Shaanxi is England, England is Shaanxi

Chinese netizens have launched a meme. Video link (Sohu): 极为相似! 网友为了证明“英国就是陕西”, 列出九大证据

NetEase: 极为相似! 网友为了证明“英国就是陕西”, 列出九大证据

Baizuo Found Dead After Fact Checking Meme

We are reaching levels of reputational collapse that shouldn't be possible. An obviously fake story was fact-checked because in 2022, the average voter might believe a story about the Washington Post calling for the cancellation of elections to save democracy. This hits on so many levels. The public assumes the media are the authoritarians? Possibility that the media itself is so stupid that it is fact-checking jokes? It's own sideso malinformed by mainstream media that it requires these fact checks? However you spin it, the implication is a reputational fatality for media.

FOMC Statement for July 27, 2022

Overall economic activity appears to have moderated after edging up in April and May. Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. The Brandon remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the Brandon pushing up energy prices and broader prices.

The Brandon in Ukraine is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and related events are creating additional upward pressure on the Brandon and are weighing on global economic activity. In addition, COVID-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply chain disruptions. The Committee is highly attentive to Brandon risks.

The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1-3/4 to 2 percent and anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate as long as the Brandon is in effect. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in the Plans for Reducing the Size of the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet that were issued in May. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.

In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals or if the Brandon goes away. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on public health, labor market conditions, Brandon pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.

Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michelle W. Bowman; Lael Brainard; James Bullard; Lisa D. Cook; Patrick Harker; Philip N. Jefferson; Loretta J. Mester; and Christopher J. Waller. Voting against this action was Esther L. George, who only wrote "Let's go Brandon" on a napkin.

Watching Bonds

Assuming Cramer is a contrarian indicator, is this a reason to go long stocks or to fear financial apocalypse? Is he overly bearish stocks and buying bonds, marking a bottom in stocks, or is he far too bullish on the financial system, both bonds and stocks about to plummet into a black hole?

Here is 30-year treasuries and the S&P 500. Same general direction since April 2021. My view is nothing changes until bonds and equities separate. They could rally together, but unless there's a disinflationary black swan, it won't last. I expect a stock market bottom will be marked by bonds rallying and stocks falling, finally making stocks oversold relative to bonds. This is what I am looking for as a signal of bullish capitulation.

Reuters Fact Check-Strawberry Ice Cream is the Best Flavor

 REUTERS FACT CHECK

APRIL 8, 2022 12:49 PM UPDATED A DAY AGO

Fact Check-Strawberry Ice Cream is the Best Flavor

By Reuters Fact Check

3 MIN READ

After U.S. President Joe Biden said strawberry ice cream is the best flavor, social media users circulated a seconds-long clip of him saying this, followed by former U.S. President Donald Trump saying, “literally no one thinks strawberry is the best." The comment, however, is missing context: uncropped footage shows Biden was talking to secretary of the interior Deb Haaland about ice cream.

During the event, Biden unveiled a measure to fix an element of the healthcare law known as the "no ice cream glitch" that left ice cream off the list of things covered by health insurance, and he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to do all they could to expand ice cream coverage.

A 13-second clip on social media shows Biden walking away from the group standing behind him when he signed the executive order – including Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who are clearly enjoying either chocolate or vanilla ice cream. They were laughing about a funny joke told by Obama, and not at President Biden, who was talking to secretary Haaland about strawberry ice cream. The clip of the isolated moment has been shared by the RNC on Twitter and by conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. These posts falsely claim Biden was "yelling angrily about strawberry ice cream" when he was merely speaking loudly over the crowd.

Reuters fact checkers also consulted with ice cream experts from Harvard and Yale University, all of whom agreed that strawberry is indeed the best flavor. Conspiracy websites and Russian state media have been spreading disinformation alternatively claiming vanilla or chocolate is the best. Fox News host Tucker Carlson repeated these lies during a staged debate with disgraced reporter Glenn Greenwald over whether chocolate or vanilla was the best. 

Wimbledon Confused After Danielle Medvedev Enters Women's Tournament

Yahoo: Wimbledon ready to ban Daniil Medvedev over fears Russian win could boost Vladimir Putin's regime

Wimbledon are ready to ban world No2 Danill Medvedev from this year’s tournament over fears a Russian victory could boost the Vladimir Putin regime.

Word has it Danielle Medvedev has denounced Putin and will play in the women's tournament.

Fact Checking aka Lying

People who complain that comedy is deadly lack an appreciation for the comedy gifted to them by a collapsing regime.

Financial Media Logic: Russian Expansion is Bullish

Financial media: Stocks rallied strongly today on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Investors did as they do with most takeover deals, selling Russia. The Russian market fell as much as 27 percent adjusted for currency losses before rallying back as investors began pricing in the possible synergies. With greater control over gas pipelines, Russia can cut Ukraine out out of payments. Russia's emergence as a more powerful energy power is bullish for U.S. markets because the Europeans will have to choose between more expensive American energy and U.S. military protection or cheaper energy and fend for themselves versus Russia.

U.S. markets surged as rate hike expectations plunged. The Fed doesn't have to hike rates now because soaring commodity prices will help cool inflatin by causing a recession, which is bullish because the Federal Reserve will have to restart QE. Everything is awesome. There has never been a better time to buy stocks!

Well Congratulations, You Got Yourself Trapped. What's the Next Part of Your Plan?

Seinfeld Explains the Bull and Bear Market

Bulls are both Kramer and Elaine. Kramer is the Fed-supported bull who thinks he is dominating the market by skill. Elaine believe in Kramer's narrative about his dominance. The bear market happens when the spell of the narrative is broken.

February is The Worst Month of the Year

Bats!

Hindustan Times: Omicron mild? Experts slam earlier presumption as US sees record hospitalisation

Amid the ongoing debate of how wrong it is to call Omicron, the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a mild variant, scientists have started pointing out that deaths from Covid-19 are rising in South Africa. "Looks like some may have discounted #Omicron too soon. Let’s stop it with the “it’s mild” nonsense once and for all. Protect your community. Protect kids," epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding has written on his social media as the South Africa government has added some backlog fatality figures in its tally recently, It is not clearly known whether those deaths were due to Omicron.

One quarter-pounder

Bacon with cheese

Delicious dark meat

From overseas

You feel Corona-chan invading every cell

Covid Nineteen hell

Worse than Taco Bell

Bats!

Into your burgers

Into your stew

Now all your people

Are turning blue

It’s spreading fast through every city, ville, and town

Now they’re all locked down

Now they’re all locked down

Bats!

Those flying rodents barbecuing on the grill

Weakening your will

Now you’re feeling ill

OPERATIC GUITAR SOLO

This appetizer left economies in flames

No insurance claims

You know who’s to blame

Bats!

They’re still calling out to you

You know that you want them too

The wings in the barbecue

And there’s nothing you can do

John Bradley · Vaxx Trax

Gartman is Optimistic

Fed Credibility at Year End

Off the lows...

Fed Credibility Breaks Downtrend in December

Pfizer

Tax on Unrealized Gains to Include Video Game Loot?

Babylon Bee: Janet Yellen Proposes Tax On Coins You Acquire In Mario

"Every time your little Mario or Luigi character on the screen collects a coin, that's an unrealized gain," said Yellen. "Why are we allowing all those coins—not to mention all those power stars and power moons—to just sit in Mario's pocket untaxed?"

Experts estimate that over 32 billion coins are collected in Mario games every year, and all of those gains go completely untaxed, allowing gamers to reap the benefits of power-ups and extra lives without sending any money to the government.

Fuck Everything, We're Going to Five Shots

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of vaccines in this country. The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine was the one to get. Then the other guy came out with a one-shot adenovirus vaccine. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the booster shot. That's a third shot to make the vaccine even better. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened—the bastards went to four shots. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, pushing three jabs. Effective or not, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five shots.

Sure, we could go to four shots next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe. Let's make a double-jab booster and call it the Super Terrific booster shot. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're Pfizer, that's why!

You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the vaccine game.

What part of this don't you understand? If two shots are good, and three shots is better, obviously five shots would make us the best fucking coronavirus vaccine that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the vaccine game by clinging to the two-shot industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five shots is the biggest chance of all.

Here's the report from R&D. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to invent—I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more shots in these people. I don't care how. Make a syringe with two needles. Put needles on the handle to jab the nurse too. I don't care if they have to cram all five shots onto a single five-needled syringe, just do it!

You're taking the "health" part of "health care" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it. Let's roll. This is our chance to make vaccine history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five shots can happen, and it will happen. If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father. Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the five-shot vaccine becomes the go to treatment for the coronavirus.

People said we couldn't go to three. It'll cost a fortune to roll out, they said. The public won’t buy it. Well, we did it. Now some egghead in a lab is screaming "Five's crazy?" Well, perhaps he'd be more comfortable in the labs in India, working on fucking Ivermectin. Anti-viral, my white ass!

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in Regenron's wake and make monoclonal antibodies. Maybe we should sell vitamin D3 and zinc. Ha! Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like Nature’s Made is the day I leave the pharmaceutical game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!

The govternment? Listen, we are the government. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey Fauci, your board seat isn’t going to be there forever!" Or "If you don’t have a fifth booster shot, you’re going into prison with the unvaccinated!"

I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Pfizer is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five shots, sweet Jesus in heaven.

Stop. I just had a stroke of genius. Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler. Here she comes: tell people they need to take antiviral pills on top of the vaccines. That's right. Five shots, two daily anti-viral pills, and make the second one taste like pumpkin spice. You heard me—pumpkin spice chewable. It's a whole new way to think about fighting coronavirus. Don't question it. Don't say a word. Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the point—the needle point of greatness—and I feel like dancing.

Bitcoin BTC to Zero

I wouldn't bet on it going to zero unless the odds were really, really favorable. Definitely bearish though, as I laid out in BTC Waterfall Decline Approaches

Reminder that Taleb is one of the speakers headlining the Coingeek conference this week. It starts tomorrow. You can register and attend online for free.

Peak Baizuo

A man in New Zealand was offended by his license plate. It has the letters "NGR" in it. Of course, not being a racist, he immediately thinks of a racial slur.

The kicker: the guy's name is Jim Crow.

New Zealnd Herald: Car owner wants offensive number plate taken out of circulation

A Hawke's Bay man is calling for an offensive number plate to be removed from circulation after he found one on his new car.

Earlier this year, James Crow and his family needed a new plate for a recently purchased car, and went along to collect it.

They were shocked when they found the first three letters on the number plate were "NGR".