Monday, May 19, 2025

Tuesday Watch

Around X:

  • @ElonMusk
  • @ZeroHedge
  • @MarioNawful
  • THE U.S. CAME DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO DYSTOPIA. Americans were inches away from mass censorship, thought-policing, and a full corporate-state takeover of speech, culture, and control. The plan? Run Biden, hide his condition, then hand over power to Kamala. All while trying to jail—or eliminate—Trump. The resistance held. The plan cracked. But the threat still lingers. Tyrants don’t disappear—they wait. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The fight for liberty never ends.
  • STRIP CLUBS, DRUGS, AND PSYCHICS: PENTAGON CREDIT CARDS FUELED AMERICA'S WILDEST PARTIES. The Pentagon has some explaining to do after government credit cards were flagged for thousands of questionable charges at strip clubs, weed dispensaries, and - perhaps most bizarrely - fortune tellers trying to predict America's next war. House Oversight Committee investigators discovered nearly 8,000 "HIGH-RISK transactions" on Defense Department charge cards, prompting demands for a full GAO audit of government spending at: "Adult entertainment, online dating, gambling, weed, pyramid schemes, massage parlors, timeshares." 
  • BREAKING: 4TH NEW ORLEANS JAIL ESCAPEE CAUGHT—6 STILL ON THE RUN. Gary C. Price, 21, charged with first-degree murder, has been captured after escaping from New Orleans’ main jail Friday. He’s the fourth of ten escapees caught, with six fugitives still loose. More than 200 officers are on the hunt, with rewards hitting $20K per head. 
  • DOJ TO PAY $5M TO ASHLI BABBITT’S FAMILY IN J6 CAPITAL SHOOTING SETTLEMENT. The federal government will pay nearly $5 million to the estate of Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed Air Force veteran shot by Capitol Police during the Jan. 6 riot. The settlement, first reported Monday, comes despite the DOJ previously deeming the shooting justified. Outgoing Capitol Police Chief Manger called the decision “disappointing,” warning it sets a chilling precedent. Babbitt’s family accused the officer of excessive force and negligence. Trump, who has repeatedly hailed Babbitt as a patriot, has demanded amnesty for all Jan. 6 defendants. 
  • BIDEN LIKELY HAD BONE-SPREAD CANCER WHILE IN OFFICE, DOCTOR SAYS. A top oncologist says Biden's aggressive prostate cancer likely began before his presidency. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel said the cancer’s spread to bone means it had been growing for “more than several years.” That places its origin in or before 2021. He questioned why Biden’s doctors didn’t catch or disclose it, noting past presidents like Obama and Bush were routinely tested. If tests were skipped or results hidden, Emanuel warned, “that would be very troubling.” The White House confirmed the diagnosis but has not addressed the timeline. 
  • CHINA BEGINS BUILDING FIRST SPACE-BASED SUPERCOMPUTER NETWORK. China has officially launched the first 12 satellites of its 2,800-satellite “Three-Body Computing Constellation”—marking the start of the world’s first orbital supercomputer. Each AI-powered satellite processes 744 trillion operations per second and communicates with others via 100Gbps laser links. The system promises 1,000 POPS (peta operations per second) at full scale. These space data centers slash energy costs, bypass Earth’s bandwidth bottlenecks, and enable real-time 3D digital twin generation for emergencies, gaming, and more. Earth-based supercomputers may soon be eclipsed—not by rivals, but by orbit. 
  • CANADA PAUSES SOME U.S. TARIFFS AMID VANCE-CARNEY TALKS. Canada temporarily paused some counter-tariffs against the US, prompting Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre to claim PM Mark Carney had quietly surrendered in the trade war. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne:  
  • UNCANNY VALLEY: THE AI HYPE CYCLE ISN’T A CURVE—IT’S A CONSTELLATION. There is no singular AI wave. There are hundreds. And they’re all peaking at once. @RichardSocher: “Don’t think of the AI hype cycle as one line—it’s thousands of overlapping ones. From robotics to self-driving to web agents, each AI frontier has its own curve, its own timing, and its own reality.” (video
  • @LauraLoomer
  • Kudos to Kennedy @RobertKennedyJr for calling out the illicit Chinese vapes targeting American kids. It is time for real action to stop these dangerous e-cigs from harming more children. Let’s crack down on China HARD and protect our youth from addiction and harm before China claims any more victims. Today, 90 % of vapes are illegally imported from China, and my home state of Florida is No. 1 in the nation for illicit vape sales, while China has become the world’s leading producer of e-cigarettes. The CCP loves poisoning American Children. Let’s stop them!
  • Democrat Congresswoman @RepLaMonica has been charged for assaulting an ICE agent in New Jersey! Thank you, @AlinaHabba. You may want to keep an eye on homeboy Hakeem who said you will “find out” if his Sista faced “trumped up charges”. Sounds like a threat. (pic)
  • @amuse
  • @TheStormRedux
  • @BGatesIsaPsycho
  • @EricLDaugh
  • @JasonJournoDC
  • @LeadingReport
  • @bennyjohnson 
  • @WarClandestine
  • @Saxon_African
  • @catturd2
  • @VigilantFox
  • NEW: Bernie Sanders says the Democratic establishment despises “DIRTY” working-class people without a PhD. He recalled how thousands of energized, working-class supporters would show up to rallies—only to be met with hostility at official party events. Sanders painted the scene: “There’d be a few hundred people, mostly older, whiter, wealthier. And you saw the clash. The establishment did not want to open the door. They hated the idea that all these people whose hands were a little bit dirty, who didn’t have PhDs or weren’t wealthy…” (video)
Night Trading 
  • Asian equity indices are +.5% to +1.0% on average. 
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 79.75 -.5 basis point. 
  • China Sovereign CDS 52.25 +.5 basis point.
  • China Iron Ore Spot 99.0 USD/Metric Tonne -.4%
  • Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.65 +.06%.
  • Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 37.0 -.08%.
  • Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 70.0 -.9%.
  • US 10-Year Yield 4.45% unch.
  • Volatility Index(VIX) futures 19.9 +1.0%.
  • Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.61%. 
  • S&P 500 futures -.03%. 
  • NASDAQ 100 futures -.08%.
Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

No comments: