank’s low overhead model and established suite of projects, it has one of the lowest G&A operating budgets of any publicly listed company in Canada. Management of CopperBank have demonstrated intensive insider buying distinguishing its brand as one of the most insider-supported companies in North America.
Gianni Kovacevic is a renowned expert on incumbent energy systems and a sought-after strategist in the divestment movement. He has invested over 20,000 hours of research and experience in the analysis of the natural resource sector. His specific expertise on copper markets has brought him to lecture at institutions and think-tanks around the world. An avid proponent of realistic environmentalism, Gianni is frequently interviewed by the media and his new book, My Electrician Drives a Porsche? was published in 2016 and is available in multiple languages at book sellers everywhere. Gianni is a graduate of electrical studies from The British Columbia Institute of Technology, fluent in English, German, Italian and Croatian, he is a founding member of the CO2 Master Solutions Partnership and a co-founder of CopperBank.
Register for the upcoming live webcast (Thurs Feb 11th at 2pm ET) where Gianni Kovacevic will present on the macro fundamentals of the global copper market as well as take specific questions about CopperBank.
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Enemies of the Deep State: The Government’s War on Domestic Terrorism is a Trap
by John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
“This is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don’t have to guess about where this goes or how this ends. What characteristics are we looking for as we are building this profile of a potential extremist, what are we talking about? Religious extremists, are we talking about Christians, evangelical Christians, what is a religious extremist? Is it somebody who is pro-life? [The proposed legislation could create] a very dangerous undermining of our civil liberties, our freedoms in our Constitution, and a targeting of almost half of the country.” – Tulsi Gabbard, former Congresswoman
This is how it begins.
We are moving fast down that slippery slope to an authoritarian society in which the only opinions, ideas and speech expressed are the ones permitted by the government and its corporate cohorts.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, “domestic terrorism” has become the new poster child for expanding the government’s powers at the expense of civil liberties.
Covid Response Sparks Spike in Americans’ Anxiety & Depression
from Zero Hedge
Aside from killing nearly 400,000 Americans to date and wreaking havoc on the country’s economy, Statista’s Felix Richter notes that the COVID-19 pandemic is also taking a heavy toll on mental health.
That’s according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics, showing that more than 4 in 10 U.S. adults had developed symptoms of depression or anxiety by the end of 2020, a sharp increase over the results of a comparable survey conducted in the first half of 2019.
California’s Ballooning Unemployment Fraud: 95% is Under Federal PUA Program. PUA Fraud is a “National Problem”
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Fraudulent payments by California could exceed $20 billion. New security measures to prevent fraud cause delays in payments that triggered a new hullabaloo.
The unemployment crisis in California continues to be huge. The state is still down 1.4 million “payroll jobs,” not including work for gig workers, from December 2019. The amount the state has paid in unemployment benefits is also huge: $114 billion between March 2020 and January 16, 2021. The state processed 19.5 million claims during that time, compared to 3.8 million claims in all of 2010, the unemployment peak of the Great Recession.
To top it off, a new federal unemployment program for gig workers was thrown into the chaos with little guidance and no preparation and no instant way of verifying even the identity of the claimants – and fraud was also huge, and getting huger with each report.
The Dumbest Argument I’ve Ever Heard Against Cryptocurrency
by Simon Black
Sovereign Man
Two decades ago, General Tommy Franks– commander of the original US invasion of Afghanistan back in 2001– was asked his opinion about a civilian bureaucrat named Doug Feith.
Feith was an academic policy wonk who, despite never having served in the military, was a staunch warmonger who was happy for other people to go fight and die in foreign lands.
General Franks was a straight-talking Texan who wasted no words in his opinion that Feith was “the dumbest fucking guy on the planet.”
Over the years of this publication, I have, from time to time, submitted some candidates for what I call the ‘Tommy Franks Award’.