• Obama's Weird New Movie And America's Extreme Vulnerability To Cyber-Attack
  Obama’s Weird New Movie And America’s Extreme Vulnerability To Cyber-Attack

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

  There has been a lot of buzz lately about a recently released film by Netflix titled ‘Leave The World Behind’ based on a novel by the same name.  The plot revolves around a catastrophic collapse in the US triggered by a cyber attack (and mass drone attack) that shuts down the internet and disrupts the global economy, leading to questions of who might have been behind the sabotage?

  The most interesting aspect of the film is not so much the story (which is lackluster at best), but the fact that Barack Obama was so deeply involved in the making of the film as executive producer and as adviser on the script. This has led many people to suggest the movie is actually predictive programming – Propaganda designed to acclimate the masses to the idea of an event that is planned to happen in the near future.

  Similar concerns were raised back in 2021 when the World Economic Forum oversaw a “war game” called Cyberpolygon, an event meant to simulate a massive cyber attack on the vulnerable functions of the world-wide web. The reason Cyberpolygon raised so many eyebrows was perfectly understandable; the WEF had also hosted another simulation at the end of 2019 called Event 201. The game, which included the CEOs of some of the most powerful health and media corporations in the world along with numerous government officials, “coincidentally” focused on the outbreak of a global coronavirus pandemic, and it was held only a couple of months before the real thing happened.

  In other words, it was as if the globalists at the WEF knew that covid was about to strike.

  While Hollywood interpretations of cyber attacks are usually exaggerated in terms of the true effects, there is a very real and considerable threat associated with such a disaster. So-called “experts” in the tech field often dismiss the wider dangers to the internet itself because they have been indoctrinated into believing that the design of the web has too many redundancies. In other words, they act as if it is invincible.

  This is not really the case. Though data loss can be prevented through cloud storage, the internet as a mechanism can still be shut down or taken down deliberately for long periods of time.

  In the past I have written about a very interesting event that was barely covered by the corporate media called the “Fastly Outage.”  In June of 2021 there was an internet outage that led to large swaths of the web going completely dark, including a number of mainstream news sites, Amazon, eBay, Twitch, Reddit. A host of government websites also went down. All this happened when content delivery network (CDN) company Fastly experienced a “bug.” Although Amazon had its website back online within 20 minutes, the brief outage cost the company over $5.5 million in sales.

  A content delivery network is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. They make up the what is known as the “backbone” of the internet.

  

  Fastly identified and fixed the problem within two hours and continues to claim the outage had nothing to do with a cyber attack. However, a huge vulnerability for the internet (a center of structural support Carl von Clausewitz would’ve called a “schwerpunkt”) was revealed to the public. A sizable portion of the web is dependent on only a handful of CDN companies, including Fastly.

  It is also through collusion with these companies that governments are able to implement an “internet kill switch” in the face of possible civil unrest. A cyber attack would simply remove the government as the arbiter (or act as a false flag scapegoat so the government can avoid blame).  But what would really happen if we lost the internet for a week, or a month or a year? In the US the result would be calamity because our economy has become far too dependent on digitization.

  Around 10% of US GDP is directly tied to online commerce. This doesn’t seem like much, but a loss of that GDP would send the US into immediate and steep recession. Around 17 million jobs in the US are generated by commercial internet enterprises, and around 38% of these workers are employed by small businesses. According to surveys 70% of American workers say they cannot do their jobs effectively without internet access.

  Keep in mind, if the trend of “work from home” during the covid lockdowns had stuck, an even bigger piece of the economy would be dependent on the health of the web.

  The five industries considered most vulnerable to cyber attack are public administration, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, finance and insurance, education and retail. That is to say, these are the industries that are attacked most often. Attacks on vital utilities are usually the favorite set pieces for disasters portrayed in fiction and film, but these are actually far less worrisome. The real danger is the potential for an attack on the internet as a system. All it would take is for a couple CDNs or more to be hit simultaneously to cause vast online blackouts.

  Most important of all are the ways in which international banking and finance utilize online networks to maintain the flow money. Without the web, trade velocity dies immediately and building it back from implosion could take years.

  But who would benefit from such an attack? Certainly, foreign powers might see the crippling of America’s digital infrastructure as a way to severely damage the country without having to fight directly and militarily. However, there are also a number of benefits to the globalists.

  For example, one of the biggest obstacles for the elites during their attempt to institute medical tyranny and the ‘Great Reset’ during covid was the proliferation of factual data that debunked the pandemic narrative. American conservatives represented a serious barrier to their success with tens of millions of gun owning patriots refusing to comply. The harder they pushed, the greater the chance of an armed insurgency.

  Even though the establishment had every single Big Tech conglomerate on their side when it came to mass censorship of contrary information, they still failed to stop the spread of the truth – Covid was nowhere near the threat they hyped it up to be and the public was quickly made aware of this by the alternative media. The elites did not have as much control over the web as they thought they did.

  In the event of a large scale cyberattack, the internet could be shut down completely, leaving only corporate media sources to filter information and control the narrative. The alternative media would be silenced and the public would be left in confusion, desperately searching for answers. Interestingly, this is a core theme of Obama’s ‘Leave The World Behind’ – The idea of a population utterly cut off from reliable information and scrambling to figure out who is attacking them.

  The internet has become an integral pillar of western economies to the point that a majority of people would not know how to live without it should it disappear. This is the disturbing reality we face in the midst of a growing series of geopolitical conflicts and more oppressive governments. It would seem it’s only a matter of time before there’s a major disruption.

  The solution is pretty straightforward – Localization of trade and production is the way to prevent full spectrum collapse, and alternative communication networks such as ham radio networks can prevent information silence. There is no reason why Americans should have to become subservient to the whims of globalism, the interdependent supply chain or digitization; they can and should create their own backup plan. Getting people to realize this and implement basic local measures is where we run into difficulties. Sadly, a lot of first-world citizens assume that the system will always be there for them when they need it, and they don’t actively seek out solutions until disaster is at their doorstep.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 23:20

• Dry January? These Are The Most Popular Cocktails For 2024
  Dry January? These Are The Most Popular Cocktails For 2024

  Dry January might be be required to recover from the excesses of the holidays, but a whole new year beckons with more successes, milestones, and achievements, perhaps requiring more or less libations, depending on the country one is from.

  But what are people craving from their alcohol mixes?

  Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu charts out the most popular cocktail drinks in 2024, according to the annual consumer survey from the Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report.

  

  Ranked: Most Popular Cocktails for 2024

  The ever-versatile, but long-enduring Gin & Tonic comes in at first place (28%) for the most popular cocktail drink chosen by Bacardi’s survey respondents.

  Allegedly, the Gin & Tonic traces back to 19th century India, when English soldiers began mixing their daily rations of quinine tonic with gin. Quinine was a common malaria drug up until the early 1900s.

  The modern G&T is coupled with a fistful of ice and makes for a refreshing summer beverage. Its popularity is unparalleled across the Commonwealth, but also finds patrons in Europe, the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands.

  

  Note: The survey was designed as multiple choice, thus percentages do not sum to 100.

  Another classic summer favorite, the Mojito comes in a close second (27%) by those surveyed. The white rum based cocktail originated in Cuba, though there is much debate on who (or which group) invented it first. Variations include using tequila instead of rum, adding muddled fruit, and switching out lime for lemon juice.

  The Margarita and Bloody Mary tie for fourth place and the unpretentious but clearly popular Whiskey and Coke rounds out the top five.

  Another 19% also love Piña Coladas (and possibly also dancing in the rain), a delicious blended mix of white-rum, cream of coconut, and pineapple juice. This island favorite is the official drink of Puerto Rico, from where it originates.

  Ranked seven to 10, are two more rum-based drinks (the Daiquiri, and the Rum and Coke) and two lemonade mixes with gin and vodka respectively.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 22:45

• Global Security In 2024: 5 Contextual Trends, 10 Possibilities
  Global Security In 2024: 5 Contextual Trends, 10 Possibilities

  Authored by Gregory Copley via The Epoch Times,

  It is more than probable that 2024 will create a confluence of major strategic trends, which could increase the likelihood of formal, kinetic conflict and continued global economic decline…

  

  Each year of the past three decades has seemed like a pivotal year in the evolution of the post-Cold War global strategic architecture, and, indeed, that has been the case. But 2024 promises to provide a number of highly significant watersheds in the progress of that new global framework.

  We should review the major concerns in priority order, in terms of the known probable events and their consequences, bearing in mind that some “uncertain” factors will move into the “certain” column during the year. The interactions from events will, to an extent, develop in accordance with their coincidence with other events. Note that all pivotal events interact with each other; nothing is evolving in isolation.

  What is significant, though, is that there are globally pervasive socio-economic trends that provide an additional contextual layering or background.

  These are the result of the accretion of event trends underway for decades.

  These should be taken as part of the framework for 2024’s geopolitical pivot points. These include the following:

  1. By the early 21st century or even the late 20th century, the exhaustion of the urban-industrial republican reforms began around the late 17th century and created several hundred years of growth, wealth, and the modern form of democracy. The maturity and exhaustion of these societies are now starting to give way to increasingly autocratic governance and lowered national productivity.

  2. The pattern of global population decline, already well underway everywhere except India and Africa (and foreseeable there in the coming decades), is causing a major drop in wealth and population health, and requires the consideration of new economic models geared to declining market sizes and declining technological innovation levels.

  3. A peaking and subsequent decline in the appeal and efficiency of major urban agglomerations is impacting political power centralization.

  4. The overwhelming and deepening decline in prestige—and therefore coercive capability—of literally all major powers in the world has ushered in an era of distrust, a lowered efficacy of military alliances, and a willingness by governments to “go their own way,” increasing the prospect for “unintended consequences,” including unanticipated conflict.

  5. The continued decline, with no reverse at present foreseeable, in the pace of scientific and technological breakthroughs or disruptive events, and a decrease in the volume and efficacy of research and development funding and marketplace trust in “scientific saviors.”

  Against this background, one must consider more immediate consequences that could possibly come to fruition in 2024, such as the following (and their timeline and priority could change as incidents trigger responses):

  Communist China

  The deep, ongoing economic collapse of communist China is leading to strategic consequences at the domestic, regional, and global levels. This could include reactive, high-risk military action by China against other states, particularly Taiwan and Vietnam, in 2024, if Chinese leader Xi Jinping were to retain power. That could result in major escalation and broadening of such conflicts, resulting in the further reduction of the Chinese regime and the removal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  Taiwanese military personnel drive a CM-25 armored vehicle across the street during the Han Kuang military exercise, which simulates China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invading the island in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on July 27, 2022. (Annabelle Chih/Getty Images)

  Alternately, Xi’s removal from power in 2024 could result in a stabilized but greatly chastened and impoverished mainland Chinese society in which the CCP could retain carefully balanced control. It is also possible that an unchecked military action initiated by Xi could then trigger his removal by the Party. The prospect, at the beginning of 2024, was that the growing rift between Xi and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as the growing Party and public confrontation of Xi, may preempt action by Xi.

  US Presidential Election

  The U.S. presidential election of November 2024 will clearly impact U.S. domestic harmony and international actions, as well as the trend path of the power of the U.S. dollar globally. With the probability of a decline in prestige and power projection capability of both the United States and China, the question arises as to which power will attempt to fill the power vacuum during the transitional phase-out or reduction of the Pax Americana phase of the “rules-based world order.”

  Will the United States accelerate or slow the pace of economic vulnerability due to its debt service crisis? And what could trigger a global debt crisis?

  Balance of Power in Middle East, North Africa

  The overflow of the Ethiopian civil war, the Sudanese civil war, and Egypt’s socio-economic crisis into global politics impacting the Red Sea/Suez sea lane is intimately linked with the restructuring of the Middle Eastern and North African (particularly the Horn of Africa) balance of power. This will be accompanied by a stabilization in the Levant through a conclusive outcome to the Gaza war (albeit not with an end to sporadic conflict between Israel and its immediate neighbors).

  Meanwhile, a change of power in Ethiopia could substantially alter the Red Sea/Suez Canal trade route in positive terms. It could lead to a regional accord with Egypt to dramatically transform the region.

  Israel–Hamas War

  The consequences of the Israel–Hamas war as a wider phenomenon, particularly impacting the actions of Turkey and Iran, and subsequently their relationship with Russia, has the potential impact on the Russian-controlled International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the rise of India as a stand-alone strategic pretender.

  The Iranian involvement in the Hamas conflict may have brought the Iranian clerical leadership under possibly terminal pressure despite the INSTC alliance, which had promised the clerics security under a Russian blanket.

  Russia–Ukraine War

  A negotiated end to the Ukraine–Russia war, possibly by spring 2024, but certainly by the end of 2024, may lead to the possible scaling back of U.S. dollar-based sanction weapons to recover ground lost to the BRICS-plus (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus new members) bloc and others that felt threatened by U.S. unilateralism in sovereignty intervention through the dollar. That may well depend on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

  Venezuela–Guyana Dispute

  The impact of the Venezuelan escalation of its conflict with Guyana has the potential to cause the United States to refocus on the Americas, coupled with a potential slowing of the anti-dollar trend among BRICS-plus bloc member states.

  A man walks by a mural campaigning for a referendum asking Venezuelans to consider annexing the Guyana-administered region of Essequibo in Caracas, Venezuela, on Nov. 28, 2023. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)

  The question is whether this is occurring too late for the United States to take advantage of the possible opportunity, largely because of the mass dollar debt owed by the U.S. government, and because of the U.S. political addiction to the weaponized use of sanctions depending on the use of dollars as a tool to punish adversaries, disregarding the long-term build-up of concerns among U.S. allies and trading partners that the weapon could be used against them.

  Africa

  There is a move toward comprehensive rejection of foreign great power dominance in Africa. That is occurring because of the decline in great power resources and budgets and, in particular, because of the declining prestige and influence of those external powers.

  At the same time, African frustration with imported geopolitical models, including artificial borders, is being matched by the growth, or return, of African philosophical and cultural approaches to governance. All of this, coupled with European and North American governance issues, will interact with the global population movement crisis.

  Green Energy

  There is a slowing down—because of declining prosperity—of trends to end fossil fuel dependence and artificially stimulate pseudo-green technologies while markets move back into a moderating position on energy sources.

  Key Western governmental initiatives to create an artificial market for green and pseudo-green energy technologies for political purposes are now, in 2024, facing increasing societal resistance due to the declining economies and increasing difficulty in sustaining wealth levels, despite governmental initiatives to control the market.

  Technological Developments

  The continued decline in the pace of scientific and technological advancement rates, already mentioned in the contextual trends as being in evidence since the early years of the 21st century, will still see key areas advance incrementally, but with fewer breakthrough technologies occurring, and at a higher cost per incident.

  This is likely to see societies—and armed forces—opting for a mix of practical, older technologies and practices despite governments often attempting to legislate the obsolescence of valid existing technologies.

  In the military sense, the attempts to evolve older weapons systems (such as the U.S. F-15 fighter, the B-52 bomber, the M1 Abrams tank family, 1960s-based hypersonic capabilities, and anti-satellite weapons) are symptomatic of the process.

  Societal Polarization

  The further polarization of many “modern” societies under modern forms of democracy is likely to be evident, particularly in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and possibly India. Significantly, none of these societies has legal mechanisms available to overturn such societal polarization and the increasing paralysis and exhaustion of the state apparatus.

  This means that unprecedented catalysts—possibly outside their respective constitutions—must occur for each of these types of societies to change in order to cope with the necessity to create new models and shed old obligations, or else state paralysis and polarization are likely to continue.

  All of these trends are part of the natural cycle of societies. Still, we see them now in the light of modern communications technologies, and we are seeing them harmonizing on a global level. Initial responses have been to attempt to stem the pace of collapse rather than to look at strategies for the emerging era beyond the short-term uncertainties.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 22:10

• The Perfidious Unreality Of The "New Normal"
  The Perfidious Unreality Of The “New Normal”

  Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

  So, what’s with all the fake crying?

  Rachel Maddow pretended to cry about “kids in cages”. Matt Hancock pretended to cry about Covid vaccines. Sarah Sidner pretended to cry over covid. Anderson Cooper pretended to cry about Israel, so did John Kirby. Van Jones pretended to cry after Biden “won” the 2020 “election”. Adam Schiff and Adam Kinzinger both pretended to cry about January 6th.

  Don Lemon pretends to cry about pretty much everything.

  They all do it, and they’re all so bad at it.

  And speaking of pretending badly, remember those early photos of people in China lying in the street, straight as planks, supposedly killed by “Covid”?

  

  As if this scary new virus just snuffs you out mid-step to topple backwards flat on the ground in a perfect silent movie pratfall.

  And it’s not just “Covid”.

  During the run-up to the 2020 election “pretending badly” was happening everywhere.

  We were told, over and over again, “It’s going to look like Trump won, but then Biden will win at the last minute because of postal ballots”.

  And gosh darnit – they were right!

  Out of nowhere Joe Biden – ‘Creepy Uncle Joe’ – who in early 2020 was obviously the least popular democratic candidate, and even more obviously going senile – is transmogrified into the most popular presidential candidate

  of ALL TIME…

  …shattering the popular vote records by over 13 million votes.

  Such is the power of bad pretending , when you just don’t give a crap about plausibility or boring details of historical precedent.

  That was, of course, following Biden’s “miracle turnaround” in the primaries, where massive defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire left his campaign “teetering on the abyss”.

  On election night they presented us with badly pretend graphs like this:

  

  They reported that counting the first 99% of the vote took a few hours, and that counting the last 1% in a couple of swing states took two weeks.

  …and told us this was all totally normal and that anyone who said otherwise was an “election denier”.

  On January 6th 2021 they showed you an “insurrection” – a word that used to mean “an armed attempt to seize control of a government by force” but now means “some guy in a Buffalo hat putting his feet on Nancy Pelosi’s desk”.

  Then they told you to be afraid for the fate of a “democracy” which their previously blatant election-rigging had just demonstrated does not exist.

  Bad pretending at its most brazenly ballsy.

  Let’s be honest the airwaves have been saturated with this since at least 2020.

  Remember those lovable doctors and nurses shooting increasingly elaborate music videos during a supposedly deadly pandemic.

  Or doctors saying BLM protesters don’t have to stay home or social distance because “racism is a worse pandemic”.

  Blatantly bad pretending.

  The Israel-Hamas war has already produced similar scenes.

  I mean what is this Busby Berkeley 4K drone footage routine supposed to be telling us?

  Dozens of perfectly synchronized & choreographed women doing yoga poses over posters of supposed hostages as if it’s the most normal thing in the world, when it’s just NOT, is it?

  Who responds to a loved one being taken hostage by calling all their friends and arranging a synchronized yoga session?

  So, what are we looking at? How is this related to the real world?

  And don’t forget “terrorists” on motorized hang-gliders chuntering along at a leisurely pace into some of the most defended airspace on the planet.

  And of course Hamas – operating out of the world’s “largest open-air prison”, with only a couple of hours of electricity a day and limited food and fresh water – but somehow putting together professionally edited high definition music videos of them making improvised weapons.

  …and we’re not supposed to ask “how?” or “why?”

  After the alleged bombing of Al-Ahli Arab hospital, doctors held a press conference surrounded by dead bodies:

  

  So did they bring the bodies to the podium or the podium to the bodies?

  And WHY exactly in either case?

  Is it sensible? Is it respectful? Is it even sanitary?

  Stacking corpses, then running electrical and audio cables over them. In very hot weather, under bright television lights.

  Presumably the mourning families had to wait to collect their dead until after the press conference. Hopefully they didn’t mind.

  I mean you’d be ok with your deceased loved one being used as set-dressing for a presser wouldn’t you?

  All the while, Israel continued carpet bombing a relatively small and very densely populated urban area in the name of “saving hostages” that a) they had made seemingly no effort to recover and b) Could EASILY have been inside one or more of the buildings they are levelling.

  And NO – please – I am not claiming people are not dying. Don’t grab for that easy lazy assumption as a reason to switch off.

  People are dying. People are being murdered. And degraded. And their corpses used as set-dressing for globalist agenda-drives. That’s both the goal and the method.

  But that doesn’t change the fact the narrative rationalization for the killing & for so much else is literal madness.

  And they’re conditioning people not to say it, and eventually not to even see it.

  Look around you – see it while you still can.

  • They kill people while claiming to save lives.

  • They push vaccines while admitting they don’t work

  • They present the physically impossible as an ongoing reality

  • They completely invert the meaning of words and yet claim nothing has changed

  • They attack reason as irrationality and tell you insanity is sense

  • They paint farce as tragedy and real tragedy as “necessary evil”.

  • They laugh, and tell you they are crying.

  • They almost literally report 2+2=5 and call anyone who claims it’s 4 a “five denier”.

  Is this just the symptom of an establishment and media so far removed from normal human experience they no longer understand it well enough to fake it?

  Perhaps. But I think it could be something more.

  Just hear me out…

  I have argued before that a primary goal of the new normal agenda to disrupt each human individual’s relationship with the real world.

  In my piece on the UN’s “Global Digital Compact” I described it thus:

  the final aim of globalist policy [is] control of all aspects of life, achieved by inserting a digital filter between people and reality. Banking, communication, media consumption, shopping. Every interaction you have will be through a digital membrane which can both monitor your exchanges with the world and – if deemed necessary – deny you access to that world.

  By making every purchase remote, every interaction digital, they can effectively disrupt everybody’s ability to interact with reality.

  However, it could be there’s also a more subtle and potentially destructive policy at play – one that attacks people’s ability to understand or even perceive that reality.

  A war on, for want of a better word, realness : the physical laws that govern our world, the emotional responses of human to human, the very existence of rational thought.

  This is the perfidious unreality of the “new normal”: Nurturing and normalising a pervasive persistent state of non-real.

  Why? What is the benefit of cultivating unreality?

  Well, that’s a complicated question with a twisting trail of intertwining potential answers.

  I have written before about the psychopathic individual’s tendency to lie to no purpose, to lie even when the truth would serve their interests better. This is because psychopaths are control addicts, and the ultimate expression of control is to create a fake world and make people live in it.

  This applies to institutions as well as individuals. Perhaps more so. To an authoritarian ruling elite insane narratives serve as both loyalty test and humiliation ritual.

  If they give you something impossible to believe, and you don’t question it, you are demonstrating greater loyalty to the authority above you than to the reality around you.

  The more absurd the lie you believe – or claim to believe – the more loyal you are to the Party. The more you pretzel your own mind at the command of the establishment the lower you sink in obeisance, the more you humiliate yourself.

  The more you humiliate yourself, the more you are no longer your own person.

  Humiliation is the ultimate demonstration of control, and demonstrating control is important to a grasping power structure built on insecurity and forever teetering on the edge of collapse.

  This idea of social control via collective belief predates Covid by decades.

  Take “The magic bullet theory”, an explanation which is no explanation at all. Theoretical physics stretched to near-breaking point.

  It literally has the word “magic” in it.

  And people repeated it, maybe even believed it, rather than deal with the real world in which such an idea was clearly ridiculous.

  Trading in their sanity for the comfort of belonging.

  Telling outrageously nonsensical lies allows you to demonstrate your power over people. But it also allows you to cultivate that power. To prepare soil where useful lies can take root easily.

  Because it’s easiest to lie to people who have no idea what truth means. Because if I can convince you to abandon sense, my narratives are no longer bound by the crushing monotony of causality, linear time or the laws of physics.

  In a world of no reason or rule, everything I tell you becomes inherently believable. In a world where nothing is true, anything could be.

  I can tell you that me taking your money makes us both richer, and you’ll never realise I’m robbing you.

  I can tell you that bars and chains are an expression of freedom, and you’ll never realise you’re my slave.

  In short, they use crazy narratives to erode the idea of objective truth, because if you don’t even know such a thing exists you are a lot easier to control.

  

  This is the perfidious unreality of the “new normal”. It’s not just about deception or fakery or propaganda.

  It’s about breaking your spirit and your mind.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 21:35

• Hezbollah Strikes Israel Intel Base With 60+ Rockets As "Initial Response" To Hamas Leader Assassination
  Hezbollah Strikes Israel Intel Base With 60+ Rockets As “Initial Response” To Hamas Leader Assassination

  Hezbollah on Saturday initiated what it announced as “an initial response” to Israel’s assassination by drone of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, which happened in a south Beirut neighborhood last week.

  The Lebanese paramilitary group backed by Iran unleashed large salvos of missiles that bombarded military bases as well as communities in northern Israel (many of which have long been evacuated), triggering alert sirens among some 90 towns and settlements.

  The Hezbollah statement declared that the assault was “part of the initial response to the crime of assassinating the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri.”

  

  The Israel Defense Forces in a follow-up statement said some 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Mount Meron area in particular, which contains a crucial IDF base which reportedly has overseen Israeli operations against Syria.

  Hezbollah indicated it launched 62 “various types of missiles” against the Meron air control base as part of Saturday’s retaliatory attacks, however, Israel said there were no casualties in the aftermath.

  Lebanon’s Hezbollah-linked Almayadeen news service has said that the targeting of Meron Base is a first of the conflict, and is of huge significance: 

  Located just 8 kilometers from Lebanon’s southern border, “Meron” Base overlooks the Lebanese towns of Rmeish, Yaroun, and Maroun al-Ras in the central sector. It occupies the summit of Mount Jarmaq in northern occupied Palestine, making it the highest peak within the occupied territories.

  Sitting at an altitude of approximately 1200 meters above sea level, the base sprawls across an area of up to 150,000 square meters, with a substantial portion of the surrounding areas believed to be under its control for military and intelligence purposes.

  According to the Resistance statement released today, “Meron” primarily serves as an aerial surveillance center.

  It is the sole facility responsible for managing and controlling air operations toward Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Cyprus, as well as the northern part of the eastern Mediterranean Sea basin. Moreover, this base acts as a central hub for electronic warfare interference in the mentioned directions, staffed by a significant number of elite Israeli officers and soldiers.

  Hezbollah has already since Oct.7 been targeting and degrading Israel’s vast military communications infrastructure along the Lebanese border, often publishing videos of these attacks.

  ⚡️BREAKING

  Hezbollah strikes Israel’s most important military site

  With 62 missiles, Hezbollah pounded the Mount Meron base, which coordinates Israel’s air operations and bombing raids on Syria and Lebanon.

  This strike was the initial response to the assassination of Saleh… pic.twitter.com/kKfEB3s2UK

  — Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) January 6, 2024

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

  It is as yet unknown the degree of damage that Meron base may have suffered, and Israel is likely to keep this under wraps even if the damage is extensive.

  Saturday’s escalation was met with swift reaction from the European Union, which urged restraint:

  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday that it was “imperative” to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East.

  “It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” he said, also warning Israel that “nobody will win from a regional conflict”.

  “We are seeing a worrying intensification of exchange of fire across the Blue Line,” he added, referring to the current demarcation line between the two countries, a frontier mapped by the United Nations that marks the line to which Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000.

  Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had vowed to retaliate for the killing of Hamas political deputy head Saleh Arouri in a Friday speech, while also saying he won’t negotiate ceasefire with Israel until it ceases attacking Gaza.

  IDF published clips of its airstrikes on southern Lebanon Saturday:

  חוליית מחבלים, עמדת שיגור, מבנים צבאיים ותשתיות טרור; צה”ל השלים שורת תקיפות בשטח לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/MH0HY5JRR6

  — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 6, 2024

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  Later in the day Saturday, the IDF said it launched multiple airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response, and released footage showing attacks on buildings and rural sites said to include a “terrorist squad, launch site, military buildings and terrorist infrastructure.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 21:00

• White House Wasn't Aware For Days That Defense Secretary Austin Was Hospitalized
  White House Wasn’t Aware For Days That Defense Secretary Austin Was Hospitalized

  Earlier throughout the day there were significant rumors that Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin has been in the hospital for days, and no one knew it… surprisingly even at the White House, apparently—and at a moment the US is embroiled in running conflicts and proxy wars from Ukraine to the Middle East.

  This is a worrisome development which has huge implications for the Biden administration and White House competency and issues of transparency. Not only has Austin’s hospitalization now been confirmed, but CNN is reporting late Saturday that President Biden was in the dark almost the whole time: 

  President Joe Biden was not aware for days that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

  National security adviser Jake Sullivan ultimately informed Biden late Thursday afternoon, soon after Sullivan himself learned that Austin had been hospitalized, that source said. Austin was admitted to the hospital on New Year’s Day due to complications from an elective surgery.

  The Pentagon announced the hospitalization Friday. Austin issued his first statement Saturday, five days after being admitted to the hospital, saying he could have done a “better job” of notifying the public.

  

  All of this was ultimately confirmed by a statement from the hospitalized Secretary of Defense himself, who said in the early evening Saturday, “I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.”

  Austin continued regarding this growing scandal over transparency: “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure,” the statement continued.

  The Defense Secretary was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and now says he’s “on the mend”. 

  He was hospitalized and thus out of commission… as the head of the Pentagon… for nearly four days.

  NEWS

  CNN has now confirmed that President Biden was not aware that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized and in intensive care for nearly four days.

  Biden only found out when National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan informed him Thursday afternoon shortly after… pic.twitter.com/S1lJPFYsR0

  — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 7, 2024

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  CNN underscores, “Senior administration officials said they were shocked to learn of Austin’s hospitalization and the delay in informing the White House.”

  The initial procedure which led to complications has been deemed minor, but the situation worsened into a serious medical event based on the undisclosed complication.

  This scandal may have Constitutional implications, given the White House-appointed civilian head of the military was persona non grata and the Commander-in-Chief didn’t so much as know about it…

  An entire industry of reporters investigating Chris Rufo’s college degree but none of them can figure out why the Secretary of Defense was missing in action for four days while the Biden Administration covered it up.

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 7, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 20:25

• "The Death Toll Of A Global War": Bret Weinstein And Tucker Discuss COVID Vaccine, WHO's Authoritarian Plans For Humanity
  “The Death Toll Of A Global War”: Bret Weinstein And Tucker Discuss COVID Vaccine, WHO’s Authoritarian Plans For Humanity

  Tucker Carlson sat down with evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein (brother of Eric Weinstein), where the two dissected the intricate web of narratives surrounding COVID-19, the pharmaceutical industry, and global shifts in governance and public health policy.

  

  According to Weinstein, opposition to the ‘official’ COVID narratives is like taking on Goliath – with competent and courageous experts in various fields being aggressively censored during the pandemic. This led to the formation of a “Dream Team” of dissenters.

  “I call the force that we’re up against Goliath. Goliath made a terrible mistake and made it most egregiously during COVID, which is it took all of the competent people, all of the courageous people, and it shoved them out of the institutions where they were hanging on. And it created in so doing, the Dream Team. It created every player you could possibly want on your team to fight some historic battle against a terrible evil,” he said, suggesting that the Dream Team is uniquely qualified to fight against those who botched the pandemic response with deadly consequences.

  Weinstein also discussed the demonization of alternative treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and suggested that there have been 17 million deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine.

  “So I’m not a math genius, but one in eight hundred shots times billions is a lot of people…..17 million deaths from the COVID vaccine?” asked Tucker. “Just for perspective. I mean, that’s like the death toll of a global war.”

  To which Weinstein replied: “Yes, absolutely. This is a great tragedy of history. So that proportion. And amazingly there is no way in which it’s over. I mean, we are still apparently recommending these things for healthy children.”

  🚨 “17 million deaths from the COVID vax?”

  Bret Weinstein tells Tucker Carlson: “I saw a credible estimate of something like 17 million deaths globally.” pic.twitter.com/US4Ejypb1f

  — Tucker Carlson Network (@TCNetwork) January 6, 2024

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  Weinstein and Carlson also discussed what they perceive as a global power shift orchestrated through public health policies. They discussed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) proposed pandemic preparedness plan, expressing concerns over potential overreach and infringement on national sovereignty. Weinstein warned of a “turnkey totalitarian planet,” with the WHO positioned to dictate unprecedented controls over nations and their citizens.

  Bret Weinstein Exposes the World Health Organization’s Neo Dark Age Agenda – He is 100% correct on all of it…the best and brightest who were all doing their own things in life in all different areas and levels….found a common cause in trying to preserve Western Democratic… pic.twitter.com/wvAtDrI9bv

  — DavidCWillisUSA (@DavidCWillisUSA) January 6, 2024

  Watch the entire segment on the WHO below…

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

  And subscribers to Tuckercarlson.com can watch the entire one hour interview here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 19:50

• American Soldiers Are Being Put In Danger For Israel
  American Soldiers Are Being Put In Danger For Israel

  Authored by Brad Pearce via The Libertarian Institute,

  Since the October 7 attacks restarted conflict between Israel and Hamas, U.S. troops have been under fire all over the Middle East. Thus far, most attacks have been deflected with minimal damage, but it is only a matter of time before one gets through and causes a serious loss of life.

  Twenty-two years after the beginning of the Global War on Terror, the government rarely bothers to say what we are doing in the Middle East. There is an implication that by “fighting terrorism” we protect Israel, which is somehow crucial to our national security. In reality, our alliance with Israel harms U.S. national security, as demonstrated by the fact that we have been attacked alongside Israel.

  The War Party has gone from the spurious line of reasoning, “We have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here,” to not really fighting them “over there” but just leaving our troops as sort of reverse hostages to draw fire so that we have a pretense to get drawn into any regional conflict. The continuing U.S. presence across the Middle East is nothing but a depraved exercise in putting American personnel in harm’s way for its own sake.

  

  Though it’s hard to imagine now, until around fifty years ago the United States policy class was skeptical of Israel, and the Middle East was considered a strategic backwater. Perhaps in the 1970s the need for oil and the internal logic of the Cold War justified constructing a policy of trying to split the difference between making Israel a satrap while also maintaining a sphere of influence among the Arab states.

  However, that questionable strategy notwithstanding, the Cold War has been over for decades and the United States is now a net exporter of oil. All that justifies our presence with the American public is the detritus from years of propaganda which has left an unexamined belief that supporting Israel as “the only democracy in the Middle East” serves some sort of moral or strategic purpose.

  One way or another, U.S. troops continue to be spread throughout the Middle East and Israel continues to receive enormous amounts of foreign aid. Though the United States has multiple clients throughout the region, it is Israel with whom there is a “special relationship.” The perception among the Arab public is that there isn’t distance between the policies of the United States and Israel, despite the fact that Israel is nearly impossible to control and many observers see it as a case of “the tail wagging the dog.”

  In pursuit of some rarely defined objective we have troops at over 30 locations in the broader region, according to a map from the American Security Project (and that is only the public or well-documented bases). Us peasants are left guessing where else our rulers are placing our countrymen, but a study by Axios Research found that there were approximately 45,400 known U.S. troops in the Middle East as of October 31, which includes new troops deployed to the region due to the current conflict.

  At this time, the United States is not said to be engaged in any major conflicts in the Middle East. The troops seem to just be on standby to give hostile militant groups convenient targets and serve as tinder for a regional conflagration. And convenient targets they are. A December 11 article from the Associated Press says there have been “at least” 92 attacks on U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq alone since October 7. In response, the United States has launched airstrikes across the region, but they are obviously unable to eliminate the myriad of militant groups who are attacking.

  The Iraqi government has protested the retaliatory airstrikes as a violation of their sovereignty, but of course they remain an occupied country twenty years after the American invasion and don’t have the ability to kick out the United States. In fact, it is Iraq itself that is the most threatened by attacks it has no control over, as the occupying foreign power could turn on them at any time. Alternately, the United States has nothing resembling authorization to be in Syria. Having failed to set up a puppet government in that country, they don’t even have anyone to complain to about coming under attack.

  

  Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) recently forced a vote in the U.S. Senate to withdraw from our undeclared war in Syria, which failed 84-13, meaning 84 Senators want our troops to remain targets. Senator Paul said at the time, “It seems to me, though our 900 troops have no viable mission in Syria, that they’re sitting ducks. They’re a tripwire to a larger war, and without a clear-cut mission, I don’t think they can adequately defend themselves, yet they remain in Syria.”

  It isn’t just Syria, it is the entire Middle East policy. Our political class is leaving American soldiers in the region as sacrificial lambs so there is a pretense to get involved and protect Israel should any major conflict break out. Meanwhile, few serious arguments are made that supporting Israel is good for national security—in fact, Joe Biden went with just saying he is a Zionist, which is to say he supports Israel for ideological reasons completely divorced from American interests. I suppose for the political class admitting that is better than acknowledging the more important truth: supporting Israel harms our national security and US troops in the region serve no purpose but to be easy targets.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 19:15

• St. Louis Mask Mandate Rescinded Less Than 24 Hours After Woke Health Officials Get Trigger Happy
  St. Louis Mask Mandate Rescinded Less Than 24 Hours After Woke Health Officials Get Trigger Happy

  The city of St. Louis reversed course less than 24 hours after reimplementing mask mandates, announcing Friday afternoon that it would no longer require city employees to mask up while working following pushback from hospitals, health experts, and the governor.

  

  “The City of St. Louis has updated its communications with employees surrounding masking,” said a representative from Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office.

  “The City of St. Louis Department of Health strongly recommends masking indoors for all City of St. Louis employees, effective immediately.”

  This came one day after city health director Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis said that COVID-19, RSV and flu cases in the city justified masking up again.

  On Friday, however, the department updated its original statistics with ‘less alarming’ data regarding RSV trends, according to KSDK.

  “BJC is not seeing a strain on hospital capacity,” BJC Health Care officials told the outlet, adding “We are experiencing a seasonal increase in respiratory illness, which is typical for this time of year.”

  Mercy Hospital described it as a “typical winter.” St. Louis County said they haven’t seen any out-of-the-ordinary strains on the health system.

  “Luckily our influenza has not spiked yet and it is going up, but it’s not nearly what it was last year,” according to Dr. Jim Hinrichs, the interim co-director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health. “It’s moderate. It’s not alarming.”

  Gov. Mike Parson’s office confirmed to 5 On Your Side it had a conversation with Jones’ office on Friday related to the city’s mask policy shift. -KSDK

  The health department had originally claimed that COVID-19 hospitalizations were up 38% over December, as 278 people were hospitalized with (but not necessarily because of) COVID-19 during the week of Dec. 23. Flu cases rose an alleged 455%.

  Perhaps, as Ian Miller noted on X, the reversal was because of the sudden realisation that masks never made a difference in St.Louis anyway…

  

  …”science”.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 18:05

• "This Is Not A Time For Us To Have A Mentally-Challenged President"
  “This Is Not A Time For Us To Have A Mentally-Challenged President”

  Authored by Mike McDaniel via AmericanThinker.com,

  Joe Biden At Valley Forge: Triumph Of The Shill II

  Well, he did it again. 

  Speaking near Valley Forge, PA, President Joe Biden delivered a follow up to his red-tinged “Triumph of the Shill” speech. The New York Post explains: 

  President Biden kicked off his bid for re-election Friday by deriding former President Donald Trump as a “loser”and calling his bid for a political comeback something out of a “bad fairy tale” Friday — prompting his predecessor to fire back that the 80-year-old is a “true threat to democracy.”

  As one would expect on the anniversary of Democrats/socialists/communists’ (D/s/cs) high holy day, we learned, yet again, how very, very close we came to losing America:

  Valley Forge “tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America,” Biden, 81, began his first proper 2024 campaign speech.

  “Today, we gather in a new year, some 246 years later, just one day before January 6 — a date forever seared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost America, lost it all.”

  

  Image: Erie Railroad Train Wreck. Wikimedia Commons.org. Public Domain.

  I’m sure China, Iran and our other enemies are paying close attention. They don’t need massive militaries with nuclear weapons to conquer America, only a minor riot by unarmed citizens, provoked by the FBI, that lasts an hour or so.

  Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past, it’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s being straightforward. He’s not hiding the ball,” Biden said.

  “His first rally for the 2024 campaign opened with a choir of January 6 insurrectionists singing from prison on a cellphone while images of the January 6 riot playing on the big screen behind him at his rally. Can you believe that? This was like something out of a fairy tale — a bad fairy tale.”

  What were those horrid insurrectionists singing? The Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem. The horror.

  “Let’s be clear about the 2020 election: Trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the outcome — every one. But the legal path just took Trump back to the truth that I’d won the election and he was a loser,” Biden said to hoots and applause.

  Gropin’, sniffin’ Joe forgot to mention not a single court actually heard evidence, which makes for rather a dead end “legal avenue.”

  

  He also forgot to mention Trump quietly, and on time, left office as the Constitution requires. What a pathetic dictator.

  “Well, knowing how his mind works, he had one act left, one desperate act available to him: the violence of January the 6th,” Biden said, “and since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol, nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty.”

  To more cheers, he added, “Collectively to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison.”

  Rational Americans might think Biden’s glee in destroying the lives of more than 1000 Americans for what amounts to misdemeanor trespassing–normally a ticketable offense–doesn’t really live up to his endless rhetoric about uniting America.

  “He calls those who oppose him ‘vermin.’ He talks about the blood of Americans being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany.  He proudly posted on social media the words that best describe his 2024 campaign, ‘revenge,’ ‘power,’ ‘dictatorship.’  There’s no confusion about who Trump is and what he intends to do,” Biden said.

  “You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American,” the president added at one point — insisting that unlike Trump “our campaign is about preserving and strengthening our American democracy.”

  “The protection and preservation of American democracy will remain as it has been the central cause of my presidency,” Biden went on before turning his wrath on Trump’s allies in Congress.

  The Bee is the latest victim of plagiarism by a president. pic.twitter.com/sMI5wrJNvI

  — Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) January 6, 2024

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  There it is again: “our American democracy,” by which Biden means a tyranny of the majority. 

  The words “constitutional, representative republic,” which is what America is, never escape his lips.

  Biden just finished a very angry speech in which he previewed the center of his re-election campaign.

  Number of times he mentioned…

  Economy: 0️⃣
  Inflation: 0️⃣
  Border security: 0️⃣
  Debt/spending: 0️⃣
  Foreign affairs: 0️⃣
  National security: 0️⃣
  Crime: 0️⃣
  Fentanyl crisis: 0️⃣

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 5, 2024

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  Donald Trump replied:

  “This is not a time for us to have a mentally challenged president,” the former president said, adding that “the only insurrection is the insurrection that is taking place at our border where he is allowing millions of people from parts unknown to invade our country at a level far worse than even a military invasion.”

  “Biden’s record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption and failure, other than that he’s doing quite well, isn’t he? That’s a hell of a hell of a list, right? That’s why Crooked Joe is staging his pathetic, fear-mongering campaign event in Pennsylvania today. Did you see him? He was stuttering through the whole thing, he’s going, ‘He’s a threat to Democracy,’” Trump said. 

  Serious ‘Where The F*** Am I?’ vibes here. pic.twitter.com/X6EVhwLFXT

  — m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) January 6, 2024

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  Biden’s remarks are a preview of his second basement campaign, and a continuing act of desperation.

  

  The 2024 campaign will be one for the record books, if America survives to write them.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 17:30

• US Warship Downs Houthi Drone Over Red Sea "In Self-Defense"
  US Warship Downs Houthi Drone Over Red Sea “In Self-Defense”

  US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced yet another intercept of a launch out of Yemen which had targeted commercial vessels in the Red Sea. 

  CENTCOM described that the Saturday incident saw the USS Laboon guided-missile destroyer down a drone over the Red Sea, after it came near near several commercial ships in international waters.

  

  There were no casualties or damage to ships from the “unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” according to the US statement.

  Further, the military statement suggests that US warships may have been targeted by the drone, given it says the USS Laboon shot the inbound drone down “in self-defense”.

  The Biden administration has previously been accused of downplaying that there’s actually been attempted Houthi attacks directly on American warships and naval assets. This would of course be an act of war, and the White House is said to be belatedly drawing up plans to hit back at Houthi launch positions, in an offensive manner (and not just defensive intercepts).

  This hasn’t happened yet, as the US is apparently pursuing a policy of restraint, not wanting a bigger regional war to break out with Iran, which has long backed the Houthis.

  But the contradiction is that Washington has done nothing to impose any kind of limits or conditions on Gaza’s air campaign, which has resulted in unprecedented Palestinian civilian deaths.

  Meanwhile the Pentagon has issued a lot of ‘final warnings’ as Red Sea attacks have persisted weekly & now daily…

  The United States gave the Houthis a “final warning” in the Red Sea, and they responded with a sea drone to attack more ships. https://t.co/E0R25hT0qw

  — FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) January 6, 2024

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  The Houthis say their ‘war on Red Sea shipping’ and on Israel itself will continue so long as Israel drops bombs on Gaza civilians. Meanwhile things have only escalated across the region, including Iran-backed militant attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria. 

  These attacks across Iraq-Syria have led to an escalation in the Pentagon response, which most recently saw a very high-ranking and influential Iraqi militia leader killed. This has enraged the Iraqi government in Baghdad, given the commander, identified as Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, had been integrated with national forces, and was considered a key ally.

  Below is a policy note exploring the implications of the growing tit-for-tat in the region, via Peter Tchir’s Academy Securities.

  * * *

  What has Happened:

  • Yesterday [Jan.11], a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, who was deputy head of operations for the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), a network of Iran-backed militia groups.
  • Since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7^th, there have been over 100 attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militia forces.
  • Iraq’s prime minister, who had the backing of Iran-aligned factions and militias when elected, called the attack “unjustified” and a “dangerous escalation and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
  • On Tuesday, as reported in our previous SITREP, a suspected Israeli drone attack killed Saleh al-Arouri (Hamas deputy leader) in Beirut.
  • In addition, an Israeli strike on Wednesday night killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon and Israel has warned of more significant military action if a diplomatic deal is not reached to pull Hezbollah forces away from the Lebanese border.
  • Finally, the U.S., the UK, and other key allies issued “a final warning” to the Houthi rebels this week to cease its attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea or face consequences.

  Why it Matters:

  “First, it’s important to understand that deterrence is the product of three factors: capability, will, and the adversary’s perception of those capabilities and that will. If the first two factors are missing—or inordinately low—or the adversary doesn’t believe that the U.S. has the will to use their capabilities, then deterrence fails. This is the current situation. The proof is in the actions that commercial shipping companies have taken in halting their transit of the Red Sea. We have warships in the region—capability—but if we’re not going to use them to ensure free movement through the Red Sea—will—and the adversary believes that we won’t use them—perception—then we won’t be successful in deterring further aggression on the part of the Houthis and Iran. A strong response to the initial Iranian-backed Houthi attacks could have prevented this situation (i.e., strikes against the Houthi command & control apparatus, launch, storage, and maintenance sites). The solution is that we should stop just shooting down arrows and kill the archers. But the Biden administration has been hesitant to address the source of these attacks over concerns of escalation. Which raises a second point—escalation has already occurred—it was initiated by the Iranians, Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxy groups.” – General David Deptula

  “General Deptula lays it out nicely. Only comment I’d add is that the U.S. must produce a full array of attack options (both arrows and archers) that will punish Iranian proxies where they currently enjoy sanctuary. That is not an expansion of the current state of affairs; it is appropriate and would meet every legal prescription of proportionality. Not surprisingly, Iran is overreaching. The Iranian leadership, specifically the IRGC leadership, must know with certainty that their only sanctuary is within the borders of Iran.” – General Spider Marks

  “General Deptula’s deterrence formula is how a great power imposes its will on a lesser power through military means. The current U.S. approach is not working, considering the continued attacks on U.S. forces in the region and the disruption of commerce through the Red Sea. The U.S. is failing to deter Iran and its proxy forces, and its deterrence strategy must be reset. The U.S. foreign policy is allowing bad actors to challenge the international order. The U.S. needs to escalate its response in compliance with international law to de-escalate the situation. How quickly and with how much force must be calibrated per General Marks’ salient points of proportionality and self-defense.” – General Robert Walsh

  “While there is always the risk of a miscalculation that leads to escalation, I think that these recent events, while linked to multiple ongoing conflicts (many that predate 7 October), are not necessarily indicative of irreversible momentum toward broader escalation. Each participant (Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Houthis, or the U.S.) can adjust the rheostat as desired. These events could continue to play out as transactional, but limited in scope and scale, and are not indicative that a broader conflict is imminent or inevitable. I would not look at these as fully coordinated events, but rather as transactional. I’m not surprised to see ISIS claim the attacks in Iran which do not follow suit with how Mossad would traditionally strike in Iran proper. While it may seem counterintuitive given the strikes in Gaza, the Israeli government has been relatively surgical in their actions with respect to Iran to minimize casualties/collateral damage.

  A possibly unanticipated outcome is that we may see a policy shift in Iraq. A deliberate strike in Baghdad has drawn the ire of the current regime (not that they haven’t complained during previous strikes) and may be enough for Iraq to consider a reduction (if not an elimination) of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Lately, there is more being written in the news and opinion pieces about the risk to U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq and questioning the mission. Another factor is whether the U.S. is willing to begin to strike Houthi infrastructure should maritime attacks continue. All that said, I would assess with moderate confidence that none of the nation states are looking to expand the conflict into a direct war and will continue to measure their responses. Where the U.S. is struggling is how to establish deterrence.” – General Robert Ashley

  “The U.S. desires to de-escalate, not escalate, but the challenge is that the same military response can be used to achieve both results. There are plenty of historical examples of U.S. administrations aggressively addressing such threats, resulting in Iran (and others) choosing to back down due to the sudden and high costs that they have incurred. Aggressive action (sinking ships, shooting down aircraft, and killing forces attacking civilian targets) may be our best chance to de-escalate Iran’s actions. It is doubtful that Iran will back down without a serious punch in the nose.” – General Mastin Robeson

  “The bottom line is that escalation will occur by proxies if we don’t change our response and reset our deterrence level. We don’t have the initiative and many allies are not joining our efforts to deter Houthi strikes against shipping. They also see that our policy and posture are not working. The strike in Baghdad is a response that may have unintended consequences. It is possible that the Iraqis can expel or reduce U.S. forces in Iraq which could have a major impact on counterterrorism operations ongoing in Iraq and Syria. If we want an effective deterrent at this point, we will need to increase our response to attacks at a 1-1 level.” – General Frank Kearney

  Please see (link) and attached PDF for full report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 16:55

• An Explainer Of Jan. 6 And Its Aftermath
  An Explainer Of Jan. 6 And Its Aftermath

  

  Authored by Joseph Hanneman via The Epoch Times,

  It was a day of infamy.

  Worse than Pearl Harbor, 9/11, or even the Civil War, Americans were told.

  A bloody insurrection by a wild, ruthless, armed mob of election deniers.

  A coup d’etat.

  A revolution.

  That first Wednesday in January 2021, however, was none of the above.

  

  Yet Jan. 6 will forever be a prominent part of American history—in ways that few people fully realize.

  It was most certainly a fork in the road.

  Defining and understanding that historic day requires solid information, full context, and a willingness to look beyond the narratives that began before Jan. 6 was even a few hours old.

  Jan. 6 is part of a much larger political and societal movement designed to usher in a “new America,” according to Victor Davis Hanson, an American classicist, military historian, and political commentator at the Hoover Institution.

  “What’s happened in America is not public opinion but institutional control is driving the United States in a direction that was never intended to go, to the degree that they are saying to America, ‘We are morally superior to the old America. This is a new America,’” Mr. Hanson said in an “American Thought Leaders” interview.

  “And that gives us the right to use any means necessary to achieve a morally superior end. You are deplorable, you’re irredeemable, you’re a clinger, you’re a semi-fascist, you’re crazy, you’re ultra-MAGA, and you don’t have the right to object to the means that we’re using.”

  To mark the third anniversary, The Epoch Times offers this guide to Jan. 6 to help the uninitiated and well-versed alike better understand this complex topic.

  

  In an Oct. 28, 2023, interview with Jan Jekielek of ‘American Thought Leaders,” historian Victor Davis Hanson said America is being pulled to places it was never meant to go. (Epoch TV)

  What Was Jan. 6?

  It was a day of rallies and protests held on the National Mall, the Ellipse, and the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington. The driving force was a widely held belief that the 2020 presidential election was marred by suspicious activity, a lack of security, and alleged widespread fraud with mail-in ballots and electronic voting.

  Massive crowds came to Washington to hear President Donald Trump speak and to put pressure on a joint session of Congress to take seriously the elector challenges expected to be filed by representatives of at least six states under Title 3 U.S. Code § 15.

  Why Does Jan. 6 Matter?

  Jan. 6 and its aftermath has had a broad impact on American society.. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI launched an unprecedented use of federal power that—while currently wielded against people right of center—could easily be unleashed against any group.

  The Jan. 6 investigations and prosecutions have raised serious concerns about due process, pretrial detention, jail conditions, equal protection under the law, and—perhaps most significantly—First Amendment guarantees.

  How Big Were the Crowds?

  Estimates are all over the map, from 400,000 to upwards of 3 million at the Ellipse. At the peak of activity at and near the U.S. Capitol between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Republican U.S. House investigators estimate crowd size at 250,000. The largest crowds gathered on the west front of Capitol grounds.

  

  Thousands of supporters for President Donald Trump pack the Washington Mall for a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

  When Did the Trouble Start?

  At 12:53 p.m., more than 20 minutes before President Trump finished speaking at the Ellipse, a fast-growing crowd kicked over metal barricades guarding the Peace Circle and advanced to the northwest sidewalk of the U.S. Capitol.

  Seconds before 12:55 p.m., protesters picked up the bicycle-rack barriers and shoved them into five U.S. Capitol Police officers. Officer Carolyn Edwards was knocked off her feet and her head struck the concrete steps, causing a concussion.

  With that barricade down, the crowd moved quickly to defeat two more police barricades and soon swarmed the west plaza underneath the inauguration stage. By 1 p.m., thousands of protesters began pressing against a hastily assembled line of Capitol Police officers.

  When Did Violence and Rioting Erupt?

  The crowd on the west plaza was amped up and agitated. The conversations along the police line included protesters telling police why they were so angry and questioning why officers would oppose their efforts to get election answers. A few minor skirmishes broke out.

  A protester on the north end of the police line screamed into a megaphone: “You can’t kill us all! We are here to stay! We’re not going anywhere! We want in! We want in!”

  “I’m a combat veteran,” one protester told a police officer.

  “If it’s an unconstitutional order, it is our duty as Americans to disobey those orders. I know you guys have it in your hearts. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. That’s all I’m asking.”

  The true flashpoint came just before 1:06 p.m. when U.S. Capitol Police Deputy Chief Eric Waldow ordered “less than lethal” force be used on the crowd.

  

  Bystanders try to stop the profuse bleeding from the face of Joshua Black, who was shot in the face by Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021. (Special to The Epoch Times)

  “I got a crowd fighting with officers, pushing, throwing projectiles,” he broadcast on USCP radio.

  “I have given warnings about chemical munitions. I need the less-than-lethal team positioned above me to identify the agitators and start deploying. Launch, launch, launch!”

  Video shot by a protester with a camera on an elevated stick—obtained by The Epoch Times—doesn’t show fighting or projectiles being thrown in the area where Deputy Chief Waldow stood at 1:06 p.m. and where force was about to be deployed.

  Just before 1:07 p.m., a Capitol Police grenadier shot protester Joshua M. Black, 47, in the left cheek with a projectile. Mr. Black immediately began bleeding profusely. A large blood stain on the concrete remained visible all afternoon.

  Word spread quickly through the crowd that a protester had been shot.

  As bystanders pressed Mr. Black’s wound to stop the bleeding, other protesters began screaming at police.

  The mood and tenor of the crowd changed at that moment.

  When Was the Capitol Breached?

  A yet-to-be-identified man known only by the hashtag #RedOnRedGlasses sailed a long 2-by-4 plank through a window near the Senate Wing Door at about 2:12 p.m.

  Proud Boys defendant Dominic Pezzola used a riot shield to smash the same window.

  In short order, dozens of people were streaming into the Crypt level of the Capitol.

  Were There Deaths and Injuries on Jan. 6?

  Four Trump supporters died at the Capitol on Jan. 6: Benjamin Philips, 50, Kevin Greeson, 55, Ashli Babbitt, 35, and Rosanne Boyland, 34.

  Ms. Babbitt was shot and killed by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd just outside of the House Speaker’s Lobby at 2:44 p.m. Mr. Byrd was subsequently cleared by USCP and the U.S. Department of Justice, but the shooting remains highly controversial. A civil suit against the federal government was lodged on Jan. 5.

  

  Ronald McAbee (in the red cap at center) leans over a prone Rosanne Boyland. Another protester does CPR on the lifeless woman on Jan. 6, 2021. (Special to The Epoch Times)

  Ms. Boyland collapsed at the mouth of the Lower West Terrace tunnel at about 4:22 p.m. and was crushed in a stampede. Police at the tunnel entrance ignored pleas to render medical aid. Metropolitan Police Department Officer Lila Morris inexplicably picked up a wooden walking stick and beat Ms. Boyland in the head and ribs. Ms. Morris faced no discipline for her actions.

  Once Ms. Boyland was pulled inside the Capitol, advanced lifesaving care was started by MPD, U.S. Park Police, and Capitol Police. Efforts continued on two levels of the Capitol. Ms. Boyland was pronounced dead at a hospital at 6:09 p.m.

  Mr. Philips was determined to have suffered a fatal stroke. Security video obtained by The Epoch Times showed Mr. Philips was not struck by police munitions as widely believed. Mr. Greeson suffered a heart attack, although at least one witness claims he was struck in the head by a police projectile before collapsing.

  Some 140 police officers from Capitol Police and MPD suffered injuries on Jan. 6. Some of the injuries were career-ending. An unknown number of protesters were injured, including Dominic Vargo, who was shoved off a stairway ledge by a Capitol Police motorcycle officer just after 2 p.m., and Mark Griffin, whose leg was broken when an MPD officer fired a 40mm crowd control munition at him from point-blank range.

  How Did the FBI and DOJ Respond?

  The decision was quickly made to launch the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history to pursue protesters and rioters. The ramp-up effort was described by top prosecutor Michael Sherwin as a “shock and awe” campaign, borrowing a slogan from the U.S. invasion of Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.

  

  FBI manhunt information is displayed on the side of a bus stop in downtown Washington D.C. on Jan. 13, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

  The FBI set up a web page with photos of criminal suspects, and eager online sleuths excelled at identifying people and turning them in to the FBI. The DOJ established a “rapid-indictment” unit to level charges against a long list of suspects.

  Protesters found themselves being turned in to the FBI by neighbors, former classmates, and—in some cases—by ex-spouses and children. Arrests have continued unabated for three years, with the total now approaching 1,250.

  How Has the FBI Handled the Arrests of Suspects?

  The FBI’s practice of using SWAT teams to apprehend and arrest Jan. 6 suspects in dozens of cases has brought condemnation from civil rights attorneys and current and former FBI special agents.

  In one case chronicled recently in The Epoch Times, the Westbury family of Lindstrom, Minnesota, faced two SWAT raids, the first involving only misdemeanor charges. The second raid involved up to 60 agents and the use of drones to fly over the property—even into the backyard chicken coop.

  

  Dozens of heavily armed FBI agents conduct a predawn raid on the home of Robert and Rosemarie Westbury in Lindstrom, Minn., on Oct. 4, 2021. (Courtesy of the Westbury Family)

  “For a nonviolent misdemeanor—a nonviolent, non-felony misdemeanor—they came out with 20 to 25 FBI agents fully vested up, AR-15s all pointed right at me like I’m a domestic terrorist,” Jonah Westbury told The Epoch Times.

  Former FBI special agent Stephen Friend said his decision to protest these tactics led to him being suspended without pay and eventually forced him to resign from his “dream job.” He testified before Congress in May 2023 along with special agent Garret O’Boyle and analyst Marcus Allen.

  Are Defendants Mistreated in Jail?

  Defendants have reported many cases of abuse by jail guards and terrible living conditions at the District of Columbia jail, referred to derisively by inmates as the “DC Gulag.” Defense attorney Joseph McBride wrote and submitted an 11-page report to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International. He said he never received a response.

  “January Sixers are regularly being held in solitary confinement for 22 or 23 hours a day in DC-GITMO. Dubbed the Patriot Unit, this previously defunct part of DC-GITMO, was reopened specifically to house January Sixers,” Mr. McBride wrote.

  “To put it mildly, the facility is disgusting. Black mold, brown drinking water, and poor ventilation are but a few of the problems with the facility itself.”

  The U.S. Marshals Service conducted a surprise inspection of the DC facility on Nov. 2, 2021, that led to the removal of some 400 inmates, but the Jan. 6 defendants were not moved. Two days later, four members of Congress demanded access to the jail after being turned away repeatedly by the deputy warden.

  

  U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), with colleagues Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) (left), speaks at a press conference addressing the treatment of the Jan. 6 detainees at the D.C. jail in Washington on Dec. 7, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

  Interviews with pretrial detainees on Nov. 4, 2021, led Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to publish a 28-page report, “Unusually Cruel,” detailing conditions at the facility. Jan. 6 defendants reported being forced to sleep with the lights on and having to carry their mattresses around the jail in the dead of night.

  Others reported physical abuse, including one detainee who said guards dropped him head-first onto the concrete floor.

  Why Wasn’t the National Guard at the Capitol?

  According to former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, his pre-Jan. 6 request for the National Guard was squelched because “Pelosi will never go for it,” referring to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

  Mr. Sund’s comments were spoken at a hearing of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight on Sept. 19, 2023. The contention about Ms. Pelosi came from former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger, Mr. Sund testified.

  According to former senior Trump aide Kash Patel, President Trump authorized up to 20,000 National Guard troops for use in D.C. and elsewhere on Jan. 6, 2021, but the use of those troops was later rejected by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the U.S. Capitol Police. Mr. Patel said former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) misled the public by saying Trump never ordered troops to the Capitol.

  

  Members of the National Guard patrol the area outside of the U.S. Capitol during the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

  “She knows the truth—45 [Trump] authorized the National Guard days before Jan. 6, and Pelosi and Bowser rejected it,” Mr. Patel told The Epoch Times in 2022.

  “Cheney knows it’s unconstitutional for any president to ever order the military to deploy domestically. He may only authorize their use; then there must be a request.”

  Mr. Sund detailed his frustrated efforts on Jan. 6 to get authorization to ask for National Guard backup, then having to fight resistance from the Department of Defense. He said the New Jersey State Police arrived at the Capitol to assist faster than the National Guard, which was staged minutes away from the Capitol.

  By the time the National Guard put boots on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, police had restored order and pushed most of the protesters out.

  What Legal Issues Have Arisen From Jan. 6 Prosecutions?

  In December, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the DOJ’s use of a white-collar-crime statute to prosecute more than 330 Jan. 6 defendants for “corruptly obstructing an official proceeding,” a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

  Federal prosecutors claim that the delay of a joint session of Congress to hear elector objections and count Electoral College votes from the presidential election constitutes a crime under 18 U.S. Code Section 1512(c).

  Defense attorneys argue that the statute, enacted as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, was intended only to prosecute corporate fraud in publicly traded companies, not First Amendment political protests. The case of Joseph W. Fischer v. United States is the first Jan. 6 case to make it onto the Supreme Court calendar and could have a major impact on many cases if the high court strikes down the DOJ actions.

  Dozens of other cases from Jan. 6 are in various stages of appeal. These include claims that the DOJ withheld exculpatory evidence from defense teams, resulting in unfair bench and jury trials. Other cases cite the refusal by federal judges to grant zero change of venue requests as evidence that defendants are not facing juries of their peers.

  What Impact Has the Release of the Capitol Security Video Had?

  In 2022, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave exclusive access to more than 40,000 hours of Capitol Police security video to Fox News, The Epoch Times, Just the News, and columnist Julie Kelly.

  The video provided to those media outlets led to some revelations, including an important look at the medical aid provided to Ms. Boyland as she awaited transport via a D.C. Fire and EMS Service ambulance.

  

  Paramedics stop the gurney carrying Rosanne Boyland near the House Wing Door at the U.S. Capitol and move her to the floor to continue CPR on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Capitol Police/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  However, the House has not fulfilled about half of the video requests made by The Epoch Times, limiting the media’s ability to fully cover the events of Jan. 6.

  Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has decided to hire a contractor to blur the faces of identifiable persons on the video, setting off a fury of complaints on social media. That decision will prevent media and defendants from using facial recognition software to track suspicious actors and determine the numbers of undercover agents and informants in the crowds that day.

  What’s Next for Jan. 6 Investigations?

  It remains to be seen if GOP House members will successfully press for a new Jan. 6 committee to investigate the myriad issues ignored by the Democrat-controlled House Select Committee in 2022.

  Major unresolved questions include what role undercover police, federal agents, and informants played in the crowds on Jan. 6.

  Court documents filed by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, exposed the presence of dozens of undercover Metropolitan Police Department Electronic Surveillance Unit officers on Jan. 6.

  

  Bobby Powell is interviewed in Terra Ceia, Fla., in November 2022 for “The Real Story of Jan. 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home,” a documentary from The Epoch Times. (Paulio Shakespeare/The Epoch Times)

  One of those officers appeared to participate as an agitator, helping protesters over police barricades and urging them to go up to, and into, the Capitol.

  Radio journalist Bobby Powell has spent three years trying to get investigators and journalists to look at a video he shot on the east patio of the Capitol, showing a man who looked like an undercover operative vandalizing a large sheet of glass in a Capitol window. Mr. Powell’s story is told in The Epoch Times’ new documentary: “The Real Story of Jan. 6: The Long Road Home.”

  There will likely also be fallout from alleged perjured testimony given at the first trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other defendants that ran from Sept. 27 through Nov. 29, 2022.

  Journalist Steve Baker from Blaze Media says his video investigation showed that an alleged confrontation between Oath Keepers and USCP Officer Harry Dunn never happened because the witness—USCP Special Agent David Lazarus—was nowhere near Mr. Dunn or the Oath Keepers at the time.

  The revelations cast serious doubt on testimony given by Mr. Lazarus and Mr. Dunn in the Oath Keepers trial. One Oath Keepers defense attorney, Brad Geyer, said the development should lead to Oath Keepers guilty verdicts being set aside.

  Perhaps the biggest remaining mystery is the identity of the person who planted pipe bombs at the D.C. headquarters of both the GOP and Democrat parties on Jan. 5, 2021.

  The FBI has increased its reward—it’s now at $500,000—for information leading to an arrest, but has reported little progress over the past three years.

  The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has refused to release its analysis of the bombs after The Epoch Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2022.

  *  *  *

  The Epoch Times original documentary “The Real Story of January 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home” will be available to full subscribers starting Saturday, Jan. 6, at 8:30 p.m. ET on EpochTV.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 16:22

• JPMorgan: Housing Affordability Could Be Restored Within 3.5 Years, But There's A Catch…
  JPMorgan: Housing Affordability Could Be Restored Within 3.5 Years, But There’s A Catch…

  Authored by Sam Bourgi via CreditNews.com,

  There may be light at the end of the tunnel for Americans struggling to afford a home, but it will take at least three and a half years to get there, according to Joe Seydl, JPMorgan’s senior markets economist.

  

  Why three and a half years?

  According to Seydl, that’s when Americans’ paychecks will catch up to soaring housing costs.

  That translates to an annual income growth of 7%.

  “If you are looking to buy a house in the United States, don’t wait for, or expect, a home price crash,” Seydl wrote in a research report.

  “We don’t foresee one coming (thankfully), nor do we think one is necessary to restore affordability at the national level. We think time and continued robust income growth can cure the problem on their own,” he explained.

  

  There’s just one caveat to Seydl’s analysis: While housing affordability could potentially be restored in 3.5 years nationally, it’ll take longer in major metro areas.

  If you are looking to snap up a house in Miami, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or New York, the wait may extend to five years.

  While Seydl’s analysis should provide a boost of confidence to Americans struggling to afford their first home, they shouldn’t celebrate just yet.

  Can wage growth be sustained?

  Seydl’s conclusion hinges on “incomes continuing to rise at a robust rate.” But can such growth be sustained?

  According to the Atlanta Fed, wages were growing at 5.2% from September to November—much higher than at any point over the last two decades but down from a peak of 6.7% in mid-2022.

  Meanwhile, inflation still remains well above the target and keeps eating into Americans’ paychecks. In fact, adjusted for inflation, Americans’ wages have shrunk by 5% since pre-Covid.

  Looking ahead to 2024, labor experts aren’t expecting a wage renaissance either, pointing to shrinking annual budgets for payrolls.

  “By all expectations, the mood for [wage growth in] 2024 is radically different than what it was going into 2023,” Aaron Terrazas, Glassdoor’s chief economist, told CNBC.

  According to a recent industry survey by Mercer, American companies are budgeting for a 3.9% increase in wages this year, down from 4.1% in 2023.

  The other factor driving housing affordability

  While higher wages would certainly improve housing affordability, fixing the chronically low supply of real estate may prove to be a much bigger challenge.

  According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), America is grappling with a “severe housing shortage that’s years in the making.”

  There are so few listings that even one of history’s largest jumps in mortgage rates hasn’t shaken the housing market.

  In fact, as of November, median home prices stood at $409,000—16% higher than before Covid.

  According to NAR, this has affected average or ‘middle-income buyers’ the most.

  “Middle-income buyers face the largest shortage of homes among all income groups, making it even harder for them to build wealth through homeownership,” said Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors.

  “Even with the current level of listings, the housing affordability and shortage issues wouldn’t be so severe if there were enough homes for all price ranges,” she said.

  According to Redfin data, there were just 3.82 million existing homes for sale in 2023—a 7.3% decline from the previous year and the lowest since 2010.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 16:20

• "Have A Metamucil And Delete Your Account" – Harvard Prof Self-Immolates With Elitist Attack On Chris Rufo
  “Have A Metamucil And Delete Your Account” – Harvard Prof Self-Immolates With Elitist Attack On Chris Rufo

  It would be an understatement to say that academic elites are absolutely seething over the takedown of Harvard president Claudine Gay, whose rise to power was brought to you by the letters DEI, and of course capital P for Plagiarism.

  

  There were two major players involved in her downfall – billionaire investor Bill Ackman, and journalist Chris Rufo.

  Now, establishment tentacles like Business Insider, and the NY Times are going after Ackman’s wife for allegedly plagiarizing part of her dissertation (which, after reading their hit-piece, is maybe a 0.01 on the Gay scale).

  They’re also coming after Rufo, of course – and they aren’t sending their best.

  On Thursday, Harvard Professor of Government and African American Studies, Jennifer Hochschild, implied that Rufo had ‘stolen valor’ by claiming he was a Harvard alum, because he went through Harvard’s extension program as opposed to their graduate program.

  

  “On Rufo: what do integrity police say about his claim to have “master’s degree from Harvard,” which is actually from the open-enrollment Extension School?” Hochschild wrote on X. “Those students are great – I teach them- but they are not the same as what we normally think of as Harvard graduate students.”

  She was immediately smoked by Community Notes:

  

  And then, there’s the replies:

  “You’re a joke. Claudine Gay plagiarized the acknowledgements from one of your papers and now, out of some bizarre desire for revenge, you’re trashing your own university’s continuing education school,” said Rufo, adding “Have a Metamucil and delete your account.”

  You’re a joke. Claudine Gay plagiarized the acknowledgements from one of your papers and now, out of some bizarre desire for revenge, you’re trashing your own university’s continuing education school. Have a Metamucil and delete your account.

  — Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 5, 2024

  “If what the Harvard elite are saying about the extension program is true then I think you and every other graduate has a class action lawsuit on your hands,” one user suggested, adding “They sold you a bill of goods. billed your program as an extension of Harvard, charged you exorbitant fees, and then turned around and said it really wasn’t Harvard.”

  It is a masters degree. If you claim otherwise, then Harvard has engaged in false advertising and is subject to a lawsuit for fraud. Is it your claim that Harvard has engaged in fraudulently advertising?

  — Cernovich (@Cernovich) January 5, 2024

  Hochschild kept digging… posting “Rufo could have proudly and honorably said, “I pulled myself up by bootstraps;to prove it I have master’s degree from Harvard extension school, along with other smart and gutsy students.”Instead he used weasel words to try to attach himself to Ivy status and prestige.Insecurity??”

  Except, Rufo hasn’t attempted to conceal anything…

  Lmao, you just keep proving how far Harvard has fallen. Here is his post. Good for you trashing your students. pic.twitter.com/kshrYLOGYk

  — Nick Joseph (@NickJoseph44) January 6, 2024

  Every word makes sense when viewed through this lense. pic.twitter.com/Qxglih40QG

  — Dr. Ranch Wood (@UVIL1991) January 5, 2024

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

  So a rude, crude, “Harvard extension” guy who didn’t go to Harvard, brought down the Harvard president over the fierce objections of the Harvard board and the Harvard establishment. Well, what does that say about the Harvard establishment?

  — Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 5, 2024

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

  This is a professor at Harvard. If she has a problem with the way Harvard hands out degrees through its extension school, she could have said so before. Or resigned. Instead, she just reveals herself as the Margaret Dumont of academia. https://t.co/lQAsY0asGZ

  — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) January 6, 2024

  America is in serious need of an academic renaissance. 

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 15:45

• FAA Grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 Jets After Exit Door Incident
  FAA Grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 Jets After Exit Door Incident

  Update (1310ET):

  The Federal Aviation Administration announced a temporary grounding for Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets. These jets will need to be inspected before returning to service. This comes after a mid-cabin exit door flew off mid-flight of an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 on Friday evening.

  • FAA ORDERS TEMPORARY GROUNDING OF CERTAIN BOEING 737 MAX 9 JETS
  • FAA: PLANES MUST BE INSPECTED BEFORE THEY CAN RETURN TO FLIGHT
  • FAA REQUIRING INSPECTIONS OF CERTAIN BOEING 737 MAX 9 PLANES

  *    *    * 

  Update (1250ET):

  Sources tell CNBC that United Airlines plans to ground dozens of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets for inspections following an incident involving a mid-cabin exit door on an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 jet on Friday evening. This would mean both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines would have both grounded their MAX 9 jet fleets.

  Here’s what X users are saying about the Alaska Airlines incident:

  Another video. Confirms a rear plug door failed in flight. Super rare, brand new @Boeing 737 max 9 failure. Absolutely NOT something a passenger could do. This is a mechanical failure and not something maintenance would be at fault for. https://t.co/xUCpXIYml1

  — Shane Connor 🇺🇲 (@p3d_tesla) January 6, 2024

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

  A big deal: Max was involved in 2 catastrophic crashes in ‘18 & ‘19, causation, trim failure.

  Boeing originally denied fault & was accused of profit over safety.

  Wouldn’t set foot in one.

  Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max 9 planes after window blow out https://t.co/GyjGQrvPFq

  — Tonksey 🇪🇺 #GTTO #ToryCorruption #Antifa #BLM (@JohnTonks) January 6, 2024

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

  If you wish to do anything right this year, you can permanently BAN every and all MAX 8,9 whatever other number aircraft from your company. The program is a catastrophic failure with proof and you’re daily putting tens of thousands of souls lives at risk. That MIGHT 1/2

  — Now Serving Whatever Number You’re Not 💁🏼‍♀️ (@RuthNicola85) January 6, 2024

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

  *    *    * 

  A brand new Boeing 737 MAX 9, operated by Alaska Airlines, was forced to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport shortly after takeoff on Friday evening due to its mid-cabin exit door detaching from the aircraft mid-flight. This incident was recorded and shared on social media platform X. 

  

  The Max jet, registered as N704AL, was operating as AS1282 from PDX to Ontario International Airport with more than 170 passengers on board. Data from the aviation tracking website Flightradar24 shows the jet was about ten minutes into the flight, reaching 16,000 feet, with a ground speed of nearly 400 knots when the incident unfolded. 

  

  “During the flight, a sudden decompression occurred once the door detached, leading to an emergency landing. In video footage captured during the incident, the emergency exit can be seen torn off and oxygen masks deployed. There are no reports of serious injuries,” aviation blog Airways Magazine wrote in a note. 

  

  Passengers recorded the shocking moment when the mid-aft door ripped off. 

  BREAKING: Alaska Airlines plane makes emergency landing in Portland, Oregon after window blows out in mid-air.

  Several items, including phones, were sucked out of the plane when it suddenly depressurized. Everyone is safe. pic.twitter.com/BtOB1RU3tn

  — BNO News (@BNONews) January 6, 2024

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

  According to BBC News, Alaska Airlines said 65 of its 737 Max 9 aircraft were suspended after the incident for ‘inspections.’ 

  Boeing said it was briefed on the incident and was “working to gather more information.” 

  The door incident came weeks after Boeing reported 737 Max jets had yet another quality control issue: “A possible loose bolt in the rudder control system.” 

  Max jets have faced several major issues related to different parts and systems. The most notable defect was MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), which led to two separate crashes, killing a combined 346 people.

  Several months ago, fuselage supplier Spirit was found to have improperly drilled holes in the aft pressure bulkhead. 

  We need to revisit internal communications from Boeing employees that pointed out Max jets were “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.” 

  The latest incident of a door detaching mid-flight certainly does not instill confidence in this troubled aircraft. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 15:10

• Is 2024 Bitcoin's Big Year?
  Is 2024 Bitcoin’s Big Year?

  Authored by Michael Washburn via The Epoch Times,

  U.S. regulators’ pending approval of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which could come as soon as next week, and severe criticisms of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for missteps in the prosecution of a Utah-based firm, DEBT Box, and for a general pattern of regulatory overreach, have combined to give the cryptocurrency market unprecedented momentum in 2024, financial and legal expert analysts have told The Epoch Times.

  For Bitcoin, 2024 is off to a strong start. On Tuesday, Jan. 2, riding high on expectations of spot ETF approval, Bitcoin hit $45,000, before dipping modestly to $44,000 today.

  

  The severe risks that regulators associate with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are real indeed (though most importantly, not unique to bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency), and criminals make wide use of Bitcoin scams to rip off unsophisticated investors, often older people who did not grow up with social media and online trading platforms. The latter problem is so acute that police in U.S. states routinely issue warnings about the dangers of investing in crypto online. Crypto is still a highly volatile asset, and the value of a digital portfolio can disappear virtually overnight.

  The conviction in November of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on all the felony charges he faced, after just a few hours of jury deliberations, has also not helped the sector’s image.

  Yet a confluence of factors is still likely to make 2024 the most decisive and transformative year thus far for the cryptocurrency, analysts say. Market players are fed up with SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s war on digital innovation and failure to adhere to legal protocols as he goes about trying to control an industry he has blasted as “rife with fraud, rife with hucksters,” the analysts say.

  The financial markets have taken note of Bitcoin’s performance in the first days of the new year. For much of 2022 and 2023, Bitcoin struggled to emerge from the “crypto winter” and the fallout from the collapse of FTX and other exchanges, and its price vacillated between $20,000 and $30,000.

  Weighing Spot Bitcoin ETFs

  Digital assets are increasingly in vogue at prominent financial institutions. Many of them, such as BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, have gone from a view of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies largely consistent with that of Mr. Gensler, to finding value in digital money and seeking to parlay that value into high returns for investors.

  BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is among those whose view of Bitcoin has undergone a radical shift.

  In October, a former BlackRock managing director said that his former boss, Mr. Fink, and U.S. financial regulators largely agreed on the inevitability of spot Bitcoin ETF adoption, and it was just a question of when.

  Despite the slight dip, much of the market still believes the long-awaited approval is finally at hand, and is bullish. John Deaton, a lawyer who has represented cryptocurrencies platforms in legal battles with the SEC, does not credit such rumors of a regulatory refusal, and sees many factors coming together to make 2024 a huge year.

  “I believe Bitcoin will do well between 2024 and 2025. When you combine the approval of a spot ETF, with the halving in April, along with an election year where you know the Fed will attempt to manipulate the economy, lower interest rates, and buy assets through quantitative easing, it’s a perfect storm for price appreciation,” Mr. Deaton told The Epoch Times.

  “Halving” refers to a process of slashing by 50 percent the payment for mining Bitcoin, to help keep it scarce and retain its value.

  

  As the week came to a close, CoinTelegraph reports that 19b-4 amendments were filed for spot BTC ETF applications from asset managers BlackRock, Valkyrie, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck and WisdomTree. 

  The filings are one of the last stages in the SEC approval process, but S-1 documents must be completed in order for U.S. exchanges to begin listing shares of investment securities with direct exposure to crypto.

  Some experts have speculated that final approval for the spot Bitcoin ETFs will drop before Jan. 10 – the deadline for an offering from ARK Invest and 21Shares. A potential approval could mean greater adoption of crypto in the U.S. and worldwide.

  There’s the first 19b-4 amendment filing! Here we go. https://t.co/dz01aborw7

  — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 5, 2024

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

  Meanwhile, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas showed optimism that the SEC would approve a Bitcoin ETF by the start of next week:

  “Yeah it’s basically done. Latest I’m hearing (from multiple sources) that final S-1s are due 8am on Monday as SEC is trying to line everyone up for Jan 11th launch.”

  DEBT Box Fiasco

  The cryptocurrency industry has long had a tense, contentious relationship with SEC Chair Mr. Gensler, who has made no secret of his loathing of cryptocurrency and the firms that mine and trade crypto tokens.

  In an interview with Bloomberg Television last July, Mr. Gensler said, “A lot of investors should be aware it’s not only a highly speculative asset class, it’s also one that they currently should not assume that they’re getting the protections of the securities laws, even though the securities laws apply to many of those tokens.

  “The platforms often are commingling and trading against you and have market makers that are on the other side of your trades … Right now, this is a field rife with fraud, rife with hucksters. There are good faith actors as well, but there are far too many that aren’t,” Mr. Gensler continued.

  As part of his crusade to stamp out such fraud, Mr. Gensler has gone after crypto exchanges of many sizes and profiles, and SEC enforcement has taken a noticeably harsher tone.

  In August 2023, the SEC announced an enforcement action against Digital Licensing Inc., a Draper, Utah-based firm doing business under the name DEBT Box, and 18 of its executives and personnel. The SEC’s complaint charged the company with raising about $50 million, along with unknown amounts of Bitcoin and Ether, with fraudulent claims on social media that investors would make substantial profits investing in tokens generated through crypto mining. According to the complaint, the tokens pitched to investors were the results not of mining but simply of DEBT Box’s ordinary blockchain code.

  

  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 12, 2023.(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

  In its zeal to prosecute DEBT Box, the SEC went so far as to make emergency applications for a temporary restraining order and seizure of the firm’s assets, on the grounds that such steps were necessary to stop DEBT Box from transferring investors’ money to offshore accounts.

  But DEBT Box executives vigorously challenged the claims that the SEC put forth to justify seizing the company’s assets, and U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby agreed that the regulator had exceeded its mandate and made materially false claims.

  On Dec. 21, Gurbir Grewal, head of the SEC’s enforcement division, took the highly unusual step of apologizing for his agency’s conduct.

  “I fully appreciate the extraordinary responsibility entrusted to the SEC when enforcing federal securities laws. … I understand that the division fell short of these standards in this case, and I apologize for that shortfall,” Mr. Grewal said.

  The SEC’s PR Nightmare

  The SEC’s admission that it behaved in an arbitrary manner more befitting an authoritarian regime than a financial agency operating under Constitutional strictures affirms what many have long believed about the SEC and its orientation under Mr. Gensler.

  “The SEC only gave a half-hearted apology because they had no choice. The federal judge is considering issuing sanctions against the lawyers at the SEC. That is how bad their behavior and conduct in these crypto cases has become,” Mr. Deaton told The Epoch Times.

  In Mr. Deaton’s view, the severe blowback directed at the SEC’s overreach in this matter is not surprising given the regulators’ failed efforts to prosecute Ripple Labs on the grounds that its crypto token, XRP, was a security, and that Ripple had engaged in the unlicensed sale of a product that fell under the SEC’s purview.

  Though the SEC may not have made material misstatements of fact in seeking to prosecute Ripple, the SEC’s arguments in the case, which Judge Analise Torres found to be invalid in a 34-page ruling issued on July 13, 2023, were so deeply flawed that it was clear the regulator was operating without any grasp of legal nuance or the bounds of its mandate, Mr. Deaton believes.

  “The federal judge in the Ripple case stated that the lawyers at the SEC actually ‘lack faithful allegiance to the law’ and only care about advancing their own self-serving agenda,” Mr. Deaton said.

  Mr. Deaton then called the DEBT Box case an “egregious” instance of overreach where a government agency felt entitled to seize the assets of private citizens without a trial, and without an opportunity to face the accusers and present counter-arguments in court, or any of the other niceties of due process.

  “This was a temporary restraining order where the defendant was not present. It’s an ex parte hearing with the judge, and they intentionally misled the judge to believe that DEBT Box was closing bank accounts and moving money overseas, and if the judge didn’t freeze all the assets, innocent people would lose their funds,” Mr. Deaton said.

  “Based on that, the judge froze the accounts and DEBT Box employees’ payroll checks bounced, which meant people couldn’t pay their mortgages and other bills. What the SEC did was criminal and they should be punished,” he continued.

  

  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission building in Washington on Nov. 13, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  Chronic Failures

  This is not the first case in which the SEC’s conduct has come in for harsh criticism. Mr. Deaton mentioned the case of Stamford, Connecticut-based Grayscale Investments in this connection, noting that a U.S. appeals court found the SEC to have acted arbitrarily in its zeal to close the firm down.

  The extent of the agency’s wrongdoing in the DEBT Box and other matters does not redound to the SEC’s credit, and the opprobrium now directed at the regulator cuts across partisan lines, he observed.

  No one can claim that a Republican appointee hampered the SEC’s campaign against Ripple, and that the regulator might have fared better in a legal proceeding under the oversight of a Democrat. After all, Judge Torres is anything but a Trump supporter, said Mr. Deaton, who does not expect Mr. Gensler to retain his position as SEC bigwig indefinitely.

  “Judge Torres is a lifelong Democrat appointed by President Obama, and all she did was follow and apply the law. Gary Gensler is a bad faith regulator, and no other SEC chair has lost so much in the court system. Democrats are realizing that he is a political liability,” Mr. Deaton said.

  Broad Acceptance

  Adding further momentum to Bitcoin’s rise, regulators outside the United States increasingly view cryptocurrencies as a hedge against rampant inflation and a means for non-institutional investors—in other words, ordinary citizens—to find some prosperity in tumultuous times.

  Josip Putarek, a crypto analyst at the gaming platform dappGambl, agreed that Bitcoin’s strong start in 2024 is largely a function of U.S. regulators’ imminent spot Bitcoin ETF approval, and suggested that other digital currencies may ride the same wave.

  “All eyes are on Bitcoin right now, and if it performs well, the money inflow to the crypto market may shift to Ethereum and other altcoins,” Mr. Putarek told The Epoch Times.

  “Approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF will drastically change the game, as it will open up inflows to Bitcoin from institutions, thus creating constant buy pressure,” he said.

  Citing the example of gold-based exchange-traded funds, Mr. Putarek suggested the spot Bitcoin ETF’s performance may be comparable.

  “Looking at gold, that ETF has multiplied its market capitalization several times since its launch. In addition, gold, which was in the $400 band in 2004, showed a growth performance of 370% in six years,” he said.

  But an even more important driver may be the rapidity with which various governments are turning to digital currencies.

  Latin America and Hong Kong

  “El Salvador was the first country to officially recognize Bitcoin as a payment unit in 2021, and many other countries will follow in the future. It’s just a matter of time. In my opinion, Argentina and Hong Kong could be among the first countries to join El Salvador in the journey,” Mr. Putarek said.

  Mr. Putarek cited the chronic inflation crippling Argentina’s markets as a reason why its newly elected president, Javier Milei, has adopted forceful pro-crypto rhetoric and drawn comparison to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele.

  As for Hong Kong, the jurisdiction combines a highly tech-savvy, pro-crypto bent with a determination to adhere to the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) international standards aimed at curbing the fraud and scams still associated with crypto, Mr. Putarek said. Hong Kong has updated its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Ordinance to be compliant with FATF Recommendation 15, requiring firms to follow strict AML and anti-terrorist-financing protocols and operate under a license from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Hong Kong has been a member of the FATF, which targets money laundering and terrorist financing, since 1991.

  In agreement on the direction of Argentina under Mr. Milei is Silvina Moschini, an analyst and the CEO of Unicorns Inc.

  “President-elect Milei demonstrates a noteworthy commitment to financial advancement, particularly in his alignment with crypto foundational values, advocating for minimal state intervention and free markets. This creates a promising landscape for digital assets in Argentina, suggesting a favorable environment for the tokenization of assets and broader financial innovation in the country,” Ms. Moschini told The Epoch Times.

  The appeal of crypto as a hedge in the midst of Argentina’s economic chaos has not diminished, Ms. Moschini believes.

  “Amid the economic challenges in Argentina, characterized by peso devaluation and high inflation, crypto adoption has surged as a practical solution for individuals seeking alternatives to navigate these issues,” she said.

  Ms. Moschini added that she expects the trend to gather force in tandem with the peso’s devaluation.

  People walk past a bank branch decorated with images of old Argentine peso bills, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sept. 26, 2018. Argentina’s year on year inflation hit a staggering 142 percent during election week. (Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty Images)

  A Complex Environment

  At the moment, the headwinds in the United States and other countries may be favorable to broader adoption of crypto. At the same time, many observers are sober about the persistence of fraud and scams, and the continuing disrepute that they impart to digital asset trading and investing.

  It is important not to read too deeply into El Salvador’s decision to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. After all, El Salvador is a small country with a set of economic circumstances that hardly apply elsewhere. When compared with traditional, or fiat, currencies, digital money is still at a disadvantage.

  “Crypto lacks the straightforwardness and ease of use that regular currencies bring to the market. Merchants aren’t supporting crypto. Crypto can be volatile, and coupled with its scaling issues, merchants are left with no choice but to deny crypto as a form of payment,” Laura K. Inamedinova, a partner at Dubai-based Illuminati Capital, told The Epoch Times.

  “Recently, we’ve seen payment providers like Mastercard and Visa support different crypto projects like Coinbase, Taurus, Circle, and others, but that’s not as widespread as we might want,” she added.

  In Ms. Inamedinova’s view, raising public awareness about the risks as well as the potential of digital currencies is crucial.

  “There’s still a large stigma around crypto being a scam, which is why educating the public is so important,” she said.

  Here is one more reason why the financial markets are at such a critical juncture, with regulatory approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF expected as early as next week.

  “In a case like this, spot ETFs could work in boosting the credibility of the Web3 space, but that’s not all. Crypto as a financial instrument needs to be simplified for the public,” Ms. Inadmedinova continued.

  The challenges and dangers are real but she views the market with guarded optimism. The Bitcoin halving expected in April, the pending rollout of the spot ETF, and various private initiatives will drive a bull market in 2024 and beyond, she believes.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to the SEC for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 15:10

• Ukraine Again Targets Crimea & Belgorod In Large-Scale Drone & Missile Attacks
  Ukraine Again Targets Crimea & Belgorod In Large-Scale Drone & Missile Attacks

  At a moment the front lines are at a standstill and Ukraine is suffering severe manpower and ammunition supply woes, its military continues high-risk attacks on Russian territory, including two days of missile and drone launches on Crimea. Russia in return has been unleashing even harsher retaliatory strikes in Ukrainian cities, as it warned it would do.

  The Russian military has said Saturday it deflected a fresh missile attack on Crimea, having shot down four inbound Ukrainian missiles overnight. The day prior, Russia downed 36 attack drones over the peninsula, a defense ministry statement also said.

  

  However, Kiev said some of its projectiles made it through the anti-air measures, with Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, announcing on social media: “Saki airfield! All targets have been shot!” – in reference to the Russian airbase in western Crimea. Ukraine’s military also said it targeted a command post near Sevastopol.

  Air raid sirens have been sounding in various border regions of Russia stretching back to Thursday:

  Air alerts were heard over the Russian oblasts of Krasnodar and Belgorod, as well as temporarily occupied Crimea, on Jan. 4 as Russia’s aggressive war on Ukraine increasingly hits closer to home in Russia.

  Russia claimed nearly 50 drones were used in the separate attacks, with explosions heard in occupied Crimea and Belgorod, and reports of injuries in Belgorod.

  In the latest direct hit on a residential neighborhood in Belgorod city, two Russian civilians were injured by shelling. Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, “According to preliminary data there are two injured: one man has shrapnel wounds to the forearm, and another has shrapnel wounds to the shin.”

  “Windows were shattered in several apartments and more than 30 vehicles were damaged because of a shell explosion near an apartment building,” according to regional media. “One house suffered roof damage and a car was damaged.”

  Russia has throughout nearly two years of war warned that countries externally supplying weapons to Ukrainian forces would be treated as direct participants in the conflict if their weapons are found to be used against Russia. The US in particular has been the biggest supplier of heavy weaponry, followed by NATO and EU countries.

  

  Moscow has all the while underscored the proxy war nature of the conflict and showdown with NATO, but so far a WW3-style escalation has been narrowly avoided, but this worst case scenario certainly looms large. This especially as President Putin has lately charged that Ukraine is using Western advanced weapons systems to directly target Russian cities and territory.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 14:35

• Trump Drops New Campaign Video Vowing More Transparency On JFK Assassination
  Trump Drops New Campaign Video Vowing More Transparency On JFK Assassination

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

  Donald Trump dropped a new campaign video featuring Bill Clinton meeting with Jeffrey Epstein, while the ad also promised more transparency on uncovering the full story behind the JFK assassination.

  

  The video opens with Ronald Reagan’s ‘thousand years of darkness’ speech where he called on Americans to tell their elected officials that national policy should be based on a shared sense of morality and is soundtracked by Aerosmith’s Dream On.

  It also features Trump’s promise to obtain transparency surrounding the assassination of JFK, featuring footage of Kennedy being shot before highlighting the lyrics, “you got to lose to know how to win.”

  The ad then shows footage of when Trump was ‘arrested’ along with a passage from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War which reads, “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”

  Trump just dropped a video featuring Jeffrey Epstein, Clintons’, Obamas, Klaus Schwab, and Bill Gates. 👀 pic.twitter.com/yZrvncYnPx

  — Patrick Webb (@RealPatrickWebb) January 5, 2024

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

  The chorus then drops showing Trump with his supporters before clips showing Bill Clinton meeting with Jeffrey Epstein.

  The lyrics “dream on” are then illustrated with images of Trump’s Republican rivals Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie and Mike Pence before showing footage from Trump’s 2016 victory.

  World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, George Soros, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are also told to “dream on”.

  The song’s ‘scream’ part is then illustrated with the infamous meme of the obese Democrat screaming in anger at response to Trump winning.

  The ad finishes with Trump declaring:

  “As long as the American people hold in their arms deep and devoted love of country then there is nothing this nation cannot achieve – the best is yet to come.”

  Compare Trump’s ad to Biden’s latest effort, which demonizes Trump supporters as extremists.

  *  *  *

  Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 14:00

• These Were The Top News Stories Of 2023 Based On Google Search Trends
  These Were The Top News Stories Of 2023 Based On Google Search Trends

  In an age of rapid-fire social media updates, memes, and never-ending cat videos, what’s the world still collectively paying attention to?

  Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu and Pallavi Rao visualize the the top 10 news stories of 2023 according to Google Search trends.

  

  Hope Amidst Disasters

  In February, southern Turkey and parts of Syria suffered a deadly earthquake which killed more than 50,000 people and left more than a million without a home. Adverse weather conditions and poor infrastructure hampered rescue efforts, worsening the effects of the disaster.

  While rebuilding has since begun, the scale of the project is vast: more than 300,000 buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond repair. Steadily rising inflation in the country, along with a depreciating Turkish lira, has ballooned reconstruction costs.

  

  Meanwhile, an ongoing war in Sudan is being fought between opposing factions within Sudan’s military government. Millions of people are facing food insecurity, and there are widespread reports of war crimes.

  On a more positive note, Google users also looked up Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar-exploration mission. In August 2023, India became fourth country to successfully land on the moon.

  Hurricane Season and Violent Events

  Another year gone by, another global temperature record broken. Rising temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, along with the effect of El Niño, led to plenty of tropical storms in the region, of which the World Meteorological Organization named 20.

  Of them, Hurricane Idalia caused widespread damage in Florida, and Hurricane Lee resulted in prolonged power outages in Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

  On the Pacific side, Hurricane Hilary brought torrential rain and flooding to parts of Mexico and the southwestern U.S.

  

  Finally, the Israel-Hamas war has led to more than 15,000 deaths in Palestine and 1,500 fatalities in Israel.

  On December 22nd, the UN Security Council passed a resolution “calling for humanitarian pauses” in the fighting and increased aid to Gaza. An earlier resolution (which called for an immediate ceasefire) failed after being vetoed by the United States.

  Meanwhile, a proposed peace plan by Egypt (which helped architect an earlier six-day temporary ceasefire) has not been well received, though neither the Netanyahu government, nor Hamas has outright rejected it.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/06/2024 – 13:25

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Sachs: US Foreign Policy Is A Scam Built On Corruption
  Sachs: US Foreign Policy Is A Scam Built On Corruption

  Authored by Jeffrey Sachs via CommonDreams.org,

  On the surface, US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another — Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

  In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.

  To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders.

  

  Despite these remarkable and costly debacles, one following the other, the same cast of characters has remained at the helm of US foreign policy for decades, including Joe Biden, Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Hillary Clinton.

  What gives?

  The puzzle is solved by recognizing that American foreign policy is not at all about the interests of the American people. It is about the interests of the Washington insiders, as they chase campaign contributions and lucrative jobs for themselves, staff, and family members. In short, US foreign policy has been hacked by big money.

  As a result, the American people are losing big. The failed wars since 2000 have cost them around $5 trillion in direct outlays, or around $40,000 per household. Another $2 trillion or so will be spent in the coming decades on veterans’ care. Beyond the costs directly incurred by Americans, we should also recognize the horrendously high costs suffered abroad, in millions of lives lost and trillions of dollars of destruction to property and nature in the war zones.

  The costs continue to mount. US Military-linked outlays in 2024 will come to around $1.5 trillion, or roughly $12,000 per household, if we add the direct Pentagon spending, the budgets of the CIA and other intelligence agencies, the budget of the Veteran’s Administration, the Department of Energy nuclear weapons program, the State Department’s military-linked “foreign aid” (such as to Israel), and other security-related budget lines. Hundreds of billions of dollars are money down the drain, squandered in useless wars, overseas military bases, and a wholly unnecessary arms build-up that brings the world closer to WWIII.

  Yet to describe these gargantuan costs is also to explain the twisted “rationality” of US foreign policy. The $1.5 trillion in military outlays is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.

  To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders. The Wall Street division is run out of the Treasury. The Health Industry division is run out of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Big Oil and Coal division is run out of the Departments of Energy and Interior. And the Foreign Policy division is run out of the White House, Pentagon and CIA.

  Each division uses public power for private gain through insider dealing, greased by corporate campaign contributions and lobbying outlays. Interestingly, the Health Industry division rivals the Foreign Policy division as a remarkable financial scam. America’s health outlays totaled an astounding $4.5 trillion in 2022, or roughly $36,000 per household, by far the highest health costs in the world, while America ranked roughly 40th in the world among nations in life expectancy. A failed health policy translates into very big bucks for the health industry, just as a failed foreign policy translates into mega-revenues of the military-industrial complex.

  The more wars, of course, the more business.

  The Foreign Policy division is run by a small, secretive and tight-knit coterie, including the top brass of the White House, the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate, and the major military firms including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. There are perhaps a thousand key individuals involved in setting policy. The public interest plays little role.

  The key foreign policy makers run the operations of 800 US overseas military bases, hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, and the war operations where the equipment is deployed. The more wars, of course, the more business. The privatization of foreign policy has been greatly amplified by the privatization of the war business itself, as more and more “core” military functions are handed out to the arms manufacturers and to contractors such as Haliburton, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CACI.

  In addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, there are important business spillovers from the military and CIA operations. With military bases in 80 countries around the world, and CIA operations in many more, the US plays a large, though mostly covert role, in determining who rules in those countries, and thereby on policies that shape lucrative deals involving minerals, hydrocarbons, pipelines, and farm and forest land. The US has aimed to overthrow at least 80 governments since 1947, typically led by the CIA through the instigation of coups, assassinations, insurrections, civil unrest, election tampering, economic sanctions, and overt wars. (For a superb study of US regime-change operations from 1947 to 1989, see Lindsey O’Rourke’s Covert Regime Change, 2018).

  In addition to business interests, there are of course ideologues who truly believe in America’s right to rule the world. The ever-warmongering Kagan family is the most famous case, though their financial interests are also deeply intertwined with the war industry. The point about ideology is this. The ideologists have been wrong on nearly every occasion and long ago would have lost their bully pulpits in Washington but for their usefulness as warmongers. Wittingly or not, they serve as paid performers for the military-industrial complex.

  There is one persistent inconvenience for this ongoing business scam.

  In theory, foreign policy is carried out in the interest of the American people, though the opposite is the truth. (A similar contradiction of course applies to overpriced healthcare, government bailouts of Wall Street, oil-industry perks, and other scams). The American people rarely support the machinations of US foreign policy when they occasionally hear the truth. America’s wars are not waged by popular demand but by decisions from on high.

  Special measures are needed to keep the people away from decision making.

  The first such measure is unrelenting propaganda. George Orwell nailed it in 1984 when “the Party” suddenly switched the foreign enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia without a word of explanation. The US essentially does the same. Who is the US gravest enemy? Take your pick, according to the season. Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Hugo Chavez, Bashar al-Assad, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, have all played the role of “Hitler” in US propaganda. White House spokesman John Kirby delivers the propaganda with a smirk on his face, signaling that he too knows that what he is saying is ludicrous, albeit mildly entertaining.

  The propaganda is amplified by the Washington think tanks that live off of donations by military contractors and occasionally foreign governments that are part of the US scam operations. Think of the Atlantic Council, CSIS, and of course the ever-popular Institute for the Study of War, brought to you by the major military contractors.

  The second is to hide the costs of the foreign policy operations. In the 1960s, the US Government made the mistake of forcing the American people to bear the costs of the military-industrial complex by drafting young people to fight in Vietnam and by raising taxes to pay for the war. The public erupted in opposition.

  From the 1970s onward the government has been far more clever. The government ended the draft, and made military service a job for hire rather than a public service, backed by Pentagon outlays to recruit soldiers from lower economic strata. It also abandoned the quaint idea that government outlays should be funded by taxes, and instead shifted the military budget to deficit spending which protects it from popular opposition that would be triggered if it were tax-funded.

  It has also suckered client states such as Ukraine to fight America’s wars on the ground, so that no American body bags would spoil the US propaganda machine. Needless to say, US masters of war such as Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, and McConnell remain thousands of miles away from the frontlines. The dying is reserved for Ukrainians. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) defended American military aid to Ukraine as money well spent because it is “without a single American service woman or man injured or lost,” somehow not dawning on the good Senator to spare the lives of Ukrainians, who have died by the hundreds of thousands in a US-provoked war over NATO enlargement.

  This system is underpinned by the complete subordination of the U.S. Congress to the war business, to avoid any questioning of the over-the-top Pentagon budgets and the wars instigated by the Executive Branch. The subordination of Congress works as follows. First, the Congressional oversight of war and peace is largely assigned to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, which largely frame the overall Congressional policy (and the Pentagon budget). Second, the military industry (Boeing, Raytheon, and the rest) funds the campaigns of the Armed Services Committee members of both parties. The military industries also spend vast sums on lobbying in order to provide lucrative salaries to retiring members of Congress, their staffs, and families, either directly in military businesses or in Washington lobbying firms.

  The hacking of Congressional foreign policy is not only by the US military-industrial complex. The Israel lobby long ago mastered the art of buying the Congress. America’s complicity in Israel’s apartheid state and war crimes in Gaza makes no sense for US national security and diplomacy, not to speak of human decency. They are the fruits of Israel lobby investments that reached $30 million in campaign contributions in 2022, and that will vastly top that in 2024.

  When Congress reassembles in January, Biden, Kirby, Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, McConnell, Blumenthal and their ilk will tell us that we absolutely must fund the losing, cruel, and deceitful war in Ukraine and the ongoing massacre and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, lest we and Europe and the free world, and perhaps the solar system itself, succumb to the Russian bear, the Iranian mullahs, and the Chinese Communist Party. The purveyors of foreign policy disasters are not being irrational in this fear-mongering. They are being deceitful and extraordinarily greedy, pursuing narrow interests over those of the American people.

  It is the urgent task of the American people to overhaul a foreign policy that is so broken, corrupted, and deceitful that it is burying the government in debt while pushing the world closer to nuclear Armageddon. This overhaul should start in 2024 by rejecting any more funding for the disastrous Ukraine War and Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Peacemaking, and diplomacy, not military spending, is the path to a US foreign policy in the public interest.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 23:40

• These Are The Institutions Americans Trust Most (And Least)
  These Are The Institutions Americans Trust Most (And Least)

  In just a couple of days it will be three years since the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

  Ahead of our ‘Jan 6’ debate on Saturday, it feels apt to take a step back to try and capture an overview of the state of trust in institutions in the United States.

  

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck detail below, based on data collected by Gallup in June 2023, of the institutions selected, only the military and small businesses saw a great deal or a fair amount of trust in them from a majority of U.S. respondents.

  This is at odds with Congress, which saw only 8 percent of people say they had trust in the political institution.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Gallup has been asking this question on trust since 1973.

  Over the past 50 years, there have been significant fluctuations in responses.

  

  For instance, the police saw an all-time low level of trust in 2023, with just 43 percent of respondents saying they had a great deal/quite a lot of trust in them.

  But three other institutions hit their lowest levels of trust last year too, including public schools with 26 percent (on par with 2014), large tech companies with 26 percent (on par with 2022) and big business with 14 percent (on par with 2022).

  In 2022, public confidence declined in 11 out of the 16 institutions tracked by Gallup, with trust in the Supreme Court falling by 11 percentage points to 25 percent, and in the presidency by 15 percentage points to 23 percent. These hardly improved in 2023, rising to just 27 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 23:20

• "It's One Of The Great Mysteries," Why COVID Spares Children
  “It’s One Of The Great Mysteries,” Why COVID Spares Children

  Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Bali Pulendran, a professor of microbiology, immunology, and pathology at Stanford University, has researched a mystery unique to COVID-19 for two years.

  “For almost every infectious disease, the most vulnerable populations are at the extremes of age—the very young and the very old,” he once said. “But with COVID-19, the young are spared.”

  The picture surrounding this enigma is still incomplete, but answers are forthcoming.

  

  Children Are Different

  Children are not mini-adults. Depending on their age, they can have similar or very different responses to infectious diseases.

  In the case of COVID-19, children generally experience a milder form of the disease.

  “It’s an interesting question that no one has fully answered,” said Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine, in an interview with The Epoch Times. “Several theories have been put forward to try and explain this.”

  The primary reason is that children have a faster innate immune system, often referred to as the first line of defense, compared to adults. This enables them to mount a robust defense against respiratory infections more quickly.

  Another explanation is that children are more susceptible to respiratory infections, and some of these prior infections may provide them with a degree of immune protection against COVID-19.

  Anatomically speaking, children not fully grown are at a disadvantage when exposed to respiratory diseases. They have smaller airway diameters, meaning more severe symptoms when the airways get inflamed or have mucus build up.

  They also have a smaller lung capacity, making them more prone to hypoxia with respiratory infection, professor of immunology Kenneth Rosenthal, PhD, told The Epoch Times.

  However, compared to adults, children have been found to have higher levels of innate immune cells in the nose, which can help eliminate viruses early on.

  

  “SARS-CoV-2 targets ACE-2 and TMPRSS, and these are expressed more in older adults,” Dr. Lael Yonker, pediatric pulmonologist and the co-director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s pulmonary genetics clinic, told The Epoch Times. Children, in comparison, have fewer of both receptors, which may reduce the number of viral invasions.

  Strong Innate Immunity

  While children tend to have a fast and robust innate immune response, studies have found that most adults who experience severe COVID-19 tend to have an impaired innate immune response.

  The innate immune response is the immune system we inherit when born.

  “[The immune response is] always there and ready to respond to microbes and triggers on the fly,” Mr. Rosenthal explained. In contrast, the adaptive immune system, which is more developed in adults, can generate more memorized, targeted immunity. However, it is slower to respond and can take days to activate.

  This is not to say that children do not have an adaptive immune response. But since this type of immunity is built up by experiences with viruses and other pathogens, children tend to have accumulated less immunological memory than adults.

  

  Vaccination is primarily used to bolster adaptive immunity while children are young.

  The most common innate protection impairment researchers saw in adults with severe COVID-19 was a deficit in types 1 and 3 interferons. Studies have shown that children mount the strongest types 1 and 3 interferon responses to COVID-19, and this response diminishes as people age.

  “A large proportion of adult men prone to more serious COVID have antibodies to interferon,” Mr. Rosenthal said. Consequently, they cannot mount the initial innate response, though scientists do not know why some adults form these antibodies.

  The infection progresses unhindered while the immune system attempts to restrain the extensive infection, which could “lead to problematic outcomes,” he added.

  This can cause full-blown inflammatory responses.

  Natural killer cells, innate immune cells responsible for killing cancer and infected cells, are also more active in children, particularly pre-pubescent children. The cell “dissipates in teen years,” Mr. Rosenthal said.

  Less Prone to Inflammatory Storm

  A significant risk factor for severe COVID-19 is the inflammatory cytokine storm caused by excessive levels of cytokines in the body.

  During an infection, immune cells release cytokines to help activate and coordinate other immune cells. There is always some presence of them in the body.

  When the immune system fails to control the infection, and viruses replicate, immune cells dispatch more cytokines as a warning. These cytokines then activate more immune cells, causing intense inflammation, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and eventually death.

  

  Adults are more prone to cytokine storms because they tend to have more cytokines in the blood, meant to protect their bodies against daily assaults. These include smoke, toxic particles, toxic foods, and certain bacteria that live in our gut, on our skin, or elsewhere, Mr. Rosenthal said. The necessary protective responses produce inflammatory cytokines “on an everyday, routine basis.”

  Children, however, have lower baseline cytokine levels due to fewer exposures to environmental and pathogenic assaults. Plus, they generally have healthier constitutions with fewer chronic diseases and unhealthy habits.

  Even in the rare case of children developing severe COVID-19, which often presents as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), most children quickly recover without any persistent symptoms.

  “[Children] were easier to treat than adults. I did not lose a single [pediatric] case, whereas adults, we were losing quite a bit of them,” critical care pulmonologist Dr. Joseph Varon, professor of clinical medicine at the University of Houston, told The Epoch Times.

  The Enigma of Mild COVID in Infants

  While mild COVID-19 in children and adolescents can be explained away by their fast innate immune systems and generally healthier constitutions, this explanation fails concerning infants and toddlers.

  “It’s one of the great mysteries of human immunology,” Mr. Pulendran told The Epoch Times.

  Infants are typically born with immature innate and adaptive immune systems with weaker constitutions, making them more susceptible to infections. Premature infants are even more vulnerable.

  Children under the age of 2 have a much higher chance of dying from respiratory diseases like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza than older children and adults under age 50.

  In general, infants “do not have any prior immune history and, therefore, no antibodies or T-cell memory to rapidly respond to the challenge,” Mr. Rosenthal said. They also have very few innate immune cells at birth. By the second month of life, they should accumulate enough innate immune cells to overcome this vulnerability.

  Full maturation of the immune system occurs in the first seven to eight years of life.

  Dehydration is also a deadly factor in infected children and infants due to their higher metabolic rates and reduced water reserves compared to adults.

  Yet to researchers’ amazement, infants were largely left unscathed during the COVID pandemic.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 23:00

• Big Gov't Raids Small Amish Farmer Who Refuses To Participate In The Industrial Meat/Milk Complex
  Big Gov’t Raids Small Amish Farmer Who Refuses To Participate In The Industrial Meat/Milk Complex

  Local media, The Lancaster Patriot, reports that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture served an all-natural Amish farm in southeastern Pennsylvania with a search warrant on Thursday afternoon. 

  BREAKING: State Troopers conducting search on Amos Miller’s farm in Lancaster County, PA. pic.twitter.com/4ibZPxfI0U

  — The Lancaster Patriot (@TheLanPatriot) January 4, 2024

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

  The farmer, Amos Miller, has been in the crosshairs with the US Department of Agriculture because of his repeated failures to comply with federal farming regulations. 

  Exclusive footage of state agents leaving Amos Miller’s organic farm store, carrying off some of his products. pic.twitter.com/yVAHSmr1WH

  — The Lancaster Patriot (@TheLanPatriot) January 4, 2024

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

  The USDA has tried to bring Miller’s farm into compliance with federal regulations, but Amos has yet to cooperate with the Feds and faces fines and jail time. 

  A Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson said:

   “The PA Department of Agriculture is conducting a search warrant on this property. Troopers from PSP Lancaster are just assisting with scene security. You will have to reach out to the DOA for information on their investigation.”

  Footage of the search being conducted inside Amos Miller’s organic farm store in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/iKUDbo9CcR

  — The Lancaster Patriot (@TheLanPatriot) January 4, 2024

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

  According to LancasterOnline, Miller and the Feds have been locked “in a standoff over his compliance with federal food safety rules and failure to pay assessed fines.” 

  With his sovereign citizen defense, Miller has tried to thwart the Fed’s overreach to get him to comply with food safety rules. He sells all sorts of food to more than 4,000 buyers, such as organic eggs, raw milk, grass-fed beef and cheese, and fresh produce. He doesn’t use electricity, chemical fertilizers, vaccines, or petroleum products in farming. 

  Commenting on the raid, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said, “Looks like Amos Miller’s farm is being raided. With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?” 

  Massie continued, “A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex? It’s shameful that it’s come to this. “

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 22:40

• Green Energy Waste Overlooked In Climate Agenda
  Green Energy Waste Overlooked In Climate Agenda

  Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The amount of waste piling up from solar panels and wind turbine blades can be measured in tons. And the industry is just getting started.

  

  Almost all spent solar panels in the United States end up in landfills, and many first- and second-generation panels are already tapping out, well ahead of their anticipated 30-year lifespan.

  Added to that will be an estimated 9.8 million metric tons of dead panels to deal with between 2030 and 2060, according to a study published in Science Direct.

  Tossing a solar panel into a U.S. landfill currently costs about $1, maybe $2. To recycle that same panel, the cost balloons to $20 to $30, according to an estimate reported by PV Magazine.

  Wind turbine parts present a similar challenge, with thousands of blades having already found their way into dumps and fields in Texas, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Iowa.

  It’s no small feat to dump a blade. The length of a single wind turbine blade can be more than 200 feet or longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 747, according to the Department of Energy. Offshore wind rigs are even larger.

  Currently, about 7,000 blades are scrapped per year in the United States, according to David Morgan, chief strategy officer for Carbon Rivers, a Tennessee-based recycling center for advanced materials.

  Of all the glass fiber waste that Carbon Rivers receives, wind turbine blades are the most challenging, Mr. Morgan said.

  “They’re a very hardy, robust material. They’re large and cumbersome to deal with,” he told The Epoch Times.

  “Large wind turbine blades, travel trailers, boat hulls, and other waste streams can be converted into clean, high-quality glass fiber that can be economically reincorporated into your next car, boat, or turbine blade,” the Carbon Rivers website states.

  As wind turbine graveyards have turned into viral video content, the wind industry has become more “conversational” about end-of-life solutions, Mr. Morgan said, but it’s not set up for a “composite circular economy.”

  

  When it comes to truly “green” solutions, a “circular economy” is vital, Mr. Morgan said. It’s basically a business model that prioritizes the reuse, repair, or regeneration of materials to continue production in as sustainable a way as possible.

  He said renewable waste isn’t just an infrastructure problem, there are also legislation gaps.

  “Right now, you can largely landfill wind blades. It varies state by state.”

  Some companies backing wind energy—particularly those tied to fossil fuel giants such as Shell Global and General Electric—have left critics dubious about whether true sustainability is part of the existing plan.

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under former President Donald Trump, identified the looming problems with increasing renewable energy waste.

  “Without a strategy for their end-of-life management, so-called green technologies like solar panels, electric vehicle batteries, and windmills will ultimately place the same unintended burdens on our planet and economy as traditional commodities,” former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said.

  Expanding Industry

  As the so-called renewable energy industry expands—largely because of massive subsidies from the Biden administration—so does the waste on the back end.

  Solar generation capacity is forecast to increase by more than 38 percent in 2024, according to a Dec. 12 report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a U.S. government agency. Wind energy capacity is forecast to increase by 4.4 percent.

  

  Despite this notable surge in deployment of renewable energy systems, America’s electric generation in 2022 was primarily (about 60 percent) from fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases, according to the EIA.

  Renewable energy sources accounted for about 21 percent and 18 percent was from nuclear energy. An additional fraction was from small-scale solar systems.

  Solar panels have a life span of up to 30 years. Understandably, some environmental organizations are raising the alarm.

  “If solar and nuclear produce the same amount of electricity over the next 25 years that nuclear produced in 2016, and the wastes are stacked on football fields, the nuclear waste would reach the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa,” California-based Environmental Progress states.

  “The solar waste would reach the height of two Mt. Everests.”

  The number of retired wind turbine blades is expected to reach 9,000 per year over the next five years, according to a 2022 analysis published by Chemical and Engineering News.

  Mr. Morgan said he’s keeping pace with the inbound waste for now and the company is scaling up operations, including construction of a large-scale facility in Texas. Carbon Rivers has also broadened its scope into anything “composite-based,” including glass fiber and even aerospace parts.

  E-Waste

  Another area of waste—electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste—is growing at an exponential rate. It’s the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world and includes renewable items such as solar panels and electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

  Only a small portion is being recycled.

  One analysis from 2019 released this year showed that of the 53.6 million tons of e-waste produced globally, barely 17 percent was recycled.

  “People think plastic is the waste boogeyman … but e-waste is still growing,” Paul Williams, vice president of communications for recycling company ERI, told The Epoch Times.

  Focused on breaking down and recycling all kinds of e-waste, Mr. Williams said ERI maintains a “military grade” level of data destruction when it comes to electronics.

  Privacy protection is a huge concern with e-waste.

  

  “It becomes not just an environmental issue, not just a human rights issue, it’s also a cyber security issue. A lot of technology today contains private data,” he said.

  In the early days of e-waste disposal, negligent companies handled e-waste in a way that left the door wide open to data theft.

  “What we found were these unscrupulous types were just shipping this stuff to developing nations … and it was a huge privacy challenge because of the data,” Mr. Williams said.

  Data security preparations must also be made for EVs, and not just their potentially volatile batteries, but also for the onboard computers in EVs when they reach the end of their life.

  “Cars are particularly scary because the type of data that is captured is very personal. It knows your routes, the weight, and sizes of the people sitting in the seats of the car,” he said. “It’s kind of scary to think about.”

  While ERI isn’t seeing a lot of solar panels or EV-related battery waste just yet, Mr. Williams said they’re ready for it.

  “They will ultimately come to our door. We don’t turn any e-waste away.”

  He said great strides have been made in the past two decades regarding the public’s disposal of e-waste.

  In the early 2000s, when ERI was first getting started, Mr. Williams says everyone had “old TVs in their garage or attic. People didn’t know what to do with them.”

  The same goes for the younger generations with retired cellphones. But he says attitudes have changed over the past 10 to 15 years, and much of that has to do with the data security challenges involved with e-waste.

  

  Mr. Williams isn’t daunted by the coming influx of solar panels and EV components.

  “Even with lithium-ion batteries and solar panels, they aren’t the last mile. We know there will be something new at some point.”

  He said transparency has been an issue with companies claiming to recycle e-waste in years past, with some advertising eco-friendly solutions while secretly dumping their e-waste in landfills.

  “The most important thing, really, is transparency. When ERI started, we were literally mounting cameras on our ceilings. Nothing goes to landfill when we work on it,” Mr. Williams said.

  Domino Effect

  Recycling dead solar panels, EV batteries, and wind turbine parts are major components of the waste problem, but supportive infrastructure is also impacted as alternative energy production ramps up.

  Chief among this infrastructure are electrical transformers, which industry insiders say there’s a skyrocketing demand for both new and reconditioned units.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 22:20

• Activism Uncensored: California Sex Workers Fight For Labor Rights
  Activism Uncensored: California Sex Workers Fight For Labor Rights

  In the heart of Los Angeles County, a labor movement unlike any other is unfolding. Sex workers, often relegated to the shadows of the labor discourse, are stepping into the limelight, demanding rights equivalent to mainstream entertainment industry workers. This burgeoning movement, spearheaded by the dancers at the Star Garden topless bar, is not just a fight for fair wages and safer work environments; it’s a challenge to longstanding stigmas associated with sex work.

  

  In May 2022, Star Garden dancers declared their intent to unionize, setting in motion a series of events that have since captured national attention. This move toward unionization was more than a demand for better working conditions; it was a direct challenge to longstanding, industry-wide discriminatory hiring practices and wage theft.

  “They don’t pay us, they take half of our lap dance money and that is wage theft, illegal wage theft and we need to correct that,” said one dancer.

  The movement has quickly gained momentum, drawing support from the Actors Equity Association. The sex workers’ movement has even celebrity endorsements and media attention.

  Yet despite their progress, the dancers at Star Garden continue to face challenges. Allegations of unfair labor practices and retaliation for union activities underscore the ongoing battle these workers face. The club management’s actions – from charging for lap dances to imposing a cover fee – are at the heart of this dispute. The dancers’ fight for just treatment and fair payment is not just about them; it’s a fight for the dignity and rights of all sex workers.

  This movement extends far beyond the walls of the Star Garden. It’s a rallying cry for sex workers across the spectrum, from escorts to street workers. They are challenging not only city and federal laws but societal perceptions. With the 2028 Olympics on the horizon, these workers are advocating for their safety, the decriminalization of their work, and a clear distinction between sex work and human trafficking.

  Watch:

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 22:00

• Scientists Detect Spike Protein From COVID Vaccination In Long COVID Patients
  Scientists Detect Spike Protein From COVID Vaccination In Long COVID Patients

  Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Scientists in a new paper detected spike protein in the bloodstream of people with long COVID two months after infection and COVID-19 vaccination, suggesting that spike protein may persist in the body much longer than previously predicted and does not remain at the injection site.

  

  The study, published Dec. 27 in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, found vaccine spike protein in two patients at least two months after receiving their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and viral spike protein in one subject who previously recovered from infection in a cohort of 81 patients with long COVID syndrome. Samples gathered from the unvaccinated control group were negative for spike protein.

  “This study, in agreement with other published investigations, demonstrates that both natural and vaccine spike protein may still be present in long-COVID patients, thus supporting the existence of a possible mechanism that causes the persistence of spike protein in the human body for much longer than predicted by early studies,” the authors wrote.

  Although U.S. regulatory agencies claim vaccinating against COVID-19 can reduce the risk of developing long COVID, some research suggests the condition may be caused by an immune overreaction to the spike protein in COVID-19 vaccines used to induce antibodies.

  In a February 2023 study published in the Journal of Medical Virology, researchers examined the levels of spike protein and viral RNA circulating 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 patients with long COVID, 30 percent were positive for both spike protein and viral RNA, whereas none of the individuals without long COVID were positive for both.

  CDC Claimed Spike Protein Was ‘Harmless’ and Quickly Breaks Down

  When COVID-19 vaccines were first authorized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the spike protein produced by the body after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is a “harmless piece of spike protein.” Furthermore, the agency stated that spike protein didn’t “last long in the body” and breaks down within a few weeks like other proteins. The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a resource center funded partly through a cooperative agreement with the CDC, estimated that the spike proteins generated by COVID-19 vaccines only last up to a few weeks in the body.

  An early Pfizer biodistribution study showed that the COVID-19 spike protein gets into the blood after vaccination, where it circulates for several days before accumulating in organs and tissues, including the spleen, bone marrow, the liver, adrenal glands, and in high concentrations in the ovaries. In this study, researchers found vaccine mRNA was present from the day of vaccination and persisted in the bloodstream for weeks after vaccination.

  In an August 2023 paper published in Biomedicines, researchers found the design of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines allows uncontrolled biodistribution, durability, and persistent bioavailability of the spike protein inside the body after vaccination—which could potentially damage tissues and cause disease.

  The study group included 20 subjects who received two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, 20 who were unvaccinated and tested negative for COVID-19 or antibodies indicating they had previously been infected, and a control group of 20 unvaccinated participants who tested positive for COVID-19. Researchers detected specific fragments of spike protein in about 50 percent of subjects who received mRNA vaccines 69 to 187 days following vaccination. All samples from the unvaccinated control group were negative, including the 20 individuals who had tested positive after contracting COVID-19.

  In a January 2023 study published in the Journal of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, researchers found full-length or traces of SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA in some patient samples up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination, indicating prolonged spike protein production and the potential for a “continuous immune response in some persons.”

  A study published in March 2022 in Cell found vaccine mRNA in lymph nodes on days 7, 16, and 37 following vaccination. Immunohistochemical staining for spike antigen in mRNA-vaccinated patient lipid nanoparticles in some individuals showed spike protein antigen was still present as late as 60 days following the second vaccine dose.

  A November 2021 study in The Journal of Immunology found exosomes expressing spike protein 14 days after vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Levels of spike protein increased following booster doses, suggesting the amount of spike protein in the body increases with subsequent vaccination.

  A 2021 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School found circulating SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the plasma of participants vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Spike protein was detected in blood plasma as early as one day following the first vaccine dose.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 21:40

• SpaceX Sues Federal Agency Over 'Unconstitutional' Structure
  SpaceX Sues Federal Agency Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Structure

  Elon Musk’s SpaceX has filed a lawsuit against a federal agency alleging that it’s out of control in violation of the constitution.

  

  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has a panel of judges which hear cases brought against companies over workers’ rights. One such complaint lodged in December against SpaceX is being sent there for adjudication – however SpaceX argues that they’re essentially a rogue agency.

  The U.S. Constitution requires the president to have “sufficient control” over the judges, and an appeals court concluded in 2022 that administrative law judges (ALJs) in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are unconstitutionally shielded from presidential oversight.

  “The same reasoning applies to the ALJs of the NLRB, including the ALJ assigned to preside over the pending NLRB proceedings against SpaceX,” SpaceX said in the Jan. 4 suit.

  The company is asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to rule that the current makeup of the NLRB is unconstitutional. –The Epoch Times

  “To prevent SpaceX from undergoing protracted administrative proceedings before an unconstitutionally structured agency—after which SpaceX is unlikely to have a chance to secure meaningful retrospective relief—the court should stay or enjoin the current agency proceedings, declare that the NLRB’s structure violates the separation of powers under Article II of the Constitution, and permanently enjoin the NLRB and its general counsel from pursuing unfair labor practice charges against SpaceX before agency officials that are unconstitutionally insulated from presidential oversight, ” reads the filing, which also claims that the NLRB’s five-member board is structured improperly, and is the “very definition of tyranny.” 

  US District Judge Rolando Olvera, an Obama appointee, was assigned to the case after the NLRB accused SpaceX of violating federal law by firing workers who spoke out against the company’s practices.

  In a 2022 open letter to management, workers complained about Musk’s posts on Twitter, calling them “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us,” and complained that it should be made clear that “his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”

  According to NLRB officials, SpaceX, in a “wave of wrongful retaliatory terminations,” fired workers who signed the open letter, and others involved in activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act.

  More via the Epoch Times;

  Deborah Lawrence, one of the workers whom SpaceX fired, told news outlets in a statement through her lawyers that the company has a “toxic culture.”

  “We wrote the open letter to leadership not out of malice, but because we cared about the mission and the people around us,” she said.

  As of now, a hearing in the matter is scheduled to take place on March 5 in Los Angeles, California, before an administrative law judge.

  

  Campaign Against Musk

  The NLRB is one of several government agencies that have brought actions against Mr. Musk after he became a critic of President Joe Biden and the federal government.

  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in August 2023 sued SpaceX, saying the company illegally only hired U.S. citizens and permanent residents. A countersuit in the same federal court in which the new suit was brought said the company was complying with federal law that governs companies involved with sensitive technology.

  Judge Olvera ruled in favor of SpaceX and paused the case, finding that the way the DOJ’s administrative law judges act does not adhere to the Constitution.

  The proceedings before the judges “are unconstitutional because the attorney general is not allowed to review” their decisions, he said.

  The Constitution says presidents must appoint federal “principal officers,” although Congress can authorize the head of departments to appoint “inferior officers.” Those inferior officers, though, must be “directed and supervised” by a principal officer. The judges are not inferior officers because they’re not supervised, according to the ruling.

  If the proceedings were not paused, SpaceX “will likely suffer irreparable injury,” Judge Olvera added.

  He also addressed how the judges cannot be directly removed by a president. Judges can only be removed by board members, who themselves can be removed by a president. That structure may be unconstitutional but the removal restrictions are severable by the courts, he said.

  The appeals court in the SEC case, which is set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, found that because presidents cannot directly remove the administrative law judges, they are unconstitutionally insulated from the chief executive.

  A judge who dissented disagreed, creating a split decision that the nation’s top court will resolve.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 21:20

• Judge Confirms Opinion: Oregon's Measure 114 Gun Law Violates State Constitution
  Judge Confirms Opinion: Oregon’s Measure 114 Gun Law Violates State Constitution

  Authored by Scottie Barnes via The Epoch Times,

  A state court’s preliminary ruling against Oregon’s Measure 114 gun control policy will stand after a hearing in which Harney County Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio considered additional arguments against his original case findings.

  

  Judge Raschio rejected every objection that defense attorneys for the Oregon Department of Justice raised to his opinion about the case. That opinion found the measure violates the state’s constitutionally protected right to bear arms.

  Measure 114 was initially set to take effect on Dec. 8, 2022. It has been on hold since Judge Raschio issued a preliminary injunction allowing parties to argue its legality in federal and state courts.

  The measure has already been argued in a federal court, where U.S. District Court Judge Karen Immergut ruled in July 2023 that the law does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

  The plaintiffs in the federal case have filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This could move the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  Parties in the state case argued before Judge Raschio for six days in September 2023. He issued an opinion on Nov. 21. The defense immediately requested that the judge hear additional arguments. He granted that request and set a hearing for Jan. 2, issuing his decision the same day.

  With that decision, the court made the earlier injunction permanent.

  “This marks another victory for Oregon firearm owners against the most extreme gun ban in the United States,” Tony Aiello, Jr. attorney for plaintiffs told The Epoch Times.

  “The state defendants did nothing more than waste the court’s and parties’ time and resources with their motion. It is unfortunate that they do so with bottomless resources supplied by Oregon taxpayers.”

  The decision is likely to be appealed to the Oregon Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

  Narrowly approved by voters in November 2022, Measure 114 requires Oregonians to undergo an FBI background check and take a police-sponsored firearms class, which does not yet exist, to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm.

  Police would be required to create and operate an application process and maintain databases of applicant information.

  The measure also bans magazines that are “capable of holding or being modified to hold” more than 10 rounds.

  Proponents contend that the “Reduction in Gun Violence Act” will save lives.

  Gun rights advocates have called it one of the most extreme gun laws in the country, claiming that it will strip law-abiding citizens of their constitutional right to bear arms in the state.

  They argue that legal gun sales would end in Oregon should Ballot Measure 114 survive court challenges.

  Hearing Objections

  In this week’s hearing, defense attorneys for the state argued that virtually every conclusion the judge reached following the September trial was wrong.

  State defendants objected to the court’s finding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would be unable to conduct background checks as required by the measure.

  The FBI had previously informed the state that it would not conduct the background checks required by the new law, explaining in a legal guidance that doing so would be a crime because the measure “does not meet the requirements of Pub. L. 92-544.”

  But shortly after Judge Raschio issued his Nov. 21 opinion, the FBI changed its position, stating that it would grant Oregon a “grace period.”

  This allowed the defendants to claim that this objection no longer applied.

  Judge Raschio disagreed based on the factual record.

  The state objected to the court’s finding that the parties had “agreed” that Measure 114 “delays the purchase of firearms for a minimum of 30 days.”

  It also objected to the court’s findings that mass shootings are sensationalized by the media, that the measure’s backers failed to present evidence of enhanced public safety, that a “magazine is a necessary component of a firearm,” and that “almost all emigrants to the Oregon Territory had firearms.”

  The judge rejected each of these arguments.

  Opponents of the measure took issue with the state’s defense of the law.

  “The state is spending millions to end firearm ownership in Oregon and prosecute Oregonians who exercise their rights under the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions,” Keven Starrett of Oregon Firearms Foundation, one of the plaintiffs in the federal case, told The Epoch Times.

  “The next step in Oregon’s endless war against its most law-abiding citizens will no doubt be an appeal of the judge’s injunction to a higher court, paid for by taxpayers,” he said.

  Mr. Aiello agreed.

  “Normally, I would anticipate that the parties will agree to language to be included in the General Judgment this week, the General Judgment would be signed, and then Defendants will file an appeal,” he said.

  “However, this case has been unpredictable.”

  For Measure 114 to survive, the state defendants must win in both the federal and state courts. Plaintiffs only have to prevail in one of these cases for the measure to be struck down.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 21:00

• Huawei's Newest Laptop Teardown Reveals Chips Made In Taiwan, Not Mainland China
  Huawei’s Newest Laptop Teardown Reveals Chips Made In Taiwan, Not Mainland China

  The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

  Despite claims of a Chinese technological breakthrough in chipmaking, a teardown of Huawei’s newest laptop reveals a chip made in Taiwan – not China – by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, according to a new Bloomberg report.

  The teardown stands at odds with the claim that Huawei’s chipmaking partner, SMIC, based on the Chinese mainland, had achieved potential advancements in fabrication technique. 

  According to Bloomberg, the world noticed when in August Huawei’s launch of a smartphone featuring a 7nm processor from Shanghai’s SMIC made headlines in the US and China.

  Analysis by a Canadian research group for Bloomberg News revealed that the chip was hot on the trail of the current industry standard, insinuating that US trade restrictions may not be worker. The advancement was heralded in China’s tech community.

  

  But the recent teardown of Huawei’s Qingyun L540 notebook revealed a 5nm chip – a Kirin 9006C processor fabricated via TSMC’s 5nm method – not an SMIC chip.

  In 2023, Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphone, featuring advanced technology, solidified its role as a leader in China’s push for tech independence. This led to significant sales, helping Huawei surpass $100 billion in revenue and challenging Apple’s market dominance.

  The Shenzhen-based company, previously relying on TSMC for advanced 5nm chips, has since focused on developing and hoarding semiconductors, especially after heightened US trade restrictions and being listed on Washington’s Entity List since 2019.

  Bloomberg reported that Huawei has invested heavily in chip research and built a domestic supply network, partly government-supported. Its latest product, the L540 laptop, aligns with Beijing’s directive to replace foreign tech in critical areas, emphasizing data security and meeting China’s stringent requirements.

  This move is also part of Huawei’s broader strategy to expand into mobile and computing devices since 2016, the report says. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 20:40

• How Pervasive Is Academic Corruption?
  How Pervasive Is Academic Corruption?

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  Whew, what a week it’s been for higher ed!

  

  The Claudine Gay debacle at Harvard has raised some fundamental questions about academia in general. She was president of the university, traditionally seen as the pinnacle of American academia.

  But a careful look at her extremely thin academic publishing record was packed with unattributed borrowings from other authors in her own field.

  Once all of this became public, and in light of her Congressional testimony in which she found a new love for the free speech that has been heretofore nearly banned at Harvard, it became impossible for her to continue as president and so she resigned.

  That’s the headline story but there is surely more going on. The press ran examples of her plagiarism. It was obvious to any graduate student that it qualified as such. It would result in removal from the class and likely the whole program.

  And yet the president of Harvard got away with it for many years.

  There had already been investigations ongoing but they seemed more performative than prosecutorial, which is a scandal of its own. Once it all came out into the open, thanks to independent reporters and media, there was no other way this could end.

  And yet, how long had people known? When she was hired in the first place, why was this never checked? How about when she was appointed Dean? How about when she was at Stanford? How about when she was awarded a prestigious prize for her Harvard dissertation that we now know is compromised? Maybe they knew but pushed her up the ranks anyway.

  None of this speaks well of Harvard or academia in general, much less the vaunted “peer review” process.

  Stranger still for people on the outside was reading the side-by-side comparisons of her prose and that from which she borrowed. None of it seemed to make much sense or be otherwise meaningful. It is all written in a highly stylized way that only people in academia could possibly understand and probably they cannot understand it either. It has the feel of high-level scholarship without the substance.

  One gathers that the thesis of her writing is always the same: racism is all-pervasive. Everything else is just filler. In defense of herself, writing in the New York Times, she essentially blames racism and also distrust of public health and media for forcing her to step down.

  “This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society …. Trusted institutions of all types—from public health agencies to news organizations—will continue to fall victim to coordinated attempts to undermine their legitimacy and ruin their leaders’ credibility.”

  That’s some amazing rhetoric right there, effectively arguing that she must remain president of Harvard despite 50-plus instances of plagiarism in her work, otherwise American society will fall! And by America, remember what she means: the rarefied and highly privileged Ivy elite that went to the “best” schools, bring down million dollar salaries, and believe they have every right to rule the rest of us for our own good.

  The actual subtext of her piece was apparent to a sympathetic reader in the comments:

  “Welcome to the America of TRUMP & his allies & followers. We have entered dangerous times that are very similar to pre-war Nazi Germany. Trump & his movement must be countered strongly and stopped.”

  Truly, this is how these people think. Criticize the CDC and the NYT—or hold the president of Harvard to normal standards of scholarship—and you are aligned with Donald Trump and Hitler.

  This problem of fake scholarship in elite academia goes back many decades, and has been proven repeatedly.

  In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal sent an article to a mainline liberal-arts journal called “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.”

  It argued that “an external world whose properties are independent of any individual human being” was “dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook.”

  As a replacement, we need “emancipatory mathematics” and “liberatory science” to reject “the elite caste canon of ‘high science’” that believes in myths like “physical reality.”

  You get the drift. It was approved and published. Then the author revealed that he was just making it all up, writing the most preposterous gibberish he could dream up.

  That was 30 years ago, and the hoax has been repeated again recently.

  The Substack account called “A Midwestern Doctor” recently wrote:

  “One of the saddest discoveries genuine intellectuals make once they enter academia (which is supposed to be their ‘home’) is that much of the ‘prestigious knowledge’ their institutions produce is actually just simple or nonsensical concepts cloaked in elaborate rhetoric [language] that makes their points appear to be something much more impressive.”

  “For example, the ‘postmodernist’ discourse is pervasive throughout academia and frequently the standard you are expected to measure up to. Yet, in 1996, a programmer from Monash University realized that if he used an existing engine designed to generate random text from recursive grammars, he could generate postmodern essays which appeared to be authentic.

  In essence, this meant that complete nonsense (as the text was random) could be passed off as authoritative and credible simply because it matched the expected appearance of this hard to understand writing.”

  He concludes:

  “If we want to reclaim our Democracy, it is critical we allow open and honest debate to occur. As the last few years have shown, we cannot have the ‘expert’s’ narrative be shielded from all scrutiny, and as the internet has shown, the monopoly they used to hold over the truth is rapidly fading away. Conversely, I believe if the experts wish to regain the credibility they have lost, they must earn it by publicly defending the merits of their positions, and I believe as time moves forward, the expert class will soon realize this too.”

  This isn’t just a problem in liberal arts. Science itself has been seriously compromised throughout the COVID years, when people from statistical and medical departments grabbed hold of the chance to crank out an amazing number of papers on COVID (I’ve seen numbers in the six figures). It was all for purposes of resume padding and career advancement.

  For two years now, many of these papers on government controls, masks, and the supposed effectiveness of masks, even those cited and celebrated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have been proven to be deeply compromised and even fraudulent. Hardly a day goes by without a new discovery of bad or faked data or poor study structure. Some have been retracted but most survived.

  It’s really too easy to chalk up the Claudine Gay situation to DEI, or what we used to call affirmative action, though that clearly plays a role here. The problem is actually more pervasive and affects the whole of elite intellectual circles. Many in these realms have institutionalized what a regular person would call corruption: a wink and a nod toward academic fakery simply because the practice is so pervasive and deeply baked into the process of career advancement.

  One reason that DEI recently took hold of academia so ferociously is that intellectual standards had long ago slipped to nothing, and corruption had already taken the place of the sincere search for and teaching of truth. Once that was gone, whole institutions came around to embracing fakery, fraud, plagiarism, political favoritism, and outright and brazen hoaxes as just the way business is done.

  Indeed, in deeply corrupt institutions, there is simply no way to make it to the top without participating in the corruption. This was how it worked in the Soviet Union. Because the moral compromise is so pervasive, the only way you could be trusted with real power is if others in power have something on you. That’s when corruption becomes thoroughly endemic. Corruption becomes the currency of institutional advancement. Staying clean and doing good work causes you to sink further and further: loser!

  This is where we are today with elite academia. It’s not just Claudine Gay, who, incidentally, has already returned to her position on the faculty to take in $900K per year. It’s everywhere in the leadership at all levels. This is why revelations of her plagiarism were a shock to no one. Now we are in a situation where thousands of administrators and faculty are sitting ducks, just awaiting the dreaded moment in which some intrepid researcher compares one published work with another.

  In the meantime, they will all keep covering up for each other and trying to keep the racket going on for as long as possible. The difference now is that the public has caught on. Harvard’s applications are in freefall. This extends to the whole of elite academia too. Once their credibility with the public is gone, there is no turning back. Somehow it all seems fitting for an age when the loss of trust is bringing absolutely every feature of elite presence in our lives into question.

  In college and having finished a class paper much earlier than everyone else, the professor assigned me the task of finding plagiarism in other student papers. I spent several days at the library. I easily discovered that about 40 percent of the papers were compromised. This was long before the internet, so I can imagine the situation is much worse now. These students weren’t reporting what they knew; they were merely faking it. What the students did back then is what faculty do now.

  Faking it: that’s a good description of a problem that is pervasive in elite intellectual circles today. This affects media, corporate empires, academia, and government. It’s so accepted that one is considered meritorious for doing a better job of faking than anyone else. That’s a chilling reality but one that anyone and everyone with experience in these realms knows to be true.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 20:20

• Watch: Indian Navy Boards Merchant Ship Ambushed By Pirates Off Somalia
  Watch: Indian Navy Boards Merchant Ship Ambushed By Pirates Off Somalia

  The tanker hijack situation in the Arabian Sea which was first reported Thursday involving a distressed Liberian-flagged merchant vessel off the coast of Somalia has come to an end after Indian Navy intervention.

  The warship INS Chennai was already patrolling regional waters and was dispatched to assist the vessel, ending in the successful rescue of all 21 crew members, including 15 Indians aboard the MV Lila Norfolk. Pirates had ambushed the vessel, in waters frequently targeted by Somali militants.

  

  The crew is said to be unharmed, as the Indian Navy carries out “sanitization” operations on the ship after boarding it, and without a firefight.

  “The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by the Indian Navy, marine patrol aircraft, of interception by an Indian Naval warship,” a New Delhi-based maritime think tank, the Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation, told Reuters.

  India’s Navy said it “remains committed to ensuring [the] safety of merchant shipping in the region along with international partners and friendly foreign countries.”

  According to further details in a Gulf-based publication:

  The INS Chennai, a guided missile destroyer and part of India’s maritime force helping to protect shipping in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, was sent to the scene of the hijacking attempt, along with maritime patrol aircraft, the navy said on Friday.

  It said its aircraft had been monitoring the ship’s movements while the INS Chennai sailed towards it to offer assistance.

  “The aircraft overflew the vessel on early morning of January 5, 2024, and established contact with the vessel, ascertaining the safety of the crew,” the navy said.

  The Indian Navy has released several videos showing commandos aiding and boarding the vessel…

  Somali militants have long threatened these waters, but given that the bulk of diverted Red Sea traffic must now travel via the Cape of Good Hope around Africa due to Houthi attacks related to the Gaza war, the fear is that the resulting increased traffic will push more vessels toward the Somali coast, leading to more ‘opportunity’ and ample potential targets for further piracy.

  * * *

  Map showing extent of Somali piracy in prior years, which greatly expanded in range from 2005 to 2010…

  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 20:00

• 'To Make A Snowflake'
  ‘To Make A Snowflake’

  Authored by J.A.Frascino via AmericanThinker.com,

  A snowflake forms when cold water droplets freeze onto a nidus of dust or pollen in the atmosphere, creating an ice crystal.  

  Additional droplets are added in an infinitely variable pattern, forming a unique structure.  

  The product of a perfectly natural process taking about 30 minutes, a snowflake is a fragile entity, blown by the wind and threatened by warming, salt, shovels, and plows.

  There is nothing natural about the formation of a human snowflake.  

  

  The nidus is a normal child seeking identity in a complex society.  

  The first step is to disconnect him from traditional social foundations, viewed by the left as oppressive, while offering it nothing of substance to replace them.  

  Teach the child that his nation was built on slavery and is systemically racist, that religion is dictatorial and science-denying, that the traditional family is patriarchal, that gender designation is repressive, and that first names are too restraining.

  Having transformed the child into an isolated, self-immersed entity without an anchor, it is next necessary to weaken his resolve.  

  Teach the child that speech and events that may make him uncomfortable are an existential threat to his safety and well-being.  Teach him to be alert to microaggressions and to bullying.  Tell him that global warming will destroy the planet.  Allow him to skip classes and attend bereavement counseling when the Orange Man is elected.  Provide him with safe spaces.  Reward him not for accomplishment, but for participation.  Coddle and indulge him.  Capitalize upon his exalted status as the object of permissive parenting.  Discipline might be hurtful, especially for someone showing signs of emotional stress.  Allow him to find identity, escape, and safety in the alternate universe of social media.

  The snowflake is now fully formed — emotionally fragile, sheltered, socially withdrawn, and vulnerable to meltdown.  

  Just as physical stress builds strong bodies, dealing with emotional stress builds strong psyches.  Creating a stressful culture, and then taking every possible step to shelter the disenfranchised from having to deal with the stress so created, is how to make a snowflake.

  Snowflake creation is but one adverse outcome of leftist “change America” activism — activism that seeks immediate gratification through vengeful attack on the “oppressors,” with apparent disregard for the outcome of its actions.  Save the planet — ban fossil fuels!  Replace nationalistic xenophobia with open borders.  End racism by replacing merit with diversity.  Reduce crime by not prosecuting it.  Support the economy with fiscal stimulus.  Eliminate misogyny by prioritizing career over family.  What could go wrong?

  If the chaos arising from “changing America” creates snowflakes, they must simply be protected and coddled; excused from social interaction and having to go to school; and given drugs for their increased rates of anxiety, depression, drug addiction, and suicide.  But not to worry — they will grow up to be part of the Democrat party base, left with no alternative but to seek solace in the embrace of a nurturing government.  (As in Obama’s “The Life of Julia.”)

  Turning to the government, led by the Democrat party, to resolve the chaos created by the intentional churning of discontent in matters of race, sex, and class is the ultimate overriding goal of the left.  The creation of snowflakes is an integral part of that process.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 19:40

• Millions Brace For Northeast's Biggest Snowstorm In Years
  Millions Brace For Northeast’s Biggest Snowstorm In Years

  Millions of Americans from the Carolinas to Maine are under winter weather alerts ahead of what could be the biggest snowstorm to hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in at least a year.  

  

  The storm is developing on Friday along the Gulf Coast. According to computer forecast models, major cities along the Northeast’s I-95 corridor will likely escape the brunt of the snowstorm (not what snow lovers want to hear). However, regions in the Interior Northeast could see upwards of 12 inches of snow. 

  The system will traverse the Southeast and into the mid-Atlantic Friday into Saturday. Snow, sleet, and rain are expected across the Atlantic region on Saturday, quickly changing to rain from DC to Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City. Some metro areas along the I-95 might record an inch of snow.  

  The good news is that a multi-year snow drought could end across some of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast metro areas. 

  Areas north and west of the DC to Baltimore to Philadelphia to NYC could record 4 to 8 inches of snow, with isolated amounts over a foot. 

  The first in a series of 7 winter storms that is predicted to occur by https://t.co/YxtQAImEWH. The first storm will bring heavy snow to PA into New England. The pattern will get busy through March and in that pattern, a storm of Big Daddy potential may occur. pic.twitter.com/Vrdygetb1d

  — Weather Madness (@HenryMargusity) January 5, 2024

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

  Rob Carolan, owner of Hometown Forecast Services, told Bloomberg that rain is expected to start in New York City late Saturday, with the storm strengthening overnight. He said northern New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, and parts of Connecticut might see 2 to 6 inches of snow, adding Upstate New York and interior New England could see upwards of 10 inches. 

  

  Carolan said, “It is the best snowfall we have seen in over a year in many of these locations.” 

  We noted on Monday, “First Time In Nearly 2 Years”: Snow Drought In Major US Northeast Cities May End Soon, and published a note this morning about an incoming cold blast for the Lower 48 later this month. 

  Is there another storm forecasted for next week? 

  Power outages could be a big story by midweek next week. Back to back systems… with rains… snow… melt… more rains… then huge winds. Gust maps continue to show widespread 50mph+ across the eastern US. Some even higher along the coast! Early Wednesday AM here shows the… pic.twitter.com/zeVT1TWTWJ

  — Mike’s Weather Page (@tropicalupdate) January 5, 2024

  Thank you, El Nino.  

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 19:20

• Politicized, Progressive Big Philanthropy
  Politicized, Progressive Big Philanthropy

  Authored by Michael E. Hartmann via RealClear Wire,

  Steve Miller’s December 12 RealClearInvestigations article, “How Tax-Exempt Nonprofits Skirt U.S. Law to Turn Out the Democrat Base in Elections,” is both jarring and informative and helps frame many important questions facing philanthropy, conservatism, and conservative philanthropy.

  

  Miller describes the general size and scope of activities being conducted a progressive nonprofit infrastructure that has “taken on an outsized part of the Democratic Party’s election strategy” and, specifically, how they “work around legal restrictions on nonprofits that accept tax-deductible donations by selectively engaging in nonpartisan efforts including boosting voter education and participation.”

  The infrastructure also includes nonprofit grantmaking institutions, which are also tax-advantaged and also evade restrictions on partisan political activity.

  As Institute for Free Speech chair Bradley Smith tells Miller, that progressive grant-recipient groups outnumber, outraise, and outspend conservative entities. Contemporary, politicized Big Philanthropy — as my Giving Review co-editor Bill Schambra has noted — is “an oppressively arid, progressive monoculture” and “[c]onservatives need to face this truth.”

  On the day Miller’s article appeared, the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the how the growth of the tax-exempt sector is changing the U.S. political landscape. During the generally non-contentious proceeding, members and witnesses floated or endorsed several potential discrete changes to law and regulations on tax-exemption, foreign funding of exempt nonprofits, and the degree to which those groups and their also-exempt funders can engage in voter registration.

  The proposed reforms included, among others, the following: (1) banning foreign contributions to tax-exempt nonprofits; (2) curbing contributions to political super PACs from social-welfare nonprofits that accept foreign contributions; (3) barring private foundations and public charities from funding and engaging in voter-registration projects; (4) banning private contributions to state- and local-government election administration; and (5) redesigning Internal Revenue Service Forms 990, including to request and then provide to the public more information about “fiscally sponsored” projects, and 990-PF.

  Two days after Miller’s article and the oversight subcommittee hearing—at the other end of the U.S. Capitol, Sen. J. D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, introduced the College Endowment Accountability Act, which would increase the excise tax on endowment net investment income from 1.4 percent to 35% for secular, private, nonprofit colleges and universities with at least $10 billion in assets under management.

  Big Philanthropy is big mostly because of its similarly large nonprofit endowments. Vance’s bold bill would be a decidedly non-incremental policy step, and could serve as an opening bargaining position for future discussions about all such endowments’ tax treatment.

  Rates and Rises

  The current 1.4-percent tax rate on the endowments of colleges (whose student bodies are majority U.S. citizens, where more than 500 students are tuition-paying, and where total assets exceed $500,000 per student) was set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

  “While it is a relatively small tax, this new law is a first step towards the exploration of taxing non-profit entities on the vast sums of wealth they hold in their endowments,” University of Kentucky law professor Jennifer Bird-Pollan wrote in a Pepperdine Law Review article about the tax and its wider implications.

  “If we believe the rationale for imposing the excise tax stems from a distaste for excessive accumulation on the part of these wealthy universities, perhaps we should take the rationale even further,” she observed. “Why are we focused only on universities? … Seeing the 2017 tax bill’s university endowment excise tax as opening the door to imposing tax as an incentive tool to stop the excessive accumulation of wealth by non-profit entities lets us imagine what else we might see ….”

  In fact, in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, Congress set the excise tax on the income of private-foundation endowments at a flat 1.39%. Prior to the simplifying change, the rate was 2% percent, but could decrease to one percent if a foundation increased its charitable grant distributions.

  Rationales for Reform

  If one believes there’s a good rationale for proposing an increase of the tax in the higher-education context, it seems the same rationale would apply to private foundations. Here’s how Vance’s explained his reasoning for a higher-ed endowment tax increase on the Senate floor: “How is it,” he asked, that universities, which “should be responsive to the public will, responsive to their donors and alumni, responsive to their students, how is it that they can go so far so fast without any pushback?”

  The answer, he continued, “is university endowments, which have grown incredibly large on the backs of subsidies from the taxpayers, and they have made these universities completely independent of any political, financial, or other pressure ….”

  In 2021, prior to formally declaring his Senate candidacy, Vance floated a reform idea that treated the tax status of all nonprofits, including foundations, the same. “[W]e should eliminate all special privileges that exist for our nonprofit and foundation class,” he told a Claremont Institute audience.

  Why is it that if you’re spending all your money to teach literal racism to our children in their schools, why do we give you special tax breaks instead of taxing you more? …

  The decision to give those foundations and those organizations special privileges is a decision made by public policy. It was made by man, and we can undo it.

  Three months later, Vance then specifically applied this equivalence. “Any charitable organization with an endowment over $100 million must spend 20% of its endowment each year, or else it loses its 501c3 status and the preferential treatment of its income,” he proposed. Echoing his made-by-man-and-can-be-unmade thinking, Vance notes, “The Ford Foundation and the Harvard endowment don’t have a constitutional right to tax advantages that are unavailable to the vast majority of American citizens.”

  Questions

  Along with the similar work of others — including at the Capital Research Center, where I’m a senior fellow — Miller’s article, the Ways and Means oversight-subcommittee hearing, and Vance’s bill raise even more fundamental questions. These are especially relevant to conservatism, and conservative philanthropy.

  Of philanthropy: What’s it for? If it’s for charity, but it being used for partisan electoral politics, what’s to be done?

  Of conservatism: Where on the spectrum of proposed policy reforms, between the carefully tailored oversight subcommittee options and Vance  more-existential “threat” to large nonprofit endowments, should principle nudge us? Slight alterations or frontal assaults, or a mixture of both?

  Finally, regarding conservative philanthropy: Can it face the truth of how radically progressive, policy-oriented, and partisan most Big Philanthropy has become? Are conservatives bound by principle to defend such a regime? Is the traditional understanding of charity worth somehow trying to preserve despite how the system has been abused by partisan politicization?

  Or should the conservative side of philanthropy aggressively “fight fire with fire” and engage in the same kind of politicization itself, if only to try neutralizing the other effort? And if the other side’s fire so often includes successfully influencing the formulation, passage, and implementation of government policy — shouldn’t its fire too?

  Michael E. Hartmann is a co-editor of The Giving Review and a senior fellow at the Capital Research Center.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 19:00

• Defense Minister Says Israel Won't Assert Civil Control Over Gaza Post-War, In Bow To US Pressure
  Defense Minister Says Israel Won’t Assert Civil Control Over Gaza Post-War, In Bow To US Pressure

  Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant on Friday published and circulated a document laying out the military’s “vision for Phase 3” of the Gaza war, which ostensibly lays out a new scaled-down, more targeted approach for operations in the Gaza Strip. 

  However, Gallant made clear the contents of the plan are not yet official Israeli policy, only that these are his ideas. “In the northern region of the Gaza strip, we will transition to a new combat approach in accordance with military achievements on the ground,” Gallant’s office said of the policy proposal.

  Operations will continue to focus on raids, demolishing tunnels, air and ground strikes, as well special forces operations in the north – even including all of these tactics apparently also continuing in the south, which will go on “for as long as is deemed necessary” until Hamas is eradicated and the hostages are freed.

  

  Israel has recently announced a drawdown of reserve forces active in the Gaza Strip, and repositioning of troops, with an eye toward more targeted operations, which has been widely seen as a nod to US pressure for the campaign to deescalate. Gaza’s Health Ministry has cited a Palestinian death toll of over 22,400 – which it says are mostly women and children.

  Defense chief Gallant’s plan is most interesting when it comes to the Hamas ‘day after’ – given this has been a point of contention between the Netanyahu and Biden governments. The White House has floated a plan that would eventually give control over to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA).

  But Netanyahu has consistently rejected this, calling the PA terror supporters and sympathizers. But the Gallant plan is seeking to strike a compromise, it appears: 

  “Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” Gallant’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

  Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from Tel Aviv, said Gallant made it clear that Israeli officials want a “Palestinian entity” to be in charge of running civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip, but with “very specific conditions”.

  “Those conditions are that they won’t act hostile towards Israel, and they won’t act against it in any way, shape, or form.”

  It’s unclear who this “Palestinian entity” would be if the PA is not considered among the options. But the importance in this lies in that it’s another significant concession to Washington’s will… an affirmation that Israel won’t assert civilian control over Gaza in a post-war scenario.

  However, the reality is that we could be years from seeing any such ‘day after’ plan materialize, given that Hamas is still intact, after having lost likely thousands of fighters. And the sad question must be asked: will there be any Palestinian civilians remaining in the Strip to speak of?

  Hamas will meanwhile continue to employ guerrilla tactics utilizing small teams which attack from the vast network of tunnels, which means they do not suffer large-scale losses in any single assault operation.

  * * * 

  Below: Hamas has been publishing footage of its close-quarter ambushes in Gaza almost on a daily basis…

  ⚡️Hamas publishes footage of their fighters targeting zionist vehicles in Gaza city axis pic.twitter.com/O616d8oZs9

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) January 4, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 18:40

• Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Ballot Disqualification Case
  Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Ballot Disqualification Case

  Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court accepted a petition for immediate review regarding a Colorado Supreme Court decision to strike former President Donald Trump from the 2024A presidential ballot.

  “The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted,” reads the procedural order.

  Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 8.

  Petitioners’ and amicus briefs are due by Jan. 18, and respondents’ and amicus briefs are due by Jan. 31, with any reply briefs due by Feb. 5.

  The Colorado Supreme Court had disqualified President Trump as a candidate on Dec. 19 in an order that left little chance for the actual removal of his name from the ballot.

  On Dec. 27, the Colorado GOP filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking three separate questions regarding the application of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and political parties’ First Amendment rights to primary their candidate of choice.

  On Jan. 3, President Trump filed a separate petition with a simpler question: Did the Colorado Supreme Court err in its ruling?

  The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up President Trump’s petition, and has yet to accept to reject the Colorado GOP’s petition.

  ‘Chaos’

  Colorado was the first state to disqualify President Trump, and the first state to hold hearings regarding the merits of a Section 3 challenge at all.

  The legal theory that President Trump can be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment rests on the premise that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection, and that President Trump actively participated in or instigated it. It also assumes that individual state courts at various levels have the authority to adjudicate the eligibility of a presidential candidate under Section 3.

  There have been at least 60 of these challenges across the country in recent months, according to President Trump’s attorneys.

  However, the majority of these challenges have been dismissed for a wide range of reasons, with several courts citing lack of jurisdiction.

  Officials and some judges have argued that if individual state courts were meant to be able to rule if a presidential candidate engaged in insurrection and whether that affected his eligibility, it could result in “chaos,” with upwards of 50 different rulings.

  In several amicus briefs filed with both the Colorado GOP and Trump petitions, experts and concerned voters argued much the same.

  The Colorado decision has already created a ripple effect, with legislators in other states calling for disqualifications of President Trump as a candidate on their own ballots, as well as other states calling for the disqualification of President Joe Biden from state primaries in retaliation.

  Soon after the Colorado Supreme Court ruling, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows similarly disqualified President Trump as a candidate in a decision phrased as having little chance of actually removing him from the ballot. That decision is being appealed in state court, and marks the third jurisdiction that has found that President Trump engaged in an insurrection—without him, or any Jan. 6 defendant, having been charged with such.

  The lawsuits and wide range of rulings have raised a host of legal questions: Does the Constitution allow states to define “insurrection” individually? Does Congress hold sole authority over disqualifying candidates under Section 3? Does the disqualification from holding office allow states to prohibit candidates from running in primary elections, or can a candidate be disqualified or exempted via a vote by Congress as late as Inauguration Day?

  As such, several amicus brief authors have requested the U.S. Supreme Court adjudicate more than what the appellants have asked, including to hold a full hearing on the merits of the case.

  A group of 45 Colorado voters had filed an amicus brief on the Colorado GOP petition, urging the Supreme Court to do more than merely reverse the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.

  Such a ruling “would solve nothing and actually makes matters worse,” they wrote. “The Colorado court has unleashed harms which will creep beyond Colorado’s borders.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 18:19

• NRA Head LaPierre Steps Down Over "Health Reasons"
  NRA Head LaPierre Steps Down Over “Health Reasons”

  Ahead of a civil corruption trial in Manhattan, embattled longtime leader of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, announced to board members that he would step down on Friday.

  “With pride in all that we have accomplished, I am announcing my resignation from the NRA,” LaPierre wrote in a statement published on social media platform X.

  

  He said, “I’ve been a card-carrying member of this organization for most of my adult life, and I will never stop supporting the NRA and its fight to defend Second Amendment freedom. My passion for our cause burns as deeply as ever.”

  NRA EVP Wayne LaPierre Announces Resignation from NRA

  The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) announced today that Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre announced he is stepping down from his position as chief executive of the organization, effective January 31.… pic.twitter.com/GbGBWktu7C

  — NRA (@NRA) January 5, 2024

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

  The resignation, effective at the end of this month, is not part of a deal with New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. “Longtime NRA executive and Head of General Operations Andrew Arulanandam will become the interim CEO & EVP of the NRA,” the NRA said. 

  LaPierre submitted his resignation at a board meeting in Irving, Texas, citing “health reasons” as a significant driver in his decision. 

  This new turn of events is set to change the dynamics of the Manhattan trial, as James sought to remove LaPierre from his head role, which he has held since 1991. 

  Under LaPierre’s leadership, the NRA became a powerful lobbying group for the Second Amendment. However, its various compromises on 2A issues has allowed Gun Owners of America (GOA), a ‘no compromise’ gun lobby group, to flourish in the shadows with a surge in new members and plowing millions of dollars into lobbying.

  The NRA’s most recent compromise was the Trump bump stock ban.

  

  Law-abiding Americans are gravitating towards GOA, which will likely displace the NRA as the nation’s premier gun rights group in the next several years in terms of spending on Capitol Hill and members. 

  GOA had our BEST YEAR YET in 2023 and we are incredibly thankful to our staff, members, and supporters across the country who fought for the Second Amendment. 🥳

  Scroll through the 🧵⤵️ to see GOA’s 2023 victories!

  What is your favorite GOA win?! pic.twitter.com/oViSyqaas6

  — Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) January 2, 2024

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

  The era of no compromise is only beginning. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 18:00

• 3 Years Ago His Wife Was Killed On Jan. 6, Now Aaron Babbitt's Mission Is Clear
  3 Years Ago His Wife Was Killed On Jan. 6, Now Aaron Babbitt’s Mission Is Clear

  Authored by Joseph Hanneman via The Epoch Times,

  January 6 has become Aaron Babbitt’s hill to die on.

  

  Over the three years since Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed outside the House Speaker’s Lobby at the U.S. Capitol, her husband has made it his mission to investigate her death and seek justice.

  “It’s not really possible to put it into words,” Mr. Babbitt told The Epoch Times in an extended series of interviews.

  “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. But like I’ve said before, I mean, we’re all born with a purpose. You never know what that purpose is until it kicks you right between the legs.”

  For Mr. Babbitt, the jolt came in the early afternoon Pacific time on Jan. 6, 2021, when he received urgent phone calls to turn on the television. Someone had been shot at the protests at the U.S. Capitol. He remembers seeing Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer declare that the woman shot near the House of Representatives had died.

  Then everything went black.

  

  Aaron Babbitt ponders his journey since his wife was killed on Jan. 6, 2021, as he looks out over North San Diego Bay. (Joseph M. Hanneman/The Epoch Times)

  “That kick between the legs for me was watching my wife die on TV,” he said. “So my purpose now is just to fight for Ashli until I can’t fight anymore. I don’t even know what that means. But I’ll continue doing it until I can’t.”

  During the first 18 months, Mr. Babbitt was prominent in news media, defending his wife from an onslaught of hate for being an alleged insurrectionist, a rioter, a vandal, and someone who attacked the Capitol. Well before many facts came out, he knew in his heart that his wife was none of the things of which she was being accused.

  “Ashli’s name is going to be written history books at some point,” he said.

  “And I want it to be written correctly.”

  Mr. Babbitt recently sat down to reflect on nearly 36 months of suffering, investigating, and preparing for justice.

  Sitting on a park bench along the shore of North San Diego Bay, Mr. Babbitt watched the tour boats, catamarans, speed boats, and the occasional U.S. Navy warship sail past. On this fall afternoon, the USS Boxer headed out to sea while the USS Spruance made her way into port.

  Just beyond the opposite shore, a steady stream of aircraft took off from the sprawling Naval Station North Island, including helicopters similar to ones that Mr. Babbitt worked on for years as a U.S. Marine Corps mechanic.

  ‘It Was Awful’

  The first three months after his wife was gunned down by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, Mr. Babbitt struggled with the shock and what seemed like a never-ending line of haters who harassed him at his family pool-cleaning business in San Diego. He needed to decide what his life would become after being widowed at age 39.

  “From the start, I wouldn’t even look at the browser on my phone,“ he said.

  ”I wouldn’t turn my TV on for like a month because I was so traumatized by what I‘d seen. Anytime I’d log on and see pictures of Ashli dead, I’d get terrified and then shut it off. It was awful.”

  

  Aaron and Ashli Babbitt on an outing. ‘She just loved life,’ Babbitt said. (Photo Courtesy Aaron Babbitt)

  Mr. Babbitt made a gut-wrenching decision that rather than withdraw into his grief, he would launch a nonstop investigation of the shooting. That meant tirelessly searching for clues while wading through a sea of online disinformation and unbridled hatred.

  “I got to the point where I realized I need to be the foremost expert on what happened to my wife,” he said. “And in being that, I need to watch every single second of footage of what happened to her.

  “So I just turned it into a daily routine,” Mr. Babbitt said.

  “I‘d wake up and search Ashli’s name on Twitter. I’d read all the bad stuff. I‘d look at all the pictures. I’d see all the videos.

  “It didn’t come very quickly. But it got to a point where I have now seen everything,” he said. “More than all of you hateful people have seen. Everything. You can’t shock me anymore.”

  ‘Hill to Die On’

  Mr. Babbitt’s visibility in the first year after the shooting came at a price. The pool-cleaning business he ran with his wife came under attack. The business voicemail was a nonstop wave of hate-filled messages, such as, “Can Ashli come out and clean my pool?”

  “We lost, like, 30 percent of our customers just based on name recognition. They didn’t want to be associated with us. And then I couldn’t take new customers on because I was getting death threats.”

  Mr. Babbitt decided to sell the business and focus full-time on investigating his wife’s death. He has not looked back.

  “I ended up having to sell that business for pennies on the dollar. It hasn’t been easy,“ he said.

  ”I’ve sacrificed a lot. But I’m willing to do that for her. This is my hill to die on.”

  

  Aaron Babbitt with his wife, Ashli, who was killed at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Aaron Babbitt)

  Mr. Babbitt recalled seeing his wife reading her Twitter feed one day and laughing at how angry many people became after she shared her views on politics or current events.

  “There were a lot of tears, there was a lot of anger, there’s a lot of rage,” he recalled. “But I got to the point after I’d seen this for so long, this one night it just clicked in my head.”

  “‘Wow, these people are really mad at me. They really hate me,’” he recalled her saying. “She’s laughing at the same time. So that moment came when I was reading all this bad [expletive]. And then I remembered that moment with Ashli. I just started laughing out loud. She had to have been there in that moment to remind me of that.”

  Mr. Babbitt made the decision to forge ahead, to resist thoughts of revenge and focus instead on justice. It was a battle inside himself.

  “I had three options. I mean, I could turtle up and go into my shell and go away forever,” he said.

  “I could do something brazen, you know, and try and exact revenge for my wife, and then just be dead or incarcerated, the husband of a dead ‘domestic terrorist,’ as they like they label her.

  “Or I could go about it the smart, calculated way and bring these people to justice,“ Mr. Babbitt said.

  ”Do what’s right for Ashli in the long run of history.”

  The beginning of that journey saw some “very dark days,” he said.

  “It’s hard to put into words, but I believe—and I will continue to believe—that I chose the right path,” Mr. Babbitt said. “Because it’s not about me. It’s really not about me. It’s about Ashli.

  “Ashi’s voice was taken that day. And now I speak for her,” he said. “And if I did anything stupid, then that voice would be lost.”

  Secret Tour of Capitol

  Part of that investigative journey led Mr. Babbitt and his attorney to Washington to retrace the steps Ashli took on Jan. 6.

  In 2022, Mr. Babbitt was given a secret tour of the U.S. Capitol, arranged by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). Mr. Babbitt and his attorney were instructed to be at a certain location near the Capitol late on a weeknight.

  

  A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 19, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

  A black SUV with dark windows pulled up at the specified location at the appointed hour. The pair got in. Mr. Babbitt looked and realized Mr. Gohmert was driving. The now-retired congressman dropped the men off at a discreet entrance to the Capitol, and they went inside.

  Mr. Babbitt was given a private moment on the spot outside the Speaker’s Lobby where his wife was fatally shot by Lt. Byrd. He was then given a tour of the Capitol by Mr. Gohmert and other supportive lawmakers.

  Not long after that tour, Mr. Babbitt and his attorney went to the O’Neill House Office Building to view U.S. Capitol Police security video. The invitation for that visit came from then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

  Mr. McCarthy and staff from the Committee on House Administration promised Mr. Babbitt he could obtain any videos he needed for his investigation, he said. More than 10 months later, however, Mr. Babbitt is still waiting. Despite submitting a detailed request, no videos have been turned over by the House.

  Police ‘Breakdown’

  When he went through all of the cell-phone videos taken in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby, Mr. Babbitt saw his wife’s years of training as a military police officer and the tours she spent in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. She looked at what unfolded around her not only as a witness but as someone who served in the U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard.

  “She saw a breakdown of the police. Three police officers were not acting correctly in front of that door,” Mr. Babbitt said. “They weren’t acting like they were there to defend that door.”

  Officers Kyle Yetter and Christopher Lanciano and Sgt. Timothy Lively faced an angry group of protesters demanding to go into the House Chamber and make their voices heard. The officers had no pepper spray or batons but were armed with service pistols.

  

  Moments before being fatally shot, Ashli Babbitt confronts three police offers for not stopping the vandalism outside the U.S. House. (Video Still/Tayler Hansen)

  The situation went off the rails when Zachary Alam vented his rage by punching the glass in the doors, including one strike that went right between Sgt. Lively and Officer Lanciano’s heads. Mr. Alam seemed emboldened by their inaction. He eventually used a black riot helmet like a cudgel to smash the glass.

  “They were just standing there, letting people punch around their heads, not doing anything to quell the violence or stop the violence and the people who were creating violence and havoc that day,” Mr. Babbitt said. “They weren’t stopping them. And then Ashli yelled at them to ‘call [expletive] help.’”

  Ms. Babbitt tried to intervene with Mr. Alam at one point, but he brushed her aside. She retreated to the north wall, where videos show she shouted against the violence.

  “Once they start going full force on those doors, that’s when you hear Ashli screaming at them to stop,“ Mr. Babbitt said. ”‘Stop! No, don’t! Stop! Wait!’ And that was when it had to have been—just knowing Ash, it had to have been that moment. She’s like, ‘What the [expletive] is going on? What is happening right now?’”

  Memories of Iraq

  Perhaps at those very moments, Ms. Babbitt recalled the worst of her military deployments. Camp Bucca, Iraq, was a brutal duty assignment. She had to guard jihadis who would have gladly cut her throat if they escaped their confines.

  

  Ashli Babbitt was a military police officer in the U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard. (Courtesy of Micki Witthoeft)

  “It was just all detainees that they would bring in. There was CIA coming in all the time,” Mr. Babbitt said. “Blackhawks coming in, dropping people off, taking people out.

  “Lines of SUVs coming in, taking people out, bringing people in,” he said. “Riots—they kill each other. They threatened to kill our forces.”

  One day, Ms. Babbitt had to run from the shower in just a towel and take cover in a foxhole because the base was being shelled, he said. On another occasion, Ms. Babbitt and another female MP came across three prisoners who had tunneled out of their cells.

  “They got into a hand-to-hand fistfight with three of them before the guys in the tower could run down and help them,” he said. “So it’s two females fighting three grown men.”

  Ms. Babbitt enlisted at age 17 and had to get her mother’s permission to sign up before age 18. During four deployments from her Texas base, Mr. Babbitt said, she guarded an airfield for a visit of President George W. Bush and served as security for then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

  

  U.S. Marine veteran Aaron Babbitt says the Capitol Police lieutenant who killed his wife Ashli violated protocol for use of deadly force. (CapitolPunishmentTheMovie.com/Bark at the Hole Productions)

  ‘I Have My Purpose’

  Looking back on it all, Mr. Babbitt said there’s no way he could have known how big—and tragic—Jan. 6 would turn out to be for him and his wife.

  When he kissed her goodbye at home on Jan. 5, he recalled, she sensed his unease about the trip.

  “The last words to my face that she spoke to me were, ‘You’re worried about me, aren’t you?‘ I’m always worried. I’m always worried about you,” Mr. Babbitt said.

  “And she said, ‘I’ll be fine. Everything’s gonna be alright.’”

  Mr. Babbitt reflected on how far he has come since hearing the fateful news broadcast the afternoon of Jan. 6.

  “I was not in a good place. It was a very deep dark place,“ he recalled. ”But I pulled out of it. Knowing that I have my purpose. And my purpose is for Ashli.

  “And as sad as it is to say, maybe it was Ashli’s purpose at that point in time to be wrongfully shot. And to be that person in history to shine a light on what was really wrong that day and during those times.”

  

  Massive crowds gather as President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

  While Jan. 6 is obviously a difficult day every year, Jan. 8 also brings memories and sadness. He was supposed to grab her a takeout meal from Roberto’s, one of their favorite haunts.

  “I was supposed to pick her up at 5:30 on Friday, and she said, maybe with a California burrito,” Mr. Babbitt said. “People don’t know what a Cali burrito is. But it’s got french fries on it. She wanted me to pick her up on Friday at 5:30 at San Diego International with a California burrito.”

  He planned to order the Cali just as she liked it: carne asada, fries, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo.

  “Want to talk about hard,“ he said. ”Five-thirty hit here on Friday and I was like, ‘I’m supposed to be picking her up right now.’”

  But now, the grief takes a back seat. Mr. Babbitt knows it is a time for action—and justice.

  “I know she’s always with me,” he said. “But it took a while. It did. It took a little while, but I just knew that I had to bury my grief and bury any bad thoughts that I had in my head.

  “Because if I am nothing but 100 percent focused on my fight for Ashli and what we’re doing, then I’m no good to her.”

  Aaron Babbitt fully believes that justice is coming in his wife’s case.

  “Yeah, I’m confident we’re gonna get there,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I will. I will. I’ll go down trying.”

  *  *  *

  The Epoch Times original documentary “The Real Story of January 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home” will be available to full subscribers starting Saturday, Jan. 6, at 8:30 p.m. ET on EpochTV.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 17:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Only Citizens Should Vote In America: Gingrich
  Only Citizens Should Vote In America: Gingrich

  Authored by Newt Gingrich via RealClear Wire,

  The next step in radically changing America is now underway. City officials in our national capital plan to allow non-citizens to vote next year.

  

  President Joe Biden let millions of illegal immigrants cross the border. Then he bussed them to Washington DC. The city’s Democratic machine now wants to let them vote – knowing they will almost certainly vote Democrat for all the support and assistance.

  This policy is a clear threat to American nationalism.

  Three characteristics define a survivable national identity.

  There must be a border which defines the nation. There must be a broad sense of history and common culture which enables people to see themselves as belonging to a common community. And there must be meaningful citizenship which gives people a stake in the larger national community (in our case, citizenship allows us to vote).

  The American left has been working overtime to erase all three of these characteristics.

  The left believes in open borders – and has done everything to make America open to millions of Biden’s illegal immigrants. This has not been the result of incompetence or lack of resources. This is deliberate policy. And, from the left’s standpoint, it is successful.

  The left hates American history. It despises the great men and women who sacrificed and worked to make America the most successful, prosperous, and freest country in the world. For three generations, the left has been brainwashing children into an anti-American worldview. The anti-American prejudice now infects most of our newsrooms and many of our larger corporations.

  Now that the left has been getting Biden’s illegal immigrants into the country, its members want to start letting illegal immigrants vote. In effect, the non-citizens would offset Americans with whom the left doesn’t agree. They are especially committed to getting new non-citizens to vote. Their dream of a huge American Latino-Democratic majority has been destroyed by the radicalism and real-world failures of Bidenism (Trump is now running ahead of Biden among American Latinos).

  A key test case for getting Biden’s illegal immigrants to vote in 2024 will be the City of Washington DC. Our national capital’s left-wing politicians are totally failing to protect residents from runaway crime (there were 959 car-jackings in DC in 2023). The city bureaucracy is driving sports teams out of town. The roads are decaying, and American citizens must visit their own national capital with a sense of concern for their own safety. Now, the DC City Council has decided its next contribution to American decay is to disenfranchise its own residents and allow non-citizens to vote.

  Now, the left – as they always do – will shout that being concerned about the votes of U.S. citizens being cancelled out by the votes of non-citizens is (you guessed it) racist. This is a ham-fisted attempt to shout down any discussion of what is an absurd, self-destructive policy that would make the entire concept of American citizenship meaningless.

  This is nothing but a fringe political position which is totally rejected by the American people.

  In a national survey from February 2021, Americans deeply opposed allowing non-citizens to vote in American elections. Further, they support requiring citizenship verification during voter registration.

  In Arizona, 81 percent support allowing only American citizens to vote and requiring citizenship verification to register to vote in federal elections. Only 15 percent oppose. In Maine, 75 percent support a ban on non-citizen voting and only 19 percent oppose. In Montana, the figures are 86 percent support and 11 percent oppose, and in West Virginia, they are 84 percent to 13 percent.

  In another national poll by McLaughlin & Associates from May 2021, 61 percent disapproved of “new laws in places such as California and Vermont that allow non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections.” Only 30 percent approved.

  Congress should move this month to block the DC politicians’ effort to let non-citizens vote in our national capital. Congress should also pass a law making it illegal for non-citizens to cast ballots in federal elections.

  The effort to let non-citizens overrule Americans must be stopped.

  For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/05/2024 – 00:00

• More Than A 3rd Of US Adults Say Biden's Election Was Illegitimate: Poll
  More Than A 3rd Of US Adults Say Biden’s Election Was Illegitimate: Poll

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

  More than one-third of U.S. adults now believe that President Joe Biden wasn’t legitimately elected, a new survey shows, marking an uptick from December 2021.

  

  The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, conducted last month, found that 36 percent of respondents believe that President Biden’s election was illegitimate—a 7-point increase from two years ago.

  Comparatively, 62 percent said he was legitimately elected, down from 69 percent in 2021.

  Republicans showed the largest decrease in belief in the president’s validity, dropping from 39 percent to 31 percent. Independents also saw a 6-point drop, from 72 percent to 66 percent, while Democrats saw a slight dip, from 94 percent to 91 percent.

  In the same vein, 33 percent of all adults said there’s solid evidence of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. That includes 62 percent of Republicans, 33 percent of independents, and 10 percent of Democrats.

  Overall, 63 percent said there’s no solid evidence.

  Election Integrity Still a Concern

  The survey’s results track with the findings of a CNN poll conducted in July 2023.

  That poll found that 38 percent of adults believed President Biden didn’t legitimately win the 2020 election. It was the highest percentage to have given that response out of the eight surveys that the outlet has conducted on that topic.

  Conversely, 61 percent said the president legitimately won enough votes to secure the presidency—a clear majority, but a new low.

  While a majority (51 percent) of those who doubted President Biden’s legitimacy said there was solid evidence that he lost the election, 49 percent said it was just their suspicion. Those results marked a significant decline in certainty among the group from 2021, when 73 percent said there was solid evidence.

  Nevertheless, the results across both polls show that questions linger about the validity of the 2020 election results for a significant portion of the public, despite the insistence of certain media outlets—including The Washington Post—that there’s no evidence of fraud.

  Former President Donald Trump, for his part, has maintained that the 2020 election was stolen—a claim that he’s currently defending in two separate criminal cases.

  Capitol Breach

  The rest of the Washington Post-UMD survey focused primarily on attitudes surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

  Overall, the results show a slight softening in the public’s perception of the event, with 50 percent now saying that the protesters were “mostly violent,” compared to 54 percent who said the same previously.

  Among that group, Republicans again marked the largest shift over time, dropping from 26 percent to 18 percent. By contrast, both Democrats (77 percent) and independents (54 percent) alike were just 1 percent less likely to view the protesters as mostly violent, while those who viewed them as “mostly peaceful” (21 percent) or “equally peaceful and violent” (28 percent) increased slightly.

  Another finding was that fewer Americans hold President Trump responsible for the breach. Where 60 percent said he bears either “a great deal” or “a good amount” of responsibility for the event in 2021, only a slight majority (53 percent) now say the same.

  Republicans again account for most of that change, with just 14 percent holding the 45th president responsible, compared to 27 percent in 2021. However, it’s worth noting that Democrats saw the second-largest drop in this category, from 92 percent to 86 percent, while independents shifted just 1 point down to 56 percent.

  The results are noteworthy, given that two states recently disqualified the 45th president from appearing on their presidential primary ballots based on his alleged activities on and about Jan. 6, 2021.

  The Colorado Supreme Court and Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State Shenna Bellows argue that President Trump is ineligible to hold presidential office under the 14th Amendment, which bars certain individuals from holding federal offices if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.

  That legal theory has been floated by critics of the former president in multiple states as a reason for keeping him off the ballot.

  President Trump’s legal team disputes the clause’s applicability to the presidency and the depiction of the Capitol breach as an insurrection. His attorneys have appealed both states’ decisions, which have been suspended as the litigation plays out.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 23:20

• Was "January 6" A Manufactured Crisis? Media Icons To Clash In ZeroHedge's No-Holds-Barred Debate
  Was “January 6” A Manufactured Crisis? Media Icons To Clash In ZeroHedge’s No-Holds-Barred Debate

  

   

  Depending on whom you ask, it was either “the darkest day in American history” or “a guided tour.” To this day, the January 6 Capitol Riot remains one of the most divisive issues in American politics.

  Conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson and Dinesh D’Souza point to lengthy prison sentences for nonviolent trespassers, the killing of Ashley Babbitt, and suspicious characters like Ray Epps as evidence of a burgeoning “police state” entrapping and imprisoning dissidents.

  On the other hand, liberal pundits and never-Trumpers like MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, believe Jan 6 was nothing short of an attempted coup by former president Donald Trump.

  According to recent polling by the University of Chicago, 80% of Democrats believe Trump broke the law by inciting the Capitol riots, while roughly half of Republicans believe he did nothing wrong: 

  

  Such divides have consequences.

  On December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court — citing “clear and convincing” evidence that he engaged in an “insurrection” — ruled that “President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President” and barred the state’s Secretary from including Trump’s name on the ballot for upcoming GOP primary elections.

  This dispute over January 6 — and whether it was indeed an insurrection — may very well determine the next U.S. President.

  The ZeroHedge “January 6” Debate

  On the coming anniversary of January 6 (Saturday), ZeroHedge will present the second debate in our inaugural series aimed at bringing long-form dialogues back into the ideologically-siloed and echo-chambered media landscape.

  We will host an in-depth discussion on the various aspects of that fateful day in 2021, allowing people with all perspectives a chance to present evidence and make their argument.

  Our panel will include such media luminaries as Alex Jones, Darren Beattie, Glenn Greenwald on one side, and Ed and Brian Krassenstein, as well as YouTuber “Destiny” on the other.

  We hope to get closer to the truth of what happened on that day and get to the bottom of what creates such harsh social divides on this issue.

  Add To Your Calendar

  Set a reminder on your calendar for the Jan 6 ZeroHedge debate, airing on this website and on X, on January 6, 2024 at 7:00pm EST. We will also dedicate a portion of the debate to responding directly to questions submitted by our premium subscribers.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 23:00

• This Is The Most Dangerous Time To Drive In Each US State
  This Is The Most Dangerous Time To Drive In Each US State

  Thousands of commuters around the world lose their lives in vehicular accidents each year, and in the U.S., the most dangerous time to drive can actually depend on which state you’re in.

  According to the CDC, car crashes are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause for young people between the ages of 5–29 years old. Each day, the U.S. alone sees an average of 102 fatal traffic accidents.

  Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes introduces this graphic by Clunker Junker uses data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to identify the most dangerous time to drive in each state of the country, based on traffic fatalities.

  

  The Deadly Hours

  On average, U.S. commuters lose over 50 hours of their time in rush hour traffic every year. In addition to being a frustrating drive, NHTSA data found that this time frame is also the most dangerous in some states.

  The number of fatal traffic accidents across various parts of the U.S. increases after 5pm, peaking between 9pm and 10pm.

  State	Most Dangerous Time to Drive
  Alabama	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Alaska	2:00‒2:59 p.m.
  Arizona	7:00‒7:59 p.m.
  Arkansas	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  California	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Colorado	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Connecticut	7:00‒7:59 p.m.
  Delaware	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Florida	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  Georgia	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  Hawaii	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  Idaho	4:00‒4:59 p.m.
  Illinois	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  Indiana	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Iowa	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Kansas	1:00‒1:59 p.m.
  Kentucky	2:00‒2:59 p.m.
  Louisiana	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Maine	4:00‒4:59 p.m.
  Maryland	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Massachusetts	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  Michigan	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Minnesota	4:00‒4:59 p.m.
  Mississippi	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  Missouri	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Montana	2:00‒2:59 p.m.
  Nebraska	4:00‒4:59 p.m.
  Nevada	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  New Hampshire	2:00‒2:59 p.m.
  New Jersey	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  New Mexico	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  New York	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  North Carolina	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  North Dakota	4:00‒4:59 p.m.
  Ohio	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  Oklahoma	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Oregon	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Pennsylvania	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Rhode Island	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  South Carolina	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  South Dakota	1:00‒1:59 p.m.
  Tennessee	8:00‒8:59 p.m.
  Texas	9:00‒9:59 p.m.
  Utah	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Vermont	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  Virginia	6:00‒6:59 p.m.
  Washington	5:00‒5:59 p.m.
  West Virginia	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Wisconsin	3:00‒3:59 p.m.
  Wyoming	3:00‒3:59 p.m.

  This is reported to be an outcome of various factors: low visibility at night, glaring headlights, more cars on the road, and a higher number of drunk drivers. In some states, regional geography and weather also contribute to dangerous road conditions, including hills and mountains, rain, snow, and strong winds.

  Another factor is congestion. More populated states with longer average commutes like California and Maryland had the most dangerous time to drive as later (between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.), while central states with smaller populations like Kansas and South Dakota had earlier peak dangerous times (between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.)

  The safest times to drive across all states? Early in the morning from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

  The Most Dangerous Time to Drive by Month and Day

  While holidays are a time for relaxation and celebration, they can be hazardous on the roads.

  According to NHTSA data, the summer and fall months are the most dangerous by average fatal accidents.

  

  June through August are the peak months of vacation travel in the U.S. and see increased traffic (often on high-speed highways and unfamiliar roads) and fatalities. But September is actually the most dangerous month to drive in America, as the Labor Day weekend and the new school term bring new drivers to the roads.

  Other popular U.S. holidays, including the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, and Halloween, are also more dangerous than average. In addition to increased instances of drinking and driving, many holidays involve long-distance travel, leading to fatigue.

  And finally, according to the NHTSA, the U.S. sees an average of 4.68 fatal accidents on Saturdays making it the most dangerous day. This reaches a peak of over seven fatal accidents between 9 and 10pm every Saturday.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 23:00

• US Strike Kills Iran-Backed Leader In Baghdad Believed Behind Attacks On US Bases
  US Strike Kills Iran-Backed Leader In Baghdad Believed Behind Attacks On US Bases

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  A US drone strike in Baghdad killed a senior militia leader on Thursday, marking another significant escalation that could lead to a full-blown regional war.

  The strike killed Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi, also known as Abu Taqwa, a deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) operations in Baghdad. The PMF is a coalition of mostly Shia Iraqi militias that are part of the government’s security forces.

  

  At least one other militia member was killed in the strike, which targeted a PMF base in Baghdad. Later on Thursday, the Pentagon confirmed it was responsible for the bombing.

  The Pentagon claims Abu Taqwa was believed to be responsible for attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria that started in October in response to US support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza, but the US has not provided any evidence for the assertion.

  The drone strike has enraged the Iraqi government, which condemned it as a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and security of Iraq” and said it was “no different from a terrorist act.”

  The US has launched several rounds of airstrikes in Iraq since October, all of which have been strongly condemned by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the US’s supposed partner in the country.

  Al-Sudani’s government has also condemned the attacks on US bases in Iraq but wants to work to find the perpetrators and strongly opposes the unilateral US airstrikes and extra-judicial killings.

  

  Al-Sudani said last week that his government was “heading towards” ending the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, which includes 2,500 US troops.

  Iraq’s parliament voted to expel US troops back in 2020 following the US drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and PMF leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, but the US has refused to leave.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 22:40

• "Early Signs Of Rebound": Manhattan Home Prices Rise For First Time In Year
  “Early Signs Of Rebound”: Manhattan Home Prices Rise For First Time In Year

  For the first time in a year, Manhattan home prices in the fourth quarter rose as homebuyers came off the sidelines after the Federal Reserve’s pivot led to a plunge in mortgage rates, laying the groundwork for a re-acceleration in the borough’s housing market this spring. 

  Bloomberg cites new data from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which shows the median sales price closed was around $1.16 million, up 5.1% – the first annual increase since the third quarter of 2022. 

  

  Data showed two-thirds of Manhattan buyers paid cash despite the 30-year fixed mortgage rate plunging from a two-decade high of around 8% at the start of November to about 6.61% by the end of December – on the back of the Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle pivot. 

  

  Even though the total number of property transactions declined in the quarter, home sales valued at more than $5 million surged – an indication wealthy folks are buying ahead of the spring season. 

  “The market is giving early signs that it’s beginning to rebound,” Miller said, adding, “It’s not going to do an about-face overnight, but it’s trending to stronger performance in terms of transactions and inventory and, to a certain degree, prices.”

  Bloomberg noted, “Contracts to buy homes in Manhattan — a more timely indicator of demand than closed sales — rose in December from a year earlier … The increase signals the start of a process in which lower interest rates bring in more buyers, and prompt more sellers to list their homes.” 

  The late-year surge in the Manhattan housing market came after US home prices in October, one month before mortgage rates began to fall, rose for the 9th straight month. 

  “US home prices accelerated at their fastest annual rate of the year in October,” says Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital assets at S&P DJI.

  “We are experiencing broad based home price appreciation across the country, with steady gains seen in nineteen of twenty cities.”

  Could lower mortgage rates and tight housing supply unleash another round of bidding wars for the spring season? 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 22:20

• Florida Surgeon General Warns Against Using mRNA COVID Vaccines Over Possible Cancer Risk
  Florida Surgeon General Warns Against Using mRNA COVID Vaccines Over Possible Cancer Risk

  Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Florida’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, is warning against any use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines citing cancer concerns.

  

  Dr. Ladapo says a Canadian study found “billions to hundreds of billions” of DNA molecules per dose, exceeding guidelines set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

  He sent a letter on Dec. 6, to the FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Mandy Cohen outlining his concerns about the high presence of DNA molecules in the mRNA vaccines alongside lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used to deliver medicine into human cells.

  If LNPs are so effective at administering the vaccine’s medicine into human cells, Dr. Ladapo says he fears they will deliver the contaminant DNA molecules simultaneously.

  He cites a 2007 guidance report from the FDA on the regulatory limits for DNA in vaccines, which indicated risks of affecting the human genes that transform healthy cells into cancerous cells.

  The report also discusses the risk of how this integration of DNA in vaccines can lead to issues with the heart, brain, blood, kidney, liver, bone marrow, lung, ovaries, and testes, draining lymph nodes, spleen, and the vaccine’s administration and injection site.

  “DNA integration poses a unique and elevated risk to human health, and to the integrity of the human genome, including the risk that DNA integrated into sperm or egg, gametes could be passed onto offspring of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

  “If the risks of DNA integration have not been assessed for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings,” Dr. Ladapo said in a news release.

  He is not calling for a widespread rejection of all vaccines and instead urges health care providers to prioritize non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and treatment while assessing research into overall vaccine risks.

  Dr. Ladapo was in hot water in April 2023 after a public records request discovered edits he made to a state-commissioned survey on mRNA vaccines, garnering accusations of “exaggerating” the data to fit his position against giving COVID-19 vaccines to “healthy” children and adults of certain ages.

  He defended the move as a scientific “revision” and felt justified in removing a certain data analysis from the original survey.

  But others have raised concerns with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines as well, including Dr. Eduardo Balbona, an internal medicine doctor from Jacksonville, Florida.

  Dr. Balbona has been practicing for three decades and advocates for evidence-based medicine that emphasizes preventing disease and maintaining health with “education and a deliberative proactive approach to lifelong care.”

  After receiving single or repeat doses of the mRNA vaccines, some of his patients experienced a host of different symptoms and felt “ill immediately afterward.”

  In “some people, it takes a couple of weeks. So there [are] different patterns of injury. And I would say [for] some people, it’s almost an anaphylactic reaction.

  “They have the vaccine, and from that moment on, they’re just not well. Often … they lose their blood pressure, or they have a crazy blood pressure. It either drops to 70 or goes to 200,” Dr. Balbona told The Epoch Times.

  Several of his patients also developed posterior orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is a condition that “causes your heart to beat faster than normal when you transition from sitting or lying down to standing up.”

  POTS is not easy to diagnose because several of its symptoms, including dizziness, fainting, chest pain, headaches, and heart palpitations, can occur over time despite resulting from a common cause.

  There is currently no cure for POTS, although exercise, physical activity, and a cardiac rehabilitation program can be used as treatment.

  Dr. Balbona also saw patients with increased blood pressure and others who had developed a hypercoagulable state, which is when the blood coagulates excessively in the absence of bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.

  He was also concerned by the number of men in their late teens, 20s, and 30s who developed pulmonary embolisms without genetic predispositions or pre-existing health issues that would cause them.

  A pulmonary embolism occurs when a fragment, most likely a blood clot, gets stuck in a lung artery and blocks the flow of blood, according to the Mayo Clinic.

  Other patients developed myocarditis and pericarditis directly after receiving the vaccine, Dr. Balbona said.

  According to the CDC, “myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart.”

  The symptoms of myocarditis and pericarditis are chest pain, shortness of breath, and “feelings of having a fast beating, fluttering, or pounding heart.”

  The CDC admits that some patients developed these conditions after receiving the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines but that cases are “rare” and that many heal on their own.

  However, since the symptoms can mimic anxiety reactions, some patients might be unaware they have either myocarditis or pericarditis, making data collection difficult.

  Dr. Balbona spoke with patients who went to hospitals with these symptoms and were turned away by nurses and doctors who told them the issues were psychological, possibly assuming the patients were anxious or experiencing acute panic attacks.

  He also believes some who received the vaccines were given “blanks” instead of shots with active medicine inside. Dr. Balbona said he tested several patients after they received their shots, and they lacked COVID-19 antibodies, which should be present in the blood after vaccination.

  Dr. Balbona believes some patients might have been vaccinated with just saline solution as a result of poor storage and handling of the vaccines themselves, which required cold storage at all times to prevent the destruction of the medicine inside.

  Patients often tell him they’re worried about falling ill because of having had one or many COVID-19 vaccines.

  “So if you had the vaccine several years ago, and you feel fine, and you have no problems, you’re likely okay,” he added.

  Dr. Balbona believes the research will eventually catch up with what he and other physicians are seeing while treating their patients.

  “At some point—I think that point is long past due—these vaccines will be withdrawn from the market. They’re not safe. They’re harming people. They may be harming people in ways that are durable. The recent DNA contamination is very concerning for increasing risk of cancer,” he said.

  However, despite the alleged cancer risks of using mRNA inside COVID-19 vaccines, he said, “the underlying technology is something that’s actually very remarkable.

  “mRNA technology was misused in the COVID pandemic,” he said. “It should not be given indiscriminately.

  “It’s gene therapy; there’s no question of that. And it has the ability to do some remarkable things in terms of good in the right situation. If you can turn on and off a gene or a protein in a patient who has a very serious illness, that’s fine.

  “That may be a fabulous tool in the future, but you have to disclose the risks and the benefits.”

  Nanette Holt contributed to this report. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 22:00

• Potential Running Mates For Trump, Including 2 Wildcards
  Potential Running Mates For Trump, Including 2 Wildcards

  Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  As former President Donald Trump’s polling lead over his Republican rivals has come to look insurmountable, more than 40 names have bubbled up in speculation about his pick for vice president in the 2024 election.

  “People are talking about Trump VP picks because they recognize the primary is over and has been for quite some time,” Jason Meister, a New York-based adviser to the former president, told The Epoch Times. “Trump is polling stronger than he did in 2016 and 2020. He’s surging with blacks, independents, and younger Americans.”

  

  Nearly 63 percent of would-be voters say they favor President Trump as the GOP presidential nominee, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.

  That compares with about 11 percent support each for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

  President Trump’s dominance in the polls has persisted in spite of—or, some say, because of—the “lawfare” being waged against him. The former president faces 91 criminal charges that threaten his freedom, civil cases aimed at his financial empire, and state-level efforts to boot him from 2024 ballots.

  Arguably, these precarious circumstances make it even more important to wisely choose a running mate, since a vice president must be prepared to step in if the president cannot, for some reason, fulfill his duties.

  Even if the vice president doesn’t assume the role of president, the position often serves as a steppingstone to the presidency.

  

  Among the past 10 presidents, four previously served as vice president, including the incumbent, Democrat President Joe Biden.

  Shopping for the ideal vice president requires consideration of many variables. That person should possess political clout and experience and must embrace the presidential candidate’s proposed policies. He or she also should be capable of drawing more supporters into the fold.

  In that vein, an ethnic minority or a female might make an advantageous vice president choice for President Trump, because such a person might bolster his support among those factions of voters.

  Many of his supporters bristle at the notion of a “check-the-boxes” choice. But savvy presidential candidates always seek to “balance” the ticket and “fill in gaps” of their base, analysts say. Factors such as home state, ideology, and personal characteristics come into play.

  Above all, President Trump has said he has one paramount requirement: his confidence that the person will do a good job.

  Whomever he chooses, a good vice president cannot be overly charismatic and upstage the top of the ticket. This chosen leader also must be capable of being subordinate to the president.

  On top of all that, the running mate’s personality must mesh well with the presidential candidate.

  Opinions All Over the Board

  When choosing a running mate, an overarching principle should be “first, do no harm,” according to Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. He said it’s “the political equivalent of the Hippocratic oath that doctors take,” and it simply means that a vice presidential candidate cannot be a person who might “drag the ticket down.”

  The choice of a running mate seems to have little effect on whether a candidate becomes the presidential nominee or wins the presidency, Mr. Jewett said.

  Still, many voters do pay at least some attention to the second name on the ticket. And, to some degree, they do judge presidential candidates by the company they keep. Voters see the vice presidential selection as “a sign of the presidential candidate’s judgment,” he said.

  

  These are among the reasons people start buzzing about who might make a good running mate fairly early in an election cycle.

  Speculation about President Trump’s possible running mate began more than two years ago—almost three years in advance of the Republican National Convention, where delegates will choose their nominee for the November ballot.

  Customarily, presidential candidates announce their choice of a running mate a few days before the convention’s start; the GOP convention is set for July 15–18 in Milwaukee.

  Although President Trump and his team have said they aren’t ready to talk about potential running mates, voters wonder who will make the cut—and some have begun voicing opinions about who they prefer.

  On Dec. 13, 2023, Newsweek magazine reported that Mr. DeSantis prevailed as the No. 1 vice president choice among 1,500 voters surveyed, drawing 25 percent support from people who said they would vote for President Trump.

  But a few days after that poll’s release, Mr. DeSantis ranked toward the bottom of a different survey at Turning Point Action’s “AmericaFest 2023” in Arizona. Among the 1,113 attendees who responded to the questions, 81 percent said they were Republican; more than half were over age 50, and one-fifth of them were under age 30.

  When asked whom they favored as a running mate for President Trump, 35 percent named former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. Only 6 percent named Mr. DeSantis.

  

  Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy was the sole would-be vice president who finished in the top three slots in both of those polls. He drew 16 percent support in the Newsweek survey and 26 percent in the AmericaFest poll.

  Although Ms. Haley’s 19 percent share ranked her second in the Newsweek survey, she was decidedly unpopular with the AmericaFest crowd. The audience booed and jeered when her name was mentioned onstage; the poll showed that only 2 percent wanted her as President Trump’s running mate.

  Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ramaswamy, and Ms. Haley have all publicly stated they have no desire to be second-in-command. So have a number of other people whose names have been mentioned.

  And, at a Michigan speech in September 2023, President Trump said he saw little running mate potential among the dozen or so candidates who were then vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

  Still, people who said they were uninterested in an offer might change their minds. So could President Trump.

  

  The Epoch Times has compiled a list of potential Trump running mates based on political betting odds, surveys, political scientists’ opinions, online chatter, and interviews with insiders.

  The list includes many of the most-talked-about possibilities—plus a few more obscure picks that just might appeal to President Trump. After all, his eventual 2016 running mate, former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, was an unexpected choice.

  Possible Picks

  US Sen. Tim Scott

  For several reasons, the South Carolina lawmaker could bolster President Trump’s candidacy more than many of the other names that have been proposed in recent months.

  Mr. Scott is passionate about sharing his religious faith, endearing him to evangelical Christians—an important voting bloc that also found President Trump’s former vice president, Mr. Pence, appealing.

  Because he is the only black Republican senator in Congress, Mr. Scott also might help draw more black voters, a group that has traditionally voted Democrat but has recently been shifting more toward President Trump and other Republicans.

  Although Mr. Scott often delivers powerful speeches, they’re tempered by a Southern-gentlemanlike, more genteel demeanor, Mr. Bullock said, which would provide a counterbalance to the brash native New York style of President Trump.

  

  Mr. Scott, 58, comes across as “younger and more vigorous” than President Trump, Mr. Bullock said.

  While campaigning for the presidency earlier this year, Mr. Scott largely avoided attacking President Trump. And the former president, known for aiming barbs at his opponents, had instead praised Mr. Scott.

  Both men used the phrase “good guy” to describe each other in July 2023 amid persistent rumors about the Trump ticket.

  Mr. Scott bowed out of the race in November 2023. One political insider told The Epoch Times that he had direct knowledge that Mr. Scott expressed gratitude to President Trump for a running mate offer but felt he had to turn it down.

  The Epoch Times attempted to reach Mr. Scott for comment in late December, but his staff said he was unavailable during the Christmas-New Year’s holiday break.

  Mr. Scott wasn’t listed as a vice presidential candidate in the Newsweek poll, and he drew less than 1 percent support from the AmericaFest crowd.

  Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley

  Ms. Haley’s former gubernatorial and foreign policy experience, along with her status as a female and the daughter of immigrants from India, make her a logical pick—at least on paper. Both Mr. Jewett and Charles Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, concur on those points.

  But in reality, President Trump risks turning off many supporters if he dares to choose her.

  Recently, media outlets began running a flurry of articles themed “Trump is secretly considering Haley as VP.” The reception from Trumpworld has been frosty.

  On Dec. 23, 2023, as such stories were circulating, Trump ally Roger Stone posted on Truth Social: “Fact: The United States has never had a VP nicknamed ‘Birdbrain’–and never will,” referring to a nickname that President Trump bestowed upon Ms. Haley.

  

  Mr. Meister said: “I can’t predict who Trump will ultimately choose as his running mate, but I can tell you who it can’t be. It can’t be Haley.”

  He and others see Ms. Haley as a “neoconservative,“ or a ”neoliberal” who is too closely tied to the entrenched political establishment that President Trump has said he wants to dismantle. Several say they flat-out distrust her.

  The former president’s son Donald Trump Jr. emphatically opposes her.

  But Lara Trump, the wife of President Trump’s other adult son, Eric Trump, refused to rule out Ms. Haley.

  Still, many of President Trump’s supporters dislike Ms. Haley so much that they swear they’ll vote against any ticket that includes the name “Haley.”

  During a Dec. 27, 2023, interview with journalist John Solomon, President Trump disputed reports that he was considering Ms. Haley for a running mate. He said he wasn’t considering anyone for the job because he is focused on winning the upcoming caucuses, which begin on Jan. 15 in Iowa.

  However, the former president did concede that he and Ms. Haley have gotten along well, even though he considers her “somewhat disloyal” for breaking her promise not to run against him. “But that’s a politician,” he said.

  President Trump “doesn’t seem to have the same sort of animosity against her” as he does against Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Jewett said.

  Mr. Bullock noted that Ms. Haley, 51, would provide a more youthful contrast to President Trump, who is 77, and his presumed Democrat opponent, 81-year-old President Biden.

  Other points in Ms. Haley’s favor: She hasn’t attacked President Trump as strongly as some of her fellow Republican challengers. And she has publicly stated, more than once, that she would pardon President Trump if she becomes president and he is convicted of a criminal charge.

  However, she has recently intensified her criticisms of President Trump, saying he shouldn’t be president because chaos follows him.

  Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy

  By starting his candidacy at age 37, the millionaire millennial became the youngest Republican to ever seek the Oval Office.

  Although he lacks experience, the Harvard and Yale graduate brings energy, intelligence, and courage to the table.

  At the first GOP presidential debate on Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee, Mr. Ramaswamy demonstrated that he’s willing to be bold.

  

  Without hesitation, he raised his hand to indicate that he would support President Trump if he were to be criminally convicted yet became the Republican nominee. The other GOP candidates onstage followed Mr. Ramaswamy’s lead, one by one, some rather sheepishly.

  Mr. Ramaswamy has denounced the weaponization of the justice system against President Trump. He also has decried numerous states’ attempts to ban President Trump from the ballot based on claims that he incited an “insurrection” during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Mr. Ramaswamy vowed to withdraw his own name from any ballot that excludes President Trump; he has challenged his fellow candidates to do the same.

  In addition, Mr. Ramaswamy publicly criticized Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as an ineffective leader and called for her resignation.

  Mr. Ramaswamy recently completed his second round of “The Full Grassley,” making stops in all 99 of Iowa’s counties, a maneuver that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) pioneered. Still, he has been lagging in Iowa polls.

  Among the second-tier GOP presidential hopefuls, Mr. Ramaswamy has run “the most interesting and original campaign,” in the opinion of Roger Simon, a columnist for The Epoch Times.

  Many people, including Mr. Simon, have said that Mr. Ramaswamy has a bright future in politics, possibly as a member of a Trump administration—even if not as vice president.

  Besides being a fan favorite in two polls about potential Trump running mates, Mr. Ramaswamy ranks highly among some political betting sites, such as OddsChecker.com.

  And, he, like Ms. Haley, was born to parents who emigrated from India, a background that could appeal to ethnic minorities if President Trump were to choose him as a running mate.

  Still, Mr. Ramaswamy has no prior political or governmental experience. But neither did President Trump before his presidency.

  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

  Ms. Noem, 52, has risen in prominence during the past several years even though her state has next-to-zero gravitational pull in U.S. politics.

  One reason she gained attention: She refused to impose lockdowns during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, saying she trusted citizens to make wise choices for themselves.

  

  Ms. Noem served in Congress for six years and understands the D.C. Beltway. She also served on the Armed Services Committee and, in that role, observed President Trump’s leadership first hand.

  That’s one reason she cited when she endorsed him in September 2023 at a rally in Rapid City, South Dakota. She also pledged to do everything in her power to help President Trump win back the White House.

  Talk about her as a possible running mate choice accelerated after the words “Trump Noem 2024” flashed briefly on a video screen at the rally. And now, such speculation is renewed because Ms. Noem is set to campaign for the former president in Iowa during his pre-caucus blitz.

  She was elected in 2018 as South Dakota’s first female governor. Last year, she won reelection with “the largest vote total in the history of South Dakota,” her online biography says.

  Mr. Jewett put her in the category of “politicians and sort of traditional candidates” but noted, “She’d bring that diversity to the ticket by virtue of being a woman.”

  At one point in late December 2023, Ms. Noem, Mr. Ramaswamy, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) were in a three-way tie as betting favorites to gain the running mate spot. But in the Newsweek poll, Ms. Noem drew only 3 percent support; she registered less than 1 percent in the AmericaFest survey.

  North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum

  “Doug who?” was the question many people asked after Mr. Burgum declared his presidential candidacy in June 2023. He also hails from a low-profile Great Plains state and struggled to gain attention during his campaign, which he ended in early December.

  

  But during that six-month span, Mr. Burgum found a creative way to qualify for two GOP presidential debates—and made a positive impression onstage, drawing glowing remarks from President Trump, who has skipped all of the RNC-sponsored debates.

  After the first debate in August 2023, President Trump, commenting on potential running mate picks, told Newsmax that Mr. Burgum is “great” and said, “I respect him a lot.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 21:20

• White House Says Russia Used North Korean Ballistic Missiles In Ukraine
  White House Says Russia Used North Korean Ballistic Missiles In Ukraine

  Throughout much of the Ukraine conflict, the US and UK have alleged secret North Korean artillery shell transfers to Russia, via train in the far east. 

  But this week Washington has ratcheted its accusations further, alleging that Russia is using North Korean supplied ballistic missiles to attack Ukrainian cities. 

  

  White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Thursday pointed to recently declassified intelligence which finds that Pyongyang provided Moscow with these weapons, and further said a North Korean missile was fired on Ukraine at least once. 

  However, any specifics were not forthcoming and the accusations remained vague, perhaps only for the purpose of the US generating some headlines as part of wartime propaganda.

  To be expected, Kirby also highlighted the deepened Russian-Iran relationship, and said that the Kremlin is seeking Iranian close-range ballistic missiles. Kirby said these negotiations are “actively advancing”. 

  In a bit of curious timing, a Bloomberg op-ed published on the same day as Kirby’s briefing urged America to stop the new “axis of evil”…

  Since Feb. 24, 2022, and especially since Oct. 7, 2023, a specter has haunted the world and worried US President Joe Biden in particular: Will Russia’s war against Ukraine, or Israel’s against Hamas, draw in other belligerents, perhaps even culminating in World War III?

  Biden has therefore done everything in his power to support Ukraine and Israel while also keeping the US and its Western allies out of direct confrontations with Russia, Hamas’ backers in Iran, and their Chinese and North Korean quasi-allies. But conflicts change unpredictably. Every vagary increases the risk that an artillery round fired over here sends missiles flying over there and detonates a bigger blow-up.

  The author says, “To avoid a wider war, American diplomacy must keep China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as separate as possible.”

  The US needs to confront the new “Axis of Evil” (Iran, Russia, China, North Korea) by preventing it from even forming @opinion https://t.co/9l26dTp4lp

  — Andreas Kluth (@andreaskluth) January 4, 2024

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  Russia and Ukraine have over the last several days been engaged in a ramped-up air war, especially following last week’s rare Ukrainian cross-border attack on Belgorod. It the tit-for-tat escalation, scores of civilians have been killed on both sides, bearing the brunt of this latest escalation.

  Given Biden’s new defense aid for Kiev was held up by Republicans in Congress, it seems the only thing the White House has in its arsenal for the time being is to talk up the alleged Russia-North Korea-Iran links.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 21:00

• These 11 States Are Leading America's Oil Production Boom
  These 11 States Are Leading America’s Oil Production Boom

  Authored by Robert Rapier via OilPrice.com,

  • Texas dominates U.S. oil production, contributing 42.6% of the total output, mainly due to the Permian Basin.

  • New Mexico has seen a dramatic 190% increase in oil production over the past five years, becoming the second-leading oil producer in the U.S.

  • California faces a 30.7% reduction in oil production over the past five years, largely due to political and geological challenges.

  U.S. oil production has increased by 21% over the past five years. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), earlier this month U.S. oil producers set a new annual production record.

  

  This increase is being driven by a surge of production in a handful of states. I thought it might be of interest to look at which states are contributing the most to U.S. oil production, and how much production has changed over the past five years.

  Total production for 2023 is not yet available, but monthly numbers are available through September (as well as weekly number through mid-December). I averaged oil production over the past 12 months (October 2022 through September 2023) for the entire U.S., as well as for every state that reported oil production in the past five years. (See the data source here).

  Here were the Top 11 oil-producing states over the past year. Production is in million barrels per day (BPD).

  

  Top 11 Oil-Producing States in 2023.

  Texas is contributing the largest share to the production record at 42.6% of the U.S. total. This is primarily due to surging production in the Permian Basin. The Permian Basin effect can also be seen in New Mexico’s incredible 190% surge over the past five years. New Mexico is now the country’s second-leading oil producer.

  Production in North Dakota is still above one million bpd, but oil production there is down from its peak. However, North Dakota production has been increasing this year, and is up 17% over the past year.

  Five of the eleven states shown have seen production decline over the past five years. If you wonder why I listed eleven states, it was primarily to include Ohio, which has not historically been thought of as one of the leading oil producers. Ohio’s production is still modest relative to states like Texas and New Mexico, but it is growing due to development in the Utica Shale in the Appalachian Basin.

  A hundred years ago, California was the country’s top oil producer. In the late 1980s, California was still producing over one million bpd. But production has been in steady decline there, due to politics and unfavorable geology that rendered hydraulic fracturing less appealing than in midwestern oil and gas formations. Over the past five years, California’s 30.7% decline in oil production is the largest among top producers.

  One major area of production that I didn’t consider here was federal offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past year, that contributed another 1.84 million bpd, which is 9.3% higher than it was five years ago (and just under the record 1.898 million bpd level set in 2019).

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 20:40

• Philly Police Fired Their "Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Officer" This Week
  Philly Police Fired Their “Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Officer” This Week

  Thanks to help from Harvard’s Claudine Gay, who was unable to condemn harassment on her campus against Jewish students and was later found to have plagiarized  what appears to be her entire body of academic work, it looks as though the diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) wolf in sheep’s clothing is finally starting to be seen for what it is. 

  That reverberation may have made its way to Philadelphia, where the crime and drug-ridden city is once again attempting to make a swift change back to law and order under newly-sworn in mayor Cherelle Parker, widely acknowledged to be the most pro-police candidate out of the Democratic choices in the city. 

  And just hours before Parker was sworn into office, the Philadelphia Police Department’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, Leslie Marant, was fired, according to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Almost as if when your hellscape of a city needs more police desperately, it doesn’t matter what color, race, creed or orientation they are. Go figure. 

  The report says that Marant started her role in April 2022 and was dismissed by acting Commissioner John M. Stanford during a 10:30 a.m. meeting this Tuesday morning. Stanford stated that due to departmental restructuring under new police commissioner Kevin Bethel, Marant’s services were no longer required.

  

  Spokesperson, Sgt. Eric Gripp, said in a statement: “Under new leadership, restructuring and realignment of an organization is common. We want to express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Marant for her dedicated work and professionalism during her time with the PPD.”

  “As this is a Police Department personnel matter, the administration has no comment,” a spokesman for Mayor Parker said. 

  Despite the firing, the DEI office is going to continue to remain active, the report says. The department will soon reveal an interim director and a nationwide hunt for a permanent successor to Marant’s position is planned, the Inquirer wrote.

  Marant, initially appointed under ex-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, previously served as chief counsel to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. She holds degrees in finance, human resources, and law from Temple University.

  Lacking prior law enforcement experience, Marant’s DEI officer role, as outlined by Outlaw, involved leading the department’s DEI initiatives across all levels and developing relevant strategies. Her salary was $170,569.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 20:20

• The Houthi Butterfly Flaps Its Wings
  The Houthi Butterfly Flaps Its Wings

  Earlier, we reported that on Wednesday, the White House warned that this ongoing Red Sea turmoil could hit the US economy in a briefing:

  The White House has warned that the potential for higher shipping costs to affect the U.S. economy amid diversion of ships from the Red Sea will depend on how long Houthi rebels sustain their attacks on commercial vessels.

  “If we weren’t concerned, we wouldn’t have stood up an operation in the Red Sea, now consisting of more than 20 nations, to try to protect that commerce,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a White House press conference on Wednesday, referring to the U.S.-led military force Operation Prosperity Guardian.

  “The Red Sea is a vital waterway, and a significant amount of global trade flows through it. By forcing nations to go around the Cape of Good Hope, you’re adding weeks and weeks onto voyages, and untold resources and expenses have to be applied in order to do that. So obviously there’s a concern about the impact on global trade.”

  Interestingly, Kirby was then asked by a reporter whether the spiraling situation would become “pocketbook” issue for Americans.

  Kirby responded by saying “It would depend on how long this threat goes and on how much more energetic the Houthis think they might become.” He added: “Right now we haven’t seen an uptick or a specific effect on the U.S. economy. But make no mistake. This is a key international waterway. Countries more and more are becoming aware of this increasing threat to the free flow of commerce.”

  Thus he fully acknowledged this is a distinct possibility that’s fast approaching.

  Indeed as Paris Johnson details below via DailyReckoning.com, the impact of a small group of rebels may just cause a financial hurricane in the US.

  The Butterfly Effect

  Houthi rebels are the new Somali pirates.

  Imagine a bunch of goatherders, who are pissed off at Israel over the Gaza bombing, stopping world trade.

  It’s improbable. Unlikely. Fatuous, even.

  And yet, here we are, talking about everything Joke Biden needs to bury if he (or his body double) wants to win in November.

  

  The Butterfly Effect is when a very small change in initial conditions that creates a significantly different outcome.

  In 1950, Alan Turing noted: “The displacement of a single electron by a billionth of a centimeter at one moment might make the difference between a man being killed by an avalanche a year later or escaping.”

  There is no need to wonder what Turing would be thinking if a bunch of Houthis were sitting on the cliffs lining the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, lighting off cheap drones and rockets at any Israeli or Israel-aligned ship.

  If you’re Russian or Chinese or anyone aligned with the Global South, pass “Go” and collect $200.

  From the December 22nd edition of the Rude Awakening:

  On our editorial call on Wednesday, ex-naval aviator and Paradigm’s venerable historian Byron King mentioned something I hadn’t considered.

  Byron said – and I’ll paraphrase – that the Houthis were using $100,000 drones to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea, while the US Navy was using $1 – 4 million rockets to shoot those drones down.

  You don’t need a mathematics degree to see why experts think this unbalanced exchange of munitions will eventually pressure the Pentagon.

  Well, thanks to these Houthis, we’re heading back to the water routes of the 1860s!

  Why Americans Need to Care About This… And Think Carefully.

  You may not yet recognize the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait I mentioned earlier. That’s the waterway a ship needs to travel through to get to the Suez Canal.

  If the Strait is blocked due to rocket fire and the subsequent suspending of maritime insurance, then the Canal is inaccessible. And that means you’ve got to sail around Africa for goods to reach Europe and the West.

  

  Credit: The Cradle

  The military angle is easy enough.

  From The Cradle:

  While the US military is successful at producing expensive, technologically complex weapons systems that provide excellent profits for the arms industry, such as the F-15 warplanes, it is not capable of producing enough of the weapons needed to actually fight and win real wars on the other side of the world, where supply chains become even more critical.

  But the economic warfare is even more dreadful.

  Impact on Shipping Costs

  Shortest Route

  The Suez Canal offers the most direct sea route between Asia and Europe, significantly reducing travel time and distance compared to the alternative Cape of Good Hope route (around the bottom of Africa). When the canal is inaccessible, ships are forced to take this longer route, increasing travel times by weeks and fuel costs exponentially.

  Fuel Costs

  Longer journeys translate directly into higher fuel consumption. This additional cost is invariably passed onto consumers, raising the prices of goods transported via these routes.

  Charter Rates

  The canal closure often leads to a shortage of available shipping capacity. Ships tied up in extended voyages reduce the supply of vessels available for other routes, driving up charter rates. This, in turn, inflates shipping costs, a burden that the consumer again bears.

  Congestion and Delays

  The aftermath of a canal closure typically involves significant congestion and logistical backlogs. This can lead to substantial delays, further disrupting shipping schedules and increasing operational costs.

  Breaking the Supply Chain

  Just-in-Time Inventory

  Modern business models, such as just-in-time inventory systems, rely heavily on timely and predictable delivery of goods. The closure of the Suez Canal disrupts these delicate systems, leading to widespread shortages and inefficiencies.

  Perishable Goods

  The delay in shipping routes particularly impacts the delivery of perishable goods. This leads to wastage and disrupts food supply chains, affecting markets and consumers globally.

  Manufacturing Delays

  Industries dependent on specific components, such as automotive and electronics, are significantly impacted by delays in the delivery of these parts. This halts production lines, leading to broader economic repercussions.

  Global Interconnectivity

  The closure of the canal highlights the deeply interconnected nature of global trade. A disruption in a single yet crucial location can have far-reaching effects, impacting various sectors and economies worldwide.

  Inflationary Pressures

  Increased Transportation Costs

  The surge in transportation costs due to longer shipping routes and heightened fuel consumption contributes to overall inflation, as these costs are typically transferred to the consumer.

  Supply Shortages

  Disruptions in supply chains can create shortages of various goods. According to the principles of supply and demand, reduced supply often leads to increased prices, contributing to inflation.

  Speculative Increases

  Anticipation and speculation about delays and shortages can trigger preemptive price increases. These speculative actions can exacerbate inflationary pressures even before actual shortages occur.

  Economic Recovery Post-Pandemic

  In a post-pandemic world, where economies are in various stages of recovery, the closure of a critical trade route like the Suez Canal compounds existing challenges, such as labor shortages and heightened consumer demand, further fueling inflation.

  Broader Economic Implications

  Global Trade Dynamics

  The Suez Canal’s role in global trade dynamics is multifaceted. It’s a conduit for goods and a barometer for global economic health. Its closure signals deeper issues in international trade relations and economic stability.

  Energy Markets

  The canal is also vital for the transport of oil and natural gas. Its closure can disrupt energy markets, leading to fluctuations in energy prices globally. This domino effect affects industries and consumers alike, as energy costs are a fundamental component of almost every economic activity.

  Long-Term Strategic Changes

  Repeated disruptions may prompt companies to reassess their supply chain strategies. This might include diversifying shipping routes, increasing inventory levels, or even reshoring some manufacturing operations. While these strategies can mitigate risks, they also come with increased costs and complexities.

  Environmental Impact

  Longer shipping routes increase costs and have a significant environmental impact.

  Wrap Up

  Whether you own a business or are just looking after your investments, it’s paramount that you keep abreast of this situation.

  Yes, a bunch of goatherders has just thrown a monkey wrench into the world’s economic works.

  But this also represents an enormous opportunity to profit if you keep your head about you.

  Look at the energy and transportation sectors. Look at precious metals. Look at other tangible assets and commodities, like copper.

  While the Houthis are wreaking havoc on the West, you can protect your investments and profits before most people even know what’s happening.

  Good hunting!

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 20:00

• Milei's Labor Reforms Hit Roadblock In Argentinian Labor Appeals Court
  Milei’s Labor Reforms Hit Roadblock In Argentinian Labor Appeals Court

  As it turns out, overhauling an entire country can be somewhat of a daunting task, as is being put on display in Argentina where Javier Milei is facing an uphill climb to make broad-stroke changes that the country needs to snap it out of socialism. 

  Argentina’s national labor appeals court suspended part of President Javier Milei’s emergency decree that was put forth to overhaul the country’s failing economy, Bloomberg reported this week. 

  The suspended portion of the decree dealt specifically with labor reforms, simplifying severance pay obligations and hiring “trial periods”. On Wednesday the court issued the injunction which will be seen as a “temporary victory” to the country’s labor unions, the report says. 

  Milei’s team will now challenge the court’s suspension, citing conflict with municipal and provincial rulings. The injunction prevents complete derailment by congress or courts for now, with lawmakers yet to vote on the decree, which hasn’t been blocked in recent administrations.

  We noted that to end 2023, socialist activists and workers unions were carrying images of Che Guevara and Eva Peron while protesting Milei’s cuts.

  As we noted then, the cuts are a part of Milei’s sweeping economic measures that will erase or rewrite over 300 rules regulating and restricting private enterprise within the nation.

  

  “The goal is to start along the path to rebuilding the country… and start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth,” Milei said in a televised speech from the presidential palace.  

  The protests and anger from leftist elements within Argentina illustrate the numerous pitfalls of allowing socialism to be rooted within any country for any length of time. 

  Though Milei’s opposition often argues that Argentina has never been “truly socialist,” the government policies that have been in place for decades certainly are.  It is a classic far-left deflection:  Whenever a socialist government or economy fails, claim it wasn’t real socialism.  Rinse, and repeat.

  Deregulation, protesters argued, would pave the way for big business interests while reducing welfare programs and protections for the public.  The protests are of course built upon a number of assumptions and are reactionary at best, given that Milei has been in office for a mere two weeks.

  We’re also near certain these protestors have not asked critical questions about where the funding for such government programs is going to come from when the country’s currency has been zapped into a hyperinflationary oblivion.

  The country’s national debt has climbed to over $400 billion US dollars and they are struggling with a $44 billion IMF loan.  However, the real threat is their triple digit inflation which is igniting a mounting economic crisis.  It is the same crisis that has resurfaced multiple times since the crash of 1990.  

  But, as usual, we digress…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 19:40

• For Miners' Seasonal Rally, China Is The Wild Card
  For Miners’ Seasonal Rally, China Is The Wild Card

  By Michael Msika, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist

  January and February are usually pretty good months for Europe’s mining stocks, as factories in China rush to replenish their metals reserves. This year, that seasonal lift will hinge on Beijing coming through with stimulus.  

  The Stoxx 600 Basic Resources index is coming into 2023 after a decent run of gains, bouncing 13% from its October 23 trough as it became clear central banks are done hiking interest rates. Historical patterns from the past two decades indicate those gains could continue — January has been a positive month for miners 65% of the time, with an average 1.3% gain. And February, with a 3% average advance, is even better.

  

  Despite those promising signs, a net 26% of European fund managers were underweight basic resources shares, Bank of America’s investor survey found in December, the most unloved sector after chemicals. Their wariness likely stems from fears of an economic downturn, as well as uncertainty on how much stimulus China will deploy to support growth in the world’s largest steelmaking nation.

  Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina notes that US rate-cut prospects, falling Treasury yields and a weaker dollar all tend to act as buy signals for mining shares. He is positive on the sector over the one-three month horizon, with Anglo American, Alcoa and Teck Resources his top picks.

  “The risk is that this Goldilocks scenario might be followed by a recession. If that happens, then the near-term strength in these shares would likely reverse,” LaFemina warns.

  

  Many others are banking on Beijing. After all, China accounts for between 25% and 60% of large cap miners’ revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

  Iron ore, particularly, will be key. At Rio Tinto and BHP — among the world’s biggest miners —  it comprises about 50% of revenue. The steelmaking material raced to fresh 18-month highs this week, after President Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen his country’s economy and amid speculation China’s central bank will cut rates. Recent dataflow, including imports and PMI surveys, also point to resilient commodities demand, says Caroline Bain at Capital Economics.

  Expectation that China will come through with aid is keeping Citi strategists overweight mining stocks. They are particularly bullish on Rio Tinto and South32, betting steel production will remain strong, leading analysts to raise iron ore price estimates. That in turn should underpin earnings momentum for related equities through the first quarter and possibly the second one, they reckon. 

  

  Morgan Stanley analysts led by Alain Gabriel expect a wider dispersion in shareholder returns from the mining sector this year, given uncertainty around Chinese policy, interest rates and the potential reversal in the dollar. Highlighting rising supply stresses in copper markets, they are tactically bullish on producers such as Lundin and Antofagasta.

  

  Finally, valuation could prove a headwind for mining stocks. Their recent bounce has taken forward P/E ratios to about 11, back to long-term averages, while the discount to the broader market has narrowed to 12%. Once-stellar dividend yields too have faded — at about 4%, they offer only a bit more than the Stoxx index’s 3.7%.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 19:20

• Kennedy Condemns Efforts To Remove Trump From Ballots
  Kennedy Condemns Efforts To Remove Trump From Ballots

  Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said Donald Trump and American voters were being treated unfairly by efforts across the country to block the former president from 2024 ballots. Kennedy’s remarks came at a Wednesday press conference to spotlight his own first major milestone in his pursuit of 50-state ballot access: securing enough signatures to appear in the Utah general election. 

  Trump has already been declared ineligible to appear on Republican primary ballots in two states, as a court in Colorado and an unelected bureaucrat in Maine said he’s disqualified under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, for having engaged in an “insurrection” in the form of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill. 

  

  As we reported Saturday, Colorado and Maine are just the start, as there are 20 states with lawsuits in progress aiming to eject Trump from the democratic process, and more to come. On Wednesday, RFK, Jr said the trend concerns him greatly. 

  “Donald Trump has not been convicted of an insurrection. Maybe he did it but, you know, he hasn’t been charged with it,” said Kennedy. “I don’t think it’s fair.” He also alluded to the fact that the ballot-blocking drive promises to stir the passions on the Trump side of an increasingly divided American electorate, saying it will make Trump backers “angry and frustrated and justifiably so.” 

  If Trump is kept out of office through judicial fiat rather than being defeated in a fair election, his supporters will never accept the result. This country will become ungovernable.

  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) December 20, 2023

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  Separately, Tom Lyons, president of the Kennedy-boosting American Values 2024 PAC, told Sharyl Attkisson that Trump’s dilemma relates to the difficulty that independent and third-party candidates have in making it to the ballot:

  “We don’t need to be protected from a candidate by this sort of anti-democratic set of forces that is gaining traction in this country. Whether it’s Bobby Kennedy or Donald Trump or Joe Biden, it’s a direction that’s obviously bad for democracy.”

  The main purpose of Wednesday’s event was to announce that Kennedy has qualified to appear on the election ballot in Utah, having secured signatures from 1,000 registered voters. The campaign expects to spend $15 million on its nationwide ballot-access drive.

  .@BreakingPointsN @krystalball + @esaagar ask about my efforts to get on the ballot in all 50 states, support among non-voters, and whether or not I’ll be on the debate stage with Trump + Biden. #Kennedy24 pic.twitter.com/rqovJqMh0v

  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) December 28, 2023

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  Kennedy decried the thicket that he and similarly-situated candidates must navigate just to put their names in front of voters, saying that “arbitrary and capricious” rules create an “undemocratic lock that the major political parties have on this process…It’s all designed to keep third parties from getting on the ballot.”

  Angling to play more than a mere spoiler in the November election, Kennedy shared some math that makes him optimistic: 

  “You could technically win the election with 34 percentage points because it’s winner take all. So all we have to do is take 4.5 percentage points from each President Trump and President Biden to win the national election, and I have 11 months to do that.”

  He may be a little farther from that goal line than he suggests. His numbers may be in the right neighborhood if you look at a three-way race, but in a more realistic five-person race that includes Biden, Trump, Kennedy, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West, the current RealClearPolitics average has Trump at 40.6%, Biden at 35.6% and Kennedy at 13.0%.  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 19:00

• Justice Department Sues Texas Over New Law Cracking Down On Illegal Immigrants
  Justice Department Sues Texas Over New Law Cracking Down On Illegal Immigrants

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

  The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against Texas over a new state law aimed at increasing security at the southern border by granting police broader powers to arrest, prosecute, and deport immigrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

  

  The DOJ filed the lawsuit against Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) in an Austin federal court on Jan. 3 on behalf of the United States federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.

  It lists Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw as defendants.

  Plaintiffs argue SB 4 is preempted by federal law and thus violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution and the Foreign Commerce Clause.

  The legislation at the center of the lawsuit was introduced by Republican state Sen. Charles Perry and sponsored in the House by Republican state Rep. David Spiller in November.

  It was passed by the Republican-controlled Texas legislature that same month and signed into law by Mr. Abbott in December.

  The measure makes it a state misdemeanor to illegally cross or attempt to cross into Texas from Mexico at any location other than a lawful port of entry.

  It also allows state and local law enforcement officials to arrest suspected illegal immigrants, take their fingerprints, and conduct a background check.

  According to the legislation, judges would be granted the option to order some illegal immigrants to return to the country from which they illegally entered the United States, in lieu of prosecution, but only after all identifying information is obtained and cross-referenced with local, state, and federal criminal databases.

  However, the misdemeanor charge would be raised to a felony charge if the illegal immigrant has previously been convicted of two or more misdemeanors involving drugs, crimes against a person, or both or if the individual refuses to comply with the judge’s order to return to leave the United States.

  ‘Clearly Unconstitutional’

  The maximum penalty for a misdemeanor charge is one year in prison while for a felony, the penalty is two to 20 years in prison.

  Republicans have argued that the measure, which is scheduled to take effect on March 5, is needed amid what they say is mishandling by the Biden administration of the ongoing immigration crisis. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that agents encountered a record-setting 2.48 million illegal immigrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2023.

  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimated in its December 2023 report that the number of non-detained illegal immigrants inside the United States has now exceeded 6 million.

  

  A Texas National Guard soldier directs migrants during a dust storm at a makeshift camp located between the Rio Grande and the U.S.–Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas, on May 10, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

  In their lawsuit, the DOJ urges the court to declare SB 4 unconstitutional and prevent Texas from implementing it, arguing that immigration laws can only be enforced by the federal government, not states.

  “SB 4 is clearly unconstitutional,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

  “Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and long-standing Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress. The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its responsibility to uphold the Constitution and enforce federal law.”

  The DOJ noted that the Supreme Court, in Arizona v. United States, previously confirmed that decisions relating to the removal of noncitizens from the United States touch “on foreign relations and must be made with one voice.”

  The Department argued that SB 4 impedes the federal government’s ability to enforce entry and removal provisions of federal law and interferes with its conduct of foreign relations.

  

  Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Dec. 6, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

  ‘Prepared to Fight Lawsuit’

  SB 4 includes some exceptions, including that law enforcement officials may not arrest immigrants who entered the United States illegally if the individual is on the premises or grounds of a public or private primary or secondary school for educational purposes; in a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship; or in a health care facility.

  It also states that suspects can provide evidence that they are in the country legally during the prosecution.

  The DOJ’s lawsuit comes after Civil Rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Texas, and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit against SB4 in December, claiming it is preempted by federal law and infringes upon the federal government’s authority under the U.S. Constitution to enforce immigration laws.

  

  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a news conference in Austin, Texas, on March 15, 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

  Mr. Abbott responded to the DOJ’s lawsuit on X on Wednesday evening. “Biden sued me today because I signed a law making it illegal for an illegal immigrant to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation. I like my chances. Texas is the only government in America trying to stop illegal immigration,” he wrote.

  “The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives says that I and the state of Texas have the ‘constitutional authority’ to secure [the] border. Remember, it is Congress, not the President, that has the Constitutional power to regulate immigration,” he added.

  He said in previous comments that SB 4 was needed to “help stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas” and that President Biden’s “deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself.”

  

  Texas builds its own border wall in its effort to secure the border. (Courtesy Office of Greg Abbott)

  In recent years, Texas has spent more than $4 billion a year on efforts to curb illegal immigration at the border, including deploying $11 million in rolls of concertina wire to reinforce portions of the Texas-Mexico border and constructing steel border structures. The Abbott administration has also bused tens of thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In prior years, Texas spent about $400 million on border security and immigration, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick previously said.

  In a post on X on Wednesday evening, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the measure was created to “address the endless stream of illegal immigration facilitated by the Biden administration.”

  

  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at the “Save America” rally in Robstown, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

  “Millions of unvetted foreign aliens have been released into Texas due to President Biden’s policies of dismantling border security at the US-Mexico border, collaborating with cartels, and inviting violent criminals and drug traffickers to enter the country,” Mr. Paxton said.

  “Just as I am prepared to fight the lawsuit brought by the extremist ACLU and the nonprofits enriching themselves due to the federal government’s open borders doctrine, I am prepared to fight the Biden Administration whose immigration disaster is leading our country to ruin,” he continued.

  “Texas has the sovereign right to protect our state.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 18:40

• Protests By Angry Chinese Workers Surge To Most In 7 Years, Posing A Threat To Beijing's Rule
  Protests By Angry Chinese Workers Surge To Most In 7 Years, Posing A Threat To Beijing’s Rule

  Chinese workers staged twice as many protests to defend their rights in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group. As the of Epoch Times notes, China observers say that such widespread demonstrations could lead to the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  China Labor Bulletin (CLB), a Hong Kong nonprofit organization that “supports and actively engages with the emergent workers’ movement in China,” reported 1,793 protests as of Dec. 31 amid massive layoffs, reduced wages, and business closures in the country. This was the largest number of annual protests in 7 years and the most since the “summers of violence” 2015 and 2016 when the Yuan devaluation sparked widespread economic turmoil across the country.

  

  The emergence of large-scale Chinese workers’ protests is “an inevitable outcome“ of China’s economic crisis,” Lai Jianping, a former Chinese lawyer and current affairs commentator based in Canada, said in a recent interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Lai believes that the protests may lead to the demise of China’s communist regime.

  Nationwide Workers’ Protests in 2023

  China’s economy remained sluggish in 2023 despite an abrupt relaxation of the draconian zero-COVID measures since December 2022. Reduced orders from international buyers and poor economic conditions in the country have led factories to lay off workers, relocate to minimize costs, or shut down altogether, according to the CLB.

  The CLB’s report reveals that the protests were mainly related to export-oriented industries—such as electronics, garments and apparel, toys, and automotive—and that workers protested over wages, layoffs, and relocations and demanded compensation.

  Protests broke out across China, including the four municipalities under the direct administration of the CCP.

  

  Guangdong Province, a major manufacturing hub, recorded 510 protests of various sizes last year, the highest in the country, according to the CLB report.

  The second highest number of protests (108) is reportedly in China’s eastern Shandong Province, followed by central Henan Province and northern Shanxi Province (100 protests recorded in each one).

  Of the four municipalities, Beijing, China’s capital city, reportedly recorded 33 protests last year, while Shanghai recorded 47 protests, Chongqing recorded 35, and Tianjin recorded 25.

  On Jan. 7 last year, a large-scale protest broke out in Chongqing after thousands of workers were abruptly laid off by Zybio, Inc., a manufacturer of COVID-19 test kits, one of the earliest protests in the first month of the year that was recorded in CLB’s report. The local authorities sent out riot police to suppress the protest.

  Other Protests

  According to Nikkei Asia, 1,777 demonstrations were recorded in the country that were linked to the property sector between June 2022 and October 2023. Two-thirds of these demonstrators were homebuyers and homeowners who protested over “project delays, contract violations, alleged fraud, and shoddy workmanship,” the report said. Most of the remaining protesters were construction workers demanding unpaid wages.

  On July 21, 2023, thousands of parents rallied at various government agencies in Xi’an city, Shaanxi Province, to protest against a government policy limiting students’ access to high school and college education opportunities.

  Due to Chinese authorities’ record of covering up information, it is difficult to assess the true scale of these protests.

  ‘They Have to Fight for Their Survival’

  Mr. Lai said the recent rights-defending campaigns in China involve “more numbers” of participants and that the events are “more intense than ever.”

  He added that many people are currently facing extreme poverty, lacking the financial resources to support their families, pay for their children’s education, cover medical expenses, and repay mortgages.

  “These individuals can only stand up to defend their legitimate rights, to demand wages arrears, and to request job opportunities,” Mr. Lai said.

  Furthermore, by reverting to the revolutionary era of Mao Zedong, Chinese leader Xi Jinping “has deterred foreign investors and Chinese private entrepreneurs from engaging with China.”

  Li Yuanhua, a former scholar of Chinese history now residing in Australia, believes that the widespread protests among workers primarily stem from their “will to survive.”

  “The privileged class within the CCP has been plundering social assets, while Chinese workers at the bottom of society have been pushed to their limits. Unable to secure their basic needs and survival, they are compelled to take a stand,” Mr. Li told The Epoch Times in a recent interview.

  China’s social welfare system is on the brink of collapse and cannot provide any support to the poor working class, he said, adding that “they have to fight for their survival.”

  Mass Protests May End CCP’s Rule

  The CCP has adopted a heavy-handed approach to suppress dissidents and protesters to maintain its authoritarian rule.

  Nevertheless, when the people struggle for survival, they no longer fear the CCP’s suppression, Mr. Li said, adding that this is what the regime fears.

  “This kind of resistance from the people is genuine, and they don’t fear the CCP’s violent suppression. For them, resistance may lead to death, but without resistance, death is inevitable. So why wouldn’t they resist?!”

  According to Mr. Lai, the CCP cannot effectively quash all the nationwide protest campaigns.

  The question is how much longer can Beijing delay injecting a massive stimulus to appease the angry crowds, one which will send the prices of all commodities across the globe soaring higher and end the Fed’s dream of a “soft landing”…

  Continue reading here.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 18:20

• 2024: The Year To Cancel 'Wokeness' In America
  2024: The Year To Cancel ‘Wokeness’ In America

  Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,

  When it comes to spending their money and supporting their values, many Americans are now wide awake, and most don’t like what they see. “Peak Wokeness,” a term that may or may not be new (it is to me), is now pervasive in our lives and dominates our culture.

  Undoubtedly, it would like to do the same with our private thoughts and our closely held traditional values and beliefs.

  It just about does.

  

  Wokeness Is Orwellian–and Everywhere

  The woke crowd in America is loud, proud, and … Stalinesque. It’s literally forcing communism down our collective throats.

  Worse, these greatly misguided and extremely intolerant people are seemingly everywhere—from your coffee shop and your bank and your 401k investments to the shows you pay to watch on your smart television. They’re in the boardrooms of corporate America; they run our schools, colleges, and universities that celebrate transgenderism and make indentured servants of their graduates­, and are in Human Resources departments to ensure that no independent thought or idea is expressed in the workplace.

  A big part of the woke movement’s success lies in its Orwellian distortion of language so that commonly understood meanings of words are inverted to mean the opposite. For example, words such as “tolerance” really mean intolerance of competing ideas and values, and “inclusion” found in the common woke phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, really means excluding traditional ideas, values, and beliefs.

  DEI is a woke term that’s misleading and un-American, but saturates our K-12 schools. The diversity component applies to every application and interpretation possible—race, ethnicity, sexual orientation—except for straight, white Christian people, over-represented Asian people, and the ideas that are the foundation of America and Western Civilization. No one in the woke DEI crowd wants to “include” politically or culturally conservative Americans in anything except re-education camps.

  To put a finer point on it, that re-education camp population would likely include all Trump voters. That would include Bible-believing Christians, pro-Israel Jews, most veterans, stay-at-home moms, home-schooling families, folks who drive trucks and SUVs, those who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccination, those who think there are only two genders, those who believe that climate change alarmism is a fraud, those who think President Donald Trump won the 2020 election (election deniers, but not 2016 election deniers), and those who believe in the constitutional right to bear arms and self-defense.

  If there were any white, conservative males left over from that list, they would be in the re-education camps as well.

  Changing the Meaning of Words

  Other examples of woke terms are environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and “stakeholder capitalism.” “Investing,” according to ESG guidelines, seeks to reward those companies that toe the leftist line of socialist policies with more investment money, no matter how inefficient or unprofitable that company might be. That strategy has cost American investors and their retirement accounts millions in lost growth and earnings.

  Like ESG, stakeholder capitalism has nothing to do with capitalism. Rather, it’s a cryptic term for nothing less than fascism, the blending of corporations and government. In stakeholder capitalism, a firm’s focus isn’t on earnings, profitability, or its responsibility to return value to shareholders, but on the “societal stakeholders.” That ambiguous term means that private and public companies must answer to the government and follow socialist and woke hiring policies, such as government-approved and controlled supply chain policies, pricing, and, of course, woke cultural guidelines.

  Fight the Wokeness with Alternatives

  In the aggregate, the woke ideology has nothing to do with the traditional meanings of the terms adherents use, but has everything to do with destroying traditional American society. That can happen only if Americans allow it to.

  The key to stopping this vile movement is to take a page out of their own playbook and cancel the woke mob at every turn, in every aspect of life in which they seek to dominate.

  Thankfully, that’s already happening.

  Woke film companies such as Disney are losing billions on their subversive films because most people can’t stand the woke messaging that permeates their stories. Meanwhile, films that celebrate traditional American values and beliefs, such as “Top Gun Maverick” and “The Sound of Freedom,” have made enormous sums of money. Now there’s Loor.tv, a movie studio committed to telling great stories, comedies, and more, through audience fundraising.

  Furthermore, there are now alternatives to woke Big Tech firms that censor free speech and promote the woke agenda, such as the recently liberated and formerly named Twitter (X). X is now a bastion of free speech, but so is the X alternative Telegram, and YouTube challenger Rumble, which allows much more free flow of content. There’s also a fantastic Amazon alternative called PublicSquare.com that connects consumers “with companies that share your values.” (Full disclosure: I have a product on Public Square.)

  There are certainly other options and opportunities to counter and cancel the so-called woke “mind virus” that’s plaguing our country. Standing up to school boards that push the multi-gender and communist agenda is critical, as is voting out politicians who support anti-American and anti-traditional values and policies.

  The resurgence of American ideals and values isn’t going to happen from the top layer, but from each of us, as individuals and small groups determined to not let our country go down the drain without a fight.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 18:00

• US Admits "No Signs Of Abating" As Houthis Escalate Red Sea Attacks, Deploy Suicide Drone Boat
  US Admits “No Signs Of Abating” As Houthis Escalate Red Sea Attacks, Deploy Suicide Drone Boat

  The Houthis have decided to respond to fresh warnings and threats from the US and Western allies by sending an unmanned boat packed with explosives to disrupt international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. Clearly, Biden’s “warnings” are doing nothing to deter anything.

  The Thursday incident marks the first time the Houthis have deployed a drone boat since its attacks started in the wake of Oct.7. Drones and ballistic missiles from Yemen have wreaked havoc thus far. A US Navy official said, however, that the drone boat exploded before it was able to strike any vessels.

  “We all watched as it exploded,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Navy operations in the Middle East said in a press briefing. He described that the “one-way attack” was inbound toward shipping lanes “clearly with the intent to do harm” – and that the boat is a “new capability”. He indicated it came within a couple miles of foreign ships.

  

  “Fortunately, there were no casualties and no ships were hit, but the introduction of a one-way attack USV is a concern,” he added.

  Already major shipping companies have diverted their tanker and cargo ships to avoid the Red Sea region entirely. But ironically on the very day the Houthis unveiled their drone boat capability, the Pentagon tried to put a positive spin on its Operation Prosperity Guardian, meant to thwart Red Sea attacks. Adm. Cooper cited that some 1,500 commercial were able to transit the waters safely since the allied operation was launched on December 18.

  Still, Adm. Cooper admitted that “There are no signs the Houthis’ irresponsible behavior is abating.” The US Navy has tallied that the total number of Houthi attacks since Nov. 18 is now at 25.

  Meanwhile, also on Thursday there’s been a fresh piracy incident off Somalia. A Liberian-flagged vessel bound for Bahrain was boarded by armed men while it traversed to the south-east of Eyl, Somali.

  “Five to six unauthorized armed persons have boarded a merchant vessel…in the vicinity of Eyl,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an advisory. “Crew are mustered in citadel.”

  Somali militants have long threatened these waters, but given the bulk of diverted Red Sea traffic must travel via the Cape of Good Hope instead, the fear is that the resulting increased traffic off the Somali coast will lead to more ‘opportunity’ and ample targets for pirates. 

  On Wednesday, the White House warned that this ongoing Red Sea turmoil could hit the US economy in a briefing:

  The White House has warned that the potential for higher shipping costs to affect the U.S. economy amid diversion of ships from the Red Sea will depend on how long Houthi rebels sustain their attacks on commercial vessels.

  “If we weren’t concerned, we wouldn’t have stood up an operation in the Red Sea, now consisting of more than 20 nations, to try to protect that commerce,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a White House press conference on Wednesday, referring to the U.S.-led military force Operation Prosperity Guardian.

  “The Red Sea is a vital waterway, and a significant amount of global trade flows through it. By forcing nations to go around the Cape of Good Hope, you’re adding weeks and weeks onto voyages, and untold resources and expenses have to be applied in order to do that. So obviously there’s a concern about the impact on global trade.”

  Interestingly, Kirby was then asked by a reporter whether the spiraling situation would become “pocketbook” issue for Americans.

  Kirby responded by saying “It would depend on how long this threat goes and on how much more energetic the Houthis think they might become.” He added: “Right now we haven’t seen an uptick or a specific effect on the U.S. economy. But make no mistake. This is a key international waterway. Countries more and more are becoming aware of this increasing threat to the free flow of commerce.” Thus he fully acknowledged this is a distinct possibility that’s fast approaching.

  One thing is clear – the Western coalition statement filled with warnings aimed at the Houthis and released with great fanfare clearly didn’t have the intended effect…

  Wild.

  Palestinians would really love to get the same amount of attention and protection as shipping containers. pic.twitter.com/bT4ikWYeKy

  — Yasmine El-Sabawi ياسمين السبعاوي (@yasmineelsabawi) January 3, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/04/2024 – 17:40

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• The Juggling Act: Is 2024 A Pivotal Year For The Globalists
  The Juggling Act: Is 2024 A Pivotal Year For The Globalists

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  If you want to know if a society is on the verge of great and tumultuous change you need to ask two very important questions – Are the people angry? And, are the people hungry?

  

  In the US (and in many parts of Europe) the people are indeed very angry, for different reasons depending on their political affiliations.

  On the other hand, they aren’t hungry, at least not to the extent that they are desperate.

  This could very well change in 2024 given the confluence of events that are swirling as we enter the new year.

  I continue to see 2024 as a nexus point of our era for a number of reasons. The globalist timeline for their “Great Reset” mentions 2030 as the prime year for total centralization. This is the year they plan to put their carbon controls in place, remove most oil and gas energy, bring in their digital currency framework, finalize their 15 Minute City programs, establish the IMF and BIS as the overseers of the global CBDC structure, launch their cashless society and integrate ESG related goals into every aspect of the economy.

  2030 is only six years away, and that’s a lot to accomplish in such short amount of time. The globalists are going to have to either admit failure and change their timeline, or, create a substantial crisis in the near term to facilitate the Reset.  But before I get too far into the potential ugliness waiting in the next year, lets talk about two of the biggest positive developments for 2024…

  The Good…

  The Defeat Of The Covid Agenda

  I don’t think many people understand how epic and important the battle over covid lockdowns and vaccine passports actually was. The western world was on the verge of complete authoritarianism – Not a totalitarian tip-toe like we have been experiencing for many years, but full bore medical dictatorship and mass censorship. I believe covid WAS the Plan A attempt to create reset conditions, and it failed.

  If the establishment had achieved their goal of vaccine passports the fight for freedom would be over.  The passports would have made economic participation impossible for anyone that did not submit to the agenda, creating a secondary class of citizens (mostly conservative) that could then be targeted for systematic elimination.

  Luckily, enough people stood up and refused to comply that the plan was derailed. Apparently, the establishment realized there were far too many patriots willing to take up arms and fight if they kept pushing the covid farce. Remember that bizarre moment when most of the covid propaganda simply stopped? Like someone flipped a switch and the media changed narratives overnight?

  I remember, and this event was the ultimate vindication for all of us in the anti-mandate movement. All the fear, all the dread, all the doom mongering over “millions of deaths”, it all meant nothing and they proved that the moment they shut down the hype machine and everything immediately went back to normal.

  The Public Is Fed Up With The Woke Cult

  It took longer than it should have, mainly because too many people refused to believe that the conspiracy was real, but the woke cult has finally crossed the line enough times for the general public to get fed up. The activist insurgency has violated every boundary of decency and truth and they have alienated a large contingent of the population.  Their time is quickly coming to an end.

  Signs include the ongoing collapse of woke media giants like Disney, the successful boycotts of products like Bud Light and companies like Target. But if you know how to read social trends you can see more subtle signs. There is a growing disdain for third-wave feminism, LGBT cultism and the insane trans movement. People are less afraid to ridicule SJWs, less afraid of cancel culture and more willing to criticize their delusions.

  This is what happens when you target children with sexualized indoctrination and you argue against biological reality. This is what happens when you try to force people to embrace and normalize mental illness. This is what happens when you spend years trying to control people’s speech with “neo-pronouns” and terrorize the internet with cancel culture. This is what happens when you invade every corner of pop-culture and try to hijack it or sabotage it through propaganda. This is what happens when you declare war on traditional western values – Everyone starts to hate you and eventually they will organize to kick your ass.

  The only thing keeping the woke movement afloat at the moment is their alliance with corporations and the establishment media. Globalist think tanks still spend billions of dollars funding social justice programs and the current government provides cover for the exploits of far-left zealots. Without the elites, the woke ideology would not exist. Millions of Americans are ready to snuff it out for good.

  The Bad And The Ugly…

  Election 2024

  As I have mentioned in past articles, I still believe there might not be a presidential election in November. Though, current conditions would allow for one as long as nothing changes dramatically in the next several months. There hasn’t been this level of national division over an election since the Civil War and regardless of what happens or which side “wins” there will be a high potential for a violent reaction.

  The election of 2024 is developing into its own Black Swan event. Any indication that Donald Trump will be arrested before November or any widespread blue state plans to remove him from the ballot will be seen as election interference and I have no doubt that many Americans will seriously consider armed revolt.

  Then again, Trump’s mere presence as a candidate will be used by far-left groups as a rationale to stoke riots. His re-entry into the Oval Office would mean endless mob actions and perhaps even terrorist attacks. So, in this regard it doesn’t really matter if we end up with Biden or Trump, the eventual outcome will probably be the same – Civil unrest followed by a declaration of martial law in the next couple of years.

  My position on Trump has always been one of skepticism, primarily due to his terrible cabinet choices (including Anthony Fauci). However, I recognize that after four horrendous years of Joe Biden’s woke authoritarian empire there is no way that half the country is going to tolerate another term, especially if that term is achieved through perceived sabotage.

  Then there is the potential for shock events, such as Biden stepping down at the last minute. Trump being arrested but winning anyway.  Or, a major geopolitical crisis which is used by the Democrats as an excuse to “postpone” the election. And make no mistake, there are many of these triggers in place today.

  Geopolitical Tensions Soaring

  The potential for war on multiple fronts, including Ukraine, Israel, and perhaps Taiwan is extraordinary in 2024. For now, I am focused on Israel’s conflict in Gaza and the chances of retaliation from surrounding Islamic states. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, Gaza has no chance whatsoever of stopping Israel militarily and they never did, but that’s not really relevant. What matters is how their neighbors respond.

  Lebanon and Hezbollah appear poised to commit to war on Israel in the near term, but Iran is the big question mark.  Would they openly engage the Israelis?  Such a move would completely destabilize all of the Middle East, disrupt a massive portion of the world’s oil supply and probably draw the US and Europe into the fray.

  The biggest threat, for now, is the shutting down of shipping lanes through the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. This could disrupt supply chains and energy resources for many months and accelerate the economic crisis. And, this could in turn be used by the establishment as a rationale to put boots on the ground in the region.

  Economic Powderkeg

  The economic situation is far more distressed than international relations, believe it or not.  There is a precarious game being played by the Federal Reserve with US debt and interest rates, culminating in a Catch-22 that I have been warning about for years.

  Some analysts argue that the Fed is about to cut rates in 2024 (I remain doubtful); but if they do, get ready for an immediate and renewed spike in inflation. If they don’t commit to substantial rate cuts then the national debt will continue climbing by around $600 billion per month (around $7 trillion a year). This is unsustainable and it threatens the world reserve status of the dollar.

  If the Fed’s intent is to influence elections (again, I highly doubt this), then they aren’t going to be helping Joe Biden much by cutting rates. Biden is already known as the inflation president; creating another ramp in CPI by the end of 2024 would be a disaster for his campaign. And, keeping Biden in office would only further cement public outrage over socialist policies as the economy continues to dive into either stagflationary crisis or deflationary depression depending on which path the central bank chooses.

  And remember, the 30%-plus price increase we have seen across the board on necessities in the past few years is going to remain in place for quite some time. It doesn’t matter what the Fed does, you are going to continue paying 30% more to survive compared to 2019-2020, and for many people this is swiftly killing their standard of living. This is why no one takes “Bidenomics” seriously – Until they see a return to cost normalcy it doesn’t matter what kind of spin Biden places on jobs numbers or CPI.

  Nobody cares.

  Catch-22

  I suspect the Fed will continue down the path of deflation. They might try to cut rates once or twice, but when CPI jumps they will go right back to higher rates and tighter credit. This is exactly what they did in the 1970s and early 1980s, though, the US wasn’t adding $600 billion in debt every month during that particular crisis.

  How this deflation translates will depend on other factors including geopolitical factors (as mentioned above).  I predict we are about to see an aggressive resurgence of unemployment by the end of the year.  Americans are not buying more, they are merely spending MORE for the same amount of stuff.  The stagflationary process always leads to a painful decline in overall consumption and standard of living – We had our three-year boost due to covid helicopter money, and now that boost is fading.  Any action by the Fed on rates at this point will not help retail or the service sector, it will only serve to keep stock markets afloat a little longer.

  Again, the end result is the same no matter what the central bankers do, and this is by design.  If the US elections play into the establishment’s plans at all, I suspect it would be more in line with the optics of a renewed Trump presidency.  It might serve globalist interests more to keep the system intact, not to protect Biden but in preparation for Trump’s return, only to collapse the entire house of cards once he enters office (or even right after he wins).  Setting up conservatives as scapegoats for full spectrum economic crisis makes a lot more sense than trying to maintain the facade for Biden for another four years.

  If the globalists fail to set the stage for the Reset in 2024, then they may be facing a mounting movement to bring them to justice.  The juggling act is about to come to an end.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 23:40

• "Switched Off": Streaming Service Cancellations Rise As 'Streamflation' Bites
  “Switched Off”: Streaming Service Cancellations Rise As ‘Streamflation’ Bites

  How consumers feel about their favorite streaming services jacking up prices. 

  

  The point behind ‘cord-cutting’ was to enjoy premium content and movies through streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, and AppleTV+, among others, to skip the middleman (big cable) and save money. 

  However, streaming companies got too greedy in 2023. They increased monthly subscriptions to improve ‘profitability’ and have triggered the beginnings of what appears to be a cancellation wave. 

  A new report from The Wall Street Journal cites data from subscription analytics provider Antenna that shows customer defections across streaming services topped 6.3% in November, up from 5.1% a year earlier. 

  

  Antenna said about one-quarter of US subscribers to these major platforms, also including Discovery+, Max, Paramount+, Peacock, and Starz, have canceled at least three subscriptions in the past two years.

  

  This comes as ‘streamflation‘ hits consumers’ wallets. 

  

  “With the streaming services increasing their rates like they are, it’s, like, ‘OK, do I pay for the cable?'” said one person who spoke with WSJ. 

  Some folks have downgraded plans of major streaming services for more ads and limiting the number of devices: 

  More than one-third of new US Netflix customers in November opted for the ad tier, compared with 11% a year earlier, when the ad-supported version was introduced. Streamers say ad-supported plans are a win-win for them and price-sensitive customers, bringing in revenue from monthly subscriptions as well as ad sales. -WSJ 

  

  Antenna said some customers who canceled streaming services return later: 

  One in four people who cancel a premium streaming service typically resubscribes to that service within four months, and one in three does so within seven months. Half do so within two years. -WSJ 

  Peak streaming? 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 23:20

• An Increasing Number Of Americans See Foreign Policy As A Top Issue
  An Increasing Number Of Americans See Foreign Policy As A Top Issue

  Via The Libertarian Institute,

  According to a new poll, the number of voters who view foreign policy as a top issue has doubled during the past year. Joe Biden has defined his presidency by waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, backing the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, and engaging in a military buildup in the Asia-Pacific to fight a future war with China. 

  The Associated Press survey found, “About 4 in 10 US adults named foreign policy topics in an open-ended question that asked people to share up to five issues for the government to work on in the next year.” Last year, only 18% of Americans said foreign wars were a top issue. 

  

  About 20% of Americans are concerned about overseas wars, up from five percent. Five percent of Americans mentioned the Israel war in Gaza. Four percent named the war in Ukraine, down from six percent in the previous year.

  President Biden is struggling in recent polling. Two demographics that Biden won in 2020 now prefer Trump. A USA Today poll found Trump at 39% ahead of Biden at 34% among Latino voters. The trend was repeated among young voters who preferred Trump, 37%, to Biden, 33%.

  Younger voters are the most likely Americans to object to President Biden’s support for the Israeli war against Hamas and Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

  As the Israeli military operations in Gaza indiscriminately kill and starve Palestinian civilians, more Americans are protesting Biden’s support for Tel Aviv. The President has recently been confronted with chants of “Genocide Joe”.

  The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Biden has been more involved regarding Israel than any other issue and the White House has no plans to place conditions on the weapons sent to Tel Aviv for use amidst its brutal war. 

  The percentage of Americans naming foreign policy as a priority issue more than doubled from last year. Below it ranks second only to the economy…

  

  “Biden has involved himself more intensely in the conflict than almost any other issue in three years in office,” the outlet reports. “But there is no serious discussion inside the administration of a meaningful change in policy, like cutting off the arms supply to Israel. Instead, Biden remains determined to navigate the crisis within the crisis by using the credibility he earned through steadfast support of Israel to shape its next chapter.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 23:00

• Sea-Change: Most Hispanics Now Prefer Trump – Biden's Black Support Plummets From 2020
  Sea-Change: Most Hispanics Now Prefer Trump – Biden’s Black Support Plummets From 2020

  Confounding leftists in and outside of major media who’ve spent years portraying Donald Trump as a racist, Hispanic support for the former president continues to surge — to the point that Trump is now the first choice among the increasingly significant US demographic. 

  Meanwhile, black enthusiasm for Biden has plummeted since 2020, leaving many in the Democrat electoral cornerstone eager to vote for a third-party candidate. These are among several findings of a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll that are sure to compound Democrats worries about the 2024 election. 

  RT If We Should Finish The Wall 👇🏽👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/deDaf98rl0

  — TrumpLatinos (@TrumpLatinos24) January 2, 2024

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  Trump boasts a five-point lead among Hispanics, with Biden trailing 39% to 34%. That is an absolute sea change from 2020, when Biden’s Hispanic share blew Trump out of the water, 65% to 32%.   

  While Biden received 87% of the black vote in 2020, only 63% intend to vote for him in November. It’s not that they’re surging toward Trump. Indeed, USA Today reports his black support is holding steady at the same 12% he received in 2020. Rather, fed up with Biden, 20% of blacks plan to vote for someone other than Biden or Trump. 

  There’s even more for the Democratic National Committee to wring their hands over. Like other recent surveys, the USA Today/Suffolk poll found Trump winning among voters under age 35, by a 37% to 33% spread. Similar to blacks, 21% of young voters plan to vote for someone outside the two major parties — at least, if Biden and Trump are the nominees. While it wasn’t reported as part of this poll, it appears already-weak youth support for Biden has been further sapped by his overwhelming support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas military and terrorist attack on southern Israel. 

  The Biden administration treated Hispanic voters like we were stupid going into 2020. Playing “Despacito.” Referring to us as breakfast tacos. They ran on an open border platform thinking Hispanics would embrace it. It’s backfired. This is hurting innocent people. Trumps going… pic.twitter.com/KX3IadstXw

  — Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) December 26, 2023

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  The 2024 field features multiple independent and third-party candidates that varyingly appeal to blacks, progressive leftists and independent voters, including Cornel West, Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In the USA Today/Suffolk poll, the inclusion of seven independent and third-party yielded a small net advantage for Trump, nudging his overall lead over Biden from 2 points in a head-to-head to 3 points in a multi-candidate race. Kennedy came in third, grabbing a 10% share.  

  “Although Trump hasn’t grown support among Black voters, he has closed the deficit because third-party voters come off of Biden’s support among Blacks,” David Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center, told USA Today. “A young voter or a person of color voting ‘third party’ is a vote away from President Biden, and a vote away from President Biden is a vote for Donald Trump.”

  Biden’s losing Black & Hispanic voters partly due to immigration. Black ppl in cities like Chicago are upset because Migrants are given more benefits than black ppl. US foreign policy decisions are to blame for this. Thanks @RisingTheHill https://t.co/1Q2uI0nXMP pic.twitter.com/t24nrzeYgW

  — Sabby Sabs (@SabbySabs2) January 2, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 22:40

• Average US Household Can Afford Only Cheapest 16% Of Listed Homes
  Average US Household Can Afford Only Cheapest 16% Of Listed Homes

  Submitted by Sam Bourgi of CreditNews

  For the average American, 2023 was the worst year ever for housing affordability—and now there’s more data to back it up.

  

  According to Redfin data analyzed by Creditnews Research, the average U.S. household can only afford 15.5% of the homes that went up for sale in 2023—the lowest on record.

  By comparison, the average household had the means to buy 20.7% of homes for sale in 2022 and over 40% before the pandemic.

  Redfin data also showed the number of affordable homes for sale plunged to record lows in 2023, falling 40.9% to 352,500.

  According to Redfin’s Lily Katz, “elevated mortgage rates and stubbornly high prices made the listings hitting the market more expensive” in 2023.

  This analysis is based on home listings in 97 of the most populous U.S. metro areas. A house is considered “affordable” if the buyer’s mortgage payment is no more than 30% of their region’s median household income.

  The 30% threshold isn’t some arbitrary number.

  The Department of Housing and Urban Development says households that spend more than a third of their income on housing are far more likely to run into financial troubles.

  Redfin’s data mirror Creditnews Research’s Housing Affordability Report, which showed that the average American’s mortgage burden is the worst since 1981 when rates peaked at over 18%.

  Although the housing affordability crisis is often blamed on record home prices, it’s the root cause behind those prices that has been working against homebuyers in 2023.

  Homeowners aren’t budging

  Americans who purchased a home before 2021 have built up massive equity as their property values surged during Covid. According to Fed research, homeowners saw their equity rise from $139,100 in 2019 to $201,000 in 2022.

  So, why aren’t they selling and cashing in? Because they don’t want to trade in their current mortgage rate for a much higher one.

  According to Creditnews Research, 23.4% of existing mortgages were originated in 2021 when rates were below 3%. Another 17.8% of mortgages were originated in 2020—the year the Fed cut interest rates back to zero.

  Now, nearly two-thirds (64.5%) of U.S. mortgages have rates under 4%. These buyers have “golden handcuffs” —they don’t want to give up their current rate for a much higher one.

  Although mortgage rates have declined since late October, they’re still double what they were before 2021.

  With homeowners refusing to sell, housing inventories have plunged to 20-year lows, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). And less supply means buyers are competing for fewer listings—a feedback loop that keeps pushing prices higher.

  According to NAR data, the housing market has about 3.5 months’ worth of supply at the current sales pace. As a result, existing home sales have plunged to 13-year lows and are on track for their worst year in more than four decades.

  

  Experts predict lower mortgage rates, but will they help?

  With mortgage rates declining for eight consecutive weeks, industry experts believe rates will continue heading lower in 2024.

  The NAR has pegged 30-year interest rates as low as 6.1% in 2024 before rebounding slightly to 6.3%. The Mortgage Bankers Association has a similar view and expects rates to drop to 6.1% by the end of the year.

  Meanwhile, Mortgage News Daily’s chief operating officer Matthew Graham believes rates could fall even below 5% next year.

  Lower mortgage rates should help ease housing costs, but even 5% might not be enough to fix the housing shortage—the root cause of record home prices.

  “The supply of homes for sale remains scarce,” wrote Nancy Vanden Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics. “Lower mortgage rates may bring some sellers off the sidelines, though most homeowners with mortgages still have rates well below current market rates.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 22:20

• More Than 140 Drug Brands Will Have Their Prices Hiked Heading Into 2024
  More Than 140 Drug Brands Will Have Their Prices Hiked Heading Into 2024

  More than 140 brands of drugs are going to see their prices hiked heading into the new year.

  And we’re guessing because there isn’t one “punchable face” scapegoat like Martin Shkreli to take the heat for the entire industry which has spent yet another year whoring itself to Washington D.C. and sponsoring corporate media, the price hikes will go largely unnoticed by government officials who would normally fein outrage about the issue.

  Healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors found that Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda are among other drugmakers that’ll hike prices on more than 140 brands and 500 different drugs/dosages, according to a Reuters report. 

  At the same time, we’re sure the media will swoon over the Biden Administration’s significantly discounted prices on 10 other high cost drugs, set to be published in September. As per usual, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing…

  Starting in 2026, under the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare can directly negotiate drug prices. But concerns are rising about potential supply chain disruptions due to extended conflict in the Middle East, affecting Red Sea shipping routes. Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline and two other companies plan to reduce prices on various drugs, including treatments for asthma, herpes, and epilepsy, starting in 2024, with at least 15 drugs seeing price cuts in January, the report says.

  

  The reductions follow earlier insulin price cuts by various companies to dodge penalties from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, which mandates Medicaid rebates from drug firms if their price hikes exceed inflation. Starting January 2024, these rebates could exceed the drugs’ net cost.

  3 Axis President Antonio Ciaccia said: “Every major former blockbuster insulin is going to get thrown under the tires of this policy.” 

  Drugmakers have generally limited price increases to 10% or less since facing criticism for excessive hikes in the mid-2010s. Despite high inflation, there hasn’t been a significant acceleration in price increases for existing products. Since 2019, median price increases have been about 5%, as reported by 46brooklyn, a drug pricing non-profit.

  Pfizer, leading in January price hikes for two consecutive years, plans to raise prices on 124 drugs, with an additional increase on 22 drugs by its Hospira division. Excluding various doses and formulations, 30 Pfizer and six Hospira drugs will see price increases. Takeda’s Baxalta and Belgian firm UCB Pharma follow, with 53 and 40 drug hikes, respectively.

  Sanofi, despite earlier commitments to reduce insulin prices in 2024, will increase prices on some vaccines by 9%. January is typically the peak month for drug price hikes, with 1,425 increases in 2023, slightly down from 1,460 in 2022.

  While established drug price increases have moderated, prices for new drugs are soaring. In the first half of 2022, new drug prices reached an average of over $220,000, up from around $180,000 in early 2021, marking a 20% rise consistent with a JAMA study showing annual 20% increases in U.S. drug launch prices from 2008 to 2021.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 22:00

• Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark To Launch In-House Trading Desk
  Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark To Launch In-House Trading Desk

  By Brayden Lindrea of CoinTelegraph

  US-based Bitcoin miner CleanSpark Inc. reportedly plans to set up an in-house trading desk sometime in 2024 to maximize returns from its Bitcoin holdings. According to a Jan. 2 report from Bloomberg, the firm’s CEO Zachary Bradford said the move would make use the the “large Bitcoin” balance the company has.

  

  “We really think that doing it ourselves is the best way, especially with the large Bitcoin balance we have,” Bradford told Bloomberg. “It just makes financial sense to do it in-house.”

  In December, CleanSpark said it held 2,575 BTC at the end of November, worth around $116 million at today’s prices.

  CleanSpark reportedly plans to make strategies based on regulated crypto offerings, such as the option contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or its affiliates.

  “We may have to move a small amount into different accounts but we will keep the cold storage custody with holders like Coinbase with segregated accounts,” Bradford added.

  A major Bitcoin miner plans to set up an in-house trading desk. That could have an impact on market structure in crypto. Also, it is remarkable to see the sector is morphing from a cottage industry into something like this. Exclusive below👇https://t.co/4aPhIIG9ql

  — David Pan (@DavidPan_1) January 2, 2024

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  Bradford thinks more Bitcoin miners will set up in-house trading desks, adding: 

  “That way, you can manage it with your own risk profiles and expertise and keep a really close eye on it.”

  CleanSpark’s (CLSK) share price increased around 440% to around $11 in 2023, lifting the firm’s market cap to $2 billion, according to Google Finance.

  The share price appreciation erased a nearly 80% share price fall in 2022 when the cryptocurrency industry’s market cap plummeted as low as $832 billion following the collapse of FTX.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 21:40

• Elon Musk Begins Launching Satellite Cellphone Towers Into Space
  Elon Musk Begins Launching Satellite Cellphone Towers Into Space

  Elon Musk’s SpaceX started the new year with a Falcon 9 rocket launch of the firm’s first-ever direct-to-cell satellites. 

  The six @Starlink satellites on this mission with Direct to Cell capability will further global connectivity and help to eliminate dead zones → https://t.co/FgiJ7LOYdK pic.twitter.com/zFy7SrpsYs

  — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2024

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  Six of the 21 Starlink satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, have direct-to-cell capabilities that provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range. 

  Falcon 9 launches 21 @Starlink satellites to orbit from California, including six with Direct to Cell capabilities → https://t.co/FgiJ7LOYdK pic.twitter.com/IKBkTSB63C

  — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2024

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  SpaceX plans to “eliminate dead zones” with its new service that could be rolled out in 2025, pending regulatory license for commercial use. 

  

  The initial rollout in the US will be with SpaceX’s US mobile partner, T-Mobile. Other partners include mobile operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland. 

  Musk commented on the launch Tuesday night. He said, “This will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.” 

  “Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks,” Musk said. 

  This will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.

  Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial… https://t.co/ymHpw8XBHl

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2024

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  SpaceX is also expected to have another record year of rocket launches. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 21:20

• The FBI-Tainted Whitmer 'Kidnap Plot' You've Heard Next To Nothing About
  The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ You’ve Heard Next To Nothing About

  Authored by Julie Kelly via RealClear Investigations,

  In a fiery exchange last month, CNN anchorwoman Abby Phillip told GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that there was “no evidence” to support his claim that federal agents abetted protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

  

  Ramaswamy shot back that the FBI conspicuously has never denied that law enforcement agents were on duty in the crowd. He argued that federal officials have repeatedly “lied” to the American people about not only that investigation but one that has gotten much less attention: the alleged failed plot to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.

  “It was entrapment,” Ramaswamy said. “FBI agents putting them up to a kidnapping plot that we were told was true but wasn’t.”

  His zeroing in on the Michigan case highlighted an uncharacteristic development in contemporary politics, where progressives vigorously defend law enforcement power while conservatives view it with deep suspicion. Further, Ramaswamy’s linking of Jan. 6 and the Whitmer plot resonated with many on the right who want similarities between the two episodes exposed to the general public, especially the FBI’s reliance on informants and other paid operatives.

  On Oct. 8, 2020, Whitmer announced the shocking arrests of several men accused of planning to kidnap and possibly assassinate her. The case produced alarming headlines just weeks before Election Day; Democrats, including Whitmer, used news of the plot to blame Trump for inciting violence.

  Joe Biden commended the FBI for thwarting the abduction plan and, in a written statement issued the same day, claimed that “there is a through line from President Trump’s dog whistles and tolerance of hate, vengeance, and lawlessness to plots such as this one.” Biden continued that line of attack during campaign speeches in Michigan, a swing state that voted for Trump in 2016, and one Biden needed to capture to win the presidency.

  In the years since the election, the national press has given little attention to the case since the initial arrests, even though court documents have recast the episode as something more sinister. Instead of a heroic effort by the FBI to safeguard the country from domestic terrorists, it now appears to have been a broad conspiracy by law enforcement to entrap American citizens who held unpopular political views.

  The FBI’s tactics were first exposed by BuzzFeed in July 2021, when reporters Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison disclosed startling details based on court filings as the matter headed to trial. They found that the number of FBI confidential human sources involved in the scheme was equal to the number of defendants.

  “An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported,” they wrote. “Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.”

  

  Six men ranging in age from 22 to 44 – Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Brandon Caserta, Daniel Harris, Ty Garbin, and Kaleb Franks – faced federal charges of conspiring to kidnap and use a weapon of mass destruction. Eight others faced state charges. BuzzFeed recreated much of the defendants’ movements between March and October 2020, including attendance at “field training” exercises and the surveillance of Whitmer’s properties.

  While BuzzFeed offered the first account of the entrapment operation, further reporting by RealClearInvestigations, along with details revealed in court filings and trial proceedings, make the operation sound like something out of a Hollywood script. It features secretive cash payouts; drug- and booze-fueled parties; a convicted wife-beating FBI investigator; a career felon revealed as a longtime FBI asset and later accused of acting as a “double agent”; and a dramatic takedown scene at the end.

  Public defenders representing the accused have identified at least 12 FBI informants and three undercover FBI agents managed by FBI officials in numerous field offices responsible for framing the men.

  “In this Case, the undisputed evidence … establishes that government agents and informants concocted, hatched, and pushed this ‘kidnapping plan’ from the beginning, doing so against defendants who explicitly repudiated the plan,” defense lawyers wrote in a Dec. 25, 2021 motion. “When the government was faced with evidence showing that the defendants had no interest in a kidnapping plot, it refused to accept failure and continued to push its plan.”

  At the center of the action was the FBI’s ringleader, Dan Chappel, 34 years old at the time, an Iraq war veteran and contract truck driver for the U.S. Postal Service. Chappel, the official story goes, joined a group called the “Wolverine Watchmen” in early 2020 to burnish his firearms skills. Members generally interacted on social media. The government claimed Chappel became alarmed at alleged online chatter about killing police and took his concerns to a friend in law enforcement in March 2020.

  A week later, the FBI hired Chappel as an informant.

  

  Over the course of the next seven months, Chappel “ingratiated” himself with the men, as one defense attorney described his method, with his eye particularly on Fox, 37, the reported mastermind of the plot. While the media portrayed Fox as a military leader prepping an army of “white supremacists” to overthrow state governments across the country, he was, in reality, a homeless man living in the dilapidated basement of a vacuum repair shop without running water or a toilet in a Grand Rapids strip mall. One co-defendant referred to him as “Captain Autism.”

  Fox’s lawyer, Christopher Gibbons, said Chappel took on a “father figure” role to his fatherless and destitute client. Fox and Chappel exchanged thousands of texts. Chappel drove Fox, who did not own a car, to various meetups and staged events while recording every moment to preserve as evidence against him. On at least three occasions, according to testimony offered at trial, Chappel offered Fox a prepaid credit card authorized by the FBI with a $5,000 limit to help him buy guns and ammunition; Fox, despite being broke, declined each time.

  

  Chappel, known as “Big Dan” to the group, created encrypted chats and gave real-time access to his FBI handlers working out of the Detroit FBI field office as the farfetched plan unfolded.

  Informants and targets mulled over how to blow up a bridge outside Whitmer’s summer cottage; kill her security detail; take her to a nearby boat launch; and either abandon her in the middle of Lake Michigan or bring her across the lake to Wisconsin to stand a “citizen’s trial” over her COVID-19 lockdown policies. One discussion involved the implausible use of a military helicopter.

  From appearances, a demonstration at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing on April 30, 2020 might well have been a law enforcement dress rehearsal for Jan. 6. Chappel traveled to the event with three members of the Watchmen later held on state charges. Some protesters were clad in military gear and carried firearms but could not enter the building. When Chappel told his FBI handler what was happening, the FBI ordered the Michigan State Police to stand down and allow protesters inside. News photographers captured the moment when protesters “stormed” the Michigan Capitol and called out for Whitmer, resulting in the same sort of optics produced on Jan. 6.

  The incident took on greater significance when it was revealed that Steven D’Antuono, head of the Detroit FBI field office during the Whitmer caper, was promoted to head up the Washington, D.C., FBI field office three months before the events of Jan. 6.

  In exchange for his work, the FBI paid Chappel at least $54,000 in cash. Part of that haul included an envelope, handed over by his primary FBI handler in December 2020, filled with $23,000 in cash as payment for a mission accomplished. (Department of Justice policy requires informants to be paid in cash.). The bureau also supplied Chappel with other personal items, such as a laptop computer and tires for his car.  Chappel also used a rented SUV, again funded by the FBI, to drive his targets to various locations as part of the trap.

  

  Other informants were involved, too. A longtime FBI source named Steve Robeson, from Wisconsin,  organized a “militia” meeting in Ohio in June 2020 and pressured the government’s targets, including Fox and Croft, to attend as he wore a wire to record what was said during the event.

  Robeson arranged other events throughout the summer including at his remote property in Cambria, Wisconsin. He constructed a so-called “kill house” for the men to practice shooting. At one point, Robeson suggested the exercises could be used to “storm” a state Capitol building or governor’s residence. Robeson is a convicted felon several times over, including on charges of sex with a minor, with a rap sheet spanning at least nine states. He was paid roughly $20,000 for his involvement in the Whitmer caper. Prosecutors later accused him of acting as a “double agent” for allegedly tipping off one of the defendants that his arrest was imminent.

  

  At least two other informants were tasked with managing Croft, who had been under FBI surveillance since 2019 for his “extremist” views, according to documents.

  It was later revealed that the informants, including Chappel, violated FBI protocol by getting drunk and high on drugs with their targets numerous times, sleeping in the same hotel, and suggesting ways to advance the kidnapping plan. At one point, Chappel took an oath to join a separate group called the “Three Percent Patriot Militia” group – one fabricated by the FBI – then convinced Fox to become the head of the Michigan chapter, all in an effort have the men believe Chappel was part of a nonexistent “militia” movement.

  Defense lawyer Gibbons described the ruse during the April 2022 trial as “free money, free bombs, daily contact for months, fake militia, build up vulnerable adult with a fake militia and a title of commanding officer, send him a federal agent to join his militia.”

  More behind-the-scenes machinations were disclosed when the defense uncovered hundreds of communications between the agents and informants that showed how they guided the plot every step of the way. One text suggests that the FBI and Chappel attempted to lure a disabled Vietnam War veteran named “Frank” into initiating a similar plan against Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. “Mission is to kill the governor specifically,” Chappel’s FBI handler texted him in August 2020.

  Despite the FBI’s best efforts, the group of so-called kidnappers started to disband by August 2020. Chappel asked his handlers how to “put more pressure” on the individuals so no one would break off. To rally the increasingly uninterested group that month, Chappel proposed firing live rounds into Whitmer’s cottage and the residences of other governors, then sending the shell casings to news reporters. “Look at you bringing people together,” one of Chappel’s FBI handlers texted to him after he successfully kept the group intact.

  Even that wasn’t enough to solidify a kidnapping scheme so, according to numerous exchanges between the FBI assets and trial testimony from one cooperating witness, the FBI ran another undercover agent into the plot in September 2020 to tempt the men into trying to purchase bomb-making material. During a get-together in mid-September, an FBI undercover agent known as “Red” showed the group a video of a Chevy Tahoe being blown up as a way to demonstrate his credentials.

  The video had been produced by the FBI.

  At the same get-together, several FBI informants and “Red” took their targets on a reconnaissance mission to stake out Whitmer’s vacation cottage, the scene of the alleged prospective crime. It was the second time Chappel drove Fox to the property. (The governor and her staff were in communication with authorities for months as the entrapment scheme was under way; the FBI installed pole cameras and 3D devices around her property to record any activity to be used as evidence.)

  Chappel also drove the men to the location of the FBI arrest point in Ypsilanti, Mich., on Oct. 7, 2020, under a ruse to meet “Red,” who promised to sell them military-style garb, not explosive materials. Members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, whose missions include “high-risk arrests,” were there waiting.

  

  But things went downhill for the government after that. Richard Trask, one of the main FBI investigators on the case, who signed the complaint against the federal defendants, was criminally charged in July 2021 for brutally assaulting his wife after a swingers’ party in Kalamazoo. Police body cam video showed a partly clothed, bloody, and apparently intoxicated Trask talking with police during his arrest. Reporters also found profane anti-Trump posts on Trask’s social media account.

  Trask was removed from the case and fired by the FBI in September 2021.

  Prosecutors removed Chappel’s two primary FBI handlers, Henrik Impola and Jayson Chambers, from the government’s witness list after defense attorneys accused Impola of committing perjury in a previous case and discovered that Chambers was moonlighting as head of a security firm on the side and posting inside information about the pending arrests on social media as a way to attract business.

  

  Robeson and his wife, Kimberly,  were charged with fraud  in December 2021 for convincing a couple to purchase a used SUV and donate it to the Robesons’ nonexistent charity, a crime committed while Robeson was working the Whitmer plot.

  Robeson also was charged separately with illegally purchasing a firearm as a felon; he threatened to plead his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, so he also was not called as a witness.

  By the time the federal case went to trial in western Michigan in March 2022, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks had accepted plea offers and planned to testify against their remaining four co-defendants: Fox, Croft, Harris, and Caserta.

  Judge Robert Jonker allowed the defense to raise the entrapment issue but only after the government presented its case. That plan, however, did not last beyond the first day as defense attorneys struggled during opening remarks to explain their clients’ behavior without mentioning the key role of FBI informants and agents. Jonker suspended his own order – at which point the FBI essentially went on trial.

  The trial lasted four weeks. Prosecutors insisted the defendants were solely responsible for conceiving the plan but the defense argued the group’s activities amounted to little more than “crazy, stoned talk.” Chappel took the stand for the prosecution but his testimony appeared to backfire as his central role in the plot came into view. He also admitted he became an informant to pad his resume in hopes of pursuing a job in law enforcement.

  During closing arguments, the four defense attorneys emphasized the FBI’s misconduct while asking the jury for not-guilty verdicts.

  “[This] is unacceptable in America,” Gibbons said during closing arguments on April 1. “That’s not how it works. They don’t make terrorists so we can arrest them.”

  On April 8, 2022, after nearly four days of deliberation, the jury found Caserta and Harris not guilty on all charges; after 18 months behind bars, both men went free.

  The jury, however, could not reach a unanimous verdict for Fox and Croft, resulting in a mistrial.

  It was a shocking blow to the government. In what the Justice Department considered its biggest domestic terror case over the past few decades (until Jan. 6), prosecutors did not yet have a single conviction – an outcome practically unheard of for a department with a more than 90% conviction rate. “It felt so good, I was so happy. We did it, we beat them. We got justice,” Caserta told me in a post-trial interview in 2022.

  Prosecutors immediately announced they would retry Fox and Croft. A different version of Judge Jonker appeared on the bench in August 2022; the trial was marked by open hostilities between the judge and defense attorneys.

  

  At one point, Jonker took the rare step of setting a time limit for cross-examination of a key government witness. He also refused to allow defense attorneys to interview a juror suspected of bias against the defendants based on comments he had made to co-workers during jury selection and his affiliation with Black Lives Matter. Jonker repeatedly admonished both lawyers in front of the jury, accusing counsel of causing jurors to “tune out” and rushing them through important lines of questioning. Over objections by the defense, Jonker kept the man on the jury. He became the foreman.

  Croft and Fox were convicted on August 23, 2022 of conspiring to kidnap and use a weapon of mass destruction, and are serving out multi-year sentences in supermax prisons reserved for the country’s worst criminals.

  They are now appealing their convictions. In an August 2023 brief, Croft’s new appellate attorney, Timothy Sweeney, wrote: “It is staggering the extent to which the FBI and its agents/informants used excessive pressure, exploited the anger from COVID lockdowns and destructive summer riots, and manipulated emotional issues among vulnerable and excitable citizens. This included: nearly constant real-time monitoring of FBI’s communications with Fox, plus thousands of government-initiated texts/chats; the deployment of multiple paid agents/informants who sought to elicit and encourage extremist and violent behavior; and the FBI’s instigating, planning, promoting, and conducting of nearly all key events.”

  In response, the government wrote in a December 2023 motion that “there was no evidence that government agents or informants suggested the plot or offered more than opportunity and facilities.”

  Sweeney and Fox’s new appellate attorney, Steven Nolder,  further accused Jonker of severely hamstringing the defense by refusing to admit into evidence the hundreds of messages that showed extensive communication between FBI agents and informants as they advanced the plot. Jonker, in both trials, denied defense motions to allow the jury to see the communications.

  “These communications – constituted relevant evidence of the shocking degree to which Chambers, Chappel, and the other FBI agents/informants orchestrated this scam and generally engaged in incessant and oppressive inducement,” Sweeney wrote.

  

  A recent verdict for the last three defendants charged in the Michigan state case may add weight to the appeal. An Antrim County jury in September 2023 found Willam Null, his brother Michael Null, and their co-defendant Eric Molitor not guilty of providing material support to an act of terror and illegally possessing firearms.

  The acquittals represented another blow to the overall case and a poor showing for the government; of the 10 defendants who went to trial, five were found not guilty and two were convicted after a second trial. Four others pleaded guilty—outcomes that represent a poor showing for both the DOJ and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel was so infuriated by the acquittals for the Null brothers and Molitor that she publicly criticized jurors as coming from “a very, very right-leaning county (were) seemingly not so concerned about the kidnapping and assassination of the governor.”

  Fox and Croft and the DOJ have asked for oral arguments. An appellate court in western Michigan could render a decision by mid-2024. “When I look at what happened in this case,” Croft’s public defender, Joshua Blanchard, said during closing arguments in the April 2022 trial, “I am ashamed of the behavior of the leading law enforcement agency in the United States. This investigation was an embarrassment, and we have to tell them this isn’t how our country operates. This isn’t how our justice system is supposed to work.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 21:00

• CPI Reality Check: Chick-Fil-A Has Hiked Prices 21% In Just Two Years
  CPI Reality Check: Chick-Fil-A Has Hiked Prices 21% In Just Two Years

  While we keep letting the government tell us that inflation is at 3%, back out in the real world price hikes are staggeringly higher.

  Just take one look at Chick-fil-A, for example: the popular fast food chain has hiked its prices a whopping 21% over the last two years, according to a new report from the NY Post. 

  In 2022, the chain first raised prices by 15%, the report says. In January 2023, the company then implemented a menu-wide 6% hike in prices, resulting in the average price of its chicken sandwich – which was under $5 in 2021 – to now cost $5.79. 

  The report notes that in high cost of living areas, like New York City, the same sandwich is going to run customers $6.99. An 8 piece nuggets, which would cost $5.99 elsewhere and which were also under $5 in 2021, now cost $7.09. 

  The Post noted the discrepancy between the real world and the CPI, which showed a 3.1% increase in November. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted a 0.2% monthly rise in the food index for November, a slight decrease from the 0.3% rise in the previous month.

  

  Labor costs are playing a role in driving costs higher, the report says. 

  New York saw its minimum wage increase from $15 to $16 in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County as the new year began. This increment is part of a plan, agreed upon last April by Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders, to gradually raise the minimum wage to $17 in these areas and $16 in other parts of the state by 2026.

  Twenty-two other states, including California and Connecticut, have also recently raised their minimum wages. California increased its rate to $16, and Connecticut to $15.69. Now, approximately 30 states have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

  These wage increases have been linked to rising prices, such as the anticipated $15 cost for a McDonald’s Big Mac in states with the wage hikes. Brandon Arnold of the National Taxpayers Union highlighted California’s mandate for a $20 minimum wage in fast food restaurants.

  Establishments are “either gonna have to raise prices, start to reduce those labor costs or a combination of both,” Arnold said on Fox. “And that’s not fair to those employees that are getting laid off, nor is it fair to the customers that are all of the sudden paying $12, $15 for a Big Mac.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 20:40

• India Denies Sanctions Hold Back Imports Of Russian Crude Oil
  India Denies Sanctions Hold Back Imports Of Russian Crude Oil

  By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

  India’s lower imports of Russian crude oil in recent weeks were the result of unattractive discounts, not because of payment issues amid tougher U.S. sanctions on Russia’s exports, Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday.  

  “There is no payment problem,” Puri told a briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday, as quoted by Bloomberg.

  “It is a pure function of price at which our refiners will buy,” he said, adding that India’s priority is to ensure the cheapest price possible for its consumers.

  

  The tougher enforcement of the G7 sanctions and related payment issues have been holding up Indian purchases of some cargoes of Russian crude oil, with tankers previously headed to India now turning back eastwards, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed on Tuesday.

  At the end of last year, the United States took a tougher stance on the sanctions against Russia and sanctioned several vessels for violating the G7 price cap of $60 per barrel, above which cargoes cannot use Western insurance and financing. Some of those tankers were already en route to India loaded with Russia’s Sokol grade and departed from the Far Eastern ports in Russia.  

  According to the ship-tracking data Bloomberg has compiled, five tankers carrying Sokol were headed to India last month. But now all five – the NS Commander, Sakhalin Island, Krymsk, Nellis, and Liteyny Prospect – are headed away from India and on to the Malacca Strait, suggesting that India wouldn’t be taking those purchases after all.

  A sixth tanker, the NS Century, which has been idling off Sri Lanka for months caught up by the sanctions, is still in that area, according to the data.

  As of the end of November, India was still considering whether to allow the now-sanctioned tanker carrying Russian oil to approach and dock at one of its ports—a sign that the U.S. clampdown on Russian crude trade could limit India’s ability to buy and import cheaper oil.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 20:20

• Feds Want To Jail Ray Epps For Just 6 Months Over Role In Jan. 6 Riot
  Feds Want To Jail Ray Epps For Just 6 Months Over Role In Jan. 6 Riot

  While several key figures in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were sentenced to 12 – 22 years in prison, the man caught on film repeatedly goading protesters to go inside the Capitol, Ray Epps, faces just six months in jail. According to a 29-page sentencing memorandum, which notes “compelling mitigating factors.”

  

  “Although Epps engaged in felonious conduct during the riot on January 6, his case includes a variety of distinctive and compelling mitigating factors, which led the government to exercise its prosecutorial discretion and offer Epps a pre-indictment misdemeanor plea resolution,” wrote DOJ senior trial counsel Michael Gordon in the sentencing memo. 

  Epps’ attorney, Edward Ungvarsky, argued that Epps should serve no jail time, and that “right-wing political dramaturges” resulted in Epps being “attacked, defamed, and vilified.”

  Oh?

  Why was Ray Epps treated as victim by the same people who condemned almost everyone around him as a threat?

  We try to answer some lingering questions about the one “election-denying-Donald Trump-supporter” the media and the government didn’t seem to hate. pic.twitter.com/1u5dXtSGLv

  — Truth In Media (@Truth_InMedia) November 3, 2023

  Mitigating factors?

  According to the sentencing memorandum, Gordon asserted that Epps “has been the target of a false and widespread conspiracy theory that he was an undercover government agent on January 6.”

  Other mitigating factors included Epps calling the FBI on Jan. 8, 2021 to explain his actions two days prior. Further, Gordon listed his cooperation with both the FBI and the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee (which lost video evidence of their witness interviews), and what the DOJ describes as his efforts to de-escalate tensions between protesters and the police.

  “Epps only acted in furtherance of his own misguided belief in the ‘lie’ that the 2020 presidential election had been ‘stolen,'” reads the memorandum. “However, due to the outrage directed at Epps as a result of that false conspiracy theory, he has been forced to sell his business, move to a different state, and live reclusively.“

  As the Epoch Times reports further, Epps’ photo was removed from the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page without explanation.

  

  On Sept. 18, 2023, prosecutors charged Mr. Epps with one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a petty misdemeanor with a maximum six-month jail term.

  On Sept. 21, 2023, Mr. Epps pleaded guilty to the charge. In mere days, the high-profile case was dispatched, a stark contrast to many Jan. 6 prosecutions that have stretched across nearly three years.

  Sentencing in the case had been scheduled for Dec. 20, 2023, but Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted a continuance until 10 a.m. Jan. 9 at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C.

  In his sentencing memo, Mr. Ungvarsky said Mr. Epps’ intention all along was for peaceful protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

  “Ray Epps understands the serious mistake he made when he joined others to attend the Stop the Steal Rally on January 6, 2021, and to encourage others to walk to the U.S. Capitol to continue to protest,” Mr. Ungvarsky wrote.

  “At all times, Mr. Epps’ intent was that the protest would be peaceful and would be done peacefully,” Mr. Ungvarsky said. “Those were his words on January 5, and that was his intent on January 6.”

  Late on Jan. 2, Mr. Ungvarsky filed a motion asking to shield under court seal the identifying information of persons mentioned in Mr. Epps’ forthcoming sentencing exhibits.

  “For safety concerns, counsel has redacted the names and identifying information of persons who authored or are discussed in exhibits of sentencing letters and memoranda,” Mr. Ungvarsky wrote. “Documented prior harassment and threats provide a specific basis for this request in this case.”

  Ray Epps Sentencing Memo by James Lynch

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 20:00

• Entry-Level Jobs Pay Six Figures In This Gritty Part Of America
  Entry-Level Jobs Pay Six Figures In This Gritty Part Of America

  Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Josef McConnell, a tennis coach from Southern California, had been unemployed for a year after the government response to the pandemic destroyed his business. Then, in 2021, a friend told him that there were good-paying jobs to be had in North Dakota’s Bakken oilfield.

  

  He knew nothing of oilfields, never heard of the Bakken Basin, nor, for that matter, could he say much about North Dakota other than he believed the state to be a cold, flat flyover tundra with corn and cows somewhere near Canada that had previously been “100 percent not on my mind.”

  Nevertheless, Mr. McConnell said, “I picked up everything and left. It was do-or-die.”

  He quickly secured a job laboring at SandPro, a sand, wellhead, and automation management start-up in Berthold, west of Minot. As promised, good-paying jobs were available. As promised, they were muscle jobs, dirty jobs, and long-shift jobs.

  He was “cleaning iron, tearing things apart,” disassembling and rebuilding “frack trees’ that cap fracked—hydraulically fractured—oil wells. It was hard, gritty work, 12 hours a day, for weeks at a time in an industrial beehive down the road and across the highway from downtown Berthold, a towering grain elevator looming as its landmark above bald grassy ridges and cottonwood-framed creek beds.

  But the money was fantastic and, it dawned on him that “this could be a career, not just a job,” Mr. McConnell said.

  “I told myself that if I couldn’t make it through the first winter, this is not for me. I survived. It sucked, but I survived,” he said. “From there on, I tried to learn everything I could. I wanted to know how it worked, what it did. I cross-trained into all the aspects of the business.”

  As SandPro grew, Mr. McConnell, 33, was appointed night-shift supervisor. Last December, he ascended to shop manager. In August, he became a homeowner. “I’d never be able to do that in California,” he said.

  While the 2006–2014 Bakken Play shale boom is over, and the days when oil rigs were anchored on the prairie like ships on seas of waving wheat are long gone, North Dakota’s oil industry has rebounded from its pandemic-induced slump. A sense of steady has settled in.

  

  Right now, an able-bodied unskilled laborer willing to learn and capable of working long and hard can still land a $115,000 entry-level job with room and board and nearly five months off on an oil rig site or with a growing number of independent contractors and start-up oilfield service companies in western North Dakota.

  Right now, the Bakken is where stories like Mr. McConnell’s aren’t stories but invitations. It’s where an Arizona cosmetologist can monitor a rig gate while looking to buy her first home, where a New Jersey geologist can build a company that employs 300 to revive a community where she’s hailed as a hometown hero, where a “disgruntled” airman from Cincinnati can carve a niche and expand it into a broadening entrepreneurial enterprise.

  “The rush is over, and now we’re seeing a maturing of the play,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), a 1998 graduate of Dickinson High School who recalls having to—and being able to—stand in the middle of highways to get cellphone reception before the oil boom.

  As is typical with a “maturing of the play,” most corporate players have moved on. In their wake, new players have emerged: first-time independent contractors and serial entrepreneurs, many under 40, most building local businesses, buying homes, starting families, and growing communities.

  For them, fast money is fine, but sustainable “systemic growth” is preferable, with perfected-in-North-Dakota advances in fracking spurring pioneering innovations in lateral drilling.

  “This is a time of great technological advancements,” North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness said.

  The 31 rigs operating in North Dakota in late December were pumping 1.25 million barrels of shale oil per day to nearly 19,000 wells, a per-rig production that is “a vast improvement” over past proficiency benchmarks, he said.

  With lateral drilling in the Bakken expected to extend beyond four miles by early 2024, “the timeline to drill wells has been compressed” and “opened up a whole new area of the Bakken than was formerly known,” a shale play “we are going to take this technology to and earn from.”

  

  Post-Boom Boon

  Spearheading the Bakken’s post-boom boon are “smaller companies,” Mr. Ness said. “We’ve got so many, typically led by younger people who were working for these larger international service companies, found a niche, and started their own businesses.”

  With oil prices expected to hover in the $70-to-$85 per barrel “sweet spot,” demand for North Dakota oil is projected to grow moderately for the foreseeable future.

  “It’s better than the boom,” SandPro Vice President Joshua Blackaby said. “You want steady work and that’s where we’re at right now. And one of the distinctive things about what’s going on here now is it’s a lot of small companies, a lot of entrepreneurs.”

  According to the North Dakota Job Service, the 31 rigs directly employ 50,000 people with about 35,000 working in field and technical services and about 15,000 toiling directly on sites.

  As of mid-December, more than 3,000 oilfield-related jobs were vacant.

  For the small farming and ranching prairie towns overwhelmed during the boom, infill ambitions spur new commercial construction, revitalized Main streets, and growing schools, with new homes being purchased by 20- and 30-something-year-olds.

  

  “Building schools, building homes, growing communities rather than tearing them down? I think there’s lots of success stories here,” Mr. Ness said.

  “Now, you have an opportunity to grow a life,” Mr. Armstrong said. “That’s a story we are proud to tell.”

  For the independent-inclined, there’s ample opportunity for enterprise, Mr. Blackaby said.

  “If you have any ambition at all, move to North Dakota,” he said. “There’s so much work to be had here. It’s such a business-friendly state and the opportunities … the sky’s the limit.”

  In the Field

  Julie Byron, 33, from Tucson, Arizona, is working in a gate shack with two heaters at her feet. Only those on the crew can gain entry to the Hess rig without checking in with her.

  A cosmetologist “doing pull-tabs at the Legion,” she’d lived in Williston since 2013 but never considered working in the Bakken until a manager suggested she apply for a job with Neset Consulting Services, a Tioga-based company that provides gate monitors, roustabout crews, field medics, mud-loggers, and geologists for oil rig sites.

  Since August, she’s been working seven days on and seven days off in shifts tailored to her needs as a single mother.

  

  It’s fascinating, Ms. Byron said. “This is first time I’m seeing what’s really going on. I said to myself, ‘OK, we’re going to learn this. We’re going to turn this into an opportunity,’” she said. “It’s cool to know the background—the geology, infrastructure, the different jobs—and understand it.”

  She is looking to buy a home in 2024. She still works as a cosmetologist and “does pull-tabs at the Legion” during off-weeks.

  “It’s just me starting over. I’m still figuring this out at 33 years old,” Ms. Byron said. “Was it worth it? One-hundred percent.”

  Ron Budd, 34, delivery services coordinator for Minot-based Creedence Energy Services’ Williston office, moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to North Dakota in 2010 when his stepfather got a job with Haliburton.

  “I was pretty young and didn’t really have it figured out. I was just kind of day-by-day, dead-end jobs,” he recalled. “The job I was working before I came up here was at McDonald’s. I thought of it as hard work. Now, not so much.”

  Mr. Budd said “financial opportunity” became his “driving force to fully commit” to the oilfield. He no longer works directly in the field, but the commitment has panned out, said the father of two.

  “Knowing I could do better for my kids than what I had, knowing that I can have things that no one else in my family has, I buckled down and committed,” Mr. Budd said, noting he has purchased his own home. “Out of my immediate family, I’m the only one that owns a home.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 19:40

• "You Asked A Stupid Question": Vivek Destroys WaPo Reporter Who Demanded Woke Purity Test
  “You Asked A Stupid Question”: Vivek Destroys WaPo Reporter Who Demanded Woke Purity Test

  Vivek Ramaswamy took no shit from a Washington Post reporter this week, whose demand for a ‘woke’ fealty test was completely dismantled by the 2024 GOP candidate.

  

  “You didn’t say you condemn white supremacy,” the reporter snarks.

  To which Ramaswamy replied: “I’m not gonna recite some catechism for you,” adding “I’m not pledging allegience to your new religion of modern wokeism, which actually fits the test. I’m not gonna bend the knee to your religion.”

  “But do I condemn vicious racial discrimination? Yes I do,” he added. “Am I gonna play your silly game of ‘gotcha’? No I’m not. And frankly this is why people have lost trust.“

  Ramaswamy then told her that he knew she was going to go ‘print the headline’ tomorrow: ‘Ramaswamy refuses to condemn white supremacy,’ because you asked a stupid question. The reality is, I condemn vicious racial discrimination in this country. But the kind of vicious and systematic discrimination we see today, is discrimination on the base of race in a very different direction. You wanna know what the best way is to end discrimination is on the basis of race? Stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

  “You people have been responsible for dividing this country to a breaking point, creating a projection of national division,” he continued. “And you with your catechism that you try to get politicians to whatever fake headline you’re gonna print on the basis of this conversation tomorrow, that’s what’s dividing this country to a breaking point. Shame on you.”

  Watch:

  WAPO reporter doubles down: You didn’t say that you condemn white supremacy though.

  She immediately regrets it.@VivekGRamaswamy isn’t going to play the game. pic.twitter.com/2NHshriVZa

  — Chris Carapezza (@Chris_Carapezza) January 3, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 19:20

• "President Clinton Is A Key Person": Epstein Files Finally Unsealed
  “President Clinton Is A Key Person”: Epstein Files Finally Unsealed

  Update (1858ET): The Jeffrey Epstein files have been unsealed. As expected, former President Bill Clinton is prominently featured – as John Doe #36 (for another good look at this – the first of several Epstein doc dumps to come, check out The Reactionary).

  

  As noted by attorney and journalist Techno Fog of The Reactionary…

  “Apart from the defendant [Ghislaine Maxwell] and Epstein, former President Clinton is a key person who can provide information about his close relationship with the Defendant and Mr. Epstein…“

  What’s more, Bill allegedly ‘likes them young’…

  Testimony from one witness:

  Q: “Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?”

  A: “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.”

  👀 pic.twitter.com/bAXCWJ44gn

  — Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) January 3, 2024

  One Epstein accuser also listed George Mitchell, Jeal Luc Brunel, Bill Richardson, Marvin Minsky, and couldn’t remember the names of several other individuals.

  

  Victim Virginia Giuffre states she slept with billionaire Tom Pritzker (another John Doe) “once”

  Pritzker is a member of the prestigious Aspen Institute and Executive Chairman of Hyatt Hotels.

  hello @AspenInstitute pic.twitter.com/z1QDfNfCkG

  — Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) January 4, 2024

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  More allegations by Virginia Giuffre –

  She was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew.

  Maxwell directed her to have sex with billionaire hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin. pic.twitter.com/Tjnciypy7m

  — Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) January 4, 2024

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

  We also learned that accuser Virginia Giuffre testified that she kept a journal filled with the names of men involved with Epstein, only to have burned it in a bonfire.

  

  And who’s not alleged to have gotten a massage from one of Epstein’s girls? Trump…

  Trump cleared by the Epstein List dump: pic.twitter.com/6Qwoi6boHn

  — @amuse (@amuse) January 4, 2024

  And let’s not lose sight of what Epstein’s operation is speculated to really have been about…

  

  For those more interested in the relationship of Epstein to the Intelligence Community than in lurid celebrity details, I recommend searching document 1320-9.pdf for claims about a secret non-prosecution agreement, or ‘NPA’. Grateful for any other such pointers. Thx in advance. pic.twitter.com/gSqyeSbWVe

  — Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) January 4, 2024

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  A good summary:

  

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

  Would Thomas perchance be related to @PennyPritzker who is the head of the Harvard Corporation and the DEI queen who hired Claudine Gay https://t.co/X0X0VQhhPN

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 4, 2024

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  Just the News has all the files here.

  Live discussion:

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

  https://t.co/38wHqc3bBO

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 3, 2024

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

  As noted earlier, the documents include over 150 names which stemmed from a civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking and other charges for participating in Epstein’s enterprise.

  As Axios notes;

  Last month, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered most of the material within 187 entries listed under the pseudonym “J. Doe” be released after Jan. 1. in regard to the suit.

  • In part of that lawsuit, Virginia Giuffre accused Maxwell of facilitating her sexual abuse. The case was settled in 2017, though the terms were not made public at the time.
  • Preska also noted that anyone who may be named in the documents could file an appeal prior to the documents’ release.

  Developing…

  *  *  *

  Documents containing previously unknown names of Jeffrey Epstein associates are set for release on Wednesday, after a New York federal court ordered court documents unsealed, CNBC reports.

  

  Over 150 people are reportedly named in the filings, some of whom have previously been disclosed as connected with the dead pedophile, who was found dead in a New York jail after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.

  “Things should start getting unsealed today,” Edward Friedland, the district executive for that court, told CNBC.

  The  documents were filed in connection with a Manhattan federal court lawsuit brought by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and ‘madam,’ who recruited girls for exploitation by Epstein and pals.

  

  Only Epstein and Maxwell have been criminally charged in connection with his longstanding abuse of girls and young women at residences in New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and elsewhere. -CNBC

  That said, Judge Loretta Preska granted a 30-day extension of the disclosure of several names, including a woman identified as “Doe 107,” in order to review her claim that she faces risk of physical harm in her home country if her name is released.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 18:59

• Trump, Endorsed By All House GOP Leaders, Urges SCOTUS To Overturn Colorado Ballot Ban As Deadline Looms
  Trump, Endorsed By All House GOP Leaders, Urges SCOTUS To Overturn Colorado Ballot Ban As Deadline Looms

  Former President Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a Colorado court’s landmark ruling disqualifying him from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban.

  “The Colorado Supreme Court has no authority to deny President Trump access to the ballot,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the petition.

  “By doing so, the Colorado Supreme Court has usurped Congressional authority and misinterpreted and misapplied the text of section 3.”

  The brief also presents the high court with the question, “Did the Colorado Supreme Court err in ordering President Trump excluded from the 2024 presidential primary ballot?”

  

  As The Hill reports, Trump’s petition asks that the Supreme Court agree to take up the case and immediately reverse the Colorado ruling in a summary decision without oral argument.

  “In our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct,” the petition reads.

  “This Court should grant certiorari to consider this question of paramount importance, summarily reverse the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling, and return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters.”

  The other parties in the case previously agreed the justices should hear the case on an expedited schedule, so a decision may be issued before most states’ primaries, but they did not suggest the high court forgo the step of holding oral arguments.

  Trump’s call follows the Colorado Republican Party, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s (the original defendant in the case), and six voters, request that the U.S. Supreme Court review the case on an expedited basis and give American voters a final answer on whether President Trump is eligible as a candidate.

  “This Court’s resolution of the matter is important to ensure that all Coloradans’ votes are cast only for candidates who are qualified to hold the office of president,” the brief reads.

  “Additionally, the Secretary asks the Court to resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility as expeditiously as possible in light of the upcoming election calendar. This will ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, all Coloradans know whether Trump is eligible to be elected president at the time they cast their ballots.”

  The Colorado GOP had presented the Supreme Court with three questions:

  1. whether Section 3 applies to presidents,

  2. whether Section 3 is self-executing and allows individual states to decide to remove candidates without input from Congress,

  3. and whether denying a political party the right to put any candidates it chooses on the primary ballot violates the First Amendment.

  The Colorado court had put its ruling on hold until tomorrow (Thursday), so Trump could seek review from the Supreme Court.

  If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the decision will be stayed until after the justices decide the case on the merits.

  “The court can’t let state supreme courts make a patchwork of decisions,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, after Colorado’s Dec. 19 ruling.

  “The case brings up an important federal constitutional question with time-sensitive consequences. They will need to act, and act quickly.”

  

  And as Trump pushed SCOTUS for an expeditious decision, the former president has captured the endorsements off all senior members of House GOP leadership.

  As Jackson Richman reports at The Epoch Times, House GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has endorsed former President Donald Trump’s comeback bid – the last House GOP leadership holdout to endorse the former president, who dominates the polls.

  “[President Joe Biden’s] failed policies have left Minnesotans to grapple with double-digit inflation, higher taxes, and a border crisis that has turned every community into a border community,” he said in a Jan. 3 statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

  “Minnesotans and all Americans deserve better,” Mr. Emmer wrote. “It is time for Republicans to come together in support of a leader who has what it takes to get our country back on track. We stand together to endorse Donald J. Trump for President.”

  President Trump has captured the endorsements of all senior members of House GOP leadership: Mr. Emmer, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

  So, where do we stand?

  Simple:

  • If the Supreme Court rejects the case by tomorrow (Jan. 4), President Trump will be removed from the primary ballot.

  • If it rejects the case later, President Trump will remain on the Colorado primary ballot but the issues presented will remain open questions.

  It’s unlikely the Supreme Court will resolve Trump’s appeal before then, meaning he will likely appear on the primary ballots regardless.

  On Jan. 20, county clerks will mail out the ballots to military and oversees voters, and between Feb. 12 and Feb. 16, ballots are mailed to other active registered voters.

  The Colorado primary will be held on March 5.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 18:40

• Chicago Led Nation In Homicides For 12th Year In A Row, Murder-Rate Still 5x NYC's
  Chicago Led Nation In Homicides For 12th Year In A Row, Murder-Rate Still 5x NYC’s

  Authored by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner via Wirepoints.org,

  Count on hearing repeatedly this year from Chicago’s leadership that it successfully brought down the city’s murder total by 13% in 2023. Chicago finished the year with 617 homicides, down from 709 in 2022.

  That’s 92 fewer murders and good news.

  But what you’re unlikely to hear are five additional facts that would temper any optimism gained from that first fact:

  1. Murders across the country fell at record levels in 2023. 

  Overall, homicides nationally are expected to drop 13%, about the same as in Chicago. And murders in other big homicide hotspots like Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans fell by 21 to 31%. Most big cities had bigger percentage drops than Chicago did.

  

  Below we lay out the 2023 data for the 10 homicide hubs in 2022, those cities with the largest number of murders in the country in 2022.

  

  2. Chicago’s 617 homicides swamp that of its two big-city peers. 

  NYC, which has more than triple Chicago’s population, had just 386 murders in 2023. Los Angeles, with 1.2 million more people than Chicago, had just 328 murders.

  Chicago’s 617 homicides led the country for the 12th straight year.

  

  3. Chicago’s murder rate per 100,000 residents, while down slightly in 2023, was the 2nd-highest among the nation’s biggest cities. 

  Overall, only Philadelphia had a worse murder rate than Chicago among peer cities with populations greater than 1.5 million.

  And when it comes to New York City, Chicago’s murder rate remained 5 times higher. If Chicago had had the same murder rate as NYC’s, Chicago would have experienced only 121 murders in 2023, not 617.

  

  4. Chicago’s 617 murder total in 2023 was still up 23% when compared to pre-covid, pre-George Floyd 2019’s 500 murders.

  

  5. Despite the 13% drop in homicides, Chicago’s major crimes jumped by a total of 16% in 2023. 

  Robberies were up 23%. Aggravated batteries, up 6%. Thefts and criminal sexual assaults were both up 3% each. And motor vehicle thefts spiked by 37% to reach a total of nearly 30,000 car thefts. And all that was after major crimes had already jumped 40% between 2022 and 2021.

  

  Overall, 2023 major crimes hit a post-covid record of more than 77,500. That’s 55% higher compared to 2019.

  

  Still leading

  Expect all kinds of spin on Chicago’s crime numbers in 2024, especially in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention in August and elections in November. 

  It’s why we created the Chicago Weekly Crime Tracker so you can easily see for yourself what’s happening across the city.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 18:20

• Dodge-y? These Are The Five Slowest-Selling New Vehicles
  Dodge-y? These Are The Five Slowest-Selling New Vehicles

  Zach Shefska from online automotive marketplace CarEdge revealed a list of the five slowest-selling vehicles currently on the market. 

  Notably, four of these vehicles are from Stellantis’ Dodge brand and one from Ford. This trend might be due to several factors, such as consumers balking at 10% interest rates and near-record-high prices or a possible shift in consumer preferences away from some of these models. 

  According to Shefska, the slowest-selling vehicle in America is the Dodge Ram 2500 truck, with 784 days of supply. 

  #1 RAM 2500

  784 days supply
  $69,408 average listing price
  1,602 actively listed for sale
  92 have sold in the last 45 days

  The 2500 was impacted by a stop-sale in December* pic.twitter.com/D0sZLms1pJ

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  The second vehicle is the Dodge Hornet, with 517 days of supply. 

  #2 Dodge Hornet

  517 days supply
  $39,931 average listing price
  10,781 actively listed for sale
  939 have sold in the last 45 days pic.twitter.com/1yI1RZszuD

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  Third is the Dodge Charger, with 424 days of supply. 

  #3 Dodge Charger

  424 days supply
  $46,687 average listing price
  33,463 actively listed for sale
  3,549 have sold in the last 45 days pic.twitter.com/SVOvy3Kmn5

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  Dodge Challenger is fourth. 

  #4 Dodge Challenger

  362 days supply
  $53,954 average listing price
  25,807 actively listed for sale
  3,205 have sold in the last 45 days pic.twitter.com/v9bfSIKGue

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  And the Ford Mustang Mach-E is fifth. 

  The top 5 SLOWEST selling new cars right now

  #5 Ford Mustang Mach-E

  358 days supply
  $57,114 average listing price
  25,430 actively listed for sale
  3,200 have sold in the last 45 days pic.twitter.com/a4DCD6u2P3

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  Shefska didn’t reveal the methodology used to determine the days of supply for each vehicle. However, he mentioned that Ford reached out to him to correct the information regarding Mach-E’s supply, which was initially reported as a 358-day supply but was actually a 132-day supply.

  Update: @MartinGunsberg from Ford says their dealers have a 132 days supply of inventory. Thanks for the data, Martin.

  The Mach-E might not be one of the slowest selling cars in the United States … check your local dealer’s lot to see. Your mileage may vary! pic.twitter.com/uGaU5hgNjX

  — Zach Shefska (@shefska) January 2, 2024

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  One X user pointed out, “Wow. 4/5ths of the list were made by @Dodge. It’s not looking good for them at all. They desperately need to turn things around with the Charger EV.”

  Wow. 4/5ths of the list were made by @Dodge. It’s not looking good for them at all. They desperately need to turn things around with the Charger EV.

  — Jennifer Montgomery (@JenMontgomery84) January 2, 2024

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

  While consumer tastes could be why Dodge vehicles and Mach-E aren’t selling, the affordability issue is a much more significant driver. 

  “We’ve seen a big reduction in median- and lower-income households” buying new cars, which now “almost exclusively go to the top 20% of income households,” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for researcher Cox Automotive, told Bloomberg. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 17:40

• US Slams Hardline Israeli Ministers For Plan To Expel Palestinians From Gaza
  US Slams Hardline Israeli Ministers For Plan To Expel Palestinians From Gaza

  The Biden administration continues to clash with Israel over Gaza war policy, especially the question of the “day after” Hamas and how the Gaza Strip will be administrated. The White House has sought to advance a plan that would see the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) under Mahmoud Abbas eventually take control of the Strip. Prime Minister Netanyahu has been adamant in rejecting this, decrying the PA as terror sympathizers and supporters.

  Washington on Tuesday condemned remarks by two top Israeli ministers who expressed a policy of fostering the migration of Palestinians from the Strip. Hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir both said Monday they not only want “encourage the migration” of Palestinians from Gaza but they want to begin establishing Jewish settlements in place of Palestinian homes.

  

  In October, a UN expert warned that Israel’s actions were tantamount to textbook ethnic cleansing, given it sets forth a systematic vision of expelling people from their homes and land based on ethnicity.

  Here’s what the controversial ministers said, according to Israeli media translation:

  The war presents an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza,” Ben Gvir told reporters and members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, calling such a policy “a correct, just, moral and humane solution.”

  “We cannot withdraw from any territory we are in in the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing,” he said.

  The “correct solution” to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “to encourage the voluntary migration of Gaza’s residents to countries that will agree to take in the refugees,” Smotrich told members of his Religious Zionism party, predicting that “Israel will permanently control the territory of the Gaza Strip,” including through the establishment of settlements.

  Supporters of this plan have previously urged Arab countries like Egypt or Qatar to take in expelled Palestinians. Arab leaders have reacted fiercely against the statements, rejecting that it’s so much as a possibility that can be broached.

  Importantly, the US State Department issued the following swift rebuke on the same day the statements were made by the Israeli officials: “The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said at a briefing.

  Miller also noted this is not the official policy of the Netanyahu government, saying the Biden administration has been informed “repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.”

  But it remains that Netanyahu has been on record as seeking to convince Arab countries to “absorb” Palestinians, a policy he repeated only last week at a Likud party meeting.

  Following the State Department’s rebuke, Ben Gvir didn’t back down but actually hit back, saying “We highly value America’s friendship, but respectfully, we aren’t another star on the American flag.” He added: “We’ll do what’s best for Israel: facilitating the relocation of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow those in the Israeli-Gaza border communities to return home and live securely while safeguarding the IDF soldiers.”

  Still, the US has refused to impose ‘conditions’ on Israel’s use of American-supplied weaponry, and has done nothing to slow the flow of defense aid, which Israeli forces have been using on Gaza in the fight against Hamas.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/03/2024 – 17:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• 2024: The Year Global Government Takes Shape
  2024: The Year Global Government Takes Shape

  Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

  Global government is the endgame. We know that.

  

  Total control of every aspect of life for every single person on the planet, that’s the goal.

  That’s been apparent to anyone paying attention for years, if not decades, and any tiny portion of remaining doubt was removed when Covid was rolled-out and members of the establishment started outright saying it.

  Covid marked an acceleration of the globalist agenda, a mad dash to the finish line that seems to have lost momentum short of victory, but the race is still going. The goal has not changed, even if the years since may have seen the agenda retreat slightly back into the shadows.

  We know what they want conceptually, but what does that mean practically?

  What does a potential “global government” actually look like?

  First off, let’s talk about what we’re NOT going to see.

  1 – They are not going to declare themselves. No, there will almost certainly never be an official “world government”, at least not for a long time yet. That’s a lesson they learned from Covid — putting a name and a face on globalism only foments collective resistance to it.

  2 – They’re not going to abolish nationhood. You can be sure Klaus Schwab (or whoever) isn’t ever going to appear simulcast on every television in the world announcing that we’re all citizens of ze vurld now and that nation states no longer exist.

  In part because that is likely to focus resistance (see point 1), but mainly because tribalism and nationalism are just too useful to all would-be manipulators of public opinion. And, of course the continuing existence of nation states in no way precludes the existence of a supra-national control system, any more than the existence of Rhode Island, Florida or Texas precludes the existence of the Federal government.

  3 – There will never be an overt declaration of a change of system. We will not be told we are united under a new model, instead the illusion of regionality & superficial variance will camouflage a lack of real choice across the political landscape. A thin polysystemic skin stretched tight over a monosystemic skeleton.

  Capitalism, communism, socialism, democracy, tyranny, monarchy…these words will steadily dilute in meaning, even more than they have already, but they will never be abandoned.

  What globalism will bring us – I suggest – is a collection of nation-states largely in name only, operating superficially different systems of government all built on the same underpinning assumptions and all answering to an unelected and undeclared higher authority.

  …and if that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s essentially what we have already.

  The only major aspects missing are the mechanisms by which this rough model can be transformed into a flowing network, where all corners are eroded and all genuine sovereign powers become entirely vestigial.

  That’s where the three main pillars of global rule come in:

  1. Digital Money

  2. Digital ID

  3. “Climate Action”

  Let’s take a look at each one in turn.

  1. DIGITAL MONEY

  Over 90% of the nations of the world are currently in the process of introducing a new digital currency issued by their central bank. OffG – and others – have been covering the push for a Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) for years now, to the point where we don’t need to rehash old talking points here.

  Simply put, entirely digital money enables total surveillance of every transaction. If the currency is programmable, it would also allow control of every transaction.

  You can read our extensive back-catalogue on CBDCs for more detail.

  Clearly CBDCs are a potentially dystopian nightmare which will infringe the rights of anyone forced to use them….but how are they a building block of global government?

  The answer to that is “interoperability”.

  While the world’s national CBDCs will notionally be separate from one another, the majority are being coded to recognize and interact with each other. They are almost all being developed along guidelines produced by the Bank of International Settlements and other globalist financial institutions, and they are all being programed by the same handful of tech giants.

  A June 2023 report for the World Economic Forum noted the importance of “Central Bank Digital Currency Global Interoperability Principles” and concluded:

  It is crucial for central banks to prioritize interoperability considerations early in the design process by adhering to a set of guiding principles. To facilitate global coordination and ensure harmonious implementation of CBDCs, the development of a comprehensive set of principles and standards becomes imperative. Drawing upon previous research and collaborative efforts, this set of principles can serve as a robust foundation, guiding central banks to proactively consider interoperability from the outset of their CBDC initiatives. By adopting these principles, central banks can work towards creating a cohesive and interconnected CBDC ecosystem.

  Commenting on the report, the World Economic Forum website noted [emphasis added]:

  To ensure successful implementation and promote interoperability, global coordination becomes paramount […] adhering to interoperability principles, CBDCs can advance harmoniously, leading to efficient and interconnected digital payment systems.

  It doesn’t take a genius to decode “global coordination”, “cohesive ecosystem”, “harmonious advancement” and “interconnected payment systems”.

  There is no practical difference between 195 “interoperable” and interconnected digital currencies, and one single global currency.

  In fact “interoperability” is the watchword for all globalist power structures moving forward. Which leads us neatly onto…

  2. DIGITAL IDENTITY

  The global push for mandatory digital identities is even older than the digital currency agenda, dating back to the turn of the century and Tony Blair’s “national identity cards”.

  For decades it has been a “solution” posited to every “problem”.

  Terrorism? Digital identity will keep you safe.

  Illegal immigration? Digital identity will secure the border.

  Pandemic? Digital identity will keep track of who is vaccinated and who is not.

  AI? Digital identity will prove who’s human.

  Poverty? Digital identity will “promote financial inclusion”

  Clearly, just as with CBDCs, a far-reaching digital identity service is a threat to human rights. And, just as with CBDCs, if you interconnect national digital identity platforms you can build a global system.

  Again, it’s all about “interoperability”. They use the exact same language.

  The World Bank’s Identity4Development program claims:

  Interoperability is crucial for developing efficient, sustainable, and useful identity ecosystems.

  The Nordic and Baltic Ministers for Digitalization publicly called for “cross-border” operational digital IDs.

  NGOs like Open Identity Exchange(OIX) are publishing reports on “the need for data standards to enable interoperability of Digital IDs both in federations within an ID ecosystem, and across ID ecosystems.”.

  The list of national governments introducing digital IDs, “partnering” with corporate giants to do so and/or promoting “cross border interoperability” is long, and growing longer all the time.

  In October 2023 the United Nations Development Program published their “guidelines” for the design and use of digital identities.

  There is no practical difference between 195 networked digital identity platforms and one single global identity program.

  OK, so they have global currency and identity programs in place. Now they can control and monitor everyone’s movements, financial transactions, health and more. That’s surveillance and control mechanism, all handled in a distributed model designed to obfuscate the very existence of a global government.

  But what about policy?

  How does this global government hand down policy and legislation without giving away its existence?

  Climate change, that’s how.

  3. “CLIMATE ACTION”

  Climate Change has been at the forefront of the globalist agenda for years. It is the Trojan horse of the antihuman technocrat.

  As long ago as 2010, noted Climate Change “experts” were suggesting that “humans are not evolved enough” to combat climate change and that “It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.”

  More recently, in 2019, Bloomberg was publishing articles with headlines like “Climate Change Will Kill National Sovereignty As We Know It”, and academics are telling us:

  States will remain unable to solve global crises like climate change until they let go of their sovereignty

  For years climate change has been sold as the reason we might be “forced” to abandon democracy or sovereignty.

  Alongside this, there is a prolonged propaganda narrative dedicated to changing “climate change” from an environmental issue into an everything issue.

  At this point all national governments agree “climate change” is an urgent problem requiring global cooperation to solve. They host massive summits at which they sign international agreements, binding nation states to certain policies, for the sake of the planet.

  Having established that model, they are now widening the “climate change” purview. Changing “climate change” into the answer to every question:

  Obviously, “climate change” was always going to impact energy and transport.

  Following Covid, “climate change” has already been re-branded a “health crisis”.

  Now we’re being told “climate change” is generating a food crisis.

  We’re being told that international trade needs to be climate conscious.

  We’re being told by the World Bank that education reform will help the fight against climate change.

  We’re being told by the IMF that every country in the world should tax carbon and, in a recent cross-over episode, that CBDCs can be good for the environment.

  See how it works?

  Agriculture & food, public health, energy & transport, trade, fiscal & taxation policy, even education. Almost every area of government is now potentially covered by the “climate change” umbrella.

  They no longer need a one-world government, they just need a single panel of “impartial international climate change experts” working to save the planet.

  Through the lens of “climate change”, these experts would be empowered to dictate – sorry, recommend – government policy in almost every area of life to every nation on the planet.

  Do you see it yet?

  This is global government in the modern world, not centralised but distributed. Cloud computing. A supranational corporate-technocrat hivemind. With no official existence or authority, and therefore no accountability, and funneling all their policy decisions through one filter – climate change.

  There won’t be a single global currency, there will be dozens and dozens of “interoperable” digital currencies creating an “harmonious payment ecosystem”.

  There won’t be a single global digital identity service, there will be a series of “interconnected identity networks” engaging in the “free flow of data to promote security”.

  There won’t be a global government, there will be international panels of “impartial experts”, appointed by the UN who make “policy recommendations”.

  Most or all of the countries of the world will follow most or all of the recommendations, but anyone who calls these panels global governments will be forwarded fact-checks from Snopes or Politifact  highlighting that “UN expert panels do NOT constitute a global government because they have no legislative power”.

  This, I suggest, is how  global government will take shape in 2024 and beyond.

  Compartmentalized, utterly deniable…but very, very real.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 23:40

• Influential Israeli Politician Urges Army Occupation Of Southern Lebanon For 50 Years
  Influential Israeli Politician Urges Army Occupation Of Southern Lebanon For 50 Years

  Israel’s influential former defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who has long been known as an outspoken hawk aligned with the hardline political opposition, is calling for the Israeli army to occupy southern Lebanon with a goal toward creating a permanent security buffer zone.

  Lieberman is the founder and chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing secular nationalist party which is most influential among Israel’s million-plus Russian-speaking immigrant community. Lieberman said in the fresh, controversial comments that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must “close off” a broad swath of southern Lebanon in order to force Hezbollah to relocate north of the Litani river.

  

  He said this must be done even if it means the IDF must occupy Lebanon for 50 years. Hezbollah must “pay in territory” he said, referencing the now daily rocket and drone attacks on northern Israeli communities which forced some 80,000 residents to flee their homes.

  “It can’t be that there are entire towns where close to half of the buildings were simply destroyed,” he said during Yisrael Beytenu party’s weekly meeting.

  “We will not annex anything, and we will not build settlements, but we will release the territory only when there is a government in Beirut that knows how to exercise its sovereignty.”

  “Everything between the Litani and Israel must be under the control of the IDF,” he emphasized. “If Lebanon won’t pay in territory we haven’t done anything.”

  Israeli media then cited his words further as follows:

  [This buffer zone] could be there “until a government is established in Beirut that is able to exercise its sovereignty over the entire territory” which could take up to 50 years.

  But if Israeli forces were to initiate such a plan, it would surely open up a full war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which in the 2006 Lebanese war was proved a formidable guerilla force against the IDF. 

  

  On Tuesday, Israel conducted a strike against a Hamas office in a Beirut suburb, killing Hamas’s deputy leader abroad Saleh al-Arouri, which marks a major escalation. This has sparked new fears of Hezbollah heightening its attacks, also with the possibility of deepened Iranian involvement against Israel. The Houthis in Yemen, which have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, also warn this act “won’t go unpunished”. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 23:20

• When Killing The Enemy Wasn't Enough
  When Killing The Enemy Wasn’t Enough

  Authored by John J. Waters via RealClear Wire,

  I wrote earlier this month about the “final class” of Marine Corps Scout Snipers. The Marine Corps is in process of discontinuing its infantry Scout Sniper platoons in favor of something called “scout platoons.” Undoubtedly, many meetings and opinions went into the final decision, including consideration of an incident that occurred in Afghanistan in 2011, when a few Scout Snipers from Third Battalion, Second Marines (3/2) were videotaped urinating on Taliban corpses in Helmand Province. The Marines identified in that video were swiftly condemned, punished and made outcasts by the press, politicians and senior military officers. Among the foot soldiers, however, those same Marines were highly regarded for courage demonstrated on many, many combat missions. I pick up my conversation about the Iliad with classicist Emily Wilson on this particular episode from the War on Terror. You can find part one of our conversation here.

  

  After the video became public, one of the Marines who participated was questioned about why he did it. “[Because] killing these assholes was not enough,” he said. Can you situate this story of the 3/2 Scout Snipers into an ancient context?

  There is a focus on honoring the dead. It’s a clear line that is constantly crossed even in the first lines of the poem, when we find that, after their death, men become food for dogs and birds, and are eaten off the battlefield. Later, Hector begs Achilles that if he is killed, Hector’s body will at least be returned to his parents, but Achilles says “no,” that Hector is an idiot to think he will return the body. Achilles wants only to punish Hector more and more and even more. I can see how you can be in that mindset, how you want not to treat the enemy as human and not allow for these rituals or humane treatments across boundaries. What happens at the end of The Iliad, when Priam crosses over to the camp of Achilles and both men grieve, is that we recognize we need the common rituals, that we all lose something in war.

  Those Scout Snipers believed they had killed Taliban fighters who laid IEDs against their brothers. They sought vengeance, in other words. Once, in the months and years after 9/11, we all had sought vengeance. A combat veteran who won the Medal of Honor told me “Nothing flips a man’s dial back to ready like telling him, ‘This one took our boy.’” Why do we need vengeance?

  Vengeance, in a way, is proof that people love each other. People love each other so much that they become so close, like second selves, and when your person dies, it’s understandable to want payback for that terrible loss. We see that kind of intimate love most obviously between Achilles and Patroclus. They’ve been fighting together for almost 10 years. Achilles refuses to fight, when his honor is violated by Agamemnon, but all that changes when Hector takes Achilles’ boy, so to speak. That flips his switch. Achilles mutates and no longer cares about his grievance against Agamemnon; he cares only about obliterating Hector and obliterating the whole city because he has infinite rage and grief.  The most special person in the world has been killed.

  Michael Monsoor was killed in Ramadi in 2006. He was given the Medal of Honor for sacrificing himself when he smothered a grenade and saved the lives of his teammates. His father wanted only the truth about his death. He wanted to know the facts. Many parents want to know if we killed the one who did it to their boy. Michael’s father only wanted to know the truth. Can you reconcile those interests? 

  That’s such a difficult story. I don’t know exactly where to go in The Iliad. It’s making me think about particular characters who want to be the subject of song, the subject of a song by a person who sings about glory and heroics. Is The Iliad focused on telling everything that happened or just the heroic things that happened? Clearly, it’s not a literal telling. And yet it is focused on telling you more than just Achilles was great and this is why he was great.

  When Hector is dead, we have three different laments. One comes from his mother, Hecuba. She wants that version of him that many people want, which is how glorious Hector had been. She wants people to tell her the story about how her son never flinched in combat, even though the reader of the poem knows that’s not true and in fact, he ran from Achilles. Her grief inspires her need to idealize her son in death. Hector’s wife, Andromache, thinks of his courage but also his rashness, how his decision to leave the city has caused her son to be killed. She sees his sacrifice as debatable. Finally, there is Helen. She gives a narrative about how Hector was a kind man when nobody else was kind to her. The poem gives us all these alternative ways of grieving and remembering.

  I have read Homer’s poems at different points in my life, and my reading has raised a personal question that I explore in a novel called River City One. The question is whether a soldier ever comes home from war. What do you think?

  Yes, whether the nostos (home-coming journey) is ever fully complete. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey show soldiers coming home from war. Odysseus comes home geographically but is he home just because he is in that same physical space? No — that happens halfway through the poem and the story isn’t over. Is he home once he reestablishes relationships with Telemachus and Penelope? Many people including in antiquity thought the story should end right there in Book 23, after he kills the suitors and makes love to his wife – but the poem continues, and the story actually ends when Odysseus keeps slaughtering people before he is stopped by Athena. So, has he really come home? The poem seems to show that he has several selves and several homes to come back to – and one of them, paradoxically, is the battlefield, and the warrior self that he might seem to have left behind. In The Iliad, Hector feels compelled to leave home. Family members are repeatedly begging him not to leave the city, but he leaves and comes home only when he’s dead, to be wept over by the women. We know Achilles will never go home geographically; he knows he’ll die if he stays to fight at Troy, so once he rejoins the battle, we know that’s a choice not to go home again. One can say there is a kind of homecoming in the moment he has with Priam at the end of the poem, such that there is a moment to mourn and eat and not perform in his role as killer and avenger. Is that a kind of temporary “home”?   I don’t know. Both of the Homeric poems wrestle with the question, whether warriors ever go home again. The answer is uncertain.

  John J. Waters is the author of the postwar novel River City One (Simon and Schuster), and a former deputy assistant secretary of homeland security.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 23:00

• US Debt Hits A Record $34.001 Trillion
  US Debt Hits A Record $34.001 Trillion

  The US Treasury has a morbid habit of revealing big, round numbers of debt around major calendar milestones, and the new 2024 year was no different because according to the latest Treasury Daily Statement published after the close today and reflecting the US Treasury’s financial statements as of Dec 29, 2023, total US debt as of the end of the year was – drumroll – just over $34 trillion for the first time ever, or $34,001,493,655,565.48 to be precise.

  

  Since this is a topic we have covered more or less daily for our 15 year existence, we don’t need to say much suffice to show a chart of total US debt since zerohedge launched in Jan 2009, when total US debt was only $10.6 trillion. We sure have gone a long way since then.

  

  Some context: US debt increased by…

  • $1 trillion in the past 3 months
  • $2 trillion in the past 6 months
  • $4 trillion in the past 2 years
  • $11 trillion in the past 4 years

  … and so on. You get the exponential picture. At this point everyone knows how this ends – certainly the CBO does…

  

  … but since there is no way to reverse the catastrophic outcome, there is no point in even talking about it. At best, one may only prepare for the inevitable hyperinflationary outcome, which would be good news to what is now over $1 trillion in interest expense: after all, someone has to devalue the currency all that interest is payable in.

  

  And since there is no longer a way out, we may as well joke about it so consider this: in the third quarter when US GDP supposedly grew at a 4.9% annualized rate – hardly the stuff of recessions – rising $547 billion in nominal (not real) dollars, the US budget deficit increased by a whopping $622 billion.

  

  This not only explains where US “growth” has come from, but begs the question just how much debt will be needed when the US falls into an official recession.

  Or actually not, because at this point the best anyone can do is polish the brass on the titanic while waiting for the inevitable, captures so vividly by the following endgame chart.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 22:32

• How Can The U.S. Political Class Build Trust With Young Americans?
  How Can The U.S. Political Class Build Trust With Young Americans?

  Submitted by James Durso, a regular commentator on foreign policy and national security matters. Mr. Durso served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and has worked in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

  The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute recently released the results of the 2023 Reagan National Defense Survey.

  The survey found that Americans support increased spending for a strong national defense, engagement with the world, and strong support for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

  

  However, in may key areas, the preferences of young Americans (under 30 years old AKA Gen Z) diverged from those of older Americans, and these differences were highlighted by the Hamas attack on Israel.

  Overall, Americans support increased military spending by 77%, but support for an engaged foreign policy is at 42%, down from 51% in 2019. (Americans under 30 want the U.S. to be more engaged and “take the lead” at 29%.) There is consistent, stable support for maintaining bases overseas at 66%, but declining confidence U.S. would win against a nuclear power at 44% (65% in 2018.)

  China seen as greatest nation-state threat to U.S. at 51%, up from 21% in 2018, and there is strong majority strong majority support for security assistance (weapons sales) to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan at 71%. 51% would encourage a family member to join the military, falling to 44% for the under 30s.

  The military remains America’s most trusted institution in that 46% express a “great deal of confidence,” but that falls to 30% for those under 30. The survey points out that is down from 70% in 2018 and has been holding steady in the high 40s for the last three years, that is, “under water.”

  Perhaps reflecting this, “about one-in-ten Americans under the age of 30 are extremely or very willing to serve in the U.S. military.” This aligns with the Pentagon’s surveys that found, among youth aged 16 to 21, about 10% are interested in military service.

  The Pentagon found the top reasons for lack of interest in enlisting are “Possibility of physical injury/death” and “Possibility of PTSD or other emotional/psychological issues.”

  These have been issues in every war ever, but young Americans may be sensitive to them now because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were failures, and the attention given to “wounded warrior” organizations that highlight the life-changing injuries suffered by fighting men and women, which may discourage enlistments.

  Is it worth losing your legs just to get the GI Bill especially when there is a lot of scholarship money out there?

  And half of those polled would encourage a friend/family member to join the military 51%, falling to 44% for those under 30.

  Youth indifference to military service may present the Pentagon with a future dilemma: If it gets all the money it wants for ships, aircraft, and armored vehicles, who will maintain and operate them?

  And it’s not a hypothetical that may happen tomorrow.

  Over the course of 2023, the Navy reduced the crew size of the newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), by 500 to 600 sailors who have not been replaced, even though the ship is currently deplored to the Mediterranean and close to the action in Gaza.

  Taken to an extreme, a shortage of people may affect the country’s military options and, in a crisis, the Pentagon may advise the president to adopt a high-risk strategy early as the country cannot afford an extended conflict unless it institutes conscription, which is unlikely unless the Congress declares war.

  Letter to America

  In November 2023, TikTokers discovered Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” which was al-Qaeda’s justification for attacking America on 11 September 2001.

  A video about the letter was apparently first shared on TikTok and it got about 800,000 views and over 80,000 likes. Some other TikTokers also posted about the letter with similar results. Soon the hashtag #lettertoamerica was born, but it only took off when journalist Yashar Ali tweeted about it and it soon secured 14 million views, though some were critical of the posting.

  Among the reactions to the letter were, “everything we learned about the Middle East, 9/11, and ‘terrorism’ was a lie,” “I will never look at life the same. I will never look at this country the same,” “Osama bin Laden’s letter is not as crazy and threatening as I expected, is well written, and makes some objectively true points,” and “Osama bin Laden was good. Even better than us.”

  After young Americans on TikTok expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden, the White House had to remind everyone that Osama bin Laden was a bad, bad man.

  How could young Americans ever think “maybe this bin Laden guy has something to say!” after he murdered almost 3,000 of their countrymen? Why not trust government figures or establishment journalism on what bin Laden was?

  Well, because the establishment hasn’t given them any reason to be trusted. The government and its media acolytes promoted the 2003 invasion of on Iraq which was based on lies: that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was cooperating with bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist group.

  Then there’s Afghanistan. According to the Afghanistan Papers exposé senior American officials knew the U.S.-led NATO campaign was failing, but they kept it going for almost 20 years until the Taliban victoriously entered Kabul on 15 August 2021.

  In 2011, the U.S. led the attack on Libya and destroyed the functioning government that was cooperating with Washington, and kicked off a migrant wave that upended politics in Europe. U.S. troops are still in Syria because mumble-mumble terrorism, though the Islamic State was defeated in 2018. Then it was All Aboard! to fight the Russians in Ukraine, but then the U.S. political class and media dropped Ukraine when Israel was attacked by Hamas.

  Young Americans are likely realizing that their country is led by unserious people who lie to them as a matter of course.

  Hamas and Israel

  After the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, a Quinnipiac University poll found that American voters sympathizing with the Palestinians increased from 13 percent to 24 percent.

  According to Quinnipiac, “The shift is largely driven by respondents under 35 years old, who overwhelmingly said they disapprove of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack (66 percent), have greater sympathy for Palestinians in the conflict than Israelis (52 percent) and believe the U.S. is too supportive of Israel (50 percent).”

  According to a CNN poll, when asked whether Israel’s response to the Hamas attack was fully justified, only 27 percent of Americans aged 18-34 agreed, as opposed to 81 percent of Americans over age 65.

  A recent Harvard/Harris poll found most Americans believe Israel “is trying to avoid civilian casualties” but also “the vast majority of young American adults believe Jews are oppressors, that the 10/7 attack is justified by Jews’ prior actions.” The poll also found 78% of Americans aged 18-34 believe Israel has a right to exist.

  A December Quinnipiac University poll found “voters 18 – 34 years old (72 – 21 percent) and voters 35 – 49 years old (53 – 38 percent) oppose [sending more military aid to Israel],” though all voters polled were more evenly split with 45 percent supporting and 46 percent opposing military aid.

  And a new Economist/YouGov survey found that 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 believe the Holocaust is a “myth.” The results led to a lot of excited commentary and a suggestion that the feds provide funding for Holocaust education.

  A more likely explanation, according to Ilya Somin, is young Americans’ ignorance of history, and “ambiguities in the survey question.” Somin says, “…most surveys of political and historical knowledge find that it is inversely correlated with age; that is, younger people tend to know less than older ones.”

  Also, Israel can no longer “control to a significant degree the flow of information and the moral framing of its wars” due to what is known as “networked tribalism” which “bypasses traditional media by directly delivering information and moral framing to people using social networks” and has emerged to wage moral warfare in opposition to Israel.

  An example is the 31 billion #freepalestine posts on TikTok, or the mobile phone-ready video of Hamas fighters on the Telegram app, in contrast to the official spokesman if the Israeli Defense Forces standing at a podium briefing reports from legacy media.

  The poll results may also be colored by the tendency for youth to reflexively oppose anything their elders insist on, but many of them sincerely support the Palestinians. After all, Israel has nuclear weapons, the most modern military in the region, and carte blanche from Washington so, many students will ask, who is the real underdog here?

  The Brookings Institution recently reported, “Even before the Hamas invasion, there were distinct generational differences in Americans’ attitudes towards Israel,” and, “…only 41% of those aged 18-29 had a favorable view of Israel, compared to 69% of those aged 65 or older,” so  U.S. Middle East policy may change as they ascend to positions of power, which should be an incentive to Israel to make an equitable deal with the Palestinians before its patron starts leaning in the other direction.

  Another metric on youth sentiment may be seen on TikTok where #freepalestine has 31 billion posts compared to 590 million for #standwithisrael, which lead The New Arab to claim, “Palestinian solidarity won the internet.” The U.S. has the most TikTok users – 116.5 million – so the overall number may reflect young Americans’ thinking.

  The Causes

  The Reagan Foundation says many Americans favor a forward-leaning national security posture, but young Americans appear less interested in that idea.

  The military, key to those visions of “American leadership,” is not an attractive option when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is reporting a labor shortage, and UPS drivers recently secured a $170,000 in pay and benefits package. And why risk life and limb for college tuition money when much scholarship money goes begging? In fact, UPS will pay your college tuition and you won’t have to get shot at to earn it.

  The Hamas attack on Israel has created a febrile atmosphere where you are with Israel or you are a Hamas apologist. Young Americans may be less seized with Jerusalem’s problems due to their immediate economic concerns and a lack of confidence in the country’s leaders who lied about Iraq and Afghanistan with no consequences.

  But it’s not just the liars in Washington, D.C. who made a hash of things. Parents and teachers must shoulder some of the blame for the lack of critical thinking skills in many young Americans.

  American students have been in the care of “anti-imperialist” educators with less interest in civic education than in the “anti-racist” 1619 Project and  “decolonizing the curriculum” instead of teaching the three Rs.

  The result: American students are falling behind the rest of the world and their test scores lag the global average. It is no surprise that a bad education would combine with a lack of trust in institutions to make some young Americans interested in reading with interest the words of Osama bin laden – the greatest mass murderer in American history.

  And knowing they were lied to may explain the failure of the military to attract enough qualified recruits, which is part of a long-term trend of “historically low faith in U.S. institutions” reported by Gallup. Who wants to be the cannon fodder in the next war fought for nebulous “American interests” when you can be sure no one named Bush or Obama will be in that foxhole with you?

  Gen Z members suffer from high levels of depression and anxiety and are most likely to report their mental health as being poor. Young Americans are waiting longer to get married, and women aged 25 to 34 are increasingly likely to die in the late 20s to early 30s than at any time since the 1940s. They believe the world is more dangerous than at any point in modern history. Poor mental health, a bad education, a lack of trust in institutions, and the sense their economic prospects are limited and the American Dream is out of reach, are what’s needed to create a population that will withdraw from civic life, further weakening the country.

  In other words, the kids aren’t alright, and the country’s leaders must decide how to put them right if they want to rebuild trust.

  You could blame a lack of civic education in America, but young Americans are rightly dubious when they see retired military officers on TV demanding the U.S. be all-in defending a wealthy country with the most advanced military in the Middle East, if for no other reason that it disqualifies Washington as a future mediator of a Middle East peace agreement, and will probably isolate the U.S. and make it unable to summon a coalition when one is needed to defend U.S. interests.

  With the attack on Gaza is still in process, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant is promoting what may turn into another overseas (mis)adventure for the U.S. (and France) – peacekeeping duty separating the Israelis and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. The usual cable TV “military analysts” will probably be all for this, claiming America’s “credibility” is at stake, but forgetting what happened the last time U.S. and French troops were in close proximity to a Lebanese militia sponsored by Iran.

  The Challenging Way Ahead

  So, how can the U.S. political class build trust with young Americans?

  It will take longer than one election cycle, and will tax Washington’s discipline as it will have to execute consistently over the long term, and display the focus and application usually only found in modernizing authoritarian governments. But the priority should be to put the country’s financial house in order which benefits all Americans young and old.

  America is about $34 Trillion in debt, over $100,000 per citizen; its bond rating was recently cut to AA+; borrowing costs are climbing and debt service will soon be bigger than the Defense Department budget by 2024, and interest payments on the debt are currently on “track to nearly double between 2020 and 2023 and projected to double again by 2032,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes, partly because the U.S. government now has to roll over money it borrowed for cheap at much higher rates.

  Washington should be less casual about committing troops abroad, because isn’t 750 bases in 80 countries enough?

  And Congress must insist on carrying out its constitutional responsibility to declare war, rather than proffering an Authorization for Use of Military Force fig leaf, which relieves it of responsibility but allows the president to set the terms and duration of a conflict.

  America should reconsider what it means to be “engaged” – warfare and sanctions, or trade and diplomacy – because the military’s recruiting woes and the latest tension in the Middle East will pass, because young Americans may have a different vision and, pretty soon, they’re going to be in charge.

  James Durso (@james_durso) is a regular commentator on foreign policy and national security matters. Mr. Durso served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and has worked in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 22:20

• Israel Assassinates Deputy Head Of Hamas In Drone Attack On Beirut Suburb
  Israel Assassinates Deputy Head Of Hamas In Drone Attack On Beirut Suburb

  Update (1215ET): Hamas has now officially confirmed the death of high-ranking political official Saleh al-Arouri. There was previous confirmation through various sources, including in Israeli media, yet the IDF has yet to take responsibility for the attack:

  Hamas’s deputy leader abroad Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen reports.

  …Based in Lebanon, al-Arouri, 57, was deputy head of the terror group’s political bureau and considered the de facto leader of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank.

  Israeli intelligence officials believe that al-Arouri also helped plan the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens — Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel — as well as numerous other attacks.

  He had served several terms in Israeli jails, and was released in March 2010 as part of efforts to reach a larger prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit, an IDF corporal kidnapped by Hamas in 2006

  

  As both the founding commander of Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and as Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Arouri is among the highest ranking Hamas figures to have ever been assassinated by Israel. Hamas has also said two other members of the Qassam Brigades were killed in the attack.

  Why it matters: Arouri is the most senior Hamas leader that was killed since the October 7 attack. The assassination which took place in the heart of Beirut very close to Hezbollah’s headquarters could push the Lebanese militia to escalate its attacks against Israel https://t.co/Lxb5enkt7U

  — Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) January 2, 2024

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  An Al-Mayadeen correspondent in the southern suburbs of Beirut has said that six people in total were killed as a result of three missiles that struck the building from a low-flying Israeli drone.

  This escalatory event has sparked new fears that Iran is about to get more deeply involved, as its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah has already escalated attacks on northern Israel, and is expected to further.

  Israel is vowing more such targeted assassinations of top Hamas leadership to come…

  Israeli officials: All Hamas leaders are on the hit list. https://t.co/azi3a4c6Gl

  — EndGameWW3 🇺🇸 (@EndGameWW3) January 2, 2024

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  * * *

  There are breaking reports via Lebanese state media and AFP saying that Israel has conducted a strike against a Hamas office in a Beirut suburb. 

  Lebanese security sources have said a senior Palestinian official was killed in an explosion in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which is also considered a Hezbollah stronghold. However, there is little that is verified at this point. According to breaking news wires:

  DEPUTY HEAD OF HAMAS POLITBURO KILLED IN BEIRUT: MAYADEEN TV

  Unconfirmed reports that a drone hit a car in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/L0Y5Zck71n

  — Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) January 2, 2024

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  Washington Post Beirut correspondent Sarah Dadouch has confirmed there was a large explosion in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood, writing that “a Hezbollah spokesman told me a Palestinian official headquarters was targeted in Dahieh.”

  At statement in Lebanese state media further says it was an Israeli drone that targeted the Hamas office in Dahieh. Lebanese News Agency is reporting 4 dead and several wounded in the attack, as emergency personnel continue responding to the scene.

  In prior major flare-ups in fighting between Palestinians and Israel, Israel’s military has conducted such targeted operations on offices in Beirut, but this certainly will be seen as a major escalation by Hezbollah, which offers these Palestinian groups protection.

  Seeing more indications from a few reliable sources on social media that the explosion tonight in Dahiyeh, a #Hezbollah stronghold, may have been targeting a Palestinian HVT. Lots of #Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders frequent Beirut. pic.twitter.com/U2xNnYo8m7

  — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 2, 2024

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  developing…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 22:11

• Who Are America's Most Popular CEOs?
  Who Are America’s Most Popular CEOs?

  What do the employees at America’s largest companies think of the leadership?

  To answer that, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu and Pallavi Rao visualize CEO approval ratings gathered by professional social network Blind.

  The results are based on a survey of 13,171 verified professionals in the U.S., conducted between August 18th–23rd, 2023. Respondents were asked if they approve or disapprove of the way their CEO is handling their job.

  

  Top 10 Popular CEOs By Their Employees’ Approval Ratings

  By far, the most popular CEO right now (according to Blind’s respondents anyway) is Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, with an astonishing 96% approval rating.

  Huang’s numbers point to a theme in the data. Blind notes that there is a correlation between company stock performance and CEO approval rating. Nvidia’s critical role in the artificial intelligence hype train has sent shares up nearly 3x year-on-year. Their financials for the last three quarters show that profit is already up more than four-fold from last year.

  Crucially, Huang also avoided layoffs that were otherwise rampant in the tech industry, helping his popularity amongst the staff.

  Here are the top 10 most popular CEOs according to Blind’s poll.

  

  In fact, the Blind survey uncovered that all of the 10 most popular CEOs, with the exception of Andrew Anag from AutoDesk, did not cut jobs in the last year.

  The opposite is true for some of the lowest-rated CEOs.

  The Least Popular CEOs By Employee Approval Ratings

  Eric Nordstrom (Nordstrom) and David Goeckeler (Western Digital) shared the lowest approval rating possible in the poll: 0%. From Blind’s methodology section, this means not a single surveyed employee answered “strongly approve” or “somewhat approve” to the question.

  Both companies cut nearly 200 jobs in 2023, with Nordstrom also responsible for the job losses amongst the company’s wage workers, who staffed the many retail stores the company shuttered.

  Here’s the top 10 least popular CEOs according to Blind’s poll.

  

  Also featuring on this list of least-liked CEOs: Evan Spiegel (3%), who reduced Snap’s workforce by a fifth and Linda Yaccarino (4%), who heads X (formerly Twitter) that has been in turmoil since Elon Musk acquired the company in October, 2022.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 22:00

• FDA Identified Problems At Moderna Plant Making Substance For COVID Vaccine: Document
  FDA Identified Problems At Moderna Plant Making Substance For COVID Vaccine: Document

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

  U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors uncovered problems at a Moderna plant used to manufacture a substance that is part of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to a newly released document.

  

  Moderna failed to meet multiple requirements, including rules aimed at minimizing the potential for contamination, according to the document.

  FDA inspectors performed inspections at the plant in Norwood, Massachusetts from, Sept. 11 to Sept. 21, visiting nine times in total.

  They found that equipment used to manufacture the substance was not cleaned properly before usage, that a mock cleaning done for manufacturing did not adequately simulate the actual process, that written alarm procedures were not followed, and that neither the equipment nor the plant were designed in a way that would make contamination less likely.

  Inspectors also learned that Moderna used materials beyond their expiration date.

  “There are more than two thousand expired items stored in your … warehouse and cold storage at time of inspection,” Unnee Ranjan, the FDA’s lead investigator, wrote in a summary of the inspections.

  The Epoch Times obtained the 6-page document, an FDA Form 483, through a Freedom of Information Act request after the FDA’s media office refused to release it.

  The FDA under federal law has the power to inspect facilities and deliver a report setting forth any item produced in a facility that seems to “consist in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance” or “has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.”

  A Form 483 is a type of agency report containing “observations” that FDA inspectors “deem to be objectionable.” The observations are delivered to help companies comply with federal law and FDA regulations.

  The substance in question was used in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, the company’s sole product available to the public, according to the form.

  Moderna released eight batches of the substance as it violated manufacturing rules, FDA inspectors said.

  It was not clear whether any of the vaccines distributed commercially contained the substance in question.

  “The FDA does not discuss compliance matters, except with the company involved,” an FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

  “Upon receipt of the FDA’s findings, Moderna immediately and comprehensively updated the specific procedures identified and is confident that the actions taken will be satisfactory to regulators,” Moderna said in a statement.

  Moderna said all product released by the company was tested and meets product specifications and international regulatory requirements.

  Steven Lynn, a former head of the FDA’s Office of Manufacturing and Product Quality who is now a regulatory compliance consultant, said using the drug substance in question was a serious matter but that it was unclear whether the batches were released to consumers.

  The FDA has not issued a recall of any Moderna vaccines, according to its recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts database.

  In 2021, Japan suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna’s COVID vaccine after contaminates were found in some vials produced by Rovi, a contract manufacturer based in Spain. No manufacturing problems have previously been reported in any of Moderna’s own facilities.

  Another part of the FDA report, dated Sept. 21, described how the Norwood facility did not have adequately designed air handling systems to “assure appropriate air quality in the … cleanroom in which the mRNA drug substance is manufactured.”

  Inspectors also said they found positive air pressure was not “consistently maintained” between cleanrooms and airlocks and that monitoring data showed the cleanroom pressure turned negative between January and September. That development was “not assessed for potential impact,” they said.

  “At face value, it appears multiple controls designed to prevent contamination were deficient,” Mr. Lynn said.

  Another recently released document, produced by the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network on orders from a federal judge, showed the FDA detected in Andover, Massachusetts, issues with the manufacture of a substance used in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Pfizer said in response it had taken actions to correct the issues.

  Reuters contributed to this report. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 21:40

• Survivors Of Oct. 7 Music Rave Massacre Sue Israel For Negligence
  Survivors Of Oct. 7 Music Rave Massacre Sue Israel For Negligence

  Dozens of injured survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre at a music festival close to the Gaza Strip have filed a $56 million suit against the Israeli government, alleging various forms of negligence that resulted in unavoidable casualties.   

  Declaring that “the negligence and the gross oversight is beyond belief,” the 42 plaintiffs have targeted four government entities: the Israeli Defense Forces, the Shin Bet internal security service, the Defense Ministry, and Israel Police. According to the suit, 364 attendees were killed and 40 kidnapped and taken to Gaza.  

  #BREAKING Israel music festival-goers fled in hail of bullets

  People tried to flee the site, running across the sand and getting into their cars to drive away. Partygoers said there were jeeps full of gunmen, shooting at the cars.

  Over 260 bodies were found at the site of the… pic.twitter.com/RvgOuxAodr

  — IMedia (@imediaxyz) October 8, 2023

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  The IDF conducted two security assessments over the night leading into Oct. 7, sparked by unusual observations on the border with Gaza. However, no warnings were given to the organizers of the Supernova rave — despite the fact that Shin Bet had taken the threat seriously enough that it deployed to the area soldiers from its unit responsible for thwarting abductions. It’s also been reported that military units put on alert didn’t know the festival was going on. 

  “A single phone call by IDF officials to the commander responsible for the party to disperse it immediately in view of the expected danger would have saved lives and prevented the physical and mental injuries of hundreds of partygoers, including the plaintiffs,” they say in their filed complaint. 

  In a particularly grim twist of fate, the festival was originally slated to last only two days — Oct. 5 and 6. However, earlier in the week of the event, organizers requested and were granted permission to extend it to Oct. 7.  The “Gaza Division’s operations officer, Lt. Col. Sahar Fogel, opposed the extension, arguing it was a needless security risk, but was told by his superiors to approve it,” writes Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp, citing Israeli newspaper Haaretz. 

  

  An expert cited by the plaintiffs said the IDF shouldn’t have approved the festival at all, given its location: “The event was held a small distance from the Strip’s border. The noise from the party was heard by Gazan residents and revelers were an easy target for the terror attack.”

  The plaintiffs also fault the police for positioning only 27 officers to secure the festival, with the great majority armed only with pistols, in an alleged failure to comply with regulations requiring long arms when deployed so close to Gaza.  

  

  According to Haaretz, the permit signed by an IDF colonel said “the northern brigade is responsible for regional security during the event in the fence space across from the Gaza Strip.” However, attendees say no soldiers were positioned there. In the most damning fact of the day, the festival came under attack at around 6:30am and the IDF didn’t arrive until 3pm.   

  Some of the civilian casualties from the music festival were caused by IDF Apache helicopter fire which was directed at vehicles driving into Gaza, as well as people getting out of vehicles and walking through nearby fields.   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 21:20

• California Hospitals Slammed As Illegal Immigration Costs Soar
  California Hospitals Slammed As Illegal Immigration Costs Soar

  Authored by Brad Jones and John Fredricks via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Some hospitals in Southern California are struggling with an influx of illegal immigrants amid the border crisis, while American patients are enduring longer wait times for doctor appointments due to a nursing shortage in the state, according to two health care professionals.

  

  A health care worker at a hospital in Southern California, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job, told The Epoch Times that “the entire health care system is just being bombarded” by a steady stream of illegal migrants in recent years.

  Some migrants get hurt crossing the desert or injured climbing the border wall, while others are injured in accidents, especially when too many occupants are packed into one vehicle, said the health care worker.

  Severely injured illegal migrants are often rescued by helicopter and flown to trauma centers in Southern California, she said.

  “They’re falling off the wall,” she said. “They’re always flown. They’re never put in the back of an ambulance.”

  With a typical helicopter rescue costing around $30,000, without factoring in the costs of medication and medical staff at the hospitals, “who pays for that?” she asked.

  “Our health care system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she said.

  Total U.S. apprehensions of illegal and inadmissible aliens in fiscal year 2023—from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023—were 3.2 million. In fiscal year 2022, it was more than 2.7 million. Counting “known gotaways”—those who Border Patrol agents record but don’t catch—more than 8 million illegal immigrants have entered the country in less than three years under the Biden administration.

  

  

  Language Barrier

  Illegal migrant patients are usually accompanied by their sponsors who advocate for them, but language barriers still pose a problem for doctors and other hospital staff, said the health care worker.

  “Not everybody can speak the languages of these patients,” she said. “That’s another burden.”

  Hospitals need to hire either translators or staff that can speak all the languages of the patients crossing the border from dozens of different countries, she said.

  “Of course, there’s nothing wrong with learning another language or having people that can accommodate their health care,” she said. “Nobody wants to see somebody in pain or hurting in need of medicine. But, at the same time, it’s at the expense of others.”

  The “others,” she said, are American patients, as well as taxpayers who are ultimately footing the bill.

  Patients often have their doctor’s appointments “pushed back,” to accommodate the medical needs of illegal migrants, the health care worker said.

  “They get in a lot quicker than our Veterans Affairs [VA] and retired military patients. They get in a lot faster, and they get the best care—probably better care than the VA patients do,” she said.

  Typically, VA patients usually wait months to be seen by a specialist while illegal migrants who just crossed the border are seen the same week, she said.

  “I’ve seen that firsthand,” she said. “We hear it from VA patients all day, every day.”

  When Border Patrol agents bring patients to the hospitals, there is an “air of secrecy” that follows them.

  “No one is allowed to talk to the media or public about why they are there or how they got there,” she said. “We keep them in this bubble of protection, which is the wrong approach. We should let the public know.”

  The government is using “patient privacy” as a shield to hide what they’re doing.

  “Patient privacy is a priority in the health care field, but when it comes to illegals, it’s branching off into elitism or a protected class,” she said.

  

  ICE Detention Facility

  An experienced doctor in Southern California, who spoke to The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the influx of illegal migrants to San Diego and Imperial counties is “just outrageous” and the burden of care on hospitals is “overwhelming.”

  He also said he is concerned about the secrecy surrounding non-government organizations, or NGOs, that are being paid to provide services to illegal migrants.

  “Where’s the transparency?” he asked. “There’s been no transparency.”

  The doctor said in 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, he was involved in a planned government contract for COVID testing, but it was canceled at the last minute.

  “We started testing and treating patients and then … they kicked us out,”he said. “They said your contract has been terminated and replaced with some company that was from out of the area. So, they’re not even using local contractors … which takes away money, resources, and jobs from our community.”

  Amid a statewide shortage of primary care doctors and nurses, the doctor said three nurse practitioners he trained at his practice were recruited with better pay and benefits to work at the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) detention center in El Centro, Calif.

  “It’s a huge place, and so there are lots of resources being used at that facility. A lot of nurse practitioners are being pulled from us,” he said. “It’s really hard to get doctors out in our area, so we have a lot of nurse-practitioners that help physicians in the community because they can see patients and prescribe medications.”

  Increasingly, more patients are going to urgent care clinics because they can’t get in to see their primary care doctors, he said.

  “There is a huge shortage of primary care in Imperial County,” he said. “Appointment times are weeks to months out.”

  “Border cities are having to deal with the influx without having the resources. When you take from the resources that are currently available, you’re depriving the community of those resources,” the doctor said. “The unintended result is it backs up the system.”

  

  

  Disease and Injuries

  Tuberculosis (TB) patients, for example, can tie up hospital beds for month depending on the severity of infection, the doctor said.

  “You can’t let them out, because it’s a public health issue, so they’re staying in the hospital. We had a patient stay for six months for full treatment, and the government is paying for all of it,” he said. “TB in the United States is pretty much gone except for in isolated border towns, but the rates in Imperial County are higher than I’ve ever seen anywhere, because of the influx from illegal migration.”

  According to the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Global Health delivery, California’s Imperial County has reported an incidence of 38 TB cases per 100,000 people, nearly 10 times higher than the national average in the U.S., while Mexicali, Mexico—just across the border—has an incidence of 100 cases per 100,000, one of the highest rates in North America.

  The center also indicates the number of TB cases are probably underreported, stating that “with more robust detection efforts, it’s likely that these rates would be much higher.”

  Aside from TB and measles, sexually transmitted diseases such as, gonorrhea, syphilis, measles, and AIDS are on the rise, said the doctor.

  “Very rarely do you see syphilis anymore, but cases have gone up,” he said.

  Illegal migrants also need treatment for injuries from lacerations from razor wire,” the doctor said.

  “They cut their hands and legs when they’re jumping the fence. They usually put a jacket or something over the razor wire, but sometimes it comes through,” he said.

  Because so many medical professionals and resources have been tapped to treat illegal migrants, American patients, including military veterans have been neglected, the doctor confirmed.

  “It takes forever for these VA patients to get seen at the clinic. It’s months to get appointment. There is very limited care for the veterans out here,” he said. “The VA program has been neglected as a result of having to put more money into funding for the ICE detention centers.”

  

  Toll on Border Patrol Agents

  The doctor, who also treats Border Patrol agents, said their job-related injuries “have gone through the roof.” He’s also noticed an increase in the number agents with mental health problems related to stress and anxiety.

  Many agents say they’ve been taken out of the field to act as immigration processing clerks rather than doing what they were trained to do: patrol the border, he said.

  “They’re really frustrated. They’re not being listened to. They’re not getting the resources they need. They feel like their hands are tied. And, they’re being silenced,” he said. “They’ve become processing agents, rather than really trying to catch the bad guys—the criminals and the drugs.”

  The agents also witness the aftermath of heinous crimes, including the abuse and rape of women and girls at the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

  “A lot of the girls coming across—there’s a good percentage of them that have been abused during the trek. We’ve seen a few of them. We’re talking young girls—12 years old, 13 years old—pregnant from the journey. It’s extremely sad,” he said. “And so that takes a toll … kids coming up by themselves, unaccompanied minors. You can see the human trafficking side of all of this as well. It does happen quite frequently.”

  Suicides among agents have also increased. In 2022, 14 agents took their own lives, more than any other year since U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began tracking these deaths.

  “Working long hours and responding to high-stress situations, our men and women in green and blue are being pushed to their breaking point every single day,” said U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez in a Dec. 15 press release.

  Between 2007 and 2022, CBP lost 149 people to suicide, which is “among the highest rates compared to other law enforcement agencies.”

  

  Costs of Illegal Immigration

  According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a nonprofit organization that pushes for changes in immigration policy, the cost of health care for illegal immigrants in California through Medi-Cal was approximately $4.8 billion per year in 2022.

  FAIR estimated the total federal medical costs for illegal immigration at more than $23.1 billion in 2022 and pegged the costs to cover unpaid hospital bills for uninsured illegal migrants at about $8.2 billion.

  The total cost of illegal immigration in California was around $22.8 billion annually for education, health care, law enforcement, criminal justice system costs, welfare, and other expenditures. By comparison, the annual cost of illegal immigration in Texas in 2022 was $9.9 billion. In California, the taxpayer cost per immigrant in 2023 was $7,074 compared to Texas at $4,466.

  The FAIR study estimates the gross cost of illegal immigration in the United States is $183 billion annually, up more than 35.7 percent since 2017. The cost incurred for each illegal migrant, including their U.S.-born children, has increased to $8,776 annually.

  FAIR says its report covers “the full fiscal impact of illegal immigration,” and “includes the contributions of illegal aliens to the economy.”

  “These include tax payments made directly to state and local jurisdictions, the federal government, as well as excise, property, and sales taxes. However, these receipts fall far short of covering the expenses incurred due to illegal immigration. Taxes paid by illegal immigrants only covered around 17.2 percent of the costs they created for American citizens,” the report states.

  When the taxes paid by illegal aliens are factored in, the net cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is $150.7 billion, according to FAIR.

  As of June 2023, FAIR estimates about 16.8 million illegal migrants live in the U.S., an increase of 1.3 million since January 2022 and a 2.3 million increase since the end of 2020, indicating the illegal migrant population increased 16 percent nationwide in the first two-and-a-half years of the Biden administration.

  “Illegal immigration’s annual net burden on the economy, now more than $150 billion, is greater than the annual GDP output of 15 U.S. states,” according to FAIR.

  Ira Mehlman, a FAIR spokesman, told the Epoch Times that on top of the staggering costs of illegal immigration—with 12,600 illegal migrants crossing the border on Dec. 19 alone, the highest on record for a single day—the Biden administration is “playing Russian roulette with the safety and security of the American public.”

  “They’re simply ignoring laws. The law explicitly says that if you were in the country illegally, you are subject to deportation, and Mayorkas has said no, just being in the country, in and of itself, is not sufficient to remove somebody,” he said. “We all expect that there will be some incompetence in government and maybe even neglect, but now what we’re seeing is overt sabotage of our immigration laws by people who were sworn to uphold those laws.”

  At a press conference on Dec. 21, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed the border crisis, telling reporters the record number of illegal migrants at the southern border isn’t unusual.

  “What we’re seeing here at the border, the migration flow, increased migration flows, certainly, it ebbs and flows,“ she said. “And we’re at a time of the year where we’re seeing more at the border, and it’s not unusual. This is an immigration system that has been broken for decades, and the president has taken this very seriously to try to do more.”

  

  A Veteran’s View

  Robert Hammond, a cancer patient and former Marine in Santa Ana, Calif., who retired early from his job as a school teacher because of his health, told The Epoch Times he was exposed to toxic chemicals in the water when he was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

  Mr. Hammond said he has seen doctor appointments for veterans, including his own, pushed back for months because of the border crisis.

  He said he questions the Biden administration’s sense of priorities when it “coddles people who break our laws to come here, and gives them money, food, housing, clothing, [and] free medical,” but then “turns its back” on not only veterans but all American citizens.

  “The people who are responsible for this are more interested in seeing us veterans die. That’s how I feel. They don’t want us because they know we won’t vote for them.” he said. “But, the people who are coming in illegally, well, there’s a good chance that they’ll vote for them. We are disposable.”

  The money spent on illegal migrants should be used for better health care and cancer research to improve the quality of life of American citizens, he said.

  Mr. Hammond said he’s also concerned about national security, considering the surge in suspected terrorists who have entered the country illegally during the border crisis.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 21:00

• NYC & SF Dominate The US Cities With The Heaviest CRE Office Debt-Loads
  NYC & SF Dominate The US Cities With The Heaviest CRE Office Debt-Loads

  With a combination of high interest rates and a slow return to office towers, the commercial real estate sector faces further declines as the new year begins. One of the most significant challenges facing office tower owners will be either repaying the full value of the loan or finding an institution, such as a regional bank, willing to offer refinancing. 

  According to a new report by the Financial Times, which references data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, $117 billion in CRE office debt needs to be repaid or refinanced this year. Much of this debt is concentrated in major cities such as Manhattan, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

  

  “It’s going to be a very difficult environment to be getting loans from the institutions that typically give these loans. That’s the bottom line, “Andrew Metrick, the Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management and director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, recently said at the Alumni Real Estate Association Conference. 

  The challenging environment can be attributed to several factors, including regional bank stress due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic, and Signature Bank, among others, in the first half of 2023. The situation worsens for building owners because regional and community banks make up most of the CRE lending space. Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest rate hiking cycle in decades has significantly increased the cost of borrowing.

  Moody’s Analytics estimates about 605 office towers with mortgages will need financing this year. Of that, about 224 will have trouble refinancing – either because the property values have plunged and there is too much debt or perhaps a high vacancy rate. 

  

  Meanwhile, stress is emerging as new Trepp data shows delinquencies on office loans financed by commercial mortgaged-backed securities topped 6% at the end of November, up from 1.7% a year earlier. 

  Even with the low default rates, the potential losses on these loans are in the billions of dollars. A recent study by a group of US economists found that 40% of office loans on bank balance sheets were valued less than the loan amount, posing a risk for regional banks. 

  “People should realize that regional banks are still very much exposed to the troubles in commercial real estate,” said Leo Huang, head of commercial real estate at Ellington Management.

  Over the next three to four years, about two-thirds of the CRE space will require refinancing. With property values plunging and significantly higher interest rates, default rates will likely continue surging, causing even more trouble for exposed regional banks. 

  CRE office turmoil is far from over. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 20:40

• Just 3.4 Percent Of American Journalists Identify As Republican: Survey
  Just 3.4 Percent Of American Journalists Identify As Republican: Survey

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

  The percentage of full-time U.S. journalists who identify as Republicans has dropped significantly over the last decade, while journalists who said they are Democrats and Independents have increased, a study finds.

  

  According to a survey by Syracuse University titled “The American Journalist Under Attack,” only 3.4 percent of journalists in 2022 identified as Republicans, compared with 36.4 percent of Democrats and 51.7 percent of Independents in the profession.

  At the time the survey was concluded in April last year, 28 percent of Americans considered themselves Republicans, 28 percent identified themselves as Democrats, and 42 percent viewed themselves as Independents, according to a Gallup poll.

  The survey found that the percentage of Republicans in the journalism industry has declined substantially over the decades.

  In its first survey in 1971, 25.7 percent of journalists said they were Republicans. In 1982, the number dropped to 18.8 percent and further declined to 16.4 percent in 1992. It showed a slight increase in 2002 with 18 percent but plummeted to 7.1 percent in 2013 and to 3.4 percent last year.

  The trend for journalists identifying as Democrats has remained relatively steady at around 35 percent over the decades. Last year’s figure of 36.4 percent marked the third-highest percentage of journalists identifying as Democrat since 1971, the survey noted.

  Notably, the survey showed that 60.1 percent of journalists said journalism in the United States was headed in the wrong direction. In comparison, only 22 percent said it was going in the right direction.

  “When asked about the ’most important problem facing journalism today,’ the journalists mentioned these issues most often: Declining public trust in the news media (20.8 percent); shrinking local and community news coverage (12.8 percent); perceived bias and opinion journalism (12.7 percent); fake news (9.9 percent); disrupted business model (9.3 percent).”

  The survey is conducted nearly every decade and covers many topics in the journalism industry, ranging from using social media in their daily work to job satisfaction, journalists’ age, women in the journalism workplace, comparative pay between genders, and educational levels, among others.

  The study was based on an online survey of 1,600 U.S. journalists in various media organizations and conducted from January to April 2022.

  Public Trust in Media Declines

  According to an October Gallup poll, 39 percent of Americans did not trust the mass media, while 29 percent held very little trust. Only 32 percent reported having trust in the mass media.

  The poll also found sharp partisan divisions in Americans’ views of the media. Only 11 percent of Republicans trusted the media, whereas 58 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of Independents expressed a fair amount of trust in the media.

  Democrats have historically placed more trust in the media overall than Republicans, but the current gap of 47 points is the smallest since 2016. Since last year, Democrats’ confidence in the media has decreased significantly, from 70 percent in 2022 to 58 percent this year.

  Another Gallup poll in July found that Americans were losing confidence in U.S. institutions. In the journalism business, only 18 percent of Americans trust newspapers, and just 14 percent trust television news—two of the five worst-rated institutions.

  In last year’s poll on the honesty and ethical standards across various professions, 42 percent of Americans said journalists have “very low” or “low” ethical standards, while 35 percent rated them as average and 23 percent viewed them high.

  A survey from Pew Research Center revealed that journalists and the general public differ markedly with regard to their views on “both-sides-ism,” which refers to whether journalists must always look to give equal coverage to all sides of an issue.

  While 55 percent of journalists in the survey insisted that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news, 76 percent of Americans wanted the news to cover all sides equally.

  Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 20:20

• Watch: Trash-Talking Female Boxing Champ Gets Knocked Out By Average Male Fighter
  Watch: Trash-Talking Female Boxing Champ Gets Knocked Out By Average Male Fighter

  The root origin of the controversial inclusion of trans (male) athletes in women’s sports was the argument by third-wave feminists that women and men are similarly biologically capable.  It is a trope that has infested every corner of entertainment media for years, so much so that many women have convinced themselves that it is true – Feminists really believe that males and females are physically equal.  

  A cursory study of professional athletic records from almost any sport imaginable would tell them different, but woke activists have insisted on pressing the issue to the point that, in the US at least, fully developed male athletes posing as women are now crushing women’s chances to excel in multiple arenas.  

  The consequences are very real, specifically in high schools and colleges where female athletes rely on athletic scholarships in order to further their education.  Multiple women have now had their scholarship prospects diminished by males claiming to be trans.  On top of this, multiple women’s sports records have also been broken by biological males because of trans inclusion.  

  In 2023 we have had a number of mixed-sex sporting environments to appease the woke mob and the message should be painfully obvious by now – Women are not on par with men.  

  Unfortunately, it seems a female boxing champ and notorious trash talker by the name of Claressa Shields didn’t get the memo. 

  Shields has an exemplary record in women’s boxing, but this does not translate to winning against even average fighters in the male arena.

  After calling out top male boxers and challenging them publicly, a video from 2018 was leaked by a little-known Latvian boxer out of Florida named Arturs Ahmetovs who knocked the female champ out clean in a sparring match.

  According to Ahmetovs’ trainer, Derik Santos, the fighter had intended to keep the footage private out of respect and boxing etiquette, but became frustrated with Claressa Shields’ incessant and delusional boasting.  Santos described the situation as confusing, claiming that Shields trash talked throughout the sparring session even though she and her coach had asked the fighter to do them a favor by helping her train for a pro bout. 

  Ahmetov had allegedly been asked to go easy on Shields in previous rounds and avoid hurting her.  But after her disrespectful display the fighter (with a minimal record) flattened her across the mat.        

  Shields has since accused Santos of “removing padding” from Ahmetovs’ gloves, though Santos vehemently denies this. He noted that it was “just a sparring session.”  This kind of behavior has become a plague in women’s sports in the last few years (as we have seen in the WNBA and women’s soccer), and has only been tempered recently by the realization that transgender athletes are slowly but surely muscling out female competitors.  

  The idea that men and women are deeply and fundamentally different on a biological level has never in the history of humanity been a contentious issue, until now.  In a move which seems like self destruction, third-wave feminists have set the stage for women to be put in harms way, in the field, on the court and in the ring all in the name of maintaining the lie of equality.      

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 20:00

• Congress Has Not Looted Social Security
  Congress Has Not Looted Social Security

  Authored by Bill King via RealClear Wire

  When I write on Social Security, I regularly have readers write and tell me the “real” problem with Social Security is that Congress has looted the Social Security trust fund and spent the money on other programs. I have as little respect for Congress as anyone and they are profligate spendthrifts, but this narrative is false.

  

  Every year, the trustees who govern Social Security’s operations issue a Trustees’ Report. Included in that report is a cash flow statement going back to the inception of the program in 1937. It details the taxes paid into the plan, adds interest earned from the excess funds held by the system, and then subtracts the administrative costs and benefits paid.

  In 69 of the 86 years since Social Security was created, the system has enjoyed a positive cash flow. This has resulted in the system building up a cushion over the years, which currently totals to about $2.7 trillion. So, where is that money?

  The answer is that it is invested in U.S. bonds. Those bonds earn interest which help defray the cost of the program and in the 17 years that it ran a negative cash flow, it cashed bonds to make up the difference.

  Those bonds are part of the overall debt issued by the federal government to finance its operations, albeit a relatively small amount of the total federal debt (~7-8%). Those who promote the “Congress looted Social Security” narrative have misinterpreted the use of the reserves by the federal government as part of its overall financing structure as evidence that the reserves have been used for other purposes.

  Some critics go so far as to suggest that the bonds that Social Security holds are worthless and will never be repaid. This is nonsense, which is most clearly demonstrated by the fact that Social Security has redeemed over $100 billion on bonds in the last two years and in 14 other years when its cash flow went negative.

  Beyond that, the market for U.S. securities is the deepest and most liquid in the world. The federal government auctions billions in securities on a weekly basis, which are regularly oversubscribed. While many, including your correspondent, worry about the long-term fiscal trajectory of the federal government, the risk of it defaulting on bonds held by Social Security is nil.

  However, some have raised a fair question as to whether investing all of Social Security’s reserves in U.S. bonds is the best investment strategy. The interest rate paid on the bonds is determined by a formula adopted by Congress in 1960. It uses a rolling average of the rate on all U.S. bonds with maturities longer than four years. My rough calculation indicates this has resulted in about a 5.2% average yield since 1960. Currently, the rate is much lower because interest rates have been so low for the last decade, notwithstanding the increase in rates over the last year. According to Social Security Administration data, the average return for 2022 was 2.35%.

  In contrast, the S&P 500 index has returned 10.15% since 1960. If the reserves had been invested in the S&P 500 during that time, the reserve balance today would be something around $30 trillion and we would not be facing any shortfall for decades. Of course, investing the reserve funds in stocks or other alternative investments would be hugely controversial and involve significant risks to the fund. Nonetheless, it would appear that a more diversified investment strategy would relieve some of the pressure on the system. (This is not a novel concept. George W. Bush proposed it in 2005 – and it was hardly a new idea then. The politics, though, are tougher than just crunching the numbers.)

  But the real problem with the promotion of narratives like “Congress looted Social Security” is that they divert attention away from the real demographic problem that will continue to plague the system in the coming decades. How society will provide for its older citizens, and probably even what it means to be “retired,” is going to require a complete reset from our current notions. The sooner we accept the math of that new reality and begin to change our system and expectations, the less painful the transition will be.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 19:40

• DHS Joins With Woke Universities To Label "Manosphere" A Terror Threat
  DHS Joins With Woke Universities To Label “Manosphere” A Terror Threat

  Since at least the year 2020 the Department of Homeland Security has been funding a series of woke university programs across the country.  They have spent millions of dollars (that we know of) to incentivize academic groups, not with the goal of countering foreign terror elements or even to investigate US preppers and patriots, but to develop tools for disrupting what some call the “Manosphere” movement (previously known as the Red Pill movement) – A movement focused on countering feminism and feminist propaganda.

  Is arguing logically against feminism really such a threat to the nation?  No, but it is a threat to the woke movement, which has been on the decline in recent years as more and more information about their ideology is scrutinized by the public.

  

  Woke activism, which includes third-wave feminism, is transparently astroturf.  It relies on billions of dollars in funding supplied by elitist institutions such as the Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Open Society Foundation.  The oppressive authoritarian nature of the woke apparatus has given rise to a large individualist counter-culture that is truly grassroots and this includes various men’s rights groups, political commentators and YouTubers (collectively known as the Manosphere).  

  The division has created what many refer to as the “culture war.”  And, if it wasn’t clear by now, evidence shows that government agencies have chosen a side…

  In a more recent exposure, documents have surfaced from a DHS funded program linked to the University of Arizona, home of the McCain Institute. Included in the network are a number of NGOs and Big Tech conglomerates as well as the SPLC and ADL.  The project rhetoric ties the Manosphere to extremism, racism and even terrorism.  

  The thrust of the effort appears to be propaganda based, with a tandem scheme to “redirect” social media and web traffic away from Manosphere related commentators.  ASU referred to the program as “hate speech surveillance.”

  The “Redirect Method” was mentioned as a useful mechanism by the Rand Corporation in 2018.  We saw this strategy play out to some extent during covid, when every major social media platform attempted to redirect traffic away from alternative media sources and into the arms of corporate news platforms.

  Such grants are offered under the TVPT (Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention) program. In 2023 the DHS announced the award of 34 of these grants to the tune of $20 million.  That’s millions of dollars of your tax money going into the pockets of woke academics so that they can fabricate new ways to undermine western values.  

  As part of TVTP, in 2022 the DHS gave $659,327 to fund Diverting Hate, a group of students and at ASU who were studying “incels,” or “involuntary celibates”—a term used to describe young men who can’t attract romantic partners.  The incel moniker is a purely feminist concept originally used as a way to ridicule young men who speak out against woke beliefs (the insinuation being that if they don’t embrace feminism no woman will want to associate with them).  They then expanded on the label to suggest that these men will inevitably turn to lone wolf terrorism out of frustration.   

  Keep in mind, many of these DHS projects were launched in the midst of the covid pandemic hype and the mass censorship that came with it.  The establishment may have felt that it was the perfect time to go-for-broke and construct censorship protocols for any and every group rebelling against the prevailing narrative.  It hasn’t been very long since that period of leftist insanity, but even now the pendulum is swinging back against them.

  The only reason to associate counter-feminism with terrorism is to make authoritarian measures against the Manosphere more “palatable” for the public.  To connect philosophical opponents to treason or terrorism is a political attack that government bodies and power hungry zealots have used for all of recorded history, but in this case it feels like the desperate behavior of a cult that is on the verge of fading into obscurity.

  The idea that men and masculinity are a threat to society is the root argument of third-wave feminism.  It’s no longer about equal rights, which they already have; now it’s about removing masculine (and traditional) influences from culture altogether.  The current government seems to be fully in support of this cleansing and, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense – It’s a lot easier for authoritarians to control a society if the men in that society have been psychologically neutered and are incapable of fighting back.       

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 19:20

• Repairman Who Disclosed Hunter Biden’s Laptop Says His House Was 'Swatted'
  Repairman Who Disclosed Hunter Biden’s Laptop Says His House Was ‘Swatted’

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Delaware computer repairman who disclosed the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 said on Dec. 30 that his home was subjected to a “swatting” incident on Friday night.

  

  John Paul Mac Isaac, who owned a computer store in Delaware at which the son of President Joe Biden was said to have dropped off his laptop years ago, said he was not present during the swatting incident.

  “My home was swatted tonight, I was not home but the outstanding men and women of the Wilmington PD responded quickly and professionally,” Mr. Mac Isaac said on X.

  “All that was achieved was the wasted time of the Wilmington PD. NOTHING, let me repeat that, NOTHING will take me out of this fight! Cheers!” he added.

  It remains unclear whether the swatting is connected to his defamation lawsuit against Mr. Biden. The Wilmington Police Department has not disclosed any details regarding the incident.

  The Lawsuits

  Mr. Mac Isaac in October 2022 sued Mr. Biden for defamation. He closed his business in 2020 after receiving death threats. Mr. Biden has countersued Mr. Mac Isaac for allegedly invading his privacy.

  Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, reportedly deposed Mr. Mac Isaac in June 2023, a session that lasted about seven hours, according to the New York Post.

  The countersuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, asks for a jury trial.

  “No matter how they came into his initial possession, Mac Isaac improperly accessed files that he admits were ‘none of [his] business’ even though he was never given permission by Mr. Biden to access or review any data of Mr. Biden’s,” it says.

  He later made copies of the data and distributed the copies to others, including former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

  “Mac Isaac’s knowing and intentional distribution of Mr. Biden’s personal and sensitive data was not carried out for any reasonable or legitimate purposes, but rather to try and expose Mr. Biden’s data to those that he knew or should have known would intend to create embarrassment and harm for Mr. Biden,” the countersuit says.

  “In addition, Mac Isaac decided to use the data in his possession for commercial purposes and to make money, which he has done by including portions of the data in his book and making reference to and/or making some or all of the data available at appearances he has made.”

  According to a document Mr. Mac Isaac has filed in court, on April 12, 2019, Mr. Biden asked for a quote for data recovery from three MacBook computers. Mr. Mac Isaac recovered the data and notified Mr. Biden of the development. He also sent an invoice, but Mr. Biden “never returned” to the shop to retrieve the data nor did he pay the invoice, according to the suit.

  Mr. Biden’s attorneys confirmed that Mr. Mac Isaac had come into possession of materials from Mr. Biden.

  Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 19:00

• Baptism By Fryer: North Carolina Pastor Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting McDonald's Cook Who 'Disrespected' Wife
  Baptism By Fryer: North Carolina Pastor Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting McDonald’s Cook Who ‘Disrespected’ Wife

  A North Carolina pastor was arrested for assault and battery after allegedly walking into a McDonald’s and assaulting a cook who ‘disrespected’ his wife, according to a police report of the incident.

  

  The man, 57-year-old Dwayne Waden, allegedly placed his hands around the cook’s neck, then pushed the cook toward the deep fryer and punched him in the face on December 28.

  The victim “suffered a large contusion to the forehead and right eye, along with scratches on his neck, CBS News reports.

  Officers were able to see footage from a surveillance video of the altercation. Waden, whose Facebook profile identifies him as pastor of Elevated Life International Ministries and a semitruck driver, was arrested on a charge of assault, according to a police report, and released on a $1,000 bond.

  According to the local McDonald’s franchise, Waden’s wife is no longer with the organization, and said “the safety and security of our employees and customers is our top priority.”

  

  Waden was transported to police headquarters, where he posted bond in the amount of $1,000. He’s due in court on Jan. 22 to face charges.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 18:40

• Over 200 Service Members, Veterans Pledge To Hold Military Leaders Accountable For Vaccine Mandate
  Over 200 Service Members, Veterans Pledge To Hold Military Leaders Accountable For Vaccine Mandate

  Authored by J.M. Phelps via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  More than 200 active service members and veterans have signed an open letter seeking accountability over the alleged harm caused by the Department of Defense’s (DOD) implementation of the now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

  

  The open letter, published on Jan. 1, is directed to the American people, but names specific senior military leaders who the signers claim enabled lawlessness and betrayed the Constitution.

  Some of the leaders specifically named in the letter include former and current joint chiefs of staff, service academy commandants, service inspectors general, and service surgeon generals.

  The signatories state, “In the coming years, thousands within our network will run for Congress and seek appointments to executive branch offices, while those of us still serving on active duty will continue to put fulfilling our oaths ahead of striving for rank or position.

  “For those who achieve the lawful authority to do so, we pledge to recall from retirement the military leaders who broke the law and will convene courts-martial for the crimes they committed.”

  A number of the signatories are veterans who are now running for Congress and state-level political offices. These veterans also pledged to introduce legislation to seek accountability by reducing the alleged perpetrators’ retirement income to zero.

  Many of the 231 signers of the letter are still on active duty. Several said they are taking on significant personal risk to stand up for what they believe in and to defend their unalienable rights that they feel have been trampled.

  The Epoch Times spoke to Robert A. Green, Jr., an active duty Navy Commander and author of “Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines.” As the author of the open letter, he employed the framework and phrasing of Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence to address what he described as the current crisis of trust in the country’s military.

  He and the other signatories hope to “rebuild trust through accountability” and signed the open letter as a way to emulate the founding fathers when they mutually pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in the Declaration of Independence.

  “Where our situation departs from the signers of the Declaration of Independence is that we do not seek separation,” Cmdr. Green said. “We do not want to be separated from the Constitution nor from what was handed down to us at so great a cost. Instead of separation, we want restoration through accountability.”

  As a result, he said, the letter may be more appropriately called a “Declaration of Military Accountability.”

  Bradley Miller, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who previously served as a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division, said the allusions to the Declaration of Independence in the letter are “deliberate and meaningful.” According to him, the signatories of the letter “believe that we have suffered a long train of abuses that has come to a head with the unlawful COVID-19 shot mandate.”

  “We would be negligent in our duty to uphold our oaths to the Constitution as well as negligible in our loyalty to our countrymen if we permitted the continued demise of one of our most hallowed institutions,” Mr. Miller said.

  “For the senior leaders named, and for the thousands who were not named but who are equally complicit, I hope this [letter] is a wake-up call,” Cmdr. Green said. He went on to note that at the highest levels of military leadership, the decision-making processes are largely comprised of risk analysis and risk mitigations.

  “Due to the Feres Doctrine [which prohibits service members from suing the federal government for wrongful injury or death], and the inappropriate deference paid to the Department of Defense by the legislative and judicial branches of our government, our senior leaders have rarely felt any personal risk for their decisions,” he said.

  Cmdr. Green hopes the letter solidifies that “personal financial and legal risk is now part of the analysis our senior military leaders must take before deciding on policies that have implications for service members’ constitutional rights.”

  Story continues below advertisement

  Pledging to Seek Restoration

  For Mr. Miller, the letter represents “a pledge that we, the signatories, have made with one another and also to the American people, that we will not stand idly by as our military self-destructs.”

  Because of their faith in God, love of country, and oath to the Constitution, he said, “We consider it our duty to lawfully resist the concerted efforts of current military leadership to destroy the institution that has been entrusted to their charge.”

  Mr. Miller said the country is witnessing “the wholesale destruction, from within, of one of our oldest and most important national institutions.” For him, “It’s not that our armed forces have decided to stand by neutral as our nation faces an onslaught of threats, but has instead become one of the greatest perpetrators in attacking the cultural fabric that has kept our republic together for two and a half centuries.”

  According to Mr. Miller, the U.S. military has “a unique mission: the American people expect the people to carry out violence on its behalf.” In a series of questions, he said: “How can the people trust an institution to ethically carry out its mission if it wantonly violates the law? How can the American people trust a military that has harmed its own members, and rather than acknowledge that harm, doubles down by insisting that its course was lawful, productive, and necessary?”

  The signatories are demanding “unequivocal acknowledgment of the unlawful nature of the COVID-19 shot mandate” and the harm it has caused, he said. “We demand full accountability for those responsible for perpetrating this deliberate disaster on our service members, their families, and by extension the nation, [and] we demand, inasmuch as possible, complete restitution for those harmed by this criminal activity.” Without this “complete reckoning,” he said, “our military will not recover from this ongoing nightmare.”

  Mr. Miller emphasized he and the others are not advocating violence. Rather, he said, “We emphatically decry the physical and moral violence that has been inflicted on service members and their families through the unlawful mandate of these harmful injections.”

  “We brook no interest in circumventing the law, [but] demand strict adherence to the law,” he said. “To this very end, we will tirelessly pursue the restoration of justice to our wayward armed forces.”

  Fighting for Hope

  Lt. Col. Carolyn Rocco has served over 20 years in the Air Force. For her, the letter serves two purposes. First, she said it is “a promise to the American people that there are service members who understand the significance of their oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’”

  Having encountered people who have expressed “feelings of hopelessness for our country’s survival,” she hopes the letter will encourage Americans to “have faith that all hope has not been lost at a time when many see the steady collapse of morals, character, and justice among politicians and military leaders alike.” According to her, “courage is contagious,” and she hopes the letter motivates the people of America.

  Second, Lt. Col. Rocco said, the letter is “a way to inform the military leaders that the elephant in the room—the negative effects of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate—is not going away until accountability is had.”

  “While many want to sweep it under the rug and press on as if the last two years did not happen,” she said, “that is not how it’s going to go, unfortunately.” She cited the lowest recruiting numbers since the 1970s as “evidence of the disaster the DOD is in.”

  Senior leaders of the military, she said, were warned about “the grave dangers a vax mandate would have on the force,” but these warnings were ignored. “Making a public proclamation might make them realize this is a serious issue that will not be ignored.”

  “Trust has been broken, and moral, emotional, and physical damage has been done,” Lt. Col. Rocco said. “The tens of thousands of us who were directly impacted, as well as our communities who witnessed the atrocity known as the DOD COVID-19 vaccine mandate, are the ones who are encouraging those we love to not join the military until it returns to an institution of honor and morals and becomes apolitical once again.”

  “That will not happen until a formal and public apology is made, acknowledging what was done to thousands of service members was immoral, unethical, and unlawful,” she said.

  “Those of us who signed this memo have made a promise to each other, as well as to the airmen, guardians, soldiers, sailors, marines, coasties, and American people, that we will not stop fighting for truth, justice, and most of all, accountability,” she said.

  Cmdr. Green and Lt. Col. Rocco emphasized that their views don’t reflect those of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of the Air Force. Officials at the Pentagon didn’t respond by press time to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 18:20

• Your Guide To The 2024 Presidential Primary Season
  Your Guide To The 2024 Presidential Primary Season

  Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times,

  As the new year kicks off, political campaigns hit top gear to keep their candidate in the race.

  

  The early primaries and caucuses will certainly weed out struggling candidates, although the most likely major party nominees are already clear cut—President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

  1. When Does Primary Season Start and End?

  The first big in-person event will be Iowa’s Republican caucus, which will take place on Jan. 15, 2024.

  The state’s Democratic presidential preference voting technically starts earlier, as the party has chosen to use 100 percent mail-in voting this year.

  Iowa Democrats can request voting cards from Jan. 12 through Feb. 19, and completed cards must be postmarked by March 5, with the results being released later that same day, also known as “Super Tuesday.”

  Iowa Democrats will hold their in-person caucuses the same day as Republicans, on Jan. 15, but they’ll conduct only local party business. It’s a compromise with the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) commitment to make South Carolina’s primary, which will be held on Feb. 3, the first in the nation.

  Although the DNC wanted South Carolina’s primary to come first, New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status is enshrined in its state constitution, and the state has held fast to its tradition.

  Both Republicans and Democrats will hold their first primaries on Jan. 23, in New Hampshire.

  

  A woman takes a photo at a Make America Great Again Rally with former President Donald Trump, in Manchester, N.H., on April 27, 2023. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

  President Joe Biden didn’t file to appear on New Hampshire’s Democratic primary ballot—and the state’s noncompliance with the DNC will likely mean that it receives fewer delegates during its summer convention in Chicago.

  Presidential primary season ends on June 8, when Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands stage their Democratic caucuses.

  State primaries for other, nonpresidential, races continue through mid-September.

  2. Will Trump Be on the Ballot?

  Lawsuits in states across the country have challenged former President Donald Trump’s presence on GOP primary season ballots.

  The lawsuits generally allege that he’s disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Passed after the Civil War, the amendment bars “insurrection[ists]” against the Constitution from taking office. It was originally meant to keep unreconstructed Confederates out of power. By 1872, Congress extended amnesty to most secessionists barred from office by the amendment with the Amnesty Act, which passed the Senate 38–2. A final amnesty bill for Confederates was enacted in 1898 during the McKinley administration.

  So far, in Michigan, Arizona, and Colorado, judges have ruled that President Trump may remain on their state’s primary ballots.

  

  Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom with his attorneys (L–R) Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina, and Boris Epshteyn during his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 4, 2023. (Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty Images)

  A second ruling in Colorado, on Dec. 19 by the state’s Supreme Court, overturned the lower court’s decision and in a 4–3 decision, allowed President Trump to be removed from the state’s primary ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to take up the case and settle the issue.

  3. What About Democrats Other Than Biden?

  Marianne Williamson, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), and other minor Democrats are working to appear on ballots alongside President Biden.

  Interestingly, in the case of the first-in-the-nation primary held in New Hampshire, President Biden’s name will be absent, as he didn’t file to appear on it.

  In other states, however, the Democrat Party has left Ms. Williamson, Mr. Phillips, and other Democrats off the primary ballots. The congressman is challenging those maneuvers in Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Democrats in Florida have gone as far as to cancel that state’s primary in favor of choosing President Biden to win.

  

  (Left) Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.). (Right) Democratic presidential candidate, author Marianne Williamson. (Gaelen Morse/Getty Images, Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

  4. What About Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?

  Mr. Kennedy is running as an independent candidate, meaning he won’t appear on Democratic or Republican primary ballots.

  As of December, he’s fighting to appear on general election ballots in each state for the Nov. 5 election.

  5. Will Other Seats Be Up for Grabs?

  It depends on your state. Check here to see if the presidential primary or caucus in your state takes place on the same day as the state primary or caucus.

  In Alabama, for example, voters pick their preferred party candidates for president as well as other federal, state, and local candidates on March 5, with a state primary runoff scheduled for April 2, if it’s needed. But in Arizona, the March 19 presidential preference election takes place months before the state primary on Aug. 6.

  6. Are Caucuses Different From Primaries?

  Yes. In typical caucuses, such as the Iowa Republican caucus scheduled for Jan. 15, political parties organize local events where delegates are chosen. The ultimate outcome is a set of delegates for one or more candidates. Those men and women will support those candidates at their party’s national convention in the summer of 2024.

  The delegate selection process varies from state to state and across parties. In Iowa, Republicans will gather to vote at one of more than 1,600 precinct locations across the state’s 99 counties.

  Primaries are more like typical elections. Voters go to a polling place and cast a secret ballot for the candidates of their choice. Primaries are organized by state governments, not by state parties.

  

  Guests attend a fireside chat campaign event with Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Bettendorf, Iowa, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

  Early voting, absentee voting, and mail-in voting may also be options in these races. Notably, Iowa’s Democratic presidential caucus will be conducted with mail-in “presidential preference cards” and no in-person voting at all.

  Depending on the state, primaries and caucuses may be open to voters who aren’t registered with the party for which they wish to select a candidate.

  7. When Will My Primary or Caucus Take Place?

  You can find the dates here. If you intend to vote, make a plan sooner rather than later. You might also have to register with a particular party to participate—although that varies from state to state.

  8. Will New Hampshire Hold the 1st Primary?

  Yes. Although the DNC wanted South Carolina’s primary to come first, New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status is enshrined in its state constitution, and the state has held fast to its tradition.

  Both Republicans and Democrats will hold their first primaries on Jan. 23, in New Hampshire. Democrats will hold their South Carolina primary on Feb. 3.

  President Biden didn’t file to appear on New Hampshire’s Democratic primary ballot—and the state’s noncompliance with the DNC will likely mean that it receives fewer delegates during the party’s summer convention in Chicago.

  

  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a rally after signing his official paperwork for the New Hampshire primary at the New Hampshire State House in Concord, N.H., on Nov. 8, 2019. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

  9. Can I Vote in Both the Republican and Democrat Presidential Primaries?

  No. You can choose only one candidate for the presidential primary or caucus, and depending on your state, you may have to be registered with that party to vote in that race.

  10. How Can I Vote if I’m Registered Independent?

  It depends on your state.

  Some presidential primaries and caucuses are closed, meaning that you have to be registered with a particular party to vote in its presidential primary or caucus.

  Others run the gamut from semi-closed to fully open; in the latter case, independent voters need not register with a party to participate in its primary or caucus. The Open Primaries website has a comprehensive breakdown of the rules across the country.

  11. Who Is Likely to Win the Republican Nomination?

  As of late December, President Trump is ahead in the polls and strongly favored, according to aggregated polling data on RealClearPolitics.

  While he seems likely to win the primary, entrenched opposition from Never Trump Republicans and various legal issues could still derail his nomination.

  Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are vying for second place in important early states, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and others trailing behind.

  

  (Left) Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (Center) Former U.N. ambassador and Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley. (Right) Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images, Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images)

  12. Who Is Likely to Win the Democrats’ Nomination?

  President Biden, the incumbent, isn’t seriously threatened by any of his Democratic challengers in the polls, particularly after Mr. Kennedy switched to run as an independent candidate and not as a Democrat.

  If President Biden fails to appear in the general election, it would stem from unusual but not impossible circumstances; if, for instance, illness or some other event leads him to bow out in the next few months, a brokered Democratic convention could ensue. That might elevate the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris or California Gov. Gavin Newsom to the hot seat.

  13. What Happens at a Convention?

  National conventions are the place where both parties develop their platforms and where major politicians deliver speeches. Most importantly, they’re where the delegates from each state and territory choose their party’s presidential candidate.

  In modern times, one candidate typically racks up enough delegates during the primaries for his or her status as the nominee to be clear long before the convention.

  But before the widespread adoption of presidential primaries during the late 1960s and early 1970s, conventions were often the scene of long, drawn-out battles among different political factions. In 1924, it took the Democrats 103 ballots to choose their nominee, John W. Davis.

  The upcoming Republican National Convention will be held in Milwaukee in July 2024. The Democratic National Convention will take place a few weeks later, in August, about 100 miles south, in Chicago.

  14. What Is a Brokered Convention?

  A brokered convention is one in which one candidate fails to command a majority of delegates during the first vote, or ballot.

  It opens up the prospect of additional ballots and, in the case of the Democratic National Convention, participation by super delegates.

  Brokered conventions weren’t uncommon before the era of mass primaries, but the last that occurred was in 1952, when Republicans and Democrats alike took multiple votes to select as their nominees Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson II, respectively.

  

  Sen. Richard Nixon (2ndL), Dwight D. Eisenhower (2ndR), and their wives attend the Republican National Convention in Chicago, on July 12, 1952. (I/AFP via Getty Images)

  15. What Happens on Super Tuesday?

  Super Tuesday will occur on March 5, 2024.

  Super Tuesday can make a big positive (or negative) difference for campaigns, as many states and territories hold caucuses and primaries that day, meaning that many delegates are off the table afterward. In 2020, it elevated the position of then-former Vice President Biden. In 2016, then-candidate Trump won by a large margin on Super Tuesday, taking seven out of 11 states.

  States and territories holding elections on Super Tuesday include: Alabama, Alaska Republican presidential caucuses, American Samoa presidential caucuses, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa Democratic caucus mail vote, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah Democratic presidential primary, and Republican presidential caucuses in Vermont and Virginia.

  

  A voting sign sits outside the Burlington Electric Department in Burlington, Vt., on March 2, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  16. What Are Delegates?

  Delegates are people who are sent to a political party’s national convention to help select a nominee on behalf of their party’s primary voters.

  Some delegates have to support particular candidates based on the outcomes of primary or caucus elections. Others aren’t tied to specific candidates prior to the convention.

  Depending on the state, Republican primaries and caucuses can award delegates proportionally, through a winner-take-all formula, or through some other approach, which can be complicated.

  Minimum and maximum voting thresholds also enter the picture in many states. In Texas, for example, candidates must get at least 20 percent of the vote to get any delegates—and if a candidate gets 50 percent or more of the vote, he or she takes all of the state’s delegates.

  Democrats must meet a 15 percent threshold to get delegates, although depending on the contest, it may apply to a congressional district rather than the state as a whole.

  17. What Are Super Delegates?

  They’re delegates that aren’t pledged to a specific candidate when they arrive at their party’s national convention; they’re also called unbound delegates by Republicans.

  While super delegates have historically played a critical role in the Democratic presidential nomination process, their overwhelming support for Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the 2016 Democratic Convention made them a point of contention in recent times. Pledged delegates also favored Ms. Clinton, though by a much narrower margin.

  Although Democrats have retained super delegates to this day, reforms passed in 2018 have excluded them from the first ballot. They would now only come into play in the event of a brokered convention.

  On the Republican side, fewer than 5 percent of delegates will be unbound at the GOP’s national convention in Milwaukee.

  

  Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) acknowledges the crowd before delivering remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

  18. How Many Delegates Does a Candidate Need to Win?

  They need support from most of the delegates at the convention. Again, one candidate typically commands a large majority prior to the end of the primary season.

  The Green Papers estimates that the winning Republican candidate will need roughly 1,215 delegates out of 2,429 total delegates.

  The same website estimates that the Democrat candidate will require 1,973 delegates during a first ballot. That doesn’t count unpledged Democratic delegates, who would come into play in any subsequent ballots. All told, there are expected to be a total of 4,691 Democratic delegates, far more than the estimated 2,429 total Republican delegates.

  19. Where Do I Vote?

  It could differ from your regular polling place.

  You can usually find the answer on the website of the party of your preferred candidate, or on your state’s Secretary of State elections website. Here’s where you can find it for New Hampshire, for example.

  If you can’t make it to the caucus site or primary polling place, you might be able to participate through early in-person voting or mail-in voting, or by casting an absentee ballot.

  Check the specific rules for your primary or caucus to see what options are available where you vote.

  20. Can Democrats Vote in Republican Primaries and Vice Versa?

  In some states, yes; in others, no.

  In states with fully open presidential primaries, people don’t have to choose a candidate from the same party under which they registered to vote. That means, for example, a registered Democrat, independent, or unaffiliated voter can vote for a Republican candidate in the primary.

  

  Voters cast their ballots at an elementary school during the U.S. midterm election in Midlothian, Va., on Nov. 8, 2022. (Ryan M. Kelly/AFP via Getty Images)

  Other states’ contests are partially open or partially closed, imposing greater restrictions on voters.

  Some states hold closed primaries, which limit a voter to choosing a candidate within the same party under which they’re registered to vote. Of course, registered members of a particular party can always vote for a candidate from a different party in the November general election.

  Confusingly, the rules for state primaries can differ from those of presidential primaries within the same state. The National Conference of State Legislatures website breaks it down.

  21. Can I Vote in the General Election If I Skipped the Primaries?

  Yes.

  22. Are Caucuses or Primaries Ever Contested or Controversial?

  Yes. The 2020 Iowa Democratic Caucus was famously chaotic, with results delayed by days as multiple campaigns challenged results in various precincts. Mr. Sanders edged out his rivals in the popular vote, but Pete Buttigieg came out ahead in state delegate equivalents.

  The Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank, dubbed the caucus a “tragedy.”

  

  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks during a rally in Oelwein, Iowa, on Feb. 1, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

  23. Do I Need to Be Registered to Vote in the Primary or Caucus?

  Generally, yes, but it varies. Some states, including Illinois, permit same-day registration for primary voters, while North Dakota doesn’t require voter registration.

  The National Conference of State Legislatures website outlines same-day voter registration law state by state.

  24. Am I Allowed to Vote in 1 State’s Primary and Another’s General?

  If you move in between, it’s possible, but it also depends on the rules in your state(s) and when you move. Out-of-state college students with dual residency across multiple states might be expected to exercise this option—for example, if they don’t register in the state where they’re going to school until after their home state’s primary or caucus.

  25. Could Newsom Be the Democratic Nominee?

  California’s Democratic governor won’t be on any primary or caucus ballots. Mr. Newsom has repeatedly emphasized that he isn’t running for president, telling Mr. DeSantis during their recent debate that “neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.”

  While that declaration would seem to rule him out, others have noted that there are other avenues open to the well-connected wine merchant. Specifically, as analyst Chuck DeVore told The Epoch Times in November, if President Biden leaves the field before Election Day, Mr. Newsom could win through a brokered Democratic convention in summer 2024.

  

  California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event with Vice President Kamala Harris in San Leandro, Calif., on Sept. 8, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

  26. Will There Be Any More Debates?

  Yes. CNN will host a Republican presidential debate in Iowa on Jan. 10, just days ahead of the Jan. 15 GOP caucus. The network will hold another Republican presidential debate ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which takes place on Jan. 23.

  In keeping with his absence from the first four debates, there’s no sign that President Trump will participate.

  After the primaries, there are three presidential debates scheduled and one vice presidential debate, with the first one on Sept. 16 and the last on Oct. 9.

  27. Do Other Countries Have Primaries?

  Yes, many countries do, although there’s great variation from place to place; for example, some primaries are organized by political parties, while others are held by the state.

  Countries ranging from South Korea to Poland to Canada hold primaries or primary-like elections.

  28. Can Primaries and Caucuses Be Canceled?

  Yes. Florida, for example, has canceled its Democratic primary after omitting all names but President Biden’s from its proposed ballot. The situation isn’t without precedent from both major parties.

  In 2020, multiple states canceled their Republican primaries or caucuses in the midst of President Trump’s reelection campaign. The same thing happened with several Democratic primaries in 2012, when then-President Barack Obama was seeking reelection.

  29. Could Trump’s Legal Trials Make a Difference?

  Not so far, but it’s hard to say for sure. The events now unfolding are unprecedented in the history of U.S. presidential contests, so it’s difficult to predict.

  So far, President Trump has mostly withstood attempts to remove him from primary season ballots on 14th Amendment grounds.

  If there are any major rulings in his criminal trials before the Republican National Convention in July, that could complicate things, particularly if unbound GOP delegates are marshaled against the former president following a close primary season, or if other delegates revolt against him after the first ballot at the convention.

  

  Former president Donald Trump arrives at the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on April 4, 2023. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

  30. When Is a Winner Likely to Emerge During the GOP Primaries?

  President Trump’s strong lead over his rivals means that support could crystalize earlier rather than later. In 2016, the future president became his party’s presumptive nominee by early May after he won Indiana’s Republican primary and his chief rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), dropped out.

  This time, as of mid-December, the president is far ahead of his competitors in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada in polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics.

  31. What’s Happening With the Nevada GOP Primary?

  The state will hold both a state-organized Republican primary and a caucus organized by the Nevada Republican Party. Most, but not all, big-name Republican candidates are boycotting that primary, which takes place on Feb. 6, in favor of the caucus, which takes place on Feb. 8.

  The caucus has been, up until recently, a decades-old tradition in the Silver State. But Nevada’s Democrat-controlled state Legislature adopted a primary system after the 2020 election. The state’s Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the state to retain its caucus.

  Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said his state is required to hold a primary once two candidates register for it. By October, two Republicans had registered. Ms. Haley opted for the primary ballot, along with several little-known candidates.

  “Candidates that chose to appear on the state-run primary ballot did so knowing that decision meant they could not earn delegates by appearing on the caucus ballots,” the state GOP website states.

  President Trump, Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ramaswamy, Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are on the caucus ballot.

  Nevada will also hold a Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 8.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/02/2024 – 17:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• "Something Big" Looms For America In 2024
  “Something Big” Looms For America In 2024

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  The Great Clarification

  “Time for The Great Uprising to defeat The Great Reset. This isn’t just an R vs. D question in 2023. It’s a 1776 moment.”

  – Vivek Ramaswamy

  I’m already liking 2024. Consequence is itching to return to the American scene. Somewhere around 2016, cause and effect got a divorce. After that, things just happened or unhappened with no further orders of effect, like some brute existence without purpose, meaning, or even awareness, except for the feeling of the lash on your back.

  After a long journey through a dark place, treading ever-deeper into the unknown, knowing you are in the presence of demons from one footstep to the next, worrying incessantly that God has abandoned you. . . the alarm bell is ringing, the light is shining through, your eyes roll up like window-shades, and it’s time to get your mind right! Yes, even nations have bad dreams. Welcome to the Great Clarification.

  

  We are waking to the stupefying criminality of public life, to the immersive obvious bullshit of people in charge who don’t deserve your respect or compliance.

  How they got into these positions is only another feature of that totalistic criminality.

  What was hidden in plain sight will be revealed to those suffering mere hysterical blindness.

  It was fitting that the last extravagant political act of ’23 was Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows chucking Mr. Trump off the ballot there because…she felt like it. To save our democracy, you understand. That might be the terminal absurdity of the derangement we are leaving behind, the signature for much that has gone down in this country the past three years: women on the verge of a nervous breakdown throwing the crockery of law around the room at Daddy.

  All this accomplishes, of course, is to disgrace authority in general and to turn America into one big broken home, making us a population of frightened runaways clinging desperately to a few square feet of ground, alone under the freeway ramp in the rain. That is no way to live. The way to live is to make yourself useful to your fellow humans and to get paid for it, and to find some joy and meaning in that human fellowship based on fair, consensual transactions — a pretty simple formula that has been supplanted by the evil idea that life is nothing but a shakedown.

  The election of 2024, whether it is actually allowed to happen or not, will probably commence the extinction of the DC blob. This entity has made itself malignantly inimical to the proper functioning of self-governing people, and everybody knows it. The blob will die of irrelevance and impotence as the “trust horizon” devolves downward and we are thrust back into the awesome task of reconstructing our local communities.

  There is so much to do.

  I keep hearing figures in the public arena say they have a creepy feeling that something big is going to happen.

  Well, sure, something’s got to give. So much hyper-complexity has been heaped onto the apparatus of shakedown that just about nothing works in America anymore. The Internet is obviously a major part of that. We’ve allowed digital magic to invade every scrap of territory in our daily doings, to the degree that there is no longer enough for humans to do — but, alas, digital magic is only a pale simulacrum of real human magic.

  The virtual is not an adequate substitute for the authentic. Why do you think there are so many people barely alive in a haze of opiate drugs splayed on the sidewalks of San Francisco, the epicenter of Internet wealth and power?

  👀 Whitney Webb on Why Intel Agencies Are Running ‘Election Simulations’

  “They basically conducted these simulations of what types of hacks and events could trigger the cancellation of a U.S. Presidential Election…It’s very likely there’s going to be some sort of cyber 9/11… pic.twitter.com/M4tUmngnGL

  — Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 1, 2024

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

  The “something big” could well be the Web-down crisis that is nervously tweeted about. If it went on for more than couple of weeks, most everything we depend on would cease to work, from food supplies to clean water to communications to what has been lately operating as “money.”  That would be a clarifying interlude for sure. Among the few things that would still work in the event of a massive attack on the Internet are human brains, human bodies, and firearms. That combo could be as much a recipe for order as for chaos. I believe in the fairly short term, most of us would opt for order. As far as I’m concerned, there’s already been enough chaos, just about every bit of it unnecessary.

  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 2024 is on. It’s the time many of us have been waiting for. We’re in it. Stay alert. Make the right choices. Exercise situational awareness. Get ready to walk with consequence. It’s here, and it’s not “queer.”

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 23:20

• The World Has Lost The Great John Pilger
  The World Has Lost The Great John Pilger

  With sadness Consortium News reports that John Pilger, whose books, films and articles informed generations of people eager to cut through official narratives and propaganda on the Palestinian question; U.S. wars executed in Vietnam, Iraq and elsewhere; the one it plans for China; the state of public medicine in Britain; the treatment of aborigines in his native Australia and a host of other critical public issues, has died in London at 84. 

  Pilger, a recipient of numerous awards, including winning British journalist of the year twice, was a member of Consortium News‘ board of directors and in October was awarded with CN‘s Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award. Tributes have been pouring in….

  RIP to one of the world’s most intrepid, independent and stalwart journalists and documentarians, John Pilger.

  His long-time anti-imperialism placed him on the international left, but he was refused to be enslaved to them: arguing Hillary was more dangerous than Trump. https://t.co/iXj7XnvfT0

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 31, 2023

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

  John Pilger. I miss you my friend, what a great man you were. We will carry you in our hearts forever, you will always be there to give us strength. Love R.

  — Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) December 31, 2023

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

  An Interview with the late, great John Pilger [2022]
  Link: https://t.co/m5D46fAHw8 pic.twitter.com/3doq0iqvqI

  — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 31, 2023

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  John Pilger’s documentaries are historically significant exposés of the cruelty and connivances of US empire, in which he gave voice to resistance movements still struggling for their sovereignty.

  Films like his 1983 “Nicaragua, a nation’s right to survive” inspired my own work,… pic.twitter.com/xWUiF5RVH2

  — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 31, 2023

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  Below is John Pilger’s Biography via johnpilger.com…

  * * *

  John Pilger was born and grew up in Bondi, Sydney, Australia. He launched his first newspaper at Sydney High School and later completed a four year cadetship with Australian Consolidated Press. “It was one of the strictest language courses I know,” he says. “Devised by a celebrated, literate editor, Brian Penton, the aim was economy of language and accuracy. It certainly taught me to admire writing that was spare, precise and free of cliches, that didn’t retreat into the passive voice and used adjectives only when absolutely necessary. I have long since slipped that leash, but those early disciplines helped shape my journalism and writing and my understanding of moving and still pictures”.

  Like many of his Australian generation, Pilger and two colleagues left for Europe in the early 1960s. They set up an ill-fated freelance ‘agency’ in Italy (with the grand title of ‘Interep’) and quickly went broke. Arriving in London, Pilger freelanced, then joined Reuters, moving to the London Daily Mirror, Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, which was then changing to a serious tabloid.

  He became chief foreign correspondent and reported from all over the world, covering numerous wars, notably Vietnam. Still in his twenties, he became the youngest journalist to receive Britain’s highest award for journalism, Journalist of the Year and was the first to win it twice. Moving to the United States, he reported the upheavals there in the late 1960s and 1970s. He marched with America’s poor from Alabama to Washington, following the assassination of Martin Luther King. He was in the same room when Robert Kennedy, the presidential candidate, was assassinated in June 1968.

  

  His work in South East Asia produced an iconic issue of the London Mirror, devoted almost entirely to his world exclusive dispatches from Cambodia in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s reign. The combined impact of his Mirror reports and his subsequent documentary, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia, raised almost $50 million for the people of that stricken country. Similarly, his 1994 documentary and dispatches report from East Timor, where he travelled under cover, helped galvanise support for the East Timorese, then occupied by Indonesia.

  In Britain, his four-year investigation on behalf of a group of children damaged at birth by the drug Thalidomide, and left out of the settlement with the drugs company, resulted in a special settlement.

  His numerous documentaries on Australia, notably The Secret Country (1983), the bicentary trilogy The Last Dream (1988), Welcome to Australia (1999) and Utopia (2013) all celebrated and revealed much of his own country’s ‘forgotten past’, especially its indigenous past and present.

  He has won an American TV Academy Award, an Emmy, and a British Academy Award, a BAFTA for his documentaries, which have also won numerous US and European awards, such as as the Royal Television Society’s Best Documentary. The British Film Institute includes his 1979 film, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia among the ten most important documentaries of the twentieth century.

  His articles appear worldwide. In 2001, he curated a major exhibition at the London Barbican, Reporting the World: John Pilger’s Eyewitness Photographers, a tribute to the great black-and-white photographers he has worked alongside. In 2003, he was awarded the prestigious Sophie Prize for ’30 years of exposing injustice and promoting human rights.’ In 2009, he was awarded Australia’s human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize. He has received honorary doctorates from universities in the UK and abroad. In 2017, the British Library announced a John Pilger Archive of all his written and filmed work.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 22:50

• Risks Abound After Santa Claus Rally Lifts Stocks
  Risks Abound After Santa Claus Rally Lifts Stocks

  By George Lei, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

  1. Chinese equities have enjoyed a stellar Santa Claus rally even though the country doesn’t officially celebrate Christmas. CSI 300 Index, the onshore benchmark, gained 2.8% in the final week of 2023 while the MSCI China Index soared 4.8% over the same period. The performance was the best in five months for both gauges. Investors have largely attributed the jump to bottom-fishing and year-end position adjustments, with some of the most battered sectors leading the year-end rally.

  Despite last week’s bounce, Chinese shares remain the world’s biggest losers in 2023 and whether the rebound can last into the new year depends a lot on the all-important real estate sector. Wall Street, however, isn’t too optimistic. The slump in China’s housing construction will continue in 2024, dragging down economic growth while government efforts to stabilize the sector will be inadequate to reverse the downturn, according to the consensus from ten investment banks and brokerages including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS.

  Until the housing market turns around, any dip-buying in Chinese equities will more likely be a short-term trade than a durable investment theme.

  2. Bureaucrats are still fumbling their policymaking even as top leaders urge them to “build the new before abolishing the old.” More than two years after a crackdown on the Internet and video-game sectors, vestiges of official disapproval remain, as evidenced by a raft of proposals to curb in-game spending and playing time just before Christmas. Some of China’s biggest online names shed $80 billion before recouping some of their losses.

  The silver lining, however, is that officials seemed to quickly realize the damages done and reacted almost immediately to calm markets, short of an explicitly admission of mea culpa. On Dec. 25, regulators said they approved a record 105 games for domestic publication and promised to review their controversial proposals.

  The media & entertainment sector remains a “timely buy” based on business cycle analysis, according to a research report from JPMorgan, which shrugged off the rout of game stocks. The sector’s forward 12-month P/E ratio now stands at a multi-year low of 11.8 times and the valuation gaps are at odds with a regulatory direction favoring large caps, analysts Wendy Liu and Alex Yao wrote last week. The US bank favors Tencent, NetEase and Baidu, all of which fell before Christmas and only one has recouped all its losses.

  3. A plethora of domestic problems still weigh on the Chinese currency, preventing it from catching up with the dollar. In December, the onshore yuan rose merely 0.5% versus the dollar, which by itself tumbled more than 2%. The currency ranked as No. 23 out of 31 peers of developed and developing nations tracked by Bloomberg.

  It is faring even worse against non-dollar peers, hovering near a four-month low on a trade-weighted basis according to a Bloomberg tracker of China’s trade-weighted yuan index. Most currencies of the nation’s major trade partners strengthened versus the greenback in December, led by a 5%-plus rally in the Japanese yen.

  

  In the final days of 2023, Chinese banks slashed their deposit rates for the third time this year and PBOC-backed Financial News suggested on Wednesday more reductions to both deposit and lending rates are likely in the pipeline. With no end in sight to rate cuts from Beijing, expectations of Fed easing alone won’t be enough to boost the Chinese currency.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 22:20

• 2023 Greatest Hits: The Most Popular Articles Of The Past Year And A Look Ahead
  2023 Greatest Hits: The Most Popular Articles Of The Past Year And A Look Ahead

  One year ago, when looking at the 20 most popular stories of 2022, we said that the year would be a very tough act to follow as the sheer breadth of stories, surprises, plot twists and unexpected developments made 2022 the most memorable year yet in our brief but turbulent history. This proved accurate: while 2023 did have a seemingly endless variety of social, economic, political, geopolitical and of course, financial and market, drama, the unprecedented onslaught of 2022 – which saw both the deadliest and most consequential global war since WWII and a historic inflationary onslaught – simply proved too great to beat…. although we are confident that’s only because the newsflow was merely resting ahead of 2024 when, thanks to a record number of elections across the world…

  

  … not to mention what may well be the most consequential presidential election in US history, the coming avalanche of news and propaganda will be sheer insanity, especially since the Fed has made its long awaited dovish pivot without successfully stamping out inflation first. So in retrospect, 2023 being somewhat tame by recent standards may have been a good thing: it allowed everyone to rest ahead of the main event.

  And speaking of the worst inflation in 40 years, it didn’t take long for our second major prediction to come true: as we said exactly one year ago the “simplest forecast about the coming year is that 2023 will be the year when something finally breaks.” That’s exactly what happened just three months later when the rapidly rising rates catalyzed the worst banking crisis in the US banking sector since the Lehman collapse. As the Fed raised rates, the value of banks’ bond portfolios fell, and those whose balance sheets were smaller – so pretty much all but the “Big 4” – found themselves in a toxic spiral of bank runs and asset liquidations, which culminated with virtually every small and regional bank on the verge of collapse, and some – such as the two largest California banks (those overseen by the “woke” San Fran Fed whose boss is the LGBTQueen of diversity, if not bank supervision, Mary Daly) First Republic, and Silicon Valley bank, as well as NY’s premium client-focused Signature Bank – were dragged into the vortex of bank insolvency, leading to over $500 billion in bank assets failing in a matter of days, matching the record from the global financial crisis.

  

  It was this “break” which culminated with the worst bank run and largest bank failures in 15 years – not to mention the overnight failure of Credit Suisse, the 167-year-old second largest Swiss bank that was bought by UBS for pennies (literally) thanks to Swiss taxpayers once again stuck footing the bill and holding the radioactive garbage – that preemptively ended the Fed’s tightening cycle (even if rate hikes continued for another 6 or so months, if only for optical reasons) and marked the end of the Fed’s reserve reduction…

  

  … which also triggered the start of the next bull market.

  

  Indeed, after bottoming around 3800 on March 10, the Fed’s intervention to prevent further bank contagion was all the market needed to know that the “Fed put” had been triggered, and the S&P closed the year 1000 points higher, less than a percent from the all time highs.

  $CS $UBS $SVB pic.twitter.com/hSJAjjcd1L

  — Buyback Capital (@Larryjamieson_) March 21, 2023

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  Another prediction about 2023 that came true is that as “the past three years so vividly showed, when it comes to actual surprises and all true “black swans”, it won’t be what anyone had expected.” And sure enough, books will be written (and certainly articles in the WSJ, Bloomberg and Zerohedge) about just how wrong everyone was: Exhibit A is this Goldman chart from January 2023, showing that “this is arguably the most widely anticipated recession.“

  

  Well, 2023 has come and gone and the recession-defining NBER remained quiet, with the US economy seemingly avoiding the contractionary fate of its European peers (at least on a “seasonally adjusted” basis), and as the recession was averted so was the bear market that so many strategists were certain was inevitable. It wasn’t just the recession that never officially materialized (hold that thought): as Bloomberg wrote , “all across Wall Street, on equities desks and bond desks, at giant firms and niche outfits, the mood was glum. It was the end of 2022 and everyone, it seemed, was game-planning for the recession they were convinced was coming…. blended together, three calls — sell US stocks, buy Treasuries, buy Chinese stocks — formed the consensus view on Wall Street.” And, as always happens, consensus on Wall Street proved to be wrong again.

  But was consensus really wrong? As usual, the answer is nuanced, because while on the surface the economy grew at a brisk pace, the reason for this growth was anything but benign, and as we explained in July, the catalyst behind the “miracle of Bidenomics” was a $1 trillion debt-funded “stealth” stimulus which pushed the US budget deficit above its $1 trillion trendline to crisis/wartime levels, up 50% from the previous year, and rising to a mindblowing $2 trillion for fiscal 2023 just behind the covid crisis years of 2020 and 2021.

  

  And while this “era of fiscal excess” as Bank of America’s Michael Hartnett laconically called the current period, noting that in the past 12 months the US government has spent $6.6 trillion, would – in theory at least – assure perpetual growth as long as one could issue ever more debt and pretend it was “growth”, in 2023 the US finally hit a historic milestone: $1 trillion in interest expense for the first time ever.

  

  That was a huge problem, because once spending on just US interest surpassed the entire US defense budget, people started to notice. It’s also why, with 10Y yields hitting 5% and putting the entire “dollar as a reserve currency” monetary hegemonic status quo in jeopardy as runaway debt interest threatened to blow up the perpetual engine that had made US superpower status in the past half century – that would be unconstrained US debt spending – possible, the Fed had no other choice but to pivot dovishly, just as we predicted in the waning days of 2022…

  One year later https://t.co/myuOPZ3o4q pic.twitter.com/oDRXFlVxDG

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 22, 2023

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  … which is what the Fed did in December 2023 – even as core inflation remains double the Fed’s 2% target – prompting speculation that the Fed has stealthily raised its long-standing 2% inflation target to 3% or even 4%, and thereby setting the state for the blow-off top in inflation some time in 2024 as the ghost of Arthur Burns finally comes home to roost in the Marriner Eccles buildng.

  Of course, the inevitable end of the inflation story (at least until the much more exciting sequel begins some time in 2024), had profound reverberations elsewhere, and as headline CPI dropped, wage growth – the BLS told us – surpassed inflation for the first time since the post-covid recovery began in the second half of 2020.

  

  While this would be great news for Biden as the 2024 election season kicks off and the “Big Guy” goes all in on his re-election campaign, there was just one problem: people either didn’t believe the data or just didn’t care. Indeed, most Americans, and especially swing-state voters, remained glum about the economy, and 52% of voters in these states rated the economy “poor” in closely watched polls this fall, with another 29% saying it was “only fair.”

  

  In short, Bidenomics was a dud, which is also why the White House started taking pages straight out of the Goebbels propaganda playbook. Yet what was bizarre if not outright paradoxical, is that US consumer spending remained high, especially on services such as concerts from Beyonce and Taylor Swift to movies like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”

  

  Adding to the puzzle is that just as spending hit all-time highs, consumer confidence plunged to new, record lows.

  

  Many were confused over what accounted for the disconnect: persistently high prices? Recession fears? The “vibecession”? Whatever the explanation, voters’ feelings about the economy, and Joe Biden’s handling of it, will be decisive in the 2024 election, especially now that even the Fed pivoted in a way to tips the scales in Biden’s favor, something former NY Fed chief Bill Dudley urged all the way back in 2019.

  And speaking of wages overtaking inflation, this summer much of America ground to a halt as tens of thousands of actors and screenwriters went on strike in July, bringing Hollywood to a halt, amid fears that AI will put most of the local “talent” out of job (it will). The strikes were part of a wave of labor activity in the United States this year, including targeted strikes by the United Automobile Workers union. Despite the recent uptick, overall union activity has fallen since the 1970s and ’80s; still the strikes were successful with union workers managing to negotiate solid, double-digit raises for themselves, assuring that inflation’s return is just a matter of time.

  

  There was another big driver behind inflation both in 2022 and 2023, as not one but two brutal wars underscored the fragility of the global economic recovery and rewired the world’s trade relationships. For an example look no further than the geopolitics of oil. Prices soared above $120 a barrel after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, then steadily fell amid surging US oil production and signs of a global economic slowdown. Here China’s aborted attempt to escape from covid zero with a burst of growth was key… yet Beijing’s inability to flood the economy with stimulus was obvious to anyone who had seen China’s record 300% debt/GDP ratio: China simply had no more space where to park and hide any new growth, pardon debt.

  

  But while the Ukraine war slowly faded away from the front pages as Zelensky’s counteroffensive proved to be a disaster and now US and European officials and the legacy media are openly discussing a negotiated peace as the war’s “best” outcome (after blasting it as pro-Putin appeasement just one year ago), it was replaced in October with the violent and dramatic breakout of the most brutal Middle-East conflict in decades, as the Israel-Hamas war raised new fears that oil prices would spike and reignite inflation. Despite shipping snarls in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, those concerns have yet to materialize largely thanks to huge overproduction in the US at a time of rampant shale M&A activity as potential acquisition targets do everything they can to literally flood the market and boost EBITDA and cash flow in hopes of impressing potential suitors. This too shall pass, and very soon.

  

  Until then, however, thanks to the Russia-Ukraine war, India and China have emerged as key beneficiaries. India, profiting from its neutrality, went from buying hardly any Russian oil to buying about half of what the country exports by sea.

  

  Trade between China and Russia has also surged, surpassing $200 billion in the first 11 months of this year while Chinese cars are now flooding Russia.

  

  Not surprisingly, just a few days ago we learned that the Chinese yuan has overtaken the Japanese yen to become the fourth most-used currency by value in global payments.

  

  Of course, it’s not just Russia benefiting from China’s redirected trade routes: countries like Mexico and Vietnam have also gained ground. And since those countries import mostly intermediate goods from China, American supply chains still remain reliant on Chinese production. In fact, China is now the dominant supplier of industrial inputs across the world.

  

  As other countries have seen a pick up in Chinese trade, China’s share of exports to the United States has fallen in recent years, as a result of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and maintained by Biden even though tensions between the two superpowers stabilized briefly after Biden’s meeting with President Xi Jinping of China on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November… even though Biden again calling Xi a dictator for the second time went over as a lead spy balloon in Beijing, as Anthony Blinken’s face made abundantly clear.

  Blinken’s face when Biden calls President Xi a dictator 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/2sAPeGxwlZ

  — Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) November 16, 2023

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  Still, there is another reason why the US can’t decouple easily from China: semiconductors. China is a major market for these advanced computer chips, which can be used to power artificial intelligence systems. This fall, the Biden administration tightened its export controls on semiconductors, making it harder for U.S. companies to sell them to China. But big chipmakers like Nvidia are already working on modified chips to sell to Chinese markets, hoping to skirt the restrictions.

  And speaking of Nvidia, we would be remiss not to mention the single biggest market narrative – and tech story – of 2023, namely the unprecedented AI mania, which manifested itself in an explosion in the “Magnificent 7” mega tech stocks which now make up a record 30% of the S&P’s market cap…

  

  … thanks to a historic outperformance of this group of 7 tech names which doubled their price in 2023 even as much of the rest of the market went nowhere this year, at least until the Fed’s dovish pivot, which finally lifted all boats in the last two weeks of the year.

  

  It wasn’t just the latest stock bubble however: the world’s infatuation with the chatGPT chatbot led to an explosion of investment in generative A.I. start-ups, including Microsoft’s $10 billion backing in OpenAI. Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI has since come under scrutiny, particularly its role in the reinstatement of Sam Altman as OpenAI’s CEO after a boardroom coup that set off a chaotic five days at the start-up and was a moment of unforgettable drama for nerds everywhere. Whether A.I. remains the market juggernaut it was in 2023 may be decided in the courts: on Dec. 27, The New York Times became the first major American media organization to sue OpenAI and Microsoft over A.I.-related copyright issues, saying in the lawsuit that the companies should be held responsible for the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.”

  What is just as remarkable is that people actually use ChatGPT or rather chat LGPTQ, since we now have proof that as a large language model it uses data and signal exclusively from hard-liberal and leftist organizations, thus making most of its “answers” false, unreliable, “woke” and generally useless.

  

  And speaking of the latest attempt to control and dominate the conversation, this time using chatGPT, we remind readers that away from markets and geopolitical conflicts, the next most important topic in the past year were the revelations from the Twitter Files and subsequent exposes, all revealing just how little free speech there really is in the so-called land of the free and the home of the First Amendment, and how countless three-lettered, deep-state alphabet agencies – and the military-industrial complex – will do anything and everything to control both the official discourse and the unofficial narrative to keep their preferred puppets in the White House, and keep those they disapprove of – censored and/or locked up, both literally and metaphorically… or simply designate them “conspiracy theorists.” None other than Matt Taibbi wrote the best summary of what the Twitter Files revealed, namely America’s stealthy conversion into a crypto-fascist state where some unelected government bureaucrat tells corporations what to do and decides the fate of ordinary Americans every single day without any due process:

  This last week saw the FBI describe Lee Fang, Michael Shellenberger and me as “conspiracy theorists” whose “sole aim” is to discredit the agency. That statement will look ironic soon, as we spent much of this week learning about other agencies and organizations that can now also be discredited thanks to these files.

  A group of us spent the last weeks reading thousands of documents. For me a lot of that time was spent learning how Twitter functioned, specifically its relationships with government. How weird is modern-day America? Not long ago, CIA veterans tell me, the information above the “tearline” of a U.S. government intelligence cable would include the station of origin and any other CIA offices copied on the report.

  I spent much of today looking at exactly similar documents, seemingly written by the same people, except the “offices” copied at the top of their reports weren’t other agency stations, but Twitter’s Silicon Valley colleagues: Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, even Wikipedia. It turns out these are the new principal intelligence outposts of the American empire. A subplot is these companies seem not to have had much choice in being made key parts of a global surveillance and information control apparatus, although evidence suggests their Quislingian executives were mostly all thrilled to be absorbed. Details on those “Other Government Agencies” soon, probably tomorrow.

  One happy-ish thought at month’s end:

  Sometime in the last decade, many people — I was one — began to feel robbed of their sense of normalcy by something we couldn’t define. Increasingly glued to our phones, we saw that the version of the world that was spat out at us from them seemed distorted. The public’s reactions to various news events seemed off-kilter, being either way too intense, not intense enough, or simply unbelievable. You’d read that seemingly everyone in the world was in agreement that a certain thing was true, except it seemed ridiculous to you, which put you in an awkward place with friends, family, others. Should you say something? Are you the crazy one?

  I can’t have been the only person to have struggled psychologically during this time. This is why these Twitter files have been such a balm. This is the reality they stole from us! It’s repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people, but I’ll take it any day over the vile and insulting facsimile of truth they’ve been selling. Personally, once I saw that these lurid files could be used as a road map back to something like reality — I wasn’t sure until this week — I relaxed for the first time in probably seven or eight years.

  One year later, the legacy media has only gotten worse, with the likes of the NYT, publishers of such tripe seeking to justify an illegitimate and corrupt first crime family, and WaPo spewing propaganda for the corrupt elite, and officially becoming the PR arm of both the White House and the Military Industrial Complex/ US Intel Services/ Deep State. Meanwhile, X (fka Twitter), once the most corrupt and censored social media network in the world, has emerged as a bastion of free speech (Elon even brought back Alex Jones) even as virtue-signaling corporations (who all work in conjunction with the deep state in hopes of getting some fast-track access to those very generous taxpayer-funded government contracts) are doing everything in their power to demonetize and starve the company by pulling their ads; we say this as one of the first media outlets that was dubbed “conspiracy theorists” by the authorities, long before everyone else joined the club. Oh yes, we’ve been there: we were suspended for half a year on Twitter for telling the truth about Covid, and then we lost most of our advertisers after the Atlantic Council‘s weaponized “fact-checkers” such as Newsguard put us on every ad agency’s black list while anonymous CIA sources at the AP slandered us for being “Kremlin puppets” – which reminds us: for those with the means, desire and willingness to support us, please do so by becoming a premium member: we are now almost entirely reader-funded so your financial assistance will be instrumental to ensure our continued survival into 2024 and beyond.

  The bottom line, at least for us, is that the past four years have been a stark lesson in how quickly an ad-funded business can disintegrate in this world which makes the dystopian nightmare of 1984 seem more real each day, and we have since taken measures. Three years ago, we launched a paid version of our website, which is entirely ad and moderation free, and offers readers a variety of premium content. It wasn’t our intention to make this transformation but unfortunately we know which way the wind is blowing and it is only a matter of time before the gatekeepers of online ad spending block us for good. As such, if we are to have any hope in continuing it will come directly from you, our readers. We will keep the free website running for as long as possible, but we are certain that it is only a matter of time before the hammer falls as the censorship bandwagon rolls out much more aggressively in the coming year when, with the 2024 elections at stake, the deep state will stop at nothing to silence all independent voices.

  And why would they: just a few days ago, some woke, unelected Karen in Maine named Shenna Bellows showed just how far the left was willing to go when she decided that it is incumbent upon her – and her alone – to determine what is in the best interest of hundreds of millions of Americans when this secretary of state – not some court, not some group of elected officials – decided to remove Donald Trump from the state’s presidential ballot and disenfranchise half of the country (something democrats have shown a tremendous aptitude for, even as they are more than eager to collect taxes from those who still generate income and pay some of it back to the government as taxes, i.e. mostly republicans). Even a Democratic congressman who voted to impeach Trump over the January 6th riots, quickly issued a statement: “We are a nation of laws, therefore until he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed on the ballot.” Matt Taibbi summarized it best: “Is there any way this ends well? It feels harder and harder to imagine. “

  As always, we thank all of our readers for making this website – which has never seen one dollar of outside funding (and despite amusing recurring allegations, has certainly never seen a ruble from either Putin or the KGB either, sorry CIA) and has never spent one dollar on marketing – a small (or not so small) part of your daily routine.

  Which also brings us to another critical topic: that of fake news, and something we – and others who do not comply with the established narrative – have been accused of. While we find the narrative of fake news laughable, after all every single article in this website is backed by facts and links to outside sources, it is clearly a dangerous development, and a very slippery slope that the entire developed world is pushing for what is, when stripped of fancy jargon, internet censorship under the guise of protecting the average person from “dangerous, fake information.” It’s also why we are preparing for the next onslaught against independent thought and why we had no choice but to roll out a premium version of this website.

  In addition to the other themes noted above, we expect the crackdown on free speech to only accelerate in the coming year especially as the following list of Top 20 articles for 2023 reveals, many of the most popular articles in the past year were precisely those which the conventional media would not touch with a ten foot pole, both out of fear of repercussions and because the MSM has now become a PR agency for either a political party or some unelected, deep state bureaucrat, which in turn allowed the alternative media to continue to flourish in an information vacuum (in less than a decade, Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter will seem like one of the century’s biggest bargains) and take significant market share from the established outlets by covering topics which established media outlets refuse to do, in the process earning itself the derogatory “fake news” condemnation.

  We are grateful that our readers have, for the 15th year in a row, realized that it is incumbent upon them to decide what is, and isn’t “fake news.”

  * * *

  And so, before we get into the details of what has now become an annual tradition for the last day of the year, those who wish to jog down memory lane, can refresh our most popular articles for every year during our no longer that brief, almost 14-year existence, starting with 2009 and continuing with 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 , 2021 and 2022.

  So without further ado, here are the articles that you, our readers, found to be the most engaging, interesting and popular based on the number of hits, during the past year.

  • In 20th spot with 540,000 views, was one of the year’s first admissions that – contrary to the prevailing propaganda – the war in Ukraine, which would end up being a $100BN+ and rising drain on taxpayer funds, was not going as widely reported; in fact it wasn’t going at all. Indeed, as we observed in “NBC Reporter Goes To Crimea, Shocks Viewers By Telling The Truth“ the Deep State’s favorite media outlet, MSNBC made the first concession that Zelensky’s goal of retaking Crime is unrealistic and dangerous. In response, the establishment reporter immediately wound up on the Ukrainian government’s kill list. But while Ukraine may have succeeded in silencing this one particular pawn, subsequent revelations and an ongoing internal power struggle inside Ukraine, all but guarantee that the war is almost over and that the Biden family’s crimes in Ukraine will sooner or later make the light of day .

  • Another topic which none in the media would discuss openly, or truthfully, for fears of retaliation from the deep state was the article that was the 19th most popular of the year. Over 543,000 readers were probably not too shocked to learn that according to famed journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh, the infamous Nord Stream sabotage of 2022 was yet another CIA covert op, meant to incite an escalation of conflict in the Russian-Ukraine war, and to terminally halt Russian transit of natural gas to Europe. Who benefited? Why the US of course, as shipments of LNG to Europe (as the US stepped in to “generously” replace Russia as a source of gas) blew away all records. In fact, one could argue that the Ukraine war was orchestrated precisely for that one purpose: to ensure that US nat gas exports would boom for years to come courtesy of a captive market, Europe, which would be prevented from importing much cheaper Russian gas for years to come.

  • Almost 5 years after the breakout of the covid pandemic which crippled global economies and led to the injection of tens of trillions in monetary and fiscal stimulus, precipitating the biggest inflationary wave in modern history, there is still no definitive explanation of where the virus came from (or rather, escaped) and why there has been no punishment yet for those Wuhan Institute workers (and those Americans giving them instructions and funding) responsible for countless deaths and millions of businesses shut down. However, when a mysterious Chinese biolab was discovered in a remote California City,  some 543K Zerohedge readers wondered what if any connection this lab in the middle of nowhere had to i) covid, ii) China’s bioweapons industry and iii) how many more such labs exist across the US and what exactly are they doing? That was enough to make this bizarre story the 18th most popular on this website in 2023.

  • For the 17th most read article we go to a topic the mainstream media, which sadly has become a PR and Propaganda arm of the White House, the deep state and the military industrial complex, has steadfastly refused the touch namely the unprecedented corruption in the country which the Biden admin and various MIC-adjacent politicians have decided is the newest US state: Ukraine. Early in 2023, we reported that “Ukraine Is Rocked By Corruption Scandal, Wave Of Top Officials Resign: Sports Cars, Mansions & Luxury Vacations As People Suffered“, however none of that matters since none of the legacy media dared to expose just who all those tens of billions in US taxpayer funds have gone to. And now, almost a year later, Ukraine is losing the war, Zelensky and his comrades are on slowly but surely on their way out, and yet nobody knows where that $100BN+ in funds have gone. We can certainly hope that one day, long after the biggest money-laundering experiment in modern history is over, forensic historians will trace all that money which is bigger than the GDP of most nations, however – just like the Epstein client list – we doubt it will ever happen.

  • Nearly 560K readers were surprised to learn that the Magic Kingdom has become so expensive, almost nobody can afford to go there any more. Indeed, in 2023 a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland with the whole family has become simply too expensive leading many to ask “Where Is Everyone? Disney World “Just About Empty“ as CEO Bob Iger himself admitted customer affordability issues; add the direct consequences of price-gouging families, plus the ‘woke’ backlash, and you get one of the slowest periods at Walt Disney World in Orlando on July 4 in a decade. Meanwhile the plunge of Disney stock to a decade low coupled with South Park now mercilessly mocking the hollow shell of a woke company, spark some hope that after a wholesale sacking of the incompetent management, the slate may be wiped clean and the company can go back to doing what it does best: not grooming or propaganda but innocent entertainment for generations of children.

  • Confirming yet again that the cover up is always worse than the crime, the 15th most popular post of 2023 with over 560K hits focused on the still unfolding consequences of the biggest story of 2020, namely the unprecedented cover up of the covid “vaccine” as a “Bombshell Vax Analysis Found $147 Billion In Economic Damage, Tens Of Millions Injured Or Disabled.” And since the corrupt and captured media still refuses to do its jobs and get to the bottom of who benefited – and what were the full consequences – from rushing the biggest medical experiment in history, it is the independent media, which is increasingly performing the investigative role of the MSM, that will benefit from the corruption and capture that has dominated what was once the fourth estate but is now just a waning shadow of its former formidable self.

  • 2023 was not only a year where many cover-ups were exposed; it was also a year when “something finally broke”, and it wasn’t just US regional banks: in March, as the world was rocked by a relentless wave of bank runs, the second largest Swiss bank got Lehmaned, and failed over a long weekend, despite obtaining a government backstop just hours earlier as we detailed in “Credit Suisse To Borrow $54BN From SNB To “Pre-emptively Strengthen Liquidity,” a story which was read by 572K readers – many of whom current or former Credit Suisse customers – making it the 14th most popular story of 2023. In the end it was not enough, because once confidence in a bank is shaken it never returns, and neither do the deposits that have been pulled… and so less than a week later, Credit Suisse was no more, its existence over after 167 years, with UBS taking over (with the generous funding of Swiss taxpayers) and becoming the most systematically important European bank, one which not even all of Switzerland will be able to backstop during the next banking crisis.

  • With historic presidential elections on deck in 2024, and a repeat of the 2020 violence – where secretive Soros-funded entities funded and encouraged a bloody summer across the US  – virtually assured, it is worth recalling what Tucker Carlson reported a few months ago, namely that the catalyst behind much of the government-encouraged Black Lives Matter violence of 2020, was fake and “The Whole George Floyd Story Was A Lie“, a report which was watched and read by nearly 600K people. Unfortunately, with much of the US judicial system in Soros’ pocket, and with dozens of big city DAs seeking to decriminalize rioting and theft by the black community, more violence is guaranteed, the only question is what fake pretext the deep state will use this time.

  • On the last day of 2022 we predicted that “2023 will be the year when something finally breaks“, and three months later we were proven right, when as a result of soaring rates US regional banks suddenly found that the value of their fixed income collateral was worth far less when marked to market than the deposits it was pledged against, resulting in widespread liquidity and solvency fears, accelerating bank runs and culminating with the second Fed panic since 2008, as “Signature Bank Was Closed By Regulators; Fed, TSY, FDIC Announce Another Banking System Bailout“, a reminder to no less than 621K readers that the US financial system was as brittle and unstable as ever despite trillions in liquidity injected into the market and meant only to make the rich richer. Nearly a year later, the regional US bank zombies that would have collapsed in March live on thanks to the Fed’s BTFP facility which matures in March, and which if pulled would lead to an even greater crisis in the US banking sector. Ironically that’s also when the Fed’s Reverse Repo facility is expected to be drained to zero, so if anyone is trying to pin the date of the next financial crisis in the calendar, March increasingly looks like the prime month for that.

  • Following the start of October’s Israel-Hamas war, the bloodiest breakout of Middle-Eastern violence in decades, we said that “there is some speculation that Iran may get dragged in with various pro-Israeli hawks claiming that the Hamas attack would have only occurred with explicit Iranian backing.” Just a few hours later this was confirmed as we reported in “Iran Helped Hamas “Plot Israel Attack Over Several Weeks”, Gave Green Light“, the 11th most popular article of 2023, which revealed that “Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday”, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah. But while the US would have swiftly retaliated in the past, if only to convince the world that it is still a military superpower, so far the Biden regime has remained silent, terrified of a military response, but not because of some newfound appreciation for state sovereignty or non-intervention, but simply because the president is afraid what a surge in oil and gas prices – which would be an inevitable outcome of Iran getting dragged into the war – would mean for his re-election chances.

  • In case you didn’t figure it out by now, 2023 was a year when many cover ups were exposed, and among the most flagrant ones was the leak of the Nashville transsexual shooter’s manifesto, which as we revealed in “Biden’s DOJ suppressed the Nashville Transkiller’s manifesto after learning they used Democrat talking points to justify targeting white Christian children“, which with over 670K reads was the 10th most popular article of 2023, revealed that Biden’s DOJ suppressed the Nashville Transkiller’s manifesto after learning it used Democrat talking points to justify targeting white Christian children. Of course, the DOJ never had any such qualms when revealing motives from the other side of the political aisle, confirming yet again that there is nothing too low for Biden’s weaponized Department of Injustice to stoop below, not even death.

  • Continuing our trek through the top 10 stories of 2023, we next look at the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war, where just hours after the violence had broken out, the world quickly revealed how little it thought of the Biden administration, and US “superpower status”, when as 731K readers found out, “Arab Leaders Refuse To Meet Biden As Protests Rage Around The World.” The title is self-explanatory – and an embarrassment to Americans – even if said Americans deserve to know just who is the puppet-master pulling the strings of the senile, demented occupant of the White House.

  • Remember when merely breathing the world “Ivermectin” in the aftermath of the covid pandemic was enough to blacklist you from social media and polite society in perpetuity, and get you branded as a tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist for life? Well, if we have learned anything in recent years, is that the time from when an idea emerges as a “conspiracy” to when it is fully confirmed even by the powers that be has shrunk to mere months, and as we reported in “FDA Drops Ivermectin Bombshell“, our 8th most popular article of 2023, nearly 740K readers learned from an FDA lawyer that doctors were, in fact, free to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The case had been brought by three doctors who alleged the FDA unlawfully interfered with their practice of medicine with the statements. Then a federal judge dismissed the case in 2022, prompting an appeal. “The fundamental issue in this case is straightforward. After the FDA approves the human drug for sale, does it then have the authority to interfere with how that drug is used within the doctor-patient relationship? The answer is no,” Jared Kelson, representing the doctors, told the appeals court. Hilariously, the FDA on Aug. 21, 2021, wrote on Twitter “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” In retrospect it was right: it turned out most people who believed the government’s lies were at best sheep.

  • Tragedy rocked the town of East Palestine, Ohio last February when the derailment of a train carrying toxic and carcinogenic compounds resulted in a historic chemical spill and led  to large sections of the town becoming unlivable as reported in “Ohio’s Apocalyptic Chemical Disaster Rages On“, the 7th most popular story of 2023 with over 755K views. The spill immediately became a political flashpoint, with Donald Trump visiting East Palestine and handed out Make America Great Again hats, telling the crowd: “You are not forgotten.” Unfortunately, the town has certainly been forgotten by the current “president” who to this day has refused to visit the town despite countless promises he would do just that.

  • In many ways, 2023 was the year when alternative, independent media truly took over, and it wasn’t just X/Twitter that dominated the news, while being the news: it is also the year when traditional media fell apart, such as the various anchors fleeing the sinking ship that is CNN, but the most vivid example was Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News – the channel that was only relevant because of Tucker’s segment – and the launch of his own media organization. As so many others have found out, media personalities were only allowed to truly speak their minds when separated from the corporations where they operated previously (so as not to offend advertisers), something Tucker understood and laid out in one of his most bombshell interviews, explaining why “Our System Is Collapsing In Real Time“, which was also our 6th most read article with 762K reads.

  • Finally, turning to the top 5 articles of 2023, it should not be a surprise that with almost 810K reads, the 5th most popular post of the year was the news that – with the Ukraine war fading from collective consciousness – a major new war had broken out in the Middle East, something we reported in “Israel In State of War With Hamas After Palestinian Militants Launch Unprecedented Incursion.”

  • Remember what we said about coverups? Well, it took less than three years from when Hunter Biden’s notebook emerged in the media – with the entire deep state apparatus defending it at first, and 51 former CIA spies vowing it was Russian propaganda – until all of its official contents were leaked as we reported in “Trove Of Nearly 10K Hunter Biden Laptop Photos, Docs Appear On Organized Website.” Among the contents were not only documented acts of criminal debauchery, but also proof that the Biden family was engaged in flagrant influence peddling on behalf of such foreign regimes as Ukraine and China. Alas, the US justice system is now so corrupt and broken, and the media so captured, this news has seen barely any coverage and follow through; and meanwhile the gutless republican cowards in Congress still refuse to impeach the president despite ample proof – courtesy of his son – of his countless transgressions.

  • With over 875K reads, and clocking in at third spot for 2023, was one of the biggest shockers of the year: the decision by Murdoch and Fox News to sack their only true star, Tucker Carlson; And for what? For daring to speak to truth one too many times as we reported in “Tucker Carlson Fired By Lachlan Murdoch; Here’s What We Know.” In retrospect, it will be the best thing that happened to Tucker, whose new venture already has well over 100,000 annual subs and growing at a torrid pace. Meanwhile, the biggest winner may well be the US population, which will have one more source of honest, accurate news while the malignant influence of conventional media fades with each passing day.

  • The second most popular story of 2023 was also a freak one: the short-lived attempt by Putin’s formerly close friend, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner private mercenary force, to stage a military coup, yet not really a coup meant to overthrow Putin but instead targeted some of Prigozhin’s personal enemies in the top ranks of Russia’s army. The “Wagner rebellion” as it became known – and which came shortly after Prigozhin’s forces managed to smack down a Ukraine attempt at a counteroffensive earlier this summer – lasted all of a day or so, before it all died down as reported in “Prigozhin ‘Exiled’ To Belarus In Exchange For Peace, Criminal Charges Dropped: What Was This All About?” the second most popular article of 2023 with nearly 900K reads. To this day there is no coherent explanation behind Prigozhin’s actions, and there probably won’t be: two months later the plane carrying the mercenary chief exploded. It’s still unclear why, but the most amusing theory was the one offered by Putin himself, who claimed that “Wagner leadership got drunk and/or high, then set off hand grenades during the flight.”

  • Finally, the top post of 2023 was one which also closed the loop on the top story of 2020: with nearly 1.1 million reads, the most popular article of the year was the “CDC Finally Releasing VAERS Safety Monitoring Analyses For COVID Vaccines.” While the article offered lots of data, the bottom line is that the vaccine which the CDC claimed was safe and effective was neither safe nor effective.

  And with all that behind us, and as we wave goodbye to another bizarre, exciting, surreal year, what lies in store for 2024, and the next decade?

  We don’t know: as our frequent readers are aware, we do not pretend to be able to predict the future and we don’t try, despite repeat baseless allegations that we constantly forecast the collapse of civilization: we leave the predicting to the “smartest people in the room” who year after year have been consistently wrong about everything, and never more so than in 2023 when one year after the entire world realized just how clueless the Fed had been when it called the most crushing inflation in two generations “transitory”, it was Wall Street’s reputation turn to hit new lows as even Bloomberg listed “Everything Wall Street Got Wrong in 2023“, in the process adding strategists and analysts to the clueless ranks of economists, conventional media and the professional polling class, not to mention all those “scientists” who made a mockery of both the scientific method and the “expert class” with their catastrophically bungled response to the covid pandemic, and then the response to the response, and so on… We merely observe, find what is unexpected, entertaining, amusing, surprising or grotesque in an increasingly bizarre, sad, and increasingly crazy world, and then just write about it.

  We do know, however, that with central banks having flip-flopped yet again, and pivoting dovishly even as inflation still rages at 4%, wages – especially for unionized and government workers – growing at a double digit pace, home prices and rents about to lurch even higher, and overall prices stuck at all time highs, the most likely outcome is another surge in inflation and Jerome Powell becoming not the second coming of saint Paul Volcker but of satan Arthur Burns.

  

  But even ignoring the impact on prices, one can’t just undo 15 years of central bank mistakes by wishing them away (even if it is an election year); after all it is the trillions and trillions in monetary stimulus, the helicopter money, the MMT, and the endless deficit funding by central banks that made the current runaway inflation possible, the current attempt to stuff 15 years of toothpaste back into the tube, will be a catastrophic failure.

  We are confident, however, that in the end it will be the very final backstoppers of the status quo regime, the central banking emperors of the New Normal, who will again be revealed as completely naked. When that happens and what happens after is anyone’s guess. But, as we have promised – and delivered – every year for the past 15, we will be there to document every aspect of it.

  Finally, and as always, we wish all our readers the best of luck in 2024, with much success in trading and every other avenue of life. We bid farewell to 2023 with our traditional and unwavering year-end promise: Zero Hedge will be there each and every day – usually with a cynical smile (and with the CIA clearly on our ass now) – helping readers expose, unravel and comprehend the fallacy, fiction, fraud and farce that defines every aspect of our increasingly broken economic, political and financial system.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 21:55

• South Korea Opposition Leader Stabbed In Neck, Attacker Arrested
  South Korea Opposition Leader Stabbed In Neck, Attacker Arrested

  South Korea’s main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked by an unidentified assailant during a visit to the southern coastal city of Busan and rushed to a hospital after he was bleeding from his neck.

  GRAPHIC ⚠️

  South Korean opposition leader, Lee Jae-Myung, was stabbed in the neck during a press conference in Busan, South Korea.pic.twitter.com/DukBBKouKg

  — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 2, 2024

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

  Lee was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidential election in 2022. He has also been faced various charges for alleged graft, which he has denied.

  Witnesses said said the suspect had approached Lee for an autograph and pretending to be a supporter. He then attacked him with a weapon that was between 8 and 12 inches long.

  Second angle: https://t.co/13BEA8ocZM

  — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 2, 2024

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

  The alleged attacker has been arrested.

  GRAPHIC ⚠️

  South Korean opposition leader, Lee Jae-Myung, was stabbed in the neck during a press conference in Busan, South Korea.pic.twitter.com/DukBBKouKg

  — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 2, 2024

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

  The extent of his injuries are unknown…

  🚨🇰🇷 #BREAKING: South Korea’s opposition leader, Lee Jae-Myung, has just been stabbed in the neck. pic.twitter.com/EaXmzfapiY

  — Censored Men (@CensoredMen) January 2, 2024

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

  President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed deep concern and over the incident “that should have never taken place,” Yonhap cited a presidential spokesperson as saying.

  Developing…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 21:50

• China Equities Holding Onto Hopes For A Turnaround
  China Equities Holding Onto Hopes For A Turnaround

  By Garfield Reynolds, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and analyst

  China stocks may be poised for higher ground after a dismal year.

  Chinese investors may be glad to say goodbye to 2023, given the serial disappointments they faced during a year that opened with a wave of optimism that the nation’s abrupt reopening from Covid curbs will lead to the sort of robust recovery other major economies had experienced when they ended such restrictions. There were indeed strong initial surges for activity and for asset prices, but those soon dissolved into a relentless downhill slide.

  This year is opening with a gloomier tone — house sales continue to decline, while China’s official manufacturing and services PMIs each came in below expectations for December. But perhaps that provides a clearer path for the bleeding to stop, and for some sort of sustained turnaround to develop. Indeed, almost a third of 417 respondents to Bloomberg’s latest survey say they will increase their China investments over the next 12 months.

  For equities, in particular, the Shanghai Composite has now bounced off of the 2,800 era on three occasions over the past two years. And the China Composite PMI is holding above the 50 line to remain in expansion territory, even if only slightly above.

  

  For China and the wider Asia-Pacific, the question of whether the region’s biggest economy can put the worst behind it looms as a key one for 2024, and perhaps even beyond.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 21:25

• Student Loan Borrowers Stage A "Massive Student Debt Strike"
  Student Loan Borrowers Stage A “Massive Student Debt Strike”

  Authored by Sam Bourgi via CreditNews.com,

  It’s been three months since the federal government resumed student loan payments, but many borrowers have refused to pay a single penny…

  

  Activists say borrowers have staged a “massive student debt strike” as they await progress—any progress—on the White House’s student loan forgiveness program.

  “Faced with the impossible choice of feeding their kids, keeping a roof over their head, or throwing an average of $400 a month into the Department of Education incinerator, borrowers are rightly choosing to keep themselves and their families financially afloat,” said Astra Taylor, co-founder of Debt Collective, a union advocating on behalf of debtors.

  According to the Department of Education, 22 million borrowers had payments due in October but only 13 million settled their bills.

  That means 40% of borrowers failed to make payments.

  Creditnews reported in September that the resumption of student loan payments would hit American families hard, but very few expected four out of ten borrowers to miss payments. Before the pandemic, about one-quarter of student loan borrowers were dodging payments.

  Some experts think the transition back to loan repayment after more than three years of forbearance will be bumpy. As it turns out, students aren’t the only ones to blame.

  What has changed since the pandemic?

  Student loans went into forbearance in March 2020 just as Covid-era lockdowns forced millions out of work. Over that period, Americans grew accustomed to not paying back their loans and used the money to tackle other expenses like rent or grocery bills.

  Reallocating up to $500 a month to student loan payments was always going to be difficult—especially with high inflation and elevated borrowing costs.

  But according to Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, it wasn’t just borrowers who were unprepared for the October shock.

  “Neither borrowers nor the student loan system were prepared to resume repayment,” Yu told CNBC.

  “Servicers are overwhelmed and are failing to help struggling borrowers navigate the options that are available to them,” she said.

  Carolina Rodriguez of the nonprofit Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program agrees. “Servicers are having a very hard time getting people back into repayment,” she said.

  Student loan forgiveness: Reality or pipe dream?

  Many student loan borrowers are waiting for debt relief promised to them by the Biden administration, but those efforts have hit a major snag.

  President Biden initially proposed a $400 billion bailout program that would erase up to $20,000 in federal debt for roughly 40 million borrowers. The Supreme Court struck down the plan in June, claiming that the president overstepped his authority.

  Since then, the Department of Education has been working with a panel of experts to negotiate a watered-down version of the program. But even they have failed to reach a consensus so far.

  An Education Department spokesperson said the panel is on track to submit a new student debt relief proposal by May, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll get passed.

  2024 is an election year, and student loan forgiveness is a hotly debated issue, with several conservative lawmakers promising to block any attempts to erase student loans with taxpayer dollars.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 21:00

• These Are The 20 Most Popular Neighborhoods For Potential US Homebuyers
  These Are The 20 Most Popular Neighborhoods For Potential US Homebuyers

  Location, location, location…

  This phrase has been a real estate mantra since time immemorial, and rightly so. Finding the right home is impossible without finding the right neighborhood.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes details below, thousands of U.S. homebuyers scout online real estate marketplaces daily, searching for the right home. But these sites also attract window shoppers curious about the country’s nicest neighborhoods and luxurious homes.

  And so, HouseFresh has compiled the top 20 most popular neighborhoods by online interest, based on the search history of Zillow users.

  

  Methodology

  This study assessed sales listings from the 100 most populous cities in the U.S.

  It noted the neighborhood and page views for every house, townhome, apartment, and condo, and the number of days it had been listed on the website to calculate the average page views per day.

  Average daily views across each neighborhood were then combined and ranked to reveal the top 20 neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with fewer than 10 listings were excluded from the rankings.

  America’s Most Popular Neighborhoods by Search Interest

  In the post-pandemic world, surging housing prices have been a critical concern for American homebuyers.

  That’s likely why the most popular neighborhood—Northeast Dallas, which is highly sought-after for being in a strong market with lots of options in both size and affordability—can outperform more famous neighborhoods in viewing interest.

  Here are how different neighborhoods in the U.S. stacked up:

  Other strong cities for both first-time and second-time home buyers performed well. With affordable house values, sunny skies, large recreation spaces, and a dry climate, Phoenix had the strongest interest for a single city with three neighborhoods in the top 10: Camelback East, North Mountain, and Deer Valley.

  On the other end of the spectrum were some of the nation’s most valuable real estate markets. Los Angeles’ celebrity hub of Hollywood Hills had the highest average price per listing at $2.3 million, and was the second-most popular neighborhood in average daily views. Listings in New York’s affluent Upper East Side also drew in crowds and was the 5th most viewed neighborhood.

  The Zillow data has revealed that a neighborhood’s popularity varies depending on the viewer. While some look for affordable neighborhoods with big houses and parks, others have their eyes on the glamor of a vibrant city, irrespective of the cost.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 20:25

• Jack Smith Disputes Trump’s Claims In Appeals Court
  Jack Smith Disputes Trump’s Claims In Appeals Court

  Authored by Allen Zhong via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Special Counsel Jack Smith Saturday urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject President Donald Trump’s immunity and double-jeopardy claim that he will be retried for similar charges on which he has already been acquitted.

  

  President Trump is not entitled to immunity in the election case and the criminal charges against him also didn’t violate the principle of double jeopardy, the prosecutors argued.

  Immunity for a U.S. president applies to civil liability only and not criminal, the special counsel’s office claimed.

  “The defendant, a former President, does not enjoy immunity from federal prosecution for the offenses charged in this case. Under separation-of-powers analysis, the President’s unique constitutional status provides immunity from civil liability for official conduct … but it does not render a former President immune from criminal liability when charged with violations of generally applicable federal criminal statutes,” reads the filing.

  Meanwhile, although President Trump has been acquitted after being impeached over an event connected to Jan. 6, the special counsel’s office argued that its criminal charges filed against him don’t violate the principle of double jeopardy because the only remedies in an impeachment proceeding are removal from the office and disqualification. Mr. Smith argued those likely don’t meet the term “jeopardy.”

  Even if President Trump was put into jeopardy during the impeachment proceeding, the indictment charges filed by his office are different from what President Trump was impeached for, the special counsel argued.

  Accordingly, Mr. Smith asked the appeal court to reject President Trump’s immunity and double-jeopardy defenses and affirm the district court’s ruling.

  Mr. Smith also pushed the court to rule on this promptly.

  “For the foregoing reasons, the Court should affirm the district court’s order denying the defendant’s motions to dismiss on Presidential-immunity and double-jeopardy grounds,” the prosecutors wrote. “The Government respectfully requests the Court to issue the mandate five days after the entry of judgment. Such an approach would appropriately require any party seeking further review to do so promptly.”

  Background

  Judge Tanya Chutkan for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Dec. 1 that President Trump is not immune from prosecution in the government’s election interference case.

  In her ruling, Judge Chutkan said the office of the president “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”

  “Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” she wrote. “Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.”

  

  The former president appealed the ruling in the D.C. Circuit Court, which agreed to expedite the case per a request from the special prosecutor’s office.

  According to the order, President Trump’s opening brief was due by Dec. 23. The order emphasized that issues and arguments should be raised in the opening brief, discouraging new points in the reply brief for consideration.

  “The court ordinarily will not consider issues and arguments raised for the first time in the reply brief,” reads the order.

  This decision follows statements by the attorneys representing President Trump accusing the special counsel’s office of election interference in a recent appeals court filing after Mr. Smith requested to expedite the appeal so that the case can go to trial on March 4, 2024. March 4 is one day before Super Tuesday, the U.S. presidential primary election day.

  District Judge Chutkan agreed to pause the case in the district court while the appeal is pending.

  “The court agrees with both parties that Defendant’s appeal automatically stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant,” she wrote. “The court hereby stays the deadlines and proceedings scheduled by its Pretrial Order.”

  She clarified that this would pause the pretrial deadlines, not vacate them.

  Jack Smith Accused of Rushing Trial

  In an apparent push for a rushed trial in the Trump case, the special counsel asked the D.C. Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to rule on President Trump’s claims of presidential immunity and double jeopardy.

  The circuit court agreed to act swiftly, while the SCOTUS rejected Mr. Smith’s request for it to hear the case ahead of proceedings in the circuit court, which was widely regarded as a victory for President Trump.

  “The petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment is denied,” the highest U.S. court ruled on Dec. 22.

  President Trump’s attorneys have accused the special counsel’s office of pushing to rush the case through the courts.

  “The only coherent principle that emerges from the prosecution’s filings is based on strategic gamesmanship rather than the law: On behalf of the Biden Administration, the prosecution will do everything that it can to rush to an unconstitutional and fundamentally unfair trial to try to prevent President Trump from winning the 2024 election, which he is currently leading,” President Trump’s attorneys wrote in a court filing.

  The defense team has already accused the prosecution of being politically motivated in multiple court filings, echoing President Trump’s public speeches claiming that the indictments against him have come at the behest of President Joe Biden, his chief political rival for reelection.

  Catherine Yang, Caden Pearson, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 19:50

• Ex-CIA Officer Says Ukraine A 'Sinking Ship' After NYT Highlights Recruitment Crisis
  Ex-CIA Officer Says Ukraine A ‘Sinking Ship’ After NYT Highlights Recruitment Crisis

  Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky issued a customary speech to the nation wherein he advanced a vision of optimism even as the already war-ravaged country is under Russian bombs and drones. Putin has said Monday that these aerial operations will “intensify”. 

  Zelensky vowed to see Ukraine transformed into an arms production powerhouse, saying in the Sunday televised speech that “next year, the enemy will feel the wrath of domestic production.”

  “Our weapons, our equipment, artillery, our shells, our drones, our naval ‘greetings’ to the enemy and at least a million Ukrainian FPV drones,” he added. “All of which we will generously use… On land, in the sky, and, of course, at sea.”

  

  Speaking of the West-sponsored pilot training program, which is happening in northern Europe and in America, Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian trainees are “already mastering” F-16 jets and that they’ll “definitely” soon be seen in Ukraine’s skies to that “our enemies can certainly see what our real wrath is.”

  Friday witnessed one of the largest missile and drone strikes carried out by Russian forces since the war began, but in the wake of this Zelensky said that no matter how many “the enemy” launches, Ukrainians “will still rise.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 19:15

• The Year That Expertise Collapsed
  The Year That Expertise Collapsed

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

  Getting sick and getting well is part of the human experience at all times in all places. As with other phenomena of human existence, that suggests there is a great deal of embedded knowledge on the topic woven into the fabric of our lives. We aren’t born knowing but we come to know: from our moms and dads, experience of siblings and others, from our own experience, and from medical professionals who deal with the problem daily.

  

  In a healthy and functioning society, the path toward maintaining personal and public health becomes embedded in the cultural firmament, just like manners, belief systems, and value preferences.

  It’s not necessary that we think about it constantly; instead it becomes a habit, with much of the knowledge tacit; that is, deployed daily but rarely with full cognizance.

  We could know for certain that there had been a change in the matrix in March 2020 because, seemingly out of nowhere, all of this knowledge was deemed wrong.

  A new gaggle of experts was in charge, one day to the next. Suddenly, they were everywhere. They were on TV, quoted by all the newspapers, amplified on social media, and on the phone constantly with local officials instructing them on how they must shut down the schools, businesses, playgrounds, churches, and civic gatherings.

  The message was always the same. This time is completely different from anything in our experience or in any previous experience. This time we must adopt a totally new and completely untested paradigm. It comes from models that high-level scientists have deemed correct. It comes from labs. It comes from “germ games” of which none of us are part. If we dare to reject the new teachings for the old, we are doing it wrong. We are the malicious ones. We deserve ridicule, cancellation, silencing, exclusion, and worse.

  It felt like a coup d’état of sorts. It certainly was an intellectual coup. All wisdom of the past, even that known by public health only months earlier, was deleted from public spaces. Dissent was silenced. Corporate media was absolutely united in celebrating the greatness of people like Fauci, who spoke in strangely circuitous ways that contradicted everything we thought we knew.

  It was exceedingly strange because the people we thought might have stood up to the flash imposition of tyranny somehow vanished. We could hardly meet with others at all, if only to share intuitions that something was wrong. “Social distancing” was more than a method to “slow the spread;” it amounted to comprehensive control of the public mind too.

  The experts instructing us spoke with astonishing certainty about precisely how society should be managed in a pandemic. There were scientific papers, tens of thousands of them, and the storm of credentials was everywhere and out of control. Unless you had a university or lab affiliation and unless you had multiple high-level degrees attached to your name, you could not get a hearing. Folk wisdom was out of the question, even basic things like “sun and outdoors are good for respiratory infections.” Even popular understanding of natural immunity came in for hard ridicule.

  Later it turned out that even top credentialed experts would not be taken seriously if they had the wrong views. This is when the racket became incredibly obvious. It was never really about genuine knowledge. It was about compliance and echoing the approved line. It’s astonishing how many people went along, even with the stupidest of the mandates, such as the distancing stickers everywhere, the ubiquity of Plexiglas, and the dirty masks on every face which were somehow believed to keep people healthy.

  Once the contrary studies started coming out, we would share them and get shouted down. The comment sections of the studies started to be raided by partisan experts who would hone in on small issues and problems and demand and obtain takedowns. Then the contrarian expert would get doxxed, his dean notified, and the faculty turned against the person, lest the department risk funding from Big Pharma or Fauci in the future.

  All the while, we kept thinking that there must be some rationale behind all this madness. It never emerged. It was all intimidation and belligerence and nothing more—arbitrary diktat by big shots who were pretending the entire time.

  The lockdowners and shot mandators were never intellectually serious people. They never much thought about the implications or ramifications of what they were doing. They were just wrecking things mostly for pecuniary gain, job protection, and career advancement, plus it was fun to be in charge. It’s not much more complicated than that.

  In other words, we’ve gradually come to realize that our worst fears were true. All these experts were and are fakes. There have been some hints along the way, such as when North Carolina Health Director Mandy Cohen (now head of the CDC) reported that she and her colleagues were burning up the phone lines to decide whether people should be allowed to participate in sports.

  “She was like, are you gonna let them have professional football?” she said. “And I was like, no. And she’s like, OK neither are we.”

  Another candid moment came five months ago, only recently unearthed by X (formerly Twitter) when NIH head Francis Collins admitted that he and his colleagues attached “zero value” to whether and to what extent they were disrupting lives, wrecking the economy, and destroying education for kids.

  He actually said this.

  As it turns out, these experts who ruled our lives, and still do to a great extent, were never what they claimed to be, and never actually possessed knowledge that was superior to what existed within the cultural firmament of society. Instead, all they really had was power and a grand opportunity to play dictator.

  It’s astonishing, truly, and worthy of deep study, when you consider the extent to which and for how long this class of people were able to maintain the illusion of consensus within their ranks.

  They bamboozled the media all over the world. They tricked vast swaths of the population.

  They bent all social media algorithms to reflect their views and priorities.

  One explanation comes down to the money trail.

  That’s a powerful explanation. But it is not the whole of it. Behind the illusion was a terrifying intellectual isolation in which all these people found themselves. They never really encountered people who disagreed. Indeed, part of the way these people had come to conceive of their jobs was to master the art of knowing what to think and when and how. It’s part of the job training to enter the class of experts: mastering the skill of echoing the opinions of others.

  Discovering this to be true is alarming for anyone who holds to older ideals of how intellectual society should conduct itself. We like to imagine that there is a constant clash of ideas, a burning desire to get to the truth, a love of knowledge and data, a passion for gaining a better understanding. That requires, above all else, an openness of mind and a willingness to listen. All of this was overtly and explicitly shut down in March 2020 but it was made easier because all the mechanisms were already in place.

  One of the best books of our time is Tom Harrington’s “The Treason of the Experts,” published by Brownstone. There is simply not in the present era a more insightful investigation and deconstruction of the sociological sickness of the expert class. Every page is on fire with insight and observation about the intellectual juntas that attempt to rule the public mind in today’s world. It’s a terrifying look at how wildly wrong everything has gone in the world of ideas. A great follow-up volume is Ramesh Thakur’s “Our Enemy, the Government,” which reveals all the ways in which the new scientists who were ruling the world weren’t scientific at all.

  Brownstone was born in the midst of the worst of this world. We set out to create something different, not a bubble of ideological/partisan attachment or an enforcement organ of the proper way to think about all issues. Instead, we sought to become a genuine society of thinkers united in a principled attachment to freedom but hugely diverse in specialization and philosophical outlook. It’s one of the few centers where there is genuine interdisciplinary engagement and openness to new perspectives and outlook. All of this is essential to the life of the mind and yet nearly absent in academia, media, and government today.

  We’ve put together a fascinating model for retreats. We choose a comfortable venue where the food and drink are provided and the living quarters are excellent, and bring together 40 or so top experts to present a set of ideas to the whole group. Each speaker gets 15 minutes and that is followed by 15 minutes of engagement from everyone present. Then we go to the next speaker. This goes on all day and the evenings are spent in casual conversation. As the organizer, Brownstone does not pick topics or speakers but rather allows the flow of ideas to emerge organically. This goes on for two and a half days. There is no set agenda, no mandated takeaways, no required action items. There is only unconstrained idea generation and sharing.

  There is a reason why there is such a clamor to attend. It’s the creation of something that all these wonderful people—each person a dissident in his own field—had hoped to encounter in professional life but the reality was always elusive. It’s only three days so hardly Ancient Greece or Vienna in the interwar years but it is an excellent start, and hugely productive and uplifting. It’s amazing what can happen when you combine intelligence, erudition, open minds, and sincere sharing of ideas. From the point of view of government, huge corporations, academia, and all the architects of today’s world of ideas, this is precisely what they do not want.

  The difference between 2023 and, say, five years ago, is that the expertise racket is now out in the open. Vast swaths of society decided to trust the experts for a time. They deployed every power of the state, along with all affiliated institutions in the pseudo-private sector, to browbeat and manipulate the people into panicked compliance with preposterous antics that never had any hope of mitigating disease.

  Look where that got us. The experts have been fully discredited. Is it any wonder that ever more people are skeptical of the same gang’s claims about climate change, diversity, immigration, inflation, education, gender transitions, or anything else pushed today by elite minds?

  Mass compliance has been replaced by mass incredulity.

  Trust will not likely return in our lifetimes.

  There is, further, a reason why hardly anyone is surprised that the president of Harvard stands accused of rampant plagiarism or that election officials are deploying sneaky forms of lawfare to keep political renegades off the ballot or that money launderers for the administrative state are getting away with rampant fraud. Graft, kickbacks, bribery, misappropriation, nepotism, favoritism, and outright corruption rule the day in all elite circles.

  In a few weeks, we are going to hear from Anthony Fauci, who will be grilled by a House of Representatives committee on exactly how he claimed to be so sure that there was no lab leak stemming from gain-of-function research being done at a U.S.-baked lab in Wuhan. We’ll see how much attention this testimony gets but, truly, does anyone really believe that he is going to be honest and forthcoming? It is pretty much a consensus these days that he has been up to no good. If he is “the science,” science itself is in grave trouble.

  What a contrast to just a few years ago when Fauci-themed shirts and coffee mugs were big-selling items. He claimed to be the science, and science did rally behind him as if he had all the answers, even though what he advocated contradicted every bit of common wisdom that has always been practiced in every civilized society.

  Three years ago, the expert class went out on the farthest limb one can imagine, daring to replace all social knowledge and embedded cultural experience with their off-the-cuff rationalism and scientistic razzmatazz that ended up serving the industrial interests of large-scale exploiters in tech, media, and pharma. We live in the midst of the rubble they created. It’s no wonder they have been completely discredited.

  To replace them—and this is a long-term strategy and one that unfolds gradually with bold efforts such as that undertaken by Brownstone Institute—we need a new and serious effort to rebuild serious thought based on honesty, sincere engagement across ideological lines, and a genuine commitment to truth and freedom. We have that opportunity right now, and we dare not decline to take up the task with every sense of urgency and passion. As always, your support of our work is greatly appreciated.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 18:40

• USS Ford Aircraft Carrier Returning Home After Extended Deployment Protecting Israel
  USS Ford Aircraft Carrier Returning Home After Extended Deployment Protecting Israel

  The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group is heading home from the Mediterranean Sea, according to a Monday announcement by the US Navy.

  It had patrolled there, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean, for months of additional, extended duty in order to provide protection for Israel and be on the ready for potential escalation, given persistent exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah too.

  The Navy said the USS Ford’s presence will now be replaced by the Bataan amphibious ready group, which has 2,000 Marines onboard. This ready group includes the USS Bataan, and the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall – which are currently transiting the Red Sea, making ready to enter the Mediterranean. 

  

  A US 6th Fleet message said the Ford will sail for home “in the coming days.” The shift could be the result of Israel newly announcing it is about to enter the “next phase” of its Gaza operations. 

  According to fresh reporting in The New York Times:

  The Israeli military announced on Monday that it will begin withdrawing several thousand troops from Gaza at least temporarily, in what would be the most significant publicly announced pullback since the war began.

  The military cited a growing toll on the Israeli economy following nearly three months of wartime mobilization with little end in sight to the fighting. Israel had been considering scaling back its operations, and the United States has been prodding it to do so more quickly as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war, according to local health authorities.

  Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, emphasized that the move to demobilize some soldiers did not indicate any compromise on Israel’s intention to continue fighting, and he did not mention the American requests to scale back. He indicated that some will be called back to service in the coming year. Still, the fighting remains intense across Gaza.

  There’s been recent White House pressure on Tel Aviv to dial down the intensity of the fighting amid the soaring Palestinian civilian death toll, but also as the Netanyahu governing coalition faces growing anger domestically over how it has handled the war and hostage situation especially. 

  NEW: The USS Ford Carrier Strike Group is leaving the Eastern Mediterranean where it has been since the days immediately following Hamas’s attack on Israel and returning to its homeport in Norfolk, VA pic.twitter.com/ec15rHaBF6

  — Liz Friden (@Liz_Friden) January 1, 2024

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

  The Associated Press meanwhile reviews of the US military build-up in regional waters in the wake of the Oct.7 Hamas terror attack as follows: “Since it was extended in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ford and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier have been part of a two-carrier presence bracketing the Israel-Hamas war, underscoring U.S. concerns that the conflict will widen.” The report further notes, “The Eisenhower has recently patrolled near the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea waterway, where so many commercial vessels have come under attack in recent weeks.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 18:05

• Supreme Court's John Roberts Urges "Caution" On Using Artificial Intelligence
  Supreme Court’s John Roberts Urges “Caution” On Using Artificial Intelligence

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  Artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing the legal field and will have a major impact in the future, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said in his year-end report for 2023.

  

  AI is already enabling people who cannot afford lawyers to find answers to questions such as how to fill out court forms, Justice Roberts said. He said AI can “increase access to justice” with tools that “have the welcome potential to smooth out any mismatch between available resources and urgent needs in our court system.”

  “But any use of AI,” he added, “requires caution and humility” because it risks “dehumanizing the law.”

  A growing number of lawyers have been using AI in their work, and several lawyers were sanctioned over the summer for including non-existent cases, put forth by AI, as citations in a brief. Some defendants have also said they or their lawyers erroneously used AI in building their cases.

  There’s also concern about courts using AI in assessing key factors about people who are charged, such as flight risk, due to “potential bias,” with studies showing “human adjudications, for all of their flaws, are fairer than whatever the machine spits out,” Justice Roberts said.

  In the report, addressed to the federal judiciary, he said that “machines cannot fully replace key actors in court,” bringing up how judges keep a close eye on the demeanor of defendants when handing down sentences.

  “Nuance matters: Much can turn on a shaking hand, a quivering voice, a change of inflection, a bead of sweat, a moment’s hesitation, a fleeting break in eye contact,” he said.

  “And most people still trust humans more than machines to perceive and draw the right inferences from these clues.”

  AI applications do help advance just, speedy, and inexpensive resolutions to cases, which the federal system is directed to prioritize under federal rules, but as AI evolves, courts must take care in figuring out how AI can be properly used, the chief justice said. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which sets policy for the federal courts, will be involved in that calculus, he said.

  “I am glad that they will be,” Justice Roberts wrote.

  “I predict that human judges will be around for a while. But with equal confidence I predict that judicial work—particularly at the trial level—will be significantly affected by AI. Those changes will involve not only how judges go about doing their job, but also how they understand the role that AI plays in the cases that come before them.”

  A federal appeals court in November issued a proposed rule on requiring lawyers to sign papers saying they did not use AI programs for briefs, or that if they did, then the briefs were subsequently reviewed by a human.

  The year-end reports go over “a major issue relevant to the whole federal court system,” Justice Roberts said. Before bringing up AI, he went over how the judiciary has changed over the years, including transitioning from pens to typewriters to computers.

  Justice Roberts, 68, was appointed by former President George W. Bush and began serving on the nation’s top court in 2005. A Harvard Law School graduate, he was a lawyer for 14 years before becoming a federal judge.

  The chief justice oversees the federal judiciary.

  The year-end report did not touch on ethics concerns, which include recently reported free trips provided to several justices by wealthy Americans. Democrats have been pushing for more regulation of the Supreme Court. The nation’s top court adopted its first formal ethics code in November, but critics say more oversight is needed.

  Justice Roberts, in his 2022 year-end report, called for more security for judges after attacks on several judges, while saying that Americans are free to disagree with rulings from the Supreme Court.

  In the 2021 year-end report, the justice said federal judges should improve their adherence to ethics rules after more than 100 were caught violating a rule requiring recusal in cases in which they have a financial interest.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 17:30

• We Did It, Joe! Monthly Migrant Encounters Exceed 300,000 For First Time In US History
  We Did It, Joe! Monthly Migrant Encounters Exceed 300,000 For First Time In US History

  Happy New Year!

  

  The Cloward-Pivening of America continues unabated, thanks to well-funded enemies of America and an impotent (and well-lobbied) legislature. On Monday, Fox News reported that a record 302,000 encounters with illegal migrants occurred in December, which marks 785,000 encounters since Oct. 1, according to a source within Customs and Border Patrol.

  According to the report, there were ‘just’ 74,000 encounters in the same month of 2021.

  #BREAKING RECORD HIGH ENCOUNTER NUMBERS AT SOUTHERN BORDER: CBP sources confirm we hit 302k+ migrant encounters for the month of December. This is the highest monthly total on record–The previous high was September 2023 when 269,735 encounters were recorded.

  BP encountered…

  — Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) January 1, 2024

  The Biden administration, meanwhile, has been deliberately downplaying of the border situation – which they created with a virtual invitation for migrants to pour into the country, after striking down several Trump-era border protections on day one.

  KJP: “What we’re seeing here at the border…it’s not unusual…”

  pic.twitter.com/Tagp9Lcqbm

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 21, 2023

  Fox News has also used drones to observe the scale of the border crisis, capturing footage of the mass movement of people from over 150 countries. These visuals, often underreported by other networks, present a stark reality: Border Patrol agents, significantly outnumbered, are struggling to manage the influx in key areas such as Eagle Pass, where daily crossings have reached alarming rates.

  Beyond the immediate security concerns, the long-term economic and cultural impacts of such unchecked immigration are have come into mainstream focus. For starters, the cost of managing illegal immigration could surpass the expenses that would have been incurred by more stringent border measures, such as a border wall. There’s an increasing anxiety over the strain on American taxpayers, potential budgetary imbalances, and the broader cultural implications of integrating such a large number of people into the fabric of American society.

  Last week, Elon Musk dropped a few redpills on X, showing people a chart of “the immense and growing size of illegal immigration” pushed by radical progressives in the White House that have flooded the nation with millions of migrants.

  Musk commented on a post by X user “~~datahazard~~,” who said: “Since August, there are officially more arriving each month than there are children being born to American mothers. And these are just the official encounters — we don’t know how many avoided detection.”

  To give you a sense of the immense and growing size of illegal immigration! https://t.co/DcMQIUbCOM

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2023

  Illegal immigrants outpacing US births reminds us of a comment from Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who stated at a recent debate that the “Great Replacement Theory is not some grand, right-wing conspiracy theory,” but rather a “basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”

  🇺🇲 Wow! Vivek Ramaswamy just stated the Great Replacement is NOT a conspiracy theory, but government policy.

  Time to mainstream this discussion across the West. #GOPDebate
  pic.twitter.com/KSQmByREAM

  — Keith Woods (@KeithWoodsYT) December 7, 2023

  Can’t wait to see Biden’s about-face on this, followed by no actual changes, as the 2024 election heats up…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 16:55

• America The ________
  America The ________

  By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

  Regardless of the fact that I mocked making “year-end” predictions (2023 Predictions) last week, it is a good time to think about the year ahead. As I struggled to put my thoughts in a coherent (or at least semi-coherent) framework, one thing kept popping into my head. Whether I was thinking about inflation, debt, taxes, supply chains, the global economy, war, markets, etc., one over-riding thought kept popping into my head, over and over: many things will boil down to how America acts, perceives itself, and is perceived by others.

  Maybe that is the case every year, but it hasn’t resonated the way it does for me as we approach 2024. How we fill in the blank (in America the ______) will determine so many things this year. With over 330 million people, 50 states, and countless allies and enemies (and those in between) across the globe, America won’t likely be defined as any one thing. But how it is defined will play a crucial role in how the economy (domestic and global) and markets evolve over the course of the year.

  In any case, how will the “blank” be filled in this year?

  America the Divided

  There are lots of ways for that “blank” to be filled in, but unfortunately, “divided” is high on my list. For years, issues no longer seem “grey” or “complicated.” There is an “easy” solution to every issue or problem. It just happens that one portion of the population thinks that the answer is one extreme, and another large segment of the population thinks that the “obvious” answer is the other extreme. There seems to be little ground for compromise or for addressing the pros and cons of each issue and thinking about optimal solutions.

  As we head into an election year, that divisiveness seems to be getting more rather than less apparent. I went to ChatGPT to try to get some thoughts on the upcoming election. According to ChatGPT:

  “Most Americans do not seem enthusiastic about a potential rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. Public polling indicates a general dissatisfaction with both candidates.”

  I am not sure how we have created a system that seems likely to create a rematch of an election that people really don’t want to see. Maybe that is just my impression, but it does seem to be supported. Problems that could be caused by increased “divisiveness” include:

  • Shutdowns in DC. Failure to Pay our debt (though I don’t think that is a 2024 issue given what was done with the Debt Ceiling in 2023). All problems for the economy and for our markets. I remain convinced that “something broke” this year after the debt ceiling and shutdown negotiations seemed even more intractable than usual. The NRSROs (colloquially known as rating agencies) highlighted the problems that are obvious to everyone about the trajectory of our debt and spending. The ratings actions aren’t a big deal in their own right, but they make it harder for people to ignore the obvious issues. We’ve discussed in past T-Reports that while Treasuries are still safe, they just don’t seem quite as safe as before (kind of like the concept of different orders of infinity). More theoretical than anything, but each future wave of doubt will push yields more than they did last year. If sentiment and positioning could take the 10-year to 5% this year, what will happen the next time the market fixates on this risk?

  • How our allies commit to us.

    • How NATO coalesced around the Russian invasion was nothing short of amazing. Any friction was put aside and a comprehensive, multinational effort was put into effect. That has been fraying at the edges and America’s commitment is being questioned by some (at least to anyone who spends time on social media).

    • Israel’s war with Hamas has an almost “Monday Morning Quarterback” type of feel. While I am not comparing arguing over whether a team should have gone for it on fourth down or not to the loss of lives, it seems slightly weird to me that so many people have such vocal opinions on how the war should be prosecuted. We were not the ones attacked. We are not the ones facing an enemy that is still capable and seems committed to launching similar attacks in the future if it is left as a viable force. This is an enemy that purposefully places civilians in harm’s way (against Geneva Convention rules) as a key component of their defense strategy. I do not know how this war should be prosecuted. What is right or wrong? But I suspect that at least some people in other countries will question whether the U.S. has done enough to control (or attempt to control) many of their actions.

    • It may well be more difficult over time for “allies” to commit to “us” as “we” become more divided internally.

  • Can our “Enemies” use this against us?

    • There was likely some amount of “meddling” with prior elections and there is without a doubt a lot of misinformation being spread by our adversaries to sway public opinion. With AI, it seems more than plausible that the social media “bots” will get better and better at getting that information distributed while being less and less obvious that they are “bots” and not people. Deepfakes and other technologies will only make it easier to spread misinformation. The realization that the nation so often seems to get quickly divided into two camps (apparently heavily influenced by social media) is likely to ramp up efforts by those who want to sway the population one way or the other (presumably by outside actors, but they could be domestic too).

  As we enter 2024, I fear that America the Divided is the biggest risk that we all face and a lot of pressure will be exerted by various groups (domestic and international) to try to force this issue. The fact that this is an election year makes an already compelling target/opportunity even that much more attractive for those who wish to push us in this direction.

  America the Great (Geopolitically)

  If America the Divided is the biggest risk, let’s look at the potential for the “blank” to be filled in with Great, or Global Leaders, or something else indicating that America is helping to drive nations across the globe in a free, democratic, and legal direction.

  Could we re-emerge as the nation that everyone literally has to follow? General (ret.) Spider Marks is adamant that the world is best when America leads from the front. There were some positive signs. America led the effort to get NATO support for Ukraine. The U.S. is leading the way to protect shipping in the Middle East. America is also a staunch supporter of Taiwan, which is crucial to the overall global support of Taiwan.

  There are reasons to be optimistic, but some things really concern me:

  From “Pariah State” to please produce more oil. I’m talking about Saudi Arabia here, not Venezuela. We did have leadership that claimed that they wanted to make the Saudis a “Pariah State,” but I don’t think that any leader ever specifically said that about Venezuela (though the sentiment seems to be there on that front too). “We” have turned a somewhat blind eye to Iran “allegedly” selling far more oil than they should be selling based on the sanctions in place. It may be difficult to “lead” when we’ve exposed our inflation fears as a weakness. My view is that we must do more to encourage a realistic plan to produce more than enough energy to be self-sufficient for decades to come, while building out a more sustainable energy ecosystem (both on the use and production side of the equation). Until we do that, our weakness may be exploited. While I’ve stuck to “energy” here, virtually everything we need in terms of rare earths and critical minerals could be substituted for energy (and the processing of them remains outside of our control).

  We’ve kicked the can too far. Some of what is going on in the Middle East seems to be occurring because “we” collectively across the globe preferred “kicking the can” to facing truly difficult decisions. I am also increasingly convinced that the U.S. will rue the day that we accepted “One Country, Two Systems” as a viable policy! What the heck does that really mean? It is very complex, but we’ve seen the power of social media and its ability to trounce complexity. There are many “domains of war,” and increasingly social media is one of them (and one that we don’t seem as adept at as some of our adversaries). For some very good reasons, the U.S. doesn’t spread disinformation as the main example, but that doesn’t help us win.

  There is a chance that America really re-emerges as THE global superpower, which would be great for the domestic economy and markets, and should spur growth globally. But America the Divided seems more likely to win.

  America the Great (Economically)

  I was also thinking of America the Clever, America the Ingenuity Leader (but that was too wordy), or even America the Creative.

  Artificial Intelligence. While I like to think in terms of “more and more computing power, applied to more and more data” to drive analysis and decision making, I’ll stick with AI for now since it is all the rage.

  • The opportunities are immense, and the U.S. is a leader. Collectively our Geopolitical Intelligence Group, especially General (ret.) Groen, is involved in policy making and thinks that the U.S. is headed down a viable path. Protective but not overly restrictive.

  • The costs (especially in getting data into usable formats) may slow progress, but this trend that started in 2023 as a crucial investment theme will continue. If (or when) the efficiencies are realized, we could see all stocks trade at higher multiples. So far, the winning has been concentrated in the hands of the current providers (rather than the users), but that distribution should change if it can deliver on the promise.

  • Boundless creativity versus state sponsored programs. One of the big bets on AI will be whether a “bunch” of for-profit enterprises (people trying to create their own wealth) will outperform a heavily funded and very directed effort in countries like China. I’m willing to bet on creativity and ingenuity in that competition and that self-interest will beat state-interest. The funding is enormous, but it can be plodding.

  Space. Another area of opportunity (and threats), which we will discuss in more detail in our next X-Report (early January).

  • Blockchain. In all likelihood, there will be so-called “spot” ETFs for Bitcoin in the U.S. by the end of the first quarter of 2024, if not sooner. The resurgence in price of these assets is helping attract attention, but even while cryptocurrencies languished, the development of tools and products using blockchain continued (less funded and in relative obscurity), but this could be an emerging sector of growth.

  • Biotechnology. Outside of my “comfort” zone, but for an area that held such promise from a science and investment standpoint during the height of ZIRP and FOMO, I still see a lot of promise in the science, at much cheaper valuations in most cases.

  • Semi-conductors. I applaud the efforts to build foundries domestically and attempts to own and control these crucial components of our daily life and future. If anything, more needs to be done to speed this along.

  If the economy and markets are to do exceptionally next year, it will likely be due to the creativity, inventiveness, and even genius of engineers and developers!

  I am concerned that the cost versus benefit equation may slow things down in the quarters ahead. The potential wave of IPOs and secondary offerings from growth companies could weigh on prices (it could be a lot of supply), but I think that whether it is this year or next year, betting on this makes sense!

  America the Consumption Nation

  I was thinking that this could also be America the Greedy, America the Credit Nation, or America the Irresponsible, but it is the start of the year, so I should at least start with a positive title for this section.

  I expect that the American consumer will slow down, the job market will be less robust, widespread/large pay gains will be a thing of the past, and the “soft landing” crowd will be wrong. It might not be a “hard” landing, but look for the American consumer, who has done their “duty” above and beyond all expectations, to finally slow down. That will help yields, but not enough to keep stocks at or near their highs.

  America the Divided Creator

  My base case is that two main themes will drive the economy and markets this year. We will flip-flop between them. Whenever “Divided” is the word of the day (for an extended period), yields will be inclined to move higher, and stocks will trend down as companies delay decisions or make very tentative commitments due to too much uncertainty. Whenever everyone is chatting about “Creativity” (could be AI, Space, etc.), markets will do well.

  I see no reason, sadly, why 2024 won’t be as challenging as 2023 was from a capital allocation standpoint (at least for those who don’t make a decision on January 1 and keep it for the year without having to justify themselves to anyone), but I do think that how America is defined will be a big driver. That will encompass (and influence) things like the Fed, inflation, supply chains, global relationships, etc.

  Next week we can return to a more “granular” analysis, but at the start of the year, “going big” picture and thinking about America the ______ is a good way to frame your thoughts. I suspect that this will be an easy one to revisit as the year and the election progress!

  I wish you all a happy and successful 2024 and thanks again for all of your help and support in 2023!

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 16:20

• Iran Dispatches Warship To Red Sea, Houthis Warn Of "Repercussions" After US Forces Kill Rebels During Maersk Ship Attack
  Iran Dispatches Warship To Red Sea, Houthis Warn Of “Repercussions” After US Forces Kill Rebels During Maersk Ship Attack

  Regional instability risks mount in the Red Sea following the Iran-backed Houthi attack on a Maersk container ship on Sunday. US Forces responded with attack helicopters that eliminated three small boats and ten rebels.

  After the skirmish, a spokesperson for the Yemeni militia group warned of “consequences and repercussions” for the US aggression. 

  Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea confirmed on the Yemeni TV channel Al-Masirah that US forces killed ten of its fighters. 

  “US enemy forces attacked three boats belonging to the Yemeni Naval Forces, which led to the martyrdom and the loss of ten people from the Naval Forces,” Sarea said.

  The spokesman said its fighters were “performing their humanitarian and moral duty” to deter Israel-related commercial vessels from transiting the Red Sea “in solidarity and support for the Palestinian people.”

  Yemen’s Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea says the group will continue to seize ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea despite a US-led coalition being deployed pic.twitter.com/bX0QWs5EFu

  — TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) January 1, 2024

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

  He said the US “bears the consequences” for attacking and killing ten of its fighters, adding that the “military movements in the Red Sea to protect Israeli ships will not prevent Yemen (Houthi militia) from performing its humanitarian duty in support of Palestine and Gaza.”

  Perhaps even more problematically from a global escalation perspective, Iran dispatched a warship to the Red Sea.

  The Alborz destroyer traversed the Bab El-Mandeb strait, a narrow choke point between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, on Monday, Iranian state media said, adding that Iran’s naval fleet has been operating in the area “to secure shipping lanes, repel pirates, among other purposes since 2009.”

  

  The move appears to represent a clear challenge to the US-led maritime security force established last month to protect ships from attack in the region.

  Earlier in the day, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported it received a distress call from a Singapore-flagged Maersk container ship named “Hangzhou.” 

  CENTCOM wrote on X that a missile hit Hangzhou in the Red Sea. 

  USS GRAVELY shoots down two anti-ship ballistic missiles while responding to Houthi attack on merchant vessel.

  Today at approximately 8:30 p.m. (Sanaa time), the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU reported that they were struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea. The… pic.twitter.com/nUgifhkdC8

  — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023

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

  CENTCOM said attack helicopters from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Gravely were quickly deployed and eliminated three small boats and Houthi militants.

  Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea

  On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF

  — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023

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

  What’s clear is that tensions across the Bab al-Mandab Strait are only worsening despite the Pentagon’s Operation Prosperity Guardian mission to shield commercial vessels from attacks in the Red Sea. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 15:45

• Corruption, Chaos, & Conflict – The Fourth Turning Erupts In 2024
  Corruption, Chaos, & Conflict – The Fourth Turning Erupts In 2024

  Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

  “Americans today are increasingly polarized, as if they constitute two separate nations.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

  

  “THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine – The American Crisis

  Thomas Paine wrote these words 247 years ago, in the most historic year in our history – 1776. That was during the first American Fourth Turning. It’s not a coincidence we are now in the midst of our fourth Crisis period in U.S. history, as they arrive like clockwork every 80 years or so, the length of a long human life. Paine’s American Crisis began in 1773, ignited by the Boston Tea Party and the British reaction to this revolutionary act of defiance. Our current Millennial Crisis was triggered by the Federal Reserve/Wall Street/Government created financial disaster in 2008 and subsequent outrageously desperate, totalitarian, un-Constitutional, extreme acts designed to keep the ruling class in power, while impoverishing and enslaving the masses in a surveillance state techno-gulag.

  The polarization and fractures have become too deep to repair. The country, and the western world in general, are hurtling towards a darkening abyss of civil conflict, financial collapse, global war, societal chaos, and loss of life on a scale grander than WW2, the Civil War, and the American Revolution combined. Our technological advancements have outstripped our ability to intelligently, thoughtfully, and humanly, use this power for the benefit of future generations. The destructive deficiencies of human nature, such as: greed, desire for power, hatred, arrogance, resentment, and an unlimited supply of self-delusion, continue to plague our world, as only the most power-hungry psychopaths rise to the highest levels of government, business, religion, and finance.

  The immense technological power in the hands of egocentric, megalomaniacal, sadistic, billionaires and their highly paid toadies, lackeys, and apparatchiks, inserted throughout the media, government, academia, banking, and corporations, has pushed the world to the brink of Armageddon. We are entering the sixteenth year of this Fourth Turning. Based on history, we can expect a climax of this Crisis in the 2030-to-2032-timeframe. The path to that climax is guaranteed to be violent and unforgiving.

  

  Neil Howe, in his new book – The Fourth Turning Is Here – tries to decipher the likely path of the remainder of this Fourth Turning. Having read the original Fourth Turning, his joint project with William Strauss (who died in 2007), in 2004, I was curious to read Howe’s update on their generational theory of history. I met Howe for lunch in 2012 during the Occupy Wall Street protests and he correctly assessed that movement as a meaningless left-wing attempt to push their communist like agenda.

  The first book, written in 1997, showed no favor towards the right or left. It was a no-nonsense assessment of economic facts and historical precedents. There were no political agendas, which I now attribute to Strauss’ influence, because Howe certainly lets his political views creep into his writings. This isn’t surprising, as his consulting business is dependent upon Wall Street banks and mega-corporations. He owes his living to the establishment; therefore he won’t shit where he eats.

  Howe’s current left leaning political views seep into his current tome. He quotes Zelensky as some sort of patriotic leader, while portraying Putin as a thug, without giving any context regarding the 2014 CIA initiated overthrow of a democratically elected Ukraine president. He bought the covid scamdemic hook, line, and sinker, with no skepticism about the coordinated lockdowns and false narratives about masks, social distancing, and vaccines that never worked, but continue to kill. He believes the climate change bullshit narrative.

  His tone regarding Trump is clearly negative and he believes the 2020 election was perfectly legitimate. He expounds about the January 6 “armed” insurrection, without one word about the FBI, Pelosi, and the Washington establishment planning, coordinating, and exacerbating the fake “insurrection”. His brain-dead accusations of violence by Trump supporters, while completely ignoring the murder and mayhem created by the BLM and ANTIFA terrorists, clearly reveals his allegiances.

  

  Be that as it may, there is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. His acumen regarding possible scenarios and outcomes are well thought out. Howe makes some very interesting predictions regarding the remainder of this Fourth Turning, providing some very dark possibilities, along with some more unlikely optimistic outcomes. His research reveals Americans think the American dream is no longer attainable, civil discord will destroy our democratic institutions, and our global standing is in decline. All three fears are legitimate and coming to fruition as we speak. Howe captures the current situation in this passage:

  “In the middle of a Crisis era, the social mood has reached an unstable balance of hope, fear, and dizzying uncertainty. Americans are like a compressed spring at the point of maximum potential energy. Internally secure yet externally threatened, they are ready for propulsive public action.”   – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

  Events beyond their control are leading them towards their rendezvous with destiny and the speed has begun to accelerate, with 2024 slated to be a historic date in history, on par with 1776, 1861, and 1941. The exact events which will make 2024 historic are obscured by a dense fog of uncertainty, but we can make some educated guesses based upon our current economic circumstances, Biden’s open border purposeful invasion, upcoming elections wrought with fraud, ongoing treasonous governmental and judicial operations, and deepening global conflicts already underway.

  

  Of the three possible paths laid out by Howe, the most likely appears to be the animosity between factions eventually leads to armed conflict within the country. Political dominance by one party is highly unlikely, with the country rallying around the flag against an external enemy. It is more likely our many external foes will take advantage of our internal conflict to further weaken our global hegemony. All paths lead to war at this point.

  I sense the delusional masses, still entranced by their electronic gadgets, unending access to debt, NFL fantasy leagues, and oblivious to the lessons of history, are frantically trying to fend off reality by shopping, eating out, partying at bars, and pretending all is well. Critically assessing their true situation is too painful for these snowflakes and gender bending enthusiasts. Their virtue signaling wokeness is about to meet the brutal reality of a violent Fourth Turning climax.

  

  “And however much these paths may seem to differ from one another, they all move toward the same destination. They all push the nation toward a violent struggle requiring maximum mobilization. They all culminate in the Ekpyrosis, which will bring the era into a decisive consolidation, climax, and resolution.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

  The drivers of this Fourth Turning, as documented in 1997, continue to be debt, civic decay, and global disorder. They have propelled this Crisis since the outset in 2008 and are accelerating towards an explosive collision in 2024. The national debt at the outset of this Fourth Turning was $10 trillion. It had taken 219 years to accumulate $10 trillion of debt, with the majority amassed during this century. It has taken just fifteen years to pile an additional $24 trillion of debt on the backs of Americans and future generations, if there are future generations.

  This doesn’t even take into account the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare and pension obligations tallied up by your government leaders. At the same time, the Federal Reserve increased their balance sheet from $900 billion to $9 trillion. With the rapid rise of interest rates in the last year, if banks were required to mark their assets to market, as they did prior to 2009, the entire banking industry, including the Too Big To Fail Wall Street behemoths, would be insolvent, along with the Federal Reserve. Does this seem sustainable to you?

  

  Luckily for our teetering empire of debt, delusions, and deceptions, they can change the rules whenever it suits their purposes to extend and pretend until it all “suddenly” collapses, like a vaxxed soccer player on the pitch. Of course, the U.S. is not alone in being burdened with unpayable debt and an unsustainable financial system. China and the EU countries are also insolvent and issuing debt to service their existing debt.

  The only major global power without a large debt problem is Russia, with a debt to GDP ratio below 30%, while the U.S.- 120%, EU – 90%, Japan – 220%, and China – 80% have accumulated perilous levels of debt and still growing. These debt levels and the domestic implications of unsustainable economies will lead shamelessly corrupt politicians and even dictators like Xi to provoke foreign conflict in order to distract their populations from their dire economic circumstances. A wag the dog type false flag is just around the corner.

  

  An man-made banker created economic disaster ignited this powder keg of debt in 2008, and the “solutions” rolled out by the ruling elites since have been designed to extend, pretend, and bend the minds of the masses, while fostering the perpetual pillaging campaign by the billionaire oligarchs who really run this world. The plebs have been destroyed by the relentless inflation purposefully created by Powell and his fellow central banker puppets of the Deep State, while the lords of finance have reaped billions in ill-gotten riches.

  The “Haves”, who control the financial markets, media, and politicians, are ecstatic with the current paradigm, as the stock market hits new highs every day, while average Americans go deeper into debt to keep up with the Joneses, pay the rent, and put some food on the table. The U.S. is nothing more than a sophisticated technological looting operation at this point, as we await the Great Taking to be initiated by the oligarchs as their final solution.

  

  The Great Taking is David Rogers Webb’s warning to those not on the inside about the coming seizure of all your assets (stocks, bonds, savings) by your own government in the name of some new contrived national emergency. You will sacrifice your life savings for the good of the country (aka Deep State). At this point it’s just a matter of which comes first, The Taking, Global war, or Civil chaos caused by the ongoing election fraud. They are all coming and will merge into a category 5 hurricane of hell for the nation and the world.

  

  The Deep State continues its complete control over who gets “elected”/selected in this country, as they use the captured judicial system as a cudgel to crush the rule of law and our Constitutional rights. The Soros selected District Attorneys, Mayors, Governors, Judges, Secretaries of States, and various other low-level captured bureaucrats, are doing what they were selected to do – destroy the country’s social fabric and create a chaotic disintegration of our community norms.

  A populace propagandized into a woke communist ideology and prodded into a buy now, pay later mentality, is unwilling or unable to accept that LATER has arrived. They will pay, one way or another. Multiple bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate are all poised to pop, with the slightest provocation from a global and/or domestic blunder. We have now positioned our naval forces in the highly dangerous waters in the Middle East. Militarily supporting Israel and Ukraine has done wonders for our GDP, but it seems we are running out of ammo to defend our own country, as the invasion of our southern border accelerates. We are currently provoking armed conflict in Yemen, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, and Russia.

  All it will take is one lucky missile or unexpected hyper-sonic missile and our vaunted navy will see a vessel or two go to the bottom of the Red Sea. Then all hell will break loose. The rhetoric, threats and accusations of atrocities are ramping up, along with armed conflict across the Middle East. With the raging religious hatreds and centuries old struggles for land and power coming to a head, it will just take one of these psychopaths to ignite a global conflict. Meanwhile, China is biding its time for when they make their ultimate move on Taiwan. That would really roll a grenade into the party.

  

  Financial markets have ignored the worsening global conflict thus far, but what happens when Americans start dying in large numbers? If the markets are at all time highs based upon expectations of a strong thriving economy in 2024, why is the Fed signaling multiple interest rate cuts in 2024, regional banks are desperately clinging to the Fed’s emergency bailout fund, commercial real estate is collapsing, housing has peaked, gold is hitting all-time highs, credit card debt is at all-time highs, layoffs are increasing, and the number of working age citizens is in free fall due to vaxx deaths and disabilities?

  But buy stocks because the Wall Street shysters and their media mouthpieces tell you it’s the best time to buy. The only question at this point is what additional grain of sand will cause the sand pile to collapse. Will it be a foreign war, or will it be a civil war within our borders or something no one has even considered? I know most people dismiss the possibility of civil war, believing there aren’t enough people willing to risk their lives for a just cause. Neil Howe seems to think it is probable.

  “Roughly half of all Americans think a civil war is likely. And a growing number of social scientists agree that the United States now fits the checklist profile of a country at risk. Trust in the national government is in steep decline. Check. Respect for democratic institutions is weakening. Check. A heavily armed population has polarized into two evenly divided partisan factions. Check. Each faction embodies a distinctive ethnic, cultural, and urban-versus-rural identity. Each wants its country to become something the other detests. And each fears the prospect of the other taking power. Check, check, and check.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

  

  Virtually no one believes civil war is possible, just as no one expected a civil war in 1860, as the presidential election approached. Truthfully, the civil war has already begun, but only those on the left, in conjunction with the FBI, CIA, Big Media, and other governmental agencies, are aggressively fighting. They are vigorously at war against the American people by rigging elections, arresting opposition leaders, and discarding the U.S. Constitution.

  The good guys have thus far been too civil. But the simmering anger of heavily armed rural, red state Americans is close to boiling over. All the signs are there, awaiting a triggering event for this undeclared war to engulf the nation. At this point a number of possible triggering events are possible.

  If David Webb is correct and those in power initiate the Great Taking, the level of violence in reaction would be unprecedented in U.S. history. Maybe that is their plan. Biden and his handlers could use this event to declare a national emergency, suspending the presidential election because they were going to lose, and instituting martial law. Their attempt to lockdown the country and use the military against civilians would surely result in massive bloodshed, as local animosities would result in assassinations, wholesale slaughter of those considered disloyal to whichever side controls the high ground in that community. Previously petty disputes would suddenly become lethal disputes.

  

  Even if the presidential election is held in November, I don’t believe either side will accept the outcome. We know the Democrats and their Deep State co-conspirators will cheat, rig and once again try to steal the election. If they fail, they will unleash their BLM, ANTIFA terrorist arm into the streets to create chaos as an excuse to not hand over power to Trump.

  

  With multiple states now attempting to unlawfully keep Trump off the ballot in their states, the animosity between the right and left grows ever deeper. The imprisonment of Trump or more radical attempts to steal the 2024 election will be met with violence from the here-to-for persevering right. Mixing this toxic domestic atmosphere with a deepening global chasm is a recipe for global disaster.

  As we have seen throughout history, the egos of psychopaths at the helm of nations often lead them to act irrationally and/or emotionally when it comes to committing their people to war. While the U.S. has further weakened its global hegemony with its disastrous forays into Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine; Russia and China have gotten stronger and more mutually committed to creating their own new world order. The USD as the dominant global currency is reaching its endpoint, marking the end of empire. Now Israel will further deplete U.S. resources and global stature with their war to wipe out Palestine. Once the dominoes begin to fall in a game of global warfare, all bets are off regarding possible outcomes. Neil Howe’s worst-case scenario is certainly not out of the question.

  

  “At worst, should at least one desperate country resort to WMDs, the outcome of a great-power war could prove to be even more devastating than that of a civil war. The toll could be almost unimaginable – with multiple cities destroyed, many millions killed, and many tens of millions displaced – all perhaps triggered by some ill-fated combination of the wrong leader making the wrong choice at the wrong time.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here             

  All scenarios for 2024 seem depressing and dark, but the odds still favor just continuing to muddle through as we have done through the first fifteen years of this Fourth Turning. I gave up trying to make specific predictions within a specific time frame years ago. It’s a fool’s errand as there are too many variables in the world to correctly predict which ones will drive the course of events within a one year time frame.

  What I do know is that pessimism about the future continues to deepen, paranoia strengthens, trust declines, anger grows, and the arrogance of those running the show has reached epic levels. We’ve been subjected to three years of propaganda about how the Great Reset will fundamentally transform our world, where we will own nothing and be happy. It seems this fits perfectly with David Webb’s Great Taking theory of how we will ultimately own nothing.

  There does seem to be a common thread running through everything happening in the last three years and appears to be on deck for 2024 and beyond. It all revolves around this broad Great Reset concept pushed by Schwab, Gates, Soros, and the rest of the Davos elite. The entire Covid plandemic was engineered to introduce authoritarian measures and instruct the masses to obey their masters.

  

  The vaccine is now clearly revealed to be a depopulation weapon, killing off some suddenly; others through myocarditis, turbo cancers, and strokes; babies through miscarriages; and future generations through reduced fertility. And most still believe our overlords rolled these jabs out to save them. Trump is still crowing about his big, beautiful vaccines. He’s either a fool or a charlatan.

  The climate change scam is hastening, as the war on farmers, meat, and fossil fuels is waged relentlessly by unelected bureaucrats and captured media mouthpieces. The EV scam is collapsing rapidly, as people with common sense see through it all. The Great Replacement of white people with third world savages is unabetted, with the Biden Administration ushering them across the southern border, giving them phones and money, flying them to cities across the country, and paying for them to stay at upscale hotels.

  This is not incompetence, but treason. They have already used their predictive programming/brainwashing to prepare the masses for civil war and a massive cyber-attack. Your government will protect you, as long as you sacrifice your remaining liberties and rights. All that is left is the initiation of the Great Taking. The “emergency” will occur on a weekend and by Monday morning your assets will be gone.

  

  This is their master plan, but we will have a say on whether it is ever successfully implemented. I wonder if these Davos psychopaths absconded with The Great Reset moniker from Strauss & Howe, as they used it to describe Fourth Turnings back in 1997.

  “A Fourth Turning is a great reset.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

  A Fourth Turning great reset may be a surprise to Schwab and his totalitarian acolytes inserted in governments across the world. They are in control. They are running this shitshow. They are the establishment. They are reaping the benefits. They are suppressing dissent and the truth. They are the existing social order that traditionally gets swept away during a Fourth Turning. 2024 may mark the beginning of the end for the Davos crowd and their iron grip on our spiraling society of chaos.

  The future course of history could be radically altered by actions taken by supposedly influential characters in this movie, but also by courageous deeds performed by average Americans who will sacrifice themselves to ensure future generations have a chance to live in a nation devoid of a psychopathic elitist ruling class.

  It seems like a long shot at this point, but giving up is not an option for those of us who still love this country. The four possible outcomes for this Crisis, laid out by Strauss & Howe in 1997, are as valid today as ever, and disturbingly close at hand. We will all have to do our part if we are to have any chance of producing a positive outcome to this Crisis. Happy New Year.

  

  1. This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection and bad luck.

  2. The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.

  3. The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. The nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, the Soviet Union only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a thread in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most lethal war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.

  4. Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same.

  *  *  *

  Jim’s sincere desire to provide readers of his site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit his site, Jim asks that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. He can’t do it all alone, and needs your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from his site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions via Stripe.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 15:10

• Israel Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Limiting Their Power
  Israel Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Limiting Their Power

  The Supreme Court of Israel has struck down a controversial judicial overhaul law enacted last year by the Netanyahu administration which would limit the high court’s power.

  

  The judicial overhaul, passed last July and resembling a constitutional amendment, sought to restrict the Supreme Court’s authority to nullify government decisions deemed “unreasonable in the extreme.” However, the court – unsurprisingly, has ruled against the law, the Wall Street Journal reports.

  The ruling could revive the deep political and social strife generated by the judicial reform last year, just as the country reels from the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel and is embroiled in a devastating war in Gaza.

  Before the Oct. 7 attack, hundreds of thousands of Israelis came out weekly to protest against Netanyahu’s push to limit the powers of the court and give more control to the elected government.

  Eight justices ruled in favor of striking down the law, with seven against.

  According to the report, analysts say the decision could have substantial consequences for postwar politics when Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas militants in the Gaza strip eventually comes to a close – including any inquiry into intelligence failures leading up to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which left 1,200 people dead (and which has drawn a disproportionately deadly response).

  The law, passed last summer by the Knesset, was a component of a broad package aimed at limiting the court’s power and giving lawmakers more control. According to Netanyahu, activist, liberal judges control the court – and the legislation seeks to restore the proper balance of power (so, what Democrats want to do to the US Supreme Court). Opponents have argued that the legislation would undermine the court’s power as a check on executive and legislative power, and would erode the country’s liberal democracy.

  

  “This is really an unprecedented decision because it is the first time in the history of the state where the court strikes down a basic law,” said Yaniv Roznai, a law professor at Reichman University in central Israel, who likened the law to a constitutional amendment.

  The court also ruled 12-3 that it has the right to strike down a basic law in “unusual and extreme cases” when it runs counter to the core principles of Israel (in their opinions, of course).

  Netanyahu’s Likud party slammed the ruling, saying “it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court chose to issue a decision at the heart of Israel’s social divisions, precisely when [Israeli] soldiers” are “fighting and risking their lives.”

  Justice Minister Yariv Levin, considered the judicial overhaul’s chief architect, said the court’s ruling “takes away from millions of citizens their vote and the basic right to be equal partners in decision-making.” Levin has long argued that elected leaders should have more influence over the courts and their authority.

  Opposition Leader Yair Lapid praised the decision as protecting Israeli democracy. “If the Israeli government again starts the fight over the Supreme Court,” Lapid said, then “they learned nothing on Oct. 7.” -WSJ

  Now, Netanyahu’s options are limited – but could include passing a more nuanced version of the amendment, or passing basic legislation that would limit the court’s ability to strike down basic laws.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 14:35

• "Massive" NYPD Mobilization At JFK Airport To Protect Travelers From Pro-Palestinian Mob
  “Massive” NYPD Mobilization At JFK Airport To Protect Travelers From Pro-Palestinian Mob

  Update (Monday):

  “If anyone is flying out of JFK Airport today, please plan to travel to the airport ahead of time,” Chief Philip Rivera, the head of transportation of the New York Police Department, wrote in an X post.

  Rivera said pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to cause delays at JFK Terminal 4 (departures). 

  “There are planned protests today and will cause delays. We don’t want anyone to miss their flights! Safe travels and Happy New Year,” he said. 

  If anyone is flying out of JFK Airport today, please plan to travel to the airport ahead of time. There are planned protests today and will cause delays. We don’t want anyone to miss their flights! Safe travels and Happy New Year.#nypdconnecting #nypdprotecting pic.twitter.com/qpErgidNCi

  — Chief of Transportation (@NYPDTransport) January 1, 2024

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  Social media reports show NYPD officers only allow people with an “Employee ID or Boarding pass” to enter train stations to JFK Airport. 

  #NOW “Employee ID or Boarding pass!” Long line at Jamaica station to take JFK Air Tran to the airport as police limit access to employees and people with boarding passes only.

  Protest was called by WOL to flood JFK Terminal 4 today, prompting shut downs. Heavy traffic… pic.twitter.com/UrT3150f3p

  — Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) January 1, 2024

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  Since arriving at the Jamaica AirTrain station to JFK, a few protestors have approached the officers guarding the entrance to the AirTrain station and requested entry, but all have been turned away. pic.twitter.com/acEz0Oa4oQ

  — katie smith (@probablyreadit) January 1, 2024

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  A pro-Palestinian vehicle convoy appears to be heading to the airport. 

  LIVE From STRIKE For Palestine Protest at JFK Airport in NYC https://t.co/qvLY7qMohz

  — Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) January 1, 2024

  Some pro-Palestinian protesters are calling NYPD officers “NYPD, KKK, IDF, You’re all the same.”  

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  🚨𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚- The planned Palestinian protest ‘FLOOD JFK FOR GAZA’ at the JFK international airport in Queens, New York is already ramping up with hundreds of protestors already gathering to begin.

  The police at JFK airport in New York City are making significant… pic.twitter.com/oCF5zIHAia

  — Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) January 1, 2024

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  “Reports of massive law enforcement mobilization around strategic entry points into JFK airport to protect travelers from pro-Hamas protestors. This includes resources from NYPD, NY State Police, Port Authority Police, National Guard, and multiple state and city resources. May God bless them all. Enough is enough. Long past due to take back our streets. Thank them when you see them,” one X user said. 

  #BREAKING Checkpoints at JFK stopping protesters from getting to the airport.

  Belt Parkway shut down as Pro-Palestine protesters drive to JFK Terminal 4 for today’s protest “Flood JFK for Gaza”#HappeningNow Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/u0iLGplGtn

  — Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) January 1, 2024

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  *   *   * 

  Days after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded the World Trade Center in New York City and screamed “Allahu akbar,” a flyer circulating social media platform X shows a possible rally at John F. Kennedy International Airport on New Year’s Day. 

  The pro-Palestinians are chanting “intifada revolution” and shouting “Allahu Akbar” outside the entrance to the World Trade Centre complex. They are sending the message very loudly about who they are. Hear them.pic.twitter.com/hLzM2ah91C

  — Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) December 29, 2023

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  Joel Mowbray, a former columnist for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a non-partisan institution focusing on national security and foreign policy, pointed out the protest flyer is full of hate:

  Pro-Palestinian “protesters” are now openly embracing Hamas. Key word is “flood.” Hamas calls 10/7 massacres “Operation Al Aqsa Flood.” 

  So “Flood JFK for Gaza” is an open support for Hamas’ campaign of raping, murdering and beheading Jews — and Muslims & Christians. Vile.

  Pro-Palestinian “protesters” are now openly embracing Hamas. Key word is “flood.” Hamas calls 10/7 massacres “Operation Al Aqsa Flood.”

  So “Flood JFK for Gaza” is an open support for Hamas’ campaign of raping, murdering and beheading Jews — and Muslims & Christians. Vile. https://t.co/bGNnh8cWTD

  — Joel Mowbray (@joelmowbray) December 29, 2023

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  Organized protesters are expected to arrive by foot and vehicles at JFK Terminal 4 (departures) around 1400 ET Monday. The terminal serves several international airlines, including El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.

  

  “On New Year’s Day, pro-Hamas mobs plan on shutting down JFK airport, but don’t worry, New York’s governor @GovKathyHochul and @NYCMayor Eric Adams will be hard at work nursing their New Year’s Eve hangover. Once they’re over it, they’ll pretend it did not happen,” one X user said in response to the flyer. 

  On New Year’s Day, pro-Hamas mobs plan on shutting down JFK airport, but don’t worry, New York’s governor @GovKathyHochul and @NYCMayor Eric Adams will be hard at work nursing their New Year’s Eve hangover. Once they’re over it, they’ll pretend it did not happen. pic.twitter.com/uWSIhpRCqt

  — Sam E. Antar (@SamAntar) December 31, 2023

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  Another person said: “Ah yes, disrupt people trying to get home for the holidays for your cause. I’m sure they will agree with you and support it now.” 

  Marxist groups appear to be funding these anti-Israel protests, as some point out. What’s troubling, just like when Marxist groups supported Black Lives Matter, the federal government appears to be ignoring these folks who are shutting down highways, bridges, business districts, and airports nationwide. 

  Though they no longer seem to put their names on these hateful fliers, it’s no surprise if divisive orgs like @nycDSA , @WOLPalestine , etc., still endorse these pro-terror “protests.” Defund THEM for supporting baby-beheaders—and toss OUT their “progressive” allies!

  — barrymosk (@barrymosk) December 31, 2023

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  Last Wednesday, anti-Israel protesters blocked critical roadways to JFK. 

  🇺🇸🇵🇸🚨‼️ JFK is blocked too! It’s a ceasefire now protest.

  Folks, the best way to make somebody anti Palestine is to make him miss his flight.

  I stay by my traditional stance: “do not block traffic”.

  pic.twitter.com/VkrZwnyPeu https://t.co/EIqMd3rxv1

  — Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 27, 2023

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  BREAKING: Pro-Palestine Protests Disrupt Major US Airports, JFK and LAX Causing Chaos.

  Watch how quickly this would stop:

  – Cut off social welfare for protesters who block streets
  – Every protester should be arrested and heavily find
  – Anyone who is non-citizen or green card… pic.twitter.com/OzvsEUDoYs

  — I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) December 27, 2023

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  The coordinating organizers are listed below 👀

  Any testiculated DA could shut it down before it happens and start filing RICO charges for what already happened in JFK recently

  — Browsus Maximus (@DadlyDoNothing) December 29, 2023

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  Where is the Biden administration denouncing these rogue organized protesters shutting down critical infrastructure? There should be zero tolerance for any group attempting to disrupt airports. Maybe Biden’s federal government is too busy weaponizing agencies against Trump supporters to actually care about real threats to the nation. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/01/2024 – 14:15