• As NATO Bids Farewell To Reality, Moscow And Beijing Pursue Win-Win Deals With Türkiye
  As NATO Bids Farewell To Reality, Moscow And Beijing Pursue Win-Win Deals With Türkiye

  Authored by Conor Gallagher via NakedCapitalism.com,

  In back-to-back weeks Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended first the Shanghai Cooperation Organization gathering in Astana and then the NATO summit in Washington DC. The contrast was stark.

  

  Erdoğan made clear Türkiye’s opposition to escalation with Russia and US support for Israel, while Washington tried its usual small-carrot-big-stick approach. Far more interesting was what was happening with Türkiye, Russia, and China at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization gathering the week before the NATO summit.

  But first, the problems with the world’s “most successful military alliance.” Türkiye is opposed to further escalation of Washington’s conflict with Russia. Public opinion at home is overwhelmingly against Israel and the US (during the NATO summit Erdogan said the US is “complicit” in Israeli war crimes). The US continues to support Türkiye’s Kurdish enemies in Syria while there are  increasing problems with Syrian refugees in Türkiye. NATO generally seems hellbent on starting even more conflicts, such as with China which is in no one’s interest, but only Türkiye, Hungary, and Slovakia are apparently willing to say so.

  Meanwhile, Ankara is facing fresh sanctions threats from the US where the House of Representatives is pushing forward with legislation that would require the Biden administration to sanction Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom and “its affiliates and subsidiaries…[and] authorize secondary sanctions on any foreign person engaged in significant transactions with Rosatom.”

  This would have major implications for Türkiye’s first and only nuclear power plant, which was inaugurated last year with the delivery of the first nuclear fuel to the plant site – a major occasion in Türkiye as it marked the country joining the ranks of nuclear power nations. Rosatom financed and is building the plant that would provide roughly 10 percent of Türkiye’s energy needs once completed, but has recently faced delays due to difficulties obtaining equipment from third countries because of US sanctions. [1]

  At the same time that the US is trying to muscle out Rosatom 14 years after it signed a deal with Ankara and after nine years of work on the project, it is is trying to pressure Türkiye into deals with American companies to build reactors in the country despite a whole host of issues with US designs, safety, cost, and the overarching geopolitical strategy since they would likely still rely on Russia (or possibly China) for key parts of the nuclear fuel supply chain.

  Despite the threat of sanctions, Türkiye remains in talks with Russia for a second nuclear power plant, as well as with China’s for a third plant.

  That is representative of the overall trend of Türkiye’s relations with the US on one side and Russia and China on the other. Slowly but surely Türkiye is being drawn further East, and while US sanctions might erect some speed bumps, they are not stopping the process. Barring a government coming to power in Ankara that takes its orders from Washington, which at this point would require a coup given the Turkish public’s increasing opposition to the US and the EU. Despite the rising resentment of the West in Turkiye, the sanctions weapon is unlikely to be sheathed, and there will be even more calls from US lawmakers for more pressure to force Ankara to “abide by international law,” [2]

  Türkiye and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

  While the NATO nobility spent last week talking about starting wars they can’t win and controlling events they can’t control,  Erdoğan enjoyed a warm reception at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana two weeks ago. He met with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and both pledged to continue strengthening ties with Türkiye.

  Founded in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO has always emphasized the importance of  combating terrorism and radicalism, especially in Central Asia. The recent summit, however, was seen as an expansion of the SCO’s ambitions to become the security provider to the Eurasian continent. Belarus joined the SCO at the summit, which also counts Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, and Iran as members. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states, and  there are 14 dialogue partners.

  This is an organization that now represents roughly 42 percent of the world population and 80 percent of the Eurasian landmass. Most importantly, these countries constitute about one-third of world GDP and roughly $6 trillion more than the EU.

  One only needs to look at a map to see how this bloc is becoming the center of the world in more than ways than one with Europe left out on the periphery – a decision of its own making.

  

  What the SCO wants to guard against above all else is efforts by the West to use terrorism or any other division strategies to thwart the growing power of its member states. The US has tried to use central Asian nations in this way in recent years to no avail as investment by China and Russia in these countries absolutely dwarfs what the West has on offer.

  The importance of security in Eurasia helps explain Türkiye’s attractiveness to the SCO and BRICS, which is increasingly the economic partner organization to the former. It’s not just that Türkiye is the world’s 18th most populous country with a GDP per capita at purchasing power parity that places it 47th. It’s not just that it has a customs union agreement with the EU that currently makes it an attractive point to get around tariffs or sanctions.

  It’s also that Türkiye would be a key piece to security architecture of the SCO. Here’s Erdoğan stressing this point following a meeting with Xi:

  “The organization has become one of our important dialogue channels with Asia owing to our dialogue partner status, which we’ve held since 2013,” he said. “Our many years of experience fighting terrorism show that international cooperation is essential to dealing with this threat. In this context, we are ready to further strengthen our dialogue with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”

  Erdoğan, once an outspoken critic of Beijing due to its alleged treatment of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority of Turkic origin in western China, has almost completely dropped his criticism in recent years.

  Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in China in June talking up the possibility of Türkiye joining BRICS, but most importantly, he made some major statements regarding Xinjiang. According to a Chinese statement, Fidan told Chinese Vice President Han Zheng that Türkiye adhered to the one-China principle and “will not allow activities in Türkiye that undermine China’s territorial integrity”. China attaches immense significance to the issue and would likely be the number one topic in any discussions with Türkiye about further integration with BRICS or the SCO.

  That cements a major shift for Türkiye, which used to call Xinjiang “East Turkistan,” accuse China of “genocide” against Uyghurs (a claim the rest of the West still makes), and allegedly play a role in training Xinjiang militants. The change in Türkiye’s stance likely causes consternation in Washington, but is a clear sign of the shift underway for a country that is no stranger to supporting jihadists to further its and Washington’s goals in West Asia.

  Inching Closer to Türkiye-Syria Reconciliation (and a Major Blow to US Occupation of Syria)?

  One of the biggest items on the SCO agenda involving Türkiye is resolving the Syria issue and getting the Americans out – a goal for which Türkiye would need to play a central role.

  We can see those pieces starting to come together with Syria now.

  On his trip back from the NATO summit, Erdoğan announced that Türkiye and Syria will determine a roadmap to revive long-frozen relations between the two neighbors and will take steps accordingly. FM Fidan is being tasked with restoring ties and setting up a meeting between Erdoğan and Assad.

  Erdoğan showed renewed motivation to mend fences with Damascus following his meetings in Astana. Whatever he saw or didn’t see in Washington apparently provided even more motivation to  restore ties with Syria – a relationship that was destroyed by Türkiye, in cahoots with the West, playing a major destabilizing role by funneling fighters to Syria and funding them. There has been noise about a Ankara-Damascus reconciliation for some time, but due to the steady encouragement from Moscow, it would appear to be getting closer. There would be benefits for both Türkiye and Syria of burying the hatchette, but the biggest impact viewed through a wider lens would be to make the US position in Syria more untenable.

  And going forward, a Türkiye that is a member of the SCO and more in lockstep with Moscow and Beijing, would further the SCO mission to keep destabilizing forces at bay in Eurasia.

  What other factors are pushing Türkiye towards the East?

  Western Hubris

  The EU may look back at some point in a decade or two and rue the decision to snub Türkiye, but Türkiye has long been expected to go along with the wishes of NATO and the EU despite often being treated like a second-class citizen. The failure of Türkiye’s EU accession is just one of many examples.

  As mentioned above, the US threatening to torpedo the nuclear power plant in Türkiye is representative of another. The US sanctions Turkish individuals and companies for “aiding Russia,” for “aiding Iran,” and the US is already threatening to slap on more sanctions over Turkish firms’ exports to Russia. A quick search on the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control site turns up a whopping 232 sanctioned Turkish individuals or entities.  This is not a great look when Türkiye is going through its worst economic crisis in two decades.

  There have also been, from the Turkish point of view, a lack of consideration of Turkish defense needs. In the 1990s, Ankara asked NATO multiple times to deploy early warning systems and Patriot missiles to Türkiye, but it never came to pass. In 2017 Russia sold Türkiye its S-400 missile defense systems, which are arguably superior to anything the West has. In response the US expelled Türkiye from its F-35 program and sanctioned the country’s defense industry organization and its leaders.

  While the US keeps slapping more sanctions on Turkish entities, the economic relationship between Türkiye and SCO countries is growing exponentially.

  The Economy – Sanctions or Investment?

  Ahead of the SCO summit, the Turkish broadcaster TRT World highlighted the fact that Turkish exports to SCO countries increased by 85% in last 5 years:

  Turkish exports to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries have skyrocketed 85 percent over the last five years from a value of $14.1 billion in 2019 to nearly $26.1 billion in 2023. The share of these countries in Türkiye’s overall exports last year was 10 percent.

  Türkiye’s imports from SCO member countries also reached $106.3 billion last year, around double the $55.6 billion total in 2019.

  Still, the EU is by far Türkiye’s top trading partner, accounting for almost one third of its trade while Türkiye is the EU’s seventh trading partner, making for 3.6 percent of total EU trade.

  But Türkiye’s weak economy has the government seeking foreign investment. Enter China with its vast financial resources, which looks ready to provide an influx of capital for the price of cooperation on China and SCO goals.

  Both Erdoğan at the SCO summit and FM Fidan in his recent trip to China were asking for more investment from Beijing in Türkiye. It looks like that is already coming through. Chinese automotive company BYD just announced that it will construct a $1 billion plant in western Türkiye. From the South China Morning Post:

  The new factory would improve BYD’s access to the European Union, because Türkiye has a customs-union agreement with the bloc. The EU moved ahead this week with plans to impose provisional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China, hitting BYD with an additional 17.4 per cent charge on top of the existing 10 per cent rate.

  There’s also a domestic market to serve, with EVs accounting for 7.5 per cent of car sales last year in Türkiye, a country with a population of almost 90 million.

  Türkiye announced Friday that it was walking back plans announced almost a month ago to impose an additional 40 per cent tariff on all vehicles from China, citing efforts to encourage investment. That decision followed talks between Erdoğan and China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday during a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Astana, Kazakhstan.

  There is a belief that this BYD plant will open the floodgates to more Chinese investment turning Türkiye into a “production hub” with a heavy focus at least for now on tariff-free exports to European countries thanks to Ankara’s customs union agreement with Brussels.

  As the economic balance of power cements its shift to Asia while Europe suffers through a partially self-inflicted decline, then Türkiye’s long-term importance is less clear. How valuable is Türkiye’s customs agreement with the EU going to be in 10 years?

  But Türkiye could still be an important market on its own and security policy could be more important than a backdoor into the declining EU market. Russia, for example, would like to ensure going forward that Türkiye will not open the Turkish Straits to NATO warships thereby allowing them access to the Black Sea, and neither Beijing or Moscow want to see Ankara helping to destabilize central Asia.

  Notably, China is also considering defense production cooperation with Türkiye, which would be a major step. Even as China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) rises in Türkiye, it still has a ways to go to match Europe. In 2022 Chinese FDI in Türkiye stood at $1.7 billion, but the EU-27 countries still contribute 59 percent of Türkiye’s FDI inflows. As for Russia, it supplies Türkiye with nearly half of its natural gas and a quarter of its oil. The two nations also cooperate on nuclear energy with Russia financing and building the aforementioned Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, and in talks to construct another.

  Public Opinion

  Türkiye’s pursuit of BRICS membership would mark a fundamental shift in the country, which has been positioning itself to become part of “the West” for decades, but in many ways the public in Türkiye has already turned its back on the EU and the US and looks more favorably to the East:

  A poll conducted in December 2022 by the Turkish company Gezici found that 72.8% of Turkish citizens polled were in favor of good relations with Russia. By comparison, nearly 90% perceive the United States as a hostile country. It also revealed that 24.2% of citizens believe that Russia is hostile, while 62.6% believe that Russia is a friendly country. Similarly, more than 60% of respondents said that Russia contributes positively to the Turkish economy.

  More recent polling for NATO’s 75-year anniversary by Pew Research Center don’t show such a dire picture, but Turks still have the second lowest approval rating of the alliance among members:

  

  For Now, The Middle

  Erdoğan talked about being part of both East and West in an interview with Newsweek. He’s effectively distancing himself from the lunatics at NATO while declaring neutrality in its conflicts. That’s playing to Türkiye’s advantage right now, but might not be all that valuable to be the bridge between Europe and Asia due to Europe’s long term economic prospects. It also becomes dangerous. There’s no way that NATO, for example, would tolerate Türkiye being a member in the SCO, and it will likely continue to try to wield stick measures in response to Ankara’s increasing cooperation with Moscow and Beijing. Türkiye has no reason to choose a side, as the commentary often goes, but it would not be uncharacteristic of the West’s with-us-or-against-us policies to try to force it to do so. That’s where the risk exists of being pulled apart by trying to straddle both sides as there is still a sizable bloc in the country that favors an exclusively western-oreiented policy.

  It’s interesting to note that new legislation in Türkiye is attempting to crack down on “foreign interests.” According to Turkish Minute, that would apply to “anyone who carries out or orders research on (Turkish) citizens and institutions with the aim of acting against the security or the political, internal or external interests of the state, on the orders or in the strategic interests of a foreign organization or state.” Those convicted would face three to seven years in prison. These types of laws are increasingly being considered by states that say they fear Western meddling in their country, oftentimes with the aim of instigating color revolutions.

  Should NATO and Turkiye suffer some sort of break, it will likely be the result of NATO’s flight from reality – not Turkiye. If the past is any guide, Türkiye has good odds to successfully navigate the transition to a more multipolar world with the Eurasian core at its center.

  I’ve made the comparison before, but I think it bears repeating: In 1941, Türkiye and Germany signed a nonaggression pact, and Ankara raked in economic and military aid from both Axis and Allies trying to woo Türkiye to their side. As the tide changed in WWII, however, Türkiye wisely bet on the eventual victors, moving increasingly to the Allied side. In 1944 Türkiye stopped exporting chromite to Germany, a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel, and later that year severed diplomatic relations with Germany. In 1945 Türkiye declared war on Germany – two months before its defeat.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/16/2024 – 02:00

• Is America Ready For A Return To Greatness?
  Is America Ready For A Return To Greatness?

  Authored by Richard Truesdell via American Greatness,

  In the aftermath of yesterday’s assassination attempt, I find myself asking: Why all the visceral hatred of Donald Trump? It manifests itself everywhere but is most visible among Hollywood elites and members of the Fourth Estate (the press and most of the mainstream media) and especially on social media.

  What did this man with the orange hairdo do to these people?

  

  First, I want to say that I am not a raving MAGA Trump supporter, not that there is anything wrong with being one. Some of my best friends are MAGA proponents. Despite what some of my friends and professional colleagues think, I’m pretty centrist in my political philosophies: conservative on some issues (staying out of needless foreign wars, putting reasonable limits on abortion), liberal on others (maintaining individual rights, being a staunch supporter of the First Amendment). I’m pretty much a “live and let live” kind of guy.

  I think that as a nation, that’s where most Americans lie, from slightly left of center to somewhat right of center. Most of us lack a sense of ideological purity.

  But I think Trump’s victory in 2016 was a reaction – to years of often invisible far-left control of the institutional levers of power – rather than any sort of revolution, January 6th notwithstanding. Trump was the vessel through which many centrist Americans vented their long-simmering frustrations.

  But I digress…

  Getting back to Trump, I believe his real troubles began in 2016 when this political upstart—who had previously been a liberal-leaning New York City real estate developer and popular reality TV host—defeated the anointed one, Hillary Clinton, the candidate destiny had chosen to be the first female president (funny how it seems that title has unofficially fallen to “Dr.” Jill Biden).

  That triggered a reaction that has been unprecedented in our almost 250 years as a nation. It was best manifested in the fake news, a pre-printed Newsweek special edition proclaiming Clinton as Madam President. 125,000 copies were printed and had to be recalled. (It should be noted that there was no pre-printed President Trump special edition; it was rushed into print after the election because Clinton’s election was a foregone conclusion up until about 11 p.m. on Election Night.) Why waste ink and paper when it was going to be Clinton’s hand on the Bible on January 20, 2017?

  From the minute that Donald and Melania came down the escalator, Democrats and the far-left tried to destroy Trump. It started with the Clinton- and DNC-funded Steele Dossier that was at the heart of the three-year-long RussiaGate scandal that was repudiated by the embarrassing Mueller Report. It continued right after the election when Deep State activists illegally surveilled Trump appointees, especially Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as Trump’s National Security Advisor, hobbling the Trump administration during the transition period and beyond until Trump left office in 2021.

  Working in conjunction with its handmaidens in the media, it was non-stop Orange-man-bad throughout Trump’s administration that accelerated after Republican losses in the 2018 midterm elections that allowed for two politically motivated impeachments where Democrats, especially in the House led by partisan clowns like Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, flexed their political muscle in ways not previously seen.

  These activities culminated in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, when any reference to the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story was blacked out by the mainstream media. It spread to social media, where Trump was banned while intelligence community stooges were able to peddle the narrative that the story was a Russian disinformation operation. We, on the right, call them the 51 Spies Who Lied.

  Then we have the unprecedented lawfare deployed against Trump during the Biden information, carefully coordinated by Biden’s completely corrupt Department of Justice led by Merrick Garland, the forum-shopped Alvin Bragg prosecution, and two Jack Smith prosecutions—the Florida documents case and the other in Washington, DC—and you wonder how Trump was able to respond. Throw in two more completely politically motivated trials—the outrageous Letitia James fraud prosecution back in New York City and the apparently compromised Fani Willis election interference case in Georgia—and you have a legal onslaught that would have destroyed a lesser man.

  On Saturday, after failing to remove Trump from the 2024 race that polls now say he’s winning handily, a 20-year-old assassin took the election into his own hands. But this is not surprising when you watch this post-assassination-attempt compilation video posted on TikToK.

  When I saw the cover of the June issue of the New Republic, the one with the AI-generated composite image with the faces of Hitler and Trump merged, it disgusted me. Trump is many things (not always ethical in his business affairs, bombastic, subject to exaggeration, a serial philanderer), but he is not a fascist. Far from it. His first administration proved that. He didn’t lock up Hillary Clinton or send Rachel Maddow to a reeducation camp (although, in the eyes of many, he should have done both).

  As with all administrations, Trump’s first period in office had many upsides and a few significant downsides (the COVID responses under his watch were very damaging, he tolerated too many Obama holdovers for far too long, and he did not reform our armed forces as promised).

  I would, however, highlight five significant Trump achievements that should make a rock-solid case for his second term in office:

  1. Energy independence was arguably Trump’s greatest accomplishment. In under three years, our unleashing of oil exploration made America a net energy exporter, bringing the world into our bounty. Affordable energy is key to a higher quality of life, and you can thank Donald Trump for standing firm against environmental extremists and radicals in the Democrat Party who work hard to keep energy costs high. During Biden’s first week in office, bowing to environmental extremists based on the far left, the Keystone pipeline was scuttled, and exploration, especially in Alaska, was curtailed. The net result is that we now import rather than export petroleum.

  2. Securing our borders was always going to be difficult, given the multi-generational push from the left to provide sanctuary for non-citizens. Trump’s DHS ensured that immigration laws were followed, the flow of immigrants was managed, and those who did not meet the criteria were kept in Mexico until their asylum cases could be heard. Humane, practical, and effective. Unlike today, under the leadership of Biden and his incompetent Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, immigration is a catastrophe. We have no idea exactly how many aliens have illegally entered the United States during the Biden administration. At a minimum, the number is eight million, but it could be as high as 12 million or more.

  3. The creation of the Abraham Accords of 2020 was a miracle. Imagine having a host of Arab countries sign a normalization agreement with Israel, thus putting aside generations of aggression in the name of Abraham of biblical descent. By mismanaging the response to the October 7, 2023, Gaza attacks, Biden has thrown this away and alienated both Israel and the Palestinians, as well as much of the Arab world that was considering stronger ties with Israel.

  4. Supreme Court appointments tend to define a presidency in perpetuity. Trump’s three appointees (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett) allowed for a moderate balance within the Court. It provided an opportunity to shield America from the left, using the Court as a way to push agendas that would not have withstood the legislative process. If re-elected, Trump will almost surely appoint two more justices to replace Justices Thomas and Alito, and conceivably two more to replace Sotomayor and Roberts, who will both be in their seventies if Trump serves to the end of a second term. Trump’s impact will last long after he is out of office.

  5. Politicians, particularly Democrats, love to start wars. Not Donald Trump. Under his leadership, there were no new interventions, no new foreign invasions, and no new threats to our homeland. Due to the crisis on the southern border that has been boiling over for over three years, we have no idea how many terrorists have slipped across the border to do us harm. His America First agenda served as a warning to bad actors around the world: Don’t mess with the Orange Man.

  Compare these accomplishments to those of the current inhabitants of the White House. There is nothing there to warrant giving the Biden administration more opportunities to, in the words of Barack Obama, “f*ck things up.”

  Trump, like all of us, is a flawed man. Yet despite Saturday’s assassination attempt, he is on the cusp of being formally nominated to run for reelection by his party. If re-elected, as polls and Biden’s debate self-immolation would seem to indicate, he will be only the second president in US history to serve two non-contiguous terms. If he gets to that point, Trump will have surmounted unprecedented obstacles.

  What can we expect from a second Trump term? Everything that the Biden administration is not: an America First governing policy (not the Project 2025 manifesto endlessly parroted by Democrat shills in lockstep with their stenographers in the compliant mainstream media), enforcement of federal law (imagine that!), and a renewed accountability of government to its citizens. It’s morning in America once again.

  Only the most rabid partisans would claim that Trump is an authoritarian, a dictator, or a fascist. Those voices are sounding tired now, after three-plus years of one of the most authoritarian administrations in our history that has censored our speech, imprisoned its enemies, ignored the law, embraced non-citizens, enabled our enemies abroad, and created chaos in our cities. Those voices are fading into irrelevance. They are fading into a history we will remember as one of the most challenging times for the American experiment, and lucky for us, we have a way out.

  America is ready for a better quality of life. America is ready for justice. America is ready for a return to greatness.

  Remarkable words from Tucker Carlson.

  ‘Trump has won the election. Even Democrats respect his courage.’pic.twitter.com/jcuJoz335J

  — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 15, 2024

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  America is ready for the return of Trump.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 23:00

• Prominent Syrian Businessman Assassinated By Israeli Drone Strike
  Prominent Syrian Businessman Assassinated By Israeli Drone Strike

  A prominent Syrian businessman who has long been close to the government of Bashar al-Assad has been killed by an Israeli drone near the border with Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese media and the Associated Press report.

  The man, Baraa Katerji, was traveling in his car near the Syrian-Lebanese border Monday evening when it was struck by a missile, instantly killing him and his bodyguard.

  

  He was likely targeted due to his being under US-led sanctions and a facilitator of so-called ‘illicit’ shipments of Iranian oil into Syria. Katerji oversaw a business empire based on oil, transport, logistics, and construction.

  The AP details based on regional sources that—

  An official from an Iran-backed group said that Katerji was killed instantly while in his SUV on the highway linking Lebanon with Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

  The pro-government Al-Watan daily quoted unnamed “sources” as saying that Katerji, 48, was killed in a “Zionist drone strike on his car.” It gave no further details.

  Both the US and Israel have long sought to thwart Iranian oil and energy imports. For years the Syrian population has been hit hard by the sanctions, and is almost totally dependent on energy links to Tehran.

  Prior to the war, the Syrian population’s fuel and energy needs could be sustained by oil and gas fields in northeast Syria, but the US has occupied these going back years at this point. This has resulted in rolling blackouts and lengthy queues at gas stations. The economy has been smashed and led to unprecedented poverty and hunger.

  Israel has been attacking what it calls ‘Iranian assets’ in Syria on almost a weekly basis, with the last strike on Damascus being Sunday, resulting in a Syrian soldier killed and three others injured.

  Lebanese media report an alleged Israeli airstrike on a car near the Syrian town of as-Saboura, close to the border with Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/PA7lJ69Cbi

  — Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 15, 2024

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  A source told state-run SANA, “The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of occupied Syrian Golan, while our Syrian Arab Army’s air defense systems intercepted the missiles launched by the Israeli enemy and downed some of them.”

  Washington and Tel Aviv have remained committed to ensuring Syria can never be rebuilt, and that the economy and infrastructure stay in ruins…

  About a month ago, Katerji Holding Company launched the largest industrial complex in the Middle East and the first of its kind in Syria in the Sheikh Najjar Industrial City in Aleppo on an area of up to 3 million square meters.

  The project includes 357 industries, provides…

  — Kevork Almassian🇸🇾🇦🇲 (@KevorkAlmassian) July 15, 2024

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  While such strikes have become common, much more rare is a drone strike of a lone businessman. It remains a mystery as to exactly why Israeli intelligence would target Katerji, however, enemies of Damascus have long seen him as a powerful figure within the ‘elite’ Assad inner-circle. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 22:35

• VDH: Assassination Porn & The Sickness On The Left
  VDH: Assassination Porn & The Sickness On The Left

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via X:

  If we were leftists and we were to use leftist tropes to editorialize the recent attempt on Trump’s life, then we would frame the assassination attempt in the following way:

  We have witnessed for years blatant exceptions to the once common custom that we don’t normalize the imagined killing of any president or presidential candidate and thus lower the bar of violence.

  But the Left constantly makes Trump an exception.

  Now, it as if the imagined killing of Trump had been mainstreamed and become acceptable in a way inconceivable of other presidents.

  (Do we remember the rodeo clown who merely wore an Obama mask during a bull riding contest and was punished by being permanently banned by the Missouri State Fair authorities?)

  So since at least 2016 there has been a parlor game among Leftist celebrities and entertainers joking (one hopes), dreaming, imagining, and just talking about the various and graphic ways they would like to assassinate or seriously injure Trump:

  By slugging his face (Robert De Niro),

  by decapitation (Kathy Griffin, Marilyn Manson),

  by stabbing (Shakespeare in the Park),

  by clubbing (Mickey Rourke),

  by shooting ( Snoop Dogg), by poisoning (Anthony Bourdain),

  by bounty killing (George Lopez),

  by carrion eating his corpse (Pearl Jam),

  by suffocating (Larry Whilmore),

  by blowing him up (Madonna, Moby),

  by throwing him over a cliff (Rosie O’Donnell),

  just by generic “killing” him (Johnny Depp, Big Sean),

  or by martyring him (Reid Hoffman: “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”).

  Or should we deplore the use of telescopic scope imagery, given that the Left blamed Sarah Palin for once using bullseye spots on an election map of opposition congressional districts, claiming that such usage had incited the mass shooting by Jared Lee Loughner?

  Yet, recently POTUS Joe Biden was a little bit more graphic and a lot more literal.

  In a widely reported call to hundreds of donors last week, Biden boasted, “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

  NEW

  NBC’s Lester Holt pushes President Biden on some of the language he has used when talking about Trump in the past.

  Specifically, the “bullseye” comment that Biden made on a donor call.

  Biden responds, in part, by saying: “you can’t only love your country when you win,”… pic.twitter.com/oSN5Pp6uCn

  — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 15, 2024

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  “In a bullseye?”

  At least, Biden did not go back to the full Biden beat-up porn of the past (e.g., “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him”/ “The press always asks me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’ No, I wish we were in high school – I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”).

  Then there is the question of the Secret Service and one’s political opponents. Given the tragic history of the Kennedys, why in the world did the Biden administration not insist that third-party candidate Robert Kennedy, Jr. be accorded Secret Service protection?

  Because his candidacy was felt to be disadvantageous to Biden?

  And why just this April would the former head of the January 6th Committee and 2004 election obstructionist Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) introduce legislation ridiculously entitled, “Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act” to strip away Secret Service protection for former President Trump and by this April current leading presidential candidate?

  Had Thompson’s bill passed, would that not have been confirmation for a potential shooter to feel his task was just made much easier?

  But in a wider sense, if the common referent day after day on the Left is that Trump is another Hitler (cf. a recent The New Republic cover where Trump is literally photoshopped as Hitler), then it seems reckless not to imagine an unhinged or young shootist believing that by taking out somewhat identical to one of the greatest mass murderers in history, he would be applauded for his violence?

  

  So is their logic, shoot Trump and save six million from the gas chambers?

  After all, The New Republic defiantly explained their Hitler-Trump cover photo this way, “Today, we at The New Republic think we can spend this election year in one of two ways. We can spend it debating whether Trump meets the nine or 17 points that define fascism. Or we can spend it saying, “He’s damn close enough, and we’d better fight.”

  Well, New Republic, recently someone took you up on your argument that Trump was “damn close enough” to Hitler and so he likewise chose to “fight”— albeit with a semi-automatic rifle.

  If ad nauseam, a Joy Reid is screaming about Trump as a Hitlerian dictator (“Then let me know who I got to vote for to keep Hitler out of the White House”) or Rachel Maddow is bloviating about studying Hitler to understand Trump, then finally the message sinks in that a mass murderer is about to take power – unless…

  Finally, the idea, if true, that bystanders spotted a 20-year-old on a nearby roof with a gun, a mere 130 yards from Trump, and in vain warned police of his presence, is surreal. Is it all that hard for the Secret Service to post a few agents on the tops of a few surrounding buildings closest to the dais, or at least coordinate with local law enforcement to do the same?

  That is a no brainer.

  Whoever made the decisions concerning the proper secret service security details for presidential events should be immediately fired.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 22:10

• US No Longer Seen As Shining Example Of Democracy
  US No Longer Seen As Shining Example Of Democracy

  Saturday’s failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump not only shocked the world, but also added a tragic chapter to a 2024 presidential race that was already marred in turmoil and controversy. First there was Trump’s conviction in the hush money case, which makes him the first convicted felon to run for president as a major party candidate.

  Then there was Biden’s debate debacle, which sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party, as large parts of the American public seem to have lost faith in the president’s ability to serve a second term.

  And now this, another eruption of political violence, three and a half years after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

  The events of the past few years are just the culmination of a trend that started long before: the increasing polarization of the political landscape.

  Reinforced by social media echo chambers and politicians seemingly more bound to their own agenda than to the truth or the good of the country, the U.S. seems more divided than ever, making compromise – a key component of a working democracy – virtually impossible.

  All this hasn’t gone unnoticed outside the United States, where the country, once a role model for democracy, is viewed in an increasingly negative light.

  As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, according to the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Survey, the U.S. has lost its status as the shining light of democracy with the majority of respondents from 34 countries saying that the U.S. democracy is no longer or has never been a good example for other countries to follow.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  As the chart shows, respondents from France and Mexico were particularly critical of the U.S., as nearly 40 percent of respondents from both countries said that U.S. democracy has never been the shining example it’s often made out to be. In most countries, the United States’ reputation as a democracy has suffered in recent years, with more than 60 percent of respondents from Germany, the UK, Canada or Japan saying that the U.S. used to be a good example but hasn’t been in recent years.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 21:45

• The Mississippi Child Literacy Miracle
  The Mississippi Child Literacy Miracle

  Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Mississippi ranked 49th in the United States for elementary school literacy 10 years ago, when fourth graders were essentially an entire grade level behind the rest of the nation.

  

  Fast-forward a decade and 85 percent of third graders in the Magnolia State passed the state reading assessment test in 2023, moving Mississippi up to No. 21 and showing the fastest growth in the country in reading comprehension, despite having one of the lowest per-pupil expenditure rates.

  “People called it a miracle,” Kristen Wells-Wynn, literacy director for the Mississippi Department of Education, told The Epoch Times on July 3, “but we call it a marathon.”

  For the coming academic year, teacher training in Mississippi will expand to higher grade levels, and other states, such as Maryland, will try to implement Mississippi’s early literacy model.

  The change occurred in Mississippi when the state Department of Education began switching from the “balanced literacy” reading instruction method to the so-called “science of reading” approach. Ms. Wells-Wynn said Mississippi continues to fund the initiative at a cost of about $15 million annually.

  Carey M. Wright, who led the change as Mississippi’s superintendent of education, took over as the head of Maryland’s Department of Education on July 1. Her first order of business will be to oversee the same transition of reading instruction in the Old-Line State.

  Maryland residents have until July 19 to provide public comment on the change, according to a news release.

  “This initiative aims to enhance data-driven literacy standards and practices across the state, ensuring every student receives a strong foundation in literacy,” Ms. Wright said in the news release.

  “Feedback from educators, families, and community members is crucial in shaping this policy to best meet the needs of our students.”

  

  Understanding the Brain

  Science of reading is an ongoing body of research that dates back 50 years, even though dozens of academic and scientific research articles are published on the topic annually, as technological and medical breakthroughs reveal new information about how the human brain processes information.

  Ms. Wells-Wynn explained that the main difference between the two approaches is which parts of the brain are triggered.

  With balanced literacy, also known as the whole language approach, students are taught to develop “cues” for words, which often involves looking at pictures next to words. Through repetition, the student progresses from guessing words based on those cues to memorizing them. Reading in groups and writing activities that coincide with reading instruction are standard instruction techniques.

  By contrast, science of reading emphasizes the use of phonics, allowing students to understand how the words look and sound as they acquire vocabulary and then use it to understand the meaning of paragraphs and reading passages.

  Learning by memorization, Ms. Wells-Wynn said, mostly taxes the right side of the brain, which is strong with the visualization process but less equipped for deeper understanding. The left side is more capable of converting concepts into a process, like decoding words.

  “Things become automatic, as opposed to memorizing them,” she said. “You’re building the good neurocircuitry on the left side.”

  The Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University identified Mississippi as the strongest national example of “return on investment” based on federal emergency relief provided to state public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  In 2023, per-pupil spending in the state was $11,700 ($2,000 of which came from federal relief money) as reading scores continued to rise. By contrast, per-pupil spending in Connecticut was listed at $24,000 ($1,200 from federal relief money) per student, while average fourth-grade reading scores there declined by more than five points since 2013, according to the Edunomics Lab data.

  

  Other State Efforts

  If Maryland implements science of reading, it will join the list of 21 other states where this method is both required and funded. Most states that do not require the curriculum at least fund it, including California.

  The National Council on Teacher Quality’s 2024 State of the States report indicates that only six states—Maine, Montana, Washington, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Illinois—do not mandate or fund the curriculum.

  According to The Reading League, a Syracuse, New York-based nonprofit that advocates the science of reading-based instruction, 60 percent of U.S. fourth graders are not reading proficiently. The organization has chapters across 33 states. Members help with teacher professional development efforts, work with district administrators to develop curriculum, and advocate wholesale reading curriculum changes at the state level.

  “As states continue to implement practices aligned to the science of reading, they send a powerful message to educators, parents, and students about the state’s commitment to successful reading outcomes for all children,” Maria Murray, founder and executive director of The Reading League, said in an email to The Epoch Times.

  “Maryland education leaders supported those who requested training in evidence-aligned reading instruction. That support will have a transformational impact on literacy and learning in the state.”

  In California, lawmakers failed to pass a bill this year that would have required the science of reading-based curriculum in all schools, though districts can require it locally.

  One of the organizations that lobbied against the California bill, English-learners advocacy group Californians Together, stated in a letter to the legislation sponsors that the curriculum does not “embrace the full range of a research-based and comprehensive approach that centrally addresses the developmental needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 21:20

• Not The First, Won't Be The Last – A Timeline Of Assassination Attempts Against US Presidents
  Not The First, Won’t Be The Last – A Timeline Of Assassination Attempts Against US Presidents

  Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, where a gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire on the presumptive GOP candidate. The shooting, which pierced Trump’s right ear, killed one rally attendee and critically injured two more bystanders, casts a huge shadow over this week’s Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to accept his third consecutive nomination as the GOP’s presidential candidate heading into the 2024 election.

  While there have been several failed attempts to harm or kill a U.S. president in the meantime, Saturday’s attack on Donald Trump was the most serious attempt on the life of a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagon was shot and seriously injured in 1981.

  Three and a half years after the events of January 6, 2021, it once again drew the spotlight on the increasingly polarized political climate in the United States, which has raised concerns about possible eruptions of political violence in the run-up to and after the upcoming presidential election.

  History is full of examples of violence against elected leaders and the United States is no exception.

  As Statista;’s Felix Richter shows in the chart below, four U.S. presidents have been assassinated while in office, with Ronald Reagan the only sitting president to survive an assassination attempt severely injured.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Like Trump, former president Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for a return to the White House, when he was shot and injured in an attack in 1912. Roosevelt survived with a bullet lodged in his chest muscle, after the bullet’s impact had been softened by folded paper and a glasses case in his pocket.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 20:55

• More Than Half Of Cancer Deaths In US A Result Of Lifestyle Choices: Study
  More Than Half Of Cancer Deaths In US A Result Of Lifestyle Choices: Study

  Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A new study by the American Cancer Society reveals that four in 10 cancer cases and about one-half of all cancer deaths in adults age 30 and older in the United States are attributed to lifestyle choices, or modifiable risk factors.

  These risk factors are considered things a person can typically control and include smoking, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and certain carcinogenic infections, according to the study published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

  

  Smoking Is the No. 1 Modifiable Risk Factor

  Cigarette smoking topped the charts as the leading risk factor, contributing to nearly 20 percent of all cancer cases and close to 30 percent of cancer deaths. Smoking comprised 56 percent of potentially preventable cancers in men and almost 40 percent of those in women.

  “Despite considerable declines in smoking prevalence during the past few decades, the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to cigarette smoking in the United States is alarming,“ Dr. Farhad Islami, lead author of the report, said in a news release. ”This finding underscores the importance of implementing comprehensive tobacco control policies in each state to promote smoking cessation, as well as heightened efforts to increase screening for early detection of lung cancer, when treatment could be more effective.”

  In the study, Dr. Islami and his team used data on cancer incidence, mortality, and risk factors to estimate the number of cancer cases and deaths that could be attributed to each potentially modifiable risk factor. They went through this process for 30 cancer types and delved into the specifics of the modifiable risk factors.

  For example, while investigating how a person’s diet could contribute to cancer risk, researchers looked at the amount of red meat and processed meat, the number of fruits and vegetables, and the amount of dietary fiber and calcium they consumed.

  They found that next to cigarette smoke, excess body weight was the second main modifiable risk factor, contributing to 7.6 percent of potentially preventable cancers, followed by alcohol consumption at 5.4 percent, UV radiation exposure at 4.6 percent, and physical inactivity at 3.1 percent.

  “Interventions to help maintain healthy body weight and diet can also substantially reduce the number of cancer cases and deaths in the country, especially given the increasing incidence of several cancer types associated with excess body weight, particularly in younger individuals,” Dr. Islami said.

  Lifestyle Factors Accounted for up to 100 Percent of Certain Cancers

  The types of cancers caused by modifiable risk factors varied. Lung cancer had the most cases attributable to these risk factors in both men and women, followed by skin melanoma, and colorectal cancer. For women, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and colorectal cancer were the most attributable to modifiable risk factors. For men, urinary bladder cancer was.

  Modifiable risk factors accounted for 100 percent of cases of cervical cancer and Kaposi sarcoma, a type of cancer associated with HIV. Additionally, modifiable risk factors contributed to 4.9 percent of ovarian cancer cases.

  These lifestyle-based risk factors contributed to 50 percent of the cases in 19 of 30 different cancers, including:

  • 92.2 percent of melanomas
  • 94.2 percent of anal cancers
  • 89.9 percent of larynx cancers
  • 88.2 percent of lung and bronchus cancers
  • 87.4 percent of pharynx cancers
  • 85.6 percent of tracheal cancers
  • 85.4 percent of esophagus cancers
  • 83.7 percent of oral cancers

  “These findings show there is a continued need to increase equitable access to preventive health care and awareness about preventive measures,” Ahmedin Jemal, a senior author of the study, said in the news release.

  “Effective vaccines are available for hepatitis B virus, that causes liver cancer and HPV, which can cause several cancer types, including cervical, other anogenital, and oropharyngeal cancers. Vaccination at the recommended time can substantially reduce the risk of chronic infection, and consequently, cancers associated with these viruses. HPV vaccination uptake in the United State [sic] is suboptimal.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 20:30

• "Ordered My First MAGA Hat": Closet Trump Supporters Are Coming Out Of Woodwork After Failed Assassination Attempt 
  “Ordered My First MAGA Hat”: Closet Trump Supporters Are Coming Out Of Woodwork After Failed Assassination Attempt 

  “The dam broke for me and many others today. I live in SF, where it’s a social death sentence to voice support for Trump,” tech entrepreneur James Ingallinera wrote on X moments after the Trump assassination attempt on Saturday afternoon. 

  Let’s not forget that famed investor David Sacks and other VCs in San Francisco have recently become Trump supporters, indicating the tide has been shifting.

  Ingallinera wrote in the post, which has garnered 1.7 million views, “Regardless, I will be voting for Trump this election, and will voice my support publicly and unabashedly, social and financial consequences be damned. A very serious line was crossed today.”

  The dam broke for me and many others today. I live in SF, where it’s a social death sentence to voice support for Trump. Regardless, I will be voting for Trump this election, and will voice my support publicly and unabashedly, social and financial consequences be damned. A very…

  — James Ingallinera (@JRIngallinera) July 14, 2024

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  In the hours and days after the failed attempted assassination, new Google Search trend data shows a massive surge nationwide in support for Trump. Folks are scouring the internet for online merchant stores to purchase Trump yard signs, bumper sticks, shirts, and other political gear.

  Google Trends search: “Trump yard sign”: 

  

  Google Trends search: “Buy a trump sign”: 

  

  Google Trends search: “Trump bumper sticker”:

  

  Google Trends search: “Trump 2024 sticker”: 

  

  Google Trends search: “Trump shirt”: 

  

  Google Trends search: “MAGA hat”:

  

  Google Trends search: “Trump flag”: 

  

  We were the first to report Sunday that the Google Trends search term “Donate to Trump” surged nationwide.

  

  These search trends are high-frequency data suggesting Trump’s support is soaring. The odds market on election bets also mirrors this. 

  

  Here’s what others on X are saying: 

  I’d like to put a Trump sign in my yard but I’m too scared to be harassed or threatened. This is where we are at as a nation and it’s disgusting.

  — Nichole (@UdaBaker) July 15, 2024

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  I’m buying my Trump yard sign now!

  — Jon DeMaria (@StealthMediaHD) July 15, 2024

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  That’s right. In the past, it hasn’t been worth the harassment for a lot of people. But now, that all seems meaningless in light of recent events.

  — Craig A. Hart (@thrillercraig) July 15, 2024

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  Trump sign goes into my yard on Monday.

  — Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) July 13, 2024

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  James I’m really thinking about putting a Trump 2024 sign in my yard for the first time. ABQ, NM so I’ve hesitated for fear of vandalism. Thoughts ?

  — RW (@randydu55280024) July 15, 2024

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  I ordered my first MAGA hat and shirt yesterday. I want a yard sign but my husband is too afraid for our kids…the Trump haters will do anything to hurt anyone supporting him.

  — Amanda Sunday (@AmandaLSunday) July 15, 2024

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  Support! We all.have the right to support our candidate of choice. I just ordered a Trump sign for my front yard. First time I have done that. I am 83! I love ❤️ America 🇺🇸.

  — Sandra (@Grandmasandylsk) July 15, 2024

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  The takeaway here is that either a whole bunch of Trump supporters loaded up on new MAGA gear or closet Trump supporters are coming out of the shadows to represent the former president.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 20:05

• Tverberg: Advanced Economies Are Headed For A Downfall
  Tverberg: Advanced Economies Are Headed For A Downfall

  Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World,

  It may be pleasant to think that the economies that are “on top” now will stay on top forever, but it is doubtful that this is the way the economy of the world works.

  

  Figure 1. Three-year average GDP growth rates for Advanced Economies based on data published by the World Bank, with a linear trend line. GDP growth is net of inflation.

  Figure 1 shows that, for the Advanced Economies viewed as a group (that is, members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)), GDP has been trending downward since the early 1960s; this is concerning. It makes it look as if within only a few years, the Advanced Economies might be in permanent shrinkage. In 2022, the expected annual GDP growth rate for the group seems to be only 1%.

  What is even more concerning is the fact that the indications in the graph are based on a period when the debt of the Advanced Economies was growing. This growing debt acted as an economic stimulus; it helped the industries manufacturing goods and services as well as the citizens buying the goods and services. Without this stimulus, GDP growth would no doubt appear to be falling even faster than shown.

  In this post, I will look at underlying factors that relate to this downward trend, including oil consumption growth and changes in interest rate policies. I will also discuss the Maximum Power Principle of biology. Based on this principle, the world economy seems to be headed for a major reorganization. In this reorganization, the Advanced Countries seem likely to lose their status as world leaders. Such a downfall could happen through a loss at war, or it could happen in other ways.

  [1] The major factor in the downward trend in GDP growth seems to be the loss of growth of oil supply.

  In the 1940 to 1970 period, the price of oil was very low (less than $20 per barrel at today’s prices), and oil supply growth was 7% to 8% per year, which is very rapid. The US was the dominant user of oil in this era, allowing the US to become the world’s leading country both in a military way (hegemony), and in a financial way, as the holder of the “reserve currency.”

  Data on year-by-year oil consumption growth is not available for the earliest years, but we can view the trend over 10-year periods (Figure 2).

  

  Figure 2. Smil estimates are based on estimates at 10-year intervals by Vaclav Smil in Appendix A of Energy Transitions: History, Requirements and Prospects. Energy Institute estimates are based on amounts in 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy.

  With the rapid growth in the world oil supply in the 1940 to 1970 timeframe, the US was able to help Europe and Japan rebuild their infrastructure after World War II. The US also did a great deal of building at home, including adding electricity transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines, and interstate highways. It also added a Medicare program to provide healthcare for the elderly. The emphasis at this time was on building for the future.

  In the 1960s, the Green Revolution was started, aimed at increasing the quantity of food produced. This revolution involved greater mechanization of farming, the use of hybrid seeds that required more fertilizer, the use of genetically modified seeds, and the use of herbicides and pesticides. With these changes, farming became increasingly dependent on oil and other fossil fuels. The green revolution led to lower inflation-adjusted prices for food, as well as greater supply.

  The 1970s was a time of adaptation to spiking oil prices and declining growth in oil supplies. At the same time, wages were increasing, and more women were entering the workforce, making the rise in oil prices more tolerable. There were also advances in computerization, changing the nature of many kinds of work.

  The 1980s marked a shift to an emphasis on how to get costs down for the consumer. There was more emphasis on competition and leverage (the euphemism for borrowing). Instead of building for the future, the emphasis was on using previously built infrastructure for as long as possible.

  Also in the 1980s, the Advanced Economies started to shift toward becoming service economies. To do this, a significant share of manufacturing and mining was moved to lower-wage countries. Transferring a significant share of industry abroad had the additional benefit of holding down prices for the consumer.

  [2] Oil consumption growth and GDP growth seem to be connected.

  

  Figure 3. Chart showing both 3-year average GDP growth rate for Advanced Economies based on data published by the World Bank and 3-year average growth rates for oil consumption by Advanced Economies based on data of the 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy by the Energy Institute.

  Figure 3 shows that oil consumption growth was higher than GDP growth up until 1973, when oil prices started to spike. This was the period of greatly adding to infrastructure, using the abundant oil supply, as discussed in Section [1]

  After 1973-1974, GDP growth tended to stay slightly above oil consumption growth as Advanced Economies started to focus on becoming service economies. As part of this shift, Advanced Economies began moving industry to lower-wage countries. This shift became more pronounced after 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol (limiting CO2 emissions) was promulgated. The Kyoto Protocol gave participating countries (in practice, the Advanced Economies) a reason to hold down their own local consumption of fossil fuels, which is what is measured in Figure 3 and most other energy analyses.

  Figure 3 shows that even after moving a significant share of industry to offshore locations, there still seems to be a significant correlation between oil consumption growth and GDP growth. Even with a service economy, oil consumption growth seems to be important!

  [3] Prior to 1981, increasing interest rates were used to slow economic growth.

  

  Figure 4. Secondary market interest rates with respect to 10-year US Treasury Notes and 3-month US Treasury Bills, in a chart made by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis and annotated by Gail Tverberg.

  With the rapid growth in oil consumption in the 1940 to 1970 period, the economy often grew rapidly despite rising interest rates. After World War II, government loans became available to returning veterans to buy homes, helping to make the usage of oil affordable.

  It was only as growth in oil consumption slowed and interest rates rose to a high level in the 1979-1981 period that high interest rates created a major recession. At such high interest rates, builders of all kinds were discouraged from building. Hardly anyone could afford a new home. Businesses couldn’t afford new factories, and governments couldn’t afford to build new schools. Few people could afford new car loans.

  On Figure 3, it is not surprising that GDP dipped at the same time as oil consumption shortly after 1981. The dip in oil consumption was larger because heavy users of oil, such as construction and manufacturing, were squeezed out by the high interest rates.

  [4] Falling interest rates in the period 1981 to 2020, as shown in Figure 4, stimulated the economy in many ways.

  The 1981 to 2020 period marked a time of generally falling interest rates, with short term interest rates typically being below long-term interest rates. Reducing interest rates tends to stimulate the economy in a variety of ways:

  (a) As we all know, lower interest rates make monthly payments on new home mortgages lower. This means that more citizens can afford to purchase homes, leading to greater demand for new homes and their furnishings. Prices of homes tend to rise, partly because people with a given income can afford larger, fancier homes, and partly because more people in total can afford homes.

  (b) Even on existing home mortgages, new lower rates can have an impact. In the US, mortgages are frequently set for a long term, such as 20 years, but they can often be refinanced at a lower rate if interest rates fall lower. In many other countries and in the US for business property, mortgage rates are set for a shorter term, such as 5 years. As the loans renew, the new lower rates become available. Borrowers are happy; there is suddenly a smaller monthly payment for the same property.

  (c) With lower interest rates, there is demand for more homes to be built. This stimulates the construction industry and helps the prices of all kinds of built structures rise.

  (d) A similar situation to (a), (b) and (c) exists for all kinds of items normally purchased using loans. New cars, new boats, and new second homes are affected, as are many kinds of business loans. Even loans taken out by governmental organizations become less expensive. It suddenly becomes easier to buy goods, so more goods are sold. Market prices can be higher because at the new lower interest rates, more people can afford them.

  (e) There can be some benefit with respect to long-term bond holdings, if interest rates fall. Bonds generally promise to pay a stated interest rate over the life of the bond, say 20 years. If the market interest rate falls, the selling price of a high coupon-rate long-term bond increases because such bonds are worth more than a similar new bond with a lower coupon interest rate.

  Financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, pension plans, and endowment funds generally have long-term bonds as part of their portfolios. The higher value of bonds may or may not be reflected in financial statements, depending on the accounting rules applied. Sometimes, “amortized cost” is used as the carrying value until the bond is sold, hiding the gain in value. Conversely, if bonds are “marked to market,” then the higher value becomes immediately reported in financial statements.

  (f) With mark-to-market accounting, insurance companies, banks and many other kinds of financial organizations can reflect the benefit immediately. As a result, for example, insurance companies may be able to sell policies more cheaply in a falling interest rate environment. (Of course, as interest rates start rising, the opposite is true. I believe that is part of the problem with the spike in insurance rates that the world has been witnessing in the past two years. But this is seldom mentioned because it is less well understood.)

  (g) With falling interest rates, practically all kinds of asset prices rise. For example, the prices of shares of stock tend to rise, as does the price of farmland. Prices of office buildings tend to rise. People feel richer. They can sell some of their investments and profit from the sale. Tax rates on long-term capital gains are low in the US, further helping investors.

  (h) If generally falling interest rates can be maintained for many years (1981 to 2020), gambling in the stock market starts looking like a great idea. Investment using borrowed funds looks like it makes sense. Buying derivatives seems to make sense. Adding more and more leverage makes sense. People rich enough to gamble in the stock market or the housing market begin to gain huge advantages over the many poor people whose wages remain too low to buy more than the basics.

  These advantages tend to drive a wider and wider wedge between the rich and the poor. As diminishing returns become more of a problem, wage and wealth disparities become increasingly major issues. These disparities arise partly because of competition with low-wage countries for less-skilled jobs, and partly because of the need to pay higher wages to highly educated workers. They also arise because owners of shares of stock and of homes have tended to receive the benefit of significant capital gains as interest rates have fallen, for the reasons described above.

  [5] Since 2020, interest rates have begun to rise in the Advanced Economies. It is difficult to see how a shift to higher interest rates can turn out well.

  News write-ups about the rise in interest rates often say something like the following:

  The Fed hiked interest rates a total of 11 times between March 2022 and January 2024, making borrowing more expensive for banks, businesses, and people in an attempt to curb rampant inflation.

  However, Figure 4 shows that long-term interest rates (the blue line) started to rise much earlier than this–about the time the US started to borrow a huge amount of money to support the programs it initiated to keep the economy functioning at the time of the Covid restrictions in 2020.

  This funding went back into the economy to provide income to would-be workers who were forced to stay home and to small businesses that needed additional funds to cover their overhead. Pauses in student loan repayments had a similar effect. At the same time, fewer goods and services were created because non-essential activities were restricted.

  This combination of more wealth in the hands of citizens at the same time as a limited quantity of goods and services were being produced was precisely the right combination of actions needed to generate inflation. So, it was no wonder that there was an inflation problem.

  Indirectly, high US borrowing has been, and continues to be, part of the inflation problem. Total goods and services produced in the world economy are not currently rising very quickly because diesel and jet fuel are in short supply, something I wrote about here and here. The US and other Advanced Economies keep issuing more debt in the hope that using this debt will help them purchase a larger share of the goods and services produced by the world economy.

  It is not clear to me that this problem can be fixed since the US and the other Advanced Economies need to keep borrowing to support their economies and to fight for causes such as the Ukraine War. Note the downward trend in Figure 1!

  One of the big problems with high asset prices and higher-than-zero interest rates is that farmers find that the cost of their land becomes too high to make it worthwhile to grow crops. This is especially the case for new farmers, who may need to buy their land using the higher-cost debt.

  People often believe that farm prices will rise indefinitely, but Reuters reports that high borrowing costs and low food prices are cutting demand for farm equipment from John Deere, the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Without a flow of new farm equipment to replace that which is breaking or worn out, food production can be expected to fall.

  Another issue is that apartment owners find a need to raise the rent on their units if the interest rate they are forced to pay rises or if the cost of property insurance rises. If they raise the rent of their units, this leaves renters with less income for other goods and services. Indirectly, today’s wage and wealth disparity problems tend to become greater than they were before the rise in interest rates.

  In theory, if long-term (not just short-term) interest rates rise and remain higher, the many benefits of falling interest rates in Section [4] will be erased, and even reversed. The economy will be far worse off than it is now because of falling asset prices and defaulting debt. Financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, will be especially damaged because the true value of their long-term bonds will tend to fall. This can sometimes be hidden by accounting approaches, but ultimately unrealized capital losses will cause a problem as they did for Silicon Valley Bank.

  The heavy use of debt and leveraging in the Advanced Economies makes these economies especially vulnerable to major financial problems if interest rates rise, or even if they stay at the current level. The bubble of debt and other promises (such as pensions promises) holding up the Advanced Economies seems vulnerable to collapse.

  [6] The problem facing the people of the Advanced Economies is like the problem the biological world often faces.

  The biological world is constantly faced with the problem of too many animals (for example, wolves and deer) wanting to occupy a given space with specific resources, such as water, sunlight, and smaller plants and animals to eat. In some sense, the world economy is an ecosystem, too, one that we humans have made. The Advanced Economies are already in a conflict with the less advanced economies, trying to decide which parts of the world will “win” in the battle over the resources needed for future economic growth.

  The Maximum Power Principle (MPP) tries to explain who can be expected to be the winners and losers in an ecosystem when there are not enough resources to go around. I think of the MPP as an extension of the “survival of the fittest” or “survival of the best adapted.” The difference is that MPP looks at the functioning of the overall system, which, in this case, is the world economy.

  The parts of the system (such as the individual people, the levels of borrowing, the government organizations, and the narratives governments choose to tell to explain the current situation) will be selected based on how well they permit the overall world economy (not just the Advanced Economies) to function. The goal seems to be to create as many goods and services as possible by dissipating all available energy in as useful a way as possible. In this way, the world GDP, which is a measure of the output of the useful work performed by the world economy, can stay as high as possible, for each time period.

  Writings by scientists on this subject tend to be difficult to understand, but they may add some insight. One definition of MPP says that systems which maximize their flow of energy survive in competition. Mark Brown, professor emeritus at the University of Florida, says that under the Maximum Power Principle, “System components are selectively reinforced based on their contribution to the larger systems within which they are embedded,” and, “When resources are in short supply, they need to be used efficiently.” John Delong from the University of New Mexico says, “Winning species were successfully predicted a priori from their status as the species with the highest power when alone.”

  I suggest that if these principles are applied to the competition between the Advanced Economies and the less advanced economies of the world, the Advanced Economies will lose. For example, the Advanced Economies have been falling behind the less advanced economies in industrial output.

  

  Figure 5. Industrial output of Advanced Economies, compared to that of Other than Advanced Economies based on data of the World Bank.

  In addition, the Advanced Economies of the world have fallen behind in the bidding for oil supplies:

  

  Figure 6. World oil consumption, based on data of the 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy, produced by the Energy Institute.

  Furthermore, the NATO allies seem unable to pull ahead of Russia in the Ukraine conflict. In theory, this should have been an easy war to win, but with limited manufacturing capability, it has been hard for the allies to provide enough weapons of the right kinds to win.

  To me, this all points to the conclusion that in a conflict over scarce resources, the Advanced Economies are likely to lose. The conflict could come in the form of war, or it could simply be a financial conflict. Figure 1 shows that the Advanced Economies are already falling behind in the competition for economic growth, even with all the debt they are adding.

  [7] There is a lot of confusion about what is ahead.

  We don’t know what is ahead. The economy is a self-organizing system that seems to figure out its own way of resolving the problem of not enough resources to go around because of diminishing returns. The world economy seems to be headed toward reorganization.

  I believe that the Covid-19 era represented one rather strange self-organized response to the “not enough oil to go around” problem. Figure 6 shows a clear dip in the amount of oil consumed in 2020, particularly by the Advanced Economies. Some of this reduced oil consumption continues, even now, because more people started working from home, saving on oil. Another helpful change was a huge ramp-up in the use of online meetings.

  It is possible that new adaptations to limited oil supply may appear in as strange a way as the Covid-19 era did.

  Another possibility is that the Advanced Economies, particularly the US, will encounter severe financial problems as the rest of the world moves away from the US dollar. Or the problem could be falling asset prices because of higher interest rates, causing many financial institutions to fail. Or the problem could be too much money being printed, but practically nothing to buy, causing severe inflation of commodity prices.

  War may be a possibility because it is an age-old way of dealing with resource problems. For one thing, it becomes easy to raise debt to pay for a war. This debt can be used to hire soldiers and buy munitions. With the higher debt, the GDP of the economy can be expected to suddenly look better because of the stimulus given to it. The major “catch” is that picking a fight with a major competitor or two could prove to be disastrous.

  Let us hope that our leaders make wise choices and keep us away from severe problems for as long as possible.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 19:40

• Taliban Takes Americans Hostage, Says Willing To Trade For Gitmo Prisoners
  Taliban Takes Americans Hostage, Says Willing To Trade For Gitmo Prisoners

  For the first time in years, the Taliban says it has arrested and imprisoned American citizens, and is hoping to use them in a prisoner swap. The Taliban says that at least two US citizens are being held after violating Afghan laws, while the Washington Examiner has said three are in custody.

  The detained individuals have been identified as George Glezmann, Mahmood Habibi, and Ryan Corbett – as confirmed also by a State Department statement. A Taliban government spokesperson announced that the “American nationals violated the country’s law, and discussion has been held with the US officials in this regard.”

  

  And Taliban chief spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid recently told reporters in Kabul that “the topic of a prisoner release was discussed during his recent meeting with US officials in Doha, continuing a recurring theme in their negotiations.”

  “Afghanistan’s conditions must be met. We have our citizens who are imprisoned in the US and Guantanamo,” Mujahid stated. “We should free our prisoners in exchange for them. Just as their prisoners are important to America, Afghans are equally important to us,” he added.

  It as yet unclear what precise charges the men are being held on, but Afghan national media has alluded to the possibility of “espionage” – which would be a very serious accusation, possibly resulting in a capital case.

  Both Glezmann and Corbett were initially detained in 2022, with the former having previously described he was on a tour of the country’s unique cultural landscape and history. US officials have complained that the American nationals are being held without charge or due process. Less is known about the third person who might be in custody, Muhammed Habibi, who is a US-Afghan dual citizen.

  The Taliban has exercised complete control over the war-torn, central Asian country since the US coalition pullout of August 2021, which by all accounts was chaotic and resulted in both US military and Afghan civilian deaths. 

  The US State Department has since then designated Afghanistan as a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” country for American citizens.

  An official alert says the risk of detention for foreign travelers is high. “Multiple terrorist groups are active in country and U.S. citizens are targets of kidnapping and wrongful detentions. The Department has assessed that there is a risk of wrongful detention of U.S. citizens by the Taliban,” the US State Dept. says.

  According to sources, Taliban’s Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is set to meet US security officials during his visit to the #UAE.#Taliban are currently holding several Americans in their prisons, among them Ryan Corbett & George Glezmann. Paul Overby also disappeared… pic.twitter.com/UMy85zPONK

  — Hostage Aid Worldwide (@HostageAid) June 6, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  “The Taliban have harassed and detained aid and humanitarian workers. The activities of foreigners may be viewed with suspicion, and reasons for detention may be unclear. Even if you are registered with the appropriate authorities to conduct business, the risk of detention is high,” the notification says.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 19:15

• "It's Not A 'Narrative', It's The Truth" – David Sacks Destroys WaPo's Post-Trump-Shooting Spin
  “It’s Not A ‘Narrative’, It’s The Truth” – David Sacks Destroys WaPo’s Post-Trump-Shooting Spin

  Authored bv David Sacks via X,

  I KNOW A HERO WHEN I SEE ONE

  The Washington Post names me, along with as one of several businessmen, who are using their “megaphones” to spread “narratives” about the assassination attempt on President Trump.

  

  I’m not sure what “narratives” they’re referring to, but I know what I saw, and I know what the crowd in Butler witnessed live.

  At it turns out, my father-in-law lives in Pennsylvania and he was at the rally on Saturday.

  When the shots rang out and Trump went down, he said pandemonium broke out around him.

  Everyone feared the worst. 

  But then Trump rose.

  Covered in his own blood, resisting the secret service’s efforts to whisk him away to safety, Trump raised his fist defiantly, and the crowd could see him say:

  “Fight. Fight. Fight.”

  Immediately the fear of the crowd dissipated, the chaotic uncertainty lifted, and it was replaced with steely resolve.

  The crowd responded back as one:

  “USA, USA, USA!” 

  This is not a “narrative.”

  It is the truth.

  Trump stood defiant in the face of an assassin’s bullet.

  There is no way to fake courage like that.

  

  It was more important for Trump to let the crowd know that he was unbowed and unbroken than to be taken to safety.

  Donald Trump has already been in the fight of his life for months, as vindictive Democrats seek to imprison him, but on this day he came within inches of losing it. He has risked everything for this country. 

  It is now up to us, the American people, to show him that he does not stand alone.

  Let us reject the lies, the hoaxes, the hate and the division that the media has spread about this brave man, and support his resounding victory in November.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 18:50

• Hamas Says Top Commander Alive & Well After Israel Reported His Likely Death
  Hamas Says Top Commander Alive & Well After Israel Reported His Likely Death

  On Monday Hamas announced that its top military commander, the chief of the Qassem Brigades Mohammed Deif, is safe and escaped a massive Israeli strike targeting him Saturday.

  The IDF military attack hit a camp for the internally displaced, killing at least 90 people and wounding hundreds more. Gaza authorities say that civilians were wiped out in what should have been a safe zone, but Israel has claimed it was mostly militants killed. The Associated Press is reporting, “Hamas said Sunday that Gaza cease-fire talks continue and the group’s military commander is in good health.”

  

  Israeli leadership and media for nearly 24 hours speculated that Deif could be dead, but uncertainty has loomed. Israel has said, however, that Rafa Salama – a close associate to Deif – was killed in the operation.

  US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said Monday he believed there are indications Deif has been eliminated. “There are still many questions regarding the results of the attack against Mohammed Deif,” ​​he said in a press briefing. “I can’t confirm whether it was successful or not, but there are indications that they have achieved it.” 

  Following the major aerial assault, there were reports Sunday that Hamas has pulled out of Qatar-mediated ceasefire talks, but the reports proved premature and Hamas has since announce it did not pull out.

  Meanwhile, airstrikes have been reported Monday across all areas of Gaza, leading to an uptick in casualties. Al Jazeera has some of the latest updates as follows:

  • The Gaza heaquarters of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, in Gaza City has been “flattened and turned into a battlefield”, says chief Philippe Lazzarini, as Israel’s latest ground campaign in the city continues to rage.
  • Children among the 80 Palestinians killed over the past day as fighter jets, heavy artillery, and helicopter gunships attack Gaza from the north to south.
  • Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant praises the pilots who carried out deadly air strikes on the al-Mawasi displacement camp that killed 90 people, saying Hamas is being eroded every day with no ability to arm itself, organise, or “care for the wounded”.
  • Officials in Gaza say Israeli missiles killed 17 Palestinians and injured 80 sheltering at a United Nations school for displaced people in Nuseirat refugee camp.

  But the Israeli side could be taking more losses than what has been made public. On Monday the Israeli military in a briefing warned that it is low on tanks and ammunition.

  

  “During the course of the war, many tanks were damaged, which are disabled at this stage and are not used for combat or training, and it is not expected that new tanks will be introduced into the corps in the near future,” the Israeli military said in a statement. It noted that resources are “very limited” due to the constraints of the war.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 18:25

• GOP Was Investigating Secret Service Before Assassination Attempt
  GOP Was Investigating Secret Service Before Assassination Attempt

  Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics (emphasis ours),

  The Secret Service had already been under investigation by House Oversight Committee Republicans for several months when a bullet came within inches of killing former President Trump, killed a bystander, and injured at least two others at a rally in Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon.

  

  Even though Trump and his family members credited the special agents and a counter sniper assigned to his protective detail with saving his life and possibly many others, recriminations against the Secret Service started almost immediately after the assassination attempt.

  Americans could see for themselves how the agents and officers traveling with Trump on Saturday acted heroically, falling on the former president after his right ear was pierced by a bullet and returning heavy caliber gunfire, killing the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Crooks. But questions remain over how Crooks managed to perch on a nearby rooftop and come within inches of killing Trump, renewing past criticisms of the once-vaunted agency with a troubled history of security lapses, employee misconduct, and uneven discipline practices.

  Rep. James Comer, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, has called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on Monday, July 22.

  “Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” Comer tweeted Saturday night.

  In a letter to Cheatle, Comer was far more laudatory of the agency’s actions.

  “The tremendous bravery of the individual United States Secret Service agents who protected President Trump eliminated the gunman, and possibly averted more loss of life cannot be overstated,” he said.

  In late May, as RealClearPolitics first reported, Comer’s committee had launched an investigation into a previous incident that took place in April involving a female Secret Service agent, tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris, who was removed from her duties after suffering an apparent mental breakdown and attacking superior agents.

  The incident took place just before Harris was set to depart Joint Base Andrews, the home base for Air Force One and Air Force Two, the call signs of the Boeing aircraft used by the president and vice president. (Harris had not arrived at the airport when the altercation took place.)

  After Saturday’s attempted assassination, when live images of Trump clutching a bloody ear and raising his fist in defiance appeared on cable news and social media, critics began to question why Secret Service snipers didn’t fire sooner amid reports that onlookers were pointing to Crooks, who was positioned and crawling on a nearby roof, before the shots rang out.

  A source within the Secret Service community tells RCP that the agency’s rules of engagement in this situation are to wait until the president is fired upon to return fire. 

  “You want to take a shot then find out the guy was holding a telescope?” the source asked. “The Secret Service is by nature reactive … and you better be right when you do react or you’re f—–d.” 

  The Secret Service protocol requires that any counter sniper aware of a potential shooter must radio directly to the intelligence division team to respond and investigate. In this case, the investigation may have been cut short by the shooter firing his weapon, so the counter sniper then fired as quickly as possible in return. 

  The source praised the counter sniper who acquired the target and responded within three seconds, calling their performance “incredible.” 

  “The counter snipers are highly trained and extremely accurate,” he said.

  Others with law enforcement and military backgrounds want to know whether the Secret Service utilized drones to provide detailed situational awareness and, if they didn’t, why that decision was made. The use of drones has been a controversial issue within the agency since at least 2016, the source told RCP. Implementing drones would have provided detailed line-of-site analysis and aerial surveillance that would have easily identified the rooftop as a potential threat area. 

  “The USSS has access to all the best imagery and elevation data,” the military expert told RCP. “I’m not saying they didn’t [use drones], but it’s an open question.” 

  Other critics, including conservative media personality Dan Bongino, a former senior special agent in the Secret Service who is close to Trump, his family, and top advisers, have asserted that the agency officials denied requests for more security from Secret Service supervisors on Trump’s protective detail.

  Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denied that such a request and denial took place.

  “There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” Guglielmi posted late Saturday night on X.com. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

  The FBI, another agency buffeted by bad publicity – in particular, evidence of anti-Trump animus at the top levels –  has taken over the investigation into the attempted assassination against Trump. Special agents of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office responded “immediately” after the shooting, the agency said in a statement.

  “We will continue to support this investigation with the full resources of the FBI, alongside our partners at the U.S. Secret Service and the state and local enforcement,” the FBI said.

  The Secret Service lost some of its former respect after a string of fence-jumping incidents, other security lapses, and discipline issues came to light during the Obama administration. At the beginning of the Trump administration, a senior special agent in the Secret Service came under fire for suggesting in a Facebook post that she wouldn’t “take a bullet” for Trump. Kerry O’Grady, the former agent in question, was placed on administrative leave but was allowed to retire with full benefits and her security clearance intact.

  Others fired from the agency over discipline issues have lost their security clearances and at least part of their retirement benefits, spurring resentment among some in the Secret Service community.

  This is the problem that my Secret Sources have cited: Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden’s event and away from Trump’s because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president, according to two sources within the Secret Service community.… pic.twitter.com/9MzmS6Bia7

  — Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The agency, more recently, has come under scrutiny for its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies after the female agent’s apparent mental breakdown at Joint Base Andrews.

  An agency spokesman called the issue a “medical incident,” but other members of the Secret Service launched a petition over the agency’s DEI hiring and vetting policies during the Biden administration, as first reported by RCP.

  Cheatle, in 2021, signed onto a new initiative to increase the number of women in the Secret Service workforce. The agency is one of numerous federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that have signed onto the 30×30 initiative, an effort to increase the representation of women in all ranks of policing across the country to 30% of the workforce by 2030.

  In early May, Guglielmi rejected claims that the DEI policy impacted agency readiness.

  “Claims that the Secret Service’s standards have been lowered as a result of our signing this pledge are categorically false,” Guglielmi told RCP. Comer held his first briefing with Secret Service officials over that April incident on June 24. Afterward, an Oversight Committee spokesperson said the briefing was “thorough,” but “questions remain regarding recruiting, vetting, training and morale at the agency.”

  “The USSS provided the Committee on Friday a thorough briefing for staff, and we appreciate their time and ongoing cooperation as we continue to conduct oversight to ensure the Secret Service is fulfilling its mission,” the spokesperson told RCP. Questions remain regarding recruiting, vetting, training, and morale at the agency and the Committee looks forward to receiving additional information from the agency soon.”

  In addition, after the attempted assassination of Trump Saturday night, conservatives on social media blasted Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, for earlier this year introducing a bill co-sponsored by several other Democrats that would have denied Secret Service protection to Trump if he were convicted of a felony. The measure never gained traction in the GOP-controlled House. The Secret Service falls under the Department of Homeland Security.

  After the attempted assassination, which killed one innocent spectator and injured at least two others, Thompson tweeted that he is “glad that the former president is safe” and is “grateful for law enforcement’s fast response.” 

  Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 18:00

• Zelensky Suddenly Reverses, Says Russia Should Attend 2nd Ukraine Summit
  Zelensky Suddenly Reverses, Says Russia Should Attend 2nd Ukraine Summit

  With much of the globe’s eyes and international press focused on the US domestic political situation in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has just made an unprecedented announcement.

  He said Monday that a second Ukraine peace summit should include Russian representation. It is a remarkable development that he so much as stated the possibility, even if it doesn’t actually materialize, given he’s long been vehemently against any level of negotiations with Moscow so long as Putin is still in power.

  

  “I believe that Russian representatives should be at the second summit,” Zelensky told a press conference in Kiev, and outlined preparatory work for another summit.

  The first “Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the Bürgenstock” in Switzerland in mid-June importantly did not have either Russian or Chinese participation. While Beijing had been invited, Russia was not, and the Chinese government cited this as a reason it found the whole endeavor futile.

  Ukraine has long voiced that China will be key to any peace equation, given that it has sway with Moscow. Leaders from over 90 countries had gathered for the Swiss summit, which endorsed Ukraine’s own peace plan.

  But Ukraine’s peace formula has remained a non-starter from the Kremlin’s point of view, given it requires the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine territory.

  But Moscow has emphasized it will never give up the four territories which have been absorbed into the Russian Federation: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

  With this overture, Zelensky could be anticipating that it will be Trump in the White House after the November election. Trump has been vocal on the campaign trail about getting the warring sides to the negotiating table. While Trump’s team has of late touted a comprehensive peace plan, no one has actually seen it in full. 

  Meanwhile, Trump has at least one European supporter who is enthusiastic. Hungary’s Viktor Orban has said that a Trump administration provides an opening for peace.

  And days ago, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview, “I think a very strong external impact must take place in order to make them negotiate at least.” He added: “Who has the chance for that in the upcoming period? That’s only President Trump if he is elected.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 17:35

• Don’t Expect Home Prices To Go Down Anytime Soon, Say Experts
  Don’t Expect Home Prices To Go Down Anytime Soon, Say Experts

  Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  As the seller’s market persists throughout most of the United States, prices continue to rise and affordable housing appears to be slipping through the fingers of the average American.

  

  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported the highest ever national median sales price of $419,300 for a single-family home in May.

  “We’re actually forecasting that home prices will continue to grow based on the lack of inventory and demand for home ownership,” Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, told The Epoch Times.

  A $400,000 price tag translates to a $40,000 down payment—with the usual requirement of 10 percent of the home cost.

  “That’s a lot of money for first-time homebuyers, which means sometimes they may have to borrow from parents or friends to make it happen,” Ms. Lautz said.

  NAR reported that May’s existing home sales dropped 2.8 percent from one year ago while inventory of unsold existing homes grew 6.7 percent from the previous month.

  In addition, 30 percent of homes sold garnered over-asking prices and bidding wars persist, with properties typically receiving three offers.

  Only the Midwest saw a slight uptick in home sales in May with a 1 percent increase from one year ago. The Midwest also had the lowest median sales price of $317,100—a 6 percent increase over last year.

  Existing home sales in the Northeast saw the biggest decline at 4 percent from May 2023. The median sales price rose to $479,200, up 9.2 percent from last year.

  Home sales in both the South and West declined by 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. Median sales prices in the South were up 3.6 percent over last year to $375,300, while those in the West experienced a 5.5 percent hike from 2023 to a median of $632,900.

  First-time homebuyers are waiting longer to purchase homes. Last year the median age for these buyers was 35. Some of them are still waiting for either prices or mortgage rates to fall, but Ms. Lautz believes rates may stay between 6–7 percent through the end of the year.

  According to Freddie Mac, the current 30-year fixed rate mortgage stands at or about 6.95 percent.

  “If mortgage rates did come down significantly, that could also create more bidding wars as more buyers enter the market,” said Ms. Lautz. “I think those 2–3 percent rates were a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I would not expect to see that again anytime soon. But if you look at rates historically, we are still at the low end.”

  Many of those who are selling their homes are making their next purchase with all cash. In fact, noted the NAR, last month 28 percent of all homebuyers did not take a mortgage.

  

  Dutch Mendenhall, founder of RAD Diversified, a real estate investment trust based in Tampa, Florida, also believes home prices will remain stable, given the current market.

  “I don’t believe home prices are eventually going to take a large drop like they did in 2008,” he told The Epoch Times. “We have a lot more regulation now and a lot less loose lending. I don’t think we’re going to see any market crash or slowdown.”

  Echoing Ms. Lautz’s concerns, Mr. Mendenhall notes the shortfall in new construction is also contributing to the lack of inventory, which in turn, keeps home prices moving forward.

  “Higher interest rates also affect construction loans, and a lot of builders just can’t afford to take on large residential development projects,” he said. “New developments don’t drive home prices up—they create more affordable housing.”

  While escalating home costs and interest rates are resulting in homebuyers paying twice as much as they paid two years ago, people are still buying homes.

  “The most common forms of home buying are couples who have started a family, and retirees who are downsizing or moving to a new location,” he said.

  “Sales have definitely been slower during the first half of this year, but I do think the real estate market will start to move forward, as we move toward 2025.”

  Matt Willer, managing director and partner at Phoenix Capital Group Holdings, LLC in Denver, Colorado, also agrees that a “bursting bubble” is unlikely, even in this tight real estate market.

  “I think we may eventually see a modest softening in some markets, and in others maybe not at all,” he told The Epoch Times.

  Right now, Mr. Willer said, it’s all about affordability. “People got spoiled with 3–4 percent interest rates, and the mindset now is that those who don’t want to sell and repurchase with a higher interest rate are staying put and upgrading the home they have.”

  Mr. Willer believes interest rates are probably going to stay in that 6–7 percent range for the remainder of 2024 and possibly into early 2025. “I don’t think anything of substance is going to happen prior to the election, and we could see a negligible drop towards the end of the year,” he said.

  

  Addressing the home shortage, Mr. Willer contends the building industry is cyclical, but builders are also wary of the amount of debt they carry and may not want to overextend their budgets. “I don’t see a way we can get ahead of that right now,” he noted.

  Meanwhile, the rental market is booming in many cities, as many potential homebuyers are playing the waiting game before jumping into home ownership.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 17:10

• Biden Finally Gives RFK Jr. Secret Service Protection
  Biden Finally Gives RFK Jr. Secret Service Protection

  48 hours after a ‘deluded gunman‘ with no internet footprint tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally from a nearby rooftop that should have been a layup for the Secret Service, the Biden administration is finally giving Secret Service protection to Robert Kennedy, Jr.

  

  “In light of this weekend’s events, the president has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr.,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, adding “We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment.”

  MAYORKAS: “The President has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr.” pic.twitter.com/oJKUAVs0jD

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 15, 2024

  Earlier in the day, Trump said it was “imperative” that Kennedy be granted Secret Service protection.

  “Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!” he said on Truth Social.

  Over the weekend, Kennedy security consultant Gavin de Becker told Politico that the campaign had a pending formal request with the DHS.

  Kennedy has repeatedly asked for Secret Service protection throughout his campaign for president – including after a man was arrested twice in the same day for scaling the fence of Kennedy’s Los Angeles home last October.

  Kennedy had been twice refused by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

  “It’s not right for the President to provide protection to his family and political favorites while denying it to political rivals. During his first week as Attorney General, my father assembled all the DOJ’s senior prosecutors to tell them that he would not tolerate any politicization of law enforcement,” Kennedy wrote on X at the time.

  President Biden displays a bust of my father in the oval office, but he seems to have forgotten this critical tenet of American democracy. During his administration, we’ve seen the wholesale corruption of federal law-enforcement agencies to censor criticism of White House…

  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 27, 2023

  The incident came roughly a month after an armed man posing as a US Marshall was arrested at a Los Angeles event. 

  

  Kennedy made a third request for protection in an Oct. 25 letter to Mayorkas, detailing the September 15 incident, as well as the Oct. 25 incident involving a man named Jonathan Macht.

  Mr. Macht, 28, was arrested on the morning of Oct. 25 at Mr. Kennedy’s Los Angeles property after being detained by the candidate’s security detail. He climbed a fence and asked to see Mr. Kennedy, according to the LAPD.

  Authorities said the man was taken into custody at a nearby police station where he was cited for trespassing and then released. Police said he returned to Mr. Kennedy’s home and was arrested at 5:45 p.m. for violating a protective order. He is being held on $30,000 bail.

  Mr. Macht is known to the U.S. Secret Service and Mr. Kennedy’s security Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA), Mr. Kennedy’s campaign said.

  “GDBA had notified the Secret Service about this specific obsessed individual several times in recent months, and shared alarming communications he has sent to the candidate,” according to the press release. –Epoch Times

  “After being released from police custody, the man immediately returned to Kennedy’s residence and was arrested again. The candidate was home at the time of both arrests,” Kennedy’s campaign said in a statement.

  Not the norm…

  While the law dictates that all major presidential candidates and their spouses must be protected within 120 days of an election, history reveals that several have received Secret Service detail much further out than that – with Obama receiving it 551 days before an election, Trump and Ben Carson receiving it a year before the 2016 election (when Trump was a ‘joke’ candidate), and Ted Kennedy receiving it 410 days before the 1979 election.

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Maybe they’ll do a better job than they did on Saturday, should an assassin target Kennedy.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 16:45

• Shocks To The System
  Shocks To The System

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  “Trump is brushing off assassin’s bullets like dirt off his shoulder, racking up a mile long rap sheet of the fakest & gayest felonies known to man, chased through civil court by crazy-eyed harridans deranged by how horny he makes them. Joe Biden has jello for supper at 4pm.”

  –  Aimee Terese on “X”

  

  Dear Hitler, “Joe Biden” wrote his personal note of condolence Saturday night. 

  So sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced by loud noises in PA, where I grew up in the black church. Chris Wray tells me that fine people may be behind it. Will keep you in the loop. Get well soon!”

  Here’s some more consolation: The New York Times reports this morning that the FBI is looking into the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life as “possible domestic terrorism.” One must ask: are they trying to shed new light on this event, or just blowing more smoke up America’s ass — because that has been the FBI’s specialty for at least the past eight years. We’ll know if they take the definitive step of labeling the act a “hate crime.”

  The weakness of narrative-tweaking is beginning to show. The amazing part is that only the elite thinking class of Americans fell for it, exactly the demographic that hangs on every word in The New York Times. The Deplorables out there in Flyoverland delivering Froot Loops to the Piggly-Wiggly and driving fork-lifts around the Amazon warehouse apparently never bought the narrative bullshit generated by the Media-Blob Industrial Complex. You’d hate to suppose that thinking is overrated. Or is it just a certain kind of thinking?

  Try as you might to locate some malign, overweening, scheming cabal behind all the trips laid on our country, the truth is probably much simpler: set out on a journey defined by one lie, and then tell a lie to cover the first lie, and then another, and pretty soon you’re lying all over the place about everything until reality gets obliterated.

  This is exactly what started in 2016 when Hillary Clinton sought to cover up her email and private server scandal with the Russia collusion hoax.

  Have you forgotten how entrenched the FBI, CIA, and other agencies dug themselves in on that? It began as dumb-ass insinuation that Donald Trump was a Russian agent, but the FBI turned itself into fantasy factory when they ran with story. They manufactured one sub-plot after another, most of it comically absurd, like the entrapment of General Flynn for having a conversation with the Russian ambassador — as if foreign countries send ambassadors here for some other purpose than communicating with our government officials. Tell me, you Harvard grads who devour The New York Times every morning with your turmeric and wheat-grass detox smoothies: should an incoming White House National Security Advisor not speak with envoys from other lands?

  So, following the election of 2016, scores of government officials from Barack Obama and Joe Biden on down set out to wreck Mr. Trump’s turn in office, and ran one hoax after another to disable and dislodge him, and each hoax was a battery of lies begetting more lies. The style of thinking behind all that is called unprincipled. Many of these lies entailed crimes, some of them gigantic frauds perpetrated on the citizenry such as the ballot-stuffing operation that jammed “Joe Biden” into office — and which you were not permitted to speak of on penalty of cancellation and prosecution.

  By 2020, “Joe Biden” had racked up enough bribes from foreign lands that he was susceptible to blackmail and thus to manipulation. That his mind was failing through his entire term only made that easier. Both “Joe Biden” and the Neocon gang at State and the CIA were implicated in a web of crimes in Ukraine, and war there was one way to cover all of it up, so they made sure that war happened. The lies and hoaxes continued to multiply, accompanied by huge, destructive pranks — the George Floyd riots, the drag queens in the kiddie classrooms, the wide-open border, the FBI-instigated J-6 riot — and the Democratic Party was embroidered in that whole tapestry of degenerate politics along with the Deep State blob.

  In short, the Democratic Party appears to be guilty of programmatic treason against the people of the United States.

  They know that a reckoning awaits if Mr. Trump manages to return to office.

  They’ve known it for years.

  But two recent Supreme Court decisions really amped up their fears:

  1) Trump v. the United States establishes presidential immunity from prosecution for acts involving his core constitutional duties;

  and 2) Loper Bright v. Raimondo establishes that the federal bureaucracy can no longer rule over citizens unchecked by the courts.

  Both of these would make it much easier for a President Trump to disassemble the Deep State.

  And of course, that may lead to the investigation and prosecution of Deep State personae who abused their positions — possibly even prison. . . a discomfiting prospect.

  The Democratic Party’s cover got blown on June 27th when Joe Biden had to go live in a debate and displayed his mental incompetency for all to see. That shock to the system forced a scramble to replace “JB” pretty late in the election cycle, since now just enough voters may be indisposed to re-electing an obvious human wreck. But the switcheroo effort seems to have lost traction. And the party may have muffed its blackmail leverage over “Joe Biden.” After all, his briberies are all well-cataloged by the House Oversight Committee, including the vast bank records of the many shell companies set up to receive the bribe money.

  Is it possible, though, that “Joe Biden” holds blackmail material over his party confederates? After all, he’s still President. He has access to things you’d never dream of and, demented as he is, he has plenty of help close at hand from Hunter, Dr. Jill, and the Lawfare posse for sorting it out. He probably knows a thing or two about his old pard Barack Obama, too, that would make some folks uncomfortable. So, looks like “JB” is fixing to hang in there as his party’s nominee, and whoever doesn’t like it can go suck an egg.

  After the stunning events of Saturday evening, it also looks like candidate “Joe Biden” would go down in flames against Donald Trump on November 5, stuffed drop-boxes and all. Not a few Democratic Party bigshots have already made noises about leaving the country if that happens, possibly to nations lacking extradition treaties with the USA. Many others must be gobbling Xanax like Tic Tacs now that Donald Trump has survived the ultimate affront to his existence.

  You know the old nugget of wisdom: if you come at the king, you better not miss.

  

  Ooops.

  *  *  *

  Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 16:20

• Trump'd: Gold & Crypto Soar, Yield-Curve Dis-Inverts As Small-Caps Crush Big-Tech Again
  Trump’d: Gold & Crypto Soar, Yield-Curve Dis-Inverts As Small-Caps Crush Big-Tech Again

  The ‘Trump trade’ played out today…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  …as prediction markets surge in the former president’s favor…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Trump’s media stocks soared…

  

  All the major US equity indices were higher today with Small Caps absolutely ripping and S&P and Nasdaq meh…

  

  The outperformance of the Russell 2000 over Nasdaq 100 over the past three days is outdone only by the moves made in March 2001 as the dotcom bubble imploded…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The almost 800bps spread is on par with events such as Lehman (Oct 2008), Trump Election (Nov 2016), and Biden election (Nov 2020).

  Goldman’s treading desk noted that overall activity levels are up +25% vs. the trailing 2 weeks with market volumes up  +4% vs the 10dma, as their floor tilts -1% better for sale,  with both HFs and LOs tilted that way

  • HFs skew -9% better for sale, tilted that way in every sector except Materials & Industrials.  Supply is most concentrated in Energy & Staples where short supply is most prevalent.  Tech, Fins, HCare and Cons Disc also net for sale, but mostly long supply

  • LOs are -4% better for sale, as every sector ex-Fins, Energy & Macro Products tilts that way.  Supply is heavily concentrated in Disc, HCare & Utes with more modest profit taking in Mega Tech

  Energy stocks outperformed and only rate-sensitive Utes were dumped today (and in that context, Real Estate was stronger than expected – Trump?)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasury yields were all higher today but with a notable underperformance at the long-end (30Y +6bps, 2Y unch) which has dragged the long-end basically back to unchanged since CPI (juiced by the Trump trade too) as the short-end doves it up….

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The yield curve (2s30s) disinverted for the first time since January (which some also look at as driven by a ‘Trump’ bet)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Rate-cut odds shifted dovishly for 2024 today (66bps now priced in  – so a 50-50 chance of 3 cuts by year-end), while Powell’s comments prompted some hawkishness for 2025 (looks like Trump odds just bringing fwd cuts)….

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Bitcoin soared after Trump’s assassination survival (as the crypto-friendly candidate)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Ethereum also rallied and was juiced a little by today’s chatter that ETH ETFs will launch tomorrow, which lifted it back from the weekend’s underpeformance relative to BTC…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Gold surged back up near record highs today…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Despite energy stocks’ gains, oil prices slipped lower today (drill, baby drill; less geopol risk?)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, as we detailed here, US equity futures traders have never, ever been ‘longer’ than they are now…

  

  What could go wrong?

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Don’t worry though, it’s different this time.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/15/2024 – 16:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• China's GDP Growth Unexpectedly Tumbles As New Home Prices Plunge Most In 9 Years
  China’s GDP Growth Unexpectedly Tumbles As New Home Prices Plunge Most In 9 Years

  China’s economic growth collapsed to just 4.7% YoY in the second quarter, missing all but one economist’s forecast, as the world’s second largest economy is slowly but surely grinding to a halt (absent a bazooka stimulus).

  

  GDP, which rose 5.3% in the first quarter, had been expected to rise 5.1% based on economists polled by Bloomberg; instead growth slumped to just 4.7%, the lowest growth since March 2023.

  

  In sequential terms, GDP fell to 0.7% QoQ in Q2 from 1.5% in Q1. Industrial production growth remained solid at +5.3% yoy in June, despite a moderation from +5.6% yoy in May, thanks to strong export growth.

  China has grappled with weak consumer demand and a prolonged property slowdown, prompting greater intervention from policymakers in recent months, but in the absence of a bazooka stimulus – both fiscal and monetary – it is unlikely that anything will change and growth will continue to cool quarter after quarter, until there is a brutal recession and/or civil unrest.

  Elsewhere, industrial production rose 5.3% in June, slightly above expectations of 5.0% but below the 5.6% increase in Q1, while retail sales rose just 2.0% missing expectations of 3.4% by a wide margin and in line with sluggish tourism revenue growth during the Dragon Boat Festival and the soft 618 Online Shopping Festival. Fixed Investment rose 3.9%, right on top of reduced expectations, and reflecting the tug-of-war between policy support, adverse weather conditions and still-depressed property investment.

  Separately, new home prices in China fell 4.9% year on year last month, the fastest pace of decline in nine years, according to Bloomberg calculations, while new construction starts and property investment were down 23.7% and 10.1%, respectively, in the first half of the year.

  

  According to Goldman, taking Q2 GDP and June activity data together, “domestic demand remained sluggish despite strong exports, and more policy easing is necessary through the remainder of this year, especially on the fiscal and housing fronts.”

  The data release came as the Chinese Communist party’s Central Committee on Monday launched its third plenum, a four-day meeting in which the country’s leadership is expected to set the direction of economic policy. The last such event was held in 2018.

  Beijing has set a full-year economic growth target of about 5%, and unless Beijing launches a bazooka stimulus, it has precisely zero chance of hitting it.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 23:30

• Escobar: The Yemen-Russia Riddle
  Escobar: The Yemen-Russia Riddle

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

  Sanaa is eagerly engaging with Moscow in a bid to expand its astounding military gains into both the economic and diplomatic realms. While trade with Russia may be integral to blunting the effects of the siege of Yemen, Sanaa also views membership in the BRICS as a ‘golden opportunity’ to establish lasting Persian Gulf security.

  

  Yemen’s stellar strategic maneuvering in defense of Palestine from its dramatically ascendant role in West Asia’s Axis of Resistance is acquiring the contours of an epic odyssey – eagerly scrutinized by the Global Majority.  

  As if the unprecedented humiliation of the US Navy in the Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea was not enough, Ansarallah targeted an Israeli ship with a Hatem-2 hypersonic missile, a remarkable advancement in indigenous technological development.

  These prodigious strategic-military advances displayed by Ansarallah at the same time revived the always simmering, unfinished war and blockade launched against Yemen in 2015 by Saudi Arabia and the UAE with the usual US and UK backing.

  Riyadh abhors the Yemeni resistance like the plague. Instead of Sanaa, Yemen’s recognized capital city, it supports an anti-Ansarallah’ government’ sitting in Aden, sort of recognized by the ‘rules-based international order.’ In truth, though, that government actually sits in a luxury Riyadh hotel.

  Ansarallah has tried hard to negotiate a prisoner exchange involving captured Saudi pilots traded for jailed Hamas members in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has not only refused but threatened that bank transfers to and from Yemen would be blocked, and Sanaa’s international airport and sea ports would be shut down.

  Ansarallah’s response was stark: if Yemeni banking is blocked, the Saudi Arabian banking system would be destroyed. If Sanaa airport is targeted, the same would happen to Saudi airports.

  So, the war that never ended is suddenly and ominously back on track. Ansarallah would have no problem targeting Saudi Arabia’s oil production as retaliation to a full blockade – considering its proven capability with brand-new missiles and naval drones. The consequences for global oil markets would be catastrophic.  

  Two delegations come to Moscow…

  Yemen represents the classic case of a fierce resistance actor in the context of the emerging multipolar, multi-nodal world. So that begs the question of where multipolar/multi-nodal champion Russia stands when it comes to Yemen’s fight.  

  Which brings us to the fascinating case of two Yemeni delegations that recently visited Moscow.

  One of them, led by a senior Ansarallah official, met in Moscow with the Russian President’s Special Envoy to the Middle East (West Asia) and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov.

  They discussed not only the ongoing Gaza genocide but also what Ansarallah describes as “the American–British aggression on Yemen,” a reference to ongoing western naval operations in the Red Sea that have – unsuccessfully – sought for months to thwart Yemeni ops against Israel-bound and Israel-associated shipping vessels. A retaliatory siege, if you will.

  The Yemenis reassured the Russians that their maritime operations “do not pose a threat to international navigation or target anyone, but rather support the Palestinian people and respond to the American and British airstrikes on Yemen.” Ansarallah praised Russia’s understanding and expressed gratitude for: 

  Russia’s position against the American–British aggression on Yemen and their support for the humanitarian and political process in our country. We also reviewed the outcomes of the de-escalation efforts between Yemen and the aggressor countries and highlighted the necessity of reaching a comprehensive solution that ensures Yemen’s unity and sovereignty.

  All of the above concerns what could be described as the Yemeni political process delegation. In Oman, while waiting to collect their Russian visas, they crossed paths with another Yemeni group: let’s call it the geoeconomics delegation.

  This delegation was led by Dr Fouad al-Ghaffari, special advisor to Yemeni Prime Minister Dr Abdulaziz Saleh bin Habtoor’s National Salvation Government in Sanaa.

  Habtoor is a leading Yemeni intellectual and the author of the remarkable Undeterred: Yemen in the Face of Decisive Storm, which highlights key details of the war launched in 2015 “by a hostile coalition of 17 countries,” fully supported by the US and the EU, and complete with air, sea, and land blockades.

  The prime minister explains the economic war, as the Yemeni Central Bank was transferred to Aden; the biological war, which led to a horrendous break out of cholera across the nation; and how the Arab League was bought and paid for all the way. He stresses how “this is the first war in History in which all the rich Arab countries stand together under the cloak of the most powerful imperialist country in an unsacred coalition against the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula.”  

  That war is far from over. Yemen is suffering badly. The specter of a large famine has not disappeared. So, the focus of Dr Ghaffari’s delegation clearly had to be humanitarian and centered on food security.  

  He tells The Cradle what Yemen expects to receive from Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture: 

  We have food to export and import from Russia. We should have a shipping line between Russia and Yemen at Hodeidah port. Last month, another Yemeni delegation was in China. There were good contacts, and they are now developing an agreement. Here, I came as an adviser to the Prime Minister, and parallel to the Russian presidency of BRICS, I came to highlight the importance of developing an agriculture connection – and food security connection – between us and Russia. We need Russian expertise on all this. We have special products in Yemen that we want to export – and now we are fighting a boycott by the US and the west. We want Russian products instead of products coming from Europe.

  Ghaffari adds, “Some Russian products do come to Yemen – but they don’t come directly. They come from Gulf countries or African countries. But not as Russian products. In Yemen, there are no Russian products. Now, after 96 years of Russia–Yemen relations, Yemen is defining itself as a good player in our region. It’s a time for BRICS to unite – and to fight back against the US model.”

  Yemen’s BRICS drive

  Dr Ghaffari further explains what, in effect, breaks down as the possible geoeconomic integration of Yemen: 

  We had good signs from official contacts, and the Prime Minister in Yemen welcomes that. The objective is to close a deal with Moscow. We have a vision. We want to explain this vision of how to bring the North and South of Yemen together into one railway. This brings us back to 15 years ago when Russian Railways had a project. We bring oil, gas, [and] agriculture investment to seaports. Maybe Yemen could do that by itself in 50 years, but with good help, we can do it in one or two years.

  He says a long discussion was also held in Moscow on Yemen’s desire to apply for BRICS membership – and the pitfalls involved:

  We have been working close to BRICS for 10 years in Yemen, because we believe in this vision, if we have a chance to become a member. I am the only adviser to the Prime Minister for BRICS advancement. We want to work with BRICS. We now have a golden opportunity.

  The prime minister’s office in Sanaa has sent letters to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing its desire to join BRICS. If these contacts develop, Moscow could certainly invite Sanaa to participate as an observer in the BRICS summit in Kazan in October. 

  But does the recent BRICS membership of Saudia Arabia and the UAE create an instant obstacle in Yemen’s pathway to joining the multipolar powerhouse?

  Ghaffari doesn’t seem to think so, linking Yemen’s BRICS drive to establishing “security in the Gulf. The Emirates and Saudis are now in BRICS. BRICS could take all of us together.”

  So Dr Ghaffari’s delegation visited Russia with several objectives: to study the opportunity of establishing a joint agricultural company, to discuss import and export opportunities and shipping methods, to discuss cooperation within the BRICS strategy for economic partnership in agriculture, to learn about the Russian experience in boycotting western products; to introduce the specificity of Yemeni products, especially coffee, honey, and cotton into the Russian market, and to discuss the construction of one of the Yemeni dams.

  Add to this a key diplomatic objective: to discuss the possibility of a Yemeni representative attending the upcoming BRICS summit. “We stand with Russia. Russia should have a complete picture of what happens in Yemen. If Yemen is not at the summit, something would be missing in the region.”

  Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran would certainly agree. But then hardcore geopolitical reality calls. The Russian Federation, forced to protect an extremely delicate geopolitical balance between Iran and Saudi Arabia inside BRICS, may still be far from solving the Yemen riddle.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 23:20

• Chinese Regulators Intensify Efforts To Tighten Control Over Financial Markets
  Chinese Regulators Intensify Efforts To Tighten Control Over Financial Markets

  By Charlie Zhu and Helen Sun, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. Chinese regulators intensified efforts to tighten their control over financial markets. The People’s Bank of China effectively narrowed its interest rate corridor, placing a much higher floor on the costs banks pay to borrow overnight from each other.

  For longer-term bond yields, local branches of the National Financial Regulatory Administration asked some rural lenders to shorten the average duration of their bond holdings, joining the PBOC’s recent efforts to prevent yields from falling further.

  For stocks, the securities watchdog took some of its most extreme measures yet to restrict short selling and quantitative trading strategies, providing a boost to some of the key indexes.

  

  While recent policies have their respective rationale, they could come at long-term or macro economic costs, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. Measures to control the yield curve might mitigate financial risks, but weak domestic demand need lower interest rates to stimulate borrowings, economists at Nomura wrote in a report last week.

  China’s financial industry has already been reeling from slower growth and regulatory crackdowns. Ping An Bank Co. is relocating more than 100 staff based in Shanghai to its Shenzhen home base to cut costs, while PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is cutting staff across its China operations amid an exodus of corporate clients.

  2. Domestic demand remains week despite efforts to stimulate consumption. The consumer price growth hovered near zero for a fifth month, with the statistics bureau attributing it to promotions for the annual “618” shopping festival.

  “The deteriorating labor market will limit the potential for any quick and sustained recovery in consumption and hence inflation,” economists led by Zhou Yingke at Barclays Plc wrote in a report.

  

  Meanwhile, credit expansion also missed estimates. Exports in June jumped more than expected, highlighting the importance of external demand in underpinning China’s economy. Together with weak imports, the country registered a record trade surplus.

  3. Baidu’s tests of unmanned auto driving have reminded people the future has arrived. China’s Internet search leader is investing in generative AI and autonomous driving to diversify its business. With Beijing supporting robotaxis in ride hailing and car rental fleets, Baidu’s shares in Hong Kong posted the biggest weekly gain in more than one-and-a-half years.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 22:50

• Former CDC Director Says FDA Underreported Adverse Vax Side Effects To Prevent Vaccine Hesitancy
  Former CDC Director Says FDA Underreported Adverse Vax Side Effects To Prevent Vaccine Hesitancy

  Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

  Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pushed a false “safe and effective” COVID vaccine narrative by underreporting adverse events. The mRNA shots “never should have been mandated,” Redfield told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday.

  

  The Democrat-controlled Senate oversight hearing entitled “Risky Research: Oversight of U.S. Taxpayer Funded High-Risk Virus Research,” included witnesses  Dr. Gerald Parker, Dr. Carrie Wolinetz, Dr. Kevin Esvelt, and Redfield.

  Former President Trump’s CDC director accused the Biden government of suppressing data about vaccine injuries in an effort to prevent vaccine hesitancy.

  “There was not appropriate transparency from the beginning about the potential side effects of these vaccines, and I do think there were inappropriate decisions by some to try to underreport any side effects because they argued that would make the public less likely to get vaccinated” Redfield testified.

  Redfield said the biggest mistake of all was the Biden regime’s decision to mandate the mRNA products.

  “They never should have been mandated,” he said. “It should have been open to personal choice. They don’t prevent infection, they do have side effects.”

  A growing number of doctors and scientists now say that the cost to society and the cost to the individual taking the COVID injection far outweighed any of the proposed benefits.

  Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) pointed out that Biden regime officials like Dr.  Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, continue to deny that the injections are dangerous.

  “They’re saying they [vaccine side effects] are rare and they’re mild,” Johnson said.

  “The FDA should release all of the safety data they have,” Redfield replied. “I was very disappointed to hear that they’re planning to hold on to that [safety data] until 2026,” he continued. “That really creates a sense of a total lack of trust in our public health agencies toward vaccination. It’s counterproductive,” he added.

  Johnson lamented that he has been unable to get Rep. Gary Peters (D-Wis.), the chairman of the the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to issue any subpoenas to the relevant health agencies to obtain the safety data.

  “I would suggest you do that,” the Republican told Peters.

  Johnson was poised to spearhead investigations into COVID vaccine malfeasance himself as Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations starting in 2023, but Republicans did not gain the majority in the 2022 midterm elections.

  The Wisconsin senator said there’s “a lot more” being covered up than the COVID origin story.

  “There are many aspects of our miserably failed response to COVID that needs to be uncovered, not the least of which, the sabotage of early treatment,” Johnson said. “The public has a right to know.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 22:45

• Project 2025 & The Continued Democrat Meltdown
  Project 2025 & The Continued Democrat Meltdown

  Authored by Richard Truesdell and Keith Lehmann via American Greatness,

  Tying Donald Trump to Project 2025 is the latest desperation tactic from Democrats. But it’s likely to backfire. It might actually create a new generation of Conservatives in the process.

  

  Last year, the Heritage Foundation published the Mandate for Leadership as assembled by a consortium of people and think tanks called Project 2025. It is a compilation of long-standing recommended Conservative policies for the next Republican administration. The Project 2025 group claims the document is “the Conservative movement’s unified effort to be ready for the next Conservative administration to govern at noon, January 20, 2025.”

  It absolutely petrifies progressive Democrats.

  Looking at a portion of the 900+ page compendium, we note that it contains policy suggestions that have been embedded within the Conservative platform for over sixty years. We also note that proclamations from right-leaning think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation are routinely attacked from the left as being “radical” in nature and “out of touch” with ordinary Americans. This is nothing new. The left and progressives, especially, see this as the latest bogeyman to motivate the base as the Biden candidacy spins out of control.

  What is new here is the odd tactical decision of the Biden-Harris campaign to demonize the Heritage Foundation and tie the organization’s work to Donald Trump, who has nothing to do with Heritage and had no participation with Project 2025. It’s quite doubtful Trump even knew about Project 2025 until the Biden-Harris campaign decided it would characterize it as “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda” as “something every American should be scared of.”

  When we first saw references to Project 2025 appear, we knew that it was not organic. When all the usual suspects—MSDNC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Axios, Politico, NPR, Media Matters for America, and dozens of those image memes flooding your timeline on Facebook—we knew it was no accident. As we like to say, there are no coincidences in partisan politics.

  Calling this “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda” is yet another droplet in the endless ocean of lies from the Biden administration and its leftwing enablers. Here is another example of the obvious disinformation coming from the left (hit the link to see how remarkably unhinged these people are).

  While some of the points are true (i.e., ending the Department of Education, using public funding for private religious schools, increasing Arctic oil drilling), over 90 percent of these claims are outright lies, many of which are not even mentioned in the document. Project 2025 responded to this with an enumerated list of 30 “myths vs. facts.”

  This attack on Project 2025 and the attempt to connect their agenda to Trump seem to have a very strange appeal to ignorant Biden-Harris voters. Previously, hardly anyone, even among Republican and Conservative political junkies, had even heard of the Heritage Foundation, a relatively low-key, center-right institution that has never been considered a radical fringe organization. A vast majority of Americans are now hearing about Heritage for the first time.

  What might actually emerge is a broader awareness of the Heritage Foundation and its Conservative work among citizens who would not have otherwise found out if the Biden-Harris campaign had not made such a huge stink. The curiosity of voters will drive them to check out Project 2025, in which they will find five primary policy pillars intended to restore the Constitution as the country’s primary governing guide. We have distilled the five massively detailed policy proposals as follows:

  First, and arguably most important, “The president must enforce the Constitution and laws as written, rather than proclaiming new ‘law’ unilaterally. Legislatures make the laws in a republic, not executives.” (With the SCOTUS controlled by its current Conservative majority, this is downright scary to far-left progressives.)

  Second, “We must rediscover and adhere to the Founder’s wise division of war powers, whereby Congress, the most representative and deliberative branch, decides whether to go to war; and the executive…decides how to carry it out once begun.” Our multi-generational experimentation in presidentially initiated wars demonstrates that “we depart from our Constitutional design at our peril.” Over the vast majority of our history, especially in the 20th century, it was a Congressional Declaration of War that had the United States enter World War Two, not a Presidential Declaration of War.

  Third, the president and the State Department must “stop skirting the Constitution’s treaty-making requirements and stop enforcing ‘agreements’ which haven’t been ratified by the Senate as the Constitution requires, as if they were proper treaties.” Republicans as well as Democrats are guilty of this. Is it any wonder that no new wars were started during the four years of the first Trump administration?

  Fourth, “The Senate has been extraordinarily lax in fulfilling its constitutional obligation to confirm presidential appointees.” This results in unconfirmed, “acting” officials carrying out executive-branch responsibilities for months or years without Senate approval. Not to hold Democrats totally to blame here, the Senate ceded its war-making powers to the Executive Branch, starting with George W. Bush and continuing through the Obama and Biden administrations. Our growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict serves no real United States policy agenda other than to keep deep state warmongers like Victoria Nuland happy under Republican as well as Democrat administrations.

  Fifth, the Justice Department must “respect the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech rather than try to police speech.” Oh my God, where do we start here? The encroachment on the First Amendment started under Bush with the Patriot Act in the aftermath of 9/11 and has accelerated since then, especially under Obama and Biden. Biden’s Department of Justice especially has used deep state violations of its police powers against ordinary citizens, like many of the J6 demonstrators as well as journalists who neglect to toe the administration’s line.

  Each of these five points is a cap, not an expansion, of presidential power. The Biden-Harris campaign making such an effort to characterize Project 2025 as enabling a presidential power grab is a classic case of projection.

  Tying Trump to Heritage is a losing proposition, indicative of a campaign in desperation to change the subject from their complete and total meltdown in the wake of Biden’s catastrophic performance in the first debate and his subsequent interview with former Bill Clinton operative, George Stephanopoulos. It will backfire as expected and could lead to a broadening of acceptance toward Conservative principles among the American population.

  Keep up the good work, Democrats!

  ***

  Richard Truesdell is a former consumer electronics retail executive and automotive travel photojournalist. In the last 25 years, he has visited more than 35 countries on six continents. A former high school history teacher with a BA in Political Science from Waynesburg University, he is a lifelong Conservative moderate who has turned his thoughts and keyboard to political commentary and popular culture. A cross-section of his writings can be found here.

  Keith Lehmann is a retired consumer electronics industry executive who has written extensively on technology, transportation, and international travel. Living in Southern California for over fifty years, he has first-hand exposure to societal and cultural happenings of the left and submits decidedly realism-based, Conservative viewpoints, much of which can be found on his Substack.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 22:10

• Mapping High School Graduation Rates By State
  Mapping High School Graduation Rates By State

  A high school diploma not only represents the development of essential knowledge and skills but is also a critical step toward personal and professional growth.

  This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, shows the percentage of public school students who graduate with a regular high school diploma in each U.S. state. Data is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, for the school year 2021–22.

  

  West Virginia Has the Highest Graduation Rate

  The U.S. average high school graduation rate was 87% in the school year 2021–22.

  West Virginia has the highest graduation rate, with 91% of its students graduating. Meanwhile, the District of Columbia has the lowest graduation rate, with 76%.

  State	Percentage
  West Virginia	91
  Tennessee	90
  Wisconsin	90
  Kentucky	90
  Massachusetts	90
  Iowa	90
  Missouri	90
  Texas	90
  Virginia	89
  Kansas	89
  Connecticut	89
  Mississippi	89
  New Hampshire	88
  Delaware	88
  Utah	88
  Alabama	88
  Arkansas	88
  Indiana	88
  Florida	87
  Illinois	87
  Pennsylvania	87
  Nebraska	87
  California	87
  New York	87
  North Carolina	86
  Maryland	86
  Ohio	86
  Maine	86
  Hawaii	86
  Montana	86
  New Jersey	85
  North Dakota	85
  Georgia	84
  South Carolina	84
  Minnesota	84
  Washington	84
  Rhode Island	83
  Louisiana	83
  Vermont	83
  Colorado	82
  Wyoming	82
  Nevada	82
  Oregon	81
  Michigan	81
  Idaho	80
  Alaska	78
  Arizona	77
  District of Columbia	76
  New Mexico	Not available
  Oklahoma	Not available

  Given that West Virginia typically struggles in rankings like this, this top placement might be surprising to some. This high graduation rate is part of a concerted effort by the state to increase its graduation rate.

  In 2011, West Virginia’s graduation rate sat at 72% (which would put them dead last by today’s standards). How did the state see such a significant improvement? A data-driven early warning system was put in place to target individuals when they are at most risk of dropping out and using interventions to keep them on pace to graduate.

  Alabama, also an early adopter of this system, saw a steep improvement in their graduation rate over the past decade and a half.

  If you enjoy posts like these, check out Mapped: Personal Finance Requirements by State, which visualizes where high school students are required to take a personal finance course.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 21:35

• Property Tax & The Death Of The American Dream
  Property Tax & The Death Of The American Dream

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  While the primary catalyst for the original English pilgrims to venture to America was religious freedom, a strong desire for independence followed closely behind. They desired to be independent of two things: poverty and government meddling. This spirit carried into the American Revolution and informed domestic policy for many years. The Homestead Act of (FIND YEAR) was enacted to allow citizens a type of independence those who first fled Britain could only dream of. Remote settlers earned their own homes by proving their merit to Mother Nature. It was fairly easy to live as one wished without violating rules and regulations. The law was a fairly small framework that attempted to allow lives free from violence and evil. The two curses they fled were now powerfully refuted. The poverty caused by government oppression of the past was replaced by success or failure based upon individual action. 

  

  While poverty enabled and created by tyranny guided pilgrims to leave, it was no easy road in the new land. Settlers often dealt with great hunger and lack because they knew it was better than the guaranteed squalor they would have faced in Europe. Americans had to bet on their futures using their competence and capabilities. They received the fruits of their labor and often lived far better than they could have before. The American government was in place to protect their ability to live a private life in which they received the benefits of their labor.

  The whole American vision was built upon delayed gratification. There was no guarantee that a homesteader’s crops would thrive in any given year. Individuals who were less competent were forced to settle for a life that, while far better than before they emigrated, was below the standard of other more competent settlers. Homesteaders who wanted to fill their stomachs in winter would find they had no seed to plant in the spring. Months and years of hardship were endured to secure ownership and the ability to rest.

  The government’s primary role was to protect people against anyone who desired to intrude on their hard-earned peace, whether foreign nations or malicious citizens. People worked for security and the ability to give their children security. Land was a constant investment that directly reflected its developer’s work ethic and rewarded their competency. Unlike in Europe, land was very accessible to the common man. Rather than working for lords and barons, land distinguished Americans and allowed them to work for themselves.

  At the beginning of the 19th century, property taxes were small, primarily by the acre, and did not rise often. As administrative bloat and government corruption grew, property taxes gradually grew and morphed into something powerful and harmful to the core of the American dream. Property taxes became not just on the acre, but also on the valuation of the property. In some states, this tax is higher than 2% yearly. A 500,000$ house, a great deal in many locations, would force the owner to pay over 10,000$ yearly just to live on the land that they own. In complete opposition to the vision of the past, inflation and increasingly high valuations mean that as time goes on, landowners will be forced to work more just to make ends meet.

  If a family worked hard to make a life on a humble piece of land and became surrounded by a luxury housing development, the resulting higher valuation would drive them to live somewhere else. This incentive to move shifts Americans towards a consumer culture rather than a culture of creation. There is less reason to put effort into any piece of land or community if an indeterminate amount of “rent” must be paid every year. That “rent” used to be primarily the sweat of the brows of the owners of that land as they worked tirelessly to cultivate it.

  That vision has been replaced and land seems more like a luxury for the ultra-wealthy than any meaningful part of the American identity. Even small bits of land are not often loved and held for long. Moving constantly has become a favorite pastime of many families as they cannot seem to escape high taxes and inflation. Families continually downsizing or moving to other states cannot be sustainable as a national strategy. We must either make urban living far more appealing or face many families forced to choose between unappealing apartments or paying through the nose for ever-smaller houses. Property taxes exacerbate the attack on the root of American identity.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 21:00

• The Number Of Global Millionaires Keeps Rising
  The Number Of Global Millionaires Keeps Rising

  In its latest annual report, Swiss bank UBS shows that while there has been a mixed picture in the development of global wealth inequality, the number of dollar millionaires worldwide keeps on rising and is projected to continue to do so in most countries. Out of the 56 nations in UBS’s sample, millionaire numbers are projected to increase until 2028 in 52 – sometimes substantially. Notable exceptions are the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, there will be a projected 17 percent – or around 500,000 – fewer millionaires in 2028 than in 2023.

  As  Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, the number of U.S. dollar millionaires has risen sharply since the beginning of the 21st century.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In 2000, there were 14.7 million millionaires in the analyzed countries. In 2023, there were 58 million – a fourfold increase in twenty years (300 percent).

  If we compare this figure with the fight against extreme poverty, the number of people below the global poverty line – which today stands at $2.15 a day – has declined at a much slower rate.

  At the turn of the century, there were 1.7 billion people living in extreme poverty, compared with around 700 million today, a drop of around 60 percent.

  The United States is home to by far the largest contingent of dollar millionaires: 22 million in 2023, representing 6.6 percent of the country’s population.

  Next on this list is China with 6 million (0.4 percent of the population), while France completes the podium with 2.9 million (4.2 percent of the population). China saw millionaire numbers rise especially fast since 2000.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 20:25

• Is The USD Really Too Big To Fail?
  Is The USD Really Too Big To Fail?

  Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,

  Between politics (driven by self rather than public servants), markets (driven by debt rather than profits) and currencies (diluted by over-creation rather than chaperoned by a real asset), it is fair to say we live in not interesting but surreal times.

  But amidst the surreal, the dollar, as many believe, is our rock, our immortal albeit often unloved constant.

  The USD: Too Big to Fail?

  Whatever one thinks of the dollar, we can’t deny its centrifugal force, exorbitant privilege and entirely unequaled market power (from the current SWIFT and Eurodollar systems to the derivative and petrodollar markets).

  And even as broken, debased, inflated (and inflation-exporting) as the USD is, its place as a world reserve currency (with 80%+ of global FX transactions) is firm.

  More importantly, the USD is a currency (base money) that only the Fed can print into existence and which the rest of the dollar-thirsty and dollar-indebted world (i.e. Eurodollar markets) can only lend into existence (like a second derivative credit currency) in a perpetual dollar-roulette of “debt and print” or “debt and lend.”

  This effectively makes the USD the world’s base money (and denomination) for the vast majority of derivative global debt instruments, which means everything else (including Eurodollar lending) is essentially just credit-related.

   And because credit makes the $330T debt-world spin, the USD, by extension, makes the world spin.

  In short, one might argue the USD is too big to fail, right?

  The Immortal Greenback?

  Given the baked-in global demand and credit role for this otherwise diluted super-dollar, the national and global system which it has ruled since 1944 will thus likely and only end (save for a miraculously peaceful Plaza Accord 2.0) in some form of what Brent Johnson rightfully described as “profound violence—economic and/or military.”

  But according to the dollar bulls, even a collapsing system and, hence, tanking US bond market, would send UST yields to the moon and, hence, the USD (ironically) even higher. 

  In short, no matter how some spin it—the dollar is king, and every central banker in DC knows this, right?

  After all, such dollar realists have discovered the hard truth through the lens of realpolitik global finance: The dollar, love or hate it, is the base money of the global financial system and, as such, will be “the last to fall.”

  Gold Backing? 

  As for any return to a gold-backed dollar, those same realists would remind us of the infamous 1896 “Cross of Gold” case laid out by William Jennings Bryan, who warned that with a dollar tied to gold, credit would eventually tighten to such levels that the average citizen and small business would be left bleeding credit-dry in the streets.

  Furthermore, there’s the equally realistic stance that no country would want to be tied to a gold chaperone (or “standard”) for long, as this would only impede their sovereign ability to mouse-click their own currencies into existence when needed (i.e., whenever backed into a self-created debt wall).

  Money, and hence the USD, they ruefully conclude, will therefore be whatever the strongest country (bully) on the block says it is, and like it or not, the US and USD are still flexing the strongest biceps in the global neighborhood, right?

  Assuming Nothing (or History) Ever Changes

  But each of the foregoing (and reasonable) conclusions only hold true if one assumes that the US is and remains the strongest bully (and money) on the block.

  The evidence of history, however, which is dynamic rather than static, may suggest otherwise.

  For now, however, the dollar matters most to many.

  China, Russia, or India, for example, may be important, but few of us can or would predict that the yuan, ruble, or rupee will replace the greenback.

  I certainly don’t.

  So again, the USD will remain the king of liquidity. 

  And even for those who take de-dollarization seriously, will the BRICS+ nations really be able to agree to a gold-backed BRICS+ currency redeemable in, say, Moscow or Shanghai?

  I have my doubts—for the simple reason that as much as the BRICS+ nations collectively distrust the now weaponized USD, they don’t trust each other enough to relinquish their option to print their own currencies at will.

  But that doesn’t end the discussion on gold’s new and rising role in a changing dollar/world.

  Going Around Rather than Replacing the Dollar

  For me, debating a gold-backed new currency or “end of the dollar” drama thesis is missing the bullseye. 

  The facts and evolving history of today and tomorrow suggest that the real story is not about replacing the dollar, but simply going around it in a new price direction paved in both black and real gold.

  Toward that end, look at what the rest of the world and its central banks are doing, not what they (or our financial leadership) are saying:

  • Since 2008’s GFC, Putin has been hording gold;

  • Since 2014, global central banks have been net-sellers of USTs and net buyers of physical gold;

  • In 2023, 20% of global oil sales were outside of the USD;

  • Despite being pegged to the USD, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other GCC nations’ favorite import out of Switzerland this year is physical gold;

  • More than 44 nations are currently executing trade settlements outside of the USD;

  • Both Japan and China, historically the most reliable buyers of Uncle Sam’s IOUs, are now dumping billions and billions worth of them;

  • Russia is the world’s greatest commodity exporter, and China is the world’s greatest commodity importer—and they like each other far more than they do Biden or the next White House resident; more importantly, it is a matter of national survival for China to buy oil outside the USD;

  • Russia is now selling oil to China in yuan, which the Russians then use to buy Chinese goods (once made in America); thereafter, any delta in the trade is net settled in gold (not dollars) on the Shanghai Exchange. This, folks, is BRICS scalable (think India…);

  • Between swap lines, the CIPS alternative to the SWIFT system and rising negotiations between Gulf oil nations and other BRICS+ big-whigs, the current move away from dollar-denominated oil trades is real rather than imaginary;

  • Given the growing decline of physical gold and silver levels in the New York and London exchanges, they can no longer price fix gold as in the days of yore, nor can they justify a different 200 moving day gold price than one more fairly priced in China’s exchange;

  • The BRICS+ nations are no longer USD pawns but rising rooks. Their share of global GDP is surpassing that of the G-7;

  • In 2023, the Bank of International Settlements declared physical gold a tier-one asset alongside the 10Y UST;

  • Nations are openly (and naturally) preferring gold as a reserve asset over the other “tier-one” option–a dollar-based IOU of “risk-free-return,” which by any honest (current and future) measure of inflation offers a negative real yield, in other words: “return-free-risk;”

  • No matter how enamored the green crowd is of ESG, we are decades and decades (as well as trillions and trillions) away from carbon-neutral, and like it or not, energy matters and fossil fuels literally fuel the world;

  • China and India each have populations of over 1.4B. If oil demand increases even slightly in either of these BRICS countries, oil prices in rupees and yuan (and every other fiat currency) will explode—and two of the biggest players in the oil space don’t want to use dollars to pay for it. Instead, they’d prefer to net settle their oil and gas in gold, which buys more energy than dollars can;

  • Given that the annual production capacity for oil is 12-15X that of global gold, and with gold increasingly becoming the favored oil payment, gold’s price relative to oil can only go up;

  • This explains why gold is openly (not theoretically) becoming a more trusted reserve asset than the UST:

  

  In short, Energy matters, and rather than the USD being the base layer of money (see above), energy very well could be. 

  And THAT, folks, is how a system changes “violently and or militarily,” as most US direct and proxy wars have something to do with…oil.

  And that oil, by the way, is increasingly being net-settled in gold—day by day, and minute by minute, for the simple reason that history is like a hockey puck: You play where it is headed (gold), not where it sits (the USD).

  The Other Bullies Are Coming Together

  Returning to the prior assumptions of the Immortal Dollar thesis above, if money is whatever the strongest bully/power says it is, what happens to the previous notion of “money” when a collection of rising and resource-rich bullies/powers (BRICS+) is growing stronger, and their preferred focus is oil and not the dollar?

  

  What happens after a neutral reserve asset is weaponized against a major nuclear power and energy exporter (Russia) already in financial bed with the world’s largest energy importer (China)?

  The answer is simple: That once “immortal” reserve currency is less trusted and hence less in demand.

  Is it any coincidence, for example, that after DC weaponized the USD, the BRICS+ roster of nations increased to include the major oil exporters?

  Is it a coincidence that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, whatever you think of him, gave Biden a fist-pump and Xi a warm handshake?

  

  And let’s be blunt: Does anyone truly believe oil is irrelevant? That American wars (direct or indirect) with Iraq, Libya and Syria were about protecting freedom and democracy? 

  Or might these conflicts have had something a bit more to do with energy in general and oil in particular?

  What the US elite doesn’t want you to know is that oil matters more than dollars, and that more countries today would rather pay for that oil in gold.

  And do we think the Saudis haven’t noticed that gold-backed oil sales are significantly and historically more stable than dollar-backed oil?

  

  Is it, therefore, a coincidence that since DC weaponized the USD, global central banks have been stacking gold at historical levels?

  

  Is it a coincidence that more and more nations are net settling commodities and other trade deals in gold rather than dollars?

  Is it a coincidence that nations and their central banks would rather save in gold (a finite asset of infinite duration) rather than US IOU’s (an infinite asset of finite duration), whose returns can’t beat inflation and whose purchasing power, even in dollar terms, has fallen greater than 98% when measured against a milligram of gold since 1971?

  

  Is it a coincidence that within 2 years of de-coupling the USD from gold in 1971, DC desperately raised its interest rates and strengthened its dollar so that Saudi Arabia et al. would agree to force the world to buy oil in strong dollars, thereby creating forced demand for an otherwise over-supplied/printed USD?

  But is it also just a coincidence that 50+ years (and a 98% weaker dollar later), Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia are now slowly turning away from that petrodollar after a generation of seeing it debased by over $100T in US public, private, and household debt—all of which has made an increasingly unloved UST increasingly unable to withstand further rate hikes and hence dollar-strength?

  It’s Good to Be the King

  But as per above, the smart bankers at the Fed and big banks still want us to believe the dollar is king, and that despite all its flaws, the great straw-sucking demand from a dollar-centric world is precisely what makes the greenback too big to fail.

  But what if the world is energy rather than dollar-centric? And what if the BRICS rise is more than a chimera but a new puck direction?

  Think about that. No one in DC or Wall Street wants you to.

  Pride Comes Before the Fall

  The certainty that tomorrow’s dollar will remain yesterday’s dollar is, in fact, a dangerous sign of hubris (and historical ignorance) before the fall.

  After all, if we can see the decline of the USD’s purchasing power since 1971, can’t others?

  And if we can see that UST returns are losing (technically defaulting) to current and future inflation, can’t others?

  And if we can see that the fake liquidity (QE or other) required to pay Uncle Sam’s rising bar tab will continue to be highly inflationary (and dollar-debasing), is it not reasonable to assume that the rest of the world can see this too?

  Going Around Rather than Against

  In fact, and based on what is being done rather than said, the rest of the world appears to see precisely what we are seeing.

  The BRICS nations are not seeking to destroy or replace the dollar. Instead, and like the Germans facing the Maginot line, they are already and openly going around it.

  How?  

  By using local currencies for local goods which are then net settled in a timeless asset: Gold.

  And if we can see that holders of gold can purchase significantly more energy (i.e., oil or gas) with gold ounces and kilos than they can with American dollars and USTs, is not at least reasonable to assume that gold’s role as a trade settlement asset will have higher demand as the USD suffers declining demand?

  And if demand for the USD as a net trade settlement asset continues to fall rather than rise, is it not equally plausible (if supply and demand forces still apply) to suggest that tomorrow’s dollar may be weaker rather than stronger?

  Two Crowns: The Timeless vs. The Temporary

  And even if we were to concede the milk-shake theory’s reasonable postulate that despite all its blemishes, the dollar will be “the last to fall,” the simple fact remains that regardless of whether it falls or fails “last,” it is already being repriced, even if it may never be fully replaced?

  Finally, and perhaps most importantly (and obviously), even if the USD remains “king” relative to all other fiat currencies (and this matters if you live in countries—like Turkey or Argentina-where your currency is far weaker), we can still objectively see, again, that gold holds its value even better than that USD “king.”

  In short, there’s a far better “king” than the USD—it was always there. 

  The central bankers just don’t want you to see it. 

  And this precious king has a crown of gold rather than paper.

  Which king will you choose?

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 19:50

• Elon Musk Reveals Multiple Assassination Attempts, Says Time "To Build Flying Metal Suit Of Armor"
  Elon Musk Reveals Multiple Assassination Attempts, Says Time “To Build Flying Metal Suit Of Armor”

  The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has disclosed for the second time that there have been multiple assassination attempts on his life over the past eight months. This comes after the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening. 

  “Please, please triple your protection. If they can come for Trump they will also come for you. Elon Musk,” X user Ian Miles Cheong wrote in a post on the social media platform. 

  Please, please triple your protection. If they can come for Trump they will also come for you. @elonmusk

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Musk responded to Cheong’s post with, “Dangerous times ahead,” adding, “Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas.” 

  Dangerous times ahead.

  Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  “You’ve likely already done this, but still, please beef up your security even more. Your family and the world needs you,” Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt told Musk on X.

  You’ve likely already done this, but still, please beef up your security even more. Your family and the world needs you.

  — Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tesla Owners Silicon Valley said, “Can you please up your security Elon ?” 

  Can you please up your security Elon ?

  — Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  “The dangerous rhetoric from the left is spiraling out of control. It is time for us to condemn left-wing extremism and classify ANTIFA and other left-wing extremist groups as violent terrorist organizations much like ISIS,” X user Adam Lowisz said. 

  The dangerous rhetoric from the left is spiraling out of control. It is time for us to condemn left-wing extremism and classify ANTIFA and other left-wing extremist groups as violent terrorist organizations much like ISIS.

  — Adam Lowisz (@AdamLowisz) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  “Now this is a moment for the adults in the room to recognize an opportunity. People are now getting shot because of the hateful rhetoric of the left, rhetoric which is leveled against all pro-life, pro-family, pro-God Americans,” The Remnant’s Michael J. Matt wrote on X.

  Matt added, “The rhetoric of the left is so hateful and so dangerous that it must be said the enemy is encouraging just this sort of violence in our country. I don’t care what you think of Trump, THIS is the takeaway.” 

  Now this is a moment for the adults in the room to recognize an opportunity. People are now getting shot because of the hateful rhetoric of the left, rhetoric which is leveled against all pro-life, pro-family, pro-God Americans. The rhetoric of the left is so hateful and so… pic.twitter.com/vqbPpkLsya

  — Michael J. Matt (@Michael_J_Matt) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  No matter if it’s Musk, who is pro-humanity, or Trump, who is pro-family and pro-country, the leftist corporate media’s dangerous rhetoric against their political opponents is fueling violence and hate and assassination attempts. 

  Musk noted, “Maybe it’s time to build that flying metal suit of armor,” referring to the fictional exoskeleton worn by Tony Stark in the movie Iron Man. 

  It’s time to build the iron man suit @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/82NObFZIY0

  — Optimus (parody) (@TeslaAIBot) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The good news is that Tesla’s Cybertruck’s 301 stainless steel exoskeleton is bulletproof against America’s most common round, the 9mm round. 

  Elon just said on Joe Roagan’s podcast that there is going to be 3 demonstrations (1/ Tommy Gun, 2/ Shotgun, 3/ 9mm) of showing how bulletproof the Cybertruck truly is and when this footage is shown to the world on 𝕏, the competition will officially be shitting it’s pants. pic.twitter.com/QshmRl3rj0

  — Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) October 31, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Lil X and Elon Musk in Cybertruck pic.twitter.com/Jhpm1aZsB8

  — DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Maybe it’s time for lawmakers on Capitol Hill to investigate leftist corporate media outlets that have pushed so much hate against not just the president but anyone who dares to support him, such as Musk and many others. 

  Democrats calling for violence… They are evil. pic.twitter.com/345fWsWkNS

  — Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) July 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 19:15

• Biden Halts 'Trump Is Hitler' Ads After Assassination Attempt
  Biden Halts ‘Trump Is Hitler’ Ads After Assassination Attempt

  Authored by Luis Carnelio via HeadlineUSA.com,

  The scandal-plagued Biden campaign has pulled all its ads against former President Donald Trump after he was nearly killed by a shooter on Saturday. 

  Joe Biden is “pausing all outbound communications and working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible,” a campaign official told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday morning. 

  

  The ads would have likely labeled Trump as an existential threat ahead of the 2024 election. 

  Biden’s anti-Trump claims have rightfully led critics to question whether this heavily partisan rhetoric has incited violence against Trump.

  This rhetoric often conflates Trump with dictators, including Adolf Hitler, and suggests he would end “Democracy” if elected. 

  Just on Friday, Biden appeared at a campaign rally in Michigan, where he labeled Trump a “threat to this nation.” 

  Several conservatives quickly called out the past anti-Trump rhetoric that could have fueled violence against the former president. 

  Cartoonist Scott Adams on Twitter wrote, “The Biden campaign is pausing its ad campaign that was obviously designed to get Trump assassinated.  The Fine People Hoax probably just killed one spectator, injured another, and almost ended Trump. This is all on Biden.”

  Kyle Mann, the Babylon Bee’s editor-in-chief, added, “When you call your political opponent Hitler for 4 years, don’t act surprised when you inspire your followers to try to kill him.” 

  Outkick founder Clay Travis echoed Mann’s remarks, writing, “I am f**king furious beyond words. F**k every left wing media member who has been calling him Hitler for the past eight years. This is on them. They made this happen.” Travis’s post has reached nearly 5 million views.

  Director James Wood wrote, “We were two inches away from a civil war today. It is not a prospect I relish, but one that is to be feared if Democrats don’t stop with their absurd vile Hitler analogies and their assassination glee.” 

  We were two inches away from a civil war today. It is not a prospect I relish, but one that is to be feared if Democrats don’t stop with their absurd vile Hitler analogies and their assassination glee. pic.twitter.com/NYxJllujNC

  — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) July 14, 2024

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  Comedian and host Dave Smith similar said, “How the f**k can you say he’s literally Hitler and Democracy is on the line but we wish him a speedy recovery and political violence is never acceptable?”

  The Daily Wire posted a video compilation of several legacy media outlets comparing Trump to Hitler.

  A retrospective of how the Leftist media continuously compared Trump to Hitler: pic.twitter.com/MQcdTexgkC

  — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 14, 2024

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  Other critics were equally vocal in their responses.

  Every Democrat and media outlet tonight is like “Thank God Hitler is okay and wishing Hitler a speedy recovery.”

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 14, 2024

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  A shocking and tragic day for the nation — and an amazing, heroic response from President Trump.

  You cannot repeatedly and endlessly label a major party candidate and former president Actual Hitler, a full-scale threat to democracy, without radically increasing the danger of…

  — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 14, 2024

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  God bless President Trump and our secret service. I haven’t ever been angrier. This is what calling him Hitler for eight years caused. pic.twitter.com/5kVJmU8itY

  — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 13, 2024

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  If Trump were as bad as Biden and other Democrats say he is — if he were a tyrant on par with Hitler himself — then why would they be grateful to hear he’s safe and doing well? Either their characterizations of Trump are false or their sympathy is. https://t.co/WlR1WABtG2

  — Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) July 14, 2024

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  Hey @JeffBezos your paper @washingtonpost compared Trump to Hitler a few months ago. Maybe focus on that instead of bullshit platitudes. Thanks, bud. https://t.co/nnZOhfT5Rz pic.twitter.com/nHqLr7mF2X

  — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 14, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 18:40

• Spot The Odd One Out
  Spot The Odd One Out

  The COVID-19 pandemic erased nearly two decades of life expectancy gains in America. Meanwhile, U.S. health spending per capita is at the highest level in the world.

  In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualizes life expectancy and per capita healthcare costs across several wealthy nations.

  

  Figures were compiled by Peterson-KFF, and are as of 2022.

  America Spends a Lot on Healthcare, For Little Gain

  As Peterson–KFF bluntly notes, “the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy amongst large, wealthy countries” while their per capita healthcare cost has moved past $12,500 as of 2022

  In fact the U.S. is an outlier for both healthcare costs (+$4,600 from next-highest Germany), and in life expectancy (-3.2 years from Germany).

  

  Note: Health spend is measured in PPP-adjusted 2022 U.S. dollars.

  From the 12 developed countries in the analysis, the average healthcare per capita cost is at $6,700 with a life expectancy of 82.2 years. Americans spend nearly double the amount while living 5 years less on average. Peterson-KFF also notes that in 1980, the U.S. had similar health spends and life expectancies as all its peers. Trends have since diverged.

  Of course, both health care spending and life expectancies are influenced by a variety of socioeconomic factors. For example, the UK has the lowest costs ($5,500) amongst its European peers in the group, thanks in part to its National Health Service.

  At the same time, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (84 years) while its per capita health costs come in at $5,300. Their low red meat intake and high fish consumption are partially credited with maintaining good health in the population.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 18:05

• Middle East Reacts To A 'Destabilized' America
  Middle East Reacts To A ‘Destabilized’ America

  Via Middle East Eye

  The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday has provoked an outpouring of condemnation, even from opponents of the Republican frontrunner. In the Middle East, national leaders largely joined in. 

  “I followed up the treacherous attack on former president and presidential nominee Donald Trump with concern, and I reiterate Egypt’s condemnation of the incident,” wrote Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on his Facebook page. He expressed hope for the “completion of the American election campaigns in a peaceful and healthy atmosphere, free of any manifestations of terrorism, violence, or hatred“.

  

  The attack was also condemned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he hoped those behind it would be brought to justice “in order not to cast a shadow on the US elections and global stability“, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife would pray for Trump’s “safety and speedy recovery”.

  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not enjoyed cordial relations with Trump in past, also condemned the attempted assassination, saying in a statement that he “reaffirm[s] the positions of the State of Palestine, which has always rejected violence, terrorism, and extremism, regardless of its source”.

  Not everyone, however, was so supportive or magnanimous. The Telegram and X accounts for Sabereen News, an outlet affiliated with the Iran-backed “resistance” groups in Iraq, on Sunday posted a picture of a bleeding Trump with the caption: “Today terror has entered their fortified palaces.”

  One of Trump’s last significant acts while in office was ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, former head of Iran’s Al-Quds Force.

  The 2020 attack in Baghdad, hailed by Trump as a “flawless precision strike”, also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraq government official and head of the irregular Popular Mobilisation Forces.

  Iranian journalist and former diplomat Amir Mousawi also implied the attack was “divine” retribution for the killing of Muhandis and Soleimani, tweeting “soul for a soul and an eye for an eye” and suggesting Netanyahu would be next.

  Others pointed out the irony of Israeli officials’ condemnation of the Trump attack just a day after their own attempted assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Gaza:

  Consecutive tweets by the Israeli Foreign Minister. You cannot make this shit up… pic.twitter.com/cE7vX2b9Qc

  — David Andress (@ProfDaveAndress) July 14, 2024

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  And as night follows day, numerous social media users also attempted to link the assassination to a range of Middle Eastern factions, with some in the US and Israel claiming the shooter was a supporter of Hamas, some blaming the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, and some Turkish users saying he was a supporter of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

  While Trump’s arch-nemesis Iran has yet to comment on the shooting, a number of Trump supporters tried to link the Islamic Republic to the shooting by citing a statement by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander last year in which he said they “hope we can kill Trump, [former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo, [former US general Kenneth] McKenzie and the military commanders who gave the order” to kill Soleimani.

  So far however, despite speculation and conspiracy theories, the motivation of the shooter has yet to be determined.

  * * *

  Meanwhile…

  In China just hours after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/obIai00NBI

  — Middle East Observer (@byz_observer) July 14, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 17:30

• These Are The 10 US States With The Highest Cost Of Living
  These Are The 10 US States With The Highest Cost Of Living

  Ever wondered where your dollar stretches the least in the U.S.?

  States vary significantly when it comes to cost of living, which takes into account expected expenses for essentials like housing, food, and transportation.

  In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu maps out the top 10 U.S. states with the highest annual cost of living in 2024. The cost of living figures are based on data calculated by Forbes Advisor.

  

  Calculating Cost of Living

  To calculate the cost of living in each state, Forbes Advisor calculated annual expenses for housing, healthcare, taxes, food, and transportation.

  Their data sources include C2ER, KFF, MIT Living Wage Calculator, and the U.S. Census Bureau. You can read more about their methodology here.

  Hawaii is the State with the Highest Cost of Living

  The sunny state of Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in, with an average annual cost of living of $55,491.

  

  Despite having the highest cost of living ($55,491), Hawaii also has the lowest annual average salary ($61,420) among these 10 states.

  This leaves residents with an annual disposable income of $5,929–the lowest out of all 50 states.

  Some factors that contribute to Hawaii’s high cost of living are its high housing costs due to housing shortages and high income taxes.

  Coastal Life Isn’t Cheap

  Life on either coast isn’t cheap, either.

  All four West Coast states make the top 10 list, while Northeastern states like New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey also make an appearance. New York City is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.

  About 40% of the U.S. population lives on the coast, but the coast only accounts for less than 10% of the country’s land mass.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 16:55

• America Was Less Than An Inch Away From Socio-Political Disaster
  America Was Less Than An Inch Away From Socio-Political Disaster

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  Former President and impending Republican Nominee Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday days before his party’s national convention after suddenly turning his head at the last second and thus miraculously dodging a bullet that only ended up grazing his ear. The shooter was killed by the Secret Service, but an eyewitness told the media that he warned the police about a man crawling on the roof a few minutes earlier, though no action was taken.

  

  This security lapse is suspicious and prompts speculation that at least one member of the Secret Service might have purposely waited until after the shooter took his shot before neutralizing him, whether out of sympathy for his cause or perhaps because they were in on some sort of plot.

  About the shooter, he’s been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican. It remains unclear at the time of writing what his online history was and whether there’s more to his party affiliation than meets the eye.

  At the very least, there’s no doubt that the Democrats’ and their allied “Never Trumpers’” hatemongering played a role in radicalizing the suspect.

  Had he succeeded in assassinating Trump, then the US would have certainly plunged into socio-political disaster, which it literally missed by less than an inch. Many expect that powerful Democrat donors might soon force Biden to drop out of the race, thus leading to the party selecting their nominee outside of the notionally democratic primary process.

  Their Republican counterparts would have done the same on their side of the aisle, especially since Trump hadn’t yet announced his Vice-Presidential pick by the time of his attempted assassination. Both parties would therefore have likely chosen nominees that didn’t complete their respective primary processes, thus blatantly disenfranchising Americans even more than they already are in reality. In theory, the elections could be delayed to re-run the primaries, but Congress might not agree to it.

  Even if they did, the aforementioned hyperlinked article reminded readers that the 20th Amendment mandates the end of the President and Vice-President’s four-year terms at noon on 20 January, thus leading to (replacement) President Harris being forced to step down before a new one is elected. Her Vice-Presidential replacement could only be speculated upon in that scenario since the 25th Amendment stipulates that they’d have to be confirmed by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

  Whether or not the elections would be delayed, the US would continue to be ruled by the “governing oligarchy” that Axios reported late last month is the real power behind Biden. This analysis here that was coincidentally published earlier that same day noted that “The country is being ruled by a shadowy network of transnational and domestic elites that are united by their radical liberal-globalist ideology.” This group simply exploits Biden as their placeholder to publicly legitimize all of their decisions.

  They’d remain in power if the Democrats keep the White House or if a “Republican In Name Only” (RINO) replaced Trump had he been assassinated. The former President promised supporters that he’d make good on his former pledge to “drain the swamp” if he’s re-elected, and while precedent suggests that he might once again fail, there’s still a chance that he might partially succeed. At the very least, his return could create the conditions for some replacements, who might be conservative-nationalists.

  This insight sheds light on those forces who’d be pleased had he been assassinated, namely the liberal–globalist clique that secretly controls American policy, and they’d also have been delighted that Trump wouldn’t get the opportunity to end their latest “forever war” in Ukraine like he sought to do. His potential Republican successor could try to follow in his planned footsteps, but they also might not be interested in doing so if they’re a RINO, hence why taking Trump out could have been a game-changer.  

  On the home front, there’s no doubt that “shitlibs” would have plastered pictures of Trump’s blown-out brains all over social media and their cities in order to incite his supporters to violence, and some of them would have predictably obliged after being endlessly provoked with such images. The ruling liberal-globalists have wanted to radicalize MAGA members for a while already in order to further discredit their movement and create a compelling pretext for cracking down more forcefully upon them all.

  It also can’t be ruled out that some of these newly radicalized supporters of his might have carried out “retributive violence” by targeting Democrat officials from the federal level on down to the local one if they blamed them for his assassination. Infamous anti-Trump celebrities and influencers could also have been caught up in this bloody campaign, which might have led to martial law in parts of the country like Trump should have imposed during the Democrats’ spree of urban terrorism in summer 2020.

  America’s socio-political fabric could therefore have very easily been torn to shreds had Trump not suddenly turned his head at the last minute and thus miraculously averted this worst-case scenario by less than an inch. There’s no guarantee that this won’t happen again, however, which is why it’s imperative that Trump immediately announce his Vice-Presidential pick and ideally choose someone who the ruling liberal-globalist elite is also afraid of in order to reduce the chances of him being killed.

  Regardless of whatever happens, America just got a reality check about how close it is to descending into chaos, which shows how much it’s changed for the worse since 2016. Partisan radicalization and elite scheming have always been around, but they reached an unprecedented level after Trump became the Republican Nominee back then. He’s an imperfect candidate with a lot of personal flaws, but his re-election is the last chance to save America from itself if he succeeds in implementing his lofty plans. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 16:20

• 'A Mistake': Zelensky Says He Can 'Forget' Biden Calling Him Putin (After Billions Donated)
  ‘A Mistake’: Zelensky Says He Can ‘Forget’ Biden Calling Him Putin (After Billions Donated)

  Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had a brief look of shock and confusion the moment when on Thursday President Biden introduced him before the NATO summit as Russian “President Putin”.

  In the embarrassing aftermath, which stunned the US Democratic political establishment at a moment questions were already intensifying over his mental fitness for office, Zelensky has been asked to comment on the uncomfortable moment. The Ukrainian leader as expected played down the flub, calling it a “mistake” which can now be forgotten and that he plans to move on from it.

  

  “It’s a mistake. I think [the] United States gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” the Ukrainian president told reporters from Ireland on Saturday, where he’s visiting Irish leader Simon Harris.

  Immediately after calling Zelensky “Putin” – Biden corrected himself and looked humiliated, saying the Ukrainian leader was actually going to “beat” Putin.

  But the moment overshadowed everything, including the rare Q&A the US president did later that night, which also didn’t go so well (given the references Biden made to “Vice President Trump”…).

  “Theater of the absurd,” a Russian reporter said after playing a clip of Biden calling the Ukrainian president by his wartime enemy’s name. —NBC

  As for Zelensky downplaying the moment and wanting the world to move on… this is exactly what one might expect from a foreign leader who has been given tens of billions by Biden.

  At the same time Ukraine has not looked favorably on a potential future Trump administration. Trump has at times said things which have outraged Kiev, such as promising to end the war within 24 hours by quickly getting each side to the negotiating table.

  These 2 videos are about an hour apart.

  He calls Zelensky “President Putin”

  Later he says “I wouldn’t of picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President”

  How is this man in charge of America? and how can Democrats want him to serve a 2nd term? #Biden #vicepresidenttrump pic.twitter.com/qIhTh7URX1

  — Sean (@Xcellent78) July 12, 2024

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  Trump has reportedly even floated a plan to withhold weapons from Kiev if it doesn’t agree to quickly seek to negotiate toward ceasefire and peace. By and large Ukraine has sided with the Biden administration in looking upon Trump as somehow ‘compromised’ by the Kremlin, given also the past years of pushing ‘Russiagate’ narratives.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 15:45

• Democratic Socialists Of America Withdraws Endorsement Of AOC
  Democratic Socialists Of America Withdraws Endorsement Of AOC

  Via HeadlineUSA.com,

  The Democratic Socialists of America withdrew its endorsement of “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., for not being far left enough on Israel’s military strike in Gaza.

  In a memo on Wednesday, the DSA acknowledged Ocasio–Cortez has taken some “courageous positions on Palestine,” but said she has not done enough to oppose Israel.

  

  The memo cited her recent panel with leaders from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, calling it a “deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action in recent months, and in decades past.”

  The DSA also took issue with “[Ocasio-Cortez’s] votes, including a vote in favor of H.Res.888, conflating opposition to Israel’s ‘right to exist’ with antisemitism,” and a press release in April she co-signed that “support[s] strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems.”

  Because of this, the DSA said it would be revoking its endorsement of Ocasio–Cortez, which it gave to her in June on the condition that she publicly oppose all funding to Israel, participate in the DSA committee, publicly oppose criminalization of all “anti-Zionism,” and publicly support efforts to “end Israel settler-colonialism.”

  The group added, “A national DSA endorsement comes with a serious commitment to the movement for Palestine and our collective socialist project. To build a socialist movement that’s capable of defeating capitalism, we must demand more from leaders in our movement.”

  In 2018, Ocasio–Cortez became the first female member of the DSA to be elected to Congress, alongside her fellow “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. She is still endorsed by the DSA’s New York chapter.

  Ocasio–Cortez has been openly critical of the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel and has demanded that President Joe Biden pressure Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire against Hamas. 

  However, other groups that considered themselves central to her political rise, such as the Justice Democrats, have likewise signaled that the former bartender from the Bronx has lost site of their core values on her climb up the political ladder.

  She has not commented on the DSA’s withdrawal of support for her campaign.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 15:10

• Surge In "Donate To Trump" Searches After Assassination Attempt
  Surge In “Donate To Trump” Searches After Assassination Attempt

  Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee could be set to receive another influx of donations from Americans, including many mom-and-pop voters across the nation, following the assassination attempt on the former president at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening. If the surge in donations following Trump’s guilty verdict in May, which brought in tens of millions of dollars in the days and weeks after, is any guide, then another donation wave could be imminent, if not already underway. 

  Google Trends search data shows that “Donate to Trump” surged nationwide in the moments after the assassination attempt. Folks in Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Nevada were searching for ways to donate to the Trump campaign the most. 

  

  The search data already exceeded the prior peak during Trump’s guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial in May. That month, Trump and the GOP raised $141 million, with more than two million donations averaging $70 each. About 37.6% of the $141 million was raised in the 24 hours after the verdict was announced. 

  Americans were also searching for the “Trump campaign website,” and this search trend spiked overnight. 

  

  On Friday, Bloomberg revealed that Elon Musk contributed to America PAC, which is working to elect Trump to the White House. 

  Hours after the assassination attempt, Bill Ackman “formally endorsed” Trump on X.

  I am going to formally endorse @realDonaldTrump. I came to this decision some time ago as many @X followers have already understood from my supportive posts of Trump and my criticisms of @POTUS Biden.

  The reason why I have not yet formally done so is that I want to explain my…

  — Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 14, 2024

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  PredictIt data shows that Trump’s odds of winning the presidential elections jumped to as high as 68% last night. Trump’s odds of winning surged at the end of last month following President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. 

  

  The increasing support for the former president comes as Biden’s election efforts falter, and a growing number of Democrats have asked Biden to step aside over his lack of mental acuity. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 14:35

• "Malice Or Massive Incompetence": Erik Prince Gives Detailed Assessment Of Secret Service Failure
  “Malice Or Massive Incompetence”: Erik Prince Gives Detailed Assessment Of Secret Service Failure

  Update (1420ET): Former Navy Seal and Blackwater founder Erik Prince gave a detailed assessment of yesterday’s Secret Service debacle in the wake of a failed assassination attempt on former President Trump.

  

  “Hopefully after the tragedy yesterday in Butler PA we can all recognize that unaccountable bloated bureaucracies continue to fail us as Americans,” Prince posted to X.

  Continued (emphasis ours):

  Donald J Trump is alive today solely due to a bad wind estimate by an evil would be assasin [sic].

  As the graphics show the full value wind of just 5mph was enough to displace the unconfirmed but likely light 55 grain bullet two inches from DJT’s intended forehead to his ear.

  DJT was not saved by USSS brilliance. The fact that USSS allowed a rifle armed shooter within 150yds to a preplanned event is either malice or massive incompetence. Clearly there was adequate uncontrolled dead space for a shooter to move into position and take multiple aimed shots. Watching the newsreel one can hear how proximate the shooter is by the very short time lapse between the crack of arriving bullet (supersonic) to the boom of muzzle blast (sonic).  

  The law enforcement sniper (unclear if USSS) in newsreels was clearly overwhelmed as his face came off his rifle instead of doing his job to kill the shooter. Clearly they were watching the shooter but apparently have a no “first shot” policy.  The only positive action was an apparent 488yd shot by one USSS sniper which despatched the assasin but after the assassin launched at least 5 rounds, wounding DJT and killing and severely others in the crowd.

  The sniper was already watching the shooter. Why didn’t he shoot first! 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Ts72wqdG4t

  — GentlemanJack (@xGentleManJack) July 14, 2024

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  In my old business of providing Diplomatic Security in two active war zones we were expected to execute the basics or we would be fired. Clearly USSS failed at the basics of a secure perimeter and once shots were fired their extraction was clumsy and left DJT highly exposed to follow on attacks. It looked like they had never drilled together because those responses should be effectively autonomic. Will there be accountability?  That’s not the Washington way.

  Unserious and unworthy people in positions of authority got us to this near disaster. Merit and execution must be the only deciding factors in hiring and leadership, not the social engineering priority of the day.  Sadly nothing in Washington reflects that any longer. DJT is right to question the competence of those protecting him because yesterday they failed in almost every way. Nature abhors a vacuum and there are always other options.

  Most importantly, as Americans let’s come together and run a proper valid election so we can get back to what matters a merit based society that judges on character and skill. Nothing else.

  (Images from a SEAL sniper instructor at Red Sky LLC)

  

  

  

  *  *  *

  Indeed…

  

  *  *  *

  When looking at the circumstances in favor of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the identified alleged suspect in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, PA, it’s hard to see how the guy failed.  Almost every Secret Service security protocol seems to have been ignored, allowing Crooks easy access to a perfect shooting position and plenty of time to acquire a bead on Trump’s podium.

  

  The rooftop used by Crooks was a mere 140 yards away from the event with a clear line of sight to the right of Trump.  Those familiar with precision shooting know that any shot within 300 yards is considered easy for a moderately trained rifleman.  With the right caliber an expert can hit a torso sized target consistently at 1000 yards or more.  At 140 yards any amateur should be able to hit a pie plate-sized target with little difficulty, even without a magnified optic. 

  The Secret Service is supposed to secure all obvious “sniper perches” well before the arrival of a protectee – Meaning, nearby rooftops and buildings are supposed to have a security presence in place along with drone surveillance.  In the case of Butler, PA, this was apparently not done.  SS snipers were only present on the building right behind the venue stage.

  

  The lack of a security presence at the building across the field made it possible for the would-be assassin to brazenly jaunt to the location and climb to the rooftop with his rifle in broad daylight.  The SS traditionally uses concentric “circles of security” going out hundreds if not thousands of yards when preparing a location for protection.  Watch the video below for insight on how meticulous the Secret Service is supposed to be when preparing an area to prevent assassination attempts.

  The idea of Crooks being able to get that close with an elevated position on the stage is unthinkable.  Another fail was the lack of sight obstructions put in place near the stage.  The Secret Service is supposed to erect barriers to block the line of sight from potential shooting locations.  Again, this was not done. 

  Finally, there’s the dismal lack of response time.  Witnesses outside the event report that they saw Thomas Crooks climbing to the building rooftop with his rifle at least three minutes before he started shooting.  They claim they tried to warn police and Secret Service agents to no avail.  

  “How could you have somebody on the rooftop?” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise – a victim of political violence, after the shooting. “There are reports that people watched him climb up the roof and even alerted authorities, and we’re going to be looking into that.“

  Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Saturday night demanded immediate answers from the Secret Service as to how it failed to prevent the assassination attempt.

  “I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing,” Comer said on X. “The Oversight Committee will send a formal invitation soon. There are many questions and Americans demand answers.”

  🚨BREAKING🚨@RepJamesComer has invited U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on Monday, July 22.

  Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump. pic.twitter.com/zKia2oIxCf

  — Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 14, 2024

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  As Just the News notes, warning signs about the Secret Service were there months before the Trump assassination attempt.

  Back in May, Congress requested a briefing with the Secret Service, after several incidents allegedly raised internal concerns over the quality of its trainings.

  A petition within the Secret Service has reportedly been circulating because of the incidents and called for a congressional investigation into the agency, according to Comer.

  One incident saw a Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris allegedly attack her superior and other agents. The unnamed agent also exhibited other “concerning” behavior, according to her colleagues.

  Luckily for Trump, Crooks seems to have had terrible aim and he was not smart enough to shoot from a covered position which would have offered him protection and allowed him even more time.  Unfortunately, the shooter’s stray bullets hit at least three bystanders in the crowd, leaving one dead and two in critical condition.  The security failure in this situation is so complete that former Secret Service agents are admitting it publicly and calling for an investigation into how this could have happened.

  The motive for Thomas Crooks’ actions is not yet known.  Reports claim the 20-year-old Bethel Park resident was registered to vote as a Republican, yet, he also donated money to Democrat run organizations in 2021, including ActBlue and the Progressive Turnout Project.  

  As we warned only two weeks ago, Democrat rhetoric has been increasingly violent after the Supreme Court decision on Trump’s prosecution immunity.  Many Democrat representatives and activists openly suggested Trump could (or should) be assassinated in response to the ruling.  The media’s fear mongering over the “imminent destruction of Democracy” should Trump prevail might not be directly related to the shooting attempt, but it certainly doesn’t help.  In the wake of the failed assassination many have still taken to social media to argue that the shooting was “staged”, while others complained that the shooter missed his target.             

  This DEMON is mad that the shooter missed President Trump🤯😳

  THIS IS THE DARKNESS WE ARE FIGHTING!!! pic.twitter.com/tGHCIjudyU

  — Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) July 14, 2024

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  When they tell you who are they, believe them. pic.twitter.com/0CSxvxUIWG

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024

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  This leftist is really upset and triggered because the sh**ter missed Trump.

  Believe them when they tell you who they are. pic.twitter.com/61bpddFCDX

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024

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  Regardless of one’s position on Trump, this kind of political vitriol should be considered poisonous.  It can only lead to more violence in the future. Again, the shooter was given every opportunity; Democrats almost got what they have long wanted.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 14:24

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Trump Gunman Reported To Be Thomas Matthew Crooks
  Trump Gunman Reported To Be Thomas Matthew Crooks

  Summary (footage below):

  • Shooter reported to be 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, NY Post. No official confirmation has been made.
  • Trump has responded, saying on Truth Social “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
  • Secret Service says one spectator was killed and two were critically injured.
  • Former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear by a would-be assassin at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.
  • Trump could be seen grabbing his ear and falling to the ground, before standing up and walking off stage.
  • Approximately nine shots rang out.
  • A member of the crowd, as well as the shooter, are dead following the assassination attempt.
  • One Trump supporter says he alerted Secret Service before the shooting and was ignored.
  • Trump’s team reportedly asked for ‘beefed up protection’ and was rebuffed over and over by Biden DHS.

  *   *   *

  Update (0013ET): The shooter has been identified by the NY Post as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel park, PA. According to sources, crooks was planted on the roof of a manufacturing plant over 130 yards away from the stage at Butler Farm Show Grounds.

  *  *  *

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  Update (2350ET): Watch as the FBI, Secret Service and state police hold presser following the Trump assassination attempt.

  *   *   *

  Update (2126ET): President Trump has responded on Truth Social, writing: “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”

  

  Trump has been released from the hospital:

  🚨#BREAKING: Donald Trump has released from hospital after this evenings shooting leaving two dead including the shooter pic.twitter.com/9jHKnIIotM

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) July 14, 2024

  Check out this angle. Counter snipers see something and engage? #shooter #snipers pic.twitter.com/lD3J651SkJ

  — Colagram (@coladoggxxx) July 14, 2024

  The would-be assassin is allegedly pictured here:

  Alleged would-be assassin of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/OU6WvFackr

  — National File (@NationalFile) July 14, 2024

  

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  A remarkable photo captured by my former White House Press Corps colleague Doug Mills.

  Zoom in right above President Trump’s shoulder and you’ll see a bullet flying in the air to the right of President Trump’s head following an attempted assassination. pic.twitter.com/FqmLBCytoW

  — Haraz N. Ghanbari (@HarazGhanbari) July 14, 2024

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  The secret service, which reportedly ignored a warning about the shooter climbing a building (see below), has issued the following statement:

  During Former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the evening of July 13 at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased. U.S. Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures and Former President Trump is safe. One spectator was killed, and two spectators were critically injured. This incident is currently under investigation. and the Secret Service has notified the FBI.

  Update (1918ET): Trump was grazed by a bullet and two people are dead, including the shooter, according to the Butler Country District Attorney.

  According to The Federalist‘s Sean Davis,

  “A source familiar with Trump’s security detail tells @FDRLST that the former and future president’s detail has been asking for beefed up protection and resources for weeks, but has been rebuffed time and again by Biden’s DHS.

  DHS, which oversees Secret Service protective detail “wasn’t responsive to those requests” for more resources, the source said.”

  Butler county district attorney Richard Goldinger tells me Trump was grazed by gunfire but is safe. An audience member was killed and the shooter is dead. Another person is in serious condition, the prosecutor said.

  — Meryl Kornfield (@MerylKornfield) July 13, 2024

  

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  GRAPIC WARNING:

  Video showing the shooter dead on the rooftop pic.twitter.com/DyC9CMBdsU

  — Faytuks News (@Faytuks) July 13, 2024

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  #trump #SecretService #DonaldTrump #rooftop pic.twitter.com/U6skVDVzqQ

  — Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) July 14, 2024

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  New audio has emerged from moments after the shooting.

  NEW AUDIO: “Let me get my shoes” 😭 pic.twitter.com/ohotdqCVKP

  — johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 13, 2024

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  *  *  *

  Donald Trump appears to have been shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The former President could be seen grabbing his neck and then falling to the ground as the sound of shots rang out.

  SHOTS FIRED AT THE PA TRUMP RALLY. PLEASE PRAY. pic.twitter.com/DQke2Ua5BC

  — johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 13, 2024

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  Longer clip with closer vantage (shooting at 21 seconds):

  🚨 #BREAKING: SHOTS FIRED AT PRESIDENT TRUMP RALLY IN PENNSYLVANIA pic.twitter.com/eup5YTybS7

  — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 13, 2024

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  Trump was seen standing back up with blood on his face, and was led off stage by the Secret Service, who could be heard shouting “get down” during the incident.

  LORD JESUS, WE NEED YOU pic.twitter.com/RX65tj6jrQ

  — George (@BehizyTweets) July 13, 2024

  “I saw blood on his ear,” one rallygoer, Ron Moose, told the NYT.

  

  Nine shots were heard, including three before Trump grabbed his ear.

  Some reported seeing the military chase someone on the left hand side of the bleachers. The Times is also reporting that secret service is kicking out the press and has declared the venue a crime scene.

  

  

  Trump’s ear was visibly wounded.

  

  According to Secret Service spoksman, Anthony Guglielmi, Trump “is safe” after “an incident occurred” at the Pennsylvania rally.

  Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said that Trump is “fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility,” adding that Trump “thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act.”

  “Everyone join me in praying for our President Trump and everyone at that rally. I hope everyone is ok,” GOP Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) posted on X.

  

  An incident occurred the evening of July 13 at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe. This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available.

  — Anthony Guglielmi (@SecretSvcSpox) July 13, 2024

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  One Trump supporter told the BBC that he and others saw the shooter before the assassination attempt, alerted police and the secret service, and was ignored…

  this BBC interview with a guy outside the security perimeter who claims he saw the shooter before he fired is absolutely wild pic.twitter.com/vJpKZTxSAe

  — Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 13, 2024

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  The head of the Secret Service and the leader of this security detail should resign https://t.co/ihlEC5NP1w

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024

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  The incident comes days after Joe Biden and top Democrat donor Reid Hoffman make assassination comments.

  Joe Biden on 7.8.2024: “We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.” pic.twitter.com/K5FeeijDuC

  — Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 13, 2024

  Joe Biden: “It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

  That just happened.

  — House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 13, 2024

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  Just yesterday, Joe Biden mega-donor @reidhoffman was making jokes about assassinating Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/sMXbUq1O8a

  — Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 13, 2024

  Democrats are bummed…

  A field director for Congressman @BennieGThompson (who headed the Jan. 6th Commission & recently proposed legislation to remove Trump’s Secret Service detail), wishing Trump’s assassin had better aim on social media. pic.twitter.com/vQTptynYBK

  — Russ Latino (@RussLatino) July 14, 2024

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  Democrats on X are upset that the shooter missed Trump. pic.twitter.com/5BtL9g8mUi

  — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 13, 2024

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  Fuck Reid Hoffman https://t.co/kMkki6LOPu

  — Eoghan McCabe (@eoghan) July 13, 2024

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  And of course, the Washington Post goes with “Trump Rushed Offstage From Rally After Loud Pops.”

  Yes, ‘loud pops’ … ‘loud noises,’ really just an annoying sound is what we think they’re trying to convey.

  Washington Post is still claiming there were merely “loud noises” heard at the Trump rally.

  Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/arrLcvdibs

  — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2024

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  And then there’s CNN…

  If they can’t tell the truth about this, they can’t tell the truth about anything.

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 13, 2024

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  Elon Musk, who recently donated to Trump, says he hopes for his ‘rapid recovery.’

  I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery pic.twitter.com/ZdxkF63EqF

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024

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  GRAPIC WARNING:

  Video showing the shooter dead on the rooftop pic.twitter.com/DyC9CMBdsU

  — Faytuks News (@Faytuks) July 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Now, turning to PredictIt odds…

  

  Here’s a better view of Trump’s soaring odds. 

  

  Google searches for “donate to Trump” are surging nationwide. If the sham guilty verdict in NYC in May was any indication, then Trump’s campaign could pull in millions of dollars overnight into Sunday. 

  

  Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/14/2024 – 00:13

• The Roots Of World War III
  The Roots Of World War III

  Authored by Francis P. Sempa via RealClearWire.com,

  The American diplomat and historian George F. Kennan called the First World War the “seminal catastrophe” of the 20th century, and he wrote two lengthy books on the events that led to the outbreak of that war: The Decline of Bismarck’s European Order and The Fateful Alliance. He also included one of his lectures on the First World War in his book American Diplomacy. Reading these works of history gives one a better sense of the root causes of that war, which included policies, decisions, and events that occurred decades before June-August 1914.

  

  When the war began in the Balkans after the assassination of the Austrian archduke and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, few foresaw that the conflict would eventually engulf most of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and result in the toppling of four empires (Romanov, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg, and Ottoman), the deaths of more than 10 million combatants, the aerial bombing of cities, the use of poison gas, the carving-up of territories in the Middle East that would engender conflicts that continue to this day, the creation of revolutionary secular ideologies that led to an even more destructive war and a Cold War that followed it. When Kennan reviewed the major diplomatic and international events in the rest of the century, he remarked that “all the lines of inquiry” led back to World War I.

  Today, with wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and a gathering storm in the western Pacific, there is concern that the world is lurching toward another world war. All three conflicts involve at least one nuclear armed power. Some respected strategists and observers believe that an “axis” of autocracies (Russia, China, Iran, and perhaps North Korea) are collaborating to undermine the global order produced by the end of the Cold War, and are urging the United States and its allies to become more deeply involved in these conflicts. Some have even urged the formulation of a “grand strategy” for winning the Third World War. The “lessons of Munich” have been invoked along with Churchillian-like warnings about the need to confront aggressors now to deter future aggression. Those who counsel prudence or restraint, or who promote diplomatic solutions to these conflicts are often labeled “appeasers” or worse.

  In The Decline of Bismarck’s European Order, Kennan wrote that the origins of World War I could be traced to at least 1875, when the future Franco-Russian alliance first germinated in the minds of the statesmen of both countries. A hallmark of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s diplomacy was to prevent an alliance between France and Russia. When Bismarck left the scene in 1890–forced into retirement by the brash Kaiser Wilhelm II–his alliance structure gradually fell apart. During the next two decades, France and Russia grew closer, eventually entering into what Kennan called the “fateful alliance” in 1894. Germany, meanwhile, allowed the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia to lapse, grew closer to Austria-Hungary, while simultaneously scaring Great Britain by challenging it at sea. Yet, almost to the very day in August 1914, that Germany declared war on Russia, and the alliance system quickly brought other great powers into the war, few believed that the regional war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia would spread across Europe, into Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and draw into the maelstrom of conflict combatants from Australia, North America, and elsewhere.

  In The Fateful Alliance, Kennan explained what he characterized as a “whole series of . . . aberrations, misunderstandings, and bewilderments that have played so tragic and fateful a part in the development of Western civilization over the subsequent decades.” He continued:

  One sees how the unjustified assumption of war’s likelihood could become the cause of its final inevitability. One sees the growth of military-technological capabilities to levels that exceed man’s capacity for making any rational and intelligent use of them. One sees how the myopia induced by indulgence in the mass emotional compulsions of modern nationalism destroys the power to form any coherent, realistic view of true national interest. One sees, finally, the inability of otherwise intelligent men to perceive the inherent self-destructive quality of warfare among the great industrial powers of the modern age.

  Kennan worried that in the nuclear age, these developments could result in “a catastrophe from which there can be no recovery and no return.”

  In his seminal history of World War II, The Second World Wars, Victor Davis Hanson described how a series of smaller, regional wars–an Italian-Ethiopian war, a German/Soviet-Polish war, a German-Norwegian war, a German-Danish war, a German/Italian-French/British war, a German-Yugoslav war, a German-Greek war, a German-Soviet War, a Japanese-Chinese War, a U.S./Britain-Japan War–expanded into a global conflict of unprecedented proportions and destruction.

  Today, the wars between Russia-Ukraine/NATO/US, Israel/US-Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran, and the China-Taiwan/U.S. dispute are regional conflicts that if not limited and resolved may expand into a global conflict among nuclear powers–a Third World War, which, to paraphrase George Kennan, would be a catastrophe from which there would be no recovery and no return. Yet, the United States under the Biden administration seems intent on continuing and escalating its involvement in Ukraine, even as it sends mixed signals about our intentions in the Middle East and the western Pacific. Adding to the danger is a growing perception both here and abroad that the American president is cognitively unfit for the job of commander-in-chief and chief diplomat.

  Should, God forbid, World War III evolve out of these regional conflicts, historians of Kennan’s depth and insight may trace its roots to the early post-Cold War years when successive administrations expanded NATO and positioned the alliance on Russia’s European borders despite vigorous protests from successive Russian leaders (Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin), and prophetic warnings from Kennan and several other experts on Russia and international affairs (including Richard Pipes, Edward Luttwak, Jack Matlock, Jr, Paul Nitze, Fred Ikle, Sam Nunn, Marshall Shulman) that NATO enlargement would produce an aggressive Russian reaction. Those same historians may also cite the foolish and failed post-Cold War engagement of China which helped facilitate the rise of our next peer competitor even as it drove Russia into the arms of that peer competitor while we were distracted fighting peripheral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and clearing the way for greater Iranian influence in the Middle East in our quest to remake that region in our own image (the so-called “Arab Spring”).

  Now, some in the West are calling on the U.S. and its allies to invite Ukraine to become a member of NATO even as Ukraine’s war with Russia gives no sign of ending. This caused more than 60 foreign policy specialists and scholars to pen an open letter to NATO leaders urging them not to invite Ukraine into the alliance. “Moving Ukraine toward membership in the alliance,” the letter states, “could make the problem worse, turning Ukraine into the site of a prolonged showdown between the world’s two leading nuclear powers and playing into Vladimir Putin’s narrative that he is fighting the west in Ukraine rather then the people of Ukraine.” Such a move, the signers contend, “would reduce the security of the United States and NATO allies, at considerable risk to all.”

  Let us hope that a future George Kennan will not describe a U.S.-NATO-Ukraine Treaty as a “fateful alliance.”

  Francis P. Sempa is a regular contributor to RealClearDefense and writes the Best Defense column each month.  Read his latest: “Rise and Fall of American Naval Mastery.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 23:20

• Russian Plot To Assassinate CEO Of German Arms Giant Dismissed As 'Fake' Intel Story By Kremlin
  Russian Plot To Assassinate CEO Of German Arms Giant Dismissed As ‘Fake’ Intel Story By Kremlin

  Top German government and political figures have reacted with outrage to a CNN report alleging that Russian intelligence had plotted to assassinate Armin Papperger, who is the head of Germany’s biggest arms company Rheinmetall. The company is among the top European suppliers of 155mm artillery shells, tanks, armored vehicles, and other crucial military equipment to Kiev.

  The Kremlin is calling it fantasy and pointing to zero evidence being presented alongside the major accusation. Here’s how the bombshell CNN report published late this past week began: “US intelligence discovered earlier this year that the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer that has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine, according to five US and western officials familiar with the episode.”

  

  There have been widespread allegations for several months in Western media pointing to an irregular and covert Russian warfare campaign to conduct sabotage missions against European defense and manufacturing companies supplying Ukraine.

  The CNN report alluded to these prior stories: “The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort, these sources said.” It detailed further that “The plan to kill Armin Papperger, a white-haired goliath who has led the German manufacturing charge in support of Kyiv, was the most mature.”

  In recent months, there have been several instances of fires engulfing weapons and ammo manufacturing sites in the UK and on the European continent, some of which we detailed previously. Simultaneously, Russia has been subject of similarly mysterious blazes at defense contractor buildings and companies.

  As for the alleged plot to take out the CEO of Rheinmetal, the CNN story is sourced entirely to anonymous intelligence officials, making it impossible to verify at this point, other than taking the word of US, German, and NATO officials. 

  According to more from the original CNN report, “When the Americans learned of the effort, they informed Germany, whose security services were then able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. A high-level German government official confirmed that Berlin was warned about the plot by the US.”

  But Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations as ‘fake news’: “It’s all presented in the style of another fake story, so such reports cannot be taken seriously,” he said at the end of the week.

  Germany and the US reportedly foiled an alleged plot by Moscow to assassinate a leading German arms manufacturing firm’s top executive. Why is Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger a target? pic.twitter.com/3tsi7jvxGU

  — DW News (@dwnews) July 13, 2024

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  German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock belatedly appeared to confirm that the German government finds the warnings credible. “In view of latest reports on Rheinmetall, this is what we have actually been communicating more and more clearly in recent months: Russia is waging a hybrid war of aggression,” she had told a press briefing at the NATO summit in Washington.

  Papperger himself has since described to the Financial Times that German authorities had imposed a “great deal of security around my person” – and he’s now considered to be the most highly protected private citizen in all of Germany.

  Another interesting aspect to the story is the timing: the CNN revelation corresponded precisely to the close of the annual NATO summit in D.C. at a moment Western officials urged the alliance to stay the course on Ukraine, and commit to supplying more weapons for years to come.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 22:45

• Scientists Find A Cause of Lupus And A Way To Potentially Reverse It
  Scientists Find A Cause of Lupus And A Way To Potentially Reverse It

  Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Patients with lupus have an imbalance in a crucial chemical pathway in their bodies, according to a Nature study published on Wednesday.

  

  Researchers found that this imbalance produces more disease-causing cells that promote lupus. If this chemical imbalance can be corrected, they believe lupus can be reversed.

  Current lupus treatments often target symptoms or broadly suppress the immune system, leading to side effects. The researchers believe targeting the specific chemical imbalance identified could more effectively treat lupus without systemic immunosuppression interventions.

  Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack its own tissues and organs, including the joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs.  

  There is currently no cure for lupus.

  A Surprising ‘Molecular Switch’

  The chemical that researchers identified is the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR).

  AHR is a key protein involved in the imbalance of immune cells in lupus patients. It regulates the body’s response to environmental pollutants, bacteria, and metabolites. While AHR is present in all cells, it is not always active.

  Researchers found that lupus patients have reduced AHR activity. This reduction leads to an increase in follicular and peripheral T helper cells, which are involved in inflammation and autoimmunity.

  However, when AHR activity increases, these T-cells are reprogrammed to be T-cells that promote wound healing and barrier protection.

  Dr. Jaehyuk Choi, associate professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the study’s senior author, explained to The Epoch Times that AHR can be compared to “a molecular switch” that determines the fate of immune cells.

  By developing therapeutics that target AHR in rogue T-cells, researchers believe they may be able to reverse lupus.

  Dr. Choi and Dr. Deepak Rao, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, expressed their surprise at discovering that AHR could be vital in reversing autoimmunity, given that the receptor had no known connection to it.

  Dr. Rao, who is also a senior author of the study, added that it was initially surprising to find that a T-cell involved in wound healing would be the opposite of an autoimmune T-cell.

  “Those two T-cell populations with those two functions are not obviously connected or related,” he said. He added that he could not have predicted that when wound-healing T-cells increased, autoimmune T-cells would decrease, and vice versa.

  T-Cells Drive Autoimmunity

  Follicular and peripheral T helper cells have long been known to play a major role in driving lupus, Dr. Rao told The Epoch Times.

  In lupus, the patient’s body produces autoantibodies, antibodies that attack self-tissues. B-cells generate these autoantibodies under the control of rogue autoimmune T-cells.

  Therefore, by converting these autoimmune T-cells into cells involved in wound healing, the production of autoantibodies is reduced, thereby decreasing autoimmunity.

  “It is almost like a cell streamline, where if you can block one part, then the downstream is blocked,” Dr. Choi explained.

  He highlighted the study’s findings demonstrating that adding AHR to rogue T-cells in cell culture transforms them into wound-healing cells. These reprogrammed cells can no longer help B-cells make autoantibodies.

  Dr. Rao added that these rogue T-cells are also present in other autoimmune conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, raising the question of whether drug targets for these cells may apply to such conditions.

  Treatment Without Immunosuppression

  The study sampled 19 lupus patients and compared their immune cells to those of 19 healthy people.

  Despite the small initial sample size, the authors told The Epoch Times that they believe their findings apply to all patients because they have been corroborated through genetic studies.

  Dr. Choi explained that their findings were also validated in AstraZeneca’s TULIP clinical trials. These trials tested anifrolumab, a drug that interacts with the AHR pathway, and found it successfully controlled lupus symptoms.

  Current lupus treatments are prescribed to resolve symptoms or elicit broad immunosuppressive effects by reducing B- and T-cell activity.

  However, when rogue T-cells are targeted explicitly with AHR, patients may experience disease reversal without compromising their overall immunity.

  Additionally, the increase in cells involved in wound and barrier repair may help alleviate gastrointestinal problems in patients with lupus.

  “There have been a number of studies that have suggested abnormalities in barrier function or barrier integrity in patients with lupus, especially in the gut,” Dr. Rao said. “So one can imagine that there could be a beneficial effect of that.”

  Currently, Drs. Choi and Rao’s team are working to identify specific therapeutics that selectively target only rogue T-cells.

  Since AHR is present in all cells, broad administration of AHR-targeted treatments could cause systemic adverse effects, which the authors are trying to avoid.

  Currently, there are already drugs on the market that activate AHR, such as toparinof, a topical cream approved for treating psoriasis.

  Major Environmental Contributors to Lupus?

  Researchers do not know why AHR is involved in lupus progression. It is also currently unknown why some people get lupus and others don’t, though researchers believe it is a combination of genetic and environmental exposures to toxins and infections.

  Given AHR’s role in responding to environmental factors, Dr. Choi said their findings may suggest that major environmental factors contribute to lupus.

  Perhaps AHR, “which normally integrates information from the outside or the environment … has gone awry in patients with lupus,” and patients may be able to resolve their lupus through lifestyle changes alone, Dr. Choi speculated.

  “I think this needs more research, but it is an interesting idea that we can now think about,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 22:10

• At Least 90 Dead In Israeli Strike On Gaza Tent Camp Targeting Hamas Oct.7 Mastermind
  At Least 90 Dead In Israeli Strike On Gaza Tent Camp Targeting Hamas Oct.7 Mastermind

  Another mass casualty strike has been reported on a refugee camp in southern Gaza, where the local health ministry says at least 90 have been killed, and 300 injured, after Israeli missiles slammed into Al-Mawasi camp, allegedly hitting tents where displaced persons were staying.

  Israel has said that most of the victims were likely Hamas, and that it was going after the leader of the group’s Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Deif, a mastermind behind the Oct.7 attacks. Throughout the day Saturday the military said it was still investigating whether Deif was killed, of which there’s as yet been no confirmation.

  

  Hamas responded by saying Israel’s “allegations about targeting leaders are false” and by design are “merely to cover up the scale of the horrific massacre.”

  According to some fresh updates in the NY Times:

  • The Israeli officials said the strikes had also targeted Rafah Salameh, the top Hamas commander in Khan Younis, who was with Mr. Deif at the time of the attack.

  • The Gazan authorities said that a second, smaller strike hit the center of Khan Younis, a nearby city to the east of Mawasi.

  • A senior American official said that Israel had told Washington that it targeted Mr. Deif, but the official said that neither Israel nor the United States could yet confirm his status.

  Saudi Arabia has been among the earliest countries to weigh in, condemning the Israeli attack on the refugee camp.

  “The Foreign Ministry condemns in strongest terms the continuation of genocidal massacres against the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli war machine, the latest of which was the targeting displaced people’s camps in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip,” the Saudi statement said.

  Hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition government have praised the strike, saying it demonstrates the need to keep intensifying operations inside Gaza. “Congratulations to the prime minister, defense minister, the IDF, and Shin Bet. Now is not the time to take the foot off Sinwar’s neck,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X.

  Despite the Biden White House claiming that there’s been tentative agreement on a new ceasefire deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the warring sides are still publicly blaming the other for lack of a finalized hostage deal.

  Meanwhile, Hamas is urging Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against the Israeli occupiers en masse. Senior Hamas official Abdel Hakim Henini in a statement called on Palestinians to “take action against the onslaught on their compatriots in the besieged Strip, and to stand up to Israeli settlers wreaking havoc across the West Bank.”

  Initial graphic scenes of the camp strike aftermath via Palestinian media…

  The initial moments of the horrific Israeli massacre in al-Mawasi this morning pic.twitter.com/Wgg547p0Q5

  — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 13, 2024

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  “We reiterate how important it is for Palestinian youth to stand up to the occupying forces,” Henini said. “A global war is being waged against the Palestinian people, their rights and their resistance forces. The US administration is a true partner in all the massacres being perpetrated against our people.”

  Simultaneously Hezbollah continues to bog down Israeli forces in the north, and it appears Hamas is hoping that a multi-front war more fully opens up. Hezbollah leadership has said that if Hamas agrees to a ceasefire deal, it too will halt its attacks from Lebanon.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 21:35

• Army Base Taught Soldiers That Pro-Life Groups Are Terrorists; Watchdog
  Army Base Taught Soldiers That Pro-Life Groups Are Terrorists; Watchdog

  Via The College Fix,

  A U.S. Army base training presentation described two pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups,” according to a watchdog report confirmed by the military.

  The training material was part of an “anti-terrorism brief” at Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, independent journalist Sam Shoemate reported on X. The report does not indicate when the presentation happened.

  According to the photo, a slide shown to soldiers described two pro-life organizations, National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, as “terrorist groups.”

  It also “falsely attribute[d] the bombing of abortion clinics to National Right to Life,” the report states.

  An anti-terrorism brief was held on Fort Liberty (Bragg) today where they listed several Pro-Life organizations as “terrorist organizations.”

  The slide you see here followed right after a slide about ISIS, a terror group in the Middle East.

  The organizations labeled by the… pic.twitter.com/vlO6XjyGzE

  — Shoe (@samosaur) July 11, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The slide also showed an image of specialty pro-life license plates, which are available in many states. The proceeds fund pregnancy support services for families in need, according to Choose Life America, the organization that promotes them.

  However, the slide suggested the specialty plates are something soldiers should watch for as a potential sign of a terrorist, according to Shoemate’s report.

  Soldiers who attended the presentation said the slide was shown right after another one about ISIS, and the presentation never mentioned the group Antifa, the report states.

  Fort Liberty confirmed the veracity of the slide in a statement on social media late Thursday. It stated the slide will not be used anymore.

  A “local garrison employee” created the presentation “to train Soldiers manning access control points at Fort Liberty,” according to the statement.

  “After conducting a commander’s inquiry, we determined that the slides presented on social media were not vetted by the appropriate approval authorities, and do not reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense,” the military base stated. “… all future training products will be reviewed to ensure they align with the current DoD anti-terrorism guidance.”

  National Right to Life described the slide as “lazy scholarship” that promoted “outright lies” in a statement online. It noted the presentation misspelled the name of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 abortion decision Roe v. Wade.

  “The Biden Administration promotes the deaths of preborn babies and advocates for unlimited abortion, but peaceful pro-life Americans are labeled ‘terrorists,’” it stated.

  The national pro-life organization stated it “always, constantly, and unequivocally” condemns violence “against anyone.”

  Meanwhile, a University of Maryland center also listed two members of Students for Life of America in its terrorism database earlier this year, The College Fix reported. The university later removed them.

  Military academies also have been accused of going woke by embracing “diversity, equity,” and “inclusion” efforts and teaching cadets critical race theory.

  In 2022, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point began removing references to Confederate leaders, including General Robert E. Lee, a former superintendent of the school, The Fix reported at the time.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 21:00

• Measles Detected At NYC Migrant Shelter As Biden's Border Crisis Morphs Into Public Health Crisis
  Measles Detected At NYC Migrant Shelter As Biden’s Border Crisis Morphs Into Public Health Crisis

  The Biden administration’s disastrous open southern border policies have sparked an illegal alien invasion, raising the risk of contagious diseases spreading across the US.

  For some context, several months ago, Trump vowed to deport ‘nearly 20 million’ illegal migrants after Biden shredded his Executive Orders on border security on his first day in office. In total, Customs data suggests that at least 10 million illegals have crossed into the US illegally during Biden’s first term.

  

  That said, the Biden admin has had zero problems facilitating the illegal alien invasion, many of whom are unvaxxed and unvetted folks from third-world countries, and likely bringing contagious diseases to migrant shelters in sanctuary cities.

  In early March, we pointed out in a viral post… 

  “Major Measles Outbreak” Reported In US As Migrant Shelters Become Infectious Disease Breeding Grounds https://t.co/LDLHpIv1FL

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  … really who could’ve seen this coming. 

  A new report sheds light on spreading measle cases, this time in city-run migrant shelters in New York City.

  Here’s more from local media outlet ABC 7: 

  Two measles cases have been identified among people living at one of the city’s migrant shelters, New York City health officials said.

  …

  According to the health department, there are 11 cases of measles in New York City as of July 12.

  There was only 1 confirmed case in the city last year.

  The Hall Street migrant shelter has been a point of contention for Clinton Hill residents who have complained of an uptick in trash, noise and street homelessness under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

  The measles cases could add to those concerns because of how contagious it can be.

  Here’s what X users are saying about measle outbreaks thanks to unvaxxed and unvetted illegal aliens:

  The CDC is in Chicago trying to contain a Measles outbreak in a migrant shelter…

  Americans had to get Covid shots to go to work or a restaurant, but the 10+ million migrants entering the country have none of the vaccinations that we actually need for public safety. Makes sense. pic.twitter.com/DEHLioXEV6

  — Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) March 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  💯Amazing how the rules are selectively applied.

  — Tommy DeSimone (@tjpsimone) July 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  This was also an issue in Chicago around February/March. Several cases, then suddenly we stopped hearing about it…

  — Sure about that? (@All_Im_sayn) July 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  pic.twitter.com/Kk85E2JEZy

  — J (@john_regardless) July 13, 2024

  Claim: “In NYC there are over 200+ migrant shelters…” 

  SHOCKING:
  In NYC there are over 200+ migrant shelters that have “popped” up around the city, while people in the area have to pay $2,000+ for rent each month, illegal migrants are receiving free housing, food, diapers, & healthcare! Some New Yorkers have had enough! pic.twitter.com/Ze0z0kob2p

  — Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) July 10, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Americans are overwhelmingly not happy about Biden’s migrant crisis. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 20:25

• New Hormone Discovery Unlocks Hope For Osteoporosis Treatment
  New Hormone Discovery Unlocks Hope For Osteoporosis Treatment

  Authored by Sheramy Tsai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Researchers have identified a new hormone, CCN3, that significantly strengthens bones. This discovery, made while studying how breastfeeding women maintain bone density, could transform the treatment of osteoporosis and bone fractures.

  Published in Nature, the new study reveals that CCN3 promotes bone formation and repair in both male and female mice, offering new hope for millions suffering from bone-related conditions.

  About the Study

  Researchers at University of California (UC) San Francisco (UCSF) and UC Davis collaborated to solve a long-standing medical mystery: how breastfeeding women maintain strong bones despite the significant loss of calcium needed for milk production.

  In lactating mothers, the high demand for calcium needed for milk production can lead to significant bone loss. Normally, estrogen is protective for women, helping to counteract bone loss by promoting bone formation. However, its levels drop sharply during breastfeeding. Despite this drop, breastfeeding women seldom experience osteoporosis or bone fractures, suggesting another factor is at work to protect their bones.

  Previous research published in Nature found that blocking a specific estrogen receptor in certain brain neurons of female mice led to significant increases in bone mass. Suspecting a hormone in the blood was responsible, the study researchers conducted an exhaustive search and identified a hormone called Cellular Communication Network Factor 3, or CCN3, as the bone-building factor in these mutant females.

  Dubbed the “lactation-induced brain hormone,” CCN3 is found in the brains of lactating mice and plays a crucial role in maintaining bone strength during lactation.

  “One of the remarkable things about these findings is that if we hadn’t been studying female mice, which unfortunately is the norm in biomedical research, then we could have completely missed out on this finding,” Holly Ingraham, senior author of the new study and professor of cellular molecular pharmacology at UCSF, said in a press release.

  The researchers discovered that increased CCN3 levels in mice showed significant bone mass and strength improvements, even in older mice and those lacking estrogen. Tests demonstrated that mice with higher CCN3 levels had much stronger bones, as the CCN3 hormone stimulated skeletal stem cell activity. Without CCN3, these mice rapidly lost bone density, and their offspring also suffered.

  Dr. Sundeep Khosla, a Mayo Clinic physician who runs the Osteoporosis and Bone Biology Laboratory, explained the significance of CCN3, known as the “maternal brain hormone” to The Epoch Times. “Anytime you identify a completely new pathway to regulate bone from the brain, that’s scientifically very interesting.”

  Dr. Khosla noted that CCN3 prevents the skeleton from dissolving during lactation while stimulating bone formation for new calcium deposition. “It adds another piece to our understanding of what happens with lactation.”

  Impact on Osteoporosis

  Osteoporosis, a condition characterized by weakened bones and an increased risk of fractures, is a significant global health issue. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, with women comprising 80 percent of those affected. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 44 million people have low bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis.

  Globally, osteoporosis affects around 200 million people, leading to millions of fractures annually, primarily in the hip, spine, and wrist. These fractures can cause severe pain, disability, and increased mortality, underscoring the urgent need for effective treatments such as those potentially offered by CCN3.

  The financial burden of osteoporosis, estimated to cost $25 billion annually in the United States, could be significantly alleviated by treatments derived from CCN3.

  Dr. Khosla highlighted the potential of CCN3 in addressing osteoporosis, emphasizing its scientific promise and economic implications. While current drugs are effective when used correctly, they are often underutilized due to fears of side effects, he said. He stressed the need for better education for both physicians and patients to optimize the use of these cost-effective treatments.

  “New drugs that may result from CCN3 could be particularly beneficial for those with osteoporosis” he stated. Depending on the cost of the drug, it could potentially reduce the substantial financial burden of osteoporosis.

  Potential Benefits and Future Applications

  The discovery of CCN3’s role in bone health extends beyond understanding lactation. This hormone could have significant implications for accelerating fracture repair and treating osteoporosis.

  In a conversation with The Epoch Times, lead author Dr. Muriel Babey explained that researchers developed a hydrogel patch that slowly releases CCN3 at bone fracture sites, leading to faster and stronger healing in elderly mice. The treated fractures healed much quicker and were stronger than those without the hormone treatment.

  “We’ve never been able to achieve this kind of mineralization and healing outcome with any other strategy,” said Dr. Thomas Ambrosi, a co-author of the study from UC Davis in the press release.

  While the current study focuses on mice, the implications for human health are promising. The next steps include clinical trials to test CCN3’s effectiveness in humans and further exploration of its potential applications in bone health treatments.

  Dr. Khosla highlighted the limitations of current osteoporosis treatments. While drugs like bisphosphonates can prevent bone loss, the ability to reverse osteoporosis is still limited.

  “We need new approaches to build bone back up,” Dr. Khosla stated, noting that existing drugs often stop working over time. He expressed hope that CCN3 could offer more sustained and robust effects in stimulating bone formation, possibly in combination with other treatments.

  Dr. Babey explained that bone loss affects not only post-menopausal women but also breast cancer survivors taking hormone blockers, younger elite female athletes, and older men, who have a lower survival rate after hip fractures compared to women. If CCN3 could increase bone mass in all these groups, it would be a significant breakthrough.

  With clinical trials on the horizon, CCN3 holds promise for revolutionizing bone health treatment and improving the quality of life for millions worldwide.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 19:50

• Tulsi Gabbard Gets Real About The Veepstakes, Demplosion, And America's Future
  Tulsi Gabbard Gets Real About The Veepstakes, Demplosion, And America’s Future

  Authored by Ben Sellers via Headline USA,

  If Tulsi Gabbard is the running mate whom presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is expected to unveil next week during the Republican National Convention, she had yet to be notified as of Friday night.

  

  Asked in an exclusive interview with Headline USA whether she was going to be traveling to the GOP convention in Milwaukee, she replied, “I don’t plan to at this time. We’ll see what happens.”

  Of this much, one can be certain: Gabbard was being her usual forthright self.

  “She will look you in the eye and she will tell you the truth,” said former Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., shortly thereafter, during the introduction of his former congressional colleague at a book-signing event and political fundraiser in Greensboro, N.C., which also featured state-level candidates including lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Hal Weatherman.

  In an era where gaslighting is the norm, Walker’s characterization of Gabbard would be a powerful testament to anyone. Although it may seem simple, underpinning those 14 words is a reputation that is very difficult to earn—and even more difficult to retain.

  More remarkable yet, however, is that Walker was making it of a one-time nemesis of sorts, none other than the former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

  If ever the Trump administration were taking a risk on letting a mole into its ranks, on paper at least, Gabbard, the red-pilled ex-representative from Hawaii, would be a likely candidate.

  Yet, time and again Gabbard has proven herself to be an anomaly who flouts expectations while following her own moral compass, most notably in her disavowal of the Democratic Party in October 2022.

  “Today’s Democratic Party is led by this elitist cabal of warmongers, and in my book, For Love of Country, I go into detail in my own personal experiences and the reasons why I could no longer call myself a Democrat,” she told Headline USA—a statement that closely tracked with her original blog post outlining those reasons.

  However, Gabbard is far from unique in that regard. In fact, she noted that she encountered ex-Democrats on an almost daily basis reaching out to her in solidarity.

  Much like Ronald Reagan famously quipped in 1962, they often feel that the party left them.

  “The Democratic Party of today is wholly unrecognizable to the party that I joined over 20 years ago,” Gabbard said.

  “And I hear from or meet Democrats from across the country, almost every day—whether people send me a DM on Instagram or send me an e-mail, or I run into them in the airport—who express the same thing,” she continued. “People who may have been lifelong Democrats or people who were raised in a Democrat family, just saying that they don’t recognize today’s Democrat party and they have no connection to the insane, woke, warmongering policies of today’s Democratic Party.”

  In a question-and-answer session with Walker, Gabbard offered a similar reflection, recalling how she was once berated by the Obama administration for daring to question its foreign policy.

  And she recalled her frustration with the Democratic mantra “vote blue, no matter who.”

  Gabbard told the packed house on Friday—many of whom paid $100 for entry to the event, which included a copy of the book to be signed by Gabbard, as well as catered refreshments from host venue the Painted Plate—that American freedoms currently faced what seemed to be an unparalleled threat in the nation’s history.

  “Growing up, I never would have imagined that we would be debating free speech in America and whether or not it should exist,” she said, referencing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Murthy v. Missouri, which said the government did nothing wrong in colluding with social-media companies like Facebook and Twitter to suppress vital information about the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunter Biden laptop, 2020 election and more.

  As Walker noted in his introduction to Gabbard, she has done more than simply cultivate a sterling reputation as a truth-teller—she’s turned it into a veritable brand.

  Because of her candor, honesty, integrity and valor (serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and currently as an active military reservist), she has become the very antithesis of the modern leftist in the Biden era.

  Thus, it comes as no surprise that Gabbard has been called upon frequently to comment on the recent implosion of the Biden campaign following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump last month.

  Although she has every reason to feel vindicated by it, given her own tumultuous history with the Democrats, Gabbard said it was no cause for joy, even seeming to take pity on Biden—whom she said she has “known … for a long time”—despite his extensive track-record of corruption during his more lucid moments.

  “What we are seeing is the lies coming from the Democrat elite have been exposed,” Gabbard told Headline USA. 

  “We are seeing how, in broad daylight, it is not actually Joe Biden making the decisions and calling the shots—whether it be related to economic or foreign policy—it’s the Tony Blinkens and the Jake Sullivans and the Hillary Clintons and Lloyd Austins who are making these decisions, which should be troubling to every American because we didn’t vote for any of those people,” she added.

  On one hand, Gabbard seemed alarmed at the idea of having an empty vessel at the Resolution Desk, noting it was “a huge problem for us as Americans to have someone in that position who is incapable of fulfilling that responsibility.”

  She said she was particularly troubled that the commander in chief could not even recall during the debate the 13 service members whose lives were lost in Afghanistan and the three whose lives were lost in Jordan—among the known U.S. military casualties to occur on Biden’s watch, although others are likely to have fallen in America’s shadow war in Ukraine.

  “He couldn’t even remember a single one of their families,” Gabbard said.

  “He should not be in that position, but we also shouldn’t be under any kind of illusion that, should he be forced out or choose to leave, that anything will be different with a President Kamala Harris or anyone else that they choose to fill that position,” she continued. “The Deep State—the military industrial complex—they will continue calling the shots. They only care about power. They don’t care whose face—whose picture is hanging on the wall.”

  As for the prospects of her own service in the Trump administration, Gabbard didn’t rule out the possibility that she might yet have an outside shot at the running-mate offer, even though Trump’s campaign has floated several other names as finalists.

  “I think that is a question for one man and one man alone,” she said.

  “It’s not something I’m thinking about,” she added. “My goal—this is the most important election of of our lifetimes because it is our freedom, and our safety and security, that’s on the line.”

  Gabbard said that one position she would love to be offered was the role of secretary of State, citing her eight years of service in Congress on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees—as well as her more than two decades in uniform, including as a current battalion commander.

  “I could directly wrestle control away from the military–industrial complex and the neocons of Washington and actually be in a position to help effect the kind of policies President Trump talks about: to actually bring about peace, to walk us back from the brink of nuclear war—an issue he talks about quite strongly and with great concern—and to get our country back on track,” she said.

  In her interview with Walker, Gabbard said that wherever the years ahead may take her, and whatever may happen in the most important election of our lifetimes, she will continue to serve to the best of her ability.

  “Whatever role, whatever opportunity, whatever title or position I have, my goal is to try to be of the best service I can to our country,” she said.

  Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 18:40

• Democratic Donors Freeze $90 Million In "Coordinated Rebellion" Against Biden
  Democratic Donors Freeze $90 Million In “Coordinated Rebellion” Against Biden

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  The New York Times is reporting that the largest Democratic super PAC is freezing $90 million in pledged donations for as long as Joe Biden remains the nominee.

  🚨BREAKING: Major Democrat donors to the largest pro-Biden super PAC have frozen $90 million in pledged donations, per the NYT, until Joe Biden steps down. Reports say a “coordinated Democrat rebellion” will be underway over the next 48 hours. pic.twitter.com/4e4aWmaHOj

  — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 12, 2024

  “Some major Democratic donors have told the largest pro-Biden super PAC, Future Forward, that roughly $90 million in pledged donations is now on hold if President Biden remains atop the ticket, according to two people who have been briefed on the conversations,” The Times report states.

  The moves comes after another car crash appearance where Biden called Kamala Harris ‘Vice President Trump’ and introduced Zelensky as “President Putin.”

  The leftist media talking heads are also now bickering among each other about how brain damaged Biden is.

  There are some absolutely wild stories being bandied around.

  Will Biden jump or will he be pushed?

  He wont drop out

  — Doc- TAnthonyPotter ▄︻̷̿┻̿═━一 (@TonyDocPotter) July 12, 2024

  The conversation @megynkelly is having right now on her show with @michaeljknowles is really intriguing. Michael believes the press is going to make Biden’s image look so bad he is forced to resign.

  — American Patriot Press 🇺🇸 (@theonegeoffg) July 12, 2024

  Meanwhile, it has emerged that Elon Musk has donated a “sizable amount” of money to a pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC.

  Bloomberg reports “Musk has contributed to a low-profile group called America PAC, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to detail his plans. It’s unclear how much Musk has given, but the people characterized the figure as a sizable amount. The PAC is next required to disclose its list of donors on July 15.”

  Musk has been outspoken in his opposition to the Biden Administration’s open border policy.

  There is a tiny chance this will pass the senate if a few Dems cross party lines, but Biden said he would veto the bill even it did.

  I wonder why? 🤔 https://t.co/uDYpphJHpS

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2024

  *  *  *

  Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 17:30

• Poland Authorizes Deadly Force On Border After Spear-Throwing Migrants Murder Guard
  Poland Authorizes Deadly Force On Border After Spear-Throwing Migrants Murder Guard

  The Poland-Belarus border crisis has intensified over the past month, following the death of a Polish border guard at the hands of a spear-throwing migrant. The death of 21-year-old border guard Sgt Mateusz Sitek on June 6th garnered national and international attention, after days prior to his succumbing to his wounds a sharp spear was hurled from the fence where he was on patrol. 

  The Telegraph has described that the mostly Middle East/North African (MENA) migrants on the Belarusian side are growing violent and more aggressive. “Dozens of illegal migrants on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland hurled a volley of makeshift spears at Polish border guards through the five-metre-high steel fence,” the report said.

  “Some fell short of their targets and as the security forces picked them up they saw what appeared to be a tree branch with a steel blade taped to the top.” In the attack, “Several were injured in the bombardment and one – Sgt Mateusz Sitek, a 21-year-old from the village of Nowy Lubiel – lost his life.” The stabbing happened on May 28, leaving the guard critically injured. Video of the immediate aftermath showed migrants trying to kill another soldier who was attempting to administer aid to Mateusz…

  The Telegraph concluded, “They may be incredibly crude, but the weapons show a new level of organization and intent from the waves of migrants arriving at the gates of the EU through Belarus.”

  Warsaw has long accused the government of Aleksandr Lukashenko of facilitating the border crisis by flying Middle East migrants into Minsk, and transporting them to the Polish border. The EU has also condemned the alleged ‘hybrid warfare’.

  Spokesman for Poland’s border patrol, Colonel Katarzyna Zdanowicz, has said, “We took an oath to defend our country with the sacrifice of our lives. But no one expected it to be like this. After the death of this young soldier, we understood how realistic our oath was.”

  Hundreds have continued to try and force their way across the border, authorities have described, in a situation which noticeably intensified starting in April this year (amid at least two years of border tensions). Some pundits are openly blaming Putin and say that it is all connected with the Ukraine war.

  There has been growing pressure on the Polish government to loosen up rules of engagement and the ability of troops to defend themselves on the border. Regional media is saying parliament has approved firing upon attacking migrants in self defense.

  BREAKING:

  Poland’s Parliament votes overwhelmingly in favor of a new law that allows soldiers, border guards and police officers to fire live ammunition when stopping attempts by migrants to storm the border.

  401 MPs voted for the new law, 17 against

  🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/sUCZ8VMKvQ

  — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 13, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The bill amends existing laws to remove liability for “a crime committed by a soldier, police or border guard officer who, in violation of the rules on the use of direct coercive measures and firearms, issues an order to use them or uses them himself in specific cases – if the situation requires immediate action.”

  The new rules of engagement apply to four specific situations, summarized in the following:

  The first is in cases requiring an officer to “repel a direct and unlawful attack on the inviolability of the state border by a person who forces a crossing of the state border using a vehicle, firearm or other dangerous object”.

  The second is in cases of self-defence: “to repel a direct and unlawful attack on the life, health or freedom of a soldier, police or border guard officer or other person, undertaken in the event of a direct and unlawful attack on the inviolability of the state border.”

  The third relates to cases of pre-emptive self-defence in which there is a need to “prevent activities aimed directly at attacking the life, health or freedom of a soldier, police or border guard officer or other person, in the event of a direct and unlawful attack on the inviolability of the state border”.

  The fourth would cover situations in which “it is necessary to confront a person who does not comply with a request to immediately abandon a weapon, explosive or other dangerous item, the use of which may threaten the life, health or freedom of that soldier”.

  Polish troops unload pepper spray at illegals trying to break in through the border fence. pic.twitter.com/qXW2GeHvIz

  — Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) June 7, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  All of this is in direct response to the border guard’s death in June, and the fact that migrants using deadly weapons is a phenomena clearly documented and on the rise.

  Below: Spears have been hurled at Polish troops, police, and border guards…

  

  Likely European Union leadership will push back against the new policies, as it is also expected to do with Finland, which has also given border troops more enforcement power.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 16:55

• Google, Facebook 'Kool-Aid' Starting To Wear Off: CEO
  Google, Facebook ‘Kool-Aid’ Starting To Wear Off: CEO

  Authored by Daniel Y. Teng via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Kwik Kopy’s CEO Sonia Shwabsky says the ubiquity of the online world, powered by Google and Facebook, is compelling business owners and marketing managers to rethink how they connect with customers.

  

  Instead, a renewed yearning for face-to-face interaction in the post-COVID years is galvanising the fortunes of one of Australia’s longest-running franchise brands.

  Unlike other businesses struggling or closing due to the cost of living crisis—and amid high inflation pushing up business costs—the printing company is looking at expanding.

  “I don’t think there’s a move away from [Google and Facebook’s online advertising]. I think people are just evaluating it more diligently than before,” she told The Epoch Times.

  “One of the things we’ve been seeing is digital advertising is costing a lot more. It’s having less effect than what it used to. I think the effectiveness of emails, and all of these electronic data-driven advertising or communication tools, I think they’ve kind of had their heyday,” Ms. Shwabsky said.

  The two tech giants are estimated to absorb 58 cents (US$0.39) of every dollar of digital advertising spent in Australia, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

  Their popularity has also driven up the unit price of advertising over the years.

  “I came over from being a [chief operating officer] in the U.S. at a digital marketing agency, and at the time, I was there drinking the Google Kool-Aid,” Ms. Shwabsky said.

  “Google and Facebook have really put a lot into this narrative, and I think other areas of marketing have just got to stand up and say, ‘Hang on.’”

  The CEO said there was a lot at play in the digital space, particularly with the advent of artificial intelligence, which could compel people to use the internet in different ways.

  

  Kwik Kopy currently has 91 stores across Australia and is planning another 30. Its overall goal is to have 120 stores with 11 in regional areas, and 32 in suburban spots.

  Kwik Kopy provides design and printing for business cards, signage, and brochures.

  The management team also hopes to ramp up revenue by 10 percent from its pre-COVID performance. The brand currently pulls in $77 million per year.

  The business praises the performance of its franchise network, particularly local owners who are grounded in the social fabric of their regions, notably stores such as Penrith, North Sydney, and Perth.

  Interest in Physical Engagement

  CEO Ms. Shwabsky says on another front, her company is riding a wave of renewed interest in face-to-face events and customised physical products.

  “If you think about all the online businesses now, like e-commerce, the only physical touchpoint your brand has with a consumer is through that unboxing experience and what they receive in the mail,” said Ms. Shwabsky.

  She says the demand for personalisation has increased noticeably in the last five years and has driven Kwik Kopy’s short run packaging (small volume order) business.

  “Personalisation, as well as an increase in quality, while also making sure the experience is of the quality to represent your brand [has become important]—because it’s the only other touch point besides the computer.”

  

  Kwik Kopy’s boss also said that in the post-pandemic era, the downsizing of commercial offices—as companies reorganise to facilitate working from home—has also been a boon.

  “What do you need to do when you move offices or change your office environment? You need more signage in your office, you need to make your office feel more welcoming to get people to return,” Ms. Shwabsky said.

  “The other area coming out of COVID that’s been reignited—and we’ve done a lot of studies with marketing buyers and where they’re spending their money—is they are investing at a greater rate in face-to-face events,” she added.

  The CEO said demand for events-related collateral means more sales of pull-up banners, paper handouts, or branded merchandise.

  “While there may be downturns and staff cuts, businesses still need to think about their marketing dollars,” she said. “You’ve just got to be more careful about what’s really going to have impact for your business.”

  Her comments come as a string of major brands in Australia cut back or downsize their operations amid a range of challenges engulfing the business sector.

  Business Environment Beset on All Sides

  Centre-right Liberal Party MP Casey Aaron Violi last month blamed the Fair Work Commission’s decision to raise the minimum wage on Labor government policy contributing to high inflation.

  “It is the equivalent of burning someone’s house down, taking them a casserole for dinner and saying: ‘Sorry I burnt your house down, here’s a casserole, please be thankful, please be grateful,’” he said in a criticism of the government.

  Higher wage bills are only one area the business sector is contending with, another is soaring electricity costs, worker shortages, and the ever-expanding regulatory burden.

  In early June, the Florida-based Carnival Corporation made the surprise decision to shelve 90-year-old Australian cruise brand, P&O Cruises, citing significant red tape eating into the company’s margins.

  

  “Given the strategic reality of the South Pacific’s small population and significantly higher operating and regulatory costs, we’re adjusting our approach to give us the efficiencies we need to continue delivering an incredible cruise experience year-round to our guests in the region,” Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein said.

  At the same time, a major Australian fruit processor, SPC, announced it would cut back its order of local peaches and pears by 40 percent, a move likely to ripple through the wider growing industry.

  The Victorian-based global exporter said sales had dropped because customers were shifting to cheaper Chinese and South African imports due to cost of living pressures.

  The company hopes the situation can normalise by 2026.

  Across the wider business sector, the picture is not optimistic either, with CreditorWatch finding insolvencies up 38 percent over the year to May 2024, and 41 percent above the pre-COVID period, according to ASIC data.

  Among the industries, utility businesses involved in electricity, gas, water, and waste were the hardest hit recording an 89 percent increase in insolvencies on the previous year.

  This was followed by education (87 percent), mining (72 percent), construction (46 percent), and retail trade (46 percent).

  “We have known for some time now that consumers have pulled back on spending quite dramatically as high interest rates and inflation smashed household budgets,” said CreditorWatch chief economist Anneke Thompson, in a statement.

  “This trend took some time to flow through to businesses but is now showing up in the data in the form of increasing late payment rates and rising court actions, as well as increased business failures and insolvencies.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 16:20

• Biden's HHS Forces Foster Parents To Facilitate Sex Changes For Minors, Barring Christian Adoption
  Biden’s HHS Forces Foster Parents To Facilitate Sex Changes For Minors, Barring Christian Adoption

  Christians have long been the driving force behind adoption in America, continuing to run 65 percent of the 200,000 foster homes in the U.S. today. One particularly moving example inspired a new film from the makers of mega-hit film “Sound of Freedom”.

  

  “Sound of Hope” tells the story of Bishop W.C. Martin and his wife Donna Martin who inspired their entire congregation in East Texas to adopt every child in the county’s foster care system during the late ‘90s. The film is currently in theaters.

  Such uplifting stories may soon be scarce as basic Christian views are coming under fire from Biden admin health regulators.

  To wit, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new rule in April that — by the end of 2026 — required states forbid a percentage of their foster homes from adopting to parents who do not agree to affirm a trans child’s gender identity or refuse to assist the child’s sex change. The percentage is unspecified.

  Under the new rule governing designated foster homes:

  “First, the provider must commit to establishing an environment that supports the child’s LGBTQI+ status or identity. Second, the provider must be trained with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Third, the provider must facilitate the child’s access to age- or developmentally appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being. HHS has concluded that these conditions are generally necessary to effectuate the statutory promise of a safe and appropriate placement for children who are LGBTQI+ because of the extensive evidence of the specific needs LGBTQI+ children have which require more specialized support,”

  The initial proposal put forth by HHS last fall suggested that all foster care facilities country-wise adhere to the above criteria, but its implementation was slightly tempered after the department received more than 13,000 public comments and backlash from some members of Congress. Still, in its current form — and assuming the 15 percent compliance rate suggested by HHS — as many as 30,000 foster homes will soon be forced to facilitate sex changes in minors.

  Roughly 78 percent of Americans do not support sex changes for minors, and are therefore unfit adopt children in the eyes of Biden’s HHS. The law will further alienate Christian foster parents — who are already being stonewalled in states with similar legislation already in place.

  Last year in Oregon, a Christian mom of five was barred from adopting two additional children due to her refusal to assist one in receiving cross-hormone injections. Her refusal did not adhere to Oregon’s law that foster parents must “support” a child’s “sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression.”

  Despite the overwhelming populist support against these initiatives, Hollywood remains in steadfast support of “gender affirming care” in minors. Singer Ariana Grande started a fund “advocating for the rights of trans youth” which has raised more than $3 million to date.

  Following an X post by conservative Matt Walsh praising her new film, Sound of Hope actress Letitia Wright — also the star of Disney’s Black Panther — attempted to distance herself from the film’s producers due to their conservative views, saying she “[does] not condone using this beautiful film for divisive political purposes.”

  Sound of Hope Pushing Back Against Hollywood

  President of Angel Studios (creator of Sound of Hope) Jordan Harmon responded to Wright’s backpedaling in a statement to ZeroHedge.

  “This powerful film takes a stand for vulnerable kids, and we’re pursuing partners who are passionate about this fight,” Harmon told ZeroHedge. “We encourage everyone concerned about the foster care and adoption crisis to get involved and see SOUND OF HOPE.”

  Major Hollywood studios dominate the movie industry, accounting for roughly 75% of total box office revenue. 

  Tickets for Sound of Hope can be purchased via this link. It’s currently in theaters across the country.

  They fought with all they had for the ones who needed them most. Now, we need YOU to join the fight for kids. See Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot in theaters this July 4. Showtimes at https://t.co/31cXa5ED1w#SoundOfHope #SoundOfHopeMovie #AngelStudios #PossumTrot pic.twitter.com/9JIwPFiOtl

  — Angel Studios (@AngelStudiosInc) June 6, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 15:45

• DOJ Filed Brief In Support Of Trans Inmate Who Sent Bomb To The DOJ
  DOJ Filed Brief In Support Of Trans Inmate Who Sent Bomb To The DOJ

  Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,

  Headline USA has uncovered the identity of an anonymous Georgia prison inmate suing the state for a sex change, and can reveal that the plaintiff is a convicted violent sodomizer who was indicted in April on multiple federal charges for constructing and mailing bombs to federal facilities.

  

  The plaintiff, David Cassady, 55, an inmate at Phillips State Prison in Georgia, is represented by the big law firm Baker Botts, as well as the Murell Law Firm and the Florida-based group Rights Behind Bars. Additionally, the ACLU and the Justice Department have filed amicus briefs in support of Cassady’s lawsuit.

  Ironically, the DOJ filed its brief in support of Cassady in January, while the inmate was presumably still under DOJ investigation for alleged bomb-making. Even more ironically, the inmate was under investigation for sending a bomb to 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.—a building that houses a DOJ office.

  🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨Headline USA has identified the anonymous transgender inmate supported by the DOJ and ACLU in a sex-change lawsuit against Georgia’s prison system. Ironically, the inmate was recently charged for sending a bomb to the DOJ

  In other words, the DOJ filed an amicus… pic.twitter.com/9kMhRdj02B

  — Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) July 11, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  In other words, the DOJ filed an amicus brief in support of an inmate who apparently tried bombing the DOJ, according to the DOJ. To add a drop of stupidity, the DOJ refers to Cassady as a female in the sex-change litigation, but calls him a man in the bombing case.

  The DOJ declined to comment, while the non-profit groups didn’t respond to an email inquiry. Georgia’s Department of Corrections also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

  As Headline USA reported in May, a U.S. district judge ordered the Georgia DOC to provide Cassady—who was still anonymous at the time—with “breast and buttock padding.” That judge did deny Cassady’s motion to be transferred to a female prison, noting that the inmate was transferred to Phillips State Prison—a “Special Mission Facility”—in 2022, specifically because that facility was “uniquely situated to manage Plaintiff, given her history of violence.”

  Headline USA was able to uncover Cassady’s identity thanks to a recent affidavit filed by attorney Thomas Vaseliou, one of the attorneys representing Georgia DOC.

  In his affidavit filed on Wednesday, Vaseliou referenced several exhibits still under seal, including a court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 1988 for aggravated sodomy; court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 2020 for violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act; and an April 4, 2024, press release announcing the most recent indictment against the inmate. Headline USA found that April 4 press release, which identified Cassady.

  “Cassady was an inmate in the now-closed Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Ga., in Tattnall County, when he constructed destructive devices and mailed two of them via U.S. Mail to the United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Anchorage, Alaska, and to a federal facility at 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.,” the DOJ’s press release said, identifying Cassady as a man.

  According to the DOJ’s website, 1400 New York Avenue NW is the Bond Building, where packages are sent for the DOJ’s “Fraud Section, Criminal Division.”

  “The indictment alleges the bombs were sent in an attempt ‘to maliciously damage or destroy, by means of fire or explosive, a building in whole or in part owned or possessed by, or leased to, the United States,’ and ‘created substantial risk of injury to a person,’” the DOJ said in its press release.

  According to the DOJ’s indictment, Cassady’s bomb-making occurred from September 2019 to January 2020. He faces one count of making an unregistered destructive device, two counts of mailing a destructive device, and one count of attempted malicious use of an explosive.

  When the indictment was unsealed in April, WSB-TV in Atlanta revealed that Cassady sent a bomb to the widow of a man he sexually assaulted as a teenager.

  “How is somebody who is in prison for life, for horrific acts against the community, how is possible that he can still terrorize members of the community from behind bars?” the widow reportedly said. “And now somehow, he was able to access all of this and mail it out of prison. Somebody needs to look at the bigger picture of who he is.”

  Cassady has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to the court docket. The inmate is already serving a life sentence.

  Cassady isn’t the only trans bomber to receive DOJ support in a sex-change lawsuit. As Headline USA exclusively documented last year, former neo-Nazi bank robber Pete/Donna Langan, who has ties to the Oklahoma City bombing, reached a settlement with the DOJ to become the first federal inmate in history to receive a sex change.

  Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 15:10

• EU Offered X Secret Censorship Deal To Avoid Fines For 'Deceptive Dark Patterns', Musk Says
  EU Offered X Secret Censorship Deal To Avoid Fines For ‘Deceptive Dark Patterns’, Musk Says

  EU officials have issued preliminary findings of an investigation into Elon Musk’s X Corp., accusing the social media giant of restricting data access for researchers, lack of advertising transparency, and the design of its “blue check” verified account system leaving users open to deception.

  

  The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced on July 12 that it believes X has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law whose stated aims include reining in illegal content on social media platforms and forcing tech companies to be more responsible and transparent in their content moderation and advertising practices.

  “In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers,” Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said in a statement.

  This notice refers to an investigation opened in December 2023. Among the concerns raised at the time were X’s moderation practices, use of generative artificial intelligence, failure to provide required data to researchers and lack of transparency over its advertising practices

  As of July 12, Musk and X are on official notice that they’ve been found in violation of the DSA. However, as EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton recently wrote on X, these findings aren’t final and “X has now the right of defence.”

  In his usual pointed way, Musk responded:

  “How we know you’re real?”

  How we know you’re real? 🧐

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAs Tom Ozimek reports via The Epoch Times, following an in-depth investigation into X’s compliance with the DSA, the European Commission said it identified three key problem areas.

  The first of these involves the use of “dark patterns,” which it explains as design elements that manipulate users into making choices that may not be in their best interest.

  The commission alleged that X’s “blue check” verification system is deceptively designed, fails to meet industry standards, and is being abused by malicious actors to deceive users.

  The European Commission alleged that allowing anyone to subscribe for verified status undermines users’ ability to make informed decisions about account authenticity and content.

  “Back in the day, Blue Checks used to mean trustworthy sources of information,” Thierry Breton, commissioner for Internal Market, said in a statement. “Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA.”

  The second area of non-compliance claimed by the commission is that X allegedly lacks transparency in advertising by failing to provide a reliable, searchable ad repository, instead implementing design barriers that hinder supervision and research into online advertising risks.

  Third, the European Commission accused X of restricting researcher access to public data, discouraging research by prohibiting independent data scraping, and imposing high fees for application programming interface (API) access.

  The social media giant now has the opportunity to respond to the allegations and make changes so it’s in compliance with the DSA rules.

  If the company and its founder are ultimately declared in violation, they face fines in excess of $200 million dollars – 6% of the company’s turnover, which was approximately $3.4 billion for 2023.

  The company would also face a period of supervision, while it brings its products and services in line with the law.

  Repeat offenders may be banned from operating in the EU altogether.

  X’s press team replied to a request for comment with its customary “busy now, please check back later” automated message, while an inquiry sent to its EU-related team was not returned.

  However, Musk did have a response… and it’s very revealing as to the real drivers of the EU’s heavy handed ‘protectorate’.

  

  Musk alleged in a post on X that the EU commission had offered him a secret deal if they quietly censored speech (al la Twitter 1.0)

  The European Commission offered 𝕏 an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.

  The other platforms accepted that deal.

  𝕏 did not. https://t.co/4lKsaRsYoA

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Mike Benz, a former Trump administration official, highlighted this to suggest the EU’s real motivation is to “use the DSA to force X to restaff the censorship squad fired when Elon took over.” 

  He further alleged that people who present themselves as researchers are actually “censorship activities & political operatives.”

  Musk reposted Benz’s analysis with just one word of comment: 

  “Exactly.”

  Does anyone doubt this?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 14:35

• Maryland "Can't Import Itself Out Of Energy Crisis" Amid Urgent Need To Boost In-State Power Generation
  Maryland “Can’t Import Itself Out Of Energy Crisis” Amid Urgent Need To Boost In-State Power Generation

  Authored by Stuart Kaplow and Nancy Hudes of ESG Legal Solutions, LLC.,

  Maryland consumes about 40% more electricity than it generates.

  The extra supply of more than 200 Trillion Btu of electricity, annually, is delivered to the state over the PJM regional grid. And the amount imported is growing dramatically. 

  While the percentage of imported electricity varies from day to day (depending upon weather conditions, costs of fuel sources, energy public policy, etc.), this is not a new situation, dating back approximately 40 years, and will increase in coming years.

  That in 2022 the two reactor 1970s era Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay accounted for about 39% of the state’s total in state electricity generation, is what saves the State’s broken publicly mandated utility system. Natural gas generation (.. which has more than tripled since 2015, as nearly 2,600 megawatts of new natural gas generating capacity came online) accounted for about 36% of in state electricity generation.

  

  Coal fired generating plants had historically supplied more than half the state’s generation, but coal’s share has been below 50% since 2012 and was at about 12% in 2022.

  However, of the 40% of electricity imported into Maryland for use in the state, in 2022 more than 22% was coal generated (which is a generic U.S. Energy Information Administration statistic, but PJM actual operational data shows that in that year more than 36% was coal generated). Also significant, PJM’s real time market (of locational marginal prices calculated on 5 minute intervals based on actual grip operations) shows that at its peak Maryland’s imported electricity is more than 70% coal generated.

  Not surprisingly, the use of electricity is not static.

  But neither is in state generation, including Maryland’s three remaining coal power plants (with a combined generating capacity of nearly 1,800 megawatts), the two largest power plants intend to shut down by 2025 and the smallest plant has given notice it will shut down later this year. Solar energy, wind, and biomass are increasing but will not at any reasonable time replace that capacity or energy density; so, the state will import more electricity. The largest renewable electricity source available on the grid (.. not including hydroelectric dams) is landfill gas, which is an inelastic supply. Since 2022 there is arguably more solar power generated, but nearly two thirds of Maryland’s solar generation came from small scale, customer sited solar, such as residential rooftop solar panels (.. and not contributing in any meaningful way to the grid).

  While it is popular to talk about the fact that Maryland had about 102,530 registered electric vehicles and about 1,667 electric charging stations, with both of those numbers increasing the amount of electricity used (i.e., replacing petroleum), such only exacerbates the already existing total energy imbalance.

  That is Maryland consumes about five times more energy than it produces (.. including but not limited to electricity). Around 90% of Maryland’s petroleum is consumed by the transportation sector, which accounts for 33% of the state’s total energy consumption, followed closely by the residential sector at 31% and the commercial sector at 29%. But the state public policy to increase electric vehicle use and electrify buildings (that are today using natural gas) will of course increase electricity use and that electricity will be imported with a significant portion of it generated from coal.   

  However, the real and dramatic increase in electricity use is elsewhere. Where businesses had in the recent past used electricity principally for lighting, heating and cooling, hot water, and office equipment including computers, ignoring for this discussion the power needs of data centers, many businesses will be utilizing computers with larger chip sets increasing electricity needs (.. think AI).

  In the politicization of a consultant study commissioned by the State government to justify the implementation of the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, which by its own admission only considers a subset of energy use that might be subject to that single state law, the spurious projection is that Maryland electric systems would see load growth rates in the range of 0.6 – 2.1% per year through 2031. The projection ignores the historical reality that Maryland’s total electricity load growth has been in excess of 4.9% per year. School buildings have been among the largest constants in increasing electricity use and are excluded from that law and State government spin. The study further underestimated growth by not including any of the public or private cogeneration plants in the plants which are growing all but exponentially in response to concerns about the future unreliability of Maryland’s electric grid.

  The political spin around Maryland’s future electric load growth is silent on the gerrymandered parameters discussed by the Maryland Department of the Environment when it by design excludes the largest private sector electricity customer in the state, Johns Hopkins (which has and is constructing large cogeneration plants) and the largest public sector electric user in the state, Fort Meade (which having maxed out electricity capacity of the grid as BGE’s largest customer, now not only has its own fossil fuel generation on base but also has deployed a series of 1.6 megawatt of solid oxide fuel cells, apparently to reliably power NSA facilities, eliminating the need for electrical transmission from the grid and costly backup infrastructure). Despite those efforts, in response to future needs for increasing amounts of electricity, the U.S. Department of Defense has publicly discussed relocating equipment from the Maryland base to states with better electricity capacity.

  From a conservation perspective, none of this makes much sense when Maryland ranks among the 10 states with both the lowest total per capita energy consumption and the lowest energy use to produce one dollar of GDP. MDE should take a win.

  An interesting factoid, the Port of Baltimore is the second largest coal exporting port in the country, so the State’s economy benefits hugely from shipping the fossil fuel to India for electricity generation although exports were temporarily halted on March 26 with the main channel blocked by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

  But MDE’s apocalyptic environmentalism, attempting to implement policies founded in the idea that unless humankind drastically reduces consumption the state’s population and appetite will overwhelm the ecosystems, were checked by the legislature this year when the Department’s plan to ration electricity (i.e., its proposed regulation of Energy Use Intensity in buildings) when the legislature cut off funding to implement EUI regulation.

  The Maryland economy does not produce much of anything but rather relies heavily on government services and pendant professional services, those that support government and will be big users of energy demanding AI computing. Out of concern about the grid becoming less reliable, including the state government’s aim to ration electricity, the top question by many prospective commercial tenants in Maryland has become backup electricity sources.

  Maryland, like many other similarly situated states, cannot import its way out of this predicament with ever increasing electricity demand, produced from coal or not. The State’s 20th century heavily government controlled utility model doesn’t encourage innovation, but the state needs to innovate in matters of energy. Maryland requires a techno optimism application of science and technology to resolve this dilemma of producing more electricity.

  *   *   *

  Maryland’s apocalyptic environmentalism pushed by progressives in Annapolis, who are quite honestly some of the worst managers this state has ever seen, have pushed disastrous green energy policies that prevent new fossil fuel power generators from being built. Hence, the state must increase power imports from surrounding states. 

  In return, utilities have to build massive transmission lines, seizing private property, to import power from other states. If the state actually allowed new fossil fuel plants, NatGas generators could be built down the street from new AI data centers. 

  Read more …

  Dark Side Of ‘The Next AI Trade’: Seizing Private Property For Transmission Lines https://t.co/qL7QgNUg8u

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 9, 2024

  Overall, the state is sliding into an energy crisis, with a critical need to boost in-state electricity generation as the ‘Next AI Trade’ theme gains momentum.

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 14:00

• "Please Explain This": White House Press Association Prez Busted In Huge Biden Lie?
  “Please Explain This”: White House Press Association Prez Busted In Huge Biden Lie?

  The President of the White House Correspondents’ Association, NBC News‘ Kelly O’Donnell, has reignited controversy over whether President Biden receives press questions in advance.

  

  “To those who make the false charge, the WH press corps does not provide questions in advance,” O’Donnell posted on X, suggesting that at most – “The president has a list of media who are credentialed in advance,” and that “His team knows who will be in the room and chose reporters from news wires, TV, print, and radio including a Polish journalist. We did not know who would be selected in advance.”

  To those who make the false charge, the WH press corps does not provide questions in advance. The president has a list of media who are credentialed in advance. His team knows who will be in the room and chose reporters from news wires, TV, print, and radio including a Polish… https://t.co/CwtRRNUKUX

  — Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) July 12, 2024

  Anyone not in the leftist media echo chamber knew this was a lie. Journalist Stephen Miller seized and pounced on poor Kelly, pointing out that she’s a lying dog-faced pony soldier of the worst varietal, with a photo that went viral last year of a LA Times journalist’s questions in advance.

  Hi Kelly, please explain this. https://t.co/0Gkp3HH7rr pic.twitter.com/AdxYgryhEw

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Edit: Of course, as ZH reader SDShack notes in the comments below

  “When she says the ‘WH Press staff doesn’t provide questions in advance to POTATUS, that could very well be true. What she DID NOT say was ‘POTATUS staff gave us the questions they want us to ask, and by who, and if we don’t agree, that person does not get called on…so naturally we agree to their wishes’. See how the game is played?“

  Kelly also seems to have missed a giant story from earlier this week – in which a Milwaukee radio host resigned after admitting that Biden aides gave her questions in advance of an interview. The same station admitted they edited Biden’s interview at the request of the Biden campaign.

  Did you miss this kind of big story yesterday? pic.twitter.com/1lkc8nBBbV

  — Expose Them (@ExposeDarkDeeds) July 12, 2024

  “the WH press corps does not provide questions in advance”

  Except they have, and you have never asked how or investigated how this happened. You just pretend this never happened while calling it a “false charge.” pic.twitter.com/YGScKyBxSb

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 12, 2024

  Live view of corporate media:

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 13:25

• Take Away The Car Keys
  Take Away The Car Keys

  Authored by John Maxwell Hamilton via RealClearPolitics,

  One of the saddest moments of my life was the day I felt compelled to tell my father that he should give up his car and stop driving. He resisted, but only briefly. It was an example of the kind of man my father was.

  

  And it is an example for us today when we consider the peril our republic faces with President Biden clinging to his reelection bid.

  We all know the liberating feeling we had when we got our first driver’s license. The opposite feeling comes when it is time to turn it in. In my dad’s case, the problem was diminished eyesight. A resilient man, he had learned to live with many handicaps, including loss of a leg and use of an arm. He told me of a trick he successfully used at traffic intersections to compensate for his difficulty discerning red lights from green: He waited for other cars to move.

  Okay, I said, how will you feel if you end up hurting someone? That was all it took. He sold his car.

  Such a moment has come now to Joseph Biden. The chances of him winning in November are virtually non-existent. Yet, he continues to make statements that defy reason in order to keep the keys to the White House.

  The president’s performance in his recent debate with Donald Trump was a shock to anyone with eyes and ears. His handlers have limited his unscripted interactions with journalists for precisely this reason. Yet he and his staff insist he is as intellectually vigorous as ever and trot out ludicrous excuses for why he stumbled. One of the excuses, jetlag from recent trips abroad, showed the opposite of what was intended – that is, that it takes the president 11 days to recover from travel.

  They, argue that he is the best person to beat Donald Trump in November. After all, they say, he is the only one who has bested Trump at the ballot box. On close inspection, however, the statement is nearly meaningless. Trump has only been in two election races, and the one he won was fluky, to say the least. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, ran a poor campaign – and still won the popular vote. Several Democrats have a better chance than Biden of beating Trump this time round.

  It is sad to hear Biden claim he is intellectually up to the job at the same time he says the polls are not all that bad. As the RealClearPolitics Poll Average shows, Trump is decidedly ahead of Biden. Moreover, Biden probably needs around 52% of the popular vote to win, given how the Electoral College functions.

  It might be comforting to think that there is still time to turn things around. But anyone can see that Biden is losing voters, not gaining them. The best that can be said is that the battle lines have been fixed in Trump’s favor. Biden has been lagging for months and that shows no signs of changing.

  It is understandable that the president seeks supportive advice from staff as well as his wife, Jill, and his son, Hunter Biden. We all want reassurance. But we also need to seek out those who will give us a point of view that we do not want to hear.

  Contrary to what Biden is claiming, the elites are not out to get him. Taking on the mantle of victimhood only makes Biden seem unhinged – and more like Trump. Polls show that nearly three-quarters of Americans think Biden is not fit to serve, mainly as a result of the impacts of aging.

  The issue is not Biden’s age, per se. Donald Trump, 78, is not much younger than the president. The issue is that in recent years Biden’s acuity and physical presence have shown noticeable decline. Whatever one wants to say about Trump, he is vigorous.

  One of the great strengths of the Democrats in recent years is that they have a much better record of dealing with reality than Republicans, who have blindly followed a leader whose attachment to the truth is tenuous.

  Party leaders now face a test of their credibility.

  Some Democratic lawmakers have begun to speak out, urging the president to end his campaign. But more – many more – must step up. They must do what they have said the opposition has failed to do: speak truth to power. Otherwise, an important distinction between the parties disappears along with the possibility of winning the November election.  

  Like my father, Biden has faced personal hardship and prevailed. That courage is a sign of greatness. I stand with those who believe Biden has many accomplishments and should be proud of his presidency.

  But this moment may be his greatest test. True greatness lies in facing facts, not in wishful thinking, and in thinking of the consequences for others, not oneself.

  Biden needs to turn in the keys and let the party make a credible fight for the country. That’s what my father, a hardworking American who never pitied himself, would have done. I loved him for it.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 12:50

• Russia Initiates Call With Pentagon After NATO Offered Ukraine 'Irreversible' Membership Path
  Russia Initiates Call With Pentagon After NATO Offered Ukraine ‘Irreversible’ Membership Path

  In a rare positive development, the heads of the US and Russian militaries have held a rare phone call in an effort to deescalate tensions. But Moscow is livid at certain recent developments and pledges from the West.

  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday spoke by phone Russian Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov for the second time in less than a month. The call was initiated by Moscow just after the close of the NATO summit hosted by Biden in Washington this week.

  

  A Pentagon readout said Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine,” deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told a briefing.

  The two sides had been quiet since a call in March 2023, but communications have been picking up, after a June 25th call which reestablished communications.

  But Russia likely registered its anger at the NATO summit committing to an “irreversible path” for Ukraine’s NATO membership. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg still admitted in will be a very long path, as much as ten years or more.

  He said in a CBS News interview days ago: “Well, no one has said exactly 10 years but- but- but it’s obvious that it is a very serious issue to bring in Ukraine. Because Ukraine is now a country at war.”

  “Ukraine has been attacked by- by Russia. So the most important thing we should do is to step up our support to Ukraine to ensure that Ukraine prevails,” he continued. “That’s a precondition for any future membership for Ukraine.”

  According to The Hill, another recent issue which has roiled Russia and was likely conveyed by Belousov to Austin, is seen in the following:

  What’s more, NATO has backed Ukraine’s push for more latitude in its use of Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, with the United Kingdom announcing it would allow Kyiv to hit targets over Russian borders with British-provided long-range missiles.

  There’s also the US decision to deploy long-range missiles to Europe in violation of the previously in place INF treaty, which the US pulled out of in 2019. The missiles are expected to be deployed to Germany soon.

  this week, 32 nato members agreed to pledge support for an “irreversible path” for future ukraine membership

  on everyone’s minds: another trump election will almost certainly reverse ithttps://t.co/Z4VXSBKgHZ

  — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned this could make Germany or other places in Europe a target: “There has always been a paradoxical situation: the United States has deployed a variety of missiles of different ranges in Europe, which are traditionally aimed at our country,” he said, and warned: “Accordingly, our country designated European locations as targets for our missiles.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/13/2024 – 12:15

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Escobar: We Are NATO, And We're Coming To Get Ya…
  Escobar: We Are NATO, And We’re Coming To Get Ya…

  Authored by Pepe Escobar,

  We are the world. We are the people. We are NATO. And we’re comin’ to get ya – wherever you are, whether you want it or not.

  Call it the latest pop iteration of the “rules-based international order” – duly christened at NATO’s 75th birthday in D.C.

  

  Well, the Global Majority had already been warned – but brains under techno-feudalism tend to be reduced to mush.

  So a gentle reminder is in order. This had already been stated in the first paragraph of the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation, issued on January 9, 2023:

  “We will further mobilize the combined set of instruments at our disposal, be they political, economic, or military, (italics mine) to pursue our common objectives to the benefit of our one billion citizens.”

  Correction: barely one million, part of the 0.1% plutocracy. Certainly not one billion.

  Cut to the 2024 NATO Summit Declaration – obviously redacted, with stellar mediocrity, by the Americans, with the other 31 assorted vassal members duly assenting.

  So here’s the main 2024 NATO “strategic” trifecta:

  1. Extra tens of billions of dollars in “assistance” to the upcoming rump Ukraine; the overwhelming majority of these funds will be slushing around the industrial-military money laundering complex.

  2. Forceful imposition of extra military spending on all members.

  3. Massive hyping up of the “China threat”.

  As for the theme song of the NATO 75 show, there are actually two. Apart from “China Threat” (closing credits), the other one (opening credits) is “Free Ukraine”. The lyrics go something like this: it looks like we are at war against Russia in Ukraine, but don’t be fooled: NATO is not a participant in the war.

  Well, they are even setting up a NATO office in Kiev, but that is just to coordinate production for a Netflix war series.

  Those malignant authoritarians

  The outgoing epileptic slab of Norwegian wood posing as NATO Secretary-General – before the arrival of his Dutch Gouda replacement – put on quite a performance. Highlights include his fierce denunciation of “the growing alliance between Russia and its authoritarian friends in Asia”, as in “authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea and China”. These malignant entities “all want NATO to fail”. So there’s much work to do “with our friends in the Indo-Pacific”.

  “Indo-Pacific” is a crude “rules-based international order” invention. No one across Asia, anywhere, has ever used it; everyone refers to Asia-Pacific.

  The joint declaration directly blames China for fueling Russian “aggression” in Ukraine: Beijing is described as a “decisive enabler” of the Kremlin’s “war effort”. NATO script writers even directly threaten China: China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation”.

  To counter-act such malignity, NATO will expand its “partnerships” with “Indo-Pacific” states.

  Even before the summit declaration, the Global Times was already losing their cool with these inanities: “Under the hype from the U.S. and NATO, it seems that China has become the ‘key’ to the survival of Europe, controlling the fate of the Russia-Ukraine conflict like a ‘decisive power.’”

  The tawdry rhetorical fest in D.C. definitely won’t cut it in Beijing: the Hegemon just wants “to reach more deeply into Asia, trying to establish an ‘Asia-Pacific NATO’ to help achieve the U.S.’ ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy.’”

  Southeast Asia, via diplomatic channels, essentially agrees: with the exception of bought and paid for misguided Filipinos, no one wants serious turbulence across Asia-Pacific like NATO has unleashed across Europe.

  Zhou Bo, senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy and a retired PLA officer, also dismissed the Indo-Pacific shenanigans even before the summit: we had an excellent exchange about it late last year at the Astana Forum in Kazakhstan.

  Whatever happens, Exceptionalistan will remain on overdrive. NATO and Japan have agreed to establish a “highly confidential security information” line, around the clock. So count on meek Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to enhance Japan’s “pivotal role” in the building of an Asian NATO.

  Everyone with a brain from Urumqi to Bangalore knows that the motto across Asia, for the Exceptionalists, is “Today Ukraine, Tomorrow Taiwan”. The absolute majority of ASEAN, and hopefully India, will not fall for it.

  What is clear is that the NATO at 75 circus is absolutely clueless and impervious to what happened at the recent SCO summit in Astana. Especially when it comes to the SCO now positioned as a key node in bringing on a new, Eurasia-wide collective security arrangement.

  As for Ukraine, once again Medvedev Unplugged, in inimitable style, delivered the Russian position:

  “The Washington Summit Declaration of July 10 mentions ‘the irreversible path of Ukraine’ to NATO. For Russia, 2 possible ways of how this path ends are acceptable: either Ukraine disappears, or NATO does. Still better, both.”

  In parallel, China is conducting military exercises in Belarus only a few days after Minsk officially became a SCO member. Translation: forget about NATO “expanding” to Asia when Beijing is already making it clear it is very much present in NATO’s alleged “backyard”.

  A declaration of war against Eurasia

  Michael Hudson once again has reminded everyone with a brain that the running NATO warmongering show has nothing to do with peaceful internationalism. It’s rather about “a unipolar U.S. military alliance leading toward military aggression and economic sanctions to isolate Russia and China. Or more to the point, to isolate European and other allies from its former trade and investment with Russia and China, making those allies more dependent on the United States.”

  The 2024 NATO declaration actually is a renewed declaration of war, hybrid and otherwise, against Eurasia – as well as Afro-Eurasia (yes, there are promises of “partnerships” advancing everywhere from Africa to the Middle East).

  The Eurasia integration process is about geoeconomic integration – including, crucially, transportation corridors connecting, among other latitudes, northern Europe with West Asia.

  For the Hegemon, this is the ultimate nightmare: Eurasia integration driving Western Europe away from the U.S. and preventing that perennial wet dream, the colonization of Russia.

  So only plan A would apply, with absolute ruthlessness: Washington – literally – bombed Russia-Germany integration (Nord Stream 1 and 2, and more) and turned the vassal lands of frightened, discombobulated Europeans into a potentially very dangerous place, right beside a raging Hot War.

  So once again, let everyone go back to that first paragraph of the January 2023 EU-NATO joint communiqué. That’s what we’re facing today, reflected on the title of my latest book, Eurasia v. NATOstan: NATO – in theory – fully mobilized, in military, political and economic terms, to fight against any Global Majority forces that may destabilize Imperial Hegemony.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 23:45

• The Fastest Growing Millionaire Populations, By Country
  The Fastest Growing Millionaire Populations, By Country

  The world’s economic powerhouses, like the U.S. or China, hold the majority of millionaires in absolute terms. But which countries are growing their millionaire populations at the fastest rate?

  This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins, shows the growth of millionaire populations by country between 2013 and 2023, using data from New World Wealth, as detailed in the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2024.

  

  Specifically, the report tracks high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) who possess liquid investable wealth of $1 million USD or more. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and represent residents of each country as of December 2023.

  Emerging Markets Like Vietnam Top the Ranking

  While the United States remains the leader with over 5.4 million millionaires, emerging economies such as Vietnam, China, and India are seeing the fastest growth rates.

  Vietnam’s millionaire population, in particular, has surged by 98% over the last decade, reflecting the country’s rapid economic development. Meanwhile, China and India have created hundreds of thousands of new millionaires, solidifying their positions as major players in the global wealth landscape.

  

  Despite its modest growth rate of 62%, the United States still boasts the largest number of millionaires globally. China is nearing one million millionaires, becoming only the second country to approach this milestone after the United States.

  Vietnam’s exceptional 98% growth rate stands out, particularly given its communist governance and initially low base of millionaires. This growth reflects the country’s recent economic success and suggests a continuing upward trend in wealth accumulation.

  In contrast, the United Kingdom experienced a slight decline in its millionaire population over the past decade. Factors such as Brexit and other economic uncertainties have contributed to this reduction, highlighting the challenges faced by established economies.

  African countries like Nigeria and South Africa have seen their millionaire populations decrease, partly due to emigration and economic instability. Nigeria’s struggle with currency devaluation has further impacted its wealthy class, while South Africa saw a notable 20% decline in its millionaire population.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 23:20

• Forbidden Fruit And The Classroom: The Huge American Sex-Abuse Scandal That Educators Scandalously Suppress
  Forbidden Fruit And The Classroom: The Huge American Sex-Abuse Scandal That Educators Scandalously Suppress

  Authored by James Varney via RealClearInvestigations,

  Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators in authority in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history.

  

  Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each year, the number of students who have been victims of sexual misconduct by school employees is probably in the millions each decade, according to multiple studies. Such numbers would far exceed the high-profile abuse scandals that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America.

  For a variety of reasons, ranging from embarrassment to eagerness to avoid liability, elected or appointed officials, along with unions or lobbying groups representing school employees, have fought to keep the truth hidden from the public.

  “In any given year they have failed to report thousands of these situations, and instead they’ve papered them over, acted like it’s not an issue,” former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told RealClearInvestigations. Stunned by a 2018 Chicago Tribune investigation that found 523 incident reports of sexual misconduct by employees of the city’s schools during the past decade, DeVos during the Trump administration launched the process of including specific questions about such cases in the Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection, a process it undertakes every two years. Previously, the Office for Civil Rights asked only general questions about sexual misconduct incidents, without a breakdown of alleged perpetrators.

  The Biden administration initially sought to remove those questions, saying it wanted to avoid data duplication, but it backtracked after fierce criticism it was doing so as a sop to teachers unions. Consequently, the question will be included on future questionnaires, but, as of today, the Department of Education “has no data,” a spokesperson told RCI. These days, from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, even a cursory review of local news reporting brings disquieting revelations of teachers accused of or arrested for alleged sexual relations with a student. In just the past month:

  • In California, multiple students filed a lawsuit against a male music teacher who had taught at three different schools in the San Jose area. The teacher is already serving prison time for previous convictions in sexual misconduct cases with students.
  • In New Jersey, a female middle school teacher was arrested for an alleged ongoing sexual relationship with a student.
  • In Texas, a male teacher was arrested for allegedly having a sexual affair with a 12-year-old student. 
  • In Illinois, a female substitute teacher faces charges of “grooming and predatory criminal sexual assault” for an alleged relationship with a sixth-grader.
  • In Washington, the arrest of a male high school teacher on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor represented a repeat nightmare for a school district that previously had a psychologist convicted on the same charges.
  • Just last weekend, a 36-year-old New Jersey teacher was arrested on multiple assault charges involving a sexual relationship with a teenage student.

  These stories hold a lurid appeal to some. Sensational accounts of seductions of students by teachers, typically by high school female teachers, are tabloid catnip. The topic has provided material for standup comics, Hollywood writers, and pop tunes that didn’t begin or end with Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Hot For Teacher.”

  But experts who track the problem don’t take the problem lightly. Pointing to research from Hofstra University that found roughly 1 in 10 students in K-12 schools have suffered “some form of sexual misconduct by an educator,” Terri Miller, head of the advocacy group SESAME (Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation), said the number of victims is staggering.

  “The rate of educator sexual misconduct is 10 times higher in one year’s time than in five decades of abuse by clergy,” Miller said, noting that in 2021 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reported it had received nearly 4,300 sexual abuse allegations. “Another striking contrast is we are not mandated to send our children to church; we are mandated to send them to school.” 

  The extent of the problem may shock many Americans. The topic has long been shrouded by a curtain held by various actors in the drama: schools reluctant to go public with embarrassing and possibly criminal activity, unions fighting for members’ privacy and sometimes state laws that protect it, and a government reluctant to ask hard questions that would gather reliable data.

  But the cases and tactics often used to cover them up have become common enough to earn an ugly nickname: “passing the trash.”

  “DOE does not and never has tracked sexual misconduct committed by adults against students,” said Billie-Jo Grant, a professor at California Poly State University who is one of the nation’s top researchers on the topic.

  “DOE has never aggressively worked to stop teachers’ unions and administrators from passing the trash,” she told RCI. “DOE does not hold accountable the many enablers who have created a pool of mobile molesters in our schools nationwide. Your questions should include why? Why? Why?”

  Grant and Miller attended a Department of Education conference on the topic in D.C. in October 2019, and it was out of that meeting that its Office for Civil Rights decided to ask more specific questions in its Civil Rights Data Collection, according to Miller.

  And while the government may be groping toward more clarity, as a DOE official acknowledged having “no data” the Department would make public, he insisted the matter is viewed with concern.

  In 2004, then-Hofstra professor Carol Shakeshaft did a report for the DOE that assessed the data available on the topic. From a handful of regional studies and media reports, Shakeshaft’s report found some broad parameters of the problem.

  For example, while stories involving female teachers may be more titillating and gain more media attention, about two-thirds of the predators in schools are male. While no region seems to be immune from the problem, about half of the reported incidents occurred in southern states, Shakeshaft’s report found. Most of the victims are female (56%), and the majority of incidents involve high schools (62%).

  The problem is not confined to public schools, although the public school student population dwarfs that of private and parochial schools. Incidents of sexual misconduct at tony schools like New York’s Horace Mann, or at St. George’s in Rhode Island are but two of the most publicized examples of the problem.

  Protecting kids in school from inappropriate or criminal sexual activity involving employees and students would seem a surefire winner, but instead DeVos and her team found it was a political football. Union contracts and in many cases state law protect the privacy of employees. What that meant, DeVos explained, is that even if credible allegations of sexual misconduct were leveled against an employee, unless authorities were called in or an arrest made the alleged perpetrator was often free to leave one school and work in another. 

  The definitions of what constitutes sexual misconduct could be broadly construed, and the proliferation of social media has not only loosened the boundaries of contact between school employees and students, but provided more opportunities for wrongdoers.

  Still, for the most severe conduct, the Trump administration finally introduced on the 2020-21 school year questionnaire specific questions regarding “a school staff member and rape or attempted rape.” Answers for the initial year were optional, as is common with new reporting requirements, and the DOE declined to make the results public. But, in any case, those figures would be hopelessly incomplete because of the widespread school closures that were part of the COVID response. 

  Even with the new questions, Miller wondered how clear the picture provided might be, because for now OCR is asking only about incidents that occurred on school grounds.

  “That means incidents that happen in a car, or an apartment, or anywhere off-campus, won’t be included, and that’s where the majority of these attacks happen,” she said.

  The same problem had confronted one of DeVos’ top lieutenants, Kimberly Richey, when she served as chief counsel to the school system in Oklahoma. Even in a deeply conservative state, Richey found few supporters when, surprised by how many complaints were reaching her desk, she approached lawmakers in Norman about changes.

  “I met with resistance from the very beginning,” she said. “And I had complaints, 95 percent of the time coming from parents, about a school or a teacher, and when I contacted them the teacher would immediately resign, travel five miles to the next district and start working there.”

  Several people who spoke with RCI said teachers unions’ contracts were a major obstacle to both moving forward with credible allegations of sexual misconduct and blocking future school employment for alleged perpetrators. Neither the American Federation of Teachers nor the National Education Association responded to questions from RCI about this topic.

  Teachers aren’t the only obstacles to reform. While Superintendent of Public Education in Oklahoma from 2011-2015, Janet Barresi said, state groups lobbying on behalf of school administrators and board members were much more vociferous opponents than teachers unions of laws that would force schools to disclose information about prior allegations and cases involving school employees.

  “If the system would be more open and honest about all this, then parents would feel more relieved and it would get rid of a great deal of rumor and conjecture,” Barresi said.

  It is those employee protections that produce the pattern known as “passing the trash,” several experts told RCI. This is particularly relevant in cases where state or local law enforcement agencies are never notified of allegations. A school may launch an investigation after a parent or student files a complaint, but that investigation would cease when the employee resigned, and then state law or bargaining agreements often prohibit officials administrators from relaying such information to any new school where the alleged perpetrator applied or began working.

  Miller said SESAME has model legislation states could pass to confront the problem, but thus far the group has found limited success. 

  The Enough Abuse Campaign, which did not respond to RCI’s questions, notes that age-of-consent laws and the definitions of what constitutes sexual misconduct have created a complicated legal and regulatory map. Still, the campaign seems more optimistic about legislative progress than SESAME, declaring that “over 75 percent of states have now passed legislation specifically outlawing educator sexual misconduct,” in recognition of the power imbalance that exists in a teacher/student relationship.

  And there are some signs lawmakers are grasping the enormity of the issue.

  On July 1, an Oklahoma law went into effect mandating any verbal or social media contact between school employees and students be done on platforms the school controls, which state Rep. Sherrie Conley called a “long overdue” regulation.

  Similarly, in Michigan, state Rep. Brad Paquette, himself a teacher, has proposed legislation appointing a state ombudsman to deal with sexual misconduct complaints.

  “It’s just a beginning but we have to start somewhere,” Paquette told RCI. “I first heard back in 2012 or 2013, when I started teaching, that I had to join the union because I might have an accusation filed against me. But I thought, ‘No, I should be fired if I did something wrong.’”

  “I think we need to be engaged aggressively to root out the problem,” he said. “There’s no good reason for us to take a lax approach. You see these headlines all over the place and it’s unacceptable. People need to start asking questions.”

  While Richey said she did not recall any credible allegations crossing her desk during a brief stint as an attorney with Virginia schools, Paquette’s “everywhere” assessment seems on the mark.

  In Texas, for example, the online site Texas Scorecard started looking at the issue in 2022 after administrators in Prosper, a swanky Dallas suburb, attempted to cover up alleged repeated sexual offenses by a school bus driver. Since then, Texas Scorecard has kept an unofficial tally of such incidents, and the Lone Star State has had more than 100 cases every year since.

  The Prosper superintendent is currently under investigation by Texas agencies, in part for the 2022 coverup, as Texas law requires officials to report any credible allegations of child abuse within 48 hours. In May, two Prosper high school coaches were arrested for allegedly covering up another sexual assault that involved students.

  Separating student-on-student sexual misconduct is key to understanding how deep the problem may run with school employees, according to Grant and other experts. For example, in the more general questions DOE’s OCR would ask regarding improper incidents that fall under Title IX, troubling trends emerged. For 2015-2016, there were 9,649 incidents of sexual violence, and of that figure 394 cases were categorized as rape or attempted rape. In 2017-2018, those numbers skyrocketed, with overall incidents rising by 43% to 13,799 and the most serious category 74% to 685.

  As alarming as that trend may be, there is no way of knowing how many of those cases involved school employees, and Richey suspects that, given how the questionnaire was traditionally perceived, the majority of them are student-on-student.

  Nevertheless, Grant pointed to multiple studies that came to similar conclusions to that reached in the 2004 Hofstra report. That study found that 9.6% of the U.S. student body fall victim to educator sexual misconduct.

  Looking at California data from 2010-2021, Grant of Cal-Poly found 2,497 “school employees disciplined, reprimanded or arrested for sexually abusing K-12 students.” Between 2012 and 2018, the DOE received 280 complaints of adult-on-student sexual harassment in Chicago Public Schools. A Texas study from 2008 to 2016 found 1,415 Lone Star State educators “sanctioned for sexual misconduct.”

  These academic papers and sometimes salacious news accounts of teacher/student relationships do send up flares from time to time. In 2007, the Associated Press declared that “sexual misconduct plagues U.S. schools,” after its investigation “found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions from bizarre to sadistic.” In December 2023, Business Insider looked at the issue and concluded “shoddy investigations, quiet resignations, and a culture of secrecy have protected predators, not students.” 

  Last year, the Defense of Freedom Institute released a report titled “catching the trash” that concluded sexual misconduct by school employees has raged in the school system for decades. 

  “Various actors – school and district personnel, teacher unions, and the federal department charged with enforcing laws against sexual assault in public schools – bear responsibility for a systemic failure in preventing, and responding to, sexual assaults in public schools,” the report said.

  Pointing to the Biden administration’s attempt to remove specific questions about the issue from the OCR questionnaire, report author Paul Zimmerman told RCI the public should not expect much daylight on the topic in the near future.

  “The Biden administration has gone dark on this, they’re not interested in pressing this issue as evidenced by trying to discontinue the efforts made on this front by the previous administration,” he said.

  These political bumps, and the wreckage the COVID shutdowns unleashed on education in America, means there is no way of tackling the problem’s dimensions, let alone the problem itself. “It takes so long to get these numbers that in the end they’re not that helpful,” he said.

  The best way to block the passage of trash is through the SESAME Act, which DOE has cited as “model legislation” for states. To date, only a handful of states have passed the act, most recently Illinois in 2023. It requires the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements in personal or collectively bargained contracts, as well as deep background checks on all applicants.

  Only such thorough steps will break what Amos Guiora, a law professor at the University of Utah who has worked with Miller and SESAME, calls “the complicity of silence.” While the parameters of the problem may be hard to find, Guiora said he was stunned when he recently published what he acknowledged is a niche book on a West Virginia teacher exposed years late as a pedophile murderer. The limited book sold out on Amazon and his podcast has now topped 1 million views.

  “That tells you that what’s happening is something that is touching a chord,” he said. “It is so goddamn egregious what they have done to protect people who do this. Lawmakers will have to break the institutional complicity that surrounds this or they’ll just be protecting the perpetrators.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 22:55

• Tipping Point: When Populations Peak
  Tipping Point: When Populations Peak

  As yesterday marks World Population Day, we’re taking a closer at one of the population trends that will affect many countries sooner or later in the 21st century: population decline. Especially prevalent across Europe and developed Asia, Statista’s Felix Richter reports this demographic trend is a consequence of declining birth rates and ageing populations and poses significant challenges to the countries affected.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In countries like Japan and Italy, where population decline has begun in 2011 and 2015, respectively, fertility rates have long fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 percent, influenced by factors such as higher education and career opportunities for women, shifts in societal norms regarding family and childbearing and an ageing overall population.

  Countries with declining populations face a number of challenges, both economic and social. Economically, a shrinking workforce can lead to labor shortages, reduced productivity and increased pressure on social welfare systems. With fewer working-age individuals to support a growing elderly population, the financial burden on pension systems and healthcare services intensifies. Socially, a declining population can result in the depopulation of rural areas, shrinking communities and the ensuing challenges in maintaining infrastructure and public services.

  Addressing these issues requires comprehensive strategies and strategies. Raising the retirement age or increasing taxes/social contributions can help alleviate the financial burdens associated with a demographic imbalance. Policies to support work-life balance and affordable childcare can help slow the population decline and immigration of young, skilled workers can help address the labor shortages and increase productivity.

  According to the latest revision of the United Nation’s World Population Prospects, many countries will face these challenges within this century if they do not already, such as the aforementioned Japan and Italy and China and Germany, which were expected to see their first population decline in 2023.

  France’s population is expected to start declining in 2043, Brazil’s in 2048 and even India’s vast population is projected to start shrinking in 2065.

  Among developed nations, the United States, Canada and Australia are notable exception, with none of them currently expected to see their first population decline in the 21st century.

  Geographically, many African nations are still growing rapidly, resulting in a continental shift in global population that will see countries like Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Tanzania among the most populous nations in the world by 2100.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 22:30

• "Project 2025" Is Just "Project 1981"
  “Project 2025” Is Just “Project 1981”

  Authored by Michael Tracey,

  “Dangerous, diabolical, and dastardly” is how Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader, just described the so-called “Project 2025” planning document that all liberals have now been commanded to light their hair on fire about and run around in circles screeching how it portends some imminent apocalyptic MAGA takeover.

  

  First off, it’s the least surprising thing in the world that the preeminent DC think tank of the “Conservative Movement” would merge itself to the maximum extent possible with the branding and sensibility of Donald Trump, the current undisputed ruler of the “Conservative Movement,” such as it exists. What would be far more surprising is if the Heritage Foundation, which drafted the document now being wailed about by every Democratic pundit, had not maximally ingratiated itself with Trump — in fact, the Trump Administration’s embrace of the Heritage Foundation was already well underway during his first term. But now liberals, desperate for a campaign pivot amidst Joe Biden’s cognitive implosion, are using their usual overwrought melodrama to hype “Project 2025” as slam-dunk proof that Trump obviously represents an Existential Threat To American Democracy™ or whatever. What they curiously fail to mention is that the document is robustly aligned with many of the liberals’ most sacrosanct priorities.

  Amusingly, Trump has been busy lately ‘disavowing’ Project 2025, but that’s neither here nor there.

  

  What percentage of despondent Dems who have this crippling fear of Project 2025 have actually read the document? I’m not going to claim to have read all 920 pages, but I did read the sections on the Department of Defense, State Department, and “Intelligence Community.” I would love to ask MSNBC anchors if they read these portions, because if they did, they should be celebrating the glorious reaffirmation of “bipartisan consensus” contained therein, rather than fulminating about some despotic nightmare.

  Christopher C. Miller, who briefly served as Trump’s “acting” Secretary of Defense, writes in his Project 2025 contribution that the next Conservative Administration must “prevent Beijing’s hegemony over Asia,” including by “modernizing and expanding the US nuclear arsenal.” Because we all know that what the “Deep State” fears most is pouring untold billions into nuclear weapons boondoggles that will keep themselves and their corporate partners gainfully employed in perpetuity. Miller solemnly declares that in addition to China, “the United States and its allies also face real threats from Russia, as evidenced by Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, as well as from Iran, North Korea, and transnational terrorism.”

  Countering these alleged threats, he concludes, “will require more spending on defense, both by the United States and by its allies.” Thus the fearsome Project 2025 envisions a future in which the march of US and “allied” militarization continues apace, just like it has during the Biden Administration. Someone’s going to have to explain how massively increasing expenditures on what is sometimes derisively referred to as the “military-industrial complex” represents any sort of severe blow to the “Deep State,” as the trembling libs claim to fear, and as “anti-establishment” right-wingers claim to yearn for.

  Miller says US conventional force planning must be structured in such a manner as to “defeat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” so if what you deplore in this document is that bipartisan planning for war with China could accelerate under a second Trump Administration, that may be legitimate — but that does not seem to be what the liberals are whining about.

  

  The chilling cover page of the Think Tank document

  Because the Biden Administration is currently doing the same thing!

  Miller amusingly calls for the “acquisition community,” also known as arms manufacturers, to be granted greater flexibility in securing multi-year procurement contracts to spur the “innovation” required for the Defense Industrial Sector to adequately confront all the scary Emerging Threats around the world. Liberals in a state of terror can take solace that this multi-year procurement reform has already been well underway during the Biden Administration, largely to provide armaments for Ukraine (and Taiwan), and these legislative adjustments have been enacted with thoroughly bipartisan support, as usual.

  “Replenish and maintain US stockpiles of ammunition and other equipment that have been depleted as a result of US support to Ukraine,” the document advises. Good news: that, again, is already happening, with new artillery factories popping up everywhere from Arkansas to Texas.

  Miller’s DOD section additionally declares that the US “must regain its role” as the “Arsenal of Democracy” by further ramping up foreign arms sales, which he says have fallen to unacceptable lows under the Biden Administration — despite Biden and Democrats similarly trumpeting the “Arsenal of Democracy” concept as it relates to Ukraine and other conflicts in which “Democracy is on the Line,” just like WWII. (Yawn.) Apparently there is firm agreement on this messianic imperative amongst the “Project 2025” crowd. The US has firmly retained its distinction as the world’s number one global arms exporter all throughout the Biden Administration, but this clearly isn’t enough for Project 2025. Weirdly, the MSNBC liberals don’t seem to be particularly troubled by that policy prescription.

  

  Among the “byzantine bureaucracy” that Project 2025 wants to cut is those bureaucratic impediments which prevent the US from exporting arms across the world at an acceptably rapid pace. The Heritage Foundation pinheads also want to eliminate the practice by which the State Department notifies Congress about such arms sales, decrying this already-meager oversight opportunity as a terrible “hinderance” (sp).

  As far as the DOD’s “intelligence” assets, Miller advises that they more fulsomely “align collection and analysis with vital national interests (countering China and Russia).” Can someone explain what Democrats find so “existentially” horrifying about this? They support the same exact thing, and in fact often argue that Trump is insufficiently committed to countering Our Big Bad Enemies. If there’s an “existential threat” contained anywhere in this document, it’s the same one that Democrats are currently promoting at full-blast: a lurch into a hotter-than-Cold War with China and Russia. (Which was just bolstered once again at the Washington NATO Summit this week, having produced an official Declaration that came closer than ever before in designating China an official enemy, by accusing it of providing “material support” to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.)

  Miller wants to “increase the Army budget”; for the Navy, he wants to “build a fleet of more than 355 ships” as well as “produce key munitions at the maximum rate with significant capacity,” because the Navy must be urgently “prepared to expend large quantities of air-launched and sea-launched stealthy, precision, cruise missiles.” If any of this sincerely troubles hysterical Democrats, they would’ve been troubled by the budget-busting Defense expenditures that Biden has ushered in, building on the similarly budget-busting expenditures ushered in by the “dangerous” Trump. But of course they’re not troubled by any of this stuff.

  As far as the Ukraine war, the author of the State Department portion of the tome, Kiron Skinner, a former Director of Policy Planning in Trump’s State Department, attempts to distill what she concludes to be the consensus “conservative viewpoint” with respect to Ukraine: “Continued US involvement must be fully paid for; limited to military aid (while European allies address Ukraine’s economic needs); and have a clearly defined national security strategy that does not risk American lives.”

  This nicely mirrors what has indeed been the Congressional Republican consensus with respect to Ukraine policy under Biden, including among many self-proclaimed “MAGA” Republicans; it also tracks with the garbled and obfuscatory policy stance that’s been intermittently articulated by Trump.

  Trump and the mainline GOP seldom ever object to the principle of funding and supplying the Ukrainian war effort. (After all, Trump is the one who started sending Ukraine lethal weaponry in the first place.) They simply call for that funding to be streamlined with a greater emphasis on core military expenditures, rather than the “economic aid” that Democrats are generally more keen to tack on. This was the essence of a House GOP policy brief that “MAGA Mike Johnson” (to use Trump’s preferred nickname for the Speaker) personally hand-delivered to the White House in late 2023, while the mammoth National Security Supplemental bill was being preliminarily negotiated — and which Trump himself eventually orchestrated the passage of. Another key prescription in that policy brief was that the US should “descope” its involvement in Ukraine to only that which is necessary for “enabling the killing of Russians on the front lines. That means providing the necessary weapon systems and tactics to win — not to tie.”

  If you notice, this proclamation amounts to House Republicans (the group most acutely responsive to Trump’s political influence and dictates) arguing that the Biden Administration has been insufficiently aggressive in supplying Ukraine with weapons. The final War Funding Bill that Trump backed in April thus included a requirement for the Biden Administration to send Ukraine longer-range missile systems, which was then followed by Biden’s authorization for Ukraine to strike territorial Russia with US-provided materiel.

  Project 2025 states that “European allies” must take center stage in “addressing Ukraine’s economic needs,” which is also already well underway, with the EU approving 50 billion euro in “economic” assistance several months ago. Hence, even the marginal, insignificant critiques of Ukraine policy in this document could become mostly irrelevant by the time Trump theoretically takes office.

  

  So what exactly are Democrats and liberals blabbering about when they screech that Project 2025 is an “existential threat”? Insofar as it relates to the Ukrainian war effort, which they also fanatically support, the document merely reinforces and solidifies the pro-war bipartisan consensus. (As usual.) They should therefore be cheering the document, rather than screaming like banshees about it, but of course a rational policy analysis is not what Dems are aiming for with their present bluster. They just want a scary-sounding applause line for revving up anti-Trump voters by making them think Trump is getting ready to barrel into office with some crazed tyrannical plan, while omitting any mention that the “plan” is fully consistent with the foreign policy prescriptions they fervently support.

  When it comes to what’s commonly referred to as the “Deep State” in MAGA parlance — aka, the “Intelligence Community” — Project 2025 contains virtually the opposite as what’s being suggested by hysterical libs. (Go figure). Fundamentally, the guidance calls for marginally re-organizing the Intelligence Services so as to empower them.

  Trump loves to grouse that elements of the National Security State were irrationally against him in 2016-2018, and that’s true as far as it goes, with the Russiagate/Mueller fiasco being proof of these tawdry machinations. So it would make sense that Trump and the people in his orbit would want to impose various safeguards to prevent any future sabotage against Trump. But the idea that this means Trump would radically overhaul the “Intelligence Community” and put it in service of Putin and Kim Jong Un, or whatever other nonsense, is just entirely wrong. Simply read the text!

  The whole point of these fearsome reforms with respect to the “Intelligence Community” is to enable “an incoming conservative President” to use all the “intelligence authorities” at his disposal to more “aggressively anticipate and thwart our adversaries, including Russia, Iran, North Korea, and especially China.” Is this what Democrats have in mind when they hyperventilate about Project 2025? Of course not, because the Biden Administration is doing essentially the same exact thing. As usual, however, recognizing the fundamental cross-party continuity in US foreign policy and “national security” serves no one’s short-term partisan interests, so they have to deceive the public about it for votes.

  The document merely recommends mild bureaucratic reorganization, some of which it says has already been implemented by the Biden Administration — at the urging of the outgoing Trump Administration! 

  To help further the legislative intent behind IRTPA, DNI Ratcliffe advised during the transition of incoming Biden DNI Avril Haines that the DNI should be the only Cabinet-level intelligence official. While his recommendation was adopted and has corrected the previously allowed imbalance by making the DNI the only Cabinet official and head of the IC at the table, the ODNI’s effectiveness and direction leave much to be desired.

  With regard to the CIA, Project 2025 decries the tendency of “risk aversion or political bureaucracy to delay execution of the President’s foreign policy goals.” It thus recommends the diminution of bureaucracy and placement of individuals in the agency who will more effectively harness the power of clandestine operations to fortify and expand American hegemony. Another huge shocker!

  The “intelligence” section of the document further advises the renewal of FISA warrantless surveillance, declaring that “Section 702 should be understood as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism, malicious cyber actors, and Chinese espionage.” Which again nicely aligns with Trump’s position, so far as it can be ascertained, seeing as he backed MAGA Mike Johnson’s successful effort to renew FISA in April, on the understanding that they both wanted Trump to be the one wielding that power when it next comes up for reauthorization in two years.

  It would also be fascinating to hear exactly what Biden boosters find so objectionable about the document’s exhortation for the next Administration to double down on “ensuring Israel has both the military means and the political support and flexibility to take what it deems to be appropriate measures to defend itself against the Iranian regime and its regional proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” Yeah, nothing like that going on at the moment.

  So when the MSNBC crowd shrieks that Project 2025 is the terrifying roadmap for the next Trump Administration, they perhaps have it half right. There’s every reason to think the plan does in fact broadly represent DC conservative priorities for the next administration. But what the shriekers fail to convey is that this comfortably aligns with vaunted bipartisan consensus on critical issues. Many sections could easily have been pilfered from a Democratic think tank.

  

  The 1981 version of the fearsome Think Tank manifesto

  Yes, there’s a bunch more domestic policy stuff in Project 2025 that I haven’t focused on here. (I’ve only even highlighted a small percentage of the “national security” stuff.) But for the record, Ronald Reagan also ran on abolishing the Department of Education in 1980, back when he was also outsourcing his personnel and policy plans to the reviled Heritage Foundation. The abolition never happened. Whatever your views on this desirability of maintaining the existence of the Department of Education, the fact remains that this has been a bog-standard “Conservative Movement” aspiration for ages. So you might as well call the plan Project 1981 rather than Project 2025. To portray it as some sort of apocalyptic fascism unique to Trump is just totally ridiculous.

  The 1981 version was compiled in 1979, similar to the advance compilation of the “2025” document, which was published in 2023. (The Reagan-era document is about equally as long and comprehensive, clocking in at at least 1077 pages, while the Trump-era document fizzles out at a paltry 920 pages). Comparable plans had also been drafted in the late 1990s in anticipation of the Conservative Movement returning to power after eight years of the Clinton Administration:

  On August 20, 1999, the well-known American conservative think tanks, Heritage Foundation and The Project for a New American Century, together launched a policy statement calling for an end to the US’s “strategic ambiguity” policy on Taiwan, openly calling on the US government to “clearly announce that in case of an attack or blockade of Taiwan, the United States will go to defend Taiwan, including Kinmen and Matsu islands along the coast.” This statement has 23 people’s signatures, including Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby (later served as Chief of Staff to the Vice President), Richard Perle (later was appointed as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, Rumsfeld’s main assistant), Richard Armitage (later served as Deputy Secretary of State).

  “Project for a New American Century” might ring a bell as the classically “neoconservative” think tank that in 1998 wrote an infamous letter to Bill Clinton demanding regime change in Iraq. The letter was signed by a bevy of luminaries who’d later serve in the George W. Bush Administration, like Elliott Abrams and John Bolton, who also went on to serve in the… Trump Administration.

  So yes, there’s plenty to be “alarmed” by in “Project 2025,” but none of it is particularly unique to Trump. Instead, it’s part and parcel of longstanding DC Conservatism, sometimes known as Con Inc., which will inevitably shape the personnel and policy framework of a forthcoming Trump Administration — just like it did with the previous Trump Administration. But of course that’s not the fear being stoked by anguished Dems, who are desperate to inspire the 10 millionth Mega Trump Panic in hopes of salvaging their current electoral prospects.

  The Heritage Foundation used to love to tout that “the foundation had a great hour when Ronald Reagan was elected president and found waiting for him three volumes of Heritage material designed to help him chart the nation’s course in the right direction.” Undoubtedly future homages will be made to the amazing greatness of their influence under Trump, while befuddled Democrats wonder how “democracy” managed to remain in tact.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 22:05

• A Big Wreck Is About To Happen At The Intersection Of Artificial Intelligence Boulevard And Net Zero Avenue
  A Big Wreck Is About To Happen At The Intersection Of Artificial Intelligence Boulevard And Net Zero Avenue

  Via Energy Security and Freedom,

  The Big Green Grift, the Energiewende and all the other green energy scams are about to be slowly shuttled aside because we need massive amounts of new energy these schemes cannot deliver. Moreover, we can no longer afford the virtue signaling, power seeking and money grabbing nonsense these ventures involve. Indeed, there’s a big wreck about to happen at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence Boulevard and Net Zero Avenue. Future AI data center demand Is forcing energy discussions to suddenly get very real.

  

  Google, of course, is already facing the fact the two streets it’s simultaneously traveling are not parallel roads, but, rather, two routes that intersect and the company will be forced to stop and decide which direction it wants to go. Net Zero Avenue, taken to the end of the highway leads the end of Google’s AI dreams, while Artificial Intelligence Boulevard promises huge rewards.

  We wrote about this Google dilemma and which way the evil company will go here. The situation is also nicely summarized in a new report titled “The U.S. Needs a Bigger (Energy) Boat: Putting The Sheer Magnitude of Forecasted Energy Demand into Perspective,” from Pickering Energy Partners. Here are some powerful excerpts (emphasis added):

  

  [O]ur policymakers may be underestimating a crucial aspect of AI, namely, the anticipated surge in electricity consumption and demand it will command, especially considering that India and China display much higher AI deployment rates. Our research suggests that AI could conservatively double the current electricity consumption in the U.S. to around 8.4 trillion kilowatt-hours.

  If not effectively prepared for and managed, this surge in demand could strain our domestic energy resources, potentially leading to electricity scarcity, increased costs across the United States, greater geopolitical volatility across the globe, and ultimately, a failure on behalf of the U.S. to lead the AI evolution.

  The U.S. is not just a player in the world’s data center industry – we are the dominant force within the global landscape, and it isn’t close. As of March 2024, almost 5,400 data centers exist across fifty-one states in the U.S. The next closest is Germany, which has about one-tenth as many. The number of data centers in the U.S. is nearly 12 times more than in China, a clear testament to the scale and significance of the data center industry in the U.S. and our commitment to remain economically competitive on the global stage over the next century.

  It is also critical to highlight that, as the chart above illustrates, most of the U.S. AI activity is at the exploratory level (U.S. AI Exploration rate is 43% v. Deployment rate of 25%), meaning the industry in the U.S. remains in its relative infancy, especially because, as previously mentioned, we have substantially more data centers than any other country in the world. McKinsey also notes that “2023 was the year the world discovered genAI…2024 is the year organizations truly began using, and deriving value, from this new technology.”

  Data centers operated by Amazon, Microsoft, and Google reign supreme, collectively accounting for over half of all such centers. In the past year, Amazon and Google have been at the forefront, opening the most new data centers in the United States. Even though they are third, Microsoft boasts a network that “connects more than 60 data center regions, 200 data centers, 190 points of presence, and over 175,000 miles of terrestrial and subsea fiber worldwide, which connects to the rest of the internet at strategic global edge points of presence10.” One hundred and seventy-five thousand miles of fiber sounds like a lot – and it is. The circumference of the Earth at the equator is just a smidge under 25,000 miles – so the third-place data center network represents enough fiber to wrap around the Earth’s equator seven times…

  To put the forecasted demand into context, consider this: A recent MIT study found that a single data center consumes electricity equivalent to 50,000 homes. Estimates indicate that Microsoft, Amazon, and Google operate about 600 data centers in the U.S. today…

  Arguments exist that by 2030, 80% of renewable power sources will fulfill electricity demand. For reference, the U.S. generated roughly 240 billion kilowatt hours of solar and 425 billion kilowatt hours of wind, totaling 665 billion kilowatt hours in 2023. Assuming a 50/50 split between wind and solar, that scenario implies that, to satisfy the U.S. electricity demand that adequately facilitates AI competitiveness, wind and solar will have to generate approximately 3.4 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity each. That is more than a ten-fold increase over the next five years. The EIA highlights that the U.S. planned utility-scale electric-generating capacity addition in 2023 included 29 million kilowatts of solar (54% of the total) and 6 million kilowatts of wind (11% of the total), which pales in comparison to the estimated amount required.

  It just doesn’t get much more clear; renewables cannot begin to supply the energy needed for AI data centers. Only fossil fuels and nuclear can get the job done. It’s that simple. AI is not something global elites are going to let slide by. They’ve had a good run with the Big Green Grift but those days are going to gradually (maybe not so gradually) come to an end, as the demand for energy to power AI forces a reconsideration.

  Yes, the rhetoric will likely live on for quite some time, but the reality is that AI is the next big thing, it needs massive energy and the elites invested in it will not be denied. Reality is fast-approaching and it involves a lot of fossil fuels and a lot of nuclear.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 21:45

• Where Inequality Is More & Less Rife
  Where Inequality Is More & Less Rife

  The Global Wealth Report 2024 was released today by the Swiss bank UBS, highlighting where wealth inequalities have grown the furthest.

  As Staista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, South Africa comes top of the list, scoring 82 out of 100 on the inequality index, where 0 indicates total equality and 100 indicates absolute inequality. This is a jump of 17.7 percent since 2008.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Other countries with particularly high scores were Brazil (81), the United Arab Emirates (77), Saudi Arabia (77) and Sweden (77).

  Even Japan, which at 54 scored the lowest figure of the markets analyzed, is still far from equal.

  The gap on inequality has closed slightly in North America since 2008, with the United States recording a decrease of 2.4 percent in that time frame.

  Inequality has widened in Latin America and much of Eastern Europe and Asia though.

  This is shown on the chart, with Brazil seeing a wealth increase in inequality of 16.8 percent and Mexico a rise of 6.5 percent, as India saw an increase of 16.2 percent, Singapore of 22.9 percent, Indonesia of 15.1 percent, China of 7.4 percent and Japan of 9.4 percent. South Korea and Hong Kong buck the regional trend, with decreases of 8.1 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

  According to UBS, while inequality is increasing in fast-growing markets, the opposite is true in a number of mature economies, where middle wealth segments are outpacing the pace of growth of higher wealth brackets.

  While the Gini index is a useful tool for comparing inequality across different markets, it is important to take the measure of absolute wealth into consideration too.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 21:40

• "Vice President Tulsi Gabbard"
  “Vice President Tulsi Gabbard”

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  If it wasn’t evident going into yesterday that President Joe Biden was going to need to step aside, all doubts should now be out of the way.

  For his opening act on Thursday, Biden made his way out of bed and to the NATO summit across town, all for the honor of stepping on stage and referring to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy — whom U.S. taxpayers have gifted hundreds of billions of dollars at Biden’s direction to fight Russia — as “President Putin”. To refer to Zelenskiy as Putin, and at a NATO event nonetheless, is about as big of a f*ck up as you can possibly make given the world’s geopolitical climate right now.

  This would have been like introducing President George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium after 9/11 as “President Osama Bin Laden”.

  

  And if you weren’t in stitches after his first set, Biden returned later in the evening for an encore at the much heralded ‘Big Boy’ press conference he had been scheduled to give in order to show the world, to quote the movie Big Daddy, that he could “wipe his own ass”.

  

  But instead of instilling confidence in the nation, Biden coughed, mumbled and stumbled his way through about an hour’s worth of prepared remarks and softball questions.

  At one point, he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump”.

  Sadly, Biden is slurring his words far more noticeably each day. Even for a skeptic of Biden’s, I had to sigh and turn the press conference off before it finished, writing on X last night: “He is cooked. This has to be the end.”

  In other words, even for us conservatives, libertarians and critics of the Biden administration, it’s just getting difficult to watch. Each day jokes about elder abuse look closer and closer to reality, and the humor of a massive clusterf*ck in the Democratic political arena is eroded away by the blossoming realization that it’s simply depressing to watch a human being — somebody’s son, father and husband — deteriorate publicly, without dignity, and surrounded by people too cowardly to do the right thing for him.

  The gaffes last night quickly shot down what little chance Biden had of trying to stay in the race, in my opinion. I know it’s technically “up to him” but the powers that be couldn’t have scripted a worse outcome than him calling Zelenskiy “Putin” and then calling Harris “Trump”. Biden’s goose is cooked, mark my words.

  This means, as I pointed out days ago, the Democrats are likely going to promote Vice President Airhead to the potential nominee spot, despite her outright horrific polling in the 2020 primaries and the fact that for the most part it appears the country still finds her detestable.

  ---

  🔥 Zero Hedge readers take 50% off a Fringe Finance annual subscription for life by using this link: ZH50

  ---

  And while the Trump campaign has publicly stated they are happy to sit back and watch the Democrats self-immolate, I also believe they are holding off on announcing their Vice President pick until the Democratic nominee is solidified. There’s going to be a significant amount of strategy that goes into Trump’s VP pick: pick someone innocuous because you’re leading or continue on offense? Target minority demographics with a person of color or pick the best person for the job? Find someone who can be as aggressive as Trump or settle for someone who knows how to play the role of second fiddle? I played out a number of these scenarios last month.

  Without trying to answer all of these questions, I’m certain I can answer one: if Kamala Harris winds up as the Democratic nominee, Trump must pick Tulsi Gabbard as his Vice President. There is no better option.

  Not only is Tulsi world famous for having already beat Kamala to a pulp during the 2020 primary debates…

  …but she’s also is extraordinarily intelligent and well spoken…

  …and happens to be an active member of the U.S. military and a woman. She didn’t have to do any “favors” to make her way in the political world, she has had the courage to stand up to the most terrifying political force, the Clintons, in 2019 accurately calling Hillary the “personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long”.

  Additionally, Tulsi’s long held non-interventionist foreign policy ideas fall in line with Trump’s policy of “let’s just use some common sense and get these global conflicts settled and stop the killing, regardless of who is deemed the ‘winner’”. She has made it clear that avoiding World War 3 is far more important to her than prolonging wars and changing regimes overseas. While Nikki Haley’s lobbyists may not like this, it’s what’s best for the nation.

  

  Photo: The New Yorker

  If you’re a Trump strategist, you have to know that Tulsi not only immediately throws a wet blanket over all the independents who would vote for Kamala because she’s a woman, but in my opinion would also be a perfect compliment for Trump’s style. Tulsi could soften Trump’s image up a bit — she is rife with charming moments — but could also help hold the ‘edge’ Trump conducts business, especially foreign policy business, with. At the end of the day Tulsi went to boot camp and, let’s be honest, could probably kick Kamala Harris’ ass in a fight.

  But, like Trump, I’m sure she’d rather just emanate ‘peace through strength’. And you can say what you want about that strategy, but it kept us out of wars and kept the world at peace for the 4 years Trump was in office. It’s tough to argue with those results. Aloha, Tulsi!

  

  QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 21:33

• Trump's Return: Get Ready For Chaos To Be Unleashed And Blamed On You
  Trump’s Return: Get Ready For Chaos To Be Unleashed And Blamed On You

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

  Yeah, it’s happening. The last half of 2024 is shaping up to be one of the most politically insane in a century and the sparks are already flying. The biggest moment of absurdity so far might be the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, in which it was made abundantly clear for all the world to see that Biden is on the fast track to crazy town. We’ve been saying for four years that the guy is gone, a dementia case propped up and protected by the DNC and the media. Now, it’s undeniable:

  There’s a vegetable sitting in the Oval Office and the nation is in a panic.

  Leftists are panicking because they’re now realizing their candidate is a farce, the emperor has no clothes and they bet all their cash on one very retarded race horse. Conservatives are celebrating, but also panicking because they think Biden in his senility might launch nukes at any moment.

  There are even people calling for a 25^th Amendment intervention to remove Biden because they actually think he makes decisions. He doesn’t. Biden is a proxy for more powerful interests and always has been. Getting rid of Biden early doesn’t solve the greater problem, nor would it prevent a nuclear Apocalypse (if that was ever the plan to begin with). Other people are making his decisions for him.

  In the meantime, there are a host of surprises that could take place before November. As I noted in my article ‘The Juggling Act: Is 2024 A Pivotal Year For The Globalists?’ published in January, the election of 2024 is developing into its own Black Swan event. I stated that:

  “…There is the potential for shock events, such as Biden stepping down at the last minute. Trump being arrested but winning anyway. Or, a major geopolitical crisis which is used by the Democrats as an excuse to “postpone” the election…”

  It’s looking more and more like at least one of these scenarios is about to play out (Biden stepping down or being pushed out by the DNC).  It’s also becoming increasingly more likely that Donald Trump will return to the White House regardless.  For now it appears that Biden wants to cling to his position, but even if he is replaced there’s not a Democrat candidate yet that has the numbers to prevail in November.  And if you think election fraud will be a factor, don;t forget that the votes have to be close in order to rig the outcome.

  The question is, what will this mean for conservatives and patriots going forward? Is this cause for elation, or should Americans be getting ready for the rug to be pulled out from underneath them?

  After Trump’s win in 2016 (which I predicted a year ahead of the elections) I suggested that Trump might be set up as the next Herbert Hoover; the scapegoat for a host of economic and social calamities caused by obscure and shadowy interests.  I also questioned whether or not Trump would be a willing participant in this theater.

  Keep in mind, his cabinet picks in 2016 were a nightmare – Packed with a swarm of banking elites, a member of the Rothschild cartel (Wilber Ross), CFR members and other bad actors. He truly had some of the worst people standing over his shoulder at the time (like Anthony Fauci, for example…).  Even if Trump had good intentions, his advisers certainly did not.

  With the combination of BLM riots, Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, the pandemic hysteria, covid stimulus triggering stagflation, the January 6^th “insurrection”, Trump was turned into a pariah (for the most part unjustly). Conservatives in 2020 and beyond were labeled the ultimate villains; the “destroyers of democracy.”  Trump was, in many ways, pigeonholed as another Hoover.

  But something happened during this process that I believe the globalists did not intend; the pandemic agenda failed. The vaccine passports failed. The mandates failed. The average infection fatality rate was a tiny 0.23% and the public was not sufficiently terrified. Too many patriots were refusing to comply. The CDC numbers on vaccinations were clearly inflated to make it look like more people were taking the jab. Almost no one took the boosters.

  It was perhaps one of the biggest blunders the globalists have ever faced. The WEF’s Klaus Schwab, Dr. Evil himself, has faded into the background and retired as executive chairman. The big play for medical tyranny bombed. Now what to do?

  Is it a mistake that the establishment has continued to stick with Biden despite his delirium? Or, did they send Biden into that first debate knowing exactly how bad it was going to go?  Is this a ploy designed to complete the Herbert Hoover scenario? This year, Trump hinted in an interview with Fox Business that he “does not want to become the next Herbert Hoover” inheriting a time bomb economy from Biden. Biden argued in response that Trump was ALREADY like Herbert Hoover because of the jobs lost during covid.

  This is, of course, a false claim.  But the narrative is everywhere: “Trump will oversee a crash in America similar to 1929.”

  Consider for a moment how many different elements of the US economy today are misrepresented by rigged stats. Biden has suppressed inflation stats like CPI by dumping strategic oil reserves onto the market. His employment stats are a complete circus with almost every job “created” going to illegal immigrants, artificially pumping up BLS numbers.  Biden has created false growth in American manufacturing by subsidizing green energy companies with tax dollars.  The media seems intent to ignore the national debt issue, with interest payments amassing over $1 trillion every three months. Finally, the border surge continues unabated (except for a 74% decrease in Texas where they are putting up actual walls and barbed wire).

  And how about that Ukraine situation?  The one which is quickly escalating into wider conflict?  My readers know my predictions on this but think about it from Trump’s perspective:  Biden is leaving behind all the volatile elements of a world war in the making.  Trump will be inheriting a cauldron of nitroglycerine.

  What happens when Biden walks away? All of that economic rigging disappears, and then the real data comes out while Trump is in office.  Maybe WWIII kicks off, too.  And guess who will be blamed?  The fingers will point at Trump, but they will also point at YOU.

  The agenda will be to put conservative and liberty movement principles on trial and paint them as ideals of calamity. Meritocracy, individualism, independence, personal liberty, responsibility and discipline, free markets, private property, everything that makes up the foundations of western civilization is going to be put on the pyre.  Giving Trump an easy win against a cognitive deficient like Biden (or any other weak candidate) might be a setup; letting conservatives gain a moment of power only to find they’re sitting on the throne of a crumbling castle.

  Am I saying don’t to vote for Trump? No. At the very least, the act of voting for Trump sends a message that the American people want what Trump is supposed to represent, and they reject what Biden is supposed to represent. The candidates are far less important than the ideals they are meant to embody.  What I’m saying is, this election might be extra weird for a reason – the fact that Trump is being elevated as the clear choice is suspicious.

  At the very least there will be organized leftist riots in major cities across the US.  As we witnessed in France, the political left has no intention of giving up power and they will do anything to keep it, including burn down the neighborhood.  More reserved liberals will join forces with the most extreme socialist activist groups in order to win at any cost.  Trump’s presence in the Oval Office would be the perfect trigger for an endless parade of DEI clowns and Antifa freaks creating as much pandemonium as possible.

  I’m not talking about the false left/right paradigm.  The false left/right paradigm is irrelevant when it comes to the root problem, which is the preponderance of patriot action or apathy.  If the American people in large numbers stood up tomorrow and all at once decided we were going to shut down the leftists, boot out the globalists and take the government back, we would succeed and there’s nothing anyone could do to stop us.  We’re the largest armed population in the world and by extension the largest army in the world by far.

  It’s up to us, not Trump, to determine the course of our nation’s future.  And if he (or any other political leader) fails to live up to our standards, then at that point we’ll have to do the ugly thing that everyone knows is necessary but no one wants to be responsible for. Just remember that we’re going to be painted as bad guys, not freedom fighters, when we take that step.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 21:32

• Public School Spending Increasing Faster Than Test Scores, Report Finds
  Public School Spending Increasing Faster Than Test Scores, Report Finds

  Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times,

  New research indicates that U.S. public school spending has doubled since 2003, outpacing the rate of inflation and showing no clear correlation between more dollars per pupil and higher eighth-grade math and fourth-grade reading scores.

  

  The Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University released its latest findings last month. The report, titled “Will Academic Recovery Stall When the Federal Relief Funds Dry Up?”  also draws attention to the fiscal cliff many districts face in the year ahead as they weigh expenditures against desired achievement.

  School districts are required to earmark whatever is left of their post-COVID American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds by Sept. 30. The liquidation deadline is Dec. 31. ESSER, established in 2021, allocated $122 billion over three phases to help schools with learning recovery efforts.

  Most of the ESSER money was spent on labor—more teachers, classroom aids, counselors, reading coaches, tutors, subject area specialists, and administrators, but it was not applied to raise pay rates for existing teachers, Edunomics Lab Director Marguerite Roza told The Epoch Times on July 10.

  While one device (laptop or tablet) per child became an industry standard largely funded by federal money, equipment purchases did not make up a significant portion of expenditures, Ms. Roza said. She and her team of researchers interviewed school administrators and analyzed data at the federal and state levels dating back 20 years, including information from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which runs The Nation’s Report Card website. Many comparisons cited involved shorter time frames, and the findings were largely focused on the pandemic era.

  “The priorities and the value these investments brought varied by state,” Ms. Roza told The Epoch Times on July 10.

  “Some states were able to eke out more value.”

  At the national level, math scores declined sharply between 2013 and 2022, with 30 states reporting that students were more than half of a grade level behind before scores began rising slightly between 2022 and 2023, according to the report.

  For reading, the negative trend line began in 2017, with the average score in 30 states dropping below grade level in 2020 and continuing downward until last year, the report noted.

  Meanwhile, the national average per-pupil spending rate increased by 100 percent between 2003 and 2023 to $16,100 ($1,350 of the 2023 amount came from federal relief funds).

  Total inflation for the two decades was 67 percent, according to the report.

  The report also notes that U.S. schools now have more instructional staff than ever before, with that number increasing from 3,465,906 in 2005 to 3,842,000 this past academic year ending in the spring of 2024. By contrast, the number of K-12 public school students during the same period increased slightly, from 48,150,528 to 49,033,092.

  Ms. Roza stressed that results were varied at the state level. Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky reported reading/English Language Arts assessment scores averaging above grade levels during the 2022-2023 academic year, while average scores in California, Oregon, Washington State, Virginia, and South Dakota were below grade level.

  Mississippi’s overall per-pupil spending rate has been much lower than that of the schools it outperformed, but its ESSER aid per student, at about $1,600 compared to California’s estimated $1,300, is higher. The report also noted that the Golden State disproportionately spent more money on social-emotional learning, tutoring, and summer programs.

  “But,” Ms. Roza said, “within the states, some individual districts saw some real growth, and some saw lackluster growth. Compton (California) saw quite impressive scores.”

  For math assessments, all states surveyed reported average scores around or above grade level in the 2022-2023 school year, with Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi showing the most progress, with average scores approaching or exceeding half of the next grade level, according to the report.

  In the absenteeism measurements section, the report shows that attendance improved in most states between 2022 and 2023, highlighted by Hawaii and Michigan’s 7 percent increases. South Carolina reported a 5 percent decrease, and Louisiana reported a 4 percent decrease.

  “Is it possible to get improved outcomes without sizable funding increases? Yes. There are policy strategies that wouldn’t require new funds,” Ms. Roza said. “What really matters is implementation.”

  She said this research is a work in progress. The 2024 national and state reading and math assessment scores should be available by October, and final ESSER expenditure figures by school district and state should be available next month.

  The U.S. Department of Education notes that while learning recovery in the wake of the pandemic is the highest priority of ESSER, the program also aims to rebuild the educator workforce and help schools operate safely. With the ESSER program ending, many school districts must find other ways to cover those added labor costs, either by increasing the tax levy, making cuts in different areas of the budget, or obtaining more state aid.

  In the Guymon Public School District in the Oklahoma panhandle, about $7 million in ESSER funds were applied to replace the high school’s heating, cooling, ventilation, and air conditioning system, which was considered a facility safety issue. Superintendent Dixie Purdy said the district did not come to rely on aid for other programs and is financially sound heading into future school years.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 21:15

• Democrats Prefer Harris As Potential Alternative Candidate
  Democrats Prefer Harris As Potential Alternative Candidate

  In a survey run by YouGov, respondents who identified as Democrats or as Independents who were Democratic-leaning were divided over whether or not U.S. President Biden should step aside in the presidential elections, with 42 percent saying he should while 43 percent said he should not.

  At the same time, 64 percent said that the Democratic Party should support Biden rather than try to replace him, if he does choose to keep running.

  YouGov then asked which candidates respondents would approve of hypothetically.

  As Statista’s Anna Felck shows in the following chart, Vice President Kamala Harris came out on top with 73 percent support.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Harris was also considered by supporters of the party as the person most likely to be able to hold onto the presidency.

  

  By contrast, Pete Buttigieg received 57 percent support, while Bernie Sanders received 52 percent, although he also saw the highest level of disapproval of the polled politicians at 34 percent.

  When asked to compare the attributes of Biden and Harris, a varied picture emerges.

  For example, far more respondents considered Harris to be mentally fit (56 percent to Harris, nine percent to Biden, 25 percent equally matched) and a better communicator (47 percent to Harris, 15 percent to Biden, 25 percent even), while Biden received higher scores on being qualified for the role (34 percent to Biden, 13 percent to Harris, 41 percent equal) and being a strong leader (31 percent to Biden, 16 percent to Harris, 34 percent to both).

  The most popular answer to this question on several of the character traits however was that they were equally matched.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 20:50

• A Time Of Famine, And A Time Of War…
  A Time Of Famine, And A Time Of War…

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  The tremendous suffering that we are seeing all over the world right now is only just the beginning.  As I have documented repeatedly, we are in the midst of the worst global food crisis in modern history, and we haven’t seen this many countries engaged in military conflict since World War II.  In other words, this is a time of famine, and it is a time of war.  This represents a major problem for those that believe that humans are intrinsically good and that humanity is moving into a new golden era of peace and prosperity.  If humans are intrinsically good, why is there so much evil all around us?  Of course the truth is that the evil that we see all around is the product of the evil in human hearts.  Humanity is the reason why there is so much war, so much famine, so much greed, so much corruption, and so much suffering.

  

  While billionaires in the western world live the high life, vast hordes of people on the other side of the planet are literally starving to death.

  In Sudan, right now more than 25 million people “are facing high levels of acute food insecurity”…

  In addition to the threat of violence, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported that 25.6 million people in Sudan are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, and 8.5 million people are facing emergency food shortages. The IPC also warned about the risk of famine across 14 areas, impacting residents and refugees in areas like Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan.

  There have been some nightmarish famines in Sudan before, but this is the worst.

  The CEO of World Vision, Edgar Sandoval, says that people in Sudan are literally fighting over anthills because it is the only source of food available in some cases…

  Sandoval also met another mother and her son, who weighed only 26 pounds. He said his heart broke as the mother wept, telling Sandoval that people in her community are fighting each other over anthills because they’re so hungry. She said they’ll eat the millets stored there by the ants.

  “And they’re fighting for that as the only source of food,” Sandoval said. “I think that speaks to the level of desperation that the Sudanese people are facing. It’s the situation that children and moms in particular are facing.”

  Can you imagine what it would be like to be that hungry?

  And can you imagine what it would be like to watch your own children beg for food?

  It is being reported that 730,000 children in Sudan are at “imminent risk of dying”…

  In June, the United Nations Children’s Fund announced that nearly 9 million children in Sudan face acute food insecurity and access to safe drinking water. More than 3,800 children have been killed since the fighting escalated in April 2023, and almost 4 million children under the age of 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition, with 730,000 projected to be at an “imminent risk of dying.”

  When I try to explain what is happening in Sudan to clueless people here in the western world, they look at me like I am from outer space.

  Many of them have never heard about the hordes of people starving on the other side of the planet because the mainstream media is absolutely obsessed with talking about Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

  But this is really happening.

  As I discussed in a previous article, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is warning that over 2.5 million people could starve to death in Darfur and Kordofan alone by the end of September…

  The Ethiopian famine killed a million people between 1983 and 1985, according to UN estimates. Thomas-Greenfield said that in a worst-case scenario, a famine in Sudan could become even more lethal.

  “We’ve seen mortality projections estimating that in excess of 2.5 million people, about 15% of the population in Darfur and Kordofan – the hardest hit regions – could die by the end of September,” the ambassador said.

  “This is the largest humanitarian crisis on the face of the planet. And yet, somehow, it threatens to get worse,” she added.

  Meanwhile, military conflicts all over the world just continue to intensify.

  The Russians continue to gain ground in several areas of eastern Ukraine, and this is making a number of Ukraine’s neighbors very nervous.

  In fact, the head of the Polish military just stated that his forces need to prepare for “full-scale conflict”…

  Poland needs to prepare its soldiers for all-out conflict, its armed forces chief of staff said on Wednesday, as the country boosts the number of troops on its border with Russia and Belarus.

  Poland’s relations with Russia and its ally Belarus have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, starting a war that is still being fought.

  “Today, we need to prepare our forces for full-scale conflict, not an asymmetric-type conflict,” army chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula told a press conference.

  Of course Poland is a member of NATO, and so if Poland ends up fighting Russia we will be fighting Russia too.

  This week, Chinese forces are engaged in very alarming military exercises that are taking place just miles from the Polish border…

  Belarus and China kicked off 11-day joint military training exercises Monday, Belarus’ defense ministry said – with activities taking place just miles from the border of Poland, a NATO and European Union member.

  The joint anti-terrorist training “Attacking Falcon” exercises in Belarus would see military personnel from both countries “act together” as one unit in certain stages, Maj. Gen. Vadim Denisenko of the Belarusian military said in a Telegram post.

  I think that Chinese forces are there to ward off a potential invasion of Belarus.

  Ukraine has been building up large numbers of troops and vast quantities of equipment near the border with Belarus for quite some time, and there had been fears that Ukraine may try to do something really stupid.  In fact, officials in Belarus were so concerned that they were publicly warning that they would use tactical nuclear weapons if they were invaded.

  Meanwhile, NATO has started delivering F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine…

  NATO allies on Wednesday announced they had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine and stepped up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance at a 75th anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.

  In response, Russia has been bombing the daylights out of the airfields where those F-16 fighter jets were supposed to be based.

  I really wish that leaders on both sides would sit down and try to find a peaceful way out of this mess.

  But that isn’t going to happen.

  In the Middle East, western powers are desperately trying to avert a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah…

  Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group have been exchanging near-daily fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct. 8. The US and France are attempting to broker a diplomatic solution that would end the fighting. Should those negotiations fail, Israeli officials anticipate a full-blown war with the Iran-backed militia.

  Sadly, I am entirely convinced that such a full-blown war could be just months away.

  This war in the Middle East is still only in the early stages, and the utter carnage that we will eventually witness will shock the entire world.

  We really are living in a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and famines will intensify as global conflict spreads.

  So no, a new golden era of peace and prosperity is not on the way.

  Instead, our future will be filled with war, famine and a tremendous amount of pain.

  *  *  *

  Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 20:25

• IRS Strikes Gold: $1 Billion Collected From Wealthy Tax Dodgers
  IRS Strikes Gold: $1 Billion Collected From Wealthy Tax Dodgers

  The Biden administration has collected $1 billion – a few days worth of Ukraine funding – from wealthy tax cheats, in what the Associated Press frames as a showcase of how the agency is making use of monies received from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

  

  The outlet suggests that the announcement is part of a public push to raise awareness that a Republican takeover of the White House or Congress could mean future budget cuts for the IRS – which last year launched a series of initiatives aimed at pursuing high-wealth individuals who have shirked their tax obligations.

  According to the agency, the campaign is focused on taxpayers with over $1 million in income and over $250,000 in recognized tax debt.

  “President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement.

  Among the initiatives are measures to halt “partnership basis shifting,” potentially raising $50 billion over the next decade, and targeting improper deductions on personal flights via corporate jets. Eugene Steuerle from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center emphasized the positive impact of these efforts, suggesting increased public support for the IRS if they “can show they’re having a positive impact and it’s not impacting average American taxpayers, there would be more public support for this activity and the agency.”

  That said, Republicans are not backing down from threats to make deep cuts to the IRS.

  House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress in the summer of 2023. The deal included a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other non-defense programs.

  House Republicans’ fiscal year 2025 proposal out of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee in June proposes further cuts to the IRS in 2025, and would cut funding to the Direct File program that is being expanded to allow Americans to file their taxes directly with the IRS. -AP

  All of that said- according to Demian Brady, VP of research for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, says that the IRS is still targeting non-high net worth partnerships for audits. 

  “It should also be noted that nearly two-thirds of audits initiated in 2023 were on those making less than $200,000.“

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 20:00

• White House Seeks To Clarify Its Clarification Of Biden's Health
  White House Seeks To Clarify Its Clarification Of Biden’s Health

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  The above headline would be a great title for the Babylon Bee except for one thing. It’s true.

  

  President Biden arrived at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS via the Wall Street Journal

  Revisions and More Revisions

  The Wall Street Journal comments on The Tight-Lipped Approach to Biden’s Health Disclosures

  An opaque picture of President Biden’s health has emerged since his disastrous debate performance as a result of shifting accounts of his medical care by the White House and the president’s own refusal to undergo more testing.

  Since the debate, where Biden at times struggled to complete his thoughts and often appeared to freeze with his mouth agape, the White House has rejected calls for greater transparency about the 81-year-old president’s health.

  On at least three occasions since the debate, the White House has had to correct or clarify official statements about Biden’s medical treatment. Most recently, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a January visit by neurologist Kevin Cannard to the White House had been for the president’s annual physical, after telling reporters earlier in the day that the visit wasn’t related to Biden’s care.

  On Tuesday, the White House said that the neurologist, Kevin Cannard, had examined the president as part of his annual physical on Jan. 17, the same day that Biden’s performance in a meeting to secure Ukraine funding raised concerns among some lawmakers about the president’s acuity. During the meeting that day, Biden moved slowly, spoke softly and read from notes, deferring frequently to other lawmakers and staffers, some people who attended the meeting said. Cannard’s appointment was scheduled five days in advance, visitor logs show. The White House said there was no connection between the meeting and the exam.

  New answers
  On Tuesday, the White House corrected a previous statement on the Jan. 17 visit by Cannard, the neurologist, to the White House. In a briefing that afternoon, Jean-Pierre told reporters that the Jan. 17 visit by Cannard wasn’t related to care for the president. Later that day, Jean-Pierre contacted the Associated Press, whose reporter had asked about the visit, to say that the visit was in fact for the president’s physical, one of three times she said Cannard had seen Biden for a physical.

  Later that day, the White House released a letter from O’Connor in which he confirmed that Cannard had examined Biden for his annual physicals and said the president hadn’t seen a neurologist outside of those examinations.

  Even that letter left some questions unanswered about why Cannard had visited the White House residence clinic—intended for the first family and senior-most staff as determined by the Defense Department—eight times if he had only examined the president three times. Bates said Thursday that Cannard only went to the residence clinic once, even though visitor logs show he signed in there on eight separate days.

  George Stephanopoulos Interview

  Let’s review some pertinent parts of the Stephanopoulos Biden Interview as noted in my post “It’s a Biden Question” a Musical Tribute to the Stephanopoulos Interview

  Stephanopoulos: I know you said you have an ongoing assessment. Have you had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation?

  Biden: I’ve had– I get a full neurological test everyday with me. And I’ve had a full physical. I had, you know, I mean, I– I’ve been at Walter Reed for my physicals. I mean–uhm yes, the answer.

  Stephanopoulos: I– I know your doctor said he consulted with a neurologist. I– I guess I’m asking– a slightly different question. Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?

  Biden: No. No one said I had to. No one said. They said I’m good.

  Stephanopoulos: Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognit– cognitive tests and release the results to the American people?

  Biden: Look. I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not– and that’s not hi– sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.

  Stephanopoulos: … the American people have been watching, yet their concerns about your age and your health are growing. So that’s why I’m asking — to reassure them, would you be willing to have the independent medical evaluation?

  Biden: Watch me between– there’s a lotta time left in this campaign. There’s over 125 days. [Yes, we watched you repeatedly duck very pointed tough questions]

  Stephanopoulos: So the answer–

  Biden: They’ll make a decision.

  Stephanopoulos: Right—the answer right now is, no, you– you don’t want to do that right now.

  Biden: Well, I’ve already done it.

  The Price of Lying and Cover-Ups

  The above transcript is of someone who is either delusional or a liar or both.

  It’s not recent either. It’s been ongoing for four years.

  The coverups have finally taken a toll. People now see the truth: They’ve been lied to for years by the president and a Press willing to lie for him.

  WSJ comments on Biden’s Frailty and the Political Price of Insincerity

  How did they let it get this far? How did Democratic power brokers and progressive media personalities—groups not known for their indifference to winning elections—wait until July 2024 to urge President Biden not to run for re-election?

  Any mildly observant person could see four years ago that Mr. Biden had declined further than a commander in chief should. These pages noted Mr. Biden’s diminished state during and after his 2020 campaign. In the 2012 debate with Paul Ryan, the editorial board remarked on Nov. 19, 2020, Mr. Biden “was aggressive and confident. In 2020, in the rare times he speaks off the cuff without a teleprompter, he looks more tentative, as if grasping for an argument or words that he knows are around here somewhere.”

  Democrats disregarded this and 10,000 similar observations because they took them to be insincere, and the political left has become so accustomed to insincerity as not to recognize its opposite. On the left—particularly in the New York Times and other elite outlets—substantive complaints are routinely presented as procedural or ethical ones. Rather than make a straightforward argument that a person or policy is wrong on the merits, elected Democrats, following the media’s lead, typically raise technical or otherwise secondary objections they plainly don’t care about.

  Having convinced themselves that the president’s infirmity was a right-wing invention, Democrats find themselves in the unenviable position of having to acknowledge the truth of what their opponents have been saying for years. The whole mess might have been avoided if Democrats had credited their critics with sincerity.

  The Lie Is Disclosed

  One cannot put a disclosed lie back in the bottle.

  The press has been forced to admit Biden’s This lie, and now they are in a race to protect their own reputations.

  As a result, the Left-wing media is now in competition to unsweep the dirt it swept under the rug out of fear of losing more readership.

  Unprecedented Setup

  Biden now has to deal with an openly hostile press. This is an unprecedented setup for Democrats in general and Biden specifically.

  There are two things I am sure of: 1) More clarifications will be needed. And 2) The press will be hostile until Biden drops out.

  When is that?

  Is Biden Bluffing or Do Democrats Have a Defendable Strategy?

  I discussed the possibility of a Biden bluff (Nate Silver’s theory), and a purposeful timeline strategy (my theory), in Is Biden Bluffing or Do Democrats Have a Defendable Strategy?

  If Biden does not drop out before or during the live convention, my theory will be proven false.

  There is no way other than direct admission to prove either theory correct. However, if Biden drops out on the schedule I propose, or during the live convention, it is strong evidence my theory is the correct one.

  I have specific timelines for two events. See above post for details.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 19:40

• China Unveils Military Drills With Russia, Accuses 'Hegemon' US Of Seeking To 'Control' Asia-Pacific
  China Unveils Military Drills With Russia, Accuses ‘Hegemon’ US Of Seeking To ‘Control’ Asia-Pacific

  China unveiled Friday that it has been conducting major joint naval drills with Russia along its southern coast, during the same week that NATO leaders met in Washington D.C.

  The drills have apparently already been underway for a while, since “early July” – according to a Chinese military statement, and have been dubbed Joint Sea-2024. They are slated to continue for several more days into mid-July.

  

  The defense ministry identified that the drills, which include an aerial component, are centered near the southern city of Zhanjiang, and aim “to demonstrate the resolve and capabilities of the two sides in jointly addressing maritime security threats and preserving global and regional peace and stability.”

  The exercises “will further deepen China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era,” the ministry continued.

  China and Russia are without doubt signaling the West that their relations and cooperation on the levels of defense, industry, and technology will remain ironclad. 

  Leaders of NATO this week issued a communique which among other things declared that Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history” without facing repercussions.

  China has remained officially neutral on Ukraine, but has still faced US sanctions for supplying Russia with industrial parts and goods which are vital to Russia’s defense manufacturing sector.

  One analyst was cited in The New York Times as pointing out that the NATO statement was especially strong and full-throated: 

  “It’s a very rare move for NATO to openly accuse China, saying Beijing is massively supporting Russia’s defense industrial base,” said Liou Shiau-shyang, an expert on China and Russia at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government-funded research group in Taiwan. “Clearly, the United States has won over some skeptics who did not see China as a key player in the Russia-Ukraine war.”

  Meanwhile China has responded in part through a series of English language op-eds in state-run Global Times, with themes of NATO constantly “hyping” the China threat.

  For example, one Tuesday article in the publication charged that Washington is using NATO to expand its hegemony into southeast Asia:

  NATO, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary but should have been ditched into the trash bin of history long ago, is now weak internally and facing numerous challenges. The uncertainty concerning the French parliamentary elections, the US upcoming presidential elections, and the increase in European defense spending have raised concerns. NATO is no longer a united organization on many issues. This already loose alliance, under the leadership of the US, is now hoping to build unity by spreading the rumor that “China is threatening regional security.” 

  In fact, the US is not only aiming to contain China through NATO, but to control the entire Asia-Pacific region. In order to achieve this goal, NATO is trying to woo regional countries in many ways, constantly creating and exaggerating security crisis in the Asia-Pacific. 

  The fact has remained that the more that Moscow and Beijing find themselves in US crosshairs and under Western pressure, the closer they become, despite having been historic rivals throughout much of the prior hundred years. Biden did not have an answer to this when asked Thursday about this policy backfiring on this front.

  On this foreign policy master point: One reporter basically said to Biden, look, two years ago, we asked if your sanctions policy was merely going to bring Russia and China much closer together rather than accomplish its goals. You assured us it wouldn’t. You were totally wrong.… https://t.co/gYIaE0vkKN

  — Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) July 12, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  It was only in early 2022, very soon before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that Presidents Xi and Putin declared their countries’ partnership to have “no limits”.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 19:20

• Will Debt Sink The American Empire?
  Will Debt Sink The American Empire?

  Authored by Peter St. Onge via Money Metals,

  “Will Debt Sink the American Empire?”

  So asks the Wall Street Journal, in an uncharacteristically gloomy article for the bull market’s paper of record.

  They kick off with the problem: America is “cruising” into an uncharted sea of federal debt, with a government seemingly incapable of turning it around.

  In other words, the uniparty has set its course, and there’s no cavalry coming.

  

  The Runaway Train of Deficits

  We’re currently adding a fresh trillion of debt every hundred days, on our way to $35 trillion.

  Meanwhile, the deficit is about to break $2 trillion – for perspective, all federal revenue under George W Bush averaged around $2 trillion.

  Debt interest *alone is set to cross $1 trillion, eclipsing even our bloated military budget that beaches quarter-billion dollar piers in Gaza for sport.

  The next milestone after that is Medicare spending, which together with Social Security has its own $78 trillion unfunded liability, according to its own Board of Trustees – outside estimates are higher.

  Governments Are Rabid by Nature

  Now, none of this is shocking: governments by nature try to spend too much – indeed, much of economic history is made up of governments desperately trying to finance their mountains of debt.

  Debt brought down Rome, first with hyperinflation then with a gutted military that barbarians walked right over.

  It brought down Spain, as New World gold finances an effective government takeover of the private sector. And France, bankrupted by financing foreign wars – in this case, the American Revolution. The Qing collapsed under debt and even Great Britain who owned half the earth for nearly a hundred years.

  

  It’s why we got the Magna Carta – indeed, Constitutions – as kings pleaded for more money. It’s how we got central banks, as first Britain then the rest of the world licensed money printers in exchange for debt finance.

  To this day government debt crashes countries – countries from Turkey to Venezuela to Nigeria are currently undergoing debt crises, with Argentina desperately trying to pull out of one.

  

  How Does It End?

  And, with so many historical cases, we know exactly how this ends: investors stop buying government debt, shutting out governments and leading to massive austerity and soaring inflation as the government retrenches.

  Going by history, the government will cancel the trillions it promised — starting with Social Security and Medicare — then pull back to where it can pay the Praetorian Guard and not much else.

  In short, once debt hits the magic line, Washington goes from Sugar Daddy to wild animal. And, historically, it happens much faster than people imagine — in Hemingway’s famous phrase, countries go bankrupt gradually then all at once.

  

  There Is a Ray of Hope

  Washington’s spending freight train can be stopped – in fact, we did stop it in the ’90s under Clinton and Gingrich: From 1997 to 2000 we ran budget surpluses totaling nearly $600 billion.

  The key was gridlock – two parties that despised each other so much that the only thing they could agree on was to sabotage each other’s plans.

  Unfortunately, whether it was corporate donors or golden parachutes for politicians, both parties have long since folded and are now eager to cooperate so long as they both get everything they want. So Democrats feed their activist army at taxpayer expense, while Republicans instead give ammo to Ukraine.

  This all means there is a ray of fiscal hope.

  If, say, President Trump were to face a democrat Congress that hates him so much it blocks everything he does – not an impossible thing to imagine.

  Or, if you swing that way, a President Biden – or Harris – is subjected to similar antipathy from a GOP Congress.

  Or, dare we dream, a GOP that actually stands up on the debt ceiling, damn the media torpedos or wait a couple of years and it’s a crisis in the entire country.

  We know which one Washington will pick. But it’s ultimately the voters who run the joint.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 19:00

• What Snapped? US Ground Beef Retail Prices Jump Most Since Covid Meatpacking Crisis
  What Snapped? US Ground Beef Retail Prices Jump Most Since Covid Meatpacking Crisis

  The latest data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that monthly retail ground beef prices just recorded their most significant increase since early 2020, a period in time when major meat processing companies were shuttering plants nationwide. Prices of retail ground beef per pound jumped to new highs in June, with data going back to 2008. This is more bad news for the middle class, which is under severe financial pressure with elevated inflation and high interest rates, resulting in a pullback in consumer spending ahead of the presidential elections this fall. 

  Let’s start with the 6.294% rise in June’s retail ground beef prices, marking the largest monthly increase since the 10% spike in May 2020. Back then, the theme was that the closure of packaging plants would crimp production. Now, it’s the summer grilling season as US cattle inventory plunges to the smallest size in 73 years. 

  

  The average supermarket price for ground beef jumped .324 cents in June to a new record high of $5.472. USDA data goes back to 2008. 

  

  Under President Biden’s first term, the percentage change of ground beef per pound has jumped a whopping 38%!

  

  Readers have been well informed about ‘beeflation’ and why it’s happening: 

  • Dwindling US Cattle Herd Implies Supermarket Beef Prices May Rise Even More

  • Hamburger Prices Might Continue To Rise As US Cattle Herd Shrinks

  • US Cattle Prices Hit Nine-Year High As National Herd Drops To Half-Century Low

  • US Beef Prices Hit Record High As Nation’s Cattle Herd Expected To Shrink Through 2025

  • Tyson Foods CEO Unsure When Nation’s Collapsing Beef Herd Will Reverse

  • Rancher: Record High Beef Prices May Be ‘New Norm’

  Soaring beef prices comes at a time when the middle class is suffering in the era of failed Bidenomics. We have cited a number of reports from corporate America and top Wall Street analysts who are warning about a consumer slowdown:

  • Goldman Tells Top Clients To Start “Shorting The Middle-Income Consumer”

  • Goldman’s Commentary On Consumer Health Is An Ominous One

  • “Did Something Change?”: Goldman Trading Desk Warns Hedge Funds Are Suddenly Dumping Consumer Stocks

  • Pepsi Warns US Snack Demand “Subdued” As Consumer Slowdown Worsens

  • Consumer Slowdown Spreads: Helen Of Troy Shares Crash After Big Earnings Miss, EPS Outlook Cut

  If the US had a ‘strategic beef reserve, ‘ now would be the time to dump beef into the market. Otherwise, consumers should brace for even higher prices, with the US herd size unlikely to increase anytime soon.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 18:40

• Fearing New Panama President Will Block Key Route To US, Migrants Flood Darién Gap
  Fearing New Panama President Will Block Key Route To US, Migrants Flood Darién Gap

  Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times,

  Thousands of migrants streamed into Panama through the treacherous jungle of the Darién Gap last week, with many fearing that the route will be shut down, thereby dashing their hopes of reaching the United States.

  

  The influx of migrants intent on crossing the U.S. southwest border unlawfully came as Panama’s new president, Raúl Mulino, took steps to stop the flow through the Darién Gap.

  On July 1, the same day that he took office, Mr. Mulino forged a deal with the United States to pay for repatriation flights for migrants entering Panama on their way to the United States.

  Migrants expressed desperation and sometimes frustration at the idea that Panama would close the dangerous passageway from Colombia.

  In February, The Epoch Times visited the four migrant camps located in Panama, where migrants who had just made it out of the Darién Gap described lawless gangs, whose members robbed, raped, and murdered, along the route.

  Several migrants interviewed on-site last week said Panama should start accepting migrants who fly into the country or create another pathway to facilitate their journey to the United States.

  At least 1,000 migrants per day on average arrived at the camps last week.

  Traffic dropped to roughly half that on July 5 as SENAFRONT, Panama’s national border patrol, began blocking jungle pathways using concertina wire, also known as razor wire.

  Video recordings posted on social media by an Epoch Times freelance reporter about the Darién Gap being blocked prompted an avalanche of questions and requests for help in Spanish.

  One social media user who said he had four children asked when the route would close because he wants to cross in late July, but he doesn’t yet have the money.

  Users posted pleas for help in guiding them through the Darién Gap or into Mexico.

  Some expressed disbelief that the passageway north was being shut down, while others cursed the news.

  Of the migrants exiting the Darién Gap over a four-day period last week, at least 700 were Chinese nationals who made their way into camp Canaán Membrillo in Panama.

  The more-affluent Chinese migrants use the Carreto route to get to Canaán Membrillo.

  The Carreto route is used by smuggling organizations to move migrants into Panamanian territory by sea before docking and taking a shorter jungle trail by foot.

  

  Panama President-elect José Raúl Mulino visits the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blancas, in the jungle province of Darién, Panama, on June 28, 2024. Mr. Mulino has pledged to close the dangerous Darién Gap, a crucial corridor for migrants heading to the U.S. border. (Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

  Several migrants who spoke with The Epoch Times said they are making their journey to America now because they fear President Joe Biden’s term is ending.

  “He’s going, so I’m coming,” one Chinese migrant said.

  Two Chinese migrants who spoke on camera but didn’t want to be named, cursed Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party.

  The pair indicated that they wanted to go to the United States because of the freedom that its citizens enjoy, saying there are no human rights in China.

  Some migrants said family members had told them they could vote in the United States.

  Many said they would vote for President Biden if given the chance. One of the Chinese migrants said he would vote for former President Donald Trump if he could “because Trump is more tough” on the Chinese regime.

  He said he believes that some Chinese nationals crossing into the United States are Beijing spies.

  At Panama’s Bajo Chiquito migrant camp, one Indian national who gave his first name as Monish said he is concerned that he could be deported if former President Trump is reelected.

  Monish believes it is legal to walk into the United States because his friends who have already done so told him that the U.S. Constitution says that “no human is illegal.”

  “Joe Biden is a very good person. He’s very helpful for immigrants,” Monish said.

  Panama began placing razor wire inside the dense jungle, cutting off some routes used by human smugglers.

  Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who attended Mr. Mulino’s inauguration, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide assistance to Panama for illegal migrant repatriation flights out of the country.

  

  Illegal immigrants arrive at the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blancas, in Darién, Panama, on June 28, 2024. Panama reported more than 500,000 migrant crossings in the Darién Gap in 2023. (Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

  “As the United States continues to secure our borders and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain, we are grateful for our partnership with Panama to manage the historic levels of migration across the Western Hemisphere,” Mr. Mayorkas said in a statement about the deal.

  The agreement is “designed to jointly reduce the number of migrants being cruelly smuggled through the Darién, usually en route to the United States,” according to a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

  Sending migrants back home “will help deter irregular migration in the region and at our southern border and halt the enrichment of malign smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants,” she said.

  The United States agreed to supply Panama with equipment, transportation, and logistics to send migrants illegally entering Panama back to their countries.

  Panama has reported record numbers of crossings along the Darién jungle pathway in recent years, including more than 520,000 in 2023 alone.

  Mr. Mulino, the country’s 65-year-old former security minister and new president, promised to shut down the migration route controlled by criminal organizations.

  “I won’t allow Panama to be an open path for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, supported by an international organization related to drug trafficking and human trafficking,” he said during his inauguration speech.

  However, Panama will not be getting help from its neighbor Colombia.

  The Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia put out a statement cautioning Panama to not violate the “mobility rights” of migrants.

  

  Illegal immigrants who crossed the Darién Gap into Panama wait in line for bus transportation to Costa Rica, in the Lajas Blancas migrant camp in Darién, Panama. (The Epoch Times)

  Colombia’s notice warned its neighbor to not violate international law, which forbids countries from returning asylum seekers to places where they may face danger.

  Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—many of which have received millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars—embedded in Panama help migrants with food, shelter, medical aid, and maps at the migrant camps.

  One NGO, Human Rights Watch, cast doubt on Panama’s ability to close the Darién Gap completely and feared it would force migrants to find more dangerous routes.

  “Whatever the reason for their journey, migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the Darién Gap are entitled to basic safety and respect for their human rights along the way,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director of Human Rights Watch.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 18:20

• Visualizing The Soaring Costs Of US Fast Food Chains
  Visualizing The Soaring Costs Of US Fast Food Chains

  Fast food joints were once the go-to option for quick, cost-friendly meals, but now, they’re starting to pinch the budget.

  Inflation has hit fast food chains hard in the past decade, with many restaurants seeing an average price increase on menu items of more than 50%.

  This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, visualizes the average price increase of 10 core menu items from select American fast food chains, as well as the change in the consumer price index (U.S. city average) for food away from home, from 2014 to 2024.

  

  Fast food chain data comes from Finance Buzz and the food away from home figure comes from the Federal Reserve’s March 2024 Consumer Price Index data.

  The Rising Costs of Dining Out

  On average, eating at these 10 fast food restaurants has gotten 63% more expensive since 2014, as shown in the table below.

  

  McDonald’s leads the pack in term of fast food inflation, with some of its food items doubling in price since 2014. The company likely took notice of complaints of its rising prices, and is preparing to roll out a month-long, affordable $5 combo meal deal this summer.

  While not visualized on the graphic above, Subway and Starbucks were the only two restaurants that had average price increases that were lower than food away from home inflation, at 39% for both restaurants.

  As the cost of dining out has increased across the board, with even fast food options surpassing overall inflation, consumers are running out of cheaper alternatives when it comes to having food away from home.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 18:00

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• Value Of Norway's Oil Fund Soars To New High Of $1.7 Trillion
  Value Of Norway’s Oil Fund Soars To New High Of $1.7 Trillion

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

  For the first time in its nearly three-decade history, Norway’s oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has just exceeded the market value of 18 trillion Norwegian crowns, which equals $1.691 trillion as of Wednesday.

  

  Government Pension Fund Global, as the Norwegian fund is officially known, was created in the 1990s and the government started transferring revenues from Norway’s oil and gas industry into the fund in 1996.

  Since then, the fund has invested in equities and fixed income globally, raising its value with the returns.  

  In October 2019, the value of the fund exceeded 10 trillion Norwegian crowns and in May 2023, the fund’s market value topped the threshold of 15 trillion Norwegian crowns.  

  The weak Norwegian crown against the U.S. dollar has contributed somewhat to the new height of the fund’s value, but it is the equity investments in the U.S. stock market, in which the fund is heavily weighted, that have driven the record value, Nils Kristian Knudsen, an analyst at Handelsbanken, told Norwegian outlet FinansWatch.

  For the first quarter of 2024, the fund returned 1.21 trillion crowns ($113 billion), which was the highest quarterly return in absolute terms since the fund was set up in 1996.

  “Our equity investments had a very strong return in the first quarter, particularly driven by the tech sector,” Trond Grande, Deputy CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in April, commenting on the fund’s performance in Q1.

  The Norwegian fund owns on average 1.5% of all listed companies globally. The equity investments – which account for 72.1% of the fund’s total investments – consist of ownership shares in about 9,000 companies worldwide. A total of 26% of the fund’s assets are invested in fixed income, 1.8% in unlisted real estate, and 0.1% in renewable energy infrastructure.

  The fund, which is commonly referred to as ‘Norway’s oil fund’ because it was created with oil and gas revenues, is a shareholder in many large companies in the world, including Big Oil, and has the power to influence other investors with its investment decisions.

  As of the end of 2023, they held stakes in 220 energy firms in 35 countries, representing 2.6% of all investments. The fund held 3.4% in BP, 2.88% in Shell, 2.42% in TotalEnergies, 1.35% in ExxonMobil, and 1% in Chevron.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/12/2024 – 02:00

• Project Total Control: Everything Is A Weapon When Totalitarianism Is Normalized
  Project Total Control: Everything Is A Weapon When Totalitarianism Is Normalized

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “The biggest mistake I see is people waiting for A Big Sign that’ll tell them that things have gone too far. One Big Thing that police or lawmakers or the president/leaders will do that will cross the line. It’ll never come because they won’t cross it. They’ll move the line. That line you think you stand behind is shifting everyday with little actions, bills, legislations… That line will stop moving one day, & it’ll be too late… Every day, your sensitivity is being eroded by these willful atrocities. The envelope for what you’ll accept is being pushed. One day, all of these things will be your new normal.”

  – Nigerian writer Suyi Davies Okungbowa

  The U.S. government is working to re-shape the country in the image of a totalitarian state.

  

  This has remained true over the past 50-plus years no matter which political party held office.

  This will remain true no matter who wins the 2024 presidential election.

  In the midst of the partisan furor over Project 2025, a 920-page roadmap for how to re-fashion the government to favor so-called conservative causes, both the Right and the Left have proven themselves woefully naive about the dangers posed by the power-hungry Deep State.

  Yet we must never lose sight of the fact that both the Right and the Left and their various operatives are extensions of the Deep State, which continues to wage psychological warfare on the American people.

  Psychological warfare, according to the Rand Corporation, “involves the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups.”

  For years now, the government has been bombarding the citizenry with propaganda campaigns and psychological operations aimed at keeping us compliant, easily controlled and supportive of the government’s various efforts abroad and domestically.

  The government is so confident in its Orwellian powers of manipulation that it’s taken to bragging about them. For example, in 2022, the U.S. Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group, the branch of the military responsible for psychological warfare, released a recruiting video that touts its efforts to pull the strings, turn everything they touch into a weapon, be everywhere, deceive, persuade, change, influence, and inspire.

  “Have you ever wondered who’s pulling the strings?” the psyops video posits. “Anything we touch is a weapon. We can deceive, persuade, change, influence, inspire. We come in many forms. We are everywhere.”

  This is the danger that lurks in plain sight.

  Of the many weapons in the government’s vast arsenal, psychological warfare may be the most devastating in terms of the long-term consequences.

  As the military journal Task and Purpose explains, “Psychological warfare is all about influencing governments, people of power, and everyday citizens.”

  Mind you, these psyops (psychological operations) campaigns aren’t only aimed at foreign enemies. The government has made clear in word and deed that “we the people” are domestic enemies to be targeted, tracked, manipulated, micromanaged, surveilled, viewed as suspects, and treated as if our fundamental rights are mere privileges that can be easily discarded.

  This is what is referred to as “apple-pie propaganda.”

  Aided and abetted by technological advances and scientific experimentation, the government has been subjecting the American people to “apple-pie propaganda” for the better part of the last century.

  Consider some of the ways in which the government continues to wage psychological warfare on a largely unsuspecting citizenry in order to acclimate us to the Deep State’s totalitarian agenda.

  Weaponizing violence in order to institute martial law. With alarming regularity, the nation continues to be subjected to spates of violence that terrorizes the public, destabilizes the country’s ecosystem, and gives the government greater justifications to crack down, lock down, and institute even more authoritarian policies for the so-called sake of national security without many objections from the citizenry.

  Weaponizing surveillance, pre-crime and pre-thought campaigns. Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence. When the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies. Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies, and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare. The government’s war on crime has now veered into the realm of social media and technological entrapment, with government agents adopting fake social media identities and AI-created profile pictures in order to surveil, target and capture potential suspects.

  Weaponizing digital currencies, social media scores and censorship. Tech giants, working with the government, have been meting out their own version of social justice by way of digital tyranny and corporate censorship, muzzling whomever they want, whenever they want, on whatever pretext they want in the absence of any real due process, review or appeal. Unfortunately, digital censorship is just the beginning. Digital currencies (which can be used as “a tool for government surveillance of citizens and control over their financial transactions”), combined with social media scores and surveillance capitalism create a litmus test to determine who is worthy enough to be part of society and punish individuals for moral lapses and social transgressions (and reward them for adhering to government-sanctioned behavior). In China, millions of individuals and businesses, blacklisted as “unworthy” based on social media credit scores that grade them based on whether they are “good” citizens, have been banned from accessing financial markets, buying real estate or travelling by air or train.

  Weaponizing compliance. Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation. The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on COVID-19, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.

  Weaponizing entertainment. For the past century, the Department of Defense’s Entertainment Media Office has provided Hollywood with equipment, personnel and technical expertise at taxpayer expense. In exchange, the military industrial complex has gotten a starring role in such blockbusters as Top Gun and its rebooted sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which translates to free advertising for the war hawks, recruitment of foot soldiers for the military empire, patriotic fervor by the taxpayers who have to foot the bill for the nation’s endless wars, and Hollywood visionaries working to churn out dystopian thrillers that make the war machine appear relevant, heroic and necessary. As Elmer Davis, a CBS broadcaster who was appointed the head of the Office of War Information, observed, “The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.”

  Weaponizing behavioral science and nudging. Apart from the overt dangers posed by a government that feels justified and empowered to spy on its people and use its ever-expanding arsenal of weapons and technology to monitor and control them, there’s also the covert dangers associated with a government empowered to use these same technologies to influence behaviors en masse and control the populace. In fact, it was President Obama who issued an executive order directing federal agencies to use “behavioral science” methods to minimize bureaucracy and influence the way people respond to government programs. It’s a short hop, skip and a jump from a behavioral program that tries to influence how people respond to paperwork to a government program that tries to shape the public’s views about other, more consequential matters. Thus, increasingly, governments around the world—including in the United States—are relying on “nudge units” to steer citizens in the direction the powers-that-be want them to go, while preserving the appearance of free will.

  Weaponizing desensitization campaigns aimed at lulling us into a false sense of security. The events of recent years—the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the lockdowns, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers—have conspired to acclimate the populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

  Weaponizing politics. The language of fear is spoken effectively by politicians on both sides of the aisle, shouted by media pundits from their cable TV pulpits, marketed by corporations, and codified into bureaucratic laws that do little to make our lives safer or more secure. Fear, as history shows, is the method most often used by politicians to increase the power of government and control a populace, dividing the people into factions, and persuading them to see each other as the enemy. This Machiavellian scheme has so ensnared the nation that few Americans even realize they are being manipulated into adopting an “us” against “them” mindset. Instead, fueled with fear and loathing for phantom opponents, they agree to pour millions of dollars and resources into political elections, militarized police, spy technology and endless wars, hoping for a guarantee of safety that never comes. All the while, those in power—bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporations—move their costly agendas forward, and “we the suckers” get saddled with the tax bills and subjected to pat downs, police raids and round-the-clock surveillance.

  Weaponizing genetics. Not only does fear grease the wheels of the transition to fascism by cultivating fearful, controlled, pacified, cowed citizens, but it also embeds itself in our very DNA so that we pass on our fear and compliance to our offspring. It’s called epigenetic inheritance, the transmission through DNA of traumatic experiences. For example, neuroscientists observed that fear can travel through generations of mice DNA. As The Washington Post reports, “Studies on humans suggest that children and grandchildren may have felt the epigenetic impact of such traumatic events such as famine, the Holocaust and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”

  Weaponizing the dystopian future. With greater frequency, the government has been issuing warnings about the dire need to prepare for the dystopian future that awaits us. For instance, the Pentagon training video, “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” predicts that by 2030 (coincidentally, the same year that society begins to achieve singularity with the metaverse) the military would be called on to use armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems. What they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security. The chilling five-minute training video paints an ominous picture of the future bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots. “We the people” are the have-nots.

  The end goal of these mind control campaigns—packaged in the guise of the greater good—is to see how far the American people will allow the government to go in undermining our freedoms.

  The facts speak for themselves.

  Whatever else it may be—a danger, a menace, a threat—the U.S. government is certainly not looking out for our best interests, nor is it in any way a friend to freedom.

  When the government views itself as superior to the citizenry, when it no longer operates for the benefit of the people, when the people are no longer able to peacefully reform their government, when government officials cease to act like public servants, when elected officials no longer represent the will of the people, when the government routinely violates the rights of the people and perpetrates more violence against the citizenry than the criminal class, when government spending is unaccountable and unaccounted for, when the judiciary act as courts of order rather than justice, and when the government is no longer bound by the laws of the Constitution, then you no longer have a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

  What we have, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, is a government of wolves.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 23:40

• People Are Now Setting Up Trusts To Last Hundreds Of Years So They Can Cryogenically Freeze Themselves
  People Are Now Setting Up Trusts To Last Hundreds Of Years So They Can Cryogenically Freeze Themselves

  It may be soon that the expression “you can’t take your money with you when you die” doesn’t ring as true as it used to.

  That’s because the wealthy are now employing estate attorneys who are helping them set up trusts they can tap into “hundreds of years” later for people who are considering attempting to cryogenically preserve themselves, a new Bloomberg article revealed this week. 

  Mark House, an estate lawyer, told Bloomberg: “The idea of cryopreservation has gone from crackpot to merely eccentric. Now that it’s eccentric, it’s kind of in vogue to be interested in it.”

  An estimated 5,500 people plan for cryogenic preservation, with House having worked with about 100 of them.

  Steve LeBel, a 76-year-old retired hospital executive from Michigan, sees joining the roughly 500 already preserved as a dream. An avid hobbyist and writer of young-adult fantasy novels, LeBel cherishes life and doesn’t want financial barriers to impede a second chance.

  

  Bloomberg writes that LeBel plans to place $100,000 in his revival trust, with the remainder going to his daughter, her husband, and his foundation.

  LeBel said: “I really want to figure out a solution, otherwise I’ll be in there with my fingers crossed, hoping there’s money left over, 200 years from now, to pay for the resurrection process.”

  Which leads to our question: when the hell is anyone going to teach Le Bel about the miracles of what inflation will do to that $100,000 over the course of hundreds of years? He’ll be lucky to buy a Snickers bar with it in 200 years. 

  The revival trust is a variation of the dynasty trust, typically used by the ultra-wealthy to pass wealth down generations. Both can help avoid the 40% federal estate tax on estates over $13.6 million, though investment gains are taxed and trustees charge fees. House requires a minimum of $500,000 in the trust to cover these fees.

  The key difference lies in the beneficiaries. House sees the revived person as legally distinct since a person cannot be their own trust beneficiary. He appoints a trust protector to determine revival, avoiding legal complications.

  Bloomberg writes that revival trusts challenge laws against perpetual trusts, which limit a trust’s lifespan to 90-100 years in many states. However, some states like Arizona and Florida allow trusts to last for centuries. This flexibility prompts people to consider long-term preservation.

  The uncertain future of trust structures is a concern. Changing laws and businesses pose risks. Estate planners emphasize the need for flexible, succession-oriented trust management.

  LeBel concluded: “I believe the aging process is going to be cured. It’s a disease. The technology isn’t there yet, but I can bridge that time gap with cryonics.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 23:20

• Colorado Governor Declares Disaster Emergency Over Bird Flu Outbreak
  Colorado Governor Declares Disaster Emergency Over Bird Flu Outbreak

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued an emergency disaster declaration in his state over an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in northeastern Weld County as officials recently reported that 1.8 million chickens were impacted by the virus.

  

  The governor “verbally” declared a disaster after “an avian flu outbreak in a commercial poultry facility in Weld County,” according to a statement from his office issued on July 8. Mr. Polis’s office did not name the facility that was impacted by the outbreak.

  The declaration means that Colorado can use its emergency powers to “take all necessary and appropriate state actions to assist with response, recovery, and mitigation efforts.”

  In an update issued on July 8, the Colorado Department of Agriculture confirmed that 1.78 million chickens were impacted by highly pathogenic avian influenza.

  The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement on July 3 that a dairy farm worker in northeastern Colorado was infected with the H5N1 bird flu and had direct exposure to cattle infected with the virus. His only symptom was conjunctivitis, colloquially known as pink eye, which was described by the agency as mild.

  “He has recovered. This case is an employee at a dairy farm in northeast Colorado who had direct exposure to dairy cattle infected with avian flu. To protect patient privacy, additional details are not being provided,” the agency said last week in a statement.

  It’s not clear if the infected farm worker had any connection to the infected chickens in Weld County. Officials in the state said that the bird flu risk to Colorado residents remains low, noting that the virus is spreading among animals.

  The virus is “not adapted to spread from person to person,” Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist, said in a statement.

  “Right now, the most important thing to know is that people who have regular exposure to infected animals are at increased risk of infection and should take precautions when they have contact with sick animals,” she said.

  People were advised not to touch sick or dead animals. If necessary, people should wear protective gear such as eye protection, gloves, and an N95 respirator mask.

  The H5N1 virus associated with the cases also impacted about two dozen commercial dairy herds in Colorado over the past month or so, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Colorado had no avian influenza cases throughout 2023, but in 2022, eight commercial poultry flocks were impacted by the virus, according to federal data.

  In 2022, a human H5N1 case in Colorado was detected in someone who was exposed to infected birds, according to officials.

  So far in 2024, three other dairy workers have been infected with the virus, with one case occurring in Texas in April and two in Michigan in May. Two reported conjunctivitis, while one reported having a cough and eye discomfort with a watery discharge, according to federal health officials.

  Michigan Confirms More Cases

  Meanwhile, on July 9, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that avian influenza has been detected in another dairy herd in Gratiot County, located in the center part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. So far, 26 herds have been affected, according to officials.

  Tests conducted at the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory detected the case and will send the samples to the USDA for confirmation, according to the agency.

  The state agency recommended that farms not share equipment with other farms so as to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus, among other steps being taken.

  In a statement issued late last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that a new study confirmed that “pasteurization is effective at inactivating” the H5N1 bird flu virus that sometimes can be found in milk or other dairy products.

  The FDA said that its study “found that the most commonly used pasteurization time and temperature requirements were effective at inactivating [the virus].”

  “In each of the total of nine repeated experiments, the virus was completely inactivated,” the agency stated.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 23:00

• Researchers Find Precise Way To Kill Cancer Cells
  Researchers Find Precise Way To Kill Cancer Cells

  Authored by Huey Freeman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Cancer treatments that aim to destroy deadly cells often cause damage and pain as they wreak havoc on neighboring cells and tissues. However, scientists have discovered a new method of targeting harmful cells using light for precise destruction, according to a recent study.

  “Usually treatments for cancer use pharmacological induction to kill the cells, but those chemicals tend to diffuse throughout the tissues and it’s hard to contain to a precise location,” said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign biochemistry professor and study leader Kai Zhang in a press release. “You get a lot of unwanted effects.”

  

  The researchers deploy optogenetics, an approach that uses optical systems to control cell functions, to focus a light beam on a target smaller than one cell.

  “That is how we can use light to very precisely target a cell and turn on its death pathway,” Mr. Zhang said in the press release.

  In addition to killing the cancer cell, another intended outcome is to trigger the immune system to respond to the light. Mr. Zhang said that the ruptured cells release cytokines, a type of small protein, attracting white blood cells that help the immune system fight infection. By killing cancer cells, the researchers hope to train T-cell white blood cells to recognize and attack the cancer, Mr. Zhang said.

  The researchers made the cells respond to light by borrowing a light-activated gene from plants and inserting it into intestine cell cultures. They then attached those genes to the genes for a protein, RIPK3, that regulates necroptosis, a form of cell death caused by various stimuli.

  Teak-Jung Oh, a graduate student and the paper’s first author, said the light activation process causes the RIPK3 proteins to cluster together, mimicking the natural death pathway.

  “Understanding the cell signaling pathway for necroptosis is especially important because it has been known to be involved with diseases like neurodegenerative disease and inflammatory bowel disease,” said Mr. Oh. “Knowing how necroptosis affects progression in these diseases is important. And if you don’t know the molecular mechanisms, you don’t really know what to target to slow the progression.”

  The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 22:40

• Is It Time To Get Bullish On Platinum?
  Is It Time To Get Bullish On Platinum?

  Authored by Mike Maharrey via Money Metals,

  Is now a good time to get bullish on platinum?

  

  I’ve written a lot about the fact that silver appears to be underpriced given both technical factors and the supply and demand dynamics.

  Platinum may be even more undervalued.

  The current platinum price is hovering around $1,000 an ounce. To put that into perspective, platinum hit an all-time high of $2,213 an ounce in March 2008. This was higher than the record price gold hit in 2011. 

  One of the factors driving that 2008 record was a severe supply shortage due to a power crisis and labor strikes in South Africa, the world’s leading platinum producer.

  Before 2011, platinum was generally more expensive than gold. In 2015, this historical trend reversed with the spread between gold and platinum growing wider.

  

  But over the last two years, platinum has shown signs of life. In 2023, the platinum price was up a healthy 12.5 percent. So far this year, the metal has charted modest gains of about 3.8 percent.

  Platinum has a long way to go to regain its historic parity with gold, but supply and demand dynamics indicate there is plenty of room for platinum to push higher.

  Like silver, we’re seeing significant supply deficits in the platinum market. In 2023, there was a market deficit of over 100 million ounces, according to the World Platinum Investment Council. This was due to a combination of increasing demand and lagging mine output.

  The supply shortfall continued into the first quarter of 2024. 

  According to the WPIC, total platinum supply in Q1 was the second lowest since the organization started tracking data.

  As a result, the market deficit in Q1 came in at 369,000 ounces.

  Platinum is an important component in automobile catalytic converters. Auto demand for the metal hit a 7-year high in Q1 and that pace is expected to continue through the rest of the year.

  A rotation from electric vehicles to hybrids is boosting demand for platinum in the auto sector, according to the WPIC.

  “Platinum demand is bolstered by stricter emissions legislation, increased hybrid vehicles that contain an internal combustion engine, and growth in the substitution of platinum for palladium. It is important to note that once platinum is substituted for palladium in specific vehicle platforms, this demand for platinum is likely to remain constant throughout the platform’s seven-year lifecycle, even if platinum prices rise to, or exceed, those of palladium for an extended period.”

  Platinum jewelry demand also saw a healthy increase in the first quarter, rising by 5 percent year-on-year, driven by a 53 percent increase in Indian jewelry buying.

  Overall industrial demand fell slightly from a record in 2023 but remained 17 percent above the pre-COVID average.

  Investment demand is also on a positive track upward this year, supported by coin and bar purchases in China.

  According to the WPIC, China’s retail investment in platinum is forecast to exhibit double-digit growth this year, driven by perceptions of the metal being undervalued relative to gold.

  There is also a growing demand for platinum in the fast-growing hydrogen power sector.

  “We are now seeing signs that platinum’s role in the hydrogen economy is gaining momentum, with our forecast for 2024 indicating a significant increase in demand to meaningful levels. This year will also witness the allocation and deployment of over US$300 billion in tax incentives and subsidies from various governments around the world, potentially further accelerating hydrogen’s demand for platinum,” WPIC CEO Trevor Raymond said. 

  Looking ahead, the WPIC projects supply will remain flat even with the weak levels seen last year. Mine supply is expected to fall by about 3 percent offset somewhat by a rebound in recycling. But with demand expected to come in at a “robust” 7.6 million ounces, the WPIC projects a 476,000-ounce market deficit.

  “For the second consecutive year, the platinum market will post a meaningful deficit underscored by platinum’s sustained demand and supply vulnerability amidst global economic challenges. While we currently forecast a deficit of 476 koz, it is worth mentioning that a revision to the bar and coin investment series, based on new field research and information, could mean this deficit is potentially deeper,” Raymond said.

  Above-ground stocks are forecast to decline for the second straight year, falling another 12 percent. This would mark a 4-year low in above-ground platinum supply.

  Meanwhile, China is set to launch its first platinum futures contracts.

  According to the South China Morning Post, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) “will be the first exchange to allow delivery against its contracts of platinum and palladium in a form used by the main consumers, including carmakers and other industrial sectors, and the contracts may also support platinum investment demand in China.” 

  According to the report, investors will be able to take delivery of platinum in both ingots and “sponge” – pure metal in powder form. 

  “The ability to take delivery of sponge could be transformative for industrial users of PGMs, as well as carmakers, as this is the main form typically used for their manufacturing purposes,” the WPIC said.

  According to a WPIC statement, the GFEX futures will allow platinum jewelry and investment product fabricators to hedge price risk. This could reduce premiums and reduce the discount on platinum buyback, making platinum a more attractive investment.

  It remains to be seen whether platinum will regain the price parity with gold we saw before the mid-2010s, but given the supply and demand dynamics, it is reasonable to be bullish on platinum in the near to mid-term. Given the price disparity with gold, this may signal a buying opportunity.  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 22:20

• US Solar And Wind Power Generation Tops Nuclear For First Time
  US Solar And Wind Power Generation Tops Nuclear For First Time

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

  For the first time ever, U.S. electricity generation from utility-scale solar and wind exceeded nuclear power plants’ power output in the first half of 2024, according to data from energy think tank Ember quoted by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.

  Electricity generation from solar and wind hit a record-high of 401.4 terawatt hours (TWh) between January and June 2024, surpassing the 390.5 TWh of power generated from nuclear power plants, Ember’s data showed.

  

  Solar power generation jumped by 30% and electricity output from wind power rose by 10% in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period of last year.

  In 2023, nuclear power accounted for 18.6% of U.S. electricity generation, while wind power output had a 10.2% share and solar accounted for 3.9% of total U.S. electricity output, according to data for 2023 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

  Ember has estimated that the share of wind and solar grew to 16% in 2023, when nuclear was still the largest source of low-carbon electricity in the U.S.

  However, expanding renewable energy capacity and record solar and wind power generation helped solar and wind combined to top nuclear as the biggest low-carbon electricity source during the first half of this year.  

  Early in 2024, the EIA said that wind and solar energy would lead growth in U.S. power generation for the next two years.  

  As a result of new solar projects coming on line this year, the administration forecast that U.S. solar power generation will surge by 75%, from 163 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2023 to 286 billion kWh in 2025. The EIA also expects that wind power generation will grow by 11% from 430 billion kWh in 2023 to 476 billion kWh in 2025.

  In 2023, all renewable sources—wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal—accounted for 22% of total U.S. power generation.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 22:00

• 7 In 10 People To Live In Urban Areas By 2050
  7 In 10 People To Live In Urban Areas By 2050

  Seven in ten people will live in urban areas by 2050, according to predictions by the UN World Population Division. That’s up from just three in 10 in 1950.

  The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, looks at a small selection of countries from around the world to highlight some of the patterns expected in the future. Of these, China is expected to see the greatest percent change over the 100 year span, increasing from 11.8 percent of the country living in urban centers in 1950, up to 80 percent in 2050 – a difference of some 68.2 percent. This has partly been driven by its rise of urban manufacturing and service sector jobs.

  Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom are among the countries expected to have over 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. As this chart shows, the UK was highly urbanized fairly early on, largely due to its early industrial revolution and the culture of people living in towns. It’s a similar story for other countries in Northern and Western Europe, which are forecast to have just below the 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. In Southern Europe, the forecast is an average of 82.1 percent, while Eastern Europe is expected to be slightly lower at 79.4 percent. Meanwhile, in the United States, 83.7 percent of people are estimated to be living in urban centers in 2025, set to rise to 89.2 percent by 2050.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  There are many reasons for urbanization.

  These can broadly be understood as ‘push factors’, which could include being forced to leave a rural area due to natural disasters or agricultural automation and land consolidation leading to fewer rural labor jobs, while ‘pull factors’ may look more like better employment and education opportunities or an interest in a different lifestyle.

  The impacts of a changing climate are allegedly an important factor here too, as some areas will become increasingly uninhabitable such as at the equator or along coastlines. This was highlighted in a recent study, which indicates that some 13 million people could be forced to move in the United States by 2100 due to rising sea levels.

  Urban growth is by no means universal though, with some cities seeing population decline.

  Read more on the topic here.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 21:40

• Microplastics In Bloodstream Increase Stroke Risk 4.5-Fold: Study
  Microplastics In Bloodstream Increase Stroke Risk 4.5-Fold: Study

  Authord by JoJo Novaes and Ben Lam via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The issue of microplastic pollution in the environment is gaining increasing societal attention. Research indicates that once microplastics enter the human body, they can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, or even death. What kind of everyday behaviors raise the risk of ingesting microplastics?

  

  Lin Xiaoxu, a U.S. virology expert with a doctorate in microbiology, explained what microplastics and nanoplastics are on New Tang Dynasty TV’s “Health 1+1” program and how to reduce exposure to them.

  Plastic is a crucial product in industrial production and is deeply intertwined with daily life. When plastic products break down, they become microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics. Microplastics are plastic pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, while nanoplastics measure below 1 micron (1,000 nanometers).

  Sources of Microplastics

  Mr. Lin explained that everyday plastic products release microplastics. Synthetic textiles shed fiber fragments, and worn-out tires produce plastic-containing dust. Even seemingly smooth plastic water bottles can shed microplastics during washing.

  In nature, sunlight and ultraviolet radiation continuously degrade plastics into smaller particles. Textiles, hygiene products, bottles, bags, particles emitted from factories, tire dust, fishing nets, and more all contribute to microplastic pollution. Humans and other animals ingest some of these particles, while others accumulate and break down in oceans and soils. Marine organisms like shellfish, small fish, and shrimp, especially those near coastlines, are particularly prone to ingesting microplastics.

  Mr. Lin emphasized that the main sources of microplastics are industrial waste and wastewater discharge, which can cause significant environmental damage if not adequately treated.

  Therefore, before wastewater is released from factories, it must undergo processes like screening, sand removal, sedimentation, biological reactions, chlorination, ultraviolet treatment, membrane technology, etc., to remove over 90 percent of microplastics. However, complete elimination is not achievable. Natural environments may take thousands to tens of thousands of years to fully degrade microplastics.

  Health Hazards of Microplastics

  Microplastics typically enter the body through food and drink ingestion, while nanoplastics can be inhaled. Apart from directly irritating mucous membranes, microplastics can carry environmental microbes like bacteria and viruses into the body.

  “If you ingest something toxic, people usually say to wash it out quickly, but microplastics are very tiny particles that adhere to the surface of the stomach. It’s not guaranteed that washing out will remove them; the body needs to slowly eliminate them, increasing the burden on the body,” Mr. Lin noted.

  Studies have found that after exposure to ultraviolet light and microbial degradation in the natural environment, microplastics become more adsorbent, forming complexes with various environmental pollutants on their surfaces, making them more toxic to organisms.

  Microplastics, which serve as carriers for heavy metals and pathogens, exhibit various toxicities upon entering the body. Most microplastics ingested through food are excreted via feces, but a small portion can remain in the intestines for days, causing intestinal damage, inflammation, and disruption of gut microbiota. Over time, microplastics can be absorbed into intestinal cells and enter the bloodstream, damaging organs and systems throughout the body. Organs like the liver and kidneys and bodily systems such as the immune, reproductive, and nervous systems are particularly affected. Additionally, excessive inhalation of microplastics can cause respiratory tissue damage and disease.

  In March, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that most carotid artery plaques contained microplastics. The study included 257 patients aged 18 to 75 with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Following plaque removal from the arteries, researchers detected polyethylene in 150 patients (58.4 percent) and polyvinyl chloride in 31 patients (12.1 percent) of removed carotid artery plaques.

  Macrophages within the plaques contained visible foreign particles, some with jagged edges and chlorine content. The study suggested that patients with detected microplastics had over 4.5 times higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, or death compared to those without microplastics.

  

  US Congress Concerns Over Microplastics

  On Feb. 27, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on microplastics in water.

  Susanne Brander, an associate professor at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences who has been researching microplastics and plastic pollution for nearly a decade, pointed out at the hearing that microplastic particles exist in the human heart, placenta, and lung tissues and circulate in blood. Microplastics harm marine and terrestrial organisms, slowing growth, altering behavior patterns, and causing reproductive disorders, particularly adversely affecting mammals.

  She described plastic pollution as one of humanity’s most significant environmental challenges and one of the world’s “most expensive” problems. It causes annual economic losses of $13 billion to fisheries, tourism, and shipping industries. In 2018, health care costs related to plastic-associated chemicals in the United States were estimated at up to $249 billion.

  How to Avoid Ingesting Microplastics

  How can we reduce the intake of microplastics in everyday life? Mr. Lin suggested the following preventive measures:

  • Filter water: Invest in a high-quality water filter capable of removing microplastics. Look for filters with a fine pore size or those specifically designed to filter out microplastics.
  • Avoid plastic containers: Opt for glass or stainless steel water bottles instead of plastic ones. Plastic bottles can shed microplastics, especially when exposed to heat or sunlight. Switch from plastic to glass containers for storing food. Glass does not degrade into microplastics and is safer for food storage.
  • Be cautious with food packaging: Choose fresh, unwrapped produce over prepackaged items. When buying packaged goods, select those in glass or cardboard rather than plastic.
  • Minimize processed food consumption: Processed foods often come in plastic packaging and can contain higher levels of microplastics. Cooking at home using fresh ingredients reduces exposure.
  • Avoid single-use plastics: Reduce the use of single-use plastics such as plastic cutlery, straws, and bags. These items contribute to pollution and degrade into microplastics over time.
  • Use natural fabrics: Synthetic fibers from clothing can shed microplastics during washing. Choose natural fabrics like cotton, wool, and silk, and use a laundry bag designed to capture microfibers.
  • Wash hands frequently: Wash hands often, especially after using gloves, as plastic residues inside gloves can transfer to hands.
  • Scrutinize cosmetics: Avoid cosmetics containing microplastics, such as microbeads in scrub creams and glitter in makeup products. Look for natural alternatives instead.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 21:20

• La Nina Watch Remains In Effect As Development Odds High For Northern Hemisphere Winter
  La Nina Watch Remains In Effect As Development Odds High For Northern Hemisphere Winter

  Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an update Thursday stating that there is a 70% chance La Niña will develop between August and October and a 79% chance between November and January.

  #ENSO-neutral is expected to continue for the next several months, with La Niña favored to emerge during August-October (70% chance) and persist into Northern Hemisphere winter 2024-25 (79% chance for November-January). A #LaNina Watch remains in effect. https://t.co/5zlzaZ0D9Z pic.twitter.com/28c2iye7MM

  — NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) July 11, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  In the first half of the year, waters across the eastern Pacific have rapidly cooled, signaling the end of a strong El Niño. Surface waters across the eastern Pacific have bottomed in recent months. If cooler ocean waters are seen in the months ahead, a stronger La Niña could emerge, producing a more active hurricane season.

  The latest reading shows water temperatures in June were just 0.16 °C (0.3 °F) above the long-term average. 

  

  NOAA’s computer model, including the North American Multi-Model Ensemble, forecasts a “moderate” La Niña later this year. 

  

  NOAA’s historical winter precipitation data forecasts warmer- and drier-than-average conditions across the southern part of the US, colder-than-average conditions across the north-central Plains, and wetter-than-average conditions in the Ohio Valley and Pacific Northwest/northern California.

  

  Government scientist pointed out, “Also keep in mind that there’s about a 1-in-5 chance that La Niña won’t show up, and neutral conditions will last through the winter.”

  Let’s remind readers that NOAA has previously stated, “El Niño and La Niña are naturally occurring climate patterns and humans have no direct ability to influence their onset, intensity, or duration.” 

  Avoid far-left corporate media outlets that inject climate politics into nearly every weather headline and story they get a hold of to further their radical progressive agenda that’s not rooted in reality. Folks are realizing the leftist media is as clueless as Biden. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 21:00

• Aramco Secures $31 Billion In Orders For Bond Offering
  Aramco Secures $31 Billion In Orders For Bond Offering

  By Irina Slav of OilPrice.com

  Saudi Aramco has attracted orders worth a total $31 billion for a fresh bond the company said it would place on international markets. The size of the bond was $6 billion.

  

  In its first debt offering in three years, the Saudi energy giant offered 10- and 30-year notes, with offers for both topping $11 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the deal. The company also offered investors a 40-year note in the tranche.

  Initially, plans were to offer some 140 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for the 10-year bond, 180 basis points over UST for the 30-year bond, and 195 basis points for the 40-year note. However, thanks to strong investor interest, the spreads were tightened to 105 basis points for the 10-year note, 145 basis points for the 30-year note, and 155 basis points for the 40-year note.

  According to early reports about the bond offering, the proceeds would go towards refinancing existing debt and helping the investment program of the world’s largest oil company by market value and production.

  “Aramco is extending maturities as it will continue to gradually leverage up given their expansion plans and capex needs,” the managing director of fixed income advisory at Union Bancaire Privee told Bloomberg.

  Aramco is a major source of income for the Saudi government that has large-scale plans for the diversification of the Saudi economy. The Saudi government holds 81.5% directly in Aramco with another 16% held by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund—the Public Investment Fund. Per Reuters, Aramco plans to pay some $124.3 billion in dividends this year.

  A month before the bond announcement, Aramco said it would also offer more stock to investors. The offering, priced at a discount, raised over $12.3 billion for the Saudi company. The initial proceeds came in at $11.2 billion, but the offering had an over-allotment option that kicked in, bringing the total to $12.35 billion.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 20:40

• Lawsuit Alleges Hyundai Conducted "Secret Program" With Dealers To "Inflate" EV Sales
  Lawsuit Alleges Hyundai Conducted “Secret Program” With Dealers To “Inflate” EV Sales

  Napleton Aurora Imports in Illinois recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, alleging that Hyundai pressured US auto dealers to “artificially inflate its publicly reported sales” of electric vehicles, creating a “false narrative” for consumers.

  The suit, Napleton Aurora Imports Inc et al v. Hyundai Motor America Corp, claims Hyundai instructed some dealers to “falsely report unsold vehicles as ‘sold’ to a retail customer or placed into loaner service, only to reverse the ‘sale’ the following month.”

  

  The suit, filed by Napleton Aurora Imports Inc. and other Hyundai franchises, detailed how there was an audio recording “demonstrating the existence of this scheme” with a dealer and district sales manager:

  “We gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans.”

  

  The suit alleges that Hyundai would reward dealers with “unlawful” perks, price discounts, and allocations of popular models in exchange for faking the sales numbers for EV cars. 

  Boosting fake EV sales allowed Hyundai to pump out a “press release touting its increased year-over-year sales and its growth in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.” 

  “Dealers who refuse to help HMA boost its fake numbers—like Napleton—are punished with allocations of slow selling vehicles, and denied wholesale price discounts, allocation, and retail price discounts to offer consumers, stifling competition and harming both Napleton and the public,” the suit said. 

  It seems like a classic case of “fake it till you make it.” This intriguing lawsuit raises the possibility that the demand for EVs reported in the corporate media might be inflated.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 20:20

• Freedom Caucus Chair Responds To Anonymous 'A**hole' Allegations
  Freedom Caucus Chair Responds To Anonymous ‘A**hole’ Allegations

  Authored by Molly Burns via Headline USA,

  Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., brushed off the anonymous allegations from Capitol Hill insiders that his recent primary defeat by a razor-thin margin was the result of an abrasive personal demeanor.

  

  In a statement to Headline USA through his communications director, Marjorie Jackson, Good said the halls of Congress were no place for sugar-coating the work that needed to be done in order for lawmakers to do right by their constituents.

  “I believe we should do what we tell people we are going to do when we ask them to vote for us and trust us with the majority,” Good said in the statement.

  “With $35 trillion in debt, a border invasion, and an unprecedented assault on our constitutional freedoms, we cannot afford to wait till the next election to fight for the American people,” he added. “We should use every tool available to reverse the harm caused by the Democrat policies that are destroying our country and causing so much suffering.”

  Despite having one of the most conservative voting records in all of Congress, Good—the current chair of the House Freedom Caucus— lost his primary election in Virginia’s 5th District by 0.6% of the vote to state Sen. John McGuire.

  The contentious primary race made national headlines after Good and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump each backed the other’s primary opponent—a significant departure from the days when Trump drew some of his staunchest support from Freedom Caucus members (even selecting two chiefs of staff, former Reps. Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows, from its ranks).

  Good declined to endorse Trump until Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—another Freedom Caucus alumnus—dropped out of the race in January. Consequently, he became the object of Trump’s ire.

  Good also invited attacks from loyalists to ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after he was one of the “Gaetz Eight” who voted with Democrats to invoke the motion to vacate the speakership.

  “I didn’t come to Washington to make friends, and some of my colleagues are angry with me because they have to answer for their bad votes when they go back home,” Good said in his statement to Headline USA. “If they can’t defend these votes, they should vote differently.”

  Good, however, ultimately reaped the political consequences of his tough decisions, including the dubious achievement of uniting both Trump’s America First populist supporters and the D.C. insiders of the McCarthy-linked Republican Main Street Partnership against his campaign.

  Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a well-known ally of both Trump and McCarthy, made several withering statements against Good, going as far as to call him “toxic” to Trump’s reelection efforts.

  Speaking anonymously to the Daily Caller on Monday, some Capitol insiders took it to an even more personal level.

  “He’s an a**hole” said one individual.

  A Republican member of Congress elaborated: “He’s perhaps the most unlikable guy in Congress, and that’s saying a lot with the likes of some others who are major-league a**holes. I don’t think there is anyone in Congress, conservative or not, who would pee on Bob Good if he was on fire.”

  A GOP ad-maker accused him of getting “out-hustled” by McGuire on the campaign trail.

  “Bob Good decided to spend his time in Washington making enemies out of literally everyone he met,” the source said. “He wasn’t being a principled conservative; he was being an unnecessary jerk.”

  The aftermath of the primary battle, with its razor-thin finish in an unpredictable district that encompasses both ultra-liberal Charlottesville and the Jerry Falwell-influenced Lynchburg, has brought little closure to the wounds that were openened during the course of the campaign.

  According to Good, three of the voting precincts mysteriously caught fire on Election Day.

  He also signaled his intention to move forward with a recount, even though 374-vote gap in the final tally fell outside the 0.5% threshold for the state to cover it—meaning Good must foot the bill himself.

  “In a race with nearly 63,000 votes that is separated by a 0.6% margin, Republican voters across the 5th District deserve to know that all legal votes have been accurately counted,” Good’s campaign manager, Diana Shores, told the Daily Caller. “We will vigorously pursue that objective over the coming days and weeks, as permitted by Virginia law.”

  Good—who took over from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., as the fifth chair of the Freedom Caucus at the start of the current session—may not finish his term in the leadership role. Politico reported indicated that fellow caucus members were privately discussing his replacement following the presumptive primary defeat.

  Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 20:00

• Biden Resumes Transfer Of 500-Pound Bombs To Israel As Fight Returns To Gaza City
  Biden Resumes Transfer Of 500-Pound Bombs To Israel As Fight Returns To Gaza City

  The Biden administration’s punitive ‘pause’ of arms transfers for certain types of munitions to Israel, namely 500-pound and 2,000-pound bombs, didn’t last very long. As many predicted from the start, it was a mere slap of the wrist ploy for PR purposes to take some pressure off from both European allies abroad and Progressive Democrats at home in the US. 

  “The U.S. will soon begin shipping to Israel the 500-pound bombs that the Biden administration had previously suspended, ending a two-month pause it had imposed in a bid to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, U.S. officials said,” according to fresh Wall Street Journal reporting.

  

  The bombs are expected to arrive in Israel in a matter of weeks, and “are in the process of being shipped,” the report adds. The 2,000-pound bombs Israel also previously had access to are reportedly still on hold, however, and will not be transferred by Washington.

  The paused shipment had been withheld two months ago as Israeli ground forces went into the southern city of Rafah, resulting in the displacement of some one million civilians; however, despite calling the Rafah offensive a “red line” – the White House has kept supplying Israel with a variety of other weapons systems.

  “Our main concern had been and remains the potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza,” a US official has confirmed. “Because our concern was not about the 500-pound bombs, those are moving forward as part of the usual process.”

  Meanwhile, fighting has returned to Gaza City in the north of the Strip, which had been pacified in the opening months of the conflict.

  Israel’s military (IDF) has once again ordered all residents of Gaza City to immediately evacuate to the central part of the Gaza Strip amid heightened operations in the north, where militants have returned. BBC details:

  Leaflets dropped by aircraft instruct “everyone in Gaza City” to leave what is described as a “dangerous combat zone” via designated safe routes – marked as two roads that lead to shelters in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida.

  All of these developments are likely to again intensify internal Democratic infighting in the US. Coupled with speculations over his health and fitness for another term, Biden also faces severe criticism over his handling of Gaza.

  Ironically some of these same Progressives have at once accused Biden of enabling genocide while simultaneously urging that he should stay in the race and take the White House for another term…

  The “Squad” position that Biden is both complicit in an ongoing “genocide” and totally fit to serve another four years as president is really special

  — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 10, 2024

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  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the start of this week came out in support of Biden staying in amid an avalanche of calls for him to step aside following his disastrous debate performance.

  “I have spoken to the president over the weekend. I have spoken with him extensively,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Monday night. “He made clear then — and he has made clear since — that he is in this race.” She emphasized, “The matter is closed.” Likely she’ll remain quiet on his Gaza policies moving forward as well.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 19:40

• FBI Identified 'Person Of Interest' In Capitol Pipe Bomb Case By Jan. 10, 2021
  FBI Identified ‘Person Of Interest’ In Capitol Pipe Bomb Case By Jan. 10, 2021

  Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,

  The FBI released a new batch of records about its Capitol Hill uprising investigation on Monday, revealing that investigators identified a “person of interest” in its Jan. 5/6 pipe bombs investigation within days of the incident.

  

  The record about the FBI’s person of interest is a Jan. 10, 2021, report that summarized the bureau’s J6 investigation up to that point. The extremely faded report is difficult to read, but it appears to state: “FBI WF and USCP have identified a person of interest who may be a match to the description of the individual placing the bombs, and continue efforts to identify through surveillance footage.”

  🚨NEW🚨 The FBI released records yesterday, showing that by Jan. 10, 2021, the bureau had “identified a person of interest who may be a match to the description of the individual” who placed the pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC

  What happened to this person of interest?

  The… pic.twitter.com/CPbI8VAzIF

  — Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) July 9, 2024

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  The FBI declined to comment in response to Headline USA’s questions about what happened to the person of interest, including whether the person was cleared or is still under investigation.

  “We don’t have any comment on the documents.  The pipe bomb investigation remains ongoing,” an FBI spokesperson told this outlet.

  The FBI has been extremely tight-lipped on its pipe bomb investigation, and most of the revealtions have come via congressional investigations or other agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

  Last July, for instance, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., played a video showing a passerby “miraculously” finding a pipe bomb outside of the DNC headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021.

  Massie’s revelation followed an interview he and other House Judiciary Committee members conducted with former FBI official Steven D’Antuono, who oversaw the bureau’s pipe bomb investigation until he retired last November. In that interview, D’Antuono disclosed that some of the cell phone evidence from the FBI’s pipe bomb investigation was “corrupted.”

  Why doesn’t Director Wray have answers about the January 6th pipe-bomb investigation?

  🎥 : @RepThomasMassie pic.twitter.com/mBJUcMQajG

  — House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 12, 2023

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  More recently, congressional investigators revealed that the “passerby” pegged by Massie was, in fact, a plainclothes Capitol Police officer.

  The latest major development came in March, when the Justice Department released ATF records showing that CIA explosives technicians were part of the response to the pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC headquarters.

  Still, the FBI is staying silent on the matter.

  “It was 900 days ago when this happened, and you said you had total confidence that you’d apprehend the subject,” Massie said a year ago, to no avail. “It’s 900 days. You need to tell us what you found.”

  Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 19:20

• China Has Been Practicing For Strikes On US Jets & Warships In Remote Desert Region
  China Has Been Practicing For Strikes On US Jets & Warships In Remote Desert Region

  Recently emerged satellite images reveal that the Chinese military has been practicing for attacks on US fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the remote deserts of Xinjiang in northwest China.

  South China Morning Post (SCMP) in a fresh report analyzing the photographs identifies that the images were taken by Google Earth on May 29 and show mock-ups of jets resembling advanced US stealth fighters.

  

  SCMP highlights a post by the Turkey-based Clash Report which was the first to highlight the photos with a caption: “Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mock-ups.”

  A likely location within Xingjiang region has been Qakilik (or Ruoqiang County) in the Taklamakan Desert, but this has neither been acknowledged by the Chinese government nor confirmed by any official source.

  A number of the mock-up stealth fighters appeared to have suffered damage, likely by PLA aerial bombing runs, with blackened craters in a runway at the fictional airbase.

  Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mockups.

  Qakilik, Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang. pic.twitter.com/BjTHpgEWQI

  — Clash Report (@clashreport) June 20, 2024

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  A separate report in Business Insider appears to show separate satellite images, obtained on a different date, of the same location in the desert. The images, captured in late April by Planet Labs PBC, similarly show around 20 aircraft near a runway.

  Among the planes that resembles US stealth fighters, there also appears to be a P-8A Poseidon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane.

  Planet Labs was also able to capture an apparent US Arleigh Burke class destroyer mock-up in the Taklamakan Desert earlier this year.

  

  One analyst highlighted in comments made to the publication that the mock-ups likely are not just for target practice, but for honing radar and weapons-guidance software and sensitive technology.

  The expert described that “these mock-ups potentially allowed China to refine seekers with image-recognition capabilities and help it develop the ability to accurately target particular ships or even specific parts of ships where a missile could do the most damage.”

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 19:00

• Top New York City Law Firm To Deny Employment Over Pro-Palestine Protests
  Top New York City Law Firm To Deny Employment Over Pro-Palestine Protests

  Via Middle East Eye

  Participation in Gaza solidarity protests and student groups could become a disqualifying factor for applicants at a prominent Wall Street law firm, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

  The 145-year-old law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, which employs close to 900 lawyers and has had Amazon and Goldman Sachs among its clients, has hired the background check company HireRight to assess an applicant’s participation record in pro-Palestinian protests and student groups.

  

  HireRight will scour a candidate’s social media profiles alongside news reports and footage from protests. Applicants will also be asked to list student groups they have joined. 

  Based on the materials found, the firm has the right to refuse employment. Using a private background check company to ensure compliance with existing workplace prohibitions on hate speech is not an uncommon practice in the US, only a handful of restrictions are in place to prevent discrimination.

  The case of Sullivan & Cromwell, however, sets a new precedent, since it is the mere involvement in a protest that is enough to hold an applicant accountable, even if no problematic language was used by the candidate itself. 

  Under the firm’s new policy, it is enough if the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, was chanted at a protest that the applicant attended. 

  Sullivan & Cromwell did not reportedly disclose whether the firm has already dropped candidates because of the policy.

  Consequences

  After the background check is performed, and material that Sullivan & Cromwell considers to be objectionable is found, the candidate will be asked to explain their role in the protest, including what efforts the candidate engaged in to prevent others from making offensive or harassing statements, a New York Times article published on Tuesday says.

  No other law firm on Wall Street has publicly discussed a similar policy toward protesters, but several have considered adopting similar rules.

  “Disqualifying people based on what someone else nearby may have been doing seems to characterize all protesters as having a single mindset,” Roderick A Ferguson, a Yale professor of American studies, told The New York Times. “Such thinking can mimic racist thinking, sexist thinking, homophobic thinking, that one instance becomes a character of all.”

  Over the last couple of months, several reports have emerged of employees losing their jobs, or job offers being rescinded over their actions or statements regarding the war in Gaza. Faculty members at various colleges across the US have been fired, suspended or removed from the classroom for speech expressing solidarity with Palestine. 

  Last October, The Washington Post reported an incident in which a New York University law student was faced with a job offer being rescinded due to a letter she wrote to the Bar Association saying that Israel bears responsibility for the war in Gaza. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 18:40

• Biden Praises 'Vice President Trump' During Rambling Post-NATO Presser
  Biden Praises ‘Vice President Trump’ During Rambling Post-NATO Presser

  Update (2032ET): That was rough. After introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Vladimir Putin – then arriving to his own press conference more than 50 minutes late, a coughing, slurring Joe Biden then called Donald Trump his Vice President as he attempted to show the world what a ‘goodest boy’ can do.

  “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, if she’s not qualified to be president.” pic.twitter.com/UnLFQy05cj

  — jordan (@JordanUhl) July 11, 2024

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  Blinken, Austin and Sullivan the moment Biden said “Vice President Trump”

  Antony’s reaction to Joe’s flubs always kill me.

  pic.twitter.com/ULmvcSfsUG

  — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 12, 2024

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  Biden then slurred his way through an answer on whether he thinks he should take another neurological exam.

  Biden on taking a neurological exam: “The only thing that age does is create a bit of wisdom if you’re paying attention … no matter what I did, no one is gonna be satisfied.”

  But he says he’ll take one if docs recommend it. pic.twitter.com/gLEHF9Heyc

  — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2024

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  Biden then blamed his staff for his horrendous debate performance last month, telling the audience that he’s “catching hell from my wife.”

  Biden: “I love my staff but they add things. They add things all the time at the very end. I’m catching hell from my wife” pic.twitter.com/64D9cVZELj

  — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 12, 2024

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  Apparently Biden follows the advice of his “commander-in-chief” – whoever that is…

  BIDEN: “I’m following the advice of my commander-in-chief” 😳 pic.twitter.com/FdspE1UIQf

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 11, 2024

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  He even treated us to his creepy whisper voice that must give daughter Ashley some serious flashbacks.

  Biden’s whisper thing always sounds creepy, not funny. pic.twitter.com/9OSkSziUOr

  — emily miller (@emilymiller) July 12, 2024

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  But wait, there’s more!

  Fifty seconds apart. pic.twitter.com/Hps1XkhjIQ

  — MAZE (@mazemoore) July 12, 2024

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  Many considered tonight’s performance a referendum on what direction the Democratic party will take in terms of support. Looks like they’re between a rock and a hard place, as Biden’s PredictIt odds dipped and then recovered during the rambling speech – except, ‘Vice President Trump’ is now gaining ground.

  

  

  *  *  *

  Cheat-sheet in hand, we are sure; President Biden steps forward tonight for perhaps his final (and most important) press conference ever as he attempts to clam the masses about his ‘one off’ events at the debate and with Stephanopoulos (and the numerous times before that were all ‘cheap fakes’, remember).

  Since George Clooney admitted he saw the emperor with no clothes on, Biden’s odds of getting the nomination have plummeted back to post-debate lows and Kamala is rising from her knees…

  

  So grab your popcorn and get ready for fireworks – there is no way Americans are going to stand for an hour long press conference that is 100% rigged with pre-selected questions that do not test the President in his current state (which makes us wonder, who on his ‘team’ thought it a good idea to schedule this presser for 630pm!!!)

  And now he’s lost late-night TV ‘comics’ too…

  Jon Stewart mocking Biden’s cognitive decline. pic.twitter.com/zo4w6VJ9RC

  — i/o (@eyeslasho) July 11, 2024

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  Bear in mind that the last time he was forced to do a solo presser, was right after the release of Robert Hur’s report wherein Joe was deemed unfit to stand trial due to being an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

  As @WesternLensman noted on X:

  When asked if he was too old for the job, Joe said: “That is not the judgment of the press.”

  That didn’t age well.

  Also in that PC, Joe claimed he was the best person to be president in the US and that his memory was fine —  just before confusing the presidents of Egypt and Mexico.

  At the time, this was viewed as a fairly hostile press asking some tough questions.

  It will pale in comparison to what we’ll see tonight.

  The long knives are unsheathed.

  The last time Biden was forced to hold a press conference was in the wake of the release of the Hur Report, wherein Joe was deemed unfit to stand trial due to being an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

  When asked if he was too old for the job, Joe said: “That is not the judgment… pic.twitter.com/IZfOWlt6oz

  — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 11, 2024

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  Yes we know it’s Thursday evening… yes, we know everyone is trying to dry out a little after July 4th celebrations… but this is too good an opportunity.

  Drink every time President Biden says any of the following:

  • Liar

  • Clooney

  • Elites

  • Jan 6

  • Golf Handicap

  • Malarkey

  • Jill, Hunter, or Beau (double for Beau)

  • Democracy

  • Felon

  • Inflation

  And down the whole bottle if Biden ‘glitches’ for more than 5 seconds flat… because that means it really is all over for ‘ol Joe, and Kamala is the gal!

  Finally, just minutes before this press conference, Biden introduced Zelensky… as Putin!!

  BIDEN: “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin” 😳 pic.twitter.com/pId2QZ3Ao0

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 11, 2024

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  Watch the press conference live here (due to start at 1830ET)

  * * *

  Despite President Biden and his team attempting a major, multi-faceted counter-offensive aimed at silencing demands for him to call off his re-election bid, the push to bounce Biden off the ticket has only grown stronger — with major new developments in the Senate and elsewhere fostering a growing sense that the 81-year-old’s campaign is in its final days. 

  Today could bring the coup de grâce, when Biden hosts a rare, solo press conference at 5:30 pm ET. UPDATE: The press conference has been moved to 6:30 ET. That’s well outside the ideal 10am-to-4pm window in which administration sources say he’s best able to function — and it will be held on the South Grounds of the White House, with a forecast temperature of 91 degrees. As if that weren’t enough to stack the deck against him, the presser will come after Biden has spent a full day in NATO summit meetings, including a session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

  On top of all that, Biden will face a press corps that’s been re-programmed to accelerate the ongoing establishment coup that’s seen as the last means of beating Trump in November. As we noted in our press-conference preview:

  “With Biden on a precipice, Thursday’s press conference could be a contest among reporters striving to cement their place in history by being the one to give Biden the decisive shove over the cliff.” 

  

  Biden’s 2024 campaign slid closer to that edge on Wednesday, as Vermont’s Peter Welch became the first Democratic senator to publicly call for Biden to exit the race, pointedly saying “We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night…I deliver this assessment with sadness.”

  His call came on the same day that the number of House reps issuing similar pleas to Biden grew to nine, with Oregon’s Earl Blumenauer saying Biden “should not be the nominee.” Also, New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado joined the chorus, in a move that reportedly made Gov. Kathy Hochul “furious.” 

  Of potentially greater Senate significance than Welch’s announcement, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly been entertaining avenues by which Biden could be replaced. “Schumer is privately signaling to donors that he’s open to a Democratic presidential ticket that isn’t led by President Biden,” Axios reported. According to three unnamed sources, he has been listening to “donors’ ideas and suggestions about the best way forward.” Schumer responded to the report by merely reiterating that he “support[s]” Biden.” 

  On NBC, a neurologist says Biden has Parkinson’s. “That is a fact. He has degeneration of the brain. Show me the MRI. Show me he doesn’t…. He definitely has it.” A med student who looked at Biden’s symptoms and didn’t diagnose Parkinson’s, says the doctor, would be failed. pic.twitter.com/VpaBGMCJY7

  — Mike (@Doranimated) July 10, 2024

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  In an attempt to shore up Biden’s weakening Senate wall, three of Biden’s top political advisors will meet with Democratic senators at lunch today to give an audience to their concerns. Reflecting the increasingly sour mood among upper-chamber Democrats, Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio says one of those senators spontaneously told him the meeting will be “a waste of everyone’s time if Biden can’t even come make the case himself.”

  In addition to the Senate, there’s new action on another anti-Biden front, as dozens of Democratic Party delegates are organizing a letter to the DNC seeking nominating-convention rule changes that would make their votes secret and allow delegates to vote their conscience — rather than being bound to vote for the winners of their state primaries and caucuses.

  In a defensive move, members of Biden’s campaign team have been calling individual delegates to assess their loyalty to the president, Politico reports. The aides are asking question like, “Do you understand what being a pledged delegate means?” and “Do you have any potential disagreements with the president?”

  Wednesday also brought a major-headline broadside from Hollywood, as actor and Biden rainmaker George Clooney published a New York Times op-ed declaring that the Biden he saw at last month’s big Los Angeles fundraiser is a shell of his former self:

  In George Clooney’s NYT op-ed urging Biden to drop out, he says he saw how cognitively crippled Biden rwas at the Hollywood fund-raiser he co-hosted with Obama last month.

  Remember: the media accused anyone saying this *at the time* of being a far-right disinformation agent. pic.twitter.com/j5a87XFcAo

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 10, 2024

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  Further fueling the Democrats’ sense of all-out crisis, donors large and small are making good on their promises to withhold donations so long as Biden is atop the ticket. Donations to the Biden-Harris campaign have gone into an absolute free-fall, and NBC News served up a variety of doom-and-gloom quotes from various sources “close to” the campaign’s fundraising efforts: 

  • “It’s already disastrous.”
  • “The money has absolutely shut off.”
  • “Donors are negative. They had a call with the president. The call seemed so contrived to people…I don’t think they buy it.” 

  There’s been a growing comedic edge to Democrats’ public remarks this week. On Monday, Biden sent Congressional Democrats a two-page letter unequivocally declaring that, after having “extensive conversations…over 10 days” with Democratic party officials, legislators and voters, he is determined to stay in the race to Nov. 5. Pretending they didn’t read that — or hear Biden’s declaration that it would take a directive from “the Lord Almighty” for him to opt out, prominent Democrats continue talking about Biden’s decision in the future tense. Case in point: Nancy Pelosi’s Wednesday-morning appearance on MSNBC:  

  Does Biden “have your support to be the head of the Democratic ticket? Nancy Pelosi’s non-answer: “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.” (He has repeatedly said he’s running.) pic.twitter.com/nyeZunyY30

  — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 10, 2024

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  The phenomenon has made for laughs across social media…

  Biden: I have made my final decision.

  Pelosi: pic.twitter.com/FOSDrpxe6W

  — The System (@tealtalk) July 10, 2024

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  Biden: I’m staying in the race.
  Dems: Biden needs to make a decision.
  Biden: I mean it, I’m staying in the race. No joke
  Dems: It really is Biden’s time for choosing, given the high stakes.

  — Kirk A. Bado (@kirk_bado) July 10, 2024

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  Biden: I’m running. Only god almighty can change my mind. Challenge me at convention.

  Pelosi: Biden should make his decision soon. Oh he already made it? He should make the decision again

  🙂‍↕️

  — umichvoter 🏳️‍🌈 (@umichvoter) July 10, 2024

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  While everyone else is laughing, the pressure from the Biden crisis is clearly getting to Nancy:

  I know Nancy Pelosi didn’t look a Black woman in the face and say “Am I speaking English to you?”

  This is one of the most racist things she’s ever done and there’s a whole list of them!

  Girl, you don’t have no business talking to a sista that way! pic.twitter.com/03KHndm2Zw

  — Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) July 10, 2024

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  …while even the long-serving Biden apologists at leftist outlets at CNN are increasingly contemptuous of the Baghdad Bob lines emanating from the White House: 

  Journalist: “The point is to suggest that Biden’s stamina is better than George Clooney’s.”

  Tapper: “Ok…” 🙄 pic.twitter.com/O1H5MuaNGI

  — Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 (@JoshEakle) July 10, 2024

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  It can’t be long now…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 18:20

• Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo On Pace To Launch First Reactor By 2027
  Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo On Pace To Launch First Reactor By 2027

  Sam Altman-backed nuclear company Oklo is “push[ing] towards its target of building its first small modular reactor by 2027 at the Idaho National Laboratory,” according to a new report from Reuters. 

  The company – which we have highlighted as the potential solution to the extreme forthcoming demands in energy as a result of artificial intelligence – makes nuclear power plants, ranging from 15 MWe to 50 MWe, utilizing liquid metal reactor technology.

  And while licensing and fuel supply are still bottlenecks, according to the report, the company has “been selected by the Department of Energy for four cost-share awards to potentially commercialize advanced recycling technologies” and has “secured a site use permit from the DOE and a fuel award from INL,” Reuters reports.

  Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte commented: “We’ve tried to design and approach this whole thing in a way that we can get it built as soon as reasonably possible.”

  DeWitte added: “We’re excited about the diversity of customers, because it shows that our size and business model clearly match with what customers are interested in.”

  

  “They’re not starting overnight with a facility that’s using that much power, but they typically build into that, and they want to have that n+1 or n+2 dynamic build up with them,” he added.

  “You can’t really do that if you’re building a 300 MW reactor, but you can do that with what we’re doing and that adds a lot of value.”

  Oklo’s ‘Aurora powerhouse’ reactor will cost around $70 million for the 15 MW version, with an LCOE of $80-$130/MWh, similar to peaking gas-fired plants and offshore wind, per Lazard analysis.

  The Reuters report notes that Oklo has signed an agreement with the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative for its second and third commercial plants at the DOE Piketon Site and has interest in building over 50 reactors with a total capacity exceeding 700 MWe.

  In May, Oklo partnered with Atomic Alchemy to produce medical isotopes from its recycling process for cancer treatment and diagnostic imaging. It also signed an LOI with Wyoming Hyperscale for a 20-year PPA to supply 100 MW to its data center campus.

  In April, Oklo signed an LOI for a 20-year PPA with Diamondback Energy to power its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin.

  Oklo is preparing a pre-application readiness assessment for its reactor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 2022, the NRC denied Oklo’s application for a combined construction and operation license (COLA), the first for an advanced non-light water reactor. DeWitte notes this pre-assessment is a “dress rehearsal” for their application, expressing optimism despite previous delays caused by the pandemic.

  

  The federal ADVANCE Act, passed in June, aims to speed up licensing, mobilize the fuel supply chain, and benefit Oklo by reducing fees, shortening timelines, and offering incentives.

  We noted about a month ago that the company had signed a deal to power data center Wyoming Hyperscale. 

  As we wrote back in May, Oklo won shareholder approval on May 8 for its NYSE listing. The company’s mission is “to provide clean, reliable, affordable energy on a global scale through the design and deployment of next-generation fast reactor technology”.

  Backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Peter Thiel, the who’s who of the AI revolution, nuclear fusion startups are gaining traction. Sam Altman, who invested in Oklo in 2015, believes the company is “best positioned to commercialize advanced fission energy solutions,” per a July press release.

  For those who missed it, in “The Next AI Trade,” we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, most of which have dramatically outperformed the market. In the next iteration, we will likely add Oklo to the list of beneficiaries certainly ahead of the inevitable cascade of Buy ratings sure flood the name over the next month.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 18:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• NATO Countries Closest To Russia Up Defense Spending
  NATO Countries Closest To Russia Up Defense Spending

  Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times,

  The nations on NATO’s easternmost flank are investing record amounts on defense in order to deter further Russian aggression against the region.

  Defense ministers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gathered on July 9 in Washington to express their dedication to the NATO alliance and encourage other allies to pull their weight when it came to defense contributions.

  Anything less, they warned, could encourage more violence in Eastern Europe and, possibly, the end of some nations outright.

  

  Latvia’s Minister of Defense Andris Spruds delivers a doorstep statement during a meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on June 13, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP via Getty Images)

  Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued targeting of civilians in Ukraine demonstrated a tolerance for “human loss.” Mr. Putin’s “absolute disregard of human life and human dignity,” he said, had to be taken into account when dealing with Russia.

  “We are dealing with an aggressive country,” he said during a fireside chat hosted by Politico on the sidelines of NATO’s 75th annual summit.

  “Russia is an existential threat, and we should be ready for this existential threat for years.”

  To that end, he added, the international community should prepare to fend off Russian aggression for years to come.

  It was vital, he said, that NATO “not engage from positions of weakness and appeasement.”

  Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all governed by the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991.

  Now, Mr. Putin has implemented a foreign policy based on uniting the so-called Russian World, including substantial Russian-speaking communities in former Soviet states, which East European leaders fear will lead to conquests beyond Ukraine.

  As such, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all exceeded NATO’s guideline of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense to ensure collective deterrence against foreign aggression.

  Lithuanian National Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said the investments were about “transforming the fear to preparedness.”

  Mr. Kasciunas cited the Reagan-era doctrine of “peace through strength” and said that NATO should be “prepared to work with America” to ensure such a policy regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November.

  “Russians are not attacking when you’re strong. It’s a very simple thing. If you’re weak, they can do this,” he said.

  Six NATO nations share a land border with Russian territory, a fact that Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said would need to be taken into account when determining NATO’s pathway toward ensuring continued deterrence against Russian aggression.

  “When we take the threat of Russia, the first thing we have to understand is that we cannot change the geography,” Mr. Pevkur said.

  To that end, he added that NATO must be wholly prepared to engage in a war with Russia should Moscow attack any member state.

  “We will start defending our countries from the first inch,” Mr. Pevkur said. “We will not keep away anything, and if that means that we also have to make attacks into Russian territory, then we are ready for that because we cannot fight only on our territory to keep every inch of our integrity.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/11/2024 – 02:00

• Modi's Trip To Moscow Was Much More Important Than Most Observers Realize
  Modi’s Trip To Moscow Was Much More Important Than Most Observers Realize

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just completed his first trip to Russia in half a decade and put an end to the several-year-long hiatus in annual meetings between their leaders. The outcome was nine agreements on a wide range of subjects along with a detailed joint statement for guiding their special and privileged strategic partnership to 2030. There were no landmark deals, but nor should any have been expected, since the meeting was only planned recently for the reasons that’ll now be explained.

  

  “Modi’s Trip To Moscow Was Meant To Assess The Reliability Of Russia’s Geopolitical Balancing Act” after his hosts sent eight signals since the start of the year hinting at an impending pro-Chinese pivot, which the reader can learn more about by reviewing the preceding hyperlinked analysis. The indisputable personal rapport between him and Putin during their two days together put an end to concerns about Russia preparing to privilege China over India and thus breathed new life into tri–multipolar processes.

  This concept refers to the paradigm of dividing the world into three internally diverse groups: the US-led West’s Golden Billion; the Sino–Russo Entente; and the informally Indian-led Global South. These three groups became more prominent after the global systemic transition was unprecedentedly accelerated by Russia’s special operation, though they predate that development. Prior to then, however, International Relations could best be described as being in a state of Sino-US bi-multipolarity.

  What’s meant by this is that everything was trending towards an unofficial division of the world between China and the US where everyone was pressured to some extent to take one or the other’s side. A return to the pure bipolarity that marked most of the Old Cold War till the Sino-US rapprochement was always unlikely because there were already some strategically autonomous emerging players. Likewise, despite the US, China, and India being the informal leaders of their groups, none have full control over them.

  Therefore, this present tripolar system can best be described as tri-multipolar, with the key axis being the Russo-Indo Strategic Partnership since it prevents the American and Chinese superpowers from coming together to revive bi-multipolarity in the event of a New Détente between them. Russia’s perceptible shift towards China since the start of the year, which was detailed in an earlier analysis, caused serious concern in India because it suggested that Moscow was abandoning their shared grand strategic goal.

  Before those eight signals were sent, India assumed that Russia would continue cooperating with it to accelerate tri-multipolar processes with a view towards midwifing complex multipolarity, which required neither Russia nor India pivoting towards China or the US respectively. What changed over the past year was the emergence of a pro-BRI policymaking faction in Moscow whose members concluded that Sino-US bi-multipolarity is inevitable so it’s best for Russia to turbocharge China’s superpower trajectory.

  The ruling establishment’s balancing/pragmatic faction had a tough time fending off their “friendly rivals”, the latter of whom compellingly argued that their envisaged policies would represent the sweetest revenge against the US after all that their adversary did to Russia since 2022. This explains the signals that Russia sent since the start of the year hinting at an impending pro-Chinese pivot, which finally prompted India to dispatch Modi to Russia to investigate what’s really going on and why.

  He considered this to be such a priority for his country’s objective national interests that he broke with tradition by traveling to Russia as the first trip of his third term instead of to a nearby country like usual. The timing also coincided with the annual NATO Summit, thus showing that India is strategically autonomous of the West and impervious to its pressure to curtail ties with Russia. The official US criticism that followed only served to reinforce the aforementioned points.  

  Russia is always happy to host Modi, even more so than usual due to the timing that was described above as well as the fact that it was his first visit to the country in half a decade, which is why such pomp and circumstance were prepared for him. His three-hour-long informal meeting with Putin at the latter’s dacha was presumably when those two friends candidly discussed the most sensitive aspects of their countries’ strategic partnership and clarified the confusion caused by Russia’s recent pro-Chinese signals.

  They clearly worked everything out as proven by their exuberant mood during those informal talks and the official ones the day after. Putin even awarded Modi Russia’s highest civilian honor, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, thus showing his country’s pro-BRI faction that he doesn’t approve of their plans to pivot to China. Instead, Russia will continue to pragmatically balance between China and India, thus reaffirming its tri-multipolar grand strategy and putting an end to bi-multipolar speculation.

  To be sure, the pro-BRI faction isn’t going away and will continue to make their case that Russia’s best interests are served by acknowledging the supposedly inevitable reversion to Sino-US bi-multipolarity and accordingly turbocharging China’s superpower trajectory, but few in Moscow will listen to them. The most spectacular achievement from Modi’s trip to Russia wasn’t whatever they formally agreed to, but him and Putin informally agreeing to redouble their joint efforts to accelerate tri-multipolarity processes.  

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 23:40

• Cocoa Grinding Estimates Suggest Demand Destruction Nearing 
  Cocoa Grinding Estimates Suggest Demand Destruction Nearing 

  With cocoa prices hovering over $8,000 a ton in New York, the long-anticipated demand destruction for cocoa is finally approaching. New estimates indicate that global bean processing likely declined in the second quarter. 

  

  According to six analysts and traders tracked by Bloomberg, second-quarter global grindings—where cocoa transforms into butter and powder used in food products—likely fell from a year earlier. Estimates from European grindings likely fell 2% in the quarter, hitting lows not seen since early 2020. All of the analysts forecasted much larger declines in the second half of the year. 

  

  “The cheap stuff is beginning to drop off, and the expensive stuff is coming in,” said Jonathan Parkman, head of agricultural sales at broker Marex Group.

  Parkman said, “The worst of input inflation will affect the second half of this year.”

  The grinding numbers are nowhere near the deterioration to end elevated cocoa prices, but the estimates suggest emerging demand destruction. 

  “We are more likely to see a significant change in the grind number in the second half of the year,” said Darren Stetzel, vice president of soft commodities for Asia at broker StoneX.

  Stetzel noted that the market has been forced to adapt to the scarcity of beans, which should alleviate some demand pressure. He pointed out that chocolate makers are increasingly using substitutes like palm oil.

  Grinding data from Europe is due on Thursday, and Asia and North America will report next week. 

  Last month, the KitKat-maker warned ‘cocoaflation‘ will soon send candy bar prices higher. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 23:20

• China: The Helpless Giant
  China: The Helpless Giant

  Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

  Myths die hard. Among these is the great myth that China’s poised to take over the world. Today I’ll debunk that myth.

  

  No one seriously disputes the importance of China to the global economy. It’s the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S. and accounts for 17% of global GDP (or an even larger percentage if one uses an alternative accounting method called purchasing power parity).

  It has the world’s second-largest population at 1.41 billion people, just slightly behind India. It has the third-largest landmass in the world behind Russia and Canada. China also has the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal after Russia and the U.S.

  But size can be deceptive. Most observers translate China’s large economy into the status of global superpower soon to surpass the U.S. in economic and military strength.

  That extrapolation has been a chimera for some time. In reality, China’s economy is fragile and weakening by the day.

  China may soon find itself in economic turmoil including a credit crisis, currency crisis and economic recession all at the same time. Following is a close look at China’s inherent weakness. Unfortunately for U.S. investors, China’s problems threaten to drag the global economy down with it.

  The China Myth

  China’s economic problems exist at two levels — the long-term macro level and the short-term technical level. Let’s consider these in order: At the long-term level, China is confronting three material obstacles — the middle-income trap, declining demographics and wasted investment.

  The middle-income trap afflicts developing economies that have reached the middle-income level of about $10,000 per capita annually. Moving from low-income (about $5,000 per capita annually) is straightforward.

  Countries move populations from rural to urban environments, build suitable housing and infrastructure, attract direct foreign investment with cheap labor and low operating costs, engage in assembly-type manufacturing and run significant trade surpluses by exporting the manufactured goods.

  The difficulty is in moving from middle-income to high-income ($20,000 per capita annually or higher). For that, low value-added manufacturing isn’t enough. It’s necessary to move to high-tech, high value-added manufacturing, which requires original research and development and access to high-tech tools such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

  China has acquired some of these tools through theft of intellectual property, but not enough. China also faces fierce competition from those already engaged in high-tech manufacturing including Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

  Only a handful of countries have ever made the move from middle-income to high-income, including those just mentioned. Many more including Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and South Africa are stuck in the same middle-income trap as China.

  The prospects of China breaking out of the middle-income bracket are slim, especially now that foreign direct investment is moving toward India and Vietnam and away from China. This conundrum alone is enough to put the brakes on Chinese growth.

  China’s Demographic Disaster

  China is also confronted with what will become the greatest demographic disaster since the Black Death in the 14th century. This is the bitter fruit of China’s one-child policy from 1980–2015 combined with mass infanticide of girls. The demographic challenge is increased by greater educational and career opportunities for women, which impacts family formation, and an historic shift in the role of the family.

  China’s population may decline from 1.41 billion to 750 million over the next 50 years. That’s a loss of over 650 million people.

  Considering that one definition of GDP is working-age population x productivity, it follows that China’s GDP will suffer a spectacular decline over the remainder of this century. (Note: The total GDP will decline but per capita GDP may be maintained because the population itself is shrinking.)

  Finally, China has wasted much of the wealth it did earn during the past 30 years with bad investments in unneeded infrastructure. A mature economy devotes about 25% of GDP to new investment (plant, equipment, homes, transportation, etc.) and about 65% to consumption. (The remaining 10% is split between trade surpluses or deficits and government spending.)

  In China, that split is reversed. About 45% of GDP goes to investment and only about 25% goes to consumption.

  That amount of investment can lead to high productivity gains in the future if it is spent intelligently on essential infrastructure, transportation, high-tech plants and equipment as well as research and development.

  Instead, China wasted the money on “ghost cities” (ample infrastructure with no residents or business tenants) and extravagant white elephants such as the Nanjing South train station, which has marble walls and 128 escalators but very few train passengers.

  Such show projects do produce short-term jobs and demand for copper, glass, steel and aluminum. But when the project is finished, the jobs disappear (unless diverted to another wasteful project) and the infrastructure is nonproductive with high maintenance costs.

  If Chinese GDP were adjusted for losses due to wasted investment in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, the reported growth figures of the past 30 years would have been reduced 20% or more. Those losses are real whether the figures are adjusted or not.

  A Dead End for China

  Based on these three factors — the middle-income trap, declining demographics and wasted investment — the so-called Chinese miracle has turned into a dead end.

  China’s failing growth engine is not due solely to these long-term factors. Among the short-term headwinds to growth are an excessive debt-to-GDP ratio, a drying up of direct foreign investment, a dollar shortage and a rapidly declining currency.

  Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff have demonstrated that debt-to-GDP ratios in excess of 90% will reduce the Keynesian multiplier of additional debt-financed government spending below 1.0.

  This means that for economies in that condition, if they borrow a dollar and spend a dollar, they receive less than a dollar of added GDP. Of course, this process drives the ratio even higher (since the GDP denominator grows more slowly than the debt numerator), which slows growth even further.

  In plain language, you can’t borrow your way out of a debt crisis.

  China has one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world, well over 300%. (Much of this debt is buried at the provincial level or in state-controlled banks rather than sovereign bonds, but the debt/growth dynamic is the same.) This debt overhang will retard Chinese growth independent of the other factors mentioned in this article.

  Because of trade wars, tariff wars and deteriorating Chinese-U.S. relations, direct foreign investment is being diverted from China to other high-growth centers, including India. China’s ample (but declining) labor force cannot be productive without foreign direct investment to fund state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and new technology.

  China is doomed to stagnate along the lines of the former Soviet Union without a continual supply of new capital and technology.

  China’s dollar-denominated trade surpluses cannot fill the gap because those reserves are needed to service dollar-denominated debt of Chinese state-owned enterprises and to prop up Chinese bank balance sheets.

  That’s the real reason why Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasury securities are declining. It’s not because China is “dumping” Treasuries. It’s because China must sell the Treasuries to obtain dollars to prop up its debts and to deal with a global dollar shortage.

  Get out of Chinese Stocks

  All of these negative trends are expressed in the rapid decline of the USD/CNY exchange rate. After hitting an interim peak of 7.10 to $1.00 on Jan. 31, 2024, the Chinese yuan broke through a central bank target of 7.25 in mid-June and is now trading at 7.27. CNY will continue this decline, perhaps hitting 7.30 to $1.00 in the weeks ahead.

  A crashing currency is not as advantageous for exports as many imagine since China’s value added on exports is only about 5%. It has to import most of the inputs it uses to manufacture exports from Japan, South Korea, Germany and Taiwan.

  A declining currency increases the cost of those imports and reduces China’s competitiveness. It also makes foreign direct investment less attractive and hurts China’s efforts to move to a consumer economy by causing inflation on imported goods.

  It would be a serious matter if China were slowing rapidly and the problems were confined to China. They’re not. Slower growth in China hurts Japanese banks, which are heavily invested there. It hurts South Korean, Taiwanese and Australian exporters that rely on Chinese markets.

  It also contributes to a global slowdown that’s already affected Germany, France, Japan and the U.K. And it hurts U.S. investors who are facing a wave of company failures and bond defaults.

  The U.S. won’t be insulated from this global slowdown that threatens to become a global recession and financial crisis. U.S. investors should dump Chinese stocks and ETFs and reduce equity holdings generally.

  We’re entering another “cash is king” stage with China leading the way.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 23:00

• What Taxes Must Be Paid When You Have A Trust?
  What Taxes Must Be Paid When You Have A Trust?

  Authored by Mike Valles via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  When you create your estate plan, consider setting up a trust to pass your assets on to your beneficiaries. The holdings in some trusts do not go through probate, enabling your beneficiaries to receive them faster. They also can help you save a lot of money on taxes.

  

  Types of Trusts

  Taxes on a trust and who pays for them depend on the type of trust it is. Trusts generally fall into one of two categories: revocable and irrevocable. There are many varieties of trusts, and you can design them to fit many needs, but they fall into these two categories.

  • The Revocable Trust

  A revocable trust, often called a living trust, means that the grantor—the person who created the trust—still has the assets under his control. He can add or remove assets when he wants, and he will pay the taxes on any gains. Gains get taxed at the grantor’s income tax bracket level.

  • The Irrevocable Trust

  The assets in an irrevocable trust are under the control of a trustee, and the grantor has little or no control over them. They also are no longer in the grantor’s taxable estate. The trust pays all taxes on any gains except when distributed.

  An irrevocable trust enables your assets to escape the hands of creditors, but only after the assets are in it. The more assets you put into the trust, the less taxes your estate must pay. TrustandWill says that the estate tax exemption for 2024 is $13.61 million. This figure will likely revert to $5 million in 2025. You can also reduce your estate by giving individuals up to $18,000 per person each year.

  • The Grantor Retained Annuity Trust 

  For those who have more money, you might want to create a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT), which is a type of irrevocable trust. It can pay you a set amount of money per year (or monthly) for a specific number of years. Taxes are paid on the assets when you put them into the trust. At the end of the set time, any remaining assets pass to the beneficiaries tax-free.

  When you create a GRAT, SuperMoney says that the interest market rate (the 7520 rate) is set and sent to the government annually. A successful GRAT will give considerable assets to your beneficiaries, but it requires that the market rate stays above the interest rate.

  If you die before the end of the period, all assets in a GRAT will become part of the estate. Some people create a series of GRATs, which can have periods as short as two years. It helps ensure your beneficiaries receive some money—even if you do not outlive all of them.

  Trust Beneficiaries Will Pay Some Taxes

  A trust distribution may include part of the principal and some interest. Investopedia says that no taxes will be due on the principal, but you must pay taxes on the interest. The principal can be any amount deposited originally or in the year the distribution is made. Any distributions from a trust throughout the year are taxable as interest, SuperMoney says, because principal distributions are only made once a year after depositing all contributions.

  If all the interest in the trust gained during the year is not distributed to the beneficiaries, the trust pays the taxes on the remaining amount. Beneficiaries receive a tax report (Form 1041) each year from the trust stating how much money is principal and how much is interest. It also shows them how much they need to pay in taxes.

  Taxes From Trusts Are Much Higher Than Regular Taxes

  Money received as a distribution from a trust is taxed at a higher rate than ordinary income. People in the first income tax bracket, the Internal Revenue Service says, including those with income ranging from $0 to $11,000, pay 10 percent in taxes. The next higher tax bracket ranges from $11,001 to $44,725, and they pay 12 percent in taxes.

  In comparison, the first tax bracket on income from a trust, Forbes says, ranges from $0 to $3,100. They will pay 10 percent in taxes. The second tax bracket is from $3,101 to $11,150, and they must pay $310 plus an additional 24 percent of anything over $3,100. Taxes on regular income reach a maximum of 37 percent, which is the same (maximum) for trust income, but it starts on trust income as low as $15,201.

  The Interest Earned Determines the Taxes

  When a trust earns interest, there will be taxes, but Fidelity says that part of it may be considered principal. If the assets in the trust do not earn interest, any distributions made are principal.

  A trust that distributes $10,000—but only has $5,000 in dividends and another $5,000 in capital gains will have a split between principal and income. Other amounts and situations may also see a split between income and principal, enabling the beneficiary to have lower taxes.

  When selling assets out of a trust, Fool says, state laws determine when capital gains are principal or income. A trust can be created so that only income is distributed, but not capital gains. The recipient of the capital gains pays the taxes on it.

  A trust can be created to prevent assets in it from going through probate. The laws concerning trusts change frequently and they must be set up correctly—and changed when necessary. When doing your estate planning, it is important to consult a trust lawyer or estate planning attorney to ensure it meets current laws.

  The Epoch Times copyright © 2024. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 22:20

• KFC Now Serving Halal Chicken, Removing Pork From Menus In Ontario
  KFC Now Serving Halal Chicken, Removing Pork From Menus In Ontario

  Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Ontario are all now “Muslim-friendly”, with halal chicken and no pork on their menus, according to a new report from True North. 

  Halal refers to what is permissible or lawful in traditional Islamic law, particularly regarding food and drink. It dictates that foods must be prepared and processed according to specific guidelines, such as the humane slaughter of animals and the prohibition of certain substances like alcohol and pork.

  Nearly all chains in Ontario have implemented the changes, taking bacon off their menus. 

  In a May letter to Muslim community leaders, KFC wrote it has “ensured all chicken products are Halal Certified including but not limited to chicken.”

  

  “This initiative is a testament to our commitment to providing diverse and inclusive menu options for all our customers,” the letter continued, promising the changes would take place by the end of the year. 

  “Everything in the store is halal,” True North confirmed after calling multiple stores in Ontario.

  KFC partners with halal suppliers like Maple Lodge Farms, owner of Zabiha Halal, Canada’s top halal food brand. Zabiha Halal ensures each bird is alive before slaughter, using automated blades to cut specific channels while a Muslim recites the blessing: “In the name of Allah, Allah is the greatest!” 

  Zabiha Halal’s website says: “We employ more than 25 Muslim blessers to ensure that the chickens are properly blessed on the slaughtering line.”

  “Our halal slaughter is a continuous process. The Muslim blessers recite Tasmiah at the time each bird comes under the rotary blade. We understand that it is not possible for a person to continuously recite Tasmiah, over long periods, at the same rate.”

  “To keep the speed consistent, the blessers at the slaughter station are rotated with other blessers to prevent fatigue. This rotation continues for the duration of the slaughter process.”

  KFC in Canada is requiring all of their Ontario stores to serve Halal chicken exclusively.

  They are also discontinuing pork products.

  Truly insane times.

  I have been warning the West about this for a long time. pic.twitter.com/Ae66Gai6TZ

  — Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 7, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 22:00

• Is Saudi Arabia Set On Becoming A Global Gas Leader?
  Is Saudi Arabia Set On Becoming A Global Gas Leader?

  Authored by Simon Watkins via OilPrice.com,

  • Saudi Arabia aims to become a major gas exporter by 2030, as part of its ‘Vision 2030’ plan.

  • Saudi Aramco announced over $25 billion in contracts for gas sector expansion.

  • Despite these efforts, Saudi Arabia’s projected gas output by 2030 may still fall short of covering its own power needs.

  Saudi Arabia may be the third largest producer of crude oil in the world, after the U.S. and Russia, but its gas output has struggled over the years to make much of a mark in the global market. Currently, it produces around 4.2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) a year – making it the ninth biggest producer in the world – but this goes to meeting domestic consumption needs. Associated (with oil drilling) gas accounts for around half of the Kingdom’s present production, although the non-associated percentage has more than doubled since 2012. However, last week saw twin announcements that might begin to change that, in line with Saudi Arabia’s target of becoming a major gas exporter by 2030 as part of its ‘Vision 2030’ plan.

  

  The two announcements came as part of the statement from the country’s flagship hydrocarbons firm, Saudi Aramco, that it has signed over US$25 billion in contracts to undertake major new gas sector expansion projects.

  • The first of these, according to the firm’s chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, is that US$8.8 billion is to be spent to increase the scale and scope of the Kingdom’s gas network, in particular through the third phase development of its MGS. In addition to new rigs and ongoing capacity maintenance expenditure, the money is to fund the addition of around 4,000 kilometres of pipelines to the current infrastructure and 17 new gas compression trains. These are aimed at boosting capacity by about 3.15 billion standard cubic feet per day and connecting several more cities to the network. As part of its plans to substitute gas for oil in local power generation, domestic demand for natural gas in the country is expected to grow by 3.7% each year from now to 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

  • The second announcement was that a further $12.4 billion will be invested in the second phase of Saudi Aramco’s expansion of the much-vaunted Jafurah unconventional gas field. The money is split across 16 new contracts, including the construction of gas compression facilities and associated pipelines, and the expansion of the Jafurah Gas Plant to incorporate the building of new gas processing trains, and utilities, and export facilities. It will also include construction of Saudi Aramco’s new Riyas Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) fractionation facilities in Jubail, which is designed to process NGLs received from Jafurah. This increased gas output would provide very welcome export dollars for a country that has struggled to recover fully from the Oil Price Wars of 2014-2016 and 2020, as analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. It could also replace some of the oil used in domestic power generation, so freeing up more high-value crude for export over time. Last year, Saudi Arabia generated slightly less than 70 percent of its electricity from gas, with the vast bulk of the remainder from oil. The key question for this gas field, then, is will it achieve what it is meant to?

  March this year saw an unexpected sudden increase of 15 Tcf in the level of gas deposits apparently now contained in the field. If true, this would take the total reserves in the eastern Saudi field – which is the largest unconventional non-oil associated gas field in the country, and potentially the biggest shale gas development outside the U.S. – up to about 229 Tcf, or about 6.5 trillion cubic metres (Tcm). By comparison, total proven gas reserves for Russia stand at around 48 Tcm, for Iran at about 34 Tcm, and for Qatar over 24 Tcm. At the same time, the amount of crude oil being burned for domestic energy consumption has risen in the past few years to well over 500,000 barrels per day. In the extreme temperatures of the summer months, this rises to around 900,000 bpd as air conditioners remain on full for much of the period.

  The longstanding plan was that production from Jafurah should reach 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of gas production by 2036. The new plan is for sales gas (gas at the outlet of a plant that is primarily methane) production to reach 2 bcf/d by 2030 instead, allowing room for considerable exports to be undertaken. That said, all other factors remaining equal, one billion cubic feet of gas equals 0.167 million barrels of oil equivalent, so 2 bcf/d (Jafurah’s estimated 2030 output) equals 0.3340 million barrels of oil equivalent, or 334,000 barrels. Therefore, the total projected new amount of gas to come from the unconventional gas field by 2030 is around 334,000 barrels per day, which is not even enough to cover the current amount of oil – 500,000 bpd to 600,000 bpd – being burned for power generation in Saudi Arabia, never mind any increase in demand between now and 2030. Moreover, based on independent industry estimates of the changing demographics of Saudi Arabia and the corollary changing power demand patterns, the Kingdom will probably need gas production of around 23-25 bcf/d within the next 15 years just to cover its own power and industrial demand. In sum, then, even if the quality of the Jafurah find is unparalleled in the history of Saudi gas finds, the Kingdom would still be in deficit in its power generation sector if there was a straight switch from crude oil burning to gas-only burning.

  Over and above the practical shortcomings of these announcements, certainly in Jafurah’s case, they do highlight an increasing awareness by the Saudis that gas, especially LNG, has been the key emergency energy source since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and is likely to remain so in an increasingly dangerous world. It is readily available in the spot markets and can be moved quickly to anywhere required, unlike gas or oil sent through pipelines. Unlike pipelined energy as well, the movement of LNG does not require the build-out of vast acreage of pipelines across varying terrains and the associated heavy infrastructure that supports it. They also highlight that the Kingdom understands that the U.S. led the way in engineering a massive increase in LNG availability for it and its key allies with the express intention of making its NATO partners less vulnerable to Russian threats to remove gas and oil supplies from them. The U.S.’s success in doing this remains the key reason why Russia did not go unpunished for yet another invasion of a European sovereign state – as it did with Ukraine in 2014, and Georgia in 2008, as detailed in my latest book on the new global oil market order. Indeed, the U.S. went from zero LNG exports before 2016, to become the world’s biggest exporter of the gas, with around 86 million metric tonnes of LNG shipped in 2022. And around two-thirds of all the U.S.’s LNG exports since Russia invaded Ukraine have gone to Europe.  

  Given the U.S.’s dominance in this field, and Saudi Arabia’s awareness that it has fallen behind in this sector, these two announcements from Riyadh may signal new opportunities for Washington to restore a beneficial relationship for it with the Kingdom. The very recent signing of a landmark 20-year deal for the U.S.’s NextDecade Corporation to sell LNG to Saudi Aramco may well end up having a significance way beyond the confines of the energy market.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 21:40

• Canada Has Become The "Car Theft Capital Of The World", Interpol Warns
  Canada Has Become The “Car Theft Capital Of The World”, Interpol Warns

  This summer, Interpol ranked Canada among the top 10 worst countries for car thefts out of 137, a “remarkable” achievement given Canada’s data integration with Interpol only began in February, according to the BBC. 

  After the cars are stolen, they are “either used to carry out other violent crimes, sold domestically to other unsuspecting Canadians, or shipped overseas to be resold,” the BBC wrote. 

  Since integrating the Canadian Police Information Centre’s stolen vehicle data with INTERPOL’s database in February 2024, over 1,500 stolen Canadian vehicles have been detected globally, Interpol wrote in May. 

  The RCMP’s database, which tracks around 150,000 stolen vehicles, now helps identify over 200 stolen cars weekly, primarily at international entry ports.

  The BBC noted that the Insurance Bureau of Canada declared car theft a “national crisis” after insurers paid out over C$1.5bn in vehicle theft claims last year. Police have issued public bulletins on preventing theft, while some Canadians are installing trackers and private security measures, such as retractable bollards.

  

  Mississauga resident Nauman Khan, who started a bollard-installation business after experiencing theft, reports high demand for his services due to widespread car thefts. 

  He told the BBC: “It’s been very busy. We had one client whose street had so many home invasions that he’d hired a security guard every night outside his house because he just didn’t feel safe.”

  Despite its smaller population, Canada’s car theft rate (262.5 per 100,000) surpasses that of England and Wales (220 per 100,000) and is close to the US rate (300 per 100,000). The rise in thefts is partly due to a pandemic-driven car shortage and a strong international market for certain models, making auto theft lucrative for organized crime. Canada’s port system, which focuses more on imports than exports, also contributes to the problem.

  In a press release, INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said: “Stolen vehicles are international criminal currency. Not only are they used to traffic drugs, but also as payment to other criminal networks as well as fueling activities from human trafficking to terrorism.

  “Sometimes overlooked, a stolen car is not just car theft. It is part of a major revenue stream for transnational organized crime. Through increased data sharing at the global level, we can better screen vehicles at border points, identify trafficking routes and arrest the perpetrators.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 21:20

• Why Gavin Newsom Must Never Become US President
  Why Gavin Newsom Must Never Become US President

  Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness,

  As President Biden’s age threatens to derail his reelection campaign, waiting in the wings and trying not to appear too eager is Gavin Newsom. It’s not easy. Wanting to be president with an intensity that might make Gollum’s lust for the One Ring appear prosaic, California’s governor knows that if Biden drops out, he’s the oddsmakers’ favorite.

  

  But there is absolutely nothing Gavin Newsom has ever done that qualifies him to be president of the United States. If Newsom becomes the next U.S. president, he will accelerate a process that is already well underway and must be stopped at all costs: turning all of America into California.

  There are glaring examples of California’s over-the-top embrace of progressive extremism. Identity politics. Race and gender “equity.” Decriminalizing crime and hard drugs. A complete failure to manage the state’s homeless, much less help them. An obsession with climate change that has inspired laws that reach into virtually every facet of life. Shortages of energy, water, and housing. And prices for goods and services so punitive that millions have fled.

  Under Gavin Newsom’s watch, the state is devolving into feudalism: a massive underclass that can’t survive without government assistance, supervised by an elite minority that will retain political power by continuing to dole out that assistance. The formula is simple: make life progressively more difficult for ordinary Californians, tell them their travails are the result of bigotry and climate change, then secure their votes by offering them more government benefits.

  And herein lies Newsom’s biggest crime, one shared by the progressive elites that run California and intend to take over the world. It is the biggest lie of modern progressivism—the corrupt foundation of their power. Newsom and his ilk are telling California’s middle class that what they have attained is socially unjust and ecologically unsustainable. They tell us that the ideals of equity and environmentalism compel us to live in high-density, low-impact housing, utilize shared transportation, and limit our consumption of anything that elevates our “carbon footprint.” And they are telling us that our taxes must be utilized to offer these same limited amenities to anyone who is “underserved,” “historically disadvantaged,” “unhoused,” or in any way a victim of “systemic discrimination.”

  All of these assertions are monstrous lies. California is unaffordable because of decades of political choices, escalating every year, that have created high prices for everything. And more to the point, the elites that Newsom is part of and represents are themselves profiting from all of these policies that have condemned most Californians to lives of constant work and constant economic struggle. Which is to say that Newsom’s lies about the “climate crisis” and the alleged pervasive ongoing scourge of bigotry are not even noble lies in the service of achieving a better future for all. They are lies in the service of corruption, a con job designed to further enrich and empower a small elite.

  Newsom is unqualified to be president of the United States for the same reason he is unfit to be governor of California. His entire public policy agenda is a rhetorical farce, existing only to fool voters, while across every major industry, politically connected players consolidate their power and their profits. Examples of this are comprehensive.

  Across every business sector, owners and executives face cruel choices: fight a losing battle to preserve competition and manage costs, or stop doing business in California entirely, or join the cabal. Some still fight. Countless businesses have left. And a growing number choose to accommodate. They accept stifling regulations, knowing they have reduced the number of competitors. They accept higher costs and pass them on to increasingly captive customers with fewer and fewer options. They become bloated with attorneys and bureaucrats to deal with myriad government agencies, and for whatever the customer cannot bear, they collect in government subsidies. It’s a vicious circle, and as California spirals into feudalism, it’s taking America with it.

  There is the homeless industrial complex, a consortium of government bureaucracies, “nonprofit” developers and operators, and for-profit vendors that have consumed tens of billions over just the past few years to house a laughably small fraction of California’s homeless, while simple shelters where sobriety was enforced would get them safe and on a path to recovery for a fraction of the cost.

  There is Environmentalism Inc., unifying ambitious and zealous government agencies with powerful environmentalist nonprofit advocacy groups, trial lawyers, “renewables” importers, manufacturers and systems integrators, joined with utilities that love high energy prices because their profit is held to a fixed percentage of revenue. Higher costs per kilowatt-hour or therm of natural gas equal more absolute profit.

  There are public sector unions—perhaps the most powerful special interest in the state—committed to the growth of government because it grows their membership dues. And the worse things get in California, the more unionized government employees are necessary to deal with crime, the homeless, and poverty. Societal failure is public sector success.

  Not least, of course, are the tech billionaires, who to date have used their personal wealth and the unprecedented influence of their companies to manipulate state and national politics according to their agenda. As described, that agenda checks all the rhetorical boxes but obscures raw ambition. History provides no comparable example of wealth and power this concentrated, and they want more.

  In every sphere, creating scarcity and shortages enriches the elites in California. Setting land aside to be preserved as “open space,” cordoning off urban areas and preventing expansion, is a perfect way to ensure that real estate investment portfolios—often held by huge hedge funds and public employee pension funds—continue to appreciate. And as ordinary Californians are priced out of owning homes, investment banks gobble up the inventory and rent the properties back to the plebes.

  This is what Gavin Newsom offers America.

  This is the scam—the historic, tragic, malevolent agenda that Newsom and the people he represents have resolved to inflict on the world.

  The alternative is not a mystery. Spend government money on practical infrastructure that yields long-term benefits instead of squandering hundreds of billions on absurd make-work projects like high-speed rail and floating offshore wind, which will be permanent drains on the economy. While recognizing reasonable environmental concerns, deregulate energy, mining, timber, water, transportation and housing so millions of Californians can be employed in high-paying jobs instead of collecting government benefits. And most of all, by restoring competition in all sectors of California’s economy, we can lower the cost of living.

  Gavin Newsom is smart enough to know this solution would work. But the people who donate to his campaigns, and who donate to the campaigns of the supermajority of progressives who are party to the same fraud, have no intention of ever permitting this solution to again become reality. That is why Newsom—and any politician like Newsom—can never be allowed to become U.S. president.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 21:00

• This Week In US Aviation: Boeing 757 Loses Wheel, 737 Aborts Takeoff Due To Tire Failure, Near-Miss In Syracuse
  This Week In US Aviation: Boeing 757 Loses Wheel, 737 Aborts Takeoff Due To Tire Failure, Near-Miss In Syracuse

  US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has prioritized combating systemic racism as the center point of his role in overseeing the federal transportation system, should really get back to basics and ensure taxpayers the aviation industry is safe once again following a series of mid-air mishaps with commercial jets this year. 

  The latest incident occurred early Wednesday morning when an American Airlines 737-800 aborted takeoff at Tampa International Airport due to a tire failure. Captain Steven Markovich posted footage of the incident online: 

  Video captures moment American Airlines 737-800 tire fails during takeoff from Tampa Airport. The crew of AA590 safely aborted the takeoff and vacated the runway.

  📹 CaptainStevenMarkovich
  🔗 https://t.co/LjaQRouvIA pic.twitter.com/FafAcgzSVE

  — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 10, 2024

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  American Airlines acknowledged the mechanical issue with American Airlines Flight 590: 

  “American Airlines flight 590 with service from Tampa (TPA) to Phoenix (PHX) experienced a mechanical issue on the runway prior to taking off. Customers safely deplaned and were bussed to the terminal.”

  The airline said in a statement, “American Airlines flight 590 with service from Tampa (TPA) to Phoenix (PHX) experienced a mechanical issue on the runway prior to taking off. Customers safely deplaned and were bussed to the terminal.” The FAA said they will investigate the…

  — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 10, 2024

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  Earlier this week, on Monday, United Flight 1001, a Boeing 757-200, lost a main landing gear wheel while taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. A video of the incident was posted on X.  

  United Airlines 757 loses a wheel during takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport. United Airlines Flight 1001 continued to Denver Airport where it landed safely. pic.twitter.com/jFDJmQpBKs

  — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 9, 2024

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  Also on Monday, a Delta Connection flight nearly collided with an American Eagle flight at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. Fox News said the two planes came about “700 to 1,000 feet from each other vertically.” 

  Video circulating on social media showing a near-miss at Syracuse Hancock International Airport on Monday is not being classified as a “close call” by the FAA. pic.twitter.com/RCbyoqhLmT

  — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 10, 2024

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  And there’s this. 

  Meanwhile in Vancouver 👀✈️ pic.twitter.com/DzkElldXEP

  — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 10, 2024

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  Come on, ‘Mayor Pete,’ do better. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 20:40

• Homes In California's Big Cities Cost 10 Times More Than Average Income
  Homes In California’s Big Cities Cost 10 Times More Than Average Income

  Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

  Buying a home in California slid further out of reach for many residents in 2023, especially in larger metropolitan areas, according to a recent Harvard University housing study.

  

  The report found some of the highest disparity between wages and housing prices in Northern California.

  According to the report released June 20, the Silicon Valley cities of San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara had a median home sales price 11 times higher than the area’s average annual wage of nearly $113,000 in 2023.

  Median home sales prices are determined by finding the midpoint of all sales, where half sold for more and half for less.

  The same was found at the coast in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, where 2023 housing prices were also 11 times higher than the average yearly wage of almost $68,000.

  In Los Angeles County and Anaheim—in Orange County—the median home sales price was about 10 times more than the average wage of $98,200.

  Further south in San Diego and Carlsbad, housing reached nearly nine times more than the average wage of $76,000 last year.

  “Both homeowners and renters are struggling with high housing costs,” the authors of the report, called “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024” wrote in its summary.

  Millions of potential homebuyers across the U.S. have been priced out of the market by rising home prices and interest rates. The cost of owning a home is also increasing as insurance and property taxes continue to rise, according to the report.

  And single-family home construction is likely limited by ongoing development hurdles and high construction costs, among other restrictions.

  California has taken several steps in the past few years, though, to try to make owning a home easier.

  

  San Francisco on Feb. 23, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

  State officials have relaxed permitting and environmental review requirements to make projects easier, quicker, and cheaper to build.

  The state also rezoned land owned by religious institutions and colleges in 2023 to enable affordable housing development, resulting in 171,000 new developable acres.

  California is also offering a new grant program that provides low-income earners with $40,000 in pre-construction costs, as well as down payments in the amount of 20 percent—up to $150,000—for some first-time homebuyers.

  Still, the country is facing sharp price increases for rent and housing that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dan McCue, a senior research associate and one of the lead authors of the report.

  Prices for homes nationwide are up 46 percent, and rental prices have jumped 26 percent since 2022, Mr. McCue said in a press conference on the report June 20.

  “Not only are prices high, but they’re rising once again,” he said. “It’s really adding insult to injury.”

  

  High-rise buildings in downtown San Diego, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

  The number of houses on the market nationally is about 30 percent below those available before the pandemic, Mr. McCue added.

  Part of the reason for the shortage can be attributed to homeowners who are staying put and not selling while interest rates remain around 7 percent, he said. The combination of high prices and high interest rates has driven housing inventory to its lowest point in 20 years, he said.

  Rental growth has also slowed because rents have remained high after the pandemic. Such is a problem for the record number of renters—over 12 million nationally—who pay more than half of their income on housing, which is most common among middle- and low-income earners, according to Mr. McCue.

  Rising home insurance costs, which have gone up about 35 percent, are also hurting low-income homeowners, according to the report.

  “We are also concerned that homeownership is increasingly out of reach for all but the highest income households,” Mr. McCue said.

  “Access to homeownership has really been cut off in over half of the cities.”

  The demand for rentals and single-family homes, however, continues to grow, with 1.7 million more households in the U.S. in 2023, according to the report.

  Mr. McCue said he expects Gen Z, the generation that is now 12 to 27 years old, has added 8 million more households over the past four years.

  Immigration has also put pressure on available housing.

  “It’s a big increase, and it’s really propping up demand,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 20:20

• House Oversight Subpoenas Top Biden Handlers To Find Out Who's Running The Country
  House Oversight Subpoenas Top Biden Handlers To Find Out Who’s Running The Country

  The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three top White House aides on Wednesday, and has demanded that they sit for depositions concerning President Joe Biden’s health – and who’s actually running the country.

  

  As Axios reports, Oversight chair James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed First Lady Jill Biden’s top aide Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, and senior adviser Ashley Williams, who the outlet described as “low-profile but very influential” inside the White House.

  According to Wednesday letters, Comer cites Bernal and Tomasini’s access to the first family’s residence – which White House residence staff found ‘unusual,’ as ‘political staffers often don’t have such access.’

  According to one former Biden aide, these three employees – Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams – have created “a protective bubble around” President Biden and he is “staffed so closely that he’s lost all independence.” –House Oversight Committee

  Comer also writes that the committee is “concerned” that each official is “one of several White House staffers who have taken it upon themselves to run the country while the President cannot.”

  In his letter to Bernal — whose influence extends well beyond the first lady’s office — Comer wrote: The “Committee seeks to understand the extent of Mr. Bernal’s influence over the President and his knowledge of whether the President is personally discharging the duties of his office.” -Axios

  Tomasini, a close friend of the Biden family, maintained close relations with Hunter throughout the Obama administration – sometimes referring to him as her “brother,” and often ending emails with “LY” (Love You), according to emails dating from 2010 to 2016.

  🚨SUBPOENAS🚨

  I am issuing subpoenas today for White House staff Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams to appear for depositions.

  The White House has shielded these three key aides from testifying about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and…

  — Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) July 10, 2024

  “The White House has shielded three key aides from testifying about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and now we’ve learned through reporting these same aides are also seeking to cover up President Biden’s declining cognitive state inside the White House. President Biden is clearly unfit for office, yet his staff are trying to hide the truth from the American people. Key White House staff must come before our committee so we can provide the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve,” said Comer in a statement.

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 20:00

• 'Boots On The Ground' In The World's Bitcoin Paradise
  ‘Boots On The Ground’ In The World’s Bitcoin Paradise

  Authored by James Hickman via SchiffSovereign.com,

  [Editor’s note: This letter was written by Schiff Sovereign’s CEO, Viktorija Simulynaite, who is on the ground in El Salvador.]

  The first thing my driver said to me after I got off the plane in El Salvador was, “Welcome to my country. It’s very safe here now.”

  I chuckled to myself because this seemed like such an odd greeting. But the more time I spent mingling with locals in El Salvador, the more it made sense.

  The transformation that has taken place in the country over the past five years cannot be overstated.

  Five years ago El Salvador had one of the highest murder rates in the world. It was basically a war zone. Gangs such as MS-13 and Barrio 18 were far more powerful than the government, and they enforced their own laws in their respective territories, sort of like the Taliban in Afghanistan.

  The country’s young president, Nayib Bukele, put an end to all that when he was elected in 2019.

  

  Bukele invoked emergency powers and arrested more than 100,000 suspected gang members, then shipped them off to a special prison far away from the rest of society. In a country of 6.3 million, that amounts to over 1.5% of the entire population that’s now locked up.

  It was a controversial move to say the least… and I wonder about innocent people who may have been wrongfully imprisoned.

  But El Salvadorans seem quite happy with the results; today their country boasts a lower homicide rate than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere aside from Canada.

  Simultaneously, El Salvador also put itself on the map by being one of the first countries in the world to get behind crypto; they even made Bitcoin legal tender and passed a number of pro-crypto tax incentives.

  Those are pretty much the two things that El Salvador is known for these days– putting tens of thousands of criminals in jail, and Bitcoin.

  But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the country has so much more going for it.

  This was a place that was scraping the bottom of the barrel just a few years ago. Even aside from the crime problem, the economy was in the dumps. Corruption and bureaucracy ruled the day, and debts were rising.

  In just a few short years, however, El Salvador has managed to turn itself around, and the economy has taken off.

  It’s not an accident. The government has slashed bureaucracy and established a number of incentives to bring in foreign capital and businesses.

  One is the recently passed International Services Law, which offers significant tax incentives to service-based businesses, similar to Puerto Rico’s famous Act 60.

  El Salvador’s law, though, is perhaps even more generous than Puerto Rico’s because it includes exemption for import duties, income taxes, municipal taxes, and more.

  Service industries like call centers, data centers, software development, and other back-office services are starting to be growing industries in El Salvador, and I met a number of foreign entrepreneurs who are starting businesses in the capital.

  Foreign investment is flowing in, and you can see construction projects everywhere– the capital city is quickly becoming sleek and modern, and it completely defied my expectations. Even the restaurant scene is really great.

  More importantly, there’s an optimism in El Salvador– one that I haven’t seen in Europe and North America for a long time. People feel like the worst days are over and the future will continue to be much brighter.

  Now, all that said, I’m not trying to suggest that El Salvador is some perfect paradise or that anyone should move their business there. I’m really writing about it as a sort of case study.

  We talk a lot about how governments and politicians and “inspired idiots” wreck their economies.

  They rack up massive debts and engineer painful inflation and higher energy prices… and generally make things worse with their every move.

  But it’s fair to point out that sometimes governments do smart things. And El Salvador is a great example.

  They knew they had to figure out how to turn their economy around. And rather than go down a destructive rabbit hole of wage and price controls, which are standard approaches for bankrupt nations, El Salvador’s government got out of the way and is allowing the free market to blossom.

  The one thing they have done very deliberately is market themselves.

  Advanced western countries don’t do this.

  Joe Biden doesn’t travel the world pushing foreign nations to invest in America. Rather, he takes America’s standing for granted and simply assumes that everyone wants to invest there.

  El Salvador is a tiny country plagued by a bad reputation for its past challenges.

  But rather than let that reputation fester, its leaders are hustling to promote their country all over the world with a clear message: El Salvador is open for business.

  It’s fascinating to watch such a positive transformation unfold for an entire nation in real time– and to see politicians deliberately do the right things to foster economic growth.

  Given how many Western countries are rapidly deteriorating from their own idiotic political decisions, El Salvador is an obvious example of how much better things could be if reason and sanity were restored in government.

  Imagine what the US would look like if politicians were actually cooperating and hustling to bring in new business, to make smart investments, to embrace capitalism, or even to simply rein in spending and slash bureaucratic waste…

  We’re planning a boots on the ground trip to El Salvador for members of our Total Access group (i.e. our highest tier premium members at Schiff Sovereign). It’s going to be pretty great.

  We’ll be meeting with senior officials and business leaders and checking out, firsthand, what’s going on in the country so that our members can see the transformation for themselves.

  We’ll also eat at some of the country’s nicest restaurants and tour the beautiful countryside. And we might even leave with an investment or two.

  (We’ve already had Total Access trips to places like Cuba, Singapore, the Republic of Georgia, Uzbekistan, and more, so El Salvador fits perfectly.)

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 19:40

• Stranded Astronauts On ISS Still 'Confident' In Issue-Plagued Boeing Starliner
  Stranded Astronauts On ISS Still ‘Confident’ In Issue-Plagued Boeing Starliner

  Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been living on the International Space Station (ISS) for over a month after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered a series of technical issues, including helium leaks and a thruster malfunction.

  Wilmore and Williams blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force on June 5 and docked with the ISS one day later. Both astronauts were expected to spend just a week aboard the ISS and return to Earth by June 14.

  

  However, five separate helium leaks in the Starliner’s thruster system and five failures of its reaction control system thrusters, critical systems for safely orienting the spacecraft into Earth’s atmosphere, were detected. These unresolved problems have stranded both astronauts on the ISS ever since.

  On Wednesday, Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, told reporters via a remote video link, “I feel confident that if we had to — if there was a problem with the International Space Station — we’d get in our spacecraft and we can undock, talk to our team and figure out the best way to come home.” 

  Williams added, “I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.”

  “We’re absolutely confident,” flight commander Wilmore, 61, a former Navy captain, told reporters. He said the “Safe Haven procedure” with Williams had already been conducted inside the Starliner in the event of an ISS incident. 

  Williams noted, “We’ve been through a lot of simulations…and I think where we are right now…I feel confident that if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we could get in our spacecraft, we could undock, talk to our team and, and figure out the best way to come home.” 

  LIVE from the @Space_Station: @NASA_Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams discuss their @BoeingSpace #Starliner Crew Flight Test mission. https://t.co/Tsp7CjfjU7

  — NASA (@NASA) July 10, 2024

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  Wilmore and Williams are considered the ‘guinea pig’ test pilots for Starliner’s inaugural ISS mission. There was recent news from Boeing that teams at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico were conducting simulated ground-based thruster tests. 

  “This testing is trying to replicate what the worst-case thruster saw inflight,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president of its Commercial Crew Program, told reporters. 

  Based on the engineers’ findings from the test, NASA and Boeing will determine the next step for Starliner. 

  Wouldn’t that be something if Elon Musk’s SpaceX was called up to emergency deploy a Dragon capsule to rescue the stranded astronauts? 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 19:20

• The Nationwide 500,000 EV Charger Charade
  The Nationwide 500,000 EV Charger Charade

  Authored by Geoffrey Pohanka via American Greatness,

  The word charade has several meanings, and including an act or event that is clearly false (Cambridge Dictionary), something done just for show (Vocabulary.com), or a situation in which people pretend that something is true when it clearly is not (Oxford Leaner’s Dictionary).

  

  The charade I refers to is President Biden’s $7.5 billion dollar investment to install 500,000 electric charging stations along America’s highways by 2030. A reliable and convenient public EV charging infrastructure is critical to achieve the President’s goal of meeting the recent EPA CO2 emission regulation that require nearly 72% of U.S. new light vehicle sales to be fully electric or plug-in hybrid by 2032. Without diving deeper into the announcement, one would likely assume that $7.5 billion is sufficient to construct the 500,000 charging stations, one every 50 miles along the nation’s highways.

  To identify the charade, one must first, look at the math:

  • 500,000 charging stations, each with a minimum of four chargers, accomplished with an investment of $7.5 billion dollars.

  • But that is only $15,000 per charging station, installed.

  • A single high capacity charger can cost $100,000 or more, and most stations have multiple chargers.

  • We are now in the second year of the program and only seven stations have been opened so far.

  • At this rate, it will require thousands of years to build all 500,000 charging stations, assuming there are sufficient funds to do so.

  Global consulting firm McKinsey and Company estimates that the U.S. will need 28 million charging ports by 2030.

  There are just two million charging ports today.

  To meet the goal, about 12,000 new public and private charging ports will need to be added every single day to reach the goal by 2030.

  It is true that significantly more government funded charging stations are in the works and will be opened.

  The stations completed so far cost significantly more than what has been promised.

  With retailers contributing land to the projects opened so far, the cost of each station has averaged one-million dollars, with the government participation of 80% of the cost.

  Eight-hundred-thousand dollars for each station is significantly more than the 15,000 committed by the administration.

  At this rate, the 500,000 charging stations will cost the government $400 billion, not the $7.5 billion the President has promised.

  If the administration is so wrong with this program, one must consider how many government programs designed to bring electric vehicles to the masses are similarly defective.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 19:00

• Et Tu, Zelensky? Ukrainian Leader 'Concerned' About Biden's Health
  Et Tu, Zelensky? Ukrainian Leader ‘Concerned’ About Biden’s Health

  The White House is likely asking: Et tu, Zelensky?… after the Ukrainian leader has belatedly voiced concerns over Biden’s health in the wake of his disastrous presidential debate with Trump.

  While in Washington D.C. for the big NATO summit, which is heavily focused on the war in Ukraine, Axios writes that “President Volodymyr Zelensky is among the leaders who watched the presidential debate and is concerned about the situation, according to a Ukrainian source.”

  

  Zelensky, who has been given tens of billions by the Biden administration to help fight off the Russians, didn’t shy away from telling a press conference in Washington, “Let’s be candid and frank: Everyone is waiting for November.”

  “The whole world is looking to November, and truly speaking, Putin awaits November too.” Zelensky is set to meet with President Biden on Thursday, even as the whole world begins preparing for a likely Trump presidency after the election.

  An unnamed European diplomat voiced the same sentiment, telling Axios, “People are coming [to the NATO summit in Washington] to witness whether Biden is or is no longer [in charge].”

  This as the White House continues to give mixed signals, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre having openly admitted that a “team” is actually in charge and not the elected Commander-in-Chief…

  “He has a team,” is not in accordance with nuclear protocol. That’s not how it works. My jaw hit the floor when I heard her say this. https://t.co/4dsvBso9FV

  — Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) July 9, 2024

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  Meanwhile, Bloomberg in a fresh report has said European countries have begun holding secretive meetings with the Trump team, in another sign that confidence in Biden is dropping fast.

  “Delegations from across Europe were quietly slotting in meetings with advisers and others with links to Donald Trump as they grapple with the possibility — some say likelihood — that he will reclaim the Oval Office,” Bloomberg says in its Wednesday report. “They were hoping to get a clearer sense of just what a Trump victory might mean for an alliance he regularly targets for criticism.”

  And more: “Many NATO and European Union nations have asked for meetings with officials who served under Trump, as well as with prominent Republican legislators seen to be close to him, according to people familiar with the planning.”

  The report further points to an unexpectedly ironic state of affairs concerning George Clooney suddenly coming out against Biden re-running:

  Biden faced new calls on Capitol Hill Wednesday to step aside. Even actor George Clooney went public with an opinion piece Wednesday calling on him not to run. It was an irony of sorts: after a summit in Italy last month, Biden said goodbye to many of the same leaders and joined a California fundraiser hosted by Clooney instead of attending a Ukraine peace summit.

  Zelensky in Washington says “let’s be candid and frank”

  “Everyone is waiting for November”: the Americans, the Europeans and the Russians. “The whole world is looking to November” pic.twitter.com/3HmtjqetjJ

  — John Hudson (@John_Hudson) July 10, 2024

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  The Ukrainians too are panicking, it could actually hasten some kind of deal-making with Moscow to wind down the war. Bloomerg’s White House correspondent Jennifer Jacobs has written on X: “Kyiv wants to convene a second meeting to achieve a fair peace settlement in Ukraine before the US elections in November — this time with Russia attending.”

  It would further be an ultra-ironic state of affairs if Trump was able to bring peace just by getting elected, and before he even enters office, which would be a fulfillment of his prior campaign vows to achieve peace ‘within 24 hours’.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 18:40

• In 'Brutal' CNN Interview, Dem Senator Says Trump Could Beat Biden In "Landslide"; Stephanopoulos Doubts Another Term
  In ‘Brutal’ CNN Interview, Dem Senator Says Trump Could Beat Biden In “Landslide”; Stephanopoulos Doubts Another Term

  Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) on Tuesday became the first Democratic senator to publicly cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s chances against Donald Trump in November.

  

  “Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House,” Bennett told CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday – after telling colleagues the same in private. “So for me, this isn’t a question about polling. It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country.”

  “The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election,” he continued.

  Watch:

  Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) got outed by the media for saying privately that Biden is on track to lose badly to Donald Trump. He went on CNN to own his comments publicly. Respect. This is an absolutely brutal clip if you’re inside the Biden White House right now. pic.twitter.com/oS7BWdkHJF

  — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 10, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsBennet’s comments echo those of a growing number of congressional Democrats who say Biden’s reelection bid could hurt the entire party in down-ballot races this fall. As CNN reports, “Democrats, including those inside the administration, view this week as critical to Biden’s political survival, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill gathered privately for their weekly meetings on Tuesday.”

  “The stakes could not be higher,” said Bennett, who says his voters have “deep concerns” over whether Biden can win.

  Punchbowl News had a sobering take on the state of affairs for Democrats in their Wednesday AM newsletter, saying Biden has “made a mess of the Democratic party.“

  Senate Democrats were far from united about whether Biden is the best person to defeat Trump. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told us that Biden needs to “continue to aggressively make his case” to his fellow Democratic senators in order to “earn full support.”

  New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill issued a statement Tuesday afternoon calling on Biden to step aside in favor of another Democratic candidate.

  “[B]ecause I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country, I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for reelection and will help lead us through a process toward a new nominee.”

  Fellow New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim — who’s running for Senate — walked right up the line of whether Biden should get out.

  “What steps can we actually take right now [to replace Biden.] That’s where some of the confusion is. Especially with all the talk of what are the actual deadlines. It’s hard to kind of make a decision without fully understanding that. We need to get a better grasp on it,” said Kim.

  Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders met privately on Tuesday morning with some of their most vulnerable members, for a conversation that was “honest, brutal and intense,” and left some members crying, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting.

  Stephanopoulos Opines

  ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, told TMZ that he doesn’t think Biden can serve another four years.

  

  The 63-year-old Stephanopoulos sat down for a closely-watched interview with Biden last week following the president’s disastrous debate performance last month against Donald Trump.

  “Do you think Biden should step down?” the TMZ journalist asked the “Good Morning America” co-host and moderator of “This Week.”

  “I don’t think he can serve four more years,” replied Stephanopoulos after a pause.

  #GeorgeStephanopoulos just made a STUNNING comment: he told someone on the streets of #NewYork that he doesn’t think President #JoeBiden can serve another term! https://t.co/cFMK2Uxx4z pic.twitter.com/pxKkolFcGt

  — TMZ (@TMZ) July 9, 2024

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  Stephanopoulos walked back his comment hours later, telling Puck News “Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have.”

  ABC News told the outlet: “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.“

  During the interview between Stephanopoulos and Biden, the president failed to tamp down concerns over his cognitive fitness to continue as president – claiming that he was “exhausted” and “sick” with a “bad cold” heading into the June 27 debate against Trump in Atlanta.

  At another point in the interview, Biden rejected calls to exit the race, saying “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race’, I’d get out of the race, but the Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 18:35

• "Laughable & Propesterous" 198 Democrats Vote Against Republicans' Election Integrity Bill
  “Laughable & Propesterous” 198 Democrats Vote Against Republicans’ Election Integrity Bill

  Update (1830ET): Just as expected, the Democrats – en masse – voted against Speaker Johnson’s bill and therefore for ‘cheating’ in the election.

  🚨 BREAKING: Almost every single Democrat just voted to *protect* the ability of illegal aliens to vote in our elections. pic.twitter.com/MBuXqoCn4U

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 10, 2024

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  We would be interested to see who the five Democrats that voted for law and order and election integrity were though.

  Co-sponsor of the bill, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-09), issued the following statement:

  “I find it both laughable and preposterous that the same people who, for the past four years, forced you to carry a vaccine passport to dine in a restaurant, hold a job or get on a flight are the same people now opposing common-sense legislation requiring individuals to show proof of American citizenship to vote in elections.

  Voters are overwhelmingly concerned about the integrity of elections and rightfully so.  In fact, most states today continue to allow illegal aliens to receive a driver’s license, thus allowing voter registration materials.  With 11 million lawbreakers pouring across Joe Biden’s open border, this legislation is a crucial step towards ensuring our elections are fair and honest,” concluded Congressman Gosar.

  

  Hakeem Jeffries labels the SAVE Act as the “Extreme MAGA Republican Voter Suppression Bill.”

  Hakeem Jeffries labels the SAVE Act as the “Extreme MAGA Republican Voter Suppression Bill.”

  Jeffries frames the bill as being designed to cover for a Trump loss in the 2024 election, and somehow ties a bill that makes it harder for non-citizens to vote to January 6.

  Where do… pic.twitter.com/K7qPX3GhjJ

  — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 10, 2024

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  This wholesale rejection of common sense merely exposes the Democrats’ not so cunning plan during the election and into the future.

  Dems want open borders to increase their voter base & ensure victory come election time. It doesn’t matter who comes to the U.S. or where they’re from. The far Left welcomes them with open arms.

  Add your name to stand with me & help tackle the immigration problem head on.

  — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 1, 2024

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  As @WesternLensman explains perfectly in a post on X:

  Jeffries frames the bill as being designed to cover for a Trump loss in the 2024 election, and somehow ties a bill that makes it harder for non-citizens to vote to January 6.
   
  Where do we even start.

  Here’s what in the SAVE Act, and what Jeffries is really against:

  • Require proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections

  • Prevent non-citizens who receive drivers’ licenses from registering to vote

  • Require states to acquire documentary proof of US citizenship in person when registering to vote

  • Require states to establish a process for applicants who do not have documentary proof of US citizenship, but are US citizens

  • Require states to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls, with free access to federal and state databases with citizenship information

  • Provide states with resources to remove non-citizens form their voter rolls

  There is only one reason to oppose this legislation.

  You want to cheat.

  *  *  *

  Back in May, House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled legislation designed to ensure that only American citizens vote.

  The unfortunate reality is that Joe Biden has let in millions of illegal immigrants, and the risk that these immigrants could influence our elections is extremely high. Legislation like this is absolutely necessary.

  As Matt Margolis previously detailed below via PJMedia.com, Johnson was pushing for the bill before the Independence Day recess with a thread explaining what the legislation does to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote. 

  🧵The SAVE Act will safeguard our elections by ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections.

  Here’s what the legislation does:

  — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 5, 2024

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  Many on the left oppose this legislation, claiming that it’s unnecessary because it is already illegal to vote if you’re not a U.S. citizen. However, Johnson addressed this when he introduced the bill earlier this year.

  “Some have noted that it’s already a crime for noncitizens to vote in a federal election, and that is true. But here are four things that are also true,” Speaker Johnson said back in May.

  “(1) It is true that there is no mechanism to ensure only those registering or voting are actually citizens…

  (2) It is true that Biden has welcomed millions and millions of illegal aliens, including sophisticated criminal syndicates and agents of adversarial governments, into our borders and even on humanitarian parole…

  (3) It is true that a growing number of localities are blurring the lines for noncitizens by allowing them to vote in municipal elections…

  (4) It is true that Democrats have expressed a desire to turn non-citizens into voters.”

  So, what does the bill do?

  Johnson explained in a thread on X/Twitter that the legislation requires state election officials to verify citizenship before providing voter registration forms, mandates proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, and accepts various documents to ease the registration process for citizens. It also gives states access to federal databases to remove noncitizens from voter rolls and confirms citizenship for those lacking proof.

  Additionally, it directs DHS to consider removal proceedings for noncitizens registered to vote and ensures naturalized citizens are notified of their voting rights.

  Who could oppose such commonsense legislation to protect our elections?

  The Democrats, of course. 

  [ZH: House Democratic leadership is bringing out the big guns against a Republican bill set to be voted on next week that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections, Axios has learned.

  In a whip question – a roundup of the coming week’s votes with instructions for how leadership wants rank-and-file members to vote – House Minority Whip Katherine Clark’s (D-Mass.) office told House Democrats they are “urged to VOTE NO” on the bill.

  That means that Democratic leadership will send its whip team to cajole colleagues into not supporting the legislation.

  The bill, Clark’s office said, would create an “extreme burden for countless Americans” and “further intimidate election officials and overburden states’ abilities to enroll new voters.”]

  

  Elon Musk weighed in on the proposed legislation by reposting Johnson’s thread on X.

  

  He dubbed those who oppose it “TRAITORS,” and then rhetorically asked what the punishment for treason is.

  Those who oppose this are traitors.

  All Caps: TRAITORS

  What is the penalty for traitors again? https://t.co/lyREyskPv4

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2024

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  The punishment for treason in the United States, as laid out in 18 U.S. Code § 2381, is the death penalty, or a minimum of five years in prison.

  Also, they are to be fined no less than $10,000 and rendered constitutionally ineligible to hold office in the United States.

  I’m perfectly okay with Democrats who oppose election integrity being barred from holding office. How about you?

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 18:30

• Nationalism: The Great Rethinking
  Nationalism: The Great Rethinking

  Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The year was 1882 and the speaker at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, was the essayist and historian Ernest Renan. His topic: “What Is a Nation?” The thesis rocked the continent and the world. What he called for, in essence, was nations by choice not by force.

  

  I know that it is hard for us today to imagine that the words of any academic intellectual could or would have that impact but times were different. People in those days took intellectuals seriously, probably because they existed and earned their reputations.

  Renan listed five markers of what could be considered a nation: heredity, geography, language, race, and religion/culture. All are potentially coercive, and tempted states with the power to grab people out of their lives and cultures and draft them into some grand project. This, he said, was inconsistent with liberalism as understood in the 19th century, which revolved around the freedom of choice.

  The only kind of nationalism that is conscionable is that which calls for a regular plebiscite, the consent of the people. Nations are self-organizing, not created from without but from within. They can only be assembled by the consent of the governed.

  Why should this even matter so much at the time? The 1880s were a time of dramatic change for the world in politics. The old multinational monarchies were dying out. The Papal states were slipping away under the pressure of the demand for political independence. The Spanish Empire was long gone and the Holy Roman Empire was a fading memory except to populate fashionable cocktail parties with personages of past prestige. The British Empire was already receding. The ethos of democracy was winning the day the world over.

  There was an urgent need to decide some standard by which political independence was recognized as legitimate, without hurling the world into chaos and war. Renan’s goal was to provide such a standard.

  A few decades later, this became supremely important following the catastrophe of the Great War. The multinational monarchies met their final doom and it fell to the world community to decide what nations are and could be.

  In the end, and tragically, it was left to the victors in the war to decide. That meant leaving it to a deeply unpopular U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who only held office due to a split in the Republican Party that swept him into office in 1912. He barely won reelection in 1916 but following the Great War, it fell to his office to determine which European nations would be granted legitimacy. He knew almost nothing about the topic, which left it to the lobbying of European leaders to explain the lay of the land to him.

  The results were obviously imperfect. Together with the rough terms of peace with the Versailles Treaty, the defeated foes were left with huge debts and an incentive to inflate, and a seething political anger that intensified over the decades. The result was the most dreaded outcome of all: a second world war.

  In any case, Renan’s template for the good kind of nationalism dominated after the Great War. All responsible intellectuals saw nationalism as a path to peace and freedom in a war-torn continent. To form one’s nation by consent was seen as an extension of freedom. Wilson called this “self-determination” and mostly people agreed that this was the ideal. This kind of nationalism was regarded as the best post-monarchical model for liberal international relations.

  My own top intellectual influence is the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. His 1919 book was “Nation, State, and Economy.” In his view, language (speech) was the best basis to define nationhood. It’s hard for Americans to understand this since it would seem to put us in one nation with England and Australia. At the time, however, this theory made sense in a European context. Think of the strange and unsustainable amalgams of Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia; a language-centered nationalism could have predicted their demise.

  Mises himself was Austrian, of Jewish heritage, and was thinking in those terms.

  If a group was united in language, he argued, it was a viable nation. And this is a good path to peace.

  “The nationality principle above all bears no sword against members of other nations,” he wrote. “It is directed in tyrannos. Therefore, above all, there is also no opposition between national and citizen-of-the-world attitudes. The idea of freedom is both national and cosmopolitan. It is revolutionary, for it wants to abolish all rule incompatible with its principles, but it is also pacifistic. What basis for war could there still be, once all peoples had been set free? Political liberalism concurs on that point with economic liberalism, which proclaims the solidarity of interests among peoples.”

  It’s fascinating to read that passage in light of what came after. As it turns out, a different form of nationalism was rising in Germany from 1923 and onwards. It absolutely bore a sword. It took the idea of race and ran with it, postulating that the German nation should extend to everyone of “Aryan” race, purging territories of groups that fall outside that designation. In this, the rise of German nationalism drew on race studies of the late 19th century, and trampled all over both Renan’s postulates and Mises’s hopes for the future of nationalism.

  What makes for fascinating reading is Mises’s own 1944 wartime history of the rise of the Nazis. His book “Omnipotent Government” offered a diametrically opposed view of nationalism. In chapter after chapter, he shredded the racial view of political community, condemned all forms of imperialism, and blasted militarism based on nationalistic ambitions. Clearly, his attitudes had changed in light of events. The Second World War caused him to turn against the ideology of nationalism, treating it as potentially aggressive and the enemy rather than the friend of freedom.

  The purpose in recounting this history is simply to say that there is not one correct view of nationalism. It depends on the historical and political context and the cultural and political assumptions behind nationalist feelings.

  After the end of the Cold War, many had hoped that the United States would return to its roots as a peaceful commercial Republic, doing as George Washington said: trading with all and making political alliances with no one, being a light unto all nations while staying out of the internal affairs of foreign nations. This view was widely held on the left and right. However, many in power had different views. They wanted to deploy the newly earned status as the world’s only superpower to become the globe’s policeman, with war after war, intervening in every border dispute or otherwise.

  It was in those days that my own attitudes on nationalism shifted. On matters of political organization, nationalism struck me as mostly benign. But on matters of race and migration, globalism seemed to me to be the right answer. Yes, I was a product of my times and did not know it.

  What I and others had not seen coming was something different, the rise of globalist institutions—built from both public and private monies—that had every intention of trampling on sovereign rights, not only of the domestic political community but also on foreign peoples.

  This new globalism was never more on display than in the pandemic policy response, which the World Health Organization urged every nation to adopt the strategies and tactics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China, locking citizens in their homes and attempting to protect health through use of extreme force. All nations in the world adopted this tactic, save only a few, and this approach wrecked economies, destabilized political systems, and demoralized people of the world. If nothing else, this experience highlighted the dangers of globalist ideology.

  Here we are nearly a century and a half after Renan’s Sorbonne lecture and still grappling with the great question of nationalism. We do have experience to draw on. We know now that nationalism can be a check on globalist power, exactly as Mises imagined it after the Great War, but we are also aware of the dangers associated with chauvinism and imperialism in the name of nation building too, as Mises also mapped out.

  For now, I’m inclined to have a warmer view toward the nationalist temperament if only to guard against the real and present threat of a globalist ruling class imposing rules on the entire planet, creating a regime for the world over which national political systems have no influence. This danger is real and all around us.

  For now, the urge to reassert national sovereignty—whether in the form of American patriotism or European skepticism toward the European Union—strikes me as a necessary frame of mind to get us back to the fundamental principle of freedom itself.

  In theory, the path toward freedom seems easy: human rights, governments that are limited to strict functions only, and diplomacy over war. In practice, this ambition ends up taking a circuitous route. It was true in the last century and it is true in ours as well.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/10/2024 – 18:20