• The Language Of Force: How The Police State Muzzles Our Right To Speak Truth To Power
  The Language Of Force: How The Police State Muzzles Our Right To Speak Truth To Power

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “If the state could use [criminal] laws not for their intended purposes but to silence those who voice unpopular ideas, little would be left of our First Amendment liberties, and little would separate us from the tyrannies of the past or the malignant fiefdoms of our own age. The freedom to speak without risking arrest is ‘one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.’”

  – Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissenting, Nieves v. Bartlett (2019)

  Tyrants don’t like people who speak truth to power.

  

  Cue the rise of protest laws, which take the government’s intolerance for free speech to a whole new level and send the resounding message that resistance is futile.

  In fact, ever since the Capitol protests on Jan. 6, 2021, state legislatures have introduced a broad array of these laws aimed at criminalizing protest activities.

  There have been at least 205 proposed laws in 45 states aimed at curtailing the right to peacefully assemble and protest by expanding the definition of rioting, heightening penalties for existing offenses, or creating new crimes associated with assembly.

  Weaponized by police, prosecutors, courts and legislatures, these protest laws, along with free speech zones, bubble zones, trespass zones, anti-bullying legislation, zero tolerance policies, hate crime laws, and a host of other legalistic maladies have become a convenient means by which to punish individuals who refuse to be muzzled.

  In Florida, for instance, legislators passed a “no-go” zone law making it punishable by up to 60 days in jail to remain within 25 feet of working police and other first responders after a warning.

  Yet while the growing numbers of protest laws cropping up across the country are sold to the public as necessary to protect private property, public roads or national security, they are a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a thinly disguised plot to discourage anyone from challenging government authority at the expense of our First Amendment rights.

  It doesn’t matter what the source of that discontent might be (police brutality, election outcomes, COVID-19 mandates, the environment, etc.): protest laws, free speech zones, no-go zones, bubble zones, trespass zones, anti-bullying legislation, zero tolerance policies, hate crime laws, etc., aim to muzzle every last one of us.

  To be very clear, these legislative attempts to redefine and criminalize speech are a backdoor attempt to rewrite the Constitution and render the First Amendment’s robust safeguards null and void.

  No matter how you package these laws, no matter how well-meaning they may sound, no matter how much you may disagree with the protesters or sympathize with the objects of the protest, these proposed laws are aimed at one thing only: discouraging dissent.

  This is the painful lesson being imparted with every incident in which someone gets arrested and charged with any of the growing number of contempt charges (ranging from resisting arrest and interference to disorderly conduct, obstruction, and failure to obey a police order) that get trotted out anytime a citizen voices discontent with the government or challenges or even questions the authority of the powers-that-be.

  These assaults on free speech are nothing new.

  As Human Rights Watch points out, “Various states have long-tried to curtail the right to protest. They do so by legislating wide definitions of what constitutes an ‘unlawful assembly’ or a ‘riot’ as well as increasing punishments. They also allow police to use catch-all public offenses, such as trespassing, obstructing traffic, or disrupting the peace, as a pretext for ordering dispersals, using force, and making arrests. Finally, they make it easier for corporations and others to bring lawsuits against protest organizers.”

  Journalists have come under particular fire for exercising their right to freedom of the press.

  According to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the criminalization of routine journalism has become a means by which the government chills lawful First Amendment activity.

  Journalists have been arrested or faced dubious charges for “publishing,” asking too many questions of public officials, being “rude” for reporting during a press conference, and being in the vicinity of public protests and demonstrations.

  For instance, Steve Baker, a reporter for Blaze News, was charged with four misdemeanors, including trespassing and disorderly conduct charges, related to his sympathetic coverage of the Jan. 6 riots. Dan Heyman, a reporter for the Public News Service, was arrested for “aggressively” questioning Tom Price, then secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during an encounter in the West Virginia State Capitol.

  It’s gotten so bad that merely daring to question, challenge or hesitate when a cop issues an order can get you charged with resisting arrest or disorderly conduct.

  For example, Deyshia Hargrave, a language arts teacher in Louisiana, was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for speaking out during a public comment period at a school board meeting.

  Fane Lozman was arrested for alluding to government corruption during open comment time at a City Council meeting in Palm Beach County, Fla.

  College professor Ersula Ore was slammed to the ground and arrested after she objected to the “disrespectful manner” shown by a campus cop who stopped her in the middle of the street and demanded that she show her ID.

  Philadelphia lawyer Rebecca Musarra was arrested for exercising her right to remain silent and refusing to answer questions posed by a police officer during a routine traffic stop. (Note: she cooperated in every other way by providing license and registration, etc.)

  Making matters worse, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Nieves v. Bartlett that protects police from lawsuits by persons arrested on bogus “contempt of cop” charges (ranging from resisting arrest and interference to disorderly conduct, obstruction, and failure to obey a police order) that result from lawful First Amendment activities (filming police, asking a question of police, refusing to speak with police).

  These incidents reflect a growing awareness about the state of free speech in America: you may have distinct, protected rights on paper, but dare to exercise those rights, and you risk fines, arrests, injuries and even death.

  Unfortunately, we have been circling this particular drain hole for some time now.

  More than 50 years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas took issue with the idea that merely speaking to a government representative (a right enshrined in the First Amendment) could be perceived as unlawfully inconveniencing and annoying the police.

  In a passionate defense of free speech, Douglas declared: 

  Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet. The situation might have indicated that Colten’s techniques were ill-suited to the mission he was on, that diplomacy would have been more effective. But at the constitutional level speech need not be a sedative; it can be disruptive.

  It’s a power-packed paragraph full of important truths that the powers-that-be would prefer we quickly forget: We the people are the sovereigns. We have the final word. We can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy. We need not stay docile and quiet. Our speech can be disruptive. It can invite dispute. It can be provocative and challenging. We do not have to bow submissively to authority or speak with reverence to government officials.

  In theory, Douglas was right: “we the people” do have a constitutional right to talk back to the government.

  In practice, however, we live in an age in which “we the people” are at the mercy of militarized, weaponized, immunized cops who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to “serve and protect.”

  As such, those who seek to exercise their First Amendment rights during encounters with the police are increasingly finding that there is no such thing as freedom of speech.

  Case in point: Tony Rupp, a lawyer in Buffalo, NY, found himself arrested and charged with violating the city’s noise ordinance after cursing at an SUV bearing down on pedestrians on a busy street at night with its lights off. Because that unmarked car was driven by a police officer, that’s all it took for Rupp to find himself subjected to malicious prosecution, First Amendment retaliation and wrongful arrest.

  The case, as Jesse McKinley writes in The New York Times, is part of a growing debate over “how citizens can criticize public officials at a time of widespread reevaluation of the lengths and limits of free speech. That debate has raged everywhere from online forums and college campuses to protests over racial bias in law enforcement and the Israel-Hamas war. Book bans and other acts of government censorship have troubled some First Amendment experts. Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments about a pair of laws — in Florida and Texas — limiting the ability of social media companies such as Facebook to ban certain content from their platforms.”

  Bottom line: what the architects of the police state want are submissive, compliant, cooperative, obedient, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority, don’t speak out against government misconduct, and don’t resist.

  What the First Amendment protects—and a healthy constitutional republic requires—are citizens who routinely exercise their right to speak truth to power.

  Yet there can be no free speech for the citizenry when the government speaks in a language of force.

  What is this language of force?

  Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality. Contempt of cop charges.

  This is not the language of freedom. This is not even the language of law and order.

  Unfortunately, this is how the government at all levels—federal, state and local—now responds to those who choose to exercise their First Amendment right to speak freely.

  If we no longer have the right to tell a Census Worker to get off our property, if we no longer have the right to tell a police officer to get a search warrant before they dare to walk through our door, if we no longer have the right to stand in front of the Supreme Court wearing a protest sign or approach an elected representative to share our views, if we no longer have the right to protest unjust laws by voicing our opinions in public or on our clothing or before a legislative body, then we do not have free speech.

  What we have instead is regulated, controlled, censored speech, and that’s a whole other ballgame.

  Remember, the unspoken freedom enshrined in the First Amendment is the right to challenge government agents, think freely and openly debate issues without being muzzled or treated like a criminal.

  Americans are being brainwashed into believing that anyone who wears a government uniform—soldier, police officer, prison guard—must be obeyed without question.

  Of course, the Constitution takes a far different position, but does anyone in the government even read, let alone abide by, the Constitution anymore?

  The government does not want us to remember that we have rights, let alone attempting to exercise those rights peaceably and lawfully. And it definitely does not want us to engage in First Amendment activities that challenge the government’s power, reveal the government’s corruption, expose the government’s lies, and encourage the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices.

  Yet by muzzling the citizenry, by removing the constitutional steam valves that allow people to speak their minds, air their grievances and contribute to a larger dialogue that hopefully results in a more just world, the government is creating a climate in which violence becomes inevitable.

  When there is no First Amendment steam valve, then frustration builds, anger grows and people become more volatile and desperate to force a conversation.

  As John F. Kennedy warned, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

  As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the government is making violent revolution inevitable.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 23:30

• Judge Tosses Challenge, Upholds Law Allowing 'Noncitizens' To Vote In DC
  Judge Tosses Challenge, Upholds Law Allowing ‘Noncitizens’ To Vote In DC

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit challenging a District of Columbia law allowing “noncitizen residents” to vote in local elections.

  

  Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, found that a group of seven citizen plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the legislation.

  Their lawsuit against the D.C. Board of Elections, filed on March 14, aimed to block the 2022 law passed by the Council of the District of Columbia.

  They argued that “noncitizens” do not have a fundamental right to vote in the United States and that allowing them to cast ballots and hold office in the District of Columbia dilutes the votes of U.S. citizens.

  “It follows from our national independence that United States citizens have a right to govern, and be governed by, themselves. The constitutional right to citizen self-government, moreover, has been recognized in repeated holdings of the Supreme Court of the United States,” their complaint reads.

  “Nor does any noncitizen have a constitutional right to govern the United States,” the complaint adds.

  The group argued that the Supreme Court has recognized and protected these rights against infringement in “multiple precedents.”

  The group, in their complaint, argued that vote dilution caused by expanding the franchise to illegal immigrants has been analyzed under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment “on the ground that they discriminate against an identifiable group by harming that group while benefitting another.”

  And while the complaint noted that the 14th Amendment only applies to the states, they contended that the 5th Amendment due process clause grants residents of the District of Columbia the same equal protection right.

  No Standing

  However, in an opinion issued Thursday, Judge Jackson determined that the seven plaintiffs failed to demonstrate “that they have personally been subjected to any sort of disadvantage as individual voters by virtue of the fact that noncitizens are permitted to vote, too.”

  “They may object as a matter of policy to the fact that immigrants get to vote at all, but their votes will not receive less weight or be treated differently than noncitizens’ votes,” the judge wrote.

  “They are not losing representation in any legislative body; nor have citizens as a group been discriminatorily gerrymandered, ‘packed,’ or ‘cracked’ to divide, concentrate, or devalue their votes,” she continued.

  The judge concluded: “At bottom, they are simply raising a generalized grievance which is insufficient to confer standing.”

  The Epoch Times contacted the D.C. Board of Elections for comment.

  ‘A Direct Attack on American Self-Government’

  The Epoch Times contacted the D.C.-based Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), which represented the plaintiffs, for comment.

  In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Christopher Hajec, IRLI’s director of litigation, said the law “is a direct attack on American self-government.”

  “This law doesn’t just give foreign citizens a voice in our country’s affairs, it gives them voting power that politicians inevitably will have to respond to. That transfer of power flies in the face of the clear right of the American people to govern themselves,” he said.

  The IRLI’s executive director, Dale Wilcox, said in a statement on March 14 that when the voting power of citizens is eroded, “our nation begins to lose its independence.”

  “If laws like this are not struck down, next there will be calls in many states to allow aliens to vote in statewide and even federal elections,” he added.

  Noncitizen Voting Act

  The law in question, known as the Noncitizen Voting Act, removed the prior citizenship requirement for voting in municipal elections, allowing all residents over 18 who have lived in the district for 30 days, regardless of immigration status, to vote in local elections only.

  Those who qualify can vote in district races for mayor, council, attorney general, and advisory neighborhood commissioners. They can also vote on local initiatives, referenda, recalls, or charter amendment measures.

  Additionally, in combination with other laws, the Noncitizen Voting Act permits illegal immigrants to serve as D.C. mayor, to serve on the D.C. Council, and to serve on the D.C. Board of Elections.

  According to a court filing, at a meeting of the D.C. Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on Sept. 27, 2022, Council Member Charles Allen, speaking in support of the legislation, said, “Our noncitizen neighbors, many of whom have lived, worked, and raised a family in the District for decades deserve the opportunity to have a stake in their government and determine their own leaders just as we all do.”

  The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Allen for further comment.

  Congress must review legislation passed by the D.C. Council; however, efforts to overturn the law through legislative means ultimately stalled in the U.S. Senate.

  After the U.S. House passed a resolution disapproving of the act on Feb. 9, 2023, the Senate failed to pass a resolution against the act within the prescribed time frame.

  This prompted the group of seven citizens to bring their lawsuit.

  The lawsuit argued that it violates the 5th Amendment guarantees of due process and equal protection for citizens. The lawsuit also alleged that the law violates “the constitutional right of citizen self-government” by allowing “noncitizens to hold public office,” according to a court filing.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 23:00

• Russia Confirms Increase Of Artillery Shell Production By 150% In Past Year
  Russia Confirms Increase Of Artillery Shell Production By 150% In Past Year

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Thursday that Russia’s production of artillery shells has increased by nearly 2.5 times over the past year as Moscow is significantly out-producing the West.

  Shoigu also said that Russia was producing components for artillery at a rate of 22 times what it could make last year. “Speaking about manufacturing of artillery munitions, the volume of production of components to such ammunition was increased by almost 22 times,” he said.

  

  Shoigu’s comments came after CNN reported that Russia was producing nearly three times as many artillery shells than the US and Europe combined.

  The report, based on a NATO assessment, said Russia has the capacity to produce 3 million shells per year while the US and Europe can make 1.2 million.

  It’s been clear for a while that NATO could not keep up with the production needed to fuel the proxy war in Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last year that Ukraine was using artillery ammunition at a much faster rate than what the entire alliance could produce.

  “The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production, and this puts our defense industries under strain,” Stoltenberg said in February 2023.

  At that time Stoltenberg urged that NATO needs to “ramp up production” and that European leaders should focus on “ways to increase our defense industrial capacity and replenish stockpiles.”

  Due to its shortage of conventional 155mm artillery ammunition, the US has been arming Ukraine with artillery shells packed with cluster bombs, which are notorious for killing and maiming civilians and are banned by over 100 countries.

  The US announced a new $300 million arms package that included more cluster bombs. The US supplied Ukraine with the package despite the lack of new funding for the war and claimed it was paid for with money saved in the US Army budget.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 22:30

• FDA Settles Ivermectin Case, Agrees To Remove Controversial 'Stop It' Post
  FDA Settles Ivermectin Case, Agrees To Remove Controversial ‘Stop It’ Post

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

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to remove social media posts and webpages that urged people to stop taking ivermectin to treat COVID-19, according to a settlement dated March 21.

  

  The FDA has already removed a page that said: “Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? No.”

  Within 21 days, the FDA will remove another page titled, “why you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19,” according to the settlement announcement, which was filed with federal court in southern Texas.

  “The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals,” the page currently states. It also says that data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, despite how some studies it cites show ivermectin is effective against the illness.

  The FDA in the settlement is also agreeing to delete multiple social media posts that came out strongly against ivermectin, including one that stated: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”

  In exchange, doctors who sued the agency are dismissing their claims, the filing states.

  “FDA loses its war on ivermectin and agrees to remove all social media posts and consumer directives regarding ivermectin and COVID, including its most popular tweet in FDA history,” Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, one of the doctors, said in a statement. “This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship.”

  “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the settlement as it is a victory for every doctor and patient in the United States,” added Dr. Paul Marik, chief scientific officer of the FLCCC Alliance and another plaintiff. “The FDA interfered in the practice of medicine with their irresponsible language and posts about ivermectin. We will never know how many lives were affected because patients were denied access to a lifesaving treatment because their doctor was ‘just following the FDA.’”

  An FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the agency “has chosen to resolve this lawsuit rather than continuing to litigate over statements that are between two and nearly four years old.”

  “FDA has not admitted any violation of law or any wrongdoing, disagrees with the plaintiffs’ allegation that the agency exceeded its authority in issuing the statements challenged in the lawsuit, and stands by its authority to communicate with the public regarding the products it regulates,” the spokesperson said. “FDA has not changed its position that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19.”

  Ivermectin was approved by the FDA in 1996 to treat several conditions, including onchocerciasis, a tropical disease caused by a parasitic worm.

  In the United States, it’s common for doctors to prescribe medicine off-label, or for a different purpose than the one for which the medicine is approved.

  After some doctors began prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19, the FDA ramped up its campaign, including the Aug. 21, 2021, post on Twitter, now known as X.

  Dr. Bowden and two other doctors sued the FDA, arguing the agency’s actions went beyond its authority, as conferred on it by Congress.

  U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown dismissed the case in 2022, ruling that the FDA did not act outside the authority. But an appeals court in 2023 ruled in favor of the doctors, finding that the agency “has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine.”

  Between the time of the ruling and the settlement, the FDA refused to change any of its statements on ivermectin, and asked for a fresh dismissal of the suit.

  The Case

  Drs. Robert Apter, Bowden, and Marik brought the case in 2022. They said they suffered repercussions after prescribing ivermectin to patients with COVID-19, and that the FDA was to blame.

  Dr. Apter, for instance, said that pharmacists refused to fill the prescriptions, citing the FDA.

  “This refusal delays his patients in obtaining their prescribed treatment—when early intervention is paramount—while they look for a pharmacy to fill their prescription, if they can find one at all,” the suit states.

  He also said that insurance companies were refusing to pay for ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

  The suit said the FDA illegally interfered with the relationships between the doctors and patients. The doctors said with regard to ivermectin, the FDA overstepped the authority conferred on it in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

  Government lawyers argued that the FDA was acting within the confines of the law, and succeeded in getting the dismissal.

  Judge Brown, appointed under President Donald Trump, said the FDA’s powers were only limited with regard to medical devices.

  “As there is no statute limiting the FDA’s actions here, it cannot have acted outside of any statutory limitations,” he wrote in his ruling. “Further, it cannot be said that the FDA had no colorable basis of authority. The FDA is charged by Congress with protecting public health and ensuring that regulated medical products are safe and effective, among other things.”

  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit disagreed, finding that the law did not authorize the FDA to give medical advice.

  “FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine,” U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett, appointed under President Trump, wrote for the court. The appeals court remanded the case back to the district court.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 22:00

• Despite Supreme Court Ruling, States Are Still Confiscating People’s Homes
  Despite Supreme Court Ruling, States Are Still Confiscating People’s Homes

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

  Horses taught Christine Searle the importance of being fair. Intelligent and innately honest creatures, horses know deceit when they see it. She wishes they could teach that principle to the state of Arizona.

  

  The 70-year-old horse trainer and Arizona native is on the verge of losing her life’s savings over an unpaid $1,607.68 property tax bill.

  “I owed them the money. And that’s what they should get—the money I owe them,” Ms. Searle told The Epoch Times.

  “I don’t think that they should have the right to take all of it.”

  Arizona is one of almost a dozen states that allow creditors to keep all the proceeds from sales of homes foreclosed due to unpaid taxes—known as tax lien sales, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF).

  A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case out of Minnesota offers some hope to property owners in these situations, but only if a similar case is brought in their state. In the 2022 case, the justices ruled that Minnesota’s practice of keeping all the proceeds of a tax sale constitutes an illegal seizure of property.

  “The taxpayer must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the unanimous decision.

  But, under their current laws, 10 states and the District of Columbia have no means of returning the excess proceeds of a home sale; what Mountain States Legal Foundation lawyers representing Ms. Searle call “home equity theft.” The states include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and South Dakota.

  Ms. Searle hopes her case will be the one to set things right in Arizona.

  In Arizona, a county treasurer can place a lien on a property for taxes owed. These financial claims are then sold at an online auction. In the auction, buyers bid the lowest interest rate they intend to charge property owners to redeem their lien. The bidding begins at 16 percent and the lowest bid wins.

  Purchasing a tax lien doesn’t transfer ownership of the property. In Arizona, the property owner has three years to pay the back taxes, which includes fees and interest. If it is not redeemed within that time, the lienholder may foreclose and sell the property.

  Unsold tax liens are turned over to the state. The state has the same right to foreclose, but must return any excess proceeds to the former property owner.

  In 2005, Ms. Searle bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house as a rental property for $255,000. The house is in Gilbert, Arizona, 22 miles southeast of Phoenix. Its 2024 property tax appraisal came to $376,800, but she stands to lose much more than the taxable value.

  

  Various real estate websites estimate the current market value to sit somewhere between $420,000 and $510,000.

  The investment firm Arapaho LLC Tesco purchased the tax lien on Ms. Searle’s property when it bought all of Maricopa County’s 2015 and 2016 tax liens. Arapaho stands to gain a significant profit if it sells the property under current law.

  Arapaho’s contact information was not available. An internet search showed that the Phoenix-based company —which is involved in a number of legal actions in Arizona—lists Hamilton Municipal Financing of Altamonte Springs, Florida, as a principal. Hamilton is incorporated in Delaware.

  According to PLF, tax liens are popular with banks, investment firms, and other financial institutions because they are seen as relatively secure investments.

  Public data gathered by PLF shows that Maricopa County sold 567 tax liens between July 2012 and March 2021. A review of those records by The Epoch Times found that at least 424, or approximately three-quarters of those purchasers, were businesses.

  This is based on buyers being listed as Incorporated, an LLC, a Trust, or a DBA (Doing Business As).

  Retirement Plan Upended

  On a dusty ranch near Tucson, Ms. Searle sits on a metal patio chair under a shady tree in front of some stables and talks about her retirement plan.

  “I have all my money invested in that home as my retirement instead of putting it in a CD [Certificate of Deposit] or some kind of a bank account. I can make a little money on the side to pay the mortgage and keep, and sell it when I need the money,” she said.

  She’s shocked at how close she is to losing her life savings to an investment firm.

  For 18 years, she lived in Chandler, Arizona, with her husband and son, Randy Searle. According to Ms. Searle, she led a typically comfortable, suburban middle-class American life. Her then-husband worked for a jewelry and memorabilia company serving high schools and colleges, and she trained horses.

  

  She knew it was possible to lose property over unpaid taxes. But that happened to other people. It wasn’t part of her life or something she really knew very much about.

  “I didn’t think about it,” she said.

  Then came the divorce, and she had to consider many things she had never given much thought.

  She had to find a way to support herself. Her son was grown, so she could afford a simpler lifestyle. Ms. Searle took her divorce settlement and purchased the house in Gilbert to use as a rental to supplement her income.

  Her work goes beyond teaching horses to respond to commands. Many horse owners live and work far from the stables in Tucson, so Ms. Searle is their horse’s primary caregiver. She is responsible for arranging veterinary care, farrier services, feeding, and exercising the animals.

  “I don’t have a nine-to-five job; I have a 24-hour job. Whenever there’s something wrong, I come down here and work on it, take care of it,” Ms. Searle said. “I’m doing it just because I enjoy it … it’s not like anyone’s making a lot of money here.”

  Her son blames himself for his mother’s predicament.

  Mr. Randy Searle, as the tenant at the Gilbert house, said it was his job to manage the property. At the same time, he was trying to get a solar energy company in Rhode Island off the ground.

  “I had been responsible for paying [the property taxes], and when our company went out of business in Rhode Island, I didn’t have the money to pay them,” Mr. Searle told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Searle said he had worked out a plan with Arapaho to redeem the 2016 lien. However, due to a miscommunication, he didn’t realize foreclosure proceedings had been initiated over the 2015 taxes.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 21:30

• Nancy Pelosi's Son Dodges Charges In Money Laundering, Mail Fraud Scheme Linked To San Francisco Flop House
  Nancy Pelosi’s Son Dodges Charges In Money Laundering, Mail Fraud Scheme Linked To San Francisco Flop House

  Nancy Pelosi’s son has dodged the hammer of justice for a seventh time, after being excluded from a case in which two fraudsters linked to Paul Jr. are set to be sentenced in a money laundering and mail fraud scheme involving “shady dealings over a San Francisco flop house that Pelosi Jr. claimed to own,” the Daily Mail reports.

  

  Bill Garlock and Gina Rodriguez scammed investors into fronting over $1 million for supposed real estate ventures, and instead used the cash to pay for their lifestyle – including rent, loan repayments, credit card bills, and ‘horse-related expenses,’ according to San Francisco federal prosecutors.

  The two obtained money from investors “by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and by means of concealment of material facts, including through the use of half-truths,” according to a 2022 indictment.

  One project which the pair presented to duped investors was the renovation of a dilapidated mixed-use building at the corner of Utah and 24th Street, which Paul Pelosi Jr. claimed to own 20% of – and was involved in a 2017 bribery scheme to obtain permits for the property, a move which led to the imprisonment of a city official and an engineering consultant following an FBI sting.

  The property, located in the Mission District of San Francisco, has a troubled past of code violations and squalid conditions. In other words, a flop house.

  

  Pelosi Jr. was not charged in the bribery scheme, and was only listed as “Client 9” in the complaint.

  In 2017, he was listed as the selling realtor on transaction documents as part of a sale to Feng 24th, LLC – a company controlled by Garlock and Rodriguez. As the Mail further reports, “according to the property manager and permit applications, Pelosi Jr. continued to be intimately involved with the flop house after its sale to the two fraudsters.”

  “But he is nowhere to be seen in the July 2022 indictment leveled against Garlock, 74, and Rodriguez, 57, in a Northern California federal court,” according to the report.

  Garlock and Rodriguez were indicted on 15 counts of money laundering and mail fraud, including a scheme to bilk $400,000 from investors in the 24th Street property.

  According to prosecutors, Garlock failed to list himself on Feng 24th LLC’s filings despite having “substantial control” over the firm which owned the Pelosi-linked property.

  Pelosi Jr.’s ties to the building, and the shady dealings around it, appear to be both financial and personal.

  DailyMail.com previously revealed that Pelosi Jr. had a romantic relationship with the building’s former owner, Karena Feng – and that she sued him in 2019 claiming that he conspired with Garlock and Rodriguez to scam her out of the property.

  In one email obtained by DailyMail.com, Pelosi Jr. wrote to Feng: ‘I am list [sic] as the real estate agent for the transaction and have been working hard for you for over two years. In January 2016, you and your family made me an officer of Feng RE with a 20 percent ownership. As an officer and owner of Feng RE, I want the best outcome for your and your family.’  -Daily Mail

  Nicole Bulick, Pelosi’s ex-girlfriend, says that the FBI interviewed Paul Jr. three times about the 24th Street property, while business associate Naveen Singha also said agents interviewed him about Pelosi Jr.’s links to the building.

  “Paul’s been under FBI [questioning] like three times over this,” the 48-year-old Bulick told the Mail. “Maybe in the summer of 2017… The FBI looked at this for almost two years. They called me too… He went and spoke with the FBI three times.“

  And according to the Mail, this is the seventh federal case linked to Pelosi Jr. for which he hasn’t been charged.

  DailyMail.com has previously revealed:

  • The 52-year-old joined the board of a biofuel company after it defrauded investors according to an SEC ruling, and whose CEO was convicted after bribing Georgia officials
  • Pelosi Jr. was president of an environmental investment firm that turned out to be a front for two convicted fraudsters 
  • He joined a lithium mining company and received millions of shares, allegedly issued as part of a massive $164million fraud 
  • He was vice president of a company previously embroiled in an investigation of scam calls that targeted senior citizens 
  • He has close business ties with a man accused by the Department of Justice of running a fake UN charity that stole investors’ money 
  • A medical company Pelosi Jr. worked for tested drugs on people without FDA authorization, according to an FDA investigation
  • A permit expeditor and a city official were imprisoned over a bribery scheme of cash for permits, with Pelosi Jr. as one of their clients

  Maybe Hunter Biden should speak with Paul Jr.’s attorney?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 21:00

• FAA Issues Warning For Air Travel Disruptions During Total Solar Eclipse On April 8
  FAA Issues Warning For Air Travel Disruptions During Total Solar Eclipse On April 8

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning on Thursday about potential disruptions in air travel surrounding the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8.

  

  The celestial event, set to cast a path of totality across 13 states, is anticipated to impact air travel operations before, during, and after the eclipse, according to the aviation agency.

  The FAA indicated that the eclipse’s effects on U.S. airspace are anticipated between approximately 2:30 p.m. and 3:40 p.m. ET. At this time, some 32 million people in North America are expected to witness the rare event, which is anticipated to be the most-watched solar eclipse in history.

  A total solar eclipse occurs when the new moon passes directly in front of the sun, completely blocking out sunlight and casting the moon’s shadow on the surface of Earth. The most recent total solar eclipse to happen on American soil was the Great American Eclipse in 2017.

  A notice issued by the FAA to airmen emphasized potential impacts on air traffic and airports along the eclipse path from April 7 to April 10. Pilots and aviation personnel are advised to stay informed and prepared for possible disruptions.

  In a statement, the FAA suggested that aircraft should ready themselves for potential airborne holding, reroutes, and departure clearance times that might be issued for all domestic IFR arrivals and departures during the eclipse.

  Departing aircraft from airports along the eclipse path are “strongly encouraged” to coordinate their departure times as early as possible to assist fixed base operators with staging aircraft and alleviating ramp congestion.

  “There may be a higher traffic volume than normal anticipated at airports along the path of the eclipse. Traffic should anticipate delays during peak traffic periods,” the FAA stated.

  The agency cautioned that parking may be limited, particularly at small, uncontrolled airports. Delays with issuing IFR departure clearances might also happen.

  “VFR departures may also expect delays for airborne pickup of IFR clearance within 50 NM either side of the path of the eclipse,” the FAA stated.

  The eclipse will also impact or possibly prohibit aircraft from conducting practice approaches, touch-and-go operations, flight following services, and pilot training at airports during the event.

  “Airmen should check NOTAMs carefully for special procedures/restrictions that may be in place at affected airports. Specific NOTAM procedures may be revised, and arrivals to some airports possibly restricted so please review NOTAMs frequently to verify you have the current information,” the agency advised.

  ‘Great North American Eclipse’

  Dubbed the “Great North American Eclipse,” the celestial event is expected to be more impressive than the one in 2017, lasting longer, being wider, and traversing more highly populated parts of North America.

  On April 8, it will begin over the South Pacific Ocean and move across North America, spanning across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The 2024 event will move in a different direction than the 2017 event, marking a cross on the United States.

  The moon’s shadow will create a relatively narrow ribbon—the path of totality—of about 100 miles over Earth’s surface. To experience a 100 percent total solar eclipse, viewers should be located in this narrow band. This will reveal “the star’s outer atmosphere, called the corona,” according to NASA.

  Totality will last for longer than four minutes in some parts of the United States.

  According to NASA, the path of the eclipse will traverse Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse.

  The eclipse will enter Canada in southern Ontario, journey through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton before exiting continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland at 5:16 p.m. NDT, according to NASA.

  Special security provisions may be enforced for this event, the FAA said, including temporary flight restrictions, two-way radio communications, and discrete transponder requirements.

  “Specific NOTAM procedures may be revised, and arrivals to some airports possibly restricted so please review NOTAMs frequently to verify you have the current information,” the FAA reiterated.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 20:35

• US Decries "Outrageous" China & Russia Veto Of Its Gaza Ceasefire Resolution At UN
  US Decries “Outrageous” China & Russia Veto Of Its Gaza Ceasefire Resolution At UN

  On Friday Russia and China, along with Algeria, vetoed a US draft resolution on Gaza calling for ceasefire, with the objectors complaining that the language fell short of a clear and unequivocal demand for a ceasefire. 

  The draft ceasefire sought to directly link an immediate ceasefire with the release of all hostages from Gaza. China and Russia saw in it language that paves the way for okaying an Israeli offensive against Rafah. 

  US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said of the proposed resolution, “We want to see an immediate and sustained ceasefire as part of a deal that leads to the release of all hostages being held by Hamas and other groups and that will allow much more life-saving, humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.”

  

  But Russian ambassador to the Security Council Vasily Nebenzya accused the US of engaging in “hypocritical” posturing:  

  He accused the United States of doing nothing to rein in Israel in Gaza, and mocked Washington for speaking of a ceasefire after “Gaza has been virtually wiped off the face of the Earth”.

  “We have observed a typical hypocritical spectacle,” he said.

  Nebenzya said that the resolution offered by the Biden administration would have “ensured the impunity of Israel, whose crimes are not even assessed in the draft.”

  This comes after several prior US vetoes of attempted ceasefire resolutions. Friday marks the fourth attempt to move forward a ceasefire resolution. In this case, the Biden administration can seek to lay blame on Russia and China for not wanting to seek peace: 

  Thomas-Greenfield has reacted to Russia’s and China’s vetoes of the US resolution by saying the two countries “refuse to condemn Hamas for burning people alive, for gunning down innocent civilians at a concert and for raping women and girls”.

  “This was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and a permanent member of the Security Council cannot even condemn it,” she said. “I’m sorry, but this is outrageous and is below the dignity of this body.”

  An alternative resolution is soon next to be put before the Security Council which urges an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, out of which could come a hoped-for permanent ceasefire. The US is expected to veto it.

  U.N. Security Council fails to pass U.S. resolution calling for immediate Gaza cease-firehttps://t.co/OBNNx07kDk pic.twitter.com/GY2CU7xZou

  — MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 22, 2024

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

  Given the death toll in Gaza has reportedly surpassed 30,000 mostly civilians killed, the war is becoming increasingly unpopular internationally, and Israel’s actions have been especially condemned by Global South countries.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 20:10

• US Intelligence Says It Knew ISIS-K Was Planning Terror Attack On Moscow
  US Intelligence Says It Knew ISIS-K Was Planning Terror Attack On Moscow

  Update(1950ET): The initial reports that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Moscow appeared rumor at first, and has still been subject of widespread scrutiny and debate, however, US media and government officials are saying that the Islamic State (or ISIS-K) statement is authentic. “A branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for the attack in Moscow that killed at least 40 people and injured about 100 others, and U.S. officials confirmed the claim shortly afterward,” The New York Times writes late in the day. 

  What’s more is that US intelligence knew there was to be an imminent attack on Moscow: “The United States collected intelligence in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow, according to officials. ISIS members have been active in Russia, one U.S. official said,” according to more from NYT.

  The Kremlin had earlier in the day demanded answers of Washington explaining why the US Embassy in Moscow issued an alert earlier this month for all US nationals to avoid public venues and be extra vigilant. We previously reported on that early March embassy notification here. NY Times continues, citing US officials: “After a period of relative quiet, the Islamic State has been trying to increase its external attacks, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. Most of those plots in Europe have been thwarted, prompting assessments that the group had diminished capabilities.”

  Importantly, Russian state media and sources have been slow to report the ISIS-K claims, nor have state officials identified any culprits or group at this late hour. Russian media in general has not reflected Western press reports concerning the claims that ISIS-K was behind it, likely pending a deeper and ongoing investigation. It is possible that some of the gunmen may still be at large.

  Speculation continues to run rampant, and there’s as yet been little that’s confirmed from Russian security services and authorities.

  If ISIS is indeed behind the Moscow attack, here’s a likely reason why: Russia helped prevent an ISIS takeover of Syria during the CIA-led dirty war there.

  John Kerry admitted this, while also disclosing that the US “watched” ISIS grow in Syria in the hopes it could help… https://t.co/01cMNwZYHw

  — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 22, 2024

  At least 40 were killed when a group of heavily armed, unidentified gunmen stormed Crocus City Hall music venue. Russia’s Health Ministry has released a list of names of 145 people who have been hospitalized in critical condition. Children are among them.

  Below: video has emerged showing the moments the gunmen entered the concert hall, after randomly massacring people in the attached mall area of the complex…

  MASSACRE IN RUSSIA – THE MOMENT THE SHOOTING STARTED INSIDE THE CONCERT HALL. DOZENS REPORTED DEAD.pic.twitter.com/ib9e4MTIht

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 22, 2024

  * * *

  Update(1735ET): The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the Moscow terrorist attack according to a report by the Amaq news agency (and otherwise unconfirmed).

  🚨🇷🇺BREAKING: ISIS CLAIMS MOSCOW TERRORIST ATTACK

  Reportedly, the terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crocuc Concert Hall in Moscow that left at least 40 people dead and dozens injured.

  Source: @BNONews https://t.co/M8yVhEZ5Io pic.twitter.com/7sQTgShjfg

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 22, 2024

  We will update this story as details are confirmed.

  *  *  *

  Update(1635ET): Moscow has come out with fighting words while also pointing the finger at Washington about ‘what it knew’ ahead of time and when:

  Medvedev threatens Ukraine’s top officials will be ‘destroyed mercilessly as terrorists’ if the ‘Kyiv regime’ is linked to Moscow concert hall attack.

  The former president Deputy Chairman of the Security Council is known to routinely issue threatening and hawkish words, but the Russian foreign ministry has issued the following as cited in Reuters:

  “On what basis do officials in Washington draw any conclusions in the midst of a tragedy about someone’s innocence?” She added that if Washington had information, it should be shared and that if Washington had no information, it should not be talking in such a way.

  

  At least one of the attackers is said to be in Russian custody, also as security services inspect a van in the vicinity and other suspicious vehicles. The mall and concert hall venue previously rampaged by heavily armed gunmen continues to be engulfed in flames, according to a summary in RT:

  Multiple fire brigades and aircraft have been deployed to put out the blaze at a large mall outside Moscow that was attacked by terrorists on Friday night. The popular shopping center and music venue is located in Krasnogorsk, just northwest of the Russian capital. 

  A group of gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, killing at least 40 people, according to the authorities.

  The assailants reportedly set the building on fire. Witnesses also said they heard explosions inside the mall.

  According to regional emergency services, around 100 people have been evacuated from the underground floor. The rescuers are working to evacuate people from the roof.

  ⚡️One of the shooters in Moscow has been captured and arrested pic.twitter.com/ClLvpfkKKT

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 22, 2024

  There have been reports that parts of the roof over the complex collapsed, with hundreds of emergency responders battling the blaze and seeking any gunmen who may be at large.

  * * *

  Update(1440ET): Russian state media as well as The Wall Street Journal’s regional correspondent is reporting at least 40 people killed, and over 100 wounded and injured, in the unfolding major terror attack on Moscow’s largest concert hall. 

  Initial videos have emerged showing what appears to be attackers in combat fatigues with assault rifles going around the mall part of the venue (which is attached to the concert hall) and shooing randomly. There are reports from RT of follow-up blasts happening even amid a huge security, police, and emergency response. 

  BREAKING: Footage shows deadly shooting in Moscow — 40 killed, 100 injured in terror attack in Moscow concert hall, local media reports

  pic.twitter.com/uf7i1Qyt65

  — Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) March 22, 2024

  Below: 20 seconds into clip… is that a flamethrower?

  Multiple gunmen have broken into the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, opening fire on those inside. Raw footage shows the terrorists opening fire on civilians and security forces. pic.twitter.com/ynTelGwqUu

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 22, 2024

  A mere days ago the US Embassy in Moscow released the following alert telling all US nationals still in the country to avoid large gatherings and public venues. What did they know?

  

  Russia has called the shooting a ‘bloody terrorist attack’ in an initial statement. The White House has also issued an initial assessment as follows:

  • WHITE HOUSE: NO INDICATION AT THIS TIME THAT UKRAINE INVOLVED IN MOSCOW SHOOTING
  • MOSCOW CANCELS ALL THE WEEKEND MASS GATHERINGS – MAYOR

  Unconfirmed reports say some of the attackers may still be at large. Below–Warning, Graphic:

  WARNING 🔞 Not for the faint-hearted

  Terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region: The death toll has risen to 140 — local media. It is reported that special forces are already in the building, and gunfire can be heard.

  Join ‘Voice of Europe’ on Telegram… pic.twitter.com/jCJ9rlTLkY

  — Voice of Europe 🌍 (@V_of_Europe) March 22, 2024

  Watch Live Feed of local media coverage below:

  * * *

  Some kind of major attack just occurred at a Moscow concert hall with contradictory breaking reports emerging from on the ground and several circulating unconfirmed videos. There are possibly at least ten casualties and videos from the scene showing a large fire and plumes of black smoke over the venue. It may have been the result of a large explosion, or possibly even a cross-border drone strike, but conflicting reports say this is likely a mass shooting situation. According to the breaking Associated Press report, at least three gunmen in combat gear stormed the concert hall, with riot police responding:

  Several gunmen in combat fatigues burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people, Russian media said.

  Russian news reports said that the assailants also used explosives, causing a massive blaze at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow. Video posted on social media showed huge plumes of black smoke rising over the building.

  EXPLOSION IN MOSCOW CONCERT HALL https://t.co/k5yNFeLLGO pic.twitter.com/3o8NbGDK1Y

  — Russian Market (@runews) March 22, 2024

  Video from inside the concert hall shows smoke and a chaotic scene of masses of people scrambling to evacuate the venue.

  Unconfirmed statements say it happened at the largest indoor concert venue in Moscow, called Crocus City Hall.

  

  The scope of the attack was clearly a very large, coordinated op or terror event.

  BREAKING – Multiple fatalities reported after shooting in a Moscow concert hall in Russia, concert hall reportedly on fire

  https://t.co/Bc2Ny0h1E2

  — Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) March 22, 2024

  Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency said that several gunmen opened fire on the crowd in Moscow concert hall, resulting in unknown casualties, the AP has cited.

  The incident has unfolded at during a week of rapidly escalating cross-border attacks on Russian territory from Ukraine, and also large-scale retaliatory strikes on Ukraine by Russian aerial forces.

  Reports of armed men storming the concert hall, but the visuals also strongly suggest a large explosion…

  An apparent terrorist attack at a club/shopping center in Moscow before a performance started. Dozens wounded and dead. There was also an explosion and the building is on fire.
  Early videos show multiple men (3, per state media) in camo shooting rifles. pic.twitter.com/WCRmznrldq

  — Aric Toler (@AricToler) March 22, 2024

  A massive emergency and security response is ongoing:

  MORE THAN 50 AMBULANCE CREWS SENT TO SITE OF SHOOTING NEAR MOSCOW – RIA

  developing…

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 19:50

• VDH: From Russian Collusion To "Bloodbath" – A Decade Of Toxic Hysteria
  VDH: From Russian Collusion To “Bloodbath” – A Decade Of Toxic Hysteria

  Via Victor David Hanson,

  Ever since late June 2015—following Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president, and his voicing of controversial agendas (on tariffs, China, illegal immigration, foreign policy, NATO, etc.)—leftwing toxic hysteria has been the norm.

  In the last ten years, we’ve witnessed the Russian collusion hoax, calls from military officers and analysts for extra-legal interventions and coups, the Alfa ping hoax, the drink bleach hoax, the “suckers” D-Day hoax, the celebrities’ contest about the best way to decapitate, stab, blow up, shoot, or incinerate Trump, the 2016 leftwing postelection effort to turn state electors into “faithless” apostates to elect Hillary, the nutty Mark Milley call to his Chinese counterpart, the Antifa/BLM riotous months of 2020 and effort to storm the White House grounds, the two first-term impeachments, the laptop “Russian disinformation” hoax, the pee accusation, the “51 intelligence authorities” ruse, the FBI hiring of Twitter censors to suppress unwanted news, the Senate trial of a private citizen, the January 6 “insurrection” where “five police officers were killed” lie, the farcical two Republican members of the Jan 6 committee, the attempt to remove Trump from state ballots, the insane E. Jean Carroll suit, the Letitia James “find me the man, and I’ll find you the crime” writ, the monstrous $355 million fine growing daily to $450, the Alvin Bragg bootstrapping of an inert federal suit, the Fani Willis/Nathan Wade circus, the Jack Smith antithesis to Robert Hur’s twin investigation, the effort to bankrupt the Republican nominee, and of course the constant calls to pack the court (when the Left lost the majority), to end the filibuster (when Democrats control the Senate), to add two new states and four new senators (provided they are DC and Puerto Rico) and to end the Electoral College (once the Left lost the surety of the reliable blue wall).

  

  What is the effect of all this decade-long civil strife on the 2024 voter?

  There are two knowns and two unknowns from this unprecedented effort to destroy rather than defeat at the polls Donald J. Trump.

  • First, we now know that the more they have tried to destroy Trump through media lies and distortions, lawfare, and extra-legal means, the greater his resiliency and popularity.

  • Two, we also realize that the greater the anti-Trump hysteria, venom, and furor on the Left, the more leftists melt down and project their own paranoias onto Trump.

  They think something like: “If we were Trump, and we were smeared with the stuff we are dishing out, we know what we do to our tormentors when we got power. So naturally Trump will do to us what we would to us in his place.”

  Their projection then turns into our now daily unhinged screams that Trump will “take revenge” and “demand retribution”, ensure a “bloodbath”, and “end democracy”—and “therefore we have to double down to employ even more extra-legal means to destroy him”.

  Of the unknowns, we are somewhat unsure about the cumulative effect of this historic effort to warp the electoral system to destroy a candidate, and in at least two regards.

  One, as the Left ramps up its hatred and frenzy over the next seven months before the election (and they surely will), what will be effect on Independents, swing voters, and the undecided? Will they grow incensed at the damage the Left is doing to the country and react by supporting Trump all the more?

  Or, alternatively, will they finally curl up, fetal-like, with  hands over ears, and simply whimper and wish for someone to make all this conundrum go away—and along with it the disrupter Trump, who, however much the victim, still somehow is responsible for the insane reaction he elicits from the left?

  As far as the second unknown in the upcoming months, could  or would Trump as the Happy Warrior better finesse the vitriol to his own advantage by joking about his tormentors’ insanity, using Reaganesque humor to ridicule his critics, or simply shrug, stick to business, ignore the madness, and press on? Can he not unite the country by rising above the tit-for-tat taunts and put-downs?

  That is, should he not avoid his gratuitous slights (often against fellow Republicans like DeSantis and Haley), curb silly stuff like “birdbrain” and the usual social media ridicule?

  Or does it even matter at this late date—given the Left will distort anything Trump says anyway—as we just witnessed with the “bloodbath” psychodrama, and the laughable spin to suggest Trump was calling for insurrection rather than the damage Biden will do to the automotive industry?

  Are we reaching a point, then, where it does not matter how carefully Trump speaks and how ecumenical he might sound, given whatever he says or does will still be distorted given the existential hatred for who he is, what he represents, and what his agendas might portend?

  Add up what we know and the things we know we don’t know, and it is going to be a wild, dangerous next seven months in which we are going to witness things from the Left never seen before in this country.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 19:45

• Russia & China Strike Shipping Deal With Houthis To Ensure Safe Vessel Transits, Report Says 
  Russia & China Strike Shipping Deal With Houthis To Ensure Safe Vessel Transits, Report Says 

  According to Bloomberg’s sources, Russia and China have sealed a deal with Iran-backed Houthis to allow their commercial vessels to transit the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without fear of drone and or missile attacks. 

  One of the sources said China and Russia reached a deal with diplomats in Oman with Mohammed Abdel Salam, one of the Houthis’ top political leaders. They said the safe passage of vessels is in exchange for the Houthis’ political support at the United Nations Security Council. 

  Bloomberg noted, “It’s not entirely clear how that support would be manifested, but it could include blocking more resolutions against the group.” 

  Since November, Houthi rebels have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea. Rebels assert that their attacks are aimed only at ships connected to Israel, demonstrating their support for the Palestinians amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.

  In response to the Red Sea crisis, the Biden administration launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a military operation led by the US and other allied countries to protect the critical shipping lane. However, months later, the operation failed to protect ships. Furthermore, the US and UK have launched bombing raids on Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries to fight back against Iran-backed terror groups. 

  

  “China and Russia are deepening their strategic alliance with Iranian-backed terrorists. It’s a further sign of an emerging new world disorder that threatens freedom of navigation, commerce, transit, and communications,” said David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, who commented on the Bloomberg report. 

  Asher continued: “No one should doubt that Putin and Xi are increasingly coordinating their moves with Tehran while the US embraces appeasement, including via releasing billions of dollars to the Iranians with no substantive result to American interests, power, and prestige.”

  In a recent note titled “The Weaponization Of Crude Could Trigger The Next Financial Shock,” Asher warned that “Iran is preparing for an oil war—and markets ignore the growing risks.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 19:20

• 'Gender Science' Was Merely Ideology All Along
  ‘Gender Science’ Was Merely Ideology All Along

  Authored by Wesley J. Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Did you hear the news? England’s National Health Service (NHS) has decided that children diagnosed with gender dysphoria will no longer receive puberty blockers because “there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness … to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”

  

  The premier of Alberta, Canada, is planning legislation to restrict “gender-affirming” surgeries such as mastectomies for minors and puberty blockers for youth aged 15 and under. Other socially liberal nations have also hit the brakes on “gender affirmation,” in children, including Norway, Finland, France, Denmark, Sweden, and New Zealand. So have a score of American states.

  Why did it take so long for common sense to return to this contentious issue? Blame the cultural imperialism of gender ideologues who, while most of us were not paying attention, successfully instituted “treatment guidelines” that focused almost exclusively on “affirming” a child’s gender confusion as medically necessary, while branding the more cautious approach of deeply exploring the mental health issues that could have contributed to the patient’s confusion as “transphobic,” and, even, likely to drive gender-confused children to suicide.

  WPATH—which stands for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health—led the charge. Members of the organization are committed to the belief that “gender”—as opposed to sex—constitutes a human being’s true self and that gender “identity” can be known by the child when very young—in some cases, even before starting school.

  Moreover, when a child claims a particular gender identity different from that “assigned at birth”—male, female, nonbinary, transgender, etc.—that patient must be believed, “affirmed,” and set on the road to an eventual “transition.”

  But gender ideologues didn’t just promote their views about how gender dysphoric children should be treated in the marketplace of ideas. Rather, the entirety of the woke cultural infrastructure mobilized to punish those who challenged the new orthodoxy.

  Social authoritarianism became the order of the day. Many elementary and high schools were at the vanguard. Administrators ordered teachers not to alert parents to their child’s gender confusion at the risk of job loss. Teachers were fired if they “mis-pronouned” a gender-confused student or used the child’s “dead” (given) name instead of the gender-affirming name chosen by the child. Some teachers even proselytized gender ideology to their students, for example by placing LGBT flags in classrooms and assigning readings from pro-gender transitioning books.

  Meanwhile, social media companies canceled the accounts of those who disputed affirmation as the “medically necessary, life-saving standard of care.” Blue states such as California passed laws threatening to remove the custody of children from parents who refused to affirm their child’s declared gender identity. Medical professionals who sought to continue the more traditional approaches to care were accused of engaging in hateful “conversion therapy” and threatened with professional discipline.

  For a time, the ideological juggernaut seemed unstoppable. But as the old saying goes, eventually truth “will out.” Less ideological medical professionals reviewed the actual data and noticed that the supposedly settled science was much less certain than the activists claimed. Moreover, the potential medical harm from puberty blocking and performing surgeries on healthy bodies came to the forefront—in large part thanks to the advocacy of “de-transitioners” who were affirmed in their gender confusion but came to realize that they are, indeed, the sex they were born. The tragic testimonies of young women without breasts and boys with potential lifelong sexual dysfunction exposed the potential cruelty of the gender-affirming approach.

  And now, a shocking new report—“The WPATH Files,” published by Environmental Progress—has exposed WPATH’s rank ideological method as primarily “consumer-driven and pseudoscientific”—as opposed to evidence-based—and (appearing) to be “political activism, not science.”

  Not only that, but the study demonstrates that contrary to WPATH’s claims, the “psychiatric condition of gender dysphoria is not a fatal illness, and the best available studies show that in the case of minors, with watchful waiting and compassionate support, most will either grow out of it or learn to manage their distress in ways less detrimental to their health.” In other words, alternative non-invasive approaches can help young patients overcome their gender confusion without mutilating their bodies.

  Backing up the study’s many data-derived criticisms, author Mia Hughes also quotes actual transcripts of some WPATH members’ shocking disregard for the wellbeing of their patients made in private communications. For example, the report quotes one of the authors of WPATH’s standards of care guidelines admitting that children are too immature to comprehend the enormity of the transition they may desire: “[It is] out of their developmental range to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.”

  Another WPATH member shrugs that minor patients do not fully appreciate the consequences of sterility that some medically “affirming” treatments can cause. “It’s always a good theory that you talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year old, but I know I’m talking to a blank wall. They’d be like, ew, kids, babies, gross.”

  Environmental Progress’s exposé illustrates the danger of meekly following “the experts.” This is particularly true when the main defense of a new and radical agenda is based on a supposed consensus, and that therefore, the science is now “settled.” As my Discovery Institute colleague Stephen C. Meyer says: If you have to rely on a supposed “consensus” to defend your [scientific] position, it means there isn’t really a consensus. That goes double when skeptics are coerced into silence to maintain the primacy of a particular cultural orthodoxy.

  “The WPATH Files” demonstrates that courageous resistance to destructive social fads is never futile. But good golly it can be difficult when ideology successfully masks as science. Hopefully, the report will hasten the end of our destructive transgender moral panic—at least as it impacts minors—and we will finally protect these agonized youngsters in the way all vulnerable children deserve.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 18:55

• "Our Country Is Being Poisoned": 270,000 Overdose Deaths Catapult Fentanyl As Major Voter Topic In Presidential Race
  “Our Country Is Being Poisoned”: 270,000 Overdose Deaths Catapult Fentanyl As Major Voter Topic In Presidential Race

  In a recent interview on Fox News, former President Donald Trump warned, “Our country is being poisoned from within by the drugs and by all of the other crime that’s taking place.” 

  According to the latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between November 2019 and October 2023, there have been a shocking 270,000 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids – or about 80,000 overdose deaths per year – across the nation. 

  

  Under the Biden administration’s first term, Americans have been increasingly traumatized by the tsunami of overdose deaths as disastrous open southern border policies flood the nation with illegal drugs and millions of unvetted migrants that have sparked chaos across major metro areas. 

  

  American voters are increasingly frustrated with progressive policies that have backfired, resulting in the loss of countless American lives, many of them young people. 

  This is how China uses open southern borders to poison the American people.

  

  A new Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of nearly 5,000 registered voters shows 8 in 10 voters in seven swing states believe fentanyl misuse is a “very important” or “somewhat important” issue when deciding who to vote for in November. The drug overdose issue trumps abortion, climate change, labor and unions, or the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. 

  Early in President Biden’s first term, he stated one of the central pillars of his “Unity Agenda” was to solve the overdose crisis. Fast-forward to today, Biden’s team of clowns has failed as they prioritize open southern borders over the well-being and health of law-abiding taxpayers. Just think about that for a few seconds… 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 18:30

• Pentagon Still Open To Allowing US 'Boots On The Ground' In Haiti
  Pentagon Still Open To Allowing US ‘Boots On The Ground’ In Haiti

  Authored by Will Porter via The Libertarian Institute, 

  A senior US military official said the Pentagon has not yet ruled out an American deployment to Haiti, which has seen a spike in violent unrest that prompted the resignation of the country’s prime minister last week. 

  Speaking during an event hosted by the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) head General Laura Richardson was asked whether she envisions “boots on the ground” in the Caribbean nation.

  

  “Not right now,” she said, before adding “They could be at the end of the day. We wouldn’t discount that at any time.” Without elaborating, Richardson also went on to suggest that Haitian refugees fleeing violence could be housed at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay – the notorious torture prison which has held hundreds of foreign terrorism suspects without charges for years on end.

  Haiti has been gripped by a long bout of chaos since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, who was replaced by Prime Minister Ariel Henry – then the West’s favored successor. Also assuming the powers of the presidency, Henry took office in lieu of a popular vote, repeatedly postponing elections even after lawmakers’ terms expired last year and left the legislature crippled.

  However, with Henry failing to rein in gangs and armed groups running rampant across Port-au-Prince – some even seizing control of ports and other key infrastructure – the PM gradually lost his international backing, agreeing to resign last week under pressure from Washington and other regional states. 

  The premier will be replaced by a nine-member transition council intended to pave the way to future elections – at a yet-unspecified date – and create an “action plan for near-term security,” according to Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who helped to broker Henry’s resignation.

  After repeated appeals to the United Nations for an international security force to help quell the violence, Henry finally struck a deal earlier this month for a Kenyan-led mission backed by other nations and largely financed by the United States. It is that initiative which Richardson suggested US troops could ultimately join.

  With Henry stepping down, however, Nairobi has signaled that the multi-national security mission would be delayed until the new council is established, leaving it unclear when – or whether – the plan will come to fruition.

  “The deal they signed… still stands, although the deployment will not happen now because definitely we will require a sitting government to also collaborate with,” Kenyan Foreign Ministry spokesman Salim Swaleh told the New York Times last week. “You don’t just deploy police to go on the Port-au-Prince streets without a sitting administration.”

  HAITI REMAINS AS THE MOTHER OF ALL FAILED STATES.

  Americans are gradually being evacuated via helicopter to the neighboring Dominican Republic as Haiti is engulfed in chaos.

  pic.twitter.com/d06y2g3Jy8

  — Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) March 22, 2024

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

  With a lengthy and often violent history of outside intervention in the country, some Haitians have objected to any foreign troop presence, fearing it may do more harm than good given disastrous experiences with UN-led missions in the past. 

  “The Haitian people have kept the bitter taste of a foreign force in charge of our situation: theft, rape, cholera, food dependence, deregulation of the economic system, without mentioning the fact that we don’t remember seeing then-gang leaders be arrested or rendered unable to do harm,” Haitian think tank Groupe de Travail sur la Securite (Security Working Group) said in a statement in 2022, soon after Henry’s first appeal for an international deployment.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 18:05

• Large US Banks Suffer Another Weekly Deposits Outflow; Stocks & Fed Reserves Completely Decoupled
  Large US Banks Suffer Another Weekly Deposits Outflow; Stocks & Fed Reserves Completely Decoupled

  With The Fed’s bank bailout facility now expired, the 12-month term loans are starting to mature and the fund dropped over $17.2BN last week…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Money-market funds saw a big outflows of almost $62BN, which we wonder if related to tax-year liquidity issues, but it is a little early in the year…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And as money-markets saw outflows, so banks saw deposit inflows… +$38.2BN (SA) and +$41.3BN (NSA) in total deposit increases…

  

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Excluding foreign deposits, domestic banks saw their second straight week of SA inflows +$23.5BN (Large Banks -$8.7BN, Small Banks +32BN), while NSA deposits saw a third straight week of inflows +50.1BN (Large banks +47.4BN, Small banks +2.7BN)

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Large Domestic US banks have seen deposit outflows for 5 of the last 6 weeks (while Small banks saw a huge deposit boost)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Overall loan volumes rose, but very modestly (Large banks +$1.9BN, Small banks +$1.8BN)

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Interestingly, there was a large jump in small bank cash relative to total assets last week (and viuce versa for large banks) which happens to coincide with the end of the BTFP facility

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, US bank reserves at The Fed shrank this week as US equity market cap soared to a new record high…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Quite a decoupling.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 17:40

• Florida Bans Homeless Encampments
  Florida Bans Homeless Encampments

  Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

  On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a bill into law that bans homeless encampments in the state of Florida.

  

  As reported by Just The News, House Bill 1365, formally titled the Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping Act, demands that homeless individuals be placed in temporary shelters that will be monitored by state law enforcement agencies, while also banning the use of drugs in such shelters and providing drug and alcohol treatment to occupants who need it.

  Furthermore, the law gives residents and businesses the power to sue a city or county government if it allows homeless camps to continue on public property. In the event that homeless shelters reach full capacity, the Florida Department of Children and Families will provide alternative shelters.

  “Florida will not allow homeless encampments to intrude on its citizens or undermine their quality of life like we see in states like New York and California,” said DeSantis during a press conference.

  “The legislation I signed today upholds our commitment to law and order while also ensuring homeless individuals have the resources they need to get back on their feet.”

  The bill was sponsored by State Representative Sam Garrison (R-Fla.), who said that “in Florida, we will learn from the mistakes of cities like San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, and more, which are paying the price for their unwillingness to act.”

  “This bill will not eliminate homelessness,” Garrison admitted.

  “But it is a start. And it states clearly that in Florida, our public spaces are worth fighting for. The status quo is not an option. In Florida we choose to act. It is simply the right thing to do.”

  The bill was passed by the State House of Representatives on March 1st, by a vote of 82 to 26, and subsequently passed the State Senate on March 5th by a vote of 27 to 12.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 17:15

• Wake-Up Call
  Wake-Up Call

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  “Those who organized the disaster will take advantage of the inevitable discontent arising from efforts to overcome it, for if there is one thing that they are skilled in, it is demagoguery.”

  – Theodore Dalrymple

  Can you feel it? The tension rising to the red-line? It runs clear through all of Western Civ. We are ruled by governments of fiends. But now, the sun rides higher in the sky. The sap is rising in the northern forests. The earth heaves. The buds swell and blush. Something is in the air. The animals are waking from their long winter sleep. The natives are restless.

  

  The two traditional political divisions, liberal and conservative died with Covid. Now there are simply the sane versus the insane. The sane have had enough of being pushed around by the insane. The insane don’t register much of what reality tries to tell them. They have a body of insane ideas to comfort and protect them from the reality’s rigors. To call that body of ideas an “ideology” is way too polite.That the insane call themselves “progressive,” is a signature of their insanity.

  Progress toward what better state of things? Toward a supremacy of fiends, sadists, degenerates, and morons seizing riches and power by every dishonest means possible outside the rule of law and common decency? It’s not even suitable to call them “communists.” They lack the necessary idealism for that.

  They don’t expect to put their shoulders to the wheel with their fellow man. They just want to grab your stuff and then kill you so they don’t have to hear any complaints.

  The insane do not believe any of the theoretical bullshit they want to force you to swallow. They don’t care about climate change. It’s just a cudgel they use to beat everyone over the head so they can steal your stuff. They don’t care about “democracy.” It’s just a line of bullshit to cover up their election-stealing. Do you suppose that sane people would keep using electronic vote-tabulating machines that were demonstrably connected to the Internet, and thus hackable, if they cared about election integrity? Of course not. They would arrange p.d.q. to junk them and use paper ballots, and only in person at polling places, with “absentee” exceptions only for people out of the country.

  The insane do not care about public health. Everything that is known about the Covid-19 vaccinations tells you that they are unsafe and don’t prevent infection or transmission of a flu-like illness that might not even be what it was officially labeled as. Our public health officials in the FDA, the CDC, and in other corners of the Department of health and Human Services, lie about everything they’re responsible for. This week, the CDC (under Director Mandy Cohen) released a 148-page study on myocarditis reactions to mRNA shots. Every word on every page of the document was redacted. The CDC printed countless copies of the report with 148 utterly blank pages, and then proffered them to the news media. How is that not insane?

  The insane do not care about the rule of law. The conduct of “Lawfare” is the subversion of the law by dishonest means. It is a species of racketeering. And that is why Lawfare rogues such Marc Elias, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, Matthew Graves, and Merrick Garland, should be charged under the federal RICO statutes for conspiring to deprive sane citizens of their rights and property in the many cases related to the 1/6/21 riot at the US Capitol.

  It is, so far, an abiding mystery of contemporary history as to how New York Attorney General Letitia James managed to get away with prosecuting a real estate case against Donald Trump that was no more than victimless business-as-usual between a borrower and his lenders. Ms. James ran for that elected office promising to “get” Mr. Trump on something, anything. That is not how the rule of law works. Under the rule of law, first you determine that there is a crime and then look for who did the crime.

  Letitia James must be insane and/or pretty stupid. The short-term gain of stealing Mr. Trump’s property under a false color-of-law and creating impediments to his election campaign, will, sooner or later, blow back at her as a matter of malicious prosecution and, plausibly, racketeering as well. (With whom did she conspire to bring this case? We shall find out.) She will eventually be disgraced publicly as her teammate Fani Willis has already been disgraced in Fulton County, Georgia. I’ll tell you something that all sane people now know but won’t talk about for fear of being crushed by the levers of Lawfare: this looks like a concerted effort by people-of-color to railroad people of non-color. If you think that is a good thing for race relations in our country, then you are insane.

  Here are a bunch of other things that are insane: Re-litigating the first amendment is insane. It means what it says, and states it plainly. The open border is insane. No credible sovereign polity would allow it. It would be opposed with force, if necessary. Turning children into transsexuals on a wholesale basis is insane, and fiendishly so. Everybody knows that it is not good for the children or for our society as a whole. But fiends got to fiend, and if you try to deprive them of being fiends then you are guilty of “hate.”

  The war in Ukraine is insane. We certainly didn’t ignite it in the service of “democracy.” Our pawn there, Mr. Zelensky, canceled the national elections last year. The war was arguably an effort by our CIA to deprive Russia of its market for natgas in Europe, and thus deprive Russia of a great deal of money, that is, of prosperity. The project failed. Russia overcame NATO’s proxy army and found other markets for its gas. Blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines only served to impoverish and weaken our NATO allies, who no longer have affordable gas to run their industries. The leaders of those allies were too insane to recognize that the Nord Stream op was an act-of-war against them. They were also busy destroying themselves, like the USA, with open borders. They will end up in a new medievalism, ruled by savages. You’d have to be insane to arrange that for yourself.

  What’s most obviously insane in our country is that the insane party is pretending to nominate the mentally unfit White House place-keeper, “Joe Biden,” for reelection. You would think that if this party wanted to retain power, they would run a candidate who, though insane, was not also visibly senile. But the rank and file of this party are too insane to see that this dodge is not working. They are pretending with all their might that this is okay, that the growing faction of the sane don’t notice.

  Sensing the growing impatience with insanity among the voters, the insane party has reached its point of terminal desperation. What will they try next? Murder? Why not? Nothing else seemed to work. They are too far gone in their insanity to understand that winter is over. We’ve entered the season of rebirth and renewal, starting with a renewed appreciation for being sane and for that indispensable ingredient that makes liberty in a free society possible: good faith. Really, the only question left is: how rough do they intend to play to prevent the return of sanity and good faith?

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 16:25

• 'Powell Put' Sparks Surge In Stocks, Bonds, & The Dollar; Bullion & Black Gold Flat On Week
  ‘Powell Put’ Sparks Surge In Stocks, Bonds, & The Dollar; Bullion & Black Gold Flat On Week

  Positive macro, central bank love-fest, and AI catalysts… buy all the things…

  

  US Macro ‘outperformed’ expectations this week amid more pro-cyclical data points…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  …which combined with a dovish tilt by Powell (which lifted 20-24 rate-cut expectation)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  …and positive AI catalysts…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Put this all together – rates, growth, and secular momentum –and it is perhaps not surprising that stocks have reached another all-time high in the US.

  Led to a solid week for all the majors with Nasdaq outperforming…

  

  The S&P 500 trades at a 2025 P/E of 20+.

  So the question may simply be: can the rates/growth/secular innovation dynamic be sustained long enough to allow corporate earnings to grow into the current market’s valuation?

  Shorts were aggressively squeezed Wednesday an Thursday…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasury yields ended the week lower, including the long-end (-4bps), but the short-end outperformed (-13bps)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Which left the curve (2s30s) stepper on the week….

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The dollar roared back to six week highs this week…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Bitcoin ETFs saw large net outflows this week…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And that weighed on the underlying with spot bitcoin back at $64,000…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Gold ended the week around unchanged, despite a hige spike intraweek to a new record high…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Crude prices ended the week unchanged, roundtripping from the early week gains…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And finally, this is not good news for Biden and his biddies…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Pump prices are heading up… and Biden’s approval rating down at the sane tune.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 16:20

• "We Have Reached A Bottom": Uranium Poised To Jump Again After 3 Month Correction
  “We Have Reached A Bottom”: Uranium Poised To Jump Again After 3 Month Correction

  Uranium prices may have dipped slightly over the last 4 months, but its looking like the new “top” we’ve set over the last year is going to likely act as “support” as we forge forward into what Bloomberg is calling a “nuclear future”. 

  In New York, the price of uranium futures has dipped to $88.50 per pound, a decrease from the peak seen in February, which was a 16-year high, yet remains significantly above the average price of $66.60 recorded last year.

  Jonathan Hinze, president of UxC, a nuclear industry research firm told the news outlet: “We have reached a bottom. The fundamentals are still strong, with increased demand and supply that hasn’t fully responded.”

  

  According to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Mike Kozak, there’s evidence to suggest that uranium prices have stabilized. Kozak forecasts a resurgence of fundamental buyers in the market, which is expected to propel prices upwards once more, Bloomberg wrote this week. 

  Optimistic investors are focusing on uranium’s future, driven by an increasing supply shortage and higher demand, as nations (finally pull their heads out from their a** and) seek nuclear energy solutions for climate change.

  This interest is highlighted amid supply warnings from Canada’s Cameco and Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom, the leading producers responsible for half of the worldwide uranium supply. Kazatomprom forecasts a significant supply deficit escalating from 21 million pounds in 2030 to 147 million pounds by 2040.

  Geopolitical tensions, including a U.S. proposal to ban Russian uranium imports, which are essential for nuclear power and weapons, add complexity to the supply scenario, the report says. However, the potential resurgence of dormant mining operations due to rising uranium prices poses a risk of dampening the market rally, reminiscent of the recent boom-to-bust cycle in battery metals.

  “We have a number of geopolitical factors that have a really significant influence on buyer behavior, even though fundamentally nothing has changed. Buyers can use the spot to tell them the sentiment of the day, but must look at the long-term market to see that it is marching steadily up, it hasn’t taken a hiccup at all,” concluded Treva Klingbiel, president of uranium price provider TradeTech.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 15:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• "Restricting Freedoms" May Be Necessary To Fight Climate Change: German Ethics Council
  “Restricting Freedoms” May Be Necessary To Fight Climate Change: German Ethics Council

  Via The European Conservative,

  The government may be forced to limit the available choices for citizens in order to battle predicted ‘devastating consequences’ of climate change. That’s the message in an opinion titled “Climate Justice,” published on March 13th by the German Ethics Council.

  

  In the opinion, the Ethics Council—a board of expert advisors established by German law—recommends actions to be taken by corporations, individuals, and the government to ensure the effects of climate change do not unjustly burden “those who are not so well-off.” 

  Primarily, the Ethics Council says, this should be done on a voluntary basis—through individual ”self-commitment as an expression of one’s individual freedom”—by, for example, “voluntarily abandoning certain vacation, consumption, or mobility practices.”

  However, the Council’s statement continues (emphasis added),

  On grounds of justice, it can be morally required to contribute to measures to tackle climate change. If one’s own exercise of freedom interferes in an unjust manner with the freedom and welfare of others or of future generations, for example through consumption that is harmful to the climate, the authorities may intervene with restrictions of freedom. 

  In other words: If you cannot be shamed into behaving in a way deemed morally correct by the elite, the government may simply have to force you. Flugscham, from the original Swedish flygskam, meaning “flight shame”—guilt about flying experienced by environmentally conscious travelers—is now an established word in the German vocabulary.

  While the opinion states that the Ethics Council is opposed to suspending “democratic freedoms and processes” to reach the desired climate goals, the group says it largely falls to the government to provide the “supportive framework conditions” under which individuals can—as we say to the kids—make good choices. 

  These framework conditions, the opinion says, should among other things include lowered speed limits, increased “electromobility,” and increased CO2 taxes. The Council suggests a personal emissions limit that cannot be exceeded, and even “the ban on particularly climate-damaging products or services”—or, as Apollo News puts it: “a regulation as to who can buy what and to what extent.”

  Defining climate change as a man-made (“due to, among other factors, the combustion of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests and moors since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution”) phenomenon, the organization also says Germany needs to take into account “the long history of colonialism and industrialisation” as well as “ongoing neo-colonial dependencies,” meaning

  a distinction must be made between growth in countries of the global South that are catching up on development, and further growth of consumption and resource use in industrialised countries, and appropriate compensatory payments must be negotiated.

  At a time when the former European industrial powerhouse barely has its nose above water, it’s questionable whether “compensatory payments” to the Global South is on the traffic light coalition’s radar, regardless of Ethics Council recommendations. 

  The Ethics Council is a 26-member independent organization representing diverse “scientific, medical, theological, philosophical, ethical, social, economic and legal concerns” intended to provide guidance for dealing with societal changes, “particularly in the field of life sciences and their application to humans.” Established in German law, the Ethics Council is tasked with, among other things, developing “statements and recommendations for political and legislative action,” and prepares its opinions based on its own decision, “on behalf of the German Bundestag or on behalf of the Federal Government.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 03/22/2024 – 02:00

• Terrorist Caught Illegally Crossing Border Says He Was 'Here To Make A Bomb'
  Terrorist Caught Illegally Crossing Border Says He Was ‘Here To Make A Bomb’

  Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A member of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah was caught entering the country illegally at the Texas border, where he told agents he was plotting to make a bomb once settled in the country, according to a March 19 federal court document.

  

  Basel Bassel Ebbadi, a Lebanese national, told a Texas border agent that he was “here to make a bomb” and that he spent several years training with the Hizballah terrorist group, an alternate name for Hezbollah, and he “was taught to kill people who were not Muslim.”

  The group’s main operations are in Lebanon, Mr. Ebbadi’s native country.

  Mr. Ebbadi, who is listed as being 22 years old, was transferred to the El Paso Sectors Human Intelligence Unit for further questioning, according to the criminal complaint filed by Border Patrol agent Jose L. Benitez-Medina in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

  Mr. Benitez-Medina wrote in his complaint that Mr. Ebbadi entered the United States on March 9 by crossing the Rio Grande in an area of Texas that is not a designated port of entry for migrants.

  Instead, he crossed into the United States about four miles from the Bridge of The Americas Port of Entry in El Paso. According the court document, the border agent indicated that Mr. Ebbadi volunteered his ties to Hezbollah and was initially processed for entry.

  Mr. Ebbadi is currently being held at the El Paso Hardened Facility.

  Past Terror Against US

  As part of his court complaint, the border patrol agent noted that on Oct. 8, 1997, the United States designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization and that in 2017, officials added “Lebanese Hizballah” as an alias for Hezbollah. He also listed several other aliases for Hezbollah, including Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad, Organization of Right Against Wrong, Followers of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Revolutionary Justice Organization.

  The terrorist group has been found responsible for a number of large-scale terrorist attacks against the United States, including the deadly 1983 suicide truck bombings of the American Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. It has also planted bombs on buses and hijacked passenger airplanes around the world.

  In 1994, 85 people were killed when the group detonated bombs at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

  In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) levied terrorism charges against a Hezbollah member found to be plotting attacks against U.S. embassies.

  In 2004, the national commission appointed to study 9/11 and other terrorist attacks released a 585-page report that concluded that Hezbollah was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission also linked the group to Hamas, the radical militia group that carried out the recently grisly attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. Hezbollah leaders praised the attack.

  In 2008, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) started Project Cassandra as a way to stymie Hezbollah drug and weapons trafficking operations and money laundering activity in the United States.

  However, the DEA initiative was ended by President Barack Obama soon after he took office in 2009.

  In 2015, Defense Department financial crimes analyst David Asher, who helped start Project Cassandra, told Politico that the Obama administration expressed concerns the project would lead to alienating Iranian officials.

  “They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down,” Mr. Asher said.

  In May 2023, the DOJ seized 13 website domains it said Hezbollah was using to plot future terrorist attacks, including against the United States.

  “Today’s web domain seizures deny terrorist organizations and affiliates significant sources of support and make clear we will not allow these groups to use U.S. infrastructure to threaten the American people,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement about the Hezbollah domains.

  Suspected Terrorists Living in the US

  Earlier this week, the New York Post reported it had obtained internal documents from the agency showing a Hezbollah member had been nabbed at the border in El Paso.

  ICE’s El Paso Enforcement and Removal Office declined repeated requests by The Epoch Times to confirm Mr. Ebbadi’s detention.

  After several requests made over the course of two days about Mr. Ebbadi, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol finally responded on March 18 with an email indicating only that “the individual referenced is in U.S. custody.”

  Media outlets all over the world, including The Jerusalem Post and Hindustan Times, reported on the news that a Hezbollah terrorist was found to have crossed illegally into the United States.

  Members of other known terrorist organizations have been living illegally in the United States.

  In February, Patrick Lechleitner, President Joe Biden’s acting ICE director, said that in 2023, a Somali terrorist from the Islamic military group al-Shabaab was released into the United States after illegally crossing the U.S. border, The Daily Caller reported. He had been freely roaming until his arrest on Jan. 20 in Minneapolis, according to ICE records.

  Al-Shabaab is known to have ties with the al-Qaeda terrorist group, which was linked to the 9/11 attacks.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 23:40

• Where People Are (Un)Happiest With Their Lives
  Where People Are (Un)Happiest With Their Lives

  In 2012, the United Nations proclaimed March 20 as the International Day of Happiness or World Happiness Day, which has been held on this date every year since.

  The aim is to promote awareness for a “more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all people”.

  Although happiness and satisfaction are subjective parameters, Statista’s Anna Fleck notes that the team behind the World Happiness Report has once again produced a country ranking this year that reveals clear differences between Western industrialized nations and countries in Asia and Africa.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In order to map the satisfaction of respondents in the 143 countries surveyed, participants were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with their current life on a ten-point scale. This was used to calculate an average value for the results between 2021 and 2023 for each country. As this chart, based on the report shows, Finland (7.74), Denmark (7.58) and Iceland (7.53) are the countries with the most satisfied residents according to calculations, while the three lowest scores are found among the residents of Lesotho (3.19), Lebanon (2.71) and Afghanistan (1.72). The United States is ranked 23rd out of the 143 countries in this year’s evaluation.

  In addition to the clear differences in the geographical regions, there are also differences in satisfaction in different age groups. Looking at the results for the under-30s, Lithuania, Israel and Serbia take the top three places, while Denmark, Finland and Norway take the top three places for the over-60s.

  It’s important to note here that the ranking of the World Happiness Report is not an objective survey based on key figures such as gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy or the quality of the social system. According to the authors of the report, these are analyzed as “supporting factors” but have no influence on the score.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 23:20

• Planned Parenthood Faces New Allegations Of Selling Aborted Fetal Tissue To UCSD
  Planned Parenthood Faces New Allegations Of Selling Aborted Fetal Tissue To UCSD

  Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Newly-released documents reveal an alleged alliance between Planned Parenthood and the University of California–San Diego to profit from the “harvesting and sale” of aborted human fetuses for research patents.

  “This new evidence shows Planned Parenthood sells late-term aborted baby body parts in violation of federal law, for far more money than has ever been discussed before,” said David Daleiden, founder and president of California-based Center for Medical Progress, which filed the public records request, in a statement earlier this month. “Planned Parenthood’s national headquarters knew about and approved these sales of aborted babies for valuable consideration as part of government-funded research grants.”

  

  The documents show Planned Parenthood transferring aborted fetal body parts to the University of California–San Diego (UCSD) explicitly for “valuable consideration” in exchange for ownership of the university’s patents and intellectual property developed experimenting with them.

  Details of the alleged deal are spelled out in a redacted “Biological Materials Transfer Agreement” that grants UCSD “access” to “fetal and placental tissue,” that are the “proprietary materials” of Planned Parenthood San Diego. In return, the deal allows the nonprofit rights to “patents” and “intellectual property” developed through experiments with the “material.”

  The contract, signed in 2009, was updated to reflect the nonprofit’s name change to “Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest” in 2014, with the parties specifying the terms and conditions of the original contract remained in full force and effect.

  

  UCSD emails from 2017 refer to the contract while updating an additional contract for clinical personnel, and in emails from late 2020, the university seeks to be “especially careful” about “any rights” providers of fetal tissue “retain” in the “material.”

  Despite federal laws prohibiting the exchange of aborted human fetal tissue for “valuable consideration,” the university used the fetal tissue for research leading to patents, according to Mr. Daleiden’s statement.

  The University of California system generated more than $127 million in revenue for all patent inventions during the 2021-22 academic year, Mr. Daleiden claims in his statement.

  Violation of such federal laws are punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000, according to the Center for Medical Progress.

  Email threads between Planned Parenthood and UCSD also reveal plans for collaborative research meetings. In one thread, Planned Parenthood emailed UCSD to set up a quarterly meeting and agrees to discuss “payment” to its abortion training initiatives within the framework of its fetal tissue research partnership.

  UCSD writes that as part of a meeting, “we will have results to share on samples recently collected, and will also likely have more to discuss re: the [REDACTED] fellowship.” Planned Parenthood replies there are “[n]o current issues with the collection program,” but they “have some questions about payment to the residency program.”

  The collaboration involved Planned Parenthood’s training programs at UCSD and other taxpayer-funded universities where they allegedly supply fetal tissues for research purposes.

  Documents also show UC San Diego donated $10,000 to Planned Parenthood’s national research department at a 2021 fundraiser and a registration form for “the fetal body parts harvesting in San Diego,” according to the center.

  In 2015, Mr. Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress released an undercover video series showing Planned Parenthood executives negotiating the costs of fetal tissue from the alleged “harvesting and sale of aborted fetal body parts” and discussing modifications to abortion procedures to secure more intact organs. The videos exposed an aborted baby organ market between abortion clinics and research facilities.

  

  The exposé revealed various for-profit companies sent tech workers into Planned Parenthood abortion clinics to harvest the organs of aborted babies and then package them for resale to research facilities.

  Last year, the center reported on records, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, confirming a federal investigation by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General of the National Institute of Health’s funded fetal tissue bank at the University of Pittsburgh, which is allegedly supplied by Planned Parenthood abortion doctors, according to Mr. Daleiden’s statement.

  Mr. Daleiden has urged federal investigators to widen the probe to include Planned Parenthood’s activities in San Diego “and every other location where this $1.8 billion abortion business supplies aborted babies for taxpayer-funded experiments,” and accused the organization’s leaders of participating in the “government-sponsored trafficking of late-term aborted babies.”

  The Center for Medical Progress also released a video about its most recent public records findings. Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, a faith-based advocacy organization that promotes traditional family values, said in a March 18 statement that the agreement between Planned Parenthood and UC San Diego treated “innocent, vulnerable human beings just like animals.”

  “Every human life is sacred from conception, and selling unborn baby parts for research is morally abhorrent,” Mr. Burt said. “This deeply revolting news reaffirms the need to pressure politicians to implement life-affirming policies and demand the laws against these crimes be enforced.”

  Educational institutions and the scientific community “shouldn’t get a pass when they violate human dignity,” he said.

  Planned Parenthood did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 23:00

• New Gene Therapy To Cost $4.25 Million, The Highest Drug Price In The US
  New Gene Therapy To Cost $4.25 Million, The Highest Drug Price In The US

  The most expensive drug in the U.S. is now Lenmeldy, a $4.25 million gene therapy the FDA approved March 18 for children with a rare genetic disease, Becker Hospital Review reports.

  Metachromatic leukodystrophy manifests into the loss of motor and cognitive function, and early death, according to the FDA. The first and only one-time medicine for patients is Lenmeldy (atidarsagene autotemcel). Its manufacturer, Orchard Therapeutics, said the drug’s wholesale acquisition cost is $4.25 million. 

  

  In a March 20 news release, Orchard said the price tag “is reflective of the value the therapy may deliver to eligible patients and their families, as well the potential long-term impact [the] treatment may have on overall healthcare utilization, minimization of productivity loss for caregivers and life opportunities for patients.”

  In a trial, 37 children received Lenmeldy and experienced a significant reduction in the risk of severe motor impairment and death compared to untreated children. At 5 years old, 71% of treated children could walk without assistance. All study participants who had pre-symptomatic late infantile MLD were alive at 6 years old, compared to 58% of children in the control group. 

  Before its approval, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review said the drug would be cost effective if priced between $2.3 million and $3.9 million. 

  Other chart-topping medications include Hemgenix, a $3.5 million hemophilia B therapy; Elevidys, a $3.2 million muscular dystrophy drug; and Skysona, a $3 million medicine for adrenoleukodystrophy, according to CNN. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 22:40

• After 625 Days, The Longest Yield Curve Inversion In History
  After 625 Days, The Longest Yield Curve Inversion In History

  Today is a historic day, as last night – DB’s Jim Reid reminds us – we quietly passed the longest continuous US 2s10s inversion in history. After the 2s10s first inverted at the end of March 2022, it has now been continuously inverted for 625 days since July 5th 2022. That exceeds the 624 day inversion from August 1978, which previously held the record.

  

  As regular readers are aware, an inverted yield curve has been the best predictor of a US downturn of any variable through history: the yield curve has always inverted before all of the last 10 US recessions, with a lag that is usually 12-18 months, but some cycles – certainly this one – take longer…. much longer.

  

  In fact, the lack of a recession so far has prompted Red to ask – in his latest Chart of the Day note – if the inverted yield curve recession indicator has failed this cycle?

  “Possibly”, the DB strategist responds, “but in many ways the yield curve has already accurately predicted many of the drivers that would normally lead to a recession. However, these variables haven’t then created recessionary conditions as they normally would have done.” He explains:

  It led, as it always does, the very sharp deterioration in bank lending standards, and led the declines in bank credit and money supply that are almost unique to this cycle. It was also at the heart of why we had some of the largest bank failures on record with SVB, Signature Bank and First Republic collapsing. A significant part of their failure was a big carry trade that went wrong when the curve inverted.

  However, even with the above, a recession – according to the highly political “recession authority” known as the NBER – hasn’t materialised. This is perhaps because of the following.

  • When lending standards were at their tightest, the borrowing needs of the economy were low relative to previous cycles.
  • Excess savings have been unusually high in this cycle (and were revised higher with the GDP revisions last September), so consumers haven’t been as exposed to tight credit as they normally are.
  • The Fed unveiled a huge series of measures to ensure the regional bank crisis didn’t naturally unravel as it would have done in a free market or perhaps in many previous cycles.
  • Whilst the Fed’s tightening has been reducing demand, the supply-side of the economy has bounced back strongly from the pandemic disruption, which has further supported growth and made this cycle unique.

  So far so good, however, an inverted yield curve should ultimately be a significant headwind for an economy, as capitalism works best when there is a positive return for taking more risk with lending and investments further out the curve. As such, Reid notes, “the rational investor should be prepared to keep more of their money at the front end, or not lend long-term when the curve is inverted” as you are not giving up yield for being able to sleep at night.

  So thanks to a historic flood of fiscal stimulus and a daily orgy of new record debt as discussed earlier…

  

  … which means that the US is now running a 6.5% deficit with unemployment near “historical lows”, an unheard of event….

  

  … the economy has not succumbed to the inverted yield curve to date, but while it remains inverted the Fed is encouraging more defensive behavior at some point if sentiment changes. As such, the DB strategist concludes that “the quicker we get back to a normal sloping yield curve the safer the system is.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 22:20

• Is Reform Possible?
  Is Reform Possible?

  Authored by Theodore Dalrymple via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Javier Milei of Argentina has had a certain degree of success already with his radical economic policies: That is, if certain macroeconomic statistics are a sign of success. Inflation, though still very high, has declined somewhat. The budget has been in surplus for the last two months. The official exchange rate for the peso is beginning to approximate its rate on the open market, something that has not happened for a long time.

  

  But for how long? It remains to be seen whether these successes can be maintained, for there are problems ahead both economic and political. Argentina has for decades stubbornly pursued such disastrous economic policies that any rectification is now bound to be painful and to result in at least temporary hardship for many. People who are already hard up will not take kindly to sacrifices for the sake of a supposed and still uncertain long-term advantage (no one can eat a balanced budget), and when people are living precariously, they cling to any tiny privileges or subsidies as the shipwrecked cling to whatever floating object they can find, and never mind that the grant of those privileges or subsidies caused the problem in the first place.

  Those who organized the disaster will take advantage of the inevitable discontent arising from efforts to overcome it, for if there is one thing that they are skilled in, it is demagoguery. Everything about them is demagogic, from their reading of history to their opposition to any kind of real change. Their aim is the preservation of their power and their hold over the people at all costs; Mr. Milei is a real threat to them and they are not going to surrender easily. Moreover, it is likely that Mr. Milei will himself make terrible mistakes, because all powerful people do so before long. His decision, albeit quickly reversed, to accept a huge augmentation in his pay while so many Argentinians are growing poorer was a very foolish error.

  But Argentina is far from the only country in dire straits. The problems both of Britain and France strongly resemble those of Argentina, though perhaps they are not (yet) so dramatic. But they too find themselves in a situation in which reform is desperately needed. Indeed, they are in Argentina’s bind: Reform is imperative; reform is impossible.

  Reform is imperative for economic reasons. The governments of both countries have undertaken obligations that they cannot meet out of their own resources and increasingly must resort to borrowing to meet some other way. In a recent article in the newspaper Le Figaro, the former candidate for the French presidency, Eric Zemmour, pointed out that the French budget for the police, armed forces, and administration of justice combined now constitutes between them only a very small proportion of the whole state budget, as if the maintenance of the country’s peace, internal and external, were but some kind of minor task for the state, an afterthought, something that it can afford to attend to only once the demand for children’s creches or free abortions has been met. And unfortunately, servicing the debt that has been contracted in the meantime largely to pay for all the creches, abortions, etcetera, is likely to become the single largest call on government expenditure.

  The situation in Britain is even worse, because of the greater incompetence and corruption of its public service than that of France, combined latterly with increasing costs and inefficiencies imposed by obedience to politically correct goals.

  But reform is impossible because so many people have now become dependent on the state, either directly because the state pays them to do nothing, or because they are employed by the state, or because the enterprise or business for which they work is employed by the state, such that the difference between the public and the private sector is increasingly blurred. When I look around me, for example, I see a neighbor, the owner of a prosperous private consultancy whose business is helping people to obtain subsidies from various levels of government. I came across another consultancy whose business was to assist local government in reducing their payment of taxes that the central government imposes on their suppliers.

  It follows that attempts to reduce government expenditure, imperatively necessary for financial reasons, would, if carried out, cause genuine hardship or discomfort to many. And if there is one thing that a modern democracy promises its members, it is increasing comfort, or at the very least the avoidance of discomfort. It would not be very difficult to trigger social discontent and violence on a large scale.

  There is a kind of dialectic at work here: First, the government makes people dependent on it; then the government becomes dependent on the people whom it has made dependent on it. From this infernal cycle, it is not easy to escape. The former head of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, once said, of European politicians, “We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.”

  Mr. Milei came to power with a clear majority because the situation in Argentina was so bad that it was obvious to a large proportion of the population that something in the country had to change, and change drastically. But if 55 percent of Argentinians voted for him, 45 percent did not; and while psephologists might consider this a very large difference, I do not think it would take very much for it to melt away and reverse. After all, euphoria has more in common with despair and anger than with good sense. Most of us live in the short term and are reluctant enough to make sacrifices for our own good, let alone for the good of others.

  People in Britain and France should pay close attention to what is happening in Argentina, for it is a laboratory for their own future. There are differences of course; the French economy, for example, has already in effect been dollarized by its adherence to a currency that it does not control, the euro.

  Incidentally, I saw an unintentionally funny line in an article about Argentina’s proposed dollarization. It would, it said, halt Argentina’s addiction to the money printing machine. Ha! Try telling that to an American monetarist!

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 22:00

• Victims Will "Never" Be Whole Thanks To SBF's "Dumpster Fire" – FTX Caretaker CEO Rages
  Victims Will “Never” Be Whole Thanks To SBF’s “Dumpster Fire” – FTX Caretaker CEO Rages

  Authored by Martin Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

  FTX restructuring officer and CEO John Ray III has slammed an attempt from Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to reduce his sentence, arguing victims “have suffered and continue to suffer.” 

  

  Ray wrote to Judge Lewis Kaplan on March 20 in a victim impact statement on behalf of FTX and its “millions of creditor victims” to “correct material misstatements and omissions in the sentencing submission” from Bankman-Fried.

  The letter comes after Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued on March 19 that the 40-to-50-year sentencing guide from United States government prosecutors was too harsh.

  Ray argued that Bankman-Fried’s claims that FTX was solvent at bankruptcy and that no money was lost were “categorically, callously, and demonstrably false.”

  “Customers still will never be in the same position they would have been had they not crossed paths with Mr. Bankman-Fried and his so-called brand of ‘altruism.’”

  Ray stated he has led an extensive team that has spent over a year “stewarding the estate from a metaphorical dumpster fire” to a company approaching a plan “that will return substantial value to creditors.”

  “Mr. Bankman-Fried’s victims will never be returned to the same economic position they would have been in today absent his colossal fraud,” he added in another part of the letter.

  

  Screenshot of letter from John Ray III to Judge Kaplan. Source: Courtlistener

  Ray took over the embattled exchange in November 2022 and detailed the extensive work done by an army of lawyers to recover assets, cooperate with investigations, and position the firm, which now plans to return all value to creditors.

  This recovery doesn’t erase the immense harm caused by Bankman-Fried’s crimes, however, Ray said.

  He stated when he took over as CEO that there were only 105 Bitcoin left on FTX, against customer entitlements of nearly 100,000 BTC.

  “Why were the Bitcoins missing?” he questioned before stating that a jury has “concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Bankman-Fried stole them and converted them into other things.”

  Ray claimed that Bankman-Fried considered conflicting public relations strategies after bankruptcy, including blaming the restructuring team while also claiming to want to work with them to repay creditors.

  Ray said that it was only because of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that the firm had assets that could rebound in value, referring to the recent crypto market rally.

  “Make no mistake; customers, non-governmental creditors, governmental creditors, and non-insider stockholders have suffered and continue to suffer,” he concluded.

  Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that a 40-to-50-year sentencing proposal for a “non-violent offense” was “medieval” while requesting that it be reduced to around five to six and a half years.

  Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven charges relating to various fraud and money laundering brought against him by the United States government, almost a year after the collapse of the crypto exchange.

  He’s set to be sentenced on March 28.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 21:40

• Chuck Schumer's Tired Vanity Act Needs A Rest
  Chuck Schumer’s Tired Vanity Act Needs A Rest

  Authored by Richard Benedetto via RealClear Wire,

  The time has come for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pack his bags and shuffle back home to Brooklyn.

  

  The New York Democrat has been around politics way too long. Aside from being a politician, he’s never held a real job since graduating from Harvard Law School nearly a half-century ago. And as they say about washed-up pitchers in baseball: He seems to have lost his fastball.

  But like many a career politician, Schumer, 73, is the last to realize it. He clearly showed last week that he is losing his stuff when he recklessly overstepped his bounds and publicly called on duly elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, embroiled in a war with Hamas, to step down and hold new elections.

  “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel at a time when so many Israelis have lost confidence on the vision and direction of their government,” said Schumer, who is Jewish.

  That’s like a leader in the Knesset, Israel’s top legislative body, calling on President Biden to quit. Such a bold order would be greeted here in the U.S. with laughter and scorn. Israelis, who view America as its moral and stalwart protector from those intent on destroying the Jewish state, were disconcerted – and appalled at the implications of Schumer’s implied threats. An obviously miffed Netanyahu called the Senate leader’s remarks “wholly inappropriate.”

  “We’re not a banana republic,” the Israeli prime minister said. “The people of Israel will choose when they’ll have elections, who they will elect and it’s not something that will be forced upon us.” 

  However, such brash and intrusive declarations by Schumer came as no surprise to many veteran political reporters and analysts in Washington. Schumer has been loudly and aggressively throwing his political weight around for nearly half a century – basking in the media spotlight that went along with it, and clearly loving it. An old joke among news reporters covering Congress is that the most dangerous place to stand on Capitol Hill is between Chuck Schumer and a television camera.

  Aside from politics, Schumer has never held a real job as an adult. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1974, his biography is basically a political rap sheet.

  While still in law school, he ran for a seat in the New York State Assembly and represented a heavily Democratic district in Brooklyn from 1974 to 1980. When one of Brookyn’s seats in Congress opened, Schumer quickly jumped into the fray. He won election in that heavily Democratic district and served in the House until 1999.

  After 18 years in the House, Schumer, by now a career politician, decided to climb even higher on the legislative ladder. In 1998, he challenged three-term incumbent New York Republican Sen. Al D’Amato and won in a bitterly contested statewide race. Schumer has been in the Senate ever since – nearly 25 years – winning reelection four more times.

  Way back in 1975, when Schumer was a rookie in the New York State Assembly, he quickly won a reputation among Albany reporters as a guy who never shuts up. He would leap to his feet and express his views on the most mundane of bills, causing news reporters in the chamber to audibly groan, “Oh no, Schumer again!”

  Nearly a half-century later, little has changed. It’s time to give that tired act a rest.

  Richard Benedetto is a retired USA Today White House correspondent and columnist. He covered New York State government and politics in Albany for Gannett News Service, 1976-82. He has taught political science and journalism at American University and in The Fund For American Studies programs at Georgetown and George Mason Universities for the past 17 years.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 21:20

• Man Inside Capitol On Jan. 6 For 3 Minutes Convicted By Jury
  Man Inside Capitol On Jan. 6 For 3 Minutes Convicted By Jury

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

  A Virginia man who went inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, for several minutes was convicted on March 20 on four counts and faces jail time.

  

  Raymond Chambers entered the Capitol at 3:01 p.m., according to the government, which offered surveillance footage. Once inside, Mr. Chambers walked to the Rotunda and took some photographs. He “immediately exited the building” through the Rotunda doors at 3:04 p.m., prosecutors said.

  Mr. Chambers was not accused of carrying out any violence, but authorities said he violated federal law, including a law that bars engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building that disrupts government business.

  Mr. Chambers was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He pleaded not guilty.

  A jury this week convicted Mr. Chambers on all counts, following a trial.

  Mr. Chambers now faces up to three years in prison as well as fines.

  An attorney representing Mr. Chambers declined to comment ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for June 24. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, appointed under President Donald Trump, will sentence Mr. Chambers.

  Mr. Chambers did not return an inquiry.

  Three Others Convicted

  Three other men were convicted in a stipulated bench trial.

  U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, appointed under President Barack Obama, found Patrick Montgomery of Colorado and Brady Knowlton of Utah guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. That count carries up to 20 years in prison but may end up being struck by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  The judge also convicted Mr. Montgomery of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and Mr. Knowlton of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

  Gary Wilson, also of Utah, was convicted of theft of government property.

  Judge Moss is slated to sentence the trio on July 2.

  “We are obviously disappointed in the outcome. This was an unusual case because Mr. Knowlton used no force or violence against anyone including any police officers. He entered the Capitol through a door held open for him and others by Capitol Police officers and peacefully left after being inside for only 18 minutes,” Brent Mayr, a lawyer representing Mr. Knowlton, told The Epoch Times via email. “While the Judge said this was a ‘close case,’ we shouldn’t convict any citizen in close cases. Fortunately, the Supreme Court is reviewing this ambiguous law that he was convicted of and we’re hopeful the court is going to find this law to either not apply here or be invalid on its face.”

  According to stipulated facts entered in the case, the three men on Jan. 6, 2021, went to the Capitol after the “stop the steal” rally. While there, Mr. Montgomery tried taking a baton from a law enforcement officer, at one point kicking the officer in the chest. The men then entered the Capitol at 2:35 p.m. and made their way to the Rotunda.

  The men later went to a hallway outside the Senate floor, where Mr. Wilson took a black bag, and all three confronted a U.S. Capitol Police Officer. Mr. Montgomery was quoted as saying: “You gotta stop doing your job sometime and start being American. You gotta quit doing your job and be an American!” Mr. Wilson was quoted as saying, “We came all the way from our job to do your job, and the freaking Senators’ job!”

  The men left the Capitol at 2:53 p.m.

  “Mr. Montgomery and his codefendants had many viable defenses which might have resulted in acquittal in any other jurisdiction. But the D.C. jury pool is so extremely pro-government that no January 6 defendant has an opportunity for a fair jury trial. It really is a national disgrace that so many January 6 defendants are having their lives destroyed in D.C. courts. Mr. Montgomery and codefendants opted for a stipulated bench trial because the jury pool in D.C. is so fundamentally hostile to January 6ers. These cases would all end in acquittals elsewhere,” Roger Roots, a lawyer representing Mr. Montgomery, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  Update on Numbers

  Despite years elapsing since the Capitol breach, new arrests are still being made.

  Some 93 people were arrested and charged in early 2024, after a months-long pause in 2023. More than 1,358 individuals have been charged as of March 6, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

  According to one estimate, 445 new cases could hit the docket in 2024—more than in 2022 and 2023.

  One of the latest arrests was of a California woman who worked for Congress following the breach. Isabella DeLuca was arrested on several charges, including theft of government property.

  Court documents say Ms. DeLuca helped pass furniture, including a table, from inside the Capitol to outside the building. She faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

  “I am facing the unwarranted targeting and persecution by the DOJ and FBI at the direction of the Biden Administration, like most J6ers,” Ms. DeLuca wrote on X, formerly Twitter. She added later, “Whatever comes my way, though it may be difficult, I am prepared to face it.”

  Approximately 769 defendants have pleaded guilty. In addition to more than 150 being found guilty at trials, several dozen have been convicted after the parties agreed upon a set of facts.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 21:00

• Ben Shapiro And DeSantis Former Finance Chairs To Fundraise For Trump
  Ben Shapiro And DeSantis Former Finance Chairs To Fundraise For Trump

  Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClear Wire,

  Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro announced last week to the more than 15 million monthly listeners of his eponymous podcast that he wouldn’t just vote for Donald Trump, he would also co-host a fundraiser for the former president.

  

  Because the choices for president are identical to 2020, Shapiro said he would “walk over broken glass” to support Trump. Almost immediately, he had an opportunity. Trump said Monday that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” comments that the White House quickly condemned as “vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric.”

  Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew and outspoken ally of Israel, provided a quick defense. Far from antisemitic, he said Trump was “making a point which I have made myself, which is that Jews who are voting Democrat do not understand the Democratic Party at this point.” The left in Congress, he continued, was “split at best between moderates on Israel and radicals who hate Israel.”

  For Trump, the rebuttal was welcome, especially given that it came from a pundit once described as the voice of the conservative millennial movement. The endorsement itself, however, was not surprising. Shapiro publicly backed Trump four years ago. The significance is instead the pundit’s willingness to help bind the wounds opened by the Republican primary.

  According to an invite obtained by RealClearPolitics, Shapiro will co-host the fundraiser along with Tina Vidal-Duart, Carlos Duart, and Rick Green, each of whom previously sat on the national finance committee of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ doomed presidential campaign.

  The Trump campaign will host the fundraiser at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club. Tickets cost $23,200 per person. A luncheon and “photo opportunity with President Donald J. Trump” will follow per the invite.

  Beset by a myriad of legal trouble, including a $464 million bond in a civil fraud case, Trump needs the money. He also needs to achieve something approaching his boast that the GOP has never been “so unified as it is right now.”

  Enter Shapiro who provides an avatar for DeSantis supporters coming to peace with Trump.

  He has been critical of Trump’s personal vices, occasionally splitting with the former president on policy and notably calling Trump’s claim that he won the 2020 election “deeply irresponsible.” During the primary, Shapiro frequently boosted DeSantis, criticizing Trump’s decision to run “ever to the left” rather than debate the governor on more conservative grounds.

  But that fight is now long over, Shapiro said as he explained his rationale.

  “As you know, I didn’t support Trump in the primaries because I don’t endorse candidates in Republican primaries. But I do tell you who I would have voted for. And I told you I would have voted for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida if given the choice,” he said on his show last Friday.

  “But Ron DeSantis isn’t the nominee. Donald Trump is the nominee. And he’s facing Joe Biden, who is the worst president of my lifetime,” he continued.

  “My calculus is simple,” Shapiro concluded. “America was better off under Donald Trump than it is under Joe Biden.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 20:40

• Another Bite At The Fani: Judge Grants Trump's Request to Appeal DA Disqualification Decision
  Another Bite At The Fani: Judge Grants Trump’s Request to Appeal DA Disqualification Decision

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has granted former President Donald Trump’s request for a certificate of immediate review, allowing the former president and seven co-defendants to appeal the judge’s order denying the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

  

  The certificate of immediate review, filed on March 20 at the Superior Court of Fulton County in Georgia, allows President Trump and seven co-defendants to seek an appeal from the Georgia Court of Appeals, which has the discretion to accept or decline to hear the case.

  “Judge McAfee has issued a certificate of immediate review allowing us to take our motion to disqualify Fani Willis directly to the Georgia Court of Appeals,” David Shafer, former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and one of the seven co-defendants, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, commenting on the judge’s decision.

  Besides Mr. Shafer, the co-defendants who can appeal the judge’s disqualification ruling are Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, Harrison Floyd, and Cathleen Latham.

  All of them had joined the initial motion to disqualify Ms. Willis and later joined the motion for a certificate of immediate review.

  The request for immediate review, filed on March 18 by Steve Sadow, attorney to President Trump, stems from Judge McAfee’s decision to allow Ms. Willis to remain on the high-profile case, in which the former president is accused of election interference.

  President Trump has denied wrongdoing and has called the case a politically motivated “witch hunt” meant to undermine his 2024 comeback bid for the White House.

  Ms. Willis was accused of engaging in an “improper” romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade and benefitting from it financially. The two acknowledged the relationship but denied any financial benefit or conflict of interest.

  Judge McAfee said in a March 15 order that there was an appearance of impropriety but that no conflict of interest had been proven.

  He found that disqualifying Ms. Willis wouldn’t be the appropriate remedy to the appearance of impropriety and instead ordered Mr. Wade off the case.

  Mr. Wade resigned hours after the morning order was issued.

  More Details

  In earlier testimony, Mr. Wade had acknowledged a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis but testified that it had ended before the election case indictment was handed up.

  Judge McAfee noted that Mr. Wade’s inconsistent answers under oath in his recent divorce case showed a willingness to “conceal” his relationship with Ms. Willis, and he opined that an “odor of mendacity” lingered on the prosecution team with Ms. Willis’s and Mr. Wade’s testimonies in his court.

  Given the seriousness of the appearance issue as described by the judge, the defendants argued that the removal of Mr. Wade wasn’t sufficient.

  Judge McAfee had a 10-day window to decide whether he would allow a review of his disqualification decision.

  Allowing review could technically halt pretrial proceedings for up to 45 days while an appeals court decides whether to take the case.

  However, in his March 20 certificate of immediate review, Judge McAfee said that the court intends “to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions, regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing, and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court.”

  The case still has 15 defendants (four have accepted plea bargains) and is expected to run for about six months.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 20:20

• Watch: Biden Judicial Nominee Who Wanted To Ban 'Assault Weapons' Can’t Define What They Are
  Watch: Biden Judicial Nominee Who Wanted To Ban ‘Assault Weapons’ Can’t Define What They Are

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A Biden-nominated candidate for a judicial seat couldn’t define the term “assault weapon” during a confirmation hearing on March 20, even though she once signed a brief defending a ban on “assault weapons.”

  

  Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois to define “assault weapons” during Wednesday’s nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

  In posing the question, Mr. Kennedy cited a legal brief that Judge Maldonado signed years ago.

  “You said, ‘assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes,’” Mr. Kennedy said. “Tell me what you meant by assault weapons.”

  Judge Maldonado, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, struggled to reply to the question.

  “I did not write the brief,” she said, prompting the Republican senator to point out that she signed the brief and asked her whether in so doing she was “testifying to the court that everything in it is true.”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “So they’re your words in terms of the court, right?” he asked.

  “You’re correct, Senator Kennedy,” prompting him to ask again what she meant by “assault weapons.”

  “I am not a gun expert,” Judge Maldonado then said, with Mr. Kennedy pressing the issue, asking her to “just tell me what you wanted to ban.”

  “I don’t remember the exact definition of ‘assault weapons’ in the ordinance that was at issue,” she said, before adding that she signed off on the brief but “was not responsible for researching the content.”

  WATCH:@SenJohnKennedy: “You said, ‘assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes.’ Tell me what you meant by assault weapons?”

  Biden’s Seventh Circuit judge nominee Nancy Maldonado: “I’m not… pic.twitter.com/1ctY2E64IO

  — Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) March 20, 2024

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

  ‘Assault Weapons’ In Focus

  In the exchange with Mr. Kennedy, Judge Maldonado acknowledged that she was “responsible” for the brief but insisted that she doesn’t remember its specific “characteristics” as they related to the ordinance on “assault weapons.”

  Asked pointedly whether she thinks deserves to be promoted to the appeals court seat, she said, “Senator, I stand by my record.”

  The label “assault weapons,” which has been variously defined in legislation, is a fuzzy term commonly used by gun control advocates to refer to many types of popular semi-automatic sporting rifles, in particular AR-15-style rifles.

  Gun rights advocates have argued that the term “assault weapons” is ill-defined and of limited practical use in legislation, but is a dangerous-sounding term used to instill fear to build public support for gun restrictions on many modern sporting rifles (MSR).

  The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) estimated in 2022 that there were over 24 million MSRs in circulation in the United States, which include AR-15 and AK-style rifles.

  The popularity of MSRs has been attributed to factors like accuracy, reliability, and recoil control.

  “The firearm industry responds to market demand and this shows that during the elevated period of firearm sales that began in 2020, this particular style of rifle is the top choice for law-abiding citizens for hunting, recreational shooting and self-defense,” NSSF president and CEO Joe Bartozzi said in a statement at the time.

  President Joe Biden has repeatedly used the term “assault weapon” in pushing gun curbs.

  “I’m still committed to banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he told a group of mayors at the White House in January.

  “When we passed the Second Amendment, guess what: You weren’t allowed to have a cannon,” the president told the mayors, while urging them to get onboard his gun control proposals.

  “You’ve heard ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots’? Guess what, man. I didn’t see a whole lot of patriots out there walking around making sure that we have these weapons,“ he continued.

  “If you really want to worry about the government, you need an F-16,” President Biden said. “You don’t need an AR-15.”

  A Rand Corp. study completed in 2020 and updated in 2023 found limited evidence that “high capacity magazine” bans reduced mass shootings and inconclusive evidence on the effect of banning “assault weapons” on the incidents of mass shootings.

  Judicial Nominations

  Meanwhile, Judge Maldonado was on Wednesday grilled by Senate Republicans on issues other than “assault weapons,” including on how she amassed one of the largest case backlogs of any federal trial court judge nationally.

  She replied by saying that when she joined the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in August 2022, she was immediately assigned around 300 cases with pending motions. Then, after three judges retired, her caseload swelled to 360, she said.

  Judge Maldonado said she worked hard to get the caseload number down but the speed of clearing the backlog was constrained by what she said was her desire to make sure the decisions were “well-reasoned.”

  Before joining the district court, Judge Maldonado was a partner at the law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, where she focused on employment litigation.

  The other judges nominated by President Biden—who has said his nominees would ensure U.S. courts reflect “diversity”—that were also part of Wednesday’s hearing were: Georgia N. Alexakis, Krissa Lanham, Angela Martinez, and Sparkle Sooknanan.

  Michael Clements contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 20:00

• Give Me An Engaged Electorate
  Give Me An Engaged Electorate

  Authored by John A. Ragosta via RealClear Wire,

  On March 23rd in 1775, Patrick Henry rose at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, to urge his countrymen to arm themselves for the Revolutionary War. Four weeks before the battle of Lexington and Concord, Henry saw the future: “The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!” 

  

  Most Americans remember the stirring ending of Henry’s speech: “give me liberty, or give me death!” But in this election year, it is useful to be reminded of the beginning of that speech. 

  When Henry rose to speak, he knew he would be called a warmonger and disloyal to the still well-loved King George. He knew that even many patriots would oppose arming as premature and provocative. 

  But facing such a momentous decision, he decided he must speak, whatever the risk. “Should he keep back his opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, he should consider himself guilty of treason toward his country.” The question that the Virginia Convention faced could lead to war. At such a critical juncture, it was “no time for ceremony” but time for a lively debate in which everyone openly voiced their concerns. 

  He reminded the gathered delegates that “we have done everything that could be done” to seek a peaceful solution with Britain. “We have petitioned – we have remonstrated – we have supplicated – we have prostrated ourselves before the throne” of King George. But now, with no other options for redress, the delegates elected by their neighbors needed to decide if they should take a drastic course of action. 

  This is a critical point. When Henry announced his commitment to “liberty … or death” he was not attacking all government regulation or control, demanding personal liberty regardless of society’s interests or needs. He was not some mad libertarian chafing at the decisions of his elected representatives.  

  The problem the colonists faced was that they had no vote in Parliament. In more familiar terms, the problem was not simply taxation – but taxation without representation. 

  Now the people’s representatives must decide for themselves and their constituents what to do.

  We know the rest of the story. As Henry’s speech rose to a crescendo, he asked in an almost accusatory tone, “Is life so dear; or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains, and slavery?” His final remark would reverberate across America as the king’s former subjects rose to demand the rights of citizens: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” 

  Today, we enjoy the liberty for which Henry and his colleagues fought. But Henry did not see it as liberty to do whatever one wants, but liberty to join with other citizens to make laws and ensure freedom for the whole community. 

  This was never more clear than in Henry’s final political campaign in 1799. He had been a leading Antifederalist who had warned that the new Constitution would create a government too powerful and distant from the people. But he came out of retirement at George Washington’s behest to defend the Constitution against the radical idea of state nullification of federal laws.  

  Henry insisted that since “We the People” had adopted the Constitution, opponents of federal policies must act “in a constitutional way.” Go to the ballot box, he told his supporters. The alternative was “civil commotions and intestine wars” ending in “monarchy.” 

  Today, our nation faces enormous challenges. I think Henry would repeat his admonition from 1775 and urge us to speak up, to join the debate. I am confident, too, that he would repeat his warning from 1799 that we must act with other citizens to seek reform “in a constitutional way;” the alternative is “monarchy,” which he had come to dread. 

  When Henry died a few months after that final speech, a piece of paper was found with a message to the citizens of the United States. He reminded Americans of his Stamp Act speech that, according to Thomas Jefferson, gave “the first impulse to the ball of the revolution.” But Henry understood that it would take work to keep the nation afloat. A monarchy was, after all, easy: You just do what the king says. But as Benjamin Franklin reportedly said after the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, the United States has “a republic – if [we] can keep it.”

  John Ragosta is a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, a fellow with the Jack Miller Center, and author of “For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry’s Last Political Battle” (2023). 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 19:40

• Republicans Call For Raising Retirement Age As Social Security Nears Insolvency
  Republicans Call For Raising Retirement Age As Social Security Nears Insolvency

  While at this point pretending that one can somehow stop or deflect the civilization-ending meteor that is the US debt load, rising by $30 billion every day on its way to a terminal reserve currency crisis, is at best rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic, Wednesday the largest caucus of House Republicans called for an increase in the Social Security retirement age up a clash with President Joe Biden over spending on popular entitlement programs.

  According to Bloomberg, the Republican Study Committee, which comprises about 80% of House Republicans, called for the Social Security eligibility age to be tied to life expectancy in its fiscal 2025 budget proposal. As a reminder, the social security pension system was created in 1935 when the average life expectancy was 61 for white males and 65 for white females, about 20 years below where it is today. The proposal also suggests reducing benefits for top earners who aren’t near retirement, including a phase-out of auxiliary benefits for the highest earners.

  The proposal sets the stage for an election-year fight with Biden, who accused Republicans of going after popular socialist entitlement programs during his State of the Union address.

  “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security, Medicare, or raise the retirement age, I will stop you,” Biden said in his March 7 address to Congress. Spoiler alert: he won’t.

  Amusingly, the Republican document notes that Biden previously supported increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67 after bipartisan negotiations in 1983.

  Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the caucus’s chairman, said the president’s opposition to Social Security policy changes would lead to automatic benefit cuts when the program’s trust fund is set for insolvency in 2033. A phased-in retirement age change was a standard feature of past negotiations, he said.

  “Anytime there’s been any reforms in history – President Clinton, President Reagan – had a slow migration of age changes for people that are 18, 19 years old,” Hern told reporters Wednesday.

  The caucus’s budget proposal is more aggressive than the recent proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), who advanced a budget resolution earlier this month that called for a bipartisan commission to negotiate Social Security and Medicare solvency but didn’t make specific policy recommendations. The Republican Study Committee, meanwhile, called for policy changes that would reduce spending on Social Security by $1.5 trillion and Medicare by $1.2 trillion over the next decade.

  Republicans have said their proposals aren’t truly cuts and wouldn’t affect those at or near retirement. But Biden and congressional Democrats such as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the Budget Committee, have said they won’t support an increase in the age of eligibility, which currently sits at 67 (and can start as early as 62 with penalties).

  The caucus’s proposal leaves some details out. It calls “modest changes to the primary insurance amount” for those who aren’t near retirement and “earn more than the wealthiest” benefit level. It also proposes “modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy.” And it would “limit and phase out auxiliary benefits for high income earners.”

  The proposal projects to balance the federal budget by 2031, outlining $16.6 trillion in spending cuts over a decade, hardly the stuff a society addicted to fringe welfare benefits will be delighted to hear.

  The proposal calls for Medicare spending reductions by implementing a “premium support model” in which private Medicare Advantage plans would compete with the federal Medicare plan. It proposes moving graduate medical education payments, which go to teaching hospitals for their residency programs, into a trust fund separate from Medicare.

  As reported previously, Biden’s fiscal 2025 budget proposal, released March 11, called for an increase in the tax rate to support Medicare on those earning more than $400,000 a year, from 3.8% to 5%. It also broadly called for top earners to pay more to support Social Security, but didn’t make specific proposals. White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young told reporters the Biden administration doesn’t like the current structure of the payroll tax — which only applies to the first $168,600 of an individual’s income.

  One of the trust funds that supports Social Security is projected for insolvency in 2033, the program’s board of trustees said their most recent estimate in March 2023.

  

  CBO projects that Social Security will run chronic deficits over both the short- and long-term. It will run a cash flow deficit of $154 billion in 2023, which is 1.6 percent of taxable payroll or 0.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Over the subsequent decade, Social Security will run $3.5 trillion (2.9 percent of taxable payroll or 1.0 percent of GDP) of cumulative cash flow deficits.

  Over the long term, CBO projects Social Security’s cash shortfall will grow to 3.9% of taxable payroll (1.4% of GDP) by 2033, to 5.1 percent of payroll (1.7 percent of GDP) by 2050, to 6.8 percent of payroll (2.3 percent of GDP) by 2075, and to 7.4 percent of payroll (2.4 percent of GDP) by 2097.

  CBO projects earlier insolvency dates and a larger 75-year actuarial shortfall than the Social Security Trustees estimated in their 2023 report. While CBO projects OASI insolvency in 2032 and SSDI depletion in 2052, the Trustees expect the OASI trust fund to run out by 2033 and the SSDI trust fund to remain solvent over the next 75 years. And while CBO expects the theoretically combined trust funds to deplete their reserves by 2033, the Trustees expect them to run out a year later, in 2034.

  

  The CBO warns that “as Social Security’s trust funds rapidly approach insolvency, the necessary adjustments to restore solvency will become harder and the burden on beneficiaries more pronounced the longer policymakers wait to act. Enacting trust fund solutions sooner rather than later would help prevent abrupt, across-the-board benefit cuts, allow for targeted adjustments to those who can most afford them, spread the burden of tax and benefit changes across generations, and give today’s workers more time to plan for retirement.”

  Unfortunately, raising the retirement age is only the easiest and most palatable of all adjustments. It also delays insolvency by a few years at most. What comes next is far more painful.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 19:20

• Voter Apathy And Four Key Takeaways From Illinois' 2024 Primary Elections
  Voter Apathy And Four Key Takeaways From Illinois’ 2024 Primary Elections

  By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner of Wirepoints

  Don’t get too excited about the results of Tuesday’s primary elections, particularly in Chicago. The results don’t represent either a mandate for, or a categorical rejection of, anyone or anything. They can’t when just 20.2% of Chicago voters cast a ballot on Tuesday, a likely new low according to the Chicago Board of Elections. 

  What the results do represent is a growing voter apathy. On both sides.

  This election should have been a dominating one for the Chicago Teachers Union and its defacto leader, Mayor Brandon Johnson.  Union members could have helped produce a new $100 million tax to benefit their allies and themselves. They could have put in power an establishment state’s attorney picked to perpetuate the criminal and social justice agenda led by current office holder Kim Foxx. Instead, the union vote didn’t materialize. For CTU’s leadership, this election should be considered a disaster.

  On the other side of the voting ledger, crime has dominated the news, and so has the illegal immigration crisis. Few in Chicago are happy with the progressive leadership under Mayor Johnson. Protest votes should have been out in full force. The numbers should have been big. Instead, most people stayed at home.

  Yes, the opposition, if you can call it that, may squeak out wins in opposing a real estate tax hike and the next “anointed” state’s attorney – assuming results hold over the next few days – but be careful what you make of it, regardless of how it all finally shakes out. The main message may be that the unions weren’t motivated to come out and organize the votes. There probably wasn’t enough money at stake for them. What’s a $100 million? And they simply couldn’t tell the difference between the two Cook County State’s Attorney candidates in the primary race. So they stayed away from the polls.

  Elsewhere in the state, voter apathy was also in full display. Many outlets reported “shockingly” low voter turnout, from Decatur to Mattoon to Rockford (just 12%!). Regardless, the few people who did vote decided several important races.

  Here are four takeaways we observed:

  1. Mayor Johnson loses big either way

  The real estate transfer tax hike, an initiative spearheaded by Mayor Johnson, likely failed to pass with nearly 54% of voting Chicagoans voting no. (There is still a significant number of mail-in votes to count, but expectations are that the referendum will fail. Nevertheless, it’s hasn’t been called yet.)

  The referendum’s failure will be a blow to Johnson whether the referendum wins or loses. He wasn’t able to motivate Chicagoans to come out. Sure there was fanfare, with the CTU marching CPS students to the polls. Johnson even structured the tax to provide small relief to the overwhelming majority of Chicagoans – only hitting the city’s wealthiest homeowners and businesses. It was the perfect soak-the-rich campaign that should have won easily. 

  Pass or fail, Johnson lost.

  

  2. Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle is another big loser.

  As of this writing, the race between Eileen O’Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III for the Democratic candidacy for Cook County State’s Attorney is too close to call, but Burke has a slim lead. 

  Whoever wins won’t make much difference to Chicagoans, as neither is likely to dramatically change direction from Kim Foxx’s tenure. 

  The results are bad news for Toni Preckwinkle, as she backed Harris. Even if he somehow ekes out a win over Burke, the fact that the race was so close – and so few people voted – shows Preckwinkle’s influence over Cook County isn’t as ironclad as she thinks it is.

  3. Members of Illinois’ Freedom Caucus survive attempts to take them out.

  Members of the downstate Republican Freedom Caucus, Reps. Adam Niemerg, Blaine Wilhour and Brad Halbrook, all survived primary challenges this Tuesday.

  The victories of Wilhour and Niemerg are particularly notable as they both faced teachers-union backed opponents. Wilhour won with a resounding 79% of the vote and Niemerg won an even bigger 88%. 

  And that’s after the unions spent several hundreds of thousands backing their candidates. 

  4. Mixed results on school district tax and bond referendums.

  Results for school district bond and tax referendums were typical, with a mix of propositions passing and failing.

  Notable referendum failures include Avoca SD 37’s (Wilmette) bond referendum, the details of which we covered here, with over 75% of voters saying no. Central SD 301’s ask for $195 million in bonds also failed, with more than 63% of voters casting a no vote.

  Both those referendums faced a tough opposition of concerned residents, which goes to show that taxpayers can successfully band together and prevent wasteful spending if they organize.

  In contrast, Glenbard Township High School District 87 managed to get its $183 million project approved – albeit just barely. The referendum passed 50.2% to 49.8% with a difference of just 89 votes.

  As we covered earlier this month, the district’s pro-referendum machine spent more than $50,000 to get the proposal over the finish line while facing no major, formal opposition. The result would very likely have been different if residents had been able to officially organize.

  *******

  A final takeaway. Maybe, just maybe, the low voter turnout points to a real opportunity for those in the opposition – for those wanting to turn Illinois around. It takes fewer and fewer votes to win something these days.

  The question is, does any real, principled, large-scale opposition exist anymore? And can it make its case, convincingly, to get out the vote?

  For now, I think we know the answer.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 19:00

• CCP-Linked Virologist Fired After Transferring Ebola From Winnipeg To Wuhan Resurfaces In China – And Is Collaborating With Military Scientists
  CCP-Linked Virologist Fired After Transferring Ebola From Winnipeg To Wuhan Resurfaces In China – And Is Collaborating With Military Scientists

  A virologist who had a “clandestine relationship” with Chinese agents and was subsequently fired by the Trudeau government has popped back up in China – where she’s conducting research with Chinese military scientists and other virology researchers, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where she’s allegedly studying antibodies for coronavirus, as well as the deadly Ebola and Niaph viruses, the Globe and Mail reports.

  

  Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng were fired from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada and stripped of their security clearances in July of 2019.

  Declassified documents tabled in the House of Commons on Feb. 28 show the couple had provided confidential scientific information to China and posed a credible security threat to the country, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

  The Globe found that Dr. Qiu’s name appears on four Chinese patent filings since 2020, two with the Wuhan Institute of Virology – whose work on bat coronaviruses has placed it at the centre of concerns that it played a role in the spread of COVID-19 – and two with the University of Science and Technology of China, or USTC. The patents relate to antibodies against Nipah virus and work related to nanobodies, including against coronaviruses. -Globe and Mail

  Canadian authorities began questioning the pair’s loyalty, as well as the potential for coercion or exploitation by a foreign entity, according to more than 600 pages of documents reported by The Counter Signal.

  Highlights (via CTVNews.ca):

  • Qiu and Cheng were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired in January 2021.

  • The pair transferred deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.

  • The Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessed that Qiu repeatedly lied about the extent of her work with institutions of the Chinese government and refused to admit involvement in various Chinese programs, even when evidence was presented to her.

  • [D]espite being given every opportunity in her interviews to describe her association with Chinese entities, “Ms. Qiu continued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance or tell outright lies.”

  • A November 2020 Public Health Agency of Canada report on Qiu says investigators “weighed the adverse information and are in agreement with the CSIS assessment.”

  • A Public Health Agency report on Cheng’s activities says he allowed restricted visitors to work in laboratories unescorted and on at least two occasions did not prevent the unauthorized removal of laboratory materials.

  • Cheng was not forthcoming about his activities and collaborations with people from government agencies “of another country, namely members of the People’s Republic of China.”

  Following their firings, Qiu returned to China despite it being under a pandemic travel lockdown until January, 2023.

  “It’s very likely that she received quite preferential treatment in China on the basis that she’s proven herself. She’s done a very good job for the government of China,” said Brendan Walker-Munro, senior research fellow at Australia’s University of Queensland Law School. “She’s promoted their interests abroad. She’s returned information that is credibly useful to China and to its ongoing research.”

  More via the Globe and Mail;

  Documents reviewed by The Globe show that Dr. Qiu is most closely aligned with the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei. In March, 2023, a document posted by a Chinese pharmaceutical company listed Dr. Qiu as second amongst “major completion personnel” on a project awarded by the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association for study related to an anti-Ebola virus therapeutic antibody. Most of the other completion personnel were associated with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

  USTC was founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and initially established to build up Chinese scientific expertise useful to the military, which at the time was pursuing technology to build satellites, intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic bombs. The university has continued to maintain close military ties.

  The document says Dr. Qiu works for USTC. Jin Tengchuan, the principal investigator at the Laboratory of Structural Immunology at USTC, lists her as a co-inventor on a patent. Mr. Jin did not respond to requests for comment.

  A person who answered the phone at USTC told The Globe, “I don’t have any information about this teacher.”

  In 2012, USTC signed a strategic co-operation agreement with the Army Engineering University of the People’s Liberation Army, designed to strengthen research on cutting-edge technology useful for communications, weaponry and other national-defence priorities.

  Dr. Qiu is also listed as a 2019 doctoral supervisor for students studying virology at Hebei Medical University.

  “Well, that makes me wonder what circumstances she was under when she emigrated to Canada. Why did she come?” asked Earl Brown, a professor emeritus of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine who has worked extensively in China in the past. “People leave for more freedom from China, or to make more money. But China keeps tabs on most people so I am not sure if she came over to infiltrate or whether she came and the infiltration happened later through contact with China.”

  It may be impossible to answer that question. Three former colleagues at the National Microbiolgy Lab have indicated that Dr. Qiu and her husband were diligent and pleasant to deal with, but largely kept to themselves outside of work. They say Dr. Qiu was a brilliant scientist with a strong work ethic, although her English was weak. The Globe is not identifying the three who did not want to be named.

  Dr. Qiu is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She started at the University of Manitoba, but began working at the national lab as a research scientist in 2006, working her way up to become head of the vaccine development and antiviral therapies section in the National Microbiology Laboratory’s special pathogens program.

  She was also part of the team that helped develop ZMapp, a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

  “My sense is this was part of a larger strategy by China to get access to our innovation system,” said Filippa Lentzos, an associate professor of science and international security at King’s College London. “It was a way for them to to find out what was going on in Canada’s premier lab.”

  Initially trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Qiu graduated in 1985 from Hebei University in the coastal city of Tianjin, which lies southeast of Beijing. Dr. Qiu went on to obtain her master of science degree in immunology at Tianjin Medical University in 1990.

  Her career at Canada’s top infectious disease lab in Winnipeg began in 2003, only four years after Ottawa opened this biosafety level 4 facility at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.

  Over time, she built up a reputation for academic collaboration, particularly with China. It was welcomed by management who felt her work was helping build a name internationally for the National Microbiology Lab.

  By the time Canadian officials intervened in 2018 and began investigating, documents show, Dr. Qiu was running 44 separate projects at the Winnipeg lab, an uncommonly large workload.

  Her work with former colleague and microbiologist Gary Kobinger vaulted Dr. Qiu into the international spotlight. The pair developed a treatment for Ebola, one that in its first human application led to the full recovery of 27 patients with the infection during a 2014 outbreak in Liberia.

  Mr. Kobinger’s career continued to soar and he is now director of the Galveston National Laboratory, a renowned biosafety level 4 facility in Texas. In 2022, he told The Globe that it was “heartbreaking” to see what had happened to his colleague. He declined to speak for this article.

  “She had lost a lot of weight with all the stress. She was so convinced that this was all a misunderstanding … and she would go back to her job,” he said in 2022. “ Her career has been destroyed with all this. She was one of the top female Canadian scientists of virology and Canada has lost that.”

  Over a period of 13 months, though, the Chinese-Canadian microbiologist and her biologist husband’s lives were turned upside down.

  She went from being feted at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall with a Governor-General’s Award in May, 2018, to being locked out of the Winnipeg lab in July, 2019 – the high-security facility where she had made her name as a scientist in Canada. By January, 2021, she and Mr. Cheng were fired.

  Last month, after being pressed into explaining what happened, the Canadian government finally disclosed the reasons for this extraordinary dismissal: CSIS found the pair had lied about and hid their co-operation with China from Ottawa.

  A big question remains following their departure: Why would Dr. Qiu risk her career, including the stature associated with developing an Ebola treatment, for China?

  Read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 18:40

• Bretton Woods Revisited
  Bretton Woods Revisited

  Submitted By Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC in Dubai

  

  It’s been a busy few weeks for both Bitcoin (BTC) fans and gold hawks, with both assets reaching record highs on the back of soaring inflation, market volatility and high rates, and while both assets typically attract quite polarising investors, their simultaneous rallies are united in their speculation that the U.S. and other western economies may not be able to maintain high interest rates, given their sky-high debts.

  As stated by XTB research director Kathleen Brooks, “When gold and bitcoin rise in unison, it is worth interrogating the reasons behind this, in case they can give us clues about investor behaviour. Both seem to be rallying on the back of the overall market mood: U.S., Japanese and several European indices have made fresh record highs recently. However, for gold and bitcoin there are other internal factors at play that could be pushing up their value even when stocks take a breather.”

  For gold, as the age-old investment hedge, a potential shift in Federal Reserve policy in conjunction with geopolitical uncertainty and a possible downturn in equity markets saw its price break through to $2,194.99 before rolling back. However, with U.S. inflation unexpectedly rising to 3.2 per cent in February, the yellow metal is well positioned to maintain or even exceed its recent highs until 20th March, when the Fed will announce its rate decision, with most economists anticipating no change. As outlined by Tim Murray at T Rowe Price, “This last mile of inflation – getting from 3 per cent to 2 per cent – is going to be really hard. Much harder than getting from 9 to 3 per cent.”

  As a digital store of value, Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally to USD 73,794 on 14th March 2024 was further propelled by buoyant market confidence, as demonstrated through the $10bn poured into Bitcoin ETFs since the beginning of the year, and will likely continue its run through an imminent ‘halving’, which is currently on schedule to take place in April. As outlined by Bitfinex, “The recent surge in Bitcoin’s value… underscores the remarkable strength and resilience of the leading cryptocurrency. This achievement not only marks a significant milestone but also reflects the continued confidence and demand in the market”. 

  With both assets illustrating a clear trend towards safe-haven investments and weakening fiat currencies, it is critical to ask the following questions:

  • Are the record-breaking prices justified against the convergence of inflation and debt?
  • What are the fundamental differences between BTC and gold?
  • What are the underlying responses beyond consumer investment?
  • And what could a return to a gold-backed economy mean for the geopolitical landscape?

  Are record highs justified?

  Asking the obvious question, as headlined by City Index, “Are Traders Afraid of Sovereign Debt Loads?” In short, yes, and for good reason. While many traders are simply seeking a short-term alternative to hedge risk, there is undoubtedly a longer-term appetite for what happens if the U.S. and other developed economies are unable to maintain high interest rates, given their existing debt loads. Starting with the most glaring information, U.S. national debt is currently on the rise to the tune of $1 trillion roughly every 100 days, reaching a total of just over $34.4 trillion in February – a figure certainly not helped by wild printing under the current U.S. administration, which included $3 trillion in 2020 alone. Speculation as to whether a default occurs or not is yet another polarising debate. As stated by Lawrence J White, an economics professor at the Stern School of Business at NYU, no one knows because it is “a political issue”. However, as an investor hedging for a worst-case scenario, the default outcome would likely be “cataclysmic”, followed by a recession of the order of the financial crisis of 2008, according to Bernard Yaros, assistant director at Moody’s Analytics. Even a short-term breach could cause more seismic shifts in the international financial markets, fuelling credible calls for alternatives to the U.S. dollar. “The world will say we can’t rely on the U.S. Treasury as much as we used to, and that will make people more reluctant to hold Treasury obligations. Interest rates for Treasury bills and bonds will go up, and that will ultimately lead to a bigger tax burden for Americans”, stated White.

  Sovereign Response

  It’s no secret that central banks have been buying physical gold in record volumes over the past two years, as outlined by the World Gold Council in January: “Central bank demand, a key driver of gold in recent years, maintained its momentum in Q4 as a further 229t was added to global official gold reserves. This lifted annual (net) demand to 1,037t, just short of the record set in 2022 of 1,082t. Global official sector gold reserves are now estimated to total 36,700t. Two successive years of over 1,000t of buying is testament to the recent strength in central bank demand for gold. Central banks have been consistent net buyers on an annual basis since 2010, accumulating over 7,800t in that time, of which more than a quarter was bought in the last two years.”

  However, this still seems to have evaded public sentiment, as outlined by Peter Schiff: “What’s unprecedented about gold’s new high is that there’s no fanfare, there isn’t any media coverage, there isn’t even any retail participation. Not only is the public not buying into this rally, they’ve been selling during the entire rally, in fact going into the gold ETFs, there’s been net outflows every week this year. The public keeps on selling as gold keeps rising. That’s not normal. Normally people buy on the way up, and sell on the way down, that’s wrong, but that’s human emotion. If everyone’s selling, how can the price of gold be going up? Because if the price of gold is going up it means somebody is buying to drive it up and if the public is dumping their gold why isn’t the price falling; well because somebody else is buying. Somebody who knows a lot more than the people who are selling. Who’s doing that buying? It’s central banks. There’s a reason they are doing it, and it’s because they are de-dollarising.” And they’re not alone.

  As highlighted in JP Morgan’s August 2023 report, the U.S. dollar’s hegemony is “in question due to geopolitical and geostrategic shifts”, and this isn’t just the outlook of the central banks, but also commodity and emerging markets. With Russia serving as an example of the potential risks of being ‘frozen out’ of USDs, albeit with negligible effect, many other countries took heed. In contrast, others reacted to the unfavourable conditions of rising interest rates. “In short, de-dollarisation entails a significant reduction in the use of dollars in world trade and financial transactions, decreasing national, institutional and corporate demand for the greenback”, commented Alexander Wise, strategic research, J.P Morgan. To date, the U.S. dollar’s share of F.X. reserves has declined to a record low of 58 per cent. At the same time, several nations, most recently Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina, have started paying for imports and exports using the Chinese renminbi. In March, the Reserve Bank of India asked Gulf exporters to accept rupees for at least ten per cent of oil payments in the next financial year, while Russian news agency TASS said that the five-nation BRICS group will work on creating a payment system based on blockchain and digital technologies. In the Middle East, an MoU signed between the UAE and India in July 2023 signals the beginning of regional currency usage for bilateral transactions within a framework called the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) system. As a symbolic transaction on the same day, a UAE gold exporter sold 25 kgs of gold to an Indian buyer, invoicing the payment in Indian rupees.

  BTC vs Gold

  Based on the reality of Bitcoin and gold being the de-facto investment hedges, each investor has their own preference. As outlined by Fergus Hodgson, director of Econ Americas, roving editor of Gold Newsletter, “Gold has thousands of years of established history as a resolute store of value,” whereas, cryptocurrency, as a relative newcome to global asset markets means, “its future as a store of value is precarious. In my assessment, central bank digital currencies and altcoins will challenge Bitcoin’s value proposition as a medium of exchange.” Certainly, as a hedge, Bitcoin’s finite 21 million coins means it cannot be manipulated like fiat currencies. However, the same could be said for gold, albeit under the speculation of what resource remains unmined and what can be recycled. While previously, Bitcoin’s edge over gold was its accessibility, recent cases of fraud, theft and the rise of ETFs have made both assets safer and more accessible to all forms of investors.

  While I am certainly not against cryptocurrencies, particularly in their capacity to support decentralised trade, all markets tend to follow power. Through that lens, it is simple to compare which nations hold Bitcoin and which hold gold. According to Elementus, a blockchain-analysis firm, most of the world’s governmental Bitcoin holdings are from government seizures, and between 2013 – 2022, only six nations held a balance – the United States, El Salvador, Ukraine, Bhutan, Venezuela and Finland. Meanwhile, according to the World Gold Council’s Annual Futures (2021), only eight nations do not hold any gold reserves, namely Nicaragua, Cameroon, Armenia, Gabon, Turkmenistan, Congo, Chad and Eritrea.

  Follow the Yellow BRICS Road

  Putting all these elements together, we are left with a likely trend that will not only see a continued transition away from the U.S. dollar but towards a new collective powerhouse in the form of the BRICS+ nations. Complete with the world’s top two gold producers in China and Russia and four of the largest consumers, it seems that the balance of power is migrating east, with the trading bloc progressing towards its own version of a gold standard. As explained by Nathan Lewis in Forbes just several weeks ago, “The BRICS countries have settled on using gold as the basis for international exchange, a role previously taken by dollars and euros. This does not mean today’s floating fiat ruble, real, or rand is going anywhere soon. Rather, just as the U.S. dollar was used alongside those domestic currencies in the past, today and in the future gold will be more commonly used. There would not be very much trade in actual gold coins — just as there is not much trade in actual dollar bills. Indeed, gold doesn’t work very well for this hand-to-hand exchange at all, since even small coins tend to be of very high denomination, worth $200 or more. Rather, it means that people around the world will increasingly use various vehicles — such as bank accounts, bonds, loans, and cryptocurrencies — denominated in gold, just as they use the very same set of tools today but denominated in dollars.”

  A Globally Inclusive Future

  If all that is stated up till now is a fair projection of what’s to come, other areas of demand will either need to be met or serve a useful purpose in the new economic landscape. For example, there are three major bullion banks with London at their centre. As a city with no closer tie to gold than its historical position as a centre for trade, a more equitable solution could be found in the form of a Global Gold Market Association, akin to the Kimberley Process with a rolling chairmanship that provides access to an exchange where vetted banks are among the liquidity providers, thereby supporting a free market model. As an outcome, global volatility could be reduced through democratic processes and regulations, resulting in greater trading stability and a fairer marketplace for all nations, regardless of economic status.

  Conclusion

  As summarised by Peter Schiff, “Everybody is writing gold’s obituary – it’s not dead, it’s alive and well, it’s over $2,000, but the most important thing is the fundamentals have never been better. Not only do the charts look great for gold, but the fundamentals are fantastic because we’re in a situation where inflation has just bottomed at about three per cent and is now headed higher, and there’s nothing the Fed can do about it. It is out of ammo, it can’t fight, there is no way the Fed is going to hike rates, it would crash the economy, and it would sink any chance Biden has of getting re-elected. So, it’s going to dismiss any increase in inflation; in fact, it’s already done that this week. It’s almost like it’s back on its transitory kick, only nobody is going to use the word transitory, but they’re basically looking at any hotter-than-expected inflation data as if it’s a one-off thing as if it’s a foregone conclusion that inflation is going back down to two per cent when there’s no reason to expect that that’s going to happen. Not with record high budget deficits, record high consumer borrowing and spending; a weakening in industrial production, money supply is now growing, and real interest rates are falling. So, all signs point to higher inflation and a weaker economy, and that’s the perfect environment for gold. It is stagflation, and as investors lose confidence in the Fed, they’re going to look for a real safe haven, a real store of value, and they’re going to buy gold.”

  I, for one, agree. Driven by non-transitory inflation, massive deficit spending, questionable global economies, and an increasing momentum towards de-dollarisation, is it finally time to revisit Bretton Woods, and or any meaningful gold standard as the potential antidote to what will soon become an uncontrollable problem

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 18:20

• Texas Pulls $8.5 Billion From BlackRock In "Massive Blow" To "The Scam Of ESG"
  Texas Pulls $8.5 Billion From BlackRock In “Massive Blow” To “The Scam Of ESG”

  The examples of the ESG fraud imploding over the last 6 months simply aren’t stopping.

  The latest has come from Texas, where the state is now terminating an $8.5 billion investment with BlackRock due to the investment manager’s boycott of energy companies, according to a report from Fox News. 

  Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey said this week that the Texas Permanent School Fund notified BlackRock this week that it would be terminating the investment. 

  Kinsey told Fox News this week: “The Texas Permanent School Fund has a fiduciary duty to protect Texas schools by safeguarding and growing the approximately $1 billion in annual oil and gas royalties managed by the Texas General Land Office. Terminating BlackRock’s contract ensures PSF’s full compliance with Texas law.”

  Kinsey added: “BlackRock’s dominant and persistent leadership in the ESG movement immeasurably damages our state’s oil & gas economy and the very companies that generate revenues for our PSF. Texas and the PSF have worked hard to grow this fund to build Texas’ schools.”

  “BlackRock’s destructive approach toward the energy companies that this state and our world depend on is incompatible with our fiduciary duty to Texans,” he said. 

  Texas has made a significant move by divesting a considerable portion of its $53 billion Permanent School Fund (PSF), originally established in the 19th century to support public education. This step marks the largest divestment since GOP-led states began cutting financial relations with BlackRock and similar firms over their adoption of ESG standards. 

  

  In response to such opposition, Texas enacted Senate Bill 13 in 2021, mandating the state’s comptroller to identify and list financial entities boycotting fossil fuel businesses. Following this, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar updated this list in October to include BlackRock among others, urging the Texas PSF and five state pension funds to cut off from the investment company.

  Kinsey concluded: “Today represents a major step forward for the Texas PSF and our state as a whole. The PSF will not stand idle as our financial future is attacked by Wall Street. This bold action helps ensure our PSF remains in fact permanent and will continue to support bright futures and opportunities for generations of Texas students.”

  Blackrock responded: “Today’s unilateral and arbitrary decision by Board of Education Chair Aaron Kinsey jeopardizes Texas schools and the families who have benefited from BlackRock’s consistent long-term outperformance for the Texas Permanent School Fund.” 

  “The decision ignores our $120 billion investment in Texas public energy companies and defies expert advice. As a fiduciary, politics should never outweigh performance, especially for taxpayers,” they added. 

  But Derek Kreifels, the CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, felt differently, offering support for the termination: “Today’s bold step by Aaron Kinsey and the Permanent School Fund of Texas, in accordance with state law, is a massive blow against the scam of ESG.”

  “Under Larry Fink’s leadership, BlackRock has been misusing client funds to push a political agenda for years. Nowhere was that more egregious than in Texas, where BlackRock was simultaneously trying to destroy the domestic oil and gas industry while managing funds that depended on royalties derived from that very same industry,” added Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research.

  He said it was a “clear message” to “Wall Street elites that people can no longer be bullied into complying with ESG’s destructive ideology.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 18:00

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• "It's Not About Trump": American CJ Hopkins, Charged Again In Germany, Describes Global Censorship Effort
  “It’s Not About Trump”: American CJ Hopkins, Charged Again In Germany, Describes Global Censorship Effort

  By Matt Taibbi of the Racket News substack

  

  The German people are famous for putting everything in print, even things they shouldn’t, and in this instance at least, American playwright and author CJ Hopkins is glad. “The irony,” he says, laughing. “The Germans, always documenting everything.”

  In a letter from the Berlin Prosecutor’s file on Hopkins, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA, analogous to our FBI) acknowledges receipt of a document from a government office describing an effort to have tweets deleted. “The Hessen Gegen Hetze reporting office,” the highlighted portion reads, “has already initiated measures to delete the relevant post on the social network”:

  

  Hopkins reached out to me after listening in disgust to the Murthy v. Missouri Supreme Court hearing Monday. Standing was a big issue: our government said plaintiffs like Drs. Jay Bhattacharya and Aaron Kheriaty lacked definite proof that the government was responsible for suppressing their speech. No such issue exists in CJ’s case, as you can see.

  Hopkins also wanted Americans who might be up in arms about the specter of legalized censorship in their own country to see that the phenomenon has also spread to virtually every Western democracy, often in more extreme forms than we’ve seen so far in the United States.

  CJ’s unique insight involves his ludicrous German case, which as you’ll read in the Q&A below has taken bizarre turns since we last checked and will now go to trial yet again. As an expat following the American situation from afar, he’s seen how the authoritarian tide is rising in similar or worse ways all around the globe.

  Hopkins is facing the business end of the German version, among the worst. As detailed last June, he was charged with “disseminating propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization.” The crime? Using a barely detectible Swastika in the cover image of his book, The Rise of the New Normal Reich. Far from “furthering the aims” of Nazism, he was criticizing them by comparing Nazi methods and laws to those of modern health authorities. The offending image:

  

  Hopkins went to trial in January and delivered an impassioned plea to the court. “Every journalist that has covered my case, everyone in this courtroom, understands what this prosecution is actually about,” he said. “It has nothing to do with punishing people who actually disseminate pro-Nazi propaganda. It is about punishing dissent, and making an example of dissidents in order to intimidate others into silence.”

  Though the judge was clearly not a fan of Hopkins — a courtroom account by Aya Velázquez, which I recommend reading, described how the judge said CJ’s statements were “ideological drivel,” just “not punishable by law” — he won on the law.

  After acquittal, he was made aware that technically the case wasn’t over, because thanks to a quirk of German jurisprudence, the prosecutor had a week to file an appeal. Hopkins was unconcerned. “I doubt he will [re-file]. He made a total fool of himself in front of a large audience yesterday,” he wrote. “I can’t imagine that he will want to do that again.”

  Bzzt! Wrong. The prosecutor re-filed charges. The prosecutorial theory in the Hopkins case was based on a bizarre interpretation of hate crime, essentially asserting that if you have to think about an image to realize it’s satire, it can’t be allowed. If that idea spreads, it would make comedy or even sharp commentary impossible. This is why his indictment, and the similar investigation of Roger Waters, are really serious moments. Not to be heavy-handed, but eliminating the loophole for satire or mockery is exactly what Waters meant by “Another Brick in the Wall.” Before you know it, it’ll be too high to see over:

  MT: You got charged again?

  CJ Hopkins: No… I got acquitted. I went to trial on the 23rd of January, and I wrote this up and I’ll send it to you so you can just look at the whole account. But at the trial I made a big aggressive statement that people republished all over the place. The judge acquitted me, and then called me all kinds of names and then put on her covid mask and stalked out of the courtroom. She called me a Schwurbler, which in German is kind of an idiot, I guess a babbler or someone.

  Anyway, I read that statement, which pissed them all off, but she said, “Okay, you’re an idiot, but that’s not against the law, so you’re acquitted.” So I thought, “Great. This is over. I’m acquitted.” The prosecutor had no case whatsoever, and it was really embarrassing, and I figured it was all done, but my attorney reminded me: oh no, the prosecutor can appeal. Which he did. So now I’m facing another trial in appeals court. It’s not new charges, it’s the same charge, but the prosecutor’s appeal of my acquittal.

  MT: The double jeopardy thing isn’t big in Germany, I take it?

  CJ Hopkins: No.

  MT: Are they going to make a different argument?

  CJ Hopkins: I have no idea what they’re going to do. They have no argument… I mean, they put my tweets up on an overhead projector, like we were back in high school, and interrogated me about whether the Swastika was on top of the mask or behind the mask, that sort of thing. The prosecutor’s argument was basically, “We don’t believe that Mr. Hopkins is a Nazi, or pro-Nazi, we don’t believe he was trying to spread Nazi propaganda, but he nonetheless spread Nazi propaganda. because his tweet” – and this is a great part of their argument – “because if people saw his tweets, they would have to stop and think for a minute to figure out what they meant.”

  MT: Essentially you can’t have satire, because that requires a person to have at least one thought.

  CJ Hopkins: You can’t make people think. You’ve got to have beat-you-over-the-head messaging. I think the whole point of this… I’m sure it’s like the plea-bargain thing in the States. They figure if they hit you with a 3,600 Euro fine, you’re going to pay three times that much to fight it in court, so you’re just going to pay the fine and go away. I don’t think they ever expected to end up in court, and I have no idea what the prosecutor is doing with this appeal. The judge a few weeks later submitted a written verdict, which is strongly in my favor. She pretty much reiterated my attorney’s arguments and made it absolutely clear that what I did falls under the exceptions to the statute, and there’s nothing here to prosecute. Nonetheless, the prosecution’s going ahead.

  MT: Did you have much Western news coverage?

  CJ Hopkins: Right before the trial I had you, then Neue Zürcher Zeitung, which is the big paper of record in Switzerland, and James Kirchick at The Atlantic, who was a big help. I think it put a lot of pressure on the judge. My lawyer made her aware that Germany was being portrayed as a laughingstock in the international press. Aside from The Atlantic, it was all independent alternative media.

  MT: In the Murthy Supreme Court case in the States Monday, there was an issue with what they call “traceability.” I see you don’t have a traceability issue, with this document from your case file?

  CJ Hopkins: Exactly. That’s why I sent it to you. Unquestionably, this is a government office, directly involved with removing the tweets. The other thing that I was going to say, is that I’m looking at things like the Supreme Court case from a non-U.S. perspective. I’m outside of it. I’m watching the legislation that’s getting rolled out in Ireland and the UK and what’s happening to me here and what’s going on in the States, and it’s so obviously much broader than just a red-blue political story in the US. This is happening throughout the Western democratic countries.

  I’m just desperate to get that across to people. I think it’s so easy for people to get locked into what’s going on in their own country and not see the bigger picture.

  MT: What’s an example?  

  CJ Hopkins: There was just a piece in The Herald, in Scotland. The police were being trained there on how to crack down on abusive hate speech. According to this new legislation that’s rolling out and in the training manual, they were saying this could take place in comic performances or stage plays. People are being arrested in the UK for protest signs.

  If I can just put one little bug in your head, Matt, to whatever degree you can tweak people and let them know: “Hey, it’s not just Trump and the Democrats and the liberals and the woke people and all that.” This is happening all over the West, in all these different countries. I think that’s one thing that my case does, it provides folks with an opportunity to remind them that this is happening all over. The old rules don’t apply.

  MT: Good luck with your case.

  CJ Hopkins: Take care.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/21/2024 – 02:00

• Biden, Lenin, And Immigration Language: Gingrich
  Biden, Lenin, And Immigration Language: Gingrich

  Authored by Newt Gingrich via RealClear Wire,

  As an historian, it has been fascinating to watch the left try to impose new language to describe people in the country illegally.

  

  The left has gradually pushed accepted language away from “illegal aliens” (the term in law), to “illegal immigrants” (the most common term), to “undocumented immigrants” (the left’s current favorite term), and now to “newcomers” (the Joe Biden White House’s latest experiment in gaining language dominance).

  It all reminds me of Vladimir Lenin’s great language coup of 1903.

  The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party met secretly in Brussels. (The Czar’s secret police made it impossible to meet openly in Russia). At the meeting there was a split between Lenin’s hardline revolutionary faction and a more moderate democratic wing. Lenin’s faction was the smaller group, but they claimed the title Bolshevik (which means “greater faction” or majority). Group with the most votes were foolish enough to accept the title Lenin gave them, which was Menshevik, meaning minority. That language dominance and branding gave Lenin an enormous advantage in the following two-decade struggle to overthrow the Czar and create Soviet Russia.

  At least as far back as the French Revolution, the left has had a passion for labeling things and ideas to gain language dominance.

  This process as applied to illegal immigration began at least 25 years ago for me. That’s when I first remember being lectured that using the term “illegal immigrants” was wrong, and I should learn to say “undocumented.”

  I thought this was nuts then, and I still do now. By definition, the people we were describing are illegal. Their first act on entering the United States is to break the law. Their decision to do so is an insult to every legal immigrant who patiently followed the rules and entered the United States legally.

  In late February, the Biden White House had a handout which said, “The bill also includes $1.4 billion for cities and states who are providing critical services to newcomers.” The reaction to replacing “illegal immigrant” with “newcomer” was so harsh that the Biden team dropped it. But their goal was clear.

  This process of normalizing weird and radical ideas goes on constantly on the left. Think of pushing transgenderism on children, kneeling during the pledge of allegiance, ignoring the destruction caused by the Black Lives Matter riots, etc.

  The problem for the left is that illegal immigration may be the battlefield on which they can’t win.

  The latest absurdity began when Biden responded to jeers from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during his State of the Union Address. He said, “Lincoln (sic) Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals?”

  Note that even in acknowledging a young woman who was killed by an illegal immigrant, Biden had to immediately cover it with thousands being killed by legal immigrants and citizens. The illegal immigrant could not be the focus.

  Of course, he got Riley’s name wrong, but the left immediately attacked him for using the term “illegal.” This includes former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Biden promptly began trying to backtrack. In an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Saturday, Biden acknowledged his sin of language, “I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ it’s ‘undocumented.’”

  But Biden couldn’t stop there. He had to be pro-illegal immigrant. “I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing,” he said.

  Biden’s defense of illegal immigration hurt him with the average American – and his use of “illegal” hurt him with his leftwing allies.

  His confusion made him look weak. So, in another act of language dominance, the White House simply decided he really never apologized for saying “illegal” in the first place.

  As The Hill reported:

  “White House deputy spokesperson Olivia Dalton attempted to clarify on Monday, telling a reporter that ‘the president absolutely did not apologize’ despite his expression of regret.

  “‘There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,’” Dalton told reporters on Air Force One. ‘He did not apologize. He used a different word. I think what we should be really clear about is the facts.’”

  Biden (and his press team) may be confused, but the American people are not. As Scott Rasmussen reported:

  “Our recent polling found that 55% of voters believe ‘illegal immigrant’ is the proper term and another 8% prefer ‘illegal alien.’ While 63% favor use of ‘illegal,’ just 24% prefer ‘undocumented migrant.’

  “Among traditional Democrats, 54% prefer ‘illegal’ and 33% ‘undocumented.’ But [Bernie] Sanders Democrats prefer ‘undocumented’ by a 48% to 30% margin. It is the progressive Democrats who forced Biden to apologize. This just moves him even further from the mainstream.”

  Let’s be clear: Laken Riley was reportedly killed by an illegal immigrant. That illegal immigrant was in Athens, Ga. because of Biden’s insane policies which favor an open border and prioritize illegal immigrants over American citizens.

  No word games can overcome those facts.

  For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 23:00

• For Real Estate, Rate Cuts Can't Come Soon Enough
  For Real Estate, Rate Cuts Can’t Come Soon Enough

  By Michael Msika and Macarena Munoz, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists

  Real estate stocks just can’t seem to catch a break. Among this year’s worst performing sectors in Europe, even the prospect of interest rate cuts might not immediately reverse this year’s downward spiral.

  Real estate is dismally lagging the broader equity index so far in 2024, with losses of 8% and erasing the outperformance seen at the end of last year. Dovish signals this week from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England could bring some relief, but few expect this to be forthcoming from the Fed.

  Javier Miralles, equity fund manager at Mapfre Asset Management, reckons it’s still early for investors to position in real estate “as a strategic call betting on the rate drop.” Recent strong inflation data could well induce the Fed to send a higher-for longer message, he says, adding that “when rates are lowered, there will be a re-rating of the sector but it is still risky to position yourself like this.” 

  

  The first Fed cut is now expected in June, compared with March just a few months ago. What’s more, just three reductions are priced for this year, versus more than five last December. While this pushback hasn’t affected the broader market, real estate stocks have been hit badly. That’s possibly because of other sector-specific issues, including the commercial real estate overhang and mark-to-market property values.

  “The problem for the sector in recent months is not so much in the swings in expectations of rate cuts, but in the fall in asset valuation, and how this affects its debt ratios and the need to forcefully sell properties,” says Roberto Scholtes, head of strategy at Singular Bank. The valuation adjustment could be almost complete in Britain, he says, but is less far along in continental Europe.

  

  The depreciation of assets increases loan-to-value ratios, in some cases it’s even threatening to exceed the covenants of the loans and bonds. That can force real estate companies to sell assets at a time of low liquidity and weak investor appetite, Scholtes notes. However, he expects the adjustment to be complete in the second half of this year, which alongside upcoming rate cuts, should allow the property sector to start its recovery. For the time being, he remains underweight.

  

  For Citi analyst Aaron Guy, what stands out is the discrepancy in views between company executives and investors. Recent panel discussions his bank organized on European and UK real estate featured CEOs who were confident the worst was over for the sector. Conversations with investors, on the other hand, revealed a high degree of caution.
  “This dislocation of positive CEOs and more cautious investors is likely a significant factor behind most CEOs noting their stocks trading at significant and excessive discounts and are opportunistically inexpensive,” Guy says.

  

  Goldman Sachs analysts including Jonathan Kownator point out that historically, an environment of falling rates, together with high – but falling – inflation, has tended to create a positive tailwind for real estate. They see “property valuations close to the bottom,” while debt maturities are “largely manageable.”

  

  Meanwhile short-sellers have zeroed in on the sector, which is among the most actively targeted in Europe, according to S&P Global data. Real estate management and development stocks have the highest percentage of shares out on loan — an indication of short interest — at 0.37% of market cap, versus less than 0.19% for the overall European stock market. Some names, such as Segro, Unibail-Roadamco-Westfield, Balder and SBB have even higher stock-on-loan ratios, the data shows. With such high figures, any positive central bank message this week could well see a short squeeze unfold on property stocks.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 22:40

• What If The President Ignores The Supreme Court?
  What If The President Ignores The Supreme Court?

  Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Who or what enforces the edicts of the court? Mostly it is the executors of state power. What if they don’t want to because they disagree with the courts? At that point, we’ve got a problem.

  

  Let’s consider.

  Next week, the Supreme Court hears arguments in Murthy v. Missouri over a major free speech issue. The question is whether the federal government can, directly or indirectly, impose itself on social media companies to game their policies in a particular way according to policy priorities of the government itself.

  The First Amendment suggests the answer is no. It says that government cannot impose laws “prohibiting the free exercise” or otherwise “abridging the freedom of speech.” Social media is all about speech. For government to game the system in its favor is a major intervention in rights that are supposed to be guaranteed by the government.

  This principle has been routinely tested from the early years. The Sedition Act of 1798 targeted newspaper editors who criticized the president. There was outrage about that and it swept Thomas Jefferson into office who repealed the cursed thing.

  That was hardly the end. Censorship was tried again in 1835, 1861, 1918, 1940, 1954, and so on, and each time the First Amendment eventually prevailed. And yet underlying this long experience is always the push by government to control the channels of distribution of information.

  Now that every citizen is in a position to be a distributor of information to a broad audience via new technologies, we have government exercising its penchant to want to control. The Constitution of the United States, unique in the world for this protection of free speech, stands against this.

  That seems rather simple. Surely the court will agree.

  Maybe or maybe not.

  Here’s the problem. A massive censorship industrial complex extending from federal agencies to every major digital tech platform has been constructed over the last eight years, and went into full effect in 2020. It still exists today. This largely happened out of the public eye. Even four years ago, it was barely known. The cases of banned accounts and throttled postings seemed isolated and often just an unfortunate exercise of editorial zeal.

  But FOIAs and court discovery have unearthed tens of thousands of pages of receipts, so that the problem is not isolated or random but gargantuan and systematic. It involves dozens of federal agencies, non-government organizations working as contractors, universities on contract either directly or indirectly, and even embedded employees at social media companies. The censorship network is so elaborate at this point that it is truly an industry—an illegal one!

  The 5th Circuit looked at the evidence and was so alarmed that it issued a pre-trial injunction against the federal government, namely many agencies in particular. District Court Judge Terry Doughty described what he saw as “arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history” and “akin to an Orwellian Ministry of Truth.”

  The appeals court agreed but delayed the injunction pending a Supreme Court judgment. That is the issue the court takes up next week.

  Here’s the trouble. I seriously doubt that these justices know much about the existence of this machinery. That’s understandable. Most people had no idea that it was being constructed and deployed. After all, when censorship is effective, most people are put in a position of not knowing what they do not know.

  And that’s the whole point: to deny the public information. In this case, the machinery worked to massively distort information on so-called Russiagate, COVID in every aspect of that and what it implies, and the 2020 election, the outcome of which was likely affected by the censorship. For a time there—and we should never have gotten used to this—it seemed like every mainline information outlet became a regime megaphone.

  Sadly, the courts have been denied information too. Now the highest court is hearing the case. Any fair hearing and judgment will result in an upholding of the injunction. It might not go that way. Or two other possibilities: the court sides with the Biden administration and for censorship, or simply kicks the can down the road to wait for the trial phase. In that case, the core problem could stay in litigation for many years!

  If either of those latter two decisions comes down, every federal agency will have a green light to continue and expand its aggressive intervention in information networks. Even independent platforms will feel the heat. The goal is quite clear: for the public to see and hear no information that fundamentally contradicts regime priorities. That’s the result the Biden administration hopes for, and not just on behalf of President Biden but the entire deep-state apparatus that built this censorship industrial complex in the first place.

  The stakes are extremely high. If this thing goes the wrong way, free speech in the United States is toast and the First Amendment will be a dead letter.

  But let’s just suppose there is a good result: the court sides for the plaintiffs, the injunction is immediately upheld, and goes into effect upon the release of the opinion. The social media companies would have lost nothing but their chains. They can still enforce terms of service and community standards but they will no longer be under pressure from any state actor.

  Sorry to ask this question but it must be asked: who precisely is going to enforce this?

  The pathetic answer is that the people and agencies charged with implementing the injunction are the same people against whom the injunction is targeted.

  Do you see the problem here? It is a major flaw in the way the system works. We have to trust the government, whose power is being limited by the courts to limit itself. That’s because the judiciary has no army, no inherent coercive power, no ability directly to punish those who go against its edicts against the enforcers themselves.

  In other words, even a good judgment here does not mean that we are out of the woods.

  There will still be the need for citizen oversight and resistance because the censorship industry will not simply stop existing.

  Another problem: the Biden administration is increasingly attempting to discredit the Supreme Court. This has been going on for a few years now. At the State of the Union address, President Biden directly attacked members of the Supreme Court who were sitting right there. I’m not sure that has ever happened before. And earlier this month, he bragged how his new student loan forgiveness actions are in defiance of the court. Their decision “didn’t stop me,” Mr. Biden said.

  This is an extremely dangerous trajectory we are on. The Supreme Court seems poised to rule against many practices by the executive department of the federal government. This hasn’t happened very often in U.S. history. How precisely this is enforced amounts to a large stress test of the American system itself. There is every reason to believe that the people in charge today do not even believe in that system.

  Is this a flaw in the structure? Sort of but it’s a problem with every system. If institutions collapse, they collapse, and there is no technical fix. Ultimately freedom is preserved by a public consensus in its favor and leaders willing to make it so. It appears that public opinion is the only real and final check on tyranny.

  A final factor here. Notice the mad rush by Google, Facebook, and others to implement artificial intelligence throughout its operation. If they can work with federal officials to make their curation and censorship merely a product of machine learning, they will eliminate all fingerprints from their dirty deeds. This bears watching as well.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 22:20

• Watch: Migrant TikToker Tells Other Illegals How To "Invade" Homes In America
  Watch: Migrant TikToker Tells Other Illegals How To “Invade” Homes In America

  The Marxist destruction of private property rights is on full display after a viral video circulating TikTok, then posted on X, shows a migrant informing other migrants how to “invade” unoccupied homes across America and take advantage of progressive squatting laws. 

  “I found out that there is a law that says that if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it,” the migrant said in a video on TikTok, which Collin Rugg first posted on X. 

  The migrant said he has African friends who have taken over seven homes thanks to squatting laws. 

  NEW: TikToker is going viral by telling illegal immigrants how to “invade” homes in America thanks to progressive squatting laws

  Remarkable.

  “We can invade a house in the USA, what do you think about this new law?” a video from one TikTok user read.

  The man said he has African… pic.twitter.com/b92DT9fYq7

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 20, 2024

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  The video is very concerning because progressive squatting laws are getting out of control. These laws are being abused, and landlords are being screwed. 

  Take, for instance, a woman who found her home full of people squatting illegally was arrested this week for changing the door locks. 

  NEW: New York City homeowner gets arrested after changing the locks on *her own home* after it got taken over by squatters.

  Never do business in New York.

  In NYC, anyone can simply claim “squatter’s rights” after 30 days of living at a home which isn’t even enough time for the… pic.twitter.com/xkcfYM9l7u

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 19, 2024

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  “It’s starting to feel like illegal immigrants have more rights than actual citizens,” one X user said. 

  It’s starting to feel like illegal immigrants have more rights than actual citizens

  — TheRightGuy (@TheRightGuy101) March 20, 2024

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  Here’s what other x users are saying:

  Lax squatting laws reward the scummiest people of society.

  And thanks to social media, many will now be taking advantage of it.

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 20, 2024

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  This. People need to flee blue cities and states.

  — Honeywell N. Todd (@HoneywellNTodd) March 20, 2024

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  Take note of what states these squatting laws are getting out of hand 🤔

  — Foxy’s Crime Scenes (@thewaryfox) March 20, 2024

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  Psychopaths and sociopaths don’t blink as frequently as you and I because they don’t have that emotional background noise that can affect it.

  Count his blinks.

  — The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) March 20, 2024

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  What baffles some is why squatters even have rights in the first place. 

  Americans owning multiple properties should be alert for migrants attempting to seize their home. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 22:00

• New York Doomed To Be Migrant Central – Other Cities Take Note
  New York Doomed To Be Migrant Central – Other Cities Take Note

  Authored by Betsy McCaughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Mayor Eric Adams’ agreement, announced Friday, to limit the time illegal immigrants can stay in shelters at taxpayers’ expense, is smoke and mirrors. It’s designed to fool you into thinking he’s solving a problem when he’s actually caving to the illegal immigrant industrial complex.

  

  Adams claims the agreement, with the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, will allow the city to evict adult migrants from city-run shelters after 30 days, saving taxpayers money and limiting the need for more shelters. Not true.

  The fine print says illegal immigrants have a shot at staying longer if they obtain a driver’s license, follow shelter rules, and show good behavior, or—get this one—apply for public benefits. And this is a “non-exhaustive” list of reasons making illegal immigrants eligible to stay longer.

  The agreement also applies only to single adults. A staggering 78 percent come with children and get priority placement in hotels. The city currently spends a whopping $387 a night for food and a roof alone for each family, and shells out more money for free medical care, education, and legal services. This agreement does zero to alleviate those staggering costs.

  The deal dooms New York City to fiscal disaster, because it will continue to be the No. 1 destination for illegal immigrants seeking a free roof over their heads. The Big Apple is now Migrant Central.

  Worst of all, nothing in the agreement empowers the mayor to evict troublemakers who have repeat run-ins with police. The illegal immigrants who beat up cops in Time Square were living in shelters, courtesy of taxpayers, and already had long rap sheets.

  When troublemakers are arrested and give a shelter address, the shelter should be contacted and told they no longer qualify. Why should taxpayers be footing the bill to house criminals?

  Notorious gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 recruit from the shelters. How convenient that taxpayers pay to house these gangs’ lackeys.

  In October, Adams imposed a 30-day limit on adult migrants but wound up in court when Legal Aid and the Coalition challenged. A long negotiation ensued, ending with Friday’s agreement.

  Since 1981, Legal Aid and the Coalition have fought successfully to impose a “right to shelter” on New York. Now these two self-appointed guardians of the downtrodden—not elected by anyone—insist that the “right” applies not just to New Yorkers but anyone from anywhere in the world who wants shelter here. That’s crazy.

  After months of negotiating, Adams capitulated. No one at the table was looking out for taxpayers or New Yorkers who see their services being cut and their neighborhoods disrupted by the proliferation of shelters. The multibillion-dollar shelter industry came out a winner, but Joe Public got shafted.

  As the agreement was announced, Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom praised the “right to shelter” and Legal Aid Society for the work they do. They’re all in bed together.

  Josh Goldfein, a Legal Aid attorney, explained that despite the settlement, “no migrant would be left out on the streets.” In fact, the agreement bans the city from even making illegal immigrants sleep overnight in chairs while waiting to be placed, imposing stricter shelter requirements than before.

  A “right to shelter” for anyone who shows up on Gotham’s doorsteps means New Yorkers who want sanitation services, police and fire protection, and other city amenities go to the back of the line. Their services get cut to pay for sheltering illegal immigrants. Adams needs to battle aggressively, up through the highest courts, to get that “right” reexamined.

  Only New York has a “right to shelter,” and it makes the city the top destination for illegal immigrants. New York City spends more than 10 times as much as Los Angeles per illegal immigrant and more than five times as much as Chicago.

  To top it off, the agreement and the Adams administration are renaming illegal immigrants as “new arrivals,” whitewashing the laws they broke to get here.

  Expect hundreds of thousands more to see these welcome signs and come. Who wouldn’t come?

  On Sunday, Adams praised the city’s “responsible policies” and blamed “Republican extremists” for the border crisis. Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but the crisis here in New York City is due to the lavish benefits local Democrats insist on offering “new arrivals.” There’s no whitewashing that.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 21:40

• RFK Jr. Destroys His Candidacy With VP Pick
  RFK Jr. Destroys His Candidacy With VP Pick

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

  I interviewed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Epoch TV’s “Roller Coaster” series and also attended one of his birthday parties. In both instances, I liked the man, found him to be intelligent and personable, and also unafraid to take stands against the über-conformist Democratic Party, notably on health care and, to some degree, on the dangers of the Central Intelligence Agency.

  

  Although I have been an unabashed Donald Trump supporter since he came down the escalator and continue to be so, I would not have been disappointed, even pleased, had former President Trump chosen Mr. Kennedy as his vice-presidential candidate.

  Unlikely as it may have been, it could have helped bring our fractured country together.

  No longer.

  If reports are true—and, in that regard, the website name www.kennedyshanahan.com was reportedly registered by one of his campaign operatives on March 13—Mr. Kennedy has chosen attorney Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.

  I find this bizarre, to say the least, not to mention disappointing.

  Whatever his intentions, such a ticket would drive this country even further apart because Ms. Shanahan is a self-described “progressive.” But that’s only the tip of a disturbing iceberg I will get to in a minute.

  Let’s start with this. Mr. Kennedy, of all people, should know that the basic requirement for a vice presidential candidate, now more than ever, is that a person be qualified to assume the presidency at a moment’s notice.

  We have had disasters in that regard, dodging several bullets, including vice presidents Spiro Agnew, Mike Pence, and (for now, holding one’s breath) Kamala Harris.

  Mr. Trump has made clear that qualification for the presidency is now his first consideration, as it should be.

  What do we know of Ms. Shanahan?

  Not much, except that she is a philanthropist to largely progressive causes and that she is very rich.

  She reportedly helped pay for Mr. Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad to the tune of $4 million via a Super PAC. The ad got mixed reviews and ended up with the candidate apologizing to his family

  How rich Ms. Shanahan really is is unclear, but it is clear the bulk of her money comes from her divorce from Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google and, depending on the source, the ninth richest man on the planet.

  RFK Jr’s campaign had been luffing and needed a boost. He looked to the financial. It’s hard to blame him, because that’s the putrid state of American politics. But if you’re trying to run an honest broker campaign against corrupt traditional parties, it’s not the best approach. It’s actually a turn-off.

  This is rather sad because of the optimism and excitement he initially engendered.

  It was said that much of RFK Jr’s appeal was with the more libertarian right, not the increasingly leftist Democrats. I thought that was accurate. I would imagine that unfortunately those days are over if the nomination of the “progressive” Ms. Shanahan is real. Who will RFK Jr. appeal to now?

  Of course the candidate is not confirming this nomination until March 26. We shall see.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 21:20

• Study Says "Interpersonal Racism" Linked To Heart Problems In Black Women
  Study Says “Interpersonal Racism” Linked To Heart Problems In Black Women

  By Caleb Nunes of The College Fix

  “Interpersonal racism” might lead to higher rates of coronary heart disease, according to a recent study. But a health scholar who spoke to The College Fix questioned the findings.

  “Perceived experiences of interpersonal racism in employment, in housing, and with the police were associated with higher incidence of CHD among Black women,” the study from Boston University epidemiologist Shanshan Sheehy concluded. However, “perceived racism in everyday life was not associated with higher risk,” Dr. Sheehy wrote.

  

  She wrote the study, published in the American Heart Association journal, with Michelle Albert, the most recent president of the group. The paper used data from nearly 50,000 black women beginning in 1997.

  The study found that after adjusting for multiple variables, the link between racism and heart problems was “no longer statistically significant,” meaning the connection could be explained by chance. 

  Sheehy did not respond to two emailed requests for comment on the paper, including the claim “racism is highly prevalent in America.”

  The research director at Do No Harm said the extensive data set is a strength of the study, but there are many problems with its designs.

  Ian Kingsbury said, “the association [of interpersonal racism] is not significant when it comes to myocardial infarction,” in his emailed comments to The Fix.

  When it comes to coronary heart disease, Kingsbury said “there is no association with self-reported racism in everyday life but an association with self-reported discrimination in employment, housing and interactions with police.”

  There could be a confounding variable at play.

  Kingsbury said those reporting higher levels of racism in everyday life “are more anxious and prone to conflict,” and people with these personality traits have higher incidence of coronary heart disease.

  When asked about the strengths of this paper, Kingsbury said the paper “connect[ed] data collected decades ago to contemporary health outcomes.”

  Weaknesses included “overstating…findings” as well as a “lack of candor around the limitations of self-reported racism as a measure of actual racism.”

  He said the medical community should not use this paper. The results are “unconvincing” he said, when other variables are taken into consideration.

  Kingsbury said, “it’s unclear how [the results] would be actionable” and said there is a growing view doctors are “people who can solve all the world’s problems.” This often “invites activism into medical training at the expense of technical expertise.”

  Other studies have tried to connect police interactions with health problems.

  For example, a University of Minnesota researcher found a correlation between police stops in a neighborhood and preterm births. However, the researcher, Rachel Hardeman, could not identify any woman who had an interaction with police and then had a preterm birth.

  Furthermore, black immigrant women had better pregnancy outcomes than even white women, according to the study.

  That did not stop Hardeman from blaming racism.

  “These findings suggest that racialized police patterns borne from a history of racism in the United States may contribute to racial disparity in preterm birth,” the Planned Parenthood board member wrote.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 21:00

• Ukraine Drones Again Target Strategic Bomber Base Deep Inside Russia
  Ukraine Drones Again Target Strategic Bomber Base Deep Inside Russia

  On Wednesday a wave of Ukrainian drones targeted a well-known airbase deep inside Russia which is home to strategic bombers. The air base, called Engels 2, is near the Russian city by the same name, and nearby residents reported hearing at least four explosions during the attack.

  The Main Directorate of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) has since owned up to the attack, with sources in Russia confirming to international media that “targets had been hit” and the damage is being assessed.

  

  Some drones may have been intercepted, however, with Roman Busargin, the governor of the Russian region of Saratov, describing in a statement that a drone attack was “repelled”. This attack is significant given Engels is located over 600km from the Ukraine border. But it’s not the first time it has come under attack during the war.

  In December of 2022 there were reports that two Tu-95 bombers were damaged in a similar drone operation from Ukraine. Later that same month explosions were reported at the airbase but the extent of damage on the ground was unclear. During this latter attack, three Russian servicemen were reportedly killed by falling debris after UAVs were intercepted.

  A well-known Russian Telegraph channel which reports breaking news related to the Ukraine war said of this newest assault on the airfield: “Preliminary data suggests the anti-aircraft defense system was activated. Residents report hearing a prior siren. There is no official information on casualties or damages.”

  Ukraine-based media sources have speculated that something was hit at Engels:

  Meanwhile, social media users mentioned a fire at the airfield area post-explosions, with rescuers quickly arriving.

  One commentator, residing near the airfield, wrote, “There was at least one direct hit, the rest (of the drones) likely shot down by anti-aircraft missiles. Then came the fire trucks, ambulances, police with flashing lights.”

  Engels has long been known to house both Tu-160 and Tu-95MS long-range bombers which are being used in Ukraine, thus it remains a high priority target for Ukraine’s cross-border attacks against Russian territory.

  The Kremlin has accused Western intelligence with assisting in such operations. This recently found some degree of positive confirmation in a damning New York Times story detailing the extent of the CIA’s presence in Ukraine going back a decade. The CIA established intelligence outposts along the border with Russia, many of which are likely directing these attacks into Russian territory.

  

  Feeling emboldened by a string of ‘successes’, including prior attacks and bombings in Crimea but especially destruction of oil refineries, Ukraine forces will likely try to continue hitting targets inside Russia, also as their capability grows given they have been supplied with ever-longer range rockets from the US and NATO countries

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 20:40

• Boeing Has Been Prioritizing Production Over Safety, FAA Chief Says
  Boeing Has Been Prioritizing Production Over Safety, FAA Chief Says

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Michael Whitaker said on March 19 that his impression from a recent visit to Boeing’s facilities suggests that there are issues within the aerospace giant’s safety culture.

  

  During an interview with NBC Nightly News, Mr. Whitaker said the FAA’s audit and a culture survey of Boeing revealed that the aircraft maker’s “priorities have been on production, and not on safety and quality.”

  “So what we really are focused on now is shifting that focus from production to safety and quality,” the FAA administrator told the media outlet.

  When asked if certain protocols were not being met regarding how the aircraft manufacturer approached airplane production, Mr. Whitaker said: “Not what you would have expected if safety is the first priority.

  “Whenever someone comes into the FAA to brief on their company, the first thing I expect is to talk about safety because we all have to start there.

  “If it’s not safe, then the whole system is not working the way it should.”

  FAA Audit on Boeing

  The FAA initiated a six-week audit on Boeing’s manufacturing processes for the 737 Max jetliner after a panel blew off one of the planes during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.

  The Alaska Airlines flight was en route to Ontario, California, from Portland, Oregon, when its door plug blew off, forcing the pilots to turn back and make an emergency landing.

  

  The FAA published its 50-page report on Feb. 26, noting that its experts had identified 27 areas in which Boeing’s safety procedures and culture were insufficient.

  According to the report, experts observed a “disconnect” between Boeing’s senior management and other members of the organization when it comes to safety culture.

  The report also found a “lack of awareness of safety-related metrics at all levels of the organization” and could not find a “consistent and clear” process for employees to report safety concerns.

  “The procedures and training are complex and in a constant state of change, creating employee confusion, especially among different work sites and employee groups,” the report reads.

  Experts also highlighted “hesitation in reporting safety concerns for fear of retaliation,” noting that managers at the plane manufacturer authorized to oversee employee performance evaluations, salary decisions, promotion, and disciplinary actions are also tasked with investigating safety concerns.

  The company was given 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality-control issues.” Mr. Whitaker has urged Boeing to make “real and profound improvements.”

  

  Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing’s commercial plane division, said in a March 12 update that the “vast majority” of violations found by the FAA involved workers not following Boeing’s approved procedures.

  Mr. Deal said Boeing will take remedial steps that include “working with each employee noted with a non-compliance during the audit to ensure they fully understand the work instructions and procedures.”

  The company will also add weekly compliance checks for all work teams in the Renton, Washington, factory, where Max jets are assembled, he said.

  “We will assess our status in the factory and, if needed, put mitigation plans in place. We will not hesitate in stopping a production line or keeping an airplane in position,” Mr. Deal stated.

  The Alaska Airlines mishap is not the only recent incident to cause concern. On March 7, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER plane lost a wheel shortly after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport. On Jan. 20, a Boeing 757 jet operated by Delta Air Lines lost its nose wheel while preparing for takeoff in Atlanta.

  Katabella Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 20:20

• US Military Desperately Seeking To Stay In Niger Despite Order To Leave
  US Military Desperately Seeking To Stay In Niger Despite Order To Leave

  The Pentagon is desperately seeking to stay in Niger despite the military-led government telling US troops to leave in the wake of accusations from American officials that Niger could be poised to transfer uranium to Iran. Niger was outraged at the allegations and rejected them.

  “The Pentagon is working with Niger officials, seeking a way for U.S. troops to stay in the country — a key base for counterterrorism operations in sub-Saharan Africa — following a weekend directive that they leave,” The Associated Press reports.

  

  Spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US is seeking “clarification” from Niger officials and is still engaged in lengthy and direct” discussions with the junta leaders. Washington has warned the West African nation against forging deeper ties with ‘rogue’ actors like Russian and Iran. 

  White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said that the Biden administration is “closely monitoring the Russian defense activities” there in order “to assess and mitigate potential risk to U.S. personnel, interests and assets.” Wagner Group is one major Russian mercenary outfit which has made deep inroads into the region.

  Over the weekend, Niger’s military-led government which is called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) declared US flights over Niger territory to be “illegal”. 

  Last year’s coup in the country saw a military-led government come to power, which from the start signaled rough and uncertain times ahead for US-Niger relations. A Saturday statement by Nigerien junta spokesman Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said, “Niger regrets the intention of the American delegation to deny the sovereign Nigerien people the right to choose their partners and types of partnerships capable of truly helping them fight against terrorism.”

  This charge of the US not respecting the West African nation’s sovereignty comes in reaction to recent Western intelligence claims that Niger is engaged in secret talks and deal-making to grant Iran access to its uranium. Singh in a Monday briefing had said, “We were troubled on the path that Niger is on.”

  According to the latest back-and-forth between junta leaders and the Pentagon:

  “The American bases and civilian personnel cannot stay on Nigerien soil any longer,” he [Insa Garba Saidou, an advisor to Niger’s generals] told The Associated Press.

  Singh said the U.S. was aware of the March 16 statement “announcing the end of the status of forces agreement between Niger and the United States. We are working through diplomatic channels to seek clarification. These are ongoing discussions and we don’t have more to share at this time.” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the discussions were prompted by Niger’s “trajectory.”

  “We are in touch with transition authorities to seek clarification of their comments and discuss additional next steps,” Patel said.

  When will Congress learn? Billions $$ burned up trying to buy “democracy” in Africa. https://t.co/e5su1Tuhkl

  — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 20, 2024

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  American officials are now worried about the major drone base only recently built at a cost of $110 million called Air Base 201, which was crucial for Pentagon drone surveillance operations over the region. Likely it will now have to be shuttered.

  International reports estimate that some 1,000 or more US troops and contractors remain in the country, with most of them manning the airbase. Much of the population looks upon the US as an ‘imperial’ power, also given the history of the Western powers in Africa, particularly starting in the 19th century and what historians dub “the Scramble for Africa”. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 20:00

• Biden Campaign Distances Itself From Mysterious Big Dem Donor 'Chairman G'
  Biden Campaign Distances Itself From Mysterious Big Dem Donor ‘Chairman G’

  Authored by Soobin Kim and Bradley Hope via whalehunting.projectbrazen.com,

  Last fall, we reported on a man named Gaurav Srivastava who pretended to be a CIA operative to allegedly fleece the sanctioned Dutch oil trader Niels Troost. The ruse was simple, according to extensive recorded conversations: hand over half your company to me, a secret spy, and I’ll protect you from the US government because … I’m a secret spy.

  

  In the following months since our original article, it emerged that Srivastava – or “Chairman G,” as he likes to be called – is a big time political donor in the United States.

  • Whale Hunting can exclusively reveal that FBI agents in Los Angeles have been interviewing Srivastava’s current and former associates about his campaign donations, claims of being a federal officer and other financial affairs.

  • We also confirmed from a staff member for the Washington State Democratic Party that the Biden campaign is in the process of quietly refunding thousands of dollars of his political donations.

  The FBI inquiries — ongoing for last several months — may lead nowhere, but the Biden campaign’s decision to start refunding donations suggests there are deeper issues afoot for Srivastava.

  “All allegations raised in this story are false,” a spokesman for Srivastava told us (full statement and more details on the news after the jump).

  

  The culmination of Srivastava’s rise to public life came alongside a more than $1 million donation in 2022 to the Atlantic Council, a DC-based think tank. The money underwrote a conference in Bali, where he was a “co-host” and rubbed shoulders with business magnates, political honchos and John Legend.

  But that relationship isn’t going smoothly. The Atlantic Council terminated its relationship with Srivastava, Politico reported last month, and returned additional funds donated by Srivastava in 2023.

  “We made the decision to terminate our relationship with Mr. Srivastava in May 2023 upon learning new information because of our donor review process. For example, we learned that The Gaurav & Sharon Srivastava Family Foundation was not an established 501C3 in April of 2023, despite Mr. Srivastava’s representation to the Council that this was a registered foundation,” the spokesperson told Politico.

  Srivastava’s lawyer told Politico the Atlantic Council made the decision after they “disagreed” about how a gift would be implemented. (Small note: Recipients of gifts usually try very hard to implement the handover of gifts.)

  Alongside his campaign to solve global food security he also became a big spender on political campaigns. Among Srivastava’s key advisors for how to best disperse funds for political purposes were Greg Schultz (Biden’s 2020 campaign manager) and Ret. General Wesley Clark. They didn’t respond to requests for comment.

  The Federal Election Commission’s database of individual contributions shows that Srivastava contributed at least $1 million to political campaigns and committees in the United States. As an Indian national he is eligible to donate to political campaigns as a Green Card holder. Lo and behold, the donations led to a photo op with Biden which you can find here.

  Since 2022, Srivastava has made sizeable donations – including over $500,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $500,000 to Senate Majority PAC.

  One mystery we are continuing to investigate: Whale Hunting discovered publicly available evidence suggesting Srivastava contributed over $116,000 using the personal details of an individual with the same name who resides in the same city. The funds were donated under the previous employer, occupation and mailing address of the namesake, who denies making the donations.

  It’s unclear how those donations were made. Impersonating another individual to make a political contribution is strictly prohibited by law.

  The single biggest recipient for the donations made with the namesake’s personal details was the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee for Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election, which received $50,000. About a dozen state Democratic parties across the U.S. also received funds through the Biden Victory Fund.   

  “The Biden campaign is aware of the issue and the donation is in the process of being refunded,” a staff member with Washington State Democratic Party, which received these funds, told Whale Hunting in an email.

  It’s unclear the exact allegations the FBI is investigating, but among the questions they’ve presented current and former associates of Srivastava have been queries about his political spending, source of funds, involvement in international money transfers and other topics related to the allegations already aired publicly about Srivastava in a litany of lawsuits.

  Srivastava’s spokesman’s full comment here:

  All allegations raised in this story are false. The source for this story and others, including 87 paid stories on obscure websites, is tied to a Russian asset facilitating the unfettered trade of Russian oil as made clear by the U.K. sanctions. There’s a direct through-line between Russia, a barrel of oil and the high price of gas at the pump squeezing the American consumer. The slanderous suggestion of a fabricated relationship between Mr. Srivastava and a U.S. intelligence agency was orchestrated by the same Russian asset relied on as a source for your stories and designed by that Russian asset to put a target on his back, threatening the safety of him, his friends and family.

  So if your year is off to a bad start, think about what Srivastava is now dealing with: being on the Feds’ radar, juggling a glut of lawsuits brought on by all the people he’s allegedly stiffed – from his former interior designer to former landlord to former business partners – and witnessing the collapse of his carefully crafted reputation. 

  In the meantime, Whale Hunting will be chasing this story to fill its gaping plot holes, one among them being where on earth Chairman G got the funds to make the donations in the first place. If you have any insight, please get in touch!

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 19:40

• Major Jeweler Sees Youngsters Postponing Engagements In Era Of Failed Bidenomics
  Major Jeweler Sees Youngsters Postponing Engagements In Era Of Failed Bidenomics

  Signet Jewelers Ltd., the parent company of Kay Jewelers and Zales, had previously signaled to investors that there would be an upswing in US engagements this year as dating patterns returned to normal. But that forecast was downgraded on Wednesday as the jeweler warned that persistently high inflation and job market uncertainty have forced some young folks to delay engagements. 

  “If right now they’re worried about their jobs or they’re still paying a little bit more for rent or for gas, then they might wait a few months for that engagement,” Gina Drosos, the CEO of SignetSignet, explained in a Wednesday interview quoted by Bloomberg.

  Signet previously told investors that 2024 would be the year of an upswing in US engagements. However, this outlook was revised on Wednesday, and the number of engagements for the year is expected to rise between 5% and 10% versus the previous forecast of 10%. 

  

  Drosos said 2.1 million couples were engaged last year, the lowest in years, but recovered from the dating dry spell during Covid. Still, the number is well below the 2.8 million level seen pre-2020. 

  The downshift in the outlook comes after three years of elevated inflation, which has strained consumers’ finances. 

  In the era of failed Bidenomics, Gen-Zers and millennials have flooded social media platforms, complaining about their financial hardships:

  The struggle is real for the new generation, which is just now learning that working a 9-5 isn’t as easy as college. pic.twitter.com/FvAeYkTddt

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 25, 2023

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  A lot of people seem to think this mindset is unique to Gen Z. It’s not.

  Every generation goes through this. Watch Reality Bites, where a group of 20-somethings in the early 90s deal with the exact same struggles and emotions as described in this video.

  pic.twitter.com/7h1gAN3c7R

  — Matthew Kobach 🍕 (@mkobach) October 20, 2023

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  For youngsters who have already planned a wedding, average costs hit a new record high in 2023, exceeding $30,000, according to The Wedding Report, a research company that tracks wedding data. 

  Drosos added, “Wouldn’t it be great if the Fed lowered interest rates and if consumer confidence got on a really consistent upswing?” She noted that easing financial conditions would push the number of 2024 engagements to the high end of Signet’s guidance. 

  The obsession with lavish weddings is over for the average couple. Say goodbye to elaborate floral displays, a beautiful venue on a golf course, crab cakes and steak for dinner, fancy champagne toasts, live bands, open bars, chocolate fountains, and multi-tiered cakes, as an increasing number of folks are opting for courthouse weddings in the era of failed Bidenomics. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 19:20

• How The Democrats Plan To Steal The Election
  How The Democrats Plan To Steal The Election

  Authored by Llewellyn Rockwell via LewRockwell.com,

  Biden and Trump have clinched the nominations of their parties for President. Everybody is gearing up for a battle between them for the election in November. It’s obvious that Biden is “cognitively impaired.” In blunter language, “brain-dead”. Partisans of Trump are gearing up for a decisive victory.

  But what if this battle is a sham? What if Biden’s elite gang of neo-con controllers won’t let Biden lose?

  

  How can they stop him from losing? Simple. If it looks like he’s losing, the elite forces will create enough fake ballots to ensure victory. Our corrupt courts won’t stop them. They have done this before, and they will do it again, if they have to.

  I said the Democrats have done this before.

  The great Dr. Ron Paul explains one way they did this in 2020. The elite covered up a scandal that could have wrecked Biden’s chances:

  “Move over Watergate. On or around Oct. 17, 2020, then-senior Biden campaign official Antony Blinken called up former acting CIA director Mike Morell to ask a favor: he needed high-ranking former US intelligence community officials to lie to the American people to save Biden’s lagging campaign from a massive brewing scandal.

  The problem was that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, had abandoned his laptop at a repair shop and the explosive contents of the computer were leaking out. The details of the Biden family’s apparent corruption and the debauchery of the former vice-president’s son were being reported by the New York Post, and with the election less than a month away, the Biden campaign needed to kill the story.

  So, according to newly-released transcripts of Morell’s testimony before the House judiciary Committee, Blinken “triggered” Morell to put together a letter for some 50 senior intelligence officials to sign – using their high-level government titles – to claim that the laptop story “had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.”

  In short, at the Biden campaign’s direction Morell launched a covert operation against the American people to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election. A letter signed by dozens of the highest-ranking former CIA, DIA, and NSA officials would surely carry enough weight to bury the Biden laptop story. It worked. Social media outlets prevented any reporting on the laptop from being posted and the mainstream media could easily ignore the story as it was merely “Russian propaganda.”

  Asked recently by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) why he agreed to draft the false sign-on letter, Morell testified that he wanted to “help Vice President Biden … because I wanted him to win the election.”

  Morell also likely expected to be named by President Biden to head up the CIA when it came time to call in favors.

  The Democrats and the mainstream media have relentlessly pushed the lie that the ruckus inside the US Capitol on Jan. 6th 2021 was a move by President Trump to overthrow the election results. Hundreds of “trespassers” were arrested and held in solitary confinement without trial to bolster the false narrative that a conspiracy to steal the election was taking place.

  It turns out that there really was a conspiracy to steal the election, but it was opposite of what was reported. Just as the Steele Dossier was a Democratic Party covert action to plant the lie that the Russians were pulling strings for Trump, the “Russian disinformation campaign” letter was a lie to deflect scrutiny of the Biden family’s possible corruption in the final days of the campaign.

  Did the Biden campaign’s disinformation campaign help rig the election in his favor? Polls suggest that Biden would not have been elected had the American electorate been informed about what was on Hunter Biden’s laptop. So yes, they cheated in the election.

  The Democrats and the mainstream media are still at it, however. Now they are trying to kill the story of how they killed the story of the Biden laptop. This is a scandal that would once upon a time have ended in resignation, impeachment, and/or plenty of jail time. If they successfully bury this story, I hate to say it but there is no more rule of law in what has become the American banana republic.” See here.

  But the main way the election can be rigged is by fraudulent “voting.” It’s much easier to do this with digital scanning of votes than with old-fashioned ballot boxes.

  Dr. Naomi Wolf explains how electronic voting machines make it easier to steal elections:

  “People could steal elections in this ‘analog’ technology of paper and locked ballot boxes, of course, by destroying or hiding votes, or by bribing voters, a la Tammany Hall, or by other forms of wrongdoing, so security and chain of custody, as well as anti-corruption scrutiny, were always needed in guaranteeing accurate election counts. But there was no reason, with analog physical processing of votes, to query the tradition of the secret ballot.

  Before the digital scanning of votes, you could not hack a wooden ballot box; and you could not set an algorithm to misread a pile of paper ballots. So, at the end of the day, one way or another, you were counting physical documents.

  Those days are gone, obviously, and in many districts there are digital systems reading ballots.” See here.

  This isn’t the first time the Left has stolen an election. It happened in the 2020 presidential election too. Ron Unz offers his usual cogent analysis:

  “There does seem to be considerable circumstantial evidence of widespread ballot fraud by Democratic Party forces, hardly surprising given the apocalyptic manner in which so many of their leaders had characterized the threat of a Trump reelection. After all, if they sincerely believed that a Trump victory would be catastrophic for America why would they not use every possible means, fair and foul alike, to save our country from that dire fate?

  In particular, several of the major swing-states contain large cities—Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta—that are both totally controlled by the Democratic Party and also notoriously corrupt, and various eye-witnesses have suggested that the huge anti-Trump margins they provided may have been heavily ‘padded’ to ensure the candidate’s defeat.” See here.

  In a program aired right after Biden’s pitiful State of the Union speech, the great Tucker Carlson pointed out that Biden’s “Justice” Department has already confessed that it plans to rig the election. It will do this by banning voter ID laws as “racist.” This permits an unlimited number of fake votes:

  “If Joe Biden is so good at politics, why is he losing to Donald Trump, who the rest of us were assured was a retarded racist who no normal person would vote for? But now Joe Biden is getting stomped by Donald Trump, but he’s also at the same time good at politics? Right.

  Again, they can’t win, but they’re not giving up. So what does that tell you? Well, they’re going to steal the election. We know they’re going to steal the election because they’re now saying so out loud. Here is the Attorney General of the United States, the chief law enforcement officer of this country in Selma, Alabama, just the other day.

  [Now Carlson quotes the Attorney General, Merrick Garland:]

  “The right to vote is still under attack, and that is why the Justice Department is fighting back. That is why one of the first things I did when I came into office was to double the size of the voting section of the Civil Rights Division. That is why we are challenging efforts by states and jurisdictions to implement discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in voting, the use of drop boxes and voter ID requirements. That is why we are working to block the adoption of discriminatory redistricting plans that dilute the vote of Black voters and other voters of color.

  [Carlson then comments on Garland:]

  “Did you catch that? Of course, you’re a racist. That’s always the takeaway. But consider the details of what the Attorney General of the United States just said. Mail-in balloting, drop boxes, voter ID requirements. The chief law enforcement officer of the United States Government is telling you that it’s immoral, in fact racist, in fact illegal to ask people for their IDs when they vote to verify they are who they say they are. What is that? Well, no one ever talks about this, but the justification for it is that somehow people of color, Black people, don’t have state-issued IDs. Somehow they’re living in a country where you can do virtually nothing without proving your identity with a government-issued ID without government-issued IDs. They can’t fly on planes, they can’t have checking accounts, they can’t have any interaction with the government, state, local, or federal. They can’t stay in hotels. They can’t have credit cards. Because someone without a state-issued ID can’t do any of those things.

  But what’s so interesting is these same people, very much including the Attorney General and the administration he serves, is working to eliminate cash, to make this a cashless society. Have you been to a stadium event recently? No cash accepted. You have to have a credit card. In order to get a credit card you need a state-issued ID, and somehow that’s not racist. But it is racist to ask people to prove their identity when they choose the next President of the United States. That doesn’t make any sense at all. That’s a lie. It’s an easily provable lie, and anyone telling that lie is advocating for mass voter fraud, which the Attorney General is. There’s no other way to read it. So you should know that. You live in a country where the Attorney General is abetting, in fact calling for voter fraud, and that’s the only chance they have to get their guy re-elected.” See here.

  Because of absentee ballots, the voting can be spread out over a long period of time. This makes voting fraud much easier. Mollie Hemingway has done a lot of research on this topic:

  “In the 2020 presidential election, for the first time ever, partisan groups were allowed—on a widespread basis—to cross the bright red line separating government officials who administer elections from political operatives who work to win them. It is important to understand how this happened in order to prevent it in the future.

  Months after the election, Time magazine published a triumphant story of how the election was won by “a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information.”  Written by Molly Ball, a journalist with close ties to Democratic leaders, it told a cheerful story of a “conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes,” the “result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans.”

  A major part of this “conspiracy” to “save the 2020 election” was to use COVID as a pretext to maximize absentee and early voting. This effort was enormously successful. Nearly half of voters ended up voting by mail, and another quarter voted early. It was, Ball wrote, “practically a revolution in how people vote.” Another major part was to raise an army of progressive activists to administer the election at the ground level.

  Here, one billionaire in particular took a leading role: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

  Zuckerberg’s help to Democrats is well known when it comes to censoring their political opponents in the name of preventing “misinformation.” Less well known is the fact that he directly funded liberal groups running partisan get-out-the-vote operations. In fact, he helped those groups infiltrate election offices in key swing states by doling out large grants to crucial districts.

  The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an organization led by Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla, gave more than $400 million to nonprofit groups involved in “securing” the 2020 election. Most of those funds—colloquially called “Zuckerbucks”—were funneled through the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a voter outreach organization founded by Tiana Epps-Johnson, Whitney May, and Donny Bridges. All three had previously worked on activism relating to election rules for the New Organizing Institute, once described by The Washington Post as “the Democratic Party’s Hogwarts for digital wizardry.”

  Flush with $350 million in Zuckerbucks, the CTCL proceeded to disburse large grants to election officials and local governments across the country. These disbursements were billed publicly as “COVID-19 response grants,” ostensibly to help municipalities acquire protective gear for poll workers or otherwise help protect election officials and volunteers against the virus. In practice, relatively little money was spent for this. Here, as in other cases, COVID simply provided cover.

  According to the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), Georgia received more than $31 million in Zuckerbucks, one of the highest amounts in the country. The three Georgia counties that received the most money spent only 1.3 percent of it on personal protective equipment. The rest was spent on salaries, laptops, vehicle rentals, attorney fees for public records requests, mail-in balloting, and other measures that allowed elections offices to hire activists to work the election. Not all Georgia counties received CTCL funding. And of those that did, Trump-voting counties received an average of $1.91 per registered voter, compared to $7.13 per registered voter in Biden-voting counties.

  The FGA looked at this funding another way, too. Trump won Georgia by more than five points in 2016. He lost it by three-tenths of a point in 2020. On average, as a share of the two-party vote, most counties moved Democratic by less than one percentage point in that time. Counties that didn’t receive Zuckerbucks showed hardly any movement, but counties that did moved an average of 2.3 percentage points Democratic. In counties that did not receive Zuckerbucks, “roughly half saw an increase in Democrat votes that offset the increase in Republican votes, while roughly half saw the opposite trend.” In counties that did receive Zuckerbucks, by contrast, three quarters “saw a significant uptick in Democrat votes that offset any upward change in Republican votes,” including highly populated Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, and DeKalb counties.

  Of all the 2020 battleground states, it is probably in Wisconsin where the most has been brought to light about how Zuckerbucks worked.

  CTCL distributed $6.3 million to the Wisconsin cities of Racine, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, and Kenosha—purportedly to ensure that voting could take place “in accordance with prevailing [anti-COVID] public health requirements.”

  Wisconsin law says voting is a right, but that “voting by absentee ballot must be carefully regulated to prevent the potential for fraud or abuse; to prevent overzealous solicitation of absent electors who may prefer not to participate in an election.” Wisconsin law also says that elections are to be run by clerks or other government officials. But the five cities that received Zuckerbucks outsourced much of their election operation to private liberal groups, in one case so extensively that a sidelined government official quit in frustration.

  This was by design. Cities that received grants were not allowed to use the money to fund outside help unless CTCL specifically approved their plans in writing. CTCL kept tight control of how money was spent, and it had an abundance of “partners” to help with anything the cities needed.

  Some government officials were willing to do whatever CTCL recommended. “As far as I’m concerned I am taking all of my cues from CTCL and work with those you recommend,” Celestine Jeffreys, the chief of staff to Democratic Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, wrote in an email. CTCL not only had plenty of recommendations, but made available a “network of current and former election administrators and election experts” to scale up “your vote by mail processes” and “ensure forms, envelopes, and other materials are understood and completed correctly by voters.”

  Power the Polls, a liberal group recruiting poll workers, promised to help with ballot curing. The liberal Mikva Challenge worked to recruit high school-age poll workers. And the left-wing Brennan Center offered help with “election integrity,” including “post-election audits” and “cybersecurity.”

  The Center for Civic Design, an election administration policy organization that frequently partners with groups such as liberal billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund, designed absentee ballots and voting instructions, often working directly with an election commission to design envelopes and create advertising and targeting campaigns. The Elections Group, also linked to the Democracy Fund, provided technical assistance in handling drop boxes and conducted voter outreach. The communications director for the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, an organization that advocates sweeping changes to the elections process, ran a conference call to help Green Bay develop Spanish-language radio ads and geofencing to target voters in a predefined area.

  Digital Response, a nonprofit launched in 2020, offered to “bring voters an updated elections website,” “run a website health check,” “set up communications channels,” “bring poll worker application and management online,” “track and respond to polling location wait times,” “set up voter support and email response tools,” “bring vote-by-mail applications online,” “process incoming [vote-by-mail] applications,” and help with “ballot curing process tooling and voter notification.”

  The National Vote at Home Institute was presented as a “technical assistance partner” that could “support outreach around absentee voting,” provide and oversee voting machines, consult on methods to cure absentee ballots, and even assume the duty of curing ballots.

  A few weeks after the five Wisconsin cities received their grants, CTCL emailed Claire Woodall-Vogg, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, to offer “an experienced elections staffer that could potentially embed with your staff in Milwaukee in a matter of days.” The staffer leading Wisconsin’s portion of the National Vote at Home Institute was an out-of-state Democratic activist named Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein. As soon as he met with Woodall-Vogg, he asked for contacts in other cities and at the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

  Spitzer-Rubenstein would eventually take over much of Green Bay’s election planning from the official charged with running the election, Green Bay Clerk Kris Teske. This made Teske so unhappy that she took Family and Medical Leave prior to the election and quit shortly thereafter.

  Emails from Spitzer-Rubenstein show the extent to which he was managing the election process. To one government official he wrote, “By Monday, I’ll have our edits on the absentee voting instructions. We’re pushing Quickbase to get their system up and running and I’ll keep you updated. I’ll revise the planning tool to accurately reflect the process. I’ll create a flowchart for the vote-by-mail processing that we will be able to share with both inspectors and also observers.”

  Once early voting started, Woodall-Vogg would provide Spitzer-Rubenstein with daily updates on the numbers of absentee ballots returned and still outstanding in each ward­­—prized information for a political operative.

  Amazingly, Spitzer-Rubenstein even asked for direct access to the Milwaukee Election Commission’s voter database:

  “Would you or someone else on your team be able to do a screen-share so we can see the process for an export?” he wrote.

  “Do you know if WisVote has an [application programming interface] or anything similar so that it can connect with other software apps? That would be the holy grail.”

  Even for Woodall-Vogg, that was too much.

  “While I completely understand and appreciate the assistance that is trying to be provided,” she replied, “I am definitely not comfortable having a non-staff member involved in the function of our voter database, much less recording it.”

  When these emails were released in 2021, they stunned Wisconsin observers. “What exactly was the National Vote at Home Institute doing with its daily reports? Was it making sure that people were actually voting from home by going door-to-door to collect ballots from voters who had not yet turned theirs in? Was this data sharing a condition of the CTCL grant? And who was really running Milwaukee’s election?” asked Dan O’Donnell, whose election analysis appeared at Wisconsin’s conservative MacIver Institute.

  Kris Teske, the sidelined Green Bay city clerk—in whose office Wisconsin law actually places the responsibility to conduct elections—had of course seen what was happening early on. “I just don’t know where the Clerk’s Office fits in anymore,” she wrote in early July. By August, she was worried about legal exposure: “I don’t understand how people who don’t have the knowledge of the process can tell us how to manage the election,” she wrote on August 28.

  Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich simply handed over Teske’s authority to agents from outside groups and gave them leadership roles in collecting absentee ballots, fixing ballots that would otherwise be voided for failure to follow the law, and even supervising the counting of ballots. “The grant mentors would like to meet with you to discuss, further, the ballot curing process. Please let them know when you’re available,” Genrich’s chief of staff told Teske.

  Spitzer-Rubenstein explained that the National Vote at Home Institute had done the same for other cities in Wisconsin. “We have a process map that we’ve worked out with Milwaukee for their process. We can also adapt the letter we’re sending out with rejected absentee ballots along with a call script alerting voters. (We can also get people to make the calls, too, so you don’t need to worry about it.)”

  Other emails show that Spitzer-Rubenstein had keys to the central counting facility and access to all the machines before election night. His name was on contracts with the hotel hosting the ballot counting.

  Sandy Juno, who was clerk of Brown County, where Green Bay is located, later testified about the problems in a legislative hearing. “He was advising them on things. He was touching the ballots. He had access to see how the votes were counted,” Juno said of Spitzer-Rubenstein. Others testified that he was giving orders to poll workers and seemed to be the person running the election night count operation.

  “I would really like to think that when we talk about security of elections, we’re talking about more than just the security of the internet,” Juno said. “You know, it has to be security of the physical location, where you’re not giving a third party keys to where you have your election equipment.”

  Juno noted that there were irregularities in the counting, too, with no consistency between the various tables. Some had absentee ballots face-up, so anyone could see how they were marked. Poll workers were seen reviewing ballots not just to see that they’d been appropriately checked by the clerk, but “reviewing how they were marked.” And poll workers fixing ballots used the same color pens as the ones ballots had been filled out in, contrary to established procedures designed to make sure observers could differentiate between voters’ marks and poll workers’ marks.

  The plan by Democratic strategists to bring activist groups into election offices worked in part because no legislature had ever imagined that a nonprofit could take over so many election offices so easily.

  “If it can happen to Green Bay, Wisconsin, sweet little old Green Bay, Wisconsin, these people can coordinate any place,” said Janel Brandtjen, a state representative in Wisconsin.

  She was right. What happened in Green Bay happened in Democrat-run cities and counties across the country. Four hundred million Zuckerbucks were distributed with strings attached. Officials were required to work with “partner organizations” to massively expand mail-in voting and staff their election operations with partisan activists. The plan was genius. And because no one ever imagined that the election system could be privatized in this way, there were no laws to prevent it.

  “Such laws should now be a priority.” See here.

  Let’s do everything we can to publicize the steal. That way, we have a chance to prevent it.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 19:00

• Badass 'Vigilantes' Show Up Evict Squatters At NY House Where Homeowner Arrested
  Badass ‘Vigilantes’ Show Up Evict Squatters At NY House Where Homeowner Arrested

  A pair of vigilantes showed up to a house in Queens, New York where the homeowner was recently arrested for changing the locks on her own house in order to try and evict squatters.

  

  On Tuesday afternoon, two unidentified men driving a black pickup truck pulled into the driveway of the Flushing home in search of the squatters.

  

  “We are looking to get this guy out,” one of the men told the Daily Mail. “I am here to talk to him. I want to see why he is here.”

  The owner, Adele Andaloro, 47, was in the process of selling the inherited property valued at roughly $1 million, when the squatters moved in.

  

  One of the neighbors on the block, who saw what transpired, said ‘holy c**p,’ and said she had no idea that the squatter issue was causing so much backlash.

  Many of the neighbors are baffled by the ordeal – and say they want to know how the squatters gained access into the house in the first place.

  ‘It’s disgusting,’ one person said, who mentioned that he has seen one of the squatters walking around outside.

  He added sarcastically: ‘I wish I could live rent free.’ -Daily Mail

  

  Another neighbor told the Mail that she had seen concerning activity at the house over the past few weeks – including one of the squatters carrying a door into the house one night.

  “I actually saw the door go into the house. The guy looked at me then looked away,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

  “They are doing construction on the house all night long,” said another neighbor. “I heard a drill and saw through my window that they were drilling holes into the wall and putting up boards.”

  

  Andaloro’s arrest was captured on video.

  NEW: New York City homeowner gets arrested after changing the locks on *her own home* after it got taken over by squatters.

  Never do business in New York.

  In NYC, anyone can simply claim “squatter’s rights” after 30 days of living at a home which isn’t even enough time for the… pic.twitter.com/xkcfYM9l7u

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 19, 2024

  According to locals, Andaloro lived in the house with her daughter and mother. When her mother passed away several years ago, she stayed in the house and rented out the basement to an older man and his dog. After the man moved out of state, Andaloro put the house on the market – when the squatters showed up. 

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 18:40

• Watch: Biden Bizarrely Wanders Off Stage Mid Event To Pull Faces At A Baby
  Watch: Biden Bizarrely Wanders Off Stage Mid Event To Pull Faces At A Baby

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  Joe Biden wandered off stage during an event in Phoenix, Arizona so that he could pull funny faces at a baby.

  

  Biden suddenly walked off camera while his campaign manager was introducing him at a Mexican diner in front of literally dozens of people who had shown up to see him.

  Biden gets distracted and wanders off stage pic.twitter.com/Rk9VczNa20

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 19, 2024

  When he came back, Biden announced “Well folks, I have to tell you straight up… I like you all, but I couldn’t resist that little baby.”

  He reportedly asked the mother holding the child “how old?”

  The rest of the appearance was the usual Biden vs teleprompter slur fest:

  BIDEN (struggling to read the giant teleprompter right in front of him): “And we’ve cut deficit by over by the time it’s out over $2 trillion we’ve cut the deficit!”

  (No, he didn’t. He ADDED to the deficit.) pic.twitter.com/zze8QPfTjX

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 20, 2024

  Biden claims he’s a “researcher in history” pic.twitter.com/VNu2ums9j1

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 20, 2024

  The reason Biden was holding this Mexican Diner event is that Donald Trump leads Biden among Hispanic voters 39% to 34%, according to a  USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released in January. 

  A New York Times/Siena College Poll released in February also found Biden losing the Hispanic vote to Trump, 40% to 46%.

  Biden’s popularity among minority demographics is tanking, while Trump’s is soaring.

  *  *  *

  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
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 18:20

• Attention Gen-Zers: Baltimore City Wants To Sell $1 Homes 
  Attention Gen-Zers: Baltimore City Wants To Sell $1 Homes 

  The failed leftist mayor of Baltimore City, Brandon Scott, wants to practically give away vacant row homes to attract new residents and expand the tax base. This initiative comes as the city’s population crashes to a century-low and lawless neighborhoods are littered with vacant row homes. 

  Bloomberg reports Mayor Scott plans to offer residents more than 200 city-owned vacant properties for $1 each. However, those residents must rehab the homes and live in them. The proposal could be voted on as soon as Wednesday. 

  

  WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren recently attended an oversight hearing at City Hall where several council members asked Scott’s administration to postpone a vote on the measure. 

  “There are so many risks and hazards associated with these vacant properties,” resident Maurice Brock told WJZ’s Hellgren. 

  Brock said, “It’s a definite safety risk for citizens, for city employees and firefighters.”

  We spoke to people in the Carrollton Ridge neighborhood, which has a high concentration of vacant homes, about what can be done to rehab so many crumbling properties. @wjz pic.twitter.com/eDo45gmVsH

  — Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) March 5, 2024

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

  Five decades of Democratic control have produced a massive exodus of the population, leaving 13,500 vacant homes across the city. Those who wish to stay anonymous but have participated in rehabbing vacant row homes in the city before, tell us the figure is much higher. 

  Bloomberg noted Scott’s plan to sell vacant homes is reminiscent of the city’s “dollar house” program from the 1970s. 

  The move to revitalize Baltimore (or at least attempt) comes as the city’s total population recently crashed to a 100-year-low, losing nearly 40% of its people since the peak of almost a million in the early 1960s. 

  

  Who in their right mind would buy a vacant home in an imploding city? 

  

  Baltimore City is a prime example that whatever Democrats touch turns to dust.

  As for Gen-Zers and millennials who have been priced out of homes – well now is your chance to buy at the rock bottom. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 18:00

• Pace Of EV Adoption Must Quadruple To Reach Illinois' Goal
  Pace Of EV Adoption Must Quadruple To Reach Illinois’ Goal

  Authored by Mark Glennon and John Klingner via Wirepoints.org,

  It will take a mighty big change of fortune for the electric vehicle (EV) industry to meet Illinois’ goal of one million EVs on the road in Illinois by 2030.

  Gov. JB Pritzker repeated that target last week, but trends are pointing somewhere else.

  The hard numbers are EV registrations in Illinois, published by the Illinois Secretary of State. For the most recent 12-month period, Illinois added just 32,478 vehicles to its EV registration rolls. That’s 8,120 per quarter.

  But to reach the target of one million by 2030, that number would have to increase to about 34,000 per quarter — a four-fold increase, as shown in this chart:

  

  Those numbers may be generous because they assume that all registered EVs will stay on the road through 2030. More importantly, in the latest quarter, new EV registrations dropped to just 4,997, well below the average for the year of 8,120 used above to calculate the needed 4X improvement.

  The recent drop in the quarterly increase in EV registrations no doubt reflects the new reality for EVs, which was summed up in a CNBC article last week headlined, “EV euphoria is dead. Automakers are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.” From that CNBC article:

  Now the hype is dwindling, and companies are again cheering consumer choice. Automakers from Ford, General Motor, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.

  Even U.S. EV leader Tesla, which is estimated to have accounted for 55% of EV sales in the country in 2023, is bracing for what “may be a notably lower” rate of growth, CEO Elon Musk said in late January.

  The gap between Illinois’ target and the EV adoption rate is roughly consistent with the numbers at a national scale, where EV sales need to rise 500 percent by 2032 to hit federal emissions targets.

  EV optimists point to the expectation of lower priced vehicles coming to showrooms soon and more charging stations coming online, shortages of which have impaired EV demand. They also point to consistent year-over-year improvement in EV sales. That may be true, but a 4X jump in the rate of EV adoption looks questionable at best, and record sales are not enough. To make the EV industry financially viable, far more sales are needed than at the current pace.

  So far, Illinois seems unconcerned, and more taxpayer money will go into the effort. Last week, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced round one of the Illinois National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which will provide up to $50 million for the construction of 46 charging stations across the state.

  Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been bet on EVs, making it a historic chapter in government central planning. So far, the numbers look bad.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 17:40

• $500 Per Hour Tutors Are Back In Vogue Now That Colleges Have Decided SATs Are, In Fact, A Necessity
  $500 Per Hour Tutors Are Back In Vogue Now That Colleges Have Decided SATs Are, In Fact, A Necessity

  It was just about a month ago we noted that SATs were once again being reconsidered by colleges who had reduced or eliminated their requirement due to (pick one: diversity, racism, climate change, equity, gender affirmation). 

  As a result of the comeback, Bloomberg noted this week that tutors, sometimes costing $500 per hour, are all of a sudden back in vogue. 

  Bloomberg wrote that demand for SAT tutoring and prep centers is surging as several top colleges reintroduce mandatory SATs, and students adapt to the SAT’s new digital format.

  Kaplan reported a significant enrollment increase, attributed to digital testing and the reinstatement of testing requirements by institutions and three Ivy League schools—Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown—have reinstated mandatory SATs, alongside MIT and the University of Texas at Austin. This shift has left many students scrambling for preparation before early application deadlines.

  Companies like The Princeton Review have also seen a spike in interest for prep services.

  

  Parents Bloomberg profiled are once again investing in tutoring services for their children to improve their chances of success. The debate over standardized testing’s fairness persists however, with critics arguing it favors wealthier students who can afford extensive prep. But those winning the argument still claims that standardized tests provide valuable benchmarks for admissions, potentially aiding in diversifying the applicant pool.

  We noted last month in a piece from American Greatness, that according to Axios, multiple colleges used the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to weaken the importance of SAT and ACT test scores in most student applications. But in recent weeks, several schools have reversed course; Yale is considering repealing its prior policy of making SAT/ACT requirements optional, with Dartmouth already reinstating the requirements earlier this month. MIT reversed a similar policy back in 2022.

  Other schools that have eliminated SAT/ACT requirements include Harvard and Columbia. Harvard, along with Cornell and Princeton, have extended their policy of making the scores optional, while Columbia’s policy remains permanent.

  One of the motivating factors behind the reversal is ongoing research showing a clear correlation between students’ standardized test scores, and their subsequent academic performance and graduation rates in college. Some schools had previously opposed the test requirements for reasons of “diversity,” baselessly accusing the tests of being “racist” and against minority students.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 17:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Former Top Polish Army Chief Admits "Ukraine Is Losing The War"
  Former Top Polish Army Chief Admits “Ukraine Is Losing The War”

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

  A former top Polish army chief says Ukraine is losing the war and that “more than 10 million people are missing.”

  

  General Rajmund Andrzejczak, the ex-chief of the Polish General Staff, made the comments during an appearance on Polsat Television.

  “More than 10 million people are missing. According to my estimates, losses should be in the millions, not hundreds of thousands. The country has no resources, no one to fight. Ukrainians are losing this war,” said the general.

  Andrzejczak pointed to Ukraine’s dwindling anti-aircraft missile supplies, which would allow Russia to conduct more effective strikes, casualties, and infrastructure damage.

  “The Ukrainians are losing this war,” he stated emphasized.

  “Trzeba się szykować”. Gen. Rajmund Andrzejczak o zagrożeniu wojną – Polsat News

  Były Szef Sztabu WP mówi w tym wywiadzie też o polskiej broni jądrowej.

  W S&F na dniach rozpoczniemy narodową debatę o naszych strategiach i zdolnościach nuklearnych.
  https://t.co/ZXpdTZO3no

  — Jacek Bartosiak (@BartosiakJacek) March 19, 2024

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  After German intelligence sources warned that Russia would be in a position to attack another NATO country after 2026, Andrzejczak warned that Poland has a limited time to prepare.

  “We need to prepare… A lot depends on us, whether it will be in two, three, or five years. Our mission is to push the threat further away. There is still time, but much work is needed,” he said.

  As we highlighted back in December, Michael Maloof, a former Pentagon official, that the war in Ukraine is effectively “over” because Kiev’s counter-offensive has failed and there is no appetite in America to continue funding it.

  The average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now 43 and mentally disabled men are being sent to fight on the front lines.

  Back in November Sascha Lehnartz, chief correspondent of German newspaper Die Welt, said the Ukrainian “counteroffensive seems to have failed” and that there was a sense Kiev had “already lost” the war.

  A month before that, CNN reported on a Time article which quoted a top Zelensky aide as saying, “He deludes himself. We’re out of options. We’re not winning.”

  *  *  *

  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
  Wed, 03/20/2024 – 02:00

• New York Times, After Years of Appeasing CCP, Now Plans Attack On Dissidents In US
  New York Times, After Years of Appeasing CCP, Now Plans Attack On Dissidents In US

  Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The New York Times for nearly six months has been preparing a hit piece against Shen Yun Performing Arts, The Epoch Times has learned.

  

  Communications obtained by The Epoch Times suggest the article, which is yet to be published, will play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its transnational repression campaign against Shen Yun.

  The New York-based Shen Yun, whose mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and whose slogan is “China Before Communism,” has been a major thorn in Beijing’s side for nearly two decades.

  In its campaign, the CCP has used a plethora of tactics to obstruct Shen Yun—which each year performs for an audience of a million people globally—including attempting to pressure theaters to drop performances, persecuting artists’ family members back in China, and hijacking the U.S. legal system for its purposes.

  The FBI last May arrested two suspected Chinese agents who had tried to bribe an FBI agent posing as an IRS official with tens of thousands of dollars in an attempt to revoke Shen Yun’s nonprofit status.

  The Department of Justice indicated that the two alleged CCP agents had also sought to use an environmental lawsuit targeting the company’s training facilities and schools to “inhibit” their growth.

  The next attack against Shen Yun, however, appears to be coming from America’s largest newspaper, The New York Times.

  Two reporters, Michael Rothfeld and Nicole Hong—the latter of whom began to work on the Shen Yun story after spending six months at The New York Times’ China desk—have specifically sought out former artists who might have left the company years ago with a grudge, records obtained by The Epoch Times suggest.

  Many of Shen Yun’s artists are practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation practice whose followers are brutally persecuted by the CCP—making the company a prime target of the regime and its proxies. Some of Shen Yun’s dance pieces include artistic depictions of the persecution.

  “We know these reporters are targeting for interviews [with] a tiny group that might have something bad to say about Shen Yun, and seem to be ignoring the overwhelming majority [of artists] who see their time at Shen Yun positively and deeply rewarding,”  Ying Chen, a vice president of Shen Yun, told The Epoch Times.

  

  “We also know some of these interviewees have freely traveled to China, which raises a huge red flag because normally anyone who works for Shen Yun or is known to practice Falun Gong would be in grave danger going back to China—but these folks do so freely and repeatedly. We also have records of communication that demonstrate some of these interviewees were very happy with their experience at Shen Yun, but now are saying the opposite to The New York Times.

  “All this indicates that The New York Times is laser-focused on attacking us, and are building a story around very questionable interviews.”

  ­­­­Out to Smear

  Internal CCP documents show the Party considers the Shen Yun campus in upstate New York, called Dragon Springs, a “headquarters” of activities by Falun Gong practitioners to counter the persecution.

  “Attack the overseas Falun Gong headquarters and bases systematically and strategically,” reads one CCP directive document obtained by The Epoch Times.

  Another document prescribes specific industries to co-opt in its transnational repression against Falun Gong, calling for mobilization of “China friendly people such as experts, scholars, journalists … who have greater influence in the U.S. and Western countries to speak for us, and strive to make more foreign media to publish more reports favorable to us.”

  The New York Times now appears to be doing just that, commented Larry Liu, a deputy director of the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC), a nonprofit dedicated to monitoring the persecution of Falun Gong.

  

  “This article will likely be the CCP’s dream come true,” says Mr. Liu.

  Not long after Ms. Hong returned to New York last year after a stint with The New York Times’ China team in Seoul, some former Shen Yun dancers started to receive emails from her and Mr. Rothfeld. The emailed questions were at times disturbingly specific and left the artists with the impression the reporters were trying to dig up information that could be weaponized against the company, Mr. Liu said.

  One former dancer was only asked about one specific incident: a knee injury.

  According to Mr. Liu, the reporters seem to be trying to craft a narrative suggesting that the dancers don’t receive sufficient medical care, a key false narrative pushed by the CCP to malign Falun Gong.

  The Epoch Times spoke to dozens of Shen Yun artists and their family members as well as students and teachers at two schools affiliated with Shen Yun. They described the environment as demanding, but with a healthy culture and supportive community. The suggestion of lacking medical care or treatment prompted visceral responses.

  “It’s absolute rubbish,” said Kay Rubacek whose son and daughter perform with Shen Yun. Ms. Rubacek is a filmmaker whose portfolio includes award-winning documentaries and the program “Life & Times” on NTD.

  “Everyone who watches the show, sees Shen Yun, they can see that these dancers love it. They really love what they do.”

  Her children started attending Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, a grade 5–12 private art school, when they were 13 and 14. She was very particular about first getting familiar with the campus and the teachers, she said.

  “I’m very careful with where I send my kids. I’m very protective of them,” she said. “So for me to feel comfortable for them to go to a boarding school, I have to check everything, and I checked everything.”

  The dance track at the school gives students the possibility of auditioning for Shen Yun while training at the Fei Tian College on the same campus, which is what her children did–with great success, she noted.

  She recalled that shortly after joining the school, her son hit his toe during dance practice. He was taken for an X-ray, which revealed a hairline fracture. His dance teacher insisted he couldn’t join dance class again until the fracture had fully healed.

  He took the hiatus as an opportunity to focus on stretching, becoming one of the most flexible dancers in the troupe, she said.

  “The level of positivity that I see coming from them and their ability to face challenges is pretty remarkable and something that I wish I had as a kid,” Ms. Rubacek said.

  She was appalled to learn that The New York Times would try to smear her children as being part of some opprobrious organization.

  

  ‘Real Danger’

  “The false narratives that the Times seems to be pursuing are a grave concern for us because it can create real danger,” said George Xu, vice president of Dragon Springs.

  He said several months ago local and federal authorities mobilized to counter what they believed was a credible threat posed by a Chinese man who posted to social media about wanting to be part of a “death squad.” The man also posted a video of himself loading an AR-15 rifle magazines.

  The man “propagates these same false narratives and had been speaking with some of the same individuals the [New York] Times is interviewing,” Mr. Xu said.

  “At one point, this man was known to be in the area of our campus. … We had state police patrolling our entrances, and everyone was on high alert. This is very serious.”

  The Epoch Times obtained a copy of a September FBI Officer Safety bulleting, stating that the man “has made threats to the Dragon Springs campus,” was seen in the area, and “is potentially armed and dangerous.”

  Aiming for the Top

  Shen Yun prides itself as the leading Chinese classical dance company in the world, growing from one group in 2007 to eight, each with its own orchestra, touring the world and performing for more than a million people every year. The Epoch Times has been a long-time media sponsor of Shen Yun.

  As with any elite artistic endeavor, classical Chinese dance requires enormous effort, said multiple dancers and teachers.

  

  “To become an artist of such a high caliber, it definitely takes a lot of grit and a lot of persistence, and you have to sacrifice a lot of time and energy,” said Alison Chen, who retired from Shen Yun in 2015 to become a dance teacher and later co-chair of the dance department at Fei Tian College’s campus in Middletown, New York.

  She was still in her teens when she started training with Shen Yun in 2007, shortly after its inception. Thanks to her aptitude and previous dance experience, she was invited to join the touring company fairly quickly as part of her school practicum. Over the years, however, the company has continued to raise the bar. Fei Tian students are still allowed to audition for tours as part of their coursework, but their dance skills must be exceptional for them to make the cut, she said.

  Compared to ballet, classical Chinese dance training is more aligned with the natural disposition of the human body, leading to less extreme strain, said Jimmy Cha, who was a professional ballet dancer before he joined Shen Yun in 2008.

  Ballet dancers usually retire in their 30s and are often left with chronic pain and other ailments. On average, younger amateur dancers suffer one injury and older professional dancers 1.2 injuries for every 1,000 dance hours, according to a 2015 review of research on the topic.

  According to those estimates, a professional dance company the size of Shen Yun would theoretically have hundreds of injuries occurring every year.

  The dancers and teachers The Epoch Times spoke to didn’t have such statistics ready, but all agreed the injury incidence they observed in Shen Yun was a fraction of that number.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 23:40

• Piers Morgan Vs Jeffrey Sachs On Putin: "Russia's War With Ukraine Was Completely Avoidable"
  Piers Morgan Vs Jeffrey Sachs On Putin: “Russia’s War With Ukraine Was Completely Avoidable”

  Economist Jeffrey Sachs has appeared this week on Piers Morgan Uncensored where the two discussed Russian leader Vladimir Putin just being elected to a fifth 6th year term as president. Sachs speaks from within the establishment, having long served as a UN advisor, but has at the same time been branded in mainstream media as “a Putin cheerleader” – as Wall Street Journal and others have long described him. Sachs had a wide-ranging discussion with Morgan over the Ukraine crisis and other pressing global topics. The guest has long been controversial for his ‘unorthodox’ views on everything from Syria to Libya to US hegemony and Western regime change efforts in the third world.

  “My point has always been, lets end this war in Ukraine,” Professor Sachs told Morgan, while emphasizing that Washington has been bent on regime change in Moscow which began in earnest in 2014 with the overthrow of the Yanukovych government in Kiev. Sachs said the tragedy of the Ukraine war ultimately began with the US seeking to destabilize Russia and NATO expansion up to its borders. Sachs lashed out at critics saying “It’s not a matter of cheerleading. It’s a matter of common sense. I’ve known the Eastern European region for over 30 years.” He described that Washington thought it could “bleed” Russia and so thwarted attempts at peace talks in the wake of the February 2022 invasion.

  Sachs said, “My view is that this war was completely avoidable, and could have been ended in March 2022. But, it persists because we don’t have a sensible approach.” When asked about his views of Vladimir Putin and the prospect for peace negotiations to finally settle the war, Sachs offered the following: “We’re not in a game. We’re not in name calling. We’re not in a cage brawl,” Sachs said. “We’re trying to actually not have the world spiral into nuclear war. So it’s not that game. The game is sit down and negotiate.” Sachs in the interview pointed out that as far back as 2007 Putin was clear on his red lines regarding violating prior NATO vows of not expanding East. Watch a key section of the interview below:

  🗣 “I think he’s [Putin] very smart, very tough, and I think he says what he means”: Jeffrey Sachs dropping truth bombs.

  Piers Morgan, during his show Pierce Morgan Uncensored, desperately tried to squeeze negative statements about Putin out of US economist Jeffrey Sachs, but… pic.twitter.com/28NdC4qMkB

  — Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 19, 2024

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

  Sachs explained the following on the origins of the Ukraine war:

  “I believe that the big mistake of both sides is we should talk this out. And now let me say a word about talking it out. In 2008, when Bucharest happened, European leaders called me because I’m friends with them. They said, what is your crazy president doing, by the way?

  Some who are in power right now, I won’t name names. What is your president doing? Why is he destabilizing things? He promised he wasn’t going to push Ukraine. That’s what european leaders say in private. They don’t say it in public. We avoided the negotiations. Then 2014 came, sadly, Piers. I saw some of it firsthand. It was ugly. The United States should not be funding overthrows of governments. We did. I know it.

  The two also discussed everything from the war in Gaza to the TikTok ban, with Sachs saying of the China-based platform and current controversy: “I think we are in the middle of a very typical American paranoid phase…“

  On the Gaza war, which began on Oct.7 and the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel, Sachs said controversally:

  “Israel has the most extremist religious nationalist government in its history…there’s no end game here politically other than complete domination or ethnic cleansing or slaughter.”

  Watch the full Piers Morgan and Jeffrey Sachs interview below:

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 23:20

• Duty, Honor, Nothing
  Duty, Honor, Nothing

  Authored by ‘Citizen Soldier’ via RealClear Wire,

  My father remembers a trip with my grandfather to the U.S. Military Academy in the early 1960s to watch a baseball game. They loved the game, but what struck my grandfather, who served in the Pacific during World War II, was something else.

  “Watch how they sprint on and off the field,” he said. “Every inning. The best player and the worst. Whatever the score.”

  

  I don’t know whether the boys at West Point still sprint on and off the athletic fields. I bet they do. Their generals and the politicians, however, are running in the wrong direction.

  West Point is dropping “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement, to be replaced with the nebulous phrase, “Army Values.” Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said “Duty, Honor, Country” would remain West Point’s “motto.”

  But “motto” is not mission, which declares what a unit is and does. Troops live and die for the mission. No “motto” could ever mean so much.

  West Point leadership wants us not to be alarmed. Just trust the process, they say. The “process” – apparently of erasure and reinvention – began two years ago with removal of plaques and images of Robert E. Lee in favor of “appropriate language and images,” as Gilland described them.

  So here we are, further stripping away the tradition and rigor that defined West Point.

  In contemporary America, life in power seems dedicated not to responsibility but self-interest. Authority figures and thought leaders specialize in manipulating opinions, bullying us into using certain words, canceling history, placing certain ideas above others. Their eyes are big, their minds addled by attention and praise, their demands absolute.

  Such a culture is contemptuous of and disdains tradition. So-called leaders are energized by tearing down tradition, making more room for monuments to their own era and outsized egos.

  Tweak the colors.

  Change the fonts.

  Replace time-honored words for something new, something soft, something “appropriate.”

  This is not to say I doubt the patriotism of Lt. Gen. Gilland, and others like him. Gilland has given more than 40 years of service to the Army. He and many other soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are the best of us.

  Which is why we urge him to pick his head up and look around, remember that leading is more than just keeping your head down as you navigate the career minefield, hoping to survive, praying that playing along will secure the next rank.

  To those at the top, I say this:

  Words gain their meaning through generations of commitment, sacrifice and faith.

  Duty.

  Honor.

  Country.

  These are the words that define us—throw them away at our own peril.

  Citizen Soldier believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 23:00

• Sorghum: The Ancient Grain For Modern Health
  Sorghum: The Ancient Grain For Modern Health

  Authored by Emma Suttie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Although many may not have heard of sorghum, it is an ancient grain that has been a staple in diets throughout Africa and Asia for millennia. According to the Whole Grains Council, ancient grains refer to grains that have been largely unchanged for hundreds of years and, thus, are often healthier options compared to the many refined grains we eat today.

  

  Sorghum, or sorghum bicolor, is a cereal grain plant and member of the grass family—along with wheat, corn, and barley. It has a high yield and is resistant to heat and droughts, making it a highly prized crop in hot and arid regions.

  There are many varieties, and the plant produces small, round grains that are often categorized by color, coming in white (the most common), yellow, red, and black varieties. The grains are eaten cooked or ground into flour for bread, baked goods, and other dishes.

  The United States is the largest producer of grain sorghum globally, producing about 454 million bushels in 2021. It is a hearty, versatile crop that, in addition to being a nutritious food for humans, is used for animal feed and biofuel, and a sweet variety is used to make syrup, molasses, whiskey, and rum.

  Sorghum goes by many names around the world. It is known as Guinea corn in West Africa, kafir corn in South Africa, dura in Sudan, mtama in East Africa, bachanta in Ethiopia, cholan, chari, milo, and jowar in India, shallu in Myanmar, and kaoliang in China.

  Nutrition

  Sorghum is a gluten-free grain that has gained popularity in recent years due to an increasing number of people looking for gluten-free options to make bread and other baked goods or those with celiac disease who need to avoid gluten to keep their digestive systems happy.

  Dr. Steven Gundry is a former heart surgeon and present director and founder of the International Heart & Lung Institute and the Center for Restorative Medicine, a bestselling author, and expert in human nutrition. A big fan of sorghum for its health benefits, Dr. Gundry recommends it to patients, telling The Epoch Times via email:

  “Since 100 percent of my leaky gut and autoimmune patients have antibodies to gluten and the other wheat, barley, rye, and oat proteins, it’s the perfect replacement to stop damage to the gut wall, yet still tastes great and has that all-important ‘mouthfeel’ [as] the other grains.”

  Sorghum is also an abundant source of polyphenols—compounds that plants produce that help to protect them from threats. Those protections are passed on to us when we eat these polyphenol-producing plants.

  Research has shown that polyphenols in plants have a significant protective effect against the development of multiple chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer.

  

  Dr. Gundry also points to another unique benefit of sorghum, saying:

  “Sorghum is one of the few grains that has no hull, hence it has no lectins—dangerous plant proteins that can cause leaky gut. Moreover, it is a plant that grows well with limited water use, perfect for global climate changes.

  “Plus, because of its texture, it can be a great stand-in for other grains like sorghum risotto or sorghum ‘oatmeal’ or turkey stuffing—I share a recipe for this in my NYT bestselling ‘Plant Paradox Cookbook!’”

  An excellent source of protein and fiber, a one-cup serving of sorghum grain offers 20.4 grams of protein and 12.9 grams of fiber. Abundant in vitamins and minerals, sorghum has ample phosphorous, iron, magnesium, copper, zinc, and potassium, all vital for a healthy body.

  Sorghum is also exceptionally high in antioxidants due to its phenolic compounds. A study published in The Journal of Medicinal Food found that two sorghum varieties—black and sumac—have greater antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties than popular foods like pomegranates and blueberries.

  Studies have shown sorghum is beneficial for a variety of conditions, from helping to lower blood sugar to helping reduce the risk of some cancers.

  Helps Lower Blood Sugar

  Its low glycemic index level means that sorghum digests more slowly than other grains, helping release glucose into the body gradually, which is especially helpful for those with diabetes.

  A small randomized-controlled trial using healthy men set out to evaluate the effect of grain sorghum on blood glucose and insulin levels after eating. The men consumed either whole wheat (used as the control) or grain sorghum muffins, and their glucose and insulin levels were measured “15 minutes before and 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, 180 minutes after consumption.”

  Researchers found an average of 35 percent reduced blood glucose in the men eating the sorghum muffins. Insulin responses were also significantly reduced with the sorghum muffins versus the control. The results led the researchers to conclude that grain sorghum can “assist in managing glucose and insulin levels in healthy individuals.”

  Supports Heart Health

  Keeping blood moving freely throughout the circulatory system is vital for a healthy heart, and heart disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Aspirin is commonly prescribed for those with heart conditions and for those at risk of developing the disease to thin the blood and prevent dangerous blood clots from forming.

  According to data from the National Institutes of Health, approximately 29 million Americans “who don’t have cardiovascular disease take aspirin daily for prevention.”

  In a study published in Nutrients in 2020, researchers took blood samples from 18 healthy volunteers and treated them with various levels of black sorghum extract to observe their effect on blood clotting. The extract “significantly reduced both collagen-induced platelet aggregation and circulatory PMP [platelet-derived microparticles] release compared to the control,” meaning they reduced blood clotting.

  Based on the results, the study concluded that the black sorghum extract may have cardioprotective effects by “modulating specific signaling pathways involved in platelet activation and PMP release.”

  Sorghum May Help Reduce the Risk of Some Cancers

  Studies suggest that sorghum may also have anticancer effects.

  A study using human breast cancer xenografts in mice (human breast cancer implanted into mice) found that sorghum could suppress tumor growth and inhibit migration and metastasis of human breast cancer cells. The researchers concluded by “strongly recommending” sorghum (Hwanggeumchal sorghum) as an “edible therapeutic agent” for its “tumor suppression, migration inhibition, and anti-metastatic effects on breast cancer.”

  Another study set out to test the anticancer effects of a “high phenolic sorghum bran extract” on human colon cancer cells. The study found that colon cancer cells treated with the extract demonstrated a “significant dose-dependent suppression of cell proliferation.” The extract also induced apoptosis (cell death) and inhibited cell growth, migration, and invasion. Researchers noted that “the present study expands our understanding of the potential use of high phenolic sorghum bran to prevent human colon cancer.”

  In a third study using a mouse model, “high-phenolic sorghum bran extracts” inhibited the spread and induced apoptosis (cell death) in colorectal cancer cell lines. The extract also activated AMPK (a tumor suppressor) and autophagy (a healthy cell’s natural recycling process that removes unwanted or defective parts). Six weeks of treatment with the extract was shown to “significantly suppress tumor formation.”

  More research on human subjects is needed, but the initial research on animal models and in humans is promising.

  How to Use Sorghum and Where to Find it

  Sorghum is highly versatile and available in most health food stores and online as a grain, flour, and, increasingly, in a wide variety of products like popcorn, pasta, cereal, and bread. Dr. Gundry has a section on his website listing recommended products, including some made with sorghum, like spaghetti.

  For anyone looking to introduce a healthier whole grain into their diet or those trying to avoid gluten due to sensitivities—you don’t have to give up grains completely—sorghum is a wonderful, nutrient-packed option, high in protein and fiber, with many health benefits.

  “For those people who cannot give up grains, sorghum is the perfect replacement. Plus, for people who cannot give up popcorn, Popped sorghum tastes like, smells like, looks like popcorn! My wife is addicted to it!” Dr. Gundry says.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 22:20

• Egypt Saw Gas Trade With Israel Soar In 2023, As Economy Falters 
  Egypt Saw Gas Trade With Israel Soar In 2023, As Economy Falters 

  Via The Cradle

  Israel’s NewMed Energy reported on Tuesday that natural gas exports from the Leviathan field to Egypt increased by 28 percent in 2023. The company reports that the exports jumped from 4.9 billion cubic meters (BCM) in 2022 to 6.3 BCM in 2023. 

  Israel Katz, former energy minister, approved the increase in exports to Egypt last year. For 2026, he projected an annual production increase of six BCM – about 60 percent over the current volume. “3.5 BCM of which will be directed in favor of Egypt,” the report stated. 

  

  “The expansion of the total export quota to Egypt was increased by 38.7 BCM over 11 years,” the Israeli Ministry of Energy’s August announcement read. “The export permit was granted under the comprehensive framework approved by government decisions … and in consultation with the Director of the Natural Gas Authority. In addition, an additional increase of 0.5 BCM per year is being considered.”

  The ministry noted that, in addition to enabling production expansion, the new exports are expected to derive billions of dollars in bonus revenues for Israel, increase energy ties with Egypt and other regional players, and strengthen Israel’s geopolitical status.

  Furthermore, the report adds that “on December 14, 2023, the partners in the Tamar reservoir announced that the Ministry of Energy approved them to increase the export permit of the reservoir from 38.7 BCM … to 43 BCM. This amount will make it possible to increase the maximum amount of additional gas allowed for export to Egypt from 3.5 BCM per year to 4 BCM per year. As of the valuation date, no agreement has yet been signed. The export is subject to the aforementioned export permit.”

  NewMed reported that Leviathan’s partners, including Chevron, will invest $568 million to upgrade the field. In the latter half of 2025, annual production will increase from 12 BCM to 14 BCM. The company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $102 million, down significantly from $141 million the previous year.

  Egypt–Israel tensions have been on the rise in recent months over Tel Aviv’s plan to push Gazans into the Sinai Peninsula to continue with their plan of invading Rafah. 

  Cairo has called on Washington, which has previously condemned the plan, to send a clear message to its regional ally not to move forward with the Rafah invasion. It says that “it is not enough to state opposition; it is also important to indicate what if that position is circumvented, what if that position is not respected.”

  

  However, following multiple investment deals into Egypt by other regional allies of Israel and a boost in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to be granted to Egypt, the North African nation is constructing an “isolated security zone,” something which local rights groups are calling Cairo’s preparation for an influx of Palestinian refugees.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 22:00

• Woman Who Worked For Congress After Jan. 6 Charged In Capitol Breach
  Woman Who Worked For Congress After Jan. 6 Charged In Capitol Breach

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

  A woman who worked for multiple members of Congress after the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol has been charged with participating in the breach.

  

  Isabella DeLuca was arrested in Irvine, California on March 15 on charges of theft of government property, parading in a Capitol building, and disorderly conduct in a restricted building and in the Capitol, according to court documents that were unsealed on Monday.

  Surveillance footage reviewed by the FBI showed a woman matching Ms. DeLuca’s appearances in and around the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to one filing. The video showed her moving from the Capitol’s terrace to the Capitol, entering the building through a broken window, and helping people steal furniture, including a lamp and chair.

  Ms. DeLuca later posted on social media that she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

  She faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

  Ms. DeLuca became an intern for then-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) in April 2021, according to archived screenshots of her LinkedIn profile. Ms. DeLuca was employed by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from 2022 through early 2023, according to congressional salary records.

  Ms. DeLuca later went on to work as a media associate for The Gold Institute for International Strategy.

  A spokesperson for the institute told the Associated Press that the organization learned on Monday that Ms. DeLuca was charged.

  “Following further internal investigation, we felt it necessary to sever our relationship,” the spokesperson said.

  Ms. DeLuca wrote on X after the charges were unsealed, “Thank you everyone for all the kind messages and the support.” She asked for donations to cover her legal defense.

  Mr. Zeldin did not respond to a request for comment.

  “Isabella DeLuca was an intern in Congressman Gosar’s office for three months beginning in the Fall of 2022. We have no knowledge of any alleged participation in activities on January 6, 2021,” Anthony Foti, a spokesperson for Mr. Gosar, told The Epoch Times via email.

  Tip

  The FBI first received a tip on Jan. 9, 2021, about Ms. DeLuca being part of the breach, and interviewed her on Jan. 21, 2021. Ms. DeLuca and her mother, who also spoke to the FBI that day, said Ms. DeLuca was at the Capitol but did not enter the building, according to the FBI.

  Bank records obtained by the FBI showed Ms. DeLuca paid for a train ticket to Washington on Jan. 5 and stayed at a hotel room in Alexandria, Virginia. Her credit card showed purchases in Washington on Jan. 6 within two miles of the Capitol.

  The FBI in 2022 obtained a search warrant for Ms. DeLuca’s Instagram account, which showed her asking for a ride from Baltimore, Maryland after the train broke down and that she got one to Alexandria on early Jan. 6, 2021.

  The FBI in December 2023 interviewed workers at the apartment building where Ms. DeLuca lives and an employee identified Ms. DeLuca in photographs from the Capitol.

  Messages, Posts

  Ms. DeLuca posted on Twitter on Jan. 6, 2021, at 2:55 p.m., “Fight back or let politicians steal and [sic] election? Fight back!”

  She told another Instagram user shortly after that she was heading to the Capitol.

  After the events captured by video, other Instagram messages obtained by the FBI showed Ms. DeLuca wrote in messages that “it’s insanity here” and “I got maced and had a sound bomb go off right next to me.” Early the next day, she wrote in another message that the reason she supported breaching the Capitol was, “According to the Constitution, it’s our house.”

  “I was there on Jan. 6. I have mixed feelings. People went to the Capitol building because that’s Our House and that’s where we go to take our grievances. People feel, as do I that an election was stolen from them and it was allowed,” she added in a Jan. 14, 2021, social media post.

  Ms. DeLuca later deleted many Instagram posts from on and around Jan. 6, 2021, according to the FBI. “Based on my knowledge, training, and experience, people who commit criminal acts will often delete information about those acts from social media accounts in an attempt to thwart any subsequent criminal investigation,” a

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 21:40

• FBI Has To Face Lawsuit Over 'No-Fly List:' Supreme Court
  FBI Has To Face Lawsuit Over ‘No-Fly List:’ Supreme Court

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

  The FBI must face a lawsuit filed by a Muslim man who has since been removed from the bureau’s “no-fly list,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 19.

  “The government has failed to demonstrate that this case is moot,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a unanimous ruling.

  “While the government’s representation that it will not relist Mr. Fikre may mean that his past conduct is not enough to warrant relisting, that does not speak to whether the government might relist him if he engages in the same or similar conduct in the future,” he added later.

  

  Yonas Fikre, a Eritrean national and American citizen, sued the FBI in 2015 after having issues traveling due to being on the no-fly list, which is part of the government’s terrorist screening database. It bars certain people from flying.

  “The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision is a major blow to the lawlessness that has allowed the FBI to amass almost two million people on their secret lists. This is but the latest indication that the FBI’s secret watchlists have no place in our country,” Gadeir Abbas, an attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations who is representing Mr. Fikre, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  Government officials did not respond to requests for comment.

  Told He Couldn’t Return

  Mr. Fikre experienced problems flying, including when he traveled to Sudan in 2009 from Oregon, according to court papers.

  While in Sudan at the U.S. embassy there, two FBI agents told Mr. Fikre he could not return to the United States since he was on the no-fly list. The agents also asked him about the mosque he attended and offered to look into having him removed from the list if he became a bureau informant.

  Mr. Fikre refused.

  Mr. Fikre then went to the United Arab Emirates, where he allegedly was detained for months on direction from the FBI. He eventually ended up in Sweden.

  The government in 2015 declined to remove Mr. Fikre from the last, alleging he “is an individual who represents a threat of engaging in or conducting a violent act of terrorism and who is operationally capable of doing so.” The information supporting placing and keeping Mr. Fikre on the last was too sensitive to share, the government said at the time.

  Mr. Fikre then filed the suit.

  Case Dismissed Before

  In 2016, the FBI told Mr. Fikre it removed him from the no-fly list because “he no longer satisfied the criteria for placement on the on-fly list.”

  The bureau then asked a federal court to dismiss the case, claiming the removal meant the suit had become moot.

  The U.S. District Judge Anna Brown, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, ruled for the government. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision because, it said, there was nothing to prevent the government from putting Mr. Fikre back on the list in the future.

  After the government swore it would not do that, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman, appointed under President George W. Bush entered an order dismissing the case.

  But the appeals court again overturned the lower court decision, finding that the court wrongly dismissed the claims and that the government had not provided enough information on why Mr. Fikre was placed on and then removed from the list. It remanded the case back to the district court.

  The government then appealed the ruling, asking the Supreme Court to step in.

  “The court of appeals erred in holding that respondent’s claims challenging his placement on the No Fly List are not moot even though he was removed from that list seven years ago and the government has submitted a sworn declaration stating that he ‘will not be placed on the No Fly List in the future based on the currently available information,’” government lawyers said. “The court’s holding directly conflicts with decisions of the Fourth and Sixth Circuits that have found similar No Fly List claims moot upon the execution of declarations materially identical to the one in this case.”

  More on SCOTUS Ruling

  The Supreme Court, though, said that the government was wrong.

  “The government contends that because Mr. Fikre has been delisted since 2016 and has presumably interacted freely with his co-religionists during that time, it is unlikely he will face relisting in the future. This too is insufficient to warrant dismissal,” Justice Gorsuch, appointed by President Donald Trump, said.

  “A defendant’s speculation about a plaintiff’s actions cannot make up for a lack of assurance about its own. The burden here is on the defendant to establish that it cannot reasonably be expected to resume its challenged conduct, and nothing the government offers here satisfies that formidable standard,” he added.

  In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito, appointed by President Bush, said the ruling did not mean the government must disclose classified information to Mr. Fikre, his attorneys, or a court.

  Justice Alito was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by President Trump.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 21:00

• Young People Aren't Nearly Angry Enough About Government Debt
  Young People Aren’t Nearly Angry Enough About Government Debt

  Authored by The American Institute for Economic Research,

  Young people sometimes seem to wake up in the morning in search of something to be outraged about. We are among the wealthiest and most educated humans in history. But we’re increasingly convinced that we’re worse off than our parents were, that the planet is in crisis, and that it’s probably not worth having kids.

  

  I’ll generalize here about my own cohort (people born after 1981 but before 2010), commonly referred to as Millennials and Gen Z, as that shorthand corresponds to survey and demographic data. Millennials and Gen Z have valid economic complaints, and the conditions of our young adulthood perceptibly weakened traditional bridges to economic independence. We graduated with record amounts of student debt after President Obama nationalized that lending. Housing prices doubled during our household formation years due to zoning impediments and chronic underbuilding. Young Americans say economic issues are important to us, and candidates are courting our votes by promising student debt relief and cheaper housing (which they will never be able to deliver).

  Young people, in our idealism and our rational ignorance of the actual appropriations process, typically support more government intervention, more spending programs, and more of every other burden that has landed us in such untenable economic circumstances to begin with. Perhaps not coincidentally, young people who’ve spent the most years in the increasingly partisan bubble of higher education are also the most likely to favor expanded government programs as a “solution” to those complaints.

  It’s Your Debt, Boomer 

  What most young people don’t yet understand is that we are sacrificing our young adulthood and our financial security to pay for debts run up by Baby Boomers. Part of every Millennial and Gen-Z paycheck is payable to people the same age as the members of Congress currently milking this system and miring us further in debt.

  Our government spends more than it can extract from taxpayers. Social Security, which represents 20 percent of government spending, has run an annual deficit for 15 years. Last year Social Security alone overspent by $22.1 billion. To keep sending out checks to retirees, Social Security goes begging to the Treasury Department, and the Treasury borrows from the public by issuing bonds. Bonds allow investors (who are often also taxpayers) to pay for some retirees’ benefits now, and be paid back later. But investors only volunteer to lend Social Security the money it needs to cover its bills because the (younger) taxpayers will eventually repay the debt — with interest.

  In other words, both Social Security and Medicare, along with various smaller federal entitlement programs, together comprising almost half of the federal budget, have been operating for a decade on the principle of “give us the money now, and stick the next generation with the check.” We saddle future generations with debt for present-day consumption.

  The second largest item in the budget after Social Security is interest on the national debt — largely on Social Security and other entitlements that have already been spent. These mandatory benefits now consume three quarters of the federal budget: even Congress is not answerable for these programs. We never had the chance for our votes to impact that spending (not that older generations were much better represented) and it’s unclear if we ever will.

  Young Americans probably don’t think much about the budget deficit (each year’s overspending) or the national debt (many years’ deficits put together, plus interest) much at all. And why should we? For our entire political memory, the federal government, as well as most of our state governments, have been steadily piling “public” debt upon our individual and collective heads. That’s just how it is. We are the frogs trying to make our way in the watery world as the temperature ticks imperceptibly higher. We have been swimming in debt forever, unaware that we’re being economically boiled alive.

  Millennials have somewhat modest non-mortgage debt of around $27,000 (some self-reports say twice that much), including car notes, student loans, and credit cards. But we each owe more than $100,000 as a share of the national debt. And we don’t even know it.

  When Millennials finally do have babies (and we are!) that infant born in 2024 will enter the world with a newly minted Social Security Number and $78,089 credit card bill for Granddad’s heart surgery and the interest on a benefit check that was mailed when her parents were in middle school. 

  

  Headlines and comments sections love to sneer at “snowflakes” who’ve just hit the “real world,” and can’t figure out how to make ends meet, but the kids are onto something. A full 15 percent of our earnings are confiscated to pay into retirement and healthcare programs that will be insolvent by the time we’re old enough to enjoy them. The Federal Reserve and government debt are eating the economy. The same interest rates that are pushing mortgages out of reach are driving up the cost of interest to maintain the debt going forward. As we learn to save and invest, our dollars are slowly devalued. We’re right to feel trapped.  

  Sure, if we’re alive and own a smartphone, we’re among the one percent of the wealthiest humans who’ve ever lived. Older generations could argue (persuasively!) that we have no idea what “poverty” is anymore. But with the state of government spending and debt…we are likely to find out. 

  Despite being richer than Rockefeller, Millennials are right to say that the previous ways of building income security have been pushed out of reach. Our earning years are subsidizing not our own economic coming-of-age, but bank bailouts, wars abroad, and retirement and medical benefits for people who navigated a less-challenging wealth-building landscape. 

  Redistribution goes both ways. Boomers are expected to pass on tens of trillions in unprecedented wealth to their children (if it isn’t eaten up by medical costs, despite heavy federal subsidies) and older generations’ financial support of the younger has had palpable lifting effects. Half of college costs are paid by families, and the trope of young people moving back home is only possible if mom and dad have the spare room and groceries to make that feasible.

  Government “help” during COVID-19 resulted in the worst inflation in 40 years, as the federal government spent $42,000 per citizen on “stimulus” efforts, right around a Millennial’s average salary at that time. An absurd amount of fraud was perpetrated in the stimulus to save an economy from the lockdown that nearly ruined it. Trillions in earmarked goodies were rubber stamped, carelessly added to young people’s growing bill. Government lenders deliberately removed fraud controls, fearing they couldn’t hand out $800 billion in young people’s future wages away fast enough. Important lessons were taught by those programs. The importance of self-sufficiency and the dignity of hard work weren’t top of the list.

  Boomer Benefits are Stagnating Hiring, Wages, and Investment for Young People

  Even if our workplace engagement suffered under government distortions, Millennials continue to work more hours than other generations and invest in side hustles and self employment at higher rates. Working hard and winning higher wages almost doesn’t matter, though, when our purchasing power is eaten from the other side. Buying power has dropped 20 percent in just five years. Life is $11,400/year more expensive than it was two years ago and deficit spending is the reason why. 

  We’re having trouble getting hired for what we’re worth, because it costs employers 30 percent more than just our wages to employ us. The federal tax code both requires and incentivizes our employers to transfer a bunch of what we earned directly to insurance companies and those same Boomer-busted federal benefits, via tax-deductible benefits and payroll taxes. And the regulatory compliance costs of ravenous bureaucratic state. The price paid by each employer to keep each employee continues to rise — but Congress says your boss has to give most of the increase to someone other than you. 

  Federal spending programs that many people consider good government, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance for children (CHIP) aren’t a small amount of the federal budget. Government spends on these programs because people support and demand them, and because cutting those benefits would be a re-election death sentence. That’s why they call cutting Social Security the “third rail of politics.” If you touch those benefits, you die. Congress is held hostage by Baby Boomers who are running up the bill with no sign of slowing down. 

  

  Young people generally support Social Security and the public health insurance programs, even though a 2021 poll by Nationwide Financial found 47 percent of Millennials agree with the statement “I will not get a dime of the Social Security benefits I have earned.”

  In the same survey, Millennials were the most likely of any generation to believe that Social Security benefits should be enough to live on as a sole income, and guessed the retirement age was 52 (it’s 67 for anyone born after 1959 — and that’s likely to rise). Young people are the most likely to see government guarantees as a valid way to live — even though we seem to understand that those promises aren’t guarantees at all.

  Healthcare costs tied to an aging population and wonderful-but-expensive growth in medical technologies and medications will balloon over the next few years, and so will the deficits in Boomer benefit programs. Newly developed obesity drugs alone are expected to add $13.6 billion to Medicare spending. By 2030, every single Baby Boomer will be 65, eligible for publicly funded healthcare.

  The first Millennial will be eligible to claim Medicare (assuming the program exists and the qualifying age is still 65, both of which are improbable) in 2046. As it happens, that’s also the year that the Boomer benefits programs (which will then be bloated with Gen Xers) and the interest payments we’re incurring to provide those benefits now, are projected to consume 100 percent of federal tax revenue.

  Government spending is being transferred to bureaucrats and then to the beneficiaries of government spending who are, in some sense, your diabetic grandma who needs a Medicare-paid dialysis treatment, but in a much more immediate sense, are the insurance companies, pharma giants, and hospital corporations who wrote the healthcare legislation. Some percentage of every college graduate’s paycheck buys bullets that get fired at nothing and inflating the private investment portfolios of government contractors, with dubious, wasteful outcomes from the prison-industrial complex to the perpetual war machine.

  No bank or nation in the world can lend the kind of money the American government needs to borrow to fulfill its obligations to citizens. Someone will have to bite the bullet. Even some of the co-authors of the current disaster are wrestling with the truth. 

  Forget avocado toast and streaming subscriptions. We’re already sensing it, but we haven’t yet seen it. Young people are not well-informed, and often actively misled, about what’s rotten in this economic system. But we are seeing the consequences on store shelves and mortgage contracts and we can sense disaster is coming. We’re about to get stuck with the bill.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 20:20

• BlackRock Seeds Ethereum-Backed Digital Liquidity Fund With $100 Million
  BlackRock Seeds Ethereum-Backed Digital Liquidity Fund With $100 Million

  Having surpassed Microstrategy in the size of its holdings amid the furious success of spot bitcoin ETFs…

  

  …the world’s largest asset manager has taken “the next step forward” toward a single ledger, instantaneous settlement and ending illicit activities, in the view of CEO Larry Fink.

  

  BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has filed United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form D for the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund. This marks the launch of BlackRock’s first tokenized asset fund.

  CoinTelegraph’s Derek Andersen reports that. according to the filing, BlackRock created the fund in 2023, but has yet to launch it. Form D is used to obtain various exemptions. BlackRock indicated that it is seeking an exemption under the Investment Company Act Section 3(c), which exempts it from certain SEC regulations. The fund was created under the jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands.

  The fund will have a $100,000 minimum investment and be offered by Securitize, a U.S. digital assets securities firm, which will also conduct the sale of the tokens. The form shows $525,000 in sales commissions, and indicates the size of the fund as “indefinite.” The form was signed on March 14.

  The fund will be tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain with an ERC-20 token called BUIDL, which currently has one holder and a $0 on-chain market cap, according to Etherscan.

  That website also indicated that the fund received a transfer of $100 million on March 4.

  

  BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund’s SEC filing. Source: SEC

   Securitize is registered as a stock transfer agent and alternative trading system with the SEC.

  

  Source: @rleshner on X

  It has tokenized assets for asset manager KKR and Spanish real estate investment trust Mancipi, as well as formed a partnership with SBI Digital Markets in Singapore and bought cryptocurrency fund manager Onramp Invest, which had over $40 billion in assets under management.

  BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund was among the first to receive SEC approval in January. Its CEO Larry Fink, who has been generally bullish about BTC, with reservations, told Bloomberg just after the ETF approval:

  “We believe the next step going forward will be the tokenization of financial assets, and that means every stock, every bond […] will be on one general ledger.”

  “Every investor, you and I, will have our own number, our own identification. We could rid ourselves of all issues around illicit activities about bonds and stocks and digital by having a tokenization,” Fink added.

  He went on to praise customization strategies through tokenization and instantaneous settlement.

  Part 2: ETH ETF pic.twitter.com/qnmB7azyQN

  — Cryptik1.eth |🛸 (@Cryptik1E) January 12, 2024

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

  As we detailed previously, the bottom line is that while Bitcoin was the pioneer in Wall Street’s institutionalization race, having seen the startling success of bitcoin ETF adoption, the financial titans including Goldman, Blackrock – and now – JPM, have set their sights on what comes next, which is something near and dear to the people who manage trillions: the fastest, cheapest and most effective way to tokenize everything, from information, to data, to money itself. And they have picked the token to do it with.

  

  So keep a close eye on what happens on May 23 when the SEC is reportedly pushing hard against ETF approval for the second biggest digital asset: with all three of the largest US financial institutions pushing hard, any resistance will die a quick and painless death.

  More in the full notes from JPM, Std Chartered and Goldman

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 20:00

• It’s Time For GOP To Unite Behind Trump
  It’s Time For GOP To Unite Behind Trump

  Authored by Bernie Marcus via RealClear Wire,

  For the first time in my 94 years on earth, I fear for the future of our democracy. I see the federal government using its enormous powers with contempt for the governed instead of with the consent of the governed as our founders envisioned.

  

  Fundamental change in America is occurring by executive order or the force of the government’s police powers instead of through the legislative process required by the Constitution. From this, I fear that free market capitalism may be replaced by big government socialism. I also fear the erosion of our rights and freedoms, including parental rights, freedom of speech and religion, and due process.   

  In the past, I always had the confidence that a president who was a threat to democracy could be voted out of office in the next election. I am no longer that confident today. My lack of confidence is because the media today is not the watchdog over government that our Founders intended it to be. It is instead the lapdog of government, shielding the public from the entire truth about the policies and actions of the current administration.

  One vivid example of this became a meme: the television reporters declaring while doing their standups that the riots in 2020 were “mainly peaceful” as fires raged in the background. I was not surprised earlier this month by the reprise of “Russia collusion.” Nor will I  be surprised if the media soon characterizes a Trump rally as an “insurrection.” The media may be the biggest threat to our democracy since only well-informed voters guarantee the future of it.

  There is more on the line in this year’s presidential election than ever before. It is a mistake to assume that this election will be a rerun of 2020. The presumptive nominees and the world have changed since then. President Biden can no longer portray himself as “kindly Uncle Joe” or a moderate Democrat. His recent State of the Union Address, which was the most divisive of any I recall, reveals he is a very angry man and not someone Americans would want as their uncle. His policies and the undemocratic means by which he implemented them confirm he has been pulled to the far left by far-left extremists in the Democrat Party. 

  The Biden administration’s policies invited an invasion along our southern border by millions of unvetted people, compromised national security, allowed crime to spin out of control in our streets, forced middle-class Americans to raid their retirement funds to put food on their tables, and divided America more than at any time in our history since the Civil War. Joe Biden has fulfilled Barack Obama’s promise to “transform” America. This is not a welcome transformation, as confirmed by Biden’s dismal job approval ratings.

  When Donald Trump was in office, his Democrats and their media allies portrayed him as a pugnacious New Yorker who “did not act presidential” and somehow craved dictatorial powers. They’re still doing this, although they’ve upped the rhetoric. Over the weekend, Nancy Pelosi invoked Adolf Hitler while attacking the former president.

  His detractors are unwilling to look past Trump’s rough edges and see the results he achieved during his first of what I hope will be two terms. His policies achieved the highest wage rate in 50 years while keeping inflation in check, the lowest unemployment rate for minorities, and energy independence for America, among other stunning results. Moreover, his policies and the projection of his and America’s strength kept the country out of any new foreign conflicts. It is essential to our national security that America’s enemies fear our president.

  This does not mean that President Trump did not have to do better. He did, and he has done so since leaving office. Having become close to him in the last seven years, I have seen a side of him that is not seen by the public. He is truly one of the most misunderstood men in America, and I and other friends of his have urged him to let the public see the real Donald Trump. His recent praise of Nikki Haley was unifying and shows the magnanimous side of him that his friends often see. Expect more of the real Donald Trump to emerge.

  The world has also changed since 2020. It is much less safe, and America’s enemies have become stronger and more emboldened. China, Iran, and Russia have become enriched by changes in America’s energy policy: canceling the Keystone Pipeline, reducing oil drilling leases, and blocking all oil drilling on certain federal lands. America’s cities are less safe because of the illegal entry into the country of millions of unvetted people from China, Russia, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. This is compounded by the unwillingness of local Democratic Party prosecutors to prosecute violent criminals. Moreover, the Taliban have reopened terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The stakes now are even higher than the first Trump-Biden match. 

  The running mate who Donald Trump picks will be more important than in prior elections. Although he proved in his first term that he is the most capable person to solve America’s problems, it will likely take more than four years to solve the mountain of problems America now faces.

  There are several actions conservative donors should take to ensure that Trump-Biden II will have a different outcome than their first match. First, the different factions of the Republican Party must unite behind Trump and participate fully in the presidential election. Put another way, no one should sit out the presidential election or withhold their financial support to our nominee.

  Second, those who have supported constitutionally dubious schemes like invoking the 14th Amendment to try to keep Trump off the ballot should discontinue such efforts.

  Third, conservative donors should fund efforts to fill holes in Republican election strategies. There are, for example, gaps between Democrat and Republican efforts on early voting for low-propensity voters.  Democrats have a tremendous advantage here. There are also gaps in election mechanics, e.g., Zuckbucks are still flowing into some of the battleground states.

  Fourth, Democrats have a consequential advantage in the youth vote – there is a ceiling at 35% of millennial and Gen-Z voters casting votes for the Republican nominee in the last three presidential elections. Glenn Youngkin proved that this gap can be narrowed as he split the youth vote with Terry McAuliffe in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election. The key to reaching and persuading young voters is more influential messengers, more impactful messages, and “clean” message distribution channels.

  America is worth saving!

  Bernie Marcus is the co-founder of Job Creators Network, a philanthropist, and the retired co-founder of The Home Depot.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 19:40

• Bill Gates-Backed Company Seeks To Deploy Small Modular Nuclear Reactors In U.S.
  Bill Gates-Backed Company Seeks To Deploy Small Modular Nuclear Reactors In U.S.

  A company founded by Bill Gates is planning on being the first to build a new generation of nuclear power plants based on small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States. These plans usually have a power capacity of 300MW or less, which is about 1/3rd of regular reactors. 

  TerraPower has officially “joined the race” against Russia and China to develop lower-cost nuclear reactors, according to FT this week.

  CEO Chris Levesque said they are seeking US regulatory approval for their innovative liquid sodium-cooled reactor this month. The Natrium reactors could be constructed at nearly half the cost of traditional water-cooled nuclear reactors.

  TerraPower, which has secured nearly $1bn in private investments, has also partnered with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation to explore the deployment of Natrium reactors in the UAE for electricity and hydrogen production.

  With up to $2bn in promised support from the US government, the company is advancing its inaugural project in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Despite pending permits, construction near a former coal power site will start in June, focusing on preliminary, non-nuclear structures. TerraPower aims to activate the plant by 2030, according to the report. 

  

  Levesque told FT: “When you use liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water it’s a game-changer. Natrium plants will cost half of what light water reactor plants cost . . . and we are moving our project along pretty aggressively.”

  FT reports that American firms are striving to match their counterparts in Russia and China, who have already operationalized two Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plants. These include a floating plant in Pevek, Russia, and another in Shidao Bay, China.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. nuclear sector is hindered by elevated interest rates, surging expenses, and a scarcity of the enriched uranium needed for new reactors – not to mention the far left ‘woke’ crowd who continues to protest due to ‘safety concerns’ about what is really the safest, most efficient and greenest way to generate power…

  FT notes that in November, rising costs led NuScale, an Oregon company, to scrap its plans for America’s inaugural SMR after utilities balked at a proposed 50% price hike.

  TerraPower has yet to quote prices for its Natrium-generated power. Its Kemmerer reactor, initially a demonstration, aims for full-scale commercial operation. In October 2022, TerraPower and PacifiCorp, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, announced plans to explore the deployment of five more Natrium reactors by 2035.

  “Sodium-cooled reactors operate at lower pressures, which requires fewer safety systems. That reduces problems that could go wrong with the plant and reduces costs because they can be built with simpler materials while maintaining safety,” concluded Adam Stein, director of nuclear energy innovation at The Breakthrough Institute.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 19:20

• Trump Sues ABC News, Host George Stephanopoulos For Defamation
  Trump Sues ABC News, Host George Stephanopoulos For Defamation

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday against the American Broadcasting Companies (ABC) and ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, accusing them of defamation.

  

  The complaint alleges that Mr. Stephanopoulos defamed President Trump on March 10, during an episode of “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” when he repeatedly stated during the broadcast that a jury had found President Trump liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll, despite being “aware of the truth.”

  “These statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendant Stephanopoulos with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth given that Defendant Stephanopoulos knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false,” the complaint reads.

  President Trump’s complaint alleges that Mr. Stephanopoulos was aware that the jury did not find the former president liable for rape, “yet still falsely stated otherwise.”

  Mr. Stephanopoulos made these allegedly defamatory statements “within the scope and course of his employment or contractual relationship” with ABC and “with intent to harm” President Trump.

  The filing outlined two reasons to support the claim that the statements were made “with intent to harm” as being because the ABC host allegedly “was and is aware of the truth regarding the determinations made by the subject juries.”

  The additional reason outlined in the complaint alleges that Mr. Stephanopoulos’ statements “appear to have been prepared in advance and were written on notes that he was reading from while making these defamatory statements.”

  Ms. Carroll claimed that the alleged incident took place at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan more than two decades ago, but could not remember specifically when, according to the filing.

  President Trump has maintained his denial of the allegations.

  Statements Made During Rep. Mace Interview

  The incident at the heart of President Trump’s complaint happened on March 10, during an interview Mr. Stephanopoulos was conducting with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who was a victim of rape at the age of 16.

  During his preamble to introduce her, the ABC host played a clip of Ms. Mace speaking publicly during her 2019 campaign about the impact rape had on her.

  The program then cut to Mr. Stephanopoulos, who immediately directed statements to Ms. Mace about her support for President Trump despite a jury’s verdict in his civil case involving Ms. Carroll.

  Ms. Mace, who later described feeling blindsided by the questioning, accused Mr. Stephanopoulos during the interview with attempting to shame her as a victim of rape.

  

  “You endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges in two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming a victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?” asked Mr. Stephanopoulos.

  Put immediately offside, Ms. Mace replied: “Well, I will tell you, I was raped at the age of 16, and any rape victim will tell you, I’ve lived for 30 years with an incredible amount of shame over being raped. I didn’t come forward because of that judgment and shame that I felt.

  “And it’s a shame that you will never feel, George, and I’m not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim. I’m not going to do that,” she continued.

  “It’s actually not about shaming you. It’s a question about Donald Trump.”

  “No, you are shaming me,” she insisted.

  “You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president,” he said.

  “Right.”

  “Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury,” Mr. Stephanopoulos said. “Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. It’s been affirmed by a judge. He repeated—”

  Ms. Mace, cutting across his statement, said: “It’s not a criminal court case, number one. Number two, I live with shame, and you’re asking me a question about my political choices trying to shame me as a rape victim and find it disgusting.”

  As the heated exchange continued, Mr. Stephanopoulos denied that he was trying to shame Ms. Mace.

  “You’re trying to shame me this morning,” she said.

  “I’m just asking you—” said Mr. Stephanopoulos

  “And I find it offensive. And this is why women won’t come forward,” Ms. Mace said.

  “Women won’t come forward because they’re defamed by those who perpetrate rape. Donald Trump has been—” Mr. Stephanopoulos said.

  “They are judged, and they’re shamed, and you’re trying to shame me this morning. I think it’s disgusting,” Ms. Mace continued, speaking over the host.

  During his exchange, the more that Mr. Stephanopoulos defended himself against Ms. Mace’s accusations of shaming her, the more he repeated statements such as that President Trump was “found liable for rape.”

  “I’m asking you a very simple question, explain what—” the ABC host said.

  “And I answered it. You’re shaming me for my political choices,” Ms. Mace said.

  “No, I’m not—I’m asking you a question about why you endorsed someone who’s been found liable for rape. Just answer the question.”

  “It was not a criminal court. This was—this was a—it was a civil court,” she said.

  “It was a civil court that found him liable for rape,” Mr. Stephanopoulos said.

  The ABC host tried to move the discussion forward by noting that Ms. Mace was repeating the same statement about shaming her.

  “You’re questioning my political choices because I’ve been raped,” the South Carolina congresswoman charged. “I think that’s disgusting.”

  “No,” Mr. Stephanopoulos replied, “I’m questioning your political choices because you’re supporting someone who’s been found liable for rape.”

  The host pushed Ms. Mace to answer his question: “Why are you supporting someone who’s been found liable for rape?”

  Nancy Mace: If you want to defend E. Jean Carroll, who made a mockery out of rape, then you do that.

  Stephanopoulos: Well, actually what you’re doing is defending a man who has been found liable for rape. I don’t understand how you can do that. @atrupar pic.twitter.com/QnxULiu6rz

  — The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) March 10, 2024

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  The congresswoman asserted that President Trump was found guilty of sexual abuse. “It wasn’t actually rape, by the way,” she added.

  Following the interview, Ms. Mace said she wouldn’t do an ABC interview again, telling NewsNation that she had come to discuss “Donald Trump versus Joe Biden and the 2024 race.”

  ABC declined to comment to The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 19:00

• Colombian Drug Lord Arrested After Operating Out Of Texas Migrant Shelter
  Colombian Drug Lord Arrested After Operating Out Of Texas Migrant Shelter

  If you’ve ever traveled internationally and returned legally to the United States, there is a rigorous vetting process through Customs and Border Protection. But for the millions of migrants that illegally crossed into the US because of open southern border policies enforced by radical leftists in the White House (and secretly pushed by mega-corporations and NGOs), anyone is welcome, including terrorists and drug lords.

  Department of Homeland Security claims that migrants entering flooding into the US undergo “robust security vetting,” but law-abiding citizens, especially folks in Manhattan, know this statement is malarky as neighborhoods transform into third-world countries overnight.

  Unveiling the American Dream: A poignant scene captured near the Roosevelt Hotel in #Manhattan, New York, reveals a stark reality as #migrants find themselves sleeping on the streets. A powerful reminder of the complexities behind the dream.#AmericanDream #RooseveltHotel #USA pic.twitter.com/bemanR8bv7

  — The Workers Rights (@theworkersright) March 17, 2024

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  Earlier this month, White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez doubled down on the big lie, claiming migrants “pass through a rigorous vetting process.”

  ⚠️Independent Journalist “SNEAKING INSIDE the Back of The Roosevelt Hotel in NYC Illegal Migrant intake room. The Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan, NYC”

  There doesn’t appear to be a single woman or child in this footage@SGTnewsNetwork

  And don’t forget, an Obama-appointed judge just… pic.twitter.com/HPjao6E31q

  — 🇺🇲Salty Texan (@texan_maga) March 19, 2024

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  The lack of vetting, whether at the southern or northern border, is producing tragic consequences nationwide.

  You know what the real ‘Bloodbath’ is?

  It’s illegals invading our country and committing m*rder.

  REMEMBER THEIR NAMES:

  Laken Riley
  Christopher Gadd
  Lizabeth Medina
  Melissa & Riordan Powell
  David Hadrich
  Cindy Goulding
  Cheston Edwards
  Deborah Brandao
  Nazareth Tamer-Claure… pic.twitter.com/b75zgMhHOg

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 18, 2024

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  The chaos is being realized as some illegals embark on rape and/or kill rampages. 

  Armed and dangerous’ Illegal migrant from Venezuela arrested

  15-year-old illegal migrant, suspected of shooting a tourist and firing at a police officer during a failed robbery in Times Square, pic.twitter.com/QRrPbyrPjB

  — Amit Shah (Parody) (@Motabhai012) February 10, 2024

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  One of the most shocking revelations of the Biden administration’s failure to properly vet migrants was in San Antonio, Texas, where authorities recently arrested 29-year-old Aderbis Pirela, one of Interpol’s top 10 Most Wanted, for operating a drug ring within a migrant shelter, according to The National Desk.

  

  Pirela, the second-in-command of a violent Colombian gang, was wanted for four murders, drug trafficking, and warrants out of Bogota. The fact that the gangster made it into the US is evident in the lack of a “robust security vetting” process. 

  “This just goes to the heart of one of the main issues. The reality is every time Secretary Mayorkas or anybody from this administration tells the American people that we properly vet everyone before we release them is just a lie,” former Head of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan said. 

  Morgan continued: “They’re provided a false sense of security that doesn’t exist. The reality is there are many countries that illegal aliens are coming into our country from that we have zero diplomatic relationships with, and we’re getting nothing with respect to their criminal history.”

  Aderbis Pirela was on Interpol’s TOP 10 MOST WANTED list with ties to at least four murders, drug trafficking and other warrants out of Colombia where he’s a drug lord.

  He was just arrested in Texas this week after entering America illegally in January as, get this… A POLITICAL… pic.twitter.com/XsCLxJHWtN

  — Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 19, 2024

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  Some of those migrants entering the US are known terrorists. Nearly two dozen were caught attempting entry at the southern border at the end of last year. Currently, Iranian assassin(s) roam free in the US (read: here). And the surging terror threat is likely the real reason why New York City mobilized National Guard troops with machine guns to patrol subways. 

  

  The issue facing Biden and his loser party of woke communist radicals is these unvetted illegals are being dumped into once-peaceful neighborhoods across metro areas by the tens of thousands. Every death, every rape, every beating an illegal inflicts on anyone will boil in the veins of Americans as they will never forget the pain and suffering Democrats have caused by open borders. They will take this anger out at the ballot box on Nov. 5. Polling data shows Americans are overwhelmingly fed up with open borders. 

  Thanks to Biden’s border policies, our immigration system is overrun. In most cases, we ultimately have no idea who we are actually releasing into the United States. The situation is no different now with the influx of Haitian migrants. pic.twitter.com/uMSCRwXud3

  — Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 19, 2024

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  By the way, let’s not forget the names of the Americans whose lives were cut short by illegals. Say her name: “Laken Riley.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 18:40

• Billionaire Investor To Back Donald Trump 2024
  Billionaire Investor To Back Donald Trump 2024

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

  Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz plans to vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, citing President Joe Biden’s mental condition and immigration policies.

  

  “It will probably be Trump and I’m not happy about that,” he told the Financial Times in an interview, adding that Biden’s “mental condition is really scary.” Furthermore, Mr. Peltz expressed his concern regarding the porous U.S. southern border, which has turned into a hot-button issue for both Republicans and Democrats in the election season.

  “We can’t go on letting everyone into this country . . . We have an immigration problem—it’s not a Republican or Democrat problem,” said Mr. Peltz. He expressed opposition to stopping immigration altogether but “I want some boundaries put on it so we know at least who we’re bringing in,” he said, according to the outlet.

  Illegal immigration has been a thorn in the side of Democrats, with the Biden administration’s policies being criticized for the massive amounts of inflows across the southern border. Former President Donald Trump said at a recent rally that one of the first things he would do once elected would be to end every single “open border policy of the Biden administration.”

  “That border was a tiny fraction of what this border is,” President Trump said. “This is the worst border in the history of the world.” Since President Joe Biden took office, there have been an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants who have crossed the border.

  Mr. Peltz is the founder of Trian Fund Management, an investment management firm with offices in New York and Florida. According to Forbes, the firm has $8.5 billion in assets under management, with Mr. Peltz currently worth around $1.7 billion.

  The billionaire is among President Trump’s neighbors in Palm Beach but has not spoken to the former president “in quite a while,” reported FT.

  Regarding President Biden’s mental acuity, “I don’t know what he knows and I don’t know what he doesn’t know.” said Mr. Peltz. “I don’t know who’s speaking for him and that’s troubling.” It is not clear whether he will donate to President Trump’s campaign.

  Mr. Peltz has been involved with activist investments for some time. In 2017, he fought and won a seat on the executive board of consumer goods conglomerate Proctor and Gamble. Currently, his focus is on Disney.

  Peltz Versus Disney

  Mr. Peltz’s investment firm Trian has been involved in a proxy battle with Disney for instituting the investor along with former Disney executive Jay Rasulo as board members. Trian currently holds approximately $3.5 billion of Disney stock. The media behemoth and the billionaire investor have been engaging shareholders for the requisite votes needed for the seats.

  Disney movies have been underperforming at the box office lately. Mr. Peltz says he wants to “restore the magic” in the company and outlined his visions in a detailed 133-page memo released earlier this month.

  Published by Trian to convince shareholders at the company’s annual meeting next month, the memo said that “Disney is the most advantaged consumer entertainment company in the world,” the company “lost its way” with a deterioration in financial performance, and ultimately loss amounting to tens of billions in shareholder value.

  “We believe the root cause of Disney’s underperformance is poor oversight from a Board that lacks focus, alignment and accountability.”

  The memo detailed how Disney competitors like Netflix and Amazon were faring much better with their content, and return on invested capital and margins.

  Trian blamed Disney for showing “no interest in meeting or inviting Nelson Peltz to interview with the Board or Governance and Nominating Committee.”

  Disney responded in a 66-page regulatory filing that Mr. Peltz and Mr. Rasulo were “not what Disney needs right now.” The company said their suggestions “are nothing new” and they did not understand the company’s challenges nor had the skills to promote Disney in its current situation.

  However, Mr. Peltz has been known to be persistent in achieving his objectives, as was revealed in 2006 with Heinz, in 2015 with Dupont, and in 2017 with P&G.

  Biden’s Mental Criticisms

  President Biden’s mental capabilities have been increasingly in the spotlight during the election season. His common gaffes and slurring of speech have raised concerns about his age even among those who supported him in 2020.

  According to a New York Times/Siena College poll, 61 percent of respondents believed President Biden was “just too old” to be an effective commander-in-chief.

  A February special counsel report described the 81-year-old president’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.”

  The Robert Hur report noted that President Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.

  In response to reporters’ questions about his memory, President Biden disputed the report’s statements and said he’s “the most qualified person in this country to be president.”

  The White House also pushed back on the characterizations of President Biden’s memory in a Feb. 5 letter from the president’s lawyers that was published in Hur’s report. The letter argues that the president’s “inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual,” particularly about when certain documents were packed or moved.

  “We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” the letter said. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events. Such comments have no place in a Department of Justice report.”

  “If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president. Joe Biden is unfit to lead this nation,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc., the main super PAC backing Trump’s candidacy.

  The Associated Press contributed to the report.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 18:20

• "It's Enraging": NYC Homeowner Arrested For Changing Locks After Squatters Take Over
  “It’s Enraging”: NYC Homeowner Arrested For Changing Locks After Squatters Take Over

  A woman who inherited a home in New York City full of people squatting illegally was arrested and led away in handcuffs after she changed the locks.

  

  Adele Andaloro, 47, was placed under arrest at her $1 million home in Flushing, Queens, which she inherited from her parents after they died.

  “It’s enraging,” Andaloro told the NY Post. “It’s not fair that I, as the homeowner, have to be going through this.“

  Andaloro claims the ordeal erupted when she started the process of trying to sell the home last month but realized squatters had moved in — and brazenly replaced the entire front door and locks.

  Fed up, she recently went to her family’s home on 160th Street — with the local TV outlet in tow — and called a locksmith to change the locks for her. -NY Post

  The spat with the squatters, which was caught on camera, rapidly erupted into a verbal altercation until the cops showed up and led Andaloro away – charging her with ‘unlawful eviction.’

  NEW: New York City homeowner gets arrested after changing the locks on *her own home* after it got taken over by squatters.

  Never do business in New York.

  In NYC, anyone can simply claim “squatter’s rights” after 30 days of living at a home which isn’t even enough time for the… pic.twitter.com/xkcfYM9l7u

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 19, 2024

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  As the Post notes, people can claim “squatter’s rights” if they’ve been squatting for just 30 days at a property. This makes it illegal for homeowners to change the locks, turn off the utilities, or remove the squatters’ belongings.

  “By the time someone does their investigation, their work, and their job, it will be over 30 days and this man will still be in my home,” Andaloro said. “I’m really fearful that these people are going to get away with stealing my home.”

  During the recent encounter at her home, Andaloro — who was armed with the deeds — was filmed entering the property after one of the apparent tenants left the front door open.

  After changing the locks, a man claiming to be on the lease — identified by the local outlet as Brian Rodriguez — returned to the property and barged through the front door.

  “You shouldn’t be trying to steal my house,” a furious Andaloro yelled at him during the caught-on-camera ordeal.

  Following a flurry of 911 calls, responding cops told Andaloro she had to sort the saga out in housing court because it was considered a “landlord-tenant issue.” -NY Post

  Andaloro says she’s now been forced to go through the court system to start an eviction filing to settle the landlord-tenant dispute.

  

  As the Post further reports, this is the latest such incident – which comes weeks after a couple’s plan to move into a $2 million home in Douglaston, Queens with their disabled son was derailed by a squatter who claimed to have an agreement with the previous owner.

  In another incident, a squatter turned a Rockaways home into a ‘house of horrors‘ with over a dozen emaciated cats and dogs trapped inside.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 18:00

• "That's Joe Biden?" Biden Family Associate Confirms Joe & Family Used Email-Aliases During Vice Presidency
  “That’s Joe Biden?” Biden Family Associate Confirms Joe & Family Used Email-Aliases During Vice Presidency

  Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Eric Schwerin, an associate of President Joe Biden and his family, appears to have confirmed allegations that the president and several of his family members relied on aliases and personal email accounts to communicate amongst themselves during his term as vice president.

  

  In a transcribed interview conducted on Jan. 30 and released on Monday, Mr. Schwerin identified President Biden as the person behind at least two email aliases that were active between 2009 and 2017 during his time as vice president during the Obama administration. Mr. Schwerin’s testimony provides an added layer of confirmation to allegations Republican investigators have raised for months, that the president and his family concealed their communications through various assumed names.

  During the Jan. 30 interview, an investigator asked Mr. Schwerin whether an email account owner identified as “Robinware456” had any relation to President Biden. “Yes,” Mr. Schwerin said.

  “That’s Joe Biden?” the investigator asked, to which Mr. Schwerin replied, “Correct.”

  The same investigator then asked about another suspected alias name, “Hurricane5155.” Mr. Schwerin replied that he believed that account was operated by President Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden.

  Mr. Schwerin identified the alias “261penn” as the account of President Biden’s eldest son, Beau Biden.

  The investigator then asked about another account name, “Robert.L.Peters.” Mr. Schwerin replied that it was his understanding this account also belonged to then-Vice President Biden.

  “I never used that email, so I don’t know, but that’s my understanding from later on,” Mr. Schwerin said, when asked about the “RobertL.Peters” persona.

  Mr. Schwerin said he primarily communicated with President Biden through the “Robinware” persona.

  House investigators have previously uncovered more than 260 email communications in which “Robinware456” was either the sender or a recipient. “RobertL.Peters” was a recipient of at least 26 additional email communications uncovered by House investigators. The “Hurricane5155” and “261penn” personas appeared in hundreds of additional email chains involving White House staff accounts.

  These covert communications have been a point of focus for Republicans leading an ongoing impeachment inquiry into whether President Biden engaged in influence peddling with his family members throughout his political career.

  NTD News reached out to the White House for comment about these email aliases but did not receive a response by press time.

  Schwerin Denies Knowledge of Influence Peddling

  Mr. Schwerin testified that he became acquainted with the Biden family while working at the U.S. Commerce Department during the Clinton administration, during which time he met with then-Senator Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. After leaving this government position, Mr. Schwerin said he joined Hunter Biden at a law and lobbying firm and later co-founded the firm Rosemont Seneca Partners with Hunter Biden.

  Between 2009 and 2017, Mr. Schwerin testified that he performed “a number of administrative and bookkeeping tasks” for then-Vice President Biden, pertaining to his household finances.

  “In the course of performing these duties, I had the ability to view transactions both into and out of Vice President Biden’s bank accounts while he was Vice President,” Mr. Schwerin said in his opening statement during the Jan. 30 interview. “Based on that insight, I am not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members or their associates, nor any involvement by him in their businesses.”

  In his opening statement, Mr. Schwerin further denied any knowledge of President Biden taking any official action to benefit his family members.

  “I cannot recall any requests for Vice President Biden to take any official action on behalf of any of Hunter’s clients or his business deals, foreign or domestic,” Mr. Schwerin said.

  He said that throughout his interactions with then-Vice President Biden, the elder Biden was “always crystal-clear that he wanted to take the most transparent and ethical approach.”

  Mr. Schwerin testified that this bookkeeping work he did for then-Vice President Biden was free. He testified that he also expected no favors from the elder Biden for this bookkeeping work, nor did he elicit any favor or witness Hunter Biden elicit any favors.

  While performing these free bookkeeping services, Mr. Schwerin was appointed to the U.S. Commission on the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad in 2015. He said he believed the role came about following a 2009 conversation with a member of then-Vice President Biden’s staff.

  “My assumption was that it was something that, you know, the Vice President had signed off on, but I would think it was someone from the staff who said, we can put your name forward to Presidential Personnel, and they would, you know, give you a call about this,” Mr. Schwerin said.

  During the interview, Mr. Schwerin also described working with Devon Archer, a business partner of Hunter Biden, helping connect Mr. Archer with Blue Star Strategies. Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company on whose board Hunter Biden and Mr. Archer sat, retained Blue Star Strategies for lobbying services at a time when the company was dealing with investigations of its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky.

  Mr. Schwerin testified that he had access to Joe Biden’s bank accounts until some point “towards the end of 2017.” He testified that he could not recall having seen records for loans Joe Biden purportedly gave his brother, James Biden, which were purported to have been repaid in September 2017 and March 2018.

  From NTD News

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 17:40

• Boycott Slams Planet Fitness Shares As Americans Fight Back Against Wokeism
  Boycott Slams Planet Fitness Shares As Americans Fight Back Against Wokeism

  Approaching the one-year mark since Bud Light’s controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on TikTok, a nationwide boycott of the light beer – criticized for tasting like ‘piss water’ – has been relentless as blue-collar and white-collar conservative Americans stand up in unison, bounded by memes and the power of X, to protest their distaste for woke propaganda pushed by mega-corporations. 

  To this day, conservatives are on a warpath against the woke mind virus as it infects high-level executives of mega-corporations who have learned absolutely nothing from Bud Light nuking itself with Mulvaney. 

  The power of the people. Folks are beginning to understand this. 

  

  Last week, Americans began to boycott Tyson Foods for planning to fire at least a thousand hard-working Americans in which the company even said it was planning to hire tens of thousands of illegals through a shadowy non-government organization. 

  Tyson is closing its facility in Perry, Iowa and laying off its 1,200 workers.

  Instead, they plan to hire thousands of new illegals in states like New York.#BoycottTyson. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/CTweuRbAMU

  — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 15, 2024

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

  Fast forward to this week, Americans are boycotting Planet Fitness for its move to defend its decision to ban the membership of a customer in Alaska who spoke out about a “man in women’s locker room shaving.”

  Woman in Planet Fitness claims she went into the bathroom and this man who thinks he’s a woman was in there shaving.

  Why does @PlanetFitness allow men to use the women’s bathroom and invade women’s private spaces?? pic.twitter.com/qVJ0YUFQvc

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 12, 2024

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

  Since the Libs of TikTok’s X post went viral, shares of Planet Fitness have plunged 14%. 

  

  This comes as Planet Fitness boycott calls increase by the day. 

  Wow @PlanetFitness,

  It looks like letting men into the women’s locker room where they can spy on them while they change (including underage girls) is NOT super popular!

  This pain will continue until you stop letting men into women’s spaces. We won’t stop. #BoycottPlanetFitness pic.twitter.com/ABpFQsZh78

  — Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 19, 2024

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

  BLOODBATH AT PLANET FITNESS

  – Stock down almost 7%
  – #BoycottPlanetFitness trending on X
  – Mass membership cancellations
  – Internal panic at corporate

  This is what happens when companies put mens’ delusions over protecting women.

  Get woke, go broke!https://t.co/jTfDQDnYCN

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 18, 2024

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

  Planet Fitness stock down over 12% in 5 days.

  Violating their own company policy by making 99% of their customers feel UNWELCOME isn’t working out well for them.@PlanetFitness#BoycottPlanetFitness pic.twitter.com/VHd1NZQVsU

  — Hard Voice of Truth (@voice_hard) March 19, 2024

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

  For just $9.99 a month you get a workout and an indoctrination! #BoycottPlanetFitness pic.twitter.com/9joyistZul

  — Populo Iratus (@astronomy89) March 19, 2024

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

  When will these woke executives learn that catering to a fringe minority rather than the majority will only result in a blowback with customers? 

  Which index firm is going to create the ‘woke index’? 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 17:20

• RNC Files Election Integrity Lawsuit Against Nevada Secretary Of State
  RNC Files Election Integrity Lawsuit Against Nevada Secretary Of State

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Nevada GOP have sued the Nevada Secretary of State, accusing the state’s top elections official of undermining voter confidence by failing to follow federal law on the proper maintenance of voter rolls.

  

  The RNC filed its complaint on March 19 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, accusing Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar of failing to keep voter rolls accurate, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

  “Election integrity starts with clean voter rolls, and that’s why the National Voter Registration Act requires state officials to keep their rolls accurate and up-to-date,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.

  ‘Easier to Vote and Harder to Cheat’

  The NVRA requires that states maintain accurate and current voter registration rolls for federal elections. But the RNC said in its complaint that a half dozen Nevada counties have implausible voter registration rates.

  “At least three Nevada counties have more registered voters than they have adult citizens who are over the age of 18,” the complaint reads. “That number of voters is impossibly high.”

  The three Nevada counties in question are Douglas (104 percent), Lyon (105 percent), and Storey (113 percent).

  Another two Nevada counties have voter registration rates in excess of 90 percent of adult citizens over the age of 18: Carson City (92 percent) and Clark (91 percent).

  “That figure far eclipses the national and statewide voter registration rate in recent elections,” the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.

  U.S. Census data released in May 2023 shows that the national voter registration rate for the 2022 Congressional election was 69.1 percent—the highest for a midterm election since 2000.

  Nevada’s statewide voter registration rates for the 2022 and the 2020 elections were 65.1 percent and 66.2 percent of the voting-age citizen population, per the complaint.

  Additionally, several Nevada counties have unusually high rates of inactive registrants: Elko (31 percent), Eureka (23 percent), Humboldt (26 percent), Lincoln (25 percent,), Mineral (30 percent), Nye (31 percent), Washoe (17 percent), and White Pine (23 percent).

  Some other counties have unusually low rates of removals from voter rolls, per the complaint.

  “Securing clean voter rolls in Nevada is a critical step towards ensuring that it will be easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Mr. Whatley said in a statement.

  The Nevada Secretary of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  ‘Protecting the Vote’

  The Nevada lawsuit comes after a recent leadership shakeup at the RNC saw Mr. Whatley become the chair and former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, take the post of co-chair.

  Both Mr. Whatley and Ms. Trump have said publicly that a key focus of theirs will be election integrity.

  The latest lawsuit marks the 81st case of election integrity litigation that the RNC has engaged in during the current election cycle.

  The RNC recently filed a similar lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, accusing her of undermining public confidence in elections by failing to properly maintain voter rolls.

  An analysis by the RNC showed that 76 of Michigan’s 83 counties have inflated voter rolls, in violation of the NVRA. Among them, 53 counties have more active registered voters than voting-age U.S. citizens.

  “Jocelyn Benson has failed to follow the NVRA, leaving Michigan with inflated and inaccurate voter rolls ahead of the 2024 election,” Mr. Whatley said in an earlier statement.

  In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Ms. Benson denounced the lawsuit as “meritless.”

  Ms. Benson added that more than 700,000 voter registrations have been canceled since she took office and another 520,000 have been slated for cancellation in 2025.

  “Federal data shows Michigan is the fifth most active state in the nation in removing the registrations of voters who have died,” she wrote.

  “Let’s call this what it is: a PR campaign masquerading as a meritless lawsuit filled with baseless accusations that seek to diminish people’s faith in the security of our elections,” Ms. Benson added.

  Focus on Election Integrity

  Ronna McDaniel left her post as RNC chair on March 8.

  In her final speech as the head of the organization, she said she believes Mr. Whatley will be “phenomenal” in the role and, in particular, on an issue that President Trump “cares deeply about, which is election integrity.”

  For his part, the former president said in mid-February that he’s convinced that Mr. Whatley, who served as general counsel for the North Carolina GOP in addition to being its chairman, will be “committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election so it can’t be stolen.”

  

  The former president maintains that he was cheated out of victory in the 2020 presidential election in part because of outright fraud and in part because of last-minute changes to election rules that sharply expanded opportunities to cast mail-in ballots, while softening voter verification requirements.

  Mr. Whatley said recently that the Republican party would use all available tools to help President Trump to win the 2024 election, while also ramping up its focus on election integrity.

  He said in a recent memo that the RNC would bolster programs that focus on both in-person and absentee early voting, as well as ballot harvesting where legal.

  Mr. Whatley said that the various initiatives aimed at voter outreach and early voting will be paired with strong election integrity efforts, including mounting legal challenges to voter identification and

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 17:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Anti-Semitism As The Harbinger Of Global Chaos
  Anti-Semitism As The Harbinger Of Global Chaos

  Authored by Stephen Soukup via American Greatness,

  On the off chance you hadn’t noticed, the world appears to be at an especially precarious moment presently. Obviously, war continues to rage in Ukraine and Gaza, with no end in sight to either conflict. Great Britain and Japan are currently in recession. Canada’s economy is an absolute disaster, with almost no hope of near-term recovery. Much of continental Europe and China are struggling economically, if not officially contracting. Some experts believe that the global economy more generally is sliding, slowly but surely, into recession. The only economic bright spot in the world is the United States, and even here we have our problems with consumer spending and sentiment, massive credit concerns, and inarguably sticky inflation.

  

  Meanwhile, China is investing in and winning friends, and influencing people in the Global South. U.S.-backed Kurdish leaders are warning that ISIS is resurgent in Syria and Iraq. The Marine general in charge of U.S. Africa Command is warning of Russia’s increasing influence on that continent. Sudan remains mired in civil war. Nigeria is plagued by Islamist terrorism and mass kidnappings. Mexico is in the midst of a full-blown war with the drug cartels, who continue to grow bolder and more militarily sophisticated.

  Everywhere one looks, chaos reigns—or, at the very least, bubbles just below the surface.

  Perhaps most telling among the signs of disarray is the unnerving rise of antisemitism in the United States, Europe, and throughout the world. Antisemitism, in general, has been intensifying, slowly but surely, over the last decade or so. Over the last few months, however, it has emerged fully into the open, undaunted and unembarrassed. What was once considered shameful and disconcerting is now warmly welcomed as a “rational” response to American foreign policy, Israeli war practices, “colonialism,” and “white privilege.”

  All of this is troubling, to put it mildly, both in and of itself and as a harbinger of greater and more deadly global unrest.

  Hatred of and anger toward Jews is not the same as other forms of bigotry.  

  In many ways, the history of Western anti-Jewish hatred mirrors the history of Western political chaos and collapse.  Or, to put it another way, historically, Jews are not only the perennial scapegoats during periods of social upheaval and displacement, but resurgent anti-Semitism serves as the proverbial canary in the coal mine for the rise of revolutionary movements.

  In his classic, The Pursuit of the Millennium, the British historian Norman Cohn argues that the Jewish diaspora generally fit comfortably, if tentatively into European society for most of the first thousand years or so A.D., and only became a hated and perpetually persecuted minority with the rise of utopian Millenarianism that accompanied and then outlived the Crusades.  Beginning then and continuing for the next nearly a thousand years, Europeans came to associate Jews with the antichrist and thus to associate hatred and persecution of Jews with preparing the battlespace for the Second Coming.  Many historians, including Hannah Arendt, believed that the anti-Semitism that was such an integral part of the West’s 20th-century collapse into totalitarianism was relatively new and, in any case, distinct from medieval anti-Semitism.  Cohn’s history suggests otherwise, connecting the religious eschatology of medieval Europe to the quasi-religious eschatology of post-Enlightenment Europe, thereby connecting the persistence of Western anti-Semitism as well.

  Cohn tells us that millenarian moments and the millenarian movements that capitalize on those moments all share a common group of characteristics. They all appear under certain social and economic conditions. They all appeal to a certain segment of the population at large, who then present themselves as economic, spiritual, and political leaders. They all utilize scapegoats, meaning that they all identify a different, usually much smaller segment of the population on whom they can blame all the world’s ills and then set about to cure those ills through the elimination of the scapegoat. And more often than not, that scapegoat tends to be Jewish.

  In the conclusion to the second edition of Pursuit of the Millennium, Cohn notes that the millenarian fervor of the middle ages may have changed, but it never really died, and it maintained its common characteristics even as it became secular or “quasi-religious.” He wrote:

  The story told in Pursuit of the Millennium ended some four centuries ago but is not without relevance to our own times. [I have] shown in another work [Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion] how closely the Nazi phantasy of a world-wide Jewish conspiracy of destruction is related to the phantasies that inspired Emico of Leningrad and the Master of Hungary; and how mass disorientation and insecurity have fostered the demonization of the Jew in this as in much earlier centuries. The parallels and indeed the continuity are incontestable.

  The parallels between the rise of Nazism and the current global unrest and demonization of the Jewish people are also largely incontestable. The election that brought Hitler to power didn’t happen in a vacuum, after all. It happened in the midst of global chaos, namely the Great Depression. It also followed the decadence and distortion of the Weimer Era. As the New York Fed has shown, even a global pandemic—the 1919 Spanish Flu outbreak—contributed to the sense of discomfort and disconnect among the German population, prompting increased support for Hitler and his Nazis.

  The present global chaos doesn’t have to end the same way the chaos of a century ago did. It doesn’t have to result in the ascension of millenarian ideologies and their totalitarian defenders. History has shown that extremism can be short-circuited and radical ideologies undone. The first step in doing so, however, must be to bring an end to the rationalization of the persecution of the world’s Jews. The second step is to end the persecution itself.

  Antisemitism is ugly and shameful, and it must be treated as such. For their sake and ours.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 02:00

• Cereal For The Peasants? How The Elites Use "Skimpflation" To Control Our Eating Habits
  Cereal For The Peasants? How The Elites Use “Skimpflation” To Control Our Eating Habits

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

  People who have been reading my analysis for a long time are well aware of my expectations on the eventual outcome of the US economic debacle: A stagflationary crisis followed by a massive crash similar to the Great Depression (or worse). I based this prediction on a number of circumstances, but primarily I went back to the history of currency devaluations and central bank policy. These kinds of things have happened before and they tend to follow a pattern that is visible today.

  Specifically, I studied the 1971-1981 stagflation crisis for reference and I found some startling similarities. It was one of the worst economic declines in American history next to the depression, and it’s an event that almost no one talks about. A lot of people (specifically Gen Z) believe that our current era is the worst financial era of all time and that their generation has been shafted by previous generations.

  This is inaccurate; the stagflation disaster of the 1970s was far worse. That said, it shows us where our country is eventually headed and it’s not looking good. What is a manageable economic crunch today has the potential to become a calamity tomorrow.

  One issue that I’m fascinated by that usually isn’t mentioned in mainstream economic discussion is quality degradation – The way in which products, services, construction, manufacturing, style and availability tend to break down when inflation suddenly spikes. This process is known as “skimpflation” and it was rampant in the 1970s and early 1980s. Most Americans today think of the 70s as a happy-go-lucky era of disco, bell bottoms and psychedelics, but in reality it was economically dismal.

  Examining real life images and footage from the decade compared to the 1960s, there was a stark shift in the quality of life. From the quality of cars, to the quality of clothes, to the quality of housing. Some US cities (like New York or Philadelphia) looked like warzones complete with rubble strewn slums. After sky-high inflation for several years causes a doubling and tripling of retail prices along with growing unemployment rates, the environment starts to feel real ugly.

  Skimpflation And The Food Pyramid Agenda

  Another aspect of life that takes a hit is the quality of diet and the ability of families to feed themselves. Most people are familiar with the concept of “shrinkflation” – The habit of companies to shrink portion sizes while keeping their packaging and prices the same in order to offset inflation in production costs without consumers noticing. However, skimpflation is another way in which companies will attempt to avoid raising prices on the shelf, and that’s by lowering the quality of ingredients, along with encouraging the public to eat less nutritious (and less expensive to produce) foods.

  The 1970s was the decade that gave birth to the processed food market and the microwave cuisine, at least on a wider scale. This was the decade when American food truly took a nose dive. The ease of processed foods was offset by the poor nutritional content. They were cheaper, but the quality sucked and we are still living with the repercussions of that trend today.

  There were, of course, counter-culture movements working against the adoption of processed foods, including “know your farmer” type organizations and organic movements. But as we are all well aware, the cheap processed foods eventually won. Society embraced the market because they had to. Prices were so high that it was the only way they could feed their families everyday.

  

  Interestingly, the Food Pyramid that we were all taught about as children in public schools was introduced to the western world in 1972. The pyramid was actually first used by the Swedish government in direct response to inflation and was designed to encourage the populace to eat cheaper food-stuffs (primarily cereals, dairy products, pastas and carbs). Governments have been using subsidies to promote the consumption of low cost and low quality foods ever since.

  I’m recounting these trends from the 1970s because we are seeing a very similar agenda today, though it is far more insidious in nature. Economic decline is a favorite tool for the establishment to control the behavior of populations, including dietary habits.

  Dollar Losing Buying Power? Switch To Lab Grown Meat And Bugs…

  It’s no coincidence, for example, that there has been a massive push by government agencies and corporations to acclimate the public to the idea of fake lab-grown meat products. For now, fake meats are more expensive than real meats so there’s no incentive for the public to consume them, but if inflation continues to drive prices higher eventually real steak will cost far more than artificial steak and people may be convinced that the fake stuff is a viable alternative.

  Then there’s the notion of western consumers eating bugs for protein instead of beef or chicken or pork. Beyond the claims that this will somehow “save the climate” from global warming (which is a complete falsehood backed by zero concrete evidence), the powers-that-be also suggest that bugs will be far more affordable than hamburgers in the near future.

  Bugs are traditionally a starvation food. They are only a staple in countries where famine is common or where governments aggressively restrict normal agriculture. Bug protein also has a habit of giving people parasites. The only way westerners could be convinced to eat bugs as a part of their regular diet is if inflation crushes the regular meat market.

  Let The Peasants Eat Cereal…

  Another form of skimpflation is the shift even further to the bottom of the food pyramid. Recently, Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick suggested in an interview with CNBC that Americans will eventually start ‘eating cereal for dinner’ because the cost is so much cheaper per portion. In other words, cheap processed carbs will become a mainstay of the American diet because a lot of people won’t be able to afford anything else. Pilnick brags that Kellogg’s is well placed for this coming change in the food market…

  The marketing for this idea is already well underway. Various companies are promoting an end to traditional healthy homemade dinner habits and a switch to unconventional and cheaper processed foods. The thrust of the Kellogg’s campaign relies on poverty. Meaning, they are banking on the expectation that Americans will be poorer in the near term and that this condition will continue for years to come.

  Just as we saw during the 1970s stagflation crisis, there is a rush to cut quality in all goods and services, but food is a major target. Today, it’s about convincing the market to consume more carbs and processed foods and less protein.  Tomorrow, it will be about abandoning established agriculture altogether and having all our food manufactured in labs.   The elites seem to be planning for a significant financial crisis beyond what we have already dealt with and this is evident in their efforts to sell the reconstruction of our dietary habits based on poverty rather than prosperity.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 03/19/2024 – 00:00

• Bank Of Japan (Finally) Kills The World's Last Negative Interest Rate, Yen Weakens
  Bank Of Japan (Finally) Kills The World’s Last Negative Interest Rate, Yen Weakens

  As has been thoroughly warned, straw-manned, leaked, and hinted at over the past few weeks (here, here, and here for example), The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates tonight for the first time since 2007. This move ends the world’s last negative interest rate policy.

  The vote, at 7-2 to scrap the negative interest rate (setting the policy rate in range between 0% to 0.1%), was closer than many expected with policy board members Nakamura and Noguchi dissented.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Additionally, the bank has abandoned its yield curve control policy.

  The BOJ will continue to purchase JGBs with “broadly the same amount as before,” but buying of ETFs and J-REITs has apparently been scrapped (while laying out a plan to scrap corporate debt and commercial paper buying).

  

  Source: BoJ

  In terms of forward guidance, Bloomberg notes that the bank isn’t offering much. It says it will continue to pay attention to developments in financial and FX markets, and their impact on Japan’s economic activity and prices.

  But the previous pledge to “not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary” has been removed.

  This was all in line with what had leaked out in domestic media reports over the past week but USDJPY still rose on the news (yen weakness)…

  

  The BOJ actually downgraded its assessment of consumer spending and production, so there’s still a sense of caution.

  The BoJ’s move comes as inflation has gradually returned to the nation with the most immediate catalyst being last week, when Japan’s largest union announced its biggest annual wage hike in three decades.

  Despite the runway having been heavily foamed ahead of tonight’s decision, Veteran market commentator John Authers warns of significant implications for the rest of the world:

  “Waiting over the years for Japan to beat deflation and raise rates has been rather like hoping for Lucy to let Charlie Brown kick the football, but if the BOJ is briefing the press like this, it must be a very real possibility,” he writes.

  “There are implications for carry traders, and for Japan’s giant neighbor, China.”

  Finally, even with the decision to pull the trigger, we note that the debate over whether the BOJ has met the supposedly main condition for raising rates – stable 2% inflation – is hardly over.

  As Bloomberg reports, inflation may slow as the impact of imports-driven price gains wears off, meaning that if officials go ahead and change policy, they could end up facing criticism in the future that they’ve passed a premature judgement on prices, former BOJ board member Takahide Kiuchi recently wrote. “And that in turn could become an obstacle to smooth policy normalization,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 23:45

• Trump Tells Ramaswamy 'No' For VP, But Leaves Cabinet Door Open
  Trump Tells Ramaswamy ‘No’ For VP, But Leaves Cabinet Door Open

  Donald Trump ‘personally told’ Vivek Ramaswamy that he’s been ruled out as a running mate, however the former president is eyeing a Cabinet job including the Homeland Security secretary, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

  

  According to the report, “Some Trump allies see Ramaswamy as ideal for the job because they say he excels at public speaking and, as an Indian-American son of an immigrant, could neutralize criticism of sweeping immigration restrictions.“

  Their conversation is just one of many Trump has had recently with allies about administration positions as he seized hold of the Republican nomination. Loyalty, ideological compatibility and perceived electoral power are the metrics by which Trump is evaluating possible picks, according to people familiar with the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

  Those who have impressed Trump and his team for possible Cabinet roles include another former GOP primary foe, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, as well as Representative Elise Stefanik and former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. -Bloomberg

  Trump is apparently looking for a running mate who isn’t “motivated by the limelight,” but who will give the former president a significant edge. According to the report, none of the VP picks circulating have impressed Trump much, and his list of options has only grown longer, instead of shorter.

  Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is rumored to be a top candidate to serve as Trump’s deep state handler chief of staff.

  That said, after Steve Bannon and Mike Flynn were promptly squeezed out by dark forces the first time around, Trump is looking for a series of top-level aides and Cabinet members who can enable his agenda.

  Jared’s back

  Oh boy! Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law whose bed Bibi Netanyahu slept in one time, “has recently increased his presence in the campaign,” and has been “calling and texting to offer suggestions.”

  Trump Jr., meanwhile, has also expressed interest in a key transition role – in part because he can act as a gatekeeper to block people who are opposed by the MAGA movement.

  Don’t believe the hype?

  In response to an inquiry by Bloomberg, senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said it’s way too early to start speculating about Cabinet or senior roles.

  “Apparently somebody has decided to list out everyone who has ever met President Trump and is now speculating as to their potential participation in a second Trump administration. The truth is that unless you hear it directly from President Trump or his campaign, this is all b.s.,” he said.

  Those who have participated in the discussions describe a quintessentially Trump experience, in which the former president peppers the conversation with political observations and media critiques as a steady stream of food is served, while he keeps an eye on cable news or chooses his favorite musical selections over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club.

  The former president has repeatedly expressed admiration for Burgum, a billionaire who mounted a short-lived presidential bid. He has been discussed as a good fit to lead a transition – and possibly the Energy Department. Burgum, like Trump, is a supporter of fossil fuels. -Bloomberg

  If we’re still believing the hype, one person who’s been cast out of the Trump tent is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), following his failed primary challenge. Trump “regularly vents” about DeSantis in private conversations, however the pair did reportedly have a phone conversation shortly after DeSantis dropped out.

  DOJ?

  One of Trump’s top priorities will be to staff the nation’s top law enforcement agency with an attorney general who isn’t a deep state pawn.

  Senate Republicans Ted Cruz (TX) and Mike Lee (UT) are on the short list, per the report, as “it would likely be easy to secure their confirmation.”

  Former Chuck Grassley lawyer Mike Davis, meanwhile, could potentially serve as acting AG or White House counsel. Another attorney, Mike Purpura – who represented Trump during his first impeachment, is also a ‘strong contender’ for White House counsel.

  If Trump is reelected, FBI Director Christopher Wray’s days will also be numbered.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 23:20

• Report Criticizes 'Catastrophic Errors' Of COVID Lockdowns, Warns Of Repeat
  Report Criticizes ‘Catastrophic Errors’ Of COVID Lockdowns, Warns Of Repeat

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  It was four years ago, in March 2020, that health officials declared COVID-19 a pandemic and America began shutting down schools, closing small businesses, restricting gatherings and travel, and other lockdown measures to “slow the spread” of the virus.

  

  To mark that grim anniversary, a group of medical and policy experts released a report, called “COVID Lessons Learned,” which assesses the government’s response to the pandemic. According to the report, that response included a few notable successes, along with a litany of failures that have taken a severe toll on the population.

  During the pandemic, many governments across the globe acted in lockstep to pursue authoritative policies in response to the disease, locking down populations, closing schools, shutting businesses, sealing borders, banning gatherings, and enforcing various mask and vaccine mandates. What were initially imposed as short-term mandates and emergency powers given to presidents, ministers, governors, and health officials soon became extended into a longer-term expansion of official power.

  “Even though the initial point of temporary lockdowns was to ’slow the spread,’ which meant to allow hospitals to function without being overwhelmed, instead it rapidly turned into stopping COVID cases at all costs,” Dr. Scott Atlas, a physician, former White House Coronavirus Task Force member, and one of the authors of the report, stated at a March 15 press conference.

  Published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CTUP), the report was co-authored by Steve Hanke, economics professor and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics; Casey Mulligan, former chief economist of the White House Council of Economic Advisors; and CTUP President Philip Kerpen. 

  According to the report, one of the first errors was the unprecedented authority that public officials took upon themselves to enforce health mandates on Americans. 

  “Granting public health agencies extraordinary powers was a major error,” Mr. Hanke told The Epoch Times. “It, in effect, granted these agencies a license to deceive the public.”

  The authors argue that authoritative measures were largely ineffective in fighting the virus, but often proved highly detrimental to public health. 

  The report quantifies the cost of lockdowns, both in terms of economic costs and the number of non-COVID excess deaths that occurred and continue to occur after the pandemic. It estimates that the number of non-COVID excess deaths, defined as deaths in excess of normal rates, at about 100,000 per year in the United States.

  ‘They Will Try to Do This Again’

  “Lockdowns, schools closures, and mandates were catastrophic errors, pushed with remarkable fervor by public health authorities at all levels,” the report states. The authors are skeptical, however, that health authorities will learn from the experience.

  “My worry is that if we have another pandemic or another virus, I think that Washington is still going to try to do these failed policies,” said Steve Moore, a CTUP economist. “We’re not here to say ‘this guy got it wrong’ or ’that guy or got it wrong,’ but we should learn the lessons from these very, very severe mistakes that will have costs for not just years, but decades to come. 

  “I guarantee you, they will try to do this again,” Mr. Moore said. “And what’s really troubling me is the people who made these mistakes still have not really conceded that they were wrong.”

  Mr. Hanke was equally pessimistic.

  “Unfortunately, the public health establishment is in the authoritarian model of the state,” he said. “Their entire edifice is one in which the state, not the individual, should reign supreme.”

  The authors are also critical of what they say was a multifaceted campaign in which public officials, the news media, and social media companies cooperated to frighten the population into compliance with COVID mandates.

  “During COVID, the public health establishment … intentionally stoked and amplified fear, which overlaid enormous economic, social, educational and health harms on top of the harms of the virus itself,” the report states. 

  The authors contrasted the authoritative response of many U.S. states to policies in Sweden, which they say relied more on providing advice and information to the public rather than attempting to force behaviors.

  Sweden’s constitution, called the “Regeringsform,” guarantees the liberty of Swedes to move freely within the realm and prohibits severe lockdowns, Mr. Hanke stated.

  “By following the Regeringsform during COVID, the Swedes ended up with one of the lowest excess death rates in the world,” he said.  

  Because the Swedish government avoided strict mandates and was more forthright in sharing information with its people, many citizens altered their behavior voluntarily to protect themselves.

  “A much wiser strategy than issuing lockdown orders would have been to tell the American people the truth, stick to the facts, educate citizens about the balance of risks, and let individuals make their own decisions about whether to keep their businesses open, whether to socially isolate, attend church, send their children to school, and so on,” the report states.

  ‘A Pretext to Enhance Their Power’

  The CTUP report cites a 2021 study on government power and emergencies by economists Christian Bjornskov and Stefan Voigt, which found that the more emergency power a government accumulates during times of crisis, “the higher the number of people killed as a consequence of a natural disaster, controlling for its severity.

  “As this is an unexpected result, we discuss a number of potential explanations, the most plausible being that governments use natural disasters as a pretext to enhance their power,” the study’s authors state. “Furthermore, the easier it is to call a state of emergency, the larger the negative effects on basic human rights.”

  “All the things that people do in their lives … they have purposes,” Mr. Mulligan said. “And for somebody in Washington D.C. to tell them to stop doing all those things, they can’t even begin to comprehend the disruption and the losses.

  “We see in the death certificates a big elevation in people dying from heart conditions, diabetes conditions, obesity conditions,” he said, while deaths from alcoholism and drug overdoses “skyrocketed and have not come down.”

  The report also challenged the narrative that most hospitals were overrun by the surge of COVID cases.

  “Almost any measure of hospital utilization was very low, historically, throughout the pandemic period, even though we had all these headlines that our hospitals were overwhelmed,” Mr. Kerpen stated. “The truth was actually the opposite, and this was likely the result of public health messaging and political orders, canceling medical procedures and intentionally stoking fear, causing people to cancel their appointments.”

  The effect of this, the authors argue, was a sharp increase in non-COVID deaths because people were avoiding necessary treatments and screenings. 

  “There were actually mass layoffs in this sector at one point,” Mr. Kerpen said, “and even now, total discharges are well below pre-pandemic levels.”

  In addition, as health mandates became more draconian, many people became concerned at the expansion of government power and the loss of civil liberties, particularly when government directives—such as banning outdoor church services but allowing mass social-justice protests—often seemed unreasonable or politicized. 

  The report also criticized the single-minded focus on vaccines and the failure by the NIH and the FDA to do clinical trials on existing drugs that were known to be safe and could have been effective in treating those infected with COVID-19.

  Because so much of the process of approving the vaccines, the risks and benefits, and the reporting of possible side-effects was kept from the public, people were unable to give informed consent to their own health care, Mr. Kerpen said. 

  “And when the Biden administration came in and started mandating them, now you had something that was inherently experimental with some questionable data, and instead of saying, ‘Now you have a choice whether you want it or not,’ in the context of a pandemic they tried to mandate them,” he said.

  Pandemic Censorship

  Tech oligopolies and the corporate media also receive criticism for their collaboration with government to control public messaging and censor dissenting voices. According to the authors, many government and health officials collaborated with tech oligarchs, news media corporations, and even scientific journals to censor critical views on the pandemic.

  The Biden administration is currently defending itself before the Supreme Court against charges brought by Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general, who charged that administration officials pressured tech companies to censor information that contradicted official narratives on COVID-19’s origins, related mandates and treatment, as well as censoring political speech that was critical of President Biden during his 2020 campaign. The case is Murthy v. Missouri.

  Mr. Hanke stated that a previous report he co-authored, titled “Did Lockdowns Work?,” which was critical of lockdowns, was refused by medical journals, even when they published op-eds that criticized it and published numerous pro-lockdown reports. 

  Dr. Vinay Prasad—a physician, epidemiologist, professor at the University of California at San Francisco’s medical school and author of over 350 academic articles and letters—has made similar allegations of censorship by medical journals.

  “Specifically, MedRxiv and SSRN have been reluctant to post articles critical of the CDC, mask and vaccine mandates, and the Biden administration’s health care policies,” Dr. Prasad stated.

  Heightening concerns about medical censorship is the “zero-draft” World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty currently being circulated for approval by member states, including the United States. It commits members to jointly seek out and “tackle” what the WHO deems as “misinformation and disinformation.”

  One of the enduring consequences of the COVID years is a general loss of public trust in public officials, health experts, and official narratives. 

  “Operation Warp Speed was a terrific success with highly unexpected rapidity of development [of vaccines],” Dr. Atlas said. “But the serious flaws centered around not being open with the public about the uncertainties, particularly of the vaccines’ efficacy and safety.” 

  “One result of the government’s error-ridden COVID response was that Americans have justifiably lost faith in public health institutions,” the report states. According to the authors, if health officials want to regain the public’s trust, they should begin with an accurate assessment of their actions during the pandemic.

  “The best way to restore trust is to admit you were wrong,” Dr. Atlas said. “I think we all know that in our personal lives, but here it’s very important because there has been a massive lack of trust now in institutions, in experts, in data, in science itself.

  “I think it’s going to be very difficult to restore that without admission of error,” he said.

  Recommendations for a Future Pandemic

  The CTUP report recommends that Congress and state legislatures set strict limitations on powers conferred to the executive branch, including health officials, and set time limits that would require legislation to be extended. This would give the public a voice in health emergency measures through their elected representatives.

  It further recommends that research grants should be independent of policy positions and that NIH funding should be decentralized or block-granted to states to distribute.

  Congress should mandate public disclosure of all FDA, CDC, and NIH discussions and decisions, including statements of any persons who provide advice to these agencies. Congress should also make explicit that CDC guidance is advisory and does not constitute laws or mandates. 

  The report also recommends that the United States immediately halt negotiations of agreements with the WHO “until satisfactory transparency and accountability is achieved.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 23:00

• Yen's Whiplash Day Only Begins With A Rate Hike
  Yen’s Whiplash Day Only Begins With A Rate Hike

  By Mark Cranfield, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist

  USD/JPY may be priced for the Bank of Japan to exit negative rates – something which thanks to the non-stop media leaks we know for a fact will happen – but a knee-jerk selloff is still likely when the first headline drops as traders react to the news. And that will only be the start of what could be a series of back-and-forth swings for the yen until Governor Ueda ends his press conference a few hours after the BOJ statement lands.

  While tightening policy is ostensibly a hawkish move, investors won’t be surprised if there are plenty of dovish caveats within the BOJ statement, with at least five things they will be focusing on for a sense of direction:

  • *BOJ MAINTAINS POLICY RATE AT -0.1%

  This is the big one. Will the BOJ finally end negative rates? Although the preamble to next week suggests the decision is too close to call, a move to zero interest rates would still shock the yen into a move higher.

  • *BOJ MAINTAINS 10-YEAR JGB YIELD TARGET AT ABOUT 0%

  In many ways this target is redundant as 10-year yields have been above zero for more than three years. That said, the symbolism of dropping the language would be negative for bonds.

  • *BOJ KEEPS UPPER BOUND REFERENCE ON LONG-TERM YIELDS AT 1%

  In October the BOJ fumbled the message by introducing flexible yield curve control and JGBs skidded lower. Clear communication on ending YCC will be important to avoid a disorderly reaction in debt markets.

  • *BOJ VOTES 9-0 ON RATE DECISION

  Whatever the BOJ decides, investors will want to know how split decision makers remain as a gauge for the pace of interest rate hikes to come.

  • *BOJ WILL ADD TO EASING WITHOUT HESITATION IF NEEDED

  Arguably the most symbolic statement of all, dropping it from the text would be a bearish medium-term signal for JGBs.

  * * *

  And then the fun will really begin when Ueda starts taking questions at the press conference. It’s likely that Ueda will provide dovish forward guidance, but communication in the past hasn’t always run as smoothly as the central bank would like, opening up the risk of more USD/JPY volatility.

  It sets up Tuesday for a head-spinning session…  and there is still the Federal Reserve to come!

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 22:46

• The 4th Bitcoin Halving Explained
  The 4th Bitcoin Halving Explained

  Sometime in April 2024, the reward that cryptocurrency miners receive for mining bitcoin (BTC) will go from ₿6.25 to ₿3.125, with significant consequences for the world’s most valuable digital currency.

  To help understand this quadrennial event, Visual Capitalist’s Chris Dickert teamed up with HIVE Digital to take a deep dive on historical bitcoin data from Coinmetrics to see what the three previous halvings might tell us about the fourth.

  
  

  Bitcoin Explained

  But to understand halvings, we first need to take a step back to talk a bit about how the Bitcoin network works.

  Unlike fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar or the Chinese yuan that are backed by central banks, cryptocurrencies are supported by an underlying blockchain, which contains a record of every single bitcoin transaction in a public decentralized, distributed ledger. 

  When you spend a bitcoin, a digital record of that transaction needs to be validated and added to the blockchain. And this is where miners come in. They legitimize and audit bitcoin transactions, and as a reward, receive bitcoin in payment.

  Halvings Explained

  Now, quantitative easing notwithstanding, you normally can’t keep printing money forever without running into hyperinflation (think 1920s Germany or 1990s Argentina).

  To get around this problem, the Bitcoin network has a pre-programmed upper limit of 21 million, with the reward that miners receive decreasing by half (hence, halving) roughly every four years. 

  

  When the Bitcoin network first launched, the reward was initially set to ₿50, an amount that was high enough to quickly increase the money supply and incentivize miners to participate in the validation process. On November 28, 2012, that reward decreased by half to ₿25, then to ₿12.5 on July 9, 2016, and on May 11, 2020, to ₿6.25.

  The last halving will happen sometime in 2136, with the reward decreasing to ₿0.00000001 or one satoshi, the smallest denomination of bitcoin possible. The last bitcoin will enter circulation four years later, in 2140.

  Halvings and Miner Revenue

  With the fourth halving just around the corner, some have wondered whether mining will still be sustainable. Modern mining operations today are costly endeavors, often with razor-thin margins, and losing half of one’s revenue overnight would be a nightmare for any business. 

  

  And if you look at historical miner revenue in bitcoin, you can see quite clearly, the steep drop in revenue after each halving. But what’s interesting, is that if you compare that against the miner revenue in USD, there is a drop there as well, but it recovers soon thereafter as the cryptocurrency appreciates. In other words, a miner may receive less bitcoin, but that bitcoin is worth more.

  Halvings Compared

  So we know that the network will continue to function after the fourth halving, but what else can we learn from previous halvings? 

  If we look at the percent change in market capitalization post-halvings, we can see a bit of a pattern. After both the second and third halvings, market capitalization peaked at around the year-and-half mark. The second-halving peak occurred on day 526 at around $328 billion, an increase of 3,000%, while the third-halving peak came three weeks later on day 547 at over $1.2 trillion, or an increase of just under 700%. 

  

  The post-first-halving peak happened a bit earlier, at the 372-day mark, but because the peak was so high (over 10,000%!) it is considered an outlier, and omitted to better illustrate the trend.

  The 4th Bitcoin Halving Projected?

  Because we know that halvings occur every 210,000 blocks and that each block takes around 10 minutes to mine, we have a good idea of when the fourth halving should happen: April 21, 2024. If the next halving follows the same pattern as the previous two, then there could be a market-capitalization peak some time during the third week of October 2025.

  And with the price of bitcoin setting new records at time of writing, a lot of people will be watching very closely, indeed.  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 22:40

• Another Shutdown Averted As Deal Reached
  Another Shutdown Averted As Deal Reached

  Congress has reached a deal to avert yet another shutdown following an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the remainder of FY 2024, according to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman.

  🚨BREAKING NEWS — SPENDING DEAL DONE — Congressional negotiators have come to an agreement. on DHS funding, the final piece of the FY2024 spending package

  Aides are working on leg text now, hoping to release in the coming days.

  — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 18, 2024

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

  

  In a race against time, Congress passed a package of six appropriations bills earlier this month, narrowly avoiding a partial shutdown. The deal revealed by Sherman avoids a Friday, March 22 drop-dead date.

  The text of a minibus combining those bills was widely expected to be released by Sunday, though no such deal emerged.

  As Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times reported earlier, House rules require that members be given at least 72 hours to review legislation before it comes up for a vote. This meant that if a deal was not released on Monday, it could mean another last-minute scramble to get something on President Joe Biden’s desk.

  The delay came amid fierce Republican opposition to the president’s handling of the crisis at the southern border, which more than 7 million illegal immigrants have crossed since he took office.

  Appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are included among the mix of remaining spending bills. Those negotiations reportedly derailed over the weekend amid talks of a potential year-long continuing resolution.

  “Republicans want to underfund DHS, which makes the border less secure and the country less safe,” a White House official told Politico on Sunday, asserting that Republicans were trying to “sow chaos on the border ahead of November.”

  But Republicans purportedly pushed back on those claims, holding that the issue was not the amount of funds requested but how they would be used.

  Nonetheless, talks were said to be back on track on Monday. Commenting on the negotiations at a press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration’s position was that DHS needs more funding to adequately address the border crisis.

  The deal is likely to face pushback from the GOP’s right flank, which continues to push for stronger border reforms.

  “Congress: we are FUNDING a DHS that is MASS RELEASING illegal aliens into our communities, some of whom commit horrific crimes,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus, in an X post.

  “Republicans MUST NOT vote to keep funding Mayorkas’ DHS at the same level with zero policy changes next week. We have the power to stop this,” he added.

  Thanks to the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was forced to ally with Democrats to pass the first appropriations minibus on March 6. A similar partnership may well be in the cards for the second.

  Other remaining bills include funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and State, as well as the legislative branch, financial services, and general government.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 22:20

• One Bank Sees Bitcoin At $200,000, While Ether Hits $14,000 As It Becomes JPMorgan's Favorite Crypto
  One Bank Sees Bitcoin At $200,000, While Ether Hits $14,000 As It Becomes JPMorgan’s Favorite Crypto

  Many crypto skeptics laughed over a month ago when, back on February 5, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick predicted that Ether (which was then trading in the low $2000s) would hit $4,000 by May, around the time the Ethereum ETF was to be approved.

  

  They weren’t laughing when we got there just one month later, and more than two months ahead of schedule.

  

  They also laughed when back in January, Kendrick laid out his “high” case for bitcoin ETF accumulation – one which would justify a 2024 year-end price of $100,000 – as hitting 400,000 in early April, on their way to 1.32 million “coins” at year-end (or just 437,000 in the low case).

  

  Fast forward to today – it’s not even April yet – and already the nine new ETFs have accumulated a whopping 458,000 bitcoin, after net buying virtually every single day since the SEC authorized bitcoin ETFs.

  

  Bottom line: of all sellside analysts, Kendrick has proven time and again to be one of the most accurate, which is why latest research notes – one on bitcoin, and on ether – published earlier today, should be required reading for anyone following the crypto sector.

  In his first note, available to pro subs in the usual place, the Standard Chartered analyst writes that his latest forecast is for the price of bitcoin – now beyond the upcoming halving – to end 2024 around USD150k (up from a long held USD100k view). Then, “in 2025 bitcoin will overshoot to a cycle high of $250k before ultimately settling around $200k which will then be the new midpoint of a higher trading range. At that time vol will fall, and so will the rate of ascent of bitcoin.”

  How/why will we get there?

  Taking a deserved victory lap, Kendrick writes that “ETF inflows have been almost exactly as I had predicted, huge, but much greater than others had expected.” Indeed, the ytd inflows are bang in the middle of his previous high/low forecast range discussed here, and so suggest we end up somewhere around $75BN of inflows. At that point, the gold ETF story suggests we will be around $200k and that we then trade sideways in a higher trading rage (ie. The ETF inflows are a one-off re-rating higher).

  Kendrick also notes that “a gold v BTC portfolio optimization suggests we should be around 80%/20% rather than the current 91%/9% spilt. Again that points to the USD200k level as being ‘correct’.”  He explains why below:

  The total market cap of all above-ground gold is currently around USD 14.8tn (212,582 tonnes based on World Gold Council data, at the 15 March price of USD 2,160 per ounce). For BTC, the current price gives a market cap of USD 1.4tn – a split of 91% for gold to 9% for BTC. Assuming the gold price stays unchanged, the BTC price would need to increase to USD 190,000 in order for BTC’s share to rise to the 20% indicated by our portfolio optimisation. Again, this is close to our estimated BTC price level of USD 200,000 based on ETF inflows.

  The analysis focuses some more on comps to the gold market, before turning to another potential source of bitcoin price upside: FX reserves, i.e., “another large sticky (potential) cash pool, which could follow in the footsteps of new US pension money.” Specifically, Kendrick says that US and EU sanctions on Russia’s reserves “have structurally increased the appeal of non-standard reserve assets for FX reserve managers. The most obvious beneficiaries of this are gold and the CNY, but digital assets could also benefit” (as they already have in El Salvador where Nayib Bukele has previously purchased over 5,600 bitcoin). If they do, expect the largest and most liquid assets – such as Bitcoin – to receive most of the inflows. Which is why, the Standard Chartered analysts sees “a rising likelihood that large reserve managers (Figure 7) may announce BTC buying in 2024.”

  

  That pretty much covers the bullish bitcoin case; now what about Ethereum?

  Well, a couple points here. First of all, recall that in recent years, Wall Street has traditionally held ethereum, due to its smart contract nature and flexible architecture in much higher regard than bitcoin. None other than Goldman Sachs said, three years ago when it initiated coverage on the crypto sector, that bitcoin is a good asset, and “ironically” will be used as the “scarce resource” to make PoS systems work “instead of natural resources”, but while bitcoin may end up being a one-trick pony (if quite valuable) it is the new blockchain platforms – like Ethereum – that will serve as the basis for a “large market of trusted information“, as Goldman puts it “like Amazon is for consumer goods today” (Pro subscribers can find the full Goldman report can be found in the usual place).

  

  But it’s not just Goldman: none other than the most important man in the world of finance (sorry Jamie Dimon), the head of Blackrock – which buys and sells ETFs, bonds, and any other asset class at the Fed’s bidding – Larry Fink, said he is backing an ether ETF just after the SEC gave approval to Bitcoin. Specifically, the king of Wall Street, said “I see value in having an Ethereum ETF. These are just stepping stones towards tokenization and I really do believe this is where we’re going to be going.”  And whatever Larry sees, and wants, Larry gets.

  Part 2: ETH ETF pic.twitter.com/qnmB7azyQN

  — Cryptik1.eth |🛸 (@Cryptik1E) January 12, 2024

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  That said, with just 2 months left until the SEC is expected to greenlight Ethereum ETFs, some are skeptical that the regulator will be as “forthcoming” this time as back in January with bitcoin, most notably Bloomberg’s ETF guru Eric Balchunas who gives just 35% odds of an Ethereum ETF being approved in May, as “we’re 73 days from the final deadline, and there’s been no contact or comments from the SEC to the issuers. That’s not a good sign… The SEC has to give comments and the issuers have to work on correcting them. They may have to refile and they might even want to have a couple of meetings — it’s kind of a long process.”

  Needless to say, Standard Chartered’s analyst Geoffrey Kendrick does not agree, and just as he sees much more upside to bitcoin, he sees even more potential gains for ether, which last week quietly and successfully implemented its long-awaited Dencun upgrade, thanks to which ETH is now as competitive as Solana in terms of transaction costs, via layer 2s.

  But that is hardly a value proposition (just don’t tell it to all those who are currently blowing Solana NFT memecoin bubbles which will burst spectacularly in a few days, assuming the centralized database that is Solana doesn’t collapse – as it tends to do every other month – first). What is of potential value, is that ether ETF approval is coming one way or another, and according to Kendrick, the SEC will do so on May 23, the final deadline for the first batch under consideration, and consistent with the timeline for the SEC’s January 2024 approval of Bitcoin ETFs: “Albeit I note this is now a non-consensus view. I think the process should be the same as it was for the BTC ETFs and I don’t see why the SEC would not approve” especially since in the UK, the LSE announced on 11 March that it would accept applications for ETH and BTC ETFs, which Kendrick’s think increases the chances of US approval.

  What happens then? Well, if the ETH ETFs are approved, Doug estimates $15-45BN – or 2.39-9.15 million ETH – in the first 12 months after approval, using the same logic as he applied to the BTC ETF inflows; importantly, he now sees more price upside than he previously did, and believes that ETH would keep pace with BTC, with the current 5.4% price ratio holding for the rest of 2024: “Given that we now see BTC reaching the USD 150,000 level by end-2024, this would imply a level of USD 8,000 for ETH” or just more than double from here.

  

  But the real value of ETH will shine in 2025 when Kendrick expects the ETH-BTC cross to track higher, back to 7%, as real world use cases on ETH – the same ones laid out by Goldman – start to take shape. This, he believes, “will see ETH to USD14k by year-end 2025.” There could be more gains: the report goes on to note borrow heavily from the Goldman ETH initiation report above, and states that…

  “If real-world use cases start to take practical shape before the end of 2025 (we see gaming as the most likely), then we think markets will start to see ETH as the digital assets version of a big tech stock. Indeed, we see several crossovers between tech and ETH, but because tech (most recently via AI) is already visible to end-users, it has taken most of the limelight so far. We expect that to change over time in favour of ETH, which is effectively a behind-the-scenes technology solution. This is because ETH’s smart contract platform enables future applications in much the same that Apple’s iOS system enables the building of apps.

  In that scenario, we see the ETH-BTC price ratio rising back to the 7% level that was in place for 18 months from mid-2021 to end-2022. This would present further upside to our estimated USD 14,000 price level by end-2025.”

  Impossible, you say, no way ETH rises 4x from its current price of $3,500. Perhaps, but consider the potential rise in use cases in the aftermath of the Dencun upgrade which has sent the cost of layer 2 transactions as cheap as Solanas. As a result, Kendrick believes that ETH’s use cases will “evolve towards gaming and tokenization, adding significant demand via the existing NFT and DeFi channels, respectively. Importantly, this should provide ‘proof of concept’ examples in which real-world industries come on-chain to exploit the benefits of Ethereum over their existing setups. We expect significant developments on these fronts by 2025-26.”

  Tokenization of real-world assets has begun, but it is small so far. The largest is stUSDT (staked USDT, Figure 4) on the Tron network. Returns for stUSDT are driven by US Treasury yields. The others, which are primarily built on Ethereum, are shown in Figure 5. These offer investors a mix of exposure ranging from front-end Treasuries (Ondo) to real estate (RealT);

  

  Note, the Standard Chartered analyst is not the first to say the true value of ETH is in tokenization: initially it was Goldman, and most recently it was the king of Wall Street, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, who as we noted above, said “I see value in having an Ethereum ETF. These are just stepping stones towards tokenization and I really do believe this is where we’re going to be going.”

  But while Goldman and Blackrock betting on ETH would be effectively a home run, what would guarantee a trifecta would be the last major holdout joining the bandwagon, and that’s precisely what happened last week when the bank – whose boss has been the most vocally skeptical of bitcoin in recent years – put its chips on ETH.

  In a March 14 note on Coinbase (which hiked the price target from $95 to $150; full note available to pro subs in the usual place) from JPM’s Ken Worthington, the crypto analyst echoed Goldman, Standard Chartered and Blackrock, and said that while “the focus of the cryptocurrency marketplace has been the net new money going into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and the positive impact on Bitcoin token prices” it is “ethereum and its native token Ether as a substantial contributor to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and developer of blockchain technology.”

  Specifically, JPM writes that “it sees see the progression along the Ethereum roadmap, including the Dancun upgrade, which occurred this week on March 13, as driving crypto development, which is a longer-term positive and discuss this further in this research.”

  Compare and contrast that with, well, anything that Jamie Dimon has said about Bitcoin.

  There is much more in the full report, including a full fawning section on ETH (that appears to have been taken almost verbatim from the Goldman initiating coverage report)…

  

  … but the bottom line is that while Bitcoin was the pioneer in Wall Street’s institutionalization race, having seen the startling success of bitcoin ETF adoption, the financial titans including Goldman, Blackrock – and now – JPM, have set their sights on what comes next, which is something near and dear to the people who manage trillions: the fastest, cheapest and most effective way to tokenize everything, from information, to data, to money itself. And they have picked the token to do it with.

  So keep a close eye on what happens on May 23 when the SEC is reportedly pushing hard against ETF approval for the second biggest digital asset: with all three of the largest US financial institutions pushing hard, any resistance will die a quick and painless death.

  More in the full notes from JPM, Std Chartered and Goldman

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 22:00

• Illegal Immigrant Can Carry Guns: Federal Judge
  Illegal Immigrant Can Carry Guns: Federal Judge

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  An illegal immigrant was wrongly banned from possessing guns, according to a recent ruling.

  

  A federal law, Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, bars illegal immigrants from carrying guns or ammunition. Prosecutors charged Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, the illegal alien, in 2020 after he was found in Chicago carrying a semi-automatic pistol despite “knowing he was an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.”

  U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman rejected two motions to dismiss, but the third motion, based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, triggered the dismissal of the case on March 8.

  “The noncitizen possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores,” Judge Coleman, appointed under President Barack Obama, wrote in her 8-page ruling.

  “Thus, the court grants Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss.”

  Lawyers for Mr. Carbajal-Flores had argued in the most recent motion to dismiss that the government could not show that the law in question was “part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.”

  In 2022, the Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment “presumptively protects” conduct that is covered by the amendment’s “plain text.”

  To justify regulations, governments must show that each regulation “is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” the high court said at the time. “Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the Second Amendment’s ‘unqualified command,’” it said.

  “Lifetime disarmament of an individual based on alienage or nationality alone does not have roots in the history and tradition of the United States,” Mr. Carbajal-Flores’s lawyers argued.

  They pointed to several rulings interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision, including an appeals court ruling that declared stripping a man convicted of a nonviolent crime of his gun rights was unconstitutional.

  The government opposed the motion, noting that neither of the cited decisions applied to illegal immigrants and that the defendant ignored other rulings that did, including a 2023 ruling that found that Second Amendment rights aren’t afforded to illegal immigrants. The government also offered examples of laws that prohibited certain categories of people from carrying guns, including “individuals who threatened the social order through their untrustworthy adherence to the rule of law.”

  But Judge Coleman ruled for the defendant, finding that the laws against untrustworthy people contained exceptions for people who signed loyalty oaths and were deemed nonviolent.

  “The government argues that Carbajal-Flores is a noncitizen who is unlawfully present in this country. The court notes, however, that Carbajal-Flores has never been convicted of a felony, a violent crime, or a crime involving the use of a weapon. Even in the present case, Carbajal-Flores contends that he received and used the handgun solely for self-protection and protection of property during a time of documented civil unrest in the Spring of 2020,” she wrote.

  “Additionally, Pretrial Service has confirmed that Carbajal-Flores has consistently adhered to and fulfilled all the stipulated conditions of his release, is gainfully employed, and has no new arrests or outstanding warrants. The court finds that Carbajal-Flores’ criminal record, containing no improper use of a weapon, as well as the non-violent circumstances of his arrest do not support a finding that he poses a risk to public safety such that he cannot be trusted to use a weapon responsibly and should be deprived of his Second Amendment right to bear arms in self-defense.”

  An attorney representing Mr. Carbajal-Flores declined to comment. Federal prosecutors didn’t respond to a request for comment.

  Reactions

  The ruling drew a range of reactions from people in the legal community.

  “Supreme Court has said the ‘people’ are members of the political community,” Larry Keane, a lawyer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, wrote on X.

  “Illegal aliens in US are not part of the political community and thus do not have 2A rights.”

  Kostas Moros, a lawyer who represents the California Rifle and Pistol Association, said that he also saw the issue that way.

  “Bruen asks for a historical tradition of modern regulation that justifies the modern law, and one plainly exists here,” he wrote, noting that groups that have been disarmed in the past, including loyalists, have the common thread of being “outside of the political community.”

  Matthew Larosiere, another lawyer, disagreed, writing in an analysis that all immigrants, even ones in the country illegally, are part of “the people” in the Second Amendment. His argument rested in part on the 14th Amendment, which applies to “any person within” the country.

  “To find that illegal immigrants are outside of ’the people‘ protected by the Second Amendment, you must believe that the Framers were talking about a different ’people’ in the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments,” he wrote, adding later that he sided with the court in finding differences between historical laws such as the one that barred loyalists from owning guns and the law that applies to illegal immigrants.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 21:40

• Trust In Flying Still High, But Passengers Take More Precautions
  Trust In Flying Still High, But Passengers Take More Precautions

  The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the panel blow out of a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines in January, according to the Wall Street Journal. The incident was the first in a chain of events reported this year, which have led to increased scrutiny of the company and heightened media attention over such incidents.

  Despite the string of faults that have been publicized, the chances of being killed on a flight are extremely low.

  This knowledge is well ingrained in many, as Statista’s Anna Fleck notes one study, carried out by The Harris Poll on behalf of Fast Company, shows: 69 percent of respondents agreed that flying is safer than other means of long-distance transportation.

  At the same time, 86 percent of adults agreed that they would trust flight teams (such as air hostesses and pilots) to keep passengers safe during flights, while 73 percent said that they trust passenger planes are thoroughly inspected before flying.

  Yet, it appears that the high-profile safety incidents documented of late are having at least some impact on flyers’ behaviors: 48 percent of respondents said that they would now be more likely to pay attention to safety materials on an upcoming flight, 47 percent said that they would now be more likely to wear a seatbelt when not required and 45 percent said that they would now be more likely pay attention to pre-takeoff activities. At the same time, between 30-40 percent said that they would be more likely to consider the row their seat is located on the plane, the airline they book with and the type of plane they will be flying on.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Against a backdrop of questions over what’s going on with Boeing, Morning Consult carried out a survey on how public trust in the aircraft giant has changed with the new developments.

  It found that between Q4 of last year and January 1-February 28 of 2024, net trust had dipped among respondents by 14 percentage points. Net trust is defined as the share of respondents who trust a brand minus the share who distrust a brand.

  As the following chart shows, the biggest change was among business travelers, with a 26 percentage point difference between the two survey waves. According to the online polling company, this is partly due to business flyers having historically had more trust in Boeing than other groups, which means there was more room to fall.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Nicki Zink, an analyst at Morning Consult, adds that while Boeing’s reputation has dipped, this has not spread to the wider airline industry and that net trust in airlines has even seen an uptick as the spring break season approaches.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 21:20

• Queenpin Of Guatemalan Drug Cartel Sentenced Over International Trafficking Conspiracy
  Queenpin Of Guatemalan Drug Cartel Sentenced Over International Trafficking Conspiracy

  Authored by Stephen Katte via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A Queenpin of the Lorenzana drug trafficking network has been sentenced to 33 years in prison and forced to forfeit $27 million for charges related to international drug trafficking.

  

  According to the Department of Justice, Queenpin Marta Julia Lorenzana-Cordon from Zacapa, Guatemala, was a leader in one of the largest and most influential drug cartels in Guatemala. Guatemala is a Central American country south of Mexico, with a population of over 17 million people.

  During their reign, the Lorenzana criminal group was described by authorities as one of the most brutal and destructive drug trafficking organizations in the world.

  Julia Lorenzana-Cordon was extradited to the United States in December of 2021, after Guatemalan authorities took her into custody at the behest of the U.S. government in May 2021. She subsequently pleaded guilty in May of 2023 to conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and knowing and intending for the drug to be unlawfully imported to America.

  According to the Department of Justice, Julia Lorenzana-Cordon, also known as Yulie, began operating within the criminal enterprise around 2008 and continued until at least 2019. The organization itself began operating in 1996. The patriarchal criminal group comprised primarily of family members and had the goal of distributing multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia to Central America and Mexico for eventual distribution into the United States.

  The investigation into Julia Lorenzana-Cordon was part of Operation Slipknot and conducted by the DEA’s Bilateral Investigations Unit, with assistance from the DEA Guatemala City Country Office and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. Investigators found the Lorenzana drug trafficking organization transported tonnage quantities of cocaine from Colombia into Guatemala, where the cocaine was stored on properties owned by the crime organization.

  After the cocaine was processed, the drug was transported by the Sinaloa Cartel, among other organizations, into Mexico, through Central America, and eventually, into the United States.

  Along with Julia Lorenzana-Cordon, her siblings, Eliu Elixander Lorenzana-Cordon and Waldemar Lorenzana-Cordon have also been hit with lengthy prison sentences. Both were convicted in 2019 on international narcotics trafficking charges in the District of Columbia and sentenced to life in prison.

  At the same time, the father of the siblings, Waldemar Lorenzana-Lima Sr., pleaded guilty in August 2014 to international narcotics trafficking charges in the District of Columbia, receiving 23 years in prison. He has since passed away.

  According to authorities, the family was deeply dysfunctional, and Julia Lorenzana-Cordon had separate drug trafficking networks different to those of her brothers and father, which allowed her to continue operating for a few years after the rest of her family was convicted.

  Julia Lorenzana-Cordon was also reportedly married to Jairo Estuardo Orellana Morales, a Guatemalan narcotics trafficker and accused murderer who was arrested in May 2014. His status since being detained is unknown.

  

  The Department of the Treasury designated the couple as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Under the act, U.S. persons and entities are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with anyone designated as a SDNT. The act also freezes any assets a SDNT may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 21:00

• More & More Americans Turn To TikTok For News
  More & More Americans Turn To TikTok For News

  The House of Representatives passed a bill last week that could lead to a nationwide ban of the social media platform TikTok in the United States, unless its Chinese owner Byte Dance sells its stake in the company within 165 days.

  U.S. lawmakers had raised concerns over the question of data and national security risks of the app, fearing potential links to China’s government. TikTok, which is headquartered outside of China, says it has never been asked by the Chinese government to provide them with U.S. data and has been actively trying to distance itself from Beijing.

  The short form video app is particularly beloved by teenagers and young people around the world.

  Now, as Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, nearly one in three (32 percent) young adults aged 18-29 even say that they turn to TikTok regularly for news. This is up from just nine percent who said the same in 2020.

  While still low, the overall share of adults in the United States who say they regularly get news on TikTok has more than quadrupled between 2020 and 2024.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  According to a survey by Pew Research Center of over 8,800 adults, where only 3 percent said they regularly get their news from the social media platform four years ago, this had climbed to 14 percent between September 25 and October 1, 2023, when the survey was last fielded.

  In order for the bill to come into action, it first needs to see through the legislative process and would then need to pass the Senate.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 20:40

• Trump Reveals Plan To Impose 100 Percent Tariffs On Chinese Cars Made In Mexico
  Trump Reveals Plan To Impose 100 Percent Tariffs On Chinese Cars Made In Mexico

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

  Former President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico once reelected, double the 50 percent he stated earlier.

  

  “Mexico has taken, over a period of thirty years, 34 percent of the automobile manufacturing business in our country,” President Trump said during a rally in Ohio on Saturday. China is building massive plants in Mexico where they plan on building the cars and selling them in the United States, paying no tax at the border, he said, adding that the plan will not work under his presidency.

  “Let me tell you something to China, if you’re listening President Xi … those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now, and you think you’re going to get that, you’re going to not hire Americans, and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no, we’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected,” he said.

  🇺🇸 Trump: Mexico and China are taking over our auto industry

  “Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now. You think you’re going to get that, not hire Americans.

  We’re going to put a 100% tariff on all those cars.”

  Source: C-Span pic.twitter.com/cC7FUAzB6c

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 17, 2024

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

  In an interview with CNBC on March 11, President Trump said he would put a 50 percent tariff on all cars China builds in Mexico and sells in the United States. Such a move will force them to stop building the plants, he claimed. “But we don’t do that. We have stupid people running our government, to be honest,” he said.

  Chinese Threat

  A Feb. 20 report by the Alliance for American Manufacturing warned that China posed an “existential threat” to the American auto industry if it uses the Mexico route to sell vehicles. Manufacturing in Mexico will grant Chinese automakers “more favorable tariffs” under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

  This essentially hands over Chinese auto companies “backdoor access” to American consumers, allowing them to circumvent current U.S. policies that are keeping them away from the American market. “This is an auto industry backed by the Chinese state. It has invested heavily in foreign markets in order to access more of them,” the report stated.

  “And there is cause for alarm that Chinese vehicles and parts will only increase their access to the U.S. market, overcoming existing tariffs and evading existing trade enforcement measures, to directly challenge domestic automakers and threaten the jobs of millions of American manufacturing workers.”

  The report called on the United States to adopt a more “proactive and evolving” strategy to counter the Chinese agenda. It recommended that Washington raise tariffs on any Made in China vehicle and tighten USMCA regulations.

  In January last year, a dispute panel of the USMCA ruled in favor of Canada and Mexico against the United States in their interpretation of rules for the production of automobiles.

  The dispute was regarding the United States allegedly having a stricter interpretation of rules that a minimum of 75 percent regional parts is necessary for a car to be considered as made in North America. The rule is crucial to qualify for duty-free treatment under USMCA.

  Canada and Mexico argued that if the core part of the vehicle, like the transmission or engine, has 75 percent regional content, then the number can be rounded up to 100 percent for calculating the overall regional content of the product. The United States disagreed against rounding up the numbers.

  The panel sided with Canada and Mexico. The United States Trade Representative called the ruling “disappointing.” The panel’s interpretation “could result in less North American content in automobiles, less investment across the region, and fewer American jobs.”

  Michael Stumo, from the Coalition for a Prosperous America, said that the judgment “is another reason to not outsource our trade policy, or any part of our sovereignty, to global tribunals. The USMCA was approved in large part because of strong regional auto content. Free traders on an international tribunal just changed that deal.”

  Back in September, President Trump warned in a Truth Social post that the Biden administration’s EV program will end up benefiting China and the “Auto Industry in America will cease to exist!”

  “Vote for TRUMP, and I will stop this Madness, IMMEDIATELY! Mexico & Canada LOVE Biden’s idiotic policy,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 20:20

• US Confirms Israel Killed Hamas No. 3, But Biden Calls Rafah Ground Op 'A Mistake'
  US Confirms Israel Killed Hamas No. 3, But Biden Calls Rafah Ground Op ‘A Mistake’

  On Monday the White House confirmed that Israel killed Hamas number three Marwan Issa in an operation on March 11. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari had initially announced the likelihood of his death, but said the military is still awaiting confirmation. Some international reports have described Issa as the number two most important leader.

  But what is clear is that Issa’s death marks the highest-ranking official of Hamas to be taken out during Israel’s war with Hamas began on Oct. 7. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed the news in a Monday afternoon press briefing.

  

  YNet wrote that “Marwan Issa holds powerful position in the terror group as coordinator between military wing and the political leadership; reports of his death come after massive airstrikes on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza where he is believed to be hiding.”

  Sullivan during the White House press briefing also answered questions over President Biden having held his first phone call in a month with his Israeli counterpart, PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

  Sullivan said that Biden told Netanyahu that Israel has the “right to go after Hamas” – but still stressed that the impending ground operation on refugee-packed Rafah is a “mistake”. 

  A call readout indicted the two leaders focused on discussing “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” The readout from the Israeli side stressed “Israel’s commitment to achieving all the goals” of its operation, including “making sure Gaza is not a threat” alongside ensuring the continued supply of humanitarian aid.

  But the division between Washington and Tel Aviv policy visions for Gaza continues to play out publicly. Sullivan said that Israel still doesn’t have an adequate plan for the safe evacuation of Rafah’s over one million civilians. But Israel has stressed repeatedly in the last several days that it does have a plan in place.

  Watch the respective contrary positions in the below statements…

  🚨🇺🇸WHITE HOUSE: “ISRAEL HAS NO PLAN FOR RAFAH CIVILIANS”

  “More than a million people have taken refuge in Rafah.

  Israel has not presented us or the world with a plan for how we’re where they can safely move those civilians – let alone feed and house them.”

  Source: White… https://t.co/dFToUGCMtc pic.twitter.com/sQMLv5pCEk

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 18, 2024

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  Israeli media took notice too:

  The White House on Monday sharply rejected the “straw man” argument adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that opposing a major Israeli military operation in Rafah is akin to opposing the total defeat of Hamas.

  Netanyahu also on Monday told a gathering of AIPAC representatives (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in Jerusalem that accusations coming out of Washington that he’s beholden to extremists in his government are “deliberate lies”. He was responding to the scathing criticisms issued last week Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who also called for new elections in Israel and accused Netanyahu of looking out for his own political future first.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 20:00

• High-Schoolers Are Losing Confidence In The Benefits Of A College Degree
  High-Schoolers Are Losing Confidence In The Benefits Of A College Degree

  Via Campus Reform,

  A recently released study that involved focus groups and a national study explores how high school students and non-enrolled adults ages 18-30 view the prospects of a college degree.

  

  New data suggests that prospective college students are finding fewer and fewer reasons to obtain a degree.

  Inside Higher Ed recently highlighted a new report by the Gates Foundation-funded HCM Strategists and Edge Research revealing that high school students and young adults have a declining view of the benefits of a college degree.

  The study, ”Continuing to Explore the Exodus from Higher Education,”compares the results of focus groups and a national survey conducted in 2023 to findings from a 2022 Gates Foundation report titled, “Where are the students?.”

  Researchers found that high schoolers and non-enrolled adults ages 18-30 still associate some benefits with attending college, but those perceived benefits were in decline compared to findings from 2022.

  The percentage of non-enrolled adults surveyed who consider reasons to go to college, such as to gain more money or get a better job, as important or very important has also dropped from the year before.

  At the same time, however, non-enrolled adults continue to perceive an increasing benefit to other options such as licenses, certificates, and trade schools.

  In conclusion, the study’s researchers write that, “Despite our understanding of the value of higher education, perceptions among these high school students and non-enrolled audiences make it clear that institutions need to prove their value to them.”

  ”In particular, why does the value of a 2-year or 4-year degree outweigh the value of credentials and job training programs?,” the researchers write.

  “Both High Schoolers and Non-Enrollees see and select other paths that are shorter, cheaper, and/or more directly linked to specific job opportunities.”

  “At the end of the day, higher education has a lot of work to do to convince these audiences of its value,” HCM consultant Terrell Dunn told Inside Higher Ed. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 19:40

• Google Denies Election Interference After Report Cites Dozens Of Instances Helping Dems, Censoring Republicans
  Google Denies Election Interference After Report Cites Dozens Of Instances Helping Dems, Censoring Republicans

  Google has denied a new report by the right-leaning Media Research Center (MRC) alleging 41 instances of “election interference” since 2008.

  

  According to the report, Google has “utilized its power to help push to electoral victory the most liberal candidates…while targeting their opponents for censorship.”

  This article understates the magnitude of the problem – Google interferes to help Democrats thousands of times every election season!

  This is to be expected when their censorship (aka “Trust & Safety”) teams are have far left political views. https://t.co/y36yzdzIUQ

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2024

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  MRC also claims that Google “targeted support for Hillary Clinton for censorship” by “suspending the accounts of writers who wrote blogs critical of Obama during his primary race against Clinton.”

  In 2008, MRC alleged that Google threw its support behind then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as he faced off against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. –NY Post

  Four years later, Google – which “once again favored Obama over Mitt Romney,” refused to correct a “Google bomb” that smeared GOP primary candidate Rick Santorum, the report reads.

  In 2019, 950 pages of Google’s internal documents were leaked, revealing evidence of Google utilizing blacklists and machine learning algorithms to censor Republicans, conservatives, and populists.https://t.co/AAbichiMpg

  — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 18, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to Dr. Robert Epstein, who is cited in MRC’s report and has conducted “dozens of controlled experiments” to uncover bias, Google’s search algorithm “shifted at least 2.5 million votes” to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election.

  In 2018, President Donald Trump accused the search giant of rigging search results to display only left-wing and negative stories about him.

  “Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD, Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal,” Trump said in a now-deleted post on X.

  In response, Google claimed “Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology.”

  Google denies

  A company source told the NY Post that Epstein’s claims have been “widely debunked.” In one instance cited by the MRC report, Google is alleged to have “targeted” then-Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI), by “disabling Gabbard’s Ads account just as she became the most searched candidate following the first Democratic Party primary debate.”

  Google’s source told the Post that the company’s automated systems flagged ‘unusual activity’ due to large spending changes in an effort to prevent fraud – and the issue was resolved within six hours, per the source, who noted that Gabbard’s subsequent lawsuit against the company was dismissed.

  The MRC also alleged that Google’s left-leaning bias impacted the 2022 Georgia Senate race between former football great and Republican Herschel Walker and the eventual winner, the Democrat Raphael Warnock.

  According to the report, Google’s search results “favored [the] incumbent” Warnock “in the swing precinct where greater proportions of undecided voters likely reside.”

  A source close to Google told The Post that third parties who have looked at our results and “found no evidence to support claims of political bias.” -NY Post

  “There is absolutely nothing new here — just a recycled list of baseless, inaccurate complaints that have been debunked by third parties and many that failed in the courts,” a Google spokesperson told the outlet.

  Of course, one can’t help but be skeptical considering that just before the 2016 presidential election, among the many leaks published by Wikileaks as part of its Podesta email leak was Google’s “strategic plan” to help democrats win the election and track voters.

  Google head Eric Schmidt’s secret strategic plan for the US election #PodestaEmails https://t.co/LskJODXyXn

  More: https://t.co/ZUfh7WDAT5 pic.twitter.com/llq5G9kp5V

  — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 31, 2016

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 19:20

• Biden Wants To Hike Taxes By $7 Trillion Dollars
  Biden Wants To Hike Taxes By $7 Trillion Dollars

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  If Democrats win the trifecta with a clean sweep of the Senate, House, and White House in November, taxes would rise by $7 trillion over 10 years.

  The House Ways and Means Committee reports The Biden Tax Hike Will Likely Exceed $7 Trillion.

  I believe they mean would not will.

  

  Tax Details

  • President Biden Quietly Pledges to Let Trump Tax Cuts Expire

  • Sending Jobs and Companies Overseas with Higher Business Taxes than China

  • Global Tax Surrender Allows Foreign Governments to Take American Tax Dollars

  • President Biden’s proposal to raise the top rate to 39.6 percent goes after small business owners who pay their business taxes via their individual tax return – despite his pledge not to raise taxes on small businesses.

  • A Tax on Wealth You Haven’t Even Earned Yet.

  • Higher Prices for Energy Bills and an Energy Insecure America.

  • An IRS That Would Terrify Godzilla

  A friend of mine asked when will the tax hikes cause a recession. I replied never. I suspect my friend was confused over the title that said “will” it should say “would”.

  I did not total up all of those details because I don’t believe it’s going to happen. However, It is a warning shot as to what would happen if Democrats did win the trifecta.

  Biden’s Populist Budget

  The Hill comments Biden’s populist budget marks the overdue end of trickle-down economics

  Trickle-down refers to the idea that tax cuts for the wealthiest “trickle down” to the rest of us. It’s long been a popular idea in Washington, but it’s just not true. A few years ago, the London School of Economics studied 50 years of such “trickle-down” policies in 18 industrialized nations, including the U.S., and found that their only result was increasing the wealth of the already wealthy.

  So how do we get prosperity for the rest of us? By taxing extreme wealth and investing those revenues in social goods like education, housing, food and health care. President Biden’s recently released federal budget plan follows that blueprint, putting the value of investing in American families and communities ahead of slashing taxes for the rich.

  The budget for the fiscal year 2025 would generate about $5.3 trillion in revenues over the next decade. That’s a $388 billion boost compared to last year’s budget — and it all comes from fairer tax policies targeting wealthy individuals and large corporations. Households earning less than $400,000 would see no tax increases, with many seeing reductions.

  The proposed budget invests $2.3 trillion towards essential public services for hard-working families while reducing the national debt by almost $3 trillion. That’s a great start toward filling critical investment gaps for families and communities.

  Take housing. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports a shortfall of more than 7 million affordable housing units for poor and low-income Americans. Biden is requesting $33 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher program, which currently helps over 2 million households afford housing and would expand access to homeownership for first-time homebuyers. His request will help to support the existing vouchers and add about 20,000 more.

  Though much more is needed, this effort to reduce homelessness by providing access to safe affordable housing in a tight housing market — with high rent prices and often insufficient wages — is a step in the right direction.

  Normally writers for The Hill are not nutzoid liberal like the above article.

  But it’s not going to happen unless you think Democrats can pull off a trifecta.

  Nonetheless, the budget is instructive as are CBO and Fed projections. I will have some comments on those projections Sunday or Monday.

  Optimism reins supreme, and it won’t happen.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 19:00

• Russia Mulls Security Buffer Zone As Ukraine Drones Shut Down 600,000 Barrels Of Daily Refining
  Russia Mulls Security Buffer Zone As Ukraine Drones Shut Down 600,000 Barrels Of Daily Refining

  After Russian President Vladimir Putin’s post-election victory speech and Q&A with the press wherein he first unveiled the possibility of creating a buffer zone between Ukrainian land and Russian border regions, the Kremlin has issued more details of the plan being mulled. 

  Putin had initially described Sunday, “I do not exclude that, bearing in mind the tragic events taking place today, we will be forced at some point, when we deem it appropriate, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ in the territories today under the Kyiv regime.” He referenced the “tragic events” of cross-border attacks in regions bordering Ukraine which have left scores of civilians dead and wounded over the past several months.

  Putin described without elaborating further that the security zone “would be quite difficult for the adversary to overcome with its weapons, primarily of foreign origin.”

  

  On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that as part of the plan Russia “would take measures to safeguard [its] territories” from Ukrainian drone and artillery attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian areas and residences. These areas can be made safe, he explained in follow-up to Putin’s words, “some kind of corridor, some kind of… buffer zone that [would put] out of reach any means that the enemy might use to launch strikes.”

  From Moscow’s perspective, this is laying the foundation and likely even ‘legal framework’ for seizing and solidifying hold over border territories inside Ukraine for the purpose of creating this proposed buffer. In many cases thus far throughout the war, Ukraine forces have been able to send drones hundreds of kilometers inside Russia, reaching even Moscow and St. Petersburg in rare instances.

  Oil refineries have been especially targeted, with a dozen or more instances in merely the last few months alone. Crimea too has come under increased drone swarm attack.

  The attacks on energy are clearly beginning to have significant impact on a chief source of revenue, part of which no doubt goes to fund the Russian war machine in Ukraine.

  “Gunvor Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Torbjörn Törnqvist estimates about 600,000 barrels of Russia’s daily oil-refining capacity has been knocked out by Ukrainian drone strikes,” Bloomberg reports based on a Monday report. According to some key quotes:

  “It is significant because obviously this is gonna hit the distillate exports straight away,” Törnqvist said during an interview at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston on Monday. “So that will probably take down exports by a couple of hundred thousand barrels, so to me it’s a distillate problem.”

  …Broadly writ, crude oil markets are mostly in balance and fairly valued, Törnqvist said, adding that US supplies are likely to grow this year by about half the rate of 2023’s 700,000-to-800,000 barrel-a-day pace. Still, non-OPEC supply growth overall is likely to be flat this year, he said. 

  *GUNVOR ESTIMATES DRONES SHUT 600,000 BARRELS OF RUSSIA REFININGhttps://t.co/jCsNCOmSdu

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 18, 2024

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

  The past week has seen consecutive days of drone strikes on oil facilities inside Russia, with a noticeable uptick in attacks confirmed over the weekend, as Russians went to the polls to vote in the presidential election. Just before the three-day election period began, there was an attack on Rosneft’s largest refinery:

  Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery, controlled by Rosneft, was set ablaze after a drone attack, a regional governor said on Wednesday.

  The plant, with installed capacity of around 350,000 barrels per day, refines about 12.7 million metric tons of Russian crude a year (around 317,000 barrels per day), or 5.8% of total refined crude, according to industry sources.

  On Sunday alone, 35 drones were launched on Russia, disrupting electricity in a number of border regions, including resulting at another fire at an oil refinery. One drone made to Moscow, and was shot down as it flew near Domodedovo airport.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 18:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Which Countries Have A Legal Cannabis Market?
  Which Countries Have A Legal Cannabis Market?

  Non-medical cannabis sales are forecast to surge by around 74 percent in the United States between 2024 and 2028, increasing from $20.2 billion to $35.1 billion.

  This is according to estimates calculated on July 2023 by analysts at Statista Market Insights and is based on the 11 countries in which cannabis was fully or partially legalized in around the world.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, the U.S. is already the biggest market for non-medical legal cannabis worldwide.

  It is forecast to expand to become almost seven times bigger than the next largest market, neighboring Canada.

  Canada has a sizeable market considering that the drug’s use for recreational purposes only became legal across the country on October 17, 2018.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  As the chart above shows, Cannabis will soon be legally available in Germany too, with possession and cultivation of the plant for personal consumption legal for adults as of April 1, 2024.

  It will not be the sole market in Europe either, with the Netherlands and Spain both projected to see growth in the next four years.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 02:45

• "Reduce Poverty Migration To Zero" – German Politicians Propose Crackdown On Migrants Sending Billions To Their Home Countries
  “Reduce Poverty Migration To Zero” – German Politicians Propose Crackdown On Migrants Sending Billions To Their Home Countries

  By John Cody of Remix News

  Every year, migrants and refugees transfer billions of euros from Germany to family members in their home countries, with the Bundesbank estimating this to be at least €6.8 billion per year.

  

  Now, some German political parties want to crack down on this development, with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) seeking to “reduce poverty migration to zero” with restrictions on cash payments and social benefits.

  Some of the money sent abroad is earned from work, but a substantial amount is likely from social welfare payments transferred to migrants, who then send it out of the country to support their families across the world. Since many of these social welfare benefits are distributed as cash, there is little oversight in how this money is used and transferred by migrants.

  These foreigners have a substantial incentive to send this money overseas, where due to exchange rates and different standards of living, the euro can go far further than it can in Germany. However, these social welfare payments were never designed to be sent overseas, and are meant to provide the necessary support for migrants within Germany.

  The debate on these remittances is only growing, with pro-migration parties working to stop efforts to disburse social welfare through electronic cards rather than cash. There is an awareness that if migrants stop receiving this money in cash, it may even serve as an incentive to leave the country. Not only would cash remittances become far more difficult, but prostitutes, drugs, and alcohol could also face restrictions.

  However, so-called vices such as alcohol and cigarettes may still be freely available with the new bank cards for migrants, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) working to enact restrictions on certain products.

  “Established politics is once again misleading the German public. The goal of all reforms of asylum seeker benefits must be to reduce poverty migration to Germany to zero. To achieve this, all false incentives must be eliminated immediately. This is not feasible with a payment card for asylum seekers that continues to provide cash benefits and does not even exclude things like alcohol or cigarettes,” said AfD parliamentary group spokesperson, René Springer.

  “We need a strict principle of benefits in kind for asylum seekers — bread, bed, and soap. There should be nothing more. Only then can we really assume that people who ask for asylum here are actually seeking protection. Asylum is only intended for this purpose and not as an access portal to German social benefits,” he continued.

  It is not just the AfD working to abolish cash benefits. Free Democrats (FDP) parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr said these cash benefits have been a “real pull factor. A lot of money was then sent home. We don’t want that.”

  However, other pro-migrant politicians such as the Green Party’s Erik Marquardt claim that migrants sending this tax money home is actually a good thing, saying that it is an “important part of development cooperation.” The argument is that these migrants are helping their families out of poverty.

  Continue reading at rmx.news

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 03/18/2024 – 02:00

• Escobar: Will BRICS Launch A New World Order In 2024?
  Escobar: Will BRICS Launch A New World Order In 2024?

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

  BRICS doubled its membership at the start of 2024, and faces huge tasks ahead: integrating its newest members, developing future admission criteria, deepening the institution’s groundings, and most importantly, launching the mechanisms for bypassing the US dollar in international finance.

  

  Across the Global South, countries are lining up to join the multipolar BRICS and the Hegemon-free future it promises. The onslaught of interest has become an unavoidable theme of discussion during this crucial year of the Russian presidency of what, for the moment, is BRICS-10.  

  Indonesia and Nigeria are among the top tiers of candidates likely to join. The same applies to Pakistan and Vietnam. Mexico is in a very complex bind: how to join without summoning the ire of the Hegemon.  

  And then there’s the new candidacy on a roll: Yemen, which enjoys plenty of support from Russia, China, and Iran. 

  It’s been up to Russia’s top BRICS sherpa, the immensely capable Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, to clarify what’s ahead. He tells TASS: 

  We must provide a platform for the countries interested in rapprochement with the BRICS, where they will be able to work practically without feeling left behind and joining this cooperation rhythm. And as to how the further expansion will be decided upon – this should be postponed at least until the leaders convene in Kazan to decide.

  The key decision on BRICS+ expansion will only come out of the Kazan summit next October. Ryabkov stresses that the order of the day is first “to integrate those who have just joined.” This means that “as a ‘ten,’ we work at least as efficiently, or, rather, more efficiently than we did within the initial ‘five.'”

  Only then will the BRICS-10 “develop the category of partner states,” which, in fact, means creating a consensus-based list out of the dozens of nations that are literally itching to join the club. 

  Ryabkov always makes a point to note, in public and in private, that the twofold increase of BRICS members starting on 1 January 2024 is “an unprecedented event for any international structure.”

  It isn’t an easy task, Ryabkov says: 

  Last year, it took an entire year to develop the admission, expansion criteria at the level of top officials. Many reasonable things were developed. And many of the things that were formulated back then got reflected in the list of countries that joined. But it would probably be improper to formalize the requirements. At the end of the day, an admission to the association is a subject of political decision.

  What happens after Russia’s presidential elections 

  In a private meeting with a few select individuals on the sidelines of the recent multipolar conference in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke effusively of BRICS, with particular emphasis on his counterparts Wang Yi of China and S. Jaishankar of India. 

  Lavrov holds great expectations for BRICS-10 this year – at the same time, reminding everyone that this is still a club; it must eventually go deeper in institutional terms, for instance, by appointing a secretariat-general, just like its cousin-style organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

  The Russian presidency will have its hands full for the next few months, not only navigating the geopolitical spectrum of current crises but, most of all, geoeconomics. A crucial ministerial meeting in June – only three months away – will have to define a detailed road map all the way to the Kazan summit four months later. 

  What happens after this week’s Russian presidential elections will also condition BRICS policy. A new Russian government will be sworn in only by early May. It is widely expected that there will be no substantial changes within the Russian Finance Ministry, Central Bank, Foreign Ministry, and among top Kremlin advisers. 

  Continuity will be the norm. 

  And that brings us to the key geoeconomics dossier: the BRICS at the forefront of bypassing the US dollar in international finance. 

  Last week, top Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov announced that BRICS will work towards setting up an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain. 

  Ushakov specifically emphasized “state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people, and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics.”

  Ushakov did not mention it explicitly, but a new alternative system already exists. For the moment, it is a closely, carefully guarded project in the form of a detailed white paper that has already been validated academically and also incorporates answers to possible frequently asked questions. 

  The Cradle was briefed on the system via several meetings since last year with a small group of world-class fintech experts. The system has already been presented to Ushakov himself. As it stands, it is on the verge of receiving a final green light from the Russian government. After clearing a series of tests, the system in thesis would be ready to be presented to all BRICS-10 members before the Kazan summit. 

  This all ties in with Ushakov publicly declaring that a specific task for 2024 is to increase the role of BRICS in the international monetary/ financial system. 

  Ushakov recalls how, in the 2023 Johannesburg Declaration, the BRICS heads of state focused on increasing settlements in national currencies and strengthening correspondent banking networks. The target was to “continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar.” 

  No single currency for the foreseeable future 

  All of the above frames the absolute key issue being currently discussed in Moscow, within the Russia–China partnership, and soon, deeper among the BRICS-10: alternative settlement payments to the US dollar, increased trade among “friendly nations,” and controls on capital flight.  

  Ryabkov added more crucial elements to the debate, saying this week that the BRICS are not debating the implementation of a single currency: 

  As for a single currency, similar to what was created by the European Union, this is hardly possible in the foreseeable future. If we are talking about clearing forms of mutual settlements such as the ECU [European Currency Unit] at an early stage of development of the European Union, in the absence of a real means of payment, but the opportunity to more effectively use the available resources of the countries in mutual settlements to avoid losses due to differences in exchange rates, and so on, then this is precisely the path along which, in my opinion, BRICS should move. This is under consideration.

  The key takeaway, per Ryabkov, is that the BRICS should not create a financial and monetary alliance; they should create payment and settlement systems that do not depend upon the shifty “rules-based international order.” 

  That’s exactly the emphasis of the ideas and experiments already developed by Minister of Integration and Macroeconomy at the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) Sergei Glazyev, as he explained in an exclusive interview, as well as the new groundbreaking project on the verge of being greenlighted by the Russian government.  

  Ryabkov confirmed that “a group of experts, led by the Ministries of Finance and representatives of the Central Banks of the respective [BRICS] countries,” is working nonstop on the dossier. Moreover, there are “consultations in other formats, including with the participation of representatives of the ‘historical west.'”

  Ryabkov’s own takeaway mirrors what the BRICS as a whole are aiming at: 

  Collectively, we must come up with a product that would be, on the one hand, quite ambitious (because it is impossible to continue to tolerate the dictates of the west in this area), but at the same time realistic, not out of touch with the ground. That is, a product that would be efficient. And all this should be presented in Kazan for consideration by the leaders.

  In a nutshell: the big breakthrough may be literally knocking at the BRICS door. It just depends on a simple green light by the Russian government. 

  Now compare the BRICS devising the contours of a new geoeconomics paradigm with the collective west mulling the actual theft of Russia’s seized assets to the benefit of the black hole that is Ukraine.

  Apart from being a de facto declaration by the US and EU against Russia, this is something that carries the potential, in itself, of totally smashing the current global financial system. 

  A theft of Russian assets, would it ever happen, will render livid, to put it mildly, at least two key BRICS members, China and Saudi Arabia, who bring to the table considerable economic heft. Such a move by the west would completely destroy the concept of the rule of law, which theoretically underpins the global financial system. 

  The Russian response will be fierce. The Russian Central Bank could, in a flash, sue and confiscate the assets of Belgian Euroclear, one of the world’s largest settlement and clearing systems, on whose accounts Russian reserves were frozen. 

  And that on top of seizing Euroclear’s assets in Russia – which amount to roughly 33 billion euros. With Euroclear running out of capital, the Belgian Central Bank will have to revoke its license, causing a massive financial crisis.

  Talk about a clash of paradigms: western robbery versus a Global South-based equitable trade and finance settlement system. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 23:20

• From Pioneer To Fallen Giant: How Hewlett Packard's Long List Of Failed Acquisitions Cost Its Reputation, Part 3
  From Pioneer To Fallen Giant: How Hewlett Packard’s Long List Of Failed Acquisitions Cost Its Reputation, Part 3

  Part 3 in the series “From pioneer to fallen giant: How Hewlett Packard’s long list of failed acquisitions cost its reputation.” 

  Read Part 1 “Billion dollar bungles” here;

  and Part 2 “The Autonomy Deal – Part 1: Leo Apotheker’s Downfall“ here.

  The Autonomy deal – part 2: Corporate conspiracy and cover-up

  In the first article in this series, we looked at how in the first decade of the 21st century, Hewlett Packard lurched from one disastrous acquisition to another. We then zoomed in on one of the most controversial of HP’s acquisitions – the Autonomy deal – which quickly fell to pieces.

  In this article, we’ll pick up the story in summer 2012. Meg Whitman, HP’s CEO, had signaled she had given up on any attempt to properly integrate the newly purchased Autonomy by firing its founder, Dr Mike Lynch.

  This could have been the end of it. Like so many of HP’s previous failed acquisitions, the Autonomy story might be now remembered as an embarrassing footnote in HP’s long history.

  Instead, more than a decade on, the HP-Autonomy saga is still playing out in the headlines and in courtrooms in the UK and US. The origins of this battle are the day in November 2012 when HP launched a calculated attack on Autonomy’s leadership, claiming with extraordinary bluster it had been defrauded when acquiring the company. The latest season in this long-running drama will start in a few days in a California court, where Dr Lynch is being tried as a criminal.

  Backing up a few months to July 2012, it was plain that HP was in serious trouble. Since the start of 2011, its share price had fallen from $20.5 to barely over $6.

  By this point, it was obvious that HP would have to conduct a write-down of its assets to bring its book value back in-line with its market value. This accounting exercise was the responsibility of CFO Cathie Lesjak. As explained in the previous article in the series, Lesjak was firmly against the Autonomy acquisition and fought tooth-and-nail to kill the deal. She asked her team to conduct an analysis of Autonomy’s value to see if an impairment should be recognized.

  Her team concluded that the fair value of Autonomy approximated the carrying value. In other words, no impairment was necessary. Indeed, as documents uncovered in the various court cases that followed show, HP’s accountants still saw potential in Autonomy. They suggested its poor performance was due to “execution issues caused by challenges with operating Autonomy in the HP environment and loss of the legacy Autonomy management team.” In their opinion, Autonomy was still worth what HP paid for it.

  This was an unhelpful view insofar as HP still needed to find ways to bring its book and market cap in-line with one another. Logic would dictate other HP assets and business lines would have to be written down.

  But CEO Meg Whitman was desperate to avoid that outcome. Let’s consider her position. Whitman had recently lost a bruising gubernatorial race, where she came under personal attack for hiring an illegal immigrant as a housemaid, and managed to blow $140m of her own money.

  It is reasonable to assume that if she took the job at HP, she would recoup some of those losses, both financial and reputational. Whitman would be forgiven if she was utterly dismayed when she walked into the dumpster fire that was HP. Presiding over the rapid decline of what was once a Silicon Valley giant would not do much for her resume.

  HP’s eyes turned to Autonomy once gain – as detailed in the previous article, it was a deeply annoying leftover from the Apotheker regime. Cathie Lesjak, still CFO, didn’t want to HP to acquire it in the first place.

  HP began to create a negative narrative about the Autonomy business. They were going to ruthlessly target it so it would become the scapegoat for the failings of HP’s declining empire.

  To reach the end goal of publicly pointing the finger at Autonomy, HP embarked on a series of financial manipulations.

  First, they fiddled with growth rates. Documents show that HP dramatically cut the projected revenue growth for Autonomy on the basis that its revenues had declined while under HP’s management.

  Then, in October, HP’s accountants took out the expected synergies. That allowed them to reach a valuation of $1.6bn.

  But of course, under that analysis, HP would effectively be admitting to the market that it had made a mess of the integration, and wouldn’t gain a cent of revenue growth it said it would when it acquired Autonomy. Such a narrative would make it appear that Meg Whitman and her allies had failed to make anything of the Autonomy deal. Whitman realised this. Internal HP communications show how she had the figures changed to put $2.3bn worth of synergies put back in.

  The third move was to play with discount rates. A higher rate was applied to Autonomy to make its value smaller. While HP had applied a discount rate of 9.5% to Autonomy in August 2012, by October, it artificially increased that rate to 15% to come up with the impairment it wanted. As with the synergies, Whitman intervened at the 11th hour, the night before the board was due to meet to discuss the impairment, asking that this was increased again to 16%.

  HP’s finance team were, understandably, getting worried about these entirely arbitrary calculations that they were being asked to make. One HP accountant described the results as “nonsensical”.

  By October 2012, HP had formulated a valuation for Autonomy of $2.2 billion – a write down of $8.8 billion – through a combination of lower growth rates, lower margins, lower projected synergies, and the “nonsensical” discount rate. This wasn’t the result of methodical review based on detailed accounting or a report from external advisors.

  But all this begs a huge question: where does fraud come into this?

  After all, Dr Mike Lynch is about to be tried for wire and securities fraud as a result of HP’s claim. However, as seen in court documents, in October 2012 after weeks of work by HP’s finance team, there was nothing to suggest a suspected fraud orchestrated by Autonomy’s people was the reason behind their write-down of the company. 

  That’s what made HP’s next move all the more incomprehensible.

  On November 20, 2012, it told the market it had been the victim of “serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures” during the course of the Autonomy acquisition. HP said this was the reason for $5.2bn of the $8.8bn write-down announced that day. In a press release, HP said that it had run an “intense internal investigation” into these “improprieties”, which included a “forensic review by PwC” of Autonomy’s financial records.

  This was a flat-out lie. No investigation took place, let alone a “forensic” review. The conclusion HP came to – that Autonomy and its leadership was somehow crooked – was pre-determined to fit HP’s narrative. The $5.2 billion figure was cooked up in the weeks preceding, it was not the result of extensive evidence gathering.

  HP peddled this myth all in a bid to save face and direct the market away from its own steep decline. On the same day, HP released its latest set of disappointing results: reporting revenue was down 7% and net losses reached $6.9 billion. It was a “tough quarter across the board” as CNN put it.

  After the initial shock of HP’s bombshell write-down announcement, investors and the media began poking around more deliberately.

  HP’s Head of Investor Relations was clearly uncomfortable, stating in internal communications that he thought it “disingenuous” that HP were not being up front about the fact that the expected synergies had not been achieved post-acquisition.

  And it wasn’t just HP staffers who were unhappy. As a New York Times piece points out, HP’s external accounts, Ernst & Young, did not believe there were accounting irregularities involved.

  An email exchange involving Lesjak and HP’s Chief Communications Officer highlighted that the media couldn’t understand how HP had reached the $5.2 billion figure. The CCO asked if the finance team could prepare an infographic to help show HP’s working.

  But of course, there was no detailed working. So when Lesjak asked for more details, she received an email on 30 November from a member of her team stating, “we’ve never formally prepared anything to attribute the irregularities to the amount of the write down”.

  In another email trail between Lesjak and the HP communications team she argued it would be better not to “go down this path” with the media, since she herself could not explain how the $5.2 billion figure had been arrived at.

  The fact that a major corporation’s CFO could not explain the basis of a market-critical announcement speaks volumes. Lesjak’s haziness on the matter was exposed when she was cross-examined in a British court years later.

  HP could not justify its claims then, nor can it justify them now. The company’s track record on acquisitions was so poor, and its overall performance so abysmal, that its leadership made a calculated decision to concoct a claim of fraud rather than admit the Autonomy integration was yet another HP management disaster. And when difficult questions arose about the write-down, HP’s leadership closed ranks and doubled down on their claim, despite the doubts of colleagues and external consultants.  

  To this day, HP continues to demand its pound of flesh, somehow convincing itself it has been a victim.  It has spent millions of dollars on lawyers and PR in the process. This is shareholder’s money, all to protect the reputation of Meg Whitman and her CFO.

  All too predictably, the Silicon Valley company and its army of lawyers has got its way. The US Government orchestrated the extradition of Autonomy’s founder, Dr Mike Lynch, and he will face trial in California this month.

  It is a stark and shocking reminder of two things: one, the once great Hewlett Packard lost its way long ago, and has burnt through cash trying to acquire its way out of trouble, and two, the lengths corporate America will go to avoid facing up to difficult truths.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 22:45

• Supreme Court Rules Public Officials May Block Their Constituents On Social Media
  Supreme Court Rules Public Officials May Block Their Constituents On Social Media

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

  Public officials may block people on social media in certain situations, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on March 15.

  

  At the same time, the court held that public officials who post about topics pertaining to their work on their personal social media accounts are acting on behalf of the government. But such officials can be found liable for violating the First Amendment only when they have been properly authorized by the government to communicate on its behalf.

  The case is important because nowadays public officials routinely reach out to voters through social media on the same pages where they discuss personal matters unrelated to government business.

  “When a government official posts about job-related topics on social media, it can be difficult to tell whether the speech is official or private,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the nation’s highest court.

  The case is separate from but brings to mind a lawsuit that several individuals previously filed against former President Donald Trump after he blocked them from accessing his social media account on Twitter, which was later renamed X. The Supreme Court dismissed that case, Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute, in April 2021 as moot because President Trump had already left office.

  At the time of the ruling, the then-Twitter had banned President Trump. When Elon Musk took over the company he reversed that policy.

  The new decision in Lindke v. Freed was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

  Respondent James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, used a public Facebook account to communicate with his constituents. Petitioner Kevin Lindke, a resident of Port Huron, criticized the municipality’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including accusations of hypocrisy by local officials.

  Mr. Freed blocked Mr. Lindke and others and removed their comments, according to Mr. Lindke’s petition.

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled for Mr. Freed, finding that he was acting only in a personal capacity and that his activities did not constitute governmental action.

  Mr. Freed’s attorney, Victoria Ferres, said during oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Oct. 31, 2023, that her client didn’t give up his rights when using social media.

  “This country’s 21 million government employees should have the right to talk publicly about their jobs on personal social media accounts like their private-sector counterparts.”

  The position advocated by the other side would unfairly punish government officials, and “will result in uncertainty and self-censorship for this country’s government employees despite this Court repeatedly finding that government employees do not lose their rights merely by virtue of public employment,” she said.

  In Lindke v. Freed, the Supreme Court found that a public official who prevents a person from comments on the official’s social media pages engages in governmental action under Section 1983 only if the official had “actual authority” to speak on the government’s behalf on a specific matter and if the official claimed to exercise that authority when speaking in the relevant social media posts.

  Section 1983 refers to Title 42, U.S. Code, Section 1983, which allows people to sue government actors for deprivation of civil rights.

  Justice Barrett wrote that according to the so-called state action doctrine, the test for “actual authority” must be “rooted in written law or longstanding custom to speak for the State.”

  “That authority must extend to speech of the sort that caused the alleged rights deprivation. If the plaintiff cannot make this threshold showing of authority, he cannot establish state action.”

  “For social-media activity to constitute state action, an official must not only have state authority—he must also purport to use it,” the justice continued.

  “State officials have a choice about the capacity in which they choose to speak.”

  Citing previous precedent, Justice Barrett wrote that generally a public employee claiming to speak on behalf of the government acts with state authority when he speaks “in his official capacity or” when he uses his speech to carry out “his responsibilities pursuant to state law.”

  “If the public employee does not use his speech in furtherance of his official responsibilities, he is speaking in his own voice.”

  The Supreme Court remanded the case to the 6th Circuit with instructions to vacate its judgment and ordered it to conduct “further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

  Also on March 15, the Supreme Court ruled on O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, a related case. The court’s sparse, unanimous opinion was unsigned.

  Petitioners Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane were two elected members of the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees in California who used their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the public.

  Respondents Christopher Garnier and Kimberly Garnier, parents of local students, “spammed Petitioners’ posts and tweets with repetitive comments and replies” so the school board members blocked the respondents from the accounts, according to the petition filed by Ms. O’Connor-Ratcliff and Mr. Zane.

  But the Garniers said they were acting in good faith.

  “The Garniers left comments exposing financial mismanagement by the former superintendent as well as incidents of racism,” the couple said in a brief.

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found in favor of the Garniers, holding that elected officials using social media accounts were participating in a public forum.

  The Supreme Court ruled in a three-page opinion that because the 9th Circuit deviated from the standard the high court articulated in Lindke v. Freed, the 9th Circuit’s decision must be vacated.

  The case was remanded to the 9th Circuit “for further proceedings consistent with our opinion” in the Lindke case, the Supreme Court stated.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 22:10

• Planet Fitness Cancels Membership Of Woman Who Exposed Biological Male Using Women's Locker Room
  Planet Fitness Cancels Membership Of Woman Who Exposed Biological Male Using Women’s Locker Room

  Planet Fitness is defending its decision to ban the membership of a customer in Alaska who spoke out about a “man in women’s locker room shaving.”

  Patricia Silva left the gym in Fairbanks, Alaska and shared a video on Facebook where she said: “I just came out of Planet Fitness. There is a man shaving in the women’s bathroom.”

  She also said the man “woman” was in the locker room at the same time as a 12 year old girl. 

  Woman in Planet Fitness claims she went into the bathroom and this man who thinks he’s a woman was in there shaving.

  Why does @PlanetFitness allow men to use the women’s bathroom and invade women’s private spaces?? pic.twitter.com/qVJ0YUFQvc

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 12, 2024

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

  She added: “I love him in Christ. He is a spiritual being having a human experience. He doesn’t like his gender so he wants to be a woman, but I’m not comfortable with him shaving in my bathroom.”

  Planet Fitness didn’t take kindly to the interaction and cancelled Silva’s membership, telling ABC affiliate WDPE: “As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment.”

  The gym said: “Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use the gym facilities that best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity. The member who posted on social media violated our mobile device policy that prohibits taking photos of individuals in the locker room, which resulted in their membership being terminated.”

  Planet Fitness’ website currently states: “At Planet Fitness, we celebrate and champion diversity and provide an environment where everyone feels accepted, respected and like they belong. Planet Fitness prohibits discrimination and harassment that is based on gender identity or gender expression in the workplace and in our clubs. The following is our corporate policy regarding the accommodation of our members and team members in terms of their gender identity.”

  “Planet Fitness prohibits discrimination and harassment that is based on gender identity or gender expression in the workplace and in our clubs.”

  WOW. Planet Fitness is standing by their decision to allow men in women’s locker rooms.

  Their policies actually allow males in female spaces. They instruct women to just deal with their discomfort and make sure not to misgender the trans person in their locker room.… https://t.co/1fA52PY21Q pic.twitter.com/wl5ZCxMtVs

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 15, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 20:25

• Pro-Israel Congressmen Pressed On 'River To The Sea' Hypocrisy
  Pro-Israel Congressmen Pressed On ‘River To The Sea’ Hypocrisy

  Submitted by Decensored News

  Decensored News joined forces with independent news outlet The Grayzone this week, producing/editing a video based around footage of Grayzone contributor Liam Cosgrove confronting several pro-Israel congressmen over their hypocritical condemnation of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” (see above).

  They suddenly didn’t find it inherently “genocidal” anymore when Cosgrove quoted from the 1977 original Israeli Likud party platform for them, which contains a similar phrase (bold added):

  The right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable and is linked with the right to security and peace; therefore, Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.

  Much more recently, Benjamin Netanyahu said during a January 2024 news conference that “in any future arrangement… Israel needs security control over all territory west of the Jordan River.”

  “This is a necessary condition, and it collides with the idea of sovereignty,” he added. “What can you do?”

  “Rep. Rashida Tlaib was censured by her colleagues for calling for Palestinians to be liberated from apartheid ‘from the river to the sea,’ ” said Grayzone editor-in-chief Max Blumenthal while sharing the video above on X.

  “Rep. Brian Mast declares, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will never be,’ knowing nothing will happen except more AIPAC donations.”

  Democratic congressmen Dan Goldman and Jared Moskotwitz also appear in the video, engaging in what The Grayzone called “obscene levels of hypocrisy.”

  This is Decensored News’ second collaboration with Cosgrove, having previously worked with him on a video based around interviews he conducted with congressmen Dan Crenshaw, Byron Donalds, August Pfluger, and Juan Ciscomani a few months ago.

  See from November: “Pro-Israel Congressmen pressed on Israel’s long history of deliberately propping up Hamas“

  MUST SEE: Journalist @cosgrove_iv presses pro-Israel Congressmen about Benjamin Netanyahu & the Israeli government’s long history of propping up Hamas

  “Shouldn’t you look into this BEFORE we send billions of dollars over to Israel?”

  Ft. @ScottHortonShow & @ComicDaveSmith pic.twitter.com/BwJXrcAJst

  — Decensored News (@decensorednews) December 12, 2023

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

  For more reporting like this, please follow Decensored News on your favorite social media platforms and bookmark the website. Liam Cosgrove can be found on X (@cosgrove_iv).

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 19:50

• Housing Affordability Crisis Solved: Sedona To Let Homeless Workers Sleep In Cars
  Housing Affordability Crisis Solved: Sedona To Let Homeless Workers Sleep In Cars

  In a move that’s raising eyebrows and rankling residents, the swanky city of Sedona, Arizona is addressing its outrageous housing costs by creating a parking area so homeless workers have a place to sleep in their cars legally. 

  After an acrimonious debate that spanned almost seven hours, the city council approved the Safe Place to Park program by a 6-1 vote. Under the scheme, 40 parking spaces will be made available in a 6-acre parking lot at the town’s Cultural Park, a 41-acre property that used to be a performance venue. The lot will be outfitted with temporary bathrooms and showers. 

  

  A homeless coalition will be charged with overseeing the facility from 10pm to 8am, and all cars have to leave the lot during the day — so much for night-shift workers. To secure a spot in the lot, individuals must be full-time workers in the city. Proponents say the lot will help prevent homeless workers from sleeping in cars parked on Sedona streets or on the national forest land that is one of Sedona’s major tourist draws. 

  They’ll also have to engage with social workers who will help them strive to find permanent homes. Good luck. With the average house in the isolated town going for $930,000, and rental homes oriented toward big-spending vacationers, the desert paradise is unaffordable for many blue-collar workers. 

  We are over 440 signatures! Sign now before the next City Council meeting and let them know that sleeping in your car in not a good option. We can do better!
  Stop the Homeless Parking Lot at Cultural Park in Sedona – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/DsSKEdRWFK via @Change

  — StraightTalkSedona (@STSedona) February 13, 2024

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  City officials reassured residents that the lot will not be visible from any of their homes — so they won’t have to worry about inadvertently casting their gaze on the homeless workers who make their lux lives in Sedona possible. 

  Residents worry the lot will become a hub of criminality and drug use. One resident who fled homeless-plagued Portland for sanctuary in Sedona is already working on an end-around to kill the program. “If the city does pass this misbegotten zoning ordinance, I’ve already prepared and tomorrow I will file for a ballot referendum so the people of Sedona can correct that mistake,” said Dr. Bill Noonan on the day of the vote. 

  

  “I don’t think there’s anybody up here or staff that are extremely proud of this. This is a last-ditch effort,” Mayor Scott Jablow told AZCentral. “No one’s really proud because this isn’t really the answer. It’s one of many answers.”

  We’re guessing his other “answers” don’t include ending the Fed. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 19:15

• Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms
  Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms

  Westbrook Partners, which acquired the San Francisco Four Seasons luxury hotel building, has been served a notice of default, as the developer has failed to make its monthly loan payment since December, and is currently behind by more than $3 million, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

  

  Westbrook, which acquired the property at 345 California Center in 2019, has 90 days to bring their account current with its lender or face foreclosure.

  Related

  • Fed Fears “Notable” Financial System Vulnerability As Renowned CRE Investor Tells Team ‘Stop All NYC Underwriting’
  • The State Of Commercial Real Estate, In Charts
  • “Who Could Be Next”: Top Canadian Pension Fund Sells Manhattan Office Tower For $1, Sparking Firesale Panic
  • “Heightened Risks”: Goldman Points To Leading CRE Indicator That Shows Pain Train Not Over

  As SF Gate notes, downtown San Francisco hotel investors have had a terrible few years – with interest rates higher than their pre-pandemic levels, and local tourism continuing to suffer thanks to the city’s legendary mismanagement that has resulted in overlapping drug, crime, and homelessness crises (which SF Gate characterizes as “a negative media narrative).

  Last summer, the owner of San Francisco’s Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 hotels abandoned its loan in the first major default. Industry insiders speculate that loan defaults like this may become more common given the difficult period for investors.

  At a visitor impact summit in August, a senior director of hospitality analytics for the CoStar Group reported that there are 22 active commercial mortgage-backed securities loans for hotels in San Francisco maturing in the next two years. Of these hotel loans, 17 are on CoStar’s “watchlist,” as they are at a higher risk of default, the analyst said. -SF Gate

  The 155-room Four Seasons San Francisco at Embarcadero currenly occupies the top 11 floors of the iconic skyscrper. After slow renovations, the hotel officially reopened in the summer of 2021.

  “Regarding the landscape of the hotel community in San Francisco, the short term is a challenging situation due to high interest rates, fewer guests compared to pre-pandemic and the relatively high costs attached with doing business here,” Alex Bastian, President and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, told SFGATE.

  Heightened Risks

  In January, the owner of the Hilton Financial District at 750 Kearny St. – Portsmouth Square’s affiliate Justice Operating Company – defaulted on the property, which had a $97 million loan on the 544-room hotel taken out in 2013. The company says it proposed a loan modification agreement which was under review by the servicer, LNR Partners.

  Meanwhile last year Park Hotels & Resorts gave up ownership of two properties, Parc 55 and Hilton Union Square – which were transferred to a receiver that assumed management.

  In the third quarter of 2023, the most recent data available, the Hilton Financial District reported $11.1 million in revenue, down from $12.3 million from the third quarter of 2022. The hotel had a net operating loss of $1.56 million in the most recent third quarter.

  Occupancy fell to 88% with an average daily rate of $218 in the third quarter compared with 94% and $230 in the same period of 2022. –SF Chronicle

  According to the Chronicle, San Francisco’s 2024 convention calendar is lighter than it was last year – in part due to key events leaving the city for cheaper, less crime-ridden places like Las Vegas. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 18:05

• New York City Reaches Deal To Limit Shelter Stays For Adult Migrants
  New York City Reaches Deal To Limit Shelter Stays For Adult Migrants

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  New York City has reached an agreement with the Legal Aid Society that will enable the city to limit the duration of stay for adult migrants in shelters amid an ongoing surge in new arrivals, according to the mayor.

  

  The agreement essentially ends the blanket right to shelter for adult migrants after 30 days, allowing only those who meet “extenuating circumstances” to reapply on a case-by-case basis.

  “Today’s stipulation acknowledges that reality and grants us additional flexibility during times of crisis, like the national humanitarian crisis we are currently experiencing,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release.

  Mr. Adams said the city’s shelter system had fewer than 2,500 people in its care when “the Right to Shelter” law was enacted over 40 years ago, compared to the 120,000 people today, 65,000 of which are migrants.

  “New York City has led the nation in responding to a national humanitarian crisis, providing shelter and care to approximately 183,000 new arrivals since the spring of 2022, but we have been clear, from day one, that the ‘Right to Shelter’ was never intended to apply to a population larger than most U.S. cities descending on the five boroughs in less than two years,” he added.

  The settlement applies only to adults seeking shelter and does not impact families with children. Young adults, under the age of 23, will be granted 60 days of shelter.

  Additional time can be granted if there is evidence of “significant efforts to resettle,” which can include making an appointment with an immigration lawyer, applying for a resettlement program, or providing proof that they’re searching for housing.

  The agreement also requires that the city eliminates the backlog of new arrivals who have been forced to wait many days for another bed when reapplying for placement.

  The city also agreed to eliminate the use of waiting rooms as shelters and provide consistent access to bathrooms, showers, and food, according to a statement by the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless.

  “We will very closely monitor the City’s compliance with this settlement and we won’t hesitate to seek judicial intervention should there be noncompliance,” said Legal Aid Society attorney Adriene Holder.

  The right to shelter has been in place for more than four decades in New York, after a court in 1981 required the city to provide temporary housing for every homeless person who asks for it. Other big U.S. cities don’t have such a rule.

  

  New York’s shelter system is now filled to record levels. The city says it is currently providing housing for 93,000 people. In recent months it has rented out entire hotels to house the influx of migrants, at great cost. It has also put cots in schools, and temporarily housed people in tents, a cruise ship terminal, and a former police academy building.

  Mr. Adams has sought financial help from the state and federal government and has been critical of President Joe Biden’s administration for not providing funding to care for migrants.

  “Like impacted cities across the country, we cannot bear the brunt of this crisis alone and continue to seek significant support from our federal partners, including expedited work authorizations, more funding, and a national resettlement strategy,” he said.

  The Democrat mayor previously estimated it will cost the city roughly $12 billion over the next three years to handle the ongoing influx of immigrants.

  He also issued an executive order to clamp down on charter bus companies transporting illegal immigrants from Texas, stating that such firms must notify the city’s Emergency Management Office at least 32 hours before arriving in the city.

  Katabella Roberts and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

• SpaceX Reportedly Building Spy Satellite Constellation In Low Earth Orbit
  SpaceX Reportedly Building Spy Satellite Constellation In Low Earth Orbit

  SpaceX’s Starshield program has been building a constellation of spy satellites under a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since 2021, Reuters reported, citing five people familiar with the program.  

  The spy satellite network will consist of hundreds of low-Earth orbiting satellites with Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a sat-swarm. SpaceX’s contract with the NRO, signed in 2021, totals $1.8 billion. 

  According to Reuters, if Starshield is successful, it would “significantly advance the ability of the US government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.” 

  

  The contract signals a strengthening relationship between Musk and national security agencies despite radical progressives in the White House who have weaponized federal agencies against SpaceX and other Musk-owned companies. 

  Reuters noted it “was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their own contracts.” 

  SpaceX describes Starshield as for “government use” only, while “Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use.” It also explains that Starshield is a “secured satellite network for government entities” that “supports national security efforts.”

  Starlink needs to be a civilian network, not a participant to combat.

  Starshield will be owned by the US government and controlled by DoD Space Force.

  This is the right order of things.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2023

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  Last fall, SpaceX received a contract for the Starshield network from the US Space Force. 

  

  The planned Starshield network is entirely separate from Starlink, which has an expanding commercial broadband constellation of 5,500 satellites in low earth orbit that provides internet to consumers, companies, and government agencies worldwide. 

  

  Biden officials must be absolutely furious about Musk’s expanding relationship with the Pentagon to strengthen the nation’s defenses. 

  Musk is uncancellable – no matter how many federal agencies the Biden administration directs at the billionaire.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 16:55

• Real Wealth Vs Claims On Wealth: Bitcoin 2020s Vs USDollar 1800s
  Real Wealth Vs Claims On Wealth: Bitcoin 2020s Vs USDollar 1800s

  Authored by Kane McGukin via BombThrower.com,

  The following excerpts are from Tragedy and Hope. They detail the monetary environment from 1914 to the 1930s. When looked at independently the context helps explain the confusion we find across today’s monetary landscape.

  These passages help us better understand money and the lack of order that takes hold when international players desire a change to the system. The greatest challenge then and now was the battle between real wealth and claims on wealth.

  

  With the creation of the FED, the intent was to have a system of central control of the money supply, to provide a backstop in times of crisis, and to have a gold-based monetary system.

  However, the outcome led to a handful of powerful global bankers rather than a few powerful centralized institutions.

  While the mandate of the FED is said to be price stability and maximum employment, its actions arguably have been the opposite. Making it hard to resist the temptation to assume the goal was actually to empower and enrich the pockets of a few global investment bankers.

  Shedding light on the inner workings of the FED and BIS exposes a few harsh truths. It reveals a century’s worth of bankers who have chosen personal gain and growth of personal net worth over mandates of stability. These means have filtered down to the everyday politician who trades by day and passes bills to benefit those trades by night.

  Unfettered access to the cookie jar gives one the ability to control flows of credit across the globe.

  This power is hard to ignore and easily takes precedence over the intent of price stability and employment. Especially, when “no one’s looking”.

  In a post-2007 world, we find ourselves sitting with a very similar backdrop to the early 1900s.

  • Global strife due to inflation and a currency system imbalance.

  • Unsustainable global debt in the primary global reserve currency.

  • Increasingly levered institutions and individuals.

  • An upstart money/currency promising to reinstill a gold standard and promises to balance budgets while restoring exchange rates.

  This is Bitcoin in 2024. It Was the U.S. Dollar in 1914.

  What Bitcoin does that the dollar or any other fiat can’t do at this point is increase real wealth in the community.

  An economist or central banker will tell you this is bad because it leads to deflation.

  Yes, in an inflationary system like the one we currently have, that is true. However, in reality rather than in economics, deflation is not a bad thing. It is not bad that your cost of living should decline rather than increase over time. Unfortunately, it takes from the banker and gives to the individual. Therein lies the problem.

  Deflation in this sense is good, as it allows prices to fall for those who make sound financial decisions, save, and hold money; sound money. While taking from those who choose to lever up or hold a debt-laden money. Money that pre-spends its future by pulling it forward into today.

  This is the flaw of fiat currencies like the dollar.

  They are debt based. They pre-spend our future without any intention of thinking about how the piper must be paid.

  Gold, and now Bitcoin, play this deflationary role. Gold has for centuries and Bitcoin will in the digital century.

  

   

  In the early years of the dollar, 1800s and early 1900s, it played a similar role. A rising asset that allowed for more purchasing power (real wealth); until it was commandeered by international bankers in 1913.

  That was the moment when devaluation became the method chosen, as there were only three options to solve the economic issues at hand.

  (a)to increase the production of real wealth; (b) to decrease the quantity of money; or (c) to devaluate, or make each unit of money equal to a smaller amount of wealth (specifically gold).

  … The third method (devaluation) was essentially a recognition and acceptance of the existing situation, and would have left prices at the higher postwar level permanently. This would have involved a permanent reduction in the value of money, and also would have given different parities in foreign exchanges (unless there was international agreement that countries devaluate by the same ratio). But it would have made possible prosperity and a rising standard of living and would have accepted as permanent the redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors brought about by the wartime.

  Today, we battle the problems left by the choice of devaluation.

  Sure, it led to a hundred years of the appearance of wealth and the appearance of rising standards of living. However, it shrank the pool of wealth and in a post-2007 world, the piper is here to be paid.

  Prices have remained permanently high, forever. The value of money has been reduced forever; by 92-99%. The parity difference between foreign exchange markets was broken by negligence, incompetence, and caused immigration to be the tool of destruction.

  These challenges could have been avoided but one must make a tough choice by choosing sound money. Money that builds real wealth and destroys claims on wealth. That is the choice today’s central banker seeks to avoid, again.

  Why? Because it requires erasing the appearance of rising living standards. It brings forward truth, and bankers would rather crank up the music instead. They’d rather continue on, pulling chairs away while everyone dances. Because they know most won’t notice, and there isn’t a reliable system of accountability to hold them responsible.

  

  *  *  *

  Get on the Bombthrower mailing list here and receive a free copy of The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto, which outlined all this. However, by the time you read this it may already be too late to sign up for The Bitcoin Capitalist Letter: new subscriptions will be closed once Bitcoin hits a new all-time high.
  Subscribe to Kane McGukin’s Substack here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 16:20

• RFK Jr To Name Sergey Brin's Ex-Wife As Running Mate: Report
  RFK Jr To Name Sergey Brin’s Ex-Wife As Running Mate: Report

  After previously thinking NY Jets quarterback Aaron Rogers might be the right person to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is now planning to select 38-year-old Nicole Shanahan, the wealthy ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate. This according to a Saturday Mediaite report that cited “a source close to the campaign.”

  Shanahan is a Bay Area lawyer and tech entrepreneur who’s been a Democratic Party benefactor and donated to Biden’s 2020 campaign. In a February Times profile, she described herself as a “progressive through and through.” Aside from opening her wallet, she has no political profile whatsoever, seemingly not even having spoken out or written about issues of the day.  

  

  Last week, the New York Times reported that, in addition to the NFL’s Rogers, Kennedy was considering former Minnesota Gov and Predator co-star Jesse Ventura, among others. Mediaite’s source said RFK Jr and Shanahan “align on numerous issues,” including wariness about vaccines.

  The source also candidly spotlighted what is likely the principal attraction: “The campaign is also looking for a candidate who can help finance the ballot access initiative.” The campaign says that effort comes with a $15 million price tag. With under eight months to the election, he’s only on four ballots: Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire and Utah. Multiple states require the naming of a running mate before giving approval, which is why his decision is coming soon. 

  This leak doesn’t exactly sound like a coordinated trial balloon, as a source close to the campaign proceeded to throw Shanahan under the bus: 

  “She might be infusing millions of dollars into the campaign to help fund the ballot initiative, which makes her attractive financially; however, she lacks the qualifications to actually do the job.”

  Shanahan helped bankroll Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad, giving $4 million to the American Values 2024 PAC that’s supporting him. That represented a major change of heart: When Kennedy announced last fall that he was bailing on the rigged Democratic nomination process, Shanahan was “incredibly disappointed” and, at the time, decided not to back him, despite having given him a $6,000 maximum contribution in May, while he was trying to dislodge Biden.  

  RFK Jr. says he has an “extraordinary” VP pick, “but it’s not any of the people they’ve been talking about.”

  “It’s somebody that is going to surprise people and I think the country is really gonna fall in love with.” @RobertKennedyJr pic.twitter.com/jhZaoCLvNb

  — Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) March 16, 2024

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  Mediaite was also first to report Kennedy’s decision to go independent. On Wednesday, the outlet found that Kennedy advisor Link Lipsitz registered the kennedyshanahan.com web domain, and observed that the page was ready to facilitate donations. When ZeroHedge tried accessing it, however, we received a “connection not private” warning for the site.

  A Kennedy campaign spokesperson declined to confirm the report, merely telling the New York Post, “There has been a lot of speculation in the media about Mr. Kennedy’s pick of vice presidential running mate. The official announcement will be on March 26 in Oakland.”

  Last summer, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shanahan’s 2023 divorce from Brin was sparked by a brief affair she had with Elon Musk. In addition to ending the five-year marriage, the Journal said the episode also terminated a long friendship between Musk and Brin. Musk called the report “total bs”: 

  This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!

  I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 15:45

• Gold Star Dad Who Interrupted State Of The Union Explains Why He Did It
  Gold Star Dad Who Interrupted State Of The Union Explains Why He Did It

  Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Joe Biden had been talking for about an hour when Steven Nikoui began feeling like he was sitting in the Colosseum in the movie “Gladiator” rather than at a State of the Union address.

  “They’re all sitting in the stands and they’re looking at the beast down there and they’re getting amused. And I felt that. I rationalized it like that and I was a little sickened,” Mr. Nikoui said.

  “These people … they wouldn’t even have any of this if it wasn’t for someone like my kid or … any of the others.”

  

  He had hoped this would be the day that President Biden would say his son’s name, Kareem.

  But when the president said “America is safer today than when I took office,” the Gold Star father reached a breaking point.

  Mr. Nikoui likens the moment as “having an out of the body experience.”

  The anger and grief that had been stewing inside him for three years let loose.

  “Remember Abbey Gate! United States Marines! Kareem Mae’Lee Nikoui!”

  He shouted his son’s name, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, and the name of the airport gate in Kabul where a suicide bomber killed his son and 12 other U.S. Marines on Aug 26, 2021, during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

  Then, he was arrested.

  

  Mr. Nikoui, who had been invited to the State of the Union by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a veteran, was escorted out of the House Gallery.

  “I did have remorse,” he told The Epoch Times. “I felt ashamed.”

  Mr. Nikoui said he was placed in handcuffs and escorted to a police substation at the Capitol. There, his mugshot was taken and he was fingerprinted. He said he waived his Miranda Rights.

  The officers who arrested him “were pretty good,” he said, but they gave him an ultimatum: “If you talk to us, you‘ll be out in an hour. If you don’t talk to us, you’ll go to the DC jail and see the judge in the morning.”

  He said he was scared to go to jail. He’d never been arrested before.

  ‘He Would Have Been Proud’

  Mr. Nikoui said Kareem, meaning “generous and honorable” in Arabic, is a fitting name for his son.

  It’s exactly how his son, a proud American patriot, lived and died, he said. Something, he added, that President Biden has never once acknowledged.

  He said Kareem made the ultimate sacrifice for the country he had longed to serve since he was four years old.

  As a little boy, Kareem had a collection of “little army guys” he constantly played with, Mr. Nikoui recalled. His son joined Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as soon as he was old enough and he loved military movies. His favorite was “Band of Brothers,” a TV mini series.

  Kareem’s commitment to serve was not a rite of passage as it so often is between father and son, Mr Nikoui said.

  “I was against it,” he said. “I knew this would happen. I buried my head in the sand. I didn’t know anything about the military. I told him I don’t want to know anything about this. Just get out. But he didn’t want to get out. He said ‘I’m going all the way.’”

  

  Mr. Nikoui, a born-again Christian, talked to The Epoch Times about his son and his March 7 arrest at the State of the Union.

  He also reflected on his relentless blame on President Biden for not following the Doha Agreement established under the Trump Administration. And his ardent belief that his son, who was only 20 when he was killed, would still be alive if former President Donald Trump had been commander-in-chief when his son was deployed in Afghanistan.

  “The only reason why I was even all right with my kid joining the military—because, like I told you I was against it—was because Donald Trump was the president,” he said.

  The memories flooded back as President Biden touted his tenure.

  From the Democrats dressed all in white to signify pro-abortion, to President Biden mispronouncing Laken Riley’s name in response to Rep. Marjorie Greene’s (R-Ga.) demand he say the name of the Georgia student brutally slain by an illegal immigrant, Mr. Nikoui described the many reasons that made him think “harder than ever” about the sacrifice of his son and the other fallen soldiers.

  He thought back to the horrifying videos Kareem had sent him during his deployment—of young Afghani children begging the soldiers to take them to America.

  “I saw this little girl just screaming, pushing herself up against the fence—screaming, ’they’ll kill me, take me with you, the bad guys are coming,” he recalled. And mothers, “throwing their babies at razor wire. And women running into the razor wire because they don’t want to be raped and killed by the Taliban.”

  

  He said Kareem, also a Christian, often spoke emotionally of how deeply pained he was by what he witnessed.

  Mr. Nikoui believes President Biden and his followers lack any understanding of that kind of pain. He said he finds it appalling that anytime someone dies or loses a loved one, the president interminably turns it into his own grief about the loss of his son Beau to cancer.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 15:10

• Putin Wins Fifth Term As Russian President With 87% Of The Vote
  Putin Wins Fifth Term As Russian President With 87% Of The Vote

  Update: It will surprise no one that Vladimir Putin secured another six years as Russia’s president – effectively ensuring that he will surpass Joseph Stalin as Russia’s longest-serving ruler should he successfully complete his latest term when he will be 77-year-old – in a bid to step up his war in Ukraine and challenge the West, with the Kremlin claiming record public support for him in a vote whose outcome was largely pre-determined even without mystery sacks of mail-in ballots arriving at 3am.

  Congratulstions to all Russia’s enemies on Vladimir Putin’s brilliant victory in the election of the President of the Russian Federation! And a thank you to friends for the support

  — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) March 17, 2024

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  Putin won 87%, according to an exit poll broadcast on state television late Sunday, shortly after the end of three days of voting. That exceeded the previous high of 77% support that the incumbent president received in 2018 elections, according to Bloomberg.

  Russian State Media is showing Exit Polls from the ongoing Presidential Election, with current President Vladimir Putin receiving upwards of 87% of the Vote likely Securing his Presidency until at least 2030. pic.twitter.com/IrVSwj8HqO

  — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 17, 2024

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  Three other candidates, all from parties loyal to the Kremlin, received no more than 5% support. Nearly 4.5 million people voted online in a system used in 29 of Russia’s regions for the first time in a presidential election, the Interfax news service reported, citing government data.

  Preliminary turnout was 74.22% – the largest in over 3 decades – according to Central Election Commission data shown on state TV. That turnout was the highest since Boris Yeltsin became president in 1991 after the Soviet Union’s collapse, and well above the 67.5% turnout recorded in 2018. At least six Russian regions claimed turnout was above 90%.

  Of note, according to the CEC, Putin received 94.12% of the votes after processing 100% of the protocols in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which is located in the contest Donetsk region.

  Putin is extending his nearly quarter-century rule into a fifth term at a time when his troops are on the offensive in Ukraine. Russia’s pressing its advantage in the third year of the invasion that’s become Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, as Ukraine struggles to supply its forces with munitions amid delays in military aid from its US and European allies.

  The election outcome “gives Putin every chance to implement any, even the toughest, scenarios in Ukraine,” said Pavel Danilin, head of the Moscow-based Center for Political Analysis, which advises the Kremlin. The “historically high result is a guarantee that the majority of the population supports Putin,” he said.

  Putin’s victory comes as Russia’s economy has fully weathered the shock of international sanctions since it began the February 2022 invasion, thanks to a continuing flow of energy revenue – which the west has been terrified to halt as it would mean a surge in global energy prices and a rout for Biden in the November 2024 elections – and a massive injection of government spending to support the defense industry and shield domestic businesses. Meanwhile, trade with China is booming as Russia reorients its economy away from markets in Europe.

  As noted above, Russia organized voting in occupied areas of Ukraine and that claimed turnout far exceeded 80%, even as millions of people have fled the regions since the invasion. The foreign ministry in Kyiv said the “pseudo-elections” were illegal, by which they probably mean they were not predetermined by neocon demi-god Victoria Nuland, or whoever it is that will replace her in the Deep State.

   

  * * *

  Earlier:

  The first round of the presidential election in Russia is taking place from Friday to Sunday this weekend.

  It will be the country’s eighth presidential election and more than 112 million voters will be called to the polls.

  While four candidates are in the running, Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports that there is almost no doubt among observers that Vladimir Putin will be re-elected for a fifth term in the first round.

  The only real unknown is the share of votes he will receive.

  During the last presidential election in 2018, this number stood at around 77 percent.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In power for around a quarter of a century – spanning four presidential terms and two terms as prime minister between 1999 and 2000 and between 2008 and 2012 – Putin has spent a total of almost 9,000 days at the helm of the country. If he is re-elected this weekend, the ensuing six-year term of approximately 2,190 days will likely make him Russia’s longest serving leader since the start of the twentieth century. This record is currently held by Joseph Stalin, who led the country between 1924 and 1953 for a total of 10,636 days. Putin became Russia’s second longest-serving leader overtaking Brezhnev in 2017 late into his third term as president.

  During Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency from 2008 to 2012, Russian law was amended to extend presidential terms from two terms of four years to two terms of six years.

  This change was also designed to reset terms served and therefore enabled Putin to win another two terms.

  A decade later, in 2021, Putin signed another law setting the limit at two presidential mandates per person in a lifetime, again paradoxically resetting terms already served and thereby exempting him for a second time.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 15:05

• Molotov Cocktail Attack On Russian Embassy In Moldova On Last Day Of Election
  Molotov Cocktail Attack On Russian Embassy In Moldova On Last Day Of Election

  Sunday is the final day of three days of presidential elections in Russia. Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of deceased opposition activist Alexei Navalny, is urging mass protests against President Putin as he stands of the verge of winning another six year term as president, an outcome quite obvious to all observers. She’s calling on Russians to disrupt the final day of voting in what’s been dubbed “noon against Putin”. 

  While some sporadic minor incidents at polling stations have been reported, there has been a major incident in the small country of Moldova which borders Ukraine. Moldovan police have detained a man who attacked the Russian embassy with two Molotov cocktails as voting was underway there.

  

  “A man threw two containers of flammable substances over the fence of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau,” police said in a statement. A 54-year-old Moldovan who described himself as also having Russian citizenship was immediately detained after after hurling the Molotov cocktails.

  There were no reports of injuries or damage to the embassy, and police said an investigation is ongoing. “He justified his action by some dissatisfaction he has with the actions of the Russian authorities,” authorities said.

  Moldova has been scene of controversy and friction especially after Russia allowed the opening of several polling stations in breakaway Transnistria, which the Moldovan government has fiercely protested.

  Reuters noted days ago that “A senior official in ex-Soviet Moldova said on Wednesday Moscow was breaking laws by printing ballot papers in the separatist region of Transnistria ahead of this week’s Russian presidential election.”

  “Moldova’s pro-European authorities have already summoned the Russian ambassador to complain about a decision to open six polling stations in the pro-Russian enclave,” the report continued. “The central government said the move broke an agreement to allow voting only at a single polling station at the Russian embassy in Chisinau.”

  

  The United States recently become more vocal in defending Moldova’s territorial integrity, and has condemned what the Biden administration has called Moscow’s ‘interference’ in the Eastern European nation’s sovereignty.

  Last summer, Moldova expelled 45 Russian diplomats and embassy staff members from the country “over numerous unfriendly actions” as tensions reached near breaking point over the war in neighboring Ukraine and the Transnistria issue. As for Russia’s election, Kremlin authorities have said Ukraine is engaged in cross-border attacks on polling stations and in annexed regions of Ukraine.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 14:35

• The Stain Of Fani: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Signs Law To Discipline 'Rogue' Prosecutors Amid DA Willis Controversy
  The Stain Of Fani: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Signs Law To Discipline ‘Rogue’ Prosecutors Amid DA Willis Controversy

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law that revives an oversight panel with powers to discipline and remove wayward county prosecutors, and which could potentially target alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her case against former President Donald Trump.

  

  Mr. Kemp signed SB 332 into law on March 13, saying at a signing ceremony that the community suffers and property is put at risk when “out-of-touch” public prosecutors put politics ahead of public safety.

  “This legislation will help us ensure rogue or incompetent prosecutors are held accountable if they refuse to uphold the law,” Mr. Kemp said.

  “As we know all too well, crime has been on the rise across the country, and is especially prevalent in cities where prosecutors are giving criminals a free pass or failing to put them behind bars due to lack of professional conduct,” he added.

  Mr. Kemp initially signed related legislation in May 2023, which established the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PACQ), with the governor saying at the time that the panel would discipline “far-left” prosecutors who make communities less safe by being soft on crime.

  However, the panel was unable to start operating after the state Supreme Court in November 2023 declined to approve rules for its governance, with justices saying in their ruling that they had “grave doubts” whether adopting the standards and rules was within their constitutional powers.

  So the Georgia General Assembly passed HB 881 in January 2024, which revived the oversight panel while removing the requirement for Supreme Court approval. The bill then was referred to the state Senate, where it became SB 332.

  Focus on Willis

  While the bill mirrored efforts in other states to hold “rogue” prosecutors accountable for refusing to prosecute certain crimes, Democrats opposed to its passage said it could be used to target prosecutors involved in the case against President Trump, including Ms. Willis.

  “The commission will be able to unilaterally proceed and have the ability to interfere and undermine an ongoing investigation against Donald J. Trump,” state House Minority Whip Sam Park, a Democrat, told The Associated Press when the House version of the measure passed.

  “You are taking action to protect former President Trump from an ongoing criminal prosecution,” he alleged.

  Ms. Willis has been accused of an “improper” relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor in the election interference case against the former president and over a dozen co-defendants. She also faced conflict-of-interest allegations that she benefited from the relationship financially.

  While defendants in the case moved to have both prosecutors disqualified, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Friday that either Mr. Wade or Ms. Willis must remove themselves from the case.

  Mr. Wade said Friday that he would resign, leaving Ms. Willis—who faces a separate campaign finance ethics probe and possible contempt of Congress proceedings—at the helm of the case, which President Trump has denounced as a politically-driven “witch hunt.”

  The prosecutor oversight panel that Mr. Kemp’s signature has established provides an additional tool that could target Ms. Willis as she faces continued scrutiny.

  Ms. Willis’ office did not respond to a request for comment on the bill.

  Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican, told The Associated Press that the measure isn’t directly focused on Ms. Willis or any one individual.

  “For us in the House our focus is not on any one person, not on any one situation,” Mr. Burns told reporters after Mr. Kemp signed the bill into law. “It’s about asking the folks that are elected, just like me, to do their jobs and protect the citizens of this state.”

  Fight Against ‘Rogue’ Prosecutors

  Georgia law mandates that a prosecutor must consider every case for which probable cause exists and can’t exclude categories of cases—such as marijuana possession or abortion-related offenses—from prosecution.

  HB 881 and its Senate version SB 332 lay out grounds for discipline, removal, or “involuntary retirement” of wayward prosecutors, including for engaging in “willful misconduct” or for being convicted of a “crime involving moral turpitude” or persistently failing to carry out their duties.

  Besides removing the need for Supreme Court oversight, the law adjusts the standard for mental or physical incapacity, allows appeals to a local superior court judge, and permits appeals to any county where the prosecutor has worked.

  The establishment of the new commission comes as Republicans fight against what they describe as leftist “rogue” district attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain crimes.

  “The inability to ensure public safety and protect communities is occurring at every level of state government,” U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) wrote in an op-ed in 2022.

  “By cracking down on rogue prosecutors who favor criminals over victims, we can ensure that no one else is put in harm’s way as a result of Democrats’ negligence,” they wrote. 

  In much the same vein, President Trump has vowed to target prosecutors who are lax on crime if he wins the 2024 presidential race.

  “Soros prosecutors appear to be engaging in selective enforcement based on illegal racial discrimination” in places such as Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, President Trump said in a video posted to his YouTube channel in April 2023.

  He was referring to left-wing billionaire financier George Soros, who has provided millions of dollars in campaign contributions to progressives Democrat district attorneys.

  “They are Marxist in many cases,” President Trump said, while pledging to appoint about 100 U.S. attorneys who are the “polar opposite” of the “Soros district attorneys and others being appointed around the United States.”

  President Trump said that those officials will be the “most ferocious legal warriors” who will target the worst “communist corruption” the country has ever seen.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 14:00

• Rare Drone Attack On Military Base In Breakaway Pro-Russian Republic Of Transnistria
  Rare Drone Attack On Military Base In Breakaway Pro-Russian Republic Of Transnistria

  An unprecedented or at least extremely rare attack has just targeted a military base in the pro-Russian breakaway Moldovan republic of Transnistria on Sunday.

  A kamikaze drone hit a military base in Tiraspol, the capital of unrecognized Transnistria, local officials have told RIA Novosti. The attack reportedly resulted in fire and damage to military assets at the airfield, but there were no casualties.

  

  Russian state media said a helicopter stationed at the airfield was destroyed in the UAV attack. Presumably the helicopter belonged to either Transnistria separatists or to the Russian military.

  “Today a fire occurred on the territory of a military base in Tiraspol as a result of an explosion,” local authorities were cited in AFP as saying.

  “It was preliminarily established that the explosion was caused by a kamikaze drone attack,” they added, and alleged the drone launched from the Odesa region. They are blaming Ukraine forces for the rare cross-border attack.

  The incident was not immediately confirmed either by the Russian or Ukraine governments. “Grainy footage distributed by separatist authorities showed a projectile slamming into a military helicopter standing at an airbase surrounded by fields,” AFP noted.

  Close-up footage of the Mi-8 helicopter in Transnistria being attacked by a drone pic.twitter.com/QMekkx47jO

  — Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) March 17, 2024

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

  Regardless of the AFP headline which says Breakaway Moldova Region Blames Military Site Blast On Drone From Ukraine… there remain conflicting reports on the origin point of the drone launch.

  Russia’s RT writes, “Transnistria’s state security ministry alleged that the drone arrived from the so-called “Clover Bridge” area – a major multi-level highway junction located north of the city of Tiraspol and close to the Ukrainian border.” Further the report notes that “The unrecognized republic’s authorities have not named any suspects behind the incident so far.”

  As we previously wrote in a backgrounder here, in 2006, a Transnistrian double referendum was held gauging popular support for the separatist state’s appetite to either renounce its independence and join the Republic Of Moldova or to maintain it and seek to join the Russian Federation. The referendum to become part of Moldova was rejected by 96% of voters while 98% approved of becoming part of Russia.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 13:25

• This Week Seemed Like A Crazy Market, On Steroids
  This Week Seemed Like A Crazy Market, On Steroids

  By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

  What’s the Record for Shortest Time from All-Time Highs to Bear Market?

  That seems like such a strange question. If all you did was read the headlines, you would think that things were great (if not spectacular) in markets. If you say you are bearish, people will look at you with sympathy, wondering if you are going to be able to feed your family with such a disastrous call.

  Yet, the reality of the situation is quite different from what the headlines seem to be trying to spoon feed us on a daily basis.

  The Nasdaq 100, which was down on the week, is down 1% since February 9th. Yes, it had its closing high on March 1st, and its intraday high of 18,417 on March 8th. But 5 weeks, with a lot of hype and cheerleading, has amounted to a loss of 1%. Since the highs, we are down 3%, which is one of many things that have me wondering how quickly we’ve fallen from “all-time highs” to bear market? While 20% is a tad more bearish than I am, it sounded better than using a “correction” of 10% in the title.

  The S&P 500 has performed more steadily than the Nasdaq 100, but at the other end of the spectrum, despite begging people to Stop Using the Magnificent 7 Moniker, we still hear that term quite frequently. Yes, some people have started talking about the Fab 4 or some other catchy phrase, but that makes sense when at least a couple of the so-called Mag 7 are back to levels from October, before the big bull market started (a time when we were quite bullish, possibly fighting consensus back then too).

  Where We’ve Been Recently

  We’ve been bearish, but with an emphasis that we felt the risk of a 5% to 10% rapid move to the downside was far more likely than a sharp rally. We’ve discussed aspects of this in:

  • Trillion Dollar Mistakes. Highlighting some big mistakes made in the overall market, while questioning if Wall Street, for all its foibles, was really likely to have been that wrong?

  • The Time to Retire report, referenced earlier, highlighted a series of market behaviors and charts that were making us increasingly nervous about the risk/reward of the market and forcing us to lean to the “cautious and need to hedge” side of things.

  • It’s Friday, I’m in Love examined the week ending March 1st, highlighting some of the things that helped propel stocks higher that Friday. As I re-read that, many of the positives have dissipated, been priced in, or in the case of AI “deputization,” are starting to be questioned. If it hadn’t been for the SOX Index (semiconductors) we wouldn’t have achieved these all-time highs, and that index has started to roll over. In a market with limited leadership, that could be problematic.

  • While more of a “longer-term” trade, everything about Made By China is likely to be negative for our markets and economy.

  While those have helped articulate and explain our bearish view, they are all relatively recent (the oldest was published on February 27th). We should go back to one more article to express why the view has changed from a DEFCON 3 or 4 sort of bearishness, to a more dangerous and urgent DEFCON 2 level of bearishness.

  Back on February 9th we published A Market Only a Mother or AI Could Love. That chart showed the “crazy” trading pattern of the week. So many wild swings. Gyrations, some of which could be attributed to news, but some of which seemed inexplicable.

  This week seemed like that, on steroids! I think I actually physically poked my screen once to make sure it was working. I swear, the market was up almost 1%, I glanced away, it was down 1%, and then a few minutes later it was back to flat. I’m not sure what tapping my screen would do, but I could remember doing that when a thermometer didn’t seem to be working, so it seemed appropriate.

  But no, my screen was working just fine – it was the markets that weren’t functioning “normally” in my opinion.

  It seemed that every “big” order just caused the market to gap higher or lower while the order was being filled. It did work in both directions, but I’m increasingly convinced the risk is that the market will need to find some serious bidside liquidity, when it may be non-existent.

  Where We’ve Been In the Past

  All of this is forcing me to think about some things we’ve discussed in the past, which are rapidly rising to the forefront of my thoughts again.

  While aging myself, yet again, I cannot help but think about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. A fun “movie” many of us got to watch in school. This was back when someone had to bring in a projector and seeing a video in class was a “cool” thing (though not as cool as getting the whole school to watch the Canada Cup in the gym). But anyways, that video shows a bridge oscillating. That oscillation increases until, ultimately, it collapses! The movie was all about resonance frequency, but all I remember is seeing a structure, so seemingly sturdy, start to bend and twist before collapsing. The first time that hit me was back in 2007 and it is the main image I have in my mind right now.

  It also made me think about pendulums. In Dredging Up Pendulums, we focused primarily on the complexity of a simple pendulum versus a double pendulum, and how important even tiny changes in starting conditions could be.

  We also discussed Machine Learning Triple Pendulums. This YouTube video shows how a computer is able to manipulate a “cart” to get a triple pendulum to stand upright for a period of time. For about a decade, I’ve been using that when discussing market mechanics. It is difficult to tell what exactly happens day by day, or even minute by minute, when so much of the trading is driven by algorithms. The algorithms link not just “vehicles” (like stocks, ETFs, and futures), but also asset classes as correlations are traded rapidly. The reason thinking about market structure in terms of a machine learning triple pendulum cart is so important (if it is a correct interpretation) is that “functioning” or holding it upright is very unstable and takes more computing power and skill than a human possesses. Yet, it can be accomplished. The problem is that when it fails, it tends to result in an “epic” failure where the “natural” position of the pendulums (all pulled by gravity) is to be facing down rather than standing upright. Sure, maybe a bit alarmist, but we’ve seen it in the past. A VIX related ETF Went Poof.

  What Changed This Week

  One thing that changed is the “randomness” of trading seemed to accelerate, forcing me to think about bridges and pendulums. I also cannot stop thinking about some of the charts we included in A Retrospective of All-Time Highs. While many of the bears (and doomers) want to talk about “tech bubbles,” I’m more fixated on 2007. To me, the 2007 “all-time high” was one of the strangest ones.

  

  All the problems were known. None had been fixed, but we hit an all-time high, based largely on the Fed. We bounced hard again after JPM bought Bear, only to sink to new lows a week or so after Lehman. Those “lows” seemed tame compared to where the market finally bottomed in 2009, but it was the almost “hubris” of all-time highs in the autumn of 2007 that I think about more than the tech bubble, as I don’t think that is the right metric. Though as a bear, who is increasingly worried about a 10% pullback, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

  But here are things that have made me increasingly nervous:

  • Bond yields.

    • I’ll start with longer dated bond yields as they are more fun. The 10-year Treasury yield got back to 4.31% on Friday. Treasuries rallied, much to my chagrin, last time we got here, but they seem susceptible to moving higher again. China will NOT be buying Treasuries as they are raising their own debt to figure out how to spend their way out of their economic problems. FXI, a China ETF, did finish higher on the week, in a story that remains poorly covered, and is why I continue to like – for a trade – long FXI, short QQQ. I’ve been expecting to see another march to higher yields like we saw last fall. The 10-year yield moved higher each and every day last week – a sign of things to come?

    • The Fed is getting pushed out of the picture. The first cut is expected in June, with a chance of it getting pushed to July. The market is still pricing in cuts at the September and November meetings (which I think is insane given how every issue, including monetary policy, is fodder for campaigns that seem as much about generating anger as hope). We are still at 3 cuts for the year, but I think there is a chance that the Fed changes the dots just a smidge (given all the inflation data) to show fewer than 3 cuts. That, or a change in next year’s expected end rate, could be punishing.

    • The move in yields, at the longer end, has not reflected increased term premium. Minimal (if any) concerns about the never-ending growth of federal debt, as the spread between 2s and 10s closed at -42 bps. I see no reason why this doesn’t get back to recent “best” levels of -20 or so, with my target for the summer being flat yield curves as risk premium returns and we see an end to the era of inversion everywhere you look.

  • Inflation and oil. It is clear that inflation, by a variety of measures, is “sticky.” A couple of things, actually a few things, bother me most.

    • Lots of “apologizing” about Owners Equivalent Rent. If you’ve read the T-Report for long, you know how much I hate how we calculated shelter. So yes, right now, it is overstating the current rise in shelter – BUT IT IS DOING THAT BECAUSE THE RISE WAS NEVER FULLY PRICED IN! Sorry for the “all caps” but yes, today’s inflation is likely overstated, but only because officially we under-reported it. Yes, this is a rant, but it probably goes beyond those dismissing rent.

    • Beyond dismissing rent. Most consumers think in terms of dollars. We live in a “nominal world.” So something that rose 10% a few years ago went from say $100 to $110. Now it “only” rose 3%, but it is 3% on a much larger starting point, creating a much higher dollar increase than it would have a few years ago. Add to that all the people who have been arguing that the prices they see in stores don’t seem to get used in official calculations and all the “substitutions” incorporated into the calculations artificially kept inflation lower. Basically, the real-world level of current inflation may never have been captured by the official data, leaving more room to catch up.

    • Oil. Energy prices contributed to recent rises in inflation. Apparently, many seem confident they will go back down. With no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and the Middle East edging closer and closer to direct involvement with Iran, that does not seem like a bet I’d be comfortable with. I do like the energy sector, so I’m biased, but I think it is too early to dismiss the geopolitical risks associated with oil.

  • The U.S. consumer has been like a zombie for anyone betting against the U.S. economy. They just keep coming back to life. No matter what you think you’ve done, they seem to come back! Well, I think the consumer is rolling over. Debt is mounting. The job market is far from robust and has lost all of the momentum it had. It is at best “normal” like the years before COVID, and that might be a stretch.

  While I don’t see “stagflation as a risk,” I think we are entering a period where we could see:

  • Higher yields coupled with a weakening economy and a Fed that is handcuffed by persistent inflation. Not a good mix.

  • In addition to a market positioned too aggressively that cannot expect much help from short covering.

  While I don’t want to get into detail today, I think people staring at the VIX are looking in the wrong direction. This is a world of daily and weekly option flows that don’t show up in the VIX calculation. Unlike other strategies that have been difficult to understand (meme stocks for example), the 0DTE options market seems perfectly capable of trading from the call side of the market to the put side of the market. Many other strategies, like blindly selling vol, have tended to work in one direction and could really only be traded consistently from that direction. The 0DTE can work both ways and that could be the “shock” we need that disrupts this market.

  For credit, look for CDX IG to go back above 60, maybe to 65. Not because of any serious problems in credit, but because spreads will be forced wider if I’m right on stocks.

  So, instead of thinking about a 5% to 10% pullback in stocks, I’m much more concerned about a 10% or higher pullback along with 10-year yields breaking through 4.5%.

  We didn’t answer the question posed at the start of the title, but I’m increasingly worried that we might be forced to find out what the competition is if markets start rolling over and lose the support of bonds, the Fed, and the few sectors that have done the heavy lifting.

  On that note, I do promise to write “Up in Smoke” as a title of a T-Report (I couldn’t end this report without at least trying to get you to smile!)

  Finally, Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate!

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 03/17/2024 – 12:50

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• Mistakes Were Made
  Mistakes Were Made

  Authored by C.J.Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

  Make fun of the Germans all you want, and I’ve certainly done that a bit during these past few years, but, if there’s one thing they’re exceptionally good at, it’s taking responsibility for their mistakes. Seriously, when it comes to acknowledging one’s mistakes, and not rationalizing, or minimizing, or attempting to deny them, and any discomfort they may have allegedly caused, no one does it quite like the Germans.

  

  Take this Covid mess, for example. Just last week, the German authorities confessed that they made a few minor mistakes during their management of the “Covid pandemic.” According to Karl Lauterbach, the Minister of Health, “we were sometimes too strict with the children and probably started easing the restrictions a little too late.” Horst Seehofer, the former Interior Minister, admitted that he would no longer agree to some of the Covid restrictions today, for example, nationwide nighttime curfews. “One must be very careful with calls for compulsory vaccination,” he added. Helge Braun, Head of the Chancellery and Minister for Special Affairs under Merkel, agreed that there had been “misjudgments,” for example, “overestimating the effectiveness of the vaccines.”

  This display of the German authorities’ unwavering commitment to transparency and honesty, and the principle of personal honor that guides the German authorities in all their affairs, and that is deeply ingrained in the German character, was published in a piece called “The Divisive Virus” in Der Spiegel, and immediately widely disseminated by the rest of the German state and corporate media in a totally organic manner which did not in any way resemble one enormous Goebbelsian keyboard instrument pumping out official propaganda in perfect synchronization, or anything creepy and fascistic like that.

  Germany, after all, is “an extremely democratic state,” with freedom of speech and the press and all that, not some kind of totalitarian country where the masses are inundated with official propaganda and critics of the government are dragged into criminal court and prosecuted on trumped-up “hate crime” charges.

  OK, sure, in a non-democratic totalitarian system, such public “admissions of mistakes” — and the synchronized dissemination thereof by the media — would just be a part of the process of whitewashing the authorities’ fascistic behavior during some particularly totalitarian phase of transforming society into whatever totalitarian dystopia they were trying to transform it into (for example, a three-year-long “state of emergency,” which they declared to keep the masses terrorized and cooperative while they stripped them of their democratic rights, i.e., the ones they hadn’t already stripped them of, and conditioned them to mindlessly follow orders, and robotically repeat nonsensical official slogans, and vent their impotent hatred and fear at the new “Untermenschen” or “counter-revolutionaries”), but that is obviously not the case here.

  No, this is definitely not the German authorities staging a public “accountability” spectacle in order to memory-hole what happened during 2020-2023 and enshrine the official narrative in history. There’s going to be a formal “Inquiry Commission” — conducted by the same German authorities that managed the “crisis” — which will get to the bottom of all the regrettable but completely understandable “mistakes” that were made in the heat of the heroic battle against The Divisive Virus!

  OK, calm down, all you “conspiracy theorists,” “Covid deniers,” and “anti-vaxxers.” This isn’t going to be like the Nuremberg Trials. No one is going to get taken out and hanged. It’s about identifying and acknowledging mistakes, and learning from them, so that the authorities can manage everything better during the next “pandemic,” or “climate emergency,” or “terrorist attack,” or “insurrection,” or whatever.

  For example, the Inquiry Commission will want to look into how the government accidentally declared a Nationwide State of Pandemic Emergency and revised the Infection Protection Act, suspending the German constitution and granting the government the power to rule by decree, on account of a respiratory virus that clearly posed no threat to society at large, and then unleashed police goon squads on the thousands of people who gathered outside the Reichstag to protest the revocation of their constitutional rights.

  Thousands gathered outside the Reichstag building in Berlin to protest the “New Normal” totalitarianism this morning, so the police declared the demonstration illegal and turned the water cannons on them … are you satisfied yet, totalitarians? pic.twitter.com/j70CHsEWWM

  — Consent Factory (@consent_factory) November 18, 2020

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  Once they do, I’m sure they’ll find that that “mistake” bears absolutely no resemblance to the Enabling Act of 1933, which suspended the German constitution and granted the government the power to rule by decree, after the Nazis declared a nationwide “state of emergency.”

  Another thing the Commission will probably want to look into is how the German authorities accidentally banned any further demonstrations against their arbitrary decrees, and ordered the police to brutalize anyone participating in such “illegal demonstrations.”

  Memories fade, and history is rewritten, so here’s a 2.5 minute montage of goon squads in Germany (which, of course, bear no resemblance whatsoever to the SA, or the SS, or any other Nazi goons) enforcing compliance with official “New Normal” ideology during 2020-2022. https://t.co/GIrb4NCJcC pic.twitter.com/6BIOgLVLKx

  — CJ Hopkins (@CJHopkins_Z23) March 10, 2024

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  And, while the Commission is inquiring into the possibly slightly inappropriate behavior of their law enforcement officials, they might want to also take a look at the behavior of their unofficial goon squads, like Antifa, which they accidentally encouraged to attack the “anti-vaxxers,” the “Covid deniers,” and anyone brandishing a copy of the German constitution.

  Don’t worry, Covidian Cultists … German Antifa is mobilizing to unleash total war on “extremist neo-Nazi Corona Deniers” like the lady holding the copy of the German constitution in the lower right! pic.twitter.com/HkdXBxyaEJ

  — Consent Factory (@consent_factory) December 12, 2020

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  Come to think of it, the Inquiry Commission might also want to look into how the German authorities, and the overwhelming majority of the state and corporate media, accidentally systematically fomented mass hatred of anyone who dared to question the government’s arbitrary and nonsensical decrees or who refused to submit to “vaccination,” and publicly demonized us as “Corona deniers,” “conspiracy theorists,” “anti-vaxxers,” “far-right anti-Semites,” etc., to the point where mainstream German celebrities like Sarah Bosetti were literally describing us as the inessential “appendix” in the body of the nation, quoting an infamous Nazi almost verbatim.

  

  And then there’s the whole “vaccination” business. The Commission will certainly want to inquire into that. They will probably want to start their inquiry with Karl Lauterbach, and determine exactly how he accidentally lied to the public, over and over, and over again …

  

  And whipped people up into a mass hysteria over “KILLER VARIANTS” …

  

  And “LONG COVID BRAIN ATTACKS” …

  

  And how “THE UNVACCINATED ARE HOLDING THE WHOLE COUNTRY HOSTAGE, SO WE NEED TO FORCIBLY VACCINATE EVERYONE!”

  

  And so on. I could go on with this all day, but it will be much easier to just refer you, and the Commission, to this documentary film by Aya Velázquez. Non-German readers may want to skip to the second half, unless they’re interested in the German “Corona Expert Council” …

  Look, the point is, everybody makes “mistakes,” especially during a “state of emergency,” or a war, or some other type of global “crisis.” At least we can always count on the Germans to step up and take responsibility for theirs, and not claim that they didn’t know what was happening, or that they were “just following orders,” or that “the science changed.”

  Plus, all this Covid stuff is ancient history, and, as Olaf, an editor at Der Spiegel, reminds us, it’s time to put the “The Divisive Pandemic” behind us …

  

  … and click heels, and heil the New Normal Democracy!

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 23:20

• These Are The Top 15 Global Tank Fleets
  These Are The Top 15 Global Tank Fleets

  Heavily armed and armored, the modern tank is a versatile and mobile weapons platform, and a critical piece of contemporary warfare.

  This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Chris Dickert, shows the top 15 global tank fleets, using data from the 2024 Military Balance report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

  

  Let’s take an in-depth look at the top three fleets:

  1. United States

  As the world’s pre-eminent military power, it’s perhaps no surprise that the United States also has the largest tank fleet, by a wide margin.

  In total, they have just over 45,000 armored fighting vehicles in operation, along with 2,640 main battle tanks (MBTs), and 12,800 vehicles in storage, of which 2,000 are main battle tanks.

  

  The U.S. is internalizing the lessons from the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, where Western-supplied anti-tank weapons and massed Ukrainian artillery have been cutting Russian tanks to pieces. As a result, the U.S. recently canceled an upgrade of the M1 Abrams in favor of a more ambitious upgrade.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. is nervously eyeing a more confident China and a potential clash over Taiwan, where air and naval forces will be critical. However, a recent war game showed that Taiwanese mechanized ground forces, kitted out with American-made tanks and armored fighting vehicles, were critical in keeping the island autonomous.

  2. Russia

  According to Oryx, a Dutch open-source intelligence defense website, at time of writing, Russia has lost almost 2,800 main battle tanks since invading Ukraine. Considering that in the 2022 edition of the Military Balance, Russia was estimated to have 2,927 MBTs in operation, those are some hefty losses.

  Russia has been able to maintain about 2,000 MBTs in the field, in part, by increasing domestic production. Many defense plants have been taken over by state-owned Rostec and now operate around the clock. Russia is also now spending a full third of their budget on defense, equivalent to about 7.5% of GDP.

  At the same time, they’ve also been drawing down their Soviet-era stockpiles, which are modernized before being sent to the front. Just how long they can keep this up is an open question; their stockpiles are large, but not limitless. Here is what their storage levels look like:

  

  3. China

  China holds the third overall spot and top place globally for the number of main battle tanks in operation. Untypically, the People’s Liberation Army has no armored vehicles in storage, which perhaps isn’t surprising when you consider that China has been rapidly modernizing its military and that stockpiles usually contain older models.

  China also has one of the world’s largest fleets of armored fighting vehicles, second only to the United States. Breaking down that headline number, we can also see that they have the largest number of light tanks, wheeled guns, and infantry fighting vehicles.

  

  This is equipment that would be integral if China were to make an attempt to reunify Taiwan with the mainland by force, where lightly armored mechanized units need to move with speed to occupy the island before Western allies can enter the fray. It’s worth noting that China also has one of the world’s largest fleets of amphibious assault vehicles.

  End of the Tank?

  Many commentators at the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were quick to predict the end of the tank, however, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the tank’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

  With the U.S. and China both developing remote and autonomous armored vehicles, tanks could be quite different in the future, but there is nothing else that matches them for firepower, mobility, and survivability on the modern battlefield today.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 22:45

• Taiwan Confirms Presence Of US Green Berets On Islands Very Close To China's Coast
  Taiwan Confirms Presence Of US Green Berets On Islands Very Close To China’s Coast

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng confirmed on Thursday the presence of US Army Special Forces soldiers in Kinmen, a group of islands that are controlled by Taiwan but located just off the coast of mainland China.

  Some parts of the Kinmen islands are just 2.5 miles away from the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen. The presence of US troops on the islands was first reported by Taiwanese media last month.

  Chiu confirmed the highly provocative deployment when asked about a new report from the US outlet SOFREP that said US Green Berets have taken up “permanent positions” as military advisors in Kinmen. The US soldiers are also deployed in Penghu, a Taiwanese-controlled archipelago about 30 miles west of the main island of Taiwan and 70 miles east of mainland China.

  

  The SOFREP report said the US Green Berets were stationed at the Taiwanese Army’s amphibious command centers. The deployment was carried out under provisions in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which called for the US to create a comprehensive training program for the Taiwanese military.

  The new collaboration includes the US troops training Taiwanese forces on the Black Hornet Nano, a compact military drone. Chiu said the presence of the US Green Berets was a “learning opportunity” for Taiwan’s military.

  The US has significantly increased its military and diplomatic support for Taiwan in recent years, ratcheting up tensions with China. Last year, the US deployed around 200 troops to Taiwan, marking the largest known US military presence on the island since the US pulled its troops out after Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979.

  The US also recently began providing Taiwan with unprecedented military aid. Since 1979, the US has always sold weapons to Taiwan but never financed the purchases or provided arms free of charge until last year.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 22:10

• Biden Embraces Schumer’s "Good Speech" Which Blasted Netanyahu 
  Biden Embraces Schumer’s “Good Speech” Which Blasted Netanyahu 

  President Biden has endorsed Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s blistering Thursday speech that targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wherein he said Israel under Netanyahu could become a “pariah”.

  Biden said Friday that Schumer had made a “good speech”. The president was asked about the Senate floor remarks during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. It was the first time Biden weighed in: “He expressed serious concerns, shared not only by him but by many Americans,” Biden continued.

  

  Biden also noted that his staff had been notified ahead of time of the content of the speech, meaning the White House had time to pressure Schumer out of it if it wanted to, or at least get him to tone down the criticisms.

  As the AP noted, “The Democratic president did not repeat Schumer’s appeal for Israel to hold elections, a step that would likely end Netanyahu’s tenure because of mounting discontent with his leadership.”

  But at the same time Secretary of State Antony Blinken while in Europe tried to calm fears that the US-Israeli relationship is collapsing. “That’s actually the strength of the relationship, to be able to speak clearly, candidly and directly,” he told reporters in reaction to Schumer’s address.

  The full Schumer speech, a transcript of which can be viewed here, included the below fierce condemnations aimed directly at Netanyahu: 

  “However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.

  He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, and as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.

  Prime Minister Netanyahu has also weakened Israel’s political and moral fabric through his attempts to co-opt the judiciary. And he has shown zero interest in doing the courageous and visionary work required to pave the way for peace, even before this present conflict.

  As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me:

  The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”

  Again, this was a key part of the very speech which Biden on Friday hailed as “good”. It also comes a week after Biden was caught on a hot mic saying he would have a “come to Jesus” meeting with Netanyahu.

  Kirby was later asked to elaborate on Biden calling Schumer’s speech “good” – but the NSC spokesman didn’t say much…

  Q: What did Biden find “good” about Schumer’s anti-Netanyahu speech?

  JOHN KIRBY: “The passion!” pic.twitter.com/rZsWwNCb0O

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 15, 2024

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  According to Axios, Schumer’s words were felt as a political earthquake inside Israel. The speech “landed like an earthquake Thursday, delivering a huge shock to the already tense U.S.-Israel relationship” as well as created “more political space for other Democratic members of Congress to publicly voice their criticism of the Israeli government amid the ongoing war in Gaza,” Axios wrote.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 21:35

• Harvard Medical School Professor Was Fired Over Not Getting COVID Vaccine
  Harvard Medical School Professor Was Fired Over Not Getting COVID Vaccine

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

  A Harvard Medical School professor who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine has been terminated, according to documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.

  

  Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist, was fired by Mass General Brigham in November 2021 over noncompliance with the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate after his requests for exemptions from the mandate were denied, according to one document. Mr. Kulldorff was also placed on leave by Harvard Medical School (HMS) because his appointment as professor of medicine there “depends upon” holding a position at the hospital, another document stated.

  Mr. Kulldorff asked HMS in late 2023 how he could return to his position and was told he was being fired.

  “You would need to hold an eligible appointment with a Harvard-affiliated institution for your HMS academic appointment to continue,” Dr. Grace Huang, dean for faculty affairs, told the epidemiologist and biostatistician.

  She said the lack of an appointment, combined with college rules that cap leaves of absence at two years, meant he was being terminated.

  Mr. Kulldorff disclosed the firing for the first time this month.

  “While I can’t comment on the specifics due to employment confidentiality protections that preclude us from doing so, I can confirm that his employment agreement was terminated November 10, 2021,” a spokesperson for Brigham and Women’s Hospital told The Epoch Times via email.

  Mass General Brigham granted just 234 exemption requests out of 2,402 received, according to court filings in an ongoing case that alleges discrimination.

  The hospital said previously, “We received a number of exemption requests, and each request was carefully considered by a knowledgeable team of reviewers.”

  “A lot of other people received exemptions, but I did not,” Mr. Kulldorff told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Kulldorff was originally hired by HMS but switched departments in 2015 to work at the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is part of Mass General Brigham and affiliated with HMS.

  “Harvard Medical School has affiliation agreements with several Boston hospitals which it neither owns nor operationally controls,” an HMS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “Hospital-based faculty, such as Mr. Kulldorff, are employed by one of the affiliates, not by HMS, and require an active hospital appointment to maintain an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School.”

  HMS confirmed that some faculty, who are tenured or on the tenure track, do not require hospital appointments.

  Natural Immunity

  Before the COVID-19 vaccines became available, Mr. Kulldorff contracted COVID-19. He was hospitalized but eventually recovered.

  That gave him a form of protection known as natural immunity. According to a number of studies, including papers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, natural immunity is better than the protection bestowed by vaccines.

  Other studies have found that people with natural immunity face a higher risk of problems after vaccination.

  Mr. Kulldorff expressed his concerns about receiving a vaccine in his request for a medical exemption, pointing out a lack of data for vaccinating people who suffer from the same issue he does.

  “I already had superior infection-acquired immunity; and it was risky to vaccinate me without proper efficacy and safety studies on patients with my type of immune deficiency,” Mr. Kulldorff wrote in an essay.

  In his request for a religious exemption, he highlighted an Israel study that was among the first to compare protection after infection to protection after vaccination. Researchers found that the vaccinated had less protection than the naturally immune.

  “Having had COVID disease, I have stronger longer lasting immunity than those vaccinated (Gazit et al). Lacking scientific rationale, vaccine mandates are religious dogma, and I request a religious exemption from COVID vaccination,” he wrote.

  Both requests were denied.

  Mr. Kulldorff is still unvaccinated.

  “I had COVID. I had it badly. So I have infection-acquired immunity. So I don’t need the vaccine,” he told The Epoch Times.

  Dissenting Voice

  Mr. Kulldorff has been a prominent dissenting voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, countering messaging from the government and many doctors that the COVID-19 vaccines were needed, regardless of prior infection.

  He spoke out in an op-ed in April 2021, for instance, against requiring people to provide proof of vaccination to attend shows, go to school, and visit restaurants.

  “The idea that everybody needs to be vaccinated is as scientifically baseless as the idea that nobody does. Covid vaccines are essential for older, high-risk people and their caretakers and advisable for many others. But those who’ve been infected are already immune,” he wrote at the time.

  Mr. Kulldorff later co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for focused protection of people at high risk while removing restrictions for younger, healthy people.

  Harsh restrictions such as school closures “will cause irreparable damage” if not lifted, the declaration stated.

  The declaration drew criticism from Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who became the head of the CDC, among others.

  In a competing document, Dr. Walensky and others said that “relying upon immunity from natural infections for COVID-19 is flawed” and that “uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity(3) and mortality across the whole population.”

  “Those who are pushing these vaccine mandates and vaccine passports—vaccine fanatics, I would call them—to me they have done much more damage during this one year than the anti-vaxxers have done in two decades,” Mr. Kulldorff later said in an EpochTV interview. “I would even say that these vaccine fanatics, they are the biggest anti-vaxxers that we have right now. They’re doing so much more damage to vaccine confidence than anybody else.”

  Surveys indicate that people have less trust now in the CDC and other health institutions than before the pandemic, and data from the CDC and elsewhere show that fewer people are receiving the new COVID-19 vaccines and other shots.

  Support

  The disclosure that Mr. Kulldorff was fired drew criticism of Harvard and support for Mr. Kulldorff.

  The termination “is a massive and incomprehensible injustice,” Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, an ethics expert who was fired from the University of California–Irvine School of Medicine for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine because he had natural immunity, said on X.

  “The academy is full of people who declined vaccines—mostly with dubious exemptions—and yet Harvard fires the one professor who happens to speak out against government policies.” Dr. Vinay Prasad, an epidemiologist at the University of California–San Francisco, wrote in a blog post. “It looks like Harvard has weaponized its policies and selectively enforces them.”

  A petition to reinstate Mr. Kulldorff has garnered more than 1,800 signatures.

  Some other doctors said the decision to let Mr. Kulldorff go was correct.

  “Actions have consequence,” Dr. Alastair McAlpine, a Canadian doctor, wrote on X. He said Mr. Kulldorff had “publicly undermine[d] public health.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 21:00

• Visualizing The Explosive Growth Of AI-Powered Fraud
  Visualizing The Explosive Growth Of AI-Powered Fraud

  Former U.S. president Donald Trump posing with Black voters, President Joe Biden discouraging people from voting via telephone or the Pope in a puffy white jacket: Deepfakes of videos, photos and audio recordings have become widespread on various internet platforms, aided by the technological advances of large language models like Midjourney, Google’s Gemini or OpenAI‘s ChatGPT.

  As Statista’s Florian Zandt details below, with the right prompt fine-tuning, everyone can create seemingly real images or make the voices of prominent political or economic figures and entertainers say anything they want. While creating a deepfake is not a criminal offense on its own, many governments are nevertheless moving towards stronger regulation when using artificial intelligence to prevent harm to the parties involved.

  Apart from the main avenue of deepfakes, creating non-consensual pornographic content involving mostly female celebrities, this technology can also be used to commit identity fraud by manufacturing fake IDs or impersonating others over the phone. As Statista’s chart based on the most recent annual report of identity verification provider Sumsub shows, deepfake-related identity fraud cases have skyrocketed between 2022 and 2023 in many countries around the world.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  For example, the number of fraud attempts in the Philippines rose by 4,500 percent year over year, followed by nations like Vietnam, the United States and Belgium. With the capabilities of so-called artificial intelligence potentially increasing even further, as is evidenced by products like AI video generator Sora, deepfake fraud attempts could also spill over into other areas.

  “We’ve seen deepfakes become more and more convincing in recent years and this will only continue and branch out into new types of fraud, as seen with voice deepfakes”, says Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Sumsub’s Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, in the aforementioned report.

  “Both consumers and companies need to remain hyper-vigilant to synthetic fraud and look to multi-layered anti-fraud solutions, not only deepfake detection.”

  These assessments are shared by many cybersecurity experts. For example, a survey among 199 cybersecurity leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting on Cybersecurity in 2023 showed 46 percent of respondents being most concerned about the “advance of adversarial capabilities – phishing, malware development, deepfakes” in terms of the risks artificial intelligence poses for cybersecurity in the future.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 20:25

• Andre Gordon, Suspect In 3 Falls Township Murders, Captured After Trenton Barricade, Showdown With Police
  Andre Gordon, Suspect In 3 Falls Township Murders, Captured After Trenton Barricade, Showdown With Police

  The man accused of killing three people during a violent rampage in Falls Township, Pennsylvania Saturday morning before barricading himself inside a Trenton home has finally been captured, Fox29 reports citing officials.

  It all began on Viewpoint Lane in Falls Township just before 9 a.m. when Falls Township police responded to reports of a shooting. There, police say Andre Gordon Jr., 26, forced his way into the home and fatally shot two people and fled in a stolen vehicle that was carjacked in Trenton earlier in the morning.

  The victims have been identified as his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon. Three other people, including a minor, were inside the home and able to hide, according to Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn.

  

  He then drove to a home on Edgewood Lane around 9 a.m. where authorities say he forced his way inside and shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel – the mother of his two children. Authorities say four other people were inside that home and one person was injured after they were struck by Gordon with a rifle.

  After fleeing that scene, around 9:15 a.m. police say he carjacked a 44-year-old male driver at gunpoint outside a Dollar General on Bristol Pike in Morrisville. He fled that scene in the driver’s dark gray Honda CRV.

  A short time later, authorities confirmed that Honda was found unoccupied in Trenton and that SWAT teams were converging on a nearby home to search for Gordon.

  Police had believed Gordon barricaded himself inside a home near the 100 block of Miller Street in Trenton where the carjacked vehicle was found. Authorities say they received information that Gordon may have taken multiple people hostage inside.

  Police later confirmed the home’s residents had been taken to safety with no injuries. Gordon was taken into custody around 5 p.m.

  By mid-afternoon, officers surrounded the house on a taped-off block, calling to Gordon through a loudspeaker and trying to persuade him to come out.

  “Andre, get away from the windows. If you would like to surrender, dial 911 now,” one message went.

  Police determined later that Gordon was not in the house on Phillips Avenue.

  According to police, it is believed that Gordon knew all of the victims who were fatally shot. He is also believed to currently be homeless and has ties to Trenton, New Jersey. Authorities believe he has ties to the home police had surrounded.

  Officials said they couldn’t yet speak to a motive for the attacks. While Gordon had had some minor brushes with the law, they were “nothing that would indicate that anything like this would happen,” Falls Township Police Chief Nelson Whitney said at a news conference.

  A shelter-in-place order was sent to residents in Falls Township by phone and by mobile alert around 9:30 a.m. and was lifted by 12:30 p.m.

  The Bucks County St. Patrick’s Day Parade was canceled as a result of the shelter-in-place, and several local businesses in the area also closed temporarily.

  Governor Josh Shapiro noted he was informed of the shooting and said on X that he directed Pennsylvania State Police to work with local law enforcement, and to provide whatever support they might need.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 20:15

• Vitamin D: Deficiency Symptoms, Health Benefits, Optimal Sources, And Side Effects
  Vitamin D: Deficiency Symptoms, Health Benefits, Optimal Sources, And Side Effects

  Authored by Mecura Wang and medically reviewed by Dr. Beverly Timerding via The Epoch Times,

  Vitamin D, or the “sunshine vitamin,” is considered both a fat-soluble vitamin and a hormone because it can be obtained nutritionally, and our skin can synthesize it through sunlight exposure. It is integral to various bodily functions.

  Primarily recognized for enhancing calcium absorption, vitamin D plays a role in maintaining bone and dental health, supporting the immune system, regulating cell growth, influencing mood, and preventing conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

  

  What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency?

  Vitamin D deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency, affecting people of all ages globally. In the United States, nearly one-quarter of individuals have insufficient or deficient vitamin D blood levels, which can impact bone and overall health. Approximately 50 percent of children between ages 1 and 5 and 70 percent aged 6 to 11 experience vitamin D deficiency.

  Vitamin D deficiency often arises due to insufficient sunlight exposure, inadequate dietary intake, and the skin’s inability to produce it. Also, natural foods typically do not provide enough vitamin D to prevent deficiency, making sunlight exposure a crucial factor.

  Most people with vitamin D deficiency experience no symptoms. For others, common symptoms may include:

  • Fatigue: Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to fatigue in uncontrolled trials, and treatment with the vitamin has been shown to improve the condition in blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Individuals with persistent and severe vitamin D deficiency may encounter symptoms linked to secondary hyperparathyroidism, including fatigue. Secondary hyperparathyroidism is when the parathyroid excretes too much hormone due to low calcium levels.
  • Bone and muscle pain: A mild but prolonged vitamin D deficiency can result in chronic hypocalcemia (low calcium) and hyperparathyroidism, with symptoms such as bone pain and muscle aches.
  • Muscle weakness and cramps (spasms): Increased levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream have been linked to enhanced muscle strength, physical activity, and the capability to ascend stairs, while lower concentrations are associated with a higher risk of falls among older people. Muscle spasms, particularly in infants, can be an early indication of rickets due to low blood calcium levels resulting from severe vitamin D deficiency.
  • Mood changes: According to a systematic review, about a third of the studies indicated inadequate vitamin D levels were associated with depression. Others suggested supplementing with it was helpful if combined with exercise or along with other nutritional supplements.
  • Bone loss: Vitamin D deficiency can cause bone loss as it impairs calcium absorption, leading to decreased calcium levels in the blood. Specifically, insufficient vitamin D limits the body’s ability to absorb only 10 percent to 15 percent of dietary calcium, whereas with normal vitamin reserves, absorption typically ranges from 30 percent to 40 percent.

  Other symptoms and signs of deficiency may include:

  • Heightened pain sensitivity
  • A tingling sensation in the hands or feet
  • A waddling gait from weakened hip or leg muscles
  • Bone fractures
  • Bowed legs (severe deficiency)
  • Knock-knees
  • Poor sleep
  • Hair loss
  • Increased susceptibility to illness

   Complications

  The complications of vitamin D deficiency are:

  • Rickets: Rickets affects children’s bones, causing them to become soft and weak, potentially leading to deformities. Symptoms and signs include bone pain, reluctance to walk, skeletal deformities such as bowed legs, thickening of joints, dental issues, delayed growth, and fragile bones prone to fractures in severe cases.
  • Osteoporosis: Vitamin D deficiency can result in secondary hyperparathyroidism, leading to bone loss, osteoporosis, fractures, mineralization defects, and long-term risks of osteomalacia. Osteoporosis may cause intense back discomfort, diminished stature, or deformities in the spine, such as a bent or hunched posture.
  • Osteomalacia: This is similar to rickets but can happen at any age. Characterized by bone softening, osteomalacia is primarily linked to vitamin D issues negatively affecting calcium absorption. Its symptoms and signs include bone fractures, muscle weakness, and widespread bone pain, particularly in the hips.

  What Are the Health Benefits of Vitamin D?

  When you eat food or supplements containing vitamin D, your body undergoes two processes to activate it. First, in the liver, vitamin D is converted to calcidiol (25-hydroxyvitamin D). After that, the kidneys further transform it into calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D).

  Calcitriol encourages the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the small intestine. It also works with parathyroid hormone to enhance calcium transport, which is essential for maintaining proper calcium and phosphorus levels.

  Vitamin D plays a crucial role in calcium absorption, essential for strong bones and teeth. It also supports muscle and nerve function, facilitating movement and communication within the body. In addition, vitamin D is vital for the immune system, as it helps defend against infections.

  

  • Bone health: Vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, promoting bone mineralization and bone mineral density. A meta-analysis of 12 studies involving over 42,000 individuals aged 65 and above discovered that the prevention of nonvertebral fractures with vitamin D is dependent on the dosage. A higher dose of about 500 to 800 international units (IU) resulted in a reduction of hip fractures by 18 percent and nonvertebral fractures by 20 percent for people aged 65 years or older. However, in another study involving over 25,000 generally healthy midlife and older adults, supplementing with vitamin D3 did not lead to a significantly lower risk of fractures compared to a placebo. Of note, though, patients in this study had no controlled calcium supplementation.
  • Muscle and nerve function: Vitamin D may contribute to increased muscle strength by preserving muscle fibers, potentially reducing the risk of falls, a prevalent issue associated with significant disability and mortality in older individuals. Research also suggests that vitamin D plays a vital role in essential neurological functions such as cell growth, development, nerve support, protection, signal transmission, and adaptability.
  • Immune system support: Vitamin D contributes to a healthy immune system. The vitamin D receptor is present in immune cells, allowing vitamin D to act locally in the immune system. The vitamin can influence both the innate and adaptive immune responses and its deficiency is linked to higher autoimmunity risk and increased vulnerability to infections. Moreover, vitamin D exhibits strong anti-inflammatory effects.

  Other health benefits of vitamin D include:

  • Pregnancy support: Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy has also been associated with a reduction in the risks of small-for-gestational-age babies, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and gestational diabetes.
  • Mood regulation
  • Insulin level regulation: Vitamin D has been shown to lower blood glucose levels and enhance insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes.
  • Weight loss: Vitamin D plays a role in preventing the formation of fat cells by influencing specific molecules, such as vitamin D receptors.
  • Dental health: Research highlights a link between alveolar bone density, osteoporosis, tooth loss, and periodontal disease risk. Several reports suggest a significant connection between periodontal health and vitamin D intake.

  Vitamin D Prevents Certain Conditions

  In addition to the aforementioned bone-related and mental medical conditions, an adequate level of vitamin D can potentially prevent or lower the risk of certain diseases, including:

  • Certain types of cancer: Animal and lab studies suggest that vitamin D may inhibit tumor development and slow the growth of existing tumors in various organs, including the breast, ovary, colon, prostate, and brain. Human epidemiological studies demonstrate that higher serum levels of vitamin D are linked to significantly slower progression of certain cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. The anti-cancer effects of vitamin D may also extend indirectly through its anti-inflammatory properties.
  • Heart disease: Maintaining optimal vitamin D levels may have potential cardiovascular health benefits, according to one recent study. Both deficiency and insufficiency of vitamin D were linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including stroke, heart disease, heart attack, and heart failure. However, excess vitamin D was not associated with increased CVD risk.
  • Immune-related diseases: Sufficient vitamin D levels may help prevent or treat immune-related diseases.
  • Asthma: A meta-analysis discovered that taking vitamin D supplements helped adults with mild-to-moderate asthma who were also deficient in vitamin D to reduce their asthma exacerbations by 30 percent. However, this benefit was not observed in individuals with higher baseline vitamin D levels.
  • Atherosclerosis: Vitamin D’s anti-inflammatory properties appear promising in lessening atherosclerosis, as insufficient levels lead to increased production of pro-inflammatory markers, disrupting the balance in the inflammatory response. In atherosclerosis, vitamin D suppresses the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which play a significant role in the development of the disease.
  • Type 2 diabetes: One study suggested a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with Type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance decreases with the supplementation of vitamin D.
  • Autoimmune diseases: Extensive research indicates a potential connection between vitamin D deficiency and the development of autoimmune diseases. Vitamin D deficiency has been noted in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, with an inverse relationship to disease activity, suggesting a role in the disease’s pathogenesis. Similar observations exist for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren’s syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Research also indicates there is a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis in individuals with higher levels of vitamin D.
  • Cognitive decline: Research has consistently established a connection between cognitive impairment, dementia, and a lack of vitamin D.
  • Mortality: As per a meta-analysis of 18 studies involving 57,311 subjects, daily intake of vitamin D supplements was associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality rates.

  What Are the Types of Vitamin D?

  Vitamin D is not a single chemical but a group of compounds. The two major types of vitamin D are D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 and D3, collectively known as vitamin D, share nearly identical functions, yet neither becomes active until the body performs its transformative process.

  1. Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol)

  Vitamin D2 comes from plants and fungi and is created when ergosterol is exposed to radiation. It is found in some plant-based foods and used in vitamin D supplements.

  2. Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol)

  The body naturally produces a form of vitamin D from a widespread cholesterol variant called 7-dehydrocholesterol, mainly through exposure to sunlight. UVB energy from sunlight plays a crucial role in converting this precursor into vitamin D3. It is also found in some animal-based foods, such as fatty fish, egg yolks, and liver.

  Vitamin D3 is commonly available in animal-based supplements. It is often considered more effective than D2, possibly due to its stronger connection with the vitamin D binding protein. This increased affinity may result in slower clearance of vitamin D3, leading to longer-lasting concentrations of 25(OH)D in the blood compared to D2.

  What Is the Recommended Amount of Vitamin D?

  The required daily amount of vitamin D varies based on an individual’s age. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is designed to meet the daily requirements for maintaining healthy bones and normal calcium metabolism in individuals with minimal sun exposure.

  The recommended daily intake of vitamin D can vary among different organizations, such as the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, or IOM), which is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF) (formerly known as National Osteoporosis Foundation, or NOF), and the Endocrine Society.

  The NAM RDA guideline below is also recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NAM considers these intake amounts adequate to achieve a vitamin D blood level of 50 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L), which they believe is sufficient for most people. In addition, according to the Endocrine Society, ensuring a consistent elevation of the blood level of 25(OH)D above 75 nmol/L may necessitate a daily intake of at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D.

  The following table compares the recommended daily vitamin D amounts by the NAM and NIH, BHOF, and the Endocrine Society.

  

  What Types of Vitamin D Supplements Are Available?

  Vitamin D supplements are available in three types: vitamin D2, vitamin D3, and calcidiol. However, calcidiol is considered a medication, and it may be prescribed for individuals with health conditions causing malabsorption, such as cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, or liver disease, which impairs the synthesis of calcidiol from typical vitamin D supplements.

  Vitamin D2 vs. D3 Supplements

  Vitamin D2 supplements are created by subjecting a plant sterol to ultraviolet energy, resulting in the production of vitamin D2. Vitamin D3 is usually generated through the irradiation of 7-dehydrocholesterol derived from lanolin obtained from sheep’s wool. Individuals who abstain from all animal-derived products can ask manufacturers about supplement sourcing and processing methods.

  Ongoing debate surrounds the preference for vitamin D3 over D2 to increase blood levels. A meta-analysis suggests that D3 supplements tend to raise and maintain vitamin D levels more effectively than D2. Many experts favor vitamin D3 due to its natural production in the body and its presence in foods containing the vitamin.

  One study involving 15,716 participants compared four treatment options for vitamin D deficiency, including vitamin D2 injection, vitamin D3 injection, a combination of vitamin D2 injection with a D2 tablet, and a combination of vitamin D3 injection with a D2 tablet. All treatments led to a significant increase in serum vitamin D within 12 weeks, with the vitamin D3 injection alone showing the highest increase. The findings suggest that using vitamin D3 in injectable form is the most effective option for restoring severe vitamin D deficiency, outperforming the injectable form of vitamin D2 and D2 tablets. However, the study did not address the effects of a vitamin D3 tablet/capsule, which is still generally better absorbed than oral vitamin D2.

  Different Forms of Vitamin D Supplements 

  Vitamin D2 and D3 supplements can be obtained over the counter or by prescription in the United States. They come in various strengths, including 400, 800, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 50,000 IU, with the latter requiring a prescription.

  For adults, the general recommendation is a daily supplement containing 800 IU. Older individuals may still experience vitamin D deficiency at this intake level, so they might need to increase the dosage per their doctor’s instructions. In addition, all infants and children are advised to take a vitamin D supplement containing 400 IU starting shortly after birth.

  As vitamin D is fat-soluble, it is most effectively absorbed when consumed with a meal or snack containing some fat.

  Vitamin D supplements are also available in various forms, including:

  • Capsules/softgels
  • Tablets
  • Liquid drops
  • Gummies
  • Sprays
  • Injections

  What Are the Dietary Sources of Vitamin D?

  Vitamin D is found naturally in a few foods, and most dietary intake in the United States comes from fortified foods supplemented with vitamin D.

  Vitamin D2

  • Many plant-based milks (e.g., soy, almond, and oat) and plant-based yogurts are fortified with vitamin D2. One cup of various soy, almond, and oat milk brands is fortified with 100 to 144 IU of vitamin D.
  • Some mushrooms naturally contain vitamin D2, and certain commercially sold ones have higher levels of D2 because they are intentionally exposed to high amounts of ultraviolet light. Half a cup of raw, sliced white mushrooms exposed to UV light contains 366 IU of vitamin D.
  • Vitamin D (both D2 and D3) is supplemented in various breakfast cereals. One serving of ready-to-eat cereal is fortified with 10 percent of the daily value (DV) for vitamin D (80 IU).
  • Some orange juice brands, margarine, and other food items are fortified with vitamin D2.

  Vitamin D3

  Vitamin D3 is obtained from animal products, with oily fish, fish oils, eggs, and dairy serving as the best dietary sources. The amount of vitamin D in an animal’s tissues is influenced by its diet.

  Most of the U.S. cow’s milk supply is fortified with approximately 120 IU of vitamin D3 per cup, and infant formula is fortified. However, foods derived from milk, such as cheese and ice cream, are typically not fortified. Rich sources of vitamin D3 include fatty fish such as trout, salmon, tuna, and mackerel, as well as fish liver oils. In addition to vitamin D3, animal-based foods often contain calcidiol, also known as 25(OH)D. Research suggests that calcidiol is around five times more effective than the parent vitamin in increasing serum 25(OH)D concentrations.

  Examples of foods containing vitamin D3 include:

  • Fish oil: 1 tablespoon of cod liver oil (1,360 IU per serving)
  • Trout: 3 ounces of cooked farmed rainbow trout (645 IU per serving)
  • Salmon: 3 ounces of cooked sockeye salmon (570 IU per serving)
  • Sardines: Two drained sardines, canned in oil  (46 IU per serving)
  • Cow’s milk: 1 cup of 2 percent milk fortified with vitamin D (120 IU per serving)

  What Are the Other Sources of Vitamin D?

  Unfortunately, we can obtain vitamin D from only diet, sun exposure, and supplementation. The belief that tanning beds can provide sufficient vitamin D is just a myth because tanning bed bulbs mainly emit UVA light, while vitamin D synthesis requires UVB light. Hypervitaminosis D (excessive vitamin D levels in the body) is a potential risk in a small proportion of tanning beds with UVB light. It’s not known if this is due to less heating of the skin in some facilities. Also, catching sunlight in a sunny office or while driving in a car won’t contribute to obtaining vitamin D, either, because window glass completely blocks UVB ultraviolet light.

  Sunlight consists of two types of ultraviolet radiation: UVA and UVB. Although UVB is essential for the skin’s vitamin D synthesis, it can cause sunburn and contribute to cell damage linked to cancer. UVA also damages the skin and accelerates aging. To safeguard against sun damage and skin cancer, limit exposure during peak hours (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), wear protective clothing such as a wide-brimmed hat and long-sleeved garments, and use sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher when too much exposure is unavoidable, ensuring it’s broad-spectrum for UVA and UVB protection.

  Given the appropriate conditions, exposing the arms and legs to sunlight for 10 to 15 minutes a few times weekly can produce almost all the necessary vitamin D.

  In addition to the aforementioned factors, elements affecting how much vitamin D your body makes include smog and other types of air pollution, season, and cloud cover. For instance, people living north of the 37-degree-latitude line, the imaginary line connecting Richmond, Virginia, and San Francisco, cannot obtain sufficient UVB exposure during winter to produce adequate vitamin D.

  What Is the Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency?

  Blood 25(OH)D levels (combined vitamin D2 and D3) are a good indicator of vitamin D stores in the body and show a strong connection with symptoms and signs of deficiency. Blood tests measuring vitamin D, calcium, and phosphate levels can confirm a deficiency.

  High-Risk Populations

  Certain disorders, hereditary conditions, and medications may impact vitamin D absorption or conversion of vitamin D to its active form, thus contributing to deficiency.

  The following risk factors put someone at higher risk of deficiency:

  • Limited outdoor activity: Older adults and those residing in institutions may not have easy access to the outdoors.
  • Inflammatory bowel diseases
  • Celiac disease
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Surgery: People who undergo bariatric or gastric bypass surgery for weight loss and those with sections of the small intestine removed (resection) are at higher risk.
  • Darker skin: Less vitamin D is produced during sun exposure in darker skin compared to lighter skin, as the melanin in darker skin blocks and absorbs sunlight before it can initiate vitamin D production.
  • Excessive sunscreen use
  • Malabsorption disorders
  • Age: As people age, their skin’s 7-dehydrocholesterol levels (which play a crucial role in the synthesis of vitamin D) decrease, accompanied by changes in the skin. Older people are also more prone to spending extended periods indoors.
  • Certain medical conditions: Some conditions can hinder the body’s ability to synthesize or absorb sufficient vitamin D.
  • Lactose intolerance: Milk is usually fortified with vitamin D.
  • Vegan or vegetarian diets

  To address vitamin D deficiency, increasing consumption of vitamin D-rich foods is often insufficient, prompting doctors to recommend supplements. The available forms of vitamin D supplements include vitamins D2 and D3 and calcidiol. The prescribed dosage varies based on factors such as severity, age, weight, and pregnancy status. The following table contains the suggested average daily dosages. The levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or 25(OH)D, in the blood are used to measure vitamin D status.

  Read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 19:50

• Tide Shift: Philadelphia Officer Says Criminals Will Be Prosecuted Once Again 
  Tide Shift: Philadelphia Officer Says Criminals Will Be Prosecuted Once Again 

  The tide is turning in lawless progressive cities after leftist radicals in city halls have pushed disastrous social justice reforms and defunded the police that have sparked crime wave after crime wave. 

  According to one Philadelphia Police Department officer, the mayor, the commissioner, and the governor are no longer tolerating the soaring thefts and out-of-control crime that have transformed some parts of the metro area into third-world-like conditions. 

  Philadelphia has joined the other large Blue Cities of sidewalks full of fentanyl drug addict zombies.
  Brought to you from open borders and China pic.twitter.com/z7BzTUiO7f

  — 🇺🇲Take a Stand 🇺🇲🙏 (@keepitwilder) March 12, 2024

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  Philadelphia, US-
  Disturbing new footage shows homeless drug addicts lying on the streets, surrounded by tents and scattered trash in #Kensington #Philadelphia neighborhood.
  I feel bad for these unfortunate people. pic.twitter.com/uDQZZv7VJQ

  — SK Chakraborty (@sanjoychakra) March 12, 2024

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  If we had to guess, maybe the shift in policing is because progressive policies have been one of the biggest failed social experiments this nation has ever seen. Law-abiding Americans across cities demand a return to law and order after half a decade of crime chaos. And these leftist politicians are getting the message as some are up for re-election. 

  In a video interview posted by X user Wall Street Apes, a Philadelphia police officer explains that law and order is returning but will be an uphill battle. 

  “The mayor, the commissioner and the governor said we gonna do something about the theft. They passed new legislation that they’re going after people.” 

  “That’s not gonna happen anymore. Not the city of Philadelphia. You’re gonna get prosecuted, and it’s gonna be a felony. It ain’t gonna be on misdemeanor.” 

  Interviewer: “Can you say something to the youth, please, about all this morning?” 

  Officer “Well, all I have to say to the youth is put down the gun because if you come here with a gun, the chances are you’re not gonna make it home. I hate to say it like that, but we have to keep it real. This is killing us. I’ve never seen it like this before, where young people shoot up a bus depot station, 40 rounds, and shoot innocent people. Something must be done. 

  I say this to the parents. Go in your children’s room, tear it apart and find that gun. Because when they kill somebody, that’s on you. You can’t say, well, my child ain’t you know what your children are doing. It is your job. 

  That’s your house. You own it. You are the commander in that chief in that house. Go to your children’s house your room and look for these weapons. Stop it before it’s too late. 

  Either you’re burying your child, or you’re going up to prison every month, visiting your child. It takes a community to stop this. It’s not just on the police department.

   That’s why we are out there. But it’s not all about locking people up. You have to educate these people. You have to educate these young people. Guns is not the way. 

  But there’s a group of them that believe in robbing and stealing and killing. And those are the ones we have to capture and put away. “

  Watch the full interview here: 

  Philadelphia Officer Says The City Is No Longer Putting Up With The Crime Wave

  “The mayor, the commissioner and the governor said we gonna do something about the theft. They passed new legislation that they’re going after people”

  “That’s not gonna happen anymore. Not the city… pic.twitter.com/Uogaxe00vM

  — Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 16, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 19:15

• Electric Transmission Buildout Could Cost Americans Trillions Of Dollars
  Electric Transmission Buildout Could Cost Americans Trillions Of Dollars

  Authored by Bernard L. McNamee via RealClear Wire,

  Though windmills and solar panels get the headlines, the big energy topic in Washington is electric transmission. Whether it is Congress’s newfound interest in permitting reform, the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Grid Deployment Office, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) upcoming final rule on transmission planning and cost allocation, how to build and pay for long-range transmission to connect generators to customers is considered the final piece in the quest to meet net-zero goals.   

  

  Like so many issues in Washington, the need for more transmission lines is accepted without question and the costs are not considered. But for American consumers, especially low-income and elderly, as well as small businesses and energy intense manufacturers, building new transmission lines could result in much higher monthly bills and leave them on the hook for stranded assets.

  Traditionally, high-voltage transmission lines, consisting of 150-foot lattice towers crossing the landscape for hundreds of miles, were planned for by local utilities to meet their customers’ energy needs and subject to approval by state public utility commissions. But public policy goals to promote renewables are changing how the grid is being developed.

  Over the past few years, States established renewable energy mandates; Congress enacted over $1 trillion in taxpayer subsidies for renewable energy; and President Biden issued an executive order setting net-zero goals for electricity generation by 2035. To fulfill these policies, the grid needs new high-voltage transmission lines—lots of them—and they will be expensive.

  According to the “Net-Zero America” analysis published by Princeton researchers, achieving net zero goals with 100% wind and solar by 2050 will require an additional $3.5 trillion in capital spending for new transmission lines. If net-zero goals are pursued with a mix of renewables, nuclear, and natural gas generation (which may include carbon capture), then a significant portion of this transmission investment would be unnecessary. Furthermore, a balanced resource mix of dispatchable and renewable resources would enhance grid reliability without overbuilding renewables or transmission.

  Contributing to the cost is that renewable projects are often built far away from where the electricity will be consumed. For example, the Midwest is a great place to build windmills, but long-distance transmission lines are needed to deliver their electricity to big population centers on coasts. Not only are these lines capital intensive, but they also require purchasing or condemning private property to site them. Adding insult to injury, many of these transmission lines will not serve the people whose land is used.       

  Renewable power developers see the potential for selling their electricity in higher priced power systems near urban centers, while also being able to harvest generous taxpayer subsidies. But having to pay for transmission cuts into profits. Furthermore, property owners impacted by the transmission lines are objecting. The solution: a wave of lobbyists and special interests pressing policy makers to eliminate permitting barriers and to socialize the $3.5 trillion cost of building new transmission lines to more Americans.   

  In response, FERC is engaged in a rulemaking to change transmission planning and cost allocation. Among the proposals is requiring grid planners to consider factors like “geographic zones”, such as wind potential in the Midwest; state and federal “public policy goals”; and “trends” in technology. If adopted, these factors would provide more subjective ways to justify building big, expensive, long-range transmission projects that would be paid for by a broader number of Americans.  

  With public concerns about costs, transmission advocates now argue that more transmission is needed for grid reliability. Yet, the threat of blackouts is the result of the very net-zero policies that now require more transmission. For example, Maryland’s recent decision to shut down the Brandon Shores coal plant will cause customers across 12 states and the District of Columbia to pay $796 million for new transmission projects to support reliability.  

  Customers may also be left paying for transmission projects that are no longer needed. New technology, such as small modular nuclear reactors that can be built at existing power plants that already have transmission access, may negate the need for new transmission lines to serve renewable generators. The current push for transmission reform may be another expensive example of Washington trying to solve yesterday’s problem. This is not mere speculation, since 2008 customers have paid $250 million for the PATH transmission line that crossed three states, even though it was never built and never served customers.  

  It is time for policy makers to reaffirm that the electric grid exists to serve customers, not developers and investors. Transmission planning and cost allocation should be driven by the needs of customers and overseen by the state regulators who are best suited to protect their citizens. At a time when inflation is making its tougher from families and businesses to thrive, imposing additional costs for transmission buildouts for special interests makes little sense. 

  Bernard L. McNamee was a Commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2018-2020. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 18:40

• Hertz CEO Out As Firm Seeks Traction After Big EV Bet Goes Bust
  Hertz CEO Out As Firm Seeks Traction After Big EV Bet Goes Bust

  CEO Stephen Scherr’s barely two-year ride with Hertz came to a screeching halt on Friday. In his wake, he leaves a company still working to recover from a big bet on electric vehicles gone bad. It will do so under new CEO Gil West, whose previous posts include executive roles at Delta Air Lines and the Cruise unit of General Motors.    

  Scherr, who came on board in February 2022 after 30 years at Goldman Sachs, ushered the company through its emergence from bankruptcy. Hertz’s EV push began in the previous year, with a splashy move to order 100,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles. After taking the reins of the Estero, Florida-headquartered company, Scherr doubled down on the green vision, committing to purchased another 65,000 EVs from Polestar, a Swedish company. 

  Traveling in the US. @Hertz has rows & rows of EVs that no-one wants to rent. They claimed I booked one when I didn’t. Gold member & they mess me around like this.

  I refused the EV & eventually I got a real car. What a hassle.

  Go woke. Go broke. Rethinking my loyalty to Hertz.

  — FermiLevels 🚚🛻🚛🏎 (@FermiLevels) September 10, 2023

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  In December 2023, Hertz emphatically demonstrated that its massive EV push just wasn’t working out, throwing 20,000 EVs into the used-car market to start a systematic liquidation planned to extend through 2024. “The company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into the purchase of internal combustion engine vehicles to meet customer demand,” Hertz said at the time, adding, “The company expects this action to better balance supply against expected demand of EVs.”

  The resale of fleet cars is a key driver of rental car companies’ profitability. On that front, Tesla threw a wrench in Hertz’s financials by aggressively slashing prices across its product line, crushing the resale values of not only Teslas, but the entire EV market. Top-selling EV’s saw their secondary-market prices plunge by almost a third in 2023. 

  Poor resale value isn’t the only EV liability biting Hertz — the company also pointed to the high cost of collision repairs. “For context, collision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,” Scherr noted in an October third-quarter conference call. 

  Guess the cost to repair this?

  $5,000?
  $10,000?
  $12,000?

  NO….. estimate cost is $14,000 😂

  No wonder why renting companies are ditching Tesla! $TSLA $TSLAQ pic.twitter.com/CcgiTLrnov

  — Little John 💎 (@biotechpain) January 17, 2024

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  Then there’s the issue of consumer demand. It’s fair to assume that most rental car customers don’t want their first EV experiment to come on a business or vacation trip, where they may be in an unfamiliar area and unenthused about spending 20 minutes at a recharging station on the way to the airport, to say nothing of the hassle of figuring out how the whole EV-thing works.

  There are many horror stories about consumers unpleasantly surprised to be issued an EV when they didn’t ask for one. Others say they picked up a car that was only half-charged and missing the charging cable. Earlier this month, Sen. Tom Cotton — one of the most sinister foreign-policy interventionists to ever walk Capitol Hill — decided to intervene in the rental car market, by introducing a bill that would make it illegal to force EVs on customers. 

  @Hertz Any help available? I’m on day three of rental and still can’t get help. I was given an EV (that I didn’t want) that can’t fast charge. The employee laughed when I called and said they know. I’m driving to and from the hospital every day and knew a car I can fuel up. 🙏

  — Stack (@SmyrnaStack) February 19, 2024

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  In a statement issued Friday, Hertz vice chair Tom Wagner said, “We are appreciative of Stephen’s contribution over the last two years, including on a number of key strategic initiatives.” 

  …but definitely not that EV one. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 18:05

• Four-Star Sellouts
  Four-Star Sellouts

  Authored by Citizen Soldier via RealClear Wire,

  “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy. One must go in to fetch a diamond out.”

  

  I’ve been thinking about that line from Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, as I watch prominent men risk prison or disgrace to enrich themselves.

  Look at the news.

  Sen. Bob Menendez, former Chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is indicted for acting as a foreign agent to benefit Egypt.

  Manuel Rocha, a former Ambassador to Cuba, will plead guilty to charges he conspired to act as an agent of Cuba.

  Two years ago, former Marine Corps General John Allen resigned from his post as president of Brookings Institution amid a DOJ investigation into whether he illegally lobbied on behalf of the nation of Qatar.

  DOJ dropped the charges but, in 2023, Congress released findings that 77 general officers and admirals had taken high-paying gigs with foreign countries. The list included former Defense Secretary James Mattis (UAE), former NSA chief Keith Alexander (Singapore, Saudi Arabia) and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (Japan).

  Go back to 2015 and you’ll be reminded that then-Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas allegedly pressured DHS officials to approve visa requests on behalf of powerful friends in business, entertainment and politics.

  I get it; there’s an edge in this game, too.

  Mayorkas and the generals played close to the edge. Menendez played too close to the edge (at minimum). Rocha obviously went over the edge.

  The bigger question is … why?

  At an age when most Americans re-discover the soapy drama of daytime television, the politicians and generals venture deeper into the jungle.

  Taking one more free trip.

  Looking for one more big payday.

  Something short of the law should restrain their greed. Call it shame, stigma, patriotism, or even self-discipline. Call it common morality.

  The generals and military bigshots are most troubling. They made their names in an institution that demanded fidelity to the military ethos. Duck your duty to stand post, and you betray your comrades. Lie to your commanding officer, and you perhaps put an operation at risk. Sit back at the command post while your troops walk patrol, and be labeled a coward by yourself and others.

  When Allen, Mattis, McMaster and the rest served as officers, much of what they could have done, they didn’t do. Their restraint enhanced their character. Their high moral standards made them leaders, and formed the basis for their credibility to ask young Americans to kill or be killed in combat.

  But as generals transition to civilian life, apparently, they discover what can be gained by switching sides and corrupting into your opposite. The opportunity to become sandwich-board twirlers for foreign governments is turning once-virtuous leaders into human directionals for money, attention and other regime goodies.

  Because the generals sold out, they’re not special anymore.

  No more duty, honor, country.

  No more honor, courage, commitment.

  The generals are hunting diamonds now, and we should treat them accordingly. 

  Citizen Soldier believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 17:30

• "Extreme Events": US Cancer Deaths Spiked In 2021 And 2022 In "Large Excess Over Trend"
  “Extreme Events”: US Cancer Deaths Spiked In 2021 And 2022 In “Large Excess Over Trend”

  Cancer deaths in the United States spiked in 2021 and 2022 among 15-44 year-olds “in large excess over trend,” marking jumps of 5.6% and 7.9% respectively vs. a rise of 1.7% in 2020, according to a new preprint study from deep-dive research firm, Phinance Technologies.

  

  

  Extreme Events

  The report, which relies on data from the CDC, paints a troubling picture.

  “We show a rise in excess mortality from neoplasms reported as underlying cause of death, which started in 2020 (1.7%) and accelerated substantially in 2021 (5.6%) and 2022 (7.9%). The increase in excess mortality in both 2021 (Z-score of 11.8) and 2022 (Z-score of 16.5) are highly statistically significant (extreme events),” according to the authors.

  That said, co-author, David Wiseman, PhD (who has 86 publications to his name), leaves the cause an open question – suggesting it could either be a “novel phenomenon,” Covid-19, or the Covid-19 vaccine.

  Cancer deaths in US in 2021 & 2022 in large excess over trend for 15-44 year-olds as extreme events. A novel phenomenon? C19? lockdowns? C19 vaccines? Honored to participate in this work. #CDC where are you? @DowdEdwardhttps://t.co/iUV5oQiWCW pic.twitter.com/uytzaIvvor

  — David Wiseman PhD, MRPharmS (@AdhesionsOrg) March 12, 2024

  “The results indicate that from 2021 a novel phenomenon leading to increased neoplasm deaths appears to be present in individuals aged 15 to 44 in the US,” reads the report.

  The authors suggest that the cause may be the result of “an unexpected rise in the incidence of rapidly growing fatal cancers,” and/or “a reduction in survival in existing cancer cases.”

  They also address the possibility that “access to utilization of cancer screening and treatment” may be a factor – the notion that pandemic-era lockdowns resulted in fewer visits to the doctor. Also noted is that “Cancers tend to be slowly-developing diseases with remarkably stable death rates and only small variations over time,” which makes “any temporal association between a possible explanatory factor (such as COVID-19, the novel COVID-19 vaccines, or other factor(s)) difficult to establish.”

  That said, a ZeroHedge review of the CDC data reveals that it does not provide information on duration of illness prior to death – so while it’s not mentioned in the preprint, it can’t rule out so-called ‘turbo cancers’ – reportedly rapidly developing cancers, the existence of which has been largely anecdotal (and widely refuted by the usual suspects).

  While the Phinance report is extremely careful not to draw conclusions, researcher “Ethical Skeptic” kicked the barn door open in a Thursday post on X – showing a strong correlation between “cancer incidence & mortality” coinciding with the rollout of the Covid mRNA vaccine.

  The argument is over.

  The Covid mRNA Vaxx has cause a sizeable 2021 inflection, and now novel-trend elevation in terms of both cancer incidence & mortality.

  Now you know who the liars were all along.

  🔺Incidence = 14.8% excess
  🔺UCoD Mortality = 5.3% excess (lags Incidence) pic.twitter.com/uwN9GMrHl1

  — Ethical Skeptic ☀ (@EthicalSkeptic) March 14, 2024

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  Phinance principal Ed Dowd commented on the post, noting that “Cancer is suddenly an accelerating growth industry!”

  🚨Indeed it is…Cancer is suddenly an accelerating growth industry! @EthicalSkeptic provides a chart below showing US Cancer treatment in constant dollars with a current growth rate of 14.8% (6.3% New CAGR) versus long term trend of 1.78% CAGR or $33.8 billion in excess cancer… https://t.co/RIn4R2YZZ7

  — Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 14, 2024

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  Continued:

  As a former portfolio manager of of a $14 billion Large Cap Growth Equity portfolio I can definitively say Cancer treatments and the Disabilities have become growth industries that both have inflection points coincidental to the mRNA vaccine rollouts in 2021.

  Chart 1 from… pic.twitter.com/TCt4X1plnM

  — Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 14, 2024

  Bottom line – hard data is showing alarming trends, which the CDC and other agencies have a requirement to explore and answer truthfully – and people are asking #WhereIsTheCDC.

  We aren’t holding our breath.

  Experts are sounding the alarm on a spike in cancer diagnosis worldwide. It is still a mystery. @DowdEdward from Phinance Technologies has also been sounding the alarm for months.

  We are facing a dramatic degradation of the human immune system https://t.co/CPnwP3Oj9G

  — dr.ir. Carla Peeters (@CarlaPeeters3) March 15, 2024

  Wiseman, meanwhile, points out that Pfizer and several other companies are making “significant investments in cancer drugs, post COVID.”

  Pfizer among several companies making significant investments in cancer drugs, post COVID. @DowdEdward @Kevin_McKernan @JesslovesMJK @niki_kyrylenko https://t.co/nefEZYLW1o https://t.co/r505Sbbcq4

  — David Wiseman PhD, MRPharmS (@AdhesionsOrg) March 15, 2024

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

  Phinance

  We’ve featured several of Phinance’s self-funded deep dives into pandemic data that nobody else is doing. If you’d like to support them, click here.

  List of our projects following disturbing tends in deaths, disabilities and absences.

  Link to projects at bottom.

  ✅ V-Damage Project
  ✅ Excess Mortality Project
  ✅ US Disabilities Project
  ✅ US BLS Absence rates Project
  ✅ US Cause of Death Project
  ✅ UK Cause of Death…

  — Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 16, 2024

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

   

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

• Pentagon Commander Reveals 'Alarming' Number Of Drone Incursions At US-Mexico Border
  Pentagon Commander Reveals ‘Alarming’ Number Of Drone Incursions At US-Mexico Border

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

  A large number of drone incursions are happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, a U.S. Department of Defense official said on March 14.

  “It’s my understanding, there’s been a lot of drone incursions along our southern border. How many drone incursions have we had and what are they doing?” Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) asked Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot during a Senate hearing.

  “I don’t know the actual number—I don’t think anybody does—but it’s in the thousands,” Gen. Guillot said.

  

  He later added that there are likely more than 1,000 incursions happening at the border per month.

  The general, who became commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in February, said he recently spoke with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Department of Justice officials learned about the surprising number of incursions. He described becoming alarmed.

  Are the incursions a defense threat to the homeland?

  “They alarm me from being the person responsible for homeland defense,” Gen. Guillot said. “I haven’t seen any of them manifest in a threat to the level of national defense but I see the potential only growing.”

  NORAD is a United States and Canadian organization whose work includes “the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.” NORTHCOM leads the military’s homeland defense efforts.

  The hearing was held by the Senate Armed Services Committee. The subject of Mexican military incursions at the border did not come up.

  Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman of the committee, inquired as to whether military base commanders were equipped with standard operating procedures in dealing with unmanned aircraft.

  “The services do have authorities, but work remains to be done to ensure that … we have standardized operating procedures to address those threats,” Gen. Guillot said. “And also work remains to be done to be able to use especially the non-kinetic capabilities that can bring down those systems safely, without interfering with our airspace structure.”

  He said he was planning to recommend to the Pentagon and Congress ways NORAD can help develop those procedures after a 90-day assessment of NORAD and NORTHCOM is finished.

  Other Comments From New Commander

  Gen. Guillot also touched on a number of additional subjects during the hearing, his first since taking command.

  At one point, he said he was concerned about how many Chinese nationals are crossing into the United States.

  “The number of Chinese that are coming across the border is a big concern of mine,” he said. “In fact, in the short period of time that I’ve been in command, I’ve gone down to the southern border to talk to the agents and leadership about that. And then I’ve also spoken with the acting commissioner of the CBP on this subject.”

  He added: “What concerns me most about specifically the Chinese migrants is—one, that they’re so centralized in one location on the border. And two, is while many may be political refugees, other explanations, the ability for counterintelligence to hide in plain sight in those numbers.”

  Gen. Guillot also disclosed that Russia flew bombers near U.S. and Canadian airspace earlier in March but turned back before reaching the Air Defense Identification Zone, and said Chinese planes could follow.

  Gen. Guillot also told lawmakers that NORAD has improved its radars since officials allowed a Chinese balloon into American airspace in 2023.

  “That has allowed us to have better domain awareness in that,” he said. Gaps in the system, he added, are slated to be address by a new radar being introduced.

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

• Who Is "Mr. 100"? Mysterious Bitcoin Whale Becomes 14th Biggest BTC Holder
  Who Is “Mr. 100”? Mysterious Bitcoin Whale Becomes 14th Biggest BTC Holder

  Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

  A mysterious Bitcoin whale, nicknamed “Mr. 100,” has sparked curiosity in the cryptocurrency space after amassing over 52,996 Bitcoin, worth over $3.5 billion, on-chain data shows.

  

  Who is Bitcoin’s “Mr. 100”?

  The Mr. 100 whale wallet bought at least 1,000 Bitcoin on March 15, which is 52% of the total 1,907 BTC bought by the 10 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to an X post by HODL15Capital.

  

  Bitcoin accumulation sheet. Source: HODL15Capital on X

  This address has been continually receiving BTC since November 2022, when the FTX exchange collapsed. The wallet has been adding at least 100 BTC nearly every day since Feb. 14.

  The wallet received some larger Bitcoin transfers from a secondary wallet address, which has also been adding tranches of 100 BTC since 2019. This suggests that the mysterious whale has been stacking sats since at least 2019, according to HODL15Capital, who also noted in a March 15 X post:

  “What I do know is that this is NOT one of the U.S. ETFs. I have all those mapped.” 

  Based on the size of the acquisitions, there’s speculation that the whale could be either a Hong Kong financial institution pre-seeding for ETFs, the Qatar Investment Authority, other Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, a cold wallet associated with South Korean Upbit exchange, or an unidentified address of a tech billionaire.

  Mr. 100 continues accumulating regardless of Bitcoin price at near all-time highs, adding 400 BTC on March 12, when Bitcoin traded above the $72,000 mark.

  Following the accumulation spree, the Mr. 100 wallet is currently the 14th-largest BTC holder, according to Bitinfocharts data.

  

  Mr. 100 wallet data. Source: Bitinfocharts

  Wallet linked to Upbit: Crystal Intelligence

  The Mr. 100 wallet has been tagged as a cold wallet belonging to the Upbit cryptocurrency exchange, by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence.

  Based on blockchain data analyzed by Crystal Intelligence, the mysterious wallet belongs to Upbit, the firm told Cointelegraph:

  “We have found that the number and value of transactions associated with this wallet are indicative of a VASP-type service. Additionally, we can confirm with high accuracy that the incoming transactions originate from Upbit, and these have maintained a consistent value since the collapse of FTX.”

  Looking at the wallet’s outflows, Mr. 100 has only been sending Bitcoin transactions to a wallet tagged as an Upbit hot wallet by Arkahm’s platform. Most of the transactions were in tranches of at least 500 BTC, with two of the biggest transactions transferring as much as 3,000 BTC.

  

  Upbit: Cold Wallet Outflows. Source: Arkham Intelligence

  The analytics team behind Crystal Intelligence confirmed that the secondary wallets also belong to Upbit:

  “Bitcoin is moved into three major clusters on the outgoing transaction side, and those clusters appear to be connected in subsequent transactions. We also found some evidence that the clusters that received funds from 1Ay8v belong to Upbit.”

  Thus, the “Mr. 100” wallet likely belongs to Upbit, argued pseudonymous on-chain analyst Defioasis, who wrote in a March 12 X response:

  “The regular movements of 100 BTC are not purchases but could be Upbit’s unique way of managing cold and hot wallet assets.”

  HODL15Capital also noted that a South Korean entity is stacking large amounts of Bitcoin, in a March 15 X post, referencing the heatmap from below.

  

  BTC global transfers heatmap. Source: HODL15Capital

  All the 14 secondary wallet addresses associated with the main wallet of Mr. 100 have passed Know Your Customer  verification on Upbit exchange, wrote pseudonymous on-chain sleuth Mai in a March 15 X response:

  “Mr.100 uses a small wallet address to buy $BTC. I find it very similar to what Upbit usually does with altcoins (ETH network). If we follow Upbit’s cash flow, we will see the coincidence.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 15:10

• Chinese Scientists Implant First Pig Liver Into Brain-Dead Human
  Chinese Scientists Implant First Pig Liver Into Brain-Dead Human

  Who says nothing interesting ever happens in the world anymore? This week, in a “first of its kind” operation, a brain-dead human subject was implanted with the world’s first gene-edited pig liver transplant, according to SCMP. 

  In what could be a pioneering move, Chinese scientists have transplanted a gene-edited pig liver into a human, aiming to potentially mark a solution to organ shortages, the report says.

  The liver was modified to reduce rejection risks and was implanted into a brain-dead recipient, showing no rejection signs four days post-operation, as per the Air Force Medical University. SCMP writes that this procedure could significantly aid those with end-stage liver disease, possibly revolutionizing liver transplants. 

  Gene editing advancements in China also promise to enhance efficiency and accessibility in plant modification, reflecting broader strides in medical innovation, the report continues.

  

  SCMP notes that liver diseases annually claim 2 million lives globally, with China alone witnessing up to 500,000 new cases of liver failure yearly. Xenotransplantation, the process of transplanting organs across species, could be a hopeful strategy, especially for liver ailments, given the complexity and scarcity of human livers for transplantation.

  While pig organs have been previously used in research, the liver’s complexity means there needs to be innovative surgical approaches, such as auxiliary transplants, to ensure effective integration and function within the body, according to SCMP. 

  This development signals a critical step toward more sustainable organ transplant solutions, addressing both the technical challenges and the dire need for viable organs.

  The Air Force Medical University commented: “From this perspective, xenogenic liver transplantation has great clinical application value.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 14:35

• GAO: 'Unclear' If Pentagon Tracking Reports Of Misused Aid In Ukraine
  GAO: ‘Unclear’ If Pentagon Tracking Reports Of Misused Aid In Ukraine

  Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClear Wire,

  While the Pentagon has assured Congress that no U.S. military equipment sent to Ukraine has been diverted, stolen, or otherwise misappropriated, a new report from the Government Accountability Office could not determine if the Department of Defense was tracking allegations of misuse two years into the conflict.

  “If you never look, you will never find it,” a source familiar with how the report was compiled said of the worst-case possibility that aid was being misappropriated.

  

  The report comes as President Biden struggles to keep the supply lines open to Ukraine. Although a majority of Congress supports sending further aid to help hold back the Russian onslaught, and the Senate passed a bipartisan aid package late last month, House Republicans have yet to approve the latest round of now-stalled military assistance.

  The United States remains the leading supplier of munitions and other aid to Ukraine, providing more than $42 billion in assistance since Russia’s invasion. Much of it has come through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to transfer equipment from American stores directly to allies. The annual amount was limited by law to $100 million a year until Congress lifted the cap to $14.5 billion.

  The sheer tonnage of supplies and the speed of its shipment, according to the GAO report, has left the Pentagon without “quality data” to assess its delivery. Ensuring munitions and materiel arrive in the right hands has led to unprecedented challenges on top of the existing chaos of war. Most officials were evacuated from Ukraine long ago, for instance, and those who remain are restricted from leaving Kyiv to ensure delivery of shipments before it is used or destroyed on the battlefield.

  Department of Defense officials, however, maintain that they and their Ukrainian allies are up to the challenge. “We think the Ukrainians are using properly what they’ve been given,” Colin Kahl, formerly the Pentagon’s top policy official, told Congress over a year ago, assuring lawmakers that the DoD conducts regular audits and “we are laser-focused on this issue.”

  Though a nascent democracy, Ukraine has a history of corruption. Mismanagement or graft could threaten future aid, a message that has been relayed from the White House to President Volodymyr Zelensky directly.

  “Still no indication that there’s been any kind of widespread corruption or inappropriate use of U.S. capabilities,” John Kirby, a national security communications adviser to President Biden, told RealClearPolitics last October. As America reprises its role as an arsenal of democracy, the spokesman described a “hand-to-mouth” scenario where munitions are used as soon as they arrive.

  “It’s a matter of days before some stuff gets there,” Kirby continued, “and then a matter of days more before it is being used on the battlefield.”

  That kind of haste could very well make waste, or what the GAO report described as “end-use violations involving defense articles provided to the country.” It is precisely because so much has been provided so quickly that the nonpartisan government watchdog sees risk.

  According to the report, the Pentagon “is generally not tracking” the status of vehicles and armaments that make up the majority of supplies. More sensitive items, such as night vision capabilities and certain advanced missiles, are being monitored through updated procedures to account for their delivery into hostile environments. DoD officials often cooperate with their Ukrainian counterparts, the report found, via video calls, email, and text messages to ensure the receipt and status of those supplies.

  Complicating matters further, there is no shared definition of “delivered” among the branches of the U.S. military. Army officials told GAO they considered materiel delivered once they left an “Army point of origin,” though they could be days or weeks in transit before arriving in the hands of Ukrainians. The Marine Corps, by contrast, only marked items delivered once they received email confirmation from DoD officials or their Ukrainian counterparts.

  “The U.S. has provided a large volume of equipment in a very short period of time, and it is unclear whether DOD guidance and processes have been adjusted to accurately account for all of these items,” warned Chelsa Kenney, the director of international affairs at GAO.

  More than just shipping delays and a logistical nightmare, the greater risk is the worst-case scenario: American hardware falling into the hands of an adversary.

  The Pentagon tracked one allegation that U.S. supplies had been transferred to Russian forces, a story which, according to the report, DoD officials on the ground in nearby Poland deemed not credible and “consistent with Russian disinformation.”

  And yet, the GAO found that the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the DoD office responsible for such shipments, had “not consistently tracked” allegations of that possibility.

  “While DOD officials said there had been no credible evidence of diversion of U.S.-provided advanced conventional weapons from Ukraine,” the report states, “it is unclear whether all allegations are being tracked.” The report also warned that without tracking those allegations, “DOD may face an increased risk of real or perceived defense article losses that can undermine Ukraine’s war efforts.”

  For its part, per the GAO report, the DSCA stated the agency was “only responsible for tracking the allegations that it receives and is not required to proactively identify allegations. Further, officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense said DSCA was not responsible for tracking unverifiable claims meant to discredit Ukraine’s weapons accountability efforts.”

  The GAO included in their report eight separate recommended reforms, which the DoD consented to partly or entirely. In a letter from Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, that was included in the report, the DoD declined a recommendation to require which allegations of misuse should be recorded and tracked. According to Cooper, the DoD already has sufficient regulations in place.

  This will do little to pacify Republicans eager to rein in the war funding.

  “The Biden administration has spent two years deceiving the American people, claiming they’ve closely tracked the military material we’ve sent to Ukraine. The GAO’s report not only proves them wrong, it references allegations that U.S. military equipment ended up in the hands of Russian military forces,” Sen. JD Vance, an Ohio Republican and former U.S. Marine, told RCP.

  “This is a major problem. I plan to immediately introduce legislation to hold the Biden administration accountable for these errors,” Vance added.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 14:00

• Weaponization Of Crude: Russian Oil Refiners Under Drone Attack 
  Weaponization Of Crude: Russian Oil Refiners Under Drone Attack 

  Brent crude prices climbed to their highest level in four and a half months last week following attacks on multiple Russian oil refineries by Ukrainian drones. Additionally, this morning, drone strikes on two more oil refining facilities were reported deep within Russia. 

  Bloomberg reports drone strikes targeted two oil refining facilities in Russia’s Samara region, more than 620 miles from the Ukrainian border. 

  A petroleum product processing unit caught fire on the territory of the Rosneft PJSC oil refinery in Syzran, RIA Novosti reported, citing Dmitry Azarov, the region’s governor. The plant’s design capacity is 8.5 million barrels per year or about 170,000 barrels per day.

  … other drones attacked the Novokuybyshevsk refinery, according to Russian media. -Bloomberg

  Get ready to update your Russian oil refiners Bingo card! Syzran refinery, located 1000 km deep inside Russia, is currently offline. pic.twitter.com/fAtjga9xF0

  — Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 16, 2024

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

  Russian Telegram channels report drone attacks on two enterprises at once in Samara region.

  Local residents say about explosions at the Syzran refinery. The area of fire is 500 square meters.

  Other drones attacked the Novokuybyshevsk refinery, according to Russian media. pic.twitter.com/2uB0ILz26v

  — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 16, 2024

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

  Ukraine has been ramping up drone attacks on crude processing facilities across Russia.

  On Wednesday, Rosneft PJSC’s Ryazan plant near Moscow was hit by a drone attack. This refinery is one of the largest in the country. A day earlier, Lukoil refinery in western Russia was hit by a drone attack. 

  BREAKING:

  Ukraine continues its latest campaign of drone strikes against critical infrastructure in Russia.

  Just hours ago, Ukrainian drones struck on the largest oil refineries in Russia.

  Rosneft’s Ryazan facility refines 17 million tons of oil a year pic.twitter.com/PaHPy9P4ij

  — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 13, 2024

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

  The wave of drone strikes on Russian crude-processing facilities started in January, with full intentions by Ukraine to cripple the fuel supply that funds Moscow’s war machine. 

  

  Here are the major Russian refineries that drones have targeted:

  

  Last month, Ukraine’s “drone czar,” Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, explained to Reuters that its manufacturing base can produce thousands of drones capable of hitting targets at “300, 500, 700, and 1,000 kilometers.”

  The full extent of the damage caused by strikes this year isn’t clear, but the attacks caused Msocow to place a six-month ban on gasoline exports starting on Mach 1. 

  This week, the Brent crude market wasted no time pricing increasing war risks by sending prices above $85 a barrel, the highest level since early November. 

  

  Despite two years of war and relentless attacks on Russian refineries, Moscow’s energy industry has proved resilient, and flows have shifted from Europe to China and India at heavily discounted prices. 

  While Ukrainians target Russian refineries, David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, recently penned a note that discusses the weaponization of crude could be the next big financial shock to the global economy. 

  Given the mounting risks in the Middle East, Asher said on slide nine, “Global oil shock could trigger a crisis like 2007-2008.” 

  

  He also noted, “Iran is Preparing For Oil War: Markets Ignore Growing Risk.” 

  

  Asher warned: It’s only a matter of time before Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi rebels start targeting key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. 

  

  A perfect storm of higher crude prices continues to brew as the world’s refineries have become major targets. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 13:25

• America The Snackable
  America The Snackable

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  There is only one pathway to health and sanity: stop consuming snackables of any kind.

  Everything in America has become snackable: devoid of value, easily consumed, intentionally addictive, and ultimately destructive to all that is healthy for individuals, communities and society at large.

  The core features of edible snackables are self-evident yet worthy of a closer look due to the severity of the consequences:

  1. The snack is made of highly processed ingredients.

  2. The snack has high concentrations of sugar, salt and unhealthy oils/fats.

  3. The snack has low nutritional value (empty calories) and is not beneficial to health.

  4. The snack is packaged in small quantities so the price appears cheap but is revealed as expensive when converted to price per pound.

  5. The snack’s “serving size” may be deceptively presented: a 4-ounce package may have a calorie count based on a “serving size” of 2 ounces, as if the package contains two servings when everyone knows a single individual will consume the entire snack.

  6. The snack is a legal addictive product as the snack has been designed to hijack humans’ innate receptors for sugar, salt and fat and satisfying mouthfeel. (Bet ya can’t have just one.)

  Highly processed, highly addictive, low nutritional value foods are a key driver of America’s declining health. All these foods share the same characteristics of the manufactured snackables: they are heavily marketed, highly profitable and contribute to obesity and metabolic disorders.

  When only one-quarter of the adult populace is normal weight, this leads to a host of chronic health disorders including higher risks of heart disease and many cancers, as well as the spectrum of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and prediabetes. Here are the facts: over 73% of adult Americans are overweight or obese.

  

  Given that almost 3/4 of adult Americans are overweight or obese, it shouldn’t surprise us that 52% of adult Americans are diabetic or prediabetic. This is a sobering trend, one that won’t be reversed by $1,000 a month weight-loss medications which cease to be effective once they’re no longer consumed. These medications don’t change the patients’ diets from highly processed foods to only unprocessed real food, and so the benefits are inherently narrower than advertised.

  

  The snack and beverage aisles take up an astounding amount of space in America’s specialty-groceries and supermarkets. These are the profit-generators, and so the processed-food manufacturers and grocery retailers are constantly seeking to entice more addicts with new novelties. For example: Trader Joe’s Has Been Releasing A Ton Of New Products Lately.

  Consuming this kind of high-fat, empty-calorie snack isn’t going to generate a healthy lifestyle.

  

  The marketing of novelty is as refined and devoid of value as the snacks being manufactured and sold:

  

  As those with any knowledge and experience of fitness know, the notion that it’s possible to burn off the empty calories of snacks with a bit more exercise is a fantasy–hence America’s bulging waistlines and declining health.

  

  The enormous profitability of edible snacks is mirrored in all the other manifestations of America the Snackable: our daily lives are now composed of one bite-sized addictive snack of social media, novelty memes, political opinion, financial data-snacks and pundits’ opinions and snackable videos after another.

  Attention spans and the ability to grasp complex issues have withered to snack-size, and whatever is being marketed as “ideas” are as devoid of value as an empty-calorie snack.

  

  All share the same characteristics: they are addictive, bite-sized, packaged deceptively, marketed as novelty, devoid of value, destructive to human health and most importantly, astoundingly profitable. So the edible snacks generate chronic illnesses which then provide fodder for highly profitable medications, while the inherently deranging snackables of social media, videos, entertainment, political opinions and memes-du-jour fuel mental disorders which provide fodder for a vast spectrum of highly profitable medications.

  There is only one pathway to health and sanity: stop consuming snackables of any kind. Yes, the only solution is cold turkey, baby, and like all addictions, it’s painful at first, and then it becomes a great relief to be freed of the addictions.

  *  *  *

  Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  Subscribe to my Substack for free

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 03/16/2024 – 12:50