Monthly Archives: October 2020

High Times in the Plague Year: Booze & Cannabis Retailers Shine, by John McNellis

There are a few businesses doing well amid the coronavirus lockdowns. From John McNellis at wolfstreet.com:

Landlords already know this: People are getting more toasted than Wonder Bread

Happy Hour starts at 3 o’clock. Tenants selling reality-relief are killing it. I called a number of retailers to double-check my desultory anecdotal evidence. One, the owner of a first-rate supermarket chain, said his alcohol sales are up 25 percent since March. That came as no surprise, but the identity of his best-selling beer — Corona — did.

Along with half of America, I assumed that Corona was destined to become the Adolph of beer labels. Wrong. Drinkers love it — some think calling a hangover a “corona virus” is funny. This merchant said the only limitation on his Corona sales was lack of inventory. Neither he nor any other seller of liquor is asking for any rent breaks.

I called a major beer distributor in the Central Valley. Same story. Up 25 percent across the board. Any brand outselling the pack? “Honey, anything selling in a can or a bottle, our customers are buying it.”

Alcohol is easy to vet, sales are reported — no one’s cooking moonshine in their backyards. Marijuana? Let’s just say the numbers are a little cloudy. Without getting lost in the weeds, the big picture looks like this: Recreational marijuana (“rec”) consumption is up considerably this year, but precise numbers are hard to come by. Point of sale numbers for California’s legal rec were up 29 percent for the month of August.

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Glenn Greenwald On His Resignation From The Intercept, by Matt Taibbi

High-profile journalists are not allowed to stray from the Democratic party line. From Matt Taibbi at taibbi.substack.com:

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald quit his job this morning. In a bizarre, ironic, and disturbing commentary on trends in modern media, the celebrated reporter was forced to resign after writing a story criticizing both the Biden campaign and intelligence community — only to have it spiked by the editors of The Intercept, the news outlet he co-founded six years ago with the aim of preventing pretty much this exact situation.

“The irony,” Greenwald says, “is that a media outlet I co-founded, and which was built on my name and my accomplishments, with the purpose of guaranteeing editorial independence, is now censoring me in the most egregious way — about the leading presidential candidate, a week before the election.”

Greenwald becomes the latest high-profile journalist to leave a well-known legacy media organization to join Substack. You’ll be able to read the piece rebuffed by The Intercept at his new site here.

In a nutshell, the fatal sequence of events went as follows:

Greenwald, after commenting pointedly about the reaction by press and Democratic Party officials to the New York Post story, reached out to Intercept editor Betsy Reed to float the idea of writing on the subject.

The first hint of trouble came when Reed suggested that yes, it might be a story, if proven correct, but “even if it did represent something untoward about Biden,” that would “represent a tiny fraction of the sleaze and lies Trump and his cronies are oozing in every day.”

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Shame on the Girl Scouts: Thin Skin instead of Thin Mints, by Alan M. Dershowitz

This is insane. From Alan M. Dershowitz at gatestoneinstitute.org:

  • The Tweet was anything but partisan or political. It was a girl’s organization dedicated to educating young women about their unlimited possibilities in life. The Tweet itself was innocuous. Here is what it said: “Congratulations Amy Coney Barrett on becoming the 5th woman appointed to the Supreme Court since its inception in 1789.”
  • When the Girl Scouts can’t even congratulate a woman for helping to break a longstanding glass ceiling, we know that we are in trouble.
  • The reason I am so angry at the Girl Scouts’ decision to withdraw their original Tweet is that it is a reflection of the divisive nature of our nation and the growing intolerance, particularly by the hard left, of dissenting speech that is seen as supporting the other side.
The Girl Scouts’ decision to withdraw their original Tweet…is a reflection of…the growing intolerance, particularly by the hard left, of dissenting speech that is seen as supporting the other side. (Photo by NOVA SAFO/AFP via Getty Images)

I don’t know why I am so mad at the Girl Scouts for having withdrawn their Tweet congratulating Justice Amy Coney Barrett for being the fifth woman nominated to the Supreme Court in its long history. The Tweet was anything but partisan or political. It was a girl’s organization dedicated to educating young women about their unlimited possibilities in life. The Tweet itself was innocuous. Here is what it said: “”Congratulations Amy Coney Barrett on becoming the 5th woman appointed to the Supreme Court since its inception in 1789.”

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Biden family scandal: Seven uncomfortable realities confronting the Democrat nominee, by John Solomon

Joe Biden’s problems with possible corruption in Ukraine and China aren’t going away. From John Solomon at justthenews.com:

It’s not the Russians exposing Joe Biden, it’s his son’s former business partners.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has offered short, at times, halting defenses of his son Hunter’s business deals in recent weeks after months of ignoring an increasingly clear narrative of a family member pursuing lucrative business deals in the shadows of his vice presidency.

“Not one single solitary thing was out of line,” Biden said last Thursday when the questions about his son’s business dealings came up at the last presidential debate. “Not a single thing.”

“My son has not made money in terms of this thing, about what are you talking about, China,” Biden said. “I have not had, the only guy that’s made money from China is this guy,” he added, point to Donald Trump.

Other times he and his defenders have rebuffed questions about the family business as a “smear job” or “Russian disinformation.” But Biden’s campaign hasn’t disputed much of the evidence that has become public, instead declaring it doesn’t matter because no crimes have been proven.

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Countdown To Chaos, by MN Gordon

The American republic died in 1913. From MN Gordon at economicprism.com:

On Wednesday, while the broad stock market was getting shellacked, and companies like Everbridge, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Dynatrace were suffering double digit freefalls, something else was going on.  Gold and silver were also getting shellacked.

But it wasn’t all crash and burn.  First Solar, Rolls-Royce Holdings, and CoreLogic all notched double digit gains.  The dollar, as measured by the dollar index, gold, silver, and most stocks, was also up.  And something else was up too…

Most investors likely didn’t notice that American firearm manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Company managed to eke out a small return.  Why would they?  A return of 0.43 percent is nothing to write home about.

Nonetheless, we contend that Ruger’s modest gain in the face of a massive selloff is something that should get the attention of investors.  It’s something that should also get the attention of non-investors.  Guns are in high demand.  So is ammo.

Naturally, guns and ammo should be in high demand.  They are useful.  Sometimes they are especially useful.  And right now happens to be one of those times.

Without question something wicked is brewing.  Politicians, academics, and the media have been fermenting public divisions for decades.  Now a volatile cocktail of rage threatens to blow its top off sometime on or shortly after election day.  People are gunning up just in case the chaos – something more than things that go bump in the night – arrives at their doorstep.

What to make of it…

“Death to America!”

The weather may have cooled down.  But the populace still burns hot.  Factions and fanatics look for any excuse to destroy public usufructs.  And they don’t have to look far to find one.

For example, this week, following the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia, people went mad.  First they took to the streets.  Then they took to setting dumpsters on fire.  After that, they took to looting Walmart and other stores.

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Why Victor Davis Hanson thinks Trump will win, by Oliver Wiseman

Victor Davis Hanson lays out the case for why Trump will win. From Oliver Wiseman at thecritic.co.uk:

The classicist and military historian makes the case for the president – and a second upset

To those who see an intellectual case for Donald Trump as a contradiction in terms, Victor Davis Hanson is an unlikely figure.

A senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, Dr Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal by George W Bush in 2007. He is the author of more than 20 books on classics, military history and more. When he isn’t writing or teaching, he’s managing his family’s farm. Dr Hanson is also a full-throated and unapologetic supporter of the president. Last year, Dr Hanson published The Case for Trump, a coherent and thoughtful argument for an often incoherent and thoughtless president.

With under a week left in the presidential election, Dr Hanson spoke to me over the telephone from his farm in California’s San Joaquin Valley about whether Trump will win, why he supports the president and how the coronavirus has sharpened America’s political and class divides. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

How do you see the race right now? Who will win next week?

I think Trump will win the Electoral College. I’m not sure about the popular vote, but the more our experts and pundits reassert that 2016 cannot happen again, the more it seems like it is happening again. And by that I mean, more specifically, all the polls that were discredited in 2016 — the Politico poll and the Reuters poll, Fox or the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, the mainstream polls in other words — they have Trump losing in the key states just about at the rate that Trump was losing last time. And from what I can tell, they haven’t really altered their methodology. The other polls, the Democracy Institute, the Trafalgar poll, the Zogby poll, the Rasmussen poll, have him very close, if not deadlocked at the national level. And then, in these key swing states, deadlocked or slightly ahead.

And yet, we were told in 2016, that these were not credible polls. They turned out to be almost prescient in their accuracy. So there you have it

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Trump’s (64 day) Post-Election Endgame. Or, … Can A Criminal Be Inaugurated President? by Brett Redmayne-Titley

What happens if Biden is elected and is then indicted before he assumes office? From Brett Redmayne-Titley at watchingromeburn.uk:

Suddenly, the anticipated Trump campaign’s October surprise: allegations that presidential candidate Joseph Biden has been a beneficiary of an international influence-peddling scheme with his son, Hunter, as the point man. This has dramatically, for the moment, turned the tables of election 2020.

This pre-election day chess move is an obvious, carefully planned Trump campaign hit job, but short-sighted, most pundits predict these allegations come too late to sway the outcome of election day. This view is dubious and misses what could indeed be a three-move check-mate against Joe Biden, but…after the votes are counted.

Come Nov 3, the race for POTUS is far from over. Trump’s handlers seem to know this. The follow-up will be an unprecedented public spectacle that will likely very much include the Electoral College. Further, this possible coup will have sixty-four very valuable extra days, a Judiciary Committee, an Attorney General, a Senate and developing media attention, all remaining and at the RNC’s disposal.

The Trump campaign knows this and appears to be playing the long game. Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon are not political fools. Thanks to Biden’s true personality being exposed, a growing treasure chest of allegations have been handed over to Trump, four different times thus far. If these revelations prove true, should Trump lose, this will also provide his campaign no less than two more chances to bring Biden down.

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UK Police Chief: It’s a “Civic Duty” to Snitch on Neighbors Violating COVID Restrictions, by Joseph Jankowski

Let’s hope the social media post at the end of the article is correct: You can actually hear the middle fingers all over the country, snapping into place. From Joseph Jankowsk at planetfreewill.news:

Encouragement from UK police to rat on those who breach restrictions is nothing new.

Image Credit: IMF/Flickr

A UK police chief has called it a “civic duty” to snitch on neighbors and businesses that violate COVID-19 restrictions while criticizing the culture that condemns such tattle tailing.

On Wednesday, Merseyside Chief Constable Andy Cooke condemned the ‘sneering culture’ against those who tip-off police when he told the Daily Mail that if Brits carry out their “civic duty” of snitching on those who refuse to follow the martial-law-esque social and economic restrictions imposed by government, they “will save lives.”

“People are doing a civic duty in contacting us for the right reasons,” Cooke said. “The vast majority of people across the country are really concerned about this. Any information that you can give us in relation to breaches will save lives, and that’s why people are doing it.”

Cooke’s words follow the decision of West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson to break up any Christmas celebration that violates government lockdown restrictions.

“If we think there’s large groups of people gathering where they shouldn’t be, then police will have to intervene. If, again, there’s flagrant breaking of the rules, then the police would have to enforce,” Jamieson said.

After adding that “it’s not the police’s job to stop people enjoying their Christmas,” the Crime Commissioner stated that this would not stop the police from following orders.

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Do Not Wear a Mask and Do Not Get a Shot: Never Comply! by Gary D. Barnett

Resist! From Gary D. Barnett at lewrockwell.com:

“The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism.”

~ Angelina Grimke: Sarah Grimke, Angelina Grimke (2015). “On Slavery and Abolitionism: Essays and Letters”, p.97, Penguin

This country that at one time was populated with mostly intelligent, hard working, self-responsible, and tough individuals, has become a country filled with idiots, weaklings, and fools. I do not say this lightly, nor am I attempting to berate all, but most of those that populate America today were taught to become weak and ignorant, to become divided and hateful, to ignore tradition, to disrespect truth and honesty, to throw aside family, to become robotic drones, and self-aggrandizing socialists. While this result was planned by the ruling segment of society, and implemented over a long period of time, it was nonetheless voluntarily accepted by the masses. Due to the current attitudes evident today, the acceptance of all-consuming immorality, war, torture, theft, redistribution of private wealth, and disregard for fellow men and property, are apparent, and there is widespread and pitiful sensitivity among the herd that borders on lunacy.

Because of these things, we are now in a situation that is so dire that it could lead to the end of all civilized behavior, and the resulting norm would be nothing less than global totalitarianism based on a technocratic system controlled by the very few. This should not be taken lightly, because we are very close to losing all independence in favor of tracking and confinement, where individual life and family are replaced by a collective insanity. Acceptance of this new order would signal the end of civilization as we have known it, and a fundamental end to love, beauty, and joy that are the basis of the spirit of life.

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Market Friday: Iran, Bitcoin and The Sanctions That Won’t Be, by Tom Luongo

Iran may be on to something. From Tom Luongo at tomluongo.me:

Amidst all the posturing, fretting and craziness leading up to the election on Tuesday the thing that jumped out of my Twitter feed was this 2 minute video from PressTV.

Watch it. I’ll wait.

… Done? Good.

Let’s get started.

This came from Press TV, the Iranian equivalent of the BBC but without so much British Marxism. So, it’s as official as official gets.

Iran will use bitcoin as part of its import settlement system. It will export bitcoins and import things barred to it from the U.S.

Do you really think this policy will stop here?

The video reminds us that Iran has been building this case for the use of bitcoin to evade U.S. sanctions for years. This is a strategic move, not a fly-by-night operation like Venezuela’s Petro.

They could have gone the China or European Union route, push for a Central Bank Digital Currency completely controlled by the government.

You know, the worst possible arrangement, a cryptocurrency run by central bankers, i.e. Ripple.

But that would gain them nothing. Who would use a digital rial when no one wants the current rial?

Instead Iran embraced bitcoin because it had no other choice. The rial has been effectively destroyed by U.S. sanctions and the country is starving for a currency which accretes value to the user rather than steals it.

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