The pandemic fueled bubble of 2021 created some stark evaporation of investors funds.

A few examples that make Tesla's losses pale.

1) During the pandemic, with the explosion of online shopping and the Fed pumping cash via QE, stimulus and UI, Shopify (SHOP) had a nice run, hitting a post split adjusted HIGH of $170/share.

Today it trades for $32/share.

2) Likewise, AMAZON (AMZN) hit a pandemic high of $190/share, adjusted for the split...

Today it's 85/share.

3) Upstart (UPST) became a popular pandemic era favorite, offering a 21st Century AI based online lending software application

In October of 2021 it was $400/share... it's been dropping ever since.

It's $13/share today.


TRILLIONS of dollars have gone POOF from the pandemic inflated bubble that existed in 2021...

And experts see a "real recession" coming in 2023... not like the mini one we had in 2022 with 2 straight negative GDP quarters.

Hold on everyone...keep seat belts fastened until the light turns off.

P.S.

For those who are curious, most of the $$ that went POOF went into hedge funds and banks shorting the market... a vast majority of the money LOST came from the retail investor either directly or indirectly through their Mutual Fund, Retirement Fund or Pension...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/12/released-russian-arms-dealer-bout-joins-ultranationalist-party

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was freed last week from US custody in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner, has joined the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), according to the party’s leader, a Kremlin loyalist.

On Telegram on Monday, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky said “the party card of the Liberal Democratic Party” had been “personally handed” to Bout. “I am sure that Viktor Bout – a strong-willed and courageous person – will take a worthy place in it. Welcome to our ranks!,” he wrote in a post that included a picture of the two men.

Founded in 1991, the LDPR espouses a hardline, ultranationalist ideology that demands Russia reconquer the countries of the former Soviet Union.

It has been one of the most vehement supporters of the invasion of Ukraine, often calling for a more severe approach from Moscow.

How soon they forget about you, Donny.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/desantis-trump-2024-poll-suffolk/




DeSantis, Trump with 5" less height, 50 less lbs, 50 more IQ points and a functioning filter.

Much more dangerous.

For those hoping for a "burn it all down" angry and bitter Trump, don't count on it because Trump will need RD to give him a pardon and stop the DoJ investigations IF he were to win.

The team from Morocco beat Spain and is now going to play France.

Kinda like the Umayyad Caliphate Army crossing from modern day Morocco into modern day Spain in 711 and within 7 years conquering the Iberian Peninsula.

In 719 the Umayyads advanced into Gaul, modern day France. In 732 they advanced deeper and met a volunteer army of farmers and knights between Tours and Poitiers and were routed by Frankish King Charles Martel.

Charles chased the Umayyads around for another decade or so and then his son Pepin and grandson Charlemagne restored the territorial integrity of modern day Europe.

So... money is on France on Wednesday.

Can't be worse than an Octopus picking a winner, right?

https://studyfinds.org/artificial-sweetener-aspartame-anxiety/



Also see here:

https://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2022/12/08/fsu-research-links-common-sweetener-with-anxiety/

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213120119

Looks like this stuff may cause permanent damage to DNA and pass down to your kids...

If true... it should be banned ASAP.

to add... I'm probably 20-30oz daily of Diet Coke for 30+ years.

The movie is based on the "career" of Viktor Bout, although they've changed some names... Amnesty International even officially endorsed the movie.


Lord of War’s Yuri Orlov is based on several real international arms dealers from recent history, chief among them being the notorious Viktor Bout. Many of the details from Orlov’s life in Lord of War were directly lifted from the allegations surrounding Bout’s personal life and illegal activities, the connections implied by these allegations, and Bout’s own testimonies during his trial. Soon after the release of Lord of War, human rights group Amnesty International not only praised but even endorsed the movie because of how it shines a spotlight on the global illicit arms trafficking industry – represented by protagonist Yuri Orlov.

https://screenrant.com/lord-war-movie-true-story-viktor-bout/

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/01/pentagon-fails-another-audit-yet-congress-poised-approve-847-billion-budget

After 1,600 auditors combed through DOD’s $3.5 trillion in assets and $3.7 trillion in liabilities, officials found that the department couldn’t account for about 61 percent of its assets, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord told reporters on Tuesday.

The National Priorities Project (NPP) called the bipartisan proposal to further increase military spending despite the Pentagon's persistent accounting and human rights failures "a sign of an agency that is too big, plain and simple."

"Other major government agencies have long since passed audits," said NPP. "But the Pentagon, with its global sprawl of more than 750 military installations, and a budget increase that alone could more than double the diplomacy budget at the State Department, is so big and disjointed that no one knows where its money goes."




We joke around about the Russian military funneling billions to oligarchs while our own DoD is "missing" a few trillion.

Last year, NPP published a report showing that the U.S. has spent more than $21 trillion on militarization since September 11, 2001.

Do the math... that's 21,000,000,000,000 divided by 330 million Americans...

$65k per person, man, woman and child.

It ended up being a real sleeper.

Let me summarize for those who can't stay awake to read 39 boring posts.





1) The Federal Gov't (DoJ, FBI, etc) played ZERO PART in burying the Biden Laptop story at Twitter

2) Twitter Mgmt believed their "Hacked Data" policy justified the action, at the time didn't know veracity.

3) The Biden campaign AND Trump campaign BOTH kept in regular contact with Twitter asking for tweets to be deleted and/or users suspended.

4) Ro Khanna advised Twitter on the political impact of the actions. Very smart guy.

5) Twitter, internally was a very confusing place with a lot of people flying "by the seat of their pants" with no uniformity of policies.

6) Yeah, Twitter leaned left.



That's it.

Nothingburger.

So I'm exploring the underbelly of Twitter and run across a tweet with audio of Sean Hannity saying he'd like Trump to go to Russia and negotiate a deal for the release of Griner.

2 things

1) Hannity literally has an open line to Trump. Rumors were circulating that Trump spoke to him nearly daily in 2020.

2) It's actually just the slimy kind of thing Trump would do.

He'd fuel up the 757, make a couple stops and land in Moscow. He'd bring a film crew. He'd ask Cherelle (spouse) to come along. He'd milk up a weeks worth of drooling media coverage... make it dramatic, maybe turn the plane around empty handed saying the negotiations failed... then turn back around over the Ocean to go back again.

And since duh... Putin... Trump finally gets Griner and smiles like a Cheshire cat for the next week as the great "savior" who got her back when "no one could".

I'm just giving heads up... it'll be puke-worthy.