• France's Macron Backs Ukrainian Strikes Inside Russia
  France’s Macron Backs Ukrainian Strikes Inside Russia

  Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

  French President Emmanuel Macron signaled his support for Ukrainian forces to begin striking across their eastern border into Russia, ratcheting up support within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for attacks inside Russia.

  

  Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Mr. Macron noted that Russian forces have launched missiles from within their internationally-recognized territory, which have then flown across the border into Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region. Mr. Macron said Ukraine must therefore be able to strike inside Russia to stop these types of attacks.

  “We think we must allow (Ukraine) to neutralize the (Russian) military sites from which the missiles are fired, but not other civilian or military targets,” the French president said.

  Mr. Macron’s remarks come as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has increasingly signaled support for NATO members to give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy their blessing to use NATO-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.

  “The time has come for allies to consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they have put on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine,” Mr. Stoltenberg said in a May 25 interview with The Economist. “Especially now when a lot of the fighting is going on in Kharkiv, close to the border, to deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves.”

  Addressing the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Monday, Mr. Stoltenberg again offered his support for Ukrainian forces to strike inside Russia’s borders.

  “Self-defense includes the right to also attack legitimate military targets inside Russia,” the NATO chief said. “That’s self-defense and they have the right to self-defense, and we should help them to uphold the right of self-defense.”

  Germany More Cautious About Russia Strikes

  Mr. Scholz expressed reservations this weekend about encouraging Ukrainian strikes inside Russia. Addressing a German public forum on Sunday, May 26, the German chancellor said that the idea of striking inside Russia requires careful consideration and that it could prove “problematic” for NATO members to give Ukraine long-range weapons capable of such strikes without also providing careful guidance about the intended targets of these weapons.

  While standing beside his French counterpart on Tuesday, Mr. Scholz avoided expressing outright support or opposition to Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.

  Instead, the German chancellor said Ukraine is “allowed to defend itself” in accordance with international law.

  Other NATO Allies Divided

  Talk of permitting Ukrainian forces to strike inside Russia with NATO-supplied weapons has divided other members of the Western security alliance.

  A Reuters reporter asked British Defense Minister David Cameron, during a May 2 interview, whether Ukraine should carry out strikes on targets in Russia, to which the British official replied, “We don’t discuss any caveats that we put on those things but let’s be absolutely clear Russia has launched an attack into Ukraine and Ukraine absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia.”

  “Including inside Russia?” the Reuters journalist again asked, to which Mr. Cameron replied, “Well it’s, that’s a decision for Ukraine, and Ukraine has that right.”

  Over the weekend, Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson also told the Swedish newspaper Hallandsposten that “Ukraine has the right to defend itself through combat actions directed at the opponent’s territory as long as the combat actions comply with the laws of war.” Sweden is the newest member of NATO and was inducted into the alliance in March.

  By contrast, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her government have distanced themselves from Mr. Stoltenberg’s calls for NATO to support Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.

  Speaking to Italy’s Ansa News agency on Monday, Ms. Meloni said the NATO secretary general should exercise “more prudence” with his remarks. Italy’s deputy prime minister and transportation minister, Matteo Salvini, also told Ansa News that Mr. Stoltenberg’s comments raise the prospect of a new world war and that the NATO secretary general should apologize for his recent comments or resign.

  Biden Admin Not Changing Policy

  The question of allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia has elicited a mix of views from among current and former members of President Joe Biden’s administration. The Biden administration’s overarching policy has been one of opposition to Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, but some have urged a policy change or suggested caveats.

  During a May 15 visit to Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government has not “encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine.” However, Mr. Blinken left some room for Ukraine to decide for itself whether such strikes are prudent.

  “Ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war, a war it’s conducting in defense of its freedom, of its sovereignty, of its territorial integrity,” the secretary of state said. “We will continue to back Ukraine with the equipment that it needs to succeed, that it needs to win.”

  In a May 19 interview with ABC News, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said that with the recent Russian offensive around Kharkiv, the time had come for the Biden administration to change its tune and allow strikes on military bases inside Russia.

  “I think if the attacks are coming directly from over the line in Russia, that those bases ought to be fair game, whether they are where missiles are being launched from or where they are where troops are being supplied from,” Ms. Nuland said.

  Asked to address Ms. Nulands remarks in the ABC News interview, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a May 20 Pentagon press conference that the Ukrainian military’s focus “ought to be on the close fight.” Moments later, Mr. Austin added that the United States expects Ukrainian forces to use U.S.-supplied weapons “on targets inside of Ukraine” but said “the aerial dynamic’s a little bit different” and that he’d “leave it up to the experts” to decide what to do.

  A bipartisan group of 13 House sent a letter to Mr. Austin on May 20, urging the Biden administration to permit Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons on strategic targets inside Russia’s borders.

  Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also appeared to throw his support behind allowing Ukrainian forces to use U.S.-supplied weapons inside Russia’s borders, telling a Voice of America reporter, “I think we need to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war the way they see fit” and “I think us trying to micromanage the effort there it’s not a good policy for us.”

  Despite the growing domestic and international pressure, the Biden administration insisted it still won’t permit Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons inside Russia.

  “We’re aware of the interest that President Zelenskyy has expressed in this regard. I would tell you that there’s no change to our policy at this point. We don’t encourage or enable the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a White House press briefing on Tuesday.

  Putin Warns NATO Members

  Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t remained silent regarding NATO’s discussion of Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.

  Addressing reporters at a press conference while visiting Uzbekistan on Tuesday, Mr. Putin said the Russian side is monitoring the comments and behavior of NATO members “very carefully.”

  The Russian president further asserted that certain long-range missile systems like the Franco-British-designed Storm Shadow cruise missile and the U.S.-designed Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) are reliant on space-based targeting support provided to Ukrainian forces by NATO member nations. He suggested such targeting assistance closely implicates these NATO nations in any strikes on Russian territory.

  “Targets are identified and automatically communicated to the relevant crews that may not even realise what exactly they are putting in. A crew, maybe even a Ukrainian crew, then puts in the corresponding launch mission,” Mr. Putin said. “However, the mission is put together by representatives of NATO countries, not the Ukrainian military.”

  The Russian president went on to say that NATO members therefore “should be fully aware of what is at stake,” adding, “They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory.”

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told Russian broadcaster Izvetsia on Tuesday that Russia would prepare countermeasures if European Union member nations decide as a group to lift restrictions on Ukrainian attacks within Russia’s borders.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/30/2024 – 02:00

• American Globalism Versus 'America First'
  American Globalism Versus ‘America First’

  Authored by Francis P. Sempa via RealClearDefense,

  Hal Brands, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, has laid out in an essay in Foreign Affairs the key differences between what he rightly calls “American Globalism” and what has been called the “America First” approach to global affairs. Brands clearly is in the “American Globalist” camp, but unlike other supporters of the “liberal international order,” he does not label “America First” as isolationist. Instead, he lauds the global benefits to the post-1945 world order and worries that they will eventually disappear if Donald Trump regains the presidency. Brands doesn’t want the United States to be a “normal” country that only looks after its own national interests. What he fails to appreciate, however, is that the post-1945 world order he supports is already gone.

  

  The geopolitics of 1945-1991 disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The war in Ukraine, despite the claims of many globalists, has not recreated the Soviet threat to Europe. If Ukraine, or parts of Ukraine, remain under Russian control, U.S. national security will not be endangered. Nor will Europe’s. NATO has doubled in size since 1991. Russia in relative power is considerably weaker than the Soviet Union was throughout the Cold War, and its ruling class no longer has a revolutionary ideology that legitimizes its continued rule and motivates international aggression. Of course, Russian imperialism has not disappeared from Russia’s foreign policy DNA, but the Russian empire of the Czars was never considered to be an existential threat to the United States (although the Monroe Doctrine included Russia in its restrictive warning), even when it occupied Alaska and parts of California in the 19th century. And today’s Russia is having difficulty holding on to the eastern provinces of Ukraine, and has once again sent out feelers for a ceasefire to end the war.

  The architects of American foreign policy after the Second World War formed alliances and built-up U.S. military power to protect our national interests which were threatened by Stalin’s Soviet Union. They understood that American security depended on the geopolitical pluralism of Eurasia. Our policymakers at the time had read their Mackinder, Spykman, and Burnham. Brands has read them, too, and has written insightfully about their geopolitical wisdom. The geopolitical pluralism of Eurasia continues to be important to U.S. security, but the primary threat has shifted from Europe to the Indo-Pacific–from Russia to China. Those who Brands labels as “America Firsters,” including Donald Trump, have recognized this. Indeed, it was in the Trump administration that the real “pivot” to Asia began to occur, led by key national security officials like Elbridge Colby, Matthew Pottinger, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien. This shift was described in Josh Rogin’s magnificent book Chaos Under Heaven. 

  American Cold War foreign policy was not based on a selfless commitment to globalism. What Brands calls “American Globalism” was undertaken to protect U.S. national interests. Brands quotes Dean Acheson in 1952 to the effect that the post-World War II situation required the United States to broaden its view of our national interests. And so, it did. But the post-World War II world is gone. The Soviet threat that inspired our commitment to American Globalism is gone. It has been replaced by the Chinese threat which requires a shift in our commitments given the limits of American power.

  The “American Globalism” supported by Brands fails to account for the limits of American power. Policymakers should continue to read Mackinder, Spykman and Burnham, but should also read Kennan and Lippmann who counseled prioritizing threats in the context of limited resources. Yet Brands still wants America to engage in democracy and human rights promotion and protect “intangible norms such as non-aggression.” He worries that a second Trump administration would “deglobalize” our defense, perhaps by withdrawing our nuclear umbrella from Europe and parts of Asia. He fears that Trump would no longer use American power to defend “distant states.” He expresses concern that Trump would not view our current alliances as “sacred.” He suggests that Trump would settle for a Western Hemispheric defense. He sides with the critics of “America First” who claim that a more restrained foreign policy “would be devastating to global stability.”

  The “American Globalism” touted by Brands has not been an unvarnished success. It has made the nations of an entire continent content with resting their security on the United States and imposed an unnecessary burden on American taxpayers to provide for Europe’s common defense. It has led to an inconclusive war on the Korean peninsula that cost the lives of nearly 40,000 U.S. military personnel, a humiliating military defeat in Vietnam that cost the lives of nearly 60,000 U.S. military personnel, and more recent “endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan that resulted the deaths of more than 7,000 U.S. military personnel for no appreciable gain. It has led to the establishment of a national security state and what President Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex” that impinges on the liberties of American citizens and profits from wars.

  The American foreign policy tradition has much deeper roots that the post-Second World War order. It reaches back to George Washington and the wise counsel of his Farewell Address that warned against permanent alliances with, and passionate attachments to, other nations, while allowing for temporary alliances that serve our nation’s interests. Time and circumstances have not rendered the wisdom of Washington’s words obsolete.

  Francis P. Sempa is the author of “Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century” and “America’s Global Role.”  Francis is also writes the montly Best Defense column for RealClearDefense.  Read his latest: Ukraine and the Pity of War.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 23:40

• Seattle Squatters Smug As County Swamped With 'Enormous Backlog' Of Eviction Cases
  Seattle Squatters Smug As County Swamped With ‘Enormous Backlog’ Of Eviction Cases

  Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle, is drowning in a significant backlog of eviction cases, leaving thousands of landlords and tenants in limbo for more than six months in some cases.

  

  Prior to the pandemic, evictions took 6-7 weeks if a tenant needed the boot. Now, an “unlawful detainer” eviction case in Seattle or surrounding areas won’t be heard until 2025.

  “There’s a pretty enormous backlog,” said Edmund Witter from the King County Bar’s Pro Bono Services, Fox13 reports. “If you’re a landlord trying to evict someone, it could take months to get a hearing date. That’s the big issue.”

  According to King County Councilman Regan Dunn, the last year has been particularly bad – with an estimated 2,200 to 6,500 unresolved cases, and roughly 600 new eviction requests each month.

  “Why we’re seeing a lot of evictions right now is that there was a decent safety net over the last couple of years due to COVID,” said Witter – who added that his office is overloaded and has a list of 1,500 renters who need representation.

  “We see tenants with $2,000 to $3,000 rent increases,” Witter said. “The cost of living is too high, and people cannot afford housing. They’re getting crushed underneath it, and that’s why we’re seeing record numbers of evictions.”

  Meanwhile, judges told Fox13 that the expiration of pandemic-era eviction moratoriums and the depletion of federal aid created a perfect storm.

  According to Councilman Dunn, people are exploiting the situation.

  “There are serial squatters who know the rules and don’t care,” he said. “They’ve found ways to stay in their units longer because of new legal protections.”

  It’s not just people at the margin… In March, a squatter made headlines for refusing to move out of a $2 million house in upscale Bellevue, despite a household income of $408,000 per year as a medical consultant. The landlord claims the renter, Sang Kim, owes him around $80,000 in legal filings as well.

  Wild Saturday afternoon in Bellevue. Serial squatter Sang Kim came outside and confronted some of the protesters supporting landlord Jasakaran Singh. He also whacked my camera as I tried to ask him some questions. Otherwise, Singh’s wife is now calling out politicians by name and… https://t.co/BD00wzI7Qh pic.twitter.com/hOaV1ZqDHF

  — Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) March 31, 2024

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

  Landlords are fed up and have organized outside the home.

  

  Dunn has proposed spending $1.3 million to increase the number of court staff in order to speed up the process.

  “We can’t do any of that if there aren’t enough bodies to process these cases,” he said.

  Witter, the squatter attorney, disagrees, saying of Dunn’s plan; “This does not address the actual issue of why people are being evicted in record numbers. He’s just saying we need to speed up making people homeless faster.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 23:20

• Court Finds Error In Jan. 6 Case, But Obama Judge Rules Against Convict
  Court Finds Error In Jan. 6 Case, But Obama Judge Rules Against Convict

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A federal judge wrongly stopped a Jan. 6, 2021, defendant from striking a potential juror who admitted he could not view the defendant as presumptively innocent, a U.S. appeals court has found.

  

  U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta [an Obama appointee] denied a request from lawyers for Thomas Webster, who was later convicted on multiple counts, to strike a potential juror known as 1156 who had expressed support for President Joe Biden and said that support would put Mr. Webster at a disadvantage.

  The potential juror also said he did not see the trial as “a 0-0 game to start” and, when asked by the judge if he could honor the presumption of innocence, said, “I honestly don’t think so.”

  “The district court should have struck at least potential juror 1156 for cause,” U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, writing for a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said in the May 28 ruling.

  “A district court should never allow a juror to sit after he admits he cannot presume the defendant innocent. Full stop,” Judge Millett added later.

  Lawyers for Mr. Webster said in a brief to the circuit court that while the potential juror did not end up being part of the jury, the man should have been struck by Judge Mehta. They also highlighted how the judge did not strike another prospective juror, who said that she was “more aligned” with government attorneys than Mr. Webster’s lawyers. They also raised concerns about how the judge then instructed counsel not to question subsequent jurors as to whether their views gave the defendant a disadvantage.

  “The court’s further instruction to counsel put a chilling effect on the afternoon session of voir dire,” the lawyers said. “Counsel was limited from using words that jurors may understand better than the legal jargon of presumption of innocence to get at real concerns of bias.”

  The appeal said Judge Mehta also should have granted a motion to change venue given results from a survey of Washington residents, that the judge committed an error when providing instructions to the jury, and that his approval of a sentencing enhancement for wearing body armor should be overturned.

  After explaining how Judge Mehta wrongly did not strike potential juror 1156, the circuit court panel denied the entire appeal.

  “That single error in a lengthy voir dire process does not indict the process itself given the absence of any prejudice tied to the jurors who actually decided Webster’s case,” Judge Millett wrote.

  The panel said that Mr. Webster did not provide enough news articles to show the jury pool was prejudiced against him. even after noting that one quoted a person on social media as calling him an “eye gouger.”

  “Without more, such routine and objective press coverage of a criminal prosecution does not trench upon the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” Judge Millett said.

  A survey of 400 Washington voters found that some respondents were prepared to find people involved in the Jan. 6 breach guilty, without hearing evidence. But nearly half of respondents said they did not know how they would vote if named to a jury, that their vote depended on other factors, or refused to speculate how they would vote in such an instance, the circuit court noted in ruling against the change of venue arguments.

  As for the instructions to the jury, Mr. Webster said the judge erred in telling jurors that one can violate federal law prohibiting assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with federal officers only if the person made physical contact with the victim.

  The judge may have made a mistake, but “any such mistake would have helped, rather than hurt, Webster by making it harder for the jury to convict him,” the panel said. “Webster, after all, does not dispute that the jury was properly instructed on and found each of the necessary elements for his offense. So removing any surplus elements from the jury instructions would only have made it easier for the jury to convict. The jury still found Webster committed every true element of the crime.”

  The sentencing enhancement for wearing body armor was correct, Judge Willett said, because Mr. Webster was wearing body armor when he pushed a Metropolitan Police Department officer on Capitol grounds.

  “Webster used body armor while committing his assault. He put it on that morning, in part, for protection. He wore it throughout the day, including as he attacked [the officer]. Given those facts, the district court correctly applied the enhancement,” she said, citing guidelines that say harsher sentences can be imposed if a person is convicted of a crime of violence and “used the body armor with respect to that offense.”

  The court also said Mr. Webster’s sentence, 10 years, was appropriate given his actions.

  Judges Mehta and Millett were appointed by former President Barack Obama. Judge Millett was joined by Circuit Judges  Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both appointed by former President Donald Trump.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 23:00

• Israel Warns The War In Gaza To Last Through End Of 2024
  Israel Warns The War In Gaza To Last Through End Of 2024

  Israel is warning that its military operation in Gaza will continue through at least the end of the year, in an assessment which is sure to shock and anger the growing chorus of international critics and countries.

  Israel’s national security adviser and top Netanyahu aide Tzachi Hanegbi stated Wednesday: “We are now in the fifth month of 2024, which means we expect another seven months of fighting to deepen our achievements and achieve our goal of destroying the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

  

  The same official stressed that the war cabinet had defined 2024 as “a year of combat” in the wake of the Oct.7 terror attack by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

  Israeli officials have long signaled that the big Rafah incursion is expected to be the last major offensive of the conflict, but since then Hamas has reappeared in places in northern and central Gaza where it had previously been defeated.

  Hanegbi’s fresh assessment strongly suggests that Rafah will not be the end, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu having previously portrayed Rafah as the “last bastion” of the fight. But the Israeli leader has also vowed that Israeli forces won’t stop until Hamas is fully eradicated.

  This is proving easier said than done – as the combat conditions throughout Gaza are akin to the grinding urban fighting US Marines faced in Fallujah or Mosul – and probably worse.

  When the United States has faced an insurgency, in Iraq or Afghanistan for example, it led to many years of fighting and a seemingly endless unstable occupation.

  There’s also the difficult reality of the tunnels. By some estimates, all combined there is a vast system of literally hundreds of miles of tunnels running under the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants have become experts as utilizing the tunnels to employ rapid hit and run guerilla tactics.

  Given that often ambushes against the Israel Defense Forces are conducted in small teams, typically of 3 or 5 Hamas fighters, the group is often able to inflict damage while mitigating the number and rate of its losses.

  AJ: Officially reported figures from each side…

  

  There continue to be thousands of Hamas militants in the tunnels, settled in and ready to conduct a long insurgency, and amid a dense civilian population. For this reason, some analysts see Israel in a bit of a lose-lose situation. Hamas can hide out, strike convoys, and bleed Israeli forces slowly.

  Meanwhile the rising civilian death toll will continue to put immense political pressure on the Netanyahu government. The ‘cost’ in blood and treasure will also drive bigger and more consequential protests domestically, which have already been running hot in places like Tel Aviv and in front of the Knesset.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 22:40

• Bitcoin: A New Hope For Innovators In Corrupt Economies
  Bitcoin: A New Hope For Innovators In Corrupt Economies

  Authored by Win Ko Ko Aung via BitcoinMagazine.com,

  In a world where “talent is everywhere, opportunity is not,” the existing fiat monetary system perpetuates the divide between those with access and resources those without. Even in democratic societies, which have their own flaws, people generally enjoy stable currencies, freedom, and rule of law. These features create an environment rich with opportunities, where a person’s start in life doesn’t have to dictate where they end up.

  

  Bitcoin advocate and bestselling author Lyn Alden is a prime example of overcoming obstacles and taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by democratic societies. Despite experiencing homelessness for several years, she worked her way up to become a well-known figure in financial circles. Her story is not unique; many refugees fleeing war and persecution have found ways to adapt, innovate, and thrive in new lands, contributing significantly to their adopted communities.

  WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, for example, grew up without electricity in Ukraine, and after immigrating to America he spent several years cleaning grocery stores before finally achieving success. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin has tweeted about how he found success in America after escaping persecution in Russia. “My family and I, and thousands of Soviet Jews like us, came to the US as refugees in ’91, running from a regime that persecuted us because of who we were,”. Another amazing immigrant success story is that of Mai Lee Chang, who was born in a Thai refugee camp to Vietnamese parents and only knew one English word — “restroom” — when she started school in the U.S. Chang overcame numerous obstacles and is now an engineer contributing to NASA’s journey to Mars.

  However, the situation is vastly different under authoritarian regimes, where a person’s potential is often predetermined by their birth circumstances. Typically, in such places if you’re not born into a family with connections to corrupt officials—in other words, if you’re not a rich kid—your ability to innovate and your entrepreneurial spirit will be systematically suppressed. Under these regimes, the fiat system isn’t based on merit, but rather rigged in favor of such ‘crony kids.’ In other words, the systems are based on nepotism, family connections, and corruption.

  In the past, when there was neither the internet nor smartphones available, the average individual living in such hostile environments simply accepted the harsh reality of being destined to serve dictators and their family members. Today, however, Bitcoin is emerging as more than just a technology; it serves as a gateway to financial empowerment without compromising moral values. It offers a powerful tool for breaking through many of the concrete barriers erected by oppressive governments.

  The experience of Swan Htet Aung (Swan), an AI entrepreneur from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), demonstrates how Bitcoin can provide a lifeline to individuals facing the harsh reality of starting from scratch without money or family connections. After founding his AI company in 2016, Swan’s startup grew quickly, and by 2020 it was generating annual revenue of over $300,000.

  Highlighting the importance of Bitcoin in preserving financial health, Swan recalled a pivotal moment after the coup in February 2021. Four days after the military takeover, he withdrew his company’s cash and converted it to Bitcoin and USDT. He made this decision just a couple of weeks before banks in Myanmar began limiting withdrawals for individuals and businesses, allowing him to take control of his company’s assets. Unfortunately, his choice to keep the remaining USD assets in the banks caused him to lose a significant portion of the company’s financial assets when the Myanmar’s junta enacted an extreme new monetary policy designed to conserve USD for its war machine. The policy, issued by Myanmar’s Central Bank on April 3rd 2022, resulted in the forceful conversion of Swan’s USD reserves into Myanmar’s rapidly depreciating local currency (the Myanmar Kyat) without his consent at 30% below the market rate.

  The new policy mandated that “Residents within the country must repatriate foreign currency earnings obtained from abroad to Myanmar. These earnings are to be sold and exchanged for Myanmar Kyat within one working day through banks holding Authorized Dealer (AD) licenses by opening a foreign currency account in Myanmar.”

  People living in countries with more fair and just legal systems might find it difficult to comprehend such oppressive financial policies. However, Myanmar actually has a history of centralized financial institutions wielding power to suppress its citizens. A notorious example happened in 1987 when the government suddenly demonetized 25, 35, and 75 Kyat notes, effectively erasing 80% of the currency circulating in the economy overnight.

  More recently, after Myanmar’s violent military coup in 2021, the Burmese military used tactics such as freezing the bank accounts of activists, journalists, and supporters of the anti-coup movement, further demonstrating the junta’s tactic of oppressing people via the fiat financial system. Unfortunately, such abusive policies are often effective in places such as Myanmar, where people are preoccupied with ensuring their physical survival, securing food for their table, and keeping a roof over their heads – leaving them with little energy or no interest to challenge or fight against injustices.

  Before 2010, Myanmar had a lower mobile phone ownership rate than North Korea, and dictator Than Shwe’s regime discouraged internet use by spreading propaganda that the internet was merely a place for adult videos. By 2016, however, the landscape had changed dramatically, as social media, affordable smartphones, and cheap SIM cards had become widely accessible to the majority of the country’s population.

  Initially, Myanmar entrepreneur Swan came to the U.S. at age 32 for the GenAI event hosted by AWS in San Francisco to learn and gain new experiences, intending to return to Myanmar. However, while he was in transit, the Burmese military activated a forced conscription law, drastically changing his life trajectory. This law, combined with the financial instability caused by the Central Bank’s actions, widespread socio-economic injustice, and the country’s hyper-surveillance system, prompted Swan to decide to stay longer in the U.S. He now hopes to obtain an O1-Visa to continue his work and rebuild his dream in an environment where there are more opportunities to innovate and develop. While the U.S. has its own inequalities and domestic issues, many foreigners still view it as the best destination to pursue their dreams, believing that hard work and innovation can lead to success.

  In a conversation for this article, Swan recounted the early days of his startup in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Along with two friends, Swan launched an AI software company in 2016, a period of time when Myanmar was undergoing significant reforms and gradually increasing its participation in the global community after over half a century of isolation.

  “Human labor is cheaper in Myanmar than subscribing to software,” Swan said.

  “It makes sense for business owners to hire staff at a salary of $100 a month and assign them multiple tasks, whether they’re inside or outside the scope of the job, unlike a chatbot for customer service.”

  While AI job displacement is rising in the developed world, in developing countries sweatshop conditions and cheap labor costs will always outcompete AI, at least in places where electricity is limited and there’s zero democracy (of course, low wages and sweatshop working conditions also raise a host of ethical problems that must be addressed).

  Swan then shared the early struggles of his startup, “We spent pretty much all of 2016 just developing the product because we didn’t get a single customer. I had a side job and lived with my parents in a rented apartment while the other two co-founders left to pursue other full-time opportunities.”

  Swan, who speaks Burmese and English fluently, mentioned that he faced social constraints while raising funds, primarily because Myanmar is an emerging market. Additionally, there was an underlying social barrier: he had never worked abroad and held a degree from a university in Yangon. Unlike the privileged ‘crony kids’, Swan lacked a privileged background, so his start-up struggled to find investors despite generating annual revenues of $300,000 in 2020 and signing deals with over 1,000 business partners, including multinational corporations like Samsung, Unilever, Carlsberg, NIVEA, and many more.

  If a protocol-based fundraising system like Bitcoin was available for entrepreneurs in the developing world, talented individuals like Swan could scale up their startups regardless of their socio-economic status or whether they have a prestigious degree.

  Bitcoin may be seen as an investment asset class in the developed world or misunderstood as an environmentally damaging technology, but it represents a lifeline, money, and access to the global capital market for talented individuals in developing countries who are trapped in an unfair monetary system which primarily benefits privileged ‘crony kids.’ These talented individuals don’t have the luxury of engaging in the unfinished global debate about Bitcoin. Rather, they are desperately trying to break free from the cycle of economic oppression. Thankfully, under the Bitcoin standard individuals can access opportunities and financial freedom, ultimately contributing to a more equal and prosperous global community.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 22:20

• BYD's New Ultra Long-Range Hybrid Can Go 1,250 Miles Without Recharging Or Refueling
  BYD’s New Ultra Long-Range Hybrid Can Go 1,250 Miles Without Recharging Or Refueling

  Range anxiety with electric vehicles becomes less of a problem when switching to hybrids – a plan almost all of the auto industry is now embracing after finding out the economics of pure BEVs are a prohibitive nightmare. 

  For example this week Bloomberg reported that BYD had unveiled a new “hybrid powertrain capable of traveling more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) without recharging or refueling”. 

  The technology will be featured in two sedans priced below 100,000 yuan ($13,800) and capable of covering distances comparable to Singapore to Bangkok or New York to Miami on a single charge and tank of gas. This advancement marks a significant stride in fuel efficiency since BYD introduced its first hybrids in 2008.

  The Shenzhen-based automaker, known for aggressive pricing strategies that have impacted its profitability, dominates the Chinese hybrid market, holding a 50% market share, Bloomberg writes.

  In response to consumer range concerns and environmental considerations, automakers globally are innovating, as demonstrated by Toyota’s recent unveiling of a versatile new internal combustion engine.

  

  BYD, which ceased production of solely fossil-fuel vehicles in early 2022, is expanding its hybrid exports, particularly to markets with limited charging infrastructure. The new upgrades, initially available in China, are expected to be exported soon.

  Recall just days ago we wrote that Volkswagen was stepping back from BEVs into hybrids. And back in April we noted that Ford was “re-timing” its efforts to go all electric and back in February we wrote that GM was shifting to plug-in hybrids, too. 

  CEO Mary Barra said on an earnings call back in February: “Let me be clear, GM remains committed to eliminating tailpipe emissions from our light-duty vehicles by 2035, but, in the interim, deploying plug-in technology in strategic segments will deliver some of the environment or environmental benefits of EVs as the nation continues to build this charging infrastructure.”

  

  We also noted at the beginning of the year that BYD had surpassed Tesla in fully electric vehicle deliveries for the first time. 

  The company said it produced more than 3 million new energy vehicles for the year and it marks the second year that BYD has beat out Tesla in total production. BYD produced 1.6 million battery only vehicles, just slightly behind Tesla, and 1.4 million hybrids. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 22:00

• Saudi Textbooks Remove Palestine From Most Maps, Amid Push To Normalize With Israel
  Saudi Textbooks Remove Palestine From Most Maps, Amid Push To Normalize With Israel

  Via Middle East Eye

  Saudi textbooks have removed the name “Palestine” from most maps where it previously appeared, a study by an Israeli think-tank said. The study, conducted by the NGO Impact-se, tracks changes in Saudi school textbooks over the past five years, as reflected in the 2023-24 academic year. 

  It reviews 371 textbooks published between 2019 and 2024, and highlights content removed, altered or that which remained unchanged. A social studies textbook for grade 12 defining Zionism as a racist movement was no longer taught from 2023, while another textbook still taught has removed the chapter about the Palestinian cause, the study revealed.

  

  According to the study, the social studies textbooks for grades five and nine consistently don’t name Palestine or Israel on maps, which is an omission from the 2022 versions which only named Palestine on the map. 

  “Most maps removed the names of all countries not bordering Saudi Arabia, including Palestine, and in some cases all country names were removed,” the report said.

  Likewise, two maps in a geography textbook for grades 10-12, which previously named Palestine, now do not display the names of any country bordering Saudi Arabia. The same omission took place in social studies textbooks for grades six and seven.

  Islamic studies and geography textbooks for grades 10-12 also removed maps that previously displayed historic Palestine instead of Israel. 

  A reference to Israel as “the Zionist entity” in the 2021 social studies textbook for grades 10-12 was removed in the 2022 edition, and the entire textbook that included a lesson on Arab and Saudi support for the Palestinian cause was discontinued in 2023.

  Less hostile tone

  The report also documented some alterations in textbooks that now refer to Israel in a less hostile tone.

  For example, the 2022 version of a high school social studies textbook replaced references to Israel as “the Zionist enemy” with “the Israeli occupation army”. The same textbook edited “the Israeli enemy” to “the Israeli occupation”, and “the Zionists” to “the Israelis”, or “the Israeli occupation army”.

  Saudi Arabia has not formally recognized Israel since its creation in 1948, but there has been persistent speculation that the kingdom would normalise relations with the state as its Gulf neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have in recent years.

  

  These rumors, however, were disrupted following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza that has killed a reported more than 36,000 Palestinians.

  Saudi Arabia has been a strong opponent and critic of Israel’s onslaught. The Saudi foreign ministry said in February that no normalization would take place without a ceasefire and progress toward Palestinian statehood.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 21:40

• Japan's Largest Nuclear Reactor Remains Idle, Despite Nation's Energy Crunch
  Japan’s Largest Nuclear Reactor Remains Idle, Despite Nation’s Energy Crunch

  We don’t think it’ll be long before nuclear power once again has a renaissance, as we’ve written about extensively. But for now, the world’s largest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, is sitting idle even as the world’s energy needs continue to grow. 

  Bloomberg reported this week that the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, recognized by Guinness World Records for its potential 8.2 gigawatt output, stands idle despite once being central to Japan’s goal of deriving 50% of its energy from nuclear power by 2030.

  The facility, known as KK, shut down its seven reactors following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which led to a national reevaluation of nuclear energy. Amidst current economic strategies targeting industries like semiconductor manufacturing and AI, debates are intensifying over whether KK and its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., should be given another opportunity.

  Globally, nuclear power is witnessing a resurgence, as we have been covering here on Zero Hedge. In the U.S., AI-Jesus Sam Altman just had his small modular reactor company, Oklo, listed on NYSE. Around the world in places like France and Poland, the small modular reactor model could be what ushers nuclear back in, with some countries planning for adoption by 2030.

  The International Atomic Energy Agency projects that nuclear power capacity could increase by 24% by 2030 and by 140% by 2050 from 2022 levels. Countries like China and India are expanding their nuclear programs, while even Saudi Arabia is exploring nuclear options with the U.S., reflecting a broader recommitment to nuclear energy as a vital resource.

  

  Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, said in March: “It’s very important for Japan to be able to count on Kashiwazaki Kariwa again. How many countries have that idle capacity? Many countries wish they just had it.”

  Restarting or building new nuclear reactors in Japan is politically challenging. Nuclear power provides steady, carbon-free electricity, unlike the variable output from wind and solar. However, these facilities take over a decade to construct and produce long-lasting hazardous waste.

  In 2017, two reactors at the KK plant were approved to restart by Japan’s nuclear regulator, but a firm restart date has not been set due to lacking local government approval. The issue may be addressed in the upcoming regional assembly meeting in Niigata prefecture, where KK is located, Bloomberg noted. 

  Again, the restart will likely only occur when the obvious benefits outweigh the memories of past disaster at Fukushima. 

  This occurs as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration reviews Japan’s energy policy, a routine evaluation involving various stakeholders, which could reshape the country’s nuclear energy goals amid criticisms of insufficient clean energy initiatives.

  Amidst global energy uncertainties, highlighted by events in Ukraine and the Middle East, Japan’s heavy reliance on imported energy for 70% of its electricity needs is problematic, especially with 21 nuclear reactors currently idle.

  Tepco President Tomoaki Kobayakawa concluded, telling reporters in April: “We need to secure a stable electricity source for our customers — it’s important to have some source that’s not dependent on overseas fuel imports.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 21:20

• Democrats To Virtually Nominate Biden To Ensure Ohio Ballot Access
  Democrats To Virtually Nominate Biden To Ensure Ohio Ballot Access

  Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Joe Biden will be virtually nominated as the Democrats’ presidential nominee before the party’s national convention in August to secure his spot on Ohio’s general election ballot.

  

  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) was notified months ago that President Biden’s name would not appear on the state’s general election ballot unless he was nominated by the state’s deadline of Aug. 7. The Democrats’ national convention, where the party would typically nominate its chosen candidate, is scheduled for Aug. 19 to 22 in Chicago.

  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called a special legislative session to address the issue last week, though lawmakers had not agreed to a solution by the DNC’s announcement on May 28.

  “Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement.

  “Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.”

  A date for the virtual nomination was not announced, though it is expected to come within the weeks following the committee’s rules and bylaw committee’s vote on changes to the roll call process on June 4.

  The virtual process is expected to mirror the format the party used in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the traditional in-person convention will still take place, it will be largely ceremonial.

  Ohio revised its certification deadline from 60 to 90 days ahead of the general election in 2010. Since then, lawmakers have twice extended the deadline—in 2012 and 2020—to accommodate both parties’ nominating conventions. This will be the first year just one party has scheduled its convention too late.

  The Ohio Legislature is controlled by the GOP, which holds majorities in both chambers. Although lawmakers appeared to be on the cusp of a legislative fix for the dilemma earlier this month, a final solution was never solidified.

  A bill that would have extended the deadline and placed President Biden on the ballot was passed by the state Senate, but a provision prohibiting foreign spending on state ballot issues halted its progress in the House. For Democrats, the proposed restriction seemed to be an effort to block future ballot campaigns after their success last year in passing three ballot measures, including a constitutional right to abortion.

  Meanwhile, a House bill would add President Biden’s name to the ballot and allow more time for political parties to certify nominees in future presidential elections.

  In a May 21 letter to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters, the state’s Secretary of State Frank LaRose warned that the party was running out of time to nominate President Biden before ballots would need to be prepared.

  “Let me be clear that this is not an action I wish to take, as I believe it to be in the best interest of Ohio voters to have a choice between at least the two major party candidates for the nation’s highest political office.”

  The Ohio Senate scheduled one day of legislative activity to address the problem on May 28. Lawmakers in the House will hold two days of committee hearings before voting on the proposed fixes on May 30.

  Jeff Louderback and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 21:00

• Arizona Biology Teacher Quits Due To Students' "Addiction" To Their Cell Phones
  Arizona Biology Teacher Quits Due To Students’ “Addiction” To Their Cell Phones

  One Arizona high school teach is resigning over his students’ addictions…to their phones.

  The constant use of smartphones in his classroom has driven Sahuaro High School’s Mitchell Rutherford to tell Fox News last week that he is “giving up” being a biology teacher because he can’t control phone usage. 

  “I have been struggling with mental health this year mostly because of what I identified as basically phone addiction with the students,” he commented.

  After being a teacher for 11 years, he has resigned. He said last week that he has implemented a “variety of lesson plans” to try and make it clear to his students the negative effects of constant phone usage.

  “Here’s extra credit, let’s check your screen time, let’s create habits, let’s do a unit on sleep and why sleep is important and how to reduce your phone usage for a bedtime routine, and we talked about it every day and created a basket called ‘phone jail,’” he told Fox News. 

  

  He likened the phones to other addictions in the area: “Opioids, obviously a huge problem, cocaine, heroin, all of those drugs, alcohol, it’s all a big problem, but like sugar even greater than that and then phones even greater than that.”

  He said that “something shifted” in the kids during the Covid-19 pandemic and that their addictions to their phones got worse. 

  Recent studies indicate that pandemic-related disruptions have significantly harmed the education and productivity of K-12 students across the country. Rutherford expressed concerns to the media, initially blaming himself for the growing educational gaps. He noted that some students openly disregarded school, but he ultimately believes that societal changes are needed to instill better habits in children.

  “As a society, we need to prioritize educating our youth and protecting our youth and allowing their brains and social skills and happiness to develop in a natural way, without their phone,” he concluded. 

  “Part of me feels like I’m abandoning these kids,” he said, adding, “I tell kids to do hard things all the time, and now I’m leaving? But I decided I’m going to try something else that doesn’t completely consume me and drain me.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 20:40

• Why It's Time To Stop Taxing Gold & Silver
  Why It’s Time To Stop Taxing Gold & Silver

  By Jesse Colombo, of BullionStar

  You’d have to be hiding under a rock to be unaware that inflation is one of the most pressing issues of our time. After a shocking 23% increase in the cost of living since 2019, all but the wealthiest of Americans are getting squeezed and seeing their living standards plummet at an alarming rate. Grinding inflation is causing once-affluent people to become merely middle class, former middle-class people to become working class, while working class people are being forced into the ranks of the working poor and even the destitute. According to the most recent Gallup Poll, inflation was America’s number one worry with 55% of people polled saying that they worried about inflation “a great deal,” while the latest Fed survey showed that two-thirds of Americans believe that inflation has made their financial situation worse.

  The sad truth is that inflation is not an inevitable fact of life or an inherent flaw of capitalism; it is a direct byproduct of unbacked paper money and central banking. The United States experienced virtually no inflation for over a century until the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913 and the U.S. dollar was progressively downgraded from a gold-backed currency to a paper currency that could be — and has been — printed to oblivion.

  

  Though the U.S. is no longer on the gold standard, savers and investors have been able to effectively protect their wealth from the ravages of inflation by creating their own personal “gold standard,” so to speak, by investing in gold and silver bullion. Unfortunately, the U.S. government taxes capital gains on gold and silver bullion at an unfairly high rate, which is particularly infuriating because those so-called “gains” are not actually gains at all as they are simply compensation for the plunging purchasing power of the dollar, which is the U.S. government’s fault in the first place! Thankfully, as I will discuss later in this piece, there is a glimmer of hope in the form of a new bill that intends to eliminate U.S. federal capital gains taxes on physical gold and silver.

  What is Inflation & What Causes It?

  In order to truly understand the virtues of gold and silver, it’s important to understand inflation, what causes it, and how destructive it is to society. Simply stated, inflation is an increase in the money supply that manifests in the form of pricier goods and services as well as a loss of purchasing power of the currency that is being inflated. The money supply is the number of units of currency in existence; the more units in existence, the less each unit is worth.

  Contrary to popular belief, the rising money supply itself is inflation; the rising cost of goods and services is just an inevitable consequence of that inflation. General inflation is always monetary in origin and is not caused by supply shocks such as an energy crisis or a drought that pushes up food prices. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously stated, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.”

  The long-term chart of the U.S. adjusted monetary base, which is one of several widely followed money supply measures, shows how the country’s money supply surged by an astounding 55,440% from 1920 to 2020. (Note that the Federal Reserve stopped publishing this data series in late-2019, which is serious reason for suspicion. Are they trying to hide how much they’ve debased the U.S. dollar? You decide.)

  

  Though the U.S. money supply has grown as a function of time, there have been a series of pivotal events that have accelerated and further enabled that process:

  • The U.S. Federal Reserve was founded in 1913 with the primary responsibility of issuing and managing the U.S. dollar. Unfortunately, it has proven to be a terrible steward of our nation’s currency because it has been all too willing to create new dollars to enable government spending. For example, the dollar lost half of its purchasing power within just six years of the Fed’s founding due to its funding of America’s role in World War I. Massive wartime inflation ensued, devastating the dollar’s purchasing power.
  • President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the U.S. off the Gold Standard in 1933. The United States was on the Gold Standard from 1834 until 1933, which meant that the dollar was backed by and redeemable in gold. For nearly a century, holders of dollars could trade $20.67 to receive an ounce of gold. The Gold Standard helped to limit the expansion of the money supply. To create inflation and counteract deflation during the Great Depression, FDR banned private American citizens from owning gold and forced them to turn in their gold to the Federal Reserve for $20.67 per ounce in 1933. Foreign governments could still redeem their dollars for gold, however. The dollar-gold exchange rate was then changed to $35 per ounce, which meant that the dollar was devalued by 59% against gold. Sure enough, the money supply and cost of living were soon increasing at a rapid rate once again.
  • Until 1965, U.S. dimes, quarters, and half-dollars were made from an alloy that consisted of 90% silver. In response to the rising price of silver (which itself was a byproduct of inflation), Congress enacted the Coinage Act of 1965, which eliminated silver from dimes and quarters, and reduced the silver content of the half-dollar from 90% to 40%. In 1970, silver was eliminated from the half-dollar. The new coins were made from nickel and copper, which are much cheaper, non-precious metals. Because the melt value of the older silver coins exceeded their face values, the coins were quickly removed from circulation by people who were aware of their greater value — a classic example of Gresham’s Law (i.e. “bad money drives out good money”). The older silver coins are still very popular with precious metals investors today. The Coinage Act of 1965 is often overlooked but represents a significant debasement and downgrade of the U.S. dollar.
  • From 1933 to 1971, foreign governments could still redeem their dollars for gold, which meant that the dollar was still backed by gold in some sense. On August 15th, 1971, President Richard Nixon ended all convertibility of dollars into gold, which turned the U.S. dollar into a pure fiat or paper currency that could be printed with no limitations whatsoever. Almost immediately, the money supply started growing at a breakneck pace, which led to the infamous inflation of the 1970s. The U.S. experienced an 8.21% average annual rate of inflation from 1971 to 1980, producing a cumulative price increase of 46%.

  

  • To combat the 2008 Financial Crisis and Great Recession, the Federal Reserve used an unconventional and aggressive monetary stimulus tool known as quantitative easing or QE. In simple terms, QE is digital money printing in which the Fed buys assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage bonds in order to fund government spending and pump liquidity into the economy and financial markets. From 2008 to 2014, the Fed printed approximately $3.5 trillion via its QE programs, which caused the money supply and cost of living to soar.
  • After its trial run in 2008, quantitative easing became a permanent tool in the Fed’s toolbox. After all, what government wouldn’t want the ability to fund its increasingly reckless spending with money created out of thin air? When the COVID-19 pandemic came along in 2020, the Fed quickly created approximately $5 trillion worth of new currency via QE to keep the economy afloat during the government-imposed lockdowns. That $5 trillion funded a dizzying number of stimulus programs including the purchase of debt securities and other assets, PPP loans, stimulus checks, and generous unemployment benefits. Unfortunately, that sharp expansion of the money supply caused a cumulative price increase of 23% since 2019 and has made so many Americans’ lives miserable in the process.

  The long-term U.S. Consumer Price Index chart going back to 1800 shows how each progressive assault on the dollar’s integrity caused the cost of living to skyrocket while causing the dollar’s purchasing power to plummet. Most people are unaware that U.S. consumer prices were largely stable for nearly a century until the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913, which let the inflation genie out of the bottle in a tremendous way. Since the Fed was founded, U.S. consumer prices have increased more than thirty-fold! It’s hard to imagine a time when there wasn’t steady and consistent inflation, but that was the reality in the 19th century when money — thanks to its backing by gold and silver — was far sounder than it is today despite our advanced technology and accumulated knowledge.

  

  Since the Fed was founded in 1913, the U.S. dollar has lost nearly 97% of its purchasing power and there is no end in sight, unfortunately:

  

  Another way of visualizing the dollar’s stunning loss of purchasing power is by comparing it to gold, which has been used as money for six thousand years and is the most stable store of value in existence. Over the past century, the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power has plunged by 99.17% relative to gold:

  

  Here are some tangible and relatable examples of how the destruction of the dollar affects everyday Americans:

  • An income of over $200,000 per year is needed for a family of four to live comfortably. In some states like California, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, an income of approximately $300,000 is necessary for a family to live comfortably. Meanwhile, the average annual salary is just $59,428, 74% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and 67% are unable to cover an unexpected $400 expense.
  • The surge of inflation since the pandemic means that the average American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living that they had in January of 2021.
  • It now costs more than $1,000 a month to feed a family.
  • Since President Biden took office in 2021, the cost of groceries is up 21%, gasoline is up 47%, shelter is up 20%, electricity is up nearly 30%.
  • The median U.S. home price just hit an all-time high of $434,000, which is a roughly 30% increase since the pandemic started. As a result, first-time buyers need a household income of nearly $120,000 just to afford a median-priced home.
  • Those who can’t afford to buy a home are typically forced to rent, but with the typical monthly rent now $1,957, even renting has become unaffordable for a record half of all renters.
  • The average cost of health insurance for a family of four is approximately $23,968 per year.
  • It now costs roughly $306,924 to raise a child through age 17.
  • The average American family can expect to spend $1,984 per month on child care, which is more than a mortgage payment or rent almost everywhere in the United States.
  • The average cost of a new vehicle is a near-record $48,510.

  There are many other examples like the ones above, but the message is clear — even a modest lifestyle is becoming almost impossible in America, and it’s entirely the fault of the U.S. government, the Federal Reserve, and a currency that isn’t backed by anything. As the quote commonly attributed to Thomas Jefferson presciently states, “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

  Sure enough, the U.S. homeless population surged by 12% in 2023 to the highest level in at least fifteen years and is only going to grow worse as the dollar is debased as a function of time. We are in a very different world from the one in which a father could support a family comfortably on one income while going on annual family vacations and saving money for retirement and their children’s educations, as was common in the mid-to-late twentieth century; that’s the difference between life with sound money and life without sound money.

  

  Here are some of the best quotes about inflation and its devastating effect on living standards:

  • “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” ― Vladimir Lenin, founder & first leader of the Soviet Union
  • “Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some…the process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.” ― John Maynard Keynes, economist
  • “As I have repeatedly said, inflation is a form of taxation without representation. It is the kind of tax that can be imposed without being legislated by the authorities and without having to employ additional tax collectors.” ― Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist
  • “[Inflation] is a way to take people’s wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.” ― Thomas Sowell, economist
  • “In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.” ― Alan Greenspan, economist & former Fed chairman

  How Gold & Silver Protect Wealth

  As we have seen, the U.S. government and Federal Reserve’s constant assault on the paper dollar makes it a terrible store of value and it will continue to be diluted to oblivion in the years and decades to come. The dollar is merely useful as a medium of exchange at best — a hot potato to be traded for useful goods and services as quickly as it is received. Anyone who is holding a large portion of their wealth in U.S. dollars over long periods of time is giving the government a license to steal their hard-earned wealth.

  Unlike paper currencies, gold and silver bullion have proven to be the best stores of value for millennia. Gold and silver are extremely effective at preserving wealth because they can’t be printed or created out of thin air the way that paper currencies are, which means that their prices rise over time as the paper money supply grows. Holders of gold and silver see the value of their assets rise while the currency is debased, which is what allows them to preserve their wealth.

  It’s important to point out, however, that gold and silver are not actually rising in value in an absolute sense; the paper currencies that gold and silver are denominated in are losing value due to debasement, which is why gold and silver appear to rise in price. In that scenario, gold and silver are simply maintaining their value and purchasing power — the so-called “gains” are illusory. A good example of this is how a quality men’s suit has long been worth the equivalent of one ounce of gold. In the 1930s, both a suit and an ounce of gold cost approximately $35. Now, nearly a century later, both cost around $2,300.

  The chart below shows how gold follows the U.S. M2 money supply higher over the long run:

  

  Silver also follows the money supply higher over time, though it is more volatile than gold and has longer periods of time when it lags or outpaces money supply growth:

  

  Why It’s Time to Stop Taxing Capital Gains on Gold & Silver Bullion

  As we have seen, the United States government and Federal Reserve have been absolutely terrible stewards of the dollar and have crushed the middle class with their incessant debasement of our currency. It’s hard to imagine those institutions doing an even worse job than they already have — it’s practically criminal and any reasonable person can be forgiven for thinking that it’s being done knowingly and even intentionally. As the economist Milton Friedman so accurately stated, inflation is a form of taxation without representation, which was one of the main grievances that led our colonial American forefathers to revolt against Great Britain. The American people have virtually no say in how our currency is managed, yet we are forced to use that currency by law. We are completely trapped.

  Though everyday Americans are essentially powerless concerning the management of our national currency, we have a few options for preserving our wealth at the individual level, such as the personal “gold standard” that I mentioned earlier in this piece (i.e., preserving wealth by investing in gold and silver bullion). As we’ve written about previously, there’s a major issue that makes that strategy far less effective than it should be and is holding it back from much wider adoption: U.S. federal capital gains taxes on gold and silver bullion.

  The issue is not just that there are capital gains taxes on gold and silver bullion in the first place, but also that the capital gains tax rate on bullion is much higher than the capital gains tax rate on other investment assets. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service considers gold and silver bullion to be in the “collectibles” category — just like art, baseball cards, and Beanie Babies — and taxes capital gains on those items at a hefty 28% rate. In contrast, the long-term capital gains tax rate on stocks and bonds is just 15% for most people and even 0% for those with lower incomes. Essentially, the U.S. government is picking winners by showing favoritism toward stocks and bonds as opposed to gold and silver bullion.

  It’s extremely unfair for the U.S. government to tax so-called capital gains on gold and silver bullion when those “gains” are not really gains at all but are the result of the debasement of paper money, which is the very fault of the U.S. government! That’s a perfect example of how we are “being ground between the millstones of taxation and inflation,” as Vladimir Lenin put it. People don’t invest in gold and silver bullion to get rich; they’re just looking to preserve their wealth. People who are looking to get rich typically gravitate toward hot, speculative tech stocks, cryptocurrencies, and flipping houses — not staid gold and silver bullion, which is commonly derided as a “Boomer investment” by today’s young, hotshot crypto speculators (though I don’t agree with them, of course).

  Introducing The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act

  A couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was a new bill called The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act (H.R. 8279) that aims remove all federal income taxation from gold and silver bullion. The bill was introduced by U.S. Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) and backed by the Sound Money Defense League and other free-market activists. Representatives Scott Perry (R-PA) and Randy Weber (R-TX) also cosponsored the bill. “My view, which is backed up by language in the U.S. Constitution, is that gold and silver coins are money and are legal tender,” Rep. Mooney said. Mooney further stated, “If they’re indeed U.S. money, it seems there should be no taxes on them at all. So, why are we taxing these coins as collectibles?”

  

  According to the Sound Money Defense League’s press release:

  “Sound money activists have long pointed out it is inappropriate to apply any federal income tax, regardless of the rate, against the only kind of money named in the U.S. Constitution. And the IRS has never defended how its position squares up with current law.

  Furthermore, the U.S. Mint continuously mints coins of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium and gives each of these coins a legal tender value denominated in U.S. dollars. This formal status as U.S. money further underscores the peculiarity of the IRS’s tax treatment.”

  (It is also worth pointing out that many countries around the world don’t impose capital gains taxes on gold and silver bullion including Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Jamaica, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and others.)

  The Sound Money Defense League’s press release also stated:

  “The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act aligns with a broader national trend. With most states having already eliminated sales tax on the purchase of precious metals, state legislatures are increasingly introducing and approving measures to eliminate state income taxation of gold and silver.

  Alabama and Nebraska each passed their version of this policy this year. Arizona, Arkansas, and Utah approved similar measures in recent years. And Iowa, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas also considered income tax exemptions in 2024, with several approving the bill across multiple committees and chambers.”

  You can read the text of H.R. 8279 here and track its status here.

  Everyone who believes in sound money, justice, and fairness should support The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act. To do so, please contact your local elected officials and let them know that you support this bill and feel free to forward them this article as it explains the flaws of paper money and central banking, as well as how gold and silver bullion have helped people preserve their wealth for thousands of years. Also, you can use Twitter/X to reach out to Rep. Alex Mooney, the Sound Money Defense League, and the Sound Money Defense League’s Policy Director Jp Cortez to ask them how you can help and get involved in supporting this important bill. BullionStar has always been a vocal proponent of sound money and free markets, and will continue to support this bill and the overall movement to the best of our ability.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 20:20

• Israel Launches Airstrikes Deep Into Syria – Reports Of Civilians Dead & Wounded
  Israel Launches Airstrikes Deep Into Syria – Reports Of Civilians Dead & Wounded

  Israel’s military on Wednesday launched a fresh attack on targets deep inside Syria, which reportedly left civilian casualties, according to state media.

  State sources identified that it was a neighborhood that was struck, while the anti-Assad opposition outlet Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli strikes targeted “at least one military site… in the eastern countryside of Homs, causing plumes of smoke to rise.”

  

  Syrian government sources said the Israeli strike killed a girl and wounded ten civilians. Gruesome images circulated on social media which purport to show the deceased child’s badly maimed body.

  “The Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Lebanon, targeting a central site and a residential building in Baniyas city in the coastal region, killing a girl and wounding 10 civilians,” a Syrian defense ministry statement said.

  “Syrian air defense intercepts enemy targets in the skies of the city of Homs,” the official SANA news agency also reported.

  Israeli media sources regularly say that such air raids into Syria, which typically involve Israeli aircraft firing from over Lebanese airspace in order to avoid triggering Syria’s anti-air systems, target Hezbollah and Iranian positions.

  But Syria has at the same time lodged repeat complaints to the United Nations that Israel is committing aggression against a sovereign state, and that very often civilians are killed and property and buildings left destroyed. These complaints tend to fall on deaf ears in the West, which has long waged a regime change war against President Bashar al-Assad. Israel was also part of this covert campaign, which saw the anti-Assad axis arm, train, and fund various al-Qaeda and jihadist groups.

  

  In the initial days and weeks after Oct.7, Syria had lobbed several rockets toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which left no casualties. Much of the Syrian populace has meanwhile become frustrated and expressed growing anger that the Russian military, which has long had a significant presence inside Syria (especially since 2015), has not done more to try and intercept inbound Israeli jets.

  Tensions are soaring especially in the wake of Israel’s April 1st brazen attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which left a high ranking IRGC General and several other Iranian officers dead.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 20:00

• North Carolina Criminal Mask Legislation Criticized With COVID-Era Concerns
  North Carolina Criminal Mask Legislation Criticized With COVID-Era Concerns

  Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A North Carolina bill to increase penalties for criminals who wear masks to conceal their identity while committing a crime is being scrutinized and framed as an attempt to target those who continue to follow COVID-era health precautions.

  

  Republican state Sen. Buck Newton told The Epoch Times that the bill’s intent, however, is not to prohibit people from wearing masks if that is what they choose, but in response to growing law enforcement and business concerns over crime.

  “More and more people are using masks and other clothing to disguise themselves when engaging in criminal behavior,” Mr. Newton said. “It seems logical to increase penalties for those who do so.”

  According to the language of House Bill 237 titled “Unmasking Mobs and Criminals,” the bill repeals an exemption to the previous mask law that allowed for people to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

  “The law before COVID was pretty clear, and its main reason was to combat the Klu Klux Klan and other organizations who hide behind masks while attempting to intimidate people or do criminal acts,” he said. “So, we didn’t see any reason why we needed to maintain this exception which really wasn’t even necessary when it was passed for COVID.”

  The exemption that was crossed out which has become the subject of controversy allows for “any person wearing a mask for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others.”

  Essentially, the target of the bill are those who are trying to hide their identity, Sen. Newton said, so people who choose to wear a mask for COVID reasons, or because it’s a part of their job, are free to continue to do so.

  Other exceptions include performing arts, Halloween, and Mardi Gras masks during holidays and other special occasions, he said.

  “They’re not hiding their identity just because the wearing of a mask might obscure their identity, so that’s OK,” he said. “And that’s what the law has been since the 1950s. All we’ve done is eliminate the 2020 exception that was created in 2020 and go back to where we’ve been from the 1950s to 2020.”

  ‘Some People Say We Are Fear-Mongering’

  However, the response to the proposed legislation has been one of fear, he said, with many Democrats calling referring to the bill as anti-mask legislation.

  Democrat state Sen. Sydney Batch spoke about the legislation on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here” when she criticized the removal of the COVID exemption.

  She said she agreed with Republicans on needing legislation to make the jobs of law enforcement easier, but at the same time, the immunocompromised must stay protected.

  “Some people say that we’re fear-mongering,” Sen. Batch said. “And what I would tell you is that for someone who’s been immunocompromised in the past and had to wear masks, and my children and my husband wear masks to protect me, you know, I’m not fear-mongering. It’s a genuine concern, right? Somebody can actually die and get very ill if they are not able to protect themselves, if they’re immunocompromised, etc.”

  She went on to say that, if passed, the legislation would disproportionately impact the black community.

  “And so there are a lot of individuals in the community that will still wear a mask,” she said. “A lot of black churches, you’ll see people still wearing masks, but they also disproportionately, if you look at statistics, also get stopped by and questioned by police, disproportionate to, obviously, the population.”

  ‘Whether the Klan or Antifa, We Want them Unmasked’

  The bill is also in response to organizations like the masked Antifa and the most recent pro-Palestinian protesters who have been witnessed wearing masks to protect their identity while damaging property and committing crimes.

  “I don’t think I can recall ever seeing a picture of a person who is supposed to be a part of Antifa who wasn’t masked,” Mr. Newton said. “Whether they are the Klan or Antifa, we want them unmasked. Law enforcement wants them unmasked. And I think the general public would like them unmasked.”

  Additional penalties found in the bill “create civil liability” for protesters who block roads for emergency vehicles.

  Tara Muller, a policy attorney with Disability Rights North Carolina, told ABC News that the proposed legislation is an affront to those who see masks as a way to protect health.

  “This law says to them that you are not welcome in our community and we don’t value your presence to accommodate your need to wear a mask,” she said.

  ‘Lies and Malicious Information’

  According to Republican state Rep. Ken Fontenot in a Carolina Journal opinion piece, the only people who need to worry about the “Unmasking Mobs and Criminals” legislation are the criminals.

  “The title is plain enough, straight to the point, and completely accurate,” Mr. Fontenot said. “The law is reasonable and should be enacted immediately. I write about this because a lot of lies and malicious misinformation has been spread concerning this law. Personally, I’m upset because the slander that has been spread is dangerous and completely unfounded in reality.”

  He said that criminals are the ones who are propagating lies that the legislation is targeting those who want to wear masks for reasons other than committing a crime, such as perceived health maintenance.

  “This law ONLY applies to people wearing masks while committing crimes, no more and no less,” Mr. Fontenot said.

  The reaction to the bill is unfortunate, Mr. Newton said.

  “I find it regrettable that so many people have been frightened into thinking that their mask-wearing for health reasons is somehow going to be criminalized,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 19:40

• Sixth US Reaper Drone Falls Into Houthi Hands
  Sixth US Reaper Drone Falls Into Houthi Hands

  Via The Cradle

  A US MQ–9 Reaper drone came down over Yemen on Wednesday, video footage and images circulating social media have confirmed. This marks the sixth US MQ-9 Reaper to fall into the hands of Yemen’s Ansarallah movement and Armed Forces (the Houthis).

  Yemeni forces have yet to confirm whether the drone was downed or if it crashed, as video footage shows the US drone in near-perfect condition. The fourth and fifth MQ-9 Reaper drones were shot down on 17th and 21st of May. The MQ-9 Reaper is worth around $30 million.

  

  Washington and London have, since January, been waging a brutal campaign of airstrikes against Yemen in response to the pro-Palestine naval operations that Ansarallah and the Yemeni army began in November last year.

  The start of the US-led war against Yemen prompted Yemeni forces to begin targeting US and British vessels alongside those linked to or bound for Israel. 

  The western campaign has done nothing to deter the Yemenis. US and EU maritime task forces have failed to progress in preventing attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Arab Sea, Indian Ocean, and elsewhere, which have resulted in a strain on both the Israeli economy and international shipping as a whole. 

  The Yemeni Armed Forces announced in a statement on Wednesday that it targeted six ships in three different seas, using both missiles and drones. Three ships were struck in the Red Sea, another two US ships were hit in the Arabian Sea, while one oil tanker was hit in the Mediterranean. 

  Yemen said at the start of May that its operations would expand into the Mediterranean Sea, following its announcement in March that the Indian Ocean would be included in its scope of attacks. 

  BREAKING | The downing of yet another US MQ-9 drone by the Yemeni Armed Forces in Marib. pic.twitter.com/oNGQlzr3OS

  — The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) May 29, 2024

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

  It has repeatedly vowed that it will continue its operations until the war in Gaza is brought to an end and until the siege is lifted and sufficient amounts of aid are brought in to the Palestinians. 

  “We believe that the famine currently occurring in Gaza is sufficient to provoke the feelings of the entire world, and therefore we are working day and night to develop and expand our operations to lift this injustice and stop these crimes against the people of Gaza,” a Yemeni official told Mondoweiss on May 26. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 19:00

• Furiosa Box Office Flop Signals The Death Of Feminist "Boss Babe" Films
  Furiosa Box Office Flop Signals The Death Of Feminist “Boss Babe” Films

  A decade in the movies is a lifetime in terms of popular culture.  Back in 2015 the future of American film and television still seemed bright with a host of box office winners every year making billions of dollars per production.  However, something sinister was bubbling under the surface in Hollywood.

  Maybe it was two terms of Barack Obama and far-left politics that spurred the change, maybe it was a confluence of random coincidences, maybe it was the threat of a possible Donald Trump presidency or maybe the social engineers simply decided it was time, but from 2015 to 2016 everything changed in Tinsel Town.  The entertainment industry has always been overly progressive in nature (not to mention perpetually degenerate), but this new wave of “woke” collectivism was something entirely different.

  Someone turned the propaganda dial up to eleven.  Since then media companies have been on a relentless campaign of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).  Their goal?  To saturate every corner of pop culture with feminism, critical race theory and LGBT indoctrination to the point that it’s impossible to walk into a movie theater or turn on the TV without being psychologically molested (a problem Hollywood is famous for).  

  The agenda went even further that that, though.  The industry not only set out to make every single project woke, they also tried to go back in time and retroactively erase characters they don’t like anymore – Specifically, straight white male heroes.

  In December of 2015 Disney’s feminist Star Wars series was launched with ‘Force Awakens’ and Sony went even more obvious with their all-female Ghostbusters cast in 2016. The rise of the “boss babe” trope was at hand and an army of infallible, all powerful and insufferable Mary Sues was unleashed. The trend started with reboots; movies and shows with no originality that replaced popular male protagonists with less interesting female characters.  Those people that tracked the drama around Ghostbusters might recall that establishment journalists lost their minds when the movie’s feminist messaging was highly criticized.  Fans were constantly attacked as “bigots.” 

  Production companies were simply stealing the stories of beloved classic blockbuster films and putting women in the primary roles.

  

  While there was more attention surrounding Star Wars and Ghostbusters, there was another movie released in 2015 that some commentators warned about; a movie that launched the feminist subversion trend using what we now call the “bait and switch” strategy.  That movie was ‘Mad Max: Fury Road.’

  To be sure, plenty of people at the time enjoyed Fury Road and still do.  It wasn’t widely known that director George Miller’s wife was reportedly a militant feminist and he had also adopted feminist politics later in life. Miller told Vanity Fair in May 2015:

  “I’ve gone from being very male dominant to being surrounded by magnificent women. I can’t help but be a feminist.” 

  This might explain why Mad Max: Fury Road is strangely devoid of the popular Mad Max character for a large part of the film. Instead, we are treated to a “badass” boss babe in the form of a new female protagonist called Furiosa.  Critics at the time warned that Fury Road was a feminist bait and switch – Using an original popular male character as a vehicle to promote his eventual female feminist replacement.

  Almost ten years later we have now come full circle with the theatrical release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, proving the critics right.  Audiences mostly ignored Fury Road’s bait and switch in 2015, maybe because people had no inkling of the woke agenda behind it.  In 2024, things have changed dramatically.  Movies are worse in terms of propaganda but at least audiences are now savvy to the game and they aren’t paying to be brainwashed anymore.  

  No one wants to see a Mad Max Movie without Mad Max, and it would appear that the era of the boss babe is dead. 

  

  Furiosa officially flopped hard at the box office with the worst Memorial Day weekend performance in over 30 years.  The film’s opening draw is being called ‘disastrous’, even by the Hollywood media.  It’s budget is estimated at around $300 million including marketing and promotion, yet it only netted $30 million in the long holiday weekend.  It will require around $500 million in theater receipts just to break even (theaters take 50% of all ticket sales). 

  The prequal flick has received positive reviews and the media is apparently stumped as to why it’s not performing better.  Some analysts blame inflation and the higher cost of living, making recreational spending more difficult for most families.  Some studio executives still blame the pandemic, believe it or not.  The problem is that these theories have been debunked.  Certain movies have performed very well in the past year which means the public is still hungry for entertainment, they just aren’t hungry for Furiosa.

  With the exception of the Barbie Movie (a feminist movie marketed as a romantic comedy that ultimately had no romance in it), every feminist film is now bombing.  There is no money to be made in these endeavors and all that sweet ESG cash has dried up.

  The hailstorm of woke movie failures might have caused Furiosa to suffer collateral damage.  Maybe the box office embarrassment of the film is unfair.  But, it’s not unfair to point out that Hollywood did this to themselves.  Any hint of feminist propaganda and audiences turn their noses up; odds are good the movie will be a waste of their hard earned cash.  For now, media companies still refuse to learn their lesson.  What’s the lesson?  Get Woke, Go Broke.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 18:40

• Scientific Misconduct Has Eroded Public Trust And Accountability
  Scientific Misconduct Has Eroded Public Trust And Accountability

  Authored by Tony Nikolic via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Scientific misconduct has cast a long shadow over the fields of medicine and public health, significantly impacting public trust and posing serious ethical and legal challenges.

  

  Cases from the United States, UK, and Australia reveal a troubling pattern, where scientific integrity is compromised, and often influenced by the commercial interests of multinational corporations.

  This article explores these impacts, the erosion of trust in journals and institutions, and the legal consequences faced by entities engaging in or abetting such misconduct.

  Erosion of Public Trust

  Public trust is the cornerstone upon which the medical field rests. However, instances of scientific misconduct, particularly those involving pharmaceutical giants, have led to a growing public skepticism prompting some experts to initiate programs such as Restoring Invisibile and Abandoned Trials (RIAT) Initiative.

  One notorious example is Study 329, a clinical trial funded by GlaxoSmithKline that misleadingly promoted the safety and efficacy of the antidepressant paroxetine in adolescents.

  The misleading publication in 2001 has had long-standing effects on antidepressant use in children, contributing to a mistrust in pharmaceutical research.

  The study exposed allegations of researchers miscoding side effects to the extent that serious adverse events occurred in 11 patients in the paroxetine group, five in the imipramine group, and two in the placebo group.

  Ten of the 11 serious adverse events in the paroxetine group were psychiatric, for example, depression, suicidality, hostility or euphoria, some of the very issues the medications were indicated to treat.

  In 2004, Dr. Elspeth Garland, a professor at the University of British Columbia, called attention to the “weak or non-existent evidence of efficacy” of SSRIs in this setting and the “serious psychiatric adverse effects” of paroxetine.

  A British Medical Journal editorial documents that there has been no correction, no retraction, no apology and mostly no comment from the authors, journal editor, or from the universities where authors worked in 2001.

  The RIAT analyses of Study 329 and the lack of any correction of the original flawed paper have major implications for clinical practice decisions being made on the basis of published clinical trials.

  Leading experts on clinical trials now believe that we must question the validity of the data and conclusions of all published clinical trials that have not been subject to independent analysis.

  Independent analysis of Study 329 demonstrated serious harms and a lack of efficacy for acute and longer-term use of paroxetine and imipramine for adolescents with major depression.

  • This example of the RIAT initiative reveals that the current methods of trial conduct, analysis and publication are unacceptable and required further oversight.
  • Published conclusions about efficacy and safety of drugs without independent analysis cannot be accepted as trustworthy.
  • It is essential that primary trial data and protocols for all clinical trials be made available for independent analysis.

  Decline in Journal Credibility

  The integrity of scientific publishing has been seriously questioned in light of misconduct. The retraction of high-profile papers has not only marred the reputation of journals but also shaken the faith of the public in medical research outputs.

  For instance, the retractions of COVID-19 research papers by reputable journals due to questionable data integrity have only added to the public’s confusion and distrust during a global health crisis.

  Independent evaluations of clinical trials for medications and vaccines, like the COVID-19 vaccine, are essential as a utilitarian tool to safeguard the community from potentially harmful practices by multinational companies.

  These evaluations ensure that all side effects are accurately reported and assessed, mitigating risks associated with underreporting.

  For example, during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, independent reviews were crucial in identifying rare but serious side effects, such as blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. This led to tailored usage recommendations to maximise safety.

  However, during the COVID period, drug regulators, government officials and pharmaceutical companies were suspected of hiding data, underemphasising side effect reports, reports of harm and deaths until public inquiries, court challenges, and independent media came knocking.

  Although dismissed as conspiracy theories, the issue of scientific misconduct, suppression/censorship of independent data and expert testimony remains an area of significant concern.

  Similarly, the re-examination of the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx highlighted the importance of independent scrutiny after initial trials underreported serious cardiovascular risks, leading to its eventual market withdrawal.

  These cases underscore the value of independent evaluations in maintaining transparency, fostering public trust, and ensuring that the collective health benefits of medical products outweigh potential risks.

  Legal Repercussions and Corporate Influence

  Legal actions against pharmaceutical companies have revealed a pattern of behaviour intended to prioritize profits over public safety. Notably:

  1. Merck’s Vioxx Controversy: Merck faced numerous lawsuits for concealing the risks of its painkiller, Vioxx, which was linked to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. The company settled for $4.85 billion in 2007, one of the largest pharmaceutical court settlements.
  2. Pfizer Inc.: In 2009, Pfizer Inc. was fined $2.3 billion for violations under the False Claims Act, marking it as the largest healthcare fraud settlement at that time. This legal action addressed Pfizer’s illegal promotion of several pharmaceutical products, including the anti-inflammatory drug Bextra. The settlement included a criminal fine of $1.195 billion and civil liabilities amounting to approximately $1 billion. This case highlighted significant issues regarding the underreporting of side effects and the unethical promotion of medical products beyond their approved usage, demonstrating the critical need for independent evaluations to safeguard public health.
  3. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Study 329: In 2012, GSK agreed to pay $3 billion in fines, in part for fraudulently promoting paroxetine. This case highlighted the issue of publishing biased research to support pharmaceutical sales, leading to one of the largest healthcare fraud settlements in U.S. history.
  4. AstraZeneca and COVID-19 Vaccine: The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine faced scrutiny and legal challenges due to initially undisclosed rare blood clot risks. Though not leading to significant legal penalties, this issue has fuelled debates on transparency and safety in emergency vaccine approvals.

  Global Legal Frameworks

  Various countries have developed frameworks to address and mitigate scientific misconduct:

  • United States: The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) oversees the integrity of biomedical and behavioural research supported by the Public Health Service. Penalties for misconduct can include debarment from funding and criminal charges.
  • United Kingdom: The UK Research Integrity Office offers guidance and support for good research practice but lacks enforcement power. Legal actions tend to be taken directly against entities like pharmaceutical companies rather than individual researchers.
  • Australia: The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research outlines standards for honesty, rigour, and transparency. Breaches can result in withdrawal of funding and reporting to professional bodies.

  Despite these facades existing globally, the exaggerated COVID crisis has raised many questions about the perceptions the community have about such bodies and their capacity to discharge their duties independently.

  With regard to the COVID crisis, we saw many pharmaceutical executives, public figures, media personalities, so-called public health experts, politicians, and corporations making statements about the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines that did not appear in some of the contracts for the vaccines globally.

  This, in addition to the journals purporting to find results without the clinical trial ending, demonstrated a perceived bias that perforated the halls of institutions that would otherwise protect citizens from such overreach.

  Instead, these institutions turned into corporate cheerleaders supporting the utilitarian benefits of an untested mRNA genetic experiment that were showing significant safety signals in relation to genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and fertility problems early on.

  The Way Forward: Safeguarding Scientific Integrity

  To protect science from undue corporate influence, stronger regulatory and legislative measures are necessary. These include:

  • Enhanced Disclosure Requirements: Researchers and journals must disclose all conflicts of interest and funding sources to prevent biased research outcomes.
  • Independent Oversight: Bodies like the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States are pivotal in the independent review and approval of drugs, ensuring that corporate interests do not compromise public safety.
  • Public and Transparent Research Registers: Initiatives like the AllTrials campaign advocate for the registration of all clinical trials and the full publication of their results to prevent data suppression and selective reporting.

  The challenge of scientific misconduct in public health is a multifaceted problem that extends beyond individual instances of fraud to include systemic issues related to the influence of multinational corporations, major institutions, and persons acting in their capacity as public officials.

  Restoring public trust requires a concerted effort to enforce rigorous legal and ethical standards in scientific research and publishing.

  Only through transparency, accountability, and enhanced regulatory oversight with strong judicial responses can we hope to protect the integrity of science and ensure that it serves the public good, rather than specific corporate interests.

  References

  • Legal case of GlaxoSmithKline: United States v. GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Case No. 11-10398-RWZ (D. Mass. July 2, 2012).
  • Settlement announcement for Merck’s Vioxx: In re Merck & Co., Inc. Securities, Derivative & “ERISA” Litigation, 2:05-md-01657 (D.N.J. 2007).
  • Letter 101 Study 329: Why is it so important?

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 18:20

• Chaos In Mexico: Angry Mob Attempts To Set Fire To Israeli Embassy
  Chaos In Mexico: Angry Mob Attempts To Set Fire To Israeli Embassy

  AFP journalists report that riots broke out overnight between police and a group of 200 angry protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico. The demonstrators, participating in a protest called “Urgent Action for Rafah,” were denouncing the Israeli military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah. The unrest followed an Israeli strike on a displacement camp near Rafah that killed 45 people earlier in the week. 

  Some protesters covered their faces and threw stones at riot police who blocked their path to the diplomatic complex in the city’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood.

  Around 200 people joined the “Urgent Action for Rafah” demonstration, about 30 of whom started to break down barriers preventing them from reaching the Israeli mission.

  Police officers deployed tear gas and threw back the stones hurled at them by protesters.-AFP 

  According to The Jewish Chronicle, “Rioters on Tuesday set fire to the Israeli Embassy,” adding, “The riot came after Mexico filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s “genocide” case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.” 

  There has been no official confirmation of fire damage to the embassy.

  Here’s what happened last night:

  BREAKING NEWS: Protesters have just set fire to the Israeli embassy in Mexico City. pic.twitter.com/pDtB990mjn

  — Karim Wafa-Al Hussaini (@DrKarimWafa) May 29, 2024

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

  A violent pro-Hamas demonstration involving hundreds of people outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City, overnight. The aggressors tried to break through fences, threw grenades of various kinds and Molotov cocktails, and attempted to set the embassy on fire.

  At least six… pic.twitter.com/OlOjmwgmYC

  — 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠 (@chiIIum) May 29, 2024

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

  In protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Mexican protesters escalate outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City, starting a fire, trying to break through the fence, and throwing Molotov cocktails. pic.twitter.com/YvaKRjkm8a

  — The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) May 29, 2024

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

  Carnage in Mexico as rioters set fire to the Israeli Embassy in Mexico City and hurl stones and bricks at police during an ‘Action for Rafah’ event. pic.twitter.com/aVY7bJhntx

  — Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 29, 2024

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  There were reports that rioters tried to storm the embassy. 

  Appalling scenes in Mexico!

  Rioters set fire to the Israeli Embassy in Mexico City and 200 activists, while throwing stones, tried to storm the building. 6 injured.
  pic.twitter.com/1QFtXccv1g

  — Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) May 29, 2024

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  There are no reports on who funded “Urgent Action for Rafah.”

  However, in the US, non-profits linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US, have been fueling protests at colleges and universities. These organizations have also facilitated protests to disrupt critical infrastructure such as airport terminals, bridges, and highways.

  If the momentum continues into summer, then the risks of a ‘BLM 2.0-style’ movement could plunge the US into social turmoil ahead of the elections.  

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 18:00

• Goldman Says Buy China Stock Dip After Rally Stalls
  Goldman Says Buy China Stock Dip After Rally Stalls

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist

  China’s stock rally has lost a bit of momentum. But Goldman Sachs, one of the most vocal bulls, says the pullback creates buying opportunities.

  The CSI 300 benchmark has retreated about 3% since reaching a seven-month high on May 20, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has declined about 4%.

  It seems the Chinese market is running out of good news. While Beijing announced its most forceful attempt yet to rescue the nation’s beleaguered property market, the funding support has so far been deemed insufficient. The earnings season didn’t provide anything to suggest a robust profit recovery is underway. And the US government’s new tariffs on Chinese imports didn’t help sentiment either.

  For Goldman Sachs strategists, the retreat isn’t particularly surprising after double-digit gains since February’s lows. They pointed out that the MSCI China Index almost inevitably declines at least 5% in about 20 trading days after reaching a technical bull market, which is defined as a 20% rally from the bottom.

  

  It occurred in 22 out of 23 such episodes over the past two decades. But in about half of those cases, the market resumed the rally, gaining an additional 31% on average over the following three months, according to strategist Kinger Lau and his colleagues.

  What’s more, the strategists said investors’ positioning in China’s equity market remains near historical lows, leaving room for them to add holdings.

  

  In addition, while the government’s latest move to support the housing market isn’t forceful, it nonetheless signaled that that the prolonged property sector weakness has likely breached policymakers’ pain threshold, the strategists wrote. They summarized their market view as such:

  The pullback hasn’t changed our core views/thesis on China equity, if anything, it provides a better entry point for investors to capitalize China’s rising portfolio value (i.e. diversification benefits), downside policy put underwritten by the government, and upside optionality on capital market reforms.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 17:40

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• Is Russia Preparing To Strategically Partner With The Taliban?
  Is Russia Preparing To Strategically Partner With The Taliban?

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  The Taliban remain international outcasts due to their refusal to implement a truly ethno-politically inclusive government per their prior promises as well as their treatment of women.

  Although no tangible progress has been made on either of those two very sensitive issues, economic and security interests pushed regional stakeholders to enter into de facto relations with this group for pragmatic reasons.

  Out of all those that have done so, Russia is far ahead of them all as proven by these latest developments:

  * 16 May 2024: “Afghan Taliban no longer Russia’s enemy — Russian diplomat”

  * 17 May 2024: “Afghanistan to expand range of goods exported to Russia — deputy PM Overchuk”

  * 24 May 2024: “Taliban can stabilize Afghanistan if left to its own devices — FSB director”

  * 27 May 2024: “Russia invites Taliban to St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — Foreign Ministry”

  * 27 May 2024: “Russian ministries propose to Putin to remove Taliban from terrorist list — envoy”

  As can be seen, Russia’s previous threat perception of the Taliban has disappeared, and it now considers the group to be a regional security provider with respect to containing ISIS-K. Moreover, Afghanistan’s location enables it to facilitate Russian trade with Pakistan, both commercial and energy. These interests have combined to inspire Russia to more openly embrace this group, which comes ahead of next month’s investment forum and October’s BRICS Summit. Here are some detailed background briefings:

  * 27 September 2021: “Comparing The Contours of Russia’s Ummah Pivot in Syria & Afghanistan”

  * 19 August 2022: “The Taliban Envisions Russia Playing A Big Role In The Group’s Geo-Economic Balancing Act”

  * 6 March 2023: “The Top Five Takeaways From The Russian Ambassador To Afghanistan’s Latest Interview”

  * 16 June 2023: “Russia’s Afghan Point Man Hinted At The Possibility Of Military-Technical Ties With The Taliban”

  * 19 May 2024: “Analyzing The Strategic Importance Of Russia’s Reportedly Planned Afghan Oil Hub”

  Basically, Russia sees Afghanistan as an indispensable part of its larger geostrategic reorientation to Muslim-majority countries, while the Taliban believes that Russia can help their country preemptively avert potentially disproportionate dependence on China and especially Pakistan. They also have shared economic interests with respect to facilitating trade between Russia-Central Asia and South Asia via Afghanistan from which that transit country can profit accordingly to help rebuild its economy.

  Something big is obviously in the works between them judging by the timing of Russia’s deliberations on removing the Taliban from its terrorist list just before next week’s St. Petersburg International Investment Forum. In all likelihood, not only does Russia expect to make progress on its reportedly planned Afghan oil hub, but there might even be an update about President Putin’s envisaged delivery of Russian pipeline gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan that he mentioned only once in September 2022.

  

  This doesn’t mean that a deal will be clinched on either since that involves Pakistan finally agreeing to conclude their long-running talks on a strategic energy one, which it’s thus far been reluctant to do under American pressure since April 2022’s post-modern coup. Nevertheless, even a Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and Taliban-led but by-then presumably terrorist-delisted Afghanistan on this and/or a parallel railway would be significant since it could help move Russian-Pakistani talks along.

  Therein lies the larger goal being advanced through the latest developments in Russian-Afghan relations, namely the comprehensive expansion of Russian-Pakistani relations, which is considered the last piece of Russia’s Ummah Pivot and Greater Eurasian Partnership concepts to be completed. That South Asian state of nearly one-quarter billion people is seen as a promising market for Russian commercial and energy exports as well as an overland gateway to India with whom Russia has decades-long strategic ties.

  From the Kremlin’s perspective, the successful cultivation of Russian-Pakistani relations could enable Moscow to exert positive influence over Islamabad for politically resolving the Kashmir Conflict, most likely by simply formalizing the Line of Contact as the international border. That could then maximally unlock Eurasia’s geo-economic potential by creating a cross-continental corridor, but all of this is only in the best-case scenario, which is far from assured.

  For instance, Pakistan might still refuse to budge with regards to reaching a strategic energy deal with Russia due to the previously mentioned American pressure, or it might agree to this but still remain at serious odds with India. Another factor is India’s reaction to the comprehensive expansion of Russian-Pakistani relations, especially if this results in Russia inviting Pakistan to participate in October’s “Outreach”/“BRICS-Plus” Summit, the potential political risks of which were detailed here.

  In any case, it’s clear that the driving force for removing the Taliban’s terrorist designation and inviting it to next month’s investment forum is the desire to make tangible progress on reaching a strategic energy deal with Pakistan, which would complete its Ummah Pivot and Greater Eurasian Partnership. Hopefully these interconnected processes will proceed smoothly and not unfold in ways that inadvertently risk offending India. It’s a difficult task, but Russia’s diplomats are more than qualified to handle it.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/29/2024 – 02:00

• Polling Reveals What Americans Regard As The Greatest Foreign Security Threats
  Polling Reveals What Americans Regard As The Greatest Foreign Security Threats

  By the Gatestone Institute

  A national poll, commissioned by Gatestone Foundation Trustee Lawrence Kadish of Old Westbury, Long Island, reveals that China has emerged as the nation considered the biggest national security threat to the United States. An overwhelming majority of Americans questioned believed that China will seek to dominate the remaining 21^st Century at the expense of the United States.

  

  Vladimir Putin’s Russia ranks second as America’s biggest threat to our national security, with a little more than half of Americans questioned concerned that Putin is capable of launching a nuclear strike on the United States. The result underscores the poll’s finding that a significant majority of Americans are concerned that we have entered a second chapter of the Cold War between the two countries that has considerable consequences for our nation’s future.

  Nor do many Americans believe that Putin will stop with his invasion of Ukraine. Nearly three quarters of those surveyed believe Putin will target Western Europe next, and many are fearful he could unleash nuclear weapons to achieve victory.

  Turning to the Middle East, more than half of Americans surveyed believe Iran would launch nuclear missiles against Israel if given the opportunity and that the United States should take unspecified measures to prevent it.

  Responding to the question of whether North Korea could fire nuclear-tipped missiles against the United States, again, the majority of those Americans questioned said yes.

  The survey also reveals a startling loss of patriotism among those questioned, and a significant amount of anger by Americans who acknowledged their fears regarding the range of adversaries who now feel free to confront our nation.

  The survey was conducted by the national polling company McLaughlin & Associates, and the data had a margin of error of 3.1%. Its CEO, John McLaughlin, observed:

  “To the best of our knowledge, these questions have not been posed before to a statistically valid sample size of Americans and they reveal a nation that recognizes the external threats but is anxious about our current ability or willingness to respond to them.

  It is clearly a time of uncertainty, anxiety and not a little bit of anger.“

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 23:40

• Americans Are By Far The World's Biggest Tourism Spenders
  Americans Are By Far The World’s Biggest Tourism Spenders

  China is yet to fully recover from its pandemic-induced travel slump, with projections forecasting outbound tourism to be back on track by the end of 2025. According to the latest available data from the UN World Tourism Organization, the Asian nation lost its position as the world’s leading tourism spender in 2022, after having held the position since 2013.

  Although China still saw an increase of some $5 billion in outbound tourism spending between 2021 and 2022, it was not enough to match the surge in spending from the United States in that time period, which more than doubled from $75 billion to $162 billion.

  This spate of increased travel includes the phenomenon of “revenge tourism”, a term coined on social media following the lifting of Covid restrictions as people started to go on trips that they previously were unable to take.

  Even with the growth, however, both China and the United States were still some way off their pre-pandemic figures in 2022. China’s peak had hit $277.3 billion in 2018, while the U.S. reached a height of $184.8 billion in 2019.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, Germany, one of the most populous and richest nations in Europe, continued to rank in the top three big spenders, while the United Kingdom has climbed into fourth position.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  India, meanwhile, has retained seventh position and also saw a huge increase in tourist spending from $17.8 billion to $31.8 billion. Data for the United Arab Emirates was not published for 2022.

  According to the latest update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism reached 97 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024.

  This was partly thanks to the opening of Asian markets, including visa facilitation, with China having introduced visa-free travel for citizens from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia for a year staring November 2023.

  North America saw the strongest performance of the subregions in Q1 of 2024, per the report, with a 23 percent increase of international arrivals in comparison to the same period from before the pandemic, followed by Central America with an increase of 15 percent, the Caribbean and Western Europe, each with 7 percent, respectively.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 23:20

• Signs Of America's Declining Power & The Emerging Multipolar World
  Signs Of America’s Declining Power & The Emerging Multipolar World

  Authored by Christopher Roach via American Greatness,

  If we want our country to be safe and powerful, we should start on the firm foundations of respect for peace, human life, and other nations’ sovereignty.

  

  During Bush’s years as president, Democrats frequently criticized his foreign policy, complaining that he acted like a cowboy, pursuing wars unilaterally without the imprimatur of the “international community.” Internationalism was a particular obsession of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who lambasted the Bush administration for snubbing the United Nations and upsetting France with its Iraq policy.

  Obama was mostly a darling of foreign leaders, as he ceded American power and prestige in a bid to right what he considered the historic wrongs of colonialism and western chauvinism. This was evident in his obsession with completing the Iran deal, participating in the Kyoto accords, assisting NATO attacks on Libya and Syria, and in the general tone of public diplomacy during the Arab Spring.

  That said, America made quite a few interventions in the Obama years, especially in the second term, and we largely called the shots.

  A Fake “International Community”

  For all the talk of the international community, it was mostly a fig leaf for American unilateralism no matter which party was in charge. This practice extended from the Clinton presidency through Obama’s. When the United Nations would not approve something, we went to NATO. And when NATO wouldn’t get involved, we acted unilaterally, as in the early attacks on Syria or the targeted killing policy employed against al Qaeda

  This is another way of saying that the United States acted as the sole superpower since the end of the Cold War, and this prevailed regardless of the party in power. There were some arguments on the margins, but every administration embraced this prerogative to impose the American vision of a “rules-based international order.” Even Trump, who ran on an America First platform, supported American unilateralism in Syria and expanded the provision of lethal aid to Ukraine.

  In practice, the UN, NATO, and other institutions were there either to supply resources and allow the appearance of multilateralism or they were safely ignored. The United States had little fear of the International Criminal Court or the myriad other international institutions because it funded most of them, and they were effectively powerless in the face of American opposition.

  The recent weakening of the United States relative to the rest of the world means that reality will begin to match the rhetoric of international institutions and begin constraining every nation, including us.

  Evidence of Declining Power and Influence

  Three recent examples exemplify the rapid change of our standing in the world.

  First, after two decades of effort cultivating good will and cooperation in the war against terror and building a $100 million airbase, the United States is being kicked out of Niger. This follows Niger’s earlier expulsion of American ally France.

  Simultaneously, Russia is rapidly and efficiently becoming a major player in Africa. Niger, one may remember, was where the “yellowcake” scandal took place during the George W. Bush administration and also the site of the massacre of an American special forces unit in 2017.

  Like so much of our foreign policy, little of our official activity in Niger was known to the public and much was apparently unknown even to key decisionmakers in the government. But whether good policy or bad, it is rare for countries to kick the U.S. to the curb. The last time something like this happened that comes to mind is from 1992, when we were sent packing from Subic Bay in the Philippines.

  Niger’s unceremonial expulsion of American forces suggests little interest in maintaining close ties to the United States and reduced fear of consequences. Even if the United States is overextended and overly involved in much of the world, it would still be nice to have the option to be involved (or not) on our own terms.

  The second example is the International Criminal Court’s recent issuance of arrest warrants for Israel’s hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to answer for war crimes. Even at the height of public criticism of the Iraq War or the 2008 Gaza Campaign, no one would have dared to insult the United States and its proxies in this manner.

  It is true that Israel has gone to war without much of a strategy, and its tactics have resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths. And, after moving most of the citizens of Gaza to the southern end of the small territory, it is now moving them into the opposite direction in order to attack the Rafah refugee camp, in spite of warnings from the ICC.

  Of course, every war has disagreements about the right amount of force, and belligerents usually have a more generous standard for themselves than neutral third parties. Even so, these indictments are happening now after the United States engaged in substantial levels of destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere over the preceding 20 years.

  What this really means is that the United States cannot control the ostensibly neutral institutions of internationalism. When it was the sole superpower, these institutions were just accoutrements to American power, unable to stop us and, in some ways, blessing American activity through their own silence.

  International tribunals would go after people like Slobodan Milsoovic and other gadflies of American power, while they would not dare go after an American leader or one of our allies. These practices understandably fueled allegations of hypocrisy. But, in the latest remarkable turn of events, the ICC feels sufficiently empowered to go after the prime minister of America’s “greatest ally.”

  The final example of our country’s loosening grip on power comes from the nation of Georgia. Since its “Rose Revolution” in 2003 and the ill-fated 2008 attack on its separatist province of Ossetia, which led to Russian retaliation, Georgia has clamored for closer ties to NATO and the United States. After Georgia’s defeat, the United States accepted the Russian victory as a fait accompli. While remaining an American ally, Georgia’s prospects of NATO membership were essentially eliminated.

  But the United States did respond with military aid, training cadres, and a proliferation of NGOs. The latter are supposedly exemplars of Georgian civil society, but they are largely funded by the United States and often serve to further our foreign policy goals. Fearful of the increasingly negative outcome of the Ukraine War, Georgia’s newly elected leadership is seeking a rapprochement with Russia, and one of their priorities (and Russia’s) is a law requiring NGOs with extensive foreign funding to disclose their affiliations. It sounds very similar to the Logan Act here at home.

  The United States responded to this proposed law with extreme measures. In addition to public protests, it has instituted a travel ban on the elected leaders of the populist Georgian Dream Party, which proposed the NGO legislation. Additional sanctions are being proposed in Congress to coerce Georgia into rejecting the registration bill, which is expected to pass on Wednesday.

  The preferred mechanisms of American foreign policy in much of the world have consisted of deniable influence operations, support for preferred political parties, and, through means known and unknown, the fomentation of violent political “color revolutions” to install friendly “democratic” regimes, such as those that took place in Ukraine, Georgia, and elsewhere.

  Our hectoring of Georgia is really unseemly. Actual democracy means, at its core, majority rule. Georgia elected a government that reflected the will of its people. And its people are turning away from their recent foreign and domestic policies. They apparently do not want an army of foreign-funded NGOs to spread propaganda and influence their politics without some disclosure of their foreign funding sources.

  This seems reasonable enough to me, but no country has gone this far in the former Soviet space except Russia itself in 2012. Notably, since the passage of this law, Russia has proven immune from the kinds of intrigue that took down Ukraine’s Yanukovich regime in 2014.

  If We Adapt, Our Country Can Flourish in a Multipolar World

  These three disparate developments—the forced expulsion of the American military from Niger, the ICC indictment of Netanyahu, and Georgia’s flouting of U.S. pressure—are all harbingers of a true multipolar world. While this means the sole superpower era for the United States is over, it’s not so clear this era did much to serve the interests of the American people or peace and justice more generally.

  Did the Georgian defeat at Russia’s hands help the United States? How about the decapitation of the Libyan Regime leading to an explosion of terrorism, the death of an ambassador, and infinity African immigration into Europe?

  A multipolar world is one where sovereignty and independence are paramount. This is a substantial departure from the current regime of a single superpower meddling in other nations’ internal affairs at will or the Cold War’s implicit mandate that nations be in the orbit of one side or the other.

  In other words, power must now be shared. Realism and justice must be the watchwords. On the realism side of the ledger, American strategy must navigate a multipolar world by setting priorities, abandoning vanity projects, reducing the scope of its ambitions, and tailoring the force structure to achieve objectives commensurate with our existing military and industrial capability, along with the likelihood of sustained public support.

  Justice, too, should always be at the heart of our policy. We should not be merely strong but also committed to using our strength morally and responsibly. This is not only principled; it is also practical because it avoids conflict. If we want our country to be safe and powerful, we should start on the firm foundations of respect for peace, human life, and other nations’ sovereignty. To do this, we will have to abandon our self-serving policy of applying unprincipled exceptions to the rules we apply to others.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 23:00

• This Natural And Safe Solution Can Effectively Kill Viruses And Germs
  This Natural And Safe Solution Can Effectively Kill Viruses And Germs

  Authored by Yuhong Dong, M.D., Ph.D. via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A low-cost, easily made natural solution can produce an antiviral and antibacterial effect that kills a wide range of microorganisms in minutes.

  This potent weapon is hypochlorous acid.

  

  Application Is Based on pH

  While hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is naturally produced by our white blood cells and is a key part of our innate immune system, it can also be made from electrolyzed saline water, a process invented over a century ago in Russia.

  Electrolyzed water (EW), also called electrolyzed saline or electrolyzed oxidizing water, can be categorized into different types based on its pH value, each with unique applications.

  Among the various types of EW, neutral electrolyzed salt water (NEW) and slightly acid-electrolyzed water (SAEW) are particularly interesting due to their neutral or near-neutral pH levels. These types of EW are relatively safe to use on our skin, nasal and oral mucosa, and wound tissues. They are widely used across the food, agriculture, and medical industries for disinfecting and cleaning purposes. This includes treating drinking water, wastewater, food, utensils, and hard surfaces.

  Hypochlorous acid is the key active ingredient of NEW and SAEW, and pH plays a critical role. A pH greater than 7 will produce more hypochlorite (OCl⁻) in the solution, whereas a strongly acidic pH, will produce toxic chlorine (Cl₂). The concentration of hypochlorous acid is most dominant when the pH is close to neutral or slightly acidic.

  Ming-Yih Chang, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biomechatronics at Yilan University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times in an email, “Many factors impact the precise amount of HOCl. For example, according to a critical review in 2008, the relative distribution of the main aqueous chlorine species is produced per the graph below where the temperature and the chloride concentration are provided.”

  

  Different From Bleach

  Hypochlorite (OCl⁻), a key ingredient of liquid bleach, is similar to hypochlorous acid—both can kill viruses and germs. However, they are different chemicals with different properties and applications.

  OCl⁻ is an ion commonly associated with sodium and calcium salts. When the pH is greater than 8, it’s often labeled as liquid bleach. As a strong oxidizer, it can cause corrosion, resulting in skin burns or eye damage, and can be harmful when inhaled.

  HOCl is a weak, nonirritating acid that is much safer than hypochlorite. When prepared correctly, it can be used safely and widely for many clinical applications in multiple industries. As a disinfectant, HOCl is 80 to 200 times more effective than bleach, yet is nontoxic to humans.

  Effective Against COVID-19

  HOCl gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now recommends HOCl as a safe and effective disinfectant against COVID-19.

  A randomized controlled trial, still in preprint and not yet peer-reviewed, was conducted in Mexico City among 170 frontline medical staff to investigate the effectiveness of a type of neutral electrolyzed water in reducing COVID-19 risk. All trial subjects wore adequate professional protection equipment, as required by standard COVID-19 safety protocols. Participants were divided equally into a control group and a prophylactic group.

  The prophylactic group participants followed a protocol using a NEW solution in the form of a nasal spray and mouth rinse three times a day for four weeks. This group had a significantly decreased incidence of COVID-19 infections with only 1.2 percent infected compared to 18.8 percent in the control group.

  Of particular note is that no individual using NEW reported any side effects, as the solution is nonirritating.

  Skin irritation is a particular problem resulting from alcohol-based hand sanitizers used daily in medical offices. These can cause hand dermatitis and damage the skin barrier, compromising the first line of defense. The World Health Organization recognizes that a major challenge to hand hygiene in health care is the need for safer care.

  Curious scientists have conducted tests on HOCl to determine its potential benefits for COVID-19 patients.

  A clinical trial was conducted with 214 ambulatory COVID-19 patients from multiple hospitals. The study involved 104 patients who were given only usual medical care. The remaining 110 patients were given both usual medical care and NEW via nebulization and/or intravenous administration.

  The NEW was provided four times a day for 10 days with successive dose increases using a diluted version of electrolyzed saline with a neutral pH (6.0 to 7.5).

  In addition, when COVID‑19 symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea occurred, 30 milliliters of oral electrolyzed saline was added four times a day for as long as the gastrointestinal symptoms lasted, and for two more days after the symptoms disappeared.

  Overall, the NEW treatment decreased the risk of hospitalization by 89 percent and the risk of death by 96 percent. 

  Patient symptoms improved rapidly after 24 hours, including fatigue, headache, sore throat, eye pain, myalgia, fever, and oxygen saturation. Inflammatory markers were also reduced.

  On the fifth day, the group who received the NEW treatment had an 18-fold greater chance of achieving an acceptable symptom state than the group who received only usual medical care.

  

  The dose-dependent response to the NEW treatment suggests a causal relationship.

  The pH of the NEW solution used in the study ranged from 6.0 to 7.5, and the concentration of active chlorine and oxygen species used in these experiments was no more than 20 parts per million (ppm).

  Antiviral Function

  HOCl has demonstrated the ability to quickly inactivate several viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2, hepatitis B (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and norovirus.

  The effective chloride concentration in the HBV and HIV studies was 4.2 ppm, and SARS-CoV-2 ranged from 66 to 109 ppm.

  HOCl is naturally produced by our immune cells to fight infections. Our neutrophils and white blood cells release a mixture of chemicals, including HOCl, to kill germs and viruses.

  Neutrally-charged HOCl easily penetrates the cell walls of pathogens to kill them from the inside out. However, bleach is negatively charged, making it rather difficult to penetrate viruses or germs. This is one major advantage of HOCl compared to bleach.

  Huiwen Ji, who holds a doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University and is an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Utah, explained the disinfecting mechanism of HOCl.

  “When saline water is electrolyzed, external electric energy is transferred to the chloride ion in the solution. As a result, the chloride anions are oxidized to HOCl with chlorine now in a relatively unstable +1 oxidation state.”

  “Thus, HOCl is an oxidizing agent that tends to grab electrons from other molecules. This process can break the chemical bonds in the target molecules,” she said.

  When the structure of these biomolecules is destroyed, their proteins can no longer function. Without adequately functioning proteins, viruses and germs cannot survive throughout their life cycles.

  HOCl can also break the DNA or RNA of viruses and germs, rendering them harmless and unable to replicate.

  

  When exposed to viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the timing of using an HOCl nasal spray is critical to mitigating the risk of infection.

  In December 2022, scientists from Stanford University identified the nasal cavity as the main entry point for the COVID-19 virus and specified the time window for prevention.

  The surface of our nasal mucosa is covered by a tightly-linked thin layer of epithelial cells that forms a complete barrier. On top of the cells is a thick and elastic three-dimensional chain-link fence composed of mucin, a sticky molecule that can trap all the debris of viruses and germs. Additionally, hundreds of spaghetti-like appendages, known as cilia, move slowly like a river to clear away all the harmful substances from the mucus layer.

  Researchers found that the virus takes at least 24 hours to penetrate the surface mucus layer before it can enter deeply into the cells. Accordingly, using an HOCl nasal spray as quickly as possible within this 24-hour window could effectively disinfect the nasal passages and potentially prevent the virus from establishing an infection.

  Broad Use

  HOCl has been extensively used in multiple fields, including the health care industry.

  A study in the Journal of Microbiology found that HOCl significantly reduced bacteria on toothbrushes. The concentration of HOCl was estimated to be 1 ppm to 30 ppm.

  HOCl is often used to treat blepharitis (eyelid inflammation) by reducing the bacterial load on the surface of the periocular skin. Twenty minutes after applying a saline hygiene solution containing HOCl at 100 ppm, a greater than 99 percent reduction in the staphylococcal load was achieved.

  HOCl is an effective agent for use in wound care. In a comparative study in patients with open wounds, hypochlorous acid used in a commercial solution significantly lowered the bacterial count by 10,000 to 1 million times without a rebound effect in the comparative saline group. Postoperative closure failure occurred in more than 80 percent of patients in the saline group versus 25 percent of those in the HOCl group. One of the main reasons for the failure of postoperative closure is infection.

  Microorganisms can grow on the surfaces of biomaterials, such as dentures or dialysis equipment. These surface-bound microorganisms, known as biofilms, have unique characteristics with respect to gene expression and growth rate.

  HOCl is effective for cleaning biofilm-contaminated dental implant surfaces. Compared to two other disinfecting substances—sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine—HOCl at 180 ppm reduced the lipopolysaccharide, a harmful substance produced by Porphyromonas gingivalis, a pathogenic bacterium associated with periodontal disease. The use of HOCl in the mouth did not result in any adverse effects.

  Fogging with HOCl can disinfect large spaces such as medical and dental offices.

  Recent research on mice found that applying a topical application of HOCl on the skin can prevent the development of tumors and inflammation that are caused by UV rays. This discovery suggests that HOCl may have the potential to prevent skin cancer in humans caused by sun exposure.

  HOCl has also been used to disinfect drinking water and recreational fresh water.

  Spraying with HOCl at 100 to 200 ppm decreased the avian influenza virus (bird flu) to an undetectable level within five seconds, suggesting that HOCl can be used in a spray to inactivate the virus at the farm level. An emerging issue in the United States is the highly pathogenic bird flu threat. HOCl spray offers a viable solution to help control the spread of this disease.

  Make It Yourself

  Everyone can make HOCl at home. You’ll need a 1-liter hypochlorous acid solution generator, which you can easily find online for around $100.

  Depending on the type of device used, the concentration of HOCl generated will typically be between 50 to 200 ppm, a commonly used concentration for daily use applications.

  Ms. Ji said, “Prepare a 0.9% NaCl solution and dilute it between a few and dozens of times, then put it into an electrolyzer. White vinegar containing acetic acid (CH3COOH) may be added to adjust the pH value to facilitate the formation of HOCl.”

  According to Ms. Ji, “You must adhere to the guidelines provided by the instrument manufacturer because each machine operates with its unique formula and parameter. Typically, the process is straightforward and involves pressing a button and waiting a few minutes for the reaction to produce a desired amount of HOCl.”

  For example, one particular protocol says to add 1 gram of non-iodized salt, 1 liter of water, and one teaspoon of white vinegar to the 1-liter hypochlorous acid generator, press the button and wait 8 minutes. The 1 liter of HOCl will be ready for immediate use.

  Vinegar is essential to adjusting the pH to the proper value to produce the right amount of HOCl.

  Parts per million (ppm) indicates the concentration of a substance in a solution. This is calculated by dividing the substance’s mass or volume by the solution’s total mass or volume and then multiplying the result by 1 million.

  Using ppm is a more convenient unit of measure for describing the concentration of tiny substances in a solution. You can convert one ppm to a percentage by dividing it by 10,000. For instance, 100 ppm of HOCl is equivalent to 0.01 percent of HOCl. If you need help with the calculation, you can use this useful tool.

  When choosing a device to produce electrolyzed water, Mr. Chang says, “There are many more influencing factors, such as the quality of the electrode. Better ones include platinum, iridium, and rhodium. The electricity’s duration and current size can also impact the outcome.”

  At a concentration of 200 ppm, HOCl was shown to effectively decontaminate inert surfaces carrying the norovirus and other enteric viruses in one minute. At 20 ppm, it was still effective in disinfecting viruses within 10 minutes.

  One study has shown that 200 ppm of available chlorine can inactivate 25 different viruses in just 10 minutes. Low concentrations, like 25 ppm, can quickly kill mycoplasma and vegetative bacteria.

  Safety and Limitations

  Following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s acute four-hour inhalation toxicity protocol, rats inhaled a mist containing 52 ppm of HOCl for four hours. Researchers observed no adverse effects in behavior or appearance.

  HOCl is generally considered safe due to the low chloride concentration in the HOCl solution. The commonly used concentrations for health care or life care are between 50 and 200 ppm for skin disinfection, 50 to 100 ppm for mouthwash, and 50 to 200 ppm for surface cleaning, with higher concentrations for wound care and food contact surfaces.

  Remember, these concentrations are approximate guidelines and can vary depending on the specific application and manufacturer’s recommendations. Always follow instructions carefully, and when in doubt, consult with a health care professional or relevant authority for specific advice.

  The long-term potential toxicity of a low chloride concentration is still uncertain, and further studies assessing chronic exposure to HOCl are needed.

  Regarding the safety of HOCl, Ms. Ji advised, “When used within the suggested concentration range, HOCl proves to be relatively safe for household applications. Once reacted with bacteria and viruses, HOCl reverts to a highly stable chloride form, akin to other electrolyte salts in the human body. But remember that using HOCl at concentrations higher than recommended by the manufacturer can be very corrosive and mixing it with other household detergents may lead to hazardous side reactions.”

  “When used at home, please always follow the precise instructions and do not exceed the recommended usage,” she added.

  According to Mr. Chang, “One side effect is that [HOCl] may corrode metals, such as those in cow and pig houses, after application of the HOCl solution sprays at 200pm for a long time. But 200 pm does not harm the skin. Furthermore, a low concentration of several dozen ppm is enough for general household use.”

  HOCl is less stable when exposed to UV radiation, sunlight, air, or higher temperatures (greater than 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit). Therefore, HOCl solutions should be tightly sealed and stored in a cool, dark place.

  It’s important to avoid mixing HOCl with other detergents or solutions. When the pH value changes, HOCl may change to Cl₂ or OCl⁻, which is either toxic or can cause irritation.

  Direct exposure to chloride (in the form of Cl₂ or OCl⁻) at low concentrations of one to 10 ppm, can cause skin and eye irritation, and inhaling it can irritate the respiratory tract.

  The shelf life of HOCl is relatively short; it is effective for up to two weeks when stored properly.

  Low Cost, Yet Highly Effective

  How can a simple solution generated by salty water have such powerful and wide-ranging antiviral and antibacterial effects?

  HOCl is highly effective, yet inexpensive and easily obtained from nature, much like sunlight, air, and water, which all profoundly impact our lives.

  Because it is both environmentally friendly and relatively safe, HOCl is an excellent choice for many applications. Additionally, its affordability makes it accessible for large-scale applications.

  The medical industry has implemented many decontamination methods, which are often expensive, ineffective, and can leave chemical residues, posing a risk to human health.

  There are many natural remedies on Earth to cure or prevent diseases that people may not be fully aware of.

  Ivermectin, derived from a microorganism in soil, has remarkable antiparasitic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties and has helped many patients effectively treat COVID-19.

  Another example is interferon, which our bodies produce to stop viral replication. The pharmaceutical industry has developed interferon to treat hepatitis B and C and COVID-19.

  Nature is a bountiful source of healing for humans, generously providing numerous benefits at no cost. It is an endless source of undiscovered benefits, waiting to be explored by those willing to embrace its wonders. With its abundant resources, nature offers us infinite possibilities to improve our health and well-being.

  Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 22:40

• Blackrock Surpasses Grayscale As World's Largest Bitcoin ETF
  Blackrock Surpasses Grayscale As World’s Largest Bitcoin ETF

  A month and a half after we first observed that the world’s largest bitcoin fund, Grayscale’s GBTC, had lost more than half of its assets since the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January in what was the year’s first, and far less memorable “halving” event…

  The other “halving”: GBTC bitcoin holdings are down exactly 50% since the launch of bitcoin ETFs pic.twitter.com/bApRBq6WkW

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 15, 2024

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  … and just over a week after Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenschein unexpectedly resigned amid persistent, relentless outflows (courtesy of GBTC’s 1.5% in fees), the flipping has officially taken place.

  With today’s ETF flows now in the books, the inevitable has finally happened, and after GBTC saw $105.2 million, or about 1530 bitcoin, withdrawn in its biggest one-day outflow in more than two weeks, while BlackRock’s IBIT added $101.9 million, the latter has now surpassed the former, and Blackrock’s IBIT has dethroned GBTC as the world’s largest ETF with $19.795 billion in bitcoin, equivalent to roughly 288,670 bitcoin, vs $19.758 billion for GBTC.

  

  And so having taken over the crown as the world’s largest bitcoin ETF, Larry Fink can focus on the one asset he is truly after in his pursuit of financial tokenization – ether – which just got spot ETF approval late last week, and which Blackrock will very soon dominate as the 2nd largest cryptocurrency sets off in its trek to hit $14,000 some time in 2025 with Larry Fink’s blessing.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 22:18

• Healthcare Company Semler Soars After Adopting Bitcoin As Primary Treasury Asset
  Healthcare Company Semler Soars After Adopting Bitcoin As Primary Treasury Asset

  Healthcare company Semler Scientific (SMLR), known for pursuing remedies to chronic diseases, announced a major shift in its treasury strategy. The company’s board of directors adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, alongside a substantial purchase of 581 Bitcoins for an aggregate amount of $40 million.

  JUST IN: Healthcare product manufacturer Semler Scientific purchases 581 #Bitcoin for $40 million 👀 pic.twitter.com/zYsVgN19gL

  — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 28, 2024

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  “Our bitcoin treasury strategy and purchase of bitcoin underscore our belief that bitcoin is a reliable store of value and a compelling investment,” stated Semler Scientific Chairman Eric Semler. “Bitcoin is now a major asset class with more than $1 trillion of market value. We believe it has unique characteristics as a scarce and finite asset that can serve as a reasonable inflation hedge and safe haven amid global instability. We also believe its digital, architectural resilience makes it preferable to gold, which has a market value of approximately 10 times that of bitcoin. Given the gap in value between gold and bitcoin, we believe that bitcoin has the potential to generate outsize returns as it gains increasing acceptance as digital gold.”

  As Bitcoin Magazine notes, despite this strategic financial move, the tiny Semler Scientific, whose market cap is just $200 million, said it remains committed to its core mission in healthcare of delivering innovative technologies as solutions to transform the healthcare management of chronic diseases and offer providers the opportunity to reduce costs and improve long-term patient outcomes. The company will also continue to focus on its flagship product, QuantaFlo, a point-of-care test for peripheral arterial disease, while seeking expanded FDA clearance for other cardiovascular conditions.

  “Furthermore, we are energized by the growing global acceptance and ‘institutionalization’ of bitcoin — reflected most recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s January 2024 approval of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds,” Mr. Semler continued. “These funds have reported more than $13 billion of net inflows, with investments from nearly 1,000 institutions, including global banks, pensions, endowments and registered investment advisors. It is estimated that more than 10% of all bitcoins are now held by institutions.”

  Semler Scientific’s board and senior management shared that they have carefully considered various uses of excess cash and concluded that holding Bitcoin is the best strategy.

  The market greeted the news of the company’s shift from dollars to bitcoin with excitement, and sent SMLR surging 24% higher, which the cynics would argue was the whole point of the exercise. Well, the gamble worked…

  

  … and while not many have followed in the footsteps of bitcoin OG Microstrategy, which was one of the original companies to transition from a dollar to bitcoin reserve, the euphoric reception of Semler’s news virtually guarantees that in the coming months we will see dozens more small and micro caps ditch the dollar and embrace crypto, if only in hopes of a quick boost to the stock price. Still demand is demand, and this all bodes quite favorably for bitcoin demand for the foreseeable future.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 22:00

• Trump’s Bronx Rally Drives Stake In 'Identity Politics'
  Trump’s Bronx Rally Drives Stake In ‘Identity Politics’

  Authored by Roger L. Simon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Wouldn’t it be fascinating, actually tremendously heartening, if the man who was supposedly our most divisive politician was the man who ultimately brought our broken country together—former President Donald J. Trump?

  

  America is often, justifiably, criticized for having been built to some degree by slavery. It was not alone in that, and it still exists in some places, but America fought its most painful war to abolish the practice. Years later, it enacted the Civil Rights Act, enshrining equality in our laws. Racism was diminishing.

  Yet some people have what I called in one of my books a “nostalgia for racism.” They can’t live without it for reasons that range from comfort with old assumptions to the most cynical personal gain.

  Consequently, for as long as I have been alive, which is the entire post-World War II era, it has been assumed that minorities voted Democratic, whether to their advantage or not.

  So I was gladdened to see, watching on television, the throng of racially mixed Americans gathered in one of my childhood haunts from Yankee Stadium to the Zoo to Van Cortlandt Park—the borough of The Bronx.

  No less than one of the most reactionary forces in our culture—identity politics—was under attack in the massive show of support from that mixed-race crowd given former President Trump at his surprisingly large rally in Crotona Park in the southern part of the borough.

  I used the term reactionary above quite deliberately because it was and probably still is the most supreme insult one could give anyone leaning left. It signified they were behind the times, retrograde.

  And much of the left has been that since they reversed the color-blind, character-based idealism of Dr. Martin Luther King in favor of the reactionary (that word again) dictums of critical race theory and so-called anti-racism that are themselves racist to the core. The latter two assert the primacy of race over character, something that is senseless to anyone who honestly observes actual human behavior in even slightly moral terms.

  Those dicta have worked to preserve or even extend racism, rather than destroy it, for reasons of power and profit. In order for society to progress, for the American Idea or, if you prefer, the American Dream, to be preserved or obtained, identity politics must be eliminated.

  I don’t mean people should lose their identities, small “i.” Mexican-Americans should still celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Irish-Americans St. Patrick’s Day, and so forth, but that should not be their complete Identities (capital I deliberate).

  They are citizens of a country whose founding documents proclaim we are all “created equal” no matter race, religion, ethnicity, and all the rest. Often this was and still is hard to fulfill, but that makes it all the more worthy as a goal.

  During President Trump’s Bronx speech, he did the opposite of what has become conventional and offered to join New York Democratic Party officials, the state governor and city mayor, in an effort to Make New York Great Again (MNYGA).

  This was, in part, good politics, reaching across the aisle in a radically divided country, something the former president has been loath to do, but it seems he is doing now. He should keep it up.

  Yes, his Bronx rally had obvious electoral motives, trying to flip New York or at least make enough in-roads to force his opposition to devote more time and money to a state they normally win without effort. But as I am trying to indicate, more than electoral politics is involved. It is the soul of our nation.

  Soul of the nation sounds a bit like pompous rhetoric, I admit, but I submit we should concentrate on that as this election goes forward. I know of very few of our fellow citizens who have not suffered on the most personal levels from the degree to which our society is riven. Families and friendships have broken apart across the country.

  President Trump was less given to the politics of insult, humorous and/or deserved though it may be, in his Bronx speech than he normally is, concentrating instead more on bringing us together. The country needs healing more than it has in well over a century. In fact, it needs it desperately.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 21:40

• Mossad Chief Stalked, Threatened ICC Prosecutor Over War Crimes Probe: Report
  Mossad Chief Stalked, Threatened ICC Prosecutor Over War Crimes Probe: Report

  A new bombshell investigation undertaken jointly by the Guardian and +972 mag has revealed that the head of Mossad conducted surveillance on the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) related to her opening a formal investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes.

  Then ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had opened the formal inquiry in 2021 to examine years of allegations of human rights abuse and war crimes against Palestinians committed by Israel’s military. The joint investigation found that then Mossad director Yossi Cohen used tactics to monitor her that amounted to “stalking”. 

  

  Bensouda at one point was reportedly directly threatened, with one eyewitness account saying that Cohen told Bensouda, “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”

  It appeared to be a spy op ordered from the highest levels, in order to protect the Israeli government’s international reputation and standing, as well as to oversee damage control. According to The Guardian report:

  Another Israeli source briefed on the operation against Bensouda said the Mossad’s objective was to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands.

  A third source familiar with the operation said Cohen was acting as Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”.

  But the threats and tactics didn’t work, given that Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, pushed through an ICC arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister and his defense chief which came this month based on the investigation Bensouda set in motion.

  According to a particularly damning section in The Guardian report:

  One individual briefed on Cohen’s activities said he had used “despicable tactics” against Bensouda as part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to intimidate and influence her. They likened his behavior to “stalking”.

  The Mossad also took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor.

  

  This was part of what many are calling a decade-long covert “war” waged from the shadows by Israeli intelligence agencies against the Hague-based ICC.

  Going back years, this created some degree of paranoia within the ICC prosecution division. There were fears that Israeli intelligence employed assets there or were able to secretly influence decision-making. The Guardian details further: 

  According to two sources, there were even suspicions among senior ICC officials that Israel had cultivated sources within the court’s prosecution division, known as the office of the prosecutor. Another later recalled that although the Mossad “didn’t leave its signature”, it was an assumption the agency was behind some of the activity officials had been made aware of.

  Only a small group of senior figures at the ICC, however, were informed that the director of the Mossad had personally approached the chief prosecutor.

  Early this month, current ICC chief prosecutor Khan issued a strong statement condemning “all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials.”

  Absolutely incredible article, revealing that the head of Mossad personally threatened the physical safety of the ICC prosecutor and her family: “You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”https://t.co/xustHwsQdh

  — Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 28, 2024

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  In light of the new Guardian and +972 mag reports, this latest warning is being widely viewed as in part referencing the past history of Mossad’s stalking tactics. Pressure on a political level had also intensified against the Hague court in the weeks leading up to and after its announcing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

  Journalist and ex-Green Beret Jack Murphy commented on the revelations by saying of the lead-up to Oct.7: “Well, now we know what Israeli intelligence was busy doing instead of monitoring Hamas.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 21:20

• US 'Looking Closely' At Vaccinating Workers Exposed To Bird Flu: Official
  US ‘Looking Closely’ At Vaccinating Workers Exposed To Bird Flu: Official

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Officials in the United States, Canada, and Europe are considering the vaccination of workers and others against the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

  

  The U.S. government is “looking closely” at the possibility of vaccinating farm workers and others in close contact with the virus, according to Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

  Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said she has been in discussions with U.S. and Canadian officials about using vaccines to protect workers after the influenza, or bird flu, jumped from birds to cattle.

  The first cases of H5N1, a strain of the flu, in cattle were detected earlier this year, although some scientists say available evidence points to the cases cropping up in late 2023.

  Discussions about using vaccines to try to prevent a pandemic are ongoing at the government level and among scientists in several places, including the UK, said Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at University College London, who also researches avian flu for the UK Health Security Agency.

  The UK government did not comment but said it is monitoring the situation in the United States.

  In the European Union, the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority is working on a joint procurement of CSL Seqirus’s vaccine to “potentially prevent a pandemic” sparked by individuals exposed to infected birds and animals, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said.

  A spokeswoman for CSL, which has contracts for pandemic influenza vaccines with 30 governments, said the company has been in talks with several governments about procuring vaccines since 2022.

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a CSL influenza A vaccine in 2020, based largely on immunogenicity and safety results from a small clinical trial of 319 people.

  Dr. Peter McCullough, an epidemiologist based in Texas, said on the social media platform X that without larger trials, it’s not possible to know whether the vaccine is safe or effective in humans.

  The formulation for the CSL shot has been updated to more closely match the bird flu, which is an influenza A virus.

  U.S. officials said recently that they’re planning to produce 4.8 million doses of the updated CSL vaccine. European health officials also said they were in talks to acquire CSL’s shot.

  Canadian health officials said they have met with GSK, maker of Canada’s seasonal flu shots, to discuss acquiring and manufacturing a prepandemic bird flu vaccine.

  The United States is in talks with Pfizer and Moderna, which make messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines, about potential pandemic vaccines.

  University of Pennsylvania researchers said in a May 23 paper that their experimental mRNA bird flu vaccine performed well in preclinical testing in ferrets.

  Since the bird flu cases in cattle were first detected, cases have been confirmed in 63 herds across nine states, including Colorado, Michigan, and South Dakota, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  Human cases

  Two cases in humans—one in Michigan and one in Texas—have also been confirmed. Both have since recovered. Analysis of virus samples from the patients showed high similarities to the virus spreading in cows.

  Richard Webby, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital virologist who studies flu in animals and birds for the World Health Organization, said the situation in dairy cattle merits vaccine use.

  “If we look at the exposure levels that some of these farmers are getting, it’s high,” Mr. Webby said.

  The decision on how and when to use the vaccine will hinge on evidence of increased transmission, severity of disease, cases in people with no link to a dairy farm, and mutations in the virus, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah said.

  The agency says on its website that the government is developing bird flu vaccines “in case they are needed.”

  Human exposure to the virus in poultry and dairy operations could increase the risk that the virus will mutate and gain the ability to spread easily in people. Vaccines that perform poorly can also increase that risk.

  So far, only one change has been detected in the human cases, the CDC said on May 24.

  “These data indicate viruses detected in both cows and the two human cases maintain primarily avian genetic characteristics and lack changes that would make them better adapted to infect or transmit between humans,” the agency stated.

  For now, CDC officials say the best way to avoid bird flu is to stay away from infected animals, fluids, and feces.

  Workers who must come into contact with animals are advised to wear protective equipment and monitor themselves for symptoms, which include fatigue.

  People who do become sick can take influenza antivirals, which are more effective when received shortly after symptoms develop.

  Health officials also recommend cooking eggs and poultry to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking beef to appropriate temperatures, and only consuming pasteurized milk.

  Testing of beef found a surrogate virus was still present in burgers cooked rare, according to the Department of Agriculture. High levels of bird flu virus have been detected in raw milk. Some pasteurized samples tested positive, but further testing showed no viable virus, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

  Reuters contributed to this report. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 21:00

• Putin Threatens West's 'Dense Populations' In 'Small Land Masses' In Response To NATO Escalation
  Putin Threatens West’s ‘Dense Populations’ In ‘Small Land Masses’ In Response To NATO Escalation

  More and more European officials and NATO countries are on board with allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. Among the latest to speak openly about this are NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and the government of Sweden, which is the NATO alliance’s newest member state.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued one of his more dire warnings yet, putting Europe on notice by commenting on their possessing small land areas and dense populations. The veiled threat is very ominous especially in light of the fact that Russia just wrapped up tactical nuclear drills near Ukraine…

  More threats from Putin just now amid recent calls by European politicians to allow Kyiv to use Western weaponry to strike targets inside Russia

  He says they should “remember that, as a rule, they are states with a small territory but dense population” pic.twitter.com/vCH7gAM2WY

  — Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 28, 2024

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  Putin told reporters gathered in Tashkent during an official visit to the central Asian country of Uzbekistan, which is a former Soviet Republic, “Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences.”

  He also hinted at the prospect of nuclear war in posing: “If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons?”

  “It’s hard to say – do they want a global conflict?” Putin questioned, warning that Ukraine hitting Russian territory with externally supplied long-range weapons would make the West directly involved in the conflict.

  He also appeared to reference a new agreement between Kiev and Paris which will see French military trainers be deployed to Ukrainian soil. Putin remarked that this puts the situation a big step closer to major direct confrontation between Russia and France – and ultimately the NATO alliance. That’s when he warned the following…

  They… “should be aware of what they are playing with” as they had small land areas and dense populations.

  “This is a factor that they should keep in mind before talking about striking deep into Russian territory. This is a serious thing, and we are of course watching it very closely,” Putin said.

  Week after week, officials in the West find new ways to escalate (also in light of Russian forces making rapid gains in Kharkiv), and given that Zelensky has said it’s ‘impossible’ to sit down at the negotiating table with Moscow so long as Putin is in power, there appears to be no off-ramp whatsoever.

  

  Indeed we might add to Putin’s remarks that everyone is playing with fire… and this has been the case for a long time now. There are very few European leaders willing to openly resist this intensifying push to escalate at this point.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 20:40

• Rancher: Record High Beef Prices May Be 'New Norm'
  Rancher: Record High Beef Prices May Be ‘New Norm’

  Authored by Matthew Lysiak via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Beef prices skyrocketed to a new record high this Memorial Day weekend as industry experts warn costs could continue to rise even higher if current regulatory and economic conditions remain unchanged.

  

  Recently released data shows that “all fresh beef retail value,” a composite value based on choice beef, other beef, and hamburger retail prices, shot up to $794.90 in April, according to the Economic Research Council, the highest price on record.

  Further, the price of uncooked ground beef, beef roasts, beef steaks, and veal have all continued to rise in price—between .03 and 1.5 percent—from March’s record high numbers, according to this month’s Consumer Price Index.

  American rancher Shad Sullivan told The Epoch Times that the sharp rise in prices can be attributed to a “withering assault” from regulators and government authorities who have played an outsized role in the unprecedented increase.

  “We are seeing prices at an all-time high, and it is getting close to that point when the consumer is going to say, I can’t do this anymore; it’s just too costly,” said Mr. Sullivan.

  “They (officials and regulators) are trying to push these high prices as a new norm where meat is only a treat for the wealthy. That is where they are pushing us, and that is where we are going.”

  Further, smaller farms are being increasingly shuttered under the weight of regulatory burden as standards recently imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency have resulted in compliance costs soaring to as high as $3 million for a single beef processing plant, according to Mr. Sullivan.

  “How is the small guy supposed to compete?”

  Justin Tupper, president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association, told The Epoch Times that American ranchers aren’t the ones seeing the profit from high price increases, which he attributes to several factors, including regulations and the ongoing monetary inflation that is a consequence of an increase in the money supply.

  “We are cost takers, not cost makers, and everything we do costs more,” said Mr. Tupper.

  The beef cattle supply has already dropped to its lowest point in decades, further contributing to the rise in the price of beef and renewing concerns over the long-term health of the nation’s farming community. A series of severe droughts, coupled with government policies that continue to favor large, industrial food processors, has reduced the nation’s supply of beef cattle to a level not seen since the early 1950s, according to Mr. Tupper.

  Further exacerbating the shortage, increasing acres of cattle farms are being purchased by larger companies that, after acquiring them, often use them for alternative purposes, further decimating the supply of available beef.

  Currently, the nation’s most prolific farmland owner is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and an anti-meat activist. By 2023, Mr. Gates claimed he owned about 270,000 acres spread across 18 states.

  Mr. Gates, an investor in Upside Foods, one of the two synthetic meat producers approved by the USDA, has been vocal about his belief that meat alternatives are needed to save the world from upcoming catastrophic climate events caused by greenhouse gasses.

  In a 2021 interview with Technology Review, Mr. Gates said that all well-off nations need to switch to be completely weaned off of living, breathing cows.

  “All rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time,” Mr. Gates told the interviewer.

  “Eventually that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the people or use regulation to totally shift demand. So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible,” he added.

  However, beef cattle production constitutes a small fraction of the gasses that many environmentalists claim have had a negative impact on the planet. Just 10 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States come from beef cattle production, while energy production and transportation produce a combined 54 percent of emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  

  However, despite the record-high prices, Mr. Tupper said that while there will always be a market for beef, he still has concerns about the future.

  “Beef is still the safest, best food on the planet, and that isn’t changing any time soon. It’s always going to be something people need,” he added. “Still, every generation gets further away from agriculture, and that’s a real problem,” said Mr. Tupper.

  According to Mr. Sullivan, if Americans don’t stand up and fight now for their small farmer, eventually, everyone will be priced out of nutrient-rich red meat.

  “Anti-meat ideology is an anti-life ideology,” said Mr. Sullivan. “If you don’t have a nation of red meat-eating men, you have a weak nation.”

  “Where there is beef, there is freedom, and it will always be that way,” he added.

  Travis
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 20:20

• F-35 Stealth Jet Crashes Near Albuquerque Airport
  F-35 Stealth Jet Crashes Near Albuquerque Airport

  A Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II crashed near Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), New Mexico, on Tuesday afternoon. 

  “I just witnessed a major, horrific aircraft crash with an explosion and dust rising into the air while I’m on my flight on the runway. I will report on it soon, waiting for more details but the person behind me said it was possible it was a helicopter or some type of single engine aircraft but it was hard to tell,” X user RawAlerts wrote in a post. 

  I just witnessed a major, horrific aircraft crash with an explosion and dust rising into the air while I’m on my flight on the runway. I will report on it soon, waiting for more details but the person behind me said it was possible it was a helicopter or some type of single… pic.twitter.com/NA8pQVdV6W

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 28, 2024

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  Two Defense Department officials told CBS News that the F-35 had just taken off from ABQ and was en route to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California when it crashed around 1400 local time. 

  #BREAKING A F-35 fighter jet just crashed during takeoff at Albuquerque International, New Mexico.

  Pilot reportedly ejected. pic.twitter.com/eAFSmgWJ00

  — Clash Report (@clashreport) May 28, 2024

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  The F-35 had just taken off from Runway 21 at ABQ.

  F-35 mishap at Albuquerque? Audio via @liveatc https://t.co/8E9eu1HHhn pic.twitter.com/wnYAHt4OwR

  — Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) May 28, 2024

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  Here’s ABQ’s Runway 21 via ForeFlight. 

  

  The latest NOTAMs at ABQ describe multiple runways as ‘out of service’. 

  

  CBS News says the pilot ejected but was in serious condition. 

  A pilot was seriously injured when a military aircraft crashed Tuesday afternoon near New Mexico’s Albuquerque International Sunport, authorities said.

  The plane was a developmental model of the F-35 fighter jet, which was being delivered by Lockheed Martin, two Defense Department officials told CBS News. It had just taken off from Albuquerque and was en route to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, the officials said.

  *Developing… 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 20:00

• Professor Accuses UCLA Of "Torturing" Pro-Palestinian Protesters
  Professor Accuses UCLA Of “Torturing” Pro-Palestinian Protesters

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  UCLA Professor Hannah Appel has accused the school of human rights violations amounting to “torture” in the treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters. The reason is the denial of water and food from being brought into a building being unlawfully occupied by protesters, even though the students were free to leave at any time.

  

  Appel teaches in the anthropology department in the areas of “transnational capitalism and finance,” “the economic imagination,” and “anti-capitalist and abolitionist social movements.”

  She is also a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UCLA.The Daily Bruin reports that a brief sit-in protest was held at the campus’s Dodd Hall. The students were soon cleared from the building. In the interim, Appel made her accusation of torture tactics. 

  In a video posted on X, Appel is seen declaring “even if this is unlawful which, of course, I don’t think it is […] you cannot deny people to send in water in an effort to get them to do something against their will.”

  While the students were free to leave at any time, Appel objected that “you cannot use a mechanism of torture” to force people to leave.

  A faculty member at UCLA complains that student affairs is torturing protestors, who are free to leave their illegal encampment at any time, by not allowing them food and water.

  She wants this to get out on social media. I’m happy to help.@camhigby pic.twitter.com/YLOwZsaADP

  — Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) May 23, 2024

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  In another video Appel objects that she and other faculty were not allowed to bring food and water to the encampment demonstrators.Notably, Appel repeats a threat from faculty at various schools that they may withhold their grades in protest to pressure schools to drop any charges or allegations against protesters: 

  “When the university sees that folks are withholding grades, they get scared. They’re scared because we’re flexing our collective power, and optimally, that fear drives them to the bargaining table, and then we win.”

  UCLA faculty member complains that police won’t allow protestors into encampment, but refuses to answer questions about protestors using physical force to prevent people they don’t like from entering encampment. pic.twitter.com/dJKsm8kJMR

  — Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) May 23, 2024

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  Such threats have already worked as universities have caved to demands at schools like Northwestern or dropped charges against students. Yet, these professors are using the grades of students to coerce universities.

  It is grossly unfair to students who were not involved in the protests or may oppose these protests. They have right to their grades and these professors have a contractual obligation to supply them. They should not be a tool for faculty protests.

  Professors were free to join these students in occupying university buildings so long as they were willing to bear the consequences for their actions. To withhold grades to achieve political ends should be treated as a serious violation of faculty rules of conduct.

  As for the torture allegation, Appel is dead wrong. There was no denial of food or water. The students had access to both outside of the building. Unlawful occupation of a building does not create an obligation on the part of the university to support the occupiers.

  To call this a human rights violation is to belittle the deprivations of true victims of torture and other abuses.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 19:40

• Co-Founder Of China's SenseTime Says AI Development Gap With US Is Closing 
  Co-Founder Of China’s SenseTime Says AI Development Gap With US Is Closing 

  The idea that China will collapse after decades of supergrowth, despite its current challenges with a real estate crisis and a demographic winter, is ridiculous, as the most significant risk to America’s big tech empire is the potential failure of US sanctions containing Chinese tech companies. 

  Chinese tech giant Huawei is a great example of the ‘Made in China’ theme ramping up, despite being blacklisted by the US. The company has produced two smartphones, the Mate 60 series and Pura 70 Pro, using advanced domestic chips. These phones have challenged Apple’s iPhone dominance in the world’s largest handset market. 

  On Tuesday, at the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, SenseTime Group co-founder Xu Bing told Bloomberg’s David Ingles that artificial intelligence chipmakers in China are quickly closing the technological gap versus international players. 

  

  The US Gov’t has repeatedly sanctioned SenseTime due to allegations that its facial recognition technology is used in surveillance programs monitoring Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. These sanctions are primarily aimed at curbing the country’s advances in AI. 

  “There’s a shortage of resources here in Asia in general,” Bing told Bloomberg’s Ingles, adding, “It’s like a 10 times gap of the compute resources that we have here compared to the US leaders. But I think Asian markets never lack talent and never lack data.”

  Bing pointed out that domestic chip manufacturing is catching up quickly with global competition. He said SenseTime is working with local semiconductor companies to accelerate compute capabilities. 

  He did not mention specific companies, but Huawei has emerged in recent quarters as China’s saving grace in chip technology development. As we’ve pointed out, the company has easily navigated US sanctions, advancing its own advanced smartphone processor for its latest handsets. 

  Bing wasn’t entirely clear how far China lags behind the US in AI development. Bloomberg cites some estimates as 1-3 years. He noted that China’s lag in computing power won’t be permanent. 

  “Compute is a commodity,” he said, adding, “In the long run, compute won’t be a gap.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 19:20

• Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty To Spying For The Chinese Regime
  Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty To Spying For The Chinese Regime

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

  A former CIA officer pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to spy for the Chinese regime over a decade in a federal court in Honolulu, the Department of Justice announced on May 24.

  

  Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in 2020 and charged with conspiracy to transfer top-secret information to the Chinese regime’s intelligence officials.

  Mr. Ma, who worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989, conspired with his blood relative, also a former CIA officer, to provide classified U.S. national defense information to the Chinese regime.

  During his tenure at the CIA, Mr. Ma held a top-secret clearance and signed multiple non-disclosure agreements, acknowledging his duty to protect U.S. government secrets. After leaving the agency, Ma lived and worked in Shanghai, China, before relocating to Hawaii in 2001.

  Notably, his blood relative had access to CIA top secret information, including “the identities of covert CIA officers,” according to a court document.

  The document says the two former CIA officers conspired with Chinese intelligence officials to share classified national defense information over a decade.

  Prosecutors said the espionage scheme began with three days of meetings in Hong Kong hotel rooms in 2001, where Mr. Ma and his relative met officers of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the regime’s top intelligence agency. During these meetings, the two former CIA officers provided highly classified information on the CIA’s personnel, internal structure, operations, and communication methods. Part of these meetings was videotaped, showing Mr. Ma receiving and counting $50,000 in cash for the secrets they divulged.

  The plea deal showed that Mr. Ma sought employment with the FBI, aiming to regain access to classified information for Chinese intelligence. In 2003, he applied for a job as a contract linguist with the FBI’s Honolulu Field Office.

  Knowing his ties to Chinese intelligence, the FBI hired Mr. Ma as part of an investigative plan to monitor his activities. From August 2004 to October 2012, he worked as a contract linguist, reviewing and translating Chinese language documents at an off-site location.

  Prosecutors said over the next six years, Mr. Ma regularly copied, photographed, and stole classified documents. He took the stolen documents and images with him on frequent trips to China and handed them over to the Chinese handlers. He often returned from these China trips with substantial cash payments and expensive gifts, including new golf clubs.

  According to prosecutors, Mr. Ma admitted that he convinced his CIA relative to reveal the identities of at least two individuals in photographs that were given to him by Chinese spies. Mr. Ma confessed that he was aware that the Chinese regime could use this information to harm the United States, but he deliberately did it anyway.

  Court documents showed that in 2019, Mr. Ma met with an FBI undercover agent whom he believed to be a Chinese intelligence officer. During these meetings, Mr. Ma confirmed he worked for Chinese intelligence and accepted $2,000 in cash as a “small token” of appreciation for his work for the Chinese regime. He also offered to resume working for Chinese intelligence.

  In a final meeting with the FBI undercover agent in Aug. 2020 before his arrest, Mr. Ma again accepted more money for his past spying efforts and expressed his willingness to support the Chinese regime, saying he wanted “the motherland” to succeed.

  The plea agreement requires Mr. Ma to cooperate with U.S. authorities, including submitting to debriefings by government agencies. If accepted by the court, he will face a 10-year prison sentence.

  Espionage Attempts

  The case is one of many espionage attempts by the Chinese regime targeting U.S. military and intelligence personnel. In 2019, former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee received a 19-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to provide classified information to Chinese intelligence following his departure from the agency in 2010.

  Earlier this year, a former U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to 27 months in prison for providing the Chinese communist regime with sensitive U.S. military information in exchange for bribes. In 2021, a former U.S. Navy sailor was also sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $20,000 for conspiring with her husband to send sensitive military equipment to China illegally.

  These cases highlight the Chinese regime’s intelligence efforts in the United States. In 202o, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency investigated one new Chinese counterintelligence case every 10 hours. Mr. Wray also noted that the bureau had over 2,000 China-related counterintelligence investigations at the time.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 19:00

• Sugar Traders In Denial As Ozempic Craze Ramps Up 
  Sugar Traders In Denial As Ozempic Craze Ramps Up 

  The junk-food industrial complex is on notice after pumping American consumers with sugars and carbs for decades, sparking an obesity crisis that has weighed on the nation’s healthcare system. Remarkably, big pharma’s response to the obesity crisis is an injectable drug, while the federal government is nowhere to be found in promoting healthy diets and exercise to the masses.

  

  The ongoing trading theme: “Ozempic is coming for your industry,” has been a hit with Wall Street traders. Just look at the massive outperformance of Goldman’s GLP-1 ‘Winners’ basket versus the ‘At-risk’ Pair basket… 

  

  At a recent NYC dinner with over 800 sugar traders, Sally Lyons Wyatt, an executive at consumer researcher Circana, warned, ‘Ozempic is coming for your industry.’ 

  “Does it have the ability to be huge in the future?” Wyatt asked during her speech at the New York Sugar Dinner earlier this month. She added, “It does.”

  Bloomberg pointed out Wyatt’s warnings went unnoticed as the bet on supplying obese Americans with sugary drinks and snacks is still in play. 

  However, the bet on sugar and junk food could sour in the coming years as more GLP-1 medications—originally designed to treat diabetes —hit the marketplace or ramp up production.  

  

  Morgan Stanley analysts, including Pamela Kaufman, recently told clients that GLP-1s could reduce sweet demand, such as baked goods, confectionery, and soda consumption, by as much as 5% by 2035. 

  Meanwhile, Carlos Murilo Barros de Mello, the head of sugar in the Americas at brokerage Hedgepoint Global Markets, admits the industry has not spent much time estimating consumption shifts due to GLP-1s suppressing food cravings, indicating the moves are “minuscule” relative to production swings. 

  “The impact hasn’t been felt yet because it’s still quite far down the line,” said Kona Haque, head of research at ED&F Man, adding, “And don’t forget, this is still very much an advanced-economy, affluent-society syndrome where people are trying to tackle obesity.”

  Haque noted that sugar demand is still increasing in emerging markets, where the GLP-1s will likely not be available for years because of costs. 

  According to the International Sugar Organization, demand has slowed over the years, now at 1.2%, versus the 10-year average of 1.6%. 

  

  While the GLP-1 craze will take years and must go global to spook sugar traders, the one thing these folks fear is if the US Department of Agriculture actually banned purchases of unhealthy junk food and sweetened beverages, including soda, from purchased items by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP (read: Five Simple Policies To Reset America’s “Rigged” Health System).

  *   *   * 

  As a side note, obese rapper Lizzo responds to South Park by roasting her in the show “The End of Obesity.” 

  Lizzo reacts to South Park roasting her: pic.twitter.com/0VH7rkjLTD

  — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 26, 2024

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  This is pretty accurate. 

  South Park perfectly captures the US Healthcare System pic.twitter.com/Pn0WnVUs4F

  — Dr Danish (@operationdanish) May 26, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 18:40

• Illinois School District Set To Produce Next $8 Million Superintendent Pensioner
  Illinois School District Set To Produce Next $8 Million Superintendent Pensioner

  By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner of Wirepoints

  New Trier Township HS District 203’s Superintendent Paul Sally is set to retire next year and he can count on lifetime pension benefits of nearly $8 million. When he does retire, he’ll join the ranks of the Teachers Retirement System’s top pensioners.

  We’ve written for years that Illinois’ pension systems are out-of-whack with what taxpayers can afford. It’s a two-class system where those in government get guaranteed lifetime pensions and other protected benefits while those in the private sector, who get no such guarantees and protections, are forced to pay for them. 

  But it’s the superintendent pensions that help bring attention to just how problematic public pensions are. Sally has done nothing wrong, of course. He’s simply benefitting from the system that’s been put in place by lawmakers. The true blame falls on the politicians who created the pension system, those who continuously sweetened benefits over the decades, and today’s lawmakers who refuse reforms.

  With no reforms expected in the near term, all we can do is highlight the results of Illinois’ two-class system.

  Paul Sally’s exact pension will be unknown until he officially retires, but based on FOIA data and his current pensionable salary of nearly $350,000, Wirepoints estimates his starting pension will be around $255,000 a year. If Sally lives to 82 – his approximate life expectancy according to Social Security actuarial tables – he’ll end up collecting about $8 million in total benefits. By then, his pension will have grown to $476,000 per year – thanks to the automatic 3% compounded cost-of-living increase he’ll automatically get each year. 

  

  And if he lives past 82, Sally can expect to collect over $8, $9, or even $10 million in total benefits.

  Sally is already one of the highest paid superintendents in the state. His pensionable earnings are currently the state’s 9th-highest at $346,609.

  

  Now, to be fair to New Trier, Paul Sally’s high salary is only a burden to the residents of the New Trier school district. 94% of the district’s operating costs are funded directly by the property taxes of New Trier residents.

  But that’s not the case when it comes to pension costs. Teacher pensions are paid for by state income taxes, so when Paul Sally gets a multimillion lifetime pension, all Illinois taxpayers have to chip in, from Carbondale to Rockford and from Quincy to Danville.

  Sally’s big pension isn’t just a one-off. There are many superintendents across the state retiring in their 50’s and collecting six-figure sums each year. The state’s top TRS pensioners, meanwhile, can all expect to collect more than $9 million in benefits.

  

  Some of the “retired” superintendents on the list above have gone on to work other big-paying jobs out of state, all the while drawing an Illinois pension. Yet others figure out how to double dip right here in Illinois, working interim superintendent jobs while still getting their full pensions. 

  The sad reality is that superintendent pensions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Illinois’ pension problems. There are more than 1 million government workers and retirees who benefit from pensions, and the costs are simply too much to bear for ordinary Illinoisans. 

  For those looking to do a deep dive into just how extreme Illinois’ pension situation is, go to:

  • Wirepoints’ Pension Solutions
  • Illinois state pensions: Overpromised, not underfunded
  • New 2023 data: Inflation can’t save Illinois from its worst-in-nation pension crisis
  • Illinoisans burdened with $207 billion in official state & local pension debts, $41,000 per household
  • Johnson’s next headache. Chicago’s pension funds are running out of money
  • Pension reform, Illinois style: Legislation to ‘fix’ the Tier 2 problem

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 18:20

• Rafah Mass Casualty Strike Does Not Cross Biden's 'Red Line'
  Rafah Mass Casualty Strike Does Not Cross Biden’s ‘Red Line’

  Update(1813ET): Who could have seen this coming?

  The White House on Tuesday indicated an Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah did not cross a “red line” that would lead to a change in U.S. policy.

  Multiple administration officials in press briefings Tuesday described the images out of Rafah as “heartbreaking,” “tragic” and “horrific.” But there was no sign of an impending policy change as a result, because it was an airstrike and not a major ground operation. —The Hill

  Does anyone believe this administration after for months talking out of both sides of its mouth? On the one hand it seeks to present itself as ‘tough’ on Israel, withholding a single ammo/weapons shipment (in a largely symbolic move), but on the other can’t bring itself to condemn a strike which resulted in an outright civilian massacre which included women and children being incinerated as they slept in a refugee tent encampment.

  And we are told that the Israelis will ‘investigate’ themselves…

  “We still don’t believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is warranted. We still don’t want to see the Israelis, as we say, smash into Rafah with large units over large pieces of territory. We still believe that, and we haven’t seen that at this point,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

  Reporter: We’re seeing tanks in Rafah, we’ve seen strikes kill civilians including children, for an American seeing their tax $ go to this, can you explain how this isn’t a major military operation?

  Kirby: I am not the IDF spokesman and this is not Tel Aviv

  Could have fooled me pic.twitter.com/XzNprPQ0GQ

  — Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 28, 2024

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  “As a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to,” he added in reference to the attack which killed 45 Palestinians. “It just happened. The Israelis are going to investigate it. We’re going to be taking great interest in what they find in that investigation. And we’ll see where it goes from there.” Sure…

  * * *

  Israeli tanks have reached the heart of Rafah overnight amid continual heavy bombardment and shelling. Local eyewitnesses say they’ve reached a roundabout in the center of the city which forms a key landmark.

  Images and footages to emerge Tuesday have confirmed the advance of tank columns and IDF infantry deep into Rafah, which has sent thousands more displaced Palestinians fleeing from the Western half of the city, where the most intense fighting is happening. 

  Additionally BBC has observed of IDF tanks that overnight “they also seized control of the highest hilltop along the Gaza-Egypt border after reported gun battles with Hamas-led fighters.”

  

  Airstrikes have continued to increase in intensity on the Western outskirts, especially on the al-Faluja area which lies west of Jabalia camp.

  Following the Sunday bombing of a refugee tent camp in a designated safe zone which reportedly killed 45 people, there are emerging reports of another catastrophic air raid:

  The air raid targeted al-Mawasi in western Rafah, an area where tents have been set up to house displaced Palestinians. It is also a designated humanitarian area to which Israeli authorities told Palestinians to flee.

  “Among them are 13 females were killed. Israeli forces targeted another makeshift tent [area] where most of the people were women and children,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from Deir el-Balah.

  Pressure out of Europe in particular is growing, amid ongoing EU discussions over possible sanctions against Israel and after last week’s ICJ (World Court) call for immediate ceasefire, but so far the Netanyahu government is defiantly pushing forward its anti-Hamas operation.

  Hamas has issued a statement meanwhile, as tanks plunge deeper into Rafah, calling on the UN Security Council to take “practical and immediate measures” to halt the invasion of Rafah city.

  The statement said that the southernmost major city in Gaza “is being subjected to indiscriminate barbaric Zionist bombing, affecting homes and tents of displaced people in various parts of the city.”

  “The UN Security Council is required to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities in the face of the criminal Zionist entity’s disregard for the decision of the International Court of Justice, which ordered an immediate halt to the aggression against the city,” the Hamas statement added.

  Exclusive footage from Al Jazeera shows Israeli occupation tanks advancing further into the west of Rafah city.

  The Israeli occupation intends to fully occupy the Philadelphi Axis with Egypt, effectively encircling the Strip and implementing disastrous restrictions. pic.twitter.com/6rgaIOJ8XK

  — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 28, 2024

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  This comes a day after the White House appeared to justify Sunday’s Israeli attack on the refugee encampment. A Biden national security spokesperson told CNN on Monday, “The devastating images following the IDF strike in Rafah last night that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians are heartbreaking.”

  “Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians,” the statement said. Axios has since reported:

  The Biden administration is still assessing whether an Israeli strike that killed at least 45 displaced Palestinians at a tent camp in Rafah on Sunday is a violation of President Biden’s “red line,” two U.S. officials told Axios.

  So far the administration has stalled some ammo shipments, even while approving more massive defense aid packages and funding for Israel, in a largely symbolic move meant more for deflecting criticisms from Progressive Democrats.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 18:13

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• The Collective Shrug Over Fico Assassination Attempt Exposes The Drive For War
  The Collective Shrug Over Fico Assassination Attempt Exposes The Drive For War

  Authored by Craig Murray

  The collective shrug with which the Western media and political class noted the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has been telling.

  Can you imagine the outrage and emotion that would have been expressed by Western powers if not Fico but a pro-Ukraine, anti-Russian leader within the EU had been attacked? The new orders for weapons that would have been presented to the arms manufacturers, the troops that would have been deployed, the sabers that would have been rattled?

  

  Instead we have the media telling us that Fico opposed sending arms to Ukraine and opposed threatening Russia. We are told he did not accept the mainstream narrative on Covid vaccinations. The media do not quite say he deserved to be shot, but they come very, very close.

  Fellow EU leaders followed correct form in making statements of shock and disgust at the attack on Fico, but they were formal and perfunctory. The “not actually one of us” message was very clear.

  There are now an ordered set of neoliberal beliefs to which anybody in a Western nation participating in public affairs must subscribe, or they are beyond the pale. Not to subscribe to all of these beliefs makes you a “populist”, a “conspiracy theorist”, a “Putin puppet” or a “useful idiot”.

  These are some of the “key beliefs”:

  No. 1) Wealth is only created by a small number of ultra-wealthy capitalists on whom the employment of everybody else ultimately depends.
  No. 2) The laws governing financial structures must therefore tend to concentrate wealth to these individuals, so that they may deploy it as they choose.
  No. 3) State-created currency must only be concentrated in and distributed to private financial institutions.
  No. 4) Public spending is always less efficient than private spending.
  No. 5) Russia, China and Iran pose an existential threat to the West. That comprises both an economic threat and a physical, military threat.
  No. 6) Colonialism was a boon to the world, bringing economic development, trade and education to people of inferior cultures.
  No. 7) Islam is a threat to Western values and to world development.
  No. 8) Israel is a necessary project for spreading Western values to the uncivilized Middle East.
  No. 9) Security necessitates devoting very substantial resources to arms production and the waging of continual war.
  No. 10) Nothing must threaten the military and arms industry interest. No battle against corruption or crime can override the need for the security military industrial complex to be completely unchallenged and internally supreme.

  Dependent Orthodoxies

  Listen to this Sky News report on the shooting of Robert Fico.

  Not only do they come close to justifying it because he opposes aid to Ukraine, but they also casually imply that he’s being paid by the Kremlin.

  This casual accusation is so prevalent in the West, and toxic. https://t.co/dccTYXKcGt

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 15, 2024

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  Within this architecture of belief, other orthodoxies hang dependent, such as the correct way to respond to a complex pandemic, or support for NATO and impunity for the security services. (Support for Israel is probably better portrayed as a dependent point, but with the subject of Gaza so prominent at the moment I have figuratively moved it into the main structure.)

  Any deviation on any point of belief is a challenge to the entire system, and thus must be eradicated. You will note there is no room whatsoever, within this architecture of thought, for values like freedom of speech or freedom of assembly. They simply do not fit. Nor is it possible within this architecture to incorporate actual democracy, which would give people a choice of what to believe.

  Read the rest at Consortium News…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 05/28/2024 – 02:00

• A Final Indignity To The Arsenal Of Democracy?
  A Final Indignity To The Arsenal Of Democracy?

  Authored by Thaddeus McCotter via American Greatness,

  It is Memorial Day weekend. A time for us to commemorate and reflect upon the ultimate sacrifices given by our fallen citizen-soldiers and the enduring grief of their families and loved ones, which were and are selflessly borne in the defense of their fellow Americans and our free republic.

  This spirit of self-sacrifice is rarely evidenced by far too many of the elected officials who will publicly eulogize these same fallen patriots and extend condolences to their families and loved ones. While exhorting others to emulate the example of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, these disingenuous politicians refuse to risk an ounce of political capital—not by opposing public sentiment—but by supporting it in the defense of our national security. Why? Because they fear alienating major corporations and their own party leaders.

  

  While currently occurring primarily in “Blue States,” abetting communist Chinese subnational incursions into our states has been a bipartisan disgrace—and this is despite the bipartisan warnings of the military, intelligence, and law enforcement communities.

  The complicit politicians’ reasoning is as follows: using taxpayer money to subsidize CCP-linked businesses locating in states will provide jobs and boost the economy of not only the local populace but also the profits of these companies’ American corporate partners. In sum, having failed to implement the necessary fiscal and free market policies to produce domestic economic growth, these politicians have latched onto these Chinese-linked companies as an electoral lifeline. Apparently, these politicians think the public believes a job is a job and will not care about the use of their tax dollars to import CCP-linked companies into our backyard.

  To wit: my home state of Michigan, which during World War II was rightly lauded with the name “The Arsenal of Democracy.” The “greatest generation” of Michiganians not only fought in foreign fields, they toiled in machine shops’ and factories’ floors to produce the armaments needed not only for our forces but for our allies as well. One shining example of American industrial and military might was the Ford Motor Company’s Willow Run Facility (Air Force Plant 31).

  As the Detroit Historical Society records, Willow Run was built in 1941 with $200,000,000 investment by the federal government. At its wartime peak,

  …Willow Run was able to achieve remarkable production rates. At its peak in 1944, it produced a B-24 [bomber aircraft] every hour. By 1945, it was able to produce 70 percent of its B-24s in two nine-hour shifts, with pilots and crew members sleeping on 1,300 cots as they waited for the B-24s to roll off the assembly line. The Ford Motor Company eventually produced half of their 18,000 total B-24s at Willow Run.

  Yet, over time, even as the threats to America ebbed and flowed, morphed and intensified, Willow Run ebbed in the minds of policymakers and the public. In 1953, Willow Run changed hands by lease and, ultimately, by deed from Ford to General Motors; and by 2010, Willow Run plant became a casualty of GM’s bankruptcy proceeding:

  Most of the plant was demolished in 2014 but a 175,000 foot portion was offered to the Yankee Air Museum, housed in a hangar until a 2004 fire. After successful fundraising, the Museum reopened in 2017 in the historic building.

  “The American Center for Mobility claimed the remainder of the massive site and in 2018 opened a proving ground and research facility for self-driving cars, the only one in Michigan and one of ten in the U.S., as designated by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.

  What is of note to the present discussion is this: back in 1941, the U.S. government expended taxpayer dollars to an American corporation to provide employment in making armaments for the defense of our nation.

  Today, state governments are expending taxpayer dollars to CCP-linked companies that use the mantra of “jobs” to deflect from the potential to undermine our national security. All this for a talking point how “[Politician Name] Created [X Number of] Jobs.” (Sadly, the economic mendacity of this message remains lost upon far too many of our citizenry.)

  And the offending politicians show no signs of slowing in their feckless endangering of our national security. As the Daily Caller’s Nick Pope reports:

  Michigan Democrats shot down an effort to significantly expand the vetting process for China-tied companies seeking to cash in on state incentives earlier in May.

  Republican lawmakers in both chambers of the state’s legislature pushed budget amendments that would have prohibited the use of state funds to subsidize corporations originating from adversarial countries like China, but neither amendment made it into the budgets that passed on May 9 and May 15. House and Senate Democrats leveraged their control of each chamber to shoot down both amendments.

  The reason for the partisan divide is the support of the democratic administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer for “Gotion, a company looking to build a subsidized facility in the Grand Rapids area… The state announced in October 2022 that it would be providing Gotion with incentives worth $715 million to attract its $2.4 billion factory to Michigan.”

  This is despite the fact that Gotion

  …is tied to China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via its parent company, Gotion High-Tech. The Daily Caller News Foundation has reported extensively on the company’s links to China and the CCP, which include Gotion High-Tech’s employment of more than 900 CCP members as of 2022 and the fact that a visiting delegation of CCP officials set up a talent recruitment work station at Gotion’s California headquarters in 2017.

  This is not a one-off by the wholly Democrat-controlled Michigan legislature, who, according to state Senator Jonathan Lindsey (R-17):

  Governor Whitmer and the Democrats in Michigan are so married to this idea of taking Michigan taxpayer dollars and giving them to these corporations with ties to China, they refuse to budge. Last year they voted against preventing tax dollars from supporting child slave labor in China. This year they voted against reviews and limitations on those dollars flowing toward our global adversaries. What they’re doing is absolutely wrong for the people of Michigan.

  As Michigan Senate minority leader Aric Nesbitt (R-20) further points out, “It’s shocking to watch the Democrat majority in Michigan hand over hundreds of millions in tax dollars from struggling Michigan families to multinational corporations that pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party in their corporate documents.”

  Yet, what of the Ford Motor Company, the quintessentially American corporation that was a major artery pumping munitions and materiel through the heart of the Arsenal of Democracy and into our military and allies’ hands? Like the Willow Run plant, Ford has another project seeking public subsidies. Unlike the Willow Run plant, however:

  …Ford’s licensing deal with CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer, has also drawn scrutiny. Ford planned to open a facility in [Michigan] – with the help of state incentives in excess of $1.5 billion – where it would manufacture batteries using CATL’s technology and know-how, but the company has since scaled down its planned factory, according to CNBC.

  Perhaps it is an elected official and Navy veteran, State Representative Andrew Beeler (R-64), who, being well versed in the self-sacrifice made by our men and women in uniform and their families, so well expressed his consternation and concerns:

  I didn’t spend years in the Navy pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party in the South China Sea only to come to the Michigan Legislature and give them government handouts… But House Democrats voted to let hostile foreign powers keep spreading influence and gathering intelligence on Michigan taxpayers’ dime.

  Given the bipartisan opposition to spending taxpayer money to subsidize CCP-linked companies, one might be tempted to chalk this up to a case of imbecilic political hacks cutting off their nose to spite their face and hoping no one notices. Granted, it would not be the first time. Yet this is far worse. These useful elected idiots are spending taxpayer dollars to buy the CCP the razor that barbaric regime will use to cut our throat. That this is happening in Michigan could well constitute a final—suicidal—indignity to the arsenal of Democracy.

  That this is happening at all constitutes an unconscionable affront to the citizen-soldiers who gave their last full measure of devotion for us.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 23:00

• Israeli & Egyptian Troops Clash At Rafah Border, Leaving One Dead
  Israeli & Egyptian Troops Clash At Rafah Border, Leaving One Dead

  In a significant escalation, an Egyptian soldier has been shot dead at the Rafah border crossing after a rare exchange of gunfire erupted between the two sides.

  Israel’s Channel 14 described that Egyptian security forces “fired on an Israeli truck at the Rafah crossing” and that immediately soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “responded to this with gunfire.”

  

  Quickly after, officials on both sides of the border agreed to cease firing, and the incident is under investigation.

  International reports including in Bloomberg and the BBC say that an Egyptian soldier at the border was left dead in the shootout. Israel media sources are calling it “a violation of the peace agreement with Egypt.”

  The IDF subsequently confirmed: “There was a shooting incident on the Egyptian border; the [incident] is under investigation, [and] dialogue is taking place with the Egyptian side.”

  Times of Israel has quoted the country’s Army Radio to describe current Israeli narrative of the incident:

  The Ynet news site and Army Radio quoted unnamed Israeli military sources blaming Egypt for the deadly exchange of fire.

  According to the reports, Egyptian forces opened fire first on Israeli troops at the Rafah Border Crossing, who responded with fire of their own.

  The situation at the Rafah border crossing has been incredibly tense after Israel’s military took over operations of the Gaza side. Palestinian officials had previously operated the post, but earlier this month the IDF took it over as part of the ongoing Rafah offensive.

  Tensions with Egypt are also at boiling point given the concern that hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by Israel’s offensive could pour into the Sinai.

  A US-backed peace treaty has guided Israel-Egypt relations since 1979…

  If Egypt want to start a war with Israel, Syria will come too. Like old times. pic.twitter.com/vqpVwba5Qp

  — Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) May 27, 2024

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  Egypt’s economy has already long been under strain and Cairo says it can’t absorb mass numbers of displaced Palestinians. Large walled and enclosed ‘tent cities’ have been erected in the scenario where tens of thousands get across the border.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 22:20

• Fear Trump… Or Bust?
  Fear Trump… Or Bust?

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

  As Trump continues to show leads in critical swing states, as various lawfare-inspired cases against him seem to the public to be more persecutions than prosecutions, and as Joe Biden appears daily more incoherent and lost, the left on spec has resorted to warning the nation about all the supposedly catastrophic consequences of a future Trump presidency…

  

  Ironically, the left seems oblivious to the reality that one reason Trump leads Biden in the polls is precisely because voters can compare the four-year record of the prior Trump presidency to Biden’s last 40 months.

  Recently, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Trump will conspire with oil executives to spike gasoline prices. But even after Biden drained the strategic petroleum reserve before the 2022 midterms and is now again doing the same as the 2024 election approaches, gas prices have averaged only one-third cheaper than under Trump.

  Trump tried to top off the reserve but was blocked by Democrats in Congress. Nevertheless, he left Biden a nearly full reservoir of 638 million barrels (about 90 percent full), which Biden has now drained by some 270 million barrels to the present 51 percent full—and the levels are falling further as voting nears.

  We are warned that 77-year-old Trump looks haggard after his long hours in court. He seems sleepy, we are told. He has aged terribly, the media tell us. But polls show that concern over Biden’s dementia greatly outweighs normal worry over septuagenarian candidate Trump.

  Why would any sane pro-Biden handler bring up Trump’s supposed gait or occasional forgotten word when that only reminds the public of the contrast with Biden, whose speeches seem delivered in something other than English and whose transcripts must be heavily edited to airbrush away his incoherence?

  We are told that Trump will increase racial tensions. Almost daily, blacks and Hispanics are warned that Trump is a racist—even as polls show that he may well receive the highest percentage of minority votes by any Republican in modern history and has some chance of winning outright the Hispanic vote. Oddly, the media is now attacking minorities on the Marxist principle of false consciousness, as if they are deluded into voting against themselves rather than being perceptive critics of the Biden disaster of high inflation, green mania, a deluge of illegal aliens, and loss of deterrence abroad.

  It was not Trump, but Biden, who, during the last election cycles, called one African-American journalist a “junkie” and warned another podcaster, “You ain’t black,” if he voted for Trump. And during his presidency, on occasion, Biden has referred to black subordinates as “boy,” uses the ossified term “Negro,” and has a long history of racist drivel and smears, from “put y’all back in chains” to referencing Barack Obama as the first “clean” and “articulate” presidential candidate to proudly reminding us that his home state of Delaware was once a “slave state.”

  As Trump’s polls climbed and the Fani Willis persecution was sidetracked by her own false testimonies, conflicts of interest, and the hiring of her unqualified clandestine paramour, hysterical cries mounted that a reelected Trump would use the powers of government to go after his enemies.

  As Jack Smith’s federal indictment became calcified over issues of presidential immunity, his failed efforts to ram through the prosecution before the election, and his office lying over tampering with evidence seized at Mar-A-Lago, tired warnings of Trump’s weaponization to come of the bureaucracy mounted even more.

  Now that the jury is out in the Alvin Bragg fiasco and his star witness, Michael Cohen, a convicted liar, has likely again perjured himself and admitted to stealing $60,000 from the Trump organization, Trumpophobia has further peaked.

  In other words, the more evidence mounts that Trump’s enemies have manipulated the court system in the manner that they previously impeached him twice, tried him as a private citizen in the Senate, sought to remove him from state ballots, rounded up ex-intelligence officers to lie about the authentic Hunter Biden laptop on the eve of the 2020 presidential debate, and were exposed concocting the Russian collusion yarn by hiring a foreign national in the 2016 campaign, paradoxically, the more the left-wing media warns America that a President Trump would do exactly what they have been doing by emulating their weaponization of the courts, the bureaucracy, and the Congress.

  It gets stranger still.

  The left warns the country that Trump will deport some or many of the 10 million illegal aliens that Joe Biden and his impeached Homeland Security director Alejandro Mayorkas have deliberately welcomed in.

  Consider the logic: the current president destroyed a once-secure border and, for political purposes, illegally rendered immigration law enforcement null and void. But we are still supposed to fear his successor, who would resecure the border, return millions of recently crossed illegal aliens to their countries of origin, and restore the sanctity of federal law. In Orwellian fashion, the Biden administration is now suing exasperated states that are doing their part to help enforce immigration laws that Biden has deliberately shredded.

  The absurdity extends to foreign policy. Team Biden and the media are issuing warnings here and abroad that another Trump presidency would tear apart the global order.

  Really? Vladimir Putin has invaded neighboring nations in three of the last four administrations, but did not only during the Trump 2017-2020 years. Why?

  Before October 7, even Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan preened that his Middle East portfolio was “quieter than in two decades”—but only after Trump’s destroyed ISIS, took out the terrorist Iranian general Soleimani, ended the disastrous Iran deal, cut off aid to Hamas, designated the Houthi terrorists, crafted the Abraham Accords, pledged full support for Israel, our only democratic ally in the Middle East, and achieved U.S. oil independence.

  In contrast, Putin invaded Ukraine and may well absorb much of its eastern half. The U.S. suffered its greatest military humiliation of the last half century in fleeing from Kabul and handing over billions of dollars in weapons to the terrorist Taliban, abandoning our NATO-allied forces, sympathetic Afghans, and American contractors.

  Hamas killed more Jews in a single day than any since the Holocaust. A full-scale war rages in Gaza. Hezbollah has displaced thousands of Israelis with its daily attacks. And for the first time in history, Iran has attacked in force the Israeli homeland.

  China, with impunity, sent a spy balloon across the continental US. Some 25,000 Chinese male illegal aliens mysteriously barged into the U.S. And China has helped kill 100,000 Americans a year through its fentanyl exports to the Mexican cartels.

  Given all that, are we supposed to worry that “sharp as a knife” Biden’s disastrous foreign policy will be ruined by a return to the peaceful record of the earlier Trump presidency?

  So, what is Trumpophobia?

  The syndrome displays a number of symptoms.

  One, the left always projects its sins onto its opponents.

  It accuses Trump of doing precisely what it has done, as a way of avoiding blame for its self-inflicted disasters. And the left so vehemently projects because it knows what it would do if it were Trump and was treated as he has been by them.

  Two, desperate Democrats are scrambling to find some bizarre way to depose both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, especially should Biden have a disastrous, historic preconvention June presidential debate.

  As a result, the 2024 campaign has never been about comparison of 2017-2020 to 2021-2024. But rather, it has already descended into the Democratic de facto smear that “Trump is even worse than Biden.” And that fixation instills fears of what Trump might do rather than what he actually has done.

  Three, the left feels Biden may do more than just lose the Democrats the presidency, Senate, and its close margin in the House.

  His hyperinflation seriously damaged the middle class. He turns them off with his arrogance, screaming speeches, loud, obnoxious gibberish, compulsive lying, and generally impotent appearance.

  His racial condescension and pandering fool no one. As a result, Biden may well redefine the two parties as race is replaced by shared class concerns. Wealthy blacks may vote for Biden because they are black and wealthy, but more and more middle-class blacks may vote for Trump because they feel his policies benefit the middle class like themselves.

  The public increasingly agrees that the Democrat Party is the party of the very rich, the bicoastal privileged, and the subsidized poor, while the lower and middle classes feel far more confident and secure with Republicans.

  Four, the left fears a more organized, savvier Trump second term might hit the ground running‚ and thus rapidly and professionally instill a conservative agenda to stop the current neo-socialist revolution.

  Given all that, 2024 for the left is little more than “Fear Trump or Bust.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 21:40

• United Airlines Plane Catches Fire At Chicago’s O'Hare Airport
  United Airlines Plane Catches Fire At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

  By Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times

  An engine caught fire on a United Airlines flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on May 27, causing the pilots to abort takeoff.

  United Airlines flight 2091 from Chicago to Seattle experienced an engine fire at around 2 p.m. local time at O’Hare airport shortly before takeoff, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

  The incident led the FAA to temporarily suspend arrivals to the airport, with normal operations resuming at around 2:45 p.m. local time, the spokesperson added.

  #WATCH : United Airlines flight catches fire just before takeoff halting arrivals at Chicago O’Hare International Airport#UnitedAirlines #Chicago #ChicagoOHareInternationalAirport #FlightFire #BreakingNews‌ #AirbusA320 pic.twitter.com/8mifG1i4KT

  — upuknews (@upuknews1) May 28, 2024

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  The aircraft, an Airbus A320, was towed to the gate where passengers “safely deplaned,” per the FAA spokesperson.

  A spokesperson for United Airlines confirmed in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times that the flight in question, which was scheduled to depart for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, was delayed after experiencing an “issue” with the engine, “which our local ground crew and emergency responders immediately addressed.”

  “The plane was towed to the gate, passengers deplaned normally and no injuries were reported. We are working to make alternative travel arrangements for customers,” the spokesperson added.

  The United Airlines spokesperson said that 148 passengers and five crew members were on board the aircraft when the incident occurred.

  “The fire department and medical personnel met the aircraft out of an abundance of caution,” the spokesperson said.

  A post circulating on social media purportedly shows images and video of the grounded United Airlines flight 2091 with several fire trucks on standby.

  A plane’s engine caught fire at O’Hare pic.twitter.com/Dtb0HwwWij

  — K2 💃 🚫 😼 🏔 ✈ 🏝 🇮🇱 (@EatDrinkNBeMery) May 27, 2024

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  While details of the engine fire remain unclear, it comes as a federal watchdog recently launched an audit of the FAA to evaluate its oversight of United Airlines’ maintenance programs after a run of safety events at the carrier were linked to mechanical problems.

  Continue reading at The Epoch Times

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 21:34

• Memorial Day 2050: How Will Future Americans Look Back On This Moment?
  Memorial Day 2050: How Will Future Americans Look Back On This Moment?

  Memorial Day 2024… honoring the men and women who bravely fought and died while serving in the US military. Across the country, many Americans will visit cemeteries and hold memorials for the fallen, and participate in patriotic parades. 

  Years down the road, or even by the middle of this century, will future historians and populations look back on this moment with a sense of regret, loathing, and disgust? 

  Will future generations of Americans one day be honoring the fallen of a World War 3 nuclear-armed confrontation with Russia? At this moment, Washington planners keep marching the nation (and the world) toward the abyss, seen in public messaging like the following…

  When we hold the @NATO Washington Summit in July, we’ll take tangible steps to increase NATO’s role in building a capable Ukrainian force, supporting its ongoing reforms, better integrating Ukraine into the Alliance. pic.twitter.com/dxYxnAbWlP

  — Department of State (@StateDept) May 19, 2024

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  What will the children and grandchildren of this current generation say when they look back and reflect on this moment?

  Will there be tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands more fallen to memorialize on Memorial Day 2050?

  

  Let us hope and pray this is not the case.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 21:00

• We Are Entering A New Phase In The War In Ukraine
  We Are Entering A New Phase In The War In Ukraine

  By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

  Today we will just highlight a few things:

  • Thanks to all my colleagues and everyone who has served, and I want to spend an extra moment to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
  • If you missed this month’s Around the World, it is an important read as it outlines Academy’s take on:
    • Israel commencing operations in Rafah.
    • Russian forces advancing on Kharkiv.
    • Xi meets with Putin in China.
    • U.S. force reduction in the Sahel.
  • While we cover the Xi and Putin meeting in the Around the World, I think there is also a case to be made that we are entering a new “phase” in the war in Ukraine. One where Russia will attempt to use social media to convince everyone that “peace” should be achieved, and where Russia is able to hold on to much of the land it occupies in Eastern Ukraine. It seems to be more than a coincidence that Putin appears to be publicly amenable to this sort of outcome after the meeting with Xi. It would also not be surprising given the information learned by observing how much social media seems to be able to shape political outcomes in the U.S. (the war in Gaza as a prime example). Could we be at the early stages of where we see the sort of deal we have been expecting for some time?
    • Our base case is that both sides will ultimately get forced into settling for some agreement that satisfies both countries, while not being particularly appealing to either country. Basically, Ukraine will cede some land and receive some of Russia’s frozen dollar reserves as payment, enabling them to pay some debts and embark on the reconstruction of their country.
    • Any such deal will be good for Europe as the rebuilding efforts will create demand for labor and equipment, but it will also be inflationary (at least initially). Globally, there would be some excitement as one of the Geopolitical Risks is taken off the table, but ultimately, not much will change as new global orders have already taken shape and will continue to do so, regardless of the outcome with Russia and Ukraine.
  • Overall, Geopolitical Risks remain topical. In our first Geopolitical Risk Perception vs Reality, we discussed the difficulty of incorporating geopolitical risk into “actionable” strategies. We focused on Cyber, Trade War, Commodities, the Middle East, Russia, and “wildcard” risks. We continue to see the markets underestimating the risk on the trade war and commodity front, while other risks seem to be perceived reasonably accurately relative to our view of the actual risk. If anything, Russia may have drifted into the “green” (potential positive surprise) from what we considered a neutral risk.
  • On the markets front, a few things seem to pop up again and again in discussions:
    • How are markets so strong with all of the Geopolitical Risks? We have tried to address that in the Risk vs Perception piece, and also in Hedging the Unhedgeable. There is no easy answer to this one, though I think the market has done a reasonable job and I’d look to own commodities and companies that would benefit from reconstruction in Ukraine or an effort to extract AND process more commodities “domestically” (either in the U.S. or with countries that we are very comfortable with politically and geographically – i.e. better control and access to those countries).
    • Last week we suggested that the market was Too Narrowly Focused on inflation and the minutiae of Fed policy. After a week of conversations, I don’t think that is the case. The market participants I speak with all seem to have coalesced around a reasonable view on the Fed:
      • We will get a cut or two this year, and a few more next year. No one seems to care much about whether it is 0, 1, 2, or 3 this year.
      • No one is really worried about the possibility of a hike, and people are consigned to the view that if we get a hike, it will only be because the economy remains incredibly strong, so it won’t be a big deal.
      • No one, in their main analysis and positioning discussions, is watching the tape nervously as economic data comes out.
      • Yet, the markets seem to respond to each headline as meaningful. Since I find it so difficult to identify people who care that much about any given headline, I can only assume that it is the “machines” that care. That algos and quant models are driving the show. Not sure whether that is good or bad, but it goes a long way to explaining the difference in what I see and hear versus what is actually happening in and around economic data. I do have to admit that the Citi Economic Surprise Index bounced last week and is less negative, which helps to explain why the 10-year ended the week near the high end of our range of 4.3% to 4.5%.
    • More and more notes about complacency and low volumes. I saw somewhere that SPY, a large S&P 500 ETF, had its 2nd lowest volume day in a year (only higher than the early close during Thanksgiving and one of the lowest full day volumes in years). VIX dropped back to 12. Anemic volumes may be helping push markets higher, but they are giving little confidence to investors, leading me to wonder how much the “machines” are in charge.
    • AI remains the big story. Having said that, I’m not sure how many people had NVDA up roughly 10% with the Nasdaq 100 down on Thursday. That certainly wasn’t a scenario I thought was plausible, yet It happened. Once again, it makes me wonder about market participation and liquidity.

  As we spend time with friends and family at barbeques this weekend, these are the thoughts/questions we are facing as we start the week, and for many, there are no obvious answers. Maybe we continue to grind higher on stocks, setting new records (most barely above the prior record or where we were months ago), or maybe something shakes things up (likely a trade related or geopolitical event, that can be tied directly to the earnings prospects of companies).

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 20:20

• Absurd: Radical Leftist Rashida Tlaib Speaks At Conference Connected With Terrorist Group 
  Absurd: Radical Leftist Rashida Tlaib Speaks At Conference Connected With Terrorist Group 

  Rashida Tlaib, a Congresswoman from Detroit and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, spoke over the weekend at the “People’s Conference for Palestine,” linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

  This group, an Arab nationalist movement with Marxist-Leninist ideology, is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US. It has public-facing arms, such as Samidoun, working on behalf of the group, and active cells in many countries in Europe and North America. 

  During the Saturday speech, Tlaib referred to members of the audience as the “squad” and demanded President Biden establish a “red line” on Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza. She criticized the president for “attacking the authority” of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s mission to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. 

  Among the speakers was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist linked to PFLP. The US State Department has designated the PFLP as a terrorist organization. 

  According to the Director of National Intelligence, PFLP is a terrorist group based in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It unites Arab nationalism with Marxist-Leninist ideology. It promotes the destruction of “Israel as integral to the struggle to remove Western capitalism from the Middle East and ultimately establish a Communist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the DNI writes on its website. 

  DNI provides more valuable insight into the terror organization: 

  The PFLP fostered links and carried out attacks with leftist militant groups across the world during the 1970s and was actively involved in the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005, during which the group carried out suicide operations and launched multiple joint operations with other Palestinian terrorist groups. The PFLP’s operational tempo has since declined, with only two attacks in the last five years, most recently in 2019 that killed an Israeli teen and injured multiple others.

  “I don’t need to tell you that you’re on the right side,” Tlaib said in her speech in Detroit, adding, “I don’t need to. But I’ll be damned if I wait ten years before they apologize to all of you for doing what was right at this moment.”

  A Sitting-Member of Congress, Rashida Tlaib was a Speaker yesterday at the “People’s Conference for Palestine” which was Funded and Supported by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Communist-Terrorist Group which is Headquartered in the Syrian Capital of… pic.twitter.com/K5QP0FebvI

  — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 26, 2024

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  A recent statement by Israel’s Ministry of Defense specifies, “Samidoun organization was designated as a terrorist organization as it is part of the PFLP.” 

  “Representatives of the organization are active in many countries in Europe and North America, led by Khaled Barakat, who is part of the leadership of PFLP abroad. Barkat is involved with establishing militant cells and motivating terrorist activity in Judea & Samaria and abroad,” MoD said. 

  Barakat is married to leftist radical Charlotte Kates, the coordinator of Samidoun and a Rutgers University School of Law graduate. 

  According to NGO Monitor, PFLP and Samidoun “had a strong presence at encampments, demonstrations, and riots on American college campuses. Students have been documented carrying PFLP posters, flying the PFLP flag, hosting PFLP-linked speakers, and reading PFLP publications.” 

  

  The degrees of separation between PFLP and Samidoun are only a few steps, and now it should become increasingly apparent a terrorist group has been directly/indirectly fueling the chaos across America’s elite colleges and universities. Yet, the Biden administration could care less, and the FBI is nowhere to be found publicly.  

  As for Tlaib speaking at the PFLP-linked event in Detroit, we’ll refrain from adding our commentary. Instead, here are some reactions from X users:

  Rashida Tlaib should be removed from Congress.

  — Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 26, 2024

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  When did this become okay?

  — TaraBull (@TaraBull808) May 26, 2024

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  There’s even a PFLP member speaking to the conference today at 1pm ESThttps://t.co/PuH8dPSWDb

  — Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) May 26, 2024

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  The same popular front who hijacked planes? https://t.co/CwkhRnswAK

  — Harry Theocharous (@TheocharousH) May 26, 2024

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  Yeah…she needs to go. An enemy of the U.S. has no place in the halls of Congress.

  — James Lasher (@TheJamesLasher) May 26, 2024

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  Rep Tlaib should be removed from all House of Representatives committees and censured. Tlaib believes she say or do whatever she wishes, supporting a designated terrorist organization, Speakers Johnson should take action.

  — Jeff Wright (@1991Wolfpack) May 26, 2024

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  Where is the FBI?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 19:40

• The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier & Our Societal Detachment From War
  The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier & Our Societal Detachment From War

  Authored by John Weeks via The Libertarian Institute,

  Modern nation states have developed an impressive symbolic innovation to memorialize their war dead, the tomb of the unknown soldier:

  “No more arresting emblems of the modern culture of nationalism exist than cenotaphs and tombs of Unknown Soldiers. The public ceremonial reverence accorded these monuments precisely because they are either deliberately empty or no one knows who lies inside them, has no true precedents in earlier times…The ancient Greeks had cenotaphs, but for specific, known individuals whose bodies, for one reason or another, could not be retrieved for regular burial.” [Emphasis added]

  

  According to Arlington National Cemetery, which has hosted “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” since 1921, its creation addressed a longstanding problem:

  “Through the ages, one of the consequences of warfare has been large numbers of unidentified dead.”

  Another consequence of warfare is that combat veterans return home. They present a similar problem, one that is addressed through our symbolic representations of warfare.

  The living experience themselves as obligated to the dead, but also responsible to safeguard themselves against death’s pollution. The French sociologist Robert Hertz (who died in combat during World War I) described “primitive” societies:

  “The period which follows death is particularly dangerous in this respect; that is why the corpse must be exorcised and be forearmed against demons. This preoccupation inspires, at least partly, the ablutions and various rites connected with the body immediately after death: such as, for instance, the custom of closing the eyes and other orifices of the body with coins or beads; it also imposes on the survivors the duty of keeping the deceased company during this dreaded period.”

  Our enlightened society is no longer characterized by widespread, professed belief in demons. But we continue to act as if we believed in such entities, especially concerning the dead. Coins placed on eyes is no longer the standard, but eye caps are routinely inserted to keep them closed. Regardless of whether one is a theist, deist, atheist or whatever else you’ve got, no one wants dead eyes “looking” at them.

  The modern funeral industry has created an intricate series of rituals for the “dreaded period” between death and burial. Fun fact, modern embalming has its roots in the American Civil War. The next time someone tells you war is great because it leads to innovation, think of a field of corpses and the rise of embalming chemistry.

  This responsibility and revulsion is true both within the family and within our nation, which masquerades as a Great Family with its Founding Fathers, daughters of liberty, bands of brothers, Uncle Sam and president as Great Father. Unknown war dead must be cared for and kept from polluting us somehow. The tomb of the unknown soldier fills this need. And in a nation with millions of people, even the identified war dead are unknown to most members of the national community.

  Hertz said:

  “The ideas and practices occasioned by death can be classified under three headings, according to whether they concern the body of the deceased, his soul, or the survivors.”

  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier assures survivors that the bodies of the war dead have been appropriately “exorcised and forearmed against demons,” their souls have been secured passage to a glorious afterlife and the living have avoided the pollution they can cause.

  But what of our returning combat veterans? If war is hell, then these are men and women who have been to hell and back. Like Odysseus in The Odyssey and Aeneas in The Aeneid, they descended to the Underworld, gained powerful knowledge and then returned to the world of the living.

  Their bodies survived the war, but their souls have been damaged or even killed. Their souls need healing or resurrection. At the same time, they are a threat to the civilian psyche. Our society does a terrible job of healing and resurrecting our soldiers’ souls, as evidenced by the fact that four times as many combat soldiers and veterans of the Global War On Terrorism have committed suicide as have been killed in combat. But our society does a great job at protecting the civilian psyche.

  How many Americans realize that during World War II the U.S. Army raped its way across Europe? Spielberg didn’t put that in Saving Private Ryan, did he? There’s a lot that wasn’t put in that movie. There’s no torture, no suicide, and no soldiers murdering commanding officers. In one scene, the American GIs actually allow a Nazi prisoner to go free. I personally know of a World War II veteran who walked out of the theater after that absurd fantasy appeared on the screen.

  There are also no Soviets in the film, even though the Soviet Union killed most of the Nazis.

  Saving Private Ryan is representative of American portrayals of war. Despite its reputation for realism, it is extraordinarily detached from the experiences of our soldiers. And that’s because it isn’t for them. It’s for the civilians who never descend to the Underworld. Our culture encourages us to believe that our military is awesomely destructive. But it also encourages us not to dwell too much on all the actual death being dealt out. And certainly not to realize it rapes and tortures. That’s what the enemy does!

  That veteran who stormed out of Saving Private Ryan liked to say, “There are no autopsies in war.” We can extend that to say there are no autopsies of the souls of the soldiers who return from war. We prefer their souls embalmed, made up, and buried quickly. A war veteran’s daily immersion in our culture is like going to his own funeral and hearing a priest eulogize someone completely alien to him.

  On Memorial Day, let’s do our veterans the honor of recognizing that while we value their service and can romanticize their heroics, we are only capable of celebrating their return. When it comes to confronting where they’re returning from, we really cannot handle the truth.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 19:00

• "Global Trade War Looms, But It's Not Just Trade War To Fear"
  “Global Trade War Looms, But It’s Not Just Trade War To Fear”

  By Michael Every of Rabobank

  History, Humility, and Wishful Thinking

  The UK election and the “I will protect you, but forgot my umbrella” Tory campaign have both been shaken up by its pledge to bring back conscription for 18-year-olds. This is seen as a desperate gamble and sad joke by many commentators, and even ex-military leaders say it’s silly to enroll unskilled, unwilling young adults when the armed forces need more equipment of all sorts, which the recent 2.5% of GDP defense spending pledge falls very far short of. Yet the joke must also be on those laughing when the global backdrop is so very serious.

  Stop thinking about Friday’s US PCE deflator data for a moment and look at the bigger picture. The main Bloomberg headline today is the G7 warning China over its trade practices. They want “balanced and reciprocal collaboration,” and will “consider taking steps to ensure a level playing field.” The US is already going to let tariff exclusions on hundreds of Chinese items expire, and the EU may be leaning towards a high tariff on Chinese EVs. Elsewhere, China is asking South Korea to maintain stable supply chains, as it moves closer to the US, and even Brazil, Chile, and Mexico have recently raised tariffs on Chinese steel.

  In short, global trade war looms, and as Bastiat noted, “If goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.” The problematic inverse is that even Adam Smith implied if some goods cross borders, soldiers don’t need to, and others won’t be able to when needed.

  It’s not just trade war to fear. China just finished a huge military exercise that clearly rehearsed a blockade of Taiwan and says it will no longer accept US congressional delegations to Taipei: one including the CEO of Nvidia just opted to visit anyway. Tens of thousands of Taiwanese are on the streets protesting a “parliamentary coup” led by the pro-China KMT party and its ally aimed at weakening the new president, further stirring the national-security pot.

  Russia apparently wants a ceasefire in Ukraine, which would allow it to keep all it has already taken. Of course it does: those are the most attractive terms available for anyone in that position. However, a further escalation in fighting still seems more likely. Indeed, NATO chief Stoltenberg now backs allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to hit Russian forces inside Russia’s pre-2014 territory, which will only deepen the perception in Moscow that it is at war with the West and not just Ukraine. Russian responses obviously could range from the military within Ukraine, where fears of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons may again re-emerge following recent military drills with them, but likely in the grey zone of sabotage and economic warfare wherever they can hurt most – which for the EU is lots of places.

  The US just lifted its ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The Israel-Hamas war continues despite the recent rulings of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, the latter giving a more nuanced legal opinion than many initially read into it. Israel’s fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to escalate in tandem. Related Houthi attacks just claimed their first (unsuccessful) strike on a ship in the Med: others will follow, maybe closing off another major international waterway; and when do the Houthis share that military technology with forces in East and West Africa who want to block Western shipping going that alternative route rather than via Suez? Freight rates already spiking again, with warnings this can get worse. Relatedly, Russia just struck a Red-Sea-port-for-guns deal with Sudan, meaning they now have belt of influence and boots on the ground right across the Sahel.

  If you have time today, read ‘Confronting Another Axis? History, Humility, and Wishful Thinking’ by Peter Zelikow. It’s the most detailed historical argument yet showing what I flagged in 2018 as a key risk markets were ignoring – that the US would see a coordinated pushback from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which it would be ill-placed to resist with its current economic structure. The author says, “a serious possibility of worldwide warfare may be only in the 20–30% range. But that assessment is not reassuring.” Indeed, it isn’t!

  While he agrees US defense supply chains will be rebuilt –transforming it, global trade, and markets– the next 1-3 years will prove exceptionally perilous as this all happens. He specifically warns, “The US does not have the strategic initiative in the present conflict. It is reacting to choices made by others, which its analysts may not anticipate and understand… I believe the anti-American partnership has probably decided to double down. They are probably preparing in earnest for a period of major confrontation.”

  Yet markets are wishing for large rate cuts. The only way this makes sense is the geopolitical argument of keeping debt servicing costs low enough to expand military production: but today that implies locking in higher inflation too. Hence my view that we will need a hybrid tight-and-loose fiscal-and-monetary policy, as was the case prior to our roll-out of neoliberal global financialisation in the 1980s.

  Those in the real economy cannot be as blithe as markets: the physical economy is changing. We can see that in the global trade war that looms, and the policies being offered in the UK and the US.

  And if the politics and the physical economy must change more, logically so must central bank architecture: it’s impossible it remains the same against that kind of backdrop. Coincidentally, an Australian senator recently lashed out at the RBA in a manner applicable to all Western central banks now:

  “The RBA is clueless as to how monetary policy works. In 1985, Paul Keating lifted government capital controls. This meant that private banks were no longer restricted as to how much money they could borrow from offshore banks and what they used it for.

  The private banks had $8bn in foreign debt in 1985. By 2008 they had $800bn in foreign debt. This lifted house prices from 4 times average earnings to around 12 times average earnings. Banks now lend 70% to households and only 30% to business… The 1937 Banking Royal Commission recommended that the central bank should control the volume of credit in the system as opposed to private banks.

  In 1992, the RBA was made independent, and APRA was split off in the late 1990s. It’s a sad reflection on just how little monetary policy is understood that RBA officials had no idea as to what I was talking about when I asked why they don’t establish an infrastructure bank.

  It beggars belief that the RBA could print $300bn to pay people to stay at home and get brainwashed by State Premiers but not actually set about funding Australia’s infrastructure, which would actually solve our productivity crises, which is what is driving inflation.”

  Just include national security in with ‘infrastructure’, and you are where I’ve said we would be: which is a long, long way from thinking that US personal consumption expenditure is the most important global metric to be focusing on.

  Of course, financial markets will Keep Calm and Carry On: because they are in denial; 20-25% is ‘not worth trading’ as a tail risk; they have no idea how to translate into their specific assets; if they take the WW3 view, they might as well just ‘Buy All the Things’ anyway; and, as Zelikow puts it, “It is really hard, cognitively and institutionally hard, to hold open a doorway to the emptiness of what we don’t know and adapt to changing circumstances.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 18:20

• Trust The "Science"…That Just Retracted 11,000 "Peer Reviewed" Papers
  Trust The “Science”…That Just Retracted 11,000 “Peer Reviewed” Papers

  It’s yet another reminder of why blindly ‘trusting the science’ may not always be the best go-to move in the future.

  217 year old Wiley science publisher has reportedly “peer reviewed” more than 11,000 papers that were determined to be fake without ever noticing. The papers were referred to as “naked gobbledygook sandwiches”,  Australian blogger Jo Nova wrote on her blog last week. 

  “It’s not just a scam, it’s an industry,” she said. “Who knew, academic journals were a $30 billion dollar industry?”

  According to Nova‘s post, professional cheating services are employing AI to craft seemingly “original” academic papers by shuffling around words. For instance, terms like “breast cancer” morphed into “bosom peril,” and a “naïve Bayes” classifier turns into “gullible Bayes.”

  Similarly, in one paper, an ant colony was bizarrely rebranded as an “underground creepy crawly state.” 

  The misuse of terminology extends to machine learning, where a ‘random forest’ is whimsically translated to ‘irregular backwoods’ or ‘arbitrary timberland’.

  Nova writes that shockingly, these papers undergo peer review without any rigorous human oversight, allowing egregious errors, like converting ‘local average energy’ to ‘territorial normal vitality’, to slip through.

  

  The publisher Wiley has confessed that fraudulent activities have rendered 19 of its journals so compromised that they must be shuttered. In response, the industry is developing AI tools to detect these fakes, a necessary yet disheartening development. Nova writes:

  The rot at Wiley started decades ago, but it got caught when it spent US $298 million on an Egyptian publishing house called Hindawi. We could say we hope no babies were hurt by fake papers but we know bad science already kills people. What we need are not “peer reviewed” papers but actual live face to face debate. Only when the best of both sides have to answer questions, with the data will we get real science:

  In March, it revealed to the NYSE a $US9 million ($13.5 million) plunge in research revenue after being forced to “pause” the publication of so-called “special issue” journals by its Hindawi imprint, which it had acquired in 2021 for US$298 million ($450 million).

  Its statement noted the Hindawi program, which comprised some 250 journals, had been “suspended temporarily due to the presence in certain special issues of compromised articles”.

  Many of these suspect papers purported to be serious medical studies, including examinations of drug resistance in newborns with pneumonia and the value of MRI scans in the diagnosis of early liver disease. The journals involved included Disease Markers, BioMed Research International and Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience.

  The problem is only becoming more urgent. The recent explosion of artificial intelligence raises the stakes even further. A researcher at University College London recently found more than 1 per cent of all scientific articles published last year, some 60,000 papers, were likely written by a computer.

  In some sectors, it’s worse. Almost one out of every five computer science papers published in the past four years may not have been written by humans.

  In Australia, ABC has reported on this issue, reflecting concerns over diminishing public trust in universities, which are increasingly seen as businesses rather than educational institutions. This perception is fueled by incidents where universities, driven by financial incentives, overlook academic fraud.

  The core of the scientific community is corroded, exacerbated by entities like the ABC Science Unit, which rather than scrutinizing dubious research, often shields it.

  This ongoing degradation calls for a shift from traditional peer review to rigorous live debates, ensuring accountability by having people argue their cases in real time.

  In December 2023, Nature posted that more than 10,000 papers were retracted in 2023 — a new record.

  You can read Nova’s full blog post here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 17:45

• Friday Airline Travel Sets Record For Passenger Screenings: TSA
  Friday Airline Travel Sets Record For Passenger Screenings: TSA

  Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

  Friday set a new record for the most airline passengers screened by U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials in a single day, according to the agency.

  “On Friday, May 24, 2,951,163 individuals were screened at checkpoints nationwide, surpassing the previous record on Nov. 26, 2023. We recommend arriving early,” the TSA said in a May 25 post on the social media platform X.

  On Nov. 26 last year, the TSA screened a slightly lower figure of 2.90 million travelers. The third-highest screened day was on May 23, when officers screened 2.89 million people.

  

  The record numbers come days after the TSA said it was prepared for the “highest passenger volumes the agency has seen at airport security checkpoints nationwide during this summer’s travel season,” according to a May 16 press release. The summer travel season begins on the Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day.

  The agency forecasted that May 24 would be the busiest travel day of the Memorial weekend, anticipating almost three million passengers.

  For the week of May 23-29, the TSA expects to screen over 18 million passengers and crew, which would be a 6.4 percent increase in checkpoint volume compared to the same period last year.

  TSA Administrator David Pekoske said the agency was coordinating with airport, airline, and travel partners and was “more than ready” to handle the expected high travel volumes.

  “We are also continuing to deploy state-of-the-art checkpoint technology that increases security effectiveness, efficiency and enhances the passenger experience and our retention and recruitment numbers are the highest they’ve ever been.”

  Airlines for America (A4A), an association of airline companies, also predicts a “record-setting” summer season for air travel this year.

  In a May 14 press release, A4A forecasts that U.S. airlines will carry 271 million passengers worldwide this summer season between June 1 and Aug. 31, a 6.3 percent increase from last summer. If the prediction comes true, it’ll eclipse the previous record set last year when 255 million individuals went airborne.

  To accommodate higher demand, U.S. carriers will be offering more flights this summer. Airlines have planned more than 26,000 scheduled flights per day for the season, up by over 1,400 from 2023.

  “Our carriers have adjusted their schedules to adapt to current realities of our National Airspace System (NAS), helping to alleviate some of those pressure points and making for a smooth summer travel season,” A4A’s senior vice president of communications, Rebecca Spicer, said.

  Profitability of Airlines

  The higher U.S. airline passenger numbers come as the industry attempts to consistently match pre-pandemic operating revenue levels.

  Between 2013 and 2019, operating revenues netted more than $200 billion every single year. Revenues in 2018 came in at $240 billion, which increased to $248 billion in 2019.

  In 2020, following worldwide restrictions and lockdowns, revenues crashed to $131 billion, then rose to $194 billion in 2021, and netted nearly $280 billion in 2022. However, revenues fell to $223 billion in 2023.

  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is expecting the global airline industry’s net profits to hit $25.7 billion in 2024, a slight improvement from 2023’s $23.3 billion. This points to a 2.7 percent net profit margin rate for the year.

  Willie Walsh, the IATA’s director general, pointed out that the $25.7 billion net profit in 2024 is a “tribute to aviation’s resilience” given the major losses the industry suffered in recent years.

  However, industry profits “must be put into proper perspective,” he said. “A net profit margin of 2.7 percent is far below what investors in almost any other industry would accept … On average, airlines will retain just $5.45 for every passenger carried. That’s about enough to buy a basic ‘grande latte’ at a London Starbucks.”

  Even though operating profits in 2024 are expected to jump by 21.1 percent, net profit margins are only projected to rise by 10 percent, which the IATA blames mostly on increased interest rates.

  New Screening Protocols

  Meanwhile, the TSA announced that airline passengers could expect to encounter some new checkpoint technologies this year.

  For instance, the agency is using the second generation Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2). Like its earlier version CAT, the updated CAT-2 will confirm the authenticity of a passenger’s identity with their photo ID as well as flight details and pre-screening status.

  However, the updated version comes with new camera features, with passengers potentially having to agree to have a photo of them taken in real time for identity verification. This is done to ensure that “the person standing at the checkpoint is the same person pictured on their ID,” the agency said.

  The TSA highlighted that photos taken will not be stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made. However, the agency said it may retain the image for conducting tests to evaluate tech effectiveness.

  “Passengers who do not want their photo taken may ask the Transportation Security Officer (TSO) for a manual ID check without penalty and losing their place in line.”

  Multiple airports have also installed Computed Tomography (CT) units, which the agency claims will “significantly improve” scanning and threat detection of carry-on bags. CT units generate a 3D image of passengers’ bags, thus reducing the need to physically search their contents.

  The TSA has so far deployed 2,050 CAT units at 223 airports, out of which 238 units are the updated CAT-2 versions. The agency has set up over 820 CT units at more than 240 airports.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 17:40

• Boeing's Starliner Crewed ISS Mission Will Still Launch Despite Helium Leak
  Boeing’s Starliner Crewed ISS Mission Will Still Launch Despite Helium Leak

  After a nearly one-month delay, NASA and Boeing are moving forward with the CST-100 Starliner launch despite a helium leak. This crewed mission will mark the first time the spacecraft ferries astronauts to the International Space Station.

  On Friday, NASA and Boeing officials told reporters that a problematic valve was replaced after the scrubbed May 6 launch attempt. Shortly after, engineers found a “small” helium leak with Starliner. 

  

  NASA Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox said, “It’s taken a while for us to be ready to discuss” the helium leak problem. 

  “It’s so complicated. There are so many things going on. We really just needed to work through it as a team,” Bowersox said.

  NASA and Boeing say a defective seal caused the leak in one of the flanges of the spacecraft’s helium propulsion system. It was not immediately clear whether the seal was installed improperly or manufactured incorrectly.

  Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, explained the Starliner can still fly with the helium leak:

  “Should we be wrong about something, we could handle up to four more leaks.

  “And we could handle this particular leak if that leak rate were to grow, even up to 100 times in this one (propulsion module).”

  Stich pointed out that NASA has “flown vehicles with small helium leaks” before, including “a couple of cases” from Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s rockets. 

  Another review of the leak is slated for Wednesday. The rocket and capsule are set to be rolled out onto the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 17:00

• The Fed Vs. The Treasury: All Roads Lead To Inflation
  The Fed Vs. The Treasury: All Roads Lead To Inflation

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  In the fight against inflation, is it the Fed or the Treasury that calls the shots? The answer is, it’s both.

  

  The Fed raises interest rates to make loans less attractive and bring inflation down, but The Treasury has its own set of magic tricks to artificially “stimulate” or “tighten” the economy as well.

  One of them is a Treasury buyback program, something that was just reincarnated for the first time in about two decades. This is where the Treasury repurchases its own outstanding securities from the open market to increase liquidity, stoke, demand, and bring down yields. 

  If Treasury markets can’t be reigned in, the Fed expands its balance sheet by buying those Treasury securities to add liquidity and stability. These “open market operations” are usually the “money printing” that people are talking about happening at the Fed. “QE” refers more specifically to operations where the Fed is buying other assets beyond just Treasury securities, as occurred in the 2008 crisis and during COVID. But the Treasury buying back its own issued debt is, in essence, QE by another name.

  When interpreting Treasury yield data, remember that this market is being heavily manipulated by Yellen – she’s conducting the Treasury versions of both Operation Twist and QE, w/ overreliance on short-term issuance and now buybacks; term premium is now virtually nonsensical: pic.twitter.com/RH8UixQOMK

  — E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) May 1, 2024

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

  While this occurs outside the halls of the Federal Reserve itself, Treasury buybacks are merely a different way to print money from nothing. The US is running a deep, sustained fiscal deficit with no true debt ceiling — so the Treasury buys back its own securities by issuing new debt, which it creates out of thin air. With spending far exceeding revenue, higher interest rates plus more debt means that fiscal deficits accelerate. The short-term stimulative effect of this somewhat offsets the Fed’s tightened monetary policy but digs a deeper hole in the longer term.

  One method the Treasury uses is to shorten the average duration of securities so that debts mature sooner. That means more short-term debt (like Treasury bills) versus long-term debt (like Treasury bonds). This encourages more capital flows into the banking sector and helps stave off instability. If it fails, the big banks still win: when smaller banks fail, they’re usually just absorbed by bigger ones where the profits are private but the losses are socialized. The “Too Big to Fail” club becomes even bigger and more powerful.

  When the Treasury issues more short-term debt, it’s waging war on the Fed’s higher interest rate policy. Both the Treasury and Fed need to keep Treasury yields down, but tightened monetary policy encourages higher yields. If yields get too high, the bond market — and challenged industries like commercial real estate that rely on debt — are screwed. So while the Fed tightens, the Treasury must loosen. Yields have since gone down, but if inflationary pressures and other factors push them back past 5%, both the Fed and Treasury are trapped.

  

  “Higher for longer” policy at the Fed is even more essential for holding back inflation as the Treasury injects liquidity into markets. If the Fed lowers rates now, the results of simultaneously expansionary monetary and fiscal policy will send consumer prices soaring.

  So are the Fed and Treasury in opposition, or are they working together, one changing its policy to prevent a disaster caused by the policies of the other? The answer is complex, but the oversimplified version is that the two have locked the economy into a game of musical chairs where, eventually, the music is bound to stop.

  The end result of the Treasury’s showdown with the Fed will still be out-of-control inflation. Both artificially contract and expand the money supply, and their policies have both created an inescapable trap. COVID QE is one big unexploded bomb that is sitting in the center of that trap. And even with the Fed holding off on interest rate cuts in the short term, the Treasury’s buybacks are QE by a different name. With too much inflationary pressure and not enough tools to stop it, the end result of all this fiscal and monetary tinkering will be a disaster for the dollar.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 16:20

• CEO Of Russia's Second-Largest Bank Warns: "US Is Inevitably Headed For A Serious Economic Crisis"
  CEO Of Russia’s Second-Largest Bank Warns: “US Is Inevitably Headed For A Serious Economic Crisis”

  Last September, we told readers that the US national debt was skyrocketing at a staggering $1 trillion every three months—roughly every 100 days.

  Total US Debt surpasses $33 trillion for the first time.

  For those keeping tabs, the US added $1 trillion in debt in three (3) months. pic.twitter.com/9eJVnX1YnZ

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 18, 2023

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  Since then, the debt spending has gotten worse. 

  And we’re off: US debt rises by $89BN on the last day of February, to $34.471 trillion, a new record high

  Debt has increased by $280BN in February and by $470BN in the first two months of the year.

  At this pace debt will hit $37 trillion by year-end and $40 trillion by the end… https://t.co/eETiO355MG pic.twitter.com/GFbkzkY7oE

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 2, 2024

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  Lesson 1: how to increase total debt by $1 trillion every 100 days pic.twitter.com/rzANo8e7Ro

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 8, 2024

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  And by “strong economic performance” you mean $1 trillion in debt every 100 days https://t.co/HamDPdS7tx

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 23, 2024

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

  Out-of-control spending has delayed the US economy’s day of reckoning in this year’s presidential election cycle. But it has become very evident an economic crisis looms in the years ahead. 

  One River Asset Management CIO, Eric Peters, recently said, “I have a growing conviction that in the coming 2-5 years, we’re going to face a US debt sustainability crisis, sparking a major global market event.” 

  BofA CIO Michael Hartnett recently noted what we said previously about the unsustainable debt explosion… 

  

  And now, fresh comments from Andrey Kostin, CEO of Russia’s second-largest bank, have emerged—comments that Western mainstream media dare not share with their audiences. Why is that? … Well, the Washington censorship blob wouldn’t allow it.

  

  Russian state-owned news agency TASS cited Kostin’s interview with the Fontanka publication, who warned if it wasn’t for the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, a sovereign debt crisis would’ve already been underway in the US. No matter what, he warned the US economy is on the verge of an economic crisis. 

  “I am thoroughly convinced that America is inevitably headed for a serious economic crisis. The amount of debt currently held by the US today has reached inconceivable, astronomical levels. And the dollar’s monopoly on the global stage is the only thing enabling the Americans to maintain such a level of debt. If the Chinese or the Arabs took their money out of the US, a complete collapse would ensue for the financial sector and the government,” he said. 

  Kostin added:

  “If the West fails to revise its policy I think that the move toward the collapse of the colonial system will only accelerate.” 

  Kostin noted that China has been disposing of US government debt. Last month, we asked: “Is China’s ‘Dumping’ Driving US Treasury Yields Higher?” 

  China’s Treasury holdings are back to levels not seen since June 2009. 

  

  It’s not just China. Treasury holdings are ‘relatively’ flat (based on Fed custody data), while according to The IMF, the world’s sovereign nations have been panic-buying gold.

  

  It’s not just Kostin sounding the alarm about a looming US debt crisis — Wall Street analysts have echoed the same dire warnings. 

  Here’s a question: What ever happened to the economic collapse of Russia via endless Western sanctions? 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 15:40

• Saving Our Democracy This Memorial Day
  Saving Our Democracy This Memorial Day

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  “We must stop Donald Trump.”

  – President “Joe Biden”

  Surely it was the right thing to do for President “Joe Biden” to remind the nation of the tragic loss of George Floyd four years ago this Memorial Day weekend.

  

  At the time, the man known as “the Black Thomas Edison” was rumored to be this close to achieving an economically viable system for producing electricity via atomic fusion using the fentanyl molecule (C22H28N2O) combined with the nuclei of alcohol (C2H6O), releasing enough energy from one gram to power a city the size of Minneapolis for a day.

  The math he left behind on his chalkboard spells it out:

  17.6 MeV×1.60218×10?13 J/MeV?2.82×10?12 J

  You see how that works?

  Alas, Dr. Floyd had apparently ingested a small amount of these experimental substances accidently before leaving his lab May 25, 2020, when he encountered the white supremacist police officer Derek Chauvin outside a Cup Foods convenience store in Minneapolis’s “Powderhorn” neighborhood. For reasons never understood, despite manifold judicial inquiries, the officer dragged the Great Man out of his car — where he was polishing some of the requisite algebra in his notebook — and for no reason at all placed one knee, and all his weight, on Dr. Floyd’s neck, constricting his airway and causing his death.

  The nation erupted in violence, and you know the rest of the story: no cheap energy for you, you nation of white supremacist asswipes!

  And so it has gone since that fateful day: one darn thing after another.

  Luckily though — and with a little help from Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) – the vigilant “Joe Biden” presides in the White House, keeping America safe for democracy, by democracy, and of democracy. The country has never experienced so much democracy. The Brookings Institution even warns that the country might be close to a democracy overload, in which the popular will is so immense that everyone in all fifty states thinks the same morally correct thoughts all day long without giving offense or making any space unsafe or dis-including any diverse category of human (except white supremacists) from his, her, or they’s share of the nation’s limitless wealth.

  “Joe Biden” has been especially effective at containing the Grand Golem of all white supremacists, Trump, from deconstructing our utopian democracy. This Trump uttered perfidious misinformation that the 2020 election was less than fair and upright. He is under indictment in Fulton County, GA, for conspiring to transmit this incorrect thinking to other white supremacists and creating an unsafe space for GA Sec’y of State Brad Raffensberger by asking him to “find” additional votes. What log was Bradraff supposed to look under, anyway (ha ha!)?

  The case is being guided by Fulton County DA, the indomitable Fani Willis, at least for now, as she awaits a process known as getting the bidness from a white supremacist so-called ethics committee in the Georgia State Senate, where she has been falsely accused of mis-spending state money on vacations with erstwhile special prosecutor Nathan Wade. These trips were, of course, fact-finding efforts. One fact found is that the white supremacist cruise ship directors attempt to kill black people by luring them into all-you-can-eat buffets at sea, from which escape is impossible.

  “Joe Biden” also got Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint Lawfare paladin Jack Smith to prosecute this nefarious Trump in the most upright of all federal court districts, Washington, DC, for instigating what “Joe Biden” recently called an “erection” against our democracy. Trump, you see, told a gigantic mob of white supremacists to penetrate our nation’s capitol building so as to obstruct certification of the 2020 electoral vote and murder then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, if possible, along with all congresspersons of color. Legal experts at MSNBC, Andrew Weissmann (of the Mueller Special Counsel office), and Andy McCabe (former Deputy Director of the FBI), have already found this Trump guilty, and they know about these matters better than anybody, so the trial under Judge Tanya Chutkan may be unnecessary.

  Things are not going quite so well for SC Smith in the Martin County Federal Court of Judge Aileen Cannon, where this Trump stands accused of fobbing off with classified government documents, claiming some fabricated sort of presidential privilege — unlike “Joe Biden” who got his classified docs before he was president and therefore does not have to claim any such privilege (and was understandably “forgetful” when asked about the docs by the other SC Robert Hur). In any case, AG Garland can always dispatch an FBI SWAT team to Judge Cannon’s home to spur an attitude adjustment on the bench, if required.

  Hopes really rest, though, on the current case against the Grand Golem Trump in Judge Juan Marchan’s Manhattan courtroom, where the most supreme of all white supremacists stands accused of book-keeping irregularities in furtherance of federal crimes so unspeakable that they have never actually been spoken. The case, engineered by veteran DC Golem hunters Mary McCord, Norm Eisen, Lisa Monaco, and Matthew Colangelo, fronted by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, goes to the jury after final arguments this week.

  Judge Marchan is expected to instruct the jury to vote guilty because no other conclusion is possible. Thus, Judge Merchan will be celebrated far and wide for saving our democracy. But that’s not all. After the most excellent verdict of guilty X-23-Plus, he will have the pleasure of sentencing this Trump to life in the Rikers Island prison complex, where it will be difficult for the Grand Golem to organize any white supremacist activities and will be relegated to a diet of baloney sandwiches for the duration of his term.

  The only downside for this scenario is that Trump might get elected President of the USA despite conviction, and on January 20, 2025, commence operations to put “Joe Biden” and all the others in his train of officials in jail for the rest of their natural lives. You have to wonder if they’re thinking about that this holiday weekend.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 15:00

• "Holy F**K": US Military Hid Quantico Breach Attempt By Jordanians In Box Truck In Possible Dry-Run
  “Holy F**K”: US Military Hid Quantico Breach Attempt By Jordanians In Box Truck In Possible Dry-Run

  Weeks ago, two individuals in a box truck attempted to breach the gates at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Triangle, Virginia. Armed guards immediately stopped them, and the base’s top brass quickly covered up the incident.

  The reason for burying this incident? It’s an election year for President Biden – and this type of news is politically explosive. The suspects were two Jordanian nationals, one reportedly on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, raising suspicions that they entered illegally through the Biden administration’s open southern border, as one report says, adding this could’ve been a dry run for a potential vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack.

  Potomac Local News first reported the incident. Since then, the New York Post has exposed how the May 3 incident was potentially covered up, even for those on the base for two weeks. 

  Matt Strickland was the first to report the incident to the local media outlet. He told NYPost, “After I [raised the alarm], I had people who work at Quantico messaging me saying, ‘Holy f—k, when did this happen?” 

  Great reporting from the @nypost. Shoutout to them for somehow getting my address and coming to my house to get the whole story.

  That’s real journalism.

  Most news outlets won’t report on this story because it shows the danger open borders cause.https://t.co/JrR2aL1G2I

  — Matt Strickland (@MattForVA) May 23, 2024

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

  He said, “Two weeks after it happened, Quantico finally put an email out to employees on base letting them know.” 

  “It was basically ‘F—k, guys, I guess we aren’t going to be able to keep this secret, we should try to do some CYA’ [cover your ass],” said Strickland, a former Blackwater contractor and combat incident analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Center. 

  Strickland said, “Every American has a right to know what happened at Quantico,” adding, “Citizens have a right to know what is going on in their backyard.” 

  Why is that, you ask?

  Well, as the NYPost explained:

  Some reports speculated the two men arrested had recently crossed the southern border into the US, and one was [said to be] on the US government’s terrorist watch list.

  Strickland was told one of the people involved had a Virginia ID, while the other was a terrorist. The Post has not been able to independently verify either rumor.

  Both men are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Authorities would not comment further, only saying the two will remain in ICE custody until deported.

  Strickland continued:

  “Who would they be keeping that information from? The reasoning would be so the terrorists, or whoever the Jordanians are working for, don’t know all the information. But whoever those two Jordanian men are working for already know what they planned to do and that they were apprehended.

  “The only people who don’t know what happened are the American people.”

  This is why Strickland believes the incident was abruptly covered up:

  “The secrecy is purposeful because it was illegal immigrants, one of who was on the terror watch list, who breached the gates. 

  “And they’re allowing these illegal immigrants to come across the border.”

  The NYPost’s Editorial Board asks…

  

  And this is not the first incident. We covered a report over the weekend of two undocumented Chechens, with one using a “telephoto lens” – taking photos outside the home of an elite US Army special forces colonel near Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, in North Carolina.

  None of this should be surprising to ZeroHedge readers. The Biden administration’s experiment of letting unvetted and unvaxxed illegal aliens into the nation – upwards of ten million – is truly shocking. Even the Department of Homeland Security admitted the southern border has been open to terrorists and criminals. The FBI has made similar warnings, with known terrorists apprehended on the border. 

  Recall earlier this year, Ohio Sheriff Richard K. Jones warned, “There are more red flags going off now than before 9-11” thanks to open southern borders. 

  Also, an Iranian intelligence officer is running around America, plotting assassination attacks against former and current government officials. 

  Don’t forget the countless terrorists that have already crossed the border and are unknown at this point because of open southern border policies. 

  Great job, Democrats. The American people will never forget how open southern borders have fueled chaos nationwide—all because you want a new voting base. How selfish. This issue will haunt the party in the upcoming elections, as the majority of Americans are fed up.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 14:20

• David Stockman On The Continual Rise In The Cost Of Living… And Why The Fed Has No Shame
  David Stockman On The Continual Rise In The Cost Of Living… And Why The Fed Has No Shame

  Authored by David Stockman via InternationalMan.com,

  Jay Powell did it again assuring the 1% that he has their back.

  Markets recovered their poise over the last 24 hours, as investors were relieved after Fed Chair Powell stuck to his recent views on the economic outlook. In his remarks yesterday, he said that recent data didn’t “materially change the overall picture” and that on inflation “it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump.” In addition, he reiterated that if “the economy evolves broadly as we expect, most FOMC participants see it as likely to be appropriate to begin lowering the policy rate at some point this year.” So that all helped to validate market pricing, which still expects 71 bps of rate cuts from the Fed by the December meeting.

  Needless to say, the man has no shame. And that’s to say nothing of intellectual firepower. There is not even a smidgen of a case that rate cuts in the present context will help main street, and the Fed heads and their Wall Street megaphones don’t actually even try to make that argument.

  

  Instead, they argue for rates cuts by default. If by some tortured version of the CPI (i.e. the “supercore” index, which eliminates 61% of the CPI items by weight) they can espy the in-coming inflation trend settling into a liberally defined vicinity of 2.00%, that’s purportedly good enough to end the money-printing pause that has been in place since March 2022. Thereafter, it’s back to business as usual, flooding the canyons of Wall Street with cheap credit and a new burst of financial asset inflation.

  Never mind that in this particular inflation-cycle, the general price level is up by 28% since January 2017 and that tens of millions of households and businesses have been badly damaged, even as others harvested windfall gains. When it comes to inflation and all the other so-called macroeconomic metrics on their dashboards, past history–even the recent past—is dead to the Fed heads.

  Instead, it’s all about the current and especially the prospective rate of change as embodied in the silly “dot-plots” they gurgle around in their brains and update four times per year.

  And we do mean silly. After all, if the consensus of the 19 geniuses who participate in the dot-plot guessing game espies say a 2.27% gain in the supercore index over the next year, so what?!

  The fact is, the US economy needs a lot more relief from its recent inflationary pounding than the Fed’s guesstimated rate of slowdown in the forward year rise of the price level. After all, here is the increase in the core cost of living items since January 2017.

  Change in Core Cost-of-Living Components Since January 2017:

  • Food: +32%.

  • Shelter: +34%.

  • Energy: +35%.

  • Transportation Services: +36%.

  In the case of savers, retirees, wage-earners in globally impacted industries where wages haven’t kept up with the CPI, isn’t the above enough punishment? Doesn’t it actually amount to state-directed expropriation of their living standards and modest accumulated wealth?

  In any event, what the hell is so almighty urgent about rate cuts when the economy is still growing apace and the cumulative inflation of the last seven years has not been relieved in the slightest?

  

  Increase In Major Cost-of-Living Components of the CPI Since January 2017

  The dog-eared claim that rate cuts will enhance the growth rate of output, jobs, investment and spending on main street just doesn’t wash. Artificially low interest rates overwhelmingly fuel borrowing for speculation and financial engineering (e.g. stock buybacks) on Wall Street, not borrowing for productive investment on main street or even for enhanced “consumption” by the household sector, which is now buried in debt up to the gills after decades of easy money.

  In fact, the only way that easy money causes households to spend more than the growth rate of their incomes is if they steadily increase their debt-to-income or leverage ratio. That generates incremental borrowings, which in turn can supplement spending derived from current period income.

  And that’s exactly what happened in the half-century leading up to the great financial crisis. The household debt-to-income (wage and salary basis) ratio posted at 70% in 1960, but vaulted skyward thereafter, especially after Greenspan opened the spigots at the Fed after 1987. By Q1 2009 that household leverage ratio stood at 227% (purple area), and it was that massive increase in leverage which goosed household spending during this interval of time.

  No more. Since Q1 2009 the household sector has been slowly but steadily deleveraging, with the ratio now down to 166% as of Q4 2023. What that means is that the Fed’s magic “stimulus” elixir simply doesn’t work any more in the household sector. It gooses organic spending not one whit.

  

  Explosion of Household Debt Leverage During 1960 to 2009 and Deleveraging Since Then

  As to the supply-side growth canard, it cannot be gainsaid that the amount of monetary stimulus has been off the charts relative to all prior history. In fact, the Fed’s balance sheet at @ $7.5 trillion is still more than 8X its pre-crisis level in Q4 2007.

  Yet when it comes to real growth of value-added production during the six year period from Q1 2018 to Q4 2023, the chart below tells you all you need to know. To wit, real value added output in the health care, education and social services sector grew at a 2.71% per annum rate, which was 3X the 0.90% real growth rate of the nondurable goods production sector.

  Self-evidently, the former sector does not need easy money or ultra-low interest rates to grow. Demand in the health, education and social services sector is overwhelmingly financed by government fiscal transfers, including the massive subsidies implicit in the medical care deductions and preferences of the IRS code.

  Indeed, the red line in the chart below represented the fastest growing sector of the US economy by far during that six year period, but we’d dare say none of those gains depended upon low interest rates. The sector’s munificent funding actually flows from statutory entitlements and long-standing tax code provisions, which generate essentially the same level of demand and sector output whether the Federal funds rate is 1% or 7%.

  At the same time, it is highly unlikely that a return to low rates will do much for the moribund growth rates in the industrial economy, as represented here by real-value added in the nondurable goods industries. Long ago, much of US production of shoes, shirts, sheets, household supplies and the like was off-shored to lower cost venues abroad. And locking in the current inflated domestic costs levels plus another 2-3% per year going forward will not bring them back.

  In sum, the Fed’s fiddling with interest rates is largely irrelevant to the supply-side path of the two industries shown below, and countless more just like them.

  

  Real Value Added: Education, Health Care and Social Assistance Sector Versus Durable Goods, 2018 to 2023

  Finally, it is tantamount to laughable to claim that the Fed needs to revert to the rate cutting modality in order to stabilize the financial markets and main street economy and to compensate for the purported inherent volatility of the free market.

  Oh, puleese!

  Every one of the main street recessions and financial market crises of the past six decades has been caused by the state and the machinations of its central banking branch. The very idea that there is an implicit third mandate called “financial stability” (after inflation control and full employment) is risible. It puts you in mind of the young man who killed both parents and then threw himself upon the mercy of the court on the grounds that he was an orphan!

  At the end of the day, sharply cutting rates any time this year or for some time to come thereafter would amount to a financial crime. After just a short stay of approximately eight months barely in positive territory (purple area) since July 2023, inflation-adjusted or real rates would be back below the zero bound, where they have destructively dwelled for much of the last several decades, as the chart makes crystal clear.

  

  Inflation-Adjusted Federal Funds Rate, 2001 to 2024

  Of course, that development would be heartily welcomed by Wall Street speculators and the Washington war-mongers and spenders alike. And that’s exactly the reason it should not be done.

  *  *  *

  The truth is, we’re on the cusp of an economic crisis that could eclipse anything we’ve seen before. And most people won’t be prepared for what’s coming. That’s exactly why bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released a free report with all the details on how to survive an economic collapse. Click here to download the PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 13:40

• Global Outrage After Deadly Israeli Strike On Refugee Tent Camp In Rafah
  Global Outrage After Deadly Israeli Strike On Refugee Tent Camp In Rafah

  There have been widespread reports of a civilian massacre following a Sunday Israeli air strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in the besieged southern city of Rafah, which the Gaza Health Ministry says killed 45 people, including women and children.

  Israel says it is investigating the strike, amid widespread international condemnation and as horrific videos of the attack aftermath circulate widely, with Israel’s top military prosecutor calling the attack “very grave”.

  Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi said in a briefing the Israeli army “regrets any harm to non-combatants during the war” and that “The details of the incident are still under an investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent.”

  

  The targeted area of the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood had been a recognized UN-run “safe zone” which lies about 2km to the northwest of the Rafah city center.

  Incredibly graphic and disturbing social media videos show people burning in tents and rescuers carrying mangled and burned children’s bodies. According to an eyewitness description:

  Mohammad al-Mughayyir, a senior official at the civil defense agency, told AFP that at least 40 Palestinians were killed and at least 65 wounded in the Israeli strikes.

  “We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs… We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly,” Mughayyir said. Eyewitnesses told Reuters that tents were “melting” after the bombardment, burning people alive. 

  The Israeli strikes followed a rare Hamas rocket launch on Tel Aviv earlier the same day, which included at least eight projectiles, most of which were intercepted.

  An international humanitarian organization, ActionAid, said it was “outraged and heartbroken” that the strike hit a tent area to a UNRWQ warehouses stocking “vital aid.”

  “The images coming from our partners of burned bodies are a scar on the face of humanity and the global community, which so far has failed to protect the people of Gaza. One of our own ActionAid colleagues narrowly escaped this atrocity, having left the shelter just a day before the attack,” ActionAid said.

  A Hamas statement called it a “massacre” and said the group also holds the United States responsible as it supplies Israel’s military with weaponry.

  A video posted to social media captures the moment of the Rafah Massacre when an Israeli air strike targeted a displacement camp in Rafah, Gaza.
  According to local reports at least 30 Palestinians were killed and many were injured.
  Rescue workers are still trying to reached… pic.twitter.com/ingkCRl2Ce

  — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 26, 2024

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

  The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Mahmoud Abbas charged Israel with deliberately targeting civilians. “The perpetration of this heinous massacre by the Israeli occupation forces is a challenge to all international legitimacy resolutions.” He alleged the IDF was “deliberately targeting” refugee tents.

  The high casualty event has elicited statements of condemnation from leaders across the Middle East and Europe, as well as from some Democratic Congressional members in the US. This has included EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell who demanded that the ICJ call for immediate ceasefire must be adhered to.

  German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s words were especially strong. “No Israeli hostage will be freed if more people now have to shelter in tents,” Baerbock said. “International humanitarian law applies for all, also for Israel’s conduct of the war,” she added.

  Against this avalanche of criticism, also at a moment of investigations and legal actions by both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) – both accusing the Israeli side of genocide – the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have pushed back, saying Hamas militants were in the area that was hit Sunday.

  The Atlantic, America’s foremost liberal magazine, and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, agree on killing children: It’s awful and sad but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. pic.twitter.com/Aqm3JAyPnH

  — ☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ (@schwarz) May 27, 2024

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

  “The strike was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, through the use of precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas’s use of the area,” the IDF said. “The IDF [Israeli army] is aware of reports indicating that, as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 05/27/2024 – 13:00

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• AI Vs America: Deepfakes, Disinformation, Social Engineering, & The 2024 Election
  AI Vs America: Deepfakes, Disinformation, Social Engineering, & The 2024 Election

  Authored by Julio Rivera via American Greatness,

  Artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration within various sectors is moving at a speed that couldn’t have been imagined just a few years ago. As a result, the United States now stands on the brink of a new era of cybersecurity challenges. With AI technologies becoming increasingly sophisticated, the potential for their exploitation by malicious actors grows exponentially.

  

  Because of this evolving threat, government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), alongside private sector entities, must urgently work to harden America’s defenses to account for any soft spots that may be exploited. Failure to do so could have dire consequences on a multitude of levels, especially as we approach the upcoming U.S. presidential election, which is likely to be the first to contend with the profound implications of AI-driven cyber warfare.

  AI’s transformative potential is undeniable, revolutionizing industries from healthcare to finance. However, this same potential poses a significant threat when harnessed by cybercriminals. According to a report by the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the rise of AI is expected to lead to a marked increase in cyberattacks in the coming years. AI can automate and enhance the scale, speed, and sophistication of these attacks, making them more difficult to detect and counteract.

  The nature of AI-driven cyber threats is multifaceted. AI can be used to create highly convincing phishing attacks, automate vulnerability discovery by foreign adversaries in software systems to identify backdoors, and launch large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

  Moreover, AI algorithms can be employed to develop malware or trojans that adapt and evolve to evade detection. The GCHQ report warns of the growing use of AI by cyber adversaries to improve the effectiveness of their attacks, posing a significant challenge for traditional cybersecurity protocols.

  The stakes are particularly high as the United States prepares for the November election. DHS has already issued warnings about the threats posed by AI to the election process. Among the potential threats posed by AI are deepfakes, automated disinformation campaigns, and targeted social engineering attacks. These tactics could undermine the integrity of the election, erode public trust in democratic institutions, and sow discord among the electorate.

  The potential for disruptions in trust and accuracy in the election process is not exactly an unprecedented threat. In the 2020 election, there were already instances of misinformation and foreign interference. With AI’s capabilities advancing rapidly, the 2024 election could see these efforts become more sophisticated and harder to counter.

  It seems that every day, more and more AI-generated deepfakes are being disseminated on social media. Many of these are intended to be humorous, or they are being used in digital marketing campaigns to sell products, but in an election scenario, disrupters could create realistic but fake videos of candidates, potentially influencing voter perceptions and decisions.

  One of the most significant challenges in addressing AI-driven cyber threats is the pervasive underestimation of their potential impact. Many in both the public and private sectors fail to grasp the severity and immediacy of these threats. This complacency is partly due to the abstract nature of AI and a lack of understanding of how it can be weaponized. However, as AI continues to integrate into critical infrastructure and various sectors of the economy, the risks become more tangible and immediate.

  In response to funding proposals from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, a bipartisan group of senators just unveiled a $32 billion spending proposal. This investment is not merely in developing AI for civilian or commercial use but explicitly in enhancing offensive cyber capabilities. The potential for AI to augment cyberwarfare necessitates a reevaluation of our current cybersecurity strategies.

  Addressing the AI-driven cyber threat landscape requires a concerted effort from both government agencies and the private sector. Government agencies like DHS and CISA must update and expand existing cybersecurity frameworks to address AI-specific threats. This includes developing guidelines for detecting and mitigating AI-driven malware attacks and ensuring that these guidelines are disseminated across all levels of government and critical infrastructure sectors.

  Beyond the scope of just the public sector, we must realize that effective cybersecurity is a collaborative effort. The government must foster stronger partnerships with the private sector, leveraging the expertise and resources of technology companies, cybersecurity firms, and other stakeholders. These kinds of joint initiatives and information-sharing platforms can help in the rapid identification and response to AI-driven threats. CISA has previously attempted to strengthen these relationships, but much more must be done.

  Additionally, raising public awareness about the risks posed by AI-driven cyber threats is essential. Educational campaigns can help individuals recognize and respond to phishing attempts, data collection efforts, disinformation, and other cyber threats, while fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness in organizations can reduce the risk of successful attacks.

  Lastly, policymakers must consider new regulations and legislative measures to address the unique challenges posed by AI in cybersecurity. This includes updating cybersecurity laws to incorporate AI-specific considerations and ensuring that regulatory frameworks keep pace with technological advancements.

  America, as a nation, stands on the precipice of an increasingly AI-driven future. The potential for AI-based cyber attacks represents one of the most pressing security challenges of our time, and November’s election underscores the urgency of addressing these threats as the integrity of our democratic process hangs in the balance.

  The time for complacency has passed. The United States must act decisively to protect its digital infrastructure and democratic institutions from the evolving threats posed by AI-driven cyber attacks. Our national security, economic and global stability, and the very fabric of our democracy depend on it.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 23:55

• Trust The "Science"…That Just Retracted 11,000 "Peer Reviewed" Papers
  Trust The “Science”…That Just Retracted 11,000 “Peer Reviewed” Papers

  It’s yet another reminder of why blindly ‘trusting the science’ may not always be the best go-to move in the future.

  217 year old Wiley science publisher has reportedly “peer reviewed” more than 11,000 papers that were determined to be fake without ever noticing. The papers were referred to as “naked gobbledygook sandwiches”,  Australian blogger Jo Nova wrote on her blog last week. 

  “It’s not just a scam, it’s an industry,” she said. “Who knew, academic journals were a $30 billion dollar industry?”

  According to Nova‘s post, professional cheating services are employing AI to craft seemingly “original” academic papers by shuffling around words. For instance, terms like “breast cancer” morphed into “bosom peril,” and a “naïve Bayes” classifier turns into “gullible Bayes.”

  Similarly, in one paper, an ant colony was bizarrely rebranded as an “underground creepy crawly state.” 

  The misuse of terminology extends to machine learning, where a ‘random forest’ is whimsically translated to ‘irregular backwoods’ or ‘arbitrary timberland’.

  Nova writes that shockingly, these papers undergo peer review without any rigorous human oversight, allowing egregious errors, like converting ‘local average energy’ to ‘territorial normal vitality’, to slip through.

  

  The publisher Wiley has confessed that fraudulent activities have rendered 19 of its journals so compromised that they must be shuttered. In response, the industry is developing AI tools to detect these fakes, a necessary yet disheartening development. Nova writes:

  The rot at Wiley started decades ago, but it got caught when it spent US $298 million on an Egyptian publishing house called Hindawi. We could say we hope no babies were hurt by fake papers but we know bad science already kills people. What we need are not “peer reviewed” papers but actual live face to face debate. Only when the best of both sides have to answer questions, with the data will we get real science:

  In March, it revealed to the NYSE a $US9 million ($13.5 million) plunge in research revenue after being forced to “pause” the publication of so-called “special issue” journals by its Hindawi imprint, which it had acquired in 2021 for US$298 million ($450 million).

  Its statement noted the Hindawi program, which comprised some 250 journals, had been “suspended temporarily due to the presence in certain special issues of compromised articles”.

  Many of these suspect papers purported to be serious medical studies, including examinations of drug resistance in newborns with pneumonia and the value of MRI scans in the diagnosis of early liver disease. The journals involved included Disease Markers, BioMed Research International and Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience.

  The problem is only becoming more urgent. The recent explosion of artificial intelligence raises the stakes even further. A researcher at University College London recently found more than 1 per cent of all scientific articles published last year, some 60,000 papers, were likely written by a computer.

  In some sectors, it’s worse. Almost one out of every five computer science papers published in the past four years may not have been written by humans.

  In Australia, ABC has reported on this issue, reflecting concerns over diminishing public trust in universities, which are increasingly seen as businesses rather than educational institutions. This perception is fueled by incidents where universities, driven by financial incentives, overlook academic fraud.

  The core of the scientific community is corroded, exacerbated by entities like the ABC Science Unit, which rather than scrutinizing dubious research, often shields it.

  This ongoing degradation calls for a shift from traditional peer review to rigorous live debates, ensuring accountability by having people argue their cases in real time.

  In December 2023, Nature posted that more than 10,000 papers were retracted in 2023 — a new record.

  You can read Nova’s full blog post here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 23:20

• The Endgame, Part II: How The Conflict In Ukraine Ends
  The Endgame, Part II: How The Conflict In Ukraine Ends

  By Tuomas Malinen

  In this piece I present four scenarios for the ‘endgame’ to the Russo-Ukrainian war. They are:

  1. The overruling majority (peace).
  2. The immovable majority (wider war).
  3. Regime change in Russia (risky conflict).
  4. World War III (nuclear holocaust).

  Scenarios concentrate on the drivers of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, or NATO. More precisely, they deal with whether NATO is being driven by simply erratic decisions, or whether it’s an aggressor. I went through these basic scenarios in length in my last entry.

  I have not visited Russia since 2011. I made this decision after the annexation of Crimea. I don’t think that wars of invasion should be allowed in modern Europe. Yet, I’ve visited Russia, and even the Soviet Union, many times. My relatives were working at the Finnish embassies in Russia, which led me and my mother to visit the Soviet Union two times, when I was just a kid. The visions of a chaotic Soviet Moscow have been burned into my memory for the rest of my life.

  In 2009, we went to Moscow with a group of family and friends. The theme of the few day trip became nje rabotaet, which essentially means “it does not work”. This was because nothing seemed to work, and everyone kept telling us that phrase (in metro stations, bars, cafeterias, etc.). Russia is a chaotic, but funny place. Slavic people are not actually known for their exuberant niceness, but you do get help in Russia, when you ask for it.

  The leadership of a country naturally often tends to mimic the culture and national characteristics. The spontaneous actions of the current Russian leader President Putin are not anomalies in their history. Many Russian leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Char Peter I and further to Stalin and other leaders of the Soviet Union have fought invasive wars and acted very reactively.

  In my view, the demonization of Russia arises mainly from two sources:

  1. People do not understand Russia, and thus fear it, and

  2. War propaganda.

  This piece essentially deals with both. First, I go through the Finnish experience with Russia, which should act as a comforting lesson for the rest of the world, and how it applies to the current situation in Europe. Then, I will present four scenarios for the endgame of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

  The Finnish experience

  Finns fought two wars against Russia, more precisely against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was, or it became a military behemoth during WWII. It has been said that before Operation Barbarossa, for example, the air force of the Soviet Union was larger than that of the rest of world. The purge of the Red Amy, by then-dictator of Russia Josif Stalin in 1937, reduced the morale and efficiency of Soviet military right before the onset of WWII. This was visible in the Winter War fought between Finland and the Soviet Union between 30th November 1939 and 13th March 1940. The Finnish seriously unequipped military inflicted devastating losses on the Red Army almost solely with ‘Sisu’. After the Finnish troops had stopped all progress of an over-whelming Russian invasion force at the end of December, Soviet high command went into re-thinking and re-grouping mode. On February 1st 1940, the Red Army started its crushing attack against an already stretched Finnish defenders. Heroic resistance of the Finnish soldiers and growing international pressure saved Finland, while she lost some 12% of her landmass.

  Wars between Russia and Finland did not end with the Winter War, because Finland took part to Operation Barbarossa as an unofficial ally to Nazi Germany. An excerpt from my Finland and NATO piece in the Epoch Times:

  The Winter War was largely bilateral, caused by territorial claims of the then-leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, and the secret amendment of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact placing Finland under the Soviet “sphere of influence.” The Continuation War was fought alongside Nazi Germany in an effort to reclaim territories lost in the Winter War. Finland actually had very little choice under the constraints created by the ongoing European war. There was a constant threat of a Soviet invasion, and Finland held the largest known nickel deposit in Europe in Petsamo, the northern “arm” of Finland, which both Hitler and Stalin sought to command. It thus had to either join forces with Germany or face a possible new Soviet invasion. The wars resulted in the loss of around 12 percent of Finland’s territory, including Petsamo.

  After the wars, Presidents Juho Paasikivi and Urho Kekkonen formulated a policy line of passive neutrality called the Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine. It was based on the “fear factor” Finland acquired during the two wars and friendly co-existence. While Finland lost 12% of her landmass, we earned our right to co-exist, independent, during the Cold War right next to the most formidable military power the world had ever seen.

  Finns also understood that you should not poke the Russian bear. While she may seem vulnerable and weak, she’s not, and will become much more dangerous if wounded. I don’t think we will ever know for sure, why Stalin spared Finland after the Moscow Armistice after the Continuation War, but we know why the relationship with Russia (Soviet Union) later became so prosperous and friendly, which brings us to the current problem Europe faces.

  The problem of Europe

  The Russian mindset is not so complex or chaotic as many in the West make it to be. Like I explained in my previous entry, Russian leadership seeks to increase its influence in the neighboring regions driven by bezopasnost. They also follow strength instead of diplomacy. Finland cemented her position beside the Soviet Union by not making herself a threat and making herself strong both economically and militarily (that is, a very ‘bitter pill’ for Russia to swallow). So, the success of Finland to coexist and prosper alongside Russia (Soviet Union) was based on strength and keeping friendly relations with Moscow. Easy recipe.

  The problem Europe now faces is two-fold. First, after Finland became a full member of the NATO, Russia has been cornered from every side in Europe by a force it does not consider peaceful, which is something we really cannot blame the Russian leadership from. Previous Finnish leaders knew that if Finland makes herself a threat to Russia, consequences will be dire. Ukrainian leadership must have known this too, but they were clearly manipulated by western leaders. Secondly, we can now conclude that NATO is not what it says it is.

  The future of Europe now basically hangs in the balance between two dangerous scenarios of what is actually driving NATO, which can be categorized as:

  1. NATO, the erratic, and

  2. NATO, the aggressor.

  These characterizations draw from utterly irresponsible or deliberately aggressive actions taken by NATO leadership over the past three decades and especially during the past year. You can simplify this by stating that either NATO leadership massively underestimated Russian resources and the devotion of her leadership to bezopasnost or then they deliberately over-stepped the red lines of Moscow in an effort to create a military conflict that would engulf Europe.

  In what follows, I sketch future scenarios based on the two assumptions of the motives of NATO. They show that the underlying assumptions (erratic or aggressive NATO), dominates the future paths of Europe, and the world, while three of the four scenarios may end up in the same terrifying end-result, that is, a nuclear holocaust. Scenarios are behind a paywall, but you can read them through the 7-day free trial.

  NATO, the erratic

  Here I assume that the leadership of NATO has (is) simply making cataclysmic mistakes and is currently engaged in a desperate effort to ‘save face’ with the collapse of Ukraine looming. I will concentrate on the political response of the ordinary populace of how the future will play out through overruling majority and immovable minority.1

  Scenario I: The overruling majority

  On March 4, our Minister of Defense, Antti Häkkänen, said in a speech he held at the opening of the National Defense Course that “It’s time to recognize the facts. Russia is a threat to the whole democratic world”. Coming from a Finnish Minister of Defense, this is as close as we can get to a declaration of war without actually declaring it.

  I consider that this speech was a marker, signaling that Finland is committed to a war against Russia. I naturally sincerely hope that I am wrong about this. However, this is so exceptional coming from a Finnish Minister of Defense that I am having difficulties explaining it by any other motive (I don’t, for example, buy the extreme stupidity argument).

  If we assume that the leaders of NATO, and member countries, are simply making mistakes, then this speech can be seen as a cataclysmic one, because Moscow is likely to take it as a sign, or a “marker” of aggressive future plans by leaders of Finland and NATO. This means that Russia will most likely start to gear up for a war at her north-western border, again. The Finnish-Russian border, and especially the Karelian Isthmus (peninsula) has been one of the main ‘hotspots’ of Europe for centuries. It was the main battleground for Swedish and Russian empires from the Russo-Swedish war in 1475, till the Finnish war in 1809, when Sweden finally lost Finland to Russia, effectively ending the Swedish Empire. The isthmus was also the main battleground in the Winter and Continuation Wars.

  It’s obvious that neither the vast majority of Finns nor Europeans want a war, but could they be manipulated into one?

  The people naturally have the final say in every system, because if they start to revolt, no dictator can hold that force at bay. Could there be an actual rebellion against the erratic, or even aggressive, NATO leadership? Of course there could, but I am not seeing such signs yet, which does not mean they could not appear, if (when) the war starts to look imminent.2

  There’s also the possibility that NATO leadership is looking for a way out of the conflict in Ukraine. If this would be the case, public opinion turning against the war, even in smaller portions, could provide support for the leadership of NATO to retreat from their prior erratic decisions and enact the process of de-escalation, while saving face.

  Taking everything that is going on into account, there are too many errors made for them to be random, imho. And if the errors are not random, then they are systemic (deliberate), which implies that NATO is the aggressor. However, before diving into that, let’s consider one more scenario.

  Scenario II: The immovable minority

  Worryingly many European political leaders seem to support, if not an outright war, but a confrontation with Russia. There’s also a very vocal minority of Europeans demanding harsher measures against Russia, while some are even advocating for a wider war.

  In this second scenario, of NATO the erratic, these minority forces prevail and control the public narrative and thus the conflict, pushing it into a wider European war. This scenario coincidences with the World War III scenario below. The difference is that in this scenario the world drifts into a WWIII and nuclear annihilation that would likely follow, while in the scenario presented below, a deliberate escalation by NATO ignites the conflict. In this scenario, escalation comes in the form of toughening rhetoric towards Russia and re-armament, fueling the conflict, while in the deliberate escalation scenario nuclear war ignites from pushing the envelope too far or through an intentional act. I will not speculate on the possible military developments that could lead to this scenario in any detail, but mention, that at some point, escalation (naturally) leads to a broadening of the conflict.

  NATO, the aggressor

  In the next two scenarios that follow, I assume that the aim of NATO is to either force a regime change in Russia or destroy the nation in a war. The motivation for these aims can rise from three sources, which can intertwine. So, the endgame for NATO the aggressor can be to:

  1. Gain control of vast Russian mineral resources,

  2. Destroy the Eurasian alliance (and keep it that way), and/or

  3. Ignite a world war, for the global elite to gain widespread control over societies.

  It’s my current thinking that all of these motives can act as drivers, while the last one is highly speculative.

  Scenario III: Regime change in Russia

  It is obvious that a nuclear holocaust would not serve the aim of this scenario, as it would evaporate most of the populace, machinery and infrastructure from the world. Major cities and areas would be uninhabitable for years, including, most likely, mineral deposits in Russia, Europe and in the U.S. This is why we can assume that in this scenario the escalation of the conflict to a wider war in Europe is not the aim of NATO, but there is a high likelihood it will lead to that.

  The likelihood of this scenario can be considered to be relatively high, considering everything that has happened in Ukraine. It looks like NATO tried to slowly increase the pressure and to cause heavy losses to Russian forces. The ‘Prigozhing incident’, also fits with this narrative, as the “mutiny” started during the (failed) Ukrainian counter-offensive, which makes it looks pre-planned. Often, when such plans for a coup have been laid, one has to go through with them regardless, because there’s no actual way to retreat. In this case, the likely plan assumed that Prigozhin would have started his march to Moscow after devastating Russian losses, which would have angered the Russian populace and de-moralized the troops. None of this happened, because the counter-offensive of the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) failed. Moreover, it’s likely that Yevgeni Prigozhin were supported by, at least some western intelligence offices. These plans would have most certainly been revealed at some point, if Prigozhin would have failed to act as planned. Thus, while there’s no certainty that a coup was part of a western plan that is how it looked, and Prigozhin was forced to follow it through with the most extreme personal cost.

  The question we now face is, what would be the next steps for NATO to accomplish a regime change? Two scenarios rise above others:

  1. A re-armament race that eats through Russian economic resources, leading the country to collapse from inside out, similarly to what happened to the Soviet Union in the late-1980s.

  2. Major conflicts in the neighbouring regions (Abkhazia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, etc.), destabilizing large parts of Russia.

  The first would essential bring back the darkest times of the Cold War, while the latter could create a highly unstable Russia. Both of these can, naturally, lead to the extreme scenario of nuclear holocaust. The former would take us there through some escalation, during which a nuclear detonation occurs (through a mistake or deliberately) enacting a nuclear war. In the latter, the risk of a nuclear confrontation arises from some extreme faction taking power in Kremlin after  Putin’s regime fails, and/or some nuclear arms fall into the possession of such a group after such an event. This latter was essentially the main fear, after the collapse of the Soviet Union pushed Russian military forces into a state of near-anarchy.

  Scenario IV: World War III (nuclear holocaust)

  A nuclear holocaust is naturally something the vast majority of the populace would not want to see, but could there be some who would? Such ‘crazies’ naturally exist among us humans, but the question is, could they hold key places in our supra-national organizations, like NATO?

  If we assume that such people do not exist in the leadership of NATO nor in the leadership of those countries running it (essentially the U.S.), the aggressive actions of NATO could still lead us into nuclear confrontation. NATO leadership could be, very aggressively, seeking one of the two first-mentioned scenarios, that is, to:

  1. Gain control of vast Russian mineral resources,

  2. Destroy the Eurasian alliance (and keep it that way).

  The first one could be achieved with the regime change scenario described above. The latter would require that there will be no peace in Ukraine, which in this situation (Ukraine has effectively lost) requires that the war spreads. This would mean that some of the ‘frontline countries’, i.e. Finland, the Baltics or Poland, escalates (note that a ‘false flag’ blaming Russians is also possible), igniting a direct conflict between NATO and Russia. If that occurs, there’s a high likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used at some point, leading to a nuclear holocaust. Nuclear conflict would probably arise from a failure to understand the red lines of the other side and/or from a miscalculation. Russia has drawn a red line by incorporating the eastern regions of Ukraine it has annexed into Russian ‘motherland’. Crossing of it would most likely lead to a nuclear confrontation. Cyberattacks to ICT or power systems leading to a wide spread devastation could also trigger a response with nuclear arms. Moreover, in a sitution, where war propaganda is dominating, like it is now, the risk of over-reacting grows.

  But, what if there are factions in key places in NATO leadership actually pushing for a nuclear confrontation?

  This would naturally be the most dangerous scenario for us all, because it would imply that, if escalation through “traditional means” (war propaganda and luring Russia to respond militarily) does not succeed, there will, most likely, be a major false flag blamed on Russia. If, for example, the general populace cannot be turned to support a wider war using propaganda, a major false flag operation could be enacted. In practice, any escalation, in this scenario, needs to be on the scale of a nuclear detonation. In the worst case, the deranged background power players of NATO decide that an actual nuclear detonation in some populous area, like in a major European or Russian city, is required.

  What could be the aim of such a suicidal power faction? They could foster an omnipotent view that they can control even a nuclear confrontation so that it could serve their aims of, e.g., establishing world-wide control systems. Also, there simply are men that “want to see the world burn”, albeit I highly doubt such persons could be in ruling positions in NATO or in our governments.

  This last part of the nuclear holocaust scenario is naturally extremely speculative, and I really have not thought it through thoroughly yet. However, I don’t think we should be ruling out any scenario, considering the madness that seems to have taken over our political leaders. In that note, we should also acknowledge the possibility of a “lone wolf scenario”, where some small group of individuals is able to produce some cataclysmic false flag event leading to a retaliation from one side of the conflict with nuclear weapons.

  Conclusions

  Talking with ordinary people on the current situation in the world usually yields an answer: “this makes no sense”. I fully concur, but this only applies if we fully believe on the prevailing western narrative, which is that global elite and most of our political leaders are benevolent and Russia/Putin is “bad”.

  I have speculated on the drivers behind recent developments in several entries (see, e.g, the Apocalypse Scenario -series). I think we should not shy away even on the most preposterous explanations, like some extremely secretive group ‘pulling the strings’. What we do know, however, is the the perilous direction we are currently heading into.

  The scenarios presented here concentrated on NATO because it holds the definite role in the current crisis. Currently, NATO is escalating by, e.g., building military bases right next to Russian border in Finland and with its leadership giving comments of NATO-membership of Ukraine. These can be just extremely grave mistakes or deliberate actions of escalation.

  In this piece, I have mapped the scenarios we are likely to face based on the actions by NATO. They are not the ones I would like to champion for, but I find them to be the ones we are facing.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 22:45

• Gallant In Rafah Vows To Advance Deeper Despite World Court Demand For Ceasefire
  Gallant In Rafah Vows To Advance Deeper Despite World Court Demand For Ceasefire

  Rockets sent from Gaza rained down on Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday, with Israeli media saying they were launched all the way from Rafah.

  It also came as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited IDF frontline positions on the outskirts of Rafah and vowed the military will forge ahead deeper into the southern city despite the Friday UN World Court order (ICJ) to implement an immediate ceasefire and to halt the Rafah offensive.

  

  “Our goals in Gaza are emphasized here in Rafah: to destroy Hamas, return the hostages and maintain freedom of operation,” Gallant told the troops. “Regarding the hostage issue—we are making tremendous efforts and will continue to do so, via both physical activities and by reaching agreements.”

  He then vowed to carry out Netanyahu’s order to not stop until Hamas is eradicated. “Remember, your job is to eliminate Hamas, to win this war. Our job is to take it [your achievement] and take it to the next level in Gaza and across the Middle East,” he said. “These issues are connected.”

  The timing of the Hamas rocket attacks out of Tel Aviv are no doubt intent on sending a message of defiance. At least three rockets were intercepted but one home in a Tel Aviv suburb was damaged, and possibly more.

  Times of Israel writes, “The Hamas terror group fired eight rockets at central Israel on Sunday afternoon, marking the most significant attack out of the Gaza Strip in some four months and underscoring some of the challenges remaining for the Israeli military as it seeks to oust the Palestinian group from its last major stronghold.”

  This likely further confirms for Israeli leadership the need to take Rafah, despite international condemnation including from UN agencies.

  Israel believes that not only have Hamas leaders found refuge in Rafah, but that it’s among the last locations where major rocket stockpiles exist, and there remains the possibility even of rocket manufacturing capabilities, but the IDF believes it has eradicated all the weapons-making factories at this point.

  Heavy urban fighting has continued to be intense…

  🚨🟢🔻new hamas video

  Watch a Mirkva tank being targeted with an “Al-Yassin 105” shell, and enemy concentrations being destroyed northeast of the city of Jabalia with mortar shells pic.twitter.com/aCoAwJYoW6

  — adam7867862 (@adam7867862) May 16, 2024

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

  Later on Sunday one of Hamas armed wings, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, posted on Telegram it targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 22:10

• Judge Approves Class-Action Lawsuit Against American Airlines Over ESG Pension Investments
  Judge Approves Class-Action Lawsuit Against American Airlines Over ESG Pension Investments

  Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),A district judge has granted a pilot’s request for a class-action lawsuit against American Airlines for allegedly investing pension funds into environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds.

  

  The case revolves around the allegation that American Airlines—headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas—violated its fiduciary obligation to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) “by investing millions of dollars of American Airlines employees’ retirement savings with investment managers and investment funds that pursue political agendas” through ESG initiatives. 

  “By pursuing ESG goals, Defendants gave Plan assets to fund managers, such as BlackRock, who allegedly ignored financial returns as the exclusive purpose and lowered the value of Plan participants’ investments,” the order states.

  In addition to being disloyal to the employees, the plaintiff, Bryan Spence, argues that American Airlines’ investments were “imprudent because it is well known that ESG funds are associated with poor performance given the detrimental effects of such activism on stock prices.”

  “To remedy these alleged ERISA violations, Plaintiff filed this lawsuit individually and on behalf of a proposed class of Plan participants and beneficiaries,” the order says. “ERISA authorized participants in a qualifying plan to bring an action on behalf of other participants to enforce the statute’s fiduciary obligations and remedial provisions, as well as recover all losses to a plan caused by a breach of a fiduciary duty.”

  Texas District Judge Reed O’Conner—a George W. Bush appointee—writes in his order that the case is eligible for class action because of the similarities of ERISA violations.

  “Even if the damages are diverse, finding in favor of Plaintiff on his ERISA claims would also resolve the ERISA claims of this class,” he writes.

  The remedy for damages would be the same for all plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, he says.

  ‘Underperforms Financially’

  According to the complaint, ESG funds are usually more expensive for pension enrollees than non-ESG funds.

  They also “underperform financially,” and instead of maximizing “risk-adjusted financial returns” for enrollees, they “engage in shareholder activism to achieve ESG policy agendas.”

  “Defendants have also selected and included as investment options funds that are managed by investment companies that pursue ESG policy agendas through proxy voting and shareholding activism,” the complaint says. “Many of these funds are not branded or marketed as ESG funds; however, the actions of their investment advisors and managers give rise to the same ERISA violations as those funds that do market themselves as ESG funds.”

  The complaint states that Mr. Spence, an American Airlines pilot and Lt. Col. in the U.S. Air Force, “has suffered specific financial damages” as a result of American Airlines’ “unlawful conduct.”

  The pension plan itself “has suffered millions of dollars in losses because of the Defendants’ fiduciary breaches and the Plan remains vulnerable to continuing harm.”

  The complaint defines ESG as an investment strategy “aimed at influencing societal changes.”

  “Generally, three criteria are used to evaluate companies for ESG investing,” the complaint says.

  ‘Aggressive Climate Goals’

  Among the criteria are environmental commitments to reduce a company’s carbon footprint and a pledge to support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agendas.

  “American Airlines is fully committed to ESG strategy as a company,” the complaint says. “According to its annual ESG Report, American Airlines views its ESG efforts as a ‘key part of American’s success,’ and ‘an important part of American’s long-term strategy,’’ the complaint says. “It sets DEI goals and strives to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”

  On its ESG webpage, American Airlines declares its commitment to “aggressive climate goals.”

  American Airlines states on its DEI webpage that it strives for diversity in hiring and that its employees “work to make American a place where people of all generations, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, gender identity, disabilities, religious affiliations and backgrounds feel welcome and valued.”

  The Human Rights Campaign awarded American Airlines a “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality” in 2021, according to the webpage.

  The Epoch Times contacted American Airlines for comment.

  Sacrificing Safety for Ideology

  Currently, the airline industry is under scrutiny for what critics say is sacrificing safety and performance for DEI ideology.

  The airline has faced several complications this year, including an “anomaly” in the braking system on one of its aircraft to run past the end of a runway, The Associated Press reported, and another mechanical issue in one of its planes while in flight.

  In January, one of its flights landed hard, putting five flight attendants and one passenger in the hospital.

  In January, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the airline industry’s emphasis on DEI initiatives in a post on X.

  “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 21:35

• Biden Marketing Team To Create Trump Mega-Martyr With 'Guilty' Verdict Campaign Strategy
  Biden Marketing Team To Create Trump Mega-Martyr With ‘Guilty’ Verdict Campaign Strategy

  Joe Biden’s galaxy brain handlers plan to use any ‘guilty’ verdicts in Donald Trump’s criminal trials to campaign on, unaware that most of the country views them as political lawfare by the permanent ruling class hatched in coordination with Biden’s own DOJ.

  

  According to Politico, citing four people familiar with internal deliberations;

  Biden intends to initially address the verdict in a White House setting — not a campaign one — to show his statement isn’t political, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

  If the jury convicts Trump, Biden’s team will then argue that the result shows Trump is ill-suited for office and that it demonstrates the extremes to which the former president would go to win again. The campaign’s social media team is considering leveraging the line of attack further, with discussions underway about referring to the ex-president online as “Convicted Felon Donald Trump.”

  The report comes as closing arguments are set for Tuesday in Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial, which saw the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen, implode on the stand. Of course, a Manhattan jury won’t care – so a Trump ‘guilty’ verdict wouldn’t come as a surprise.

  “This is an important moment and the president first and foremost needs to stress that the American system works, even and especially in an election year,” said one of Politico‘s anonymous sources. “And in a measured way, it becomes part of his argument against Trump too: Do Americans really want this?“

  Do voters want a president being transparently pursued for partisan reasons by a behemoth government that fewer than two-in-ten Americans trust?

  

  This goes hand-in-hand with why the left can’t meme and are desperate to find someone who can.

  At least one Democrat sees how stupid this is.

  “I don’t think it’s important to rub it in,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told Politico. “I don’t think anybody on our side should be reacting with glee. It just should be a tragedy that an American president has been convicted of real crimes.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 21:00

• Obnoxious Weeds Team Up To Fight Cancer–New Review
  Obnoxious Weeds Team Up To Fight Cancer–New Review

  Authored by Alexandra Roach via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Recently, I gave a presentation about edible plants at my local library. Kitchen herbs, in fact, that double as medicinals, which people can easily grow in their gardens or on window sills. While preparing my presentation, I was reminded that this topic is immense in its breadth and depth. One number especially stood out and even stopped me in my tracks.

  

  There are 50,000 – 80,000 plants used medicinally worldwide, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. What a number! I feel a bit inadequate with my limited knowledge of several hundred of them.

  The millennia-old knowledge of herbal medicine is practiced in all regions of the world and backed up by much international research—the Near East, Russia, East Africa, North East India, and even Transylvania. The list clearly goes on.

  New Review Reapproves Plants’ Anti-Cancer Qualities

  In recent years, scientists have re-discovered their urge to learn more about our floral companions. This rekindling of passed-down wisdom is possibly driven by the need to find remedies for diseases that otherwise modern medicine seems unable to prevail over.

  A 2024 review, published in the journal Pharmaceuticals, appears to follow this direction. The new release highlights 15 medicinal plants with potential anti-tumorigenic qualities, meaning these plants have active compounds that fight abnormal cell growth.

  Interesting to me was the selection of plants featured in the review. Some of them, we are familiar with—much having been written about them—for instance, dandelion, nettles, or Curcuma longa, better known as turmeric.

  Others, like the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), the tropical soursop, and even a houseplant with the name of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, we find less familiar.

  However, all these plants have one common characteristic —they work “against the Majority of Common Types of Cancer,” reads the review’s headline.

  Efficient Treatment for Immediate Development

  The International Agency for Research on Cancer describes the worldwide cancer situation as dire. Their 2022 report states that globally most people died from lung cancer (18.7 percent), followed by colorectal cancer (9.3 percent), and liver cancer (7.8 percent). A total of 3,480,213 individuals.

  Therefore, researchers of the current review call for an immediate development of “more targeted and efficient treatment plans.” In their eyes, “Plants and products derived from them have promising potential as a source of less toxic anticancer drugs.”

  Blending Traditional Wisdom and Novel Nanotechnologies

  To accomplish this goal, herbs are employed to keep the immune system strong, kill off carcinogens, and improve antioxidant levels in our bodies. Scientists see new nanomedicines and bioengineering techniques for immune cell therapies as innovative approaches to treating the disease.

  As a community herbalist, I view things with the eyes of longevity. What traditional wisdom about these herbs has been passed on for centuries? How can the two worlds of novel research and ancient knowledge be combined for the benefit of the patient?

  Anti-Cancer Plants: Research and Application

  There are several herbs the recently released review mentions, which might grow abundantly in our gardens—often, we might even see them as annoying weeds that need to be fended off. Such is frequently the case for dandelions.

  In the back of my head, I hear my herbal teacher repeat over and over, “Often, the herbs show up where we need them.” This holds true for one of the most robust herbaceous perennials that is native to Europe but grows all over the world in gardens and lawns, along roads and fields, and even waste areas.

  Common Dandelion

  

  Taraxacum officinale, commonly known as dandelion, is not only a medicinal herb but an edible vegetable. Especially young leaves are tender and round out the taste in any salad, gifting it a slightly bitter flavor—which is a sign of assisting digestion.

  The Taraxacum genus includes over three hundred species. These have been discovered and utilized in traditional and folk medicines for centuries. German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, for example, featured the healthy properties of the plant in the 16th century in his herbal compendium, “De Historia Stirpium.”

  Dandelion was also known as a drug in Arabian medicine. There, physicians recorded its utilization as early as the 10th century. Indian and Chinese medicine treated liver and digestive diseases with the common dandelion, states an article about the plant published in the National Library of Medicine.

  Dandelion is a true all-rounder. Featuring among others, vitamins A, C, B, and D, the minerals potassium and calcium, and traces of iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.

  A 2023 review carefully examined the dandelion and remarked upon its bioactive compounds. “Sesquiterpenoids, phenolic compounds, essential oils, saccharides, flavonoids, sphingolipids, triterpenoids, sterols, [and] coumarins” are sources for “therapeutic potential, including anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-rheumatic activities.”

  Korean research showed that the amount of phenols and flavonoids in the plant drives its anticancer and antioxidant activities. This varies in different taraxacum species but exists in the common dandelion.

  Researchers investigated a dandelion extract combination in a 2023 study. The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, highlight the importance of inhibiting the “rapid proliferation of cancer cells and its invasion into healthy tissues” specific to breast cancer. This is exactly what dandelion extract does—it inhibits their spread and “induce death in them.”

  Photodynamic Therapy is another method to target cancerous tissue. In it, a photosensitizing agent is stimulated by light, for instance by a laser. In a 2023 article in Nanomedicine, this process was tested with dandelion for “synergistic chemotherapy and photo-dynamic cancer therapy.” This transportation method succeeded in the delivery of the active compound to the cancer cells and disrupted their homeostasis, thus portraying anti-cancer and anti-tumor effects.

  Stinging Nettle

  

  Runner-up in the title of highly medicinal weeds is Urtica dioica. In many temperate places, nettles grow like a pest and are unwanted wildflowers by many.

  Contrary to popular reason, I recently transplanted some nettles into my garden and even spread nettle seeds in my best effort to establish them there. Nettles are delicious plant nutrition and are a great addition to soups and salad dressings, as the hairy stingers lose their power when processed.

  Full of provitamin beta-carotene, vitamins A, B, and C, minerals iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium, this protein-rich perennial herb is loaded with health benefits. But the loaded weed can do more.

  A 2020 research article features the potentially anticancer properties of nettles. When evaluated, the extract of Urtica dioica showed promising effects on the proliferation rate of “hepatocarcinoma and colon-cancer cell lines at specific doses.”

  In a 2022 study published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, plant medicine proved its anticancer qualities against three different types of cancer cell lines. Testing of urtica dioica’s cytotoxicity was performed in vitro (via mycoplasma testing) and in vivo (in a living organism, in this case, rats). Findings were positive and showed that nettles may work against breast cancer through their anti-tumoral properties.

  According to another study, directed to research the herb’s potential healing qualities in regards to human colon and gastric cancer, nettles also induced apoptosis and “inhibited proliferation of gastric and colorectal cancer cells,” while not having any toxic side effects on normal cells.

  Greater Burdock

  

  Continuing to feature weedy wildflowers that grow in many disturbed areas around the United States, and are surely to be found in an empty parking lot, pasture, or along fields and roads in your area, is burdock.

  Like Dandelion, burdock is a member of the Asteraceae family (the Aster family) and grows seemingly everywhere. Similarly, the medicinal parts of burdock include roots and leaves, with the addition of seeds.

  Arcticum lappa is likewise high in minerals and vitamins, including the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. However, it also features lignans in roots and seeds, amino acids in the roots, phenols, sterols, and fatty acids in the seeds, and a “plethora of biological activities and pharmacological functions.”

  One of burdock’s compounds, lappaol F (a natural lignan), is an anticancer agent that “inhibits tumour cell growth by inducing cell cycle arrest,” states a 2021 study while noting that the underlying processes of burdock’s anticancer qualities remain unclear.

  Nevertheless, the plant is effective and researchers suggest that a potential anticancer drug could be developed from the medicinal herb.

  A review published in Inflammopharmacology, emphasizes the century-old traditional medicinal uses of burdock in Europe, North America, and Asia. It highlights the plant’s anti-inflammatory qualities and detoxifying effects, as well as anti-tumor properties, especially its “potent inhibitory effects on the growth of tumors such as pancreatic carcinoma.”

  Burdock has even proven effective against “multi-drug resistant cancer cells.” A study investigated six lignans present in the burdock seed and combined them as non-toxic chemotherapeutic agents. Results showed that they “possess promising MDR [multidrug resistant] reversal activities.” The study also tested and verified this effect in combination with a chemotherapy drug named doxorubicin.

  Remaining 12 Anti-Cancer Plants

  The remaining 12 plants examined in the recent review are soursop (Annona muricata), black calla (Arum palaestinum), hemp (Cannabis sativa), Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), turmeric (Curcuma longa), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), moringa (Moringa oleifera), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), milk thistle (Silybum marianum ), oleander (Nerium oleander), kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana ), and ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L).

  Turmeric, licorice, hibiscus, hemp, ashwagandha, and milk thistle are well known—beyond the ears of an herbalist. Soursop might fall into this category for some, especially those living in tropical regions.

  Then, some might make us pause, as we see the plants more as blooming decoratives in the garden or house plants, like oleander, the black calla, Madagascar periwinkle, or kalanchoe. Being native to the Indian subcontinent, and being used mostly in Southern Asia, moringa may be the most foreign of them all.

  Yet, in total, they are acclaimed plant medicines.

  Ongoing Phytopharmaceutical Research

  A 2022 review, for instance, hails the healing qualities of soursop. Its “pharmacological effects of anti-cancer, anti-microbial, antioxidant, anti-ulcer, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, and wound healing” are impressive.

  Another review features a study in which patients were given 300 milligrams of soursop extract (leaf water) in capsules after breakfast. This restrained colorectal cancer cell growth.

  A phytotherapeutic that likewise targets colorectal cancer is ashwagandha. A 2023 study found that the herb and its bioactive compounds “kill cancer cells via at least five separate routes.”

  It has even been named “a wonder drug” in the alternative field and has shown remarkable bioactive compounds that function as “anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, apoptotic, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, cardio-protective and spermatogenic agents,” as outlined in a comprehensive review.

  Numerous studies and reviews, however, stress the unfortunate fact that further research is needed due to “the lack of established quantities and concentration measurements,” or simply the lack of wide-ranging medical research about our floral surroundings.

  Contraindications and Side-Effects

  In general, phytopharmaceuticals are powerful medicine.

  Although many of the plants do not have any side effects and often naturally target cancer cells without affecting healthy cells, a mechanism not quite understood by science yet (as mentioned above). At the same time, ingesting the wrong plant or the wrong dosage can harm or even kill.

  As for dandelions, nettles, and burdock—there are some guiding principles:

  • Nettles should not be eaten raw. The fresh leaves will sting.
  • Dandelions can make your stomach upset if too many leaves are ingested or after prolonged use, as it can increase the hydrochloric acid production (HCl) in the stomach and lead to loose stool.
  • Dandelion root should be taken with caution if the individual suffers from excess HCl, gastritis, ulcers, or heartburn.
  • During the first trimester of pregnancy, burdock should only be prescribed in mild doses. Also, take with caution if suffering from hypoglycemia.

  Tips:

  When gathering herbs or plants in the wild or public spaces, please collect your specimens wisely. This means, pick plant matter only away from dirty or polluted areas and wash before eating or processing. Also, never take the whole plant (you want it to continue to live and come back the next year).

  Note:

  For all individualized herbal recommendations and dosages, please consult with your local herbalist. If you are on any medications consult with a physician before taking herbal supplements. The author is writing for informational purposes only and is not acting in the capacity of a doctor or licensed dietitian-nutritionist.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 20:25

• Regular Cannabis Users Exceeds Drinkers For First Time Ever 
  Regular Cannabis Users Exceeds Drinkers For First Time Ever 

  For the first time, a nationwide study providing current data on tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, mental health, and other health-related issues has found that the number of people smoking cannabis daily has surpassed those drinking beer or vodka daily. This development coincides with the Biden administration’s efforts to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous substance.

  The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) has been conducted annually since 1990 and four times before (1979, 1982, 1985, and 1988). Data shows an explosive amount of daily cannabis use a few years after the Great Financial Crisis. The trend has become parabolic in the last ten years due to “a period of federal non-interference with the legalization of supply,” according to the study’s authors. 

  Figure 1 shows sharp declines during the Reagan-Bush era to a nadir in 1992, a partial recovery between then and 2008, and substantial increases since 2008. Increases are greater, proportionally, for measures of more intense use. For example, between 2008 and 2022, the per capita rate of reporting past-year use increased by 120%, and days of use reported per capita increased by 218% (in absolute terms from the annual equivalent of 2.3 to 8.1 billion days per year). Since the 2022 NSDUH-estimated population 12 and older is 282.0 million, that is, 29 days per person per year, on average.

  Growth is most striking for DND use, defined here as reporting use on 21 or more days in the past month. 2 From 1992 to 2022, there was a 15-fold increase in the per capita rate of reporting DND marijuana use (in absolute terms, from 0.9 million to 17.7 million DND users). That was because of a fivefold increase in the number of PM users (from 7.9 to 41.9 million) and a fourfold increase in the proportion of PM users who report DND use (from 11% to 42%).

  

  Given the increased marijuana usage nationwide and legalization trends, with the Drug Enforcement Administration moving closer to reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the gap between the number of daily drinkers and marijuana has officially closed in the multi-decade dataset. In fact, there are now more regular marijuana users than alcohol users for the first time. 

  Figure 2 compares growth in DND marijuana use to contemporaneous changes in DND alcohol use. In 1992, the household survey recorded 10 times as many DND alcohol as DND marijuana users (8.9 vs 0.9 million). Back then, a conversation about DND use of a dependence-inducing intoxicant was essentially a conversation about alcohol use. In the most recent survey, for the first time, NSDUH recorded more DND marijuana than DND alcohol users (17.7 vs 14.7 million).

  That change reflects both growth in the number of PM marijuana users and changes in patterns of marijuana use. In 2022, the median drinker reported alcohol use on 4 to 5 days in the PM, whereas the median marijuana user reported use on 15 to 16 days in the PM.

  

  This increased access has allowed the general population to consume more and more cannabis. A map from think-tank Pew Research shows that 74% of Americans reside in states that have legalized marijuana for either recreational or medical purposes, with 54% living in states where pot is only permitted for recreational use. 

  

  Here’s a map of America’s 15,000 cannabis dispensaries. 

  

  A separate study from Gallup found regular cannabis usage differs by education and income, with the highest rates seen among the working poor. 

  

  In markets, the top exchange-traded funds that buy marijuana companies have been rounding a multi-year bottom after the speculation craze during Covid. 

  

  The next market driver could be the DEA’s approval of an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that states marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I to the less stringent Schedule III. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 19:50

• Hamas Says It Captured Members Of Israeli Force In Ambush
  Hamas Says It Captured Members Of Israeli Force In Ambush

  Via Middle East Eye

  Hamas said Palestinian fighters captured members of an Israeli force in an ambush inside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a claim denied by the Israeli military. 

  Abu Obaida, spokesman for the group’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said fighters killed, wounded or captured members of the Israeli force during fighting in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

  

  He did not say how many had been abducted and provided no further information about their identities. He said more details would follow soon. 

  “Our fighters lured a Zionist force into an ambush inside a tunnel … The fighters withdrew after they left all members of the force dead, wounded, and captured,” Abu Obaida said in a recorded message broadcast by Al Jazeera early on Sunday.

  The Israeli military was quick to deny the claim. “The IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) clarifies that there is no incident in which a soldier was abducted,” a military spokesperson said in a statement.

  Abu Obaida’s message was followed by a video released [warning: graphic] by al-Qassam Brigades showing fighters pulling inside a tunnel a man who appeared to be unconscious. He was pulled alongside military gear. 

  The video separately showed three semi-automatic rifles and other military gear that Hamas said were taken from the captured Israelis. Middle East Eye could not independently verify when or where the video was filmed.  

  The comments by Abu Obaida came after weeks of renewed intense close-quarter combat across the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, according to Israeli and Palestinian media. 

  The Israeli military sent tanks and troops to Rafah and north Gaza in fresh attacks early in May. The advances have been met by some of the fiercest resistance by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, especially in the Jabalia refugee camp.

  The heavy fighting has coincided with an increase in carpet bombing by Israeli jets, flattening neighborhoods in Jabalia and Rafah. 

  Meanwhile on Sunday rockets were launched from Gaza on Tel Aviv, a first in months:

  ⚡️Impact in northern Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/8nuxT17Xr5

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 26, 2024

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

  Israeli forces have reportedly killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since 7 October, the majority of them children and women according to Gaza Health Ministry figures.

  Palestinians have killed more than 1,500 Israelis in the same period, the majority of them during the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 19:15

• Exposing The CIA's Secret Effort To Seize Control Of Social Media
  Exposing The CIA’s Secret Effort To Seize Control Of Social Media

  While the CIA is strictly prohibited from spying on or running clandestine operations against American citizens on US soil, a bombshell new “Twitter Files” report reveals that a member of the Board of Trustees of InQtel – the CIA’s mission-driving venture capital firm, along with “former” intelligence community (IC) and CIA analysts, were involved in a massive effort in 2021-2022 to take over Twitter’s content management system, as Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag report over at Shellenberger’s Public (subscribers can check out the extensive 6,800 word report here).

  

  According to “thousands of pages of Twitter Files and documents,” these efforts were part of a broader strategy to manage how information is disseminated and consumed on social media under the guise of combating ‘misinformation’ and foreign propaganda efforts – as this complex of government-linked individuals and organizations has gone to great lengths to suggest that narrative control is a national security issue.

  According to the report, the effort also involved;

  • a long-time IC contractor and senior Department of Defense R&D official who spent years developing technologies to detect whistleblowers (“insider threats”) like Edward Snowden and Wikileaks’ leakers;

  • the proposed head of the DHS’ aborted Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, who aided US military and NATO “hybrid war” operations in Europe;

  • Jim Baker, who, as FBI General Counsel, helped start the Russiagate hoax, and, as Twitter’s Deputy General Counsel, urged Twitter executives to censor The New York Post story about Hunter Biden.

  

  Jankowicz (aka ‘Scary Poppins’), previously tipped to lead the DHS’s now-aborted Disinformation Governance Board, has been a vocal advocate for more stringent regulation of online speech to counteract ‘rampant disinformation.’ Jim Baker, in his capacity as FBI General Counsel and later as Twitter’s Deputy General Counsel, advocated for and implemented policies that would restrict certain types of speech on the platform, including decisions that affected the visibility of politically sensitive content.

  Furthermore, companies like PayPal, Amazon Web Services, and GoDaddy were mentioned as part of a concerted effort to de-platform and financially de-incentivize individuals and organizations deemed threats by the IC. This approach represents a significant escalation in the use of corporate cooperation to achieve what might essentially be considered censorship under the guise of national security.

  Nina Jankowicz And The Alethea Group

  Remember Nina? A huge fan of Christopher Steele – architect of the infamous Clinton-funded Dossier which underpinned the Trump-Russia hoax, and who joined the chorus of disinformation agents that downplayed the Hunter Biden laptop bombshell, Jankowicz previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, and advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry as part of the Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship. She also oversaw the Russia and Belarus programs at the National Democratic Institute.

  Jankowicz compares the lack of regulation of speech on social media to the lack of government regulation of automobiles in the 1960s. She calls for a “cross-platform” and public-private approach, so whatever actions are taken are taken by Google, Facebook, and Twitter, simultaneously.

  Jankowicz points to Europe as the model for regulating speech. “Germany’s NetzDG law requires social media companies and other content hosts to remove ‘obviously illegal’ speech within twenty-four hours,” she says, “or face a fine of up to $50 million.”

  By contrast, in the US, she laments, “Congress has yet to pass a bill imposing even the most basic of regulations related to social media and election advertising.” -Public

  In a 2020 book, How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict, Jankowicz praises a NATO cyber security expert for having created a “Center of Excellence,” a concept promoted by Renée Diresta of the Stanford Internet Observatory, in which she made the case for the (now failed) Disinformation Governance Board that Jankowicz would briefly head up.

  One year later, Jankowicz began working with ‘anti-disinformation’ consulting firm, Althea Group, staffed by “former” IC analysts.

  Althea notably came after ZeroHedge at one point, shopping a ‘dossier’ around which suggested we were allegedly contributing to “increased online panic” amid the monumental collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

  The outlets they peddled said dossier to included Bloomberg – which elected to exclude ZeroHedge from their report following a brief email exchange. Eventually, one of their operatives dropped the dossier on Twitter, only to be mocked as a propagandist.

  You mean a financial newsblog published a number of stories about a significant bank failure? How dare they!!

  — Reason and analytics in Dallas (@DallasAnalytics) March 17, 2023

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

  Their SVB thesis was debunked by a Federal Reserve report which admitted that its own regulatory failures contributed to the bank’s collapse. We can only imagine what else they’ve cooked up about us behind closed doors.

  Alethea notably secured $20 million in Series B financing led by Google Ventures.

  Google directly funding censorship orgs https://t.co/DNfWjUowYR

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 9, 2024

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

  Another Alethea Group operative until July 2021 was former CIA analyst, Cindy Otis, who wrote a book called “True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News” – in which she thanks Pieter “Mudge” Zatko – a notorious hacker who was hired by Twitter to “tackle everything from engineering missteps to misinformation,” Reuters wrote at the time.

  

  According to Jankowicz, “My full time employment with Alethea began September 13, 2021. Ms. Otis left Alethea prior to that period. To my knowledge, she has not been employed with Alethea since that time.”

  “My work with Alethea Group as a consultant (summer 2021) was narrowly focused on my subject matter expertise related to Russia,” she continued. “I conducted Russian language translation and provided cultural analysis. When I joined Alethea as an employee (fall 2021) my work was entirely focused on public products: Changes to Alethea’s website, editing public reports, liaising with media, etc.”

  Is Nina lying?

  According to Shellenberger et. al, “that claim contradicts Alethea’s Statement of Work contract with Twitter, which lists her as “Technical Research Director” for work relating to Twitter’s management of misinformation during the 2020 election, and specifically a “retrospective analysis of how then President Trump or other key figures may have violated Twitters [sic] policies, or otherwise leveraged the platform in a way that may have contributed to key events…”

  Alethea Group founder, Lisa Kaplan, told us that Jankowicz “was never given the title Technical Research Director, that is a reference to a labor category for a contract.” Added Kaplan, “We respect client confidentiality and do not discuss relationships with our customers. In reviewing Nina’s timesheets she did provide support to one client that I cannot disclose, however I can confirm that while she was employed as the Director for External Affairs, Nina never conducted work at Alethea on behalf of Twitter.”

  When shown the Statement of Work listing her as “Supplier Personnel,”  Jankowicz said, “I have never seen this document before. A statement of work is generally a speculative document that informs clients of potential staffing and work plans. They are usually crafted to allow contractors a degree of flexibility in implementation by listing staff even if they are not assigned to a particular project in case they might do future work for that project. I assume this is what happened in this case.”

  In fact, the Statement of Work between Alethea and Twitter was a formal contract between the two firms, signed by Alethea’s Founder and CEO and Twitter’s Senior Director and Associate General Counsel, and the contract specifies, “Any changes to the above listed Personnel must be approved by Twitter in writing.” There is no record in the Twitter Files of any change to the project’s personnel. -Public

  Jankowicz defended herself, telling Public: “Ms. Otis and I were friends and colleagues prior to my short stint there and remain friends and colleagues. Yes, I knew Ms. Otis had worked — emphasis on the past tense — at the CIA. That does not constitute a ‘relationship’ with the intelligence community.“

  Mudge

  

  Following a phishing attack on Twitter employees in July of 2020 which resulted in Joe Biden’s account tweeting “I am giving back to the community. All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back doubled! If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000,” along with a crypto wallet address (similar fake tweets were sent from the accouints of Barack Obama, Michael Bloomberg and Elon Musk,” 17-year-old Graham Ivan Clark was arrested. 

  Three months later, Jack Dorsey wrote in an email: “Mudge signed.“

  

  Less than three months later, Zatko made his first big recommendation to Twitter execs: “hire the Alethea Group.“

  “I feel an external investigation may be quite valuable,” he said over the company’s Slack channel. “I’d recommend Alethea group for the disinformation angle.”

  

  Twitter authorized the move. Several weeks later, Zatko suggested that Twitter’s legal team hire Alethea for a report focusing on Jan. 6.

  “We can draw a straight line… between the initial ‘Stop the Steal’ narratives and organizing to what ended up happening on the 6th.”

  Alethea’s assessment of Twitter reflects the view of its CEO, Kaplan, that online misinformation leads to violence.

  On March 11, 2021, the same… pic.twitter.com/h0UunuhUGX

  — Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 23, 2024

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

  “As folks can understand,” he wrote on Feb. 4, 2021, “there’s a lot still going on around Jan 6th and the 2020 election in general. Alethea is a boutique consultancy that specializes on disinformation and counter-messaging operations. They have been working with myself and Yoel [Roth].“

  Meanwhile, on March 24, 2021, Zatko emailed a 12-page report pushing for more government-linked censorship – suggesting that “The organizations and people behind this recommendation have the connection [sic] to get this in front of the right people in the administration.“

  

  The report is co-authored by Aspen Institute’s Vivian Schiller, who led the “pre-bunking” of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and Hamilton68 hoax author Clint Watts, and is published by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. -Public

  Then it came out that Zatko, who pushed Alethea, “had engaged with members of US intelligence agencies…” As Public notes, “Attitudes toward Zatko would be quite different two years later.”

  Zatko turned whistleblower, sued the company, and settled for $7.75 million. He then filed a complaint with the Justice Department, SEC, and FTC, alleging Twitter executives had misled the government, been negligent in protecting user data, and had violated a 2011 consent decree with the FTC.

  Somebody leaked Zatko’s complaint to the Washington Post, which reached out to Twitter for comment on August 19, 2022.

  In a shared Google Doc, dated August 21, 2022, called “Comms Statements/Tracking,” Twitter executives fine-tuned the language for responding to the news media about Zatko’s allegations.

  Buried deep within that discussion was this revelatory sentence:

  “Without the knowledge or support of management or the Board, Twitter learned that Zatko had engaged with members of US intelligence agencies and sought to enter a formal agreement that would allow him to work with them and provide information to them.”

  

  CIA, In-Q-Tel, And Alethea

  In late 2022, Alethea received $10 million from Ballistic Ventures, whose general partner is Ted Schlein. Ted “provides counsel to the U.S. intelligence community, serves on the Board of Trustees at InQTel [the CIA’s mission-driven venture capital firm] and was recently named as a board member of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee.”

  

  Is this the same Alethea whose board member Ted Schlein “provides counsel to the US intelligence community” and serves on the Board of CIA’s Venture Capital firm InQTel?https://t.co/JbmnsW3F9jhttps://t.co/DVUip7QEWs https://t.co/hW1qUH4IK1

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 17, 2023

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

  In 2022, IQT published a report describing its “Disinformation Workshop,” which recommended several activities similar to those Alethea has offered, including “Track the confluence of bad narratives.”

  

  Schlein can neither confirm nor deny…

  According to the Wall Street Journal, a full one-third of IQT investments were secret as of 2016. The Journal also reported that Schlein had at least one connection to a firm in which IQT invested, and that was over seven years ago.

  “I do not know Zatko, Jankowicz or Otis. Lisa is the CEO of Alethea and I serve on her board of directors,” Schlein told us. He added that he is not aware of any relationship between Alethea and the IC and that he has no operational role in the firm.

  “I get the feeling that Alethea is a byproduct of Ted Schlein,” a high-tech entrepreneur told us, “and the CEO is merely a titular head….Without meaningful experience, it’s not clear to me how [Lisa Kaplan] received $10m in a series A round.”

  In March 2022, the Department of Homeland Security made Schlein a member of its advisory council. -Public

  Here’s Kaplan on promoting aggressive censorship:

  “We have to trust the rules and the systems that are governing us.”

  On February 21, 2022, at Colby College, Alethea’s Kaplan again promotes an aggressive censorship vision, including punishments for people who spread misinformation, and says “we have to trust” election rules.… pic.twitter.com/F3JaQNU5vG

  — Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 23, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttps://substack.com/embedjs/embed.js

  We are now approximately halfway hrough Public‘s report. As X user Sean Michael Murray accurately observes: “It’s such a well sourced report… and there’s so much context to summarize in this post, it’s best to read it..” 

  So, click here and subscribe to Public if you haven’t already to read the rest – including:

  • The effort to infiltrate PayPal, GoDaddy and Amazon Web Services
  • Zatko’s engagement with the CIA
  • Who is Zatko, really?
  • Althea in, Zatko out
  • Kaplan’s “aggressive censorship vision”
  • “The Big Boss”
  • First Amendment vs. “Information War”
  • CODA 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 18:44

• Sam Altman-Backed Oklo Signs Deal To Power Another Data Center
  Sam Altman-Backed Oklo Signs Deal To Power Another Data Center

  Sam Altman backed nuclear startup Oklo inked a deal to supply 100MW of nuclear power to data center company Wyoming Hyperscale, it was announced last week.

  The news sent shares of NYSE-listed Oklo up more than 30% in trading on Friday. 

  The companies signed a “non-binding letter of intent outlining plans for the PPA, which will last for 10 years,” according to industry publication Data Center Dynamics. This comes on top of the revelation that, last month, Oklo signed to supply up to 500MW of power to another data center, Equinix. 

  “Wyoming Hyperscale is building a data center campus on 58 acres of land,” the report says. 

  Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo, commented: “As the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence increases, Oklo remains dedicated to providing clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions to meet the needs of our data center partners.”

  

  “Our partnership with Wyoming Hyperscale underscores our commitment to advancing sustainable energy practices and supporting high-efficiency operations within the data center industry.”

  Trenton Thornock, founder of Wyoming Hyperscale, added: “Our goal is to create data centers with minimal environmental impact. This collaboration with Oklo perfectly aligns with our vision for sustainable, efficient operations. By merging sustainability with advanced technology, we are setting a new standard for the future of accelerated computing.”

  As we wrote earlier this month, 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.

  Last month, we published a lengthy report discussing why even as the AI trade may be fizzling, the “electrification” trade, aka the “Power-Up America” trade – so urgently needed to run all those electricity-gobbling data centers needed to run AI – is just getting started and has in fact outperformed substantially both the broader AI and Data-Center Equipment baskets over the past two months…

  

  … and Altman – who teamed up with another power company, Exowatt, earlier this year to focus on clean energy for AI power -agrees: “Fundamentally today in the world, the two limiting commodities you see everywhere are intelligence, which we’re trying to work on with AI, and energy,” Altman told CNBC in 2021. 

  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
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 18:40

• "The Laptop Is Real": Justice Department Denounces Claims Of Russian Disinformation As A Biden "Conspiracy Theory"
  “The Laptop Is Real”: Justice Department Denounces Claims Of Russian Disinformation As A Biden “Conspiracy Theory”

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  “The defendant’s laptop is real.”

  With those words and pictures like this one of Biden using crack, the Justice Department introduced the Hunter Biden laptop as evidence in his upcoming trial over federal gun violations. 

  The federal prosecutors went on to denounce suggestions of Russian disinformation, long peddled by the Bidens, the media and former intelligence officials, as nothing more than a “conspiracy theory.”

  

  The media eagerly spread the claim of Russian disinformation before the presidential election. Twitter and others suppressed the story. This was done through one of the most skillful disinformation campaigns in history.

  It later came out that associates of the Biden campaign (including now Secretary of State Antony Blinken) pushed a long effort to get former intelligence officials to sign a letter making the claim, knowing that an ever-accommodating media would accept the claim without question or further inquiry.

  At the time, some of us wrote that the laptop was “self-authenticating” since many of the emails were confirmed by third parties and other evidence. The Justice Department last week made the same claim of “self-authentication” as well as independent confirmation by federal investigators.

  In the now-debunked letter of former intelligence officials just before the election, figures such as Leon Panetta, former CIA Director in the Obama Administration, claimed that the letter had all of the markings of a Russian disinformation effort by intelligence services. (Panetta continued to make the assertion late last year in pushing what the federal government is now calling a “conspiracy theory.”).

  The Washington Post’s Phillip Bump and others also continued to push the conspiracy theory. Indeed, in 2021, when media organizations were finally admitting that the laptop was authentic, Bump was still declaring that it was a “conspiracy theory.” Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bump continued to suggest that “the laptop was seeded by Russian intelligence.”

  What is equally astonishing is that in 2023 the Post expressly stood by Bump’s reporting on the laptop and other debunked claims. Even after the government has declared this reporting as part of a “conspiracy theory,” the Post continues to support the reporting by Bump and others.

  The laptop includes not just pictures of Hunter using drugs but brandishing a handgun. The court clearly agrees with the government on the authenticity of the laptop. It has ruled against the defense and will allow it to be introduced into evidence.

  Despite the conclusions of American intelligence and others, the Biden team continued to push the disinformation.

  That led the Justice Department to tell the court that:

  “The defendant’s theory about the laptop is a conspiracy theory with no supporting evidence.” 

  It added that Hunter’s “laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit) and it contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”

  

   

  The response from the media has been a collective shrug.

  Worse yet, many of these same political and media figures continue to support censorship and government regulations of “disinformation” while the government is now acknowledging that they carried off one of the most successful disinformation campaigns in history.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 18:05

• Could Ticket-Splitters Hurt Biden In 2024?
  Could Ticket-Splitters Hurt Biden In 2024?

  Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Joe Biden is struggling to win over key Democratic voting blocs in battleground states, according to recent polls. Yet, it’s becoming increasingly evident that this challenge is largely unique to the incumbent president himself, rather than indicative of a broader issue within the Democratic Party.

  

  According to a recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College, the president trailed former President Donald Trump among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup in five out of six key swing states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin was the only state where the president had the advantage.

  Among likely voters, which are considered a more accurate reflection, the race was tighter, with President Trump holding his advantage in five states and President Biden edging ahead in Michigan.

  Meanwhile, the Senate races are showing a very different picture.

  In four battleground states, Democratic Senate candidates outperformed President Biden, according to the New York Times/Siena College survey.

  In Nevada, for example, where President Biden is facing his biggest challenge, President Trump holds a 12-point lead. However, in the Senate race, polls indicate that Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is heading off her Republican opponent, Sam Brown, by 40 percent to 38 percent among registered voters.

  In Arizona, the former president leads 49 percent to 42 percent. Meanwhile, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is ahead of his Republican rival for Senate, Kari Lake, by 4 points. And a most recent CBS News poll indicates an even wider margin, with Mr. Gallego holding a 13-point lead.

  A study by the Center for Politics, since World War II, shows 196 instances of ticket-splitting, which means that states voted for a president from one party and a Senate candidate from another party.

  However, that trend has become a lot less common in recent years.

  In 2020, nearly 90 percent of candidate Biden and President Trump voters also opted for a congressional candidate from the same party. However, in the 1970s and ‘80s, that ratio was roughly 70 percent, according to the American National Election Studies.

  “Split ticket voting at the Senate level is not as prevalent as it used to be,” Ford O’Connell, a political analyst and Republican strategist, told The Epoch Times.

  Maine was the only state in 2020 where voters split their tickets, electing Democrat Mr. Biden for president and Republican Susan Collins for Senate.

  

  Is 2024 Ripe for Ticket-Splitting?

  Some observers are wondering if ticket splitters will return in 2024, given the large gaps in the survey results of presidential and Senate races.

  Aside from Nevada and Arizona, President Biden is underperforming in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) leads by 5 points, and in Wisconsin, where Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) leads by 9 points, according to the New York Times/Siena College poll.

  

  Even in red states like Ohio and Montana, where President Trump enjoys overwhelming popularity, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) lead their Republican opponents in polls.

  This is the opposite of what happened in 2020 when congressional Republicans outperformed President Trump and President Biden outperformed congressional Democrats.

  Mitchell Brown, pollster and director of political strategy at Cygnal, said the large gaps are driven by President Biden’s historically low approval ratings.

  This creates the possibility that President Trump could win several battleground states in 2024, while Democratic incumbent senators retain their seats in those races, Mr. Brown told The Epoch Times.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 16:55

• Injuries Reported After Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Hits Turbulence
  Injuries Reported After Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Hits Turbulence

  Just days after a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER experienced ‘severe turbulence‘ on a flight from London to Singapore, injuring dozens, another Boeing aircraft, this time operated by Qatar Airways, encountered severe turbulence, resulting in passenger injuries.

  AP News reported that Qatar Airways flight QR017, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was hit with turbulence on Sunday on a flight from Doha to Dublin. The plane has since landed in Dublin, and local officials say eight passengers were injured. 

  

  Here’s more from AP: 

  It said that upon landing the aircraft was met by emergency services, including airport police and the fire and rescue department, “due to six passengers and six crew … reporting injuries after the aircraft experienced turbulence while airborne over Turkey.”

  The airport said all passengers were assessed for injuries aboard the plane, and eight were then taken to hospital.

  Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention.”

  QR017’s flight data from Flightrader24 shows the incident may have occurred in the Black Sea. 

  

  However, Flightrader24 cautions the data might be fraught with errors because of high “GPS jamming” in the region due to the war in Eastern Europe. 

  We’re aware of reports of severe turbulence over Turkey aboard today’s #QR17 from Doha to Dublin. Per @DublinAirport 6 passengers and 6 crew sought medical attention upon landing. https://t.co/GyWEmFMWtn

  ⚠️ A note of caution with data from this flight: GPS jamming in the region… pic.twitter.com/9d06JKD62V

  — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 26, 2024

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  On Tuesday, the other severe turbulence incident occurred on a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER. The plane was flying from London to Singapore when an abrupt drop in altitude injured dozens. 

  One X user asked: “Two extreme turbulence flights in one week?” 

  Two extreme turbulence flights in one week? 😩

  — 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓮 (@charlotteukcity) May 26, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 16:20

• Cocaine, Meth Found In Tractor-Trailers During California Border Searches
  Cocaine, Meth Found In Tractor-Trailers During California Border Searches

  By Trucker News

  U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at a California commercial facility made two major drug seizures recently. The interceptions of illegal drugs found in tractor-trailers included:

  • 400 pounds of cocaine 

  • 11,469 pounds of methamphetamine

  

  Cocaine found in fuel tank

  U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Port Commercial Facility discovered over 400 pounds of cocaine concealed in a tractor-trailer’s fuel tanks on Friday, May 17.

  At approximately 9 p.m., CBP officers encountered a 35-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer and empty trailer applying for entry from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility. The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the tractor and empty trailer.

  In the secondary inspection area, a CBP canine unit screened the tractor-trailer and alerted officers to examine the fuel tanks.

  After an intensive examination, CBP officers discovered packages hidden in a non-factory compartment inside both fuel tanks of the semi-truck. The contents of the packages were tested and identified as cocaine, with a total of 160 packages extracted weighing 412.26 pounds.

  CBP officers seized the narcotics and commercial tractor-trailer while the driver was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation

  “The continued success of OFO canine teams in the detection of narcotics is a team effort,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, Port Director for the Area Ports of Otay Mesa. “We will continue to conduct operations, including Operation Apollo, while leveraging intelligence and investigative information to target drug traffickers’ supply chains.”

  Over $18 million in meth found in squash

  CBP officers working at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility discovered $18 million dollars’ worth of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of squash.

  On Monday, May 20, at about 6:47 a.m., CBP officers encountered a 44-year-old male driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested for squash. The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the tractor-trailer and shipment.  

  Non-intrusive scanning technology was utilized to conduct a full scan of the tractor-trailer. After examination, irregularities were observed and CBP officers requested a CBP human and narcotics detection canine. The canine team responded and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. 

  CBP officers discovered and extracted a total of 1,419 packages concealed within the shipment of squash. The narcotics were tested and identified as methamphetamine with a total weight of 11,469 pounds with an estimated street value of $18,350,400.

  “Our officers’ commitment to duty, excellence, and the safety of our nation is truly commendable. These results serve as an outstanding display of effectiveness in thwarting the illegal importation of narcotics,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, Otay Mesa Area Port Director. “Their exceptional efforts truly embody the highest standards of service.”

  CBP officers seized the narcotics, commercial tractor, and trailer while the driver was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) for further investigation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 15:45

• Vivek Ramaswamy Calls For 'Libertarian-Nationalist Alliance'
  Vivek Ramaswamy Calls For ‘Libertarian-Nationalist Alliance’

  Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  In remarks at the Libertarian National Convention, Trump surrogate and former Libertarian Party voter Vivek Ramaswamy called for the men and women in attendance to ally with the “America First” wing of the Republican Party.

  “I believe the future of this country depends on a libertarian-nationalist alliance,” the entrepreneur said. The crowd mostly booed in response.

  The call for tactical cooperation came after Mr. Ramaswamy outlined his skepticism with both Democrats and what he characterized as “the establishment wing of the Republican Party,” criticizing Republican support for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), among other policies.

  

  He also said that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spoke earlier that day to the convention, was “in no sense a libertarian,” citing his past support for “punish[ing]” skeptics of the mainstream scientific narrative on climate change.

  In his opening comments and a subsequent debate with the Libertarians’ vice presidential nominee, Clint Russell, Mr. Ramaswamy suggested that the current political moment offered an opportunity for libertarian ideals to influence the future of former President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” movement.

  “I have had extensive conversations with Donald Trump about libertarian objectives,” the entrepreneur said.

  In New Hampshire, after Mr. Ramaswamy left the race, President Trump stressed his opposition to central-bank digital currencies, adding that “Vivek [also] wanted this.”

  Yet, President Trump’s warm response to new support from another past presidential hopeful, Nikki Haley, has some wondering whether Ms. Haley’s more neoconservative politics would significantly influence a future Trump administration.

  “You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty, but she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form absolutely,” President Trump said in an interview after his rally in the Bronx on May 22.

  President Trump will also be speaking at the Libertarian National Convention.

  In his remarks in D.C., Mr. Ramaswamy also criticized what he described as two other possible future paths for “America First,” aside from a more libertarian or constitutionalist vision.

  One was neoconservatism, “the way of Dick Cheney.” The other, he said, was “what they would call industrial policy, but what increasingly looks and smells like a right-wing version of the nanny state.”

  He reiterated his criticism of industrial policy during his debate with Mr. Russell, which was moderated by comedian Dave Smith.

  Yet, when defending his views on China—an area of meaningful disagreement between many Republicans and many libertarians—the businessman and investor leaned on concerns about Chinese domination of America’s defense-industrial base while indicating that some would disagree that such a sector is necessary at all.

  When asked about legislators’ intensified worries about TikTok, Mr. Ramaswamy also hewed to the GOP-friendly view.

  “Why do you think there was this push to ban TikTok? Do you think it’s really because, as they say, it’s partially owned by a Chinese subsidiary. Or is it because of, let’s say, a different foreign nation?” Mr. Smith asked.

  It was a clear reference to Israel and the Israel lobby, the frequent target of Mr. Smith and many other libertarian commentators as the nation’s war with Hamas rages.

  The Wall Street Journal’s Georgia Wells wrote that pro-Palestine content on the app “helped galvanize lawmakers to want to take action” after years of comparative indifference.

  Mr. Ramaswamy, known for his comments on the U.S.-Israel relationship while on the campaign trail, laughed before reframing the question.

  “I think you’re talking about a foreign nation beginning in Silicon Valley, actually. It’s Facebook lobbying is the reason we passed that bill,” he said.

  “He’s not entirely wrong,” Mr. Smith interjected as the former candidate kept talking.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 14:35

• Even CNN (!) Debunks Trump 'Reich' Ad Hysteria
  Even CNN (!) Debunks Trump ‘Reich’ Ad Hysteria

  While CNN remains an undisputed propaganda arm of the ruling class (see: Ted Cruz’s recent ‘will you accept the results’ purity test interview), the network committed two recent acts of journalism we felt warranted recognition in the hope they’ll change their ways (don’t hold your breath).

  

  First, they debunked the absurd “unified Reich” hoax – in which the Trump campaign ‘reTruth’d’ a video which used a stock video template that anyone can buy online, called “Newspaper Vintage History Headlines Promo,” and which flashed the image of a headline from 1871 which reads “”German Industrial Strength After 1871 Driven By The Creation Of A Unified Reich.””

  The leftist media complex, which unrepentantly helped the US intelligence community frame Trump as a Russian asset, flipped out – with networks including CNN going into literal shakes to whip up their goldfish-brained viewers.

  • Newsweek: Donald Trump ‘Unified Reich’ Video Leaves People Stunned
  • MSNBC: Trump’s Online Account Promotes ‘Unified Reich’ Video, Adding To Alarming Pattern
  • The Hill: White House Slams ‘Sickening’ Video Shared By Trump Referencing ‘Unified Reich’
  • CNN: Trump Posts Video Referencing ‘Unified Reich’ If Reelected

  Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden amplified the hysteria to his 345,000 followers.

  UNIFIED REICH, My God. https://t.co/mfE6L37gJJ

  — Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) May 21, 2024

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  CNN does journalism!

  What’s amazing here is that CNN then devoted resources to actual journalism to track down the origin of the video (no doubt in the hopes of finding a tiki-torch aficionado at the bottom of it) – only to discover, and report, that a 30-year-old Turkish graphic designer made it, and that “All signs point to it’s inclusion being an oversight, not a fascist dog whistle.“

  

  He made the template to mimic a vintage newsreel and copy and pasted random phrases that he assumed people would replace. “United Reich” appeared in the Wikipedia entry on WW1. pic.twitter.com/UuozlxeWWB

  — Jon Sarlin (@jonsarlin) May 24, 2024

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  “I’m really actually in my soul…I’m sad, because this is just for the text.” pic.twitter.com/mTH8pgQUtF

  — Jon Sarlin (@jonsarlin) May 25, 2024

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  How did this slip past the editors!?

  Of course, this moment of journalistic integrity is likely an outlier, as the same CNN journalist, Jon Sarlin, was pushing ‘it’s not the economy, you’re just stupid‘ propaganda earlier this year.

  Except…

  

  While underlying costs have similarly risen – including forced wage hikes, ruining the ‘greedflation’ narrative. Even James Carville is willing to tell the truth.

  James Carville: “We keep wondering why these young people are not coming home to the Democrats. Why are blacks not coming home to the Democrats? Because Democrat messaging is full of shit, that’s why.”

  Democrats went from “It’s the economy, stupid!” to “You’re stupid if you… pic.twitter.com/9q2Rpipu7f

  — Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) May 25, 2024

  CNN’s second act of journalism in the course of two weeks was when Manu Raju ambushed Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and badgered him over his bribery case.

  New — Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, walked into my live shot so I asked him about his three associates pleading guilty in his bribery case and whether he would resign from Congress amid his federal indictment. pic.twitter.com/TFtApNdpsr

  — Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 15, 2024

  What’s going on here?

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 14:00

• Why Are They Drugging The Students?
  Why Are They Drugging The Students?

  Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The last few years have blown wide open a scandal that has long existed but is not that well known aside from specialists. The problem is the collaboration between pharmaceutical companies, government regulators, and the medical industry. The problem is so vast that it is hardly describable in a short article.

  

  It turns out that the ineffective COVID shots were just the beginning. As far as we know and have discovered in the course of investigations, the shot was developed quickly as a countermeasure to distract from the problem of a lab leak. The world’s population was held hostage for a year and more while the inoculation was rolled out. But once deployed, it became obvious that it could not actually block infection or stop the spread. So everyone got the bug anyway, and we are left with tremendous damage caused by the shots themselves.

  I described this short history to Dr. Drew Pinsky, the famed addiction doctor who now has a popular video podcast. He found no fault with my scenario as mapped above. He immediately added that this has many parallels with the opioid crisis that led him into public advocacy. The pharma companies advertised some miracle drugs to fix pain with no risk of addiction.

  The frenzy to prescribe was so intense that some doctors even feared penalties for not prescribing. The result of course was a disastrous addiction crisis that continues to this day. Unlike vaccine companies, the producers were not indemnified against payouts for harms, and as much as $50 billion ended up going to victims just last year. The numbers are mind-boggling.

  Just when you think you have reached the bottom of this problem, new information comes along. Last night I was privileged to attend a talk by Sheila Matthews-Gallo who founded AbleChild, an organization that advocates for child rights against forced medicalization. Why would such a thing be needed? As it turns out, many if not most kids in public schools today face this threat daily. They can be identified as having ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

  It turns out that there is nothing proven chemically to constitute ADHD. It is entirely a diagnosis applied based on behavior as identified throughout a checklist questionnaire. The checklist is about fidgeting, forgetting, boredom, finishing tasks, various acting up, expressions of frustrations, and so on. In other words, what we have here is a list of all the signs you might expect when boys in particular are told to sit perfectly still at a desk for months and years and complete tasks assigned to them by some authority figure.

  With this kind of diagnosis, you are likely to rope in a vast number of kids, particularly the exceptional ones and those once considered to be “gifted and talented.” As it turns out, there is a vast industry working today to pathologize perfectly normal behavioral traits. It hits boys in particular very hard because, in general, they mature more slowly than girls and tend toward behavioral resistance to environmental adaptivity relative to girls.

  For more on this amazing reality, see “The ADHD Fraud,” an eye-opening book.

  What could be the purpose of such a diagnosis? You guessed it: there are drugs for this supposed problem. They have various names: Ritalin (methylphenidate), Adderall (amphetamine), Dexmethylphenidate, Lisdexamfetamine, Clonidine, and Atomoxetine. Not even one of them has been proven to be a chemical fix for any biological abnormality. They are all behavioral-adjustment drugs; that is, psychotropic drugs; that is, narcotics for kids.

  Millions of kids take them, as many as 13 percent of teens. The rate grows higher in the college population. Some one in three adults are taking psychiatric meds. It’s getting worse. It starts in school.

  Listening to all of this, I found myself astounded. And yet, in some ways, it fits with everything else we know. We have an industry here that is in a tight working relationship with government institutions like public schools, plus regulators, plus medical authorities that are throwing drugs at people with the promise of miracles but with results that actually ruin lives.

  Think of how different your school years would have been if you had developed a drug addiction and lived off psychotropic meds from the age of 7. I was fortunately spared such a fate. But millions of kids today cannot say the same. It’s utterly astonishing. It strikes me that this is a scandal just waiting to be blown wide open.

  Among the related factors, as RFK, Jr. has been pointing out in public lately, is the odd relationship between school shootings and the wide distribution of these drugs. Many cases we know about already but the medical records of others are being withheld, even though the public is more and more understanding that the real problem is not guns but pharmacological products. And yet the activists themselves are entirely focused on taking away guns rather than looking more deeply.

  I have had personal experience with young adults who are addicted to Adderall. In many ways, when you are a college student, it seems like a miracle drug. In college, discipline over the use of time recedes into a low priority. Instead the demand is to turn in long papers on deadline, memorize vast material you can spit out on a test and forget the next day, and otherwise stay intensely focused sporadically. For many students, this drug is exactly what the doctor ordered: it permits hyper-focused all-nighters followed by a day or two of feeling like a zombie but no one notices.

  I’ve known many people who develop addictions, not only physical ones but psychological ones: life without the drug seems dull by comparison and who wants that? These students carry this over into professional life and attempt the same pattern. They can work all day and stay up all night and achieve something that seems mind-blowing but not quite what you asked for. You ask for fixes and they don’t happen. In fact, you don’t hear from them for days after until they reemerge with no memory of the work they did. This pattern repeats itself.

  I gradually came to learn that the real problem was the drugs. I concluded that I would rather have a moderately productive employee who at least had a steady pattern of labor and a mild recall of skills that could be built up over time. The issue is that when hiring someone, it’s not quite kosher to ask such questions as: what drugs do you take? You end up guessing, and sometimes guessing wrong.

  I’m telling you from long experience that these drugs are a catastrophe for professional life. No one should ever take them. That’s my considered opinion in any case, and I frequently warn college students against them. And what’s true for college kids is thousands of times more so for high school and grade school. It’s a complete scandal that these drugs are given out like candy to school kids. Parents have every right and obligation to resist.

  It’s all the more astonishing to learn, as I did last night, that there never was any science to the diagnosis of ADHD, any more than there was any science behind social distancing. It’s all made up to service the state and its adjacent players in the private sector who benefit from various mandates that somehow always end in drugging the population. The whole thing astounds me.

  Think about the bigger picture. We’ve created these public schools, force the kids to attend them, ban them from any remunerative work, shove boys and girls together, impose uniform curricula as if every student learns at the same pace, take away discretion from teachers, and saddle the institutions with massive bureaucracies. When the kids don’t take well to the environment, we call them mentally ill and drug them up in ways from which state-connected pharma companies can profit.

  This level of cruelty is really baked into the system. It’s a wonder any civilized society could ever accept it. And once you discover the fullness of the scandal about what’s going on, you have to start asking other questions about weight-loss drugs, other vaccines and miracle cures, and the entire machinery of allopathic medicine itself. Yes, the rabbit hole is very deep.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 13:25

• Sinaloa's Top Assassin Extradited To US For Flooding Nation With Fentanyl
  Sinaloa’s Top Assassin Extradited To US For Flooding Nation With Fentanyl

  The US Justice Department announced on Saturday the extradition of a top assassin for the Sinaloa drug cartel to the US who was recently arrested by Mexican authorities. The cartel has been responsible for flooding America with fentanyl via the Biden administration’s open southern borders, sparking the worst overdose drug crisis this nation has ever seen. 

  Illegals in Santa Teresa, New Mexico were just caught by Border Patrol agents trying to climb the fence using ladders.

  BP was attacked by illegals using random simple weapons like rocks and dirt.

  This is Biden’s border crisis and it’s getting worse.pic.twitter.com/qJP1qXLeMP

  — Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) May 23, 2024

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  Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” one of America’s most-wanted criminals, was extradited to the US for his role in “illicit fentanyl trafficking.” 

  

  Attorney General Merrick B. Garland released this statement: 

  “This morning, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as ‘El Nini,’ was extradited to the United States. We allege El Nini was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins, and was responsible for the murder, torture, and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking enterprise.

  “We also allege El Nini was a part of the Sinaloa Cartel’s production and sale of fentanyl, including in the United States. I am grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for their extraordinary efforts in apprehending and extraditing El Nini. 

  “With this enforcement action, El Nini joins the growing list of cartel leaders and associates indicted in, and extradited to, the United States. The Justice Department will continue to go after the cartels responsible for flooding our communities with fentanyl and other drugs.”

  The majority of Americans will never forget the disastrous open southern borders, flooding the nation with ten million unvetted illegal aliens and fentanyl, that has caused chaos and death from coast to coast. The US drug death catastrophe has now exceeded the entire Vietnam War every six months. Most of this is linked to fentanyl-laced narcotics pushed by Mexican cartels. 

  News from Baltimore this week, just north of the White House, shows the imploding metro area run by radical Democrats (half-century of Democratic control) has been crowned the overdose capital of America. 

  

  Remember, Nancy Pelosi got her political start in Baltimore – yet she’s too focused on trading stocks than actually caring about issues plaguing the working poor and black community. The very fact that federal, state, and local progressive lawmakers care very little about enforcing common sense law and order, not just at the southern border but in metro areas, has sparked monumental failures and led to surges in the drug death catastrophe nationwide. 

  Americans must demand accountability at the polls this November for the chaos radical leftists who pushed failed open southern borders, embraced Soros-backed DAs and mayors, and failed criminal and social justice reforms that have only ignited crime and chaos nationwide. 

  Don’t worry. Americans will never get accountability from the radical left because as they try to install a socialist hellhole, they will flee to their second, third, and or fourth homes on liberal elite islands, such as Martha’s Vineyard. 

  You know, if Trump wins in November – it’s game over for the cartels. It’s time to get serious – also, potentially hitting Mexican banks with sanctions. Follow the money. Why can’t the Biden team do that? 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 05/26/2024 – 12:50

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Treason Of The Intellectuals And Danger From Within
  Treason Of The Intellectuals And Danger From Within

  Authored by William Brooks via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  “The enemies from within are more dangerous to me than the enemies from the outside,” said Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump, at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 11, 2024.

  

  At a Springfield, Illinois, event, some 20 years before the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln delivered a prophetic message to his fellow citizens: “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

  The speech is said to be the origin of the popular quote wrongly attributed to Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

  While these were not Lincoln’s exact words, most Americans understand that the 16th and 45th presidents of the United States were troubled by the same thing—the potential self-destruction of their nation.

  History has demonstrated that internal discord can be as dangerous to a sovereign country as a foreign aggressor.

  A History of Betrayal

  In 2013, American author Diana West published “American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character.” Her book initiated an important debate about the modern history of the American Republic.

  Ms. West contended that Nov. 16, 1933, was the beginning of a long assault on the security of U.S. democracy. This was the date when Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to normalize relations with the murderous communist regime known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. FDR’s fateful decision opened America’s doors to an unprecedented invasion of Marxist militants, communist spies, and domestic fellow-travelers.

  In the decades that followed, progressive academics, journalists, novelists, artists, and entertainers all celebrated the socialist ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution. According to Ms. West, even American businessmen were “eager to buy their rope from Lenin.”

  Ms. West’s views about the influence of communist ideologues in American politics were ridiculed by some of the most notable literary figures in the United States and Canada.

  Other courageous scholars came to her defense.

  One was the late Vladimir Bukovsky, a Russian-born writer and human rights activist who spent 12 years in Soviet psychiatric hospitals, prisons, and labor camps during the Brezhnev era. Another was Pavel Stroilov, a Russian Christian exile who fled to the UK after his academic research put his life and liberty in jeopardy.

  Writing for Breitbart News in November 2013, Mr. Bukovsky and Mr. Stroilov insisted that Diana West’s book would make history. Both agreed that, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unraveling of the Warsaw Pact in 1989, the United States never really won the Cold War.

  Like Ms. West, they asserted that the conflict between the United States and the USSR was more than a military stand-off.

  “It was an ideological war waged by the totalitarian utopia of Socialism against our civilization; and on that level, the most optimistic view of it is that it still goes on. The Soviet Union is gone, but Russia is still governed by a junta of Gestapo officers; China is still governed by the Communist Party; and the Western world is governed by closet Marxists and Mensheviks, imposing on us yet another version of the same socialist utopia,” they wrote.

  Drawing on copious research and experience, Ms. West, Mr. Bukovsky, and Mr. Stroilov demonstrated that it was an elite American intelligentsia who surrendered the United States to the adversarial socialist culture. The U.S. establishment’s capitulation to the global left led to a complete occupation of U.S. institutions and the ultimate corruption of the free world.

  Few scholars have produced better explanations for the precipitous decline of Western democracy in the 21st century.

  Treason of the Intellectuals

  For more than 150 years after the signing of the U.S. Constitution, Americans regarded their nation as a beacon of liberty and a model for representative democracy.

  In the early decades of the 19th century, French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville expressed high praise for the United States, its citizens, and their civic institutions.

  After abolishing slavery, Abraham Lincoln identified the U.S. Republic as “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

  Americans developed civil institutions that were second to none. In 1964, the American Civil Rights Act extended the foundational promises of the United States to all of its citizens.

  Today’s woke left is destroying America’s legacy. While they claim to worry about “democracy,” they are really worried about losing their own power. They saw how actual democracy worked in 2016 and they don’t want any more of it.

  Ordinary American citizens are victims of what French philosopher Julien Benda once called “La Trahison des Clercs” (The Treason of the Intellectuals).

  Benda condemned early 20th-century European elites who were apologists for aggressive imperialism, military power, and racial discrimination. The elites who are betraying America today are proponents of aggressive globalism, technocratic power, and reverse racial discrimination.

  Both Benda and Ms. West asserted that free societies can be ruined by a leadership class that rejects objective reasoning and ignores the difference between truth and lies.

  From the New Deal to Bidenomics, Soviet show trials to corrupt courts, national sovereignty to open borders, education to indoctrination, free speech to censorship, honest elections to ballot harvesting, and freedom of religion to the suppression of faith, the survival of American democracy is more tenuous than ever.

  These are the “dangers from within” that Presidents Lincoln and Trump were speaking about.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 23:20

• How Much Of India's Wastewater Is Left Untreated?
  How Much Of India’s Wastewater Is Left Untreated?

  As is the case with rapid population growth and urbanization in many so-called developing nations, waste management becomes a problem not only in rural areas but also in densely populated cities.

  As Statista’s Florian Zandt details below, a textbook example of this growth outpacing infrastructural capacities is the situation in urban hotspots in India like Delhi, where a report by Euronews from May 2023 mentions neighborhoods with “open gutters […] filled with plastic and grey-colored water”. While the number of operational sewage treatment plants doubled between 2014 and 2020, the capacity for water treatment is still severely lacking.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  According to the latest annual report by the Central Pollution Control Board, India generated 72.4 billion liters of wastewater per day across all provinces, with Maharashtra (9.1 billion), Uttar Pradesh (8.3 billion), Tamil Nadu (6.4 billion) and Gujarat (5.0 billion) being responsible for around 40 percent of wastewater.

  The 1,093 sewage treatment plants only had operational capacities of 26.9 billion liters of wastewater per day, with around 400 plants either non-operational or under construction as of the latest available tally from 2020/2021. This translates to only 37 percent of sewage being treated, exacerbating the risks of communicable diseases and contaminated food and drinking water.

  While India is seemingly hard-pressed to keep up with the amount of wastewater its population generates, measures to grant more people access to potable water and basic sanitation and hygiene were scaled up significantly in recent decades. For example, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign, translatable to Clean India, initiated in 2014 aims to eliminate open defecation by installing upwards of 100 million toilets in the country.

  Nevertheless, in 2022, only 75 percent of rural Indian households had at least basic access to sanitation, while 30 percent of homes didn’t have their own washing facility with soap and water according to data from the WHO and Unicef’s Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 22:45

• Hidden Food Threat: Experts Warn Of Dangers Of RNAi Crops
  Hidden Food Threat: Experts Warn Of Dangers Of RNAi Crops

  Authored by Sayer Ji via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Imagine a technology that could genetically rewire organisms in real-time, silencing critical genes across entire ecosystems with unknown effects. Sounds like science fiction? It’s not. It’s the reality of a new class of pesticides harnessing RNA interference—or RNAi—and they’re already being deployed in our fields and food supply with minimal testing or oversight. According to organic producers and non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) advocates, the risks could be catastrophic.

  

  Environmental Organization Warns of RNAi Pesticide Dangers

  In 2020, a groundbreaking report from Friends of the Earth (FOE) rang the alarm on the dangers posed by gene-silencing RNAi pesticides. According to the non-governmental environmental organization report, these products can genetically modify organisms in the open environment, with risks of unintended effects on non-target species, human health, and the integrity of organic and non-GMO agriculture. Despite these threats, RNAi pesticides face little to no regulatory scrutiny in most countries, and some have already been approved for use.

  In June 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency green-lit the RNAi corn developed by Monsanto and Dow, now being marketed under the trade name SmartStax Pro.

  In a press release announcing the approval of SmartStax Pro, regulators praised the product for its value to the farmer and the low impact it has on the environment.

  “The ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) technology found in SmartStaxPro works through a process of gene control that occurs naturally in plants, animals, and humans alike. Scientists harnessed this control process to create the product, which works as a pesticide by silencing or turning off the activity of a gene critical to corn rootworm survival, resulting in the death of the corn rootworm. This product is so specific that it only affects the corn rootworm,” states the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press release.

  RNAi works by using small RNA molecules to interfere with and “silence” the activity of specific genes. While that may sound precise, the FOE report emphasizes that RNAi technology is prone to “off-target effects,” meaning it can unintentionally silence genes in non-target organisms. Since many genes are conserved across species, a pesticide designed for one insect could end up harming beneficial pollinators, soil microbes, or even humans. What’s more, the alteration caused by RNAi can sometimes be passed down to future generations, meaning that a single application could spark uncontrollable ripple effects.

  The Friends of the Earth report dubs RNAi pesticides “a vast, open-air genetic experiment,” with entire ecosystems at risk. Because they’re sprayed directly into the environment, controlling exposure is nearly impossible. Any organism that takes up the interfering RNAs could have its genome tinkered with. Some evidence suggests that ingesting RNAs from our diet may even influence human gene expression.

  There’s also a risk that RNAi sprays could alter the genetic makeup of the very crops they’re meant to protect, changing nutritional content or toxicity in unpredictable ways.

  Could RNAi Pesticides Impact Human Genes?

  What’s particularly concerning is that the off-target effects of RNAi pesticides may extend beyond the farm and into the bodies of consumers. A 2008 study funded by Monsanto revealed that numerous small RNAs from corn, soybeans, and rice had perfect sequence complementarity to human genes. While Monsanto pointed to this finding as evidence of safety, the reality is far more complex and troubling.

  As the study showed, there are numerous plant RNAs with sequences identical to human genes. If these dietary RNAs are indeed able to influence human gene expression, as mounting evidence suggests, then the genetic rewiring of our food crops with novel RNAi molecules could have far-reaching and entirely unpredictable effects on our health.

  A 2012 study published in Cell Research demonstrated that a specific plant microRNA from ingested rice could be detected in human blood and tissues. When the same plant microRNA was fed to mice, it appeared to modulate the expression of a receptor involved in removing LDL cholesterol. If a natural plant RNA can have such a significant biological effect, what might be the consequences of engineered RNAi molecules?

  Many genes are not consistently expressed, and their activity can vary based on environmental conditions. This adds yet another layer of complexity and unpredictability when it comes to assessing the risks of RNAi crops.

  Furthermore, the human gut is home to a diverse community of microbes that play a vital role in our health and immune function. Preliminary research suggests that some of these bacteria may be capable of taking up dietary RNAs and incorporating them in such a way as to affect their gene regulation. The effects of RNAi crops on the human microbiome are unknown but could be significant given the importance of gut flora in everything from nutrient absorption to mental health.

  Taking Advantage of Loose Regulations

  In the United States, the EPA’s regulatory framework for genetically engineered crops was established in 1986 and has only been updated once in the last 30 years.

  This old standard is being used to evaluate a whole new kind of pesticide. SmartStaxPro, the RNAi corn developed by Monsanto and Dow, produces a double-stranded RNA that disrupts a critical gene in a major agricultural pest, the western corn rootworm, causing its death. In 2023, the EPA registered an RNAi pesticide that targets the Colorado potato beetle.

  According to the FOE report, the companies crafting RNAi pesticides are also filing broad patents that would grant them ownership rights over any organism exposed to their products. This could mean that if a farmer’s crops are unintentionally contaminated by drifting RNAi sprays, the company could lay claim to their harvest.

  At the international level, RNAi is barely on the regulatory radar. Technically, RNAi products fall under the “living modified organisms” category defined in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. According to one assessment published in the Annual Review of Plant Biology, “the European GMO regulatory framework is inadequate and needs to be updated.”

  For organic and non-GMO advocates, this regulatory vacuum is a recipe for disaster. Without robust safety testing and labeling requirements, RNAi crops could soon infiltrate food supplies worldwide, turning consumers into unwitting test subjects in a massive uncontrolled experiment. Organic farmers may find their crops and local ecosystems irreversibly contaminated by drifting RNAi molecules.

  Can We Prevent an Agricultural Disaster?

  Despite these concerns, many consumers may already be eating this genetically altered corn. There is significant adoption of these advanced corn traits, particularly in regions where corn rootworms are prevalent. Based on recent information from Bayer, their SmartStax and SmartStax PRO traits are utilized in about 15 million acres across the United States—nearly 17 percent of the ninety million acres dedicated to corn growing in the United States.

  An email was sent to Bayer Crop Sciences requesting comment on the FOE report and the threat of off target consequences related to their RNAi pesticides.  No response was returned.

  Although advocates for RNAi pesticides promote it as a precise means for targeting a single pest, it’s clear the technology isn’t merely a tweak to existing agricultural practices—it represents a watershed moment in the industrialization of our food supply.

  A review of RNAi transgenic plant technology from the Bioscience Resource Project,  notes several off-target effects the technology has demonstrated. The report suggests that this technology could lead to “distinct toxicological and environmental hazards.”

  ”… while RNAi holds great promise for agricultural applications, the potential for OTEs within the plant, in non-target organisms, and in mammals consuming the plant material warrants careful assessment and risk mitigation strategies,” state authors Jonathan R. Latham and Allison K. Wilson.

  To mitigate these risks, researchers propose several preconditions for regulatory approval of RNAi transgenes, such as avoiding perfectly duplexed sequences, minimizing complementarity with known human and host sequences, ensuring minimal transgene expression levels, and using short RNAi-triggering sequences and naturally occurring miRNA (microRNA) promoters.

  Until these off-target effects can be identified and eliminated, the report calls for “a precautionary approach” to furthering the technology and asks regulators to consider the possible hazards the development of RNAi-based genetically modified crops may cause.

  With regulations as they now stand, biotech firms are granted the power to deliberately manipulate gene expression across entire species and ecosystems. Although the technology may be billed as a high-tech solution to move away from toxic pesticides, it is introducing a wide range of potential unintended adverse effects.

  Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 22:10

• These Are The World's Wettest (And Driest) Countries
  These Are The World’s Wettest (And Driest) Countries

  From tropical rainforest nations to the sandy deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, the world’s wettest and driest countries are a study in contrasts.

  In the chart below, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao maps and ranks the countries that receive the highest and lowest average annual precipitation in millimeters, per latest data from the World Bank.

  

  Ranked: Top 10 Wettest Countries

  Colombia tops the list of nations with the highest average precipitation at 3,240 millimeters (128 inches) in a year.

  Its Tutunendo district is the one of the world’s wettest places, averaging nearly 12,000 mm (463 inches) of rain annually.

  

  Note: Figures are rounded.

  Off the coast of Africa however, Sao Tome & Principe is not far behind Colombia, receiving about 3,200 mm of rain in 2020.

  Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands also average more than 3,000 mm of rain in a year, and Panama (2,928 mm) rounds out the top five.

  Noticeably, all 10 countries lie in close proximity to the equator, and near oceans, where rising hot and humid air leads to abundant rainfall.

  Ranked: Top 10 Driest Countries

  On the other end of the scale, Egypt records the lowest average annual rainfall across all countries, at 18 mm (0.7 inches). For comparison, Colombia receives nearly 180x the amount of rain Egypt does.

  

  Note: Figures are rounded.

  In fact, countries from North Africa and the Middle East make up the entirety of this list of the driest countries in the world.

  If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Mapping the Unequal Distribution of Global Precipitation which divides the world into two halves: one that receives more than global average of rain (or snow), and one that receives less.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 21:35

• Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Allowing Arizona Doctors To Provide Abortions In California
  Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Allowing Arizona Doctors To Provide Abortions In California

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on May 23, allowing Arizona doctors to travel to the Golden State on a temporary basis to perform abortions for their patients.

  

  Senate Bill 233, introduced by state Sen. Nancy Skinner of Oakland and Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of Winters, allows licensed Arizona abortion providers to come to California and provide abortions or abortion-related care to patients from Arizona who travel to the state for such procedures until near the end of this year.

  The measure states that licensed Arizona doctors in good standing simply need to fill out an application form with the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to perform abortions. Provided they meet certain requirements, their approval will be granted within five business days.

  Arizona licensed doctors who chose to come to the state temporarily will only be able to do so until Nov. 30, when California officials expect Arizona voters to approve an abortion measure on their state ballot.

  The measure, which is being implemented in partnership with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, contains an urgency clause and takes effect immediately.

  It also notes that physicians are prohibited from providing care or consultation for other purposes or to other patients, except under the circumstances outlined in the legislation. Arizona doctors must also provide an array of information to the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, including their Arizona and temporary California addresses, as well as an affidavit attesting that they meet all requirements, according to the legislation.

  Providing false information in that affidavit is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, one year in prison, or both, the bill states.

  Arizona Supreme Court Ruling

  Senate Bill 233 was introduced in response to Arizona’s Supreme Court’s April 9 ruling which Mr. Newsom said reimposed a “regressive 1864 law imposing a near-total abortion ban” that threatens to “almost completely curtail access to abortion care in Arizona.”

  The state Supreme Court last month upheld the 1864 ban on nearly all abortions in the state, except in cases where it will save the life of the mother, following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which brought the issue back into the spotlight.

  Under the Civil War-era law, anyone who performs an abortion or helps a woman access abortion services in Arizona risks a felony charge and between two to five years in prison. Exceptions for rape or incest are not allowed.

  While the Arizona Legislature has since passed a bill repealing that ban, which Governor Katie Hobbs signed in early May, the ban will remain in effect until 90 days after the Arizona state Legislature’s session ends, which typically happens in June or July.

  Currently, Arizona law allows abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.

  Senate Bill 233—which passed in California’s state Senate on May 21 after previously passing the state Assembly—has been described by Mr. Newsom as a “critical stopgap” for Arizona patients and providers while enforcement of the 1864 bill remains uncertain.

  In a statement on May 23, the Democrat praised the legislation while touting his efforts to “defend and advance” reproductive rights and women’s health care.

  

  ‘Oppressive, Dangerous Attacks on Women’

  “Arizona Republicans tried to turn back the clock to 1864 to impose a near-total abortion ban across their state,” the governor said in a statement. “We refuse to stand by and acquiesce to their oppressive and dangerous attacks on women,” he continued.

  “I’m grateful for the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and all our partners for moving quickly to provide this backstop. California stands ready to protect reproductive freedom.”

  The legislation was also welcomed by pro-abortion advocates, including Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California’s president & CEO Jodi Hicks.

  “As we continue to navigate a chaotic national abortion landscape, we appreciate Governor Newsom and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus for their continued commitment to advocating for additional tools that support abortion providers’ ability to serve patients,” Ms. Hicks said.

  “Together, we will continue to work to ensure that all who are forced to leave their home state to access abortion care can get the services they need and deserve in California,” she added.

  However, Republican lawmakers and pro-life advocates have criticized Mr. Newsom, accusing him of taking California’s “abortion sanctuary” status to a “new level.”

  In a statement published earlier this month before the measure was signed into law, Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, a Christian nonprofit group focused on life and family values, said it is a “disgrace that California legislators continue to find ways to promote the killing of innocent pre-born babies at every turn.”

  “Instead of deceptively treating pregnancy as a disease requiring abortion ’treatment,’ our state representatives should be seeking to create a culture where vulnerable women facing unplanned pregnancies feel supported and encouraged to give birth,” he added.

  The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 21:00

• 24 GOP Governors Tell Biden Not To Sign WHO Pandemic Agreement
  24 GOP Governors Tell Biden Not To Sign WHO Pandemic Agreement

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Governors from 24 states have joined together to speak out against treaty negotiations being conducted by the Biden administration, which “would purport to grant” the World Health Organisation (WHO) “unprecedented and unconstitutional powers over the United States and its people.”

  

  In a March 22 letter, the governors stated that they “stand united in opposition to two proposed instruments” currently under negotiation.

  “The objective of these instruments is to empower the WHO, particularly its uncontrollable Director-General, with the authority to restrict the rights of U.S. citizens, including freedoms such as speech, privacy, travel, choice of medical care, and informed consent, thus violating our Constitution’s core principles,” the governors wrote. “If adopted, these agreements would seek to elevate the WHO from an advisory body to a global authority in public health.”

  The documents they refer to are a new treaty called the WHO pandemic agreement and amendments to the existing International Health Regulations (IHRs), which together would centralize a significant amount of authority within this United Nations subsidiary if the WHO declares a state of “health emergency.”

  Governors from the following states signed the letter: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

  As the negotiations among member nations move into their final phase before the start of the voting session at the World Health Assembly, scheduled to begin on May 27, the WHO appears to have scaled back some of the powers it had sought in hopes of finalizing a deal.

  The latest IHR draft has deleted a prior provision that member nations “recognize WHO as the guiding and coordinating authority of international public health response” and commit to following the WHO’s directives during a health emergency. The latest draft also states that WHO recommendations are non-binding.

  The WHO had attempted in previous drafts to obtain powers over “all risks with the potential to impact public health,” which could include environmental and climate issues. The latest draft seeks to limit the WHO’s authority to diseases.

  The WHO has simultaneously launched a public relations campaign, using politicians, celebrities, and religious leaders, to encourage member states to sign the agreements. 

  On March 20, WHO ambassador and Britain’s former Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised the efforts of a “100+ pantheon of global leaders” that have come to the WHO’s defense. 

  “A high-powered intervention by 23 former national Presidents, 22 former Prime Ministers, a former UN General Secretary, and 3 Nobel Laureates is being made today to press for an urgent agreement from international negotiators on a Pandemic Accord, under the Constitution of the World Health Organization, to bolster the world’s collective preparedness and response to future pandemics,” Mr. Brown stated in a press release.

  He called for an international effort to “expose fake news disinformation campaigns by conspiracy theorists trying to torpedo international agreement for the Pandemic Accord.”

  “No country will cede any sovereignty, and no country will see their national laws set aside,” he declared.

  The issue of whether or not to grant the WHO additional powers has become a partisan issue, with Democrats generally supporting the plan and Republicans generally opposing it.

  GOP Senators Demand Right to Approve Treaty

  On May 1, all 49 GOP senators signed a letter to President Biden urging him either not to sign the WHO Pandemic Agreement and IHR amendments or, if he does, to submit the treaty to the Senate for approval, as required by the Constitution. Senate Democrats have thus far not supported efforts to require Senate approval for the treaty.

  “The WHO’s failure during the COVID-19 pandemic was as total as it was predictable and did lasting harm to our country,” the Republican senators wrote.

  “The United States cannot afford to ignore this latest WHO inability to perform its most basic functions and must insist on comprehensive WHO reforms before even considering amendments to the International Health Regulations or any new pandemic related treaty that would increase WHO authority,” they continued. “We are deeply concerned that your administration continues to support these initiatives and strongly urge you to change course.”

  In the United States, the authority to deal with health issues is largely in the domain of states and outside the grasp of the federal government. States with Republican majorities have been active in opposing the WHO agreements.

  Louisiana and Florida recently passed laws stating that state officials will not obey WHO directives, and other states, such as Oklahoma, are considering similar legislation.

  Attorneys general from 22 U.S. states also signed a May 8 letter to President Biden urging him not to sign the WHO agreements and stating that they will resist any attempts by the WHO to set public health policy in their states.

  “Although the latest iteration is far better than previous versions, it’s still highly problematic,” the attorneys general wrote. “The fluid and opaque nature of these proceedings, moreover, could allow the most egregious provisions from past versions to return. Ultimately, the goal of these instruments isn’t to protect public health,” they stated.

  “It’s to cede authority to the WHO—specifically its director-general—to restrict our citizens’ rights to freedom of speech, privacy, movement (especially travel across borders), and informed consent.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 19:50

• Hypocrite Dems Demanding Alito Recusal Played Dumb Over Virulent Anti-Trumper Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  Hypocrite Dems Demanding Alito Recusal Played Dumb Over Virulent Anti-Trumper Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Senate Democrats have found their latest tantrum to attack the Supreme Court since its conservative majority – the fact that Justice Samuel Alito reportedly flew two flags outside his homes they say makes him unfit to weigh in on matters concerning Donald Trump.

  

  In mid-January 2021, Alito flew an upside down American flag – historically used by the military as a distress signal, while in July and September of 2023, he displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag – commissioned by George Washington in 1775 for maritime use – outside his New Jersey vacation home.

  The flags have caused uproar among Democrats, who have been scheming for years to dilute the conservative power of the Supreme Court (see: court packing). In a Friday letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Democrat Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and subcommittee head Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse urged Roberts to take steps to ensure Alito recuses himself from cases related to the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6 attack. The Court currently has two such cases pending before it – one concerning federal prosecutors’ use of an obstruction charge against Jan. 6 defendants, and another which addresses whether Donald Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal charges stemming from his actions following the 2020 election.

  Now, the New York Times and Obama’s law professor Lawrence Tribe are engaging in what people are referring to as “High-brow QAnon” conspiracy theories (aka ‘BlueAnon);

  High-brow QAnon pic.twitter.com/D5SziiqnsX

  — Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 25, 2024

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  Absolute hypocrisy (what else?)

  In 2016, Democrats were absolutely silent over Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s notorious and public hatred of Donald Trump – comments she later apologized over, calling them “ill-advised.“

  

  “I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president,” she told the NY Times during the election, adding “For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.”

  She also called Trump a “faker” and criticized him for not releasing his tax returns.

  “‘Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand,’” she joked.

  Who cares, right? But Democrats playing in the sandbox want to throw sand over Alito.

  When Sheldon Whitehouse, the guy currently demanding Alito’s recusal, was asked by The Dispatch about Ginsburg’s public comments opposing Trump during the 2016 campaign, he said “I don’t know what cases she was ruling on at that point. They [Republicans] weren’t asking for [recusal.].

  In 2016, Justice Ginsburg—not her spouse—weighed in against Trump’s election, suggested fleeing the country, and made comments about his tax returns.

  Why did Senate Democrats not call for her recusal in any Trump case—including one about his taxes? https://t.co/4b3syltgwV pic.twitter.com/AMg9HpftuG

  — John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) May 25, 2024

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  Ginsburg notoriously weighed in on several cases involving Trump’s policies, including the travel ban (Trump v. Hawaii), Trump’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census (which was denied), and DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), though the major Court decision involving the case came after her 2020 death.

  Wikipedia propagandists are hard at work

  Meanwhile (and there’s always a meanwhile), WikiPedia’s entry on the Appeal to Heaven (aka ‘Pine Tree’) flag has radically changed over the past several days.

  

  On Wednesday, it was referred to as ‘a religious and political symbol by some conservative, nationalist, and Christian national activists’ in the US. Now, the entry reads:

  “The flag fell into obscurity until the 2020s, where it became seen as a symbol of Christian nationalism and support for President Donald Trump and his “Stop the Steal” campaign among far-right groups.

  Wikipedia edits on the Pine Tree Flag page are fascinating.

  On Wednesday, it was just a normal flag.

  On Friday, it’s a now a symbol of Christian nationalism and right-wing extremism.

  And the Popular Culture section on the HBO miniseries has been completely removed. pic.twitter.com/vIadtsCiyZ

  — Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) May 24, 2024

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  I screen capped this on Wednesday. Absolutely extraordinary! pic.twitter.com/sFfQ2NLJtD

  — Just Curious (@shelley_curious) May 24, 2024

  Oh…

  lest you think this was just 2019, the Appeal To Heaven flag was flying outside San Francisco City Hall in 2023 as well — the same time frame as at Alito’s beach house

  Dastardly insurrectionists everywhere pic.twitter.com/x7oNSx2hct

  — Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) May 25, 2024

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  The flag draws its meaning from a John Locke quote: “And where the Body of the People, or any single Man, is deprived of their Right, or is under the Exercise of a power without right, and have no Appeal on Earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven, whenever they judge the Cause of sufficient moment,” -The Second Treatise on Civil Government (1689).

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  AOC Demands To Know Where Alito Bought An Upside-Down U.S. Flag https://t.co/HXtHCc4yvp pic.twitter.com/BQtmF90mbk

  — The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 23, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 19:15

• US Weapons Accuracy Drops To 10% In Ukraine Due To Jamming
  US Weapons Accuracy Drops To 10% In Ukraine Due To Jamming

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Many high-tech US weapons systems in Ukraine are now useless due to jamming signals by Russia.

  

  Useless Weapons

  Please consider Russian Jamming Leaves Some High-Tech U.S. Weapons Ineffective in Ukraine

  Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons, including Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which can fire some U.S.-made rockets with a range of up to 50 miles, has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers.

  The success rate for the U.S.-designed Excalibur shells, for example, fell sharply over a period of months — to less than 10 percent hitting their targets — before Ukraine’s military abandoned them last year, according to the confidential Ukrainian assessments.

  Six months ago, after Ukrainians reported the problem, Washington simply stopped providing Excalibur shells because of the high failure rate, the Ukrainian officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter. In other cases, such as aircraft-dropped bombs called JDAMs, the manufacturer provided a patch and Ukraine continues to use them.

  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created a modern testing ground for Western arms that had never been used against a foe with Moscow’s ability to jam GPS navigation.

  But even before the United States ceased deliveries, Ukrainian artillerymen had largely stopped using Excalibur, the assessments said, because the shells are harder to use compared with standard howitzer rounds, requiring time-consuming special calculations and programming. Now they are shunned altogether, military personnel in the field said.

  Dense web of jamming
  A web of Russian electronic warfare systems and air defenses menace Ukrainian pilots, the documents said, adding that some Russian jammers also scramble the navigation system of planes. The Russian defense is so dense, the assessment found, that there are “no open windows for the Ukrainian pilots where they feel that they are not at gunpoint.”

  HIMARS launchers were celebrated during the first year of Russia’s invasion for their success in striking ammunition depots and command points behind enemy lines.

  But by the second year, “everything ended: the Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective,” a second senior Ukrainian military official said. “This ineffectiveness led to the point where a very expensive shell was used” increasingly to strike lower-priority targets.

  Another US Precision-Guided weapon Fails

  Defense One reports Another US Precision-Guided Weapon Falls Prey to Russian Electronic Warfare

  A new ground-launched version of an air-to-ground weapon developed for Ukraine on a rapid timeline failed to hit targets in part because of Russian electro-magnetic warfare, Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, said at an event held by think tank CSIS.

  LaPlante suggested that Ukraine may no longer be interested in the weapon. “When you send something to people in the fight of their lives that just doesn’t work, they’ll try it three times and they’ll just throw it aside,” said LaPlante.

  The weapon LaPlante is referring to is very likely the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) based on his description, according to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

  A Boeing spokesperson did not confirm that LaPlante was referring to GLSDB, but said the company is “working closely with the [Defense Department] on spiral capability improvements to the ground-launch SDB system.” Spiral capability improvements refers to an iterative software development process.

  The GLDSB boasts a range of 90 miles—double the range of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMRLS) missiles Ukraine previously used to wreak havoc on Russia’s logistic centers. Funding for the weapon was approved in February 2023, and Ukraine was reportedly using the weapon by February 2024.

  GPS spoofers work by sending false location data to GPS navigation devices. Because GPS signals are weak, a stronger, false signal can be sent to override the correct inputs. Russia has used GPS spoofing in Ukraine since at least 2018. But advancements in technology mean spoofers can be created cheaply with just a software-defined radio and open-source software.

  The weapons the spoofers are working against, meanwhile, are anything but cheap. A GMLRS missile costs around $160,000, while an Excalibur round can cost as much as $100,000. The GLDSB costs around $40,000.

  Tactical Nuclear Weapons

  Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson on Sullivan’s words about Russia’s plans to use nuclear weapons:

  “His statement sounds like he had a meeting with Zelensky, where he was given some of Zelensky’s cocaine. Russia will not use nuclear weapons unless there is a real threat. If the… pic.twitter.com/aLY8XGBK2V

  — S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) April 9, 2024

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  Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson on Sullivan’s words about Russia’s plans to use nuclear weapons: “His statement sounds like he had a meeting with Zelensky, where he was given some of Zelensky’s cocaine. Russia will not use nuclear weapons unless there is a real threat. If the US deploys F-16s in Poland, then Russia will destroy them “with conventional weapons, because they do pose a nuclear threat. The Taurus missiles are the same situation. If they are deployed, then you know – Russia has admitted that they can be used to launch a nuclear strike.”

  Use Nukes First

  Idiots like @GeromanAt are itching for a nuclear war, proposing first use of “tactical” nukes in Ukraine. https://t.co/6PuP5XFy27

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) May 24, 2024

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  Would You Mind Not Shooting at the Thermonuclear Weapons?

  “The neocons seem bent on testing Russia’s resolve and the MAD doctrine itself. They may view Russia as a rump state, but Russia does not so view itself…Russia has six thousand nuclear warheads.” – Dan Oliverhttps://t.co/wcgIGEnK2V pic.twitter.com/3Fbjqtx1xZ

  — Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) March 12, 2022

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  Get Russia to Strike First

  “Thirteen days before Pearl Harbor, secretary of war Henry Stimson recorded in his diary a meeting with Roosevelt: “The question was how we should maneuver them into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.””https://t.co/wcgIGEnK2V pic.twitter.com/92gpWSwE3E

  — Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) March 12, 2022

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  Using Nukes First Is a Risk/Reward Setup

  The risk/reward of not believing Russia couldn’t kill tens of millions of us seems insufficient.

  — Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) March 15, 2022

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  Is Nuclear War Bullish?

  Nuclear War is very bullish isn’t It? https://t.co/iWfSESoVQ9

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) May 24, 2024

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

  What’s the Real Background Story Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?

  On February 24, 2022 I asked, and answered the question What’s the Real Background Story Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?

  What Happened in Ukraine?

  The mess today in Ukraine has its roots in the 2014 when democratically elected Ukrainian President Yanukovych was toppled in a US-backed coup. 

  Q: Why did the US want to get rid of Yanukovych? 

  A: Because he was against Ukraine joining NATO.

  The current comedian president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, repeated two days ago his desire to join NATO.

  I use the term comedian because he literally is a comedian who ran for office and won.

  McCain dined with Svoboda Party leader Oleg Tyagnibok. The Svoboda Party is a group of neo-Nazis. 

  The citizens of Ukraine were used as pawns in yet another US mission that backfired. 

  Well who cares about Neo-Nazis as long as they want Ukraine in NATO.

  And that’s the rest of the story US media will not discuss. 

  This no way absolves Putin, but US meddling backfires again, and again, and again.

  Sometimes the Best Thing to Do Is Nothing At All

  Please consider Sometimes the Best Thing to Do Is Nothing At All

  After pointing out how much US and EU sanctions have backfired, someone asked me what I would do.

  I responded, why do I have to do anything? 

  The urge to do something should not be so intense that it overpowers analysis as to whether any actions can possibly work.

  President Biden on Putin

  On March 26, President Biden proclaimed “For God’s Sake, this Man Cannot Remain in Power”

  The Wall Street Journal and perpetual warmongers agreed. But Biden’s staff quickly backtracked on his controversial statement.

  On March 29 I pointed out all the loopholes in  sanctions on Russia, For discussion, please see Misguided Souls Still Do Not Understand This Simple Truth: Sanctions Don’t Work

  I wrote that on April 8, 2022.

  Also in 2022, I said the war would end in a negotiated settlement and nobody would win.

  What did I get wrong?

  It’s Time for a New Strategy

  On March 16, I wrote Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy

  The sad thing is US meddling precipitated this whole sorry affair.

  It’s time for a new strategy and a goal: Negotiated settlement.

  If we supply Ukraine with anything, we should only do so if it aids that goal. For now, we still have no goals.

  What’s the Goal?

  On November 7, 2023, I asked If the US Has a Goal in Ukraine or Israel, What the Hell Is It?

  We still don’t have a clearly defined goal or a clearly defined amount of money we are willing to spend.

  Any Questions?

  I have one:

  Given US meddling in Ukraine precipitated this war, are we obliged to start a nuclear war to stop it, or is the lesson to just stop meddling?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 18:40

• Special Counsel Requests (Another) Gag Order For Trump In Classified Docs Case
  Special Counsel Requests (Another) Gag Order For Trump In Classified Docs Case

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times,

  Special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors asked the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Friday to issue a gag order following remarks he made about the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate.

  

  In a filing on Friday, prosecutors asked Judge Aileen Cannon to modify the conditions of President Trump’s release from jail before trial to prevent him from making statements that may pose a “significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger” to the FBI agents involved in the planning and execution of the search and seizure of presidential documents stored at his Florida estate.

  “Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents—falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him—and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment,” the filing states.

  Earlier this month, an operations plan for the Mar-a-Lago raid was produced through discovery. The plan stated that FBI agents would be prepared to “engage with” President Trump and his Secret Service agents should he arrive at the estate during the raid.

  The use of deadly force was included in a statement on the document, which quoted standard government policy that noted deadly force may be used “only when necessary” in such cases when the subject of the force “poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”

  President Trump’s lawyers stated that there was no justification for the FBI to bring guns into Mar-a-Lago.

  Prosecutors say President Trump “distorted the standard inclusion of the policy” when he made statements that the FBI “WAS AUTHORIZED to SHOOT ME.”

  Additionally, the former president’s 2024 presidential campaign issued an alert stating that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was “locked and loaded” and “ready to take me out” because the FBI was authorized to “use deadly force” during the raid.

  Prosecutors say in their Friday filing that the law enforcement agents participating in the raid acted in an “appropriate and professional manner, subject to the Department of Justice’s standard use-of-force policy.”

  “Trump‘s repeated mischaracterization as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” the filing states. ”Those deceptive and inflammatory assertions irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this case, as Trump well knows.”

  Prosecutors noted that “an armed attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, was carried out by one of his supporters in the wake of Trump’s Truth Social statements inflaming his supporters regarding the search of Mar-a-Lago.”

  The Epoch Times contacted President Trump’s attorneys for comment.

  President Trump’s lawyers objected to the prosecution’s motion and timing of their request on the Memorial holiday weekend, according to prosecutors.

  “They do not believe that there is any imminent danger, and asked to meet and confer next Monday,” the filing states.

  However, prosecutors pointed to President Trump’s Truth Social account evidence not to wait until Monday, highlighting a statement by a third party that he shared. Prosecutors say, “Trump has continued to issue false statements, smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search.”

  The reshared post included the statement “claiming that the FBI was authorized to use ‘Lethal Force’ on Trump or anyone at MAL– WHILE the FBI/DOJ plants evidence to frame Trump!!!”, according to the filing.

  The request for a gag order is the first in President Trump’s classified documents case.

  

  An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 15, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

  On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to claims about FBI agents being authorized to use deadly force.

  Mr. Garland disputed the former president’s claims, saying that the document President Trump referred to “is the Justice Department’s standard policy.”

  “And in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President [Joe] Biden’s home,” he added.

  Earlier this week, the FBI told The Epoch Times that its agents had “followed standard protocol” in the Mar-a-Lago search “as we do for all search warrants.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 18:05

• Republicans Are Winning The Voter Registration Battle In Battleground States
  Republicans Are Winning The Voter Registration Battle In Battleground States

  Authored by Austin Alonzo via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Republicans are closing the gap on voter registrations in key swing states. Political observers say it could be a sign the party will perform well in November.

  

  The gap between registered voters in the Democratic Party and Republican Party shrank significantly in Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina, according to voter registration statistics collected in April. 

  Taking the combined voter totals in the three states, Republicans have eroded the Democratic registration advantage by more than 54 percent between 2019 and 2024.

  In Arizona, a fourth critical state, Republicans extended their lead in registered voters by more than 71 percent during the same period.

  The four states are among the most prized possessions in presidential politics. Collectively, they represent 52 electoral votes. In 2020, Joe Biden carried all except North Carolina. In 2016, Donald Trump took everything but Nevada.

  The registration trends don’t necessarily mean Republicans will sweep the states, but they’re a sign that the GOP will be able to more easily target and turn out its voters in those states than it did in 2020.

  “On balance, you’d certainly rather have more registrations in your direction than the other direction,” Daniel Hopkins, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, told The Epoch Times.

  The largest numerical shift occurred in the Keystone State where the Democrat lead has shrunk by some 400,000 votes since May 2019.

  In May 2019, more than 4 million were registered as Democrats, and about 3.2 million were registered Republicans, according to voter registration data collected by the Pennsylvania Department of State.

  By the end of April, almost 3.9 million Pennsylvanians were registered as Democrats, while nearly 3.5 million were registered as Republicans. 

  During the same period, the total number of registered voters increased to more than 8.7 million from nearly 8.5 million. The electorate registered with the Libertarian Party or “other parties,” as the state identifies them, remained relatively stable at 1.2 million during the same period.

  Along with the rematch between President Biden and former President Trump, Pennsylvania voters will consider a Senate race crucial to the balance of power in Washington. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) will square off against Republican businessman Dave McCormick.

  

  Mr. Hopkins said the seismic change in voter registration could be linked to a growing number of what he called “ancestral Democrats” in rural Pennsylvania either falling off the rolls or registering with another party. These moderate voters are just as likely to vote Democratic as Republican, he predicts.

  Nevertheless, Mr. Hopkins said the statistics indicate the state’s voters are moving toward the right and there is more parity in the electorate than in previous cycles. This aligns with the Republican Party’s growing appeal with white, high-school-educated voters, he said.

  Pennsylvania GOP chairman Lawrence Tabas said erasing the voter registration deficit is a “top priority” in the state.

  Mr. Tabas said volunteers are knocking on doors and making phone calls in efforts to register more Republican voters.

  “So far this year, all 67 counties have registered more Republican voters than any other party,” Mr. Tabas said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times. 

  “These numbers, coupled with our mail-in ballot increases, are sure to help set up Republican victories in all regions of the Commonwealth this November.”

  Representatives of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

  North Carolina

  The biggest percentage change occurred in the Tarheel State and the most significant statistic is that unaffiliated voters now exceed those of either major party.

  The unaffiliated electorate grew to about 2.7 million members from about 2.2 million between April 2019 and April 2024, while the overall registered voter tally increased to 7.4 million from 6.8 million.

  In the same time period, the number of registered Republicans rose to about 2.2 million from about 2 million and the number of registered Democrats fell from about 2.5 million to 2.4 million, according to statistics collected by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

  Overall, the gap between party registrations diminished 62 percent between that five-year period.

  “Growth in … unaffiliated registration could be seen as dissatisfaction with the major parties or a preference against that identification,” said Jon Green, an assistant professor of political science at Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

  “That certainly reflects a low enthusiasm, but may or may not reflect a change in behavior.”

  Ultimately, the unaffiliated vote will decide the statewide races, he told The Epoch Times.

  North Carolinians will pick a new governor in the fall. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who was first elected in 2016, isn’t seeking a third term in office. Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican, is running against North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 17:30

• What History Reveals About Interest Rate Cuts
  What History Reveals About Interest Rate Cuts

  The Federal Reserve has overseen seven cycles of interest rate cuts, averaging 26 months and 6.35 percentage points (ppts) each.

  Visual Capitalist partnered with New York Life Investments to examine the impact of interest rate cut cycles on the economy and on the performance of financial assets in the U.S. to help keep investors informed. 

  
  

  A Brief History of Interest Rate Cuts

  Interest rates are a powerful tool that the central bank can use to spur economic activity. 

  Typically, when the economy experiences a slowdown or a recession, the Federal Reserve will respond by cutting interest rates. As a result, each of the previous seven rate cut cycles—shown in the table below—occurred during or around U.S. recessions, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

  

  Understanding past economic and financial impacts of interest rate cuts can help investors prepare for future monetary policy changes.

  The Economic Response: Inflation

  During past cycles, data from the Federal Reserve, shows that, on average, the inflation rate continued to decline throughout (-3.4 percentage points), largely due to the lagged effects of a slower economy that normally precedes interest rate declines.

  

  However, inflation played catch-up and rose by +1.9 percentage points one year after the final rate cut. With lower interest rates, consumers were incentivized to spend more and save less, which led to an uptick in the price of goods and services in six of the past seven cycles. 

  The Economic Response: Real Consumer Spending Growth

  Real consumer spending growth, as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, typically reacted to rate cuts more quickly. 

  On average, consumption growth rose slightly during the rate cut periods (+0.3 percentage points) and that increase accelerated one year later (+1.7 percentage points).

  

  The COVID-19 pandemic and the Global Financial Crisis were outliers. Spending continued to fall during the rate cut cycles but picked up one year later.

  The Investment Response: Stocks, Bonds, and Real Estate

  Historically, the trend in financial asset performance differed between stocks, bonds, and real estate both during and after interest rate declines.

  Stocks and real estate posted negative returns during the cutting phases, with stocks taking the bigger hit. Conversely, bonds, a traditional safe haven, gained ground.

  

  However, in the quarters preceding the last rate cut, all three assets increased in value. One year later, real estate had the highest average performance, followed closely by stocks, with bonds coming in third.

  What’s Next for Interest Rates

  In March 2024, the Federal Reserve released its Summary of Economic Projections outlining its expectation that U.S. interest rates will fall steadily in 2024 and beyond.

  

  Though the timing of interest rate cuts is uncertain, being armed with the knowledge of their impact on the economy and financial markets can provide valuable insight to investors. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 16:55

• Unity Vs Division: Leftists Appalled That Black And Latino Voters Turn Out For Trump
  Unity Vs Division: Leftists Appalled That Black And Latino Voters Turn Out For Trump

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  Following Donald Trump’s rally in the Bronx earlier this week, Democrats and their leftist media mouthpieces were shocked that Black and Latino voters turned out en mass to support Trump and embrace a message of unity.

  

  The estimated number of New Yorkers were in attendance to see Trump was between 10-25,000, with many unable to get into the stage area at Crotona Park. It was evident that the majority of those in attendance were were either Black or Latino voters.

  Trump did something tonight that no other Republican candidate has done in 40 years—campaign in the Bronx.

  It was bold. It was creative.

  It was also a giant welcome sign to Hispanics and blacks who are considering voting Republican for the first time. And it will work. pic.twitter.com/H2wwcghwbj

  — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 24, 2024

  During the rally, Trump had a message for them, noting “It doesn’t matter whether you’re Black, or Brown, or White or whatever the hell color you are, it doesn’t matter. We are all Americans and we’re going to pull together as Americans.”

  DONALD TRUMP IN THE BRONX, NY: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or brown or white or whatever the hell color you are, it doesn’t matter. We are all Americans.”

  pic.twitter.com/0mJujyelmh

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 23, 2024

  Compare the messages being sent to these demographics by Trump and Biden:

  I can’t think of a better contrast between the candidates for president than these two clips from the last week.

  Joe Biden went to a commencement at a historically black college. He told them they’re victims and that America is an evil place that will always keep them down.… pic.twitter.com/S7vqSX3G0y

  — Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 24, 2024

  CNN reporter Anderson Cooper expressed shock that there were so many people at the rally who were actually from the Bronx.

  CNN reporter on Trump’s rally in the Bronx: “Certainly a bigger crowd than I think Democrats would like to see, particularly given this is one of the bluest counties in the entire country”

  pic.twitter.com/WuLprAqpjW

  — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 24, 2024

  MSNBC acted appalled that the black and Latino voters in attendance were highly enthusiastic about Trump, labelling him as “the man that can save this country.”

  NBC’s Dasha Burns: Black & Latino Voters At Bronx Trump Rally “View His Actions Over Words In Terms Of What They Feel He Can Do For Their Community”https://t.co/o5ST8C5S9c

  “Immigrants at these Trump rallies agree with his message. Their point is, ‘I did it the right way.'” pic.twitter.com/sHCsAwZrX3

  — RCP Video (@rcpvideo) May 24, 2024

  People simply are not buying into the fake leftist media narrative that Trump is a racist, white supremacist anymore:

  CNN’s Ana Navarro reacted to all this by suggesting that Latino voters supporting Trump are “very stupid”:

  CNN’s token woke Latina Ana Navarro is now claiming American Latinos that are anti illegal immigration have a “stupid attitude”

  pic.twitter.com/QOkm5dceq1

  — Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) May 24, 2024

  Democrat New York Governor  Kathy Hochul, who recently suggested black people in The Bronx don’t know what computers are, claimed that the state will “never, ever support” Trump, and that the rally “won’t make a difference at all,” further stating that the Trump supporters who were in attendance are “clowns.”

  🚨 TDS Alert

  NY Gov Kathy Hochul Says New York Trump Supporters are Clowns and New York will Never Ever Support Him For President

  “If he wants to spend his time doing these made up fake rallies and pretending there’s support here… be my guest..”

  I smell panic. Do you smell… pic.twitter.com/ediQjcwYb6

  — MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) May 24, 2024

  They are in complete denial that Americans have woken up and are wholesale rejecting their message of division and failure.

  Bronx voters have a message for AOC

  pic.twitter.com/g3zNU1kAoV

  — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 24, 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, 05/25/2024 – 16:20

• Average US Vehicle Age Hits 12.6 Years As Inflation Takes Toll
  Average US Vehicle Age Hits 12.6 Years As Inflation Takes Toll

  Cars, trucks, and SUVs across the U.S. are getting older, with the average vehicle age now at a record 12.6 years. According to S&P Global Mobility, which monitors state vehicle registration data, high prices for new cars and massive economic pressures on buyers account for the trend, ABC News reports.

  

  Despite a small recovery in new vehicle sales and a recent drop in prices — the average new car cost just over $45,000 last month, down from a peak in December 2022 — many people still find new cars too expensive. “It’s prohibitively high for a lot of households now,” said Todd Campau, aftermarket leader at S&P Global Mobility. “So I think consumers are being painted into the corner of having to keep the vehicle on the road longer.“

  

  In April of 2019, the average car cost $33,695.

  Another possible factor is that people are hesitating on vehicle purchasing decisions due to uncertainty about whether to choose an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid, or stick with gasoline – as many are concerned that the availability of EV charging stations (VW recently stepped away from plans to go all-electric). However, Campau notes that cars are better made now and last longer, which is good news for car owners.

  That said, new car sales are picking up, while around 16 million new vehicles are projected to be sold this year, which would be an increase over last year.

  As new car sales increase, the fleet of aging vehicles, which currently stands at 286 million passenger vehicles in the nation, should see its average age stabilize. Increased sales of lower-cost vehicles might also help reduce the average price of new cars, making them more accessible.

  Auto repair shops are loving America’s aging fleet – of which around 70% of vehicles on the road are over six years old and no longer under manufacturer warranty.

  Overall, while the high cost of new vehicles continues to influence consumer choices, the improved quality and durability of cars are helping Americans manage by keeping their older vehicles on the road longer.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 15:45

• Exceptionally Strong PBoC And Chinese Private Sector Buying Continues To Boost Gold Price
  Exceptionally Strong PBoC And Chinese Private Sector Buying Continues To Boost Gold Price

  By Jan Nieuwenhuijs of Gainesville Coins

  Chinese private sector gold imports accounted for 543 tonnes in the first quarter, while the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) added 189 tonnes to its reserves over this time horizon. Most of the PBoC’s purchases are “unreported.” China continues to be the marginal buyer in the gold market, driving up the price. I expect that China will remain a robust buyer of gold going forward in support of the price.

  In my latest article on global gold flows from March 2024, “China Has Taken Over Gold Price Control from the West,” I showed that in 2022 China broke the peg between the US dollar gold price and “real yields.” Instead of being price sensitive China had become a driving force of the gold price. The data at my disposal ran until December 2023 which made me hesitant to conclude the sharp increase in the gold price since late February was also caused by the Chinese. However, as new data has been released, I can confidently say that China initiated the current bull market.

  

  PBoC Gold Buying Increased by 38% in Q1

  The media is aware that since 2022 central banks mostly buy gold covertly (often referred to as “unreported” purchases). By now it’s widely known that the World Gold Council (WGC) publishes a single statistic on aggregate central bank buying each quarter, which is markedly higher than what all monetary authorities combined report to have bought. Which central banks are causing the difference isn’t made clear though.

  

  In February 2023 I broke the story on unreported buying being mostly acquisitions by the PBoC. Two people familiar with the matter shared with me the Chinese central bank is responsible for “the majority” of secretive additions by monetary authorities. Emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia take up the rest.

  Based on field research, the WGC states central banks bought 290 tonnes of gold in the first quarter of 2024. Most of the difference—I use eighty percent—between the WGC’s estimate and total purchases as disclosed by the IMF is 162 tonnes. When we add what the PBoC has reported to have bought during this period, total purchases come in at 189 tonnes, 38% more than the previous quarter. Possibly, the PBoC had a stake in boosting the price since late February.

  

  Taking into account unreported purchases, the Chinese central bank now holds gold reserves weighing 5,542 tonnes, according to my research (my methodology is explained here).

  Exceptionally Strong Chinese Private Gold Demand in Q1

  Chinese net gold imports by the private sector have been extremely strong. From January through March imports accounted for a mammoth 543 tonnes, up 74% from Q4 2023. This is definitely what pushed up the gold price. Import in April decreased somewhat to 125 tonnes.

  

  India imported a healthy 95 tonnes in February, but less than 30 tonnes both in January and March. The Indians remain price sensitive and are not driving this rally.

  Hong Kong saw notable net inflows in the past months, which mainly reflects strong demand in China in my view. Chinese housewives buy VAT free jewelry in Hong Kong and take it across the border to Shenzhen. In addition, bullion banks that export gold to China store gold in Hong Kong before re-exporting to the mainland.

  In Q1 the UK and Switzerland both were net exporters, and Western ETF inventories declined. At the time of writing the West has not yet joined the bull market, which primarily has its roots in China.

  Chinese Gold Demand Will Stay Powerful

  Bloomberg recently reported that Beijing offloaded a record of $53 billion in US Treasuries and agency bonds combined in Q1, which illustrates the PBoC is selling dollars for gold. No wonder, as enthusiasm to seize Russia’s foreign exchange reserves—deposited at Belgium-based clearinghouse Euroclear—is rising among G-7 nations. In turn, Russia is freezing €700 million of assets from Western commercial banks such as UniCredit and Deutsche Bank, further strengthening gold’s global position as a safe haven. China’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $3.2 trillion so there is plenty of firepower left for gold.

  Private gold demand in China is likely to uphold as well as the end of the property slump is not in sight. Home prices have declined in 30 out of the last 33 months. The State Council is floating a plan to buy unsold houses through local governments, but these are already drowning in debt. The Chinese public, which doesn’t have many investment options due to capital controls, will continue to invest in gold and support the price.

  I’m expecting the West to join the bull market soon. ETF outflows appear to have stopped, and it would only be logical for Western investors to rotate into gold at some point because of high asset valuations and an overconfidence in credit instruments.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 15:10

• 13th Oregon County Votes To Secede And Join 'Greater Idaho'
  13th Oregon County Votes To Secede And Join ‘Greater Idaho’

  The “Greater Idaho” movement notched another victory this week, as Oregon’s Crook County became the 13th county to vote to secede from leftist domination and join its more like-minded neighbors to the east. About 53% of voters approved a referendum recommending that county leaders engage in “continued negotiations regarding a potential relocation of the Oregon-Idaho border to include Crook County.” 

  “The voters of eastern Oregon have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to see border talks move forward,” said Greater Idaho executive director Matt McCaw. “With this latest result in Crook County, there’s no excuse left for the Legislature and Governor to continue to ignore the people’s wishes.”

  

  The group said the final tally was only as close as it was due to spending by Western State Strategies, which it described as a “social justice non-profit based in Portland.” On its own site, Western State Strategies has accused Greater Idaho of “writing the most recent chapter in a long history of dangerous secessionist movements that appeal to bigotry to fuel division.” 

  Greater Idaho sees things differently. “Northwestern Oregon is embarking on social experiments: a cultural revolution that rural counties want no part of,” the group writes on its website. “Eastern Oregon has a different culture and values.” The group notes that 80% of Idaho’s legislature is Republican, and that it “govern[s] according to the concerns and priorities of rural counties.”

  Why eastern Oregon should join Idaho

  Crook County: vote YES on county measure 7-86 this May!

  Visit our website to learn more! pic.twitter.com/wjqcPGMiw7

  — the Greater Idaho movement (@GreaterIdaho) April 11, 2024

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

  Greater Idaho’s ultimate goal would see 13 entire counties leave Oregon, along with portions of four more. One of the counties targeted for a split is Deschutes County, which would be cleaved east of Bend, an outdoor mecca in Oregon’s high desert that has been spiraling deeper into blue depths, prompting some to flee. Crook County joins Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Harney, Malheur, Baker, Grant, Wheeler, Jefferson, Wallowa, Union and Morrow counties, which have previously approved measures to negotiate an exit.   

  If the group’s goal comes to full fruition, Oregon would end up 62% smaller by size, but only 9% smaller by population. That math that underscores the contrast between the sparsely populated, rural eastern region and the more densely-populated coastal areas. It also highlights the eastern counties’ lack of political strength in influencing statewide decisions.

  Oregon shouldn’t exist as a political entity, as currently drawn. The people in the east and south of the state have little in common with the urban core that dominates the state’s politics. Greater Idaho should be encouraged. Why trap people where they have no voice? pic.twitter.com/rZKBZFoSu3

  — Rudolph Troha 🇺🇲🏳️‍🌈 (@RudolphTroha) May 23, 2024

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

  “Oregon politicians don’t understand how we make a living,” argues Greater Idaho. “Their decisions damage industries like timber, mining, trucking, ranching and farming. They want to remake the Oregon we’ve known our whole lives. We want to preserve the values and way of life of old Oregon as a part of Idaho.”

  While the group’s momentum is undeniable, there are daunting hurdles ahead. For the border to move, the Oregon and Idaho legislatures must approve it, along with the US Congress. In 2023, the Idaho house passed a measure to pursue discussions of a border change, but it stalled in the Idaho senate. 

  The Greater Idaho movement is fully consistent with American values rooted in the principal of self-determination and government by consent. While leftist opponents of the movement call it “dangerous,” a calmly-negotiated border move is certainly the least dangerous path to a new governing arrangement that eastern Oregonians are entitled to.  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 14:35

• Extreme Hurricane Season Could Trigger "Carrier Revenge"
  Extreme Hurricane Season Could Trigger “Carrier Revenge”

  By Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves

  For the past two years, shippers have had enormous leverage in the freight market, as excess capacity has kept rates under significant pressure. Shippers, who suffered under the weight of sizable market stress during COVID have inflicted “shippers revenge” on motor carriers, something we were warned was coming back in August 2022. 

  

  Truckload spot rates, when adjusted for inflation, have plummeted to lows not seen since 2009.

  In the early part of the Great Freight Recession, contract rates stayed persistently high as shippers monitored the market and wondered if the market reset was a short-term development or something greater.

  In the first quarter of 2023, reassured that the Great Freight Recession was unlikely to end quickly, shippers started to insist on significant rate concessions from carriers. This process accelerated earlier this year. 

  As a result, carrier profitability hit 14-year lows in the first quarter. 

  According to FreightWaves channel checks, shippers still insist on rate concessions from motor carriers. This may be ill-advised. 

  On April 17, FreightWaves reported that we were likely at the bottom of the market and the “end to the worst freight markets in history may be closer than it appears.” 

  We believe that this analysis is still true, and shippers, not carriers, bear the greater risk. In fact, if the economy continues to grow, freight market volumes will do so as well. 

  While we are not expecting a massive surge in freight activity, we continue to monitor risks that could change this perspective. 

  Like all commodity markets, rates become massively volatile when an unexpected sudden demand shock occurs. For trucking markets, no event has more short-term impact on demand than a major hurricane hitting a large U.S. city. 

  FreightWaves’ early success was largely due to its coverage of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Galveston and parts of the Texas Gulf Coast around Houston. 

  NOAA released its May hurricane forecast, where it spells a warning to shippers to prepare for significant disruptions. It is the most aggressive forecast on record. NOAA forecasts that there will be 17-25 named storms, with 4-7 being Category 3 or greater. On average, a hurricane season usually has 14 named storms and three Category 3 or greater storms. 

  The administration described the 2024 season as “hyperactive” and “the highest NOAA has ever issued in the May forecast.” 

  Shippers that assume they will be able to react to changing market conditions, in time, may find that carriers lack sympathy for their plight. In fact, carriers have been warning shippers that forcing significant rate concessions will be a mistake when the market flips in the carrier’s favor. 

  Whether the hurricane season lives up to NOAA’s forecast or ends on a whimper, one thing is certain: at some point, the freight market pendulum will swing against shippers and when it does trucking firms will inflict carrier revenge. 

  In many ways, Carrier’s revenge is more vicious than shipper’s revenge in the sense that price is easier for shippers to deal with than having freight left on their docks and factories disrupted. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 14:00

• 52% Of Top US Hedge Funds Own Bitcoin ETFs
  52% Of Top US Hedge Funds Own Bitcoin ETFs

  534 institutions with over $1 billion in assets now hold Bitcoin ETFs, according to bitcoin app River.

  In a blog post published this week, River noted that over 534 entities, each managing assets exceeding $1 billion, have now incorporated Bitcoin ETFs into their portfolios.

  The diverse group of owners includes hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies, underscoring the wide-ranging acceptance of Bitcoin, the blog wrote, adding that notably, more than half of the top 25 hedge funds in the United States are now exposed to Bitcoin.

  

  Among these are Millennium Management, which now holds an impressive $2 billion in Bitcoin assets. Furthermore, 11 of the top 25 Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), alongside numerous smaller advisors, have also allocated investments in Bitcoin.

  “If you sell your bitcoin to Blackrock, you probably won’t be getting it back,” River’s CEO Alex Leishman said. 

  Specific to their company, they wrote that they are witnessing a trend of bitcoin becoming a staple on every company’s balance sheet live. 

  Currently, over a thousand companies using River’s platform maintain bitcoin in their financial reserves, the company wrote. Just a year ago, the typical business held 2.5 BTC, valued at approximately $70,000. Since then, these holdings have grown to more than 4 BTC, with their value surging to beyond $280,000.

  

  They wrote: “It is no longer just the MicroStrategy’s of the world accumulating Bitcoin, but businesses of all sizes.”

  Recall days ago, Michael Saylor commented in wide-ranging interview that bitcoin had now officially pierced the veil into the KYC and AML regulated banking world.

  When asked about how bitcoin is homogenizing itself in a world of increasing regulations, he said: “I think it’s doing it now. I mean, you’re watching it, right? For example, Block sells $10 billion worth of Bitcoin every year via Cash App. They’re a publicly traded company. They abide by AML and KYC regulations. They have compliance. They have responsibilities.” 

  “Fidelity, you know, Fidelity Digital Assets is custodying billions and billions of dollars of Bitcoin. I’m sure they’ve got an army of lawyers and finance people thinking about it.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 13:25

• Inflation To The Nines
  Inflation To The Nines

  By Peter C. Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research

  Twice in the past few weeks President Joe Biden has claimed that when he took office in January 2021 inflation was “over nine percent.” First on CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett on May 8 and again on May 14 in a Yahoo! Finance interview, the bizarre comment was made. And as has become a routine with the gaffe-prone chief executive, White House staffers added shamelessness to what could have been limited to embarrassment by issuing a statement: “The President was making the point that the factors that caused inflation were in place when he took office. The pandemic caused inflation around the world by disrupting our economy and breaking our supply chains.”

  Americans will have to decide for themselves if the claim made by Biden was a lie intended to mislead anyone not familiar with the trajectory of prices over the past several years, or an innocent error. It is a choice US citizens have been confronted with frequently, in particular where assertions regarding the health of the economy have been made. 

  If an honest mistake, it simply may be that the President confused the January 2021 inflation number with a number of other price statistics beginning with the number nine in the month of his inauguration. Below are several possibilities.

  • In January 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in their consumer prices summary that the average price of a boneless sirloin steak was $9.418. By April 2024 that price had risen 27.5 percent to $11.662. 

  

  • In January 2021, fifteen subindices of CPI began with the number nine. Their levels in that month, in the April 2024 report, and the percent change are shown below.

  

  

  Alternatively, Mr. Biden may have mistaken a different January 2021 economic statistic with the July 2022 year-over-year headline CPI number.

  • The spread between the 1-year US Treasury bill and the 10-year US Treasury note was 97.9 basis points (0.98 percent) in mid-January 2021. That spread inverted in mid-2022, about the time that headline CPI year-over-year actually reached 9.1 percent. A normal yield curve slopes upward, with a positive spread showing that longer-term bonds yield more than shorter-term ones, typically reflecting expectations of economic growth and rising future interest rates. An inverted yield curve slopes downward with a negative spread as shorter-term bonds yield more than longer-term ones. Those conditions are often considered a predictor of an economic recession. As of May 2024, the 1-to-10 year spread has been negative for over 600 days.

  1-year Treasury bill 10-year Treasury note spread (Jan 2021 – present)

  

  • The Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production (IP) Index was at 98.8 in January 2021. Owing to lockdowns and other pandemic policies, the index plummeted to a low of 84.6 in April 2020 and was recovering early in 2021. But despite hitting a post-pandemic high of 103.5 in September 2022, the IP Index hasn’t yet recovered its September 2018 all-time high of 104.1. Since the start of 2024, the index has declined, currently oscillating between 101.8 and 102.8.

  Industrial Production (2014 – present), with all-time high (red dotted line), and January 2021 (black vertical line) indicated 

  

  It’s possible that Mr. Biden has once again fumbled details accidentally. Yet the consistency of those blundered messages, each absolving his administration of responsibility for declining economic conditions, is simply not consistent with randomness. American citizens have been told that corporate profits, Vladimir Putin, owners of gas stations, and ocean shippers are responsible for the huge surge in prices. Month-to-month and year-to-year price change data has been conflated misleadingly, as have statistics regarding how the US inflationary surge compares to those in other nations.

  Whatever the specific reasons, the desperate evasiveness is glaring. Knowing that the CPI was not “over 9 percent” in January 2021, but rather 1.4 percent, hitting 9.1 percent in July 2022, is one thing. Recognizing that the administration of monetary policy has become a third-rail issue to be evaded at all costs is another, more pressing, matter. Instead of properly attributing the increase in prices to expansionary monetary policies (and to a lesser extent, massive debt and deficits), many in the political establishment prefer to tell ham handed-lies which further erode an already ramshackle credibility.

  It may be that the political establishment believes that the American public is not sophisticated enough to understand the Fed. More likely, the ability of the Fed to provide a swift economic boost during crises (without the lengthy process that fiscal stimuli require) is deemed too important to endanger by drawing attention to: even the staunchly anti-high finance Elizabeth Warren voted against auditing the Fed in 2016. The bipartisan inclination to keep the US central bank out of critical discussions is one which, whether inflation subsides or the Fed heeds calls to normalize at the 3-percent level, demands closer scrutiny.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 12:50

• Biden's $320M Gaza Pier Has Detached & Drifted Onto Israeli Beach
  Biden’s $320M Gaza Pier Has Detached & Drifted Onto Israeli Beach

  A section of the $320 million floating pier built and erected off Gaza’s coast has broken off and floated onto an Israeli beach. The Saturday mishap is the latest setback for the US humanitarian aid project, after three US troops were reported injured aboard the pier two days prior, including one critically.

  The Times of Isreal’s military correspondent Emanuel Fabian has reported that “An American vessel used to unload humanitarian aid from ships into the Gaza Strip via a floating pier disconnected from a small boat tugging it this morning due to stormy seas, leading it to get stuck on the coast of Ashdod, eyewitnesses say.”

  Joe had a pier installed at Gaza

  $320 million of your dollars

  pic.twitter.com/CBakneazlI

  — Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) May 25, 2024

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

  The recovery operation has not gone well either, as “Another ship was then sent to try and extract the stuck vessel, but also got beached,” Fabian writes.

  And yet a second US Army vessel also got stuck in shallow waters while trying to rescue the pier section. Overnight US ships had been moving two pieces of the floating pier to the Port of Ashdod in southern Israel when the now beached section detached and drifted away. American troops can be seen in footage standing helplessly on the beach.

  An official US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement says the following:

  This morning four U.S. Army vessels supporting the maritime humanitarian aid mission in Gaza were affected by heavy sea states. The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier.

  The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon. Efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli Navy.

  The pier operation was already last week off to a rough start — and was paused for two days — after desperate Palestinians mobbed and ransacked the first trucks transporting aid unloaded from the pier before they could reach a distribution warehouse managed by the World Food Programme.   

  

  The pier has been center of controversy, given a number of land routes for aid into Gaza are possible, but have been blocked by Israel’s military.

  Now, to mitigate that devastation amid reports of famine the US government has spent $320 million to build a pier to bypass its own beneficiary’s land-route blockade. But operating it has proven tricky especially due to inclement conditions in the eastern Mediterranean. 

  At best, the pier will only put a dent in the daunting humanitarian challenge. “I just want to be clear that this humanitarian maritime corridor alone is not enough to meet the staggering needs in Gaza, but it is an important addition,” said USAID Levant response management team director Daniel Dieckhaus. “It is meant to augment, not replace or substitute for land crossings into Gaza.”    

  Two US Navy ships ran aground on a beach in Ashdod. The tug boat was transporting the floating pier off of Gaza back to the port of Ashdod due to poor sea conditions when it got disconnected & beached here. LCM went in for rescue and also got beached pic.twitter.com/B6HU1B9nfa

  — Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) May 25, 2024

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

  At this point, with a section of the pier stuck on an Israel beach, and coming over two months after President Biden first unveiled the ambitious project, the whole initiative is becoming a bit of an embarrassment involving setback after setback.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 05/25/2024 – 12:15

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• Hedges: The Slow-Motion Execution Of Julian Assange Continues
  Hedges: The Slow-Motion Execution Of Julian Assange Continues

  Authored by Chris Hedges via Scheerpost.com,

  The decision by the High Court in London to grant Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. It does not mean Julian will elude extradition. It does not mean the court has ruled, as it should, that he is a journalist whose only “crime” was providing evidence of war crimes and lies by the U.S. government to the public. It does not mean he will be released from the high-security HMS Belmarsh prison where, as Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, after visiting Julian there, said he was undergoing a “slow-motion execution.”

  

  It does not mean that journalism is any less imperiled. Editors and publishers of  five international media outlets —– The New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and DER SPIEGEL —– which published stories based on documents released by WikiLeaks, have urged that the U.S. charges be dropped and Julian be released. None of these media executives were charged with espionage. It does not dismiss the ludicrous ploy by the U.S. government to extradite an Australian citizen whose publication is not based in the U.S. and charge him under the Espionage Act. It continues the long Dickensian farce that mocks the most basic concepts of due process.

  This ruling is based on the grounds that the U.S. government did not offer sufficient assurances that Julian would be granted the same First Amendment protections afforded to a U.S. citizen, should he stand trial. The appeal process is one more legal hurdle in the persecution of a journalist who should not only be free, but feted and honored as the most courageous of our generation.  

  Yes. He can file an appeal. But this means another year, perhaps longer, in harsh prison conditions as his physical and psychological health deteriorates. He has spent over five years in HMS Belmarsh without being charged. He spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy because the U.K. and Swedish governments refused to guarantee that he wouldn’t be extradited to the U.S., even though he agreed to return to Sweden to aid a preliminary investigation that was eventually dropped.

  The judicial lynching of Julian was never about justice. The plethora of legal irregularities, including the recording of his meetings with attorneys by the Spanish security firm UC Global at the embassy on behalf of the CIA, alone should have seen the case thrown out of court as it eviscerates attorney-client privilege.

  The U.S. has charged Julian with 17 acts under the Espionage Act and one count of computer misuse, for an alleged conspiracy to take possession of and then publish national defense information. If found guilty on all of these charges he faces 175 years in a U.S. prison.

  The extradition request is based on the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs — hundreds of thousands of classified documents, leaked to the site by Chelsea Manning, then an Army intelligence analyst, which exposed numerous U.S. war crimes including video images of the gunning down of two Reuters journalists and 10 other unarmed civilians in the Collateral Murder video, the routine torture of Iraqi prisoners, the covering up of thousands of civilian deaths and the killing of nearly 700 civilians that had approached too closely to U.S. checkpoints.

  In February, lawyers for Julian submitted nine separate grounds for a possible appeal. 

  A two-day hearing in March, which I attended, was Julian’s last chance to request an appeal of the extradition decision made in 2022 by the then British home secretary, Priti Patel, and of many of the rulings of District Judge Baraitser in 2021. 

  The two High Court judges, Dame Victoria Sharp and Justice Jeremy Johnson, in March rejected most of Julian’s grounds of appeal. These included his lawyers’ contention that the UK-US extradition treaty bars extradition for political offenses; that the extradition request was made for the purpose of prosecuting him for his political opinions; that extradition would amount to retroactive application of the law — because it was not foreseeable that a century-old espionage law would be used against a foreign publisher; and that he would not receive a fair trial in the Eastern District of Virginia. The judges also refused to hear new evidence that the CIA plotted to kidnap and assassinate Julian, concluding — both perversely and incorrectly — that the CIA only considered these options because they believed Julian was planning to flee to Russia.

  But the two judges determined Monday that it is “arguable” that a U.S. court might not grant Julian protection under the First Amendment, violating his rights to free speech as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

  The judges in March asked the U.S. to provide written assurances that Julian would be protected under the First Amendment and that he would be exempt from a death penalty verdict. The U.S. assured the court that Julian would not be subjected to the death penalty, which Julian’s lawyers ultimately accepted. But the Department of Justice was unable to provide an assurance that Julian could mount a First Amendment defense in a U.S. court. Such a decision is made in a U.S. federal court, their lawyers explained. 

  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, who is prosecuting Julian, has argued that only U.S. citizens are guaranteed First Amendment rights in U.S. courts. Kromberg has stated that what Julian published was “not in the public interest” and that the U.S. was not seeking his extradition on political grounds.

  Free speech is a key issue. If Julian is granted First Amendment rights in a U.S. court it will be very difficult for the U.S. to build a criminal case against him, since other news organizations, including The New York Times and The Guardian, published the material he released. 

  The extradition request is based on the contention that Julian is not a journalist and not protected under the First Amendment.

  Julian’s attorneys and those representing the U.S. government have until May 24 to submit a draft order, which will determine when the appeal will be heard. 

  Julian committed the empire’s greatest sin — he exposed it as a criminal enterprise. He documented its lies, routine violation of human rights, wanton killing of innocent civilians, rampant corruption and war crimes. Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Labour, Trump or Biden — it does not matter. Those who manage the empire use the same dirty playbook.

  The publication of classified documents is not a crime in the United States, but if Julian is extradited and convicted, it will become one. 

  Julian is in precarious physical and psychological health. His physical and psychological deterioration has resulted in a minor stroke, hallucinations and depression. He takes antidepressant medication and the antipsychotic quetiapine. He has been observed pacing his cell until he collapses, punching himself in the face and banging his head against the wall. He has spent weeks in the medical wing of Belmarsh, nicknamed “hell wing.” Prison authorities found “half of a razor blade” hidden under his socks. He has repeatedly called the suicide hotline run by the Samaritans because he thought about killing himself “hundreds of times a day.” 

  These slow-motion executioners have not yet completed their work. Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the Haitian independence movement, the only successful slave revolt in human history, was physically destroyed in the same manner. He was locked by the French in an unheated and cramped prison cell and left to die of exhaustion, malnutrition, apoplexy, pneumonia and probably tuberculosis. 

  Prolonged imprisonment, which the granting of this appeal perpetuates, is the point. The 12 years Julian has been detained — seven in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and over five in high-security Belmarsh Prison — have been accompanied by a lack of sunlight and exercise, as well as unrelenting threats, pressure, prolonged isolation, anxiety and constant stress. The goal is to destroy him.

  We must free Julian. We must keep him out of the hands of the U.S. government. Given all he did for us, we owe him an unrelenting fight. 

  If there is no freedom of speech for Julian, there will be no freedom of speech for us.

  *  *  *

  NOTE TO SCHEERPOST READERS FROM CHRIS HEDGES: There is now no way left for me to continue to write a weekly column for ScheerPost and produce my weekly television show without your help. The walls are closing in, with startling rapidity, on independent journalism, with the elites, including the Democratic Party elites, clamoring for more and more censorship. Bob Scheer, who runs ScheerPost on a shoestring budget, and I will not waver in our commitment to independent and honest journalism, and we will never put ScheerPost behind a paywall, charge a subscription for it, sell your data or accept advertising. Please, if you can, sign up at chrishedges.substack.com so I can continue to post my now weekly Monday column on ScheerPost and produce my weekly television show, The Chris Hedges Report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 23:40

• Ukraine Hits Base In Crimea With US Long-Range Missiles In Further Escalation
  Ukraine Hits Base In Crimea With US Long-Range Missiles In Further Escalation

  The Ukrainians aren’t waiting for ‘permission’ from the US despite the Biden administration’s official prohibition on using American-supplied weaponry to strike inside Russian territory. But perhaps Kiev’s argument is that Crimea is not ‘Russian territory’…

  “Ukraine hit a Russian military complex in Crimea with U.S.-provided long-range missiles Thursday night, the latest in a mounting series of strikes aimed at slowing the Russian war machine,” The Wall Street Journal reports Friday.

  

  The WSJ continues, “The missile strike hit a communications center of Russian air-defense forces in the city of Alushta, according to a Ukrainian defense official.” It added: “Crimean social-media channels reported several explosions in the coastal city, with one video showing a large blast, but the extent of the damage couldn’t immediately be established.”

  Long-range ATACMS (or Army Tactical Missile System), were first transferred ‘secretly’ by Washington to Ukraine’s military earlier this year, and only disclosed publicly just weeks ago. In late April, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said a “significant number” of the ATACMS have been sent to Ukraine but did not specify how many. They can hit targets up to 190 miles away – and earlier in the war were withheld reportedly on White House concerns that they would be used to attack deep within Russian territory.

  The UK and France have also of late provided longer-range systems, including cruise missiles that can be launched from aircraft. The WSJ underscores these new weapons “have significantly boosted the range, value and number of the deep-lying targets that Ukraine can attack.”

  But the reality is that with each new attack on Russia, its forces appear to be hitting back harder with ‘punishing’ strikes on Kharkiv and as far south as the large port city of Odessa. 

  For example, Russia’s defense ministry is reporting its troops have achieved 49 combined strikes at “Ukrainian military sites, military-industrial facilities, arms, ammunition and fuel depots, army and mercenaries’ deployment areas” over the past week of fighting.

  In the Kharkiv region, “The enemy’s losses over the week amounted to 1,840 personnel, six tanks, eight armored combat vehicles, 40 motor vehicles, four Grad and Vampire multiple rocket launchers and 37 field artillery guns,” the ministry said.

  Thus Ukraine’s provocative attacks inside Russian territory aren’t having any actual impact on frontline fighting positions. Instead, the attacks are ultimately resulting in drawing NATO and Russia deeper into a more direct conflict.

  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday lodged a new complaint, saying West-supplied weapon are already being used against civilians inside Russia.

  The below WSJ/ISW map demonstrates Ukraine forces’ significantly increasing missile range:

  

  “American weapons are already being used against a wide variety of facilities outside the combat zone,” Lavrov stated. “We proceed from the fact that American and other Western weapons are hitting targets on Russian territory, primarily civilian infrastructure and residential neighborhoods.”

  He bluntly concluded Western countries “are waging a war against Russia” despite all the officially stated positions which appear to dissuade Kiev from escalating with Western weapons. Lavrov said this is something that “that the Americans are trying to present to their public opinion or to NATO members.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 23:20

• CJ Hopkins: Asymmetric Idiocy
  CJ Hopkins: Asymmetric Idiocy

  Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

  I miss the 1970s sometimes.

  Not just the music. And the sex. And the drugs. I miss the terrorists. The old-school terrorists. Or, OK, maybe not the terrorists, but the revolutionaries who cheered on the terrorists.

  

  I miss the clarity, and the honesty, of that era.

  Maybe you’re too young to remember, but, back in the day, you didn’t get all this hemming and hawing about murdering civilians. The terrorists, and the revolutionaries who supported them, were not ashamed of murdering civilians. The Revolution demanded that they murder civilians. Murdering civilians was one of the fundamental strategies of the Revolution.

  The way this strategy works is simple. What you do is, you murder a bunch of civilians, in order to provoke your adversary into massively over-retaliating against you and committing all kinds of war crimes and atrocities, like the USA did in Iraq twenty years ago, like the IDF is now doing in Gaza. The goal of the strategy is to broaden the conflict, and draw your potential allies into it, or at least significantly weaken support for your enemy.

  OK, sure, that means you have to murder some people… men, women, children, whole families, and then your enemy is going to go apeshit and kill tens or even hundreds of thousands of your people, but, if all goes to plan, your “allies” will join you, and attack your enemy, and drive him into the sea, or off the face of the earth, or wherever. So, in the end, all the murdering will have been totally worth it.

  This is not a theory I just made up.

  It is one of the basics of asymmetric warfare. If you are not already familiar with that subject, this might be a good time to look into it.

  I’m not a fan of murdering civilians. Not even for the Revolution. I do not think it is a very good strategy. Plus, well, the murdering. I’m against that, generally. Soldiers killing each other is one thing. They have been doing that since the dawn of history. And I have no problem with guerilla tactics. People fight wars with the means they have available. It’s just the murdering thing that I can’t get down with. Especially the murdering of the women and the kids, but it’s probably not politically correct to say that, what with the diversity, equity, and inclusion thing these days.

  Anyway, as it appears I’m currently alienating a significant portion of my longstanding readers, half of whom believe I’m an “Islamofascist,” and the other half of whom believe I’m a “Zionist,” I figure I’ll go ahead and go for broke, and wax nostalgic about the 1970s, and say a few things I haven’t been saying, or, rather, I’ll say a few things I’ve been saying delicately not so delicately.

  I’ve been saying those things delicately, because, as I made pretty clear in October, when this whole horror show started, my sympathies are with the Palestinian people. My sympathies are also with the loved ones of the Israeli civilians who were murdered by Hamas, but I am talking about the bigger picture now, the broader “Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

  In that bigger picture, the Palestinians are fucked. They’ve been getting fucked for quite some time now. That is what happens when empires conquer the land you live on and do what they want with it. The land in question has been getting conquered for approximately 4,500 years. The Babylonians conquered it. The Persians conquered it. Alexander the Great conquered it. The Romans conquered it. And so on. That’s all ancient history.

  More recently, in 1920, the Ottoman Empire lost World War One, and the British Empire took the land over. You are probably familiar with the rest of the history. The British pulled out in 1948. Zionists established The State of Israel. War broke out. Israel won. War broke out again. Israel won again. And again. And so on. And … well, here we are.

  As I was saying, the Palestinians are fucked. Look at a map of the territory. Does it look like Palestine is on the verge of being “free”?

  

  The State of Israel is not going anywhere. It is an essential component of the global-capitalist empire. It’s the empire’s headquarters in the Middle East. It has nuclear weapons. It is backed by the US military. The “Islamic world” is not going to join Hamas and attack it, regardless of how many war crimes it perpetrates in Gaza. The ICJ is not going to put it on trial. The United Nations isn’t going to make it play nice. It isn’t going to disappear into the ether. It is a fact of life. It isn’t fair. It has nothing to do with fairness and justice and rights and good and bad and whatever. It doesn’t even have much to do with Zionism. Zionism is just Israel’s ideology, like Islamism is Saudi Arabia’s ideology. What it has to do with is the global-capitalist empire, and resistance to the global-capitalist empire.

  Which brings us back to asymmetric warfare, and Hamas’ October 7 “Al-Aqsa Flood” strategy, and the utter fucking pointlessness of it, and the utter fucking callousness of it.

  Do you seriously believe that the leadership of Hamas did not know exactly how Israel would respond to the slaughter of hundreds of Israeli citizens, families, children, people at a rave? If you honestly believe that, I don’t know what to say.

  The goal of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack was to provoke precisely the response it has provoked. There is nothing mysterious or complicated about this. It is Asymmetric Warfare 101, straight out of the Terrorism textbook.

  For seven months I have been watching my “radical” colleagues trying to obscure this fact. It isn’t helpful. It doesn’t help anyone. It certainly doesn’t help the Palestinian people. There is more than enough about Israel to criticize. Lying, twisting the facts about Hamas, convincing people that the IDF “Hanniballed” everyone on October 7, is (a) unnecessary, (b) obfuscatory, and (c) destroys your credibility.

  On top of which, it makes you look like pussies.

  If you believe that murdering people to provoke your enemy into overreacting is a productive armed-resistance strategy, at least have the fucking courage to say so. Bring back the spirit of the 1970s! The old PLO! The RAF! The IRA! The SLA! Do it for the Revolution! Or the Globalized Intifada! Or whatever.

  I’m just kidding, of course. It is an idiotic strategy. It hands your enemy a free “get out of war-crimes tribunal” card. Meanwhile, the people you are purporting to be fighting for are getting slaughtered by the tens of thousands. But whatever … as long as it boosts your cred among the other “legitimate armed resisters,” who cares how many families get wasted? After all, it’s not your fault! It’s the oppressors! The Zionists! The Americans! Or whoever.

  Seriously, though, I am feeling a bit nostalgic for the 1970s, when at least you could have a real argument over tactics with your revolutionary comrades instead of hearing mindless gibberish like this …

  

  Yes, you actually just read those words, “they never killed anyone with an intent to kill.” And Lena’s note is not at all an anomaly. I have been hearing this gibberish for seven months now.

  So, thanks, all my radical anti-Zionist friends and colleagues who have been pumping out this narrative, and all the thought-terminating clichés, and conducting Anti-Zionist Inquisitions, and so on! Well done! I’m pretty sure all the folks like Lena who you have helped to transform into a mass of mindless Pavlovian robots will never, ever, be turned against us, like, you know, the next time the Powers That Be come up with an irresistible stimulus!

  

  I mean, what are the odds of that ever happening?

  *  *  *

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 23:00

• 1 In 7 American Kids Live In Poverty
  1 In 7 American Kids Live In Poverty

  More than 11 million children were estimated to be living in poverty in 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau data published by the Children’s Defense Fund.

  That equates to around one in seven children in the U.S., or 15.3 percent. It’s a high toll, and one even higher than the adult population, which was 10.5 percent for 19-64 year olds that year and 10.3 percent for adults aged 65+.

  According to an analysis by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, this difference is due to factors such as the “cost of caregiving and its responsibilities, transitions to a single parenthood household, unemployment of parents, and disabilities of family members.”

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, poverty levels are disproportionately higher among non-White populations.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  American Indian/Alaska Native children were particularly overrepresented, with 29.1 percent of this group living in poverty in 2021, followed closely behind by Black children at 27.1 percent, versus a comparatively low 8.8 percent of white children.

  In terms of absolute numbers, Hispanic children were the biggest group, with 4,168,000 registered as poor in 2021, according to the source, or 37.4 percent of all children who were in poverty.

  Other patterns in the data highlighted by the Childrens’ Defense Foundation include the regional divide, with the South showing a child poverty prevalence of nearly 20 percent, or one in five children. This drops to below 15 percent in the Northeast, Midwest and West (closer to one in seven).

  Perhaps the starkest figure though, is for children living in a single female-headed household, where nearly four in ten (37.1 percent) were living in poverty in 2021.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 22:40

• Palestinians Stranded In Gaza After Paying Egypt $5,000 Each To Flee
  Palestinians Stranded In Gaza After Paying Egypt $5,000 Each To Flee

  Via Middle East Eye

  The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed indefinitely since the Israeli military seized the crossing on 7 May, a closure which has left thousands of Palestinians in limbo. Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, and the subsequent closure of all other crossings, the Rafah crossing with Egypt has been the only passageway for civilians fleeing the conflict.

  An Egyptian company with exclusive control on exits and transfers via the terminal had been charging Palestinians at least $5,000 per adult and $2,500 per child to cross to the Egyptian side. In April, Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, a firm owned by Sinai tribal leader and business tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi, made at least $2m per day from Palestinians, Middle East Eye has revealed.

  

  Now, those who were due to travel in May after paying thousands of dollars in advance have no clear means of getting a refund. And they do not know if they will ever leave Gaza via Egypt, as Cairo has refused to work with Israel to operate the crossing. 

  Samer, 29, paid Hala $20,000 before Israel shut the Rafah crossing. He wanted to leave Gaza along with his new wife and his elderly and sick parents. To raise the money, he had to borrow from friends and family, and sell his car and all his electronic goods. 

  “I cannot believe that as soon as I got the money and was supposed to travel three days after the invasion, I am still here,” he told Middle East Eye. “I feel like a rat in a box running around trying to find an exit, and as soon as I see a hole in the box, someone shuts it.”

  People are unsure when they might get their money back, or how to reach out to Hala for assistance. Hala has yet to provide a clear communication channel or timeline for resolving these issues, and does not respond to emails or social media messages.

  The company did not release any official statement or comment to explain to thousands of Palestinian customers what they needed to do to either obtain a refund or keep their names registered. An employee from Hala told MEE on condition of anonymity: “We are overwhelmed with calls and complaints. The company is trying to figure out a solution, but we don’t have any concrete answers at the moment.”

  Hala’s official Facebook page is full of messages from Palestinians asking how they can get a refund, and asking what will happen if the borders remain shut. Others asked anyone who managed to get a response from Hala to share the information, as all their attempts to contact the office had failed.

  Thousands of Palestinians are believed to be in the same position. The daily lists published by Hala in April showed that between 300-400 Palestinians left via the Rafah crossing on a daily basis. Applicants register and pay for these lists weeks in advance.

  Tough choices

  Sahar, 36, has a close relative in Egypt who registered her for travelling with Hala’s office in Cairo. Sahar was supposed to leave Gaza on the same day Israel invaded the crossing. 

  When her sister went to the Hala office, she was told that they could issue a refund, but she would have to wait some time to receive it. However, when – and if – the Rafah crossing reopens, Sahar will have to go through the registration process all over again, and the company would not guarantee her exit then.

  🇪🇬 People in Egypt tore up posters of President Sisi after the Rafah border crossing was closed 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/SBOdQPcU6c

  — S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) May 24, 2024

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

  “I decided not to get a refund. I just want to know that if the crossing reopens ever again, I have a way out. I had already said my goodbyes the night before the invasion,” she told MEE. “We should not be paying money to leave to begin with. Now, even when we manage to get the money, we cannot leave.”

  Yosef, 39, paid $13,000 to Hala before the Israeli operation, to travel with his wife and two children. Yosef’s wife sold all her gold jewelry to pay the travel fees. She had always thought she would sell the gold to use as a down payment for a house in Gaza City. 

  “I am torn between two tough choices. Either ask for a refund, which takes a long time to get, but that means if the border opens again we lose our ‘turn’ and we will have to go on a waiting list again,” Yosef told MEE.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 22:20

• Iran's Military Concludes No Foul Play In Raisi Helicopter Crash
  Iran’s Military Concludes No Foul Play In Raisi Helicopter Crash

  A preliminary report produced by Iran’s military has found no evidence of criminal activity or foreign interference in last Sunday’s helicopter crash that killed the late President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, according to state media.

  The report was produced by the general staff of the armed forces, and it states Raisi’s helicopter “caught fire after hitting an elevated area” and found no traces of “bullet holes” on the helicopter among the wreckage.

  

  The aircraft had been flying on a “pre-planned route and did not leave the designated flight path” before the crash into the side of a mountain, official IRNA news agency reports.

  “No suspicious content was observed during the communications between the watch tower and the flight crew,” the findings concluded. The final radio communications between the presidential helicopter and two others flying nearby occurred one-and-half minutes before the crash.

  The “complexity of the area, fog and low temperature” had also hindered the search and rescue efforts, which took hours. The site had been located with the help of an advanced drone sent by Turkey’s military which has thermal imaging capabilities.

  Initially, when news first hit international press reports that Raisi was ‘missing’ – Iranian state media reported the incident as a mere “hard landing” and strongly suggested that at least some aboard survived. However, as hours passed and conflicting information emerged, Iran’s Supreme Leader made statements preparing the population for the worst, telling them to “pray”. 

  Almost immediately as news broke of the crash Sunday, the question was raised: was Israel or another foreign enemy of Tehran behind this? As if anticipating this, and given the volatility of the Mideast region at this tense moment, Israeli officials issued statements rejecting any suggestion of its involvement.

  This was the first question on the minds of many when news of the helicopter downing broke…

  Helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has crashed.

  Israel?????????? pic.twitter.com/SeNoHlRbqR

  — Prayag (@theprayagtiwari) May 19, 2024

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

  Additionally and perhaps most importantly Iran itself had never alleged any act of sabotage. From the start, the official explanation has focused on ‘technical failure’ and the hazards of low visibility weather.

  With other big incidents or assassinations (for example of Iranian nuclear scientists), Tehran officials haven’t been shy about pointing to foreign intelligence like Israel’s Mossad or the CIA. So if there was any evidence of a foreign plot, it is likely Tehran would have alleged it by now.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 22:00

• Trump Suggests Nikki Haley Will Be 'On Our Team In Some Form'
  Trump Suggests Nikki Haley Will Be ‘On Our Team In Some Form’

  Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Following her announcement that she would be voting for former President Donald Trump after challenging him in the Republican primaries this year, President Trump said he was sure that former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley would be joining his team in some capacity.

  

  Ms. Haley was previously the United Nations ambassador under President Trump’s first administration. She noted in her first remarks since dropping out of the race on May 22 that she would be supporting her former boss and opponent while calling President Joe Biden’s presidency a “catastrophe.”

  In a revealing interview with News 12 New York after a campaign rally in the Bronx, New York, President Trump responded to Ms. Haley’s recent public endorsement of him following her exit from the presidential race.

  When asked about the possibility of Ms. Haley being a part of his team or even his ticket, Trump responded positively. “Well, I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” President Trump stated. “I appreciated what she said. You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty, but she’s a very capable person and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form absolutely.”

  The endorsement marks a significant change in the public-facing relationship between the two despite the heated and often contentious primary battles. Ms. Haley’s change of tune suggests a more unified front by the GOP against the current administration, signaling a strategic move to consolidate conservative support ahead of the general election.

  Mr. Trump also declined to name his top three possible running mates in the interview but had previously noted that Ms. Haley was not on the list for his vice presidential running mate.

  The former president also said in a prior interview that he would likely make his announcement around the time of the GOP convention later this summer.

  Haley’s Endorsement

  Ms. Haley said during a conversation at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank where she is now the Walter P. Stern Chair, that, “I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, who would secure the border.”

  “No more excuses,” she said. “A president who would support capitalism and freedom. A president who understands we need less debt, not more debt. Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.”

  Ms. Haley has urged President Trump to engage with her supporters.

  Despite ending her campaign, she has still garnered support in GOP primaries. Last week, Ms. Haley notched 20 percent of the vote in the Maryland Republican primary and 18 percent in Nebraska. Earlier this month, she won 22 percent in the Indiana GOP primary.

  Ms. Haley has been critical of both Democrat and Republican approaches to foreign policy, particularly concerning Israel, Ukraine, and China’s potential threat to Taiwan. She emphasized the importance of addressing both domestic and foreign issues simultaneously to prevent enemies from gaining strength.

  In her speech at the Hudson Institute, Ms. Haley rebuked President Biden, the Democratic Party, and the GOP regarding foreign policy.

  Ms. Haley decried Democrats’ response to the war between Israel and Hamas. She cited President Biden’s decision to withhold some bombs and munitions over concerns about Israel using them in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where the last remaining Hamas battalions are believed to be operating.

  She also criticized President Biden’s response to the war in Ukraine, blaming him for not sending Kyiv what they needed.

  Ms. Haley warned that China is watching how the United States responds to the war in Ukraine and that it will either deter or encourage Beijing to invade Taiwan.

  Jackson Richman, Stacy Robinson, and Janice Hisle contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 21:40

• First McDonald's, Now Burger King Admits Consumers Are Broke With Planned Reintroduction Of $5 Meal Deal
  First McDonald’s, Now Burger King Admits Consumers Are Broke With Planned Reintroduction Of $5 Meal Deal

  A recent trend of mega corporations rolling back prices and reintroducing deals has emerged. Whether this is potentially due to pressure from the White House ahead of elections or, as Goldman pointed out, “Consumer caution mounts as cracks in resilience theme emerge,” there’s growing evidence that working poor consumers are struggling in the era of failed Bidenomics.

  About two weeks ago, after three years of ‘McFlation‘ that sent the price of combo meals as high as $18, McDonald’s weighed on new plans to reintroduce $5 combo meal deals. The report, initially from Bloomberg, specified the deal could include a McChicken or a McDouble, fries, and a drink. 

  Elsewhere, Walmart, Target, and Aldi have lowered prices on thousands of everyday items, including staple foods. This comes in response to a spending slowdown among cash-strapped working-poor consumers who are drowning in insurmountable credit card debt and drained personal savings amid elevated inflation. 

  Covering the faltering consumer theme have been the analysts at Goldman: 

  • The Largest US Trading Desk Is “Getting Bearish On The US Consumer”
  • Goldman Warns Consumers Are Cracking As Stagflation Threats Emerge
  • Goldman’s Commentary On Consumer Health Is An Ominous One

  The value war kicked off earlier this month as corporations strive to retain their customer base and prevent trade-downs or migrations to competitors. This is why McDonald’s meal deal push has prompted Burger King to offer a similar deal. 

  Bloomberg reported that Burger King is preparing to launch a $5 meal deal. The deal will include the choice of one of three sandwiches with nuggets, fries, and a drink. Franchisees approved the deal in April. 

  

  “Regardless of their plans, we are moving full speed ahead with our own plans to launch our own $5 value meal before they do — and run it for several months,” Burger King US and Canada President Tom Curtis wrote in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. 

  The bigger story is that mega-corporations are cutting prices and offering deals because, as Goldman has shown, working-poor consumers have hit a proverbial brick wall. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 21:20

• They Want To Scare You With Myths Of "Unhampered Capitalism"
  They Want To Scare You With Myths Of “Unhampered Capitalism”

  Authored by George Fo4rd Smith via The Mises Institute,

  Bad ideas are sometimes the hardest to dethrone. It’s probably accurate to say most people think of money as the paper currency printed by governments. And it is money in the sense that it functions as a medium of exchange, but is it sound? Is it vulnerable to inflation? Its very existence is evidence that it is, so why are so many people reluctant to switch to a money that isn’t?

  

  There any many myths surrounding hard money currencies, and one of them is that money, both its nature and supply, is best left to the alleged guardian of our rights, the state. The fact that money came into existence on the market, and that its ultimate form and supply were determined by economic law, is disregarded. Money matters belong to the state because the state, unlike the rest of us, is in a position to remove itself from market discipline. Since the state is necessary to our survival, the story goes, it cannot do its job unless it can control the growth of money. Money, therefore, must be of such a nature that its supply can grow in accordance with the orders of a state-appointed committee.

  Even the classical gold standard was under control of the state. When that control proved too limited for those eager for war, it was abandoned. The gold standard did not fail. States failed to keep the gold standard.

  When Keynes unloaded his General Theory on the world in 1936 it was a manifesto of state economic law. Free-market economists would critique his work, but capitalism untethered scared the public. After 1929 it became the devil in fine suits. The fact that even top economists and industry leaders failed to see the Crash coming was especially unnerving.

  Unaware of Austrian trade cycle theory, the public saw the market as an alluring evil, drawing people into its clutches with promises of riches then suddenly stripping them of their wealth. Fear, then, and not ideological persuasion led them to reject the market as it existed in the 1920s and along with it any notion that the unhampered market was self-regulating.

  Prior to US entry into World War I, the government and its media allies worked hard trying to convince Americans that Germany was a threat to civilization itself. No such effort was required to scare them about the Depression. Unlike the Germans who were over there, the Depression was very painfully over here.

  Robert Higgs’ outstanding book Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government underscores the importance of widespread fear for government growth. In his opening chapter, “Fear: The Foundation of Every Government’s Power,” he contends that, contrary to the positions of David Hume, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and others, public opinion is not the bedrock of government. Public opinion rests on something deeper and more primordial: fear. After the Great Crash, the man in the street feared the market, and the governments of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt were eager to oblige. Gold, by then, had been corrupted enough to take the fall.

  Whether the public still feared the market six years later was immaterial because neither major party offered a free-market candidate for election. But FDR knew the importance of keeping the public uneasy. In his State of the Union address of 1936, he told listeners, “In thirty-four months we have built up new instruments of public power. In the hands of a people’s Government this power is wholesome and proper. In hands under control of an economic autocracy such power would provide shackles for the liberties of the people.”

  It’s difficult to believe Americans would fall for the notion of a wholesome people’s government, but the times were ripe for collectivist ideas as long as they were served up properly.

  FDR won reelection that year by a huge landslide.

  It’s been said that FDR saved capitalism by co-opting the radical left into his New Deal. Without FDR, in other words, we would be living under full fascism instead of quasi fascism. The free market was still useful, especially the name, but only if government-appointed bureaucrats regulated it, never mind the contradiction. Exactly which regulations were needed was a big unknown, but as a way of emphasizing the new in New Deal, government would experiment until it found the right combination. How would they know if the system of rugged individualism that favored the big guys was adequately harnessed? By looking at the economy. Every trouble spot, for the government, acted like a magnet, the attraction of which was in direct proportion to the potential votes at stake.

  The Highly Regulated Free Market

  So successful were FDR and his successors in saving capitalism that finding something today that isn’t taxed, regulated, subsidized, cartelized, forbidden, mandated, or bound like a mummy in endless red tape is a near impossibility. We can get a feel for the massive number of regulations the market is subjected to on the federal level alone by browsing the electronic version of the Code of Federal Regulations, updated daily by the Office of the Federal Register. Joe Biden, as president, has the whole economy in his hands. As Higgs points out, with passage of “the National Emergencies Act (1976) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977), nearly all economic liberties in this country exist at the sufferance of the president. If he decides to take over the economy, he possesses ample statutory power to do so.”

  What was once an economy with a strong element of freedom has become an economy of rent-seeking special interests, or as Albert Jay Nock expressed it, people using politics to gain an “uncompensated appropriation of wealth produced by others.” In accordance with Garet Garrett’s thesis of a revolution within the form and the word, the old names have been quite useful for getting people to look the wrong way, as we saw in 2008 when George W. Bush announced he was abandoning free-market principles to save the free market.

  The forgotten man of the Depression, whether Charles Sumner’s or FDR’s, was fearful, and considering the intellectual ammunition at his disposal, it’s easy to see why. But what can one say about today? Should people be fearful of the economic mess governments have created? Not necessarily. More people are beginning to understand, if only vaguely, that politics has brought the roof down, and that a sound economy is impossible without something politically indifferent supporting it: sound money.

  Austrian critics are debunking the claims about gold’s role in the Great Depression, pointing out that the straw-man gold exchange standard of the 1920s and early 1930s was another government solution destined to collapse. Ben Bernanke’s statement that the longer a country remained committed to gold, the deeper its depression and the later its recovery is being seen as grossly misleading, at best.

  (Earlier in his commentary Bernanke explained that the gold standard of the 1920s was a reconstituted version of the gold standard that had endured prior to World War I. Abandoning a pseudo–gold standard makes sense only if an honest monetary system replaces it. As it was, the country moved from one controlled system to one much worse.)

  Unlike the poor souls of the Depression era, anyone on planet earth who is wired and can read English (and certain other languages) can access a vast literature of economic theory, applications, and criticism from an Austrian School perspective at Mises.org. It would be impossible to deal with today’s misinformation without the many works of Austrian analysis, most of which are accessible to a lay audience. In their absence we could well be the fearful captives of an FDR simulator like Joe Biden.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 21:00

• Rents Are Plunging In These Major U.S. Cities
  Rents Are Plunging In These Major U.S. Cities

  As everybody knows, during the early phase of the pandemic, both single-family and multifamily rental prices surged, fueled by the shift to remote work and changing migration trends – not the least of which was getting the hell out of the city by any means necessary…

  But, as CNBC/NBC now notes, the dynamics affecting rental prices have since shifted.

  Multifamily rents in April dropped by 0.8% compared to the same month last year, according to Apartment List data. This decline was triggered by a significant influx of new units hitting the market, with additional developments expected.

  Despite this downturn, apartment rents experienced a marginal increase of 0.5% for the third consecutive month. This growth is modest, especially considering that rents typically start to climb in the spring.

  This year’s increase is not only smaller than usual but also less than the growth observed in the previous month, bringing the national median rent in April to $1,396.

  A report by Apartment List said: “This is typically the time of year when rent growth is accelerating heading into the busy moving season, so the fact that growth stalled this month could be a sign that the market is headed for another slow summer.”

  In fact, the report says that apartment vacancies have reached a peak not seen since August 2020, climbing to 6.7% as of March. While the issuance of new multifamily building permits is decelerating, the volume of units currently under construction remains near an all-time high, and last year witnessed the highest number of new apartments entering the market in more than three decades.

  On the other hand, single-family rents have exhibited more resilience, showing a 3.4% increase in March year-over-year, as reported by CoreLogic. However, this growth rate is gradually decreasing as build-for-rent companies continue to add more supply to the market.

  

  According to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis of Census data, construction began on approximately 18,000 single-family homes designed for rent in the first quarter, up 20% from the first quarter of 2023.

  Over the past year, 80,000 such homes have started construction, marking a nearly 16% increase from the previous year.

  This robustness in single-family rents suggests that many potential homebuyers, deterred by rising mortgage rates—now back over 7%—and climbing home prices, are opting to rent houses instead.

  For the first time in 14 years, single-family attached homes, such as townhomes, have experienced a year-over-year rent decrease, highlighting a shift in the rental market dynamics

  • In the nation’s 20 largest cities, Seattle reported the highest annual increase in single-family rents at 6.3%, followed by New York at 5.3% and Boston at 5.2%.

  • On the decline were Austin, Texas with a 3.5% decrease, Miami with a 3.2% drop, and New Orleans, falling 1.4%.

  Molly Boesel, principal economist for CoreLogic, added: “U.S. single-family rent growth strengthened overall in March, though some weaknesses are revealed in the latest numbers. Overbuilt areas, such as Austin, Texas, continued to soften, decreasing by 3.5% annually in March.”

  She added: “The decrease in the attached segment is being driven by a subset of markets, mostly in Florida, but including Austin and New Orleans. As multifamily apartments are being completed, some markets are gaining rental supply, which competes with the attached segment of the single-family rental market.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 20:40

• Lula's Brazil: A Cautionary Tale For Free Speech In The West
  Lula’s Brazil: A Cautionary Tale For Free Speech In The West

  Authored by Paulo Figueiredo via The Epoch Times,

  The notion of censoring political opponents is as old as civilization itself. Throughout history, countless governments have employed this tactic to silence dissent and maintain their grip on power. From ancient Rome to modern-day dictatorships, the suppression of free speech has been a hallmark of authoritarian rule. Even today, censorship remains a pervasive force in countries such as China, where the Great Firewall restricts access to information; North Korea, where the state maintains an iron grip on all forms of media; and Russia, where journalists and activists face severe consequences for speaking out against the government.

  However, in the West, the Enlightenment ideas championed by British thinkers like John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Paine paved the way for a radical departure from this oppressive tradition. Their writings, which emphasized the importance of individual liberty and the free exchange of ideas, inspired the groundbreaking “American experiment.” The adoption of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which unequivocally protects freedom of speech, marked a turning point in human history. This bold move proved successful, as greater freedom of expression fostered innovation, enhanced legal security, improved government accountability, and ultimately led to increased prosperity.

  The Western world took notice and followed suit, giving rise to the so-called “Free World.” In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, enshrining the right to freedom of expression for all. While this development was not without its challenges—as it allowed for the dissemination of harmful and malicious ideologies like Nazism and communism—the consensus remained that the spread of bad ideas posed a lesser threat than the dangers of censorship. As the famous saying goes, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

  However, this trend is now reversing at an alarming rate. In a recent hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski warned of an escalating trend of censorship in countries once considered bastions of free speech. He cited examples such as France, where the government has cracked down on so-called “hate speech,” and Germany, where social media companies face hefty fines for failing to remove “illegal content” within 24 hours. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have also introduced controversial laws that could stifle free expression.

  But perhaps the most egregious example of this troubling trend is Brazil. According to Elon Musk, no country where X (formerly Twitter) operates experiences a worse state of censorship than Brazil, a nation until recently regarded as the largest liberal democracy in the Southern Hemisphere. Since 2019, the powerful Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, now infamous, has been conducting his investigation dubbed the “Fake News Probe.” This probe has targeted hundreds of individuals, most recently including Elon Musk himself, for allegedly spreading “disinformation.”

  

  The consequences of this investigation have been severe. Numerous people, including journalists like me, have had their social media accounts blocked, passports revoked, and financial assets frozen.

  Others have faced even harsher fates, including imprisonment—all under the guise of “combating disinformation” and “protecting democracy.”

  Glenn Greenwald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept, has been one of the most vocal critics of this crackdown. In a recent article, he wrote, “The level of repression and censorship in Brazil is staggering. It’s a country that has really become a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked power and the erosion of civil liberties.”

  When leftist Lula da Silva resumed the Brazilian presidency in 2023, he realized that, thanks to the precedent set by Justice Moraes, he now wielded censorship powers he did not possess during his first two terms (2003–2010).

  He gained the ability to criminally prosecute any speech that contradicted the government’s narrative. This became evident in the aftermath of this month’s devastating floods in southern Brazil, a catastrophe surpassing the impact of Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

  As government aid was delayed, federal agencies displayed immense incompetence, and bureaucratic hurdles even led to fines being imposed on trucks carrying donations from civil society, information and videos exposing these facts began to circulate on social media and some news outlets. Independent journalists and opposition politicians, such as Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, shared these videos and information, only to be met with Lula da Silva’s response, labeling the criticism as “fake news” and “disinformation” amid a calamitous situation. The Brazilian government ordered the Federal Police to open an investigation into the matter, targeting even members of Congress.

  The Brazil of Lula da Silva and Justice Moraes serves as a stark reminder to the world of a lesson that should have been learned long ago: It is foolish and naive to believe that censorship will be “temporary” or “restricted.” Once a government succeeds in establishing a Ministry of Truth and dictating what can and cannot be said, it will inevitably use these powers to silence any genuine opposition. When governments arrogate to themselves the power to determine what is true and what is false, they open the door to tyranny. It is a slippery slope that leads inexorably to the suppression of dissent and the erosion of democracy. Until recently, this was a point of consensus among liberals and conservatives alike. It appears that is no longer the case.

  For in the immortal words of George Orwell, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” The events unfolding in Brazil should serve as a warning to us all.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 20:20

• NYC Tourists Expected To Generate $4.9 Billion In Tax Revenue For The City
  NYC Tourists Expected To Generate $4.9 Billion In Tax Revenue For The City

  While residents and businesses continue to pour out of New York City in favor of tax-friendlier locations, tourists appear to be doing all the heavy lifting in helping the city raise tax revenue. 

  Now, revenue generated by tourists is higher than it was pre-pandemic, with Bloomberg reporting that the 62.2 million people who visited New York City last year were expected to post a record $4.9 billion in sales and other tourism-related tax revenue.

  This marks a 16% hike from 2020, which has been driven by – you guessed it – higher prices. 

  The pandemic, which started in early 2020, severely impacted New York City, collapsing the office and retail sectors and driving many residents to relocate to the suburbs or other states. However, the city has been witnessing a gradual economic revival, marked by the return of visitors to Broadway, museums, and other attractions, Bloomberg writes.

  Despite initial hopes by tourism officials to exceed pre-pandemic visitor numbers this year, a slower recovery in international travel has postponed these expectations to 2025. By then, the city anticipates welcoming 68 million visitors, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

  

  International tourists, who constitute about 20% of the city’s annual visitors, saw a dramatic 82.2% decline in 2020, dropping to 2.4 million mainly due to severe travel restrictions and a significant decrease in visitors from China, where the virus first emerged. Last year, this number recovered to 11.6 million, though it remains 14.1% lower than pre-pandemic levels.

  Domestically, U.S. tourists have been the main drivers of the recovery, with 50.6 million visiting the city last year, a 7% increase over 2022. However, business travel, including both domestic and international, is rebounding more slowly than leisure travel. It decreased to 400,000 in 2021 from 3.4 million in 2019, and has since climbed to about 2.3 million, the report says. 

  Furthermore, the New York City tourism sector is still experiencing a shortfall of approximately 30,000 jobs, down 10.4% from its pre-pandemic strength, as per DiNapoli’s report.

  Despite these challenges, New York continues to be the premier U.S. tourist destination. In 2023, it led with 33 million overnight visitors, outpacing Las Vegas and Los Angeles, which attracted 26 million and 21 million overnight visitors respectively.

  DiNapoli concluded: “The industry’s full recovery won’t be complete until we see a full return of international and business travelers. Our city and state leaders need to focus on keeping New York a desirable and safe destination for individuals and families from around the world.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 20:00

• No, Artificial Intelligence Will Not Solve All Problems
  No, Artificial Intelligence Will Not Solve All Problems

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  The famed historian and epidemiologist John M. Barry just threw out a trope that has become unbearably popular today. He predicted that in the future, artificial intelligence (AI) will make it possible to more perfectly enact pandemic lockdowns and develop vaccines.

  “Artificial intelligence will perhaps be able to extrapolate from mountains of data which restrictions deliver the most benefits—whether, for example, just closing bars would be enough to significantly dampen spread—and which impose the greatest cost,” he writes.

  “AI should also speed drug development.”

  Maybe if you are an expert in anything these days and write in The New York Times, this is just what you say today to seem hip and with it, even if you have no idea what you are talking about. That’s the most likely reason.

  Even so, this constant invocation of AI as the future solution to all problems is getting extremely annoying.

  

  Can you imagine a world in which AI demands that your favorite local watering hole needs to shut? I can easily imagine it. I can also imagine local media citing AI as the final authority such that no human arguments can get in the way.

  There is nothing new under the sun.

  Every time a fancy new technology appears on the horizon, the experts emerge from the firmament to assure us that it will solve every human problem in the future.

  And they always advocate that it be made the core of government policy, thus fixing all the problems with government that everyone has known from all ages. Thanks to this brilliant thing, it will be different this time.

  This is exactly what happened with computers, starting in the mid-1950s once they became available. The new claim was everywhere: Computers would make the central planning called socialism possible. This claim was conjured up as an answer to an intractable problem that had vexed intellectuals since the 1920s.

  Here is a bit of background on that controversy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, socialists were running around saying that they could rework economic life in a way to make all things function more efficiently and with even greater economic growth once we got rid of capitalistic systems.

  In 1922, Ludwig von Mises posed a very serious problem to the theory. If you collectivize the capital stock, you eliminate trading across the board for all capital goods. That means that none will carry a market price that signals relative scarcities. Without those, you cannot have accurate accounting. Without that, you will not gain a precise reading of profits and losses, so you will have no idea if what you are doing is efficient or wildly wasteful.

  Not only that, you won’t have any clue of how to produce anything with any kind of effectiveness. You will end up just barking orders in an economic environment of pure chaos. “There is only groping in the dark,” he wrote. In short, the whole society will fall apart.

  The socialists were confounded by the critique. In fact, they never really answered it in any compelling way. Not only that but the reality of communism in Russia seemed to confirm as true everything that Mises said. The “war communism” imposed by Vladimir Lenin achieved nothing but starvation and waste. In short, it was a total disaster.

  That didn’t mean that the attempt to centrally plan economies went away. Instead, they just kept trying. But following World War II, they had a fancy new tool: the computer. We don’t need market-generated prices anymore. Now we only need to plug in resource availability and consumer demand into the computer and it will spit out the answer concerning how much to produce of what and how.

  Oddly, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, who was very keen to get the economy actually making stuff that was useful to people, trusted these new fools and attempted the solution of asking the computer for answers to problems. You don’t need to be told the results. It didn’t work. The computer was, and is always, garbage in and garbage out. There is simply no substitute for market prices generated through the roil and toil of trading and price discovery.

  Sadly, it took many decades for people to finally concede that Mises was right all along.

  But no lessons last forever in a world where human arrogance runs rampant. So now we are being lectured that artificial intelligence will solve all the problems associated with pandemic planning that we discovered from 2020 to 2022. Don’t worry about it! We’ll just ask ChatGPT what to do!

  The same problem presents itself: garbage in and garbage out.

  Mr. Barry’s idea is that we simply plug in seroprevalence levels in a community, hoping to get a picture of disease spread, along with transmission and infection fatality rates, and AI will reveal the costs and benefits of shutting things down. Will it generate the right answer? No, because there is no one answer, not for communities and not for individuals.

  The costs of shutdowns will be more seriously felt, for example, by the bar owner than the patron. The supposed benefits cannot be summed up as failing to get infected since exposure (and not just vaccination) is a path toward immunity. There are conditions in which exposure offers a better risk-benefit ratio than waiting for a vaccine, especially one that does not work.

  Plus, we found out last time that we have no real way to get an accurate read on exposure, certainly not with PCR exams that measure the presence of particular pathogens and not actual sickness. And the testing itself is a problem: People despise the tests today, and rightly so. The only need to test is if you are sick, and only then to better guide the appropriate response. We have never imposed population-wide testing in order to know whether and to what extent to lock down whole populations.

  In so many ways, the epidemiological models that imposed lockdowns on us in 2020 and following were born of the same primitive analytical tools that drove central planning models in the 1950s. In them, everything seems to work perfectly on paper. The trouble comes when you try to impose the same models on real life. The data is incomplete and inaccurate, the assumptions about spread are wrong, and the mutations in the pathogen will typically outwit the planners’ intentions.

  In other words, pandemic planning fails for the same reasons that central economic planning fails. The world is too fast-moving and complicated for the models to capture and control all of the necessary conditions. But admitting that is not usually the habit of governments and their intellectual advisers. They cannot stand to confess their own ignorance, impotence, and incompetence in the face of real-world conditions.

  As a result, we now have the pandemic planners toying with the idea that AI will save their bacon, following a catastrophic experience in letting them have their way last time. The truth is that the next pandemic plan will fail just as badly as the last one, no matter how many computer programs the planners throw at the problem. The real pathogen among elite government planners and intellectuals has a much deeper root: The problem is hubris.

  AI has its uses, but substituting for actual human action and intelligence is not one of them. It can never happen. If we attempt that—and surely we will—the result will be disappointing at best.

  F.A. Hayek said that economic planning by government embodies a pretense of knowledge. That’s nothing compared with the ambition of governments throughout the world to control and manage the whole of the microbial kingdom. There is nothing that AI can do to achieve that. And like communism, the attempt only creates nothing but destruction.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 19:40

• Penn Protestor Who Claims She Was Left 'Homeless' Is Daughter Of Affluent Celebrity Game Show Host
  Penn Protestor Who Claims She Was Left ‘Homeless’ Is Daughter Of Affluent Celebrity Game Show Host

  One Penn encampment student who claimed to have been left ‘homeless’ by the administration’s ‘violence’ has been found to be the daughter of a jet-setting, caviar eating business owning parents. 

  University of Pennsylvania sophomore Eliana Atienza was placed on mandatory leave for participating in an encampment on Penn’s campus, according to the Free Beacon.

  She then went on to tell the Philadelphia Inquirer that she was the real victim, and that she had been left homeless with no family in the United States to turn to. 

  In an Instagram post, she wrote: “I live on campus. The university has barred me from entering. In other words—the university has made me houseless.”

  

  “I am also an international student. The University knows this,” she added. “This is their weapon. So disappointed to be attending an institution that resorts to administrative violence.”

  But it turns out her father is “Kuya Kim,” who the Free Beacon called “a celebrity television presenter who has hosted the country’s most popular morning and game shows.”

  It was also reveled that her grandfather is a notable Filipino politician Lito Atienza. He held the position of deputy speaker in the country’s House of Representatives until 2022, at which point he entered the vice presidential race alongside boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.

  Atienza’s mother, a graduate of the Wharton School, is the founder and former head of the Chinese International School Manila, a private K-12 school.

  Meanwhile, Atienza’s father is unapologetic about displaying his affluence. He recently posted photos on Instagram from a luxurious first-class flight featuring caviar service and a full shower.

  

  Recognized as one of the Philippines’ most familiar TV personalities by British magazine Tatler, he has also televised tours of his home, highlighting his unique collections which include dinosaur eggs, mid-century modern chairs, and vintage motorcycles, featuring two BMWs from World War II.

  Atienza herself also recently posted photos of a trip she took to Antarctica.

  

  Atienza, an environmental studies major, became a prominent figure in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” that disrupted campus life for over two weeks.

  Earlier in the month, she was among the students who engaged in negotiations with interim president Larry Jameson to dismantle the encampment, as reported by the Inquirer.

  Atienza rejected Jameson’s tentative offers, criticizing them as mere promises to “look into the feasibility” of divesting from Israel by entangling student protesters in “endless meetings and task forces and discussions and committees.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 19:20

• Political Consultant Faces $6 Million Fine For Fake Biden Robocalls
  Political Consultant Faces $6 Million Fine For Fake Biden Robocalls

  Authored by Jana Pruet via The Epoch Times,

  New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced on Thursday that Steven Kramer had been indicted on more than two dozen charges for allegedly sending artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice to voters ahead of the New Hampshire presidential primary earlier this year.

  “New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” Mr. Formella said.

  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $6 million fine for Mr. Kramer, 54, a Louisiana-based political consultant who is indicted on 13 counts of felony voter suppression and 13 counts of misdemeanor impersonation of a candidate.

  “The Federal Communications Commission will separately be announcing an enforcement action against Mr. Kramer based on violations of federal law,” the attorney general continued. “I am pleased to see that our federal partners are similarly committed to protecting consumers and voters from harmful robocalls and voter suppression. I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise.”

  Mr. Kramer has admitted to orchestrating the AI-generated voice similar to the president’s and using the phrase ‘What a bunch of malarkey’ in the call that was sent to thousands of voters.

  

  The voice also falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in the general election in November.

  Voters who received the robocall message were allegedly asked to “save [their] vote for the November election.” The message also stated, “[y]our vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday,” according to the attorney general’s office.

  “We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot use the telecommunications networks to facilitate the misuse of generative AI technology to interfere with elections, defraud consumers, or compromise sensitive data,” Loyann Egal, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau chief, said in a statement.

  The charges were filed across four counties, including Rockingham, Belknap, Grafton, and Merrimack, based on the residence of the thirteen identified voters who received the robocalls.

  Telecom Company Also Faces Fine

  In a separate announcement, the FCC proposed a $2 million fine in a “first-of-its-kind enforcement action” against Lingo Telecom, the company accused of transmitting the robocalls, for violating federal caller identification authentication rules.

  “Two days before the New Hampshire 2024 presidential primary election, illegally spoofed and malicious robocalls carried a deepfake audio recording of President Biden’s cloned voice telling prospective voters not to vote in the upcoming primary,” the FCC said on Thursday. “The inaccurate and misleading calls also transmitted the caller ID number of an unknowing local political operative.”

  Texas-based Lingo Telecom is accused of not applying protocols to verify the accuracy of the customer’s information and failing to use certain standards mandated by the commission that serve as a “digital identifier for each call to empower tracebacks of suspicious calls, inform robocall blocking tools, and support more reliable caller ID information for consumers.”

  “We will hold providers accountable for failing to know their customers and for failing to uphold the rules we have in place to protect the American public,” Mr. Egal said.

  In February, the FCC issued a cease-and-desist letter against the telecom company, demanding it “immediately stop supporting unlawful robocall traffic on its networks.”

  FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that the FCC is working with attorneys general nationwide to combat the use of AI in spreading false information.

  “Consumers deserve to know that the person on the other end of the line is exactly who they claim to be,” Ms. Rosenworcel said in a statement earlier this year. “That’s why we’re working closely with State Attorneys General across the country to combat the use of voice cloning technology in robocalls being used to misinform voters and target unwitting victims of fraud.”

  The investigation into the AI-generated robocalls impersonating President Biden, including other possible responsible parties, remains ongoing.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 19:00

• Putin Wants Ceasefire Which Freezes Current Lines In Ukraine
  Putin Wants Ceasefire Which Freezes Current Lines In Ukraine

  President Vladimir Putin is offering a ceasefire with Ukraine and its Western backers to end what has long been a full-fledged proxy war. But it’s unlikely to be agreed to by Kiev as he reportedly wants to freeze current positions.

  “Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire – to freeze the war,” a senior Russian source said to be close to the Russian leader told Reuters. If it happened, Putin would most certainly present this as ‘victory’ to his people and to the world.

  

  Putin himself told a press conference Friday that peace talks with Ukraine should be renewed, but they “must reflect realities on the ground.“

  Reuters writes that “Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin’s entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to rule out talks.”

  Any scenario which sees current lines frozen would mean Ukraine would have to cede substantial chunks of four Ukrainian regions. And in Kharkiv, for example, where a new Russian offensive is taking place, the border has been moved deeper into Ukrainian territory over the last weeks.

  But Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out ceasefire negotiations with Moscow so long as Putin remains in power, calling this “impossible”. 

  The fact that the US just recently passed Biden’s $61 billion in new defense aid for Ukraine also provides less incentive for Zelensky to come to the table, even if Ukraine continues losing many troops.

  Ukraine media and officials have charged that any Putin ceasefire offer is in the end a ploy meant to buy time to reenforce and resupply his troops, and to solidify current battlefield gains.

  If the lines were frozen today, what would it look like? Forbes outlines:

  • Russia occupies about 18% of Ukraine, including parts of the country’s four southeastern regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson—according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.-based think tank.

  • Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters Russia did not want “eternal war,” adding Russia would not return territory in those four regions to Ukraine because they are now a permanent part of Russia.

  • Three sources suggested Putin would be against further advances into Ukraine because it would require another nationwide mobilization, after a previous call-up resulted in a dip in popularity for Putin.

  

  Putin is now said to be of the view that “gains in the war so far were enough to sell a victory to the Russian people.”

  According to more from the new Reuters report, “the sources said that Putin, re-elected in March for a new six-year term, would rather use Russia’s current momentum to put the war behind him. They did not directly comment on the new defense minister.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 18:40

• House Republicans Take Aim At Biden Energy Policies, Vow To Install "Different Vision" In 2025
  House Republicans Take Aim At Biden Energy Policies, Vow To Install “Different Vision” In 2025

  Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times,

  The Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee staged its 15th review in the last 15 months of the Biden administration’s energy policies during a two-hour May 23 hearing that Democrats say was orchestrated more as a forum for election-year rhetoric than for a sober assessment of energy policy and Department of Energy (DOE) spending proposals.

  

  DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm was grilled over administration plans to domestically source critical minerals, adopt conservation standards for appliances, advance commercial nuclear power, restore the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, boost electric grid reliability, provide billions in subsidies for renewable energies, its liquid natural gas (LNG) export-permit “pause,” and even how it deals with UFO sightings around power plants.

  Much of Ms. Granholm’s give-and-take with panelists was more semantics than substance, such as lengthy exchanges with Reps. Clay Higgins (R-La.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on whether the administration’s January “pause” in new LNG export permits is, in effect, a “ban.”

  Under the Natural Gas Act’s (NGA) Section 3, the DOE is required to review applications for import or export of natural gas, including LNG, to or from a foreign country and approve those deemed “consistent with the public interest.”

  Advances in fracking spurred a natural gas boom. Before 2016, the U.S. did not export LNG. By 2023, it was the world’s top LNG exporter. This year, LNG exports will top 12 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) and are expected to increase to 14 Bcfd in 2025—all records, Ms. Granholm said, noting repeatedly that the “pause” does not affect operating and already approved LNG exports.

  “By the time all authorized projects currently under construction are complete later this decade, our export capacity is set to reach over 26 Bcfd, more than double our current level of exports,” she said. “The United States will have more LNG export capacity than any other country by more than 40 percent, even taking into account announced capacity additions in other countries.”

  Mr. Higgins and other panel Republicans said the DOE overstepped its statutory authority in unilaterally ordering a permitting pause to determine if increasing LNG exports serves “the public interest” in ensuring ample domestic supply keeps prices competitive and maintains the administration’s overriding goals in reducing carbon emissions.

  “Why have you issued a long-term ban on export permit approvals prior to determining whether or not exporting LNG is within the public interest?” he asked.

  “Number one, we have not issued a ban. Number two, it is not long-term. It is a pause to update our assessment,” Ms. Granholm said. “The assessment will be done by the first quarter of next year. It is not a ban, sir.”

  “It is a ban,” Mr. Higgins said, claiming he was “not going to get a straight answer” from the secretary, “which is not a bad answer,” and read into the record the NGA’s Section 3, which states DOE “shall issue such an order upon application unless, after opportunity for a hearing … that the proposed exportation or importation will not be consistent with the public interest.”

  There was no such hearing or determination, he said, so the NGA’s language states, by default, that export permits “shall be” issued unless deemed not in the public interest in a hearing. The Obama administration conducted a similar 2014-15 assessment without pausing permits, he added.

  “You do not have the authority, nor the precedence, to take the actions that you have, indeed, taken,” Mr. Higgins said. “This pause jeopardizes billions of dollars of interest, American jobs, American families, and a clean reliable energy source that contributes to our national security and energy security and world security by allies. This is yet another illegal action by the Biden administration being forced upon we the people.”

  Ms. Granholm said under NGA’s Section 3, the sharp increase in LNG exports provides the statutory authority to conduct a “public interest” review, repeating again it will be done by February 2025 and does not affect any permits already approved.

  “You have put in a pause and you saying it’s in the ‘public interest,’” Mr. Donalds said. “But you can’t really identify what the ‘public interest’ is because it’s in the ‘public’s interest’ for prices to go down. It is in America’s ‘public interest’ to limit the ability of the Russian regime to earn more money on the open market with their resources. Wouldn’t you agree with that?”

  No, Ms. Granholm said. Determining “public interest” is what the review is about, she said.

  “I would argue, madam secretary, that the pause that you are doing is against the law because you have not finalized your parameters, what you’re looking at” in defining “public interest,” Mr. Donalds said. “You do need to execute the permits that are waiting.”

  A model of an LNG tanker is seen in front of the U.S. flag in this illustration taken May 19, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

  Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Republicans were asking the same questions they’ve asked for months, with this hearing more about campaign sound bites than a substantive discussion on energy policy.

  What impact will the pause have on current LNG exports into “the foreseeable future?” Mr. Raskin asked, hoping to “restore some sense of proportion and reality to the conversation.”

  “It has absolutely no impact on any exports happening now,” Ms. Granholm said. “We have authorized 48 billion cubic feet of export of liquefied natural gas—48 billion. That is three times what we are currently exporting. We have authorized another 22 billion (cubic feet)” for export from terminals and projects under construction.”

  The “oversight” hearings aren’t about accountability, efficiency, and cost-savings, Mr. Raskin said, but to provide forums for Republicans to tout opposition to the Biden administration’s “war on energy’” and make “convoluted rhetorical claims” that make for good campaign sound bites, but not for thoughtful discussion.

  But elections have consequences, and winning the House in the 2022 midterms put GOP chairs in committees, and they will tort their opposition to the Biden administration’s “green energy obsession” as often as they can.

  Committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said Republicans, not Democrats, are seeking substantive answers to energy policy questions that have dominated Congress since President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021.

  Expect more such hearings into fall, he said.

  “While Democrats politicize energy and target American producers,” gasoline prices and electricity costs have increased by 30 percent since 2021, he said.

  “Congressional Republicans share a different vision for America’s energy future,” Mr. Comer said. “We will not stand by silently about as an administration subverts America’s energy independence and demonizes this critical industry.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 18:20

• DARPA And DoD-Backed AI Chip Company Seeks To Raise $70 Million
  DARPA And DoD-Backed AI Chip Company Seeks To Raise $70 Million

  It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that DARPA is hurriedly throwing in with the ongoing AI trend…

  In fact, Bloomberg reported this week that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for an additional $70 million to help further its “quest to develop an ultra-efficient chip for artificial intelligence technology”.

  It is backing a company called EnCharge AI Inc., which seeks to build chips specifically suited for AI.

  The company is pioneering in-memory computing—a technology mainly theoretical until recently that could significantly reduce the energy consumption of AI processing chips. It started from work conducted at Princeton. 

  CEO Naveen Verma, who is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton, noted that EnCharge was launched with substantial support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the DOD.

  The report says that this technology has the potential to perform data processing directly where it is stored, thereby conserving energy by eliminating the need to move data across different components.

  EnCharge is not alone in its research; major firms like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp., and Samsung Electronics Co. are also exploring similar advancements.

  

  Currently, the U.S. government, emphasizing a shift towards boosting American manufacturing, has shown significant interest in such innovations, providing over $23 million in funding to EnCharge, with additional private investment nearing double that amount from entities including Raytheon Technologies’ venture arm.

  This is part of a broader initiative backing startups and enhancing the domestic production capabilities.

  In addition to the technology’s appeal to private sector firms, the U.S. government sees crucial applications in defense, particularly for running AI-driven military applications in power-constrained environments such as remote areas and aircraft, Verma explained.

  EnCharge is preparing for its next investment round and is in pursuit of strategic investors, although Verma did not disclose specifics about the funding discussions or the company’s valuation.

  The startup has already started deploying its chips, which are tailored not for training AI models like those of OpenAI or Anthropic, but for applications utilizing these models for predictive tasks.

  With a workforce of 50, EnCharge anticipates launching products manufactured by TSMC in the coming year and currently has customers evaluating its technology.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 18:00

• The Doom Of The Total State
  The Doom Of The Total State

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  We’ve been waiting for the big thoughts on the meaning of it all. Where does the crisis of our times fit into the historical trajectory? What does it all imply for how we should think about politics, culture, society, our lives, and our futures? A frustrating part of current intellectual life is that too few dare even to think much less write such big thoughts.

  I truly crave them. My own work, particularly my latest book “Life After Lockdown,” is fine but I’m not up to the task I hope for from others.

  This is why I’m absolutely thrilled by Auron MacIntyre’s wonderful new book “The Total State.” The author fully understands the essential dynamics of our time, including the calamitous failure of the great war on the virus. It’s not a book of epidemiology, thank goodness, but of sociology, history, and political theory. Therefore, he doesn’t miss the essential class element behind the disaster.

  As he clearly states, the COVID experience was all about the rights and privileges of the professional managerial class in government, media, and large corporations. They rigged the response to the virus in a way that maximized their safety and income, while exploiting those without power to serve their every need.

  

  The slogan was “We are all in this together” but the reality was of the working class stepping up to deliver goods and services to the elite classes until the vaccine could arrive. Then the new shot was forced on all those who had bravely faced the pathogen in order to get them biologically clean before being integrated back into society.

  The author gets this entirely correct, and I’m thrilled for it because so few authors do. But it is just a piece of his larger analysis, which is quite challenging. The essence of the thesis is in the subtitle: “How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies.” His view is not that they might, or can, or are in danger of becoming so with the wrong policy decisions. The thesis here is more bold than that. He says that they will and they must.

  Wow. Intrigued? I certainly was when I began the journey of this book.

  I read as someone with a classical liberal heart, a person with warm feelings for all the great Enlightenment thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries, a partisan fan of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, a person with tremendous affection for the achievements of the freedom project of the last several centuries but also a person deeply saddened by what’s become of it.

  MacIntyre does not hold that view. Not at all. He believes that the liberal project of the 17th and 18th centuries were the product of rationalistic arrogance, the belief that whole societies and cultures could be cajoled into a single model of organization by virtue of pieces of parchment, governmental architectures, slogans about human rights, and strict models of what defines the very notion of freedom and progress.

  He attempts to map out how the freedom of past centuries gradually mutated into the total state of today, a political order in which the entrenched and global bureaucratic elite face no limits to their power and ambition. He is not even slightly shocked that the center of the empire is the United States simply because the U.S. was the most successful deployment of the liberal democracy in history, and hence the one most vulnerable to the trajectory of arrogance, corruption, decadence, bloat, and hegemonic imposition without limit.

  Still intrigued? Read on.

  The journey begins with the neglected genius of Bertrand de Jouvenel, who traces the origins of freedom not with big declarations of human rights and democracy for all but with the insistence on the part of cultural centers for independence from state power. In European history, it was the minor royals, the landed gentry, the multigenerational centers of wealth and enterprise, and the keepers of faith that formed the real resistance to state power.

  De Jouvenel further argues that it is precisely these robust institutions of cultural and social power that keep state power at bay in a way that individuals on their own never could. When they die out, everyone becomes vulnerable to pillaging but higher powers. In his view, the sloganizing around individual rights and infinite choice and progress is but a masquerade that hides a power grab. When these mediating institutions are weakened, state power only grows.

  You might recognize this outlook as conventional old-world Tory theory, one that is anti-liberal at its core. That seems true in some respects but the journey has only begun as our author takes us through a highly competent tour of thinkers I doubt most students have encountered in generations, simply because they have been smeared as reflexively right-wing: Joseph de Maistre, Gaetano Mosca, Carl Schmitt, Vilfredo Pareto, James Burnham, and Samuel Francis.

  I will just say plainly that these thinkers are not my cup of tea. I’ve been severely critical of all of them for reasons I don’t need to explain here. That said, we must admit the following. Together they have provided the single most powerful attack on liberalism classically understood that has ever been marshaled. It’s not even obvious to me that it has been sufficiently answered by anyone, unless I’m missing something.

  The critique is this.

  Liberalism is a form of rationalism, one born of intellectuals rather than real human experience, a construct involving definitive propositions about how life should be conducted that is necessarily imperial in that it overrides the aims, ethos, and operations of all other organic institutions in society. It says, in essence, that you must think this way or hit the highway. In so doing, it tramples on religious traditions, familial aspirations, local folkways, tacit knowledge born of long experience, norms and manners of local communities, and diminishes the role of mediating structures in the social order.

  Liberalism, in this view, is a managerial project—like an architectural blueprint drawn up by someone who has only studied but never built anything—one requiring expertise to administer and hence experts and bureaucrats at all levels of society. But the people who inhabit these positions are relatively detached from the social order they presume to manage and hence their decision-making and interests are necessarily less knowledgeable and humane than they otherwise would be if people were truly left to their own devices.

  The critique is deepened by the observation that liberalism as a philosophy is necessarily devoid of genuine meaning of the sort that traditional religion seeks to provide. It extols the inherent glory of material achievement and progress but offers no real solace when it turns out—as it always does—that success alone does not fulfill deep human longings.

  In that sense, his view is that democratic liberalism is a false god that always fails. Having robbed people of a moral and faith-based center, liberalism is well-positioned to invade lives and communities with bureaucratic management while promoting dependency and arbitrary power.

  The author uses all the modern crises to illustrate his point: the COVID disaster, the U.S. proxy war with Russia, the imperialism of world bureaucracies, the hegemony of the administrative state and the impotence of the judiciary to control it, and so on.

  If all of this sounds dreadful—and it does indeed—there is some light on the other side: he predicts that the total state of the 21st century is destined to fail.

  “Liberal democracy made assumptions about human nature that were false. It outran the consequences for a long time because it was able to amass an unprecedented amount of wealth and power, but eventually the bill always comes due. Constitutions are not eternal guardians of the political will and states do not become objective and self-governing machines simply because rules get written down on a piece of paper. Man has not moved beyond either religion or politics. Questions of faith and sovereignty will continue to sit at the core of the human experience, just as they always have. Matters of meaning, identity, and existential conflict cannot be removed by the promise of cold objective reason and credentialed experts.”

  In this prediction, I sense that he is correct. The world state cannot work. The total state cannot work. The resistance of administrative totalitarianism is growing, as the population grows ever more impoverished, subjected, and inflamed in fury against the overlords who are not in hiding any longer. We know who they are. They are parading on TV every night, like a scene from District One in “The Hunger Games.”

  This is truly unsustainable.

  MacIntyre ends his book with some speculations about how all of this will unfold. His speculations are well thought out.

  Having mapped all of this out, I feel the need to register fundamental disagreement. I simply cannot accept his big theory. In fact, I see the whole apparatus as an unnecessary overreach. Liberalism is wholly defensible, not as an imperial and rationalistic product of intellectuals but as a simple aspiration for a society that can manage itself complete with mediating institutions, traditions, familial dynasties, and a state that is nearly invisible to daily life, something like what the United States experienced under the Articles of Confederation.

  I’m not nearly as pessimistic as he is about the whole liberal project. As an answer, I might propose the writings of Benjamin Constant, Adam Smith, and Lord Acton, while admitting that I do long for a longer and more pointed refutation of the tradition of thought that has so heavily informed this book. That said, I truly hope everyone will read this, and ironically hope you can learn from it while rejecting the darker features of the work.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/24/2024 – 17:40

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• US-UK Intelligence Warning: China Cyberthreats Pose 'Epoch-Defining' Challenge
  US-UK Intelligence Warning: China Cyberthreats Pose ‘Epoch-Defining’ Challenge

  Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,

  The cybersecurity wars between communist China and the West are raging, yet few people realize what’s really going on. That’s now changing.

  The Chinese regime’s ability to launch successful cyberattacks against American and British defenses is higher than it has ever been. New attack tactics, techniques, and protocols (TTPs) developed by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) cyber division are threatening the integrity and functionality of Western nations’ military communications, operations, and other critical systems.

  

  (L to R) MP Tim Loughton, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, and MP Stewart McDonald during a press conference at the Centre for Social Justice in central London on March 25, 2024. The Chinese regime is believed to have targeted a group of senior MPs and peers with a fresh series of cyberattacks aimed at undermining UK democracy. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

  That may be why the United States and the UK are now publicly speaking about these critical threats, warning the Chinese and other national threat actors with which they coordinate to cease these provocative attacks. To that point, American, British, and European officials have warned that the Chinese regime’s cyberattacks are both coercive and destabilizing. As an indication of just how serious those threats are, the UK summoned the Chinese ambassador as a formal response to the regime’s increasing cyber threats to the UK.

  UK: Defending Against China’s Cyberattacks Is ‘Top Priority’

  To underscore their concern, Anne Keast-Butler, director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK’s top-tier surveillance agency, said at a security conference in England’s city of Birmingham that responding to China’s cyber activities was “a top priority” for GCHQ. This isn’t the first time the UK government has had to confront Beijing about its illegal and threatening activities in cyberspace, but of late, it’s become a much bigger problem.

  In fact, last month, British Prime Minister Rushi Sunak said Chinese hackers working for the CCP were running “malicious cyber campaigns” against UK lawmakers and UK media and were also responsible for a hack on the British Armed Forces’ payments system. The prime minister spoke further about the cyber threats, saying his country faced an “axis of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.”

  What’s more, British authorities have charged three men with spying for Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service in the UK. The men are accused of being Chinese state-sponsored hackers and stealing election data from the UK’s elections offices, as well as performing surveillance operations in the UK. Beijing stated that the case was “a fabrication.” When pressed about these and other cyber activities and the threats they pose to international norms and the security of the United States, the UK, and European countries, Beijing denied the existence of such threats, dismissing them as “absurd.”

  These events put additional strains on UK relations with China.

  The Volt Typhoon Threat and Beyond

  These official accusations follow in the wake of the confrontation that Washington had with Beijing several weeks ago regarding its advanced “Volt Typhoon” attack. That attack involved the discovery of the long and undetected presence of Chinese infiltration into vital U.S. operational systems across a variety of verticals. It was determined that Chinese attackers had breached the networks of dozens of American critical infrastructure organizations that control electrical power, water, and both civilian and military communication systems via a widespread network of compromised servers and computers.

  FBI Director Christopher Wray contends that Volt Typhoon would be used to disrupt, if not eliminate, control of the critical infrastructure systems mentioned above, as well as other strategic assets, prior to launching a military campaign against the United States or Taiwan. Again, Beijing has denied any official connection to the Volt Typhoon attack.

  Hackers Penetrating US Defense Systems

  However, at the Birmingham security conference, National Cyber Director Harry Coker asserted that Chinese hackers were violating U.S. defense sites in cyberspace and targeting U.S. interests at an “unprecedented scale.” Mr. Coker highlighted the severity of this threat, noting that “in a crisis or conflict scenario, China could use their pre-positioned cyber capabilities to wreak havoc in civilian infrastructure and deter U.S. military action.”

  The British prime minister and the GCHQ chief emphasized their rising concerns about China’s cyberattacks and their impact on the global order. Mr. Sunak said the next few years would be “dangerous and transformational,” while Ms. Keast-Butler said that “Russia and Iran pose immediate threats, but China is the ‘epoch-defining’ challenge.”

  As China’s Power Rises, So Do Attacks

  However, the United States, the UK, and Europe aren’t the only targets of Chinese hackers. The Philippines has seen a fourfold rise in Chinese cyberattacks year over year as friction between the two has increased. The parallel between the Chinese regime’s growing military power and influence in the world and its rising level of cyberattacks against its adversaries can’t be overlooked. Nor can the fact that the United States and the UK feel the need to publicly point the finger at China.

  Cyberattacks have occurred for decades, but this is a clear change from how they were handled in the past, when they were managed at the government level. However, with China’s apparent ability to penetrate even the most highly guarded systems, the next few years may well be, as the British observed, “destabilizing,” “transformative,” and “epoch-defining.”

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 23:40

• Putin's Purge? Another Top Russian General Arrested On Bribery Charges
  Putin’s Purge? Another Top Russian General Arrested On Bribery Charges

  Is this the continuation of what appers an ongoing purge by President Vladimir Putin of his top defense ranks? 

  The Kremlin escalated its crackdown on Russia’s top military ranks, with a new corruption arrest this week.

  Russian authorities detained Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, deputy to General Valery Gerasimov, head of the army’s general staff, on suspicion of large-scale bribe-taking, Russian state media reported Thursday. 

  It is the fourth arrest in the past month of a high-ranking military official, marking the biggest Russian army scandal in years. The detentions come as President Vladimir Putin carries out a sweeping reshuffle of top jobs, including a change at the head of the Ministry of Defense.

  

  The arrest comes closely on the heels of the biggest reshuffling in military leadership since the Ukraine invasion’s start: the May 12th removal of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (or rather, he was shifted to head of the national security council) and installation of Andrei Belousov.

  “On May 22, the court chose a preventive measure for Shamarin in the form of detention for a period of two months,” a court official was cited in AFP as confirming. Additionally a senior defense ministry procurement official identified as Vladimir Verteletsky was also reportedly detained.

  The court has alleged Shamarin accepted bribes “at an especially large scale” while overseeing the doling out of state contracts:

  Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, announced later on Thursday that the general is accused of accepting 36 million rubles ($397,000) from the executives of a phone manufacturing plant for “general patronage” and ensuring higher product supplies through Defense Ministry contracts.

  He is currently in pretrial detention. As for recent removals which are specifically criminal cases, below is a review of the series of arrests:

  • Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained in late April
  • Lieutenant-General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of personnel at the defense ministry
  • Major-General Ivan Popov, a former top commander for Russia’s offensive in Ukraine

  Despite all appearances, the Kremlin is still denying that a “purge” is in progress – but instead a mere serious campaign to root out corruption.

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA in the wake of the detention of Gerasimov’s deputy, “The fight against corruption is a continuous effort. This is not a campaign. It is an integral part, in fact, of the activities of our law enforcement agencies.”

  

  So this string of arrests is being presented as an open and shut simple enforcement of the law, but this is hardly convincing many Russia observers in the West. For example, the BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg has observed: “When one top defense official in Russia is arrested, that’s interesting. When four senior defense figures are arrested in less than a month, that’s more than a pattern…begins to look like a purge.”

  As for head of the army, Gen. Gerasimov… while this certainly puts him under a greater spotlight (as his #2 just went down), he is not accused of any wrongdoing, but still has come under increased criticism among Kremlin officials of late for how the ‘special military operation’ is being executed in Ukraine.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 23:20

• The Unifying Principle: Here's Why The Political Divisions In The US Today Cannot Be Mended
  The Unifying Principle: Here’s Why The Political Divisions In The US Today Cannot Be Mended

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  Recently I was watching a short documentary about the history of political discourse and division in the US and it got me thinking about how the internal conflicts of the past might relate to the rampant social battles Americans are dealing with today. From early disagreements between various Founding Fathers on hot button issues like the Sedition Act, central banking and standing armies, to epic and disastrous conflagrations like the Civil War, America has never been “of one mind” on everything.

  Overall, though, the longstanding assumption is that even when we slip and fall into disarray Americans will find common ground and move on towards the future together.  It’s a nice sentiment, but what if this ideal no longer applies?

  

  There are some people that argue there was never a golden era for the US; that we’ve always been destructive, or exploitative or “imperialist.” Of course, it’s very easy to examine any given time period through the lens of modern sensibilities and pass judgment. How we would do things today is not necessarily how we would do things yesterday. We can’t easily condemn the men and women of the past without at least recognizing that we will probably never see the issues of their day from their perspective.

  The political left is the most egregious violator of this principle. They have a bad habit of trying to rewrite history according to their current ideological cultism and applying their taboos to time periods when civilization had very different views on how to function. The progressive philosophy is partially rooted in “futurism”; the idea that all old ideas and ways of doing things must be abandoned to make way for new methods. In other words, they think everything “new” is better and must be embraced.

  Frankly, this theory has never proven correct. Not every old idea should be left behind and not every new method is better. In fact, most ideas that leftists think are new are actually very old. There’s nothing ground breaking about DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), it’s just another form of Marxism based on personal identity rather than the traditional class politics.

  Do you want to know what DEI really is? It’s a vehicle for forced association.

  Forced association is used to leverage populations into a homogeneous soup, a hive mind with no individual thought or right to discriminate against destructive groups and ideologies.  But if America is experiencing an agenda of forced association today then we have to ask – What is there to be gained?  Why pressure people who fundamentally disagree with each other on every level to coexist within a society? Why do the people in power want this so badly?

  Well, for the central planners (usually socialists/globalists), tribalism is a big no-no. People going their own way is unacceptable. If the populace thinks they can divide and separate and live differently from each other, then how can the establishment continue to exist? For a one-world government to be achieved ALL divisions must be erased and everyone has to either love or fear the purveyors of “unity.”

  Separation must, therefore, be demonized.  The problem is, there’s no way to blackmail a population into association, not in the long term anyway.  A group is an abstraction without form; it means nothing until the individuals involved share a unifying principle.  When I look back at political disagreements in history I find that there is a vital factor that existed during past conflicts that does NOT exist today.

  Even during the worst of times including the Civil War both sides of the division held the same basic principles and morals. They had a lot of the same values, a shared religion and a shared understanding of reality. They were people connected by the same American soul, they merely disagreed on singular issues. The goal for each side was for America and its fundamental heritage to survive, even if they didn’t always obey every aspect of the Constitution or the existing leadership at the time. This is not how things work in 2024.

  In terms of surface level politics its obvious that there will never be peaceful reconciliation between woke progressives and conservatives/independents. One side or the other has to go, and I think the majority of people in the US want leftists to go.

  To be clear I’m not saying that all people on the political left are exactly the same. There’s definitely a political spectrum from traditional liberals to extreme activists. But there is no denying that, for now, woke zealots control the levers of power and influence within the Democratic Party and the leftist media. They also have the explicit backing of every major institution from corporations to NGOs to government.

  You don’t see a whole lot of average Democrats with the guts to stand up and criticize their own side even when they know there’s something very wrong happening. They go along with the program either out of laziness or fear. With conservatives the reverse is true. Conservatives can’t seem to organize a damn thing because we constantly disagree with each other when it comes to solutions.

  And let’s not forget the fence riders out there. It’s sure nice to always be out of the fray and in the rear with the gear while pretending as if you’re “above it all.” That’s a very comfortable place to be because it allows a person to avoid risk while appearing as if they’re taking the high road. Much like a slippery academic who never defines his position in a debate so that he can change his arguments on a whim.

  The issue is that, even though fence riders don’t want to admit it, there are times when one side is right and one side is utterly wrong. Sometimes there is no middle ground.

  A lot of moderates are finally waking up to the horrors of the collectivist movements in our midst. Maybe it was the pandemic lockdowns or the attempted trans indoctrination of children or the unhinged nature of far-left activists in the streets but somewhere along the way moderates finally realized conservatives were RIGHT all along about a lot of things. We were fighting to save their freedoms years ago while they were acting cool and wondering what all the fuss was about.

  There are a lot of factors that set conservatives (and a many moderates) apart from the political left, but the core disconnect is so deep and disturbing it’s hard to quantify. I can only summarize it down to this:

  1) The unifying principle of the left is deconstruction. They find their meaning or purpose in the act of tearing down and destroying what other people have built.

  2) The unifying principle for conservatives is to build and protect what has been found to work.

  Humanity’s best bet for success is liberty with responsibility, free markets and meritocracy. All things we are trying to preserve, and all things that leftists want to blow up.

  For progressives the most important question is: What happens when they’ve destroyed the last edifice? What comes next? If dismantling systems is their unifying principle what will they do when they have nothing else to dismantle? What happens when every plate in the china shop is broken? They are incapable of creating a new and functional society so they would need an outside foundation.

  In this regard I set globalists apart from typical leftists. Globalists are indeed leftists at their core but they are also builders, and not in a good way. Globalists don’t build societies, they build prisons. Once the useful idiots on the left have finished the job of deconstructing America the globalists plan to come in with a new ideal, a new religion, a new foundation based on worshiping THEM.

  Here is where we find the greatest split of all – The spiritual nature of our impasse.

  I’ve definitely never been one to promote the concept of theocracy and I have many scruples when it comes to “Earthly” religious organizations. Anything governed by men can be corrupted. But I also accept that America was built by a majority Christian society following integral Christian values. I don’t think every American needs to be Christian. The Founding Fathers understood that religious freedom is essential. But we must acknowledge and embrace the fact that the country works best when Christianity is at the forefront.  At least there is a unifying moral code to hold the framework together.

  Furthermore, it would be far easier to reconcile Christian social systems with science and critical thinking than it will be to reconcile freedom loving Americans with far-left collectivists. The woke cult is much more hostile to science today than Christians are; they even refuse to acknowledge human biology.  I also think Christianity is growing along with newer generations of conservatives with a greater respect for skepticism.  We could see a renaissance following the paths set by great Christian thinkers like Thomas Aquinas or C.S. Lewis.

  I’m seeing a lot of the old blind devotion to the Republican Party fall by the wayside and a greater focus on what politicians achieve rather than what they promise. I’m seeing people on the right embrace the value of comedy and pop culture more, which has always been a problem for conservatives. And, I’m seeing science open doors to religious thought instead of trying to close them. As humanity delves deeper into quantum physics, cosmology and even the mind sciences, our relationship to the great beyond requires consideration of the physical AND the metaphysical.

  It’s the kind of thing that would make progressives rage and foam at the mouth.  For them, science must always be in service to their causes or it ceases to have value, and one of their primary causes is the erasure of Christianity.  They’ll never allow a world where science and religion work together to build a future in which discovery is balanced with ethical responsibility.

  Then there is the issue of moral imperative.  Many of us see the targeting of children for indoctrination and exploitation.  We see the promotion of subjective reality and degeneracy.  We see the inclination towards lies as a tool for political power.  We see leftists caring more about winning and less about the truth.

  For the globalists and the woke mob, morality is nothing more than a social construct, but we know that these ideas are inborn and inherent for the majority of people. If they weren’t, humanity would have gone extinct ages ago from self destruction. Leftists don’t agree with the concept of a basic moral code. Leftists don’t even agree that morals are a necessity. They think they can manifest their own reality from thin air. How can we possibly live side-by-side with people who despise every pillar that holds western civilization together?

  The answer is – We can’t.  For now I see no path to peace.  Peace would require a unifying principle, a mutual respect, and that does not exist.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 23:00

• USAF Releases First Mid-Flight Image Of B-21 Raider 
  USAF Releases First Mid-Flight Image Of B-21 Raider 

  The B-21 Raider, the US Air Force’s latest stealth bomber, was unveiled in December 2022 and is currently undergoing testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This cutting-edge aircraft is poised to gradually replace the B-1 and B-2 bombers in the second half of the decade, solidifying its position as the backbone of America’s stealth bomber fleet. 

  On Wednesday, the USAF released new stunning images of the B-21.

  

  Since the stealth bomber debuted, there has only been a handful of images released and or taken by the public: 

  • Air Force Unveils B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber

  • USAF Shares New Images Of B-21 Raider

  • New Image Reveals B-21 Raider Taxiing Ahead Of Maiden Flight

  • First Flight Of B-21 Raider Captured On Video

  The B-21 is USAF’s first strategic bomber in over three decades and is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s with a production goal of 100 aircraft. 

  America is gearing up for conflict as the world fractures into a multipolar state. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 22:40

• In Blow To China, Argentina's Milei Looking To US For Defense Cooperation
  In Blow To China, Argentina’s Milei Looking To US For Defense Cooperation

  Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Over the past decade China’s security footprint in Argentina has grown considerably, but analysts say recent indicators demonstrate President Javier Milei may be shifting defense cooperation back towards the United States.

  

  A 2012 agreement between officials in Argentina’s Neuquen Province and Beijing allowed the construction of a deep space tracking station near the Chilean border, that made Washington sit up and take notice.

  The 50-year contract grants the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) the ability to operate freely on Argentinian soil. The facility, known as Espacio Lejano, became the precedent for a Chinese ground tracking facility in Rio Gallegos, on the south eastern coastal tip of Argentina, which was formally announced in 2021.

  Since the Espacio Lejano contract was signed, analysts and U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed concern over China’s expanding collaboration with Argentina in matters of security and surveillance.

  “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has expanded its ability to extract resources, establish port, manipulate governments through predatory investment practices, and build potential dual-use space facilities,” U.S. Southern Command Gen. Laura Richardson said during a 2023 House Armed Services Committee hearing.

  President Milei took office on Dec. 10, 2023, replacing the progressive President Alberto Fernandez, who forged closer ties with China and signed a 2022 deal to join the Communist Party’s Belt and Road Initiative. While campaigning, Mr. Milei made no secret of his disdain for communist regimes and signaled his intent to move away from socialist policies in favor of a more libertarian direction.

  In the nearly seven months he has been in office, President Milei has enacted major economic reforms and a downsizing of government.

  Other recent “positive indicators” indicate the Milei administration are prioritizing defense relations with the United States over China, said Leland Lazarus, the associate director for national security at Florida International University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy.

  “The fact is that in just six months, he’s already visited the U.S. multiple times. He’s met with Secretary Blinken, he’s been to the White House … all that is like absolute music to General Richardson’s ears. To Biden’s ears,” Mr. Lazarus told The Epoch Times.

  Ms. Richardson traveled to Argentina in April, on a visit that included the donation of a Hercules C-130H transport aircraft to the Argentinian Air Force and a tour of a naval facility in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the extreme tip of the country.

  “We are committed to working closely with Argentina so that our collaborative security efforts benefit our citizens, our countries and our hemisphere in lasting and positive ways,” Ms. Richardson said in a statement at the time.

  

  In Ushuaia, Ms. Richardson met with local military personnel to discuss their role in “safeguarding shipping routes vital to global trade.”

  In an Argentinian Ministry of Defense release, President Milei confirmed that Ms. Richardson also checked on the progress of an “integrated naval base” at the Ushuaia naval facility.

  Argentine officials stated that they also discussed “legislative modernization in defense matters.”

  Under the previous administration, China had been given preferential treatment.

  In June 2023, Tierra del Fuego Gov. Gustavo Melella gave China the go-ahead to build a “multi-purpose” port facility near the Strait of Magellan.

  The project was promptly met with legislative backlash as three national deputies and members of the Civic Coalition filed an official complaint against the governor’s provincial decree to build a port with Beijing. The same group further accused Mr. Melella of violating Argentina’s national security.

  No public records show the project has since moved forward.

  Shift in Relations

  Mr. Lazarus said Argentina’s desire for deeper security cooperation with Western partners was also evident in April when Argentina’s Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, signed a historic purchase agreement for 24 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark.

  “Today we are completing the most important military aeronautical acquisition since 1983,” Mr. Petri said in an official press release.

  “Thanks to this investment in defense, I can proudly say that we are beginning to recover our aerial sovereignty and that our entire society is better protected against all those threats that put us to the test.”

  The purchase occurred after multiple media reports in 2022 said the previous administration under President Alberto Fernandez was considering the purchase of China–Pakistan-made JF-17 fighter jets. A minister of former President Mauricio Macri’s administration, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to The Epoch Times that a deal to purchase the JF-17 jets was under consideration during the Fernandez era.

  

  The China snub on such a notable arms deal is telling for some, as the CCP has invested a lot in Argentina’s defense sector.

  “From 2009–2019 China transferred a total of $634 million worth of major military hardware to five South American countries—Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela,” a House Foreign Affairs Committee brief states.

  “The governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina have purchased PRC [People’s Republic of China] defense equipment, cooperated in military exercises, and engaged in educational exchanges and training for military personnel.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 22:20

• What Americans Are Most Worried About
  What Americans Are Most Worried About

  Statista’s Consumer Insights survey has been tracking which issues adults in the United States consider to be the most important in the country right now, and how they have shifted over time.

  The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, provides just a snapshot of these, listing the eight most cited concerns out of a possible 20 options, in the most recent survey wave as well as in the survey wave at the start of the pandemic.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Where health and social security came first in the earlier iteration, likely in reference to Covid, it had dropped by 6 percentage points by 2023/24. In the meantime, inflation and the cost of living has risen from third position to first position (+13 p.p).

  Other notable changes include a drop in the share of people citing immigration in the latest wave and an increase in the share of people picking crime. Six of the eight most recent most pressing issues are social, with the sole environmental topic of climate change having narrowly dropped off the list, coming in 10th position with 30 percent of respondents picking it, following unemployment with 31 percent.

  As this chart shows, poverty and housing are now on the minds of more U.S. adults, at least more imminently, than before. Where poverty had previously tied in 9th position with education in 2019/20 with a 32 percent share of respondents picking it as one the most important issues facing the country right now, the share rose to 37 percent in the latest survey wave. Similarly, where housing had been in rank 11 with 22 percent, it has now risen to position 6, with 36 percent of respondents selecting the option.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 22:00

• Judge Blocks Florida Law Criminalizing Transport Of Illegal Immigrants Into State
  Judge Blocks Florida Law Criminalizing Transport Of Illegal Immigrants Into State

  Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A federal judge has temporarily blocked part of a Florida law that criminalizes transporting illegal immigrants into the state.

  

  The challenged law was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a year ago, when southern border states were bracing for a flood of illegal immigrants following the scheduled expiration of Title 42, a public health order that allowed border enforcement agents to quickly expel those deemed at risk of bringing in COVID-19.

  Touted by Mr. DeSantis and his supporters as the “strongest anti-illegal immigration legislation in the country,” the law contains a provision that makes it a third-degree felony for anyone to “knowingly and willfully” transport into Florida someone whom “the person knows or reasonably knew … has not been inspected by the Federal Government since his or her unlawful entry.”

  In a preliminary injunction issued on May 22, [Venezuelan born] Judge Roy Altman of the Southern District of Florida said the provision in question “extends beyond the state’s authority to make arrests for violations of federal immigration law, and in doing so, intrudes into territory that’s preempted.”

  “In this case, any harm the state may suffer from an injunction is overweighed by the harm [the provision] poses both to the Plaintiffs and to the United States, which has the ultimate interest in protecting federal supremacy in the realm of immigration,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote.

  The lawsuit was filed in July by The Farmworker Association of Florida, which describes itself as a “grassroots and community-based farmworker membership organization” serving seasonal workers as well as migrant workers who travel with the seasons to harvest crops.

  According to its complaint, the association members have to travel back and forth between Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, crossing back into Florida multiple times per year. With the transportation law in place, some of its members became “too afraid to travel in and out of Florida with their undocumented friends or family members,” over the fear of being arrested or prosecuted, according to the association.

  Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a defendant in the suit, has argued that the association has no legal standing to sue in the first place. She also clarified that visa holders, DACA recipients—those who were illegally brought to the United States as young children—asylum seekers, and people with pending removal proceedings are not subject to punishment under the transportation law, since they are considered “inspected” by the federal government.

  Judge Altman disagreed with her argument. In the May 22 opinion, he said the way the law is worded gives the association’s members a good reason to fear a potential arrest and that they have “suffered an injury in fact,” even though they haven’t put themselves at risk of an actual arrest.

  The judge also found that the Association has standing to sue.

  “An organizational plaintiff suffers cognizable injury when it is forced to divert resources from its regular activities to educate and assist affected individuals in complying with the challenged statute,” he wrote.

  The association was backed by a score of high-profile progressive advocacy groups: the national and Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans for Immigrant Justice, the American Immigration Council, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. They celebrated the court order as a “much-needed win for Floridians.”

  “The court was right to block this callous and patently unconstitutional law, which had threatened Floridians with jail time for doing the most ordinary things, like going to work, visiting family, and driving kids to soccer games. This ruling is an important victory for Florida communities,” Spencer Amdur, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.

  The Florida attorney general’s office did not respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

  The ruling is the latest in the legal blowback against states that seek to handle illegal immigration on their own in the wake of the growing crisis at the nation’s southern border. The Biden administration has sued three states—Texas, Iowa, and most recently Oklahoma—for making illegal immigration a state crime enforceable by state and local law enforcement.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 21:40

• The Income A Family Needs To Live Comfortably In Every US State
  The Income A Family Needs To Live Comfortably In Every US State

  Families in the top five most expensive U.S. states require an annual income exceeding $270,000 to live comfortably.

  This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, illustrates the income necessary for two working adults with two children to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in each state.

  “Comfortable” is defined as the income needed to cover a 50/30/20 budget, with 50% allocated to necessities like housing and utilities, 30% to discretionary spending, and 20% to savings or investments.

  

  The calculations for family income needed in each state were done by SmartAsset, using the cost of necessities sourced from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, last updated on Feb. 14, 2024.

  Massachusetts Tops the List

  Massachusetts is the most expensive state to live comfortably in, requiring a total family income of about $301,184. Hawaii ($294,611) comes in second, followed by Connecticut ($279,885).

  Housing is one main reason Massachusetts is an expensive state to live in, particularly in the Boston area. In addition, the state also has a high cost of living, including expenses such as healthcare and utilities.

  Rank	State	Income for 2 working adults raising 2 children
  1	Massachusetts	$301,184
  2	Hawaii	$294,611
  3	Connecticut	$279,885
  4	New York	$278,970
  5	California	$276,723
  6	Colorado	$264,992
  7	Washington	$257,421
  8	Oregon	$257,338
  9	New Jersey	$251,181
  10	Rhode Island	$249,267
  11	Vermont	$248,352
  12	Minnesota	$244,774
  13	New Hampshire	$244,109
  14	Alaska	$242,611
  15	Maryland	$239,450
  16	Nevada	$237,286
  17	Virginia	$235,206
  18	Illinois	$231,962
  19	Arizona	$230,630
  20	Pennsylvania	$230,464
  21	Maine	$229,549
  22	Delaware	$228,966
  23	Wisconsin	$225,056
  24	Utah	$218,483
  25	Michigan	$214,490
  26	Nebraska	$213,075
  27	Georgia	$212,826
  28	Montana	$211,411
  28	Iowa	$211,411
  30	Idaho	$211,245
  31	North Carolina	$209,331
  31	Ohio	$209,331
  33	Florida	$209,082
  34	Indiana	$206,003
  35	New Mexico	$203,923
  36	Wyoming	$203,424
  37	Missouri	$202,259
  38	North Dakota	$202,176
  39	Texas	$201,344
  40	South Carolina	$200,762
  41	Kansas	$196,768
  42	Tennessee	$195,770
  43	Oklahoma	$194,106
  44	Alabama	$193,606
  45	South Dakota	$192,608
  46	Kentucky	$190,112
  47	Louisiana	$189,613
  48	West Virginia	$189,363
  49	Arkansas	$180,794
  50	Mississippi	$177,798

  Meanwhile, Mississippi is the least expensive state for a family to live comfortably, requiring $177,798 per year. Arkansas ($180,794) comes in second, followed by West Virginia ($189,363). In common, all these states share low prices of housing.

  If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out this graphic, which ranks the median down payment for a house by U.S. state.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 21:20

• Senate Again Blocks Border Bill With GOP Opposition
  Senate Again Blocks Border Bill With GOP Opposition

  Authored by Joseph Lord and Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

  The U.S. Senate on May 23 again rejected a proposed border bill as the issue continues to dominate voters’ concerns ahead of the 2024 election. The bill was previously blocked by Republicans in February when it was rolled into a broader foreign aid package.

  

  Republicans have criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) decision to bring the bill back up for a vote, saying it was a political move aimed at bolstering Democrat messaging ahead of the 2024 elections.

  The legislation, dubbed the Border Act of 2024, was rejected in a 43–50 vote that included more opposition from members of both parties than the previous vote in February.

  The bill includes $20 billion in funding for border security and a mechanism to shut down the border after seven consecutive days with an average of 5,000 illegal immigrants encountered per day or if more than 8,500 illegal aliens are encountered in a single day.

  Proponents of the bill say that it would grant President Joe Biden additional authority to close the border, and say that it would alleviate the situation by providing new funding that could help stop the flow of fentanyl over the border.

  “It’s a chance to show we’re serious about fixing the border,” Mr. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said ahead of the vote.

  Opponents say the opposite, with many contending it would only make the situation worse—particularly through a clause that could effectively codify allowing 5,000 illegal aliens into the country a day.

  In February, the bill failed to advance a 49–50 vote, including support from four Republicans and opposition from four Democrats.

  On Thursday, Several Democrats, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, voted against the measure.

  These lawmakers tied their opposition to the measure’s lack of protection for “Dreamers,” the recipients of deferred immigration enforcement under President Barack Obama.

  Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and John Lankford (R-Okla.), key negotiators for the initial package, both defected to vote against the measure.

  No Republicans supported the measure during its second round, with many saying that the vote itself was a political ploy by Democrats that would only worsen the situation at the southern border.

  Political PR War

  The bill comes amid a PR war among Republicans and Democrats on whose border credentials are stronger even as both sides continue to accuse the other of politicizing the issue, even as its failures on both May 23 and during its original vote came due to bipartisan opposition.

  That PR war comes as the border issue continues to dominate voters’ priorities in 2024, with poll after poll showing that voters have far more confidence in former President Donald Trump’s ability to handle the border than have faith in President Biden’s policies.

  Now, Democrats are trying to show that they can be strong on the border too—but Republicans say that the whole package is unnecessary, as President Biden already has the authority he needs to close down the border.

  “The fact of the matter is that President Trump had the authority to secure the border. He did. Biden used that exact same authority to open it back up,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Epoch Times.

  Democrats, meanwhile, extolled the effects the bill could potentially have on reducing the flow of fentanyl into the country.

  In a memo sent to the press, the White House accused Republicans of being on the side of fentanyl pushers.

  “Instead of supporting legislation endorsed by the Border Patrol Union, congressional Republicans sided with fentanyl traffickers,” the White House said.

  President Biden has repeatedly endorsed the legislation and called on Congress to take it up.

  Amid the debate, both parties are claiming—and responding to claims—that the other party is motivated primarily by politics.

  Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told The Epoch Times that the bill “seems like it’s a Schumer lifeline to guys like Tester,” a reference to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) who’s facing a tough reelection bid in ruby-red Montana.

  “Biden could fix the border tomorrow if he wanted to—Trump fixed the border without additional authority,” Mr. Sullivan said. “So my message to President Biden? Fix the border the way Trump did.”

  The sentiment was repeated by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who called the second push on the bill “completely a political stunt. I don’t even think it’ll get any Republican votes.”

  Like his colleagues, Mr. Paul called on President Biden to fix the border with his preexisting authorities.

  Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Democrats’ lead negotiator on the package, meanwhile rejected the claim that Democrats were pursuing the bill for political advantage, blaming Republicans with political motives seeking to kill the bill.

  “I think it’s pretty ironic for a party that openly admits they killed the bill for political reasons to claim that we’re trying to pass a law for political reasons,” Mr. Murphy told reporters.

  Mr. Murphy, one of the lead negotiators on the bill, said that it was very different from the House’s H.R. 2 border security bill, which Mr. Murphy dismissed as “transparently a partisan political exercise,” while the Senate bill, he said, is “transparently bipartisan.”

  “I just think … Republicans have zero interest in fixing the border because they can’t imagine living in a world in which the border isn’t a political issue,” Mr. Murphy said.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 21:00

• Last Hope Against Biden-Bucks – House Passes Bill Blocking The Fed From Issuing A CBDC
  Last Hope Against Biden-Bucks – House Passes Bill Blocking The Fed From Issuing A CBDC

  The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act passed the United States House of Representatives on a largely partisan vote on May 23.

  

  As CoinTelgraph’s Derek Andersen reports, the bill, which must still face a vote in the Senate, amends the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to prohibit Federal Reserve banks “from offering certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes.”

  The Republican-backed bill’s debate was sparsely attended. Republican supporters spoke about the potential for the abuse of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), while Democrats concentrated on innovation, the dollar’s international competitiveness and the bill’s poor drafting.

  French Hill, the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, said:

  “We live in a world where the government can abuse the tools it has.”

  Representative Mike Flood reused his rhetorical device urging the audience to “imagine the politician you despise the most” with control over a CBDC.

  Financial Services Committee member Warren Davidson called the New York Fed’s Project Hamilton “the same creepy surveillance tool” as China’s digital yuan. He said the pilot project “could be developed to something further.” The Fed was not responding to dialog, so it must respond to law, he said.

  Warren called a digital currency the “creepiest surveillance tool known to man” that would lead to “coercion and control.”

  “Why would we enable it?” he said. “Everywhere it’s depicted as evil.”

  Davidson said the Fed should not pursue a digital currency without authorization from Congress, arguing it doesn’t have a place in a free society.

  “We don’t want them to design it,” he said. “We don’t want them to build it.”

  Frequent references were made to the digital yuan and the blockage of bank accounts in Canada during a trucker drivers’ demonstration against COVID-19 vaccination. Davidson also mentioned George Orwell – author of the novel 1984 – the New Testament Book of Revelations and the Deathstar – a device in the Star Wars film franchise – in his arguments.

  

  The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. Source: congress.gov

  That idea was echoed by Rep. Alexander Mooney, author of an amendment to the bill that restricted CBDC research, who said a CBDC should not be “available at a moment’s notice.”

  Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke about the “deep state” and the “Democrat regime.”

  🚨🇺🇸HOUSE PASSES CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY BAN | 216-162

  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:

  “The idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency is terrifying!

  That’s why I’m supporting the CBDC Anti Surveillance State Act to BAN CBDCs.”pic.twitter.com/MW3dAti1yV

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 23, 2024

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

  The exact implications of the bill were also disputed. Brad Sherman called the bill a “word salad” that favored “crypto bros.” He added that no one would be required to use a CBDC.

  While Republican arguments focused on a retail CBDC, Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters claimed the bill could be construed to ban a wholesale CBDC as well.

  Waters argued that the bill would “risk undermining the primacy of the U.S. dollar” globally.

  The bill could also be interpreted to ban Federal Reserve holdings of bank reserves, which is necessary to administer payment systems, Waters said:

  “[The bill] blocks the American economy as it operates today and has for decades.”

  Waters also mentioned zero-knowledge proof technology that could guarantee user privacy. Dollar-pegged stablecoins could lose their value in a run, while a CBDC could not, she added.

  

  Source: XRP Drops

  Financial Services Committee member Jake Auchincloss said that his proposed bill, “Power of the Mint Act,” would accomplish similar goals without the drawbacks of the bill under consideration, but it had been blocked by Republicans.

  The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act was introduced into the House by Rep. Tom Emmer in February 2023. It passed by a vote of 216-192.

  

  For the past two years, Jim Rickards – among many others – have been warning about the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), or as some like to call the U.S. version, “Biden Bucks.”

  These Biden Bucks would have the full backing of the U.S. Federal Reserve. They’d replace the cash (“fiat”) dollar we have now. And if Biden got his way, they’d be the sole, mandatory currency of the United States.

  What does this mean for you?

  As Rickards details below, it would make your money less truly your own. It would be subject to government control.

  

  Biden Bucks are being peddled as a more efficient and convenient form of money. They say they’re just simplifying the payment system and making it more efficient. It’ll be much more convenient than the convoluted system we have today.

  And they’re actually right about that. A digital dollar will be simpler, more efficient and more convenient to use.

  Assume you buy gasoline at your local gas station. You pay with a credit card, which begins a payment process involving maybe five separate parties.

  These include the merchant from whom you bought the gas, the credit card company, the bank and an intermediary called a merchant acquirer (no need to explain what a merchant acquirer does for today’s purposes, but just realize that it’s part of the payment system).

  Ultimately the bank that issues your credit card sends you a bill, which you pay. You also pay a fee, maybe 3%, all to buy the gas.

  But with a central bank digital currency, you could simply pay for the gas with an account you have at the Fed.

  You would get rid of all the middlemen. You could bypass the merchant acquirer, the banks and the credit card company. A digital dollar would also eliminate many of the fees we currently face.

  So yes, the payment system would be faster, cheaper, easier, more streamlined and more secure. What’s not to like as far as you’re concerned?

  Well, if you’re concerned about your personal privacy, everything.

  We Can’t Let You Destroy the Environment

  Imagine this. To further advance his Green New Scam, what if Joe Biden and his cronies decided that gasoline needed to be rationed?

  Your Biden Bucks could be rendered useless at the gas pump once you’ve purchased a certain amount of gasoline in a week! You want gas, but all you get is a one-word message: Declined.

  How’s that for control?

  Biden Bucks would create new ways for the government to control how much you could buy of an item, or even ban purchases altogether. It would keep score of every financial decision you make.

  In a world of Biden Bucks, the government will even know your physical whereabouts at the point of purchase.

  It’s a short step from there to putting you under FBI investigation if you vote for the wrong candidate or give donations to the wrong political party. If any of this sounds extreme, fantastical or otherwise far-fetched, it’s not.

  Look at all the ways the government has abused its power to target its opposition in recent years.

  Government Always Wants More Power

  From unconstitutional “lawfare” against Trump, to the jailing of harmless J6 protesters who did nothing more than walk around the Capitol taking selfies (I’m not talking about those who committed violence that day, who should be punished to the full extent of the law), the federal government has overstepped its bounds.

  Several months ago, the FBI and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) sent letters to U.S. banks asking them to identify and provide a list to the government of customers using Zelle, Venmo and similar payment channels who mentioned “MAGA,” or “Trump” in their message traffic.

  They also asked for details on bookstore purchases of religious articles including Bibles. Finally, they asked for details on those shopping at Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods or Bass Pro Shops, presumably on the view that those are places to buy guns and ammo.

  This is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment (free speech, freedom of religion), Second Amendment (right to bear arms) and Fourth Amendment (no unreasonable search and seizure).

  It’s not a crime to write “MAGA,” etc. and therefore there’s no reasonable basis for suspecting a crime, and therefore no right to get the information without a warrant, which requires a judge. Any judge would likely reject the warrant request since there’s no probable cause.

  This is an obvious case of profiling. If you shoot someone and you’re wearing a MAGA hat, you get arrested for the shooting, not the hat. In this case, the hat is enough to put you under surveillance because you have been profiled as “an enemy of the people” by the government’s definition.

  I predicted this kind of surveillance would arise with the use of Biden Bucks since the government would have your financial records and would not have to go to the banks or get a warrant. I’d like to say I was wrong, but unfortunately I was right.

  Why do you think it would stop there? Government always seeks to expand its power.

  The Slippery Slope

  In the latest example of federal overreach, the latest update of the IRS Internal Review Manual expands the scope of IRS investigation and audit activity to include anyone who impedes the government’s “ability to govern” or who poses a “threat to public safety or national security.”

  Such phrases sound benign when applied to foreign terrorists or criminal masterminds. Then you realize they can just as easily be applied to political opponents, Trump supporters, podcasters, opinion writers, political organizers or everyday Americans who stand in the way of the administration’s ambitions.

  The IRS can use threats of audits and investigations to intimidate social media platforms like Google, Facebook and Instagram into shutting down MAGA Republicans and others who oppose Biden policies.

  The updated IRS manual also allows the IRS to leak taxpayer information to the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security or other agencies with enforcement power in order to sic those agencies on targeted victims.

  This happens in a context where simple political opposition has been criminalized giving the IRS carte blanche to choose their victims. If you’re outspoken against the Biden administration, keep your tax records handy and get ready for a knock on the door.

  So, again, why would you be surprised if the government used Biden Bucks to punish its political opponents? It’s just the natural progression.

  Can it be stopped? There’s one possibility — and it comes from the individual states.

  The Last Hope?

  Last year, Indiana became the first state to reject CBDCs as a form of money. This year it enacted an additional measure that prohibited state agencies from accepting CBDCs as payments.

  Florida, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Alabama and Georgia have passed similar laws to block the imposition of CBDCs.

  Will they succeed? It would be a triumph of federalism if they did, which has a rich American tradition.

  But proponents of Biden Bucks invoke Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution, otherwise known as the federal Supremacy Clause. It establishes that the federal law takes precedence over state law.

  Over the years, the federal government has gradually expanded its powers under the Supremacy Clause.

  It might be an uphill battle, but the states might just be our best defense against the implementation of Biden Bucks.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 20:40

• China's Rapid Nuclear Expansion Is Threatening US Dominance In The Sector
  China’s Rapid Nuclear Expansion Is Threatening US Dominance In The Sector

  Authored by Haley Zaremba via OilPrice.com,

  • China is quickly becoming the world’s leading producer of nuclear energy, raising concerns for US competitiveness.

  • China’s plans for floating nuclear plants in the disputed South China Sea create tension with neighboring countries.

  • China and Russia’s joint project to build a nuclear reactor on the moon raises questions about safety and militarization.

  China’s runaway nuclear energy expansion has competitors biting their fingernails. As nuclear energy regains traction around the world as a promising baseload power source for a decarbonized future, it’s also become more and more of a geopolitical battleground. As countries scramble to keep a strategic foothold in a rapidly changing energy landscape, becoming a nuclear energy powerhouse is suddenly important for world superpowers. And China seems to be winning this race. 

  

  While the United States has been the biggest nuclear power generator in the world for decades, the American market has significantly slowed in recent years at the same time that Beijing has doubled down on deployment, adding a whopping 34 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity over the last ten years. As a result, China is set to overtake the United States (and France) to become the world’s biggest producer of nuclear energy within the decade. 

  China currently has 55 operating nuclear power reactors compared to the United States’ 94, but it already has 23 new reactors under construction and more on the way. In fact, it’s taken China just 10 years to add the same amount of nuclear capacity that the United States needed four decades to build. 

  Beijing is able to approve new nuclear reactors at a much faster clip than the United States, at a blazing rate of ten new plant approvals per year. Chinese plants are also much less expensive to build, in part thanks to preferential loans with particularly favorable terms from state-owned banks. While the United States has recently taken pains to kick-start its own stalled nuclear energy sector, its newest power plant is so behind schedule and over budget that nuclear energy advocates are worried that it might derail the nation’s nuclear ambitions altogether. 

  While the sharp rise in nuclear energy deployment in China is great news for the nation’s decarbonization potential – and therefore great news for the entire world’s ability to meet mid-century climate goals – China’s fast and furious approach has put a number of world leaders on edge. Policymakers in the United States have demonstrated concern that China’s rapidly increasing nuclear energy capacities could allow it to export nuclear reactors at a large scale, ultimately undermining U.S. foreign relations in the importing countries. This would not be a new trend, but a continuation of China’s already massive expansion of energy influence in emerging markets. 

  Meanwhile, China’s plans to put floating nuclear power plants in the South China Sea have stirred up tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors. China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines all have overlapping claims to parts of the sea, which China claims almost in its entirety despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which rejected Beijing’s claim as “having no legal basis.” In contempt of this ruling, China has continued to ‘reclaim’ land to build artificial islands in the Sea and now plans to send about 20 floating nuclear power plants to some of those islands. 

  Experts have widely condemned these plans, warning that “China’s planned deployment of floating nuclear reactors to the disputed South China Sea may risk ramping up tensions with other claimants and undermining regional security.” Adding to these tensions, there is some legitimate concern that China will be using these plants to power military operations in the conflicted region, which would be in violation of international law. 

  Indeed, China’s outsized nuclear ambitions cannot be hemmed in by its own borders, or even terrestrial bounds. Earlier this year, Moscow and Beijing announced joint plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon within the next decade. Russian state media even claims that development of the plant is already underway and Russia and China are currently working on experimental and research facilities under the project.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 20:20

• 30% Of Americans Believe College Isn't Worth It
  30% Of Americans Believe College Isn’t Worth It

  The value of a college education is spiraling lower as youngsters realize it’s a giant scam. Racking up $100k in college debt for worthless gender degrees in liberal indoctrination camps, only to graduate and land a job that didn’t require a degree—such as a realtor or bartender, as many millennials found out, has been a major wake-up call.

  A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows that 29% of people aged 25 to 34 say college degrees are no longer worth the money, and this growing distrust risks a further implosion of the higher education bubble.

  Here are the highlights of the new study:

  • Only one in four US adults say it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job in today’s economy. About a third (35%) say a college degree is somewhat important, while 40% say it’s not too or not at all important.

  • Roughly half (49%) say it’s less important to have a four-year college degree today in order to get a well-paying job than it was 20 years ago; 32% say it’s more important, and 17% say it’s about as important as it was 20 years ago.

  • Only 22% say the cost of getting a four-year college degree today is worth it even if someone has to take out loans. Some 47% say the cost is worth it only if someone doesn’t have to take out loans. And 29% say the cost is not worth it.

  Gen-Z and millennials were sold a big lie by the liberal education complex. And they’re quickly figuring out their degrees are worthless. 

  This generation was sold a lie. pic.twitter.com/niST9avUcE

  — Mirthful Moments (@moment_mirthful) May 19, 2024

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

  I’m twice her age and have twice the experience and still can’t find a job.

  The good news for both of us is that we can always sell feet pics for money. pic.twitter.com/AlfLBvBpl6

  — Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) March 27, 2024

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

  NEW: Gen Zer starts crying about how she can’t get a minimum wage job even though she has “two degrees” and speaks three languages.

  Say it with me: College is a scam.

  26-year-old Lohanny Santos says she is being super “for real” and is “humbled” as she continues to get turned… pic.twitter.com/09ll6hJyb7

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 8, 2024

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

  College is a scam. pic.twitter.com/KZmh3ER6pH

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 18, 2023

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

  Meanwhile… 

  

  But white liberals with worthless degrees need not worry. The Biden administration will bail them out with taxpayer funds. 

  BREAKING: Karine Jean-Pierre finally admits that Bidenomics is crashing people financially.

  Glad that Alexander called out Biden’s ridiculous student loan debt relief. pic.twitter.com/TcFsbOXb6f

  — I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) May 22, 2024

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

  For our Gen Z readers, we ask that you avoid going into debt at a woke liberal college and ending up with a worthless degree four or five years later. 

  Learn a trade in the powering up America theme. Transmission cable installers and pipeline welders are in high demand. Gender studies is not. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 20:00

• Blinken Working With Congress To Punish Hague-Based ICC
  Blinken Working With Congress To Punish Hague-Based ICC

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said he wanted to work with Congress on legislation to punish the International Criminal Court (ICC) for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

  Blinken was asked by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing if he would support legislation to counter “the ICC sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate democratic judicial system.”

  

  Blinken replied, “Given the events of yesterday, I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with again, what is a profoundly wrongheaded decision.”

  The ICC was previously sanctioned by the US under the Trump administration for its plans to investigate alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan. The Biden administration reversed the sanctions, but the US pressure worked to get the court to announce the focus of its Afghanistan investigation would be on the Taliban and ISIS-K.

  The ICC’s chief prosecutor announced warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on Monday for their role in the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, which implicates Blinken and other top US officials for supporting the onslaught. The ICC is also seeking warrants for Hamas leaders for the October 7 attack on southern Israel and the taking of hostages.

  The State Department has said it would rather Israel kill Hamas leaders than have them face trial in The Hague.

  “We absolutely believe that Hamas should be held accountable. That could either be through the prosecution of the war effort by Israel. It could be by being killed. It could be by being brought to justice in an Israeli court,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.

  The Biden administration is opposing the ICC efforts against Israeli and Hamas leaders despite backing its warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  Sec Blinken today told the Senate it was “extremely wrong headed” and a “shameful equivalence” for the ICC prosecutor to request arrest warrants for Netanyahu. Blinken agreed to work with congress to sanction the ICC showing US double standards on Israel compared to Russia. pic.twitter.com/aUjWsgDbXC

  — Philip (@rulesbasedworld) May 21, 2024

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

  The US says the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction to pursue Israeli leaders since Israel is not a member of the court, but neither is Russia and Ukraine. While not having full UN membership, the State of Palestine is a signatory to the Rome Statute, making it a member of the ICC.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 19:40

• China Threatens 25% Car Tariff Against US, EU Moves – Trade Ties To Worsen In Coming Weeks
  China Threatens 25% Car Tariff Against US, EU Moves – Trade Ties To Worsen In Coming Weeks

  Beijing is still mulling its expected retaliation in the wake of last week’s Biden administration rollout of steep tariff increases on a series of Chinese tech imports, importantly including computer chips, EV batteries and medical technology products.

  Wednesday saw shares of European luxury automakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tata Motors (Jaguar Land Rover), and Volkswagen Group (Audi) all finish lower, in the aftermath of a threatening and ominous Chinese state-run Global Times article which argued China should “consider raising the temporary tariff rate on imported cars with large-displacement engines, in order to reduce imports as part of the country’s broader efforts to cut emissions and promote the green development of the auto industry.”

  China has signaled it is ready to unleash tariffs as high as 25% – which would be a significant increase up from the current duty rate of 15%. Citing a Chinse industry insider, the GT piece blasted the ‘protectionist moves’ coming out of Washington and the West.

  

  Separately this week, in post on X, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) issued its own warning in an obviously coordinated messaging campaign, saying it was “informed by insiders that China may consider increasing temporary tariff rates on imported cars equipped with large-displacement engines.”

  “This potential action carries implications for European and US carmakers, particularly in light of recent developments such as Washington’s announcement of tariff hikes on Chinese electric vehicles and Brussels’ preparations for preliminary measures in a high-profile anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs,” the chamber statement said.

  As a reminder, this the text of the European Commission’s opening an investigation back in October… it formally launched “an anti-subsidy investigation into the imports of battery electric vehicles (BEV) from China. The investigation will first determine whether BEV value chains in China benefit from illegal subsidisation and whether this subsidisation causes or threatens to cause economic injury to EU BEV producers.”

  The investigation under EC President Ursula von der Leyen aims to determine whether this violates the WTO anti-dumping agreement. The deadlines set out to potentially impose duties is July 4.

  China is hitting back at both Europe and the US, as South China Morning Post observed:

  Beijing has indicated that it won’t take either gambit lying down. On Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into imports of polyoxymethylene copolymer – a chemical commonly used in automotive engineering – from the US, EU, Japan and Taiwan.

  It has already started probing alleged dumping in the European brandy sector, seen to target France’s cognac exports. Paris has been a strong supporter of a tougher EU trade policy towards China.

   

  Amid predictions that trade conditions between China and the West are expected to worsen in the coming weeks, von der Leyen on Tuesday sought to downplay a trade war in remarks from Brussels.

  “I don’t think that we are in a trade war. I have the motto: ‘de-risk not decouple’, and I think here it’s very clear we are in the category of de-risking from China. We have decoupled from Russia,” she said.

  China is set to be a central foreign policy talking point among both presidential campaigns going into November…

  In a big “cognitive dissonance” moment, Rand Paul correctly points out there’s “not a lot of difference” between Biden and Trump on China, especially since Biden “jumped on the Trump Train” with respect to Tariffs. Both are obsessed with scolding and sanctioning China, Paul notes pic.twitter.com/ugqgjUT5nB

  — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 21, 2024

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  And here’s what the Biden administration said during the last Tuesday unveiling of the new US tariff hike: “Today, I am following through on my commitment to stand up to the People’s Republic of China’s unfair trade practices by issuing a formal proposal to modify the tariff actions.” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai further vowed, “The President and I will continue to fight for American workers, and for our economic future and national security.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 19:20

• Bitcoin & The Wrong Lessons From Pizza Day
  Bitcoin & The Wrong Lessons From Pizza Day

  Authored by Jimmy Song via BitcoinMagazine.com,

  The following is an excerpt on Bitcoin Pizza Day from “Fiat Ruins Everything” by Jimmy Song. Visit the Bitcoin Magazine Store to order a print, digital or audio copy of the book.

  Pizza Day is often viewed with a sense of regret.

  

  The well-known story goes like this: many years ago, Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John’s pizzas, and in return, some fortunate person received 10,000 BTC.236 This tale resembles that of Peter Minuit purchasing Manhattan Island for a mere $24. It’s hard to believe such a transaction took place, considering the current value.

  The story has several intriguing aspects. It marked the first real-world good or service purchased with Bitcoin. It also established Bitcoin’s price; since the two pizzas cost around $41, one BTC was approximately $0.0041.

  Another aspect of this narrative is Laszlo, a pioneer in mining Bitcoin using GPUs (graphics processing units). He spent around 100,000 BTC on pizzas, as he made similar deals multiple times throughout the month. In a way, he’s the Santa Claus of this story, giving away value almost flippantly.

  RENT-SEEKING FANTASIES

  Pizza Day often triggers daydreams of becoming a Bitcoin billionaire through a single brilliant trade. Many people don’t fantasize about being Laszlo, as they aren’t GPU programming experts. However, they can easily imagine being the person on the bitcointalk forums offering to buy Bitcoin for a couple of pizzas.

  The idea of having made such a trade sparks envy, as we all secretly resent the person who actually executed it. We perceive them as lucky, as if they had won the lottery.

  These fantasies stem from a fiat mentality, where the value hierarchy is rooted in fiat money. The desire is to be lucky rather than skilled. People would prefer making money without working, versus earning it by providing valuable goods and services.

  It’s revealing that the regret lies in missing out on luck rather than innovation. In a fiat-driven world, it’s easier to dream about being the person who sold the pizza, rather than the one who had the skill and foresight to mine with GPUs. This mindset prioritizes fiat accomplishments—getting lucky with money—over real achievements, which involve earning money by providing value to the market. Most people would rather ride the coattails of an innovator than be one themselves.

  BITCOIN REGRET

  We all have our Bitcoin regret stories. I remember learning about Bitcoin in February 2011. I tried to find a way to buy it using a credit card, but I couldn’t. I attempted mining on Amazon Web Services and didn’t find any blocks solo-mining for two days. I began the process of moving dollars into Mt. Gox, but when the price dropped from $1 to $0.90, I decided it was too much of a hassle to set up. I could have bought Bitcoin at $0.90, but I didn’t. It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.

  Everyone has different regret stories. Perhaps you heard about Bitcoin back in June 2011 when it ran up to $30 and regret not buying it then. Maybe you discovered Bitcoin in April 2013 when it reached $266, or later that year in December 2013 when it soared to $1,100. Or perhaps it was in 2017 when it hit $2,500, $5,000, and then $19,000. Or even more recently, in March 2020 when Bitcoin crashed to under $4,000, or later that year when it was breaking $10,000. Anyone who’s heard about Bitcoin at any point in its history has a regret story.

  Bitcoin regret stories are like bad-beat stories in poker. Everyone has them, and they are fantasies about different, luckier outcomes. They are unproductive stories because the feelings of regret come from a fantasy that assumes virtues that are not common.

  THE CHALLENGE OF HOLDING

  In these regret stories, we often overlook something. What if we had bought Bitcoin when we first heard about it? How would we have handled the subsequent challenges? Would we have had the diamond hands to hold through the 85% drawdowns in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2018?

  When you fantasize about the Pizza Day story, do you ever consider the difficulty of holding during the tough times in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2018? There’s a tendency to assume that we would have had the conviction that we possess now, like how a time traveler might feel. I’ve experienced those drawdowns firsthand, and let me tell you, most people didn’t have that conviction, and they sold. Many believe they would have held strong through all the difficult times, but like the original O.J. Simpson verdict, that assumption goes against all evidence.

  Holding 10,000 BTC wasn’t uncommon back in 2010. Many people had a significant amount of Bitcoin because they were worth pennies at the time, but where are they now? Most of them sold when the Bitcoin price doubled or tripled and never looked back.238 They viewed Bitcoin as a plaything and didn’t grasp its revolutionary nature. So, they sold it to buy a new computer, a new bike, or a new car.

  SHATTERING YOUR DREAMS

  Had you sold Laszlo two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010, you probably would have sold them in the new few years. To think otherwise is hubris. Most people back then didn’t understand what Bitcoin was, and there were no educational resources explaining why you should hold. We now have an abundance of resources for understanding Bitcoin.239 In 2023, it’s much easier to comprehend that Bitcoin is a better form of money than anything that came before. Back in 2010, it was much more difficult. Do you still think you would have had diamond hands?

  To hold Bitcoin is to have a deep conviction about what it is. There are necessary virtues to be a long-term holder. Holders understand the fundamental value of Bitcoin being sound money and can thus withstand the 85% drawdowns that occur regularly. Only the truly extraordinary managed to hold from 2010, and you likely would not have been one of those people.

  But suppose you beat the odds and had conviction. You held through 2011 and even the first bubble in 2013. Would you have had the foresight to withdraw to your wallet before Mt. Gox collapsed in 2013?240 Or if you used another exchange before then, would you have gotten out before they exit-scammed?241 We say “not your keys, not your coins” now, but back then, this was not common practice. Many people had to be burned for that lesson to become a meme. Even with conviction, there’s a good chance you would have been one of the many who suffered.

  There were also other dangers, like the advent of altcoins starting in 2011. How many Bitcoins would you have lost in Geistgeld,242 Feathercoin,243 and MasterCoin?244 There were also numerous scams, including Pirate40245 and others who promised high returns by running Ponzi schemes. Would you have avoided those? There were also several ASIC startups that sold machines that weren’t built yet. Would you have avoided getting duped by Butterfly Labs246 or TerraMiner?247 How about the cloud mining services248 that took your Bitcoin and paid out only a fraction over the next 12 months? Would you have avoided these tempting offers that ended up diminishing many Bitcoin stacks? You would have needed the instinct to get in on Bitcoin early while not falling for these similar-sounding investments, which frankly is not an easy needle to thread.

  Looking back on those dangers, it’s a miracle that people made it past those years with any Bitcoin at all. Many OGs are like Vietnam veterans, reflecting on the times when they were fortunate to escape the numerous hazards.

  BUILDING CONVICTION IS CHALLENGING

  Developing deep conviction is not easy, and for early adopters, it was especially difficult. Remember, everyone was calling Bitcoin a scam back then. Even now, it takes years of study and unwavering resolve to develop that conviction. Back in 2010-2013, having Bitcoin conviction was as rare as a physically-fit government health official.

  Going against conventional wisdom and following your convictions requires a great deal of courage, which many people lack. Consider what happened during COVID-19. How many people had the conviction to voice opinions against the mainstream narrative in March 2020? That’s the level of conviction you had to possess to hold Bitcoin through those early years.

  In 2023, we have numerous resources that help us save in Bitcoin. Podcasts, books, and videos are available to help us navigate this space, not only to develop the conviction but also to adopt best practices for holding. The early years were a minefield of traps to lose your Bitcoin. It’s much easier these days to avoid those traps, but back then, there weren’t OGs who could warn you about them. The resources that exist now and the Bitcoin memes we have today (“Not your keys, not your coins.”) are not propaganda. They are the fruit of hard-earned experience.

  BITCOIN DERANGEMENT

  Studying the early individuals in the Bitcoin space reveals a troubling pattern. Almost every non-technical Bitcoin advocate pre-2013 is now promoting an altcoin. Why have so many early adopters become Bitcoin-deranged?

  We can find some answers by looking at the fiat world of lottery winners. Years after winning, numerous lottery winners end up worse off than before they won the lottery. They are ill-equipped to manage the windfall, and many find themselves with greater debt, damaged relationships, and a worse life. Some even commit suicide. While not everyone experiences such negative outcomes, enough do that many lottery agencies proactively offer assistance.

  Unfortunately, bad outcomes have been the fate of many early Bitcoin adopters. At some point in the last decade, they either fell victim to scams or became scammers themselves. As a result, many of them have turned against Bitcoin.

  So, to further shatter your daydream, there’s a good chance that if you had gotten in early, you would be an altcoin scammer or would have been scammed by an altcoin. These are serial scammers with no qualms about lying, cheating, or stealing their way to wealth. They exist in a rent-seeking nightmare of shattered dreams. That’s not a desirable fate, and it’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

  LEVEL UP YOUR CONVICTIONS

  For many, Pizza Day is an opportunity to indulge in time-traveling fantasies where they daydream about being wealthy. This mindset often leads people to explore altcoins, as it stems from the fiat money mentality. Essentially, Pizza Day is a fantasy about being lucky and not having to work. In other words, it represents a rent-seeking desire on a grand scale.

  Fiat money has fostered a consumerist mentality, which exacerbates the urge to rent seek. Governments capitalize on this desire through lotteries, profiting from the allure of easy wealth. Altcoins exploit the same yearning. Unfortunately, Pizza Day often reinforces this mentality, focusing on the desire to be fortunate rather than skilled.

  Instead, Pizza Day should serve as a reminder that forming conviction is no easy task. True conviction demands knowledge, wisdom, and courage—virtues that require time, energy, and effort to develop. Rather than envying early adopters and fantasizing about joining their ranks, we should strive to cultivate the conviction needed to hold through challenging times and provide value in the process. As the saying goes in the Bitcoin community, “It’s still early.”

  On Pizza Day, commit to leveling up your convictions.

  TEN THINGS YOU BOUGHT INSTEAD OF BITCOIN

  – 1- 

  That sleek, irresistible Apple gadget you just had to have, only to replace it two years later with an even shinier, more irresistible version.

  – 2 –

  Green gems in Clash of Clans, because clearly, the defense of your virtual village was of greater importance than securing your financial future.

  – 3 –

  A college degree with about as much relevance to your current job as a penguin waddling through the Sahara Desert.

  – 4 –

  Litecoin, the less secure, less functional cousin of Bitcoin— because who needs the real deal when you can settle for something much worse?

  – 5 –

  A dating app subscription that merely solidified your status as forever alone.

  – 6 –

  Steam games on sale, eagerly awaiting their debut in your library, wondering when they’ll finally bask in the glow of your screen.

  – 7 –

  That exercise equipment now serving as an exquisite clothes rack, because let’s face it, the allure of the couch is simply too strong to resist.

  – 8 –

  An online class you signed up for, attended just long enough to say “hello” and “goodbye,” then promptly ghosted.

  – 9 –

  The, uh, “adult entertainment” that left you feeling deflated and questioning your life choices the next day.

  – 10 –

  An MLM product from a Facebook friend that you abandoned quicker than you can say “pyramid scheme.”

  *  *  *

  Click here to order a copy of “Fiat Ruins Everything: How Our Financial System is Rigged and How Bitcoin Fixes It”, by Jimmy Song.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 19:00

• Bipartisan Calls Grow For Ukraine To Hit Russian Territory With US Arms
  Bipartisan Calls Grow For Ukraine To Hit Russian Territory With US Arms

  Officials in the US are growing more vocal in making the case for allowing Ukraine to use Washington-supplied weaponry to attack Russian territory.

  On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson came out with a full-throated statement expressing support for such a move which would certainly risk bringing NATO and Russian into more direct conflict. Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also said to be on board with a policy change.

  

  Johnson was asked by Voice of America if he supported a scenario where Ukraine forces attack Russian soil utilizing American weapons. He responded by saying that the US needs “to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit.”

  “They [Ukraine] need[s] to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us,” he said.

  Ukrainian parliament member Oleksandra Ustinova was among a delegation from Kiev that was in Washington days ago in order to lobby US lawmakers for a change in policy. The Biden administration has long communicated a strict ban on pro-Kiev forces attacking Russia with American arms.

  Watch Johnson sign off on Ukraine using US weapons to attack inside Russian territory:

  ⚡️”I think we need to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit. They need to be able to fight back and I think that us trying to micromanage the effort there is not good policy for us,” – US House Speaker Mike Johnson answering the question whether Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/88M6Km2XTS

  — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 22, 2024

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  “Realizing that we do not have the right to use, for instance, HIMARS [rocket launchers] on the territory of Russia, the Russians display all their equipment along the border and use it to destroy the Kharkiv region,” Ustinova has been cited as saying. “And we simply cannot get to them, because there’s a ban on the usage of American weapons on the territory of Russia.”

  In Kharkiv oblast in particular, Russia earlier this month launched a new major offensive to push the border 10km deep into Ukrainian territory, with the stated aim of establishing a buffer zone to make it harder for Ukrainian artillery to reach Russian settlements across the border.

  The Biden White House has yet to give in to the intensified lobbying campaign to loosen restrictions on US weaponry, on a public level at least.

  On Monday a group of House lawmakers from both parties issued a formal letter urging the lifting of any restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons.

  The lobbying push is in full-swing for what could be the biggest escalation of the entire Ukraine war: for the US to start openly coordinating strikes inside Russia. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) urges Blinken to reverse the “dangerous policy” of not explicitly allowing these strikes pic.twitter.com/PebaJ0RXSZ

  — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 22, 2024

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  “It is essential the Biden administration allows Ukraine’s military leaders to conduct a full spectrum of operations necessary to respond to Russia’s unprovoked attack on their sovereign land,” the letter said.

  At this point President Zelensky is going so far as to request that NATO directly intercept and shootdown Russian missiles sent against Ukrainian cities. Indeed the messaging and requests are growing more desperate, given Ukraine forces are being rapidly beaten back in places like Kharkiv.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 18:40

• "Dangerous Racial Gerrymandering" – White House Fumes As Supreme Court Backs GOP's New South Carolina Congressional Map
  “Dangerous Racial Gerrymandering” – White House Fumes As Supreme Court Backs GOP’s New South Carolina Congressional Map

  The U.S. Supreme Court on May 23 ruled in favor of South Carolina’s redrawn congressional map, reversing a lower court decision.

  

  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) challenged the map, arguing legislators were motivated by race when drawing district lines and committed “intentional racial discrimination.”

  As Zachary Stieber reports via The Epoch Times, a panel of federal judges in 2023 said that “race predominated over all other factors” when legislators redrew South Carolina’s First Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). The finding was based in part on the movement of more than 30,000 black voters to a different district.

  To show that race was the predominant factor motivating legislators who are redrawing districts, plaintiffs challenging a new map must prove the state elevated race above other factors, such as contiguity, according to court precedent.

  The judges who handed down the earlier ruling “clearly erred” because the challengers did not provide such proof, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said.

  The challengers “provided no direct evidence of a racial gerrymander, and their circumstantial evidence is very weak,” he wrote. “Instead, the challengers relied on deeply flawed expert reports.”

  Justice Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was joined by Justice John Roberts, another appointee of President Bush, and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, all appointees of former President Donald Trump.

  Justice Thomas, another appointee of President Bush, wrote in an opinion, concurring in part.

  Justice Elena Kagan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, filed a dissent. She was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another appointee of President Obama, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of President Joe Biden.

  The panel that entered the 2023 ruling consisted of U.S. District Judges Mary Geiger Lewis and Richard Gergel, both appointees of President Obama; and U.S. Circuit Judge Toby Heytens, an appointee of President Biden.

  The new map, created after the receipt of data from the 2020 census, was enacted in 2022.

  “We’re always going to have concerns about elections but I think the Supreme Court was clear. They examined the question and they followed the law,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican who signed the updated map, told reporters at an unrelated briefing. “I have not read it, but I know about it, and I think they made the right decision.”

  South Carolina Senate President Thomas Alexander, another Republican defendant in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.

  “Today, the Supreme Court has failed the American people. Voting rights have taken another gut punch, and the future of democracy in South Carolina is dangling by a thread,” Brenda Murphy, president of the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP said in a statement.

  South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District includes over half of the state’s coast and parts of Charleston. It has a population of about 762,000.

  Republicans won elections in the district for decades starting in the 1980s. Former Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) upended that trend in the 2018 election. After one term, he was unseated by Ms. Mace.

  Ms. Mace won with 50.6 percent of the vote in 2020 and in 2022 earned another term with 56.3 percent of the vote.

  Justice Alito also criticized the lower court judges for not finding challengers at fault for their failure to provide an alternative map showing how legislators could have achieved their “legitimate political objectives” while producing “significantly greater racial balance.”

  The majority also said they found similar errors in the lower court’s finding that legislators intentionally diluted the votes of black people, because that finding was based on the same facts that underpinned the analysis of the racial gerrymandering claim.

  Justices remanded the portion of the case relating to vote dilution back to the district court, with guidance on how to analyze dilution allegations.

  Justice Thomas said in his opinion that he agreed with most of Justice Alito’s opinion but that he does not think the Supreme Court has the power to decide claims of racial gerrymandering.

  “Drawing political districts is a task for politicians, not federal judges. There are no judicially manageable standards for resolving claims about districting, and, regardless, the Constitution commits those issues exclusively to the political branches,” he wrote.

  Justice Kagan said in her dissent that reversing factfinding about redistricting can only be done if a “clear error” is found, citing a previous ruling. “This court must give a district court’s view of events ’significant deference,‘ which means we must uphold it so long as it is ’plausible,’” she wrote. “Under that standard, South Carolina should now have to redraw District 1.”

  The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that Louisiana needed to use a congressional map with two black-majority districts in the upcoming election. The three justices appointed by Democrats dissented in that order as well.

  In 2023, the nation’s top court struck down Alabama’s redrawn map, finding it was racially discriminatory in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

  The White House was quick to issue a statement condemning The Supreme Court’s decision:

  The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy.  Key to that right is ensuring that voters pick their elected officials — not the other way around. The Supreme Court’s decision today undermines the basic principle that voting practices should not discriminate on account of race and that is wrong.

  This decision threatens South Carolinians’ ability to have their voices heard at the ballot box, and the districting plan the Court upheld is part of a dangerous pattern of racial gerrymandering efforts from Republican elected officials to dilute the will of Black voters. Vice President Harris and I are ironclad in our commitment to protecting the sacred right to vote, and we will not stop fighting until Congress passes both the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act to ensure fair Congressional maps for all Americans.

  Given the demise of Biden’s share of the black vote, maybe this actually did him a favor?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 18:20

• SEC Approves Spot Ether ETFs In Major Crypto Victory
  SEC Approves Spot Ether ETFs In Major Crypto Victory

  What until just a few days ago was viewed as an extremely low-probability event, has just come true, when the highly politicized Securities and Exchange Commission, headed by Liz Warren’s soon to be terminated lackey Gary Gensler, has – against its desires – been forced again to approve no less than eight crypto ETFs, this time for spot Ethereum, following what was reportedly urgent political intervention from the White House.

  

  Following relentless pushback which prompted Bloomberg’s ETF expert Eric Balchunas to give a spot ETH ETF only 25% odds of approval, in the first-of-its-kind blessing, the SEC signed off on a proposal by venues run by Cboe, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange to list products tied to the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency. The move removes a key hurdle for spot Ether ETF trading in the US.

  Issuers now need a separate sign-off from the regulator, and no deadline has been set for that decision. In other words, as Bloomberg’s James Seyffart explains, today’s approval does not mean ethereum ETFs will begin trading tomorrow: this is just 19b-4 approval. Now the SEC will need to approve the S-1 documents which is going to take time: “We’re expecting it to take a couple weeks but could take longer. Should know more within a week or so”

  TO BE CLEAR: This does not mean they will begin trading tomorrow. This is just 19b-4 approval. Also needs to be an approval on the S-1 documents which is going to take time. We’re expecting it to take a couple weeks but could take longer. Should know more within a week or so!

  — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) May 23, 2024

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  Ahead of the approval, SEC boss Gary Gensler had been cryptic on his views over whether Ether is a security, stoking concerns that the agency was hardening its stance. Others, such as this website, duly noted that in the grand scheme of things it is not what Gary Gensler or “Senator Karen” want, but rather only the wishes of Larry Fink…

  Fink’s endgame is ETH: he has repeatedly said the goal is tokenization

  “I see value in having an Ethereum ETF. These are just stepping stones towards tokenization and I really do believe this is where we’re going to be going.”https://t.co/MfGAqHZLWc

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 10, 2024

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  … and JPMorgan matter…

  JPMorgan now just as bullish on ethereum as Larry Fink. Good luck @GaryGensler pic.twitter.com/tdQFKUvsKI

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 10, 2024

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  … And while crypto enthusiasts said they were worried about Gensler trying to subject Ether — and various other projects based on the Ethereum blockchain — to the agency’s arbitrary, capricious, and onerous investor-protection rules, claiming that Ether is in fact a security despite claiming previously that it is not, the recent sharp policy stance reversal driven by an abrupt change in the political climate, revealed that the only thing that decides whether something is a security or not, is a phone call from the White House which is trailing Donald Trump in the polls by double digits.

  Which is why, as recently as last week, companies were banking the SEC would reject the Cboe plan — and potentially others — by Thursday’s deadline. Additional SEC approval is still needed for the issuers, but the signoff is a huge victory for the industry, and especially those who held on to Ether since January, which continued to sink mercilessly even as bitcoin soared.

  Backers hope a listing will bring a new flood of money to the asset class by appealing to retail and institutional investors, who are interested in crypto but more comfortable investing in ETFs than tokens.

  Overall, investors, many who retreated after FTX exchange’s collapse, have already been piling back into crypto. Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is up more than 60% this year alone thanks to the frenzy. And, as both Goldman and Bernstein have noted, the upside for Ether is likely far greater than that of bitcoin in the long run.

  

  Some of Ether’s recent rally is also due to optimism that the US crackdown on the industry – led by such congressional knucle-draggers as Elizabeth Warren – is finally waning. The Republican-led House on Wednesday advanced sweeping cryptocurrency legislation despite opposition from the White House and Gensler. Although the Senate isn’t expected to approve the measure, it also garnered notable Democratic support in the House.

  On the jurisdictional question, Lee Reiners, policy director of the Duke Financial Economics Center at Duke University, said that exchange bids to list the products were based on Ether being a commodity and not a security. An SEC decision to green light the plan bolsters the view that the SEC still considers Ether not to be a security, he said. Investment companies seeking to list the products have already been making concessions to win SEC approval.

  Fidelity Investments said it will keep Ether it buys as part of the ETF out of programs that pay rewards for blockchain maintenance, known as staking. The latter has been a hot-button issue for Ether because it raises questions about whether the token should be treated as a security. Last year, the SEC in a lawsuit accused Coinbase Global Inc. of breaking its rules by offering staking services.

  And so, we now wait for the various ETH ETF issuers to make adjustments for today’s latest clarifications and to get S1 approval imminently which will finally greenlight trading; indeed, VanEck which was the first to apply for a spot Ether ETF wasted no time in filing an amendment to their S-1 filing.

  VanEck making amendment to their ETH ETF S-1 already https://t.co/9faENB70nF pic.twitter.com/xQNLxJ7kO3

  — NLNico (@btcNLNico) May 23, 2024

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  And speaking of Van Eck, here is what the head of the company’s digital asset research team, Matthew Sigel published seconds after the ETF approval:

  We are so thrilled to confirm that the SEC has approved, pursuant to Section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, our exchange partner CBOE’s proposed rule change to list and trade a @vaneck_us
   spot #Ethereum ETF on the CBOE!

  TLDR: We expect the improved political backdrop will lead to further victories for digital asset investors & developers, via new laws & in the courts, that draw investment to #Bitcoin, Ethereum and other open-source blockchain software.

  We applaud this decision, as we believe the evidence clearly shows that #ETH is a decentralized commodity, not a security.  ETH’s status as a commodity has now been recognized in a variety of circumstances, including the CFTC’s regulation of ETH futures, public statements by Commission officials, rulings by federal courts, and now, hopefully, this ETF.

  The high degree of correlation between ETH spot prices and CME Ethereum futures prices, similar to the correlation seen with Bitcoin, proved that the spot ETH market is tightly linked to the regulated futures market. This tight linkage supports the listing of spot ETH ETFs, as it allows for the market surveillance the SEC requires. Additionally, the presence of liquid, regulated ETH futures trading on the CME and the approval of ETFs tracking those futures demonstrated to all neutral observers that Ethereum meets the same criteria as Bitcoin for an ETF holding the spot asset. The SEC approved the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs based on these exact criteria, and we have long believed that Ethereum warrants the same treatment.

  Any claim that Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake has turned it into a security, or that staking itself is a securities transaction is misguided and harmful to innovation. Proof-of-stake is simply an alternative consensus mechanism to proof-of-work mining – it does not fundamentally alter Ethereum’s decentralized nature or transform ETH into a security issued by a central entity. Since the DAO hack in 2016, Ethereum has become highly decentralized, with no centralized issuer or promoter controlling a material supply or percentage of validators. The Ethereum Foundation’s ETH holdings have steadily declined to just 0.30% of the circulating supply, and Vitalik Buterin holds around 0.23%. This widespread distribution of ETH contradicts the idea of it being a security issued by a common enterprise.

  We have also heard arguments that Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) was a securities transaction. This misunderstands the decentralized nature of Ethereum’s governance. Ethereum’s transition to PoS was driven by social consensus, involving broad community discussions, transparent development processes, and voting mechanisms within a decentralized network. This contrasts sharply with traditional financial systems, where decisions are made by centralized entities or a small group of registered stakeholders. Changes in Ethereum are proposed through Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), debated publicly, and adopted only with widespread community support, ensuring no central authority controls the network. This decentralized, community-driven process highlights that Ethereum remains a decentralized commodity, not a security, as its evolution reflects the collective agreement of its diverse global participants.
   
  As the UK Prime Minister on this topic just recently said: “We are pro-open source. Open-source drives innovation. It creates start-ups. It creates communities. There must be a very high bar for any restrictions on open source.”

  Many traditional finance market participants may not fully understand that ETH is not just a speculative asset but has extensive real-world utility underpinning a vibrant decentralized application ecosystem. Ethereum supports over 270 million unique user addresses and processes an average of 1.2 million transactions daily. On-chain value settlements exceeded $2.8 trillion over the last year, compared to global remittances of $860B, PayPal volumes of $1.5 trillion, and Visa network volume of $15 trillion. Ethereum boasts a robust developer community, with more than 2,300 monthly active developers contributing to 113,000 distinct Githib repositories. Thanks to the network effects from this decentralized community, Ethereum has become the foundational layer for a vast ecosystem of over 3,000 applications, including financial services, games and collectibles. Its smart contract functionality enables automated lending/borrowing, decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, play-to-earn games, and tokenization of real-world assets. Major companies like Reddit, Ubisoft, Nike, and Visa have launched Ethereum-based projects. Regulating Ethereum NFTs differently from physical collectibles like baseball cards or Rolex watches is often absurd – both represent unique digital/physical scarcity and ownership. A Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT and a rare 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card can serve similar purposes as status symbols and stores of value. But governance structures like those enabled by Ethereum underpin much of the innovation happening in open-source databases, including real-world asset tokenization. Stifling this utility through misguided regulation would hamper technological progress and drive those talented entrepreneurs overseas.

  The situation has been made even more confusing by the inconsistent stances taken by different U.S. regulators. While the SEC has recently declined to clarify ETH’s status, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) allowed Ether futures products to trade as commodities. The Chairman of the CFTC has stated repeatedly under oath that ETH is a commodity. Even the SEC’s own guidance has stated that a digital asset may transition away from being a security as it becomes sufficiently decentralized over time, though critical details are lacking. Adding to the contradictions, just last week the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unveiled an indictment that referred to Ethereum as a “decentralized” blockchain. Needless to say, this regulatory discord has fostered harmful uncertainty and, contrary to the SEC’s mandate of capital formation, has inflicted a lot of pain in the market.

  That’s why today feels particularly sweet to VanEck, the first traditional ETF issuer to file for both Bitcoin & Ethereum ETFs. It is so encouraging to observe the growing bipartisan support for digital assets in DC, reflecting widespread voter input, & culminating in today’s ETF news and this week’s congressional repeal of SAB 121, an accounting rule hostile to crypto that was enacted through unorthodox means.

  We expect this improved political backdrop will lead to further victories via new laws and in the courts that draw investment to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other open-source blockchain software.

  Stay tuned for further updates.

  PS – we expect to go FIRST.

  After tumbling just after the close because someone was stupid enough to assume that since there was no approval by 4:00:00pm it means the SEC won’t bless the ETF, Ethere was last trading just above $3,800…

  

  … and rapidly approaching its YTD high just above $4,000, from where it will proceed to move much higher in the coming months.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 17:58

• Current PLA Drills Around Taiwan Are Bigger In Scope Than Exercises Triggered By Pelosi
  Current PLA Drills Around Taiwan Are Bigger In Scope Than Exercises Triggered By Pelosi

  As part of China’s two days of encircling drills around Taiwan, its military has dispatched about 30 aircraft toward the island Thursday, most of which crossed the Median Line in the Taiwan Strait. About a dozen PLA naval ships have also surrounded the self-ruled island, and in response Taiwan’s military has deployed warships to monitor the situation.

  An additional dozen Chinese coast guard ships have been spotted close to Taiwan’s disputed outlying islands as well, according to Taipei officials. PLA Naval Colonel Li Xi has called the exercises “a strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces and a serious warning against interference and provocation by external forces.”

  

  As we reported previously, the large-scale drills are were launched just days after Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, was sworn into office at the start of the week. Beijing has called Lai a “dangerous separatist” who will ensure future “war and decline” for the island of Taiwan, which China has long claimed as its own.

  CNN has cited Chinese state television to describe:

  As part of the drills, dozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live ammunition conducted mock strikes against “high-value military targets” of the “enemy” alongside destroyers, frigates and missile speedboats, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.

  …China’s state broadcaster CCTV said multiple destroyer and frigate formations of the Eastern Theater Command Navy “maneuvered at high speed in multiple directions in the waters surrounding Taiwan, creating an omnidirectional approach in pushing toward the island.”

  Dozens of fighter jets were also seen near the outlying islands which include Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin in the East China Sea.

  China’s CCTV broadcaster further detailed of the drills, “Under the support and cover of the Army and the Rocket Force, multiple types of aircraft were organized and loaded with live ammunition, flew to the predetermined airspace to establish multiple strike positions, and coordinated with destroyers, frigates, and missile speedboats to simulate attacking the ‘enemy’s’ high-value military targets and reconnaissance and patrol aircraft.”

  Regional analyst Arnaud Bertrand says that these ongoing two-day exercises are actually bigger in scale and scope compared to those which ensued in August 2022, in reaction to then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ultra-provocative visit to Taiwan. His words follow below the maps:

  Before: What the 2022 PLA ‘encircling’ drills in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit looked like…

  

  Currently: The expanse of the ongoing Thurs-Fri PLA military drills surrounding Taiwan…

  

  These are major military exercises by China around Taiwan, with more “exclusion zones” that are larger in scale than the exercises triggered by Pelosi’s visit and closer to the island.

  They are basically demonstrating that they can completely blockade the islands, with the zones placed in front of Taiwan’s biggest ports (like Kaohsiung to the South, where a lot of Taiwan’s navy is, or Hualien to the East), as well as protect the mainland at the same time. It’s not a sign of imminent war, simply a reaction to Lai’s presidential inauguration speech where he hinted at significant changes to the status quo towards independence, so much so that even the Financial Times ran an article saying that “China has a point” when they were warning about Lai’s intention to change the status quo.

  Wow, that’s exceedingly rare. The FT admits that the ROC’s new leader Lai Ching-te is attempting the change the status quo across the Taiwan strait and that “China has a point” in this regard.https://t.co/cfuMnnLNBs

  Here is what they write:

  “China is right to say that Lai is…

  — Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 22, 2024

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

  This is China telling him “don’t get any ideas”.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/23/2024 – 17:20