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From GOAT To Scapegoat: Redditor Who Made Millions During Gamestop Chaos Already Being Set Up To Take The Fall

Written on . Posted in PT Global Economy.

Zero Hedge: Reading about how YouTubers and Redditors with screennames liike “RoaringKitty” and “Deep Value” contributed to last week’s financial mania with posts and videos expounding the virtues of GME, AMC, BBY, BBBY, NOK, KOSS and the other “Wall Street Bets” stocks has been a big part of the drama in the aftermath of last week’s trading chaos.

For the last week, a parade of financial analysts, academics, regulators and bankers have warned that the capital markets sickness that sent GME shares to nearly $400 can be blamed on a handful of rogue charlatans hawking an absurd “stick it to the man” narrative on social media (and not the hedge funds trying to short GME into oblivion with naked short positions so large, they amounted to more than 100% of GME’s float before the explosion).

Image result for maxine waters gamestop

With Janet Yellen and the rest of the top financial markets regulators in the country meeting on Thursday, we learned last night via the New York Times, and via an interview with House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, that a key player in the Feb. 18 House committee hearing/media circus will be Keith Gill, the former MassMutual employee known alternatively on Reddit and YouTube as “DeepF*ckingValue” and “RoaringKitty”.

Of course, small-time traders like Gill aren’t the only ones who profited from the chaos, and while Tenev and other witnesses will be appearing in a professional capacity, Gill is being painted as some kind of financial terrorist, and it’s already becoming clear that – just like regulators did with Nat Sarao after the May 2010 “flash crash” – they will once again find a small-time trader to scapegoat, regardless of whether their actions actually had a major impact on the market volatility in question.

But not only is Gill being dragged in front of the Committee (though Waters couldn’t say whether he was “confirmed”, only that she was trying to “get” him for the hearing), but regulators in Massachusetts are taking aim at him, and it looks like they have found an excuse to punish and scapegoat Gill, due to the fact that, technically, he was still employed by a major insurance firm, and was a registered securities broker, while carrying on his anonymous social media persona and pitching stocks online.

Some might construe that as a conflict, and regulators are reportedly – according to the NYT – putting pressure on both Gill and his former employer, MassMutual, one of the biggest financial services firms in the state of Massachusetts. Read More

American Airlines Expands Use Of “Immunity Passports” On International Flights

Written on . Posted in PT Global Economy.

We have been warning about the likelihood that immunity passports would soon become ubiquitous on international (and maybe even domestic) flights as air travelers appreciate the allure of simply storing one’s COVID test and/or vaccination status on a smartphone app had become almost too simple to pass up.

China started using smartphones to track individual COVID status almost immediately after the pandemic went transnational, allowing even the residents of Wuhan to “Party like it’s 2019″ for a big chunk of last year.

And now, American Airlines has confirmed on Wednesday that the airline will expand use of the VeriFLY app starting Wednesday at US airports for flights to eight countries in an effort to simplify compliance with government travel requirements, Business Traveler reported.

Here’s some more information about the “mobile health wallet”, which allows customers to upload their COVID test and/or vaccination results to the app for free use on their phone.

American Airlines has announced that it will now accept mobile health wallet Verifly at all of its airports in the US. The requirement that travelers show documents for travel on the airline will apply to direct and connecting flights from the carrier’s US airports to the UK, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Jamaica.

American Airlines’ “partnership” with Verifly was initially introduced in November 2020, with trials on the carrier’s flights from (or connecting through) Miami International airport to the Jamaican destinations of Montego Bay and Kingston. Recently, the airline introduced the Verifly health passport for international flights to the US.

This news comes after the announcement that joint business and Oneworld partner British Airways will begin to trial Verifly for flights from London to the US from February 4.

Commenting on the expansion, Julie Rath, Vice President of Customer Experience at American Airlines, said “we are constantly looking at ways to make travel easier and simpler for our customers, and navigating testing requirements and validation is a big piece of that. All of our airports will now accept customers’ testing verification via the Verifly app, which is a great expansion of our trial from MIA that began last fall. With more partners like British Airways and others across the industry expanding their acceptance of Verifly, we can further our common goal of preventing the spread of Covid-19 and ensure compliance with local regulations that have been put in place to protect our customers and team members.”

Of course none of this is actually a surprise: Read More

Biden’s New Asst Sec of State Worked for Islamic Terror State That Funds Hamas

Written on . Posted in PT Middle East.

Front Page Mag: “I was inspired by the Palestinian intifada,” Hady Amr wrote a year after September 11, discussing his work as the national coordinator of the anti-Israel Middle East Justice Network.

Biden has now chosen Amr as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel-Palestine.

Image result for Sheikh Salah Shahada

“I have news for every Israeli,” Amr ranted in one column written after Sheikh Salah Shahada, the head of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was taken out by an Israeli air strike.

Amr warned that Arabs “now have televisions, and they will never, never forget what the Israeli people, the Israeli military and Israeli democracy have done to Palestinian children. And there will be thousands who will seek to avenge these brutal murders of innocents.”

He also threatened Americans that “we too shouldn’t be shocked when our military assistance to Israel and our security council vetoes that keep on protecting Israel come back to haunt us”

The future State Department official was making these threats less than a year after 9/11. Read More

Why ARE coronavirus cases plummeting? New US infections have fallen 44% and 30% globally in past 3 weeks

Written on . Posted in PT World Order.

Daily Mail UK:

  • On Wednesday, a total of 110,679 new coronavirus infections were reported with a seven-day rolling average of 135,904, a 44% decline from the average three weeks earlier
  • The decline appears to be a global phenomenon, with new infections falling worldwide for the past three weeks in a row, the World Health Organization said Monday  
  • Hospitalizations have fallen nearly 30% from a peak of of 132,474 on January 6 to 92,880, the lowest figure seen since November 29
  • Currently, 44 states are seeing a decline in cases with just Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania trending upward, according to Johns Hopkins data 
  • California’s 21,451 new confirmed cases on Tuesday are about one-third the mid-December peak of 54,000
  • New York recorded 8,215 new infections on Tuesday, down from the record-high of 19,942 new cases reported on January 15
  • Health experts say it is too soon for vaccines to be playing a major role in the decline with just 8% of the population having received the first shot and fewer than 2% being fully immunized 
  • Officials say the drop is likely due to a higher number of people who’ve had the virus than official counts suggest, as many as 90 million people, and fewer people traveling than did over the winter holidays

Read More

“The Fed’s Monetary Punchbowl Is Fueling Rampant Home Price Appreciation”: AEI

Written on . Posted in PT Global Economy.

Zero Hedge: During the press conference following the FOMC meeting last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was asked by different reporters about the craziness going on in the stock market, the chaotic thingy with GameStop, corporate debt, and the housing market.

The fact that he was asked several times about the exuberant nuttiness in asset prices shows that by now everyone has picked up on it. And people are increasingly incredulous that the Fed would continue with its monetary policies in face of these markets.

Powell brushed off the GameStop thingy and gave his usual it’s-not-our-fault and it’s-never-ever-our-fault justifications for the exuberant nuttiness in the markets. The near-0% interest rates and $3 trillion in QE in just a few months had nothing to do with anything, but the drivers of the nuttiness have been the “expectations about vaccines” and “fiscal policy,” he said (transcript). “Those are the news items that have been driving asset values in recent months.”

Upon hearing this, people globally were just rolling up their eyes. And a reporter challenged him softly about the housing market – the 9% surge in prices from already lofty levels. “Are you concerned about a bubble forming there yet? And is there a price increase that you’re looking at where it might change the level of mortgage-backed securities the Fed is buying?”

That price surge “we think is a passing phenomenon,” he said. “There’s a one-time thing happening with people who are spending all of their time in their house. And they’re thinking either I need a bigger house, or I need another house, and a different house. Or a second house in some cases. So there’s a one-time shift in demand that we think will get satisfied, also that will call forth supply. And we think that those price increases are unlikely to be sustained for all of those reasons.”

He said this after having said out of the other side of his mouth, “the housing sector has more than fully recovered from the downturn, supported in part by low mortgage interest rates. Read More

BIDEN ACCUSED OF PUNISHING UAE OVER ABRAHAM ACCORDS: SANCTIONS DUBAI IMPORTS

Written on . Posted in PT Middle East.

Wicked deeds are an abomination to kings, For the throne is established by righteousness. Proverbs 16:12 (The Israel BibleTM)

Israel 365: The beginning of President Biden’s term in office has been a frenetic flurry of actions that are difficult to follow, but one alarming trend is becoming clear: the current administration is building up Iran and tearing away at the foundations of the peace agreements between Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

REINSTATING TARIFFS ON THE UAE

On Monday night, President Biden reinstated a 10 percent duty on aluminum imports from the United Arab Emirates.  that President Donald Trump removed just one day before leaving office.

The UAE immediately requested an exemption from the newly instated US tariffs. The 11.5% of total US aluminum imports last year totaling $1.3 billion came from the UAE, making the emirates the third-largest source of aluminum for the United States, after China and Russia.

The UAE is trying to move its economy away from oil and is investing in promoting tourism and industry so removing the tariffs would have helped them develop their industry. Conversely, the US is heavily invested in trade with the UAE, exporting Boeing aircraft and defense equipment.

President Trump granted the request, removing the tariffs on the UAE on his last day in office.

BIDEN’S TARIFF POLICY MAKES NO SENSE

Though unions and steelworkers are lauding the re-installation of the tariffs which were initiated by President Trump. Biden is currently considering removing the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe indicating that he specifically wants tariffs that target the UAE and none others.

Biden’s move to reinstate the tariff against the UAE was surprising since he made a campaign promise to roll back all of the steel and aluminum tariffs that President Trump instated. As a booming metal industry would allow the UAE to transition away from oil exports, President Biden, who has pledged to end the use of fossil fuels, should want to support the UAE aluminum industry.

BIDEN TREND: PRO-IRAN, ANTI-PEACE

The move does conform to a growing trend in Biden policies. Last Thursday, the Biden administration announced that the sale of F-35 fighters to the UAE and precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia was “temporarily paused” pending review. Read More

Iranian-Backed Forces Receive New Missiles As Tensions Grow In Iraq

Written on . Posted in PT Middle East.

Zero Hedge: The second month of 2021 began with preparations by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) for new round of hostilities.

Kata’ib Hezbollah received short and medium range rockets through Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Kata’ib Hezbollah is a key member of the PMU, actively participates in the fight against ISIS since the emergence of the group in Iraq, and is a vocal supporter of the current attempts to oust the US presence from Iraq.

At the same time, the PMU are subject to more and more frequent ISIS attacks in recent days. As the terrorists appear to be popping up all around. On January 31st, the PMU said they repelled an ISIS attack in the region of Jurf al-Sakhar in the province of Babil.

These apparent appearances by ISIS members coincide with reports by pro-Iranian sources blaming the US for airlifting them. On January 31st, in an interview with the al-Maloumeh news website, Sabah al-Akili claimed that the US military airlifts ISIS units into areas behind PMU positions in the Jurf al-Sakhar region.

 

So far, US President Joe Biden’s policy for the Middle East is incredibly unsurprising. Any potential withdrawals appear to be nothing more than a pipe dream. The first-ever African American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw was being reconsidered. Not only that, but it is likely that the deployments need to be increased.

Attacks on US supply convoys have become commonplace, all of them being blamed on the PMU. However, responsibility for the most recent attack was assumed by the Qasim Al-Jabbarin group, which does not declare its affiliation with the PMU.

With the US still leading the way for NATO in the entire region, any exit also from Afghanistan becomes more fiction than reality. This will, in turn, lead to increased Taliban activity, since the peace deal is not being honored.

US troops remaining in Syria is also indisputable, judging by the deployments that have recently taken place.

Republicans Look to Drop Rep. Ilhan Omar from Committee Assignments: ‘Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories’

Written on . Posted in PT World Order.

Breitbart: Several House Republicans want to remove far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her committee assignments based on her history of advancing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

The lawmakers are seeking her removal by way of an amendment to counter a measure from Democrats to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from her committee assignments because of her promotion of conspiracy theories and her alleged association with the far-right QAnon movement.

The Daily Wire reported on the development:

Omar has an extensive history in trafficking in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and tropes, including her claim that “Israel has hypnotized the world.”

Then-New York Times Columnist Bari Weiss noted that Omar’s anti-Semitic remark was similar to what was promoted in Nazi Germany.

“The Jewish power to hypnotize the world, as Ms. Omar put it, is the plot of Jud Süss — the most successful Nazi film ever made,” Weiss wrote. “In the film, produced by Joseph Goebbels himself, Josef Süss Oppenheimer, an 18th-century religious Jew, emerges from the ghetto, makes himself over as an assimilated man, and rises to become the treasurer to the Duke of Württemberg. Silly duke: Allowing a single Jew into his city leads to death and destruction.”

Immediately after winning her race in 2018, Omar changed her views on the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement from saying it was “counteractive” during her campaign to saying that she “believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.”

Read More

John Kerry May as Well Have Told Laid-Off Keystone XL Pipeline Workers to Learn Chinese

Written on . Posted in PT Global Economy.

PJ Media: John Kerry is asked what his message would be to oil and gas workers who “see an end to their livelihoods”: “What President Biden wants to do is make sure that those folks have better choices… That they can be the people to go to work to make the solar panels.”

“Make better choices,” he said dismissively of people who have spent years if not decades in one skill, only to be told that the stroke of a pen by a man who has never held a real job has put them out of work.

“[T]hey can be the people to go to work to make the solar panels,” he said, without the first clue regarding the fact that the skills necessary to build pipelines are not analogous to the skills necessary to build solar panels. They’re entirely different trades. They require different training and certifications.  Read More