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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

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“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.”

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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

Fla.’s DeSantis Moves to Limit Big Tech in Censorship, ‘Political Manipulation’

Written on . Posted in PT World Order.

Newsmax: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday proposed a law that would combat big tech’s “censorship” of right-wing political candidates and blasted the “monopoly of communications platforms” that “monitor and control” Floridians.

The legislation will target Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, and Apple, according to Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls.

“What began as a group of upstart technology companies from the west coast, has since transformed into an industry of monopoly communications platforms that monitor, influence, and control the flow of information in our country and among our citizens,” DeSantis said during a press conference at the State Capitol in Tallahassee.

“These platforms have played an increasingly decisive role in elections and have negatively impacted Americans who descend from orthodoxies favored by the big tech cartel,” he added.

Citing former President Donald Trump’s removal from Twitter in his final days in office and restrictions on social media app Parler, DeSantis said Big Tech has been allowed to “manipulate” news content and design algorithms that favor their candidates of choice.

“That’s why in Florida we’re gonna take aim at those companies and pull back the veil and make sure those guys don’t continue to find loopholes and grey areas to live above the law,” DeSantis said. Read More

PA Plants Trees To Honor 35,000 “Martyrs” – Including All Suicide Bombers

Written on . Posted in PT Middle East.

Palestinian Media Watch:

  • The PA reaffirms its commitment to its mass murderers

  • PA tree planting initiative teaches youth that terrorist murderers are ‎‎“sanctified” and “eternally remain in our hearts”

  • Abbas’ Advisor: “The initiative… honors the Martyrs, who are the most ‎precious thing we have in our history”‎

  • “Every day we will grow a tree, every day we will grow a Martyr” – Father of ‎terrorist “Martyr”

  • PMW has notified the Israeli authorities of the possible violation of Israel’s ‎laws 

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US Mint Warns It Can’t Meet “Surging Demand” For Silver & Gold

Written on . Posted in PT Global Economy.

Zero  Hedge: With The Fed printing money ‘out the wazoo’, monetizing COVID relief package debt as fast as Congress can pass the bills, demand for bullion was already surging. However, the last week or so, on the heels of the Reddit-Raiders taking aim at Silver, demand for silver (and gold coins) has exploded…

Sales of U.S. gold bullion coins rose 258% in 2020 while silver coin demand was up 28%, the U.S. Mint said Tuesday.

Which has led to bullion dealers running dry of stock and physical premium to paper silver prices soaring to record highs.

“There are massive shortages. We’ll be completely out of stock if it carries on like this – the first time since our company opened in Singapore seven years ago,” said David Mitchell, managing director at Indigo Precious Metals.

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