We begin this “summit week” with a few notes about the online digital revolution that’s underway. What we shorthand as The Webolution.
For new readers, there are now two governments in most countries of the world. A constitutional government (old paradigm) and an online government (new paradigm).
The difference is simple: Constitutional governments can run things like republics (which the United States happens to be) ]”to the Republic for which it Stands if you’re brain-dead”] The advance of Digital Mob Rule on social media, however, is selling the broken “direct democracy” paradigm. That has NEVER worked in history because when you have democratic mob rule, things ALWAYS end up with the mob allocating everyone’s work product to themselves. Which is why democratic republics have much better “staying power.”
Today’s abject lesson is how “digital mob” is attacking the core of America may be found in this morning’s report in The Daily Mail that an IDENTICAL LETTER was published in 21-US Newspapers – all signed by different people.
Take a deep breath and think about this: It informs us that the US is under attack by the Digital Mob which is using the Internet to orchestrate attacks and obstruct the Constitutional Government. The means are simple: You collect a bunch of lefty-liberals in an on-line sucker’s forum… tell ’em to all send in the attack Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – and presto! Bullshit in print.
From here, it gets worse. Much worse.
Any investigative reporter worth a damn would already be on the blower to the papers which got suckered – again it’s 21-newspapers – and they ought to be asking them to track back to the source. It shouldn’t be all that hard – the emails had to come from somewhere, right?
This is why Anonymity on the Net has to Go!
We continue to stand-by our enduring prediction that as soon as we get the major break in the economy, there will be new federal licensure requirements imposed on the Internet. This is a prime example of why this is long overdue.
When a person has a legit bitch about something, let them put their real name on it (which we do) and let the chips fall where they may. It’s useful – as part of the NY Times v. Sullivan line of suits – to know that when once pursues something out of malice (as in the attacks by Trump-haters, as a for instance), then malice tips the scales of Justice. Corporations, by the way, are “public figures.” It comes with them demanding to have “human-like” rights to free speech. Good discussion in an old Minnesota Law Review paper here.
Thing is, getting rid of anonymity doesn’t kill Free Speech. Remember that absent malice, reporting Facts (however dis-convenient, lol) is still permitted. A Trump High Court will likely strongly defend the point that Truth is the ultimate defense against libel.
In our view, this is the BIGGEST story of the day…and yet it is being carefully swept off the websites of co-opted partisan media. They don’t want We the People to see how this is a perfect injection (except for being caught) of how “thought control” works in America.
Like I said, track it back to source and there’s a real Pulitzer grade story.
Which is why the mainstream media will continue to sit on its collective ass – and embarrassment to the notion of a “free press.” On the other hand, it’s why astroturfing them works.
Hell in Helsinki?
Gamers will be entranced with the high-level gamesmanship about to be displayed in Helsinki.
According to our trading models, we should see the markets begin to call squarely on-butt by no later than mid-week (though, as always this is not financial advice). The reasons are complicated.
We note with some interest that Donald Trump is going into the discussions with Vlad Putin by referencing Russia as a competitor, much as he’s just cast the EU as a competitor, as well.
“‘We Agree.’ Russia Chimes In After Trump Blames the U.S. for The Countries’ Bad Relationship.”
Poor move on Trump’s part, but understandable when we put on our Game Theory hat.
We think Russians will “win” in Helsinki based on the player backgrounds. Putin being the Machiavellian ex-KGB chess player. Just to live through all the changes in his country is a monumental testimony as to Putin’s gaming skills.
Trump, on the other hand, is a well-qualified Monopoly player IRL.
So for us, it comes to a simple mental framework: Given a match does one bet on a well-experienced chess player who has been pulling global level moves for how long, now? Or, does one bet on the Monopoly player who is always ready to roll the dice.
Expect, therefore, better than 50-50 odds of “hell from Helsinki” and that to be used as yet-another attack vector by the proponents of Digital Mob Rule (DMR). It’s early for popcorn and beer.
Retail: Up – But with Concerns
Press release just out from Census:
On paper up 6.6 year-on-year. but looks to us like general merch this month took a dive and that could be a harbinger that we are to the “the rump of the bump” so to speak.
Sanity Optional
This is options expiration week. Something to consider while judging markets: A lot of daytraders have been (mindlessly) buying long positions expecting a summer rally. And buying close-to-the-money call options close in (as in expire at the end of this week) is a no-brainer.
But here’s the thing: The S&P will open this morning around 2,800. Last option expiration it was down at 2,782’ish. Just something to keep in mind. Taking money from bulls is considered good sport. But, we shall see.
Screwing Stupid Brits
I assume you know how government operates?
When an inconvenient vote is cast by Voters, what do non-responsive bureaucrats do? They hold another vote to screw the people. In fact, they dig in their heels and do everything in their power to preserve the old paradigm.
A fine example is beheld in BREXIT where statist Theresa May has been sabotaging the will of the people ever since late June 2016 when the British people voted to stop bending over for the Brussels sprouts.
Now we read this in the British press: “Justine Greening: New Brexit referendum ‘is only way to end deadlock’.”
This “screw the will of the people” is a global tactic. We see it even at the local level when a certain bond issue is turned down – it keeps coming up again especially when the powers-that-be in a community have some skin in the game. (Think back to using public bonding authority to build pro sports stadiums for the rich boys…see it now?)
Sad that the UK – one a land of smart people – have been bent over by a crooked ruling class…but we’re in the same league, anymore: dimwits with their faces on social instead of looking up once in a while.
The Private Property Lie
You know you don’t own your home, right? Just try not paying property taxes and you will learn who really owns it. (Hint: Not you!)
I mention this because the Burssels Sprouts are working their magic to screw people (further) out of using their own property as they see fit. Read ’em and weep over here: “Airbnb breaches EU consumer rules, must fall into line: EU.”
Why is we not surprised, Daisy-Mae?
Ear-dropping OK, Faces not?
Sorry, oh Sons of Cortana...I see a lack of mental clarity in Microsoft calls for facial recognition technology rules given ‘potential for abuse’.
You know most cop cars already have auto license plate readers that will scan roads for non-compliant citizens already…which was the self-righteous outrage about THAT?
USTFYBAKYD
(Which is more polite than Useless Shit To Fill Your Brain and Keep You Distracted.)
Bruce Willis ends debate on whether ‘Die Hard’ is Christmas movie.
City Council candidate accused of posting wife’s topless pic after restraining order issued: report.
With Flags, Song and Pride, France Celebrates a Unifying World Cup Victory. Bread, circuses, and sports…but now that I think about it, maybe Rome might have survived if they’d had a few more major league franchises, know what I’m sayin?
Elon Musk Calls a Diver That Rescued Thai Soccer Team a ‘Pedo’ on Twitter. Um…how about turn off the TV and go watch the stock price?
And with all the stupid crap in the world why is BBC rolling ‘Why I keep my vasectomy a secret’?
Dow futures are up 14 but we’re making book on a decline today. Can markets remain irrational longer than Ure can remain solvent? Tune in for tomorrow’s next exiting chapter of “A fool and his spreadsheets are soon parted…”
Moron the ‘morrow, as it were…
Each of the links you posted are more bricks paving our way to hell*, and guaranteeing we’ll have to fight AR2 “Defining Liberty, AGAIN”, sooner or later. We’re already sliding towards ‘self-organizing nodes of behavior correction’, how long til ‘death squads’ roam?
Your mention of (drinkable) ‘liquid fuels’ reminds me of the WWII literature on farm-based alcohol distillation for fuels. Basically, plant a bunch of sugary pumpkins, make your mash, run it through your still, and use it in your engines or beverages. Just dump your first 50-100ML of wood alcohol, so you don’t become vision challenged from your new hobby.
*Your cosmologies may vary.
I have to wonder with this summit between Trump and Putin, if the Donald is asking for help from Putin and the KGB to go after the Deep State? The globalists are wanting WW3 and Trump and Putin both know this and it is to the point where I trust Trump and with Putin, I trust him more than the liberal Democrats in Washington. I never would have thought I would be saying this, but I am.
Randy, Be careful what you wish for. While a flogging of the Deep State needs to occur, none of us can trust Putin to follow through with your scenario to include the US to be a 50-50 partner in this endeavor. Putin has his own sights set on an ascendancy into being the most powerful man on earth. Trump is just his pawn. Don’t ever trust Putin more than your own countrymen…regardless of party affiliation.
Dear Mr. Ure,
As the Trump-Putin Helsinki meeting dawns, the CBC website offers a low-key report with Jonathan Chait who theorizes that Mr. Trump may be a Russian asset. The report includes a lightly highlighted link to the interviewee’s original article in New York Mag which gets into the messy details.
Not being familiar with NY Mag, I perused around to see it mentioned as a growing concern morphing from print into digital media. Its ptb appears to be a daughter of a late billionaire investment banker and hostile takeover specialist. Anyhow the daughter apparently keeps a framed 2013 tweet from Mr. Trump on her wall in which he savages her NY Mag.
This past weekend’s MSM image of Mr. Putin alone under cover of an umbrella at the World Cup podium while everyone else got soaked may be instructive. If the NY Mag’s sum total of Mr. Trump and entourage’s alleged transgressions add up, we fear Mr. Trump will be in dire need of raingear from showers. We do hope the modern day markets aren’t directed along the path of a certain 19th doctor equipped with patient and battery while declaring a code blue.
http:/nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html
Seems to me in a journalist org, the agenda would not be on display. As always, David, thank you for your diligence. I’d apologize for the nation’s dimwitted media. But I can’t piss-away years./g
You mean the same kind of astro-turfing the conservative mouth piece Sinclair (state) TV News trotted out for all their Barbie and Ken anchors to read like good little robots? How is providing a form letter for an individual to send in (as long as they agree with what it says) different?
I’ll tell you: One is a singular human who is too lazy to take 5 minutes to type out their own thoughts and instead, borrow somebody else’s. The other is a giant Corporation who is in the process of trying to become an even more giant Corporation that has undue influence over a sizable chunk of small town news outlets. And, being run by a single family, tries to curry favor with President Trump so that they can circumvent the kind of media consolidation rules you would be screaming your head off about if CNN, MSNBC, etc. were trying to skirt them.
But that doesn’t fit your narrative, so you ignore it.
https://youtu.be/487CRdRHEeI
“One is a singular human who is too lazy to take 5 minutes to type out their own thoughts and instead, borrow somebody else’s”
Hmm that is the description of our Congress…
If one studies the American revolution, one notices that anonymous anti-government papers were the chief method of infoming the populace by the revolutionaries. You could be hanged or worse for being identified. Anonymity on the net is inconvenient but it beats living in an unelected oppressive oligharchy, which we almost already do. Over time the majority has now learned not to trust the media. A very good thing. The next steps will be less smooth, but overdue reforms.
The Summit hasn’t really gone as planned. When a sitting President lashes out at his own intelligence agencies to Russia and the rest of the world, what does that accomplish? It weakens our ability to negotiate anything. Here is an interesting excerpt from Axios…and please I don’t want to hear that they lean left…the point they make is reasonable…they way a media outlet should report…
“Known knowns about Mueller:
He has keystroke-by-keystroke reconstructions of online activities by the Russian “Conspirators,” as the indictment calls them — down to their web searches.
He’s going broader, deeper, wider than people realize — following the money, following the keystrokes, following the concentric circles of characters.
His indictments and plea agreements are providing a serial narrative of what Sen. John McCain has called an “act of war” perpetrated during one of the closest elections in American history.”
“Known knowns about Russia:
Yesterday’s indictment was so significant because its scope went far beyond propaganda efforts and into a physical attack on America’s state-by-state machinery of democracy.
This wasn’t an attempt — the Russians actually succeeded in some of their incursions.
The attack was more sophisticated and involved vastly more resources than most U.S. politicians realized’
So in response to the above excerpt, I again ask…What purpose does it serve for Trump to deny Russian interference? In doing so, he strengthens Putin in his own country…The Russian media will eat this up to promote the motherland…It also weakens our ability to negotiate all wrong doing that Russia may engage in. They will always deny and deflect…Russia will respond…”Your own President doesn’t have faith in your intelligence agencies…why should we believe anything you present to us.”
Apparently you are unaware of the report issued by the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity that proves forensically that the E-mails could not have been hacked but had to be downloaded by someone. Also that the CIA has the capability to set up up false cyber trails to attribute the origin of IP addresses. There has been no dispute that the DNC e-mails show they were rigging the election against Bernie Sanders. It is a real shame if it is true that we had to rely on the Russians to find out that truth.
Funny you should mention VIPS. I actually was listening to Ray McGovern (founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) and the reporter/man that was thrown out of the Summit prior to the presser was Sam Hussein’s, a friend of Rays that works for The Nation. He had a sign that read “Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty?” This was a treaty signed on July 7th, 2017 and is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination.
This is an important treaty nobody wants to talk about. In the meantime, the US for some reason has ramped up it’s military budget to a trillion dollars or something ridiculous. Russia has increased its budget as well. The real question is why an American reporter for a non profit Washington Publication was thrown out for holding a sign? Did Trump have him thrown out? This treaty does kind of make his trip to North Korea seem less necessary.
With all due respect the head of the very unit within the NSA that developed virtually all of the spying capabilities used today – William Binney and others have shown that based on the download speed of the DNC Computer that it was not hacked but downloaded onto a usb storage device on site – this continues to be entirely ignored by Mueller and the DOJ as we steamroll into a false meme of Russia, Russia Russia hacking and intereference when it has been disproved ages ago as part of George’s webolution – the rest of this nonsense is built on a false narrative …….
“The attack was more sophisticated and involved vastly more resources than most U.S. politicians realized’”
And how would YOU know? Perhaps all of this shouldn’t have been discussed until final results were known?
The truth hurts, does it Mark?
Really? Stop just a minute and consider this quote:
“Known knowns about Mueller:
He has keystroke-by-keystroke reconstructions of online activities by the Russian “Conspirators,” as the indictment calls them — down to their web searches.”
This is an impossibility, unless we installed keyloggers on secure Russian military computers, which probably cannot be done without gaining physical access to said computers. In this day and age, that would be a direct and “blatant Act of War.”
So… We commit a “blatant Act of War” against Russia, and Axios breaks our confession to the world?
Get real…
Oh come on for pete’s sake we interfer in every election on the planet, unless its one of our bastards that we got into office by a coup or some color revolution,and we are whining about some bloggers for they as of yet haven’t put forth any proof or evidence of any interference except over the social media.Maybe the American people those still walking around in some kind of daze whining RUSSIA DID IT RUSSIA DID it, ought to look much closer to home I would recommend that Washington would be a very good place to start..!!
Talk to Trump by befriending Cohen:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-novartis-cohen-20180716-story.html
Russia and the NRA (a huge Republican donor)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/16/maria-butina-charged-spying-russia-us-doj
I wish us “plebs” would let ‘Trump and Putin’ do their jobs w/o us bitching about issues beyond our ken. I guess that few of YOU have experienced a real war?
Just imagine a few weeks w/o electricity and running water. Enough said, IMHO.
President Trump has a right to be proud of the hard work he put forth to win the election. It was a magnificent campaign led by the hardest working campaigner & now President.
I would be mad too if a bunch of witch hunting haters tried to say the only reason you won the election was because of the Russians & not the great campaign you conducted. Mueller & friends are liars & President Trump has the right to point this out & he did so quite eloquenty. The American people & foreign governments are on Pres Trumps side, because deep down, they know he is right.
I want the server and emails, too. What happened to Killery’s red button reset with Russia, 400 million worth. This is the best soap opera sport game around.
George,
I left TV news and almost all social media three years ago. Only watch online movies/binge worthy series. Sans commercials to buy stuff. My wife and I back from Hawaii (first vacation from caregiving in 4 years. Thanks to the generosity of our sons. There is hope.), I have turned off my radio. Permanently, except when we have an ER. Honestly, I pay less and less attention to the stock market. The zig-zagging is tiring.
What amazes me is how angry everyone is at their opposition. I am just not going to play in this sand box anymore. However, I like you, George. Have for a while now. Going to be a VERY sad day if we ever lose access to Drudge, Watts Up With That, Coast to Coast AM … and Urban Survival. (Something, as you have written, to be very concerned about.) I visit these places in a few minutes and I am done and can get on about the day, helping people who have serious mental illness and struggle to have any kind of lives.
I would ask all to think … What sense does unending war make? Bases in Germany? Korea DMZ? Bases inJapan? Any involvement int he Mideast? We have oil. Seriously, we have people in such difficult straights that it is worth our overseas escapades?!!! We have three basic line items … social security, defense and interest on the debt. Our creativity is nil. Our politicians, our reps, ego-riddled and inept.
Every day I have less and less faith in the Deep State. DC. State Capitols. But, more and more faith in small neighborhoods, home rule and the basic defense of our borders and sovereignty. Surely, we, the USA, have needed a reset for a long, long time. Wasn’t JFK … for all his personal failings and ill health … on that track? And, what happened?
Yes, I like Trump. Will vote for him again, if he survives impeachment. It’s coming hard, right now. He should invite his supporters to DC. Very soon. The city will be overrun with orderly folk who pick up their trash. I am sure of it. And, they won’t be wearing pink pussy hats and dropping the f-bomb every other word and demanding free birth control pills as medical care.
We should pay very close attention to our history. Reflect on it. Not the right approaches … Policing the world and tearing each other apart on social media because we think and believe differently from one another, abandoning meritocracy as a basic principle. Yet, what vested interests keep us doing just that? Deep State and mass media. Not playing anymore, George. And, what a Wonder Life, I am finding.
Keep on living. Keep on writing.
Amen and what a fine message!