Has it begun? Grid going down, transformers exploding, CenturyLink and Verizon major internet outages, 911 call centers going dark…

Is this what the beginning looks like? Is this a test run of an EMP style weapon to see if they can knock out power and communications at the same time, perhaps just in a limited test run? These transformers going down, along with the major internet outages across the country, do not bode well … Read more

Trump declares end to US ‘policeman’ role

via Yahoo: Al-Asad Air Base (Iraq) (AFP) – President Donald Trump used a lightning visit to Iraq — his first with US troops in a conflict zone since being elected — to defend the withdrawal from Syria and declare an end to America’s role as the global “policeman.” Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania, landed … Read more

ROFL the latest #FakeNews story trying to keep the #Russiagate Hoax alive. McClatchy makes ridiculously false allegations of Michael Cohen visiting Prague

by Ian Shilling The McClatchy Fake News article is below. I am surprised that McClatchy have sunk so low – they used to be a fairly reasonable outlet (for the mainstream) – this article is totally ridiculous and on a par with the laughable accusations of three Manafort/Assange visits junk article recently published by the … Read more

ECB Ends Corporate Bond Buying, and Look What Happens – Companies Feel The Pain As Euro Junk-bond Yields More Than Doubled From A Year Ago.

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter By Don Quijones, Spain, UK, & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET. To the white-knuckle end, 2018 has been a terrible roller coaster ride for Spanish supermarket chain Dia, once one of Europe’s biggest grocery chains. The firm’s shares, reduced to a penny stock — despite the 22% surge today to €0.44 — have … Read more

China’s Startup Bubble Runs Aground – Bike-Share Companies, Among The Hottest Startups, Are Wiping Out Investors.

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter “It now appears bike sharing is the stupidest business, but the smartest brains of China all tried to get in,” Wu Shenghua, founder of 3Vbike, one of the many collapsed bike-sharing companies in China, told Reuters. “It really now seems ridiculous.” Afterwards, a lot of the ingenious must-not-question stuff that happened during … Read more

How the recent stock market crash is just like 1987

by Troy The stock market is making an oversold bounce right now, and has reached its first fib retracement (23.6%). The standard target for a bounce is 38.2% – 50% Go here to understand our fundamentals-driven long term outlook. Let’s determine the stock market’s most probable medium term direction by objectively quantifying technical analysis. For reference, here’s … Read more

10 Mandatory Preps Regardless of How SHTF

Via Survival Sullivan One of the key things to learn about prepping is that even though each person has in mind specific SHTF events they believe will happen, there’s really no way to predict when SHTF or how it will happen. One of the most dangerous things a prepper can do is to prepare exclusively … Read more

$116 Billion A Year

Via the Raconteur Report $116B per year. That’s how much money we set on fire annually to pay for illegal aliens in this country. Enough to build, arm, crew, and deploy 6 new supercarrier task forces every year, forever. (Hint: That would have doubled the current number deployed, in just the two years since Trump has been president.) Or, … Read more

The dependence on anonymous sources marks a failing in modern journalism.

by CelineHagbard Today, McClatchy DC Bureau put out a piece claiming Cohen’s cell phone put him in Prague at the time of the alleged meeting between him and Russian officials. Their headline — Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting — states this as a matter of fact, yet the article itself paints … Read more

How Much of the Internet Is Fake?

via nymag: In late November, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against eight people accused of fleecing advertisers of $36 million in two of the largest digital ad-fraud operations ever uncovered. Digital advertisers tend to want two things: people to look at their ads and “premium” websites — i.e., established and legitimate publications — on which to … Read more

Government Shutdown Stops Nasty Housing Data in its Tracks

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Homebuilders, a bedraggled bunch recently, breathe a sigh of relief, but get crushed anyway. “NOTICE: Due to a lapse in federal funding this website is not being updated,” the Commerce Department’s website says currently on the page where the Census Bureau would have published this morning’s data for new-home sales, inventory, … Read more