Authored by Dr. James Allan via DailySceptic.org,
Last year when I was asked to write a chapter for a US book on the incredible inroads and attacks on our civil liberties during the thuggish Covid lockdown years I decided, in part, to rank the worst offending groups. The lawyerly and doctorly castes were bad. They were woeful in fact. But the politicians as a class, the ones who ultimately made the calls, were worse – and there were very few exceptions to that generalised claim, as any Australian knows who looks for politicians who, say, resigned from Cabinet on principle (nada, zero) or who spoke up publicly and loudly against the massive authoritarian over-reach and aping of the policies of the Chinese Communist Politburo (a mere handful at most).
So I gave the silver medal for thuggish lockdown commitment and stalwart thuggery to the political class. However, in terms of letting all of us citizens down I reserved the gold medal for the journalists of the legacy media. As a class they exhibited no scepticism. No thinking for themselves. They were fearmongers and PR agents for the modellers, public health gurus, ‘nudge’ manipulators and politicos. Yes, there were some brave exceptions. But very few. What we got from the legacy media was a sort of attempt to play the type of media you’d see in George Orwell’s 1984, dealing in Big Brother doublethink. And all of that is on top of the verifiably huge drift towards the political Left of the legacy media over the last few decades.
Well, if you were hoping things would get noticeably better after the lockdowns ended, they haven’t.
For just one instance, let me take you to the murders of two young children and the wounding of at least 17 others in Minneapolis, Minnesota last week. It took place at a Catholic school with the murderer shooting at random through a stained-glass window during the first school mass of the academic year. The legacy media embarrassed itself reporting on this because it went against all the progressive class’s and legacy media’s (but I repeat myself) deeply held shibboleths and Left-wing bromides. You see the murderer was a man, Robert Westman, who back in 2020 had changed his first name to Robin and come out as transgender. He said he was now a female. And he hated Donald Trump. And he left behind a sort of manifesto that oozed antisemitism along with other bits of nastiness.
How to report this? How to report this, while still genuflecting before the progressive worldview? Life for the legacy media is just so much easier when a multiple shooter is a white, heterosexual male, preferably with conservative leanings. Then the details can be reported pronto. And the label ‘white nationalist’ will just be begging to be used. Alas, it was not to be. So on the transgender front the legacy media tied itself in knots. NBC News described the shooter as “a person in her early 20s”. The New York Times also used ‘she’ to describe the murderer. CNN talking heads worried about ‘misgendering’ the person who had killed two primary school kids and wounded 17 others, some severely. These journalists definitely know what’s important in a story, don’t they? The Washington Post got itself in a bit of a conundrum because, as it reported, “it is unclear how the shooter identified at the time of the incident”.
Likewise, the NPR that President Trump has just defunded wrote that we “do not know how the person currently identified” while the very Left-leaning Associated Press told readers “the shooter’s gender identity wasn’t clear”.
Oh, and on CNN the former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man embroiled up to his neck in the Russian collusion scam against Donald Trump, made a point of calling the trans murderer by his preferred identity: “I’m sure [the killer’s mother] is grieving for her daughter” – also somewhat misdirecting the first port of call for sympathy you might think.
Meantime no legacy media outlet that I know of mentioned the fact that an awful lot of recent mass school shootings have been committed by transgender murderers – in Denver, Nashville, Uvalde, Georgia, Aberdeen, Philadelphia, the list goes on.
In fact, it is a massively disproportionate number of such crimes being committed by transgender school shooters, a point I make for all the identity politics Lefties out there who insist on seeing the world in terms of groups.
I agree with the growing numbers of people who say the two most likely reasons for this are a) gender dysphoria is a severe mental illness which right now is not being treated as mental illness, but instead is being humoured and encouraged. Or, b) transgender people who transition are being subjected to intense doses of drugs that may be having an unpredictable effect on their behaviour or aggravating their pre-existing mental illness. Because let’s be honest. If you told someone you were Napoleon Bonaparte trapped in the wrong body that person would not make empathy his main response and cater to your self-delusion. He would try to explain that there is a mind-independent truth about the external, causal world. Likewise, the 47 year-old cannot identify as a 13 year-old to win some sporting competition. Because however he feels or whatever his preferences, he is not 13 years old. Again, the white woman doesn’t get to be black just because that’s what she would like and is how she sees herself.
As one US commentator rightly noted after this Minnesota tragedy, “The trans movement has been a disaster in every way and should be re-examined from the ground up.”
And the higher up the socio-economic ladder you go, the more sympathy you find for this toxic empathy. Rich, white women seem to be the most in its thrall.
The other big difficulty for the legacy media in reporting this shooting was the fact that the shooter hated Trump and wasn’t all-in on MAGA. Indeed, this shooter, Robert Westwood, had written “kill Donald Trump” on his gun. Now, how could they report that without pushing a characterisation that would help the current US President (a.k.a. ‘Hitler’)? Well, one of the terrestrial, longstanding main US TV networks tried to square that circle by reporting that the murderer had “Donald Trump’s name on his gun”. Yes, you read that sleight of hand correctly. Still want to know why the legacy media is dying and why conservatives, especially, no longer trust anything that they are being told by these partisan hacks? Why supposed Right-of-centre politicians pay any attention to these legacy media journalists is beyond me. Just look and see how Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre treat them with disdain and copy that.
In Europe, the highlight will be the Bank of England’s rate decision – DB expects the central bank to cut the Bank Rate to 4%, marking the fifth quarter-point reduction in the current cycle. Additional European data will come from trade and industrial production figures across key Eurozone economies, with Germany’s factory orders due on Wednesday. CPI prints are expected in Switzerland today and in Sweden on Thursday.In Asia, the focus will be on China’s trade balance, due Thursday, and Japan’s wage data on Wednesday. Chinese exports are expected to slow to 5% year-on-year in July, down from 5.8% in June. The Bank of Japan will release its summary of opinions from the July meeting on Friday and the minutes from the June meeting tomorrow.On the earnings front, the US season has passed its peak, but notable reports are expected from Eli Lilly, Palantir, and AMD. Other S&P 500 names reporting include McDonald’s, Walt Disney, and Uber. In Europe, attention will be on Novo Nordisk, Siemens, and Rheinmetall. Novo’s report on Wednesday will be particularly interesting following last week’s profit warning. In Japan, Toyota and Sony are set to report. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest energy company by market capitalization, will release its results tomorrow.
Here is a day-by-day calendar of eventsMonday August 4Data: US June factory orders, Japan July monetary base, Switzerland July CPIEarnings: Palantir, Mitsubishi UFJ, MercadoLibre, Vertex, Williams CosTuesday August 5Data: US July ISM services, June trade balance, China July services PMI, UK July official reserves changes, new car registrations, France June industrial production, budget balance, Italy July services PMI, Eurozone June PPI, Canada June international merchandise trade, New Zealand Q2 labour force survey Central banks: BoJ minutes of the June meetingEarnings: AMD, Caterpillar, Amgen, Eaton, Arista Networks, Pfizer, Recruit Holdings, TransDigm, BP, Apollo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Marriott, Zoetis, Diageo, Deutsche Post, Coupang, Infineon, Fidelity National Information, Super Micro Computer, DuPont de Nemours, SnapAuctions: US 3-year Notes ($58bn)Wednesday August 6Data: UK July construction PMI, Japan June labor cash earnings, Germany June factory orders, July construction PMI, France Q2 private sector payrolls, Italy June industrial production, Eurozone June retail salesCentral banks: Fed’s Cook and Collins speakEarnings: Novo Nordisk, McDonald’s, Walt Disney, Uber, Shopify, AppLovin, DoorDash, Thomson Reuters, Siemens Energy, Airbnb, Emerson Electric, Fortinet, CRH, Energy Transfer, Generali, Honda Motor, Glencore, Occidental Petroleum, Rockwell Automation, Commerzbank, Bayer, NRG Energy, Vonovia, Carlyle, DraftKings, Global Payments, Duolingo, LyftAuctions: US 10-year Notes ($42bn)Thursday August 7Data: US Q2 nonfarm productivity, unit labor costs, June consumer credit, wholesale trade sales, July NY Fed 1-yr inflation expectations, initial jobless claims, China July trade balance, foreign reserves, Japan June leading index, coincident index, Germany June industrial production, trade balance, France June trade balance, current account balance, Q2 wages, Sweden July CPICentral banks: BoE’s decision, DMP survey, Fed’s Bostic speaks, ECB publishes its economic bulletin, ECB’s Rehn speaksEarnings: Eli Lilly, Toyota, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Allianz, Sony, Gilead Sciences, ConocoPhillips, DBS, Constellation Energy, Rheinmetall, Petroleo Brasileiro, Vistra, Flutter Entertainment, Atlassian, Cheniere, Datadog, Block, Kenvue, Take-Two, Warner Bros Discovery, AP Moller – Maersk, Sandoz, Pinterest, Expedia, Rocket Lab, Twilio, NuScale Power, Maplebear, PelotonAuctions: US 30-year Bonds ($25bn)Friday August 8Data: China Q2 BoP current account balance, Japan July Economy Watchers survey, bank lending, June household spending, BoP trade balance, BoP current account balance, Canada July jobs reportCentral banks: Fed’s Musalem speaks, BoJ’s summary of opinions from the July meetingEarnings: Munich Re, Wendy’s* * *Finally, looking at just the US, the key economic data release this week is the ISM services index on Tuesday. There are several speaking engagements from Fed officials this week, including an event with Fed Governor Cook on Wednesday. Monday, August 4 10:00 AM Factory orders, June (GS -4.2%, consensus -4.8%, last +8.2%); Factory orders ex-transportation, June (consensus +0.2%, last +0.2%); Durable goods orders, June final (GS -9.3%, consensus -9.3%, last -9.3%); Durable goods orders ex-transportation, June final (GS +0.2%, consensus +0.2%, last +0.2%); Core capital goods orders, June final (last -0.7%); Core capital goods shipments, June final (last +0.4%) Tuesday, August 5 08:30 AM Trade balance, June (GS -$61.0bn, consensus -$61.3bn, last -$71.5bn)09:45 AM S&P Global US services PMI, July final (consensus 55.1, last 55.2)10:00 AM ISM services index, July (GS 52.0, consensus 51.5, last 50.8): We estimate that the ISM services index increased by 1.2pt to 52.0 in July, reflecting sequential improvement in our non-manufacturing survey tracker (+1.9pt to 53.2 in July) but a headwind from residual seasonality. Wednesday, August 6 There are no major data releases scheduled. 02:00 PM Fed Governor Cook and Boston Fed President Collins (FOMC voter) speak: Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Boston Fed President Susan Collins will participate in a panel discussion with Central Bank of Chile Board Member Luis Felipe Céspedes. The discussion will be moderated by Boston Fed Director of Research Egon Zakrajšek. Q&A is expected. On July 15th, Collins said that “financial data point to the possibility that the impact of tariffs may be lessened somewhat by an ability for firms to decrease profit margins and for consumers to continue spending, despite higher prices.” But she also noted that she “do[es] not rule out scenarios with larger or more persistent effects from tariffs and ongoing economic uncertainty.”04:10 PM San Francisco Fed President Daly (FOMC non-voter) speaks: San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will speak at the 2025 Anchorage Economic Summit. Text and Q&A are expected. On July 17th, Daly said that she believes “the current policy rate is modestly or moderately restrictive” and has “penciled in a nominal neutral rate of 3%.” She also noted that the June SEP’s median projection of two rate cuts in 2025 “is a reasonable outlook to have.”Thursday, August 7 08:30 AM Nonfarm productivity, Q2 preliminary (GS +2.1%, consensus +2.0%, last -1.5%); Unit labor costs, Q2 preliminary (GS +1.2%, consensus +1.5%, last +6.6%)08:30 AM Initial jobless claims, week ended August 2 (GS 218k, consensus 221k, last 218k); Continuing jobless claims, week ended July 26 (consensus 1,947k, last 1,946k)10:00 AM Atlanta Fed President Bostic (FOMC non-voter) speaks: Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will participate in a virtual fireside chat on monetary policy with the Florida Institute of CFOs. Q&A is expected. On August 1st, Bostic said, “Going into this week, I thought the risks to inflation were much greater than the risks to employment… [but the July nonfarm payroll number and the revisions to prior months’ job gains] suggest that maybe the economy is weakening more broadly than what we had been seeing.” He also noted that he still expects “one cut this year” but is open to “rethinking [that after getting] more data before the next meeting.” 11:00 AM New York Fed 1-year inflation expectations, July (last 3.0%) Friday, August 8 There are no major data releases scheduled.10:20 AM St. Louis Fed President Musalem (FOMC voter) speaks: St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem will participate in a fireside chat hosted by Mississippi Valley State University. Text and Q&A are expected. On July 10th, Musalem said that “tariffs could have a temporary effect on inflation and a one-time effect on prices, [but] they could also have a more persistent impact on inflation,” and that “it’s too soon to tell which way it’s going to go.” He also noted that from his perspective, the current “monetary policy is modestly restrictive.”Source: DB, GoldmanLoading recommendations…