EXTRAS

[Dreamtimer]

Where's the Hamberdler?

[Gio]

Scary thoughts ...

Chaos has no friends.

[Gio]

And speaking of chaos ...

Navalny Protests Threaten to Snowball
as Grievances Grow in Russia ...



"Weekend rallies across Russia were driven by anger
over falling living standards and worsening repression" ...
Listen/read here

[Emil El Zapato]

damn, it has to be ...

Scary thoughts ...

A meeting of the shadow Cabinet.

reference

[Gio]

Apparently not too proud ...




EXCLUSIVE-Proud Boys leader was
‘prolific’ informer for law enforcement

[Emil El Zapato]

Cubans, my gawd!

[Gio]

Party like it's 1929 ...



GameStop rally is warning that
market bubbles have gone mad

By Charles Gasparino

January 27, 2021

"In the 1630s, it was tulips. In the 1990s, it was Netscape and Pets.com. Later, as we all know, it was housing. Today, the warning sign flashing “danger,” signaling that the stock market has lost its mind, is GameStop.

GameStop is a video game retailer that has been priced at about $3 to $10 a share for much of the year. But in the past few days, individual investors have driven the share price above $300.

Many of these buyers are using Robinhood, an app that lets anyone trade stocks without a commission. Because of the pandemic, people have plenty of time on their hands, and are looking to make cash, and it’s fueled a spectacular rise in individual day trading.

Why are they buying *GameStop? Well, some of the commentators on *“WallStreetBets,” the Reddit *message board driving the frenzy, believe it’s a good company.

But mostly they’re out to hurt the big guys.

Hedge funds love shorting stocks, a trading technique where you make money when stock prices go down. Companies often go belly up amid short selling “bear raids.” That’s why small investors hate hedge funds so much.

When word spread among Robinhood traders that GameStop was heavily shorted by the big guys, the tables were turned into a bull raid. They drove up the price, and all those bets that GameStop would decline in value failed. A “short squeeze” was on at a level sophisticated market players hadn’t seen in years.

At least one big hedge fund, Melvin Capital, needed a bailout as prices of GameStop spiked a gazillion percent in a matter of days. My trading sources say there will likely be other big players seeking money to stay alive.

Delicious, right? For those who think — not unwarrantedly — that the market is rigged against them, the Robinhood revolt is a wonderful bit of schadenfreude.

But nothing has changed about GameStop’s business. It’s still primarily a brick-and-mortar retailer in an electronic world. It’s certainly not worth $300 a share. So while Robinhood buyers who got in early made a good bit of money — at least on paper — the bubble will eventually burst, and the shares will likely fall back to earth again.

The problem is that GameStop isn’t the only stock this is happening to. Blackberry, makers of the handheld device you no longer use, and AMC, owners of movie theaters you no longer go to, are also looking like Apple on steroids.

And what’s really worrying is that Dow 30,000 is all about this sort of irrational exuberance. Yes, we laugh at $300 GameStop, but is Tesla really worth $880 a share? It isn’t just Robinhood traders working in concert who are driving up company valuations; it’s hedge funds and Wall Street banks research departments and large mutual funds. Because even as we face record unemployment and a slow economy, they can make money that way.

Bubbles always burst, as they did during the dotcom craze (as it turned out most Web sites weren’t the next Google), and later during the housing bonanza that sparked the financial crisis and the Great Recession.

Wall Street lost a lot of money those days — and faced more than a few costly investigations. But Wall Street’s losses were nothing compared to the damage done to small investors.

Many bet their life saving on Internet stocks on the delusion that they can trade and gamble with the best of them.

They can’t, of course.

If history and common sense are any guide, GameStop is the canary in the coal mine. And everyone — from the small investors to Big Banks — is in for a scare."

Source/reference page

[Gio]

Right on TargeT ...


"Black Friday"

Steely Dan

performed by The Classic Rock Show

Long before the term came to denote the shopping frenzy on the day after Thanksgiving, Steely Dan released this song about the original "Black Friday," when on Friday, September 24, 1869 a failed ploy left many wealthy investors broke. The investors tried to corner the market on gold, buying as much of it as they could and driving up the price, but when the government found out, it released $4 million worth of gold into the market, driving down the price and clobbering the investors.

3:56 minutes

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DKH2ZqB7yo

[Gio]

What Happens Post-Trump?

with Tulsi Gabbard

This clip istaken from the Joe Rogan Experience #1598
https://open.spotify.com/episode/07j...QcmlAgzwCxutsQ

Tulsi Gabbard born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and United States Army Reserve officer who served as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Elected in 2012, she was the first Hindu member of Congress and also the first Samoan-American voting member of Congress. In early February 2019 she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election ... More here

6:16 minutes

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYAzyDHCJUc

[Gio]

She will dearly be missed by the deep state ...

Hansel & Gretel Some More To Eat
ft. Cloris Leachman

1:55 minutes

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0n6kZ1SIGA

[Dreamtimer]

Lovely, funny lady she was.

[Gio]

"The devil is in the details" ...

From the 60 Minutes archive rewind: Hitler's secret archive

In 2006, Scott Pelley took viewers into the vast archive, which contained millions of Nazi Holocaust documents kept out of the public eye for more than 60 years.

Jan 28, 2021

13:00 minutes

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqlHYEQEDc

[Dreamtimer]

Thank you, Gio.

[Gio]

China sharpens language, warns
Taiwan that independence 'means war'

By Tony Munroe, Yew Lun Tian

January 28, 2021

BEIJING (Reuters) - "China toughened its language towards Taiwan on Thursday, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that “independence means war” and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference."


A Taiwan flag is seen during a Navy drill ahead of the Lunar New Year in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang

"Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, reported multiple Chinese fighter jets and bombers entering its southwestern air defence identification zone last weekend, prompting Washington to urge Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan.

China believes that Taiwan’s democratically-elected government is moving the island towards a declaration of formal independence, though Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly said it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name.

Asked at a monthly news briefing about the air force’s recent activities, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.

“The military activities carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait are necessary actions to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty and security,” he said.

“They are a solemn response to external interference and provocations by ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” he added.

Wu said a “handful” of people in Taiwan were seeking the island’s independence.

“We warn those ‘Taiwan independence’ elements: those who play with fire will burn themselves, and ‘Taiwan independence’ means war,” he added.

While China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, it is unusual for Beijing to make such overt, verbal threats of conflict.

Asked about the remarks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there was no reason that tensions between China and Taiwan “need to lead to anything like confrontation.” He also reaffirmed longstanding U.S. military support to Taiwan’s self-defense.

“We have obligations to assist Taiwan with their self-defense and I think you’re going to see that continue,” said Kirby, a retired admiral, in the first Pentagon briefing of the Biden administration.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said China should think carefully and not underestimate the island’s determination to defend its sovereignty and uphold freedom and democracy.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry reported six Chinese air force aircraft, including four J-10 fighter jets, flew into its air defence zone on Thursday, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea.

The weekend Chinese incursions coincided with a U.S. carrier battle group entering the disputed South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas”.

China routinely describes Taiwan as its most important and sensitive issue in relations with the United States, which under the former Trump administration ramped up support for the island in terms of arms sales and senior officials visiting Taipei.

President Joe Biden’s government, in office for a week, has reaffirmed its commitment to Taiwan as being “rock solid.”

Taiwan has denounced China’s threats and efforts at intimidation, and Tsai has vowed to defend the island’s freedom and not be coerced."

Source page

[Gio]

hmm ...

“Look, I’m going to have to ask for the money back—
the rich are really getting pissed off.”