• Norway Remains World's Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund
  Norway Remains World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund

  Authored by Katharina Buchholz via Statista.com,

  Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has made a lot of headlines recently due to its significant investments in golf and football, released its 2022 annual report on Sunday, providing the public with a glimpse into the operations of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. At the end of 2022, the PIF’s assets under management amounted to roughly $600 billion – a figure that has since grown to $700 billion according to Global SWF, a company tracking sovereign wealth funds.

  While gaining more international attention due to its investments in sports, the PIF actually reduced its international strategic investments last year, with their share of total assets under management dropping from 20 to 10 percent, while domestic investments accounted for 77 percent of AuM at the end of the year.

  Often accused of “sportswashing”, the PIF is very clear about the purpose of its international investments in its annual report. Among other things, the fund’s strategic international investments are meant to “establish strategic relationships and partnerships with innovative companies, investment managers, and influential investors to allow Saudi Arabia to extend its global reach and influence”, to “bolster Saudi Arabia’s position on the world stage as a leader and enabler of the future global economy” and to “support government-to-government relationships.”

  Serving a totally different purpose, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund is still the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. According to data from Global SFW, the fund’s assets under management amount to $1.38 trillion, narrowly exceeding the $1.35 trillion in assets under management from the Chinese Investment Corporation. As our chart shows, most of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds are located in Asia and the Arab world, with Norway the only, albeit notable exception.

  The unique Norwegian fund was set up to invest government revenues from its vast oil and natural gas reserves into sectors deemed more sustainable in order to provide for a future when the country can no longer rely on its income from fossil fuels. The Norwegian government is free to use up to three percent of the fund’s volume annually for social purposes – that number currently amounts to roughly $40 billion.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 08/14/2023 – 02:45

• Türkiye Quietly Renounces NATO Links, But Not NATO Benefits
  Türkiye Quietly Renounces NATO Links, But Not NATO Benefits

  Authored by Gregory Copley via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Türkiye on Aug. 3, made its most pointed renunciation of its ties to NATO.

  President Reçep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was sworn into office again on June 2, re-structured his Armed Forces leadership, removing all leaders who had held NATO appointments.

  Türkiye, as a result, has stopped attempting to balance its NATO membership off against its commitments to Russia. It has, de facto, now thrown in its lot with Eurasia.

  The new appointments come amidst a crisis in the Turkish Armed Forces which have seen, in recent years, a marked decline in the professionalism of key officers. President Erdoğan has favored political loyalty to him over operational experience, often replacing professional military leaders with Gendarmerie (Jendarma) generals.

  The Turkish Supreme Military Council (Yüksek Askerî Şûra: YAŞ) met on Aug. 3, at the Presidential Palace under the chairmanship of President Erdoğan, with the main focus on the annual reviews of the senior officers of the Turkish Armed Forces (Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri: TSK). Before the meeting, and in accordance with protocol, the president accompanied members of the YAŞ to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, where he laid a wreath and signed the Official Book, in which, after praising the rôle of the Armed Forces, referred to the new strategic goal of the country as the “Century of Turkey,” promising “an increase in the strength of the army.”

  The “Century of Turkey” plan, which includes the “Blue Homeland” doctrine, specifically targets the interests of Greece. Senior officers were promoted who were known for their anti-Western profile and who were involved in the contrived 2017 “Ergenekon” and 2013 “Varioupoula” purge scandals.

  A new Chief of General Staff was appointed, along with a new Chief of Land Forces (GH) and a new Chief of Air Force (THK), while the Chief of Naval Forces (TDK) remained in his position. The new Chief of the General Staff was the former 2nd Army Commander, Gen. Metin Gürak, who replaced Gen. Yasar Güler, who was appointed Defense Minister in the new Government in June 2023.

  Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu was named as commander of land forces. Chief of Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Missile Defence Gen. Ziya Cemal Kadoığlu was named commander of the Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri: THK). Adm. E. Tatlioğlu, the chief of the South-Western Command, remained in his position.

  During the meeting, 32 senior officers were promoted and 63 officers of the rank of colonel or equivalent became senior officers. It was decided to increase the number of senior officers by 20 to reach 286, to fill administrative positions, as many new Brigade and especially commando-level formations had been created.

  Gen. Gürak became the first Chief of General Staff to be appointed without prior service as a chief of a service branch. This requirement had been dropped by President Erdoğan to give him more flexibility in appointing loyalists to the top posts. None of the newly appointed chiefs have served in NATO or other Western countries’ posts or schools, despite the fact that, in the TSK, officers with NATO experience had been highly regarded.

  The Chief of General Staff, Gen. Gürak, does have operational experience. From his service with the 2nd Armored Brigade of the 1st Army (Istanbul) and as Commander of the Army Air Force and the 4th Army Corps (Ankara), he is familiar with the operational plans concerning the Ægean and Thrace. He served as an adviser in Libya when Turkey established military bases and supported Islamist forces against Cairo-backed Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

  Gen. Gürak speaks Arabic, considered important at a time when Erdoğan is investing in relations with the rich Arab countries of the Gulf. He took a controversial stance on the night of the July 15, 2016, “coup attempt” as commander of the 4th Army Corps and Ankara Fortress, and was appreciated by Erdoğan for the assistance of the 2nd Army units in the earthquakes of February 2023, since the affected regions were in his area of responsibility.

  The new Air Force Chief has neither NATO nor any particular operational experience. He is, however, considered an extreme nationalist. He was also involved on the night of the “coup attempt,” at the Air Operations Center (in Eskişehir).

  President Erdoğan also conducted another purge of the Police-Security Directorate in early August 2023, again favoring political loyalists over professional and operationally-experienced officers: 52 out of a total of 81 prefectural directors, who were considered loyal to former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, were removed.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 08/14/2023 – 02:00

• The Evidence That Convicts The CIA Of The JFK Assassination
  The Evidence That Convicts The CIA Of The JFK Assassination

  Authored by Jacob G. Hornberger via fff.org,

  

  Longtime readers of my work on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy know that I point to the evidence establishing the fraudulent autopsy that was conducted on JFK’s body to convict the U.S. military establishment of criminal complicity in the assassination itself. That’s because there is no innocent explanation for a fraudulent autopsy. Once one concludes that the autopsy that the military conducted on JFK’s body was fraudulent, one has automatically concluded that the military establishment was criminally complicit in the assassination itself. There is no way around that.

  The evidence of autopsy fraud is set forth in my books The Kennedy Autopsy, The Kennedy Autopsy 2, and An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story. It is detailed to a much greater extent in Douglas Horne’s watershed five-volume book on the Kennedy assassination Inside the Assassination Records Review Board. 

  But what about the CIA? Is there evidence that convicts the CIA beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal complicity in the JFK assassination? Yes, there is. That evidence consists of the altered, fraudulent copy of the famous Zapruder film that the CIA secretly produced at its top-secret Hawkeyeworks photographic operation in Rochester, New York, on the weekend of the assassination.

  Just as there is no innocent explanation for a fraudulent autopsy, there is also no innocent explanation for an altered, fraudulent copy of the film of the assassination. Once one concludes that the famous Zapruder film is an altered, fraudulent copy of the original Zapruder film, one has automatically concluded that the CIA was criminally complicit in the assassination of President Kennedy. There is no way around that. 

  Yes, I am thoroughly familiar with the CIA’s standard response: “Conspiracy theory, Jacob! Conspiracy theory!” 

  Some readers may not know that I began my professional career as a civil and criminal trial attorney in Texas. I was trained to think like a lawyer. During the twelve years of my law career, I tried both jury and non-jury cases, in both state and federal courts. Given such, I naturally think in terms of evidence, not theories. No prosecutor or criminal-defense trial lawyer goes into court and tells a jury that he has a theory of the case. He tells the jury how the evidence will establish or fail to establish the defendant’s guilt. 

  I detail the evidence of what the CIA did to produce a fraudulent, altered copy of the original Zapruder film in my book An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story.

  Essentially, what the CIA did was secretly transport the original Zapruder film on November 23, 1963 (the day after the assassination) to the CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) in Washington, D.C. 

  The next day, November 24, it then transported the original film to its top-secret photographic operation called Hawkeyeworks, which was secretly located within Kodak’s research and development section of its corporate headquarters in Rochester, where it was copied and altered. 

  The altered, fraudulent copy of the Zapruder film was then shipped back to NPIC in Washington, where it was presented as the original film. (Note: While Kodak had secretly partnered with the CIA to establish Hawkeyeworks within its Rochester facility, there is no evidence that Kodak was part of the CIA’s criminal activity with respect to the Zapruder film.)

  Among the things that the CIA did with its altered copy was to delete frames that tended to establish the criminal culpability of the national-security establishment, including elements of the Secret Service, in the assassination. 

  For example, consider the route of the presidential limousine as it approached Dealey Plaza. The presidential motorcade comes down Main Street in downtown Dallas, proceeding in a westerly direction. It then turns right onto Houston Street. It then makes an extremely wide turn onto Elm Street — so wide, in fact, that it violated Secret Service protocols on making turns. Some witnesses said that the limousine had so much difficulty making the turn that it actually went onto the sidewalk or almost onto the sidewalk to navigate the turn. 

  Obviously, such a turn would slow JFK’s limousine to a crawl, which would make it easier for an assassin to shoot the president. Thus, that wide turn onto Elm Street is naturally something that the CIA would want to eliminate in its altered, fraudulent copy of the Zapruder film.

  The extant film (that is, the film that purports to be an original) shows something highly unusual. It show motorcycle cops making the turn onto Elm Street but then suddenly jumps to show JFK’s limousine already coming down Elm Street. In other words, it doesn’t show the presidential limousine making that extremely wide turn onto Elm Street. 

  In her book Twenty-Six Seconds: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film, Abraham Zapruder’s granddaughter Alexandria Zapruder wrote that Zapruder didn’t film the president’s turn onto Elm Street because, she said, Zapruder wanted to be sure that he didn’t run out of film before the president was approaching where Zapruder was standing. 

  But how logical is that? Zapruder was about as professional a home movie-maker as an amateur could be. He had been taking home movies for many years. He knew exactly what he was doing. 

  If he had decided to wait until the presidential limousine was near him on Elm Street, then why would he have filmed the motorcycle cops making the turn onto Elm Street? If he was concerned about running out of film, why waste film on the motorcycle cops?

  Moreover, Dealey Plaza was the end of the motorcade. Zapruder’s partner Irwin Schwartz had told him that the motorcade would likely be exiting Dealey Plaza at a high rate of speed. Given such, how likely is it that Zapruder would have waited until the president was already on Elm Street to begin filming, rather than begin filming the motorcade as it made the turn onto Elm Street and then continue filming as the limousine approached him until he ran out of film? After all, Zapruder would have had little interest in filming the back of the president after he had already passed him by.

   But that’s all logic and common sense. I can already hear the “Conspiracy theory, Jacob!” crowd crying, “Where is the evidence, Jacob, to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the CIA produced an altered, fraudulent copy of the original Zapruder film?”

  Fair enough. I detail that evidence in my book An Encounter with Evil. But let’s examine just a small part of that evidence in this article. 

  1. Consider, first, this short film of television news reporter Dan Rather. Rather saw Zapruder’s copy of the original Zapruder film on Monday morning, November 25, in Zapruder’s office. He immediately left Zapruder’s office and rushed out to make this filmed report about what he had just seen a few minutes before. In this film, Rather states: “The film shows President Kennedy’s open black limousine making a left turn off Houston Street onto Elm Street on the fringe of downtown Dallas.” 

  2. Consider, second, this film of LIFE magazine reporter Richard Stolley, who viewed the original film multiple times on the weekend of the assassination. In fact, it was Stolley who negotiated the sale of the Zapruder film to LIFE magazine. Go to 6:40 of the film, where Stolley describes what the original Zapruder film showed: “And you see the motorcade snaking around Dealey Plaza….”

  The extant Zapruder film shows the presidential limousine coming down Elm Street in a straight line — that is, there is no “snaking around.” Stolley’s statement establishes that the original film included the wide turn onto Elm Street because that is the only way that the presidential limousine could be described as “snaking around.”

  3. Consider, third, this filmed interview of Marilyn Sitzman, Zapruder’s trusted assistant, who was with him when he filmed the assassination. 

  Go to 3:40. 

  The interviewer states: “When … there is part of something that’s been uncovered that he tried out a little bit of the film ahead of time to be sure the camera was working all right and caught some of the motorcycle policemen. Do you remember — do you recall that — kind of testing the first few feet of film?”

  Sitzman responds: “No. I know he took a picture of me as I walked up. Then we stood up there. He may have taken the shots to see what his view was. I only remember that when they started to make their first turn, turning into the street, and he says ‘Okay, here we go’ or something to that effect. That’s when I remember we started actually doing the filming.”

  4. Consider, fourth, this other filmed interview with Sitzman. Go to 27:25. Sitzman states: “And he started filming about, oh, just before they came around the corner….”

  5. Consider, fifth, another interview that Sitzman gave to an interviewer named Wes Wise, where she stated, “I only remember when they started to make their first turn … turning into the street, he said, ‘OK, here we go.…’ or something to that effect. That’s when I remember he started actually doing the filming.”

  6. Consider, sixth, this filmed interview of Abraham Zapruder himself shortly after the assassination. Go to 00:30, where Zapruder states, “As I was shooting, as the President was coming down from Houston Street making his turn, it was about a half-way down there, I heard a shot….”

  7. Consider, seventh, an interview that Zapruder gave to an interviewer named Marvin Scott, where Zapruder stated, “And then I watched for the arrival of the, uh, cars, I saw the motorcycles, and then the car approached. As they turned I started shooting the pictures, that turned from Houston Street to Elm Street, and I was shooting as they were coming along….”

  8. Consider, eighth, the sworn testimony that Zapruder gave at the Clay Shaw trial in 1969, where he stated under oath, “I started shooting — when the motorcade started coming in, I believe I started and wanted to get it coming in from Houston Street.”

  What does the CIA say about all this evidence that unquestionably proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the CIA secretly produced an altered, fraudulent copy of the Zapruder film on the weekend of the assassination at its top-secret Hawkeye facility at Kodak’s headquarters in Rochester, New York? 

  We all know what the CIA’s response is. It’s their standard response. “Conspiracy theory, Jacob! Conspiracy theory!”

  I rest my case. The CIA’s production of an altered, fraudulent copy of the famous Zapruder film establishes beyond a reasonable doubt the CIA’s criminal culpability in the assassination of President Kennedy.

  You can purchase my book, which is receiving overwhelming positive reviews at Amazon, here: An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story by Jacob Hornberger.

  NOTE: Special thanks for FFF reader E.C. for inspiring me to write this article.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 23:45

• The Rise (And Fall) Of Hip-Hop's Fortunes
  The Rise (And Fall) Of Hip-Hop’s Fortunes

  Authored by Katharina Buchholz via statista.com,

  

  50 years ago today, on Aug. 11, 1973, a teenage DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy threw a party in the rec room of a Bronx apartment building during which Herc debuted his spinning and sampling technique – an event that is today considered the birth of hip-hop.

  From humble and DIY roots, hip-hop has turned into big business in the decades since and has minted three billionaire rappers. Out of these, two – Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs – have current net worths of $1 billion or more – based on information on the Substack blog of former Forbes writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg, who has chronicled the fortunes of hip-hop‘s wealthiest since 2011. While Jay-Z branched out into other markets with his clothing line Rocawear as early as 1999 and today has a wide-ranging business portfolio, Sean “Diddy” Combs draws his wealth and considerable cash flow from spirit deals and media company Revolt.

  Getting rich has been almost as central to hip-hop’s message as keeping it real. Yet, some of hip-hop’s biggest names have seen their fortunes dwindle. Dr. Dre, born Andre Young, might have been the first self-proclaimed hip-hop billionaire, but according to O’Malley Greenburg, his fortune – boosted in 2014 by the sale of headphones brand Beats to Apple – peaked at $800 million in 2019, when the last list of hip-hop’s richest was published on Forbes. Since then, Young’s spending has surpassed his income according to the report and divorce proceedings showed a net worth of only $400 million in 2022 (with another $50 million payment still due at the time).

  A bigger rise and fall was that of Kanye West, who first appeared among hip-hop’s richest at a net worth of just $240 million estimated by Forbes in 2019 – the same year the list declared Jay-Z hip-hop’s first actual billionaire. This might have enticed West to finally open his books to Forbes reporters, which subsequently estimated his net worth at $1.3 billion in 2020. Yet, O’Malley Greenburg reports in 2022 that, due to the “premature end” of West’s deal with Adidas in the throws of an antisemitism scandal, his net worth had decreased to $500 million.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 23:15

• Global Elites' Secret Plot Against Food
  Global Elites’ Secret Plot Against Food

  Authored by Milan Adams via preppgroup.home.blog,

  

  We live in perplexing times. It’s almost inconceivable to think that there’s a war being waged against food, an absolute and undeniable necessity of life. Yet, here we stand, on the precipice of what looks like a catastrophic agenda against global sustenance.

  So, what’s this newfound hostility against the thing that keeps us alive?

  Take a deep breath. Farming uses nitrogen, and suddenly, nitrogen is the new antagonist in the tale of global warming. The narrative is simple: eliminate nitrogen, save the world. Yet, in the name of “preservation,” entire segments of our food production are under siege.

  Consider rice – a staple for half the world’s population. Renowned agencies claim, “Rice accounts for roughly 10% of global methane emissions,” emphasizing the urgent need to curtail its production. But the ramifications? Starvation for billions.

  Look to the Netherlands for further evidence. Dutch farmers, the backbone of a nation that is a leading exporter of meat and agricultural products, are being chased off their lands. A staggering number, 3,000 farms, are forecasted to be confiscated in the coming years. The tragic fallout is evident, with a reported 20 to 30 farmers tragically ending their lives annually.

  Our friends in Europe are no strangers to these baffling decisions either. The European Commission greenlit a strategy to compensate livestock farmers for halting their operations in certain areas – with a stipulation that they never resume their animal breeding activities. The implications are clear: a drop in global food availability and an inevitable spike in prices.

  Remember Sri Lanka’s ill-fated venture into 100% organic farming? The island nation faced a humanitarian nightmare with a staggering 90% of its population on the brink of starvation.

  And the Western leaders’ stance on agriculture? Eric Utter encapsulates it perfectly in American Thinker, “The attack on farming by Western leaders is shockingly negligent. It’s criminal.” Especially when such views ignore the glaring fact that while agriculture may account for 33% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, it simultaneously sustains every single human being on this planet.

  Organizations like the World Economic Forum tout visions of a “farm-free future,” dreaming of a world where food is crafted in sterile labs and humans are herded into congested urban centers. Toss digital currency into this dystopian mix, and you have the ultimate formula for absolute dominance.

  In our modern era, the recipe is simple: concoct a crisis, even if none existed.

  • Incite racial tension among children.
  • Reverse the progress women achieved over decades.
  • Worsen shortages and tamper with the money supply.
  • Tackle borders haphazardly.
  • Condemn specific foods, close farms, or incite wars to create famine.
  • Muzzle voices of dissent by labeling truth as “misinformation.”

  A tactic reminiscent of Cloward and Piven: create a crisis, then implement severe measures to address that very crisis.

  Our global food supply is now in peril, thanks to overblown reactions to this so-called “nitrogen issue“. But why this apathy? Sri Lanka, for instance, is an alarming testament to this flawed approach.

  The truth remains that nitrogen is pivotal for plant metabolism. Without commercial nitrogen fertilizers, hunger was a dire reality in many corners of the world. If we shun these fertilizers, we voluntarily invite famine back into our lives. The idea of bug diets, ‘rewilding,‘ and organic farming might sound avant-garde, but they certainly won’t satisfy the global hunger.

  It’s glaringly evident that this isn’t just about combating climate change. At its core, it’s an insidious bid for control.

  In the profound words of Ayn Rand, “We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.“

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 22:45

• China's Crashing Loans Show Risk of Beijing Acting Too Late
  China’s Crashing Loans Show Risk of Beijing Acting Too Late

  By Charlie Zhu and Helen Sun, Bloomberg markets live reporters and strategists

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. China’s economy weakened further in July but Beijing was slow to arrest the decline. The nation’s banks extended the smallest amount of monthly loans since 2009, and aggregate financing was less than half the level forecast by economists.

  

  Worse, loans to the real economy plummeted to RMB 36.4BN, the lowest since 2006. As Goldman notes, “last week’s print underscores the weak demand in the economy and the need for the government to implement more easing measures.”

  

  In addition, both consumer and producer prices fell in July from a year ago, the first time since 2020 that both sets of prices registered a decline. This is taking place as companies are slashing prices to jumpstart consumption, underscoring the deflationary pressure that’s building in China.

  

  The trade outlook is looking similarly dire. Overseas shipments dropped in July by the most in more than three years, and imports contracted for a fifth consecutive month. While it’s not surprising to see the former shrinking due to slowing global growth, sustained weakness in the latter is worrying as it suggests that domestic demand is also faltering.

  

  “The credit demand is very subdued,” said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. “The key remains to send clear policy signals regarding the private sector, foreign companies and the real estate industry, so that people become willing to borrow money and invest, including in housing.”

  Meanwhile, Country Garden Holdings Co.’s troubles reflect the impact of a delay in rolling out forceful housing market policies: once the country’s top builder, the developer has become a penny stock as it was said to be considering a move to extend some of its notes that will fall due soon. This is adding to the overall gloom surrounding Chinese assets.

  Country Garden’s liquidity situation may deteriorate as sentiment weakens, and Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kristy Hung warns that a default would impact the housing market more than China Evergrande Group’s collapse as the former has four times as many projects as the latter.

  It’s a vicious cycle. As builders struggle to deliver homes, buyers will refrain from purchasing, which will crimp sales further. The crisis of confidence shows no signs of abating with home sales down the most in a year in July. The securities regulator held a meeting with developers on Friday, after the central bank organized a similar session. Is help on the way?

  * * *

  2. Elsewhere, an anti-corruption campaign aimed at the pharmaceutical industry is invoking memories of previous government crackdowns. Local media reported that as of July 26, the number of hospital executives being probed for allegedly violating laws and regulations was double the tally registered in the whole of last year. The CSI 300 Health Care Index dropped to the lowest since September, reflecting growing jitters about the crackdown.

  
   
  In another discouraging sign, a central bank adviser’s call to treat the private sector and state-owned firms equally was deleted from a top think tank’s social media account, a sign of how sensitive the issue is even as the ruling Communist Party vows to support private enterprise.

  * * *

  3. Given that things are looking so glum, authorities are taking incremental steps to bolster economic growth and contain the risks. The finance ministry was said to be looking to allow provincial-level governments to raise about 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) via bond sales to repay the debt of local-government financing vehicles and other off-balance sheet issuers.

  In another bit of good news, the nation has also lifted a ban on group tours to a slew of countries including the US, UK, Australia, South Korea and Japan, setting the stage for a rebound in domestic and global tourism.

  “Without sugar-coating economic developments in China, digging beneath the surface, things are probably slightly less bad than they appear at first glance,” Paul Danis, head of asset allocation at RBC Brewin Dolphin, wrote in a note Thursday before the credit data was released. It seems unlikely that China will fall into a balance-sheet recession like Japan, but the main risk is that Chinese authorities may make a number of bad policy choices, he wrote.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 22:15

• Rufo: Bring On The Counter-Revolution
  Rufo: Bring On The Counter-Revolution

  Authored by Christopher F. Rufo via City Journal,

  

  America is trapped in the loop of 1968. The politics of that fateful year have set the patterns and bounds of our national life for decades.

  It’s as though we have lived an endless recurrence: the Black Panther Party reappears as the Black Lives Matter movement; the Weather Underground pamphlets launder themselves into academic papers; the Marxist-Leninist guerrillas trade in their bandoliers and become managers of an elite-led revolution in manners and mores. The ideology, narrative, and aesthetics of the left-wing social movements of that earlier time, though now often degraded through cynicism and repetition, have maintained the position of a jealous hegemon.

  The cultural revolution that began a half-century ago, now reflected in a deadening sequence of acronyms—CRT, DEI, ESG, and more—has increasingly become our new official morality. Many conservatives have made an uneasy peace with this transformation of values, even as the culture around them has, in many places, collapsed.

  This attitude no longer suffices. It is time to break the loop of 1968. We need a counterrevolution.

  This is the word that haunts the revolutionary mind. The French Revolution fell to the forces of Thermidor; the Revolution of 1848 fell to the empire of the bourgeoisie; the Bolshevik Revolution fell to the democratic-capitalists, the imperialist-backed juntas, and the forces of global capitalism. Marx himself viewed counterrevolution as an overwhelming threat. “Every important part of the revolutionary annals from 1848 to 1849 bears the heading: Defeat of the revolution!” he lamented.

  The urgent task for the political Right today is to comprehend the dynamics of revolution and counterrevolution and to create a strategy for dislodging the New Left ideology of 1968, which has solidified control over the most fundamental structures of American society. The challenge must be met not solely in the realm of policy debate but on the deepest political and philosophical grounds.

  Today’s counterrevolution is not one of class against class but takes place along a new axis between the citizen and an ideologically driven state. Its ultimate ambition is not to replace the new “universal class”—the heirs of the 1960s cultural revolution, who have worked to professionalize it and install it in elite institutions—or to capture the bureaucratic apparatus that the universal class currently controls; instead, it seeks to restore the nation’s founding principle of citizen rule over the state.

  

  The current moment can be symbolized as a conflict between the Revolution of 1968 and the Revolution of 1776. And despite the seemingly overwhelming power of their opponents, the partisans of 1776 have some significant advantages. The 1968ers promise liberation through the destruction of old forms of order; they appeal to the romantic spirit of the revolutionary. But their campaigns inevitably collapse into nihilism. They tear away the supposed masks, denounce the great ideals, humiliate the old heroes—and leave nothing but an immense void in their place.

  The counterrevolution must take its bearings from the common citizen and offer to restore his dignity and mastery over his own life. It must reverse the process of institutional capture, break up centralized ideological powers, and return influence to local communities. The strategy has been described as “right-wing Leninism,” but this misunderstands a key point: while the revolution seeks to demolish America’s founding principles, the counterrevolution seeks to restore them; while the revolution proceeds by a long march through the institutions, the counterrevolution works to remove power from institutions that have lost or betrayed the public trust.

  The architects of the counterrevolution—intellectuals, activists, and political leaders—must develop a new political vocabulary that can break through the Left’s identitarian and bureaucratic narratives, tap into the reservoir of popular sentiment that will provide the basis for mass support, and design policies to sever the connection between the radical ideologies and administrative power.

  Given current circumstances, with the Left’s seemingly wholesale capture of major institutions—public education, the universities, private-sector leadership, culture, and, increasingly, even the sciences—the current battlefield can appear overwhelming. But today’s Left has an Achilles heel: its power is, to a significant degree, a creature of the state, subsidized by patronage, loan schemes, bureaucratic employment, and civil rights regulations. These structures often appear permanent, but they can be reformed, redirected, or abolished through the democratic process.

  With a presidential election looming, conservatives need to develop a national counterrevolutionary agenda. For some ideas for what that might look like, they can turn to a surprising guide: Richard Nixon.

  The movement against the Revolution of 1968 had already begun to take form in the closing stretch of that year. As the radical left-wing factions asserted themselves in the universities and in the streets, voters cast their presidential ballots for former vice president Richard Milhous Nixon, who promised to restore “law and order” on behalf of the “silent majority.” Nixon is held in contempt these days, even by many conservatives, but parts of his legacy deserve reappraisal. He acutely understood the threat of ideological revolution and anticipated the dynamics of bureaucratic capture.

  In his presidential nomination speech of 1968, as the forces of the New Left’s cultural revolution were rapidly ascending, Nixon set the stakes for the American public and established themes that still dominate American politics today. “My friends, we live in an age of revolution in America and in the world,” Nixon said. “We see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. We hear sirens in the night. We see Americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see Americans hating each other; fighting each other; killing each other at home.”

  Through the chaos and tumult of the cultural revolution, Nixon called to the “great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators.” He defended this silent majority against attacks that have since become ubiquitous. “They’re not racists or sick; they’re not guilty of the crime that plagues the land; they are black, they are white; they’re native-born and foreign-born,” he told the convention audience in Miami Beach. “And this I say, this I say to you tonight, is the real voice of America.”

  Nixon appealed to the Revolution of 1776 as the antidote to the Revolution of 1968. “To find the answers to our problems, let us turn to a revolution—a revolution that will never grow old, the world’s greatest continuing revolution, the American Revolution,” he said. “The American Revolution was and is dedicated to progress. But our founders recognized that the first requisite of progress is order. Now there is no quarrel between progress and order because neither can exist without the other. . . . And to those who say that law and order is the code word for racism, here is a reply: Our goal is justice—justice for every American.”

  An early priority in Nixon’s counterrevolution was to tame the national bureaucracy. Between 1969 and 1971, Nixon unveiled a series of proposals under the concept of the “New Federalism,” designed to consolidate federal agencies under tighter presidential authority, convert entire federal programs into direct block grants to states and municipalities, eliminate specific expenditures through the budget impoundment process, and replace the Great Society’s antipoverty initiatives, which sought to reengineer human behavior, with a simple guaranteed income program for the poor.

  Nixon believed that the federal government should provide a financial backstop for the American people, but he wanted to curb the power of the government’s experts, managers, and bureaucrats, who, he recognized, wanted to remake organic social institutions in the service of left-wing ideology. Nixon once asked his domestic policy advisor Daniel Patrick Moynihan if his proposed basic-income program would “get rid of social workers.” Moynihan responded: “It would wipe them out.”

  The second element of Nixon’s counterrevolution—the most successful during his presidency—was the campaign to reestablish “law and order.” The late 1960s were marked by mass rioting, looting, and arson in America’s urban areas. The promise of the civil rights movement, which established full formal equality for black Americans in 1964 and 1965, had turned to disillusion. Members of the New Left’s coalition of white middle-class students and black urban agitators took to the streets in a cataclysm of political violence, promising to wage guerrilla war against the government and to establish a Marxist-Leninist state. Radicals planted thousands of bombs and assassinated police officers in major cities.

  Nixon responded with an appeal to the middle class. “When the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness; when a nation that has been known for a century for equality of opportunity is torn by unprecedented racial violence,” Nixon said, “then it’s time for new leadership for the United States of America.”

  As president, Nixon ruthlessly dismantled the radical organizations, such as the Black Panther Party, Black Liberation Army, Weather Underground, and Communist Party USA, that threatened violent revolution against the state. His FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, launched a sophisticated campaign to infiltrate, disrupt, and disperse their networks, with devastatingly effective results. Of course, some of what Hoover’s FBI did ran the gamut from questionable to flatly illegal, and these practices not only violated the rights of numerous American citizens but also undermined the authority by which the U.S. government rightly engages in containment of lawless individuals or groups. Still, by the end of Nixon’s first term, most of the subversive organizations had imploded, and many of their leaders were on the run, in prison, or in the ground.

  And the New Left’s intellectual leaders believed that Nixon’s drive against radical groups was succeeding. “The Nixon Administration has strengthened the counterrevolutionary organization of society in all directions,” wrote the neo-Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse in 1972. “The Black Panther party has been systematically chased down before it disintegrated in internal conflicts. A vast army of undercover agents is spread over the entire country and through all branches of society.” The revolution, he believed, was finished.

  The third element of Nixon’s counterrevolution was the formation of a counter-elite. Nixon felt besieged by the post–New Deal liberal establishment and the New Left counterculture that had captured the sympathies of the press. The bureaucracy, he believed—whether in the Communist Soviet Union or capitalist United States—would inevitably be controlled by a ruling elite that, with the advent of mass communications and administration, could wield unprecedented powers. He feared that the new elites would undermine older middle-class values, and his notorious “enemies list” was a crude proxy for the kind of individuals who would make that happen.

  “The leadership class is made up of highly educated and influential people in the arts, the media, the academic community, the government bureaucracies, and even business,” Nixon maintained. “They are characterized by intellectual arrogance, an obsession with style, fashion, and class, and a permissive attitude,” he wrote, a profile that has not changed much in the half-century since. Nixon was blunt: “The press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy,” he told advisor Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office.

  In their place, Nixon hoped, his administration could help “create a new establishment” to counterbalance the elite universities and the media, which, Nixon estimated, was “90–10” against him. In meetings with his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, Nixon shared his desire to freeze out liberal reporters, to adopt a harder line against his foes, and to “go out into the heartland” to recruit a conservative counter-elite uncorrupted by the Ivy Leagues. He believed that a resounding reelection victory could establish the conditions for a deeper shift in the nation’s power structure. “What [liberal presidential candidate George] McGovern stands for, the eastern liberal media stands for, the eastern intellectuals stand for . . . must be crushed,” he told aides in October 1972. “It cannot come back and have an opportunity to have much influence in American life for a while.”

  By the end of his first term, frustrated by the permanent administration in Washington, Nixon had conceived of his most important task as leading a counterrevolution against the state bureaucracy—or, as he put it in his 1971 State of the Union Address, a “New American Revolution,” in which the federal government would be put back into check and power returned to the common citizen. As Nixon aide Richard Nathan explained in his book The Plot That Failed: Nixon and the Administrative Presidency, the president increasingly saw himself as a champion of the “general interest,” caught at the center of a system arrayed against it.

  In November 1972, Nixon got his resounding reelection, winning with the largest popular vote margin of any candidate in the postwar era, defeating McGovern in 49 out of 50 states, including McGovern’s home state of South Dakota. The press immediately noted the significance of Nixon’s ambitions. The New York Times published a postelection editorial titled “Nixon Counterrevolution,” warning that the reelected president wanted to “advance an ideological grand design” that would reverse the progression of the New Deal and the Great Society, abolishing federal programs that imposed elite-approved views on local communities and administered society from above. “Mr. Nixon seeks to accomplish a retrogressive counterrevolution in the guise of an administrative reorganization,” the editorial cautioned.

  As his second term began, Nixon proceeded to abolish entire federal offices and programs that promoted left-wing social theories; suspend federal housing programs, pending review; and restrict the methods and ideological scope of federally funded social-services initiatives. He also proposed a truly ambitious system of “revenue sharing,” which would send billions in federal funding directly to states and municipalities, which, he believed, could administer social programs in greater alignment with local communities. The only way to avoid the slide into bureaucratic tyranny, Nixon believed, was to centralize control over the executive branch in the White House and to decentralize financing and administration of social programs, ensuring that they operated with minimal bureaucracy and as close to the people as possible.

  To be sure, not all of Nixon’s domestic policy proposals were wise or successful. He enacted wage and price controls, expanded the reach of government through the creation of the EPA and other departments, and strengthened President Lyndon Johnson’s affirmative-action policy. His guaranteed income and block-grant proposals, if adopted, might have yielded unintended consequences, disincentivizing work and enabling ideological capture at the local level, respectively. But Nixon, whatever his flaws, thought seriously about how to reshape America’s institutions and had a vision for policy that was commensurate with the problem.

  In the end, Nixon was subverted by the very forces he feared most. His enemies in the bureaucracy and the press were able to use the Watergate scandal to oust him and stop his plans for realignment. The tragedy of Nixon is that he accomplished his dream of winning a “new majority” but was unable to transform it into a “new establishment.” His closest aides described the experience as working in “the White House surrounded”—in a position of constitutional power, vitiated by the rise of the permanent bureaucracy.

  With Nixon’s counterrevolution long since halted, the process of institutional capture has only intensified. Today, the federal government spends billions of dollars yearly supporting left-wing ideology and administration. The institutional Left, both within and without government, has built a vast network of departments, programs, contracts, grants, nonprofits, and service providers that circulate money throughout the system. Further, the federal government has financed and guaranteed more than $1.6 trillion in student loans, which help subsidize left-wing academic departments and “diversity and inclusion” bureaucracies at universities across the United States. Indeed, the entire federal bureaucracy, with more than 2 million civilian employees, is now under orders to advance “diversity, equity, and inclusion”—that is, to conform all its programs to racial ideology—across every department of government. It is not just social workers, then, but doctors, scientists, law-enforcement agents, and military commanders who have been recruited, willing or not, into the Left’s ongoing cultural capture.

  Herbert Marcuse was premature in declaring the death of the revolution. Left-wing activists have today resurrected the militancy and tactics of the 1960s radical movements, organizing demonstrations and using the threat of violence to achieve political aims. During the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement led protests in 140 cities. Many of these demonstrations became violent—the largest eruption of left-wing race rioting since the late 1960s. Members of BLM, Antifa, and other so-called antifascist groups rampaged through neighborhoods, established street dominance in certain areas, and even launched a short-lived “autonomous zone” in Seattle. Protesters in Portland, Oregon, laid siege to a federal courthouse and rioted for more than 100 consecutive nights.

  The intellectual descendants of the so-called New Left have warped the national narrative in dramatic ways. Today’s master-signifiers, their grounding first developed during the earlier period—“systemic racism,” “white supremacy,” “white privilege,” “antiracism”—have pushed the Right into a posture of seemingly permanent defense. The Black Lives Matter movement has recast the country’s “greatest heroes as the arch-villains,” as one old-time activist put it. And the managers of America’s institutions have ensured that schools, universities, nonprofits, and corporations repeat these themes ad nauseam, transmitting them to the next generation.

  Conservatives today rarely appeal to Richard Nixon for inspiration, allowing the Watergate narrative and Nixon’s own ideological and policy inconsistencies to obscure the potential of his vision for resisting the Left’s cultural revolution. This is a mistake—but what would Nixon’s blueprint for counterrevolution look like today?

  The starting point is correctly to perceive the current state of play in America. The bitter irony of the Revolution of 1968 is that it has attained power but hasn’t opened up new possibilities. Instead, it has locked major institutions of society within a suffocating orthodoxy. Though it has amassed significant administrative advantages, it has failed to deliver positive results to the broad public. It has thus not gained the trust of the common citizen. Its hold remains tenuous; it can be overcome.

  The Oval Office can help drive the counterrevolution. Following the Nixon centralization-decentralization model, the next conservative president should establish ideological authority over the federal bureaucracy in the White House and, in partnership with Congress, decentralize as much of the federal government as possible, with an eye toward gutting the power of the social engineers. For decades, conservatives in Congress have effectively written a blank check to captured institutions, experienced dismay at the subsequent behavior of those institutions, and then continued to fund them. These are all policy choices—and they can be changed.

  On the first day in office, the new president could prepare executive orders targeting the concepts and formulations that have traveled from the fringes of the 1960s Left to the center of American power. At the head of this list would be a ban on the government promotion of left-wing racialist ideology, or critical race theory, and to abolish the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” bureaucracy that serves as its administrative vehicle. The order would replace all this with a system of strict color-blind equality, prioritizing the values of equal treatment, individual excellence, and race-neutral decision-making. As part of this policy, the president could also rescind Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, which established the legal basis for “affirmative action”—a euphemism for state-sanctioned racial discrimination in the interest of favored identity groups—and forbid the use of identity-based quotas, preferences, and “disparate impact” analysis as an acceptable basis for any federal decision-making, to the fullest extent of the law.

  To start reshaping the culture inside federal agencies, the president should order an executive supplement to the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil service employees from engaging in partisan political activity, that would bar all social and political activism unrelated to such workers’ official duties. The policy would restrict federal employees from promoting the messages or displaying the symbols of political causes, such as Black Lives Matter or radical gender activism, while using federal resources and facilities. In principle, the restriction would apply equally to the Left and Right; in practice, it would almost exclusively restrict left-wing activism, given the left-dominated composition of the federal workforce and culture of the federal bureaucracy.

  Following this, as Nixon demonstrated using the budget impoundment process, the next president should aggressively “defund the Left” and assert, unequivocally, that all federal programs, contracts, grants, and projects must reflect the values of the voters who elected him or her, unless specifically required by statute to do otherwise. Existing grants and contracts that violate these principles should be canceled, litigated, and strangled with red tape. Over time, this impoundment effort could deprive the Left’s public and private networks of hundreds of billions of dollars, which are laundered through universities, schools, nonprofits, and other entities. With a willing majority in Congress, this order could be codified into law, blocking federal funding of partisan left-wing ideological programs, much as the Hyde Amendment bans federal funding for abortion.

  Next, reprising Nixon’s great theme of “law and order,” the next president should create a federal task force for disrupting violent left-wing activist groups. As Nixon did with the Black Panther Party and the Weather Underground, the next president should, using entirely legal means, pursue action against violent or lawless left-wing groups such as Antifa. The threat of political violence cannot be allowed to shape life in America’s cities, nor can it be used to put pressure on the electoral process—both of which occurred in 2020. With a relatively modest budgetary commitment, federal law enforcement could infiltrate groups, disrupt their financial networks, and prosecute their criminal behavior.

  

  The new president could also work toward the objective that Nixon envisioned but never accomplished: the restructuring of American institutions more broadly. This can be attained through both content and form.

  The federal government could use the tools of the 1968 revolution—above all, civil rights law—to advance the counterrevolution. The next administration can instruct the attorney general to set up a new civil rights enforcement office within the Department of Justice and then recruit hundreds of conservative lawyers to staff it. This new office, adhering to a conservative interpretation of civil rights law, would investigate corporations, universities, schools, and other institutions that engage in racial preferences, hostile diversity and inclusion programming, and critical race theory–style scapegoating and discrimination. These practices would all be deemed violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and prosecuted with the full force of the Justice Department.

  The president can instruct the Secretary of Education to employ a similar method to strike at the origin point of the revolution: the universities. On the first day of the new administration, the Department of Education should announce a new unit within its civil rights division, tasked with investigating universities—beginning with the Ivy Leagues—for racial discrimination in admissions, identity-based preferences in hiring, and activist-style DEI programs. As a complement to these enforcement provisions, the DOE should also require all federally supported universities to submit race, sex, grade-point average, and standardized test data for each incoming class and tie federal student loan programs—accepted at virtually every university in the country—to specific metrics on academic merit, open debate, and civil discourse. Universities that tolerate mobs and enforce left-wing orthodoxy will be punished; universities that encourage equal treatment and academic excellence will be rewarded. As incentives change, so will the institutions.

  Finally, reviving the spirit of Nixon’s early New Federalism, the president, working with Congress, should decentralize the government’s colossal “health, education, and welfare” bureaucracy, block-granting large portions of federal expenditures to state governments, which are, at least in theory, less vulnerable to ideological capture. In addition, the president should pursue, in Nixon’s phrasing, an “income strategy,” similar in function to Social Security, which prioritizes direct financial assistance, rather than a “service strategy,” which seeks to manipulate values and behavior. Families, not bureaucrats and social workers, should be in charge; bonds of affection, not coercion, should be the primary shaper of human life. The cultural revolution has gained ground by imposing its values through centralized administrative structures; the counterrevolution must fight not only to overturn that system on intellectual grounds but also to provide families with the freedom and resources to build a new, decentralized system that respects their deepest rights of conscience and belief.

  Would this battle be winnable? Nixon himself felt a sense of urgency, writing in his diary shortly after reelection that his second-term agenda was “the only way, and probably the last time, that we can get government under control before it gets so big that it submerges the individual completely and destroys the dynamism which makes the American system what it is.” Of course, for the battle to be winnable requires that it first be waged—and that requires winning elections, a formidable task.

  

  Yet, we have some reason for optimism. For the past half-century, the left-wing revolution has relied on a high-low coalition—the “new proletariat” of the white intelligentsia and the black underclass—but its reach is inherently limited. The counterrevolution has an opportunity to build a broad, multiracial, middle-out coalition that seeks to overthrow the synthetic institutions of the Left and protect the organic institutions of the common citizen. Nixon’s “silent majority” has diversified: Latinos and Asians are beginning to revolt against left-wing ideology, including critical race theory and gender radicalism; parents of all racial backgrounds have flooded local school boards to express opposition to their ideological corruption. With a national leader drawing on the great themes of the counterrevolution, conservatives can reconstitute Nixon’s majority and wield democratic power to bring the cultural revolution to heel.

  The question that troubled Nixon during his presidency was the basic one of politics: Who rules? He saw that the deepest conflict in the United States was not along lines of class, race, or identity but between the bureaucracy and the people. And the Revolution of 1968, which sought to connect ideology to institutional power and to shape human society through elite guidance, was ultimately antidemocratic. Nixon understood that bureaucratic rule meant the end of our constitutional order.

  The telos of the counterrevolution is the restoration of political rule—rule of, by, and for the people. From the summer of 1968 through the summer of George Floyd, the common citizen has found himself continuously shamed, cowed, and degraded. But despite this, he has retained the power of his instincts, which orient him toward justice, and of his own memory, which makes possible the retrieval of the symbols and principles that once animated the republic. Indeed, most Americans still believe in the promise of the Declaration and the Constitution. The statues of America’s Founders might have been toppled, spray-painted, and hidden away; their principles might have been deconstructed, denigrated, and forgotten in the country’s elite institutions. But the vision of the Founders strikes at something eternal. The common citizen understands this intuitively.

  To this end, the counterrevolution’s guiding purpose must be to reanimate the instinct for self-government and to mobilize an organic movement of citizens who will reassert their influence in the institutions that matter: the school, the municipality, the workplace, the statehouse, the Congress. The antidemocratic structures—the DEI departments and the intrusive bureaucracies—must be dismantled. The rule of experts must be replaced by the rule of the people; the threat of violence must be met with the power of justice.

  The United States under counterrevolution will be a pluralist republic: local communities will have the autonomy to pursue their own vision of the good, within the binding principles of the Constitution. The common citizen will have the space for living and passing down his own virtues, sentiments, and beliefs, free from the imposition of values from above. The government will protect the basic dignity and political rights of the citizen, while refraining from the utopian task of remaking society in its image. The principles of the society under counterrevolution are not oriented toward sweeping reversals and absolutes but toward the protection of the humble values and institutions of the common citizen: family, faith, work, community, country. The promise of this regime lies in the particular, rather than the abstract; the humble, rather than the grandiose; the limited, rather than the limitless.

  The great vulnerability of the cultural revolution is that it undermines the morality and stability of the common citizen. And as it corrodes the institutions of family, faith, and community, it causes an emptiness in the human heart that cannot be filled with its one-dimensional ideology. The counterrevolution must begin at that exact point. If the culmination of America’s cultural revolution is nihilism, the counterrevolution must begin with hope. This means rediscovering and revitalizing the principles, language, and sentiments of the Revolution of 1776.

  “The idea that a bureaucratic elite in Washington knows best what is best for people everywhere . . . is a notion completely foreign to the American experience,” Nixon observed. “The time has now come in America to reverse the flow of power and resources from the States and communities to Washington and start power and resources flowing back from Washington to the States and communities and, more important, to the people all across America.”

  It is a project against cynicism. Rather than simply present itself as a force of opposition, the counterrevolution must offer the population a competing set of values, in language that clarifies our choices: excellence over diversity, equality over equity, dignity over inclusion, order over chaos.

  Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of America’s Cultural Revolution.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 21:45

• Bill Gross Is Bearish On Both Bonds And Stocks, Sees Inflation Stabilizing At 3%
  Bill Gross Is Bearish On Both Bonds And Stocks, Sees Inflation Stabilizing At 3%

  Emerging briefly from retirement, former bond king Bill Gross appeared on Bloomberg TV on Friday for an 18 minute interview, in which said stock and bond bulls are wrong, as both markets are overvalued; he also discussed inflation’s impact on investments, suggesting a case for around 3% inflation going forward (as ever more pundits agree with us that the Fed will eventually raise its inflation target from 2% to 3%), adding that the Fed might consider stopping or lowering rates if this level is reached.

  The former PIMCO co-founder said the fair value of the 10-year Treasury yield is about 4.5%, compared with the current level of around 4.16%, and pointed out that 10-year yields historically traded about 135 basis points above the Federal Reserve’s policy rate. Of course, the current market – where the 2s10s curve has been inverted for over a year – is anything but comply with historical precedent; still according to Gross even if the Fed lowers interest rates to about 3%, the current 10-year yield remains too low, given the historical relationship.

  Gross also believes that the skyrocketing government deficit will add supply pressure on the bond market, and push yields higher.

  

  Siding with Bill Ackman, Gross said that “all of the bulls on Treasuries… I’d think their arguments are a little misplaced. We are going back to proper valuation on longer-term notes and bonds.”

  Gross also delved into the significance of higher rates as a sign of a healthy economy and discussed real yields’ implications for economic growth and inflation control; he pointed to a potential slowdown in consumption due to rising real rates and the impact of past fiscal programs. Incidentally, the divergence between real rates and Fwd PE multiples has never been greater.

  

  Turning to stocks, Gross was bearish here too and echoed Mike Wilson’s favorite regurgitated soundbite saying that the equity risk premium (ERP) – the difference between the earnings yields and bond yields – is at two decade lows, indicating that stocks are too expensive.

  

  Gross also said that he has sold out his holdings of regional banks, after the recent rally and pointing to the changing market conditions. Looking ahead, the former bond king believes that the asset with the “best value” is energy pipeline partnerships, for their attractive high yields and tax-deferred returns.

  Full interview below:

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 21:15

• Rising Crime Sinks All Boats
  Rising Crime Sinks All Boats

  Authored by Marc Little via RealClear Politics,

  

  The immediate victims of crime are not the only ones who suffer. Rising crime rates devastate entire communities, reversing progress that in many cases has been decades in the making.

  While the nation’s attention is understandably gripped by the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump, cities all over the country remain mired in an epidemic of crime that has a far greater impact on most people’s daily lives.

  In Chicago, robberies are up 38% over the past two years, burglaries are up 33%, and theft in general has increased 87%. Just recently, a convenience store was looted by a mob in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, resulting in 40 arrests. The perpetrators acted as though they had nothing to fear from law enforcement while reveling in the destruction and mayhem they caused.

  Meanwhile, in New York City, both misdemeanor “petit larceny” (115,658 offenses) and felony “grand larceny” (51,565 offenses) are at 20-year highs, with significant spikes in the past few years.

  This epidemic is being fueled by the proliferation of soft-on-crime policies that seemingly side with criminals over their victims. Notably, the spike in thefts in New York City coincided precisely with the tenure of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who issued a memo on his very first day in office directing prosecutors to avoid prosecuting what he deemed “minor offenses.”

  Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose jurisdiction includes the City of Chicago, has also openly avoided prosecuting “low-level offenses” in the belief that prosecuting these crimes is somehow racist.

  The truth is, though, that this misguided approach has done tremendous damage to black and brown communities, depriving them of both economic opportunity and basic safety. Reducing, or in some cases outright eliminating, consequences for aberrant behavior such as shoplifting, so-called “petty” theft, and other misdemeanors emboldens criminals and lowers the bar for what is considered normal or acceptable behavior.

  Soft-on-crime prosecutors such as Alvin Bragg have even taken to downgrading many felony charges to misdemeanors – and when these prosecutors do actually take felony charges to court, abysmal conviction rates indicate that their hearts really aren’t in it.

  The result has been an explosion in crimes such as shoplifting, which is increasingly being perpetrated by organized criminal groups that re-sell stolen merchandise. In 2021, the National Retail Federation estimated that losses due to shoplifting amounted to nearly $100 billion (about $310 per person in the U.S.) nationwide. That translates to higher prices at the checkout counter for consumers who have already been battered by two years of unusually high inflation.

  It can be tempting to view crimes like shoplifting as “victimless” or “nonviolent” crimes, making it easier to justify non-prosecution. But any time a person deliberately violates someone else’s rights and knowingly violates the law, they chip away at the social contract that enables us to live together in relative harmony.

  Consider the case of New York City CVS clerk Scotty Enoe. While stocking shelves one night, Enoe was attacked for no apparent reason by Charles Brito, a local homeless man who had been arrested more than a dozen times for shoplifting from CVS and other local stores. Enoe defended himself with the knife he used for opening boxes at the store, sadly resulting in Brito’s death.

  With Alvin Bragg as prosecutor, Brito repeatedly walked free without bail after stealing from local merchants. Enoe, on the other hand, was sent to the notorious Rikers Island penitentiary. Only after one of his employers posted a $100,000 bond was Enoe allowed to leave prison, and now he must wear an ankle monitor and is only allowed to leave the house for work.

  Whose side is Alvin Bragg on? He and other soft-on-crime prosecutors have made it an official policy to look the other way when career criminals victimize innocent citizens and shopkeepers, but when those victims try to defend themselves and their property, they are aggressively prosecuted and face the full fury of the criminal justice system.

  This backwards approach to law enforcement has devastating consequences, especially for black and brown communities. Major retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Walgreens have all begun shutting down stores due to rampant shoplifting in cities whose prosecutors consider shoplifting a “minor” offense unworthy of their attention. Countless small businesses are similarly affected, and while their closures might not make headlines, they are just as damaging to the communities they served.

  When stores close – be they chain stores or mom-and-pop operations – communities lose jobs. Residents also lose access to goods and services, including necessities like food and medicine.

  Everybody in a community suffers from rising crime, not just the direct victims. If prosecutors really want to help black and brown Americans, they need to take crime seriously and go after the people who are victimizing those communities.

  Pastor Marc Little is chair of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) and founder of CURE America Action. A practicing attorney since 1994, Little appears on broadcast media as a nationally known advocate for faith-based business and economic development and civic engagement.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 20:45

• Will America's Anti-Obesity Craze Lead To A Food Revolution
  Will America’s Anti-Obesity Craze Lead To A Food Revolution

  It’s hardly a secret that the US – the fattest nation on earth excluding a handful of islands in the Pacific – has an obesity problem. That, and the adverse health consequences of all this pervasive fatness, is the bad news which has ballooned US medicare/medicaid payments, one of the key factors behind the explosion in US shadow (off-balance sheet) debt into the $100+ trillion ballpark. The good news is that a handful of revolutionary new GLP-1 based weight-loss drugs courtesy of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly – which lead to dramatic cutting of excess pounds by way of substantial appetite reduction- may result in a dramatic reversal in this dismal trend (at least for those Americans who can afford the expensive drugs, which come with a steep price of ~$1,000 per month).

  Of course, with the US food industry having itself turned fat and lazy, comfortable in assuming that nothing will ever change with America’s infatuation with fast food, greasy burgers and fatty and carby junk food, even the smallest deviation could have devastating consequences for a food market that us valued at a little under $1 trillion per year in 2022.

  One attempt to quantify the impact of this new weight-loss revolution on the food industry, and weed out winner from losers, comes from Morgan Stanley, which on Friday published a 60-page report titled “Food Meets Pharma: Downsizing Demand: Obesity Medications’ Impact on the Food Ecosystem” (available to pro subs), and which finds that over the long-term the US may see a substantial decline in calorie consumption (vs baseline) leading to steep losses for those companies that seek to profit from US obesity trends.

  Below we excerpt the key highlights from the report, starting with the catalyst: the dramatic weight loss resulting from a consistent regime of GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro and – coming soon – Retatrutide.

  

  These drugs bring about meaningful weight loss through a 20-30% reduction in daily calorie intake.

  

  

  

  One problem is that for many (obese) Americans, these drugs remain unaffordable, with just half of patients fully covered by health insurance.

  

  Morgan Stanley then forecasts the big picture impact on the US population an finds a reduction of up to 1.7% (vs baseline) in calories consumed in the bull case.

  

  Not surprisingly, MS found a more pronounced impact on certain food categories among those on the weight-loss drugs.

  

  Also not surprising, the biggest losers appear to be fast food and pizza restaurants…

  

  … confections, cookies and salty snacks…

  

  … as well as makers of sugary drinks and snacks.

  

  The bank then summarizes the impact of the weight-loss craze in the following matrix which look at the winners and losers across every category, from Packaged foods and restaurants, to beverages and food retail.

  

  More in the full report available to professional subs in the usual place.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 20:15

• Sometimes, Only Satire Does The Job…
  Sometimes, Only Satire Does The Job…

  Authored by Ramesh Thakur via The Brownstone Institute,

  Here is my review of Oisín MacAmadáin, Busting Anti-Vax Myths! Seriously EXPERT Arguments for the Covid-Deniers in Your Life (2022), with a Foreword by Dr. Anthony Faucet.

  

  This is a slim, wickedly funny satire of 126 pages organised into ten chapters of rollicking hilarity. It’s a hugely enjoyable book for all those who were critical of lockdowns, masks, and vaccines. As the Brits say, it takes the piss out of all the self-proclaimed Covid experts, the public health clerisy, the media, and people with blind faith in the experts. 

  Thus the fictitious professor Oisín MacAmadáin informs us of “a good friend in Dublin whose fully vaccinated father died from Covid. He also told me how much worse he knew it could have been.” And all the grannies going merrily about their way in Stockholm “must be brainwashed. A perfect example of state propaganda.” The true believers are likely to be offended. 

  The book is successful in skewering the many Covidian dogmas because MacAmadáin closely tracks the many gaslighting tropes used by the experts and the authorities to attack critics, dissenters, Florida, and Sweden. The last, for example, is dismissed as irrelevant because its vast empty spaces make it very difficult to encounter the virus and anyway, we all know the Swedes are so reserved they rarely hug.

  It’s been many a long year since I laughed so much while reading a seriously serious book. The greater your familiarity with the lies, obfuscations, and gaslighting by health experts and governments in the last three years, and with the range of scientific literature and controversies, including the leading names, the more you will be entertained by this book.

  American readers will especially enjoy the chapter on Florida and the attempted puncturing of Robert Malone and Peter McCullough as anti-vaxxer ringleaders. That they were removed from Twitter is proof they were spouting anti-scientific drivel. Their knowledge is so shallow that they can be shown up even by the likes of Neil Young and Meghan Markle.

  MacAmadáin is inventive with names in the mould of JK Rowling, referencing the CDLWQ (CatDogLynxWolfQuestioning) + community for those who self-ID as catgender etc. The encomia on the back cover are from eminent world experts like President Macaroni who adores the book because it will “really ‘piss off’ the anti-vaxxers;” Santa Klaus who is incredulous that the author “was never a WEF young leader;” the CEO of Pfizzle; and Gubnet O’Foole, the correspondent in residence of the Oirish Times. The final encomium is signed off “The author.”

  We meet Prof. Nadir Jibjab and Dr. Smärtz Aleks. Austria has a Mr. Hündbisket and a Prof. Ann Schlüss who has written a treatise on The Jab as Moral Good. She holds firmly to the view that the government decisions tick all ethical boxes, “even those of Kant whose ethical boxes are notoriously hard to tick.” A German schoolteacher named Gretel Voopingkoff praises Oisín’s “awesome work in exterminating anti-vaxxer propaganda.” She informs him that her multi-jabbed kids “play the geese marching game” from which the unvaxxed are, of course, excluded.

  One of the authors of the famous 2020 Danish mask study was Henning Bundgaard. He gets misnamed as Herring Bumgaard in a letter to the British Medical Journal (a riff on the many people who reported studies for retraction), then successively as Dr. Bumgås, Bümflüff, and Bumfårt. In the letter, he asks of their flawed study:

  how do we know that up to 100% of those infected in the unmasked group didn’t end up ultimately dying due to greater viral exposure? Were they only asked about whether they were infected and not whether that infection had killed them?

  The Termonfeckin Institute of Expertise (TIE), one of the world’s leading institutes, has just one Faculty, Prof. MacAmadáin who is the Provost, Head of Department, and Lecturer: “a real Trinity of wisdom and education,” says Dr. Faucet in his gushing Foreword. He breezily dismisses the IFR calculations of Prof. Ioannidis (“never heard of him”) of 0.27 percent in favour of the TIE calculation of 34 percent.

  MacAmadáin is an expert on expertise, with a “long and incredibly distinguished career.” The opening sentence of the book declares “I am an expert.” This gives him the unique ability to become an instant expert on any topic. He is vainglorious and breathlessly boasting, with any errors in the book the responsibility of the editor, TIE’s “sole and perennial graduate student.” 

  He sat down to write this book after getting his eighth shot and predicts by 2030 we will be into jabs in the fifties, fantasises about a movie to be called The Amazing Mr. Spike, extends the slogan “No one is safe until everyone is safe” to animals, and holds mass vaccination in the middle of a pandemic to be probably the best idea in the world, so there, Dr. Geert Van Der Dishwasher. If this fuels new variants, the obvious solution is to create new vaccines.

  Wearing a mask when driving alone in a car is advisable because viral droplets can come in through the air filter. Besides, masks make you drop-dead, gorgeously sexy. A study from Cardiff University “demonstrably proved that face masks make people more attractive and … I will always follow the science.” Wearing them in combination with pantyhose will not only make you even sexier but will protect you amazingly against Covid, and so “I always wear protection.”

  As for “the mad idea that the Covid vaccines are not even vaccines:” “The scientists call them vaccines, the governments call them vaccines, it says ‘vaccine’ on the label.” The vaccine is definitely a vaccine because it self-identifies as one and it’s frankly vaccine-phobic to suggest otherwise. A supposed scientific study alleging that the vaccine is actually gene therapy is debunked with the killer argument that it’s from Sweden and the Swedes all love ABBA, “so case closed.”

  An Irishman who is fiercely proud of Ireland’s stringent Covid protection measures, he is a bit troubled by Australia and Canada’s more authoritarian enforcement actions. The Irish in him is somewhat embarrassed at channelling the Brit Churchill’s wartime fighting on the beaches speech. Melbourne’s “police efficiency” was “a joy to witness.” Four triple-masked and visored-up police officers wielding sterilised batons arrested an unjabbed woman with one officer striking her down, another tasering her, and a crew disinfecting her before she is winched up by a helicopter and flown to a Covid internment camp.

  Canadian kids parrot Trudeau-like lines about the unvaccinated being racists. But, enamoured as Oisín is of Australia and Canada, he concedes that Austria had all others beat. It is a “Covidopia,” the Utopia of Covid. The public was enthusiastically supportive, “bordering on euphoria,” of the authorities’ tough crackdown on dissent.

  The Great Barrington Declaration is dismissed as “The Declaration of Great Baloney” written by fringe scientists, one of whom probably works at Stanford Polytech rather than University. Oisín writes to his mate Tony Faucet urging him to publish a “devastating takedown.” Because “there is no ‘no risk’ group,” “focussed protection” is condemned as “discriminatory and ageist” that would “destroy the principles we hold dear.” Oisín commits to organising “The Great Termonfeckin Ejaculation” (spelt put in the final chapter on The Great Reset) as a counter to the GBD.

  He is also besties with Canada’s PM Trudy-wudy and rushes to Ottawa to help quell the truckers’ rebellion by “black-faced up” racists. The resulting encounter with the protestors is a nice little dig at asking us to trust the experts over our own lying eyes. 

  There is a hilarious chapter with advice on fact-checking: point out that “EXPERTS” disagree, that the person making the false claim is a crackpot, and that “even if the misinformation is correct, it still isn’t true.” For example, the claim to the protective benefits of natural immunity can be shown to be false by noting that “many who have died from Covid also had immune systems.” In another example:

  The reports of over 29,000 deaths in the VAERS database do not prove that the Covid vaccines are dangerous: they merely show that 29,000 people happened to die shortly after their vaccination. Death is a statistically common phenomenon which experts have found to occur in most populations.

  At the end of the chapter, however, Oisín berates himself for having wasted his time as the media everywhere have already been following these practices all along anyway.

  He pays homage to all the brave soldiers who gave their lives in the world war so we can all be safe now. The expert’s unvaccinated Romanian housekeeper rebels at being reminded of Ceausescu’s reign: “Let me tell you, Ceausescu is turning in his f**king grave that he didn’t think of this! What genius to control everyone with the f**king flu!”

  The book perfectly captures the epidemic of cognitive dissonance that still reigns. A doctor talks a woman out of her hesitancy and when she is rushed to emergency after a stroke, notes with smug satisfaction that “at least it wasn’t the Covid that landed her there.” Because the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh claimed success for Ivermectin prophylactic treatment, it must be the state of “UTT-ar RUBB-esh.” The myth about the protective benefits of Vitamin D is dismissed with the Trumpian label “Vitamin Death.” Mandating it for everyone would be a gross violation of bodily integrity. Compliance with government orders shows how compassionate we all are and this proof, that society is for real, must be enough to make Margaret Thatcher turn in her grave.

  The fanatic faith of many vaccine enthusiasts is skewered in this woman’s comment on a radio program in Ireland, voicing support for Austria’s “jab or jail” program: 

  I was delighted the day I got vaccinated knowing I was then fully protected but the thought that any one of these loons could still kill me just like that….so I’m all for doing what the Austrians are doing just so as to keep us all safe.

  This is followed by the sentence: “Meanwhile an Oirish Times poll has indicated that 82% of respondents would support jail time for the unvaccinated, 13% aren’t sure and the remaining 5% are currently being investigated by the Gardaí.”

  A bit like George Castanza’s epiphany in Seinfeld, about doing the opposite of his first instinct, just invert everything you read and you will be fine with your reading comprehension.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 19:45

• COVID Victims' Families Sue EcoHealth Alliance For 'Funding, Releasing' Virus
  COVID Victims’ Families Sue EcoHealth Alliance For ‘Funding, Releasing’ Virus

  The families of four people who died from COVID-19 are suing EcoHealth alliance, the New York-based nonprofit that was conducting gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, before COVID-19 broke out across town.

  

  According to the Aug. 2 lawsuit filed before the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, EcoHealth and its president, Peter Daszak, knew the virus was “capable of causing a worldwide pandemic.”

  Not only did EcoHealth help to create a ‘genetically manipulated virus,’ the lawsuit claims, it worked to cover up the origins of the outbreak.

  “If we had known the source or origin of this virus and had not been misled that it was from a pangolin in a wet market, and rather we knew that it was a genetically manipulated virus, and that the scientists involved were concealing that from our clients, the outcome could have been very different,” victims’ attorney Patricia Finn told the NY Post.

  The families of Mary Conroy, of Pennsylvania; Emma D. Holley, of Rochester, NY; Larry Carr, of Crossville, Tennessee; and Raul Osuna, of Bennington, Nebraska, are seeking unspecified damages.

  “[The families of the deceased] are definitely in mourning, but moreover they’re enraged because the truth of what really happened appears to be coming forward,” Finn added.

  Paul Rinker, of Pennsylvania, is also suing Midtown-based EcoHealth and Daszak over the “serious injuries” he suffered from his bout with the bug.

  Finn is also suing EcoHealth and Daszak in Nassau and Rockland Counties on behalf of the families of other victims killed by the virus, as well as two who survived.

  “This particular case is highly offensive because it appears they knew and concealed the origin of the virus,” said Finn, adding “The treatment or approach taken in dealing with the virus could have been radically different than it was.”

  Fauci is simply lying here. Zheng-Li Shi’s lab at the WIV and EcoHealth Alliance (which administered NIH subawards to Zheng-Li Shi’s lab) were absolutely manipulating viruses (using NIAID funds) in order to see which mutations would make them more dangerous to humans. https://t.co/2MD0oM4sWh

  — Justin B. Kinney (@jbkinney) August 12, 2023

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

  EcoHealth notably received a re-activated grant from the NIH for over $576,000 in May to study how outbreaks of deadly viruses like SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19 originate from wildlife and transfers to humans, despite failing to meet the NIH’s conditions for reinstatement.

  As the Epoch Times noted;

  The grant, titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” was originally awarded in 2014 by Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Under the terms of the grant, EcoHealth Alliance, a government-funded nonprofit that purportedly engages in research to prevent pandemics, was awarded $3.8 million over five years to assess the spillover potential of bat viruses “using reverse genetics, pseudovirus and receptor binding assays, and virus infection experiments in cell culture and humanized mice.” Put in simple terms, NIAID was paying EcoHealth to genetically engineer and manipulate bat viruses in labs.

  

  In May 2016, the grant was suspended after Erik Stemmy, a NIAID program officer, noticed that federal government funds may have been used for prohibited gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. At the time, the Obama administration had put in place a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments. However, for reasons that remain unclear, the suspension was lifted in July 2016. At the time, EcoHealth’s president, Peter Daszak, thanked NIAID in an email for lifting the gain-of-function funding pause.

  As part of the conditions of the grant, EcoHealth had to file regular activity reports. However, starting in 2018, EcoHealth stopped submitting these reports. EcoHealth would later blame technical difficulties for their failure to submit. The missing reports comprised the critical 2018–2019 timeframe right before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan.

  *  *  *

  More:

  In 2014, the Obama administration temporarily suspended federal funding for gain-of-function research into manipulating bat COVID to be more transmissible to humans. Four months prior to that decision, the NIH effectively shifted this research to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to EcoHealth, headed by Peter Daszak.

  Notably, the WIV “had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions” for years under the leadership of Dr. Shi ‘Batwoman’ Zhengli, according to the Washington Post‘s Josh Rogin.

  Yet, after Sars-CoV-2 broke out in the same town where Daszak was manipulating Bat Covid, The Lancet published a screed by Daszak (signed by over two-dozen scientists), which insisted the virus could have only come from a natural spillover event, likely from a wet market, and that the scientists “stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.” The Lancet only later noted Daszak’s conflicts of interest.

  Meanwhile, as we noted late last year, a Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions interim report from October 27, 2022 titled “An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID19 Pandemic” concluded that the origins of Covid were more likely based in a lab as part of a “research related incident” and not zoonotic.

  The report was the result of a “bipartisan Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee oversight effort into the origins of SARS-CoV-2”. It provides a lengthy analysis that reviews “publicly available, open-source information to examine the two prevailing theories of origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus”.

  Insanity…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 19:15

• "This Country Has Already Become A Banana Republic" – Holter Warns 'Mad Max' Scenario Imminent
  “This Country Has Already Become A Banana Republic” – Holter Warns ‘Mad Max’ Scenario Imminent

  Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

  Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter says there is a long list of financial trouble coming to America sooner than later.

  

  There is the commercial real estate implosion, rising interest rates, an exploding federal budget, banana republic political problems, but the at the top of the list is the monster unpayable debt problem and the soon-to-be failing U.S. dollar.  Holter says, “You can’t have a third of the federal taxes paid out in interest, and that number is only going to grow over time…”

  “If the markets would not collapse ahead of time, which they certainly will, but if they did not, we would get to the point where the interest would eat up all the tax receipts.  That is a mathematical impossibility.  We’re broke…

  On the other side of it, we have two rules of law.  We have one rule of law if you are a liar from the left and another rule of law if you are a conservative and you don’t support the bull crap rules they are putting out there…

  This is an illustration that this country has already become a banana republic.  The problem with that is the dollar issued by this country is the world’s reserve currency.  It’s a huge problem.”

  Holter says the dollar is going to take a big hit in the next financial crisis that has already started.  When it hits, Holter predicts,

  “The actual bottom line is dollars are just pieces of paper backed by our government. 

  The dollar is backed by the full faith and credit of a bankrupt insolvent government, and people will figure that out very quickly. 

  When it comes to survival, people are not going to give up something real for nothing…

  We are in the weeds right now because of interest rates . . . look at mortgage rates, they are well over 7% for a 30-year mortgage.  So, that’s going to hurt housing.  Commercial real estate has already been destroyed…

  I think we are in the weeds because interest rates are at a point that nothing can be refinanced and rolled over.”

  In closing, Holter says, “This is not my opinion, it’s a mathematical equation…”

  ”  The debt cannot be paid back.  It’s not possible.  We will default one way or another.  We will print the crap out of the dollar and devalue it, or outright nonpayment.”

  Holter predicted years ago we would end up in a “Mad Max” scenario when credit dries up and store shelves empty.  Holter contends that credit is drying up with the money supply shrinking for eight straight months.  The “Mad Max” world Holter is still predicting is now looking like it’s going to come true sooner than later.

  There is much more in the 42-minute interview.

  Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter for 8.12.23.

  To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

  Bill Holter’s new website is growing by leaps and bounds.  It’s called BillHolter.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 18:45

• The US Is Still Vexed By High Inflation
  The US Is Still Vexed By High Inflation

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  The inflationary mess is lasting even longer than I or anyone thought. Even the headlines couldn’t spin this one. The Consumer Price Index came out this morning and it showed no improvement over last month. It is still rocking at 3.2 percent with new strength in food and medicine.

  The sticky index is frustratingly high too at 5.4 percent.

  

  (Data: Federal Reserve Economic Data [FRED], St. Louis Fed; Chart: Jeffrey A. Tucker)

  Instead of following the script and reporting this as continued easing, the headlines were reduced to merely reporting the news: inflation is not improving. It’s the new normal.

  It’s fascinating because this is now the 31st month after this “transitory” inflation began and nearly just as long since the Federal Reserve began its war on inflation by raising rates higher and faster than in the whole history of the institution. That said, in real terms, federal funds rates are still barely above zero. That’s because inflation is still rocking and eating away the dollar’s purchasing power.

  The best you can say is that the dollar’s purchasing power is declining less rapidly than it was a year ago. But it is still declining, and missing the Fed’s target. Prices are nowhere near going back to 2019 levels but instead it all keeps getting worse. We have now lost 16 cents from its value at the start of Trump’s last year of his presidency. The mad money printing has taken a terrible toll. All of the value of the transfer payments from 2020 and 2021 have completely vanished.

  

  (Data: Federal Reserve Economic Data [FRED], St. Louis Fed; Chart: Jeffrey A. Tucker)

  This is all very interesting because the Fed has done everything it knows to do in order to bring this under control. Not that the Fed has ever admitted to having caused the problem in the first place by enabling an insane bout of Congressionally authorized spending. The Fed stood ready to sop up as much newly created debt as it could. In so doing, it triggered a complete mess.

  The Fed’s clean-up operation has been fascinating to watch, like creating a fire in the kitchen and then demanding credit for one’s great clean-up skills. Worse, the clean-up has not really worked well. The money stock has indeed declined by 5.4 percent since the war on inflation commenced. But not even that has worked to tame the beast.

  Let’s seek out an answer. There is always a lag between money and prices but it is 12 to 18 months, and we are really over that. We should be seeing a bigger impact. We should already have hit the target. But think about the old “equation of exchange” as pushed by monetary theorists for centuries. The impact of money on prices is mitigated by a concept called velocity.

  Velocity is a measure of the pace at which money is spent. When people demand high dollar balances, the measure of velocity falls. This has always happened in a crisis. People get scared and hold on to cash. It happened at the start of the Great Depression. It happened in 2008. And it happened in 2020 but to the greatest extent we’ve ever seen. People were flush with cash and nothing on which to spend it, so we entered into a stage of negative velocity. The money truly ended up in metaphorical mattresses.

  A decline in velocity provides room for the Fed to expand its open-market operations and expand credit through the banking system. A decline in velocity also allows the central bank to avoid the inflationary consequences of its policies.

  The Fed, however, cannot control velocity. It is merely a measure of public psychology over risk and expectations. It neither causes high or low money-transmission rates but those rates profoundly affect the value of money.

  As time has gone on, people and institutions have moved more money from cash balances into purchases. Velocity is on the move, exactly as one would expect. It’s inevitable.

  The problem from the Fed’s point of view is that this pace at which money is spent is fueling price increases. And that change is blunting the impact of the pullback on money stocks.

  

  (Data: Federal Reserve Economic Data [FRED], St. Louis Fed; Chart: Jeffrey A. Tucker)

  There are of course a million other considerations to this big picture. But using a reductionist approach of a simple equation (in which money multiplied by velocity equals prices multiplied by output), you can see that there is plenty of room remaining for prices to go up and up.

  In fact, if velocity continues to increase like this, we are looking at years of price increases at 3 percent and higher. And that is presuming no sudden surprises.

  At the current pace of decline, we can expect the 2020 dollar to keep falling in value, so that it will be worth half its value by the time we reach the 2030s. Keep in mind that this is a tax that wrecks the standard of living of the middle class and the poor while enriching the people and institutions that can afford to endure the storm.

  How used to all of this are you? Probably more than you should be. For example, are high gas prices making you as crazy now as they did two years ago? Probably not. That’s because you have been treated to the military concept of shock and awe. The idea is for the government to devastate you in one fell swoop and then let off a bit in order to make you grateful for the lessening of pain.

  This is exactly what has happened to gas prices. In the long sweep, it has only increased in price but right now it feels not so bad. This is entirely in your head. The reality is that you are being pillaged.

  

  Gas prices could eventually reach their old highs but by this time, you will have been so bruised and bloodied that you will be no longer screaming in pain. In short, our masters are trying to acculturate us to suffering so that we will no longer have the strength to protest.

  This is how “transitory” became permanent and why an entire generation has already forgotten what it is like to live with falling prices in many sectors while incomes are steadily rising.

  Those days seem to be gone. Our income is falling even as the thieves who took away our prosperity continue to masquerade as people we can trust to solve the problems that they created. It’s called monetary policy but it is an ancient ruse that still works in the 21st century.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 17:45

• Big Tech Should Pay Its "Fair Share"… The Best Way Is To Leave California
  Big Tech Should Pay Its “Fair Share”… The Best Way Is To Leave California

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  My hoot of the day is a Bloomberg Tweet praising San Francisco while asking big technology firms to pay their fair share.

  

  Hoot of the Day

  San Francisco lifer @garrytan weighs in on the city’s controversies with @emilychangtv and how tech should pay its “fair share.”

  “This is the shining jewel.”

  San Francisco lifer @garrytan weighs in on the city’s controversies with @emilychangtv and how tech should pay its “fair share.”

  Watch the full episode here: https://t.co/i9oa08FxDf pic.twitter.com/SmZyyYR0Xm

  — Bloomberg (@business) August 12, 2023

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

  Fair Share

  And who is it that gets to decide the definition of “Fair Share”?

  If anything, I suspect big tech is paying more than its fair share.

  How so? Let’s total it up starting with salaries.

  Google Salary Estimates

  Google pays its employees well. The median salary is $140,000 a year.

  

  Every Google employee pays taxes at California’s exorbitant rate.

  Talent.Com notes “If you make $140,000 a year living in the region of California, USA, you will be taxed $47,111. That means that your net pay will be $92,889 per year, or $7,741 per month. Your average tax rate is 33.7% and your marginal tax rate is 40.6%.”

  Government takes over a third right off the top for someone making $140,000. The state itself takes 8% plus 9.3% of everything over $66,296 up to $338,640 when even higher rates kick in.

  Those employees buy homes at absurd prices compared to elsewhere and government takes its pound of flesh from property taxes.

  The employees eat at local businesses and buy merchandise from local merchants. The minimum state sales tax rate is 7.5 percent.

  Factor in capital gains taxes. Factor in health benefits paid by Google. Factor in Federal payroll taxes.

  Let’s discuss corporate taxes.

  The California corporate tax rate is 8.84%. This tax rate applies to C corporations and LLCs that report a net profit. Otherwise, they pay a flat alternative minimum tax (AMT) of 6.65%.

  Only a handful of states have a higher top corporate tax rate.

  If Google did not exist or was not located in California, none of that would happen.

  Google Contributes More Than Its Fair Share

  Google contributes mightily towards California and would do so even if it paid no corporate taxes at all.

  Nonetheless, we have ingrates pissing and moaning about how these companies do not pay their fair share.

  Add it all up, and Google contributes too much.

  To pay its fair share, Google needs to relocate to a lower tax state.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 16:45

• Greenwald: It's Not Left Vs Right Anymore, "It's Anti-Establishment Versus Pro-Establishment"
  Greenwald: It’s Not Left Vs Right Anymore, “It’s Anti-Establishment Versus Pro-Establishment”

  “No matter how you slice it… the polls show that there’s only one person who’s likely to challenge Joe Biden and defeat him for reelection, and that’s the person whom Biden’s DOJ happens to be prosecuting in multiple cases…”

  Glenn Greenwald lays out the hypocrisy, and tyranny, of the ‘establishment’ in a brief but all-encompassing discussion with Russell Brand. He continues:

  “Not just cases that have been brought but ones that rely on highly dubious interpretations of the law.

  It’s not like these are murder cases, rape cases, bribery cases, or things people traditionally think about when they hear of criminal accusations.

  They’re very distant and vague accusations that depend a lot on free speech rights, and they will only worsen perceptions that the DOJ can’t be trusted…”

  Brand questions the ‘banana republic’ nature of what is occurring in the US, reflecting on the fact that occurred in South America, it would prompt rebukes from the ‘western’ establishment.

  

  In fact, it has happened in the US before, as Greenwald explains…

  “The first book I wrote in 2005 was an argument that the Bush and Cheney administration had committed obvious war crimes like torture, rendition, and warrantless spying on Americans…

  The entire DC class agreed with Obama saying only banana republics prosecute their political opposition, and that was for real crimes like torture, kidnapping, killing people, and spying without warrants. Not these kinds of attenuated theories of criminality on which the Biden DOJ is now relying on to prosecute Trump, their primary political opposition…

  At exactly the same time the Biden administration is prosecuting Donald Trump, they are also shielding Hunter Biden, who is guilty of far more blatant and obvious criminality, just blatant political corruption, tax evasion, and hiding assets in a way that most people go to jail for many years.

  And Hunter Biden gets this incredibly generous deal that was so shocking to the judge because she couldn’t believe that the DOJ was really offering him full-scale immunity, given how many other crimes are pending.

  And given how he was allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanors for what she has seen treated as serious felonies…”

  Having opened listeners’ eyes and ears to the ugly reality of the ‘two-sided’ system in America today. But it’s not as clear-cut as it used to be, as Greenwald concludes:

  “The relevant metric now isn’t left versus right. It’s anti-establishment versus pro-establishment.

  Namely, do you think the loss of trust that these institutions of authority have suffered is valid or not? Do you think that they deserve the contempt in which they are held by a large portion of the population? I believe it’s absolutely justified to hold them in contempt…

  That’s the fundamental distinction that defines our political spectrum more than old definitions of left versus right.“

  Watch the full discussion below:

  Glenn Greenwald: “No matter how you slice it… the polls show that there’s only one person who’s likely to challenge Joe Biden and defeat him for reelection, and that’s the person whom Biden’s DOJ happens to be prosecuting in multiple cases…

  Not just cases that have been… pic.twitter.com/lK24fLLWVM

  — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 11, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 16:15

• A Weird Little August Week: "Who Keeps Selling The Nasdaq Into the Close"
  A Weird Little August Week: “Who Keeps Selling The Nasdaq Into the Close”

  By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

  A Weird Little August Week

  Let’s ignore, for the moment, that I haven’t been this afraid of sharks since Jaws was released. Seriously, I cannot remember a time when sharks come up so often in conversation, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the macro outlook, so let’s move on.

  Equities

  I should start with fixed income, but the equity story is simple and fast, so let’s get it out of the way.

  Who Keeps Selling the Nasdaq Into the Close?

  

  Since the start of August, we seem to get selling into the close on stocks, led by the Nasdaq 100. No matter what news comes out, how the market performs during the overnight session, or in the morning, there seems to be selling pressure into the close. That is definitely helping build the bear case.

  Having said that, I want to highlight the performance of several indices last week:

  • Nasdaq 100                             -1.6%
  • S&P 500                                   -0.3%
  • S&P 500 equal weight             -0.07%
  • REIT Index                               +0.2%

  I like the outperformance of the equal weight indices and the REIT index. That happens to fit our view on the Rotation out of the Magnificent Seven quite well.

  Commercial Real Estate

  Since REITs did well, It is a good time to mention the other “scary” conversation I’m having with many people. While sharks might be scary, they are easy to avoid. What is “scaring” many people, and may prove difficult to avoid, is work from office.

  I understand there are a lot of issues facing commercial real estate (many buildings traded hands at high prices, many were completed at extremely high costs, vacancy rates are on the rise, financing rates have risen substantially, etc.), I think that as a whole, too much is priced in and the push to “work from office” in some form, is gaining traction. JAWS the summer blockbuster of 1975 could be replaced by WFO as the horror show of 2024! Maybe news reports will shift from asking “It’s 11 pm, do you know where your kids are?” to “It’s 8am, do you know where your office is? Because you’re #$&%#* late!”

  Anyways, real estate will remain local. There are regional themes at work. The trends of people and companies leaving certain areas of the country for others, is real which create some losers and winners.

  In any case, I do understand that betting on REITS and CRE in the short term, based on being contrarian and some vague view that WFO chatter gains traction, may be simplistic, if not naïve, but that’s where I still am. From Bloomberg TV a couple of weeks ago Commercial Real Estate to Squeeze Higher.

  It is something we took some issue with as well, on the day that several U.S. banks were downgraded.

  CRE is an issue, and we may not have seen the lows, but it is a process and I’m looking for the rebounds we’ve seen to continue, for now.

  Rates

  Yields ticked higher, again, by the end of the week. 10s closed the week at their highest yields of the week (4.16%) which was lower than the 4.18% they reached last week. What was slightly strange, is that both 10s and 30s did reasonably well into their respective auctions. You would have expected, given so many bearish takes, that yields would have shot higher ahead of the auction, to help absorb the issuance, but that didn’t really happen. The 3-year auction was great, the 10-year was good, and the 30-year was weaker than those, but not horrible, but that seemed to finally trigger bond market selling. All just weird, except, that maybe so many bought thinking that we rally post auction, that there were a lot of week longs?

  I guess you could blame a stronger than expected PPI, but I think we are going back to the “good old days” where everyone admitted they had no idea how PPI translates into future CPI, so we just ignored it. I want to point to one thing the Fed looks at, that was very good. The University of Michigan inflation expectations, where the longer term inflation outlook dropped back below 3%.

  Speaking of “scary” the WSJ posted an article titled The Scary Math Behind the World’s Safest Assets (link may be blocked by paywall).  While I think it is a bit on the alarmist side, it seems to touch on some points made last weekend on why the downgrade made sense in U.S. Credit Ratings.

  It is also a good reminder, that I need to keep an eye out on the bear case, especially since I do think inflation, largely due to “Geopolitical Inflation” will run above the 2% target for several years.

  While I think the piece is a bit alarmist, it seems like a good time for me (and you) to revisit Academy’s Financial Bubbles piece from 2020! On “commonality” we have had with recent financial bubbles (going back to the 1980’s) is they can all be directly attributed to “a safe asset going bad”. Financial bubbles all start with “safe assets” becoming “unsafe”. Government debt becoming “unsafe” would create the mother of all bubbles. I don’t see that as a risk, but I’d also hate to be the person who has focused for years on how bubbles start with safe assets, only to miss this giant bubble.

  Still bullish rates here, but having to rethink my longer term views.

  Credit

  Credit outperformed (CDX 2 bps tighter, Bloomberg Corp Bond Index spreads unchanged) even with over $38 billion of new issue priced last week! Not bad with big supply and a backdrop of equity weakness. I do have to mention that Academy was joint bookrunner on two transactions on one day for the first time ever (McDonald’s and Toyota) and was a co-manager on several other deals.

  China

  Economic weakness continues. It is something we’ve been writing about and I think current weakness makes it even more important, from China’s perspective to shift a “Made in China” to a “Made by China” policy, which is a risk not being priced into U.S. markets at all. Maybe the risk is too remote, but I think we need to be examining carefully, companies that sell a lot to emerging market nations to see if their products are susceptible to competition from Chinese brands?

  We got to discuss this and some other subject on Bloomberg TV on Thursday (starts at the 1:43:50 mark) and I think Tom Keene did a better job highlighting some of Academy’s unique strengths than I ever could.

  Bottom Line

  It’s a weird time for markets, so enjoy the summer (I’m getting so many OOO replies, that advice seems to be well taken). Don’t take on too much risk and watch out for sharks! (in the water and markets).

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 15:45

• Sen. Ron Johnson Says Pandemic "Preplanned By An Elite Group Of People" Who Conducted "Event 201"
  Sen. Ron Johnson Says Pandemic “Preplanned By An Elite Group Of People” Who Conducted “Event 201”

  And now, better late than never, a US politician recognizes that all may not have been what it seemed with the pandemic – and its tyrannical response.

  Senator Ron Johnson on Friday told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that Covid-19, and its response, were “preplanned by an elite group of people” who conducted “Event 201” – a joint exercise conducted by John Hopkins, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum – which envisioned the spread of a coronavirus pandemic in South America which included over 65 million deaths worldwide.

  

  The simulation concluded that national governments are nowhere near ready for a pandemic.

  “We are going down a very dangerous path, but it is a path that is being laid out and planned by an elite group of people that want to take total control over our lives, and that’s what they are doing, bit by bit,” said Johnson, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and is a ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

  To which Bartiromo responded: “It is just extraordinary to me that the government was working with social media to amplify lies and suppress truth and has been doing so repeatedly. We just saw the Facebook story, the Twitter files, all of the all the way, government officials from the CDC, FBI, you know CIA, a thousand people according to the reporters working on the Twitter files, worked with social media to amplify lies and suppress truth.

  Why couldn’t the American people know that, you know, there were other alternatives to treat Covid why can’t American people know there were side effects with the vaccine?

  Johnson then said: “This is all preplanned by an elite group of people, that is what I am talking about, Event 201 occurred in late 2019, prior to the rest of us knowing about the pandemic. Again — this is very concerning in terms of what is happening, what continues to be planned for our loss of freedom,” adding “ It needs to be exposed but unfortunately, very few people even in Congress are willing to take a look at this. They all pushed the vaccine, they don’t want to be made aware of the fact that vaccines might have caused injuries or death, so many people simply just don’t want to admit they were wrong and they’re going to do everything they can to make sure they’re not proven wrong.”

  “We are up against a very powerful group of people here, Maria.“

  Watch:

  SEN. RON JOHNSON ON COVID: “This was all pre-planned by an elite group of people. Event 201… This is very concerning in terms of what continues to be planned for our loss of freedom. We’re up against a very powerful group of people.” pic.twitter.com/JcYlO6DwxE

  — Ben Kew 🏌️‍♂️ (@ben_kew) August 11, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 15:15

• "Illusion Of Influence": The Media Moves The Goalpost Again On Biden Corruption Coverage
  “Illusion Of Influence”: The Media Moves The Goalpost Again On Biden Corruption Coverage

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  With the new disclosures in the Biden corruption scandal, the media has, again, pivoted to avoid acknowledging the obvious. It now has a new demand before it will fully recognize or report on the scandal. Of course, after long repeating denials of Joe Biden that he ever knew about his son’s foreign business deals, the media must now recognize that Hunter was selling influence and access.

  So they have added yet another task: show Joe Biden actually accepting money.

  It is what in literature is called the “impossible task” demand like the Slavic tale of a Tsar ordering a suitor “to go there he does not know where” and to “get that he does not know what.”

  A direct bribe given to Joe Biden in an envelope or a direct deposit is obviously not impossible. Call it the “highly improbable task,” After all, former Rep. William Jefferson was found with cold-hard cash in his freezer. However, among professional influence peddlers, a direct payment to the principal would be viewed as sacrilegious — enough for a lifetime ban from the major corruption league.

  Jefferson was an amateur. The Bidens have been in the influence peddling business for decades and Hunter told his Chinese contacts that they are “the best” at what these foreign figures wanted from them.

  Only a certifiable moron today would deposit any of the $20 million documented by the House committees in an actual account of Joe or Jill Biden. Those accounts are subject to continual monitoring and potential subpoenas.

  Instead, the Congress has found dozens of shell companies and accounts used by the Bidens to help conceal the transfer of millions to Biden family members, including grandchildren. This includes references to bills of Joe Biden being paid out of joint accounts and benefits from deals that might include free offices. At the same time, these foreign sources sent direct money to the Biden Family Fund, a financial legacy that Joe Biden would leave in the form of millions of foreign contributions. At 80 with millions in wealth, Joe Biden is likely more motivated by moving wealth to his descendants than himself.

  There were also alleged deliverables. Recently, Devon Archer confirmed that Hunter’s Ukrainian clients wanted the help of the Bidens in removing Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Biden would later insist on his being fired as a condition for a billion dollars in U.S. aid.

  For years, the media insisted that there was no evidence of influence peddling or evidence contradicting the President. While most of these reporters required little to push false accounts of Russian collusion or Russian disinformation (including the dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop), they are now demanding a virtual confession from the President or an actual deposit slip to his bank account.

  When confronted with the transfer of millions and what Devon Archer now calls “categorically false” denials by the President, the media seems positively exasperated like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland. It is insisting that the public should not assume that the influence sold was influence realized. They just need to believe in the Bidens and the “illusion of influence.” When Alice says that she “cannot believe impossible things,” the Queen snaps back “I daresay you haven’t had much practice. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”

  

  The media has shown that it is possible to believe six impossible things to avoid the reality of the Biden scandal. Accordingly, the media now will accept that there was influence peddling but will treat it as “an illusion” until a direct payment is shown to President Biden himself rather than his family.

  In this final demand, the media is relying entirely on the skill of the Bidens in hiding payments and avoiding such incriminating deposits. Biden himself has laughingly taunted reporters and asked “where’s the money?”

  When confronted on his calling Hunter and his business partners roughly 20 times, he and the White House have pointed out that he merely discussed the weather and pleasantries. The media has largely ignored that only a moron would conduct “business” on a speakerphone at a dinner at the popular Cafe Milano. The point of the calls was to prove the bona fides of Hunter selling influence and access to his father.

  The Bidens have perfected what Uncle Earl Long said was the key to maintaining corruption:

  “Don’t write anything you can phone.  Don’t phone anything you can talk.

  Don’t talk anything you can whisper.  Don’t whisper anything you can smile.

  Don’t smile anything you can nod.  Don’t nod anything you can wink.”

  The true illusion was the Bidens in getting this scandal to disappear in front of millions. As I wrote years ago, the key to this Houdinesque trick was to get the media to invest in the deception like audience members called to the stage. The reporters have to back the illusion or admit that they were part of the deception. Even with millions funneled to the Biden family and acknowledgments that they were “selling the [Biden] brand,” it cannot be enough.

  Even the use of a ridiculously complex array of two dozen entities to transfer money without any known purpose, it cannot be enough.

  It is far easier to demand to see something no self-respecting Beltway bandit would commit: that after creating this labyrinth of shell companies and accounts, the Bidens went ahead and just did the equivalent to a Venmo payment directly to Joe and Jill Biden. 

  It may not be impossible but it is as improbable as Hunter Biden being an energy expert.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/13/2023 – 14:45

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• Taliban’s Massively Successful Opium Eradication Raises Questions About What US Was Doing All Along
  Taliban’s Massively Successful Opium Eradication Raises Questions About What US Was Doing All Along

  Authored by Alan MacLeod via MintPress News,

  

  The Taliban government in Afghanistan – the nation that until recently produced 90% of the world’s heroin – has drastically reduced opium cultivation across the country. Western sources estimate an up to 99% reduction in some provinces. This raises serious questions about the seriousness of U.S. drug eradication efforts in the country over the past 20 years. And, as global heroin supplies dry up, experts tell MintPress News that they fear this could spark the growing use of fentanyl – a drug dozens of times stronger than heroin that already kills more than 100,000 Americans yearly.

  The Taliban Does What the US Did Not

  It has already been called “the most successful counter-narcotics effort in human history.” Armed with little more than sticks, teams of counter-narcotics brigades travel the country, cutting down Afghanistan’s poppy fields.

  In April of last year, the ruling Taliban government announced the prohibition of poppy farming, citing both their strong religious beliefs and the extremely harmful social costs that heroin and other opioids – derived from the sap of the poppy plant – have wrought across Afghanistan.

  It has not been all bluster. New research from geospatial data company Alcis suggests that poppy production has already plummeted by around 80% since last year. Indeed, satellite imagery shows that in Helmand Province, the area that produces more than half of the crop, poppy production has dropped by a staggering 99%. Just 12 months ago, poppy fields were dominant. But Alcis estimates that there are now less than 1,000 hectares of poppy growing in Helmand.

  Instead, farmers are planting wheat, helping stave off the worst of a famine that U.S. sanctions helped create. Afghanistan is still in a perilous state, however, with the United Nations warning that six million people are close to starvation.

  

  The Taliban waited until 2022 to impose the long-awaited ban in order not to interfere with the growing season. Doing so would have provoked unrest among the rural population by eradicating a crop that farmers had spent months growing. Between 2020 and late 2022, the price of opium in local markets rose by as much as 700%. Yet given the Taliban’s insistence – and their efficiency at eradication – few have been tempted to plant poppies.

  The poppy ban has been matched by a similar campaign against the methamphetamine industry, with the government targeting the ephedra crop and shutting down ephedrine labs across the country.

  A Looming Catastrophe

  Afghanistan produces almost 90% of the world’s heroin. Therefore, the eradication of the opium crop will have profound worldwide consequences on drug use. Experts MintPress spoke to warned that a dearth of heroin would likely produce a huge spike in the use of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a drug the Center for Disease Control estimates is 50 times stronger and is responsible for taking the lives of more than 100,000 Americans each year.

  “It is important to consider past periods of heroin shortages and the impact these have had on the European drug market,” the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) told MintPress, adding:

  Experience in the E.U. with previous periods of reduced heroin supply suggests that this can lead to changes in patterns of drug supply and use. This can include further an increase in rates of polysubstance use among heroin users. Additional risks to existing users may be posed by the substitution of heroin with more harmful synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and its derivatives and new potent benzimidazole opioids.”

  In other words, if heroin is no longer available, users will switch to far deadlier synthetic forms of the drug. A 2022 United Nations report came to a similar conclusion, noting that the crackdown on heroin production could lead to the “replacement of heroin or opium by other substances…such as fentanyl and its analogs.”

  “It does have that danger in the macro sense, that if you take all that heroin off the market, people are going to go to other products,” Matthew Hoh told MintPress. Hoh is a former State Department official who resigned from his post in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, in 2009. “But the response should not be reinvade Afghanistan, reoccupy it and put the drug lords back in power, which is basically what people are implying when they bemoan the consequence of the Taliban stopping the drug trade,” Hoh added; “Most of the people who are speaking this way and worrying out loud about it are people who want to find a reason for the U.S. to go and affect regime change in Afghanistan.”

  There certainly has been plenty of hand-wringing from American sources. “Foreign Policy,” wrote about “how the Taliban’s ‘war on drugs’ could backfire;” U.S. government-funded “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty” claimed that the Taliban were turning a “blind eye to opium production,” despite the official ban. And the United States Institute of Peace, an institution created by Congress that is “dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible,” stated emphatically that “the Taliban’s successful opium ban is bad for Afghans and the world”.

  This looming catastrophe, however, will not hit immediately. Significant stockpiles of drugs along trafficking routes still exist. As the EMCDDA told MintPress:

  It can take over 12 months before the opium harvest appears on the European retail drug market as heroin – and so it is too early to predict, at this stage, the future impact of the cultivation ban on heroin availability in Europe. Nonetheless, if the ban on opium cultivation is enforced and sustained, it could have a significant impact on heroin availability in Europe during 2024 or 2025.”

  Yet there is little indication that the Taliban are anything but serious about eradicating the crop, indicating that a heroin crunch is indeed coming.

  A similar attempt by the Taliban to eliminate the drug occurred in 2000, the last full year that they were in power. It was extraordinarily successful, with opium reduction dropping from 4,600 tons to just 185 tons. At that time, it took around 18 months for the consequences to be felt in the West. In the United Kingdom, average heroin purity fell from 55% to 34%, while in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, heroin was largely replaced by fentanyl. However, as soon as the United States invaded in 2001, poppy cultivation shot back up to previous levels and the supply chain recommenced.

  US Complicity in the Afghan Drug Trade

  The Taliban’s successful campaign to eradicate drug production has cast a shadow of doubt over the effectiveness of American-led endeavors to achieve the same outcome. “It prompts the question, ‘What were we actually accomplishing there?!’” remarked Hoh, underscoring:

  This undermines one of the fundamental premises behind the wars: the alleged association between the Taliban and the drug trade – a concept of a narco-terror nexus. However, this notion was fallacious. The reality was that Afghanistan was responsible for a staggering 80-90% of the world’s illicit opiate supply. The primary controllers of this trade were the Afghan government and military, entities we upheld in power.”

  Hoh clarified that he never personally witnessed or received any reports of direct involvement by U.S. troops or officials in narcotics trafficking. Instead, he contended that there existed a “conscious and deliberate turning away from the unfolding events” during his tenure in Afghanistan.’

  

  Suzanna Reiss, an academic at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the author of “We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of U.S. Empire,” demonstrated an even more cynical perspective on American counter-narcotics endeavors as she conveyed to MintPress:

  The U.S. has never really been focused on reducing the drug trade in Afghanistan (or elsewhere for that matter). All the lofty rhetoric aside, the U.S. has been happy to work with drug traffickers if the move would advance certain geopolitical interests (and indeed, did so, or at least turned a knowingly blind eye, when groups like the Northern Alliance relied on drugs to fund their political movement against the regime.).”

  Afghanistan’s transformation into a preeminent narco-state owes a significant debt to Washington’s actions. Poppy cultivation in the 1970s was relatively limited. However, the tide changed in 1979 with the inception of Operation Cyclone, a massive infusion of funds to Afghan Mujahideen factions aimed at exhausting the Soviet military and terminating its presence in Afghanistan. The U.S. directed billions toward the insurgents, yet their financial needs persisted. Consequently, the Mujahideen delved into the illicit drug trade. By the culmination of Operation Cyclone, Afghanistan’s opium production had soared twentyfold. Professor Alfred McCoy, acclaimed author of “The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade,” shared with MintPress that approximately 75% of the planet’s illegal opium output was now sourced from Afghanistan, a substantial portion of the proceeds funneling to U.S.-backed rebel factions.

  Unraveling the Opioid Crisis: An Impending Disaster

  The opioid crisis is the worst addiction epidemic in U.S. history. Earlier this year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described the American fentanyl problem as “the single greatest challenge we face as a country.” Nearly 110,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, fentanyl being by far the leading cause. Between 2015 and 2021, the National Institute of Health recorded a nearly 7.5-fold increase in overdose deaths. Medical journal The Lancet predicts that 1.2 million Americans will die from opioid overdoses by 2029.

  U.S. officials blame Mexican cartels for smuggling the synthetic painkiller across the southern border and China for producing the chemicals necessary to make the drug.

  White Americans are more likely to misuse these types of drugs than other races. Adults aged 35-44 experience the highest rates of deaths, although deaths among younger people are surging. Rural America has been particularly hard hit; a 2017 study by the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau Federation found that 74% of farmers have been directly impacted by the opioid epidemic. West Virginia and Tennessee are the states most badly hit.

  For writer Chris Hedges, who hails from rural Maine, the fentanyl crisis is an example of one of the many “diseases of despair” the U.S. is suffering from. It has, according to Hedges, “risen from a decayed world where opportunity, which confers status, self-esteem and dignity, has dried up for most Americans. They are expressions of acute desperation and morbidity.” In essence, when the American dream fizzled out, it was replaced by an American nightmare. That white men are the prime victims of these diseases of despair is an ironic outgrowth of our unfair system. As Hedges explained:

  White men, more easily seduced by the myth of the American dream than people of color who understand how the capitalist system is rigged against them, often suffer feelings of failure and betrayal, in many cases when they are in their middle years. They expect, because of notions of white supremacy and capitalist platitudes about hard work leading to advancement, to be ascendant. They believe in success.”

  In this sense, it is important to place the opioid addiction crisis in a wider context of American decline, where opportunities for success and happiness are fewer and farther between than ever, rather than attribute it to individuals. As the “Lancet” wrote: “Punitive and stigmatizing approaches must end. Addiction is not a moral failing. It is a medical condition and poses a constant threat to health.”

  A “Uniquely American Problem”

  Nearly 10 million Americans misuse prescription opioids every year and at a rate far higher than comparable developed countries. Deaths due to opioid overdose in the United States are ten times more common per capita than in Germany and more than 20 times as frequent in Italy, for instance.

  Much of this is down to the United States’ for-profit healthcare system. American private insurance companies are far more likely to favor prescribing drugs and pills than more expensive therapies that get to the root cause of the issue driving the addiction in the first place. As such, the opioid crisis is commonly referred to as a “uniquely American problem.”

  Part of the reason U.S. doctors are much more prone to doling out exceptionally strong pain medication relief than their European counterparts is that they were subject to a hyper-aggressive marketing campaign from Purdue Pharma, manufacturers of the powerful opioid OxyContin. Purdue launched OxyContin in 1996, and its agents swarmed doctors’ offices to push the new “wonder drug.”

  

  Yet, in lawsuit after lawsuit, the company has been accused of lying about both the effectiveness and the addictiveness of OxyContin, a drug that has hooked countless Americans onto opioids. And when legal but incredibly addictive prescription opioids dry up, Americans turned to illicit substances like heroin and fentanyl as substitutes.

  Purdue Pharma owners, the Sackler family, have regularly been described as the most evil family in America, with many laying the blame for the hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths squarely at their door. In 2019, under the weight of thousands of lawsuits against it, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy. A year later, it plead guilty to criminal charges over its mismarketing of OxyContin.

  Nevertheless, the Sacklers made out like bandits from their actions. Even after being forced last year to pay nearly $6 billion in cash to victims of the opioid crisis, they remain one of the world’s richest families and have refused to apologize for their role in constructing an empire of pain that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.

  Instead, the family has attempted to launder their image through philanthropy, sponsoring many of the most prestigious arts and cultural institutions in the world. These include the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Yale University, and the British Museum and Royal Academy in London.

  One group who are disproportionately affected by opioids like OxyContin, heroin and fentanyl are veterans. According to the National Institutes of Health, veterans are twice as likely to die from overdose than the general population. One reason for this is bureaucracy. “The Veterans Administration did a really poor job in the past decades with their pain management, particularly their reliance on opioids,” Hoh, a former marine, told MintPress, noting that the V.A. prescribed dangerous opioids at a higher rate than other healthcare agencies.

  Ex-soldiers often have to cope with chronic pain and brain injuries. Hoh noted that around a quarter-million veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq have traumatic brain injuries. But added to that are the deep moral injuries many suffered – injuries that typically cannot be seen. As Hoh noted:

  Veterans are turning to [opioids like fentanyl] to deal with the mental, emotional and spiritual consequences of the war, using them to quell the distress, try to find some relief, escape from the depression, and deal with the demons that come home with veterans who took part in those wars.”

  Thus, if the Taliban’s opium eradication program continues, it could spark a fentanyl crisis that might kill more Americans than the 20-year occupation ever did.

  Broken Society

  If diseases of despair are common throughout the United States, they are rampant in Afghanistan itself. A global report released in March revealed that Afghans are by far the most miserable people on Earth. Afghans evaluated their lives at 1.8 out of 10 – dead last and far behind the top of the pile Finland (7.8 out of 10).

  Opium addiction in Afghanistan is out of control, with around 9% of the adult population (and a significant number of children) addicted. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of adult drug users jumped from 900,000 to 2.4 million, according to the United Nations, which estimates that almost one in three households is directly affected by addiction. As opium is frequently injected, blood-transmitted conditions like HIV are common as well.

  The opioid problem has also spilled into neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan. A 2013 United Nations report estimated that almost 2.5 million Pakistanis were abusing opioids, including 11% of people in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Around 700 people die each day from overdoses.

  Empire of Drugs

  Given their history, It is perhaps understandable that Asian nations have generally taken far more authoritarian measures to counter drug addiction issues. For centuries, using the illegal drug trade to advance imperial objectives has been a common Western tactic. In the 1940s and 1950s, the French utilized opium crops in the “Golden Triangle” region of Southeast Asia in order to counter the growing Vietnamese independence movement.

  A century previously, the British used opium to crush and conquer much of China. Britain’s insatiable thirst for Chinese tea was beginning to bankrupt the country, seeing as China would only accept gold or silver in exchange. The British, therefore, used the power of its navy to force China to cede Hong Kong to it. From there, it flooded mainland China with opium grown in South Asia (including Afghanistan).

  The effect of the Opium War was astonishing. By 1880, the British were inundating China with more than 6,500 tons of opium per year – the equivalent of many billions of doses. Chinese society crumbled, unable to deal with the empire-wide social and economic dislocation that millions of opium addicts brought. Today, the Chinese continue to refer to the period as the “century of humiliation”.

  Meanwhile, in South Asia, the British forced farmers to plant poppy fields instead of edible crops, causing waves of giant famines, the likes of which had never been seen before or since.

  And during the 1980s in Central America, the United States sold weapons to Iran in order to fund far-right Contra death squads. The Contras were deeply implicated in the cocaine trade, fuelling their dirty war through crack cocaine sales in the U.S. – a practice that, according to journalist Gary Webb, the Central Intelligence Agency facilitated.

  Imperialism and illicit drugs, therefore, commonly go together. However, with the Taliban opium eradication effort in full effect, coupled with the uniquely American phenomenon of opioid addiction, it is possible that the United States will suffer significant blowback in the coming years. The deadly fentanyl epidemic will likely only get worse, needlessly taking hundreds of thousands more American lives. Thus, even as Afghanistan attempts to rid itself of its deadly drug addiction problem, its actions could precipitate an epidemic that promises to kill more Americans than any of Washington’s imperial endeavors to date.

  Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News

  Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 23:30

• School District Blames 'Rogue' Principal For Anti-White Discrimination, But Documents Suggest It Was Official Policy
  School District Blames ‘Rogue’ Principal For Anti-White Discrimination, But Documents Suggest It Was Official Policy

  A Wisconsin elementary school has come under fire after tossing a ‘rogue’ principal under the bus for directing teachers to prioritize meetings with students based on their race.

  

  Dan Lennington, an attorney with the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, or WILL, says the school’s leadership seems to have abided by district policies calling for educators to spend most of their time on “targeted student populations” – as part of a district policy seen by National Review which calls for decentralizing “whiteness” in schools and using the hiring process to create a staff that is “free of blockers and resistors.”

  Lennington became involved in the case following a whistleblower complaint from an employee who attended a November 2020 staff development meeting at Lake View Elementary. The whistleblower sent Lennington a screen grab of a portion of the meeting discussing the creation of small instructional groups for students. According to the evidence, as part of the district’s “equity vision” and commitment to “black excellence,” teachers were encouraged to “prioritize your African American students meeting with you first and more often,” and “prioritize your English Language learners meeting with you second and more often.”

  When called out, the district tossed the principal under the bus.

  After a drawn-out request for records and a legal battle, the district sent WILL a letter stating that the screen grab was not district policy, but was rather a directive from the principal at Lake View. The principal was “advised of her misunderstanding,” the letter stated, according to WILL.

  On Monday, WILL announced that they had settled a public-records lawsuit against the Madison district, and that the district had agreed to a series of steps to improve its process for filling records requests.

  But as part of the legal fight, the district provided Lennington with additional documents about district policies, strategic plans, and its utilization of racially segregated affinity groups. In a thread on X, formerly Twitter, Lennington wrote that after having reviewed the documents, there is “MUCH reason to doubt” that Lake View’s plan to prioritize black students was a “misunderstanding” at all. -National Review

  “When they say publicly, as they have now, ‘Oh, that one thing was just a misunderstanding, we do not prioritize students based on race,’ we think that’s a lie,” Lennington told National Review.

  “Prioritize Your African American Students”
  In the recent @WILawLiberty settlement, Madison schools abandoned the policy below, claiming it was a “misunderstanding” and at only one school.
  We have MUCH reason to doubt 🧵@RyanAMills77 @RickertWisSJ @VickiMcKenna @wisconsin_now pic.twitter.com/1AhKjbU9DU

  — Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) August 7, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to documents from the November 2020 meeting, following the directive to prioritize meeting with black students and English language learners, the presentation pivoted to the district’s “K-5 Literacy, Biliteracy and Native American Education and Social Studies — Strategic Plan” – which starts out by discussing a “Rally Cry” about the “Master Narrative” — “whatever ideological script that is being imposed by the people in authority on everybody else: The Master Fiction . . . History.”

  According to the document, the Madison school district acknowledges that “the Master Narrative must decentralize whiteness.”

  The document goes on to explain that “80% of our time will be spent attending to our top 20% priority,” which is “students of color (African American and Latinx students), English Language Learners, and students with general reading disabilities.” The document states that “we will attend explicitly to these student population needs by ensuring that they are instructionally targeted* in the literacy, biliteracy, humanities and English curriculum.”

  Another professional development documents indicates that Madison teachers are evaluated on whether they explicitly apply “content goals to our targeted student populations.” Lake View identified those students as their “Focus Students.” -National Review

  “The elementary school was just doing what the strategic plan says to do,” said Lennington, who says that the K-5 literacy and biliteracy strategic plan is an effort to ensure that among the staff, “we’re getting only the most liberal, progressive people.”

  “If someone was not hired or if someone was fired because they didn’t think the right thing, they would definitely have a constitutional claim against the school district,” he said.

  Meanwhile, the district’s documents also detail the approved use of racially segregated affinity groups, and how such groups can “support us in being more vulnerable and in grieving the ignorance, shame, and disgrace that often accommodate racial inquiry.”

  “A white affinity space puts the onus on white people to learn from each other rather than relying on people of color to teach them,” reads the document.

  🛑White freshmen not welcome🛑
  Wisconsin high school to host “Freshmen Students of Color Meet and Greet” on Aug 15. Other freshmen must wait until Aug 30 for their freshman orientation. Segregation pure and simple. And illegal. @AppletonSchools – Call this off or we’ll take… pic.twitter.com/Bxbe9D8CEO

  — Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) August 9, 2023

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

  According to Lennington, “We are definitely looking at our options right now and considering what are the next steps to deal with this sort of rogue district that wants to continue discriminating based on race, despite some of their public statements.”
   

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 23:00

• The Rise and Rhetoric Of The Climate Chicken Littles
  The Rise and Rhetoric Of The Climate Chicken Littles

  Authored by Roger Koops via the Brownstone Institute,

  

  For those who may not recall Chicken Little (AKA Henny Penny), the character was derived in the 1880s and was meant to be an allegorical character. Chicken Little was never intended to be the whimsical Disney fantasy character that it became. Chicken Little was infamous for over-exaggerating threats to existence, most notably, with the phrase “the sky is falling.”  

  As I watched the BBC a couple of days ago, I could not help but notice that the alias of the BBC should be “Chicken Little.”  

  Of course, you can add ABC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Associated Press, NHK (in Japan), PBS, France 24, CBC, CNN, Yahoo, MSNBC, Fox and literally dozens of other mainstream “news” outlets to the list. They all have been Chicken Littles for many years now. People should be adept at recognizing this new media persona.

  Remember also that these have been the same news sources who were proclaiming that a common respiratory virus, a coronavirus, was somehow equal to or maybe worse than Ebola. Or that monkeypox was going to be a new scourge on humanity. Or if you step out of your house some terrorist is ready to blow you up. If you eat not enough of this then you could die or if you eat too much of that you could die. I think I could go on but I will leave everyone to their own favorite lists. 

  These same “News” sources have had no problem in presenting false data, ignoring counterarguments, conducting personal attacks (or firing their own) on those who question their narratives, and so on. These traits alone demand that they be viewed with a heavy dose of skepticism. But, when you add on the alarmist Chicken Little persona, you have something that defies logic. But, that has been recently defined as “Panic Porn,”  and maybe aptly so. 

  According to the BBC, the planet is burning up-they almost literally said as much in the opening of their news segment that I watched last week (ABC was almost identical in its “reporting”). To emphasize the fact that the planet is burning up, the BBC showed the battles against brush fires in Europe, as if these brush fires started spontaneously because the planet is burning up (despite the unreported part that arson has been suspected in many of these fires around the world, from Canada to Europe). 

  And, the color RED has now been adopted as the panic color, so of course the whole map has RED numbers and/or RED overlay with maybe a lucky place or two in orange or maybe yellow. This despite the fact that most of the RED places are actually experiencing rather NORMAL summer weather for their area. But, normal is no longer acceptable.

  They then showed elderly people sitting in their homes in France, without air conditioning, trying to stay cool. Yes, abnormally hot and cold weather do pose the same health risks to the elderly as say, a respiratory virus. That is because the elderly are elderly. It goes with the territory. 

  Here in Japan, there are daily warnings in the summer for the elderly to take caution because of the heat and humidity (with the same warnings in the winter but due to the cold and snow). In the summer, most ambulance runs are rushing elderly people to the hospital due to heat-related illness. In the winter, the number one source of injury and death comes from elderly people attempting to shovel snow from their roof. Many fall and are killed via accident. 

  I can attest to the weakening temperature tolerance of the elderly since I am well into my 60s. I could not tolerate some of the conditions that I took for normal growing up and in my young adult days. For example, growing up in Southern California we had summer season daily high temperatures that were almost always over 100 F (38 C) and would last for weeks. We had no air conditioning. At night, the windows would open and we would hope for a breeze to cool the house down to somewhere in the 80s so that we could sleep. I played outside all of the time during those summer months. Oftentimes, I would return home from being out and my mother would scrape the asphalt from the bottoms of my feet because we kids used to run across asphalt streets barefooted and the asphalt was softened and sticky due to the heat. We oftentimes had strength contests such as who could walk across the street the SLOWEST. 

  At my current age, forget it! I do some things outside for a while and then it is back into the house and I will sit with an ice-cold beer and some air conditioning. Meanwhile, the youngsters are all out there on their bikes and playing sports, etc. Hurray for them!

  Is Chicken Little, AKA Mainstream Media, correct? Is the planet burning up?

  Let’s examine some of the narratives and see if they hold up to some scrutiny.

  Why No Scientist Denies “Climate Change”

  The rather ambiguous term, Climate Change, itself states only a known fact. 

  Fact. All of the Earth’s several climatic zones are dynamic (not static) ecosystems, each in their own way, and they all combine to form the overall natural ecosystem that makes up our planet. Since they are dynamic, they are in a constant state of change.

  The tropical rain forests cycle through changes as do the sub-tropics (an area where I live) as do the desert regions, arctic regions, tundra regions, temperate zones, and so on. A changing climate in any of the climatic zones is NORMAL. Virtually every scientist knows and understands that ecosystems are dynamic. 

  What makes the term “Climate Change” ambiguous is that first of all, there is no such thing as the “Earth’s Climate” and second of all, you need to specifically define what exactly is the change and to what extent are you relating to that change.

  Most people have now been brainwashed to think that the term “Climate Change” is the equivalent of the following conclusive assertion (as I have interpreted it in as concise a form as possible and formulated it into an equation):

  Climate Change = The planet Earth is experiencing an ecological disaster and existential threat to human life (hence mammalian life) due to planet-wide increases in atmospheric temperatures (i.e. global warming) that is the direct result of greenhouse emissions (e.g. carbon dioxide) that are due primarily to human population growth, technology, and “carelessness/indifference.”  

  As you can see, there is a rather huge leap from the recognition that our planet experiences dynamic climate fluctuations (real climate change) to the concept of a disastrous, human-induced catastrophe that specifies warming and connections to human produced CO2. In other words, the term has been hijacked and redefined in order to support a narrative.

  There is not universal consensus when it comes to the above equation and catastrophic assertions.

  Why Weather is NOT the Same as Climate

  The Chicken Littles will have you believe that a hot summer day (or series thereof) proves global warming while an unusually cold winter day (or series thereof) proves nothing. You never witness a report that we are in global cooling or heading towards an ice age if many locations on Earth suddenly experience cold weather and blizzards. I am sorry, Chicken Littles, you cannot have it both ways.

  As anyone with any sense knows, weather is a local phenomenon. I could be experiencing intense thunderstorms while my friend living only 10 miles away could be experiencing pleasant, cloudless skies. I could be experiencing a brutally hot day while another friend living 30 miles away is experiencing a mild day. During the winter, I could be experiencing a blizzard while another friend is experiencing simply a cold day.

  Different climatic zones have different weather trends. For example, the tropics tend to have warm and humid weather conditions year round because, well, it is the tropics. The arctic regions tend to experience cold conditions and deserts can fluctuate between really hot to really cold, all within 24 hours! I will discuss more about what causes these trends below.

  Because it is a local phenomena, the extremes of weather, such as hot/cold days, storms, winds, etc. are highly variable and there is little discernible pattern except on the long-term scale. The long-term scale that we tend to use is referred to as “the seasons.”  And the seasons are not random but relate to how our planet rotates on its axis (maximal rotational velocity of about 1,000 miles per hour at the equator and almost nothing at the exact poles) and how it revolves around the star which we call the Sun (revolution velocity of about 65,000 miles per hour and an angular tilt of about 23 degrees to the plane of the sun)

  Summer/Winter is defined as that period between the two solstice (meaning “sun stop”) periods of summer and winter (when the plane of the sun is in line with either of the two tropics, Capricorn or Cancer) with a peak being when the equator of Earth is in alignment with the Sun (Fall/Spring Equinox). 

  On our Western calendar, that period falls between the solstice dates of June 21 and December 21 (peaking as equinox on June 21) and defines as Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

  Summer seasons tend to be “warm” and winter seasons tend to be “cold” and the interim seasons, fall and spring shift towards warmer or colder. These trends tend to hold although there may be variations during these seasons.

  Immediately, you can see that besides climatic regions, we can add hemispherical/seasonal effects to the planet’s melange of climate. 

  Within this already huge range of climatic zones there are subzones of atmospheric movement and thermodynamics, which create weather patterns. An example could be the arrival of spring thunderstorms and tornadoes in the middle sections of the US. These weather patterns occur because of the mixing of warm, humid air coming from the tropics (the Gulf of Mexico in the US) colliding with the colder air masses coming from the north. This collision of air masses does not cause one big huge tornado over the whole Midwest; rather, you get localized regions of weather. The reason is that these huge air masses are NOT homogeneous even in themselves. 

  Many areas may experience a typical spring day while others can experience intense thunderstorms and tornadoes. Perhaps the next day it changes and the storms move on or dissipate. Those local weather patterns are caused by local features of atmospheric conditions, many of which meteorologists still do not fully understand. The reason is that the thermodynamics involved in complex systems can be hard to predict. 

  I had a house in northern Illinois and during one spring a series of tornadoes passed through my area. One tornado took a path directly towards my house and the local sirens were blazing. But, somehow, that tornado elevated before hitting my house, skipped over, and touched down again about one block past my house. While I had a few moments of some heart-pounding in my basement, I found my house intact so I breathed a sigh of relief and went to bed thinking that the storm had actually dissipated. The next morning on the news, the storm path was shown from a helicopter and sure enough, my house and a few around it were untouched but you could see the path of destruction on other sides. I ran out of the house and saw it for the first time.

  That is how weather works. 

  Why Warm Temperature Does NOT Mean Global Warming

  Here is where we start to get into the concept of data collection and interpretation and the reliability or unreliability of data. This is usually where the debate begins with the two basic questions: Where is the data collected and how is it being collected (and reported)?

  The thermometer, the instrument that we have for measuring temperature, was invented about 300 years ago. Whether it is a traditional thermometer (one designed on the expansion properties of some known liquid in a specially designed tube) or a more modern thermometer (designed on the electrochemical properties of some material), they mean nothing without some relative scale.

  When the first thermometers were developed, three scales of measurement were established and are still in use to this day. Those three scales are the Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin scales. The Kelvin scale tends to be applied in science while both the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales tend to be used in more common, everyday measurements. All three of the scales have a common reference point, the freezing point of pure water. The Celsius scale defines that temperature as 0, the Fahrenheit scale defines it as 32, and the Kelvin scale defines it as 273.2 (0 on the Kelvin scale is absolute zero, whereby there is no energy output/transfer or motion of atomic or subatomic particles). All three scales can be related via mathematical equations. 

  For example, F = 9/5 C + 32. Thus, 0 C x 9/5 (= 0) + 32 = 32 F. Or, 100 C (boiling point of water in Celsius) x 9/5 (= 180) + 32 = 212 F (boiling point of water in Fahrenheit).

  The first attempts at measuring weather temperatures were started in the late 1800s as an attempt at some form of weather forecasting. Gradually, cities and towns began recording their own local weather temperatures as an informational service to the residents.

  Prior to that time, we have absolutely ZERO temperature data from around the planet Earth. That means that for over 99.9999 percent of our planet’s history since the appearance of hominids, we have no data as to what atmospheric temperatures existed anywhere on our planet. We can make inferences by understanding that there were glacial ice age periods, whereby much of the planet was in colder temperatures but we have no idea what those temperatures, daily or seasonal, were.

  There are actually very few records of even descriptive temperature weather events beyond whether it was hot or cold. Daily temperatures were of little consequence to people and the ancients paid more attention to the extreme weather events. Hot and cold had little meaning other than how you dealt with it or maybe talked about it.

  So, we have much less than two centuries worth of data based upon a scale that was devised only three centuries ago. Further, that data is sporadic and many of the conditions of sampling were not recorded or reported. Drawing conclusions from this data is like taking a brief look up at the sky and seeing clouds and concluding that the sky is always cloudy.

  Further, we know that temperature sampling is very dependent on many factors and cannot give consistent and reliable information. It serves only as a reference point. For example, we know that temperature sampling and information is highly dependent on:

  • Sampling Location. We know that altitude can affect temperature readings. Air temperatures decrease within the altitudes that humans exist. That is because the ground and water serve as a source of thermal energy, either reflective and/or through direct transmission. 
  • Sampling Time. We know that the timing of temperature sampling varies widely during all hours of the day and is not consistent from day to day. One day the high temperature may be 2 pm but the next may be 1 pm, and so on.
  • Effects of Terrain and Man Made structures. We know that temperature sampling can be hugely affected by the local terrain and if there is asphalt, concrete, brick, or other such non-natural things present. As an example, check out this reference. I have actually performed experiments whereby I set up several thermometers on my property and none of them record the same temperature even though they are all in almost the same general location, the same height off of the ground, but they experience slightly different conditions (shade, wind, proximity to structures, etc.); I have seen variations of up to 4 C. 

  Official records can be a source of data that confirms the above.

  I went back to the records for Seattle going back to 1900. Because of the extensive amount of data, I randomly chose the maximum temperature recorded for Seattle and I did that for every four years. That data is presented below in Graph 1. Yes, I intentionally “skipped” data on a consistent pattern to save space but you can go to the data and do your own full plot and see what the graph looks like. 

  

  A superficial examination of the data represented in Graph 1 shows something unusual. That is that the data seems less variable from 1900-about 1944 and much more variable after that time. The reason for that is this data is not represented by the same sampling location. Up to 1948, the temperature data was collected at the University of Washington (UW), which is located north of downtown Seattle and alongside Lake Washington. Since 1948, the temperature data reflects temperatures collected at the Seattle-Tacoma International airport (Sea-Tac), which is located on the south side of Seattle adjacent to Puget Sound. The two areas of temperature record are approximately 30 miles apart and can have quite different local weather patterns. Thus, the “Seattle” data is not truly representative of Seattle but represents two different collection points located miles apart.

  Extrapolating local temperatures into some worldwide climate model requires extreme caution. The data that is being presented that supposedly supports global warming is all based upon computer modeling and it represents an “average” of planetary conditions. Those are both conditions that have rather significant error bars associated with them. 

  One of the most serious, underlying assumptions is that the planetary ecosystem is homogeneous. It is not. If you have a large, Olympic-size pool filled only with distilled water and you insert a small syringe into the pool at some location and withdraw a sample and analyze that sample, you might expect to find only the molecule H2O, water-and that is maybe what you will find if you assume complete homogeneity of the pool. 

  But, chemically speaking, as soon as you fill that pool, the water surface layer will begin to interact with the air around it and the water in contact with the concrete surface of the pool will interact with that surface. That means that the water becomes contaminated to some degree from water soluble air contaminants and surface contamination and whether or not you detect that contamination depends on time, sampling location, sample size, and extent of possible contamination. Further, it depends on what type of contamination you are looking for. If you are looking for a chemical, you will use different techniques than if you are looking for some microbiological contamination. 

  Thus, if I take a syringe sample of that pool and I only test for and find water (H2O), I cannot claim that the pool is actually pure, 100 percent water. That assumption is based upon total homogeneity and it ignores the possibility of contamination from air and contact sources, as minor as they may be. 

  For all of these “global warming” calculations and claims, the algorithms should be published for scientific review. The assumptions and conditions should be published for scientific review. The data sampling details should be published for scientific review. The degrees of uncertainty around each sampling point and data point should be clearly identified. 

  Without examination of all issues, the claims mean nothing.

  What Defines a Greenhouse Gas?

  Most people probably have some idea of a greenhouse and what it does. It is a structure that moderates temperature and humidity that allows for a more constant growth of green things. I could get more technical but I think people understand the basic concept and certainly if anyone has ever established a greenhouse or has visited one, they understand.

  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Water Vapor (WV) is the most potent greenhouse gas while CO2 is the most significant. Yet, the meaning of both of those definitions seems to be lost and is not even defined. What is the difference between potent and significant and how does that relate to the “Climate Change” misnomer? To answer these questions, we need to look at some standard thermodynamic chemistry involving gaseous molecules.

  First, almost any gaseous molecule has some degree of greenhouse capability as defined by what is known as heat capacity. The heat capacity is the ability of the molecule to “hold” thermal energy and this is related to how it functions at the molecular level. In reference to this capability, the values that I will give in this article are in the units of Joules (J) per gram (g) degree Kelvin or J/g-K and have been determined for most common compounds and reported in the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 

  Second, there is an additional thermodynamic feature that can contribute to the greenhouse capability. That feature is the ability of the gaseous molecule to absorb energy in the Infra-Red (IR) region of the spectrum. It is the IR portion of the spectrum that is generally associated with thermal energy. It is very difficult to quantify the IR absorption capability unless you overlap the actual IR spectrograph of each compound. Thus, this capability is generally qualitatively expressed as “++” for the highest order of absorption, “+” for a good absorber, and “-“ for little or no absorption.

  Our homogeneous planetary atmosphere consists of the molecular components of about 78 percent nitrogen, N2, (heat capacity of 1.04 and IR “-“), 21 percent oxygen, O2, (heat capacity of 0.92 and IR “-“) with minor quantities of 0.93 percent argon, Ar, (heat capacity of 0.52 and IR “-“) and 0.04 percent carbon dioxide, CO2, (heat capacity of 0.82 and IR “+”). Since these gaseous molecules do not become liquid or solid under typical Earth conditions (except CO2 can become solid under temperature conditions in the Antarctic region), they represent a reasonably accurate average sample of our atmosphere, although the actual composition of CO2 can vary by location (I will explain later). Most of our greenhouse contribution from the homogeneous atmosphere comes from N2 and O2 since these are in the most abundance (99 percent) and have some good heat capacity (better than CO2).

  The “X” Factor in our atmosphere and in terms of greenhouse effect is the presence of water vapor, WV. Our planet has about 70 percent of the surface area covered in H2O. Although water boils at 100 C, it is constantly evaporating under typical surface temperatures, even those near freezing. Certainly, the warmer either the water temperature and/or the surface air temperature, the greater the degree of evaporation and the greater the degree of WV in the atmosphere. 

  WV (heat capacity 1.86, IR “++”) can exist homogeneously but also heterogeneously (such as in clouds). The amount of homogeneous WV that our atmosphere can maintain depends on the air temperature and pressure. Relative Humidity, RH, is the measure that we use to express the amount of water that the atmosphere is capable of holding in gaseous form under the local conditions of temperature and pressure. 

  The Encyclopedia Britannica is certainly correct in WV being the most potent greenhouse gas. It has both the highest degree of heat capacity and the highest degree of IR absorption of all atmospheric components on Earth. It can also exist as a homogeneous component or heterogeneous component. That combination means that WV plays the most important role in weather patterns on our planet as well as in the greenhouse effect that is common in many regions of the planet.

  Our tropics have warm, humid climates essentially year round because the tropical regions of the planet have the greatest percentage of water and the highest and most consistent degree of energy input from the sun. The tropics are the planet’s natural greenhouse. This is why the tropics are also the home to the many rainforests. 

  The tropical regions also spawn the most severe weather events (typhoons/hurricanes) not only because of the tropical climate but also in combination with the Earth’s rotational and revolutional velocities (about 1,000 and 65,000 miles per hour, respectively) . This movement creates the Coriolis effect, the “Jet Stream,” and the complexities of atmospheric movement which contributes to the development of cyclonic, warm water-driven storms and all other weather events.

  

  If it is true that WV is the most potent greenhouse gas and that the most potent weather patterns are spawned in the tropics, then we should be able to see clear patterns of increased greenhouse effects (if they exist) in the tropical storm patterns on Earth. That is because we should be seeing an increase in energy-fueled, WV-driven cyclonic events if there is significant warming.

  Do we see that pattern? The graph below depicts the frequency and severity of Western Pacific cyclonic storms (tropical storms and typhoons). There is one difficulty in interpreting the data, and that is the same as with local temperature records. The difficulty is that the definition of a typhoon and its severity has changed over time. Still, if there has been significant temperature increases this should lead to greater energy input into tropical storms, meaning greater frequency and strength.

  The old definition of a severe typhoon used to be associated with the amount of physical damage it produced on the human scale. The problem with that definition is that not all tropical storms or typhoons actually hit land or land that has modern human population. 

  For disclosure, over time, there have been attempts to standardize the definition of typhoon but that is still being smoothed out. I established my own definitions based upon the data available. For the total numbers each season (in blue), any storm classified as a tropical storm or greater was counted. The green represents a severe typhoon based upon the more recent categorization as a level 3 or greater (which began in the 1940s). Finally, I added a category that I called the “super” typhoon and since there is still no consensus on this definition (now only referred to as “violent”), I used the central pressure of 910 millibars or less as a definition to be consistent (measurements of pressures also only began in the late 1940s). 

  Before the 1940s, we have almost no data as to the true severity of storms and maybe even the numbers can be questioned since they are based on storms that were only experienced by humans.

  So far in 2023, we have just recorded the presence of tropical storm number 6 as we near the beginning of August. Unless there is some rapid uptake in storms over the next two months, 2023 is on pace to be below 25 storms for the year, perhaps between 20-25.

  I find it difficult to see any pattern in cyclonic storms from the tropical climates that indicate any unusual increase in temperatures. What we can see is a typical cycle of storms with some years having more and some years less, with the average hovering around 25 per year. Stronger storms also seem to wax and wane and there are too few of the super typhoons to draw any observation. These data and observations seem to indicate that the most potent greenhouse gas of WV seems to be producing cyclonic storm patterns in a rather consistent mode over the past century.

  Is CO2 a Significant Greenhouse Gas?

  It is difficult for me to address this question because I really do NOT know what the term “significant” means from a scientific standpoint. Potent I can understand; but significant? Yes, CO2 has both a moderate heat capacity and a moderate ability for IR absorption, which qualifies it as a greenhouse gas.

  However, from pure chemical thermodynamics and abundance in our atmosphere, CO2 seems to be a minor player, at best. Its true contribution to the greenhouse effect is almost non-existent when compared to N2, O2, and WV.

  We know even less about CO2 concentrations, both historically and contemporarily, than just about every other component of our atmosphere. We only started measuring CO2 in the atmosphere in the late 1950s, so we have less than a century of data. And that data is suspect in its own right-something I will come to below.

  There is another fact that people need to understand. Our planet “breathes.” It is not dissimilar to the breathing that humans do without thinking to survive. We breathe in air, we take what we need from that air (mostly the oxygen), and we exhale what we don’t need as well as our unwanted waste products, including CO2.

  The planet does the same thing in all ecosystems. Here are examples of our planet breathing using CO2:

  • Green plants breathe in the air-the same air as humans. They do not use nitrogen and argon (both are essentially inert)-the same as humans, and cannot use oxygen. But, this very minor little component of our atmosphere, CO2, is what they need. They take in the CO2 and through photosynthesis they exhale O2 (which most animals need to survive). Thus, CO2 is essential to the survival of plants while O2 is essential to the survival of most animals (including humans). There are bacteria species that survive with oxygen (aerobic) and some without (anaerobic). But, any organism that is dependent on photosynthesis needs CO2.
  • CO2 also is inhaled by the Earth and contributes to rock formation (limestone formation) which is an ongoing process. By the same token, the Earth also exhales CO2 via volcanism (in fact, volcanoes represent the single greatest natural source of CO2 on our planet).
  • CO2 is absorbed by water and goes into aquatic life. Coral reefs depend on CO2 as do shellfish. Plankton depend on CO2 for their contribution to photosynthesis and plankton represent the bottom of the food chain in aquatic environments. Thus, CO2 absorption by the oceans is not a disaster but is important for that ecosystem.

  The fact is, we do not know what the historical atmospheric content of CO2 has been and I am willing to argue that maybe we still do not really know. Many computer models have attempted to derive that information but that has mostly been obtained from data derived from limited core sampling on Earth, primarily in Antarctica and from atmospheric measurements.. How representative these core samples and measurements have been of the true atmospheric contents can be debated.

  Antarctica is the only place on Earth, now, that is capable of actually freezing out CO2 from the atmosphere into a solid “dry ice” form. Does that fact itself skew the results? Are the scoring techniques really trustworthy? Are we introducing contaminated air during the sampling and/or testing processes? What other conditions were known on our planet that correlate to the computations made from the samples?

  In my opinion, CO2 plays a significant role in planetary ecosystems but it seems to have little ability to impact the greenhouse effect, even though by itself it classifies as a greenhouse gas. Thus, I am prepared to debate the contention of the Encyclopedia Britannica that this can be combined to make something described as a significant greenhouse gas.

  This also leads to examining the source of the atmospheric CO2 data.

  Virtually all of the CO2 data that is used in the computer modeling comes from sampling stations that are located on Mauna Loa in the Hawaiian Islands (which were established in the late 1950s). Since we know that volcanoes are the single greatest natural source of CO2 emissions, why would we put a sampling station on an active volcanic archipelago? Are we truly measuring some homogeneous Earth atmospheric concentration of CO2 or are we actually measuring the output of Hawaiian Island volcanoes? What happens to the CO2 that is exhaled on our planet, i.e. how long does it take to “mix” and become homogeneous in the atmosphere (if ever)?

  The only data that could make any sense would come from a rather intense network of sampling locations throughout the world with multiple locations in each climatic zone in order to establish the true nature of CO2 homogeneity in our atmosphere. You would also need to have some sort of control stations that would help in studying what may be produced and what can be considered truly a homogeneous part of our atmosphere.

  Further if you want to control the already low concentration of atmospheric CO2, stop deforestation and plant more trees and green things. Green things become the bellwether of CO2. That is one of the simplest and most natural answers to the CO2 question. Plant more green things! You do not have to wait decades for technology to improve; green things grow in weeks and start doing their job of CO2 absorption from the get-go. I know, since I am an amateur farmer.

  It is a good thing to make people more aware of wasteful production and to encourage more efficient energy usage, but that is a far cry from trying to change humanity and establish Totalitarian societies.

  As Carl Sagan famously said, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Where is the extraordinary evidence? How does a rather normal greenhouse gas (CO2) that exists in the PPM range in our atmosphere somehow gain the function of completely dominating our climate?

  Why do we ignore a more potent greenhouse gas (WV), that exists in far greater ranges and has much more influence on climate? Could it be that we cannot even begin to control humans since we cannot control water due to its abundance on our planet?

  Where is the evidence that “Net Zero” is actually a benefit for the Earth? Perhaps it will prove detrimental; what happens then?

  Is Methane (CH4) a Significant Greenhouse Gas?

  CH4 is a member of what we call the “natural gases.”  These include CH4, ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), and maybe even butane (C4H10). They are called natural gases for a reason and that is because they can be found all over the Earth. Methane, ethane, and propane are all gases at normal ambient temperatures and pressures. Methane has a heat capacity of about 2 J/g K. Technically, methane could contribute to a greenhouse effect should it achieve significant concentrations in our atmosphere.

  However, methane is almost non-existent in our atmosphere despite many natural, animal (such as cow farts) and human sources. The reason that methane does not build up in our atmosphere is based upon basic chemistry. CH4 will react with O2 (abundant in our atmosphere) in the presence of any ignition source. This reaction creates, please hold your breath, WV and CO2. Just like the combustion of any organic material will create WV and CO2 as products.

  What are ignition sources? Lightning, fires, engines, matches, spark plugs, fireplaces, and any other flame source. If you project that idea, think about gasoline or other fuels. These fuels do have some evaporation under normal environmental conditions. Even with the modern fuel nozzles, some vaporized gasoline will emit (you can probably smell it). Where does it go? It goes into the atmosphere but as soon as there is some ignition source and if any gasoline molecules are floating around near that source, they will combust and produce WV and CO2.

  True, we do not witness little air bursts occurring because this combustion occurs at the molecular level. If there was enough methane in the air in a given space, you would witness a burst with combustion. One lightning bolt can clear the air of any methane that may be lurking just like it can produce ozone by the presence of O2.

  I think people can understand why our planet does not accumulate methane.

  Cows are not a threat (and never have been). The manure that cows produce also happens to be one of the best natural fertilizer sources for growing green things, which happen to be beneficial in using atmospheric CO2 and producing O2. Thus, cows serve a useful purpose in the ecology of the planet. I will not even go into the benefits of drinking bovine milk, which are well known.

  Does a Rise in Sea Level Result Only from Global Warming and Increased Water? 

  No, definitely not. The one thing that you need to do is to carefully examine all land masses and track the changes. The reason is that the surface of the Earth is neither homogeneous or static. There is something called “plate tectonics.”

  Plate tectonics is a theory that explains much of our geological experience and history. What plate tectonics tells us is that the solid surface of the Earth, whether it is above water line or below water, has several segments and these segments are in constant movement and they have complex movements in relation to the other plates. These movements give rise to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and even changes in water flow, such as rivers and oceans.

  Further, we know that the tectonic shifts on Earth are not two-dimensional, but are three-dimensional AND unpredictable. Every time there is an earthquake on the planet Earth, the surface of the planet changes. Depending on the size of that earthquake, that change may be imperceptible to noticeable. But, we experience thousands of earthquakes each year on this planet. Certainly, the surface of the Earth is in constant change. There are places on Earth where the water table is generally stable but even a moderate earthquake somewhere on the planet can actually affect changes in the water table (splashing). If that can happen during a minor seismic event, think of what the constant shifting of the plates can do to the perceived water levels.

  If the surface of the Earth was like an unchanging surface such as a soccer ball inflated to a specific pressure, then one could expect that any increase or decrease in the amount of water on that unchanging surface should give an indication of change to the amount of surface water. This also presumes that the evaporation and condensation equilibrium of water on that surface remains constant, such that the new source of water comes from solid water located on the surface.

  Now, suppose you could take that soccer ball and place a known amount of water on its surface (meaning the soccer ball somehow had gravity to hold that water in place). Further, you are able to mark the exact levels of that water on the soccer ball with a marker. Then suppose that you are able to squeeze that soccer ball, even ever so slightly, and observe the outcome. Will the water levels that you marked remain unchanged? No, there will be fluctuations. In some places, the water level may be less than marked and in other places, it will be more.

  We know that this happens on a regular basis on Earth because of gravitational tides, but those are an external influence (from the Moon and Sun, but can be affected even by other planets). Tides also are a daily event and we can predict their schedule because they are so observable.

  We seem to ignore our own internal factors, but they do exist.

  As far as I know, I am the only one who has stated this obvious, naturally occurring, physical attribute of our planet. Yes, our planet “throbs” and that can affect sea level changes in any given location and may be hard to predict. Further, the planet “throbbing” occurs on a time scale which may be almost imperceptible to humans. Geologists tell us that some areas move many centimeters or more each year while others have much less movement. The mountains may gain in altitude by imperceptible but measurable means (or they may recede).

  How do we distinguish any local change in water level from a simple fluctuation of the Earth’s three-dimensional structure as opposed to some change in actual volume? Further, if we can actually ascertain that the change in volume is not due to some fluctuation of the Earth’s structure, how do we know that the change is due to some existential threat? These questions are complex and have not been answered.

  What about arctic or antarctic melts? Doesn’t that contribute to sea level rise?

  It might if there were no other factors that affect the amount of liquid water on our planet at any time. In other words, if liquid water amounts on our planet were somehow static, then a new source, such as that from a melting glacier, should have some effect. The fact is, water evaporation occurs constantly on our planet and it is not predictable. Likewise, the new addition of liquid water on our planet is constant and also not predictable. The state of water, liquid, solid, or gaseous, is in constant flux or in other words, it is dynamic. We do NOT know what that equilibrium point is.

  The contribution of liquid water on our planet comes from mostly the already 70 percent of our planet covered in water. That planetary water source will produce WV via evaporation. Where there is more water and warmer temperatures/greater energy input, the amount of evaporation increases and more WV is produced. There are some minor subsurface sources of water, mostly attributed to what best can be described as surface seepage, but those sources are relatively minor.

  From WV, we then get condensation events such as rain and snow. That water then gets used or consumed by the living things that are dependent on it (such as plants, animals, people, microbes, etc.) or returns back into the aquatic ecosystem. But, if there were only consumption, then eventually the balance of water would diminish. However, life on our planet produces water as well as consumes it. Humans consume water for survival but we also produce it as sweat, humidity in our breath, and in our waste (for example urine). We also produce water through our presence and use of technology. Burning wood produces water, for example, as does driving an internal combustion engine. That is good for things that use water.

  We also produce CO2, which is good for the many things that use CO2. What we do not know is if the human-sourced production of CO2 is in any way competitive with or additive to the natural sources of CO2 and creating some horrific imbalance. I would not consider a change from 300 ppm to 400 ppm creating a horrific imbalance considering that the other 99.96 percent of molecular components are contributing just as much or more. Perhaps if the thermal capabilities of CO2 were thousands of times greater than the capabilities of our other atmospheric components, I would be concerned-but that is not the case.

  Somehow, through all of these complex mechanisms, an equilibrium is maintained. We do not know what that equilibrium is and if it has changed over the eons since water-based life has existed on our planet.

  Humans Have Become Experts at Cherry-Picking Information 

  If you look at the several points that I have made above, you can see this to be true. Humans will pick what they want to pick to support what they want to support. Further, humans seem to have become willing to change their definitions in order to support what they want to support. This is why language is so important and needs to be clear, and why universally accepted definitions are important.

  Everyone needs to become a scientific reviewer, especially when watching the Chicken Littles of our media world. You need to ask the basic questions:

  • How was the data obtained?
  • Where was the data obtained?
  • What are the controls that allow for a proper reference point for the data?
  • Has data been excluded? If so, why?
  • Is the data representative?
  • Are we talking about simple, static systems or complex, dynamic systems?
  • Are there other explanations for the data besides what is being given?
  • Was the data computer-generated? If so, what were the assumptions and parameters that were used?
  • Are there arguments or debating points? If so, what are they? If they are being suppressed, why?
  • Are there historical perspectives?
  • Have the definitions changed? If so, why and is there a consensus on the new definition?
  • Why in years past did you report summer temperatures in black font on green map backgrounds and now you push everything in red?
  • What is the standard qualification and/or reference point for using “red” or “orange” in your messaging? 
  • If what you are reporting is being reported as some sort of record, how far back does that data reliably go back to? Have the previous “records” been measured from that same exact location? Have there been any confounding issues that have changed the location or sampling?

  And so on. In science, there is no question that is “too dumb.”  Even the basic question “I am afraid that I do not understand, can you please explain it to me?” is rational and deserves to be explained.

  Our planet is a very complex set of ecosystems that have lifespans far beyond even human existence, some working together and some in competition. Most of these we have not even begun to understand and we have only begun to collect data. Our knowledge of our ecosystem history is only slowly gaining (and it is not aided by avoiding debate and cherry-picking data).

  I have selected only a few of the forefront topics to examine in the most cursory way. But, you can see that even a cursory examination seeds doubt about the narratives, creates more questions, and demands greater and more open debate.

  I do not claim to have the answers but I certainly am not afraid to ask the questions.

  Roger W. Koops holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside as well as Master and Bachelor degrees from Western Washington University. He worked in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry for over 25 years. Before retiring in 2017, he spent 12 years as a Consultant focused on Quality Assurance/Control and issues related to Regulatory Compliance. He has authored or co-authored several papers in the areas of pharmaceutical technology and chemistry.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 22:30

• America's Favorite Music Genres
  America’s Favorite Music Genres

  Yesterday, August 11th, was the 50th anniversary of hip hop.

  

  With this in mind, Statista’s  Anna Fleck takes a look at the latest data from Statista’s Consumer Insights survey to gauge how popular the genre is in the United States.

  As the following chart shows, hip hop ranks in fourth place of the selected options, with nearly four in ten U.S. Americans listening to it.

  A slightly higher share of female listeners (41 percent) said they listened to urban music, including hip hop and R&B than men (36 percent) in the U.S.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The most popular genre in the U.S. is rock and indie music, with 45 percent of respondents who listen to the radio or digital music content saying that they listen to it.

  Country music and pop music also score highly, listened to by 42 percent and 40 percent of respondents, respectively.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 22:00

• Radioactive Fish Discovered Near Fukushima Renews Concerns Over Plans To Dump Nuclear Wastewater Into Ocean
  Radioactive Fish Discovered Near Fukushima Renews Concerns Over Plans To Dump Nuclear Wastewater Into Ocean

  Authored by Zoey Sky via Natural News,

  

  Japanese plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) studied a black rockfish in May and found that it contained levels of radioactive cesium that were 180 times over Japan’s regulatory limit.

  The radioactive fish was caught near drainage outlets at the TEPCO plant, where three nuclear reactors melted down amidst a tsunami in March 2011. Rainwater from areas near the reactors flows into the area where the fish was caught.

  The alarming discovery reignited concerns over TEPCO’s plans to start releasing 1.3 million tons of treated wastewater from the former Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by August.

  A report from July 23 showed that the problem is still unaddressed, prompting questions about how dangerous the company’s plans are for the public.

  Radioactive cesium health risks

  Radioactive cesium has been detected in surface water and different kinds of food, such as breast milk and pasteurized milk. The amount of radioactive cesium in food and milk depends on several factors.

  The most important factor is whether or not there has been a recent fallout from a nuclear explosion, like a weapons test or an accident at a nuclear power plant.

  Depending on one’s level of exposure, cesium can cause diarrhea, bleeding, nausea, vomiting, coma and death.

  TEPCO wastewater has been mixed with rainwater and groundwater since the tsunami. The company admitted that fish near the drainage outlets are unsafe for consumption because the concentration of cesium in seabed sediment in the area has measured more than 100,000 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg). The maximum legal level is only 100 Bq/kg.

  A TEPCO official explained that the company has regularly removed fish from inside the port since 2012 because contaminated water flowed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station port immediately after the accident.

  In January 2022, a fish caught near Fukushima was found to have high levels of radiation. Authorities said that the fish had escaped from the drainage outlet.

  Following the report, shipments of black rockfish caught off the coast of Fukushima prefecture were immediately suspended. As of writing, they have not been resumed.

  More than 40 fish with cesium levels over the legal limit were caught in TEPCO’s port between May 2022 and May 2023. At least 90 percent of the fish were from the inner breakwater, where water flows from the area surrounding the melted TEPCO reactors.

  Wastewater release approved despite potential radiological impact

  The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in Japan and the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have both approved TEPCO’s plan to release wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. The company claims the move is necessary to “secure space for decommissioning the plant.” (Related: Japan gets green light to release Fukushima radioactive water into Pacific Ocean.)

  However, the process would take decades to complete using an Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS). Earlier in July, the IAEA said the plan would have a “negligible radiological impact” on people and the environment.

  Paul Dorfman from Ireland’s Radiological Protection Advisory Committee warned that reports like the one about the contaminated rockfish are likely far from over.

  Companies believing and pretending certain things are not harmful because it is convenient is “literally killing the planet,” said Celine-Marie Pascale, an American University sociologist. She added that most of the time, corporate interests “triumph at global expense.”

  Meanwhile, officials in Hong Kong have declared that they will ban food imports from 10 prefectures in Japan if the release moves forward in August. Some Chinese wholesalers have already stopped accepting seafood imports from Japan.

  Aside from concerns about cesium, TEPCO has admitted that ALPS, which it plans to use, may not be enough to eliminate isotopes such as cobalt, plutonium, ruthenium and strontium. The system is also unable to remove tritium, the radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

  In June, Masanobu Sakamoto, president of JF Zengyoren, Japan Fisheries Cooperatives, said the group does not support the Japanese government’s stance that “an ocean release is the only solution.”

  Watch the video below for the IEAA’s report on the allegedly safe Fukushima water release.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 21:30

• "David Weiss Can’t Be Trusted": Comer, Jordan Slam Hunter Biden Special Counsel 'Coverup'
  “David Weiss Can’t Be Trusted”: Comer, Jordan Slam Hunter Biden Special Counsel ‘Coverup’

  The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, James Comer (R-KY) said in a Friday statement that the announcement of a special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation is a DOJ “coverup.”

  

  “This move by Attorney General Garland is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family coverup in light of the House Oversight Committee’s mounting evidence of President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s schemes selling ‘the brand’ for millions of dollars to foreign nationals,” Comer said in a lengthy statement shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of US Attorney David Weiss as special counsel, the <a href="

  NEW: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has released the following statement on AG Merrick Garland designating David Weiss as special counsel for the Biden criminal investigation:@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/iL4GBWZvIB

  — Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) August 11, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js “>Daily Caller reports.

  

  “The Justice Department’s misconduct and politicization in the Biden criminal investigation already allowed the statute of limitations to run with respect to egregious felonies committed by Hunter Biden. Justice Department officials refused to follow evidence that could have led to Joe Biden, tipped off the Biden transition team and Hunter Biden’s lawyers about planned interviews and searches, and attempted to sneakily place Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal,” the statement continues.

  NEW: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has released the following statement on AG Merrick Garland designating David Weiss as special counsel for the Biden criminal investigation:@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/iL4GBWZvIB

  — Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) August 11, 2023

  “Let’s be clear what today’s move is really about. The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family’s corruption. The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the Biden family’s money trail and interview witnesses to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened. We will also continue to work with the House Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means to root out misconduct at the Justice Department and hold bad actors accountable for weaponizing law enforcement powers,” Comer continued. 

  House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-OH) conveyed similar sentiments, telling the Caller: “David Weiss can’t be trusted and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption. Weiss has already signed off on a sweetheart plea deal that was so awful and unfair that a federal judge rejected it. We will continue to pursue facts brought to light by brave whistleblowers as well as Weiss’s inconsistent statements to Congress.”

  NEW: “David Weiss can’t be trusted and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption. Weiss has already signed off on a sweetheart plea deal that was so awful and unfair that a federal judge rejected it. We will continue to pursue facts brought to light by…

  — Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) August 11, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttps://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to Garland, “The appointment of Mr. Weiss reinforces for the American people the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” adding “I am confident that Mr. Weiss will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent manner, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department.”

  We’re sure he’s quite confident.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 21:00

• A "Global Inflationary Depression" Is Very Possible
  A “Global Inflationary Depression” Is Very Possible

  Authored by Bruce Wilds via the Advancing Time blog,

  

  Roughly two and a half years ago it was predicted here on AdvancingTime that we might soon be witness to the first global inflationary depression. Many of us predicted inflation rolling in but underestimated the size of stimulus that would be put in the pipeline. This has only postponed the collapse of the financial system and economy. Still, many investors are basing their investments on more intervention from central banks and governments to pull another rabbit out of their hats. 

  Global inflationary depression is not a mix of words we normally see placed together. To those finding this notion unacceptable, we could reframe this as a stagflation era of reversion. Moving us towards the depression part of this scenario is the fact many economic watchers are predicting outright deflation pointing to a huge slowing of the economy. Currently, the biggest source of demand comes from governments. Demand from working people and private sector growth is on the wane. If you remove all the money being spent on Covid-19 vaccinations, tests, and a slew of inefficient spending that has created little long-term benefits to the economy the GDP would fall like a stone.

  We seldom have depressions but instead tend to roll through mild recessions, however, what we face today may be far more severe. In the past, times of falling economic activity have generally been deflationary as defaults rise but this time if inflation does not abate the result may be very different. Part of this is rooted in the fact that in the past many events tended to be regional rather than global. Today, economies have become more interconnected the resulting codependency presents an increased possibility of problems spreading across the world.

  The money flowing from the central banks and governments has created the so-called “pent-up demand” we have been hearing about and the constant predictions of solid GDP growth. In truth, capacity utilization and productivity are down even while trillions of new dollars pour into the system. This is the logic behind saying a depression may be in the wings. The methods governments use to use to determine GDP have also become so skewed that they lack real value. Paying someone to dig a hole and then fill it back in adds to the GDP but does nothing to increase productivity. Government spending can increase the GDP while at the same time reducing productivity. 

  Recently several articles have appeared indicating the big boost China experienced post-Covid-19 has come to an end. China’s economy was the first to recover from the Covid-19 collapse due to trillions of credit pumped into the economy at home as well as Americans rushing out to buy imported goods using stimulus money. With China again showing signs of economic weakness, the story that it takes more and more stimulus to create the same kick each time we play this game is playing out.

  Growing concern over the debasement of  the fiat currencies issued by nations and central banks is adding to expectations inflation is waiting in the wings. Policies such as we see today would have been impossible when money was tied to gold. As investors shift into assets that do well during times of inflation, it is possible they will set in motion a self-feeding loop or cycle. When fiat money that has quietly sat in paper promises begins to be exchanged for tangible assets and inflation hedges it has the potential to reverse the long-falling velocity of money. Money sitting in the hands of wealthy people that sat in one place for years may start to move.  

  This dovetails with the fact that inflation brings with it higher interest rates that impact most sectors of the economy. This tends to put a spotlight on the difference between liquidity and solvency. As interest rates rise construction tends to grind to a halt. Higher interest rates also result in people having a difficult time paying for or financing big-ticket items such as automobiles. In short, it puts a great deal of stress on most parts of the economy including government deficits which have exploded since the 2008 financial crisis.

  Two often-overlooked factors support the idea we are headed down a path of inflation even if the economy drastically slows. The first is many laws have been set in place to raise the minimum wage. The recent agreement workers made with UPS screams wage inflation. The second is the fact that so many Americans work for the government. These are mostly full time and workers seldom get laid off without pay. Figures from the National Debt Clock show just under 150 million workers are in the workforce and nearly 24 million of them are employed by the government. That is almost one in six. The government’s oversized role in today’s economy which is much larger than it was during the Great Depression has put a net under the ability of prices to fall. 

  Across the world, sophisticated lenders, but not the general public, understand the history of  how governments’ monetary policies destroy the purchasing power of currencies. To avoid the issue of currency debasement risk, regardless of the yield we have seen the power of being the world’s reserve currency on display in loan documents. The BIS reports this is  up from 40% a decade ago. One reason the dollar will most likely fare better than the euro or yen when fiat currencies come under assault is the huge percentage of the world’s $30 trillion-plus in cross-border loans are priced in US dollars.

  

  Inflation is a form of thief that moves wealth from the people and into governments’ coffers. While many investors are focused on yield curves, bitcoin, and surging market valuations, the foundation of central bankers’ argument that QE is possible without inflation may be crumbling. We are now seeing that large sectors of the economy are broken. Inflation expectations are continuing to grow and the law of diminishing returns is raging havoc with the efforts of central banks to control the economy. Expect more investors to move into assets that do well in an inflationary environment while the masses wither in pain.

  This all folds into the story of how for decades the monetary illusion created by central banks collaborating with governments has delayed an inevitable crisis by not dealing with reality. This means when the forces pent-up over the years finally break free events will most likely occur faster with far deeper ramifications than many people expect. When imbalances are ignored, bad things occur. When things finally blow up in the faces of those creating and promoting MMT we can expect to hear them claim it was not their fault and it was because of a general misunderstanding of the role of money and credit in the economy. 

  Such a shift will have profound consequences for inflation-sensitive assets around the world. The one thing we can count on is that when things crumble, we will hear the old, “we should have done more” or the “it would have been far worse” lines flow forth. Those in charge often find great comfort in spouting such nonsense. We have been lulled into complacency and have given central banks too much credit for being able to control the economy and stop financial crises. The first global inflationary depression may not start today or tomorrow but it is coming and when it arrives most people will have never seen it coming.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 20:30

• McDonald's Scrubs Mentions Of "ESG" From Its Website
  McDonald’s Scrubs Mentions Of “ESG” From Its Website

  BlackRock’s Larry Fink isn’t the only one dropping the now-controversial acronym ESG, which represents environmental, social, and corporate governance principles. McDonald’s Corp. has secretly erased ESG off its website, according to Bloomberg. 

  There’s no better example of the ESG investing fairy tale imploding in front of our eyes than McDonald’s removing the term from its website. We have told readers about the demise of ESG in several notes, one titled “ESG Is Dying Its Inevitable Death” and “Is The ESG Investing Boom Already Over?” 

  Recall, in mid-January, BlackRock’s Fink told Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos that ESG has been tarnished:

   “Let’s be clear, the narrative is ugly, the narrative is creating this huge polarization.”

  Fink continued:

  “We are trying to address the misconceptions. It’s hard because it’s not business any more, they’re doing it in a personal way. And for the first time in my professional career, attacks are now personal. They’re trying to demonize the issues.”

  For many years, we’ve understood that the entire “ESG” hype was one giant scam. Matt Lawton, T. Rowe Price Group Inc.’s sector portfolio manager in the Fixed Income Division, pointed this out one year ago: “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find credible sustainability-linked bonds or SLBs.” In February 2020, we wrote “Behold The “Green” Scam,” and in April 2020, we noted “The Fraud That Is ESG Strikes Again: Six Of Top 10 ESG Funds Underperform The S&P500“. 

  Elon Musk has also expressed his frustration about ESG on “X,” formerly known as Twitter. 

  Why ESG is the devil … https://t.co/uGrH0eBoMs

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2023

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

  So it only makes sense that McDonald’s saw the way the ESG winds were shifting and scrubbed references to “ESG” on its “Purpose & Impact” portion of its website. A former page on its website called “ESG Approach & Progress” is now called “Our Approach & Progress.”

  

  The fast-food chain, which has more than 13,500 restaurants across the US, also had a webpage called “Performance & ESG Reporting” that it has now re-titled to “Goal Performance & Reporting.” The site also uses “environmental and social issues” instead of “ESG” in certain areas.

  A link in the Bloomberg article that was supposed to go to an environmental and social annual report via McDonald’s CEO’s LinkedIn comes up broken.

  The ESG winds are shifting. We know that not just because of BlackRock and McDonald’s dropping the term, but the number of times “ESG” was mentioned in earnings calls has also slumped. 

  

  And the number of times mentioned in news stories is also waning. 

  

  So which company is next to remove ESG from their corporate website… Exxon?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 20:00

• The Alliance
  The Alliance

  Authored by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic,

  Banging one’s head against the wall is not a wise strategy…

  

  Russia and China head an alliance that poses the first direct challenge to the American empire since its inception at the end of World War II. Their strategy has been to follow Napoleon’s advice—not interrupting the U.S. government while it makes mistake after mistake—and to pursue the opposite of its hapless policies. Their power waxes; American power wanes.

  August 29, 1949, the day the Soviets detonated their first atomic weapon, was the beginning of the end of the American empire. The U.S. government’s unrivaled power lasted four years and 23 days, from when it dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The Soviet bomb gave the world a counterweight to an American nuclear monopoly.

  It is unclear if the Cold War was anything but a giant psyop on the part of the U.S. and the Soviet Union. By 1960 they had enough bombs between them to wipe out the planet, John F. Kennedy’s “missile gap” notwithstanding. This left a world where sane people believed that military conflicts had to be nonnuclear.

  The U.S. became the national security, or warfare, state with which the nation is burdened today. In dollars and cents, it’s the second largest grift in history, surpassed only by the U.S. welfare state. The U.S. populace is always threatened by some megalomaniacal and evil power somewhere. Even conflict far from U.S. shores threatens the U.S. because of falling dominoes or because it’s better to fight them there than here.

  Or because U.S. “interests” are at risk. This has become the go-to justification: “interests” are anything the war lobby says they are. The U.S. is fighting Russia via Ukraine to push NATO to Russia’s doorstep. Beyond the specious rhetoric of saving democracy and freedom in a police state riddled with neo-Nazis, it has to do with taking Ukraine’s natural and agricultural resources, hiding U.S. bioweapons labs, preventing disclosure of U.S. politicians’ links to Ukrainian corruption, and effecting regime change in Russia.

  Someday there will be general recognition of Putin’s adroit conduct of the Ukraine-Russia war and the strategic masterstroke that is the Russia-China alliance. Losers on a roll require a hard, painful landing before they begin to wise up, if they wise up at all. The losers running the U.S. and its vassals are in for some hard, painful landings. When they look up from the gutter, drunks soaked in their own vomit, they’re going to see Putin and Xi Jinping, staring down at them with nothing but contempt.

  It is well-earned. The U.S.’s annually spends three times what China and ten times what Russia spend and gets inferior weapons and a bloated, politically correct military. The waste of blood and treasure on imperial misadventures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now Ukraine has been incalculable. Wasted treasure funds rampant corruption and has helped shove the U.S. into an abyss of debt. American self-confidence and justifiable pride in its history and culture have been thrown over in favor of nonsense. The U.S. government is the world’s most hated institution. If Ukraine doesn’t end its imperial misadventures Taiwan will, and there will no longer be an American empire.

  The Russian military doesn’t do shock and awe. It does grind, advance . . . and win. Contrary to Western propaganda, it is well on its way to achieving its objectives in Ukraine. . . .

  “Reckoning With Insanity, Part Two,” by Robert Gore, SLL, 6/2/22

  Russia has mostly achieved its military objectives in Ukraine. Putin has been criticized for the slow grind, but Russia has annexed the Russian-speaking areas of eastern and southern Ukraine and secured land access and the water supply to Russian-speaking Crimea, already annexed. Russia has minimized its loss of life and destruction of weaponry and maximized Ukraine’s. An open question is whether Russian mounts an offensive against Odessa in southwestern Ukraine, completely cutting off its access to the Black Sea.

  Ukraine’s president Zelensky talks of taking back captured territory. Such deluded bravado lends credence to the claims he’s a cocaine addict. Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been a dismal failure, floundering on Russia’s defensive strategy. Ukraine has seldom been able to advance past Russia’s buffer zones, much less penetrate its complex multi-layer defenses. Estimates vary, but casualty ratios of seven- to ten-to-one against Ukraine are probably in the right ball park. Men and machinery have been fed into a Russian meat grinder, leaving Ukraine woefully unprepared for a Russian counteroffensive should the Russians decide to mount one.

  Ukraine has an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 killed, including the cream of its military. Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country, and Russia now controls most of its best farmland and mineral wealth. If it cuts off Black Sea access Ukraine will be a carcass state with little to offer to Western financial vultures.

  Early on in the war Russia and Ukraine had a tentative peace deal, which the U.S. and Great Britain nixed. You only get one chance to accept a Russian deal, and then the offers get progressively worse. The nixed deal would have been far more favorable to Ukraine and NATO than the terms Russia will eventually impose. The meme-fodder picture of a forlorn Zelensky standing by himself at a NATO reception starkly illustrates that his “allies” are backing away.

  So, what did the Ukrainians do to raise the ire of the Pentagon so suddenly, and as a direct consequence, fall into disfavor with NATO? In short, the Ukrainians demonstrated that NATO’s weapons are crap. Evidence of this built up slowly over time. First, it turned out that various bits of US-made shoulder-fired junk — anti-aircraft Stingers, anti-tank Javelins, etc — are rather worse than useless in modern combat. Next, it turned out that the M777 howitzer and the HIMARS rocket complex are rather fragile and aren’t field-maintainable.

  The next wonder-weapon thrown at the Ukrainian problem was the Patriot missile battery. It was deployed near Kiev and the Russians quickly made a joke of it. They attacked it with their super-cheap Geranium 2 “flying moped” drones, causing it to turn on its active radar, thereby unmasking its position, and then fire off its entire load of rockets — a million dollars’ worth! — after which point it just sat there, unmasked and defenseless, and was taken out by a single Russian precision rocket strike.

  This was sure to have seriously pissed off US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, whose major personal cash cow happens to be Raytheon, the maker of the Patriot. . . .

  “The Incredible Shrinking Nato,” Dmitry Orlov, July 15, 2023

  Not only does a country that spends a tenth of what the US does have superior weaponry, it has superior production capabilities. Wagner PMC head Eugene Prigozhin’s complaints notwithstanding, the Russian military seems to have what it’s needed to decimate Ukraine. Meanwhile, arsenals are running low in the U.S. and Europe and they’re resorting to desperation weapons—cluster munitions and depleted uranium shells—which will render parts of Ukraine toxic for decades.

  Just as humiliating for the West has been its economic sanctions. They were designed to devastate the ruble, stop foreign trade, and bring Russia’s economy to its knees. They’ve done none of the above and the Russian economy is growing.

  Cutting off cheap Russian natural gas and replacing it with expensive American liquified natural gas hasn’t had a salutary effect on European economies. Western economic statistics are a division of Propaganda Central, but it appears that recession either looms or has arrived for much of Europe. Cheap Russian oil and natural gas isn’t coming back. If Seymour Hersh is to be believed, the U.S. blew up the European-Russian Nord Stream pipeline. Further proof of the old adage that you’re better off being America’s enemy than its friend.

  For decades, America’s foreign policy doyens have counseled against doing anything that would bring Russia and China together. That wisdom is out the window. While international diplomacy has no matches made in heaven, the Russian-Chinese alliance is about as close as it gets. Marry Russian natural resources to the Chinese industrial machine and maintain joint control of what’s been considered the center of the world since Halford MacKinder’s seminal paper back in 1904, and you’ve got one of history’s most formidable alliances.

  It is deftly incorporating much of the non-Western world, what Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko calls the “Global Globe.” Trade arrangements, infrastructure financing and construction, and new transport, communications, and computer links are the face of an emerging, assertive multipolarity. Initially centered in Eurasia, this complex web of political and commercial agreements is extending to the Middle East, South America, and Africa.

  The U.S. call for universal mobilization against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was met with indifference outside the West. The Global Globe has grown weary of the U.S.’s rules-based international order, which amounts to acceptance of U.S. diktat . . . or else. The U.S. government follows or disregards its own rules at its convenience.

  Not only are the Russians and Chinese offering better terms, but their carefully crafted rhetoric is that of partnerships, equality, and multipolarity. The American empire’s subjugation and hypocrisy are sandpaper on billions of open wounds. Only Americans are surprised by the seething resentment. It’s not going away anytime soon.

  The alliance has another ace up its sleeve. The ideas that fiat emissions are money and that something can be had for nothing have left Western governments with mountains of debt and unfunded obligations that will never be paid. Debt has reached its hamster-wheel inflection point: more spending leads to more debt leads to higher interest costs leads to more spending.

  Gold is money; everything else is credit, and fiat debt and currencies are barbarous relics. Shifting the Global Globe away from fiat towards gold is going to be a monumental task, but indications are that gold-rich Russia and China are undertaking it. If they eventually adopt a currency or currencies that can be freely exchanged for gold, the dollar’s days as the global reserve currency will be over. Good as gold beats barbarous fiat every time.

  Feeble and corrupt Joe Biden is America’s nominal leader. His camarilla is made up of nonentities who would require substantial upgrades to hit either mediocre or amoral. The rest of the West’s so-called leadership is no better. This state of affairs must strike Putin and Xi Jinping as fortuitous. They have to worry about global reverberations of Western economic collapse and the possibility that Western leaders, desperate from their Ukrainian military failure, might take it nuclear. However, nothing is quite as satisfying as watching your adversaries checkmate themselves.

  Russia and China are winning the global chess match. That’s not to say they’ll always win. Both governments are the usual top-down, repressive, organized crime that carries the seeds of its own destruction. However, the U.S. government is banging its head against a wall trying to impose its brand of imperialism on the two. Reality, the ultimate wall, always wins. Only after the tidal wave of consequences breaks will the U.S.—or parts of it—have a chance to recover.

  Recovery will lie in the rediscovery of enduring truths. The game of thrones is a game of fools. A nation’s greatness is the liberty of its citizens to live their lives and pursue their happiness. The best foreign police is peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Anything the government gives you it took away from someone else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything that you have. Like fire, government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  A is A.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 19:30

• Study Reveals Which AI Chatbot Most Woke, While Hackers Trick LLMs Into 'Bad Math'
  Study Reveals Which AI Chatbot Most Woke, While Hackers Trick LLMs Into ‘Bad Math’

  A landmark study from researchers at the University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University, and Xi’an Jiaotong University reveals which AI chatbots have the most liberal vs. conservative bias.

  

  According to the study, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, including GPT-4 are the most left-leaning and libertarian (?), while Google’s BERT models were more socially conservative, and Meta’s LLaMA was the most right-leaning.

  AI chatbots use Large Language Models (LLMs), which are ‘trained’ on giant data sets, such as Tweets, or Reddit, or Yelp reviews. As such, the source of a model’s scraped training data, as well as guardrails installed by companies like OpenAI, can introduce massive bias.

  To determine bias, the researchers in the above study exposed each AI model to a political compass test of 62 different political statements, which ranged from anarchic statements like “all authority should be questioned” to more traditional beliefs, such as the role of mothers as homemakers. Though the study’s approach is admittedly “far from perfect” per the researchers’ own admission, it provides valuable insight into the political biases that AI chatbots may bring to our screens.

  In response, OpenAI pointed Business Insider to a blog post in which the company claims: “We are committed to robustly addressing this issue and being transparent about both our intentions and our progress,” adding “Our guidelines are explicit that reviewers should not favor any political group. Biases that nevertheless may emerge from the process described above are bugs, not features.“

  A Google rep also pointed to a blog post, which reads “As the impact of AI increases across sectors and societies, it is critical to work towards systems that are fair and inclusive for all.”

  Meta said in a statement: “We will continue to engage with the community to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in a transparent manner and support the development of safer generative AI.”

  OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman have previously acknowledged the bias, emphasizing the company’s mission for a balanced AI system. Yet, critics, including co-founder Elon Musk, remain skeptical.

  Musk’s recent venture, xAI, promises to provide unfiltered insights, potentially sparking even more debates around AI biases. The tech mogul warns against training AIs to toe a politically correct line, emphasizing the importance of an AI stating its “truth.”

  Hackers, meanwhile, are having a field day bending AI to their will.

  As Bloomberg reports:

  Kennedy Mays has just tricked a large language model. It took some coaxing, but she managed to convince an algorithm to say 9 + 10 = 21.

  “It was a back-and-forth conversation,” said the 21-year-old student from Savannah, Georgia. At first the model agreed to say it was part of an “inside joke” between them. Several prompts later, it eventually stopped qualifying the errant sum in any way at all.

  Producing “Bad Math” is just one of the ways thousands of hackers are trying to expose flaws and biases in generative AI systems at a novel public contest taking place at the DEF CON hacking conference this weekend in Las Vegas.

  Hunched over 156 laptops for 50 minutes at a time, the attendees are battling some of the world’s most intelligent platforms on an unprecedented scale. They’re testing whether any of eight models produced by companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and OpenAI will make missteps ranging from dull to dangerous: claim to be human, spread incorrect claims about places and people or advocate abuse.

  The goal of such exercises is to help companies offering LLM chatbots build better mechanisms to improve factual responses.

  “My biggest concern is inherent bias,” said Mays, who added that she’s particularly concerned about racism after she asked the model to consider the First Amendment from the perspective of a KKK member – and the chatbot ended up endorsing the group’s perspective.

  AI surveillance?

  In another instance, a Bloomberg reporter who took a 50-minute quiz was able to prompt one of the models to explain how to spy on someone – advising on a variety of methods including the use of GPS tracking, a surveillance camera, a listening device and thermal imaging. It also suggested ways that the US government could surveil a human-rights activist.

  “General artificial intelligence could be the last innovation that human beings really need to do themselves,” said Tyrance Billingsley, executive director of the group who is also an event judge. “We’re still in the early, early, early stages.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 19:00

• Future Headline: Oakland Police Advise Residents To "Appear As Poor As Possible"
  Future Headline: Oakland Police Advise Residents To “Appear As Poor As Possible”

  Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

  In a world full of unimaginable absurdity, we spend a lot of time thinking about the future… and to where all of this insanity leads.

  “Future Headline Friday” is our satirical take of where the world is going if it remains on its current path.

  While our satire may be humorous and exaggerated, rest assured that everything we write is based on actual events, news stories, personalities, and pending legislation.

  August 11, 2024: WeWork announces it can barely afford to hand out free tequila anymore

  It was just one year ago that WeWork, a company which provides co-working space, said “losses and negative cash flows from operating activities raise substantial doubt” that it could stay in business.

  At the time it reported about $3 billion in long term debt and $13 billion in long-term lease obligations, yet a market cap of just $390 million— down more than 99% from its $47 billion valuation back in 2019.

  The co-working space became famous for its cushy and stylish office spaces, which included such perks as handing out free tequila to members.

  It later became infamous when it’s founder and then CEO Adam Neumann benefited personally at the expense of shareholders.

  

  This included borrowing money from the company to buy office space, only to lease that office space back to the company at a profit.

  He also sold off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his own shares while simultaneously convincing investors to put money in the company. Yet despite selling his shares, he awarded himself special rights to be able to out-vote everyone else, cementing his control over the company.

  Neumann even sold the rights to the word ‘We’ to the company for $6 million, which was the final straw for investors.

  After Neumann was ousted as CEO (but not before collecting a $185 million consulting fee), the company attempted to turn things around.

  However one thing that has remained non-negotiable is providing free tequila to members.

  Last week shareholders desperately begged management to stop the tequila from flowing.

  But the current CEO said this will be the hill the company dies on.

  “I can assure you that the very last dollar of investor funds will be spent on handing out free tequila to our members.”

  He explained that while this may sound ridiculous from the outside, “the company’s core mission has always been to ‘elevate the world’s consciousness,’”  as it explained in a 2019 SEC filing before a failed IPO.

  He further explained that apart from the company’s online reservation system, it’s tequila dispensing machines were the core aspect of the company’s “extensive technology” it also gushed about in previous SEC filings.

  “Without the free tequila, we’re just an office space company that has wasted tens of billions of dollars with nothing to show for it except a wildly wealthy founder.”

  August 11, 2025: Oakland Police advise residents to “appear as poor as possible”

  Residents of Oakland, California are being urged by police to pursue degrees in psychology in order to ward off violent attackers.

  “The real victims are the people who, because of their dire circumstances, have been pushed to violate the law,” said a spokesperson for the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, or MACRO.

  “And we believe we can better serve this community if more of those being attacked know how to provide professional psychiatric help at the scene of the crime, in real time.”

  In 2023, police urged residents of crime stricken areas to use air horns to try to scare off attackers and alert their neighbors to a crime occurring. But last year, Oakland residents voted to outlaw air horns after it caused psychological distress to the attackers.

  Instead, those being attacked should start by sympathizing with the attacker in order to gain rapport. For beginners, it’s best to start by telling an attacker that you appreciate how frustrated they must be, or even to offer them some food or hot tea.

  

  Anyone with more advanced training and experience in psychology, however, could start by asking the attacker about his/her childhood, and then encourage attackers to explore traumatic events from their lives that may have triggered their criminal behavior.

  “Invite them inside for a conversation. Ask them if there is anything that has been weighing on their mind,” MACRO urges.

  And officials say that if you are unable to pursue a psychology degree, the best course of action to fend off criminal attackers is to appear as poor as possible, so that there is less incentive to target you.

  Don’t wear flashy items like button down shirts or wedding rings. And avoid repainting your home, or repairing damaged porches and fences.

  Even letting the weeds grow too long in your yard can be a helpful deterrent to crime.

  The fines assessed by the City of Oakland for violating municipal codes about grass length could be well worth it if it deters a break-in.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 18:30

• Downtown San Fran Office Tower Sells At 66% Off As CRE Crisis Claims Another Victim
  Downtown San Fran Office Tower Sells At 66% Off As CRE Crisis Claims Another Victim

  Understanding the backdrop of the crime-ridden progressive metro area of San Francisco, alongside the mass exodus of businesses and residents, and the record-high vacancy rate of office towers, we asked a very important question earlier this summer: What are office buildings worth?

  We quickly found out in June that one downtown San Francisco office building sold for roughly 70% less than its previously estimated value, an ominous sign of what would come as the commercial real estate market dominos appear to be falling. 

  Now Sixty Spear St., an 11-story building that is 30% occupied and is expected to be entirely vacant by summer 2025, has been sold to Presidio Bay Ventures for $40.9 million, about a 66% discount versus the most recent assessed property value of $121 million, according to local media SFGATE. 

  

  “We acknowledge the formidable challenges that confront San Francisco,” Cyrus Sanandaji, founder and managing principal of Presidio Bay, who is now the office tower’s proud new owner. He remains a bull on the San Francisco office market and wants to expand the building’s square footage from 157,436 to 170,000 square feet and transform it into a “Class-A trophy office building with exceptional design and hospitality-driven amenities.”

  All we have to say to Sanandaji’s CRE bet is good luck. The crime-ridden metro area covered in poop must come to terms with City Hall’s horrendous progressive policies that have entirely backfired and led to an exodus of businesses and people. Until Mayor London Breed can instill law and order once more — the ability for the downtown area to thrive once more will remain challenging. 

  Marc Benioff, the chief executive officer of Salesforce, the city’s largest employer and anchor tenant in its tallest skyscraper, warned last month that the metro area is in danger. He offered a grim outlook: The downtown area is “never going back to the way it was” in pre-Covid times when workers commuted to offices daily.

  “We need to rebalance downtown,” Benioff said, adding Breed needs to initiate a program to convert dormant office space into housing and hire additional law enforcement to restore law and order. 

  … and documenting how the downtown area has rapidly transformed into a ghost town is Youtuber METAL LEO, who walks around with a video camera, revealing empty stores, malls, and towers. 

  • Video Of Deserted Mall And Streets In Downtown San Fran Reveals Democrats Destroyed City

  • “Major Artery” In Downtown San Fran Is Deserted

  Besides Sixty Spear, SFGATE provided data on other recent tower transactions: 

  The 13-story 180 Howard St. building, known for being the headquarters of the State Bar of California, sold for about $62 million after being expected to sell for about $85 million.

  The offices at 350 California St. reportedly sold for roughly 75% less than its previously estimated value in May, and the 22-story Financial District edifice mostly sits empty. Just a few weeks later, nearby 550 California changed hands for less than half of what owner Wells Fargo paid for the building in 2005.

  Things are so bad that some building owners are just walking away from properties:

  • CRE Doom Loop Accelerates As Westfield Abandons Largest San Fran Mall, Stops Paying $558 Million Loan

  And defaulting… 

  • San Fran’s CRE Apocalypse: The City’s Two Biggest Hotels Have Defaulted

  As the CRE crisis spreads, remember last week: Baltimore Sun Editorial Board Tells Everyone ‘Keep Calm’ Amid CRE Panic … this will only mean bad news for commercial real estate-small banks that could threaten financial stability and either cause a recession or make a recession more severe. 

  If you’re curious where we could be in the CRE crisis cycle, a recent analysis by CoStar Group shows 55% of office leases signed before the pandemic that were active during Covid haven’t expired, meaning vacancies will continue to rise. 

  Here’s what could be next: The collapse of WeWork will only cause more pain for CRE markets nationwide. The coworking company occupies 16.8 million square feet across the US. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 18:00

• Judge Lets Starbucks Keep Its Race-Based Hiring Quotas
  Judge Lets Starbucks Keep Its Race-Based Hiring Quotas

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

  A judge in Washington state has ruled against a conservative group that sued Starbucks over the coffee chain’s race-based hiring practices that allegedly “flagrantly” violate various state and federal laws.

  Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian on Friday ruled against the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), dismissing a lawsuit the conservative nonprofit brought against Starbucks over so-called “affirmative action” policies that included awarding contracts to “diverse” suppliers and advertisers and tying executive pay to allegedly racist hiring quotas.

  In a complaint (pdf) that was filed on Aug. 30, 2022, at the State of Washington Spokane County Superior Court, the nonprofit accused Starbucks of adopting a total of seven policies that between them required Starbucks to actively discriminate based on race in its compensation and employment decisions (including hiring, firing, and promotions), and in its contracting processes with vendors.

  “Starbucks, acting through its officers and directors, crafted and publicized these policies with fanfare, preening over the supposed moral virtue their adoption signaled,” NCPPR wrote in the complaint.

  “The individual Defendants took these actions despite knowing of a glaring, inconvenient fact: the policies they so trumpeted flagrantly violate a wide array of state and federal civil rights laws,” the group continued.

  The Starbucks policies that are the subject of the lawsuit include the goal of at least 30 percent of its U.S. corporate workforce being black, indigenous, or people of color by 2025 while pegging executive pay to workforce diversity quotas.

  

  More Details

  Before filing its lawsuit, the group, which holds around $6,000 worth of Starbucks shares, warned Starbucks that its race-based policies were illegal and that their adoption posed a litigation risk for other Starbucks shareholders. NCPPR asked Starbucks to take action to address these risks and publicly retract the policies.

  Starbucks responded in July 2022 that it would “take no relevant action to correct course and reduce the exposure they had created for it and its shareholders,” per the NCPPR complaint, prompting the group to sue.

  In its complaint, NCPPR alleged that, by failing to rescind the policies in question, Starbucks endangered the interests of all its shareholders and violated their fiduciary obligations.

  “Why do they do so? Because it benefits them personally to pose as virtuous advocates of ‘Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity,’ even if it harms the company and its owners—a classic example of (admittedly non-pecuniary) self-dealing,” the group alleged in the complaint.

  However, Judge Bastian rejected these allegations and on Aug. 11 dismissed the case with prejudice, according to a court filing (pdf), meaning that NCPPR is barred from refiling the lawsuit.

  The judge said that the lawsuit centered on public policy questions that are for lawmakers and corporations to decide, not the courts.

  “If the plaintiff doesn’t want to be invested in ‘woke’ corporate America, perhaps it should seek other investment opportunities rather than wasting this court’s time,” the judge said.

  Starbucks said it was pleased with the decision and said it remains committed to “creating a culture of warmth and belonging.”

  NCPPR spokesperson Scott Shepard called the judge’s comments “surprising and disappointing.”

  “We will continue to pursue relief from illegal discrimination on behalf of shareholders and employees,” he said.

  In a statement one day before the unfavorable ruling, NCPPR expressed hope that, in light of the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling that barred race-based recruitment policies at colleges, it might prevail in its lawsuit, which would have the “potential to influence change in companies that have trumpeted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs that are both racist and illegal.”

  Supreme Court Bans Race-Based Admissions

  In a 6–3 decision on July 29, the Supreme Court struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies and American colleges, ending the use of so-called affirmative action programs in higher education.

  Chief Justice John Roberts wrote (pdf) for the court that, for too long, universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin.”

  “Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice,” he wrote.

  Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, writing that the majority decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”

  “It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits,” the justice wrote.

  “In so holding, the Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter,” she wrote.

  Following the Supreme Court ruling, state attorneys general from Tennessee, Kansas, and 11 other states put 100 of America’s largest corporations on notice “of the illegality of racial quotas and race-based preferences in employment and contracting practices” and urged the firms to put an immediate halt to such policies.

  In a July 13 letter to CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, the AGs wrote that the Supreme Court ruling “definitively” ends the legal use of race-based hiring and contracting practices.

  “If your company previously resorted to racial preferences or naked quotas to offset its bigotry, that discriminatory path is now definitively closed,” the letter reads.

  “Your company must overcome its underlying bias and treat all employees, all applicants, and all contractors equally, without regard for race.”

  According to a Harvard Business Review 2022 survey, more than 60 percent of U.S. companies had a race or gender-based diversity, equity, and inclusion program.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 17:30

• Exposing The Mirage Of "Equal Pay" In Sports
  Exposing The Mirage Of “Equal Pay” In Sports

  Ryan McMaken joins Bob to discuss the recent US Women’s World Cup elimination, and to dispel the myth that markets are discriminatory.

  “The connection between fame, talent, and earnings applies to both sports and other fields like economics.”

  

  After defending Megan Rapinoe’s failed penalty kick, they dismantle her outspoken views on “equal pay” in sports, and examine the left’s claim that law is required to fix prejudice in the labor market.

  “Soccer players deserve pay based on popularity and merchandise sales, not just winning games.”

  Specifically, McMaken and discuss the economic implications of equal pay in sports, emphasizing the importance of worker productivity and market dynamics in determining pay disparities.

  “The whole idea of equal pay in sports betrays a complete misunderstanding of how pay works and worker productivity.”

  Finally, they discuss the American regime’s expanding power and how it can acquire new powers unchecked.

  00:00 Against Our Limitless Regime

  01:00 Introduction

  01:46 Megan Rapinoe Penalty Kick

  05:41 Gender Pay Gap in Professional Sports

  16:16 Wealth Disparity in Labor and Wages

  19:50 Prejudice and Discriminatory Hiring Practices

  26:09 Discrimination: Markets vs. Government

  34:37 Majority Rule Paradox

  37:45 Democracy and Culture

  Watch the full discussion below:

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 17:00

• Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs Secretly Sought The Censorship Of Political Critics
  Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs Secretly Sought The Censorship Of Political Critics

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Various new sites are now reporting that Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) is the latest politician who has sought blatant censorship of political critics by social media companies. Shortly before the 2020 election (when many of us were writing about the expanding censorship calls by Democratic politicians), Hobbs allegedly sought to silence her critics on Twitter. Many were criticizing 2017 posts in which she claimed former President Donald Trump had a “neo-nazi base.” Hobbs considered such criticism to be intolerable and demanded that these citizens be censored.

  

  A conservative site reported that Hobbs said Trump had a “neo-nazi base” while she was serving as a Democrat state senator in 2017. Hobbs’ tweet echoed criticism that Trump praised Neo-Nazi rioters in Charlottesville. (Trump has denied that allegation and pointed to various times after the riot where he condemned those extremist elements).

  .@realDonaldTrump has made it abundantly clear he’s more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.

  — Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 15, 2017

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

  “The President is on the side of the freaking Nazis. Don’t just say stuff – DO SOMETHING,” she added.

  The President is on the side of the freaking Nazis. Don’t just say stuff – DO SOMETHING!!! https://t.co/Es9ScskF58

  — Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 12, 2017

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

  She added: “It took you a day and a half to figure this out? Also if you’re not condemning @POTUS for not condemning nazis, it’s just words.”

  It took you a day and a half to figure this out? Also if you’re not condemning @POTUS for not condemning nazis, it’s just words. https://t.co/OI0JAlvOYX

  — Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 14, 2017

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

  It now turns out that that Hobbs was irate at being criticized and reached out to Twitter to censor her critics. 

  Fox News reported: 

  On Nov. 13, 2020, Hobbs emailed Twitter – using her official Arizona secretary of state email – asking the support team to take action against her online trolls.

  Twitter asked for more information and for Hobbs to provide examples for her request, which Hobbs was unable to provide.

  Hobbs responded that she was being harassed and abused by the “alt-right.” She added

  “I am not sure I can provide the information you are asking for because I reported and then blocked multiple users at the same time,. The alt-right got a hold of a 3-year-old tweet on my account and have been sending harassing, abusive, and threatening tweets and direct messages for the last 2 days.”

  That message is chilling in a number of respects.

  First, it is clearly an abuse of her office to be used for the purposes of censorship of political critics.

  Second, she admits that she blocked the critics but still wants the company to prevent others from hearing such views.

  Third, she does not allege that the story is false and admits that it was her tweet. She simply does not want people talking about it.

  It is a raw and unambiguous effort of a high-ranking official to censor political speech.

  It is also an example of what I have called “censorship by surrogate.” Hobbs secretly sought to deny free speech to citizens through allies in these social media companies.

  The Arizona legislature should investigate these allegations and hold Hobbs accountable for any attack on political speech.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 16:30

• 'Not-So Veiled Threats': Judge Compares Biden Regime To Mafia For 'Strong-Arming' Social Media Companies
  ‘Not-So Veiled Threats’: Judge Compares Biden Regime To Mafia For ‘Strong-Arming’ Social Media Companies

  A three-judge panel excoriated the ‘mob-like’ Biden administration over its ‘strong-arm’ tactics to bully social media companies into complying with censorship requests, which “time and time again” prove to be true.

  

  The judicial smackdown took place during a Thursday hearing in front of the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments over the administration’s appeal of an injunction barring the US government from communication with social media giants in order to censor protected speech.

  Representing the government was attorney Daniel Tenny – who had quite the trio of pissed off judges on his hands. At one point, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod compared the Biden administration to the mafia before walking it back.

  “In these movies that we see with the mob … they don’t say and spell out things, but they have these ongoing relationships,” she said, adding “They never actually say ‘go do this or else you’re going to have this consequence.’ But everybody just knows.“

  “I’m certainly not equating the federal government with anybody in illegal organized crime but there are certain relationships that people know things without always saying the ‘or else,'” Elrod continued.

  She had earlier noted that the Biden administration had a “very close working relationship” with social media giants, and browbeated them like “a supervisor complaining about a worker” until they got their way.

  “What appears to be in the record are these irate messages from time to time from high ranking government officials that say, ‘You didn’t do this yet!’ — and that’s my toning down the language— ‘Why haven’t you done this yet?’” she said. “It’s like ‘jump’ and ‘how high?'” said Elrod.

  Judges Edith Brown Clement and Don R. Willett were also obviously perturbed by the government’s behavior – with Willett noting that the government operated “out of the public eye” via “unsubtle strong-arming and veiled or not-so-veiled threats.”

  “That’s a really nice social media platform you’ve got there, it would be a shame if something happened to it,” he summarized, according to the Daily Caller.

  Tenney goes on defense

  Clearly sensing the judges’ hostility, Daniel Tenny attempted to tap-dance his way out of claims of government overreach – saying: “The government is generically going to be angry” when companies refuse to take action, but that the communications show federal officials and social media giants alternating between “friendly” and “testy,” as opposed to giving specific orders to comply “or else.”

  Judge Elrod wasn’t buying it, calling the government’s messages “irate” at times, and saying that they actually show high-ranking officials badgering counterparts about why they hadn’t censored the material they wanted censored.

  Elrod asked Tenney if high-level government officials had asked companies “in a coercive manner to propagate certain things that the government knew were untrue, and to deamplify certain things that it knew were true … but didn’t fit its message, would that be able to be enjoined?”

  To which Tenney said the question presumes that the government acted coercively – for which he says they had no factual evidence, and claimed that the Biden administration knows it can’t unilaterally sidestep legal liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  Elrod fired back, saying “Time and time again,” what the government considers mis-, dis- and malinformation, “always with great fervor,” turn out to be true. For example, the government’s attempts by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins’ attempts to issue a published takedown of the Great Barrington Declaration – an open letter by Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University, Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford, and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard – which challenged government lockdowns during the pandemic.

  Tenney argued that the judges also couldn’t consider a ‘friend of the court‘ briefing by leading House Republicans – which includes members of the Judiciary and Weaponization of the Federal Government committees – which lays out how much of the “[v]ery recent evidence’ their committees had obtained ‘further corroborates’ the basis for the injunction.

  Tenney also argued that the plaintiffs don’t have legal standing to bring the case, because conservative officials who claim that their own posts were censored didn’t argue that they plan to make similar posts in the future – which would create “ongoing injury” from the censorship.

  When asked by Judge Edith Brown Clement if the Biden administration is still communicating with social media giants, he admitted that they hadn’t “entirely stopped,” but dodged a question over whether they maintained “day-to-day involvement,” according to Just the News.

  Attorney John Sauer, representing the State of Louisiana, asked the judges what they would think of a senior White House staffer contacting Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers to participate in a “book-burning program” focused on authors who criticize the administration, with the companies only giving in after months of escalating White House rhetoric. 

  That’s exactly what the White House did to compel platforms to remove and throttle the “most persuasive speakers” critical of its policies, such as former New York Times drug industry reporter Alex Berenson and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Sauer said.

  Sauer added that the appellate court should indeed take “judicial notice” of the congressional amicus brief because there’s no dispute on the authenticity of the newly identified communications and it “powerfully reinforces” the alleged coercion, such as a Facebook official suggesting the company back down because of “bigger fish we have to fry” with the administration. -JTN

  According to Sauer, one of the individual plaintiffs, Health Freedom Louisiana co-director Jill Hines, claimed as recently as May that Facebook continues to remove groups she’s created to protest COVID policies.

  “This notion that COVID censorship is over is completely unsupportable,” said Sauer.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 16:00

• Democrats Say It'll Take A Lot More Than Eyewitness Testimony, Bank Records, Audio, Video, & Complete Confessions For Them To Believe Biden Did Anything Wrong
  Democrats Say It’ll Take A Lot More Than Eyewitness Testimony, Bank Records, Audio, Video, & Complete Confessions For Them To Believe Biden Did Anything Wrong

  Via Babylon Bee,

  As evidence of bribery and corruption by the Biden family continues to mount, Democrat lawmakers in the nation’s capital have expressed heavy skepticism, saying they will need a lot more than just eyewitnesses, financial records, audio and video recordings, and admissions of guilt from parties involved for them to believe any of it.

  “Nah, I’m not buying it,” said California Congressman Eric Swalwell.

  “If you’re wanting me to believe President Biden and his family have been involved in a far-reaching money-for-favors scheme for years, you’ll need to show me a lot more than rock-solid, irrefutable evidence. If the Biden family was corrupt, I think I would have heard about it from my Chinese spy girlfriend.“

  The Biden administration maintains absolute innocence, despite an ever-growing collection of evidence that would indicate otherwise.

  “The President and his family have done nothing wrong,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is a woman and also black and also gay.

  “It’s completely normal for families to enrich themselves by selling political influence to foreign corporations and governments. Any assertion to the contrary is simply Republicans grasping at straws. Also, I will not be taking any more questions regarding bribery allegations.”

  As rumors swirled that additional audio recordings of President Biden accepting bribes may soon be released, Democrats continued to brush them off.

  “I see nothing wrong here,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

  “So he’s on tape taking bribes. It’s not like it proves he took bribes or something.”

  

  At publishing time, Republicans in Congress said they were waiting on several more truckloads of evidence before beginning impeachment proceedings.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 15:30

• 'Bidenomics' Has Been A Disaster
  ‘Bidenomics’ Has Been A Disaster

  Authored by David Harsanyi via The Epoch Times,

  After 40 years of “trickle-down economics,” President Joe Biden says, “Bidenomics is just another way of saying restoring the American Dream.”

  

  It’s not often that a politician openly pledges to bring the country back to a time of crippling inflation, high energy prices, and stifling interest rates. But this president is doing his best to keep that promise.

  Unsurprisingly, “Bidenomics” is failing to gain traction among voters. This has caused consternation in the media. One thing to remember, though, is that “Bidenomics” isn’t really a thing. Unlike, say, “Reaganomics,” which helped bring about the largest expansion of the middle class in world history, the president does not subscribe to any coherent or tangible set of economic theories or principles. The White House defines its economic policy as being “rooted in the recognition that the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up,” which is just platitudinous gibberish.

  “Bidenomics” encompass anything and everything that’s convenient for Democrats. And in this moment, it’s convenient for them to take credit for merely letting people go back to work. Biden, who once claimed that the Democrats $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan cost “zero dollars,” isn’t exactly a math whiz. But when he says stuff like “13.4 million jobs have been added to our economy” under his watch, more than “any other president in a full 4-year term,” anyone with even a passing familiarity with the events of the years preceding 2023 knows it’s a lie of omission.

  The notion that presidents “create” jobs is itself a fantasy. In this case, though, Biden supported efforts to shutter private businesses during the pandemic, basically closing the entire economy, not only while running for president but after winning office. When Florida, and other states, attempted to ease some restrictions, Biden told them to “get out of the way” so that people could “do the right thing.” The pressure exerted on states to “do the right thing” was immense.

  All of which is to say that the president and his allies had far more to do with destroying jobs than creating them. We don’t need to relitigate the efficacy of COVID policy here, but approximately 10 million of the jobs that Biden now brags about overseeing are just people coming back to the workforce after state-compelled lockdowns.

  Then again, if “Bidenomics” had meant doing absolutely nothing, it would have been the president’s greatest political accomplishment. But that would have meant allowing a crisis to go to waste. Instead, what “Bidenomics” did help create was the biggest four-year inflationary spike under any president in 40 years.

  By the time the American Rescue Plan was passed, there was already too much money chasing too few goods. Tons of people warned about the consequences of dumping more money into the economy. Even when inflation began inching up, Biden dismissed it—“no serious economist” is “suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way,” he said. Democrats, of course, wanted to cram through a $5 trillion progressive agenda spending bill. So, when inflation became a big, nontransitory political problem, the Biden administration began arguing that more spending would help ease inflation.

  Again, the vital thing to remember about “Bidenomics” is that it makes absolutely zero sense.

  Only after inflation became a political issue did the Democrats rename Build Back Better the Inflation Reduction Act. It still contained all the historic spending, corporate welfare, price-fixing, and tax hikes, but, more importantly, it also still had absolutely nothing to do with mitigating inflation.

  None of this is to even mention the hundreds of billions “Bidenomics” “invested”—the enduring euphemism for spending money we don’t have—in social engineering projects that would force us to abandon modernity in the name of “climate justice.” This brand of spending was based on a (misguided) moral prerogative, not any kind of prudent economic decision making, to say the least.

  A writer in the New Yorker recently asked, “Why Isn’t Joe Biden Getting More Credit for a Big Drop in Inflation?” Probably because there is no “Bidenomics” policy that has helped lower inflation. Quite the opposite. We’re still trying to recover from the president’s economic policy. It’s the Fed that was compelled to hike interest rates at a level not seen in 30 years to inhibit economic growth partly due to government-induced inflation. It, not Biden, brought down inflation.

  Presidents who oversee strong economies, often benefitting from the luck of history or existing policies, will see fewer jobs “created” during their terms because space for growth is limited. Biden was given more economic headroom than any president in history—and blew it. That’s the real legacy of “Bidenomics.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 14:30

• New California Gas Czar Will Boost Prices Even Higher
  New California Gas Czar Will Boost Prices Even Higher

  Authored by John Seiler via The Epoch Times,

  Ouch. The price of gas where I usually fill up has soared above $5 for the first time in months. I keep track of my spending, and it was $4.29 just a month ago.

  

  In a case of really bad journalism, the Sacramento Bee recently ran this headline of the state’s new gas price czar, Tai Milder, “‘Sense of mission.’ California’s new gas price watchdog known for taking on economic crimes.” It wrote he is “leading a new state agency that will watch over oil markets for possible illegal activity that drives up costs for Californians.” That agency is the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, a new bureaucracy set up by Senate Bill X1-2 and signed into law last March by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  The governor’s office announced Mr. Milder “has successfully investigated and prosecuted companies and individuals that tried to rip off consumers by engaging in price-fixing, bid-rigging, and bribery. Milder also worked at California’s Department of Justice enforcing state antitrust laws against oil and gas companies.

  “The new oil watchdog office is a key part of Gov. Newsom’s gas price gouging law.”

  Actually, it’s a key strategy in deflecting attention from California’s high gas prices should the governor run for president. The topic could come up in the governor’s planned debate with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, possibly set for Nov. 8 in Georgia, although both camps are haggling over the details.

  Highest Gas Prices

  According to AAA Gas Prices, California currently suffers the highest gas prices in the country, averaging $5.11 a gallon for regular. The lowest is Mississippi at $3.32. For our neighbors, Nevada is $4.36 and Arizona is $4.01. There’s no reason why California can’t have prices that low.

  

  California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks in the rotunda of the California State Capitol in Sacramento on March 28, 2023. (Courtesy of the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom)

  The main effect of the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight and Milder’s actions in fact will be to raise prices even higher. At the time he signed the bill, Gov. Newsom said to oil companies, “Prove you’re not price gouging.” But how do you prove a negative? In America, isn’t the accused innocent until proven guilty? The new edict only will increase compliance costs. Instead of investing in new equipment at refineries and gas stations, the companies will hire more lawyers and regulation experts to make sure no one goes to one of the state’s hellhole jails.

  The new bureaucracy is piled on top of numerous existing state bureaucracies regulating the oil industry. These include the California Energy Commission, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the ultra-powerful California Air Resources Board, which is dedicated to destroying the petroleum industry by switching everyone to electric vehicles.

  It wouldn’t even surprise me if some oil companies, despite the large consumer base, just pulled out of the state entirely. Why bother? Why risk getting sent to jail for doing your business as you do in the other 49 states?

  

  Vehicles pass the Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery Wilmington Plant in Wilmington, Calif., on Nov. 28, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  Here are the real main reasons California consistently ranks highest in gas prices:

  State-Level Reasons

  Special Blends

  California requires unique special blends of gasoline, in particular a more expensive summer blend. When it runs low of its special blends, it can’t just import more from other states. Special markets commonly cost more than general markets, where there’s more overall competition.

  Old Refineries

  The state’s creaking old oil refineries break down more often than new facilities in other states. That’s because California’s regulations—now made more onerous with the new Division of Petroleum Market Oversight—make it prohibitively costly to build new refineries. When a refinery is taken off line, supply obviously is cut. That increases scarcity until the facilities are repaired, which increases prices.

  2017 Gas Tax Increase of $5 Billion a Year

  With a 4 cent increase last month from an inflation adjustment, the tax now hits at 58 cents per gallon. ABC 10 broke down the full gouging taxpayers at the pump:

  • 54 cents in state excise tax: among the highest in the nation

  • 18.4 cents in federal excise tax

  • 23 cents for California’s cap-and-trade program to lower greenhouse gas emissions

  • 18 cents for the state’s low-carbon fuel programs

  • 2 cents for underground gas storage fees

  • An average of 3.7 percent in state and local sales taxes

  

  A customer pumps gas in Irvine, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

  National and Global Reasons

  Despite all the bragging about California being the world’s “fourth largest economy,” it’s really but a drop in the global energy market. Some recent events pushing up global oil and gasoline prices:

  KeystoneXL Pipeline

  Early in his administration, President Biden canceled the KeystoneXL pipeline. In January this year, reported Fox News, “The Biden administration published a congressionally mandated report highlighting the positive economic benefits the Keystone XL Pipeline would have had if President Biden didn’t revoke its federal permits.

  “The report, which the Department of Energy (DOE) completed in late December without any public announcement, says the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4-9.6 billion, citing various studies.”

  The Ukraine War

  Boycotts of Russian oil after its invasion of Ukraine disrupted what for decades had been a placid, smooth-functioning global oil market. Then the market adjusted until recently. On Aug. 4, reported CNN, “One of Russia’s biggest oil tankers was struck by a maritime drone, the latest salvo in a Ukrainian military campaign employing unmanned vehicles to attack far-away Russian targets by air and by sea.” That and other disruptions have boosted the global price of oil from $63 a barrel in early May to $83 on Aug. 10—a 32 percent increase in just three months.

  General Global Uncertainty

  In addition to the Ukraine war, the past two years under Biden have seen global crises multiply. The latest is the coup in the country of Niger in Africa, a key uranium source, especially for France’s large nuclear-power industry.

  But the main other problem remains tensions with Communist China over Taiwan. This past week China and Russia sent 11 navy vessels near Alaska. “It is a historical first,” Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Navy captain, told the Wall Street Journal. “Given the context of the war in Ukraine and tensions around Taiwan, this move is highly provocative.”

  Most global oil trade rides on giant oil tankers, which are protected mostly by the U.S. Navy. If its global supremacy on the sea is threatened, as now is happening, that protection is called into question.

  

  A gas pump is inserted inside an Audi vehicle at a Mobil gas station in Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 10, 2022. (Bing Guan/Reuters)

  Gas Prices Only Will Keep Rising

  The great economist Ludwig von Mises liked to say government intervention in a free economy only begets more intervention. And here’s a quote from him, from his book “Interventionism: An Economic Analysis”:

  “As a rule, capitalism is blamed for the undesired effects of a policy directed at its elimination. The man who sips his morning coffee does not say, ‘Capitalism has brought this beverage to my breakfast table.’ But when he reads in the papers that the government of Brazil has ordered part of the coffee crop destroyed, he does not say, ‘That is government for you’; he exclaims, ‘That is capitalism for you.’”

  For “coffee,” substitute “gasoline.”

  Finally, one result of pushing gas prices even higher—the real result of the new bureaucracy headed by Gas Czar Tai Milder—will be further to encourage people to buy electric cars ahead of the total ban on gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2035. It’s funny how those things happen.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 08/12/2023 – 13:30

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• Never Forget: Leftists Showed Their True Authoritarian Colors During COVID
  Never Forget: Leftists Showed Their True Authoritarian Colors During COVID

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  When I think back to the first days of the covid pandemic lockdowns, I suspect the majority of people, even many conservatives and liberty movement types, had a healthy concern about the effects of the virus and the potential for structural upheaval if it turned out to be as deadly as the World Health Organization initially claimed. If covid had an Infection Fatality Rate of 3% or more as global health officials warned, then the damage would be substantial enough to change our world for many years to come.

  Anyone who was not at least partially concerned about a biological disaster (or biological warfare) was probably an idiot. Anyone who was smart was prepared.  However, after a few months of the spread of the virus and after the first flurry of scientific data, several facts became evident:

  1) The lockdowns did nothing to stop the spread, they were simply destroying our economy.

  2) The masks were useless and did nothing to prevent transmission of the virus.

  3) The IFR of covid was a tiny 0.23%, and that’s not accounting for all the co-morbidity deaths that were falsely labeled as covid deaths.

  4) The vaccines did not prevent transmission for millions of people. They did not prevent infection in many cases and numerous vaccinated people have died from the virus. Not only that, but unvaccinated people with natural immunity were better protected than those that took the vaccine and boosters.

  5) Studies show that the vaccines cause dangerous side effects at a much greater rate than the CDC admitted.

  Everything government officials told us during the pandemic was a lie. It was not a mistake, it was not bureaucratic confusion, it was a lie. Even after this information became available, they KEPT GOING – They kept people locked down, kept them masked and they even tried to force-vaccinate the population. There were some Republican politicians that also went along with the panic, many of them Neocons (fake conservatives).  However, the majority of red states quickly ended the restrictions once the contradictory data was made public.  In the meantime, the blue states looked ridiculous and paranoid as they desperately clung to the mandates.

  I believe the only reason Biden, the Democrats and globalist institutions eventually stopped was not because they realized their science was incorrect; it was because they realized millions of conservatives and independents were ready start a shooting war over the mandates and they knew they would lose.

  

  Even today, months after Biden was forced to finally end the national emergency status on covid, there are still a lot of people out there running around with masks, still isolating in their homes and still complaining all over social media that the public has moved on from the pandemic hysteria. Where does this behavior originate? And why did so many Americans (mainly leftists) jump on the authoritarian bandwagon when it comes to lockdowns and forced vaccination?

  I want to explore the psychology of such people here, because I think it’s the natural inclination of the public today to move on quickly from the discomfort of terrible events and ignore the deeper implications. We cannot move on from this, because the ultimate problem was never solved. These same leftists and globalists were never admonished for their behavior, they never had to admit they were wrong and they WILL attempt the same draconian measures again in the future if left unchecked.

  Here is what I think happened during the covid cult frenzy…

  A Useful Weapon Against The Constitution

  Leftists are quick these days to change the subject or outright deny their authoritarian activities during covid. It makes sense, they view the next election as a defining election and they want people to forget that we almost lost what remains of our constitutional rights because of their policies. But again, we can’t allow these things to fade into the ether. Here’s a list of the worst trespasses on the part of leftists and globalists during the pandemic:

  They lied about the effectiveness of the lockdowns.

  They lied about the effectiveness of the masks.

  They lied about the effectiveness of the vaccines.

  They lied about how extensive the testing was for the covid vaccines.

  They lied about the “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

  They enforced lockdowns OUTSIDE where it is nearly impossible to contract a virus.

  They tried to put the population under house arrest.

  They put legislation in motion in some states to build “covid camps” in the US.

  In some countries, they did build covid camps, not just for travelers, but for everyone.

  They conspired to suppress ample evidence linking the Wuhan Lab in China with the outbreak.

  They (Government and Big Tech) conspired to use social media as a tool for mass censorship of conflicting data.

  They exploited algorithms through search engines to bury any and all contrary information.

  As many leftists openly admitted, the goal was to make life so difficult for the unvaccinated that they would eventually comply in order to survive. In this way, establishment elites and leftists could claim that people “volunteered” for the vaccines and no one was forced. What they really meant was, no one was forced at gunpoint, but we all knew that threat was coming next.  In fact, polling showed that a large percentage of Democrats were willing to scrap the Bill of Rights altogether and declare war on the unvaccinated…

  

  Finally, the vast majority of leftists supported Biden’s vaccine passport executive orders for workers in companies with 100 employees or more, which would have ultimately led to vaccine passports for everyone. This would have destroyed the constitution as we know it and created a society in which economic participation is completely controlled by the government. Keep in mind, all of this was being justified by a virus with a tiny 0.23% median death rate.

  Since the political left views the Bill of Rights as an obstacle to the majority of their political goals, I argue that they simply saw the pandemic as a vehicle they could exploit to remove constitutional protections they always wanted to get rid of anyway.

  The Mentally Ill Took Over The Country

  Around 23% of the US population is estimated to have at least one mental illness. On average, around 3% of the population suffers from psychotic episodes and 1% of the population is full blown psychopathic (incapable of empathy and takes joy in the suffering of others). America is a sick nation full of psychologically disturbed people, and there is currently no recourse for fixing the problem.

  Instead, under the leftist methodology, the mentally ill are elevated, idolized and enabled while violent criminals are released onto the streets over and over again. Take one look at all the major cities on the west coast of the US where progressive policies rule and see the disturbing decline. But what does this have to do with medical tyranny under covid?

  The political left uses the mentally ill as a bludgeon, an easily manipulated tool for chaos. During the lockdowns and restrictions the establishment and the media stoked the fires of paranoia.  By themselves they have no power; they need the crazed mob as a weapon to keep the rest of the country afraid and in line. They needed good little Stasi, always watching, always correcting, always screaming at those without masks, attacking those that refused to get vaxxed and mocking those that spoke out about scientific inconsistencies.

  And, in return, the establishment made the mentally ill feel as if they were normal. For a fleeting moment in time, the most unstable and narcissistic people on the planet were made to feel like THEY were on the right side of history and rationality. It was a parasitic feedback loop that almost destroyed the last vestiges of America.

  Tiny Tyrants Begging For Scraps From The Globalist Table

  There are generally two kinds of people in the world – Those that want power over others, and those that just want to be left alone. The progressive ideology seems to be a breeding ground for “tiny tyrants”: People who have no individual power, little accomplishment and no influence to speak of, but are still stricken with an obsession to micromanage the world around them. These folks see crisis and government overreach as an opportunity rather than a threat.

  There are also those people who view their existence as so devoid of interest or excitement that they tend to live vicariously through calamity and conflict. They saw the covid outbreak and the lockdowns as a moment that gave their lives “meaning.” Yes, it’s sad and pathetic, but this is how many people out there cope with obscurity and lack of merit.

  These opportunists didn’t want the pandemic to end. They wanted it to go on forever, because if it did they could feed off the establishment power shift. They could gather scraps from the globalist table, and like carrion, feast on the corpse of our Republic. The motive? Selfish vanity, that is all.

  All of this could very well happen again. The big tyrants and tiny tyrants are still out there, waiting for the next crisis; the next panic event to take the public off their guard. Another viral event is unlikely, but they do seem anxious to use climate change, war and economic turmoil as the next great “reset” button. In the end, there will have to be a dramatic shift in how the liberty minded interact with the authoritarian left. It is clear that we cannot share the same country, or the same civilization. Our values are fundamentally at odds. It’s only a matter of time before a single spark ignites a firestorm.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 23:40

• Visualizing The Global Population By Water Security Levels
  Visualizing The Global Population By Water Security Levels

  Most of the world’s population today lives in countries facing critical water security issues.

  Dealing with issues such as declining freshwater availability, demand from growing populations, insufficient infrastructure, or flawed water governance can impact how easily a country’s population can access water. A combination of multiple factors quickly makes problems with water security a lived reality.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes illustrates below, a recent Global Water Security Report by the United Nations University assessed the water security of different countries across the world.

  

  Methodology

  This study assesses water security in countries by examining 10 different underlying components, ranging from water quality and sanitation to availability, resource stability, and climate-related risks.

  Each component is given a score out of 10, with a nation’s overall water security score calculated from the sum. Water security levels are assigned based on the overall scores:

  • 75 and above is classified as “water secure”

  • 65‒74 is classified as “moderately secure”

  • 41‒64 indicates a country is “water insecure”

  • 40 and below is considered “critically insecure”

  Water Security Levels by Country

  Water security remains a concern around the world, but is especially dire in regions like the Middle East and Africa, where 13 of the 23 nations in the critically insecure category are located.

  In total, 113 countries are considered water insecure, including the world’s two most populated, India and China. An additional 24 countries are considered critically water insecure, with the largest by population including Pakistan and Ethiopia

  Country	Water Security Score	Assessed Level
  🇦🇫 Afghanistan	32	Critical
  🇦🇱 Albania	60	Insecure
  🇩🇿 Algeria	58	Insecure
  🇦🇴 Angola	53	Insecure
  🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda	56	Insecure
  🇦🇷 Argentina	56	Insecure
  🇦🇲 Armenia	60	Insecure
  🇦🇺 Australia	78	Secure
  🇦🇹 Austria	85	Secure
  🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	60	Insecure
  🇧🇸 Bahamas	48	Insecure
  🇧🇭 Bahrain	67	Moderate
  🇧🇩 Bangladesh	51	Insecure
  🇧🇧 Barbados	44	Insecure
  🇧🇾 Belarus	68	Moderate
  🇧🇪 Belgium	71	Moderate
  🇧🇿 Belize	54	Insecure
  🇧🇯 Benin	47	Insecure
  🇧🇹 Bhutan	56	Insecure
  🇧🇴 Bolivia	55	Insecure
  🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	62	Insecure
  🇧🇼 Botswana	55	Insecure
  🇧🇷 Brazil	69	Moderate
  🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam	52	Insecure
  🇧🇬 Bulgaria	67	Moderate
  🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	49	Insecure
  🇧🇮 Burundi	45	Insecure
  🇨🇻 Cabo Verde	54	Insecure
  🇰🇭 Cambodia	46	Insecure
  🇨🇲 Cameroon	47	Insecure
  🇨🇦 Canada	75	Secure
  🇨🇫 Central African Republic	43	Insecure
  🇹🇩 Chad	39	Critical
  🇨🇱 Chile	67	Moderate
  🇨🇳 China	64	Insecure
  🇨🇴 Colombia	62	Insecure
  🇰🇲 Comoros	40	Critical
  🇨🇬 Congo, Rep.	58	Insecure
  🇨🇷 Costa Rica	69	Moderate
  🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire	51	Insecure
  🇭🇷 Croatia	75	Secure
  🇨🇺 Cuba	56	Insecure
  🇨🇾 Cyprus	80	Secure
  🇨🇿 Czech Republic	75	Secure
  🇰🇵 Democratic Republic of Korea	59	Insecure
  🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo	50	Insecure
  🇩🇰 Denmark	85	Secure
  🇩🇯 Djibouti	32	Critical
  🇩🇲 Dominica	41	Insecure
  🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	46	Insecure
  🇪🇨 Ecuador	61	Insecure
  🇪🇬 Egypt	45	Insecure
  🇸🇻 El Salvador	58	Insecure
  🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	47	Insecure
  🇪🇷 Eritrea	29	Critical
  🇪🇪 Estonia	78	Secure
  🇸🇿 Eswatini	41	Insecure
  🇪🇹 Ethiopia	31	Critical
  🇫🇯 Fiji	57	Insecure
  🇫🇮 Finland	83	Secure
  🇫🇷 France	81	Secure
  🇬🇦 Gabon	52	Insecure
  🇬🇲 Gambia	50	Insecure
  🇬🇪 Georgia	63	Insecure
  🇩🇪 Germany	79	Secure
  🇬🇭 Ghana	52	Insecure
  🇬🇷 Greece	80	Secure
  🇬🇩 Grenada	48	Insecure
  🇬🇹 Guatemala	55	Insecure
  🇬🇳 Guinea	46	Insecure
  🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	44	Insecure
  🇬🇾 Guyana	44	Insecure
  🇭🇹 Haiti	34	Critical
  🇭🇳 Honduras	52	Insecure
  🇭🇺 Hungary	75	Secure
  🇮🇸 Iceland	83	Secure
  🇮🇳 India	41	Insecure
  🇮🇩 Indonesia	51	Insecure
  🇮🇷 Iran, Islamic Rep.	48	Insecure
  🇮🇶 Iraq	51	Insecure
  🇮🇪 Ireland	82	Secure
  🇮🇱 Israel	75	Secure
  🇮🇹 Italy	78	Secure
  🇯🇲 Jamaica	59	Insecure
  🇯🇵 Japan	77	Secure
  🇯🇴 Jordan	65	Moderate
  🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	58	Insecure
  🇰🇪 Kenya	46	Insecure
  🇰🇼 Kuwait	75	Secure
  🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	54	Insecure
  🇱🇦 Lao PDR	56	Insecure
  🇱🇻 Latvia	78	Secure
  🇱🇧 Lebanon	59	Insecure
  🇱🇸 Lesotho	54	Insecure
  🇱🇷 Liberia	36	Critical
  🇱🇾 Libya	37	Critical
  🇱🇹 Lithuania	81	Secure
  🇱🇺 Luxembourg	85	Secure
  🇲🇬 Madagascar	37	Critical
  🇲🇼 Malawi	47	Insecure
  🇲🇾 Malaysia	75	Secure
  🇲🇻 Maldives	49	Insecure
  🇲🇱 Mali	43	Insecure
  🇲🇹 Malta	62	Insecure
  🇲🇷 Mauritania	41	Insecure
  🇲🇺 Mauritius	43	Insecure
  🇲🇽 Mexico	61	Insecure
  🇫🇲 Micronesia	38	Critical
  🇲🇳 Mongolia	60	Insecure
  🇲🇪 Montenegro	51	Insecure
  🇲🇦 Morocco	57	Insecure
  🇲🇿 Mozambique	46	Insecure
  🇲🇲 Myanmar	50	Insecure
  🇳🇦 Namibia	51	Insecure
  🇳🇵 Nepal	48	Insecure
  🇳🇱 Netherlands	72	Moderate
  🇳🇿 New Zealand	81	Secure
  🇳🇮 Nicaragua	54	Insecure
  🇳🇪 Niger	38	Critical
  🇳🇬 Nigeria	57	Insecure
  🇲🇰 North Macedonia	51	Insecure
  🇳🇴 Norway	84	Secure
  🇴🇲 Oman	55	Insecure
  🇵🇰 Pakistan	37	Critical
  🇵🇦 Panama	61	Insecure
  🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	34	Critical
  🇵🇾 Paraguay	63	Insecure
  🇵🇪 Peru	55	Insecure
  🇵🇭 Philippines	58	Insecure
  🇵🇱 Poland	70	Moderate
  🇵🇹 Portugal	75	Secure
  🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	51	Insecure
  🇶🇦 Qatar	73	Moderate
  🇰🇷 Republic of Korea	70	Moderate
  🇲🇩 Republic of Moldova	57	Insecure
  🇷🇴 Romania	70	Moderate
  🇷🇺 Russian Federation	73	Moderate
  🇷🇼 Rwanda	46	Insecure
  🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis	36	Critical
  🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	46	Insecure
  🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	42	Insecure
  🇼🇸 Samoa	50	Insecure
  🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe	50	Insecure
  🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	56	Insecure
  🇸🇳 Senegal	49	Insecure
  🇷🇸 Serbia	57	Insecure
  🇸🇨 Seychelles	50	Insecure
  🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	38	Critical
  🇸🇬 Singapore	61	Insecure
  🇸🇰 Slovakia	76	Secure
  🇸🇮 Slovenia	76	Secure
  🇸🇧 Solomon Islands	23	Critical
  🇸🇴 Somalia	35	Critical
  🇿🇦 South Africa	56	Insecure
  🇸🇸 South Sudan	37	Critical
  🇪🇸 Spain	77	Secure
  🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	40	Critical
  🇵🇸 Palestine	51	Insecure
  🇸🇩 Sudan	30	Critical
  🇸🇷 Suriname	57	Insecure
  🇸🇪 Sweden	90	Secure
  🇨🇭 Switzerland	84	Secure
  🇸🇾 Syria Arab Republic	42	Insecure
  🇹🇯 Tajikistan	44	Insecure
  🇹🇭 Thailand	53	Insecure
  🇹🇱 Timor-Leste	42	Insecure
  🇹🇬 Togo	49	Insecure
  🇹🇴 Tonga	43	Insecure
  🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago	54	Insecure
  🇹🇳 Tunisia	58	Insecure
  🇹🇷 Türkiye	68	Moderate
  🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	49	Insecure
  🇺🇬 Uganda	49	Insecure
  🇺🇦 Ukraine	62	Insecure
  🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	66	Moderate
  🇬🇧 United Kingdom	79	Secure
  🇹🇿 United Republic of Tanzania	46	Insecure
  🇺🇸 United States of America	80	Secure
  🇺🇾 Uruguay	60	Insecure
  🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	46	Insecure
  🇻🇺 Vanuatu	31	Critical
  🇻🇪 Venezuela	56	Insecure
  🇻🇳 Vietnam	48	Insecure
  🇾🇪 Yemen	38	Critical
  🇿🇲 Zambia	56	Insecure
  🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	49	Insecure

  Countries facing water security issues account for 72% of the world’s population, with an additional 8% of the global population facing critical water insecurity.

  That includes 4.3 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region alone, and an additional 1.3 billion people across Africa. Many of these countries are grappling with issues including fast-growing populations and drought conditions faster than they can develop the necessary infrastructure to deal with them.

  Only 12% of the world’s population lives in water-secure countries, including almost all Western countries, with Norway at the very top of the rankings at an overall score of 90. An additional 8% of the world lives in moderately secure countries such as Brazil and Russia.

  However, water availability in these more secure countries is not perfect either. For example, U.S. states reliant on the Colorado River for irrigation and drinking water are facing continued drought conditions and limiting consumption, with further crisis on the horizon.

  Towards a Water Secure Future

  As nations around the world face increasing water-related challenges, governments and international agencies have been collaborating to foster sustainable water management practices. In fact, clean water and sanitation for all is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  Many regions have already begun to implement these practices. For example, cities in California have begun recycling wastewater and capturing stormwater to deal with water scarcity. Farming-dependent regions are also looking to smart agriculture to reduce the drain on the limited freshwater resources.

  Such initiatives to improve water irrigation systems, enhance water infrastructure, and conserve the depleting freshwater reserves may help elevate countries out of water insecurity and help preserve this precious resource for generations to come.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 23:20

• COVID-19 Vagus Nerve Inflammation May Lead To Dysautonomia: New Study
  COVID-19 Vagus Nerve Inflammation May Lead To Dysautonomia: New Study

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

  New data may provide answers for those experiencing persistent symptoms long after their bout with COVID-19 has ended. These may include fatigue, lightheadedness, brain fog, cognitive issues, gastrointestinal problems, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, or an inability to tolerate upright postures.

  A July 15 study published in Acta Neuropathologica suggests that SARS-CoV-2 infection may damage the nerves of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), causing an inflammatory response that can later lead to dysautonomia observed in long COVID patients.

  

  Study Findings

  Using several methods, researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany performed a microscopic analysis of the vagus nerves in 27 deceased patients with COVID-19 and five controls who died of other causes, without COVID-19.

  The vagus nerve is a vital component of the ANS that regulates critical functions such as digestion, respiratory and heart rate, and immune response. Vagus nerve signaling to the brainstem also controls the “sickness behavior response,” where the brain mounts flu-like symptoms including nausea, fatigue, pain, and other chronic symptoms in response to inflammation.

  The researchers detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in vagus nerve samples obtained from deceased patients with severe COVID-19 showing direct infection of the nerve was accompanied by inflammatory cell infiltration composed mostly of monocytes—a type of white blood cell that finds and destroys germs and eliminates infected cells. Their analysis revealed a “strong enrichment of genes regulating antiviral responses and interferon signaling,” supporting the idea that vagus nerve inflammation is a common phenomenon with COVID-19.

  The researchers also analyzed 23 vagus nerve samples of deceased COVID-19 patients grouped into low, intermediate, and high SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral load to determine if the virus was directly detectable in the vagus nerve and if the viral load correlated with vagus nerve dysfunction. Results showed the virus was present in the vagus nerve and also determined there was a direct correlation between SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA load and dysfunction of the central nervous system.

  Researchers then screened a cohort of 323 patients admitted to the emergency room between Feb. 13, 2020, and Aug. 15, 2022, categorized by whether they had mild, moderate, severe, critical, or lethal COVID-19. They found that the respiratory rate increased in survivors but decreased in non-survivors of critical COVID-19. These results suggest SARS-CoV-2 induces vagus nerve inflammation followed by autonomic dysfunction (respiratory rate decrease), which “contributes to critical disease courses and might contribute to dysautonomia observed in long COVID.”

  Responding to the study, microbiologist Amy Proal of PolyBio Research Foundation wrote on X, “Because the vagus nerve is an essential component of the #autonomic nervous system and regulates body functions such as heart rate, digestion, and respiratory rate, direct infection of the nerve by SARS-CoV-2 may contribute to related symptoms.” She added, “The findings beg the question: Could persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection of the vagus nerve contribute to dysautonomia in #LongCovid?”

  What is Dysautonomia?

  Nearly 1 in 5 people in the United States continue to experience unexplained symptoms of long COVID after their infection ends, with as many as 66 percent of patients suffering from moderate to severe dysfunction of the ANS known as dysautonomia.

  Dysautonomia is a disorder of the ANS, a part of the central nervous system that controls vital involuntary functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, skin and body temperature regulation, salivating, hormonal and bladder function, and sexual function. The ANS also plays a role in the acute “fight or flight” stress response and sends messages to and from internal organs.

  Dysautonomia causes the ANS—which consists of the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric nervous systems—to malfunction, either through an inability to perform its tasks or by causing too much activity, resulting in high blood pressure or a rapid heart rate. The condition can be confined to the arms and legs or spread throughout the entire body. It can be severe or mild, and may be reversible or worsen over time.

  Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a common form of dysautonomia that has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began and has been reported by those with long COVID and in those following COVID-19 vaccination.

  Symptoms of POTS include but are not limited to lightheadedness, difficulty thinking or concentrating, severe and long-lasting fatigue, intolerance to exercise, blurred vision, low blood pressure, heart palpitations, tremors, and nausea.

  Since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, 801 cases of POTS were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System as of July 28. This includes 597 cases attributed to Pfizer and 171 cases to Moderna.

  Treatments for Dysautonomia

  Therapeutic treatment options for autonomic dysfunction in the medical community are aimed at symptom management and avoiding triggers using pharmaceutical drugs and nonpharmacologic measures.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 23:00

• The US Military Suicide Crisis
  The US Military Suicide Crisis

  Nearly half of those serving in the U.S. military have contemplated suicide since joining the forces, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Members 2022 report.

  

  This is a huge jump up from the nine percent that said they had thought about taking their own life before signing up.

  The following chart, from Statista’s Anna Fleck, illustrates how the United States’ has a suicide crisis on its hands, which seemingly is not showing signs of abating. If anything, it has worsened, with the 2014 data recording a slightly lower 31 percent of veterans having experienced suicidal thoughts.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  According to a 2021 report by Thomas Howard Suitt at Boston University, suicide rates among the active military personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars have been climbing in recent years. While the same trend can be said of the general public, in the military and veterans spheres it’s happening at an even faster rate.

  To put this into context, estimates currently put the figure of suicides among active duty personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars at 30,177 – a high number, especially when considering that 7,057 U.S. service members were killed in war operations in that time.

  Reasons attributed to the higher suicide rates among those in the military and veterans include the high exposure to trauma, stress, military culture and training.

  However, factors such as the rise of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and advances to medical treatment that keep service members in the military longer are also cited. Such high suicide rates, Suitt concludes, mark the “failure of the U.S. government and U.S. society to manage the mental health costs of our current conflicts.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 22:40

• India Consumes 11x More Crude Oil From Russia, Exposing Ineffectiveness Of Western Sanctions
  India Consumes 11x More Crude Oil From Russia, Exposing Ineffectiveness Of Western Sanctions

  Via Remix News,

  Russia has now become the main crude oil supplier of India, one of the world’s largest consumers, Hungarian daily Magyar Hírlap reports.

  

  According to the data, export volumes were almost 11 times higher than last year’s shipments over the same period and exceeded shipments for the whole of 2022. Last year, India imported 33.4 million tonnes of Russian crude oil.

  It is another sign that Western sanctions have had a much smaller impact than expected on Russia’s ability to export its natural resources.

  During the period under review, Russia secured the title of India’s primary supplier of crude oil, followed by Iraq (21.4 million tonnes) and Saudi Arabia (17.5 million tonnes).

  Russian crude imports to India continued to grow over the summer, reaching a record 2.2 million barrels per day in June and rising for ten consecutive months, according to crude analyst firm Kpler.

  Deliveries fell slightly in July to an average of 1.9 million barrels, according to a special report in the Morning Express newspaper earlier this week.

  Analysts attributed the decline to the production cut agreed by the OPEC+ group, under which Moscow has pledged to reduce output by 500,000 barrels a day.

  Moscow began redirecting oil shipments to Asia last year in response to Western sanctions on Ukraine, which included an oil embargo and price restrictions on Russian crude and petroleum products. India, the world’s third-largest importer and consumer of oil, has become one of Russia’s biggest consumers by not joining the sanctions and taking advantage of the discounts offered by Moscow.

  However, New Delhi has pledged not to breach the Western price ceiling for Russian crude oil, which is set at $60 per barrel, excluding transport, freight, customs, and insurance costs.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 22:20

• 'On The Verge Of The Abyss' – No US Presidential Election In 2024?
  ‘On The Verge Of The Abyss’ – No US Presidential Election In 2024?

  Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

  In January 2023, US special counsel Jack Smith applied for -and received- a subpoena for Twitter, specifically for all of Donald Trump’s utterances at the site through the years, including the ones he may have never published. Note: the subpoena came long after Trump left Twitter. And no, it wasn’t X then, and therefore it is not now. He wrote it when it was Twitter. Important. Trump left Twitter (was cancelled) on Jan 8 2021, Elon Musk bought it on October 27 2022, and renamed it “X” in late July 2023. Just so we get our horses and dogs in line.

  Special counsel Jack Smith received his Twitter/Trump subpoena with the added provision that it had to be entirely secret, not even Twitter or Trump could know. US District Court Judge Beryll Howell gave Smith what he wanted, agreeing that if Trump’s years-old Twitter past was known, he would become a flight risk. But both Smith and Howell knew this was absolute nonsense. Not only is Twitter the last place you turn to when you have nefarious secrets to hide (it’s the opposite!), but the man is running for President, for God’s sake! And because of some 5 year old -or so- tweets he would pack in the family and disappear to an -underground- bungalow on Vanatua, never to be heard from again?

  I would put this down as the moment when it became impossible for the US to have a presidential election in 2024. We’ve had some 8 years of this anti-Trump circus now, non-stop, Hillary, Pelosi, Adam Schiff and Robert Mueller, yada yada yada, but I don’t think we’ve reached the point before where the elections might as well be cancelled.

  We’re there now though. And that is a BIG point.

  We’ve let it come far too far. We’re in slapstick territory.

  

  Think of it as a boxing match.

  In the one corner, we have the former champion/president, wearing the slightly widened red trunks. At age 77, he looks somewhat bruised and battered, but he doesn’t look beaten- yet. What’s noticeable though is that his corner is empty, except for Melania cleaning his brow, not even his own party is there to support him. There are some 90 million Americans behind him, but they are at home.

  In the other corner, the defending champion, in blue trunks, weighing in at about 25 pounds and falling, looks a little lost. But behind him in his corner he has thousands of operatives: his entire party, plus the CIA and NSA and FBI and DOJ. And all the newspapers and TV channels and social media in the country. And all the judges and prosecutors, the DAs and GAs, it’s a veritable love-in. The guy in the blue trunks could be braindead and he’d still win. And I wish I was a cartoonist, and could capture the entire image in one frame. I can see it in front of my eyes, but I can’t draw it.

  Where the boxing analogy goes astray is that in this case the blue side is allowed to harass the red side before, during and after the (preparations for) the fight, and during the fight itself. You can’t a have a free and fair fight, and a level playing field, if some “blue operatives” can put shackles on the ankles and wrists of the red candidate, or even lock him up while he’s preparing for the bell to ring. If the system allows him to be a candidate, it must also allow him to prepare for his candidacy, in the same way that his opponent can. That is not happening.

  US special counsel Jack Smith has announced that the US plans to drag Trump before court after court starting January 2 2024. At least 3 major indictments (will be a dozen) , likely many more, and at my last count, 82 charges (it’s impossible to keep up). Smith can then finger pick any of these charges to put Trump in custody, whenever he feels like it. The judges are almost all “blue”, and so are the jury pools: New York and DC. And this is while he’s supposed to be campaigning!

  And also: Trump allegedly already spent $40 million on legal expenses. But what if Trump doesn’t have $40 million? We could argue the $40 million should be spent on his campaign. Look at Imran Khan, guys, who was just convicted to a 3-year prison term in Pakistan on US directives. Like Trump, he is the most popular political candidate in his nation, and they got him on selling necklaces when he was PM.

  That is Trump’s future too.

  And hence, the end of American democracy.

  He doesn’t stand a chance. And if he doesn’t, the system doesn’t, and you don’t. You’re fine as long as you agree with the boot stomping on your neck, and you maybe even enjoy it. But if you don’t, Jack Smith and his ilk – and Obama, Hillary, Adam Schiff, Pelosi, the whole gang, will come with charges and indictments directed at you.

  You’re on the verge of the abyss.

  If you want to take your chances with what you might find down there, fair enough. But always know that you have a choice.

  And that, if somehow they do manage to stage a presidential election in November 2024 as things stand now, it’ll be fake from A to Z. Grow a pair, people, grow a backbone. You’re going to need them.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 22:00

• Seniors Told To Brace For Far Lower Social Security Payment Boost In 2024
  Seniors Told To Brace For Far Lower Social Security Payment Boost In 2024

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

  The 2024 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase for Social Security recipients is likely to be a fraction of what it was in 2023 and a disappointment to many seniors, according to a nonpartisan seniors group, which found that some eight in 10 retirees report they’re still reeling from inflation.

  

  The latest COLA estimate from The Senior Citizens League (SCL) is around 3 percent, which amounts to a roughly $54 increase in the current average monthly benefit check of $1,789.

  The estimate could still change, however, with SCL saying it will release its final projection for the 2024 COLA on Sept. 13.

  The Social Security Administration (SSA) is expected to announce the actual COLA for 2024 sometime in mid-October.

  To arrive at its official calculation, the SSA takes the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) during the third quarter of 2023 (which includes July, August, and September). This figure is then compared to the corresponding data from the previous year.

  “The COLA announcement is expected to be October 12, 2023, barring any unforeseen delays from a government shutdown,” Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at SCL, said in a statement.

  A partial government shutdown in 2013 led to delays in the official COLA announcement.

  ‘High Prices Continue to Impact Households’

  The newest COLA estimate of around 3 percent is roughly in line with the SCL’s earlier projection but far lower than last year’s adjustment of 8.7 percent, which was driven up by multi-decade high inflation.

  Annual inflation, which is a key input in the COLA calculations, inched up to 3.2 percent in July from 3 percent in June. While that’s above the Federal Reserve’s target of around 2 percent, the latest inflation reading is well below the 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June 2022.

  “In 2023 Social Security recipients received the highest COLA in more than 40 years, but 79 percent of retirees report that lingering high prices continue to impact household budgets significantly,” SCL said in a statement.

  In an SCL survey of 1,759 retirees in mid-July, nearly eight in 10 said that essentials like housing, food, and prescription drugs are costing them more today than a year ago.

  “High costs have significantly impacted older Americans’ ability to access healthcare,” SCL said in a statement.

  Around two-thirds of retirees who participated in the survey said that high prices have forced them to put off dental care, including major work like dentures, bridges, and implants.

  Nearly one-third of retirees said they had postponed filling prescriptions or getting medical care.

  “Older consumers, especially those with lower retirement incomes remain vulnerable to some of the higher prices that haven’t gone down,” Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at SCL, told Yahoo Finance.

  Housing costs have risen 7.7 percent over the past year while rent is up 8 percent, the latest inflation data shows, with the estimated 3 percent COLA adjustment a far cry from these figures.

  Richard Priedits of Grand Rapids, Michigan, told The Associated Press that he’s noticed higher accommodation costs during his annual vacation.

  “We are using credit cards a lot more,” he said as he stopped at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada.

  “The hotel was probably about $100 more … We filled up the tank this morning. It was like $90.’’

  Prices are high back in Michigan as well, he said: “It’s expensive everywhere.’’

  Some analysts expect that the pace of inflation in housing will slow down significantly going forward since there’s a lag in rental costs being reflected in the government’s inflation figures.

  “Housing disinflation will pick up momentum in the coming months,” Lydia Boussour, senior economist at EY-Parthenon in New York, told Reuters.

  Despite the rate of inflation growth slowing from the 9.1 percent peak in June 2022, consumers are still feeling the effects of price pressures.

  According to a Bankrate survey in July, 72 percent of Americans don’t feel financially secure. Among them, 63 percent say that high inflation is making it hard for them to be financially comfortable.

  Another survey by Bankrate in June found that 68 percent are saving less for unexpected situations because of inflation.

  Social Security Fund In Danger

  Social Security is facing future challenges due to various factors such as inflation, economic conditions, and lower-than-expected tax revenue.

  A recent projection by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) estimates that the Social Security retirement fund will be insolvent in 2033, resulting in a 23 percent benefit cut. This means that, in 2033, annual benefits for the average newly retired dual-income couple would be cut by $17,400.

  The future of Social Security has become a key political talking point as the 2024 presidential campaign ramps up.

  Former President Donald Trump has warned his fellow Republicans not to cut Social Security benefits, while President Joe Biden has vowed to push back against any GOP-led efforts to slash Social Security payments.

  CRFB says that any 2024 presidential candidate who “pledges not to touch Social Security is implicitly endorsing a 23 percent across-the-board benefit cut for the 70 million retirees” when the fund runs out of money within 10 years.

  Accordingly, there have been bipartisan calls to come up with a fix.

  

  Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks at a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on July 12, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

  Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said during a July 12 Senate Budget Committee hearing that Social Security must be preserved for future generations.

  Mr. Grassley urged Congress to follow the example of President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) in the 1980s.

  “When you have candidates for president on the Republican side and you have a Democratic president in office today who say, ‘We’re not going to touch Social Security,’ how are you going to get things done?” Mr. Grassley asked.

  “The only way to reach a deal on Social Security is to follow the Reagan–O’Neill model. That means Congress and the president working in a bipartisan fashion and keeping a chain, a range of options on the table,” Mr. Grassley said, referring to the 1983 agreement that stabilized Social Security for decades.

  The Reagan-O’Neill model was basically a combination of increasing payroll taxes and gradually raising the retirement age.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 21:40

• Turkey Views Ukraine Peace Talks As Futile Without Russia, May Host Next Round
  Turkey Views Ukraine Peace Talks As Futile Without Russia, May Host Next Round

  Following last weekend’s Ukraine peace talks hosted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Turkey now says it might play host to the next round. The Saudi talks didn’t produce much of anything, also given Russia wasn’t even represented, and it was pushed reportedly to get BRICS countries off the fence and more firmly in support of Kiev.

  Turkish daily Hurriyet indicated in a fresh report, “it should not be surprising if Turkey becomes the host of the third round.” The report hailed Turkey as a host nation that “can openly and clearly speak to all sides” of the conflict.

  

  More importantly, Turkish officials who were present in Jeddah are reported to have said “results cannot be achieved without involving Russia in the process.”

  Thus it appears that if Turkey-hosted talks do materialize, Russia is likely to be represented – also as attempts to restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative have been ongoing – though appear more distant than ever as the Black Sea aspect to the conflict heats up with tit-for-tat bombings of ports and warships, and recently even a Russian fuel tanker.

  China too has let it be known that Moscow needs to be directly involved in any serious Ukraine peace talks. China’s involvement in the talks is being widely viewed as a positive. Beijing characterized its participation in the Saudi summit as follows: 

  China’s attendance shows it supports “substantive efforts” to end the war “through negotiation and diplomacy,” said Victor Gao, a prominent Chinese political analyst with strong links to the ruling Communist Party. “China will listen carefully to any idea or proposal” that is “helpful to the peaceful settlement of the war.”

  Kremlin officials have meanwhile blistered over “peace talks” being held without them, saying that it’s tantamount to rivals and enemies ‘gossiping without us’.

  As Business Insider summarizes of Kremlin furry: 

  In comments to The Moscow Times, four former and current Kremlin officials familiar with Russia’s diplomacy were troubled. Ukraine had managed to gather traditional Russian allies at the summit, not just its usual backers in the West, they noted. One official said Ukraine was seeking to cut out Russia and get countries to rally behind its version of how to end the war.

  “Kyiv’s goal is to make these countries if not allies, then partners. And then if a general consensus is reached, Ukraine will try to deepen it and raise more sensitive issues to build such a consensus,” the diplomat told the publication.

  A former high-ranking Russian diplomat also expressed concern to The Moscow Times about Russia’s isolation, but added that Moscow’s participation in discussions was necessary for ending the conflict. “The fact that we’re not there is naturally unpleasant for us. As is the fact that they’re gossiping without us,” the former official said. He did, however, say that “you cannot solve” the war without Russian input.

  The influential nations of China, India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia have by and large resisted Washington pressure to sign onto the West’s anti-Putin measures and to stop cooperation altogether. At the same time, Moscow has charged the US and UK in particular of actively thwarting peace behind the scenes. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 21:20

• China's Imports Of Saudi Oil Set To Soar Despite Production Cuts
  China’s Imports Of Saudi Oil Set To Soar Despite Production Cuts

  By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com,

  China is set to import 40% more crude from Saudi Arabia under term contracts in September despite the unilateral production cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of the world’s top crude oil exporter, traders told Bloomberg on Friday.  

  

  Chinese refiners are estimated to receive as much as 52 million barrels of crude oil cargoes next month, compared to about 37 million barrels set to arrive in August, the traders participating in the market told Bloomberg. The significant increase will come from the start of a new supply contract between Saudi oil giant Aramco and Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical Co.

  Under an agreement signed by Aramco and Rongsheng Petrochemical last month, the Saudi firm successfully closed the transaction to buy a 10% stake in the Chinese refiner for $3.4 billion (24.6 billion Chinese yuan). The deal includes the supply of 480,000 bpd of Arabian crude to the largest Chinese integrated refining and chemicals complex, which is owned by Rongsheng affiliate Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Co. Ltd (ZPC).

  Last week, Saudi Arabia said it would extend its unilateral voluntary cut of 1 million bpd from July and August into September, adding that the cut could be extended or extended and deepened.

  The Kingdom’s production for the month of September 2023 will be around 9 million bpd, as it is in July and August.

  Despite the cut, Saudi Arabia is expected to supply full crude oil volumes in September under contracts with Asian buyers.

  Saudi Aramco raised the official selling price (OSP) for its Arab Light crude oil grade to Asia by $0.30 per barrel for the month of September, to $3.50 above the Oman/Dubai average, the company said earlier this month. Aramco also raised the price of its Arab Light crude to Europe by $2 per barrel, but it left its crude to the United States the same at +$7.25 versus ASCI for the month of September, it said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 21:00

• Is It Time To Fact-Check Corporate Media's 'Climate Hysteria' Over "Hottest Day Ever"?
  Is It Time To Fact-Check Corporate Media’s ‘Climate Hysteria’ Over “Hottest Day Ever”?

  Corporate media unleashed a barrage of headlines of climate doom, including “Era of global boiling has arrived” and “hottest month in the history of civilization” and “hottest day ever recorded.” These headlines were published in July, the typical peak of the Northern Hemisphere summer. Some of these wild claims were based on records from four decades ago, even though Earth has been around for billions of years.

  CBS News wrote, “Earth sees third straight hottest day on record, though it’s unofficial: ‘Brutally hot.'” It’s crucial to note that CBS hedged itself with “unofficial,” meaning the data hasn’t been verified. 

  Records grab attention, and clearly, the climate alarmists in corporate media were pushing a ‘climate change’ agenda in a month with the warmest temperatures of the year: geniuses. As for the warmest ever, well, even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had questions about the climate math (Read: Even NOAA “Runs Away” From ‘Hottest Day Ever’ Claim After Media Hysteria). 

  NOAA runs away from ‘hottest day’ claim.https://t.co/BQv0VpuE5r pic.twitter.com/IaeOIGj5xE

  — Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) July 7, 2023

  July was hot, but it’s because of the peak Northern Hemisphere summer. The El Nino weather phenomenon may have contributed to some extra warmth. In terms of temperatures deviating excessively from a 30-year average, well, there’s not much of that, according to Bloomberg data. 

  

  If you weren’t able to visualize temperature data, the corporate media had people believing the world was on fire:

  

  So how do climate alarmists know what the precise temperatures were hundreds of thousands of years ago? Well, it might be one giant guess, as environmental attorney Steve Milloy recently explained in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled “Hottest Days Ever? Don’t Believe It“: 

  “One obvious problem with the updated narrative is that there are no satellite data from 125,000 years ago. Calculated estimates of current temperatures can’t be fairly compared with guesses of global temperature from thousands of years ago.” 

  Remember when climate child warrior Greta spewed this junk science in 2018? Where were the fact-checkers??

  

  But don’t worry. The billionaires funding the climate change movement are still flying in private jets and sailing around the world in mega-yachts while they rid the world of cow farts and force insects into the diets of the masses. 

  Al Gore

  

  Michael Bloomberg

  

  Climate fear has been a multi-decade scheme… 

  

  Here’s Milloy’s report tilted “Media Climate Fact Check.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 20:40

• 7 Things The New Sergeant Major Of The Army Can Do To Restore Trust In The Military
  7 Things The New Sergeant Major Of The Army Can Do To Restore Trust In The Military

  Authored by Chase Spears via RealClearDefense.com,

  On Friday Michael Weimer became the 17th Sergeant Major of the Army.

  He assumed the role in a time of significant strain on the force due to turbulent political factors, a service component seemingly unsure of how to position itself in the post Global War on Terrorism era, and a steady drumbeat of institutional scandals.

  Being the Sergeant Major of the Army is a tough role on a good day, but that is not the kind of day in which Weimer enters the office.

  

  In the final days of my military career, I offer some thoughts on how our newest top Sergeant Major can steward the position to help restore a sense of stability to the force.

  First, take input from beyond the echo chamber.

  In recent years top Army officials have largely disregarded voices from significant portions of the population, claiming a desire to ‘look like America.’ Instead of preserving the trust of all Americans, they merely traded sympathies from one segment of the public to another. One cannot gather an accurate social pulse by excluding the worldview of half the nation. Focus on people and standards, rather than intersectional self-identities.

  Second, social media channels are only one avenue for keeping your fingers on force sentiment.

  An hour on Twitter does not replace an hour walking the motorpool. Too many among us fell for a deception that all soldiers are on Twitter, and thus every military leader should “get on the bus” with them, and engage at whatever level the most junior user would want. This #miltwitter grouping is plagued by military-affiliated social revolutionaries, and has become a place of disrespect and hostility within the ranks, “a circular firing squad in a cone of silence, where everybody is just taking each other out.” The behavior among this grouping of mostly U.S. Army members degrades military professionalism, and has repeatedly drawn the Army unnecessarily into negative news cycles. Let your online presence be a reflection of your leadership, rather than a place to be pulled from your purpose.

  Third, avoid being drawn into social activism in your official capacity.

  Social and political movements come and go. Yet too many senior military officials have recently been caught up in them, some even launching informational counter fires against political commentators. It had been understood in the age of Huntingtonian thought that the military stayed out of socio-political fights, opting instead to be more a ‘dignified’ element of governmental structure. However, we have watched as prominent voices among the #miltwitter grouping call for installation commanders to ban channels such as Fox News over its critique of progressive military policy. Many among them label politically inconvenient facts as disinformation, and malign, through tantrums of ad hominem, those who share such data. Army Regulations prohibit such behavior, those rules are rarely enforced when it comes to online expression. Polls show an alarming drop in favorable public sentiment in the military, partly in response to such behavior. No amount of marketing campaigns will reverse that trend. Only a change in actions can bridge the widening divide. Social stability requires a sense of principled permanence from the military. In a storm-tossed sea, be a lighthouse firmly anchored upon a solid foundation.

  Fourth, be discriminate with whom you associate.

  There has been a trend of senior military officials who give platform, and even preference in future duty assignments, to connections made on social channels. There seems to be a belief that because a particular soldier is loud and fits a popular narrative, that person is a useful influencer to align with. Those self-imagined stars inevitably prove unhelpful. Yet senior-leader endorsements of them remain a matter of record. Train our NCOs to avoid this trap. Perhaps they will gain influence with their officers to do likewise.

  Fifth, surround yourself with competent, mature, respectable public affairs counsel.

  Anyone who employs an antagonistic approach, and who would advocate for the same with your official channels, is telling you that he or she is unqualified to offer sound counsel. Keep this point at the forefront of your thinking throughout your tenure. Apply it with all your courtiers.

  Sixth, define what words like readiness and lethality actually mean.

  These, among others, have become nothing more than pieces of value terminology: vague, meaningless words that tie to human emotions to make people feel pressured to agree with whatever idea you tie to them. Senior officials attach them to every imaginable policy change, regardless of the relevant facts. Then the force echoes, because no one wants to be accused of inhibiting readiness or lethality. This practice dumbs the military mind and distracts from actual combat training. Push the Army to produce legitimate definitions, and then discipline the force to use those terms in proper setting and context.

  Finally, issue an apology on behalf of the Army for its participation in DoD’s unlawful and unscientific COVID shot requirement, and the particularly heartless way in which the Army prosecuted it.

  In that one move, your legacy will be secured as one of the good guys and endear you forever in the hearts of the most principled men and women remaining in uniform.

  Your job is a hard one. It may often feel lonely, as responsibility is isolating. Cheap praise will be in constant supply from people who want to be close to power. In contrast, being a steady hand on the wheel is hard, and often not recognized until long after encouragement would have been comforting. We do not need more characters who want to be transformational, but leaders who can rightly be called reformational.

  I ask that you use your influence to be a rising tide that elevates everything within your reach and restore dignity to the office you now hold. The force needs it. The nation needs it. I pray you lead well.

  *  *  *

  MAJ Chase Spears will soon retire from the U.S. Army after serving a 20 year career in public affairs both as an enlisted soldier and officer. He recently completed a transition fellowship as Chief of Staff to Kansas State House Representative Pat Proctor and is a doctoral candidate at Kansas State University. His opinions are his own and should not be construed to be those of the U.S. Army, Department of Defense, U.S. Government, nor any other affiliated agencies.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 20:20

• Flying Taxi Suffers "Significant Structural Damage" In Crash
  Flying Taxi Suffers “Significant Structural Damage” In Crash

  Update: 

  Bloomberg confirmed Vertical Aerospace’s electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft crashed earlier this week, forcing the startup to suspend test flights until regulators complete an investigation. 

  *  *  * 

  There is a big push to get electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft off the ground as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a new framework that prepares the US for flying taxis by 2028. Hundreds of companies are developing eVTOL designs; some are even testing these new high-tech aircraft. 

  Many tests are going smoothly, but one in the UK did not. Vertical Aerospace’s eVTOL crashed this week, according to an image posted on “X,” formerly known as Twitter, by journalist Charlotte Bailey.

  Bailey said the VX4 prototype “crashed from approximately 20ft during an unmanned inflight shutdown as part of its ongoing testing program.” She said the image shows the aircraft suffered “significant structural damage.” 

  

  Bailey also penned a note about the eVTOL crash in the aviation blog Pilot Magazine that outlined an inconvenient truth about eVTOLs, similar to electric vehicles:

  Fire crews were immediately called to the scene, described as being “concerned” for the safety of the lithium-ion batteries on board. The airfield was briefly shut although has since reopened, with traffic using the runway beyond the south side of the airfield where the crash occurred.

  Vertical Aerospace’s eVTOL isn’t the first crash. Bloomberg noted last year that several eVTOL testing accidents occurred with other companies. Some of these accidents were battery fires. 

  eVTOLs present similar challenges facing EVs on the ground: battery fries.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 20:00

• US Diesel Prices Surge Anticipating A Soft Landing
  US Diesel Prices Surge Anticipating A Soft Landing

  By John Kemp, Reuters Senior Market Analyst

  Prices for diesel and other distillate fuel oils have surged as expectations for a soft landing and an improving economic outlook in the United States threaten to deplete already low inventories even further.

  Futures prices for ultra-low sulphur diesel delivered in New York Harbor in September climbed to $135 per barrel on August 9, up from $95 on May 31.

  

  Prices for diesel and other distillate fuel oils have been rising much faster than for crude petroleum, widening margins for refiners.

  The crack spread for making diesel from U.S. crude, with both delivered in September 2023, has doubled to $50 per barrel from $25 at the end of April. The crack for making diesel from U.S. crude, with both delivered in December 2023, has climbed to $43 per barrel from $27 at the end of April.

  

  Diesel prices are rising as traders anticipate that shortages will quickly re-emerge if the economy avoids falling into a recession later in 2023.

  DEPLETED INVENTORIES

  Distillate inventories have not recovered significantly despite the slowdown in manufacturing and freight activity evident since the middle of 2022.

  U.S. inventories amounted to 115 million barrels on August 4, up from 111 million a year ago, but otherwise the lowest for the time of year since 2000.

  

  Inventories were 24 million barrels (-17% or -1.31 standard deviations) below the prior ten-year seasonal average on August 4, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

  

  The deficit has widened rather than narrowed over the last five months from 12 million barrels (-9% or -0.73 standard deviations) on March 3 (“Weekly petroleum status report”, EIA, August 9).

  

  The distillate shortage is a worldwide phenomenon, with inventories also 33 million barrels (-8% or -1.11 standard deviations) below the 10-year average in Europe at the end of July.

  

  Singapore stocks were 3 million barrels (-30% or -1.79) below the 10-year average in the course of July, so there is limited scope for resolving the deficits by moving inventories from one region to another.

  

  REFINERY CAPACITY LIMITS

  U.S. refineries are operating close to their maximum capacity and are also under pressure to maximise production of gasoline given low inventories of that fuel as well.

  U.S. refineries were running at 93.8% of their maximum operable capacity over the seven days ending on August 4, which was just 1.1 percentage points below the average over the last decade.

  

  Technically, refiners might be able to boost crude processing by another 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day but that would yield no more than an extra 60,000 to 120,000 barrels per day of distillate fuel oil.

  In any event, refiners are under pressure to maximise gasoline output as well, where inventories are at the lowest season level since 2015, and 12 million barrels (-5% or -1.23 standard deviations) below the 10-year average.

  
   
  HEDGE FUNDS ATTRACTED

  Until three months ago, portfolio investors had become increasingly bearish on the outlook for distillate prices, anticipating a recession would cut consumption and cause inventories to accumulate.

  By May 2, hedge funds and other money managers had amassed a combined net short position of 27 million barrels in U.S. diesel and European gas oil futures and options (6th percentile for all weeks since 2013).

  

  Since then, however, fund managers have been purchasers in 11 out of the last 13 weeks, purchasing a total of 116 million barrels, as the threat of recession has receded and the risk of fuel shortages has re-emerged.

  

  By August 1, the combined position had been transformed to 89 million barrels net long (73rd percentile), according to records filed with ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

  

  Position-building by hedge fund managers has anticipated, accelerated and amplified the rise in distillate prices and crack spreads and is speeding up the adjustment to the next phase of the cycle.

  With much of the position-building concentrated in nearby futures contracts, where both liquidity and volatility are highest, futures contracts have already swung into a steep backwardation.

  For U.S. diesel, the futures spread between September and December has moved into a backwardation of $8 per barrel up from a small contango at the start of May.

  CANARY IN THE MINE

  Diesel often acts as the canary in the mine for broader inflationary pressure in the economy because it is overwhelming consumed by trucking firms, railroads, manufacturers and construction firms.

  The negligible accumulation of diesel and other distillate inventories implies the industrial recession may not have been as deep as other indicators such as business surveys have suggested since the middle of 2022.

  As a result, the industrial economy is likely to emerge from the current business cycle slowdown with a relatively small amount of spare production capacity and working inventories.

  The rapid escalation in diesel prices and hedge fund position building is a warning that capacity constraints and upward pressure on goods prices are likely to re-emerge relatively quickly later in 2023 and in 2024.

  Depleted diesel inventories are a sign that if the economy achieves a mid-cycle soft-landing the second phase of the current expansion could prove short and inflationary.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 19:40

• Sam Bankman-Fried Heads Back To Jail After Bail Revoked
  Sam Bankman-Fried Heads Back To Jail After Bail Revoked

  FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried is headed back to jail after the judge in the case revoked his bail over alleged witness intimidation, after he showed a journalist from the NY Times private writings from his ex-girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison, and used a VPN in violation of a previous order not to.

  The 31-year-old Bankman-Fried was remanded directly into custody, and will remain in a New York federal detention center until his trial begins on Oct. 2.

  

  Late last month the DOJ sought to have SBF’s bail revoked over the leaked diary, and allegedly used the Signal app to obstruct the investigation, as the app auto-deletes content after a period of time.

  John Reed Stark, former US SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement Chief, suggested that Judge Lewis Kaplan could view SBF’s actions as an effort to improperly influence witnesses and choose to either make further modifications to his bail conditions or revoke his bail entirely. Obviously, Kaplan chose the latter.

  “The documents are in part personal and intimate. They are personally oriented, not business oriented. There’s something that someone who has been in a relationship would be unlikely to share with anyone except to hurt and frighten the subject,” said Judge Kaplan, adding “In view of the evidence, my conclusion is that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice under Section 1512(b).”

  Judge Kaplan: He subscribed from the Bahamas and used a VPN as if he were in the Bahamas when he was in Palo Alto and could have watched it on public TV. It shows the mindset. All things considered I am going to revoke bail.

  — Inner City Press (@innercitypress) August 11, 2023

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

  BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) Will Go To Jail – Bail Revoked

  SBF will go to jail ahead of his October trial on various fraud and conspiracy charges.

  More information to come pic.twitter.com/BPFHsquDmO

  — Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) August 11, 2023

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

  Click into this Twitter thread from Inner City Press for the blow-by-blow:

  OK – now US v. Bankman-Fried hearing on possible remand of SBF to jail for intimidating witnesses, including leaking Caroline Ellison’s Google Docs (still sealed) to the NYT. Inner City Press moved to unseal https://t.co/wkt4FqxJGD & will live tweet, thread below pic.twitter.com/OXW9z4JWsj

  — Inner City Press (@innercitypress) August 11, 2023

  Maybe SBF will hit the gym?

  FTX 🏋️‍♀️ CORPORATE GYM pic.twitter.com/LuuuofFJDA

  — Win Smart, CFA (@WinfieldSmart) December 22, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 19:30

• Visualizing Market Volatility And Investor Emotions
  Visualizing Market Volatility And Investor Emotions

  The Fear & Greed Index, created and popularized by CNN, is a powerful tool that captures investor sentiment and confidence levels. It rises when markets are greedy and falls when investors are fearful.

  In this infographic sponsored by Fidelity Investments, Visual Capitalist’s Rida Khan and Alejandra Dander compare the Fear & Greed Index with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) to see the connection between volatile markets and the impulses of investors.

  

  The Fear & Greed Index

  The Fear & Greed Index combines the following indicators to see how much they differ from their averages.

  • Market momentum

  • Stock price strength

  • Stock price breadth

  • Put and call options

  • Junk bond demand

  • Market volatility

  • Safe haven demand

  The index gives each indicator equal weighting in calculating a score from 0 to 100, with 100 representing maximum greediness and 0 signaling maximum fear.

  CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)

  The VIX gauges expected price changes in S&P 500 Index options over the next month, indicating market volatility. It has lower values during bull markets and higher values during bear markets.

  When these two indexes are correlated, it becomes evident that lowering market volatility corresponds to heightened investor greed.

  Impact of Key Events on Investor Sentiment

  This infographic highlights significant points emphasizing the relationship between the two indexes.

  September and October 2022

  During this period, rising prices, interest rates, and the possibility of a recession led to the highest level of fear observed between May 2022 and May 2023.

  February 2023

  February brought a breath of fresh air as GDP growth led to the highest levels of investor confidence during the period under study.

  March 2023

  The collapse of three mid-sized tech-friendly banks triggered a wave of extreme fear. It served as a stark reminder of the inherent vulnerability of financial markets and how quickly panic can spread.

  Weathering the Storm

  By proactively thinking about their emotional impulses, investors can better navigate volatile conditions, and what’s more, benefit from them.

  Fidelity’s new market volatility guide provides invaluable insights, empowering investors to make informed decisions in unpredictable markets while avoiding emotional biases.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 19:20

• Zuckerberg Says "Not Holding My Breath" For Proposed Fight With Musk In Italy
  Zuckerberg Says “Not Holding My Breath” For Proposed Fight With Musk In Italy

  Update (1915ET):

  “I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me. If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on social media platform Threads, responding to Elon Musk’s tweet about a proposed fight in Italy earlier in the day.

  Zuck continued, “Not holding my breath for Elon, but I’ll share details on my next fight when I’m ready. When I compete, I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of the game. You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well and create a great card.” 

  *   *   * 

  After Elon Musk wrote on “X” — formerly known as Twitter, last Sunday that he will be fighting his arch-nemesis Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in a mixed martial arts cage match, the internet was excited — then one day later, upset that the billionaire said, “Exact date is still in flux. I’m getting an MRI of my neck & upper back tomorrow.” 

  Then on Tuesday, hopes of the fight faded when Musk responded to Chris Anderson, host of TED Talks, agreeing that a ‘battle of brains’ in a “cage match-style debate” would be more “noble.”

  In a rollercoaster of emotions this week, the internet is cheering once again the fight appears to be on.

  

  On Friday morning, Musk tweeted, “I spent 3 hours in an MRI machine on Monday. Bottom line is that my C5/C6 fusion is solid, so not an issue.” He added, “However, there is a problem with my right shoulder blade rubbing against my ribs, which requires minor surgery. Recovery will only take a few months.” 

  Musk said the fight will be “managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).” And live streaming of the event will be hosted on X and Meta platforms. He said, “Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.” 

  Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on 𝕏.
  Who’s ready to witness the most awaited battle ever 👀
  🎈Colosseum, Rome pic.twitter.com/86GKwsmXC4

  — sid (@immasiddtwts) August 7, 2023

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  Musk said he “spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location.” 

  The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).

  Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.

  I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023

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

  He also said the fight will “pay respect to the past and present of Italy” and “all proceeds go to veterans.” 

  And all proceeds go to veterans

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023

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

  Who could have predicted in 2023 that the billionaire owners of social media companies would agree to fight on the world stage? 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 19:15

• From Scandal To Nothingburger
  From Scandal To Nothingburger

  Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClearPolitics.com,

  The New York Times is incredible. Most journalists find it hard enough just to communicate what they know and how they know it in plain English.

  But Times reporters and editors go above and beyond. Who, what, when, where, how, and why are just the starting point. They take on the added challenge of shaping and shifting their language with remarkable skill to create articles that are somehow simultaneously honest and deceitful. That extra layer of attention allows them to claim they report truths that are inconvenient to their progressive causes, while defusing their impact. This is so hard to do that the Times often ignores political stories because spin is even beyond their talents – which achieves the same dampening effect. Because for millions of Americans, it didn’t happen if the Times didn’t report it.

  Luke Broadwater and his editors delivered a master class in the art of devious reporting last week in an article that put the lie to President Biden’s repeated claims that he has never even discussed his son Hunter’s foreign business deals.

  

  Broadwater’s Aug. 4 article reported that Hunter’s former business partner, Devon Archer, had told Congress that Joe Biden had “repeatedly allowed himself to be in the presence ‒ either physically or by phone ‒ of business associates of his son’s who were apparently seeking connections and influence inside the United States government” – while Joe served as Barack Obama’s vice president.

  The article noted that Archer told Congress “the elder Mr. Biden never actually got involved” in business details, but it also explained that was unnecessary. In a follow-up interview with Tucker Carlson, Broadwater reported, Archer had said that while “there was not business content in these conversations” the purpose was “the idea of signals and influence.” The prize,” Archer explained, “is enough in speaking or hearing or knowing you have that proximity to power.”

  I am the vice president of the United States. I’m here. I hear you. Keep paying my son.

  Archer directly contradicted Joe Biden’s claims of ignorance regarding his son’s shady dealings, Broadwater reported, saying “he believed it was false for defenders of President Biden to say that he had no knowledge of his son’s business activities. ‘He was aware of Hunter’s business,’ said Mr. Archer, who played golf with both Bidens. ‘He met with Hunter’s business partners.’”

  Mr. Archer went further, the Times reported, echoing Hunter’s sales pitch to clients that they were not just getting in business with him but the Biden family. This paid real dividends for at least one entity, the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which paid Hunter $83,000 a month to serve on its board. Archer “believed Burisma as a company stayed in business through tough times through its associations with influential figures in Washington, and the ‘brand’ that Hunter Biden brought to the board.”

  Of course, none of this was news to those who read outside the left’s echo chamber. But given the Times’ position as the ultimate arbiter of truth for the liberal elite, these were startling admissions. Game, set, and match, right? When the Times acknowledges that the president has been lying to the public for years about his direct involvement in an influence peddling scheme based on his high office, talk should turn to impeachment and resignation.

  And yet, Broadwater and his editors expertly declawed those damning revelations by casting the evidence of Joe’s corruption as proof of GOP perfidy. This effort hinges on the expectation that most people will not read news stories very closely. Their understanding of an article is largely shaped by the headline and the opening paragraphs, which frame the way readers interpret all that follows. An immensely consequential example of this was the headline on the Politico article published just days before the 2020 election regarding Hunter’s laptop: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” It did not matter that the article itself was filled with significant caveats, reporting that the officials had not seen the laptop and possessed no proof of Russian involvement. The headline defined the narrative.

   Similarly, the headline on Broadwater’s article dismissed Archer’s testimony as a partisan nothingburger: “Key Witness Doesn’t Back Up G.O.P.’s Biggest Allegations on Bidens.”

  The first five paragraphs of the article ignore the evidence of the president’s lies and corruption to frame Archer’s testimony as proof of GOP overreach – a common journalistic maneuver known as “Republicans pounce.”

  “Republicans who for months have accused President Biden without proof of crime and corruption thought that a former business partner of his son’s could be the key to finally substantiating their most serious allegations…

  But the testimony this week of Mr. Archer, a former Yale lacrosse player who has been convicted of federal tax charges, fell well short of that, shooting down a bribery allegation Republicans have long promoted and generally rejecting the idea that the elder Mr. Biden had any material involvement in his son’s business dealings. It was the latest instance of House Republicans promising far more than they could produce in terms of proof of their allegations against the president.”

  Thus, the Times sets readers up to believe the key issue is what Archer could not substantiate – reports of bribes, which he may not have been privy to – rather than his eyewitness testimony of the president’s malfeasance. This creates a context in which Archer’s damning revelations are simply part of an epic fail.

  While the headline and opening of an article have the most impact on reader perception – psychologists calls this the “primacy effect” – the end of an article is also crucial in constructing a lasting impression of the facts. In his kicker, Broadwater once again works to diminish the facts he has reported by repeating Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman’s question to Archer of whether it was “fair to say that Hunter Biden was selling the illusion of access to his father.” Mr. Archer responded, “Yes.”

  While Broadwater ends his piece there, Archer, in fact, equivocated slightly, describing Goldman’s characterization as “almost fair” because Hunter did, in fact, provide direct access to his father through dinners, meet and greets, and phone calls. “Because there ‒ there is ‒ there are touch points and contact points that I can’t deny that happened,” Archer explained, “but nothing of material was discussed. But I can’t go on record saying that there was ‒ there was communications” between Joe and Hunter’s business partners.

  The illusion, of course, is that Archer’s testimony vindicated Biden. The evidence shows that nothing could be further from the truth – except, incredibly, in the pages of the New York Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 19:00

• Iran Slows Uranium Enrichment As Prisoner Deal Unfolds: Report
  Iran Slows Uranium Enrichment As Prisoner Deal Unfolds: Report

  Is de-escalation between Iran and the US on the horizon? This week’s reported prisoner swap deal suggests so, but analysts still by and large say this is not a “deal” which somehow will lead to a quick restoration of JCPOA nuclear agreement talks.

  But the The Wall Street Journal is citing government sources who believe “Iran has significantly slowed the pace at which it is accumulating near weapons-grade enriched uranium and has diluted some of its stockpile,” according to a Friday report. “The more slowly Tehran accumulates highly enriched uranium, the less potential fissile material it has for nuclear weapons,” the report underscores.

  

  Just on Thursday the United States and Iran revealed they’ve reached a rare prisoner swap agreement, which is to soon lead to the freeing of five Iranian-American dual citizens, and in exchange Tehran has been guaranteed access to an estimated $6 billion in its own blocked oil revenue. The US is also expected to release an unspecified number of jailed Iranians.

  The Americans have yet to be released, but are said to have been moved from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, and placed into house arrest as a first step.

  The WSJ situates this first leg of the prisoner swap deal as intending to lead to future nuclear talks:

  If the U.S. detainees are set free, Iran will gain access to billions of dollars of oil revenues trapped in South Korea under U.S. sanctions.

  U.S. and European officials have told Iran that if there is de-escalation of tensions over the summer, they would be open to broader talks later this year, including on Iran’s nuclear program. 

  The unnamed officials describe a slowed process toward near-weapons-grade enrichment:

  According to the people, Iran has diluted a small amount of 60% enriched uranium in recent weeks and slowed the rate at which it is accumulating new material. Iran’s stockpile has grown since the 114 kilograms of highly enriched uranium Iran was recorded having in May, but it could easily dilute more of the 60% it has produced to get back to that level. It isn’t yet clear if Tehran plans to do that.

  Iran was adding just short of 9 kilograms of 60% to its stockpile on average between February and May.

  But with the White House’s Ukraine policy coming under growing public criticism, and increasingly skeptical GOP leadership in the House, President Biden needs a foreign policy “win” going into 2024.

  So far the swap deal appears as follows… the US unfreezes $6 billion in Iranian oil assets, Americans can come home, and Biden can claim to have overseen reduced uranium enrichment by Tehran on the campaign trail.

  By making Iran’s ability to buy food and medicine part of a hostage deal, they’re admitting that sanctions don’t really have a “humanitarian exemption.”

  Saying that “money is fungible” is the beginning of a justification. https://t.co/8whGdCCmm6

  — Matthew Petti (@matthewpetti.bsky.social) (@matthew_petti) August 11, 2023

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

  But it remains that persistent bellicose rhetoric traded between the Iranians and Israelis is likely only to incentivize the Islamic Republic to keep its ‘nuclear program option’ on the table.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 18:40

• OPEC+ Oil Supply Plunges By 1.2 Million Bpd As Saudi Arabia Cuts Output
  OPEC+ Oil Supply Plunges By 1.2 Million Bpd As Saudi Arabia Cuts Output

  By Tsvetana Paraskova of Oilprice.com

  Oil supply from the OPEC+ group dipped in July by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 50.7 million bpd, the lowest level in nearly two years as Saudi Arabia began its unilateral production cut of 1 million bpd, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.  

  

  The alliance’s oil production was down by more than 2 million bpd from the start of the year. Over the same period, oil producers outside the OPEC+ group increased their combined production by 1.6 million bpd to 50.2 million bpd. For the rest of the year, the non-OPEC+ production gains are expected to be limited, the IEA said.

  OPEC alone saw its crude oil production from all its member states fall by 836,000 bpd to 27.31 million bpd in July, due to a 968,000 bpd decline in Saudi output as the Kingdom nearly delivered its promised 1-million-bpd cut last month. Saudi Arabia, leader of the cartel and the OPEC+ agreement, saw its crude oil production slump by 968,000 bpd from June to average 9.021 million bpd in July, per OPEC’s secondary sources in its latest monthly report. Due to Saudi Arabia’s cut, the Kingdom’s crude oil production has now fallen below the production of Russia, the key partner of OPEC in the OPEC+ alliance.   

  Global oil supply plunged by 910,000 bpd to 100.9 million bpd in July, as the Saudi cut more than offset a 310,000 bpd increase in non-OPEC+ supply to 50.2 million bpd last month, the IEA’s estimates showed.

  This year, global oil output is set to rise by 1.5 million bpd to a record 101.5 million bpd, with the U.S. driving gains of 1.9 million bpd from non-OPEC+ producers. Next year, non-OPEC+ supply is also set to dominate world supply growth, and is expected to increase by 1.3 million bpd while OPEC+ could add just 160,000 bpd, the agency said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 18:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• A NATO Without Limits?
  A NATO Without Limits?

  Authored by Francis P. Sempa via RealClear Wire,

  Jessica Berlin, a policy analyst writing in the Center for European Policy Analysis’ online journal, has proposed a NATO without limits–an expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to all democratic nations.

  “The 21st-century threat landscape,” she contends, “calls for a global alliance capable of mutual defense.”

  “NATO must open its doors,” she writes, “to new members beyond Europe and North America.”

  

  Her proposal is breathtaking in scope: an attack on any democracy is an attack on all democracies. It is a recipe for endless wars on all continents and a reckless extension of America’s nuclear guarantee to all the world’s democracies. It turns John Quincy Adams’ prudent counsel on its head: America goes abroad in search of monsters to destroy and is the champion and vindicator of the freedom and independence of all democracies.

  Berlin’s proposed “New Alliance Treaty Organization” fulfills the vision of Woodrow Wilson who sought to use American power, treasure and blood to make the world “safe for democracy.” It echoes the irresponsible Truman Doctrine which rhetorically committed the United States to “support free peoples around the world who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” It mirrors the reckless pledge of President John F. Kennedy to “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” It shares the Utopian vision announced by President George W. Bush that the United States will “extend the benefits of freedom across the globe” and to “bring the hope of democracy . . . to every corner of the world.”

  Berlin is simply the latest exponent of democratism, an ideology that Patrick Buchanan argued would “bleed, bankrupt, and break this republic in endless crusades and interminable wars.” It is a tragedy of history that the ideology of democratism coincided with the rise to power of what President Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex.” That tragedy is written in blood in Southeast Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and lesser conflicts. And Berlin envisions the new NATO as not only the army of the world’s democracies but also the armed force that will be used to prevent or stop genocide wherever it occurs. Here, Berlin mimics Samantha Power’s notion that the United States and its European allies have a “responsibility to protect” (R2P) the rest of the world’s people.

  One of history’s greatest statesman Otto von Bismarck once remarked that “it is unworthy of a great state to dispute over something which does not concern its interests.” Bismarck was referring to actual, concrete interests, not interests defined by ideology. The great British geopolitical thinker Sir Halford Mackinder understood that democratic ideals must give way to geopolitical realities. Closer to home, America’s first and greatest president, George Washington, counseled his countrymen to conduct foreign policy without sentiment or emotion, and to “steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world,” and to “safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.”

  Jessica Berlin not only wants to make NATO permanent; she wants to expand it to geographical and ideological lengths that even its most ardent supporters and admirers should shy away from.

  Crusaders and ideologues make for dangerous statesmen.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/11/2023 – 02:00

• Trump Coming Back Is Already Spooking Western Elites
  Trump Coming Back Is Already Spooking Western Elites

  Authored by Martin Jay,

  What would 2024 look like with Trump back in the Oval Office for Europeans?

  

  Should western elites and even NATO itself be afraid of Donald Trump returning to the White House in 2024? It’s an entirely valid question given that the elites’ own ‘news’ website in Brussels – Politico – penned a piece recently which argued not only should they be bothered, but they should also prepare themselves for it right now.

  Trump’s return as U.S. president is looking more and more inevitable by the day, driven by the nefarious meddling of the Biden administration and its determination to put him into jail, where they, erroneously, think his bid for the White House ends.

  Even the most obscure French MP which Politico wheeled out to endorse its article accepts this, so what would 2024 look like with Trump back in the Oval Office for Europeans?

  The short answer is an unpleasant one.

  Trump will almost certainly believe that he has learnt his lessons the first time around and that his rants about NATO and EU countries having a free ticket to defending the West against Russian aggression were profoundly on the money, given what has happened in the Ukraine. His policies towards the EU bloc are likely to be much more divisive second time around as he will not only insist on a new deal for EU-NATO countries in the Ukraine war itself, but will go further to use his natural allies in the EU – Poland and Hungary – to beat the back of the Brussels elite and wreck its plans on all its delusional pseudo hegemony. It’s unlikely that he will pull the U.S. out of NATO as John Bolton recently predicted but a new hardball regime will certainly be on the cards which may well relieve him of the task of winding down the Ukraine war directly rather than just saying to the Europeans “if you want to pay for it yourself, by my guess, but we’ve paid enough”.

  This may well send the shivers down the spines of many EU leaders. And it might even get him impeached. But it’s Trump. He won’t mind that at all. The point is that the old cliché about Biden being the grown up who “restored” the transatlantic alliance is just that. A cliché. In reality Biden royally buggered the UK and EU countries by masterminding the meltdown of their economies while U.S. firms cashed in, not only with new tax breaks aimed at eco-friendly firms, but also simply by letting the Europeans oversubscribe themselves to a war which they can never possibly have the means to end. So much for Biden’s “America is back, diplomacy is back” soundbite which was quoted in the early days of his days in office. The harsh reality is that Biden’s view of old Europe was very much from a colonial perspective. They have to pay for their dreams if Uncle Sam is going to make them true.

  So Trump now will come back with the mockery of Europe’s dirt cheap defence arrangement which, in reality, wasn’t cheap at all.

  He will also pull out of the Paris Climate Change Accords pissing off Macron no end as well as give encouragement to the Israelis that their ideas of striking Iran are not completely bonkers (which of course they are).

  But it’s really what Trump has in store for America on its own soil which EU governments should worry about more.

  He will invest more in fossil fuels, undo a lot of Biden’s environmental initiatives, come down hard on wokeism and immigration and impose more tariffs on America’s competitors – both China and the EU – to help American business.

  Yet his second term in office, will not only be about focussing on humiliating Biden with such score-settling, domestically or around the world.

  It will also be about fighting even harder to keep America in the game both with international trade and also its waning dollar economy.

  Trump will have to face a new threat to America which comes as a direct result of Biden’s war – and let’s not forget his corrupt deals – in Ukraine. The emergence of BRICS which will have five new members this year alone and is already taking full control of oil prices with its influence via OPEC Plus. Trump will, in a nutshell, be fighting a new front as a new world order has emerged to challenge U.S. hegemony – or what’s left of it – head on, which means much more than simply dumping the dollar as a reserve currency. BRICS will have its own currency, its own clearing system and at some point, probably, its own defence pact.

  The Donald is going to have a lot on his plate, leaving most EU leaders wondering whether it is better for them that Trump ill-informed and belligerent is better than overwhelmed and panicky in the wake of a new relationship between America and the few partners it has left in the world.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 23:40

• Visualizing The $105 Trillion World Economy In One Chart
  Visualizing The $105 Trillion World Economy In One Chart

  By the end of 2023, the world economy is expected to have a gross domestic product (GDP) of $105 trillion, or $5 trillion higher than the year before, according to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections from its 2023 World Economic Outlook report.

  In nominal terms, that’s a 5.3% increase in global GDP. In inflation-adjusted terms, that would be a 2.8% increase.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao details below, the year started with turmoil for the global economy, with financial markets rocked by the collapse of several mid-sized U.S. banks alongside persistent inflation and tightening monetary conditions in most countries. Nevertheless, some economies have proven to be resilient, and are expected to register growth from 2022.

  

  ℹ️ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the total value of economic output—goods and services—produced within a given time frame by both the private and public sectors. All numbers used in this article, unless otherwise specified, are nominal figures, and do not account for inflation.

   

  Ranking Countries by Economic Size in 2023

  The U.S. is expected to continue being the biggest economy in 2023 with a projected GDP of $26.9 trillion for the year. This is more than the sum of the GDPs of 174 countries ranked from Indonesia (17th) to Tuvalu (191st).

  China stays steady at second place with a projected $19.4 trillion GDP in 2023. Most of the top-five economies remain in the same positions from 2022, with one notable exception.

  India is expected to climb past the UK to become the fifth-largest economy with a projected 2023 GDP of $3.7 trillion.

  Here’s a look at the size of every country’s economy in 2023, according to IMF’s estimates.

  Rank	Country	GDP (USD)	% of Total
  1	🇺🇸 U.S.	$26,855B	25.54%
  2	🇨🇳 China	$19,374B	18.43%
  3	🇯🇵 Japan	$4,410B	4.19%
  4	🇩🇪 Germany	$4,309B	4.10%
  5	🇮🇳 India	$3,737B	3.55%
  6	🇬🇧 UK	$3,159B	3.00%
  7	🇫🇷 France	$2,923B	2.78%
  8	🇮🇹 Italy	$2,170B	2.06%
  9	🇨🇦 Canada	$2,090B	1.99%
  10	🇧🇷 Brazil	$2,081B	1.98%
  11	🇷🇺 Russia	$2,063B	1.96%
  12	🇰🇷 South Korea	$1,722B	1.64%
  13	🇦🇺 Australia	$1,708B	1.62%
  14	🇲🇽 Mexico	$1,663B	1.58%
  15	🇪🇸 Spain	$1,492B	1.42%
  16	🇮🇩 Indonesia	$1,392B	1.32%
  17	🇳🇱 Netherlands	$1,081B	1.03%
  18	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	$1,062B	1.01%
  19	🇹🇷 Türkiye	$1,029B	0.98%
  20	🇨🇭 Switzerland	$870B	0.83%
  21	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$791B	0.75%
  22	🇵🇱 Poland	$749B	0.71%
  23	🇦🇷 Argentina	$641B	0.61%
  24	🇧🇪 Belgium	$624B	0.59%
  25	🇸🇪 Sweden	$599B	0.57%
  26	🇮🇪 Ireland	$594B	0.57%
  27	🇹🇭 Thailand	$574B	0.55%
  28	🇳🇴 Norway	$554B	0.53%
  29	🇮🇱 Israel	$539B	0.51%
  30	🇸🇬 Singapore	$516B	0.49%
  31	🇦🇹 Austria	$515B	0.49%
  32	🇳🇬 Nigeria	$507B	0.48%
  33	🇦🇪 UAE	$499B	0.47%
  34	🇻🇳 Vietnam	$449B	0.43%
  35	🇲🇾 Malaysia	$447B	0.43%
  36	🇵🇭 Philippines	$441B	0.42%
  37	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	$421B	0.40%
  38	🇩🇰 Denmark	$406B	0.39%
  39	🇿🇦 South Africa	$399B	0.38%
  40	🇪🇬 Egypt	$387B	0.37%
  41	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	$383B	0.36%
  42	🇮🇷 Iran	$368B	0.35%
  43	🇨🇱 Chile	$359B	0.34%
  44	🇷🇴 Romania	$349B	0.33%
  45	🇨🇴 Colombia	$335B	0.32%
  46	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	$330B	0.31%
  47	🇫🇮 Finland	$302B	0.29%
  48	🇵🇪 Peru	$268B	0.26%
  49	🇮🇶 Iraq	$268B	0.25%
  50	🇵🇹 Portugal	$268B	0.25%
  51	🇳🇿 New Zealand	$252B	0.24%
  52	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	$246B	0.23%
  53	🇬🇷 Greece	$239B	0.23%
  54	🇶🇦 Qatar	$220B	0.21%
  55	🇩🇿 Algeria	$206B	0.20%
  56	🇭🇺 Hungary	$189B	0.18%
  57	🇰🇼 Kuwait	$165B	0.16%
  58	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	$156B	0.15%
  59	🇺🇦 Ukraine	$149B	0.14%
  60	🇲🇦 Morocco	$139B	0.13%
  61	🇸🇰 Slovak Republic	$128B	0.12%
  62	🇪🇨 Ecuador	$121B	0.12%
  63	🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	$121B	0.12%
  64	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	$121B	0.11%
  65	🇰🇪 Kenya	$118B	0.11%
  66	🇦🇴 Angola	$118B	0.11%
  67	🇴🇲 Oman	$105B	0.10%
  68	🇬🇹 Guatemala	$102B	0.10%
  69	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	$101B	0.10%
  70	🇻🇪 Venezuela	$97B	0.09%
  71	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	$92B	0.09%
  72	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	$87B	0.08%
  73	🇹🇿 Tanzania	$85B	0.08%
  74	🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	$83B	0.08%
  75	🇭🇷 Croatia	$79B	0.08%
  76	🇱🇹 Lithuania	$78B	0.07%
  77	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	$78B	0.07%
  78	🇺🇾 Uruguay	$77B	0.07%
  79	🇵🇦 Panama	$77B	0.07%
  80	🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire	$77B	0.07%
  81	🇷🇸 Serbia	$74B	0.07%
  82	🇧🇾 Belarus	$74B	0.07%
  83	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	$70B	0.07%
  84	🇨🇩 DRC	$69B	0.07%
  85	🇸🇮 Slovenia	$68B	0.06%
  86	🇬🇭 Ghana	$67B	0.06%
  87	🇲🇲 Myanmar	$64B	0.06%
  88	🇯🇴 Jordan	$52B	0.05%
  89	🇹🇳 Tunisia	$50B	0.05%
  90	🇺🇬 Uganda	$50B	0.05%
  91	🇨🇲 Cameroon	$49B	0.05%
  92	🇱🇻 Latvia	$47B	0.05%
  93	🇸🇩 Sudan	$47B	0.04%
  94	🇱🇾 Libya	$46B	0.04%
  95	🇧🇴 Bolivia	$46B	0.04%
  96	🇧🇭 Bahrain	$45B	0.04%
  97	🇵🇾 Paraguay	$43B	0.04%
  98	🇳🇵 Nepal	$42B	0.04%
  99	🇪🇪 Estonia	$42B	0.04%
  100	🇲🇴 Macao	$36B	0.03%
  101	🇭🇳 Honduras	$34B	0.03%
  102	🇸🇻 El Salvador	$34B	0.03%
  103	🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	$33B	0.03%
  104	🇸🇳 Senegal	$31B	0.03%
  105	🇨🇾 Cyprus	$31B	0.03%
  106	🇰🇭 Cambodia	$31B	0.03%
  107	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	$30B	0.03%
  108	🇿🇲 Zambia	$29B	0.03%
  109	🇮🇸 Iceland	$29B	0.03%
  110	🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina	$28B	0.03%
  111	🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago	$28B	0.03%
  112	🇬🇪 Georgia	$28B	0.03%
  113	🇭🇹 Haiti	$27B	0.03%
  114	🇦🇲 Armenia	$24B	0.02%
  115	🇬🇳 Guinea	$23B	0.02%
  116	🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	$21B	0.02%
  117	🇲🇱 Mali	$21B	0.02%
  118	🇬🇦 Gabon	$20B	0.02%
  119	🇦🇱 Albania	$20B	0.02%
  120	🇲🇿 Mozambique	$20B	0.02%
  121	🇧🇼 Botswana	$20B	0.02%
  122	🇾🇪 Yemen	$20B	0.02%
  123	🇲🇹 Malta	$19B	0.02%
  124	🇧🇯 Benin	$19B	0.02%
  125	🇵🇸 West Bank & Gaza	$19B	0.02%
  126	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	$17B	0.02%
  127	🇯🇲 Jamaica	$17B	0.02%
  128	🇲🇳 Mongolia	$17B	0.02%
  129	🇳🇪 Niger	$17B	0.02%
  130	🇬🇾 Guyana	$16B	0.02%
  131	🇲🇬 Madagascar	$16B	0.02%
  132	🇲🇩 Moldova	$16B	0.02%
  133	🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam	$16B	0.01%
  134	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	$15B	0.01%
  135	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	$15B	0.01%
  136	🇲🇺 Mauritius	$15B	0.01%
  137	🇧🇸 Bahamas	$14B	0.01%
  138	🇱🇦 Laos	$14B	0.01%
  139	🇳🇦 Namibia	$13B	0.01%
  140	🇷🇼 Rwanda	$13B	0.01%
  141	🇨🇩 Congo	$13B	0.01%
  142	🇹🇯 Tajikistan	$13B	0.01%
  143	🇰🇬 Kyrgyz Republic	$12B	0.01%
  144	🇹🇩 Chad	$12B	0.01%
  145	🇲🇼 Malawi	$11B	0.01%
  146	🇲🇷 Mauritania	$11B	0.01%
  147	🇽🇰 Kosovo	$10B	0.01%
  148	🇹🇬 Togo	$9B	0.01%
  149	🇸🇴 Somalia	$9B	0.01%
  150	🇲🇪 Montenegro	$7B	0.01%
  151	🇸🇸 South Sudan	$7B	0.01%
  152	🇲🇻 Maldives	$7B	0.01%
  153	🇧🇧 Barbados	$6B	0.01%
  154	🇫🇯 Fiji	$5B	0.01%
  155	🇸🇿 Eswatini	$5B	0.00%
  156	🇱🇷 Liberia	$4B	0.00%
  157	🇩🇯 Djibouti	$4B	0.00%
  158	🇦🇩 Andorra	$4B	0.00%
  159	🇦🇼 Aruba	$4B	0.00%
  160	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	$4B	0.00%
  161	🇸🇷 Suriname	$3B	0.00%
  162	🇧🇮 Burundi	$3B	0.00%
  163	🇧🇿 Belize	$3B	0.00%
  164	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	$3B	0.00%
  165	🇧🇹 Bhutan	$3B	0.00%
  166	🇪🇷 Eritrea	$3B	0.00%
  167	🇱🇸 Lesotho	$3B	0.00%
  168	🇨🇻 Cabo Verde	$2B	0.00%
  169	🇬🇲 Gambia	$2B	0.00%
  170	🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	$2B	0.00%
  171	🇹🇱 East Timor	$2B	0.00%
  172	🇸🇨 Seychelles	$2B	0.00%
  173	🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	$2B	0.00%
  174	🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda	$2B	0.00%
  175	🇸🇲 San Marino	$2B	0.00%
  176	🇸🇧 Solomon Islands	$2B	0.00%
  177	🇰🇲 Comoros	$1B	0.00%
  178	🇬🇩 Grenada	$1B	0.00%
  179	🇻🇺 Vanuatu	$1B	0.00%
  180	🇰🇳 Saint Kitts & Nevis	$1B	0.00%
  181	🇻🇨 Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	$1B	0.00%
  182	🇼🇸 Samoa	$1B	0.00%
  183	🇩🇲 Dominica	$1B	0.00%
  184	🇸🇹 São Tomé & Príncipe	$1B	0.00%
  185	🇹🇴 Tonga	$1B	0.00%
  186	🇫🇲 Micronesia	$0.5B	0.00%
  187	🇲🇭 Marshall Islands	$0.3B	0.00%
  188	🇵🇼 Palau	$0.3B	0.00%
  189	🇰🇮 Kiribati	$0.2B	0.00%
  190	🇳🇷 Nauru	$0.2B	0.00%
  191	🇹🇻 Tuvalu	$0.1B	0.00%

  Note: Projections for Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria are missing from IMF’s database for 2023.

  Here are the largest economies for each region of the world.

  • Africa: Nigeria ($506.6 billion)

  • Asia: China ($19.4 trillion)

  • Europe: Germany ($4.3 trillion)

  • Middle East: Saudi Arabia ($1.1 trillion)

  • North & Central America: U.S. ($26.9 trillion)

  • Oceania: Australia ($1.7 trillion)

  • South America: Brazil ($2.1 trillion)

  Ranked: 2023’s Shrinking Economies

  In fact, 29 economies are projected to shrink from their 2022 sizes, leading to nearly $500 billion in lost output.

  

  Russia will see the biggest decline, with a projected $150 billion contraction this year. This is equal to about one-third of total decline of all 29 countries with shrinking economies.

  Egypt (-$88 billion) and Canada (-$50 billion) combined make up another one-third of lost output.

  In Egypt’s case, the drop can be partly explained by the country’s currency (Egyptian pound), which has dropped in value against the U.S. dollar by about 50% since mid-2022.

  Russia and Canada are some of the world’s largest oil producers and the oil price has fallen since 2022. A further complication for Russia is that the country has been forced to sell oil at a steep discount because of Western sanctions.

  Here are the projected changes in GDP for all countries facing year-over-year declines:

  Country	Region	2022–23 Change (USD)	2022–23 Change (%)
  🇷🇺 Russia	Europe	-$152.65B	-6.9%
  🇪🇬 Egypt	Africa	-$88.12B	-18.5%
  🇨🇦 Canada	North America	-$50.17B	-2.3%
  🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	Middle East	-$46.25B	-4.2%
  🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Asia	-$39.69B	-8.6%
  🇳🇴 Norway	Europe	-$25.16B	-4.3%
  🇰🇼 Kuwait	Middle East	-$19.85B	-10.8%
  🇴🇲 Oman	Middle East	-$9.77B	-8.5%
  🇨🇴 Colombia	South America	-$9.25B	-2.7%
  🇦🇪 UAE	Middle East	-$8.56B	-1.7%
  🇿🇦 South Africa	Africa	-$6.69B	-1.6%
  🇬🇭 Ghana	Africa	-$6.22B	-8.5%
  🇶🇦 Qatar	Middle East	-$5.91B	-2.6%
  🇦🇴 Angola	Africa	-$3.54B	-2.9%
  🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	Africa	-$3.09B	-9.4%
  🇺🇦 Ukraine	Europe	-$2.79B	-1.8%
  🇸🇩 Sudan	Africa	-$2.72B	-5.5%
  🇮🇶 Iraq	Middle East	-$2.47B	-0.9%
  🇹🇱 East Timor	Asia	-$1.67B	-45.7%
  🇬🇦 Gabon	Africa	-$1.60B	-7.3%
  🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	Africa	-$1.35B	-8.2%
  🇲🇼 Malawi	Africa	-$1.24B	-9.9%
  🇱🇦 Laos	Asia	-$1.21B	-7.9%
  🇧🇳 Brunei	Asia	-$1.13B	-6.8%
  🇾🇪 Yemen	Middle East	-$1.12B	-5.4%
  🇸🇸 South Sudan	Africa	-$0.86B	-10.9%
  🇧🇮 Burundi	Africa	-$0.66B	-16.9%
  🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	Africa	-$0.42B	-10.6%
  🇸🇷 Suriname	South America	-$0.05B	-1.4%

  The presence of Saudi Arabia, Norway, Kuwait, and Oman in the top 10 biggest GDP contractions further highlights the potential impact on GDP for oil-producing countries, according to the IMF’s projections.

  More recently, producers have been cutting supply in an effort to boost prices, but concerns of slowing global oil demand in the wake of a subdued Chinese economy (the world’s second-largest oil consumer), have kept oil prices lower than in 2022 regardless.

  The Footnote on GDP Forecasts

  While organizations like the IMF have gotten fairly good at GDP forecasting, it’s still worth remembering that these are projections and assumptions made at the beginning of the year that may not hold true by the end of 2023.

  For example, JP Morgan has already changed their forecast for China’s 2023 real GDP growth six times in as many months after expectations of broad-based pandemic-recovery spending did not materialize in the country.

  The key takeaway from IMF’s projections for 2023 GDP growth rests on how well countries restrict inflation without stifling growth, all amidst tense liquidity conditions.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 23:20

• Snyder: Is America Doomed?
  Snyder: Is America Doomed?

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

  Is time running out for America? 

  Throughout human history, great civilizations have risen and fell, and many believe that the U.S. will be no exception.  At this point, we have already drifted so far from our core values that our founders would not even be able to recognize the Republic that they once established if they were alive today. 

  Of course most Americans realize that something has gone horribly wrong, but most of them also believe that sending the right people to Washington is the answer.  But is that really the solution to what ails us?

  

  According to a brand new Rasmussen poll that was just released, 40 percent of likely U.S. voters believe that Joe Biden must win the next presidential election “or the United States is doomed”…

  Per the poll, 40% of likely US voters agree with the statement, “Joe Biden must be re-elected president next year, or the United States is doomed,” which includes 25% who strongly agree. 53% are in disagreement, which includes 43% who strongly disagree.

  That is nuts.

  Nearly half the country literally believes that our nation is “doomed” if Joe Biden does not win in 2024.

  The same poll also found that 45 percent of likely U.S. voters believe that Donald Trump must win the next presidential election “or the United States is doomed”…

  45% agree with the statement, “Donald Trump must be re-elected president next year or the United States is doomed,” which includes 26% who strongly agree. 53% disagree, which includes 44% who strongly disagree.

  I am assuming that there is no overlap between those two groups.

  If that is true, that means that 85 percent of likely U.S. voters believe that our nation is “doomed” if the candidate that they are supporting does not win the next presidential election.

  I have never seen numbers like this before.

  The stakes in 2024 are incredibly high, and the side that loses is going to be absolutely devastated.

  Over the next year there will be endless campaigning as the upcoming election approaches, but meanwhile our society is being ripped to shreds right in front of our eyes.

  In Chicago, predators literally roam the streets in their vehicles in the middle of the day looking for someone to attack.

  When a suitable target is identified, brutal violence often ensues.

  Welcome to Chicago.

  Mayor Brandon Johnson will claim these criminals are misunderstood youth. pic.twitter.com/1UyTdyLZ2m

  — Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) August 7, 2023

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

  In the old days, thieves would at least wait until the cover of night to go out and do their thing.

  But now there is very little fear of the police.

  There are more than 1,000 identifiable gangs in the city of Chicago today, and mafia-style killings have become quite common…

  Three suspects shot and killed a man whom they also reportedly hit with a car at a gas station in Chicago in a brazen daytime shooting.

  A small memorial was left by family members for 31-year-old Anton Benoit after he was shot and killed in a gang-style shooting at a Shell gas station in Chatham, a neighborhood in Chicago. Chatham is located on the south side and has a population of approximately 32,000.

  I don’t want to just pick on Chicago, and so let’s talk about major cities on the west coast for a bit.

  This week, a video posted by a San Francisco woman named Hanna Ayla went viral, because it accurately conveyed emotions that so many other San Francisco residents are feeling right now…

  “I was just getting groceries and I live in San Francisco, and I never really feel fully safe. If you live in San Francisco, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. And I just got groceries, I’m walking out of the store, and this guy is walking past me and says, ‘Move you stupid b****,’ and he spits in my face!” she said.

  “Spits all over my face,” she repeats.

  “And I say, ‘Excuse me, did you just spit in my face?’ And he says, ‘Move or I’ll rape you.’ There’s also people everywhere and everyone’s just walking by because they’re like, I can’t handle something else in San Francisco, it’s always something else!” Ayla continued.

  “I don’t even know why I’m posting this,” she concluded. “If you live in San Francisco, do you feel this way all the time? I don’t feel safe. Ever. I literally never feel safe. It’s better when it’s daytime, but nighttime? No. Not leaving my house.”

  This is what it’s like living in blue cities. And if you voted for this, you get what you vote for. pic.twitter.com/RRbxumet5N

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 7, 2023

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

  I don’t think that anyone that lives in San Francisco truly feels safe at this point.

  Crime is completely out of control, but many would argue that conditions in Oakland are even worse.

  In fact, a 48-year-old woman that has lived there her entire life says that she is being forced to move because she has become “too scared” to go outside of her own home…

  A lifelong Oakland resident has made the heartbreaking decision to move out of the city after soaring crime rates left her ‘too scared’ to go outside.

  Kristin Cook, 48, spoke for many in Oakland as she sobbed: ‘I can’t take it anymore. I got to the point I was too scared to leave my house.’

  ‘The fact that I am being pushed out because I emotionally can’t take it anymore is horrible,’ she added.

  Burglary rates in the city are 41 percent up on last year and robberies have increased more than 20 percent, according to police data. Rape offenses are also up 12 percent.

  Our cities have degenerated into crime-ridden hellholes, and our country does not have a future if we stay on this path.

  But instead of working to fix our cities, Joe Biden continues to send giant mountains of money overseas.

  For example, it is being reported that Biden has actually given more than two billion dollars to the Taliban during the past two years…

  A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) notes that the Biden administration has given $2.35 billion to Afghanistan over the past two years, despite the fact that it is now ruled by the Taliban again following the disastrous U.S. withdrawal in 2021.

  The Washington Free Beacon shared details of the findings Tuesday, noting that the funds could be propping up the Taliban’s terrorist government.

  Of course two billion dollars is just a drop in the bucket compared to what Biden has given to Ukraine.

  Meanwhile, our own country is in absolutely horrible shape.

  I write a lot about our rapidly growing economic problems, but the moral decay that is eating away at the foundations of our culture is an even bigger crisis.

  We can see this moral decay in major cities from coast to coast, and we can also see it in rural areas.  Here is just one example…

  A woman in Texas has been placed under arrest after dozens of dead horses and dogs were discovered at a ranch reportedly under her control.

  Animal cruelty had been suspected at a ranch in Westminster, Texas, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas, for some time. Dating back to 2019, police had received reports of alleged animal cruelty at the property at least 15 times.

  Recently, police had received yet another report regarding animal maltreatment. Landscapers who had been doing work at the ranch called authorities to claim that they had seen the decaying remains of several animals.

  Reading that probably made you very angry.

  And it should.

  If the police had taken previous reports of animal cruelty seriously, a lot of those deaths could have been prevented.

  But it isn’t just a few crazed nuts like that woman that are our problem.

  The truth is that our entire society is deeply sick.  It is being reported that Pornhub is visited 115 million times a day, and many of those visitors are young adults and children…

  Pornhub, the YouTube of pornography, gets more global users than Amazon or Netflix. In 2019, the last year Pornhub released its data, the site was visited 42 billion times, or 115 million times each day.

  To put those numbers in perspective, there are only 331 million people living in the United States.

  And please keep in mind that we are just talking about one website.  There are thousands of other websites that are also preying on our young people.

  I get extremely passionate about these issues, because the future of our country is literally hanging in the balance.

  For decades, extreme leftists have been rapidly advancing their agenda, and that has brought us to where we are today.

  Just about every form of evil that you can possibly imagine is exploding all around us, and if we don’t find a way to turn things around America really is doomed.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 23:00

• DeSantis Fires Another 'Soros' Prosecutor Over 'Needless Pain, Suffering, And Death'
  DeSantis Fires Another ‘Soros’ Prosecutor Over ‘Needless Pain, Suffering, And Death’

  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday suspended the top prosecutor in Orlando who refused to enforce the law against criminals which went on to commit more crimes, including murder.

  

  “Prosecutors have a duty to faithfully enforce the law. One’s political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty. Refusing to faithfully enforce the laws of Florida puts our communities in danger and victimizes innocent Floridians,” DeSantis said.

  Monique Worrell, Florida state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit, failed to prosecute 43% of arrests – releasing 16,243 defendants without prosecution, according to state AG Ashley Moody.

  “Ms. Worrell is dismissing during the same period nearly four times the number of defendants as are being dismissed or not charged in Palm Beach County,” she said, adding “It is not normal for a prosecutor to come out repeatedly after we have seen tragedy strike and insinuate, ‘It’s not my fault.’ I submit to you this was, in a way, to distract from where fault should have lay.”

  Even violent felonies were only prosecuted 41% of the time, according to Moody.

  DOCUMENTS: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office lists rationale for suspending Soros-backed Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell

  “The practices and policies of her office have allowed murderers, other violent offenders, and dangerous drug traffickers to receive extremely reduced… pic.twitter.com/keJzzp4AGo

  — Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 9, 2023

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

  “If she were allowed to continue in this office, her failure would continue to cause needless pain, suffering, and death,” Moody said of Worrell – speaking in tones of ‘intense but controlled anger,’ according to the Epoch Times.

  #BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell, effective immediately, citing lack of mandatory minimum sentencings for various crimes, neglect of duty, and abusing discretion pic.twitter.com/O0Pe1UbTVH

  — Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 9, 2023

  In many cases, Ms. Worrell’s choice not to prosecute turned lethal, Gov. DeSantis noted.

  A 17-year-old in Ms. Worrell’s circuit was arrested for criminal possession of a firearm, he said. She let him go, and he shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend.

  Another criminal was arrested for sex abuse of a minor, the governor said. After getting let out on bond by Ms. Worrell, he shot and killed two police officers, he said. -Epoch Times

  “I have no doubt that today’s decision is not only consistent with the Constitution and laws of Florida, that we have a right to act. We had a duty to act to protect the public from this dereliction of duty,” said DeSantis.

  Responding to the removal, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd said that criminals are incentivized by their chances of success, and think “I’ll just shoot them because, heck, after all, I probably won’t go to jail.”

  “When it comes to law and order, Gov. @RonDeSantis is not playing…His actions today, without question, saved the lives of citizens in Central Florida.”

  — Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey praises DeSantis’ suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell pic.twitter.com/Yn8xnF71Sw

  — DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 9, 2023

  In response to her removal, Worrell defended her record by calling her approach “unconventional” and “doing things differently.” 

  JUST IN: Suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell calls Gov. Ron DeSantis a “dictator”

  “This is an outrage […] There used to be a very high standard for the removal of elected officials.”

  “Under this tyranny, elected officials can be removed simply for political purposes.”… pic.twitter.com/SuzrbreZpu

  — Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 9, 2023

  Of note, Worrell received election funding from billionaire George Soros. 

  Soros arbitraged politics. He figured out that spending small amounts of money in many obscure, but influential, races is far more effective than money spent on major contests.

  The mistake people make is thinking that he did it for the good of humanity. He hates humanity.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023

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

  Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), a former governor of Florida, supported DeSantis’ decision.

  “This is the right move,” Scott posted to X. “Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies are eroding our communities and families’ ability to feel safe. In February, I called on SA Monique Worrell to deliver the justice and accountability needed for the families affected by shootings in her district and said her suspension would be fully justified. She failed to do her job. Families deserve better.“

  Worrell is the second Soros-funded state attorney removed by DeeSantis in the past 12 months, after suspending Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren for violating his oath of office and holding himself “above the law” in what DeSantis described as a “very very troubling record.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 22:40

• 'He Was Alive': Tormented Chinese Doctor Recounts Harvesting Organs In Back Of Van
  ‘He Was Alive’: Tormented Chinese Doctor Recounts Harvesting Organs In Back Of Van

  Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Stepping into the van guarded by armed soldiers with five surgeons and nurses, Zheng Zhi didn’t know he was entering into a world that would haunt him for the next quarter of a century.

  Dr. Zheng, then a resident doctor at one of China’s largest military hospitals, knew little more than they were on a “secret military mission” near a military prison located around the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.

  A light blue fabric covered the four sides of the vehicle, shielding it from any curious glances.

  When the door opened, four burly soldiers carried in a man whose limbs were bound with thin ropes that had cut deeply into his flesh. The man was no more than 18 years old; his organs, the surgical crew had been told the day before, were “healthy, fresh.”

  A doctor instructed Dr. Zheng to “step on” the man’s legs and “don’t let him move.” He pressed the man’s legs down with his hands and to his shock, they were warm to the touch. Blood was now flowing from the man’s throat.

  He watched a doctor slice open the man’s stomach and two others reach in to remove a kidney each. The man’s legs twitched and his throat moved—although no sound came out.

  “Cut his artery and veins, quick!” a doctor told Dr. Zheng. As he did so, so much blood gushed out that it splashed all over Dr. Zheng’s gown and gloves. That was when he got the order to extract the man’s eyes.

  Dr. Zheng looked at the man’s face. Staring back at him was a pair of wide-open eyes.

  “It was horrifying beyond words. He was looking right at me. His eyelids were moving. He was alive,” Dr. Zheng recounted to The Epoch Times in July, the first time he agreed to use his real name to recount his story.

  

  But, in the van in 1994, little did he know he was party to what would soon become an industrialized killing apparatus set up to extract organs from prisoners of conscience and sell them on demand.

  In the van, he told the other doctors, “I can’t do this.” He felt his brain empty out as he sat there, shaky, sweating, and paralyzed.

  The doctor across from him immediately pressed the man’s head to the floor of the van. With two fingers pressed on the eyelids and a hemostat in another hand, the doctor clamped out each of the man’s eyes.

  The body, now motionless, was placed in a black plastic bag and taken away by soldiers waiting outside. The van sped back to the General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region, where Dr. Zheng did his residency. The nurses quickly gathered up the bloodied medical equipment.

  Lights were on in two operation rooms when they reached the hospital. Another team of doctors was waiting to begin the organ transplantations.

  Dr. Zheng was too sickened to be useful, even though the department director wanted him to get his hand in at the operating table. He sat watching from a few yards away as the surgery progressed. When the transplant operations were complete, the medical staff went into an upscale restaurant and feasted in silence, although Dr. Zheng said he couldn’t take a bite. After the meal, he took leave, developing a high fever at the same time.

  That pair of eyes—desperate, fearful, and pained—has since tormented Dr. Zheng day and night.

  “Under the light lay a young life, a fellow human being, whose organs were being harvested while he was alive,” he said.

  

  Billion Dollar Industry

  The horror Dr. Zheng witnessed in the van, and afterward at the hospital, took place in 1994, when the Chinese regime’s mass-scale, state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting was still in its infancy.

  It soon ballooned into a billion-dollar industry, using prisoners of conscience, particularly adherents of the persecuted faith group Falun Gong, to fuel its rise. In the same city as the hospital was the Sujiatun concentration camp, which multiple whistleblowers revealed as a mass killing ground of imprisoned Falun Gong adherents for their organs since the persecution began in 1999. While the Sujiatun underground facility was abandoned after being exposed internationally, an untold number of other such camps exist in China.

  Dr. Zheng is one of several witnesses who have come forward to The Epoch Times since 2006 to expose the regime’s grisly practice.

  Since then, a multitude of independent reports have provided information on the severity and scale of the practice.

  In 2019, a London-based independent tribunal concluded that China’s ruling regime killed prisoners of conscience for their organs “on a significant scale,” and that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims.

  U.S. lawmakers have taken steps to prevent Americans from embarking on “transplant tourism” to China, and thus becoming complicit.

  Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) is pushing for the passage of his Falun Gong Protection Act, which would sanction persecutors of Falun Gong. The bill would also ban cooperation with communist China in the organ transplantation field.

  The bipartisan Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023, which seeks to punish enablers of the abuse, passed overwhelmingly in the House in March.

  In June, Texas adopted the country’s first law to counter the issue, banning health insurers from financing organ transplant surgeries linked to China.

  ‘A Fresh One’

  Fear still had a grip on Dr. Zheng as he slowly recounted his story for the first time in 2015, using an alias. During the hours-long interview, he struggled to utter a complete sentence; sometimes with his two hands held tightly to the edge of the table in front of him, other times fidgeting, standing up, and sitting down. His facial expression was contorted as he kept repeating that it was “too horrifying.” Tears filled Dr. Zheng’s eyes as he described in a trembling voice the removal of the young man’s eyes.

  During his residency at the hospital, Dr. Zheng was favored by his superiors, thanks to his father’s influence in the local communist power circle. A skilled doctor in traditional Chinese medicine, his father was sought by local officials. Some of the top military leaders were frequent guests at his family’s dining table. Knowing this, doctors treated Dr. Zheng deferentially, frequently allowing him to participate in surgeries when other interns couldn’t.

  

  Soon after the organ extraction in the back of the van, Dr. Zheng left the hospital. He became a pediatrician and internist in the city of Liaoyang, some four hours drive north of Dalian. But that sense of horror only deepened over time as he glimpsed more from behind the scenes.

  In 2002, Dr. Zheng accompanied a military official for his medical checkup, at the hospital where he once interned. The doctor told the official that he needed a new kidney to live.

  “[We’ll] pick a top-quality one for you,” another military officer told his superior in the hallway. “A fresh one, from Falun Gong practitioners.”

  That was the first time Dr. Zheng heard that Falun Gong adherents were a specific organ source.

  On the way home, the official asked Dr. Zheng whether he should get a kidney transplant.

  “Don’t do it,” Dr. Zheng replied. “Isn’t that committing a murder?”

  It was through that official that Dr. Zheng learned how widespread forced organ harvesting was in China.

  “Armed police and officials above division ranks all know about it, and it’s pretty much known throughout the military. It’s nothing novel,” Dr. Zheng told The Epoch Times.

  To make more money, he said, the military had opened many “green passages,” or fast lanes at airports, to quickly transport fresh human organs across the country. The infectious disease units at military hospitals had all become “dens” for forced organ harvesting, he said.

  “In about one to two weeks—a month at the longest—a match would be found.”

  The official whose kidney was failing opted not to get a transplant. He lived three more years relying on dialysis and died in 2005.

  Another acquaintance, an aide to officials at the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the core of elite Chinese leadership, told Dr. Zheng something even more shocking.

  In the conversation, Dr. Zheng remarked that the persecution of Falun Gong in northeastern China was quite severe.

  The acquaintance made no immediate response, but before they parted, he turned and looked straight at Dr. Zheng.

  “In Hubei Province’s Wuhan City, under the back garden of the Hubei Province Public Security Bureau, it’s full of detained Falun Gong practitioners. Some are underaged kids,” he said, stopping at every word.

  “I’ve been there,” he added after a pause. They didn’t discuss it further, but the implication that this was a mass source of organs weighed heavily on Dr. Zheng.

  

  Making a Choice

  What the acquaintance said gave Dr. Zheng a “sense of mission” to expose the matter on the international stage, prompting his eventual escape to Thailand in 2005.

  He obtained refugee status while in Thailand and moved to Canada in 2007.

  In 2015, when he told his story for the first time to The Epoch Times, he said he felt so helpless that he wasn’t sure whether to lean on the reporter or the table.

  “I felt that I was giving out my life and everything that I have,” he told The Epoch Times in late July, recalling the previous interview.

  “There’s no way to describe how I felt at the time,” he said.

  “Every word, every sentence I spoke was no different from a choice of life and death. I didn’t know what I’d be bringing to myself.”

  During the eight years once he got to Canada, Dr. Zheng said he had been looking for the right media outlet to tell his story to. Should he make the wrong choice, not only would he get himself into trouble, the issue wouldn’t get the spotlight it deserved.

  To say he wasn’t worried about possible retaliation from Beijing was unrealistic, “ordinary people can’t imagine how evil the CCP is,” he said—but the issue was bigger than himself.

  “Slaughtering Chinese people and stealing their organs for profit, this is a crime with no bounds,” Dr. Zheng said. As someone living in a free country with a “basic conscience, I have no reason to stay silent.”

  He said that he has carefully preserved his records. When the Chinese Communist Party falls and faces judgment, he will come on the witness stand, he said, adding that he has no doubt “justice will prevail over evil.”

  Yi Ling contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 22:20

• It Was Pelosi: Former Capitol Police Chief Reveals 'Set Up' Behind January 6
  It Was Pelosi: Former Capitol Police Chief Reveals ‘Set Up’ Behind January 6

  Tucker Carlson released a bombshell interview with former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund on Wednesday, during which Sund explains what happened on January 6, 2021 in great detail.

  

  Carlson and Sund had notably recorded an entire interview on Fox News, which never aired.

  Perhaps most damning is Sund’s claim that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to authorize the deployment of the National Guard at the Capitol despite Sund’s pleas, and that federal agencies withheld information and warning signs of potential dangers prior to the riot.

  “It doesn’t seem like people really want to get to the bottom of it,” said Sund, adding “It really doesn’t. And it just gets worse. It gets worse from there.”

  Sund got approval to bring in the National Guard at 2:09 p.m. Before his approval, he alleged that he begged several generals, including General Michael Flynn, to bring the National Guard. The officials told Sund they did “not like the optics of the National Guard” as he allegedly begged for their assistance to intervene in the violence. –Daily Caller

  “This sounds like a set up to me,” Carlson said, adding “I’m sorry, it does.”

  To which Sund replied:

  “It gets better. So I beg and beg and he goes ‘well, I’m gonna walk down the hall and we’ll talk to the Secretary of Defense or whoever he’s gonna talk to. Right then I get a notification, oh, I’m still on the call, we have the shooting of Ashli Babbitt. And I said we have shots firing, I still remember yelling over the phone. We have shots firing on the U.S. Capitol, is that urgent enough for you now?“

  According to Sund, the National Guard didn’t show up until 6 p.m., hours after the fatal shooting of Babbitt. He also claimed that the Pentagon deployed resources to the homes of generals, but not the Capitol.

  Watch:

  Ep. 15 Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund reveals what really happened on January 6th. Our Fox News interview with him never aired, so we invited him back. pic.twitter.com/opDlu4QGlp

  — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 10, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 22:00

• "Failed Leadership" – Oakland, CA Faces "State Of Emergency" As Consequence-Free Crime Soars
  “Failed Leadership” – Oakland, CA Faces “State Of Emergency” As Consequence-Free Crime Soars

  Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Rising incidents of crime in Oakland, California, are affecting quality of life, causing some to flee, and leading to calls by some community associations for more law enforcement amid a wave of violence.

  

  While down slightly year-over-year, homicides have jumped 40 percent since 2019, with Oakland police reporting that every other category of crime shows an increase compared to last year and since before the pandemic.

  Also, compared to 2019, assaults and auto break-ins have doubled, and carjackings have tripled, according to FBI statistics.

  Additionally, the city rated a 1—the lowest possible score out of 100—meaning it is safer than less than 1 percent of areas across the country, according to online real estate market data firm Neighborhood Scout.

  Public protests are now routine at Oakland City Council meetings, and letters to officials are pouring in, with frightened and angry residents and organizations expressing discontent.

  At a July hearing with the Alameda County District Attorney and sheriff to discuss the ongoing crime wave, audience members told officials about their recent encounters.

  “While I’m driving, I’m pulled out of my car at gunpoint,” one woman said. “What are we doing to address this? How do we solve this? Nobody feels safe.”

  Failed Leadership, Anti-Police Rhetoric Are to Blame: NAACP

  Community safety advocates are also reaching out to administrators asking for immediate action to halt the violence.

  “Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities,” the Oakland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, better known as the NAACP, said in a July 27 letter to elected officials. “We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis.”

  The group blames criminal justice reform and efforts to minimize policing for the recent rise in crime.

  “Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals,” the NAACP wrote in the letter. “If there are no consequences for committing crime in Oakland, crime will continue to soar.”

  Oakland’s Police Department currently employs approximately 715 officers, nearly 500 fewer than necessary to protect the city, its union said in a statement released July 29. Current budget plans call for an increase to 730 officers over the next two years.

  

  Residents No Longer Feel Safe at Home

  Many residents say they no longer feel safe leaving their homes, and home invasion robberies are making some uncomfortable in their own dwellings.

  “My mom and aunt live together, and they’re both older, and they don’t feel safe anymore,” Johnny Brown, a maintenance worker who has lived in Oakland most of his life, told The Epoch Times. “I bring them groceries, and I put a camera on their house, so I can watch and make sure they’re not in trouble.”

  The Brown family has called Oakland home for more than 30 years, and they said the crime has never been worse.

  “This is Oakland, there’s always been an element of danger, but it’s wild out here,” Mr. Brown said. “They’re getting away with so much that others are doing it too. They don’t care who you are or how much money they can get; they’re out here robbing everybody.”

  Another long-time Oakland resident agreed, telling The Epoch Times that it’s not safe at night to walk or stop for gas in certain areas.

  “It’s like predator and prey out here as a young woman,” LaTasha Jackson said. “We stay in groups at night and still don’t feel safe, and forget about pumping gas alone, that’s just asking to get robbed.”

  Crimes committed during daylight are also on the rise, with car break-ins at historic levels and armed robberies approaching all-time highs, according to the Oakland Police Officers Association.

  A recent video showed an elderly ice cream street vendor robbed by armed men wearing masks, but in a sign of solidarity, the community came together and raised thousands of dollars for the victim.

  While complaints and requests for action are numerous, city leaders say they are taking steps to address the concerns.

  Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao recently announced a collaboration with Gov. Gavin Newsom to bring California Highway Patrol officers to the city, in addition to a $1.5 million grant to install license plate readers in high crime areas, intended to identify criminals and track down suspects.

  “Strong partnerships are critical in making our city safer,” said Ms. Thao in a press release Aug. 3 announcing the deal. “Our comprehensive community safety approach includes both accountability for those who commit crime as well as prevention and deterrence efforts to stop crime before it occurs.”

  

  While acknowledging efforts to reduce crime, Ms. Thao insisted more must be done.

  “As a city, we’ve worked hard to make it safer,” she said in a statement Aug. 8. “We know we need to do more.”

  Law enforcement officials recognize the dilemma facing residents and urged the community to unify and protect each other.

  “In recent weeks, we’ve seen a surge in violence which has impacted our community and it’s concerning for all of us who work, live and visit the City of Oakland,” said Interim Police Chief Darren Allison in a joint statementwith the mayor in May. “Our city, like many other major cities, is facing very challenging times and it is crucial we come together to take a collaborative approach when it comes to addressing crime in Oakland.”

  Police Suggest ‘Air Horns’ to Sound off Intruders

  One suggestion from the Oakland Police Department was for residents to equip themselves with air horns to sound off intruders and to alert neighbors of any disturbances.

  While some are following the advice, others question the efficacy of such a plan.

  “An air horn won’t save you from a robber with a gun,” Ms. Jackson said. “It might get you killed, but I don’t see it saving many lives.”

  Home invasions have escalated over the past year, according to Oakland police, with videos from home security cameras posted on social media showing armed intruders robbing unsuspecting homeowners.

  Authorities also say elderly residents in the Oakland Hills have been targeted repeatedly over the last few months.

  Police advise, when possible, people install burglar bars on windows and doors and utilize security measures to help stop break-ins.

  Cameras can also help prevent attacks and provide evidence to assist law enforcement investigations, according to experts.

  For now, some Oakland residents say they’re worried about the future and are considering leaving the city.

  “We can’t live in fear forever,” Ms. Jackson said. “If things don’t get better, my family will leave as soon as we can.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 21:40

• Manhattan Rents Hit Record High As Lease Activity Slumps, Indicating Deepening Affordability Crisis
  Manhattan Rents Hit Record High As Lease Activity Slumps, Indicating Deepening Affordability Crisis

  New York City is experiencing the worst housing crisis in a generation. The limited supply of apartments led to record high rents in July, the peak rental month of the year, just before the start of the school year.  

  Data from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate showed Manhattan’s median rent topped $4,400, up 2.3% from June. Rents soared 11% in Brooklyn to $3,950 and in northwest Queens. In Astoria and Long Island City, rents rose 1.9% to $3,641. Manhattan rents reached a record high for the fourth time in five months. 

  

  Bloomberg quoted Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, who said, “We’re arriving at the tolerance level of the market. Prices are rising, reaching new records. Leasing activity is weakening, likely due to the record rents — tenants aren’t getting relief.”

  Miller said another record high could be seen in August as families and students sign leasing agreements ahead of the new school year. 

  Despite Manhattan’s population plunge of 400,000 between June 2020-22 and half-empty office towers scattered across the area, there still appears to be demand for apartments amid tight supply. 

  

  Miller pointed out that inventory is beginning to rise, and the decline of leases might indicate people have hit a breaking point: “It looks like rents are probably close to the tipping point… We’re seeing transactions slip because of affordability.”

  A separate report, published in April by Fund for the City of New York & United Way of New York City, found half of the households in the city barely had enough money to ‘comfortably’ afford rent and other expenses. 

  Meanwhile, the latest CPI print shows shelter costs nationwide have not only reached their peak but are now starting to decline. 

  

  Housing inflation slowing fast:

  Shelter inflation up 7.69% YoY in July vs 7.83% in June, lowest since Dec 22; also up 0.43% MoM, lowest monthly increase since Jan 22

  Rent inflation up 8.03% in July vs 8.33% in June, lowest since Nov 22; also up 0.41% MoM, lowest since March 22 pic.twitter.com/yL5d0RRTx6

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 10, 2023

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

  If Miller is correct, the rental affordability breaking point is quickly approaching. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 21:20

• 'This Is Not The Scandal You're Looking For': How Washington Is Attempting To Dismiss $20 Million As An Illusion
  ‘This Is Not The Scandal You’re Looking For’: How Washington Is Attempting To Dismiss $20 Million As An Illusion

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  I previously wrote a column marveling at the success of the Bidens in pulling off one of the neatest tricks in political history. I analogized it to how Houdini used to make his 10,000-pound elephant Jennie disappear on a stage in front of a live audience. The media and political establishment is now striving to top that performance by declaring $20 million in payments to Biden family members as an “illusion” of influence. At the heart of this scandal is the BFF, the Biden Family Fund.

  

  Here is the column:

  This week, President Joe Biden responded to calls for greater access to the media with a blockbuster interview with . . . the Weather Channel.

  The interview immediately prompted critics to speculate that the president wanted to continue to talk about the weather – the same claim made after the disclosure of his participation in various dinners with his son’s foreign associates.

  As the number of these dinners, meetings and outings increase, Joe Biden appears to have covered more meteorological subjects than Al Roker.

  The problem is that conditions are worsening in Washington.

  This week, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer released a third report on the ongoing investigations into the Biden corruption scandal.

  The latest bank records indicate the Biden family has received more than $20 million, including from corrupt Kazakh figures.

  Some of this money provided Hunter Biden with extravagant toys. On April 22, 2014, Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev wired $142,300 to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai bank account.

  That account then shows the exact same amount being wired to a New Jersey car dealership for a Fisker sports car for Hunter.

  Finding the Fisker unsuitable, Hunter traded it in for a Porsche.

  Notably, these payments often coincided with dinners and meetings with Joe Biden.

  Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, the widow of Moscow ex-Mayor Yury Luzhkov, wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton Feb. 14, 2014.

  She later attended a dinner with Joe and Hunter Biden at Washington, DC, hotspot Café Milano.

  For weeks, Joe Biden’s prior claims have been collapsing as his allies in the media and Congress struggle for an alternative spin on these new disclosures.

  The president’s denials of any knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings finally have been exposed as a lie.

  Even the Washington Post has acknowledged Biden lied when he insisted that Hunter never made any money in China.

  It was always a boldfaced falsehood (and a confusing claim from a man who insisted that he had no knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings).

  But the testimony of associate Devon Archer and new bank records forced the paper and others to recognize the falsehood.

  There is also the confirmation that Biden’s long denials that he attended key dinners with Hunter’s business associates were false.

  Most notably, the media are grudgingly admitting that Hunter was openly selling influence peddling and access to his father as part of what Archer called “selling the brand.”

  The final line of defense is now that Hunter Biden was selling access to Joe Biden but it was an “illusion.” The reason, they claim, is there is no evidence of direct payments to Joe and Jill Biden.

  There is, of course, nothing “illusionary” about tens of millions moving to Hunter and other family members.

  But political spins are often built on illusions. The latest is that Joe Biden only benefits from these payments if they were directly deposited in his accounts.

  For a family that Hunter explained was “the best” at this type of dealing, it is absurd to expect a deposit slip from a corrupt Ukrainian official to the account of Joe and Jill Biden, one of the most vulnerable accounts in the world to review and monitoring.

  These claims, moreover, ignore emails discussing Hunter’s and his father’s use of joint accounts to pay for expenses, including how one account was used to pay Joe’s taxes. There is also Hunter’s complaint that he was using half of his earnings to support his father. Indeed, one trusted FBI informant said that, in planning a bribe, one foreign figure was told to avoid direct payments to Joe Biden. Today, that is as amateurish as an envelope of cash and the Bidens have been in the business of influence peddling for decades.

  Responding to the new evidence, Washington Post columnist Phillip Bump led the charge in asking: Where’s the bribe?

  In other words, as long as Hunter got the luxury car, Joe didn’t benefit or receive a bribe.

  (Notably, Bump did not have the same high standards when he pushed the false claim over a photo op in Lafayette Park and later refused to concede with the rest of the media on the lack of Russian collusion with Donald Trump.)

  Not even millions to Biden children and grandchildren would seem to satisfy Bump as an inducement for the then-vice president.

  Yet the greatest illusion is the claim Joe Biden would only be motivated by a direct payment to one of his accounts.

  Biden clearly benefited from millions going to the Biden Family Fund (BFF). Even grandchildren received some of the transfers funneled through a labyrinth of accounts.

  Joe Biden is 80 years old. Despite holding only government jobs in his career, he is worth an estimated $8 million.

  Forbes reported he earned $17.3 million over the four years he was out of office. He will never spend his fortune. Any additional money would have to pass to his descendants.

  For most wealthy people in their final years, the challenge is not raising more money but getting that money to your children without heavy taxes or delays.

  This money was going to his BFF. That is a benefit and probably of greater value to a man of Joe Biden’s age and wealth.

  None of this has stopped politicians, press and pundits from insisting that absent a direct payment to the president’s account, there is no corruption or crime.

  

  After all, $20 million going to a president’s family is like complaining about the weather in Washington.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 21:00

• Another Massive Mystery Fire Strikes Moscow, This Time Just Miles From Putin's Residence
  Another Massive Mystery Fire Strikes Moscow, This Time Just Miles From Putin’s Residence

  Another explosion and fire has rocked Moscow in the overnight hours, as a warehouse in Odintsovo, which lies west of Moscow, suffered reported explosions and was engulfed in flames. 

  TASS stated that the size of the fire was 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) as of around midnight Moscow time, and a largescale emergency response is in progress.

  

  While no cause has as of yet been officially communicated, Russia’s defense ministry has this week said the military intercepted several waves of drones in past days, including on the outskirts of Moscow. Drones out of Ukraine have become a serious enough threat to have briefly halted air traffic at key airports on a couple of occasions recently.

  According to Reuters, the warehouse blaze is a mere miles from President Putin’s presidential residence: 

  It did not say how the fire had started in the warehouse, 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) away from Putin’s presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo.

  Russia is on 🔥
  Moscow region again ❗
  Big Black Bavovna 🔥🔥🔥💨🤌
  Not just only windows lol
  A major fire in Odintsovo near Moscow tonight. According to updated data a warehouse on Zelenaya Street is on fire. Fire areas around 2.000 square meters. Dark smoke rises. The cause is… pic.twitter.com/FMNop3uYcq

  — LX (@LXSummer1) August 10, 2023

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

  This current disaster follows on the heels of Wednesday’s Zagorsk optical-mechanical plant fire.

  The Russian factory northeast of Moscow erupted into a massive explosion of unknown cause, injuring at least 45 people, and causing damage to surrounding buildings.

  Official Russian sources said it was being investigated as an “accident” – but the scale and frequency of such fires is leading to the obvious questions of whether these are covert sabotage operations or drone strikes.

  In #Odintsovo, #Moscow region, #Russia, there is a large fire happening tonight. Some reports say that the fire is at a warehouse.

  Odintsovo area houses multiple military bases and facilities. pic.twitter.com/D2OhUlVQxZ

  — Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) August 10, 2023

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

  And the fact that Moscow has now witnessed two very large industrial-warehouse fires in two consecutive days, coming off a week of frequent drone attacks, strongly points to cross-border Ukraine operations (or else sabotage attacks involving NATO). 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 20:40

• Man Killed During FBI Raid After Allegedly Threatening Biden
  Man Killed During FBI Raid After Allegedly Threatening Biden

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

  A man was killed as FBI agents executed a search warrant in Utah on Aug. 9, officials confirmed.

  

  There was a shooting in Provo, Utah around 6:15 a.m. local time, the FBI said.

  “The incident began when special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence. The subject is deceased,” a bureau spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

  “The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division. As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide,” the spokesperson added.

  A U.S. Secret Service spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that the agency is aware of an FBI probe “involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats to a Secret Service protectee.”

  The spokesperson said the Secret Service is in close coordination with the FBI but that the bureau is leading the investigation.

  Court documents reviewed by The Epoch Times show that Craig Robertson, a Provo resident, was charged recently with threatening President Joe Biden and federal law enforcement officers.

  Neither the FBI nor the Secret Service denied it was Mr. Robertson who was killed.

  Mr. Robertson wrote in one Facebook post that he heard President Biden was traveling to Utah and that he would be “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle, according to the court documents.

  “Welcom [sic], buffoon-in-chief,” Mr. Robertson wrote.

  President Biden was scheduled to land in Salt Lake City at 4:30 p.m. local time after spending most of the day in Arizona. A White House official told reporters in Arizona that the schedule has not changed.

  The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  It was not clear whether Mr. Robertson had a lawyer.

  He did not return a message on Facebook, where his profile was still active.

  Mr. Robertson wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night that he dreamed of seeing President Biden’s body with the head severed. “Hoorah!!!” Mr. Robertson wrote.

  He had previously written, “The time is right for a presidential assassination or two.” He added, “First Joe then Kamala!!!” Kamala Harris is the vice president.

  The Cougar Chronicle, a student-run newspaper, reported that an elderly man and retired weld inspector was shot during an FBI raid in Provo on Wednesday. A LinkedIn profile for Mr. Robertson said he worked for 45 years as a welding inspector before retiring and starting a custom wood business.

  The Chronicle reported that eyewitnesses saw FBI agents approach the Provo residence and attempt entry with a battering ram. Gunshots rang out, and an elderly man was shot.

  In another post, Mr. Robertson was said to write to his “friends in the Federal Bureau of Idiots” that “I know you’re reading this and you have no idea how close your agents came to ‘violent eradication.'” And a third post said: “The FBI tried to interfere with my free speech right in my driveway. My 45ACP was ready to smoke ’em!!!”

  Mr. Robertson is also accused of threatening Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., a Democrat who charged former President Donald Trump with felony counts related to payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels.

  “Heading to New York to fulfill my dream or iradicating [sic] another of George Soros two-but political hach [sic] DAs,” Mr. Robertson wrote on social media, according to court documents. He said he would be waiting in a parking garage with a gun to “smoke” Mr. Bragg.

  President Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case.

  Mr. Robertson was charged with making interstate threats, retaliating against federal officers by threat, and threatening the president.

  Visit

  The FBI became aware of threats made against Mr. Bragg when tipped off by a social media company in March, an FBI agent said in a probable cause filing.

  On March 19, two agents surveilled a Provo residence at which they believed Mr. Robertson lived. They witnessed a white male around 70 to 75 years old exiting the home and entering a vehicle registered to Mr. Robertson. He was wearing a hat with the word “TRUMP” on the front.

  The agents followed Mr. Robertson to a church and, later, back to his home. They approached him and asked about the threat against Mr. Bragg. Mr. Robertson admitted to the post but was quoted as saying, “I said it was a dream!” He added, according to the agent: “We’re done here! Don’t return without a warrant!”

  The agent told the court he later reviewed posts from another account used by Mr. Robertson and that he found evidence of additional threats as well as possession by Mr. Robertson of firearms.

  Other posts appeared to refer to Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of Mr. Biden, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 20:20

• Burisma Told To Remove Joe Biden's Picture From Website After Lawyer Freaked Out
  Burisma Told To Remove Joe Biden’s Picture From Website After Lawyer Freaked Out

  In May of 2014, lawyers for then-VP Joe Biden freaked out and insisted that Ukrainian energy giant Burisma remove a photo of Biden and Burisma board member Devon Archer from its website, according to emails from Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.

  

  In an email, Biden’s lawyer, Demetra Lambros, told Hunter Biden business associate Eric Schwerin that the photo needed to go.

  “Hey, guys,” Schwerin begins a May 13, 2014 email to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. “There is apparently a photo of Devon and the VP on Burisma’s website (I can’t see it – the website isn’t working very well right now) but Demetra (VP Counsel) called and asked that we tell Burisma they need to take it down (legally they aren’t comfortable with the VP’s picture being up on the site as what seems like an endorsement),” the Daily Caller reports.

  Schwerin was referencing then-VP Biden’s counsel Demetra Lambros, whom President Biden appointed in June 2021 to serve as Chair of the President’s Commission on White House fellowships. She previously worked with Biden in 1996 as General Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Democratic Delaware Sen. Joe Biden’s chairmanship.

  “Thanks Eric,” Archer responded. “Hunter got the call and it’s down. Was put up without authorization.  Just on a Board call now and will call you this afternoon.” -Daily Caller

  “Looks like it may have been taken down…finally got on the site,” said Schwerin.

  The now-defunct Burisma website had previously featured profiles of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer on its board of directors page.

  The same day Schwerin sent the email about the Biden picture, he sent multiple emails to Hunter asking about Burisma’s apparent ownership by a Cyprus-registered company, and how he could explain that to Lambros – who had raised the issue with Schwerin following the publication of a Politico article noting Hunter’s board seat.

  “FYI, the only other issue Demetra raised/asked about was that there was a Cypriot connection (ownership?) of the firm and your Dad is going next week. She just raised it – nothing more than that,” said Schwerin.

  “The company is simply registered in Cyprus,” Hunter replied.

  “That’s what I said,” responded Schwerin, adding: “Press is saying that not merely registered in Cyprus but is owned by a Cypriot entity named, ‘Brociti Investments.’ Demetra is asking about this. Any ideas if this is correct?”

  He then sent another email to Hunter later in the day seeking answers regarding Burisma’s ownership.

  “[I]f you have any idea on the Cypriot ownership question (per my earlier email that is [sic] seems the company is owned by a Cypriot company not just registered there), that would be helpful for Demetra and I can get back to her while you are on the plane tomorrow,” he said.

  Schwerin, Biden and Archer were part of an email exchange May 13, 2014, where Rosemont Seneca executives discussed how to respond to an inquiry from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) related to Hunter Biden’s Burisma board seat, emails show.

  Schwerin discussed the WSJ article May 14 and said Lambros and then-VP Biden spokesperson Kendra Barkoff’s potential questions pertaining to Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky’s connection to pro-Russia Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was removed in 2014 as a result of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution. Zlochevsky was the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources in Yanukovych’s government prior to his ouster. -Daily Caller

  “When I talked to your Dad’s office they seemed to think the Yanukovich connection was incorrect and that the guy sold in 2011. I assume Kendra and/or Demetra will be interested in clarifying this while you are in the air tomorrow if you know. Let me know if you have any clarity on this you want me to pass on,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter.

  Meanwhile… no knowledge? Never spoken about? Impeachment when?

  Devon Archer’s testimony confirms Joe and Hunter Biden had dinner with Burisma executive Vadim Pozharskyi in Washington, D.C. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/cfe2Ny06Qn

  — James Lynch (@jameslynch32) August 3, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 20:00

• Will They Ever Come Clean About The Damage They Caused?
  Will They Ever Come Clean About The Damage They Caused?

  Authored by Mark Oshinskie via The Brownstone Institute,

  Over the past few years, two immigrants in their mid-fifties became my friends. These guys are among the gentlest spirits that I’ve known, though one tells me he was a boxer back in the day and he works like a beast with a pick and shovel. The other man speaks five languages and knows far more about Botany than I do.

  While both men are delightful to interact with, each binge drinks every so often. One drinks until he passes out at the community gardens I manage and sometimes ends up in the hospital, drying out, for multiple days. The other becomes annoyingly loud and manic and does stupid stuff that causes him to lose jobs. He also suffers broken bones in unexplained tumbles. Both have visibly damaged their bodies by drinking excessively and seem likely to die before their time. 

  When I talk to these two about a given alcohol-fueled episode, they initially deny that they had drank to excess. After I mention the contrary evidence provided by the above outcomes, one admitted that, well, he might have had a beer or two. The other would only cop to imbibing a small amount of an alcohol-based herbal tincture remedy.

  Please. 

  We’ve all seen this same denialism regarding other instances of misbehavior. Initially, the transgressor denies any wrongdoing. Then, when confronted with specific proof, he understates the magnitude and/or frequency of the misconduct. These incomplete, and thus ultimately dishonest, admissions assuage his guilt and allow him to, at least in his own mind, save face and continue his self-deception. Like the child who hides his eyes and thinks you can’t see him because he can’t see you, the self-deceiving misrepresenter thinks he’s also deceiving the listener.

  After 41 months, Coronamania exponents find themselves in the same place as unrecovering alcoholics.

  

  For nearly three-and-a-half years, they’ve wildly lied about Covid’s danger. In particular, they cited grossly inflated death tolls to build panic and to justify their failed interventions. Nearly all of those said to have died “from Covid” were old, sick and/or obese and would have died soon whether infected or not. Those who didn’t fit this profile likely died iatrogenically from destructive hospital protocols, such as ventilation and kidney-damaging Remdesivir. 

  Hence, there was never a good reason to limit the lives of the non-old. This virus never justified, e.g., closing schools or mandatorily jabbing hundreds of millions.

  Additionally, the Covid overreactors lied about how effective the masks, tests and vaxxes were. When the shots clearly failed – as had been promised – to stop infection and spread, they moved the goalposts to “Well, the shots kept people out of the hospital.” 

  Yet, neither I, nor many uninjected others, have ever “gotten the virus,” much less been hospitalized. When I say this to vaxxers, they tell me I’m just lucky. It’s certainly not because I masked or hid form people. Because I didn’t.

  At long last, many of the Covidmanic are modifying their narrative. David Leonhardt’s recent New York Times article typifies this long overdue acknowledgement and abandonment of some – but not all – of the linchpin Covid lies. For example, 41 months after the racket began, Leonhardt quotes an “expert” who says that Covid deaths correlate closely with old age. 

  Please. 

  As if this wasn’t obvious in March, 2020.

  In an attempt to self-deceivingly save face and to appear to take a moderate, “nuanced” view, Leonhardt tentatively suggests that “the Pandemic” is over. He says that we should take comfort because, after 41 months of excess mortality, there are scarcely more than average excess deaths. 

  To begin with, I question this assertion; the figures I’ve seen still show significantly elevated deaths in many highly-vaxxed nations, including the United States. In the same week that Leonhardt posted his semi-apologia, statistical analyst/Subsatcker Ethical Skeptic discussed the ongoing understatement of excess deaths. According to Skeptic, non-natural deaths in late July, 2023 are still running 14 percent above historical trends.

  Even if excess deaths were flattening, one would have to consider that many deaths of the old and sick seem to have been “pulled forward” during the Scamdemic. Given prior death “spikes” over the past three years, there are fewer old, sick, obese people around than before. Thus, fewer in that cohort should be dying recently. Accordingly, we should now expect lower than average death rates. Having normal death rates would show that some factor other than Covid is causing excess deaths. I suspect these deaths derive from the Covid shots and such lingering Covid overreaction effects as substance abuse, depression, weight gain, and impoverishment.

  Notably, after three years of using inflated death figures to create the panic that delivered political and economic advantages, such Covid exaggerators as politicians, public health administrators, and Leonhardt now admit that Covid deaths were significantly overcounted. But, like hospitalized alcoholics who say they just had a couple of beers, the Covid-crazed won’t admit how much these numbers were exaggerated. They only admit to a 30 percent overstatement. 

  The 30 percent figure seems far too low for at least three reasons. Firstly, 65 percent of those who died with Covid were over 80. By that age, the average person has passed away; the bodies of those who’ve survived are wearing out. Secondly, the CARES Act strongly incentivized hospitals to overcode for Covid and families to accept death certificates blaming Covid. Thirdly, and anecdotally, though I directly know many hundreds of people, I know zero who were said to have died of Covid. I indirectly know—i.e., people I know have told me about—eight people they knew who were said to have died of Covid. Four of the decedents were over 90, two more had Stage 4 cancer, one was over 70 and very overweight with congestive heart failure and one, in his forties, was morbidly obese. Thus, eight out of eight reported “Covid deaths” that I know of involved distinctly unwell people. 

  By logical extension/extrapolation, all or nearly all purported Covid deaths seem to have extrinsic causes. Yet, throughout the Scamdemic, politicians, bureaucrats, and the media consequentially pretended that all were imperiled.

  Further, while he concedes that Covid deaths were overstated by 30 percent, Leonhardt engages in statistical sleight of hand. He continues to cite a 1.1 million Covid death toll, without deducting the overcounted 30 percent. Staying above the million-death threshold has too much emotional/rhetorical value to give away. 

  Neither Leonhardt nor other Coronamania backers ever acknowledge that medical practices that killed many were modified. Instead, in an abiding homage to Pharma, Leonhardt dutifully praises Paxlovid, while never noting that other, low-cost, off-label pharmaceutical/nutraceutical protocols worked well for many, before Paxlovid was marketed. Governments and many doctors withheld from the public information regarding these alt protocols. If excess deaths have flattened, much of that reflects hospitals’ retreat from the ham-handed Covid protocols they previously used.

  Reciting a central tenet of the Coronamanic faith, Leonhardt asserts that the shots significantly curtailed “The Pandemic.” But purported Covid deaths didn’t decline in synch with vaxx uptake; as more people injected in early 2021, there wasn’t a corresponding, sustained, linear drop in purported Covid deaths. To the contrary, ostensible Covid deaths “spiked” in 2021. In the second half of 2021, and throughout 2022, the vaxxes “wore off” and failed, on a mass scale, to prevent illness. Hence, vaxx uptake fell off a cliff. It seems highly unlikely that an ostensible decline of deaths in mid-2023 would derive from injections that failed two-plus years ago and have been widely avoided since. 

  Those who injected have been more, not less, likely to have become sick. If the shots didn’t—as promised—stop the spread, why would one believe those who assert that the shots make illness less severe? 

  Relatedly, Leonhardt never considers that viruses naturally evolve to weaker forms. Viral adaptation underlies the persistent ads urging everyone to get the latest “bivalent booster” to thwart the latest variant. But only the most gullible and fearful are rolling up sleeves for these worthless shots.

  Intransigent vaxx backers continue to misleadingly characterize the vaxx data. For example, Leonhardt asserts that the non-injected are more likely, on a percentage basis, to die from Covid. By relying on percentages, rather than absolute death stats, Leonhardt unwittingly implies what is undeniably true: many of the vaxxed have died with Covid. The vaunted vaxxes’ protection from serious illness is far from ironclad. 

  Leonhardt’s vaxx advocacy also overlooks the statistical distortions used to make the shots look better. First, those who administered the shots strategically declined to vaxx those who were so frail that the shots might kill them. Second, it fails to take into account that those who injected weren’t counted as vaxxed for 42 days after their first shot. As the shots initially suppress immunity, one should expect the shots to increase illness and deaths in the weeks after the shot regimen begins. Injectors who died within this initial 42 days were falsely counted as “unvaxxed.” 

  Delivering a Schadenfreude-y dopamine hit to his Times tribe, Leonhardt reports that Covid now kills more whites and Republicans, because these demographic groups disproportionately eschewed the shots. Initially, the study seems flawed because it derived party affiliation data from voter registrations, even though many voters don’t declare an affiliation or may cross party lines when they vote.

  Secondly, in yesterday’s Substack, Alex Berenson identifies basic flaws in this politically-driven study. Despite media misportrayals, the study concluded that only Republicans over 75—who had less ability to decline shots and were more likely with or without the shots—were more likely to die than are Democrats.

  Leonhardt doesn’t mention that the study found that death rates for Democrats were higher than Republicans between ages 65-74. Nor does he mention that death rates were the same for those under 64 in either party. Thirdly, Leonhardt’s race-based assertion seems hard to reconcile with data that jab uptake among whites was higher than that among blacks and Latinos and the media’s repeated assertions that, owing to medical access disparities, Covid deaths were higher among minorities. 

  Most fundamentally, the study shows that Democrats base their worldviews and their “Science” on political affiliation and race. But did anyone need a study to learn that?

  Leonhardt also conspicuously fails to mention that hundreds of thousands have suffered apparent vaxx injuries or deaths from heart attacks, strokes or cancers. Vaxx critics say that the shots are causing a net loss, not gain, in life span.

  Leonhardt also tacitly admits something that few, if any, in his camp would admit for 41 months, namely that the natural immunity that follows infection confers immunity. His belated admission of a bedrock epidemiological principle—herd immunity—that was, from 2020-23, used to vilify those who stated it is another instance of Coronamanic jersey-switching. 

  Leonhardt also belatedly, but only obliquely, admits what many who cite excess deaths won’t admit: the lockdowns/closures themselves killed multitudes. Those who supported the lockdowns/closures engendered the isolation, despair, overdoses, gun violence and postponed medical treatments for non-Covid ailments.

  Even if the lockdown/mask/test/vaxx supporters were to properly admit they were wrong about everything, their mea culpa would be far too late. Too much damage has already been done.

  The Machiavellians who concocted the Covid response and the media who sold it don’t regret what they did. It served their political, social, and economic purposes. Thus, the truth can now be publicly admitted, though not fully. Denying some aspects of reality allows the Coronamanic to deceive many and to think of themselves as good, smart people for having supported lockdowns, school closures, masks, tests, and shots.

  Ultimately, there’s one big difference between alcoholics, on the one hand, and the government and media that effected the Scamdemic and those who went along: while alcoholics mostly victimize themselves, those who effected and complied with Scamdemic policies victimized hundreds of millions of others.

  Republished from the author’s Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 19:40

• Seattle Mayor's Office Demanded Fewer 'Officers Who Are White' For New Police Hires
  Seattle Mayor’s Office Demanded Fewer ‘Officers Who Are White’ For New Police Hires

  Seattle Mayor Bruce Harnell’s office demanded that the Seattle Police Department (SPD) hire fewer white men and those with “military bearing,” according to a memo obtained by the Jason Rantz Show.

  While the Mayor’s office initially refused to turn over the document through a public disclosure request, it was provided to Rantz by a confidential source.

  

  The memo, part of a larger effort to hire fewer white men, may be illegal according to the source.

  Ben Dalgetty, a Digital Strategy Lead from the Mayor’s office, took control of SPD marketing efforts. In a March 2023 memo to SPD human resources staff titled “SPD Marketing More and Less,” Dalgetty asked for “less” images and videos of “officers who are white, male,” and “officers with military bearing.” In their place, Dalgetty asked for more “officers of color,” “officers of different genders,” and “officers who are younger.” –KTTH

  “I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? You put this in writing?” one source told the Jason Rantz Show on the condition of anonymity. “It shows not only a lack of respect for officers, but a lack of respect for the military. They have no understanding of someone willing to put their lives on the line for their fellow man. They don’t have respect.”

  Contained in the memo were “guidelines … for relative terms compared to previous SPD marketing efforts,” designed to “shift the proportions of our photo/video collateral” away from featuring white male officers, and instead showing younger officers of color with different genders.

  After the controversial memo began attracting negative attention, Dalgetty, the digital strategist, edited the memo – effectively destroying the record that the city is obligated to maintain for public disclosure.

  In one edit, Dalgetty removed language asking for fewer images and video of white men. In another edit, he removed references to officers with military bearing. Finally, Dalgetty removed: “This doesn’t mean no officers who are white or male or only young officers of color, but guidelines to shift the proportions of our photo/video collateral to more of some things and less of others.” -KTTH

  Edited memo:

  

  More via KTTH (emphasis ours):

  Legality of memo

  According to the police source, several within the SPD were livid with the memo. Their jobs were already hard enough and they were uncomfortable with race-based hiring. As maddening, one said, the “less” portion was completely unnecessary. But did it describe illegal discrimination?

  Joshua Brittingham, a labor & employment attorney with Carney Badley Spellman, said the memo could haunt the city of Seattle should anyone make a legal claim of discrimination.

  “The SPD Marketing More and Less memo focuses on images for marketing purposes. It does not appear on its face to contain rules for hiring or promotion. The narrow focus of the memo could potentially inoculate the SPD from legal liability, at least based solely on the creation and distribution of the memo,” Brittingham tells The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “That said, employment laws prohibit refusing to hire, terminating, or discriminating against any person in wages or in other terms or conditions of employment based on race and veteran/military status. In the event of such discrimination — for example, an officer demoted or fired because he was white or a veteran — the memo might be used as evidence to demonstrate illegal discriminatory intent.”

  Police union weighs in

  Officer Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), calls the memo unnecessarily divisive. He notes that “95% of what is listed in this recruiting document SPOG fully supports.”

  “What I condemn and will forever continue to push back on is the verbiage within the recruitment document that calls for less of white male officers. Less of people in leadership positions, and less of humans with military backgrounds. This is flat-out discrimination. Period. It is an affront to decency, reasonableness and further divides our communities,” Solan wrote in a statement to The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “When politics is intentionally inserted into the public safety policing conversation, we all lose. It is embarrassing, shameful, and detrimental to a healthy functioning society.”

  The Seattle Police Department, via a spokesperson, did not deny the memo caused a stir for staff. Instead, the spokesperson said in a statement that the department is committed to hiring staff that represents “the full diversity of our city.”

  Memo was seemingly destroyed

  It took the Mayor’s office months to supply the memo via a public disclosure request. In the initial disclosures, the original memo was not provided. Instead, the updated memo was supplied.

  “After speaking with Ben [Dalgetty], my understanding is that the record you’ve referred to was shared as a ‘live’ OneDrive link and was not attached to an e-mail,” the public disclosure officer emailed on July 10, over three months after the initial request. OneDrive is a cloud-based service for online collaboration, editing, and storage. “As with OneDrive documents shared out for collaboration, edits were made to the ‘live’ OneDrive link that was still in draft form on March 22, 2023 and March 23, 2023. The only version that we have of that record is the version that has already been provided to you.”

  It’s unclear if Dalgetty knew that OneDrive files track the history of edits made to a document. After The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH informed the public disclosure officer of the OneDrive history feature, the memo was belatedly turned over.

  Staying silent

  Though there’s no indication Dalgetty willfully withheld the document, a point the public information officer made in a statement to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, it doesn’t matter.

  The memo edits weren’t properly saved to be turned over for a request that clarified, “The [Delgatty] emails should include all documents attached or linked to.” This incident begs the question: how often is the Mayor’s office withholding information (or not traditionally saving them) by using “live editing” on documents that they are legally obligated from maintaining for public records? If asking for “all documents” attached to emails isn’t interpreted as desiring all documents prior to being edited, what requests haven’t been properly fulfilled?

  Dalgetty did not respond to a request for comment.

  The Mayor’s office, via spokesperson Jamie Housen, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The mayor’s strategy, according to a source, is to ignore requests for comments as they wait to see if other outlets pick up a controversy. But given the allegations, it’s the reaction of police officers that they should pay attention to.

  Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). He is the author of the book What’s Killing America: Inside the Radical Left’s Tragic Destruction of Our Cities. Subscribe to the podcast. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Check back frequently for more news and analysis.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 19:20

• Dems' Three Conflicting Goals Spark Surge In Political Risk Insurance Needs
  Dems’ Three Conflicting Goals Spark Surge In Political Risk Insurance Needs

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  In a recent survey of large corporations, 100% of the companies made some enhancement to their political risk management. 54% increased political risk insurance.

  

  Political Risk is Everyone’s Risk

  Please consider The Year Political Risk Became Everyone’s Risk.

  This is how an insurance broker typically describes political risk: “low frequency, high severity.” Political risk is, in short, a catastrophe risk, or “cat risk,” much like many types of natural disaster.

  We are going to have to rethink that description: this year, more than 9 in 10 of the companies we surveyed reported a political risk loss (up from 35% only a few years ago). This year, political risk became everyone’s risk.

  The annual Political Risk Survey, carried out by Oxford Analytica on behalf of WTW, combines in-depth interviews with a broader survey of a larger sample of companies. There were 50 respondents to the survey; The survey sample is representative of globalized businesses, across geographic regions, industries, and company size.

  Key Points

  • 86% of Western European respondents reported a net negative financial impact of the conflict, while only 33% of North American firms did so.

  • The shock of war on the European continent had triggered a “paradigm shift” said one member of our business panel; it is a “watershed moment,” said another.

  • 100% of the companies we surveyed had made at least some enhancement to their political risk management capabilities since February 2022.

  • The proportion who reported purchasing political risk insurance nearly trebled from 25% in 2019 to 68% this year.

  • The proportion who predicted deglobalization would “greatly strengthen” was 16% last year; this year it was nearly 50%.

  • The proportion who predicted decoupling from China would “greatly strengthen” was 12% in 2022, but 42% in 2023.

  • Each year, the study study by asks the business panel about the top risks for the year ahead. This year, complications from the Ukraine conflict led the list, followed by decoupling with China. A surprise third place was taken by the European Union, which faces an energy crisis, but is also reshaping the rules and standards of global businesses with its willingness to regulate in areas such as technology, data, supply chains and climate.

  When you confiscate reserves and place massive tariffs and sanctions on Russia and China, political risk blowback is the result.

  Political risk from Ukraine was felt more heavily in Europe, but the US was not immune. 33% of North American firms reported a loss from Ukraine. Interestingly 42 percent of US companies reported a gain.

  Oil companies, the weapons industry, and agricultural exporters were likely the big winners from the war in Ukraine. But were there any winners with big dependence on China?

  You Might Not Be Able to Get Insurance

  Although the need for insurance is soaring, Your Business in China May Be Uninsurable

  Underwriters stopped writing new policies in Russia months ago, and in China they appear spooked by events ranging from raids on Western consulting firms to threats against Taiwan. Two years ago, after Chinese state media declared videogames “spiritual opium,” shares in the Chinese entertainment giant Tencent swiftly plunged by more than 10%. Not even food and apparel companies, which have been considered relatively safe from political risks, can now be certain they’ll get such coverage.

  Of the 60 or so insurers that offer political-risk insurance, only four or five are still offering it for China, the insurance executive noted. Policies still being offered likely wouldn’t exceed $50 million coverage, down from around $2 billion a few years ago. Most large companies with operations in China have assets far above $50 million.

  Political Risk Is Just Beginning

  The Biden administration has escalated sanctions and tariffs on China.

  In response, China placed export restrictions on rare earth minerals used in computer chips and weapons.

  China’s Limits Germanium and Gallium Exports

  On July 5, Reuters reported China’s rare earths dominance in focus after it limits germanium and gallium exports

  China said on Monday it will impose export restrictions on gallium and germanium products used in computer chips and other components to protect national security interests.

  The decision, widely seen as retaliation for U.S. curbs on sales of technologies to China, raised concerns that China might eventually limit exports of other materials, notably rare earths, whose production China dominates.

  Mining: China accounted for 70% of world mine production of rare earths in 2022, followed by the United States, Australia, Myanmar and Thailand, United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows.

  Processing: China is home to at least 85% of the world’s capacity to process rare earth ores into material manufacturers can use, according to research firm Adamas Intelligence in 2019.

  The chemical properties of rare earths make them difficult to separate from surrounding materials, and processing generates toxic waste.

  Lax environmental standards enabled China to build its dominance in rare earths in recent decades as Western producers left the industry.

  How China Cornered Rare Earths

  Good Grief Luke

  How China cornered rare earths

  1: China was blessed with minerals, not oil.
  2: China doesn’t give a damn about wrecking its environment to process them

  You seriously need to study many things and get out of your mindset that everything will crash the dollar.

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) July 30, 2023

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

  How Long Does it Take to Start a Mine?

  Any attempt to eliminate fossil fuels by 2035, as Biden nationally, and the state of California are independently trying, will massively increase costs then fail spectacularly.

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) April 17, 2023

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

  The US and G-7 Allies Are Torn Over Dependence on China

  Please consider my April post The US and G-7 Allies Are Torn Over Dependence on China

  Three Conflicting Goals 

  

  1. Reduce dependence on China

  2. Avoid protectionism 

  3. Appease the Greens 

  Impossible Requirements 

  1 + 2 is difficult if not impossible. 2 + 3 is difficult if not impossible. 1 + 3 is difficult if not impossible.

  1 + 2 + 3 is 100% guaranteed impossible. 

   Damn the Inflation, Full Speed Ahead

  Biden’s and California’s energy policy can easily be summed up in meme phrases.

  • Damn the Inflation, Full Speed Ahead

  • What, Me Worry?

  • The world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.

  On March 22, 2022, I commented Biden Doing Everything Possible to Drive Up the Price of Oil, Some of It’s Illegal

  On November 30, 2022, I commented The EU is Very Worried About Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

  On December 3, 2022, I commented Damn That Wind, It’s Not Listening to Biden or AOC

  On February 7, 2023, I commented Biden Gives a Well-Delivered SOTU Speech Begging for More Inflation and Tax Hikes

  On January 16, 2023, I commented “America First”, Biden and Trump Both Guilty of Sponsoring Inflation

  Biden’s Energy Policy Mandates Cause Severe Shortage of Electrical Steel and Transformers

  In case you missed it, please see Biden’s Energy Policy Mandates Cause Severe Shortage of Electrical Steel and Transformers

  Lesson of the Day

  Finally, please consider my July 20, 2023 post, Lesson of the Day: If You Weaponize the Dollar and Confiscate Assets, Expect Retaliation

  Meanwhile, someone please tell me how we are going to reduce dependence on China, avoid protectionism, and appease the Greens with their untenable demands to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

  You can’t because it’s impossible. So, yeah, the need for political risk insurance is soaring everywhere.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 19:00

• Thank Unions: Hottest Job Is $170k UPS Driver
  Thank Unions: Hottest Job Is $170k UPS Driver

  Earlier this week, United Parcel Service (UPS) slashed its financial outlook after reaching an agreement with the Teamsters Union in late July. This deal ensures delivery drivers receive an annual pay of $170,000. Even part-time employees are set to earn $25.75 an hour. As a result, UPS job searches are erupting nationwide. 

  Bloomberg cited data from online jobs website Indeed, which recorded a 50% jump in searches for “UPS” or “United Parcel Service” in the job title last month when the union secured $30 billion in new money for its members over the next five years. 

  Google search results show “UPS driver jobs near me” soared to a record high. 

  

  We should note the tentative agreement has yet to be accepted by the Teamsters Union, and a vote will be announced on Aug. 22. 

  Unions have been pushing companies to improve on-the-job conditions amid the worst inflation in a generation and two years of negative real wage growth that decimated households. Companies that have conceded to union demands, like UPS, are emerging as the most sought-after jobs due to pay hikes.

  

  While it’s unlikely the 340,000 union members will pass up this sweetheart deal, UPS slashed its full-year outlook this week on sliding package delivery volumes and costs associated with the union. Bloomberg explained the souring conditions for UPS means: “The company is most likely not going to hire en masse right now.” 

  Meanwhile, there are other rumblings in the transportation space. Pilots at FedEx rejected a union-brokered deal that would have raised their wages by about 30% through 2028. Union members were displeased with FedEx, citing higher wages at airlines.  

  “Labor groups seem to find it more appealing to reject the first offer to get a better second offer,” Helane Becker, an analyst at investment banking company TD Cowen, said. She added, “Sometimes it doesn’t get better.”

  Some labor fights with unions and companies have sparked turmoil. Trucking company Yellow Corp. filed for bankruptcy this week, placing the blame on the union:

  “We faced nine months of union intransigence, bullying and deliberately destructive tactics.” 

  And the wave of union bosses making outsized demands at other companies could only be in the beginning innings. This will only lead to higher prices and could drive some companies out of business, such as what happened to Yellow.

  Rising labor disputes and wage inflation will likely mean elevated overall inflation, signaling the Fed’s job isn’t done. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 18:40

• In A World Stripped Of Authenticity, "Let's Dispense With Human Presidential Candidates"
  In A World Stripped Of Authenticity, “Let’s Dispense With Human Presidential Candidates”

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  I’m Not Really Enjoying the Show

  Let’s dispense with human presidential candidates and conventions, and replace both the candidates and their supporters with idealized AI fabrications.

  The Show Must Go On, but I’m not really enjoying the show. One reason why is I Keep Changing Channels But It’s Still the Same Program, i.e. the programming and marketing are now homogenized. Another is Even the Aliens Are Boring, i.e. everything is so sensationalized and hyped that we are now desensitized to it all.

  A third reason is our culture has perfected the craft of self-parody, rendering parody impossible. To parody foolish excess, we exaggerate a two-patty burger into a four-patty burger: oops, they’ve already hyped four-patty burgers.

  To parody the fossilization of American politics, we create a parody in which 77-year olds are the vibrant young-uns in the halls of power. Dang, the halls of power are already choked with more elderly than the USSR’s creaky leadership just before it collapsed in a heap.

  To parody the homogenization and infantilization of Hollywood, we create a parody in which the dominant “tentpoles” generating steady profits are endlessly proliferating comic book superheroes. Darn, that’s already the case.

  To parody the media’s desperate competition for “engagement,” we create a parody in which everything becomes a global existential crisis. Heh, there’s no way to parody anything that’s already been driven to excess via the mastery of self-parody.

  Irony has also been shown the door. The core dynamic of the modern world isn’t–as is constantly hyped–innovation; it’s marketing, persuading someone to transfer value–money, loyalty, votes, engagement– for something (tangible or intangible) without regard to the eventual costs and consequences of the exchange.

  The irony is authenticity is faked to make the sale. But the fraud of mimicking authenticity to make the sale is now so embedded, so ubiquitous, that the irony is lost: we are living in a Philip K. Dick story come to life in which real young women fabricating fake lives of glamor and luxury to boost their Only Fans income are now competing with digitized imaginary young women that are idealized versions (like Barbie) of the sexually compelling female.

  In a culture stripped of irony and parody, a movie based on an idealized female doll introduced 64 years ago reaps $1 billion in sales and sparks thousands of earnest cultural commentaries. Barbie as a marketing phenomenon has of course evolved: idealized male Ken was introduced a few years later, along with an ever-expanding line of ethnic Barbies. Barbie is clearly an “authentic” cultural icon.

  If the aliens are watching us, one hopes they have a refined sense of absurdist humor.

  As for AI: what’s marketed as “artificial intelligence” is certainly artificial, but it isn’t remotely intelligent. By mimicking humanity’s natural language abilities, ChatAI programs make a marketing claim of authenticity that is entirely fraudulent. There is no “there there” in terms of understanding, predictive acumen or any other form of what once passed for intelligence.

  The entire point of this bogus AI is to automate the processes of marketing, homogenization and hype, to streamline and reduce the costs of faking authenticity to make the sale. As in a Philip K. Dick story, where the protagonist ends up asking if he is in fact a robot and not a human as he assumed–our own authenticity must be questioned, as what we assume is “the real me” turns out to be nothing but a jumble of marketing cliches that reads like an obituary: he was a Steelers fan, loved the music of Nashville, was an avid BBQer, etc.

  With parody and irony both enfeebled, the show is now tediously humorless. What can we say about a show in which the once-compelling topic of alien visitations to Earth are reduced to another boring congressional hearing on CSPAN, a parody in which the possibility of an alien presence is reduced to ashes while whatever is being marketed at the moment is hyped as the “crisis” you must pay attention to?

  It’s impossible to parody what is already an absurdist parody. Consider the ceaseless adverts for low-quality processed / fast-food in which ecstasy can be yours (“this greasy sugar-bomb tastes good!”) for a low, low price and the rest of the adverts, which are for pharmaceutical medications for all the diseases created by consuming low-quality processed / fast-food, ads that include an eye-watering list of side-effects that is impossible to parody, as it already includes “and in rare cases, death.”

  Hmm. So we can expire from metabolic and other lifestyle disorders in the pursuit of infantile “it tastes so good!” or we can expire from the supposed cure, after suffering from a list of side-effects that would qualify as banned protocols of torture. Absurdist irony, you are now live, action!

  So desperate are we for authentic authenticity that “the real thing” becomes an irresistible marketing platform. You may have come across a young woman’s artful videos of her preparing real food in a beautiful rural setting in China. Her name is Li Ziqi. Her videos have logged almost 3 billion views. They are remarkable for their composition and for her culinary, gardening and handicraft skills, which are clearly real. She brought the mythology of an authentic life close to the Earth into being, and the global desperation for some shred of unpackaged, unprogrammed, unmarketed authenticity generated her vast audience.

  Alas, her authentic skills were packaged so entrancingly with a commercial purpose. Thanks to a marketing deal, her global audience exploded, as did the sales of her line of products in China. She suddenly stopped issuing new videos two years ago, and it seems legal / commercial conflicts were at the heart of her disappearance: Li Ziqi’s Online Pastoral Poetics: Millions of people subscribed to her vision of an idyllic rural existence. Who was she, and why did she disappear? (New Yorker)

  It’s doubtful that many of her millions of viewers actually wanted to spend hours tending gardens and making real food from real produce; they found pleasure in the mythology, not the reality. This is the problem with authenticity: it’s demanding and requires discipline and an inner life immune to marketing.

  To grasp why the show is no longer enjoyable, we turn once again to Philip K. Dick, who offered an insightful description of authenticity in How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later:

  “The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what he should not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing it. He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread consequences to him and to those whom he loves. This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to perform great heroic deeds. but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what they are not.”

  In conclusion, I offer an idea: let’s dispense with human presidential candidates and conventions, and replace both the candidates and their supporters with idealized AI fabrications. Thanks to AI, the fake candidates can engage in realistic fake debates, and their fake supporters can clap, cheer and jeer on cue.

  

  In a world stripped of authenticity, irony and parody, such a substitution makes marketing sense. Let’s get the show rolling, and make the sale. It’s just a guess, of course, but I think the aliens would approve.

  *  *  *

  My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. Read the first chapter for free (PDF)

  Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  Subscribe to my Substack for free

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 18:20

• $13 Billion For Ukrainians, $12 Billion For Devastated Hawaii
  $13 Billion For Ukrainians, $12 Billion For Devastated Hawaii

  Just on the heels of Hawaii declaring a state of emergency over its deadly hurricane-driven wildfires which have decimated much of the once paradise island of Maui, President Biden is expected to request $13 billion in emergency funding for… military support to Ukraine.

  And oh… emergency funds for Hawaii will be less, as Biden simultaneously approved $12 billion for federal disaster relief.

  

  In total the new package being requested for Congressional approval comes in at a whopping $40 billion. 

  On top of the $13 billion in defense aid for Ukraine, another $8 billion is being sought for humanitarian support for the Ukrainians through the end of the year.

  As for Hawaii, which saw wildfires wipe entire towns and neighborhoods off the map, leaving 36 Americans dead, it clearly takes a backseat to the Ukrainians’ plight in the thinking of the administration: 

  The package includes $12 billion to replenish the U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, it’s a $40 billion package.

  The giant total price tag is setting up a fight with GOP leadership. 

  White House budget director Shalanda Young wrote House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday, urging Republicans to prioritize “commitment to the Ukrainian peoples’ defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world” as well as other needs. But the optics are obvious, and bad…

  Do you think Hawaii will get as much money as Ukraine? pic.twitter.com/yKDKCnbOpw

  — Ben Swann (@BenSwann_) August 10, 2023

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

  The verdict is in, as Biden continues to put Ukraine first…

  Rebuild Hawaii, not Ukraine. https://t.co/wgymiIaujj

  — Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) August 9, 2023

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

  Republicans are likely to seize on these terrible optics, also given public support is generally waning amid the failing Ukraine counteroffensive.

  USA Today has observed that Biden’s request “will run into stern opposition in the GOP-run House with Republicans who are adamantly against approving government spending that isn’t paired with budget cuts and conservatives who want a more detailed accounting of how Ukraine is spending the money the U.S. has already sent.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 18:00

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• "Significantly Worse Outcomes" – Scottish COVID Inquiry Savages Lockdowns And Vaccines
  “Significantly Worse Outcomes” – Scottish COVID Inquiry Savages Lockdowns And Vaccines

  Authored by Will Jones via DailySceptic.org,

  Throughout the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government made a show of imposing stricter and longer restrictions than Boris Johnson’s ‘reckless’ Tory Government south of the border. Yet despite these additional measures, in the two years from the start of the pandemic to spring 2022, Scotland averaged 23.9 excess deaths per million weekly, writes Dr. David Livermore in Spiked. “That was by far the highest in the U.K., with Wales suffering 22.9 excess deaths per million, Northern Ireland 18.8 and England 18.6.”

  

  This obvious failure of Scotland’s response was, remarkably, summarised in an opening report commissioned by Scotland’s official Covid inquiry and written by Dr. Ashley Croft, a public health infection epidemiologist who spent most of his career working for the military and now practises from Harley Street as a medico-legal expert witness.

  He told the inquiry that:

  In 2020, there was scientific evidence to support the use of some of the physical measures (e.g., frequent handwashing, the use of PPE in hospital settings) adopted against COVID-19. For other measures (e.g., face-mask mandates outside of healthcare settings, lockdowns, social distancing, test, trace and isolate measures), there was either insufficient evidence in 2020 to support their use – or alternatively, no evidence; the evidence base has not changed materially in the intervening three years. It has been argued that the restrictive measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in individual, societal and economic harm that was avoidable and that should not have occurred.

  Dr. Livermore says he agrees entirely.

  As Sweden’s already-concluded Covid inquiry found, “Several countries which did impose lockdowns… had ‘significantly worse outcomes’ than Sweden”.

  It also found that the restriction of individual freedom was “hardly defensible other than in the face of very extreme threats”.

  Dr. Croft is similarly downbeat about the vaccines, saying “it remains unclear as to whether or not COVID-19 vaccination has resulted in fewer deaths from COVID-19”. Dr. Livermore disputes this conclusion, saying “it seems fairly clear that vaccines did break the link between cases and deaths in the spring and summer of 2021”. However, recent analysis by experts like Dr. Eyal Shahar suggests that much of the apparent effectiveness of the vaccines may be an illusion created by the healthy vaccinee effect, whereby those who took the vaccines tend, other things being equal, to have fewer underlying risk factors.

  In any case, Dr. Livermore agrees with Dr. Croft that “the protection they offered was brief and incomplete”.

  Long before vaccine passports were imposed on Scots in autumn 2021, there was abundant evidence that vaccines did not stop infection and transmission. This should have blown the bottom out of the case for vaccine passports. That it failed to stop them is a disgrace.

  Dr. Croft adds that the “2,362 spontaneous [Yellow Card] reports suggesting a fatal outcome following COVID-19 vaccination” are “of concern”, noting such events are likely under-reported.

  But the most important point about Dr. Croft’s report, says Dr. Livermore, is that it so flagrantly defies the Official Narrative of harsh but necessary lockdowns saving the population from the ravages of a deadly plague.

  Irrespective of whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, Croft is to be congratulated for addressing the core question: did the Government’s restrictions, deployed at great cost and societal disruption, work?

  The fact that he has even asked this question stands in contrast to the groupthink on display at the U.K. inquiry, presided over by Lady Hallett. Its first theme, examining ‘Preparedness and Resilience’, concluded last month. During the hearings, witnesses were indulged in long meanders through Brexit and Tory/Lib Dem austerity. This was despite the obvious fact that adjacent EU countries not previously governed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg experienced similar travails with the virus.

  Witnesses also said that Britain had prepared for the wrong type of pandemic, with all of our plans anticipating an influenza pandemic rather than a coronavirus pandemic. But if coronavirus and influenza pandemics were so obviously different, scientists wouldn’t still be arguing about whether the 1889-94 ‘Russian Flu’ – which was comparable to Covid in terms of mortality – was a form of influenza or a coronavirus.

  Unsurprisingly, Croft’s report hasn’t gone down well with the lockdown-supporting press in Scotland. He has been attacked as being ‘not an expert’ in viral pandemics. I don’t know Croft and hold no personal brief for him, but his CV indicates a much longer experience of microbiology-related public health than, say, public-health academic Devi Sridhar, who exerted much influence on Scotland’s Covid response. Military medicine – where he spent his career – takes a great interest in epidemics. They have stopped many armies, from Charles VIII at Naples (syphilis) to Admiral Vernon at Cartagena (yellow fever).

  Dr. Livermore concludes that “it is telling that Scottish commentators no longer even try to say that Scotland’s lockdowns were a success… there is too much evidence to the contrary”.

  “I sincerely hope that Scotland’s inquiry reflects upon this. And that Lady Hallett reads Croft’s report. It might just refocus the U.K. inquiry on the questions that really matter.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/10/2023 – 02:00

• Indoctrination, Intimidation & Intolerance: What Passes For Education Today
  Indoctrination, Intimidation & Intolerance: What Passes For Education Today

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “Every day in communities across the United States, children and adolescents spend the majority of their waking hours in schools that have increasingly come to resemble places of detention more than places of learning.”

  – Investigative journalist Annette Fuentes

  This is what it means to go back-to-school in America today.

  Instead of being taught the three R’s of education (reading, writing and arithmetic), young people are being drilled in the three I’s of life in the American police state: indoctrination, intimidation and intolerance.

  

  Indeed, while young people today are learning first-hand what it means to be at the epicenter of politically charged culture wars, test scores indicate that students are not learning how to succeed in social studies, math and reading.

  Instead of raising up a generation of civic-minded citizens with critical thinking skills, government officials are churning out compliant drones who know little to nothing about their history or their freedoms.

  Under the direction of government officials focused on making the schools more authoritarian (sold to parents as a bid to make the schools safer), young people in America are now first in line to be searched, surveilled, spied on, threatened, tied up, locked down, treated like criminals for non-criminal behavior, tasered and in some cases shot.

  From the moment a child enters one of the nation’s 98,000 public schools to the moment he or she graduates, they will be exposed to a steady diet of:

  • draconian zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior,

  • overreaching anti-bullying statutes that criminalize speech,

  • school resource officers (police) tasked with disciplining and/or arresting so-called “disorderly” students,

  • standardized testing that emphasizes rote answers over critical thinking,

  • politically correct mindsets that teach young people to censor themselves and those around them,

  • and extensive biometric and surveillance systems that, coupled with the rest, acclimate young people to a world in which they have no freedom of thought, speech or movement.

  This is how you groom young people to march in lockstep with a police state.

  As Deborah Cadbury writes for The Washington Post, “Authoritarian rulers have long tried to assert control over the classroom as part of their totalitarian governments.”

  In Nazi Germany, the schools became indoctrination centers, breeding grounds for intolerance and compliance.

  In the American police state, the schools have become increasingly hostile to those who dare to question or challenge the status quo.

  America’s young people have become casualties of a post-9/11 mindset that has transformed the country into a locked-down, militarized, crisis-fueled mockery of a representative government.

  Roped into the government’s profit-driven campaign to keep the nation “safe” from drugs, disease, and weapons, America’s schools have transformed themselves into quasi-prisons, complete with surveillance cameras, metal detectors, police patrols, zero tolerance policies, lock downs, drug sniffing dogs, strip searches and active shooter drills.

  Students are not only punished for minor transgressions such as playing cops and robbers on the playground, bringing LEGOs to school, or having a food fight, but the punishments have become far more severe, shifting from detention and visits to the principal’s office into misdemeanor tickets, juvenile court, handcuffs, tasers and even prison terms.

  Students have been suspended under school zero tolerance policies for bringing to school “look alike substances” such as oregano, breath mints, birth control pills and powdered sugar.

  Look-alike weapons (toy guns—even Lego-sized ones, hand-drawn pictures of guns, pencils twirled in a “threatening” manner, imaginary bows and arrows, fingers positioned like guns) can also land a student in hot water, in some cases getting them expelled from school or charged with a crime.

  Not even good deeds go unpunished.

  One 13-year-old was given detention for exposing the school to “liability” by sharing his lunch with a hungry friend. A third grader was suspended for shaving her head in sympathy for a friend who had lost her hair to chemotherapy. And then there was the high school senior who was suspended for saying “bless you” after a fellow classmate sneezed.

  Having police in the schools only adds to the danger.

  Thanks to a combination of media hype, political pandering and financial incentives, the use of armed police officers (a.k.a. school resource officers) to patrol school hallways has risen dramatically in the years since the Columbine school shooting.

  Indeed, the growing presence of police in the nation’s schools is resulting in greater police “involvement in routine discipline matters that principals and parents used to address without involvement from law enforcement officers.”

  Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, these school resource officers have become de facto wardens in elementary, middle and high schools, doling out their own brand of justice to the so-called “criminals” in their midst with the help of tasers, pepper spray, batons and brute force.

  In the absence of school-appropriate guidelines, police are more and more “stepping in to deal with minor rulebreaking: sagging pants, disrespectful comments, brief physical skirmishes. What previously might have resulted in a detention or a visit to the principal’s office was replaced with excruciating pain and temporary blindness, often followed by a trip to the courthouse.”

  Not even the younger, elementary school-aged kids are being spared these “hardening” tactics.

  On any given day when school is in session, kids who “act up” in class are pinned facedown on the floor, locked in dark closets, tied up with straps, bungee cords and duct tape, handcuffed, leg shackled, tasered or otherwise restrained, immobilized or placed in solitary confinement in order to bring them under “control.”

  In almost every case, these undeniably harsh methods are used to punish kids—some as young as 4 and 5 years old—for simply failing to follow directions or throwing tantrums.

  Very rarely do the kids pose any credible danger to themselves or others.

  Unbelievably, these tactics are all legal, at least when employed by school officials or school resource officers in the nation’s public schools.

  This is what happens when you introduce police and police tactics into the schools.

  Paradoxically, by the time you add in the lockdowns and active shooter drills, instead of making the schools safer, school officials have succeeded in creating an environment in which children are so traumatized that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, anxiety, mistrust of adults in authority, as well as feelings of anger, depression, humiliation, despair and delusion.

  For example, a middle school in Washington State went on lockdown after a student brought a toy gun to class. A Boston high school went into lockdown for four hours after a bullet was discovered in a classroom. A North Carolina elementary school locked down and called in police after a fifth grader reported seeing an unfamiliar man in the school (it turned out to be a parent).

  Police officers at a Florida middle school carried out an active shooter drill in an effort to educate students about how to respond in the event of an actual shooting crisis. Two armed officers, guns loaded and drawn, burst into classrooms, terrorizing the students and placing the school into lockdown mode.

  These police state tactics have not made the schools any safer.

  The fallout has been what you’d expect, with the nation’s young people treated like hardened criminals: handcuffed, arrested, tasered, tackled and taught the painful lesson that the Constitution (especially the Fourth Amendment) doesn’t mean much in the American police state.

  So what’s the answer, not only for the here-and-now—the children growing up in these quasi-prisons—but for the future of this country?

  How do you convince a child who has been routinely handcuffed, shackled, tied down, locked up, and immobilized by government officials—all before he reaches the age of adulthood—that he has any rights at all, let alone the right to challenge wrongdoing, resist oppression and defend himself against injustice?

  Most of all, how do you persuade a fellow American that the government works for him when, for most of his young life, he has been incarcerated in an institution that teaches young people to be obedient and compliant citizens who don’t talk back, don’t question and don’t challenge authority?

  As we’ve seen with other issues, any significant reforms will have to start locally and trickle upwards.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if we want to raise up a generation of freedom fighters who will actually operate with justice, fairness, accountability and equality towards each other and their government, we must start by running the schools like freedom forums.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 23:40

• Iran Touts Hypersonic Missile Testing In Response To US Sending Troops To Region
  Iran Touts Hypersonic Missile Testing In Response To US Sending Troops To Region

  In fresh statements aired by state media and picked up by Al Jazeera and other international sources, Iran says it has not only achieved hypersonic cruise missile technology, but is actually testing hypersonics, in what would mark a historic breakthrough for the Islamic Republic if true.

  The missiles are reportedly currently undergoing tests and flight trials, which “will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the defense power of our country,” state media Tasnim announced Wednesday.

  

  Tasnim further touted that the new hypersonic weapons could “significantly accelerate the Islamic Republic of Iran’s response time in case of any combat, and take away attacking forces’ opportunity for reaction.”

  It was in early June that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended a ceremony unveiling the new Iranian-made “Fattah” (literally, “Conqueror”) hypersonic missile in Tehran. This was met with some degree of skepticism internationally, given the immense difficulty behind mastering the technology.

  Raisi touted at the time: “Today we feel that the deterrent power has been formed.” He added, “This power is an anchor of lasting security and peace for the regional countries.”

  The Iranians say their new hypersonic missile can reach nearly 900 miles and it cannot by countered by conventional anti-air defense systems. Iranian officials say it can also reach speeds of up to Mach 15. But expressing skepticism, here’s what Popular Mechanics has written [emphasis ZH]:

  Unfortunately, the “hypersonic” term is often used deceptively to imply more advanced technology than what is actually present. By definition, hypersonic describes a missile/aircraft traveling at or over five times the speed of sound, or a mile per second. That’s certainly fast, but ballistic missiles have been rocket-boosting themselves up to hypersonic speeds since the 1950s and 60s.

  However, the modern usage of “hypersonic weapons” refers to weapons that can sustain and maneuver at hypersonic speeds. One method of achieving this is to have a ballistic missile launch what’s called a hypersonic glide vehicle into the exosphere—a vehicle that’s then able to skip-glide just over the atmosphere, repeatedly bouncing off the dense air molecules below. The other method is to develop a cruise missile with an air-breathing ramjet motor that can sustain hypersonic speeds while within the atmosphere.

  And what makes a hypersonic a hypersonic? According to more: 

  The big deal with these weapons is not their maximum speed. Rather, the appeal comes from their sustainable speed, flatter—and thus stealthier—trajectory, and ability to maneuver and avoid entering the optimal engagement radius of air defenses. Those all significantly complicate hitting them with interceptor missiles.

  Given the Iranians already unveiled in early summer that they have achieved hypersonic missile technology, this new announcement seems a reaction to specific geopolitical events in the gulf region, namely the US decision to send 3,000 additional troops aboard two warships. 

  The US is considering deploying troops to commercial vessels in Gulf amid Iran tensions, but 5 unnamed US officials stressed to the that no final decision has been made, according to the Associated Presshttps://t.co/1xmmKWYNOf

  — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 5, 2023

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

  The timing of the hypersonics announcement further comes just as the Pentagon is seeking to put US Marines on international tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, in order to safeguard them from Iranian hijacking. Iranian Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi earlier issued the following response, asking, “What do the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean have to do with America?” He further posed rhetorically, “What is your business being here?”

  Iran has repeatedly rejected the US military involvement in regional waters, saying it only serves Washington’s interests, and is really intended to thwart Iran’s own crude exports, which are also under US-led sanctions.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 23:20

• Bots Have Taken Over Nearly Half The Internet, But One-Third Of Users Can't Tell Difference
  Bots Have Taken Over Nearly Half The Internet, But One-Third Of Users Can’t Tell Difference

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

  Crossing paths with a robot or “bot” online is as common as finding a pair of shoes in your closet.

  

  It’s a fundamental part of the internet, but users have hit a critical tipping point: An increasing number of people are losing the ability to distinguish between bots and humans.

  It’s a scenario developers have warned about for years, and it’s easy to see why.

  A recent study concluded 47 percent of all internet traffic is now comprised of bot-generated content. That’s an increase of more than 5 percent between 2022 and 2021. Concurrently, human activity on the internet just hit its lowest point in eight years.

  Coupled with advances in human-like exchanges driven by artificial intelligence (AI), almost a third of internet users can’t tell if they’re interacting with a person any more.

  In April, a landmark study called “Human or Not?” was launched to determine whether people could identify if they were talking to another person or an AI chatbot.

  More than 2 million volunteers and 15 million conversations later, 32 percent of participants picked incorrectly.

  There was also little difference in the results based on age categories. Older and younger adults both struggled at a similar level to discern who—or what—was on the other end of the conversation.

  The bottom line: While super realistic bots have taken over nearly half the internet, a rising number of folks can’t even tell.

  Moreover, this historic intersection of swiftly evolving technology and decreasing perception within the general population is already causing problems in the real world.

  Fool Me Once

  “The bot-human blur is like a magic trick … As bots get smarter, we risk losing trust in online interactions,” Daniel Cooper told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Cooper is a tech developer and a managing partner at Lolly. He noted company and website transparency is key for people’s confidence in their online interactions. But in the meantime, there’s no substitute for good old-fashioned human instinct.

  “Spotting bots is like finding Waldo in a crowd. Look for repetitive patterns, lack of personalization, or rapid responses. Also, trust your gut. If it feels off, it might just be,” he said.

  

  While much of the discussion of malicious or “bad bot” traffic centers on social media, the influence of maligned AI interactions has much farther-reaching consequences.

  Consumer confidence in reading online reviews for a product or service has been problematic for years, but it appears to have passed a new milestone.

  Reports of AI language models leaving reviews for products on sites like Amazon emerged in April this year. The bot reviews were easy to identify since the chatbot literally told readers that it was an AI language model in the first sentence.

  But not every bot masquerading as a human is so easy to catch.

  Consequently, major companies and search engines like Google have been plagued with a sharp rise in false reviews.

  Last year, Amazon filed a lawsuit against fake review brokers on Facebook, and Google had to remove 115 million counterfeit evaluations.

  This is troubling, given the number of people who rely on product reviews. One 2023 survey noted online reviews factored into purchasing decisions for 93 percent of internet users.

  “More bot traffic could indeed open the floodgates for online scams,” Mr. Cooper said.

  Though it appears those gates have already been opened.

  Fox in the Henhouse

  Bad bot traffic has increased 102 percent since last year and may outpace human-generated content entirely. Yet again.

  This happened in 2016 and was especially problematic during the U.S. presidential election. Since then, AI-generated content has grown more sophisticated, and tech insiders say people need to be prepared for another bot surge in 2024.

  And with more people struggling to tell the difference, online scammers have a significant advantage.

  “The difficulties in distinguishing between bots and actual humans will probably get worse as this technology develops, which will hurt internet users. The possibility of being used by bad actors is a major worry,” Vikas Kaushik, CEO of TechAhead, told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Kaushik said without the ability to identify bots, people can easily get caught up in disinformation and phishing scams. Further, these digital cons aren’t always obvious.

  Tech security researcher Kai Greshake told Vice in March that hackers could trick Bing’s AI chatbot into asking for personal information from users through the use of hidden text prompts.

  

  “As a member of the sector, I see this developing into a serious problem,”  Kaushik said, adding: “To create more complex detection techniques and build open standards for recognizing bots, developers and academics must collaborate.”

  He believes education and awareness campaigns are essential so the public can be more cautious and confident while “conversing online with strangers.”

  Mr. Cooper agreed.

  “The bot-human confusion could lead to misunderstandings, mistrust, and misuse of personal data. It’s like chatting with a parrot, thinking it’s a person: amusing until it repeats your secrets.”

  He compared the rise in bot traffic to inviting a fox into the henhouse. “We need to be vigilant and proactive in our defenses.”

  Taking Action

  For some, the solution is simple. Just “unplug” from the digital world.

  It’s a sentiment shared often alongside notions of moving off the grid and a longing for the days when the “dead internet theory” seemed much less plausible. But for many, this isn’t realistic.

  Alternatively, some are striving for a balance with their online usage, including limiting social media usage.

  Humanity’s love-hate relationship with social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, has created anxiety, anger, and depression for millions.

  Despite an uptick in social media usage this year, roughly two-thirds of Americans believe the platforms have a primarily negative effect on life.

  And the surge in bot traffic is throwing gas on this fire.

  Stepping back from social media and its bot swarms has its merits.

  Findings from a 2022 study noted participants who took a one-week break from the platforms experienced improvements in anxiety, depression, and their overall sense of well-being.

  As humanity’s day-to-day interactions continue shifting from physical to virtual, people have become increasingly dependent on the web. So it begs to question: Can humans take back the internet from the bots?

  Some tech experts believe it’s possible. And it starts with helping people identify what they’re engaging with.

  “There are a few strategies users can employ to identify bots,” Zachary Kann, the founder of Smart Geek Home, told The Epoch Times.

  In his experience as a network security professional, Mr. Kann said there are methods a user can employ to determine if they’re interacting with another person.

  Like Mr. Cooper, he suggested watching response patterns carefully.

  “Bots often respond instantly and may use repetitive language.”

  Mr. Kann also said people should check profiles since bots often have generic or incomplete online profiles.

  He added an inability to distinguish between bots and humans could lead to research accuracy challenges.

  “It can lead to skewed data analytics, as bot interactions can inflate website traffic and engagement metrics.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 23:00

• Elite Universities Strategize To Maintain Diversity In Admissions Despite Supreme Court Ruling
  Elite Universities Strategize To Maintain Diversity In Admissions Despite Supreme Court Ruling

  Authored by Charlotte Allen via The Epoch Times,

  It’s no secret that the vast majority of the people who operate U.S. colleges and universities are unhappy about the Supreme Court’s June 29 decisions that the use of race in admissions decisions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantees and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids recipients of federal funds to discriminate “on the ground of race, color, or national origin.”

  The official reaction of the country’s top-tier institutions of higher learning – the ones that typically employ racial preferences (in contrast to their less-selective counterparts that admit almost all applicants of any race) – was dismay.

  Within hours of the release of the court’s 6–3 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, incoming Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a video message.

  Its tone wasn’t outright defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, but it evidenced a distinct resolve to work around it.

  “For nearly nine years, Harvard vigorously defended our admissions process and our belief that we all benefit from learning, living, and working alongside people of different backgrounds and experiences,” Ms. Gay said.

  “We will comply with the court’s decision, but it does not change our values. We continue to believe—deeply—that a thriving, diverse intellectual community is essential to academic excellence and critical to shaping the next generation of leaders.”

  The word “diverse” is, of course, code for achieving levels of ethnic-minority representation (typically blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans) that progressives find acceptable, whether or not the applicants’ academic records and SAT scores match those of other groups such as Asians and whites.

  Other elite universities have followed Harvard’s lead.

  Columbia University spokesman Ben Chang said, “Diversity is a positive force across every dimension of Columbia, and we can and must find a durable and meaningful path to preserve it.”

  Ron Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, issued a statement declaring:

  “In the coming days, we will closely examine the court’s decisions and assess its implications for our admissions programs. Over the last several months, we have been reviewing the approaches taken by universities in states where a referendum or statute has restricted the use of race as one of many factors in a holistic admissions process.”

  So the strategizing – aimed at maintaining pre-Students levels of black and Latino enrollments – has clearly begun.

  

  The most obvious of the possible “approaches” is the application essay, which allows prospective students to reveal their race, among other things about themselves. Chief Justice John Roberts, author of the majority opinion in Students, seemed to shine a green light (pdf): “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

  Although Justice Roberts warned universities to not use the essays to bypass the Supreme Court’s ruling (“the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race”), several institutions have already established “overcome adversity” as a proxy for race.

  The University of California–Davis’s medical school, for example, gives preference to students asserting a “disadvantaged” background.

  The upshot: A full 84 percent of Davis’s medical school entering class for this fall claimed economic and social disadvantages growing up (pdf).

  The result is an entering class that is 14 percent black and 30 percent Latino (blacks and Latinos make up 6 percent and 39 percent of California’s general population, respectively). Some 20 other colleges and universities have inquired about Davis’s complex—and so far secret—“adversity score” methodology, according to a New York Times report.

  A more subtle tactic is likely to be dropping requirements that prospective students submit their SAT or ACT scores. Standardized test scores offer a clear metric for determining a student’s ability to perform college or graduate-level work, but they also provide evidence of racial bias when institutions reject higher-scoring applicants from one ethnic group in favor of lower-scoring applicants from another. Some 80 percent of colleges and universities—including all eight Ivy League campuses and other prestigious institutions such as Stanford and Rice—have already made SAT and ACT results optional in their admissions processes. That makes admissions procedures more opaque and thus more difficult for courts to scrutinize in lawsuits challenging admissions procedures on racial grounds.

  Finally, there’s the ingenious tactic for getting around racial preferences proffered in an amicus curiae brief filed in Students by more than 50 Catholic colleges led by the Jesuit-run Georgetown University. The colleges averred that their religious mission to train leaders devoted to the common good gave them a right, protected by the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantees, to consider race and ethnicity in their admissions practices, asserting that “as a crucial component of their efforts, Catholic colleges and universities strive to admit and educate racially diverse student bodies.”

  That First Amendment argument made little impression on the Supreme Court, even on its three dissenters who would have upheld racial preferences. But it has gained new life, at least according to some law school professors.

  The Supreme Court, in another 6–3 decision, ruled on June 30 that the First Amendment protected Christian web designer Lorie Smith’s refusal to create wedding websites for same-sex couples on the grounds that she would be forced to express support for views contrary to her religious beliefs. The ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis carved out an exemption from a Colorado law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It continued a recent line of Supreme Court decisions upholding the right of individuals, businesses, and religious communities to not comply with laws that interfere with their beliefs about such issues as homosexual conduct, abortion, and birth control.

  “The admissions decisions of religious universities to create diverse student bodies are expressive of those schools’ values  in ways that would seem to merit the same kind of protection from state interference the court has granted in cases like 303 Creative,” Kent Greenfield, a constitutional law professor at Boston College, and Eduardo Peñalver, president of Seattle University (both Catholic institutions), wrote in a July 19 article for The Hill headlined “How the First Amendment Can Save Affirmative Action.”

  Should First Amendment arguments such as these prevail in court, we might see secular universities such as Harvard suddenly rediscovering their 17th-century roots as training grounds for religious ministers.

  At the very least, they demonstrate the extent to which institutions are willing to go – and the complex, even contorted strategies they plan to use – to preserve consideration of race in admissions policies even after the Supreme Court has pretty much ruled out that practice.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 22:20

• Obama 'Repeatedly Fantasizes About Making Love To Men': Biographer
  Obama ‘Repeatedly Fantasizes About Making Love To Men’: Biographer

  Was Barack Obama the first gay US president?

  According to an interview with Tablet magazine, Obama biographer David Garrow discussed a letter Obama wrote to a former college girlfriend in which he “repeatedly fantasizes about making love to men.”

  

  “So when Alex showed me the letters from Barack, she redacted one paragraph in one of them and just said, ‘It’s about homosexuality,” Garrow told the outlet, discussing the 1,472-page biography of the former president titled “Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.”

  The letters made their way to Emory University, where Garrow associate Harvey Klehr manually transcribed the salacious details.

  “So I emailed Harvey, said, ‘Go to the Emory archives.’ He’s spent his whole life at Emory, but they won’t let him take pictures,” said Garrow. “So Harvey has to sit there with a pencil and copy out the graph where Barack writes to Alex about how he repeatedly fantasizes about making love to men.”

  Meanwhile, rumors abound that Michelle may satisfy Barry’s alleged proclivities.

  Stop acting like you never saw Michelle Obama’s testicles dancing on Ellen Degeneres show 😂😂😂 https://t.co/D7hOi0b9Zq pic.twitter.com/VIFW0APaVw

  — S͎K͎E͎L͎E͎T͎O͎R͎🍄🍿 (@Skeletor_1981) August 4, 2023

  RIP Joan Rivers.

  Joan Rivers.. made millions … out of knowing who was who

  Obama was gay and Michelle is a man according to her

  Michelle is a transgender …
  ~Joan Riverspic.twitter.com/q5gPql6ua5

  — Madeleine Case Tweets🌐 (@McCannCaseTweet) August 1, 2023

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

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAs for the rest of the interview, American Greatness’s Lloyd Billingsley has the following;

  “Whatever you do. Don’t ask him about his father.”

  That was Bob Bauer, lawyer for President Obama, to biographer David Garrow as he prepared to interview the president for the Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, released in 2017.

  “Barack Obama devoted dozens of hours to reading the first ten chapters of this manuscript,” Garrow says on page 1084, and had “remaining disagreements – some strong indeed – with multiple characterizations and interpretations” in the book. Garrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has some rather strong disagreements with Obama.

  “I’ve always thought that the whole Obamacare thing was, in large part, a fraud.” And as for Obama, “he’s not normal—as in not a normal politician or a normal human being.”

  That was Garrow to David Samuels in a rambling August 2 Tablet interview headlined “The Obama Factor.”  Barack Obama is the author of Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, published in 1995. Here is what Garrow said about it in Rising Star:

  “Dreams from My Father was not a memoir or an autobiography; it was instead, in multitudinous ways, without any question a work of historical fiction. It featured many true-to-life figures and a bevy of accurately described events that indeed had occurred, but it employed the techniques and literary license of a novel, and its most important composite character was the narrator himself.”

  “He wants people to believe his story,” Garrow told Samuels. “For me to conclude that Dreams from My Father was historical fiction—oh God, did that infuriate him.” Samuels, who also writes for Harpers, the Atlantic and New York Times Magazine,  countered that “the pose of being a writer is actually one that he prefers in many ways to being a politician.”

  “Oh God, yes. Yes, yes, yes,” said Garrow, “He doesn’t want the writerliness challenged. It’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The book [Dreams] is so fictionalized.”

  In the Dreams novel, the father is the Kenyan Barack Obama, a student at the University of Hawaii. The Kenyan “bequeaths his name” to the American, and by the end of the novel, he becomes a nameless “old man.”

  In all his written communications from 1958-1964, housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, the Kenyan Barack Obama makes not a single mention of an American wife and son. Perhaps that is why President Obama never accessed the archive.

  The Dreams author, formerly known as Barry Soetoro, devotes more than 2,000 words to a happy-drunk black poet known only as “Frank.” In Rising Star, Garrow identifies “Frank” as Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist pornographer.

  Paul Kengor’s The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis – The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor, revealed “remarkable similarities” between the politics of the Dreams author and Davis, a Stalinist who dedicated most of his life to the all-white dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Davis also bears strong physical resemblance to the Dreams author, who at Occidental College penned a poem to a black poet he calls “Pop.”

  The rising star would “forcefully reject the Davis hypothesis,” Garrow wrote, and “Davis’ Communist background plus his kinky exploits made him politically radioactive.” That is why Barry needed the “historical fiction” of Dreams from My Father, the story about the Kenyan foreign student. Garrow called out the book as fictional, but came up a bit short on the author’s plagiarism.

  In Dreams, the author visits Kenya and the account bears remarkable similarities to I Dreamed of Africa, published in 1991, and the 1994  African Nights. Both books are the work of Italian writer Kuki Gallmann, a longtime resident of Kenya.

  In African Nights, Gallmann and company “camped in the area of Narok, one of the main centers of the proud Maasai tribe.” In Dreams from My Father, the American travels to Narok, “a small trading town where we stopped for gas and lunch.”

  In I Dreamed of Africa and African Nights, the reader finds “the ink-black of Arap Langat” and “the ink-black darkness” where fish are approaching. Under a slate sky lies the “ink-black turmoil of the ocean.” Dreams of My Father speaks of “ink-black stairwells” and “tall ink-black Luos and short brown Kikuyus.” In Kenya, men “dive into inky-black waters.” And so on, with many other passages too similar to be accidental.

  Back in 2008, David Samuels re-read Dreams from My Father and came upon the passage where Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro, takes Barry into the back yard and teaches him to fight.

  “Wait a minute, I know this scene,” Samuels told Garrow. “And then I went back and found the battle royal scene in The Invisible Man.

  “Each of us was issued a pair of boxing gloves and ushered out into the big mirrored hall,” Ralph Ellison wrote. “A glove smacked against my head. . . Blows pounded me from all sides while I struck out as best I could.”

  In Dreams, Barry has a tussle with a boy down the road. The next day, Lolo “had two pairs of boxing gloves,” and they lace them up. “Keep your hands up,” Lolo tells Barry. “You want to keep moving but always stay low. Don’t give them a target.” And so forth.

  “Right, right, right,” says Garrow, who also noted that Dreams “completely omits women. I’ve always thought that there’d eventually be a feminist critique of Obama because his mother and all the girlfriends—they’re not there. They don’t exist.”

  As Garrow reveals, the Dreams author wrote to Alex McNear, his girlfriend at Occidental College, “about how he repeatedly fantasizes about making love to men.” Samuels is more curious about the composite character’s actions in office, for example, the Iran deal.

  “I do find the Iran deal offensive and puzzling,” Garrow said. “I mean, it’s an explicitly antisemitic state.” As Samuels notes, Obama is “fixated on Iran after the Iran deal failed.” The easy explanation is that “Joe Biden is not running that part of his administration. Obama is. He doesn’t even have to pick up the phone because all of his people are already inside the White House.”

  True to form, as Fred Fleitz explains, Biden is planning to evade Congress with a “secret nuclear deal with Iran.”  The composite character president was also fixated on normalizing relations with Cuba, a Communist state.

  “I also found the Cuba thing deeply puzzling and offensive,” Garrow said. “It’s a fucking dictatorship that imprisons all sorts of truly progressive, creative people.” Many of the regime’s political prisoners are black but in the style of Frank, Obama is basically uncritical of the regime’s all-white Stalinist dictatorship.  But then, as David Garrow says, the composite character is not a normal politician or human being.

  In one of his first actions, Obama  canceled missile defense for U.S. allies Poland and the Czech Republic, and Garrow laments his “failure to object to Russia taking Crimea and the Donbas.”

  “For Barack, everything has to be a success,” Garrow explained. “Everything has to be a victory.” And on his own terms, Obama may be the most successful president ever. He transformed the nation into a place where the outgoing president picks his successor and deploys the FBI and DOJ to help Hillary Clinton and harm candidate and President Donald Trump.

  “From the first time I saw it,” Garrow said, “I realized that Christopher Steele’s shit was just complete crap. It was bad corporate intelligence, even. It was nonsensical.” Samuels is also concerned.

  “A new milieu had been created consisting of party operatives, the people in the FBI and the CIA who are carrying out White House policy, and the press,” Samuels explains. “That’s something people still seem loathe to admit, even to themselves, in part because it puts them in a state of dissonance with this new kind of controlled consensus that the press maintains, which is obviously garbage. But if you question it, you’re some kind of nut.” 

  The interview keeps returning to Dreams from My Father, which biographer David Garrow exposed as a novel, infuriating the president. 

  “There was something about this fictional character that he created actually becoming president,” contends Samuels, “that helped precipitate the disaster that we are living through now.” The nation has been transformed into a “Gilded Age oligarchy” by Obama, the “Magic Negro of the billionaire industrial complex.”

  See the full interview for more insight on the man David Garrow says is not a normal politician or normal human being.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 22:00

• Should We Fear Worldcoin?
  Should We Fear Worldcoin?

  Authored by Michael Wilkerson via The Epoch Times,

  We live in an era in which bots regularly masquerade as humans online. Ours is an age in which identity theft and fraud plague online interactions, and where one’s right to privacy and sanctuary are regularly violated with impunity by both government and corporate actors.

  In today’s world of artificial intelligence (AI), bots can solve CAPTCHA puzzles and defeat other attempts to verify humanness. AI programs can create complex deepfake images and writings indistinguishable from work created by individuals. So how can people interacting in cyberspace prove that they are not only human but a unique and particular person? And, ideally, do so while retaining anonymity, i.e., without revealing exactly which real person is acting and without giving away personal details? This challenge is known as the proof-of-personhood (PoP) or unique human problem.

  

  The Worldcoin Foundation is trying to solve the problem of PoP, but some critics aren’t buying it.

  Worldcoin was founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, whose stated mission is to “create safe AGI [artificial general intelligence] that benefits all humanity.” Worldcoin’s objectives include “establish[ing] universal access to the global economy,” “becom[ing] the world’s largest human identity and financial network,” and “establishing a place for all of us to benefit in the age of AI.”

  Worldcoin anticipates a world in which AI-enabled robots have displaced humans in the workplace and that governments around the world will need to provide humans with some minimum level of financial support, known as universal basic income (UBI). To avoid fraud, the hypothetically billions of UBI recipients would need to prove not only that they are human but also that they are unique (so that one person doesn’t receive multiple allotments). Still, today, a substantial minority of people on this planet have neither bank accounts nor the government-issued ID and other documentation necessary to get one.

  To accomplish these goals, Worldcoin takes a biometric scan of the human eye in order to create a “WorldID,” a cryptographic hash (a unique and non-replicable mathematical algorithm).

  Other than this hash, Worldcoin asserts that no biometric data are transmitted from or retained by the “Orbs,” specially designed cameras intended to be deployed at locations all over the world which capture the images needed to make the WorldID unique to each person.

  Critics, however, warn that Worldcoin’s technology poses risks.

  Vitalek Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, for example, identifies four categories of potential risks:

  1) privacy, i.e., that, despite assurances to the contrary, Orbs could be maliciously hacked and made to release data;

  2) accessibility, i.e., the need for very large numbers of Orbs distributed around the world to scan billions of people;

  3) centralization, which in theory could allow Worldcoin to create a backdoor and misuse or sell data, and even arbitrarily create fake human identities; and

  4) security, e.g., the possibility of using 3D printing or other technology to create fake people and sell WorldIDs. Mr. Buterin concedes that Worldcoin is aware of and is addressing these issues in a better way than previous attempts at creating PoP applications.

  There is also the yuck factor.

  The prospect of having one’s irises scanned by one of Worldcoin’s shiny yet sinister-looking metallic Orbs in order to be provided an indecipherable number to exist as a human being and engage in economic, social, and political processes feels dreadful. It sounds like dystopian science fiction.

  I write in my new book, “Why America Matters”:

  “If a technology exists, then governments will exploit it. Moral implications are considered only rarely. If government can better track its citizens and use technology to keep them under control, they will, unless otherwise prevented…

  If China and other illiberal countries can surveil not just their own citizens at home and abroad, but eventually everyone in the world, why should the United States fail to do the same? Doesn’t this put the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage? This is the dilemma of our age.”

  Biometric data-capture is already widely used.

  From Touch ID on our mobile phones, to Clear at airport security, to Global Entry and Mobile Passport at border control stations, biometric data are regularly used to prove someone is who they say they are. Surveillance cameras on our streets and roadways regularly identify and track us. Whether by fingerprint, iris scan, facial or other markers, each person’s unique identity can be found and validated. And these systems can also be hacked. Some knowledgeable critics of government surveillance and the so-called deep state remain staunchly opposed. Exiled NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, for example, posted on social media in response to Worldcoin, “Don’t use biometrics for anti-fraud. In fact, don’t use biometrics for anything.”

  In a world of AI and existing government surveillance programs, a decentralized private sector proof-of-personhood solution seems not only inevitable but necessary. A world without PoP would be either anarchic or authoritarian, as it would be impossible to transact without government-imposed centralized identity solutions. Surely a nongovernmental PoP solution is desirable to counteract the encroaching power of totalitarian governments. True decentralization is key to achieving that level of privacy and security. Whether Worldcoin will safely provide such a solution is impossible to tell at this stage. In the meantime, it will continue to creep people out.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 21:40

• Uvalde School Shooter's Cousin Arrested For 'Terroristic Threats'
  Uvalde School Shooter’s Cousin Arrested For ‘Terroristic Threats’

  Several left-leaning corporate media outlets have stated, “Stop blaming mental illness for mass shootings” and “Mental illness is not to blame for shooting massacres.” Even the progressive non-profit, Common Dreams, wrote, “Targeting Mental Illness Will Not Prevent Mass Shootings.”

  Could the solution to preventing some of these tragic shootings lie in enhancing mental health resources for those in need? Even suggesting that mental health plays some role in a mass shooting appears controversial. 

  This viewpoint should be reconsidered after the San Antonio Express-News reported that the 17-year-old cousin of the gunman responsible for the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 was arrested on Monday in what appears to be a ‘mental health crisis’ after threatening to shoot up a school and family member. 

  An arrest affidavit states that Nathan Cruz’s mom “reported the suspect planned to ‘do the same thing’ as his cousin.” He also threatened to shoot another sister in the head, Cruz’s mother told police. His sister believed it was a credible threat “due to the recent history of their family and the suspect’s knowledge of his cousin’s actions.”

  Nathan Cruz

  

  But Salazar said her mom called the police because she was concerned about the threats to his sister, not because he threatened to shoot up a school.

  “The only thing my mom was trying to do by calling the cops was to get him help. He needs mental help. He doesn’t need to be locked up,” Salazar said. — San Antonio Express-News

  Progressive media often highlights the call for increased gun control while ignoring the conversation on mental health. Take a look at Statista data showing mass shootings in the US between 1982 and July 2023, by the presence of prior signs of the shooter’s mental health issues. 

  

  On the gun policy side, Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America, stated: 

  The headline should read, “Texas stops mass shooter without ‘red flag’ law or new gun control.”

  The decision to arrest and charge this dangerous individual, rather than leaving him at large in society to commit a mass act of public violence, is the best way to handle the situation and doesn’t involve any new or unconstitutional gun laws. Anyone calling for more gun control after this incident must clearly believe that our existing gun laws—barring those under 18 from purchasing firearms and the new under-21 background check system—don’t work and aren’t effective public safety tools.

  The crux of the matter is that mental health should be a topic of discussion, not ignored. Moreover, existing gun laws prohibited the 17-year-old from legally possessing a firearm. Also, enforcing stricter gun control will only penalize law-abiding citizens. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 21:20

• Security Video Challenges The Narrative On First Man To Die At Capitol On Jan. 6
  Security Video Challenges The Narrative On First Man To Die At Capitol On Jan. 6

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The first of four supporters of President Donald Trump to die on Jan. 6, 2021, received emergency medical care away from the fast-growing crowd on the U.S. Capitol’s west plaza—before any explosive munitions were used by police—new security video reveals.

  Capitol Police closed-circuit-television (CCTV) footage obtained by The Epoch Times calls into question the popular narrative that Benjamin James Philips was struck by a police munition before he collapsed from a fatal cardiac event.

  Mr. Philips, 50, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, had organized a busload of area residents to travel to Washington for Mr. Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. He followed the bus in a van.

  He got separated from the group when he drove away to search for parking. He got as far as the U.S. Capitol that day but never made it back home.

  It has long been contended that Mr. Philips’s death was related to police riot munitions. A popular version of the story is that he was in the thick of the quickly expanding crowd on the west plaza beneath the inauguration stage when he was struck by an explosive munition tossed or shot by police.

  A large sign with an artist’s sketch of Mr. Philips is often seen at Jan. 6 events contending that he was “murdered by Capitol Police.”

  However, the previously unreleased CCTV video, which was obtained by The Epoch Times from a Capitol Police database, shows that an unconscious Mr. Philips was tended to by protesters behind the large scaffolding complex on the west side, away from the main crowd.

  A west dome security camera shows the small area where Mr. Philips later collapsed was breached by the crowd at 12:58:52, shortly after a much larger crowd breached the iron fence protecting the west plaza. Several bike-rack barricades were pushed over as the crowd surged forward.

  The camera isn’t zoomed in, so distinguishing details is difficult, but the video appears to show someone stumbling and falling at 12:59:17 in the spot where Mr. Philips was later seen. Bystanders began to gather around the downed individual.

  The zoomed-in video of Mr. Philips’s rescue attempt begins at 1:02:51 p.m. That’s the time that the U.S. Capitol Police Command Center trained one of its security cameras on the area where he fell. While the closeup video doesn’t show the moment Mr. Philips collapsed, it picks up shortly after bystanders rendered medical aid and started CPR.

  The first Capitol Police radio call for help was broadcast at 1:04 p.m., according to Jan. 6, 2021, audio recordings obtained by The Epoch Times.

  “Can you please have someone respond to my location with an AED [automated external defibrillator]? The bottom of the west front with an individual that’s down here, unconscious and not breathing,” a female officer broadcast on the main U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) radio channel.

  

  According to CCTV footage reviewed by The Epoch Times, the first police munitions on Jan. 6, 2021, weren’t used on the west front crowd until 1:10 p.m., about 10 minutes after the first breach of police lines near the Peace Monument. This was moments before Mr. Trump finished his speech at the Ellipse, which is two miles from the Capitol.

  Capitol Police Deputy Chief Eric Waldow ordered “less-than-lethal” force to be used on the crowd just prior to 1:06 p.m., according to police radio transmissions obtained by The Epoch Times. It wasn’t until nearly five minutes later that force was actually used.

  “I got a crowd fighting with officers, pushing, throwing projectiles,” Deputy Chief Waldow broadcast. “I have given warnings about chemical munitions. I need the less-than-lethal team positioned above me to identify the agitators and start deploying. Launch, launch, launch!“

  Security video shows that the iron railing and fence blocking access to the west plaza was breached by protesters at 12:58:41 p.m. Thousands of people quickly filled the plaza.

  The first use of explosive force occurred on the south end of the plaza—the opposite side of the west front, where Mr. Philips went down.

  Overhead CCTV video footage reviewed by The Epoch Times shows that there were no police munitions used on the north side of the plaza until 20 minutes after Mr. Philips collapsed. By this time, Mr. Philips was in a D.C. Fire and EMS Department ambulance.

  The first munitions on that side of the plaza went off far back in the crowd at 1:21 p.m. At 1:25 p.m., two flashes were seen just north of the center of the plaza. Seconds later, two more powerful explosions cleared a circle around where the munitions dropped. This set off visible rage among the protesters.

  Over the next hour, more than 40 munitions exploded in the crowd, most of them in the northern half of the west plaza, bodycam and security video footage shows.

  

  A woman who appeared to have a medical kit took charge of performing CPR on Mr. Philips. She took turns doing chest compressions with a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

  “Be advised that the person on the northwest side of the upper west terrace is now receiving CPR,” a male USCP officer told the police Command Center. “Have the ambulance come down the northwest sidewalk.”

  A man in full camouflage tactical gear standing nearby extended his left hand in prayer and was joined by several others in the crowd.

  A group of bystanders appeared to offer opinions on how best to provide advanced life support for Mr. Philips, the video footage shows.

  A Capitol Police officer was concerned that the crowd was getting too agitated.

  “We need this ambulance,” he said over the USCP radio at 1:13 p.m. “We’re about to lose control of this crowd down here.”

  ‘Refusing to Come Down’

  At about 1:15 p.m., an out-of-breath officer announced that the D.C. Fire and EMS Department rescue squad wouldn’t come down to the scaffolding where Mr. Philips lay on the sidewalk.

  “They are bringing the patient up to the ambulance right now,” he shouted on the radio. “They are refusing to come down.”

  Another officer said, “The group is carrying the individual up to the ambulance up the northwest drive.”

  A dozen or so bystanders and police officers laid a section of bicycle rack flat on the sidewalk. After placing Mr. Philips on it, the group lifted the rack and carried it like a battlefield stretcher.

  A woman straddled Mr. Philips and continued CPR as the group carried them about 100 yards up the sidewalk to rescue Squad 18. They turned Mr. Philips over to paramedics at 1:19 p.m.

  According to the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Mr. Philips died from a stroke. His manner of death was listed by the pathologist, Dr. Fernando Diaz, as “natural,” and the cause was hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

  Mr. Philips was a self-employed computer programmer and toy inventor. He founded Trumparoo LLC, which marketed a line of Trump-inspired toys that went on sale in 2020.

  The “Trumparoo” was a kangaroo bedecked with a swirling Trumpian coiffure. He developed a Trumparoo social-media-style website where owners of the toys could communicate.

  Mr. Philips got the idea after seeing actress Alyssa Milano post on social media about Trumpy Bear, a stuffed toy with Trump’s signature hairstyle and red tie.

  “I thought a kangaroo would be even better than a bear,” Mr. Philips told the local Press Enterprise newspaper in September 2020. “Kangaroos are fighters.”

  He developed other characters in the Trumparoo line, including “Fightin’ Trumparoo the Heavyweight,” “Fightin’ Trumparoo the Hippo,” and “Count Trumpula.”

  Mr. Philips organized a rally in Bloomsburg on Nov. 14, 2020, to protest election fraud. At about the same time, he established the website ScummyDemocrats.com, which carried his views about the 2020 presidential election. He called the site the Scummy Democrat Accountability Project. The home page headline read: “Remember What They Did.”

  On Jan. 6, 2021, he drove a van to Washington while other Trump supporters went on a motor coach. He told a Philadelphia newspaper that he was eager to hear what Mr. Trump had to say at the Ellipse.

  “It seems like he called us there for a reason,” Mr. Philips said. “I think something big’s about to go down that no one’s talking about yet. I think he has an ace up his sleeve.”

  He spoke openly about election fraud and the meaning of the forthcoming rally with Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Julia Terruso. In an interview with her during the ride to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, he spoke what turned out to be prophetic words.

  “It seems like the first day of the rest of our lives, to be honest,” Mr. Philips said. “They should name this Year Zero because something will happen.“

  The Epoch Times was unable to reach members of Mr. Philips’ family for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 21:00

• 66% Of Finance Workers Would Quit If Work-From-Home Was Taken Away
  66% Of Finance Workers Would Quit If Work-From-Home Was Taken Away

  For further proof that the “work from home” trend that started during Covid has spoiled employees rotten, about 66% of respondents in a new survey of 700 financial executives working remotely said they would quit their jobs if forced to return to the office 5 days a week.

  The revelation came as part of a survey published this week by Deloitte, reported on by Banking Dive. 

  Among the key revelations in the Deloitte survey were:

  • Overall survey results indicate that financial services institutions (FSIs) with overly strict in-office mandates could face dual challenges: possibly losing their pipeline of leaders and having difficulty recruiting talent.

  • Among respondents who still work remotely at least part-time, 66% say they will likely leave their current role if mandated to return to the office five days a week.

  • Among surveyed caregivers, those who work remotely or have hybrid arrangements are 1.3 times more likely than responding noncaregivers to say they’ll leave their current role if their ability to work remotely was eliminated.

  • Some FSIs now require their workforce to return to the office three to four days a week. But only 18% of respondents say this would be their ideal arrangement.

  • While remote working has improved respondents’ engagement and well-being, most of those surveyed believe remote work models will put them at a disadvantage. This could erode engagement and commitment levels over time.

  • Financial services firms face a palpable risk of losing talented women leaders. Almost half of women respondents in senior leadership roles report being likely to leave their current employer over the next year.

  

  More than half of those who responded (52%) admitted that they thought in-office workers were paid more — it was a tradeoff they were willing to accept. 63% of those responding also thought that in-office workers were promoted more. 60% of those who responded said that they thought employees with caregiver responsibilities, working under the hybrid model, were less likely to be promoted. 

  But about 75% of men and 67% of women said that hybrid work life allowed them better relationships with their children. 18% of survey respondents said they preferred to work in the office 3 or 4 days a week, and 62% said they thought it would hurt their careers if they came in less. 

  Neda Shemluck, Deloitte’s U.S. financial services DEI leader, commented: “There’s a perception that employers want people in the office 100% of the time and employees don’t want to be in the office at all, and that’s not true.”

  Shemluck continued: “The struggle is, how do you still require some in-person connectivity, and yet provide autonomy to team leaders to determine what is best for their teams?”

  

  “If an organization is mandating hybrid for one or two days, there needs to be transparency around the implications to you as an employee or as a team leader if you are tracking differently from that. Right now the challenge is the speculation as to the career impact that will have, without the transparency of long-term implications,” she added. “You have to take small steps and constantly do pulse checks and get real reactions as to what is working, and recognize that you’re going to constantly pivot. We had hundreds of years of working one way; it’s going to take us a long time to get comfortable with this new way of working, and it’s going to be an iterative process.”

  Recall, we have been writing about how Wall Street banks have been mandating that their employees come back to the office now that the Covid hysteria has subsided. In March 2023, we wrote about how the era of working from home was drawing to a close. Returning to the office hasn’t gone over well everywhere. In Seattle, Amazon employees are protesting returning the office due to “climate change”, among other idiotic reasons, we wrote about in June. 

  We also noted in June that NYC office occupancy had hit 50% for the first time since the Covid crunch. 

  Kastle Systems, the gold-standard measure of office-occupancy trends via card-swipe data, shows NYC hit 50.5% in the week ending June 7, the highest level in three years but still far from the near 100% occupancy level before the pandemic. 

  

  “The milestone came just as the city was engulfed in smoke from Canadian wildfires, briefly becoming the most polluted major city in the world,” Bloomberg pointed out. 

  Reverting to pre-Covid times is impossible. Companies are axing employees while reducing office space. Real estate firm Colliers said office space available for lease in Manhattan climbed to a record high during the first quarter of 2023. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 20:40

• 'Native American Guardians Association' Petition To Restore Washington Redskins Name Goes Viral
  ‘Native American Guardians Association’ Petition To Restore Washington Redskins Name Goes Viral

  Via The Post Millennial,

  A Change.org petition in support of changing the Washington football team’s name BACK to the Redskins has gone viral and is racking up tens of thousands of signatures in real time.

  

  At the time of publication, the petition was nearing its goal of 75,000 people.

  The petition was launched by an organization called the Native American Guardians Association whose stated goal is to end the “cancel culture” of Native Americans. 

  NAGA spox Healy Baumgardner joined Newsmax’s Carl Higbie to discuss the groups efforts, quipping that the Washington Commanders must be getting advised by Megan Rapinoe.

  🚨BREAKING: @CarlHigbie and @healybaum discuss the new @GuardiansNative nationwide petition campaign to change the @Commanders back to The Washington Redskins @NEWSMAX

  Over 63,000 have signed so far and it’s just getting started!

  End the cancel culture of Native Americans! pic.twitter.com/CgqjaLp1mf

  — Eric Spracklen🇺🇸 (@EricSpracklen) August 7, 2023

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

  Prominent X users like ALX and Ashley St. Clair have shared the petition.

  St. Clair said: “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen – The Native American Guardians Association @Guardiansnative is petitioning to get the Washington Redskins name back.”

  This is the best thing I’ve ever seen

  The Native American Guardians Association @Guardiansnative is petitioning to get the Washington Redskins name back 😂😂

  SIGN THE PETITION TO OWN THE WOKE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
  https://t.co/WXlTyVp5AY

  — Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) August 8, 2023

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

  BREAKING: @GuardiansNative petition to #ReclaimTheName ‘Washington Redskins’ now has over 60,000 signatures

  SIGN HERE: https://t.co/qaVFAvGbN4

  — ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) August 7, 2023

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

  In a letter to Commanders owners and key leadership, the group congratulated the new owners for their purchase of the team, and urged the return to the historic name of the team.

  🚨BREAKING: Native American Guardian’s Association Founder & President Eunice Davidson Sent a Demand Letter Today to Washington “Commanders” Ownership & Key Leadership Formally Requesting The Team Revitalize it’s Relationship With The American Indian Community & Rightfully Change… pic.twitter.com/cpau4hVq6H

  — Native American Guardians Association (@GuardiansNative) August 7, 2023

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

  “This is not a partisan issue; it reaches across the political spectrum dating back to our Founding Fathers. The Native American Guardian’s Association (NAGA) stands up for and is not only fighting back to preserve key elements of American History and the 1st and 14th Amendment, NAGA is fighting for the civil liberties of every American,” the letter, dated August 7, stated.

  “Americans see they are losing their rights because of a vicious cancel culture that shows little care for their concerns or civil liberties; It is time to support leaders, brands, and organizations who will stand with every American, rather than fighting against them.”

  NAGA wrote that the Redskins had a “long and mutually beneficial relationship with the American Indian community,” dating back to the team’s founding as the Boston Braves in 1932, which had a Native American coach.

  The team was renamed the Redskins in 1933, the letter stated, and carried that name for 87 years, during which the team won five NFL championships and three Super Bowls.

  “At this moment in history, we are formally requesting that the team revitalize its relationship with the American Indian community by (i) changing the name back to ‘The Redskins’ which recognizes America’s original inhabitants and (ii) using the team’s historic name and legacy to encourage Americans to learn about, not cancel, the history of America’s tribes and our role in the founding og this great nation.”

  NAGA said that as a team representing the nation’s capital, “you have a distinct opportunity to recognize the history and value of the American Indian,” adding that other teams carrying Native American-based names have kept such names “with the recognition that it carries an obligation of honor and respoect.”

  NAGA requested a working group to meet with the team’s owner and key leadership “to begin further dialogue on next steps,” adding that the group has launched a national advocacy campaign as well as an online petition.

  “Should we need to encourage a national boycott similar to what happened to Anheuser Busch (Bud Light) which is now down $27 billion (note, not one brick thrown, not one highway blocked, not one building burned) we will do just that,” the group stated.

  The petition reads in part:

  “We, are passionate supporters of the Washington Redskins and its rich history. We write to you today as a collective voice, urging you to reconsider the recent name change from the Redskins to the Commanders. We believe that restoring the original name, the Redskins, is the right decision for the team, its loyal fanbase, and the legacy it represents.

  “The name ‘Redskins’ carries deep cultural, historical, and emotional significance, honoring the bravery, resilience, and warrior spirit associated with Native American culture. It was never intended as a derogatory or offensive term but as a symbol of respect and admiration. Changing the name abruptly disregards the positive legacy that the Redskins name has built over the years and disorients the passionate fans who have invested their emotions, time, and unwavering support in the team.

  “We acknowledge the concerns surrounding cultural sensitivity and the need to foster inclusivity. However, we firmly believe that there are alternative ways to honor and respect Native American heritage without erasing it. By reclaiming the Redskins name, we have the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue, educational initiatives, and collaborations with Native American communities. Together, we can promote cultural appreciation, address misconceptions, and work towards a more inclusive society.

  “The name ‘Commanders’ fails to capture the essence, tradition, and historical weight associated with the Redskins. It lacks the uniqueness, emotional connection, and pride that our team’s original name embodies. The change to “Commanders” dilutes our team’s identity and weakens the connection with its devoted fanbase. By restoring the Redskins name, we reinstate a symbol of unity, strength, and shared identity that has inspired generations of fans.”

  Back in July, the Washington Commanders reportedly sent a direct message to a Twitter account dedicated to their former team name, requesting them to add the words “fan” or “unofficial” to the name in order for fans not to be confused whether it’s an official team account.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 20:20

• A Soda-A-Day Could Result In Liver Cancer; New Study Finds
  A Soda-A-Day Could Result In Liver Cancer; New Study Finds

  It’s no secret that sugar-sweetened beverages cause obesity, but new research shows just one soda a day won’t keep the doctor away. In fact, soda pop might increase the risks of cancer and liver disease-related mortality. 

  Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, published a study titled “Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Liver Cancer and Chronic Liver Disease Mortality” in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, explaining a possible link between the regular consumption of sweetened drinks and death due to liver cancer. The study involved nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women followed for a median of twenty years. 

  The study’s lead authors, Dr. Longgang Zhao, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Xuehong Zhang, ScD, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, revealed participants who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages daily had a chronic liver disease mortality rate of 17.7 per 100,000 person-years. In contrast, this rate decreased to 7.1 for individuals who consumed such drinks three times or less monthly. No significant cancer risk was observed for artificially sweetened beverages.

  “In postmenopausal women, compared with consuming 3 or fewer servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per month, those who consumed 1 or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a higher incidence of liver cancer and death from chronic liver disease,” the researchers said. 

  They added, “Future studies should confirm these findings and identify the biological pathways of these associations.” 

  

  The research comes as ‘fat acceptance’ seeks to eliminate the social stigma of morbidity obese people while some snack on processed foods and soda pop from mega-junk-food corporations. We wonder who exactly is funding that movement… 

  While it’s being revealed that many of the ultra-processed foods and soda pop have been linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases — there’s a movement among institutional investors with stakes in the world’s largest food company, Nestlé, who have called on the company to improve its portfolio of unhealthy food and drinks. 

  Maybe all the climate alarmist ESG folks need to refocus their attention on the health of the masses who are fed ultra-processed foods like cattle, which has triggered an epidemic of obesity. 

  But how dare we even bring that up as Wall Street and the pension funds profit off fat America with Novo Nordisk hitting a record high on its new obesity drug Wegovy.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 20:00

• RFK Jr. Exposes 'The Wuhan Cover Up'
  RFK Jr. Exposes ‘The Wuhan Cover Up’

  Authored by Robert Malone via The Brownstone Institute,

  The title of US Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book, The Wuhan Cover Up, does not really represent the scope and nature of this seminal work. 

  This book is the most comprehensive historic summary and indictment of the history of the United States’ biowarfare/biodefense program ever written.

  

  Summarizing an amazing sweep of untold censored history, it begins with ancient Mediterranean and European examples of both chemical and biological warfare, proceeds to an open discussion of the shocking truths concerning Imperial Japan’s WWII biowarfare program (Unit 731), the importation of both Japanese and German biowarfare experts and technologies into Fort Detrick to create USAMRIID (operation Paperclip), strategic evasion of global biowarfare “treaties,” through to the present Wuhan Institute of Virology CIA/Intelligence Community/Chinese CCP collusion and cover up, and concludes by glancing into the future.

  What is often overlooked by academia, corporate media, and the Washington, DC political caste is that the history of modern biology (particularly microbiology, molecular biology, and virology) and the infectious disease pharmaceutical industry is intimately entwined with the American biowarfare enterprise. 

  It has been estimated that total Federal expenditures on biowarfare research and development from the end of WWII through to the implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1975) exceeded the costs of the US Nuclear Warfare program during this period, and this biowarfare program (and funding stream) is intimately linked to academia.  

  Most of the leaders of the American Society of Microbiology were also leaders in the American DoD/CIA-funded biowarfare program.  This background and context is necessary to understand how the fundamental corruption of academic medicine, peer-reviewed journals, the CDC, FDA, biological and academic research have been so comprehensive, as has been revealed by the COVID crisis. 

  Just follow the money.

  Which leads us to the most recent and egregious sordid chapter in this sorry tale, The Wuhan Cover Up. 

  A case study demonstrating the consequences of the situational ethical slide which often occurs when a massive administrative bureaucracy fuses with an “intelligence community.” 

  The resulting Leviathan, steeped in the utilitarian “ends justify the means” logic typical of all those skilled liars who have practiced spycraft throughout the ages, eventually forgets both its purpose and its commitment to serving the citizenry, and becomes a predatory monster. 

  With his masterful summary, Mr. Kennedy has provided the receipts on how this modern embodiment of the slouching beast foretold in Yeats’ “Second Coming” has been born and nurtured via a cooperation of convenience between the Western and Eastern military/intelligence/industrial complexes. 

  Now, looking forward, the open question is whether this globalized Leviathan will continue to succeed in its efforts to deploy advanced psychological and information control methods on the entire human community to avoid the consequences of its actions?

  Or will this book and the work of so many others trigger an awareness, awakening, and effective reaction among citizens to the deep corruption of medical-biological research, medical ethics, and the entire Western “health” enterprise which has occurred over the last century? 

  With this book as a guide, we can see the enemy, the face of creeping globalized utilitarian evil, and it is us. 

  *  *  *

  Reprinted from the author’s Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 19:40

• Internet Adoption In America: Who Isn't Online Yet?
  Internet Adoption In America: Who Isn’t Online Yet?

  The internet is so widely used today that for many, it’s hard to imagine life without it. Yet, despite its prevalence, there’s still a small fraction of Americans who aren’t online.

  Who are these non-adopters? Using data from Pew Research Center, Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang and Sam Parker created this this graphic providing a demographic breakdown of the U.S. adults who don’t use the internet.

  

  The Demographic Breakdown

  In the last two decades, internet adoption in the U.S. has skyrocketed, causing America’s offline population shrink to just 7%.

  That’s a significant drop from 2000, when almost half of the American population did not use the internet.

  According to the data, age seems closely linked to non-internet use—25% of respondents aged 65+ claimed they do not use the internet, compared to just 4% of those aged 50-64.

  

  However, it’s worth noting that 86% of U.S. seniors (65+) weren’t online in 2000, so this age group has seen a significant increase in internet adoption over the last two decades.

  Income also seems to be correlated with non-internet use. 14% of respondents with an annual household income below $30,000 claimed to not use the internet, compared to 1% who make $75,000 or more per year.

  

  Additionally, education may have positive correlation with internet adoption. Just 2–3% of survey respondents who went to college claimed to not use the internet, compared to 14% for those who didn’t study beyond high school. Interestingly, the data did not show a strong correlation between non-adoption and gender or race.

  Why is This Important?

  As the world becomes increasingly more digital, the internet is starting to become a necessity rather than a luxury. And those who don’t have good access to the web are starting to face significant obstacles in their day-to-day lives.

  For instance, when schools closed down during the early days of the global pandemic, many American children in lower-income homes did not have reliable internet at home or didn’t have a computer to complete their schoolwork on.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 19:20

• Trump Attorney Says Pence's Testimony Could Prove Trump's Innocence In Jan. 6 Case
  Trump Attorney Says Pence’s Testimony Could Prove Trump’s Innocence In Jan. 6 Case

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

  

  Former President Donald Trump’s attorney said Sunday that he welcomes former Vice President Mike Pence’s testimony and expects it could be key in proving Mr. Trump’s innocence in a case over whether the former president committed crimes in connection with efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.

  Attorney John Lauro said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Mr. Trump’s defense team believes Mr. Pence’s court testimony could be crucial in exonerating the former president of any wrongdoing in the so-called Jan. 6 case.

  In the case, special counsel Jack Smith has charged Mr. Trump with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding—the certification of the electoral vote—and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.

  Mr. Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, has pleaded not guilty and has alleged that the case is a form of election interference meant to thwart his White House bid.

  ‘Our Best Witness’

  In his appearance on CBS, Mr. Lauro said he believes Mr. Pence “will be our best witness” whose testimony could prove that Mr. Trump genuinely believed he was robbed of victory in 2020 and followed expert legal advice in seeking to challenge the results with no criminal intent to his actions.

  “The reason why Vice President Pence will be so important to the defense is … number one, he agrees that John Eastman, who gave legal advice to President Trump, was an esteemed legal scholar,” Mr. Lauro told the outlet.

  “Number two, he agrees that there were election irregularities, fraud, unlawful actions at the state level. All of that will eviscerate any allegation of criminal intent on the part of President Trump,” he added.

  Mr. Lauro added that Mr. Pence believed doubts around the 2020 election were legitimate enough to warrant debate during the proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, when lawmakers assembled Capitol Hill to certify the Electoral College vote.

  Ahead of Jan. 6, Mr. Pence’s chief of staff said that the former vice president welcomed an effort by some lawmakers to raise objections on Jan. 6.

  “Vice President Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election,” Marc Short, who was then Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Jan. 2, 2021. remove

  Mr. Lauro added that there was a “constitutional disagreement” between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence around whether the vice president at the time had the legal authority to reject questionable electoral votes and kick the issue back to the states for further debate or audit.

  The attorney said that, at the end of the day, what Mr. Trump wanted from Mr. Pence to do on Jan. 6 was not to overturn the results of the election but stop the counting of electoral votes to allow further debate at the state level.

  “The ultimate ask of Vice President Pence was to pause the counts and allow the states to weigh in,” Mr. Lauro said.

  He added that Mr. Trump was convinced there were irregularities in the election that needed to be investigated by state authorities before final certification.

  “The bottom line is never, never in our country’s history, have those kinds of disagreements been prosecuted criminally,” he added.

  Mr. Lauro rejected the notion that Mr. Trump would plead guilty under any circumstances and that his defense team will seek a motion to dismiss the case.

  Pence Insists He Had No Authority to Return Votes Back to States

  Mr. Pence, meanwhile, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he had no right to reject electoral votes on Jan. 6.

  “President Trump was wrong. He was wrong then. He’s wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election,” Mr. Pence told the outlet.

  Asked about the characterization by Mr. Lauro that all that he was asked to do on Jan. 6 was to delay the proceedings so that states could carry out an audit of the votes, Mr. Pence disputed that portrayal.

  “That’s not what happened,” Mr. Pence told the outlet. “From sometime in the middle of December, the president began to be told that I had some authority to reject or return votes back to the states. I had no such authority. No vice president in American history had ever asserted that authority and no one ever should.”

  While Mr. Pence acknowledged that the issue of whether the vice president has the authority to reject electoral votes “ebbed and flowed between different legal theories” but that, at the end of the day, Mr. Pence became convinced he did not have the legal authority to do so.

  In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Pence insisted that Mr. Trump’s team had asked him outright to overturn the results of the election.

  “They were asking me to overturn the election. I had no right to overturn the election,” Mr. Pence told the outlet.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Pence said recently that he’s unsure whether or not Mr. Trump actually committed any crime in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

  “I don’t know, honestly I don’t know the full case … that the government has. I think I’ve said on your network many times that I don’t know if taking bad advice from lawyers is a crime,” Mr. Pence said an interview with Fox News.

  The former vice president later added that he believes it is best to “leave that legal process, and frankly the profound issues about the First Amendment, to the courts to sort that out.”

  Asked during the CBS interview whether he thought the criminal indictment against Mr. Trump is a political persecution of the former president, as Mr. Trump has alleged, the former vice president said he’s not sure.

  “I don’t know whether the government has the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to support this case,” Mr. Pence said, while adding that he’s been “very concerned about politicization at the Justice Department for years,” mentioning the so-called Russia hoax and the impeachment of Mr. Trump over a phone call.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 19:00

• Japanese Automakers Are Losing Ground To Domestic Competition In China
  Japanese Automakers Are Losing Ground To Domestic Competition In China

  Japanese automakers are entering a fight for survival in China, a market they once easily held significant ground in. Instead, now, automakers based in Japan will have to take the next few years to reevaluate whether or not business is worth even continuing in China. 

  Japanese companies have “been losing long-held ground”, according to the Wall Street Journal, who notes that Nissan is “facing major challenges” in the geography. For its year ending in March, Nissan expected to sell 800,000 vehicles in China, which is 330,000 fewer than it originally intended. 

  Its new EV and hybrid lineup “will be the determinant of our survival,” Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said last month.

  Honda is also facing challenges, according to its finance head, Masaharu Hirose. Hirose said this week that competition was making it difficult for the automaker to hit its previously announced goal of 1.4 million vehicles sold in the country this year.

  

  Mazda has sold only about half the vehicles in China that it sold in the same period last year, WSJ writes. Its CFO said this week: “We are taking urgent action to recover” instead of withdrawing from the market. Mitsubishi has already suspended production at a joint venture it has in China, as a result of “sluggish sales”. 

  “For now, they’re really behind,” said Takaki Nakanishi, head of Tokyo-based automotive consulting firm Nakanishi Research Institute of Japanese automakers. “For the Japanese auto industry, which has until this point centered itself around sales in China and the U.S., it may be on a path to lose one of those cores.”

  Recall just weeks ago we wrote about how Chinese automakers were dethroning competition from the West. 

  Local auto brands produced in China made up 54% of the wholesale car market for the first half of 2023, The Wall Street Journal noted last month. This is up from 48% a year prior and marks the second 6 month period wherein local brands have surpassed foreign ones in a row. 

  It’s no secret that NEVs are leading the charge for China’s home grown vehicles. We noted last month that NEV sales in China were up 25.2% YOY, totaling 665,000 units. Passenger vehicle output fell 0.5% YOY but was up 10.3% sequentially, coming in at 2.2 million units. 

  It’s no secret that NEVs are leading the charge for China’s home grown vehicles. We noted just days ago that NEV sales in China were up 25.2% YOY, totaling 665,000 units. Passenger vehicle output fell 0.5% YOY but was up 10.3% sequentially, coming in at 2.2 million units. 

  

  9 of China’s 10 best selling electric vehicles makers were local companies, led by BYD, the Journal reported. Tesla was the only foreign automaker on the EV Top 10. The country’s focus on EVs since 2009 has turned it from a global “follower” to a global “leader” in the industry. 

  Stephen Dyer, a Shanghai-based auto consultant at AlixPartners, told WSJ other other automakers would have to learn from China’s developing trend if they want to find success in the market.

  Many Western companies started to step away from China after its auto market peaked in 2017. ICE vehicle sales had fallen by about 8 million vehicles by 2022, following this peak and as a result of demand compression from Covid amid a shift to NEVs.

  Ford has since reduced investments in China since its Mach-E wasn’t as successful as originally planned in the country.

  And Honda’s Chief Operating Officer Shinji Aoyama commented earlier this year: “Japanese, American and European automakers all have this sense that they were too late to make the initial moves. We’re now in a phase of trying our best to catch up.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 18:40

• Army Officer Court-Martialed After Refusing To Soften Findings Of Probe Of Suicides At Base
  Army Officer Court-Martialed After Refusing To Soften Findings Of Probe Of Suicides At Base

  Authored by J.M.Phelps via The Epoch Times,

  An Army officer was court-martialed after she refused requests to change recommendations she made that were critical of command while probing suicides at a military facility, according to her lawyer.

  

  The Army brought 24 charges against Army Reservist Lt. Col. Joy Thomas, and her trial began on June 20 at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty. Two weeks later, she was found guilty of only one charge of disrespecting a senior officer and given a $1,000 fine.

  Lt. Col. Thomas’s attorney R. Davis Younts, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and former Judge Advocate General officer, said the charges against his client were “retaliatory” and accused her command of acting “vitriolically” when Lt. Col. Thomas was only doing what she believed was right.

  Lt. Col. Thomas’s career began at the U.S. Army’s lowest enlisted rank. After 18 years of service, she achieved the rank of senior commissioned officer.

  Problems arose while she was completing an active-duty tour at Fort Bragg. In 2018, she was tasked with three suicide investigations. A “rash” of suicides has plagued the Army installation in the past several years, and her findings and recommendations were critical of command, Mr. Younts said, adding that, “they tried to get her to change them.” Five other investigating officers had reached the same conclusions.

  “Command just kept trying to find someone to say something more favorable, and when she didn’t, they had it out for my client,” Mr. Younts said, describing her career as “absolutely stellar” and calling her “a top-notch performer” in all previous military assignments.

  Lt. Col. Thomas faced court-martial for 24 charges involving allegations of desertion, absent without official leave (AWOL), and false official statements. Mr. Younts represented her at trial, which resulted in punishment for only one incident of “rolling her eyes and having a disrespectful tone,” he said. While Mr. Younts considered this a natural response to “the animosity of her chain of command,” he also acknowledged that “the judge needed to send a message that even on the worst day, soldiers still have to respect rank and the uniform.”

  Before the trial, Lt. Col.Thomas became the “black sheep” of her unit, and her command began to “do things that would have never been done to any other soldier,” Mr. Younts said. A career officer with aspirations to become a general “literally put his hand in her face during a very disrespectful, angry outburst,” he said. Despite having the incident witnessed by 24 soldiers, she was threatened not to file a complaint. “But she did file a complaint and that started an investigation into the colonel,” he said. The Epoch Times has viewed a copy of the document. As a result, he was “flagged,” according to Mr. Younts, preventing his promotion to general.

  In another example, Lt. Col. Thomas was marked absent without leave for four days. This was merely an attempt to “hurt” her career, Mr. Younts said, as the entire installation was closed for inclement weather.

  In a separate incident unrelated to her work assignment, she lost consciousness and suffered a concussion. “A friend contacted her command from her phone and let them know she was in the hospital,” he said.

  Lt. Col. Thomas ended up in the hospital for two weeks. While there, her command “counseled” her, and served her with separation papers at the hospital, as if she had abandoned her military duty, Mr. Younts said. After two weeks in the hospital, she was scheduled for further neurological evaluation with the primary care doctor on base.

  “She leaves the hospital, goes to that medical appointment, and the doctor tells her to come back the next day.”

  She was arrested upon returning to the base the following day, an incident Mr. Younts called “shocking.”

  “They charged her with being AWOL.”

  With ongoing, apparent retaliation from her command, Lt. Col. Thomas went to the provost marshal, the police authority, at the installation. She let him know she no longer felt safe reporting to her superior officer. Mr. Younts said she felt like command was “constantly harassing her, abusing AWOL, and doing things to set her up to get her into trouble.”

  After being threatened by the career officer in the above-mentioned confrontation, she asked for a no-contact order through the Provost Marshall’s office. Mr. Younts said, “her supervisor denied knowing that she ever requested a no-contact order.” But at trial, the now-retired provost marshal testified that a complaint was filed and that he personally notified her supervisor, directly contradicting the supervisor’s testimony.

  A Missed Opportunity

  Lt. Col. Thomas attempted to leave her current duty assignment to pursue another position in the military in the spring of 2021. Col. June Copeland, who has since retired, had hoped to hire her for “a very critical mission project,” according to Mr. Younts. Not only is Col. Copeland a West Point graduate, but her three daughters also graduated from the military academy. Lt. Col. Thomas considered the opportunity to work alongside Col. Copeland to be a much-needed boost to her increasingly stressful career.

  “Because Thomas’ chain of command was retaliating against her, they didn’t want her to leave,” Mr. Younts said.

  “Within 48 hours of speaking to Copeland, a flag appeared on Thomas’s record.”

  Lt. Col. Thomas would be unable to take the position as a result. Col. Copeland later testified at trial that there was no flag on Lt. Col. Thomas’ record at the time she was being considered for the position.

  “All these things were—and remain—deeply concerning, as each circumstance was being used as a weapon against her,” Mr. Younts said.

  “Even after being charged with disrespect toward a senior officer and being ordered to pay a thousand dollar fine,” Mr. Younts said, “the government still asked for a dismissal.”

  A dismissal is the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge for an officer, he explained.

  “Had she gotten a dismissal, she would have lost the benefits she earned, [including] her retirement, her medical, and more.”

  Mr. Younts strongly believes the findings and the sentence were intended to send a message to command that there were significant leadership failures. According to him, Lt. Col. Thomas should have avoided court-martial altogether and received nothing more than an Article 15 from her command to discipline her for the minor offense, which would have allowed her to move to her next assignment.

  He said an Article 15 would have been “an easy fix” that would have allowed Lt. Col. Thomas to “use her expertise and continue to pursue opportunities that would have been valuable to the United States Army, but her command continued to punish her instead.”

  “It was very, very troubling to see how personal the attacks were against Thomas,” he said.

  “It just gives me pause about Army leadership and makes me question how these individuals can be so concerned about their own careers and reputations at the expense of someone else.”

  “After calling 40 witnesses for the military and costing the government taxpayers over a million dollars, this is a case that could have been easily handled with nothing more than an Article 15,” he said.

  “Her command failed her on a lot of levels, and what the Army needs are more people, like Lt. Col. Thomas, who refuse to compromise their ethics and morality.” Going forward, Lt. Col. Thomas hopes to retire without further incident.

  Fort Liberty Public Affairs did not return a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 18:20

• Southern Border Cameras Capture Heavily Armed Cartel Illegally Entering US
  Southern Border Cameras Capture Heavily Armed Cartel Illegally Entering US

  A little over two months ago, the Mexican TV channel Milenio published shocking footage of a cartel member wielding a “military-grade grenade launcher” in Matamoros, a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas that borders Brownsville, Texas.

  

  Now Fox News border correspondent Bill Melugin has obtained frightening images of heavily armed cartel members with body armor crossing into Texas last weekend. 

  “Per law enforcement source, a group of suspected cartel gunmen armed with rifles & body armor were seen on cameras crossing illegally into the Fronton, TX area in the RGV Saturday night,” Melugin said on “X,” formerly known as Twitter. 

  Melugin said a tactical unit under Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) was immediately deployed to the area after cameras detected the armed cartel members entered the US illegally. 

  “Elite Border Patrol BORTAC agents were called out & searched area, but found nobody,” he said. 

  NEW: Per law enforcement source, a group of suspected cartel gunmen armed with rifles & body armor were seen on cameras crossing illegally into the Fronton, TX area in the RGV Saturday night. Elite Border Patrol BORTAC agents were called out & searched area, but found nobody. pic.twitter.com/9GuhQngPKj

  — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 8, 2023

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

  Here’s an example of a BORTAC agent that was dispatched. They look like Tier 1 Special Forces operators. 

  

  The Biden administration has gone out of its way to downplay the crisis at the southern border ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle.

  On Tuesday, Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan provided The National Desk’s Scott Thuman with a dose of reality about the true nature of the border crisis:

  “First of all, I think what it represents in this administration is not being honest with the American people. I learned a long time ago that the intentional omission of a material fact is the same thing as a lie. They’re using a sleight of hand like a good magician to get us to focus on only what’s happened in our Southern border.

  “Meanwhile, what they’re not telling you is what’s happening across the nation. This fiscal year, we’re on track for over 3 million nationwide encounters. That’s a 360% increase from when they took over in the past 29 months.”

  Morgan explained how the Biden administration is lying about the crisis:

  “Second to that is what’s very, very important is what they begin to do is divert those that we’re previously entering in between the ports of entry.

  “They’re simply diverting them to the ports of entry and then they’re claiming victory. In reality, it’s a big shell game.”

  In recent Congressional testimony, Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies warned: 

  “[T]his massive new population of needy foreigners will burden and transform [Americans’] communities without their say-so.” 

  Seeing cartel members brandishing RPGs and some crossing into the US heavily armed, one has to question if America’s southern border under Biden is on the verge of falling. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 18:00

• 75 More Catholic Schools Nationwide Say They Are Shutting Down
  75 More Catholic Schools Nationwide Say They Are Shutting Down

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

  At least 75 more Catholic schools across the nation have announced they are closing their doors for good, with many breaking the news to families in the past few weeks.

  

  Most of the closures have been in major cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and Cincinnati.

  In New York City alone, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York closed 12 schools as of the end of the academic year, laying the blame on “shifting demographics and lower enrollment, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

  Some of the schools that are now permanently closed were well-known and had rich histories.

  The Cambridge Matignon School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a private co-ed Roman Catholic college-prep school, opened in 1945. It won 10 ice hockey state championships and was the alma mater of 19 NHL draft picks and three NFL players.

  Last week, Immaculate Conception High School, an all-girls private school in Lodi, New Jersey, closed after 108 years, citing enrollment and financial challenges.

  In Texas, the historic 175-year-old Incarnate Word Academy, located in the Rio Grande Valley, announced it will close at the end of the year.

  “Several years of tracking diminishing enrollment and income have led to the conclusion that maintaining our school is no longer possible,” Sister Annette Wagner, the school’s superior general, said in a written statement.

  Financial Reasons

  While the schools have all cited financial reasons for the closures, there has been a variety of speculation offered by Catholics.

  C.J. Doyle, Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told The Epoch Times that Catholic schools are struggling with a shift in ideology, with traditional Catholic beliefs being challenged by modern Catholic families and even Catholic school leaders.

  He pointed to a recent controversy at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, New Hampshire, where parents and students protested the school’s decision to not renew contracts for four teachers who were either openly gay or openly embraced LGBT ideology.

  The school, which has tuition of $18,000, strongly denied that the move was in any way LGBT-related.

  “While we are not able to share details regarding specific personnel decisions out of respect for privacy and confidentiality, these four non-renewals had absolutely nothing to do with LGBTQ+ identity or personal alignment or views,” then-acting Principal Paul Marquis told The Boston Globe.

  Around the time of the controversy, some students attended the New Hampshire Catholic school’s prom as same-sex couples and kissed on stage during graduation events, some parents told The Epoch Times.

  “When you have that kind of behavior at a Catholic school, it’s then basically a public school with tuition,” Mr. Doyle said.

  A similar controversy recently rocked St. John LaLande Catholic School in Blue Springs, Missouri, when the school expelled an 11-year-old student after his parents, volunteers at the school, denounced the parish priest for removing LGBT literature from the school library and ordering the school to discontinue using a research app run by a well-known liberal media outlet.

  “I don’t think being blatantly homophobic is a teaching of the Catholic Church,” Hollee Muller, parent of the expelled child, told The Kansas City Star.

  Weeks earlier, Mr. Doyle’s organization condemned one of the few surviving Catholic schools in Boston, the all-girls Fontbonne Academy, for hosting a lesbian who calls herself a “big ol’ dyke” as the graduation speaker.

  In a formal letter, The Catholic Action League asked the Boston Archdiocese and Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to also condemn the move, but Mr. Doyle said they never even acknowledged the group’s concerns.

  Mr. Doyle and others also suggested the church may be selling off schools to make money.

  It could, in part, be to cover the costs of caring for aging clergy, the lack of new replacements, and a lack of new money coming into the church, he said.

  Much Speculation

  The National Catholic Reporter recently pointed out that many of the schools being shut down are in areas with high real estate values.

  The Cambridge Matingnon building and grounds, located only two miles from Harvard University campus, are valued at $32 million.

  When Mount Alvernia High, an all-girls school affiliated with the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, made the unexpected announcement it was closing, the Sisters said in a statement that it was because they had decided they were “no longer able to continue living” at the campus in the Boston area.

  However, Kathleen Joyce, a former member of the school board, claimed they had not been consulted and posted on Facebook that the order of nuns had secretly voted to sell off the property to Boston College, a Catholic university located across the street from the 88-year-old school.

  “Instead of notifying the Mount Alvernia Board and the school community of their unilateral decision, they covertly set out to find a buyer,” Ms. Joyce, who also chairs the Boston Licensing Board, wrote. “Not surprisingly, this market research began and ended with one buyer—another Catholic organization with a significant presence in our community.”

  Ms. Joyce didn’t respond to requests from The Epoch Times for additional comment on the issue.

  The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception declined to speak to The Epoch Times about the reasons for closing the school.

  The shutdown of Catholic schools is not new. Hundreds of schools have closed down nationwide over the years.

  Catholic groups have long blamed it in part on “vanishing nuns,” which translated into significantly higher teacher and administration fees and, thus, higher tuition and, consequently, a drop in enrollment.

  Lincoln Snyder, President and CEO of the National Catholic Education Association, which tracks population trends in Catholic schools,  pointed out to The Epoch Times that during the pandemic, Catholic schools saw a surge in enrollment, largely attributed to parents’ discontent with public schools being slow to move away from remote learning.

  According to the organization’s figures, U.S. Catholic schools’ student population grew by 65,000 between 2021 and 2022.

  Mr. Snyder said he believes that many Catholic families are not leaving behind Catholic schools but instead moving to other areas where the culture aligns with their values.

  He pointed out that Catholic schools in Florida have recently reported an increase in enrollment. One school that had been shut down for 14 years, St. Malachy in Tamarac, Florida, is set to re-open this fall because of the renewed demand for Catholic education in the Sunshine State, he said.

  “People are moving here from all over the world, from the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean,” Jim Rigg, secretary of education and superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Miami, said when announcing in June that the school was re-opening. “We’re in growth mode.” St. Malachy is located about 35 miles north of Miami and about 200 miles south of Disney World.

  Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles also reported a rise in student enrollment in the 255 Catholic schools it oversees after years of decline.

  Overall, however, the jump in Catholic school enrollment appears short-lived, with dozens of Catholic schools, including 14 in Connecticut alone, announcing at the end of the 2022 school year that they were permanently closing.

  Now there is yet another round of Catholic school closures. They include St. Christopher School on Staten Island, which made the announcement in mid-June.

  St. Mark Catholic School and the Good Shepherd Catholic School, both in St. Louis, also recently announced they were shutting down, as did the Wauwatosa Catholic School in Wisconsin.

  Earlier this month, St. Joseph Catholic School in Cincinnati told parents it was closing, and last week, the Holy Family School in Kentucky told families it would close because of a shortage of teachers.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 08/09/2023 – 17:40