Mar 11

Today’s News 11th March 2024

  • Are France & The UK Plotting A Ukrainian Power Play Right Under Germany's Nose?
    Are France & The UK Plotting A Ukrainian Power Play Right Under Germany’s Nose?

    Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

    There are indeed plans for a conventional Western intervention in Ukraine despite their leaders’ denials over the past two weeks, but they’ve yet to fully form and their execution can’t be taken for granted, but they also can’t be ruled out either.

    The debate that French President Macron provoked over whether NATO should conventionally intervene in Ukraine exposed the existence of two distinct schools of thought on this issue inside of Europe. France, the Baltic States, and Poland appear to be in favor of “non-combat deployments” there for demining and training missions, which could be carried out through a “coalition of the willing”, while the rest of the bloc supports Germany’s stance that this shouldn’t happen under any circumstances.

    “Scholz’s Slip Of The Tongue Spilled The Beans On Ukraine’s Worst-Kept Secret”, however, since he inadvertently revealed that there are already British and French troops there helping Ukraine with “target control”. The subsequently leaked Bundeswehr recording about bombing the Crimean Bridge confirmed that the Americans are there too. Nevertheless, what’s being proposed by Paris is a formalization of these deployments along with their gradual expansion in a “non-combat” capacity.

    Nobody should be fooled into thinking that France and the other four that appear to be in favor of this scenario are solely interested in demining and training missions. Rather, their intent seems to be to prepare these on-the-ground forces for surging eastward in the event that the worst-case scenario from Kiev’s perspective materializes whereby the frontline collapses and Russia starts steamrolling westward. These NATO members would then try to draw a red line in the sand as far as possible to save Ukraine.

    Germany’s approach is altogether different in that it prefers to formally stay out of the fray in order to focus on building “Fortress Europe”. This refers to Berlin’s policy of resuming its long-lost superpower trajectory through “defensive” military means with US support in order to lead Russia’s containment in Europe at Washington’s behest while America “Pivots (back) to Asia” to contain China. A major component of this plan is the “military Schengen” between Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland.

    The Baltic States and Poland are unlikely to participate in a conventional intervention in Ukraine without the official participation of a nuclear power because they fear being hung out to dry in the scenario that they clash with Russia inside of that crumbling former Soviet Republic. Therein lies the strategic importance of France’s involvement since it could assuage their concerns due to the possibility of Paris resorting to nuclear brinksmanship with Moscow if its own troops take part in the aforesaid clashes.

    The UK wouldn’t sit on the sidelines in that event since it’s already playing a leading role in NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine and previously signed a trilateral security pact with Kiev and Warsaw in the week before the latest phase of this decade-long conflict started in mid-February 2022. Like France, the UK also doesn’t want to see Germany resuming its superpower trajectory, and both might wager that they can either get the US’ approval for their intervention or do it unilaterally to make it a fait accompli.

    France isn’t yet part of the “military Schengen”, which could impede its ability to move large amounts of troops and equipment into Ukraine, so it can either soon join this pact or negotiate its own version with Poland and/or Greece-Bulgaria-Romania to complement its new deal with Moldova. Romania’s “Moldovan Highway” that’s being built in “emergency” mode is creating a new military corridor in the Balkans from which France can counter Germany’s growing military influence across the continent.  

    This emerging Greek-Ukrainian corridor is already one of the West’s most important logistical routes for perpetuating the proxy war after the traditional Polish one became unreliable following the farmers’ protests. It therefore makes perfect sense not only to invest in it for that sake alone, but also for countries like France and the UK to entrench their influence along the route in order to create their own “sphere of influence” there for decelerating Germany’s superpower trajectory.

    That’s precisely what France is doing via its new security deal with Moldova, which will lead to closer security ties of the “military Schengen” sort with Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece in order to facilitate the dispatch of “trainers” to that landlocked country. The UK can either follow suit in some way or redouble its influence in the Baltic States and especially Poland, possibly culminating in its troops conventionally intervening in Ukraine through the last-mentioned while France’s enter from Romania-Moldova.

    The possibility of France and the UK either receiving the US’ approval for this intervention or doing it unilaterally as a “coalition of the willing” in order to make it a fait accompli could pressure Germany to participate in order to not be left out and made to “look weak”. Its Air Force officers already claimed in the earlier cited leaked recording that the missiles that those two sent to Ukraine pressures them to do the same with the Taurus so the precedent is established for why they might think the same in that case.

    While it initially seems counterintuitive that France and the UK might want Germany to participate in this intervention when one of the reasons why they’re arguably plotting it is to decelerate its newly resumed superpower trajectory, there’s actually a clear logic to these calculations. Deeper German involvement in this conflict could further reduce the already dismal chances of it entering into a rapprochement with Russia after everything ends like many hawks still fear is possible and desperately want to prevent.

    It could also become overextended in some sense and thus lose the military-strategic grip that it’s recently obtained, thus creating openings for France and the UK to chip away at Germany’s influence in the Balkans and Baltics respectively in order to keep their historical rival’s rise somewhat in check. Berlin might not bite the bait though since Scholz has yet to even approve sending Taurus missiles there with the clandestine troop deployment that they require so there’s a chance that he’ll stick to his guns.

    If Germany formally stays out of the fray while France and the UK embroil themselves in it with disastrous or at least unimpressive results, including those that see their Baltic and Polish “junior partners” exploited as cannon fodder, then Germany might actually benefit a lot. Those two’s approach would be discredited, the possibility of which might be why the US thus far appears reluctant to approve their “coalition of the willing”, and by contrast lend credence to Germany’s approach.

    “Fortress Europe” might then be built at an even faster pace in the aftermath of this conflict as the only two possibly countervailing forces to keep its influence in check would have discredited themselves. On the other hand, a partially “successful” conventional Franco-British intervention in Ukraine could discredit Germany if it literally ends up saving Ukraine from collapse and stopping the Russian steamroller. In that event, “Fortress Europe” might be built a lot differently than Germany planned.

    Instead of the EU as a whole functioning as a pro-US German-led proxy bloc in the New Cold War, Berlin would have to accept London’s “sphere of influence” in the Baltics and a condominium with it in Poland while Paris would have its own “sphere” in the Balkans. Rather than relying on one country to rule the EU by proxy, the US would depend on three, with the advantage being that there’d be less of a chance that Germany would ever “go rogue” but at the detriment of this being more complex to manage.

    It remains to be seen whether France and the UK will go through with this Ukrainian power play right under Germany’s nose, but there’s little doubt that this is what they’re planning. The US could possibly disapprove, however, and they might then lack the confidence to conventionally intervene through their own “coalition of the willing”. There’s also the chance that the US takes the lead in this respect if Russia achieves a breakthrough before NATO’s largest drills in three decades end in June.

    It would be easier for the US to do this on its own with everyone else following it than to depend on others, but this could risk World War III by miscalculation much more than if France and the UK conventionally intervene while the US “Leads From Behind”, hence the latter scenario’s appeal. In any case, the top takeaway from this analysis is that there are indeed plans for a conventional Western intervention in Ukraine, but they’ve yet to fully form and their execution can’t be taken for granted.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/11/2024 – 02:00

  • Societal Self-Regulation
    Societal Self-Regulation

    Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org,

    Any group of human beings who are supposedly in a free society and who have a leader (or a council of people who lead), assigned by that group to make decisions for the common interests of the group, must rely on their own “self-regulation,” above and beyond the leaders’ government, in order to survive.

    This is imperative as a “check and balance” criterion for a healthy society.

    In most democratic societies this is done through the elective process. People are put into power, and taken out of power if need be, through elections, i.e., the popular vote. The people have to keep a keen eye on what is happening in their communities, at the local level, and in their nations, at a national level. And of course, they must exercise due diligence concerning global happenings as well. Only then will they know who to vote for that best serves their community.

    This is how we have control, albeit sometimes not enough, of our government. We have little control over non-government organizations (NGOs) through the elective process. But we do have control, again to some degree, on social norms, moralities, values, and other things that may grate against our own “community standards” as a mass, through protest and other demands for accountability. In this regard, our society is somewhat kept in check through a nation’s constitutional requirements, as well as our personal assertion as to what is “right” and what is “wrong.”

    Human beings have traditionally been on the same page with some of these very basic tenets. For example, there are very few cultures, if any, that advocate, as a foundational tenet, murder. Very few, if any, that advocate child sexual abuse, or physical abuse (of course, what determines either one of these things can be rather subjective.)

    Regardless of the outliers always present when making sweeping statements (which certainly there are, and a discussion of these outliers would take enormous time and attention), human beings share many fundamental tenets of “good humanness.”

    Unless, of course, they are pushed away from these fundamental tenets by some external force—corrupt government, con men, evil…Satan. Some will say we have a natural tendency to turn to amoral ways (think Moses stepping out for a moment to collect the Ten Commandments and what then ensued).

    That being said, what happens when a culture at large experiences, within that culture, something that deviates sharply from these tenets? The occurrence of such a deviation could come directly from the government, or come from the collective (or, in our current situation, appear to come from the collective, but in fact is an intentional deviation created by the agenda.)

    The answer to the first question, in ideal times, is this: The culture doesn’t stand for it. They make their dissatisfaction clear, and they revolt, or at the very least, do not comply with the agenda. They say, “I’m mad as hell, and I am not going to take this anymore!”

    Unfortunately, that time when our society would demonstrate such self-regulation is long past. We saw the last remnants of it during the Vietnam era in the United States—and only from a certain demographic of society—and certainly not that successfully.

    Since then, the government, or whoever it is behind this march to oblivion, has made certain that such a “dissatisfaction with the policies” of the ruling faction was not questioned, and if it is, the person or group questioning is severely punished. One very smart move toward this gripping mind control was getting everyone glued to a cell phone screen. How “they” did that, and it not being just a natural evolution of technology, would take a book to address.

    Despite the underlying reasons why we do not regulate as a society, the simple fact is we no longer do. There was a time, in a galaxy far, far, away, when the culture set these boundaries (if it were free to do so), and although the ruling class would attempt to cross them, they often failed. Today it is far more likely that boundaries can be crossed without even a glance from the masses. Today, they’ve got us eating out of their hands.

    I will cite a few examples:

    • Where is the societal outrage when people are forced to inject into their bodies a relatively unknown substance? Although the agenda gave “good reason” for such a thing, where was the evidence behind that reason? If any evidence came up contrary to the notion of a deadly virus killing the world and a vaccine being developed in eight months being “safe and effective,” it was quickly quelled by the powers that be and ruled to be “misinformation” and “dangerous.”

    • Where is the societal outrage when thousands of young people are suddenly seeking surgery and drugs to support the myth they have “misidentified” themselves based on what they are told is a lie about their biological identity? Where is the “I’m mad as hell” when “authority” determines that they are the final arbiters of truth over children, and their parents can just go to hell?

    • Where is the societal outrage when we are suddenly told that we will no longer be allowed to use cash, or that we have to carry a digital ID which will fundamentally wipe out any claim to personal autonomy, not to mention a complete destruction of personal privacy?

    • Where is the societal outrage when a government spends billions of dollars to support the killing of human beings in a “war” halfway across the world for no reason other than to fuel whatever nefarious, and unilateral, goals that government has?

    • Where is the societal outrage when large factions of unelected “people” decide to take over the governance of the world from lofty, and well-financed, institutions such as the UN, WHO, WEF, NATO, and locally, the FDA, and CDC?

    • Where is the societal outrage when a country’s government allows the illegal immigration of hundreds of thousands of people without any vetting whatsoever?

    This is to name only a few examples. This article would be a hundred pages long if I named even half of these “outrages.”

    What is the reason there is no shouting from the windows, “We are mad as hell!!”? There are many reasons, one comes from the concerted effort of those who have the power to implement such an effort. It is to brainwash the society into compliance.

    Read this article to gain a little bit of insight into this effort, or at least one possibility, Ghost Words from the Past. It is like we are all hypnotized, and whenever the agenda activates a part of its plan, the silver pendulum comes out and is swung in front of our eyes, accompanied by a soothing voice that says, “All is well, this is good for you.”

    Needless to say, that voice could also be murmuring, “The unvaccinated are evil, hate anyone who spreads misinformation, Putin is the devil incarnate, hate him with all of your heart.”

    Due to this sort of conditioning, among many other techniques, we as a society have lost nearly all critical thinking—and as a result, can no longer self-regulate as a culture.

    No matter how illogical an action is, if we are told it is fine, or if it is framed in some particular way (such as framing a 10-year-old’s desire to change his or her biological sex as an inalienable “right”), we jump right to the agenda’s plan—typically without a second thought. “2+2=5, 2+2=5,” again and again this is drummed into us, and eventually we believe it, and then it only needs to be said once.

    Soon it will be, “2+2=6,” and again, most of us will comply, and never give it another thought.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 23:20

  • Survey Shows Declining Concerns Among Americans About COVID-19
    Survey Shows Declining Concerns Among Americans About COVID-19

    A new survey reveals that only 20% of Americans view covid-19 as “a major threat” to the health of the US population – a sharp decline from a high of 67% in July 2020.

    (SARMDY/Shutterstock)

    What’s more, the Pew Research Center survey conducted from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11 showed that just 10% of Americans are concerned that they will  catch the disease and require hospitalization.

    “This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed COVID-19 as a major threat to public health,” reads the report, which was published March 7.

    According to the survey, half of the participants understand the significance of researchers and healthcare providers in understanding and treating long COVID – however 27% of participants consider this issue less important, while 22% of Americans are unaware of long COVID.

    What’s more, while Democrats were far more worried than Republicans in the past, that gap has narrowed significantly.

    “In the pandemic’s first year, Democrats were routinely about 40 points more likely than Republicans to view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population. This gap has waned as overall levels of concern have fallen,” reads the report.

    More via the Epoch Times;

    The survey found that three in ten Democrats under 50 have received an updated COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 66 percent of Democrats ages 65 and older.

    Moreover, 66 percent of Democrats ages 65 and older have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, while only 24 percent of Republicans ages 65 and older have done so.

    “This 42-point partisan gap is much wider now than at other points since the start of the outbreak. For instance, in August 2021, 93 percent of older Democrats and 78 percent of older Republicans said they had received all the shots needed to be fully vaccinated (a 15-point gap),” it noted.

    COVID-19 No Longer an Emergency

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued its updated recommendations for the virus, which no longer require people to stay home for five days after testing positive for COVID-19.

    The updated guidance recommends that people who contracted a respiratory virus stay home, and they can resume normal activities when their symptoms improve overall and their fever subsides for 24 hours without medication.

    “We still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses, this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick,” CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

    The CDC said that while the virus remains a threat, it is now less likely to cause severe illness because of widespread immunity and improved tools to prevent and treat the disease.

    “Importantly, states and countries that have already adjusted recommended isolation times have not seen increased hospitalizations or deaths related to COVID-19,” it stated.

    The federal government suspended its free at-home COVID-19 test program on March 8, according to a website set up by the government, following a decrease in COVID-19-related hospitalizations.

    According to the CDC, hospitalization rates for COVID-19 and influenza diseases remain “elevated” but are decreasing in some parts of the United States.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 22:45

  • Hedge Fund Icon: "We're Just Two Years Away From A US Debt Sustainability Crisis, Sparking A Major Global Market Event"
    Hedge Fund Icon: “We’re Just Two Years Away From A US Debt Sustainability Crisis, Sparking A Major Global Market Event”

    By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

    “The last time the debt as a share of GDP was this large was in 1945-1946, at the end of World War II,” wrote Daniel Wilson and Brigid Meisenbacherat from the Economic Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. I was grinding through my stack, piled high with white papers.  “Over the following three decades, the debt-to-GDP ratio steadily fell, reaching roughly 25% by 1975,” continued the San Fran Fed report [see here].

    I have 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. I’ve observed that when people from within our institutions raise an alarm, knowing it would be far easier for them to remain quiet, we’re getting closer.

    “That 30-year decline contrasts sharply with the projected 30-year increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio, reaching 172%, over 2024 to 2054, according to the latest current Congressional Budget Office projections.” Wilson and Meisenbacherat point out that the Fed projects a longer-term real Fed Funds rate of 0.50%.

    And their median projection for long-run real GDP growth is 1.8%. They highlight that the CBO, however, forecasts a lower 1.5% real GDP growth rate, and a longer-term real interest rate on US debt of 2.0%.

    “In this case, slow economic growth relative to interest rates would exert modest upward pressure on the debt ratio, primarily from higher interest payments,” they wrote.

    “The main source of the long-run upward pressure on the primary deficit is spending on mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Current legislated formulas used to determine spending per recipient for Social Security benefits and government health-care programs, especially Medicare, combined with the projected aging of the population, point to large increases in spending for these programs as a share of GDP. This pressure was absent after WWII because the overall US population was younger and because Medicare was not enacted until 1965.”

    And with no political party willing adjust these programs, it is increasingly likely the market will force change.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 22:10

  • The Big Con In The California Housing Mandate
    The Big Con In The California Housing Mandate

    Authored by Tony Hall via The Epoch Times,

    Anybody who has ever observed and studied the homeless situation in California will readily see how the nonprofit homeless service providers that have been enabled by our political leaders have not only helped create the crisis, but have institutionalized homelessness as a way of life.

    Now, a new conduit for corruption in the state of California is rearing its ugly head, and a word to the wise is to recognize this demon for what it really is. In brief, it is the role that nonprofits are playing in the California State Housing Mandate that the governor’s office and our legislature are promoting.

    I am not talking here about the role that traditional nonprofits are providing in our state’s economy, like those that provide services and benefits in the private sector in a variety of charitable and educational endeavors, and for the most part are self-funded and operate within the confines and purposes as dictated by IRS codes.

    No, I am talking about those nonprofit organizations that have been specifically set up and certified by elected politicians to receive awards and spend your hard-earned tax dollars and public funds to engage in the development, construction, ownership, master leasing, and/or management of housing that the state defines as necessary, whether needed or not.

    Bear with me while I set the scenario that is unfolding under our very eyes.

    An Ambitious Power Grab

    It is indeed one of the most draconian and deceptive ploys that I have witnessed in my lifetime that legally allows the state to take over ownership of private property. If it goes unchecked and unchallenged, you, the voter, will have been fooled again, and all because of your good nature that would like to see roofs over the heads of those who might be disadvantaged or fiscally challenged. No one wants to see anybody suffer because of lack of funds to adequately purchase shelter. But there is a right way and a wrong way to solve the problem.

    If we are to believe the narrative being spun by our “ever so concerned” leaders, the private sector can no longer be counted on to deliver the number of housing units that the state tells us we must build within the next eight years. The number of units that they say we need is highly speculative and biased toward a very low income demographic. They subscribe to the “build it and they will come” theory. If they cannot get enough low-income tenants, they always have the homeless to fill the gaps.

    Tilting the Playing Field

    According to the state housing gurus, private for-profit developers are only concerned with building luxury units in the million-dollar range. This simply isn’t true. Any private for-profit developer will tell you they could build for much less per unit if they were not subject to the onerous red tape, regulations, and planning approval delays that the nonprofits are not subject to. This systematic rigging of the playing field against the private sector developers is exactly what has contributed to the affordable housing deficit.

    State Monopoly of Housing Development

    The for-profit housing developers are being shut out of the housing market because “profit,” “free enterprise,” and “private property” are considered bad words among the politically correct today. The real greed mongers are the politicians who are capitalizing on these sentiments. They much prefer the power, control, and influence that the utilization of nonprofits provides.

    Profit has always been a strong motivator for progress, especially because it can produce the most material gain for the masses when properly utilized. However, the lure that power and control provides through specially created nonprofits is much stronger, especially in the public arena. Anyone who questions the basic tenets of profit, free enterprise, and private property in an economic system should study Economics 101 and comparative economics theories.

    Because most of today’s “housing gurus” and our governor push the theory that one of the basic functions of government is to provide housing for all who need it, the state has issued a Housing Element that mandates the participation of all counties and municipalities. This mandate is no longer voluntary, and financial incentives are severely withheld from those counties and communities that do not go along with the program.

    The governor and his misguided housing gurus have called for 2.5 million new units of housing to be built by 2030, of which about 50 percent shall be defined as “affordable.”

    Redefining Affordable

    The definition of affordable has been continually evolving, but at the moment it means units that would not cost more than 30 percent of annual gross household income to rent, or units that are subsidized by local, state, or federal funds. The whole “affordable” concept will soon be abandoned in favor of whatever the state decides it to be.

    Just today, March 4, 2024, one of our California legislators proposed free loans to non-documented immigrants help them in their “affordability crisis.” Of course, all such loans would have to be administered via one of the chosen nonprofits!

    The Housing Mandate

    To accomplish this, all communities must comply with the state mandate and build new housing whether it is needed or not, regardless of infrastructure needs or what it might do to the character of a neighborhood, town, village, county, etc.

    To sweeten the pot, at least $30 billion in taxpayer money has been invested in housing-related funding since our present governor took office. In San Francisco alone, approximately $1.2 billion has been put forth as housing-related bonds since 2015. These funds, along with multiple new bond monies, eliminate the need for private developers and their private sources of funding, as all the costs of financing and building are covered by the state. The state is acting as “the bank” in its use of nonprofits to do the building.

    Also, to add a little insurance that their chosen nonprofits will always be in the mix, communities like San Francisco have passed laws that give nonprofits the first right of refusal and first right of acceptance on the sale of all properties with three units or more. With their one-size-fits-all approach, these planning amateurs are not the least bit concerned with what true housing needs may or may not be, but only with how they can best control people in a fashion that furthers their political agenda, as you will soon see.

    Approximately two decades ago, there was concern that there was a growing shortage of “affordable” housing stock available or being built by private developers to accommodate those of lower income levels. If one was spending more than a third of his or her income on housing, such housing was not considered acceptable or affordable. Thus, legislation was eventually passed that required private for-profit developers to set aside 20 percent of whatever number of units they build as “affordable.”

    Perpetuating Political Control

    Instead of incentivizing the private for-profit builders with a multitude of intelligent approaches that would produce more than enough low-income housing, the politicians and planners decided to go against competitive market forces and penalize those in the construction business by limiting their ability to compete.

    In the years since, the “20 percent” formula has only served to restrict more development. But now that the state has realized how much money, power, and control is attainable through the use of nonprofits to supply the housing, there is a whole different demographic that we must cater to, and a different litmus test must apply to those who are classified in the “affordable” category, which will even include some homeless people if necessary.

    If you are foolish enough to buy into this scheme and want a little bit of the action, don’t worry about qualifying, because if you wait long enough, eventually everybody will be able to afford a house. This is thanks to the state’s desire to use public funds to have chosen nonprofits build units that the state owns and controls, and fund those who will occupy, but not own, the units! Mind you, this is a gigantic shift away from the whole principle, purpose, and concept of private property, home ownership, and how these relate to freedom in our American way of life.

    The Money-Go-Round

    The use of nonprofits in housing development is a big, big money game that makes the use of nonprofits in the homeless game look petty.

    For example, it is estimated that in San Francisco alone, one third of the rental housing stock, or approximately 100,000 units, are controlled, managed, or owned by nonprofits that have been publicly funded and are off the property tax rolls. With an average rent in the city of approximately $3,000 per month, that amounts to $300 million per month or $3.6 billion per year in income.

    Another way to look at it is this: 100,000 units at a value of just $250,000 per unit would be worth around $25 billion. If this were subject to the ongoing property tax rate of 1.25 percent, the city government would be gaining over $300 million per year in taxes alone if these were privately held properties and not owned by the city or nonprofits (which, for the most part, are exempt from paying taxes).

    Now, let’s throw into the discussion how and why these specialty nonprofits are so desirable by our elected leaders. Could it possibly be that it is because these nonprofits are so thankful to their benefactors that they are more than willing to help out during election time with copious donations and street campaigners from their members to ensure their survival?

    Knowing the political game as I do, I can unequivocally state that this is precisely one method that has been used very effectively by politicians to perpetuate themselves in office.

    In closing, and FYI, check out on the internet just how many nonprofits operate in state business in California, and you will understand why we are controlled by one political party. So much for diversity, equality, and inclusion for all, except when it comes to control and power over taxpayer money!

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 21:00

  • Rand Paul Teases Senate GOP Leader Run – Musk Says "I Would Support"
    Rand Paul Teases Senate GOP Leader Run – Musk Says “I Would Support”

    Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul on Friday hinted that he may jump into the race to become the next Senate GOP leader, and Elon Musk was quick to support the idea. Republicans must find a successor for periodically malfunctioning Mitch McConnell, who recently announced he’ll step down in November, though intending to keep his Senate seat until his term ends in January 2027, when he’d be within weeks of turning 86. 

    So far, the announced field consists of two quintessential establishment types: John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota. While John Barrasso’s name had been thrown around as one of “The Three Johns” considered top contenders, the Wyoming senator on Tuesday said he’ll instead seek the number two slot as party whip. 

    Paul used X to tease his potential bid for the position which — if the GOP takes back the upper chamber in November — could graduate from Minority Leader to Majority Leader. He started by telling his 5.1 million followers he’d had lots of people asking him about his interest in running…

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    …then followed up with a poll in which he predictably annihilated Cornyn and Thune, taking a 96% share as of Friday night, with the other two below 2% each. 

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    Elon Musk was quick to back the idea of Paul as GOP leader, while daring Cornyn and Thune to follow Paul’s lead by throwing their names out for consideration by the Twitter-verse X-verse. 

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    Paul has been a stalwart opponent of security-state mass surveillance, foreign interventionism — to include shoveling billions of dollars into the proxy war in Ukraine — and out-of-control spending in general. He demonstrated the latter passion on the Senate floor this week as he ridiculed the latest kick-the-can spending package:   

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    In February, Paul used Senate rules to force his colleagues into a grueling Super Bowl weekend of votes, as he worked to derail a $95 billion foreign aid bill. “I think we should stay here as long as it takes,” said Paul. “If it takes a week or a month, I’ll force them to stay here to discuss why they think the border of Ukraine is more important than the US border.”

    Don’t expect a Majority Leader Paul to ditch the filibuster — he’s been a hardy user of the legislative delay tactic. In 2013, he spoke for 13 hours to fight the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director. In 2015, he orated for 10-and-a-half-hours to oppose extension of the Patriot Act. 

    Rand Paul amid his 10 1/2 hour filibuster in 2015

    Among the general public, Paul is probably best known as Capitol Hill’s chief tormentor of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease during the Covid-19 pandemic. Paul says the evidence indicates the virus emerged from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. He’s accused Fauci and other members of the US government public health apparatus of evading questions about their funding of the Chinese lab’s “gain of function” research, which takes natural viruses and morphs them into something more dangerous. Paul has pointedly said that Fauci committed perjury in congressional hearings and that he belongs in jail “without question.”   

    Musk is neither the only nor the first noteworthy figure to back Paul for party leader. Just hours after McConnell announced his upcoming step-down from leadership, independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr voiced his support: 

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    In a testament to the extent to which the establishment recoils at the libertarian-minded Paul, mainstream media outlets — which have been quick to report on other developments in the majority leader race — pretended not to notice that Paul had signaled his interest in the job. More than 24 hours after Paul’s test-the-waters tweet-fest began, not a single major outlet had brought it to the attention of their audience. 

    That may be his strongest endorsement yet. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 20:25

  • No Borders? No America
    No Borders? No America

    Authored by Justin Smith via The Burning Platform blog,

    Americans had better act soon, with or without Congress and with or without the Border Patrol to stop the current flood of illegal invaders across our Southern Border, because the Biden regime has no intention of ever stopping the invasion. To wait and ponder the crisis in the hopes that Donald Trump can stop it, if he wins the presidency, only ensures that millions more will cross, in addition to the twenty-seven million that have already entered the country, during Biden’s presidency — those which were detained at the border and the got-aways; and, intentionally or not, it makes America unsafe and sets in motion the Great Replacement, the replacement of white people and the virtues and principles of freedom and liberty with people of color who are already prone and predisposed to accepting big government controls, e.g. Marxism and Maoism, and the idea that all things come from government rather than individual initiative and independence. To do nothing and remain apathetic or complacent ensures the destruction of traditional America.

    One should recall that a 2018 study by both Yale and MIT suggested 22 million to possibly 40 million illegal aliens were already residing in America. It’s to Trump’s discredit that he didn’t pursue the border security issue forcefully in 2017, when the Republicans held a majority in both houses of Congress, rather than listen to the turncoat RINO Speaker Paul Ryan.

    In his last year in office, Trump had brought illegal alien entries down to approximately 1100 a day, or less.

    Under Joe Biden, the U.S. borders simply no longer exist. His regime’s minions have been ordered to process and parole illegal aliens into America as fast as possibly, virtually waving them on across with little to no scrutiny. And, as a result, we know for a fact that 330 illegals who are on terrorist watch lists have been released into the country, along with the unknown number of potential or actual terrorists within the ranks of the gotaways.

    Going all the way back to 1996, Augustin Cebada, radical spokesman for the Brown Berets, militant para-military foot-soldiers of Aztlan [Reconquista] shouted the following declaration, at Americans at an Independence Day rally outside the Federal Building in Westwood, California:

    “If anyone’s going to be deported, it’s going to be you! … Get out! We are the future. You’re old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you — leave like beaten rats. You old white people, it is your duty to die. Right now, we’re already controlling those elections, whether it’s by violence or nonviolence. Through love of having children, we’re going to take over.”

    Some may actually be coming here to become American citizens and try to live the American Dream, a dream that is crumbling and rapidly disappearing for natural born Americans, thanks to a multitude of bad Biden policies; but the cast majority are not. They simply want to abscond with as much American wealth as they can possibly accumulate while also riding the massive government expenditures of recent programs created to address their invading numbers.

    These illegals don’t want to be citizens; they don’t assimilate any more, as they did in days past; they set up shop just as they did in the Old Country and bring the same flawed mindsets that destroyed the nations they have fled.

    Through Joe Biden’s Open Borders Policy that don’t have to wait to for the illegal invaders to have children. They are simply flying them over, entire families and all, at the taxpayers’ expense.

    That’s part of what makes this all so maddening. Joe knows without a doubt, or at least his handlers know, that he absolutely is charged by the U.S. Constitution and given the authority as President and Commander-in-Chief to protect and defend our borders and sovereign domain. And yet, on March 7th 2024, Biden had the temerity to suggest in his State of the Union Address, that he needed a new immigration bill and more money, before he could do his job, none of which is true.

    Along with this, please note that Congress could pass ten great immigration / border security laws, or even 100, and it wouldn’t make a damned bit of difference. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party violate the Constitution and U.S. law — yes, even our existing laws on immigration and border security — with impunity, no qualms or pangs of conscience whatsoever. Biden absolutely would violate any new law, if it served his agenda and that of the radical Marxists and Maoists within the Democratic Party.

    Even this last so-called “bipartisan bill” had a loophole in it, actually allowing for 1.8 million illegals to be allowed to cross every year, before it’s safeguards were employed.

    That is unless Biden decided to suspend its mechanisms for a “national emergency” as the bill provided. The bill was a farce, a massive joke, and that’s why it was rejected.

    That’s the reason so many truly conservative Americans were so angered to hear Biden mock Republicans after some jeered his remarks on his “comprehensive bill to fix our immigration system” — understanding his underlying lie , as he said:

    “Oh, you don’t like that bill — huh? — that conservatives got together and said was a good bill? I’ll be darned. That’s amazing.” [transcript at Associated Press]

    President Woodrow Wilson sent Brigadier General John “Black Jack” Pershing out of Fort Bliss, Texas on March 15th 1916 to patrol the border between the U.S. and Mexico, in order to stop Pancho Villa’s cross-border raids and capture or kill him. Pershing went a few steps further and pursued Villa into 350 miles into Mexico proper, leading 10,000 soldiers behind him. All of this was done under the premise set forth in the Article IV Section 4 of our Constitution which states the federal government “shall protect each of [the states] against invasion” and Article I Section 10 which expressly guarantees states the sovereign power to repel an invasion and defend U.S. citizens from overwhelming and “imminent danger”. And there isn’t one damned thing preventing Joe Biden from exercising this same exact authority now other than the Democratic Party Communists’ intent to grant millions of illegal foreign invaders amnesty and the right to vote, in order to grow their base and hold power and control over all America for the rest of the century.

    For over three years, Joe Biden and Homeland Security [what an oxymoron] Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have assured all America that the border is secure and the illegal alien invasion is being handled properly, when in fact, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol are being used to speed up the process of receiving illegal aliens into the country, rather than immediately detaining and returning them back across the border, should be the case. And all the while, through his lies, Mayorkas smugly and arrogantly smiles like a fat-headed Cheshire Cat, in his belief that he is untouchable, which has been the case so far.

    Biden’s Open Border Policy has been a massive success towards ultimately achieving the Democratic Party’s goals of changing the face of America and fundamentally transforming Her away from Her founding, and it has been an abject and complete catastrophe for Fly Over Country and the everyday average American who loves his country, God and family better than himself. The rising of this anti-American regime has been a sad and disgusting time to be marked as such in the annals of history, should honest historians ever reappear.

    And his policies have been a boon to the numerous drug cartels which have expanded their operations by tenfold in every major city in the U.S. and even the smaller cities and towns that once barely had a hint of drug and crime problems,

    At some point, anyone having a hand in the most massive betrayal of America in U.S. history must be made to face a day of reckoning, regardless of what form it may take.

    In the meantime, our daughters are continuously being assaulted, brutalized, kidnapped, raped and murdered in the most heinous of manners, unimaginable to most good and decent people, by these foreign, illegal alien invaders. Decent Americans of all walks of life, men, women and children, are being murdered by these monsters, the MS-13 drug cartel members and prisoners released from Venezuela’s prisons, much like young Kate Steinle in 2015, a 32 year old sales rep, and now Laken Riley, a 22 year old nursing student, who was bludgeoned to death and disfigured by an illegal alien monster, who entered the country in 2022.

    Adding insult to injury, Traitor Joe just apologized for calling Laken Riley’s murderer an “illegal”, during his State of the Union address. The apology came today, March 9th 2024, during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. But that’s exactly what he is — a goddamned foreign, illegal, criminal piece of murderous shit from Venezuela who was also charged and released in New York City after endangering a five year old child [per Olivia Land/New York Post]

    On July 13th 2023, the Judiciary Committe’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement [The Consequences of Criminal Aliens on U.S. Communities] reported that 33,000 Americans had been killed by murder and manslaughter at the hands of illegal aliens between 2010 and 2015, which begs the question, just how many are now dying at the hands of millions of the anonymous, unvetted illegal aliens Biden has welcomed, even ferried, into America. As reported by this committee, just two weeks prior to its meeting, an illegal alien was sentenced to life in prison for raping and impregnating a nine year old Ohio girl, who later went to Indiana to get an abortion.

    I have two adult daughters, and if any illegal alien were to do them harm in any way, they had better hope law enforcement officers get to them before I do, especially now that we are actually seeing stone-cold murderers released without bail by anti-American, anti-law enforcement District Attorneys, bought and paid for by George Soros.

    From the Judiciary Committee’s report:

    “According to a report covering thirteen years of data from the Executive Office of Immigration Review, over forty-seven percent [of illegals] never even pursue an asylum claim once released into the country. More than eighty-five percent will be denied asylum and receive a deportation order, yet less than five percent ever leave the country. Anyone requesting asylum must be detained or made to remain in Mexico until their hearing is adjudicated. These numbers prove they can’t be trusted to be released.”

    These illegal aliens are also overwhelming the capabilities of America’s schools, hospitals, law enforcement and other general services provided at various levels of government. I see that as an extremely serious matter that is certainly facilitating the destruction of our economy, since the taxpayer dollars supporting this invasion means Americans everywhere are being deprived of the benefit of their own labor to support the dregs of the world; but it is much less important to me than knowing that foreign illegal aliens are snuffing out our countrymen’s lives, like they are nothing.

    These are real people with real lives and families, not just a data base of statistics, and for every victim of a criminal illegal alien, there is a devastated family. And still, Biden and Company drive on towards the abyss creating a dystopian nightmare along the way for law abiding citizens, watching the end of their country racing toward them like an out-of-control freight train and no Casey Jones at the controls.

    Former President Donald Trump has promised to start the largest mass deportation of illegal aliens in U.S. history, if he wins the upcoming election, and he plans to use the military to implement it, rightfully so. As reported in the Washington Post [February 21st 2024], Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, stated:

    “Americans can expect that immediately upon President Trump’s return to the Oval Office, he will restore all his prior policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shock waves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation in American history” as she also added that illegal aliens “should not get comfortable because very soon they will be going home.”

    We have the absolute right and a duty as sovereign citizens, living in sovereign states, to defend ourselves and our families, in the wake of a lawless federal government, this lawless Biden regime. The authority rests within the Constitution which has always allowed for the use of the States’ militias or the military to be mobilized for just such circumstances, and although we can be certain that Biden and some state governors will keep refusing to utilize the mechanisms at their disposal to fast-track the removal of these invaders, we have the right to gather ourselves armed with pistols and rifles — those of us able with the time and backbone to do so — to go to the border and tell the Border Patrol to do join us and do their Constitutional duty to stop the millions more who will try to cross between now and January 2025.

    I oft suggested in years past, half-jokingly, not so much anymore, that we should put them on a plane, parachutes optional, and shove them out over Mexico. This comment has become so much more full of meaning, now that we know the Biden regime has actively been seeking out these illegal caravans and flying their members into America.

    No matter how they arrive, by a fast jet, a slow boat or a reliable bus or train, we must send them back on a super-charged bus or jet just as quickly. Set about to deport every last one of them, and then effectively and totally seal the border and place a ten year moratorium on all immigration, legal and illegal, or until we have our nation and our population straightened out in a fashion that puts us back on a path to the same level of exceptionalism that used to be the rule in America and removes or eradicates, with extreme prejudice, those radicals who seek to fundamentally transform America and end our republic.

    Don’t let the enemies-from-within end America in so despicable a manner. Don’t let this be how America ends. Fight back like hell, and when the time is right, make the bastards who have committed this treason against America pay with their own lives.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 19:50

  • "Sleazy" Liz Cheney Loses It After Bombshell Report Claims She "Suppressed Exonerating Evidence" With J6 Committee
    “Sleazy” Liz Cheney Loses It After Bombshell Report Claims She “Suppressed Exonerating Evidence” With J6 Committee

    Former Rep. Liz Cheney (of the revolving door Haliburton –> White House –> war profiteer dynasty) came unglued this weekend following a report by The Federalist‘s Mollie Hemingway, which accuses Cheney and the January 6 committee of suppressing exonerating evidence of then-President Trump’s push for 10,000 national guard troops to protect the nation’s capital on the day of the Capitol riot.

    To summarize The Federalist;

    • Cheney and the J6 committee “falsely claimed they had “no evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had communicated its desire for 10,000 National Guard troops.”
    • In truth, an early transcribed interview conducted by the committee “included precisely that evidence from a key source.”
    • That key source, Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato, said he overheard White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows push DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as many National Guard troops as needed to protect DC on Jan. 6.
    • Ornato also testified that Trump suggested 10,000 troops to keep the peace at public rallies and protests scheduled for Jan. 6, 2021 – and that the White House was frustrated with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller’s slow deployment of assistance on the day of the riot.
    • Ornato’s testimony was corroborated by Kash Patel, the former chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense.
    • According to The Federalist, this information was suppressed.

    Hemingway writes that the committee not only mischaracterized the interview, they also suppressed the transcript from public review. 

    On top of that, committee allies began publishing critical stories and even conspiracy theories about Ornato ahead of follow-up interviews with him. Ornato was a career Secret Service official who had been detailed to the security position in the White House.

    Cheney frequently points skeptics of her investigation to the Government Publishing Office website that posted, she said, “transcripts, documents, exhibits & our meticulously sourced 800+ page final report.” That website provides “supporting documents” to the claims made by Cheney and fellow anti-Trump enthusiasts.

    However, transcripts of fewer than half of the 1,000 interviews the committee claims it conducted are posted on that site. It is unclear how many of the hidden transcripts include exonerating information suppressed by the committee. -The Federalist

    Click here to read the entire report, which includes Ornato’s full answers to the committee.

    “The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative. Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along: President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA). Loudermilk’s subcommittee is reviewing the work of the Jan. 6 committee following accusations of unethical behavior at the expense of accuracy, along with collusion with other Democrat efforts at political persecution.

    Liz Loses it

    On Saturday, conservative commentator Mark Levin called Cheney out, posting on X: “Sleazy Liz Cheney needs to receive some of the Stalinist medicine she introduced into the body politick against scores of patriotic Americans — that is, she needs to be compelled to testify under oath about, among other things, what knowledge she may have about: possible witness tampering, censorship of exculpatory information and testimony, the destruction of committee evidence and data, etc.”

    Cheney responded, calling Mollie Hemingway a “bozo” – and directing people to various sections of the Jan. 6 report in which Secretary of Defense Miller (the guy who was ‘slow to deploy’ assistance) said Trump never ordered 10,000 troops, and that Kash Patel is “not a credible witness” (as determined by a judge with a conflict noted below).

    Note that Cheney never addresses the suppression of information.

    Cheney was dismantled in the replies:

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 19:25

  • The Great Replacement Loophole: Illegal Immigrants Score 5-Year Work Benefit While "Waiting" For Deporation, Asylum
    The Great Replacement Loophole: Illegal Immigrants Score 5-Year Work Benefit While “Waiting” For Deporation, Asylum

    Over the past several months we’ve pointed out that there has  been zero job creation for native-born workers since the summer of 2018…

    … and that since Joe Biden was sworn into office, most of the post-pandemic job gains the administration continuously brags about have gone foreign-born (read immigrants, mostly illegal ones) workers.

    And while the left might find this data almost as verboten as FBI crime statistics – as it directly supports the so-called “great replacement theory” we’re not supposed to discuss – it also coincides with record numbers of illegal crossings into the United States under Biden.

    In short, the Biden administration opened the floodgates, 10 million illegal immigrants poured into the country, and most of the post-pandemic “jobs recovery” went to foreign-born workers, of which illegal immigrants represent the largest chunk.

    Asylum seekers from Venezuela await work permits on June 28, 2023 (via the Chicago Tribune)

    ‘But Tyler, illegal immigrants can’t possibly work in the United States whilst awaiting their asylum hearings,’ one might hear from the peanut gallery. On the contrary: ever since Biden reversed a key aspect of Trump’s labor policies, all illegal immigrants – even those awaiting deportation proceedings – have been given carte blanche to work while awaiting said proceedings for up to five years…

    … something which even Elon Musk was shocked to learn.

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    Which leads us to another question: recall that the primary concern for the Biden admin for much of 2022 and 2023 was soaring prices, i.e., relentless inflation in general, and rising wages in particular, which in turn prompted even Goldman to admit two years ago that the diabolical wage-price spiral had been unleashed in the US (diabolical, because nothing absent a major economic shock, read recession or depression, can short-circuit it once it is in place).

    Well, there is one other thing that can break the wage-price spiral loop: a flood of ultra-cheap illegal immigrant workers. But don’t take our word for it: here is Fed Chair Jerome Powell himself during his February 60 Minutes interview:

    PELLEY: Why was immigration important?

    POWELL: Because, you know, immigrants come in, and they tend to work at a rate that is at or above that for non-immigrants. Immigrants who come to the country tend to be in the workforce at a slightly higher level than native Americans do. But that’s largely because of the age difference. They tend to skew younger.

    PELLEY: Why is immigration so important to the economy?

    POWELL: Well, first of all, immigration policy is not the Fed’s job. The immigration policy of the United States is really important and really much under discussion right now, and that’s none of our business. We don’t set immigration policy. We don’t comment on it.

    I will say, over time, though, the U.S. economy has benefited from immigration. And, frankly, just in the last, year a big part of the story of the labor market coming back into better balance is immigration returning to levels that were more typical of the pre-pandemic era.

    PELLEY: The country needed the workers.

    POWELL: It did. And so, that’s what’s been happening.

    Translation: Immigrants work hard, and Americans are lazy. But much more importantly, since illegal immigrants will work for any pay, and since Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, via its Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency, has made it so illegal immigrants can work in the US perfectly legally for up to 5 years (if not more), one can argue that the flood of illegals through the southern border has been the primary reason why inflation – or rather mostly wage inflation, that all too critical component of the wage-price spiral  – has moderated in in the past year, when the US labor market suddenly found itself flooded with millions of perfectly eligible workers, who just also happen to be illegal immigrants and thus have zero wage bargaining options.

    None of this is to suggest that the relentless flood of immigrants into the US is not also driven by voting and census concerns – something Elon Musk has been pounding the table on in recent weeks, and has gone so far to call it “the biggest corruption of American democracy in the 21st century“, but in retrospect, one can also argue that the only modest success the Biden admin has had in the past year – namely bringing inflation down from a torrid 9% annual rate to “only” 3% – has also been due to the millions of illegals he’s imported into the country.

    We would be remiss if we didn’t also note that this so often carries catastrophic short-term consequences for the social fabric of the country (the Laken Riley fiasco being only the latest example), not to mention the far more dire long-term consequences for the future of the US – chief among them the trillions of dollars in debt the US will need to incur to pay for all those new illegal immigrants Democrat voters and low-paid workers. This is on top of the labor revolution that will kick in once AI leads to mass layoffs among high-paying, white-collar jobs, after which all those newly laid off native-born workers hoping to trade down to lower paying (if available) jobs will discover that hardened criminals from Honduras or Guatemala have already taken them, all thanks to Joe Biden.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 19:15

  • "Made By China" Is Possibly The Biggest Risk To The Economy, And It Is Staring Us Right In The Face
    “Made By China” Is Possibly The Biggest Risk To The Economy, And It Is Staring Us Right In The Face

    By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

    The Threat of “Made by China 2025”

    I cannot remember the first time that we discussed the transition from “Made in China” to “Made by China.” I do know that back in April 2023 we Locked in Some Themes, one of which was the Made by China theme. We also framed the discussion around the dollar, the yuan, and “reserve currency” status using the “Dark Web” as a useful way to think about it. Some reports age better than others, and that report seems to have aged particularly well.

    “Made by China” has been a theme that we have been using more and more. We are also starting to see it referenced more frequently. Not usually in those exact words (which we are trying to coin for ourselves) but the concept is the same – stiffer competition from Chinese goods makers.

    While in Chicago this week, we were able to discuss this in more detail on the Schwab Network in a segment they titled “Potential China Strategic Shifts.” It also came up in a Yahoo Finance interview that focused more on my bearish outlook for U.S. equities, but it did get incorporated. It may also have come up during a discussion with Rick Santelli at CNBC on Friday afternoon, but there isn’t a link available, and the interview and prep was such a blur that I cannot remember what was said on versus off-air. Well, I know a few things that were definitely not said on air, but that’s another story! In any case, I should have brought more than one tie to Chicago.

    Marching in Plain Sight

    General (ret.) Spider Marks, who spent much of his career in Asia as a senior intelligence officer, often discusses how China does things “in plain sight.” They tell us what they are going to do, and then they do it, and somehow we often seem surprised. I won’t harp on this theme, but it will permeate the report.

    I’m seeing references to China’s “Minsky Moment” on social media. The concept that China is somehow going to lay down and die, give up decades of growth, and succumb to an aging population and a falling real estate market seems almost ludicrous. Yet, that view seems to be far closer to the consensus than Made by China, despite lots of evidence that communist leaders rarely go down without leaving it all on the field.

    To ensure that I wasn’t completely off base, I spent a couple of minutes searching for China 2025. All sorts of references to Made in China 2025 popped up. Article after article, all done back in 2015! General (ret.) Walsh and I discussed this Thursday in preparation for today’s report. General Walsh played a key role in the national defense policies elevating China to a “Strategic Competitor.” He was also instrumental in our 2019 report – A D.I.M.E Framework for China, Trade & Strategic Competition.

    The main gist of our conversation was that China never stopped with the China 2025 initiative. They just publicized it less because it was attracting “the wrong sort of attention” in D.C. (at least from the perspective of China). They backed off discussing it because it made people concerned that China was going to change their relationship with us to a more competitive one on the goods side of things. That concern may have led to policies to thwart their efforts, so they backed off (at least publicly). Maybe this section should have been titled “out of sight, out of mind?”

    Back in 2015, China told us what they wanted to look like by 2025. Yet, here we are, in 2024 with lots of evidence pointing in the direction that they are continuing down that path with at least a modicum of success. I would argue more than a modicum, but let’s not go overboard, at least not yet.

    Fighting the Last War

    Another topic that comes up at Academy as we discuss geopolitical threats and the military is the risk that generals are “fighting the last war.” While I have no military experience, I know regulators are often viewed as fighting the last crisis, and I’d have to agree that there seems to be some truth to that assessment.

    We’ve often discussed that many of the views expressed by politicians seem to be based on China circa 2005, i.e., cheap manufacturing with limited IP. The reality is that just isn’t at all correct. Chinese manufacturing has grown increasingly sophisticated (as the U.S. and Europe largely ceded manufacturing to China). For some reason solar panels jump to the top of my list here, but the point is that China has developed very good (and not just cheap) manufacturing capabilities.

    On the IP side, maybe it was like a seesaw (or a teeter totter) with an adult on one side and a toddler on the other (i.e. very unbalanced). But as the adult has aged and the toddler has grown up, it is much more balanced. There are some areas where China has developed much of its own IP. Think back to the China 2025 initiative and their focus on machine learning, cryptography, etc. Again – marching in plain sight.

    So, I am worried that we shape policy based on an outdated view of China’s capabilities.

    Which brings me to TikTok. We did include it in We Didn’t Start the Fire and it has come up periodically as an issue due to all the information that is being collected.

    In theory, I should be paying more attention to the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. But I struggle to get too excited about it. First, talk about “shutting the gate after the horse has left the barn!” Yes, I’m full of colloquialisms and folksy sayings today.

    TikTok in some ways seems all pervasive! It seems to be everywhere. I believe that even while D.C. has some restrictions already for certain government employees regarding their ability to have TikTok on their devices, many politicians are turning to TikTok as a part of their campaign efforts. Color me “cynical,” but I’m not optimistic that much will be done or accomplished in this day and age and who knows how much damage has already been done. Maybe not quite fighting the last war (as this war is still raging), but we certainly got off to a late start.

    Made By China 2025

    Please keep in the back of your mind the concepts that:

    • China “marches in plain sight” and has outlined what they want to accomplish.
    • We have to think about where China is going (not where they’ve been) if we are going to get this right (possibly the closest I’ve come to quoting Wayne Gretzky).

    We tried to detail our thoughts in the piece titled Chess, Checkers, or Go – What is China’s Next Move? The simple version of this report is:

    • Yes, the Chinese economy faces many problems. We completely agree with consensus here.
    • No, China won’t just curl up and fizzle out, they will do something. As we saw during COVID, to maintain the power of the Chinese Communist Party, they will do things to appease the middle class (a few protests caused a complete reversal in their COVID policy). So, assuming Xi wants to stay in power (no indication that he/the party wants to relinquish power), he needs a strategy.
      • Increased domestic consumption isn’t a great option. The Chinese consumer has not demonstrated a willingness to spend like the U.S. consumer, and with real estate down and the stock market weak, there isn’t the money to spend, even if they had a propensity to spend it.
      • Increasing manufacturing for U.S. and European companies isn’t an option. More companies are extricating themselves from being reliant on China as their main production hub. Costs have been hidden, but COVID (amongst other things) exposed a lot of “hidden” costs, or costs not thought of – like complete shutdowns and the inability to access your facilities. Add in some IP protection risks and setting up new business in China isn’t top of mind. Finally, after years (and maybe even decades) of hoping to be able to compete openly and fairly in China with domestic companies, many doubt that we will. So, there is a long list of reasons why China is unlikely to think that they can increase their manufacturing of foreign products.
    • So, if two obvious things don’t work, what do you do? Remember the concept of “mirroring” that we discussed in The Game of Chicken in Today’s World? Don’t think about China and brands as we see them, think about China and brands as they see them.

    China has an economic problem, but there is one path that might work and it is a path that they have told us they intend to pursue (and have been pursuing).

    Let’s just pause for a moment. Re-read the last sentence/rant. Maybe it sounds too simple? Maybe we don’t think of it that way, but that might be the biggest mistake that we are making.

    I hear a lot of talk about “black swan” events or “grey swan” risks. Both in our geopolitical and macro conversations. I’m increasingly concerned that we are so busy looking for swans of different colors, we are ignoring the hammer hitting us in the head over and over! Is our thought process to think, “Yeah, that hammering kind of hurts, but I should ignore it and look for where the ‘real’ problems lurk?”

    How it Works – Domestic Consumption

    If you noticed, earlier in the piece I said that “increased” domestic consumption isn’t likely to work!

    So, like any practical businessperson, if you cannot increase the size of the pie, your best bet is to increase your share of the pie. When corporate strategists sit down at the table trying to figure out how to grow market share, they can only wish they had some of the tools that China has available.

    • Taxes, tariffs, content rules, etc. Companies have to lobby for these, but the Chinese government creates them. They have created them and will likely continue to use them to make “foreign” products (even those manufactured in China) less competitive.
    • Outright bans. Who can use what app or what hardware? Again, corporations can put their best foot forward, but China can do (to a large degree) as they please. If you were trying to suppress domestic demand, say, for a certain type of phone, maybe you would ban government employees from using it? And over time, extend that ban to more and more agencies and levels of government.

    China can make it so that foreign brands are less competitive domestically. I think there is clear evidence that is happening.

    By suppressing demand for “foreign” brands to benefit Chinese brands, they can improve the “domestic” economy even if the “pie” is stagnant (or shrinking) by taking greater market share.

    Let’s not forget that at the moment, certainly for the chip industry, the U.S. is doing a lot to enhance the ability to develop foundries domestically and manufacture more/higher quality chips. All countries can do things to help their domestic brands, especially domestically, but I just suspect that China will be more aggressive about it.

    I’m also worried that as we restrict things for China, it will just make them better at it. I think that we’ve asked before how China is making so many phones with 7 nanometer chips, when there have been restrictions in place on chips thinner than 10 nanometers. Underestimating China can be a real risk.

    Yes, some of the Geopolitical Intelligence Group members discuss the risk of “making your enemies 10 feet tall” and overestimating their capabilities, which can also lead to flawed policy. In hindsight, any assessment of Russia’s military was far too generous, which affected our behavior before and in the immediate aftermath of the invasion (the first offers were to evacuate Zelensky as Kiev was theoretically going to be overrun in a matter of days).

    China has flaws and may not be able to execute on their strategies, but I suspect that we are stuck underestimating their capabilities rather than overestimating them. I must admit that I’m curious to check out what a BYD EV is like in person – at the very least to better understand the “competition”.

    How it Works – Foreign Consumption

    The domestic advantages seem easy enough to implement. In some industries this has been going on for years, but I would expect more rather than less of it.

    The trickier issue will be how to grow foreign consumption of your brands. As with any strategy session, you look to your strengths and try to use those to leverage your position. Again, just like with their domestic efforts, the government has options not available to corporate strategists.

    • Compete on price. That seems like the obvious starting point. Offer a price to quality that can compete with foreign brands.
      • If you are competing on price, go to where price might be most important. I would target countries with large populations of people with some, but not a lot of money to spend. Where price will be paramount. Countries whose citizens are looking for the best quality or the cachet of owning a certain brand would not be my first choice. This leads me towards some emerging market countries – especially those that are resource rich.
    • Offer trade incentives. Corporations can hope to get governments to support them in trade (export-import banks still exist across the globe, etc.), but China is the government. Interestingly, I think China has trade deficits with some countries who might have the sort of consumer China is looking for. Countries that China is buying a lot of commodities from would seem like ideal potential customers, where China can offset some of their trade deficit by getting them to buy their brands.
    • Shipping. First, China has spent a lot of time, effort, and money to have access to (and in some cases control of) ports. Can they use that to their advantage? Why the heck not? The network of ports that China has built up could be used to their advantage. Could they prioritize their shipments into ports that they control? Again, maybe “we” wouldn’t even if we could (though we probably would when push comes to shove), but China operates under a different set of rules (or guidelines) than we do. So, it would not surprise me to see them leverage this network to improve distribution of their brands, potentially at the expense of others (which reminds me, I need to reach out to my shipping contacts to see if any of this is already occurring). Finally, and this might be weird, but if I’m a pirate or someone targeting shipping, attacking a Chinese ship would be low on my list, purely out of fear of retribution. Immediate, direct, and harsh retribution. Not proportionate to what was done, and they will send a message to never, ever, do it again.
    • Never underestimate the willingness of the American consumer to buy anything. While the American consumer wouldn’t be my first choice, why not try? I had never heard of Temu before the Super Bowl. I just hadn’t. To be honest, I’m a little nervous even going on the site (I assume that they, like TikTok, will use my information). I did a search for golf range finders (if China needs Temu to figure out that I’m a golf addict, their AI is way worse than I thought). I couldn’t find one listed for more than $100, which seems pretty cheap. On Golf Galaxy, there was one for $150, a couple for $200, and several that were much more costly. Though I recognized most of the brands at Golf Galaxy, I cannot say that I recognized any of the brands on Temu (and I was nervous to click on more than one – maybe I’m just paranoid). But if Temu isn’t an attempt to sell Chinese brands into America based on price, then what is it? Super Bowl commercials have ranged from iconic (Apple’s 1984 is still one of my favorites), to a staple (Budweiser horses), to things that have fizzled (too many to count), and to things that surprised some with their staying power (E-Trade babies are back!). When I mention Temu, I mostly get sideways glances, if not outright smirks, but why? Why dismiss something so easily that fits with what I would do if I was a strategist for China Inc.?

    Selling brands to different countries will be more difficult than increasing their domestic market share. But, as the CEO of Mercedes reminded viewers on Bloomberg TV a few months ago, at one time, Mercedes too was a “domestic” brand.

    The development of brands, first domestically and then in foreign markets, is a standard practice – why wouldn’t it be for China?

    Implications for Investors and Companies

    There are a few things that seem obvious and may already be playing out on a limited scale. Some might be further down the road if I’m correct, but that just means there is time to develop effective strategies to combat the risk.

    • Relying on sales into China. I would expect it to get more difficult to sell into China than easier. Forecasts for sales into China need to be checked and double checked. One also needs to play “devil’s advocate” for what potentially could be done to either thwart your sales, or to enhance the sales of domestic brands.
    • Selling into the most price-sensitive economies. Where price is extremely high on the purchase decision-making tree, what risk is there of competition from a Chinese brand? The initial reaction might be to be “dismissive.” Their brand can’t do what ours does. Probably true. Our brand has IP, and we would sue them (possibly true, but is it winnable especially if the Chinese government is supporting sales of the brand into that country?). Maybe after a thorough analysis, there is no risk, but I would think long and hard about that. Assume an uneven playing field. Assume you are up against a leadership that does not want to lose control and has tools at their disposal beyond what leaders in the Western world have. If the assessment is still good even after thinking of “worst case” possibilities as the “base case,” then all is fine. But I think it is too easy to be dismissive, and that is a risk for investors and corporations.
    • Chinese suppliers and shipping. This is probably “next level” stuff, but if there was an effort to thwart brands and products, shipping and suppliers might be used in that battle. It is probably next level but cannot be dismissed out of hand. One obvious risk already is in the chip industry. There is agreement here that the “highest level technology” needs to be protected but defining that in a way that works could prove tricky over time.
    • Bad inflation. As supply chains shift and shipping gets more complicated, we could see inflation rise. The cost of goods for domestic companies could increase, passing inflation to buyers in many regions.
    • Bad deflation. If China competes on price, then its competitors will likely have to compete on price, which will be a direct hit to profit margins.

    Bottom Line

    I can think of no greater or more obvious risk to our economy and stock market valuations than the rise of Chinese brands globally. Not tomorrow’s risk or even next year’s risk, but it is the sort of risk where in 5 years, we will look back and wonder how we got it so wrong – especially since it has been in plain sight!

    The good news is that there is time to plan, prepare, and win.

    • Without a doubt, many companies are already ahead in this battle and doing what it takes to be successful under a variety of competitive circumstances.
    • China, assuming they are pursuing this strategy, has to get a lot of things right. They need a lot of things to work in their favor. They may not get what they need or may not execute, but I wouldn’t rely on that as being my strategy.

    We can get back to living in markets that rise and fall 1% in a day (sometimes more), but I really wanted to make sure this message on “Made by China” is heard loud and clear as I think it is vital to understand and prepare for.

    And yes, currently I’m long FXI (I think that Chinese stocks are un-investible, but are tradeable) and short QQQ (lots of things pointing me to the risk/reward being skewed to more downside risk than upside risk in the near-term). For the “normal” macro stuff see:

    Good luck today, tomorrow, and beyond. I’m actually optimistic on the “beyond” front, but I’d be more comfortable if I felt more people, at all levels, were taking the Made by China theory more seriously.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 17:30

  • Watch: Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret) Provides Nation With Alternative View Of The State Of The Union
    Watch: Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret) Provides Nation With Alternative View Of The State Of The Union

    “I want to respectfully present an alternative view of the State of The Union,” retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor said in a video posted on X. 

    Macgregor begins by explaining how the Constitution mandates that the government promote the general welfare. This obligates Washington to secure the basic necessities of life, such as energy, food, and shelter. 

    “Regrettably, the current administration is failing to perform these tasks,” Macgregor said. 

    The combat war veteran and former senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense under the Trump administration, who is now the CEO of the media company “Our Country, Our Choice,” said Biden claims the economy is booming but noted that “much of it comes from government spending and employment,” adding that the government share of GDP is 42%—including federal, state, and local spending. 

    “This outrageous share is similar to what it was in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s—before the collapse. Rampant inflation stemming from this government share of the economy makes it difficult for families to buy nutritious food,” Macgregor said. 

    He touched on runaway inflation, which has decimated households in recent years, indicating that families are struggling to survive in the era of failed Bidenomics. 

    Macgregor segways into an ominous warning that ZeroHedge readers have understood for years: “Our national security is compromised.” 

    He warned about broken supply chains, power plants, and manufacturing facilities lacking critical spare parts. He blasted “ill-conceived domestic policies” that have sparked widespread job loss and homelessness. 

    Macgregor then focused on how decades of empire-building have drained America’s resources. 

    He pivoted back to the bloated government, explaining that there are between 12 and 25 million government workers and contractors. He added that this is all happening as national sovereign debt skyrockets to $34 trillion—or $1 trillion every three months. 

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    “It’s impossible to drain the swamp with unsound money and colossal debt that we cannot sustain,” Macgregor said. 

    He continued: “Tragically, DC beltway politicians are controlled by the so-called donor class. This form of corruption is enabled by a cancerous central banking system … this ruling class orchestrates endless wars, enriching themselves and their cronies while sending our soldiers to serve in foreign lands of marginal strategic interest to the United States.” 

    Macgregor then warned about the invasion on the open southern border, indicating, “This uncontrolled influx is straining our resources, overwhelming our communities, and destroying our prosperity.” 

    “Reckless calls to defund and punish the police have crippled law enforcement. Officers are underfunded, undermanned, and unable to protect our citizens, making our cities unsafe for all, especially women, children, and the elderly,” he said. 

    Listen to Macgregor’s alternative State of The Union speech compared with Biden’s ridiculous speech, which focused on funding Ukraine and anti-Trump talk. 

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    Perhaps Macgregor is the kind of leader this nation needs to save it from globalists and radical leftists who attempt a controlled demolition. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 17:25

  • David Sacks: "Biden's Big Backfire" Is Ukraine, Warns Of "Woke War III"
    David Sacks: “Biden’s Big Backfire” Is Ukraine, Warns Of “Woke War III”

    Venture capitalist David Sacks, who also hosts the All-In Podcast, sat down with Saagar Enjeti, a political commentator and podcaster from Breaking Points, to explore President Biden’s failures in Ukraine and Gaza. 

    Sacks has been a vocal critic of Western propaganda on Ukraine, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of the conflict and opposing NATO expansion to prevent further escalation. 

    “I was a little bit familiar with the conflict and with the idea that NATO expansion was something that the Russians really didn’t like. And so I started advocating on the All-In Podcast that we should take NATO expansion off the table; it’s clearly a huge irritant here in the situation,” Sacks told Enjeti. 

    Sacks continued, “I realized that this was the result of a deliberate US policy, kind of a neocon policy that either wanted this war or certainly wasn’t willing to avoid it. They weren’t willing to take NATO expansion off the table to avoid the war, so um, so yeah, I just started speaking out about it, I guess, using my channels.” 

    Enjeti asked Sacks what sources he reads to gather intel on the Ukraine situation. He blasted corporate media for “shading the truth or not telling us what was really happening in the war,” adding that independent media outlets and certain X users were giving the most accurate information about the conflict. 

    Sacks then criticized US foreign policy and neoconservatives for making “horrible policy decisions” on Ukraine in what could be the biggest blunder since the Iraq War. 

    Cough, cough, Victoria Nuland… 

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    “The whole mainstream media stampeding us into this policy – and um the sort of the taboo they’re trying to create around it – where you know, it’s a lot like the Iraq War where anyone who opposed it was considered unpatriotic or sort of treasonous.” 

    Sacks pointed out, “I guess I wouldn’t speak out as much about it if I thought that the issue was being covered accurately – and it is such an important issue. This could lead to World War III or what I call Woke War III if we’re not careful.” 

    He also spoke about the “fusion of the woke left and the neocon right” in supporting the war in Ukraine, expressing concern over their views of not finding a peaceful resolution and only escalating the war closer to World War III. 

    Jumping to the halfway point of the interview, Sacks said:

    “I call this Biden’s big backfire. If you look at all of his claims at the beginning of the war, they’ve all come true in reverse. He said that we would weaken Russia in order to prevent them from waging uh this type of War again. In fact, we’ve made the Russian military stronger – it’s larger than it was before. It’s produced, uh, far more weapons the industrial base is ramped up, plus it’s now a battle-tested battle-harden, especially against Western weapons. It’s a much more formidable military Biden has created on the part of the Russians than when we started.

    “Meanwhile, it’s the United States that has seen its stockpiles depleted and hollowed out. Then you look at the economic claims that Biden made, he said that sanctions would crush the Russian economy. In fact, the Russian economy is growing faster than any of the G7 economies.” 

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    Enjeti then asked Sacks: “How would you rate President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict so far?”

    Sacks responded: 

    “In the wake of October 7th, the first thing I said this was a little bit of reminiscent of 9/11. And the purpose of an outrageous terrorist attack is usually provoking overreaction, yes, and I hope that the Israelis would react wisely and not in the 911 manner as the United States did. It’s safe to say now that the Israeli reaction is exactly what Hamas wanted. 

    “They’ve created this humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and it’s basically turned the whole Middle East and most of the world against Israel. I’m shocked by some of the arguments I’m seeing now that this sort of decolonization narrative that used to really be in academic circles has now kind of gone mainstream. 

    “I think Biden made a huge mistake of basically going to the Middle East initially and hugging Netanyahu and giving him carte blanch … Israeli indiscriminately bombing a civilian population in Gaza is going to backfire horribly.” 

    Watch Sacks’ full interview below:

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 16:55

  • Trump Eviscerates Biden Over 'Apology Tour' After Calling Illegal Alien Murderer An "Illegal"
    Trump Eviscerates Biden Over ‘Apology Tour’ After Calling Illegal Alien Murderer An “Illegal”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Joe Biden is now seemingly on an apology tour after accurately describing the illegal immigrant who killed Laken Riley as an “illegal” in his State of the Union speech.

    The 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University was kidnapped and killed by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela when she was jogging at the University of Georgia last month.

    Biden accurately described her murderer as an “illegal” during his address to the nation, but only after being pressured into doing so by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

    Leftists who didn’t care at all about the murder are still mad at Biden for using the word “illegal,” and he’s now on an apology tour to try to make up for it.

    During your response to her heckling you, you used the word ‘illegal’, when talking about the man who allegedly killed Laken Riley,” an MSNBC host chastised Biden.

    “An undocumented person,” he responded, “I shouldn’t have used illegal, it’s undocumented,” before Biden attacked Trump for the way he talks about illegal immigrants.

    “I’m not gonna treat any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country,” the president added.

    Apparently, illegal alien murderers built America.

    Respondents on X slammed Biden and the leftist media.

    As we previously highlighted, both Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Chuy García were also incensed that Biden used the word “illegal”.

    Respondents on X pointed out that Garcia had never even previously expressed any outrage about the murder itself.

    Meanwhile, Donald Trump spent time with Laken Riley’s family prior to a rally in Georgia, and then slammed Joe Biden for apologising over calling the girl’s killer an “illegal” immigrant.

    During the Rally that followed, Trump spoke at length about Riley, noting “She was the brightest light in every room,” and vowed to her family to pursue “Justice for Laken.”

    He added “Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States and set loose thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals into our country.”

    Trump also blasted Biden, saying the president “went on television and apologised for calling Laken’s murderer an illegal he didn’t want to call him an illegal. He said he should have called him an undocumented not an illegal and he wanted to apologise.”

    Trump referred to the alleged killer, Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member Jose Ibarra, urging “He was an illegal alien, he was an illegal immigrant,” adding “he shouldn’t have been in our country and he never would have been under the Trump policy.”

    “Biden should be apologising for apologising to this killer,” Trump boomed as thousands in attendance roared their approval.

    Powerful stuff.

    As we also highlighted yesterday, the left is still pushing a narrative that conservatives are using the murder of Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant as a political point scoring stunt, despite the fact that the girl’s own family has slammed Joe Biden as “pathetic”.

    *  *  *

    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
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 16:20

  • US Reinforces Haiti Embassy, Evacuates Some Staff In Overnight Airlift Mission
    US Reinforces Haiti Embassy, Evacuates Some Staff In Overnight Airlift Mission

    America could be on the verge of losing another embassy on President Biden’s watch.

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    Haiti is quickly accelerating into greater chaos and violence by the day. The US military was forced this weekend to fly in reinforcements to the US embassy in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where the area outside the embassy has been transformed into a warzone. 

    The late-night operation also included emergency evacuations for non-essential embassy personnel:

    “The airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” US Southern Command wrote in a statement, as quoted by the newspaper Miami Herald. 

    Earlier this month, more than 4,500 inmates escaped from the Caribbean nation’s two largest prisons. Armed gangs who orchestrated the twin jailbreaks have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. 

    “In the past week, the political crisis in Haiti, combined with escalating violence and civil unrest, has created an untenable situation which threatens the country’s citizens and security,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told Newsweek on Friday.  

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    Haitian authorities began a state of emergency last Sunday and extended it on Thursday as fierce battles continue across Port-au-Prince. 

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    The US embassy wrote on X that it will “remain open” despite “heightened gang violence in the neighborhood near US embassy compounds and near the airport.” 

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    Haiti is “on the cusp of even greater chaos and violence,” campaign group Human Rights Watch said last week, adding the political and economic crisis is driving a major humanitarian emergency. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 15:45

  • What is 'The Halving'? Explaining The Most Important Event In Bitcoin's History
    What is ‘The Halving’? Explaining The Most Important Event In Bitcoin’s History

    Authored by Brian Nibley via Finance Magnates.com,

    • The April 2024 halving, deemed the most significant to date, will reduce the block reward from 6.25 bitcoins to 3.125.

    • The emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the enhancement in regulatory clarity are distinctive features unique to the current event.

    With spot Bitcoin ETFs having been approved the same year that the halving is set to take place, many newcomers to the space may be wondering: what is the Bitcoin halving? This is a common question among those wanting to learn more about the Bitcoin protocol. Expected to be the most important event in Bitcoin’s history, the 2024 halving is expected to occur sometime on or around April 13.

    Here we will cover the basics of how the Bitcoin halving works, what the Bitcoin halving is, why it happens, and what it may mean for markets this year and beyond.

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    Understanding the Bitcoin Halving

    Before looking at the potential impacts of the 2024 halving, let’s discuss how the Bitcoin halving works.

    Bitcoin operates on a deflationary model, where the reward for mining new blocks is halved every 210,000 blocks, or approximately every four years, a process known as the “halving.” This event is significant because it reduces the rate at which new bitcoin are generated, thereby limiting supply. Bitcoin is the only asset in human history to have a fixed supply that never increases, making it the hardest currency ever known.

    This aspect of the protocol cannot be changed due to the decentralized distribution of nodes. For the supply limit of Bitcoin to be increased, the majority of nodes would have to agree to such a change. While this might be possibly in theory, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where it becomes reality. Thousands of independent node operators around the world would have to agree to making themselves poorer and reducing the value of Bitcoin as a whole.

    The 2024 halving will slash the block reward from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125 bitcoin. Historically, each halving event has been followed by a notable increase in bitcoin’s price, although past performance is no guarantee of future results. However, the anticipation alone can lead to increased trading volume and price volatility, as we’ve seen in recent weeks.

    Contrary to what some market commentators may say, the halving can never be truly priced in before it happens. That’s because much of the selling pressure in the market comes from miners, who must sell coins to cover their operating expenses. After the halving, this selling pressure gets reduced by 50%, as the miner revenue declines by the same amount.

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    What Happens to Miners after the Bitcoin Halving?

    Miners can struggle after the halving, as they see a significant reduction in revenue. Larger, public mining companies can have a lifeline by accessing capital markets for further investment. In the absence of a swift increase in the Bitcoin price, some smaller miners may be forced to shut down.

    As a result, the network’s hash rate tends to come down for a time after the halving. This then leads to a difficulty adjustment downwards, which can eventually make it possible for more miners to come back online.

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    The Impact of the Bitcoin Halving

    This year’s halving may be the most important halving event in Bitcoin’s history. There are several converging factors that haven’t been present during previous halving cycles. Some of these include:

    • The emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs;

    • increased regulatory clarity surrounding Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and exchanges;

    • a washout of many bad actors from the previous cycle (think FTX, Celsius, Voyager, etc.);

    • potential nation-state adoption of bitcoin (El Salvador and rumors of other, larger countries);

    • and, corporate adoption of bitcoin (Microstrategy, other public Bitcoin companies).

    In the past, the halving has been a significant event for both Bitcoin’s price and the industry as a whole, even in the absence of the above variables. It stands to reason that this time around could be astronomical given the compounding effect of these new developments.

    In addition, because retail investors can now gain exposure to bitcoin through ETFs, there could be ripple effects throughout the entire financial system. How this might take shape is anyone’s guess.

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    A few of the more certain impacts of the halving and associated bull market include:

    • an increase in crypto transactions. Merchants who accept cryptocurrency as payment tend to see a rise in purchases, as holders look for ways to take profits;

    • increased trading volume. This can be so extreme that exchanges encounter difficulties. For example, Coinbase suffered an outage on February 28 that led to users seeing a “0” balance in their accounts for a time, as the Bitcoin price rapidly shot up to $64,000;

    • renewed investment and hiring in the crypto space. Bitcoin and blockchain-related companies tend to do a lot of hiring during this time, and investors look to fund more startups;

    • and, speculation and market sentiment. Not surprisingly, market sentiment tends to get euphoric, and speculation in Bitcoin and altcoins can reach extreme levels. The legendary volatility of the asset class shows its full potential during this time.

    And most entertaining of all, the creation of new Bitcoin-related memes tends to skyrocket during this period.

    Stay tuned to social media for more on the subject.

    Bitcoin Halving Conclusion

    The Bitcoin halving is a pivotal event, occurring approximately every four years and reducing the rate at which new bitcoin comes online. As we approach the 2024 halving, there’s a lot of anticipation for its potential impact on Bitcoin’s price and the broader industry.

    With the emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs, increased regulatory clarity, and growing adoption by both nations and corporations, this halving could be more significant than ever before. While the exact outcomes remain uncertain, past halving events have historically led to increased trading volume, market volatility, and renewed investment in the crypto space. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 15:10

  • Britt Busted For Misleading Sex-Trafficking Story In Bizarre SOTU Response
    Britt Busted For Misleading Sex-Trafficking Story In Bizarre SOTU Response

    Already the subject of bipartisan ridicule for the jaw-droppingly strange persona she displayed in her Republican response to the State of the Union address, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt is now taking more serious fire — for having deceptively framed a 16-year-old anecdote about sex trafficking to mislead the audience about when and where the crime happened and how she learned about it. 

    Observers of all political stripes winced as soon as first-termer Britt started speaking, sounding every bit like she was delivering an absurdly melodramatic audition for a B-movie part. This video nicely captures the difference between Normal Britt and Thursday night’s godawful Middle-School-Theater Britt: 

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    As she proceeded through her bizarre delivery, Britt eventually came to the subject of border security. Within that passage, she shared an anecdote about a victim of sex trafficking, and did so in a way that misled the audience in three dimensions, making it sound like: 

    • Britt happened to encounter a woman who shared her story in a one-on-one conversation 
    • The sex trafficking happened recently — and during Biden’s term
    • The sex trafficking occurred in the United States

    None of that is true. 

    Here’s what Britt said: 

    When I took office [in 2023], I took a different approach. I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas. That’s where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me. She had been sex trafficked by the cartels starting at the age of 12. She told me not just that she was raped every day, but how many times a day she was raped.The cartels put her on a mattress in a shoebox of a room, and they sent men through that door over and over again for hours and hours on end.

    We wouldn’t be ok with this happening in a third world country. This is the United States of America, and it is past time, in my opinion, that we start acting like it. President Biden’s border policies are a disgrace.

    On Friday, independent journalist Jonathan Katz posted a video in which he revealed that the unnamed woman Britt described is a Mexican citizen and prominent public advocate against human trafficking named Karla Jacinto Romero who testified before Congress in 2015.

    Britt’s framing — “I spoke to a woman” in the Del Rio sector “who shared her story with me” — made it sound like she came across a little-known person, living in America, who decided to open up to Britt in an intimate conversation. In fact, Britt heard Romero’s account when Britt, Romero, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn participated in a public, roundtable discussion.

    Britt (second from left) heard Romero’s account of being abused inside Mexico from 2004 to 2008 during this round-table discussion (Sen. Marsha Blackburn/Twitter)

    At the event, 31-year-old Romero gave her frequently-shared and reported account of having been sex-trafficked between the ages of 12 and 16 — in other words, way back during the George W. Bush administration. 

    Beyond serving as an indicator of how long ago Romero’s abuse occurred, the question of who was US president at the time is utterly irrelevant, because Romero wasn’t even trafficked in the United States or anywhere near it. It all took place inside Mexico and, from reporting on her story, it appears most or all of her forced-prostitution happened in the vicinity of Mexico City — nearly 1,000 miles from the American border.

    In her speech, Britt melodramatically proclaimed, “We wouldn’t be ok with this happening in a Third World country. This is the United States of America.” And now we find the whole thing did happen in a Third World country. 

    Romero doesn’t even live in the United States, making Britt’s emphasis on having spoken with her near Del Rio, Texas all the more misleading. Interviewed from Mexico by the New York Times, Romero said when she learned about Britt using her story in the speech, “I thought it was very strange.”

    There are enough real horror stories associated with America’s open border to make the case for better security. Britt’s decision to mislead her audience with an anecdote about sex trafficking that happened some 16 years ago far outside America is as baffling as her choice of persona for her first big moment in the spotlight. 

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 14:35

  • SpaceX-Backed Flying Car Startup Gets FAA Nod
    SpaceX-Backed Flying Car Startup Gets FAA Nod

    Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

    • Alef Aeronautics, based in San Mateo, California, has seen an impressive number of pre-orders for its two-seater eVTOL vehicle, Model A, with plans to develop a four-seater sedan, Model Z, by 2035.

    • The company has received a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA for its Model A, highlighting its innovative design and potential for commercial viability in personal and urban mobility.

    • Competitors like Joby Aviation and Lilium are also advancing in the eVTOL market, focusing on flying taxis and partnerships to facilitate urban air mobility, indicating a growing industry trend towards airborne personal transport.

    Pre-orders for a “flying car” have soared in recent months leading industry experts to question how close we are to small passenger vehicle flight. Alef Aeronautics, a company backed by Space-X, specialising in the production of flying cars, has achieved 2,850 pre-orders for its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. The firm is backed by Tesla investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper, which has helped draw attention. Based in San Mateo, California, Alef Aeronautics is allowing customers to pre-order its two-seater flying car, the Alef Model A, online with a $150 deposit. Customers are allowed to withdraw the deposit at any time to cancel the pre-order. 

    The car is expected to be priced at around $300,000 when it becomes commercially available, which gives the company an order value of over $850 million to date. Jim Dukhovny, Alef’s CEO, stated: “As of today we have a little bit more than 2,850 pre-orders with deposits down, which makes it the bestselling aircraft in history, more than Boeing, Airbus, Joby Aviation and most of the eVTOLs combined.”

    Alef is also developing a four-passenger sedan called the Model Z. It is expected to become commercially available for the much lower price of $35,000, by 2035. It is just one of many start-ups developing flying car technology, but, over the last year, it has been recognised for the significant progress it has made. Alef’s Model A looks like a futuristic car. They use a mesh shell to cover rotors, allowing air to flow through the car. 

    The company first unveiled a half-size model of the vehicle at the Mobile World Congress, catching the attention of consumers and automakers worldwide. Dukhovny believes the Model A will be the world’s first flying car, as most other vehicles under development resemble something similar to a jet or a drone, fitted with wings or rotors. The CEO explained, “I know that people have claimed the first flying car… But we always had the idea that it has to be a car, a physical car, a regular car, as you can see it’s an eVTOL, an electric car. a regular car, drive, park, look, everything as a car, and a vertical take-off.” 

    The aim is for the car to be capable of being driven on the road, similarly to an electric vehicle (EV), at speeds of between 25 and 35 mph, as well as used to fly in any direction using its eight propellers, where it will reach speeds of up to 110 mph. As it is expected to weigh just 850 pounds, it can be classed as a small EV, making it more likely that the regulatory bodies will approve the car for flight by as early as 2025. 

    While Alef gained greater fame following the Mobile World Congress, this is not the first we are hearing of the company. Alef initially started working on its concept car in 2015, producing the first prototype of the Model A in 2019. In July 2023, it was issued with a Special Airworthiness Certificate by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which allowed the company to fly its Model A in limited locations for exhibition, research and development. The vehicle falls under the categorisation of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), which is used for technology such as air taxis and VTOL aircraft. 

    However, several companies are hot on Alef’s tail, hoping to rapidly develop their own flying car technology for commercial release.

    The eVTOL producer Joby Aviation is constructing a manufacturing plant at Dayton International Airport in Ohio. The company hopes to begin producing up to 500 aircraft a year at Dayton, starting in 2025. Joby is focused on the flying taxi market, designing the tiltrotor eVTOL to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of 200 mph. The company has already announced a partnership with Delta Airlines and expects to launch in cities such as New York and Los Angeles by as early as 2025. 

    The German start-up Lilium is developing an eVTOL to serve as an air taxi for up to five people, with a range of around 300 km and a top speed of 300 Kmh. In December, Lilium signed a memorandum of understanding with the air carrier Lufthansa to explore a strategic partnership on eVTOL aircraft operation in Europe. The two companies plan to explore ground and flight operations, future aircraft maintenance, as well as crewing and flight training. 

    Klaus Roewe, the CEO of Lilium, stated, “We are delighted that the Lufthansa Group has decided to cooperate with us to jointly advance in the future of flying. The Lufthansa Group has been at the forefront of some of Europe’s most important aviation initiatives, especially in the area of environmental sustainability. We are thrilled to explore opportunities on bringing eVTOL flights to Lufthansa Group customers.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 14:00

  • Pope Francis Urges Ukraine To Have 'Courage Of The White Flag' & Negotiate End To War
    Pope Francis Urges Ukraine To Have ‘Courage Of The White Flag’ & Negotiate End To War

    Pope Francis has sparked fresh controversy after he said in a new interview published Saturday that Ukraine should have the “courage” to sit at the negotiating table with Russia and end the war through a peace agreement.

    In particular his referencing the “white flag” is drawing outrage from European and Ukraine officials. “I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis told Swiss broadcaster RSI. He said this would happen with the help of outside mediating powers.

    Francis continued by explaining that “the word negotiate is a courageous word.” He emphasized, “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” and spelled out, “Negotiations are never a surrender.” However, the words surely sting for the Zelensky government given how the Pope highlighted (albeit indirectly) that Ukraine forces are losing on the battlefield.

    In April 2022, Pope Francis kissed a Ukrainian flag brought from Bucha. via AP

    Francis additionally said that either side should “not be ashamed of negotiating before things get worse,” and he offered that he himself would willingly mediate peace talks, or else several European countries could.

    “Today, for example, in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to mediate,” he said. “Turkey has offered itself for this. And others. Do not be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse.” President Zelensky just returned from a trip where he met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    Almost immediately in the wake of the interview being released, the pope was widely accused of siding with Russia. For example, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski posted on X, “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations.”

    As The Associated Press noted on Sunday, Ukrainian officials agreed with statements comparing to the Pope’s comments to being willing to compromise with Hitler:

    In a separate post, Sikorski drew parallels between those calling for negotiations while “denying (Ukraine) the means to defend itself” and European leaders’ “appeasement” of Adolf Hitler just before World War II.

    Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, said that it was “necessary to learn lessons” from that conflict. His post on X appeared to compare the pope’s comments to calls for “talking with Hitler” while raising “a white flag to satisfy him.”

    Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has sought to clarify Francis’ remarks but did not back down or retract the pontiff’s ‘controversial’ statement. He said it was the interviewer that introduced the white flag reference to “indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation.”

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    Bruni emphasized that Francis has “deep affection” for Ukraine and he’s ultimately calling for “conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace.”

    Francis has been no stranger to controversy throughout the over two-year long war. After the opening few months of the war, in May 2022 he suggested that NATO expansion was a prime catalyst for the tragic conflict, describing that NATO had long been “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion. That too elicited angry reaction from Ukraine officials and some of the Western allies. But NATO itself seemed to later acknowledge that this is accurate.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 13:25

  • Watch: Crowd Roars As Trump Enters Packed UFC Arena
    Watch: Crowd Roars As Trump Enters Packed UFC Arena

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    A huge crowd at a packed UFC arena in Miami roared with delight as Donald Trump made his way into the stadium before later chanting “fuck Joe Biden!”

    A video clip shows Trump walking to ringside with CEO Dana White as the audience greets him like a rock star.

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    Many members of the crowd reached out to high five Trump as he was given a welcome that would rival any of the top performers.

    Trump was also seen shaking hands with Dave Portnoy and Dan Bongino before he took his seat.

    “Never seen anything like it,” commented Mike Cernovich.

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    “Biden could never get this kind of introduction or energy from a crowd, absolutely unbelievable!” gushed another respondent to the video.

    After Trump made his appearance and the event got underway, the audience also erupted with a huge chant of “fuck Joe Biden!”

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    Trump made his appearance two days after Biden delivered an angry, shouty State of the Union speech which many hope will be his last.

    *  *  *

    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
    Sun, 03/10/2024 – 12:52

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Mar 10

Today’s News 10th March 2024

  • Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?
    Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

    Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The headlines coming out of the Super Tuesday primaries have got it right. Barring cataclysmic changes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2024.

    (Left) President Joe Biden delivers remarks on canceling student debt at Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2024. (Right) Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands on stage during a campaign event at Big League Dreams Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 27, 2024. (Mario Tama/Getty Images; David Becker/Getty Images)

    With Nikki Haley’s withdrawal, there will be no more significantly contested primaries or caucuses—the earliest both parties’ races have been over since something like the current primary-dominated system was put in place in 1972.

    The primary results have spotlighted some of both nominees’ weaknesses.

    Donald Trump lost high-income, high-educated constituencies, including the entire metro area—aka the Swamp. Many but by no means all Haley votes there were cast by Biden Democrats. Mr. Trump can’t afford to lose too many of the others in target states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.

    Majorities and large minorities of voters in overwhelmingly Latino counties in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and some in Houston voted against Joe Biden, and even more against Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

    Returns from Hispanic precincts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts show the same thing. Mr. Biden can’t afford to lose too many Latino votes in target states like Arizona and Georgia.

    When Mr. Trump rode down that escalator in 2015, commentators assumed he’d repel Latinos. Instead, Latino voters nationally, and especially the closest eyewitnesses of Biden’s open-border policy, have been trending heavily Republican.

    High-income liberal Democrats may sport lawn signs proclaiming, “In this house, we believe … no human is illegal.” The logical consequence of that belief is an open border. But modest-income folks in border counties know that flows of illegal immigrants result in disorder, disease, and crime.

    There is plenty of impatience with increased disorder in election returns below the presidential level. Consider Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with nearly 10 million people, more people than 40 of the 50 states. It voted 71 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020.

    Current returns show county District Attorney George Gascon winning only 21 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan primary. He’ll apparently face Republican Nathan Hochman, a critic of his liberal policies, in November.

    Gascon, elected after the May 2020 death of counterfeit-passing suspect George Floyd in Minneapolis, is one of many county prosecutors supported by billionaire George Soros. His policies include not charging juveniles as adults, not seeking higher penalties for gang membership or use of firearms, and bringing fewer misdemeanor cases.

    The predictable result has been increased car thefts, burglaries, and personal robberies. Some 120 assistant district attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of 10,000 unprosecuted cases.

    More than a dozen other Soros-backed and similarly liberal prosecutors have faced strong opposition or have left office.

    St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigned last May amid lawsuits seeking her removal, Milwaukee’s John Chisholm retired in January, and Baltimore’s Marilyn Mosby was defeated in July 2022 and convicted of perjury in September 2023. Last November, Loudoun County, Virginia, voters (62 percent Biden) ousted liberal Buta Biberaj, who declined to prosecute a transgender student for assault, and in June 2022 voters in San Francisco (85 percent Biden) recalled famed radical Chesa Boudin.

    Similarly, this Tuesday, voters in San Francisco passed ballot measures strengthening police powers and requiring treatment of drug-addicted welfare recipients.

    In retrospect, it appears the Floyd video, appearing after three months of COVID-19 confinement, sparked a frenzied, even crazed reaction, especially among the highly educated and articulate. One fatal incident was seen as proof that America’s “systemic racism” was worse than ever and that police forces should be defunded and perhaps abolished.

    2020 was “the year America went crazy,” I wrote in January 2021, a year in which police funding was actually cut by Democrats in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A year in which young New York Times (NYT) staffers claimed they were endangered by the publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion article advocating calling in military forces if necessary to stop rioting, as had been done in Detroit in 1967 and Los Angeles in 1992. A craven NYT publisher even fired the editorial page editor for running the article.

    Evidence of visible and tangible discontent with increasing violence and its consequences—barren and locked shelves in Manhattan chain drugstores, skyrocketing carjackings in Washington, D.C.—is as unmistakable in polls and election results as it is in daily life in large metropolitan areas. Maybe 2024 will turn out to be the year even liberal America stopped acting crazy.

    Chaos and disorder work against incumbents, as they did in 1968 when Democrats saw their party’s popular vote fall from 61 percent to 43 percent.

    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, 03/09/2024 – 23:20

  • Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence
    Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

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

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

    Doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Washington in a file image. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

    VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

    He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”

    Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”

    The agency searched for such data and did not find any.

    “The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.

    “The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.

    The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.

    The VA’s website claims that vaccines “help protect you from getting severe illness” and “offer good protection against most COVID-19 variants,” pointing in part to observational data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimate the vaccines provide poor protection against symptomatic infection and transient shielding against hospitalization.

    There have also been increasing concerns among outside scientists about confirmed side effects like heart inflammation—the VA hid a safety signal it detected for the inflammation—and possible side effects such as tinnitus, which shift the benefit-risk calculus.

    President Joe Biden imposed a slate of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021. The VA was the first federal agency to implement a mandate.

    President Biden rescinded the mandates in May 2023, citing a drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. His administration maintains the choice to require vaccines was the right one and saved lives.

    “Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the White House said.

    Some experts said requiring vaccination meant many younger people were forced to get a vaccine despite the risks potentially outweighing the benefits, leaving fewer doses for older adults.

    “By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that,” Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times previously.

    The VA was one of just a handful of agencies to keep its mandate in place following the removal of many federal mandates.

    “At this time, the vaccine requirement will remain in effect for VA health care personnel, including VA psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, and other clinical, administrative, and infrastructure support employees,” Mr. McDonough wrote to VA employees at the time.

    “This also includes VA volunteers and contractors. Effectively, this means that any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee, volunteer, or contractor who works in VHA facilities, visits VHA facilities, or provides direct care to those we serve will still be subject to the vaccine requirement at this time,” he said. “We continue to monitor and discuss this requirement, and we will provide more information about the vaccination requirements for VA health care employees soon. As always, we will process requests for vaccination exceptions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”

    The version of the shots cleared in the fall of 2022, and available through the fall of 2023, did not have any clinical trial data supporting them.

    A new version was approved in the fall of 2023 because there were indications that the shots not only offered temporary protection but also that the level of protection was lower than what was observed during earlier stages of the pandemic.

    Ms. Manookian, whose group has challenged several of the federal mandates, said that the mandate “illustrates the dangers of the administrative state and how these federal agencies have become a law unto themselves.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 22:10

  • China Plans $27BN 'Big Fund' To Counter US' Tech War
    China Plans $27BN ‘Big Fund’ To Counter US’ Tech War

    China is preparing to raise billions of dollars for its largest-ever semiconductor fund, aiming to fast-track the advancement of cutting-edge technologies in response to Washington’s worsening trade and tech war. 

    According to Bloomberg, China’s National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund is pooling capital from local governments, their investment arms, and state-owned enterprises. Sources familiar with the situation said the fund is expected to collect more than 200 billion yuan, or $27 billion. 

    Referred to as the “Big Fund,” the state-backed entity will help finance several pools of capital managed by other general partners under a “fund of funds” structure to increase deal sourcing and investment strategies to boost semiconductors and artificial intelligence investments. This comes as the Biden administration prepares to escalate technology trade curbs. 

    The people also said negotiations about the fundraising are progressing and subject to change, and it could take months to finalize. 

    Bloomberg pointed out that Big Fund will assist domestic companies, such as Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, in becoming less reliant on advanced processors and semiconductor equipment from the US or Europe. 

    “Beijing’s goal now is to pool valuable capital across the country for major projects, a key element in President Xi Jinping’s “whole nation” approach,” according to the source.

    China’s drive towards self-reliance follows the US and its allies, such as the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, and Japan, ratcheting up trade restrictions on advanced semiconductor technology over the last year.

    And just how reliant is Huawei on the US? 

    In a separate Bloomberg report earlier today, it was revealed that Huawei and SMIC relied on US technology to produce advanced 7-nanometer chips for the Mate 60 Pro released last year. 

    This suggests that China still can’t entirely replace some foreign components from its most advanced chips. 

    The Big Fund is a clear move by Beijing to increase technological self-sufficiency from the West. 

    Meanwhile, the Biden administration is spending tens of billions of dollars to boost the US semiconductor industry and reduce its reliance on China. 

    All this simply reinforces the global shift to a multi-polar state.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 21:35

  • University Of Virginia Spends $20 Million On 235 DEI Employees, With Some Making $587,340 Per Year
    University Of Virginia Spends $20 Million On 235 DEI Employees, With Some Making $587,340 Per Year

    By Adam Andrzejewski of Open The Books substack

    The University of Virginia (UVA) has at least 235 employees under its “diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)” banner — including 82 students — whose total cost of employment is estimated at $20 million. That’s $15 million in cash compensation plus an additional 30-percent for the annual cost of their benefits.

    In contrast, last Friday, the University of Florida dismissed its DEI bureaucracy, saving students and taxpayers $5 million per year. The university terminated 13 full-time DEI positions and 15 administrative faculty appointments. Those funds have been re-programmed into a “faculty recruitment fund” to attract better people who actually teach students.

    No such luck for learning at Virginia’s flagship university – founded by Thomas Jefferson no less. UVA has a much deeper DEI infrastructure.

    Reform or abolition must await this summer’s anticipated changes in the school’s Board of Visitors. At least until then, the very highly compensated, generally non-teaching, DEI staffers are safely embedded throughout the entire university – while costing students and taxpayers a fortune.

    Our team of auditors at OpenTheBooks.com reviewed the university payroll file for 2023 to sort out the DEI position head counts, compensation, and then estimated the cost of benefits.

    Meet The Top Paid DEI Executives

    Martin N. Davidson, senior associate dean of the Darden School of Business & global chief diversity officer, earns the most in a DEI role, at $452,000, or $587,340 including benefits. For comparison, Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia earned $175,000.

    The second most highly compensated DEI executive is Kevin G. McDonald, the vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships, who takes home $401,465, or an estimated $520,000 with benefits.

    Those in DEI leadership roles such as vice presidents, associate/assistant deans, directors, assistant directors and managers earned up to $312,000 last year, or $400,000 with benefits.

    When McDonald began in his position in August 2019, he was making $340,000, eligible for a 10-percent bonus every year. His first year, he was given a $25,000 recruitment bonus and up to $30,000 for relocation costs, according to UVA records provided through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

    Some of the DEI chiefs have been transparent about their philosophies during their public comments. For example, Rachel Spraker, an assistant vice president for equity & inclusive excellence – where she earned $186,800 last year or $242,840 with benefits – described the opioid epidemic in Appalachia as an example of “white toxicity.”

    DEI staff aren’t the only well-paid employees in controversial roles at UVA.

    Lanice Avery, an assistant professor of psychology in the departments of Psychology and Women, Gender and Sexuality, makes $102,200 ($132,860 with estimated benefits). She runs the Research on Intersectionality, Sexuality, and Empowerment (RISE) Lab at UVA and writes and speaks about black, female sexuality, and describes herself as a “board-certified sexologist” and speaks online about her orgasms.

    UVA’s DEI Infrastructure

    What does the DEI bureaucracy do?

    There are 187 UVA employees and students dedicated to “assist and monitor all units of the University in their efforts to recruit and retain faculty, staff, and student from historically underrepresented groups and to provide affirmative and supportive environments for work and life…”

    Here are some of the university agencies committed to the DEI mission. If you think you are seeing double in this list, you are right:

    • Equity Center (110 employees total: 37 employees +73 students),
    • Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (17 employees +1 student),
    • Multicultural Student Services (6 employees +10 students),
    • Office of Diversity & Engagement (3 employees + 4 students)
    • Center for Diversity (4 students)

    Included in the DEI employment roster are another 31 people working in DEI roles sprinkled throughout other departments, including the Urology Department, in Occupational Programs, for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and other areas.

    Then, there are another 48 employees and students working in roles related to DEI and advancing equality for women, minorities, etc.

    • Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center (21 employees, including 4 undergrad students/interns)
    • Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (16 employees working on Title IX compliance, sexual misconduct investigations and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, among other things)
    • Office of African American Affairs (4 employees)
    • Center for Global Health Equity (4 employees and 3 student employees working on providing health services to mostly Third World countries)

    Not included in the DEI numbers for this investigation were the Women, Gender and Sexuality Department with 10 professors making a collective $857,103 last year ($1.1 million with benefits) and the Psychology Department with 87 employees making $8.4 million ($11 million with benefits).

    Adding to the confusion, the university has consistently undercounted DEI staffers in presentations to the public. In April 2023, Kevin McDonald told the New York Times that UVA had only 40 DEI employees. In May 2023, a presentation to the Board of Visitors claimed UVA had only 55 DEI positions.

    Even our list of 235 employees is not complete. Here is a great example of an executive with a hidden DEI mission:

    Kimberley Barker, Librarian for Digital Life ($80,000, or $104,000 with benefits). Barker isn’t in our database, however, she is the DEI leader for the Health System Library – the “IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity Accessibility) lead. Her university bio page lists her as the “Librarian for Belonging and Community Engagement.”

    Summary

    UVA was founded by Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s work presented the moral case for a common freedom among all men. The university has an historic opportunity to promote the time-tested principles:

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

    But, instead of working towards the ideal of the Shining City on the Hill under Jeffersonian principles, his university embraced the divisive quotas of the neo-Marxist DEI crowd.

    Tens of millions of dollars in student tuition and taxpayer monies are flowing into promoting anti-American notions and radical philosophies that judge the color of one’s skin instead of the content – and competence – of their character.

    Students, taxpayers and all who care about learning can look to Florida as the beacon of a new day. Perhaps Virginia, a birthplace of our Constitutional republic, home to birth places of individual rights and freedoms in America, will emulate the model.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 21:00

  • Watch: Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret) Provides Nation With Alternative View Of The State Of The Union
    Watch: Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret) Provides Nation With Alternative View Of The State Of The Union

    “I want to respectfully present an alternative view of the State of The Union,” retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor said in a video posted on X. 

    Macgregor begins by explaining how the Constitution mandates that the government promote the general welfare. This obligates Washington to secure the basic necessities of life, such as energy, food, and shelter. 

    “Regrettably, the current administration is failing to perform these tasks,” Macgregor said. 

    The combat war veteran and former senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense under the Trump administration, who is now the CEO of the media company “Our Country, Our Choice,” said Biden claims the economy is booming but noted that “much of it comes from government spending and employment,” adding that the government share of GDP is 42%—including federal, state, and local spending. 

    “This outrageous share is similar to what it was in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s—before the collapse. Rampant inflation stemming from this government share of the economy makes it difficult for families to buy nutritious food,” Macgregor said. 

    He touched on runaway inflation, which has decimated households in recent years, indicating that families are struggling to survive in the era of failed Bidenomics. 

    Macgregor segways into an ominous warning that ZeroHedge readers have understood for years: “Our national security is compromised.” 

    He warned about broken supply chains, power plants, and manufacturing facilities lacking critical spare parts. He blasted “ill-conceived domestic policies” that have sparked widespread job loss and homelessness. 

    Macgregor then focused on how decades of empire-building have drained America’s resources. 

    He pivoted back to the bloated government, explaining that there are between 12 and 25 million government workers and contractors. He added that this is all happening as national sovereign debt skyrockets to $34 trillion—or $1 trillion every three months. 

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    “It’s impossible to drain the swamp with unsound money and colossal debt that we cannot sustain,” Macgregor said. 

    He continued: “Tragically, DC beltway politicians are controlled by the so-called donor class. This form of corruption is enabled by a cancerous central banking system … this ruling class orchestrates endless wars, enriching themselves and their cronies while sending our soldiers to serve in foreign lands of marginal strategic interest to the United States.” 

    Macgregor then warned about the invasion on the open southern border, indicating, “This uncontrolled influx is straining our resources, overwhelming our communities, and destroying our prosperity.” 

    “Reckless calls to defund and punish the police have crippled law enforcement. Officers are underfunded, undermanned, and unable to protect our citizens, making our cities unsafe for all, especially women, children, and the elderly,” he said. 

    Listen to Macgregor’s alternative State of The Union speech compared with Biden’s ridiculous speech, which focused on funding Ukraine and anti-Trump talk. 

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    Perhaps Macgregor is the kind of leader this nation needs to save it from globalists and radical leftists who attempt a controlled demolition. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 20:25

  • COVID Showed Us Who Really Rules America
    COVID Showed Us Who Really Rules America

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    This month marks the fourth anniversary of one of the most disastrous assaults on human rights in American history. It was on March 16, 2020 that the President Trump issued “guidelines” for “15 days to slow the spread” which stated that “Governors of states with evidence of community transmission should close schools in affected and surrounding areas.”

    The administration instructed all members of the public to “listen to and follow the directions of your state and local authorities.”

    It was at this time that an American president, for the first time in American history, introduced the idea that it was possible—and perfectly legal—for government institutions to “close down” the economy by forcibly shutting, en masse, countless businesses, schools, and churches. Trump stated repeatedly in press conferences that it was up to government officials to decide “if we open up.” It quickly became standard procedure for health bureaucrats, governors, and media figures to casually speak of “closing the economy” or “opening up” as if we were talking about a coffee shop deciding on closing time.

    Meanwhile, across the country, local law enforcement officers willingly worked to arrest or harass business owners, worshipers at church, soccer moms at the park, and anyone else with the temerity to venture outdoors for activities not approved by the ruling class. 

    The small minority of Americans that remained committed to human rights and private property soon discovered how powerless they really are. Many dissenters were dismayed by a lack of action from the courts, and how elected officials were apparently unwilling or unable to rein in the vast new powers of “health” officials. Was there nothing that could limit the state’s power? This was confusing for many people because many have been (and remain) enamored of the idea that written constitutions limit state power when it matters most. 

    Many dissenters learned a valuable lesson from the experience, however: during the Covid Panic of 2020 and 2021, it became abundantly clear how little constitutional government and the so-called “rule of law” actually limit a regime’s power in times of perceived emergency. It is during emergencies, in fact, when we learn who really holds political power, and how ineffective are constitutional measures designed to limit it.

    True Power Is Revealed by Emergencies 

    As the Covid Panic revealed to us, the real, de facto ruling class is the executive state which effortlessly ruled by decree during the covid crisis. This ruling clique—an oligarchy of governors, academic “experts,” media billionaires, and countless nameless and faceless unelected bureaucrats—has illustrated in recent years how irrelevant elected lawmakers can be to the use of political power.

    This problem is not new, nor have scholars only recently noticed it. Libertarian political scientists Carlo Lottieri and Marco Bassani have noted that the problem of emergency power has long been a concern for radical free-market liberals, especially those of the Italian school of elitism. These scholars recognized that political power in times of emergencies is exercised by individual persons who are unconcerned with abstract limits on their power. This fact is fundamentally at odds with the abstractions of the constitutionalists who imagine that the state monopoly on coercion can be rendered relatively harmless via written constitutions. That is, the constitutionalists believe the written law will somehow restrain the ruling class, even in emergencies. 

    In practice, however, this doesn’t happen. Lottieri and Bassani explain what the constitutionalists get wrong:

    The constitutionalist claim to justify the State’s monopoly of violence has been challenged directly by the radical libertarian tradition (Molinari) and by individualist anarchists (such as Lysander Spooner). However, an important role in bringing the modern State into perspective has also been played by European political realism and, in particular, by Carl Schmitt and the Italian elitist scholars (Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto).

    Schmitt’s importance rests very much on his intuition that in every State there is first a political dimension and then a decision, which cannot be obscured by the so-called “impersonality” of law and the “super-individuality” of orders. Beyond the apparent abstraction of the State … Schmitt uncovered choices, interests, and, in short, people that impose their will on others.

    The constitutional thought of classical and contemporary liberalism has constantly tried to neutralize politics, but it has failed. … [T]he real sovereign is the political group that has the final decision about the critical situation, in the state of emergency. The locus of sovereignty thus becomes the political entity (which in our time is the State), and the decision on the state of emergency is the ultimate test of sovereignty. Legal positivism tried hard to refute the importance of this notion, but critical decision making is paramount in the development of human relations.

    Lottieri further notes that the fantasy of a neutral regime constrained by mere legal barriers is “simply impossible.” Yet, the naive view has often made the state appear less dangerous and has convinced many to accept the state’s monopoly of violence. 

    This is illustrated in the fact that the efforts to implement lockdowns in the United States were thoroughly bipartisan. Opposition to lockdowns was virtually nonexistent within regime institutions themselves. The Trump administration, the CDC, the legacy media, social media, state medical boards, state governors, and local health officials were all more or less in lockstep in March and April 2020. Resistance came overwhelmingly from non-elites; from ordinary people who were being persecuted by state agents—i.e., law enforcement officers and health officials—for opening businesses and attending church. It was only after non-elite political opposition began to look uncontrollable that some state institutions began to relent. 

    Yet, even as some pockets of resistance appeared, national elites remained virtually untouched and the federally declared “state of emergency” persisted until May 2023. 

    Perhaps the most important tool of the elites during all this—the monopoly power over the creation of money—was strengthened to levels never before seen. In a normal world, the power to destroy countless Americans’ livelihoods by decree would have faced fierce and immediate—and perhaps violent—opposition. The elite’s ability to create money via the central bank, however, essentially provided a means of bribing the public into compliance. It worked, and much of the public still doesn’t even make a connection between this ruse and the current impoverishment of the public via price inflation. 

    The Regime Is Still in Control 

    Now, nearly four years later, the regime and its elites have faced no real reckoning over their nearly untrammeled attacks on human rights and private property. Federal courts have been extremely cautious to avoid any ruling that might significantly reduce the emergency powers of the regime. The courts have taken exception with how the regime executed certain policies, such as when the court struck down the administration’s attempt to impose a nationwide vaccine mandate via OSHA. Yet, most challenges to government mandates were left unanswered because legal challenges were declared moot as the regime ended its mandates—for the moment. As a result, these powers will remain available to the regime the next time it decides to declare an emergency.  

    Moreover, in times of crisis, regimes can justify virtually anything using a complex legal system in which interpretations are extremely flexible. We see this, for example, in the federal moratorium on evictions which relied on paper-thin legal claims. Whether or not the legal claims seem plausible to a normal person—i.e., a person outside the ruling class—is immaterial. What matters is that the ruling regime is able to twist legal meanings and interpretations to its own purposes to essentially rule by decree during the crisis.

    Unfortunately, we find very few of the powers seized and exercised during this period are convincingly curtailed. Most of these powers—especially those of the central bank—will return in force during the next “emergency,” even if the regime has to rely on slightly different legal claims and methods. 

    The Regime Will Take Whatever Power It Can 

    The regime’s efforts to exercise vast new powers were supercharged by the fact that the public offered so little resistance. The “free money” from the central bank helped in this, but the bribery was only part of the equation. The unfortunate fact is much of the public accepted the claims of the elite “experts” that the lockdowns and mandates were all perfectly legitimate and fully necessary. 

    During the Covid Panic, we saw Ludwig von Mises’s views on political power played out in real time. Mises understood that political power is not limited by words on parchment or legal theories. Power is limited only by ideological resistance to the state that then manifests as practical political opposition. Mises writes: 

    Thus, there has never been a political power that voluntarily desisted from impeding the free development and operation of the institution of private ownership of the means of production. Governments tolerate private property when they are compelled to do so, but they do not acknowledge it voluntarily in recognition of its necessity. Even liberal politicians, on gaining power, have usually relegated their liberal principles more or less to the background. The tendency to impose oppressive restraints on private property, to abuse political power, and to refuse to respect or recognize any free sphere outside or beyond the dominion of the state is too deeply ingrained in the mentality of those who control the governmental apparatus of compulsion and coercion for them ever to be able to resist it voluntarily. A liberal government is a contradictio in adjecto. Governments must be forced into adopting liberalism by the power of the unanimous opinion of the people; that they could voluntarily become liberal is not to be expected. 

    We have every reason to believe that federal, state, and local covid-related emergency powers would have been exercised with far greater enthusiasm by the regime had it not been for the resistance of the vocal minority. 

    If we want to know what really limited the regime’s power during the Covid Panic, we must look to the “do-not-comply” activists who were willing to lose jobs and social status as a result of their opposition to the regime. It was primarily the people portrayed as crazed malcontents by the regime who stood between the regime and the full use of its power. The US constitution and the Bill of Rights played virtually no role in limiting the state’s power during the emergency. The naive view of constitutionalism would have us believe that everything worked as designed as the “balance of powers” maintained a rule of law. That’s not what happened. What remains of freedom today was saved by nothing other than the limited amount of public resistance that made the regime think twice about extending indefinitely its experiment in tyranny. 

    This partial victory does not mean the regime has been defeated, of course. The elites have been slightly chastened, but they have kept most of their powder dry and simply wait for the next emergency during which these powers can again be exercised with at least as much vigor.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 19:50

  • Biden Apologizes For Saying "Illegal" As Trump Hosts Laken Riley's Family At Rally
    Biden Apologizes For Saying “Illegal” As Trump Hosts Laken Riley’s Family At Rally

    President Joe Biden has apologized for accurately using the term “illegal” during Thursday night’s State of the Union address during a tense exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over the murder of Laken Riley – whose name Biden mispronounced before uttering the verboten word that clearly upset the left.

    During the SOTU, Greene taunted Biden to say Riley’s name – adding that she was killed “by an illegal.”

    “Lincoln. Lincoln Riley,” Biden responded, mispronouncing Laken’s name. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden continued.

    This sent the left into histrionics, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) firing the first shot – scolding Biden during an appearance on CNN.

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    Biden was then confronted outside of Air Force One over the comment, for which he reframed his words as as “Technically, not supposed to be here.”

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    And so, Biden’s handlers (or whoever) thought it would be a great idea to make the elderly sitting President apologize on national television – yet didn’t think it important enough to apologize to Laken Riley’s family for mispronouncing her name, or causing the border crisis that may have been directly responsible for her death.

    “I shouldn’t have used illegal, it’s undocumented,” Biden told MSNBC‘s Jonathan Capehart in Atlanta.

    In response to Biden’s apology for offending illegals, former President Trump has called on Biden to apologize to Riley’s family for mispronouncing her name, as opposed to “apologizing for the word he used” to describe her killer.

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    Trump also hosted Riley’s family at a Saturday rally, where he blamed Biden for her death.

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    “He should be apologizing to the family as opposed to apologizing for the word that he used which is an accurate description,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, calling Biden’s response “tone deaf” and a “pivotal moment” that highlights the candidates’ “two very distinct differences in approach on the border invasion.”

    “There’s a clear difference,” said LaCivita. “One is sympathetic, coddling, and making excuses. And one wants to put a stop, put an end to it.”

    Biden was roundly chastised on X;

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    And it wasn’t lost on the Daily Wire‘s Matt Walsh that Biden falsely claimed that illegal immigrants built America.

    Meanwhile, Biden’s back to slurring…

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 19:15

  • Harvard's "Oddities Collector" Gets Probation After Unlawful Trafficking In Human Body Parts
    Harvard’s “Oddities Collector” Gets Probation After Unlawful Trafficking In Human Body Parts

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    In the old days, Jeremy Pauley of Thompson, 42,  would have been called a “grave digger” or “body snatcher.”

    However, the harvester of Harvard Medical School’s cadavers  preferred “oddity collector,” thank you very much.

    Now, despite an extensive illegal operation in trafficking body parts, Pauley was spared any jail time by federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

    Thompson will serve two years of probation after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.

    The prosecutors dropped charges for dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities and receiving stolen property.

    According to the Justice Department, Pauley “admitted to his role in a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains.” His macabre business involved buying body parts from cadavers donated for medical research before their scheduled cremations. His inside source was Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School.

    Lodge allegedly ran a type of cadaver market in which he would allow customers to come into the morgue and pick out parts they wanted. Harvard insists that it was entirely unaware of the operation and has condemned the conduct of all those involved.

    Pauley had other alleged sources like Candace Chapman Scott, an employee at a Little Rock mortuary. Scott even used Facebook Messenger to send pictures of her inventory including a brain and the heart.

    When police went to his house, Pauley told officers that collected “oddities” and that he had 15 to 20 human skulls he had legally purchased in his possession. Later the police returned with a search warrant and found three five-gallon buckets filled with human remains.

    The FBI has since arrested three other individuals who allegedly trafficked stolen body parts, including Lodge, Lodge’s wife Denise Lodge, Katrina Maclean of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor of Pennsylvania.

    Denise Lodge pleaded guilty to the interstate transport of stolen human remains and faces 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

    Yet, the “oddities collector” will not go to jail under this plea.

    Likewise, Harvard will not be held accountable. Last month, Judge Kenneth W. Salinger dismissed the claims against Harvard and Anatomical Gift Program managers Mark F. Cicchetti and Tracey Fay, citing their immunity under Massachusetts’ Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA).

    In the opinion below, Salinger found that Harvard was protected under the Massachusetts Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.  That Act includes a “good faith clause” in the agreement for body donations that excuses even negligence.

    A person who acts in accordance with thischapter . . . or who attempts in good faith to do so, shall not be liable for the act in a civil action, criminal prosecution or administrative proceeding.
    GL.. c.113A,§18(a).

    Salinger held that:

    “It follows that a plaintiff cannot overcome the qualified immunity of someone who received a lawful anatomical gift by showing that the recipient was negligent in handling the gift, because a showing of negligence would not demonstrate an absence of good faith.”

    So Harvard walks and the “oddities collector” gets no jail time. For its part, Massachusetts hardly appears aggressive in its policing of this area. It may not be an expressly pro-robber digger jurisdiction, but it does not exactly come off as a vigilant monitor of medical schools.

    This may or may not be an actual film from the Massachusetts UAGA inspection unit:

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 18:40

  • Army Intel Soldier Charged With Selling Secrets About US Weapons, Ops
    Army Intel Soldier Charged With Selling Secrets About US Weapons, Ops

    An active duty US Army intelligence analyst was arrested on Thursday for sending secret military documents to an unidentified foreign national over a nearly 2-year period. The charges include the unlawful export of defense information to China, but the indictment doesn’t indicate if the foreign national was working for a government. 

    Sergeant Korbein Schultz was arrested at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he’s assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and holds a Top Secret clearance. According to the 25-page indictment, Schultz provided someone identified only as “Conspirator A” — who claimed to reside in Hong Kong — with “information regarding the operability of sensitive U.S. military systems and their capabilities.” Those systems included F-22A fighters, the HH-60W helicopter, intercontinental ballistic missiles, B-52 bombers, air defense systems, HIMARS rocket launchers and hypersonic weapons. 

    Sergeant Korbein Schultz raked in more than $42,000 for betraying his fellow soldiers, prosecutors say 

    Schultz, a native of Dallas exurb Wills Point, received 14 payments that totaled some $42,000. It’s not clear if this Sergeant Schultz will plead “I know nothing!” 

    In addition to weapon-specific information, prosecutors say Schultz also shared big-picture documents, including US research on foreign countries such as China, studies on the future development of US military forces, and recaps of American military drills and operations. The files included documents, maps, manuals and photographs. 

    Conspirator A’s identity was revealed to the grand jury that indicted him, but, for now, it’s a secret to the rest of us. The indictment only describes the individual as “a foreign national purporting to reside in Hong Kong” who claimed to work for a “geopolitical consulting firm based overseas.” The word “purported” would seem to suggest that investigators either don’t know if Conspirator A lived in Hong Kong, or they know that he or she doesn’t. The indictment doesn’t say if Conspirator A was working for a government.

    There’s something of a disconnect between the indictment — which includes multiple charges of Unlawful Export of Defense Articles to China — and the Department of Justice press release, which doesn’t mention the China aspect. However, the Export Control Act charges imply that investigators are confident the recipient was in China. 

    Schultz allegedly shared information about the US HIMARS platform, among many other weapon systems (Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images via Newsweek)

    Conspirator A sent a variety of specific requests to Schultz. At the outset of the illicit arrangement, Schultz was requested to share lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, and “with those lessons, what the United States could and should do to help defend Taiwan from an attack,” reads the indictment.

    After fulfilling that request in the summer of 2022 and receiving a whopping $200, Schultz is said to have proposed a long-term relationship. Prosecutors say it kept going until his recent arrest. In August 2022, he told Conspirator A that he wished he could be Jason Bourne. Then there’s this amusing anecdote: 

    On or about May 20, 2023, Conspirator A told KORBEIN SCHULTZ that Conspirator A would like to meet him at a Formula 1 race overseas and make him a “senior partner” with a “big signing bonus.” KORBEIN SCHULTZ responded, “Oh snap!”

    “The conduct alleged in today’s indictment represents a grave betrayal of the oath sworn to defend our country,” said FBI Executive Assistant Director Larissa Knapp. “Instead of safeguarding national defense information, the defendant conspired with a foreign national to sell it, potentially endangering our national security.”

    The arrest of Sergeant Schultz comes just days after a retired Army lieutenant colonel was charged with sending Ukraine war secrets to a ‘woman’ he met with on a foreign dating site, in what appears to have been a classic honeypot intelligence ploy. 

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 18:05

  • 'We Got To Rein Her In': Behind The Scenes Of Nuland's Early Retirement
    ‘We Got To Rein Her In’: Behind The Scenes Of Nuland’s Early Retirement

    Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson in a new interview has speculated over the reasons behind Victoria Nuland stepping down from her high-ranking position as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the number three top official in the State Department.

    Her retirement was announced by her boss Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. But the question is why now when the administration is attempting to stay the course and present a strong continued stance on Ukraine, also as Biden is still seeking to get tens of billions in defense aid through Republicans in the House.

    US State Department image

    While there have been rumors that maybe she could be in poor or declining health, Johnson has told Russia’s Sputnik that the notoriously hawkish Nuland was a liability at a moment NATO and Russia are inching closer to direct nuclear-armed confrontation. 

    “My best guess here is that the CIA and the Defense Department and the NSA got this message around saying, ‘look, Victoria’s got her own agenda here,’” said Johnson.

    The former CIA official continued to speculate: “‘The president doesn’t really want to strike these ammo depots in Russia or knock down the [Crimean] Bridge. So we got to rein her in, I guess it’s time for her to go to early retirement.’”

    Another theory, though not necessarily contradictory to the above, has been advanced by professor of national security at Bowie State University Dr. Matthew Crosston.

    He laid out what “a staunch anti-Putinist Nuland was and how fervently she wanted to continue to utilize Ukraine as a platform in which to continue to weaken and/or slight Russia on the global stage — and perhaps even up the ante in that conflict with her support of sending ballistic missiles into Ukraine.” But she also knows the Ukrainian side is losing.

    She may have seen the writing on the wall as Ukraine forces are in retreat, and wanted to bail before potential total defeat:

    “She undoubtedly understood that if American support lessons or wanes, Ukraine loses, period,” Crosston pointed out. “Perhaps she did not want to be in the Administration that would be responsible for that outcome.”

    But both Johnson and Crosston would agree that with Nuland as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (in this capacity she basically ran all of US foreign policy in Europe), ceasefire talks between Kiev and Moscow remained an extremely distant prospect or even an impossibility. 

    “One thing is certain: as long as Nuland remained in that chair, there was literally no chance such talk could even be theorized. Now it can,” Crosston concluded.

    Journalist Glenn Greenwald also weighed in on Nuland stepping down in an interview with The Hill. Greenwald describes the “singular monstrousness of Victoria Nuland and her bipartisan, blood-stained, ghoulish career“…

    Nuland’s temporary replacement for under secretary upon her retirement has been announced as career diplomat John Bass, a former ambassador to Afghanistan. He is currently in the position of the undersecretary of state for management. He oversaw Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and so it is somewhat ironic that he’ll also oversee Ukraine policy at this critical juncture where Kiev is clearly against the ropes.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 18:01

  • "We Will Have A Hard Landing At Some Point. I Guarantee You That…"
    “We Will Have A Hard Landing At Some Point. I Guarantee You That…”

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    Can you guess who the quote in the article title is from?  I will give you a hint.  It wasn’t me.  I know that it sounds like it could have come from me, but it actually comes from a very big name on Wall Street. 

    Ellen Zentner is Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. economist, and she is the one that said it. 

    During an interview with CNBC she warned that “the tightening impacts from monetary policy” will have enormous consequences for the U.S. economy in the months ahead…

    “We will have a hard landing at some point. I guarantee you that. We’re all wondering: When does that come?” she said.

    “The point that Dimon makes is that there are these cumulative impacts that build over time, and we are in the camp that we haven’t yet seen all of the tightening impacts from monetary policy,” she added, referring to the impact of Fed rate hikes.

    She makes a really great point.

    The consequences of interest rate hikes are felt over time.

    Higher interest rates have certainly started to cause a lot of problems, but if rates are not brought down soon the level of pain that we are experiencing will begin to go up dramatically.

    Unfortunately, the Fed is not likely to reduce interest rates any time soon because inflation continues to run hotter than expected…

    Inflation increased by the largest amount in almost a year, according to the Fed’s preferred measure – confirming expectations interest rates will not be cut until around June.

    The so-called core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index – which excludes volatile food and energy prices – increased 0.4 percent between December and January.

    Marko Kolanovic, the chief market strategist for JPMorgan Chase, believes that the U.S. economy could be headed into “something like 1970s stagflation”…

    In an analyst note to clients, the bank’s chief market strategist Marko Kolanovic warned that the economy may turn away from a “Goldilocks” scenario – in which it is not expanding or contracting by too much – and enter a period of stagflation similar to that experienced in the 1970s.

    “Going back to the question of market macro regime, we believe that there is a risk of the narrative turning back from Goldilocks towards something like 1970s stagflation, with significant implications for asset allocation,” Kolanovic wrote.

    I would argue that we have already been in a period of stagflation.

    The economy has certainly been stagnating, and inflation has been unacceptably high.

    But now conditions have taken a dramatic turn for the worse in early 2024, and we are seeing some very troubling signs.

    For example, I was stunned to learn that a Canadian pension fund has just sold a stake in a Manhattan office tower for just one dollar…

    Canadian pension funds have been among the world’s most prolific buyers of real estate, starting a revolution that inspired retirement plans around the globe to emulate them. Now the largest of them is taking steps to limit its exposure to the most-beleaguered property type — office buildings.

    Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has done three deals at discounted prices, selling its interests in a pair of Vancouver towers, a business park in Southern California and a redevelopment project in Manhattan, with the New York stake offloaded for the eyebrow-raising price of just $1. The worry is those deals may set an example for other major investors seeking a way out of the turmoil too.

    The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had a 29 percent stake in Manhattan’s 360 Park Avenue South.

    The plan was to redevelop that property, but at this point the outlook for office buildings is so bad that the pension fund just wanted out.

    And so the entire 29 percent stake was sold off for just one dollar.

    Do you remember when I warned that we were heading into the worst commercial real estate crash in history?

    Well, this is what a crash looks like.

    Meanwhile, large employers all over America continue to conduct mass layoffs.

    Today, I was saddened to learn that Electronic Arts is laying off approximately 700 workers…

    Another day, another round of mass layoffs in the games industry. Electronic Arts (EA) has announced it will cut around five percent of its employees, putting almost 700 people out of a job. It’s also cancelling games and shutting down at least one development studio.

    EA CEO Andrew Wilson announced the layoffs in an email to employees, which was subsequently posted to the company’s blog on Wednesday.

    And we just learned more details about the layoffs that Citigroup is conducting…

    Citigroup is cutting nearly 300 workers in New York as it continues its massive layoff spree in an effort to rein in expenses, according to filings with the State Labor Department.

    About 239 workers in the primary banking subsidiary, 44 from its broker-dealer unit and three from its technology arm are getting cut, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices filed this week.

    In early January, the company announced that it was cutting 20,000 roles “over the medium-term,” as part of a reorganization effort. The cuts are slated to save the company between $2 billion and 2.5 billion.

    We have not seen anything like this since the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009.

    On Thursday, Zero Hedge published a list of 50 different mass layoffs that we have seen recently…

    1. Everybuddy: 100% of workforce
    2. Wisense: 100% of workforce
    3. CodeSee: 100% of workforce
    4. Twig: 100% of workforce
    5. Twitch: 35% of workforce
    6. Roomba: 31% of workforce
    7. Bumble: 30% of workforce
    8. Farfetch: 25% of workforce
    9. Away: 25% of workforce
    10. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
    11. LA Times: 20% of workforce
    12. Wint Wealth: 20% of workforce
    13. Finder: 17% of workforce
    14. Spotify: 17% of workforce
    15. Buzzfeed: 16% of workforce
    16. Levi’s: 15% of workforce
    17. Xerox: 15% of workforce
    18. Qualtrics: 14% of workforce
    19. Wayfair: 13% of workforce
    20. Duolingo: 10% of workforce
    21. Rivian: 10% of workforce
    22. Washington Post: 10% of workforce
    23. Snap: 10% of workforce
    24. eBay: 9% of workforce
    25. Sony Interactive: 8% of workforce
    26. Expedia: 8% of workforce
    27. Business Insider: 8% of workforce
    28. Instacart: 7% of workforce
    29. Paypal: 7% of workforce
    30. Okta: 7% of workforce
    31. Charles Schwab: 6% of workforce
    32. Docusign: 6% of workforce
    33. Riskified: 6% of workforce
    34. EA: 5% of workforce
    35. Motional: 5% of workforce
    36. Mozilla: 5% of workforce
    37. Vacasa: 5% of workforce
    38. CISCO: 5% of workforce
    39. UPS: 2% of workforce
    40. Nike: 2% of workforce
    41. Blackrock: 3% of workforce
    42. Paramount: 3% of workforce
    43. Citigroup: 20,000 employees
    44. ThyssenKrupp: 5,000 employees
    45. Best Buy: 3,500 employees
    46. Barry Callebaut: 2,500 employees
    47. Outback Steakhouse: 1,000
    48. Northrop Grumman: 1,000 employees
    49. Pixar: 1,300 employees
    50. Perrigo: 500 employees

    Just look at that list.

    That is nuts!

    Anyone that thinks that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction is simply being delusional.

    Greg Hunter just interviewed economic analyst David Morgan, and he is warning that we are actually “entering into a global depression the likes of which the world has never seen”…

    Economic analyst and financial writer David Morgan has gone against the majority in the past with predictions that seemed unbelievable at the time. One prediction last year is the Fed not cutting interest rates in 2023. The Fed didn’t, and Morgan is still predicting there will be no Fed interest rate cut anytime soon. Now, with a record high stock market, Morgan is predicting “We are entering into a global depression the likes of which the world has never seen.”

    Global central banks were able to delay the inevitable by flooding the system with colossal mountains of money.

    But that just created a tremendous amount of inflation and now a horrifying economic crisis is coming anyway.

    So I would encourage everyone to brace themselves for the “hard landing” that is rapidly approaching, because it is going to be exceedingly painful for the unprepared.

    *  *  *

    Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 17:30

  • Confidence In The Global Economy, By Country
    Confidence In The Global Economy, By Country

    Measuring consumer confidence in the economy is crucial for understanding both current economic strength, as well as how consumers may be expected to act in the future.

    So how do people around the world feel about the global economy?

    This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, uses survey data collected from October 20 to November 3, 2023 by Ipsos. It was first highlighted as part of our 2024 Global Forecast Series.

    Which Countries Feel Confident About the Economy in 2024?

    Heading into 2024, an average of 50% of polled adults felt confident that the global economy would be stronger than in 2023. But breaking down responses by country shows a vast disparity between responses.

    Here are the percentage of respondents who agreed with the following statement: “The global economy will be stronger in 2024 than it was in 2023.” We also note the change in percentage points (p.p.) compared with the same question a year prior.

    Country Agree Change (Year-over-year)
    🇮🇳 India 85% +12 p.p.
    🇮🇩 Indonesia 82% +14 p.p.
    🇨🇳 China 82% +4 p.p.
    🇵🇭 Philippines 74% N/A
    🇹🇭 Thailand 68% +4 p.p.
    🇲🇾 Malaysia 62% +8 p.p.
    🇲🇽 Mexico 62% +6 p.p.
    🇧🇷 Brazil 60% -13 p.p.
    🇸🇬 Singapore 59% +4 p.p.
    🇵🇱 Poland 56% +20 p.p.
    🇳🇿 New Zealand 56% N/A
    🇨🇴 Colombia 54% +5 p.p.
    🇨🇱 Chile 51% +8 p.p.
    🇵🇪 Peru 51% -3 p.p.
    🇦🇷 Argentina 51% +3 p.p.
    🇿🇦 South Africa 49% +2 p.p.
    🇦🇺 Australia 48% +7 p.p.
    🇭🇺 Hungary 46% +15 p.p.
    🇷🇴 Romania 45% +8 p.p.
    🇺🇸 United States 45% +3 p.p.
    🇪🇸 Spain 44% +8 p.p.
    🇳🇱 Netherlands 44% +12 p.p.
    🇹🇷 Türkiye 43% 0 p.p.
    🇬🇧 Great Britain 43% +11 p.p.
    🇨🇭 Switzerland 43% +8 p.p.
    🇮🇹 Italy 40% +8 p.p.
    🇩🇪 Germany 40% +3 p.p.
    🇨🇦 Canada 39% +2 p.p.
    🇸🇪 Sweden 34% +1 p.p.
    🇫🇷 France 33% +4 p.p.
    🇰🇷 South Korea 33% -5 p.p.
    🇵🇹 Portugal 33% N/A
    🇯🇵 Japan 30% 0 p.p.
    🌍 Global average 50% +4 p.p.

    At the top, India, Indonesia, and China stood as being the most confident about 2024’s economic prospects. 85% of Indian respondents agreed that the global economy will be stronger in 2024 than in 2023, while 82% of Chinese and Indonesian respondents felt the same.

    Regional disparities also become evident, with Asian countries making up the top five most confident countries and seven out of the top nine. In fact, South Korea and Japan were the only Asian countries surveyed that were not feeling confident, with Japanese respondents being the least confident (30%) and South Koreans tied for the second-least confident (33%).

    Countries in South America ranged from Brazil having a high of 60% of respondents agree with 2024 being stronger than 2023 to Chile having a “low” of 51%. North American countries were more split, with Mexico feeling more confident and Canada feeling less confident.

    Lastly, Europe stood out as being the least confident in the global economy in 2024. Only Poland (56%) had more than 50% agree that this year would be better than the last, while major economies like Germany (40%) and France (33%) sat closer to the bottom of the table.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 16:55

  • The Coming Of The Police State In America
    The Coming Of The Police State In America

    Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

    The National Guard and the State Police are now patrolling the New York City subway system in an attempt to do something about the explosion of crime. As part of this, there are bag checks and new surveillance of all passengers. No legislation, no debate, just an edict from the mayor.

    Many citizens who rely on this system for transportation might welcome this. It’s a city of strict gun control, and no one knows for sure if they have the right to defend themselves. Merchants have been harassed and even arrested for trying to stop looting and pillaging in their own shops.

    The message has been sent: Only the police can do this job. Whether they do it or not is another matter.

    Things on the subway system have gotten crazy. If you know it well, you can manage to travel safely, but visitors to the city who take the wrong train at the wrong time are taking grave risks.

    In actual fact, it’s guaranteed that this will only end in confiscating knives and other things that people carry in order to protect themselves while leaving the actual criminals even more free to prey on citizens.

    The law-abiding will suffer and the criminals will grow more numerous. It will not end well.

    When you step back from the details, what we have is the dawning of a genuine police state in the United States. It only starts in New York City. Where is the Guard going to be deployed next? Anywhere is possible.

    If the crime is bad enough, citizens will welcome it. It must have been this way in most times and places that when the police state arrives, the people cheer.

    We will all have our own stories of how this came to be. Some might begin with the passage of the Patriot Act and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. Some will focus on gun control and the taking away of citizens’ rights to defend themselves.

    My own version of events is closer in time. It began four years ago this month with lockdowns. That’s what shattered the capacity of civil society to function in the United States. Everything that has happened since follows like one domino tumbling after another.

    It goes like this:

    1) lockdown,

    2) loss of moral compass and spreading of loneliness and nihilism,

    3) rioting resulting from citizen frustration, 4) police absent because of ideological hectoring,

    5) a rise in uncontrolled immigration/refugees,

    6) an epidemic of ill health from substance abuse and otherwise,

    7) businesses flee the city

    8) cities fall into decay, and that results in

    9) more surveillance and police state.

    The 10th stage is the sacking of liberty and civilization itself.

    It doesn’t fall out this way at every point in history, but this seems like a solid outline of what happened in this case. Four years is a very short period of time to see all of this unfold. But it is a fact that New York City was more-or-less civilized only four years ago. No one could have predicted that it would come to this so quickly.

    But once the lockdowns happened, all bets were off. Here we had a policy that most directly trampled on all freedoms that we had taken for granted. Schools, businesses, and churches were slammed shut, with various levels of enforcement. The entire workforce was divided between essential and nonessential, and there was widespread confusion about who precisely was in charge of designating and enforcing this.

    It felt like martial law at the time, as if all normal civilian law had been displaced by something else. That something had to do with public health, but there was clearly more going on, because suddenly our social media posts were censored and we were being asked to do things that made no sense, such as mask up for a virus that evaded mask protection and walk in only one direction in grocery aisles.

    Vast amounts of the white-collar workforce stayed home—and their kids, too—until it became too much to bear. The city became a ghost town. Most U.S. cities were the same.

    As the months of disaster rolled on, the captives were let out of their houses for the summer in order to protest racism but no other reason. As a way of excusing this, the same public health authorities said that racism was a virus as bad as COVID-19, so therefore it was permitted.

    The protests had turned to riots in many cities, and the police were being defunded and discouraged to do anything about the problem. Citizens watched in horror as downtowns burned and drug-crazed freaks took over whole sections of cities. It was like every standard of decency had been zapped out of an entire swath of the population.

    Meanwhile, large checks were arriving in people’s bank accounts, defying every normal economic expectation. How could people not be working and get their bank accounts more flush with cash than ever? There was a new law that didn’t even require that people pay rent. How weird was that? Even student loans didn’t need to be paid.

    By the fall, recess from lockdown was over and everyone was told to go home again. But this time they had a job to do: They were supposed to vote. Not at the polling places, because going there would only spread germs, or so the media said. When the voting results finally came in, it was the absentee ballots that swung the election in favor of the opposition party that actually wanted more lockdowns and eventually pushed vaccine mandates on the whole population.

    The new party in control took note of the large population movements out of cities and states that they controlled. This would have a large effect on voting patterns in the future. But they had a plan. They would open the borders to millions of people in the guise of caring for refugees. These new warm bodies would become voters in time and certainly count on the census when it came time to reapportion political power.

    Meanwhile, the native population had begun to swim in ill health from substance abuse, widespread depression, and demoralization, plus vaccine injury. This increased dependency on the very institutions that had caused the problem in the first place: the medical/scientific establishment.

    The rise of crime drove the small businesses out of the city. They had barely survived the lockdowns, but they certainly could not survive the crime epidemic. This undermined the tax base of the city and allowed the criminals to take further control.

    The same cities became sanctuaries for the waves of migrants sacking the country, and partisan mayors actually used tax dollars to house these invaders in high-end hotels in the name of having compassion for the stranger. Citizens were pushed out to make way for rampaging migrant hordes, as incredible as this seems.

    But with that, of course, crime rose ever further, inciting citizen anger and providing a pretext to bring in the police state in the form of the National Guard, now tasked with cracking down on crime in the transportation system.

    What’s the next step? It’s probably already here: mass surveillance and censorship, plus ever-expanding police power. This will be accompanied by further population movements, as those with the means to do so flee the city and even the country and leave it for everyone else to suffer.

    As I tell the story, all of this seems inevitable. It is not. It could have been stopped at any point. A wise and prudent political leadership could have admitted the error from the beginning and called on the country to rediscover freedom, decency, and the difference between right and wrong. But ego and pride stopped that from happening, and we are left with the consequences.

    The government grows ever bigger and civil society ever less capable of managing itself in large urban centers. Disaster is unfolding in real time, mitigated only by a rising stock market and a financial system that has yet to fall apart completely.

    Are we at the middle stages of total collapse, or at the point where the population and people in leadership positions wise up and decide to put an end to the downward slide? It’s hard to know. But this much we do know: There is a growing pocket of resistance out there that is fed up and refuses to sit by and watch this great country be sacked and taken over by everything it was set up to prevent.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 16:20

  • How Long Do Muslims Fast For Ramadan Around The World?
    How Long Do Muslims Fast For Ramadan Around The World?

    Ramadan starts on Sunday evening, with the first day of fasting on Monday, March 11 this year. The holy month is based on the Islamic lunar calendar which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian solar year, and so its start shifts earlier each year.

    As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, while the number of days of Ramadan are equal for all Muslims observing it around the world, the length of the daily fast is not.

    During Ramadan, observers vow to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activities through daylight hours.

    This means that those living further north have to fast for much longer than their counterparts living closer to the equator or even to those in the Southern hemisphere, which is currently tilted away from the sun.

    This chart, based on data from website islamicfinder.com, shows how Muslims fasting for Ramadan in Oslo theoretically will have to do so for 15 hours and 15 minutes, while those living in Jakarta, Indonesia, will only need to fast for approximately 13 hours and 13 minutes.

    Meanwhile, those living in Melbourne will have just 13 hours and 25 minutes of daylight, depending on the exact day of the Ramadan month.

    With the dates of Ramadan moving, there can be a significant difference in the length of fasting depending on the year.

    Infographic: How Long Do Muslims Fast For Ramadan Around the World? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    For example, in 2013, Ramadan took place during the peak of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, with countries such as Norway experiencing sundown for only around three hours at night.

    This meant practicing communities faced fasts lasting upwards of 20 hours.

    To counterbalance this, Muslims may also observe Ramadan using the timetable of Mecca (13 hours and 30 minutes in 2024) or their nearest Muslim city.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 15:45

  • Judge Blocks Biden Administration From Illegally Diverting Border-Wall Funds
    Judge Blocks Biden Administration From Illegally Diverting Border-Wall Funds

    Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times,

    A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from unlawfully redirecting taxpayer funds away from the construction of a wall along the southern border.

    Southern District of Texas District Court Judge Drew B. Tipton granted a preliminary injunction after Texas and Missouri sued to stop the scheme, which included diverting the money to other projects like environmental remediation.

    “Whether the Executive Branch must adhere to federal laws is not, as a general matter, an area traditionally left to its discretion,” Judge Tipton wrote in his order. The executive branch includes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    Judge Tipton, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the Republican-led states, saying in his ruling that Congress should decide how money is spent, per the U.S. Constitution, and that the Biden administration is not immune from following the law.

    President Trump declared a national emergency in February 2019 and used funds from the Departments of Defense and Treasury to construct barriers at the southern border. Congress allocated $1.4 billion explicitly for border wall construction during the 2020 fiscal year to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

    However, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, issued an executive order immediately upon taking office in January 2021, terminating the emergency and halting construction. He later directed the DHS to divert the funds to ancillary projects along the border, but not the wall.

    This led to both Texas and Missouri filing separate lawsuits against the DHS, which were ultimately combined.

    The Biden administration argued that, despite certain language in the law, the DHS should be allowed to spend the money at its discretion.

    However, the judge disagreed with this argument, effectively finding that President Biden was wrong to spend funds specifically meant for wall construction on “remediation projects.”

    The judge ruled that just because the DHS claimed to have the authority to make certain spending decisions, it doesn’t mean it is free to do whatever it wants.

    “Agencies, when afforded congressionally appropriated funds, may expend them only for the proper purpose and amount, and within the authorized period of time,” Judge Tipton wrote.

    Therefore, without that discretion, the DHS’s spending decisions “run afoul” of the law, specifically violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

    Judge Tipton wrote in his order that the way Congress wrote the law was quite specific in saying the money should go to barriers along the border.

    “The central question in this case, then, is this: Has the Government obligated FY 2020 and FY 2021 funds for the ‘construction of [a] barrier system’? The answer is largely no,” the judge wrote.

    The Biden administration’s new border plan, unveiled by the Department of Defense and the DHS in June 2021 and updated about a year later, contemplated spending the funds on flood control, cleanup, and environmental remediation projects. This would include adding lighting, cameras, and detection technology at locations where a physical barrier had already been constructed.

    Under the plan, most border wall projects were canceled, and all the existing barrier infrastructure previously funded by the DOD was transferred to the DHS’s control.

    The attorneys general of Texas and Missouri, who challenged these spending decisions, hailed the ruling on Friday.

    “Today, I secured a preliminary injunction against an attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally redirect statutorily obligated funds away from the construction of a border wall,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.

    “Biden acted completely improperly by refusing to spend the money that Congress appropriated for border wall construction, and even attempting to redirect those funds,” he continued. “His actions demonstrate his desperation for open borders at any cost, but Texas has prevailed.”

    Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called the ruling a “huge step” in fighting to secure the southern border.

    “The Biden Administration has failed to abide by the law to finish the construction of a wall along the southwest border,” Mr. Bailey said in a statement. “Joe Biden refuses to carry out his constitutionally mandated responsibilities, so we took him to court to force him to do his job. This is a huge step forward in the fight to secure our border at a key moment in our nation’s history.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 15:10

  • Denver Asks Landlords To Rent To Illegals
    Denver Asks Landlords To Rent To Illegals

    The city of Denver, Colorado has asked landords to start renting to illegal immigrants, Denverite reports.

    A crowd of migrants gathered around a car to accept food and clothing items being distributed outside of a shelter motel on Zuni Street. Oct. 28, 2023.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    On Tuesday, the city launched a program gathering information from landlords with property vacancies that rent for less than $2,000 per month. The city’s goal is to connect property owners with new immigrants in need of permanent housing.

    Jon Ewing, spokesperson for Denver Human Services, said the city has already started hearing from landlords who want to work with the city on the effort.

    The program was launched as the city continues to close temporary hotel shelters in an effort to scale back costs, which Mayor Mike Johnston announced at the end of February – a move he said could save the city some $60 million out of an anticipated $180 million in expenses related to the migrants.

    According to city data, the number of people being housed in the shelters has dropped from 5,200 in mid-January to 2,000 at present.

    “For ongoing housing, we’re trying to do more and better at the case navigation that gets people directly from shelter opportunities into housing, or into workforce options for normal travel, and so that continues to be our focus and it’s been successful for us over the last five weeks,” Johnson said at a press conference last week.

    The migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been looking for long-term housing in an increasingly unaffordable housing market. Complicating matters, many new immigrants lack work authorization that would allow them to secure legal employment in order to prove their income.

    “We definitely need assistance in finding out what else is out there,” said Yoli Cassas, executive director of nonprofit ViVe Wellness, who says she opes that the city’s call to landlords will help open other housing resources that are currently unavailable.

    “It’s been great because that means we’re gonna get more inventory to work with, which is what’s needed,” Casas said.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 14:35

  • Scientists Discover Toxic Microplastics In Every Human Placenta Tested In Study
    Scientists Discover Toxic Microplastics In Every Human Placenta Tested In Study

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Harmful microplastics have been found in human placenta, with some of them known to trigger asthma, damage the liver, cause cancer, and impair reproductive function.

    Director of the Marine Institute of Plymouth Professor Richard Thompson analyses nurdles and other micro-plastics thanks to a microscope, in a laboratory at the University of Plymouth, south western England, on February 27, 2023. (BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)

    The peer-reviewed study, published in the Toxicological Sciences journal on Feb. 17, examined the issue of nano- and microplastic (NMP) pollution in human beings. Researchers found that all 62 tested placenta samples contained microplastics, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue. The placenta is an organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy. It provides oxygen and nutrients to the baby while also removing waste products from the child’s blood.

    The most prevalent microplastic found in the samples was polyethylene, which accounted for 54 percent of all detected NMPs and was “consistently found in nearly all samples.”

    Polyethylene has been associated with several health complications like asthma, hormone disruption impacting reproduction, and mild dermatitis or swelling and irritation of the skin.

    Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and nylon each represented approximately 10 percent of the NMPs by weight. PVC has been linked to damage to the liver and reproductive system. The substance is carcinogenic. While nylon itself is seen as harmless, the material undergoes chemical treatments during the manufacturing processes that can pose health risks.

    The remaining 26 percent of microplastics found in the 62 tested placenta were represented by nine other polymers. Matthew Campen, Professor in the UNM Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who led the team that conducted the study, expressed concerns about the steadily rising presence of microplastics and its potential health implications.

    While plastics themselves have traditionally been seen to be biologically inert, microplastics are so small they can cross cell membranes, he noted. Mr. Campen found the concentration of microplastics in the placenta troubling as the tissue was only eight months old when tested. “Other organs of your body are accumulating over much longer periods of time,” he said.

    Mr. Campen believes the accumulation of microplastics in human tissue could explain the puzzling rise in certain health problems like colon cancer among people younger than 50, inflammatory bowel disease, and decreasing sperm counts.

    “It’s only getting worse, and the trajectory is it will double every 10 to 15 years,” he said. “So, even if we were to stop it today, in 2050 there will be three times as much plastic in the background as there is now. And we’re not going to stop it today.”

    Talking about the rising volume of microplastics in the environment, Mr. Campen said that “if we’re seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this planet could be impacted. That’s not good.”

    Microplastic Effects

    The presence of microplastics in placentas was first identified in 2020 in a study from Italy. Researchers analyzed six placentas and identified 12 microplastic fragments in four of them. “Microplastics were found in all placental portions: maternal, fetal, and amniochorial membranes,” it said.

    “Microplastics carry with them substances which acting as endocrine disruptors could cause long-term effects on human health.”

    In 2022, microplastics were discovered in the lungs of a living human being for the first time. Out of the 13 lung samples, 11 had the presence of 39 microplastics. Researchers identified 12 types of microplastics commonly found in bottles, packaging, clothing, and rope.

    A recently published study found microplastics in the majority of protein foods like chicken, pork, seafood, beef, and plant-based meat alternatives. The foods sampled in the study included processed, unprocessed, and minimally processed items.

    Roughly half the identified microplastics were fibers, which researchers said was consistent with other studies. Almost a third of the microplastics were plastic fragments.

    A 2023 study on mice found that three-week exposure to microplastics resulted in “behavioral changes as well as alterations in immune markers in liver and brain tissues. Additionally, we noted that these changes differed depending on age, indicating a possible age-dependent effect.”

    Another study conducted in mice found that nanometer-sized particles reached the brains of the animals just two hours after being exposed. A third study found that inhaled microplastic and nanoplastic particles can “alter inflammatory, cardiovascular, and endocrine activity.”

    Microplastics have also been found in breast milk. Researchers of the study called the finding a “great concern” given that nanoparticles have also been discovered in human placenta.

    “In fact, the chemicals possibly contained in foods, beverages, and personal care products consumed by breastfeeding mothers may be transferred to the offspring, potentially exerting a toxic effect,” they wrote.

    “Hence, it is mandatory to increase efforts in scientific research to deepen the knowledge of the potential health impairment caused by MP (microplastics) internalisation and accumulation, especially in infants, and to assess innovative, useful ways to reduce exposure to these contaminants during pregnancy and lactation.”

    Since the 1950s, plastic use globally has grown exponentially, leading to the generation of a metric ton of plastic waste for every individual in the world. Roughly a third of the plastic that has been produced is still in use, with much of the remaining discarded or sent to landfills where they start to break down.

    Mr. Campen pointed out that many plastics have a long half-life, which refers to the time required for half a sample to degrade.

    “So, the half-life of some things is 300 years and the half-life of others is 50 years, but between now and 300 years some of that plastic gets degraded. Those microplastics that we’re seeing in the environment are probably 40 or 50 years old,” he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 14:00

  • Enraging Dems, 'No Labels' Group Will Proceed With Bipartisan Presidential Ticket
    Enraging Dems, ‘No Labels’ Group Will Proceed With Bipartisan Presidential Ticket

    In a move that adds a new and likely Republican-favoring variable to a 2024 presidential race that features two unpopular major party candidates, the centrist “No Labels” political organization on Friday voted to move forward with fielding a ticket of their own. 

    “Earlier today, I led a discussion with the 800 No Labels delegates from all 50 states,” said No Labels national convention chair Mike Rawlings. “They voted near unanimously to continue our 2024 project and to move immediately to identify candidates to serve on the Unity presidential ticket.” 

    Founded in 2010, No Labels bills itself as a “national movement of commonsense Americans pushing our leaders together to solve our country’s biggest problems.” It’s not a political party, but is instead configured as a 401(c)(4) social welfare organization. That structure frees the group from having to disclose its donors or report on its actions. 

    A scene from a 2013 No Labels rally on Capitol Hill (Jacquelyn Martin/AP via NBC News)

    In 2021, No Labels launched an ambitious project to secure ballot access so it would be positioned to give a platform to a bipartisan ticket in the 2024 election “if the two major parties select candidates the vast majority of Americans don’t want to vote for in 2024.” As of late February, No Labels had secured ballot slots in 16 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and North Carolina. Though the group previously publicized ambitions to be on all 50 state ballots, they’re now merely aspiring to be on a “majority”

    With the Trump-Biden rematch now a virtual certainty — and 67% of Americans saying they’re tired of seeing the same candidates — No Labels on Friday held a mass online meeting where delegates gave leadership the green light to try filling a ticket — by design, pairing a Republican and a Democrat as presidential and vice-presidential candidates, in no particular order. 

    “Try” is the key word. Even as it announced it will move forward with its 2024 project, Rawlings acknowledged the group hasn’t identified candidates and may not be successful in finding a pair worth presenting to America. The selection process will be handled by the group’s leadership, who will present their recommendation to delegates for a vote. 

    Last year, it appeared centrist Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin was a favorite to run with No Labels. In February, however, Manchin ruled out a bid, saying he had no interest in becoming “a spoiler.”

    Similarly, after suspending her Republican nomination campaign last week, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ruled out a run. “If I were to do No Labels, that would require a Democrat vice president. I can’t do what I want to do as president with a Democrat vice president,” she told journalists. 

    One relatively obscure name did surface on Friday: The Wall Street Journal reported that No Labels is considering former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, a Republican, for the top of the ticket. He served from 2019 to 2023. Duncan’s centrist resume includes rejecting the idea that Georgia’s 2020 presidential race was rigged and seizing upon the dubious Georgia racketeering indictment of Donald Trump and others as an opportunity to urge the GOP to “move past Donald Trump.” 

    Not exactly a household name: Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is under consideration to head the No Labels ticket (CNN)

    Democrats are already feeling vulnerable in the face of broad party dissatisfaction with President Biden — to the extent that 13% of Michigan and 19% of Minnesota Dems voted “uncommitted” in their primaries. On top of that, polls suggest the presence of third-party and independent candidates give a net boost to Trump. Centrist think tank Third Way, for example, found Trump leads Biden by 0.5% in a in a head-to-head matchup. With the addition of an unnamed “moderate, independent” candidate, Trump’s lead grows to 2.5%.  

    Leftists reacted with anger to Friday’s news. “No Labels has put their dangerous, reckless thought experiment ahead of the rights and freedoms of millions of Americans and the future of our democracy,” Rahna Epting, executive director of liberal activist group MoveOn, told The New York Times. “Any candidates who join the No Labels presidential ticket will be complicit in making it easier for Donald Trump and MAGA extremists to win a second term in the White House.”

    Leftist vitriol against No Labels has been flowing for months. “Anybody who participates in this No Labels malarkey should have their lives ruined,” the Bulwark’s Jonathan Last said in December, according to No Labels. “The should lose whatever jobs they might have. They should be kicked off corporate boards” and “become social pariahs.”

    Democrats aren’t the only ones clenching their fists over No Labels — the fake-Republican grifters at the Lincoln Project are also howling. “We’ve said it for months: A vote for No Labels is a vote for Donald Trump,” co-founder Reed Galen told the Journal. “The only way to stop the disintegration of democracy is to vote to re-elect President Biden.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 13:25

  • Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study
    Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

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

    People with inadequate iron levels in their blood due to a COVID-19 infection could be at greater risk of long COVID.

    (Shutterstock)

    A new study indicates that problems with iron levels in the bloodstream likely trigger chronic inflammation and other conditions associated with the post-COVID phenomenon. The findings, published on March 1 in Nature Immunology, could offer new ways to treat or prevent the condition.

    Long COVID Patients Have Low Iron Levels

    Researchers at the University of Cambridge pinpointed low iron as a potential link to long-COVID symptoms thanks to a study they initiated shortly after the start of the pandemic. They recruited people who tested positive for the virus to provide blood samples for analysis over a year, which allowed the researchers to look for post-infection changes in the blood. The researchers looked at 214 samples and found that 45 percent of patients reported symptoms of long COVID that lasted between three and 10 months.

    In analyzing the blood samples, the research team noticed that people experiencing long COVID had low iron levels, contributing to anemia and low red blood cell production, just two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. This was true for patients regardless of age, sex, or the initial severity of their infection.

    According to one of the study co-authors, the removal of iron from the bloodstream is a natural process and defense mechanism of the body.

    But it can jeopardize a person’s recovery.

    “When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert,” University of Oxford professor Hal Drakesmith said in a press release. “However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for red blood cells, so oxygen is transported less efficiently affecting metabolism and energy production, and for white blood cells, which need iron to work properly. The protective mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”

    The research team believes that consistently low iron levels could explain why individuals with long COVID continue to experience fatigue and difficulty exercising. As such, the researchers suggested iron supplementation to help regulate and prevent the often debilitating symptoms associated with long COVID.

    “It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” Aimee Hanson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study, said in the press release. “What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

    The research team pointed out that iron supplementation isn’t always straightforward. Achieving the right level of iron varies from person to person. Too much iron can cause stomach issues, ranging from constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain to gastritis and gastric lesions.

    1 in 5 Still Affected by Long COVID

    COVID-19 has affected nearly 40 percent of Americans, with one in five of those still suffering from symptoms of long COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Long COVID is marked by health issues that continue at least four weeks after an individual was initially diagnosed with COVID-19. Symptoms can last for days, weeks, months, or years and may include fatigue, cough or chest pain, headache, brain fog, depression or anxiety, digestive issues, and joint or muscle pain.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/09/2024 – 12:50

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Mar 09

Today’s News 9th March 2024

  • Smedley Butler Explains The Latest Excuse For American Intervention In Ukraine
    Smedley Butler Explains The Latest Excuse For American Intervention In Ukraine

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    Senior Fellow Alex Pollock drew my attention to an important quotation by Smedley Butler: 

    1935 speech and later a book by Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC), includes  “… A racket is best described, I believe, something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make large fortunes…

    If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish mechanical and explosive instruments of destructions, they will have no time for the constructive job of building a greater prosperity for all peoples. By putting them to this useful job, we can all make more money out of peace than we can out of war – even the munition makers.

    So … I say, TO HELL WITH WAR.”

    It is notable that very little has changed over the past century in terms of how regimes rationalize war. It was during the First World War that the term “merchants of death” first gained widespread use, and it was also during that war that the American regime also spoke often in terms of munitions spending as a benefit of war. It was all part of a war-propaganda machine dreamed up with Woodrow Wilson’s cadre. 

    Unfortunately, the propaganda still works with many. It was just two weeks ago, in fact, that the Biden Administration began explicitly trying to sell US military aid to Ukraine as a scheme to “create jobs” in the United States. The administration’s statement on the war spending is virtually identical to something out of a US propaganda mill in 1950 or 1918. We would only need to change a few of the names and places. According to Biden’s handlers: 

    “While this bill dispatches military hardware to Ukraine,” Biden mentioned on Tuesday, “it actually finances manufacturing within the United States in states like Arizona, where Patriot missiles are manufactured; Alabama, the home of Javelin missiles; and also Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas, which are hubs for the production of artillery shells.”

    There are a multitude of problems with this statement.

    For one, it completely ignores the moral questions of forcing American taxpayers to pay for Kiev to send more young men into a meat grinder that is part of a conflict it is clear Ukraine will lose.

    Secondly, these weapons are not accounted for and are not audited. We don’t even know where they really end up.

    Third, US involvement in the war risks involving the US in an escalating conflict that has absolutely no strategic value for normal Americans. For normal taxpayers, this is all risk and no benefit. Escalation could lead to American deaths while “victory” in Ukraine doesn’t benefit Americans at all since Ukrainian sovereignty has never contributed anything at all to American taxpayers. 

    Finally, there is the fact that war spending simply is not “good for the economy.” This is an old well-worn myth, but is based on nothing. Consider the process: war spending (especially spending on weapons) requires taxing productive Americans and then turning their taxpayer money into devices that will be consumed in war. Had the taxpayers been allowed to spend this money, much of that money would have been spent on things like education, capital goods, saving, and investment. Instead, that money is taxed, and then, after the bureaucrats take their cut, it is transformed into artillery shells, etc. that blow up some stuff in Ukraine for no benefit to Americans.

    To imagine that this is a boon for Americans requires the most out-of-touch beltway type of thinking imaginable. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 23:40

  • F-35A Becomes First Certified 5th-Gen Fighter To Carry Thermonuclear Gravity Bombs
    F-35A Becomes First Certified 5th-Gen Fighter To Carry Thermonuclear Gravity Bombs

    The nuclear deterrence capabilities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are set to be significantly enhanced as the US Air Force’s newest fifth-generation fighter jet, the F-35A Lightning II, has been operationally certified to be equipped with B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs for the first time. 

    “The F-35A is the first 5th generation nuclear capable aircraft ever, and the first new platform (fighter or bomber) to achieve this status since the early 1990s. This F-35 Nuclear Certification effort culminates 10+ years of intense effort across the nuclear enterprise, which consists of 16 different government and industry stakeholders,” F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Russ Goemaere told military blog Breaking Defense. 

    Goemaere said, “The F-35A achieved Nuclear Certification ahead of schedule, providing US and NATO with a critical capability that supports US extended deterrence commitments earlier than anticipated.​”

    In 2021, an F-35 dropped a mock nuclear bomb at Sandia National Laboratories’ Tonopah Test Range over the Nevada desert. 

    In late 2022, Germany signed a contract with the US to purchase dozens of F-35s capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Under NATO’s nuclear sharing program, Germany has about 20 B61 bombs.

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The “dual-capable” stealth fighter that can now carry both conventional and nuclear weapons is replacing fourth-generation fighters in almost all NATO states that participate in nuclear sharing. The F-35’s ability to carry modernized B61-12 nuclear bombs will beef up NATO’s regional deterrence capabilities and help deter further Russian aggression. 

    “This move is part of the US expanding effort in and among the US and NATO allies to counter Putin’s coercive threats to use nuclear weapons as a means to break our collective strategic resolve against Russia. Putin knows that the F-35 is more than capable of stealthily penetrating his airspace and delivering sensitive payloads,” said David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. 

    It remains to be seen how Moscow will react to nuclear-capable F-35s flying near Russian borders and in the Baltic area. Russia also has a fifth-generation fighter jet, the Su-57 fighter, known by NATO as ‘Felon.’  

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 23:20

  • When Military Rule Supplants Democracy
    When Military Rule Supplants Democracy

    Authored by Robert Malone via The Brownstone Institute,

    If you wish to understand how democracy ended in the United States and the European Union, please watch this interview with Tucker Carlson and Mike Benz. It is full of the most stunning revelations that I have heard in a very long time.

    The national security state is the main driver of censorship and election interference in the United States.

    “What I’m describing is military rule,” says Mike Benz.

    “It’s the inversion of democracy.”

    Please watch below…

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

    I have also included a transcript of the above interview. In the interests of time – this is AI generated. So, there still could be little glitches – I will continue to clean up the text over the next day or two.

    Note: Tucker (who I consider a friend) has given me permission to directly upload the video above and transcript below – he wrote this morning in response to my request:

    Oh gosh, I hope you will. It’s important.

    Honestly, it is critical that this video be seen by as many people as possible. So, please share this video interview and transcript.

    Five points to consider that you might overlook;

    First– the Aspen Institute planning which is described herein reminds me of the Event 201 planning for COVID.

    Second– reading the comments to Tucker’s original post on “X” with this interview, I am struck by the parallels between the efforts to delegitimize me and the new efforts to delegitimize Mike Benz. People should be aware that this type of delegitimization tactic is a common response by those behind the propaganda to anyone who reveals their tactics and strategies. The core of this tactic is to cast doubt about whether the person in question is unreliable or a sort of double agent (controlled opposition).

    Third– Mike Benz mostly focuses on the censorship aspect of all of this, and does not really dive deeply into the active propaganda promotion (PsyWar) aspect.

    Fourth– Mike speaks of the influence mapping and natural language processing tools being deployed, but does not describe the “Behavior Matrix” tool kit involving extraction and mapping of emotion. If you want to dive in a bit further into this, I covered this latter part October 2022 in a substack essay titled “Twitter is a weapon, not a business”.

    Fifth– what Mike Benz is describing is functionally a silent coup by the US Military and the Deep State. And yes, Barack Obama’s fingerprints are all over this.

    Yet another “conspiracy theory” is now being validated.

    Transcript of the video:

    Tucker Carlson:

    The defining fact of the United States is freedom of speech. To the extent this country is actually exceptional, it’s because we have the first amendment in the Bill of Rights. We have freedom of conscience. We can say what we really think.

    There’s no hate speech exception to that just because you hate what somebody else thinks. You cannot force that person to be quiet because we’re citizens, not slaves. But that right, that foundational right that makes this country what it is, that right from which all of the rights flow is going away at high speed in the face of censorship. Now, modern censorship, there’s no resemblance to previous censorship regimes in previous countries and previous eras. Our censorship is affected on the basis of fights against disinformation and malformation. And the key thing to know about this is that they’re everywhere. And of course, this censorship has no reference at all to whether what you’re saying is true or not.

    In other words, you can say something that is factually accurate and consistent with your own conscience. And in previous versions of America, you had an absolute right to say those things. but now – because someone doesn’t like them or because they’re inconvenient to whatever plan the people in power have, they can be denounced as disinformation and you could be stripped of your right to express them either in person or online. In fact, expressing these things can become a criminal act and is it’s important to know, by the way, that this is not just the private sector doing this.

    These efforts are being directed by the US government, which you pay for and at least theoretically owned. It’s your government, but they’re stripping your rights at very high speed. Most people understand this intuitively, but they don’t know how it happens. How does censorship happen? What are the mechanics of it?

    Mike Benz is, we can say with some confidence, the expert in the world on how this happens. Mike Benz had the cyber portfolio at the State Department. He’s now executive director of Foundation for Freedom Online, and we’re going to have a conversation with him about a very specific kind of censorship. By the way, we can’t recommend strongly enough, if you want to know how this happens, Mike Benz is the man to read.

    But today we just want to talk about a specific kind of censorship and that censorship that emanates from the fabled military industrial complex, from our defense industry and the foreign policy establishment in Washington. That’s significant now because we’re on the cusp of a global war, and so you can expect censorship to increase dramatically. And so with that, here is Mike Benz, executive director of Foundation for Freedom online. Mike, thanks so much for joining us and I just can’t overstate to our audience how exhaustive and comprehensive your knowledge is on this topic. It’s almost unbelievable. And so if you could just walk us through how the foreign policy establishment and defense contractors and DOD and just the whole cluster, the constellation of defense related publicly funded institutions, stripped from us,

    Mike Benz:      

    Our freedom of speech. Sure. One of the easiest ways to actually start the story is really with the story of internet freedom and it switched from internet freedom to internet censorship because free speech on the internet was an instrument of statecraft almost from the outset of the privatization of the internet in 1991. We quickly discovered through the efforts of the Defense Department, the State Department and our intelligence services, that people were using the internet to congregate on blogs and forums. And at this point, free speech was championed more than anybody by the Pentagon, the State Department, and our sort of CIA cutout NGO blob architecture as a way to support dissident groups around the world in order to help them overthrow authoritarian governments as they were sort of build essentially the internet free speech allowed kind of insta regime change operations to be able to facilitate the foreign policy establishments State Department agenda.     

    Google is a great example of this. Google began as a DARPA grant by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were Stanford PhDs, and they got their funding as part of a joint CIA NSA program to chart how “birds of a feather flock together online” through search engine aggregation. And then one year later they launched Google and then became a military contractor. Quickly thereafter, they got Google Maps by purchasing a CIA satellite software essentially, and the ability to use free speech on the internet as a way to circumvent state control over media over in places like Central Asia and all around the world, was seen as a way to be able to do what used to be done out of CIA station houses or out of embassies or consulates in a way that was totally turbocharged. And all of the internet free speech technology was initially created by our national security state – VPNs, virtual private networks to hide your IP address, tour the dark web, to be able to buy and sell goods anonymously, end-to-end encrypted chats.    

    All of these things were created initially as DARPA projects or as joint CIA NSA projects to be able to help intelligence backed groups, to overthrow governments that were causing a problem to the Clinton administration or the Bush administration or the Obama administration. And this plan worked magically from about 1991 until about 2014 when there began to be an about face on internet freedom and its utility.

    Now, the high watermark of the sort of internet free speech moment was the Arab Spring in 2011, 2012 when you had this one by one – all of the adversary governments of the Obama Administration: Egypt, Tunisia, all began to be toppled in Facebook revolutions and Twitter revolutions. And you had the State Department working very closely with the social media companies to be able to keep social media online during those periods. There was a famous phone call from Google’s Jared Cohen to Twitter to not do their scheduled maintenance so that the preferred opposition group in Iran would be able to use Twitter to win that election.            

    So free speech was an instrument of statecraft from the national security state to begin with. All of that architecture, all the NGOs, the relationships between the tech companies and the national security state had been long established for freedom. In 2014, after the coup in Ukraine, there was an unexpected counter coup where Crimea and the Donbas broke away and they broke away with essentially a military backstop that NATO was highly unprepared for at the time. They had one last Hail Mary chance, which was the Crimea annexation vote in 2014. And when the hearts and minds of the people of Crimea voted to join the Russian Federation, that was the last straw for the concept of free speech on the internet in the eyes of NATO – as they saw it. The fundamental nature of war changed at that moment. And NATO at that point declared something that they first called the Gerasimov doctrine, which was named after this Russian military, a general who they claimed made a speech that the fundamental nature of war has changed.

    (Gerasimov doctrine is the idea that) you don’t need to win military skirmishes to take over central and eastern Europe. All you need to do is control the media and the social media ecosystem because that’s what controls elections. And if you simply get the right administration into power, they control the military. So it’s infinitely cheaper than conducting a military war to simply conduct an organized political influence operation over social media and legacy media. An industry had been created that spanned the Pentagon, the British Ministry of Defense and Brussels into a organized political warfare outfit, essentially infrastructure that was created initially stationed in Germany and in Central and eastern Europe to create psychological buffer zones, basically to create the ability to have the military work with the social media companies to censor Russian propaganda and then to censor domestic, right-wing populist groups in Europe who were rising in political power at the time because of the migrant crisis.

    So you had the systematic targeting by our state department, by our intelligence community, by the Pentagon of groups like Germany’s AFD, the alternative for Deutsche Land there and for groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Now, when Brexit happened in 2016, that was this crisis moment where suddenly they didn’t have to worry just about central and eastern Europe anymore. It was coming westward, this idea of Russian control over hearts and minds. And so Brexit was June, 2016. The very next month at the Warsaw Conference, NATO formally amended its charter to expressly commit to hybrid warfare as this new NATO capacity. So they went from basically 70 years of tanks to this explicit capacity building for censoring tweets if they were deemed to be Russian proxies. And again, it’s not just Russian propaganda this, these were now Brexit groups or groups like Mateo Salvini in Italy or in Greece or in Germany or in Spain with the Vox Party.

    And now at the time NATO was publishing white papers saying that the biggest threat NATO faces is not actually a military invasion from Russia. It’s losing domestic elections across Europe to all these right-wing populace groups who, because they were mostly working class movements, were campaigning on cheap Russian energy at a time when the US was pressuring this energy diversification policy. And so they made the argument after Brexit, now the entire rules-based international order would collapse unless the military took control over media because Brexit would give rise to Frexit in France with marine Lapin just Brexit in Spain with a Vox party to Italy exit in Italy, to Grexit in Germany, to Grexit in Greece, the EU would come apart, so NATO would be killed without a single bullet being fired. And then not only that, now that NATO’s gone, now there’s no enforcement arm for the International Monetary fund, the IMF or the World Bank. So now the financial stakeholders who depend on the battering ram of the national security state would basically be helpless against governments around the world. So from their perspective, if the military did not begin to censor the internet, all of the democratic institutions and infrastructure that gave rise to the modern world after World War II would collapse. So you can imagine the reaction,

    Tucker Carlson:

    Wait, ask

    Mike Benz:      

    Later. Donald Trump won the 2016 election. So

    Tucker Carlson:

    Well, you just told a remarkable story that I’ve never heard anybody explain as lucidly and crisply as you just did. But did anyone at NATO or anyone at the State Department pause for a moment and say, wait a second, we’ve just identified our new enemy as democracy within our own countries. I think that’s what you’re saying. They feared that the people, the citizens of their own countries would get their way, and they went to war against that.

    Mike Benz:      

    Yes. Now there’s a rich history of this dating back to the Cold War. The Cold War in Europe was essentially a similar struggle for hearts and minds of people, especially in central and Eastern Europe in these sort of Soviet buffer zones. And starting in 1948, the national security state was really established. Then you had the 1947 Act, which established the Central Intelligence Agency. You had this world order that had been created with all these international institutions, and you had the 1948 UN Declaration on human rights, which forbid the territorial acquisition by military force. So you can no longer run a traditional military occupation government in the way that we could in 1898, for example, when we took the Philippines, everything had to be done through a sort of political legitimization process whereby there’s some ratification from the hearts and minds of people within the country.  

    Now, often that involves simply puppet politicians who are groomed as emerging leaders by our State Department. But the battle for hearts and minds had been something that we had been giving ourselves a long moral license leash, if you will, since 1948. One of the godfathers of the CIA was George Kennan. So, 12 days after we rigged the Italian election in 1948 by stuffing ballot boxes and working with the mob, we published a memo called the Inauguration of organized political warfare where Kennan said, “listen, it’s a mean old world out there. We at the CIA just rigged the Italian election. We had to do it because if the Communist won, maybe there’d never be another election in Italy again, but it’s really effective, guys. We need a department of dirty tricks to be able to do this around the world. And this is essentially a new social contract we’re constructing with the American people because this is not the way we’ve conducted diplomacy before, but we are now forbidden from using the war department in 1948.”

    They also renamed the war department to the Defense Department. So again, as part of this diplomatic onslaught for political control, rather than it looking like it’s overt military control, but essentially what ended up happening there is we created this foreign domestic firewall. We said that we have a department of dirty tricks to be able to rig elections, to be able to control media, to be able to meddle in the internal affairs of every other plot of dirt in the country.

    But this sort of sacred dirt in which the American homeland sits, they are not allowed to operate there. The State Department, the Defense Department, and the CIA are all expressly forbidden from operating on US soil. Of course, this is so far from the case, it’s not even funny, but that’s because of a number of laundering tricks that they’ve developed over 70 years of doing this.

    But essentially there was no moral quandary at first with respect to the creation of the censorship industry. When it started out in Germany and in Lithuania and Latvia and Estonia and in Sweden and Finland, there began to be a more diplomatic debate about it after Brexit, and then it became full throttle when Trump was elected. And what little resistance there was was washed over by the rise in saturation of Russiagate, which basically allowed them to not have to deal with the moral ambiguities of censoring your own people.

    Because if Trump was a Russian asset, you no longer really had a traditional free speech issue. It was a national security issue. It was only after Russiagate died in July, 2019 when Robert Mueller basically choked on the stand for three hours and revealed he had absolutely nothing. After two and a half years of investigation that the foreign to domestic switcheroo took place where they took all of this censorship architecture, spanning DHS, the FBI, the CIA, the DOD, the DOJ, and then the thousands of government funded NGO and private sector mercenary firms were all basically transited from a foreign predicate, a Russian disinformation predicate to a democracy predicate by saying that disinformation is not just a threat when it comes from the Russians, it’s actually an intrinsic threat to democracy itself.

    And so by that, they were able to launder the entire democracy promotion regime change toolkit just in time for the 2020 election.

    Tucker Carlson:

    I mean, it’s almost beyond belief that this has happened. I mean, my own father worked for the US government in this business in the information war against the Soviet Union and was a big part of that. And the idea that any of those tools would be turned against American citizens by the US government, I think I want to think was absolutely unthinkable in say 1988. And you’re saying that there really hasn’t been anyone who’s raised objections and it’s absolutely turned inward to manipulate and rig our own elections as we would in say Latvia.

    Mike Benz:      

    Yeah. Well, as soon as the democracy predicate was established, you had this professional class of professional regime change artists and operatives that is the same people who argued that we need to bring democracy to Yugoslavia, and that’s the predicate for getting rid of Milošević or any other country around the world where we basically overthrow governments in order to preserve democracy. Well, if the democracy threat is homegrown now, then that becomes, then suddenly these people all have new jobs moving on the US side, and I can go through a million examples of that. But one thing on what you just mentioned, which is that from their perspective, they just weren’t ready for the internet. 2016 was really the first time that social media had reached such maturity that it began to eclipse legacy media. I mean, this was a long time coming. I think folks saw this building from 2006 through 2016.

    Internet 1.0 didn’t even have social media from 1991 to 2004, there was no social media at all. 2004, Facebook came out 2005, Twitter, 2006, YouTube 2007, the smartphone. And in that initial period of social media, nobody was getting subscriber ships at the level where they actually competed with legacy news media. But over the course of being so initially even these dissonant voices within the us, even though they may have been loud in moments, they never reached 30 million followers. They never reached a billion impressions a year type thing. As a uncensored mature ecosystem allowed citizen journalists and independent voices to be able to outcompete legacy news media. This induced a massive crisis both in our military and in our state department in intelligence services. I’ll give you a great example of this in 2019 at meeting of the German Marshall Fund, which is an institution that goes back to the US basically, I don’t want to say bribe, but essentially the soft power economic soft power projection in Europe as part of the reconstruction of European governments after World War ii, to be able to essentially pay them with Marshall Fund dollars and then in return, they basically were under our thumb in terms of how they reconstructed.

    But the German Marshall Fund held a meeting in 2019. They held a million of these, frankly, but this was when a four star general got up on the panel and posed the question, what happens to the US military? What happens to the national security state when the New York Times is reduced to a medium sized Facebook page? And he posed this thought experiment as an example of we’ve had these gatekeepers, we’ve had these bumper cars on democracy in the form a century old relationship with legacy media institutions. I mean, our mainstream media is not in any shape or form even from its outset, independent from the national security state, from the state Department, from the war department, you had the initial, all of the initial broadcast news companies, NBC, ABC and CBS were all created by Office of War Information Veterans from the War department’s effort in World War ii.

    You had these Operation Mockingbird relationships from the 1950s through the 1970s. Those continued through the use of the National Endowment for Democracy and the privatization of intelligence capacities in the 1980s under Reagan. There’s all sorts of CIA reading room memos you can read even on cia.gov about those continued media relations throughout the 1990s. And so you always had this backdoor relationship between the Washington Post, the New York Times, and all of the major broadcast media corporations. By the way, Rupert Murdoch and Fox are part of this as well. Rupert Murdoch was actually part of the National Endowment for Democracy Coalition in 1983 when it was as a way to do CIA operations in an aboveboard way after the Democrats were so ticked off at the CIA for manipulating student movements in the 1970s. But essentially there was no CIA intermediary to random citizen journalist accounts. There was no Pentagon backstop.

    You couldn’t get a story killed. You couldn’t have this favors for favors relationship. You couldn’t promise access to some random person with 700,000 followers who’s got an opinion on Syrian gas. And so this induced, and this was not a problem for the initial period of social media from 2006 to 2014 because there were never dissident groups that were big enough to be able to have a mature enough ecosystem on their own. And all of the victories on social media had gone in the way of where the money was, which was from the State Department and the Defense Department and the intelligence services. But then as that maturity happened, you now had this situation after the 2016 election where they said, okay, now the entire international order might come undone. 70 years of unified foreign policy from Truman until Trump are now about to be broken.

    And we need the same analog control systems. We had to be able to put bumper cars on bad stories or bad political movements through legacy media relationships and contacts we now need to establish and consolidate within the social media companies. And the initial predicate for that was Russiagate. But then after Russiagate died and they used a simple democracy promotion predicate, then it gave rise to this multi-billion dollar censorship industry that joins together the military industrial complex, the government, the private sector, the civil society organizations, and then this vast cobweb of media allies and professional fact checker groups that serve as this sort of sentinel class that surveys every word on the internet.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Thank you again for this almost unbelievable explanation of why this is happening. Can you give us an example of how it happens and just pick one among, I know countless examples of how the national security state lies to the population, censors the truth in real life.

    Mike Benz:      

    Yeah, so we have this state department outfit called the Global Engagement Center, which was created by a guy named Rick Stengel who described himself as Obama’s propaganda in chief. He was the undersecretary for public affairs essentially, which is the liaison office role between the state department and the mainstream media. So this is basically the exact nexus where government talking points about war or about diplomacy or statecraft get synchronized with mainstream media.

    Tucker Carlson:

    May I add something to that as someone I know – Rick Stengel. He was at one point a journalist and Rick Stengel has made public arguments against the First Amendment and against Free Speech.

    Mike Benz:      

    Yeah, he wrote a whole book on it and he published an op-Ed in 2019. He wrote a whole book on it and he made the argument that we just went over here that essentially the Constitution was not prepared for the internet and we need to get rid of the First Amendment accordingly. And he described himself as a free speech absolutist when he was the managing editor of Time Magazine. And even when he was in the State Department under Obama, he started something called the Global Engagement Center, which was the first government censorship operation within the federal government, but it was foreign facing, so it was okay. Now, at the time, they used the homegrown ISIS predicate threat for this. And so it was very hard to argue against the idea of the State Department having this formal coordination partnership with every major tech platform in the US because at the time there were these ISIS attacks that were, and we were told that ISIS was recruiting on Twitter and Facebook.

    And so the Global Engagement Center was established essentially to be a state department entanglement with the social media companies to basically put bumper cars on their ability to platform accounts. And one of the things they did is they created a new technology, which it’s called Natural Language processing. It is a artificial intelligence machine learning ability to create meaning out of words in order to map everything that everyone says on the internet and create this vast topography of how communities are organized online, who the major influences are, what they’re talking about, what narratives are emerging or trending, and to be able to create this sort of network graph in order to know who to target and how information moves through an ecosystem. And so they began plotting the language, the prefixes, the suffixes, the popular terms, the slogans that ISIS folks were talking about on Twitter.

    When Trump won the election in 2016, everyone who worked at the State Department was expecting these promotions to the White House National Security Council under Hillary Clinton, who I should remind viewers was also Secretary of State under Obama, actually ran the State Department. But these folks were all expecting promotions on November 8th, 2016 and were unceremoniously put out of jobs by a guy who was a 20 to one underdog according to the New York Times the day of the election. And when that happened, these State Department folks took their special set of skills, coercing governments for sanctions. The State Department led the effort to sanction Russia over the Crimea annexation. In 2014, these State Department diplomats did an international roadshow to pressure European governments to pass censorship laws to censor the right-wing populous groups in Europe and as a boomerang impact to censor populace groups who were affiliated in the us.

    So you had folks who went from the state department directly, for example, to the Atlanta Council, which was this major facilitator between government to government censorship. The Atlanta Council is a group that is one of Biden’s biggest political backers. They bill themselves as NATO’s Think Tank. So they represent the political census of NATO. And in many respects, when NATO has civil society actions that they want to be coordinated to synchronize with military action or region, the Atlantic Council essentially is deployed to consensus build and make that political action happen within a region of interest to nato.

    Now, the Atlantic Council has seven CIA directors on its board. A lot of people don’t even know that seven CIA directors are still alive, let alone all concentrated on the board of a single organization that’s kind of the heavyweight in the censorship industry. They get annual funding from the Department of Defense, the State Department, and CIA cutouts like the National Endowment for Democracy.

    The Atlantic Council in January, 2017 moved immediately to pressure European governments to pass censorship laws to create a transatlantic flank tank on free speech in exactly the way that Rick Stengel essentially called for to have us mimic European censorship laws. One of the ways they did this was by getting Germany to pass something called Nets DG in August, 2017, which was essentially kicked off the era of automated censorship in the us. What Nets DG required was, unless social media platforms wanted to pay a $54 million fine for each instance of speech, each post left up on their platform for more than 48 hours that had been identified as hate speech, they would be fined basically into bankruptcy when you aggregate 54 million over tens of thousands of posts per day. And the safe haven around that was if they deployed artificial intelligence based censorship technologies, which had been again created by DARPA to take on ISIS to be able to scan and ban speech automatically.

    And this gave rise to what I call these weapons of mass deletion. These are essentially the ability to sensor tens of millions of posts with just a few lines of code. And the way this is done is by aggregating basically the field of censorship science fuses together two disparate groups of study, if you will. There’s the sort of political and social scientists who are the sort of thought leaders of what should be censored, and then there are the sort of quants, if you will. These are the programmers, the computational data scientists, computational Linguistics University.

    There’s over 60 universities now who get federal government grants to do the censorship work and the censorship preparation work where what they do is they create these code books of the language that people use the same way they did for isis. They did this, for example, with COVID. They created these COVID lexicons of what dissident groups were saying about mandates, about masks, about vaccines, about high profile individuals like Tony Fauci or Peter Daszak or any of these protected VIPs and individuals whose reputations had to be protected online.

    And they created these code books, they broke things down into narratives. The Atlanta Council, for example, was a part of this government funded consortium, something called the Virality Project, which mapped 66 different narratives that dissidents we’re talking about around covid, everything from COVID origins to vaccine efficacy. And then they broke down these 66 claims into all the different factual sub claims. And then they plugged these into these essentially machine learning models to be able to have a constant world heat map of what everybody was saying about covid. And whenever something started trend that was bad for what the Pentagon wanted or was bad for what Tony Fauci wanted, they were able to take down tens of millions of posts. They did this in the 2020 election with mail-in ballots. It was the same. Wait,

    Tucker Carlson:

    There’s so much here and it’s so shocking. So you’re saying the Pentagon, our Pentagon, the US Department of Defense censored Americans during the 2020 election cycle?

    Mike Benz:      

    Yes, they did this through the, so the two most censored events in human history, I would argue to date are the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic, and I’ll explain how I arrived there.

    So the 2020 election was determined by mail-in ballots, and I’m not weighing into the substance of whether mail-in ballots were or were not a legitimate or safe and reliable form of voting. That’s a completely independent topic from my perspective.

    Then the censorship issue one, but the censorship of mail-in ballots is really one of the most extraordinary stories in our American history. I would argue what happened was is you had this plot within the Department of Homeland Security. Now this gets back to what we were talking about with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center. You had this group within the Atlanta Council and the Foreign Policy Establishment, which began arguing in 2017 for the need for a permanent domestic censorship government office to serve as a quarterback for what they called a whole of society counter misinformation, counter disinformation alliance.

    That just means censorship. To counter “miss-dis-info”. But their whole society model explicitly proposed that we need every single asset within society to be mobilized in a whole of society effort to stop misinformation online. It was that much of an existential threat to democracy, but they fixated in 2017 that it had to be centered within the government because only the government would have the clout and the coercive threat powers and the perceived authority to be able to tell the social media companies what to do to be able to summon a government funded NGO Swarm to create that media surround sound to be able to arm an AstroTurf army of fact checkers and to be able to liaise and connect all these different censorship industry actors into a cohesive unified hole. And the Atlantic Council initially proposed with this blueprint called Forward defense. “It’s not offense, it’s Forward Defense” guys.

    They initially proposed that running this out of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center because they had so many assets there who were so effective at censorship under Rick Stengel, under the Obama administration. But they said, oh, we are not going to be able to get away with that. We don’t really have a national security predicate and it’s supposed to be foreign facing. We can’t really use that hook unless we have a sort of national security one. Then they contemplated parking it, the CIA, and they said, well, actually there’s two reasons we can’t do that. The is a foreign facing organization and we can’t really establish a counterintelligence threat to bring it home domestically. Also, we’re going to need essentially tens of thousands of people involved in this operation spanning this whole society model, and you can’t really run a clandestine operation that way. So they said, okay, well what about the FBI?

    They said, well, the FBI would be great, it’s domestic, but the problem is is the FBI is supposed to be the intelligence arm of the Justice Department. And what we’re dealing with here are not acts of law breaking, it’s basically support for Trump. Or if a left winging popularist had risen to power like Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbin, I have no doubt they would’ve done in the UK. They would’ve done the same thing to him there. They targeted Jeremy Corbin and other left-wing populist NATO skeptical groups in Europe, but in the US it was all Trump.

    And so essentially what they said is, well, the only other domestic intelligence equity we have in the US besides the FBI is the DHS. So we are going to essentially take the CIA’s power to rig and bribe foreign media organizations, which is the power they’ve had since the day they were born in 1947. And we’re going to combine that with the power with the domestic jurisdiction of the FBI by putting it at DHS. So DHS was basically deputized. It was empowered through this obscure little cybersecurity agency to have the combined powers that the CIA has abroad with the jurisdiction of the FBI at home. And the way they did this, how did a cyber, an obscure little cybersecurity agency get this power was they did a funny little series of switcheroos. So this little thing called CISA, they didn’t call it the Disinformation Governance Board. They didn’t call it the Censorship Agency. They gave it an obscure little name that no one would notice called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who his founder said, we care about security so much, it’s in our name twice. Everybody sort of closed their eyes and pretended that’s what it was. CISA was created by Active Congress in 2018 because of the perceived threat that Russia had hacked the 2016 election.

    And so we needed the cybersecurity power to be able to deal with that. And essentially on the heels of a CIA memo on January 6th, 2017 and a same day DHS executive order on January 6th, 2017, arguing that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election and a DHS mandate saying that elections are now critical infrastructure, you had this new power within DHS to say that cybersecurity attacks on elections are now our purview. And then they did two cute things. One they said said, miss dis and Malformation online are a form of cybersecurity attack. They are a cyber attack because they are happening online. And they said, well, actually Russian disinformation is we’re actually protecting democracy and elections. We don’t need a Russian predicate after Russiagate died. So just like that, you had this cybersecurity agency be able to legally make the argument that your tweets about mail-in ballots if you undermine public faith and confidence in them as a legitimate form of voting was now you were now conducting a cyber attack on US critical infrastructure articulating misinformation on Twitter and just like that.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Wait- in other words, complaining about election fraud is the same as taking down our power grid.

    Mike Benz:      

    Yes, you could literally be on your toilet seat at nine 30 on a Thursday night and tweet, I think that mail-in ballots are illegitimate. And you were essentially then caught up in the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland Security classifying you as conducting a cyber attack on US critical infrastructure because you were doing misinformation online in the cyber realm. And misinformation is a cyber attack on democracy when it undermines public faith and confidence in our democratic elections and our democratic institutions, they would end up going far beyond that. They would actually define democratic institutions as being another thing that was a cybersecurity attack to undermine and lo and behold, the mainstream media is considered a democratic institution that would come later. What ended up happening was in the advance of the 2020 election, starting in April of 2020, although this goes back before you had this essentially never Trump NeoCon Republican DHS working with essentially NATO on the national security side and essentially the DNC, if you will, to use DHS as the launching point for a government coordinated mass censorship campaign spanning every single social media platform on earth in order to preens the ability to dispute the legitimacy of mail-in ballots.

    And here’s how they did this. They aggregated four different institutions. Stanford University, the University of Washington, a company called Graphica and the Atlantic Council. Now all four of these institutions, the centers within them were essentially Pentagon cutouts you had at the Stanford Air Observatory. It was actually run by Michael McFaul, if you know Michael McFaul. He was the US ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, and he personally authored a seven step playbook for how to successfully orchestrate a color revolution. And part of that involved maintaining total control over media and social media juicing up the civil society outfits, calling elections illegitimate in order to. Now, mind you, all of these people were professional Russia, Gators and professional election delegitimizes in 2016, and then I’ll get that in a sec. So Stanford, the Stanford Observatory under Michael McFaul was run by Alex Stamos, who was formerly a Facebook executive who coordinated with ODNI and with respect to Russiagate taking down Russian propaganda at Facebook.

    So this is another liaison essentially to the national security state. And under Alex Stamos at Sanford Observatory was Renee Diresta, who started her career in the CIA and wrote the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian disinformation, and there’s a lot more there that I’ll get to another time. But the next institution was the University of Washington, which is essentially the Bill Gates University in Seattle who is headed by Kate Starboard, who is basically three generations of military brass who got our PhD in crisis informatics, essentially doing social media surveillance for the Pentagon and getting DARPA funding and working essentially with the national security state, then repurposed to take on mail-in ballots. The third firm Graphica got $7 million in Pentagon grants and got their start as part of the Pentagon’s Minerva initiative. The Minerva Initiative is the Psychological Warfare Research Center of the Pentagon. This group was doing social media spying and narrative mapping for the Pentagon until the 2016 election happened, and then were repurposed into a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to censor 22 million Trump tweets, pro-Trump tweets about mail-in ballots.

    And then the fourth institution, as I mentioned, was the Atlantic Council who’s got seven CIA directors on the board, so one after another. It is exactly what Ben Rhodes described during the Obama era as the blob, the Foreign Policy Establishment, it’s the Defense Department, the State Department or the CIA every single time. And of course this was because they were threatened by Trump’s foreign policy, and so while much of the censorship looks like it’s coming domestically, it’s actually by our foreign facing department of Dirty tricks, color revolution blob, who were professional government toppers who were then basically descended on the 2020 election.

    Now they did this, they explicitly said the head of this election integrity partnership on tape and my foundation clipped them, and it’s been played before Congress and it’s a part of the Missouri Biden lawsuit now, but they explicitly said on tape that they were set up to do what the government was banned from doing itself, and then they articulated a multi-step framework in order to coerce all the tech companies to take censorship actions.

    They said on tape that the tech companies would not have done it but for the pressure, which involved using threats of government force because they were the deputized arm of the government. They had a formal partnership with the DHS. They were able to use DHS’ proprietary domestic disinformation switchboard to immediately talk to top brass at all the tech companies for takedowns, and they bragged on tape about how they got the tech companies to all systematically adopt a new terms of service speech violation ban called delegitimization, which meant any tweet, any YouTube video, any Facebook post, any TikTok video, any discord posts, any Twitch video, anything on the internet that undermine public faith and confidence in the use of mail-in ballots or early voting drop boxes or ballot tabulation issues on election day was a prima fascia terms of service violation policy under this new delegitimization policy that they only adopted because of pass through government pressure from the election integrity partnership, which they bragged about on tape, including the grid that they used to do this, and simultaneously invoking threats of government breaking them up or government stopping doing favors for the tech companies unless they did this as well as inducing crisis PR by working with their media allies.

    And they said DHS could not do that themselves. And so they set up this basically constellation of State Department, Pentagon and IC networks to run this censorship campaign, which by their own math had 22 million tweets on Twitter alone, and mind you, they just on 15 platforms, this is hundreds of millions of posts which were all scanned and banned or throttled so that they could not be amplified or they exist in a sort of limited state purgatory or had these frictions affixed to them in the form of fact-checking labels where you couldn’t actually click through the thing or you had to, it was an inconvenience to be able to share it. Now, they did this seven months before the election because at the time they were worried about the perceived legitimacy of a Biden victory in the case of a so-called Red Mirage Blue Shift event.

    They knew the only way that Biden would win mathematically was through the disproportionate Democrat use of mail-in ballots. They knew there would be a crisis because it was going to look extremely weird if Trump looked like he won by seven states and then three days later it comes out actually the election switch, I mean that would put the election crisis of the Bush Gore election on a level of steroids that the National Security state said, well, the public will not be prepared for. So what we need to do is we need to in advance, we need to preens the ability to even question legitimacy.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Out, wait, wait, may I ask you to pause right there? Key influences by, so what you’re saying is what you’re suggesting is they knew the outcome of the election seven months before it was held.

    Mike Benz:      

    It looks very bad.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Yes, Mike. It does look very bad

    Mike Benz:      

    And especially when you combine this with the fact that this is right on the heels of the impeachment. The Pentagon led and the CIA led impeachment. It was Eric ? from the CIA, and it was Vindman from the Pentagon who led the impeachment of Trump in late 2019 over an alleged phone call around withholding Ukraine aid. This same network, which came straight out of the Pentagon hybrid warfare military censorship network, created after the first Ukraine crisis in 2014 were the lead architects of the Ukraine impeachment in 2019, and then essentially came back on steroids as part of the 2020 election censorship operation. But from their perspective, I mean it certainly looks like the perfect crime. These were the people. DHS at the time had actually federalized much of the National Election Administration through this January 6th, 2017 executive order from outgoing Obama. DHS had Jed Johnson, which essentially wrapped all 50 states up into a formal DHS partnership. So DHS was simultaneously in charge of the administration of the election in many respects, and the censorship of anyone who challenged the administration of the election. This is like putting essentially the defendant of a trial as the judge and jury of the trial. It was

    Tucker Carlson:

    Very, but you’re not describing democracy. I mean, you’re describing a country in which democracy is impossible.

    Mike Benz:      

    What I’m essentially describing is military rule. I mean, what’s happened with the rise of the censorship industry is a total inversion of the idea of democracy itself. Democracy sort draws its legitimacy from the idea that it is ruled by consent of the people being ruled. That is, it’s not really being ruled by an overlord because the government is actually just our will expressed by our consent with who we vote for. The whole push after the 2016 election and after Brexit and after a couple of other social media run elections that went the wrong way from what the State Department wanted, like the 2016 Philippines election, was to completely invert everything that we described as being the underpinnings of a democratic society in order to deal with the threat of free speech on the internet. And what they essentially said is, we need to redefine democracy from being about the will of the voters to being about the sanctity of democratic institutions and who are the democratic institutions?

    Oh, it’s the military, it’s NATO, it’s the IMF and the World Bank. It’s the mainstream media, it is the NGOs, and of course these NGOs are largely state department funded or IC funded. It’s essentially all of the elite establishments that were under threat from the rise of domestic populism that declared their own consensus to be the new definition of democracy. Because if you define democracy as being the strength of democratic institutions rather than a focus on the will of the voters, then what you’re left with is essentially democracy is just the consensus building architecture within the Democrat institutions themselves. And from their perspective, that takes a lot of work. I mean, the amount of work these people do. I mean, for example, we mentioned the Atlantic Council, which is one of these big coordinating mechanisms for the oil and gas industry in a region for the finance and the JP Morgans and the BlackRocks in a region for the NGOs in the region, for the media, in the region, all of these need to reach a consensus, and that process takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of work and a lot of negotiation from their perspective.

    That’s democracy. Democracy is getting the NGOs to agree with BlackRock, to agree with the Wall Street Journal, to agree with the community and activist groups who are onboarded with respect to a particular initiative that is the difficult vote building process from their perspective.

    At the end of the day, a bunch of populous groups decide that they like a truck driver who’s popular on TikTok more than the carefully constructed consensus of the NATO military brass. Well then from their perspective, that is now an attack on democracy, and this is what this whole branding effort was. And of course, democracy again has that magic regime change predicate where democracy is our magic watchword to be able to overthrow governments from the ground up in a sort of color revolution style whole of society effort to topple a democratically elected government from the inside, for example, as we did in Ukraine, Victor Jankovich was democratically elected by the Ukrainian people like him or hate him.

    I’m not even issuing an opinion, but the fact is we color revolution him out of office. We January 6th out of office, actually, to be frank, I mean with respect to the, you had a state department funded right sector thugs and 5 billion worth of civil society money pumped into this to overthrow democratically elected government in the name of democracy, and they took that special set of skills home and now it’s here, perhaps potentially to stay. And this has fundamentally changed the nature of American governance because of the threat of one small voice becoming popular on social media.

    Tucker Carlson:

    May I ask you a question? So into that group of institutions that you say now define democracy, the NGOs foreign policy establishment, et cetera, you included the mainstream media. Now in 2021, the NSA broke into my private text apps and read them and then leaked them to the New York Times against me. That just happened again to me last week, and I’m wondering how common that is for the Intel agencies to work with so-called mainstream media like the New York Times to hurt their opponents.

    Mike Benz:      

    Well, that is the function of these interstitial government funded non-governmental organizations and think tanks like for example, we mentioned the Atlantic Council, which is NATO’s think tank, but other groups like the Aspen Institute, which draws the lion’s share of its funding from the State department and other government agencies. The Aspen Institute was busted doing the same thing with the Hunter Biden laptop censorship. You had this strange situation where the FBI had advanced knowledge of the pending publication of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and then magically the Aspen Institute, which is run by essentially former CIA, former NSA, former FBI, and then a bunch of civil society organizations all hold a mass stakeholder censorship simulation, a three day conference, this came out and yo Roth was there. This is a big part of the Twitter file leaks, and it’s been mentioned in multiple congressional investigations.

    But somehow the Aspen Institute, which is basically an addendum of the National Security state, got the exact same information that the National Security State spied on journalists and political figures to obtain, and not only leaked it, but then basically did a joint coordinated censorship simulator in September, two months before the election in order just like with the censorship of mail-in ballots to be in ready position to screens anyone online amplifying, wait a second, a news story that had not even broken yet.

    Tucker Carlson:

    The Aspen Institute, which is by the way, I’ve spent my life in Washington. It’s kind a, I mean Walter Isaacson formerly of Time Magazine ran it, former president of CNNI had no idea it was part of the national security state. I had no idea its funding came from the US government. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that. But given, assuming what you’re saying is true, it’s a little weird or starnge that Walter Isaacson left Aspens to write a biography of Elon Musk?

    Mike Benz:      

    No? Yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t read that book. From what I’ve heard from people, it’s a relatively fair treatment. I just total speculation. But I suspect that Walter Isaacson has struggled with this issue and may not even firmly fall in one particular place in the sense that Walter Isaacson did a series of interviews of Rick Gel actually with the Atlantic Council and in other settings where he interviewed Rick Gel specifically on the issue of the need to get rid of the First Amendment and the threat that free speech on social media poses to democracy. Now, at the time, I was very concerned, this was between 2017 and 2019 when he did these Rick Stangle interviews. I was very concerned because Isaacson expressed what seemed to me to be a highly sympathetic view about the Rick Stengel perspective on killing the First Amendment. Now, he didn’t formally endorse that position, but it left me very skittish about Isaacson.

    But what I should say is at the time, I don’t think very many people, in fact, I know virtually nobody in the country had any idea how deep the rabbit hole went when it came to the construction of the censorship industry and how deep the tentacles had grown within the military and the national security state in order to buoy and consolidate it. Much of that frankly did not even come to public light until even last year. Frankly, some of that was galvanized by Elon Musk’s acquisition and the Twitter files and the Republican turnover in the house that allowed these multiple investigations, the lawsuits like Missouri v Biden and the discovery process there and multiple other things like the Disinformation governance board, who, by the way, the interim head of that, the head of that Nina Janowitz got her start in the censorship industry from this exact same clandestine intelligence community censorship network created after the 2014 Crimea situation.

    Nina Janowitz, when her name came up in 2022 as part of the disinformation governance board, I almost fell out of my chair because I had been tracking Nina’s network for almost five years at that point when her name came up as part of the UK inner cluster cell of a busted clandestine operation to censor of the internet called the Integrity Initiative, which was created by the UK Foreign Office and was backed by NATO’s Political Affairs Unit in order to carry out this thing that we talked about at the beginning of this dialogue, the NATO sort of psychological inoculation and the ability to kill, so-called Russian propaganda or rising political groups who wanted to maintain energy relations with Russia at a time when the US was trying to kill the Nord Stream and other pipeline relations. Well,

    Well, Nina Janowitz was a part of this outfit, and then who was the head of it after Nina Janowitz went down, it was Michael Chertoff and Michael Chertoff was running the Aspen Institute Cyber Group. And then the Aspen Institute then goes on to be the censorship simulator for the Hunter Biden laptop story. And then two years later, Chertoff is then the head of the disinformation governance board after Nina is forced to step down.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Tucker Carlson: Of course, Michael Chertoff was the chairman of the largest military contractor in Europe, BAE military. So it’s all connected. You’ve blown my mind so many times in this conversation that I’m going to need a nap directly after it’s done. So I’ve just got two more questions for you, one short one, a little longer short. One is for people who’ve made it this far an hour in and want to know more about this topic. And by the way, I hope you’ll come back whenever you have the time to explore different threads of this story. But for people who want to do research on their own, how can your research on this be found on the internet?

    Mike Benz:      

    Sure. So our foundation is foundation for freedom online.com. We publish all manner of reports on every aspect of the censorship industry from what we talked about with the role of the military industrial complex and the national security state to what the universities are doing to, I sometimes refer to as digital MK Ultra. There’s just the field of basically the science of censorship and the funding of these psychological manipulation methods in order to nudge people into different belief systems as they did with covid, as they did with energy. And every sensitive policy issue is what they essentially had an ambition for. But so my foundationforfreedomonline.com website is one way. The other way is just on X. My handle is at @MikeBenzCyber. I’m very active there and publish a lot of long form video and written content on all this. I think it’s one of the most important issues in the world today.

    Tucker Carlson:

    So it certainly is. And so that leads directly and seamlessly to my final question, which is about X. And I’m not just saying this because I post content there, but I think objectively it’s the last big platform that’s free or sort of free or more free. You post there too, but we’re at the very beginning of an election year with a couple of different wars unfolding simultaneously in 2024. So do you expect that that platform can stay free for the duration of this year?

    Mike Benz:      

    It’s under an extraordinary amount of pressure, and that pressure is going to continue to mount as the election approaches. Elon Musk is a very unique individual, and he has a unique buffer, perhaps when it comes to the national security state because the national security state is actually quite reliant on Elon Musk properties, whether that’s for the electrical, the Green Revolution when it comes to Tesla and the battery technology there. When it comes to SpaceX, the State Department is hugely dependent on SpaceX because of its unbelievable sort of pioneering and saturating presence in the field of low earth orbit satellites that are basically how our telecom system runs to things like starlink. There are dependencies that the National Security state has on Elon Musk. I’m not sure he’d have as much room to negotiate if he had become the world’s richest man selling at a lemonade stand, and if the national security state goes too hard on him by invoking something like CFIUS to sort of nationalize some of these properties.

    I think the shock wave that it would send to the international investor community would be irrecoverable at a time when we’re engaged in great power competition. So they’re trying to sort of induce, I think a sort of corporate regime change through a series of things involving a sort of death by a thousand paper cuts. I think there’s seven or eight different Justice Department or SEC or FTC investigations into Elon Musk properties that all started after his acquisition of X. But then what they’re trying to do right now is what I call the Transatlantic Flank Attack 2.0. We talked in this dialogue about how the censorship industry really got its start when a bunch of State Department exiles who were expecting promotions took their special set of skills in coercing European countries to pass sanctions on themselves, to cut off their own leg off to spite themselves in order to pass sanctions on Russia.   

    They ran back that same playbook with doing a roadshow for censorship instead for sanctions. We are now witnessing Transatlantic Flank attack 2.0, if you will, which is because they have lost a lot of their federal government powers to do this same censorship operation they had been doing from 2018 to 2022. In part because the house has totally turned on them, in part because of the media, in part because Missouri v Biden, which won a slam dunk case, actually banning government censorship at the trial court and appellate court levels. It is now before the Supreme Court, they’ve now moved into two strategies.

    One of them is state level censorship laws. California just passed a new law, which the censorship industry totally drove from start to finish around, they call it platform accountability and transparency, which is basically forcing Elon Musk to give over the kind of narrative mapping data that these CIA conduits and Pentagon cutouts were using to create these weapons of mass deletion, these abilities to just censor everything at scale because they had all the internal platform data. Elon Musk took that away.

    They’re using state laws like this new California law to crack that open. But the major threat right now is the threat from Europe with something called the EU Digital Services Act, which was cooked up in tandem with folks like NewsGuard, which has a board of Michael Hayden, head of the CIA NSA and a Fourstar General. Rick Stengel is on that board from the state department’s propaganda office. Tom Ridge is on that board from the Department of Homeland Security. Oh, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen – he was the general secretary of NATO under the Obama administration. So you have NATO, the CIA, the NSA four star General DHS, and the State Department working with the EU to craft the censorship laws that now are the largest existential threat to X other than potentially advertiser boycotts. Because there is now disinformation is now banned as a matter of law in the EU.  

    The EU is a bigger market for X than the us. There’s only 300 million in the USA. But there is 450 million people in Europe. X is now forced to comply with this brand new law that just got ratified this year where they either need to forfeit 6% of their global annual revenue to the EU to maintain operations there, or put in place essentially the kind of CIA bumper cars, if you will, that I’ve been describing over the course of this in order to have a internal mechanism to sensor anything that the eu, which is just a proxy for NATO deems to be disinformation. And you can bet with 65 elections around the globe this year, you can predict every single time what they’re going to define disinformation as. So that’s the main fight right now is dealing with the transatlantic flank attack from Europe.

    Tucker Carlson:

    This is just one of the most remarkable stories I’ve ever heard, and I’m grateful to you for bringing it to us. Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, and I hope we see you again in

    Mike Benz:      

    Thanks, Tucker.

    Tucker Carlson:

    Free speech is bigger than any one person or any one organization. Societies are defined by what they will not permit. What we’re watching is the total inversion of virtue.

    *  *  *

    Republished from the author’s Substack

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 23:00

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    GM Defense’s New Infantry Squad Vehicle Passes Grueling Sand Dune Trials In UAE

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces completed evaluation trials of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) by General Motors Defense, built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck.

    GM Defense’s ISV successfully completed all trials that the UAE Armed Forces could throw at the offroad utility vehicle for elite military special operations units in the Middle Eastern country. The trial included traveling nearly 1,250 miles across highways, dunes, soft sand tracks, and rocky walls while carrying maximum payload capacities. 

    In addition to mobility trials, the ISV completed the maintenance trial, which included two days of field repair testing and maintenance. 

    “This was GM Defense’s first time sending a vehicle to UAE Summer Trials, and our successful completion is a testament to the strength of our ISV and to the expertise and dedication of our team,” said Steve duMont, GM Defense president.

    DuMont continued: “Through completion of all phases, we’ve demonstrated that we can successfully leverage the advanced technologies of our parent company, General Motors, to deliver a highly capable off-road vehicle that can meet the needs of defense and government customers in the UAE and throughout the region. Our Summer Trial achievements are a key step forward in our planned growth in the region as we seek to offer the ISV and its variants to this important customer base.”

    In 2020, the United States Army selected the ISV to enhance its operational capabilities. The ISV incorporates 90% commercial off-the-shelf parts, is designed to carry nine infantrymen. The vehicle’s adaptability for air transportability allows it to be deployed through military aircraft, including C-130 to UH-60 Blackhawk. 

    The ISV is the big brother to the ultra-light Polaris MRZR that Special Forces have used for years. Occasionally, the MRZR will be listed on the auction website Gov Planet for civilians to purchase. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 22:40

  • Faulty US Aid Drop Kills At Least 5 Palestinians In Gaza City
    Faulty US Aid Drop Kills At Least 5 Palestinians In Gaza City

    Via Middle East Eye

    At least five Palestinians were killed and one other wounded after a faulty aid drop in Gaza City on Friday. The casualties occurred following a botched attempt to drop humanitarian assistance from a plane, which ended up landing in a residential area in Sheikh Radwan, northwest of Gaza City, according to Al-Jazeera. 

    Videos captured by local journalists showed over a dozen packages dropped from a plane falling at a great speed near the al-Fayrouz Towers area. 

    A military plane drops humanitarian aid over northern Gaza on March 7, via AFP.

    The Palestinian media office in Gaza confirmed that five people had been killed, and criticized the use of air drops to deliver aid. “These operations are useless and not the best way to bring in aid, and we demand the opening of land crossings to bring in thousands of tons of aid immediately and urgently,” it said. 

    “Dropping aid in this way takes on a showy and propaganda character rather than a humanitarian [one],” the media office added. “We warned previously that they pose a death threat to the lives of citizens in the Gaza Strip, and that is what happened.”

    An eyewitness told Al-Jazeera on Friday: “People were waiting for the drops when they noticed they were coming in fast. So a group of people took cover in a construction site.” 

    “One of the packages fell atop the site, causing it to collapse, killing and wounding people inside. I rushed to help the people inside when I realized my cousin was among them. He is now dead.”

    Airdropping aid is used when all other alternatives fail, and when a population desperately needs life-saving aid while it is cut off from the world. 

    So far, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and France have coordinated with Israel to airdrop aid in different areas of the blockaded Gaza Strip. The US on Sunday carried out its first humanitarian aid airdrop in Gaza with more than 30,000 meals parachuted in by three military planes. The operation was reportedly carried out jointly with Jordan’s air force. 

    Watch: some of the crates sound like bombs when they hit the ground at high speed…

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    Palestinians have said that airdropped aid quantities are too small in comparison to the needs of a starving population in Gaza. 

    “It is pointless,” Ahmad Mansour, a Palestinian in the south of Gaza, told Middle East Eye earlier this week. “A lot of the aid ended up in the sea or areas controlled by the Israeli army. You have got thousands of people running towards a few parcels of aid. They are playing games with us.”

    “I cannot understand why the world cannot pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid trucks in,” Mansour continued. “Why can humanitarian aid workers not be protected to distribute the aid fairly? Is the new motto: ‘We will eat and get medicine only if we are lucky enough to catch something falling from the sky’?”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 22:20

  • 'We Got To Reign Her In': Behind The Scenes Of Nuland's Early Retirement
    ‘We Got To Reign Her In’: Behind The Scenes Of Nuland’s Early Retirement

    Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern in a new interview has speculated over the reasons behind Victoria Nuland stepping down from her high-ranking position as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the number three top official in the State Department.

    Her retirement was announced by her boss Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. But the question is why now when the administration is attempting to stay the course and present a strong continued stance on Ukraine, also as Biden is still seeking to get tens of billions in defense aid through Republicans in the House.

    US State Department image

    While there have been rumors that maybe she could be in poor or declining health, McGovern has told Russia’s Sputnik that the notoriously hawkish Nuland was a liability at a moment NATO and Russia are inching closer to direct nuclear-armed confrontation. 

    “My best guess here is that the CIA and the Defense Department and the NSA got this message around saying, ‘look, Victoria’s got her own agenda here,’” said McGovern.

    The former CIA official continued to speculate: “‘The president doesn’t really want to strike these ammo depots in Russia or knock down the [Crimean] Bridge. So we got to rein her in, I guess it’s time for her to go to early retirement.’”

    Another theory, though not necessarily contradictory to the above, has been advanced by professor of national security at Bowie State University Dr. Matthew Crosston.

    He laid out what “a staunch anti-Putinist Nuland was and how fervently she wanted to continue to utilize Ukraine as a platform in which to continue to weaken and/or slight Russia on the global stage — and perhaps even up the ante in that conflict with her support of sending ballistic missiles into Ukraine.” But she also knows the Ukrainian side is losing.

    She may have seen the writing on the wall as Ukraine forces are in retreat, and wanted to bail before potential total defeat:

    “She undoubtedly understood that if American support lessons or wanes, Ukraine loses, period,” Crosston pointed out. “Perhaps she did not want to be in the Administration that would be responsible for that outcome.”

    But both McGovern and Crosston would agree that with Nuland as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (in this capacity she basically ran all of US foreign policy in Europe), ceasefire talks between Kiev and Moscow remained an extremely distant prospect or even an impossibility. 

    “One thing is certain: as long as Nuland remained in that chair, there was literally no chance such talk could even be theorized. Now it can,” Crosston concluded.

    Journalist Glenn Greenwald also weighed in on Nuland stepping down in an interview with The Hill. Greenwald describes the “singular monstrousness of Victoria Nuland and her bipartisan, blood-stained, ghoulish career“…

    Nuland’s temporary replacement for under secretary upon her retirement has been announced as career diplomat John Bass, a former ambassador to Afghanistan. He is currently in the position of the undersecretary of state for management. He oversaw Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and so it is somewhat ironic that he’ll also oversee Ukraine policy at this critical juncture where Kiev is clearly against the ropes.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 22:00

  • "A Pork Fest Of Epic Proportions": Congress Passes Spending Package To Avert Shutdown
    “A Pork Fest Of Epic Proportions”: Congress Passes Spending Package To Avert Shutdown

    By Jacob Burg of The Epoch Times

    Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes a statement alongside (L–R) Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and Mike McCaul (R-Texas) outside the White House on Jan. 17, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

    The Senate passed six government funding bills on March 8 to avoid an impending shutdown deadline that was poised to activate at midnight later that night.

    Senators approved the funding package 75–22 early in the evening on March 8 after hours of debate. Democrats pushed for a faster vote, while Republicans proposed several amendments to the funding package that all inevitably failed.

    After the House of Representatives passed its measure on March 6, only the Senate was left to pass its funding bills before they were all sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. In addition to the March 8 deadline, there is another looming shutdown deadline on March 22.

    The bills passed by Democrats and Republicans, including a second set of bills ahead of the March 22 deadline, will get Congress one step closer to funding vital government programs for the remainder of the fiscal year.

    The spending package funds programs including the departments of Veterans Affairs, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Commerce, Justice, Interior, military construction, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Housing and Urban Development, and other federal programs.

    The package was touted by both Republicans and Democrats.

    The Senate bills would also provide critical support for veteran medical care, hiring new air traffic controllers, and scientific research programs for the United States’ economic competitiveness with China.

    “This is an outcome both parties can be proud of because we have found a way to put the needs of our country first,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the Senate floor on March 8.

    “Today’s bipartisan agreement gives us momentum and space to finish the remaining appropriation bills by March 22. Of course, it’s going to take both sides working together to keep that momentum alive,” he added.

    “To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise.”

    House Bill

    House Republicans under Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) leadership passed the House funding package on March 7 with bipartisan support from Democrats. The final vote was 339–85, which included two Democrats and 83 Republicans voting in opposition to the spending bills.

    That 1,050-page package of bills from the House funds the same list of departments and government programs as the Senate version.

    However, it also reduces funding for several programs, which Mr. Johnson referred to as “sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda” in a news release on March 3.

    Those include 10 percent spending reductions for the Environmental Protection Agency, a 6 percent reduction for the FBI, and a 7 percent reduction for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

    The bills also include provisions intended to restrain agencies the GOP claims are weaponized against Republicans.

    “This legislation forbids the Department of Justice from targeting parents exercising their right to free speech before school boards, while it blocks the Biden administration from stripping Second Amendment rights from veterans,” Mr. Johnson said on March 3.

    Since many Republicans wanted to do away with funding the government via large omnibus bills, the House Freedom Caucus pushed other GOP members to oppose the package.

    “The House Freedom Caucus opposes the $1.65 trillion omnibus spending bill, which will be decided in two halves, the first being brought to the floor this week under suspension of the rules,” the group said in a March 5 statement.

    “Even in the face of $34 trillion in national debt, the omnibus will bust the bipartisan spending caps signed into law less than a year ago and is loaded with hundreds of pages of earmarks worth billions.”

    Despite the opposition from some Republicans, the passage of these funding bills marks a rare show of bipartisanship in Congress during a contentious primary and general election season.

    Republicans Voice Concerns

    Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), while voicing support for the spending package, also chided Democrats for seeming poised to skip voting on the amendments.

    “I don’t know why we’re having such a hard time figuring out how we deal with amendments around here. It’s just not that hard,” she said.

    “I don’t think that there’s anything out there that should scare any of us about taking an amendment … But the fact that we cannot figure out how to get to a time agreement because the Democrats don’t want to entertain amendments, or they want to direct what amendments we have,” Ms. Murkowski added.

    “I think we can do a little bit better.”

    Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was critical of the spending package, calling it a “pork fest of epic proportions.”

    “It also is sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors,” he added.

    Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), instead, warned her Republican colleagues that delaying the vote would hurt the veterans who need their government benefits the most.

    “I want to offer my colleagues a warning. If we do not act at midnight tonight, we will have a partial government shutdown,” she said.

    “Do we really want a veteran who has bravely and loyally served his country and is now trying to file a claim for benefits to find that the Veterans Benefits Administration’s doors are closed to him or her? Is that what we want to have happen?”

    Continue reading at the Epoch Times.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 21:49

  • DOD Report Shows Proposal To Look Into Reverse-Engineered UAP Craft
    DOD Report Shows Proposal To Look Into Reverse-Engineered UAP Craft

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

    Although the reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial craft has remained within the realm of conspiracy theories, a new report shows that the Department of Defense (DOD) had been asked to consider investigating the issue.

    David Grusch arrives to testify during a hearing titled ‘Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security Public Safety and Government Transparency,’ on Capitol Hill, on July 26, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

    A study by the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)—first reported by Politico—examined unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), commonly referred to as UFOs, from 1945 until the present. The study was released on Friday.

    The report found “no evidence that any [U.S. government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology,” according to The Washington Post.

    According to the report, these alleged alien craft could be written off as “ordinary objects and phenomena, and the result of misidentification.”

    Although the report largely debunked UAP sightings, it found that a program titled “Kona Blue” was proposed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the 2010s, which would have examined the benefits of reverse-engineering recovered extraterrestrial craft.

    According to the report, the proposal was rejected by DHS “for lacking merit” because there was no craft recovered.

    “It is critical to note that no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected, this material was only assumed to exist by Kona Blue advocates and its anticipated contract performers,” the report stated.

    Kona Blue was first declassified in AARO’s report.

    According to AARO’s acting director, Tim Phillips, the program was never approved because no department “possessed any material or information.”

    ‘Misrepresentations’

    Mr. Phillips later attributed the sightings to misrepresentations of popular culture and classified military programs.

    “These are rational people making observations and just relating to what they know,” Mr. Phillips said. “We were able to go back to the program owners in that range and ask, ‘by the way, what were we flying during this week?’ My God, I would have thought it would have been a UAP myself when I actually saw the picture of it.”

    The report contradicts much of what David Grusch, a former intelligence officer turned whistleblower, said throughout 2023 when discussing what the U.S. government knew about extraterrestrial technology.

    He alleged that covert factions within the U.S. government possessed alien craft and bodies.Mr. Grusch, who has been openly critical of AARO, spoke about the UAP Disclosure Act, legislation that was being considered in Congress that could allow for greater transparency regarding what the government knows about UAPs.

    A still from GO FAST, an official U.S. government video of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), taken in 2015. (U.S. Navy)

    According to Mr. Grusch, the legislation was modeled after the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which directed the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to establish the Assassination Records Review Board to collect all records related to the assassination of President Kennedy.

    Though the board never met the expectations of those questioning the official narrative, Mr. Grusch said this bill had more “teeth” to “force the issue.”

    In November 2023, Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) held a press conference in which they vehemently criticized the stalling of the legislation. Some pointed out their issues with the legislation itself, which allows for the collection of UAP records to be disclosed to the public 25 years after the date of record creation unless the president deems such disclosure a threat to national security.

    Most recently, an unclassified report from the Pentagon’s inspector general claimed that the DOD had no “coordinated approach” to investigate the UAP issue. Due to this lack of coordination, the report stated that it left the United States open to external military threats, which compromises national security.

    Maj. Jesse Marcel from the Roswell Army Air Field with debris found 75 miles northwest of Roswell, N.M., in June 1947.  (United States Air Force/AFP/Getty Images)

    Reversed-Engineered Technology

    There have been multiple testimonies of government officials claiming that recovered UAP craft have been reverse-engineered for technological advancement.

    In 1997, Lt. Col. Philip Corso made a striking claim in his memoir “The Day After Roswell.” He alleged that during his tenure as a member of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s National Security Council and as head of the foreign technological desk at the U.S. Army’s Research and Development Department, he led the Army’s reverse-engineering project. This project allegedly utilized recovered technology from the 1947 Roswell crash and disseminated the information to major corporate firms.

    Using the provided information, these firms manufactured “lasers, integrated circuitry, fiber-optics networks, accelerated particle-beam devices, and even the Kevlar material in bulletproof vests,” Lt. Col. Corso wrote.

    The Roswell incident was initially reported as a confirmed recovered flying saucer by the U.S. Army Air Forces before the story was quickly retracted and reported as a fallen weather balloon.

    Caden Pearson contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 21:40

  • New York AG Letitia James Sued For Overriding Transgender Sports Ban
    New York AG Letitia James Sued For Overriding Transgender Sports Ban

    New York Attorney General Letitia James has been sued by a Nassau County executive who has accused her of unconstitutional discrimination for trying to override the county’s decision to block biologically mmale transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference at the Office of the Attorney General in New York on Feb. 16, 2024. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

    The lawsuit was filed by Nassau County official Bruce Blakeman, who said on X that he filed the lawsuit “to protect women’s sports and ensure a safe environment for women.”

    “Bullying of women and girls will not be tolerated!” he added, in response to James’ cease and desist letter and threat to use legal action to force the county to allow trans athletes to compete.

    In a March 5 complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York, Blakeman seeks to block James from overriding his executive order imposing the ban at county-run facilities. Blakeman argues that her C&D violates the constitutional rights of girls and women, while accusing her of “unconstitutionally discriminating against individuals on the basis of gender” in regards to sporting events, The Epoch Times reports.

    “There is a movement for biological males to bully their way into competing in sports or leagues or teams that identify themselves or advertise themselves as girls’ or female or women’s teams or leagues,” Blakeman said during a Feb. 22 press conference.

    “We find that unacceptable. It’s a form of bullying,” he added.

    In response, James demanded that the executive order be revoked – citing a New York law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or “gender identity or expression.”

    More via the Epoch Times;

    A spokesperson for Ms. James’ office told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that it believes Mr. Blakeman’s executive order is “transphobic and discriminatory” and violates New York state law.

    “This is not up for debate: the executive order is illegal, and it will not stand in New York,” the spokesperson said.

    ‘Undeniable’ Biological Differences

    The Nassau County executive order mandates that sports organizations applying for permits in Nassau County facilities must designate teams according to one of three categories: males, men, or boys; females, women, or girls; coed or mixed, including males and females. The criterion for designation is a team member’s biological sex.

    The new rule expressly prohibits the Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums from issuing permits for the use of county facilities for competitions or sports events in which biological males participate in female-designated teams and leagues.

    The department may, however, issue permits for events in which women compete in men’s leagues or events.

    Samantha Goetz, a deputy county attorney who was recently elected as a District 18 legislator, spoke at the Feb. 22 press conference in support of the executive order.

    “This is a matter that concerns the integrity, the fairness, and the safety of women’s sports,” she said. “Our biological differences are undeniable.”

    Ms. Goetz, who played varsity basketball, said the executive order is also about access to opportunity like sports scholarships and, ultimately, it’s about “protecting our female athletes.”

    Mr. Blakeman argued at the press conference that the problem chiefly concerns female-identifying males taking part in women’s sports. He said allowing this poses a safety risk due to female competitors due to men’s generally superior strength and size, while also depriving women of opportunities.

    “What we are saying here today with our executive order is that if a league or team identifies themselves or advertises themselves to be a girls’ or women’s league or team, then biological males should not be competing in those leagues,” he said.

    Mr. Blakeman added that he hoped the move would not be seen as discriminatory. He pointedly stated that transgender athletes are welcome to compete in the co-ed or mixed league or in one that corresponds to their sex but not necessarily their preferred gender identity.

    However, Ms. James didn’t see it that way.

    ‘Blatantly Illegal’

    Ms. James claimed that the executive order violates the rights of men who identify as women, and forces sports teams and leagues to either discriminate against them or find another place to play.

    “The law is perfectly clear: you cannot discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression. We have no room for hate or bigotry in New York,” Ms. James said in a statement.

    “This executive order is transphobic and blatantly illegal,” she continued, adding that if the county doesn’t revoke the order, she’ll take further legal action.

    The issue of men competing in women’s sports has become a highly charged issue, with a number of states adopting laws banning transgender-identifying athletes from participating in school sports.

    While some of these transgender sports bans face legal challenges, an overwhelming majority of Americans say that athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their “birth gender.”

    World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics, recently banned transgender women from competing in women’s events at international competitions.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 21:20

  • House Democrats Press Musk’s SpaceX On Claims Russian Forces Have Starlink Systems
    House Democrats Press Musk’s SpaceX On Claims Russian Forces Have Starlink Systems

    Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    House Democrats are pressing SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk, for answers on allegations coming from Ukrainian intelligence officials that Russian forces are using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service in their ongoing war with Ukraine.

    The antenna of the Starlink satellite-based broadband system is seen in the snow in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Feb. 16, 2023. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)

    On Wednesday, March 6, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent a letter to SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell, calling for her to address how Russian forces may have obtained SpaceX terminals.

    Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX’s constellation of thousands of satellites operating in low Earth orbit. SpaceX began supplying thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine after Russian invasion forces entered the country in February 2022, helping keep Ukraine online even as Russian attacks degraded their existing telecommunications and internet infrastructure.

    Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) first raised concerns about Russian forces using the Starlink service on Feb. 11. GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov stated at the time that Ukrainian intelligence officials had intercepted radio transmissions in which Russian soldiers described widespread use of the satellite internet service around the contested Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

    “This is starting to become systemic,” Mr. Yusov said of Russia’s alleged use of the Starlink service.

    Mr. Musk has denied the allegations, stating, “To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.”

    But Mr. Raskin and Mr. Garcia are continuing to press the question. The two lawmakers noted a report last month by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which said “Russia routinely relies on evasive or deceptive tactics such as the use of third-party intermediaries or transshipment points” to evade U.S. export controls against the country.

    The two lawmakers noted Mr. Musk’s denial, but reiterated Mr. Yusov’s characterization of Russia’s Starlink usage as “systemic.”

    “We are concerned that you may not have appropriate guardrails and policies in place to ensure your technology is neither acquired directly or indirectly, nor used illegally by Russia,” their letter to Ms. Shotwell reads.

    The Democrats called on SpaceX to reveal how many reports or complaints it has received alleging Russian use of the Starlink service, as well as how many of those complaints the company investigated. The lawmakers also pressed SpaceX to explain its review process for such complaints, detail its safeguards against illicit acquisitions of Starlink terminals, what measures SpaceX advises to take when it determines an actor has illicitly acquired a Starlink terminal, and what work SpaceX has taken on its own and with the U.S. federal government to prevent such illicit acquisition and use of Starlink services. The lawmakers called on Ms. Shotwell to provide SpaceX’s response by March 20.

    How Russia May Have Obtained Starlink Terminals

    Not cited in the Democrats’ March 6 letter is a Feb. 13 blog post in which Ukraine’s GUR service posits intermediaries in Arab countries may be facilitating the transfers of Starlink terminals to Russian forces. That blog post describes an audio recording in which a Russian “occupier” is quoted as saying “the Arabs bring everything: wires, Wi-Fi, router… .” According to the GUR blog post, this same Russian individual reportedly went on to say the cost to obtain a Starlink device is 200,000 Russian Rubles (about $2,200).

    While the GUR shared an audio recording in their Feb. 11 blog post, they did not provide the audio recording described in the Feb. 13 blog post, which might provide further clarity about how Starlink terminals may be ending up in Russian hands.

    NTD News reached out to Mr. Raskin and Mr. Garcia’s offices, seeking more details about what evidence is guiding their SpaceX probe. Neither lawmaker’s office responded by press time.

    More than two years on, the war between Russia and Ukraine has seen territory repeatedly change hands. Defense materials, from combat vehicles to weapons systems and items like Starlink terminals, may also see changes in ownership throughout the course of the fighting.

    Among NTD News’ list of questions for Mr. Garcia was whether he and Mr. Raskin had ruled out the possibility that Russian forces had acquired Starlink terminals from defeated Ukrainian troops.

    NTD News also reached out to SpaceX for comment about the possibility of Starlink terminals being captured on the battlefield, as well as evidence it may have of illicit transfers of these terminals through intermediaries. Likewise, SpaceX did not respond by press time.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 21:00

  • Gold Star Dad Arrested After Heckling Biden Over Son's Death In Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal
    Gold Star Dad Arrested After Heckling Biden Over Son’s Death In Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

    President Biden was momentarily distracted from delivery of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, as the father of a Marine killed during the mishandled withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan yelled from the gallery at the top of his lungs, imploring the audience to remember the bloody bombing that took his son’s life. 

    Steven Nikoui shouts at President Biden from the gallery at Thursday’s State of the Union Address (Andrew Harnik/AP via Yahoo News)

    As Biden was at a part of the speech where he was daring to claim that Americans are “safer today than when he took office,” 51-year-old Steven Nikoui bellowed “REMEMBER ABBEY GATE! US MARINES!” He was referring to a gate outside Karzai International Airport where a suicide bomber killed 11 Marines, a Navy corpsman and an Army soldier on August 26, 2021 as the airport was mobbed by people trying to flee the country. Among the dead: Nikoui’s son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, a 22-year-old Californian. 

    In a 2022 interview with Fox News, Nikoui condemned “the carelessness of this administration” and said Biden “hasn’t taken any accountability.” He also called for the resignation of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley. His wife, Shana Chappell, said, “For some reason, [administration officials and generals] want to put the blame on everyone but themselves, but it is actually their fault all of this happened.”   

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    After shouting at Biden, Nikoui was cooperative as US Capitol Police officers asked him to leave and escorted him from the chamber. He was handcuffed and arrested on a misdemeanor District of Columbia charge. “Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in Congressional buildings is illegal,” said Capitol Police in a statement. “This is a routine charge on Capitol Hill. People who illegally demonstrate/disrupt Congress typically are released after they pay a $50 fine, so the misdemeanor charge is resolved without going to court.”

    Marine Lance Cpl Kareem Nikoui outside Karzai International Airport 

    Nikoui was at the address as a guest of Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast, whose two legs and a finger were amputated after he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Valley as he served as a US Army bomb technician supporting a team of Army Rangers.

    It’s not clear if he knew of Nikoui’s intention to disrupt Biden’s speech. Earlier in the day, Mast tweeted a photo of himself with Nikoui and wrote, “Joe Biden may try to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but NOT ON MY WATCH.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 20:55

  • Biden Campaign Chair Says "No Surprise" The President Is Losing Key Voters
    Biden Campaign Chair Says “No Surprise” The President Is Losing Key Voters

    The Biden campaign has admitted to a “shift” among the electorate which has made it no “surprise” that the president is losing key voters to former President Donald Trump, based on a recent New York Times/Siena poll.

    The poll, conducted Feb. 25 – Feb. 28, found that just one out of four registered voters believes “the country is moving in the right direction.” It also showed that Trump has been breaking the Democrat stronghold among women, which are now evenly split.

    Speaking with CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer, campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu first questioned the accuracy of the poll, before seemingly explaining it away as “tectonic shifts.”

    “Well, first of all, I‘m not sure that‘s accurate, but assuming that some of those things are occurring, it‘s not really a big surprise. As you know, because you‘re an expert in political science, there are tectonic shifts going on amongst the electorates.“

    Robot mode: Engage

    He then rattled off a talking point – suggesting that “women in this country understand that Trump has declared war on them by appointing three Supreme Court justices that have reversed Roe versus Wade, that has resulted in Alabama outlawing in vitro fertilization.”

    “Or in Ohio, police officers [having] gone into a woman‘s house to look into a toilet because they’ve now criminalized miscarriages. So now you see a huge swing, as should be expected, of women basically saying, ‘Why is the government in the business of my reproductive health,'” he continued.

    Watch (via the Daily Caller):

    According to Landrieu, Biden will “fight for every vote,” adding “The president’s going to talk about his record, how when he came into office, what he had to deal with, what it is that he put together in a bipartisan way — really, that has been second to none — and then he‘s going to talk about the future. But the bigger point that Joe Biden wants to tell America is that America is worth fighting for, that democracy [is at] risk, and that when we do things together we can do big things.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 20:40

  • Boiling Hard Tap Water Removes Up To 90% Of Microplastics: Study
    Boiling Hard Tap Water Removes Up To 90% Of Microplastics: Study

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

    Boiling tap water is good for more than just killing certain harmful pathogens. It can also destroy contaminants such as microplastics and chemicals, making drinking water safer to drink.

    (Jenn Segal)

    A new research letter published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters indicates that boiling tap water for just five minutes could reduce the amount of microplastics by up to 90 percent. Researchers from Guangzhou Medical University and the Center for Environmental Microplastics Studies in China recommend boiling water in nonplastic electric kettles on gas stoves to remove impurities such as polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene.

    According to the researchers, boiling water has been used since ancient times as a purification method in some Asian countries. “This simple boiling-water strategy can ‘decontaminate’ [nano- and microplastics] from household tap water and has the potential for harmlessly alleviating human intake of [nano- and microplastics] through water consumption,” they wrote.

    Harder Water Captures More Microplastics

    Water of a certain alkalinity and hardness typically produces incrustants—insoluble mineral remnants like calcium carbonate—upon boiling. For the study, the researchers hypothesized that calcium carbonate encounters nanoplastics as it crystallizes in hot water. The calcium carbonate then encapsulates the nanoplastics as it becomes the flaky crust you sometimes see at the bottom of your tea kettle.

    The study showed that boiling hard tap water containing 300 milligrams per liter (mg/L-1) of calcium carbonate reduced nano- and microplastics by nearly 90 percent, while water containing 80 mg/L-1 reduced particles by 84 percent. In soft water samples containing less than 60 mg/L-1 of calcium carbonate, boiling still reduced plastics by over 25 percent.

    The Problem With Millions of Tons of Plastic

    Because of our heavy reliance on plastic, nanoplastics and microplastics are common in groundwater and surface water around the globe. Microplastics are truly everywhere, having been detected as far south as Antarctica and north as the Arctic. These insidious particles have even been detected at the peak of Mt. Everest and down in the Mariana Trench. In fact, plastic comprises the largest portion of marine garbage; according to a 2020 study published in Science of the Total Environment, more than 8 million tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2017. That number represented over 33 times more plastic than the amount that had entered the ocean in 2015, indicating a disturbingly worsening problem.

    As plastic disintegrates, microscopic pieces are released into the environment. Microplastics are typically less than 5 millimeters in size but can break down into even smaller pieces called nanoplastics. Nanoplastics are nearly impossible to see at 1 micrometer in size. The micro and nano pieces have been found in water, air, soil, food, and table salt, according to some studies.

    The health effects of nano- and microplastics haven’t been fully realized. Still, research has suggested that their accumulation in the human body can cause insulin resistance, liver metabolic disorder, DNA damage, organ dysfunction, immune response issues, neurotoxicity, and reproductive harm.

    While the research team only focused on three types of nanoparticles, the discovery is a boon for public health. The team estimated that people who boil their water take in two to five times less nanoplastics than those who do not.

    “Drinking boiled water apparently is a viable long-term strategy for reducing global exposure to [nano- and microplastics],” the research team wrote, adding that it is likely more effective than drinking bottled water, especially bottled in plastic. The average liter-sized bottle of water contains 240,000 pieces of nanoplastic, which is 10 to 100 times more particles than previously thought.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 20:20

  • Rivian Shelves New Georgia Factory In Latest Cost-Cutting Measures 
    Rivian Shelves New Georgia Factory In Latest Cost-Cutting Measures 

    Two weeks after Rivian Automotive Inc. announced a disappointing production forecast and another round of job cuts, the company’s CEO revealed that the construction of a $5 billion factory in Georgia would be put on hold to reduce costs. 

    CEO RJ Scaringe unveiled a crossover EV called the R3. The new model will be priced lower than the R2 to increase affordability and boost sales. 

    Scaringe also surprised investors by announcing its new factory at the Georgia site east of Atlanta would be shelved.

    “Rivian’s Georgia plant remains an extremely important part of its strategy to scale production of R2 and R3. The timing for resuming construction is expected to be later to focus its teams on the capital-efficient launch of R2 in Normal, Illinois,” the filing said. 

    The filing noted that the decision reduced capital expenditures for the automaker by $2.25 billion and “improved cash visibility.”

    “Our Georgia site remains really important to us,” Scaringe said, adding, “It’s core to the scaling across all these vehicles, between R2, R3 and R3X. And we’re so appreciative of all the partnerships we’ve had there.”

    No timetable was provided to investors about restarting work on the Georgia plant. Local governments have offered Rivian $1.5 billion in incentives to create thousands of jobs at the new plant. 

    Rivian’s shares jumped more than 13% on Thursday. In premarket trading in New York on Friday, shares are flat. Year-to-date performance has been awful, down 47%. 

    Short interest has surged in Rivian over the past year. Current data from Bloomberg shows 112.4 million shares short, or about 14.5% of the float is short. 

    Tom Narayan, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, warned in a note this week that Rivian’s financial implications of a lower-priced EV remain uncertain. 

    “Currently, R1 is losing money,” Narayan said, adding, “The critical question is how will Rivian be able to produce R2 profitably at the $45,000 price point?”

    Last month, analyst Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley penned a note titled “Can EV Slowdown Trigger Auto M&A Wave?” 

    “EV sentiment is extremely negative… and will eventually deteriorate further, in our view. Legacy OEMs must find a way to balance EV relevancy with capital discipline. Full OEM mergers are complex, politically sensitive and tough to execute. Could ‘merging’ EV projects be more reasonable?” Jonas said.

    Consolidation is certainly a theme in the EV space this year. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 20:00

  • Victor Davis Hanson: One Angry Biden Lie After Another
    Victor Davis Hanson: One Angry Biden Lie After Another

    Victor Davis Hanson’s calm and reasoned response with Tucker Carlson to President Biden’s SOTU address is worth every second:

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

    But the professor put digital pen to paper in a post on X this afternoon, laying out all the details.

    A demagogic fuming Biden gave another Phantom of the Opera speech blasting conservatives for all the destruction that he has caused and has resulted in his own historic unpopularity.

    All too aware that he was confused and incoherent, his handlers felt that the antidote was to come out barking and bellowing at his imaginary enemies.

    Any Never Trumper who would vote for such a screeching maniac is suicidal. The night’s nadir? Joe, of the Hunter-Biden family consortium, damned the money-grubbing “rich” who “don’t pay their fair share of taxes”—all of this when his own son is now facing multiple felony counts for not paying any income tax at all! And Joe himself has received lots of family money without paying tax on such “loan repayments”.

    In truth, Biden gave the most livid state-of-the-union address in modern memory, a surreal teleprompted rant from a “get off my grass” old man. At points, he started howling at the seated opposition and even called out Supreme Court Justices. Determined not to reveal cognitive decline, Biden instead came late to the podium shouting nonstop, grimacing in reptilian style for over an hour.

    If the planned Adderall-fueled screaming was to prove he was still alive, most would have preferred his drowsy incoherence.

    But mostly the speech was one of abject lies as he either blamed all his disasters on others or claimed they were his greatest achievements.

    Deficits? Why does he think we have high inflation and high interest rates after he took office? The debt was $28 trillion when he came in and now after just 3 years it is nearly $35—and is now growing by $1 trillion every 100 days. At the current rate a two-term Biden presidency would have in aggregate added $22 trillion more to national debt.

    Ukraine? Biden started out with Ukraine, not inflation, not the border, not crime. Does he remember he suspended military aid to Ukraine upon taking office? Does he know that Putin did not invade a neighboring country in just one administration of the last four?  Does he know why? Does he recall his humiliation in Afghanistan that green lighted

    Putin? There are now 700,000 combined casualties in Ukraine and so what is the plan to end our Verdun? Another 6-month-long “spring offensive” against fortified lines?

    Abortion? Biden screamed that the Dobbs decision outlaws abortion and threatens women’s lives when it allows any state to let its own people determine their own laws. Is Trump’s plan to let the states decide and to favor a 16-week ban more sensible than Biden’s abortion on demand that would allow some 5,000-10,000 partial birth or post-21 weeks abortions?

    The Border? Do we remember Mayorkas bragging in detail how Biden rescinded all of Trump executive orders (he listed them by name) to destroy the border and let in 8-10 million illegal aliens? Biden campaigned on just that, calling on illegal aliens  to “surge” the border.

    Inflation? It is up 17% since he took office! Prices of the stuff of life have risen 30%—staple foods, fuel, appliances and care, shelter, mortgages. etc. January 6? In Bidenland a buffoonish afternoon riot now trumps Pearl Harbor—or the 120 days of looting, rioting, violence, death, and injury of summer 2020?

    Gaza? Basically Hamas murders, rapes, tortures, and mutilates1,200 Jews, takes 250 hostages, rapes and murders untold numbers of them, is shielded by civilians beneath mosques, schools, and hospitals, and then the US blames Israel for retaliating. Biden cites bogus Hamas fatality figures, and promises to build a US port on the Gaza coast to pour in massive aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza.

    This furious speech was a preview of the 2024 campaign. The Democratic nominee will run on abortion, January 6, and the ‘booming’ economy, hope leftwing prosecutors can bankrupt or incarcerate Trump, and ensure that in all the swing states 70 percent of the electorate do not vote in person on Election Day.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 19:40

  • From Pioneer To Fallen Giant: How Hewlett Packard's Long List Of Failed Acquisitions Cost Its Reputation
    From Pioneer To Fallen Giant: How Hewlett Packard’s Long List Of Failed Acquisitions Cost Its Reputation

    Part 1 – Billion dollar bungles

    In February, The Sunday Times interviewed the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Antonio Neri. The story highlights that HPE, once a Silicon Valley pioneer, is now a fallen giant, completely eclipsed by the likes of Google, Amazon and Meta.

    Hewlett Packard was one of the very first Palo Alto companies. Indeed, the garage in which Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard began working together in the late 1930s is dubbed “the birthplace of Silicon Valley”. The two electrical engineering graduates from Stanford University initially produced sound equipment for Walt Disney Studios.

    The HP garage, famous for being the epicenter of a technology revolution.

    Fast forward to the end of the 1990s, Hewlett Packard was a global company, known primarily for its personal computers and printers. It employed over 80,000 people, generating $48bn in net revenues, and had a market capitalization in excess of $17 billion.

    Yet in the first decade of the 21st century, things began to go badly wrong for HP. It went through four CEOs from 2005 – 2011. Its reputation and its share price took a battering to the extent that it has never recovered its standing.

    In his interview, Mr Neri acknowledges that the company lost its direction and failed to capitalize on trends like cloud, IoT and infrastructure. Mr Neri’s first big move was to acquire a company called Juniper Networks, described by The Sunday Times as “audacious”. HPE’s stock has fallen 15 per cent in the weeks since the deal was announced. “It’s a defining moment for the company and for me as a leader,” says Mr Neri, HPE’s biggest deal since the Compaq merger of 2002.

    The Juniper deal brings more than faint echoes of the ghosts of HP acquisitions past. A bullish leader keen to make a big strategic play coupled with investor skepticism has been a repeat story for the company.

    HP’s track record in acquisitions over the last two decades makes for painful reading. From the early 2000s, the company’s history is pock-marked with bungled acquisitions. The purchases of Compaq, Electronic Data Systems, Palm and Autonomy completely failed, caused internal turmoil and provoked shareholder outrage.

    It is worth revisiting these stories to show where HP went so badly wrong and to underline that Mr Neri would be wise not to gloss over the case history of his company’s failed M&A.

    Let’s start with the Compaq deal in 2001.

    At the time, Hewlett Packard under the leadership of Carly Fiorina, who had been in post since 1999. HP had entered a period of struggles, with stock in decline and failed attempts to grow its services business. In September 2001, it agreed to buy Compaq for US$24.2 billion. The aim was to create a giant capable of competing with IBM, Dell and Gateway.

    The investment community did not react well, plainly unconvinced by Fiorina’s vision. In the two days after the announcement, HP’s share price dropped 21.5%. Analysts could not see the logic in a high-margin printer business purchasing a company that was barely eking out a profit in personal computers. The $24.2 billion price tag was thought to be far too high in any case.

    Opposition spread to HP’s shareholders. Remarkably, the sons of the two founders personally fought against the deal. Walter Hewlett saw that personal computers were low-margin and posed a risk to HP. David W. Packard, meanwhile, voiced concern about the number of expected lay-offs – totalling 9,000. He thought such a move ran totally counter to HP’s long-established values and would have appalled his father and Bill Hewlett.

    In the event, shareholders did agree to the deal, but only by a wafer-thin margin of 2.8%. Claims of vote-buying involving Deutsche Bank flew around immediately after the vote, which further sullied the Compaq purchase. The SEC later fined Deutsche Bank $750,000 for “failing to disclose a material conflict of interest in its voting of client proxies” during the deal.

    The view in the aftermath was that HP did indeed pay far too much for Compaq. This article in the Inquirer from 2003 analyses the financial performance after the deal, summarising that the virtues of the deal that HP peddled had not, at that point, materialised in a meaningful way.

    By 2005, a full three years after the deal, the promised profits and shareholder returns were still not there. HP’s stock was still lagging far behind IBM and Dell and so Carly Fiorina was ousted in February of that year. She herself admitted that “buying Compaq hasn’t paid off for HP’s investors. And there’s no easy way out.”

    The acquisition of Palm in 2010 was another catastrophe.

    HP’s then CEO, Mark Hurd, was hugely enthusiastic about the deal to buy Palm for $1.2 billion. At the time, Palm was already struggling to compete with emerging smartphone giants like Apple, which had released the iPhone in 2007.

    HP’s press release about the deal stated it would make the company a player in a fast-growing segment “with Palm’s innovative webOS platform and family of smartphones”. Hurd saw it as a way to diversify from the printer business. However, CFO Cathie Lesjak didn’t share his view and HP never committed the amount of investment into Palm required to make its new products a success.

    To make matters worse, in August 2010, mere months after the deal, Mark Hurd suddenly resigned amid misconduct allegations. Hurd was the primary advocate and driver for a thorough integration of Palm, in particular webOS, into the HP business. With him gone, the odds of the integration being carried out successfully were drastically cut.

    The HP TouchPad – a tablet device that Hurd had wanted created with Palm’s technology – was released in 2011. It was a consumer flop of epic proportions. A review on The Verge said, “the stability and smoothness of the user experience is not up to par with the iPad… coupled with the minuscule number of quality apps available at launch make this a bit of a hard sell right now.”

    It took only six weeks after the launch of the TouchPad for Hurd’s successor, Leo Apotheker, to kill it. The company discontinued the device and ripped up all plans for  similar consumer hardware products.  

    In 2011, HP wrote down US$1.67bn following its decision to wind down the device business – $0.4bn more than it paid for Palm. As AllThingsDigital put it “that was $1.2 billion well spent…”

    The story of the Electronic Data Systems (EDS) acquisition was primarily one of poor integration and bad management.

    In May 2008, HP bought EDS for $13.9bn. The aim was to bolster HP’s IT services business.

    HP’s major misstep was to lay off so many talented people who had worked at EDS. There was a culture clash, too. As one executive present during the integration told Computer Weekly years after the deal, “EDS had its problems… but their attitude was to deliver exceptional customer service. HP was of the attitude that ‘if we are big enough, we set the standard’.”

    In the same piece, EDS’ former financial services division head said HP fixated on short-term revenues rather than building long-term customer relationships. The loss of EDS staff compounded this issue, as they held strong customer relationships built up over time. Another analyst told the FT that what happened to EDS was a “travesty”.

    The conclusion of the EDS story was not a pretty one. In August 2012, HP announced it was taking an $8bn write-down of its services business, dominated by the former EDS. One analyst said: “the charge for EDS shows what a mess that acquisition was.”

    EDS was a case of poor integration, but the acquisition of Autonomy was on another level. It highlights the violent lurches between hardware, software and services in HP’s strategy during the first few years of the 2000s. It underlines the weak position HP was in and the boardroom dramas that had become commonplace. And it proved to be the most controversial of all of HP’s ill-fated purchases, resulting in more than a decade of litigation.

    *  *  *

    In the next article in the series, we’ll look at the origin of the deal and how it unravelled, causing the downfall of Leo Apotheker.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 19:20

  • DC Court Greenlights Flurry Of Jan. 6 Lawsuits Against Trump
    DC Court Greenlights Flurry Of Jan. 6 Lawsuits Against Trump

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia has issued an order allowing three Jan. 6 lawsuits to proceed against former President Donald Trump after a court rejected his assertion of presidential immunity.

    Former President Donald Trump sits in New York State Supreme Court during the civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization, in New York City on Jan. 11, 2024. (Peter Foley/AFP via Getty Images)

    A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order on March 8, allowing the three consolidated appeals to be “removed from abeyance” and approving motions for summary affirmance, meaning removing a temporary hold on the cases and allowing them to proceed.

    The lawsuits that are now allowed to proceed are Moore v. Trump, Kirkland v. Trump, and Tabron v. Trump.

    In all three civil suits, law enforcement officers are seeking damages based on the premise that President Trump incited a mob to storm the Capitol, leading to a violent incident in which they sustained various injuries and suffered harm, including emotional distress.

    President Trump has denied calling for violence on Jan. 6, pointing to remarks he made encouraging his supporters to demonstrate “peacefully and patriotically.”

    ‘Matters of Public Concern’

    The judges noted in their March 8 order that the merits of the three parties’ positions “are so clear as to warrant summary action,” and that the cases can proceed based on a Dec. 1 appeals court decision in Blassingame v. Trump that President Trump is not immune to lawsuits over the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

    In Blassingame v. Trump, the former president’s attorneys had argued that he should be granted immunity because his alleged actions around Jan. 6 amounted to official speech on “matters of public concern.”

    The judges’ reasoning in that case was that the former president’s actions leading up to and on Jan. 6 were part of his campaign for a second term in the White House and not an official presidential act.

    “In arguing that he is entitled to official-act immunity in the cases before us, President Trump does not dispute that he engaged in his alleged actions up to and on January 6 in his capacity as a candidate. But he thinks that does not matter,” U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, appointed under President Barack Obama, wrote in the Dec. 1 ruling.

    “Rather, in his view, a president’s speech on matters of public concern is invariably an official function, and he was engaged in that function when he spoke at the January 6 rally and in the leadup to that day. We cannot accept that rationale.”

    Later, a similar order denying presidential immunity in Jan. 6 cases was issued on Dec. 29, in a lawsuit filed in 2021 by Capitol Police veteran Conrad Smith and seven of his colleagues.

    “On appeal, the only question is whether President Trump has demonstrated his entitlement to official-act immunity,” reads the Dec. 29 order, which was signed by a three-judge panel consisting of Judge Srinivasan and Judges Judith Rogers and Gregory Katsas.

    The judges in that case laid out a similar rationale for denying President Trump’s argument that he should be protected from liability because his statements and actions on Jan. 6 amounted to making statements that are of concern to the public.

    “That argument fails” because President Trump’s commentary and actions around Jan. 6 bear “no inherent connection to the essential distinction between official and unofficial acts” because they were not part of his official duties to share “matters of public concern,” the judges wrote, concluding he’s ineligible for presidential immunity.

    In the Dec. 29 ruling, the judges also cited the Blassingame v. Trump judgment and said the case brought by Mr. Smith and his colleagues is “indistinguishable” in all relevant aspects, so they issued what amounts to an identical determination that President Trump is not immune from civil lawsuits related to Jan. 6.

    A request for comment on the Dec. 29 judgment sent to the Trump campaign was not returned before press time.

    The former president is entitled to request a rehearing before a full panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the immunity case. He could also appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    However, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear President Trump’s appeal in a separate federal criminal case alleging election interference, which was brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

    President Trump’s appeal in this case also claims immunity, with the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments during the week of April 22.

    A determination on presidential immunity by the Supreme Court could have implications for the lawsuits that the District of Columbia appeals court just allowed to proceed.

    ‘Peacefully and Patriotically’

    Even though President Trump said in his Jan. 6 speech that protesters should “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” his critics have seized on a portion of his remarks where he said “we fight like hell” and “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Critics claim this was a call for violence.

    The former president has, on numerous occasions, denied calling for violent protests while insisting he meant his remarks about fighting like hell metaphorically.

    Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at a hotel after attending a hearing before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals at the federal courthouse in Washington on Jan. 9, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

    In one of the Jan. 6 cases against the former president, Smith v. Trump, the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Smith and seven of his colleagues, arguing that President Trump deliberately incited violence against members of Congress and law enforcement officers whose duty was to protect them.

    President Trump has rejected the claim that he in any way incited violence on Jan. 6, 2021, pointing to remarks he made that called for demonstrators to protest peacefully. In a bid to dismiss the lawsuit, his attorneys argued that the complaint should be tossed because he, as president, was eligible for immunity.

    The court rejected President Trump’s bid to have the case dismissed, however, leading eventually to the Dec. 29 judgment that his remarks on Jan. 6 were not official acts as president, so the immunity shield doesn’t apply.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 19:00

  • JP Morgan Looked To Acquire Discover Before Capital One
    JP Morgan Looked To Acquire Discover Before Capital One

    Maybe this is why Elizabeth Warren was so quick to protest the Capital One/Discover merger…

    In an open letter out days ago Sen. Elizabeth Warren was quick to urge regulators to block the pending Capital One/Discover merger. In her letter, penned alongside other anti-corporate members of congress like AOC and Ro Khanna, she wrote that: “To protect consumers and financial stability, we urge you to block this merger and strengthen your proposed policy statement to prevent harmful deals in the future.” 

    “This merger announcement comes less than a week after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new report revealing the impact of credit card industry consolidation on consumers,” the lawmakers wrote. “According to the report, large banks charge higher interest rates than small credit card issuers, with ‘[n]early half of the largest credit card issuers’ — including Capital One — ‘offering cards with a maximum purchase APR over 30%,” her letter says. 

    It continues: “Additionally, Capital One and Discover have concerning track records of mistreating customers and compliance failures. The lawmakers noted that in 2012, the CFPB ordered Capital One to refund $140 million to 2 million consumers with low credit scores and low credit limits who were misled into paying for costly add-on products. In 2023, Discover was required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to address ‘violations of, and consumer harm related to’ various consumer financial laws.”

    And now, speaking of compliance failures, PYMNTS and FT have reported that JP Morgan was actually the first bank to try and make a deal for Discover. 

    J.P. Morgan Chase considered acquiring Discover Financial before Capital One finalized a $35 billion deal for the company, the report says. The bank explored the acquisition for about a year to expand beyond traditional card networks but abandoned the plan due to challenges, including convincing Discover and facing regulatory hurdles.

    “This would’ve been a truly company-changing deal,” a source told FT. 

    Sources told FT that Dimon’s firm started looking at its bid for the company in the middle of 2021, but a year later has abandoned plans, as it was unable to convince Discover of the plan. 

    Capital One’s acquisition of Discover, announced last month, aims to create a global payments network. This move could significantly impact the banking sector, especially in catering to Americans living paycheck to paycheck, a demographic that represents a large portion of the population across various income levels. The deal’s approval by regulators remains uncertain, with concerns about market concentration in the card issuing and payment networks sectors.

    And call us curious, but we can’t help but wonder what Sen. Warren’s take would have been if her crypto loathing pal Jamie Dimon had been first to make a play at Discover…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 18:40

  • You Have Got To Be Kidding Me…?
    You Have Got To Be Kidding Me…?

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    By the time you are done reading this article, you may be tempted to tear your hair out.  A substantial portion of the U.S. population is deeply struggling in our current economic environment, but instead of focusing on helping Americans that are hurting, homeless and hungry, our leaders are going to great lengths to make things better for those that have no legal right to be in this country.  Our priorities are way out of whack, and U.S. voters are fed up.  Immigration has become the hottest political issue during this campaign season, but many of our politicians still don’t seem to understand why so many of us are so frustrated with what has been going on.

    Let me give you some examples of what I am talking about.

    It is being reported that more than half of all Americans over the age of 65 “are living on incomes of $30,000 or less a year”…

    And, for some, the retirement crisis is already here. Just over half of Americans over the age of 65 are living on incomes of $30,000 or less a year, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The largest share — just under 23% — have incomes between $10,000 and $19,999.

    Millions of elderly Americans are barely surviving at this point.

    Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been flying hundreds of thousands of migrants that have no legal right to be here directly into the country…

    It means that while record numbers of migrants were flowing over the southern border last year, the Biden White House was also directly transporting them into the country.

    Use of a cell phone app has allowed for the near undetected arrival by air of 320,000 aliens with no legal rights to enter the United States.

    It comes after a controversy over a 2022 transportation program in which the administration used taxpayers money to move migrants throughout the country on overnight flights.

    You have got to be kidding me.

    Let me give you another example.

    Since 2020, the income needed “to comfortably afford a home in the US” has gone up by 80 percent…

    According to Zillow, the income needed to comfortably afford a home in the US has leapt 80% since 2020, far exceeding what the BLS reports has been a 23% increase in median household income over the same period.

    The real estate website found home buyers today need to make more than $106,000 a year, up $47,000 from 2020, a change driven largely by higher prices and borrowing costs.

    “Housing costs have soared over the past four years as drastic hikes in home prices, mortgage rates and rent growth far outpaced wage gains,” said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow.

    But instead of doing something about that, politicians in California actually want to provide interest-free home loans with no down payment required to newly arrived migrants…

    Assembly Bill 1840 would change existing law to allow illegal immigrants to be eligible for the California Dream for All Fund, which provides interest-free loans for a down payment on a home for first-time buyers.

    The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, a Democrat, who last month told GV Wire, a Fresno-based news outlet, that he “wanted to ensure that qualified first-time homebuyers include undocumented applicants.”

    You have got to be kidding me.

    Don’t stop reading now, because there is more.

    On Thursday, we learned that the number of layoffs in the U.S. last month was the highest total that we have seen during February since 2009…

    The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated in February, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.

    That is according to a new report published Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 84,638 job cuts in February, a 3% increase from the previous month and a 9% jump from the same time last year.

    It marked the highest layoff total for the month of February in data going back to 2009.

    That is terrible news.

    But instead of finding jobs for American workers, New York Governor Kathy Hochul wants to “prioritize” hiring newly arrived migrants for state jobs…

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul is pushing a plan to prioritize hiring illegal aliens for state jobs by eliminating certain requirements like the civil service exam and high school diploma.

    The aim is to expedite the process for illegal immigrants to secure state jobs once they have work permits.

    You have got to be kidding me.

    Last but not least, let’s talk about what is going on in Washington right now.

    In preparation for the State of the Union address, a “large steel fence” was being put up around the U.S. Capitol…

    Ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this evening – what concerns do the political elites on Capitol Hill have that require security crews to erect a large steel fence around the immediate perimeter of the Capitol Complex?

    In several posts on X, FOX News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram said the steel, grated 12-foot fence around the Capitol Complex was erected on Wednesday night on the orders of the Secret Service.

    Apparently our leaders in Washington have no problem with being protected by walls.

    Unfortunately, our southern border has been left wide open and it is being estimated that approximately 10 million migrants have come pouring into this nation since Joe Biden entered the White House…

    The number of illegal immigrants in the country has roughly doubled under President Biden. The United States had some 10.2 million illegal immigrants in 2020, and another 10 million have entered during Biden’s presidency. If the 20 million illegal immigrants were all in one state, it would be tied with New York for the fourth most populated state.

    And here’s even worse news. If Biden wins a second term in office and there is no serious reform of U.S. immigration and asylum laws — both of which are very real possibilities — we can expect a continuing increase in the rate of immigrants crossing the border illegally.

    You have got to be kidding me.

    We already have tens of millions of people that are deeply suffering in this country.

    To allow millions more to come marching in doesn’t make any sense at all.

    We can’t even afford to take care of the people that we already have.  We are completely broke, and we have been adding another trillion dollars to the national debt about every 100 days.

    We are literally committing national suicide, but most of our politicians don’t seem alarmed by this at all.

    *  *  *

    Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/08/2024 – 18:20

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Mar 08

Today’s News 8th March 2024

  • Ex-Google Engineer Arrested, Charged With Stealing AI Trade Secrets For China
    Ex-Google Engineer Arrested, Charged With Stealing AI Trade Secrets For China

    Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A former Google software engineer has been indicted on charges of stealing artificial intelligence-related trade secrets while working for Chinese competitors seeking to gain an edge in the AI race.

    Google Cloud’s logo is pictured at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry’s biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on Feb. 27, 2024. (Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images)

    Linwei Ding, a Chinese national who also goes by Leon, was charged by a federal grand jury in San Francisco with four counts of trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He was arrested on March 6 morning in California’s Newark city, where he lives.

    The 38-year-old allegedly stole over 500 files containing confidential information between May 2022 and May 2023, including detailed information about the hardware infrastructure and software platforms allowing Google’s supercomputing data centers to train large AI models through machine learning, according to the indictment.

    Within weeks after Mr. Ding began the theft activity, the indictment said, an early-stage Chinese company with a focus on AI offered to make him its chief technology officer. The position came with a monthly salary of around $14,800 with an annual bonus and company stock.

    That late October, Mr. Ding traveled to China and stayed there until the following March, participating in investor meetings to raise capital for the firm, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Technology.

    In May 2023, he founded an AI start-up in Shanghai.

    “We have experience with Google’s ten-thousand-card computational power platform; we just need to replicate and upgrade it—and then further develop a computational power platform suited to China’s national conditions,” he stated in a document promoting his company on the China-based social media platform WeChat.

    He also tasked another Google employee to scan his access badge on three separate days in December 2023 to create the impression that he was working from the U.S. Google office when, in fact, he was in China, the Google investigators found after examining surveillance footage.

    Mr. Ding initially managed to evade Google’s detection by copying the Google data into the Apple Notes application on his Google-issued MacBook then converting it into PDF to upload into his personal Google Cloud account.

    But in December 2023, when he uploaded additional files from the Google network to another personal account while in China, Google became suspicious.

    He then told a Google investigator that he had intended to use the information as evidence of the work that he had conducted at Google, according to the indictment.

    Mr. Ding didn’t disclose either of his affiliations with China-based firms with Google, prosecutors said.

    Less than a week later, he booked a one-way ticket to Beijing slated to depart on Jan. 7. He then resigned from Google on Dec. 26.

    Google retrieved Mr. Ding’s Google laptop and mobile device from his home the day before his planned departure on Jan. 4.

    Stealing US Innovation

    Items are displayed in the Google Store at the Google Visitor Experience in Mountain View, Calif., on Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

    Attorney General Merrick Garland disclosed the details of the case at an American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.

    “We will fiercely protect sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those who should not have them,” he said.

    FBI director Christopher Wray said the charges were “the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation.”

    “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences,” he said in a statement.

    The interagency Disruptive Technology Strike Force that partook in the case was set up by the Departments of Justice and Commerce last year with an eye on threats of China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party exploiting U.S. innovations for its military development.

    Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a speech last month said that AI is a top priority for the task force, describing it as the “ultimate disruptive technology.”

    Mr. Wray, in a late February national security conference, also warned about the danger of generative AI in “making it easier for both more and less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence” and interference with the U.S. political process.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 23:40

  • House Judiciary Panel Report Exposes Massive Government Surveillance Of Americans’ Financial Data
    House Judiciary Panel Report Exposes Massive Government Surveillance Of Americans’ Financial Data

    Authored by Stephen Katte via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Biden administration has been accused by the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government of conducting unlawful “broad” surveillance of citizens’ private financial data without a warrant and with no evidence of any crimes being committed by the individuals.

    House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in Washington on Nov. 7, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    In a new interim report released on March 6, and an accompanying press release, the committee claims to have uncovered “startling evidence,” proving the federal government pried into the private transactions of American consumers without specific evidence of any criminal conduct.

    According to the report, federal law enforcement, including the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the FBI, colluded with large financial institutions in the United States, such as Barclays, U.S. Bank, Charles Schwab, HSBC, Bank of America, PayPal, and many others in what boiled down to a “fishing expedition for Americans’ financial data.”

    “Tactics included keyword filtering of transactions, targeting terms like MAGA and TRUMP, as well as purchases of books, religious texts, firearms-related items, and recreational stores, like Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, and Dick’s Sporting Goods,” the report said.

    “This surveillance extended beyond criminal suspicion, likely encompassing millions of Americans with conservative viewpoints or Second Amendment interests.”

    Led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee said FinCEN characterized these Americans as potential threats and subject to surveillance despite these transactions having no criminal nexus.

    Surveillance Targets Identified Using General Terms

    The interim report also detailed the existence of a web portal run by the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), a public-private partnership led by the FBI’s Office of Private Sector and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

    “This portal appears to have shared intelligence products with financial institutions that were used to identify individuals who fit the profile of criminal and domestic violent extremists, often because of their conservative political views or other constitutionally protected activity,” the committee said.

    “Federal law enforcement used these reports and other materials they shared with financial institutions to commandeer their databases and conduct sweeping searches of individuals not suspected of committing any crimes, without a warrant, in order to identify individuals making certain suspicious transactions.”

    Other surveillance targets were identified using other terms and specific transactions that concerned core political and religious expression.

    According to the report, law enforcement “derisively viewed American citizens,” who expressed opposition to firearm regulations, open borders, COVID-19 lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the “deep state” as potential domestic terrorists.

    “In other words, according to the FBI, an American citizen’s opposition to firearm regulations, open borders, or COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates, all of which are viewpoints protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, feed into an existing narrative many Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE) actors subscribe to regarding the U.S. government’s exercise of power,” the report said.

    “Put another way, expressing a belief in the existence of the deep state, support for typical conservative policies with respect to firearms or immigration, or doubt about the conventional narrative may result in an individual being labeled by the FBI as a DVE Actor and Likely to Pose an Increasing Threat.”

    The committee labeled it “disturbing” that the country’s most powerful law enforcement agency would consider views widely held by millions of Americans to be signs of DVE.

    Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Washington on Feb. 15, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    Helping Law Enforcement Find Jan 6 Protestors

    Earlier this year, the Treasury Department admitted to helping law enforcement identify and arrest people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. It urged banks to comb through customers’ private transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump.”

    In January, allegations were also leveled at FinCEN, claiming the agency engaged in “pervasive financial surveillance” by circulating materials to banks that listed keywords that could be used to flag private financial transactions of potential Jan. 6 suspects. The materials also allegedly included instructions for banks to use indicators, including “the purchase of books” and subscriptions to media containing “extremist views.”

    “Federal law enforcement agencies, including FinCEN and the FBI, treated lawful transactions as suspicious and shared information with financial institutions through backdoor channels, often circulating materials exhibiting a clear animus towards conservative viewpoints,” the committee report said.

    “In addition, FinCEN and the FBI relied on Zoom discussions, private and online government-run portals, as well as sweeping searches of financial institutions’ records to conduct its investigation. Given the important civil liberties at stake, federal law enforcement’s overreach and political bias is alarming.”

    Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump are seen from behind scaffolding as they gather outside the U.S. Capitol’s Rotunda in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

    Further revelations from the report reveal that FinCEN relied heavily on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for guidance on what “relevant terms” and symbols could relate to racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE), which they say may “have application to the capitol riots and related activity.”

    The report calls the ADL a “notorious anti-conservative activist group” and says hate symbols” that ADL recommended monitoring included the “Celtic Cross,” the “Okay Hand Gesture,” “Pepe the Frog,” and “White Lives Matter.”

    The committee said it “should alarm Americans that FinCEN approved of and distributed a link to a database that considers symbols of faith such as the Christian Celtic Cross and other images opposing Antifa, a violent left-wing anarchist group, as hate symbols.”

    “This practice is reminiscent of the FBI’s disdain for ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholics,’ and the FBI’s reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center another far-left activist group as an authoritative source on the Catholic Church,” the report said.

    The Epoch Times has contacted the FBI, Treasury Department, and the White House for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 23:00

  • Biden Mulls Tapping US Army's Own Funds In Scramble To Arm Ukraine
    Biden Mulls Tapping US Army’s Own Funds In Scramble To Arm Ukraine

    The Biden White House is so desperate to provide further immediate funding to Ukraine, with the House still firmly blocking the sought after $60+ billion, that it is considering a move to try and tap $200 million from US Army funding.

    While $200 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the total Ukraine aid still being sought, it would be hugely symbolic, showing that Biden is ultimately willing to put Ukraine’s defenses first – while taking from America’s domestic defense budget to do it.

    Drawing on Pentagon reserves would free up funds to replenish critically low supplies at a moment Ukraine is by and large retreating from front lines in the east, however, Bloomberg has reported that the final decision hasn’t been made yet.

    Bloomberg noted that the “Debate over utilizing a small amount of Pentagon reserves underscores the furious effort at the White House to find any possible support for Ukraine.”

    “The White House is focused on urging the US House to pass the national security supplemental, and aides continue to believe that if the speaker were to put the bill to a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said,” the report added. Biden renewed his call during Thursday night’s State of the Union address.

    Meanwhile, some small European nations are stepping up in an attempt to fill a huge gap in the wake of the US arms stoppage.

    “A Czech-led plan to buy 800,000 rounds of ammunition for Ukraine to fight Russia’s invading forces has secured enough funding, with contributions from 18 countries,” Czech President Petr Pavel described Thursday.

    According to more from Reuters, “The most pressing need for Ukraine two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion began has become artillery ammunition, which is running low as the sides use heavy cannon fire to hold largely static, entrenched positions along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front line.”

    The European Union a year ago promised to deliver one million ammunition rounds by now but has failed to do it, as European defense companies are being pleaded with by EU government leaders to expand infrastructure and production.

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

    Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Zelensky is still pledging ‘victory’ against Russia, but he’s still recently admitted that his forces are running woefully low on weapons and ammunition, and that if more ammo doesn’t come from the US “within a month” – it will spell disaster for Ukraine’s efforts to pushback the invasion.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 22:40

  • Israel To Take 'More Aggressive' Stance Against Russia To Curry Favor With US
    Israel To Take ‘More Aggressive’ Stance Against Russia To Curry Favor With US

    Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

    Israel isn’t planning to send early warning systems to Ukraine out of solidarity but is really trying to curry more favor with the US as its war with Hamas reaches the endgame, though Tel Aviv is disguising its true intentions as a signal of displeasure with Moscow’s balancing act between Israel and Hamas.

    Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN announced late last month that his country is “working to provide Ukraine with early warning systems”, which was followed by a hardline lawmaker promising that “Israel will take a more aggressive stance against Russia.” This came after the new Israeli Ambassador to Russia caused a scandal in early February by misportraying Russia’s regional policy, which readers can learn more about in this analysis here that hyperlinks to nearly two dozen relevant pieces about it.

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted to this development by lamenting “The fact that people in the region, especially Israeli politicians, perceive and follow the path imposed on them by the ‘exceptionalists’ – the US”, which has “exacerbated and brought closer this catastrophic situation in the region, given it an eerie momentum, provoked it.” Although Israel is still legally considered a “friendly” country by Russia, that could soon change depending on what it does.

    So long as it refrains from sending offensive arms, however, then it might not make that list. Even if it does, then Russia might still keep it off of there for now in order to explore whether diplomacy can result in reaching a “new normal” between them before tensions spiral out of control, similar in spirit to why Russia didn’t designate Turkiye despite it sending Ukraine attack drones. Relations with Ankara remained manageable and mutually beneficial for the most part so ties with Tel Aviv might end up the same way.

    Nevertheless, this shift in Israel’s approach towards NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine – which is already an undeclared but limited hot war after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inadvertently revealed that Western troops are secretly on the ground there – isn’t being done out of solidarity with Kiev. Rather, it superficially appears to due to Israel’s displeasure with Russia’s balancing act between it and Hamas but is really an attempt by Tel Aviv to curry favor with Washington as its war with Hamas reaches the endgame.

    Two detailed reports from American media in late November can be interpreted as an evolution of the Biden Administration’s pressure campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. The Washington Post informed their audience how he let Qatar fund Hamas, while the New York Times claimed that Israel was allegedly aware of Hamas’ sneak attack plans more than a year before its early October sneak attack. Both are damning and could fuel more protests against him once the conflict ends.

    About those, the Biden Administration was already implicated in the unprecedented nationwide ones that rocked Israel last spring, which were analyzed here as being motivated by its ruling liberal-globalists’ ideological opposition to the self-professed Jewish State’s conservative-nationalist government. Anticipating a repeat of those events upon the conclusion of another ceasefire ahead of Ramadan, it’s very possible that Bibi sought to preempt more meddling by agreeing to send those systems to Ukraine.

    In his mind, this desperate move could potentially alleviate some of the expected grassroots pressure upon him in that scenario by influencing the US to exercise a greater degree of self-restraint by not involving itself as much in any forthcoming round of Color Revolution unrest. The public pretext upon which these early warning systems are being sent is Israel’s displeasure with Russia’s balancing act between it and Hamas in order to deflect scrutiny from his real motives.

    After all, there’s no credence to the claim that Russia supported Hamas’ sneak attack, whether militarily or politically. The Kremlin has repeatedly condemned it as an act of terrorism but also condemned Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinians in response. Moscow’s hosting of Hamas’ political wing is solely intended to revive peace talks and secure the release of the hostages, the latter task of which “is under the personal control of the president of the Russian Federation” according to a senior diplomat.

    However much Israel might dislike this policy due to its desire that all countries take its side over Hamas’ per the zero-sum choice that it’s pressured them to make, this could continue to be conveyed through conventional diplomatic means instead of escalating matters by unilaterally sending such systems to Kiev. The reason why Israel’s export of this early warning equipment is so concerning to Russia is because it could lead to “mission creep” whereby air defense systems and possibly offensive arms soon follow.  

    Any significant Israeli-backed improvement of Ukraine’s air defense capabilities could lead to a symmetrical Russian-backed improvement of Syria’s, though this analysis here argues that Moscow won’t risk a wider war to stop Tel Aviv’s increasingly frequent strikes against Damascus. At any rate, these two might slip into a dangerous security dilemma since each might accuse the other of obstructing their strikes against what they consider to be legitimate military targets in those neighboring nations.

    The consequences could see Russia and Israel ramping up their respective strikes in Ukraine and Syria so as to more effectively break through these new defenses there. That won’t change the military-strategic dynamics of the Ukrainian Conflict but could risk a worsening of the West Asian Crisis if Iran feels comfortable enough to attack Israel from Syria under its host’s Russian-supplied umbrella. In that event, Israel could either react with a ground operation or might even launch one preemptively.

    From Bibi’s self-interested political perspective, widening the war to Syria in any ground or special forces capacity could perpetuate the West Asian Crisis to his domestic and international benefit. On the home front, he’ll likely be able to exploit that move to remain in power and avoid (possibly politically driven) corruption charges, while the foreign one could see the US alleviating potentially impending Color Revolution pressure upon him due to Israel more directly containing Iran in Syria per their joint interests.

    It’s unclear whether he’s gamed everything out this far, and even if he did, it can’t be taken for granted that events will evolve in that direction and not be offset by some hitherto unpredictable variables. Regardless of whatever his plans may be and however far he’s looking into the future, the fact of the matter is that Israel’s partial compliance with the US’ anti-Russian demands risks ruining ties with Moscow, and this could quickly reverberate throughout West Asia depending on the scenario trajectory.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 22:20

  • Pro-Choice Democrats Fight To Make Abortion The Only Option
    Pro-Choice Democrats Fight To Make Abortion The Only Option

    Authored by Marrjorie Dannenfelser via RealClear Wire,

    At the State of the Union address this week, President Biden and the Democrats intend to leverage a tragic situation involving a woman who suffered a medical emergency during her pregnancy in order to advance their own abortion agenda. My heart goes out to this mother and any other mother experiencing a similar situation. It is heartbreaking to lose a child under any circumstances. But while President Biden exploits this tragedy for political gain, one critical piece of information you won’t hear during his address is that all state pro-life protections have provisions to protect mothers experiencing medical emergencies.

    Unfortunately, Biden and the Democrats think it is more politically expedient to scare women into believing they cannot access the care that they need than to roll up their sleeves and help the majority who want to parent. Peer-reviewed research found nearly 70% of post-abortive women describe their abortions as inconsistent with their own values and preferences, with one in four describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced. What are Biden and the Democrats doing to address this epidemic? They are peddling ever more abortion for any reason, past the point at which unborn children can feel pain and indeed at any time during a pregnancy. Theirs is North Korea and China-style abortion policy – and it utterly fails to align with the compassion and aid Americans desire for women facing difficult pregnancies.

    Meanwhile, the pro-life community has quietly built a vast network of charitable organizations across the nation that exist to address the needs of pregnant women who want to keep their babies but lack resources. In 2022 alone, pregnancy resource centers met with clients over 16 million times and delivered services with an estimated total value of at least $358 million. They saw almost 975,000 new clients and provided pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parenting education programs, baby diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, and much more – all at no cost. These pregnancy resource centers not only meet the material needs of women, they can quite literally save their lives.

    That is what happened in the case of survivor Jean Marie Davis, who had been trafficked for nearly three decades in 33 states when an unintended pregnancy became the impetus for her escape. With no money and running from a pimp who was trying to kill her, Jean Marie had almost nowhere to turn. After endless calls, she was finally connected to a pregnancy resource director who changed everything. Jean Marie ultimately escaped a life of drugs, violence, and serial abuse, without sacrificing the son she loves, and today she helps women in similar circumstances by running a pregnancy resource center of her own.

    Hundreds of maternity homes across the nation also provide pregnant women in need with long-term housing and the material, medical, educational, and emotional resources to transform their lives and live their dreams. Rachel already had a young child, but her partner had turned abusive toward her, and then she found out she was pregnant again. She knew for the sake of her children she had to leave but had no vehicle and nowhere to turn until she found a maternity home which agreed to help. That home provided a safe and loving environment – plus all the resources Rachel needed to heal and thrive. While there, she pursued her education in the medical field and is now a registered nurse working at a local hospital. 

    Now if Biden and the Democrats have their way, the charitable organizations that stepped in to help Jean Marie, Rachel, and the countless other women who come to them because they want to keep their children would no longer exist. From overt calls to “shut them down,” to an HHS proposal to revoke any public funding for these centers, to the DOJ’s refusal to protect them from the massive wave of disturbing pro-abortion violence post-Dobbs, the message is clear: For Democrats, abortion is the only option.

    While the president and Democrats say they care about women, their actions speak otherwise.

    Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and author of “Life is Winning: Inside the Fight for Unborn Children and Their Mothers.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:40

  • Killadelphia: 8 Teens Shot Near SEPTA Bus In Northeast Philly
    Killadelphia: 8 Teens Shot Near SEPTA Bus In Northeast Philly

    Just hours after the last shooting injuring four and killing one involving mass transit in Philadelphia was reported, yesterday it hit the wires that another “mass shooting” took place near a SEPTA bus in Northeast Philadelphia.

    One teen is “fighting for his life” while 7 other teens are recovering, NBC Philadelphia reports. 

    The incident occurred at around 3 p.m. near Northeast High School at Cottman and Rising Sun avenues, where students were waiting for a bus. Three assailants opened fire, shooting over 30 rounds from across the street, wounding eight teenagers.

    Surveillance captured them exiting a blue Hyundai Sonata and attacking as a bus arrived, then fleeing. The victims, aged between 15 and 17, included seven boys and a girl; two are critically injured.

    Descriptions of the gunmen have been released. The shooting prompted a lockdown at a nearby elementary school and hit two SEPTA buses without injuring passengers.

    Police have impounded a car believed to be involved in the shooting, seizing a blue Hyundai Sonata found parked on Roselyn Street in the Olney area of the city on Wednesday night. The vehicle, now at a local impound lot, is said to match the description of the dark blue 2019 Hyundai Sonata identified as the getaway car in surveillance footage.

    Mayor Cherelle Parker commented: “The purpose of our being here today is to inform you all that enough is enough. That every law enforcement partner that we have here in the city of Philadelphia is actively engaged in working together to ensure that every resource that is needed is readily available so that the work can be done to solve crimes.”

    Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel added: “It’s hard to sit here in three days and have 11 juveniles shot who are going and coming from school. The cowardly acts that we’ve seen over the last three days are unacceptable, The downstream impacts if we do not address gun violence and we do not address guns is what we see today.”

    “We cannot ignore what we’re seeing over the last three days. I will not sit here and people call me and tell me what I should or should not be doing,” Bethel continued.

    “This is what we see when we give guns in the hands of juveniles and what they do with them. Telling kids they should not carry guns because they’re scared. Really? This is the end results of what we see. So we’re going to work hard and continue with the men and women behind me and my team to get these guns off the street and stop this from happening.”

    This marks the fourth recent shooting near SEPTA properties, with 11 juveniles shot in the city this week. Other incidents involved fatal shootings and arguments, with no arrests made yet.

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:20

  • After A Pause, Jan. 6 Arrests Are Now Sharply Increasing
    After A Pause, Jan. 6 Arrests Are Now Sharply Increasing

    Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The pace of FBI arrests and the opening of new Jan. 6 criminal cases quickened so much in late 2023 and early 2024 that District of Columbia federal courts could bend under the weight.

    In the past two months, 93 people have been arrested and charged, according to Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.

    At the current rate, some 445 new cases could hit the docket in 2024—more than in 2022 and 2023, according to one estimate.

    In total, up to March 6, at least 1,358 people have been arrested by the FBI and criminally charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for crimes related to Jan. 6.

    If the current trend is to hold, total arrests could be 2,150 by the time the statute of limitations on Jan. 6 crimes expires in early 2026, according to Jacob Rugh, associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Mr. Rugh and researcher Isabella Felin have been publishing Jan. 6 statistics and data visualization on X and Instagram since August 2022.

    William Shipley, a former federal prosecutor who has represented more than 50 Jan. 6 defendants, said he noticed an upswing in cases starting in September 2023.

    “Within the past two months, three months, it seems like you’re seeing six, eight, 10 a week,” Mr. Shipley said on Feb. 23 during an Epoch Times panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

    “Every day, every day you see two or three more,” Mr. Shipley said. “My own view: it’s a political operation. Just my personal opinion. I think the Department of Justice, the Biden administration, is committed to continuing to keep this story front and center for purposes of the campaign.”

    Mr. Shipley said there was a six- to eight-month pause in arrests and prosecutions starting in early 2023 due to the strain Jan. 6 cases put on D.C. federal courts.

    “You’ve got a five-year statute of limitations, you don’t need to arrest everybody and prosecute them in the first 18 months, and there was a pause,” Mr. Shipley said. “There was a clear period of time where there weren’t arrests of any significant number happening.”

    The top arrest states include Florida (129), Texas (104), Pennsylvania (93), California (90), New York (80), Ohio (71), and Virginia (67). Together they comprise nearly 50 percent of all Jan. 6 defendants, according to research by Mr. Rugh.

    About 63 percent of Jan. 6 criminal cases have been adjudicated and defendants sentenced, according to DOJ figures. About 58 percent of defendants were given jail or prison time, 19 percent received home detention, and another 3.5 percent received a combination.

    Of the 769 defendants who pleaded guilty to charges, 69 percent were for misdemeanors and 31 percent for felonies, the DOJ reports.

    Some 1,276 defendants were charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and 486 were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.

    More than 350 were hit with the controversial “corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding” charge. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 16 on a challenge to how the DOJ has used 2002-era corporate fraud statutes to prosecute Jan. 6 defendants for interrupting the counting of Electoral College votes.

    Perfect Conviction Rate

    Perhaps the most remarkable Jan. 6 statistic comes from jury boxes in the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington D.C.

    Every one of the more than 100 Jan. 6 defendants who chose a jury trial were found guilty of at least some of the charges. That’s a perfect 100-percent conviction rate for federal prosecutors, a statistic cited repeatedly in change-of-venue motions. One hundred percent of those motions have been denied.

    Mr. Shipley told The Epoch Times that the DOJ’s historical conviction rate in the District of Columbia is about 65 percent, lower than the 90 percent that is “more typical” in other federal court districts.

    (Top) The Department of Justice in Washington on Jan. 14, 2020. (Bottom L–R) Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Oversight Project, Sarah McAbee, wife of Jan. 6 defendant Ronald Colton McAbee, and William Shipley, defense attorney, at the congressional screening and premiere of The Epoch Times documentary “The Real Story of January 6, Part 2: The Long Road Home,” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 9, 2024. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

    He said, “The way the question needs to be framed today and put before the judges again is, ‘How many trials and how high a conviction rate is necessary before the judges start to consider maybe it’s not the evidence but the jurors?’”

    District of Columbia jurors seated on Jan. 6 cases “are simply not open to listening to explanations from defendants who testify, or accept any of the ‘progress’ against the evidence made by defense counsel in cross-examination,” Mr. Shipley said.

    The DOJ has stated since Jan. 6 that finding, arresting, and prosecuting those who were at the U.S. Capitol is a top priority, carried out at “unprecedented speed and scale.” The FBI launched the largest investigation in its history in response to Jan. 6.

    Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, paints Jan. 6 in the dramatic tones of warfare as he pledges prosecutors will continue their work unabated into 2024 and beyond.

    “In scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle, officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with members of the invading force, many of whom carried dangerous weapons including firearms, chemical sprays, tasers, stabbing weapons and makeshift weapons across the Capitol [grounds] and in the Capitol itself,” Graves said on Jan. 6, 2024.

    Jan. 6 was “likely the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history,” Mr. Graves said.

    The preamble to the DOJ’s monthly statistical update on Jan. 6 cases states: “The Department of Justice’s resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on January 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane.”

    Mr. Shipley said the pace of arrests helps perpetuate the idea that supporters of former President Donald Trump comprise a threat to society.

    “They want to continue to have that argument that some portion of the political opposition is actually a criminal element,” he said. “They use the branding of all these J6 defendants to say, ‘See that sliver of the MAGA movement, they’re insurrectionists, they’re foes of democracy.’”

    The prosecution posture was set early on.

    Prosecution Machine

    Not even three weeks after the Jan. 6 incursion, the DOJ named senior prosecutors to go after the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other alleged “white nationalist” groups, according to internal documents obtained by Judicial Watch.

    A document dated Jan. 25, 2021, named assistant U.S. attorneys to investigate and prosecute white nationalists and militias, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, founder of the Oath Keepers who in 2023 was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, was named as an early target in a DOJ list obtained by Judicial Watch.

    Mr. Rhodes was added to the target list on Jan. 11, 2021, and his case assigned to FBI special agent Michael Palian, who testified against Mr. Rhodes and other defendants in the first Oath Keepers trial in 2022. Mr. Rhodes was not indicted and arrested until Jan. 13, 2022.

    (Top) Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III appears on a screen during a hearing on the Jan. 6 investigation in Washington on July 12, 2022. (Bottom) Members of Proud Boys rally against the results of the 2020 presidential election, in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Anna Moneymaker, Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

    “I’m not at all surprised that I was added to the target list on Jan. 11, 2021, long before there could have been any actual substantive investigation into me,” Mr. Rhodes told The Epoch Times in an email. “Goes to show that ‘show me the man, I’ll show you the crime’ was exactly their M.O.”

    Mr. Rhodes said the media set the tone for such a focus on the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

    “The fixation on the Oath Keepers came first from the mass media, which immediately in the hours and days after the Trump supporters entered the Capitol began to highlight the row of Oath Keepers walking up the steps and breathlessly calling it a ‘military stack formation’ and alleging that the Oath Keepers were leading the crowd,” Mr. Rhodes said.

    “Total nonsense. But since Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were already the two groups the leftist media loved to demonize and focus on,” Mr. Rhodes said, “no surprise those two groups became the focus of print and cable ‘news’ coverage of Jan. 6, spinning the false narrative that Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were ‘central’ to the events of Jan. 6 or were the ‘leaders.’”

    Rapid Indictment Team

    According to the DOJ draft plan, a branch would be established for “Priority Incidents and Subjects,” including the Jan. 6 pipe bombs, the shooting of Ashli Babbitt outside the Speaker’s Lobby, the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, use-of-force allegations against Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers, and assaults on federal officers by rioters.

    Another branch was to be established for priority investigations and rapid indictments and prosecution of Jan. 6 subjects. A branch would be established for “Advanced Litigation Support,” including mass data collection, discovery for defendants, and technology support to “store, process, analyze, and produce the unprecedented amount of data.”

    Judicial Watch obtained the plan as part of a 2021 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ.

    “These documents detail a troubling and unprecedented deployment of federal resources to prosecute Americans caught up in the January 6 disturbance,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “The documents seem to describe a massive political and spy operation masquerading as a law enforcement operation.”

    Treniss Evans, a former Jan. 6 defendant and founder of the legal advocacy group Condemned USA, said the prosecution efforts are squarely aimed at harming President Trump.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:00

  • Watch: President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"
    Watch: President Biden Delivers The “Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President”

    Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his crypt now.

    Whatever ‘they’ gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it – though it seems the cocktail brings out ‘dark Brandon’?

    Tl;dw: Biden’s Speech tonight …

    • Fund Ukraine.

    • Trump is threat to democracy and America itself.

    • Abortion is good.

    • American Economy is stronger than ever.

    • Inflation wasn’t Biden’s fault.

    • Illegals are Americans too.

    • Republicans are responsible for the border crisis.

    • Trump is bad.

    • Biden stands with trans-children.

    • J6 was the worst insurrection since the Civil War.

    (h/t @TCDMS99)

    Tucker Carlson’s response sums it all up perfectly:

    “that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn’t a speech, it was a rant…”

    Carlson continued: “The true measure of a nation’s greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it.”

    “In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win”

    And concluded:

    “There was not a meaningful word for the entire duration about the things that actually matter to people who live here.”

    Victor Davis Hanson added some excellent color, but this was probably the best line on Biden:

    “he doesn’t care… he lives in an alternative reality.“

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    *  *  *

    Watch SOTU Live here…

    *   *   *

    Mises’ Connor O’Keeffe, warns: “Be on the Lookout for These Lies in Biden’s State of the Union Address.” 

    On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden is set to give his third State of the Union address. The political press has been buzzing with speculation over what the president will say. That speculation, however, is focused more on how Biden will perform, and which issues he will prioritize. Much of the speech is expected to be familiar.

    The story Biden will tell about what he has done as president and where the country finds itself as a result will be the same dishonest story he’s been telling since at least the summer.

    He’ll cite government statistics to say the economy is growing, unemployment is low, and inflation is down.

    Something that has been frustrating Biden, his team, and his allies in the media is that the American people do not feel as economically well off as the official data says they are. Despite what the White House and establishment-friendly journalists say, the problem lies with the data, not the American people’s ability to perceive their own well-being.

    As I wrote back in January, the reason for the discrepancy is the lack of distinction made between private economic activity and government spending in the most frequently cited economic indicators. There is an important difference between the two:

    • Government, unlike any other entity in the economy, can simply take money and resources from others to spend on things and hire people. Whether or not the spending brings people value is irrelevant

    • It’s the private sector that’s responsible for producing goods and services that actually meet people’s needs and wants. So, the private components of the economy have the most significant effect on people’s economic well-being.

    Recently, government spending and hiring has accounted for a larger than normal share of both economic activity and employment. This means the government is propping up these traditional measures, making the economy appear better than it actually is. Also, many of the jobs Biden and his allies take credit for creating will quickly go away once it becomes clear that consumers don’t actually want whatever the government encouraged these companies to produce.

    On top of all that, the administration is dealing with the consequences of their chosen inflation rhetoric.

    Since its peak in the summer of 2022, the president’s team has talked about inflation “coming back down,” which can easily give the impression that it’s prices that will eventually come back down.

    But that’s not what that phrase means. It would be more honest to say that price increases are slowing down.

    Americans are finally waking up to the fact that the cost of living will not return to prepandemic levels, and they’re not happy about it.

    The president has made some clumsy attempts at damage control, such as a Super Bowl Sunday video attacking food companies for “shrinkflation”—selling smaller portions at the same price instead of simply raising prices.

    In his speech Thursday, Biden is expected to play up his desire to crack down on the “corporate greed” he’s blaming for high prices.

    In the name of “bringing down costs for Americans,” the administration wants to implement targeted price ceilings – something anyone who has taken even a single economics class could tell you does more harm than good. Biden would never place the blame for the dramatic price increases we’ve experienced during his term where it actually belongs—on all the government spending that he and President Donald Trump oversaw during the pandemic, funded by the creation of $6 trillion out of thin air – because that kind of spending is precisely what he hopes to kick back up in a second term.

    If reelected, the president wants to “revive” parts of his so-called Build Back Better agenda, which he tried and failed to pass in his first year. That would bring a significant expansion of domestic spending. And Biden remains committed to the idea that Americans must be forced to continue funding the war in Ukraine. That’s another topic Biden is expected to highlight in the State of the Union, likely accompanied by the lie that Ukraine spending is good for the American economy. It isn’t.

    It’s not possible to predict all the ways President Biden will exaggerate, mislead, and outright lie in his speech on Thursday. But we can be sure of two things. The “state of the Union” is not as strong as Biden will say it is. And his policy ambitions risk making it much worse.

    *  *  *

    The American people will be tuning in on their smartphones, laptops, and televisions on Thursday evening to see if ‘sloppy joe’ 81-year-old President Joe Biden can coherently put together more than two sentences (even with a teleprompter) as he gives his third State of the Union in front of a divided Congress. 

    President Biden will speak on various topics to convince voters why he shouldn’t be sent to a retirement home.

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    According to CNN sources, here are some of the topics Biden will discuss tonight:

    • Economic issues: Biden and his team have been drafting a speech heavy on economic populism, aides said, with calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy – an attempt to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and their likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

    • Health care expenses: Biden will also push for lowering health care costs and discuss his efforts to go after drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription medications — all issues his advisers believe can help buoy what have been sagging economic approval ratings.

    • Israel’s war with Hamas: Also looming large over Biden’s primetime address is the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has consumed much of the president’s time and attention over the past few months. The president’s top national security advisers have been working around the clock to try to finalize a ceasefire-hostages release deal by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week.

    • An argument for reelection: Aides view Thursday’s speech as a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation’s top job. Even though viewership has declined over the years, the yearly speech reliably draws tens of millions of households.

    Sources provided more color on Biden’s SOTU address: 

    The speech is expected to be heavy on economic populism. The president will talk about raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He’ll highlight efforts to cut costs for the American people, including pushing Congress to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

    Biden will talk about the need to preserve democracy and freedom, a cornerstone of his re-election bid. That includes protecting and bolstering reproductive rights, an issue Democrats believe will energize voters in November. Biden is also expected to promote his unity agenda, a key feature of each of his addresses to Congress while in office.

    Biden is also expected to give remarks on border security while the invasion of illegals has become one of the most heated topics among American voters. A majority of voters are frustrated with radical progressives in the White House facilitating the illegal migrant invasion. 

    It is probable that the president will attribute the failure of the Senate border bill to the Republicans, a claim many voters view as unfounded. This is because the White House has the option to issue an executive order to restore border security, yet opts not to do so

    Maybe this is why? 

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    While Biden addresses the nation, the Biden administration will be armed with a social media team to pump propaganda to at least 100 million Americans. 

    “The White House hosted about 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers across three separate events” on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official told CNN. 

    Not a very capable social media team… 

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    The administration’s move to ramp up social media operations comes as users on X are mostly free from government censorship with Elon Musk at the helm. This infuriates Democrats, who can no longer censor their political enemies on X. 

    Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers tell Axios that the president’s SOTU performance will be critical as he tries to dispel voter concerns about his elderly age. The address reached as many as 27 million people in 2023. 

    “We are all nervous,” said one House Democrat, citing concerns about the president’s “ability to speak without blowing things.”

    The SOTU address comes as Biden’s polling data is in the dumps. 

    BetOnline has created several money-making opportunities for gamblers tonight, such as betting on what word Biden mentions the most. 

    As well as…

    We will update you when Tucker Carlson’s live feed of SOTU is published. 

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:55

  • Watch: Indian Navy In Dramatic Sea Rescue Of True Confidence Crew After 3 Sailors Died
    Watch: Indian Navy In Dramatic Sea Rescue Of True Confidence Crew After 3 Sailors Died

    On Wednesday we reported on the deadly Houthi missile strike on the MV True Confidence, a Liberian-owned vessel, in the Red Sea. The attack resulted in the first fatalities since the Houthi campaign against international shipping began in reaction to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Three sailors tragically died while the rest of the crew abandoned the stricken vessel as it was on fire.

    The UK embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, confirmed on X: “At least two innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping. They must stop.” A statement by US Central Command later increased the death toll to three.

    The vessel’s owners and operator had said it was drifting 50 nautical miles southwest of Aden. True Confidence Shipping and Greece-based operator Third January Maritime Ltd said in a joint statement “The vessel is drifting” and that there the ship had no current connection with any US entity. However, the Indian Navy responded and was able to rescue several crew members, captured in a dramatic video below:

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    Reuters has confirmed Thursday that “India’s navy evacuated all 20 crew from a stricken vessel in the Red Sea on Thursday, after a Houthi attack killed three seafarers in the first civilian fatalities from the Yemeni group’s campaign against the key shipping route.”

    The vessel’s owners have contacted and expressed condolences to the families. Two of the deceased were Filipino nationals, while the third was Vietnamese.

    The Indian Navy conducted a daring helicopter rescue from a small life raft in choppy waters. According to more from Reuters, “Some wounded were shown lying in the bottom of a navy lifeboat sent to assist.”

    “They were carried on stretchers onto the ship and were shown later with heavily bandaged limbs as they were evacuated to the Djibouti hospital,” the report continued.

    CENTCOM photo showing the vessel on fire and drifting following a direct hit by Houthi missile…

    The owners and managers further said in the statement: “The vessel is drifting well away from land and salvage arrangements are being made.” However, even salvage efforts will be high risk at a moment these waters off Yemen come under daily Houthi drone and rocket attacks.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:40

  • Gaetz Accuses Jack Smith Of Election Interference In Complaint To DOJ Inspector General
    Gaetz Accuses Jack Smith Of Election Interference In Complaint To DOJ Inspector General

    Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused Special Counsel Jack Smith of election interference in a complaint filed with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector general on Wednesday.

    Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) at a news conference on Capitol Hill, on Nov. 30, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    In a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Mr. Gaetz asserted that Mr. Smith’s resistance to delaying a trial stems from an unspoken drive to hold it before the upcoming November presidential election.

    Last week, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers and Mr. Smith’s office filed motions requesting different trial dates in the classified documents criminal case in Florida. President Trump’s lawyers have argued that a fair trial cannot be held in an election year when he is the leading Republican candidate.

    “The witch hunt against President Trump by Attorney General Garland and Special Counsel Smith is a partisan exercise, and the American people know it!” Mr. Gaetz wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

    “Jack Smith’s attempt to speed up the trial against President Trump violates the DOJ’s rules and the law,” he continued. “His public comments and his office’s briefs before the Supreme Court demonstrate that he has no reason for his actions other than to unlawfully interfere in the 2024 presidential election.”

    In his letter, Mr. Gaetz pointed to statements by Mr. Smith in court filings where he has urged a “rapid” review of the case and stressed its “public importance.” This, according to the Florida congressman, shows that the case is an attempt at election interference.

    “Were there a legitimate, non-election related purpose for this request, these attorneys, who have filed in appeals courts many times, would have listed such,” Mr. Gaetz wrote (pdf).

    “Since charges have been filed and the defendant himself is taking a legal position on timing and lodging various appeals, that justification cannot, for example, be the rights of the defendant under the Constitution or Speedy Trial Act,” he continued.

    President Trump’s legal team made a similar argument last month, writing in a court filing that Mr. Smith was twisting “into logical knots” in his argument against delaying the trial.

    “The Special Counsel’s latest filing raises a compelling inference of a political motive—the motivation to influence the 2024 Presidential election by bringing the leading Republican candidate to trial before November 5, 2024,” President Trump’s lawyers wrote.

    Mr. Gaetz argued in Wednesday’s letter that Mr. Smith’s apparent rush to trial raises questions about compliance with DOJ policy. According to a 2022 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement officers and prosecutors are prohibited from taking actions that could impact elections.

    The memo cites the DOJ’s Justice Manual, which has also been highlighted by President Trump’s legal team. The manual sets clear guidelines against using investigative steps, public statements, or criminal charges for electoral advantage.

    Citing legal scholars, including Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, Mr. Gaetz suggested in his letter that the rush to trial lacks a constitutional or statutory rationale, indicating a possible political motivation. Mr. Goldsmith, in an article referenced by Mr. Gaetz, questions the need for speed in the case and raises concerns about the consequences of such haste.

    Mr. Gaetz accused Mr. Smith of violating the law by trying to expedite the case in court.

    “It is the core of prohibited conduct that a purpose (not the purpose) of any official action of a prosecutor be to affect any election,” Mr. Gaetz wrote. “It may be morally correct that the American people should see swift resolution of this case, perhaps with dropped charges or a Trump acquittal before the November 2024 Presidential election, but wielding Executive Branch authority in the service of this is a violation of law. Prosecutors must be held to a higher standard.”

    Mr. Gaetz urged Mr. Garland to conduct an immediate investigation into potential violations of departmental regulations by Mr. Smith.

    The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Smith’s office for comment.

    Last week, Mr. Smith’s office requested a new trial date of July 8. On the same day, attorneys for the former president asked for a delay of the trial until after the 2024 election or, alternatively, for it to be held on Aug. 12.

    President Trump’s attorneys have argued that the U.S. Constitution affords him the right to run for president, engage in political speech-making protected by the First Amendment, and participate in legal proceedings, a right protected by the Sixth Amendment.

    President Trump is accused of violating the Espionage Act through unauthorized possession of national defense information, as well as conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:20

  • China Blasts 'Unfathomable Absurdities' Of US Trade Curbs While Hailing Deepened Russia Ties
    China Blasts ‘Unfathomable Absurdities’ Of US Trade Curbs While Hailing Deepened Russia Ties

    China’s top diplomat on Thursday hit out at Washington’s “bewildering” trade policy during the much anticipated annual Foreign Minister’s briefing held during the ongoing “two sessions” gathering of China’s rubber stamp legislature.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi charged that the US is “devising various tactics to suppress China” and described that its “lengthening” unilateral anti-Beijing sanctions list is now at “bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity,” according to Bloomberg.

    China has been pushing and touting high-tech development, but this is amid significant barriers erected by Washington. Wang questioned on trade between the world’s two largest economies, “If it gets jittery whenever it hears the word China, where is its confidence as a major country?”

    Via AFP

    He continued to lash out at the United States by saying, “If it only wants itself to prosper, but denies other countries legitimate development, where is international fairness? If it persistently monopolizes the high end of the value chain and keeps China at the low end, where is fairness and competition?“

    The over four hour-long engagement with reporters on a wide array of topics is a rare moment of the year where the foreign ministry can articulate the country’s foreign policy vision directly to reporters.

    However, the briefing is typically highly choreographed, and so there’s deep significance in the fact that the first foreign reporter to be called upon for a question was a Russian state media journalist.

    Wang praised robust Russian trade ties with China, which have increased in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine over two years ago. China-Russia trade reached a historic high of $240 billion, smashing President Xi and Putin’s target of $200 billion which had been set in a 2019 agreement.

    “Russian natural gas is fueling numerous Chinese households and Chinese-made automobiles are running on Russian roads,” Wang in the press conference. “All this shows the strong resilience and broad prospects of China-Russia mutually beneficial cooperation.”

    “China and Russia have forged a new paradigm of major country relations that differs entirely from the obsolete Cold War approach on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party,” he emphasized.

    On the question of the Ukraine war, Wang once again urged peace talks and called on all parties to avoid “unthinkable” escalation.

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    On the issue of rising tensions in east Asian regional waters, which was just this week on display in the South China Sea with a collision incident between Chinese and Philippine Coast Guard vessels, he warned outside powers (of course primarily meaning the US) to not interfere and avoid provocations.

    “In the face of deliberate infringement, we will take justified actions to defend our rights in accordance with the law. In the face of unwarranted provocation, we will respond with prompt and legitimate countermeasures,” Wang asserted. “We also urge certain countries outside the region, not to make provocations, excite or stir up troubles.“

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:00

  • COVID-19 Lockdowns Had High Health, Economic Costs: Swedish Study
    COVID-19 Lockdowns Had High Health, Economic Costs: Swedish Study

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Imposing restrictive lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to higher excess mortality in such nations while also damaging their economies, according to a recent Swedish study.

    A worker waits on a bench in a residential area during the COVID-19 lockdown in the Huangpu district of Shanghai, China, on June 10, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

    Published in the Economic Affairs journal on Feb. 11, the study—which looked at the health and economic effects of COVID-19 lockdowns in Sweden—found that its less restrictive COVID-19 policies led to lower excess mortality compared to many European nations that imposed stronger lockdown rules. Sweden also suffered a lower negative impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the pandemic period.

    Many policymakers made two key mistakes, researchers concluded.

    “First, they introduced lockdowns that were too stringent and had negligible positive health effects despite the evidence available at the time pointing toward the limited benefits of such broad measures.

    “Second, they responded to the downturn in economic activity with fiscal and monetary policies that were excessively expansionary.”

    Researchers looked at the excess mortality in Sweden between January 2020 and July 2022, comparing it to other European nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group.

    “Sweden and the other Nordic countries had among the lowest cumulative excess mortality rates of all European countries towards the end of the sample period,” they found. “Countries such as Finland and Norway, with the lowest average lockdown rate, show the lowest excess mortality, actually displaying a negative excess mortality rate.”

    “Sweden, which lagged behind other countries in March 2020 in introducing lockdown measures and then largely had an average lockdown rate, has one of the lowest cumulative excess mortality rates towards the end of the pandemic.”

    Nations that imposed more stringent lockdown measures didn’t have a lower excess mortality rate, the study said.

    For instance, school closures were likely an “inefficient policy” since kids were “relatively mildly affected by Covid-19 and were not a major source of the spread of the virus.”

    Of the 20,000 deaths in Sweden during the pandemic, only 21 people younger than the age of 19 years died even as all primary schools remained open throughout the pandemic, the study noted.

    Economic Implications

    Among economic effects, a “clear negative pattern” was observed in GDP growth rates between 2019 and 2021.

    “Countries with a higher lockdown rate displayed poorer economic growth.”

    Sweden was found to be doing better than others.

    “Sweden, with an average lockdown rate of 39 for 2020–21, shows a weak cumulative GDP growth of 3 percent during the two years 2020–21. Compared with an average annual pre-pandemic growth rate of 2.6 percent, the Swedish economy lost approximately one year of growth,” the study said. However, “countries with a higher lockdown rate lost between one and three years of economic growth.”

    “In other words, the Swedish economy took a hit as a result of the pandemic, but it was nevertheless possible to maintain a positive growth rate by avoiding the more severe lockdown measures applied in other countries.”

    Lockdown measures also had a fiscal impact. Sweden’s budget deficit due to COVID-19 restrictions was less than 3 percent of its GDP. Nations with more stringent lockdown measures had a higher deficit. For instance, the United Kingdom had a budget deficit of 27 percent, Italy 17 percent, and France 16 percent.

    After the pandemic, Sweden had a debt-to-GDP ratio of 36 percent at the end of 2021, just slightly higher than the 35 percent before the pandemic. By the end of 2022, that had declined to 34 percent.

    By contrast, France’s debt-to-GDP ratio after the pandemic was higher than what Greece encountered in 2009 at the beginning of the European debt crisis.

    “The unprecedented expansionary fiscal measures may have been necessary to support businesses and households through the pandemic and the lockdowns,“ the study said. ”However, the fiscal cost of these measures became exceedingly high in those countries that opted for a higher lockdown rate.”

    Researchers recommended that any response to a pandemic crisis in the future “should focus on the long-term perspective” as well.

    “We are not all dead in the long run—many have to live with the consequences of the pandemic crisis response. It is essential that crisis policies do not cause more harm than good.”

    The research was conducted by Frederick N.G. Andersson and Lars Jonung, two professors from Lund University in Sweden.

    Mr. Andersson is a macroeconomist specializing in long-term economic transitions. Mr. Jonung is a professor emeritus at the Department of Economics in the university and served as chairman of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council during 2012-13.

    Litany of Lockdown Harms

    Other studies also have detailed lockdown-related harms.

    A report published by the Centre of Social Justice (CSJ) think tank last year found that the COVID-19 pandemic was the “dynamite” that blew open the “gap between those who can get by and those stuck at the bottom” in the United Kingdom.

    “During lockdown: calls to a domestic abuse helpline rose 700 percent; mental ill-health in young people went from one in nine to one in six; and nearly a quarter amongst the oldest children; severe school absence jumped by 134 percent,” it said.

    In addition, “1.2 million more people went on working-age benefits; 86 percent more people sought help for addictions; prisoners were locked up for more than 22 hours per day, and a household became homeless every three minutes.”

    In an interview with Bill Maher last year, Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, acknowledged that his decision to push for harsher lockdown policies during the COVID-19 pandemic was wrong.

    “I was on the board of my kids’ school during COVID. I wanted a harsher lockdown policy, and, in retrospect, I was wrong. … The damage to kids from keeping them out of school longer was greater than the risk.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:40

  • Mexico "Still Hasn't Seen Science" From US Proving Genetically Modified Corn Is Safe
    Mexico “Still Hasn’t Seen Science” From US Proving Genetically Modified Corn Is Safe

    Mexico submitted an official reply to the United States in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade dispute about importing genetically modified (GM) corn. Mexico argued that the herbicide glyphosate in the corn is unsafe for human consumption. Corn plays a vital role in the Mexican diet, particularly as the primary ingredient for tortilla flour.

    In a written submission to a USMCA panel, Mexico, the top buyer of US corn, used science to show how GM corn and Glyphosate harm human health. This has given Mexico the authority to ban GM corn for human consumption. 

    The submission outlined policies aimed at safeguarding consumers against the potential health effects of GM corn, asserting that these measures would have minimal trade impacts on US farmers.

    Here are the most critical parts of Mexico’s submission (list courtesy of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (ITAP)): 

    • The scientific evidence of GMO safety presented by the US is out of date, much of it from industry studies not supported by peer-review. According to Mexico, the US did not present any peer-reviewed study showing it safe to eat large quantities of GM corn exposed to Glyphosate in minimally processed form over a lifetime. Mexico makes the case that the US regulatory process is not stringent enough ensure that products are safe for Mexicans to consume at high levels. 

    • On public health, the submission details that GM corn, especially Bt corn engineered to kill insect pests, can have adverse impacts on non-target animals. Mammals have been shown to suffer damage to their digestive systems from a GM trait that kills its targets by attacking their guts. 

    • Mexican tortillas have been proven to be contaminated with GM corn and Glyphosate, the latter in residues from treatments of GM corn engineered to tolerate the herbicide featured in Roundup. Mexico shows that even low-level exposures can have negative long-term health impact. 

    Mexican Deputy Agriculture Secretary Victor Suarez told Reuters:

    The United States “argues that the decisions in Mexico are not based on science and that their decisions are … But we still haven’t seen the science of the United States or the companies. We are looking forward to that study with great pleasure.”

    Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP’s director of trade and international strategies, wrote in a statement: 

    “We welcome this vigorous defense of Mexico’s programs to transform its food system. The science they present backs up longstanding civil society campaigns for healthy foods and biodiverse agricultural systems. There’s a lot here that could contribute to more substantive debates on our food and agriculture system in the US, as well.” 

    IATP Senior Advisor Timothy A. Wise said: 

    “Ever since Mexico first announced its intentions to limit GM corn and glyphosate in its tortilla chain, the US government has asserted that Mexico’s policies are not based on science.” 

    Wise continued:

    “This comprehensive response refutes that claim, presenting hundreds of academic studies that show cause for concern about human health and the threat to native corn diversity.”

    Agri-chemical companies like Bayer have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing GM crops for worldwide export out of the US. They also spend tens of millions of dollars in defending GM foods. 

    Meanwhile, Glyphosate is banned or limited in at least 25 countries and some areas within the United States. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared Glyphosate a probable human carcinogen. 

    Maybe Mexico is right. Question the chemicals in the food. 

    Are GMO foods the reason why there are more increased celiac and gluten sensitivity cases?

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:20

  • Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued
    Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued

    Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Almost 230 people were arrested, and 13 potential victims were rescued in a Florida human trafficking sting dubbed, “Operation March Sadness 2024.”

    Mug shots of those arrested in “Operation March Sadness 2024” for offering to commit prostitution in Polk County, Fla., on March 5, 2024. (screenshot Polk County Sheriff’s Department).

    At a March 5 press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced the bust of a human trafficking operation on the west side of the county in Lakeland that led to 228 arrests and the rescue of 13 potential victims. The Polk County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) was assisted by police departments in Lakeland, Haines City, Davenport, Auburndale, Lake Hamilton, and the Winterhaven Fire and Rescue.

    According to a March 5 press release, the “eight-day-long undercover human trafficking operation” began on Feb. 22 and targeted suspects “involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes.

    The 228 arrests consisted of “66 prostitutes, 50 Johns, and 12 others,” Sheriff Judd said.

    “This time we identified 13 potential victims of human trafficking,” he added, saying his department has identified “58 potential victims of human trafficking in one year” through these operations.

    The significance, he said, was that this is “the most ever” they have been able to identify.

    Sheriff Judd also noted that 48 of those arrested were from Polk County, saying they “should know better.”

    “We talk about this,” he explained. “We don’t hide it, and if you don’t know about it you obviously live under a rock. So, you’ve had to learn the hard way.”

    For the rest, he offered a warning.

    “This is not the last operation,” he advised. “We‘ll have more, and we’ll give you the opportunity to be arrested if you’re stupid enough to show up. That’s a guarantee.”

    Of those arrested, 42 are married. One was a commercial pilot. There were members of the Air Force, sports coaches, law enforcement officers, and people in the medical profession. Some were teachers.

    Two minors were arrested. “They came down to rob us,” Sheriff Judd said, adding that they came armed with a BB gun that looked like a real gun.

    “That could have gone really bad for them,” he said.

    A total of 17 firearms were confiscated from 15 different suspects and 44 had possession of narcotics.

    ‘Addicted to This Cash’

    One of the men arrested was handling three illegal immigrant females from Venezuela for the head of a sex trafficking ring they believe is female.

    “She sets up their appointments, she puts their ads online, she tells them where to go,” Sheriff Judd explained, adding that the three victims had to “pay her $3,000 a piece” by the end of the week as a means of “paying off their debt.”

    Sheriff Judd then said that the three victims told law enforcement that when they came to the United States illegally “DHS gave them a form, and ID paperwork that allows them to fly for free.”

    So, while the three sex workers operate out of New York, they said they fly to major metropolitan areas for free “on the federal government where they set up their appointments for sex all around the country.”

    Sheriff Judd said all 21 of the illegal immigrants told a “similar story” regarding their involvement in the sex trafficking scheme.

    “We can’t work legally,” he recalled them saying. “We’re addicted to this cash. It’s a lot of cash and it’s quick so we have to give $3,000 a week. We get to keep everything above that.”

    “We have a crisis at the border,” Sheriff Judd asserted, “and because of the crisis at the border we have people that are victimizing illegal folks, forcing them into the sex trade because we allow these criminals in the country illegally.”

    Sheriff Judd also addressed headlines claiming that illegal immigrants “aren’t committing crime at any greater percentage than the people who are here legally.”

    “What they didn’t tell you if they weren’t here illegally at all the crime they would commit here would be zero,” he noted. “So, we’re being victimized.”

    On June 3, 2022, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 615, creating a new duty for the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking (SCHT), which is to determine how many times social media platforms are used to assist, facilitate, or support human trafficking within the Sunshine State.

    To fulfill this requirement, the SCHT conducted a statewide survey of Florida’s 80 law enforcement agencies to record the number of times social media platforms were used to “facilitate human trafficking, trafficking operations, or control victims” since 2019.

    According to the 2023 Annual Report, they discovered that 72 human trafficking instances were recorded using Facebook, 65 through Instagram, five through WhatsApp, and four by using Facebook Messenger.

    The Epoch Times reached out to the PCSD to find out if “Operation March Sadness 2024” had been conducted through online social media platforms.

    While PCSD confirmed that the sting operation was conducted online, PCSD spokesperson Carrie Horstman said, “We don’t typically release information about which specific sites are used during our undercover investigations.”

    “Our message is for parents to monitor their children’s activities online—have all of their logins and passwords and check their accounts regularly,” she added, providing a link to resources parents can use to protect their children from online predators. “Don’t allow them to be friends online with people who are strangers, and don’t allow just anyone to ‘follow’ them.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:00

  • House Panel Unanimously Advances Bipartisan Bill To Ban TikTok
    House Panel Unanimously Advances Bipartisan Bill To Ban TikTok

    TikTok’s days could be numbered in the United States, after the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced a bill Thursday that would require TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest the app or face a US ban.

    Introduced on Tuesday by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” bill is aimed at mitigating national security concerns over whether the Chinese government has access to the personal data to millions of Americans who use TikTok.

    While Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) – ranking member on the committee raised concerns over “how rushed this process has been,” the bill passed with no issue following a Thursday morning classified hearing prior to the vote.

    TikTok has vehemently denied that it poses national security risks due to its ownership by a Chinese parent company, and said that the legislation comes to an unfair “predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States.”

    “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country,” said a spokesman for the company, The Hill reports.

    Ahead of Thursday’s vote, TikTok sent messages urging users to call Congress to oppose the bill. The notifications warned users to “stop a TikTok shutdown” and that Congress is “planning a total ban of TikTok.” 

    Lawmakers in support of the bill have pushed back on that allegation since the bill allows TikTok to continue to be used in the U.S. if ByteDance divests it.  

    Republicans on the committee also said the notification push to users highlighted their concerns about the app’s reach.

    Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) accused the company of using its “influence and powers to force users to contact their representatives.”

    While the bill has widespread support within the committee, it still faces outside opposition (pushed by lobbyists) from groups such as the ACLU and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, who say the decision could infringe on free speech.

    “I’m just not confident that this will actually side-step the free speech concerns that have been raised with previous attempts to ban TikTok,” said Sarah Krepps, director of the Tech Policy Institue at Cornell University, in a statement to The Hill.

    “ByteDance has said they will not divest TikTok, so I have no reason to think they would exercise that option,” Krepps continued. “So if they’re not going to divest, it leads back down the same road of a ban.”

    According to Krepps, a ban would likely be viewed as unconstitutional based on recent legal challenges to state TikTok bans.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:40

  • CNN Credits Trump, Admits Biden "Made The Problem Worse" At The Border
    CNN Credits Trump, Admits Biden “Made The Problem Worse” At The Border

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    In a rare collectors moment, CNN took time Tuesday to give Donald Trump credit regarding illegal immigration, admitting that the US does “have a problem,” at the border and that Biden has “made the problem worse.”

    While the comments came from Republican strategist Brad Todd, it’s the kind of admission that would never have aired while the likes of former CNN grinning clown Brian Stelter were at the helm on the network.

    Todd told other CNN panelists that the “out of control” southern border will be the “pull and push” of the 2024 election.

    “I think the fact that the border’s out of control and the Biden administration has made the problem worse is what’s the bigger problem,” Todd said, adding “The key portion of this electorate, I mean people who may not always like the way Trump talks or his choice of words, that they don’t like the way Joe Biden’s policies acted. Immigration is gonna be number one on that. Immigration and crisis both.”

    “Can the Biden campaign demonstrate that in fact they’re gonna take a new direction on immigration and on the economy? They’re gonna move more to the center. Or can Trump convince voters to look past some of the rhetoric they don’t like?” Todd further posited.

    One of the CNN anchors then attempted to steer the conversation toward criticising Trump, but first admitted:

    “You can make the case that the immigration system is broken, I don’t think many people will argue about that.”

    “The numbers of illegal immigrants, encounters on the border is what’s gonna drive the election. It’s not gonna end up being about Donald Trump’s rhetoric. It’s gonna end up being about the numbers under Joe Biden and the realities American citizens are seeing in cities across the country,” Todd further urged.

    While claiming Trump is exaggerating the border crisis, CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro nevertheless admitted we do have a problem,” adding  “And the problem is that there’s countries like Cuba, like Venezuela — which he can’t pronounce — like Nicaragua, and Haiti. Three of those are ruled by left-wing dictators who are anti-American.”

    Watch:

    While it was hardly Trump friendly, it’s something that MSNBC talking heads refused to even acknowledge as a reality. Indeed they mocked the idea that illegal immigration is a concern for American voters.

    Earlier in their broadcast, CNN also admitted that Trump has taken full control of the Republican Party, and that his sweeping Super Tuesday primary wins demonstrate that “He has remade the party in his image.”

    “There are still some Republicans who are trying to take it away, like take it back. That’s over. That party doesn’t exist anymore,” one CNN analyst noted.

    CNN also carried Trump’s full speech Tuesday night, while MSNBC refused to air it, with extreme TDS sufferer Rachel Maddow declaring it would be “irresponsible” to do so.

    *  *  *

    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
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:20

  • Bukele Detransitions Gender Theory From El Salvador Public Schools; Milei Calls It "Political Tool"
    Bukele Detransitions Gender Theory From El Salvador Public Schools; Milei Calls It “Political Tool”

    Last week, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told a packed audience at CPAC that gender theory is an blight on society, and said he believes that it’s “important that the curriculum doesn’t [include] gender ideology and all these [other] things,” adding “parents should be informed and have a say in what their children are going to learn.”

    Following his comments, El Salvador’s Ministry of Education announced that it will stop teaching gender theory to children.

    “Confirmed: we have removed all traces of gender ideology from public schools,” Minister of Education José Mauricio Pineda told El Pais.

    Bukele, 42, won his re-election bid with 84% of thevote, while his Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party is now the primary political force in the country. They have widespread support of the Salvadorian population, which is in alignment on issues such as gender theory and sex education.

    According to Pineda, “every use or trace of gender ideology” has been “removed from public schools.”

    Salvadorian feminists are of course screeching over the decision.

    “Bukele is a messianic figure, a patriarchal leader… a [paternalistic] president who watches over us and who [seems to think that he’s] anointed by God,” said human rights activist Celia Medrano, in a statement to El Pais. “He’s a highly conservative man with a very clear tendency to manipulate religion [in favor of] the message that women have to be kept at home.”

    Meanwhile in Argentina, President Javier Milei is on a similar mission to undo years of feminist policies – demoting the Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity to the level of undersecretary, and announcing that the government will prohibit so-called ‘inclusive’ language and “anything related to the gender perspective” in the administration.

    The country’s 144 telephone line for victims of gender-based violence, and shelters created for them, were recently eliminated as part of recent budget cuts.

    In response, feminist movements will be out in force on March 8, International Women’s Day.

    Beyond El Salvador and Argentina, in Columbia, voters rejected a peace agreement between the Santos government and FARC guerillas – because among other things, the agreements included a push for equality between men, women, LGBTQ+ and other ‘diverse’ identities.

    The rejection that took place at the polls that October had been brewing for months. Evangelical and Catholic groups, with the support of former president Álvaro Uribe’s party, had taken to the streets that summer to protest against the government’s “indoctrination in gender identity” due to its guidelines on sexuality.

    …

    María Fernanda Cabal, the leading senator of the most radical right wing, is a firm defender of these theses. She repeated the phrase: “Gender ideology is disgusting.” –El Pais

    One of the earliest leaders to reject DEI and gender ideology  was former President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro – whose government attempted to eliminate gender perspective in schools, only to be struck down by the country’s Supreme Court as being unconstitutional.

    That said, Bolsonaro’s head of cultural policy did veto ‘inclusive language’ from projects seeking tax beneffits, and the former president himself mocked the Argentine government after Alberto Fernández insisted on using such language in his official commnications.

    “How does that help your people? The only thing that has changed is that now there are shortages, poverty, and unemployment. May God protect our Argentine brothers and help us get out of this difficult situation,” he said.

    El Pais also notes Chile and the “ultraconservatives of Mexico” as opposing gender ideology.

    “Let’s recover the language, no more cultural deformation,” said Chilean Republican Party under José Antonio Kast during his first presidential run ahead of the country’s 2021 elections. “the so-called inclusive language is part of a political-ideological agenda, and not a cultural agenda. We are going to strengthen the correct use of language, with no forced imposition of its deviations or discrimination of any kind.”

    In short, Latin America has led the charge in rejecting the woke revolution.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:00

  • Alabama Sued Over 'Racial Quota' For Real Estate Appraisers Board
    Alabama Sued Over ‘Racial Quota’ For Real Estate Appraisers Board

    Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

    A civil rights group is suing Alabama for allegedly implementing illegal racial quotas in appointments to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board (AREAB).

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey speaks during a news conference in Montgomery, Ala., on July 29, 2020. (Kim Chandler/AP Photo)

    The lawsuit comes after Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) issued a report last year showing that as many as 25 states enforce race or sex-based quotas for public board appointments. PLF said there were 63 board mandates for race or sex-based appointments across the country.

    Promoted by vocal activists, “these mandates threaten the individual right to equality before the law, and without action, the problem is likely to worsen,” the report said.

    AREAB, which was created in 1990, licenses and regulates real estate appraisers in Alabama.

    Its nine members are appointed by Alabama’s governor.

    But state law imposes racial criteria on appointments: at least two board members have to be members of a racial minority group.

    There is currently one opening on the board for a public member, and state law requires the governor to consider race when appointing a person to fill that post.

    “Such blatant racial discrimination against individuals who could otherwise sit on AREAB serves no legitimate government purpose,” according to the new legal complaint (pdf) in American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) v. Ivey that was filed last month in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division.

    “It is demeaning, patronizing, un-American, and unconstitutional,” added the complaint.

    The plaintiff, AAER, describes itself as “a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to challenging distinctions and preferences made on the basis of race and ethnicity.” AAER is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

    The defendant, Gov. Kay Ivey, is being sued in her official capacity as Alabama’s governor.

    The Republican governor was served with the legal complaint on Feb. 26, according to court documents. Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr., who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, has been assigned to the case.

    AAER’s president Edward Blum said his group is suing the state because “there are unfortunately dozens of government boards and commissions that exclude people because of their race or ethnicity. No one’s race should be used to include them, or exclude them, from service on government boards.”

    Mr. Blum is also the founder of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA). SFFA was a litigant in SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, a 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies at U.S. colleges.

    AAER states in the legal complaint that it has “members who are qualified, ready, willing, and able to be appointed to AREAB, including Member A, a citizen of Alabama who supports public service and property rights and has applied for the vacant public member position on AREAB.”

    However, because Member A is not a member of a racial minority group, she is not eligible for the vacant position, the complaint said.

    AAER said it is bringing this lawsuit under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “to ensure that every qualified citizen in Alabama has the equal right to serve on AREAB and to ensure that Alabamians are regulated by a board whose members are not selected on the basis of race.”

    “So long as this racial quota remains in place, members of the [AAER] who are not racial minorities will never receive equal consideration for openings on AREAB.”

    AAER is seeking a declaration from the court that the policy is unconstitutional and an injunction blocking its enforcement.

    Glenn Roper, a senior attorney at PLF, which is representing AAER, said, “It’s wrong for the government to make offensive assumptions about people’s experiences and qualifications based on race. And it’s unconstitutional to exclude some citizens from public service with arbitrary race quotas.”

    The public isn’t even aware of these racial restrictions in Alabama and other states, which is why PLF released its report on race and sex-based quotas in effect for public board appointments, the lawyer told The Epoch Times.

    The quota at AREAB is “unfair and it makes no sense to exclude people from public service because they don’t meet some racial requirements.

    “There’s nothing about real estate appraising, or the history of the real estate appraisal industry in Alabama, that requires having racial minorities be [involved in] regulating. That shouldn’t even be a consideration when deciding who to put on this board.”

    Mr. Roper said he was optimistic about the case.

    “Because racial considerations require the government to satisfy strict scrutiny, I think we have a very strong case, that’s a high bar for the government to clear. Really, they can’t meet either of the prongs. There’s no compelling interest in forcing racial minorities on the board.

    “And then even if there was, they haven’t narrowly tailored it like the Supreme Court requires,” he said.

    The attorney was referring to the strict scrutiny test that courts use when reviewing legislative or executive branch enactments that have a bearing on constitutional rights. A government interest is deemed compelling when it is essential or necessary, as opposed to a matter of preference, choice, or discretion.

    Just last year in the Harvard affirmative action case, the Supreme Court emphasized how stringent the test was and how “we’re not just going to accept the government’s say-so, so they’ve got to provide solid evidence when they want” to consider race-based government policies, Mr. Roper said.

    The Epoch Times reached out to the AREAB for comment but had not received a reply as of publication time.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 17:40

  • California School District Pays Children $1,400 To Become 'Racial And Social Justice Warriors'
    California School District Pays Children $1,400 To Become ‘Racial And Social Justice Warriors’

    The Long Beach Unified School district in California is funneling money to a progressive activist group which is paying students $1,400 each to become racial and social justice warriors.

    Californians for Justice (CFJ) is using taxpayer money to reward high schoolers in Long Beach for learning “restorative justice practices.” (Photo illustration by The Free Press)

    The district paid $900,000 for a one-year contract to Californians for Justice (CFJ), a “youth-powered” non-profit that pushes racial justice ideology on children, the Free Press reports.

    Of that, $60,200 was allocated to pay 33 students and 10 families or parents $1,400 each to participate in CFJ’s training programs.

    According to the contract, the program exists to “provide assistance to teachers, administrators and selected students in building strategies to support cultural understanding and change.”

    Facebook / Californians for Justice

    On CFJ’s website, the group claims to have “trained hundreds of youth of color in Long Beach to be community leaders and organizers,” adding that it “provides leadership development opportunities throughout the school year and summer to ensure our youth leaders gain the political education and valuable organizing skills they need to lead social justice movements.”

    “It’s so fun! You get paid good, you can have a fun time,” one of the students posted recently to Instagram.

    A spokesman for the Long Beach School District framed the paid program as “internships” which are to ensure “equitable participation in CFJ programs, embracing diverse perspectives in education.” Quite diversity word salad there.

    Teachers have serious concerns

    Four teachers from the Long Beach district voiced concern over the program, with one telling the Free Press that paying kids to participate is a “horrible propaganda strategy.“

    “I am shocked and horrified at such a fact,” another teacher told the outlet.

    Interestingly, one of CFJ’s major donors is a descendant of Levi Strauss – the Walter Haas fund. Other donors include the Rockefellers, an the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

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

    According to the report, Long Beach has paid CFJ nearly $2 million since 2019 to work with them. In 2021, the organization ran three professional development seminars in Long Beach high schools, during which participants were encouraged to embrace the role of “student voice,” and to “advance a district wide Equity Agenda” in conjunction with teachers and admins, the 2021-2022 contract read.

    Per the latest contract, CFJ will be hosting 15 more of these trainings during the 2023-2024 school year.

    One teacher told the Free Press on condition of anonymity that the workshops have become open forums for students to complain.

    “The way that they are handing scripts to students, even the words coming out of the students’ mouths it just feels like indoctrination and not information,” she told the outlet.

    Another teacher, Jay Goldfischer, agreed – saying “They’re teaching them parroting,” adding “which is the exact opposite of how you empower children.”

    CFJ defended itself in a statement to the Free Press, saying “Our agenda is not hidden and is simple: we want the Long Beach Unified School District to be a place where every student is represented honestly in classrooms and curricula, and where they are safe to be in critical dialogue supportive of democratic participation across differences.”

    //www.instagram.com/embed.js

     

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 03/07/2024 – 17:20

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Mar 07

Today’s News 7th March 2024

  • Escobar: The Global South Converges To Multipolar Moscow
    Escobar: The Global South Converges To Multipolar Moscow

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    Here’s the key takeaway of these frantic days in Moscow: Normal-o-philes of the world, unite.

    These have been frantic multipolar days at the capital of the multipolar world. I had the honor to personally tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that virtually the whole Global South seemed to be represented in an auditorium of the Lomonosov innovation cluster on a Monday afternoon – a sort of informal UN and in several aspects way more effective when it comes to respecting the UN charter. His eyes gleamed. Lavrov, more than most, understands the true power of the Global Majority.

    Moscow hosted a back-to-back multipolar conference plus the second meeting of the International Russophiles Movement (MIR, in its French acronym, which means “world” in Russian). Taken together, the discussions and networking have offered auspicious hints on the building of a truly representative international order – away from the agenda-imposed doom and gloom of single unipolar culture and Forever Wars.

    The opening plenary session in the first day fell under the star power of Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova – whose main message was crystal clear: “There can’t be freedom without free will”, which could easily become the new collective Global South motto. “Civilization-states” set the tone of the overall discussion – as they are meticulously designing the blueprints of economic, technological and cultural development in the post-Western hegemonic world.

    Professor of International Relations Zhang Weiwei at Fudan University’s China Institute in Shanghai summarized the four crucial points when it comes to Beijing propelling its role as a “new independent pole.” That reads like a concise marker of where we are now:

    1. 1.Under the unipolar order, everything from dollars to computer chips can be weaponized. Wars and color revolutions are the norm.

    2. China has become the largest economy in the world by PPP; the largest trade and industrial economy; and it is currently at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

    3. China proposes a model of “Unite and Prosper” instead of a Western model of “Divide and Rule”.

    4. The West tried to isolate Russia, but the Global Majority sympathizes with Russia. Thus, the Collective West has been isolated by the Global Rest.

    Fighting the “theo-political war”

    “Global Rest”, incidentally, is a misnomer: Global Majority is the name of the game. The same applies to “golden billion”; those that profit from the unipolar moment, mostly across the collective West and as comprador elites in the satraps, are at best 200 million or so.

    Monday afternoon in Moscow featured three parallel sessions: on China and the multipolar world, where the star was Professor Weiwei; on the post-hegemony West, under the title “Is it possible to save the European civilization?” – attended by several dissident Europeans, academics, think tankers, activists; and the main treat – featuring the frontline actors of multipolarity.

    I had the honor to moderate the awesome Global South session, which ran for over three hours – it could have been the whole day, actually – and featured several stunning presentations by a stellar cast of Africans, Latin Americans and Asians, from Palestine to Venezuela, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla.

    That was the multipolar Global South in full flight – as my imperative was to open the floor to as many people as possible. Were the organizers to release a Greatest Hits of the presentations, that could easily become a global hit.

    Mandla Mandela emphasized how it’s about time to move away from the unipolar system dominated by the Hegemon, “which continues to support Israel”.

    That complemented Benin’s charismatic activist Kemi Seba – who brilliantly personifies the African leadership of the future. In the plenary session, Seba introduced a key concept – which begs to be developed around the world: we are living under a “theo-political war”.

    That neatly summarizes the Western simultaneous Hybrid War on Islam, Shi’ism, Christian Orthodoxy, in fact every religion, apart from the Woke Cult.

    The next day, the second congress of the International Russophiles movement offered three debate sessions: the most relevant was on – what else – “Informational and Hybrid Warfare”.

    I had the honor to share the stage with Maria Zakharova – and after my free jazz-style presentation, focused on over 40 years of practicing journalism across the planet and watching first-hand the utter degradation of the industry, we carried a hopefully useful dialogue on media and soft power.

    My suggestion not only to the Russian Foreign Ministry but to everyone all across the Global South was straightforward: forget about oligarchy-controlled legacy/mainstream media, it is already dead. They have nothing relevant to say. The present and the future rely on social media; “alternative” – which is not alternative anymore, on the contrary; and citizen media, to all of which, of course, the highest standards of journalism should be applied.

    In the evening, before everyone got down to party hard, a few of us were invited for an open, frank and enlightening working dinner with Foreign Minister Lavrov in one of the magnificent frescoed rooms of the Metropol Hotel, one the grand hotels of Europe since 1905.

    A legend with a wicked sense of humor

    Lavrov was relaxed, among friends; after an initial, stunning diplomatic tour de force which covered quite a few highlights of the recent decades all the way to the current gloom and doom, he opened the table to our questions, taking notes and answering each one of them in detail.

    What’s so striking when you are face to face with the most legendary diplomat in the world for quite some time, in a relaxed setting, is his genuine sadness when faced with the rage, intolerance and total absence of critical thought exhibited especially by the Europeans. That was much more relevant throughout our conversation than the fact that U.S.-Russia relations are at an all-time low.

    Lavrov though remains highly driven because of the Global South/Global Majority – and the Russian presidency of the BRICS this year. He hugely praised Indian FM Jaishankar, and the comprehensive relations with China. He suggested the Russophiles Movement should take a global role, playfully suggesting we should all be part of a “Normal-o-philes” movement.

    Well, Lavrov The Legend is also known for his wicked sense of humor. And humor is most effective when it is deadly serious. So here’s the key takeaway of these frantic days in Moscow: Normal-o-philes of the world, unite.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 23:40

  • 10% Of Biden 2020 Voters Say They're Switching To Trump
    10% Of Biden 2020 Voters Say They’re Switching To Trump

    Last weekend, newly-based, former Democrat darling pollster Nate Silver (who recently vanquished a lying leftist academic for spreading misinformation) penned a Saturday blog post in which he noted that President Biden has a huge problem with swing voters.

    US President Joe Biden speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, Maryland, on March 5, 2024. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

    While Silver acknowledges that there are “relatively few swing voters” in the US, there are some – “and with the country divided roughly 50/50, they usually determine who wins.”

    What’s more, the composition of the electorate has shifted – with a dropoff in those IDing as Democrats loosely corresponding to a rise in those claiming to be independent voters, according to Gallup.

    Silver’s point? “something has changed over the past decade or so. The Democratic Party brand no longer has an edge on the Republican brand; voters don’t like either one very much.”

    Biden loses 10%

    Silver then brings our attention to a tweet from pundit Matt Yglesias – who highlights a NY Times poll that reveals 10% of 2020 Biden voters are now saying they back Trump.

    While Yglesias frames it as “insanely banal swing voter stuff,” Silver sees it as far more serious for Democrats.

    Via natesilver.net:

    I’m a big Yglesias fan, but I’m not sure this take is so boring or so obvious. Here’s a slightly spicy argument, in fact: I suspect that some of the reason that pundits don’t like this take is because the media has become considerably more partisan. In contrast a couple of decades ago, punditry was dominated by newspaper columnists who were milquetoast centrists and TV panelists who were scrupulously nonpartisan. Now, people who comment about politics on blogs and social media tend to be loyal, reliable partisans, aligning with either Democrats or Republicans on nearly every issue. That sort of consistent partisanship is much less common among the broader electorate, although it’s becoming more so.

    My theory is that this more partisan species of pundit often implicitly or explicitly advocates for focusing on base turnout because it suits their ideological interests.. These pundits tend to be strong progressives (or conservatives) themselves, and the base-turnout theory implies there’s no trade-off between ideologically-charged policy goals and electoral ones. Read progressive media, for instance, and you’ll often hear that Biden was wise to cancel student loan repayments1 because it would excite young voters, even though student loan relief polls questionably with the electorate overall. I’m not sure I want to get too far into the weeds on Biden’s stance toward the Middle East, but you’ll often hear this argument on Gaza, too. It’s often just assumed (despite poor results for the “uncommitted” protest vote in the Michigan primary on Tuesday) that it would be electorally advantageous for Biden to move to the left by becoming more hawkish toward Bibi Netanyahu, even though Americans overall are still more sympathetic to Israel than Palestine.

    The Times/Siena poll that Yglesias alluded to speaks to the potential dangers for Democrats of the base-turnout focus. The poll asked voters who they voted for in 2020 as well as who they plan to vote for in November. This produced a big gap; Biden actually led by 12 points in the recalled 2020 vote, but he trails Trump by 5 points in 2024 voter preferences:

    • 2020 recalled vote (excluding nonvoters): Biden 53%, Trump 41%

    • 2024 vote (including learners): Trump 48%, Biden 43%

    Now, this is a weird result – Biden actually won in 2020 by 4.5 percentage points, not 12. It may reflect the fact that voters sometimes incorrectly recall their previous votes and there can be a bias toward the candidate who won the prior election (in this case, Biden). Nevertheless, this is a bad data point for White House. In the poll, only 83 percent of voters who say they chose Biden in 2020 plan to vote for him this year, whereas 97 percent who voted for Trump plan to vote for Trump again.

    These are swing voters, in other words — people who are explicitly stating to pollsters that they are switching their vote from 2020. There are a substantial number of them.

    *  *  *

    Not everyone, including Fast Company contributor James Surowiecki, can accept reality:

    Of course, the 2024 election will ultimately come down to whether Trump voters can overcome “the Democrats fraudulent voting scheme,” according to the former president.

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    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 23:20

  • Alarm Bells For The US Food Supply
    Alarm Bells For The US Food Supply

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

    How much more are you spending on food each month compared to two or three years ago?  In recent years, our leaders have been flooding the system with money at the same time that global supplies of food have been getting tighter and tighter.  On the other side of the world, hundreds of millions of people do not have enough food to eat on a regular basis and children are literally dropping dead from starvation.  Here in the United States, nobody is dropping dead from starvation, but demand at food banks is absolutely exploding as U.S. households struggle to deal with how oppressively expensive groceries have become.  Unfortunately, things are about to get even worse.

    Right now, the largest fire in the entire history of Texas continues to rage out of control…

    The biggest inferno in Texas history is being fueled by winds and high temperatures as it rages Sunday, threatening to incinerate more buildings, cattle and livelihoods across the Texas Panhandle while residents sift through ashes of what used to be homes.

    Critical fire weather conditions were expected to continue Sunday in the area, with strengthening winds gusting to 50 mph and dry conditions combining to set the stage for rapid wildfire spread, the National Weather Service warned.

    The Smokehouse Creek Fire has been burning for nearly a week and has torched more than 1 million acres in Texas alone, making it the largest fire on record in the state – and it is only 15% contained.

    With each passing hour, even more cattle are being engulfed by the fires.

    Nobody knows for sure how many have been killed so far.

    Most news reports that I have seen say that it is “thousands”…

    The largest wildfire in Texas history has devastated the state’s agriculture, blazing through more than 1 million acres of land in the Panhandle, killing thousands of livestock, destroying crops and gutting infrastructure.

    The agriculture industry, a big driver of the state’s economy, was already facing pressures from prolonged and widespread drought that forced ranchers to manage smaller herds, contributing to a decrease in beef production nationally. The series of wildfires in the Panhandle this week is another blow as many ranchers tried to rebuild their herds and operations during the cooler months of the year.

    What will the final death toll be?

    According to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, there are more than 10 million head of livestock in the region…

    State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told The New York Times that the Panhandle is home to roughly 85% of Texas’s cattle herds.

    The region supports over 10 million head of livestock. Most of the cattle are kept in feedlots and dairy farms as farmers and ranchers attempt to shield their herds from the wildfires, Miller said.

    “There are millions of cattle out there, with some towns comprising more cattle than people,” Miller told The Wall Street Journal.

    Even before this disaster erupted, supplies of beef were really tight.

    At this point, the size of the U.S. cattle herd is the smallest since 1951, and the size of the Canadian cattle herd is the smallest in 30 years…

    Canada is the next nation to report a multi-decade low cattle herd.

    At the beginning of the year, the USDA reported the lowest total U.S. head since 1951 at a little more than 87 million.

    Now, Statistics Canada is reporting the Canadian cattle herd is at its lowest level in more than 30 years, totaling just 11 million cattle and calves on farms.

    And even without the tragedy in Texas, we were already being warned that the U.S. cattle herd would get even smaller this year because we are looking at the “smallest beef calf crop since 1948”…

    But that supply of feeder cattle will likely tighten during the rest of this year. The smallest beef calf crop since 1948, brought on by drought and high feed prices and the contraction of the beef cow herd, along with a significant decrease in replacement beef heifers, means that there won’t be as many cattle to put in feedlots to replace those going out.

    Beef is now considered to be a “luxury meat”, and prices are only going to go higher throughout the remainder of 2024.

    So if you enjoy beef, I would stock up now.

    Of course it isn’t just beef that is going to become more expensive.

    All over the western world, “green policies” are making things extremely challenging for farmers and ranchers.

    During a recent appearance on Fox News, one industry insider warned that more U.S. farmers are going out of business “every day”…

    While nationwide organizations like the FFA are going strong and statewide affairs like the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show and Iowa State Fair continue to draw exhibitors and guests alike, beneath the surface are troubling signs, two guests on “The Ingraham Angle” warned this week.

    Globalist “green” policies as well as inflation and rising costs have led to thinner herds, and in some instances, foreclosure or shuttering of farms altogether, bringing with them a potential domestic food crisis, they said.

    “Farmers are going out of business every day,” said John Boyd Jr., founder of the Black Farmers of America.

    We have already seen farmers engage in wild protests all over Europe, and it is probably just a matter of time before we see similar protests here in the United States.

    But even if government control freaks left our farmers alone, they would still have to deal with weather patterns that have gone completely nuts.

    For example, this weekend an absolutely massive blizzard dumped up to 12 feet of snow on some parts of California, and wind gusts in some areas actually reached 190 miles per hour…

    Hundreds of miles of California highways remained shut down Sunday as a powerful blizzard pounded parts of the Golden State and Mountain West with snow totals that could reach 12 feet amid howling winds with gusts that hit 190 mph − well above the 157 mph threshold for a Category 5 hurricane.

    National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill warned of “life-threatening concern” for residents near Lake Tahoe, calling the storm, now in its third day, an “extreme blizzard.” Areas of Nevada, Utah and Colorado were also affected.

    “Moderate to heavy snow has persisted overnight across the northern Sierra Nevada,” the National Weather Service in Sacramento said in a social media post Sunday. “Wind gusts … are continuing to result in blizzard conditions.”

    As I sit here, I am having a hard time even imagining what a blizzard with 190 mph winds would look like.

    I cannot remember anything like this ever happening before.

    But the truth is that weird storms like this will be the new normal.

    Weather patterns all over the globe are breaking records, and that is making it really difficult for farmers and ranchers to do their jobs.

    We have entered a time when a confluence of factors is creating a “perfect storm” for global food production, and global hunger has been steadily on the rise since 2015.

    Sadly, the outlook for the years ahead is exceedingly bleak.  The amount of food that will be produced won’t even be close to what is needed to feed everyone on the planet, and so there will be a mad scramble for whatever is available.

    *  *  *

    Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 23:00

  • Snow Roaches? US State-Sponsored News Exec On Paid Leave Over Anti-White Social Media Posts
    Snow Roaches? US State-Sponsored News Exec On Paid Leave Over Anti-White Social Media Posts

    The United States Agency for Global Media – a state sponsored news operation, has placed a top executive on leave after he referred to white people as “snow roaches” on social media.

    James “J.R.” Reeves, who serves as the USAGM Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director of IT Operations, was busted after a conservative X account End Wokeness dropped receipts showing Reeves’ racism. The USAGM, which includes Voice of America among six state-owned entities, quickly addressed the post – saying it “does not condone intolerance in any form,” and would investigate the claims – and placed Reeves was on paid administrative leave.

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    According to the report, Reeves recently wrote: “Cry about it, snow roaches” in support of a meme which stated “Keep the Immigrants, Deport the Racists.”

    The account also responded to several other messages by calling a user a “snow roach” and suggesting they are uneducated or racist.

    “Last time I checked it’s the snow roaches that are mad about immigrants,” Reeves’ alleged account wrote on Feb. 12, while another message posted the same day read, “Like the other snow roaches, resort to racist tropes when you can’t construct a logical argument. Clearly uneducated. Stat triggered.”

    Another post from the account said, “You believe all the talking points from the ‘Republicans.’ Plus you’re a racist t–t. Immigrants to not have more rights. But just to help I’ve taken in multiple immigrant families to help! Now stay triggered! #snowroach.” 

    The account also wrote, “By 2045 Snow roaches will be a minority. That scares you… #welfarequeens,” according to End Wokeness, with a snapshot of a Pew Research Center finding about the White population in the U.S. shrinking in the last decade. –Fox News

    The account believed to belong to Reeves, @devast8nSigma, was locked following the End Wokeness post went viral.

    According to End Wokeness, “Reeves posted pictures of himself on this account multiple times throughout the years,” and “used this account to demonize White people, label them snow roaches, and celebrate their demographic decline.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 22:40

  • Alteration Of Gut Microbiota Affects The Severity And Complications Of COVID-19
    Alteration Of Gut Microbiota Affects The Severity And Complications Of COVID-19

    Authored by Elllen Wan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Increasing evidence suggests that alterations in the gut microbiota are associated with the development, severity, and sequelae of COVID-19 infection.

    In the adult digestive tract, there are approximately 100 trillion microbes, 10 times the number of human cells, and they weigh about 4.41 pounds. These organisms are immune system guardians and can help remove viruses.

    (Alpha Tauri 3D Graphics/Shutterstock)

    Certain Gut Bacteria Can Inactivate COVID-19 Virus

    In a new study published in Cell Host & Microbe, researchers evaluated the impact of gut microbiota composition on respiratory viral infections through animal experiments. The results showed that segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) in the gut could protect mice from viral influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the COVID-19 virus.

    Studies have indicated that SFB, whether naturally present or acquired, can combat viral infections with the help of alveolar macrophages in the lungs.

    Alveolar macrophages serve as the first line of defense against respiratory pathogens.

    In mice that don’t have SFB, these immune cells were rapidly depleted as infection progressed. Conversely, in mice with SFB in the gut, these immune cells underwent alterations to resist the inflammatory signaling induced by the influenza virus. Moreover, alveolar macrophages directly disabled the influenza virus.

    Gut-Lung Axis

    While the functions of the gut and lungs are different, they share common structural features, as they both develop from the same embryonic tissue. Both the gut and lungs are covered with mucous membranes. These membranes secrete mucin and collectively form a mucosal immune system that defends against pathogens.

    As research on COVID-19 progresses, some researchers have noted the bidirectional and complex relationship of the gut-lung axis. Microbiota-derived metabolic pathways can function distally and play a vital role in anti-inflammatory responses in the airways.

    The SFB are unlikely to be the only kind of gut microbe capable of affecting the immune cells in the lungs, said Dr. Andrew Gewirtz, a co-senior study author, in a press release.

    Dr. Richard Plemper, a co-senior author of the paper, said that among the thousands of microbial species inhabiting the mouse gut, a common commensal microbe significantly impacted respiratory virus infections. He further stated that if these findings apply to human infections, they could have substantial implications for the risk assessment of disease progression in patients.

    Research has shown that alterations in the gut microbiota, including changes in specific microbiota species and microbial-derived metabolites, play an important role in regulating the severity and progression of COVID-19 infection and post-recovery complications.

    Viral Respiratory Tract Infection Affects the Gut Microbiota

    An analysis of fecal samples from 102 patients with severe COVID-19 infection following ICU admission found that decreased concentrations of gut microbiome metabolite—secondary bile acids and desaminotyrosine—were associated with an increased risk of respiratory failure and mortality.

    Another study revealed that patients infected with COVID-19 showed a decrease or depletion of bacteria with immune-regulating capabilities in the body, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, as well as some bacteria from the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium families.

    Additionally, respiratory virus infections are often observed in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Microbiota analysis of these patients showed that those with reduced levels of commensal bacterial species producing butyrate had a fivefold increase in the progression of viral respiratory tract infections.

    Enhancing Gut Health to Build Robust Immunity

    The intestinal tract, the largest immune organ in the human body, plays a crucial role in establishing and maintaining a robust immune system, and gut immunity is closely linked to our diet.

    Probiotics are beneficial bacteria for the gut and are relatively safe health supplements. A retrospective cohort study showed that COVID-19 patients treated with probiotics had a shorter time to clinical improvement, including reduced fever, hospital stays, and viral shedding. Another study also indicated that probiotic treatment significantly shortened the duration of diarrhea in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

    BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health published a study in 2021 analyzing the effects of dietary habits on COVID-19 infection, severity of symptoms, and duration of the illness.

    The study covered 2,884 frontline health care workers from six different countries, investigating their dietary habits and the severity of COVID-19 infection. The results showed that participants who followed either a plant-based or pescatarian diet (where a person doesn’t eat meat but eats fish) had a 59 percent lower odds of developing moderate to severe COVID-19 than those who did not.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 22:20

  • Mapping Out America's Cannabis Dispensaries
    Mapping Out America’s Cannabis Dispensaries

    American think-tank Pew Research released a new analysis that shows although marijuana is illegal at the federal level, many Americans live in states where cannabis is legal for medical or recreational use. 

    The new report on the status of marijuana in the US reveals 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.  

    Since Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, 24 other states, along with the District of Columbia, have also embraced legalization. Moreover, 14 states have approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes only. The remaining 12 states have restricted access to marijuana products with low levels of THC or none at all. 

    A map of America’s 15,000 cannabis dispensaries reveals pot shop clusters up and down the West and East Coasts but also cluster in interior states like Colorado, Oklahoma, and Michigan. 

    This latest analysis, coupled with a recent Gallup poll, is an indication that an increasing number of Americans now believe marijuana should be legal. 

    Meanwhile, health officials are recommending easing restrictions on marijuana, a move that sets the stage for potentially expanding the cannabis market.

    A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services wrote Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Anne Milgram called for marijuana to be reclassified as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, according to a letter dated Aug. 29, 2023, obtained by Bloomberg and reported last year. 

    Should the DEA reclassify marijuana, it would mark a critical shift away from its status as a Schedule I substance, which includes drugs with high abuse risk, like heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 22:00

  • The Institutional Insanity Complex
    The Institutional Insanity Complex

    Authored by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic,

    “Nobody does. The crowd never thinks. People are only comfortable in a pack, and they’re most comfortable in one that’s racing off a cliff.”

    – Deacon Bainbridge to Daniel Durand, The Golden Pinnacle, Robert Gore, (2013)

    The pack is racing off a cliff. There is a vast complex telling them that they are not, and that they won’t be hurt when they smash on the rocks below.

    How does the human mind deal with the contradictory? One way is through discovering facts and rational analysis to resolve the contradiction. A vaccine is presented as safe and effective. However, its legal status shields its makers from legal liability for any vaccine-induced injuries. Why would legal immunity be necessary if the vaccine is safe and effective? The rational person questions the premise of safety and effectiveness, and either foregoes the vaccine until further data confirms the premise, or foregoes it permanently if it doesn’t.

    The other way to deal with contradiction is to evade it. If the crowd—the government, the pharmaceutical companies, the media, the academics, the corporations, the celebrities, your employer, your friends, and your family—is telling you the vaccines are safe and effective, they must be so. Unfortunately, the rocks below hurt; they may even kill. And it’s no consolation that the comforting crowd shares your fate. Perhaps, if there’s an afterlife, you can commiserate with fellow unfortunates there.

    The Institutional Insanity Complex (IIC) wants to separate you from your mind. Now it talks openly of doing just that, inserting microchips and wiring in your brain, so that you can be reprogrammed to run with the crowd and never question it. Destroy the mind and you destroy humanity, but the IIC is more insane than those it would reprogram. It, too, shall be destroyed.

    Debt must be repaid in a medium of exchange creditors trust, even when the debtor is a government. When debt increases, interest payments increase and the debt service burden compounds. The interest rate necessary to secure credit often increases, adding to the burden. This is all happening in real time with Western governments and China. The global economy floats on an ocean of debt, but unlike a real ocean, debt can shrink into a puddle almost instantaneously. When it can either not be repaid or repaid in a debased medium that creditors no longer trust, debtors and creditors alike go bankrupt, and multiple and conflicting claims are made on income streams and real assets.

    Anyone who insists that present debt trends will lead to disaster is derided as reactionary, enslaved to outmoded ways of thinking. At least it’s thinking; obliviousness is not, Consequences have begun their inevitable cascade as interest rates rise and debt implodes.

    Interest-rate sensitive industries like commercial real estate and banking have been the first to register the tremors from what will be an unprecedented financial earthquake. Individuals, businesses, governments, and financial and derivative markets will tumble into an expanding fissure of global insolvency, illiquidity, and bankruptcy. Derivatives, the sum of which (measured in the quadrillions), is a double-digit multiple of global GDP, will live up to Warren Buffett’s appellation as “financial weapons of mass destruction.”

    Obliviousness is one thing; taking actions that make the threats you’re ignoring even worse is insanity. Yet the IIC is spending money it doesn’t have on two wars—both of which could expand—and lobbying for a third (Iran) and fourth (Taiwan). There are no plans for negotiations for what would, among other salutary outcomes, staunch the financial bleed from the first two.

    At home, the IIC ups the ante on the welfare state, inviting the whole world to partake in its already unaffordable benefits. Parts of the U.S., particularly in Democratic and gang-controlled (a redundancy) cities, are third-world enclaves that will continue to expand as third-world invitees flood in. The U.S. is fast becoming a third-world nation. Much of Europe is confronted with the same insanity, as its rulers have also put out the welcome mat for unaffordable migrants.

    Personal morality is regarded as a quaint anachronism, a liability that hinders one’s pursuit of power and payola. By now, many realize that there’s a sub rosa explanation for much of what transpires in the political realm. The shorthand phrase: bribes, blackmail, and bullets.

    Look again at the U.S.’s two wars. Ukraine is a cesspool of corruption, and the Clintons and the Bidens have rancid ties to its oligarchic power structure. These ties are so sensitive that President Trump was impeached for asking Ukrainian president Zelensky about Hunter and Joe Biden, and Ukrainian energy company Burisma. There are also Ukraine’s under-reported and under-investigated bioweapons research facilities.

    It’s certainly not a stretch to hypothesize that Ukraine has lined a lot of powerful Americans’ pockets; that many of them, particularly the Bidens, are vulnerable to blackmail, and that nobody involved in these sordid affairs would be too squeamish about bullets, if necessary. That accounts for the desperate efforts to obtain huge funding packages for Ukraine to prolong the war. The money that hasn’t disappeared has been squandered on ineffectual military strategies that haven’t prevented Russian victory; yet, Biden has pulled out all the stops to secure another big appropriation. Throwing good money after bad on a lost cause is almost the definition of insanity.

    You have to be hopelessly naïve to believe that the political class’s unshakeable fealty to Israel doesn’t stem from the three Bs. Bribery? Nobody spreads more money around Washington than the Jewish lobby. Blackmail? We have the late Jeffrey Epstein’s honey-trap operation and his and Ghislaine Maxwell’s well-documented ties to Israeli intelligence. If the investigative reporting of Whitney Webb is to be believed, Epstein is just the tip of a massive iceberg of corruption and criminality that’s operated for decades. Bullets? There’s no shortage of Mossad-linked disappearances and murders.

    Whatever keeps Washington’s Corruptocracy in line, it’s leading to disaster as the U.S. IIC supports Israel’s campaign to expel the Palestinians from what was once their homeland (then known as Palestine). The Israelis don’t have any justification for their slaughter, just a few recitations endlessly repeated and amplified in the Western mainstream media, and epithets of “anti-Semitism” thrown at those who question, criticize, or protest against the government’s barbaric campaign. Nobody in the Biden administration will do anything about it, even if means the death or displacement of two million Gaza Palestinians. The campaign may well extend to Israel’s five million Palestinians living outside Gaza, and that, too, will receive IIC acquiescence.

    Even if moral considerations never enter into their bloodthirsty calculations, aiding and abetting this Nakba is not just a crime, but an epic mistake. The danger that it leads to a conflagration that engulfs the entire Middle East and perhaps the world is clear. Hamas has received the support of Yemen’s Houthis, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, various Syrian and Iraqi insurgent groups, and Iran. That support has been calibrated—the only sanity on display in the region so far—but they will match Israeli escalation with their own.

    U.S. neocons have been promoting a war against Iran for over two decades. In a world with even a smidgeon of justice they would, best case, be straitjacketed and involuntarily committed, worst case, spend the rest of their lives in the kind of super secure solitary to which they want to confine Julian Assange.

    Whatever respect the U.S. government once received as “leader of the free world” is gone, replaced by contempt and antipathy from the 7 billion outside the West’s golden billion. First Ukraine and now Gaza have coalesced the multipolarity movement led by Russia and China. Strengthening one’s adversaries and needlessly creating new ones are the opposite of rational.

    What else can be expected from people who believe in a double-digit number of genders, all interchangeable? The federal government, academia, corporate America, and Hollywood are ruthlessly promoting doctrines whose essence is that people’s gender, sexual proclivities, race, and ethnicity are their most important attributes, not their ability, competence, ingenuity, productivity, judgment, or character.

    Nasty old capitalism that rewarded the latter has been replaced by crony socialism that rewards the former. Hierarchies are filled with people who can’t even be said to have reached their level of incompetence. They were incompetent to begin with, but secured their positions because they ticked the right DEI boxes, mouthed the prevailing platitudes, and slithered their way up the ladder. Anyone who points this out is smeared and cancelled. Truth must be discarded if it hurts the wrong feelings and exposes the wrong agendas.

    Pretend is the order of the day. So, Washington pretends: that it can have an empire when its military hasn’t won a war since 1945; that it can jump into two major wars and potentially two more and it will win them all; that the unrelenting immigrant flow and crumbling, dangerous cities aren’t hallmarks of the U.S.’s regression into the third world; that the death-trap medical system promotes health; that the debts it cannot pay and commitments it cannot meet can just keep piling up, and that the corrupt ruling class, riddled with incompetents with no real world experience or useful skills, heads stuffed with nonsense, is entitled to rule by virtue of its hypocritical preening and ineptitude. Meanwhile, the mainstream media peddles the official propaganda and pretends all is well.

    How does one preserve one’s sanity amidst this pervasive lunacy?

    You can act like a man (or woman, the only other gender), cherish what you are, and take responsibility for your own life. You can refuse to turn away from an insane world, seeing it for what it is, but holding to your own sanity with all your strength. You can refuse to pretend. To preserve your mind is to preserve your immortal soul; abandon either one and you abandon the other.

    In The Gray Radiance, the main character, Nick Wozniak, contemplates soul, mind, God, and the insanity in which he finds himself. He’s in Saigon in 1968.

    He felt a savage satisfaction in what he’d said. Franklins did their best to insulate themselves from such encounters. They lived in bubbles, and how often did you get a chance to pop one? God, how could you live like Franklin?

    God. A concept that might be more than a concept. He was a twice-a-year—at most—Catholic and had never considered himself devout or faithful. God was an abstraction before whom you genuflected, prayed, sang, took communion, and put an offering on the plate. He got as much out of church as he would watching Indian tribal dances or voodoo rituals, and he put them all in the same category.

    Yet, he couldn’t account for that strange feeling as he carried Quang in My Tho, the certainty that the boy would make it. Nor could he account for the conviction that he would find the truth about his father, that he had to do so. Both were the kind of things that God presumably would want to encourage. You’d think with God that actions spoke louder than genuflecting and the other folderol. You worshipped God by doing the right things, not just showing up at church. He couldn’t conceive of an insecure God, one who needed the folderol.

    And you think he’d help you do the right things, if you asked him. Truth and wisdom—distilled truth—came to those who sought them. That was reasonable, and God would be reasonable. Humans had logic and reason and were created in God’s image. That would make God logical and reasonable, although not in ways that people would always understand. He had heard someone say—someone smart, but he couldn’t remember who—that man created God in his own image. A quick and easy dismissal for those who wanted it. Man had undoubtedly created a conception of God, as Nick was doing that morning. It didn’t logically follow that God didn’t exist, or that he hadn’t created man.

    If God was logic, he was also justice. That the two went together seemed beyond argument; the books would balance. Even if there was no God, there was at least some justice because actions have consequences. Drink yourself stupid, and you throw up in the middle of the night. Your head aches the next morning. You could have been beaten, robbed, or worse after you passed out on the street. You were saved by a guardian angel, who would kill you if you didn’t play the devil’s game with Hendricks.

    A collision with consequences was coming for the cohort running the United States government. They were drunk with power and corruption. Like all drunks, they kept drinking. You don’t murder the natives, destroy their country, prop up your gang of thieves, spew endless hypocrisy, then walk out of the bar to your cozy bed scot-free. You weaved down uncertain streets and dark alleys and were a sitting duck for all the enemies you had made. Sooner or later, they would get you.

    There would come a time when Franklin and his ilk couldn’t just move on to a new set of lies. When retribution came, it would be Old Testament merciless. Nothing created hate like arrogance asserting its control but exempting itself from its own rules. Throw in pious crap about moral superiority, and you’ve got hate that’s passed down generation to generation, that neither forgets nor forgives. God knows crap when he sees it, and he doesn’t forget or forgive. He wouldn’t bless his children subjugating his children. This love of power was the root of evil. He’d bless the Golden Rule: his children treating his children as they themselves wanted to be treated.

    Yes, indeed, Old Testament merciless.

    There were different conceptions of God, but they all had one thing in common: God the creator. Humanity destroyed but it had also created every step of its own progress—life depended on it. To see something where there was nothing, to discover that which had been hidden, to plan and to build, to make your conception a reality; that was the spark of the divine, communion with God.

    He finished his coffee, got up from the couch, went into the kitchen, and rinsed his cup. There was a bottle of Jack, almost full, by the sink. He poured it down the drain. He threw a bag of marijuana in the garbage.

    His headache was gone. It was time to write—to create—his story of My Tho, Minh, and Quang. He’d write for a few hours and then go to the hospital to see Quang. He wasn’t sure how, but his path with Quang led to creation—to God—as well.

    The Gray Radiance, Robert Gore, 2023

    The battle against insanity is moral and spiritual. A snippet here and a snippet there of what you know to be true are lifelines; the mountains of lies are death. Two plus two will always equal four. The unremitting search for truth leads to its distilled essence: wisdom.

    A collision with consequences is no longer coming for the cohort running the United States government; it’s arrived. Their frantic efforts to censor and suppress, their vicious cancellations, and their high-tech totalitarianism are to keep that reality—not so much from the populace they claim to rule—but from themselves. They cannot escape the misery and death they are imposing on everyone else.

    The ultimate insanity is pretending that ignoring reality will change it. The ultimate wisdom is dealing with it. If you plod along the straight line path of facts and logic, holding to your sanity and what you know to be true, you won’t win the race, but that’s a race over the cliff. You will preserve your mind . . . and your soul. And you may be around to help start things fresh after the insanity extinguishes itself.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 21:40

  • Terror Threat? NYC Mobilizing 1,000 National Guard Troops In Subways 
    Terror Threat? NYC Mobilizing 1,000 National Guard Troops In Subways 

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul is mobilizing 1,000 National Guard troops and State Police officers across New York City’s subway system in a show of force meant as a warning to criminals who have been terrorizing passengers. 

    Gov. Hochul announced earlier today that 750 guardsmen and 250 law enforcement officers would be deployed across “the city’s busiest transit stations” amid out-of-control violent crime. 

    “These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” the governor said, adding the Guardsmen are part of a new five-point plan to crack down on the city’s crime wave. 

    She continued: “No one heading to their job or to visit family or go to a doctor appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon. They shouldn’t worry about whether someone’s going to brandish a knife or gun. That’s what we’re going to do with these checkpoints.” 

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

    What’s puzzling – is if the only threats were violent criminals and migrants, why deploy the National Guard? The NYPD is fully capable of increasing its presence and flooding subway stations with officers. This raises the possibility that the threat is more significant than just migrants, potentially hinting at terrorism-related concerns.

    It was only days ago when the Federal Bureau of Investigation released new information about a rogue Iranian intelligence officer planning assassination attempts on former and current US government officials.

    Calling in the National Guard for civil disturbance doesn’t make sense. This also suggests that whatever threat has spooked NY and NYC officials could be much greater than what the NYPD can handle.

    The threat could be related to Iran and a possible upsurge in attack vectors during the US presidential election. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 21:20

  • Why China's Strong Commodity Imports Defy Weak Economic Data
    Why China’s Strong Commodity Imports Defy Weak Economic Data

    By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

    Despite continued weak economic performance, China’s imports of major commodities in the first two months of 2024 held strong and exceeded last year’s levels.

    Imports of crude oil, LNG, coal, and iron ore were all higher at the start of the year compared to the same period of 2023, although China’s economic data still shows a weak recovery, problems in several key sectors, and low consumer confidence.

    There’s a reason behind the robust commodity imports, and it’s not Chinese economic growth. Rather, it is the market dynamics for each major commodity, Reuters columnist Clyde Russell notes.

    Strong Commodity Imports

    Crude oil imports into China, the world’s top crude importer, increased to 11.73 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, higher than the 11.31 million bpd imports in January, per LSEG data cited by Russell.

    China’s customs office doesn’t report separate data for January and February to avoid distortion due to the Lunar New Year holiday, which typically begins at the end of January or early February.

    According to LSEG estimates, China imported 11.51 million bpd of crude for January and February on average, up by more than 1 million bpd compared to the official Chinese data for January-February crude oil imports last year.

    Despite possible distortion due to the Lunar New Year holiday period, which this year was in February, a large part of the rise in crude imports was due to higher demand compared to January 2023, when China was reopening from the COVID lockdowns, and because of lower commodity prices at the time the orders were placed in the fourth quarter of 2023.

    Oil prices declined in the last quarter of last year after hitting a 2023 high of over $95 per barrel in September.

    Considering the time lag of around two months between crude purchases and nominations and the arrival of the crude in China, it could be concluded that Chinese refiners have continued to buy more oil when prices were falling.

    In January 2024, China’s crude oil imports held up at a robust rate of 11.31 million bpd, per estimates from LSEG Oil Research. Low oil prices in November and December 2023 have been driving higher Chinese crude imports early this year.

    China also allocated in January a massive batch of crude oil import quotas to refiners, raising the allowances from early last year by around 60% and allocating full-year quotas to some. The early allocation of a large volume of import allowances will help refiners better plan their crude purchases in 2024, according to analysts.

    Despite weak manufacturing and the ongoing property crisis, crude oil imports are estimated to have held strong at much higher levels compared to the first two months of 2023.

    That’s also because China took advantage of the slide in oil prices, which began in October, to ramp up its stockpiling of cheaper crude in December and January. 

    In the liquefied natural gas market, China imported in February a record volume of LNG for the month, as buyers took advantage of plummeting spot prices in Asia amid ample inventories and tepid demand.  

    Chinese LNG imports last month – the highest-ever for February – topped 5.5 million tons, rising by 15% compared to February last year, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed last week.

    In February 2024, Chinese LNG importers were on the lookout for cheaper supply of liquefied natural gas on the spot market as prices in North Asia halved from October levels and slid to a nearly three-year low by the middle of the month. 

    Last week, the average LNG price for April delivery into north-east Asia was unchanged from the previous week, at $8.30 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), which was the lowest level since April 2021.

    China’s coal imports were also robust in early 2024 amid high power demand and low hydropower output.

    Despite the property sector crisis, Chinese imports of iron ore were also strong at the start of 2024.

    Steel mills have increased inventories of iron ore in recent weeks, which could be in anticipation of authorities rolling out measures to boost the sector and the overall economy, Reuters’ Russell notes.

    Underwhelming Economy

    Chinese imports of major commodities defy the weak economic performance, which has plagued the world’s second-largest economy since the reopening from the Covid restrictions early last year.

    Manufacturing activity remains in contraction territory, shrinking for a fifth consecutive month in February.

    Consumer prices are falling, and deflationary pressure risks becoming an entrenched behavior of lower spending among consumers, some analysts warned last month.  

    Despite China touting record travel during the Lunar New Year holiday in February, consumer spending was lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to CNN estimates, amid weak consumer confidence in a deflationary environment.

    On Tuesday, China set a target of around 5% economic growth for 2024, which is in line with expectations. Premier Li Qiang told the National People’s Congress that China would be looking to “transform” the economic growth model and implement measures to reduce industrial overcapacity and defuse property sector and debt risks.

    Restoring confidence will likely take some time, and the process will likely be uneven, Lynn Song, Chief Economist, Greater China, at ING said, commenting on China’s economic growth targets. The policies that will be announced in the coming weeks and months will play a large role in whether or not consumer and business sentiment will bottom out this year, the economist added.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 21:00

  • "Notable Milestone": American FICO Credit Scores Decline First Time In Decade
    “Notable Milestone”: American FICO Credit Scores Decline First Time In Decade

    Although the Biden administration claims that the American consumer is humming on all cylinders, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book in March painted a much different story in the report released on Wednesday. It showed consumers are cutting back on spending and becoming more cost-conscious due to the increasing pressures of elevated inflation.

    A new report by Fair Isaac Corp., the Montana-based creator of the FICO credit score, shows consumers missing more credit card payments and taking on more debt. This has led to the average consumer credit score reversing for the first time in a decade.

    Blomberg first reported that the average FICO credit score for Americans fell by one point in October to 717 from 718 in July. Despite being a minor change, this marks the first decline in a decade.

    Source: Bloomberg

    “It’s a notable milestone that we’ve seen the average score decrease,” said Ethan Dornhelm, vice president of scores and predictive analytics at FICO, adding, “This isn’t a blinking red light, but it certainly is a yellow light.”

    According to Bloomberg, the 30-day-or-more delinquency rate increased to 18% of the population – up about 4% since April – and comes in an environment of rising delinquencies for credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. Credit card utilization also rose higher in October, up to 35% from 34% in April, while the average credit card balance in October jumped 5.9% to $7,306. 

    A separate report showed how non-revolving credit growth stumbled under high interest rates in early February.

    The average rate across all commercial banks on all credit card amounts hit a new record high of 21.47% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

    Meanwhile, the personal savings rate has collapsed. 

    Another concerning piece of consumer data comes from Credit Managers’ survey that shows the rate of rejections for credit applications and the number of accounts moved to ‘collections’ is surging back to near GFC levels.

    … and about that ‘strong consumer’ narrative the Biden administration keeps pushing in corporate media. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 20:40

  • RSV Vaccines May Increase Risk Of Rare Neurological Condition
    RSV Vaccines May Increase Risk Of Rare Neurological Condition

    Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    (MargJohnsonVA/Shutterstock)

    Recently approved vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for older adults may be linked to a rare nervous system disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack its own nerves.

    In a Feb. 29 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, health officials presented data that appears to show a slightly elevated rate of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) among people who received RSV vaccines by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

    A data mining alert on Jan. 19 for disproportional reporting was detected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Pfizer’s Abrysvo RSV vaccine and GBS but has not been reported to date for GSK’s RSV vaccine Arexvy, according to Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC’s influenza division and former director of the CDC’s immunization safety office.

    The FDA uses data mining to identify statistical associations between products and events in their respective safety databases. If there is disproportionate reporting of an event for a particular product, this could suggest a statistical association between the adverse event and the product.

    According to data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) presented by Dr. Shimabukuro, data show 35 reports of GBS with 18 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine, Abrysvo, 16 cases attributed to GSK’s Arexvy, and one case that was not reported under either brand name.

    The CDC verified 23 cases of GBS reported to VAERS as of Feb. 16—all occurring within 22 days of RSV vaccination. Of the 23 cases, 15 were attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine and eight to GSK’s vaccine. Fourteen males experienced the condition compared with nine females. There was one death reported in a 70-year-old man who developed GBS after receiving Arexvy.

    “Certainly 23 cases of GBS within 22 [days] of RSV vaccination is not a ‘small signal’ given the woeful underreporting in VAERS,” Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense, who holds a doctorate in biochemical engineering, told The Epoch Times in an email.

    “What is always missing with VAERS is a good denominator. Given that these vaccines have been distributed for less than a year (since May 31, 2023), I would expect the uptake to still be fairly low,” he added.

    According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), underreporting is one of the main limitations of a passive surveillance system like VAERS. “The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events,” HHS states on its website. A November 2020 article published in Vaccine showed sensitivity for capturing GBS after three different vaccines ranged from 12 to 64 percent, suggesting more cases of GBS are occurring than are being captured.

    Vaccine Safety Database Suggests ‘Potential’ for Increased Rate of GBS

    The CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) suggests the “potential for an increased rate of GBS” following vaccination with GSK’s Arexvy RSV vaccine, but the agency said additional analyses are needed. There were insufficient doses of Pfizer’s Abrysvo used in the VSD to determine the risk of GBS following vaccination.

    It is estimated that 10 people will experience GBS for every 1 million doses of Arexvy administered, compared with 25 cases of Abrysvo, the CDC’s vaccine advisors said during the meeting.

    Due to the small number of GBS cases and the size of the prelicensure studies, Dr. Shimabukuro said it’s not known at this time whether the reported GBS cases or other neuroinflammatory events are random chance or whether RSV vaccination might increase the risk of these events. However, GBS is already included as an adverse event on both companies’ vaccine labels.

    In prelicensure studies of Prizer’s RSV vaccine in adults 60 and older, two reported cases of GBS among 20,255 vaccine recipients were observed within 42 days of vaccination compared with one case during GSK’s study of 18,304 vaccine recipients.

    “We’re still in the early uptake phase of these new RSV vaccines,” Dr. Shimabukuro told STAT in an interview after the meeting. “Some of these data and findings are based on small numbers of cases and relatively small numbers of doses administered,” he added. Due to “uncertainties and limitations” of early data, Dr. Shimabukuro said the agency can’t establish whether there’s an increased risk for GBS in individuals 60 and older following RSV vaccination, but better risk estimates would be forthcoming in the future.

    During the meeting, Pfizer vice president Reema Mehta said the company believes its vaccine is safe but is committed to continuous monitoring and evaluation of Abrysvo’s safety to assess the possibility of vaccine-related GBS.

    In an email to STAT, a spokesperson for GSK said the CDC analysis did not indicate an elevated rate of GBS among people who had received their company’s RSV vaccine, but it is designing a study to evaluate the risk of GBS after vaccination with Arexvy.

    Mr. Hooker said what’s more shocking to him is the 34 deaths reported from RSV vaccine in a short period of time. The deaths were included in Dr. Shimabukuro’s presentation during the ACIP meeting.

    “The swine flu vaccine was taken off of the market for fewer deaths,” Mr. Hooker told The Epoch Times. “It seems that with the advent of the horrific result of the COVID-19 vaccine, the bar has been severely lowered in terms of overall safety.”

    The CDC said during the meeting that its risk-benefit analysis continues to support the use of both RSV vaccines in people over 60 due to the burden of RSV in that population.

    GBS Reported After Other Vaccines

    The FDA, in May 2023, licensed Pfizer and GSK’s RSV vaccines for adults 60 and older. The CDC signed off on a recommendation made by its advisory panel shortly thereafter recommending the vaccine for people 60 and older only if a healthcare provider thinks vaccination would be beneficial versus making it an annual vaccine. Some vaccine advisors proposed making a universal recommendation for RSV and requested more data at the upcoming meeting scheduled in June.

    According to the CDC, RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people recover in a week or two, it can be serious and is more commonly diagnosed in infants.

    GBS is a rare neurological disorder that occurs when a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system—a network of nerves that carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body. The condition begins suddenly with weakness and tingling in the hands and feet and eventually spreads throughout the body, resulting in paralysis that can leave a person unable to breathe independently.

    Although most people recover from GBS, some cases are severe and can be fatal. Recovery can take several years, and it may take six months or longer after symptoms start for an individual with GBS to walk again.

    Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) and Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE) are two variants of GBS. MFS is a nerve disease that usually involves the lower cranial and facial nerves, and BBE involves altered consciousness, problems with muscle coordination, and impaired eye movements.

    Other vaccines have also been linked to GBS, including COVID-19, recombinant zoster, and influenza vaccines. CDC studies based on data from the VSD and VAERS found an increased risk of GBS among adults 18 and older following COVID-19 vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot manufactured by Janssen. The FDA, in July 2021, announced revisions to the product fact sheets for J&J to include a warning related to the increased risk of GBS observed following vaccination.

    Although the agency said it has not observed a similar signal with mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, cases of GBS and its variants have been reported following vaccination with both vaccines to VAERS and by the scientific community.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 20:20

  • What Could Go Wrong? 'Basel III Endgame' Stress Sparks Rebirth Of "Synthetic Credit Risk Sharing"
    What Could Go Wrong? ‘Basel III Endgame’ Stress Sparks Rebirth Of “Synthetic Credit Risk Sharing”

    Ironically, on a day when Fed Chair Powell spent a large portion of his time discussing the new regulatory threats from Basel Endgame rules – that force banks to hold more capital, less risk – BlackRock has published a report that is forecasting rapid growth for transactions that allow banks to shed risk in their loan portfolios.

    The freshly re-branded Synthetic Risk Transfer (SRT) deals, are simply credit-linked notes (which have been relatively uncommon since the great financial crisis) offering high (mid-double-digit) yields for borrowers willing to accept the implied credit default swap (that effectively transfers the credit risk tied to a pool of loans – such as CREs).

    Specifically, in SRT transactions, a bank earmarks a pool of assets on its balance sheet and buys credit default protection on the first 5% to 15% of the losses of that pool, so if losses materialize, the holders of the SRTs absorb the hit, according to BlackRock.

    The renaissance of these vehicles is driven by a combination of higher rates (which are among the main factors that have crushed CRE loan values) and forthcoming Basel III regulations that will force banks to hold more capital to cover potential losses.

    “With volatile interest rates and origination volumes, combined with increasing regulatory requirements, synthetic transactions are making more sense and are expected to pick up meaningfully in the near future,” said Chris Hentemann, chief investment officer and founder of hedge fund 400 Capital Management.

    Bloomberg reports that last year banks around the world sold $25 billion of SRTs partially offloading the risk of $300 billion of loans, according to an estimate by Pemberton Asset Management.

    While European banks have been the biggest users of such transactions in previous years, the big rise in SRT volumes will come from large Wall Street banks under pressure to boost their regulatory capital requirements, according to William Im, a director in BlackRock’s global opportunistic credit team.

    “Given greater acceptance of this as a tool and ongoing Basel III endgame regulatory pressures, there is a real world in which this market has a potential to grow at 30-to-40% each year for the next two years,” Im said.

    The growth trajectory Im envisions “sounds like a stark number, but if you compare investor demand as well as bank demand that well may be the case,” he said.

    In its paper, BlackRock cited the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and other regional banks as a factor driving growth in the market for regulatory capital securities.

    Rising rates and increased risk weightings mean “it’s not easy to be a bank CEO right now,” Joel Holsinger, co-head of alternative credit at Ares, said.

    “It is a truly transformational moment.”

    However, it is notably that Chair Powell’s comments today on the Basel III endgame likely signal there’s little chance a rule is finalized this year. Bloomberg Intelligence senior government analyst Nathan Dean notes that with the elections coming closer and closer, it’s more likely the Fed hits the brakes on the proposal or re-proposes the rule. We currently ascertain a 60% chance of a re-proposal.

    But, given the wave of marketing for SRTs, we suspect, the inevitability of higher capital requirements will do nothing to slow the growth of this trade.

    We have seen this movie before though: of course, the quants have their models, perfectly calibrated to ‘synthetically transfer’ that risk at a premium that pays big bonuses, but after scraping away the copulas and the codependencies, this is nothing more than a game of hot-potato (who can hold the potato long enough to earn a decent yield before it permanently scars your ‘hand’).

    Of course, there is always the embedded option of The Fed Put. Should the fecal matter truly strike the rotating object, let history be a lesson, Federal-Reserve-Backed SPVs will come to the rescue to re-collateralize the new TBTF market participants.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 20:00

  • The Great Election Fraud: Manufactured Choices Make A Mockery Of Our Republic
    The Great Election Fraud: Manufactured Choices Make A Mockery Of Our Republic

    Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “Dictators are not in the business of allowing elections that could remove them from their thrones.”

    – Gene Sharp, political science professor

    The U.S. Supreme Court was right to keep President Trump’s name on the ballot.

    The high court’s decree that the power to remove a federal candidate from the ballot under the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban” rests with Congress, not the states, underscores the fact that in a representative democracy, the citizenry—not the courts, not the corporations, and not the contrived electoral colleges—should be the ones to elect their representatives.

    Unfortunately, what is being staged is not an election. It is a mockery of an election.

    This year’s presidential election, much like every other election in recent years, is what historian Daniel Boorstin referred to as a “pseudo-event”: manufactured, contrived, confected and devoid of any intrinsic value save the value of being advertised.

    For the next eight months, Americans will be dope-fed billions of dollars’ worth of political propaganda aimed at persuading them that:

    1) their votes count,

    2) the future of this nation—nay, our very lives—depends on who we elect as president, and

    3) electing the right candidate will fix everything that is wrong with this country. 

    Incredible, isn’t it, that in a country of more than 330 million people, we are given only two choices for president?

    The system is rigged, of course.

    Forcing the citizenry to choose between two candidates who are equally unfit for office does not in any way translate to having some say in how the government is run.

    Indeed, no matter what names are on the presidential ballot, once you step away from the cult of personality politics, you’ll find that beneath the power suits, they’re all alike.

    The candidate who wins the White House has already made a Faustian bargain to keep the police state in power.

    We’ve been down this road before.

    Barack Obama campaigned on a message of hope, change and transparency, and promised an end to war and surveillance. Yet under Obama, government whistleblowers were routinely prosecuted, U.S. arms sales skyrocketed, police militarization accelerated, and surveillance became widespread.

    Donald Trump swore to drain the swamp in Washington DC. Instead of putting an end to the corruption, however, Trump paved the way for lobbyists, corporations, the military industrial complex, and the Deep State to feast on the carcass of the dying American republic.

    We’ve been mired in this swamp for decades now.

    Joe Biden has been no different. If his job was to keep the Deep State in power, he’s been a resounding success.

    Follow the money.  It always points the way.

    With each new president, we’ve been subjected to more government surveillance, more police abuse, more SWAT team raids, more roadside strip searches, more censorship, more prison time, more egregious laws, more endless wars, more invasive technology, more militarization, more injustice, more corruption, more cronyism, more graft, more lies, and more of everything that has turned the American dream into the American nightmare.

    What we’re not getting more of: elected officials who actually represent us.

    No matter who wins the presidential election come November, it’s a sure bet that the losers will be the American people if all we’re prepared to do is vote.

    After all, there is more to citizenship than the act of casting a ballot for someone who, once elected, will march in lockstep with the dictates of the powers-that-be.

    Yet as long as Americans are content to let politicians, war hawks and Corporate America run the country, the police state will prevail.

    “Total continuity” is how Chris Hedges refers to the manner in which the government’s agenda remains unchanged no matter who occupies the Executive Branch. “Continuity of government” (COG) is the phrase policy wonks use to refer to the unelected individuals who have been appointed to run the government in the event of a “catastrophe.”

    You can also refer to it as a shadow government, or the Deep State, which is comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who actually call the shots behind the scenes.

    Whatever term you use, the upshot remains the same: on the national level, we’re up against an immoveable, intractable, entrenched force that is greater than any one politician or party, whose tentacles reach deep into every sector imaginable, from Wall Street, the military and the courts to the technology giants, entertainment, healthcare and the media.

    This is no Goliath to be felled by a simple stone.

    This is a Leviathan disguised as a political savior.

    So, what is the solution to this blatant display of imperial elitism disguising itself as a populist exercise in representative government?

    Stop playing the game. Stop supporting the system. Stop defending the insanity. Just stop.

    Washington thrives on money, so stop giving them your money. Stop throwing your hard-earned dollars away on politicians and Super PACs who view you as nothing more than a means to an end. There are countless worthy grassroots organizations and nonprofits—groups like The Rutherford Institute—working to address real needs like injustice, poverty, homelessness, etc. Support them and you’ll see change you really can believe in in your own backyard.

    Politicians depend on votes, so stop giving them your vote unless they have a proven track record of listening to their constituents, abiding by their wishes and working hard to earn and keep their trust.

    It’s comforting to believe that your vote matters, but presidents are selected, not elected. Despite what is taught in school and the propaganda that is peddled by the media, a presidential election is not a populist election for a representative. Rather, it’s a gathering of shareholders to select the next CEO, a fact reinforced by the nation’s archaic electoral college system. In other words, your vote doesn’t elect a president. Despite the fact that there are 218 million eligible voters in this country (only half of whom actually vote), it is the electoral college, made up of 538 individuals handpicked by the candidates’ respective parties, that actually selects the next president.

    The only thing you’re accomplishing by taking part in the “reassurance ritual” of voting is sustaining the illusion that we have a democratic republic.

    In actuality, we are suffering from what political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page more accurately term an “economic élite domination” in which the economic elite (lobbyists, corporations, monied special interest groups) dominate and dictate national policy.

    No surprise there.

    As an in-depth Princeton University study confirms, democracy has been replaced by oligarchy, a system of government in which elected officials represent the interests of the rich and powerful rather than the average citizen.

    As such, presidential elections merely serve to maintain the status quo. Once elected president, that person becomes part of the dictatorial continuum that is the American imperial presidency today.

    So how do we prevail against the tyrant who says all the right things and does none of them? How do we overcome the despot whose promises fade with the spotlights? How do we conquer the dictator whose benevolence is all for show?

    We get organized. We get educated. We get active.

    Whether you vote or don’t vote doesn’t really matter. What matters is what else you’re doing to push back against government incompetence, abuse, corruption, graft, fraud and cronyism.

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that the only road to reform is through the ballot box.

    If you feel led to vote, fine, but if all you do is vote, “we the people” are going to lose.

    If you abstain from voting and still do nothing, “we the people” are going to lose.

    If you give your proxy to some third-party individual or group to fix what’s wrong with the country and that’s all you do, then “we the people” are going to lose.

    If, however, you’re prepared to turn off the television, tune out the talking heads, untether yourself from whatever piece of technology you’re affixed to, wean yourself off the teat of the nanny state, and start flexing those unused civic muscles, then there might be hope for us all.

    • For starters, know your rights and then put that knowledge into action. What we desperately need is a concerted, collective commitment to the Constitution’s principles of limited government, a system of checks and balances, and a recognition that they—the president, Congress, the courts, the military, the police, the technocrats and plutocrats and bureaucrats—answer to and are accountable to “we the people.”

    • Second, think nationally but act locally. Understand how your local government is structured. Who serves on your city council and school boards? What recourse does the community have to voice concerns about local problems or disagree with decisions by government officials? Are your locally elected officials accessible and open to what you have to say? Are your police chiefs being appointed from within your community? Who runs your local media? Does your newspaper report on local events? Who are your judges?

    • Third, don’t stop doing the hard work of holding your government accountable. Don’t let personal politics and party allegiances blind you to government misconduct and power grabs. This will mean holding all three branches of government accountable to the Constitution (i.e., vote them out of office if they abuse their powers). And it will mean making the president play by the rules of the Constitution.

    • Finally, don’t remain silent in the face of government injustice, corruption, or ineptitude. Speak truth to power.

    A healthy, representative government is hard work. It takes a citizenry that is informed about the issues, educated about how the government operates, and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stay involved. It also takes a citizenry willing to do more than grouse and complain.

    We must act—and act responsibly.

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, any hope of restoring our freedoms and regaining control over our runaway government must start from the bottom up. And that will mean re-learning step by painful step what it actually means to be a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 19:40

  • Flood Of Migrant Children To Put Estimated $2 Billion Strain On Public School System
    Flood Of Migrant Children To Put Estimated $2 Billion Strain On Public School System

    Last month, CBO Director Phill Swagel claimed that the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States will boost 2023-2034 GDP by “about 7 Trillion.”

    Yet while we wait for those unicorn farts to percolate, the Heritage Foundation estimates in a new report that the influx of migrants is costing American taxpayers billions of dollars, as most of the 470,000 unaccompanied migrant children who have entered the country since Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration have been enrolled in public schools.

    In FY2023 alone, CBP encountered 145,474 accompanied and unaccompanied minors nationwide – which, based on the national average of $16,345 spent per student, would increase national education spending by more than $2 billion for one year, according to the Heritage report’s fact sheet.

    The report looked at instances in California, New York, Texas and Arizona where unaccompanied minors were sent to sponsors, according to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a government agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

    For example, in California, 11,121 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to sponsors. If all those children enrolled in public school, at the state average spending of $16,975 per pupil, that equates to an additional cost of about $189 million for one year.

    The report similarly found that in New York, 8,477 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to sponsors. The state spends $28,261 on each pupil per year, making the total additional cost to taxpayers close to $240 million for one year. –Fox News

    “Parents should not also have to worry about their kids going to the back of the line in terms of school resources, teacher attention, and academic rigor due to sudden and large influxes of illegal aliens into their schools and classrooms,” Heritage scholars and two of the report’s authors, Lindsey Burke and Lora Ries, told Fox News Digital.

    The report also highlights the misuse of school property, classroom mismanagement and limited English proficiency, which is holding other students back.

    As an example, Fox News cites the case of New York City parents who were furious with city officials after Brooklyn Hight School students were forced to stay home for virtual lessons so that migrants could pile into the school gymnasium. Other reports suggest that NY Public Schools have struggled to educate some 20,000 new migrant students

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 19:20

  • To Revive U.S. Steel, Allow Its Transfer To Better Hands
    To Revive U.S. Steel, Allow Its Transfer To Better Hands

    Authored by James Glassman via RealClear Wire,

    Remember U.S. Steel? It isn’t what it used to be. Founded in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, the company was the symbol of American industrial power. But employment peaked 80 years ago at 340,000; it’s now 23,000. Once the largest corporation of any kind in the world, U.S. Steel now ranks 27th among global steel producers — and dropping. “It’s done nothing for decades,” according to steel industry analyst Charles Bradford. 

    Stagnation in steel is hardly inevitable. In 1969, another American steelmaker, Nucor, pioneered the electric arc mini mill, which recycles scrap metal, but U.S. Steel is still devoted to less efficient blast furnaces that produce three times the CO2 emissions. Nucor is now the number-one steelmaker in the country by far, its stock rising by a factor of 12 in the last two decades.

    The obvious solution to U.S. Steel’s problem was to find a deep-pocketed purchaser — and that’s what it did. The company in December accepted an offer by Nippon Steel Corp., the world’s fourth-largest steel producer. Nippon agreed to pay $14.9 billion for the company, a surprisingly large all-cash sum – a 142% premium to the price of the stock on Aug. 11. That’s when Cleveland-Cliffs, a blast-furnace producer about the same size as U.S. Steel, made the original attempt to buy the company. In the end, Nippon outbid Cleveland-Cliffs, which wanted to pay with cash plus shares of a stock that’s been lackluster.  

    U.S. Steel also worried that a combination of the second- and third-largest American steelmakers would draw opposition from aggressive Biden antitrust regulators. Still, despite its defeat, Cleveland-Cliffs mobilized legislators to try to kill the Nippon acquisition. Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman called the purchase “absolutely outrageous.” Donald Trump is also opposed: “I think it’s a horrible thing.” 

    Customers gathered recently at the Tampa Steel Conference disagree. Along with most U.S. Steel workers, they are thrilled with the deal. The head of the United Steelworkers of America called the sale “shortsighted,” but the union is probably just trying to gain negotiating leverage. Actual U.S. Steel employees were more worried about their company continuing to wither away and about potential layoffs with a Cleveland-Cliffs acquisition.

    Sure, we can shed a brief tear over a Japanese company buying an American icon, but what U.S. Steel needs is not nostalgia but capital and up-to-date technology.  Nippon has a shot at providing both and thus reviving an American icon.

    U.S. Steel is not alone in its distress. Much of the American steel industry is fragmented and starved for investment. A wave of buyouts and consolidations is the sector’s best hope. “We don’t need one or two deals,” said Waldo Best, an industry analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. “We need 10 or 20.”

    If a foreign company offers a route to success that will benefit American investors, consumers and workers, is there really a problem? Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) seems to think so. He argues that “the foreign ownership of assets of such national importance could jeopardize our security.” But “foreign” in this case refers to Japan. As the State Department puts it, “The U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of U.S. security interests in Asia and is fundamental to regional stability and prosperity.”

    Japan is a bulwark against the real foreign threat to the U.S. economy and security, which is China. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Community Party in December recommended that Japan be added to the “white list” of foreign states – now just the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia – that are exempt from various requirements of CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which must approve deals with a possible effect on national security.

    China produces more than 10 times as much steel as the United States, and eight Chinese companies rank among the world’s top dozen steel producers. If we’re really worried about steel for national security reasons, we should be enhancing the position of our closest allies like Japan and welcoming them when they want to put billions into U.S. manufacturing.

    The best antidote to the Chinese challenge – and the best chance of reviving an American icon — is not to block investment but to encourage it. And the higher the price someone is willing to pay for U.S. assets, the better.

    James K. Glassman, formerly a senior fellow in economics and technology at the American Enterprise Institute, served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and as a member of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 19:00

  • Debate: Sen. Ron Johnson And Fmr Congressman Joe Walsh Debate The War In Ukraine
    Debate: Sen. Ron Johnson And Fmr Congressman Joe Walsh Debate The War In Ukraine

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

    ZeroHedge presents the latest debate in our series aimed at bringing live, long-form discussions on controversial topics back into the ideologically-siloed and echo-chambered media landscape.

    We hope you enjoy this debate which pits two (one current, one former) members of Congress against each other — Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and former Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois — for an in-depth discussion on the war in Ukraine and the role America should play now and in the future. X Spaces influencer Mario Nawfal will moderate the debate in-person, which will stream live on ZeroHedge, Rumble and X.

    They will try to answer the question: Should the U.S. continue to fund and provide operational support to Ukraine?

    To illustrate their divide: Walsh, the former Illinoisan Rep, has hailed Biden’s Ukraine policy as “one of the greatest defenses of freedom… ever put on the world’s stage” while the Wisconsinite Senator believes Ukraine “can’t win” and that it and the U.S. must pursue a negotiated settlement.

    Healthy debate is sorely lacking on Capitol Hill, where it’s most needed. For bucking this trend, we have tremendous respect for both Johnson and Walsh and are looking forward to a civil exchange of ideas. We urge more elected officials to follow the Walsh-Johnson example.

    As usual, our moderator will take questions submitted by Premium and Pro subscribers in the comment section (sign up here for the opportunity to have your question answered by a member of Congress).

    We also wish to thank our primary sponsor, Birch Gold, for supporting free speech and open debate.  

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 18:36

  • Discrimination Is Good: Without It Civilization Would Collapse
    Discrimination Is Good: Without It Civilization Would Collapse

    Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

    When we hear the word “discrimination” we often associate it with the concept of racial prejudice, the act of hate based purely on skin color or ethnicity. Multiple generations of westerners have been conditioned over the years to treat discrimination as an anathema to civilization – A net negative. But is all discrimination “unjust,” or is it sometimes necessary to keep civilization safe and intact?

    Every person on Earth discriminates in one way or another because it’s a survival imperative, but let me clarify what I mean when I use the term. I argue that discrimination is simply the act of refusing to associate with another person or group, and this is often NOT based merely on skin color or differences in appearance. In reality, most discrimination is rooted in personal safety and cultural security.

    Human beings are tribal, there’s no way around this biological imperative and it will never change. Tribalism is based on physical safety, but also ideological safety. Human beings form tribes and kingdoms and nations and borders because they have a particular set of values, religious beliefs and cultural norms that they want to maintain and protect. They have found a system that works for them and that keeps their society from imploding, and they want to ensure that there is no sabotage of that system from within.

    Hence, the need for suspicion and discrimination when a tribe is faced with outsiders that champion a hostile or contrary ideal. The threat of being subsumed and destroyed by another tribe’s culture has been a motivator for discrimination since human history began.

    Another factor is the discrimination of certain behaviors. Human tribes learned long ago that destructive people are sometimes born and no amount of social pressure can make them different. Psychopaths, some sociopaths, narcopaths, the severely mentally ill, etc. cannot be allowed to thrive within a tribe or they will eventually cause great harm. The tribe could even break apart and die out.

    It’s not a white person thing, it’s not a western thing, it’s a reality for every group of humans on the planet.  We don’t all need to agree on one homogeneous civilization that embraces every person and all behaviors.  It’s okay for us to separate from each other and live differently (at least to a point). It’s okay to not want to associate with mentally unhinged or evil persons that create chaos within society, and it’s okay to reject the imposition of incompatible and alien philosophies.

    Leftists and globalists, on the other hand, assert that ANY separation and lack of association between groups is unacceptable. There can be only one tribe and that tribe MUST follow progressive/socialist mandates. It’s the Tower of Babel all over again and the leftist ideal is decidedly intolerant of anyone that does not conform to centralization. A key part of this globalist philosophy is the demonization of discrimination.

    Moral Decay Feeds Authoritarian Subterfuge

    The woke religion relies on the leftist fallacy that all discrimination is a “social negative.” There are a few reasons why they push this narrative. Without discrimination there can be no moral judgment. Without the application of morals and standards of behavior, society cannot survive and it will eventually collapse. This is exactly what leftists want.

    Once a society collapses it can be rebuilt with a certain authoritarian flexibility and in the image leftists prefer.  They will assert their own rules, their own taboos, their own mandates and their own vision. Specifically, they want to tear down western civilization and replace it with something rooted in moral relativism. In a morally relative world, all evil becomes permissible as long as the group doing evil controls the application of law.

    We see this most distinctly in the spread of the trans movement and the invasion of woke politics in public schools. The blatant sexualization of children is happening right now across the west and it is supported by corporate interests, state governments and the current federal government.  This agenda includes the rationalization of some pretty heinous behaviors, like pedophilia.

    Conservatives were once called “conspiracy theorists” for arguing that this was the end game for woke activism, and yet, here we are, fighting to keep pornography out of elementary school and middle-school libraries as academics argue that pedophiles should be treated as a protected sexual orientation.

    There are even leftist politicians today openly admonishing discrimination of pedophiles as a brand of “hate speech” and laws are being passed in states like California to reduce punishments for such criminals. There is a clear program in motion to make something evil into something protected or even celebrated.

    Cultural Sabotage Through Mass Immigration And Forced Association

    Beyond the issue of necessary moral discrimination, there is the problem of cultural invasion. In Europe the danger is becoming existential, with at least 20 million migrants flooding into the EU in the past several years and more arriving everyday. Many of these migrants are from Islamic fundamentalist nations and they have no intention of assimilating into a western structure. Rather, they plan to change or deconstruct the west from within through something called “soft jihad.”

    The bottom line? Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia Law are utterly incompatible with western principles and the two groups CANNOT exist peacefully in the same society. It is impossible. The rising calls by Europeans for the removal of migrants is not based in racism, it is driven by a cultural survival mechanism. Europeans can see the writing on the wall – In 10 to 20 years time their culture will no longer exist and they are acting to protect it.

    In the US, the invasion is more political. Millions of migrants are being allowed to sneak into the US as Democrats continue to interfere with border security measures enforced by states like Texas. At the same time they are creating incentives for migrants to come here by offering welfare and subsidies, not to mention the potential for a general amnesty that would give them easy citizenship.

    Most of these illegals come from socialist leaning countries and they have no concept whatsoever of what a Constitutional Republic is or what constitutional rights are. These migrants are a weapon being used by leftists to saturate the US. It is a strategy to erase conservative principles through attrition.

    The Value Of Separation

    Western civilization, western science, and free markets are perhaps the most profound accomplishments in the history of mankind, resulting in an extreme reduction in overall global poverty when compared to centuries past. In 1820, 94% of the global population was living in extreme poverty.  By 2015, that number dropped to 9.6% and the world’s population is vastly larger.

    The moral foundations of the west, while not always adhered to as we might prefer, are still the bedrock for some of the most free and most prosperous people of any era. There are good reasons to protect the west from alien cultures that want to undermine it.

    There also good reasons to discriminate against and expel leftists/globalists who grew up here but who are obsessed with deconstructing all remnants of the system because they think they know better. At no point have I ever heard a leftist group say: “Hey, we should all move to another place together and start a fresh new socialist experiment away from interference.”

    No, they do not believe in separation. They want OUR culture. They want to stand on the ruins of our accomplishments and force everyone to accept their system, their beliefs and their moral relativism. Infestation, oppression and possession are the building blocks of their ideology.  The only solution is unapologetic and uncompromising discrimination against their kind. It’s okay to not invite cancer into your body.  It’s okay to not invite a vampire into your home.  It’s okay to not invite evil into your society. It’s good to discriminate.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 18:20

  • Lilly CFO Warns Obesity Drug Demand Might Outstrip Supply
    Lilly CFO Warns Obesity Drug Demand Might Outstrip Supply

    US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. is racing to expand the manufacturing capacity of its lucrative new class of diabetes and weight-loss drug Zepbound. This comes as rival Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster appetite suppressant Wegovy drug is being rolled out across the West to capitalize on the obesity crisis. 

    In November, Zepbound, featuring the active ingredient tirzepatide, also used in diabetes drug Mounjaro, was approved for weight-loss use in the US in Novemeber, making it the first drug to compete against Wegovy.

    Since the rollout, the Indianapolis-based company has signed multiple deals with US government-backed manufacturer National Resilience and Italian producer BSP to expand manufacturing capacity, according to the Financial Times. 

    “There was a lot of investment in high-speed, large-capacity fill lines during Covid and there were questions about how that capacity is going to be used going forward, and then the GLP-1s came along and now the problem is almost the opposite,” said Jim Miller, a consultant who advises drugmakers on manufacturing strategy.

    Even as Zepbound production is set to increase and sales are projected to be in the billions of dollars this year, according to projections by research group GlobalData, there is growing concern that demand won’t be met. 

    On Wednesday, Lilly CFO Anat Ashkenazi warned investors at the TD Cowen annual healthcare conference that it might be unable to keep up with demand through 2025. 

    Ashkenazi said that Lilly is undertaking the most ambitious expansion agenda in its history but that production capacity will be strained for some time. 

    Last month, Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen warned: “There’ll be a demand that outgrows what can be produced by us, and probably also competition.”

    Lilly’s and Novo’s shares have surged several hundred percent since 2021. 

    The shift in investor euphoria around GLP-1s began around the first half of 2023. This was noticeable in the Goldman Sachs Global HLC GLP Risk Index versus Goldman’s GLP-1 Obesity drug basket to capitalize on slimming down Americans. 

    Besides slimming down the West, investors piled into big tech, artificial intelligence, and crypto. 

    Instead of overweight Americans rushing to weight loss drugs, why not change diets and go outside and exercise? Or better yet, demand change from the food-industrial complex that continues pushing unhealthy crap on consumers. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 18:00

  • Trumpenstein And The Death Of Politics
    Trumpenstein And The Death Of Politics

    Authored by Donald Jeffries via “I Protest,”

    I’m the guy who coined the term The Trumpenstein Project. My good friend John Barbour came up with Trump Agnostic to describe how we felt about the former Reality TV star. Trump, I mean, not John Barbour, who has been described as the Godfather of Reality Television.

    I may very well be the last Trump Agnostic standing. It’s not only the smallest minority group in the world, but I’m not even sure who any other members are at this point. My Trumpenstein thesis is that the elite recruited the most bombastic and obnoxious personality they could, and inserted him into the presidential campaign. They assigned him the role of populist outsider, and wrote some alluring rhetoric for him, which was often revolutionary. He wooed millions, including me. Millions of others instantly hated him. That’s how programming works. I didn’t think he could possibly be sincere, but I couldn’t completely discount the notion that a billionaire could theoretically become fed up with what he’d witnessed behind the scenes. At any rate, once Trump selected his cabinet, the psyop became obvious.

    Choosing Mike Pence as his running mate gained him nothing politically. Were the evangelicals going to vote for Hillary without Pence on the ticket? He also lost how ever many gay votes he was going to get. For whatever reason, gays hate Pence like no other politician. Trump redeemed himself a bit with his inaugural address, which was the best since JFK’s in my opinion. But as he announced the choices for his cabinet, each one brought an additional shake of the head, and an additional dose of disillusionment. Nikki Haley had been one of the loudest Never Trumpers. Trump, nevertheless, first offered her the prestigious position of Secretary of State, and she ultimately became his U.N. ambassador.

    Jeff Sessions seemed like a decent choice as Attorney General, given his strong stance on immigration. But his lust for our militarized police forces came through loud and clear. He actually wanted to bolster the odious asset forfeiture laws, which are the foundation of the corrupt policing for profit system. He also inexplicably recused himself from any potential prosecution of Hillary Clinton. You know, Crooked Hillary, “Lock her up!” and all that. But Trump let his supporters know there was going to be no prosecution of his old friend, when he began complimenting her during his speech declaring victory. He declared she was “good people,” and didn’t want to prosecute her. Which he promised to do countless times during his 2016 campaign. His second Attorney General, William Barr, was even worse, prosecuting only Trump supporters.

    We now know that Hillary was scheming to orchestrate the “Russia! Russia! Russia!” psyop before the 2016 election. This was revealed not by some lowly Thought Criminal like me, but by beloved former CIA director John Brennan. They don’t come any more reliable than CIA officials, as our “free press” regularly reminds us. So, yes, along with the ridiculous Steele Dossier, Trump was indeed under attack by the Swamp he vowed to drain, during his entire four years in office. This is invariably the excuse given by his adoring fans. But they never explain why, as he was under such an unprecedented assault, he never attempted to fight back. Never used the considerable powers of his office. Instead, he produced a steady stream of often juvenile tweets.

    FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed to his position by Trump. That’s right, this maverick outsider chose an undisguised Never Trumper to head the Bureau that would have been instrumental in an investigation of Hillary or any other villain from the Swamp. So naturally Wray concentrated, from the very beginning of his tenure in office, on following the deluded “Russiagate” fantasies, instead of focusing on those who were attacking Trump unfairly. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller was chosen not to investigate Hillary’s destruction of emails and a laptop, or her scheme to tie Trump to Russian “collusion,” but Donald Trump himself. Mueller and William Barr, Trump’s second Attorney General, just happened to be best friends. No one said the Trumpenstein Project had to be believable.

    Trump wasn’t playing “4D chess.” He wasn’t following the old adage of “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” And I don’t believe he’s actually as stupid as he usually sounds. “Covfefe” and “hamberders” weren’t some mystical code that mere mortals couldn’t fathom. But I do think they were part of the act. Covfefe, by the way, is now an accepted word. It has its own Wikipedia page. Which some of us don’t. The absurd misspellings and grammatical errors, the repeating of the same word or phrase ad nauseum, all just exacerbated the hatred that millions felt for him. And endeared him to millions of others. Some inferred that Trump didn’t know how to read, that he was illiterate. Like all those athletes we are supposed to believe are college graduates. Maybe Trump was just a One Percent version of an Affirmative Action project.

    QAnon was a necessary invention of some intelligence agency. There had to be a way to explain to the MAGA faithful why Trump was surrounding himself with Never Trumpers and not even attempting to fulfill any of his many campaign promises. So millions became disciples of “Q drops,” and never blinked when the continuous predictions never came true. They actually believed the military- exemplified by Trump hater General Mark Milley (who was, naturally, appointed by Trump)- was in charge behind the scenes. They claimed child sex traffickers were being rounded up. There were secret trials of Hillary and other Deep State criminals being held at Guantanamo Bay. I read recently where Oprah Winfrey is secretly on trial now. These “White Hats” behave as inconspicuously as the “White Supremacists” do.

    At any rate, Trump never kept any of his promises. To American citizens. He was so loyal to Israel that they named streets for him there. He didn’t try to end birthright citizenship. Or the foreign visa worker programs. Or sanctuary cities. Or DACA. He somehow managed to deport fewer illegals than Barack Obama. That couldn’t have been easy, so give him some credit. He let statues be torn down, cities burn and looters run wild during the summer of 2020. He did tweet a lot. Never sent the National Guard in. Like the Republican governor of Massachusetts did when Ron DeSantis shipped a handful of migrants to the entitled community of Martha’s Vineyard.

    If Trump had been a real outsider, you would have seen people like Ron and/or Rand Paul, Paul Craig Roberts, Pat Buchanan, Dinesh D’Souza, maybe even Alex Jones, named to key positions in his administration. I know the response to that is, “He had to name those insiders. They would never have approved those others.” Well, Trump should have at least tried. Historically, some nominees have been rejected by Congress. For instance, Jimmy Carter, in his best attempted move, tried to get JFK’s speechwriter Ted Sorenson approved as CIA director. I don’t think Trump had a single nominee rejected. And considering how much he was despised by both parties, that ought to really tell you something. Trump selected nothing but Swamp creatures.

    But despite Trump rescuing a Black rapper from Sweden, and engineering the release of an unfairly convicted Black woman from prison, at the behest of Kim Kardashian no less, millions declared that he was a “racist.” Period. In all reality, those moves on behalf of Black citizens were two of the few actions Trump was responsible for in his entire presidential term. The closest he came to being a “racist” was very reasonably saying there were “good people” on both sides during the Charlottesville protests. He never mentioned the word “White” in reference to Caucasians in four years as president. He certainly never uttered the words “Great Replacement.” He did brag incessantly about how low Black unemployment was, though. Actually, he called it African-American unemployment. It’s a White cuck thing, you wouldn’t understand.

    But enough about how different Trump’s rhetoric was from his record. He definitely had, and still has, the right enemies. All the worst people in the world, the modern doorkeepers of Satan, hate him with a fervor that even Adolph Hitler couldn’t match. Of course, “Russiagate” was a joke. And it was documented to have been the illegitimate brainchild of Hillary Clinton. Who not only wasn’t prosecuted (by the Trump justice department), but continues to rant about how the 2016 election was stolen from her. Almost like Trump does about the 2020 election. Only Trump is being prosecuted for complaining about his election. Some allegations of electoral fraud are more equal than others.

    Trump was the subject of more obscene and distasteful public comments and media ridicule than any other American in history. More than Huey Long. More than Richard Nixon. More than Jim Garrison. There was a play running for months in New York, that celebrated the mock assassination of Donald Trump. Upstanding America 2.0 celebrity Snoop Dogg also depicted the assassination of Trump in a video. Trump would repay the venerable Snoop by pardoning his friend, the president of Death Row Records, and not Julian Assange, as he left office. Trump was certainly a strange sort of “racist.” Kind of like all those “White Supremacists,” who remain in the shadows, overseeing the Great Replacement.

    Celebrities showed absolute disdain for Trump in their intellectual offerings on Twitter. So did virtually every “journalist” in our state controlled media. Indeed, Trump’s one enduring legacy may be to have popularized the phrase “fake news,” and inadvertently exposed just how bad our “free press” really is. No matter how many Black rappers he rescued, or how few illegal immigrants he actually deported, the constant refrain was that Trump was a hopeless “racist.” In fact, he came to define the term. And, of course, everyone who supported him were “racists” too. Trump actually instituting the unconstitutional lockdown (proving that he could do something after all), and claiming credit for, and praising the dangerous “warp speed” vaccine didn’t matter. He was still a “racist.” And responsible for all the incorrigible anti-vaxxers.

    Trump’s three nominees to the Supreme Court were attacked viciously by the usual suspects. And his loyalists, when confronted with the stark evidence of his inactivity as president, invariably point to them as his greatest accomplishment. Except that one of them, Amy Coney Barrett, votes against him every time. Brett Kavanaugh is hit or miss. Only Neil Gorsuch has been pretty decent. And yet, those with Trump Derangement syndrome (and it is a very real mental disorder) continue to portray them as right-wing extremists. White Supremacists. Perhaps “insurrectionists.” Like Trump, they are guilty of Thought Crimes they never committed. We’ll see how they rule on his politicized prosecutions and remaining electoral disputes. So far, their track record doesn’t give much hope to MAGA loyalists.

    So let’s look at these Trump show trials. I don’t know what the Soviet legal process really was like, before they sent dissidents off to Siberia, but how much more corrupt could it have been? Trump was convicted, and forced to pay millions, to a certifiable lunatic, who paints her trees blue and named her cat vagina. For sexually assaulting her in a crowded department store dressing room, at some point in the 1990s. She couldn’t recall the exact year. Seriously. And she is on the record having joked about having sex with Donald Trump on social media. She is the poster child for uncredible witnesses. But a jury, and one of the endless biased judges assigned to Trump’s cases, ruled in her favor. As the “Woke” White women say, “I believe her!”

    Trump just lost again (he always loses, this is part of the Trumpenstein Project), in a ridiculous case where he “defrauded” well…not sure who, exactly, but his “crime” was exaggerating the value of his assets. You know, something pretty much everyone has done. Those who loaned him the money said he paid them back properly. In other words, they were witnesses for him. But Judge Nosferatu (and there is really no more appropriate name for him) ruled against him anyway and ordered him to pay an Alex Jones-like $400 million. Since there was no party claiming to have been injured or defrauded, it’s unclear where that money is going. But the millions who hate him are overjoyed. Well, not exactly. They won’t be satisfied until he’s hung in Times Square. Do it on New Year’s Eve and have him swing along with the giant ball.

    In Georgia, Trump is being prosecuted for trying to “overturn” an election. By “overturn,” the “Woke” authoritarians mean legally attempting to get the courts to act on what Trump and his team believe is clear electoral fraud. In the same state, the lovely Stacy Abrams continues to insist she was robbed in her race for governor. Somehow, this is not an attempt to “overturn” an election. I’m sure Rachel Maddow could explain the distinction. And the even more lovely Fani Willis is large and in charge here. If Trump really is a racist, he must be feeling like unreconstructed southerners felt in the late 1860s, on being “represented” in Congress by illiterate former slaves. If he ever were to utter a racial epithet, now would be the time.

    TDS has claimed millions of victims. It’s nonfatal in physical terms, but it is absolutely lethal to the intellect. I’ve seen many a friend fall victim to it. It causes one to lose all sense of perspective. The victim begins to believe that the intelligence agencies, the military industrial complex, and the mainstream media are all fine and worthwhile institutions. They actually believe that Trumpenstein opposes these forces, which represent the Deep State he talked about. The Swamp he vowed to drain. And so George W. Bush is now a hero. He opposed Trump! Demonic Dick Cheney’s vile offspring Liz is now the sexiest thing since Michelle Obama. Forget about the dead intern in Joe Scarborough’s old congressional office. He hates Trump!

    To those with TDS, all politics is viewed through the prism of Trumpenstein. Because Trump spoke out against the “senseless wars,” those who hate him have to be in favor of war. See “I stand with Ukraine.” Because Trump criticized our Third World infrastructure, those who hate him want the roads, bridges, and power grids to remain in their present laughable state. Except for getting rid of any “racist” roads. And rest assured that the saintly Joe Biden will see to that. He’ll be on it like it was a little girl with the fresh scent of No More Tangles in her hair. Since Trump often hinted at conspiratorial thinking, those with TDS can no longer believe in any conspiracies. Well, except “Russiagate.” And the Trump-directed January 6 “insurrection.”

    The only issue where they face a real dilemma is the COVID vaccine. Despite 90+ percent of his supporters being skeptical about it, Trump continues to tirelessly promote it. And yet, while all those with TDS enthusiastically embrace the vaccine, they curiously manage to ignore the fact that their sworn enemy claims credit for it. While Trump threw the January 6 protesters under the bus by not marching with them as he promised, didn’t pardon them before leaving office, and rarely mentions them in his circus barker rallies, he is still blasted for orchestrating the entire thing. His speech proves he didn’t “incite” anyone (he told them to march “peacefully and patriotically”), yet the media, and all those with TDS, insist he did. To them, the worst overreaction to a protest in history becomes “an attempt to overthrow democracy.”

    We have seen several states take another unprecedented step, in voting to bar Donald Trump, a former president and current frontrunner in the polls, from their ballots. To their credit, the Supreme Court just voted 9-0 in Trump’s favor on this question. But the attempt illustrates the role of this scripted spectacle. All’s fair in the Trumpenstein Project. Politicized prosecutions. Efforts to prevent him from running again. The leadership of the Republicucks- his own supposed party- continues to be repelled by even the possibility of Making American Great Again, let alone emphasizing America First. Yes, Trump never says “America First” any longer. But it’s still an ominous prospect for those suffering with TDS. Can you imagine the horror of putting your own country’s interests first?

    People in Donald Trump’s social and financial class, even if they aren’t ex-presidents of the United States, don’t get prosecuted. They are unequivocally above the law. The courts are primarily for convicting poor and working-class defendants who are often innocent. You can scour the huge prison system in this country, and you won’t find any former One Percenters incarcerated there. The system is designed to protect them, in the extremely rare instances where they are actually charged with a crime. Those with Trump’s resources should have a “Dream Team” of legal representatives that puts O.J.’s lawyers to shame. Instead, Trump’s lawyers have all been laughingstocks, the kind a ghetto denizen might get assigned to him. And unlike every wealthy man before him, Trump cannot seem to win in any courtroom.

    This should give the Trumpenstein Project away. It’s designed for Trump to lose consistently. While he and his supporters continue to nonsensically claim he’s “winning.” The script calls for the Giant Orange Man- representing the last gasp of White alpha masculinity- to be defeated over and over again, usually at the hands of arrogant, ignorant Affirmative Action hires like Fani Willis and company. Like the Stupid Party he represents, Trump is basically the Washington Generals, being defeated in every game, by the lovable all-Black Harlem Globetrotters. Who openly cheat, and always have the referees on their side. It’s somewhat of an allegory for life in America 2.0, as far as average White Americans are concerned.

    Trumpenstein has destroyed traditional American politics. The childish, cafeteria food fights on social media. The immature nicknames. Trump’s penis size even made it into a 2016 presidential debate, when he insisted he didn’t have small hands, and that “trust me,” the other thing wasn’t small, either. The more extreme TDS patients call him “micro-penis.” If things devolve logically, perhaps Trump will just whip it out at the next presidential debate. You can bet his fans would cheer it on. If it looks big, expect his millions of haters to call it “fake news.” Despite the term originating with Trump, everyone uses it now, to dismiss something they don’t like. They even denigrated the looks of Melania Trump, the most beautiful First Lady in history.

    The Trumpenstein Project was designed to tap into the widespread populist sentiment in the country, and control it with this larger than life contrived personality. The political show trials are symbolic prosecutions of any real potential dissent. The independent political movement was destroyed by Trump. RFK, Jr. claims to still be polling at over twenty percent. If so, by their own debate rules, they have to let him participate. I just don’t see them allowing that. Any halfway competent individual would expose Joe Biden’s dementia in a debate. But not Trumpenstein. He can be counted on to bluster and bully, and make the helpless old codger-in-chief look sympathetic. That’s the Trumpenstein Project.

    Thanks to this giant psyop, there will never be a viable Third Party movement in this country. Not that there was much of a chance before, but now virtually all Americans, having been subjected to this intensive programming, are back mired in the two disastrous “choices” or Democrat or Republican. Evil vs. stupid. The millions afflicted with TDS must vote for the putrid Democrats, regardless of wars, censorship, and massive inflation. Because Trump. The millions who cling naively to Trump will vote Republican Because Trump as well. Both parties “care about the children.” Both insist on a “strong defense.” Support the troops. Respect the police. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Unless you’re a billionaire or an illegal immigrant. “Hate Speech” isn’t free speech. Say “African-American” three times and click your heels.

    In the days before Trump, things were awful. There was never any one worth voting for. Thus, the popularity of choosing “the lesser of two evils.” It was accepted by all that two evils would always be the choice. To be fair, Trump has at least made politics more exciting. When he’s attacking the unspeakably evil Democrats, or their insufferable mouthpieces in the media, it’s hard not to applaud. Or at least laugh. I am rooting for Trump to be selected as president again this year. Not because I think he’ll do anything good. But for the sheer entertainment value. CNN and MSNBC would become must-watch TV. It’s surely a sad commentary on the “world’s greatest democracy” that this is the best we can hope for.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 17:40

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Mar 06

Today’s News 6th March 2024

  • Worldwide Decline Of Freedom Outweighs Improvements
    Worldwide Decline Of Freedom Outweighs Improvements

    Democratic watchdog organization Freedom House has released its annual ranking of the world’s most free and most suppressed nations.

    As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, the report is considered a key barometer for global democracy and this year’s edition found that global freedom has declined for the 18th year straight. 

    While 2022 had been heralded as a “possible turning point” as about as many countries showed improvements as marked declines, 2023 saw a new low of nations bettering their freedom prospects – only 21.

    This number stands opposite 52 countries where political freedoms and civil liberties declined.

    Infographic: Worldwide Decline of Freedom Outweighs Improvements | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The report mentions Ecuador as an example of a country where elections were impacted negatively and downgraded the nation from designated as “free” to receiving the “partially free” label. In the South American country, criminal organizations had killed officials and candidates ahead of the general election that took place in August. In other countries it was incumbents who hindered the access of the population to a free election last year, including in Cambodia, Guatemala, Poland, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

    Despite Thailand’s military Senate continuing to yield much power over the country’s legislative bodies, a more competitive election that saw a progressive party finish first earned Thailand a “partially free” designation, up from “not free”. Other nations improving their score were Fiji, Nepal, Liberia and Mauritania.

    A total of 195 countries and 15 territories were analyzed on their levels of access to political rights and civil liberties, before being categorized as either “free”, “partly free” or “not free”. While democracy has been in decline for nearly two decades, the global landscape has improved since the report was first published 51 years ago. Back then, 44 out of 148 countries were counted as “free”, versus 83 out of 195 today.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 04:15

  • Why'd The Wall Street Journal Suddenly Share The Terms Of Spring 2022's Draft Peace Treaty
    Why’d The Wall Street Journal Suddenly Share The Terms Of Spring 2022’s Draft Peace Treaty

    Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

    The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claimed to have viewed the 17-page draft Russian-Ukrainian peace treaty from spring 2022 that was sabotaged by former British Prime Minister Johnson and which President Putin waved around while speaking with African leaders last summer.

    They dishonestly described the terms as “punishing” even though they can objectively be described as overly generous considering the previously unthinkable compromises that Moscow was willing to make at the time.

    Ukraine would have restored its constitutional neutrality and the Russian language’s status, limited its armed forces, agreed not to use foreign arms, and recognized Russian influence in Crimea in exchange for the UNSC guaranteeing its security. Donbass’ status would be resolved via talks between their leaders, with the innuendo being that it might be reincorporated into Ukraine per the Minsk Accords, while it’s implied that Russia would have withdrawn from the rest of Ukraine’s pre-2022 borders.

    Had these terms been accepted, then not only would Ukraine have averted destruction and the depopulation that came with it, but this former Soviet Republic could have then served as a bridge between China and the EU (which it would be allowed to join) exactly as Russia always envisaged. Even if Russian-NATO talks didn’t resume afterwards, their security dilemma that was exacerbated by the bloc’s clandestine expansion into Ukraine would have been much better managed to everyone’s benefit.

    The reason why this never happened was because the West believed its own propaganda that Russia could be dealt a strategic defeat through economic sanctions and proxy warfare, both policies of which the New York Times admitted had failed by January 2023 and September of that year respectively. The conflict continued to drag on till today despite the failure of last summer’s counteroffensive because the West can’t admit that Russia was the one that ended up strategically defeating its opponent instead.

    The opportunity cost of perpetuating this proxy war is that the West ran through all of its stockpiles, exposed the weakness of its military-industrial complex, and is now unable to adapt as flexibly as before to any major contingences in the Asia-Pacific like those that they expect might one day involve China. Clinging to false hopes of victory over Russia at all costs is also increasingly dangerous due to the chances that a potential NATO intervention in Ukraine could lead to World War III by miscalculation.

    It’s amidst the growing awareness of these consequences that the WSJ reported on the entirety of spring 2022’s draft Russian-Ukrainian peace treaty, albeit while dishonestly describing the terms as “punishing” instead of overly generous as they objectively are. Their angle is disadvantageous to freezing this conflict like former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy, former NATO Supreme Commander Admiral Stavridis, and Senator Vance earlier proposed, but the substance is an altogether different story.

    These details prove that President Putin was willing to make previously unthinkable compromises in order to obtain his strategic goals of restoring Ukrainian neutrality, denazifying it (with the restoration of the Russian language’s status playing the key role here), and demilitarizing that country. Donbass would likely be reincorporated into Ukraine, prior to which its residents could obtain Russian citizenship to relocate there if they wanted, and Russia would withdraw from everywhere except for Crimea.

    Those territorial compromises are no longer in the cards after Donbass, Kherson, and Zaporozhye voted to join Russia in September 2022, which is why Kremlin spokesman Peskov just described the reported details about that spring’s draft Russian-Ukrainian peace treaty as outdated. Nevertheless, it’s still possible in theory for Russia to compromise on asserting its writ over the entirety of its new regions’ borders if their regional assembles voted to change them with parliamentary and presidential approval.

    The Line of Contact (LOC) could therefore become the international frontier if the Constitutional Court rules that this doesn’t violate the 2020 constitutional amendment against surrendering Russian territory on the basis that Moscow hadn’t asserted any writ over those potentially “ceded” parts of its lands. President Putin has repeatedly signaled that he’s willing to compromise on a political solution if Russia’s security interests are met, most recently during his interview with Tucker, so this scenario is possible.

    The problem is that Ukraine legally forbade the resumption of peace talks with Russia, thus requiring the West to coerce it into repealing that legislation, which could happen if domestic pressure over Zelensky’s illegitimacy after his term ends on May 20 leads to him forming a “national unity government”. An expert from the powerful Atlantic Council think tank proposed this scenario in an article for Politico last winter, and it could represent a “face-saving” way to move everything forward if the political will exists.

    The West knows that the only way to stop Russia from steamrolling through Ukraine in the event that it achieves a breakthrough across the LOC sometime this year is to risk World War III by miscalculation through a conventional NATO intervention aimed at drawing a red line as far east as possible. This sequence of events might be preemptively averted, however, by implementing the abovementioned proposal in order to freeze the conflict along the LOC and then turn that frontier into the new border.

    To be absolutely clear so that nobody misunderstands what’s been written in this analysis, Lavrov confirmed as recently as Saturday that Russia hasn’t received any serious proposals for talks with Kiev, so it seems like the West’s ruling liberal–globalist elite isn’t yet comfortable with this end game. It’s also true that the way in which the WSJ dishonestly described the draft Russian-Ukrainian peace treaty’s overly generous terms as “punishing” could harden some policymakers’ resistance in this respect.

    Even so, the actual details of those terms could convince some on-the-fence policymakers that President Putin is indeed willing to make previously unthinkable compromises, thus potentially increasing the number of them who’d support the scenario of freezing the conflict along the LOC. The WSJ’s report is therefore a double-edged sword for both camps since it works for and against each of their interests as explained, but the timing is no coincidence since it’s meant to shake up the balance between them.

    It’s debatable which side this outlet really supports since one can argue that dishonestly describing the details as “punishing” favors those who want another “forever war” while reporting on their overly generous substance is tacitly intended to give an edge to those who want to resume peace talks.

    The impact of their report will take some time to see, but the point is that it might make a difference at this pivotal moment in the proxy war, with it remaining to be seen whether it’d be for better or for worse.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 03:30

  • Real Madrid Overtakes Man Utd As Word's 'Richest' Soccer Club
    Real Madrid Overtakes Man Utd As Word’s ‘Richest’ Soccer Club

    Over the past two decades, professional football has seen an unprecedented influx of money, reshaping the landscape of the sport on a global scale.

    As Statista’s Felix Richer details below, the surge in financial means and change in the balance of power between clubs and leagues can be attributed to several key factors, notably the rapid growth of broadcasting deals and the emergence of billionaire owners and what are effectively state-sponsored clubs.

    The English Premier League in particular has seen a staggering increase in broadcasting rights fees over the past two decades, with the amount paid for the league’s global media rights roughly quadrupling from $3.16 billion for the 2007-2010 period to $12.85 billion for the 2022-2025 period. This influx of broadcasting revenue has provided clubs with previously unimaginable financial resources, allowing them to invest heavily in player transfers, wages and state-of-the-art facilities.

    In addition to broadcasting deals, the rise of billionaire owners has played a pivotal role in reshaping football’s financial landscape. Wealthy individuals from various industries have seized the opportunity to acquire football clubs, viewing them as lucrative investments with vast potential for growth.

    Furthermore, the emergence of de-facto state-sponsored clubs has further intensified the financial arms race in football. Clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, majority-owned by government-backed investment funds from Abu Dhabi and Qatar, respectively, have transformed into financial powerhouses capable of outspending their competitors on transfer fees and wages. It has enabled them to assemble star-studded squads and compete at the highest levels of domestic and European competition, with Manchester City’s 2023 treble the latest testament to their financial and sporting superiority.

    While the large influx of money has undoubtedly brought excitement and spectacle to the world of football, it has also raised concerns about financial fair play and the growing disparity between rich and poor clubs and leagues.

    Our latest Racing Bars video shows not only how revenue has increased for the world’s “richest” football clubs, but also tells the story of how the balance of financial power has shifted between leagues and clubs during the past two and a half decades.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 02:45

  • The U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Has No Clothes
    The U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Has No Clothes

    Authored by Gregory F. Giles via RealClear Wire,

    Fear sells—the more existential the better, as with all the loose talk about the possible use of nuclear weapons by Vladimir Putin. While nuclear dread is good for “driving clicks,” it must not blind us to reality. The U.N. nuclear ban treaty will do nothing to reduce such nuclear dangers. How could it? None of the countries possessing nuclear weapons will have anything to do with it. Not unlike “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” proponents of the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) want us to believe in its magnificence, to go along with the pretense while it is plain to see that the treaty is stripped of any credibility.

    The second gathering of signatories late last year revealed a host of treaty flaws. Any hope that member states and civil society would staunchly self-police the treaty were dashed. They all turned a blind eye to the involvement of Kazakhstan, a treaty member, in the testing of a Russian ICBM—a missile whose sole purpose is to deliver nuclear weapons.

    When the test occurred in April last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) trumpeted that under the TPNW, it was “illegal” for Kazakhstan “to allow its territory to be used for testing of nuclear-capable missiles.”[i] Yet, ICAN and TPNW member states, including Kazakhstan, were silent about the ICBM test—at a meeting whose purpose is to assess the implementation of the ban treaty.

    Evidently, because Kazakhstan is struggling with the legacy of Soviet nuclear tests on its territory and will host next year’s treaty review, it was given a “pass.” So much for the assertions of TPNW advocates that the treaty is non-discriminatory, a contrast they like to draw with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which recognized in 1968 the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China as nuclear weapon states—and everyone else as non-nuclear weapon states.

    Once again, TPNW member states failed to call out Russia by name for its irresponsible nuclear behavior, this time including de-ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and moving to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Why? Because the diplomatic corps of the non-nuclear weapon states consider it impolite to call out bad actors by name.

    How can a treaty that won’t call out malign behavior of even non-member states like Russia— or hold accountable one of its actual signatories like Kazakhstan—be expected to resolve disputes in the event the major powers somehow join its ranks and warily give up their nuclear bombs. The answer is plain, it cannot, which is why those powers boycott it.

    They are not alone. NATO member states and U.S. allies in Asia also refuse to join the TPNW. Others have read the writing on the wall. Finland and Sweden, which attended the first meeting of TPNW states parties as observers in 2022, balked last year, preferring to join NATO rather than place their faith in the ban treaty. Other states that observed the first gathering but punted this time include the Netherlands, Burundi, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. You wouldn’t know that, though, by reading any of the self-congratulatory statements issued after the meeting by TPNW member states and civil society.

    It is a tough time for TPNW supporters. The initial euphoria of circumventing the major powers and rushing the treaty through is over. Now comes the more mundane work of implementing it, structurally weak as it is. That’s not helpful for ICAN and others who need to keep members motivated and attract donors. That’s become harder now that the MacArthur Foundation has pulled out of the nuclear disarmament field, seeing poor prospects ahead. Austria has a solution for that, however.

    In a weak decision document, Austria has convinced TPNW member states that what they really need is better talking points about the so-called evils of nuclear deterrence. This is a hobby horse of a few individuals in the Austrian foreign ministry, somehow convinced that they can simply debate Western countries into surrendering their nuclear protection, even as their counterparts in the Austrian ministry of defense seek closer ties with NATO. This new initiative will fail—states under the nuclear umbrella are not under any obligation to engage in such theater.

    The reality is, since the brutal 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rapid build-up of nuclear arms by such stalwarts of international law and human rights as China and North Korea, free people everywhere are rediscovering the value of nuclear deterrence over one-sided nuclear disarmament. There is a reason why ICAN has not published any polls since 2022 purporting to show vast public support for the TPNW and opposition to U.S. nuclear weapons forward deployed in Europe.

    Surely, the TPNW must be good for something? The ban treaty is slowly carving out an important niche in assisting victims and remediating environments impacted by nuclear weapons use or testing. It also is promoting new standards of inclusivity and gender balance. But it has been divisive, too. Its insistence on nuclear disarmament irrespective of the security environment lacks realism and only deepens the chasm between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states.

    Let’s face it, progress on nuclear disarmament won’t be coming anytime soon. TPNW supporters can lament this and withhold cooperation from the nuclear weapons states, or they can apply their energy in a more promising area—non-proliferation. Surely, keeping nuclear weapons from spreading is just as important as easing the grip of those who already possess them. Making progress on the former should not be held hostage to progress on the latter—that would be a wasted opportunity indeed.

    Gregory F. Giles is a Senior Director with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). For the past three decades, he has been advising U.S. government clients on issues related to deterrence and nonproliferation. Mr. Giles holds a B.A. from Dickinson College and an M.I.A. from Columbia University. His work has been published in War on the Rocks, Survival, Comparative Strategy, The Washington Quarterly, and elsewhere. The views expressed in this article represent the personal views of the author and are not necessarily the views of SAIC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 03/06/2024 – 02:00

  • 'Weaponized Migration' – A Coordinated Effort Playing Out Deep In The Panama Jungle
    ‘Weaponized Migration’ – A Coordinated Effort Playing Out Deep In The Panama Jungle

    Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The ripe smell of garbage baking in the tropical sun mixed with the stench of human waste is one of the first things visitors notice at Bajo Chiquito, one of four large migrant camps in the Darién Gap.

    An aerial view of the Lajas Blancas migrant camp in the Darien Gap. Buses transport migrants to the border with Costa Rica. (The Epoch Times)

    The next is a sea of weary migrants, who hiked from Colombia along the infamous jungle trail, lined up to be processed by Panamanian officials.

    One young boy in line with a furrowed brow seems worried. Others stare blankly at ramshackle buildings slapped together with wood, tin, and cinder blocks. They wait patiently in the brutal heat and humidity.

    Most of them are coming to the United States aided by the United Nations, its nongovernmental partners, and regimes hostile to the United States.

    Experts have said the migrants are being used as a weapon, just as deadly as a missile aimed straight at the United States.

    Mass migration is being “weaponized” to overwhelm and destabilize the United States and ultimately break it apart, according to Joseph Humire, who studies unconventional warfare and is the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society.

    “That’s why I think the term ‘invasion’ is appropriate,” Mr. Humire told The Epoch Times.

    Migrant Pawns

    Last year, a record 500,000 migrants traveled through the Darién Gap, documents show.

    In February, The Epoch Times visited all four migrant camps in Panama: Lajas Blancas, Bajo Chiquito, San Vicente, and Canaán Membrillo.

    A canoe operated by the Embera arrives at Bajo Chiquito in Panama on Feb. 18, 2024. The town is a transit point for migrants arriving from the Darién jungle and moving farther into Panama. (The Epoch Times)

    The United Nations and related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which receive millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, have made mass migration easier by facilitating and augmenting migrant movement with food, shelter, and water.

    Reporters spoke with migrants from China, Somalia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Colombia and others who hiked out of the treacherous jungle leading from Colombia into Panama.

    Many at the camps suffered from injuries and illnesses such as trench foot and broken limbs. Several complained that the water was untreated at the camps run by the NGOs and that they lacked essential items such as diapers. One migrant told The Epoch Times that food supplied at the camps was stale or spoiled, so he spent $7 to buy a meal from a local vendor.

    Others said they were stranded at the camps because they were robbed during their journey or couldn’t pay the $60 needed for the bus ride north.

    U.N. refugee agency personnel arrive at the San Vicente migrant camp in the Darien Gap, Panama, on Feb. 20, 2024. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

    The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has surged under the Biden administration as policies from the Trump era have been reversed or eliminated.

    Illegal immigrant encounters at U.S. borders in fiscal 2022 totaled more than 2.7 million nationwide, according to CBP data.

    By 2023, that number topped 3.2 million.

    The numbers also correspond with President Joe Biden’s renewed pledge to support the U.N.’s Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration—a 2018 plan to manage global migration that was approved by 152 nations.

    “The Biden–Harris Administration is committed to safe, orderly, and humane migration around the world, including to the United States,” a government statement in December 2021 read. The United States had voted against the compact under President Donald Trump.

    Most migrants are oblivious to their role as human ammunition, according to Trevor Loudon, an expert on communist regimes and host of EpochTV’s “Counterpunch.”

    The U.N. and NGO workers at the City of Knowledge in Panama—which was once part of the U.S. military base given to Panama—have exposed migrants to violence, injury, death, and disease, he said.

    “These bureaucrats with fat salaries, eating at nice local restaurants, are having a great old time facilitating one of the biggest crimes against humanity that’s ever been perpetrated,” Mr. Loudon said.

    Panama’s former border director Oriel Ortega told The Epoch Times the NGOs should be educating and helping migrants in their own countries instead of facilitating migration.

    The Epoch Times knocked on multiple U.N. agency doors at the City of Knowledge complex while in Panama in an unsuccessful attempt to interview officials with the U.N. and HIAS, founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

    At one U.N. office, reporters could see workers through blinds scrambling to hide after The Epoch Times knocked and rang the doorbell repeatedly.

    Migrants said the trek through dense rainforest, steep mountains, thick mud, and swamps was exhausting and dangerous.

    They told stories of murder, rape, and desperation.

    Estimates of deaths reported by NGOs are probably low. The American Red Cross reported that 60 people died crossing the Darién Gap during the first half of 2023, but anecdotal information from people who have been in the jungle put that number in the hundreds or thousands each year.

    Michael Yon, a war correspondent who has been reporting on the flood of migrants moving through the jungle into Panama, told The Epoch Times he estimates that about 1 percent of those making the journey die.

    At the Bajo Chiquito camp on Feb. 18, one Venezuelan migrant sitting under the shade of a tin roof shelter counted himself as lucky.

    He was only robbed during the journey through the Darién Gap that he described as “hell” through an interpreter.

    He witnessed a man who was stoned and then shot in the head for trying to protect his wife from being gang raped, he said.

    “He went to go defend the girl,” he said.

    Close by, a Venezuelan woman, Fabiola Suarez, appeared despondent. She had hiked through the Darién Gap to reunite with her husband in Colorado.

    A family from Venezuela rests at Lajas Blancas after crossing the Darien Gap to Panama on Feb. 17, 2024. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

    She, too, counted herself as lucky.

    She was almost raped by criminals preying on migrants, but there were enough people in her group to stave off an attack, she said.

    “There was a lot in the group, so they didn’t,” she said through an interpreter.

    Dripping with sweat, Gustavo Toala emerged from the Darién jungle trail on Feb. 17 with only the clothes on his back—and a cellphone in his hand.

    Everyone had cellphones, a lifeline for many at the camps.

    He and two companions from Ecuador trudged over a rudimentary bridge into Lajas Blancas camp, looking exhausted after a five-hour walk from camp Bajo Chiquito.

    Mr. Toala said through an interpreter that he and his two companions started as a group of 12, but they got separated during the journey.

    He had been traveling for almost two weeks, hoping for a better life in the United States.

    He left because of the high crime rate in Ecuador and the inability of small business owners to make a living due to extortion, he said.

    With no map and little water, he blindly followed other migrants through the Darién Gap, where robbery, rape, and death await many.

    He hoped to catch a bus to Costa Rica next.

    At Lajas Blancas, migrants have access to a number of large maps provided by NGOs that display detailed migration routes heading to the United States.

    One map is from HIAS, which recently received $11 million from the U.S. in two grants awarded specifically to go to Latin American migrants.

    One HIAS map shows the migration route from Colombia to Costa Rica, including detailed bus stops, temperatures, altitudes, and “migration kiosk” locations.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 23:40

  • English Is Still The World's Most-Spoken Language
    English Is Still The World’s Most-Spoken Language

    The top languages spoken in the world reflect economic trends, populated countries, and even colonial history.

    In the image below, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualizes the most spoken languages around the world as of 2023. These figures come from Ethnologue, which publishes a list of the largest languages every year.

    The 12 Most Spoken Languages on Earth

    English was born in the United Kingdom but today belongs to the modern world as the main international language of business and politics.

    That’s why it’s not very surprising to find English as the world’s most spoken language, with 1.5 billion speakers as of 2023.

    In second place is Mandarin, the most spoken Chinese language dialect with 1.1 billion speakers. Originating in North China, it has become the most spoken language in China and Taiwan, as well as having millions of speakers spread across Southeast Asia and the world.

    India is also represented in this ranking, but despite being the world’s most populated country, its speakers are spread out over multiple different languages. Hindi is the main language spoken in North India and an official language of the government, but other languages like Bengali are widely spoken in other regions, in this case in East India (and neighboring Bangladesh).

    It’s also notable how languages from former colonial powers – like English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese – all have hundreds of millions of speakers, despite their mother countries accounting for a fraction of that total.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 23:20

  • Much Stronger Than Fentanyl, Nitazene Presents A Looming Crisis
    Much Stronger Than Fentanyl, Nitazene Presents A Looming Crisis

    Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A new killer has emerged in the illegal drug market, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Synthetic opioids called nitazenes—up to 20 times more potent than fentanyl—have infiltrated street drugs from heroin to benzodiazepines, catching unsuspecting users in a web of addiction and overdose (OD) death.

    These opioids have evaded authorities and fueled a silent epidemic, presenting novel dangers law enforcement is only beginning to grasp.

    (Dr.OGA/Shutterstock)

    No Medical Use, High Addiction Risk

    Nitazenes belong to a class of synthetic opioids called isotonitazenes, or ISOs. These compounds have gained attention due to their powerful painkilling properties. First developed in the 1950s, nitazenes were never approved for medical use and long remained obscure, known only in academic circles.

    A defining trait of nitazenes is their extremely high potency—hundreds to thousands of times more potent than morphine and other older opioids and 10 to 20 times more powerful than fentanyl, which is already fueling the nation’s current drug crisis.

    Although it’s theorized that these compounds are coming from China, “nobody really knows for sure,” Dr. Jarid Pachter from Stony Brook Medicine, who specializes in family medicine and addiction medicine, told The Epoch Times.

    So far, 20 distinct types of nitazenes have been detected in illegal street drugs, turning up with increasing frequency. As Schedule I drugs in the United States, a class that includes drugs with no accepted medical use and high abuse and addiction potential, all nitazenes are illegal.

    Nitazenes are being used to spike and strengthen illegal drugs while also making them cheaper to produce, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). But this chemical tampering has already led to deadly overdoses.

    UK Sounds Alarm on Spiking of Drug Supplies With Nitazenes

    Like the United States, the UK is grappling with its own drug crisis. Recently, nitazenes have been detected in substances peddled as other opioids, benzodiazepines, or cannabis products.

    Data from Scotland’s Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) early warning system showed nitazenes directly caused 25 deaths between 2022 and 2023—compared to none before—identified in postmortem toxicology tests.

    “Because nitazenes have been found in various street drugs like benzodiazepines and fake pharmaceuticals, people may not be aware they are taking nitazenes or the increased risk,” Dr. Tara Shivaji, a consultant in public health medicine at Public Health Scotland, said in a press statement. Compounding the risk, the concentration of drugs in tablets, powders, and blotters can fluctuate dramatically even within the same batch, she noted.

    Nitazenes Need Multiple Naloxone Doses

    Synthetic opioids, including the nitazene class, are among the fastest-growing opioids that are causing emergency hospitalizations for overdoses.

    However, evidence suggests that nitazenes inflict more severe health impacts. Most patients overdosing on nitazenes or other novel opioids need two or more naloxone doses, whereas fentanyl overdoses require just one, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.

    Their extreme potency and pharmacological profile also heighten overdose and death risk, especially when combined with other central nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines or alcohol.

    “The risk is that you can not only have a horrible substance use disorder, but you can die of an overdose,” Dr. Pachter said.

    Over 100,000 Overdose Deaths in 2023 Alone

    Opioids have driven a growing share of overdose deaths since 2009, accounting for nearly 71 percent of all fatal ODs in 2019. Provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show over 106,000 overdose deaths nationwide through September 2023—an undercount due to incomplete reports.

    Over 40 percent of American adults know someone who fatally overdosed, according to a recent survey by the RAND Corporation, a think tank. Additionally, 13 percent said an OD death substantially disrupted their life.

    With so many synthetic drugs and unpredictable combinations, buyers can never know precisely what they’re getting, DEA Intelligence Analyst Maura Gaffney said in a press statement.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 23:00

  • Houthis Offer Safe Passage To Ships Through Red Sea If They Obtain Permit
    Houthis Offer Safe Passage To Ships Through Red Sea If They Obtain Permit

    The Houthis are currently threatening to unleash more ‘painful’ attacks on Red Sea shipping. “Yemeni naval forces are closely monitoring all movements in the Red and Arabian Seas and our appropriate responses will make anybody found to be involved in such operations regret their allegiance to America and Britain,” a Houthi military spokesman said Tuesday.

    Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an analyst with the Middle East Institute in Washington, has described that the US/UK-led Operation Prosperity Guardian has essentially failed. “The Houthis feel confident. They were never held accountable for any of their violations, including attacks on the Red Sea.”

    The Rubymar has sunk, EPA-EFE

    And now the Iran-linked Houthis are so confident that they have announced a new system for entry into the Red Sea which they are unilaterally imposing.

    “Ships will have to obtain a permit from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters,” according to a Monday statement of Houthi Telecommunications Minister, Misfer Al-Numair.

    “(We) are ready to assist requests for permits and identify ships with the Yemeni Navy, and we confirm this is out of concern for their safety,” the minister said further, in an official statement carried by the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV.

    According to details of the permit plan via Middle East Monitor:

    The territorial waters affected by the Yemeni order extend halfway out into the 20-km (12-mile) wide Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the narrow mouth of the Red Sea through which around 15 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic passes on its way to or from the Suez Canal.

    In normal times, more than a quarter of global container cargo – including apparel, appliances, auto parts, chemicals and agricultural products, like coffee – move via the Suez Canal.

    Previously the Houthis have said that Russia and China owned vessels would receive safe passage, but foreign tankers headed to Israeli ports risk coming under attack.

    Washington officials have already expressed doubt over the new offer of permits, saying that even permitted ships could likely face missile or drone attack. 

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

    Former US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates told a shipping industry conference that even if the Gaza war were to stop, “They [Houthis] may decide that they like the idea of controlling the amount of shipping going through the Red Sea, and will continue this for an indefinite period of time.”

    In the early morning hours of Tuesday, US Central Command posted on social media platform X that MSC Sky II, a container ship operated by MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., was damaged in a missile attack about 90 miles southeast of the Yemeni city of Aden, as part of the latest Houthi aggression.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 22:40

  • California Transformed Prisons To The 'Norway Model,' Insiders Reveal The Deadly Cost
    California Transformed Prisons To The ‘Norway Model,’ Insiders Reveal The Deadly Cost

    Authored by Beige Luciano-Adams via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Prison reforms in California aimed at rehabilitation and release are a ticking time bomb according to current and formerly incarcerated individuals, whistleblowers, active and retired correctional officers, and other staff who spoke to The Epoch Times.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)

    As part of the reforms, which are based on Norway’s model, California’s prisons are moving away from punishment and toward rehabilitation, education, and re-entry.

    The transformation dovetails with a decade of sentencing and parole reforms as authorities move to depopulate and close facilities statewide.

    But the reality inside California’s prisons, insiders say, is increasingly dangerous for both inmates and staff.

    In the first six weeks of 2024, there were six homicides in California prisons, according to the corrections department. Five were inmate-on-inmate homicides and one involved a correctional officer shooting an inmate to prevent him from fatally stabbing another inmate.

    Additionally, an Epoch Times review of the department’s statistics reveals a dramatic increase over the past several years in total incident reports, as well as in important categories including assault and battery on inmates and officers, use of force, and sexual assaults.

    From January to October 2023, the most recent data available, there were 17,993 total incident reports—compared to 14,138 and 12,717 for the same periods in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

    Assault and battery incidents on corrections officers and non-inmates have risen steadily from 2021 through 2023, the latter increasing 35 percent from January to October 2023 over the previous year. In the same period, assaults on inmates rose 29 percent, use of force increased 46.3 percent, and sexual assaults jumped 62 percent.

    Patrick “Jimmy” Kitlas, who began serving a life sentence in 2007 and is now eligible for parole, told The Epoch Times by phone that there have been many “really sweeping and drastic” policy changes—but they are often contradictory or not implemented.

    “This place has definitely become a less structured, a less secure, and a much more violent place,” he said from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, where he’s been since 2015.

    Mr. Kitlas and others who spoke to The Epoch Times blamed a top-heavy administration disconnected from reality on the ground.

    California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers patrol San Quentin State Prison’s death row in San Quentin, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    “The guys up top who aren’t actually in the buildings with the officers and inmates providing custodial supervision, they’re making a lot of insane and violence-provoking policies without regard to the staff that have to enforce them,” Mr. Kitlas said.

    A new policy will often hit inmates and staff at the same time, he said, resulting in chaos.

    “No one ever seems to really have a firm grasp of where the policy came from, what its purpose is, and how is the best way to implement it—which is super dangerous,” he said.

    San Quentin is California’s oldest prison and one of the country’s most notorious, conducting all of the state’s executions since 1937. Now, it’s the blueprint for California corrections reform, offering innovative programming to help inmates like Mr. Kitlas transform their lives, overcome trauma, and become community leaders.

    So why are inmates like Mr. Kitlas ringing the alarm?

    Good Intentions, Violent Outcomes

    In 2012, prisoners in California’s supermax Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit—known as “The SHU”—led a peace initiative to end racial violence and solitary confinement called “The End of Hostilities.”

    Beginning in 2015, following the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the state, California began to move away from indefinite solitary confinement and reformed its use of behavior-based housing models, while shifting focus to rehabilitation, education, and programming. It released nearly all prisoners held in the SHU at Pelican Bay and Corcoran and integrated them with general population yards.

    But some argue the unintended consequences are still reverberating throughout the state.

    Joshua Mason, a formerly incarcerated activist and scholar who works closely with prison populations, said the integration of prison gang leaders formerly housed in the SHU into the general population yards resulted in “a different level of violence.”

    “When these guys came out of the SHU—that is the difference,” he said, noting how razor facial slashings gave way to deadly stabbings that have now become the norm.

    In 2018, the department began integrating prisoners from “Special Needs Yards” into the general population, after determining the creation of those yards in the 1990s for inmates who couldn’t safely be in a prison’s general population had backfired, sparking more violence. Citing a move toward rehabilitation, authorities began integrating programs, yards, and entire prisons.

    Condemned inmates stand in an exercise yard at San Quentin State Prison’s death row in San Quentin, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2016. San Quentin opened in 1852 and is California’s oldest penitentiary. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    “The changes that have caused the most havoc and just all-out violence was when they started integrating the yards,” Mr. Kitlas said, noting there hadn’t been a riot or stabbing since 2012 when he arrived at San Quentin in 2015. “Since [integration], we’ve had multiple stabbings, we’ve had murders, we’ve had rapes.”

    Hector Bravo, a former corrections department lieutenant, agreed.

    “I was part of the first integrations. It was out-of-control violence,” he told The Epoch Times.

    Both pointed to “special needs yards” yards as a kind of Wild West, where even normal gang rules don’t apply.

    “The majority of super violent gangs and drug cultures actually come out of the [special needs yards],” Mr. Kitlas said. “They’re being jumped back onto the [general population] and they’re being protected because that’s what staff was told to do.”

    Integrations again ramped up in 2022, when the corrections department said it would no longer house rival groups and gangs separately and expected everyone to program together. In 2023, it further reduced and reformed its use of short-term segregated security housing (“administrative segregation” or “AdSeg”) and announced that the SHU and AdSeg would be merged and renamed Restrictive Housing Units (RHU).

    A current correctional officer, who wanted to be referred to only as “Mr. Y” for fear of retaliation, pointed to California’s powerful prison gang culture as an obstacle to integrating rival gangs and special needs yards.

    “Trying to take people who walked away from that lifestyle, and insert people who are about that life, and have them coexist is just not going to happen,” he said. “The politics are too strong.”

    Merging prisoners with different security levels, whether special needs or general population, in “non-designated” yards means that more inmates who become eligible for security overrides are being sent to lower-security facilities, sources say.

    Mr. Bravo pointed to the Feb. 4 murder of an inmate at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. One of the suspects, Maurice Vasquez, founder of the prison gang Northern Riders, was housed on “A Yard”—a Level III special needs yard—even though he had 279 points at the time, well above the threshold of 60 points to put him at a Level IV facility, Mr. Bravo said.

    “The department is in such a rush to override inmates onto less secure facilities and ultimately out to parole,” he said. “This is the result.”

    Mr. Y cited a few recent examples, saying: “The state of California keeps putting these guys out into the yards. Sooner or later, someone else is going to get hurt.”

    For inmates such as Mr. Kitlas, who say they want to participate in rehabilitation and education programs—and who need to in order to be eligible for parole—the impact can be devastating.

    “We’re trying to get along, we’re trying to program, and a lot of the guys that are coming off the SNY [special needs yards] are super hardcore gang members and dope fiends,” Mr. Kitlas said. “They really have no regard for the programs and the whole purpose of that.”

    A view of the yard outside of San Quentin State Prison’s death row adjustment center in San Quentin, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    A ‘Hands Off’ Approach

    A corrections department employee who has worked in multiple institutions, “Dr. X” (she asked The Epoch Times not to use her name as she fears retaliation), said administrators began to take a more “hands-off” approach to security beginning around 2020. Part of that was due to COVID, but it also reflected a gradual shift toward socialization between staff and inmates.

    “When I started, it was mandatory, you don’t have any contact with any medical staff or anyone that doesn’t have weapons to protect themselves unless you get patted down,” she said. When pat-downs were informally phased out at an institution where she worked, she began raising the alarm. Subsequently, an inmate brought a weapon into a treatment setting where he was alone with a female staff member. At another institution, two female staffers she supervised were sexually assaulted.

    Normalizing relations between officers and inmates is part of the broader shift toward a rehabilitation model, according to the corrections department. But without proper support, staff say results can be disastrous.

    A recent incident at New Folsom Prison illustrates how regulatory shifts, from big ones such as security housing reforms, to small ones such as language policy, have converged to create a chaotic environment.

    After an inmate exposed himself to a female officer and began masturbating, Dr. X said, the female officer told him to stop, using profanity. The administration penalized the female officer for swearing, including a temporary salary reduction.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 22:20

  • De-Dollarization In Delhi – India Urges Gulf Exporters To Accept Rupees For Crude
    De-Dollarization In Delhi – India Urges Gulf Exporters To Accept Rupees For Crude

    Four months after India’s government rejected demands from Russian oil companies to pay for Russia’s crude exports in Chinese yuan, it appears India is now hoping for a similar arrangement with Gulf crude exporters.

    Bloomberg reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the country’s major state-owned refiners to press Persian Gulf suppliers to accept at least 10% of oil payments in rupees in the next financial year, three executives at the processors said.

    The RBI is concerned that the nation’s soaring demand for energy will weaken the rupee, something that has been a general trend over the last two years (India refiners must sell Rupees to buy USDollars to settle the payments for their increasing heavy demand for crude).

     The executives that Bloomberg sourced also noted that India wants to leverage the growth in consumption to its own advantage, by promoting the Indian currency in international trade and cutting dependence on dollars.

    The three refiners – Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. – have already approached oil exporters on the matter, but the suppliers are pushing back due to currency risk and conversion charges, the executives said.

    The vast majority of global oil transactions are in dollars, although China has had some success in using the yuan more to pay for imports.

    Indian Oil partly paid Abu Dhabi National Oil Co for a shipment of 1 million barrels of crude in rupees last August.

    However, there haven’t been any transactions in the currency since then.

    The country’s refiners have also used other currencies – include UAE dirhams – to pay for Russian crude.

    This decision by India comes just days after a report by Russian news agency TASS said that the five-nation BRICS group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will work on creating a payment system based on blockchain and digital technologies.

    “We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said in an interview with TASS.

    As CoinDesk reports, the effort is part of a specific task for this year to increase the role of BRICS in the international monetary system. 

    For some time now, the BRICS grouping has been making efforts to reduce its reliance on U.S. dollars in settlement, also known as de-dollarization.

    “Work will continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar,” Ushakov said.

    India is the world’s third-largest crude importer and is forecast to be the leading driver of global consumption growth this decade.
     

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 22:00

  • COVID-19 Vaccines Can Affect Menstrual Cycle, Researchers Find
    COVID-19 Vaccines Can Affect Menstrual Cycle, Researchers Find

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Researchers confirmed that COVID-19 vaccines are linked to changes in the menstrual cycle, according to a study published in March.

    A woman closes her eyes after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine at Sydney Road Family Medical Practice in Balgowlah, in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 10, 2022. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

    Published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal on March 1, Oregon Health & Science University researchers found that women who received a COVID-19 shot in the first half of their menstrual cycle are more likely to receive cycle length changes than those who received the vaccine in the second half.

    Those researchers used data from 20,000 users of a birth control app that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine what effects the vaccine has on the cycle. Most of the women whose data was analyzed were under the age of 35, while 28 percent were from North America, 33 percent were from Europe, and another 32 percent were from the United Kingdom, they said.

    Some were vaccinated and some were not. For those who were vaccinated, 63 percent received an mRNA vaccine, the paper said.

    “Individuals vaccinated in the follicular phase experienced an average 1-day longer adjusted cycle length with a first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccine compared with their pre-vaccination average,” the authors of the paper said, referring to women who got a dose of the vaccine during the first half of their cycle.

    Those who got the vaccine in the second half or those who were not vaccinated experienced no changes, they found.

    The authors added that there is now “a body of evidence demonstrating that the … vaccine is associated with temporary menstrual cycle disturbances at the population level,” adding that “the underlying mechanism for a vaccine-related cycle length disturbance is still under investigation.”

    “The leading hypothesis is that these disturbances are due to the immune response that vaccines are designed to produce,” the study said, adding that “the immune and reproductive systems interact closely with one another.” Cytokines, which are small proteins that control the immune system’s activity and are produced “as an early event in the vaccine response,” can impact that process, they added.

    Little research has been conducted in the past on how vaccines—whether for COVID-19 or others—could influence the menstrual cycle, the study’s authors further noted.

    Responding to the study’s findings, Dr. Alison Edelman, the lead author of the paper with the Oregon university, said that “we do know the immune and reproductive systems interact closely with one another,” adding that with vaccinations, “it is certainly plausible that individuals may see temporary changes in their menstrual cycle due to the immune response.”

    Their findings also suggested that there may be changes in the length of the cycle, although they appear to be short-lived. But they added that women who notice significant changes should contact a healthcare provider.

    Previously, officials in Norway recommended women who experience heavy and persistent bleeding after vaccination put off any further doses until the cause is investigated or symptoms pass.

    Other Research

    And earlier in 2022, another set of researchers wrote that for women who received one of the COVID-19 vaccines, around 42 percent of respondents said they experienced increased menstrual bleeding. A majority of those who weren’t menstruating reported breakthrough bleeding after getting the shot, including two-thirds of women who were post-menopausal and slightly less than two-thirds of women who were using hormone treatments.

    Most respondents received an mRNA vaccine made by either Moderna or Pfizer. But some also received Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca shots, according to the paper.

    “We focused our analysis on those who regularly menstruate and those who do not currently menstruate but have in the past. The latter group included postmenopausal individuals and those on hormonal therapies that suppress menstruation, for whom bleeding is especially surprising,” Kathryn Clancy, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement about the study’s findings at the time.

    And it is not the first time that the same Oregon Health & Science University researchers found COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a change in the cycle. In 2022, they found that the change was pegged at under one day, and no change in menses length was detected.

    While the study did not find vaccination associated with changes in menses length, “questions remain about other possible changes in menstrual cycles, such as menstrual symptoms, unscheduled bleeding, and changes in the quality and quantity of menstrual bleeding,” they wrote.

    Pfizer Official’s Concerns

    About a year ago, a Pfizer employee was seen in an undercover video telling a reporter with Project Veritas that he was concerned about the mRNA shot’s possible side-effects relating to menstrual cycles.

    “There is something irregular about the menstrual cycles. So people will have to investigate that down the line because that is a little concerning,” the Pfizer official said in the video, adding that it “shouldn’t be interfering” with the cycles.

    “I hope we don’t discover something really bad down the line,” he later added.

    Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 21:40

  • Iranian 'Spy Ship' In Spotlight After Undersea Data Cables Linking Continents Severed
    Iranian ‘Spy Ship’ In Spotlight After Undersea Data Cables Linking Continents Severed

    In a statement on Monday, Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications revealed that four undersea communications cables in the Red Sea were severed, impacting about a quarter of the data transmission between Asia and Europe. The incident occurred one week ago, with the full extent of the damage only now coming to light. 

    The cut data cables include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, HGC Global said, adding this is “estimated impact 25% of traffic – around 15% of Asia traffic goes west-bound, while 80% of those traffic will pass through these submarine cables in the Red Sea.” 

    HGC said it had taken measures to “successfully devised a comprehensive diversity plan to reroute affected traffic.” 

    What severed the undersea cables remains unclear – and there are mounting concerns that Iran-backed Houthis were part of the attack. But in recent days, the rebels have denied attacking the lines.  

    AP News quoted a US government official who said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the cable cuts. The official said the investigation will decide whether it was an intentional act or an accident involving an anchor. 

    However, some believe the Houthis are not the most capable group in the region to conduct such an attack; in fact, it might be Iran.

    “Cutting off critical lines communications and driving up the costs of everything from internet to oil across the Middle East is a clearly articulated economic warfare goal of the IRGC Qods Force. Iran seeks to undermine global access to the region as part of its cost-imposition strategy,” said David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. 

    Asher said: “The Qods Force is operating a spy ship called the Behsad that is reportedly in the Gulf of Aden, not far from where the undersea cables were cut. This ship highly likely carries a Qods Force special underwater warfare force component more than capable of carrying out an undersea cable attack.” 

    Bloomberg data shows that the Behshad, an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea, was in the region around the time the incident occurred last week. 

    He pointed out: “The world should expect to see an uptick in Iranian covert direct action operations alongside proxy warfare with the Houthis and Hezbollah activities in the coming months.”

    The IRGC’s goal to covertly spark chaos in the Middle East has boosted crude prices and allowed Tehran to collect $90 billion in illicit oil sales under the Biden administration. 

    “Iran has managed to sell $90 billion worth of U.S.-sanctioned oil, setting new export records in the process,” according to the latest figures published by United Against a Nuclear Iran.

    UANI continued:

    “The administration has not published a correspondingly detailed report with respect to Iranian oil exports—despite the equally vital role oil sales play in funding Iran’s malign activities: sponsorship of terrorism, development of WMDs, and domestic repression. There is a conspicuous absence of robust pronouncements and clear-eyed reasoning with respect to Tehran and its oil.” 

    With the matrix of attacks from commercial shipping vessels disrupting global trade to now cut undersea cables disrupting data transmission between continents, the Red Sea crisis is only accelerating, and investors are ignoring all risks. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 21:20

  • Doritos Fires 'Brand Ambassador' Who Tweeted About 'Doing Thuggish Things' To A Minor
    Doritos Fires ‘Brand Ambassador’ Who Tweeted About ‘Doing Thuggish Things’ To A Minor

    Update (2115ET): Well that didn’t take long…

    Fox News reports that Doritos Spain terminated their relationship with transgender influencer Iván González Ranedo, who goes by the stage name Samantha Hudson, after the company came under intense backlash for posting a video on Instagram featuring Hudson.

    A spokesperson for Doritos Spain confirmed to Rolling Stone magazine that a short promo called “Crunch Talks” was posted on Sunday and then removed on Monday. It emphasized that the video was not part of a larger brand ambassadorship campaign.

    The spokesperson also revealed that Hudson had been terminated from the company due to making controversial comments in the past.

    “We have ended the relationship and stopped all related campaign activity due to the comments,” the spokesperson said.

    “We strongly condemn words or actions that promote violence or sexism of any kind.”

    It does make you wonder what level of due diligence these multi-billion-dollar brand muppets are actually employing? Did this thing just check the right boxes on their DEI checklist and any pedophilia (or such) can just be overlooked?

    *  *  *

    As Steve Watson detailed earliervia Modernity.news, oily GMO tortilla chip brand Doritos is facing widespread backlash after some genius within the Spanish arm of the company decided to hire a non-binary transgender person who appears to have previously endorsed pedophilia to sell its snacks.

    Yes, really.

    The ‘transgender artist’ Samantha Hudson, formally known as Iván González Ranedo, has been given the role of brand ambassador for Doritos, and featured in a sponsored program called “Crunch Talks.”

    A clip was posted showing the person previously advocating for “the destruction and for the annihilation of the traditional family.”

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    Lovely stuff. But it gets worse.

    A Newsweek report points to charges that ‘Hudson’ allegedly previously posted the statement “quiero hacer cosas gamberras como meterme a una nina de 12 anos por el ojete,” to social media.

    It translates as “I want to do thuggish things like stick a 12 year old girl up her asshole.”

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    Another tweet from 2014 is said to read “In the middle of the street in Mallorca in panties and screaming that I’m a nymphomaniac in front of a super beautiful 8-year-old girl.”

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    The ‘artist’ reportedly claimed it was a ‘joke’, but not that many are convinced that child rape is funny.

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    Other past tweets from ‘Hudson’ appear to mock women who have been victims of sexual abuse, saying they should be spat at.

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    Doritos are produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The company has not yet commented on the situation.

    This makes Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney backfire look positively wholesome.

    *  *  *

    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
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 21:15

  • Watch Live: Haley's Not-So-Super Tuesday As Trump Sweeps Delegates State After State
    Watch Live: Haley’s Not-So-Super Tuesday As Trump Sweeps Delegates State After State

    Update (2100ET): And the results are starting to come in.

    Watch Live:

    While Bloomberg and The NY Times refuse to admit (or make the calls) that Trump is dominating, The Associated Press and NBC stand by the data and it’s a sweep so far for Trump.

    Source: NBC News

    According to NBC, Trump is either the winner or leading in every state so far…

    Vermont remains ‘too close to call’ for now. Minnesota and Colorado are too early to call and California, Alaska, and Utah polls have not closed yet.

    *  *  *

    Super Tuesday, the biggest primary day of the political year, is here. 

    Trailing her Republican rival by hundreds of delegates, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has ignored calls for her to drop out and kept fighting on.

    With Haley winning one ‘district’ (can you spot the odd one out)…

    But, as The Epoch Times breaks down in detail below, today, presidential primary voters across 15 states and one U.S. territory – including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia, and the territory of American Samoa – will sound off on their preferred presidential candidates, and Haley’s projected to lose most, if not all of them, to former President Donald Trump.

    Ms. Haley, for her part, has only pledged to stay on until Super Tuesday, prompting questions about when she will call it quits.

    “This is not about my political future, or I would have been out a long time ago. The reason I’m doing this is for my kids, your kids, and the younger generation.”

     

    Currently, former President Donald Trump is viewed as the presumptive nominee by most after a series of double-digit wins in contests held so far, with challenger Nikki Haley failing to gain ground.

    All eyes will be on whether Haley drops out after tonight, given that she has only vowed to stay on up until March 5. 

    With nearly 900 delegates of the 1,215 needed to become the nominee up for grabs, polls show that Trump is well-positioned to come close to locking down his party’s nomination tonight. 

    But these primaries will have other national implications as well. 

    With the Republican House majority hanging by a thread, there are dozens of key congressional races this year that could upset the balance of power in Washington, several of which will hold their primaries on Super Tuesday.

    California, especially, will be crucial to who holds the House next year. Democrats are targeting seven Republican-held seats in the state for potential gains. Republicans, on the other hand, are homing in on the seats of Democratic Reps. Josh Harder and Mike Levin, as well as the open seat of Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who is running for Senate.

    Porter will also be facing off against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Dodgers all-stay player Steve Garvey, a Republican, who are also vying to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). 

    Another key state is Texas, where Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales will need to receive a majority of the votes to fend off multiple primary challengers and avoid a runoff. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, fresh off her December loss in the Houston mayoral race, faces a tough challenge from former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards.

    North Carolina’s elections later this year could also shift the balance of power in Washington, as five congressmen in the state have chosen not to seek reelection this year—leading both parties to hope for flips. North Carolinians will also vote for the Republican and Democratic nominees for governor. 

    And while he’s seen as a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination, President Joe Biden will also face a test on Super Tuesday as activists in Minnesota have called on Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s attitude toward the war in Gaza. 

    Iowa Democrats will also learn the results of their unprecedented vote-by-mail caucus.

    Results are expected to arrive starting at 7 p.m. ET tonight. Here’s a breakdown of the schedule: 

    • 6 p.m. ET: Democratic results expected in Iowa.

    • 7 p.m. ET: Polls close in Vermont and Virginia. Republican caucuses convene in Alaska.

    • 7:30 p.m. ET: Polls close in North Carolina.

    • 8 p.m. ET: Polls close in Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Most polls close in Texas.

    • 8:30 p.m. ET: Polls close in Arkansas.

    • 9 p.m. ET: Polls close in Colorado and Minnesota. Last polls close in Texas. Republican caucuses convene in Utah.

    • 11 p.m. ET Polls close in California. 

    • 12 a.m. ET Polls close in Alaska.

    TRUMP WINS AT SCOTUS

    A unanimous judgment by the Supreme Court overturned a Colorado court’s ruling that Trump was disqualified from appearing on the state’s ballot. Yesterday’s decision is likely a relief for Trump’s campaign, which is already wrestling with multiple court cases ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

    Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberal justices issued concurring opinions in which they agreed that states lacked authority to disqualify federal candidates but thought their colleagues went too far with other aspects of the opinion. 

    Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that federal courts should be able to rule on the issue and accused their colleagues of attempting “to insulate all alleged insurrectionists from future challenges to their holding federal office.”

    State vs. federal power was the main theme of the opinion, a concern that tracked with the overall direction of oral argument in February. The per curiam, or unsigned opinion, argued that Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gave enforcement power to Congress.

    A messy patchwork of state ballot disqualifications seems unlikely or impossible after the March 4 decision. 

    Reserving the issue for Congress bypassed the question of whether Trump was the type of “officer” who could be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It laid out somewhat broad guidelines for future legislation but it’s unclear how Congress will act, if at all before the 2025 inauguration.

    Democrats could create controversy by attempting to pass legislation disqualifying Trump or interfering with the certification of election results. Another “civil war” would result from the first avenue, Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams told The Epoch Times. “Turn the national temperature down” was Justice Barrett’s advice in her concurring opinion. Apparently displeased with aspects of the per curiam opinion, she said “this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency.”

    WHAT’S HAPPENING

    1. Trump will deliver a Super Tuesday speech from Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

    2. The first results on Super Tuesday will arrive from Iowa at 6 p.m. ET. The polls will close in California at 11 p.m. ET  and in Alaska at midnight ET.

    Finally, in case you are still wondering after all this, why ‘they’ are still running Nikki Haley, here’s your answer.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 21:10

  • Homelessness Rises Among US Veterans For 1st Time In 12 Years As Immigration Crisis Escalates
    Homelessness Rises Among US Veterans For 1st Time In 12 Years As Immigration Crisis Escalates

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

    As national, state, and local governments continue to spend billions of dollars to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical care for millions of illegal immigrants, homelessness among U.S. veterans has risen dramatically for the first time in 12 years.

    Army veteran Doug Cohen attends a Stand Down event designed to help veterans who are homeless or housing insecure, in Chicago on June 16, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    A recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) details a 7.4 percent increase in veteran homelessness between 2022 and 2023 and estimates that more than 35,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, according to the report, almost twice as many veterans may experience homelessness. In total, HUD estimates that nearly 13 percent of the homeless adult population are veterans.

    Kate Monroe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm.us, calls this situation “the ultimate betrayal” by the U.S. government. She is also a California Republican congressional candidate.

    “What they are trying to do is get as many people into the U.S. as they can,” she told The Epoch Times. “And what we’re saying to our homeless veterans is that we as a country don’t care. It’s no wonder why recruiting is down by 20 percent.”

    According to a November 2023 report by the Homeland Security Republican Committee, the money spent on illegal migrants could cost Americans up to $451 billion by the end of this year. According to NYC.gov, the official website for New York City, the Big Apple alone doled out $1.45 billion in 2023 to provide food, shelter, and services to tens of thousands of immigrants. Several published reports indicate that Chicago paid $138 million during the past year to house, feed, and care for illegal immigrants.

    The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports that the state of California, which had the highest number of immigrants in 2023—more than 160,000—spent some $22.8 billion for their care in 2023. California has also become the first state to offer health insurance for all illegal immigrants.

    “I’ve been down to the border. Buses pull up, and illegal migrants are given food, a cell phone, and a plane ticket,” Ms. Monroe said. “They are taking away housing and resources from veterans, and the American people are the victims.”

    Her firm is dedicated to helping veterans receive what they are owed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and is also working to provide them with shelter and empower them to improve their quality of life.

    “We do anything we can to prevent them from ending up on the streets,” Ms. Monroe said. She and her team regularly visit California’s most affected regions, including the “Bottoms” in San Diego and San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, where they consult with homeless veterans.

    While funding and services are available through the VA, Ms. Monroe said that too often, people can fall through the cracks.

    “They’re just not getting access to it quickly and efficiently, especially since the entirety of the VA homelessness program is based on the VA giving grants to third parties, who then give a fraction of that money to the veterans,” she said.

    At the end of January, the VA reported it had permanently housed 46,552 homeless veterans in 2023, exceeding its goal of 38,000.

    VA spokesman Terrence Hayes told The Epoch Times that the department is committed to ending veteran homelessness and that no VA funds are ever earmarked for shelter or health care for illegal immigrants.

    “The VA does not provide or fund any health care for ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainees,” he said.

    “No funding or any other resources from VA are used to pay for or provide housing or health care services to non-Veteran individuals detained in [ICE] custody.”

    Military veterans arrive for a Stand Down event designed to help veterans who are homeless or housing insecure, in Chicago on June 16, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    Mr. Hayes also refutes a section of a report from the Department of Homeland Security claiming the VA has been appropriating resources to provide medical care for illegal migrants.

    The phrase in question states that “ICE contracts with the VA Financial Services Center (VAFSC) to process medical claims reimbursements; providers must complete and submit information to receive payment.”

    According to Mr. Hayes, a 2002 payment processing agreement allows ICE to pay for the VAFSC to process payments for ICE-funded health care.

    “This is fully paid for by ICE and has no impact on veteran care or services whatsoever,” he said. “VAFSC provides an administrative function for ICE, using ICE funds, that has zero impact on veteran health care or benefits.”

    A statement issued by the VA at the end of January also states that “ending veteran homelessness is a top priority of the VA and President Biden.” It concludes that “no veteran should ever experience the tragedy and indignity of homelessness.”

    The VA has a website to help those veterans in need of finding permanent housing take advantage of VA Homeless Programs. This month, it published a “Notice of Funding Opportunity” for almost $5 million in grants per year to help veterans who are currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The funds are available through the VA’s Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.

    Veteran Homelessness Factors

    One of the biggest problems facing homeless veterans is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which occurs when a person has experienced or witnessed a shocking, terrifying, or dangerous event.

    “A lot of combat vets suffer from PTSD, and if they don’t get it treated, it can result in a series of problems,” Ms. Monroe said. “They can have anger issues at work, and sometimes they don’t integrate well with their peers. As a result, they may lose their jobs and eventually end up on the streets.”

    In other situations, veterans may experience difficulty transitioning to civilian jobs, she said.

    “For example, if their days were spent on aircraft carriers or operating tanks, those jobs don’t exist in the civilian world,” Ms. Monroe said. “They’re also used to surviving with room and board and may not be experienced in how to properly budget for housing, food, clothing, and other necessities.”

    One solution that she has proposed is setting up temporary base camps to serve veterans experiencing homelessness. With her own field experience in setting up these camps, she contends that many cities already have the capabilities to establish this type of transitional housing. Within this setting, Ms. Monroe said, vets could also take advantage of counseling services, security, sustenance, sanitation, and disability support. She maintains that this model would be just a fraction of the cost that cities regularly spend to place the homeless in hotels.

    Services for Homeless Veterans

    Based in Washington, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is focused on ending veteran homelessness by promoting collaboration and managing a referral helpline for those either at-risk of or currently experiencing homelessness.

    The NCHV estimates that 20 percent of the current male homeless population are veterans, with 68 percent living in principal cities and 32 percent in suburban or rural areas. Other bleak statistics indicate that 70 percent are dealing with substance abuse problems, 50 percent are suffering from severe mental illness, and 51 percent have physical disabilities. Of the entire group of homeless veterans, more than half are age 51 or older.

    “We are facing a nationwide crisis in housing affordability, NCHV spokesperson David Higgins Jr. told The Epoch Times. “We and our collaborative partners have consistently emphasized the severity of this crisis and stressed the urgent need for increased and more substantial federal investments in effective solutions.”

    Serving as the primary liaison between veterans’ services providers, Congress, and executive branch agencies, the group continues to work to increase funding for various federal homeless veteran assistance programs. It also offers direct training to service providers across the country, focusing on employment assistance, case management, legal aid, housing programs, and other supportive services.

    However, the NCHV contends that funding allocated for illegal immigrants is a separate issue and does not take anything away from funding veterans’ programs.

    “We recognize the importance of addressing the needs of both veterans and individuals who may be undocumented or classified as illegal migrants,” Mr. Higgins said. “It is essential to emphasize that providing support to one group does not necessarily compete with or detract from the assistance that the other group requires.”

    The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has also been tackling the issue of homeless or wounded veterans since its founding in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. The Staten Island, N.Y.-based nonprofit has been serving veterans, first responders, and their families by providing affordable apartments and specially adapted smart homes for those in need. Last year alone, the Foundation offered housing assistance and access to services to more than 3,000 veterans.

    Gavin Naples, the foundation’s vice president and head of its Homeless Veteran Program, told The Epoch Times that he wasn’t surprised by the HUD report of increased homelessness among veterans.

    “We actually believe the number is probably much higher because some of those affected may not fall under the chronically homeless category and, as a result, may not qualify for federal assistance,” he said.

    HUD defines “chronic homelessness” as people who have been homeless for at least a year or on at least four separate occasions in the past three years.

    “If someone is in arrears in rent or their mortgage or has been living in their car for just a few weeks, they may not qualify,” Mr. Naples said.

    Currently, the foundation is in the process of securing former hotels in large metro areas throughout the nation for renovation and conversion into Veterans Villages. The first one completed is in Houston.

    “But we’re not just providing a bed,” Mr. Naples said. “We’ll also be creating a pathway to get them back into the community with counseling, medical care, rehabilitation, if needed, and job training.”

    Outside of the large metro areas, the foundation has established a national case management network where any veteran can take advantage of programs for housing, employment, and financial assistance, as well as rental and mortgage payment assistance.

    The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is privately funded by corporations as well as individual donors. In addition to the Houston Veterans Village, now housing 131 veterans, another former hotel in Atlanta will house 95 veterans when completed in the near future. Similar projects are already underway in Pennsylvania and Florida.

    “It’s a tall order, but our mission here is to eradicate homelessness among all veterans,” Mr. Naples said.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 21:00

  • This Is Why Camaro Thefts Are Up 1000% In Los Angeles This Year
    This Is Why Camaro Thefts Are Up 1000% In Los Angeles This Year

    Police in L.A. used a sting involving a Chevy Camaro to help understand why thefts of the vehicle are surging on the West Coast.

    The rise in thefts – with Camaro thefts up more than 1000% this year – coincides with the vehicles’ frequent appearances at street takeovers, where their high power is often showcased.

    What police found was that an electronic device was being used by a teen that allowed them to to input a car’s details and reprogram its ignition system, allowing them to steal the vehicle. 

    The confiscated device, a sophisticated hand-held computer, is designed to bypass car security systems by creating a replacement smart key, according to Yahoo/LA Times.

    A 16-year-old suspect is believed to have used such a device to steal Camaros, later selling them for a fraction of their value at street events, as per LAPD’s Newton Division Capt. Keith Green.

    The Yahoo/LA Times article noted that this division has witnessed a significant jump in Camaro thefts, from 2 to 10 in just the first two months of the year, reflecting a citywide spike from 7 to 90.

    The ease of cloning key fobs with commercially available technology has turned even teenagers into proficient car thieves. The demand for stolen vehicles in street racing and “burnouts” contributes to the targeting of muscle cars due to their inevitable wear and tear from such activities.

    Although the LAPD has not detailed the exact method used in the recent case, the practice of creating duplicate electronic key fobs through direct connection or wireless systems has been documented elsewhere.

    To combat such thefts, the LAPD recommends additional security measures, including fuel cut-offs, steering wheel locks, and secure vehicle storage. Preventative tactics against key fob signal transmission, such as security cases or even wrapping fobs in aluminum foil, are advised.

    The phenomenon of American muscle car thefts, exacerbated by key fob cloning, is not unique to L.A.; it has been observed nationwide, including a series of thefts at Michigan dealerships in 2022.

    Maybe next liberal city DA’s will simply recommend that nobody drive a car anymore. After all, it’s your fault for having such an easy-to-steal vehicle in the first place…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 20:40

  • Chemicals In Cosmetics, Toys, And Food Containers Contribute To Rise In Preterm Births
    Chemicals In Cosmetics, Toys, And Food Containers Contribute To Rise In Preterm Births

    Authored by Zrinka Peters via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Plastics are omnipresent. Few could argue that life is not incomparably more convenient because of them. But at what cost has our reliance on such convenience and ease come?

    (PR Image Factory/Shutterstock)

    Phthalates, a class of synthetic chemicals often referred to as “plasticizers” because of their common use in making plastic products flexible and bendable, are found in thousands of consumer products, from vinyl flooring to household cleaners and children’s toys. For most of us, our primary exposure to phthalates likely comes through plastic food containers and personal care products such as shampoos and cosmetics.

    Research indicates that we shouldn’t take the safety of these everyday products for granted. Phthalate exposure has been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes, including an increased risk of preterm birth, and researchers are urging greater awareness and avoidance of phthalate-containing products.

    Phthalates–Under Scrutiny

    Phthalates were already under suspicion due to a number of studies that highlighted the role that these chemicals may play in shortening gestational age. Recently The Lancet published a prospective analysis estimating the lifetime cost of prenatal exposure to phthalates in health outcomes, economic productivity, and monetary expenditures. The results are startling. The study authors reported that, in 2018, an estimated 56,595 preterm births could be attributed to prenatal phthalate exposure, at a staggering cost:

    “The lifetime costs of preterm birth, inclusive of direct medical care, intellectual quotient loss, and other indirect consequences, was estimated to be US$64,815 per case in 2016 … Other chronic conditions due to phthalates include childhood obesity, adult obesity and diabetes, endometriosis, male factor infertility, and cardiovascular mortality, with total costs nearly $100 billion annually.”

    Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of phthalate exposure on their developing brains. Project TENDR, an alliance of scientists, health professionals, and advocates working together to protect children from the brain-damaging effects of exposure to toxic chemicals, explains that prenatal exposure to phthalates can affect neurological development in infants and children, resulting in effects that “include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)-like behaviors, problems with conduct and aggression, as well depression and other internalizing behaviors.”

    They also note that “prenatal exposure has been associated with deficits in child IQ, working memory and executive functioning, as well as with problems in emotional regulation.” Multiple studies have found levels of phthalate exposure to be consistently higher among black and Latino populations in the United States than among other racial groups.

    Although children are particularly vulnerable, the effects of ongoing phthalate exposure extend to adults as well, being linked to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, endometriosis, birth defects in the male reproductive system, cardiovascular disease, and thyroid irregularities.

    It is impossible to live in contemporary society and completely eliminate phthalate exposure. Researchers estimate that the number of Americans with detectable levels of phthalates in their bodies is very close to 100 percent. We can’t eliminate phthalate exposure, but we can reduce it by being more mindful of the food we eat and the products we use.

    While phthalate-containing products are all around us, the greatest risk comes from those we eat, absorb through the skin, or inhale. Food items that are prepared or stored in plastic containers, along with the use of personal care products, are the main sources of phthalate exposure for most people. Also, women are generally more exposed than men because of their tendency to use a wider variety of personal care products. Nail polish, hairspray, cleansers, after-shave lotions, and shampoos all commonly contain phthalates.

    Identifying Phthalate-Free Products

    There are some simple ways to reduce exposure to these harmful chemicals. The Environmental Working Group provides a cosmetics database as well as a Healthy Cleaning Guide, which can help consumers check for potentially harmful ingredients in their personal care or cleaning products, and identify phthalate-free products. Look for personal care products with a “phthalate-free” label. Also, avoid products with the generic term “fragrance” in the ingredient list, as phthalates are commonly used in synthetic fragrances and can be hidden among the undisclosed “fragrance” ingredients.

    Reducing the use of plastic wrap and plastic food storage containers made from PVC (with the recycling label #3), and storing food in glass or stainless steel containers instead, is a good start. Avoid heating foods or drinks in plastic containers, as heat increases the release of phthalates into food. Also, limiting consumption of fast food, which has been shown to contain higher concentrations of phthalates, in favor of fresh, minimally processed foods, is a step in the right direction.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 20:20

  • Iranian Assassin On The Loose In America, Targeting Trump-era Officials
    Iranian Assassin On The Loose In America, Targeting Trump-era Officials

    Under President Biden’s disastrous open southern border policies, there is a significant concern among federal officials that terrorists are entering the United States freely and could be plotting assassination attacks against former and current government officials. 

    First reported by Semafor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Miami Field Office released new information on an Iranian intelligence officer by the name of Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is wanted for “questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials.” 

    The FBI said the Iranian spy is plotting attacks against current and former American officials “as revenge for the killing of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani.” Semafor noted that some of those officials include one-time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

    Semafor added: “It’s unclear why the FBI issued its warning in Florida. But the US government warned in a Most Wanted notice issued Friday that Farahani speaks Spanish and frequently moves between Iran and Venezuela.” 

    The news of terrorists roaming the US comes after the US Border Patrol arrested 169 members of the FBI’s terrorist watchlist attempting to cross the southern border illegally in 2023 alone – that’s more than 10x the number of potential the number of terrorists detained at the border in the four years before President Biden took office. 

    The Biden administration has done very little to prevent terrorists, cartel members, and sex offenders from entering the US. The nation is in chaos because the progressive radicals in the White House do not respect the nation’s rules, and in democracy, the rules are determined by the people. The people are demanding border security while the administration does the opposite. 

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

    Meanwhile, here’s a note of what’s potentially on the horizon: “More Red Flags Than Before 9-11”: Ohio Sheriff Warns American People Of Worsening Border Invasion.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 20:00

  • Net Zero Is A National Security Threat & Must Be Abandoned, Former Security Minister Warns
    Net Zero Is A National Security Threat & Must Be Abandoned, Former Security Minister Warns

    Authored by Will Jones via DailySceptic.org,

    Decarbonising the steel and electricity industry in pursuit of Net Zero represents a real and present danger to national security and must be abandoned, a former Security Minister has warned.

    Writing in a foreword to a new paper from campaign group Net Zero Watch, Sir Gerald Howarth, Minister for International Security Strategy under David Cameron, said:

    Our adversaries are watching us like hawks, so let us leave them in no doubt: we are rearming and rebuilding, and Net Zero is firmly on hold.

    Professor Gwythian Prins, a defence expert and one of the paper’s authors, agrees that with the recent deterioration of the world’s security situation, “luxury beliefs” such as Net Zero must be jettisoned as a matter of urgency:

    This is the moment when the music stops. The Port Talbot closure harshly exposes the costs of luxury ‘green’ beliefs. We cannot be dependent on imports for the full range of necessary steels to rebuild our arsenals – the Navy first and foremost – and, most ridiculously, we cannot depend for them on our global antagonists.

    Furthermore, our armed forces are wholly dependent on oil to keep them in the field, and our electricity grid will collapse without gas. Any attempt to abandon them will leave us entirely at the mercy of hostile powers.

    The paper also includes a contribution from Gautam Kalghatgi, a Professor of Combustion and Energy Engineering, who ridicules plans to decarbonise the armed forces through use of batteries and biofuels.

    Historian (and Daily Sceptic regular) Guy de la Bédoyère sets out the eternal historical lesson that technological laggards usually end up the victims of conquest by their more advanced neighbours.

    Mr. de la Bédoyère said:

    It is impossible to diminish the effectiveness of a nation’s armed forces without making it a sitting duck for a more ambitious rival’s greed. But that’s exactly what our leaders seem to want to do.

    Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch said:

    The three contributors make it clear that Net Zero is leaving us at the mercy of hostile powers. A Net Zero army and a Net Zero economy could both be brought to their knees in a matter of days. In these dangerous times, our politicians must re-order their priorities.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 03/05/2024 – 19:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Mar 05

Today’s News 5th March 2024

  • Fed Bubble Ignites "Great Retirement" Wave As Baby Boomers Party Like It 1999
    Fed Bubble Ignites “Great Retirement” Wave As Baby Boomers Party Like It 1999

    As the Magnificent 7 tech stocks and home prices grind higher, there has been a massive surge in the number of Americans taking early retirement. Bloomberg has coined this phenomenon the “Great Retirement Boom.”

    A model designed by economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows the US has around 2.7 million more retirees than initially forecasted. 

    Source: Bloomberg

    Notice that the number of retirees in the US has surged beyond expectations.

    Source: Bloomberg

    This trend emerges as retirement savers pile into tech stocks (we’ve asked: Is this a good idea?). 

    A recent Bloomberg Markets Live Pulse survey showed about half of the retirement savers were buying stocks as a direct response to soaring prices – far surpassing the 6% who said they had added the traditional inflation hedges. 

    The latest expectations for interest-rate cuts from the Fed this year have fueled the artificial intelligence bubble – with signs of Dot Com lurking in markets. 

    Or 1930s…

    Maybe it’s different this time. 

    According to Bloomberg, soaring stocks are already “convincing those already retired they needn’t return to the workforce.” 

    Unless the Fed is committed to a never-ending program of zero interest rates and quantitative easing… Then, retirement savers have nothing to worry about. However, when the financial elites prick the bubbles through a prolonged tightening cycle, we’ll see some those retirees return to the workforce as Walmart greeters. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 23:20

  • US Profits Outshine Europe By The Most Since 2020
    US Profits Outshine Europe By The Most Since 2020

    By Sagarika Jaisinghani, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

    Europe Inc. just reported its worst earnings season relative to the US in three years, according to data from JPMorgan. And worst yet, strategists are bracing for more pain before recovery starts.

    Profits of Stoxx Europe 600 firms are estimated to have dropped 11% in the fourth quarter, 2 percentage points more than analysts expected, the research shows. The decline is driven by sputtering economies — with both Germany and the UK in recession — as well as underwhelming growth in China, a key market for European companies.

    The development marks a stark contrast to Corporate America, where the latest earnings grew by a better-than-expected 8%, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show. That’s mainly thanks to the seven-largest stocks though, most of them tech. Without them, the rest of the S&P 500 saw a 1.6% drop in profits — still outperforming Europe.

    Fund managers and strategists aren’t fully convinced about an imminent recovery for European earnings, given the continent’s economic malaise, the bleak outlook for commodity prices and lack of AI darlings akin to Nvidia. While Europe has AI beneficiaries such as ASML, ASM International and BE Semiconductor, their performance has lagged well behind Nvidia. Data from BI shows S&P 500 profits are expected to rise 8.4% this year compared with a 4.4% increase in Europe.

    A Citigroup index shows analysts are bearish, with earnings downgrades consistently outnumbering upgrades in the past five months. Still, Citi strategist Beata Manthey says the pessimism may have gone too far. “The silver lining for Europe is that US earnings are priced for perfection,” Manthey says. “In Europe, investors are pricing in flat earnings growth. That lowers the bar for earnings beats,” especially if local economies or China deliver a “positive surprise.”

    Signs of an improvement in the macro outlook are already showing up in the performance of cyclical stocks, which are more sensitive than their defensive peers to economic growth. Analysts are raising profit estimates for cyclicals at a faster clip than for defensives as business activity ticks up, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

    Barclays strategist Emmanuel Cau is also optimistic that an improving business cycle will feed a broader equity rally. “Soft data” such as manufacturing and services sector activity tend to be a good leading indicator for future earnings growth, Cau says, and they’re signaling a nascent rebound. “Investors are paying up ahead for potential EPS recovery later,” he says.

    Fund managers in a recent Bank of America survey were broadly cautious, with about 54% of participants seeing downside for European EPS in the coming months. Still, that number is down from 75% in January and 88% in December. Hopes are also growing that luxury goods makers — which depend on China for a significant share of revenue — will revive along with demand from the world’s second-biggest economy. Resilient earnings at LVMH have fueled a 27% surge in the MSCI Europe Textiles Apparel & Luxury Goods Index the since mid-January.

    “We agree that the first quarter is likely to be challenging with double-digit negative earnings growth,” Deutsche Bank strategist Maximilian Uleer says. But he expects a “pronounced” recovery in the second half of the year against the backdrop of global economic growth.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 23:00

  • China Sets Economic Growth Target At Around 5% This Year, Will Boost Defense Spending By 7.2%
    China Sets Economic Growth Target At Around 5% This Year, Will Boost Defense Spending By 7.2%

    China will target economic growth of “around 5%” this year as it works to transform its development model (read magically grow while aggressively deleveraging), curb industrial overcapacity (read build less ghost cities while trying to contain the fallout from the biggest real estate crisis in history), defuse property sector risks (read transfer ownership from countless insolvent property developers to the state while encouraging foreign investment) and cut wasteful spending by local governments (read limit corruption in a country where 1 out of every 3 yuan is embezzled, stolen or otherwise vaporized), Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday according to Reuters.

    China’s premier Li Qiang is set to deliver his first ‘work report’ to the annual session of the National People’s Congress

    Li delivered his maiden work report at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp legislature, in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square.

    The growth target – already the lwoest in decades – was identical to last year’s but analysts warned that it would be harder to achieve this year than in 2023, when growth was flattered by a low base during the pandemic, and will require stronger government stimulus for China to reach it, as the economy remains reliant on state investments in infrastructure that have led to a mountain of municipal debt.

    Almost all of the 27 economists polled by Bloomberg before the National People’s Congress expected Beijing to announce a growth target similar to last year. Economists polled in a separate, broader survey, however, said the economy would likely grow at a more realistic 4.6% in 2024.

    “It’s what the Communist Party thinks is needed to keep the Chinese economy going and account for needs like employment,” Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said of the GDP goal for 2024.

    Investors are watching this year’s “Two Sessions” of the National People’s Congress, the country’s parliament, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body, for clues as to how dictator Xi plans to tackle the slowing economy. The premier’s work report, delivered to the NPC’s nearly 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, is the keynote speech of the Two Sessions, laying out the party’s most important annual economic goals and setting the tone for policymakers for the rest of the year.

    “We expect a moderate level of policy support, but given a less favourable base effect, pervasively downbeat sentiment, and property market weakness remaining an overhang, reaching 5 per cent growth this year may be more difficult,” ING greater China chief economist Lynn Song said in a note ahead of the work report.

    An aborted COVID recovery in the past year has laid bare China’s deep structural imbalances, from weak household consumption to increasingly lower returns on investment and a collapse in loan demand, prompting calls for a new development model.

    A property crisis, deepening deflation, a stock market rout, mounting local government debt woes and a surge in protests by angry Chines workers have increased the pressure on China’s leaders to respond to these calls.

    “We should not lose sight of worst-case scenarios and should be well prepared for all risks and challenges,” Li said.
    “In particular, we must push ahead with transforming the growth model, making structural adjustments, improving quality, and enhancing performance.”

    There were no immediate details on the changes China intended to implement.

    In setting the growth target, policymakers “have taken into account the need to boost employment and incomes and prevent and defuse risks,” Li said, adding China intended to have a “proactive” fiscal stance and “prudent” monetary policy.

    China plans to run a budget deficit of 3% of economic output, down from a revised 3.8% last year. While generally in line with expectations, the country’s stock market observers were likely hoping for “an increase in the official fiscal deficit for any clues on policy support for property and other parts of the economy,” said Derek Tay, head of investments at Kamet Capital Partners, adding that China still has other fiscal tools to work with. But, as reported in late 2023, it plans to issue 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in special ultra-long term treasury bonds, which are not included in the budget. That said, the impact of such debt on growth would be modest at best: China needs trillions (in USD) in new debt to kick start to languishing and deflating economy.

    While the stimulus target is the same as last year, the central government special bond issuance was new compared with a year earlier.

    Beijing also plans to boost defense spending by 7.2%, well above the country’s economic growth target of around 5%. The pace of military expansion matches the spending budgeted under former Premier Li Keqiang’s watch last year. This marks the third year in a row of military expansion above 7%, even as the economy continues to slow down.

    China trails only the U.S. in military spending and has been beefing up its armed forces amid tensions with the U.S. and the West. President Xi Jinping has emphasized the significance of preparing for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Liberation Army in 2027.

    The details of the defense budget expansion were not available, but the focus is understood to be on catching up with the U.S. while filling the gap in nuclear capabilities by enhancing other conventional weaponry. it also wasn’t clear if China plans on invading Taiwan this year or will once again kick this particular start to WW3 to next year.

    The special bond issuance quota for local governments was set at 3.9 trillion yuan, versus 3.8 trillion yuan in 2023. China also set the consumer inflation target at 3% and aims to create over 12 million urban jobs this year, keeping the jobless rate at around 5.5%. Meanwhile, it remains unclear what China’s all-important youth unemployment is – the data was suspended for reporting when it hit a record over 20% and has since been restored in a several adjusted format which nobody trusts.

    “The Chinese government does not want to stimulate the economy too much, … and also wants to keep leverage relatively low,” said Xia Qingjie, economics professor at Peking University. The budget deficit target can be adjusted later this year, if needed, Xia added.

    According to Paul Pong, managing director at Pegasus Fund Managers, for China to achieve 5% economic growth this year forceful measures focused on boosting consumption will be needed as the property sector becomes a smaller driver of growth, with electric vehicles, sportswear and healthcare sectors are among the areas that might benefit most.

    To achieve the 5% growth target, China will need to take measures to ease developers’ financing stress to avoid any unfinished homes. Sentiment remains weak, especially among foreign investors, given the property problems in China.

    Analysts expect China to lower its annual growth ambitions in the future. The International Monetary Fund projects China’s economic growth at 4.6% this year, declining further in the medium term to about 3.5% in 2028.

    Li also said, that China will continue to pour resources into tech innovation and advanced manufacturing, in line with President Xi Jinping’s push for “new productive forces.” Some analysts have criticized this policy, however, saying it exacerbates industrial overcapacity, deepens deflation and heightens trade tensions with the West. At the same time, reform advocates, worried about record low consumer confidence and plunging investor and business sentiment, want China to return to a path of pro-market policies and boost household demand.

    The NPC is not the traditional venue for sharp policy shifts, which are usually reserved for events known as plenums, held by the Communist Party between its once-every-five-year congresses. One such plenum was initially expected in the final months of 2023. While it could still take place later this year, the fact that it has not yet been scheduled has fuelled investor concerns over policy inaction.

    The extent to which China’s economic expansion is reached or spread across the entire economy is increasingly difficult to ascertain independently given greater restrictions on data accessibility, said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said of the GDP goal for 2024.

    As noted earlier, China also abruptly scrapped a three-decade tradition for the premier to hold a press conference at the NPC, fanning fears about opaque policymaking.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 22:40

  • These Four Themes Will Define The Next Decade
    These Four Themes Will Define The Next Decade

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via Substack,

    Morgan Stanley recently came out with their 3 Themes that will impact markets for many years: longevity, AI tech diffusion, and decarbonization, i.e. the transition from hydrocarbon fuels to so-called “green energy.”

    That’s the status quo: everything’s great! Pills that cost $1,000 a month will make us live longer, AI will increase corporate profits (which is the entire point of the economy, of course) and those who invest in the “green energy” transition will be rewarded with fabulous wealth.

    That all sounds peachy, but the real world will be defined by four much different themes: sclerosis, dysfunction, debt saturation and power asymmetry.

    1. Sclerosis: the same old nodes of power cling onto power and so nothing changes because nothing can change: those in power must maintain or expand their power, regardless of what comes along, and that sclerosis is the systemic problem that cannot be resolved.

    2. Dysfunction: nothing works due to the consequences of sclerosis: those who cling to power do so by eliminating every dynamic of open, self-correcting systems: they get rid of competition (every sector is dominated by monopolies, cartels or state-cartels), they get rid of transparency (information asymmetry is how they maintain power) and they have a lock on regulatory complexity / capture: first jump through all these hoops and maybe we’ll let you propose some worthless policy tweak that leaves our power intact. Or we’ll co-opt you by inviting you to become one of our flunkies, PR flacks, factotums, enforcers, lackeys, etc.

    In a system rigged to maximize the profit and power of the few at the expense of the many, nothing works because the system is no longer capable of self-correction.

    3. Debt saturation: 15 years of expanding credit has created the illusion we can pay for everything, no matter how costly, from future earnings, basically forever. So we need trillions to transition to “green energy,” no problem, we’ll borrow it. We need more trillions to pay for an aging, increasingly sickly populace, no problem, we’ll borrow it. We need to borrow more trillions to fund all the status quo grift and graft, no problem, we’ll borrow it.

    And since we can pin interest rates to zero forever, we can borrow whatever tiny sums we need to pay the interest on hundreds of trillions in new debt, no problem. Except for one little dynamic called debt saturation: future earnings are not guaranteed, and at some point the income cannot sustain both the eternally expanding consumer and state spending needed to keep the Waste Is Growth Landfill Economy from imploding and the rising debt service on the ballooning debt.

    We can afford only one: either borrow and spend to keep the Waste Is Growth Landfill Economy humming, or we can devote that income to servicing rising debt. We can’t do both, so one or the other will collapse: either consumer/state borrowing and spending or the Palace of Debt.

    This reality increases risk, and capital eventually demands a real return. Interest rates can’t stay at zero, so the costs of servicing the soaring debt rises rapidly. At the same time, the immense expansion of credit–money borrowed from future income to be spent today–generates inflation, as the flood of credit needed to keep a sclerotic, dysfunctional status quo afloat outpaces the value being generated by all the trillions being borrowed and blown.

    No one at the trough of “free money” will give up their place, and so the system is rigged to fail: we have to keep borrowing trillions to keep all the incumbents, entrenched interests and those collecting benefits happy, but as interest payments rise, we need to borrow more trillions just to pay the interest. And so on, in a self-reinforcing feedback loop.

    4. Power asymmetry is my term for the structural inequality and bondage that characterize the global status quo. The many have very little power over anything, while the few hoard the power to make sure they keep what they have and to protect their perquisites from competing elites and populist movements. Debt serfdom is a good example of bondage–you need to borrow to live–and power asymmetry: debt-serfs have essentially zero power in the economy, society or the sclerotic systems of governance.

    No amount of AI or new technology will change any of this, because all those tools serve those already in power. In effect, AI and all other new technologies simply serve to solidify power asymmetry and thus sclerosis and dysfunction. And since the system demands “free money” borrowed from the future to keep everyone at the trough happy, it also guarantees debt saturation, which eventually triggers a phase change much like liquid water (liquidity) suddenly freezing into ice.

    Everyone at the trough believes that the transition from liquid water (free flowing credit) to ice cannot possibly happen. So when it happens, everyone will be surprised. What do you mean, there are limits?

    New podcast Vision Series: AI Job Challenges and Trends (34:54 min)

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 22:20

  • Former Twitter CEO, Three Other Fired Officials, Sue Musk For $128 Million In Severance
    Former Twitter CEO, Three Other Fired Officials, Sue Musk For $128 Million In Severance

    Instead of giving him a medal for demonstrating that their censoring, woke, CIA-controlled bloated media platform can operate with 80% less diversity hires and can actually grow much faster when stripped of its unbearable propaganda, four ex-Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, sued X (f/k/a Twitter) company owner Elon Musk for allegedly stiffing them on more than $128 million in severance payments after they were ousted from the company.

    The former top officials, many of whom were fired for cause within seconds of Musk “letting that sink in” to the then-Twitter San Francisco office,  said Musk showed “special ire” toward them after he took over the social-media platform in 2022, publicly vowing to withhold their severance to recoup about $200 million from the $44 billion deal, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in northern California.

    Twitter, which Musk renamed X, has been accused in several suits of numerous labor and workplace violations, including failing to pay severance to thousands of Twitter workers whose only job apparently was to censor their own users, and who were laid off in the minutes and months after the takeover. The company also was accused in a raft of suits of failing to pay millions owed to vendors and landlords while purportedly trying to stay financially solvent.

    “Under Musk’s control, Twitter has become a scofflaw, stiffing employees, landlords, vendors, and others. Musk doesn’t pay his bills, believes the rules don’t apply to him, and uses his wealth and power to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him,” lawyers for Agrawal and the other ex-executives said in the 38-page complaint. It was unclear if they were transcribing what the CIA told them to say as had been the case customary for years, or if they actually had an original thought for once.

    As soon as he took over Twitter, Musk fired several other top-ranking executives in addition to Agrawal: Vijaya Gadde, who was the company’s top censorship officer and also pretended to be in charge of legal and policy; Ned Segal, the chief financial officer; and Sean Edgett, Twitter’s general counsel.

    They were all fired for cause, and were deemed unsurprising at the time: after all the entire former Twitter management team was captured by the deep state, a bunch of clueless pawns meant to keep Twitter a venue where a small number of very vocal liberals and socialists could pretend they were the vast majority of the country, when in reality they were just a handful of useless socialists.

    Each of the four executives was due to receive substantial payouts as part of Musk’s agreement to buy the company, which included language that would expedite the their unvested stock awards. Agrawal alone was set to get roughly $50 million in severance payouts, however Musk managed to short-circuit the process by firing Agrawal for cause with minutes to spare before the contracts became enforceable.

    In early December, X failed in court-ordered mediation to resolve claims by thousands of former Twitter employees who say they were cheated of severance pay.

    Also in December, San Francisco judge rejected X’s request to dismiss a lawsuit by employees claiming they were denied 2022 bonuses, despite being promised in the months leading up to Musk’s acquisition that they’d be paid 50% of their target amounts.

    The lawsuit is below.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 22:00

  • How The Government Used 'Track F' To Fund Censorship Tools: Report
    How The Government Used ‘Track F’ To Fund Censorship Tools: Report

    Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Officials from the National Science Foundation tried to conceal the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars on research and development for artificial intelligence tools used to censor political speech and influence the outcome of elections, according to a new congressional report.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock, NFS)

    The report looking into the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that critics claim shows federal officials—especially at the FBI and the CIA—are creating a “censorship-industrial complex” to monitor American public expression and suppress speech disfavored by the government.

    “In the name of combatting alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020 election, NSF has been issuing multimillion-dollar grants to university and nonprofit research teams,” states the report by the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

    “The purpose of these taxpayer-funded projects is to develop AI-powered censorship and propaganda tools that can be used by governments and Big Tech to shape public opinion by restricting certain viewpoints or promoting others.”

    The report also described, based on previously unknown documents, elaborate efforts by NSF officials to cover up the true purposes of the research.

    The efforts included tracking public criticism of the foundation’s work by conservative journalists and legal scholars.

    The NSF also developed a media strategy “that considered blacklisting certain American media outlets because they were scrutinizing NSF’s funding of censorship and propaganda tools,” the report said.

    NSF Responds

    In a statement to The Epoch Times, an NSF spokesman categorically rejected the report’s allegations.

    “NSF does not engage in censorship and has no role in content policies or regulations. Per statute and guidance from Congress, we have made investments in research to help understand communications technologies that allow for things like deep fakes and how people interact with them,” the spokesman said.

    “We know our adversaries are already using these technologies against us in multiple ways. We know that scammers are using these techniques on unsuspecting victims. It is in this nation’s national and economic security interest to understand how these tools are being used and how people are responding so we can provide options for ways we can improve safety for all.”

    The spokesman also denied that NSF ever sought to conceal its investments in the so-called Track F program, and that the foundation does not follow the policy regarding media that was outlined in the documents discovered by the committee.

    Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, testifies before a Senate committee during a hearing on artificial intelligence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 10, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

    Track F Program Funding

    The $39 million Track F Program is the heart of the congressional report’s analysis of a systematic federal effort to replace human “disinformation” monitors with AI-driven digital systems that are capable of vastly more comprehensive monitoring and censoring.

    “The NSF-funded projects threaten to help create a censorship regime that could significantly impede the fundamental First Amendment rights of millions of Americans, and potentially do so in a manner that is instantaneous and largely invisible to its victims,” the congressional report warned.

    During NSF’s solicitation and sifting of dozens of bids it received in response to its request for proposals, a University of Michigan team, with its “WiseDex” tool, pitched federal officials on enabling the government “to externalize the difficult responsibility of censorship.”

    The Michigan team was one of four Track F funding recipients spotlighted by the congressional report. A total of 12 recipients were involved in Track F funding and activities.

    The second of the four spotlighted teams is from Meedan, a San Francisco-based group that describes itself as “a global technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. We develop open-source tools for creating and sharing context on digital media through annotation, verification, archival, and translation.”

    In fact, according to the congressional report, Meedan’s Co-Insights Program uses AI to identify and counter “misinformation” on a massive scale.

    In one illustration that the group provided to NSF in its funding pitch, was to “crawl” more than 750,000 blogs and media articles on a daily basis for misinformation and fact-checking on themes such as “undermining trust in mainstream media,” “fear-mongering and anti-Black narratives,” and “weakening political participation.”

    The Co-Insights Program, according to the congressional report, was “part of a much larger, long-term goal by the nonprofit. As [Scott] Hale, the director of research at Meedan, explained in an email to NSF, in his ‘dream world,’ Big Tech would collect all of the censored content to enable ‘disinformation’ researchers to use that data to create ‘automated detection’ to censor any similar speech automatically.”

    Lexi Sturdy works in Facebook’s ‘war room,’ during a media demonstration in Menlo Park, Calif., Oct. 17, 2018. (Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images)

    The third spotlighted team is from the University of Wisconsin and its CourseCorrect tool that received $5.75 million in NSF funding “to develop a tool to ‘empower efforts by journalists, developers, and citizens to fact-check delegitimizing information’ about ‘election integrity and vaccine efficacy’ on social media.”

    The tool “would allow ‘fact-checkers to perform rapid-cycle testing of fact-checking messages and monitor their real-time performance among online communities at-risk of misinformation exposure,’” the congressional report said.

    ‘Effective Interventions’ to Educate Americans

    The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team that developed its “Search Lit” tool with government funding was the fourth of the highlighted NSF grant recipients.

    Officials with NSF asked the MIT team “to develop ‘effective interventions’ to educate Americans—specifically, those that the MIT researchers alleged ’may be more vulnerable to misinformation campaigns’—on how to discern fact from fiction online.

    “In particular, the MIT team believed that conservatives, minorities, and veterans were uniquely incapable of assessing the veracity of content online,” the congressional report noted.

    “In order to build a ’more digitally discerning public,’ the Search Lit team proposed developing tools that could support the government’s viewpoint on COVID-19 public health measures and the 2020 election.”

    In a study by one of the MIT team’s members, people who hold as sacred certain texts and documents, most notably the Bible and the U.S. Constitution, were described as “‘often focused on reading a wide array of primary sources, and performing their own synthesis,’ further alleging that, ‘unlike expert lateral readers,’ the conservative respondents made ‘no such effort’ to “eliminate bias that might skew results from search terms.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 21:40

  • Argentina's President Javier Milei Suspends State-Run Leftist News Agency For 'Propaganda''
    Argentina’s President Javier Milei Suspends State-Run Leftist News Agency For ‘Propaganda”

    The chainsaw-wielding Argentine president Javier Milei has consolidated eighteen government ministries into nine, fired 5,000 government workers, devalued the peso near market rates, and introduced economic reforms to overhaul the faltering economy after a series of devastating financial crises. 

    The latest fat Milei has trimmed from the bloated government’s books is the largest and most prestigious news agency in Argentina, Telam. The state-run media outlet has served as a mouthpiece of “propaganda” for previous progressive administrations. 

    On Monday morning, Telam’s website was shut down. The current message on the media outlet’s website reads: “Page under reconstruction. The page you are trying to view is under reconstruction.” 

    The eight-decade news organization, with over 800 staff, is the latest casualty of Milei’s drive to shake up the prior corrupt progressive government. He told lawmakers last Friday about his plans to shutter the media outlet as part of a wave of reforms targeting public bodies that he warns are “covert propaganda ministry.” 

    “We will close the news agency Télam, which has been used as a Kirchnerist propaganda agency for the last decades,” Milei told lawmakers, referring to former president Cristina Kirchner. 

    And, of course, US legacy media outlets were unhappy about Milei’s move. 

    Reuters cited the Buenos Aires Press Union, which wrote on X: 

    “It is a blow against democracy and freedom of expression, and that is why we are going to defend it.”

    The libertarian and self-described “anarcho-capitalist” understands the government shouldn’t have a monopoly on the so-called ‘free press’. The president is also ridding the government of dangerous ‘collectivist experiments‘ such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 21:20

  • VDH: American Paralysis & Decline
    VDH: American Paralysis & Decline

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

    “We can bear neither our diseases nor their remedies.”

    So shrugged the ancient historian Livy (59 B.C.- A.D. 17) of the long decline of Roman national character that, in his age, finally ended the Roman Republic.

    Like a patient whose medicine proves worse than the disease, Livy lamented that the Romans knew that they had become corrupt and lawless.

    But the very contemplation of the hard medicine needed for restoration – and the furious reaction that would meet the remedy – made it impossible to save the patient.

    America is nearing such an impasse.

    We know that no state can long exist after opening its borders to over 7 million illegal aliens, requiring neither background checks nor legality.

    The recent murder of a Georgia female jogger by an illegal alien and the savage beating of New York policemen by similar others hardly merit media attention.

    Everyone knows that neither new appropriations nor new laws are needed to secure the border as it was in 2020.

    Instead, we could just stop suicidal catch-and-release, deport lawbreakers, privilege the legal over the illegal immigrant, demand would-be refugees apply for asylum first in their native countries, finish the border wall, and pressure Mexico to stop undermining the territorial integrity of its northern neighbor.

    But then we shrug, “We can’t do that”—paralyzed in fear of being smeared as “xenophobic,” “nativist,” or “racist.”

    So this generation apparently feels that it can endure the collateral damage of daily assaults on American citizens, the near bankruptcy of our cities, and 100,000 fentanyl deaths per year—but certainly not the idea that it is somehow not politically correct or compassionate.

    The same is true of the $35 trillion debt, now costing more than $1 trillion a year in interest payments—and growing. We all know it is unsustainable. Americans understand it will eventually lead either to destructive hyperinflation, suicidal renunciation of federal debt, or confiscation of private savings.

    Yet we ignore the reckless spending and keep borrowing well over $1 trillion a year.

    Apparently, our generation prefers being praised as “virtuous” and “caring.” So it leaves the next generation to be smeared as “cruel” and “unfair” when it is forced to cut federal entitlements and bloated government or face civilizational collapse.

    The crime epidemic is also similar. Everyone accepts that no society can long endure quasi-legalized shoplifting or green-lighting smash-and-grabbers and carjackers to be released without bail.

    But we assume that such a civilizational implosion will never reach our own sanctuary neighborhoods or safe places of work—at least not yet.

    We also know that restoring deterrence by arresting, convicting, and jailing repeat felons will return safety to our streets.

    But again, we fear even more that advocating “law and order” will earn slanders like “racist” or “reactionary.”

    Ditto the homeless. In an age of self-congratulation and hyper-environmentalism, we know that a million homeless defecating, urinating, injecting, and assaulting on our downtown sidewalks and storefronts is medieval.

    We know that it is illegal to camp out on the street and publicly harass citizens or relieve oneself in public.

    And we know the cure lies in building and staffing more mental institutions and providing areas far from public spaces where the homeless can find shelter, sanitation, and medical care.

    But the very idea of removing anyone from his accustomed sidewalk spot, or the notion of the use of force to transport the mentally ill to proper and humane facilities, terrifies us.

    So we walk around, step over, and ignore those on the street.

    Is the assumption that the odds of being assaulted or sickened acceptable? Or do we just not wish to learn where the flotsam, jetsam, and human offal of the street end up?

    Most accept that had Donald Trump just not run for president in 2024 or was a man of the left, he would not now be facing four different felony court cases.

    Most accept that three of the four prosecutors have either in advance promised to get Trump or have proved grossly unethical.

    Most know it is wrong to try to remove a leading presidential candidate from state ballots.

    Yet many shrug that this new weaponization of America’s legal system is the flamboyant Trump’s own problem, not their own.

    So they ignore the third worldization of our political system, which they quietly acknowledge is otherwise leading us to a Venezuela-like mess.

    The paralysis of American society extends to our foreign policy as well. We deplore the terrorism of Iran and its thuggish surrogates. But we fear more the nasty, costly business of stopping its aggression.

    Societies do not always collapse from a lack of wealth, invasion, or natural catastrophes.

    Most often, they know what is destroying them. But they are so paralyzed by their fear that the road to salvation becomes too painful to even contemplate.

    So they implode gradually, then suddenly.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 21:00

  • Wall Street Scrambles To Abandon DEI As "Legal Assaults" Mount
    Wall Street Scrambles To Abandon DEI As “Legal Assaults” Mount

    We’ve been stating for months that both the DEI and ESG gravy trains on Wall Street are finally coming to an unceremonious end. Who would have guessed the profit motive would be incompatible with mindless, unproductive virtue signaling and reverse racism? 

    The pushback on DEI has been immense, with entire universities and corporations slashing their DEI departments. Subha Barry, former head of diversity at Merrill Lynch, told Bloomberg this weekend: “We’re past the peak.”

    The report highlighted yet another shift on Wall Street, wherein programs open to people of color and women are “now open to all”. Imagine that…

    For example, Goldman Sachs has adjusted its “Possibilities Summit,” previously exclusive to Black college students, to now welcome White students as well. Bank of America Corp. has expanded its internal programs, initially aimed at women and minorities, to include all employees. Furthermore, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has been advised by legal counsel to reevaluate and potentially eliminate strict diversity metrics from its workforce evaluations, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

    Executives at major banks, including Goldman Sachs, publicly affirm their commitment to diversity, despite acknowledging privately the challenges posed by a growing campaign against DEI initiatives led by figures like Elon Musk and Bill Ackman, the report says.

    Efforts to recruit diverse talent through programs for women and minorities are being reassessed, along with other diversity measures within corporations. Bloomberg says the shift is notable compared to the ambitious diversity pledges made by CEOs following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Almost as if it was just mindless lip service to silence the ‘woke mob’…

    The recent Supreme Court decision against affirmative action in colleges has intensified legal challenges to corporate diversity efforts, with banks wary of becoming lawsuit targets over claims of reverse discrimination, the report says. 

    “The legal assault on corporate diversity initiatives is gathering steam” after the Supreme Court’s rejection of affirmative action at colleges, the report says.  

    While black people make up about 14% of the total population, their representation in the senior roles at banks like Citi, JP Morgan and Goldman remains 8.7%, 5% and 3.7%, respectively, the note says. However, these figures have grown significantly since 2019:

    Several other financial institutions, including the Bank of New York and Bank of America are subtly altering their approaches to diversity and inclusion initiatives.

    These changes range from modifying executive compensation linked to diversity progress, adjusting the language around D&I goals, reconsidering certain mentorship programs, and adapting recruitment strategies to avoid explicit references to race and gender.

    Despite these adjustments, spokespeople for these banks assert their continued commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace. And, nonetheless, industry consultants (whose meaningless careers and paychecks rely solely on racial division and DEI initiatives to begin with) and some financial executives still emphasize the importance of persevering with D&I efforts, despite these internal and external pressures.

    Industry consultant Duarte McCarthy told Bloomberg: “We’re not suggesting that things stop because there’s this fear factor. But rather, take a look.”

    Ana Duarte McCarthy, former chief diversity officer at Citigroup concluded: “We’re at an interesting inflection point.” 

    Yeah, the kind of inflection point that is going to see a lot of former “Chief Diversity Officers” scrambling through LinkedIn and updating their resumes…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 20:40

  • Amid Debate Over Rail Safety Concerns, Another Norfolk Southern Train Derails
    Amid Debate Over Rail Safety Concerns, Another Norfolk Southern Train Derails

    By John Kingston of FreightWaves

    With a Norfolk Southern derailment in Pennsylvania on Saturday that sent diesel fuel into a Lehigh Valley River, the already heated battle over control of the railroad with safety issues as a backdrop got even hotter. 

    The derailment came after two days of charges, countercharges and missives flying back and forth over the safety records of both Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, with leading government officials that regulate the rails leveling separate heavy criticism at the two companies. 

    And while it hasn’t yet provoked any government response, the issue of safety and levels of employment could also be triggered by Friday’s news that BNSF had implemented a significant number of furloughs. 

    In the proxy battle roiling Norfolk Southern, the activist investor group Ancora is recommending the replacement of eight new directors to the Norfolk Southern board. It also wants to replace CEO Alan Shaw with former UPS executive Jim Barber and name Jamie Boychuk, a former executive at CSX, to replace current COO Paul Duncan.

    That fight now has the Pennsylvania derailment as part of the battle, and Ancora wasted no time Saturday coming out with a statement over the incident.

    “Our proposed slate and management team are unanimous in their view that Norfolk Southern must become a safer and more reliable railroad before it can ever reach its full potential,” Ancora said in the statement. “Following this latest derailment, we call for the immediate termination of CEO Alan Shaw and stand ready to engage with the Company about an orderly reconstitution of the Board and a transition to capable management with a track record of actually delivering on safety commitments.”

    The statement went on to say that “an incident like this, which is drawing national news coverage and resulting in more embarrassment for the railroad, should put an end to the Board’s unsustainable efforts to save a tainted CEO with no long-term future.3 How can anyone defend this?”

    What happened?

    According to news reports, the derailment took place in Lower Saucon Township, which is near the Allentown-Bethlehem area. There were no reports of injuries, although diesel fuel being carried in a tank car did spill, there were no reports of contamination or evacuations. Plastic pellets also spilled, according to the news reports. 

    In a statement provided to FreightWaves on Sunday, a spokesperson said: “Norfolk Southern crews and contractors remain at the derailment site. Members of the NTSB have arrived and are investigating. Once they have completed their investigation of the scene, we will continue with site cleanup and begin work to restore the track. The area where the locomotives were in the water will remain contained with booms until any residual sheen has been removed.”

    Saturday’s derailment comes after two days of back-and-forth over two of the U.S.-based Class 1 railroads that left heads spinning. The scorecard for the criticism and the responses went like this:

    — Martin Oberman, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, ripped into Ancora Associates for its proxy battle over Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) railroad. Oberman spoke to the Southeast Association of Rail Shippers 2024 Spring Meeting in Atlanta on Thursday, where he said Ancora “has nothing to say about what it could do better” than current management in running Norfolk Southern, adding, “I think we can assume that if Ancora succeeds in its bid to control NS, its next move will be to put the Brooklyn Bridge on the market.”

    Ancora didn’t have any public response to Oberman’s comments, but on Friday, it sent a letter to the Norfolk Southern board, just a few days after the railroad released its 2024 proxy statement. The proxy revealed that in 2023 — the year when Norfolk Southern labored under the fallout from the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — NS CEO Alan Shaw had total compensation of $13.41 million, compared to $9.78 million a year before.

    — The second blast from a government official aimed at a railroad came from Amit Bose, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. In a letter addressed to UP CEO Jim Vena,

    Bose criticized recent furloughs implemented at Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP). “It is imperative that UP prioritizes safety above all else and takes immediate steps to address this issue, an issue disproportionately affecting UP workers since your railroad continues to furlough employees at a rate, based on available data, far outpacing that of any of your Class I peers.” Bose wrote.

    — Union Pacific quickly responded to Bose’s comments with a letter from Vena, which said the FRA head was portraying an “inaccurate correlation between natural workforce fluctuations and safety.”

    Oberman was harsh in his assessment of Ancora’s motives. “Several weeks ago, Ancora wrote me a letter,” Oberman said, according to a transcript released by the STB. “The essence of their message was that they had taken a $1 billion dollar stake in NS in order for it — quote — ‘to become a safer railroad.’ Really? What hedge fund raises $1 billion to promote safety anywhere?”

    Oberman, as he has done before, criticized railroad focus on its operating ratio (OR), with the STB head expressing concern that a goal to reduce OR can come at the expense of both safety and performance. 

    “Ancora principally and repeatedly focuses on a rapid lowering of the OR to drive cash payouts and raise its stock price, harshly criticizing present NS management for not making a lower OR the objective,” Oberman said. “We now know that this is wrong-headed thinking. Making OR the corporate objective is what led to elimination of thousands of workers which caused the service crisis.” 

    The reference to the service crisis was from earlier in his speech when he recapped STB actions to force service improvements during the enormous system backups of 2022. 

    Ancora’s Friday letter was addressed to Amy Miles, the non-executive chair of the NS board.  The letter said that Ancora — which as an activist investor has previously trained its sights on Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD) and C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) — said Shaw has “presided over industry-worst operating results, sustained share price underperformance and an ineffective and tone-deaf response to the preventable derailment in East Palestine.” It said Anchor had “offered viable solutions in the form of exceptional people with a strategic vision.”

    Norfolk Southern’s stock price in the last 52 weeks is up about 14%. During that time, its fierce rival for business east of the Mississippi, CSX (NASDAQ: CSX), is up about 23.7% while Union Pacific is up 21.5%.

    Focusing in on Shaw’s pay package from 2023

    On the issue of Shaw’s pay, the Ancora letter said shareholders were “baffled” at the decision to give the CEO a raise in the same year as the East Palestine derailment and the fallout from it. 

    “We challenge the Board’s determination that it had to adjust executive compensation in 2023 to

    ‘retain key talent,’” Ancora said, quoting a board statement. “We do not see how the Board could have actually viewed Mr. Shaw as a flight risk. In addition to being a more than 30-year insider at Norfolk Southern, he was a relatively new, unproven CEO off to an extremely rocky start. The fact that this decision was made suggests deference to management and a lack of respect for shareholders and stakeholders.”

    UP furloughs at issue

    In the back-and-forth surrounding Union Pacific, Bose said UP’s decision to furlough some worker is a sign that the railroad “has again chosen to prioritize cost-cutting measures over ensuring safe operations, jeopardizing the well-being of both UP’s workers and the public.”

    “Furloughing maintenance of equipment workers puts a strain on workers across the railroad, leading to fatigue and potential errors that could have severe ramifications for both workers and the public,” Bose wrote. 

    In a letter signed by Vena, UP responded to Bose’s criticism with several key rebuttals.

    — It cited several statistical points about derailments, that “serious” derailments were down 26% in 2023 from 2019 levels, track-related derailments had declined 28% in the past 10 years, and that UP had recorded an 8.7% improvement in mainline derailments in 2023 versus 2021.

    The Vena letter said “fluctuations in workforce needs are a natural component of operating the railroad … normal, cyclical and vary from year to year based on business needs, capital projects and weather.”

    To support its criticism that Bose was not making distinctions among types of workers and railroad needs, Vena’s response said the Bose letter “combines different types of workers (Mechanical employees and Engineering employees) and work done on the railroad (equipment maintenance and capital projects), and therefore paints an incorrect and incomplete picture of the natural role workforce fluctuations play in operating a railroad year-round.”

    “We’ve already begun seeing an increase in demand and have more employees working in January and February of this year,” Vena wrote.

    The letter also said workers impacted by furloughs and layoffs can apply for other positions at Union Pacific. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 20:20

  • The Nuclear Boom Is Here: Uranium Projects Jump Back On Line As Price Soars
    The Nuclear Boom Is Here: Uranium Projects Jump Back On Line As Price Soars

    It’s been a long time coming, but the bulls are finally back in uranium. And with them comes the restart of multiple uranium projects that have been taken offline in the years while the commodity slouched in price. 

    We have long stated here on Zero Hedge that nuclear power is an obvious win/win: it’s clean, it’s safe, it provides robust power and, most importantly to our liberal friends, it has minimal emissions. So why isn’t it more prominent?

    In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, uranium mining in the United States, particularly in Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, and Utah, experienced a significant downturn.

    This decline wasn’t helped by uranium prices plummeting and nations such as Germany and Japan moving away from nuclear energy. However, as global efforts to reduce emissions renew interest in nuclear power, and as leading uranium producers face challenges in meeting demand, prices for the metal have risen sharply, a new Bloomberg report says.

    This resurgence in prices is offering previously unprofitable American uranium mines an opportunity to re-enter the market and address the supply shortfall.

    According to the report, as the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s annual meeting takes place in Toronto, attracting thousands from the mining industry, uranium will be a key focus.

    With participants including major uranium firms like Denison Mines Corp., Fission Uranium Corp., and IsoEnergy Ltd., the event highlights the growing importance of uranium in the context of climate change and nuclear power.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts a significant rise in uranium demand, foreseeing a need for over 100,000 metric tons annually by 2040, necessitating a near doubling of current mining and processing efforts.

    Scott Melbye, executive vice president of Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp. said: “We’re in an old-fashioned, plain-and-simple supply squeeze. Demand is increasing again, with new reactors coming online.”

    John Ciampagli, Chief Executive Officer of Sprott Asset Management added: “The industry is clearly trying to respond with smaller mines reopening, but when you have a mine that hasn’t operated for that long, it’s obviously not very substantive.”

    Cameco has resumed operations at MacArthur River and Key Lake, the world’s largest high-grade uranium mine and mill in Saskatchewan, Canada, after halting from 2018 to 2021 due to poor market conditions. 

    The reopening of U.S. mines signifies a comeback for an industry that nearly vanished five years ago, with production plummeting to 174,000 pounds in 2019 from a peak of 44 million pounds in 1980. This decline was accompanied by increased reliance on uranium imports from nations such as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

    Amid geopolitical tensions, particularly sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine affecting uranium shipments from Kazakhstan, the U.S. is motivated by both supply security and political reasons to boost its uranium production. The Uranium Producers of America suggests the U.S. will need to open 8 to 10 major new mines within the next decade to meet demand.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 20:00

  • "Nothing Will Make Sense To You Unless You Accept That The 2020 Election Was Stolen…"
    “Nothing Will Make Sense To You Unless You Accept That The 2020 Election Was Stolen…”

    Submitted by Drew Allen,

    During the debut of his new Saturday show on the General Michael Flynn-backed Patriot TV, Drew Allen – host of the Drew Allen Show – opened by claiming the Democrats stole the 2020 election.

    “They cheated!” Allen says plainly.

    Allen, of course, isn’t the first to say it. While the claim isn’t novel, his explanation is—and brilliant too. 

    Allen says:

    “I want you to listen very carefully. This is very, very important. In fact, it’s the key to understanding the world that we’re living in right now in the United States of America. Nothing that is happening can make sense to you unless you understand one thing. And this is something that you are forbidden from believing. Alright, this is the key to everything. Are you ready? The Democrats stole the 2020 election. They cheated! Alright, if you believe that, you can understand what’s going on. You have a lens to comprehend the world that we’re living in—the insanity. But if you don’t believe it, nothing makes sense.”

    Allen explains that when the Democrats started prosecuting Trump, “what they thought was gonna happen is that the American people were going to abandon Trump.”

    He points out that “…it didn’t. It had the opposite impact. It backfired on them. What actually happened was Donald Trump’s poll numbers improved. Improved! So they didn’t know what to do. They had to double down on that strategy.”

    “They want a Richard Nixon situation,” Allen points out “and it didn’t happen. They cannot fathom that Trump is still standing.”

    Allen plays a clip of Democrat lawyer Marc Elias to prove his point.

    In the clip Elias says:

    “how they decided that the candidate who is going to be best as their standard bearer is Donald Trump, is not just sickening from a standpoint of American politics, but is actually baffling from a matter of partisan strategy. I mean, it is hard to imagine a worse candidate for them to put forward, a candidate with more vulnerabilities than Donald Trump. The fact that the Republican Party itself is unwilling to just say he is out of bounds, he is too toxic, and he will not be out standard bearer…”

    Allen points out:

    “You hear what he’s saying there right? He wants to choose our candidate…in his opinion he cannot comprehend how the American people, the Republican voter has not ditched Trump. They do not want to face Trump in 2024 because why? Because they stole 2020 and they’re worried about 2024 again.”

    Allen goes on to explain how the latest Democrat Party meltdown over the Supreme Court taking up the Trump immunity appeal proves his point beyond doubt. 

    “The Hill, Fortune Magazine, Axios, NBC, they all had these polls that got them giddy with excitement…for example an NBC news poll recently it showed that former President Donald Trump uh leading current President Joe Biden by 5 points among registered voters, well, when the surveys final question re-asks voters what their ballot choice would be if Trump is found guilty and convicted of a felony this year Biden narrowly pulls ahead of Trump.”

    “So they were banking on what?” Patriot TV host Allen asks.

    “Getting a conviction of Trump because they believe, because their pollsters told them that one of their paths to victory was dependent, perhaps their only path to victory apart from cheating…their success in 2024 was heavily dependent upon getting a conviction.

    And so with the Supreme Court coming in and basically ensuring that no conviction was going to happen before November they’re losing their minds because why? They stole 2020 and they don’t believe they can beat Trump in 2024. See it’s making so much sense now right?”

    The Drew Allen Show is the most exciting new addition to Patriot TV and a new episode will air each Saturday. Allen is also the author of America’s Last Stand: Will You Vote to Save or Destroy America in 2024?, a new book lauded as a sequel to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

    Watch the episode here.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 19:43

  • More Than $11 Million In Fentanyl Pills Seized In Massive Bust At U.S./Mexico Border
    More Than $11 Million In Fentanyl Pills Seized In Massive Bust At U.S./Mexico Border

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBP) at the San Ysidro Port of Entry made a massive bust over the weekend, discovering more than $11 million of blue fentanyl pills concealed in a car on Sunday. 

    At the San Ysidro POE around 8PM on Sunday night, a K-9 unit encountered a “37-year-old man driving a 2008 sedan applying for admission into the United States from Mexico,” a release from Customs and Border Patrol revealed over the weekend. 

    The K-9 unit alerted for drugs near the glove compartment and the vehicle was referred for further inspection, at which point “CBP officers extracted a total of 100 packages containing blue pills concealed within the vehicle’s dashboard and within the front passenger seats”.

    The release noted that the pills were tested and found to be fentanyl. Investigators ultimately uncovered approximately 561,000 tablets, weighing in at 123.6 pounds, with an estimated street value of around $11.22 million.

    Mariza Marin, Port Director for the San Ysidro Port of Entry, commented: “Fentanyl is a very lethal drug that continues to be encountered along our southern border. I’m very proud of the exceptional work by our officers who skillfully interdict illicit narcotics on a daily basis.”

    The individual was placed under the supervision of Homeland Security Investigations for additional scrutiny. CBP officers confiscated both the drugs and the vehicle involved.

    This confiscation is a component of Operation Apollo, a collaborative regional initiative that unites federal, state, and local agencies in the fight against the menace posed by fentanyl and other illegal synthetic drugs.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 19:20

  • The Complete Graphic History Of "Bitcoin Is A Bubble"
    The Complete Graphic History Of “Bitcoin Is A Bubble”

    Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

    Courtesy of Establishment Shills, Central Banksters… and goldbugs

    It’s that time again, when Bitcoin is about to embark on a string of fresh all-time highs, triggering the mainstream pundit class into public displays of denial and angst.

    Just in case you may think “It’s a bubble” and “Tulips, backed by nothing” is a next-level, unique argument that no Bitcoiners have ever heard before, we humbly present, the history of “Bitcoin is a Bubble” in graphic terms, going back over a decade.

    2013 Cycle

    We start in 2013 when The Economist magazine declared Bitcoin to be a bubble in November as BTC cracked the $1,000 handle for the first time – they also declared “Bitcoin is expensive” and looking like a bubble earlier that year, in March 19, 2013 – when the Bitcoin spot price was… $59.

    2017 Cycle

    The next cycle peaked out in 2017 and by January, 2018 had plummeted all the way down to the $10,000 / BTC area, it prompted the New York Times to eulogize those foolish investors who tried to glom onto the phenom… “Remember Bitcoin? Some Investors Might Want to Forget” on December 28, 2018 – when the Bitcoin price was $3,653.13/BTC.

    Even by this very next cycle, 2013 looked like a rounding error.

    You’ll never guess what happened next…

    2021 cycle

    One of the staunchest sound-money advocates in the world became one of the most vociferous critics of Bitcoin ever seen on social media.

    None other than Peter Schiff went all-in on being a no-coiner, which, as a long-time gold investor myself, I found puzzling.

    It may be understandable that one may prefer precious metals to Bitcoin, or even eschew the latter if it was outside of their wheelhouse. But for a professional investor and capital allocator to be so opposed to Bitcoin, while incessantly employing the most uninformed objections to it (“backed by nothing”) belies a willful ignorance that would be extremely distressing to find in one’s financial advisor.

    I’ve said it before: nobody who actually rolls up their sleeves and does the work on “why Bitcoin” ever comes out the other end saying “tulips, backed by nothing”. They may still say it’s not for them, but they won’t say that. 

    Honourable Mention

    We could never run out of fodder for establishment shills of the Cantillionaire class who either loathe Bitcoin because of what it represents (a threat to their position and power), or lower order sycophants who don’t understand it, because in true Upton Sinclair fashion, their livelihoods depend on them not understanding it.

    And of course, Jim Cramer’s legendary call in late January… “Bitcoin’s new theme is number go down”.

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

    Where are we today?

    So with Bitcoin on the cusp of racking up another all-time high, the first of this cycle – call it The 2025 Cycle – are we at the top?

    Google trends seems to indicate we are nowhere close to a manic peak…

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

    Which means all the inflows into ETFs right now are probably mostly institutional.

    What is most surprising to me on this cycle (my fourth Bitcoin cycle since becoming orange-pilled in 2013) is how fast it is unfolding this time.

    The milestones this year:

    ✔️ Bitcoin recapturing the $1 trillion market cap

    ✔️ Bitcoin hitting new all-time-highs in other currencies

    ✔️ Bitcoin cracking $60K USD for the setup to new all-time highs

    A new all-time high before the Bitcoin halving event in April seems baked-in (hell, it may happen before I get this post published) – and the next major milestone after that will be the $100K USD per BTC mark. Seems hard to think that won’t happen this year either.

    Is it too late?

    As a glimmering awareness that Bitcoin didn’t die on the last cycle begins to elbow its way into public consciousness – people may think they’ve missed the boat on this, but what I still look at is the relative size of the global bond market – about $150 trillion of “return free risk” vs Bitcoin, still only at just over a $1 trillion.

    From The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto

    My base case is that the destruction of the current, fiat-based global monetary system will result in a bond exodus – and that “conventional wisdom” now includes a small allocation to Bitcoin – at least 1% – possibly 3% to 5%. When you consider that 70% of all Bitcoin hasn’t moved in over a year – even in the face of this latest run, we’re going to have anywhere between $1.5 and $7.5 trillion coming into Bitcoin over the next few years, and competing for about 30% to, call it 50% of the total supply.

    What will that do to the spot price? Here’s Tuur Demester on Marty Bent’s TFTC making a cogent case for $1 million Bitcoin. We’ll just have to wait and see…

    *  *  *

    Get on the Bombthrower mailing list here and receive a free copy of The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto, which outlined all this. However, by the time you read this it may already be too late to sign up for The Bitcoin Capitalist Letter: new subscriptions will be closed once Bitcoin hits a new all-time high.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 19:00

  • 'Ever-More Opaque' China Scraps Premier's Briefing, Ending 30-Year Tradition
    ‘Ever-More Opaque’ China Scraps Premier’s Briefing, Ending 30-Year Tradition

    Last summer, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang addressed a conference in Berlin and optimistically said: “When it rains hard, it gets muddy. But we must not bow our heads.” He added of the world’s second largest economy, “Keep your chin up! When the time comes, we will surely see a rainbow. The economy has a natural cycle, in China as well.”

    But Western press is now going after the Chinese premier and the country’s increasingly opaque system and dealings with the outside world. Just ahead of his much anticipated address to the National People’s Congress this week, it has been confirmed that the nation’s number two top official won’t take questions during what was a long-standing press briefing.

    Getty Images: Li Qiang was appointed the second position in China’s 7-man top brass, under only President Xi Jinping.

    “China’s Li Qiang will become the first premier in three decades to not hold a press briefing at the annual parliamentary meetings, removing a rare platform for investors to learn more about the nation’s policy direction as President Xi Jinping consolidates control over the world’s second-largest economy,” Bloomberg reports.

    And what’s more is that this 30-year long tradition looks to be possibly permanently halted, according to more from the announcement: 

    The country’s No. 2 official won’t take questions at the close of the National People’s Congress for the rest of its five-year term apart from in “special circumstances,” official spokesperson Lou Qinjian said at a Monday briefing in Beijing. This cohort of lawmakers will gather each year until 2027.

    Not only had this Q&A briefing been going on annually since 1993, but its significance was in the fact that it provided a rare occasion for such a high-ranking Chinese official to interact and field public questions.

    Ironically in recent years the National People’s Congress had touted the press briefing which largely focused on the state of the economy as “one of the important windows for observing China’s openness and transparency.”

    But apparently there’s no pretending anymore, and as regional analyst Christopher Beddor has remarked, “This is a big loss, and yet another sign the government slowly becoming ever-more opaque, both to outsiders and even those within the system.”

    So now China watchers can expected any broad economic commentary from Beijing to be even more highly choreographed and scripted. 

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

    But one Shanghai-based professor of international relations, Josef Gregory Mahoney, has said these forums often lead Western observers to overhype narratives of “internal dissent within the party” based on informal exchange with the premier. He suggested, “Perhaps these are problems worth avoiding from the premier’s perspective.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 18:40

  • Israel's Manpower Crisis Worsens As Wave Of Resignations Hits Army
    Israel’s Manpower Crisis Worsens As Wave Of Resignations Hits Army

    Via The Cradle

    The Israeli Army Spokesperson’s Unit, led by Lt Col Daniel Hagari, has witnessed a large wave of resignations.  Among those who resigned are Hagari’s second in command, Colonel Butbol, as well Colonel Moran Katz and the army’s International Spokesman Lieutenant Richard Hecht.

    “A large number of officers recently announced their retirement from the unit responsible for the military’s information system,” Hebrew news outlet Channel 14 reported on Saturday. 

    Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, via Reuters

    A number of female officers were also among those who resigned. The resignations came “after things did not work out ‘professionally and personally,'” Channel 14 correspondent Tamir Morg said. 

    Several officers have reportedly complained about not moving up in the ranks, the Hebrew outlet explained. “The picture is complex, since it is a military system and sometimes people reach retirement age and leave for no particular reason, but despite this, the number of people who retire at once during a war is unusual,” the correspondent said. 

    The Israeli military has not responded to requests for comment. The resignations come as significant tension has overtaken Israel’s military establishment. 

    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been calling for an end to draft exemptions for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, citing a severe manpower crisis in the army. Gallant said he would only support legislation to settle the issue if certain members of the ruling coalition backed it.

    “The army is in need of manpower now. It’s not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of mathematics,” the defense minister said on Sunday. 

    Gallant’s position is causing tension with ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, viewed as integral to the current government’s survival, according to Hebrew media. 

    Israel is reportedly taking severe losses from its war in Gaza which has caused mass civilian casualties and amid its attempt to eradicate Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). 

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

    While Israel claims that Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah is the final Hamas stronghold, the group’s military wing, along with several other factions, continue to fiercely confront Israeli troops across the strip.

    “The situation is simply not good and does not match the threat map,” Ynet reported on March 1. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 18:20

  • US New-Home Listings Jump Most In Three Years
    US New-Home Listings Jump Most In Three Years

    The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is edging closer to 7%, having stayed below 6.6% since May 2023. With mortgage rates remaining high, we ask this very simple question: Will the high rate environment deter homebuyers from listing their homes as the spring home-buying season fast approaches? 

    Let’s take a look at the latest inventory data from residential real estate brokerage Redfin, which shows new home listings jumped 13% year-over-year for the four weeks ending Feb. 25, the most significant increase in three years. 

    “Total inventory is also improving: Active listings are flat from a year ago, marking the first time in nine months the total number of homes for sale hasn’t declined,” the report said. 

    The increase in new listings is a welcoming sign as 2023 headwinds in the housing market will persist this year. This includes elevated mortgage rates, an affordability crisis, and record-low housing stock – this makes for a perfect unaffordability recipe. 

    The good news is buyers are getting more homes to choose from despite elevated housing costs. As of Feb., the average homebuyer’s mortgage payment was around $2,671, just $47 shy of last October’s record high. 

    In a separate report, the real estate news website HousingWire noted:

    “Inventory is very seasonal, and we are about to start our seasonal increase in inventory. But even before that seasonal boost, we are showing year-over-year growth in inventory despite higher rates. Most home sellers are buyers of homes, so the action we are seeing this year is a healthy step in the right direction to get more balance in the housing market.” 

    Another report from Realtor.com also showed an increase in housing inventory for the week ending Feb. 24: 

    “Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 17.8% above year ago levels. For a 16th straight week, active listings registered above prior year level, which means that today’s home shoppers see more for-sale homes. In fact, the January Realtor.com Housing Trends Report showed that 2024 had the most abundant level of inventory in the most recent four years. Nevertheless, the number of homes on the market is still down nearly 40% compared to what was typical in 2017 to 2019.”

    Meanwhile, new home sales in January disappointed as mortgage rates are back on the rise. We shared with readers last month that new home supply ticked higher. 

    The increase in housing supply might indicate a slower rise in home prices this year compared to recent years. 

    Chief economist at First American Financial Corporation Mark Fleming recently noted a “flat stretch” for home prices is ahead:

    “If the 2020-2021 housing market was too hot, then the 2023 market was probably too cold, but 2024 won’t yet be just right.” 

    The problem with the housing market is that if rates cool too quickly, it could ignite another buying wave. So if rates bounced between 6.5% – 7%, inventories could continue building, pressuring prices lower. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 18:00

  • One Bank Asks "Could A Central Bank Somewhere Be Buying Crypto Assets?"
    One Bank Asks “Could A Central Bank Somewhere Be Buying Crypto Assets?”

    By Benjamin Picton of Rabobank

    We’re going to build a (tariff) wall…

    Crude oil prices spiked on Friday evening following news that OPEC+ and Russia will extend production cuts through to June of this year. Brent closed 2% higher at $83.55/bbl, which means that prices have now risen by more than $6/bbl since the start of the year. Gold also caught a bid on Friday night to close the week at $2,082/ounce. This followed weaker than expected ISM survey data out on the United States that saw 2-year yields fall 9bps to 4.53% and the S&P500 hit fresh all-time-highs. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin surge continues apace after prices for ‘digital gold’ finished the week slightly above $62,500.

    Judging from the price action last week, the everything rally remains resilient to the effects of monetary tightening. Have we sprung a monetary leak somewhere that is providing mysterious liquidity into markets? Or is this all just a huge lag effect as the Covid-era torrents of easy money continue to wash through the economy and the US deficit remains close to 6.5% of GDP?

    Whatever the case, some of the moves are very interesting. News has emerged of a crypto whale dubbed ‘Mr 100’ who has been quietly accumulating a $3.1bn stash of Bitcoin. Decrypt.co reports that the mysterious whale is unlikely to be US-domiciled, and unlikely to be one of the new Bitcoin ETF operators since those have already disclosed their blockchain addresses. Could a central bank somewhere be buying crypto assets?

    There is plenty on the calendar this week for markets to digest, but of particular interest is the National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The meeting begins on Tuesday and will include an updated growth target for the Chinese economy. Last year’s ‘modest’ 5% target was exceeded by two-tenths of a percentage point after helpful base effects and data revisions helped the economy over the line. The speculation is that the CCP will again set 5% as the official goal, although our own China watcher, Teeuwe Mevissen, expects growth of just 4.6% in the Middle Kingdom this year.

    In the United States we have the non-farm payrolls report at the end of the week, but on a longer view the possibility of universal tariffs will have much more structural bearing on who produces  what and where, and for how much, and to be sold to who. This Daily last week canvased the possibility of outright bans on Chinese auto imports into the United States as the Biden White House attempts to outbid Donald Trump on America First protectionism. Trump’s threats of 10% universal tariffs, with tariffs of 60% or more on Chinese goods, would be certainly be a big structural change that, in our view, could reignite inflation. It also (by design) poses risks to the Chinese growth model.

    With real-estate and infrastructure investment already reeling from heavy debt loads, a loss of confidence and Xi Xinping’s Common Prosperity initiatives to rein-in speculation on house prices, the China model will be even more reliant on production and exports. It’s worth asking the question whether that can still work in a world where the world’s biggest market is potentially slapping a 60% tax on your exports. Of course, Chinese goods could flow into other markets like Europe, but if the Trump tariffs are enacted it would take all of 5 minutes before European leaders follow suit in an effort to protect their own sputtering industry from Chinese competition.

    So where does this leave China? The worst case would be massive oversupply, deflation and economic depression as China fails to escape the Middle Income Trap. The alternative might be economic reorganization away from a production-led economy toward a more balanced growth model that emphasises internal consumption. Such a reorganization would also start to address one of the major (but not the only) impediment to the adoption of CNY as a reserve currency: China’s enormous trade surplus, but it would stand at odds with Xi Xinping thought that sees consumerism as decadent and production as virtuous. That’s a vicious circle to square, but if it is to ever happen, we should expect to see early signs this week.

    This week will be important for other reasons. We are now one week out from the date at which the Fed will cease issuing new loans under the BTFP program. Regular readers will remember that this was the liquidity facility put in place during the mini banking crisis last year. Under the terms of the program, the Fed accepts collateral from the banking system while paying out the par value (!) of the securities in cash. Questions remain over what will happen to US regional banks with a large share of commercial real estate loans on the balance sheet (many due for refinance shortly!) once the banking system can no longer pretend that those loans are not underwater.

    It may be the case that the Fed had hoped that they would be cutting rates by now and the capitalisation rates on commercial real estate would look less bad as a result. Unfortunately, last week’s PCE data did little too further the case for imminent cuts. PCE rose by 0.3% in January, but if you move the decimal a couple of places it becomes obvious how close we came to a 0.4% reading instead. One Swallow does not make a summer, but the January PCE result marks a substantial acceleration compared to December, November and October. That’s despite being helped by lower fuel prices that are unlikely to be replicated in February. The +0.4% core reading was the highest since January of last year, and the +0.6% services ex housing and energy reading was the highest since December of 2021.

    In Europe last week the inflation story was similar. Eurozone preliminary CPI for February rose at the fastest pace since April last year. It was up 0.6% m-o-m, which translates to a 2.6% y-o-y figure. That was a little below the 2.8% figure for January but higher than the consensus estimate of 2.5%. The core reading printed at 3.1% versus an analyst consensus of 2.9%. So the direction is right, but progress is slow, and as our Head of Macro Research, Elwin de Groot, pointed out in a piece last week, the Red Sea shipping disruptions could pose a substantial upside risk to Eurozone price pressures.

    So, for the moment at least we have encountered a bump in the road back to low and stable inflation. Central banks ought to be cognizant of the risks in cutting rates while loads of asset classes are already making new highs every other day, and the spectre of geopolitics looms as a potential spoiler for markets that think only in terms of free-flowing trade and capital. In a world of rapid change, the ability to think outside accepted paradigms is becoming more and more important.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 17:40

  • Netanyahu Fuming Over Rival Cabinet Minister's Rogue Trip To White House, Capitol Hill
    Netanyahu Fuming Over Rival Cabinet Minister’s Rogue Trip To White House, Capitol Hill

    In a episode that underscores the tensions straining Israel’s wartime unity government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly irate over a senior cabinet minister’s unauthorized trip to Washington this week to meet with US officials. 

    Benny Gantz, a relative centrist and one of Netanyahu’s principal political rivals, arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon. He’s slated to meet on Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. On Tuesday, he’ll talk with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and he will also meet senior Congressional leaders during his stay. There’s some possibility that President Biden will opt to join one of the White House sessions, sources tell Israeli outlet Ynet News. 

    The first Netanyahu heard of the trip was when Gantz called him on Friday to spring the news and ask for Netanyahu’s input about what to communicate to American officials, the Times of Israel reports. The call grew heated, with Netanyahu scolding Gantz, and telling him that “The State of Israel has only one prime minister.”   

    If a new election were held, Gantz (left) would likely replace Netanyahu as prime minister (Reuters via BBC)

    The prime minister’s office doesn’t consider Gantz’s trip to be an official one, since it’s happening without Netanyahu’s permissions. Consistent with that view, Netanyahu ordered Israel’s US ambassador, Michael Herzog, to refrain from providing any assistance to Gantz during his visit. He also blocked government financing of Gantz’s travel, which will take him to the United Kingdom next. 

    Four days after the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Gantz joined Netanyahu in forming an emergency unity government. Nearly five months into the war, Netanyahu is embattled and deeply unpopular. Many Israelis say he’s to blame for the Israel Defense Forces being caught off-guard by the Hamas attack. Families of Israelis taken hostage have mounted protests demanding Netanyahu approve a prisoner swap. 

    A February poll found that, were an election to be held, an opposition block anchored by Gantz’s National Unity party would clobber Netanyahu’s far right coalition — by a 75- to 45-seat margin in the Knesset.  That makes Gantz a seeming prime minister-in-waiting, which helps explain why his self-initiated trip to Washington would leave Netanyahu fuming.  

    Gantz previously served as chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces and later, minister of defense (IDF photo)

    Netanyahu returned to the prime minister’s office last January by assembling a coalition of religious and ultra-nationalist extremists unlike any seen in the country’s history. With many Democrats angry over Biden’s backing of Israel’s retaliatory destruction in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe, the White House would clearly prefer to deal with a more centrist, Gantz-led government. In late February, Biden fired a shot during a late-night television appearance:

    “Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up with this incredibly conservative government they have, and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and others… they’re going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel’s interest.”

    Over the weekend, Israel opted out of sending a delegation to ceasefire discussions in Cairo, sharply contradicting rosy White House statements that Israel had already “basically accepted” a six week ceasefire proposal in Gaza. 

    While in DC, Gantz will also meet with leaders of AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The enormously influential group acts as a de facto lobbying arm of the Israeli government, but without having to register its members as agents of a foreign government, as would otherwise be required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

    On Sunday, Politico reported that AIPAC unveiled a $100 million war chest it will use in America’s 2024 elections to defeat candidates of either party who are guilty of not backing Israel to extent AIPAC finds acceptable.  

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 17:20

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Today’s News 4th March 2024

  • For Socialists, It Doesn't Matter if Socialism "Works" – What Matters Is Power
    For Socialists, It Doesn’t Matter if Socialism “Works” – What Matters Is Power

    Authored by Jason Montgomery via The Mises Institute,

    A recent rash of libertarian-leaning right-wing podcasters’ rehashing of a shopworn takedown of socialism has bothered me to the point of launching into this essay. It goes something like “Why is this still a thing? When are they going to realize that IT DOESN’T WORK, and drop it?”

    This criticism deserves a closer look. Maybe socialism does too. By the way, I define the term as any economic paradigm that turns over the means of production to “society,” “the workers,” or some other fictitious entity that effectively means the state; and limits or prohibits private property.

    Here’s my best stab at fleshing this out.

    Socialism is defective, because everywhere it’s instituted (which is nowhere near Scandinavia, but that’s a different topic), the assured universal plenty fails to materialize.

    Instead they get extreme poverty, hunger, and deficits of every variety.

    The evidence is littered throughout history, all over the world.

    So, any idiot still promoting this mess is ignorant to the facts of reality.

    Quite a counterargument; factually correct, hard-hitting, down-to-earth, and practical. No abstract political theory here, just the bottom-line question: does it work? Period. Look to the historical statistics. Any other consideration doesn’t correspond to the real world, so it’s useless. Thus, we’ve effectively relegated socialism to the historical scrap heap, right?

    Not in the least.

    I’m not calling this refutation ineffective. It’s much worse than that.

    First there’s the obvious question; what does it mean for an economic system to “work”? That nobody’s poor? What’s the standard of “poor”? A certain universal margin of disposable income? A level of GDP? Maybe in a survey of 1,000 random people, 672 of them rated their economic status at least “satisfactory”? What are the criteria? What’s the barometer? How can we know if it “works”?

    Couldn’t someone just cherry-pick an arbitrary standard of “working” in hindsight and proudly tout socialism’s great success? It’s happened before! And here’s the real question: Who could this someone be? By what right could he decide this measure on behalf of an entire population?

    Well, those might be tough questions to answer, but surely we can know what it means to not work. Socialism has repeatedly yielded famine, rationing, production shortages, and the seeming disappearance of natural resources. An economic record like this has to be sufficient to dismiss it.

    Think so? Let me ask you…

    • Are you against slavery because it doesn’t engender a thriving agrarian industry?

    • Are you against restricting speech because it does a bad job protecting people’s feelings?

    • Are you against random home searches because they don’t uncover enough contraband to bolster public safety?

    If not, why not? These are exactly the grounds on which you’re rejecting socialism; because it appears not to satisfy its stated societal goals. Therefore…

    What if it did, indeed, work? If it produced a society of loyal proletarians, happily subsisting on their allotted resources, working limited hours at their communal farms and factories, with plenty of days off, and enjoying their state-approved hobbies with all that spare time? Then I guess you’d be all for it?

    Is this really your angle of opposition, or is there something else at work here?

    “Of course, there’s more to it!” you say.

    “Beyond economics, socialism has repeatedly led to mass surveillance, arbitrary incarceration, torture, death camps, and the greatest human atrocities every known! That’s the real counterargument!”

    You’re just digging yourself deeper into the rhetorical pit.

    You know the responses to this. Say them with me.

    “That wasn’t real communism.”

    “That was all just one bad guy in charge, not an indictment on the system itself.”

    “It was the leftover greed and sadism from the market economy.”

    “Marxism is scientifically sound. It just requires a maturation period for people to learn the right values, then it all turns to paradise.”

    Are these platitudes frustrating? Well, anyone arguing that “it doesn’t work” has tacitly agreed to the exact same underlying premises.

    This argument appeals to pragmatism, utilitarianism, empiricism, and consequentialism; the Four Horsemen of Sophistry.

    It says don’t knock socialism till you try it. Gauge its practical impacts (pragmatism), based solely on experience (empiricism), to see if it confers the greatest good on the greatest number (utilitarianism) by delivering its promised economic equality and prosperity (consequentialism).

    This is part of the desperate longstanding campaign to render economics a hard science, with a definitive answer, discoverable through rigorous testing of hypotheses. If you accept these terms, then “it doesn’t work” is no counterargument at all. The possibility of a blown experiment is built right into this scheme. It just hasn’t worked yet, so we tweak the theory and try again.

    Did we get… riches and happiness for all? Great! It worked! Or… an extermination campaign of biblical proportions? Ooops, back to the drawing board. There was no way to see that coming.

    Here is where “it doesn’t work” surpasses fruitlessness and becomes self-defeating. If you posit one unfavorable result (or a few) as grounds to reject the theory wholesale, the other side can call you inconsistent and unscientific, and they’re right! See how their fraudulent reasoning can make a correct conclusion seem wrong?

    Therefore, socialism continues to be apologized for, rationalized, promoted, and consequently implemented around the globe; with more comebacks than Aerosmith (apologies to Aerosmith).

    (This is covered brilliantly in Hoppe’s A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism.)

    This plays to two of Marx’s great historical swindles.

    • First, commerce and all human action can be scientifically engineered by a central authority to produce desired ends.

    • Second, that the nobility of those ends in the indeterminate future justifies any and all means, potentially limitless suffering, in the present.

    Other than stripping the ethics, morality, and all humanity from human action; whether it “works” can never be resolved, just deliberated ad infinitum, making it ideal mainstream media fodder. Under any legitimate scrutiny, it collapses under its own haughty intellectual weight because there’s something missing at its foundation; fundamental principles that can be ascertained as self-evidently true or not.

    To go after socialism, you must aim for its fundamental principles. And what are some of those?

    • Rooted in collectivism – no individual is of material importance, only society as a whole. Any number of individual needs, preferences, and lives can and should be sacrificed for the good of the collective.

    • Absence of a market – production and trade operate by the will of central planners, not economic actors. What gets made, in what quantity, and for what use is not determined by consumer demand or the profit motive, but by top-down calculations. Based on what? Such questions will not be tolerated. Now, get in the bread line! Which brings us to…

    • Necessitates a totalitarian state – This centralization of economy requires such thorough micromanagement of human action that monitoring, espionage, harassment, and stiff penalties for violators (for starters) must become features of the landscape. Some adherents claim that state control, and the state itself, will one day become unnecessary under socialism, once the people fall in line (read are beaten into submission). But, like the arrival of universal abundance, that day never seems to come. More on this momentarily…

    This argument may not be perfect, but notice the differences between this and where we started. These premises are axiomatically integral to socialism. No experience, experimentation, or research is required to bear them out. No statistical data is going to come along and change them. These aren’t ends, which cannot be conclusively known at the outset of any initiative (if they ever can at all). These are means, which are known, instantly and to a certainty, as they effectively become the material conditions of life in the given society. Economics is a journey, not a destination, so those someday promises of wealth and statelessness in exchange for your present suffering mean nothing from the man prodding you with the rifle.

    Now a REAL debate begins.

    The socialist must be prepared to defend all of the items above, at least. Any claim against the necessity of these factors can be gleefully met with, “then that’s not real socialism!” If they prefer their ideologies a la carte, by plucking the “good bits” of socialism and discarding the gulags and mass graves; then they’re arguing for something else entirely, a mixed economy, the polluting of the market with some degree of the above tenets.

    Do the Horsemen’s graphs and data have any validity? Sure, as persuasive support. But they cannot BE your argument.

    That must come from First Principles, e.g. freedom, property, and individual sovereignty. These are all that matter. To subordinate them to numbers and stats is to discount them entirely.

    So, when it comes to socialism; stop saying it doesn’t work, stop calling it a perfect idea on paper that falters in implementation, and stop dignifying its adherents with “noble intentions.”

    Give it its intellectual due, then you can call it what it is; an evil concept on its face that has no place among the human species.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 03/04/2024 – 00:00

  • Russian Strike Rocks Ukraine's Odesa After Rare Drone Attack On St. Petersburg 
    Russian Strike Rocks Ukraine’s Odesa After Rare Drone Attack On St. Petersburg 

    Russia’s military may have its sights set on Ukraine’s key southern port city of Odesa next. On Saturday a wave of drone and artillery strikes reportedly killed at least 11 people.

    According to Ukraine government officials, “Eight were confirmed dead, including a child and a baby, after an overnight drone strike on the southern port city of Odesa.” Two more bodies were said to have been found on Sunday. A direct drone strike appears to have destroyed a residential apartment block.

    Port city of Odesa, via UNESCO

    Zelensky in the attack aftermath said that ongoing aerial strikes like these are why Kiev urgently needs additional batteries of advanced anti-air defense systems.

    “Russia continues to hit civilians,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media. “We need more air defenses from our partners. We need to strengthen the Ukrainian air shield to add more protection for our people from Russian terror. More air-defense systems and more missiles for air-defense systems save lives,” he said.

    The country’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko described that in Odesa, “a nine-story building was destroyed as a result of an attack by Russian terrorists” – as stated on Telegram. There have been local reports that debris from an Iranian-made drone was recovered.

    At the same time, Ukraine’s cross-border attacks on Russian territory have continued to intensify. On Saturday there was a rare Ukrainian drone attack that reached all the way to St. Petersburg, reportedly striking a residential building in the Krasnogvardeisky district.

    Further, Russia’s defense ministry said that overnight a large wave of 38 drones were intercepted over the Crimean peninsula. According to fresh reporting Sunday, some of the drones may have gotten through:

    In Russian-occupied Crimea, loud explosions were heard near an oil depot in the early hours of Sunday, according to a local pro-Kyiv Telegram news channel, while Kremlin-installed officials in the territory said that a nearby stretch of highway was closed to traffic for about eight hours.

    Videos shared with pro-Ukrainian channel Crimean Wind showed explosions lighting up the night sky, followed by loud booms. The channel said they were taken by local residents near Feodosia — a coastal town in northeastern Crimea. It was not immediately possible to verify the circumstances in which the videos were shot.

    Below: severely damaged apartment block in Odesa struck by suicide drone…

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

    The last several months have witnessed repeat cross-border attacks on Russian oil and energy infrastructure especially. But Russian civilians have also been killed and injured as a result of drone and missile attacks on the center of Belgorod city. 

    Moscow has meanwhile condemned Western powers in addition to Kiev, given Kremlin officials have charged that Western-supplied weapons have been used in these cross-border attacks.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 23:35

  • US Supreme Court Ruling On Trump Ballot-Ban Case Could Come On March 4
    US Supreme Court Ruling On Trump Ballot-Ban Case Could Come On March 4

    Author\ed by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

    The U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling as early as March 4 regarding a case that seeks to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on primary and general election ballots for the 2024 presidential election.

    The Supreme Court, in an unusual Sunday update to its schedule, didn’t specify what ruling it would issue. However, the justices on Feb. 8 heard arguments in the former president’s appeal of a ruling in Colorado and are due to issue their own decision.

    The March 3 announcement said the opinion would be posted online at 10 a.m. Washington time. “The court will not take the bench,” it only said on its website.

    Late last year, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that President Trump is disqualified from appearing on ballots in Colorado, citing an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment provision that stipulates that candidates who engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States should be prevented from holding office. Maine’s Democratic secretary of state made a similar decision days later, and a judge in Illinois recently issued a similar ruling to prevent his appearance on ballots.

    The amendment was drafted more than 150 years ago, after the Civil War, and the court was the first to invoke it. However, that ruling and the two others are on hold pending the Supreme Court decision.

    The former president appealed the Colorado court ruling to the Supreme Court, which took up the matter quickly. Oral arguments in the case were heard last month.

    Notably, the Supreme Court has until now never ruled on the provision, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The court indicated this weekend that at least one case would be decided on March 4, although it didn’t indicate which one.

    Except for when the end of the term nears in late June, the court almost always issues decisions on days when the justices are scheduled to take the bench. But the next scheduled court day is March 15. And apart from during the coronavirus pandemic, when the court was closed, the justices almost always read summaries of their opinions in the courtroom.

    If the resolution of the case comes on March 4, a day before Super Tuesday primary contests in 16 states, it would remove uncertainty about whether votes for President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, will ultimately count.

    Colorado and Maine are two of the states that will hold its GOP primary during the March 5 Super Tuesday contest.

    Lawyers for the former president asked the nine justices to reverse the Colorado court decision because only Congress can make a determination as who can become president.

    The court’s decision is also “the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate,” his lawyers said, concluding that it “is not and cannot be correct.”

    After the ruling, President Trump wrote on social media that he is “not an insurrectionist,” adding that President Joe Biden is one. He also noted that he told supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically” during a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, before protesters and rioters entered the U.S. Capitol during the certification of electoral votes for the 2020 election, which forms the basis of the “insurrection” accusations against him.

    Justices for the Colorado Supreme Court had argued that they believed President Trump engaged in an insurrection because of his activity before and on Jan. 6, 2021, during the breach of the U.S. Capitol building. The former president, however, was never charged or convicted of insurrection. He was charged by a federal special counsel in connection with the 2020 election, but not for insurrection, rebellion, or related charges.

    “President Trump asks us to hold that Section Three disqualifies every oath-breaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land,” the majority for the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its 4–3 ruling.

    “Both results are inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section Three.”

    Oral Arguments

    During oral arguments in front of the justices in early February, at least six of the justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, appeared to be at least skeptical of some of the claims made by the lawyer representing several Colorado voters who brought the lawsuit against the Republican front-runner.

    “It’ll come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election,” Chief Justice Roberts said, referring to the potential effect of the Colorado court’s ruling.

    “That’s a pretty daunting consequence.”

    Justice Clarence Thomas asked the lawyer, Jason Murray, why there weren’t many examples of individual states’ disqualifying candidates under the 14th Amendment after the Civil War.

    “There were a plethora of confederates still around, there were any number of people who would continue to either run for state offices or national offices, so it would seem—that would suggest there would at least be a few examples of national candidates being disqualified,” Justice Thomas, a Bush appointee, said.

    Justice Elena Kagan, considered a member of the court’s liberal wing, asked the attorney why one state would have power to determine which candidates should be on the ballot for a nationwide election.

    “Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but also for the nation?” she asked the attorney, adding the move would be “quite extraordinary.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 23:10

  • Russian Oil No Longer Sells At A Discount As Nobody Complies With Western Sanctions
    Russian Oil No Longer Sells At A Discount As Nobody Complies With Western Sanctions

    Remember when, in the immediate aftermath of the Ukraine war, Russian oil immediately traded down to a discount of as much as 30% below spot Brent as the entire western world suddenly found itself locked out of access to the most valuable Russian export (which also meant that China and India were the only natural buyers left) and the price of Russian oil had to reflect the explicit plunge in demand?

    Well, that’s no longer the case because in the two years since the start of the Ukraine conflict, it became apparent that Western sanctions were merely a theatrical publicity stunt as the alternative – strict enforcement – would have sent oil prices soaring and that would be unacceptable to a Biden administration terrified of losing the November elections if and when oil and gasoline prices surges.

    And as fear of enforcement became a non-issue over time, so did the discount of Russian oil to Brent, which brings us to today, and Goldman’s “chart of the week” which illustrates the collapse in the discount on Russian crude oil close to zero relative to Brent, according to the bank’s estimates using the most recent customs data for December.

    According to Goldman, which estimates the effective price of Russian crude paid by its trade partners using detailed customs data on import volumes and import payments for Russia crude, this drop in the price discount was primarily driven by the countries outside of the G7 coalition.

    However, the discount has also narrowed for most of the buyers as Russian fleets were becoming more capable of operating under the G7 price cap.

    The US Treasury’s recent decision to target Sovcomflot, Russia’s state-owned shipping company and fleet operator, comes against the backdrop of the drop in the effective discount late last year and the twin goals of US policymakers to “limiting Kremlin profits while promoting stable energy markets.”

    It is also an admission that western attempts to prevent Putin from generating oil export revenues – critical in keeping the Russian war machine going – were either a failure, or merely a theatrical, virtue signaling sleight-of-hand from the beginning. And while the former is bad, the latter is far more disturbing as it suggests that the west has been willingly enabling Putin to sell oil and fund the war in Ukraine, the same war with Western nations are so vocally against.

    Almost as if both Russia and the West are aligned in their (shared) goal of keeping the war in Ukraine going to its inevitable and dire, for Zelenskyy, conclusion; it also almost makes one wonder if the destruction of Ukraine – at the hands of Russia with the implicit enabling by the West – was a pre-planned exercise all along.

    Full Goldman note available to pro subscribers in the usual place.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 22:45

  • Appeals Court Overturns Jan. 6 Defendant’s Sentence, Potentially Impacting Dozens Of Cases
    Appeals Court Overturns Jan. 6 Defendant’s Sentence, Potentially Impacting Dozens Of Cases

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    An appeals court in Washington unanimously ruled that a Jan. 6 defendant’s sentence was improperly enhanced, a move that could impact numerous other Jan. 6 cases.

    Supporters of President Trump protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

    On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Larry Brock, who was convicted for a range of crimes related to Jan. 6, improperly had additional charges of “interference with the administration of justice.” The judge who wrote the court’s opinion wrote that the charge doesn’t apply to a sentencing enhancement, however, and struck it down.

    “Brock challenges both the district court’s interpretation of Section 1512(c)(2)’s elements and the sufficiency of the evidence to support that conviction,” wrote the judge, Patricia Millett.

    The judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, concluded that any interference with Congress’ certification of the 2020 electoral votes isn’t tantamount to a sentencing enhancement.

    “Because Section 2J1.2’s text, commentary, and context establish that the ‘administration of justice’ does not extend to Congress’s counting and certification of electoral college votes, the district court erred in applying Section 2J1.2(b)(2)’s three-level sentencing enhancement to Brock’s Section 1512(c)(2) conviction,” the judge wrote.

    The judges, in siding with Mr. Brock, wrote that Congress’ function on Jan. 6 was not judicial but was only a part of the 2020 presidential election process.

    “Taken as a whole, the multi-step process of certifying electoral college votes—as important to our democratic system of government as it is—bears little resemblance to the traditional understanding of the administration of justice as the judicial or quasi-judicial investigation or determination of individual rights,” the panel concluded.

    Law enforcement officials who were there at the Capitol on that day, they added, were “to protect the lawmakers and their process, not to investigate individuals’ rights or to enforce Congress’s certification decision.”

    “After all,” the judges wrote, “law enforcement is present for security purposes for a broad variety of governmental proceedings that do not involve the ‘administration of justice’—presidential inaugurations, for example, and the pardoning of the Thanksgiving Turkey.”

    Now, Mr. Brock’s sentence under the statute will be vacated and will be remanded to the district court for resentencing, according to Friday’s order.

    But it’s not clear whether Mr. Brock’s sentence will be reduced or whether it will apply to a number of other people who were charged with interference in the administration of justice related to the Capitol breach. However, the ruling could impact plea negotiations for future Jan. 6 defendants who are charged with the felony.

    Dozens of Jan. 6 defendants have been convicted and sentenced for interference in the administration of justice, according to data provided by the Department of Justice. It may mean that their time in prison and other penalties need to be reduced.

    The Justice Department, meanwhile, has often asked judges to apply the enhancement charges to the defendants, saying that the Congressional session on Jan. 6, 2021, to count electoral votes and certify the election was the same as a judicial proceeding.

    But Mr. Brock’s lawyers successfully argued in an appeal that the charges shouldn’t impact his sentence after he was given a two-year prison term in 2023. At the time, the lower court judge who convicted and sentenced Mr. Brock calculated that the obstruction charge meant he should spend more time in jail.

    The court made the sentencing decision as it simultaneously upheld Mr. Brock’s felony conviction regarding his activity on Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands breached the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the election.

    During court arguments in September, Mr. Brock’s lawyer noted that he committed no violence on Jan. 6 and said the man believed the 2020 election was stolen. “Mr. Brock thought he was acting righteously, patriotically and with a eminently proper purpose,” attorney Charles Burnham said at the time, according to reports.

    That argument was rejected by the panel of judges on Friday. “Brock participated in a riot that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election by force, and that he was himself prepared to take violent action to achieve that goal,” the judges wrote.

    Because of his social media posts about the election, the court added, “Where a defendant announces his intent to use violence to obstruct a congressional proceeding, comes equipped for violence, and then actually obstructs that proceeding, the evidence supports a finding that he acted with an impermissible purpose or knowledge of the wrongfulness of his actions.”

    Some Jan. 6 defendants have argued in court motions that the law have been improperly applied to charge them with felonies. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Jan. 6 defendants’ appeal in April on the application of the law, which could also impact special counsel Jack Smith’s case against former President Donald Trump as he faces two obstruction charges in Washington.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 22:20

  • Trudeau Scraps Event With Italy's Meloni After Pro-Palestinian Protesters Block Venue Entrance
    Trudeau Scraps Event With Italy’s Meloni After Pro-Palestinian Protesters Block Venue Entrance

    The Canadian government and the Trudeau administration apparently cowered in the face of a sizable group of protesters angry at the soaring death toll in Gaza and Canada’s pro-Israel policies on Saturday. Typically heads of state, top government officials, and their schedules and access to high-secure venues take precedence, but apparently in this situation the pro-Palestinian protesters were allowed to ‘win’.

    “A reception meant to cap off a day of meetings between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Italian counterpart was abruptly cancelled on Saturday after protesters blocked entrances to the venue and kept key figures, including the guests of honor, from getting in,” a Canadian national broadcaster reported.

    Via Anadolu Agency

    The protesters charged that Trudeau is funding genocide in Gaza, given the supply of Canadian defense items to Israel. Despite the government’s attempts to downplay, there’s been growing controversy over Canadian arms supplied to Israel of late. 

    But when it comes to rection to major world events and foreign conflicts, Canada typically plays junior partner to Washington policy, regardless of whichever administration is in the White House.

    “Due to security concerns, the event was cancelled,” a statement by the prime minister’s office to CBC News indicated.

    It happened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where crowds completely took over steps and a large entrance area. Police apparently stood by while it unfolded…

    Image source: CBC

    The demonstrators were shouting pro-Palestine slogans and waving large flags and banners, while huddling close together at the building entrances.

    Reports described that some 200-300 protesters were present, and it’s unclear if any arrests were made. But apparently they were there in big enough numbers to block all key entrances.

    One report described that “The disruption marked a tumultuous ending to an otherwise cordial day of meetings in Toronto, during which Trudeau and Meloni said they agreed to establish the Canada-Italy Roadmap for Enhanced Cooperation.”

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    The Toronto Police Service is said to be reviewing its response (or lack of) and the series of events that led Trudeau’s team to scrap the event.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 21:30

  • 'Atlas Shrugged' Comes To Life In California
    ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Comes To Life In California

    Authored by Daniel Kowalski via FEE.org,

    The plot of Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged can be briefly summed up as follows: the productive leaders and innovators of the country go on strike by disappearing from society to protest the cronyism, corruption, and oppressive taxes that have made living a virtuous life unbearable.

    The nation is then on the brink of an economic collapse as the remaining politicians, intellectuals, and mediocre businessmen are only able to take from others and have no capability to create or add value. Atlas Shrugged is very popular with those whose views lean toward libertarianism, while those who lean to the left react to it like a vampire does to a crucifix, despite never even reading a page.

    Concerningly, the state of California seems determined to bring Rand’s novel to life.

    During the 20th century, California was the jewel of America. Beautiful weather, diverse landscapes, access to the Pacific Ocean, and other features made it the leading state of the nation. There is a saying that says “As California goes, so goes the nation” because to many Americans this seemed like the best place in the entire country to live and raise a family.

    Things seem to have changed in the 21st century though. When times were good, the government of California grew and spent more money than it had. In the short term, most people ignored this problem, but as time went on the deficits grew and grew. By the year 2000, the government had run up a debt of $57 billion. Twenty-two years later that number had almost tripled to $145 billion dollars. Since California is a state and not a nation they couldn’t print money to make up for the downfall, so their only options were to either cut spending or raise taxes. They chose the latter.

    For state income taxes, California has the highest rates in the entire nation. They also have a declining population, with a loss of more than half a million people since a peak population of 39.5 million in 2019—and they did not all die of Covid. The majority are people who left to live in other states that did not have oppressive taxes and draconian Covid restrictions.

    While wise leaders might look at this indicator and see it as a sign that they should change course, wisdom seems to be in short supply for the political elite in this state. Rather than move towards freedom, they are instead moving to erode and attack property rights even more through the form of a wealth tax. Of course, the people proposing this are trying to sell the idea to the public by saying only the super wealthy will be on the hook for this. The rest of us in the ninety-percent will benefit thanks to the rich paying their “fair share”.

    The 16th amendment was sold to the American people under this promise too, and had people back then known that income taxes would lead to the system we have today, where the majority of the people use the majority of their income to pay taxes (federal, state, local, property, sales, etc), then this proposal would have been dead on arrival. Today’s politicians are trying to use the same tricks to pass a wealth tax, but the difference between now and then is that now we should know better.

    What makes California’s proposed wealth tax even more disturbing is that they wish to still collect the tax for years after a person moves out of the state, like a feudal lord persecuting a serf for moving off his land.

    They also wish to impose the wealth tax on “part time residents” for the portion of the year that they “reside” in the state. In other words, a family vacation to Disney Land might come with a tax bill from the State of California. And when tourism declines, I wonder who the politicians will blame?

    While the wealth tax has not become law yet, it is already prompting some of the mega-rich to move away, depriving California of their portion of the income tax and increasing the deficit. And it’s not just individuals who are leaving the state. National corporations are also deciding not to do business there as well.

    As inflation rages across the nation, the costs of everything have gone up, and building materials are no exception. It costs more to replace a house now than it did five years ago. To meet this new reality, home insurance premiums everywhere have increased. California’s Department of Insurance has responded to the new reality by placing new regulations on the insurers to prevent them from raising rates on their customers. The logic here is that the state has the largest population so if insurers wish to do business in the largest market in the United States, then they must abide by our rules.

    The reaction has essentially been a boycott of the state by the companies. In addition to normal risks, California is also prone to natural disasters like wildfires, earthquakes, and even mud slides from heavy rains. With these new regulations limiting what prices could be charged, the cost of doing business in the state increasingly outweighs any potential profits. As a result, many of the largest insurance companies in the nation like Allstate and Hartford are no longer issuing new policies in the state.

    California government policy has created an insurance desert in the state and with private business unwilling to respond because the once free market is no longer free, the politicians have solved the problem with a government insurance system called FAIR so that homeowners can comply with the insurance requirements for their mortgage. Under this state-owned enterprise, California residents get to enjoy reduced coverage at a higher premium than they would have been able to get before the politicians stepped in to help. This is a clear cut, black and white example of the standard of living decreasing.

    The theme of Atlas Shrugged is that the freedom of American society is responsible for its greatest achievements. The book warned that as freedom declined, so too would the standard of living. California’s politicians seem determined to recreate the dystopian world of the book with oppressive taxes, attacks on personal property, and regulations that drive away private businesses.

    Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand’s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 21:00

  • Pakistan's New Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, Installed As Pro-Khan Protests Hit Parliament
    Pakistan’s New Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, Installed As Pro-Khan Protests Hit Parliament

    Shehbaz Sharif, the chairman of the PML-N party (Pakistan Muslim League-N), has been elected as the new prime minister of Pakistan by lawmakers in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday, according to national broadcasters.

    This will be the 72 year-old Sharif’s (who is brother of Nawaz Sharif) second time to lead the country as prime minister, having previously been in office between April 2022 and August 2023. He’s entering office for a five year term.

    New Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, via PTI

    Sharif said in his acceptance speech after a tumultuous and at times violent election season, “We were subjected to political victimization in the past but never took any revenge.” This appeared to be a shot at former PM Imran Khan, but without naming him directly.

    Sharif had secured 201 parliamentary votes to become the clear victor over rival Omar Ayub (at 92 votes), who significantly had the backing of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Khan has been urging on his political movement and allies, candidates which were forced to run on independent platforms, from jail.

    Khan’s party has repeatedly claimed that the election “was stolen during the vote count” but the Election Commission vehemently denies this charge.

    The Associated Press writes of the past weeks since the early February election, “Following days of negotiations, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party and his supporters formed an alliance after the Feb. 8 election, which was overshadowed by militant violence, a nationwide mobile phone shutdown, Khan’s exclusion from the vote, and an unusual delay in announcing the result.” This delay was used of Khan’s party to issue charges of vote rigging and corruption.

    Opponents made their anger known during new PM Sharif’s acceptance speech before parliament, per the AP:

    Holding portraits of Khan, some lawmakers stood in front of Sharif when he began his speech, shouting “vote thief” and “shame.” Sharif denounced their actions, saying they were causing chaos in parliament. He also said they should present their evidence of vote rigging to the relevant authorities.

    Sharif then addressed the opposition saying, “I am offering you reconciliation. Let us sit together to work for the betterment of Pakistan.” But he was greeted with more protests and shouts.

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    Khan and his supporters have long described the more than one hundred corruption cases brought against him as ultimately the military’s attempt to control the country and permanently ‘disappear’ Khan from politics.

    As for Sharif, he vowed in the Sunday speech to repair ties with the United States, and blamed the Khan era for creating tensions with Washington.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 19:30

  • Mystery Whale Has Quietly Accumulated Over $3 Billion In Bitcoin In 15 Months
    Mystery Whale Has Quietly Accumulated Over $3 Billion In Bitcoin In 15 Months

    A mysterious Bitcoin buyer has quietly amassed billions worth of bitcoin over the past two years making the unknown address one of the largest single holders of the cryptocurrency as the race to a new all-time high continues. According to data from Bitinfocharts, after patiently buying bitcoin almost daily since November 2022, the whale’s wallet now holds over 54,164 BTC, worth around $3.2 billion, according to Decrypt.

    This whale, dubbed “Mr. 100” due to his purchases of an average of 100 bitcoin per day since November 2022, may not be a single investor, and could belong to an investment fund or one of the big banks behind one of the several spot Bitcoin ETFs now available, although some are skeptical.

    “It’s definitely possible, but I would say unlikely,” Amberdata Director of Research Chris Martin told Decrypt. “All of the ETFs have publically shared their addresses, so it would be strange to me if they didn’t share this one.”

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    According to Amberdata, the wallet has been accumulating Bitcoin since November 2022, using Binance and KuCoin.

    While the US Government has also accumulated an huge amount of Bitcoin – estimated to now be worth over $12 billion -Martin doesn’t see the Biden Administration being behind the address. One tell: the digital assets are coming from Binance and KuCoin,

    “It might be safe to rule out a U.S. entity or bank,” Martin said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a fund of some kind.”

    Hong Kong is said to be mulling 31 applications for crypto custodians, he noted. A recent expose from Reuters echoed what we first said back in September 2015 (when we recommended buying bitcoin at a price of $230), namely that a silent flood of Chinese buying may be one of the core drivers behind the recent meltup. “Mr. 100″ may just be one of them. 

    Martin also said he does not believe the wallet is someone loading up in preparation for the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April.

    “I would say not—they could just be supporting the price run-up rather than accumulating tokens for a specific event,” he said.

    “I think it’s interesting that they’ve generally received the same amount on every transaction—about 100 BTC—throughout their existence,” Martin added. “Why they chose 100 BTC is beyond me… possibly a limitation of their funding source.”

    While speculation around the identity of “Mr. 100” whale remains, sentiment in the cryptocurrency market is riding high, and the countless entities loading up on Bitcoin – especially in the recently launched ETFs – point to signs that the bull market is indeed back and running.

    The mystery whale isn’t the only that has been making waves in recent days: in April, a wallet from the early days of Bitcoin moved over $11 million in BTC after being dormant for 12 years. That same week, another Bitcoin wallet moved $8 million in BTC after ten years of inactivity. In November, another Bitcoin whale made waves after analysts discovered wallet holding $450 million in Bitccoin.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 19:05

  • Why Is Congress Nuking Northeast Gasoline Reserve As Part Of Bill To Avert Shutdown?
    Why Is Congress Nuking Northeast Gasoline Reserve As Part Of Bill To Avert Shutdown?

    On Sunday night, Congressional negotiators revealed a bill which will fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year which began in October.

    The 1,050-page legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66 trillion for FY24, which comes just days after lawmakers passed the fourth stopgap measure since Oct. 1 to keep the government funded a bit longer.

    According to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office, the bill “maintains the aggressive investments Democrats secured for American families, American workers, and America’s national defense.”

    House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that “House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to the President Biden’s agenda.”

    But what neither of them mention is that the bill also nukes the entire Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve – which, at roughly 1 million barrels, is too small to matter on a national scale – but which could serve as a critical cache of energy in the event of another major disaster.

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    The Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve was established in 2014 following Hurricane Sandy, which cut through refineries and fuel terminals resulting in fuel shortages in some parts of the northeast. The rationale for draining it is that it “does not have the operational functionality that was envisioned post-Sandy,” former President Trump said of the supply in 2017.

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    What’s more, once the reserve is drained, the bill mandates that the entire thing will be shut down.

    Then, the bill makes it even harder to establish regional reserves in the future – requiring several new layers of red tape. 

    Is the government trying to cause another disaster? This supply is so small but crucial for its intended purpose that we’re in ‘just why?’ territory.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 19:00

  • Israel Opts Out Of Gaza Talks In Cairo, Contradicting Prior White House Optimism
    Israel Opts Out Of Gaza Talks In Cairo, Contradicting Prior White House Optimism

    It was only on Saturday that the White House issued optimistic statements saying Israel has already “basically accepted” a six week ceasefire proposal in Gaza. But the Biden administration’s rosy assessment that a truce is ‘near’ has once again been utterly contradicted by Israeli actions.

    CNN now writes, “On Sunday, Israel decided not to send a delegation to Egypt for talks on a deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza, an Israeli official told CNN.” It was only days ago that Biden issued his remarks saying a ceasefire is likely “by Monday” – but now as of the weekend Israel isn’t so much as even participating in the Cairo talks.

    Families of the hostages have been outraged that a new hostage/prisoner exchange deal has not been reached. Image via AP.

    CNN’s source says the Israeli delegation has stayed home because time had run out for Hamas to respond to the following two Israeli demands:

    • a list of hostages, specifying which are alive and which are dead
    • confirmation of the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages

    The Netanyahu government said days ago said that this next round of talks would be conditioned on Hamas verifying ahead of time the names and current condition of all hostages.

    Israel has said it believes 130 hostages abducted on Oct.7 remain in captivity, but the tragic reality is that some or many may have already been killed.

    While Israel has not sent its negotiators, Hamas has arrived in Cairo Sunday, a senior Hamas official told CNN. Per the same report, Hamas wants the following:

    • A permanent ceasefire
    • The withdrawal of what the source called “occupation forces” — that is, Israeli troops — from the Gaza Strip
    • The return of displaced people from the south to the north of the strip

    But Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly called the demand for a complete military withdrawal “delusional”.

    The Times of Israel and other local sources have also confirmed that Israel is not sending negotiators:

    According to Channel 12, the war cabinet and the professional echelon all agreed that there was no point in sending a delegation to Egypt for ongoing talks given Hamas’s response.

    Israel has said that 31 of the 130 hostages held since October 7 are dead. The first phase of the mooted deal is reported to provide for the release of 40 of the living hostages, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, in the course of a six-week truce, and in exchange for some 400 Palestinian security prisoners. The outline reportedly provides for negotiations on the further phased release of the remaining hostages, living and dead, in return for longer pauses in the fighting and many more Palestinian prisoner releases.

    Meanwhile, just last Tuesday…

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    All of this means there is a greater likelihood the Israel assault on Rafah will proceed, which many international officials have warned against, given the southern city is packed with well over one million refugees, many of which are living in tents and makeshift structures.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 18:30

  • No, The Court Is Not "Slow Walking" The Trump Immunity Case
    No, The Court Is Not “Slow Walking” The Trump Immunity Case

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    The decision of the Supreme Court to review the immunity question in the Trump prosecution has brought forth the usual (and a couple not so usual) attacks on the integrity of the Court.  While some are calling the justices now part of the “insurrection,” others are accusing them of “slow-walking” the appeal to push any trial past the election. MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin added that, due to the delay for a review of the matter, she was “beyond terrified for our country”

    In reality, the claim that the Court is moving slowly is factually and historically untrue. Indeed, in comparison to most cases, this is a NASCAR pace for an institution that is more focused on issuing right rather than rapid decisions.

    While the Court has had shorter schedules on emergency matters, this case will be heard in a fraction of the usual period for appeals and the calendar is consistent with past expedited cases. Moreover, the conditions that led to the shorter expedited calendars in a few past cases are not present in this case.

    Craven Insurrectionists

    Some of the usual voices immediately came forward to declare that, once again, the justices are exposing themselves as raw partisans. MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow declared the review of the matter as “BS” and exposed “the cravenness of the court.” She further declared, again, that the action undermined “legitimacy of the court.”

    MSNBC host Chris Hayes alleged declared “Today, the Supreme Court signaled that it is in cahoots. The plot is on. It is a go.”

    Mary Trump, the niece of the former president, went further and declared that “the Supreme Court of the United States just reminded us with this corrupt decision that the insurrection did not fail–it never ended.”

    Former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney (R., Wy) said that the review effectively “suppresses critical evidence that Americans deserve to hear.”

    Regular MSNBC guest Elie Mystal (who previously called the Constitution “trash“) had a more novel take.  With MSNBC host Alex Wagner nodding in apparent agreement, Mystal explained to viewers that this was just an effort of Justice Clarence Thomas (and possibly Samuel Alito) to retire. The theory goes something like this: Thomas does not want to have a Democrat fill his seat, so he is going to postpone the appeal, which will delay a trial for Trump, which will allow Trump to be elected, which will permit Trump to appoint his successor, which will allow Thomas to drive off in his RV for an unending retiree roadtrip. See, it’s that simple.

    There is, of course, another possible explanation.

    Some justices have serious concerns about the lower court decision.

    The Historical Comparisons

    At the outset, there are a couple of glaring problems with the claim of “slow-walking” to push the trial past the election.

    First, the Court did not create this collision with the election. Both state and federal prosecutors have waited until shortly before the election to bring charges for actions taken almost four years ago. They are now demanding expedited and in some cases abridged reviews due to an urgency that they created.

    Second, this matter has already been curtailed and expedited. Special Counsel Jack Smith has repeatedly pushed to deny Trump standard appellate options and time to present his case. After the Supreme Court refused to effectively cut off his right to an appellate review, the D.C. Circuit did so by pressuring Trump to file directly with the Supreme Court rather than seeking the review of the entire court in an en banc appeal. That standard en banc option was all but eliminated by an order that would have returned the mandate to the district court within days — forcing Trump to argue an appeal while being forced into the resumption of pre-trial proceedings.

    Third, the Court has expedited the matter. The fact is that this is a much shorter schedule and the Court is fitting the case in the middle of a long scheduled and crowded calendar. It allowed the parties a few weeks to fully brief a question with major implications for our constitutional system.

    It ordinarily takes months for the Court to even accept a case. The Court has set this matter for argument in April to allow the parties to fully brief the issue and will likely rule by June.

    Some have pointed out that there are cases where the Court moved more swiftly. However, those cases have important distinctions.

    For example, Michael Waldman, president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, noted that in 1974 the Court considered United States v. Nixon “in a matter of weeks.” That is a valid point, but there are a couple of missing relevant facts.

    The district court issued the subpoena to Nixon to turn over the famous White House tapes in April 1974. It then ordered compliance in May 1974 when Nixon refused. In allowing a direct appeal, the Court then held oral argument on July 8, 1975. It issued its unanimous decision on July 24, 2975. That was roughly two months after the initial appeal.

    That is certainly a faster track by a few weeks. However, the Court was unanimous and this was not an appeal by a criminal defendant. While there was always the chance of an indictment of Nixon (until his pardon by Gerald Ford after he left office), the case concerned the access to evidence in the Watergate investigation. Criminal defendants are afforded the highest level of protection and review in cases.

    Critics also cite the Bush v. Gore decision where the Supreme Court decided the matter in days.  Once again, that is true. I covered that decision for CBS as a legal analyst and it was a rocket pace. However, the Court was not looking at an approaching election but an approaching inauguration of the next president. The case was decided on December 12, 2000 — roughly three weeks away from the certification of the election by Congress.

    The Issue Presented

    This case is not going to decide whether an election can be held or whether a candidate can be certified. The original March trial date has already been discarded. It is not clear if a trial will occur before the election. It could still theoretically occur even with a June decision of the Court, though it is admittedly less likely with every delay.

    That trial could cut both ways. Trump could be acquitted or convicted or it could result in a hung jury. The Court, however, rarely engages in such political calculations. Indeed, some justices may not agree with the exceptional treatment given this case by the appellate panel, including effectively cutting off the option of an en banc review.

    For some, this case has been marked by fast walking, not slow walking, by courts. The Supreme Court previously rejected Smith’s arguments that the urgency of trying Trump should override the ordinary appellate process or schedule.  Some justices may resent the pressure to dispatch these claims to allow for a trial that may influence an election.

    Notably, the Court has previously rejected expedited appeal requests from Trump, including some issues related to the last presidential election. This appeal is not dependent on the election or tied to its certification.

    The Court has laid out a difficult question for review:

    “Whether and if so to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”

    It is clear that, unlike the Nixon case, the court is not likely to be unanimous on this question. I have previously expressed doubt over the sweeping claim of immunity presented by the Trump team. However, justices may have good-faith concerns over the implications of the lower court decision as well.

    The Court has had a long, collegial tradition in allowing justices to resolve such questions even when they may be in the minority.

    Some justices have long supported a robust view of executive privilege and power.  They may want to delineate the scope of this privilege with greater precision. In that sense, the Court could uphold the result of the D.C. Circuit while offering a different or more nuanced view of the immunity.

    Of course, none of that is nearly as captivating as calling the justices “insurrectionists” or spinning tales of some retirement conspiracy with the RNC and the AARP.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 18:00

  • Team Biden Braces For More 'Uncommitted' Protest Votes On Super Tuesday
    Team Biden Braces For More ‘Uncommitted’ Protest Votes On Super Tuesday

    President Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination could become one of serial humiliation. As Super Tuesday looms, Team Biden is hoping the embarrassment they endured in Michigan — where more than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” as a form of protest — isn’t repeated in contests across the country. 

    Motivated largely by anger over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war, Michigan’s uncommitted drive exceeded organizers’ expectations, with a hefty 13.3% of Democratic voters opting to repudiate the incumbent. The tally was large enough that two of the state’s 117 delegates at the Democratic national convention will be free to vote as they please, though it seems likely that state party officials will pick Biden loyalists for the slots anyway. 

    Michigan’s significant Muslim population led the effort, but disenchanted progressives and college students also played a key role — and could do so again in upcoming primaries. “They’re absolutely not some voting bloc to take for granted,” leftist political consultant and former AOC confidante Corbin Trent tells the New York Post. “Biden is a general election threat to Democrats.”

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    Eight of the 16 Super Tuesday states have either an “uncommitted” or write-in option on the ballot: Alabama, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont, according to the Post. Given it’s the home of the country’s largest Somali population, Minnesota is a state where uncommitted votes are more likely make waves for the Biden-Harris campaign.   

    “A majority of us have voted for Biden before, but this time I don’t think we should vote for him,” 26-year-old Minnesotan Abdifatah Abdi told Associated Press. Abdi says he’s thinking of voting for Trump, shrugging off the former president’s Muslim immigration ban in pursuit of the better of two evils. “Trump may be for a ban. But what is worse, a ban or the killing?”

    More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes amid Israel’s massive retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel. Defying global condemnation, the Biden administration has steadfastly stood by the Israeli government, to include not only arming and funding it, but vetoing United Nations resolutions calling for a ceasefire. 

    Colorado is another state to keep an eye on. Inspired by Tuesday’s result in Michigan, the Colorado Palestine Coalition and Democratic Socialists of America launched a “Vote Noncommitted Colorado” drive on Wednesday. That’s a very late start compared to Michigan’s effort that spanned weeks. “We figured if there’s a way to make some waves and let our discontent be known, we might as well,” Grace Thorvilson tells Axios Denver. 

    A New York Times/Siena poll released over the weekend found that only 23% of Democratic voters are enthused about Biden, with 32% either dissatisfied or angry about having him atop the ticket. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 17:30

  • The Ministry Of AI Truth
    The Ministry Of AI Truth

    Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

    Remember HAL, the homicidal Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey? Well, if you haven’t had the pleasure yet, let me introduce you to Gemini, Google’s “multimodal large language model.” Gemini hasn’t killed anyone yet — as far as I know, the liquidation of Gaza is being assisted by an Israeli AI called “the Gospel” — but it is certainly doing a bang-up job of assassinating people’s characters.

    I was prompted to play around with Gemini by Matt Taibbi’s recent piece reporting on how Gemini invented entire “Matt Taibbi articles” that Matt never wrote. Given the fact that I’ve been relentlessly censored and “visibility-filtered” for years by Google, Twitter, X, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipedia, I figured I should probably give Gemini a go and see how I am being portrayed to potential readers who may have never heard of me.

    Here are screenshots of my chat with Gemini. I hope you’ll take the time to read them, and reflect on how our official “reality” is being manufactured by global corporations and their increasingly creepy algorithmic machines. I used myself as an example in this chat, but the subject could have been anyone, any writer, artist, or any other public figure.

    I omitted some of the repetitive boilerplate platitudes about Gemini’s noble intentions, but otherwise … well, here’s what happened.

    That answer seemed slightly imbalanced. So I probed …

    Gemini clearly wanted to focus on how “controversial” I am, so I went with that …

    OK, that was somewhat alarming, especially the part about how I’m “promoting conspiracy theories” and “contributing to societal division and undermining trust in credible sources.”

    This session was not going well for me at all.

    According to Gemini, in addition to “attacking the credibility of scientists, journalists, and public health officials,” I’ve been “eroding the public’s ability to discern fact from fiction” and “undermining trust” by “spreading misinformation.” I wasn’t aware I was doing that, so …

    Right. So, I tried it another way …

    And here comes my favorite part of the chat. I did not write any of the following “excerpts.”

    None of the above are actual quotes, neither the “excerpts,” nor the “quotes” in Gemini’s analysis. Gemini just made it all up.

    Right. I took a different tack …

    Yes, it appears, once again, that “mistakes were made” … but that’s OK, because Gemini is still “under development and learning.” And, after all, fabricating quotes (or, in Matt Taibbi’s case, entire articles) is an innocent “mistake” that anyone could make!

    I decided to get down to the nitty-gritty …

    And …

    Imagine my horror at being accused of “amplifying Russian perspectives.” Once again, I asked Gemini for specific examples.

    OK, how about examples of my “conspiracy theories” …

    Or any actual examples of any of the claims about me that Gemini is making …

    Wait … what? Widely contested?

    That wasn’t an answer, so I pressed on …

    And on …

    And on …

    And there you have it. If you’re into this stuff, try it out yourself with another controversial public figure. Just for fun. I mean, there’s no need to worry. Gemini is “still in development,” and it means well. I’m sure it will fix its “mistakes.”

    After all, it apologized, just like HAL did near the end of the movie …

    “I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 17:00

  • Lawyers Who Voided Musk's "Excessive" $56 Billion Pay-Plan Seek $6 Billion Worth Of Legal Fees
    Lawyers Who Voided Musk’s “Excessive” $56 Billion Pay-Plan Seek $6 Billion Worth Of Legal Fees

    In case you were wondering whether or not the lawyers challenging Elon Musk’s pay plan were doing pro bono work on behalf of Tesla shareholders, that answer is starting to look like a resounding “no”.

    That’s because it was reported on Friday that the lawyers who voided the “excessive” $56 billion pay plan are seeking $6 billion in Tesla stock as compensation. After all, who would know better about excessive compensation?

    The fee works out to $288,888 per hour, a report from Reuters said. “We recognize that the requested fee is unprecedented in terms of absolute size,” the three firms said in a filing at the Court of Chancery in Delaware.

    “This structure has the benefit of linking the award directly to the benefit created and avoids taking even one cent from the Tesla balance sheet to pay fees,” they continued, saying the fee would be tax deductible for Tesla. 

    The reasoning for the excessive fee rests on the fact that the victory to void Musk’s pay plan results in 266 million shares being returned to the company. 

    Needless to say, Elon Musk didn’t stop to find the irony in the situation. “The lawyers who did nothing but damage Tesla want $6 billion. Criminal,” Elon Musk fired back on X on Friday. 

    For comparison, Reuters noted that in a securities fraud case concerning Enron Corp.’s collapse, a legal team secured a $7.2 billion settlement in federal court, receiving a record fee of $688 million in 2008.

    Delaware courts have noted that legal battles that progress towards trial, involving extensive litigation efforts like depositions, warrant a higher recovery percentage due to the associated risks and efforts. This principle was applied in the trial over Elon Musk’s compensation package, which spanned a week. Critics, however, argue for reducing attorneys’ percentage fees as settlements and awards increase, to prevent excessive compensation.

    The legal team in Musk’s case sought about 11% of the judgment, advocating for stock compensation free of selling restrictions.

    Recall on January 31, we wrote that the compensation case, which was launched by shareholder Richard Tornetta, argued that Tesla’s board lacked independence in crafting Musk’s pay, a view the judge supported.

    Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick cited inadequate disclosures and board conflicts of interest in her ruling. Musk, whose wealth largely comes from Tesla, the top auto company globally, has seen stock options from this plan vest as performance goals were met, though he hasn’t exercised them yet.

    The judge wrote: “In the final analysis, Musk launched a self-driving process, recalibrating the speed and direction along the way as he saw fit. The process arrived at an unfair price. And through this litigation, the plaintiff requests a recall.”

    “The most striking omission from the process is the absence of any evidence of adversarial negotiations between the Board and Musk concerning the size of the grant,” she said in her ruling.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 16:30

  • Letters Warn "You Cannot Keep Your Doctor" – Thousands Freaking Out
    Letters Warn “You Cannot Keep Your Doctor” – Thousands Freaking Out

    By Mish Shedlock of MishTalk

    Does anyone recall the Obamacare promise “you can keep your doctor”. Up to 100,000 people might find out otherwise in one big bang. More are likely on deck.

    Freaking Out

    Patients are caught in the middle of contract disputes between hospitals and health insurers. As a result, people are Freaking Out. Letters Warn Patients They Risk Losing Their Doctor

    Patients are getting ominous warnings in their mail and inboxes: They are about to lose insurance coverage of their doctors.

    The threatening letters and emails have sent patients reeling. Unsure what to make of it all, they are flooding doctors with calls asking questions, snapping up appointments with the physicians and taking to social media to complain.

    Sparring in New York City are health insurers such as giants UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, which pay for medical care, and big-name hospital systems like NewYork-Presbyterian and Mount Sinai Health System seeking more money for the treatment provided by their doctors.

    NewYork-Presbyterian said the insurer has failed to offer enough. Aetna said the hospital system’s demands are unsupportable. Both declined to say what rate increases they are seeking.

    If hospitals and insurance companies fail to agree on a contract, patients can lose not only some or even all of their health plan’s coverage, but they may also pay a doctor’s higher, non-negotiated rates.

    The hospital system sought new terms because of rising labor costs and its analysis of newly public hospital pricing data indicated Mount Sinai wasn’t paid as well as its competitors, said Brent Estes, Mount Sinai’s chief managed-care officer. 

    UnitedHealthcare said Mount Sinai’s proposals would increase its rates by 43% to 58% over three to four years. “We continue to await a realistic proposal from Mount Sinai that’s affordable and sustainable for New Yorkers and employers,” the company said.

    As boomers get older demands for medical care services will explode.

    Percentage Change in Debt and Population

    In the last four years, the percentage increase in population was 3.0 percent. The percentage in crease in debt was 45.3 percent.

    Federal Debt vs Population 1992 vs Now

    • In 1992, the federal debt was $4.027 trillion. The population was 192.805 million.
    • At the end of 2023, federal debt was $32.690 trillion and the population was 266.942 million.
    • Between 2019 and 2023, the federal debt rose by 45.3 percent. The population rose by 3.0 percent.
    • Between 2007 and 2019, the federal debt rose by 105.3 0ercent. The population rose by 11.8 percent.

    The cost of healthcare is about to soar.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 16:00

  • These Are The Best And Worst Performing Assets Of February And YTD 2024
    These Are The Best And Worst Performing Assets Of February And YTD 2024

    As DB’s Henry Allen writes, February was another very strong month for risk assets, with many major world equity indices hitting fresh record highs. That included the S&P 500, which surpassed the 5,000 mark for the first time, as well as the Nikkei, which surpassed its previous record from 1989. In part, that was because of continued excitement around AI, and the Magnificent 7 posted their best performance in 9 months. However, with inflation still above target and surprising on the upside in the US, investors pushed out the timing of future rate cuts, and sovereign bonds lost further ground. In addition, US regional banks continued to struggle, as investor concerns persisted about commercial real estate. As for cryptocurrencies and bitcoin which soared almost 50% in February after the launch of bitcoin ETFs, well, don’t get Elizabeth Warren started.

    Month in Review – The high-level macro overview

    February had several ongoing stories that were relevant for markets.

    1. The first was that global data was still robust for the most part, and hopes for a soft landing continued. For instance, the US jobs report for January showed nonfarm payrolls up by +353k, along with positive revisions to the previous two months. Moreover, the ISM manufacturing print hit a 15-month high. But even as growth remained strong, there were further upside surprises on inflation, which raised fears that the path back to target was unlikely to be a smooth one, and raised questions as to whether the economy would face a “no landing”. In particular, the US core CPI print for January came in at a monthly +0.4%, which pushed the 3-month annualised rate for core CPI up to +4.0%.

    With inflation above target and growth remaining strong, that led investors to push out the timing of future rate cuts once again. At the Fed, futures moved from pricing 146bps of cuts by the December meeting, to 85bps, a reduction of 61bps over February. In addition, they pushed out the likely timing of the first rate cut to the June meeting. As a result, sovereign bond yields rose further, and US Treasuries (-1.4%) posted their worst monthly performance since September. Similarly in the Euro Area, investors reduced the expected cuts by December from 160bps to 91bps, and Euro sovereign bonds fell -1.2%. Lastly in Japan, expectations grew that the BoJ might end the negative interest rate policy as early as April, and yields on 2yr JGBs were up +9.7bps to 0.17%, marking their highest level since 2011.

    2. The second important story was the ongoing excitement around AI, which led to a fresh outperformance from the Magnificent 7. They were up +12.1% in total return terms, which was their best monthly performance since May 2023, and Nvidia surged by a further +28.6%, which followed their strong earnings release towards the end of the month. That helped to power the overall S&P 500 (+5.3%) to a 4th consecutive monthly advance, although the rally continued to be a narrow one, with the equal-weighted S&P 500 up by a smaller +4.2% in February.

    3. Third, the concerns about commercial real estate continued, particularly at the start of February. That came after New York Community Bancorp reported a loss on January 31 as they raised their expected loan losses on commercial real estate. This raised fears that the full consequences from higher interest rates are still yet to materialise, particularly give the amount of debt that needs refinancing over 2024 and 2025. For markets, it meant that US regional banks lost further ground, with the KBW Regional Banking Index down another -2.8%, bringing its YTD decline to -9.5%. New York Community Bancorp led those declines, with a -25.2% return in February, taking its YTD decline to -52.7%.

    Which assets saw the biggest gains in February?

    • Equities: Excitement about AI and strong growth data helped global equities advance for a 4th consecutive month, with the S&P 500 (+5.3%) and the STOXX 600 (+2.0%) both rising. Asian indices saw the largest gains, with the Nikkei up +8.0%, and the Shanghai Comp (+8.1%) had its best monthly performance since November 2022.
    • US Dollar : As investors pushed out the timing of future rate cuts, the dollar index rose for a second consecutive month, rising +0.9%. Moreover, the dollar strengthened against every G10 currency apart from the Swedish Krona.
    • Oil : Despite the losses for other commodities, oil prices rose for a second consecutive month, with Brent crude up +2.3%, and WTI up +3.2%.
    • Cryptocurrencies : It was a very strong month for cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin (+44.7%) seeing its best monthly performance since December 2020, ending the month at $61,431.

    Which assets saw the biggest losses in February?

    • Sovereign Bonds : As investors pushed out the timing of rate cuts, sovereign bonds saw further losses. That included US Treasuries (-1.4%), Euro sovereigns (-1.2%) and gilts (-1.3%)
    • Japanese Yen : The Japanese Yen weakened a further -2.0% against the US Dollar in February, leaving it as the worst-performing G10 currency on a YTD basis, having now weakened -6.0% since the start of the year.
    • Commodities (except oil) : Several commodities saw significant declines in February. European natural gas was down -17.8%, marking a fourth consecutive monthly decline. Copper (-1.8%) also lost ground after three monthly gains, whilst agricultural goods including wheat (-3.0%), corn (-7.3%) and soybeans (-7.7%) fell back as well.

    Finally, here are the charts summarizing major asset performance in February in local currency and USD…

    … and YTD.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 15:30

  • Another One? Trump-Hunter Letitia James Spent Thousands On Luxury Travel And All Sorts Of Other Malarkey
    Another One? Trump-Hunter Letitia James Spent Thousands On Luxury Travel And All Sorts Of Other Malarkey

    While Georgia Trump prosecutor Fani Willis is embroiled in Fanigate – paying her boyfriend nearly $1 million to help her ‘get Trump’ while he flew the two of them on (allegedly ‘cash’ reimbursed) lavish vacations, New York AG Letitia James has been spending tens of thousands of dollars on all sorts of personal benefits, according to a recent analysis of a recent financial disclosure by X user “Mel” (@Villagecrazylady).

    The findings are damning. James spent more than $15,000 on luxury hotels in Puerto Rico, $20,000 per yea rin meals, $7,000 dropped at a NYC nightclub that was billed as an “office,” and $84,000 in airfare to fly all over the country.

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

    She also stayed at the Beverly Hills Wilshire, and claimed $65,000 in “reimbursements” to “campaign consultants,” which as X user Jim Weed notes, “could literally be anything.”

    Speaking of campaign consultants, can anyone tell me why a state Attorney General would need to spend over $300,000 in a single year (2023) on campaign consultants when she *just* won re-election the previous November? What could she possibly be consulting on? Furthermore, why do these million-dollar “campaign consultancy firms” always seem to be run out of random 2-bedroom apartments?

    To be clear, Ms. James isn’t breaking the law with her expenditures. But considering the high bar she set for Trump in his civil fraud case, it’s more than a little galling that she plays so fast and loose with what she deems to be “legitimate campaign expenses.” -@JimBobW49

    James also spent thousands at the ’48 Lounge’ in NYC as a ‘fundraising’ expense, a venue which claims to provide a “luxurious and intimate atmosphere.”

    Continues:

    Ghost Donors?

    It appears Attorney General Ms. James is wrapped up in the ghost donor scam.

    You may think that ghost donor bots were just operating at the federal level, but this investigation revealed how big it is at the state level.

    Here’s a list of  Ms. James’ total donations and their corresponding receipts by year. Does anything jump out at you?

    Obviously, 2022 is off the charts. Over 32,500 receipts, and over 62% are from out of state. Who the heck donates to an Attorney General, running in a totally safe seat in a whole other state?!

    Answer: Ghost donors. What are ghost donors? Ghost donors (sometimes called “smurfs”) are sophisticated bot programs that use the names and addresses of real Americans to make donations to political campaigns. This allows the people running the programs to circumvent campaign finance laws. The donations are made in thousands of small-dollar increments that are easily looked over on cursory review. –America Out Loud

    As Mel concludes: “So to recap: we’ve got unknown entities funding our state and federal elections and everywhere you turn there’s a sleazy politician using this tainted campaign money to fund their extravagant lifestyles.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 15:00

  • "We Definitely Messed Up": Google Co-Founder Addresses Woke Gemini Fiasco
    “We Definitely Messed Up”: Google Co-Founder Addresses Woke Gemini Fiasco

    “We definitely messed up on the image generation, and it was mostly due to not thorough testing,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said at the Gemini Hackathon regarding the controversy surrounding Gemini, a woke artificial intelligence bot, which has been criticized for misinformation and disinformation. 

    A video featuring, Brin, currently a major shareholder at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, shows him making no apologies for the historical inaccuracies and woke biases in Gemini. 

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

    X users immediately noticed a man at the event, sitting at a table in front of Brin, wearing what appears to be a body print of a woman’s naked torso, including breasts. Weird, right? 

    Gemini’s inaccuracies were so egregious that they appeared not to be mistakes but instead a possible deliberate effort by its woke creators to rewrite history. The image function on the bot has been paused for over a week. 

    Google scrambled last week as it entered damage control mode. 

    Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai described the Gemini issue as “completely unacceptable” in a statement. 

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

    Meanwhile, there are mounting boycott calls for all Google products:

    “I’ve been reading Google’s Gemini damage control posts. I think they’re simply not telling the truth. For one, their text-only product has the same (if not worse) issues. And second, if you know a bit about how these models are built, you know you don’t get these “incorrect” answers through one-off innocent mistakes,” one X user stated in a post that has more than 5 million views. He further mentioned that he’s “done with Google.” 

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

    Gemini is the tip of the woke iceberg, and executives at the giant tech company are entirely out of touch with reality. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 03/03/2024 – 14:00

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Today’s News 3rd March 2024

  • The Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6: Capital Mystery That Doesn't Add Up
    The Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6: Capital Mystery That Doesn’t Add Up

    Authored by Julie Kelly via RealClear Wire,

    The newly disclosed video shows a dark SUV pulling up to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., at 9:44 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. It sits for several minutes until a uniformed man with a bomb-sniffing dog enters from the right and steps up to the vehicle. The driver complies with his command, the dog sniffs inside and outside the car which is soon allowed to enter the parking garage. The man and his dog exit back to the right.

    This scene is unremarkable except for one detail: The uniformed man and his trained canine came within a few feet of where a plainclothes Capitol Police officer would soon discover a pipe bomb that had been planted there the night before. The bomb, which the FBI has described as viable and capable of inflicting serious injury, along with a similar one found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, would appear to be the most overt act of violence perpetrated on Jan. 6.

    Responding to the video discovered by this reporter, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the Georgia Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee subcommittee now conducting a separate inquiry into Jan. 6, asked, “How could a bomb-sniffing dog miss a pipe bomb at the DNC? We’ll add this to our long list of unanswered questions and continue getting to the truth.”

    The number of anomalies surrounding this still unsolved case continues to grow. These include:

    • The failure of the Secret Service detail assigned to Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, who was inside DNC headquarters when the bomb was discovered, to find the device before her visit.

    • The fact that the bomb at RNC headquarters was discovered by a government contractor with ties to the FBI.

    • That law enforcement officials repeatedly described the bombs as “highly dangerous” but also said they couldn’t have detonated on their own because of their cheap kitchen timers.

    • That cell phone data that might help locate the perpetrator has been deemed corrupted.

    •  

    • That the FBI’s geofence warrant to obtain cell phone data from Google gives no indication the warrant included the Capitol Hill neighborhood on the night of Jan. 5 – the time and location the pipe bombs were apparently planted.

    • That the FBI assistant director leading the stalled investigation had previously been in charge of the investigation into a kidnap plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in which the bureau tried to get alleged conspirators to build bombs.

    • That an FBI whistleblower has testified he was told the bombs were inoperable – a claim that seems supported by video showing authorities allowing children to cross the street toward the DNC bomb after it was discovered.

    Discovery of the new video featuring the ineffective bomb-sniffing dog has also generated skepticism about the timing of the day’s events: The RNC pipe bomb was discovered at 12:40 pm, just thirteen minutes before the first breach of police lines on the west side of the Capitol and 20 minutes before House and Senate members convened to consider the electoral college results of the 2020 election – creating a narrative of grave threat as the protests turned violent. How might the day have unfolded if the bombs had been discovered many hours before and large swaths of the city had been shut down? And why, given the devices’ proximity to the U.S. Capitol and the joint session of Congress that would involve every U.S. Senator and House member, did law enforcement not send investigators with bomb-sniffing canines to the Capitol immediately?

    Vanished Without a Trace

    The greatest mystery may be why official Washington has lost interest in this alleged act of domestic terrorism. In the three years since Jan. 6, the DOJ has conducted what Attorney General Merrick Garland describes as a criminal investigation proceeding at an “unprecedented speed and scale” into the protests. Casting a wide dragnet for Capitol protesters across the country, federal and local authorities in Washington have tracked down and prosecuted more than 1,300 defendants, almost all of whom were unarmed, including 62 individuals so far this year.

    Yet the perpetrator of what could have been the only deadly attack by a civilian that day appears to have vanished without a trace. He or she also seems to have slipped down the official memory hole. Although the Washington FBI field office recently issued a statement saying the “suspect may still pose a danger to the public or themselves” and upped the reward to $500,000, Washington appears to have lost interest in the pipe bomb whodunnit.

    The now defunct Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the U.S. Capitol barely mentioned the pipe bomb threat in its final report; the committee did not include video of the incident or the suspect during any televised hearings. This strikes some observers as odd for two reasons: The pipe bombs seemed to offer the strongest evidence for the Committee’s case that Jan. 6 was an act of domestic terrorism, and the direct threat to the life of the vice president, who was at the DNC for nearly two hours as the device sat undetected outside the building.

    The major news organizations that initially devoted significant space to promote the idea that a supporter of Donald Trump tried to blow up buildings near the Capitol on Jan. 6 have also lost interest in the case.

    But a handful of outlets led by Revolver News stayed on the story. And the same media once fixated on the pipe bomber now considers poking holes in the government’s official story little more than right-wing conspiracy-mongering.

    The government’s seeming ineffectiveness, however, and lack of forthrightness regarding an allegedly deadly plot filled with unanswered questions has also created a wellspring of distrust. 

    The presence of bombs in the nation’s capital as the joint session of Congress convened to debate the outcome of the Electoral College vote animated the notion that Jan. 6 represented an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by Trump supporters. Reports that two explosives were found just blocks from the U.S. Capitol initiated the first wave of panic that accelerated throughout the afternoon.

    It began when a 37-year-old woman from Madison, Wisc., named Karlin Younger, who said she was walking to do her laundry near the RNC, discovered a device in an alley around 12:40 p.m. Although it is not clear whether the Jan. 6 committee interviewed Younger – her name does not appear in its final report – she gave numerous media interviews in the weeks and months following Jan. 6.

    In November 2021, Younger told Business Insider, “When I cast my eyes down, I just saw something kind of metallic, and it was just a very passing glimpse, and all I thought is someone must have missed the recycling bin. And I was going to recycle it, because I’m about that life. I just looked, and it was so completely unbelievable. You’re not on high alert. You don’t think you’re under attack. I’m not in Iraq. This is Capitol Hill.”

    She beckoned an RNC security guard whose name has not been made public to confirm her suspicions. “Holy shit, it’s a bomb!” Younger said he exclaimed.

    The FBI interviewed Younger a few days later after she contacted the bureau’s Jan. 6 tip line. But it doesn’t appear she was interviewed again by the FBI.

    The FBI story.

    The FBI official leading the investigation, Washington FBI Field Office assistant director in charge Steven D’Antuono, told House Republicans he did not “recall” who discovered the device. Had the FBI come knocking again, Younger certainly would have consented to another interview. At the time, Younger worked for a public-private partnership called FirstNet, which provides interoperable broadband for first responders across the country. The month before Jan. 6, the FBI awarded a $92 million grant to FirstNet.

    Authorities quickly dispatched officers to the DNC located a few blocks away. A similar device reportedly was found on the ground between two benches outside one of the building’s entrances at 1:07 pm.

    In response, police immediately evacuated a few congressional buildings including the nearby Cannon House Office building. “I just had to evacuate my office because of a pipe bomb reported outside,” Virginia Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria tweeted at 1:46 p.m. “Supporters of the President are trying to force their way into the Capitol and I can hear what sounds like multiple gunshots. I don’t recognize our country today and the members of Congress who have supported this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans.”

    The Capitol Police stated on Jan. 7 that both devices, which it said were “hazardous and could cause great harm to public safety,” were “disabled and turned over to the FBI for further investigation and analysis.” The FBI did not respond to a request for a report on the devices.

    The topic of the pipe bombs was raised repeatedly during the Department of Justice’s first press conference a few days later. In their joint appearance on Jan. 12, D’Antuono and acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin were asked by CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge whether the pipe bombs were a diversionary tactic to redirect police away from the site of the protest, or if the devices intended to kill or maim individuals working in both buildings. Sherwin responded that both scenarios would be explored during the investigation but he emphasized that the devices were “real” and contained “explosive igniters.”

    D’Antuono, who spearheaded the FBI’s Jan. 6 investigation including the pipe bombs, announced a $50,000 reward leading to the arrest of the perpetrator. “I just want to make that perfectly clear and that we’re looking at all angles in that. Every rock is being unturned, because we have to bring that person to justice or people to justice,” D’Antuono said.

    By the end of January 2021, the FBI released grainy footage of a person the government believed to be the bomber and upped the reward to a total of $75,000 – and which now stands at $500,000. 

    An individual, wearing a hoodie, a face mask, gloves, and Nike gym shoes, is seen carrying a backpack around the vicinity of both buildings. FBI authorities said the suspect planted the devices sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5. Ashlan Benedict, head of D’Antuono’s ATF division, told CNN at the time that the bureau considered the investigation an urgent matter because the suspect “could potentially be building more bombs right now.”

    Intense media coverage followed. On Jan. 29, 2021, the Washington Post published an extensive story on the pipe bombs, assigning five of the paper’s top reporters to investigate the timeline and obtain private security camera footage from surrounding property owners.

    Months passed before D’Antuono’s office provided an update into the investigation. In September 2021, the FBI released more inconclusive security video obtained from a camera at the DNC showing the alleged suspect walking by the building and sitting on a bench next to where the bomb was discovered the next day. But the brief clip did not show the perpetrator removing anything from his backpack or placing a bomb on the ground.

    By the third anniversary of the Capitol protest, the FBI was still empty-handed. D’Antuono himself had become a target of media and congressional scrutiny over his handling of the Jan. 6 investigation and his involvement in the FBI-orchestrated plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

    FBI Director Christopher Wray had promoted D’Antuono from head of the Detroit FBI field office – the office responsible for the key FBI agents, informants, and undercover employees responsible for executing the entrapment operation – to head of the Washington FBI office in October 2020.

    That case also involved the use of explosives. The FBI ran an undercover agent disguised as an explosives expert into the group of alleged kidnappers to lure them into attempting to buy components to build a bomb. Several of the men targeted by the FBI were arrested when the FBI’s lead informant drove them to meet the undercover agent acting as a bomb builder.

    Under questioning by House Republicans in 2023, D’Antuono, who retired from the FBI after Republicans won control of the House in November 2022 to take a job in the private sector, appeared less confident about the threat posed by the pipe bombs than he had in public statements. Asked by Rep. Tom Massie whether a one-hour kitchen timer, a component of both devices, could detonate a bomb 17 hours after it was set, D’Antuono said it could not.

    D’Antuono admitted he did not follow the “granularity” of his office’s inquiry into the pipe bomber case and also did not know if the FBI interviewed the person who discovered the device outside the DNC. 

    D’Antuono also testified that a search warrant failed to scoop up data of the alleged suspect, who is seen handling a cell phone on his walk in the vicinity. Stating the FBI did a “complete” geofence warrant for Jan. 6, D’Antuono disclosed that data from one company strangely was missing. “Some data that was corrupted by one of the providers, not purposely by them, right. It just – unusual circumstance that we have corrupt data from one of the providers. I’m not sure – I can’t remember right now which one. But for that day, which is awful because we don’t have that information to search. So could it have been that provider? Yeah, with our luck, you know, with this investigation it probably was.”

    Congressional Republicans say they were troubled by another aspect of D’Antuono’s testimony related to the allegedly corrupted file. While the FBI did issue a geofence warrant to obtain cell phone data from Google, there is no indication the warrant included Jan. 5 – the day the pipe bombs were allegedly planted.

    Public reporting and court filings in Jan. 6 cases indicate the warrant identified three specific time periods on Jan. 6, resulting in the collection of data from more than 5,000 devices, but did not request records for Jan. 5.

    “Mr. D’Antuono’s testimony raises concerns about the FBI’s handling of the pipe bomb investigation, more than 890 days following the placement of the pipe bombs. To date, the FBI has failed to respond to the Committee’s requests for a briefing regarding the investigation,” Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in June 2023.

    Other aspects of the pipe bomb story started to raise eyebrows. After nearly a year of misleading judges and defendants, federal prosecutors revealed in late 2021 that Kamala Harris was at the DNC and not at the Capitol on Jan. 6; the government was forced to disclose her whereabouts to correct court filings that stated Harris was in the Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6. Harris left the Capitol following a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing and arrived at the DNC around 11:25 a.m. She remained inside the building until she was evacuated at 1:15 p.m. 

    The timeline generated even more head-scratchers. How did her security detail, which included Secret Service agents and D.C. Metropolitan police officers, miss the device sitting in relatively plain view?

    Did the Secret Service fail to perform a sweep of the premises before she arrived? Even so, how did numerous law enforcement agents not see a pipe bomb laying on the ground just feet from her parked motorcade?

    Further, security video posted this month by Revolver News showed law enforcement’s puzzling reaction to the discovery of the bomb at 1:07 p.m.

    “The most striking feature of the footage depicting the discovery of the DNC bomb is the utter nonchalance of the Secret Service officials, Metro PD officials, and Capitol Police officers upon learning of the proximity of the bomb,” Darren J. Beattie of Revolver wrote on Jan. 18. “The Metro PD officers didn’t even bother getting out of their vehicles for about a minute after being informed of the bomb and proceeded to stand around in the most lackadaisical fashion imaginable once getting out of the vehicles.”

    And according to Sean Gallagher, chief of the Protective Services Bureau of the Capitol Police, one of his plainclothes officers found the bomb after responding to the threat at neighboring RNC. “[One] of my counterintelligence teams that was doing enhanced sweeps around the DNC found a pipe bomb at the DNC as well,” Gallagher told the Jan. 6 committee in 2022. He also did not discuss with the committee Harris’ presence or any aid his division provided in ensuring her safe escape from the building.

    Even more puzzling is the fact Harris never mentions the episode in her public statements, even though she has compared Jan. 6 to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Reporters also appear uninterested in the subject; Harris, more than three years later, hasn’t been asked about it.

    The Secret Service also is mum on the issue – and under suspicious circumstances. Text messages belonging to at least two dozen officials and agents from Jan. 5 and 6 were deleted at the end of January 2021 and never recovered. Jan. 6 committee investigators, when first informed the messages were purged during “a pre-planned, three-month system migration,” according to an agency spokesman, issued a subpoena for the missing records in July 2022, but the request came up empty. Committee investigators did not continue their inquiry further.

    This represents another aspect of the congressional investigation that did not reach an edifying conclusion. A suspected Trump supporter planted a bomb that could have killed the first female and person of color to hold the office of the vice presidency – and it only merited one sentence in an 840-page report.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 23:20

  • Possibly The Most Overtly Racist Segment Ever On MSNBC
    Possibly The Most Overtly Racist Segment Ever On MSNBC

    The voting public, and especially the rural voting public, should brace themselves for an avalanche of mainstream media and punditry hate directed toward them in the months leading into the November election.

    A Thursday the below MSNBC segment was somewhat shocking even for the mainstream in terms of the extent a whole demographic of Americans was viciously attacked stereotyped and labeled as ‘all the same’. One online commenter rightly pointed out: “This might be the most overtly racist thing I’ve seen people say on TV.” Watch below:

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    University of Maryland political science professor Thomas Schaller and op-ed writer Paul Waldman were in MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” studio to promote their new book titled, “White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy”. They repeatedly called Whites in the countryside and across the land “racist” and “anti-democracy”.

    “They are the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, geodemographic group in the country,” Schaller said. “Second, they’re the most conspiracist group. QAnon support and subscribers, election denialism, COVID denialism instead of scientific skepticism, Obama birtherism.” So all that… applied to an entire race of people living in rural areas.

    The aforementioned commenter “Educated Hillbilly” further highlighted that this particular segment is notable for being “far more in your face and blatant”. He complained, “I have not seen anyone on TV say all black city people are XYZ this blatantly racist way and be accepted on a mainstream so and get support from everyone while saying it.”

    The authors continued their rant, with Schaller saying further of White rural people, “They don’t believe in an independent press, free speech.”

    “They’re most likely to say the president should be able to act unilaterally without any checks from Congress, or the courts or the bureaucracy. They’re also the most strongly White nationalist and White Christian nationalist,” Schaller said. “Fourth, they’re most likely to excuse or justify violence as an acceptable alternative to peaceful public discourse.”

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    As for co-author Waldman, he called Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump a “conduit for [White rural voters’] rage and anger.” 

    “All that [Trump] gave them was essentially a way to essentially give a big middle finger to Democrats, to people who live in cities and to the rest of the country,” he said.

    Sadly the road to November is likely be paved with much more of this elite corporate media racism unleashed on Trump supporters and “rural” or “poor” White people.

    * * *

    The examples are starting to pile up… just this week:

    And speaking of a big “middle finger” – this is how Washington Post reports on Alabamans’ legitimate concerns about where their tax-dollars go…

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 22:45

  • Americans Face Decades In Prison For Convincing Women Not To Have Abortions
    Americans Face Decades In Prison For Convincing Women Not To Have Abortions

    Authored by Beth Brelje via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Heather Idoni picked up a phone receiver and punched in her inmate number on a keypad to activate it through the visitation window at Grayson County Detention Center.

    Paul Vaughn holds his youngest daughter alongside his wife Bethany Vaughn and 8 of their 11 children, in the backyard of their home in Centerville, Tenn., on Feb. 20, 2024. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

    She had 15 minutes to talk before the sound was cut off without warning and her guests were told to leave.

    In prison, every move an inmate makes is controlled. Ms. Idoni, 59, is getting used to that. She must, because she is facing more than 41 years in prison—the rest of her natural life.

    Her sentence is expected to be the longest in the United States for someone charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits interfering with anyone obtaining or providing “reproductive health services.” It was seldom used until the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which returned abortion regulation to the states.

    Her crime: sitting near or in front of the doors of abortion clinics to give sidewalk counselors a few moments to talk to women before their abortion appointments and potentially change their minds. Nine women out of 10 give them the middle finger and keep walking, Ms. Idoni said. But some women do change their minds, and sidewalk counselors say the life of every baby saved is worth the risk.

    But a decade or more in prison is an outcome Ms. Idoni and other abortion rescuers didn’t expect. In post-Roe America, pro-lifers have been served harsh, life-altering penalties.

    “I have young, young grandchildren,” Ms. Idoni told The Epoch Times. “They are not going to have any memory of me. It’s hard to think about. It is the most painful thing, being separated from my young grandchildren who are growing so fast, and I’m missing their lives.”

    Before prison, Ms. Idoni owned a bookstore in Linden, Michigan. She is a mother of 16, including 10 orphaned boys she adopted from Ukraine.

    In 2022, at least 26 pro-life activists were charged under the FACE Act, and many are now in prison or awaiting sentencing. Most were charged after June 2022, when President Joe Biden formed the Reproductive Rights Task Force, a Department of Justice-led group focused, in part, on enforcing the act. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

    Political watchers predict the emotional issue of abortion will be a top 2024 election topic in most races.

    Civil Disobedience

    Ms. Idoni was convicted in 2023, along with four other defendants in Washington, of a FACE Act offense and of felony conspiracy against rights.The group blocked the entrance to a late-term abortion business in 2020. The DOJ said the group entered the facility and blocked access using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes, then live-streamed their activity on social media. The DOJ considered live-streaming a felony conspiracy, which carries a 10-year penalty. The FACE violation adds another year. Sentencing is in May.

    But after her trial in Washington, Ms. Idoni and five others were convicted for praying and singing hymns in the hallway of a now-closed abortion business in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. This will be considered a prior conviction and could add years to the sentence out of Washington. She awaits another trial for two FACE violations in Michigan.

    Heather Idoni (2nd R) and other pro-life activists sit in front of an abortion facility door in Sterling Heights, Mich,, on Aug. 27, 2020. (Courtesy of Cal Zastrow)

    “The Tennessee case highlights how absurd the situation has become, using FACE in that weaponized fashion against the pro-lifers who obviously are political opponents of this administration,” Stephen Crampton, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, told The Epoch Times. “To throw in that 10-year federal conspiracy charge in a case that, if you’re just looking at it cold, is indistinguishable from a civil rights sit-in.”

    Mr. Crampton is an attorney in the Tennessee case, which was tried in Nashville, where in 1960, black citizens engaged in civil disobedience by sitting at lunch counters to protest racial segregation.

    “There is a Civil Rights Museum in the middle of the public library right across the street from the courthouse—a big display, honoring as heroes those folks that engaged in sit-ins in Nashville and helped change the whole culture of the nation,” Mr. Crampton said.

    “In the same breath, they make our [clients] martyrs because they engaged in a sit-in, not for advancing racial equality but for trying to save the life of an unborn child. … If that’s not political, I don’t know how else to describe it.”

    The abortion business affiliated with the Tennessee FACE charges was closed before the DOJ served any indictments because abortion is no longer legal in Tennessee.

    No matter how one feels about abortion, Americans should care about what happens with the FACE Act, Mr. Crampton said.

    A group of African Americans seated at lunch counter during a sit-in Nashville, Tenn., in 1960. (Library of Congress)

    “The fact that the government has picked … which causes to federalize and to maximize prison sentences for—today, it’s pro-lifers, but tomorrow, hey, maybe it’s Greenpeace, right? Maybe it’s the PETA folks with animal rights, and all of a sudden you’re facing 11 years in prison because they don’t like your cause,” Mr. Crampton said.

    “Is this really something that we want our federal government doing?”

    Repealing FACE

    The FACE Act has been used 130 times against pro-life individuals, but it has only been used three times against pro-abortion protesters, a U.S. Senate aide told The Epoch Times on background.

    “There’s certainly a disparity in how this is being enforced,” the aide said. “In the wake of the Dobbs decision being leaked, there are at least 108 Catholic churches and at least 78 pregnancy-resource centers that were attacked by pro-abortion protesters.

    “But there were only three FACE Act cases opened in response to that. So it’s very clear, just on the numbers alone, that this is being enforced in a very political way, and that the DOJ is weaponizing it against pro-life individuals and ignoring it when it comes to pro-abortion individuals.”

    Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is sponsoring legislation that would repeal the FACE Act, pointed to the fact that legal scholars have long questioned the act’s constitutionality. He said the Biden administration has recently used it as a tool to harass and prosecute pro-life activists. His House bill is called the Restoring the First Amendment and Right to Peaceful Civil Disobedience Act.

    Pro-abortion extremist group Jane’s Revenge leaves threats at Harbor Church in Olympia, Wash., on May 22, 2022 (Courtesy of Harbor Church)

    Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has a companion bill in the House.

    While there was interest when the Senate bill was introduced in October 2023, it has not had much momentum since then. The aide isn’t optimistic about the measure passing in the Senate.

    “Without a Republican majority, there is just no way that that’s going to get through,” which means those imprisoned under the FACE Act may face long sentences, the aide said.

    “They are suffering from the political fallout of this law that really shouldn’t exist in the first place, and that has absolutely been weaponized against one group and not another.”

    FBI Raid

    Mark Houck, a father of seven, was shocked the morning of Sept. 23, 2022, when a team of roughly 25 FBI agents pounded on his door, pointed guns at him and arrested him for an alleged FACE Act violation.

    Mr. Houck was a long-time sidewalk counselor at a Philadelphia abortion business. He pushed a volunteer at that business after the man made vulgar comments to Mr. Houck’s son and wouldn’t stop. Although local police refused to bring charges in the case, the DOJ said the shove was a FACE violation. A jury disagreed and found Mr. Houck not guilty. For months before the verdict, however, he faced a potential prison term. Now he is running for a U.S. congressional seat in Pennsylvania.

    “We would not be running if that had not happened to me,” Mr. Houck told The Epoch Times. “That wasn’t my personal aspiration. But after the raid, and the government coming after me, and the government being weaponized against me, we decided that we want to run so that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 22:10

  • Trump Trounces Haley In Idaho, Missouri, And Michigan
    Trump Trounces Haley In Idaho, Missouri, And Michigan

    Donald Trump dominated in Saturday’s primary races, inning caucuses in Idaho and Missouri – while sweeping the delegate haul at a Michigan party convention.

    The former president earned every delegate at stake on Saturday, bringing his overall count to 244 vs. Nikki Haley’s 24. To secure the Republican nomination, Trump will need 1,215 delegates in total.

    In Michigan, Trump won all 39 delegates at the Republican convention in Grand Rapids, after winning the state’s primary on Tuesday with 68% of the vote vs. Haley’s 27%.

    In Missouri, Trump won 51 delegates. Things went particularly not well for Haley at one point:

    The steep odds facing Haley were on display in Columbia, Missouri, where Republicans gathered at a church to caucus.

    Seth Christensen stood on stage and called on them to vote for Haley. He wasn’t well received.

    Another caucusgoer shouted out from the audience: “Are you a Republican?”

    An organizer quieted the crowd and Christensen finished his speech. Haley went on to win just 37 of the 263 Republicans in attendance in Boone County. -AP

    Earlier in the day, Missouri Trump supporters inside a church in Columbia linked up to appeal for the former president.

    “Every 100 days, we’re spending $1 trillion, with money going all over the world. Illegals are running across the border,” said Tom Mendenall, an elector for Trump in 2016 and 2020. “You know where Donald Trump stands on a lot of these issues.”

    And in Iowa, Trump won 32 delegates, once again smoking Haley.

    Next on deck is a Republican event on Sunday in the District of Columbia (they have Republicans?), followed by Super Tuesday two days later, when 16 states will hold primaries – and the date Haley suggested she’d be dropping out if things don’t start going her way.

    This is going to be fun, no? From tonight’s speech in Virginia:

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 21:35

  • They Called Him "Crooked Cohen": Thacker
    They Called Him “Crooked Cohen”: Thacker

    Authored by Paul Thacker via The Disinformation Chronicle,

    The COVID pandemic created some of the worst science writing in our lifetimes. Major media outlets failed at providing readers with accurate and balanced news across a host of issues, including vaccines, masks, lockdowns and how the virus likely began spreading through the human population.

    It’s critical to call the news we read over the last four years “science writing” and not “reporting” because few science media outlets do any actual reporting. What science writers label “reporting’ is just calling up the known experts and then quoting them as the known experts.

    As I’ve noted in the past: Science writers report for, not on science.

    Looking back over the last four years of science writing claptrap, I ran across an early article by Science Magazine writer Jon Cohen that illustrates this point quite nicely. On January 31, 2020, Cohen wrote a story for Science Magazine alleging that “most researchers say” the virus could not have come from a lab, an idea Cohen added, had been dismissed as a “conspiracy theory.”

    However, Cohen’s “most researchers say” assertion was totally phony. How do we know this?

    We have the emails.

    “[S]ome of the features (potentially) look engineered,” a virologist wrote in a private email, the day after Cohen quoted him in his “most researchers say” article for Science Magazine.

    That same day after Science Magazine published Cohen’s article—this would be February 1, 2020—Anthony Fauci emailed NIH officials detailing what “most researchers say” when they were talking to him on a conference call: they fretted that the virus was not natural, might have had a mutation inserted into the sequence, and their fears were heightened because scientists in Wuhan were running dangerous gain-of-function studies on coronaviruses.

    Since Cohen wrote that January 2020 article, he has only doubled and tripled down with further allegations that the virus could not have escaped from a Wuhan lab.

    As Ashley Rindsberg reported in Tablet, an anonymous whistleblower tipped off Cohen that one of the critical papers virologists published to allege the pandemic could not have started in a lab was apparently corrupt and did not list the true authors (Treason of the Science Journals). Instead of doing anything with the information, Cohen dimed out the whistleblower and forwarded the allegations on to the virologists: “Here’s what one person who claims to have inside knowledge is saying behind your backs …”

    After this story went public, several accounts on X began referring to the Science Magazine staff writer as “Crooked Cohen” a label that eventually forced him off the social media app.

    Cohen’s ham-fisted, biased attempt at journalism, however, remains a singular example of pandemic science writing gone awry. So let’s take a look at that early article he wrote.

    Emails: The bane of science writers

    In the pandemic’s opening weeks, reporters scrambled to understand how the virus first began circulating in humans. Most outbreaks start when a virus, circulating in animals, adapts to the human body and then spreads to infect the rest of us. But the Washington Post reported in January 2020, that people were speculating on social media whether the pandemic started naturally or not.

    Based on emails, we now know that some scientists were even concerned whether the virus came from a Wuhan lab.

    But on January 31, 2020, Science Magazine’s Jon Cohen tried to shoot down such thinking in a misleading feature that ignored scientists’ own opinions. (Mining coronavirus genomes for clues to the outbreak’s origins: Theories abound about how the virus that’s now rampant in China made its way from bats (almost certainly) to humans.)

    Here’s the second paragraph of Cohen’s story:

    “One of the biggest takeaway messages [from the viral sequences] is that there was a single introduction into humans and then human-to-human spread,” says Trevor Bedford, a bioinformatics specialist at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The role of Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, in spreading 2019-nCoV remains murky, though such sequencing, combined with sampling the market’s environment for the presence of the virus, is clarifying that it indeed had an important early role in amplifying the outbreak. The viral sequences, most researchers say, also knock down the idea the pathogen came from a virology institute in Wuhan.

    Note three allegations in this paragraph:

    1. The virus entered the human population and then began spreading

    2. The Huanan Seafood Market is critical

    3. “Most researchers say” the virus sequences serve to “knock down” the idea that the virus came from a Wuhan lab.

    Cohen also quotes two researchers: Kristian Andersen with Scripps Research, and Eddie Holmes with the University of Sydney.

    The paragraph with Andersen serves to further enforce the idea that the virus didn’t come from a lab, and jumped from a wild animal (natural host) into humans.

    “Until you consistently isolate the virus out of a single species, it’s really, really difficult to try and determine what the natural host is,” says Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at Scripps Research.

    The paragraph quoting Eddie Holmes serves the same purpose: further enforcing the notion that the virus wasn’t engineered and didn’t come from a lab, but jumped from a wild animal into humans.

    “The positive tests from the wet market are hugely important,” says Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney who collaborated with the first group to publicly release a 2019-nCoV sequence. “Such a high rate of positive tests would strongly imply that animals in the market played a key role in the emergence of the virus.”

    In case the narrative wasn’t already clear, Cohen then addressed “conspiracy theories” about the pandemic beginning from lab research.

    The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is the premier lab in China that studies bat and human coronaviruses, has also come under fire. “Experts debunk fringe theory linking China’s coronavirus to weapons research,” read a headline on a story in The Washington Post that focused on the facility.

    Well, here’s the funny thing. Emails show that Cohen’s “reporting” was totally wrong-headed.

    The day after Cohen published his “most researchers say” piece to “knock down” the “conspiracy theory” that the virus could have come from a lab, Kristian Andersen—the same one quoted in Cohen’s story!—emailed Anthony Fauci.

    “[S]ome of the features (potentially) look engineered,” Andersen wrote to Fauci. “Eddie Bob, Mike, and myself all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.

    The Eddie, Bob, and Mike are researchers Eddie Holmes (who Cohen quoted in his “most researcher say” story), Bob Garry (a virologist at Tulane Medical School) and Michael Worobey (evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona).

    Yet none of Eddie, Bob, and Mike’s concerns that the COVID virus was engineered can be found in Cohen’s “most researchers say” article. Even though Cohen quotes Kristian Andersen and Eddie Holmes in the piece.

    Oh, but it gets better.

    Fauci responds to Andersen’s email, “Thanks, Kristian. Talk soon on the call.”

    According to an email sent to Fauci by Jeremey Farrar of the Wellcome Trust, attendees on the call were to include Kristian Andersen, Eddie Holmes, and Bob Garry, as well as the following:

    • Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute of Virology at the Charité Hospital in Berlin

    • Ron Fouchier, Deputy Head of the Erasmus MC department of Viroscience

    • Marion Koopmans, Dutch virologist who is Head of the Erasmus MC Department of Viroscience

    • Patrick Valance, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of the United Kingdom

    In short, the conference call attendees were a collection of experts that any reporter would call if they were going to write a “most researchers say” article about how the pandemic started.

    Well, guess what?

    After that call ended, Fauci sent an email detailing what he learned “most researchers say,” noting that NIH-Director Francis Collins was also listening in. Here’s Fauci:

    They were concerned about the fact that upon viewing the sequences of several isolates of the nCoV, there were mutations in the virus that would be most unusual to have evolved naturally in the bats and there was a suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted. The suspicion was heightened by the fact that scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan.

    In short, here’s what “most researchers say” when their thoughts are not being stage-managed by Jon Cohen and the editors at Science Magazine:

    1. Mutations in the COVID virus do not appear to be natural;

    2. There was suspicion that a mutation was inserted into the virus;

    3. These suspicions were heightened because Wuhan scientists were doing dangerous gain-of-function research and the outbreak began in Wuhan.

    Of course, only Jon Cohen knows why his “most researchers say” reporting was so phony and misguided.

    I sent him an email asking him to explain, and got back an angry retort that ran over 800 words. Here’s one pertinent passage: “Andersen and Fauci did not share these concerns with me at the time, and if they had—and I wish they had–I certainly would have quoted them saying as much.”

    “Jon, you seem upset,” I replied. “If Andersen and Fauci didn’t tell you what they were thinking, why are you directing anger at me? Have you asked them why they misled you? How are you going to hold them accountable to readers?”

    Jon emailed back that I was twisting his words.

    To this day, a majority of American remain concerned that the COVID pandemic started because scientists were screwing around in a lab with dangerous viruses and something went haywire. And these suspicions remain because virologists worked to gaslight anyone who raised this as a possibility—a propaganda campaign that was aided by their friends in science writing.

    AT THE REQUEST OF A LONGTIME READER, JON COHEN’S EMAIL TO ME. JON SEEMS UPSET BY MY QUESTIONS, BUT NOT AT ANTHONY FAUCI, KRISTIAN ANDERSEN, AND EDDIE HOLMES FOR MISLEADING HIM.

    WHY IS THAT?

    Paul,

    Despite your inaccurate, incessant, snarky, juvenile attempts to deride me and my work, I am going to explain this to you because it’s so wide of the mark. I anticipate that you will twist whatever I say here to fit the narrative you have wedded yourself to, but, well, color me generous and thoughtful.

    The story you are citing from, written in the first month of the outbreak becoming public, is questioning all origin possibilities and stresses that the market theory remains uncertain. It also is one of the first stories that, without bias, raises the lab origin possibility and WIV’s potential role:

    Concerns about the institute predate this outbreak. Nature ran a story in 2017 about it building a new biosafety level 4 lab and included molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, Piscataway, expressing concerns about accidental infections, which he noted repeatedly happened with lab workers handling SARS in Beijing. Ebright, who has a long history of raising red flags about studies with dangerous pathogens, also in 2015 criticized an experiment in which modifications were made to a SARS-like virus circulating in Chinese bats to see whether it had the potential to cause disease in humans. Earlier this week, Ebright questioned the accuracy of Bedford’s calculation that there are at least 25 years of evolutionary distance between RaTG13—the virus held in the Wuhan virology institute—and 2019-nCoV, arguing that the mutation rate may have been different as it passed through different hosts before humans. Ebright tells ScienceInsider that the 2019-nCoV data are “consistent with entry into the human population as either a natural accident or a laboratory accident.”

    The sentence fragment you have selected comes from a paragraph that further emphasizes that the market theory is “murky”:

    “One of the biggest takeaway messages [from the viral sequences] is that there was a single introduction into humans and then human-to-human spread,” says Trevor Bedford, a bioinformatics specialist at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The role of Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, in spreading 2019-nCoV remains murky, though such sequencing, combined with sampling the market’s environment for the presence of the virus, is clarifying that it indeed had an important early role in amplifying the outbreak. The viral sequences, most researchers say, also knock down the idea the pathogen came from a virology institute in Wuhan.

    Unlike you, I had covered infectious diseases and outbreaks for several decades when this one surfaced, which means I regularly speak with many researchers who work in the field. That’s why I wrote what I did. (You, strikingly, didn’t know who Redfield was, and when you discovered him, you ignored his troubled past, which occupies a chapter in my 2001 book, Shots in the Dark, about reporting I did in the early 1990s.) Andersen and Fauci did not share these concerns with me at the time, and if they had—and I wish they had–I certainly would have quoted them saying as much. I had no bias toward it being a natural origin, and I do not until this day. As I have said repeatedly, I would be happy to break a story about compelling evidence that this was a lab leak, and I have closely examined every theory. 

    You are a believer. You chide me for not being a journalist, but you have abandoned journalism to push an agenda, and you rely heavily on sources who have the same convictions. Let me be clear: I am not wounded by your campaign to defame and libel me—have at it. I have a body of work that speaks for itself (your #scicomm thing demonstrates you haven’t read much of it), and I’m too old to care about criticism that’s not based on fact. But I just did a quick search to remind myself of why I find your criticism of my work feckless, mendacious, and filled with unbridled rage:

    We don’t play by the same rules. I strive to be fair and accurate. You preach to a choir, gleefully attacking people you deem miscreants with toxic rants, and have convinced yourself that you know the truth about something that remains a mystery. You blithely ignore mistakes made by journalists who are in the choir. You jump up and down about scientists behaving like scientists and changing their minds when new evidence surfaces. You seem to lack the interest in complicated science to assess claims yourself, relying entirely on people you view as reliable experts to judge the worth of arguments and counterarguments. And you remain mum about outrageous behavior by China that doesn’t support your beliefs: Have you ever written about the proven coverup of the wildlife for sale at the market, the scientifically preposterous assertion that the virus came from outside of China through the cold chain, or the absence of traceback studies from the wildlife  stalls we know sold these animals? 

    In closing, I have written about or referenced most every lab leak theory, and I have organized panel discussions with scientists and journalists who have different points of view. I think civility matters. I would encourage you to be more civil to me and others who you disdain.

    Jon

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 21:00

  • Is A Mag7 'Gamma Squeeze' About To Send Bitcoin 'To The Moon'?
    Is A Mag7 ‘Gamma Squeeze’ About To Send Bitcoin ‘To The Moon’?

    Making money in the markets over the past few months has really come down to four simple steps:

    Step 1: Put on pants.

    Step 2: Identify buzzy stock-du-jour.

    Step 3: Buy metric fuckton of deep OTM, extremely short-dated calls.

    Step 4: Sit back, sip coffee, take profits after gamma squeeze complete.

    Sounds to simple to be true, right?

    Here’s Goldman Sachs’ flows guru reflecting on the situation:

    And, everyone’s searching for “call options”…

    At first it appeared to be SoftBank up to its old tricks…

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    But then, day after day, a different name was picked and gamma-squeeze-algo unleashed on poor unsuspecting dealers…

    Of course, the ‘buzz’ recently has been ‘AI’ stocks…

    ARM Holdings call volume exploding as the stock ramped over 100% in 4 days…

    SoundHound AI stocks soared a stunning 330% in the last two weeks as call volumes literally went to the moon…

    Even boring old DELL is in on the act with gamma-squeezers buying calls with both hands and feet, sending the stock up 36% in 3 days…

    Careful though – it doesn’t always work.

    Palo Alto Networks disappointed after the call-buying-brigade has gone wild into earnings and that shitshow left the stock (critical to AI) down 28% in a day (but we do note that since that decline, the gamma-guys didn’t give up, pumping the stock up 20% in the last few days on the back even more call-buying)…

    And then there’s the big boy – NVDA – where we see call-volume spike into earnings every time, but this time was special as the put-denying-pumpers pushed the giant AI chip maker up 17% in 2 days after this massive call-buying-gasm…

    “The call volume is very extreme,” said Piper Sandler head of options, Daniel Kirsch, referencing interest in Nvidia.

    “People seem to just — every day — have no problem continuing to add.”

    Finally, just so you get the point, here’s SMCI – probably the ultimate poster-boy for gamma-squeezers in the last month as the stock rallied 222% practically without a dip as day-after-day, the deep OTM, short-dated cal-buying worked to squeeze dealers to chase the stock higher and higher…

    But, with all this upside call buying – and no downside protection buying – skews have collapsed to a point that some are anxious of another systemic crisis in equity-vol land…

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    So, maybe, just maybe, the ‘squeezers’ got out of bed this last week, put on their pants, and noticed that the buzzy-stock-du-jour was actually bitcoin ETFs (and bitcoin itself).

    Which is where we find ourselves now.

    UNless you lived under a rock – or are marooned, powerless in Lake Tahoe – right now, you will have likely read/watched news about crypto’s impressive gains in the last two weeks…

    …as the newly-launched Spot Bitcoin ETFs has seen unprecedented net inflows…

    Putting this sudden ‘demand’ in context…

    Heading for a blowout year…

    And this is ahead of the Halving, which implicitly hampers supply.

    “All things are pointing towards if momentum keeps us going up, then we could see another violent move upwards,” said Luke Nolan, a research associate at digital-asset manager CoinShares.

    So applying the four-step logic from above – what do you think would be the most likely next target for the gamma-squeezers?

    Bitcoin options volumes are exploding higher…

    Source: Deribit

    And notional options open interest has hit a new high…

    Source: Deribit

    As Yahoo Finance reports, an influx of buyers for short-dated options has increased Bitcoin volatility to the highest since last year’s collapse of crypto-friendly Silvergate and Signature banks. The notional value of the March 29 call and put options contracts has climbed to around $7 billion, far above the amount of any other contracts on a specific expiration date, according to data from Amberdata (and call volumes are dominating puts in the shortest-dated maturities)…

    Source: Deribit

    “We can see still a huge amount of OTM (out of money) calls,” Nolan said.

    “If Bitcoin pushes to levels near that, then in my opinion we could certainly get a squeeze.”

    To put it simply, if a large amount of call options are bought, the sellers of the options, usually dealers or market makers, need to hedge their exposure. The usual way to hedge is to buy the underlying instrument so that they are not exposed to directional risk, Nolan said. If Bitcoin starts going up, the dealers will have to hedge further, thus buying more of the underlying token.

    “This self-perpetuating loop can lead to a rapid price increase as dealers push the price up, causing them to have to buy more,” Nolan said.

    But, Nolan warns, even a small change in ETF flows could cause people to quickly deleverage.

    “It works both ways,” he said.

    But, there are three good reasons to believe the ammunition for a gamma-squeeze is still there – Technicals (short positioning), Supply (Halving) and Demand (ETF flows and institutional adoption).

    For one, funding rates are through the roof (implying a large demand for shorting bitcoin)… which implicitly provides support for the gamma-squeezers to the upside if it morphs into a short-squeeze…

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

    In fact we’ve already seen very heavy short-liquidation driving this move…

    Source: CoinGlass

    Another factor supporting bitcoin from here is the upcoming Halving, and as the stock-to-flow model shows, we have reverted back to fair-value just as the supply-shrink is about to occur….

    Source: @PlanB

    As @PlanB explains below, we are entering a ‘bull market’ with “face-melting FOMO and extreme price pumps”... hyperbole?

    And then there is demand as institutional interest accelerates and retail adoption improves.

    “I think there’s an even bigger wave coming in a few months as we start to see the major wirehouses turn on,” Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan explained in a Feb. 29 interview with CNBC, adding that the first wave of Bitcoin ETF interest has primarily come from retail, hedge funds and independent financial advisors.

    “So we’re going to see the next wave of institutional capital coming,” said Hougan, who referred to the ETFs as Bitcoin’s “IPO moment.”

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

    The supply-demand dynamic is just “off the hook,” Hougan said of the amount of Bitcoin ETFs purchased relative to Bitcoin mined day-to-day and the upcoming halving event.

    “There’s too much demand and not enough supply.”

    When asked how high, Hougan said Bitcoin could blow Bitwise’s initial 2024 prediction of $80,000 out of the park and reach anywhere between $100,000 to $200,000 or even higher.

    While many have welcomed Bitcoin ETFs, some major U.S. players like Merrill Lynch are still blocking clients from being able to access the investment products. Vanguard, the world’s second-largest largest asset manager, also blocks access to Bitcoin ETFs through its platform due to the firm’s “philosophy” around investing.

    “I’m sure pressure is mounting for them,” tweeted Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on Thursday, noting that recent ETF flows are likely “natural demand” for BTC rather than algorithmic buying.

    “They like to see [a] track record and get paid off, but with grassroots demand like this they [are] gonna have to expedite,” he continued.

    And Bitcoin is hitting record highs around the world.

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

    Japan has been a particularly weak case, with a 24% decline in the yen meaning bitcoin hit a record price in that country well before this week’s fireworks that saw bitcoin prices soar.

    “Japan’s government has been devaluing the yen, and the flow of liquidity has trickled into bitcoin as their fiat has weakened,” March Zheng, Managing partner of Bizantine Capital explained in an interview with CoinDesk.

    With The Fed hinting at the next QE on Friday (Reverse Twist), will we see ‘record highs’ in the USD price for bitcoin soon too?

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 20:25

  • Kenya & Haiti Sign Agreement To Deploy Force To Caribbean Nation
    Kenya & Haiti Sign Agreement To Deploy Force To Caribbean Nation

    Via The Libertarian Institute,

    The leaders of Kenya and Haiti inked a pact for a Kenya-led UN mission to the Caribbean nation. Nairobi plans to send 1,000 armed men, dubbed police officers, to Port-au-Prince as local authorities have all but lost control of Haiti’s capital city. The Joe Biden administration has been working for several years to create a UN force to invade Haiti to restore order. 

    In October, at Washington’s urging, the UN Security Council approved a resolution that authorized Kenya to lead a UN police force in Haiti to return power to Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has faced months of violent unrest in the wake of the 2021 assassination of President Jovenal Moise.

    Image via UN: United Nations peacekeepers conduct a patrol in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 2004

    The people of Haiti did not elect the government in Port-au-Prince. Not long after Moise’s murder, then-Prime Minister Claud Joseph resigned at the behest of Western pressure, allowing Henry to assume power in his stead.

    Since then, armed gangs have seized control over most of the city under Henry’s watch, at times occupying critical infrastructure, including its main port.

    After the UNSC approved the force, opposition leader Ekuru Aukot in Nairobi challenged President William Ruto’s decision to send Kenyans to Haiti. In January, the Kenyan High Court ruled in favor of Aukot, blocking the deployment. 

    The president later declared he could skirt the ruling by inking a pact directly with Port-au-Prince. That “reciprocal” agreement was signed on Friday. Ruto said he and Henry “discussed the next steps to enable the fast-tracking of the deployment,” though the leaders did not offer a timeline for the operation. 

    The US-backed plan to send Kenyans to Haiti has met opposition in Port-au-Prince in addition to Nairobi. Haitians have protested Henry’s request for the UN deployment, as UN peacekeepers in Haiti have a legacy of rampant sexual abuses and, causing a cholera outbreak that killed thousands.

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

    “The Haitian people have kept the bitter taste of a foreign force in charge of our situation: theft, rape, cholera, food dependence, deregulation of the economic system, without mentioning the fact that we don’t remember seeing then-gang leaders be arrested or rendered unable to do harm,” a Haitian think tank, Groupe de Travail sur la Securite (the Security Working Group), said of Henry’s initial request.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 19:50

  • We Must Grow Our Aerospace Workforce
    We Must Grow Our Aerospace Workforce

    Authored by Felix Aviles via RealClear Wire,

    The aerospace industry desperately needs young talent if we expect it to grow, innovate, and continue providing the services we need and expect in the modern era. The jobs are plentiful, but the skilled workers are not. The leaders of the industry must do a better job of communicating with the next generation of aviation pilots, machinists, and mechanics. If they don’t, the future of aerospace is in jeopardy.

    A recently released industry report a detailed that “the aircraft mechanic shortage has reached a critical point” and the outlook for growth is precarious. This is detrimental not only to commercial aviation, but also national defense aviation. Without mechanics to service the U.S. aerial fleet, it’s essentially useless.

    In his testimony to the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee last fall, Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness Ashish Vazirani said that the Pentagon missed its recruiting goals by roughly 41,000 recruits. He also noted that “the all-volunteer force faces one of its greatest challenges since inception” in 1973. As our fighting forces shrink, so does the number of skilled machinists, technicians and pilots that are trained to service our defense aircraft. This is exacerbating an already critical problem.

    I spent my aviation career as an F-15 technician and crew chief in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and later I was hired by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company which eventually merged with Boeing. Working on this first-class fighter jet gave me opportunities I never imagined, including traveling to Saudi Arabia to support and train officers in the maintenance of the F-15s for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) working on the F-15 C/D models. This is the most successful fighter jet in the world with an unbeaten combat record.

    America’s younger generation has so much to offer. The technologies that have developed since I began my career have advanced tremendously, and today’s young people are already masters of it. The sky is the limit, literally. But they can’t seize on aerospace careers if they don’t know about them.

    Now is the time for the aerospace industry to make a concerted effort to increase awareness about the fulfilling, family-supporting opportunities in aviation. For too many years, the message to our young people has been you need to go to college to succeed. While that may be the right path for some, it’s not the only path to success. Especially when you consider that the cost of a traditional college education has increased by nearly 150% since the 1960s.

    Aerospace companies have been partnering with colleges and universities to create training programs that help directly fill open trades positions directly upon completion. Similarly, the U.S. service branches have been pounding the pavement, trying to reach young people and educate them on all the opportunities available through military service. However, more must be done. The skilled worker shortages get worse every day, stagnating the industry and creating a substantial national defense concern.

    Industry leaders, elected officials, and those currently in the field must do what they can to meet our young people where they are. We must share our success stories, promote training programs, and offer guidance and advice to students who could become contributors and innovators in the industry. The problem won’t resolve overnight, but we can make incremental improvements if we work together.

    Felix Aviles is a U.S. Air Force veteran, a single-engine pilot, and a Boeing retired F-15 technician. He currently resides in Tucson, AZ.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 18:40

  • Negotiators Scramble To Rescue Gaza Hostage Talks As Refugee Area Struck In New Israeli Air Raid
    Negotiators Scramble To Rescue Gaza Hostage Talks As Refugee Area Struck In New Israeli Air Raid

    Negotiators involved in Qatari-mediated peace efforts between Israel and Hamas are said to be scrambling to salvage talks after the deadly aid convoy incident. The death toll from that Thursday incident has reportedly risen to 118. President Biden has said he hopes a deal can be reached by the start of the Muslim season of Ramadan, which begins March 10.

    “We’re not there yet,” he told reporters Friday. The Wall Street Journal has reported on the emerging disappointment and fear that talks have been utterly stalled. “Talks between Israel, Hamas and their mediators were expected to kick into high gear as the two sides try to reach a cease-fire for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan…,” the Saturday report describes. Meanwhile Al Jazeera reports of a new mass casualty attack near Rafah:

    At least 11 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded when an Israeli air raid directly hit tents housing displaced people in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, an area previously designated as “safe”.

    AFP via Getty Images

    However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Qatari and Egyptian officials that the Israeli side will not participate in another round of talks until Hamas confirms a full list of living hostages still being held in Gaza.

    Axios reported on Friday, “Israel made it clear to Egypt and Qatar that it will not hold another round of talks until Hamas presents a list of the hostages who are alive.”

    Israeli officials said: “There is no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which of the hostages are alive and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the ‘ratio’ that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage.”

    This has been a key part of the hold up all along: disagreements over numbers and the iterative phases of planned exchanges. Additionally Hamas has been requiring that all Israeli troops withdraw from the Gaza Strip first, something which Netanyahu has called “delusional”.

    “Hamas officials have told negotiators that in the coming days they may propose new figures for how many Palestinian prisoners they expect to receive in exchange for roughly 40 Israeli hostages,” according to more from the WSJ. “The latest framework being discussed in Cairo involves exchanging about 400 Palestinian prisoners for 40 of the hostages still held captive in Gaza, including five female Israeli soldiers.”

    On Tuesday President Biden raised eyebrows in hastily and seemingly prematurely declaring his hope that a truce deal between Hamas and Israel would be achieved by Monday.

    But now this is even less likely, though that timetable was acknowledged as unrealistic by all parties in response. On Thursday the president walked back the statement. And now he’s opted to stick with the ‘hopefully’ by Ramadan timeline. 

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

    But there are now new reports of Israeli bombings of Palestinian tent encampments – in what looks like a dense urban or suburban area of Rafah – with horrific and tragic footage [warning: graphic] widely circulating, which will make successful talks between Hamas and Israel even less likely to progress. 

    * * *

    Below is a list of more of the latest developments via Al Jazeera:

    • The US carried out its first airdrop of aid into Gaza, according to US officials, with three C-130 planes dropping some 35,000 meals.
    • Thousands are marching in Kafr Kana, an Arab town in northern Israel, to demand an end to Israel’s attacks in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
    • A separate crowd of Israeli protesters, led by relatives of Israeli captives in Gaza, are marching towards Jerusalem to urge the government to do whatever it can to bring their loved ones home.
    • Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, joining the march to Jerusalem, blamed the government for not doing enough to return Israeli captives.
    • The office of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an impartial investigation into the aid convoy attack on Thursday that killed 115 people and said responsibility for the incident falls on Israel.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 18:05

  • WaPo Reporter Mocks Shoplifting Stories As The "Panic" Of "A Sticky-Fingered Nation Built On Stolen Land"
    WaPo Reporter Mocks Shoplifting Stories As The “Panic” Of “A Sticky-Fingered Nation Built On Stolen Land”

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Washington Post writer Maura Judkis is under fire this week for a column in which she mocks shoplifting stories as the “moral panic” of a nation built on “stolen land.”

    It is reminiscent of those who excused rioting in past summers “as an expression of power” and demanded that the media refer to looters as “protesters.” Now, the Washington Post is suggesting that it may be just desserts for a nation of colonizers and enslavers.

    The prior day, the Post ran another column downplaying accounts of stores closing due to shoplifting even though employees blamed rampant shoplifting in San Francisco.

    Judkis wrote a Friday piece entitled “The zombie CVS, a late-capitalism horror story.” The hook was another store being looted in D.C. Judkis matter-of-factly describes how

    “Everything else that remains in the store in Northwest D.C., which is not much, is under plexiglass: Dawn dish soap, L’Oreal shampoo, MiraLax, a handful of Clairol root touch-up hair dye kits, flu season combo packs of DayQuil and NyQuil. The diapers are behind the counter. The Cetaphil and Neutrogena face washes are under lock and key. Other shelves, stretching entire aisles, are totally empty. “

    The reason for those extreme measures is brushed over. Instead, Judkis uses the story to mock such coverage as “a horror story of Late Capitalism” in which “the empty CVS had somehow become a stand-in for all that is wrong with American cities — and liberals (and liberal democracy?) — in 2024.”

    She then adds “America is a sticky-fingered nation built on stolen land, and its current moral panic is about shoplifting. It’s not just a worry in Columbia Heights. All over the country, from sea to shining CVS, there are concerns about petty theft.”

    She dismisses the shoplifting as a “political talking point” despite many stories citing such crimes as the reason for closing stories in various cities. 

    She questions the real basis for such moves and claims that “in certain conservative circles, there’s a wild narrative about cities as terrifying hellholes of crime, theft and lawlessness. The bleakness of the D.C. CVS played right into this belief.”

    The real story, she suggests, are the economic conditions leading to shoplifting.

    Other journalists have made similar objections. New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones, has called upon journalists stop covering shoplifting crimes, even criticizing MSNBC’s Al Sharpton for his discussion of a viral video of a man who recently stole steaks from a New York City Trader Joe’s.

    Writers like Hannah-Jones believe that reporters should actively suppress or dismiss stories on such crime to frame public opinion. It is all part of advocacy journalism. You can almost attribute it the denial of reality in “a late-journalism horror story.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 17:30

  • Watch: MSNBC Legal Analyst Calls For 'Regulation' Of Disinformation As Trust In Corporate Media Collapses
    Watch: MSNBC Legal Analyst Calls For ‘Regulation’ Of Disinformation As Trust In Corporate Media Collapses

    MSNBC has long been known as one of the most biased news organizations in the US among a host of other highly biased outlets.  The hypocrisy of such an company admonishing the spread of disinformation in American society is probably not lost on most people, but it is also a survival mechanism for an industry that is swiftly fading into oblivion.  

    In numerous polls, the “mainstream media” is facing an integrity crisis.  Only 32% of Americans say they trust corporate platforms a “great deal” or a “fair amount.”  A majority of the public say they rarely trust the media or never trust the media and faith in establishment journalism is near record lows.  MSNBC, once the go-to bullhorn for the political left during the Trump Administration, has been on the receiving end of this fury with consistently low ratings and steeply declining influence over public discourse.

    That said, the company is still a useful litmus test for insights into the mind of the political left as well as a window into the thinking of establishment elites.  In a segment on disinformation featuring Michigan legal analyst Barbara McQuade, MSNBC actually engages in a mind boggling series of disinformation tangents.  It’s not so much hypocrisy as it is a master-class in propaganda.  

    Keep in mind that this is the same crew of people who recently asserted that Trump’s 20 point primary victory over Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina is somehow a “disaster” for the Trump campaign.  However, if we set aside the obvious anti-Trump bias for a moment, the deeper motivations of the above discussion become clear. 

    Why have Americans strayed away from the corporate media?  The bottom line is that the media is no longer a center for objective journalism (and maybe it never was), it is a disinformation machine.  The MSNBC segment above engages in disinformation in a number of ways.

    For example, they attempt to plant unconscious associations between genocidal dictators and Donald Trump in the minds of their audience.  They cite the “kidnapping conspiracy” case involving Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as an example of public radicalization, but fail to mention that this event was utterly exposed as coordinated and controlled by the FBI.  McQuade suggests only right-wing media as a source of “disinformation” while ignoring the endless trespasses and lies perpetuated by the left-wing media.  

    The analyst goes on to insult the American public by claiming they need to “get out of their basements” and off the internet to find the facts.  In other words, they need to watch corporate media again and stay away from any alternative sources.  MSNBC laments the problem of the public being separated and limited to “news bubbles,” but this is a misrepresentation of what is really happening.  

    The topic of centralized control of news being a tool for dictators is broached, and the irony is dripping. America lived within a “news bubble” for decades.  For generations, corporate media platforms dominated the distribution of information and had the ability to mold and influence the public at will.  The populace had no other options.  The explosion of the alternative media on the internet is a direct reaction to this long time centralization and abuse of news access. 

    Whenever mainstream pundits ask questions like “How do we get Americans to listen to the facts?” what they mean to say is, “How can we once again centralize and control what Americans get to see and hear?” 

    McQuade touches on this issue briefly, suggesting that there are a number of options for “regulation” of social media and online sources to combat “disinformation.”  She does not elaborate for obvious reasons – We all know that regulation of news and public discourse looks a lot like the authoritarianism that she claims to fear.

    We have seen this disturbing trend in parts of the west including in Europe where online companies are required by law to heavily censor certain topics.  What constitutes “hate speech” or “dangerous speech” is arbitrarily determined by a gaggle of socialist bureaucrats.  This is the kind of news environment MSNBC prefers in the US.  

    We also witnessed the ugly nature of censorship during the pandemic hysteria, with alternative news sources crushed by rigged algorithms.  The corporate media was collapsing up until that point, but they enjoyed preferential treatment by Big Tech and by governments during covid, to the point that searches on any current event forced readers to sift through hundreds of establishment media results before finding a single alternative view. 

    The talking heads at MSNBC were right about one thing:  The methods of authoritarians might change, but the messages and intent stay the same.  In our modern era corporate platforms are the voice of Big Brother, and the only way they can maintain control of the narrative is by becoming the preeminent source of information.  That is to say, they can only accomplish dominance through suppression or regulation of alternative voices.  They know that no one will listen to them otherwise.  

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 16:55

  • Let Bitcoin Cook
    Let Bitcoin Cook

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    “Let him cook” has been the expression that all of the young whippersnappers are using lately when describing somebody or something that shouldn’t be interrupted, because they are on a roll.

    I know this piece will come across as annoying to some, especially because I have only been bullish on bitcoin with some gusto for the last couple of months (though I first pointed it out to my readers in December 2022), but as a newfound member of the church of bitcoin community, I’d be remiss if I didn’t try out my voice a bit.

    I apologize in advance for opining on things that many members of planet bitcoin have talked about and debated ad nauseam for the last decade. But, one way or another, I have to get myself up to speed, and I do that best cathartically through writing. As a result, you, the reader, are left here to suffer. So, you know, don’t forget to renew your paid subscriptions to Fringe Finance.

    Enough with the prelude — we all know it has been a breathtaking week for bitcoin, which is up well over 20% in just the span of days.

    “Oh my f*ck.” – Bubbles, Trailer Park Boys

    The moves have done well to spin up even more interest in the cryptocurrency than there was over the last month with the launch of the ETFs. Hell, even Morgan Stanley came out this week and said they were thinking of throwing their hat into the ring and launching a bitcoin fund of their own.

    I’ve gotten a number of phone calls and texts about bitcoin, and I’m not even a prominent member of the community, nor am I a well-known bull. And so I can’t even imagine the outreach that maximalists and longtime advocates have seen this week.

    Undoubtedly, it is exciting, and I can’t even imagine how long people have been waiting to savor this moment, after years of abuse from family members and uninformed assholes like myself, as well as general doubt about the asset class. But, if there is one small lesson I have learned from decades in the capital markets that I think translates across asset classes, it is to celebrate modestly and prepare for the worst.

    That may seem like the furthest thing from people’s minds this week, but for me, it has always been the best way to savor success. Many people who listened to the podcast that I did a couple of weeks ago with Peter McCormack know that it was arrogance and hubris that turned me off from bitcoin to begin with. Perhaps that is my fault for not having an open enough mind and not doing enough of my own work – it’s a mistake that saw me miss out on large gains. But today I’m speaking as one of the people who can visualize bitcoin as a long-term success and are genuinely excited about onboarding the rest of the world.

    My Twitter feed over the last week has been replete with people triumphantly celebrating, bragging, and taking shots at those who doubted that the price would ever go back up again. Here’s one example from my brother James Lavish, who I know well enough to know he won’t mind me using him as an example because he knows I respect the shit out of him. Behold Exhibit A: James talking shit to Vanguard.

    Does James have a point? Yes, he does. Could be wind up being right 50 years from now also? Yes, he could. But is it karmically sound to taunt the $7.7 trillion bear? To me, not really. I’d rather just savor the satisfaction of the temporary dub quietly.

    Everybody is well within their rights to celebrate this short-term action anyway they would like, but what I’m suggesting today is that karmically and psychologically, the less you force the issue and the more humility you show, the more evenly and consistently bitcoin will thread itself through the rest of the world.

    Think of this: celebrating making an exorbitant amount of money or rage-tweeting about your success is going to do two things: (1)it’s going to turn off people like myself who think that behavior is generally synonymous with fraud and (2) it’s going to excite investors with lower-than-average sophistication who will look for quick riches and won’t be the steady hands bitcoin needs to become a perpetual success.

    Rather, what I’m suggesting is to allow the news media to do what they do (generally be useless and chase stories long after they’ve happened) and allow people to come to the realization about bitcoin the same way that I did: on my own, once I felt as though I wasn’t being suffocated with the idea by outside sources anymore.

    🔥 50% OFF SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR LIFE: If you are not yet a subscriber, you can take 50% off for life by using this link: GET 50% OFF

    My interest in looking at bitcoin this go-round in early 2024 was completely organic: the news coverage of it had died down, and I had blocked or unfollowed enough people who were hyping it that I could have some clarity and some peace of mind about it when I sat down to consider how it worked, seriously, for the first time ever. It was that calm, relaxed, blank slate that allowed me to grasp the relatively complex concepts of how it worked and believe in it the way that I do now.

    I think given the astronomical week that we just had, we’d be better off to “act like we’ve been here before” and to remember that sometimes the more you push an idea, the more people are prone to resistance than barking like hyenas and taunting people. If bitcoin had a $50 trillion market cap, that’d be a different story. But we’re still in the early stages of this courtship with the rest of the world and, like any good relationship or friendship in your life, there has to be a genuine organic interest in “showing up” to the idea of it happening. All of those who have been smothered by a partner or a friend in the past know that all it does is create distortions and unhealthy dynamics. Such delicate things cannot be forced, but rather, accepted willfully like a slow, purposeful deep breath outside on a winter day.

    This is not to say that I don’t believe this week is the beginning of much larger adoption that would likely drive the price of bitcoin higher. As I said on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast, I believe that there is at least one, if not several, nation-states looking at putting bitcoin on their sovereign balance sheets, and that this will kick off a period of game theory for the digital asset revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen yet. Just days after I said that, yesterday Edward Snowden came out and postulated the same.

    Try to keep up with me, Eddie.

    But in all seriousness, we know what will happen if the price continues to rise. The hype will continue to flywheel further, as will interest and adoption. People will have the same realization that it took me a decade to figure out: this thing simply isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But if you ask me, especially given the fact that we all know how quickly price moves can whipsaw back to the downside in the short term, I think the community would be well served to focus less on spiking the football here and more on how we will be able to clearly explain and convey the transformation that is unfolding before our eyes in a calm, measured, and comprehensive way.

    After all, whose questions do you want to deal with on the next 20% overnight whipsaw lower: unsophisticated maniacs or measured investors who already know and expect the volatility that is a certainty.

    And the more time we spend setting reasonable expectations that bitcoin can easily exceed, instead of overpromising and underdelivering, the less time we have to brag about being right. The journey is the reward. Or, as the bible says:

    “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

    — Proverbs 11:2

    But I think if Jesus were around today, he would simply tell us to “let bitcoin cook”.

    QTR’s Disclaimer: I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. I didn’t double check any numbers or figures in this piece and am generally lazy with my research. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. Contributor posts and curated content are posted either with the author’s permission or under a Creative Commons license. This is not a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. Sometimes I just lose money by misplacing it. I’m generally irresponsible. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. Do your research elsewhere. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it numerous times because it’s that important that you

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 16:20

  • The Next ZeroHedge Live Debate: Sen. Ron Johnson And Joe Walsh Face Off Over The Ukraine War
    The Next ZeroHedge Live Debate: Sen. Ron Johnson And Joe Walsh Face Off Over The Ukraine War

    As House Democrats gear up to force a vote on another $60 billion to Ukraine — plus $14 billion to Israel and $5 billion to Taiwan — prepare yourself for a PR campaign by congressional hawks complete with taxpayer-funded Zelensky photo ops, sanctimonious moral lectures from Sen. Chuck Schumer, and celebrations of dead youth by triple-flag-username Adam Kinzinger:

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    Beyond this shallow jingoism, do not expect the Schumer’s and McConnell’s to engage in substantive dialogues with you — the underwriter — about the risks inherent to funding a Russian proxy war, its relevance to America’s interests, or the track record of those pushing it. Most members of Congress avoid factual rigor and scrutiny like the plague.

    Thankfully, there are exceptions to every rule…

    ZeroHedge will be hosting two (one current, one former) members of Congress — Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and fmr Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois — for an in-depth discussion on the war in Ukraine and the role America should play. X Spaces influencer Mario Nawfal will moderate the debate in-person, which will stream live on ZeroHedge.com.

    They will answer the question: Should the U.S. continue to fund and provide operational support to Ukraine?

    To illustrate their divide: Walsh, the former Illinoisan Rep, has hailed Biden’s Ukraine policy as “one of the greatest defenses of freedom… ever put on the world’s stage” while the Wisconsinite Senator believes Ukraine “can’t win” and that it and the U.S. must pursue a negotiated settlement:

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    Healthy debate is sorely lacking on Capitol Hill, where it’s most needed. For bucking this trend, we have tremendous respect for both Johnson and Walsh and are looking forward to a civil exchange of ideas. We urge more elected officials to follow the Walsh-Johnson example.

    Tune in on Wednesday, March 6 at 7pm ET on zerohedge.com to watch the debate live.

    As usual, our moderator will take questions submitted by Premium and Pro subscribers in the comment section (sign up here for the opportunity to have your question answered by a member of Congress).

    Attend In-person

    ZeroHedge is offering a limited number of VIP tickets to readers who wish to join us backstage in our studio in Washington D.C. and enjoy the debate live. Only 10 tickets will be made available. An even more limited number of tickets are available for an ultra exclusive dinner with several of the participants and ZH organizers.

    For questions and tickets, please email debates@zerohedge.com and inquire about the even-more-limited private dinner.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 15:45

  • Evidence And Insights About Gold's Long-Term Uptrend
    Evidence And Insights About Gold’s Long-Term Uptrend

    By Jesse Colombo of BullionStar

    For the past few years, gold has been treading water with no clear direction and causing even the most die-hard gold bugs to scratch their heads in confusion regarding the yellow metal’s next major move. Though gold surged during the most acute phase of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic due to the unprecedented tsunami of liquidity from global central banks, it has since bounced around between $1,600 to $2,100. In this piece, I will show that gold is still in a confirmed long-term uptrend despite the choppy action of the past few years. I will also show several factors that should create a tailwind for gold in the next decade and beyond.

    The Technical Backdrop

    It’s helpful to take a step back and look at the big picture when the short-term picture is unclear. Gold’s monthly chart going back to the year 2000 shows that the metal is in a confirmed uptrend according to the most basic, widely accepted tenets of technical analysis. For starters, gold has been consistently making higher highs and higher lows over the past quarter-century. In addition, gold has been climbing up a long-term uptrend line that formed in the early-2000s. From a technical perspective, gold will remain in a confirmed long-term uptrend as long as it stays above that uptrend line — after all, a trend in motion tends to remain in motion.

    If you look at gold’s price action of the past five years, you can see that there is a strong resistance zone overhead from $2,000 to $2,100. Gold has attempted to break above that resistance zone several times since 2020 to no avail. If gold can finally close decisively above its $2,000 to $2,100 resistance zone, that would indicate that another phase of the bull market has likely begun.

    (Of course, I need to point out that gold and silver’s price discovery process has been corrupted and distorted by the explosion of “paper” or synthetic gold and silver products including futures, options, swaps, and exchange traded funds that are not fully backed by actual physical gold and silver.

    Over the past couple of decades, the amount of outstanding synthetic gold and silver has ballooned relative to the amount of physical gold and silver in existence, which has suppressed physical precious metals prices. In a genuine and fair market, physical gold and silver prices would be much higher than they currently are. You can learn more about this issue here and here.)

    The Role of Paper Money Debasement

    There are numerous factors that drive the price of gold, but dilution of fiat or “paper” currencies is one of the most glaring. For the past five decades, all of the world’s major currencies have been downgraded to mere “paper” currencies that are unbacked by gold, which has predictably resulted in an explosion of the global money supply and the ensuing erosion of those currencies’ purchasing power.

    To put it in layman’s terms, a rising money supply harms the value of currencies and results in inflation or higher living costs. When the cost of housing, groceries, car insurance, healthcare, and college education all rise together, look no further than the debasement of paper money. When currencies were backed by gold, it was impossible to dilute them the way that paper currencies are diluted because every currency unit was required to have a certain amount of gold backing it up and it’s impossible to print or conjure gold out of thin air. For that same reason, people clamor to the safety of gold when paper money is being diluted to oblivion.

    The chart below shows the United States M2 money supply, which is a measure of all notes and coins that are in circulation, checking accounts, travelers’ checks, savings deposits, time deposits under $100,000, and shares in retail money market mutual funds. The U.S. M2 money supply has more than quadrupled since the early-2000s, which was a major factor behind gold’s long-term uptrend that began at that time.

    Though paper money is typically diluted as a function of time, this process accelerated dramatically after the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 – 2008 due to widespread government bailouts, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and quantitative easing (QE), which can be thought of as digital money printing for the purpose of propping up the economy and boosting the financial markets.

    The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an even more reckless printfest that caused nearly every measure of money supply in practically every country to go vertical in just a few months as central banks — including the U.S. Federal Reserve — desperately tried to prop up their economies and financial markets during the pandemic lockdowns with trillions upon trillions of dollars worth of stimulus.

    The chart below shows how gold follows the M2 money supply higher over time:

    The next chart shows the ratio of gold’s price to the M2 money supply, which is helpful for seeing if gold is keeping up with money supply growth, outpacing it, or lagging it. If gold’s price greatly outpaces money supply growth (the red zone in the chart below), there is a heightened chance of a strong correction. If gold’s price lags money supply growth (the green zone in the chart below), however, there is a good chance that gold will soon experience of period of strength. Since the mid-2010s, gold has slightly lagged M2 money supply growth, which could set it up for a period of strength due to the other factors discussed in this piece.

    The U.S. Dollar’s Declining Purchasing Power

    As discussed earlier, a rising money supply erodes the purchasing power of paper currencies over time. The Noble Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman described this process succinctly: “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon…” Since the year 2000, the U.S. dollar has lost nearly half of its purchasing power largely due to reckless monetary experiments conducted by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is supposed to be a good steward of America’s currency but has proven to be the exact opposite.

    Unfortunately, the U.S. dollar’s debasement since the year 2000 wasn’t a fluke — it was just a continuation of the trend that started almost immediately after the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913. Since then, the American currency has lost a jaw-dropping 97% of its purchasing power with no end in sight. As long as the U.S. dollar remains an unbacked fiat currency, it is going to keep losing purchasing power as a function of time.

    The U.S. National Debt

    America’s surging national debt has been another driver of gold’s bull market since the early-2000s. A combination of costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bailouts and stimulus programs during the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 – 2008, and stimulus programs during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic caused the U.S. national debt to explode sixfold from $5.77 trillion in 2000 to $34.3 trillion in 2024.

    Even more concerning is the fact that the U.S. Congressional Budget Office expects the federal debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP to surge from just below 100% currently to approximately 170% over the next couple decades:

    Since the 2020 pandemic, America’s exploding national debt combined with rising interest rates have caused annual interest payments to double to nearly $1 trillion:

    Now costing U.S. taxpayers a mind-boggling $1 trillion per year, federal interest payments are set to exceed both the cost of defense and Medicare this year for the first time ever:

    Over the past few years, U.S. federal interest payments as a percentage of GDP have increased at the sharpest rate in at least seventy years:

    As a country’s national debt burden increases, the probability of a fiscal, economic, and currency crisis increases, which was what gold has been pricing in over the past quarter century. America’s surging debts — both public and private — are ultimately setting the stage for the destruction of the U.S. dollar, which will be sacrificed by the Federal Reserve and U.S. federal government as they run the printing presses on overdrive in a desperate attempt to pay for the spiraling cost of interest, Medicare, Social Security, welfare benefits, inevitable future bailouts and fiscal stimulus programs, and all other government spending. Throughout history, every paper currency has succumbed to the same fate as governments prove unable to resist the temptation of the printing press

    Conclusion

    To summarize, gold began a powerful uptrend in the early-2000s and it is still in that same uptrend despite the choppy price action of the past few years. The factors that originally drove gold’s uptrend are still in effect and, in many cases, are accelerating. Over the next decade and beyond, we are going to see a staggering increase in debt and the money supply, which will result in terrible inflation and, ultimately, hyperinflation. Though this piece focused primarily on the U.S. monetary and fiscal situation, make no mistake — practically every major economy is in the same boat and has its own version of the charts and data shown here.

    Though the paper money supply will increase exponentially in the years ahead, the supply of physical precious metals like gold and silver will remain relatively constant in comparison, which is a recipe for much higher gold and silver prices. I personally favor physical gold and silver bullion over all other investments (including gold ETFs and mining shares) in these unprecedented times.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 15:10

  • Germany Confirms Leaked Audio Of Its Top Generals Discussing Blowing Up The Crimean Bridge
    Germany Confirms Leaked Audio Of Its Top Generals Discussing Blowing Up The Crimean Bridge

    In a huge development and absolute smoking gun revelation, the government of Germany has confirmed the authenticity of a leaked audio recording file published by Russia’s state-backed RT. The leak was first published by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, who described that she received it from Russian security officials.

    It first appeared under the headline “Alleged audio of German officers discussing Crimean Bridge attack leaked” – as it featured top ranking Germany military officials in a private discussion of “a potential German operation to bomb the Crimean Bridge in Russia,” as it was initially described by RT. Russian media is now openly admitting that the call was in fact intercepted by Russia. Moscow is now saying this shows “direct” German involvement in the war.

    Last year’s major Ukraine attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which severely damaged a portion of it, but did not put it out of commission. 

    The audio could have easily been dismissed in the West as simply Russian-sourced propaganda or even an AI fake; however, in an unexpected development the highest levels of the German government have now confirmed that the audio is indeed real and Berlin launched an investigation into the “serious” breach of secured communications.

    “What is being reported is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being investigated very carefully, very intensively and very quickly,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Rome.

    Germany’s military has also confirmed the leaked recording, but officials have avoided weighing in the actual content of what was said pending an internal investigation:

    A German defense ministry spokeswoman confimed to AFP that the ministry believes a conversation in the air force division was “intercepted”.

    “We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version that is circulating on social media,” the spokeswoman said. Experts consulted by Der Spiegel magazine said they believed the recording was authentic.

    Germany’s Ministry of Defense said per the country’s dpa: “According to our assessment, a conversation within the Air Force was intercepted. We cannot currently say with certainty whether changes have been made to the recorded or written version that is circulating on social media.”

    AFP further writes that “Topics include aiming the missiles at targets such as a key bridge over the Kerch strait linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.”

    Taurus missile, South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images

    Additionally the potential supply of Taurus long-range air-to-surface missile to Kiev is a major focus of the conversation. The Franco-British cruise missile Storm Shadow also receives mention. 

    Importantly, it seems none other than Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz – the commander of the national air force, is among the four voices heard in the audio among top generals within the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces.

    A particularly damning section of the audio for which Moscow is currently demanding answers from German leaders…

    They are heard openly discussing “interesting targets” including the “bridge in the east” and nearby “ammunition depots”. 

    Of course, the vital 12-mile bridge which spans the Kerch Strait and connects Crimea with mainland Russia was already previously severely damaged and briefly knocked out of commission in a major July 2023 missile or drone attack from Ukraine. Prior to that in October 2022 a truck bomb detonated on the bridge, resulting in parts of the roadway collapsing into the water below.

    Those prior attacks were suspected to have had Western intelligence help, given the sophistication of the operations. Are the German officers caught in the audio possibly plotting another future attack? (Or alternately some of the contents or references could predate the prior attacks on the bridge, timeline-wise). Third time’s a charm? Most likely, this is a very recent conversation wherein they talk about a future potential attack:

    In the 38-minute recording, military officers discuss the question of how the Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Ukraine. A debate has been taking place in Germany over whether to supply the missiles as Ukraine faced setbacks on the battlefield after two years of war, and with military aid from the United States being held up in Congress.

    Earlier this week Scholz said he remains reluctant to send the Taurus missiles to Ukraine, pointing to a risk of Germany becoming directly involved in the war. His hesitancy is a source of friction in his three-party coalition and also annoyed Germany’s conservative opposition.

    But in the purported audio recording, German officers discuss the theoretical possibility of the missiles being used in Ukraine.

    Listen to more snippets from the Crimean Bridge section of the recording:

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 14:35

  • Congress Must Investigate John Podesta's Role In Biden's LNG Decision
    Congress Must Investigate John Podesta’s Role In Biden’s LNG Decision

    Authored by Larry Behrens via RealClear Wire,

    Ever since 2016, talk to a liberal and there’s a good chance that they will blame “Russia” for something. Election interference, inflation, record-high gas prices, the list goes on and on. Since taking office, Joe Biden continues to take this deflection to a new level. As a gallon of gas soared past $5 in the summer of 2022 it was all Russia’s fault. And who can forget the ill-fated #PutinsPriceHike campaign as Team Biden tried to dodge criticism for skyrocketing inflation.

    Yet according to recent revelations, there may be more to Biden’s “America Last” energy policy than meets the eye, and again, Russia enters the picture.

    According to a bombshell report from the Washington Free Beacon, the decision to halt American liquified natural gas (LNG) exports was pushed by Biden’s new Climate Czar John Podesta, who recently took over for John Kerry.

    As a well-known climate warrior, it makes sense Podesta would be pushing for policies against American energy interests. Yet at the same time, Podesta’s brother, Tony, one of DC’s most well-connected mega lobbyists, has financial connections to foreign LNG companies, including one with links to a Russian oligarch. It is concerning to see the Podesta family standing to profit from a policy priority of the White House who employs another Podesta. Foreign companies, including Russia, are clear beneficiaries Biden’s LNG attack. It should be raising questions about potential conflicts of interest and profit motives at the White House.

    Even more troubling is the fact that this decision plays right into the hands of Vladimir Putin, the same dictator that Biden and his allies have been quick to blame for our country’s woes. By halting American LNG exports, Biden is handing Putin a wider energy market, allowing him to continue raking in billions while American energy workers suffer, and our families pay higher prices.

    As even the left-leaning Washington Post editorial board put it, “Biden’s LNG decision is a win for political symbolism, not the climate.”

    For the record, this is not the first time the Podestas were caught in ethical compromising situation. In 2019, Tony Podesta was investigated by the Southern District of New York for potential violations of foreign lobbying rules. Back in 2021, the same Podesta brother pocketed a cool $1 million by lobbying Biden in favor of Chinese telecommunications. Instead of tapping the brakes on this questionable influence, Joe Biden picked John Podesta to replace John Kerry and then put him in charge of the largest green slush fund in American history.

    At a time when the country is still facing too-high gas prices and inflation, it is unacceptable for the Biden administration to prioritize the interests of foreign companies, and his radical green supporters over those of American workers and consumers. It is imperative that Congress launch an investigation into these suspicious ties to uncover the truth behind Biden’s energy policy and determine whether there is any real Russian collusion at play.

    The House of Representatives deserves credit for investigating other elements of Biden’s green grift, including an electric vehicle battery deal that Ford reached with a Chinese company. It seems there is no end to the amount of our money Team Biden is willing to spend for more…green.

    It is time for Biden to put America first and prioritize the needs of the American people over the profits of foreign entities.

    It is time for Congress to step up and ensure that our energy policies are in the best interests of the country, not those of foreign oligarchs. The time for action is now. Let us demand the truth and hold our leaders accountable for their actions. Congress must investigate because America deserves nothing less.

    Larry Behrens is the Communications Director for Power The Future. He has appeared on Fox News, OANN and NewsMax speaking in defense of American energy workers. He is the author of the book “Sabotage: How Joe Biden Surrendered American Energy Independence.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 14:00

  • IRS To Retrieve Potentially Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars From Americans Who Failed To File Tax Returns
    IRS To Retrieve Potentially Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars From Americans Who Failed To File Tax Returns

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a new effort aimed at boosting tax revenue from taxpayers who haven’t filed returns for several years, with the initiative expected to net at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

    The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington, on June 28, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    The new initiative, announced on Feb. 29, focuses on 125,000 cases of taxpayers with annual incomes over $400,000 who didn’t file tax returns between 2017 and 2021.

    The IRS said it was tipped off by various types of third-party information indicating that these taxpayers received taxable income but failed to file a tax return.

    Information on these taxpayers indicates total financial activity of over $100 billion.

    “Even with a conservative estimate, the IRS believes hundreds of millions of dollars of unpaid taxes are involved in these cases,” the agency said in a statement.

    The IRS will soon start sending letters (known as CP59 notices) to the affected taxpayers at a rate of between 20,000–40,000 per week.

    The agency warned that people who receive these letters should take immediate action to avoid higher penalties and “increasingly stronger enforcement measures.”

    The penalty of failure to pay is 5 percent of the amount owed each month, up to a maximum of 25 percent of the tax bill.

    ‘Risk Will Just Grow’

    Roughly 25,000 cases involve taxpayers who made over $1 million in income, while around 100,000 pertain to non-filers with incomes between $400,000 and $1 million.

    In all cases, the IRS was tipped off by way of third-party information, including through Forms W-2 and 1099s, that these people received incomes within the above ranges between tax years 2017 and 2021.

    Some of these non-filers have multiple years included in each case, so the total number of taxpayers targeted by the new initiative will be smaller than the roughly 125,000 letters that will be sent out.

    “We cannot tolerate those with higher incomes failing to do a basic civic duty of filing a tax return,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.

    “For those who owe, the risk will just grow over time as will the potential for penalties and interest,” he added.

    The latest move is part of a broader IRS effort to ramp up tax enforcement thanks to a $60 billion funding boost from the Inflation Reduction Act.

    While the IRS has vowed to spare Americans earning less than $400,000 from its enforcement crackdown, a watchdog has cast doubt on the agency’s ability to make good on this pledge.

    New Compliance Crackdown

    The IRS announced four new initiatives in October that target high-income, high-wealth individuals, as well as large corporations.

    One of these thrusts is focused on U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies that distribute goods in the United States but don’t pay enough tax.

    “These foreign companies report losses or exceedingly low margins year after year through the improper use of transfer pricing to avoid reporting an appropriate amount of U.S. profits,” the agency said in a statement.

    The second initiative relates to the IRS Large Business & International Division’s (LB&I) Large Corporate Compliance (LCC) arm, which is being expanded and will be auditing an additional 60 big corporations with assets worth over $24 billion on average.

    The third initiative involves cracking down on abuse of a corporate tax break that was repealed several years ago, while the fourth targets individual taxpayers who make over $1 million in annual income and have over $250,000 in recognized tax debts.

    While the IRS has repeated time and again that it’s new enforcement crackdown won’t target Americans earning less than $400,000, a watchdog has cast doubt on this pledge and the agency’s chief hinted that this might inadvertently happen.

    The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which is the watchdog overseeing the IRS, said in a September report that the IRS would have a hard time making good on its $400,000 pledge because the agency doesn’t have a clear definition of “high income” and many of its tax enforcers still use an outdated $200,000 threshold as their default.

    Mr. Werfel said in recent testimony on Capitol Hill that his “marching order to the IRS” is not to increase audit rates for people making less than $400,000, but added that, “if we fall short of that, I will be held accountable,” hinting that even with the best intentions, there’s a chance overzealous enforcers might do so anyway.

    A separate watchdog report revealed that the IRS managed to rake in a record $4.9 trillion in taxes from Americans in the last fiscal year, in large part due to automated collections processes and aggressive audits.

    While the IRS is set to continue increasing its reliance on automated systems to squeeze more tax dollars from American taxpayers, it’s also looking to hire another 3,700 tax enforcers as it spends an extra $46 billion of the recent $60 billion funding boost on enforcement.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 12:50

  • Taibbi: MSNBC, Paul Krugman Panic Over "White Rural Rage"
    Taibbi: MSNBC, Paul Krugman Panic Over “White Rural Rage”

    Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

    This week in undisguised class hatred: the New York Times and MSNBC slobber over a new book on the domestic threat

    “Tom, I’ll start with you,” began Mika Brzezinski. “Why are rural white voters a threat to democracy at this point?”

    Fastball delivered, University of Maryland professor and co-author of just-released White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy Tom Schaller took a swing. He and Mika first complained rural voters should be supporting Joe Biden, given his roots — you’d have to be pretty high to call Scranton “rural,” but whatever — then Schaller read off small town America’s charge sheet: rural whites, he said, are the most “racist,” “xenophobic,” “anti-immigrant and anti-gay,” “conspiracist,” “anti-democratic,” they “don’t believe in an independent press or free speech,” and are “most likely to accept or excuse violence,” for starters.

    White Rural Rage, which I made the mistake of reading, is a vicious manifesto in the anti-populist tradition nailed by Thomas Frank in The People, No. When rural voters in the late 1800s defied New York banking interests and demanded currency reform to allow farmers an escape from one of the original “rigged games” in finance, relentless propaganda ensued. Rural populists were depicted as dirty, bigoted, ignorant. They refused expert wisdom, represented a “frantic challenge against every feature of our civilization,” and waged a “shameful insurrection against law and national honesty.” A populist caricature in Judge magazine showed a violent, destructive idiot, a real-life Lennie from still-unwritten Of Mice and Men, standing over the defiled corpse of civilized America:

    The theme is back, condescension multiplied. Despite a pandemic that just graphically demonstrated the social contributions of farmers, truckers, train operators, and other “essential workers,” the people working those jobs were demonized during the crisis as murderous horse-paste eaters and insurrectionists. Their chief crimes: protesting lockdowns and school closures that disproportionately affected them, and being consumers of supposed foreign-inspired “misinformation” that led them to refuse appropriate political choices offered them.

    Nobel-winning columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times spent the last year telling “ignorant” Middle America its negative feelings about the economy are “demonstrably false,” because despite what their bank accounts or home evaluations might say, “Bidenomics is still working very well.” When White Rural Rage came out this week he rushed to review it, the intransigent refusal of yokels to accept his wisdom being his favored current hobby horse. “The Mystery of Rural White Rage” is remarkable on multiple levels, one being that after spending so much energy talking about the health of the economy, he pulls out an economic version of Sam Kinison’s classic “Move to the Food!” routine:

    The decline of small-town manufacturing is a more complicated story, and imports play a role, but it’s also mainly about technological change that favors metropolitan areas with large numbers of highly educated workers. Technology, then, has made America as a whole richer, but it has reduced economic opportunities in rural areas. So why don’t rural workers go where the jobs are?

    He answers his question: “Some cities have become unaffordable… and many workers are reluctant to leave their families and communities.”

    To recap: globalization and technological change have devastated small towns and made the urban keyboard warriors richer, and rural voters can’t move to the cities because they can’t afford to. However, instead of being grateful for the “huge de facto transfers of money from rich, urban states like New Jersey to poor, relatively rural states like West Virginia” in the form of federal programs paid by the taxes of luckier citizens like Krugman, small town America is unaccountably hostile.

    Schaller and White Rural Rage co-author Paul Waldman make the same point, that “cities produce far more of the nation’s wealth,” and rural citizens are increasingly “subsidized by the taxes paid by higher-income metropolitans.” What gives? Why won’t they shut the fuck up?

    “For so long,” complained Waldman on Morning Joe, “Democrats have been told… that in order to get rural voters… you have to go there… you have to show them that you understand… You have to put on a Carhartt jacket and go down to somebody’s farm, right? Maybe milk a cow?”

    “Yes!” exclaimed* Mika.

    But it turns out, a sad Waldman pronounced, that you “don’t have to do any of that,” because Donald Trump didn’t. He just “gave [rural voters] a way to essentially give a big middle finger to Democrats, to people who live in cities and to the rest of the country.”

    The Morning Joe set looked perplexed.

    Why would that work better than wearing a Carhartt jacket and milking a cow? It didn’t make sense.

    Educated America. We’re in good hands!

    *The correct phrase is really “‘Yes,’ dipshitted Mika,” but I was afraid the usage would throw off some readers. For future reference, it may come up again

    Subscribe to Matt Taibbi’s Racket News substack here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 12:25

  • US Military Begins Airdropping Food Into Gaza
    US Military Begins Airdropping Food Into Gaza

    With the humanitarian disaster in Gaza growing more desperate each day, President Biden on Friday afternoon announced that the United States government would begin airdropping food and other supplies into the territory. Jordan has airdropped supplies in recent weeks, and Biden said that kingdom and other countries would join the effort.

    Biden’s announcement comes after a catastrophe that saw more than 100 Palestinians killed by some combination of Israeli Defense Forces gunfire and stampeding after they massed on a convoy of about 30 trucks that had arrived in Gaza City to distribute food in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday. It also comes after more than 100,000 Michigan Democrats voted “uncommitted” in the Tuesday primary election, with many in the battleground state doing so to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war. 

    A Palestinian man gives water to his baby at a refuge in the southern Gaza strip (Getty Images via Daily Mail)

    Over half of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents have been forced from their homes. In the IDF-pulverized north — where Thursday’s horror unfolded and hundreds of thousands still linger — one in six children under age 2 are acutely malnourished, according to an analysis by the Global Nutrition Cluster.

    More broadly, nearly 600,000 Palestinians in Gaza are near famine level, and disease is mounting. Driven to extreme measures, many are grinding animal feed into flour — and a toddler reportedly died last week after eating bread made that way. “We began to eat fodder and barley like animals in order to survive,” his weeping mother told al Jazeera.  

    Officials tell Reuters the US relief missions will begin as soon as this weekend. Planning for airdrops must be done with great care. “There’s few military operations that are more complicated than humanitarian assistance airdrops,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. 

    It appears the US airdrops have begun Saturday:

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

    “The biggest risk is making sure nobody gets hurt on the ground.” In addition to that peril, airdrops have the drawback of being relatively inefficient, with each drop only equaling between one and four truckloads of cargo.

    Delivering aid via trucks would be far safer and efficient — if only the trucks could get in to the beleaguered, 25-mile-long strip. On that front, Biden said the White House would be pressuring Israel to let relief flow. “We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need,” he said. Trucks laden with water and baby formula have sat for a month at Gaza’s border with Egypt, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

    A US Air Force cargo plane drops lightweight supplies (via Military.com)

    When Israel began its response to the Oct 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel that led to the deaths of 1,139 Israeli civilians, military personnel and foreigners, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the deprivation of food to Gaza civilians would be one of Israel’s tactics:

    “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

    Meanwhile, Israeli protesters have been attempting to prevent aid trucks from proceeding into Gaza. When reporters asked one of them, 32-year-old Rachel Touitou if she had any empathy for civilians in Gaza, she shrugged and said, “Should I have mercy on the children of today who will be the terrorists of tomorrow?”

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    About 90% of children in Gaza reportedly have some kind of infectious disease, with 70% suffering from diarrhea in the previous two weeks. ”Hungry, weakened and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick,” said Dr Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, “and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well. It’s dangerous, and tragic, and happening before our eyes.” Much, apparently, to the delight of Rachel Touitou and others. 

    Initial US airdrops are likely to consist of military Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) ration packets. On Friday, Biden told reporters that, in addition to airdrops and truck shipments, the administration would “seek to continue to open up other avenues…including the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance.”   

    Of course, no Biden appearance would be complete without the obviously failing president misnaming someone or something important. True to form, Biden twice said “Ukraine” when he intended to refer to Gaza. He was reading from a prepared statement, but things went wrong when he dared to speak on his own: 

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 03/02/2024 – 12:15

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Mar 02

Today’s News 2nd March 2024

  • 'A Rocky Road To De-Dollarization' – Pepe Escobar Interviews Sergei Glazyev
    ‘A Rocky Road To De-Dollarization’ – Pepe Escobar Interviews Sergei Glazyev

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    Very few people in Russia and across the Global South are as qualified as Sergei Glazyev, the Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Commission (EEC), the policy arm of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), to speak about the drive, the challenges and the pitfalls in the road towards de-dollarization.

    As the Global South issues widespread calls for real financial stability; India inside the BRICS 10 makes it clear that everyone needs to think seriously about the toxic effects of unilateral sanctions; and Professor Michael Hudson keeps reiterating current policies are not sustainable anymore, Glazyev graciously received me at his office at the EEC for an exclusive, extensive conversation, including fascinating off the record odds and ends.

    These are the highlights – as Glazyev’s ideas are being re-examined, and there’s huge expectation for the green light from the Russian government for a new trade settlement model – which for the moment is in the final stages of fine-tuning.

    Glazyev explained how his main idea was “elaborated a long time ago. The basic idea is that a new currency should be first of all introduced on the basis of international law, signed by the countries which are interested in the production of this new currency. Not via some kind of conference, like Bretton Woods, with no legitimacy. At the first stage, not all countries would be included. BRICS nations will be enough – plus the SCO. In Russia, we already have our own SWIFT – the SPFS. We have our currency exchange, we have correspondent relations between banks, consultation between Central Banks, here we are absolutely self-sufficient.”

    All that leads to adopting a new international currency: “We don’t really need to go large scale. BRICS is enough. The idea of the currency is that there are two baskets: one basket is national currencies of all countries involved in the process, like the SDR, but with more clear, understandable criteria. The second basket are commodities. If you have two baskets, and we create the new currency as an index of commodities and national currencies, and we have a mechanism for reserves, according to the mathematical model that will be very stable. Stable and convenient.”

    Then it’s up to feasibility: “To introduce this currency as an instrument for transactions would not be too difficult. With good infrastructure, and all Central Banks approving it, then it’s up to businesses to use this currency. It should be in digital form – which means it can be used without the banking system, so it will be at least ten times cheaper than present transactions through banks and currency exchanges.”

    That Thorny Central Bank Question

    “Have you presented this idea to the Chinese?”

    “We presented it to Chinese experts, our partners at Renmin University. We had good feedback – but I did not have the opportunity to present it on a political level. Here in Russia we promote the discussion via papers, conferences, seminars, but there’s still no political decision on introducing this mechanism even on the BRICS agenda. The proposal by our team of experts is to include it in the agenda of the BRICS summit next October in Kazan. The problem is the Russian Central Bank is not enthusiastic. The BRICS have only decided on an operating plan to use national currencies – which is also a quite clear idea, as national currencies are already used in our trade. Russian ruble is the main currency in the EAEU, trade with China is conducted in rubles and renminbi, trade with India and Iran and Turkiye also switched to national currencies. Each country has the infrastructure for it. If Central Banks introduce digital national currencies and allow them to be used in international trade, it’s also a good model. In this case crypto exchanges can easily balance payments – and it’s a very cheap mechanism. What is needed is an agreement from Central Banks to allow a certain amount of national currencies in digital form to participate in international transactions.”

    “Would that be feasible already in 2024, if there is political will?”

    “There are some start-ups already. By the way, they are in the West, and the digitalization is conducted by private companies, not Central Banks. So the demand is there. Our Central Bank needs to elaborate a proposal for the summit in Kazan. But this is only one part of the story. The second part is price. For the moment price is determined by Western speculation. We produce these commodities, we consume them, but we do not have our own price mechanism, which will balance supply and demand. During the Covid panic, the price for oil fell to nearly zero. It’s impossible to make any strategic planning for economic development if you do not control prices of basic commodities. Price formation with this new currency should get rid of Western exchanges of commodities. My idea is based on a mechanism that existed in the Soviet Union, in the Comecon. In that period we had long-term agreements not only with socialist countries, but also with Austria, and other Western countries, to supply gas for 10 years, 20 years, the basis of this price formula was the price for oil, and the price for gas.”

    So what stands out is the effectiveness of a long-term, long view policy: “We did create a long-term pattern. Here in the EEC we are looking at the idea of a common exchange market. We already prepared a draft, with some experiments. The first step is the creation of an information network, exchanges in different countries. It was rather successful. The second step will be to set up online communication between exchanges, and finally we move to a common mechanism of price formation, and open this mechanism for all other countries. The main problem is that the major producers of commodities, first of all the oil companies, they don’t like to trade through exchanges. They like to trade personally, so you need a political decision to make sure that at least half of production of commodities should go through exchanges. A mechanism where supply and demand balance each other. For the moment the price of oil in foreign markets is ‘secret’. It’s some type of colonial times thinking. ‘How to cheat’. We must create legislation to open all this information to the public.”

    The NDB in Need of a Shake-up

    Glazyev offered an extensive analysis of the BRICS universe, based on how the BRICS Business Council had its first meeting on financial services in early February. They agreed on a working plan; there was a first session of fintech experts; and during this week a breakthrough meeting may lead to a new formulation – for the moment not made public – to be put into the BRICS agenda for the October summit.

    “What are the main challenges within the BRICS structure in this next stage of trying to bypass the US dollar?”

    “BRICS in fact is a club which doesn’t have a secretariat. I can tell it, from a person that has some experience in integration. We discussed the idea of a customs union here, on the post-Soviet territory, immediately after the collapse. We had a lot of declarations, even some agreements signed by heads of state, over a common economic space. But only after the establishment of a commission the real work stated, in the year 2008. After 20 years of papers, conferences, nothing was done. You need someone who’s responsible. In BRICS there is such an organization – the NDB [New Development Bank]. If the heads of state decide to appoint the NDB as an institution which will elaborate the new model, the new currency, organize an international conference with the draft of an international treaty, this can work. The problem is that the NDB works according to the dollar charter. They have to reorganize this institution in order to make it workable. Now it works like an ordinary international development bank under the American framework. The second option would be to do it without this bank, but that would be much more difficult. This bank has enough expertise.”

    “Could an internal shake-up of the NDB be proposed by the Russian presidency of BRICS this year?”

    “We are doing our best. I’m not sure the Ministry of Finance understands how serious this is. The President understands. I personally promoted this idea to him. But the chairman of the Central Bank, and ministers are still thinking in the old IMF paradigm.”

    ‘Religious Sects Don’t Create Innovation’

    Glazyev had a serious discussion on sanctions with the NDB:

    “I discussed this issue with Mrs. Rousseff [the former Brazilian President, currently presiding the NDB) at the St. Petersburg Forum. I gave her a paper about it. She was rather enthusiastic and invited us to come to the NDB. But afterwards there was no follow-up. Last year everything was very difficult.”

    On BRICS, “the financial services working group is discussing reinsurance, credit rating, new currencies in fintech. That’s what should be in the agenda of the NDB. The best possibility would be a meeting in Moscow in March or April, to discuss in depth the whole range of issues of BRICS settlement mechanism, from most sophisticated to least sophisticated. It would be great if the NDB sign up for it, but as it stands there is a de facto gulf between the BRICS and the NDB.”

    The key point, insists Glazyev, is that “Dilma should find time to organize these discussions at a high level. A political decision is needed.”

    “But wouldn’t that decision have to come from Putin himself?”

    “It’s not so easy. We heard statements by at least three heads of the state: Russia, South Africa and Brazil. They publicly said ‘this is a good idea’. The problem, once again, is there is no task force yet. My idea, which we proposed before the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, is to create an international working group – to prepare in the next sessions the model, or the draft, of the treaty. How to switch to national currencies. That’s the official agenda now. And they have to report about that in Kazan [for the BRICS annual summit]. There are some consultations between the Central Banks and Ministers of Finance.”

    Glazyev cut to the chase when it comes to the inertia of the system: “The main problem for bureaucrats and experts is ‘why they don’t have ideas?’ Because they assume the current status quo is the best one. If there are no sanctions, everything will be good. The international financial architecture that was created by the United States and Europe is convenient. Everyone knows how to work in the system. So it’s impossible to move from this system to another system. For businesses it will be very difficult. For banks it will be difficult. People have been educated in the paradigm of financial equilibrium, totally libertarian. They don’t care that prices are manipulated by speculators, they don’t care about volatility of national currencies, They think it’s natural (…) It’s a kind of religious sect. Religious sects don’t create innovation.”

    Now Get on That Hypersonic Bicycle

    We’re back to the crucial issue of national currencies: “Even five years ago, when I spoke about national currencies in trade, everybody said it was completely impossible. We have long-term contracts in dollars and euro. We have an established culture of transactions. When I was Minister of Foreign Trade, 30 years ago, at the time I tried to push all our trade in commodities into rubles. I argued with Yeltsin and others, ‘we have to trade in rubles, not in dollars’. That would automatically make the ruble a reserve currency. When Europe moved to the euro, I had a meeting with Mr. Prodi, and we agreed, ‘we will use euro as your currency, and you will use rubles’. Then Prodi came to me after consultations and said, ‘I talked to Mr. Kudrin [former Russian Finance Minister, 2000-2011], he didn’t ask me to make the ruble a reserve currency’. That was sabotage. It was stupidity.”

    The problems actually run deep – and keep running: “The problem was our regulators, educated by the IMF, and the second problem was corruption. If you trade oil and gas in dollars, a large part of profits is stolen, there are a lot of intermediate companies which manipulate prices. Prices are only the first step. The price for natural gas in the first deal is about 10 times less than the final demand. There are institutional barriers. A majority of countries do not allow our companies to sell oil and gas to the final customer. Like you cannot sell gas to households. Nevertheless, even in the open market, quite competitive, we have intermediates between producer and consumer – at least half of the revenues are stolen from government control. They don’t pay taxes.”

    Yet fast solutions do exist: “When we were sanctioned two years ago, transfer from US dollar and euro to national currencies took only a few months. It was very quick.”

    On investments, Glazyev stressed success in localized trade, but capital flows are still not there: “The Central Banks are not doing their job. The ruble-renminbi exchange is working well. But the ruble-rupee exchange doesn’t work. The banks that keep these rupees, they have a lot of money, accrue interest rates on these rupees, and they can play with them. I don’t know who’s responsible for this, our Central Bank or the Indian Central Bank.”

    The succinct, key takeaway of Glazyev’s serious warnings is that it would be up to the NDB – prodded by the leadership of BRICS – to organize a conference of global experts and open it for public discussion. Glazyev evoked the metaphor of a bicycle that keeps rolling along – so why invent a new bicycle? Well, the – multipolar – time has come for a new hypersonic bicycle.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 23:40

  • The State Of Global Fertility
    The State Of Global Fertility

    South Korea broke its own record when it announced this week that as of 2023, its fertility rate had fallen to just 0.72 births per woman.

    The rate at which a population replaces itself between generations without migration stands at around 2.1.

    As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, the following map with comparable data between countries from 2021, shows that even then South Korea was one of only a few places in the world with a fertility rate below 1.

    Infographic: The State of Global Fertility | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    In Japan, which on Tuesday announced a 5 percent decline in births to a record low of 758,631, the birth rate remained at 1.26. This places the country among the approximately 90 in the world where populations are not growing independent of immigration. Also in this group are many nations from Europe, the Americas and Southeast Asia. Most of the countries losing fertility are better developed and reasons for the trend include greater access to contraception and more women being educated and heading to work.

    The story is different in the developing world where higher rates of fertility are fueling continued global population growth. The West African country of Niger had a fertility rate of 6.8 in 2021, the highest in the world listed by the World Bank, followed by Somalia, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Out of the 33 countries in the world where women had 4 or more children on average, 31 were in Africa that year.

    On average, women in 1963 were having 5.3 children in their lifetime and by 2021, that had more than halved to 2.3. During the same period, the global population rose by around 150 percent from 3.2 billion to 7.9 billion. The fact that populations kept (and keep) growing despite falling global fertility is tied to longer life expectancy and lower childhood mortality.

    The UN expects global fertility to reach the minumum replacement level of 2.1 by the middle of the century while global population is expected to start falling towards the end of it.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 23:20

  • Sen. Johnson's Senate Panel On The Vaccines Is The Red Pill We've All Been Waiting For
    Sen. Johnson’s Senate Panel On The Vaccines Is The Red Pill We’ve All Been Waiting For

    Authored by ‘A Midwestern Doctor’ via ‘The Forgotten Side Of Medicine’ substack,

    This excellent presentation meticulously breaks down exactly what went awry throughout COVID-19. What everyone needs to know is summarized below…

    Ron Johnson has gradually become one of my favorite senators in American history. In 2020, he repeatedly advocated for early COVID-19 treatments to be made available to Americans (which had they been made available would have ended the pandemic).

    Throughout 2021, he spoke out against the vaccine mandates and in November hosted a panel at the Senate which scrutinized the federal vaccine mandates and exposed how poorly those who experienced severe COVID-19 vaccine injuries were being treated. In January 2022, he hosted a panel which scrutinized the entire COVID-19 response, and in December of 2022, he hosted a panel focusing on everything we now know about the vaccines.

    Being one of the most outspoken critics of the vaccination program in American history got him a lot of pushback, and in 2022, he decided to postpone his retirement to go through a grueling re-election campaign so there would be someone in the government who could advocate for everyone whose lives had been ruined by the COVID vaccines.

    Despite being public enemy number one of the pharmaceutical industry, Johnson narrowly won, becoming the first politician in America’s history to run on the vaccine safety issue and win. Since then Johnson has kept his promise and fought for the vaccine injured (along with taking a variety of other difficult but important positions such as giving one of the most poignant speeches I’ve heard on the Ukraine War when he tried to block the Senate from continuing to fund it).

    A lot of work has gone into producing each of the vaccine panels he’s hosted. On Monday, he hosted “Federal Health Agencies and the COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?” When it was all said and done, I believe this panel was the most effective presentation I have seen for explaining what happened throughout COVID-19 and waking people up to how much they have been lied to. Because of this I strongly encourage you to watch or share his presentation with people who you think might be open to understanding exactly what was done to all of us. This article will begin with his entire panel:

    Note: I have been struggling to find the best term for these criminals. The four I’ve used are listed below; I would appreciate knowing what you think is the best one.

    What’s the best term for the COVID criminals?

    • The COVID Cartel

    • The Pandemic Profiteers

    • The Pandemic Industrial Complex

    • The Biosecurity Agenda

    Lastly, for those who prefer to read, a transcript of Johnson’s symposium can be found here.

    Note: for each of the videos embedded within this article, I (or the Vigilant Fox) edited them down to their most important parts. A lot of time was put into this article because of the importance of what was presented.

    Federal Health Agencies and the COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?

    Since the entire panel was 4 hours long, I recognize that many of you will not be able to watch all of it. For that reason, I tried to highlight what I felt were it’s most important parts.

    First, in Johnson’s opening statement, he discusses just how hard it has been over the last three years to get any of the information his office is legally entitled to from the government. For example with (Fauci’s) NIH:

    We are down to the last 50 pages [of the 4000 he originally requested]. They will not release these. It’s been now going close to 2 years. This is what has been provided to us. Do you think there might be some incriminating information in this?

    Likewise, these agencies have completely brushed off all evidence something is wrong. For example, with the NIH:

    Just like former NIH director Francis Collins Collins told me when I asked about all the deaths being reported on VAERS, [he said], “Senator, people die.” The fact that both of these statements are as true as they are callous highlights the challenge we face in exposing the truth.

    While with the FDA:

    I’ve written 4 [letters on hot-lots] starting in December of 2021. The first letter compared 25,000 lots of COVID vaccine to 22,000 lots of flu vaccine. One COVID lot had 5,297 adverse reactions associated with it. The worst flu lot had a 137. So 5,300 versus 137.

    365 COVID lots had more than 100 adverse events. Only 10 flu lots had more than 100. And 80% of the serious adverse events, those with emergency room visits, hospitalization, or death were associated with only 5% of the lots. So, again, to me, I’m from manufacturing. That shows to me a manufacturing process out of control.

    [It] took us a year to get some kind of response and, basically, response from the agencies was, “we don’t see any variation in lots.”

    Johnson then illustrates how the current political climate has undermined everything science once stood for:

    “Vaccine injuries are rare.” “The benefits outweigh the risk and that the science is clear and overwhelming.” “And anyone challenging this narrative is an is an anti science conspiracy theorist.” In other words, second opinions are not allowed. To me, this attitude is the antithesis of science.

    I am amazed at the knowledge mankind has obtained over the millennia. But I would argue that what we don’t know vastly exceeds what we do know. So as we pursue truth, we must pursue it with the humility that that reality demands.

    Johnson’s opening statement was then followed by Robert Malone:

    I’ll be succinct. The SARS CoV 2 modified mRNA based vaccine products were deployed via emergency use authorization without adequate nonclinical and clinical testing and without full disclosure of known patient risk and efficacy data. This violated well established legislatively mandated patient informed consent requirements. The FDA and HHS justified these actions as necessary due to reliance on deeply flawed modeling data indicating that SARS CoV 2 was associated with an infection fatality rate of 3.4%.

    Note: the IFR was subsequently shown to average between 0.018%-0.03% for everyone under 60 and was approximately 0.506% for those between 60-69 years of age.

    Subsequent clinical research experience has revealed a number of problems with the genetic vaccine technology based SARS COV 2 products, which have been marketed as vaccines. In most cases, there has been an effort to obscure or deny facts in public communication by government and pharmaceutical industry representatives.

    Malone then listed the key issues with the vaccines, to which Johnson replied:

    Doctor Malone, I think one of the things that always bothers me is [that] so much of what we’re learning in terms of harms of these vaccine was clearly known before they were rolled out.

    Jessica Rose spoke next. After concisely summarizing all of the issues that had been found within VAERS, she concluded with:

    Standard operating procedures for analysis of safety signals emergent from VAERS when utilized reveal causal links between the COVID 19 injectable products and the adverse events investigated. Standard operating procedures are not being followed by the owners of the data, namely CDC, HHS, and FDA, and this equates to hiding the millions of people reporting not only adverse events but injuries in the context of the COVID 19 injectable products.

    Note: Rose also reviews the science behind why vaccinated individuals keep on catching COVID-19.

    Edward Dowd then concisely presented the years of work his team has done to quantify just how devastating the vaccines have been for the world.

    To quote part of Dowd’s testimony:

    When analyzing the excess death human cost…in 2020, there were approximately 458,000 excess deaths, of which 73% were aged 65 and older and 15 to 64 comprising just 27%. However, in 2021, with the rollout of the “safe and effective vaccine,” there were approximately another 500,000 excess deaths, but a mix shift had occurred from older to younger. In 2021, the 65 plus age category was [only] 57…while the 15 to 64 cohort increased to 43%.

    The absolute excess death increase from 2020 to 2021 for the productive working age 15 to 64 was 73% [124,000 to 215,000].

    The total excess death since the rollout of the vaccine in the US, including 21, 22, and 23 is approximately 1,100,000. We estimate the economic cost, productive working age people dying at $15,600,000,000 When analyzing disabilities, it’s interesting to note that there were no excess disabilities in 2020.

    Using the civilian labor force, we have calculated an increase of 2,300,000 individuals with disabilities costing the economy an estimated $77,000,000,000. When analyzing lost work time, which we call injuries, we estimate 28,400,000 individuals are chronically absent resulting in an estimated economic cost of a $135,000,000,000 since 2021…Obviously, the policy cure was undeniably worse than the illness.

    Kevin McKernan then discussed his groundbreaking discovery that there was widespread DNA plasmid contamination of the COVID vaccines and how horrendously the drug regulators have responded to that discovery.

    This work has been replicated by many labs around the world, and now the FDA, the EMA, and even Health Canada, have admitted to this. The regulatory agents have admitted that Pfizer also omitted the SV40 sequences that are in their vaccine. They’ve deemed this contamination to be of little consequence, claiming the DNA is of too little concentration to matter or to be containing DNA of no functional consequence. These statements are false and are not supported by any independent testing by these regulators.

    After the regulators have admitted to being deceived, they asked the opinion of the party that deceived them how bad was the deception. They shockingly believe the answer they were given, which is that these sequences have no relevance to plasmid manufacturing. As someone who has worked on the Human Genome Project manufacturing millions of plasmids, I can assure you that this is an overt lie. DNA contamination can lead to insertional mutagenesis. This is actually declared in Moderna’s own patent regarding the mRNA vaccines.

    This is also supported by Lim et al, which speaks to the rate of spontaneous integration in the genome during transfection. We are using transfection after all with LMPs. The SV40 DNA is in fact functional. It is published as a potent gene therapy tool in a nuclear targeting sequence as described by David Dean et al.

    The SV40 promoter DNA is also known to bind to the tumor suppressor gene known as p53.

    Note: p53 defects are commonly linked to cancers.

    We’ve applied these vaccine system cancer cell lines and have evidence that it enters the cell and can survive several cell divisions. We have preliminary evidence, although this requires replication in other labs, that this DNA can integrate into the genome. We found 2 spike sequence integration events in ovarian cancer cell lines of CAR 3 into chromosome 12 and 19 very recently. Since these vaccines were expected to only contain mRNA, they were never assessed for genotoxicity studies. These studies were therefore being conducted as guinea pig US citizens as we witnessed an unprecedented rise in cancer drug sales since the vaccines rolled out.

    It is time for our representatives to repeal or review the PDUFA Act of 1992.  This act allows regulators to defray the cost of regulation by accepting payments directly from the companies they regulate. Over half of the FDA’s budget is sourced through this act.

    Note: I discussed the significance of the vaccine plasmid contamination in more detail here.

    Dr. David Gortler (who previously served as a senior advisor at the FDA) then explains why the contamination and widespread variability we are seeing in the vaccines (e.g., the hot lots) being completely ignored is so unprecedented:

    Federal rules requiring ingredient transparency date all the way back, believe it or not, to 1862 [and] it’s the whole reason the FDA was started in 1906. Prior to COVIDsRNA injections, the FDA had approved 4 different RNA based products. Onpattro, shown here, was the 1st RNA product approved back in 2018…as you can see by looking at this label, Onpattro prominently details the exact structure, milligram strength, and molecular weight. Highlighted in green at the very top, you’ll see it specifies [what its] lipid nanoparticles are engineered for.

    In contrast to the previous labels I’ve shown, here is the official FDA label for COVID RNA injections. As you can see just looking at it, it details a lot less information. We don’t [even] have the structure.

    Of note, in pharmacology, even very minor deviations in any molecular structure can mean the difference between a drug and a poison…The lack of transparency means that scientists can’t use modeling to test lipid nanoparticles for safety receptor specificity or analyze inequality [in batches of those products].

    Unfortunately, around 70% of the 127 page document that explains the methodology to perform quality control on RNA injections are redacted much like the document I’ve shown here.

    Next Dr. Harvey Risch discusses the “crushingly obsessive push to COVID vaccinate every living person on the planet” and provides a concise overview of the horrific bioweapons industry which gave birth to COVID-19 and then tried to pivot to vaccinating everyone rather than accept responsibility for what it had done.

    Note: This catastrophic industry is discussed in more detail here (e.g., I highlighted how numerous modern diseases are the results of lab leaks).

    Next, Barbara Loe Fisher, an activist who has spent decades fighting for vaccine safety shared the broader context of what we are now dealing with.

    I worked with parents in congress to secure safety and informed consent provisions in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. It was an historic law, the first official acknowledgment by government that federally licensed and state mandated vaccines can and do injure and kill some children. In January, my eyewitness perspective of how and why child vaccine victims and their parents were betrayed after that law was passed 38 years ago, was featured in a 2 hour conversation I had on the Highwire.

    I encourage everyone to watch it and learn how parents trusted that the 5 years of work we put into that 1986 act to successfully secure life saving, informing, recording, reporting, and research provisions in it, and to protect the legal right of vaccine victims to sue vaccine manufacturers for product design defects, and to sue negligent doctors for medical malpractice, and to create an expedited, more just, less traumatic federal vaccine injury compensation system alternative to a lawsuit were all destroyed by congressional amendments, by federal health agencies, and the US Supreme Court after that law was passed. Following that betrayal of trust, Congress directed federal agencies to create lucrative public private business partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, a business deal that has broken America’s public health system.

    Note: I previously wrote about how the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act forced the government to create VAERS (as parents had no way to report vaccine injuries) and ever since that time, the government has done everything it could to undermine VAERS.

    Johnson then shares a poignant observation with Fisher that illustrates how effectively the pharmaceutical industry has bought out our media:

    By the way,I became aware of you from that excellent documentary which I would also recommend. What struck me about [it] is back then in 1982 through 1986, you could talk about these things. You could advocate for your child who’s vaccine injured.  You weren’t ostracized. You were actually welcomed here in the senate by people like Senator Hatch and Senator Kennedy and you got this [law] signed by Ronald Reagan.

    To which Fisher replies:

    I never imagined when I began this work in 1982 that the day would come when I would not be able to exercise freedom of thought and conscience in the country I love. And I thank you for allowing me to exercise that right today.

    Next, Bryan Hooker, the parent of a severely vaccine injured adult son shares his 23 years of work (e.g., 15 peer-reviewed papers) to get the data on vaccine injury the CDC has been hiding for decades.

    In 1962, children received 5 vaccine doses, and in 1986, the schedule expanded to 25 doses of 5 different vaccine formulations. Shortly after the passage of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, the law was amended to essentially erect a liability shield protecting vaccine manufacturers, and the schedule expanded dramatically. By 2023, 73 doses of 16 different vaccine formulations were given to children up to age 18. [As we discovered through lawsuits] the FDA approved these formulations individually only with minimal and inadequate safety testing, and the CDC has never tested the cumulative effect of the vaccine schedule on childhood health outcomes.

    Since [proper trials] are really the only way to establish that a pharmaceutical product is safe, it is misinformation to state that the vaccines are safe.

    However, independent researchers have assessed the outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children.

    This [study] demonstrates that vaccinated children were at least twice as likely to be diagnosed with developmental delays, ear infections, and gastrointestinal disorders.

    [In this study] a control group of over 1800 unvaccinated children recruited from 46 different states in the US were compared to the national average rates of the listed disorders…For each of the autoimmune, neurodevelopmental, and other disorders considered, the unvaccinated group fares much better with incidence rates between 4-20 times lower than their vaccinated counterparts.

    The CDC has a database called the vaccine safety data link. It’s over 10,000,000 individuals with 2,000,000 children from 10 participating HMOs.  I would say that within that database, there were at least 10,000 unvaccinated children that can be studied.

    Neither do they they publish the results [discovered from that data], nor do they let any independent scientist in to look at that information. [That’s] because [they know] the bloated vaccination schedule is responsible is in part responsible for the epidemic of chronic disorders that we see in children in the United States.

    Note: Hooker also discusses the evidence the COVID-19 vaccine harms children (e.g., that it appears to kill 30 children for each child it saves from COVID and has given many of our children myocarditis).

    Next, Del Bigtree discusses the decade of work he and the non-profit ICAN have conducted to get that data from the government:

    In his talk, he puts the results of a recent study which monitored 99 million people for 45 days post vaccination into context. It found that their risk for a variety of severe conditions increased by 2-7 times, something which quickly adds up as you when consider how many of those “rare” conditions exist (that often take more than 45 days to appear) and how many vaccines they’ve received. These results is turn sheds a light on exactly what’s been happening to our children.

    Every one of the childhood vaccines has a similar [lengthy] list of [severe] side effects. Though they are considered rare, how rare is it when you multiply roughly 50 potential side effects 72 times, which is the total number of doses given to a child by the time they’re 18. The revelations from the recent study of the COVID vaccine explains what we have been saying for years. Vaccines are not completely safe, and [though] those side effects are rare. What happens when you add them altogether?

    Bigtree then shows this slide (which references this study and this study):

    Next, Dr. Sabine Hazan shared how her [self-funded] research to evaluate the use of existing therapies to treat COVID-19 was blocked by the FDA, her discovery that the severity of COVID-19 was directly linked to a loss of bifidobacteria in the gut and that the vaccine also caused a loss of bifidobacteria in the gut.  She then contrasted this to how previous research she did (which supported the pharmaceutical industry) never ran into similar road blocks.
    Note: I synopsized that research here.

    Pierre Kory then discussed the lengthy number of mechanisms which are in place to ensure that repurposed (off-patent) drugs can never have enough evidence to be acknowledged as treatments for a disease someone is profiting off of.

    Note: this talk has already been seen by over 1.6 million people on Twitter.

    Next, Christian Perron MD PhD (former chairman of the WHO’s committee on vaccines and communicable diseases) recounted how early in the pandemic, he completed a study which showed hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin dramatically lowered the death rate from COVID-19. A political backlash forced the withdraw of his study and he was fired from his 26 year professorship.

    Before long France then banned the use of hydroxychloroquine and began enacting harsher and harsher sanctions against French dissidents like Perron who tried to tell the truth—eventually forcing Perron to publish in a French newspaper which had originally been created to defy the Nazis (as every other publication censored him).

    Perron was followed by Raphael Lataster PhD, who is one of the leading researchers working with the BMJ (one of the top 5 medical journals) to expose the fraud within the COVID vaccine trials:

    These [abhorrent] policies [e.g., the vaccine mandates] were justified via claims about the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety. Now recent research published in major medical journals reveals that these claims were highly exaggerated…we have found in the studies varying definitions of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated. And, generally, what we find with the term fully vaccinated is that they are ignoring COVID cases, COVID infections, in the partially vaccinated…that effect was found to be up to 48% using data from Pfizer’s trial as an example.

    We can’t be sure what the actual exaggeration is because we aren’t supplied with all the data. So it’s impossible to actually know. But it looks like there are huge exaggerations of effectiveness because of what you could call manipulation of the data. So if these [omitted COVID cases] were included, or if even just some of these were included, we could have an effectiveness of the vaccines of around 10%…[which]is well below the 50% required for approval. Furthermore, looking to safety in the clinical trials, adverse effect counting windows are again incredibly short.

    Note: Lataster also discusses many of the safety issues with the vaccines that were demonstrated within the trial data but hidden from the public (e.g., that the vaccines have a significant risk of myocarditis) and states “now Pfizer also admits that they’re still trying, this is a quote ‘to determine if Cominati is safe and effective and if there is a myocarditispericarditis association that should be noted’. That’s on clinicaltrials.gov still right now. They’re trying to find out if it’s safe and effective right now.”

    Award winning investigative journalist Lara Logan then provides a poignant summary of how her profession has been hijacked by the government and how a variety of shadowy organizations now enforce this vast propaganda apparatus.  This was the most compelling part of her talk:

    Note: Her testimony was followed by one from Jason Christoff, a propaganda expert, who explained why flooding the population with a single narrative and way of thinking has caused many people to adopt completely dysfunctional beliefs at odds with everything they’d held dear

    They were then followed by Rodney Palmer, who was a Canadian journalist for 20 years, sharing his perspectives on the current state of the media.

    If the news reporters did their jobs instead of reporting propaganda, this fraud would have been exposed from the outset.

    Censorship is what actually caused these deaths. It was the lie that assured us it was safe when it wasn’t, and it still isn’t

    In America, it’s much worse. The vaccine companies are allowed to sponsor the news directly…To a visiting Canadian, the news here looks like one big ad for pharmaceutical products. It’s a bit of a culture shock when you turn on the TV. There wouldn’t even be a US newscast without Pharma ads. So the reporters on your newscasts are all conflicted.

    They can’t bite the hand that feeds them. They can’t possibly investigate the most important stories of our time.

    It appears that the reporters are actually colluding with their sponsors to break FDA advertising laws.  FDA law requires them to conspicuously describe the known risks of any pharmaceutical product [which news anchors promoting vaccines never do.

    The good news is no one believes the TV news anymore. Only 15% of Canadians, 15%, are getting the boosters.

    [The media has] now canceled lunchtime news hours. It’s canceled weekend newscasts. After these reporters are laid off, we’ll only be left with the trusted favor of the trusted faces of our favorite news anchors, delivering the propaganda of the day, instead of the news of the day. But when those trusted faces are telling us lies, they’re like a super weapon aimed directly at us. The news anchors are now the finger on the trigger in that game of Russian roulette.

    When the news is poisoned, so is Democracy…most every other country is letting this happen, but where goes America, so goes the world. You have a unique role in setting the moral tone for Western democracies.

    So I respectfully recommend that the senate investigate the role of American television news networks, including with pharmaceutical advertisers to skirt the FDA laws that require them to declare the known risks of a pharmaceutical product. This investigation should extend to any reporters, news anchors, editors, and executives who lied to their audience about the safety of the COVID vaccines.

    Note: Palmer also describes how he gradually saw the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry enter Canada’s media over the last decade. One of the most compelling observations he shared was that during the pandemic, the doctors who spoke on television didn’t talk like doctors but instead appeared to have corporate media training, which he took as an early sign a lengthy PR campaign was being enacted to sell as many vaccines as possible.

    Next, Matthias Desmet provided a concise summary of the crowd psychology which explained how it was possible for so many people to refuse to see what was being hidden from them, even thing after thing happened which made it clear we were all being lied to:

    Note: I recently completed an article relating Desmet’s work on crowd psychology to how individuals commonly become trapped in cults and dangerous spiritual practices.

    Brett Weinstein then describes the institutional breakdown gripping our society and the malicious forces which are taking away each thing we had previously depended upon for truth and justice (e.g., our premier scientific apparatus).  I wanted to quote one exchange he had with Johnson:

    [Johnson] Now I kind of want to ask you, I describe my eyes being opened up, certainly during COVID to a number of things…Can you just describe your [red pill] journey here?

    [Weinstein] Well, I think we are all on a similar journey. I did not think that I was naive 7 years ago, and then I learned that I had been very naive and I keep learning that lesson. Each new discovery reveals that I was missing something that was right in front of me, and I think that’s actually the hallmark of the exact pattern I’m describing.

    Canadian Randy Hillier served in Ontario’s parliament for 15 years and was the first member to publicly oppose his government’s response to COVID. Like Canada’s citizens, Hillier was targeted by the government for doing so, and argues we are at the tip of a slippery slope with this.  In this part of his testimony, he shares how Ontario’s leadership told him they made the decision to continually coverup the damage of the COVID policies because they felt the political consequences would be too severe if they admitted their mistakes:

    Next, Dr. Sorin Titus Muncaciu shared his experience as a Romanian member of parliament who watched the central authorities use every tool at their disposal to forcefully vaccinate Romania.

    We are a party having probably 10% of the votes we got in the parliament in 2020, and we, from the very beginning of this pandemic, we decided that the rights of the people to decide if they accept, or [do not accept receiving] an experimental drug should be respected.

    When the European Union started behaving like the USSR with those commissars coming to us and mister Barnier came to Romania. This gentleman was the commissioner for internal affairs of the European Union and pushed us, pushed the Romanian parliament to vote [for COVID vaccine mandates].

    But in Romania the problem they face is that we are 40 years after a communist dictatorship, 30, 34 years after a communist dictatorship. And it’s in our genes to distrust the government because we knew every time a communist government is saying anything or is directing anything, we knew that’s a lie, that’s something that we should not trust or we should not follow.

    We did everything in the book that we could to stop that and we stopped it. And, as a consequence to that, the Romanian rate of vaccination was probably less than half of what the other European countries experienced or United States, Canada and Australia [experienced]. And, therefore we can compare now the low rate and the excess mortality. And that’s the best proof I can bring to the table is the fact that having a relationship between a low rate of vaccination and low excess mortality, which is right there you see it on the, Romania is the last country on the right which means we have negative excess mortality while all the other countries in Europe have positive excess mortality.

    Rob Roos (a European member of Parliament) and Phillip Kruse (a lawyer) then discussed who actually funds the WHO and the disastrous treaty it is trying to sneak through which will force everyone to comply with the pandemic cartel and silence anyone who challenges their next pandemic response.

    Note: I discussed this treaty and the grass roots effort to stop it in more detail here. I consider that article to be one of the most important articles I’ve published on Substack.

    Finally, Ryan Cole concluded the talk by discussing how he was punished for speaking out, how everything which happened throughout the pandemic has violated our fundamental constitutional rights and how critical it is for us to reclaim what our Founding Fathers fought for.

    Note: for anyone considering being a whistleblower, Johnson requested for you to contact his office here.

    Conclusion

    Since Johnson packed this presentation with so many impactful points, it was quite hard to decide which was the best one to conclude it with. Eventually however, I settled on this one, which while brief, I believe is the critically important message all Americans can agree with:

    It is remarkable how much each successive panel Johnson has hosted has improved upon the one which preceded it. I consider this to be both a product of how dedicated each participant has been to fixing this mess and how much the alternative media has facilitated the production of high quality information that has rapidly unravelled the immensely complex web we were trapped within.

    Without each of your supporting the wonderful community of dissident authors on Substack, much of this would likely have never happened, and I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to be part of it.

    Lastly, if you have anyone close to you who is on the fence about the vaccines, please consider sharing this article or a video of Johnson’s panel with them; it’s something than can persuade people who are at last beginning to become open to hearing the truth and we have reached the moment where it is critical for the truth to reach as many people as possible.

    The Forgotten Side of Medicine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 23:00

  • Details Of 'Sabotaged' Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal In First Months Of War Revealed
    Details Of ‘Sabotaged’ Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal In First Months Of War Revealed

    The Wall Street says it has gotten its hands on a secretive document revealing the details of a failed Ukraine-Russia peace deal that was on the table within the opening months of the war. Since then there have been several reports, including from Foreign Affairs which said the UK at the time sought to sabotage the deal.

    The draft peace treaty was drawn up by negotiators from both sides in April 2022, and reveals the thinking and objectives of Moscow at the time. The 17-page document has never been made public, with the WSJ for the first time on Friday divulging key sections and points.

    Dated April 15, 2022, the document is said to lay out an agreement that turns Ukraine into a “permanently neutral state that doesn’t participate in military blocs”. It further stipulated that Ukraine must not build up its military using Western support and that Crimea must remain under Russian control.

    Back when negotiations were taking place during the opening six weeks of the war, via AP

    The WSJ analysis admits that there were some deep concessions on the table from the Ukraine side, and further underscores many of these things would likely remain in place in any future deal where Ukraine would no doubt be inflicted with even more compromises given its forces are currently being rolled back by superior Russian military might.

    “The draft treaty states that Ukraine, while being allowed to pursue European Union membership, wouldn’t be allowed to join military alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” according to the report. “No foreign weapons would be allowed on Ukrainian soil.”

    And importantly, “Ukraine’s military would be pared down to a specific size.” The proposed deal even sought to impose permanent limitations on the Ukraine armed forces’ troop numbers: “Russia sought to limit everything from the number of troops and tanks to the maximum firing range of Ukrainian missiles.”

    Another key point dealt with the role of the Russian language in Ukrainian society. Some two-thirds of the country at least knows Russian, while much of the eastern portion that includes the Donbas speaks Russian as their first language. The document reportedly sought to ensure the Russian language had an equal status in Ukrainian government ministries and in courts. The Zelensky government has since the war’s start sought to aggressively limit and even stamp out Russian in the public sphere.

    According to more context of the draft deal from the WSJ:

    The future of the area of eastern Ukraine covertly invaded and occupied by Russia in 2014, wasn’t included in the draft, leaving it up to Putin and Zelensky to complete in face-to-face talks. That meeting never took place.

    The treaty was to be guaranteed by foreign powers, which are listed on the document as including the U.S., U.K, China, France and Russia. Those countries would be given the responsibility to defend Ukraine’s neutrality if the treaty were violated. But while the treaty held, guarantors would be required to “terminate international treaties and agreements incompatible with the permanent neutrality of Ukraine” including any promises of bilateral military aid. The international security guarantees wouldn’t apply to Crimea and Sevastopol.

    Negotiations stopped completely by June of that year, and there were widespread reports months after indicating that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged Zelensky not to make a deal with Moscow.

    Meanwhile, entering the third year of this horrific and tragic conflict which has taken countless lives:

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

    Hundreds of billions in arms and funding have since been poured into Kiev and its war effort, and tragically likely hundreds of thousands have died. So much death and destruction could have been averted if an early deal had been reached and held, and backed by external powers.

    The WSJ gives specifics on troop limitations from the 17-page document in the following: 

    The draft treaty with Ukraine included banning foreign weapons, “including missile weapons of any type, armed forces and formations.” Moscow wanted Ukraine’s armed forces capped at 85,000 troops, 342 tanks and 519 artillery pieces. Ukrainian negotiators wanted 250,000 troops, 800 tanks and 1,900 artillery pieces, according to the document. Russia wanted to have the range of Ukrainian missiles capped at 40 kilometers (about 25 miles). 

    But Ukraine is now likely in for more severe restrictions on any future Ukrainian state and military, should there ever be a negotiation for the end of the war reached (assuming Moscow and NATO don’t stumble into direct war by then).

    Bloomberg on Thursday issued a report predicting total collapse of the Ukrainian front lines by summer, as the headline suggests (Ukraine Sees Risk of Russia Breaking Through Defenses by Summer): “Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russian advances could gain significant momentum by the summer unless their allies can increase the supply of ammunition, according to a person familiar with their analysis,” the report said. Will peace settlement talks begin at that point, or will the West intervene even more forcefully? 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 22:40

  • Third-Party Candidates Will Swing The Election
    Third-Party Candidates Will Swing The Election

    Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

    Although my focus is on markets rather than politics, it’s impossible to forecast markets without understanding what’s going on in the political realm. While there are important Senate and House races this year, all eyes are focused on the presidential race likely (as of now) to be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

    A Trump vs. Biden (if he makes it) replay of the 2020 election could be close and is difficult to predict this far in advance. But we can say that the simple narrative of Trump vs. Biden does not come close to capturing the complexities of what’s ahead.

    In the first place, Biden may not even be the Democratic nominee because of his obvious physical and mental disabilities. I’ll save the Biden story for another day. For now, let’s look at the other wild card affecting the 2024 election — the role of third parties.

    Most observers disregard third-party candidates. They typically get 1–2% of the vote, don’t come close to winning individual states and have no impact on the final electoral results. That’s true, but there are some important historical exceptions.

    To understand the potential impact of third parties and get a preview of what might happen this year, we need to look at three critical elections. In reverse chronological order, they are 1992, 1968 and 1912.

    In 1992, Ross Perot won about 19% of the popular vote (that’s huge for a third-party candidate) but he won no states. Still, his impact on the final result was enormous. Perot was an early version of “America First.” He leaned conservative, although he had unconventional views on a number of policy issues. On balance, he took more votes from George H.W. Bush than he did from Bill Clinton.

    In the end, Clinton won with 43% of the vote and carried 32 states (plus D.C.) compared to 37.5% of the vote and 18 states for George H.W. Bush. But if Perot’s 18.9% of the vote were divided two-thirds for Bush and one-third for Clinton (as some analysts suggest), Bush might easily have won several more states.

    Moving those electoral votes from the Clinton column to the Bush column would have changed the outcome of the election. Perot marked the downfall of Bush’s chances for a second term.

    In 1968, George Wallace as a third-party candidate actually did win five states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia) and got 46 electoral votes. But that was not enough to stop Nixon, who won 32 states and got 301 electoral votes.

    The key to Nixon’s victory was the dismal performance of Hubert Humphrey, who won only 13 states (plus D.C.) and got 191 electoral votes. The popular vote was much closer, 43.4% for Nixon and 42.7% for Humphrey, but the popular vote doesn’t count; it’s the electoral vote that decides elections. The lesson of 1968 is that even when a third-party wins states, it does not necessarily stop a major party candidate from winning the election outright.

    An even more interesting case is 1912. This election involved Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), William Taft (Republican) and Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose). Roosevelt had been president from 1901–1909 but stepped aside in 1909 to allow Taft to succeed him.

    In 1912, Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination but lost. At that point, Roosevelt formed his new Bull Moose third party and ran in the general election.

    Wilson got 40 states and 435 electoral votes, a landslide. Roosevelt actually ran ahead of Taft. TR got six states and 88 electoral votes. Taft finished third with two states and 8 electoral votes. (A fourth candidate, Eugene V. Debs, got 6% of the vote and no states running as a socialist.)

    The dynamic was also interesting. Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote about evenly, 27.4% for TR and 23.2% for Taft. Together, the Republicans had 50.6% of the vote, probably enough to win.

    Wilson got only 41.8% of the popular vote, but that was way ahead of TR and Taft when taken individually, so he won 40 states. The lesson of that election is when a major party feuds with itself, the other party wins big.

    So 1968 and 1912 are both cases in which a third party won a number of states (five for Wallace, six for Roosevelt), but still not enough to prevent a major party candidate from getting to 270 (depending on the year) electoral votes or much higher (Nixon was 301 and Wilson was 435). The 1992 election was one where the third party (Perot) won no states, but probably did change the outcome of the election in favor of Clinton.

    The 2024 election with third-party candidates looks like a blend of all three elections: 1992, 1968 and 1912.

    The third-party candidates running (so far) include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein.

    RFK Jr. is attempting to get on the ballot in key states on his own but may abandon that effort and become the Libertarian Party candidate. The Libertarian Party is already on the ballot in almost every state. The candidate and the party are in discussions and an announcement is expected in March.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being attacked by the media as a “fringe” candidate. In fact, he is one of the most thoughtful and truthful voices in politics today. Those qualities may transcend voter disagreement with particular policies.

    Jill Stein is running as the Green Party candidate and will be on the ballot in almost every state. She is not expected to win more than about 2% of the vote, but in certain states, 2% is enough to tip the election if the Green vote comes from Biden. This happened in 2016 when the Jill Stein vote in Wisconsin may have cost Hillary Clinton that state in a contest decided by less than 1% of the vote.

    Cornel West has not set up his own party yet but is endeavoring to get on the ballot in key states as RFK Jr. is. West is a socialist but is highly articulate and charismatic and will make a strong candidate. His efforts would also cost Biden votes in some key states.

    Finally, there is the No Labels Party. They have been spending millions of dollars to get on the ballot in all 50 states. They have not announced a candidate yet, but they are in discussions about a fusion ticket that would include Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Jon Huntsman (though Manchin has announced he won’t run).

    The idea would be to run down the middle that considers Trump too radical and Biden too senile. I don’t expect No Labels to win any states, but they will peel votes away from Biden, handing states to Trump. That could form the basis for a Trump electoral vote landslide similar to Wilson’s in 1912.

    The third parties combined — No Labels, RFK Jr., Libertarian, Cornel West and Jill Stein — could collectively take upwards of 20% of the vote like Perot in 1992. But they will principally take votes from the Democrats, the reverse of what TR did to Taft in 1912.

    This would guarantee a landslide victory for Trump like Nixon in 1968.

    It’s impossible to predict exactly how events will unfold. But it’s not difficult to see a wild election season with six credible parties fighting state-by-state and confounding the customary polls and pundits.

    Prepare for electoral and market volatility ahead.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 22:20

  • Why Are We Still Reliant On China For Our Biosecurity?
    Why Are We Still Reliant On China For Our Biosecurity?

    Authored by Matthew Turpin via RealClear Wire,

    The reports out of China arrived just before Thanksgiving. A surge in respiratory infections among children in the northern part of the country triggered a sense of foreboding — and Deja-vu. Meetings between the World Health Organization and Chinese officials quickly followed.

    The WHO’s conclusions brought some relief. The surge was caused by an “immunity gap” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein children had few defenses against influenza and other respiratory infections after years of quarantine.

    This episode should be a wake-up call for the U.S. national security establishment. We remain reliant on other nations, including countries of concern, like China, for critical intelligence needed to defend against biological dangers — whether naturally occurring, mistakenly released, or purposefully engineered. 

    That needs to change. It starts with expanded investment in the technological infrastructure that can monitor for and detect dangerous pathogens that could devastate our nation and economy.

    Since COVID-19, we’ve all become familiar with the risk posed by novel infectious diseases with pandemic potential. Just 30,000 base pairs of RNA — roughly one one-hundred-thousandth as many as the human genome contains — managed to shut down our planet.  

    And, as we know from our experience with the last pandemic, time is essential to stopping the spread and minimizing danger to people. We need a strategy for the rapid identification and understanding of emerging threats, as well as timely countermeasures once a threat has been intercepted.

    A sophisticated bio surveillance or “bio radar” network would include collection points where pathogens are most at risk of emerging or being identified as threats — including airports, borders, conflict zones, labs, and farms. Once bio radar systems leveraging DNA sequencing have detected a threat, we can create a digital fingerprint of the suspect pathogen’s genetic material and begin analyzing the level of risk and mitigation options. This creates true bio intelligence, or BIOINT.

    Artificial intelligence tuned to biological information like this can quickly begin analyzing the data collected from bio radar systems. And by learning to “speak DNA” the way chatbots can speak English, AI has the potential to identify anomalies and quickly inform development of genomic-informed countermeasures.

    Today, nodes in this bio radar network are already at work. We just need to connect the dots of this biosecurity infrastructure and expand its scale.

    Take the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program, which swabs international travelers arriving at various international airports. In August 2023, the Dulles International Airport location outside Washington D.C. flagged a sample from a U.S. resident returning from a multi-week trip to Japan. Analysis revealed that the traveler was carrying a new SARS-CoV-2 variant. After sequencing the variant, American authorities notified their counterparts in Japan.

    This same program identified the Omicron variant when it first arrived in the United States 43 days before it showed up in a clinical setting. 

    In other words, existing bio surveillance tools can find dangerous or novel pathogens before we would otherwise know they exist.

    Acting on that information in a timely fashion could help save lives — or even eliminate outbreaks or biological threats. Despite the lag in receiving information on SARS-CoV-2 from China, it didn’t take long for scientists to develop mRNA vaccine candidates against COVID-19 that proved effective.

    In its 2023 Biodefense Posture Review, the U.S. Department of Defense singles out four nations — North Korea, Russia, Iran, and the People’s Republic of China — as either having active offensive bioweapons programs or developing concerning dual-use capabilities in this area.

    We should assume that countries the United States considers adversaries are already at work on genetically engineered pathogens and other violations of the Biological Weapons Convention. 

    And yet, public health experts have consistently downplayed biothreats. The United Nations characterizes COVID-19 as a “once-in-a-lifetime pandemic”and the New England Journal of Medicine labels it a “once-in-a-century” event.

    Biothreats are a much more immediate danger. They’re potentially more catastrophic than most other risks. We build early-warning systems for hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. We build them for missile launches and the transport of nuclear material. The public and private sectors spend billions each year on cybersecurity. Why isn’t there a similar urgency about biosecurity?

    There’s no time to waste in addressing this truly neglected dimension of global security. We should be building a sophisticated bio radar, bio intelligence, and biosecurity system now before the next pandemic — engineered or otherwise — is at our doorstep.

    Matthew Turpin is a senior counselor at Palantir Technologies and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution specializing in U.S. policy towards the People’s Republic of China. From 2018 to 2019, Turpin served as the U.S. National Security Council’s Director for China and the Senior Advisor on China to the Secretary of Commerce.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 21:40

  • Biden Wants G7 To Give Russian Central Bank Funds To Ukraine, But France Resists
    Biden Wants G7 To Give Russian Central Bank Funds To Ukraine, But France Resists

    President Biden wants the G7 countries to develop a plan to eventually have Russia’s frozen sovereign assets handed over Ukraine in order to support the war effort, Bloomberg has reported. Bloomberg’s source have also said the US president has privately warned allies that Ukraine’s collapse, and a Russian victory, would signify the international order is effectively destroyed for at least the next half-century.

    “G-7 officials have been discussing options to use the $280 billion of immobilized Russian Central Bank assets, including using the money as collateral to raise debt or issuing guarantees against the frozen funds, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,” according to the report. Biden reportedly wants a firm plan proposed by the time of the Italy G7 summit in June. The US has been working behind the scenes to build consensus.

    Via AP

    The UK and Canada are reportedly on board, but not Germany and France. Earlier this week France firmly voiced its rejection of seizing the frozen Russian bank funds.

    “We don’t think this legal basis is sufficient,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said after the G7 finance ministers meeting in Brazil on Wednesday.

    “This legal basis must be accepted not only by the European countries, not only by the G7 countries, but by all the member states of the world community, and I mean by all the member states of the G20. We should not add any kind of division among the G20 countries.”

    Opponents, including of course Russian officials themselves, have highlighted that such a act would be outright and brazen theft.

    Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has warned in response, “We have ways to respond. We have also frozen sufficient volumes of financial assets and investments of foreign investors in our securities, all of which transfers we carry out for the owners of our securities.”

    Europe has to agree to any US push to freeze banks funds, since the bulk of Russia’s money – about $200 billion – is being held by European banks. In such a scenario Moscow may consider the ‘theft’ to be tantamount to an act of war.

    Still, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was undeterred when she was in Brazil this week. “It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction,” she had said from Sao Paulo, speaking to 20 finance ministers and central bank governors.

    “I believe there is a strong international law, economic, and moral case for moving forward. This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability,” she added.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 21:20

  • X Users Didn't Like A Paper's Tone And Findings, So They Got It Rejected
    X Users Didn’t Like A Paper’s Tone And Findings, So They Got It Rejected

    Authored by Ross Pomeroy via RealClear Wire,

    At Frontiers in Psychology, it seems that users on X are now part of the peer review process.

    On January 4th, the paper “Meta-analysis: On average, undergraduate students’ intelligence is merely average,” was accepted to the journal. That same day, the abstract was published with the notice that the “final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.”

    Soon thereafter, the paper went viral, quickly accruing over 54,000 views, wide discussion on X and Reddit, and coverage in popular media (including RCS). It garnered this attention for its intriguing yet simultaneously obvious finding: over the past 80 years, as a far greater proportion of North Americans attended college, the average IQ of college undergraduates dropped from around 120 to 102, just slightly above the average of 100.

    As the authors, Bob Uttl, a psychologist and faculty member at Mount Royal University, and his students Victoria Violo and Lacey Gibson, noted, “The decline in students’ IQ is a necessary consequence of increasing educational attainment over the last 80 years. Today, graduating from university is more common than completing high school in the 1940s.” College students no longer come solely from the ranks of the highly intelligent and privileged, they come from all corners of society. Uttl and his colleagues noted that this has implications. For example, academic standards and curricula might have to be adjusted. Moreover, employers can’t assume that applicants with university degrees are more capable or smarter than those without degrees.

    A little over a month after Uttl, Violo, and Gibson’s paper was accepted and the abstract published, they were abruptly notified by email that it was rejected. They were apprised that Specialty Chief Editor Eddy Davelaar, a Professor of Psychology and Applied Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, overrode the three peer reviewers who approved the paper and even his own handling editor. His reasons were subsequently forwarded to Uttl and his colleagues.

    While Davelaar raised a couple of issues with the paper’s methods, the vast majority of his focus was on its tone. He wrote that the use of the word “merely” in reference to college students’ just-above-average IQ was “demeaning.” He also noted that the authors’ critiques of other scientists’ works “could have been packaged more sensitively.” He also called unfounded the authors’ opinion that the widening participation policies of universities were the cause of undergraduates’ falling IQs.

    In emails viewed by RealClearScience, Uttl extensively refuted Davelaar’s issues the same day the paper was rejected (Feb. 6), to which he received no reply from Davelaar or Frontiers for six days. On February 12, Frontiers replied saying that Davelaar’s concerns remained. If they were addressed, “the manuscript could be reconsidered for publication.”

    Uttl subsequently published his refutations of Davelaar’s methodological criticisms online. Lending strength to his arguments is that fact that three peer reviewers and even Davelaar’s own handling editor did not find fault with Uttl’s paper.

    Davelaar’s problems with the paper’s tone and conclusions were harder to address, because they were his opinions. It seemed strange that an editor’s opinions should supplant those of the paper’s authors. It’s not his paper, after all.

    In response to a request for comment, Frontiers stated that an article can be rejected at any stage before official publication. A public relations manager then quoted their editorial process, “…if a manuscript does not meet our editorial criteria and standards for publication, or if peer-review or research integrity concerns are raised by any review participant or reader (abstracts are published online ahead of official publication), the journal’s chief editors and Frontiers’ Chief Executive Editor will investigate these concerns, regardless of peer review or acceptance stage.”

    Frontiers added:

    The Speciality Chief Editor (SCE) reviewed the paper in line with our clearly stated editorial process when concerns were raised about the abstract, particularly about underlying bias. The SCE assessment concurred with some reviewers’ judgements, identifying substantive flaws in the meta-analysis and bias in the tone of the paper. The authors were given further opportunities to revise the paper in line with reviewer and SCE comments. These requested revisions were not made but once again disputed. 

    RealClearScience reached out directly to Davelaar for comment, but he has not replied.

    Uttl was curious what brought on the sudden rejection of his already accepted paper, so he asked representatives at Frontiers. He was told that “several posts” on X triggered Dr. Davelaar’s review. As readers were only able to view the abstract, and thus weren’t able to assess the authors’ methodology, it seems clear that they complained purely about the authors’ tone and provocative conclusions. Davelaar only found ‘problems’ with Uttl, Violo, and Gibson’s methods afterwards.

    Uttl and his co-authors were not apprised of the content of the X posts.

    “I think an editor or whoever owes it to us to tell us what the issues are, allows us to respond, before rejection,” he told RCS in an email.

    Uttl, Violo, and Gibson have since had their publication fees refunded and have submitted the paper for publication at another journal.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 21:00

  • Teamsters, Anheuser-Busch Reach New 5-Year Contract
    Teamsters, Anheuser-Busch Reach New 5-Year Contract

    By John Kingston of Freightwaves

    The contract agreement reached this week between the Teamsters union and Anheuser-Busch, averting a strike that could have begun Friday, calls for wage increases of $8 an hour over the five years of the deal. A $4-per-hour raise kicks in immediately.

    Anheuser-Busch announced the deal late Wednesday. It awaits ratification in the coming days by approximately 5,000 workers across the company’s U.S. operations. 

    The new contract also calls for a $2,500 ratification bonus.

    As to whether ratification is likely, any worker dissatisfaction with Teamsters contracts generally shows up through the dissident Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), which is often critical of deals struck by the union’s negotiators. However, TDU notably was supportive of the union’s deal with UPS and more recently backed a new contract at U.S. Foods.

    TDU comments on its website regarding the deal at Anheuser-Busch were noncommittal. It noted the length of the deal, the wage increases and other changes in benefits, and said only that Teamsters members at the brewery would “be able to review all contract changes before the ratification vote, which is expected to be held next week.”

    The breakdown of how many of those 5,000 workers are truck drivers and warehouse employees was not immediately available from the union.

    In its prepared statement announcing the contract agreement, Anheuser-Busch said the deal “builds even further upon our existing industry-leading package of wages, healthcare, and retirement benefits, and it includes significant commitments to job security.”

    “At Anheuser-Busch, we have said time and again that our people are our greatest strength, and we are incredibly pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that continues to recognize the talent, dedication, and hard work of our teams, while also positioning the Company for long-term success,” Brendan Whitworth, CEO of  Anheuser-Busch, said in the statement.

    The Teamsters statement on the deal was more detailed. In its bullet point list of provisions in the contract, the union said that besides the hourly wage increases, the pact provides:

    • –“Significant job security for all 5,000 Teamsters at Anheuser-Busch, including brewers, packagers, and warehouse workers.”
    • –An average wage increase of 23% over the five years of the deal.
    • –“An end to two-tier health care, providing all workers with the same high-quality Teamsters health care coverage.”
    • –“Increased pension contributions and benefits nationwide.”
    • –“Increased maximum vacation accrual to 8 paid weeks.”
    • –“Restoration of retirement benefits for active and retired members.”

    The Teamsters are on strike at a brewery operated by Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP) in Fort Worth, Texas. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, celebrating the contract with Anheuser-Busch, noted that the union “continue[s] to hold the line at Molson Coors in Texas.” That company, O’Brien said, “should pay close attention to the bar we’ve set today for brewery workers across the country.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 20:40

  • Sanction Irony: Trade Between Iran And Russia Soars As SWIFT Circumvented
    Sanction Irony: Trade Between Iran And Russia Soars As SWIFT Circumvented

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Russia and Iran developed a way to avoid the US dollar routing system known as SWIFT, Trade between the nations is booming.

    Image from US Institute for Peace – The Iran Primer.

    What is the SWIFT Banking System?

    Investopedia explains: The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system powers most international money and security transfers. SWIFT is a vast messaging network used by financial institutions to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions.

    Most global transitions touch SWIFT in some way. The EU wanted to develop a way around SWIFT because the EU is sick (rightfully so) of the US setting sanction policy for the whole world.

    Russia beat the China to secure SWIFT avoidance mechanism.

    Russia’s Trade Routes to Iran

    Eurointelligence discusses Russia’s Trade Routes to Iran

    Business between the two most sanctioned countries in the world, Russia and Iran, is thriving. Iran’s exports to Russia have surpassed the $2bn mark last year according to Iran’s ambassador to Moscow. This is a considerable jump from the figures the previous years, and a 30% rise throughout the year, according to the Tehran Chamber of Commerce. The total value of bilateral trade between the two in volume reached $4.9bn in 2023 according to Iran’s official statistics. A Russian economic delegation with 170 representatives was in Tehran this week as the two countries held the 17th round of their joint economic commission. The two sides have pledged to increase trade tenfold over the coming years.

    What facilitates their trade is their own banking solution, which the two countries set up last year to circumvent the dollar. The two central banks managed to connect Iran’s Sepam national financial messaging service to Russia’s SPFS messaging service, its equivalent to the Swift system. In connection with this new system, Russian banks started operating offices in Tehran, and offered credit lines to ease exports from Russia to Iran. There are similar plans in Iran for exports towards Russia. Intensifying trade with Russia is part of Iran’s Look to the East strategy that aims to neutralise the effects of US sanctions by expanding into new markets.

    Lesson of the Day

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    On September 19, 2023, my Lesson of the Day was Sanctions Don’t Work Because They Create New Markets

    Lesson of the Day: Sanctions Create New Markets

    Foreign Policy: “Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Greece’s mighty shipping sector has continued to earn good money shipping Russian oil. But Greek shipowners have discovered an apparently even more lucrative source of revenue: selling the ships themselves to mysterious buyers linked to Russia. One publication has declared that a “Great Greek Tanker Sale” is taking place, and no price seems too high for a secondhand tanker. But the formerly Greek ships are entering a Hades-like shadow economy.”

    Lesson Number Two

    Countries, political leaders, and market makers act in their best interest.

    It is in the best interest of Greek shippers to sell ships so they do. It is in the best interest of India and China to buy Russian oil and Greek ships so they do. It is in the best interest of Dubai middlemen to make a market in ships so they do.

    What this boils down to is simple: It is the best interest of middlemen in Greece, Russia, India, China, and Dubai to tell Biden to go to hell, so they do.

    How Russia Makes a Mockery of US Sanctions in One Picture

    Unprecedented US and EU sanctions against Russia have had no impact on Russia’s oil exports or revenue. Who’s the beneficiary?

    On December 29, 2023 I explained How Russia Makes a Mockery of US Sanctions in One Picture

    Buyer’s Cartel Silliness

    The number of economists promoting a buyer’s cartel to suppress the price of Russian oil (and only Russian oil) only was stunning.

    I laughed at the idea when it was proposed on June 28, 2022 in A Laughable Explanation of the G7 Oil Price Buyers’ Cartel Emerges

    Despite the obvious stupidity of the scheme, some prominent economists backed the idea.

    How China Gets Around US Sanctions on Semiconductors

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    On February 18, 2024 I noted How China Gets Around US Sanctions on Semiconductors

    If You Weaponize the Dollar and Confiscate Assets, Expect Retaliation

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    Russia seized the local assets of Carlsberg beer and yogurt maker Danone. It now threatens Austria’s Raiffeisen bank.

    My lesson of the day on July 20, 2023 was Lesson of the Day: If You Weaponize the Dollar and Confiscate Assets, Expect Retaliation

    At the onset of the war, the Fed, under direction of the Biden Administration, illegally seized Russia’s foreign reserves. Illegal is the correct word.

    Nowhere does the act give the Fed the right or power to confiscate the reserves of sovereign nations. But that is exactly what the Fed did when it seized Russia’s US dollar reserves. 

    If the Fed can confiscate Russia’s reserves, who’s next?

    Weaponization of Swift

    Please consider the Richmond Fed article What Is SWIFT, and Could Sanctions Impact the U.S. Dollar’s Dominance? 

    The recent removal of Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system has highlighted the importance of payments in supporting economies. But the weaponization of SWIFT has also left some commentators worrying about the loss of the U.S. dollar’s dominance, as it might drive banks and firms to other substitutes. This Economic Brief discusses the economics of SWIFT and explains why emigrating from the U.S. dollar may be more difficult than we thought.

    It appears to me Russia and Iran just succeeded.

    US policy is to blame.

    However, it’s easier for Russia than it will be for China because China is too dependent on exports to the US and EU. Regardless, more dollar and SWIFT avoidance is in the pipeline.

    The BRICS are working on a similar idea. They will fail to achieve much traction except in one area, sanction avoidance.

    For discussion and reasons why, please see What Would it Take for a BRIC-Based Currency to Succeed?

    None of the conditions for a meaningful launch of a BRIC-based currency are in place, at least on a dollar volume basis. Talk of dethroning the dollar is silly.

    However, sanction avoidance is another matter. Coupled with central bank digital currencies, countries and individuals will have a clear means of sanction avoidance. US sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, and other nations and individuals are a tiny percent of global trade, but those sanctions are not trivial to the individuals and countries sanctions.

    I wrote that August 23, 2023. And here we are.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 20:20

  • Colorado Democrats Block Legislation Punishing Child Sex Traffickers – Suggest Criminals Are Also Victims
    Colorado Democrats Block Legislation Punishing Child Sex Traffickers – Suggest Criminals Are Also Victims

    While conservative states like Florida have passed legislation to institute the death penalty for criminals guilty of child sexual abuse and child trafficking, it’s becoming more and more difficult in blue states to punish pedophiles at all.  No other issue so fully reflects the growing rift between the political left and everyone else in America today.  If we can’t even agree that child sex abusers should face severe punishment, then how can we possibly agree on anything else?

    Colorado Democrats have recently struck down House Bill 1092, a bill that would have instituted minimum sentencing for offenders convicted of selling or buying children for the purposes of exploitation.  The bill was heard in the House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, which is also known as the “kill committee.” On Thursday, the panel lived up to its nickname, killing the bill on an 8-3 party-line vote.  The eight Democrats who voted to stop HB 1092 were State Reps. Andrew Boesenecker, Kyle Brown, Elisabeth Epps, Jennifer Lea Parenti, Naquetta Ricks, Manny Rutinel, Jenny Wilford, and Steven Woodrow.

    50 witnesses crowded into the state Capitol hearing room to testify on the bill’s passage, with 47 of them in favor of the legislation and only 3 people against.  Some of the witnesses were themselves survivors of abuse and trafficking.  Republicans who voted in favor of the bill noted that many child traffickers escape with light sentences or they are sometimes let back onto the streets within days of their arrest. 

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    You might be wondering at this point whose side the Democrats are on?  Colorado Democrats reportedly argued that they oppose the harsher minimum sentences in part because offenders might “also be victims,” a narrative which has been spreading among leftist activists often in relation to LGBT issues and trans rights issues.  The purpose?  They assert that pedophilia is a form of sexual orientation, and once something is labeled an orientation it suddenly becomes a protected group status.

    But not all behaviors should be tolerated in a civilized society and just because someone might be a “victim” that does not justify their victimization of others.  Leftist states have increasingly targeted children with sexualized propaganda including unproven gender fluid theories, to drag shows and trans indoctrination, to sex change hormones and operations on minors without parental consent, to pornographic content in school libraries. 

    Not long ago Democrats denied any of these activities were real and accused conservatives of “conspiracy theory.”  Now that they have been thoroughly exposed, the leftist response is to defend the sexualization of children rather than admit they are wrong.  One could chalk it all up to the progressive tendency to care more about “winning” than caring about what is actually right, or perhaps there is a more nefarious motive behind their consistent defense of such reprehensible criminal behaviors.

    Colorado Democrats seemed to be more outraged by the social media response after they struck down Bill 1092, with some arguing that Republicans House members needed to self-censor.  Online commenters posted pictures of wood chippers and nooses on the internet, which Democrats interpreted as a threat.  Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie said her office has contacted Colorado State Patrol over online posts related to the child trafficking bill, as well as the trans rights legislation.             

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 20:00

  • Iran's Jewish Population Belies Claims Of Tehran's Genocidal Intent
    Iran’s Jewish Population Belies Claims Of Tehran’s Genocidal Intent

    By Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities

    For decades, Israeli government officials — chief among them, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — have accused Iran of plotting a new Holocaust against the millions of Jews who call Israel home. Netanyahu has said Iran is “planning another genocide against our people,” and wants to “destroy another six million plus Jews.”

    Western journalists are quick to quote these claims, yet slow to publicize contradictory evidence — such as the fact that Iran is home to the Middle East’s second-largest population of Jews, who freely practice their faith, peacefully coexist within the Islamic republic and even have a seat in the legislature.

    It’s said that “charity begins at home.” If we’re to believe Netanyahu and his confederates in America, wouldn’t an Iranian genocide against Jews begin there too?

    Iranian Jews at a Tehran synagogue (Reuters/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA)

    Having long been subjected to the genocidal-Iran narrative, the average American probably assumes there’s no such thing as an Iranian Jew. However, according to varying estimates, there are 9,000 to 20,000 of them in a land where the Jewish presence goes back nearly 3,000 years.

    That’s well lower than the 100,000 or more Jews who lived in Iran in the years leading up to the 1979 revolution. The uncertainty of what life would be like in an Islamic republic — culturally, economically and in terms of personal safety — prompted tens of thousands to leave for Israel, the United States and other countries.

    Many of them were alarmed when Habib Elghanian, a prominent Iranian Jewish industrialist with ties to the deposed Shah, was arrested just a few weeks after the revolution and charged with corruption and spying for Israel. Prosecutors also accused him of soliciting money for the Israeli Defense Forces, and thus being complicit “in murderous air raids against innocent Palestinians.” In May 1979, he was executed by firing squad.

    Though Elghanian’s execution shook Iranian Jews, it also precipitated a critical development that has helped assuage their fears ever since.

    The day after the execution, two rabbis and four younger intellectual Jews arranged a visit with the Ayatollah Khomeini. By conveying that Iran’s Jews considered themselves Iranian first and would support their fellow citizen’s choice of a new system of government, they hoped to elicit a guarantee against Jews being targeted.

    To their surprise, Khomeini welcomed the Jews as VIPs. After a literal standoff that saw the Jewish delegation and the ayatollah both deferentially waiting for the other to take a seat first, they all sat on the floor in a circle.

    Khomeini lauded Moses as one of three prophets sent by God to guide humanity. Then, to the great relief of his guests, he drew a sharp distinction between the Israeli government and Iran’s Jews, declaring:

    “Moses would have nothing to do with these pharaoh-like Zionists who run Israel. And our Jews, the descendants of Moses, have nothing to do with them either. We recognize our Jews as separate from those godless, bloodsucking Zionists.”

    Khomeini then issued a fatwa — an Islamic religious leader’s formal decree — asserting that Jews are a protected minority and forbidding violence against them.

    Jews do not, however, hold a fully equal place in Iranian society. Most notably, they may not hold senior government posts or become judges. Jews serve in the Iranian military, but cannot do so as officers. They can’t inherit property from Muslims, but if a member of a Jewish family converts to Islam, that person inherits everything.

    Iranian dignitaries at the dedication of a monument to Jewish soldiers who died for Iran in its 8-year war to repel a 1980 invasion by US-backed Iraq (IRNA)

    To a great extent, however, Iran’s Jews live much like anyone else in the country, a reality sharply at odds with Western assumptions.

    While promoting Zionism or the Israeli government is illegal for anyone, Jews openly display their identity and practice their faith. Iranian Jews wear yarmulkes and prayer shawls in public. Muslims pass by without giving a second glance — after all, Jews’ presence in Iran and Persia goes back nearly three millennia, and the country is home to many important Jewish religious sites.

    There are 13 synagogues in Tehran alone. Tourists are surprised to find that, unlike in Europe and elsewhere, Iran’s synagogue don’t have locked doors, metal detectors or security guards. Tehran also has a Jewish seminary and a mikveh ritual bath facility.

    In 2015, President Hassan Rouhani officially recognized Saturday as the Jewish day of religious observance, freeing Jews to observe their Sabbath (the typical Iranian workweek and school week goes from Saturday to Wednesday with a half-day on Thursday).

    An Iranian Jewish woman prays at the Abrishami Synagogue in Tehran (Behrouz Mehri/AFP)

    Jews send their kids to Jewish schools, enjoy kosher restaurants and operate Tehran’s oldest charity hospital, where 96% of patients are Muslims. “When I am sick, I go across the street [to the Jewish-run hospital],” a Muslim seminary student told the New York Times. “They might have a different religion, but they are fellow Iranians.”

    That sentiment is widely embraced in Iran. In fact, the Anti-Defamation League’s 2014 Global Index of antisemitism (its most recent) found Iranians to be the least antisemitic of any population in the Middle East.

    By some indications, Iranian Jews are more accepted by Muslims in Iran than by Jews in Israel. As a third-generation Iranian-Israeli explained to Radio Free Europe, “In Israel, we have racism towards people that came from Islamic states. As a child, I suffered a lot because I’m Persian.”

    When wealthy Jewish expatriates in 2007 offered cash rewards of $60,000 per family to entice Iranian Jews to emigrate to Israel, few signed up. The Society of Iranian Jews scoffed, saying “the identity of Iranian Jews is not tradable for any amount of money.”

    Jews are guaranteed one of five seats in the Iranian parliament reserved for religious minorities; three more are reserved on behalf of Iran’s hundreds of thousands of Assyrian-Chaldean and Armenian Christians. The government has tolerated public rebukes issued by the Jewish representative and other Jews. For example, in 2006, Jewish MP Maurice Motamed and other Jewish leaders criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying Jews “have created a myth in the name of Holocaust, and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets.”

    On the other hand, Iranian Jews’ political stances frequently align with the government’s. When anti-regime protests erupted in 2022, the Tehran Jewish Committee, an umbrella group of organizations, issued a statement condemning them, adding that its members have “always obeyed the position of the Supreme Leader, like our compatriots.”

    In October, Jews in five cities participated in rallies against Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza. Some held a sign reading, “Do not commit crimes in the name of Judaism.”

    Outsiders reasonably wonder if Jews feel compelled to take such stances to maintain their safe place in society. The Israeli and US governments go a step further, accusing Iran of actively coercing such speech, but they offer nothing to substantiate those allegations.

    A New Political Order, Not A New Holocaust

    While the existence of Iran’s unmolested Jewish population belies claims that their government is bent on eliminating Jews, any thorough evaluation of those claims must also confront Tehran’s sharply-worded statements against the State of Israel.

    Iran doesn’t recognize Israel as a state and, ever since 1979, Iranian ayatollahs, presidents and generals have called for Israel to be “destroyed,” “wiped off the map” or “eliminated.”

    While that language can sound like threats of physical destruction, scrutiny of the full quotes almost invariably confirms the speakers are referring to the elimination of the State of Israel as a political entity. Western news outlets, politicians and propagandists, however, often omit the context that makes this distinction clear — if not misquoting the speaker altogether.

    Among those opposing Zionism are some ultra-orthodox Jews (Andy Solomon via Middle East Monitor)

    Anti-Iran propagandists’ all-time favorite citation springs from a 2005 speech by then-president Ahmadinejad, who was said to have declared that “Israel must be wiped off the face of the map.” The quote became a staple of Iran-hawk rhetoric that’s still employed more than 18 years later — despite the fact that he actually said something quite different: “[Ayatollah Khomeini] said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.”

    In that same speech, titled “The World Without Zionism,” Ahmadinejad listed three other regimes that have ceased to exist — Iran’s own monarchy, the Soviet Union, and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq government. As I wrote in 2012:

    He wasn’t calling for the annihilation of a population, but for the dismantling of a governing entity. That’s highly antagonistic language, to be sure, but it’s not genocidal—any more than Ronald Reagan’s assertion that “freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history” was a pledge to incinerate the Soviet, Chinese or Cuban people.

    Even when current-day news reports include accurate quotes about Iranian bluster, the headlines and leads frequently use shortened quotes that leave a false impression, as was the case with an Associated Press article titled, “Iran leader says Israel a ‘cancerous tumor’ to be destroyed.”

    The great many who only scan the headline or first few paragraphs would reasonably think Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was threatening to blast the entire country to smithereens. Only those who dive deeper into the article would find Khamenei actually said, “The Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth and a detriment to this region. It will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed.”

    When the Iranian government has explicitly threatened a physical attack, look closely and you’re almost certain to find the threat was not to initiate war but to retaliate if Israel strikes first. For example, consider a 2022 Times of Israel article titled, “Iranian general threatens to ‘raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground’.”

    You wouldn’t know it from the headline, but the commander of the Iranian ground forces, Kiumars Heydari, was warning against Israeli aggression. He said, “For any mistake made by the enemy, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground by the order of the Supreme Leader.” The Times included that quote, but didn’t include another that reinforces the contingent nature of Heydari’s threat. Referring to the upgrading of Iran’s arsenal, he said, “All this equipment is to respond to the stupid aggressions of the enemies of the Islamic revolution.”

    Heydari’s remarks came days after an Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps colonel was shot to death in his car outside his Tehran home. Israel told U.S. officials it had assassinated him, according to an intelligence source cited by the New York Times.

    Eliminating Israel: Khamenei Gets Specific

    In a 2014 Q&A posted to social media, Ayatollah Khamenei elaborated on his vision of the State of Israel’s elimination. Here are some key excerpts:

    • “The only means of bringing Israeli crimes to an end is the elimination of this regime. And of course the elimination of Israel does not mean the massacre of the Jewish people in this region.”

    • “The proper way of eliminating Israel: The original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians and Jews, wherever they are…take part in a public and organized referendum…Jewish immigrants who’ve been persuaded into emigration to Palestine do not have the right to take part.”

    • “The ensuing government…will decide whether non-Palestinian emigrants…can continue living in Palestine or should return to their home countries.”

    • Until the referendum, Khamenei calls for “resolute and armed resistance,” to be facilitated in part by arming the Israeli-occupied West Bank “like Gaza.”

    • “Unacceptable” solutions include “a classical war by the army of Muslim countries” or “throw[ing] migrated Jews [to the] sea.”

    Khamenei’s agenda is undoubtedly hostile to Israel as a governing entity, includes a call for revolutionary violence, and raises the specter of a potential mass expulsion of Jews who migrated to Israel after some unspecified date. However, it isn’t remotely a blueprint for killing “another 6 million” Jews, as Netanyahu and others would have you believe.

    It should be noted that many of the world’s Jews —who, like the Iranian government, say the creation of a Jewish ethno-state has victimized Palestinians — also call for an entirely new political order in the land currently controlled by the State of Israel.

    Defenders of the status quo in Greater Israel say peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Jews would be impossible in a successor state to Israel. In addition to undermining claims that Iran is genocidal, the enduring, peaceful coexistence of Jews and Muslims in Iran is problematic for that narrative as well — which may help explain why wealthy Israelis tried bribing Iranian Jews into leaving the country behind.

    “Death to Israel” and “Death to Traffic”

    At Iranian demonstrations and even in parliament, it’s common to hear chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” the latter phrase originating during the 1979 revolution. These slogans are seized upon by anti-Iran hawks who say it would be foolish not to take Iranians at their word — meaning Iranians want all Israeli and American people to die.

    However, when you’re crossing cultural lines, discerning meaning isn’t always so simple.

    Travel guru Rick Steves learned this firsthand as he was being driven to the Tehran airport at the end of a 12-day stay. When his car encountered heavy traffic, his driver spontaneously exclaimed, “Death to traffic!”

    A perplexed Steves said, “What? I thought it was ‘Death to America’.” His driver explained, “Here in Iran, when something frustrates us and is out of our control, we say ‘death’ to that.” Upon reflection, Steves likened it to an American saying “damn those teenagers,” without really wanting them to burn in eternal hellfire.

    That explains the seeming paradox of Iranians chanting “Death to America” while holding a reputation for being extraordinarily welcoming and hospitable to American tourists, or “Death to Israel” while peacefully coexisting with Jews. “Once, a group of [Iranian] women embraced and kissed my American colleague on both cheeks, proudly announcing ‘we love American people,’ before turning around to chant ‘Death to America’,” writes Nazila Fathi.

    “When we do use this phrase, it strictly refers to governments, not people,” explains Pontia at My Persian Corner. “Iranians are much better when it comes to differentiating between people and their governments…it’s very clear to us that when we say ‘death to America or ‘down with America’ (or anyplace else), we are solely talking about the government.”

    Khamenei has offered his own clarification: “Obviously, by ‘death to America,’ we don’t mean death to the American people…it means death to US policies and its arrogance.”

    In Iran’s official English-language statements, “death to” is frequently translated as “down with.” However, the Iranian expression is the gift that keeps on giving to Iran hawks from Tel Aviv to Washington, DC.

    Israel and US flags burn at an annual Quds Day protest in Iran held to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians (AP)

    None of this is to say that the Iranian government is virtuous, or that it isn’t a major adversary of Israel. Iran calls for the State of Israel’s violent overthrow. It supports Hamas and other organizations that advance that goal. It has praised violent attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, from shootings in the West Bank to the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion.

    However, claims of genocidal intent by the Iranian government are contradicted by the treatment of the country’s own Jews and by close scrutiny of Iran’s supposedly genocidal rhetoric.

    As with other geopolitical myths — Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi soldiers removing Kuwaiti infants from incubators, Gadhafi dispensing rape-drugs to soldiers — the myth of a genocidal Iranian government is purposefully cultivated: Americans who believe 6 million Israeli Jews are at risk of an Iranian-inflicted genocide are more likely to support the ongoing redistribution of billions of dollars of American wealth and weapons to Israel —despite that aid’s little-known illegality under US law.

    Americans persuaded to believe the worst about Iran are also more likely to support hostile policies toward the country, including economic sanctions that, like terrorism, intentionally inflict suffering on innocents.

    Those prone to accepting at face value the claims of the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should consider that it was Netanyahu who, thirty-two years ago, first claimed Iran was “three to five years” from having a nuclear weapon.

    It was Netanyahu who, testifying before the US Congress in 2002, emphatically declared “there is no question whatsoever that Saddam is…advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons — no question whatsoever.”

    It was Netanyahu who “guaranteed” that same congressional audience that a regime-change invasion of Iraq would “have enormous, positive reverberations on the region.”

    And it was Netanyahu who bragged to West Bank settlers that “America is a thing you can move very easily.”

    Having helped “move” America to throw away the lives of more than 4,500 service members in an invasion of Iraq that destabilized the region and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, Netanyahu, his government and Israel’s fellow travelers inside the United States have long sought to nudge America into a war with Iran too.

    If we’re to avoid another catastrophe triggered on false pretenses, take care that your perception of the Iranian menace isn’t moved too easily.

    Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com 

    *  *  *

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

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 19:40

  • These Are America's Favorite Sneaker Brands
    These Are America’s Favorite Sneaker Brands

    With estimated sales of more than $22 billion last year, the United States is by far the largest sneaker market in the world. According to estimates from Statista Market Insights, roughly 380 million pairs of sneakers were sold in the U.S. last year alone, as athletic footwear has long transcended its utilitarian roots and become an essential piece of everyday wear for Americans from all age groups and backgrounds.

    As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, according to findings from Statista Consumer Insights, Nike is still the most popular sneaker brand in the U.S., as the Oregonian sportswear giant leverages its home turf advantage versus long-term rival Adidas.

    Infographic: America's Favorite Sneaker Brands | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The German brand with the three stripes is the second most popular choice for U.S. sneaker owners, followed at some distance by New Balance, Converse, Skechers and Nike’s Jordan brand, which is likely higher up the list among die-hard sneakerheads.

    With global footwear sales of $33 billion in the fiscal year ended May 31, 2023, Nike is not only the most popular but also by far the biggest seller of athletic footwear in the world.

    The company’s chief rival Adidas recorded roughly $13 billion in footwear sales in 2022, illustrating how far ahead of the competition Nike really is.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 19:20

  • As China Builds Yugos, EVs May Be The New Edsels
    As China Builds Yugos, EVs May Be The New Edsels

    Authored by Duggan Flanakin via RealClear Wire,

    The year 1957 is memorable for at least two historic launches. The launch by the Soviet Socialist Union of the Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, prompted the U.S. to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the very next year.

    Eleven years later, Neil Armstrong stepped out of Apollo 11 and famously proclaimed, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

    Barely three years later, Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan announced the end of the manned space flight experiment: “We shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

    Many believe that the Challenger launch failure in 1986, with teacher Christa McAuliffe one of the seven dead, and the disintegration of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, in which another seven astronauts died, ended the U.S. dream of manned space flight.

    Former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory systems engineer Mark Adler spilled the beans in 2015. “The bottom-line answer is that it was … way too expensive. The shuttle never met its promise for low-cost access to space.” [Well, it was a government program!]

    Cost-cutting and bureaucratic overkill were behind the Challenger (whose politically correct O-rings failed) and Columbia disasters. As chief NASA historian Bill Barry told Newsweek, “People realized that [Columbia] was a lot more risky than generally thought [mostly] because of [design] compromises … due to cutbacks in the budget [emphasis added].“

    The other historic 1957 launch was Ford Motor Company’s much-heralded Edsel. Ten years in the making, at a development cost of $250 million ($2.78 billion in 2024 dollars), Ford dealers saw thousands lining up to buy the new dream car that September, but by yearend monthly sales had fallen by a third.

    Two years later, Ford ceased production of the Edsel and revamped its production lines to build compact cars. According to Time reporter Lily Rothman, “As it turned out, the Edsel was a classic case of the wrong car for the wrong market at the wrong time.”

    Ford had relied on market research showing that within a decade half of U.S. families could buy then-popular medium-priced vehicles. Further studies led Ford to design “the smart car for the younger executive or professional family on its way up.”

    To Ford’s sad surprise, by 1957 the lust for medium-priced cars was usurped by a new boom in the compact field, an area the Edsel research had overlooked completely, said Rothman.

    Much as with the space program, the federal government has spent huge sums subsidizing the construction and purchase of electric vehicles, including 18-wheelers, airplanes, and tanks. All of this has been driven, ostensibly, by the perceived threat posed by the plant food carbon dioxide.

    Much as with the Edsel, the electric vehicles that European, American, and other Western governments have been subsidizing are “the wrong car for the wrong market at the wrong time.”

    Around the planet, individuals, automakers, and even policy advisors are waking up to this gross miscalculation.

    Meanwhile, the Chinese, who long ago cornered the market on the primary raw materials and technologies needed for producing EVs in quantity, stand to be the primary sellers of vehicles Western governments have mandated that the hoi polloi purchase.

    The largest Chinese automaker, Biyadi (BYD), uses the slogan “Build Your Dream” to lure buyers into even greater reliance on Chinese technology that will erase tens of thousands of American jobs.

    BYD sells battery-electric vehicles in China for US$26,000. BYD makes its own batteries, semiconductors, and seal upholstery, and its nearly 30,000 patents owned or filed puts BYD light years ahead of any Western automaker.

    The only brakes on China destroying the world auto market are tariffs and other import restrictions – or ending the EV mandates. But the tariffs would likely be passed onto customers, forcing Americans to pay double if Washington forces Chinese EVs down their throats.

    And, as noted, without the tariffs, Ford, General Motors, and every other non-Chinese automaker could quickly be forced into bankruptcy. The United Auto Workers know this and hedged their bets for 2024 by throwing money in both directions. Western automakers, joining Toyota, have already pulled back from their EV production commitments.

    Ford, which has been losing $60,000 – more than the selling price – on every EV it sells, saw sales of its Lightning F-150 fall 46% in third quarter 2023. Mercedes downsized its EV sales projections by 2030 by 50% and announced it will update its petrol-fueled fleet engines into the next decade. Now Ford has halted all shipments of the Lightning F-150.

    Rivian, too, has fallen on hard times, laying off 10% of its workforce, signaling a significant decline in demand. With prices starting at $70,000 for its pickup and $75,000 for its SUV, the sales downturn led to a corporate loss of $1.52 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2023.

    Slackening demand for EVs has even led to entire mines shutting down as the supply of rare-earth minerals now exceeds demand. Albemarle announced it was deferring spending on a planned $1.3 billion plant in North Carolina. The price of lithium has shrunk by 90%, and the price of nickel has been cut in half. As a result, a nickel mine in New Caledonia recently suspended operations.

    In the UK, auto dealers are offering discounts of up to 25% on EVs sitting idle on their lots. The Lords Committee says British drivers are “giving the cold shoulder” to the electric transition despite dramatic drops in finance rates for EVs in an effort to boost flagging sales. Non-fleet EV purchases in the UK fell by 25% from the prior year, with yet another reason being much higher auto insurance rates.

    The obvious ability of China to dominate the EV market, coupled with increasing public resistance to EV mandates, has put pressure on the European Union and its member states. A year ago, the EU took a baby step backward, agreeing to allow sales and registration of internal combustion engine vehicles after the 2035 deadline if they operate only on carbon-neutral fuels. 

    In the U.S., President Biden had until very recently doubled down on his EV demands, ignoring the concerns of automakers, auto unions, and the auto buying public. Just a week ago, the EPA indicated it was “considering” delaying EV mandates beyond 2030, an election-year concession that could quickly be reversed.

    A 2023 Gallup poll showed that only 16% of Americans with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 either own or are “seriously” considering purchasing an electric vehicle. The most likely EV buyer is a Democrat who lives in a Pacific Coast state, but only 28% of U.S. Democrats and 25% on the West Coast either own or are “seriously” considering an EV.

    As Mark Knopfler’s Romeo said to Juliet, “the timing was all wrong,” perhaps the only real flaw with the current EV mandates is that the supply chain – especially in the West – is just not ready for prime time.

    But in another few years, things could change. After all, the privately funded Odysseus Moon lander just became the first new U.S. presence on the lunar surface in 55 years.

    On the other hand, unless the West cedes EV manufacturing to China, the EV may soon become so unpopular it will go the way of the Edsel.

    Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow who writes on a wide variety of p

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 19:00

  • Great News Gen-Zers: "Silver Tsunami" Will Trigger Housing Supply As Baby Boomers Die
    Great News Gen-Zers: “Silver Tsunami” Will Trigger Housing Supply As Baby Boomers Die

    Millennials and Generation Z have been battered by a persistent housing shortage, with the US market currently short 7.2 million homes. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those struggling to afford or even find a home, thanks to an emerging trend known as the “silver tsunami.”

    A new report from Freddie Mac estimates homeowners aged 60-plus years (baby boomers) increasingly put their homes on the market as they enter retirement facilities, downsize, and/or estates sell off assets after death. This means the cohort, comprised of about 29% of the adult population and 44% of homeowners, could free up a whopping 9.2 million homes by 2035. 

    “Over the next five years, the decline is more modest, and we only see a reduction of 2.7 million households by 2028. In this sense, the silver tsunami is more like a tide, with a gradual reduction phasing in over several years. While the number of people aging out of homeownership will increase in the coming years, it is more of an upward sloping trend than a disruptive spike,” Freddie Mac economists wrote in the report. 

    Freddie Mac estimates the silver tsunami will only begin to accelerate by the end of the decade. In 2029, they expect 3.4 million net decline in the number of baby boomer homeowner households. By 2035, the figure could reach well over 9 million. 

    Source: ResiClub

    The report noted: “Given that the housing market is facing a shortage of available single-family homes, the housing decisions Boomers will make in the coming years will have an outsized impact.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 18:40

  • California Seized Enough Fentanyl In 2023 To Kill Global Population 'Twice Over'
    California Seized Enough Fentanyl In 2023 To Kill Global Population ‘Twice Over’

    Authored by Lorenz Duchamps via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Authorities in California seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl last year to kill the entire global population “nearly twice over,” according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

    Heroin and fentanyl pressed into pill form. (Courtesy of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

    In a statement on Feb. 27, the Democrat governor said operations supported by the state’s National Guard, or CalGuard, led to the seizure of a record 62,224 pounds of fentanyl in the state and at ports of entry in 2023, marking a 1,066 percent increase since 2021.

    The street price for the intercepted fentanyl would be about $670 million, according to calculations using the Los Angeles High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area price sheet for that year.

    According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose, and one kilogram of the drug has the potential to kill 500,000 people.

    “Fentanyl is a poison, and it does not belong in our communities,” Mr. Newsom said. “California is cracking down, increasing seizures, expanding access to substance abuse treatment, and holding drug traffickers accountable to combat the immeasurable harm opioids have caused our communities.”

    In 2022, authorities in the Golden State seized 28,765 pounds of fentanyl, up from 5,334 pounds in 2021.

    To tackle the evolving opioid addiction crisis in California, Mr. Newsom allocated $1 billion to law enforcement agencies and other public entities across the state to combat overdoses and raise awareness about the dangers of opioids such as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is a major contributor to drug overdose deaths in the United States.

    The state’s billion-dollar plan included a multi-million dollar effort to boost CalGuard’s work in preventing drug-trafficking transnational criminal organizations. Since it was launched last year, more than 140 new CalGuard members have been hired, trained, and embedded to reduce fentanyl use in communities.

    “The California National Guard is committed to combatting the scourge of fentanyl,” CalGuard’s Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers said in a statement. “These extraordinary seizure statistics are a direct reflection of the tireless efforts of the highly trained CalGuard Service Members supporting law enforcement agencies statewide.”

    Overdose Deaths

    Fentanyl, an opioid approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat severe pain, is the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States.

    According to the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, there were 7,385 opioid-related deaths in California in 2022, of which 6,473 were fentanyl-related.

    San Francisco is one of the communities most acutely affected by drug overdoses, with 813 fatalities in 2023, of which 657 were attributed to fentanyl, according to data released by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

    “Fentanyl is deadlier than any drug we’ve ever seen on our streets,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement on Oct. 27. “We must treat the trafficking and sale of fentanyl more severely and people must be put on notice that pushing this drug could lead to homicide charges.”

    Drug deaths in the United States hit a new record nationwide in 2022, with nearly 110,000 people dying as a result of the opioid crisis, according to data released by the National Center for Health Statistics which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Washington and Wyoming saw the biggest increases in drug fatalities, according to the agency. Both states suffered a 22 percent increase in deaths linked to overdose.

    From NTD News

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 18:20

  • Eye-Catching Jump In Inflation Expectations Threatens Bonds
    Eye-Catching Jump In Inflation Expectations Threatens Bonds

    By Wes Goodman, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

    The US two-year breakeven rate is showing an eye-popping increase and will put upward pressure on yields.

    Inflation expectations are climbing as the Fed’s fight against rising prices seems to be sputtering. The latest warning for bond investors came from Apollo Management Chief Economist Torsten Slok, who said that a re-accelerating US economy, coupled with a rise in underlying inflation, will prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates in 2024.

    The numbers tell the tale of a Fed battle against inflation that has yet to be won. Core PCE is the highest in almost a year. CPI and PPI both beat expectations.

    All of this comes at a time when breakeven rates and yields are moving together more. This signals breakevens are asserting more influence on yields. The chart below shows the 30-day correlation between two-year breakeven rates and two-year yields is rising.

    Bloomberg’s Correlation Finder shows that two-year breakeven rates are also moving largely in line with five- and 10-year yields, suggesting rising inflation expectations have the potential to buoy yields across maturities.

    My theory is being put to the test today because Treasury yields are falling. Still, it’s worth keeping these risks in mind. The most potent warning from these breakevens came after they rose in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Bloomberg US Treasury Total Return Index went on to tumble a stunning 12% in 2022, its biggest loss based on Bloomberg data going back to 1974 –- the year President Richard Nixon resigned and I turned 10 years old.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 18:00

  • Study Finds Majority Of Patients With Long COVID Were Vaccinated
    Study Finds Majority Of Patients With Long COVID Were Vaccinated

    Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A recent study found that the majority of patients who suffered from long COVID during a time when vaccines and antiviral treatments were widely available were vaccinated.

    (SARMDY/Shutterstock)

    The observational study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, researchers interviewed 390 people in Thailand who contracted COVID-19 during the “fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic” when the omicron variant was dominant. Patients were followed by phone from three months after their diagnosis for a year to monitor their physical condition, mental health, sleep disturbances, and quality of life.

    Out of 390 people with COVID-19, 377 (97 percent) were vaccinated, 383 (98 percent) underwent antiviral treatment, and 330 (78 percent) developed long COVID syndrome. The most frequently reported symptoms were fatigue and cough. Other reported symptoms included depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality. The study found that patients under age 60 with a cough as an initial symptom were more likely to develop the condition. In a subset of patients with long COVID, researchers found a notable correlation in females with headaches, dizziness, and brain fog.

    “Despite the extensive distribution of vaccines and antiviral therapies, the prevalence of long COVID remains high,” the authors of the paper wrote.

    Although definitions of long COVID differ, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) broadly defines long COVID as “signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue to develop after acute COVID-19 infection” that can last for “weeks, months, or years.” The term “long COVID” also includes post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, long-haul COVID, and post-acute COVID-19.

    According to the World Health Organization, while most people with COVID-19 recover and return to normal health, some patients, including those with mild illness, have symptoms that persist for weeks or months after recovering from acute illness.

    Nearly 7 percent of U.S. adults surveyed by the CDC in 2022 said they’ve experienced long COVID. Although U.S. regulatory agencies claim vaccinating against COVID-19 can reduce the risk of developing long COVID, the current paper did not find a significant link between the presence of comorbidities or infection severity and the emergence of long COVID symptoms.

    Studies Link Long COVID to Vaccination

    A February report published by the CDC found that more than 8 percent of participants in seven U.S. states reported having experienced long COVID symptoms. In West Virginia, almost 11 percent of survey participants reported long COVID symptoms. However, the agency did not disclose whether survey respondents were vaccinated.

    Some research suggests long COVID may be caused by an immune overreaction to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that COVID-19 vaccines use to induce antibodies and that vaccination causes some people to generate a second round of antibodies that target the first.

    In a February 2023 study published in the Journal of Medical Virology, researchers analyzed the levels of spike protein and viral RNA in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 with and without long COVID. They found that spike protein and viral RNA were more likely to be present in patients with long COVID.

    In an August 2023 study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers found the risk of long COVID was lower in those who had previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the risk of getting long COVID did not differ by vaccination status. Researchers found that unvaccinated people infected with omicron had the lowest risk of long COVID.

    In a 2023 study in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, researchers studied the serum of 81 individuals with long COVID. They found viral spike protein in one patient after the infection had cleared despite having a negative COVID-19 test, and vaccine spike protein in two patients two months after vaccination.

    In a December 2022 study published in PLoS One, researchers found patients were more likely to experience long COVID if they had preexisting medical conditions, a higher number of symptoms during the acute phase of COVID-19 illness, if their infection was more severe or resulted in hospitalization, or if they had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

    The Epoch Times contacted the CDC for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 17:40

  • Fed-Up San Fran Voters Set To Expand Police Power, Drug-Screen Welfare Recipients
    Fed-Up San Fran Voters Set To Expand Police Power, Drug-Screen Welfare Recipients

    Fed up with a city ravaged by crime and drug addiction and shedding theft-plagued businesses weekly, voters in ultra-liberal San Francisco are poised to approve a ballot measure that would require illegal-drug screening for recipients of city benefits, and another that would give police more power and less oversight.  

    That’s the finding of a San Francisco Chamber of Commerce poll, in which 61% of likely voters said they back both measures on the March 5 ballot. It’s a population that’s increasingly aware of its trajectory: 71% say the city is on the wrong track. 

    “The pendulum is swinging,” 41-year-old resident Malcolm Weitz tells the Wall Street Journal. “It’s coming hard-core back to the center.” He says he he’ll vote yes on both propositions, completing a major philosophical u-turn. Weitz voted for progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin in 2019, only to vote to kick him out in the successful 2022 recall drive. 

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

    Now, he and other residents are ready to sic the cops on the criminals. Proposition E would remove several shackles from law enforcers, authorizing them to:

    • Engage in more high-speed chases
    • Use drones during pursuits
    • Install more cameras in public places and test electronic surveillance methods — with less oversight
    • File fewer reports about their use of force
    • Substitute body-camera footage for other types of documentation 

    Little of that would address the scourge of increasingly brazen shoplifters, which is encouraged by 2014’s Prop 47, which turned thefts valued under $950 into mere misdemeanors. In an eye-rollingly limp-wristed effort to impose more accountability, state legislators in January proposed making jail time mandatory after a THIRD theft conviction.  

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

    Proposition F endeavors to cut off city handouts to people likely to take the money and shoot it into their veins. It doesn’t cover everyone, however, and the wording of the measure doesn’t imply it will precipitate universal drug-testing: 

    Shall the City require single adults age 65 and under with no dependent children who receive City public assistance benefits and whom the City reasonably suspects are dependent on illegal drugs to participate in screening, evaluation and treatment for drug dependency for those adults to be eligible for most of those benefits?

    People who decline the screening, evaluation and treatment would be terminated and, depending on whether they’re homeless, would receive a final 30 days of shelter access or rent paid direct to the landlord, according to San Francisco Public Press. 

    Embattled San Francisco Mayor London Breed backs two ballot measures intended to pull the city out of the abyss (Eric Risberg/AP via Politico)

    San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who’s under fire as the city collapses and is facing multiple primary challengers to her 2024 reelection bid, is backing both measures. Striking a decidedly un-progressive tone in September, Breed said of the drug-screening requirement, “No more handouts without accountability. People are not accepting help. Now, it’s time to make sure that we are cutting off resources that continue to allow this behavior.”

    As we wrote Monday, the latest indication that San Francisco is reaching new depths of despair comes with reports that a hardware store is now requiring shoppers who want to peruse its merchandise to be accompanied by an employee escort.   

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 03/01/2024 – 17:20

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