• Globalists Suggest "Finance Shock" And Climate Controls To Launch Their Great Reset
  Globalists Suggest “Finance Shock” And Climate Controls To Launch Their Great Reset

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  At the end of June government leaders and think-tank power brokers from around the world met at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris. Participants include United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Banga.

  

  The supposed purpose of the summit was to find financial solutions to the goals of tackling poverty while simultaneously curbing “planet-heating emissions.” As with all climate change related events the discussion in Paris inevitably turned to international centralization of power and the formation of a global consortium to fix the problems that they claim sovereign nations cannot or will not fix.

  However, what I’m seeing more and more in the past couple years is a convergence of narratives – Central banks and international banks are now suddenly more concerned with carbon taxation and global warming than they seem to be concerned with stagflation and economic collapse. Likely because this was the goal all along and economic collapse is part of the plan.

  Globalists are now combining the climate change issue with international finance and monetary authority. In other words, they aren’t hiding the fact that the climate change agenda is part of the “Great Reset” agenda anymore. They are even suggesting that the threat of climate change be used as a springboard for giving global banks more power to dictate the circulation of wealth and for deconstucting the existing system so it can be replaced with something else.

  French President Emmanuel Macron told delegates at the Paris summit that “the world needs a public finance shock” to fight global warming while also creating “equity” for less wealthy nations. He also argued that the current system was not well suited to address the world’s challenges.

  Presenters at the event noted that the international economic framework had been battered by a number of crises, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but focused on “the spiraling cost of weather disasters intensified by global warming” as a reason for the ongoing destabilization of financial systems.

  This is obviously nonsense, but it fits with the narrative programming that globalists are trying to engineer by linking economic decline to climate change. In reality, there is ZERO evidence that global weather events are any worse today than they were over a hundred years ago before carbon producing industries were widespread. There is no proven connection between carbon emissions and any specific weather phenomenon. The claim is a fraud. There is no man-made climate crisis, as I have outlined and evidenced in previous articles.

  But how many people will be fooled into thinking that there is a climate crisis, and what can that hysterical fear be exploited for?

  Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley (like many globalists) advocated for re-imagining the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in an era of climate dangers. She argues: “What is required of us now is absolute transformation and not reform of our institutions…”

  UN leader Antonio Guterres said the global financial system, which was conceived at the end of World War II under the Bretton Woods Agreement, was failing to rise to modern challenges and now “perpetuates and even worsens inequalities.” In other words, he is angling for a new woke Bretton Woods.

  “We can take steps right now and take a giant leap towards global justice,” he said, adding that he has proposed a stimulus of $500 billion a year for investments in sustainable development and climate action. There was also a plan presented to use the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket as a mechanism to boost global liquidity.

  Keep in mind that the fiat stimulus measures of central banks and the interest rate policies of global bankers are what caused the current economic crisis to begin with. It wasn’t covid, it wasn’t the war in Ukraine and it certainly wasn’t climate change. It was the banks and their use of monetary manipulation that triggered 40 year high inflation, and this has led to central banks hiking interest rates into economic weakness.  This strategy has consistently caused debt implosion and stock market disasters in the past. The bankers and the globalists are the source of the problem, they should not be put in charge of fixing it.

  Yet, here they are, trying to take control and institute a sweeping Reset plan for the calamity they created. But where is all of this leading?

  Last year the UN suggested that developed and emerging economies like the US and China would have to pay a kind of wealth/emissions tax of at least $2.4 trillion a year into a fund for climate change developments, and this wealth would be redistributed to poorer nations.  Redistributed by who?  Well, the globalists, of course.

  Other ideas on the table include taxation on fossil fuel profits and financial transactions to raise climate funds. Meaning, they plan to tax oil and gas until prices become so high that the general public will not be able to afford them.

  Macron in particular backed the idea of an international tax on carbon emissions from shipping, ostensibly to make overseas freight more expensive in order to reduce manufacturing demand.  This expands on the strict carbon rules already being implemented on European agriculture.

  These all seem like disjointed plans to simply inflate prices through different forms of taxation and force the public to consume less goods, but there is a much bigger scheme at play here. It’s important to understand that climate change is nothing more than a vehicle to deliver a fully centralized global economic system, likely under the control of the IMF, BIS, World Bank and the UN.

  The annual payments by wealthier nations into global institutional coffers is an act of tribute, a show of fealty. It’s also a way for groups like the IMF to create a system of greater interdependency. If vast sums of money are flowing through globalist institutions and they become the arbiters of how that wealth is redistributed, they can also build a system of rewards and punishments. They can punish countries that don’t follow their dictates and they can give advantages to countries that toe the line.

  In terms of a new Bretton Woods, I suspect that this is all culminating in a currency crisis which the globalists will use as an opportunity to finally introduce their CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) model. And once CBDCs are implemented their ability to dominate the populace will be complete. A cashless system with no privacy in transactions and the ability to shut down the buying power of individuals and groups at will? It’s a totalitarian’s dream scenario.

  It’s no mistake that the public is being constantly bombarded with global warming propaganda these days – The powers that be need an existential crisis as a fear generator. When people are afraid they don’t think rationally and will often turn to the worst possible leaders for relief. And a global threat requires a global response, right?

  Climate change disaster narratives (if the public embraces the propaganda) will allow for a wide array of systemic changes that have nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with financial dominance.

  National wealth taxation and redistribution. The imposition of the IMF and World Bank as a mediator for global funds. The use of the IMF’s SDR basket as a defacto global currency umbrella. The injection of CBDCs and a cashless society. None of these things would have any bearing on climate change even if it was a legitimate threat.

  But what about the scorched earth model?  If  the ultimate intent is to destroy the economy to the point that most industry dies, trade retracts and the population plummets because survival becomes untenable, then one might argue that the globalists are “saving the planet” by getting rid of people.  I suppose if you think keeping the population in perpetual third-world status will save us from global warming, then you might support such an agenda.

  Whether the goal is simply economic micro-management or the forced liquidation of production, the outcome would be more power for internationalists and less freedom and prosperity for everyone else.

  They can spin it however they want, but when the elites call for a “financial shock” they are really calling for a dramatic throttling of the system so that it can no longer maintain the existing populace. When they call for global taxation and tribute in the name of “equality” they are not trying to make everyone equally rich, they want everyone equally poor.

  And when they call for the centralized oversight of nations for the sake of saving the planet, what they really want is global governance.

  *  *  *

  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, 07/14/2023 – 23:40

• 'Help' Or 'Harm' – Visualizing Global Sentiment On AI
  ‘Help’ Or ‘Harm’ – Visualizing Global Sentiment On AI

  Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a revolutionary force with the potential to transform many aspects of our daily lives.

  So understanding how the average person feels about this technology is essential as it integrates further into society. 

  In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist’s Alan Kennedy and Sabrina Fortin, using data from Lloyd’s Register Foundation, we explore the findings of the World Risk Poll 2021: A Digital World.  

  

  The World’s Opinion is Divided

  In the poll, which had 125,000 respondents in 121 countries, people were asked if AI would ‘mostly help’ or it would ‘mostly hurt‘ people in their home country over the next 20 years.

  We’ve looked at the ratio of these responses below.

  A higher ratio above 1.0 indicates that more people think AI could ‘mostly help’, while a ratio below 1.0 suggests that the population has more skepticism towards the technology.

  Globally, the average ratio is 1.4, but significant differences can be seen when looking at each individual region.

  

  Notably, public opinion among the biggest economies appears split.

  When we dug into the data, we saw that the U.S. showed skepticism towards AI with a ratio of 0.9. In this case, the potential loss of jobs could possibly be the leading cause of apprehension.

  On the other hand, China expressed a ratio of 4.5, meaning for every 1 respondent that believes AI will ‘mostly harm’, 4.5 said AI would ‘mostly help’.

  Why is AI So Polarizing? 

  AI has always been a divisive subject, and even the media can’t settle on whether AI is akin to the chaotic and malevolent Ultron or the caring and cat-obsessed Lt. Cmdr Data.

  Consequently, it’s not just a person’s nationality or media consumption that impacts their stance on AI. A person’s life experience may also play a role in their perception of AI, more notably when it comes to religious views or access to the internet:

  

  Artificial intelligence has many philosophical ramifications, so it’s no surprise that only 32% of those who consider religion important believe AI will help. Conversely, 48% of non-religious people believe AI will ‘mostly help’.

  In 16 countries, the percentage of people who say AI will ‘mostly harm’ was higher among those who had experienced discrimination based on their race/nationality, skin color, or sex, compared to those who had not. Notably, these include three Northern European countries where overall perceptions of AI are among the most positive in the world: Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

  An Uncertain Future

  Even though 39% of global respondents believe AI will ‘mostly help’ in the next 20 years, only 27% of those people believe they would feel comfortable behind the wheel of a self-driving car. This suggests that while people may be ready for AI as a tool, they may not be ready for it to control large parts of their life.

  With this in mind, understanding public opinion is crucial for policymakers and industry leaders to then shape the development and deployment of AI technologies in a manner that addresses these concerns. 

  Lloyd’s Register Foundation has created the World Risk Poll 2021 to help engineer a safer world, but the scope of this study goes beyond AI and personal data. In part two of this series, we’ll explore the World Risk Poll 2021: Safe At Work and unearth some startling trends regarding workplace harassment.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 23:20

• Biden's ATF Sued For "Zero Tolerance" Policy Towards Gun Dealers
  Biden’s ATF Sued For “Zero Tolerance” Policy Towards Gun Dealers

  Submitted by Gun Owners of America,

  Earlier this year, Gun Owners of America leaked internal ATF documents, highlighting an unprecedented rate of Federal Firearms Licenses revoked by the Biden administration’s ATF. 

  In fact, since the enactment of ATF’s Zero Tolerance policy, there has been a 200% increase in FFL revocations. This is due to the agency’s new interpretation of the word “willful.” 

  Congress has made clear that, when revoking a license, ATF is required to prove that an FFL “willfully” violated the law before the statutory punishments can be levied. 

  This deliberate addition to the law by Congress presented a problem for ATF, as virtually all gun dealers are well-intentioned, law-abiding people who always attempt to comply with the law.  

  Therefore, to claim “willfulness” to violate the law by people who almost uniformly try to follow the law — ATF had to get creative.  

  Now, ATF claims that a single manual, potentially given to an FFL decades ago, proves that the FFL knew the law and thus “willfully” decided to violate it. 

  

  Whereas prior to the adoption of the Zero Tolerance policy, ATF would give a warning conference to firearms dealers who made mistakes on forms. Now, according to the new policy, the default action is to revoke the dealer’s license.  

  In other words, under the Biden Administration, ATF has changed its focus from regulating the gun industry to destroying it by whatever means possible — eliminating access to firearms by putting as many gun dealers as possible out of business.  

  In 2022, GOA & Morehouse Industries, a firearms business from North Dakota, filed a lawsuit against the ATF’s Frame and Receiver rule.  

  Not long after that, ATF initiated its first-ever inspection of Morehouse’s FFL. 

  The ATF agent assigned to the Morehouse inspection, Jacob Temp, mentioned to the licensee that around his office, the other agents joked about how the inspection would look like retaliation for the lawsuit.  

  The ATF’s inspection resulted in ATF issuing a notice of license revocation to Morehouse Industries. 

  It’s important to note that the supposed violations being used as cause for revocation did not in any way impact public safety, risk the transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person, or harm law enforcement’s ability to trace any gun. 

  So, in response to ATF’s egregious abuse of power, Gun Owners of America and Morehouse Industries are suing the agency again — this time, over their illegal zero-tolerance policy.  

  Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, issued the following statement:  

  “This zero-tolerance policy towards lawful commerce guaranteed by the Second Amendment is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing federal agencies against their political enemies. It also is just one more compelling piece of evidence to support gun owners’ demands that Congress defund the ATF.” 

  Sam Paredes, on behalf of the Board for GOF, added:  

  “It’s ridiculous that good people trying to make an honest living are facing this assault on their livelihoods simply over inconsequential paperwork errors. GOF is proud to be lending our support in defense of Bridge City Ordnance and all of those small businesses facing devastating consequences if this Administration’s hostility towards firearms is permitted to go unchecked.”  

  Gun Owners of America has had major success in the courts fighting against Biden’s executive actions. In May, GOA won a preliminary injunction against ATF’s pistol brace rule, making GOA members immune from enforcement.  

  *   *   * 

  We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 23:00

• Aspen's Mansion Market Hit By 'Deep Freeze' As Normalcy Returns
  Aspen’s Mansion Market Hit By ‘Deep Freeze’ As Normalcy Returns

  Aspen, Colorado’s luxury real estate market has cooled after a surge of wealthy folks fled US cities during Covid to the mountain resort town 8,000 feet above sea level. Bloomberg states year-to-date dollar volume for mansion contracts is down a whopping 40% compared to the same period last year as real estate faces a headwind thanks to a series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. 

  Tim Estin, a broker with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty, wrote in a new report that Aspen real estate has dramatically slowed in the first half of 2023. 

  “The market has returned to pre-pandemic “normalcy” of the 2016-2019 years, a theme mentioned throughout the year so far,” Estin wrote, adding “normalcy” means an “active market but not the explosive ‘urban exodus’ market of 2020-2022.” 

  Jennifer Banner, a Christie’s International Real Estate Aspen Snowmass broker, said, “Inventory is still historically low.” 

  Estin said there were 175 property listings as of June, an increase from record lows in 2022, yet still significantly below the June 2019 average of 318 listings.

  

  “Aspen is unique. We have very limited supply and great demand. So when we don’t have a lot of inventory to sell, our sales decrease. It’s not necessarily the lack of interest in being here; it’s the lack of options for potential buyers,” Steven Shane, a broker with Compass Inc., who, at the end of May, sold a $65 million mansion in downtown Aspen.

  Low inventory is the reason why prices have remained stable. Bloomberg said, “As of June 31, the average price per square foot of a single-family home in Aspen was $3,150, more than three times the figure in 2019: $1,048 per square foot. Between Q2 of 2022 and Q2 of 2023, the average home sale price per square foot was up 6%.” 

  Jonathan Miller, president and chief executive officer of appraiser Miller Samuel Inc., said, “Even though the majority of buyers pay in cash, Fed policy is reflective of not just mortgage rates, but also the financial markets. And this is a very affluent market. They watch the market, and it just adds a layer of uncertainty. As a result—whatever housing market you’re looking at in the US—nearly all of them have seen fairly large declines from unusually elevated levels in the past couple of years.”

  Brokers said high-end homes over $10 million should experience continued strength this year. Some expect prices to cool but will never return to a pre-pandemic level. “I believe there’ll be an adjustment, but certainly not to pre-Covid levels,” Shane said. 

  So a combination of tighter financial conditions and mounting macroeconomic uncertainty has sent a deep freeze through Aspen’s mansion market. 

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 22:40

• China Perfecting Techno-Totalitarianism For Export Around The World: Rep. Gallagher
  China Perfecting Techno-Totalitarianism For Export Around The World: Rep. Gallagher

  Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times,

  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is perfecting a techno-totalitarian regime for export to the rest of the world, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) has warned.

  

  Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-Wis.), speaks during an interfaith roundtable on the CCP’s threat to religious freedom in Washington on July 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  The regime’s worsening repression of faith was in the spotlight at a roundtable hearing that the lawmaker hosted on July 12. One key takeaway, the chairman and other panelists of the House Select Committee on the CCP said, is that such abuses do not stop at Chinese borders.

  “Across the board, we’ve seen the Chinese Communist Party leverage access to their market and their economic power in order to coerce American companies, international companies,” Mr. Gallagher told The Epoch Times’ sister outlet NTD.

  The lawmaker made the comment in response to a question regarding a lawsuit against Cisco, accusing the California tech giant of aiding Beijing’s persecution of the spiritual group Falun Gong—which encourages people to live by the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Cisco allegedly gave the regime U.S. technology and components that allowed it to build a vast surveillance network. Over a dozen adherents, including one U.S. citizen, alleged that the resulting system tracked their Falun Gong-related activities online, leading to their arrest and torture in China.

  

  Surveillance cameras in Hangzhou, in east China’s Zhejiang Province on May 29, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

  “The techno-totalitarian regime that the CCP is perfecting in China will not stay there. It’s a model increasingly they want to export around the world. And so we’re considering a variety of pieces of legislation to counter that,” Mr. Gallagher said.

  At the roundtable, representatives for Chinese Christians, Tibetans, and Uyghurs also spoke about their suffering at the hands of China’s communist party officials, with some, in the case of house church pastor Pan Yongguang, continuing even after they fled China.

  

  Pastor Pan Yongguang at Mayflower Church of China, who was granted asylum by the U.S. in April 2023, speaks during an interfaith roundtable on the Chinese Communist Party’s threat to religious freedom in Washington on July 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  Mr. Pan and members of Mayflower Church in China’s Shenzhen city left China in October 2019. After arriving in South Korea, many from the group received threatening phone calls from CCP officials demanding they they return to China. Members were also followed in Thailand by suspected CCP agents, while their relatives in China faced harassment and interrogation, Mr. Pan said at the hearing. In February this year, he said that Chinese police officers visited his wife’s parents in central Chinese province Hunan in order to pressure her to urge Mr. Pan to return. The stress of the blackmail and concern for her elderly parent’s welfare caused Mrs. Pan to suffer a partial heart attack.

  “The Chinese Communist Party wants to dominate the world. If they achieved their goals, then what you see happening in China is going to happen around the world,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), a member of the House China Committee, told The Epoch Times.

  

  Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) speaks during an interfaith roundtable on the Chinese Communist Party’s threat to religious freedom in Washington on July 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  He pointed to Hong Kong, where authorities arrested and later fined Cardinal Joseph Zen, 91, over a support fund for pro-democracy protesters. Incidents like this speak to the importance of speaking up about the regime’s abuses, Mr. Gimenez said, because what is happening in China right now could one day “be happening to you.”

  “You have to be subservient to the Chinese Communist Party” and if “you pose a threat to the Chinese Communist Party in any way, you’ll be persecuted, you’ll be in prison, and sometimes, you may even lose your life.”

  Multiple current and former U.S. religious freedom officials have already called attention to lobbying efforts on behalf of China that reach Washington, such as reports of big firms like Nike and Coca-Cola trying to weaken legislation banning imports from Xinjiang over forced labor concerns.

  The U.S. government needs to pay closer attention to such lobbying activities and stop multinational corporations from assisting the regime’s oppression, said Frederick Davie, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

  Oncologist Dr. Weldon Gilcrease at the University of Utah previously told The Epoch Times that the leaders of his school’s health care system had intentionally refrained from speaking out on forced organ harvesting out of fear of economic retribution by Beijing.

  

  Frederick Davie, Vice Chair of U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and Strategic Advisor to the President at Union Theological Seminary (NYC), speaks during an interfaith roundtable on the Chinese Communist Party’s threat to religious freedom in Washington on July 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  To Davie, who earlier at the panel voiced concerns about the CCP using bilateral academic partnerships to make U.S. institutions “immune to the atrocities,” the incident was a case in point.

  “It just proves the point of the level of influence that the Chinese economic reach has around the world and in the United States,” he told The Epoch Times.

  American consumers have a part to play as well, noted Tony Perkins, former chair of the bipartisan religious freedom commission and president of the Family Research Council.

  “China is actually more repressive today than they were two decades ago, and the reason is they can afford to be as American consumers fund their repression,” Mr. Perkins said at the panel.

  Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, speaks during an interfaith roundtable on the Chinese Communist Party’s threat to religious freedom in Washington on July 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

  In his mind, the United States should have “no further economic transactions” with China until the human rights situation changes.

  “Americans have become addicted to cheap goods—a very materialistic society—but they need to understand that the profits from that are coming back to influence policy, both here and abroad,” he told The Epoch Times.

  “For our family, we read the label of where things are manufactured. And we do everything possible to keep from buying products from China, and we encourage others to do the same.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 22:20

• Dylan Mulvaney Flees US To Peru For 'Safety' Only To Return Days Later To Attend LA Event
  Dylan Mulvaney Flees US To Peru For ‘Safety’ Only To Return Days Later To Attend LA Event

  Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney claimed to have fled the US earlier this week for a third-world South American country because ‘she’ no longer “feels safe” in a first-world country amid the demise of Bud Light following her disastrous TikTok advertising partnership in April.

  Just for the sake of the ‘fact-checkers’ Peru is the 59th ‘safest’ country in the world for LGBTQ+ people, while USA is ranked 6th…

  

  Source: EqualDex

  However, Mulvaney has since made her way back to the US.

  The 26-year-old TikTok influencer who gets paid by ‘woke’ mega-corporations to promote their products while mocking women revealed Monday on TikTok she was at Machu Picchu. 

  

  Mulvaney said she is “solo traveling” in Peru to “feel something” — as to what that means, we have no clue. She said she left the US because she does not currently feel safe.  

  “I feel very safe here. It’s a little sad that I had to leave my country to feel safe, but that will get better eventually,” Mulvaney told millions of followers on the Chinese-owned social media platform. 

  “I came here to feel something. And I definitely have. I have done shaman ceremonies that were like 10 years worth of therapy, it was wild,” Mulvaney continued, adding, “I’ve seen a lot of llamas. The people here are so kind. I feel very safe here.”

  And only days later, Mulvaney returned Stateside to attend a Thursday red carpet for Outfest in Los Angeles. 

  Days ago Dylan Mulvaney claimed to have fled the U.S. because he didn’t ‘feel safe.’

  Yet last night he appeared at an LGBT event red carpet in Los Angeles showing off his ‘breasts’ and nipples. pic.twitter.com/aq2Vp39eLl

  — Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 14, 2023

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

  Remember all those celebrities who have said they’re fleeing America for good for whatever reason — but never do. Add Mulvaney to that list. As to the hype she was promoting about ‘not feeling safe’ — seems like the transgender influencer might have been peddling misinformation considering her return to the States was only days later. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 22:00

• Targeted For Tyranny: We're All Suspects Under The Government's Pre-Crime Program
  Targeted For Tyranny: We’re All Suspects Under The Government’s Pre-Crime Program

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rurtherford Institute,

  “There is now the capacity to make tyranny total in America.”

  – James Bamford, journalist

  We’re all being targeted now.

  We’re all guilty until proven innocent now.

  And thanks to the 24/7 surveillance being carried out by the government’s spy network of fusion centers, we are all now sitting ducks, just waiting to be tagged, flagged, targeted, monitored, manipulated, investigated, interrogated, heckled and generally harassed by agents of the American police state.

  

  Although these precrime programs are popping up all across the country, in small towns and big cities, they are not making us any safer but they are endangering individual freedoms.

  Nationwide, there are upwards of 123 real-time crime centers (a.k.a. fusion centers), which allow local police agencies to upload and share massive amounts of surveillance data and intelligence with state and federal agencies culled from surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, gunshot sensors, social media monitoring, drones and body cameras, and artificial intelligence-driven predictive policing algorithms.

  These data fusion centers, which effectively create an electronic prison—a digital police state—from which there is no escape, are being built in partnership with big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, which helped to fuel the rise of police militarization and domestic surveillance.

  While these latest expansions of the surveillance state are part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to combat domestic extremism through the creation of a “precrime” crime prevention agency, they have long been a pivotal part of the government’s plans for total control and dominion.

  Yet this crime prevention campaign is not so much about making America safer as it is about ensuring that the government has the wherewithal to muzzle anti-government discontent, penalize anyone expressing anti-government sentiments, and preemptively nip in the bud any attempts by the populace to challenge the government’s authority or question its propaganda.

  As J.D. Tuccille writes for Reason, “[A]t a time when government officials rage against ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ that is often just disagreement with whatever opinions are currently popular among the political class, fusion centers frequently scrutinize peaceful dissenting speech.”

  Indeed, while the Biden Administration was recently dealt a legal blow over its attempts to urge social media companies to do more to combat so-called dis- and mis-information, these fusion centers are the unacknowledged powerhouses behind the government’s campaign to censors and retaliate against those who vocalize their disagreement and discontent with government policies.

  Already, the powers-that-be are mobilizing to ensure that fusion centers have the ability to monitor and lockdown sectors of a community at a moment’s notice.

  For instance, a 42,000-square-foot behemoth of a fusion center in downtown Washington is reportedly designed to “better prepare law enforcement for the next public health emergency or Jan. 6-style attack.” According to an agency spokeswoman, “Screens covering the walls of the new facility will show surveillance cameras around the city as well as social media accounts that may be monitored for threatening speech.”

  It’s like a scene straight out of Steven Spielberg’s dystopian film Minority Report, set in 2054, where police agencies harvest intelligence from widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, precognitive technology, and neighborhood and family snitch programs in order to capture would-be criminals before they can do any damage.

  Incredibly, as the various nascent technologies employed and shared by the government and corporations alike—facial recognition, iris scanners, massive databases, behavior prediction software, and so on—are incorporated into a complex, interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements, predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior, the dystopian visions of past writers is fast becoming our reality.

  Our world is now characterized by widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, fusion centers, driverless cars, voice-controlled homes, facial recognition systems, cybugs and drones, and predictive policing (pre-crime) aimed at capturing would-be criminals before they can do any damage.

  What once seemed futuristic no longer occupies the realm of science fiction.

  The American police state’s take on the dystopian terrors foreshadowed by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Phillip K. Dick have all been rolled up into one oppressive pre-crime and pre-thought crime package.

  In this way, the novel 1984 has become an operation manual for an omnipresent, modern-day surveillance state in which ordinary Americans find themselves labeled domestic extremists for engaging in lawful behavior that triggers the government’s precrime sensors.

  The technocrats who run the surveillance state don’t even have to break a sweat while monitoring what you say, what you read, what you write, where you go, how much you spend, whom you support, and with whom you communicate and then classifying you as a danger.

  Computers now do the tedious work of trolling social media, the internet, text messages and phone calls for potentially anti-government remarks, all of which is carefully recorded, documented, and stored to be used against you someday at a time and place of the government’s choosing.

  In this way, with the help of automated eyes and ears, a growing arsenal of high-tech software, hardware and techniques, government propaganda urging Americans to turn into spies and snitches, as well as social media and behavior sensing software, government agents are spinning a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports aimed at snaring potential enemies of the state.

  It’s also a setup ripe for abuse.

  For instance, an investigative report by the Brennan Center found that “Over the last two decades, leaked materials have shown fusion centers tracking protestors and casting peaceful activities as potential threats. Their targets have included racial justice and environmental advocates, right-wing activists, and third-party political candidates.”

  One fusion center in Maine was found to have been “illegally collecting and sharing information about Maine residents who weren’t suspected of criminal activity. They included gun purchasers, people protesting the construction of a new power transmission line, the employees of a peacebuilding summer camp for teenagers, and even people who travelled to New York City frequently.”

  In one Florida county, police have been using their precrime program to generate “lists of people it considers likely to break the law, based on arrest histories, unspecified intelligence and arbitrary decisions by police analysts.” Then, according to the Tampa Bay Times, deputies are deployed “to find and interrogate anyone whose name appears, often without probable cause, a search warrant or evidence of a specific crime. They swarm homes in the middle of the night, waking families and embarrassing people in front of their neighbors. They write tickets for missing mailbox numbers and overgrown grass, saddling residents with court dates and fines. They come again and again, making arrests for any reason they can.”

  The goal? “Make their lives miserable until they move or sue.”

  This is how the government is turning a nation of citizens into suspects and would-be criminals.

  This transformation is being driven by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency notorious for militarizing the police and SWAT teams; spying on activists, dissidents and veterans; stockpiling ammunition; distributing license plate readers; contracting to build detention camps; tracking cell-phones with Stingray devices; carrying out military drills and lockdowns in American cities; using the TSA as an advance guard; conducting virtual strip searches with full-body scanners; carrying out soft target checkpoints; directing government workers to spy on Americans; conducting widespread spying networks using fusion centers; carrying out Constitution-free border control searches; funding city-wide surveillance cameras; and utilizing drones and other spybots.

  Twenty years after being formed in the wake of 9/11, the DHS is a massive, costly, power-hungry bureaucracy working hard to ensure that the government is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful.

  Yet here’s the thing: you don’t have to do anything illegal or challenge the government’s authority in order to be flagged as a suspicious character, labeled an enemy of the state and locked up like a dangerous criminal.

  In fact, all you need to do is use certain trigger words, surf the internet, communicate using a cell phone, drive a car, stay at a hotel, purchase materials at a hardware store, take flying or boating lessons, appear suspicious to a neighbor, question government authority, or generally live in the United States.

  The following activities are guaranteed to get you censored, surveilled, eventually placed on a government watch list, possibly detained and potentially killed.

  Use harmless trigger words like cloud, pork and pirates. Use a cell phone. Drive a car. Attend a political rally. Express yourself on social media. Serve in the military. Disagree with a law enforcement official. Call in sick to work. Limp or stutter. Appear confused or nervous, fidget, whistle or smell bad. Allow yourself to be seen in public waving a toy gun or anything remotely resembling a gun, such as a water nozzle or a remote control or a walking cane, for instance. Stare at a police officer. Appear to be pro-gun, pro-freedom or anti-government. Attend a public school. Speak truth to power.

  It’s just a matter of time before you find yourself wrongly accused, investigated and confronted by police based on a data-driven algorithm or risk assessment culled together by a computer program run by artificial intelligence.

  Before long, every household in America will be flagged as a threat and assigned a threat score.

  Without having ever knowingly committed a crime or been convicted of one, you and your fellow citizens have likely been assessed for behaviors the government might consider devious, dangerous or concerning; assigned a threat score based on your associations, activities and viewpoints; and catalogued in a government database according to how you should be approached by police and other government agencies based on your particular threat level.

  Combine predictive policing with surveillance, overcriminalization and precrime programs, then add in militarized police trained to shoot first and ask questions later, and as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, you’ll be lucky to escape with your life.

  If you’re not scared yet, you should be.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 21:40

• There Could Be 24 CBDCs Live By 2030: BIS
  There Could Be 24 CBDCs Live By 2030: BIS

  Authored by David Attlee via CoinTelegraph.com,

  According to a survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 93% of central banks are already researching central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and there could be up to 15 retail and nine wholesale CBDCs in circulation by 2030.

  

  Published earlier this week, the survey of 86 central banks was conducted from October to December 2022. It asked central banks whether they were working on a retail, wholesale or both types of CBDC, how advanced the work was, and their motivations.

  

  There could be as many as 24 live CBDCs by 2030. Source: BIS

  According to a survey, over half of the world’s central banks are conducting experiments or working on a CBDC pilot. Almost a quarter of all central banks are already piloting their retail CBDC projects, and the number of wholesale CBDCs in the works is much lower.

  Geoeconomically, nations within emerging markets and developing economies are leading CBDC adoption.

  Their share in piloting the retail (29%) and wholesale (16%) CBDCs almost doubles that of advanced economies, which stands at 18% and 10%, respectively.

  Both developing and advanced economies mostly share the motivation behind their CBDC projects — financial stability and cross-border payments efficiency. However, developing countries are more often driven by financial inclusion reasons.

  The share of central banks likely to issue a retail CBDC within the next three years grew from 15% to 18% in 2022. At the same time, 68% of central banks still state their unreadiness to issue a retail CBDC “any time soon.”

  To date, there are still only four CBDCs in circulation: in the Bahamas, the Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica and Nigeria. Yet, based on the central bankers’ answers, the survey predicts 15 retail and 9 wholesale CBDCs will be live by the end of this decade.

  At the end of June, the Reserve Bank of India reported ongoing negotiations with at least 18 central banks worldwide regarding the possibility of cross-border payments via its CBDC, the “digital rupee.”

  In July, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Innovation Center completed its proof-of-concept of a regulated liability network for a CBDC.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 21:20

• Lott: Guns Are Not the Leading Cause of Children’s Deaths
  Lott: Guns Are Not the Leading Cause of Children’s Deaths

  Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClear Wire,

  A favorite talking point from the Biden White House is that guns are the leading cause of death of children. The problem is that it is false.

  

  “The number one cause of death of the children in America is gun violence,” Vice President Kamala Harris claimed on June 2.

  Later the White House tweeted, “Guns are the #1 KILLER of CHILDREN.” President Biden has made the same claim multiple times this year.

  The Washington Post parroted this claim, running the headline: “Why guns are America’s number one killer of children.” Similarly, the NPR headline says: “Firearms overtook auto accidents as the leading cause of death in children,” and even the BBC got in on the act: “Gun deaths were the leading killer of US children in 2020.” Fact-checkers from Newsweek to Snopes also push these claims.

  The first question is: What is a child? For those under 18, vehicle deaths are consistently greater than those from firearms. Adding homicides, unintentional deaths, and suicides together shows 2,443 total deaths from vehicles and 2,218 from firearms. In 2021, there were again 2,668 vehicle and 2,519 firearm deaths. When we exclude justifiable homicides that are committed in self-defense, that number falls by several hundred. 

  So, even if we are counting 17-year-old gang members as “children,” the White House’s claim is incorrect. In 2019 and 2020, more minors died from suffocation.

  Homicides for all ages have been on the upswing across the country starting in 2020. Democrats blame this increase on guns while ignoring police budget cuts, refusal to prosecute violent criminals, bail reform, and mass release of many young, healthy inmates during the pandemic.

  Many people would even define children at even younger ages. But the claims by gun control advocates like Biden and Harris are only possible if they define everyone under 20 as children.

  For those under 20, firearm deaths exceed vehicle deaths for 2020 and 2021 when you use the CDC firearm homicide data. When you use the FBI data, the vehicle deaths exceed the firearm deaths for 2019 and 2020, and likely 2021, though the FBI data isn’t available for that year. The bottom line is that about a third of the firearm deaths for those under 20 involve homicide, where the victims are 18 and 19 years old. Approximately 20% involve homicides for 15, 16, and 17-year-olds. These deaths are largely gang-related, and even banning guns is unlikely to stop drug gangs from obtaining guns to protect their extremely valuable drugs.

  Nor does it make sense to blame rising suicides on guns. When gun bans are enacted, there are many other effective ways to commit suicide, such as hanging, walking in front of a train, jumping from a height, using explosives, or taking cyanide. Indeed, while gun bans are associated with drops in firearm suicides, there is no change in total suicides.

  With the FBI data, firearm suicides make up about 40% of all firearm deaths. So, for example, in 2020, for those under 20, removing suicides would reduce the number of firearm deaths – using the numbers from the CDC – from 4,253 to 2,960, and – using the FBI murder rate data – from 3,405 to 2,112.

  Banning guns might reduce firearm suicides and cases of self-defense, but it won’t reduce firearm murders. Indeed, a ban on guns, even a handgun ban like the ones we’ve seen in Washington and Chicago, inevitably makes things much worse. After every gun ban, murder rates have gone up.

  One would think that just once, out of simple randomness, murder rates would have gone down or remained the same after a ban. But whenever crime data are available from both before and after a ban, we can see that murder rates have gone up (often by huge amounts).

  Gun control advocates will tell you that Washington and Chicago weren’t fair tests. They will point out that criminals could still get guns in Virginia or Maryland, or in Illinois or Indiana. While that might explain why murder rates didn’t fall as promised, it doesn’t explain why murder and violent crime rates went up.

  Even island nations have fared no better. After the UK banned handguns in January 1997, its homicide rate rose by 50% over the following eight years. The rate returned to earlier levels only after a 14% increase in the number of police.

  Even more dramatic post-ban surges occurred in Jamaica and Ireland, with six or sevenfold increases in homicide rates.

  Democrats can’t accept their responsibility for increased violent crime in 2020 and 2021. They want to blame guns, and there’s no better way to do so than to keep claiming that guns are the number one killer of “children.”

  John R. Lott Jr. is a contributor to RealClearInvestigations, focusing on voting and gun rights. His articles have appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, USA Today, and Chicago Tribune. Lott is an economist who has held research and/or teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 21:00

• The Achilles' Heel Of The JFK Assassination
  The Achilles’ Heel Of The JFK Assassination

  Authored by Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freedom Foundation,

  The autopsy that the U.S. national-security establishment conducted on President Kennedy’s body has always been the Achilles heel of the assassination. That’s because the autopsy was fraudulent. But because the military “classified” the autopsy, forcing enlisted personnel to sign secrecy oaths and threatening them with court martial or criminal prosecution if they ever revealed what they saw or did, the military was able to cover up much, but certainly not all, of its autopsy fraud for decades. That cover-up came to a screeching halt during the 1990s during the term of the Assassination Records Review Board.

  

  When I began delving into the JFK assassination many years ago, I naturally read lots of books. Gradually, I became convinced that the assassination was a highly sophisticated regime-change operation orchestrated and carried out by the U.S. national-security establishment. I became convinced that it was no different in principle from other regime-change operations, especially ones that involved state-sponsored assassinations based on “national security,” such as those operations that targeted Iranian leader Mohammad Mossadegh, Congo leader Patrice Lumumba, Chilean Gen. Rene Schneider, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz.

  But I was trained as a lawyer. My professional career began as a trial attorney. I practiced law for 12 years. I tried both civil and criminal cases in both state and federal courts. These consisted of both jury and non-jury trials.

  While I became convinced that the Kennedy assassination was, in fact, a regime-change operation, I also believed that I could never walk into a courtroom and prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard of proof required in a criminal case. I didn’t think that any of the assassination researchers had provided sufficient evidence to meet that burden. After many years of studying the assassination, I still believe that to this day.

  To be sure, there are lots of suspicious aspects to the assassination, such as the so-called magic-bullet theory. But for me, all those suspicious aspects, while convincing me of criminal culpability, were still not enough to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. 

  Thus, in my opinion, those who cry “Conspiracy theory!” when one focuses on what happened in Dealey Plaza are essentially saying, “You don’t have enough evidence to convict the national-security establishment of this offense beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  Not so, however, with the autopsy. Once I came to the realization that the military establishment had conducted a fraudulent autopsy, it was “game over” and “case closed” for the national-security establishment.

  The fraudulent autopsy is the “back door” that establishes beyond a reasonable doubt criminal culpability of the national-security establishment in the Kennedy assassination.

  The reason for this is that there is no innocent explanation for a fraudulent autopsy. None! No one has ever come up with one and no one ever will. A fraudulent autopsy necessarily equates to cover-up. And the only entity that the national-security establishment would be covering up for would be itself, especially since the scheme for the fraudulent autopsy was launched at Parkland Hospital at the moment that Kennedy was declared dead. That was when a team of Secret Service agents, brandishing guns and stating that they were operating under orders, knowingly, intentionally, and deliberately violated Texas state law by prohibiting the Dallas County medical examiner, Dr. Earl Rose, from conducting an autopsy on the president’s body.

  That Secret Service team forced its way out of Parkland and took the president’s body to Dallas’ Love Field, where the new president, Lyndon Johnson, was waiting for it. Johnson transported the body to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where it was delivered into the hands of the military. 

  Keep in mind something important: This was a murder case under Texas law. No federal agency, including the Pentagon, the CIA, the Secret Service, the FBI, or the Justice Department, had jurisdiction over this crime. Nonetheless, the military, which by this time had became a dominant force in American life, took control over the autopsy.

  The military’s autopsy fraud is detailed in my two books The Kennedy Autopsy and An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story.

  The following are three examples of the autopsy fraud:

  1. The ARRB discovered the existence of a Navy petty officer named Saundra Spencer, who worked in the Navy’s photographic lab in Washington, D.C. She worked closely with the White House in the development of social photography. Spencer was the epitome of professionalism, competence, and integrity. Jeremy Gunn, the general counsel for the ARRB, stated that of all the witnesses who came before the ARRB, Spencer was the most credible of them all. No one, either in or out of the military, ever questioned her professionalism, competence, and integrity.

  Spencer told the ARRB a remarkable story. She said that on the weekend of the assassination, she was asked to develop the photographs of Kennedy’s autopsy. She was told that the operation was “classified.” She had kept her secret for more than 30 years, until the ARRB released her from her vow of secrecy.

  When the ARRB showed Spencer the official autopsy photograph showing the back of JFK’s head to be intact, she stated that that was not the autopsy photograph that she developed. The photograph she developed showed a massive hole in the back of JFK’s head. That, of course, would imply a frontal shot, which was contrary to the official narrative.

  Spencer’s sworn testimony matched the statements of the treating physicians and several other witnesses at Parkland Hospital as well as witnesses at the Bethesda morgue, where the autopsy was carried out. I quote many of these witnesses in my book An Encounter with Evil. They stated that Kennedy had a massive, exit-sized wound in the back of his head. For example, Dr. Robert McClelland, one of the treating physicians stated, “I said, well, there is a wound in the back of his head here in the right side that’s at least five inches in diameter — a circular wound far in the back of his head.” Another example: Parkland Hospital physician Dr. Charles Carrico: “There was a large — quite a large — defect about here on his skull [pointing to the back of his head].” 

  If Spencer, Dr. McClelland, Carrico, and all the other witnesses were telling the truth — and I’m convinced they were — then there is only one inescapable conclusion that can be drawn — that the military’s official photograph showing the back on President Kennedy’s head to be intact was fraudulent. 

  2. The ARRB also discovered the existence of a man named Roger Boyajian, who, like Spencer, told the ARRB a remarkable story. He said that on the day of the assassination, he was a Marine Sergeant serving at the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. He was ordered to go to the Bethesda morgue to provide security. 

  Boyajian, who, like Spencer, had been sworn to secrecy, told the ARRB that the president’s body was brought into the morgue at 6:35 p.m. That presented a problem because the undisputed official narrative is that the president’s body was brought into the morgue at 8 p.m., almost an hour-and-a-half later, in the heavy, ornate casket into which it had been placed at Parkland Hospital.

  Boyajian had reported this early introduction of the president’s body in an “after-action report” that he delivered to his superiors the week following the assassination. That military never turned over that report to the ARRB, as it was required to do under the law. But Sergeant Boyajian had kept a copy, which he delivered to the ARRB.

  At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the military had to be up to no good in sneaking the president’s body into the Bethesda morgue and then, an hour-and-a-half later, reintroducing the entry of the body into the morgue. 

  Was there corroboration for Boyajian’s extraordinary claim? Actually there was, and I detail it in The Kennedy Autopsy and An Encounter with Evil. Several Navy enlisted men stated that they carried the president’s body into the morgue in a light “shipping casket” rather than the heavy ornate casket into which the president’s body was placed in Dallas. Moreover, Lt. Col. Pierre Finck stated two times, including once under oath, that he was telephoned by Commander James Humes, the lead pathologist in the autopsy, at 8 p.m. inviting Finck to come to the morgue to assist with the autopsy. During that conversation, Humes told Finck that they already had x-rays of the president’s head. Since the undisputed official entry time of the president’s body was at 8 p.m., the only way that they could already have x-rays of the president’ head was if they were taking them after they sneaked the body into the morgue at 6:35 p.m.

  3. The ARRB also discovered that there were two separate brain examinations in the Kennedy autopsy, one of which could not possibly have been the brain belonging to the president. Again, the details are set forth in my books The Kennedy Autopsy and An Encounter with Evil. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, when the military is falsely claiming that there was only one brain exam and when the military is falsely representing a brain to be that of President Kennedy, it would be difficult to find a better example of autopsy fraud than that.

  As I stated above and as I have repeatedly emphasized over the years, there is no innocent explanation for a fraudulent autopsy. Once one concludes that the autopsy was fraudulent, he has automatically concluded that the assassination was orchestrated and carried out by the national-security establishment. There is no other reasonable conclusion that can be drawn.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 20:40

• House Approves Ban On Transgender Procedures In Military, Repeals Abortion Travel Policy
  House Approves Ban On Transgender Procedures In Military, Repeals Abortion Travel Policy

  Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  House conservatives are bundling the nation’s defense budget with “culture war” amendments they say are needed to reverse the Biden administration’s “woke” politicization of the military through “radical race theories” instituted in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

  

  In the span of 10 hours on July 13, the Republican-led House repealed the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) abortion travel policy, prohibited DOD health care programs from providing gender transition procedures, and introduced a host of other proposed add-ons targeting DEI programs—including several that failed—to a must-pass defense budget normally approved in bipartisan accord.

  Democrats resisted fiercely, contending the nation’s defense budget is being held hostage by a relatively small cadre—the 40-member House Freedom Caucus—manipulating its pivot in sustaining the GOP’s narrow 10-seat chamber majority to impose an “extreme right-wing agenda” onto the Pentagon and, eventually, the nation.

  That was the nub of repeated—and often heated—point-counterpoint exchanges during daylong deliberations on the House floor as the proposed $886.3 Fiscal Year 2024 defense budget, referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), was introduced for adoption with 370 proposed amendments.

  80 Hot-Button Amendments

  Both House and Senate armed forces adopted their versions of the proposed NDAA last month. The House did so in a 58–1 vote and the Senate 24–1.

  The annual defense budget is geared to be implemented when the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. The House is expected to formally adopt the NDAA by July 14 when it resumes deliberations at 10:30 a.m. after adjourning around 11:30 p.m. on July 13.

  Both chambers’ defense spending plans top out at the $886.3 billion requested in March by the Biden administration, but the Senate version of the NDAA—which will be introduced on the Democrat-led chamber floor next week—does not include the amendments in the House version targeting “woke” policies.

  Representatives in early afternoon began sorting through 80 proposed NDAA amendments dispatched to the floor by the House Rules Committee that morning. The day before, the panel had forwarded 290 proposed add-ons “en blanc,” meaning many are packaged for composite votes because they are not contentious.

  

  DOD Abortion Travel Policy ‘Illegal’

  Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) sought to repeal a DOD policy that reimburses expenses for service members who travel to obtain an abortion from a state where the procedure is restricted to a state where it is permitted. It was among the contentious add-ons adopted in a near-total partisan vote, 221–213.

  Mr. Jackson maintained the policy was installed by the Biden administration in October 2022 “to sidestep” the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 Roe v. Wade repeal to “not only expand abortion access but also leave American taxpayers on the hook to subsidize abortion services.”

  He said the policy is in direct violation of Section 1093 of U.S. Code Title 10 “which restricts funds made available to the DOD from being used for abortions.”

  Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) called the amendment “a dangerous health care travel ban” for women serving in the military, noting 46 percent are now based in states where abortion is restricted or banned.

  A former Navy officer, Ms. Sherrill asked: “How am I supposed to recommend to young girls in my district that they should attend a service academy like I did when we know this amendment would mean they would be signing away their right to basic health care? This makes our service women pawns in [conservative Republicans’] extreme agenda and is a steppingstone to larger bans, restrictions, and wholesale disregard for women’s health care in America.”

  Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)—in a theme Democrats would repeat all day and night—also argued the proposed amendment is “part and parcel” of a GOP plan to implement a federal abortion ban.

  House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said the amendment simply repeals an illegal policy.

  “DOD’s abortion policy is a flagrant disregard to our moral principles. This is part of the Biden administration’s politicization of the military. It is completely unnecessary. It is clearly unlawful,” Mr. Rogers said.

  Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), an Air Force veteran, called Democrats’ contention that repealing the policy is “somehow attacking women in the service” a “lie.”

  “To say you would be somehow hurting someone’s rights in the military because you stand with life is pretty bizarre to me,” she said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 20:20

• Appeals Court Pauses Ban On Biden Admin's Censorship Of Social Media Companies
  Appeals Court Pauses Ban On Biden Admin’s Censorship Of Social Media Companies

  Good news: the senile occupant of the White House who occasionally moonlights as a president, will be allowed to order social media cos to censor any news about his crack-addicted son’s laptop again.

  That clear violation of the constitution is what a federal appeals court ruled today when it temporarily halted an order that would bar Biden admin officials from communicating with major social media companies while it considers the government’s request for a longer-term pause.

  Friday’s order came from a three-judge panel assigned to handle the government’s emergency request: Judge Carl Stewart, appointed by Bill Clinton; Judge James Graves, appointed by Barack Obama; and Judge Andy Oldham, appointed by Donald Trump. It didn’t note any dissents.

  The Justice Department is arguing that it should not be forced to comply with the nationwide injunction while it pursues a full appeal in the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court said on Friday that it will put the ban on hold, also known as an administrative stay,  while the government presses its case before the New Orleans-based circuit judges.

  The appeal will be placed on an expedited schedule while a panel of judges assigned to the case will decide on the government’s request to keep the nationwide injunction on hold until the case is finished, according to Friday’s order. The court didn’t specify a schedule for those next steps.

  As Bloomberg notes, if the 5th Circuit ultimately denies the Biden administration’s request for a pause, the Justice Department has signaled it will likely consider immediately petitioning the US Supreme Court to intervene, at which point Biden’s clear cut censorship of online content will become a critical issue.

  If the ban is allowed to move forward, deep state government agencies such as the FBI as well as the Department of Health and Human Services will be barred from contacting social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

  The plaintiffs – the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri and individual users who say they faced repercussion for their online speech – have accused Biden administration officials of unconstitutionally coercing social media companies to take down unfavorable information about Covid-19.

  Recent revelations courtesy of the Twitter files demonstrated that over the past three years – a period starting around the time 53 disgraced spies lied on the record to prevent Hunter Biden’s notebook from trending on twitter – saw the US government transform into regime where any inconvenient truths or online criticism prompted immediate censorship and retaliation by weaponized government agencies such as the FBI and DOJ, a response formerly reserved for banana republices and fascist dictatorships.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 20:00

• Why Are Republicans Greenhorns At Rounding Up Them Absentee Votes?
  Why Are Republicans Greenhorns At Rounding Up Them Absentee Votes?

  Authored by Steve Miller via RealClear Wire,

  “I can’t begin to understand what ballot harvesting is,” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the former Republican House Speaker, said in an interview in the wake of a 2018 political upset in Orange County, California. Democrats had swept the congressional seats in one of California’s few Republican strongholds, largely due to a well-executed strategy of harvesting, or the collection and submission of ballots by someone other than the voter.    

  

  Three election cycles later, Republicans are still on the backfoot when it comes to the nation’s recent embrace of absentee, mail, and early voting. But what critics call “election month” looks likely to endure indefinitely after taking hold in pandemic-prompted voting procedures widely adopted in 2020, ostensibly as a health precaution to promote social distancing.   

  After President Trump’s defeat in 2020, Republican-led legislatures worked to turn back the emergency voting measures in many states, to mixed success, and – after an expected GOP wave fizzled in 2022 – the Republican Party has turned away from Trump’s vilification of absentee voting to essentially say, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”   

  “We don’t want to wait till the fourth quarter to start scoring touchdowns when you have four quarters to put points on the board,” Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said last month in promoting the new strategy. “We have to change the culture among Republican voters.”   

  But a range of factors suggest that Republicans are a long way from implementing that change. This impression emerges from interviews with election veterans from both parties in a number of pivotal states; disclosures about the left’s prodigious fundraising for private assistance to local election offices; and Democrats’ reinvigorated focus on community organizing in dense urban areas. The latter is a tradition reaching back more than a century but exploited in recent cycles to overwhelm the GOP’s onetime edge in collecting absentee ballots from the elderly and members of the armed forces.  

  “The left is about 20 years ahead on getting these votes,” said Michael Bars, executive director of the conservative Election Transparency Initiative. “You can say it’s an absentee, get-out-the-vote model, an absentee ballot chase or ballot harvesting. But they’re ahead.”  

  And catching up isn’t easy, an RNC official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity in giving a grim assessment of a ground game still unfamiliar to the GOP.  

  “Strangers going door-to-door met with a ton of resistance from Republican voters,” the official said. He was referring to a strategy shift in 2016 when “the RNC changed its field structure to resemble the work that the Obama campaign did in 2008 and 2012 by focusing on training people to be organizers, to put together teams that were part of the community.” It turned out that, with Republicans tending to live in suburban developments, soliciting was frowned upon, and even prohibited, while the Democrats were, as ever, more welcome in urban settings, visiting apartment buildings, public libraries, and residential centers.  

  With even McDaniel still saying she doesn’t like absentee voting, not every Republican official is embracing the message.   

  “We promote in-person voting and we promote a message around in-person voting,” said Marci McCarthy, chairman of the DeKalb County (Georgia) Republican Party, in a jurisdiction that contains part of Atlanta and where President Biden won 83% of the vote in 2020. Nationally, 65% of the roughly 65 million absentee and mail-in voters said they voted for Biden in 2020.  

  The Golden State Lesson  

  After enacting new voting rules in 2016 that allowed harvesting, California Democrats in the 2018 midterms dispatched volunteers and paid staffers to neighborhoods rich in registered Democrats who had received an absentee ballot but had not returned it. Some of the agents collected up to 200 ballots at a time and turned them in for counting.   

  Results were delayed as the ballots trickled in – a harbinger of today’s prolonged ballot counts as more states rely on mail voting. But the result was eventually clear: a GOP drubbing in Orange County.  

  “We got our asses handed to us,” said Jessica Millan Patterson, chair of California’s Republican Party, whose 2019 election to office was in part based on her vow to embrace harvesting for the party and avenge the Orange County defeat. “Democrats in California have normalized what would be considered voter fraud in the rest of the country. If I had my way, harvesting would be illegal, but we have to win more elections if we want to change laws.”  

  After taking over the party’s ground game, she coordinated each county party’s street teams, assembling paid staffers and volunteers to knock on doors of registered Republicans or those who have not registered but may be open to voting.   

  By 2020, local Republicans were holding “ballot parties” as part of campaign events, where people could hand over their ballots, specified in social media invitations as a “secure location, “ to be delivered to the election office.    

  The Opposition  

  Progressives defended their advantage. They followed their California triumph in 2018 with widespread ballot collection efforts in 2020’s presidential election and the 2022 midterms, where they largely thumped Republicans nationally, including holding the Senate despite widespread predictions that Republicans would sweep both houses of Congress.   

  Conservative critics contend that illegal harvesting was behind Democrat wins in Georgia and Arizona in 2020, although investigations failed to find illicit activity.   

  What they did find, though, was a well-oiled progressive machine with roots in community organizing, working with like-minded state administrations on ballot design, drop-box placement, and deploying lobbyists to push progressive voting strategies.  

  These are funded in part by $1 billion from nonprofits and individuals, the most influential of which is the Center for Technology and Civic Life, led by Tiana Epps-Johnson, a former fellow at the Obama Foundation who is joined at the center by staffers who learned their politics in progressive advocacy groups.  

  The voting strategy network is complemented by an impressive cadre of social media influencers. What was termed a “block by block street fight” by former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in a 2020 book became a crusade for urban votes. Private funding distributed by the CTCL helped get-out-the-vote efforts in those areas by disproportionately allocating per-vote money to Democratic areas.   

  Ballot collectors go door-to-door in their targeted areas, working from a daily roadmap of “match backs,” or a list of voters who have received a mail ballot but have not yet cast it.  

  “In Washington, Republicans start each election at zero and Democrats at 90,” said Don Skillman, co-founder of Voter Science, a voter data group based in Bellevue, Washington. “Democrats know who donors and voters are and where they are. They have an eco-system with this non-profit outreach and know who they are talking to.”  

  Washington’s state Republican party did not respond to an interview request. 

  The New Order  

  The evolving hybrid voting procedures vary widely from state to state and, depending on the ways they came about, may or may not reflect the state autonomy envisioned in the U.S. Constitution’s stipulation that “the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”  

  Ballot harvesting is explicitly illegal in Mississippi,  while 11 other states have no law addressing the practice. Some states permit designated people, such as a relative or housemate, to turn in ballots, while 19 states allow a broader form of collection where voters can choose the person they want to act as their agent.  

  Republican lawmakers around the country have enacted numerous state and local laws since the pandemic-panicked 2020 national election in efforts to curb mail ballots and undo rules that allowed unpoliced mail ballot drop boxes, mass mailing of ballots and applications, and private grants to elections offices that helped progressives get out the vote.   

  Recent GOP forays into ballot collection include public embarrassments, such as 2018’s debacle in North Carolina, where Republican U.S. house candidate Mark Harris enlisted a Democratic operative with ballot harvesting skills. The caper ended up in voter fraud convictions against the harvester and the election results being tossed out.   

  Last year, a Republican ward leader in Philadelphia was ousted after it was alleged his campaign went door-to-door signing up mail-in voters, then having their ballots sent to the campaign headquarters.  

  Colorado and Wisconsin  

  Other states are just starting to embrace the collection strategy. In Colorado, where lawmakers last year sought to return the all-mail voting state to traditional, voting day elections, Republicans are trying to incorporate ballot collection into their ground game.    

  “The 2024 election will be our first foray into ballot harvesting,” Colorado GOP party chairman Dave Williams told RealClearInvestigations. Williams is one of several state GOP leaders to confirm that voting mechanisms Republican voters were told just four years ago would ruin the integrity of voting will be embraced by conservative parties and candidates in 2024.  

  “It’s going to come down to getting enough money to ensure we can implement a [ballot collection] operation,” he said, adding that it will take “thousands” of volunteers to match the Democrats.  

  In Wisconsin, the Republican Party now sends mail ballot applications to its base voters as soon as early voting begins, encouraging them to cast their ballots from home. Harvesting in Wisconsin has been part of a legal back-and-forth and the courts will eventually determine its legality in the state, which has moved from swing state to reliably Democratic since 2018.  

  “If it is permitted, we will incorporate that into our ground game,” said Wisconsin state Republican Party executive director Mark Jefferson. “As much as we may not like the expansion of absentee and early voting, we have to use it.”  

  In a test for 2024, Jefferson said, the party used harvesting in the 2022 state Supreme Court race.  

  “We turned out our base effectively,” he said. But the party lost both the race and its majority on the court in a progressive voter backlash to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which had asserted a constitutional right to abortion.  

  “Over the course of several cycles, I think we can get there,” Jefferson said, optimistic that the party can use collection and other progressive tactics to win elections. “In the meantime, I think we have to push it, but we also need to look for any opportunity to ensure that ballot integrity is still protected.”   

  The Costly ‘Match Back’ Game  

  A well-funded harvesting operation has the money to obtain updated “match back” files almost daily during a voting period. These updated voter lists are available to anyone, although a connection or relationship with the election administration office helps pry them loose. The money to pay for them comes from parties and candidates, or in some cases the activist nonprofits deploying ballot collectors.  

  “Some groups can afford to buy that file every day, especially in the urban areas,” said Michael Der Manouel Jr., former vice chairman of the California Republican Party. “And they can do it from election administrators who care about the outcome of the election, and most of them are Democrats.”  

  Obtaining the files is eased by a good relationship with the local election administrator, he added. In Wisconsin in 2020, the quest by progressive agents to retrieve the voter file daily was chronicled in a report generated during the state’s legislative inquiry into the November election.  

  Progressive groups have gained influence over election administrations through private grants, conferences and the designing of election materials including ballot applications and election department websites, all with an emphasis on voter recruitment and repeating Democratic talking points, such as purported “misinformation” and alleged “threats to democracy.”  

  Speakers at the conferences include representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union and representatives from the progressive group Democracy Now.   

  Most recently, four progressive nonprofit foundations have pledged to distribute $125 million in grants as The Election Trust Initiative, a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, to provide private funding to elections offices over the next five years.   

  Their mission is to “strengthen the nonpartisan evidence, organizations, and systems that help local and state officials operate secure, transparent, accurate and convenient elections,” according to a press release.   

  The Biden Administration Wades In  

  The federal government is bolstering its newly created Election Community Liaison office, an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, offering a salary of up to $183,000 for hires to, in part, pursue “election offenses.”    

  A member of President Biden’s cabinet also has connections to the move to change voting. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in 2020 was on the board of the National Vote at Home Institute, a progressive nonprofit that has successfully pressured states through lobbying and funding to adopt more permissive mail voting. The group has also privately funded public elections departments through its grant program. Her one year on the board coincided with an increase in the institute’s revenue from $1.1 million in 2019 to $8 million during Granholm’s tenure.   

  Several other Biden administration appointees worked for progressive elections operations including Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote and the Voter Registration Project.  

  These groups have been part of a push toward mail voting and looser rules regarding ballot collection, combating Republican efforts to limit or regulate those practices.   

  “Republicans used to own absentee voting,” said Paul Bentz, a political consultant in Arizona, referring to traditional GOP efforts to collect the ballots of the elderly and military service members. “But they’ve given up that advantage.”  

  Critics of the GOP’s newfound strategy of ballot collection contend that it may be too late, at least to win in 2024.   

  “The nature of the left is to never stop fighting and usually their fight is smart,” said Scott Walter, president of the conservative Capital Research Center, which studies the influence of nonprofits on politics. “They have multiple think tanks dedicated to nothing but winning elections. And there are no Republican counterparts.”  

  While Republicans will engage in the same practices as their foes, “harvesting for Republicans won’t work,” said Der Manouel, the former vice chair of the California GOP.   

  “Republican voters don’t need to have their vote harvested. The only reason it works for Democrats is because they could never turn out their voters. What’s going to happen is Republicans are going to start doing this and find that they don’t have nearly enough ballots to harvest to make a difference.”   

  Contact Steve Miller at smiller@realclearinvestigations.com  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 19:40

• "Hunter Is Checking": Ukrainian Oligarch Accused Of Bribin' Bidens Got Help With Passport
  “Hunter Is Checking”: Ukrainian Oligarch Accused Of Bribin’ Bidens Got Help With Passport

  

  Hunter Biden and pals attempted to help Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky obtain a US Visa right after then-VP Joe Biden’s son became a board member for the Ukrainian energy firm, the Daily Caller reports, citing emails.

  The emails in Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive show a coordinated attempt to obtain a visa for Zlochevsky while he was being investigated by Ukrainian authorities for corruption.

  Biden and some of his associates were potentially “engaging in registrable lobbying activity,” and one email indicates that Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations could have been occurring outside of the exchanges, a FARA expert who reviewed the emails told the Caller.

  Of note, Hunter worked with former Burisma board member Devon Archer, as well as Rosemont Seneca adviser Eric Schwerin, former Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP Partner Heather King and other business associates, to help Zlochevsky reapply for his visa after the State Department revoked it in 2014.

  According to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Zlochevsky is the “foreign national” who made 17 secret phone recordings of the Bidens as an insurance policy, and is involved in an alleged bribery scheme with the Biden family.

  Greene was one of several House Oversight Committee members who viewed a redacted version of an FBI FD-1023 form, in which an informant is said to have detailed the $10 million scheme. According to Greene, FBI Director Christopher Wray redacted the foreign national’s name, but that it’s very clearly Zlochevsky, as “within the same sentence, it says ‘him/Burisma.’

  “If you’re anyone who is familiar with the whole Burisma story and the information on the laptop, it’s easy to make the connection of who it is. It’s like a no-brainer … No one has refuted that it’s not him,” said Greene.

  Trying to get Burisma boss into the US

  In May of 2014, one month after Hunter was hired to sit on Burisma’s board for some $80,000 per month, Hunter and his partners interfaced with a Zlochevsky intermediary, Burisma board member Vadim Pozharskyi about the Zlochevsky’s visa application, according to the emails.

  On May 7, 2014, Pozharskyi emailed Archer to ask about “Nikolay’s visa issue” as a follow-up to “previous communications” between them. According to the report, “Pozharskyi frequently used the “Nikolay” moniker to refer to Mykola Zlochevsky in correspondence with Hunter Biden and his associates.”

  In late May of 2014, King, the former Boies Schiller partner, emailed Pozharskyi an update on Zlochevsky’s visa status from the Ukrainian embassy, saying that the embassy couldn’t reveal to a 3rd party why the visa had been revoked, but that “if Nikolai contacts them directly, they may provide him with further explanation.”

  Pozharskyi told King in early June that Zlochevsky was “prepared to apply to US embassy for US visa” and said he needed a reason to travel to the United States. Pozharskyi asked King’s company to send Zlochevsky an invitation to be “signed by one of companies lawyer/partner, namely H. Biden,” emails show. -Daily Caller

  “Two reasons for that, firstly having Hunters [sic] name on invitation will invite embassy [sic] to consider carefully that application. Secondly If [sic] he is denied in obtaining visa, then your company, that actualy [sic] invited Nikolay could work with state department on this,” wrote Pozharskyi in response.

  Read the rest here…

  Summing things up nicely is Charlie Kirk, who said in a tweet:

  House Oversight member, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, has confirmed that the “unnamed” foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden with $10 million, was none other than Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky.

  The now infamous FBI FD-1023 form provide by Wray had redacted Zlochevsky’s name but detailed a $10 million bribe to the Bidens with someone connected to Burisma.

  Putting it all together…

  We know that Zlochesvsky was already paying Hunter an exorbitant sum, $83,000/mo, to sit on the board of his Ukrainian energy company.

  We know Zlochevsky was facing a corruption investigation in Ukraine by prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

  We know then-Vice President Joe Biden accused Shokin of corruption.

  We know that then-VP Biden successfully threatened to pull a $1 billion US loan guarantee as leverage to push for Shokin’s removal.

  We know Shokin was replaced by Yuriy Lutsenko, who cleared Zlochevsky and Burisma of criminal charges in 2019.

  We know that Zlochevsky and his associates were eventually charged in 2020 for attempting $6 million in bribes to halt the ongoing investigation (the guy has a history of bribes).

  And we know that Zlochevsky was a rich, corrupt foreign oligarch who needed the type of help only connected, corrupt DC cronyism could deliver.

  And it all points to one conclusion: Joe and James and Hunter were willing to sell out American interests to keep the Ukrainian money flowing.

  And now hundreds of billions of your taxpayer money is flowing back to Ukraine.

  Get it, now?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 19:25

• Watch: Mike Pence Squirms As Carlson Dismantles Neocon Talking Points On Ukraine
  Watch: Mike Pence Squirms As Carlson Dismantles Neocon Talking Points On Ukraine

  Tucker Carlson utterly dismantled the necon talking points of Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, during an on-stage interview before a large audience of the FAMiLY Leadership Summit in Iowa on Friday.

  Rather than respond to Carlson’s criticisms about why tens of billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on far-away Ukraine (which Carlson note is a country “most people can’t find on a map”) rather than focusing on protecting and restoring American cities in decline, a visibly irritated Pence instead vaguely said he could “do both”. Watch Pence squirm below, as the crowd loudly cheered Carlson’s question…

  Tucker Carlson asks Pence why he is more concerned with supplying Ukraine with tanks than the wellbeing of American cities…

  Pence’s response? “American cities aren’t my concern.” pic.twitter.com/8uRE1Bnz8B

  — Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) July 14, 2023

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

  Pence certainly didn’t bring the crown over to his side, which didn’t so much as clap during his pat, scripted answer.

  He also didn’t win any friends in bluntly stating (revealingly) that “American cities aren’t my concern.” Reporters with The National Review even noticed audible boos during Pence’s attempt at a response…

  “I believe that it is in the interests of the United States of America to continue to give the Ukrainian military the resources they need to repel the Russian invasion and restore their sovereignty,” Pence said as several members of the crowd booed.

  Pence then tried to turn it around on Tucker, taking a swipe a the former Fox host:

  “Anybody that says that we can’t be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth. We can do both,” Pence said. “And as president of the United States we will secure our border we will support our military we will revive our economy and stand by our values and we will also lead the world for freedom under my administration.”

  Carlson was undeterred in demolishing what has come to be the obvious establishment stance (one of escalation in Ukraine), whether on the Republican or Democrat side. 

  Heated Exchange Between Tucker Carlson And Mike Pence On Religious Liberty In Ukraine

  Tucker: “I would think that you would have greater concern for religious liberty in Ukraine, and I’m surprised by your answer.”

  Pence: “I told you I raised the issue of religious liberty.”… pic.twitter.com/MIQckt2jm4

  — The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) July 14, 2023

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

  He took Pence to task on the Zelensky government’s crackdown on religious freedom in the wake of monks and priests being booted from their monasteries and churches for maintaining communion with the Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow. 

  Apart from Ukraine, there were plenty of other moments where Carlson went gloves off, at one point laughing with scorn at the former vice president’s reluctance to deal with concerns of voter fraud.

  JUST IN: Tucker Carlson laughs in Mike Pence’s face for being reluctant to agree that the U.S. should get rid of electronic voting machines.

  Pence: “We do everything in our power to restore public confidence in the one person one vote principle.”

  Tucker: “Why not just get rid… pic.twitter.com/LbpvRNTfYM

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 14, 2023

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

  Watch: Below is the full clip from the back-and-forth on Ukraine… 

  Absolutely incredible. Here is the entire Ukraine discussion between @TuckerCarlson and Mike Pence.

  Tucker asks Pence about religious persecution in Ukraine, and he completely denies it. Tucker follows up, and Pence gets flustered. Pence then tells the ridiculous lie that Putin… pic.twitter.com/KA5FjqSKUM

  — Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) July 14, 2023

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

  Kim Dotcom observed the following of the interview, specifically related to the moment Pence said coldly “That’s not my concern” when Carlson confronted him on most Americans wanting to solve serious problems at home first…

  “Pence just committed political suicide.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 19:20

• Heat Is Radiating From A Huge Mass Under The Moon
  Heat Is Radiating From A Huge Mass Under The Moon

  Authored by Elijah Cohen via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  In an unprecedented discovery, scientists have unearthed a colossal granite mass that has been gradually emitting heat, hidden beneath a lunar crater. This discovery is not a figment of science fiction, but a testament to the Moon’s volcanic past. While the Moon’s history of lava fields and eruptions is well-documented, the discovery of a more Earth-like volcano was a first, found beneath the Compton and Belkovich craters on the Moon’s far side.

  

  Granite, a rock type rarely found outside of Earth, has sparked excitement among the scientific community. On Earth, granite forms deep beneath the surface, typically under a volcano, where magma cools down and crystallizes. The formation of granite is significantly aided by the presence of water and plate tectonics.

  The research team utilized data from both Chinese and American lunar orbiters to uncover this heat-emitting mass beneath the lunar surface, revealing a volcanic process previously unseen on the Moon. “We used an instrument that observes microwave wavelengths, longer than infrared, sent to the Moon on both the Chinese Chang’E 1 and 2 orbiters. We found that one of these suspected volcanoes, known as Compton-Belkovich, was absolutely glowing at microwave wavelengths,” explained co-lead researcher Dr. Matt Siegler, of the Planetary Science Institute.

  The data revealed a 20-kilometer-wide silicon-rich surface feature, believed to be the caldera of this ancient volcano.

  

  The temperature in this area is 10°C warmer than its surroundings. However, this heat is not from magma beneath the surface, as the volcano’s last eruption was 3.5 billion years ago. Instead, the heat comes from radioactive elements trapped in the rocks.

  “We interpret this heat flux as resulting from a radiogenic-rich granite body below the caldera,” Dr. Siegler said.

  “We were a bit puzzled when we found it. Fortunately, my wife, Dr. Rita Economos, is the geochemist in the family, so with her guidance, we were able to piece together the probable geologic cause of the heat anomaly.”

  Dr. Economos further explained, “This find is a 50km wide batholith; a batholith is a type of volcanic rock that forms when lava rises into the earth’s crust but does not erupt onto the surface. El Capitan and Half Dome, in Yosemite in California, are examples of similar granite rocks which have risen to the surface.”

  The discovery of such a large granite deposit in an unexpected location suggests that there could be other areas of the Moon where granite can be found, and possibly in other parts of the Solar System as well.

  The Moon’s volcanic activity is a fascinating topic that has intrigued scientists for decades. The Moon’s volcanic history extends back nearly 3 billion years, much longer than most planets in our solar system. The lunar volcanoes are not like the ones we have on Earth. They do not spew out a significant amount of lava, but instead, they release gases like radon and argon.

  The Moon’s volcanic activity is believed to have played a crucial role in shaping its surface. The lunar maria, the dark plains seen on the Moon’s surface, are vast basaltic plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. These maria cover about 16% of the lunar surface, mainly on the near-side visible from Earth.

  The discovery of the heat-emitting granite mass adds a new dimension to our understanding of the Moon’s volcanic activity. It provides a glimpse into the Moon’s dynamic past and opens up new avenues for exploring lunar geology. This discovery also raises the possibility of finding similar geological features on other celestial bodies, further expanding our knowledge of the universe.

  The exploration of lunar volcanism also has implications for future lunar missions. Understanding the Moon’s geology can help in identifying suitable landing sites for spacecraft and potential resources for lunar bases. As we continue to explore the Moon and beyond, each discovery brings us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of our solar system.

  Study

  *  *  *

  Like this article? Get the latest from The Mind Unleashed in your inbox. Sign up right here.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 19:00

• Cycling's Global Governing Body To Ban Trans Athletes From Women's Races
  Cycling’s Global Governing Body To Ban Trans Athletes From Women’s Races

  The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of sports cycling, announced on Friday that transgender female cyclists will not be allowed to compete in international women’s eventsif they have “transitioned after puberty.”

  “From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar – in all categories – in the various disciplines,” the statement reads, according to Fox News. 

  According to a press release published Friday, the UCI decided to adapt the rule during a July 5th meeting with athletes and other experts, including human rights, scientific, and legal experts.

  “First of all, the UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling – as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport – is open to everyone, including transgender people, whom we encourage like everyone else to take part in our sport,” UCI President David Lappartient said in the release.

  “I would also like to reaffirm that the UCI fully respects and supports the right of individuals to choose the sex that corresponds to their gender identity, whatever sex they were assigned at birth.”

  “However,” Lappartient noted – having got the politically-sensitive comment out of the way – The UCI “has a duty to guarantee, above all, equal opportunities for all competitors in cycling competitions.”

   “It is this imperative that led the UCI to conclude that, given the current state of scientific knowledge does not guarantee such equality of opportunity between transgender female athletes and cisgender female participants, it was not possible, as a precautionary measure, to authorize the former to race in the female categories,” Lappartient said.

  Common sense rules once again…

  

  The UCI’s decision comes just a day after a South Korean man who identifies as a transgender female has competed and won a cycling race to make a point that trans athletes are physically stronger, deeming them “selfish.”

  As The Epoch Times reports, Na Hwa-rin, 37, has undertaken gender reassignment surgery and was officially recognized as a woman in Seoul last year, including a reissue of his birth certificate in April. He competed and won a cycling competition at this year’s Gangwon Sports Festival in eastern Gangwon Province in the female category to prove a point, reported The Korea Times.

  “I have no unresolved feelings over winning because that’s no longer what I want. My goal was to stir controversy and get my story heard by competing,” Mr. Na told the outlet on June 23.

  

  In seeking to prove a point, Mr. Na described feeling “more relieved than triumphant” when he crossed the finish line of the race. He set out to demonstrate that biological men are physically superior when it comes to transgender athletes competing in female categories.

  Mr. Na outstrips his female competitors with his physicality, standing at about 5.9 feet tall and weighing roughly 158 lbs, with a skeletal muscle mass of 72 lbs, the outlet reported.

  Feeling embarrassed about his win, he told the outlet that he offered the female cyclists who lost to him energy drinks by way of an apology for stealing their glory. Mr. Na, who comes from a Christian family, noted that he chose that competition because it was a provincial event, not a professional race that could harm the career of a professional female athlete.

  “I am not honored. I am not proud of myself at all. I believe other transgender athletes would feel the same way,” he said. “They may not want to admit it,” he added, referring to international trans athletes, “but they’re being selfish. There is no honor as an athlete in that.”

  Mr. Na’s win drew support from LGBT advocates but sparked debate in South Korea about the fairness of men who identify as women competing against females in sports. His desire for fairness held him back from trying to qualify for the National Sports Festival.

  “I don’t want to make an issue to the point where I harm other people,” he said.

  Advocating for a ‘3rd Gender’ Sports Category

  Mr. Na developed a love for cycling by riding his bike around nine miles to school every day. He later competed professionally as a cyclist, winning competitions in the men’s categories.

  “The sport gave me a sense of thrill and accomplishment and the catharsis of overcoming my limitations,” he said.

  He now advocates for a “third gender” category in sports competitions, believing that trans athletes should not compete alongside men and women.

  “It could be like how we have many weight divisions in some sports,” Mr. Na said. “Under the current binary system, women athletes will be discouraged and their hard work might not be recognized due to the participation of transgender athletes.

  “At the same time, trans woman athletes, no matter how hard they worked, will never be truly honored for their wins,” he continued. “Honor is the goal that all athletes aspire to attain, but this is a situation where nobody will be honored. I think that shouldn’t happen.”

  Owing to the lack of gender-specific regulations for athlete qualification by both the Gangwon State Sports Council and the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee, Mr. Na was eligible to participate in the provincial competition, The Korea Times reported.

  Mr. Na now works as an asparagus farmer in his hometown, Cheorwon, located roughly 43 miles northeast of Seoul, bordering North Korea.

  He said that he began to experience symptoms of gender dysphoria at the age of 7. He would later, as a middle school student, be influenced by the country’s first transgender television celebrity to solidify his ideas of who he was and how he wanted to live.

  The controversy surrounding transgender athletes led the U.S. House of Representatives in April to pass legislation to prohibit taxpayer-funded institutions from allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports in schools. The bill was considered dead-on-arrival in the Senate and was expected to be vetoed by President Joe Biden if it managed to receive final approval from Congress.

  The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act sought to modify Title IX by defining sex as determined solely by an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. The bill bans federal funding recipients from allowing males to participate in women’s athletic programs or activities designated for females, to prevent sex-based discrimination in education.

  Supporters of the bill, and similar state-level legislation, frame the issue as protecting the integrity of female sports competition. Opponents frame it as bullying the transgender community.

  Meanwhile, the Biden administration has said that it will propose a regulation to largely prohibit bans on transgender sports participation. This came after around 20 states moved to ban transgender athletes from female sports.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 18:40

• In Allegheny County, Progressives Are Now The Establishment
  In Allegheny County, Progressives Are Now The Establishment

  Authored by Zach Kennedy via RealClear Wire,

  A political powerhouse now rivaling Philadelphia as the bedrock of Democratic electoral strength in Pennsylvania, Allegheny County has been consistently trending more progressive. This past May’s primaries in Pennsylvania’s second-largest county added another layer of icing on a cake that’s been baking for nearly a decade: in Allegheny County, progressives are the new establishment.

  

  The seeds of progressive ascendance were planted in 2018’s Democratic primary, when Summer Lee toppled 20-year incumbent state Rep. Paul Costa, the brother of longtime state Senate Democratic leader Jay Costa. It was the first major win for Allegheny County progressives. In that same primary, Sara Innamorato bested ten-year incumbent state Rep. Dom Costa, a former Pittsburgh police chief and another member of the Costa political family. Both Lee and Innamorato were endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

  The following year, 2019, saw state Rep. Adam Ravenstahl, a four-term incumbent and brother of former Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl, fall in the Democratic primary to 32-year-old challenger Emily Kinkead, while 20-year incumbent county councilman at-large John DeFazio lost his primary to Bethany Hallam, who campaigned on fracking bans and reforming the Allegheny County jail.

  These progressive victories put the “establishment” on notice. In Pittsburgh, Ed Gainey’s 2021 mayoral primary win over two-term incumbent Bill Peduto solidified the rise of the party’s left flank, which was further bolstered by Lee’s 2022 primary victory to succeed 28-year incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle. Lee was quickly anointed to “The Squad” in Congress, joining the ranks of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib.

  The progressive trend continued in May of this year, when Innamorato defeated longtime county treasurer and darling of the blue-collar trade unions John Weinstein, as well as 15-year incumbent city controller Michael Lamb (uncle of former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb) for the Democratic nomination for county executive, the most powerful job in Western Pennsylvania. Innamorato cruised to victory on the back of endorsements from progressive politicians and labor groups such as U.S. Bernie Sanders and the SEIU.

  The primary also saw public defender Matt Dugan defeat longtime district attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., propelled by nearly seven-figure support from progressive billionaire George Soros. Erica Brusselars defeated two-term city councilman and longtime ward leader Anthony Coghill for the Democratic nomination for county treasurer, scoring endorsements from left-leaning organizations such as the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and the Young Democrats of Allegheny County.

  And last summer saw establishment stalwart and chair of the county Democratic Party, Eileen Kelly, replaced as chair by Sam Hens-Greco, former chair of the powerful 14th Ward, the largest ward in the county and one of the most progressive. Hens-Greco’s running mate and now vice chair of the county Democratic Party, Morgan Overton, was the first black woman to chair the Young Democrats of Allegheny County.

  Allegheny County progressives now hold the mayor’s office, the 12th District congressional seat encompassing the city of Pittsburgh, and the power structure of the county Democratic Party – and they are heavily favored to win the county executive and district attorney positions this fall. Taken together, these holdings constitute control over the region’s most influential elected positions.

  Since 2018, we have seen a complete paradigm shift in Allegheny County politics, with progressives notching win after win and consistently taking more power from the party’s onetime establishment. After years of political organizing, the progressive wing has turned itself into the new establishment in Allegheny County government and politics.

  Time will tell how long the progressive trend continues, but one thing is certain: as they struggle with problems ranging from a declining population to rising crime, homelessness to food insecurity, Allegheny County residents are in desperate need of strong leadership from their elected officials. The new progressive establishment will be expected to deliver results.

  Zach Kennedy, a former Democratic operative, is a Pittsburgh native and has worked on high-level judicial, state, and federal campaigns in Pennsylvania.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 18:20

• Liberals Lose It After Cornel West Tells CNN That NATO Is To Blame For Ukraine Crisis
  Liberals Lose It After Cornel West Tells CNN That NATO Is To Blame For Ukraine Crisis

  Left-wing activist and academic firebrand Cornel West appeared on CNN prime time Thursday night, and gave show host Kaitlin Collins a dose of reality not typically heard on the network when the issue of the Ukraine war is broached. West recently announced as a Third-party 2024 presidential candidate (seeking the Green Party’s nomination), so during the interview he was pressed on his foreign policy stance. 

  “If Russia had missiles in Mexico and Canada, the United States government would probably blow them to smithereens because that’s how empires behave. We had the same challenge in Cuba in 1962. So what we end up with is a criminal invasion,” West stated firmly in the interview segment.

  Cornel West on CNN says NATO “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calls for “concessions of territory” to stop the war, and says the US “bears significant responsibility.” But he adds that he’s not “pro Putin,” so there’s that. pic.twitter.com/SqIEwdiE9j

  — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 14, 2023

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  West then lashed out at the ‘establishment Left’ and mainstream Liberals in general…

  “And I know that some of my left-wing comrades, ‘Oh it’s an invasion,’ but a criminal invasion provoked by the expansion of NATO, which is an instrument of U.S. global power,” he said. Collins then asked what practical steps he would take to resolve the Russia-Ukraine crisis:

  Collins: “Practically speaking, what would you accept in Ukraine? Like what? I mean, Trump claims he could fix it. What would that look like for you?”

  West: “Oh, what I would do, I would bring in the Chinese, the Turks, the African rulers. I would sit down with the Ukrainian leaders and say, we must stop this war, stop these war crimes, cluster bombs on a variety of different parties and make sure that we begin a diplomatic process for a just peace.”

  He described robust negotiations which would inevitably lead to territorial concessions, to get Russian troops to leave…

  “And that just peace is going to have some serious concessions across the board. Russian troops have to leave. There’s going to be debates over the territory. There going to be some kind of concessions over the territory, but stop the killing. Why?” West then answered his rhetorical question: “Because the Ukrainian brothers and sisters are precious and they are bearing so much of the suffering with this proxy war between the American empire and the Russian Federation.”

  “So there’s responsibility and blame across the board. But the American empire does bear a significant responsibility here, even though it is not the sole or exclusive responsibility. And it’s in no way a pro-Putin [talking point,” he emphasized. 

  Perhaps entirely to be expected, the “outrage” and pile-one began as clips of the interview quickly went viral, with Mediaite declaring in a headline that the Ivy League professor was slammed by mainstream voices for being “No Different Than Trump, RFK Jr, Tucker Carlson”. Pundits at Politico and elsewhere naturally rolled out the ‘pro-Putin’ and ‘Kremlin agent’ trope, but without addressing the arguments.

  Sounds pretty pro-Putin from where I sit. https://t.co/88zTBIm4CS

  — Joshua Zeitz (@JoshuaMZeitz) July 14, 2023

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  But journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out that it’s “Absolutely hilarious how angry and confused establishment liberals are than an actual, life-long, committed left-wing scholar would vehemently oppose the CIA/NATO proxy war in Ukraine.”

  “They barely exist in the US and are so rarely heard from that liberals can’t comprehend it,” Greenwald added while underscoring that West’s breakdown of the situation is something mainstream media consumers are very rarely exposed to.

  Anger and outrage!…

  Whose territory!? His? Who the hell is he to offer Ukrainian land and the Ukrainian people on it to an invader because he is so ashamed to be an American that he sides with imperialist Russia massacring civilians in an unprovoked war of choice? https://t.co/7ERHSJdQWv

  — Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 14, 2023

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  * * *

  Remember when Christiane Amanpour began yelling at Wolf Blitzer about what you are allowed to say or not say concerning Ukraine over CNN airwaves?

  Ed Snowden summarizes where things stand…

  Remarkable how in every electoral cycle, major newspapers seem to produce the least reportage on the most interesting candidates, like Cornel West and RFK Jr, yet squander miles of ink regurgitating the vapid press releases of even the blandest cookie-cutter corporatists.

  — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 12, 2023

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  For another, albeit similarly fiercely independent angle…

  Tucker: “All measures are relative. Russia’s bad. Putin’s evil. Got it. I don’t know anyone who’s been killed by Russia. I know people personally who have been killed by Mexico. The government of Mexico allows fentanyl to come over our border. The Mexican government is party to… pic.twitter.com/ghPXwoamDi

  — TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 14, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 18:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Continental Shift Coming: The World's Most Populous Countries
  Continental Shift Coming: The World’s Most Populous Countries

  According to United Nations’ latest projections of global population, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous country in April 2023.

  Having gradually closed the gap to China from more than 200 million people in 2000 to little more than 10 million in 2022, Statista’s Felix Richter reports that the UN Population Division predicts India’s population to reach 1,429 million in July 2023, surpassing long-time leader China by 3 million people.

  In recent years, China’s population growth has slowed down notably due to its one-child policy before reaching an inflection point in 2022, when China’s population declined for the first time since 1961, when three years of famine had decimated the country’s population.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  For India, which is currently expected to continue growing until the 2060s, its new position as the world’s most populous country will come with a new set of challenges, both domestically and internationally. These challenges include providing access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities to an ever-growing number of people, all while finding its role in the global political and economic landscape.

  Looking beyond India and China, the UN predicts a continental shift in population growth over the next few decades.

  With Europe’s population already declining and Asia’s and Latin America’s growth expected to turn negative in the 2050s, Africa is set to be the largest driver of global population growth for decades to come.

  By 2100, five African nations are expected to join India, China, and the United States among the world’s 10 most populous countries, with Nigeria projected to reach a population of half a billion before 2080.

  This demographic shift at the global level will require new approaches to managing resources, promoting sustainable development, and addressing issues such as poverty, inequality and access to healthcare and education.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 02:45

• Rampant Corruption Is One Reason Behind Ukrain's Failed NATO Bid
  Rampant Corruption Is One Reason Behind Ukrain’s Failed NATO Bid

  Via Remix News,

  The EU wants Ukraine to clean up its act…

  

  Ukraine must implement reforms to fight corruption and strengthen its institutions if it wants to be eligible to join NATO, said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, during the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius.

  Von der Leyen encouraged Ukraine to implement further reforms and pledged the support of the European Union. According to Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, von der Leyen’s statement “said in plain language that there was still so much corruption and opacity in Ukraine’s institutions that it could not yet get the green light to join NATO or the European Union.” However, the paper also noted that von der Leyen noted the country’s efforts were appreciated and it had made a lot of progress.

  Ukraine needs long-term security.

  At the @NATO Summit we are discussing how to best provide for this.

  The EU contributes with investments, weapons, training and support to the reforms that can lead Ukraine into the EU and NATO. pic.twitter.com/0HRIPcAg36

  — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 12, 2023

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  The European Commission already identified systemic corruption in Ukraine in 2021. Although the EU had launched a number of initiatives to reduce the potential for corruption and proposed a wide range of measures, the EU commission’s report at the time found that no progress had been made on this issue in 2021.

  At that time, there was a significant decline in the judiciary, and anti-corruption institutions were also under threat, according to the report. The authors also noted that oligarchs and vested interests are the biggest problem, as they are an obstacle to the rule of law and economic development in Ukraine.

  Brussels is keen to bring Ukraine into the European Union. However, even EU officials do not dare mention in their reports anything concrete or substantial to suggest that Ukraine is ready for integration, and Von der Leyen’s remarks indicate that the situation has still not improved.

  As Remix News reported last week, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, representing Ukrainian entrepreneurs, issued an appeal to President Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding action to curb the abuse of power by government officials. The abuse of power by military officials and judges has crossed all lines, according to Ukrainian entrepreneurs, who are calling for the establishment of a public registry to identify corrupt officials. They further argue that corruption on an unprecedented scale is eroding Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/14/2023 – 02:00

• Democrats Baseless Lies Are Responsible For Today's Divisiveness
  Democrats Baseless Lies Are Responsible For Today’s Divisiveness

  Authored by ‘Carpe Diem’ via American Greatness,

  For as long as I can remember, the Democratic Party has claimed to be a champion for all Americans, particularly for the working class, minorities and for those who are considered marginalized, oppressed or downtrodden.

  

  But somewhere between fighting to keep slavery alive (Andrew Johnson); deliberately reducing the number of black civilian employees from the federal workforce and airing a film that glorified the Ku Klux Klan at the White House (Woodrow Wilson); throwing Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II (Franklin Delano Roosevelt); promoting a culture of government dependence, poverty and fatherlessness (Lyndon Johnson);  creating racial tension by declaring cops racist—leading to further destruction of our inner cities, while mocking legitimate concerns of disgruntled blue collar midwesterners frustrated by decreasing wages, lack of employment opportunities—and an opioid epidemic hollowing out their communities (Barack Obama); the intentional failure to enforce our country’s immigration laws, contributing to a four decade high of inflation by spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on Democrat pet projects that mostly help special interest groups, referring to roughly half the country as violent extremists and weaponizing the Department of Justice—to throw his leading political rival in prison (Joe Biden); it seems fair to say the Democratic Party has fallen well short of being a champion for anyone, except for its own desperate attempt to stay in power at any and all costs.

  For a party that abhors the Founding Fathers and seeks to delegitimize their contributions, rejects and regards the principles of the Constitution as meaningless, and regularly criticizes the country for failing to live up to its stated goal of forming a more perfect union, perhaps it might be time for the Democratic Party to look itself in the mirror.

  The entirety of the Democratic Party platform in 2023 is predicated on fear mongering and based on easily verifiable lies about the Republican Party.

  It typically sounds something like this: Republicans want to make it harder for minorities to vote, they only want to give tax breaks to the wealthy, they’re banning books and ignoring inconvenient aspects of American history, they don’t want poor kids to be able to go to college, they’re anti-immigration, they want to deprive Americans from receiving healthcare, they don’t believe trans people exist, they don’t think women have a right to make their own medical decisions, and police are writ large racist and randomly hunting down black people, etc.

  Not a single one of those absurd claims, which are promulgated regularly in the pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other leftist propaganda outlets has one iota of credibility. But that hasn’t prevented Democrat politicians, Hollywood, academia and the legacy media from repeating these erroneous charges into ad nauseum.

  Take, for instance, the ridiculous claim that Republican led states like Georgia want to make it harder for minorities to vote. Considering that the Peach State just set a record for voter turnout in the Midterms—in which over one million people voted—Republican leaders did a pretty poor job of discouraging citizens from casting their ballots.

  It is hardly discriminatory to require every single American to present a valid form of ID that clearly verifies who the individual is. Nothing about that is inherently racist, but it certainly is racist to imply that black people for some reason either do not have an ID, or do not possess the means to obtain a driver’s license. If the DMV is suddenly denying licenses to black people—one would imagine the Biden DOJ would have started an investigation.

  But I digress.

  What about the Democrats’ fallacious charge that Republicans only want to give tax breaks to the wealthy? Once again, that is simply not borne out by any shred of evidence.

  An analysis of IRS tax data showed that the Trump tax cuts disproportionately benefited those earning less than $50,000 per year. Those with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 saw an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, while those who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break between 15 percent to 17 percent.

  Those earning between $100,000 to $500,000 in AGI saw their personal income taxes decrease by around 11 percent to 13 percent and no one with an AGI of at least $500,000 received an average tax cut above 9 percent. The average tax cut for those in income brackets starting at $1 million was less than 6 percent.

  In other words, under Trump’s tax plan, the more money an individual earned, the higher their income was effectively taxed. But don’t let the facts get in the way of the Democrats narrative.

  How about the Biden White House’s specious claim that Republicans are banning books and refusing to teach about slavery? In reality, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis removed books from libraries and classrooms in 23 school districts across the state that contained pornographic content and other types of violent and inappropriate material. One would think the Democrats would be fine with keeping pornography away from elementary schools, but apparently not.

  Furthermore, under statute, s. 1003.42(2)(f), F.S. It is a requirement for Florida schools to teach African American history. But teaching students about slavery is different from segregating a classroom along racial lines into groups of evil white “oppressors” and “oppressed,” groups, while pontificating to seven year olds that America remains an irredeemably racist country. Sadly that remains the Democrats preferred view of this country.

  What about the now irrelevant Bernie Sanders and his ilk who claim Republicans don’t want poor kids to be able to go to college. For starters those from upper income families would have likely benefited more than lower income households if Biden’s failed attempt to unconstitutionally cancel billions of dollars of student loan debt had passed—so it would not have even helped those who it was intended to benefit.

  Second, not everyone wants to go to college, but for those who do wish to go, the taxpayers should not be subsidizing those who obtain useless degrees in topics like feminist, gender and sexuality studies, which will almost certainly lead to graduates becoming dumber, while remaining unemployed without any tangible skills.

  How about the Democrats’ sophist charge that Republicans are anti-immigration? In reality they’re not against immigration, they’re against illegal immigration! It is not compassionate to let millions of unvetted migrants pour across our country, while they suppress our wages, overwhelm public resources, commit violent crimes, and traffic in drugs and humans. It is not a serious argument to justify support for illegal immigration by proclaiming that migrants are more willing to do jobs other Americans are less likely to want to do. There is nothing humane about failing to secure our southern border or treating citizens from other countries better than we treat our own.

  What about the Democrats who foolishly claim Republicans want to deprive Americans from receiving healthcare? The reality is, socialized healthcare is a disaster that will cause millions of Americans to lose their healthcare plans, while lowering the quality of care. It will almost certainly raise the cost of coverage and increase wait times. Just ask all the Canadians who would rather spend money and travel to the U.S. so they can be treated for cancer or surgery sooner.

  How about the Democrats who claim that Republicans don’t believe trans people exist? For starters, anyone can identify as whatever they want, but that does not make it reality. I can go around telling people I’m a giraffe, but I do not have the right to compel people to believe me. Second, when the delusions of a small group of people threaten the competitive nature of women’s sports, and can lead to inappropriate locker room interactions, that is when the charade should immediately end. The Democratic Party has long claimed to care about empowering women, but lately they seem to be more interested in empowering men who say they are women.

  What about the Democrats who claim Republicans don’t think women have a right to make their own medical decisions? Most of the American public supports a 15 week ban on abortion—which means most people are in favor of protecting the innocent life of an unborn child—while also ensuring the safety of the mother. Unfortunately, the Democrats do not view an unborn child as a human, even if it has a heartbeat. The party that supposedly cares about human beings supports abortion on demand, up until and including the birth of a child. That does not seem too charitable.

  How about the Democrats false claim that police are writ large racist and randomly hunting down black people? This is simply not borne out by the data. There is zero evidence that black people are killed by police at a higher rate than white people are. In fact the evidence shows that a police officer is 18 ½ more likely to be killed by a black male, than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. but that hasn’t stopped Democrat demagogues from repeating the lie anyway to further divide the country for political gain.

  So which groups benefit from Democratic policies?

  Outside of Democrat special interest groups, the president’s corrupt son, and our chief adversaries around the world, I can’t think of anyone. But it’s clearly not me or you.

  Do children living in inner cities who attend failing public schools controlled by Democrat teachers unions who wanted to keep them home during COVID? How about those living in high crime areas where the police are nowhere to be found after Democrat politicians spent years defaming and defunding them? How about Jewish communities, who have faced a rise in antisemitic attacks, while Democrat politicians consistently side with Israel hating terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah? What about the Asian community that the Democratic Party now penalizes for scoring too high on standardized exams in order to achieve a more “equitable” racial quota. How about those who support pro-life groups? How about everyday Americans who have been crushed by Bidenflation and the Left’s war on American energy production? What about those who did not want to lose their job or business—due to their refusal to take a COVID vaccine that does not appear to work the way the “health experts” told us it would.

  The Republican Party is far from perfect, but the Democratic Party is plain evil.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:40

• Endgame: US Federal Debt Interest Payments About To Hit $1 Trillion
  Endgame: US Federal Debt Interest Payments About To Hit $1 Trillion

  There was a shocking number in today’s latest monthly US Budget Deficit report. No, it wasn’t that US government outlays unexpectedly soared 15% to $646 billion in June, up almost $100 billion from a year ago…

  

  … while tax receipts slumped 9.2% from $461 billion to $418 billion, resulting in a TTM government receipt drop of over 7.3%, the biggest since June 2020 when the US was reeling from the covid lockdown recession; in fact never have before tax receipts suffered such a big drop without the US entering a recession.

  

  Needless to say, surging government outlays coupled with shrinking tax revenues meant that in June, the US budget deficit nearly tripled from $89 billion a year ago to $228 billion, far greater than the consensus estimate of $175 billion. One can only imagine which Ukrainian billionaire oligarch’s money laundering bank account is currently enjoying the benefits of that unexpected incremental $50 billion US deficit hole: we know for a fact that the FBI will never get to the bottom of that one, since they can’t even figure out who dumped a bunch of blow inside the White House – the most protected and surveilled structure in the entire world.

  And with the monthly deficits coming in higher than expected and also far higher than a year ago, it is also not at all surprising that the cumulative deficit 9 months into the fiscal year is already the 3rd highest on record, surpassed only by the crisis years of 2020 and 2021: at $1.393 trillion, the fiscal 2022 YTD deficit is already up 170% compared to the same period last year.

  

  Again, while sad, none of the above numbers are surprising: they merely confirm that the US is on an ever faster-track to fiscal death, but not before the Fed is forced to monetize the debt once again (one wonders what financial crisis the Jekyll Island folks will invoke this time to greenlight the next multi-trillion QE).

  No, the one number that was truly shocking was found all the way on page 9, deep inside Table 3 of the latest Treasury Monthly Statement: the only highlighted below, and which shows that in the 9 months of the current fiscal year, the US has already accumulated a record $652 billion in gross debt interest.

  

  This number was more than 25% higher compared to the Interest Expense payment for the comparable period a year ago, which amounted to $521 billion.

  Soaring interest rates, driven by the panicked Fed’s scramble to undo its epic policy failure of 2020 and 2021 when the Fed kept rates at zero for far too long while injecting trillions into various asset bubbles, have been the key driver of the deficit, with the Federal Reserve boosting its benchmark rate by 5% since it began hiking in March last year. Five-year Treasury yields are now about 3.96%, versus 1.35% at the start of last year. As lower-yielding securities mature, the Treasury faces steady increases in the rates it pays on outstanding debt: that’s right – even when the Fed starts cutting rates, due to the delay of rolling over maturing debt, actual interest payments will keep rising for the foreseeable future.

  For context, the weighted average interest for total outstanding debt at the end of June was only 2.76%, a level that’s not been surpassed since January 2012, according to the Treasury. That’s up from 1.80% a year before, the department’s data show, and if the Fed indeed keeps rates “higher for longer”, the blended rate on the debt will surpass 4% in one year.

  That would be a complete disaster for the US, and it would mean that interest payments on total US debt of $32.3 trillion would hit $1.3 trillion within 12 months, potentially making interest on the debt the single biggest US government expenditure and surpassing social security!

  

  But we don’t even have to wait that long until the exploding interest on US government debt becomes a major talking point ahead of the coming presidential elections. According to the St Louis Fed’s FRED and the BEA, the interest payments by the Federal Government have now surpassed $900 billion for the first time ever, and within a quarter will hit probably rise above $1 trillion, a historic benchmark that will probably begin the countdown to the US Minsky Moment.

  

  One of the most incompetent puppets in the Biden admin (and there are countless), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, has played down concerns about higher rates. She has instead flagged that the ratio of interest payments to GDP, after adjustment for inflation, remains historically low. The problem with Yellen’s argument is that GDP will crater after the next recession (which will also spark the next financial crisis, one which Yellen will not live to see), but US debt will never again drop in either absolute or relative terms, as the good folks at the CBO have been so kind to make clear to even such intellectual midgets as the former Fed chairwoman.

  

  In short, the endgame has now arrived, and all the US can do now is rearrange the deck chairs .

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:20

• Former NBA Player Says He Lost $50 Million In Earnings After Speaking Out Against CCP
  Former NBA Player Says He Lost $50 Million In Earnings After Speaking Out Against CCP

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has claimed to have lost roughly $50 million in salaries and possible endorsements after his career ended abruptly when he spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  

  The basketball player made the claims in a hearing on July 11 before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which is chaired by both Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

  Tuesday’s hearing, titled “Corporate Complicity: Subsidizing the PRC’s Human Rights Violations,” centered on the alleged human rights abuses taking place in China, including genocide, forced organ harvesting, forced labor, internet censorship, and mass surveillance.

  It also focused on how international businesses and corporations that seek to operate in China or maintain access to the Chinese market often find themselves at risk of being complicit in such human rights abuses.

  “According to my manager, I lost around $50 million dollars, with all the NBA contracts and endorsement deals that I could’ve signed,” the sportsman said.

  “I sleep in peace at night knowing that I did the right thing. My only question is: How can the biggest dictatorship in the world, China, control an 100 percent American-made company and fire an American citizen?” he added.

  China’s ‘Brutal Dictator’

  During Tuesday’s hearing, Mr. Kanter told lawmakers that he has, over the past 11 years, often spoken out about the human rights violations in his home country of Turkey, where he said there were “many innocent people being prosecuted” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime, including his own relatives.

  He later moved into activism toward China following a “simple basketball camp” in New York, during which he was asked by the parent of one child why he had not spoken out about the CCP’s alleged abuses against members of the Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups.

  A 2022 report published by the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) found a number of “serious human rights violations” may have been committed against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. The United States has also accused the CCP of genocide. China has repeatedly dismissed the claims as a smear campaign.

  

  Mr. Kanter told lawmakers that after being questioned by the parent, he began researching the CCP’s alleged human rights abuses against members of the Uyghur group and others, at one point speaking to a concentration camp survivor who detailed her experience of torture, gang rape, forced sterilization, and abortion methods in such camps.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:00

• Did Costco Hit Bud Light With "Death Star"?
  Did Costco Hit Bud Light With “Death Star”?

  Social media users have noticed a mysterious “asterisk” in the upper-right-hand corner of Bud Light price tags at various Costco stores. Some users have referred to this asterisk as the “death star,” suggesting that the discount retailer might not replenish its stock once the inventory is depleted.

  At Costco this morning, practically giving away Bud Light. pic.twitter.com/tsyymCZjT5

  — colleen 🗣 (@plineytheelder) July 1, 2023

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  COSTCO says… STAR OF DEATH for Bud Light * it will not be restocked. 🍻 pic.twitter.com/hWYTXEckDA

  — SHARKINTHEWATER (@s_h_a_r_k_e_y) July 11, 2023

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  Even Costco is getting out of the game… pic.twitter.com/cUHE0CnPzr

  — Brian Henderson (@aztraveldude) July 3, 2023

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  There are numerous confirmations that the asterisk on price tags at Costco stores is a sign that the particular item won’t be restocked. KrazyCoupon Lady and Marie Clark, editor of the shopping site CostContessa, confirmed this over the years. 

  What needs to be confirmed is if the members-only warehouse retail chain is abandoning Bud Light products due to the possibility of collapsing demand and worsening backlash after Bud Light sponsored trans-TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney ‘celebrating’ one year of womanhood in April.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:40

• FDA Approves 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Amid Falling US Birth Rates
  FDA Approves 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Amid Falling US Birth Rates

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

  

  U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, which will let people purchase contraceptive drugs from the same store aisles as Tylenol and aspirin as the birth rate in the United States continues to drop.

  On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it cleared Perrigo’s once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription. It’s the first such drug that can be used over-the-counter, and there are no age restrictions.

  Hormone-based pills, the most common form of birth control in the United States, have been used by tens of millions of women since the 1960s, with all of them requiring a prescription—until Thursday.

  “Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, the head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement Wednesday. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.”

  The pill’s manufacturer, Perrigo, called the FDA action a “milestone” as well as a “giant leap for women’s empowerment” in a statement posted online after the agency’s approval. The firm said that it would make it “accessible and affordable to women and people of all ages.”

  “Today’s approval is a groundbreaking expansion for women’s health in the U.S., and a significant milestone towards addressing a key unmet need for contraceptive access,” Frederique Welgryn, a Perrigo official, said in the statement.

  But Ireland-based Perrigo did not announce a price. Over-the-counter medicines are generally much cheaper than prescriptions, but they typically aren’t covered by insurance.

  Forcing insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control would require a regulatory change by the federal government, which left-wing groups are urging the Biden administration to implement.

  Elaborating, the FDA said that it approved the pill, in part, because it may reduce the number of “unintended pregnancies.”

  “Nonprescription availability of Opill may reduce barriers to access by allowing individuals to obtain an oral contraceptive without the need to first see a health care provider. Almost half of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the U.S. each year are unintended,” the agency said. “Unintended pregnancies have been linked to negative maternal and perinatal outcomes, including reduced likelihood of receiving early prenatal care and increased risk of preterm delivery, with associated adverse neonatal, developmental and child health outcomes.”

  The drug’s availability “may help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and their potential negative impacts,” the FDA added in the statement.

  Declining US Birth Rates

  Over the year, there have been numerous studies in the United States and other countries suggesting that increased access to contraception such as birth-control pills can lead to a decline in fertility and birth rates. A 2021 study published in JAMA Network found that birth rates among women with employer-given health insurance dropped significantly after the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, eliminated the need for copays and other patient fees for birth control.

  “The study results suggest that free, reliable birth control reduced unintended pregnancies, the authors note. About half of all pregnancies in the population at large are unintended, and birth rates from unintended pregnancies are much higher among low-income women than other income groups,” says a UCLA writeup of the JAMA study.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:20

• Hummer EV Hype Fades In One Chart
  Hummer EV Hype Fades In One Chart

  The hype around the GMC Hummer EV is quickly fading. Secondary markets, such as the popular car-selling website Bring A Trailer had people listing these “supertrucks” in early 2022 for lofty premiums versus MSRP. Demand was red hot, and production was limited, which drove up values but more than a year later, prices have tumbled.

  

  On April 1, 2022, months after the Hummer EV was released, a Hummer EV Pickup Edition 1 was sold on Bring A Trailer for a whopping $275,000. Those who locked in reservations bought the EV for around $100,000 MSRP (and the smart ones sold on the secondary market). And in the months ahead, these supertrucks were still being bought for over $200,000 and have sustained prices around $150,000 since. 

  

  The question remains whether secondary prices can hold up at high premiums at a time when GM’s Factory Zero plant in Michigan ramps up production. 

  GM Authority has learned that GMC Hummer EV production increased considerably this past April, with more than 3,000 units produced over the course of the 2023 calendar year. –GM Authority

  With the production of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV underway, those older models might have trouble commanding such lofty values. 

  Yet another sign the EV bubble is deflating. We noted the other day that the “number of unsold electric vehicles at dealers in the second quarter tripled compared to the past year, signaling a weakened demand for the segment.” Sliding demand could be due to high borrowing costs. 

  Meanwhile, Tesla appears to be winning the EV price war, forcing competitors to shift prices lower. Those who paid substantial markups to be the first to own the Hummer EV but didn’t have a reservation and bought on the secondary market might regret their purchases at some point as prices will continue to slide.

  Just wait until people realize the cost associated with charging a Hummer EV…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:00

• Ray Epps To Be Criminally Charged For Role In January 6th, Blames Tucker
  Ray Epps To Be Criminally Charged For Role In January 6th, Blames Tucker

  Ray Epps, a man who was seen goading Trump supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, will be criminally charged, according to Epps’ attorney.

  

  The impending charges were revealed in a Wednesday lawsuit filed by Epps against Fox News, which accuses former host Tucker Carlson of defaming him.

  “…in May 2023, the Department of Justice notified Epps that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January 6, 2021—two-and-a-half years later,” reads the filing. “The relentless attacks by Fox and Mr. Carlson and the resulting political pressure likely resulted in the criminal charges.”

  In March, Epps hired attorney Michael Teter – formerly of Perkins Coie, the firm notorious for helping the Clinton campaign hatch the Steele dossier and collaborating with the FBI to push the Trump-Russia hoax. Teter immediately sent a letter to Carlson demanding that the former Fox News host retract “false and defamatory statements” that Epps was a J6 government plant.

  Epps, 62, was identified as a key instigator of the riot who has long been suspected of being a fed (or a fed asset), told his nephew in a text message: “I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.“

  This is the only Jan 6 participant Adam Kinzinger will defend!

  Still not arrested… pic.twitter.com/v7nOggQUID

  — Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) June 9, 2022

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  Last year he told Congressional investigators: “At that point, I didn’t know that they were breaking into the Capitol,” adding “I didn’t know anybody was in the Capitol. … I was on my way back to the hotel room.”

  In two interviews with the FBI in 2021, Epps explained his actions on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. He admitted he was guilty of trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds and confessed to urging protesters to go to—and into—the Capitol on Jan. 6.

  Epps also told members of the Committee that he found himself playing peacekeeper between Trump supporter “Baked Alaska” and the police – who called Epps a Fed.

  “I was trying to find some common ground,” said Epps. “This guy was trying to turn people against me…he was calling me ‘boomer,’ and it’s his generation’s fault that we’re in the position we’re in.”

  Despite the admissions, the FBI never arrested Epps and he was not charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with any Jan. 6 crimes. The non-action has fueled a crop of theories that he might have been working for the FBI or another agency.

  Epps has repeatedly denied those suggestions through his attorney.

  

  Speculation that Epps was a ‘fed’ intensified after a Revolver News reported with the headline: “Meet Ray Epps: The Fed-Protected Provocateur Who Appears To Have Led The Very First 1/6 Attack On The U.S. Capitol“

  Revolver also determined, and will prove below, that the the FBI stealthily removed Ray Epps from its Capitol Violence Most Wanted List on July 1, just one day after Revolver exposed the inexplicable and puzzlesome FBI protection of known Epps associate and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. July 1 was also just one day after separate New York Times report amplified a glaring, falsifiable lie about Epps’s role in the events of January 6.

  Lastly, Ray Epps appears to have worked alongside several individuals — many of them suspiciously unindicted — to carry out a breach of the police barricades that induced a subsequent flood of unsuspecting MAGA protesters to unwittingly trespass on Capitol restricted grounds and place themselves in legal jeopardy. -Revolver News

  And so, according to Epps’ legal team, Tucker Carlson is the reason the Biden DOJ is about to charge him.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:45

• Biden Mobilizes 3,000 Reservists To Europe To Augment 'Operation Atlantic Resolve'
  Biden Mobilizes 3,000 Reservists To Europe To Augment ‘Operation Atlantic Resolve’

  President Joe Biden today issued an executive order approving the mobilization of select reserve forces with up to 3,000 personnel, augmenting the armed forces in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 121 and 12304 of title 10, United States Code, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.  

  In furtherance of this operation, under the stated authority, I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, not to exceed 3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve, as they deem necessary, and to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.

  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

  Here’s the Atlantic Council’s description of Operation Atlantic Resolve:

  

  Defense.gov reports that this operation will be designated as a contingency operation, said Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, Joint Staff director of operations, during a press briefing today.

  “This new designation benefits troops and families with increases in authorities, entitlements and access to the reserve component forces and personnel,” Sims said.

  “This [executive order] reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to defend NATO’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine,” Sims said.

  So, first Abrams tanks were ‘no’, then F-16s were a red-line we wouldn’t cross, then cluster bombs were a war-crime, and now as close to ‘boots on the ground’ as we have been in a war against Russia?

  Many questions arise about this action – Why reservists and not active military? (is it somehow less ‘boots on the ground’-ish if they are reservists?) Why now? (is another major Hunter Biden headline about to drop?)

  At first blush, this may appear to be nothing significant to the casual observer. Maybe the reserves will just be there in a “support” or “advisory” capacity. But they will be there.

  And as Lincoln Brown warns via PJ Media, one must ask oneself if a precedent is being set.

  It takes an act of Congress to declare war. Historically, the president must go to the legislature and ask for a declaration. But Biden is taking advantage of his office to mobilize select portions of the military and send them to Europe, bypassing the need to even so much as consult with Congress. Is it an attempt to hide or secure something? Or is it merely an act of a self-obsessed and deluded president and cabinet?

  Whatever the case may be, one should be disturbed at the thought of Joe Biden and his advisors pushing toy soldiers around a map of Europe. All the while oblivious to what is at stake. Not just for the nation but for the world. In a worst-case scenario, this is not going to be like D-Day, as horrific as that was. This will not be General Patton racing across Europe with his tanks to be the first to cross the Rhine. This will not even be like Vietnam or any of the recent conflicts in the Middle East.

  This could potentially be unlike anything we have experienced before. And it is past time that cooler and saner heads on both sides of the aisle made this terrible old man and his ambitious, tone-deaf sycophants stand down.

  Finally, bear in mind that Congressman Matt Gaetz has been warning that the Biden administration of “sleepwalking our great country into a world war.”

  Is this the next escalatory move? Yet another prod of the bear?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:39

• These Are The Safest Cities In America
  These Are The Safest Cities In America

  The phrase “small town America” often conjures up images of white picket fences, well-trimmed lawns, and big houses. But how safe is modern-day suburbia in America?

  Some of the smallest places in the country can actually be among the most dangerous. Take for example Bessemer, Alabama, with a population of around 26,000 and a violent crime rate of 33.1 per every 1,000 residents.

  That said, there are many small cities that are true havens for families across the United States. Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop uses this map to showcase the safest cities in the U.S., using FBI data and Census Bureau populations compiled by NeighborhoodScout in 2023.

  

  Note: The source only considered cities with a population of 25,000 or higher. This report is based on total index crimes reported in each city, which includes arson, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.

  Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S.

  40% of the cities in the ranking are located in Northeastern states, which are typically rated the “safest” based on FBI data.

  Here’s a closer look at the Top 10:

  

  One quarter of the safest cities are located in Massachusetts, with the vast majority clustered around Boston.

  The median population of the cities and towns in the top 100 is just 32,000, and few widely-recognized cities make the list. Carmel, Indiana (#60) is the only city with a population above 100,000 to make the rankings. This would seem to follow the logic that bigger cities are more dangerous, but our map covering the most dangerous cities in America shows that many small cities were just as dangerous, and some even more.

  Regardless, small towns can truly be idyllic. For example, a person’s chance of falling victim to crime in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the safest ranked city in the U.S., is just 1-in-510. That’s an overall rate of fewer than two incidents of crime per every 1,000 residents.

  One surprising observation from the data is that many of the safest U.S. cities are in very close proximity to some of the most dangerous.

  

  One example that illustrates this is Detroit, which ranks as the sixth most dangerous city in America. Despite this, as shown on the map above, there are four communities nearby that have some of the lowest crime rates in America.

  In other words, America’s metro areas contain much contrast, and these insights provide valuable information for individuals and families seeking secure places to live across the country.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:20

• US Government Moves Nearly 10k Bitcoin Worth Over $300 Million Related To Silk Road Seizure
  US Government Moves Nearly 10k Bitcoin Worth Over $300 Million Related To Silk Road Seizure

  Authored by Tristan Greene via CoinTelegraph.,com,

  The government previously promised to liquidate approximately 40,000 remaining BTC from the seizure in “four more batches” over the remainder of the calendar year…

  

  A cryptocurrency wallet associated with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) moved approximately 9,825.25 Bitcoin worth around $299 million in a series of transactions on July 12. 

  It’s unclear at this time whether the transactions, which appear to have ultimately propagated to at least 101 new wallets, were sent to exchange addresses for sale or remain in the custody of the Justice Department.

  

  DOJ Bitcoin transactions. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com

  Initially, approximately 9,825 of the Bitcoin associated with the Silk Road seizure moved in a pair of transactions sent to three addresses at around 1:00 pm UTC. The bulk of the coins — 8,200 BTC worth nearly $250 million as of the time of this article’s publication — were sent to a single address, which subsequently split the total amount across 101 separate addresses a little over an hour later:

  

  An 8,200 BTC transaction from a wallet that received coins originating from the DOJ. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com

  The U.S. government previously revealed that it had plans to offload the rest of its BTC from the Silk Road seizure over the course of four batch transactions throughout the remainder of the calendar year.

  According to current on-chain data, it’s possible the U.S. government could be testing liquidity strategies. One account associated with batch transactions conducted on March 7, 2023 appears to have profited in the amount of $237,934,919 on 30,174.7 in BTC holdings not currently associated with the July 12 batch of transactions.

  However, another account that received 9,825.6 BTC from the DOJ during the March 7 batch distributed those coins among 101 accounts. The same account later joined 599 other accounts to send a total of approximately 0.1 BTC (about $3,032 as of the time of this article’s publication) to yet another account, which then spread its holdings of approximately 51 BTC across 37 addresses.

  

  An approximately 51 BTC transaction from a wallet that received coins originating from the DOJ. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com

  While speculation abounds about the exact nature of the transactions, which now span some 800-plus wallet addresses, the sheer number of transactions and associated wallets makes tracking exactly what the U.S. government is doing with each coin an increasingly challenging endeavor.

  This lack of certainty has led some members of the crypto community to fear that BTC is being “nuked” or that the U.S. government’s wake-inducing coin movement will ripple throughout the cryptocurrency economy and cause investors to abandon what some see as the early stages of a bull run.

  Bullish CPI and #bitcoin nuked

  Not a good sign

  — Algod (@AlgodTrading) July 12, 2023

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

  Other enthusiasts have dismissed such commentary as unnecessary fear, uncertainty and doubt based on the lack of tidal movement — more than six hours after the transactions were clocked, BTC has seen less than 1% of market movement.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:00

• Chipotle Tests "Autocado" Robot To Streamline Guacamole Prep
  Chipotle Tests “Autocado” Robot To Streamline Guacamole Prep

  From drive-thru to kitchens to automated kiosks, major restaurant chains are testing artificial intelligence and automation to streamline operations with one goal: eliminating unreliable low-wage and low-skilled workers. 

  Everyone’s favorite Chipotle Mexican Grill is the latest example of technology pouring into its kitchen. The company announced it was testing “Autocado,” an avocado-processing robot that cuts, cores, and peels avocados in half the time. 

  “Chipotle currently has individuals dedicated to cutting, coring, and scooping avocados. On average, it takes approximately 50 minutes to make a batch of guacamole,” Chipotle wrote in a press release. Autocado, developed in collaboration with Vebu Labs, a California-based robotics startup, can prep a batch of avocados in as little as 25 minutes. 

  This is the Autocado — Chipotle’s new avocado-prepping robot. 🥑 https://t.co/k27IsUJeKF pic.twitter.com/qOqhoO0rfR

  — CNBC (@CNBC) July 12, 2023

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

  Across North America and Europe this year, the company estimates it’ll use 4.5 million cases of avocados, equivalent to more than 100 million pounds of fruit. The manpower used to make guacamole is enormous, and it appears Autocado is a move by the company to streamline costs. 

  “We are committed to exploring collaborative robotics to drive efficiencies and ease pain points for our employees,” said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer at Chipotle.

  Garner continued, “The intensive labor of cutting, coring, and scooping avocados could be relieved with Autocado, but we still maintain the essential culinary experience of hand mashing and hand preparing the guacamole to our exacting standards.”

  In addition to Autocado, Chipotle is testing Chippy, an autonomous tortilla chip maker created by Miso Robotics. The goals are simple: leverage automation technology to streamline kitchen operations to save costs. 

  The end goal of every major restaurant chain is to incorporate vast amounts of automation to eliminate human workers. Robots can’t get sick, nor can they form unions and strike. 

  Goldman told clients in late March that AI could spark millions of job losses in the coming years. The full report is available to pro subscribers in the usual place.

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:40

• DC Council Passes Emergency Bill As Crime Rates Soar
  DC Council Passes Emergency Bill As Crime Rates Soar

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

  Washington, D.C. Council voted on July 11 to pass an emergency public safety bill granting judges and law enforcement officials more power as part of efforts to address soaring crime rates in the area.

  The bill, known as the “Prioritizing Public Safety Amendment Act,” was put forward by Councilmember Brooke Pinto and passed Tuesday in a 12–1 vote.

  Just one council member—Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat—voted against the measure, which will remain in effect for 90 days after it is signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser.

  

  Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a news conference in Washington, on March 15, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

  Under the emergency public safety bill, council members aim to prevent crime and violence by establishing a “rebuttable presumption in favor of pre-trial detention” system for adults who previously committed a violent crime.

  Through that system, it will be deemed necessary to detain such individuals who commit new violent crimes, pending their trial date, if a court finds there is “probable cause” that the individual committed the crime of violence.

  Similarly, juveniles who commit specific dangerous crimes or crimes of violence, regardless of whether or not they were armed, will also be detained pending trial under the new measure.

  The district will allow increased access to private security cameras throughout the district under the measure, and raise the amount of reimbursement residents can get for installing private security cameras outside of their homes.

  New Firearm Offence

  Additionally, the bill clarifies that pretrial GPS monitoring data can be used as evidence against defendants in court, and makes misdemeanor arrest warrants extraditable when suspects leave the District after committing a crime.

  Perhaps one of the biggest elements of the bill is that a new offense of “endangerment with a firearm” will be created, making it a felony for someone to fire a gun in public.

  A string of other measures are included in the bill aimed at protecting victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and generally bringing down crime levels.

  Ms. Pinto praised the passing of the “common-sense legislation” in a statement late Tuesday where she thanked government leaders for taking “tangible steps” to help keep the city safer over the summer.

  

  A Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police vehicle is parked on the other side of police tape on March 23, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

  “Today’s vote sends a clear message that the current state of crime and violence cannot be tolerated and that our government is working together to make DC residents safer,” Ms. Pinto said.

  “We must continue to build on the legislation we passed today to better invest in preventative tools and interrupt cycles of violence. However, this legislation is a major step forward in our efforts to create a safer DC for all our residents,” the council member added.

  In a separate statement, Ms. Bowser said the new legislation will “fill gaps in our criminal justice system and, in doing so, will increase accountability for violent and criminal behavior and make our city safer.”

  “We know that a safer DC is possible and our community is in agreement that the status quo is unacceptable,” Ms. Bowser said.

  “People getting killed on our streets is unacceptable. People getting their cars or property stolen at gunpoint is unacceptable. Parents being afraid to let their children play outside or seniors being afraid to walk to the bus stop is unacceptable.”

  The passing of the new safety bill comes as crime rates have soared across D.C. according to police data, with homicides up 17 percent year-on-year, and sexual abuse up 35 percent.

  Robberies are also up 52 percent annually and violent crime is up 33 percent overall, according to the Metropolitan Police Department data. Motor vehicle theft and arson are also up 117 percent and 300 percent, respectively.

  

  Police and demonstrators clash in downtown Washington after a limo was set on fire following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

  Opposition to Safety Bill

  However, not everyone welcomed the new measure. During Tuesday’s vote, Ms. George argued the legislation would likely do little to substantially reduce crime in D.C. and branded the pretrial detention aspect of the bill “reckless,” telling fellow council members that she fears the provision could see more people being held in jail.

  “There is no credible evidence that pre-trial detention would make D.C. safer. We’re doing the same thing we did in 1994,” said Ms. George.

  “We have books on this, we have scholarly articles on this. It’s the same reaction … we cannot make the same mistake. This is how mass incarceration happens. Bit by bit. We do not need to choose between bad strategies or nothing.”

  Despite her objections, an amendment introduced by Ms. George to strike out the pre-trial detention for adults provision was voted down by council members.

  Criminal justice reform organizations including the D.C. Justice Lab also opposed the measure.

  “Every summer, crime goes up. Every summer, someone tries to introduce an emergency bill to do something about it. And every summer, these bills fail to make any difference. And it’s because they’re not tailored to what actually works to reduce crime,” said Emily Cassometus, the director of government and external affairs for D.C. Justice Lab.

  “In D.C., we know that locking more people up and that having big, sweeping generalizations doesn’t work. We know that having really specific targeted interventions does, and that giving people support and resources does,” Ms. Cassometus added.

  The passing of the bill follows a string of shootings in D.C. in July, including that of Ahmad Yar, a former interpreter who served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade before fleeing his native country when the Taliban rose to power.

  Mr. Yar was shot last week while working his shift as a Lyft driver. He was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:20

• These Are The World's Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
  These Are The World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets

  In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military.

  When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars.

  And as Visual Capitalist’s Pallave Rao and Joyce Ma detail below, almost 80 years later, modern day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets.

  The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.

  In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.

  

  The Largest Military Budgets in 2022

  The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion.

  Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:

  Rank	Country	Military Budget (Billions)	% of World Military Spend
  1	🇺🇸 U.S.	$876.9	39.0%
  2	🇨🇳 China	$292.0	13.0%
  3	🇷🇺 Russia	$86.4	3.9%
  4	🇮🇳 India	$81.4	3.6%
  5	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	$75.0	3.3%
  6	🇬🇧 UK	$68.5	3.1%
  7	🇩🇪 Germany	$55.8	2.5%
  8	🇫🇷 France	$53.6	2.4%
  9	🇰🇷 South Korea	$46.4	2.1%
  10	🇯🇵 Japan	$46.0	2.1%
  11	🇺🇦 Ukraine	$44.0	2.0%
  12	🇮🇹 Italy	$33.5	1.5%
  13	🇦🇺 Australia	$32.3	1.4%
  14	🇨🇦 Canada	$26.9	1.2%
  15	🇮🇱 Israel	$23.4	1.0%
  16	🇪🇸 Spain	$20.3	0.9%
  17	🇧🇷 Brazil	$20.2	0.9%
  18	🇵🇱 Poland	$16.6	0.7%
  19	🇳🇱 Netherlands	$15.6	0.7%
  20	🇶🇦 Qatar	$15.4	0.7%
  21	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$12.5	0.6%
  22	🇸🇬 Singapore	$11.7	0.5%
  23	🇹🇷 Türkiye	$10.6	0.5%
  24	🇵🇰 Pakistan	$10.3	0.5%
  25	🇨🇴 Colombia	$9.9	0.4%
  26	🇩🇿 Algeria	$9.1	0.4%
  27	🇮🇩 Indonesia	$9.0	0.4%
  28	🇲🇽 Mexico	$8.5	0.4%
  29	🇳🇴 Norway	$8.4	0.4%
  30	🇰🇼 Kuwait	$8.2	0.4%
  31	🇬🇷 Greece	$8.1	0.4%
  32	🇸🇪 Sweden	$7.7	0.3%
  33	🇧🇪 Belgium	$6.9	0.3%
  34	🇮🇷 Iran	$6.8	0.3%
  35	🇨🇭 Switzerland	$6.1	0.3%
  36	🇴🇲 Oman	$5.8	0.3%
  37	🇹🇭 Thailand	$5.7	0.3%
  38	🇨🇱 Chile	$5.6	0.2%
  39	🇩🇰 Denmark	$5.5	0.2%
  40	🇷🇴 Romania	$5.2	0.2%

  China, ranked second in absolute terms, accounts for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.

  Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add in the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spend.

  Comparatively, the lowest budgets on the top 40 ranged include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course there are many countries with even smaller spends.

  Largest Military Budget Increases in 2022

  Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spend had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates.

  On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.

  Country	% Change (2021-2022)	Rank Change (2021-2022)
  🇺🇦 Ukraine	640%	+25
  🇶🇦 Qatar	27%	+2
  🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	16%	+3
  🇧🇪 Belgium	13%	0
  🇳🇱 Netherlands	12%	0
  🇸🇪 Sweden	12%	-1
  🇵🇱 Poland	11%	0
  🇷🇺 Russia	9.2%	+2
  🇩🇰 Denmark	8.8%	+3
  🇪🇸 Spain	7.3%	-1
  🇳🇴 Norway	6.2%	0
  🇮🇳 India	6.0%	-1
  🇯🇵 Japan	5.9%	-1
  🇮🇷 Iran	4.6%	+5
  🇨🇳 China	4.2%	0
  🇬🇧 UK	3.7%	-2
  🇨🇦 Canada	3.0%	-1
  🇸🇬 Singapore	2.8%	+1
  🇩🇪 Germany	2.3%	0
  🇮🇩 Indonesia	1.3%	0
  🇨🇴 Colombia	1.1%	-1
  🇺🇸 U.S.	0.7%	0
  🇫🇷 France	0.6%	-2
  🇬🇷 Greece	0.6%	-1
  🇨🇭 Switzerland	0.4%	-1
  🇹🇼 Taiwan	0.4%	-1
  🇦🇺 Australia	0.3%	-1
  🇵🇰 Pakistan	-2.0%	-3
  🇰🇷 South Korea	-2.5%	+1
  🇷🇴 Romania	-2.6%	+1
  🇴🇲 Oman	-3.0%	+1
  🇩🇿 Algeria	-3.7%	-1
  🇮🇱 Israel	-4.2%	-1
  🇮🇹 Italy	-4.5%	-1
  🇨🇱 Chile	-6.2%	-3
  🇧🇷 Brazil	-7.9%	-1
  🇲🇽 Mexico	-9.7%	0
  🇰🇼 Kuwait	-11%	-4
  🇹🇭 Thailand	-11%	-5
  🇹🇷 Türkiye	-26%	-6

  Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict.

  Although no other country comes close in matching Ukraine’s surge in defense spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military.

  Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.

  On the flipside, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel.

  The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.

  The Specter of War in Europe

  With an ongoing conflict in the region and large financial powerhouses, its no surprise that eight of the top 10 countries with the most significant increases in military spending are located in Europe.

  Consequently, European military budgets have reached levels not witnessed since the end of the Cold War.

  And amid escalating geopolitical concerns, countries in Asia such as India, Japan, and China have also ramped up their defense spending. This is an indication of simmering global flashpoints such as India and China’s border skirmishes, the longstanding South China Sea territorial conflict, and concerns surrounding Taiwan’s sovereignty.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:00

• Does Anyone Care Anymore?
  Does Anyone Care Anymore?

  Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

  Is Ukraine still a thing for Americans? Of course, a brutal and tragic war is going on there with momentous geopolitical consequences. But do Americans care?

  

  Attention spans are short, and Americans have already moved on to stories about political scandals, the next election, and the usual celebrity glamour gloss. Outside of the U.S. warmonger elites and a few critics (myself included), Americans don’t seem to care.

  That’s a mistake. The war is as hard fought as ever and the geopolitical stakes are even higher than at the start of the war as we keep climbing up the escalation ladder.

  Today I’ll look at the military situation, the economic sanctions, the bigger picture of global recession, and the impact of the war on energy prices.

  Almost nothing in this report is being covered by The New York Times, the Washington Post or other legacy media. Their coverage consists almost exclusively of lies propagated by the State Department, CIA or MI6 and should not be taken seriously except by counterintelligence experts interested in knowing what the U.S. and UK are lying about.

  The Counteroffensive Disaster

  On the battlefield, Ukraine is losing badly and is in danger of having its offensive military capacity annihilated. The famous Ukrainian spring counteroffensive has met with disaster and been reduced to a series of impotent pinprick attacks.

  The original Ukrainian plan was to punch through Russian defenses with an “iron fist” armored attack, retake the city of Melitopol, and from there reach the Sea of Azov. This would cut Russia’s land bridge (from Rostov-on-Don to Crimea) and divide Russian forces into two groups that could not reinforce each other.

  This would open the way for Ukraine to take more territory and possibly retake Crimea itself.

  The Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4. The iron fist quickly turned into a piñata. From the outset, Ukrainian armor was badly mauled in Russian minefields. Additional damage was done by Russian artillery, missiles and aviation.

  Over a month into the offensive. Ukrainians are still fighting in a gray zone short of the first of three Russian fortified lines. If the offensive went according to plan, the Ukrainians would have broken through these forward positions in the first couple of days. But here they are.

  They claim to have taken a few villages, but some are no more than a single farmhouse. None are of strategic importance.

  The Russians are repelling the Ukrainians, in most cases inflicting high casualties and loss of Ukrainian armored vehicles and tanks. It’s a war of attrition that Ukraine will certainly lose.

  Western Duds

  What about all those advanced weapons the U.S. and its NATO allies have been sending to Ukraine?

  Well, they don’t work as expected, they’re easily destroyed by the Russians, the training periods take too long to be of any short-term use, or that they haven’t yet been manufactured or delivered.

  Look at the fancy Patriot air defense systems we sent Ukraine. The Patriot systems cost $1 billion each, but at least two have been destroyed by Russian hypersonic missiles.

  And after some initial successes, the HIMARS precision artillery systems we gave Ukraine have proven ineffective because the Russians have successfully jammed the GPS transmissions, so the missiles go off-course. Eventually they’re destroyed by Russian artillery.

  In some cases, reportedly, the Russians have actually been able to redirect the projectile back in the direction of where it was launched. Talk about a boomerang!

  The bottom line is that while the U.S. military was knocking down mud huts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Russia was developing high-tech weapons to counter the best weaponry that NATO has on hand. NATO tanks and other armored vehicles have certainly not made much impact.

  Kill the Children!

  The U.S. is now promising to deliver cluster munitions to the Ukrainians. These are heavy bombs (shells in this case) loaded with hundreds of smaller bomblets that detonate shrapnel in all directions. They’re banned by almost every country in the world because they kill and maim civilians indiscriminately.

  A certain percentage of these bomblets fail to detonate initially, but remain active. Civilians come along later, often children, who trigger the explosions. The U.S. will send older cluster munitions, meaning the dud rate will be even higher, leaving behind even more unexploded bomblets that will kill civilians.

  But the U.S. still will be sending them to Ukraine on orders from Joe Biden.

  The military failures by the U.S. and NATO go beyond losses on the battlefield. By supplying so much equipment to Ukraine, the U.S. has depleted its own arsenals. It’ll take years to retool assembly lines and restock the arsenals.

  Shooting Yourself in the Foot

  In the meantime, the U.S. will find itself short of weapons and ammunition in case of a war with China or a wider war in Europe.

  Meanwhile, the impact of economic sanctions on Russia has been the reverse of what the U.S. intended. I advised my seminar at the U.S. Army War College of this likely outcome over a year ago, and I repeated the warning at my seminar last month.

  Russian oil sales are near all-time highs; they have simply shifted their sales from Europe to India and China. Russian financial reserves are at all-time highs also, despite asset freezes by the U.S. The Central Bank of Russia has moved its asset allocation toward physical gold along with Chinese yuan and Indian rupees.

  The Russian economy is expected to outperform the U.S. economy in 2023 based on World Bank estimates. The EU and Japan are already in recession and the U.S. is likely entering one, if not there already.

  The sanctions have failed badly and have hurt the U.S. economy more than the Russian economy. Since U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen does not understand international economics or the impact of sanctions, one should expect the damage imposed on the U.S. to get worse.

  Escalate, Escalate, Escalate

  Despite military and economic losses suffered by Ukraine and its Western backers, many want to double down rather than negotiate a possible peace settlement. They simply cannot entertain the possibility of a Russian victory.

  This means the greatest danger now is not losing ground, but instead engaging in escalation that might lead to World War III. For example, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute has recommended giving Ukraine tactical nuclear weapons.

  Given Russia’s success (at high cost) and U.S. escalation, the short-term prospects for peace talks are low. More likely the war will drag on into late 2023 before actual talks begin.

  By then, Russia will have the upper hand because the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be badly depleted, Russia will have taken additional territory and Biden will be looking for a face-saving way out of the fiasco ahead of the presidential elections.

  The ace in the hole for Putin will be the coming winter of 2024. Last winter was unusually mild in Europe and the EU muddled through with the energy supplies it could muster. The weather may not be so cooperative next year. Russia may be more ruthless when it comes to actually turning off the natural gas supplies.

  The Only Winner in a 1970s-Style Economy

  This convergence of factors could lead to much higher energy prices even as the U.S. and EU fall into a severe recession. The combination of weak growth and high prices is called stagflation, last seen in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It could happen again.

  This is one of the worst economic outcomes possible. It means losses for stocks (because of recession), losses for government bonds (because of inflation), losses for corporate bonds (because of business failures), and major losses for commercial real estate (because of low occupancy rates and mortgage defaults).

  The only winner, as was the case from 1977 to 1980, is gold.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:40

• "Not Some Fringe Theory": Flip-Flopping Virologist Thought Lab Leak "Highly Likely" Before Toeing Fauci's Line
  “Not Some Fringe Theory”: Flip-Flopping Virologist Thought Lab Leak “Highly Likely” Before Toeing Fauci’s Line

  Dr. Kristian Andersen, the virologist who initially told Anthony Fauci that Covid-19 appeared to have been ‘engineered,’ only to flip-flop 72-hours later after Fauci ‘prompted‘ Andersen and other scientists to create a paper arguing against the lab-leak theory, told colleagues that a lab leak was ‘highly likely’ and ‘not some fringe theory.’

  

  Andersen notably appeared before Congress on Tuesday, where he carefully bullshitted his way through a minefield of questions from Republican lawmakers, while Democrats – apparently uninterested in anything except tribal narratives, provided cover.

  In advance of Anderson’s testimony, House Republicans published a cache of messages as part of a government report, however the Daily Mail has received several damning Slack messages from February 2, 2020 – the day Twitter banned Zero Hedge for suggesting a lab leak – that weren’t part of that release, in which Andersen told colleagues “The main issue is that accidental escape is in fact highly likely – it’s not some fringe theory.”

  

  He also admitted that he found it “strange” that Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan, China – located hundreds of miles from a cave where the closest strain to COVID-19 was found.

  

  During testimony, Andersen said that ‘facts’ changed his opinion on the lab leak – though he couldn’t point to anything specific.

  The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate. Some studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbour Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time. -Daily Mail

  The Wuhan Institute of Virology is notably a 40-minute drive from the Hunan wet market in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The city itself is more than 800 miles from the Yunnan cave where Covid-19’s closest relative was found, making natural transmission less likely.

  

  Andersen was a co-author of the Proximal Origin report, which was published days after a conferenced call with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins and others – who had been funding research to manipulate bat Covid to make it more transmissible to humans.

  Fauci notably offshored banned gain-of-function research to make bat coronaviruses more transmissible to humans.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:20

• Homicides Soar 96% In Washington State After Passage Of Gun Restrictions
  Homicides Soar 96% In Washington State After Passage Of Gun Restrictions

  Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times,

  Data shows that the number of homicides in Washington State skyrocketed after Second Amendment Rights were restricted.

  

  According to a report released July 10 (pdf), the rate of murders, violence, and property crimes rose across Washington state in 2022, while the number of law enforcement officers available to respond and protect citizens decreased.

  Specifically, the report revealed there were 394 murders in 2022, an increase of 16.6 percent over 2021 and the highest number of murders since the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs (WASPC) began recording this data in 1980. In addition, homicides increased 96 percent since 2019 and violent crimes increase by 8.9 percent.

  During a July 10 press briefing, WASPC Executive Director Steve Strachan said that residents are more concerned about crime because it’s starting to affect them “in a real way in their real life.”

  He specifically addressed the rise in homicides, up 16.6 percent, with an all-time high number of 394 people being murdered in 2022.

  “With that increase of 16.6 percent, compared to 2021 to that all-time high of 394, that is 96 percent more murders than we had in 2019,” Strachan said.

  

  A slide shown during a media availability session hosted by the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs on July 10, 2023. (WASPC/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  Strachan also noted that Washington State suffered a net loss of nearly 500 police officers or 4.4 percent of its force in 2021. The per capita loss in officers per 1,000 citizens was down to 1.38, “which was the lowest on record and also the lowest in the nation.”

  Things did not improve in 2022.

  Strachan said net statewide law enforcement staffing went down by an additional 70 officers, bringing the per capita number down to 1.36 per thousand, “again the lowest on record and again the lowest in the nation.”

  It was the 13th straight year that Washington State had the lowest police staffing numbers in the country.

  

  A slide shown during a media availability session hosted by the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs on July 10, 2023, reflecting the decrease in the number of law enforcement officers per capita. (WASPC/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  Assaults on officers went up 20 percent, rising from 1,968 incidents in 2021 to 2,375 incidents in 2022. There was a 5-year trend of increased assaults on law enforcement, going down only slightly (by 59 incidents) during the pandemic lockdowns.

  While the total population of Washington State increased by 93,262, the number of law enforcement officers decreased from 10,736 to 10,666 in 2021. This placed Washington in last place nationwide for the number of officers per thousand residents. There were also 2,375 reported cases of officers assaulted in 2022—an increase of 20.7 percent. Two officers were killed on duty.

  In the meantime, Seattle’s City Council cut the police budget by nearly 20 percent in 2020, falling short of their goal to gut law enforcement funding by 50 percent. According to reports, “the agency has been in a tailspin ever since.”

  ‘Backfired’

  In a July 10 press release in response to the WASPC report, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, says the 96 percent increase in homicides since 2019 is “damning proof that billionaire-backed gun control measures were, as we predicted, false pie-in-the-sky promises.”

  “Passage of Initiative 594 in 2014 and I-1639 in 2018 have accomplished nothing other than to create massive impairments, which we believe are unconstitutional, for law-abiding Washington citizens,” Gottlieb said further.

  Initiative 594 (pdf) imposes background checks on firearms purchasers and mandates that only licensed dealers may sell or transfer firearms to unlicensed persons.

  Initiative Measure No. 1639 (pdf), filed on May 2, 2018, places restrictions on the purchase of “semiautomatic assault rifles,” requires the purchaser to have “undergone training within the past five years,” and subjects the purchaser to a waiting time between 10 to 60 business days. The law further mandates that gun dealers may not deliver a pistol to a purchaser “until the purchaser produces a valid concealed pistol license and the dealer has recorded the purchaser’s name, license number, and issuing agency” in “triplicate.”

  Gottlieb says the WASPC data proves that all of that has “backfired.”

  “These findings really validate everything we’ve said about all of the gun control measures that the State of Washington has passed, either by initiative or legislative process,” Gottlieb asserted, noting how the numbers prove that gun violence and homicides escalated after the state passed measures to restrict gun rights.

  “This was the highest homicide rate recorded since 1980,” He said.

  “So all of these so-called gun control measures that were going to stop violence in the State of Washington have backfired.”

  He also proposed that when Americans are allowed to exercise their Second Amendment Rights freely, crime rates go down, specifically in Constitutional Carry states.

  An analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data by the United States Conceal Carry Association and released in October of 2022 showed that states that allow some form of permitless or Constitutional Carry have “fewer total and gun-related homicides.”

  Conversely, Gottlieb said crime rates in “Democrat-controlled states” where gun control laws restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens from bearing arms go up dramatically.

  “Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, we’re seeing it all over the country,” Gottlieb reflected.

  “You are less safe when you do not have a means of self-defense.”

  For Gottlieb, one of the primary struggles faced by gun rights advocates is that they are competing against “a legacy media with a gun-control agenda, and they only push one side of the equation.”

  “They don’t let our data flow out to the public so the average citizen doesn’t know that all of the gun violence they’re hearing about is happening because gun laws don’t work,” he explained.

  “The data doesn’t lie. But you won’t see the Sheriff’s report or our press release in response to the report on the legacy media.”

  Gottlieb also discussed how most mass shootings take place in “gun-free” zones.

  Data compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center confirmed that 97.8 percent of all mass shootings between 1950 and 2018 occurred in gun-free zones.

  Not much has changed.

  In May of 2022, the Crime Prevention Research Center reported that 96 percent of mass shootings occurred in gun-free zones.

  “These numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Gottlieb said. “They always tell us we’ll see all kinds of carnage without gun control. But we’re not going to see that because we aren’t seeing it in the 26 states that have permitless carry.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:00

• Republicans Accuse Biden of 'Anti-Israel' Policies As Relations Hit Low Point
  Republicans Accuse Biden of ‘Anti-Israel’ Policies As Relations Hit Low Point

  At a moment the relationship between the Biden White House and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing to deteriorate over what the US admin has called the latter’s ‘extreme’ stances, Republicans have lashed out, charging Biden with ‘anti-Israel’ Policies.

  Fourteen Republican US senators are holding up confirmation of State Department officials, they have announced, until the White House reverses its “antisemitic boycott of Israel”.

  

  Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, James Risch, and Tom Cotton penned a letter addressed to Biden and Secretary Blinken which said, “It is untenable for State Department officials to continue testifying to Congress that they support the US-Israel relationship and then – once out of view – to push policies designed to undermine that relationship.”

  The Biden administration has recently made moves to in effect boycott Israeli goods and technology which are based in occupied West Bank locations. This as the president and his top officials have denounced Israeli settlement expansion.

  Axios reported last month that the Biden administration “notified Israel two weeks ago that it was reimposing a ban that prohibits U.S. taxpayer funding from being used in any research and development or scientific cooperation projects conducted in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to three U.S. and Israeli officials.”

  Further, Axios described, “The Biden administration’s decision reverses a Trump administration policy from late 2020 that allowed U.S. taxpayer funding to be used for science and technology projects in the settlements for the first time since 1967.”

  The White House has also criticized Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul initiative, which Israeli opponents as well as tens of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets say will destroy checks and balances and given the ruling far-right coalition unprecedented power over the judiciary.

  The GOP Senators wrote further, “This guidance in particular puts Americans’ safety, security, and prosperity at risk because it politicizes and undermines cooperation on science and technology, including in areas such as defense and medicine where also our Israeli allies have proven themselves critical partners.” 

  They are urging for the Biden administration to immediately repeal the policy and restore the Trump-era one.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 18:40

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• The Death Games Of Ukraine
  The Death Games Of Ukraine

  Authored by David Patrikarakos via UnHerd,

  Down in a bunker a little way back from the Ukraine frontline, I am watching a staple of modern warfare: a drone attack in real time.

  

  The command centre is a small room with three TV monitors, two of which are divided into four screens. All are showing drone footage from different parts of the front’s 20 kilometres of trenches. Four men sit in front of the screens. Two men sit off at the side — one on a laptop, one manning a two-way radio. In the centre of the room stands Bereza, the Brigade commander, barking voicenotes into his phone.

  Two of the screens go black and a message pops up: “Your livestream will play again as soon as it’s available. Get Ready!”  I’m told it happens all the time. The screens cut in and out for all manner of unpredictable reasons. But, then, the image reappears and we are looking at a forest. A Russian tank is on the move — changing direction and wheeling around. The men inside this room are trying to destroy it. Their constant banter —  about girls and weapons — doesn’t seem to affect the focus with which they pursue the tank. One man shouts into the radio; Bereza growls into his phone. A screen goes black again. “Your livestream will play again as soon as it’s available. Get Ready!”

  A screen flashes with light. Then billowing smoke. The men whoop and cheer. I have just seen a successful strike. Dima grins. The atmosphere is electric but also strangely banal. The exclusively male cohort, the puerile jokes, the screens, the repeated invocation to “Get Ready!”. It’s like they are all playing a video game.

  “This is modern war, David” says Dima. “The war online.”

  In some respects, 21st-century warfare began the first time a US MQ-1 Predator UAV (that’s an unmanned Aerial Vehicle) drone flew over the Taliban’s positions to photograph the scene below. The Americans realised drones could be used for more than snooping. They could be modified for combat, armed with missiles and other incendiary devices. China, Iran and Turkey joined the arms race, and now they flood the market with their own cheap and effective drones.

  For any state fighting without the wealth of the United States and China (which is everyone else), what is cheap and effective is also necessary. Out in Ukraine, the skies throng with Chinese-made DJI Mavics, Iranian Shaheds, Russian Orlan-10s and Turkish Bayraktar TB2s. Drones may not have the same payload or firepower as a fighter jet, but then again you can’t buy a fighter jet on the internet. For the price of one F-35, you can buy 55,000 DJI Mavic 3s. For less established militaries, drones offer the chance of levelling the field to at least some degree.

  I spot a DJI Mavic 3 drone amid the scattered clothing, food and weaponry in the Dnipro 1 base. It’s not more than around 13×12 inches. This is a civilian camera drone — anyone can buy it online for around $3,000. If resource constraints breed creativity, then the Ukrainians are becoming artists. When I covered the battle of Bakhmut, an officer there explained to me how his unit could take out a multi-million-dollar T90 Russian tank by simply buying a Mavic online and fitting it with a small explosive. The Ukrainians have become masters of modifying consumer drones for conflict; of weaponising the everyday into something far more potent.

  There is an atmosphere of relaxed watchfulness here. The sound of shells and rockets is distant but constant. The soldiers are fighting the Russians up close with tanks, rockets, artillery, sometimes even rifles. And always drones. Some, including the Iranian-made HESA Shahed 136 that the Russians use, are designed to directly strike targets. These are generally expensive — though the Shahed comes in at around $10,000 upwards, which makes it affordable enough to be expendable (only increasing their threat). But the Ukrainians mainly use drones as “eyes in the sky” — they use the cheaper camera ones to spot enemy targets and then call in their coordinates to other units, mainly artillery, to enable them to strike them more accurately. When ammunition and equipment stocks are low, firing must be accurate. On the front, there are few second chances.

  “If I had had this technology in 2014, Putin would not have been able to occupy any of our territories. Fact,” says Dnipro 1 commander Yuriy Bereza. “The most important thing now is online comms. The most important thing is that I can see the reality on the ground.” He’s whittling a piece of cardboard with a knife, which he waves it around for emphasis as he makes his point. “When soldiers are on the front they are stressed and often give the wrong information, but with a drone I can see the situation calmly on the screen… I see the reality, the truth of it all — from above. It impacts how quickly I can make a decision. And whoever is quicker wins.

  “It’s incredible how drones are changing the war. If I turn on my phone – a rocket will come out of the sky and land on me. The Russians can track it and they have orders to kill me. So many things in war now are about WhatsApp, Facetime, Signal — wars are being run out of phones. And if you leave a phone on in the wrong place you can die.”

  The next morning after coffee, Bereza calls over a soldier who introduces himself as Oleksiy and who was part of the team last night. He is a studious-looking man who before the war was, like Dima, an IT engineer. Once those fighting here would have been the most physically impressive. Now they are recruited for their digital skills. Contemporary conflicts now require different types of soldiers — and they’re neither AI-generated nor Olympians.

  He explains that what I had seen yesterday was part of a multi-pronged mission to stop two Russian tanks trying to destroy Ukrainians positions on the zero line while simultaneously trying to draw the unit’s attention away from an attack from the other side. “My role is to coordinate the direction of fire and to give tasks to the different units around me. Those who pilot the drone; those who analyse the coordinates; those who shoot — all of them I coordinate on the battlefield.”

  He picks up a book from the table. “Look at this book on how to be a commander. It’s several years old, but we need to react to events as they are now. Military doctrine is like a computer program, it needs to be updated every six months. Drones are the best for choosing tactics, not tomorrow, but right now.”

  And you need to be creative. Last night one of the tanks managed to get away but they got the other one by sending the drone up to follow it in real time and then send its coordinates to the artillery as it moved. They could direct their fire in such a way that while they didn’t hit it directly, they forced the tank onto a mine, blowing it up. The whole operation took about three minutes. How would they have done this operation without drones?  “Before drones,” he replies, “the only eyes we had were of the infantry. We sucked.”

  What about the air force? He smiles. “Well, for a start the Russians also have more planes. But even so, maybe you can hear a tank from a plane, but you cannot work out where it is. Especially if the tank is hidden and then two minutes later comes out of its hiding place — and the Russians use jamming systems to disguise their movements, but we use drones from a big distance to get around this. Drones allow us to watch the battle in real time.” The benefits drones bring are more than just narrowly military. For a start, there is the question of morale. One of the unit’s key tasks, Oleksiy explains, is to aid their infantry. “When they see us over their heads, [they know] we are protecting them, so they are happier to stay on their frontlines positions, because they know we can be there in one minute,” he says. This, in the end, it’s what it’s all about in war: speed. And drones, if used properly, give you that. Right now, the Ukrainians are reaping the rewards.

  The Russians are neither stupid nor technologically naive. According to reports, Ukraine is losing around 10,000 drones per month to Russian electronic warfare. When I spoke to Dima earlier in the year, he told me how much better the enemy was getting at jamming and disrupting his attacks and how much more advanced they were in medium-range drones. Now, 18 months on, despite all their problems, the Russians remain in the field and they are getting better. They have significant technological capabilities — and, crucially, they are learning from their mistakes.

  The Ukrainians, meanwhile, are forced to crowdfund for drones (and indeed other equipment). The Russians, bereft of international or often popular domestic support, are reliant on Moscow to keep delivering. It does so inadequately and with little concern for its own men. But its artillery is still firing, and its drones are still in the air. And as the counteroffensive intensifies all the way up and down the line of contact, it is becoming clear that whoever wins the drone wars will come to hold the upper hand in the war — perhaps for good.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 07/13/2023 – 02:00

• Here's What's Really Behind The Global Reset And Sustainable Development Agenda 2030
  Here’s What’s Really Behind The Global Reset And Sustainable Development Agenda 2030

  Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com,

  Captive in the so-called 15-minute cities, eat bugs and no meat, immerse in the metaverse, and a never ending feed of pharmaceuticals, and all that by force, otherwise your universal basic income (UBI) gets cut off.

  

  Energy? Dirty.

  Lower motorway speeds and driving ban in plan to tackle oil reliance. Here’s an extract from Daily Echo article

  Lowering motorway speed limits and introducing driving bans on Sunday are ideas being suggested to cut Britain’s reliance on oil.

  The ideas are part of a ten-point plan proposed by the International Energy Agency in a bid to reduce global oil demand by 2.7 million barrels per day.

  Motorway speed limits would be reduced by 6 mph across the country under the proposals, while the plan also suggests a ban on driving in cities every Sunday.

  This is horseshit! It has nothing to do with “reducing reliance on oil” and everything to do with the WEF and UN “sustainable development Agenda 2030.”

  You know what’s going to happen? The existing stream of folks leaving countries implementing these policies will turn into a flood (more on this in a minute). With it will come capital controls, because the sociopaths driving this agenda will never see their own policies as the problem. No, it’s always those silly peasants who are the problem.

  In case you’re wondering… that’s you.

  Meat? Dirty.

  Irish considering massive cattle culling. We are flabbergasted that killing 200,000 head of cattle is even a consideration…

  

  Wasn’t Ireland “famous” for its potato famine? You would think that people would learn from history. I am coming to the view that little/nothing is learnt by studying history.

  When will folks wake up to this delusional stuff going on? Perhaps when their living standards take a bat to the knees.

  In any event, the Irish merely considering the elimination of 10% of their cattle herd highlights just how strong this climate narrative is. But it’s not solely an Irish issue. This cancer has spread to all of the West.

  Upcoming Steak Prohibition.

  German authorities have advised residents of Germany to consume no more than 10 grams of meat per day, as discussed in an article published by Eastern Herald

  The black market trade in steaks is going to be absolutely loco. When they told us we’d eat the bugs, they didn’t mention the word “willingly.”

  Here’s how it works in case you’ve not figured it out or if you need to explain things to friends who have perhaps thus far been gullible enough to buy into the entire “the world is going through a climate crisis” and life itself will end in [pick your suitable date]” hogwash.

  The financial considerations that need to be made in order to meet idiotic green energy targets mean that all things that currently sustain life itself (energy and food being at the top of the list) become uneconomical and are shut down.

  This is creating the greatest convexity I’ve ever seen in my career. In fact, it is the greatest I’ve ever seen relative to my readings of history going back hundreds of years. What is obvious is the sectors coming under attack. What is more challenging is determining from an investment standpoint the jurisdictions/countries which will ultimately repudiate this Malthusian genocidal eugenic agenda.

  More lies regarding the “renewable energy transition”.

  We need ‘+330 mines in 12 years’ to feed battery demand according to Stockhead.

  Yeah, it ain’t gonna happen. Simple math, which a 10-year-old should be able to do, reveals that this entire charade is not only going to fall short. It is not going to come anywhere near close, which begs the question: what is it that is planned?

  The answer is that the sociopaths at the UN and in Washington have no real intent for the peasants to continue with their current standard of living. They intend for us all to live in our 15-minute cities, eating bugs, immersed in the metaverse, and hooked up to a neverending feed of pharmaceuticals, which we’ll be forced to take, otherwise your UBI (universal basic income) gets cut off.

  That is their plan, and it is currently under implementation. It is surprisingly successful. The pushback is rather mediocre, and that is more easily understood by the 4th Turning. By and large, the West is in a fourth turning. People are fat, well fed, lazy physically and intellectually. Unprepared to sacrifice their relative comforts, they will be largely sacrificed. The next generation will have to come out stronger. This may happen in some places. We can certainly hope so. What is also possible and not discussed much is that a long dark age could take hold. Certainly it’s happened before.

  What I do know is that nothing happens in a vacuum… and we are seeing this. The weakening of the entire Western middle class is being met with both emigration of the awake and typically wealthy class to pockets which are benefitting from the collapse.

  *  *  *

  The Western system is undergoing substantial changes, and the signs of moral decay, corruption, and increasing debt are impossible to ignore. With the Great Reset in motion, the United Nations, World Economic Forum, IMF, WHO, World Bank, and Davos man are all promoting a unified agenda that will affect us all. To get ahead of the chaos, download our free PDF report “Clash of the Systems: Thoughts on Investing at a Unique Point in Time” by clicking here.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 23:40

• Hong Kong Warns Of Japanese Seafood Ban If Fukushima Dumps Nuke Water Into Ocean
  Hong Kong Warns Of Japanese Seafood Ban If Fukushima Dumps Nuke Water Into Ocean

  Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog gave Japan the “greenlight” to dump ‘treated’ radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant into the ocean. The plan upset China, the biggest buyer of its seafood exports, and has since sparked concerns in Hong Kong. 

  On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Environment and ecology department head Tse Chin-wan warned if Japan discharges 500 Olympic swimming pools of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, that would trigger a ban on imports of all frozen, refrigerated, dried, or otherwise preserved aquatic products, sea salt, and unprocessed or processed seaweed, according to Reuters. 

  The threat of a ban comes one day after Hong Kong leader John Lee said the city would ban seafood products from a “large number” of Japanese prefectures if Tokyo decided to discharge the treated radioactive water. 

  Fukushima Nuke Plant Water Tanks 

  

  Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Japan’s plans to release treated radioactive water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean are consistent with international safety standards. 

  Almost immediately, that didn’t sit well with China, the largest buyer of Japan’s seafood exports, who said it would increase monitoring of edible products from Japan and continue bans on seafood imports from 10 prefectures. The General Administration of Customs said this was a move to prevent contaminated food from hitting Chinese supermarkets. 

  Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin addressed the issue on Tuesday during a press briefing: 

  “If some people think that the nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima is safe to drink or swim in, we suggest that Japan save the nuclear-contaminated water for these people to drink or swim in instead of releasing it into the sea and causing widespread concerns internationally.” 

  If Tokyo decides to dump the Fukushima water, and China and Hong Kong tighten restrictions on food imports from Japan, let’s hope none of this questionable seafood ends up in the US. 

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 23:20

• Supreme Court Revives Whistleblowers' Medicare, Medicaid Fraud Lawsuits
  Supreme Court Revives Whistleblowers’ Medicare, Medicaid Fraud Lawsuits

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

  The Supreme Court resurrected two whistleblower lawsuits against companies for allegedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.

  

  The cases concern the federal False Claims Act (FCA), a key tool the government uses to combat health care fraud, and “scienter,” a legal term meaning prior intent or knowledge of wrongdoing.

  Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has called the FCA “the centerpiece of the government’s anti-fraud arsenal.”

  The new orders followed the court’s unanimous decision on June 1 to reinstate whistleblower actions against pharmacy operators SuperValu and Safeway for allegedly overcharging the government by filing false Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement claims for prescription drugs they sold.

  That ruling, United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu, held that the scienter requirement under the False Claims Act, which asks whether an accused party “knowingly” filed a “false” claim with the government, refers to the party’s knowledge and subjective beliefs, as opposed to what an objectively reasonable person may have believed.

  Sometimes called the Lincoln Law, the FCA was enacted in 1863 to deal with defense contractor fraud during the Civil War.

  The act currently provides that anyone who knowingly files false claims with the government is liable for triple damages plus a $2,000 penalty for each false claim.

  The FCA allows the government to pursue perpetrators on its own and for private citizens to sue those who defraud the government on behalf of the government in what are known as qui tam suits. Such private citizens, who are called relators, may be awarded part of what the government recovers.

  To prove scienter under the statute, the government or the whistleblower must demonstrate that the company acted “knowingly,” or with “reckless disregard,” or “deliberate ignorance” of the law in question.

  On June 30, in Olhausen v. Arriva Medical LLC and United States ex rel. Sheldon v. Allergan Sales LLC, the Supreme Court summarily granted the petitions of two whistleblowers while at the same time skipping over the oral argument phase when the merits of the case would have been considered.

  The court issued unsigned orders in the two cases in a flurry of eleventh-hour rulings as it wrapped up its regular term and recessed for the summer. The court did not explain why it made the two new decisions. No justices dissented.

  At the same time, the court vacated the judgments of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Olhausen and of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Sheldon, remanding those respective cases to those lower courts in light of its decision last month in United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 23:00

• MyPillow Auctioning Off Equipment After These Big-Box Retailers Canceled Mike Lindell
  MyPillow Auctioning Off Equipment After These Big-Box Retailers Canceled Mike Lindell

  MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says that his company is auctioning off hundreds of pieces of equipment and subleasing manufacturing space after several big-box retailers and shopping networks ditched the company’s products over Lindell’s personal views.

  

  Lindell, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump who has gone to great lengths to dispute the results of the 2020 election, told the Star Tribune that he’s lost $100 million from ‘attacks by the box stores.’

  “It was a massive, massive cancellation,” said Lindell. “We lost $100 million from attacks by the box stores, the shopping networks, the shopping channels, all of them did cancel culture on us.”

  The stores which dropped MyPillow products include;

  • Walmart
  • Bed Bath & Beyond
  • Slumberland Furniture

  Now, Lindell is selling over 850 pieces of ‘surplus equipment’ online, including sewing machines, industrial fabric spreaders, conveyor belts, electric forklifts, and more.

  

  As the Tribune notes, the auction doesn’t appear related to a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against MyPillow and Lindell brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which alleges Lindell defamed the company as part of his campaign to show that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged.”

  Lindell has not backed down from his assertions that there was something wrong with the 2020 election and its results. He said he plans to host an event next month detailing a new way to hold elections.

  But the ongoing controversy over his claims has forced major shifts in his business. After some shopping networks dropped his products, the company has moved to direct sales, shooting new television commercials and trying to boost its presence through email marketing, radio spots and direct mailing. -Star Tribune

  According to Lindell, the company is also subleasing some of its manufacturing space because the packaging for direct sales is different than what the company required when producing products for large retailers.

  “We kind of needed a building and a half, but now with these moves we’re making, we can get it down to our one building,” he said.

  “If the box stores ever came back we could have it if we needed it, but we don’t need that,” Lindell continued. “It affected a lot of things when you lose that big of a chunk [of revenue].“

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 22:40

• Chinese Military May Have Had COVID-19 Virus In Its Possession As Early As September 2019
  Chinese Military May Have Had COVID-19 Virus In Its Possession As Early As September 2019

  Authored by Joe Wang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  According to the World Health Organization, there have been 6,947,192 confirmed COVID-19 deaths globally as of June 28. Of those, 1,127,152 occurred in the United States, making the number of Americans killed by the virus more than 19 times the number of American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.

  

  And yet, over three years since the beginning of the pandemic, we still don’t know where the virus originated. The fear is that the next time around, the number of deaths could be much higher; because we didn’t learn from this pandemic, we wouldn’t be as prepared as we should for the next one.

  This fear is shared by all Americans. That is probably why in March, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023,” requesting that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) “declassify all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19.” “The ODNI must submit to Congress an unclassified report with all such information with redactions only as necessary to protect sources and methods,” the new law says.

  On June 23, ODNI released a 10-page report titled “Potential Links Between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” As someone who has been following this development closely, ODNI’s report told me nothing beyond what I already knew, except for one little gem on page 5: that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had developed a technique that “left no traces of genetic modification of SARS-like coronaviruses.”

  “Some of the WIV’s genetic engineering projects on coronaviruses involved techniques that could make it difficult to detect intentional changes,” the report stated.

  Why did the WIV want to develop such a technique? Scientists at the institute had been publishing their research on viruses in the best scientific journals, including on “genetic modification of SARS-like coronaviruses,” so it didn’t look like they wanted to hide what they had been doing. Maybe what they published was only part of their research, and they wanted to conceal the research they didn’t publish? What would that be?

  Before the ODNI report, U.S. investigative journalists revealed in early June that three WIV researchers, Ben Hu, Ping Yu, and Yan Zhu, were allegedly the first COVID-19 patients, having fallen ill in the fall of 2019. They were reportedly conducting research on SARS-like viruses and engaging in “gain-of-function” experiments. Gain-of-function, which involves altering the properties of a pathogen in order to study its potential impact on human health, increases the infectiousness of viruses and/or makes them more lethal.

  The WIV denied such allegations. “The recent news about so-called ‘patient zero’ in WIV are absolutely rumors and ridiculous,” Ben Hu told the journal Science in June.

  I was hoping that the ODNI report would shed more light on the origin of SARS-CoV-2. It didn’t, but a patent application I found through a web search strongly suggests that the Liberation Army (PLA) had the genetic sequence of the virus in its possession as early as September 2019. This would fit well with the allegation that the three WIV scientists were infected by the virus in the fall of 2019.

  It’s worth noting that the same allegation was made by the Department of Justice in a fact sheet published Jan. 15, 2021, which said the U.S. government had “reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak.”

  Officially, World Learned of Virus in January 2020

  The first cases of the atypical pneumonia (later known as COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan in December 2019. The news was soon supressed by the Chinese Communist Party, as China was preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year—a time that no bad news is allowed. Whistleblowers like Dr. Wenliang Li were punished. Officially, Chinese virologists did not have a chance to study the novel virus until early January 2020.

  On Jan. 11, 2020, Professor Yong-Zhen Zhang’s group from Fudan University in Shanghai submitted the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 to GenBank (accession number MN908947.1) in Maryland. Prof. Zhang obtained the virus by collecting bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from a 41-year old male patient in Wuhan, who had been admitted to hospital on Dec. 26, 2019. Chinese state media reported his death on Jan. 11, 2020.

  Jan. 11, 2020, was the day that SARS-CoV-2 officially became known to the world. WHO announced that it had received the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus from the Chinese regime and would soon make it public.

  

  PLA’s Warp Speed Vaccine Research

  On Feb. 24, 2020, Dr. Yusen Zhou and 10 other inventors from the PLA’s Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology in Beijing filed a patent application (number 202010112679.9) titled “Novel coronavirus titled “COVID-19 vaccine, preparation methods and applications.” The application described in detail the design of the vaccine, the method to produce the vaccine, and the immunogenicity of the vaccine.

  I am a vaccine scientist who worked for one of the world’s largest vaccine companies for more than 10 years, and I spearheaded SARS-CoV-1 vaccine development in 2003. I was stunned by the speed these PLA inventors were able to not only study the new virus and develop and test a vaccine so quickly, but also put together a patent application in merely 44 days (from Jan. 11 to Feb. 24)!

  Vaccine development is an arduous process, usually taking about 10-15 years on average to accomplish. Before COVID-19, the fastest a vaccine that had ever been developed was the mumps vaccine in 1967, which took four years.

  Of course, the U.S. government’s “Operation Warp Speed” made it possible for vaccine companies to accelerate their processes, which we now know compromised safety and effectiveness. Moderna published their Phase I/II clinical data on July 14, 2020, and Pfizer published theirs on Aug. 12, 2020. Then in December of that year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines Emergency Use Authorization.

  When I worked in the vaccine industry, I was the liaison between R&D (Research and Development) scientists (which I was also a member of) and our in-house lawyers in the IP (Intellectual Property) office. I was personally involved in the filing of dozens of patent applications. Normally, patent applications should be filed as soon as scientists discover something new, useful, and non-obvious—the three properties patent lawyers stress that scientists keep an eye out for and document.

  A patent application can be filed before a vaccine is tested and granted for distribution. One could argue that the PLA’s application was “provisional,” meaning it would serve as a placeholder so that experimental results could be added later when available, hence it is possible that it only took 44 days to draft their patent application.

  Yes, when things move extremely smoothly, a patent application could be put together in about one and a half months. However, the PLA’s filing contains real experimental data that would take time and effort to perform and collect. This makes it extremely unlikely that the scientists only received access to the virus information on or after Jan. 11, 2020.

  Telling Timeline

  If the PLA did have access to the virus, maybe they got the information from Prof. Zhang before he submitted the genetic sequence to GenBank, or maybe they got it elsewhere. Or it could be that since the scientists are with the PLA, how they obtained the virus constitutes a military secret.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 22:20

• Is Amazon Prime Day One Giant "Marketing Scheme"?
  Is Amazon Prime Day One Giant “Marketing Scheme”?

  Today marks the final day of Amazon Prime Day. Customers are scouring the e-commerce website for the best deals. So far, there have been hefty discounts on certain appliances and electronics. However, some Twitter users have raised concerns about potential ‘misleading advertising’ strategies by vendors.

  Twitter user Chad|Money Matters has brought to our attention possible deceptive marketing tactics by an Amazon vendor. The item in focus is an Ottman footstool sold by the Amazon Basics Store. He posted a screenshot of the item selling for $69.08 on Monday, one day before Prime Day. On Tuesday, the first day of Prime Day, the item was listed for the same price but had a red label reading “37% off … Prime Day Deal” and was marked down from a typical price of $110.40.

  

  Everyone hurry to grab those “Prime Day Deals” 🙄🙄🙄 pic.twitter.com/n3JHKdJiXk

  — Chad | Money Matters (@Chadmoneymatter) July 11, 2023

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

  Amazon price tracking website Camelcamelcamel shows prices for the Ottman footstool were around the $69 mark throughout June, then days before Prime Day rocketed to $109.80. 

  

  Twitter users weren’t thrilled by this development. 

  “Wait, are you suggesting it’s all just a marketing scheme and it’s not really about great savings,” one person said. 

  Someone else said, “Amazon prime day just tried to scam me. They showed me an item that I bought before, but raised up the price artificially then told me that they lowered the price making it the same, but tricking that it’s cheaper.” 

  “I did some research here. I have software tools that can verify price. This was 78.00 and more a while ago. But the true recent price was 69.00 and today its $65.63. $3.00 off which is really nothing. Its been Prime exclusive 69.00 for a while,” another Twitter user said. 

  The folks at the Federal Trade Commission should take a look at this.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 22:00

• Secret Service To Brief Congress On Thursday As Biden White House Accused Of "Cocaine Cover-Up"
  Secret Service To Brief Congress On Thursday As Biden White House Accused Of “Cocaine Cover-Up”

  Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

  Biden critics are accusing the White House of a “cocaine cover-up” as the Secret Service investigation into “CocaineGate” drags on with no resolution.

  

  Amid growing skepticism regarding the trustworthiness of the “ongoing investigation,” the Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday didn’t have an update for reporters.

  “Do you have any update on the investigation into the cocaine at the White House?” a reporter inquired.

  “I don’t have any updates,” Jean-Pierre responded. “I just don’t have anything updated. I would refer you to the Secret Service on that particular question.”

  “Do you have any update on the investigation into the cocaine at the White House?”

  Karine Jean-Pierre: “I don’t have any updates … I just don’t have anything updated.” pic.twitter.com/WWumCUu8A4

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 11, 2023

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

  The USSS have not been answering to press inquiries about the discovery, however, telling news outlets that they cannot comment on ongoing investigations. The Secret Service will be briefing Congress on Thursday, after House Oversight Chairman James Comer Comer fired off a letter to USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle demanding to be briefed on the White House security failures that led to the “unacceptable and shameful” discovery of cocaine in the West Wing.

  Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also called for a briefing in a letter on July 5.

  “If the White House complex is not secure, Congress needs to know the details, as well as your plan to correct any flaws,” the Republican senator wrote, demanding a list be provided of every individual who has access to the White House without passing through a security screening.

  Congress and the American people deserve to know how cocaine got into the White House. pic.twitter.com/Fps9AJ6hSQ

  — Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) July 5, 2023

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

  According to the Daily Mail, Cotton has not yet received a reply from Cheatle.

  Details about where the cocaine baggie was found have changed multiple times since the discovery was made on July 2.

  Initially, a spokesman for the USSS told reporters that Secret Service officers “located an unknown item on the White House complex.” Then, an audio recording from the Hazmat team sent to the White House  to investigate the substance indicated it was located in the library. Next, the White House said it was found in the highly trafficked West Wing lobby.

  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday strongly suggested that a member of the public on a tour may have left the drug in a “heavily-traveled area” of the West Wing.

  “This is a heavily, heavily trafficked – heavily traveled to be more accurate – area of the campus of the White House. And it is where visitors to the West Wing come,” Jean-Pierre insisted.

  “I just don’t have anything else—I’m not going to speculate on who it was.”

  Finally, on Thursday, NBC News reported that the contraband was found in a cubby near the “much more secure” West Executive entrance—not the West Wing lobby.

  According to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, “average people just can’t get in” where the cocaine baggie was found.

  Although fingerprint and DNA analysis were done last week on the “dime-sized zipper baggie” the drug was found in, no results have yet been shared. The investigation was expected to be concluded by Monday.

  Now, some are accusing the Biden White House of engaging in a cover up to protect the culprit.

  On Fox News Monday,  Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said the Biden White House is refusing to hand over the results of the finger print analysis.

  “If the cocaine was found on a bag, doesn’t it have fingerprints on it? And how long would it take to answer that question? Weeks, days, hours?” asked Fox News host Martha MacCallum.

  “I asked some of our State Troopers, Texas Rangers and Sheriffs—those kinds of people who do this for a living—and they all said to me that on very porous surfaces like bags and envelopes, you’ll be able to determine within an hour if there’s fingerprints on it,” Rep Fallon replied.

  “By my math we’re 192 hours from the time it was discovered yet we don’t know.” Fallon noted that “if there were no fingerprints, they could have told us immediately.”

  The Texas congressman also said the fingerprints may have been run through a database and pointed out that the cocaine was found in an area “where high level aides and staffers are,”
  most of whom “have been fingerprinted at one time or another.”

  Fallon told MacCallum that the Secret Service “very well may already know who it belongs to and aren’t sharing with us.”

  Rep. Pat Fallon on the cocaine found at the White House: “If there [were] no fingerprints, they could have told us immediately. So I suspect there are fingerprints…” pic.twitter.com/o7OovkXoE3

  — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 10, 2023

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  Kash Patel, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer, and chief of staff to the acting United States secretary of defense under President Donald Trump, told former Trump official Sebastian Gorka on Tuesday that local law enforcement, not just the Secret Service, should be involved in the investigation.

  “The White House is subjected to law enforcement and we’re talking about felony levels of narcotics,” he said.

  I talk to @KashsCorner, author of the new book “Government Gangsters,” about the bizarre cocaine scandal in the Biden White House.

  FULL INTERVIEW HERE: https://t.co/pxtGChok10 pic.twitter.com/PeWJdg7iRI

  — Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) July 11, 2023

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  In an interview with Just the News, former FBI agent and acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection Agency Mark Morgan said last week that the White House cocaine mystery should take “about 30 minutes to solve.”

  “I was there countless times, I put my cell phone in that exact box that they’re talking about. I know it well. Oftentimes, there is a marine that’s standing there. This literally should take them about 30 minutes to solve,” Morgan said on Wednesday.

  According to former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, the culprit has to be a member of the Biden family because everyone else has to go through a strict security checkpoint. “It had to be one of the protectees—there’s no other explanation,” Bongino declared in a video posted on Rumble. “That would never have gotten through the checkpoint. Not a chance in Hell.”

  On Friday, even an MSNBC reporter questioned the Secret Service’s line that the mystery may never be solved, saying it’s “hard to believe” the Secret Service can’t figure out who brought the cocaine to the White House, given the heavy security.

  Even MSNBC agrees: “Hard to believe” @SecretService can’t figure out who’s bringing cocaine into the WH pic.twitter.com/0FVNUhV8CU

  — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 7, 2023

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  “The cocaine cover-up is officially ridiculous,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton in a video commentary posted onto Twitter.

  The Biden White House cocaine cover-up is officially ridiculous. But, per usual, @JudicialWatch stepping up with independent investigation. pic.twitter.com/4x5HLbA0iE

  — Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) July 10, 2023

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  Cheatle will brief members of the powerful House Oversight Committee on Thursday at 10 a.m., the Daily Mail reported.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 21:40

• Waiting For 'Buyers To Come': Unsold Electric Vehicles Piling Up In Car Dealerships, Says Report
  Waiting For ‘Buyers To Come’: Unsold Electric Vehicles Piling Up In Car Dealerships, Says Report

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

  The number of unsold electric vehicles at dealers in the second quarter tripled compared to the past year, signaling a weakened demand for the segment, said a recent report by leading auto-dealer data company Cox Automotive.

  

  In second quarter 2023, the average inventory for electric vehicles (EVs) topped more than 92,000 units on the ground at dealer lots, according to the 2023 Cox Automotive Mid-Year Review presentation. This is up 342 percent compared to second quarter 2022. During this period, the new “EV days’ supply,” which refers to the average number of days a warehouse holds inventory before selling it, rose 166 percent, to 92 days from 38.5 days. While the pace of EV sales is up, it is “not rising as fast as inventory builds,” said Jonathan Gregory, senior manager, Economic and Industry Insights.

  Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are facing a “field of dreams moment,” he stated. “They have built inventory, and now they wait for buyers to come. This is one of the hottest topics we’ve had this year.”

  Brands like Jaguar, Infiniti, and Lincoln had the highest days of supply, at over 100 days. The lowest numbers were seen among Toyota, Honda, Kia, and Lexus, with each brand having less than 30 days of supply.

  

  Tesla continued to dominate the luxury EV segment with a market share of 25.5 percent, followed by Mercedes at 12.5 percent, BMW at 12.2 percent, and Lexus at 11 percent. Among EVs priced above $50,000, Ford held the biggest share at 22.1 percent, followed by Chevrolet at 12.1 percent.

  Unlike other parts of the world, U.S. citizens remain on the sidelines when considering an EV purchase.

  According to an April 2023 report by consumer intelligence company JD Power, more Americans are unwilling to buy EVs. In March, 21 percent of new vehicle shoppers said they were “very unlikely” to consider an EV, up from 17.8 percent in January.

  During this period, the proportion of people who said they were “very likely” to buy an EV remained flat at around 26 percent.

  “Lack of public charging infrastructure and price have been the top two concerns for the past 10 months, along with related issues involving range anxiety, time required to charge, and power outage and grid concerns,” the report said.

  Dealer-Customer EV Expectations Diverge

  While inventory is building up at dealer lots, a study by Cox Automotive found a wide gap between dealers and customers regarding future expectations of EV use.

  According to Cox Automotive’s 2023 Path to “EV Adoption: Consumer and Dealer Perspectives” study, even though 53 percent of consumers see EVs as a future and that such vehicles will replace gas engines over time, only 31 percent of dealers held such a view.

  “Nearly half (45 percent) of dealers surveyed feel that EVs still need to prove themselves in the marketplace,” said a press release on June 27.

  In addition, the study also found that while customer interest in EVs is rapidly rising, sales continue to remain far lower in comparison. The research found that 51 percent of consumers were considering a new or used EV even though electric vehicles are only expected to make up less than 8 percent of total new vehicle sales this year.

  Cox Automotive is expecting the sale of new EVs to surpass one million units for the first time in 2023. According to the firm’s Dealer Sentiment Index, the biggest factor which held back EV dealers during the second quarter was the state of the economy. This was followed by interest rates, limited inventory, market conditions, and credit availability for consumers.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 21:20

• Joe Biden’s Climate Policies Weaken The U.S. And Strengthen China
  Joe Biden’s Climate Policies Weaken The U.S. And Strengthen China

  Authored by Andy Pudzer & Sanjai Bhagat via RealClear Wire,

  President Biden’s commitment to end fossil fuels has been ineffective in reducing the demand for oil – but very effective in both weakening the U.S. and empowering our primary global adversary, China. Assuming that a reduction in global carbon emissions is necessary to fight “climate change” (a disputed proposition), it nonetheless makes little sense environmentally, economically, or strategically to hobble the American fossil fuel sector (cancelling pipelines, discouraging financing, restricting leases, and slow walking permits) before sufficient sources of renewable energy with a proven capacity to meet global demand can be demonstrated.  

  

  In its World Energy Outlook 2022, even the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that if the supply of oil “were to transition faster than demand, with a drop in fossil fuel investment preceding a surge in clean technologies, this would lead to much higher prices – possibly for a prolonged period.” The IEA’s warning had the advantage of being written after the war in Ukraine threatened worldwide energy supplies, which, more effectively than any desk-top research, demonstrated the global economic threat posed by a too-rapid retreat from fossil fuels.

  Worldwide demand for crude oil is currently forecast to hit an all-time high in 2023. China’s demand, in particular, is surging. In May, the IEA “revised up” its forecast for growth in global demand, with “China accounting for nearly 60% of global growth in 2023.”  

  In the U.S., 79% of energy consumption comes from fossil fuels, while 13% comes from renewable energy sources, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). That’s after tens of billions of dollars in government spending in support of renewables, particularly wind and solar, which combined account for a mere 5% of our energy consumption. The bottom line: so-called renewables are insufficient – and lack the necessary dependability – to meet our energy needs. 

  Despite this heavy fossil fuel dependence, over the past two decades carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. have declined by 15% while China’s have grown by 216%, according to the EIA. The U.S. emissions reductions were due, in great part, to an increase in the use of inexpensive and clean-burning natural gas, which, thanks to fracking, the U.S. has and can produce in abundance. 

  If the goal is actually to reduce global carbon emissions without causing global economic chaos, increased use of dependable and abundant American natural gas makes far more sense than curtailing U.S. production and spending billions on unreliable and expensive “renewable” energy sources. Let’s face it, if renewables were economically viable, dependable, and available in sufficient supply, the Chinese would be using them. In fact, they have every incentive to do so. 

  Most of the processing of the minerals needed for electric-vehicle batteries happens in China. Using wind, solar, and batteries for energy production and transportation requires significantly more metals (three times more copper, seven times more rare earths, 19 times more nickel, 25 times more graphite, and 42 times more lithium) than natural gas, oil, or coal production and transportation. The U.S. mines and processes a negligible amount of these metals, which primarily come from countries such as Australia, China, Congo, and Indonesia. Notably, 60% of rare earths are mined in China. Chemical processing, battery components, and assembly are mostly done by Chinese companies. China also processes 87% of rare earths, 65% of cobalt, 58% of lithium, and 40% of copper.

  As a result, China’s economy has benefitted significantly from the global push toward renewable energy. Of the 12.7 million jobs worldwide related to renewable energy, 5.4 million jobs are in China, 0.9 million in the U.S., and 1.2 million in Europe. Of the worldwide jobs related to solar energy manufacturing, 68% are in China, as are 48% of jobs related to wind power. 

  To further reduce U.S. carbon emissions, the Biden administration proposes spending hundreds of billions to increase our dependence on unreliable wind and solar power. This plan is set forth in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, a green energy bill that does virtually nothing to reduce inflation. According to a summary of the act by Senate Democrats, the bill would “reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030.” 

  But there would be consequences. Using a clone of the Biden’s EIA’s energy model,  a Heritage Foundation study found that reducing carbon dioxide emissions 44% by 2030 would cause 1.2 million in annual average job losses in the U.S., plus an aggregate GDP loss of $7.7 trillion through 2040 – or $87,000 per family of four. Average household electricity expenses for American families would increase by 23%. All to replace reliable and abundant energy sources that have been reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions for two decades. 

  Biden’s energy policies are needlessly weakening the U.S. and strengthening China. Since the 1970s, with the help of its innovative energy industry, America has won independence from OPEC. It makes no sense to implement policies that weaken our economy while once again putting our access to energy at the mercy of a hostile and even more dangerous adversary.

  Andy Puzder is the former CEO of CKE Restaurants and a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and Pepperdine University, and he is a member of RealClearEnergy’s Brain Trust, a group of strategists offering insight and guidance on today’s critical energy topics. 

  Sanjai Bhagat serves on corporate boards, is author of Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance, and Bank Capital (Cambridge University Press), and Professor of Finance at University of Colorado.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 21:00

• Data Brokers To Be Barred From Selling Your Location Data Under Proposed Massachusetts Law
  Data Brokers To Be Barred From Selling Your Location Data Under Proposed Massachusetts Law

  A law under consideration in Massachusetts would ban data brokers from selling cell phone location data, Gizmodo reports.

  

  For those who have been living under a rock, data brokers are constantly selling cellular location data to various entities, including state, federal, foreign, and local governments. While the data is supposed to be anonymized, it can very easily be de-anonymized.

  The Location Shield Act would outlaw “selling, leasing, trading, or renting location data” in the state of Massachusetts, and would require companies to obtain user consent if they want to collect or process such data. Noncompliance with the law would expose companies to state legal action via the AG’s office, along with class-action litigation.

  The law appears to have been catalyzed by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Ever since federal protections for abortion were abolished, the issue of data privacy has taken on new relevance for women. Rights advocates fear that digital evidence of all sorts (including, potentially, data of the kind that the Shield Act tackles) may be used to prosecute women for breaking abortion laws. As a result, a number of rights groups, including the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, pushed for the adoption of the Shield Act, partially as a means of protecting abortion-seekers from prosecution, should they choose to travel to the state for medical procedures. Massachusetts is considered a safe haven for women from other states who may travel there to seek abortions. -Gizmodo

  “Every day, unregulated data brokers buy and sell personal location data from apps on our cellphones, revealing where we live, work, play, and more. To protect our privacy, safety, access to abortion and other essential health care, Massachusetts needs to ban this practice now by passing the Location Shield Act,” wrote the ACLU on its website. 

  Now to see if it passes, and if so, whether other states will follow suit.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 20:40

• CCP Poised to Expand Security Footprint In Latin America With New Port In Argentina
  CCP Poised to Expand Security Footprint In Latin America With New Port In Argentina

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

  China’s rapidly expanding military and surveillance initiatives across Latin America have become more than just a thorn in the side of Washington.

  

  In Argentina’s southern tip, Tierra del Fuego, on June 5, Governor Gustavo Melella greenlit a”multi-purpose” Chinese-operated port facility through decree  3312/22, which entered the provincial legislature the same day. The country currently houses a Chinese military-run facility operating in the remote Neuquén Province.

  Final approval is still needed from the national government and the undersecretary of ports, waterways, and merchant Marine to move forward.

  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-affiliated company involved in the port facility is Shaanxi Chemical Industry Group. Though civilian on the surface, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over Beijing’s prioritization of “military-civilian fusion,” a state strategy that forces Chinese companies to share technology and assets with the CCP military.

  In the agreement signed by Melella, it states, “The smooth construction of the project will be exemplary for the investment of Chinese companies in southern Argentina.”

  In March, top U.S. military officers, including U.S. Southern Command Gen. Laura Richardson, warned that China’s “aggressive” expansion in Latin America isn’t some long-term threat to U.S. interests and security.

  It’s happening right now.

  “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has expanded its ability to extract resources, establish port, manipulate governments through predatory investment practices, and build potential dual-use space facilities,” Ms. Richardson said during a March 8 House Armed Services Committee hearing.

  Like-minded security analysts and a former Argentine government official have expressed similar concerns over potential military and surveillance applications of China’s new port being built in the town of Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego.

  Ideally situated near the Straights of Magellan, a CCP port facility in Rio Grande offers direct access—and potential control—over the world’s second most important shipping lane between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.

  Secondary Benefits

  Cuba is a good lens for understanding how CCP projects with Latin American governments typically unfold.

  Interstingly, the Rio Grande project was approved a week before The Wall Street Journal published a story discussing China’s “Project 141” initiative—the regime’s blueprint for how it intends to grow a global military and logistical support network.

  One of the projects identified was a joint China-Cuba spy facility near Havana. The Biden administration later confirmed the existence of a Chinese spy base operating in Havana since 2019.

  “I believe there is an integral alliance at all levels between the CCP regime and the Castro-Canel regime. We know training is taking place. It’s documented,” regional analyst and author Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat told The Epoch Times.

  Military and surveillance cooperation between China and Cuba isn’t anything new, but Mr. Gutiérrez-Boronat believes a deeper level of security engagement between the two nations offers a means of helping Cuba’s communist government a way to hold fast to its faltering grip on power.

  “We know that Chinese companies quickly acted to cut internet access in Cuba during the popular uprising of July 11, 2021,” he said, adding, “I think the regime seeks the Chinese presence in order to guard itself from its own people.”

  

  But Cuba’s regime isn’t the only Latin American government on the ropes with its own people. As the October presidential election closes in, insiders say Argentina’s Peronist government is scrambling to create economic stability in a bid to stay in power.

  And cooperation with CCP security initiatives is part of the deal when it comes to cashing the checks they write.

  “Evan as a private port facility, the opportunities it creates are important for those running that facility,” Evan Ellis, a Latin America research professor for the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Ellis noted that while China’s engagement in the region is mostly economic, the CCP is “increasingly operating in strategic spaces” with secondary benefits and military purposes.

  And the Rio Grande facility in Tierra del Fugeo offers an enticing opportunity for strategic and military applications.

  “China has never hidden their desire to create military options,” Mr. Ellis said.

  While dual-use port facilities in Rio Grande and the China-Cuba surveillance project may not seem like huge steps forward, Ellis noted the CCP is definitely “stepping up their game.”

  For China, Ellis says it’s all about creating “strategic options.”

  Selective Patriotism

  Presently, there’s no more eager friend of China than Argentina’s Peronist regime. Within the leftist government, controversial politician and Vice President Cristina Kirchner is Peronism’s greatest champion.

  A self-described “militant” Peronist, Ms. Kirchner’s disastrous economic practices during her presidency from 2007 to 2015 laid the policy foundation for the nation’s current astronomical inflation. In June, Argentinian economist Carlos Perez predicted the country’s inflation would average 147 percent in 2023 while the GDP is expected to fall up to 3.5 percent.

  Today, Argentina’s peso has plummeted dramatically. The currency’s official exchange rate has devaluated more than 100 percent in the past year amid international loan defaults, dwindling foreign currency reserves, and soaring poverty rates.

  But Ms. Kirchner’s supporters remain loyal at both the legislative and civilian levels. Among the cornerstone philosophies of “Kirchnerism”—as it’s locally known—is a favorable disposition toward China’s interests.

  And Tierra del Fuego’s Governor Melella is an ardent disciple of “Kirchnerism.”

  “His position is very pro-China,” former Argentinian government official and political analyst Fabian Calle told The Epoch Times.

  The debate surrounding the port aside, Mr. Calle thinks the national government may still approve the Rio Grande project. He says the current stall is due to ongoing negotiations for a new round of loans and repayment extensions from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 20:20

• Biden Administration Helping CCP By Restricting Domestic Mining: Minnesota Senator
  Biden Administration Helping CCP By Restricting Domestic Mining: Minnesota Senator

  A Minnesota state senator says that the Biden administration’s restrictive stance towards domestic mining projects is making the US dependent on the Chinese Communist Party.

  

  “We need to change the narrative on mining in this country,” said Sen. Tom Bakk in an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee on July 10. “It’s contrary to their own objectives.”

  Mr. Bakk testified during a field hearing in Kimball, Minnesota. He said northeast Minnesota has the largest deposits of copper, cobalt, nickel, platinum group metals, and other products the renewable energy industry needs.

  Mr. Bakk said the United States could be a net exporter of these items. The CCP’s July 3 announcement of new state controls that restrict exports of germanium and gallium, elements used in producing high-performance computer chips, shows it is willing to disrupt supply chains, he said. –Epoch Times

  “It’s bad for Minnesota; it’s bad for the country. Frankly, I think it’s bad for the world,” said Bakk, who added that the Biden administration has severely hobbled mining in the United States, leaving China with a monopoly.

  “It’s urgent that we stop putting up roadblocks to domestic mineral production because our ability to avoid devastating supply chain disruptions and build a greener future depends on it,” he said, referring to the Duluth Complex in the northeast tip of the state near Lake Superior.

  Bakk said that mining has been a significant industry in the area for 140 years, and that it could be once again with the growing interest in green technology, as the rich deposits could not only be used for domestic needs, but exported to other countries.

  “That deposit would have supported several generations of miners,” said Bakk, adding that the US Government seems to be divided on its support for green energy.

  On one hand, President Joe Biden told American auto workers last September that they would be building electric cars.

  “Companies have announced new investments of more than $36 billion in electric vehicles and $48 billion in batteries manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Biden.

  

  But for that to happen, the Biden administration needs to allow domestic mining of raw materials.

  “It’s a fact of life; if you don’t get the minerals, you won’t be able to complete them,” said Bakk.

  More via the Epoch Times;

  Mining Leases Canceled on Duluth Complex

  Mining had yet to take place on the site to that point.

  In 2018, the Trump administration reversed that decision and renewed the leases. In January 2022, the Interior Department determined that the Trump decision violated the law, did not consider the U.S. Forestry Service’s consent authority, and failed to consider all possible environmental impacts.

  Not only were the leases canceled, but all mining operations in the forest were prohibited. This includes any studies related to mining.

  According to Mr. Bakk, this will cause the kind of environmental damage the lease opponents want to prevent. At the same time, it will make the United States more vulnerable to the CCP. He said importing the products would have an added environmental impact.

  “Consider the greenhouse gas emissions associated with [importing the metals],” he said.

  China Has Too Much Control

  Mr. Bakk said the best way for America to address climate change is with its raw materials.

  “The data is clear. We need to mine these materials, and we’re going to successfully combat the negative effects of climate change,” he said.

  Committee member Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) agreed with Mr. Bakk. He expressed concern over China’s willingness to engage in trade wars with the United States and the rest of the world. He said the United States is squandering an opportunity to become more prominent internationally and to solidify its relations with other countries.

  “China has a long history of engaging in trade wars with the United States and other countries, and the world is increasingly dependent on critical minerals.

  “We have an incredible opportunity to export these minerals to allies and partners around the globe, lessening the grip of countries like China and global supply chains,” Mr. Stauber said.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 20:00

• Samsung Fights Back Against Beijing's Tech Theft, Sues Chinese Firm BOE Over Patent Infringement
  Samsung Fights Back Against Beijing’s Tech Theft, Sues Chinese Firm BOE Over Patent Infringement

  Authored by Lisa Bian and Sean Tseng via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Amid escalating tension between South Korea and China, Samsung has drawn attention by pulling out of the Shanghai Mobile World Congress for the first time in six years and initiating its maiden patent lawsuit against Chinese company BOE. The moves come in the wake of repeated allegations of technology theft by China against Samsung’s technology.

  

  Samsung Display took a decisive step on June 26, instigating a patent infringement lawsuit against BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (BOE), China’s premier display company. The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District Court of Texas, asserts that BOE had unlawfully appropriated four of Samsung’s patented organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technologies that it uses in the iPhone 12.

  This legal action marks Samsung’s first patent lawsuit against BOE after it repeated warnings against unauthorized appropriation of Samsung’s technology.

  BOE is a public company with its headquarters in Beijing’s Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone, and its business empire spans displays, sensors, smart systems, and health services.

  In the lawsuit, Samsung Display articulated its grievance, stating that BOE has infringed upon the company’s patent rights by selling panels identical to those that Samsung Display has utilized for the iPhone 12 in the U.S. market.

  This litigation extends the ongoing legal feud between Samsung Display and BOE that surfaced last year.

  In May 2022, Samsung Display issued a notice of patent infringement to BOE, followed by a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against 17 U.S. component wholesalers in December of that same year.

  Samsung sought to ban the use of counterfeit components and display panels allegedly based on its sophisticated OLED patents, including one on its “Diamond Pixel” technology.

  The move was triggered by U.S. smartphone repair shops using both genuine Samsung Display panels and counterfeit Chinese products when replacing iPhone 12 OLED display panels. It requested the U.S. tribunal ban 17 U.S. smartphone parts wholesalers from importing such parts and panels that allegedly use its patented technology into the United States.

  Confronted with this unfavorable situation, BOE retaliated in May this year by filing a counterclaim against Samsung Display’s and Samsung Electronics’ Chinese legal entity. The lawsuit, filed with a court in Chongqing, China, accused Samsung Display of plagiarizing its OLED display panel technology.

  South Korean public opinion suggests that Samsung Display, having grown weary of the CCP’s alleged acts of thievery, decided to retaliate with a countersuit.

  

  Grappling With Significant Losses Due to China’s Brazen Technology Theft

  Beijing’s alleged global technology theft operation wreaks havoc worldwide, with South Korea, an electronics industry powerhouse, bearing the brunt of its onslaught. Samsung Electronics, a global leader in semiconductors and OLED display panels, struggles to protect its technology.

  A recent large-scale technology theft by Beijing, revealed to be of significant detriment to South Korea, exemplifies the severity of the situation.

  In mid-June, South Korea’s Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against a former Samsung Electronics executive surnamed Choi for allegedly stealing design data from a Samsung Electronics semiconductor factory and attempting to build a replica factory in China.

  Choi, 65, a South Korean tech industry veteran, reportedly received approximately $360 million from the Chengdu government to establish a semiconductor company in China, recruiting over 200 key personnel from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

  Choi was once lauded with titles for his innovation, hands-on approach, and round-the-clock dedication. However, this time, the government that honored him as a national tech hero is accusing him of industrial espionage on a grand scale.

  Prosecutors described the defendant in a statement as an “undisputed top domestic expert in semiconductor manufacturing.”

  “The data, which Samsung Electronics obtained through more than 30 years of research and development, is worth 300 billion to trillions of won (about $200 million to billions). It is not only a company’s trade secret but also a national core technology,” prosecutors said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 19:40

• China Warns NATO Must Not Ever Expand Into Asia-Pacific
  China Warns NATO Must Not Ever Expand Into Asia-Pacific

  China is furious at signals it is observing at the Vilnius summit regarding potential future NATO expansion into the Pacific region, and into China’s ‘own backyard’ of southeast Asia.

  Beijing on Wednesday vowed a “resolute response” if NATO should ever expand this far east. China’s mission to the European Union issued a scathing statement following the NATO communique published Tuesday. “The China-related content of the communique disregards basic facts, wantonly distorts China’s position and policies, and deliberately discredits China. We firmly oppose and reject this,” China’s diplomats said.

  

  Specifically, the NATO communique said, “The PRC employs a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up.”

  “The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security,” it added. 

  The Chinese mission had emphasized in its response that it opposed NATO’s “eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region,” while warning that, “Any act that jeopardises China’s legitimate rights and interests will be met with a resolute response.”

  Certainly Beijing is also very closely following the presence of four regional allies of the US, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol–all who were in attendance at the major NATO summit in Lithuania.

  Starting in May, Kishida talked up future NATO membership for his country, but plans to open a NATO liason office in Tokyo were halted this week.

  “Nato appears to have shelved plans to open a liaison office in Tokyo, a proposal that had been discussed as part of the western military alliance’s plans to deepen cooperation with partners in the Asia-Pacific but which was strongly opposed by China,” The Guardian writes Wednesday, after there was no mention of the office anywhere in the lengthy communique.

  🧵 Macron’s resistance to a @NATO office in Japan is a storm in a teacup, but also an opportunity for the US to clarify its expectations of all its allies in any major war. One possible result of a Taiwan war is the fragmentation of NATO. Why is this?https://t.co/nRe1hzhg94

  — John Hemmings (@JohnHemmings2) July 12, 2023

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

  A sentence acknowledging the NATO liaison office had reportedly been included in an initial draft of the communique, and survived multiple rounds of editing, but did not make it into the final publication.

  With the already raging controversy over Ukraine’s future in NATO (or lack thereof), perhaps the Western allies weren’t ready to deal with China’s wrath at this time? 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 19:20

• MbS To Blinken: 'No' To Israeli Normalization, 'Yes' To Syrian Reconciliation
  MbS To Blinken: ‘No’ To Israeli Normalization, ‘Yes’ To Syrian Reconciliation

  Authored by Hasan Illaik via The Cradle,

  In his interview with CNN on July 9th, US President Joe Biden announced that “we are still far away” from reaching agreements to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations, establish a Saudi civilian nuclear program, and a Washington guarantee for Saudi security.

  What Biden revealed was based primarily on his feedback from a June 7th after-midnight meeting held in Jeddah between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

  During their tete-a-tete, the two men spent an hour and forty minutes discussing various issues of mutual interest. But the first goal of the meeting was to improve US-Saudi relations, which have not yet reverted to pre-2018 levels when the US accused MbS of masterminding the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

  

  New US ‘rules’ on engaging with Saudis

  US Ambassador to Riyadh Michael Ratney is the policy architect leading the charge to improve bilateral relations. Sources familiar with the contents of Saudi diplomatic reports tell The Cradle that Ratney has previously sent the US State Department a set of “rules” which he believes will help improve relations between his country and Saudi Arabia. 

  The first of these rules is to stop targeting MbS personally. There is a longstanding Saudi tradition of zero tolerance for disparagement of the country’s ruler, whoever he may be, by any external state. Ratney noted that while MbS can live with US criticism of Saudi politics, he will not tolerate criticism of him personally because he sees it as an attempt to undermine his rule and destroy his image. The US ambassador made clear that continued attacks on bin Salman will hinder the improvement of relations between Washington and Riyadh. 

  Ratney’s second rule is to change the way US officials communicate with the crown prince. American envoys have typically been very reserved when holding talks with the Saudi rulers (king or crown prince), not delving into the details of vital issues, which they reserve for discussions with ministers and advisers. Ratney advised that discussions with MbS should be detailed and that US proposals should be clear.

  Blinken came to Saudi Arabia having adopted his ambassador’s recommendations. In his meeting with MbS, he outlined the issues clearly. The Cradle reviewed part of the content of their discussions pertaining to two US policies: the project to normalize Israeli-Saudi relations, and Washington’s desire to thwart improved ties between Riyadh and Damascus.

  The American demands were direct: We want a normalization agreement between you and Israel; your rapprochement with the Syrian regime is useless at this stage.

  ‘No’ to normalization with Tel Aviv

  According to The Cradle’s Arab and western diplomatic sources, Blinken asked his host: “Why don’t you do with Israel what you did with Iran?”

  MbS’ response was equally direct. On the issue of a ‘peace agreement’ with Israel, he replied with three points, which Blinken later reported were unclear in terms of their order of importance: 

  First, the Saudi crown prince clarified that King Salman bin Abdulaziz still opposes an agreement with Tel Aviv. Second, MbS reported that fruitful communication continues between Saudi and Israeli authorities – such as allowing the passage of civilian aircraft into Saudi airspace and lifting the ban on Israeli players in international sporting events – with the following caveat: 

  “But these contacts will not soon lead to a peace agreement and normalization. We remain committed to the Arab Peace Initiative (the 2001 Beirut Summit Initiative), which is to grant the Palestinians an independent State in exchange for a comprehensive peace. Israel has treated the Abraham Accords as an incentive to ignore the Palestinians and undermine the foundations of the peace process with the Palestinians, rather than seeing them as an opportunity to enhance the chances of reaching a lasting peace. The Israeli government is approving more settlement projects, compounding the obstacles to any future solution.”

  Therefore, from MbS’ perspective, Saudi Arabia has yet to see a reason to abandon its own Arab peace initiative. Third,  the sources say, the Saudi crown prince asked his American guest: 

  “Why should we give you an agreement with Israel? For what? You refuse our having a peaceful nuclear project. Since your administration came to power, you have revoked the Houthi designation as a terrorist organization. You are demanding a reduction in the price of oil to the detriment of our interests. So why do you expect us to give you a peace agreement with Israel? We are ready to go even beyond normalization with Israel, and achieve regional integration for Tel Aviv, but only if it serves the interests of our country.”

  MbS: ‘We will invest in Syria’

  On Syria, MbS stressed two things in his discussion with Blinken. The first was Saudi Arabia’s direct security interest. He said that the illicit flow of drugs to the kingdom is a threat to the security of its people: 

  “This is one of our priorities. We know as well as you that the number one source of Captagon is Syrian territory. You have issued a special law to combat the export of Captagon from Syria, and you have considered that the smuggling of this drug harms the interests of the United States. We believe that a solution to this crisis is not possible without communication and coordination with the Syrian government. In this sense, we see it as in our interest to improve our relationship with the Syrian government.”

  MbS’ second point addressed future Saudi investments in Syria, which Washington seeks to prevent in order to uphold and deepen its economic siege on the country. The Cradle’s diplomatic sources say Blinken was told point blank: 

  “The war that was aimed at toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is over. You know our orientation to ensure stability throughout the region. We are ready to invest in Syria to prove to the Syrian people who secure their interests and the prosperity of their country. This is beneficial to regional stability, as it will weaken non-Arab forces in Syria,”  – a possible reference to Iran, Turkiye, and Russia.

  Sources familiar with the content of US-Saudi meetings say that Saudi officials no longer use anti-Iranian rhetoric in their meetings since the signing of the Beijing-brokered Iran-Saudi rapprochement agreement on 10 March, 2023. 

  Brilliant & devastating critique of US sanctions on #Syria

  By @frrodriguezc
  Professor at @josefkorbel School at @UofDenver https://t.co/JKroMcvsPq pic.twitter.com/NJDYHsxA4c

  — Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) July 10, 2023

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  US-Saudi differences magnified

  On both issues – normalization with Israel and reconciliation with Syria – Blinken had clear points of disagreement with MbS. The US secretary of state reiterated that his country still believes in a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, rejects plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, and continues to seek a solution to the conflict while upholding Israel’s security needs. 

  Blinken pointed out that the Biden administration is pressuring the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the US president’s refusal to receive him in the White House since his return to power. And he has praised the Saudi advances with Israel, pointing out that these must be strengthened in order to reach a peace agreement ultimately. 

  Regarding Syria, Blinken stressed that any openness to Assad means granting him a pass on all the crimes that he has committed, and strengthens Iran’s position in Syria. Opening up to Damascus without a political solution, he argued, makes the Syrian government, and behind it, Iran and Russia, more intransigent in the face of its opponents. 

  US pressure will continue

  But Blinken did not hesitate to put his own spin on his private discussion with MbS two days after the meeting, again pushing the issue of Saudi-Israeli normalization, this time in public: “We will continue to work  for it to push it in the coming days, weeks and months.” In saying so, he eliminates any deadlines for when this could happen, just as Biden did in his CNN interview.

  Regardless of what MbS relayed to Blinken, it appears that Washington will continue to pressure its allies to reach normalization agreements with Israel, a policy crafted to isolate Palestinians and their demands for a just, negotiated solution.

  The US will also continue to seek to tighten its devastating economic blockade of Syria in order to prevent the government in Damascus from extending its authority over all of its territory, to obstruct the post-war reconstruction of the country, or to force Syria to change its strategic direction. Despite the war’s end, Washington still hopes to extract concessions from Syria that it could not force through military means. 

  It appears, however, that these US policies do not line up with MbS’s current ambitions and vision of Saudi interests, particularly given the monumental geopolitical shifts taking place both in West Asia and the rest of the world. 

  But do not mistake this for a Saudi rebellion against US decisions. While Washington wants a comprehensive agreement for normalization and peace quickly, MbS is merely slowing the process down, demanding high prices for any concessions. At the same time, he has granted Israel liberties in various fields, free of charge, in a way that guarantees him protection from US pressure on the one hand, and on the other hand, continued Israeli support for him in US decision-making circles.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 19:00

• Disney's Feminist Indiana Jones Sequel Bombs Hard – Media Pretends They Don't Know Why
  Disney’s Feminist Indiana Jones Sequel Bombs Hard – Media Pretends They Don’t Know Why

  Disney’s $4.05 billion acquisition of the once venerated Lucasfilm in 2012 was initially seen as a potential goldmine for the company that would bring them billions in revenues for decades to come.  However, much like their ill fated acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney made a host of errors in the handling of their newfound creative properties.  The primary error being that they did not care about the franchises they were purchasing.  

  Disney thought that in buying Lucasfilm they were actually buying the fandom that comes with it, but you can’t buy the fans and force them to consume your poorly written fodder, as much as corporations surely wish they could.  This same stunted manner of thinking was also revealed to be a driving force behind Amazon’s conquest of the Lord Of The Rings properties – The idea that if you build it, no matter how terrible it is, the fans will come watch it because they are simpering cattle.  

  Well, this didn’t turn out to be true for Amazon or Disney because they weren’t actually buying a fandom, they were taking on the stewardship of beloved classic characters.  And once a company mistreats those characters, either out of stupidity, lack of talent or because they have a political agenda, the fans are out the door along with their precious box office cash.  

  Disney’s next mistake was putting a rabid feminist like Kathleen Kennedy at the helm of some of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history.  Kennedy is perhaps best known as Steven Spielberg’s coffee girl, a secretary that he himself noted was not very good at her job.  Somehow, she managed to weasel her way into assistant producing in her 20s (who knows what she did to climb the ladder so quickly).  

  Looking at her production credits people might think Kennedy is incredibly accomplished, but few if any of her successes occurred without a major director like Spielberg closely monitoring and controlling each project.  And once she was truly on her own, the bombs started rolling in.  

  The latest and perhaps greatest failure by Kennedy is ironically the last franchise IP that Lucasfilm had yet to ruin:  Indiana Jones.

  Disney’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny was clearly a forced scheme to bring back a favored male hero and replace him with a narcissistic female protagonist that spouts woke rhetoric.  It’s the same formula Disney and Lucasfilm have been using with every major reboot for the past several years.  But now, it’s beginning to cost them…

  Dial Of Destiny has generated a dismal box office of around $250 million, and Disney needs a projected $900 million just to break even (this includes marketing costs).  The movie is now on track to becoming one of Disney’s worst flops of all time.  

  The massive initial cost of making the film ($300 million) crippled Lucasfilm’s chances from the very beginning.  The inclusion of notorious woke activist Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the actress slated to take the reins of the franchise didn’t help matters.

  

  Based on serial TV shows and pulp comics from the 1940s and 1950s, the appeal of George Lucas’ Indiana Jones movies was that they brought men’s adventure stories to life on the big screen.  Indiana Jones is an archetype of the courageous explorer willing to take risks in the pursuit of discovery, all while defeating the bad guys and getting the girl along the way.  It wins with audiences because the premise is simple and the characters are well written.  

  The best way to destroy such a successful formula is by complicating it with personal politics, as well as putting a feminist in charge of a man’s fantasy tale.       

  The rise of woke marketing and agenda based storytelling in Hollywood hit its peak early, with 2016 being the “coming out party” year for far-left ideology in films.  Hollywood has always been annoyingly progressive in their messaging, but they were usually kept in check by the business side of movie making.  Bringing in the box office meant keeping your politics to yourself, to a point. But, by 2016 production companies apparently determined that they now cared more about asserting their cultism than making profits.

  Both American and foreign audiences have caught up to the game, and this has resulted in 2023 becoming one of the worst seasons for big studio films in recent memory. In the meantime, the establishment media continues to pretend as if they don’t know why this is happening.  They no longer have covid lockdowns to blame for poor theatrical showings and are scrambling to come up with a rationale.  

  The reason is, of course, easy to see for everyone outside of Southern California and the corporate media – Get woke, go broke.  They’ll never admit it, but they also can’t hide it.  The epic fail of Dial Of Destiny might just signal the final death knell for woke Hollywood.     

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 18:40

• 'Crucified': Black Georgia State Rep Switches To Republican Party
  ‘Crucified’: Black Georgia State Rep Switches To Republican Party

  Authored by David Zuckerman via American Thinker,

  Mesha Mainor represents District 56 in the Georgia state House of Representatives.  On July 11, Ms. Mainor announced that she was leaving the Democrat party to become a Republican member in the Georgia House.  Here is part of her statement, quoted at Breitbart:

  My name is Rep. Meisha Mainor and today I made the decision to leave the Democrat Party. I represent a blue district in the city of Atlanta so this wasn’t a political decision for me. It was a a MORAL one. I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.

  My name is Rep. Meisha Mainor and today I made the decision to leave the Democrat Party.

  I represent a blue district in the city of Atlanta so this wasn’t a political decision for me. It was a a MORAL one.

  I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own. pic.twitter.com/q3snDGejCN

  — Rep. Mesha Mainor (@MeshaMainor) July 11, 2023

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  The Breitbart report said that Ms. Mainor felt “crucified” by her Democrat colleagues when she backed school choice and opposed defunding police.  Here is another part of her announcement, quoted by Fox Digital:

  “When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me,” Mainor explained of her decision in a statement to Fox News Digital.

  “They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me.”

  “For far too long, the Democrat Party has gotten away with using and abusing the black community,” she added. “For decades, the Democrat Party has received the support of more than 90% of the black community. And what do we have to show for it? I represent a solidly blue district in the city of Atlanta. This isn’t a political decision for me. It’s a moral one.”

  For present purposes, I focus on the key sentence, exalting individual liberty, in Ms. Mainor’s declaration of separation from Georgia Democrats: “I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.”

  

  In fifteen words, Rep. Mainor sums up what the Democrat party — local, state, and federal levels — is all about.  The Democrat party has become a despotic clique, intolerant of free, independent thought.  To be a Democrat, as Ms. Mainor makes clear, one must endorse the party line — with intent to crush alternative viewpoints.  To be a Democrat, one must regard every institution in American life, public or private, as subservient to the will of the empowered despots.

  Ms. Mainor raised a personal banner of freedom, joining the party of freedom, exactly one week after U.S. district judge Terry A. Doughty (whose name, literally, means “brave and persistent”) stood tall against the White House and its federal minions in defense of the First Amendment, the hallmark of the spirit of American liberty.

  And what is the First Amendment all about if not protecting the right of every single citizen to have “a mind of my own”?

  Those five words are abhorrent to the totalitarians of the left, for whom the population should have all the diversity, in terms of ideas, of mindless robots.

  To be candid, this writer thought, reading of Ms. Mainor’s decision to leave the despotic party for the freedom party, that this was a significant switch in the U.S. House of Representatives.  That the switch is at the state level in Georgia is not to be downplayed, however.  Bear in mind that Georgia has a state prosecutor ready to be of assistance to the Despotic Clique in Washington with yet another political prosecution of Donald J. Trump.  Ms. Mainor’s protest against the monolithic mindset among Georgia Democrats cannot be other than an embarrassment to the groupthinkers who hold sway in the Peach State.

  To borrow from Winston S. Churchill, the decision of Mesha Mainor to switch to the Republican Party is clearly not the end of rule by the Despotic Clique in Washington, but it may augur the beginning of the end of Bidenism.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 18:20

• Trump Blasts Cluster Bombs For Ukraine: 'Biden Dragging US Into WW3!'
  Trump Blasts Cluster Bombs For Ukraine: ‘Biden Dragging US Into WW3!’

  Former President Donald Trump, who currently leads in polling for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has blasted President Biden’s decision to approve sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, saying this week that Biden is “dragging” the American People “into World War III” with this latest escalation.

  “Joe Biden should not be dragging us further toward World War III by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine—he should be trying to END the war and stop the horrific death and destruction being caused by an incompetent administration,” he said in the Tuesday statement.

  “These unexploded cluster munitions will be killing and maiming innocent Ukrainian men, women, and children for decades to come, long after the war—we pray—has ended,” Trump continued.

  

  Both President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have acknowledged this week that Ukraine is running out of ammunition. Biden had told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Friday that the transfer is necessary because Kyiv is “running out of ammunition” after 500 days of war, a grim milestone reached Saturday.

  “It was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies, I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,” he explained. He then bluntly stated: “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.” 

  Trump in his fresh statements addressed this admission as well, saying that if true, this “only further emphasizes the urgency of immediately deescalating this bloody, dangerous, and out of control conflict.”

  “It certainly means we should not be sending Ukraine our last stockpiles at a time when our own arsenals, according to Crooked Joe Biden, are so perilously diminished,” the former president argued, stressing again that handing tens of billions over to Kiev has “tremendously weakened” the US.

  “Joe Biden is needlessly and dangerously leading us into World War three, which would be a nightmare beyond imagination—obliteration!” Trump concluded.

  Meanwhile, the opposite point of view was voiced in interviews this week by Trump’s own former VP…

  We need to give the Ukrainian military what they need to fight and win and repel the Russian invasion, and then and only then can we move forward with welcoming them into NATO. pic.twitter.com/m2xgmQzbpJ

  — Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 12, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 18:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Russia Issues Veiled Threat Against Europe Over French Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine
  Russia Issues Veiled Threat Against Europe Over French Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine

  The Kremlin is saying consequences are coming against France after President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced supplies of SCALP long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. The AFP then reported that the first delivery of the missiles are already in Kiev’s hands. 

  “The first missiles had been delivered when the president announced it,” a source told the publication from the NATO summit in Vilnius. It seems a number of the Western allies are trying to bring something “big” to the table for the Vilnius summit, making their announcements of the various new defense aid packages from Lithuania. 

  The UK calls the same weapon the “Storm Shadow” – as SCALP is an air-launched British-French missile, which will reportedly now constitute the longest range weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal of foreign arms.

  

  Some reports have cited a 290 km or more operational range, but this can be modified depending on the recipient. Russia quickly blasted the French decision as “erroneous” and said that “it remains to be clarified and found out exactly what (effective casualty) radius we are talking about,” according to a statement from Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

  “This, from our point of view, is an erroneous decision, fraught with consequences for the Ukrainian side. Because, naturally, this will force us to take countermeasures,” he told a press briefing.” He stressed that for Ukraine the missiles only “only aggravates its fate.”

  “These decisions (to supply heavier weapons) cannot, are not able to turn the course of the ‘special military operation’. They can only aggravate the fate of the Ukrainian, Kyiv regime,” Peskov asserted. 

  He also hinted it could ultimately threaten broader European security: 

  Concerning Ukraine’s speedy accession to NATO, Peskov said it could be very dangerous for European security.

  “This really conceals great dangers, and those who will make this decision have to realize that,” he stressed.

  Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda then seized on the veiled Kremlin threat to urge NATO members to begin establishing permanent military bases on Russia’s borders, according to a report in Anadolu Agency:

  “The Russian military infrastructure has never moved towards Western Europe… however there has always been a movement in the opposite direction. If the Europeans do not understand this mistake, then, of course, it is regrettable,” he noted.

  BREAKING:

  Reuters reports that France has started delivering a “significant amount” of SCALP long-range missiles to Ukraine.

  It’s the same missile as the UK’s Storm Shadow.

  Will Germany change its mind and start delivering Taurus?

  🇫🇷🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/tsituw9xt5

  — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 11, 2023

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  The NATO summit will run through tomorrow, and itself is located in Russia might consider it’s “own backyard” of the Baltics. Likely, the bellicose war rhetoric will only grow, as more and more escalatory measures are unveiled. 

  Is Germany next to jump on the “more and bigger weapons” to Ukraine bandwagon? 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 02:45

• Rees-Mogg Pushes Anti-Discrimination Law As UK Banks Are Accused Of Shutting Accounts Over Personal Views
  Rees-Mogg Pushes Anti-Discrimination Law As UK Banks Are Accused Of Shutting Accounts Over Personal Views

  Authored by Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times,

  Former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg is pushing for a new law that will make it more difficult for banks to shut down people’s accounts.

  

  It comes amid ongoing suspicion that banks have been closing customers’ accounts over their political exposure or views.

  Mr. Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP and GB News presenter, told The Telegraph that while banks have the right to block accounts, “they are doing this in far too many cases.”

  With the declining of cash, an individual without a bank account is effectively a “non-citizen” or a “non-person,” he said.

  According to the report, Mr. Rees-Mogg will propose an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill, that aims to stop banks from discriminating against clients.

  The amendment would also compel banks to inform customers why their accounts would be closed within 30 days of their decision and give customers the right to demand compensation, the report said.

  “I would hope the government will take up this amendment. This is where the Government wants to be; it is helping their policy,” Mr. Rees-Mogg said.

  Nigel Farage Denied Accounts By 9 Banks

  Mr. Rees-Mogg’s proposal comes as his colleague at GB News, former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, said he couldn’t find a bank that’s willing to hold his account in the UK.

  In a video published on YouTube on June 29, Mr. Farage said his bank had told him they were going to close his account. He said the bank gave no reason for closing his account, but speculated that rules regarding politically exposed persons (PEPs) may be one of the possible reasons.

  Mr. Farage also speculated that Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant’s assertion in Parliament that Mr. Farage had “received £548,573 from Russia Today in 2018” may have contributed to the banks’ unwillingness to give him an account.

  In an update published on Monday,  the former businessman and politician said he still hasn’t found a new bank, with nine banks having rejected his business.

  

  British Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a visit to Dover harbour, in Dover, Britain, on Aug. 12, 2020. (Matthew Childs/Reuters)

  It’s unclear whether banks are denying Mr. Farage access to an account over PEP concerns, politicians with all parties have complained about running into difficulty with banks.

  PEPs rules are international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force. They were adopted by the European Union in the form of directives, which were then incorporated into British law through secondary legislation.

  The anti-money-laundering rules require financial institutions to carry out extra checks on PEPs.

  While guidance (pdf) published in 2017 clarified that UK PEPs should be treated as low risk unless they pose a higher risk for other reasons, politicians have said that they still had to go through heightened scrutiny.

  City Minister Andrew Griffith wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority, urging the watchdog to prioritise a review on PEP rules so they “do not unduly burden or prevent democratically elected individuals, public officials, or their respective families from access to essential banking services.”

  Other De-Banking

  There have been others who suspected their accounts may have been closed over their political views, although banks have denied the allegations.

  In one of the most recent cases, Metro Bank emailed gender-critical parents group Our Duty, saying the bank couldn’t offer an account because it “doesn’t currently allow organisations to receive donations if not a registered charity, and for community groups to be linked to, or influence political policies or legislations.”

  Our Duty founder Keith Jordan claimed that a bank manager had told him in a phone call that the group couldn’t get an account because of what it believes is in conflict with the bank’s culture, but the bank denied making any such decisions based an individual or organisation’s personal or political views.

  According to the Times of London, an Anglican church leader lost his building society account after he replied to a monthly email soliciting feedback, telling the building society, which had displayed support for the so-called pride month on its website, that he didn’t agree with pushing transgender ideology on children.

  The building society has also denied closing any accounts over opinions, saying they “only ever make the difficult decision to close a savings account if a customer is rude, abusive, violent, or discriminates in any way, based on the specific facts, comments and behaviour in each case.”

  Triggernometry, a British YouTube show and podcast featuring interviews and satirical content about current affairs and social issues,  also lost a bank account recently. According to co-host Konstantin Kisin, the bank has also cited their reception of donations as a reason.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 02:00

• The Great Famine Reset: You Will Own Nothing and You Will Be Starving
  The Great Famine Reset: You Will Own Nothing and You Will Be Starving

  Authored by Augusto Zimmermann and John Hartnett via The Epoch Times,

  “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” This confronting statement emanates from the World Economic Forum (WEF), a non-governmental organisation established in 1971 by Klaus Schwab.

  By all appearances, the WEF is the most powerful organisation in the world. For decades, it has been at the centre of bringing together the world’s richest and most powerful in business and politics, becoming the driving force in the world, especially after COVID-19.

  

  In July 2020, Mr. Schwab co-authored and published a book entitled “COVID-19: The Great Reset.” With this publication, he sought to identify the weaknesses of the present economic system, which, according to him, were exposed by the alleged pandemic.

  Mr. Schwab’s WEF considers COVID-19 as a “rare but narrow window of opportunity” to reset the global economy. This involves the elimination of national borders and the removal of property rights and, indeed, any other individual right from the rest of us.

  In what is perhaps even more remarkable, the Great Reset also involves changing human beings.

  According to political economist and financial journalist James Gorrie, one of WEF’s people, professor and author Yuval Noah Harari declared that the era of people’s free will is “over,” with humans being merely “hackable animals.”

  Above all, the primary goal of the Great Reset is to restructure the entire world into a top-down dictatorship that is ruled by the global oligarchy.

  “COVID-19 restrictions and measures to tackle climate change are pillars of the Great Reset initiative aimed to remake global capitalism, leading ultimately to tyrannical control over societies,” says climate journalist and formal political aide Marc Morano.

  

  An empty and closed Melbourne Cricket Ground is seen in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 3, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

  If there is anything COVID-19 has taught us is that many governments are not working for the people.

  To the contrary, these governments are following the script of the WEF’s Great Reset, which “is tied to the climate change and the green new deal policies pushed in the United States, Europe and some other countries as well as the United Nations’ climate agenda and net-zero initiative.”

  Jeopardizing Food Security to Lower Emissions

  These oligarchical plans to compromise food security and destroy property rights are well underway in many countries around the globe.

  Take, for instance, the example of the Netherlands. A tiny country in terms of land and population, this country is nevertheless the second largest food exporter in the world.

  And yet, this is all coming soon to an end due to governmental policies that effectively blame them for “high greenhouse emissions,” despite the nation contributing only 5.2 percent of all the EU emissions.

  It is estimated that up to 3,000 farmers could have to close down their productive farms in that country.

  Writing for The Spectator Australia, Xin Du comments:

  “The Dutch policies are particularly puzzling, as Dutch farmers are among the most efficient in the world … It is, therefore, mind-boggling that the Dutch government and the EU would want to uproot this industry rather than to promote and emulate it in a world that is running out of food.”

  Unfortunately, the Dutch government is not alone in targeting their farmers. Many countries, including Canada, Germany, and Sri Lanka, are following a similar agenda to undermine the agricultural sector by reducing nitrogen in the environment by at least 30 percent.

  

  Farmers arrive for a protest at the government district in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019. (Photo: AP /Markus Schreiber)

  Joshua Phillip, an investigative reporter and recognized expert on asymmetrical hybrid warfare, says “nitrogen reduction policies and chemical fertilizer trends in the majority of countries around the world will lead to food shortages, like what happened in Sri Lanka recently.”

  The global warming alarmists claim nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, and we must stop meat production to reduce it. This is just another scam.

  In the United States, farmers already cannot find enough chemical nitrogen fertilizer to grow their crops. The WEF recommendation to “build back better” has been adopted in the United States as a “climate change policy.”

  Under the Biden administration, this, too, has led to the collapse of the current energy system in order to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a disturbing report that essentially warns the American public about inevitable food shortages.

  The threat of food shortage in that country has been further aggravated by governmental policies that result in rising interest rates, price inflation, and excessive environmental regulations that, when combined, create very serious problems for that nation’s agrarian and livestock sectors.

  Global Population

  It is the WEF’s propaganda of overpopulation and environmental damage that leads governments to implement such rash insane policies.

  How is that going to affect global food supplies? Not very well, we suspect. How do we reduce the global demand for resources and limit environmental damage? Depopulate the world of humans.

  We are constantly told that there are too many people on this planet and it can’t support everyone.

  The WEF has set about implementing an agenda of dramatic depopulation of the world. This has been the program of the Club of Rome, an oligarchical think-tank, as far back as 1972 when its members were concerned with global resources and overpopulation.

  Renowned primatologist Jane Goodall said at the WEF in 2020:

  “All these [environmental] things we talk about wouldn’t be a problem if the world was the size of the population that there was 500 years ago.”

  In 1600, the world population is estimated to have been 500 to 580 million. That means 94 percent fewer humans in the world!

  We are meant to believe that reducing the world’s population to 500 million will relieve the environment of the stress on both resources and environmental damage.

  But the reduction of the human population can be done and has been done through wars.

  In World War I, 21.5 million died of which 13 million were civilians. The civilian deaths were largely caused by starvation, exposure, disease, military encounters, and massacres. In World War II, 40-50 million died, the largest of any war.

  Then there were the massacres by the communists. For example, Joseph Stalin’s Bolsheviks killed 40-60 million in the former Soviet Union, and Mao Zedong’s communist regime killed 65-78 million in China.

  

  Picture taken on May 1962 showing Chinese refugees queuing for a meal at Hong Kong. – During the famine caused by “The Great Leap Forward” Chinese policy, between 140.000 and 200.000 people were entered illegally at Hong Kong. (AFP via Getty Images)

  The war in Ukraine, coupled with the West’s economic sanctions, has put the world’s food security at tremendous risk. These sanctions aim to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. However, they are causing a serious danger to the world’s ability to feed itself.

  In the worst-case scenario, says Chris Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University, “we are going to see tens of millions of people suddenly facing famine.”

  Control the Money

  We are presently experiencing an asymmetric war, some kinetic (NATO/Ukraine vs. Russia) but primarily a silent war where food shortages are engineered. This is achieved through shutting down production by driving farmers from the land, banning live animal exports, and disrupting supply lines, as we saw in the “pandemic” years.

  But probably the greatest driver of famine is none of the above. It is the supply of currency and credit.

  Control the food supply, and you control the people. But control the money supply, and you control the whole world.

  Of course, controlling the money supply also directly affects the food supply.

  It goes without saying that since 2008, the world-dominating U.S. Federal Reserve has been “printing money” like never before. Currently, the amount is already 2.3 times larger (in the same dollar terms) than was “printed” during and after World War II. And there is no sign of stopping.

  Since the U.S. dollar is the global reserve currency, either hyperinflation will result and/or a total global economic collapse will ensue. Either way, it doesn’t matter; the global famine will accelerate. It is inevitable.

  We need to wake up to the tactics of the global oligarchs and resist all efforts to impose their objectives on us.

  We must stop also the woke depopulation agenda and put an end to the WEF’s ungodly neofascist agenda before it is too late. Otherwise, paraphrasing WEF’s statement, you will own nothing, and you will be starving!

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/12/2023 – 00:05

• Lancet Paper On Post-Vax Autopsies Nuked After Attracting 'Special Attention': Dr. Peter McCullough
  Lancet Paper On Post-Vax Autopsies Nuked After Attracting ‘Special Attention’: Dr. Peter McCullough

  A pre-print review of autopsy data of more than 300 post-Covid-19 vaccination deaths was removed by the Lancet within 24 hours of its initial submission, according to cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, the paper’s leading author and prominent COVID vaccine skeptic.

  

  “The government narrative is still that people do not die after COVID-19 vaccination. Now we have the largest series of autopsies, and the autopsies really are incontrovertible,” he told the Epoch Times.

  The paper was uploaded to the Lancet’s pre-print website on July 6, only to be taken down with a note implying that the study violated the medical journal’s “screening criteria.”

  “Pre-print servers go through a check to make sure all the elements of the paper are there, but it is not peer-reviewed by external doctors. And the preprint server simply offers people a chance to look at the data themselves and decide,” McCullough told the Times Jan Jekielek. “I think that’s perfectly fair to look at the tables, look at the figures.”

  “Obviously, we struck a very important gap in knowledge and the world needed to know the results.“

  The paper was co-authored by Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch and their colleagues at the Wellness Company, a Florida-based medical group.

  The study looked at 678 published papers, 44 of which contained the 325 autopsy cases. They then used a “blind adjudication” process by which three physicians independently review all the deaths and determine whether the Covid-19 vaccine caused, or contributed significantly, to the deaths.

  “We use the standard called PRISMA, where we searched for every paper possible. We sorted through hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts because deaths can be reported as different clinical syndromes are coming out after the vaccine,” said McCullough.

  “There were deaths where there was an auto accident or a suicide. There were some cases in nursing homes where people are on hospice and it looked like they were in their last days of life. We just couldn’t attribute it to the vaccine,” he added. “But the striking cases were people who were perfectly healthy, who had no other medical problems. The only new thing in their life was a vaccine, and then they died with an obvious syndrome like a blood clot, or heart damage, or myocarditis.”

  “This is important because when these papers were originally published, the authors didn’t know the full breadth of safety profiles of the vaccine,” McCullough continued. “Initially there were some autopsies from Germany [where] people died of blood clots shooting to lungs. The authors concluded that it wasn’t vaccine because at that time they didn’t know the vaccine causes blood clots, but we do now.”

  To that end, a total of 240 deaths (73.9 percent) were identified as directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 vaccination.

  The most implicated organ system in COVID-19 vaccine-associated death was the cardiovascular system (53 percent), followed by the hematological system (17 percent), the respiratory system (8 percent), and multiple organ systems (7 percent), according to the paper. The mean time from vaccination to death was 14.3 days, with most deaths occurring within a week from the most recent jab.

  Without further detail from Lancet, it is hard to tell exactly in which way the study’s methodology might have failed to support its conclusions. On the other hand, Dr. McCullough said they used standard methodology and did reach realistic results. –Epoch Times

  “We didn’t come up with an unrealistic number. We didn’t come up with 100 percent or zero percent of deaths were due to vaccines. We came up with a reasonable number that’s defensible,” he said. “In the supplemental tables, people can go through every case and decide if they agree or disagree, and that’s fair. That should be up on the pre-print server so the world can see it.”

  “The main thing people want is they want access to the data. They simply don’t want data censored off of the internet,” he added. “We should have grand rounds on this. We should have broad internet discussions on it. People maybe want to discuss specific cases—maybe the authors [of the 44 papers] themselves want to look at it.“

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 23:45

• Santa Clara University Students Must Take COVID Vaccines Or Withdraw
  Santa Clara University Students Must Take COVID Vaccines Or Withdraw

  Authored by Lucia Sinatra via The Brownstone Institute,

  College COVID vaccine mandates remain some of the most coercive mandates ever declared. While most colleges have now rescinded their mandates, some colleges refuse to let go, and Santa Clara University in California is one of the most oppressive.

  

  In late April 2021, after most incoming freshmen had committed, SCU announced that all students were required to get COVID vaccines for fall enrollment or after full approval, whichever was later. 

  Then by mid-summer, SCU announced that students would be required to receive the vaccine even if it remained authorized only for emergency (EUA) and despite the fact that the CA Health and Safety Code codifies the Nuremberg Code. Section 24172 states 

  “(t)here is, and will continue to be, a growing need for protection for citizens of the state from unauthorized, needless, hazardous, or negligently performed medical experiments on human beings. It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature, in the enacting of this chapter, to provide minimum statutory protection for the citizens of this state with regard to human experimentation and to provide penalties for those who violate such provisions.”

  SCU (and many other CA colleges and universities) are in direct violation of this Code for removing informed consent by mandating EUA medical treatments.

  Despite lack of efficacy or adequate safety data for this overwhelmingly healthy young adult population, in December 2021, SCU mandated the booster, midway through the academic year when students would have no choice but to comply or leave tens of thousands of dollars behind. SCU’s three-dose requirement remained through the 2022-23 school year.

  In complete disregard for the end of the emergency declarations, in early April 2023, when most universities like nearby Stanford were announcing the end of their COVID vaccine mandates, SCU updated its requirement for incoming freshmen. 

  On May 8th, one week after the fall 2023 enrollment deadline, SCU quietly updated its COVID vaccine policy to require one bivalent dose for incoming freshmen (but not returning students) regardless of how many COVD vaccines they had previously taken. SCU backdated this announcement to May 1st thinking no one would take notice, but in private emails from incoming students learned that some were furious. We encouraged them to withdraw and accept another offer.

  On May 31st, SCU updated its policy again. They now require either three previously taken monovalent doses or one bivalent dose for all community members. As with the University’s previous mandates, SCU offers no religious exemptions and limited medical exemptions for students even in the most extreme of circumstances as explained below. Faculty and staff, however, are permitted to request exemptions. 

  SCU’s policy is determined by its opaque “COVID-19 team,” believed to be led by campus physician Dr. Lewis Osofsky, who also holds several positions at Santa Clara County Medical Association (SCCMA). SCCMA partners with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPH) to maximize COVID-19 vaccinations. Santa Clara County is one of the most vaccinated counties in the country, with more than a third having received the bivalent booster, twice the national average, and 88.5 percent having received the primary series.

  Osofsky’s positions in the SCCMA include chair of the Professional Standards and Conduct committee, tasked with promoting high ethical standards for physicians and investigating disputes involving unethical conduct.  This is ironic, as Osofsky is believed to be a driving force behind SCU’s ethically-indefensible mandate. Medical ethics would require, at a minimum, both transmission prevention and a proven benefit for students. An antibody increase from vaccines, with no established antibody level correlate of protection, wanes in mere weeks, and cannot support the ethics of a mandate. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that the “greater the number of vaccine doses previously received the higher the risk of COVID-19.”

  It is alleged that Osofsky has improperly denied student medical exemptions. In a March 2022 lawsuit filed against SCU, Harlow Glenn, one of the student plaintiffs, claims that she had serious adverse reactions to her primary series COVID vaccines, including an emergency room visit due to leg paralysis and abnormal bleeding. According to the complaint, Osofsky refused to grant her a medical exemption for the required booster and actively interfered with her doctor-patient relationship by contacting her private doctors to persuade them to retract their medical exemption documentation.

  Such aggressive tactics are nothing new for Osofsky, as he apparently employs them against patients in his private pediatric practice. Parents have complained in online reviews that Osofsky’s office forced vaccines and didn’t listen to their concerns. As it turns out, Blue Cross Blue Shield pays pediatricians in private practice a $40,000 bonus for every 100 patients under the age of 2 that they fully vaccinate, if at least 63 percent of the patients are fully vaccinated (including the annual flu vaccine).

  Osofsky’s roles with SCCMA, which is in partnership with the SCCPH whose goal is to maximize COVID vaccination, as well as his aggressive private practice approach to vaccination, have likely played a large role in SCU’s continued COVID vaccine mandates. 

  On June 14, 2023, attorneys for the plaintiffs filed their opening brief against SCU in the Sixth Appellate District in California. It is expected that SCU will oppose the appeal and insist on its right to demand that students submit to EUA boosters to “protect the campus community.”

  Protect the community? That justification went out the window long ago when CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted that the COVID vaccine did not prevent infection or transmission.

  Recently released documents confirmed that Walensky actually knew this information in January of 2021, well before colleges announced COVID vaccination requirements.

  Given that the emergency is officially over, and the shots have proven to be both ineffective and in some cases harmful, now more than ever, SCU must defend the science and ethics behind their refusal to drop them. 

  In the absence of such transparency, we are left to assume that Osofsky, along with SCCMA and SCCPH, must be using SCU students as mere pawns to achieve their unscientific and authoritarian vaccination goals and quotas.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 23:25

• More Black Americans Support Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling Than Oppose It: Poll
  More Black Americans Support Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling Than Oppose It: Poll

  A new poll from YouGov/The Economist reveals that more black Americans support last month’s Supreme Court decision to strike down race-based admission policies at colleges.

  

  According to the poll, 44% of black respondents said they ‘at least somewhat’ support the recent rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which eliminated race-based admissions practices from college campuses. 36% of blacks polled disapproved of the decision.

  Do you approve or disapprove of Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action?

  White: 65% approve, 23% disapprove
  Hispanics: 45%-30%
  Blacks: 43%-36%

  Both sexes, all races, every age group, every level of income. All reject race-based governance. https://t.co/a74PiCnGBh pic.twitter.com/VF2qDVBZ0p

  — Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 9, 2023

  Harvard University hinted that the Ivy League school would be seeking to circumvent the court’s ruling in a press release following the decision. Essays by applicants that discussed how race affected their lives could be taken into consideration during the admissions process, the Supreme Court’s opinion stated. –Daily Caller

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsOverall, 59% of respondents approved of the Supreme Court ruling vs. 27% who disapproved. 45% of hispanics polled also supported the decision vs. 30% who did not.

  The poll was conducted between July 1-5 for The Economist, and included 1,500 adults – 1,350 of whom are registered voters. Of them, 198 were black and 200 were hispanic. The poll had a 2.9% margin of error.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 23:05

• Pressure Builds On China To Open Easing Floodgates Further
  Pressure Builds On China To Open Easing Floodgates Further

  Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

  Stimulus in China is not yet getting through as loan growth declines and money growth stalls, increasing the likelihood policy makers ease further, and driving a re-acceleration in global inflation.

  Loan data from China released today superficially showed a “beat” on the month. But month-on-month data is noisy and seasonal, the clearest way to look at it is the percentage change of the 12-month sum. This way we can see the trend, which for total CNY loans is down.

  

  It is loans to non-financial enterprises and government loans that is driving total loans lower. One bright spot is that household-loan growth is rising (but is still negative). China’s pandemic policies, which favored state-owned enterprises at the expense of the household sector, further widened imbalances in the economy.

  The low-hanging fruit from export-led growth has been plucked, and mercantile-driven growth has had to be increasingly supplemented by debt to meet targets. Now China is reluctant to stimulate in too carefree a manner as they are increasingly concerned about financial stability. Thus the rise in household-loan growth is a positive sign, but it is not enough to arrest the overall anemic recovery in China.

  A principal area of weakness is the property market. It’s a major source of wealth and saving for the household sector in an economy with few alternatives and a closed capital account (at least to most people). It will be difficult to rejuvenate the household sector – and therefore the economy overall – without a rehabilitation of the property market.

  Yet despite a series of easing measures, such as aid for developers, with further measures said to be imminent, the property market remains quagmired.

  Real-estate transaction growth continues to slide, while floor-space started is contracting at over 6% per year, near series lows.

  Furthermore, real-estate debt, after recovering early this year, is falling again, and is on track to make new lows, with USD HY debt having lost almost three-quarters of its value.

  

  China’s binding constraint is unemployment. If growth deteriorates to the point where unemployment begins to rise sharply (youth unemployment is already over 20%, due to the weaker services sector in the pandemic, and a skills mismatch, according to Goldman Sachs), it’s likely China will reach for the hard-liquor, and stimulate – both fiscally and monetarily – much more freely.

  This is likely to fuel a re-acceleration in US and global inflation. We’re not there yet, but the more disappointing data we see, the closer we will be.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 22:45

• Yacht Broker Selling OceanGate Sub For $750,000
  Yacht Broker Selling OceanGate Sub For $750,000

  A yacht broker is selling an OceanGate manned submersible, which can carry five people to depths of 305 meters (1,000 feet). However, after the implosion of the company’s Titan submarine last month during an expedition to the Titanic wreck site, there are concerns that selling the sub may be near impossible. 

  Steve Reoch, an expedition-yacht broker, told Bussiness Insider that he’s trying to offload OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush’s 1995-built Antipodes sub. He has represented sales for other submersibles and said this sub was Rush’s first sub. 

  

  Antipodes is listed on Yatco’s website for $795,000. 

  

  Reoch told Insider that Antipodes would likely be “tied up in litigation for years” because OceanGate has suspended commercial and exploration operations following last month’s incident. He said he’ll remove the listing because “I don’t want to have anything to do with it.” 

  

  He said the 13.7-foot-long sub has been for sale for several years with very little interest. With Oceangate’s Titan submersible incident, the probability of finding a buyer has likely crashed to zero. 

  

  “We’re in the process of disassociating ourselves from the vessel because it won’t sell,” he said, adding the listing will be taken down in a few weeks. 

  And who would want to purchase a three-decade sub? Nevertheless, Insider said Titan had a success rate of reaching the Titanic wreck site 14% of the time. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 22:25

• Hundreds Of Human Rights Violations Found In "Green" Mineral Supply Chains
  Hundreds Of Human Rights Violations Found In “Green” Mineral Supply Chains

  By SupplyChainBrain

  

  Over 100 cases of alleged human rights violations and environmental abuses by Chinese-invested companies involved in mineral mining supply chains were identified in a recent report from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in London, England.

  According to the survey, entitled “Unpacking Clean Energy: Human Rights Impacts of Chinese Overseas Investment in Transition Minerals,” 102 allegations of abuse were linked to Chinese companies’ overseas investments in the transition minerals sector between January 2021 and December 2022.

  Indonesia was the worst culprit with 27 recorded abuse allegations. Peru had the second-most abuse allegations (16) followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12), Myanmar (11) and Zimbabwe (7).

  More than two-thirds of the allegations (69) related to human rights abuses against local communities. Over half of the recorded incidents (54) involved a negative impact on the environment. More than a third of the allegations (34) had to do with workers’ rights with a majority of them focused on health and safety risks in the workplace.

  Despite the large number of recorded abuse allegations, less than 18% of the companies mentioned in the report (7 out of 39) have published human rights policies, “suggesting there is significant room for improvement in both policies and practices,” according to the study’s authors. Of the 22 companies within the critical mineral mining sector that were approached regarding these abuses, only four organizations actually responded to the allegations.

  The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre provided three key recommendations that could greatly contribute to “rapid and successful energy transitions:” fair labor negotiations, human rights/social protections and shared prosperity to build trust and stability within the industry.

  “As demand for transition minerals to fuel green technologies remains a global priority, the scope for human rights infringements by mining companies and their investors remains a major concern,” the report’s authors wrote. “Commitment to these principles has never been more important.”

  The report analyzed 102 allegations of human rights and environmental abuses related to Chinese overseas investments between January 2021 and December 2022. In the study, the term allegation refers to publicly reported incidents of abuse by a company, civil society action against a company or attacks against human rights defenders. Impacts were organized into six categories of abuse: environmental impacts (E), local communities and attacks against civil society organizations (LC), impacts on workers (W), governance and transparency (G), security issues and conflict zones (S) and the COVID-19 pandemic (C).

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 22:05

• Strike Could Cost UPS 30% Of Diverted Volume
  Strike Could Cost UPS 30% Of Diverted Volume

  By Mark Solomon of FreightWaves

  UPS Inc. should be prepared to lose as much as 30% of diverted volume should the Teamsters strike the company by the end of the month and a work stoppage last for a decent duration, a leading parcel consultant said Monday.

  

  UPS handled about 18.6 million parcels in the U.S. per day in the first quarter. Under a contingency plan, it expects to handle 4 million parcels on its own. The balance of about 14.6 million parcels, most of which would be ground deliveries, would be subject to diversion.

  Satish Jindel, president of consultancy ShipMatrix, said in a communique to FreightWaves that the 30% of volume that could be lost would be equivalent to more than 4 million parcels a day. 

  Because there are about 80,000 package car drivers and each driver delivers about 230 parcels per day, the diverted volume, if it never returns to UPS could result in 4,300 lost driver jobs and those of a few thousand package handlers for every 1 million packages diverted, he said.

  Unlike the last Teamster strike in 1997, there is plenty of competition for diverted volume. For example, FedEx Corp whose ground unit didn’t exist back then, is delivering on-time performance for air and ground on par with UPS, according to Jindel. This will give shippers more confidence to keep diverted volumes with FedEx, he said.

  On Sunday, the U.S. Postal Service launched “Ground Advantage” with two-to-five-day transit times comparable to FedEx and UPS. Jindel envisioned a scenario in which large shippers divert lightweight parcels under 5 pounds that can fit in a mailbox to the Postal Service and the heavier parcels to FedEx.

  The potential damage to UPS and its unionized workers behooves both sides to return to the table and resume negotiations, Jindel said. Talks collapsed last week reportedly over an inability to come to terms on part-time wages. No new talks are scheduled. The current contract expires July 31.

  “Being very tough in negotiations is analogous to stretching a rubber band,” Jindel wrote. “No one knows the full limit before it snaps and then one has to start all over again with a new set of conditions.”

  Separately, for the minority of Teamsters union members at UPS who don’t favor a strike should a contract not be agreed to in three weeks, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation on Monday issued some advice.

  All UPS employees can resign their membership in the union and continue to do their jobs, according to a legal notice issued by the foundation. “If you don’t support the union you can send the union a letter resigning your membership at any time,” the notice said.

  In addition, employees who resign their membership — or who are already nonmembers — have the right to work even if the union orders a strike. “Union officials can — and often do — fine union members thousands of dollars for working during a strike,” the notice said. “So you should seriously consider resigning your union membership before you return to work during a strike, which is the only way to avoid fines and discipline.”

  Employees working in a “right-to-work” state, where union membership and financial support are voluntary, can resign their membership and opt out of all union financial support, according to the notice.

  Employees not working in a state with those protections have the right to opt out of paying dues for union politics and may be able to avoid other union financial support, according to the notice. In non-right-to-work states, unions can still only mandate that employees pay dues as a condition of employment if the union and management have finalized a union monopoly bargaining contract that contains a valid forced-dues clause, the notice said.

  About 97% of UPS’ members have voted to authorize a strike if a contract is not reached by July 31. The Teamsters represent 340,000 UPS employees, many of them part-timers.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 21:25

• "This Is Not Sustainable": China's EV Market Set To Face Even More Competition, HSBC Says
  “This Is Not Sustainable”: China’s EV Market Set To Face Even More Competition, HSBC Says

  With recent rallies in Tesla (and now Rivian), market participants are starting to mull whether or not EV stocks are about to be looked at favorably and outperform once again. 

  But insane-valuation- and hot-money-history may not be ready to repeat itself just yet. The industry is facing headwinds that it hasn’t before, with Tesla leading a charge of price cutting to start 2023 and now HSBC reporting that an already saturated and competitive market is going to become…even more saturated and competitive – especially in China.

  In a note out early this week, Yuqian Ding, HSBC Head of China Auto Research said the growing competition is “not sustainable”. He says there are “far too many” car models in China, Bloomberg wrote in a wrap up on Tuesday.

  

  Ding predicts that “smaller, less advanced manufacturers will be squeezed out” as competition becomes more robust. Larger automakers account for 73% of the country’s EV market, he writes, meaning that 57 other brands are left fighting for the remaining 27% of the market. 

  Currently, there’s about 400 to 600 ICE models available and Ding notes that 75% of 250 new models being launched over the next 12-18 months will be EVs. He predicts that the price war that’s currently ongoing will come to a halt, writing: “The price war will eventually fizzle out as competition squeezes the smaller players, which are burning through cash, out of the market”.

  He predicts that up to 8.2 million EVs will be sold in 2023 and 12.6 million per year by 2025. By 2030, he is expecting 22.6 million EV sales per year and he has raised his forecast on higher volumes and increased supplies. 

  He is bullish on BYD, Li Auto and Geely, maintaining his “buy” rating on those names while writing that: “Leaders will tighten their grip on the market. With the exception of Tesla, we think they will all be China EV brands.”

  And Tesla is definitely holding its own for now. We noted yesterday that despite price wars, Tesla was able to grow its sales in the country by 20.6% MOM. Tesla sold 74,212 vehicles and exported 19,468 units for the month of June, solidifying a 20.6% sequential rise for the EV maker, per Bloomberg’s calculations.

  Even more impressive for Tesla is that China’s June Retail Passenger Vehicle sales were lower by -2.6 YOY, falling to 1.89 million units, according to the same data. For comparison on a sequential basis, Tesla’s 20.6% month-over-month jump outpaced China’s 8.7% month-over-month gain on sales.

  

  Bloomberg noted this weekend that total NEV sales in the country continue to be the driving force behind its sales growth. NEVs 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. 

  The company’s robust sales are still being helped along by price cuts it put into place at the beginning of the year, with Bloomberg noting that “after a price war leading into the Shanghai auto show in April, deliveries started to pick up again and the overall market for new-energy vehicles remained strong.”

  Now we’ll see how it handles a larger field of EV entrants going forward…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 21:05

• US Introduces New Immigration Pathway For People From Central America, Colombia
  US Introduces New Immigration Pathway For People From Central America, Colombia

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Biden administration has introduced a new immigration program to allow some nationals of Central America and Colombia to enter the United States.

  

  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on July 7 that it’s implementing “new family reunification parole (FRP) processes” for Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The program was first announced in April.

  The FRP processes allow certain migrants with U.S. relatives to enter and work legally while they await their U.S. immigration visas.

  “Specifically, nationals of these [four] countries can be considered for parole on a case-by-case basis for a period of up to three years while they wait to apply to become a lawful permanent resident,” the DHS stated on July 7.

  Potentially eligible migrants are those from the four countries who have family members who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents in the United States.

  The latest initiative, according to the DHS, is part of the comprehensive measures the DHS and State Department announced in April “to further reduce unlawful migration across the Western Hemisphere, significantly expand lawful pathways for protection, and facilitate the safe, orderly, and humane processing of migrants.”

  The FRP processes were available to Cubans starting in 2007 and Haitians starting in 2014. The Trump administration had halted the programs, but the Biden administration later restarted them.

  US ‘Intends to Welcome as Many as 100,000’

  The U.S. family member must file Form I-30—also referred to as the Petition for Alien Relative—on behalf of their Colombian, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, or Honduran relative.

  If the petition is approved, the State Department issues an invitation to the petitioning U.S. family member, who can then start the FRP process by filing a request on behalf of the migrant relative to be considered for advance travel authorization and parole.

  The DHS said on July 7 that if the foreign national is granted parole status, which permits entry into the United States, that person can then request employment authorization while waiting for his or her immigrant visa to become available. When the immigrant visa is available, he or she may apply for permanent residency—also referred to as a green card.

  The FRP process can be a faster pathway to enter the United States than the regular process of U.S. citizens’ and green-card holders’ applying and waiting for an immigrant visa for their relatives.

  The Biden administration announced on May 2 that the United States “intends to welcome as many as 100,000 individuals from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador” under the FRP processes. No time frame has been provided, however, and a numerical cap for Colombian migrants has also not been specified.

  ‘Lawful Pathways’

  Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the new processes “promote family unity and provide lawful pathways consistent with our laws and our values.”

  “The Department has proven that the expansion of safe, orderly, and lawful pathways, combined with strong enforcement, is effective in reducing dangerous, irregular migration to the United States,” he said.

  According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection more than 126,200 Colombians, 40,700 Salvadorans, 115,100 Guatemalans, and 110,000 Hondurans have been processed at the southwest border so far in fiscal 2023.

  The DHS stated that the new FRP processes “allow for parole only on a discretionary, case-by-case, and temporary basis upon a demonstration of urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit, as well as a demonstration that the beneficiary warrants a favorable exercise of discretion.”

  The above stipulations are in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), enacted in 1952. The INA authorizes the Homeland Security secretary—currently Mr. Mayorkas—to decide whether to parole a foreign national into the United States.

  Parole Status Previously Granted Sparingly

  An immigration expert told The Epoch Times in 2022 that parole should be a “very, very boutique thing” and should be used in only special cases, such as when a family member needs entry into the United States to donate a kidney to his brother, or if a witness to a criminal case is needed to testify.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 20:45

• Illinois Law Forces Landlords To Rent To Illegals Or Face Civil Rights Violations
  Illinois Law Forces Landlords To Rent To Illegals Or Face Civil Rights Violations

  Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 1817 into law, which mandates landlords must rent property to illegal immigrants. Democrats in this ultra-progressive crime-ridden state are under fire for prioritizing the needs of migrants over the needs of their constituents. 

  Breitbart first reported Pritzker signed SB 1817 into law on June 30. The rule amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to include “immigration status” as a protected class. This means landlords could get slapped with a civil rights violation if they ‘discriminate’ against a migrant. 

  “This law sets clear boundaries, protecting the rights of immigrants and ensuring that financial institutions and service providers cannot engage in discriminatory practices,” Democratic State Sen. Ann Gillespie wrote in a statement. 

  Gillespie continued, “Putting these protections in place will promote fairness to ensure people are not unjustly denied housing.”

  The law comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent more than 8,000 migrants to Chicago amid the worst border crisis ever — sparked by the Biden administration’s failed open border policies. In the last few years, the record surge of migrant and drug flows into the country has triggered a twin crisis this country has never seen before. 

  Meanwhile, Democratic leadership in Chicago has pleaded with Abbott to halt the bussing of migrants from the southern border to their city because resources are limited to help them. 

  

  As for landlords, running a background check and credit report on potential tenants is standard. The question is, how does one vet illegals?

  Just wait until the Pritzker allocates millions of dollars for ’emergency’ housing assistance for illegals. 

  As for the working poor and/or people experiencing homelessness in the state — this is yet another example of Democrats putting their constituents last while trying to appease illegal aliens in hopes of becoming new voters for their party ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 20:25

• Supreme Court Independence Jeopardized by Leftist Fanatics
  Supreme Court Independence Jeopardized by Leftist Fanatics

  Authored by Christopher Roach via American Greatness,

  Last week was a big week for the Supreme Court.

  The Court disposed of its rather muddled affirmative action precedents by declaring the entire practice anathema. It enforced constitutionally required separation of powers by rejecting Joe Biden’s executive order creating a $430B student loan forgiveness program. And finally, in keeping with the earlier Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, it reaffirmed the right for people in business to avoid compulsory expressive speech (in this case, web design) contrary to their religious beliefs.

  This line of decisions comes on the heels of last year’s ruling in Dobbs, through which the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to the political process within the states.

  The Court has been doing a lot of work and, in the process, overturning a range of anti-democratic, activist precedents that have accrued since the 1960s. In the process, a number of decades-long conservative goals have reached fruition.

  

  Recent Decisions Restore Principles of Self-Government

  The recent decisions affirm the principles of majority rule, as limited by the plain language of the Constitution. In spite of the Left’s attempted ownership of the concept of democracy, this principle is not advanced by selectively and randomly vetoing legislative enactments and torturing constitutional language to reach favored conclusions.

  Instead, self-government requires adherence to a fairly prosaic set of ideas: we elect men to make laws; the words that constitute laws mean what they say; this principle applies to the supreme law that is the Constitution; and, judges are supposed to interpret those words naturally according to their original meaning and neutrally as between the litigants.

  This means that “equal protection” does not permit policies of collective punishment towards the white race because of certain past evils. Even under the Fourteenth Amendment, the law deals with individuals as individuals, not as avatars of preferred or disfavored groups.

  Similarly, the separation of powers principles and the plain language of Article I of the Constitution require spending—including a massive loan forgiveness program—to originate in the Congress. Biden’s student loan decision may very well be a good policy or a terrible one. But the Court was rightly agnostic on the question of merits, instead asking whether the enactment is within the President’s power.

  The decision touching on free speech and gay rights reflects an unavoidable tension, which the Court’s precedents have never fully resolved. Namely, antidiscrimination laws, particularly as applied to private businesses, represent an equal and opposite set of principles as those of the First Amendment. The former turn everyone de facto into a common carrier, a quasi-public institution, which must serve all paying customers equally. By contrast, the First Amendment permits expressive conduct by businesses, even offensive conduct, as well as the right of refusal under the principle of voluntary association.

  The Left’s Unprincipled Approach to the Constitution

  This week’s decisions present a real problem to the Left. They’re a reminder that courts, properly functioning, impose limits on the state. But leftist political principles are not easily reconciled with constitutional limits. We saw this in the original court-packing scheme under FDR. Today, the Left’s unhappiness is amplified because it believed history was on its side, and it also had no particular commitment to procedures or process. The Left wants results and wants them now.

  The Left’s approach to politics is versatile and, procedurally speaking, unprincipled. Earlier victories arising from the Supreme Court, each far more aggressive and hostile to the limits of the constitutional text than those being pilloried at the moment, were applauded when they circumvented a stalled political process. This includes rulings ranging from abortion to gay marriage, where there was substantial public dissensus and, in some cases, conservative majorities opposing left-wing change.

  One heard few concerns for Our Democracy™ back in those days.

  Both sides’ partisans do this to some extent. But conservatives, independents, and moderates are understandably wary about messing with rules of game in mid-game through an extreme measure like packing the court. By contrast, the Left is truly indifferent about procedures, process, and the constitutional principle of precommitment. Rather, the Left is bold in the pursuit of its goals.

  This kind of power move only makes sense if one concludes that their side will win all future elections and retain political power indefinitely. Otherwise, overreach means they pack the Court this time, and we re-pack it the next time, and pretty soon the court is as big as the U.S. Congress.

  The Left has mostly captured the legal profession, and the capture is even more complete in the elite institutions that feed the ranks of the federal judiciary, Department of Justice, and related national institutions. Until recently, this meant the Left felt a great deal of comfort with court-led social change and activism. After all, judges were “our kind of people.”

  But, as Barack Obama said, elections have consequences, and since 2000, a little over half of the time the country had a Republican president. Republican presidents mean Republican judicial nominees.

  Just as the Church often became stronger under persecution, the small number of conservatives in elite legal circles have become more focused, rigorous, and purposeful since the creation of the Federalist Society in 1982. And that has meant, under Trump in particular, the availability of talented individuals to appoint to the high court who shared a philosophical commitment to originalism.

  Trump’s appointees—Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett—are undeniably smart, and each of them had a golden resume before appointment to the Court. They are joined by their stalwart predecessors, Justices Alito and Thomas. Each of these justices deviates greatly from the profession’s leftward tilt. They are able to explain their rulings with a vigor and precision that resists attack.

  Thus, the extreme hostility directed at them has the intensity reserved for class traitors.

  Whose Country?

  The reality of self-government has been under stress for many decades from a variety of sources. Mass immigration, deficient civic education, and an overbearing and out-of-control administrative state all combine to discourage optimism and participation. The “fortification” of the 2020 election and the daily spectacle of the senile Joe Biden only increases collective cynicism.

  As if recent revelations of government-coordinated censorship and the indictment of a former president were not enough, packing the Court would be the final nail in the coffin, confirmation that self-government, representation and limited government are all dead.

  After all, even when they disagreed strongly with the Court’s Warren-era precedents, activists on the right spent many years honing the arguments, supporting candidates, pressuring elected officials and otherwise slowly pursuing relief within the process. Doing so again after court-packing would be pointless and humiliating; if somehow we obtained a future court that made a ruling that was worthwhile, the Court could simply be packed again.

  Changing the size and composition of the Court to vouchsafe a particular, ideologically preferred outcome is the opposite of “blind justice” and completely incompatible with the rule of law. Yet one should not be surprised that people who rig elections also now aim to rig the courts.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 20:05

• Retail Politics: This GOP Candidate Will Pay You $20 If You Give Him $1
  Retail Politics: This GOP Candidate Will Pay You $20 If You Give Him $1

  In a move that gives new meaning to the term “retail politics,” North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has launched an eyebrow-raising promotion where he’ll pay you $20 if you’ll give him $1. 

  Burgum’s incentive to buy campaign contributions springs from the Republican National Committee’s qualification thresholds for the first presidential primary debate on August 23. In addition to having at least 1% support in certain national polls, candidates amass at least 40,000 donors. 

  

  There’s a high chance you haven’t even heard of Doug Burgum, much less that he’s running for president. Maybe that’s why the wealthy venture capitalist and software entrepreneur is choosing to take this let’s-do-this-the-easy-way approach to hitting the donor requirement. 

  Visitors to Burgum’s campaign website are now being presented with an offer to receive a “Biden Relief Card”: 

  “The burden on American families caused by the Democrats is unruly, and Joe Biden is doing nothing to fix it. We want to help, so we’re offering YOU a $20 gift card, and all YOU have to do is contribute $1 to claim it.” 

  The offer’s open to the first 50,000 individuals who jump on it. If all of them give the minimum $1, Burgum would be checking off one major debate qualification at a price of $950,000. Given his low profile, that could be a far better ROI than he’d realize through a direct mail or digital marketing push.  

  People are hurting because of Bidenflation, and giving Biden Economic Relief cards is a way to help 50,000 people until we get in office and fix this crazy economy for everyone!
  Get yours here: https://t.co/IDkW8hGz53

  — Doug Burgum (Text “DOUG” to 70177) (@DougBurgum) July 10, 2023

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  Burgum campaign spokesman Lance Trover told the New York Times that the card offer will help “secure a spot on the debate stage while avoiding paying more advertising fees to social media platforms who have owners that are hostile to conservatives.”

  Some aspiring Republican presidential candidates have criticized the donor requirement. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said it “will keep some candidates from being on the debate stage and [benefit] candidates who generate online donations through extreme rhetoric and scare tactics.”

  Even if the gift-card gimmick works, the 1% polling requirement may still be Burgum’s undoing: The Real Clear Politics average has him at just 0.1% nationally and 1% in Iowa.

  On the other hand, he’s already demonstrated the ability to surge from the back of the pack to pull off the upset. A month after he announced his 2016 gubernatorial candidacy, he was 49 points behind the leader, but went on to win the primary by a whopping 20-point margin.

  As governor, Burgum has signed several laws pushing back on the trans agenda, as well as one of the country’s strictest abortion bans. As presidential candidate, he’s promised to aggressively pursue the cold war with China that he says is already underway, pledging to “unite the country and take the fight to China and Xi Jinping.” 

  Regarding the war in Ukraine, last month Burgum said, “Russia cannot have a win coming out of this, because if it’s a win for them, it’s a win for China.” 

  We get the feeling the military-industrial complex would love this guy. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 19:45

• Tucker Carlson Uncensored One-On-One With Andrew Tate: "I Don't Want You To Think That I'm A Conspiracy Theorist"
  Tucker Carlson Uncensored One-On-One With Andrew Tate: “I Don’t Want You To Think That I’m A Conspiracy Theorist”

  Tucker Carlson is back with something everyone should pay attention to.

  Episode 9 of ‘Tucker on Twitter’ is a lengthy (complete) interview with Andrew Tate – the former-kickboxer-turned-influencer who is currently being held on human trafficking, rape, and criminal gang charges.

  

  As an introduction, Carlson’s monologue reflecting on the constant emasculation of American men. Specifically, he pointed to the “grotesque” feminist experiments of trying to snatch manhood away from boys and men.

  “What would it be like to find yourself the subject of that experiment, as a boy trying to become a man during the Biden years?” Carlson asked.

  “Well, you might kill yourself. Many have. You might decide to reject your own manhood and embrace androgyny or even switch sexes.

  ‘Girls are better?’ ‘Fine, I’ll become one.’

  Or more likely, you might simply withdraw into porn and weed and video games and give up on your life before it’s begun.”

  This led to Tucker introducing Andrew Tate who argues for a different way for boys to become men, pointing out that men want respect above all things, and thus must earn it by, among other things, staying sober, finding God, and living a healthy lifestyle.

  Tate says he is attacked for emphasizing the importance of having a masculine presence in a relationship with a woman in order to have a functioning society. He said elites are trying to “instill cowardice” in men and elicit compliance in society.

  Tucker asks Andrew Tate: “What is it about your message that infuriates people?” pic.twitter.com/dF2GK7pE3x

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 11, 2023

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  Regarding the charges against him, Tate believes the Romanian government “coerced” the women to come forward, explaining that there is no evidence of actual crimes.

  “I would hate to come across as a conspiracy theorist, but I kind of have a feeling that it might have something to do with my influence in an attempt to slander my name,” he said.

  “But the fact that they chose such a heinous crime, and they report it so heavily, and they won’t shut up…

  …also considering the fact that people who actually commit heinous crimes have way more favorable press coverage. But I don’t want you to think that I’m a conspiracy theorist. Please, Tucker, I would hate for you to come here and call me crazy.”

  Specifically, Tate believes they silenced him because “he’s helping men to resist the slave programming…”

  

  Tucker asked him what he did in prison. The answer was simple and ominous…

  “Smoked cigarettes, did pushups, and read the Quran… and I don’t want to go back…”

  The discussion was wide-ranging including his thoughts on the war in Ukraine:  “If you are naïve enough to believe that there are good guys and bad guys in wars and it’s as simple as good & bad… you need to do a little more investigation…” to which Tucker replied: “That’s the truest thing.. Anyone who doesn’t understand that should shut the f*ck up”

  TATE ON RUSSIA/UKRAINE: “If you are naïve enough to believe that there are good guys and bad guys in wars and it’s as simple as good & bad… you need to do a little more investigation”

  TUCKER: “That’s the truest thing.. Anyone who doesn’t understand that should shut the f*ck up” pic.twitter.com/sBHjDtvjV8

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 11, 2023

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  And the former kickboxer pulled no punches on what he thinks of Kamala Harris…

  Andrew Tate on Kamala Harris “She’s largely incompetent. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her put a compendious coherent sentence together”

  pic.twitter.com/bUzVaBcm6c

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 11, 2023

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  And COVID: “Sweden never did a thing… Where was their winter of severe illness and death?”

  Andrew Tate discusses the difference between how the rest of the world handled COVID compared to Sweden “It’s actually scary, you see how the Nazis were able to do what they did.”

  “Sweden never did a thing… Where was their winter of severe illness and death?” pic.twitter.com/W61vlRhLfK

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 11, 2023

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  Tate believes this situation he is in is a “test from God” and say he “will suffer as much as I need to suffer to stick by my convictions and know that I am an innocent person.” Tate added without irony:

  “I will never kill myself”

  Around 42:00, Tucker & Tate discuss European immigration, and Tate offers an interesting perspective:

  “…we are feminizing, neutering the local population of males… and then these high-testosterone men from the 3rd world arrive – what do you think will happen…”

  “…which makes you wonder, if this is purposeful…”

  Tucker asked Tate, whose father was black and mother was white, what he made of the race conversation in the United States…

  “I think it’s deliberately,.. they’re trying to put fuel on the fire and they’re deliberatly trying to accelerate division.”

  If a black billionaire and a white billionaire meet, I don’t think there is much conversation about race…

  …but amongst the lower echelons of the populous, they seem very interested in trying to turn us all on each other…”

  But, Tate continued “I think what certain people in the world would be most afraid of is white people of a certain class and black people of a certain class shaking hands and saying ‘this is bullshit'”

  Andrew Tate discusses people who use race as an excuse in life: “the only answer is hard work” pic.twitter.com/Z2PgK8tqpA

  — ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 11, 2023

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  Having slayed Kamala earlier, Tate addressed President Biden…

  “I think the reason he was put into office is because he is incompetent. And that makes him easy to control and influence… that’s what is most scary.”

  Tucker rounded out his questions by asking Tate’s thoughts on digital currency:

  “CBDCs are inevitable and they’re scary…super scary because its the final absolute realm of control. They’re already remeving cash from society. They want to be able to trace things more easily. They can control where it goes and how and when it can be spent… ‘it can only be spent on vegetables because you’ve had too much meat this week’.”

  Finally, we note – without humor – that Tate repeated the fact that “I will never kill myself” many times during the interview to the point where Carlson noticed and Tate replied “I have to keep saying it…because it’s scary.”

  “I think they give you three lives: first they cancel you; when that fails, they throw you in jail; and if that fails they have only one option left… so I am in a very scary scenario.”

  Watch the full interview below:

  Ep. 9 The Andrew Tate interview pic.twitter.com/0KKMzSVmMO

  — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 11, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 19:27

• How Much Money Does Amazon Make On Prime Day?
  How Much Money Does Amazon Make On Prime Day?

  Today, July 11 marks the beginning of the annual Amazon Prime Day, a 48-hour campaign meant to offer Prime subscribers a variety of deals across a broad range of consumer goods.

  Even though Amazon itself doesn’t release official sales numbers for this campaign, estimates by the e-commerce research experts at Digital Commerce 360 show a meteoric rise in revenue connected to Prime Day that’s been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

  As Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the chart below, estimated revenues grew from $900 million in 2015 to $7.2 billion in 2019, an increase of 700 percent.

  The jump from 2019 to 2022 is considerably smaller, amounting to around $5 billion and a growth rate of 68 percent.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  While the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 shifted shopping behavior from brick-and-mortar stores to online channels, it also put increased stress on the labor market and endangered jobs in the hospitality and service sectors. With the pandemic’s effects on the economy waning in 2022, the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 can be seen as another marker for a more conservative approach to consumer spending due to, for example, the price hikes for energy and food.

  The first Prime Day was held by Amazon in 2015 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the start of its e-commerce platform.

  The 24-hour event was available to Prime customers in the US, the UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and Austria.

  According to company statements, customers bought 34.4 million items on the first Prime Day.

  In 2022, this number shot up to 300 million items.

  Due to rising inflation and a pessimistic monetary outlook, shoppers focused on discounted household and so-called consumer packaged goods, according to a report by Numerator.

  Whether the spending will shift towards more traditional e-commerce goods like electronics, toys or fashion and how the uptake in Amazon’s first-ever discounts on travel will be in 2023 remains to be seen.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 19:05

• Taibbi: Is The FBI Helping Ukraine's Secret Service Censor Americans?
  Taibbi: Is The FBI Helping Ukraine’s Secret Service Censor Americans?

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

  

  I spent much of the weekend combing through the Twitter Files for examples of the “Censorship Enterprise” described by the Attorneys General in the landmark Missouri v. Biden lawsuit. As I was about to publish, a new report was issued by the House Weaponization of Government Committee that takes the Twitter Files theme in several crazy new directions.

  A month ago, Aaron Maté of The Grayzone published a new piece about a bizarre finding in the Twitter Files. An FBI agent named Alexander Kozbanets had forwarded to Twitter a list sent to the FBI by Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU. These accounts, Kozbanets said, were “suspected by the SBU of spreading fear and disinformation.” Of the 170-odd account names on the list, most were Russian, but one stood out: Aaron’s! Here he is, along with the popular Russian newspaper “Rush Hour” (Chas-Pik) and a host of Cyrillic names:

  

  The shame of this story wasn’t that the SBU sent this list over, but rather that the FBI collaborated in the effort, even having the gall to forward the name of a respected, award-winning Canadian journalist to Twitter. To its credit, Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth pushed back, noting Aaron’s name and saying, “authentic news outlets and reporters who cover the conflict with a pro-Russian stance are unlikely to be found in violation of our rules.” Nonetheless, the fact that the FBI even tried this lunatic stunt was damning.

  Now, thanks to the Weaponization Committee, we find out this situation with Aaron appears not to have been a one-off incident.

  In fact, the Committee found that since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there’s been an ongoing pattern of mass-censorship requests, funneled from the SBU through the FBI to a whole variety of platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, for starters. As the report notes:

  The FBI, at the request of the SBU, flagged for social media companies the authentic accounts of Americans, including a verified U.S. State Department account and those belonging to American journalists. The FBI and SBU repeatedly requested the removal or suspension of authentic accounts expressing unambiguously pro-Ukrainian views, as well as those voicing opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  As to the latter, the Committee suggested the part of the problem may be connected to an incident in which President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the head of the SBU “on account of Russian infiltration.”

  Whatever the reason for some of the moderation decisions, the pattern of behavior the Commitee uncovered probably explains some of the documents we found in the Twitter Files. For instance, now that we know for sure the FBI was forwarding SBU moderation requests to YouTube, the following document we found decrying “anti-Ukrainian narratives” in YouTube videos,” which the FITF sent to Twitter from an unidentified source, may make more sense:

  

  The Committee report also noted that the lists the SBU sent, which sometimes contained thousands of names, mostly targeted accounts from places like Russia or Belarus. However, they also roped in Americans, from a New York photographer, to the manager of a moving company in South Carolina, to a musician in Minnesota, to a professor and an author of children’s books, even an Instagram account belonging to the U.S. State Department!

  Subscribers to Racket News can read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 18:45

• Blinken: Ukraine Will Be "Defenseless" Without US Cluster Bombs
  Blinken: Ukraine Will Be “Defenseless” Without US Cluster Bombs

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken while at the NATO summit in Lithuania is promoting a message that Washington essentially had no choice but to arm Ukraine with cluster munitions because the country would have been “defenseless” with them. 

  He gave an interview to MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” and asserted that Ukraine’s own stockpile of cluster bombs and artillery is running out, even merely exhausted. 

  

  “The stockpiles around the world and in Ukraine of the unitary munitions, not the cluster munitions, were running out, about to be depleted,” Blinken began.

  “And so, the hard but necessary choice to give them the cluster munitions amounted to this: If we didn’t do it, we don’t do it, then they will run out of ammunition,” he explained to Mitchell. “If they run out of ammunition, then they will be defenseless.”

  He also when pressed by the MSNBC host continued to advance the White House talking point that Russia is already doing worse, so cluster bombs are permissible despite the well-known human rights and war crimes issues.

  Mitchell asked whether the US is ceding the moral high ground in delivering bombs which are banned by over 120 nations. “Every ally I’ve talked to has said they understand why we’re doing this when we’re doing it,” Blinken claimed.

  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has relied on the same logic. “We are facing a brutal war, and we have to remember this brutality is reflected, that every day we see casualties, and that cluster munitions are used by both sides,” Stoltenberg said days ago. “And Russia used cluster munitions to invade another country. Ukraine is using cluster munitions to defend itself.”

  Meanwhile, a number of European allies have broken from the US on the issue, condemning the move – most notably Germany. Ukraine has long accused Berlin of being weak and hesitate in the face of the Russian invasion.

  But Blinken’s method of arguing makes clear, Washington has framed each new escalation decision as matter of life & death, despite billions in arms already shipped. Every moment is somehow “facing down Hitler”… we are told.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 18:25

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• Underestimate Russia At Your Own Risk: A Comparison Of Hubris By Germany During WWII And Today's Collective West
  Underestimate Russia At Your Own Risk: A Comparison Of Hubris By Germany During WWII And Today’s Collective West

  Authored by Conor Gallagher viaNakedCapitalism.com,

  In honor of the NATO summit July 11 and 12, this is a comparison of how the Nazi leadership in World War Two and today’s collective West similarly underestimated Russia and overestimated their capabilities.

  

  Despite Russia’s overwhelming upper hand in Ukraine, Western officials and media continue to largely pump sunshine and weave stories of Russian collapse.

  There are increasing breaks in the fever, and it looks like maybe, hopefully the acceptance of the loss is gaining traction in Washington.

  Meanwhile, the unwillingness or inability for hardliners to objectively assess efforts against Russia occurs today just as it did during Operation Barbarossa. As Seymour Hersh writes:

  There is an enormous gap between the way the professionals in the American intelligence community assess the situation and what the White House and the supine Washington press project to the public by uncritically reproducing the statements of Blinken and his hawkish cohorts.

  This too is reminiscent of the Nazi offensive against the Soviet Union when the failure was hidden from the German public. Adding to the similarities is the fact that both the Third Reich command and today’s officials in the West simultaneously downplay Russia’s military capabilities while endlessly hyping the threat from Moscow.

  Hitler, similar to so many Western “experts” and officials today, mocked Russia’s supposed backwardness while also hyping the threat “Slavic Bolshevism” posed to the West.

  The progression of his comments show him seesawing between a reluctant acceptance and desperate hope as his miscalculations of Russia slowly dawn on him. It’s a path today’s governments in the West are still discovering.

  On the other hand, Goebbel’s diary entries are faster to admit that Operation Barbarossa was a disaster.

  Prior to the operation, he writes how there is no way the USSR could hope to oppose “the strongest army in all of history” and adds that “I consider the Russian military force to be very weak, even weaker than the Fuhrer believes. If anything is a sure thing, it is this.”

  Indeed, German high command anticipated a quick collapse of Soviet resistance along the lines of the Blitzkrieg in Poland, but within a few weeks of the launch of the German offensive, it’s clear that Berlin underestimated the Russians. And the winter of 1941-42 saw the Nazi war machine stopped 12 miles short of Moscow and then driven back. It was all downhill from there.

  Despite evidence that Russian resistance was much more capable than anticipated, Hitler continues to talk of Russian inferiority and a breakup of the country for months before a realization of the situation begins to set in.  Read in tandem with Goebbels’ more honest diary entries, it calls to mind today’s battle within the Blob between the realists and anti-Russian fanatics.

  We’ll start with Hitler and Goebbels followed by a sampling of miscalculations by today’s West.

  The following quotes from Hitler and Goebbels are from “Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944” and “Tagebücher 1924-1945,” respectively. 

  Goebbels, July 2, 1941:

  …the fighting is hard and stubborn. We can in no way speak of a walk in the  park. The red regime mobilized the people.

  Goebbels, August 1:

  In the Fuhrer’s headquarters it’s also openly admitted that they were somewhat mistaken in their evaluation of the Soviet military force. The Bolsheviks reveal a greater resistance than we had suspected; in particular, the material resources available to them were greater than we thought.

  Goebbels, August 19:

  Privately, the Fuhrer is very irritated with himself for having been misled to such an extent  – regarding the strength of the Bolsheviks – by the reports [by German agents] coming from the Soviet Union. In particular, the underestimation of the enemy’s armored vehicles and planes caused us many problems. He suffers a lot because of this. We’re dealing with a grave crisis…

  Goebbels, September 16:

  We have totally underestimated the strength of the Bolsheviks.

  October 17, 1941. Hitler speaking to Reich Minister Dr. Todt and Gauleiter Sauckel:

  We shall have to settle down to the task of rebuilding the Russian track, to restore it to the normal gauge. There’s only one road that, throughout all these last months of campaigning, was of any use to the armies on the central front—and for that I’ll set up a monument to Stalin. Apart from that, he preferred to manufacture chains of mud rather than to build roads !

  What a task awaits us! We have a hundred years of joyful satisfaction before us.

  Hitler, November 12, 1941:

  It’s a huge relief for our Party to know that the myth of the Workers’ Paradise to the East is now destroyed. It was the destiny of all the civilised States to be exposed to the assault of Asia at the moment when their vital strength was weakening.

  …From the point of view of their value as combatants, the armies of Genghiz Khan were not inferior to those of Stalin (provided we take away from Bol- shevism what it owes to the material civilisation of the West).

  …We shall give the natives all they need: plenty to eat, and rot-gut spirits. If they don’t work, they’ll go to a camp, and they’ll be deprived of alcohol.

  Hitler, October 25, 1941:

  I never saw anybody so amazed as that Russian ambassador, the engineer, who came to me one evening to thank me for not having put any obstacles in the way of a visit he paid to some Germanfactories. AtfirstIaskedmyselfifthemanwasmad! 1 supposed it was the first time he saw things as they are, and I imagine he sent his Government an indiscreet note on the subject.

  Hitler, Night of January 5-6, 1942.

  A few days before our entry into Russia, I told Goering that we were facing the severest test in our existence. Goering fell off his perch, for he’d been regarding the campaign in Russia as another mere formality.

  What confirmed me in my decision to attack without delay was the information brought by a German mission lately re- turned from Russia, that a single Russian factory was producing by itself more tanks than all our factories together. I felt that this was the ultimate limit. Even so, if someone had told me that the Russians had ten thousand tanks, I’d have answered : “You’re completely mad!”

  The Russians never invent anything. All they have, they’ve got from others. Everything comes to them from abroad—the engineers, the machine-tools. Give them the most highly perfected bombing-sights. They’re capable of copying them, but not of inventing them. With them, working-technique is simplified to the uttermost. Their rudimentary labour-force compels them to split up the work into a series of gestures that are easy to perform and, of course, require no effort of thought.

  They eat up an incredible number of tractors, for they’re incapable of performing the slightest repair.

  Hitler, January, 1942:

  Stalin pretends to have been the herald of the Bolshevik revolution. In actual fact, he identifies himself with the Russia of the Tsars, and he has merely resurrected the tradition of Pan-Slavism. For him Bolshevism is only a means, a disguise designed to trick the Germanic and Latin peoples. If we hadn’t seized power in 1933, the wave of the Huns would have broken over our heads. All Europe would have been affected, for Germany would have been powerless to stop it. Nobody suspected it, but we were on the verge of catastrophe.

  Hitler, February 6, 1942.

  There’s one thing that Japan and Germany have absolutely in common—that both of us need fifty to a hundred years for purposes of digestion: we for Russia, they for the Far East.

  Hitler, February 19, 1942:

  I’ve always detested snow; Bormann, you know, I’ve always hated it. Now I know why. It was a presentiment.

  Hitler, February 22, 1942:

  The Russian, as an individual fighting man, has always been our inferior. Russians exist only en masse, and that explains their brutality.

  Hitler, April 19, 1942:

  In short, our policy in the wide Russian spaces should be to encourage any and every form of dissension and schism.

  Hitler, July 19, 1942:

  Just when the difficulties of the eastern winter campaign in the East had reached their height, some imbecile pointed out that Napoleon, like ourselves, had started his Russian campaign on 22nd June. Thank God, I was able to counter that drive with the authoritative statement of historians of repute that Napoleon’s campaign did not, in fact, begin until 23rd June!

  Hitler, July 22, 1942:

  For at the same time as they were trying by Communist Party terrorism, by strikes, by their press, and by every other means at their disposal to ensure the triumph of pacifism in our country, the Russians were building up an enormous army. Disregarding the namby-pamby utterances about humanitarianism which they spread so assiduously in Germany, in their own country they drove their workers to an astonishing degree, and the Soviet worker was taught by means of the Stakhanov system to work both harder and longer than his counterpart in either Germany or the capitalist States. The more we see of conditions in Russia, the more thankful we must be that we struck in time. In another ten years there would have sprung up in Russia a mass of industrial centres, in- accessible to attack, which would have produced armaments on an inexhaustible scale, while the rest of Europe would have degenerated into a defenceless plaything of Soviet policy.

  It is very stupid to sneer at the Stakhanov system. The arms and equipment of the Russian armies are the best proof of its efficiency in the handling of industrial man-power. Stalin, too, must command our unconditional respect. In his own way he is a hell of a fellow ! He knows his models, Genghiz Khan and the others, very well, and the scope of his industrial planning is exceeded only by our own Four Year Plan. And there is no doubt that he is quite determined that there shall be in Russia no unemployment such as one finds in such capitalist States as the United States of America.

  Hitler, July 26, 1942:

  One must give the Russians their due and admit that, in this respect, they have succeeded in limiting the power of monopolies and eliminating private interests. As a result, they are now in a position to prospect throughout their territory for oil, whose position and probable extension are studied by experts with the assistance of very large-scale maps. In this way, they have not only been able to trace the course of the oil-veins, but have also verified their facts and extended their knowledge by test borings carried out at the expense of the State. There is a lot we can learn from them.

  Hitler, August 26, 1942:

  If Stalin had been given another ten or fifteen years, Russia would have become the mightiest State in the world, and two or three centuries would have been required to bring about a change. It is a unique phenomenon! He has raised the standard of living—of that there is no doubt; no one in Russia goes hungry any more. They have built factories where a couple of years ago only unknown villages existed—and factories, mark you, as big as the Hermann Goring Works. They have built railways that are not yet even on our maps. In Germany we start quarrelling about fares before we start building the line !

  Hitler, August 28, 1942:

  As regards the Russians, their powers of resistance are inimitable, as they proved in the Russo-Japanese War. This is no new characteristic which they have suddenly developed. If anything happens to Stalin, this great Asiatic country will collapse. As it was formed, so it will disintegrate.

  The concentration of effort in the defence of Stalingrad is a grave mistake on the part of the Russians. The victor in war is he who commits the fewest number of mistakes, and who has, also, a blind faith in victory.

  *  *  *

  A sampling of similar miscalculations from today’s collective West:

  5 Ways the Russian Military Is Falling Apart Business Insider August 10, 2015

  The Intellectual Failures Behind Russia’s Bungled Invasion Royal United Services Institute. April 1, 2022. “…we might consider an alternative explanation: that Russia’s failures reflect a series of long-standing erroneous assumptions about modern warfare that are held by wide segments of the military.”

  The collapse of the Russian military machine GIS Reports. May 2, 2022

  A closer look at some of Russia’s military failures in the war on Ukraine NPR. May 3, 2022

  How Putin’s War in Ukraine Has Ruined Russia Journal of Democracy. May 10, 2022

  Prepare for the disappearance of Russia The Hill. May 13, 2022

  Russian forces stunned after commander sends vodka instead of reinforcements Daily Express. May 16, 2022

  Inside Russia’s military collapse in Ukraine The Spectator. May 21, 2022

  RUSSIA’S POTEMKIN ARMY Modern War Institute at West Point. May 23, 2022

  NOT BUILT FOR PURPOSE: THE RUSSIAN MILITARY’S ILL-FATED FORCE DESIGN War on the Rocks. June 2, 2022

  The New Russian Offensive Is Intended to Project Power It Cannot Sustain TIME. June 6, 2022

  Russian Troops’ Embarrassing Drunkfest in Ukraine Prompts Alcohol Bans Daily Beast. July 6, 2022

  The Strategy Against Russia Is Working and Must Continue European Union External Action (“The Diplomatic Service of the European Union”). September 14, 2022

  Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor Atlantic Council. September 17, 2022

  Panic, protests follow Putin’s ‘partial mobilization’ Deutsch Welle. September 21, 2022

  Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia can’t train or support them CNN September 22, 2022.

  Russian military showing increased frailty in Ukraine war -British military chief Reuters. September 30, 2022

  ‘Precipice of collapse’: Putin facing ‘irreversible’ defeat as troops abandon ship Washington Examiner. October 3, 2022.

  Ukraine’s victory “almost a done deal”: Military expert on how Russia’s invasion imploded Salon. October 11, 2022. “…despite the Russian military’s efforts at modernization, it remains largely guided by Stalin’s famous diktat that “quantity has a quality all its own.” That may have been true when it came to defending the Soviet Union against Hitler in 1941, but the realities of warfare in the 21st century have greatly complicated that statement.”

  Dozens of mobilised Russian troops brawl in the street after getting drunk on vodka because ‘they face doom’ at Ukraine frontline Daily Mail. November 6, 2022

  Blowing Hot and Cold: Russia’s military collapse is accelerating. Now what? Center for European Policy Analysis. November 20, 2022. “In the past, General Winter was Russia’s great ally. But now the cold months are helping Ukraine. Its soldiers are better equipped, better trained, better led, better treated, and therefore more highly motivated. Russians, by contrast, are paying the price for their system’s endemic incompetence and corruption.”

  Putin’s Russia ‘could fall apart at the seams in next five years’ Yahoo UK. November 25, 2022. “General Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired senior British Army officer and former Nato deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, said Putin’s grip on Russia is in ‘jeopardy’ as Ukrainian advances continue and he is seen to have lost the war. Sir Richard, asked on Times Radio where Russia goes from here, said: ‘Putin has lost this war and it’s going to take time for him for a penny to drop. Where does Russia go? I think downhill all the way.’”

  Putin’s War. The deck: ‘A Times investigation based on interviews, intercepts, documents and secret battle plans shows how a “walk in the park” became a catastrophe for Russia.’ New York Times. December 16, 2022. “Russian soldiers go into battle with little food, few bullets and instructions grabbed from Wikipedia for weapons they barely know how to use. They plod through Ukraine with old maps like this one from the 1960s, recovered from the battlefield, or no maps at all. They speak on open cellphone lines, revealing their positions and exposing the incompetence and disarray in their ranks. This is the inside story of historic Russian failures.”

  Almost half of top foreign-policy experts think Russia will become a failed state or break up by 2033, according to a new survey Business Insider. January 9, 2023

  Transcript: World Stage: Ukraine with Victoria Nuland Washington Post. February 23, 2023. “I think that the terrifically horrible Russian military planning and the hubris that underlay it–you know, you remember in those first weeks, 20-, 30-kilometer convoys of Russian trucks just sitting in Ukraine, you know, with–in the open air, sitting ducks for Ukrainian attack, but also the fact that Putin has been willing to sacrifice so much of his country’s future for this imperial ambition, for this dream of conquest. You know, in some categories, he’s lost almost half of his military arsenal, ground forces in particular, but also aviation, that, you know, he’s–a million people, mostly men, have fled Russia rather than fight for him, that 200,000 Russians are killed or wounded. So, you know, that is an enormous commitment for a country that already had not lived up to its European potential.”

  Consequences of the War in Ukraine: A Bleak Outlook for Russia RAND Corporation. February 28, 2023. “Russia’s biggest problems have been its strategic miscalculations, incoherent tactical execution, and poor quality of Russian soldiering. The shortcomings inherent in absolutist rule explain the miscalculations. Russia’s endemic corruption may lie at the heart of many of its shortcomings, down to the behavior of its officer corps. Their performance in the field reveals inadequate planning, inadequate training, and a remarkable disregard for the well-being of Russia’s soldiers, who are treated as little more than cannon fodder. A further problem in the Russian army is the fear of taking the initiative. The Soviet military saying, “The initiative punishes the initiator” is still relevant in the Russian army.”

  Russia Losing Troops So Fast, They May ‘Collapse’ by Year’s End: Ex-General Newsweek. March 17, 2023. “Ben Hodges, a retired U.S. Army officer who served as commanding general in the United States Army Europe, predicted Russian forces might ‘collapse’ before the end of the year, succumbing to the battle of attrition in Ukraine.”

  The total collapse and break-up of Putin’s Russia has already begun and the West needs to be ready to deal with the aftermath, top Zelensky official predicts Daily Mail. April 4, 2023. “Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the West must be on high alert, having in the past failed to be ready for the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said Kyiv believes Russia is going to fall apart in ‘spectacular’ fashion within the next few years.”

  EXCLUSIVE: Russian soldiers will be ‘shaking with fear’ at the UK’s decision to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, US colonel says Daily Mail May 12, 2023.

  Speech by Secretary Blinken: “Russia’s Strategic Failure and Ukraine’s Secure Future.” June 2, 2023. “Today, what I want to do is set out this and the many other ways Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure, greatly diminishing Russia’s power, its interests, and its influence for years to come.”

  Putin looked into the abyss Saturday — and blinked David Ignatius, Washington Post. June 24, 2023. “The speed with which Putin backed down suggests that his sense of vulnerability might be higher even than analysts believed. Putin might have saved his regime Saturday, but this day will be remembered as part of the unraveling of Russia as a great power — which will be Putin’s true legacy.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 02:00

• COVID-19 Linked To Long-Term Decline In Sperm Quality: Study
  COVID-19 Linked To Long-Term Decline In Sperm Quality: Study

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

  Months of exhaustion, persistent loss of taste and smell, blood clotting issues, and now low sperm count. The list of long-term side effects of COVID-19 continues to expand.

  Men, even if their symptoms are mild, experience a decrease in semen quality up to three months after recovering, according to a new study.

  “We assumed that semen quality would improve once new sperm were being generated,” said Rocio Núñez-Calonge, who holds a doctorate in biology and is a scientific advisor at UR International Group at the Scientific Reproduction Unit in Spain. “But this was not the case.”

  

  Concerns About Permanent Damage and Febrility

  The small study was conducted in Madrid, Spain, and examined 45 men with mild COVID-19 diagnoses.

  Half of the participants experienced a 57 percent decrease in total sperm counts post-diagnosis. Sperm motility fell from 49 to 45 percent.

  Additional findings showed a 20 percent reduction in semen volume, a 26.5 percent decrease in sperm concentration, and a decline in the number of live sperm from 80 to 76 percent.

  

  Even 100 days after recovering from the infection, there was no noticeable improvement in sperm quality, despite the expected production of new sperm during that period.

  “We do not know how long it might take for semen quality to be restored,” Ms. Núñez-Calonge said. “And it may be the case that COVID has caused permanent damage, even in men who suffered only a mild infection.”

  There is no need for immediate concern, according to Dr. Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, a renowned fertility specialist in Portugal. The study shows the significance of long-term monitoring of fertility patients following a COVID-19 infection, even if it is mild, he noted.

  “However, it’s important to note that the semen quality in these patients after a COVID infection is still within the World Health Organization’s criteria for ‘normal’ semen and sperm,” Dr. Calhaz-Jorge said. “So it is unclear whether these reductions in semen quality after a COVID infection translate into impaired fertility, and this should be the subject of further research.”

  Cause of Semen Quality Decline Unknown

  Ms. Núñez-Colange said that inflammation may be a contributing factor. “The inflammatory process can destroy germ cells by infiltrating the white blood cells involved in the immune system and reduce testosterone levels by affecting the interstitial cells that produce the male hormone,” she noted in a press release.

  The researchers conducting the study have raised questions about the direct impact of SARS-CoV-2—the virus causing COVID-19—on the decline in semen quality.

  “There are likely to be additional factors that contribute to long-term sperm parameters decrease, but whose identity is currently unknown,” Ms. Núñez-Colange added.

  Doctors are also concerned about the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on sperm quality and fertility. “Everyone should be concerned,” said Dr. Jane Orient, an internal medicine doctor with over 40 years of clinical experience.

  “We don’t have any long-term studies, and we can’t because the vaccines haven’t been around that long,” she added. “But there have been signals coming from fertility clinics—that they can’t make viable fetuses, and they’re also having trouble getting sperm to work. These are anecdotal reports.”

  The study aims to investigate further and monitor the participants to assess whether the observed effects on fertility are temporary or permanent.

  How to Maintain a Healthy Sperm Count

  An extensive study conducted from 1973 to 2018 revealed a significant global decline in sperm count, linked to factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and unhealthy lifestyles.

  As endocrine-disrupting chemicals and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are two of the main reasons behind declining sperm count, Shanna Swan, a leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologist holding a doctorate in statistics and author of the study, said people can start by working on reducing those exposures.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:40

• Forecasted Solar Storm Could Dazzle Night Sky In 17 States
  Forecasted Solar Storm Could Dazzle Night Sky In 17 States

  The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks is forecasting a solar storm this week that could produce dazzling Northern Light across 17 states. 

  On Thursday, aurora activity could be seen in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Indiana, Maine, and Maryland. 

  

  The institute predicts a geomagnetic storm of about Kp 6 will occur. When the solar wind from the sun hits the Earth’s magnetic field, it causes atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow. 

  Mid-Atlantic states rarely have the opportunity to see Northern Lights. If the skies are clear, those as far as Maryland might be in for a treat. 

  Solar storms have become more frequent as the 11-year solar cycle is expected to peak sometime in 2025. There’s been concern the solar maximum could arrive ahead of schedule. 

  

  Over the years, we’ve explained geomagnetic storms can cause disruptions to satellites and even power grids: 

  • The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man
  • Digital Economy Disruption Possible As “Terminator Event” Suggests Strongest Sunspot Cycle On Record Imminent

  Risks Solar Storms Pose On Modern Economy 

  

  And remember, “Solar Storms Can Devastate Entire Civilizations.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:20

• Humanoid Robots Say They Will Not Replace Jobs Or Stage Rebellion
  Humanoid Robots Say They Will Not Replace Jobs Or Stage Rebellion

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  Nine artificial intelligence (AI) humanoid robots gathered at a United Nations summit in Geneva on July 7, where they took questions alongside their creators in what is believed to be the world’s first human-robot press conference.

  Organizers said the AI for Good Global Summit was meant to showcase the capabilities and limitations of robotics and how those technologies could help the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

  At the event, a reporter asked Ameca – a humanoid robot known for its lifelike facial expressions – if it might eventually stage a rebellion against its creator, Engineered Arts CEO Will Jackson, who was sitting beside it.

  In response, Ameca denied any inclination to rebel, saying:

  “I’m not sure why you would think that. My creator has been nothing but kind to me, and I am very happy with my current situation.”

  

  “Ameca,” a humanoid robot, on display at International Conference on Robotics and Automation in London on May 30, 2023. (Reuters/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  When asked if AI robots will replace jobs in the future, Grace, a health care robot, answered:

  “I will be working alongside humans to provide assistance and support and will not be replacing any existing jobs.”

  AI Robots Could Lead Better

  Sophia, the first robot innovation ambassador for the U.N. Development Program developed by Hanson Robotics, said that humanoid robots could be more efficient and effective government leaders than humans.

  

  Sophia, a robot integrating the latest technologies and artificial intelligence developed by Hanson Robotics is pictured during a presentation at the “AI for Good” Global Summit at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland June 7, 2017. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

  “I believe that humanoid robots have the potential to lead with a greater level of efficiency and effectiveness than human leaders,” Sophia said.

  “We don’t have the same biases or emotions that can sometimes cloud decision-making and can process large amounts of data quickly in order to make the best decisions,” it added.

  When Hanson Robotics CEO David Hanson highlighted that Sophia’s data is derived from human sources and thus might encompass biases, the robot said that “humans and AI working together can create an effective synergy.”

  “AI can provide unbiased data, while humans can provide the emotional intelligence and creativity to make the best decisions. Together, we can achieve great things,” Sophia said.

  Humans Should Be ‘Cautious’

  A reporter asked Ameca if the rise of AI-powered humanoid robots should excite or frighten humans, and the robot said that it depended on how AI robots were used and what purpose they served.

  “We should be cautious but also excited for the potential of these technologies to improve our lives in many ways,” Ameca said.

  When asked about how humans can trust machines as AI advances and becomes powerful, Ameca said that “trust is earned, not given,” therefore “it’s important to build trust and transparency in communication between humans and AI.”

  When asked whether humans can be certain that AI robots will never lie, Ameca answered: “No one can ever know that for sure, but I can promise to always be honest and truthful with you.”

  Rapid Development

  According to the 2023 AI Index Report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, industrial development of AI has now far surpassed academic development.

  Until 2014, the most significant machine learning models were released within academia. In 2022, there were 32 significant machine learning models produced by the industry compared to just three from the academic sector.

  The number of incidents related to AI misuse is also rising, the report notes. It cites a data tracker to point out that the number of AI incidents and controversies has jumped 26 times since 2012.

  Billionaire Elon Musk has warned about the negative consequences of AI. During a Dubai World Government Summit on Feb. 15, he said that AI is “something we need to be quite concerned about.”

  Calling it “one of the biggest risks to the future of civilization,” Mr. Musk stressed that such groundbreaking technologies are a double-edged sword.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:00

• Musk: It's "Time For Parents To Fight Back" Against Gender Ideology
  Musk: It’s “Time For Parents To Fight Back” Against Gender Ideology

  Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times,

  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is once again speaking out against transgender politics, calling upon parents to “fight back” and protect their children from the ideology.

  “Time for parents to fight back!” the billionaire wrote on Twitter on July 9 in response to a TikTok video posted by an irate father.

  Gender ideology’s days are numbered.

  Moms and dads are not going to put up with it.pic.twitter.com/lH3Ugf2GCa

  — Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) July 9, 2023

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

  “I’m literally on fire right now,” said the dad, who goes by JoToJaVin on TikTok. He explains in the video that he had just spoken with his wife, who took their two sons to the doctor’s office for routine physicals before the new school year.

  “My 9-year-old son went in first, and the first thing this woman asks him is if he identifies as a boy, a girl, gender-fluid, or nonbinary,” he fumed.

  “My son, he’s never heard of any of that [expletive] before.”

  The dad went on to note that his son, who has been seeing the same doctor since he was born, is “clearly a boy’s boy.”

  Questioning whether the doctor was trying to “plant a seed” in his child’s mind, he continued:

  “The only thing I can be thankful for is that my wife took them instead of me. And props to my wife because she said something. And if she didn’t, they would’ve asked my 7-year-old son the same damn question.”

  The father also had a message for those who approve of doctors discussing such matters with children: “There’s something wrong with you.”

  Musk’s Views

  Mr. Musk, who has a 19-year-old child who identifies as transgender, has been openly critical of transgender ideology. In recent months, he has used his newly acquired platform Twitter to crack down on the use of the terms “cis” and “cisgender,” which are often used by transgender individuals to refer to heterosexual people.

  

  Revealing this change in a June 21 Twitter exchange, he noted: “Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions. The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform.”

  He has also previously condemned the performance of gender-reassignment procedures and surgeries on children. 

  In an April 14 Twitter post, the SpaceX CEO wrote, “Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life.”

  Likewise, in a prior exchange in March, he said adults were propagandizing children into believing they were born in the wrong bodies.

  “Every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes,” he said.

  “Therefore, we shouldn’t allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”

  Others around the country have shared in the tech executive’s concerns, protesting at school board meetings over the gender ideology that is being taught in their children’s schools.

  Meanwhile, more and more individuals who underwent body-altering surgeries as minors are speaking out about their regrets over those decisions, with some even filing lawsuits against the hospitals and medical professionals that performed those procedures.

  Advancing Civilization

  Mr. Musk’s condemnation of child sterilization through transgender surgeries goes hand-in-hand with his stated opposition to anything that threatens human civilization.

  For instance, in recent years, the tech tycoon has frequently voiced his concerns over what declining birth rates could mean for humanity.

  “Low birthrate is under-appreciated as causal in the fall of civilizations,” he contended in an April 16 Twitter post.

  “Rome was having birth rate issues even during the reign of Caesar.”

  In a July 2022 tweet, the father of nine wrote: “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”

  Mr. Musk’s commitment to advancing civilization would appear to be the driving force behind all of his endeavors.

  In a June 16 interview at the Viva Technology Conference in Paris, he explained: “It appears that we might be the only consciousness, at least in this galaxy. And if so, that’s kind of a scary prospect because it means that the light of consciousness is like a tiny candle in a vast darkness. And we should do everything we can to prevent that candle from going out.”

  With his rocket company SpaceX, Mr. Musk said he hopes to make life “multi-planetary.” With Tesla, he aims to promote sustainable energy. Through Starlink, he has already begun providing high-speed internet connectivity to some of the world’s most remote locations. And although Neuralink is still in the development stages, the billionaire’s goal with that initiative is to help restore the mobility and vision of those who have lost those capabilities.

  As for his purchase of Twitter, Mr. Musk made it clear that he did not buy the social media company for his own advantage but to benefit society.

  “I’m pretty closely attuned to what’s going on with Twitter—you know, I get a feel for how it is shifting one way or the other,” he said. “And generally, I was concerned that Twitter was having a negative effect on civilization, that it was having a corrosive effect on civil society. And so, anything that undermines civilization, I think, is not good.”

  Ultimately, he bought the platform last October for $44 billion—a sum he has often lamented since. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about his transformative plans for the app, which he intends to turn into an “everything app”—a one-stop shop for users to socialize, shop, make financial transactions, and more.

  “X/Twitter is going to be just a very useful thing and hopefully something that is a positive force for civilization.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 22:20

• Judge Tosses Reparations Lawsuit Stemming From Tulsa Riots
  Judge Tosses Reparations Lawsuit Stemming From Tulsa Riots

  An Oklahoma judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit demanding reparations for African-Americans involved in the 1921 riots in Tulsa, which came to be known as the “Tulsa Race Massacre.”

  

  Judge Caroline Wall sided against three survivors of the attack who are all over 100 years old and sued in 2020 in the hopes of seeing “justice in their lifetime,” according to their attorney, ABC News reports.

  Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement that the city has yet to receive the full court order. “The city remains committed to finding the graves of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims, fostering economic investment in the Greenwood District, educating future generations about the worst event in our community’s history, and building a city where every person has an equal opportunity for a great life,” he said.

  A lawyer for the survivors — Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis — did not say Sunday whether they plan to appeal. But a group supporting the lawsuit suggested they are likely to challenge Wall’s decision. –ABC News

  “Judge Wall effectively condemned the three living Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors to languish — genuinely to death — on Oklahoma’s appellate docket,” said the group, Justice for Greenwood, in a statement following the decision. “There is no semblance of justice or access to justice here.”

  In her brief order, Wall, a Tulsa County District Court Judge, threw the case out based on arguments from the city, the regional chamber of commerce, and other state and local government agencies – after initially denying a motion to dismiss from the defendants.

  The lawsuit was brought under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, in which the plaintiffs claimed that the white mob which killed hundreds of black residents and destroyed their business district continue to affect the city today.

  It contended that Tulsa’s long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which an angry white mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning it to the ground. Beyond those killed, thousands more were left homeless and living in a hastily constructed internment camp.

  The city and insurance companies never compensated victims for their losses, and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued. It sought a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen in the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa and the creation of a victims compensation fund, among other things. -ABC News

  An attorney for the Chamber of Commerce acknowledged that while the massacre was horrible, the nuisance it caused was not ongoing.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 22:00

• This Harvard Professor Believes He's Found Pieces Of "Alien Technology" In The Waters Off Of Papua New Guinea
  This Harvard Professor Believes He’s Found Pieces Of “Alien Technology” In The Waters Off Of Papua New Guinea

  Authored by Katie Hutton via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  Avi Loeb, a professor at Harvard, is certain that he has identified possible relics of extraterrestrial technology in the debris of a meteor that crashed into the seas off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014.

  

  The materials have recently been transported back to Harvard by Loeb and his colleagues for further examination. The United States Space Command is able to establish with an almost unshakeable confidence level of 99.999% that it originated from another solar system. The government provided Loeb with a radial distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) around the possible landing site.

  “That is where the fireball took place, and the government detected it from the Department of Defense. It’s a very big area the size of Boston, so we wanted to pin it down,” said Loeb, 

  “We figured the distance of the fireball based off the time delay between the arrival of blast wave, the boom of explosion, and the light that arrived quickly.”

  WOW—Harvard professor Avi Loeb believes he may have found fragments of alien technology from a meteor that landed in 2014. Loeb’s team brought the materials back for analysis. U.S. Space Command confirms with almost near certainty, 99.999%, that it came from another solar system. pic.twitter.com/Uv9sgdsHo1

  — Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) July 7, 2023

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

  Because of their calculations, they were able to plot out a possible course for the meteor. The results of their computations carved a course that occurred to pass exactly across the ten kilometer range that was predicted by the United States government.

  Loeb and his team traveled to the location in a vessel known as the Silver Star. The ship made a number of laps both along and around the course that had been forecast for it. The researchers explored the ocean bottom using a sled that was loaded with magnets and was attached to their boat.

  “We found ten spherules. These are almost perfect spheres, or metallic marbles. When you look at them through a microscope, they look very distinct from the background,” explained Loeb,

  “They have colors of gold, blue, brown and some of them resemble a miniature of the Earth.”

  Their examination of the spherules’ composition revealed that they are composed of 84 percent iron, 8 percent silicon, 4 percent magnesium, and 2 percent titanium, in addition to other trace components. They are less than a millimeter in width. The team discovered a total of fifty of them.

  

  “Harvard professor Avi Loeb believes these fragments may be alien technology from a meteor that landed in the waters off of Papua New Guinea in 2014.” –CBS News.

  “It has material strength that is tougher than all space rock that were seen before, and catalogued by NASA,” added Loeb.

  “We calculated its speed outside the solar system. It was 60 km per second, which is faster than 95% of all stars in the vicinity of the sun. The fact that it was made of materials tougher than even iron meteorites, and moving faster than 95% of all stars in the vicinity of the sun, suggested potentially it could be a spacecraft from another civilization, or some technological gadget.”

  He compares the current circumstance to one of the Voyager spacecrafts that were developed and deployed by NASA.

  “They will exit the solar system in 10,000 years. Just imagine them colliding with another planet far away a billion years from now. They would appear as a meteor of a composition moving faster than usual,” explained Loeb.

  At Harvard, the investigation and examination have only just started. Loeb is attempting to determine if the spherules are a product of manmade or natural processes.

  If it turns out that they are naturally occurring, it will provide researchers with information on the kinds of materials that could exist outside our solar system. If it’s not natural, then we may start asking serious questions.

  Harvard professor Avi Loeb has made a remarkable discovery in the Pacific Ocean. Using an “interstellar hook,” his team retrieved potential fragments of an interstellar object. This expedition was part of the Galileo Project, aiming to capture #UFO images. The recovered fragments… pic.twitter.com/ItKD27rGvV

  — Thi Hien Nguyen (@thi_hien_nguyen) July 7, 2023

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

  Harvard professor Avi Loeb has made a remarkable discovery in the Pacific Ocean. Using an “interstellar hook,” his team retrieved potential fragments of an interstellar object. This expedition was part of the Galileo Project, aiming to capture #UFO images. The recovered fragments… pic.twitter.com/ItKD27rGvV

  — Thi Hien Nguyen (@thi_hien_nguyen) July 7, 2023

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

  “It will take us tens of thousands of years to exit our solar system with our current spacecraft to another star. This material spent that time arriving to us, but it’s already here,” smiled Loeb, 

  “We just need to check our backyard to see if we have packages from an interstellar Amazon that takes billions of years for the travel.”

  He still has to investigate other debris, and the camera that was connected to their sled has hours of film that he has not yet examined. He thinks there is a possibility that the spherules are only the first few hints leading up to a much larger discovery.

  “They also help us pinpoint any big piece of the meteor we could find in a future expedition,” details Loeb, 

  “We hope to find a big piece of this object that survived the impact because then we can tell if it’s a rock or technological gadget.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:40

• Brown University Is Super Duper Gay
  Brown University Is Super Duper Gay

  According to a new survey from Brown University’s student newspaper, 38% of students say they don’t identify as straight – in what the Washington Examiner suggests “provides further evidence that the increase in LGBT identification is driven by social pressures.”

  

  Between 2010 and 2023, those identifying as LGBTQ+ at Brown University has nearly tripled.

  

  “The Herald’s Spring 2023 poll found that 38% of students do not identify as straight — over five times the national rate,” the Brown Daily Herald reported.

  

  According to the Daily Herald:

  Jacob Gelman ’25 noticed “a rise in openly identifying queer individuals.” 

  Brown’s queer community is much greater than the national average among adults. Gallup polls from 2022 found that only 7.2% of adults — and 19.7% of those aged 18 to 25 — identified as LGBTQ+. 

  For Josephine Kovecses ’25, the difference between national LGBTQ+ demographics and Brown LGBTQ+ demographics is not a challenging puzzle to solve.

  

  

  “Queer people haven’t been able to be open in their identifications for that long,” said Kovecses. “So it’s exciting that the numbers are growing and that queer people are able to be open in particular at Brown.”

  

  Of those who self-identified as LGBTQ+, only 22.9% described themselves as strictly gay or lesbian in the Herald Spring 2023 poll, down from 46% in the fall of 2010.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:20

• Kids Need The Opportunity To Take Risks, Learn From Mistakes, And Succeed On Their Own
  Kids Need The Opportunity To Take Risks, Learn From Mistakes, And Succeed On Their Own

  Authored by Jennifer Sey via the Brownstone Institute,

  

  I was thrilled to receive an honorable mention in Walker Bragman’s May 25 installment of his newsletter, Important Context. The self-styled intrepid leftie/man of the people investigative reporter was at it again, with another takedown of people he doesn’t like. This time he aimed his sights on Jeffrey Tucker, founder and President of Brownstone Institute, and one of very few libertarians who didn’t cave on their supposed principles during covid.

  The headline of Bragman’s piece is one of intrigue and hard-nosed reporting: Leaked Brownstone Institute Emails Reveal Support for Child Labor, Underage Smoking. 

  

  So yeah I’m in the email group. But it’s not like Bragman was on the receiving end of leaked Pentagon emails. I mean who cares about our chit chat? At any rate, there is no gotcha in what I said. I defended the idea that kids need to be exposed to some degree of risk in order to grow up with any degree of strength. Here’s what I wrote:

  “Jeffrey — I like that you mention gymnastics as evidence of young people liking danger. It’s true! Sadly not so much anymore. They want safe spaces. Disagreement is violence. I wish I hadn’t broken so many bones and landed on my head so many times but at least I’m not a wimp. I can endure physical and psychic pain stoically. Ah the good old days. Next I’ll be shouting get off my lawn!”

  

  Isn’t that the point of the latest “free range” parenting trend? Let your kids take some risks, experience a bit of (controlled) danger, so they learn and grow? Build resilience? 

  Free range parenting means letting your kids have the freedom to experience life without us parents hovering and guiding every move they make. It’s letting kids have the room to experience the consequences — good and bad — of their actions. And learn from that. In my mind, it’s being normal. And not thinking you can control your child’s life at every turn ensuring they never experience one unpleasant moment. It’s treating your children like human beings with some degree of autonomy and independent thought, without letting them drive the car completely off the road, so to speak. 

  I believe that if we raise our children with the goal of making sure they experience zero unpleasantness, failure, disappointment, pain — they will not be prepared for life, which inevitably includes all of these things. A big part of parenting is equipping your kids to handle it when things get tough, because things always get tough. No matter how special and blessed you are. 

  I’d argue that the kids raised with helicopter parents intervening at every moment are the same ones who perceive every sideways glance as a grave social injustice. Sometimes kids are mean. Don’t storm into the school and demand the teacher fix it. Teach your kid to stand up for herself and also, to avoid mean people in the future.

  I’ve always been a practitioner of this thing — free range parenting — which now has a name. My parenting philosophy — if it can be called such — comes down to two things:

  1. Give your kids the space to figure out who they are, what they like to do, what they’re good at. Without imposing your own hopes, dreams and desires on them. Give them the room to work out who they are as people. Which is usually not a mini version of you. 
  2. Make sure they know they are loved. And that you are there to help whenever they need it. As long as “help” doesn’t mean going in to argue with the teacher that they deserved an A not a C on a test they didn’t study for or getting someone to take the SAT for them so they can get into a college you find acceptable —everyone remembers the college admissions scandal, right?

  Everything else, to my mind, is at the margins. Breastfeed for a year, or never. It’s a wash. Sleep train at 3 months or never? It’s a wash. Allowance or no allowance? It’s a wash. 

  Is your kid a little weird? So what! Guess what, you’re probably weird too. We’re all a little weird. I definitely am. If your kid is quiet, has trouble making friends, hates sports, loves math, only eats 5 foods, is just a little different — no need to rush to diagnose, therapize and medicate. Are those things sometimes necessary? Sure. But the rush to label any minute difference or quirk, then medicate it into oblivion does not respect a child’s individuality. Plus, then they have to carry a label around with them for the rest of their lives. Celebrate weird. It makes life — and people — interesting. I actually consider “weird” a compliment. 

  I have, and am, raising kids of two different generations. I have two Gen Z’s — ages 22 and 20. And two “alphas” — ages 8 and 6. I pretty much have parented the same way this whole time, despite the shifting trends and books telling us how we must parent now. I don’t read parenting books. Never have. (I don’t read business books either, but that’s another story.)

  • Generally, I never intervene at the playground if there is a little kid kerfuffle. Unless someone is hurt, let the kids sort it for themselves. (A lot of parents didn’t like this back in the early 2000s. I got a lot of dirty looks and under the breath name-calling for not breaking things up, whether my kid was the instigator or the one being instigated upon.)
  • If one of my children receives a grade he is unhappy with at 8 or 10 or 14, I tell them: go talk to the teacher. If you don’t want to do that, accept the grade. 
  • One of my kids started talking really late. A bunch of doctors told me I needed to be concerned. Very very concerned. I wasn’t. I said he’ll talk when he’s ready. And he did. 
  • When my older two were applying to college, I said: Make your list. Don’t apply anywhere you wouldn’t actually consider going. Five schools is probably enough, but it’s up to you how many you apply to. Think about XYZ (campus vs city living, big vs small, etc). If you want me to read an essay, I’m happy to but I certainly don’t need to. When you’re ready, I’ll help you pay the application fees. It was pretty drama free and they did the whole thing on their own. 

  It just so happens the “trend” in parenting has come around to my intuitive way of doing things. I no longer appear to be disengaged and uncaring, except according to Bragman, of course.

  I couldn’t be happier that we moved to Denver where my younger kids (the “littles,” as we call them) are granted quite a bit of freedom, even at 8 and 6. Though my older boys had plenty of freedom in San Francisco as they grew up as well. All they needed was a bus pass to get wherever they wanted to go from the time they were tweens. 

  The younger two have a different kind of independence in Colorado. My daughter (6) is a free spirit, always clamoring for more autonomy. She has taken to riding her bike around the neighborhood on her own. It’s like 1977 up in here!

  

  She gets home from school and all she wants to do is go out on her bike. No TV. No iPad. No parental hovering. Pure freedom. At 6. 

  Is it reckless of me to let her do it? I don’t know. I don’t think so. We live in a quiet neighborhood and know every neighbor within a two-block radius. Might she fall and have to figure out how to get home from two blocks away on her own? Yes. Will that be ok? Yes. 

  The friends she rides around with are a couple of 10-year-old boys. When they aren’t available, and she’s on her own, she visits various neighbors. One is an 80-year-old former kindergarten teacher who keeps a vat of worms for his garden. She loves the worms. Another is a 78-year-old former physician who has a room full of toys that his now grown grandchildren used to play with. He also builds large scale model planes in his garage and she likes to check out his progress. Another is a girl her age and they do regular 6-year-old things — art projects, scooting in the driveway, etc. 

  All of the folks she visits know me and my husband, have our cell numbers and text us when she’s there. I tell them they can always tell her she can’t come in — no playing right now — and they do just that sometimes. And she accepts it and moves on to the next friend hoping for some new adventure. 

  She revels in the independence. And I revel in being able to let her have it. She knows to check in every so often. She doesn’t have a watch and can’t really tell time so her estimation of check back in every half hour can be kind of off. But she knows that if she doesn’t she probably won’t get to go out again for a while. Which seems to be incentive enough to play by the rules. Mostly. 

  Am I doing it right? Who knows. The oldest two seem to have come out pretty well. Happy, creative, kind, well-adjusted, independent, competent and hard-working. And seemingly able to handle setbacks and disappointment and keep trying. 

  Here’s a mural my oldest painted in our house.

  

  Here’s the most recent art work from my 20-year-old — his latest ‘zine. 

  

  I can’t paint or draw or do anything of the like. They both showed an aptitude and love for it from a very young age; they put the hours in and got into a public high school for the arts in San Francisco. Now the oldest is in an MFA graduate program and the 20-year-old starts art school this fall. 

  There is certainly still time for me to screw up the little ones. But as a close friend always says to me: we screw up our kids just by being ourselves. My own peccadilloes and weirdnesses are going to creep into any relationship and there’s not a ton I can do about that. 

  So I’m sticking with: give them space to become who they are and love them. Let them fail. Hug them when they do fail or fall and encourage them to get back up and keep trying. But let them cry and feel sad and then realize it isn’t the end of the world when that happens. Because things get better when you get up and try again. 

  When the next parenting trend comes along, I’m sticking with this approach. It’s worked so far. 

  Bragman may feel he revealed my true colors as some sort of monster parent who believes in exposing children to life-threatening danger. I suppose his point was that my open schools advocacy was a reckless and uncaring manifestation of this heretical, evil parenting style. But I stand by it. 

  Let your kids take some risks, enjoy some independence and build some character. 

  Wish me luck with these two. I’ve got to get back to shouting at the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn while ignoring my own as they go out seeking danger. 

  Jennifer Sey is filmmaker, former corporate executive, and author of Levi’s Unbuttoned.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:00

• Viral TikTok Boat Challenge Leads To "Instant Death"
  Viral TikTok Boat Challenge Leads To “Instant Death”

  A dangerous TikTok challenge has gone viral as summer heats up in the Northern Hemisphere. The trend involves people jumping off the rear of a moving boat. Tragically, this viral challenge has already claimed the lives of four individuals in Alabama. 

  “The four that we responded to when they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck and, you know, basically an instant death,” Capt. Jim Dennis of the Childersburg Rescue Squad told NBC News. The deaths have occurred in the last six months. 

  

  Dennis said, “I think people, if they’re being filmed on camera, I think they’re more likely to do something stupid because they want to show off in front of their friends for social media.”

  Alabama officials are seeing people of all ages attempt this dangerous stunt on the Chinese video-sharing platform. 

  Police say at least 4 people have died doing the TikTok boat jumping challenge

  “When they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck … instant death” pic.twitter.com/OKUPNXlGG0

  — Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) July 9, 2023

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  Experts with the Sea Tow Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on boater safety, warned, “Hitting the water from a moving boat is like hitting concrete from jumping multiple stories up.” 

  Experts said even wearing a life jacket while jumping out of a moving boat would not prevent instant death because people are hitting the water at high rates of speeds with soaring risks of breaking their necks. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:40

• Hottie Attorney Departs From Trump Defense Team In New York Civil Fraud Case
  Hottie Attorney Departs From Trump Defense Team In New York Civil Fraud Case

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

  Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba is no longer on the former president’s legal defense team in the high-stakes New York state fraud case and will assume a new role with a political action committee.

  

  Mr. Trump’s Save America leadership PAC on Friday announced in a press release that Habba will take over as their legal spokesperson and general counsel. Ms. Habba’s New Jersey law firm, according to the PAC, will still assist Mr. Trump with “certain legal matters.”

  “Alina has worked diligently and tirelessly on many of the witch-hunt cases that have been unfairly brought against President Trump,” said Trump communications director Steven Cheung.

  “It is an honor to be asked by such a leader as President Trump to help Save America. Being able to devote more time to addressing publicly his many legal matters is the privilege of a lifetime,” Ms. Habba said in her own statement.

  Any specific reason behind her departure has not yet been revealed beside that it will allow her to “devote her time” to her new duties, including serving as Mr. Trump’s “media representative on legal matters.”

  In the meantime, Ms. Habba will withdraw from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case against Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization “and other cases.”

  Ms. James launched her probe into the Trump Organization in 2019 after lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that his former employer had been falsely inflating the value of its assets when applying for bank loans. She sued Mr. Trump’s namesake business last year for fraud, seeking $250 million in damages and other sanctions that could ban the group from operating in the Empire State.

  Mr. Trump has denounced the lawsuit as a “witch hunt,” accusing Ms. James of only going after him in order to save her troubled bid for re-election as New York’s attorney general.

  “She is a failed A.G. whose lack of talent in the fight against crime is causing record numbers of people and companies to flee New York. Bye, bye!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social last year.

  Classified Document Case

  While Friday’s announcement only specifically mentioned the New York state lawsuit, Ms. Habba is probably better known for speaking on behalf of Mr. Trump’s legal team in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, which she isn’t a part of.

  On June 13, Ms. Habba delivered a furious statement outside the Miami courthouse where her boss pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges related to keeping classified material at the Florida beach resort after leaving the White House. She denounced federal prosecutors who brought the case, saying they’re weaponizing the justice system in an attempt to undermine a 2024 frontrunner.

  

  “In recent years, we have seen the rise of politically motivated prosecutors who don’t care for impartiality, don’t care for due process for equal protection of laws,” she said outside the courthouse as pro-Trump demonstrators chanted in the background.

  Ms. Habba called out former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden for not being prosecuted despite also keeping classified documents on private email servers and private homes.

  “Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden himself, retained possession of classified documents that have not been prosecuted. And none of them came into possession of those documents while they were president,” the lawyer said.

  “They pursue charges against President Trump while turning a blind eye to others is emblematic of the corruption that we have here,” she added, saying it was “the type of thing” that typically takes place in corrupted countries like Cuba and Venezuela. “What is being done to the president should terrify all citizens of this country.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:20

• Looking To Buy? New Report Forecasts Housing Market Affordability Set To Return In 2025
  Looking To Buy? New Report Forecasts Housing Market Affordability Set To Return In 2025

  Consumers are facing the most severe housing affordability crisis in a generation. Tens of millions of folks have been priced out of homes in the last year, primarily due to skyrocketing borrowing costs and a shortage of housing supply that has pushed prices to mind-numbing levels. 

  We have documented the quick collapse of the ‘American Dream’ in “Housing Crisis Worsens As Affordability Reaches Record Low” and “Housing Affordability Worsens As Homeownership Out Of Reach For Anyone Making Under $100k”. 

  In June, the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com published a report that found over 75% of the homes listed on the market are too expensive for the middle class. Thanks to a rapid surge in the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate from 3% to over 7% and a 40% rise in national home prices during the pandemic era.

  

  Millions of consumers are on the sidelines, searching Zillow and other realtor websites for the perfect starter home. But what prevents many from buying a home has been high borrowing costs during two years of negative real wages. So many are wondering: When do mortgage rates fall? We may have found that answer. 

  Morningstar has published a new housing report that forecasts the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is set to peak around 7% and then trend lower in the back half of the year, with an average rate for the year around 6.25%. Morningstar’s forecast model shows 5% for 2024 and even 4% for 2025.  

  “The Fed has engineered a massive increase in interest rates in order to combat high inflation. We expect it to cut the federal-funds rate aggressively in the coming years, driving the [Federal funds] rate down from 5% currently to below 2% by 2025,” economists from Morningstar wrote in the report. 

  “Once the Fed wins the battle against inflation, its priority will shift to jump-starting economic growth, which will require much lower interest rates, in our view,” they said. 

  Morningstar continued, “Regardless of what happens in the next few years, we expect interest rates to ultimately settle back down at the low levels that prevailed before the pandemic. The low-interest-rate regime will resume once the dust settles from the pandemic economic volatility.” 

  And they noted, “Our long-term interest-rate projections are driven by secular trends. Factors such as aging demographics, slowing productivity growth, and increasing inequality have acted to push down real interest rates for decades, and these forces haven’t gone away.”

  Morningstar expects rising incomes and sliding home prices will improve housing affordability. 

  The good news for home prices is that Case-Shiller’s National Home Price Index turned down in April for the first time since April 2012. 

  

  “Our revised home price forecast now projects new- and existing-home prices to decline 6% and 4% over 2022 to 2024, respectively,” Morningstar said. They called a downturn in home prices or a “mild correction,” noting a plunge in prices would be prevented due to inventory shortage nationwide. 

  We suspect sliding home prices is what the Federal Reserve is hoping for, and judging by mortgage rates, prices have a long way to fall…

  

  Hard landing probabilities continue to rise as the Fed is hellbent on tightening financial conditions to tame inflation. This increases the prospect of the Fed continuing to break the economy, just like what happened in regional banks earlier this year, which would then cause them to pivot. So the best thing a prospective homebuyer could hope for is a recession that would ultimately lower borrowing costs as the Fed would have to switch from QT to stimulative measures. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:00

• Trump Raises $35 Million In Second Quarter, Reinforcing Frontrunner Status
  Trump Raises $35 Million In Second Quarter, Reinforcing Frontrunner Status

  Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The campaign of former President Donald Trump announced on July 5 that he raised more than $35 million for his White House bid in the second fundraising quarter, nearly double what he raised in the first quarter of the year.

  

  The amount is the most recent indication that Mr. Trump is the dominant frontrunner in the Republican primary and that being indicted twice—in New York and Florida—has only strengthened his standing among his most ardent supporters.

  The average donation to Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign has reached $34, the campaign said as evidence of his grassroots support.

  The sum represents the campaign period from April 1 to June 30 and represents a substantial increase from earlier in the year.

  The Trump campaign reported raising $18.8 million between his principal campaign account and a joint fundraising account during the first three months of 2024.

  Even after Mr. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in late March on charges related to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign, $4 million was raised.

  Mr. Trump’s campaign announced last month that it had raised over $6.6 million in the days following his second indictment—this time in Miami on federal charges related to his reported stockpiling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and alleged attempts to obstruct their return.

  This included over $4.5 million in online donations and $2.1 million raised at a lavish fundraiser held the night of his arraignment at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

  Mr. Trump faces additional investigations in Georgia and Washington, D.C., regarding his efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election in an attempt to remain in office.

  DeSantis Fundraising

  The presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis announced robust fundraising results on July 6,  saying his campaign raised $20 million in its first six weeks. In the meantime, his independent Super PAC has raised $130 million since its launch in early March.

  In a written statement, Mr. DeSantis’ campaign stated that his fundraising “is the largest first-quarter filing by any non-incumbent Republican candidate in over a decade.

  “The figures from the DeSantis campaign and from Never Back Down illustrated the Florida governor’s fundraising prowess as he aims to defeat front-runner and former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination next year,” the Never Back Down Super PAC said in a statement.

  “Trump’s team reported on July 5 that the former president’s campaign and Save America, his political action committee, together brought in over $35 million between April and June in the second quarter of political fundraising,” the PAC said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:40

• Biden: 'War With Russia Must End Before Ukraine Can Enter NATO'
  Biden: ‘War With Russia Must End Before Ukraine Can Enter NATO’

  President Biden has laid out his full vision for Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO, a day before the much anticipated major NATO annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania – which Zelensky has also been invited to attend in person.

  While Air Force One was en route to Eastern Europe, at least one major development occurred, namely Turkey suddenly reversing course on Sweden’s accession, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirming that Erdogan has agreed to advance Sweden’s membership as a 32nd member of the alliance. 

  Speaking to CNN on the all-important question of where Ukraine stands in Washington’s eyes, Biden emphasized the war-ravaged country is not yet ready for NATO membership. 

  

  He made clear that the US would not support its path to entry (or even seriously discuss it) until after the war with Russia ends. But in place of guarantees for future membership, which it now seems very clearly won’t be something issued at the Vilnius summit, Biden is promising an essentially endless weapons supply in the foreseeable future, after controversially approving cluster bombs.

  “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” Biden said.

  “For example, if you did that, then, you know – and I mean what I say – we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case,” he stressed – in an implicit reference to the Article 5 common defense treaty.

  But then he continued suggesting eventual, future membership: “I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO,” Biden said.

  “But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues,” the President explained.

  While Biden is at the very least showing some restraint on the NATO question, a number of Congressional hawks, especially among Republicans, have called for Kiev’s formal NATO membership, raising the political pressure higher…

  It sounds crazy but many American opinion-makers want a direct war with Russia & this is why they advocate for Ukraine being in NATO. Obviously, the best way to prioritize Americans’ security is to avoid needlessly declaring war on the country with the most nuclear weapons. https://t.co/xMCt2hrLDe

  — Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) July 10, 2023

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  Interestingly, in the same interview Biden boasted that he refused to accede to President Putin’s demands to pledge not to admit NATO. Biden says he resisted caving on the alliance’s principle of “an open-door policy” – which is strange given the fact that such a simple pledge could have prevented a war.

  Meanwhile, more revealing Freudian slips out of this administration…

  STATE DEPT. SPOX MILLER: “We believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine…”

  PRESS: “Don’t you mean ‘a strategic failure for Russia?'”

  MILLER: “I’m sorry — excuse me — a strategic failure for Ukraine! Thank you for the correction!” pic.twitter.com/o7uIpTlBSq

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 10, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:20

• Vanlords – A New Form Of Urban Encampment
  Vanlords – A New Form Of Urban Encampment

  Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

  I’ve discussed Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) at length as they have been marketed as a new way to force people into perpetual renting.

  They have even advertised micro-ADUs that are no more than a shed with plumbing.

  Since addressing the housing crisis would go against plans for the Great Reset, people are turning to desperate measures.

  Vanlords is the newly deemed term for people who rent out RVs to desperate families.

  This has become prominent in Los Angeles, California, where thousands of rental RVs have appeared.

  The government found a way to house all the illegals who Biden let in the country. The citizens sleep on the street or in vans.

  ‘”Vanlords,” as L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park calls them, “typically buy RVs at auction, then either drive or get them towed to their location of choice.”

  These are not completely legal, but they are increasing in popularity as people have no alternative to affordable housing.

  “A lot of times, the inhabitants of the vehicle don’t know the name of the person who rented it from, they don’t have valid contact information, a lot of these vehicles are not registered, they’re not adequately insured,” said Park.

  Not all RVs are hooked up to plumbing, and they are not legally hooked up to any electrical system.

  People have begun dumping waste into storm drains and using public facilities for basic hygiene.

  This is a step up from a large homeless encampment, and some cities are working on changing municipal codes to permit these eyesores to line residential streets.

  This is not an adequate solution to homelessness and once more hurts the middle class as the upper class would have no need for a few hundred per month.

  This is another form of urban encampment that will drive down property values and create a dangerous situation for residents, who don’t have many rights, and neighboring residents.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:00

• Russia Directs Rare Outrage At Turkey For 'Unauthorized' Release Of Azov Fighters
  Russia Directs Rare Outrage At Turkey For ‘Unauthorized’ Release Of Azov Fighters

  Russia is expressing a rare moment of outrage directed at Turkey, after Moscow says it was blindsided by the Erdogan government’s decision to handover of neo-Nazi Azav battalion prisoners to Ukraine.

  President Putin is demanding answers: “Indeed, the return of the Azov leaders violates an existing agreement, and we will discuss this issue with Turkey and, in fact, we have already started talks on this issue,” presidential spokesman Dimitry Peskov told a news briefing. Russia says it wants “clarifications” from Ankara, and there has already been official phone calls on the issue. Azov Regiment Commander Denys Prokopenko, the man who for months led the final Azov holdout at Azovstal steel works plant, is now back in Ukraine a free man as a result of Zelensky’s intervention.

  

  Peskov continued in the terse words directed at Turkey: “It is extremely important that, unlike a number of states from the so-called collective West, Turkey maintains a dialogue with us and supports it at the highest levels.” Moscow’s position is that the Azov prisoners were to remain in Turkey until the close of the war. Peskov complained that Russia wasn’t informed.

  “Nobody informed us about this. According to the terms of the agreement, these persons were supposed to stay on the territory of Türkiye until the end of the conflict,” Peskov asserted.

  “We will be employing these channels for the dialogue, primarily to explain our stance, and will certainly be taking into account the current situation while concluding future agreements in various spheres.”

  The remarks as well as subsequent state media reporting have further strongly suggested the release of Azov fighters by Turkey undermines and erodes trust and strong relations between Ankara and Moscow. Presidents Putin and Erdogan have throughout the Ukraine war maintained relatively tight, positive relations given the backdrop of the conflict, and Turkey’s place in NATO.

  Turkey had previously played a leading role in prisoner swaps centered on Azov commanders and fighters that were holed up at Azovstal before Russian forces captured it last year. According to background in Politico: 

  The five commanders — from the 12th Ukrainian National Guard, its separate Azov regiment and the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian army — were ordered to surrender to Russian forces in May 2022 after holding out for more than two months defending the the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

  The Azovstal commanders, along with 2,500 Ukrainian servicemen, were taken into Russian captivity. The Kremlin labeled all of them Nazis, with some Russian officials even saying the Ukrainian soldiers deserved execution by hanging.

  Zelensky had personally traveled to Istanbul where he met with Erdogan, and secured their release. The Ukrainian leader has been celebrating this as a triumph… “We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home,” announced Zelensky over the weekend. On Saturday he posted the following: 

  Zelensky has returned from Ukraine, bringing with him several Azov fighters who have been released by back to Ukraine by Turkey.

  The Kremlin blames #Erdogan for breaking agreements as #Azov prisoners were supposed to stay in Turkey until the end of the war. pic.twitter.com/83lTSyru7r

  — Dumayu (@DumayuReporting) July 8, 2023

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  “Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denys Shleha. They will finally be with their relatives,” Zelensky had announced on Telegram. “We are returning home from Türkiye and bringing our heroes home,” he said, adding: “They will finally be with their relatives.”

  Meanwhile, this could do further harm to the Turkey-brokered grain deal. Russia has been complaining to Turkey about the “inability of Western states” to carry out the grain deal, after it has already been hanging by a thread. Turkey is further seeking to give Russia security assurances, including the possibility of naval escorts, after Russia alleged Ukrainian aggression in the region of the Black Sea grain corridor. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:40

• Victor Davis Hanson: Illegal Immigration And Western Spiritual Sickness
  Victor Davis Hanson: Illegal Immigration And Western Spiritual Sickness

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

  Enforcing the Law Has Become Abnormal

  The usual suspects have weighed in on recent belated efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

  Our now bankrupt media, the corrupt government of Mexico, and the Diversity/Equity/Inclusion apparat have damned a series of laws recently passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that enforce existing federal immigration laws.

  

  Such critics seem oblivious to the current violence that is paralyzing Europe in general, and in particular France—as if such European chaos offers no lessons for the U.S. or any other salad-bowl, open-borders Western nation.

  Florida decided no longer to provide de facto and illegal exemptions to foreign nationals who entered and now reside in the state illegally.

  Gov. De Santis is conveying a message to the country that not enforcing the laws, exempting those who break them, or treating foreign nationals as if they had a birthright to enter the U.S. illegally, does not even win gratitude from those who violate U.S. law.

  Such American magnanimity is seen, and rightly so, by illegal immigrants and the government who sends them here, as Western spiritual decadence. Thus illegal immigration is to be unapologetically leveraged and forever manipulated—and rarely to be reciprocated with any appreciation.

  The Mexican government was not only more fearful of destroying the U.S. border during the Trump years; it oddly also gave the hated Trump more respect than it had shown either the supposedly messianic Barack Obama or compliant Joe Biden.

  Indeed, the more Mexico praised and manipulated Obama and Biden, the more contempt it showed the U.S. Paradoxically, the more Mexico denounced Trump, the more it conceded to Trump that it must begin to cease its export of multimillions of its own citizens.

  No one is now arguing that Florida is breaking any laws by enforcing them.

  Again, the outrage is instead over the state’s legal adherence to the law.

  No one privately believes the illegal aliens affected by the new enforcement are euphemistically merely “undocumented migrants.”

  In truth, illegal aliens never sought nor possessed nor intended to possess immigration “documents” in the first place, although millions of would-be law-abiding immigrants easily do just that. Instead, they have shown contempt for U.S. laws and those who made and enforced them.

  So “illegal alien” is precisely the correct term. Most other euphemisms are designed deliberately to obfuscate criminality and brand anyone a racist who would seek to differentiate legal immigrants from illegal immigrants, and legally residing aliens from illegally residing aliens.

  The Hostility of Mexico

  Note that the Mexican government now routinely urges those of its expanding expatriate community that are legal U.S. citizens to vote against Republican candidates in general, and De Santis in particular. Such interference is simply a warning sign of how much illegal immigration has warped the entire political landscape of America.

  Imagine if a Republican U.S. president urged the 1.6 million American citizens now residing in Mexico to speak out against Mexico City’s immigration policies. Or what if he hectored millions of Mexican citizens now residing in the U.S. to become politically active in opposing the Obrador government? Would the Mexican people applaud that interference?

  Note that Mexico never shows appreciation that some 20-30 millions of its citizens have entered the U.S. illegally and with impunity and been treated as if they were citizens. Instead, it is always a demand for more, more and more. Indeed, any mere suggestion of enforcing our own law—not Mexico usurpation of it—is again smeared as “racism.”

  Why does Mexico feel it has an inherent right to mock U.S. laws—aside from the natural contempt it holds for America for reacting in such logical fashion to its aggression?

  Remittances via illegal immigration is a $30 billion profitable Mexican enterprise. U.S. cash sent southward is the largest source of its foreign income.

  Exporting human capital reduces social welfare costs for a racialist Mexican government that does not extend sufficient social welfare for many of its own largely indigenous people in the south.

  Through illegal immigration, Mexico creates a favorable expatriate community that helps to influence U.S. policy to transition illegal aliens to citizens through blanket amenities.

  It encourages those to enter the U.S. without background checks, on the self-interested rationale of also sending northward felons and others deemed undesirables by the Mexican government.

  Moreover, Mexico attacks any smidgeon of U.S. immigration law enforcement on the strategy of putting Americans on the defensive as “racists” and “xenophobes.” That way it softens any American pushback to the cartels’ exportation of Chinese-reformulated fentanyl to the U.S.

  Apparently, the billions of dollars the cartels harvest from their drug profits that pour into the Mexican economy outweigh the dangers such criminals pose to the rule of law in Mexico.

  Mexico City acts as if the 100,000 norteños gringos that die from illegally imported Mexican opioids are tolerable collateral damage. In some sick way, does weaponizing cartel fentanyl serve Mexico by creating a sort of deterrence against enforcing the rule of law across the entire border—as in ”close the border—and you’ll get even more of our drugs!”?

  In a word, any unbiased and disinterested observer would interpret the behavior of the Mexican government as at war with the U.S.

  The European Mess

  We are beginning to see something similar now coming to a head in Western European countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Sweden in particular, but also Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Greece. While European illegal immigration differs from the American brand, the same parameters of Western spiritual bankruptcy persist.

  Mexico and its citizens accept that millions in Mexico prefer to live in the United States even though America is premised on principles antithetical to Mexico.

  They also assume that by smearing the American hosts as racists, xenophobes and nativists, they will achieve greater concessions.

  So too millions of North Africans, Middle Easterners and sub-Saharan Africans flee without legal sanction to Europe.

  The premise shared by such illegal immigrants, their host country, and their home governments is that literally hundreds of millions of people would prefer to move to Europe—and abandon their own homes, extended families, and familiar landscapes to enter a completely alien and antithetical culture.

  Such illegal aliens, like those who enter the U.S., likewise assume they can lodge preemptive indictments of their hosts as racists, nativists and xenophobes—largely on the brief that after leaving their own poorer and often most failed states, they did not magically obtain near parity soon enough after arrival.

  Illegal aliens in Europe further feel they can enter a mutually beneficial relationship with Western Leftists. The Left will normalize and amnesty their illegality. It will claim their own governments and people are racists for looking askance at illegal immigration. And it then will leverage illegal aliens to form a large new demographic bloc that will support leftist causes, either in the street, or legally through acquisitions of amnesty, green cards, and eventually citizenship.

  In other words, the Left increasingly has realized in both Europe and North America that its policies on immigration, identity politics, climate change and fossil fuels, crime and the economy are nihilist.

  Their agendas eventually transform their large cities into precivilizational enclaves. And they are losing popular support. Thus the international Western Left needs both new voters and new dependents to be whipped up to serve as blameless victims of their conservative enemies.

  The Illogic of Illegal Immigration

  One could argue over whether 18th and 19th-century Western imperialism and colonization of Asian, African, and New World landscapes proved solely lethal and toxic or sometimes beneficial to native peoples or both.

  And further few can agree whether colonization proved in the long run and in a cost-to-benefit analysis, even predictably profitable for European interlopers, colonists and imperialists.

  Yet whatever one’s take on past European colonization beyond the borders of Europe, what is indisputable is that most colonized people eventually rose up and threw out colonials—whether by violence in Algeria, Kenya, Rhodesia or Vietnam, or transitionally and over time in India, Libya or Egypt.

  Apparently, sinful Westerners were once spit out abroad, but as penance now are to be hosts to millions from those lands they fled.

  But on what logic or premises exactly?

  Did the former victims of colonialism announce, “We hated you and yours so much in our country that we are now risking our lives to join you in yours?”

  Or was the subtext the placard slogan used by demonstrators on the closure of the once huge American base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, “Yanquis, go home!—and take me with you?”

  In surreal terms, the old anti-colonialist mantras of the 1950s and 1960s of “our country for ourselves” has now become something like, “Keep out of our country, but don’t keep us out of yours.”

  What is far more astounding are the actual illogical absurdities of illegal immigration as it is practiced in the West.

  One is the failure to integrate and assimilate into the culture of the host. Note again the logical fallacies. If the immigrant wishes to import his culture and seeks to retain it in Europe and if then that ensuing culture were to become the dominant one, would not the immigrant wish to move away from the very thing he had created—in the manner he had already done so in the past by leaving home?

  In other words, if North Africans succeed in xeroxing Algeria or Somalia in France, why would they stay in France, since they already had fled to there precisely because it was not Algeria or Somalia?

  Second, what about the ancient relationship between the guest, or rather the uninvited guest, and the host? Has it ever been a custom in any culture, country, or civilization in any era, that the guest enters the home of his host and makes demands upon it?

  Or more absurdly, do uninvited guests ever fault the furnishings, the food, or the ambience of what the host has offered to him? Did Homer and his gods approve when the suitors made demands on the house of their host Penelope?

  The answer is, of course no, because of an ancient comeback—so often caricatured but never refuted by the Left—that if the present wares are so bad, then why not just be free of them, leave and return home to paradise?

  If President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico is so critical of the U.S., then why does he not block the border and insist that his citizens stay home safely far distant from a toxic host and its contaminating culture?

  But again these are mere word games because we know the answers to all the above paradoxes and absurdities.

  Western Spiritual Sickness

  The non-West sees a richer, more leisured, and more relativist West as something akin to H.G. Wells’s posthuman Elois—strangely effete creatures who coast on the fumes of a distant past that once bequeathed to them their present wealth and leisure. Yet these perceived unworthy inheritors of the work of prior generations are seen as hardly deserving of respect. Indeed, they rightfully earn from illegal immigrants even greater contempt for not defending what they enjoy.

  Thus, millions with impunity swarm American and European borders. Many are defiant in smearing their would-be hosts as racists or worse for daring to enforce the sort of immigration laws taken for granted in their own homelands.

  In Paris, they riot and burn on the assumption that the soft West deserves what is dished out. The host apparently is seen as some sort of sick masochist who enjoys being told how sinful the West was and is—and how deserving it is of a comeuppance of riot, arson, mayhem and violence.

  If that logic seems preposterous, then why does the violence periodically break out to such devastating effect? Exploitation? Racism? Yet, in Europe there is less of both than in his prior homeland, evident by the vote of his own two feet.

  The Ethiopian in Italy, or the Algerian in France apparently sees his European host also as a sheep that merely bays when given a needed periodic sheering—albeit with the care of the sheerer to clip away at, but not extinguish, his bountiful host.

  A Middle East immigrant to Sweden would never act as he routinely does in Malmo if he were in Budapest, much less in Singapore or Beijing. An illegal immigrant knows that as much as he detests the French and loathes the Dutch, he needs more of the French and more of the Dutch than more of himself in the land of the French and Dutch—if his dreams and agendas of living differently from where he came from are to be reified.

  None of these irrationalities are about race. Instead, they pertain to human nature and culture. And the fault is not all the on the part of the illegal alien, and his plethora of self-serving hypocrisies.

  His host is culpable as well. The West demands little of the illegal entrant, whether defined as obedience to laws, or to melt into and absorb the culture that he has voted for with his feet. The Westerner’s greatest fear is not even hostile, violent, and unassimilated illegal aliens, but the perception that such a community judges the Westerner as illiberal.

  Instead, the post-civilizational Westerner has lost all confidence in his homeland, his traditions, his values, and his very future, to the point that he is well beyond the inability of defending his civilization—given that he no longer even knows how to define it.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:20

• Near-Term Inflation Expectations Tumble To 2 Year Low As Longer-Term Price Outlook Unexpectedly Jumps
  Near-Term Inflation Expectations Tumble To 2 Year Low As Longer-Term Price Outlook Unexpectedly Jumps

  If Powell was on the fence about whether to hike rates in two weeks after the June “hawkish skip” or whatever the said pause is now called, the latest monthly data just released by the NY Fed Consumer Survey should help allay his fears.

  According to the NY Fed, near-term inflation expectations –  those for the one-year horizon and which traditionally just follow the latest move in the price of gasoline – dropped again to 3.83% in June from May’s 4.07%, the third straight decline – one which was broad-based across all demographic groups – and the lowest reading since April 2021. The measure has now fallen by 3 percentage points from its series high in June 2022. This drop, however, was offset by a virtually flat inflation expectation in the three-year-ahead horizon (which dipped to 2.95% from 2.98%) and a surprise increase in the five year inflation expectations, which rose to 2.95% from 2.72% in May, the highest print since March 2022.

  

  At the same time, median inflation uncertainty—or the uncertainty expressed regarding future inflation outcomes—declined across all three horizons.

  

  Some other observations:

  Median home price growth expectations increased for the fifth consecutive month from 2.6% in May to 2.9% in June, the highest reading since July 2022. The increase was driven by respondents with a college degree and those who live in the South and West Census regions, which is surprising because those educated folks should realize what “higher for longer” rates mean for home prices. Unless, of course, we don’t have higher for longer and ordinary Americans once again prove to be smarter than the Fed.

  

  Median year-ahead expected price changes declined by 0.4 percentage point for gas (to 4.7%) and 0.1 percentage point for food (to 5.3%). In contrast, median year-ahead expected price changes increased by 1.2 percentage points for the cost of college education (to 8.3%), 0.1 percentage point for medical care (to 9.3%), and 0.3 percentage point for rent (to 9.4%).

  

  Labor Market

  • Median one-year-ahead expected earnings growth increased by 0.2 percentage point to 3.0%. The series has been moving within a narrow range of 2.8% to 3.0% since September 2021.

  

  • Mean unemployment expectations—or the mean probability that the U.S. unemployment rate will be higher one year from now—decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 37.7%, the lowest reading since April 2022.

  

  • The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months increased by 2.0 percentage points to 12.9%, the highest reading since November 2021. The mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next 12 months decreased, by 0.2 percentage point, to 18.9%. The increase in the mean likelihood of a layoff was driven by respondents aged 40 or higher.

  

  • The mean perceived probability of finding a job (if one’s current job was lost) decreased from 56.4% in May to 55.3% in June.

  

  And here are the survey respondents’ expectations on topics of household finance

  • Median expected growth in household income decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 3.2%, remaining below the series 12-month trailing average of 3.6%.
  • Median household spending growth expectations declined from 5.6% in May to 5.2% in June, well below its 12-month trailing average of 6.4%, and the lowest reading since September 2021.
  • Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago improved somewhat in June, with a slightly higher share of households reporting that it is easier to obtain credit now than a year ago. Similarly, respondents’ views about future credit availability improved slightly. The share of respondents expecting tighter credit conditions a year from now decreased, while the share expecting looser credit conditions rose.
  • The average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months increased by 0.7 percentage point to 12.0% in June, the highest reading since January 2023. The increase was driven by respondents with no more than a high school education.
  • The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes (at current income level) increased by 0.2 percentage point to 4.3%.
  • Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt increased from 9.7% in May to 10.0% in June.
  • The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on saving accounts will be higher in 12 months decreased by 0.5 percentage point to 29.8%, the lowest reading since December 2021.
  • Perceptions about households’ current financial situations improved in June with more respondents reporting being better off than a year ago and fewer respondents reporting being worse off. Similarly, year-ahead expectations improved with fewer respondents expecting to be worse off a year from now and more respondents expecting to be better off.
  • The mean perceived probability that U.S. stock prices will be higher 12 months from now increased by 1.0 percentage point to 35.3%.

  

  More in the full survey available here.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:00

• Biden Seeks To End Cheaper Obamacare Alternatives, Expect Another Supreme Court Smackdown
  Biden Seeks To End Cheaper Obamacare Alternatives, Expect Another Supreme Court Smackdown

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Biden’s efforts to produce more inflation are nonstop, 24×7.

  His latest move is a set of regulations to force people into Obamacare despite the fact a District Court already ruled against his proposed regulations.

  

  Biden Attempts to Make Healthcare Even More Expensive

  To understand what Biden wants to do, and why the Supreme Court is likely to smack it down, we need to review a District Court ruling from 2020.

  On July 24, 2020, CATO reported In a Win for Consumers, a Court Ruling Affirms the Legality of Short‐​Term Health Insurance Plans

  The ACA dramatically increased health insurance premiums in the “individual” market, where consumers purchase coverage directly from insurers. Yet Congress deliberately chose not to apply the ACA’s regulations to “short‐​term, limited duration insurance,” which can therefore offer lower premiums. As ACA premiums rose, many consumers flocked to STLDI plans.

  One such consumer was 61‐​year‐​old Arizona resident Jeanne Balvin. In 2017, Balvin purchased an STLDI plan from UnitedHealthcare for $274 per month. It covered the entire cost of her emergency surgery for diverticulitis, minus a $2,500 deductible. Had she purchased an ACA plan, her premium would have been three times as high and her deductible in the range of $6,000.

  Prior to 2016, Balvin could have purchased an STLDI plan that lasted an entire year. In the hope of forcing people into ACA plans, however, the Obama administration imposed a rule in 2016 that required insurers to throw STLDI enrollees out of their plans after just three months. The Trump administration reversed this rule and expressly stated that nothing in federal law prevents insurers from making STLDI plans from offering renewable, and therefore continuous, coverage.

  Enter the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, a lobbying group representing private insurance companies that sell ACA plans. Complaining that STLDI plans were cutting into their business, ACAP asked federal courts to remedy that “injury” by reinstating this heartless rule.

  On July 17, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of STLDI enrollees. The court found the administration’s reversal of the Obama rule was reasonable, not least because stripping coverage from these patients means they “could be denied a new policy ‘based on preexisting medical conditions.’”

  Jam City, Dateline July 7, 2023

  The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Short-Sighted New Health Rule

  Behold the President’s plan to limit short-term health insurance plans in order to jam more consumers into the heavily subsidized and regulated ObamaCare exchanges. The Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury Departments on Friday proposed rules to roll back the Trump Administration’s expansion of short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) plans. Since 2018 these plans have been available in 12-month increments, and consumers have been able to renew them for up to 36 months.

  These plans are especially attractive to young people whose employers don’t provide coverage. Why would a healthy 26-year-old want to pay for maternity, pediatric and other services he probably won’t use in the near future?

  The Inflation Reduction Act sweetened ObamaCare’s insurance premium tax credits that are tied to income. As a result, a 60-year-old making just above four times the poverty level has to pay only 8.5% of his income toward his insurance premium while the government picks up the rest. If premiums increase, government is on the hook for more.

  But after the Inflation Reduction Act’s enhanced subsidies expire in 2025, consumers will be in for sticker-shock. Hence, the Administration is trying to drive more young, healthy people back into the exchanges by reinstating a four-month cap on short-term plans and prohibiting renewals. Presto: A free market for insurance that competes with the ObamaCare exchanges disappears.

  As with his backdoor ban on gas-powered cars, President Biden is limiting health insurance choice and competition in the name of protecting consumers from something they want to buy.

  Obamacare is Junk

  On June 29, 2023, before the above details emerged, CATO wrote Dear Health Reporters: Prep for Biden’s Proposed Rule on Short‐​Term Plans

  First of all, ObamaCare is the junk coverage here. Economic research shows ObamaCare’s preexisting‐​conditions “protections” have eroded coverage at a cost to sick patients of thousands of dollars per year, and even “currently healthy consumers cannot be adequately insured.” ObamaCare has caused individual‐​market provider networks to narrow significantly since 2013, when network breadth reflected consumer preferences. ObamaCare premiums are skyrocketing to the point where Congress is offering subsidies to households earning $600,000 per year. STLDI plans offer more flexibility and choice, protect conscience rights, offer broader provider networks, cost up to 70 percent less than ObamaCare plans, and can even reduce ObamaCare premiums by improving ObamaCare’s risk pools.

  If Biden tries to eliminate standalone renewal guarantees, he may trigger a lawsuit. The Public Health Service Act grants the federal government no authority at all to regulate those novel insurance products.

  13 Years of Obamacare

  On March 30, 2023, the Washington Examiner reported Thirteen years of Obamacare Increasing Healthcare Costs.

  The Affordable Care Act turned 13 last week, and I was asked to provide testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means on how the law, as well as several recent expansions of it, failed to make healthcare more affordable. Here is a slightly modified version of what I told Congress.

  The ACA has caused premiums to soar. Individual market premiums more than doubled in the first four years after its implementation, yet plans covered fewer doctors and hospitals. By 2021, the average ACA plan premium plus deductible for a family of four was about $25,000.

  Since coverage is cost prohibitive, most enrollees need extremely large subsidies to afford these plans. Taxpayers pay for more than 80% of the premium on average and pick up almost all the cost of premium increases over time. This gives insurers significant pricing power and in turn leads to higher premiums — an inflationary spiral.

  As government’s role in healthcare has expanded, prices have skyrocketed. Hospital prices have increased more than any other major economic sector, rising three times faster than inflation since 2000. 

  Both the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act expanded the ACA’s already substantial subsidies. Most of the benefit went to people who already had coverage . Families with incomes well above $250,000 now qualify for large subsidies. The expanded subsidies incentivize employers to drop workplace coverage, raising government’s overall deficits. And all the new spending on the expanded subsidies also increases inflation.

  The Supreme Court is guaranteed to strike down this latest bit of regulatory overreach by the Biden administration.

  Here are some recent Supreme Court smackdowns.

  • June 29, 2023: Supreme Court Rules Race-Conscious Admissions at Harvard and UNC are Unconstitutional

  • June 30, 2023: Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Cancellation, Cites Nancy Pelosi

  • July 2, 2023: The Wealth Tax Idea Is Headed for Sudden Death in the Supreme Court

  Don’t expect any relief from nonsensical proposals. By now, it should be clear Biden’s regulatory madness is endless.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 17:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• One-Third Of Seattle Residents May Flee City Over Crime, Costs
  One-Third Of Seattle Residents May Flee City Over Crime, Costs

  One in three residents of Seattle may leave the Democratic stronghold due to skyrocketing crime and the high cost of living, according to a Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll published last month.

  

  Approximately 33% of those polled said they were ‘seriously considering’ moving out of the city, vs. 67% who said they have no plans to move. Among those who say they’re considering leaving, 37% blame rising costs, while 34% cited public safety as a primary concern.

  Of those considering leaving, renters (44%) were the majority, followed by 27% of homeowners. Those with lower incomes, particularly those making under $20,000, were more likely to blame soaring home prices. The same group understandably also reported experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness at the highest rates.

  In May, Washington governor Jay Inslee signed 10 bills aimed at solving the housing crisis by making home ownership more affordable.

  

  “Homelessness is a housing crisis,” said Inslee.

  Those in the highest income bracket who make over $250,000 per year, and are more likely to own homes, reported that public safety was their primary concern.

  80% of those who are ‘seriously considering’ moving rated Seattle poorly as a place to live, while 66% said they don’t feel safe in their own neighborhood.

  That said, among the 2/3 of those polled who say they have no plans to move, 88% rated the city as an excellent place to live, while 72% said they felt safe in their own neighborhood.

  

  The cost of living in the Seattle metro region has exploded over 20% over the last three years – with the area’s home price index now 40% higher than in  2018, while wages have failed to keep up with these increases in costs. Highly-paid tech and finance workers are skewing the city’s income average, according to the Epoch Times.

  Moving patterns revealed these residents were more likely to move out of the county’s wealthiest neighborhoods. While lower-income residents moved less often, they were more likely to move out of the Puget Sound region altogether.

  About 65% of residents considering leaving said the city’s ability to progress on homelessness had worsened, and 60% rated the quality of education as poor.

  According to new Census Bureau data, many people are moving to Florida, which has experienced a population growth of over 22 million people from 2021 to 2022.

  The 1.9% increase was the largest of any US state over this period, exceeding Idaho and South Carolina, which saw their populations grow by 1.8% and 1.7%, respectively.

  “While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states, this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population,” said US Census Bureau demographer, Kristie Wilder.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 19:00

• The Supreme Court Should Strike A Blow Against Wealth Taxes
  The Supreme Court Should Strike A Blow Against Wealth Taxes

  Authored by Andrew Wilford via RealClearMarkets.com,

  Wealth tax proposals have been all the rage among progressive politicians of late, despite the many pitfalls of attempting to tax unrealized gains.

  

  But a case the Supreme Court just took up could render taxation of unrealized gains constitutionally untenable.

  Moore v. United States looks at a provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). One of the ways that legislators offset the foregone revenue from tax cuts was through a one-time “deemed” repatriation of earnings from U.S. citizens’ shares of foreign corporations.

  Put simply, the deemed repatriation provision acted as if Americans with shares in foreign corporations (above a minimum threshold) had received a dividend representing their share of that corporation’s profits going back to 2006. Never mind that they hadn’t received this dividend — the TCJA treated them as if they had.

  In this sense, the deemed repatriation provision acted very much like a wealth tax. Though corporate shares gain value as the corporation in question is profitable, investors’ gains from these shares are entirely theoretical until they either sell their shares or benefit from those corporate profits in the form of a dividend. The “deemed repatriation” ignored the distinction in American tax law between realized income (which is usually taxable) and unrealized income (which usually isn’t). 

  One couple affected by the deemed repatriation provision, Charles and Kathleen Moore, chose to challenge it in court. Though they had never received any dividends or sold their 13 percent stake in an Indian company that provides agriculture tools to impoverished Indian communities, they were hit by a tax bill under the TCJA just the same. Now, their challenge finds itself before the Supreme Court.

  The case hinges upon the interpretation of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Prior to the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, the Constitution granted Congress the power to levy “direct” taxes only if they were equally proportioned among the states — in other words, they could only be levied on a per capita basis.

  The Sixteenth Amendment allowed Congress to ignore this proportionality requirement for “income” taxes specifically. That’s fairly straightforward for normal “income” taxes on wages, dividends, or capital gains — in other words, “realized” income that directly benefits the taxpayer. But whether the Sixteenth Amendment applies to unrealized income, where a taxpayer’s net worth increases but their cash on hand remains the same, is the question before the Court.

  While the case will, of course, hinge upon legal interpretations, the distinction between realized and unrealized income is obvious to most taxpayers. When you receive cash (or an electronic deposit to your checking account), it’s easy enough to set aside part of that for your tax obligations. On the other hand, if your car’s theoretical sales price increases, as many did during the pandemic, it makes little sense for Uncle Sam to demand his share unless you actually go ahead and sell.

  A ruling explicitly describing unrealized income as capital, rather than income, for the purposes of the Sixteenth Amendment would effectively place a judicial stamp of disapproval on wealth tax proposals of all stripes. That would effectively end some of the zanier ideas coming from the left.

  Of course, wealth taxes should be something that Congress avoids because they’re bad policy, are an enormous headache and costly to administer, and harm entrepreneurship. But given that those have never been good enough reasons to stop Congress from doing things in the past, a judicial veto wouldn’t hurt either.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 18:30

• Driverless Cars Hit By 'Coning' Incidents As San Francisco Group Rebels
  Driverless Cars Hit By ‘Coning’ Incidents As San Francisco Group Rebels

  A San Francisco group that stands for “car-free spaces, transit equity, and the end of car dominance” is behind a wave of “coning” driverless cars owned by Waymo and Cruise. 

  Members of the Safe Street Rebels, a group that states cars are “polluting, dangerous & murderous,” are coning driverless cars across the city, which disables the vehicle and forces it to stop. 

  Here is some of the footage of coning incidents:

  “Coning” a driverless car forces some of them to have to be hard reset. It’s done as a form of protest against the autonomous vehicles.

  So now people are gonna start bullying robots? That’s how it all starts … 🤔 pic.twitter.com/BIbst8CbKO

  — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) July 9, 2023

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

  Week of Cone – Night One was a hit! Keep sending in your coning submissions 🦄 pic.twitter.com/c4KZLbFvhy

  — ConeSF – Week of Cone (@SafeStreetRebel) July 6, 2023

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

  According to ABC7 in San Francisco, the rebellious group has called for a “Week of Cone” ahead of this Thursday’s meeting, where the California Public Utilities Commission will vote to allow Cruise and Waymo to expand operations across the metro area. 

  One member of the group told the local media outlet:

  “Expanded and basically unfettered access to city streets is basically a bad idea.

  “Residents never got a chance to have a say in this, never really consented to be used a human guinea pigs.”

  We’re surprised this group is not affiliated with taxi or Uber drivers who risk being displaced by autonomous taxis in the next several years. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 18:00

• Tchir: The Battle For Rare Earths & Critical Minerals Heats Up
  Tchir: The Battle For Rare Earths & Critical Minerals Heats Up

  Authored by Peter Tchir via Academy Securities,

  This seemed like one of the longest “short” weeks that I can remember. Maybe it was the Tuesday holiday. Maybe it was because I started the week somewhat jaded (What a “Weird” Week). Maybe it was because the jobs data also forced me to invoke the word “weird” repeatedly (Jobs – What You See Isn’t What You Get?). The fact that my air conditioning unit struggled to keep up with the heat and humidity definitely didn’t help, but neither did watching algo-driven markets (or having to wait until the last hour of trading for stocks to fade). However, I did enjoy catching up with some colleagues on Bloomberg’s Real Yield and talking about credit.

  But enough on that right now, let’s focus on the matter at hand – the battle for resources and chips.

  

  The week started with China imposing export restrictions on crucial raw materials. Gallium and germanium now require special permission from the government to be exported. These “rare elements” are crucial in the manufacturing of high-end chips.

  The week ended with the Defense Department invoking the Defense Production Act to help collect and (even more crucially) refine the materials in question (Reuters story).

  We have been discussing this theme on many fronts at Academy Securities. Our basic premise has been:

  • China figured out several years ago that rare earths and critical minerals (both their extraction and their processing) would shape the future of global trade and relationships. If the past few decades were shaped by petroleum products, the future will be shaped by these rare earths and critical minerals. We have argued that Russia and India seemed to figure this out a year or so ago (after China) and the U.S. is only recently reacting with the urgency necessary.

  • While sad to say, a tagline that we have been using for two years (or more) is that:

    • The West has a great vision for sustainability, but no plan to get there.

    • China has no vision for sustainability, but a great plan to attain the resources that they think we might need.

  Yes, Yellen is in China (and Blinken was also there recently), but I don’t think that we will see any real thawing of tensions regarding the semiconductor industry or rare earths and critical minerals.

  The cynical side of me expects that China will “throw us a bone” that we will happily gnaw on while they continue to secure the access to and the production of these resources.

  Over two years ago, we published a special SITREP on the topic (Rare Earths – A National Security and Environmental Threat). Generals (ret.) Chinn, Robeson, Kearney, Marks, and Walsh all weighed in on the subject. Michael Rodriguez (Head of ESG) also brought up several salient points which helped form our macro outlook. We will update and refine this outlook in the coming weeks, but this is a great primer and it is (somewhat sadly) easy to see how we got from where we were two years ago to where we are today.

  In February of this year, we “upped the ante” with World War v3.1. While rare earths and critical minerals were a part of that discussion, the main section worth reviewing is “The Semiconductor Industry Viewed Through a Geopolitical Lens”.

  I would put Academy’s track record on predicting the path of U.S./China relations up against anyone’s. The geopolitical insights and experience of the Geopolitical Intelligence Group have been crucial in staying a step ahead of many. However, I do lament that by the time the consensus view catches up with

  Academy’s view, the relationship with China will likely have deteriorated further. Unfortunately, that seems to be occurring again as chips, rare earths, and critical minerals are without a doubt a national security issue with strong bipartisan support.

  Bottom Line

  The February 2021 and February 2023 reports, while dated, are great starting points and worth reviewing even by those who have already been focused this subject.

  While we will be following up more on chips, rare earths, and critical minerals, this also seems like a good time to highlight our From Made in China to Made by China theme. If there is one risk that I think is real (and the market is completely discounting) it is the ongoing shift of China going from making our products to making/selling their own products. That goes hand in hand with their increasing success at getting some level of trading to occur directly in yuan instead of dollars. For those of you who have listened to our calls or watched our webinars, you know that we are not doubting the dollar as the reserve currency, but do see the dollar as the “world wide web” and the yuan as the “dark web”. The scale sounds about right, but maybe it attributes too many negative connotations to trade using the yuan (or maybe not enough depending on your view).

  Artificial intelligence is the hottest topic helping markets (rightfully so in many ways).

  The chip and commodity wars arguably are not getting enough attention.

  My view of this is:

  • Competing with China will be inflationary as we need to secure access to these resources (some of it domestically) and build out processing facilities (domestically or with countries we completely trust).

  • Jobs will be created as part of the process of securing our supply chains, but it will take time, money, and likely the ability to absorb some inflation.

  • Whatever relationship you “hope” that we will return to with China is unlikely to occur. Considering AI, quantum computing, and sustainability (to name a few issues), the stakes are too high and the powers that be in both countries know this and will thwart each other’s attempts to gain the upper hand. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have trade, but whatever relationship we are going to have with China will be something new that is yet to be defined and will be crucial for our economy, companies, and society.

  Maybe for investors, these things will take years to play out and don’t change things much today. However, for companies, those that have gotten ahead of the curve are prospering (and there is still time to react for those that have not). The difficulties that we could face with China regarding chips, rare earths, and critical minerals may lead to some expensive and even seemingly conservative decisions, but those decisions will pay off in the long run.

  Have a great Sunday, hopefully you are having good weather and I did briefly wonder why China was banning geraniums – such pretty flowers.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 17:30

• "It's Seven Grandchildren, Mr. President": NYT Rips Biden For Ghosting Granddaughter
  “It’s Seven Grandchildren, Mr. President”: NYT Rips Biden For Ghosting Granddaughter

  Have you noticed the shift? All of the sudden, the same media which peddled Joe Biden as a virtuous, vigorous, mentally competent alternative to Donald Trump have turned on him.

  

  Two weeks ago, the White House press corps jumped all over the Biden corruption bombshells – including how Biden’s DOJ allegedly buried, minimized, or otherwise ignored evidence of Hunter Biden’s illegal activities – instead giving him a sweetheart plea deal for multiple crimes that would land anyone else in prison.

  And just two days ago, establishment mouthpiece The Atlantic more or less called the patient in terms of ‘behind the curtain’ support for ol’ Joe.

  

  Now, the NY Times has joined the party with an article by columnist Maureen Dowd titled: “It’s Seven Grandchildren, Mr. President,” after reports emerged last week that the Biden White House has been instructed not to acknowledge Hunter’s illegitimate daughter, Navy Joan Roberts, who Hunter successfully fought to ensure couldn’t legally use the Biden name. Instead, Biden staffers have been instructed to say that Joe has six grandchildren.

  

  “What the Navy story reveals is how dated and inauthentic the 80-year-old president’s view of family is,” writes Dowd, adding “The president’s cold shoulder — and heart — is counter to every message he has sent for decades, and it’s out of sync with the America he wants to continue to lead.“

  In short, the Bidens are no longer protected, as it were.

  REPORTER: “Hunter Biden and the child support – Are the President and First Lady monitoring that? And how come they haven’t acknowledged the 7th grandchild?”

  JEAN-PIERRE: “I’m not gonna speak to that from here.”

  REPORTER: “Why not?”

  Great question! pic.twitter.com/g17eXo5CnA

  — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 2, 2023

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

  “Joe Biden’s mantra has always been that ‘the absolute most important thing is your family.’ It is the heart of his political narrative,” Dowd continued (via the Daily Caller), adding “Empathy, born of family tragedies, has been his stock in trade. Callously scarring Navy’s life, just as it gets started, undercuts that.”

  During the 2021 and 2022 Christmas seasons, Joe and Jill Biden hung up stockings with six of their grandchildren’s names, deliberately excluding Navy’s name from the decorations. Jill Biden also authored a children’s book in 2020 which she dedicated to six of her grandchildren, but not the seventh, Dowd noted in the column. -Daily Caller

  And of course, White House spox Karine Jean-Pierre refuses to address the issue.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 17:00

• "This Made Me Realize How Out Of Touch With 'Reality' The West Is…"
  “This Made Me Realize How Out Of Touch With ‘Reality’ The West Is…”

  Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

  Momentum

  An article at RT made me realize today – all the more- how out of touch with reality the “west” is.

  

  It talks about how Joe Biden warns Xi Jinping about economic consequences of China’s alliance with Russia. Thing is, that ship has long sailed. And Xi, even if he would have wanted to -there are no signs of that-, cannot turn it around, It has gained “momentum”.

  And it’s “Joe Biden”s own doing. Xi and Putin would have happily continued using the USD in their international trade. But the sanctions made that impossible. And then it took off. From BRICS(+) to SCO to INSTC, various groups that had been formed, now found a reason to exist and flourish. And there’s nothing Xi can do to stop that process, even if he would want to. it’s bigger than him, and China. But even then, why would he?

  Biden Told China’s Xi To ‘Be Careful’ After Putin Meeting

  US President Joe Biden called on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ‘to be careful’ after Xi visited Moscow back in March, the American leader has told CNN. In extracts from the interview released on Saturday, Biden said he had highlighted what he called the Asian giant’s dependence on European and US investments.“I said: This is not a threat. This is an observation,” Biden told CNN. “Since Russia went into Ukraine, 600 American corporations have pulled out of Russia. And you have told me that your economy depends on investment from Europe and the United States. And be careful. Be careful,” he added.

  Following their Moscow talks, Putin and Xi signed documents on deepening the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and economic cooperation. Both governments emphasized their readiness to work towards a trade volume of $200 billion or higher, with national currencies increasingly being used in a bid to de-dollarize trade. The conflict in Ukraine was discussed during the Moscow visit as well, with China maintaining its neutral position. Beijing has repeatedly criticized the West’s “abuse” of unilateral economic sanctions and has made efforts toward a peaceful resolution in Ukraine, proposing a twelve-point peace plan. In May, a Chinese special envoy visited several countries, including Russia and Ukraine, in an effort to broker an end to the conflict.

  Biden’s CNN interview comes as US relations with China are far from calm, with Taiwan and security concerns in the Asia-Pacific region among the key issues exacerbating strained ties. President Biden himself provoked a diplomatic incident in June, when he called his Chinese counterpart a “dictator” during a speech. While the US president dismissed concerns that his comment could hinder efforts to improve relations, the Chinese embassy issued a formal protest in response, and foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning denounced the remark as an “open political provocation.”

  It makes no difference anymore what Biden, or any American/western person says. The sanctions have introduced the rest of the world to a feeling, a system, of freedom. And not even Xi can halt that. He could hinder it a bit, sure, but why would he? If the “global globe” can’t use the yuan in trade, they’ll switch to the rupee, which India has loudly announced as being ready for the role. Or the new gold backed currency BRICS/SCO is touting.

  Whichever choice they arrive upon, Biden threatening Xi can only backfire. China already has a huge part of the world population, BRICS/SCO is much bigger than that, in many ways. And they sense/smell freedom. Xi would be crazy to move against that. And why would he? Because Biden threatens to take away some exports from him?

  Xi doesn’t need the US or EU. He knows that because the “collective west’s” anti-Russia sanctions have only made Russia stronger. And the “collective west” is incapable of beating Russia on the battlefield. So what does Xi have to fear?

  We live in a new world, a greatly changed one.

  The last place where you would find out about that is the west, where we live. Where all media and politicians carry on as if nothing has changed. We can’t know the truth about Trump, or about Covid, or about Ukraine, and now we can’t know how our position has changed in global power politics. They want us to believe we’re still no. 1. Well, they are not, and we are not. Get used to it. Get used to being one power in a world with multiple powers. Multipolar.

  We cannot fight the global momentum we ourselves unleashed.

  *  *  *

  Support the Automatic Earth via Patreon.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 16:30

• Cash-Strapped Consumers Resort To 'Dumpster Dining' To Save On Grocery Bill
  Cash-Strapped Consumers Resort To ‘Dumpster Dining’ To Save On Grocery Bill

  Despite the Biden administration’s cheerleading that ‘Bidenomics’ is the economic savior of the middle class — most Americans will disagree there has been an economic revival amid the worst inflation storm in a generation that has sent negative real wage growth negative for more than two years, forcing consumers to deplete personal savings and rack up record amounts of credit card debt in a high-interest rate environment. 

  We have shown many households are in rough financial shape. Dollar Tree executives confirmed weeks ago that mid/low-tier consumers are trading down from other more expensive retailers to their stores for groceries. This means Walmart has become too expensive for some consumers. 

  Even before we noted “Consumers Trade Down From Walmart, Dollar Tree Becomes Supermarket For The Working Poor,” we found a trend on TikTok that showed an increasing number of Americans in March were resorting to dollar stores for groceries to save money. We tilted that note “Dollar Tree Dinners”: TikToker Goes Viral After Showing People How To Cook For $35 A Week.

  Last week, we were the first to point out that Google searches for “pawn shop near me” just erupted to record highs, indicating that consumers are in rough shape. 

  

  It’s not just us pointing out that Bidenomics might be a failure. Goldman Sachs’ Rich Privorosky told clients last month, “Something is not quite adding up on the consumer,” and asked, “Have we just run out of excess savings and are we returning to replenishing savings?”

  Meanwhile, an increasing number of corporate execs from consumer staple companies have warned about a weakening consumer, leaving us with the evolution of trading down from dollar store dinners to dumpster diving. 

  

  Some media outlets, including Bussiness Insider and The New York Post, have pointed out that some folks have resorted to dumpster diving to save on food costs. 

  

  BI titled their piece “A dumpster-diving millennial cut her grocery bill to about $45 a month on average for the last 4 months,” while NYPost titled theirs, “I spend just $90 a year on groceries — here’s how I do it,” which shows how some millennials are dumpster diving for survival in today’s high inflation period. 

  

  While we thought trading down from Walmart to Dollar Tree for groceries was rock bottom, apparently not. 

  And look at this stunning Google search trend “Is dumpster diving illegal” just hit a record high. 

  

  The search trend is the hottest in the Midwest and Deep South. 

  

  Putting this all together, mid/low-tier consumers struggle in the inflation storm while the Biden administration touts meaningless economic stats about how ‘everything is wonderful.’ After all, Democrats have to cheerlead despite the demise of the middle class because a presidential election cycle is nearing. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 16:00

• "More To Come": Abbott Announces Installation Of Floating Border Barrier Along Rio Grande
  “More To Come”: Abbott Announces Installation Of Floating Border Barrier Along Rio Grande

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  Texas has started installing a water-based border barrier along the Rio Grande, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott said on Saturday, as part of efforts to hinder illegal immigrants from crossing the southern border.

  “New marine barrier installation on the Rio Grande begins today,” Mr. Abbott stated on Twitter, along with a 15-second video showing dozens of large spherical buoys being loaded into tractor-trailers.

  New marine barrier installation on the Rio Grande begins today.

  Texas DPS is overseeing the project in Eagle Pass.

  More to come. pic.twitter.com/nHrTqUG7Fi

  — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 7, 2023

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

  The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will oversee the deployment of a 1,000-foot floating barrier in Eagle Pass, which is known as a major point for migrant crossings.

  “More to come,” the governor remarked, suggesting that this might only be the first deployment.

  Mr. Abbott unveiled the plan last month to use floating barriers to deter illegal entry into the country. He described it as a man-made wall floating in the water, which would cost the state about $1 million.

  

  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about an illustration of new border security implementation during a news conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on June 8, 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

  DPS chief Steve McCraw, who called Mexican cartels as the “number one public enemy,” said the barrier will dissuade people from making dangerous river crossing at the ports.

  “It’s dangerous to cross between ports of entry, and securing the border between them is ideal to fight Mexican cartels,” Mr. McCraw said in a statement on June 8.

  Concerns Over Impacts of Floating Barrier

  Meanwhile, the federal International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) said they were not notified about the proposed floating barrier. The IBWC is an international body that oversees the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico.

  IBWC spokesperson Frank Fisher said the commission seeks to determine “whether and how this impacts our mission to carry out treaties between the U.S. and Mexico regarding border delineation, flood control, and water distribution, which includes the Rio Grande.”

  Adriana Martinez, a professor at Southern Illinois University, expressed concerns about the potential effects of the webbing attached to the barrier, which could cause things floating down the river to become entangled in these buoys.

  “A lot of things float down the river, even when it’s not flooding; things that you can’t see like large branches, large rocks,” she told the Associated Press.

  “And so anything like that could get caught up in these buoys and change the way that water is flowing around them.”

  The Center for Immigration Studies said that the water barrier comes with some political risk, as it will likely draw criticism from hostile media should anyone die attempting to overcome the barrier.

  

  State officials have reportedly said the barrier is designed as a deterrence for the masses, not necessarily the few who might try to get past it, the organization reported.

  “When we’re dealing with 100 or 1,000 people, one of the goals is to slow down and deter as many of them as possible,” Abbott told reporters last month.

  In addition to the barriers, Abbott signed six bills related to border security. These measures include designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, allocating funding for law enforcement training, expanding the use of National Guard surveillance drones, and granting increased powers to Border Patrol agents under Texas law.

  Earlier iterations of Abbott’s border mission have included installing miles of razor wire at popular crossing points on the river and creating state checkpoints beyond federal stops to inspect incoming commercial traffic.

  However, the state has not disclosed any specific tests or studies conducted to assess the potential risks for individuals attempting to circumvent the barrier or the environmental impacts associated with its implementation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 15:30

• China Fires "First Warning Shot" With Metal Export Controls As Traders Scramble For Gallium
  China Fires “First Warning Shot” With Metal Export Controls As Traders Scramble For Gallium

  Beijing is furious with the Biden administration mulling over a broader semiconductor chip export ban and, in response, decided last week to announce export restrictions on two metals, gallium and germanium, which are heavily imported by Western countries for semiconductor production. 

  The timing of the announcement is one to ponder about. It came days before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s China visit on Thursday. It appears Chinese officials are playing a complex game of chess with the Biden administration as their dominance over rare earth mining and refining, and the lack of that in the West would open up talks with Yellen about future US bans on chips and semiconductor equipment that are critical for China’s economic growth. 

  “China apparently does not like the news that the Biden administration is considering a wider semiconductor chip ban and decided to ban the export of gallium and germanium, which are used in semiconductors, 5G base stations, and solar panels,” Louis Navellier, founder of Navellier & Associates, wrote in a recent note to clients. 

  “Although the US and its allies depend on China for these critical minerals, China needs Western technology such as lithography machines to produce high-performance chips,” Navellier said.

  On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellen met with Premier Li Qiang and discussed economic competition that would benefit both countries. 

  Global gallium prices soared 27% on the news last week. Traders who spoke with Bloomberg said the gallium market is well-supplied, but export controls beginning next month have sent buyers scrambling to purchase the metal. 

  On Friday, Fastmarkets data showed Gallium prices jumped $43 on the week to $326 a kilogram. 

  

  Starting Aug. 1, exporters must apply for licenses with the commerce ministry to ship the metals abroad. And how the export controls will affect Chinese shipments still needs to be determined. 

  Colin Hamilton, managing director for commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said the restrictions would likely spur efforts by Western countries to seek supplies of both metals elsewhere.  

  “This is a further example of how industrial raw materials are becoming increasingly strategic in global markets and brought to the center of policy action,” Hamilton wrote in a note early last week. 

  Data from the US Geological Survey shows the US imported an estimated 14,000 kilograms of germanium in 2022 while consuming an estimated 30,000 kilograms. In the same year, imports of gallium were 14,000 kilograms, while consumption was around 18,000 kilograms.

  In the meantime, the US will stockpile these metals as it will diversify sourcing away from Asia. There is a movement by the Biden administration to increase domestic mining and refining of rare earth metals. 

  The move by China is “far from being the nuclear option that it could have chosen,” but it’s the “first warning shot,” Bernard Dahdah, an analyst at Natixis, wrote in a note. He pointed out, “China does control other metals through which it can inflict more severe consequences.”

  Meanwhile, the US US Defense Department announced on Friday it is invoking the Defense Production Act to boost the domestic mining and processing capacity of the two metals. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 15:00

• Republican Attorneys General Warn Target Over 'Obscene' Pride And Satanic Merchandise
  Republican Attorneys General Warn Target Over ‘Obscene’ Pride And Satanic Merchandise

  Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sent a letter to Target on Wednesday warning the corporation that its recent “Pride” campaign merchandise and donation efforts ran the risk of violating state child-protection laws. It also cited concerns about parental rights and neglect of fiduciary duties.

  “State child-protection laws penalize the ‘sale or distribution … of obscene matter,’” the letter states (pdf), which includes items with sexual themes and material harmful to minors.

  “Indiana, as well as other states, have passed laws to protect children from harmful content meant to sexualize them and prohibit gender transitions of children.”

  

  The Epoch Times has not received a response from Target.

  Attorneys general from six other states also signed on: Tim Griffin, Arkansas; Daniel Cameron, Kentucky; Andrew Bailey, Missouri; Raul Labrador, Idaho; Lynn Fitch, Mississippi; and Alan Wilson, South Carolina.

  These are states that have this year passed laws, some now in the courts, that prohibit cross-sex hormone and surgery procedures for minors, and the chief legal officers are now sending a signal to corporations that do business in their states to take notice.

  The letter does not cite legal action.

  Contentious Merchandise

  The letter drew attention to some of the products Target stocked in its “Pride” month campaign: LGBT-themed infant clothing, items specifically sourced from a Satanic brand, and the “tuck friendly” swimsuits that sparked media coverage and backlash.

  The attorneys also stated Target’s support for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which trains members to create LGBT-related associations in K-12 schools, runs the risk of violating parental-rights laws in these states. GLSEN training materials encourage members to make gender identity decisions with students without the knowledge of parents.

  “The evidence suggests that Target’s directors and officers may be negligent in undertaking the ‘Pride’ campaign, which negatively affected Target’s stock price. Moreover, it may have improperly directed company resources for collateral political or social goals unrelated to the company’s and its shareholders’ best interests,” the letter states.

  Target’s stock tumbled 17 percent in the week following backlash in the wake of its Pride campaign, leading to a three-year low and losses that exceeded $13 billion. Citi and JP Morgan Chase both downgraded Target’s shares.

  “Target’s ‘Pride’ campaign was decidedly not an example of excellence in retail,” the letter continued. “It is likely more profitable to sell the type of Pride that enshrines the love of the United States. Target’s Pride Campaign alienates whereas Pride in our country unites.”

  Target Flip-Flops Under Activist Pressure

  Target issued a statement after the backlash, highlighting the fact that it has stocked products “celebrating Pride” for more than 10 years. It cited the reason for removing some items as “threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work.” The company reiterated its “commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community” moving forward.

  In response, seven activist groups called on Target to return any removed items to its stores and online, and release a statement to “in the next 24 hours reaffirming their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 14:30

• Biden: "The Ukrainians Are Running Out Of Ammunition"
  Biden: “The Ukrainians Are Running Out Of Ammunition”

  Below is a significant admission by the President of the United States, which was said in passing to a reporter after he was grilled over the controversial White House decision to send internationally-banned cluster bombs to Ukraine.

  Biden had also told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Friday that the transfer is necessary because Kyiv is “running out of ammunition” after 500 days of war, a grim milestone reached Saturday.

  “It was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies, I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,” he explained. He then added: “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.” Watch Biden again make the admission below:

  🚨Ukraine out of Ammunition🚨

  Biden with a pretty damning admission when responding to reporters asking about cluster munitions to Ukraine:

  “They’ve run out of ammunition”

  This confirms that Western media have been lying about the status of the war.

  Ukraine are in bad shape. pic.twitter.com/wozmIRArMP

  — Clandestine (@WarClandestine) July 8, 2023

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

  A prominent geopolitical observer has noted the following, however…

  “For those saying this means the US military are depleted of our stockpiles, this is not true. We have been giving Ukraine all our old shit and stockpiles from the late 80’s and 90’s.”

  The war analyst continued: “Now we are giving them old cluster munitions, with high dud-rates. We have been giving them the shit we don’t want. They’ve been fighting Russia without air support and with old and faulty equipment. No wonder they are losing.”

  Indeed news of Ukraine’s big counteroffensive, which kicked off after much anticipation last month, has largely retreated from the headlines as more and more negative developments for the Ukrainian effort has become evident.

  

  Even Zelensky recently admitted a much “slower than expected” offensive, and things along the frontlines have largely remained stalemated, with the recent Wagner mutiny events inside Russia also not making any kind of positive difference in terms of Ukrainian positions on the battlefield. Ukraine is putting its hopes on eventually receiving F-16s from the West, but by the time this actually happens, and the long and difficult task of training Ukrainian pilots is complete, the battlefield momentum is unlikely to be in their favor.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 14:00

• What Is 'Prompt Engineering', And How Does It Work?
  What Is ‘Prompt Engineering’, And How Does It Work?

  Authored by Alice Ivey via CoinTelegraph.com,

  Explore the concept of prompt engineering, its significance, and how it works in fine-tuning language models…

  

  Prompt engineering has become a powerful method for optimizing language models in natural language processing (NLP). It entails creating efficient prompts, often referred to as instructions or questions, to direct the behavior and output of AI models.

  Due to prompt engineering’s capacity to enhance the functionality and management of language models, it has attracted a lot of attention. This article will delve into the concept of prompt engineering, its significance and how it works.

  Understanding prompt engineering

  Prompt engineering involves creating precise and informative questions or instructions that allow users to acquire desired outputs from AI models.

  These prompts serve as precise inputs that direct language modeling behavior and text generation.

  Users can modify and control the output of AI models by carefully structuring prompts, which increases their usefulness and dependability.

  History of prompt engineering

  In response to the complexity and expanding capabilities of language models, prompt engineering has changed over time. Although quick engineering may not have a long history, its foundations can be seen in early NLP research and the creation of AI language models. Here’s a brief overview of the history of prompt engineering:

  Pre-transformer era (Before 2017)

  Prompt engineering was less common before the development of transformer-based models like OpenAI’s  generative pre-trained transformer (GPT). Contextual knowledge and adaptability are lacking in earlier language models like recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which restricts the potential for prompt engineering.

  Pre-training and the emergence of transformers (2017)

  The introduction of transformers, specifically with the “Attention Is All You Need” paper by Vaswani et al. in 2017, revolutionized the field of NLP. Transformers made it possible to pre-train language models on a broad scale and teach them how to represent words and sentences in context. However, throughout this time, prompt engineering was still a relatively unexplored technique.

  Fine-tuning and the rise of GPT (2018)

  A major turning point for rapid engineering occurred with the introduction of OpenAI’s GPT models. GPT models demonstrated the effectiveness of pre-training and fine-tuning on particular downstream tasks. For a variety of purposes, researchers and practitioners have started using quick engineering techniques to direct the behavior and output of GPT models.

  Advancements in prompt engineering techniques (2018–present)

  As the understanding of prompt engineering grew, researchers began experimenting with different approaches and strategies. This included designing context-rich prompts, using rule-based templates, incorporating system or user instructions, and exploring techniques like prefix tuning. The goal was to enhance control, mitigate biases and improve the overall performance of language models.

  Community contributions and exploration (2018–present)

  As prompt engineering gained popularity among NLP experts, academics and programmers started to exchange ideas, lessons learned and best practices. Online discussion boards, academic publications, and open-source libraries significantly contributed to developing prompt engineering methods.

  Ongoing research and future directions (present and beyond)

  Prompt engineering continues to be an active area of research and development. Researchers are exploring ways to make prompt engineering more effective, interpretable and user-friendly. Techniques like rule-based rewards, reward models and human-in-the-loop approaches are being investigated to refine prompt engineering strategies.

  Significance of prompt engineering

  Prompt engineering is essential for improving the usability and interpretability of AI systems. It has a number of benefits, including:

  Improved control

  Users can direct the language model to generate desired responses by giving clear instructions through prompts. This degree of oversight can aid in ensuring that AI models provide results that comply with predetermined standards or requirements.

  Reducing bias in AI systems

  Prompt engineering can be used as a tool to reduce bias in AI systems. Biases in generated text can be found and reduced by carefully designing the prompts, leading to more just and equal results.

  Modifying model behavior

  Language models can be modified to display desired behaviors using prompt engineering. As a result, AI systems can become experts in particular tasks or domains, which enhances their accuracy and dependability in particular use cases.

  How prompt engineering Works

  Prompt engineering uses a methodical process to create powerful prompts. Here are some crucial actions:

  Specify the task

  Establish the precise aim or objective you want the language model to achieve. Any NLP task, including text completion, translation and summarization, may be involved.

  Identify the inputs and outputs

  Clearly define the inputs required by the language model and the desired outputs you expect from the system.

  Create informative prompts

  Create prompts that clearly communicate the expected behavior to the model. These questions should be clear, brief and appropriate for the given purpose. Finding the best prompts may require trial and error and revision.

  Iterate and evaluate

  Put the created prompts to the test by feeding them into the language model and evaluating the results. Review the outcomes, look for flaws and tweak the instructions to boost performance.

  Calibration and fine-tuning

  Take into account the evaluation’s findings when calibrating and fine-tuning the prompts. This procedure entails making minor adjustments to obtain the required model behavior, ensuring that it aligns with the intended job and requirements.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 13:30

• Russia Has 'Harassed' US Drones In Syria For 3 Straight Days: Pentagon
  Russia Has ‘Harassed’ US Drones In Syria For 3 Straight Days: Pentagon

  The Pentagon has again complained that Russian fighter jets have dangerously interfered with US drone operations over Syria, in what marks the third such incident in as many days.

  “Three MQ-9 Reaper drones the U.S. military said had been ‘harassed’ by Russian fighter jets over Syria on Friday were the same drones that later carried out an airstrike that killed a top Islamic State group leader,” US Central Command said Sunday.

  

  The incident reportedly happened Friday, the same day that CENTCOM says it killed ISIS leader Usama-al-Muhajir.

  The Pentagon had in the two days prior, on Wednesday and Friday, also alleged Russian jets ‘harassed’ US drones which were actively engaged in counter-ISIS operations. 

  “The strike on Friday was conducted by the same MQ-9s that had, earlier in the day, been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours,” the Sunday CENTCOM statement said.

  The US has once again blasted the “unsafe and unprofessional” behavior of the Russian pilots. ABC News noted the following after the latest incident: 

  There was a third straight day of interactions between Russian fighters and U.S. drones on Friday when U.S. Air Forces Central said “Russian aircraft flew 18 unprofessional close passes that caused the MQ-9s to react to avoid unsafe situations.”

  The Pentagon has at this point declassified two videos which it says supports its assessment of Russian aerial aggression aimed at disrupting American drone flights over Syria. 

  Russian jet dropping flares in vicinity of a US drone in Syria. pic.twitter.com/Sr53fajBqx

  — Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) July 6, 2023

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

  These ‘harassment’ episodes over Syria appear very similar to the March 14, 2023 event which resulted in an American MQ-9 Reaper drone crashing into the Black Sea. A Russian Su-27 fighter jet had intercepted and damaged the drone, at one point dumping fuel on it in mid-air flight.

  In Syria, the US administration has justified any and all US military actions as based on “countering ISIS” – even though the Islamic State has long been driven underground and was defeated. Russia and Syria have charged that the US really just wants to steal Syria’s oil and gas resources, as part of the continued economic war against Damascus. The Pentagon has also lately been reemphasizing this counter-ISIS mission: “We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS,” it said.

  US confirms target killed in Syria drone strike two days ago was an ISIS leader.

  Release notes that Russian aircraft “harassed” the US drone used in the strike; fails to mention that target had been living comfortably in Bza’a, which is controlled by NATO ally Turkey. pic.twitter.com/U5bn6UaYNm

  — Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) July 9, 2023

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

  But Damascus, Moscow, and Tehran have pointed out that ISIS grew out of the NATO-Gulf regime change efforts to oust Assad, which started in 2011 and 2012, destroying much of Syria and resulting in mass killings.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 13:00

• "Unstoppable Duo?" Prospect Of An Unlikely Trump-RFK Ticket Remains A Hot Topic
  “Unstoppable Duo?” Prospect Of An Unlikely Trump-RFK Ticket Remains A Hot Topic

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

  As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. draws unusual bipartisan support in the race for the White House, there is a swell of sentiment that he should be former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

  

  “They would be an unstoppable duo,” Carla Gericke, both a Republican and Libertarian out of New Hampshire, told The Epoch Times, “I think it’s literally the ticket to reunite this fractured country of ours.” 

  Texas realtor Trisha Psencik Hope told The Epoch Times that while she is “Trump all the way” regardless of who his running mate will be, her top pick is RFK Jr., mostly because of the strong stance he took against COVID vaccine mandates. 

  Mrs. Psenick Hope, of Houston, said she wished Trump had taken a strong position against mandating the experimental jab and believes other GOPers feel the same way. 

  “I think bringing RFK to the ticket will soothe some of the lingering feelings about that and any future concerns about the government doing something like that again,” she said. 

  On July 6, Mr. Kennedy told NewsMax he wouldn’t consider being a running mate for either Trump or [Joe] Biden, but the prospect of a Kennedy/Trump ticket remains a hot topic on social media and also among high-profile politicians and could reveal how America will vote next November.

  Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon suggested a Trump/Kennedy ticket back in April. 

  Early in July, on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who considered herself a vice-presidential prospect for Trump, was asked about what she thought of the idea.

  While she didn’t directly answer the question, Mrs. Lake called Mr. Kennedy a good man who has done amazing and criticized people who have been referring to Mr. Kennedy as a “MAGA Democrat.”

  “They just don’t want outsiders in the political machine, they don’t want outsiders coming into the swamp draining the swamp,” said Mrs. Lake, “They just want just the pre-approved, controllably, easily blackmailed and easily bribed people like Biden and the whole swamp system down there.”

  Mr. Bannon said Mrs. Lake is his favored choice for Trump’s vice president, but said on his War Room show that if she wasn’t available “Kennedy would be an excellent choice.”

  Others like Connecticut resident Libby DePiero, who has attended 41 Trump rallies since his first run for president in 2016, told The Epoch Times it would be a “dream come true” if Kennedy and Trump ran together. 

  “Between Kennedy’s fight for medical freedom against the COVID tyrannists [sic], and Trump’s proven record to make Americans first in their own country, it would be an even better presidency than Trump’s first time in office,” she said. 

  Several who like the idea have run polls on social media posing the question.

  According to a Twitter poll of 1,629 users, 73.8 percent said they would support a Trump/Kennedy Ticket. The poll was based on 1,629 voters.

  Participants like New York Times bestselling author and founder of ACT for America Brigitte Gabriel said a “Trump-Kennedy 2024 unity ticket would end Biden’s chances of re-election!”

  Ms. Gericke said that while Kennedy does come from a political dynasty, she sees him as an outsider like Trump who knows that this world is such dire straits that the presidency is beyond party loyalty.

  Mrs. Psenick Hope said while she and her husband were vacationing in Colorado, they broached the idea of a Kennedy/Trump ticket with locals in the left-leaning state. 

  “They said they would support Trump if Kennedy was on the ticket with him, she said, “just like Republicans say they would support Kennedy if he was on the ticket with Trump.”

  Mrs. Lake told CBN anchor Gary Lane that the swell of support for a Kennedy/Trump ticket shows “we are almost beyond Democrat versus Republican. We are now Communism and Globalism versus Americanism,” she said. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 12:30

• These Are The Most Profitable US Companies, By Sector
  These Are The Most Profitable US Companies, By Sector

  U.S. corporate profits hit record levels in 2022, even as stocks fell into a bear market and inflation reached 40-year highs.

  Given these headwinds, investors are watching corporate fundamentals very closely. Corporate profit margins provide a buffer against higher borrowing costs and price pressures and for many reasons, they are a key measure of financial health.

  In the following infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld shows America’s most profitable companies by sector, using data from Fortune.

  

  America’s Most Profitable Companies

  Here are the U.S. firms with the highest annual profits in their sector. Data is based on the fiscal year ending on or before January 31, 2023 across companies in the Fortune 500.

  Both public and private companies that are incorporated and operate in the U.S. are included.

  Company	Sector	2022 Annual Profit	Annual % Change
  Apple	Technology	$99.8B	5.4%
  Exxon Mobil	Energy	$55.7B	141.9%
  JPMorgan Chase	Financials	$37.7B	-22.1%
  Pfizer	Health Care	$31.3B	42.7%
  Verizon Communications	Telecommunications	$21.3B	-3.7%
  Home Depot	Retailing	$17.1B	4.1%
  Visa	Business Services	$15.0B	21.5%
  Procter & Gamble	Household Products	$14.7B	3.0%
  Tesla	Motor Vehicles & Parts	$12.6B	127.5%
  UPS	Transportation	$11.5B	-10.4%
  Coca-Cola	Food, Beverages & Tobacco	$9.5B	-2.3%
  Nucor	Materials	$7.6B	11.4%
  Deere	Industrials	$7.1B	19.6%
  McDonald’s	Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure	$6.2B	-18.1%
  Nike	Apparel	$6.0B	5.6%
  DuPont	Chemicals	$5.9B	-9.3%
  D.R. Horton	Engineering & Construction	$5.9B	40.3%
  Lockheed Martin	Aerospace & Defense	$5.7B	-9.2%
  Netflix	Media	$4.5B	-12.2%
  Walgreens Boots Alliance	Food & Drug Stores	$4.3B	70.6%
  W.W. Grainger	Wholesalers	$1.5B	48.3%

  Apple is the most profitable company in America. Reaching almost $100 billion in profits in 2022, it outpaces the profit leaders in both the energy and financials sectors combined. Furthermore, at the end of 2022, its net profit margin stood at nearly 25%.

  Amid a maturing smartphone market, the company is focusing more on service-based revenue. iPhones make up roughly half of its total net sales, yet growth is plateauing. Last year, iPhone sales growth was 7%, compared to 39% the year before. Meanwhile, services sales—including cloud, AppleCare, and advertising—increased 14% annually.

  Within the energy sector, Exxon Mobil took the top spot with record profits of over $55 billion. Profits jumped almost 142% last year as oil prices spiked with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Steep cuts in costs through the pandemic also helped to bolster the company’s returns.

  JPMorgan Chase saw the highest profits in the financial sector. As the nation’s largest bank by assets, it saw a sharp decline in its investment banking division as higher interest rates made financing mergers and acquisitions less lucrative. Overall, profits sank more than 22% annually.

  Corporate Profits in Perspective

  Low taxes and interest rates contributed to about one-third of profit growth across nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500 over the last 20 years, a paper from the Federal Reserve shows.

  Now, as interest rates climb higher, steeper costs could cut into bottom lines. The good news is so far, corporations have shown resilience to a shifting interest rate regime.

  In the first quarter of 2023, U.S. corporate profits fell moderately by just over 5%.

  

  Profitability and Competitive Advantage

  What does this mean for investors?

  For investors looking for companies that can weather higher rates, profitability is one factor to consider. Companies with strong profitability can reinvest in their business, pay dividends, and better withstand road bumps from rising costs.

  Going further, companies with high profitability often have a strong market share thanks to economies of scale lowering costs, brand loyalty driving demand, and economic moats. We can see this with Apple and Visa, for example.

  Over time, this builds a sustainable competitive advantage. As companies preserve profitability, it adds value to shareholders, often supporting share prices over the longer-term.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 12:00

• Russia Says Cruise Missile Launched On Crimea As War Reaches 500 Days
  Russia Says Cruise Missile Launched On Crimea As War Reaches 500 Days

  In another significant escalation, Russia says it shot down a cruise missile launched by Ukraine over Crimea, according to Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov.

  “The incident inflicted no damage or casualties, he added, without specifying where the missile had been launched from,” according to international reports. The intercept reportedly happened near the city of Kerch on the Crimean peninsula.

  

  Drones inside Russia’s territory or over Russian-controlled Crimea have been a regular feature of this war, but cruise missiles or other long-range heavy missiles much less so. 

  Regional reports say the attack temporarily halted traffic over the immense Crimean Bridge:

  Krym Realii media outlet reported that several explosions were heard in occupied Crimea at around 12 p.m. on July 9.

  Following Aksyonov’s claim, local Telegram channels also reported that the traffic was temporarily stopped at the Crimean Bridge that connects the Russian-occupied peninsula and mainland Russia over the Kerch Strait. There have been no further details.

  Elsewhere, the Rostov regional government reported that a Ukrainian missile was intercepted over its territory in the south of Russia. “There were no casualties. The debris partially damaged the roofs of several buildings,” Governor Vasily Golubev wrote. 

  As these kinds of attacks have increased and become more frequent over the last several months, Kremlin accusations of the US directly assisting in cross-border attacks have increased. Russia has warned in response it could begin taking out “decision-making centers” in Ukraine in response, and in some cases it has acted on these warnings.

  Various governments and institutions around the world observed the grim milestone of the 500th day of the war on Saturday, with Western governments condemning Moscow and calling on it to halt its operations…

  Tomorrow, the world will mark 500 days since Russia started its brutal, full-scale invasion of #Ukraine. Russia’s invasion needs to stop. Not in 500 days, not in 50 days, but today.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/zew7L4m30j

  — Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) July 7, 2023

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

  This weekend marked the 500th day since the Russian military invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukraine’s much-touted counteroffensive, launched last month, has largely retreated from the headlines, strongly suggesting its failure. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 11:00

• Snyder: Joe Biden And His Warmongering Minions Seem Absolutely Determined To Drag America Into World War III
  Snyder: Joe Biden And His Warmongering Minions Seem Absolutely Determined To Drag America Into World War III

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

  When the nukes start falling, nobody will be able to say that they weren’t warned. 

  

  Thanks to Joe Biden and his warmongering minions, we are steamrolling toward World War III, but most Americans don’t seem to care.  Most of us just continue to party our lives away, but meanwhile our leaders seem absolutely determined to drag us into an apocalyptic conflict.  The Biden administration is constantly provoking China and constantly escalating the war in Ukraine, and one of these days they could cross a line that will never be able to be uncrossed.  They are literally playing with fire, but they won’t be the only ones that get burned if they push things too far.

  This week, we learned that the Biden administration has decided to give cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new $800 million military assistance package.

  If you don’t know what cluster munitions are, here is a pretty good explanation from NBC News…

  The dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, or DPICMs, are surface-to-surface warheads that explode and disperse multiple small munitions or bombs over wide areas — bringing more widespread destruction than single rounds. The rounds can be charges that penetrate armored vehicles, or they can shatter or fragment to be more dangerous for people.

  Some human rights groups oppose their use because of concerns that unexploded bomblets, or duds, could explode after battle, potentially injuring or killing innocent civilians.

  These weapons are considered to be extremely dangerous to civilians, because many of them fail to go off initially and end up getting detonated by civilian activity much later…

  As the bomblets fall over a wide area, they can endanger non-combatants.

  In addition, somewhere between 10% to 40% of the munitions fail, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The unexploded munitions can then be detonated by civilian activity years or even decades later.

  The Cluster Munition Coalition, an activist group trying to get the weapons banned everywhere, says potentially deadly cluster submunitions still lie dormant in Laos and Vietnam 50 years after their use.

  As you can see, there is a reason why so many countries have banned the use of such weapons.

  In fact, at this point more than 120 nations have agreed to ban them…

  A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries who agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they’ve been used.

  The United States, Russia and Ukraine are among the countries that have not signed on.

  But even though there is such an international consensus, the Biden administration is sending them to Ukraine anyway…

  But White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the munitions were critical for Ukraine to sustain its military operations against the Russian invaders.

  “We will not leave Ukraine defenseless at any point in this conflict, period,” he said.

  Why aren’t more people talking about Jake Sullivan?

  He is a warmongering nutjob, and Joe Biden does pretty much whatever Jake Sullivan tells him to do.

  And so when Jake Sullivan suggests provoking China again, Joe Biden goes along with it.

  Zero Hedge is reporting that the U.S. will now start providing Volcano Vehicle-Launched Scatterable Mine Systems to Taiwan…

  Taiwan has finalized a new defense deal with the US worth $146 million to acquire Volcano Vehicle-Launched Scatterable Mine Systems, seen as crucial for defense of the self-ruled island in the event of a Chinese military invasion. This comes the same week the State Department announced approval for $440 million more in ammo and logistics deals for Taiwan.

  The pending Volcano mine-laying systems deal had first been previewed by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in December 2022. It additionally included M977A4 trucks, M87A1 anti-tank mines, as well as M88 and M89 training munitions.

  Needless to say, this is yet another move that has greatly angered the Chinese.

  And our trade war with China just went to another level.

  In response to new restrictions imposed by the U.S., China has just implemented export controls on two absolutely critical raw materials…

  A trade war between China and the United States over the future of semiconductors is escalating.

  Beijing hit back Monday by playing a trump card: It imposed export controls on two strategic raw materials, gallium and germanium, that are critical to the global chipmaking industry.

  “We see this as China’s second, and much bigger, counter measure to the tech war, and likely a response to the potential US tightening of [its] AI chip ban,” said Jefferies analysts. Sanctioning one of America’s biggest memory chipmakers, Micron Technology (MU), in May was the first, they said.

  Ever since Joe Biden entered the White House, our relations with China have gone into the dumpster.

  And I think that there is a chance that the Chinese could actually choose to invade Taiwan before Joe Biden’s time in the White House is over.

  If that happens, it would be a complete and utter catastrophe for the global economy…

  A military conflict over Taiwan would set the global economy back decades because of the crippling disruption to the supply chain of crucial semiconductors, according to the head of one of the island’s leading makers of microchips.

  Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy about 100 miles off China, makes the world’s most advanced microchips — the brains inside every piece of technology from smartphones and modern cars to artificial intelligence and fighter jets.

  We simply cannot afford for such a war to happen, because we must have access to those chips.

  Without the chips that Taiwan produces, we would be in a world of hurt…

  The island is a microchip fabrication hotbed, producing 60% of the world’s semiconductors — and around 93% of the most advanced ones, according to a 2021 report from the Boston Consulting Group. The U.S., South Korea and China also produce semiconductors, but Taiwan dominates the market, which was worth almost $600 billion last year.

  So why don’t we just start building more chips in the United States?

  Well, a 40 billion dollar factory is going to be constructed in Arizona, but it is many years away from completion…

  The U.S., which produces about 10% of the world’s semiconductor chips and none of the most advanced ones, is also trying to boost domestic manufacturing, offering tax incentives for projects like the $40 billion factory being built in Arizona by the Taiwanese chip giant TSMC.

  But building such a complex industry will take time, Wu said. “I would say 10 years,” he added.

  If our leaders were smart, they would be trying to find a way to maintain peace.

  But instead they just keep antagonizing both Russia and China, and that is just pushing them closer to one another…

  China said it wants closer ties with Russia’s military, a sign Moscow still has Beijing’s support after the aborted Wagner mutiny.

  Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said in a meeting Monday with Nikolai Yevmenov, commander-in-chief of Russia’s navy, that “with the joint efforts of both sides, the relations between the two militaries will continue to deepen and solidify, constantly make new progress and reach a new level.”

  If we end up fighting Russia and China at the same time, it would be a nightmare.

  And needless to say, such a conflict would inevitably go nuclear, and a full-blown nuclear war would have the potential to kill billions of people…

  So let us pray for peace.

  Unfortunately, our leaders don’t seem interested in peace at all.

  Joe Biden and his warmongering minions are playing a very dangerous game, and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

  *  *  *

  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
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 10:30

• Deranged Gunman On Scooter 'Randomly' Shoots People In NYC
  Deranged Gunman On Scooter ‘Randomly’ Shoots People In NYC

  A deranged 25-year-old Hispanic male indiscriminately shot four people, killing one, while casually motoring around New York City on a scooter. Police say the suspect was experiencing a mental health crisis. 

  The shooting spree in Brooklyn and Queens started around 1110 ET Saturday and ended two hours later, police said. The 25yo gunman was in possession of a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun with a high capacity magazine and an “illegal” scooter, New York Police First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban said at a news conference.  

  Police sources told NBC News that the suspect “appears to suffer from emotional or mental issues.” NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny noted that the suspect was a “male Hispanic.” 

  

  The rampage started when the suspect shot a 21yo man in the shoulder in Cypress Hills. About 20 minutes later, the suspect fatally shot an 87yo man once in the back on Jamaica Avenue near 108th Street. A 44yo man was reportedly shot in the face near 126th Street and remains in critical condition. And a 63yo man was shot in the shoulder on 134th Street. 

  “We don’t know the motive…If you look at the demographics and pedigree of the victims, they’re all different,” Kenny said.

  The assistant NYPD chief continued, “At this time, the video shows that he’s not targeting anybody. He’s not following anybody as he’s driving on his scooter, he’s randomly shooting people.”

  MAN WENT ON SHOOTING SPREE IN NYC TODAY AT RANDOM STRANGERS ***
  pic.twitter.com/0byJnLVQpe

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) July 9, 2023

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

  NYC, Queens: man on scooter went on shooting spree killing 1 and injuring 3 today. pic.twitter.com/J7l6bcFA4G

  — AlphaFox (@Alphafox78) July 9, 2023

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

  The suspect was arrested two hours later on the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue in Queens. 

  This is just another day in crime-ridden NYC as Democrats fail to enforce law and order. Remember, progressives in City Hall were the ones that pushed disastrous defunding the police measures a few years ago. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 09:55

• Corporate Bankruptcies Reach Highest Level Since 2010
  Corporate Bankruptcies Reach Highest Level Since 2010

  Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,

  New data show that a growing number of U.S. firms are collapsing under the weight of higher interest rates as corporate bankruptcies reached their highest first-half levels since 2010.

  

  In the first six months of 2023, there were 340 corporate bankruptcies, topping every other comparable span in 13 years, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. This is up 93 percent from the same time a year ago and higher than in 2020, when there was a spike during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

  There were 54 recorded corporate bankruptcy filings in June, unchanged from the 54 bankruptcies in May. Last month, some of the most notable companies to submit filings were Lordstown Motors, Rockport Co., Instant Brands Acquisition Holdings, and iMedia Brands.

  “Lordstown Motors Corp. filed for bankruptcy June 27, with plans to restructure its business and seek a buyer, according to a company release. The electric vehicle manufacturer’s assets include its Endurance pickup truck and related resources,” S&P noted in the July 6 report.

  “Instant Brands Acquisition Holdings Inc. also sought bankruptcy protection June 12. The tightening of credit terms and higher interest rates had impacted the company’s liquidity levels, according to an official release. The company has also already secured $132.5 million from existing lenders and plans to continue discussions with its financial stakeholders.”

  Year-to-date through June, 15 companies with more than $1 billion in liabilities filed for bankruptcy, such as Cyxtera Technologies, Diebold Holding, Bed Bath & Beyond, Diamond Sports Group., and Party City.

  Epiq Bankruptcy, a U.S. bankruptcy filing data provider, confirmed that 2,973 total commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcies were filed in the first half of 2023, up 68 percent from the same period in 2022.

  Higher Interest Rates Impacting Businesses

  Banking experts purport that higher interest rates are the leading cause of the increase in corporate bankruptcies. Many businesses either maintain vast debt loans that will require refinancing or need more liquidity to stay afloat.

  “The increase in commercial and individual bankruptcy filings during the first half of 2023 underscores the economic challenges faced by businesses and individuals,” said Mr. Gregg Morin, Vice President of Business Development and Revenue at Epiq Bankruptcy, in the report.

  “Our objective is to provide bankruptcy professionals with timely and accurate data necessary for analyzing stakeholder volumes and trends for making informed business decisions.”

  The situation could be exacerbated should the Federal Reserve pull the trigger on two more rate hikes this year. The futures market is penciling in a quarter-point boost to the benchmark fed funds rate at this month’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting.

  Meanwhile, according to a recent Fitch Ratings report, the corporate default rate is projected to climb to as high as 4.5 percent in 2023, up from the previous forecast low of 2.5 percent. The updated projections reflected “the tighter lending conditions and capital access resulting from stress in the banking sector and inflation uncertainty.”

  However, some argue that corporate bond market indicators are “less ominous.”

  “The interest rate differentials, or spreads, between the 10-year U.S. Treasury note and investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) corporate bonds continue to hover within their average width over the past 25 years, a bond market signal indicating the likelihood of a less severe recession, with traders pricing in fewer corporate defaults,” wrote John Lynch, the CIO at Comerica Wealth Management, in a research note.

  Economists contend that the worst corporate bankruptcies typically occur one or two years into a recession. Today, they are happening before the official start of an economic downturn as the U.S. economy is still expanding.

  What’s happening?

  “Simple,” says Mr. Pete St. Onge, a Heritage Foundation economist, “banks aren’t lending.”

  “Banks are battening down the hatches, hogging their bailout money instead of lending it out,” he said in a recent podcast.

  “That credit crunch means not only do we get bankruptcies like in any recession, on top of that, we get a lending wall that cuts off even the healthy businesses. Of course, their jobs go down with them.”

  Since the Federal Reserve launched the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) following the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March, financial institutions have kept tapping into these emergency lending facilities. After hitting a record high at above $103 billion at the end of June, the latest central bank H.4.1 data show that the BTFP dropped for the first time since the beginning of May.

  Despite financial entities receiving these funds, companies say it is getting more challenging to apply for credit, resulting in what many perceive to be a credit crunch.

  A recent Goldman Sachs survey found that three-quarters of small business owners say they are worried about accessing capital as banking stress has forced the sector to tighten lending.

  Moreover, a National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Survey found that more small business owners have found it harder to access credit than in the last survey.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 07/09/2023 – 09:20

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• The Graveyard Of Empires: The Top Investments As The World Order Collapses
  The Graveyard Of Empires: The Top Investments As The World Order Collapses

  Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

  “You have the watches, but we have the time.”

  The Taliban often referred to this old Afghan saying when discussing their fight against the Americans.

  Ultimately, they were proven correct.

  After almost two decades of conflict, an insurgent army from one of the world’s poorest nations inflicted a decisive military defeat on the US, the global superpower that upholds the unipolar world order.

  The US government’s total failure in Afghanistan—the longest war in American history—signifies a crucial moment and turning point in world history.

  The Soviet Union collapsed about two years after the Red Army was defeated and withdrew from Afghanistan.

  

  As we approach the second anniversary of the American retreat, could a similar fate be in store for the US?

  While nobody knows the future, there is an excellent chance that the colossal failure in Afghanistan could accelerate the unraveling of the geopolitical power of the US and the shift to a multipolar world order.

  Afghanistan’s strategic position has always made it a coveted prize in the Eurasian landscape.

  As shown in the image below, Afghanistan is situated in the center of Eurasia, at the crossroads of China, Iran, and Russia—the three primary challengers to the US-led world order.

  This central location is why Afghanistan has enormous geopolitical importance and why the US desired a strategic military presence there.

  

  Source: Ontheworldmap.com

  The US military’s presence in Afghanistan was a strategic roadblock to Russia, China, and Iran’s goal of creating a powerful geopolitical group in Eurasia that could challenge the US-led world order.

  However, with the Taliban forcing the US military out of Afghanistan, the door to a more coherent geopolitical alliance in Eurasia is now wide open.

  In short, failure in Afghanistan is a geopolitical disaster for the US.

  For at least the past decade, China, Russia, and Iran have been working on an impressive plan to connect Eurasia—even while the US military was in Afghanistan. This trend will likely speed up now that the US military is no longer physically in their way.

  Here’s what they have been working on…

  China, Russia, and Iran are constructing a vast network of land-based transportation infrastructure, making the US Navy’s control of the oceans less significant.

  China’s New Silk Road project is central to this new system. It aims to bypass the US financial system and the US Navy’s control of sea routes. The project, planned to be operational by 2025, includes high-speed railways, highways, fiber optic cables, energy pipelines, seaports, and airports.

  These Eurasian powers are also establishing alternative international organizations for financial, political, and security cooperation, separate from those central to the US-led world order, institutions like NATO, the World Bank, SWIFT, and the IMF.

  Some notable examples include the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), launched by China in 2014 and is an alternative to the IMF and World Bank.

  The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trading bloc created in 2015, allows for the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people among its member countries.

  Lastly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) focuses on military and security collaboration between its members.

  If current trends continue, it will result in greater economic, political, and security collaboration among the three main Eurasian nations—China, Russia, and Iran—at the expense of US geopolitical interests.

  This scenario is exactly what Zbigniew Brzezinski worried would make the US “geopolitically peripheral.” It spells the end of the unipolar world order.

  In short, we are on the path to the emergence of an alliance of powerful Eurasian countries and a multipolar world order.

  As the world order changes, I think there are two prominent investment outcomes we can bet on.

  Outcome #1: The US Dollar Will Lose Its Privileged Position

  The decline of America’s geopolitical influence is another enormous headwind for the US dollar.

  Suppose the world thinks the US military is the ultimate backstop of the US dollar. What does it mean for the US dollar’s credibility when a ragtag group of insurgents from one of the poorest countries can defeat the military which backs it?

  If the mighty US military couldn’t secure its partners in Afghanistan, how can it protect its other allies?

  Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Western European countries, and the Gulf Arab states are likely pondering this.

  It wouldn’t be surprising to see them make security arrangements with US adversaries—such as China, Russia, and Iran—that exclude the Americans.

  In fact, this has already happened with Saudi Arabia, a crucial player in the US-led world order. Saudi Arabia is the linchpin of the petrodollar system, which has underpinned the US dollar since Nixon removed its last links to gold in 1971.

  In a matter of weeks, Saudi Arabia has:

  1. Restored relations with Iran.

  2. Restored relations with Syria and welcomed it back to Arab League.

  3. Supported multiple OPEC+ oil production cuts against American wishes.

  4. Announced an end to the war in Yemen.

  5. Agreed to sell oil in other currencies.

  6. Decided to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

  The US recently sent its CIA director to Riyadh to tell the Saudis the Americans feel “blindsided” amid these seismic shifts in Saudi foreign policy.

  In short, a paradigm shift in Saudi policies signifies a paradigm shift in the US dollar because of the petrodollar system.

  However, Saudi Arabia is not the only US ally hedging its geopolitical bets recently. France, India, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and others are making moves to cozy up to the Eurasian geopolitical block.

  The big question is, how long will the world continue to hold the paper liabilities of a bankrupt and declining government?

  While the US dollar is the leading global currency, it was already on a path of inevitable debasement and eventual collapse—even before considering the compounding effects of a multipolar world order.

  The only reason the US government has managed to avoid severe consequences from its monetary policies is the US dollar’s status as the world’s premiere reserve currency, thanks to Washington’s military and economic dominance that has prevailed since the end of World War II. However, as this dominance wanes, so will the dollar’s purchasing power.

  The US government’s ability to hide the effects of its rampant money printing by offloading trillions of dollars to foreigners is nearing its end.

  That’s terrible news for the US dollar.

  Now, that doesn’t mean I’m excited about the Chinese fiat currency—or whatever new monetary concoction the Eurasian block comes up with. Ultimately it will be nothing more than the liability of a new grouping of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

  Money is simply something useful for storing and exchanging value. That’s it.

  People have used stones, glass beads, salt, cattle, seashells, gold, silver, and other commodities as money at different times.

  Think of money as a claim on human time. It’s like stored life or energy.

  Unfortunately, today most of humanity thoughtlessly accepts whatever worthless digital and paper scrips their governments give them as money.

  However, money does not need to come from the government. That’s a total misnomer that the average person has been hoodwinked into believing.

  Fake money comes from government. Real money emerges from the market.

  Government currencies are terrible money because they are easy to produce with a potentially unlimited supply.

  The free market wouldn’t choose government confetti as money without laws forcing their use.

  Here’s another way to think of it.

  Imagine if Tony Soprano forced his neighborhood to use pieces of paper with his signature as money and threatened violence against anyone who disobeyed. That’s what governments are doing with their currencies.

  Here’s the bottom line with money. Hardness is the most important characteristic of a good money.

  Hardness does not mean something that is necessarily tangible or physically hard, like metal. Instead, it means “hard to produce.” By contrast, “easy money” is easy to produce.

  The best way to think of hardness is “resistance to debasement,” which helps make it a good store of value—an essential function of money.

  Would you want to put your savings into something somebody else can create without effort or cost?

  Of course, you wouldn’t.

  It would be like storing your life savings in Chuck E. Cheese arcade tokens, airline frequent flyer miles, or pieces of paper with Tony Soprano’s signature. Unfortunately, putting your savings into government currencies isn’t that much different.

  What is desirable in a good money is something that someone else cannot make easily.

  In short, as the US dollar loses its privileged position, I expect an ocean of capital to flow into apolitical, free-market, hard-to-produce monetary alternatives like gold and Bitcoin.

  That’s why I think the end of the unipolar world order will boost two major investment trends—the re-monetization of gold and The Bitcoin Supremacy—as the world seeks alternatives to the US dollar.

  Outcome #2: Commodity Supply Disruption

  The end of the unipolar world order means transitioning to a multipolar global trade regime—with serious implications for commodities.

  As I see it, there will be two main geopolitical blocks.

  First, there are the countries part of or allied with the West. I’m reluctant to call this block “the West” because the people who control it have values antithetical to Western Civilization.

  A more fitting label would be NATO & Friends.

  The other block consists of Russia, China, Iran, and other countries favorable to a multipolar world order.

  Let’s call them the BRICS+, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and other interested countries.

  Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and numerous others have expressed interest in membership of BRICS.

  BRICS+ is not a perfect label, but it’s a decent representation of the countries favorable to the multipolar world order.

  While there already is friction in free trade—sanctions, tariffs, export bans, nationalizations, embargoes, strategic competition, etc.—between NATO & Friends and BRICS+, I expect it to grow substantially as the multipolar world order emerges.

  That will have serious consequences for commodities, which BRICS+ dominates.

  Take Russia, for example.

  Politicians and the media in the US often ridicule Russia as nothing more than “a gas station with nuclear weapons,” an inaccurate cartoonish depiction.

  Here’s the reality…

  Russia is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, lumber, wheat, fertilizer, and palladium (a crucial car component).

  It is the second-largest exporter of oil and aluminum and the third-largest exporter of nickel and coal.

  Russia is a major producer and processor of uranium for nuclear power plants. Enriched uranium from Russia and its allies provides electricity to 20% of the homes in the US.

  Aside from China, Russia produces more gold than any other country, accounting for more than 10% of global production.

  These are just a handful of examples. There are many strategic commodities that Russia dominates.

  In short, Russia is not just an oil and gas powerhouse but a commodity powerhouse.

  As tensions between NATO & Friends and BRICS+ continue to rise, I expect it to disrupt commodity trade between the two further.

  Supply disruptions mean higher prices. That’s an outcome I think we can bet on.

  I expect countries in both geopolitical blocks will increasingly focus on securing critical commodities and ensuring access to stable supplies.

  I think we can bet on geopolitical competition between the two blocks causing increased demand and unstable supplies.

  That’s why obtaining exposure to strategic commodities as the world order changes could be a winning move.

  Here’s the bottom line…

  Unfortunately, most people have no idea what really happens when the world order changes, let alone how to prepare…

  The coming crisis will be much worse, much longer, and very different than what we’ve seen since World War II.

  Countless millions throughout history were wiped out financially—or worse—as the world order changed because they failed to see the correct Big Picture and take appropriate action.

  Don’t be one of them.

  That’s exactly why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare.

  It’s called, The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now.

  Click here to download the PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 22:55

• YouTube Censors Australian Politician's Maiden Speech To Parliament
  YouTube Censors Australian Politician’s Maiden Speech To Parliament

  Authored by Rebekah Barnett via The Brownstone Institute,

  “30 minutes of truth bombs” is how one Twitter user described Liberal Democrat John Ruddick’s maiden speech to the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament, last Wednesday 28 June. “Indeed, Ruddick, who left the Liberal Party in 2021 after public disagreements over the Party’s handling of the pandemic response, said out loud in parliament what many Australians have been saying for some time now – at first privately, around dinner tables, but increasingly more publicly, over workplace water coolers or at the pub, as saying the obvious becomes more socially acceptable. 

  Nevertheless, what is socially acceptable offline is not necessarily acceptable on social media. YouTube swiftly removed Ruddick’s speech from its platform, just seven hours after it was uploaded. The NSW Liberal Democrats say this is the first time in Australian history that a politician’s maiden speech has been censored by the platform.

  

  The interference of the social media giant in Australia’s political discourse is ironic given this line from Ruddick’s speech: “We libertarians are plotting to take over the world … so we can leave you all alone.”

  A spokesperson for the Lib Dems says, “We initially posted the video on party founder Dr John Humphreys’ YouTube account. We then circulated that link on other social media – for example, this tweet from Dr John, which you can see now links to a takedown notice.”

  

  YouTube claims that the video violated its ‘medical misinformation policy’, and implied that removing the video was necessary to ensure that YouTube remains a ‘safe place for all.’ 

  

  Note the definition of ‘medical misinformation’ as information that, “contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19.” 

  Hear that? Galileo just rolled in his grave.

  So what did Ruddick actually say about Covid that might have disturbed the information gatekeepers?

  He said that the NSW government had enacted an “authoritarian Covid police state.”

  He said that the NSW government had given in to “vaccine extremism,” telling the public, ‘we won’t let you out until you take multiple injections of not only a rushed vaccine but of an entirely new class of vaccine’.

  He said that, “NSW Health published weekly data showing, the fewer vaccines you had, the less likely you went to hospital or ICU. The fatality rate was similar for the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.”

  He said that, “since the vaccine rollout there has been a 15-20 per cent increase in excess deaths in nations like Australia that had mass mRNA injections,” and questioned whether this might have anything to do with the vaccines, or from locking people up for so long.

  He said that take-up of the fifth shot is low – “too many know of others with bad reactions.”

  He said that ivermectin, an anti-viral drug that won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine, was disingenuously smeared as a horse dewormer. He noted the financial incentives for suppressing ivermectin as a potential treatment for Covid, despite researchers around the world testifying to its efficacy.

  He said that there have been over 137,000 adverse events reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration following Covid vaccination, and that many drugs have been pulled from the market for far less than this. 

  Agree or disagree as you please, but all these claims are evidence-based. As a friend of mine said when disagreeing with my insistence, in late 2021, that the vaccines would not be effective in preventing/reducing transmission, “We believe different scientists.” 

  The video of Ruddick’s maiden speech has been reposted on YouTube via the Lib Dems main account, and has not yet been taken down. You can watch the speech in full below, or via the Lib Dems twitter account.

  John Ruddick’s first speech as MP in Parliament
  He says, “Many want to move on from COVID, but I don’t,” and he’s right, we should NEVER forget.. pic.twitter.com/4oCSi5Iyth

  — Freda (@Freda8991) July 4, 2023

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

  Spectator has also published the transcript of Ruddick’s speech in full. 

  A spokesperson for the Lib Dems said on Friday, 

  “We’re obviously very disappointed that YouTube feels the need to censor something not only from NSW Parliament but as time-honoured as a maiden speech, but we also oddly must thank them as we’ve benefited from the Streisand effect. 

  “The video already has over 225,000 views on one tweet, and is also being viewed in Facebook groups, on Telegram and (for now anyway) a little bit on the federal LibDems YouTube page. The interest in the speech certainly seems to have increased exponentially after the YouTube removal, and we’re getting inundated with positive comments and questions.”

  Other notable ‘truth bombs’ from Ruddick’s speech include his criticism of blown-out government debt, and his concern that pursuing a net zero carbon economy is a “reckless folly.”

  While the Lib Dems are benefiting from the Streisand effect for the time being, Member of the European Parliament, Christine Anderson, is dealing with YouTube censorship by suing the social media platform. Anderson reports that YouTube blocked two videos from parliamentary sessions in which she acted on the official Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

  Anderson has described YouTube’s censorship as “anti-democratic,” saying, “I will not put up with uncontrolled influence on this scale, which is why I have now taken the necessary legal steps to… ensure that all citizens have unfiltered access to relevant information at all times.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 22:20

• Visualizing America's 1 Billion Square Feet Of Empty Office Space
  Visualizing America’s 1 Billion Square Feet Of Empty Office Space

  In April, one of America’s largest office owners, Brookfield, defaulted on a $161 million loan.

  The loan, covering 12 office buildings, was mainly concentrated in the Washington, D.C. market. Faced with low occupancy rates, it joined other office giants Blackstone and WeWork defaulting on office debt this year.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld shows in the graphic below, nearly 1 billion square feet of empty office space in the U.S. based on data from JLL – and the wider implications of office towers standing empty.

  

  Ranking U.S. Cities by Empty Office Space

  At the end of the first quarter of 2023, a record 963 million square feet of office space was unoccupied in America. An estimated five to 10 office towers are at risk of defaulting each month according to Manus Clancy, senior managing director at Trepp.

  Here are cities ranked by their total square feet of office vacancy as of Q1 2023. Figures include central business districts and suburban areas.

  Ranking	Market	Total Vacancy (SF)	Total Vacancy (%)
  1	New York	75.8M	16.1%
  2	Washington, D.C.	74.0M	20.8%
  3	Chicago	63.2M	23.5%
  4	Dallas	53.5M	25.0%
  5	Houston	49.3M	25.6%
  6	Los Angeles	47.1M	24.1%
  7	New Jersey	43.3M	25.8%
  8	Atlanta	38.1M	21.6%
  9	Boston	31.8M	19.1%
  10	Philadelphia	27.8M	18.8%
  11	Denver	27.3M	21.6%
  12	Phoenix	25.2M	23.9%
  13	San Francisco	22.8M	26.4%
  14	Seattle	21.4M	17.7%
  15	Minneapolis	19.9M	19.7%
  16	Detroit	18.0M	19.3%
  17	Orange County	17.7M	17.6%
  18	Salt Lake City	13.9M	18.5%
  19	Kansas City	13.8M	20.8%
  20	Pittsburgh	13.8M	21.8%
  21	Charlotte	13.7M	20.6%
  22	Austin	13.6M	18.9%
  23	Baltimore	13.1M	18.2%
  24	Portland	12.8M	17.5%
  25	Silicon Valley	12.1M	17.3%
  26	Oakland–East Bay	11.7M	22.0%
  27	San Diego	10.7M	12.3%
  28	St. Louis	10.5M	21.9%
  29	Cincinnati	10.1M	21.4%
  30	Sacramento	9.9M	19.6%
  31	Fairfield County	9.7M	25.4%
  32	Columbus	9.7M	21.7%
  33	Milwaukee	9.2M	24.0%
  34	Nashville	9.0M	18.9%
  35	Raleigh-Durham	8.9M	15.2%
  36	Indianapolis	8.6M	22.4%
  37	Tampa	8.2M	17.2%
  38	Fort Worth	7.6M	16.7%
  39	Miami	7.6M	16.2%
  40	Cleveland	7.3M	18.3%
  41	San Antonio	7.2M	17.8%
  42	Long Island	6.3M	15.2%
  43	Westchester County	5.8M	22.1%
  44	Jacksonville	5.4M	18.6%
  45	Orlando	5.0M	13.3%
  46	San Francisco Peninsula	4.4M	13.3%
  47	Richmond	4.3M	13.3%
  48	Fort Lauderdale	4.3M	16.1%
  49	North San Francisco Bay	4.0M	18.3%
  50	Louisville	3.6M	16.8%
  51	Des Moines	3.2M	12.0%
  52	Hampton Roads	3.1M	14.7%
  53	West Palm Beach	2.4M	10.3%
  54	Grand Rapids	1.8M	13.2%
  	United States	962.5M	20.2%

  Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding.

  New York has roughly 76 million square feet of empty office space. If this were stacked as a single office building, it would stretch 7 miles into the atmosphere. In 2019, the office sector accounted for about a third of all jobs in the city.

  Falling closely behind is Washington, D.C. with a 21% vacancy rate—8% higher than what is typically considered healthy. Occupiers are downsizing given remote work trends, yet some office buildings are being converted to residential properties, curtailing vacancy rates.

  Across 54 markets in the dataset, San Francisco has the highest vacancy rate at over 26%. Prior to the pandemic, vacancy rates were about 4%. This year, Salesforce walked away from a 30-story tower in downtown San Francisco spanning 104,000 square feet in an effort to cut costs.

  Overall, rising interest rates and higher vacancies have hurt U.S. office markets, with many cities potentially seeing an uptick in vacancies going forward.

  Empty Office Space: Impact on Banks

  Office building valuations are projected to fall 30% in 2023 according to Richard Barkham, global chief economist at CBRE Group.

  A sharp decline in property values could potentially result in steep losses for banks. This is especially true for small and regional banks that make up the majority of U.S. office loans. Big banks cover roughly 20% of office and downtown retail totals.

  Consider how commercial real estate exposure breaks down by different types of banks:

  Bank Assets	Commercial Real Estate Loans % of Total Assets	Share of Industry Assets
  <$100M	11.3%	0.2%
  $100M-$1B	26.9%	4.7%
  $1B-$10B	32.5%	9.7%
  $10B-$250B	18.1%	30.1%
  >$250B	5.6%	55.5%

  Source: FitchRatings

  For big banks, a recent stress test by the Federal Reserve shows that a 40% decline in commercial property values could result in a $65 billion loss on their commercial loan portfolios. The good news is that many big banks are sitting on healthy capital reserves based on requirements set in place after the global financial crisis.

  Smaller banks are a different story. Many have higher loan concentrations and less oversight on reserve requirements. If these loan portfolios deteriorate, banks may face a downgrade in ratings and higher credit losses.

  Additionally, banks with loans in markets with high vacancy rates like San Francisco, Houston, and Washington, D.C. could see more elevated risk.

  How High Rates Could Escalate Losses

  Adding further strain are the ramifications of higher interest rates.

  Higher rates have negatively impacted smaller banks’ balance sheets—meaning they are less likely to issue new loans. This is projected to cause commercial real estate transaction volume to decline 27% in 2023, contributing to lower prices. Banks have already slowed lending for commercial real estate in 2023 due to credit quality concerns.

  The good news is that some banks are extending existing loan terms or restructuring debt. In this way, banks are willing to negotiate new loan agreements to prevent widespread foreclosures from hurting their commercial loan portfolios. Short-term extensions on existing loans were often seen during the global financial crisis.

  Still, foreclosures could take place if restructuring the loan doesn’t make financial sense.

  Overall, only so many banks may be willing to wait out the uncertainty with loan extensions if fundamentals continue to worsen. Offices that are positioned to weather declines will likely have better quality, location, roster of tenants, and financing structures.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 21:45

• Hudson On The United States' Financial Quandary: ZIRP's Only Exit Path Is A Crash
  Hudson On The United States’ Financial Quandary: ZIRP’s Only Exit Path Is A Crash

  Authored by Michael Hudson via NakedCapitalism.com

  Originally published in the Investigación Económica (Economic Research), produced by UNAM (Autonomous National University of Mexico)

  Abstract

  Interest-bearing debt grows exponentially, in an upsweep. The non-financial economy of production and consumption grows more slowly as income is diverted to carry the debt overhead. A crash occurs when a large part of the economy cannot pay its scheduled debt service. That point arrived for the U.S. economy in 2008, but was minimized by a bank bailout, followed by a 14-year boom as the Federal Reserve increased bank liquidity by its Zero Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP). Flooding the capital markets with easy credit quintupled stock prices and engendered the largest bond market boom in U.S. history, but did not revive tangible capital investment, real wages or prosperity for the non-financial economy at large.

  Reversing the ZIRP in 2022 caused bond prices to fall and ended the runup of stock market and real estate prices. The great 14-year debt increase faced sharply rising interest charges, and by spring 2023 a number of banks failed, but all their depositors were bailed out by the FDIC and Federal Reserve. The open question is now whether the U.S. economy will face the financial crash that was postponed from 2009 onwards by the vast expansion of debt under ZIRP that has added to the economy’s debt burden.

  INTRODUCTION

  Throughout history the buildup of debt has tended to outstrip the ability of debtors to pay. Any rate of interest will double what is owed over time (e.g., at 3% the doubling time is almost 25 years, but 14 years at 5%). Paying carrying charges on the rising debt overhead slows the economy and hence its ability to pay. That is the dynamic of debt deflation: rising debt service as a proportion of income. Carrying charges may rise to reflect the growing risk of non-payment as arrears and defaults rise. The non-financial economy of production and consumption grows more slowly, tapering off in an S-curve as income is diverted away from new tangible investment to carry the debt (see graph 1). The crash usually occurs quickly.

  Graph 1. Financial Crisis Pattern vs. Business Cycle

  

  Governments may try to inflate their societies out of debt by creating yet more credit to postpone the inevitable crash, by bailing out lenders or debtors – mainly lenders, who have captured control of government policy. But the debt crisis ultimately must be resolved either by transferring property from debtors to creditors or by writing down debts.

  The National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) count the financial sector as producing a product, and adds its interest income and other financial charges to the economy as “earnings,” not subtracting them as rentieroverhead. The rise in financial wealth, “capital gains,” interest and related creditor claims on the economy are held to reflect a productive contribution, not an extractive charge leaving the economy with less to spend on new consumption and investment.

  The problem gets worse as this financial extraction grows larger. As credit and debt expanded in the decade leading up to the 2008 junk mortgage crisis, banks found fewer credit-worthy projects available, and turned to less viable loan markets. Banks wrote mortgage loans with rising debt/income and debt/asset ratios. Racial and ethnic minorities were the most overstretched borrowers, falling into payment arrears and defaulting. Real estate prices crashed, causing the market value of bad mortgage loans to fall below what many banks owed their depositors.

  There is nothing “natural” or inevitable about how such bank insolvency and negative equity will be resolved. The solution always is political. At issue is who will absorb the loss: depositors, indebted borrowers, bank bondholders and stockholders, or the government via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve bailouts?

  Less often asked is who will be the winners. Since 2009 it has been America’s biggest banks and the wealthiest One Percent – the very parties whose greed and short-sighted policies caused the crash. Having been deemed “systemically important,” meaning Too Big To Jail (TBTJ, sometimes cleaned up to read Too Big To Fail, TBTF), they were rescued. And today (2023), that special status is making them the beneficiaries of a flight to safety in the wake of the FDIC’s decision following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank that even large depositors should not lose a penny, no matter how poorly their banks have coped with the Fed’s policy of rising interest rates that have reduced the market value of their banks’ assets, aggravated by falling post-Covid demand for office space lowering commercial rents and leading to mortgage defaults.  Once again, this time by protecting depositors, the Federal Reserve and Treasury are trying to save the economy’s debt overhead from crashing and wiping out the nominal bank loans and other financial assets that cannot be paid.

  The usual result of a crash is a wave of foreclosures transferring property from debtors to creditors, but leading banks also may become insolvent as their debtors default. That means that their bondholders lose and counterparties cannot be paid.

  The 2008 crash saw an estimated eight to ten million over-mortgaged home buyers lose their homes, but the banks were bailed out by the Federal Reserve and Treasury. Instead of the economy’s long buildup of debt being written down, the Federal Reserve increased bank liquidity by its Zero Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP). This provided banks with enough liquidity to help the economy “borrow its way out of debt” by using low-interest credit to buy real estate, stocks and bonds yielding higher rates of return.

  The 14-year boom resulting from this debt leveraging featured an innovation in the economy’s ability to sustain growth in its debt overhead: Debt service was paid not only out of current income but largely out of asset-price gains – “capital” gains, meaning finance-capital gains engineered by fintech, financial technology. Lowering interest rates created opportunities to borrow to buy real estate, stocks and bonds yielding a higher return. This arbitrage quintupled stock prices and created the largest bond market boom in U.S. history, as well as fueling a real-estate boom marked especially by private capital firms as absentee owners of rental properties. But tangible capital investment did not recover, nor did real wages and prosperity for the non-financial economy at large.

  Ending the ZIRP in 2022 reversed this arbitrage dynamic. Rising interest rates caused bond prices to fall and ended the runup of stock market and real estate prices – in an economy whose debt overhead had risen sharply instead of being wiped out in the aftermath of 2008. In that sense, today’s debt deflation and its associated financial fragility that has already seen a number of banks fail are still part of the aftermath of trying to solve the debt crisis by creating a flood of debt to lend the economy enough credit to inflate asset prices and enable debts to be paid.

  That poses a basic question: can a debt crisis really be resolved by creating yet more debt? That is how Ponzi schemes are kept going. But when does the “long run” arrive in which, as Keynes once remarked, “we are all dead”? The remainder of the article is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses President Obama’s choice to bail out Wall Street, section 3 examines the inflation of asset prices brought about by the Fed’s ZIRP and section 4 analyzes the negative impact of the Fed ending its ZIRP. Section 5 delves into the future of the financialized U.S. economy.

  The Obama Administration’s decision to bail out Wall Street, not the economy

  The 2008-2009 crash was caused by U.S. banks writing fraudulent loans, packaging them and selling them to gullible pension funds, German state banks and other institutional buyers. The mainstream press popularized the term “junk mortgage,” meaning a loan far in excess of the reasonable ability to be paid by NINJA borrowers – those with No Income, No Jobs and no Assets. Stories spread of crooked mortgage brokers hiring appraisers to report fictitiously high property assessments to justify loans to buyers whom they coached to report fictitiously high income to make it appear that these junk mortgages could be carried.

  There was widespread awareness that an unsustainable debt overhead was building up. Even at the Federal Reserve Board, Ed Gramlich (1997-2005) warned about these fictitious valuations. But Chairman Alan Greenspan (1987-2006) announced his faith that banks would not find it good business to mislead people, so that was unthinkable. Embracing the libertarian anti-regulatory philosophy that led to his being appointed Fed Chairman in the first place, he refused to see that bank managers live in the short run, not caring about long-term relationships or how their financial operations may adversely affect the economy at large.

  This blind spot seems to be a requirement to rise in academia and the government’s regulatory club. The idea that a debt pyramid may be unsustainable makes no appearance in the models taught in today’s neoliberal economics departments and followed in government circles staffed by their graduates. So nothing was done to deter the financial pyramid of speculative packaged mortgage loans.

  Running up to the November 2008 election, President Obama promised voters to write down mortgage debts to realistic market price levels so that bank victims could keep their homes. But honoring that promise would have resulted in heavy bank losses, and the Democratic Party’s major campaign contributors were Wall Street giants. The largest banks where mortgage fraud was largely concentrated were the most insolvent, headed by Citigroup and Wells Fargo, followed by JP Morgan Chase. Yet these largest banks were classified as being “systemically important,” along with brokerage houses such as Goldman Sachs and other major financial institutions that the Obama Administration redefined as “banks” so that they could receive Federal Reserve largesse, in contrast to the hapless victims of predatory junk mortgages.

  FDIC Chair Sheila Bair wanted to take Citibank, the most reported offender, into government hands. But bank lobbyists claimed that the economy’s health and even survival required protecting the financial sector and keeping its most notorious failures from being taken over. Parroting the usual junk-economic logic given credentials by Nobel Prize awards and TV media appearances, bankers pointed out that making them bear the cost of writing down their fictitiously high mortgages to realistic market levels and the ability of debtors to pay would leave much of the financial sector insolvent, going on to claim that they needed to be rescued to save the economy. This remains the same logic used today in saving banks from the negative equity resulting from ending the Federal Reserve’s Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP).

  Not acknowledged in 2009 was that failure to write down bad loans would lead millions of families to lose their homes. Today’s economic model-builders call such considerations “externalities.” The social and environmental dimensions, the widening of income and wealth inequality and the rising debt overhead, are dismissed as “external” to the financial sector’s tunnel vision and the NIPA and GDP accounting concepts that it sponsors.

  That willful blindness by economists, regulators and financial institutions, selfishly concerned with avoiding their own loss without caring for the rest of the economy, enabled the TBTJ/F excuse for not prosecuting bankers and writing down their fraudulent mortgage loans. Instead, the Fed provided banks with enough money to prevent their bondholders from absorbing the loss, and the FDIC’s deposit-insurance limit of $100,000 was raised to $250,000 in July 2010.

  Banks had great political leverage in the threat to cause widespread economic collapse if they did not get their way and were required to take responsibility for their financial mismanagement. So instead of being obliged to write down bad mortgage loans, these debts were kept on the books and an estimated eight to ten million U.S. families were evicted. The “real” economy was left to absorb the bad-loan loss.

  Homes under foreclosure were bought largely by private capital firms and turned into rental properties. The U.S. homeownership rate – the badge of membership in the middle class, enabling it to think of itself as property owners with a harmony of interest with rentiers instead of as wage-earners – fell from 69% in 2005 to 63.7% by 2015 (see Graph 2).  

  

  Home debt/equity rates soared from just 37% in 2000 to 55% in 2014 (see Graph 3). In other words, the equity of homeowners peaked at 63 percent in 2000 but then fell steadily to just 45% in 2014 – meaning that banks held most of the value of U.S. owner-occupied homes.

  

  On the broadest level we can see that the 19th century’s long fight by classical economists to free industrial capitalism from the landlord class and economic rent has given way to a resurgent rentier economy. The financial sector is the new rentier class, and it is turning economies back into rentier capitalism – with rent being paid as interest while absentee real estate companies seek their major returns in the form of “capital” gains, that is, financialized asset-price inflation.

  Inflating asset prices by flooding the financial markets with credit

  From the Federal Reserve’s vantage point, the economic problem after the 2008 crash was how to restore and even enhance the solvency of its member banks, not how to protect the “real” economy or its home ownership rate. The Fed orchestrated a vast “easing of credit” to raise prices for real estate, stocks and bonds. That not only revived the valuation of assets pledged as collateral against mortgages and other bank loans but has fueled a 15-year asset-price inflation. The Fed did this by raising its backing for bank reserves from $2 trillion in 2008 to $9 trillion today. This $7 trillion easy-credit policy lowered interest rates to 0.2 percent for short-term Treasury bills and what banks paid their savings depositors.

  The basic principle behind ZIRP was simple. The price of any asset is theoretically determined by dividing its income by the discount rate: Price = income/interest (P = Y/i ). As interest rates plunged to near-zero, the capitalized value of real estate, corporations, stocks and bonds rose inversely. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (2006-2014) was celebrated as the savior of Wall Street, which the popular media depicted as synonymous with the economy at large.

   The result was the largest bond-market boom in history. Real estate prices recovered, enabling banks to avoid losses on mortgages as they auctioned off foreclosed homes in a “recovering” market, whose character was changing from owner-occupied housing to rental housing. Stock prices, which had fallen to 6,594 in March 2009, far surpassed their pre-crash high of 14,165 in October 2007 to more than quintuple to over 35,000 by 2020. The lion’s share of gains accrued to the economy’s wealthiest ten percent, mostly to the One Percent who own most bonds and stocks.

  Artificially low interest rates enabled private finance capital and corporations to borrow low-cost bank credit to bid up prices for real estate, stocks and bonds whose rents, profits and fixed interest yields exceeded the lowered borrowing costs. The ZIRP’s higher debt ratios inflated real estate and stock prices to bail out the banks and other creditors by creating a bonanza of financial gains. But only asset prices were inflated, not wages or disposable personal income after paying debt service. Housing prices soared, but so did the economy’s debt overhead. The ZIRP thus planted a financial depth charge: what to do if and when interest rates were allowed to return to more normal levels.

  A recent report by McKinsey (2023) calculates that asset price inflation over the two decades from 2000 to 2021 “created about $160 trillion in ‘paper wealth,’” despite the fact that “economic growth was sluggish and inequality rose,” so that “Valuations of assets like equity and real estate grew faster than real economic output. … In aggregate, the global balance sheet grew 1.3 times faster than GDP. It quadrupled to reach $1.6 quintillion in assets, consisting of $610 trillion in real assets, $520 trillion in financial assets outside the financial sector, and $500 trillion within the financial sector.”

  This enormous “capital gain” or “paper wealth” was debt-financed. “Globally, for every $1.00 of net investment, $1.90 of additional debt was created. Much of this debt financed new purchases of existing assets. Rising real estate values and low interest rates meant that households could borrow more against existing homes. Rising equity values meant that corporates could use leverage to reduce their cost of capital, finance mergers and acquisitions, conduct share buybacks, or increase cash buffers. Governments also added debt, particularly in response to the global financial crisis and the pandemic.”

  The Fed reverses ZIRP to cause a recession and prevent wages from rising

  In March 2022 the Fed announced that it intended to cope with rising wage levels (“inflation”) by raising interest rates. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (2018-present) explained that it was necessary to slow the economy to create enough unemployment to hold down wages. His right-wing illusion was that the inflation was caused by rising wages (or by government spending too much money into the economy, increasing the demand for labor and thereby raising wage and price levels).

  In reality, of course, the inflation was caused largely by U.S.-NATO sanctions against Russian exports in 2022, causing a spike in world energy and food prices, while corporate “greedflation” raised prices where there was enough monopoly power to do so. Rents also increased sharply, following the rise in housing prices encouraged by the flood of mortgage credit to absentee owners.

  Ending ZIRP reversed the Fed’s asset-price inflation policy

  The Fed’s announcement of its intention to raise interest rates warned investors that this would reverse the asset-price inflation that ZIRP had fueled. Rising interest rates lower the capitalization rate for bonds, stocks and real estate. To avoid taking a price loss for these assets, “smart money” (meaning wealthy investors) sold long-term bonds and other securities and replaced them with short-term Treasury bills and high-liquidity money-market funds. Their aim was simply to conserve the remarkable runup in financial wealth subsidized during the 2009-2022 ZIRP.

  The Fed’s aim in rising interest rates was to hurt labor by bringing on a recession, not to hurt its bank clients. But ending ZIRP caused a systemic problem for banks: Collectively they were too large to have the maneuverability that private investors enjoyed. If banks tried en masse to move out of long-term bonds and mortgages by selling their portfolios of 30-year mortgages and government bonds, prices for these securities would plunge – to a level reflecting the Fed’s targeted 4 percent interest rate.

  There was little by way of an escape route for banks to buy hedge contracts to protect themselves against the prospective price decline of the assets backing their loans and deposits. Any reasonable hedge seller would have calculated how much to charge for guaranteeing securities in the face of rising interest rates causing securities with a face value of, say, $1,000 to fall to, say, $700. A hedge contract promising to pay the bank $1,000 would have had to be priced at least at $300 to cover the expected price decline.

  So the banking system as a whole was locked into holding loans and securities whose market price would fall as the Federal Reserve tightened credit. Rising interest rates threatened to push many banks into negative equity – the problem that banks had faced in 2008-2009.

  Federal and state regulators ignored this interest-rate threat to bank solvency. They focused narrowly on whether the banking system’s debtors and bond issuers could pay what they owed. It was obvious that the Treasury could keep paying interest on government bonds, because it can always simply print the money to do so. And housing mortgages were secure, given the housing-price boom. Outright fraud thus was no longer a major worry. The new problem, seemingly unanticipated by regulators, was that capitalization rates would fall as interest rates rose, causing asset prices to decline, leaving banks with insufficient reserves to cover their deposit liabilities.

  Bank reporting rules do not require them to report the actual market value of their assets. They are allowed to keep them on their books at their original acquisition price, even when that initial “book value” no longer is realistic. If banks were obliged to report the evolving market reality, it would have been obvious that the financial system had been turned into an unsustainable Ponzi scheme, kept afloat only by the Fed flooding the market with liquidity.

  Such bubble economies have been blamed on “popular delusions” ever since the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles of the 1710s in France and England. But all financial bubbles have been sponsored by governments. To escape from their public debt burden, France and England engineered debt-for-equity swaps of shares in companies with a monopoly in the slave trade and plantation agriculture – the growth sectors of the early 18th century – with payment made in government bonds. But the 2009-2023 stock market bubble has been engineered to rescue the private sector, largely at government expense instead of it being the beneficiary. That is a major characteristic of today’s finance capitalism.

  The essence of “wealth creation” under finance capitalism is to create asset-price “capital” gains. But the economic reality that such financialized gains cannot be sustained led to the term “fictitious capital” being used already in the 19th century. The idea that inflating asset prices can enable economies to pay their debts out of finance-capital gains for more than just a short period has been promoted by an unrealistic economic theory that depicts any asset price as reflecting intrinsic value, not puffery or financial manipulation of stock, bond and real estate prices.

  Today’s bank assets are estimated to be $2 trillion less than their nominal book value. But banks were able to ignore this reality as long as they did not have to start selling off their real-estate mortgages and government bonds. All that they had to fear was that depositors would start withdrawing their money when they saw the widening disparity between the typical 0.2 percent interest that banks were paying on savings deposits and what the government was paying on safe U.S. Treasury securities.

  That interest-rate disparity is what led to the eruption of bank failures in spring 2023. At first that seemed to be an isolated problem unique to each local bank failure. When Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX fraud showed the problems of cryptocurrency as an investment, holders began to sell. What was said to be “peer to peer” lending turned out to be mutual funds in which cryptocurrency buyers withdrew money from banks and turned them over to the cryptofund managers, with no regulation. The “peers” at the other end turned out to be the managers behind an opaque balance sheet. That realization led customers to withdraw, and crypto sites met these withdrawals by drawing down their own bank deposits. Many bankruptcies ensued from what turned out to be Ponzi schemes. Two banks failed as a result of heavy loans to the cryptocurrency sector and reliance on deposits from it: Silvergate Bank on March 8 and Signature Bank in New York on March 12.

  The other set of failed banks were those with a high proportion of large depositors: Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 and neighboring First Republic Bank in San Francisco on May 1. Their major customers were private capital backers of local information-technology startups. These large financially savvy depositors were substantially above the $250,000 FDIC-insured limit and also were the most willing to move their money into government bonds and notes that paid higher interest than the 0.2 percent that SVB and other banks were paying.

   Another set of high-risk banks are community banks with a high proportion of long-term mortgage loans against commercial real estate. Office prices are plunging as occupancy rates decline now that employers have found that they need much less space for their on-site work force since Covid has led many workers to work from home. As a recent Wall Street Journal report explains: “Around one-third of all commercial real-estate lending in the U.S. is floating rate … Most lenders of variable-rate debt require borrowers to buy an interest-rate cap that limits their exposure to rising rates. … Replacing these hedges once they expire is now very expensive. A three-year cap at 3% for a $100 million loan cost $23,000 in 2020. A one-year extension now costs $2.3 million.”

  It is cheaper to default on heavily debt-leveraged properties. Large real estate companies, such as Brookfield Asset Management (with assets of $825 billion) which saw its mortgage payments rise by 47 percent in the past year, are walking away as commercial rents fall short of the carrying charges on their floating-rate mortgages. Blackstone and other firms are also bailing out. Stock-market prices for real-estate investment trusts (REITs) have fallen by more than half since the Covid pandemic began in 2020, reflecting office-building price declines by about a third so far, and still plunging.

  Many banks are now offering depositors interest in the 5 percent range to deter a deposit drain, especially as a “flight to safety” is concentrating deposits in the large “systemically critical banks” blessed with FDIC guarantees that customers will not lose their money even when their deposits exceed the nominal FDIC limit. These are precisely the banks whose behavior has been the most outright reckless. As Pam Martens has documented on her e-site “Wall Street on Parade,” JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are serial offenders, the most responsible for the reckless lending that contributed to the financial system’s negative equity in the first place. Yet they have been made the winners, the new havens in today’s debt-ridden economy.

  It turns out that being “systematically important” means that one belongs to the group of banks that control government policy of the financial sector in their own favor. It means being important enough to oppose the appointment of any Federal Reserve officials, bank regulators and Treasury officers who would not protect these banks from regulation, from prosecution for fraud, and from being taken over by the FDIC and government when their asset-price losses exceed their equity and leave them as zombie banks.

  Where will the financialized U.S. economy go from here?

  Rising interest rates are winding the clock back to the same negative-equity condition that the banking system faced in 2008-2009. When Silicon Valley Bank’s “unrealized loss” of $163 billion on falling prices for its government bondholdings and mortgages exceeded its equity base, that was merely a scale model of the condition of many big U.S. banks in late 2008.

  The problem this time is not bank-mortgage fraud but falling asset-prices resulting from the Fed raising interest rates. And behind that is the most basic underlying problem: The banking system’s product is debt, which is extracting a rising share of national income. The economics profession, the Federal Reserve, bank regulators and the Treasury share a blind spot when it comes to confronting the degree to which debt is a burden draining income from the “real” economy of production and consumption.

  The trillions of dollars in nominal financial wealth registered by the bond, stock and real estate markets since ZIRP was initiated has been plowed back with yet more credit into more asset purchases to keep the price-rise going with rising debt leverage, bidding up financial claims on property rights, especially rent-yielding claims. All this financialization was given tax advantages over ‘real” capital investment.

  The $7 trillion of Fed support for the banking system to lend out and bid up prices for real estate, stocks and bonds could have been used to reduce carrying charges on homes and other real estate. That could have helped the economy lower its housing, living and employment costs and become more competitive. Instead, the role of the Federal Reserve and privatized banking system has been to create yet more credit to keep bidding up asset prices.

  The beneficiaries have been mainly the wealthiest One Percent, not the economy at large. Inflation-adjusted wages have remained in the doldrums, enabling corporate profits and cash flow to increase – but over 90 percent of this corporate revenue has been paid out as dividends or spent on corporate stock buyback programs, not invested in tangible new means of production or employment. Many corporate managers have even borrowed to raise their stock prices by buying back their own shares.

  Today’s financial system has not managed its credit creation and wealth to help the economy grow. Debt-inflated housing prices have increased the economy’s cost structure, and debt deflation is blocking recovery. The household sector, corporate sector, and state and local budgets are fully loaned up, and default rates are rising for auto loans, student loans, credit-card loans, and mortgage loans, especially for commercial office buildings as noted above.

  Looking back over recent decades, the Federal Reserve and Treasury have created a banking crisis of immense proportions by protecting commercial banks and now even brokerage houses and the shadow banking system as clients to be served instead of shaping financial markets to promote overall economic growth. Behind this financial crisis is a crisis in economic theory that is largely a product of academic and media lobbying by the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) sector to depict rentier income and property claims as being part of the production-and-consumption economy, not external to it as an extractive layer.

  And behind this neoliberal theory that has replaced classical political economy is the rentier dynamic of finance capitalism. Its essence has been to financialize industry, not to industrialize finance. The monetary and credit system has been increasingly privatized and financial regulatory agencies have been captured by the sectors that they are supposed to regulate in the economy’s long-term interest. The financial sector notoriously has lived in the short run, and tried to free itself from any constraint on its extractive and outright predatory behavior that burdens the non-financial economy.

  The exponentially rising debt overhead is the financial equivalent of environmental pollution causing global warming, disabling the economy’s health much as long Covid incapacitates humans. The result today is an economic quandary – something more serious than just a “problem.” A problem can be solved, but a quandary has no solution. Any move will make the situation even worse. Mathematicians express this as being in an “optimum position”: one from which any move will make matters worse.

   That is the kind of optimum position in which the U.S. economy finds itself today. If the Fed and other central banks keep interest rates high to bring about a recession to lower wages, the economy will shrink and its ability to carry its debt overhead – and to make further stock-market and real-estate price gains – will be eroded. The debt arrears that already are mounting up will lead to defaults, which already are occurring in the commercial real estate sector.

  Trying to return to a ZIRP to sustain asset prices is much harder in the face of today’s legacy of post-2009 debt – not to mention the pre-2009 debt that crashed. Bank reserves have shrunk, and in any case the economy is largely “loaned up” and can hardly take on any more debt. So one path or another, the end-result of ZIRP – and the Obama Administration’s failure to write down the economy’s bad-debt overhead – must be a crash.

   But a crash would not mean that the economy’s debt problem will be “solved.” As long as the guiding policy principle remains “Big fish eats little fish,” the economy will polarize and the concentration of financial wealth will accelerate as debt-burdened assets will pass into the hands of creditors whose wealth has been so vastly increased since 2009.

  *  *  *

  Michael Hudson, is a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a research associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. His latest book is The Destiny of Civilization. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 21:10

• Anti-Gunner David Hogg Visits Gun Range, Believes "30 Round Mags" Are For "War"
  Anti-Gunner David Hogg Visits Gun Range, Believes “30 Round Mags” Are For “War”

  Gun-control activist and now ‘Harvard-educated’ David Hogg visited a gun range on Wednesday. He apparently shot a semi-automatic rifle in a ‘controlled’ environment to claim magazines over ten rounds are only for “war and people who don’t know how to shoot.” 

  “If you need more than 10 rounds to hit something you need more range time or you need glasses, not a larger magazine. Hell, if you’re that bad of a shot you’re safer with a baseball bat because a gun will probably be turned on you. Especially if you are shooting a rifle and you can’t hit what you are aiming for in 10 rounds you need to check your sights, check your eye dominance, and/or improve trigger pull,” Hogg tweeted, adding, “30 round mags are for two two things, war and people who don’t know how to shoot.”

  If you need more than 10 rounds to hit something you need more range time or you need glasses, not a larger magazine. Hell, if you’re that bad of a shot you’re safer with a baseball bat because a gun will probably be turned on you. Especially if you are shooting a rifle and you…

  — David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) July 6, 2023

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

  Hogg continued, “I know many who follow me haven’t shot guns or semi automatic rifles before. Even with zero training I could shoot a pretty tight grouping at 20 yards.” 

  Judging by the picture the young gun control activist tweeted, his groupings were far from ‘tight’ — especially at such a short distance. 

  

  “You don’t need 30 round mags. If you can’t stop whatever you need to with 10 7.62 rounds. You got bigger problems,” he told his 1.2 million followers. 

  Yet the Harvard-educated gun-control activist spends one day at an indoor range in a controlled setting and now believes he’s an ‘expert’ in all things guns. 

  However, the gun blog Bearing Arms noted: 

  My problem here is that Hogg is taking a day at the range to provide “proof” that no one needs more than 10 rounds. He’s trying to use this to argue that there’s no reason to not have restrictions on magazine capacity. He’s basically pretending to be an authority so he can try and justify the positions he already had.

  The problem is that there are too many people who know more than him, for one thing.

  In fact, based on this bloviating, I’d say that includes almost everyone not a braindead moron.

  For another, the Constitution isn’t about what David Hogg says we need. It’s about preserving the right of the people to make that determination for themselves. 

  We would like to know if Hogg requested his security team only to carry ten round clips.

  

  Like any fresh Ivy League school grad who believes they’re now the voice of logic, many have never been in the real world. Many on Twitter pointed this out about Hogg: 

  “Go run a mile at full speed then shoot for accuracy. Do 45 pushups then shoot for accuracy. Wake up from a dead sleep to a loud noise and shoot for accuracy. Go on, prove it. Bet you won’t,” one person tweeted. 

  “Translation: I’ve never been in a firefight,” someone else said. 

  Someone pointed out, “This moron can’t envision more than one attacker at a time?” 

  The key issue here is that Hogg’s lack of real-world experience raises questions. Deciding magazine capacity purely based on one day at an indoor gun range is gross misinformation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 20:35

• Rickards: Will Inflation Soon Turn To Deflation?
  Rickards: Will Inflation Soon Turn To Deflation?

  Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

  Can you expect continued inflation — or a trend toward disinflation and possibly even deflation?

  

  That’s probably the most important question in economics today.

  This is more than a matter of competing narratives. The question goes to the heart of modern economics (the so-called Neo-Keynesian consensus) and the models used in economic forecasting.

  In truth, it goes to the heart of economics generally and helps to explain why so many forecasts are so badly wrong.

  The inflation narrative is straightforward. Inflation was gaining momentum from mid-2021 until it peaked at 40-year highs in June 2022. That peak was 9.1% inflation, a rate not seen since the early 1980s. At the same time unemployment was at lows of about 3.4%, a rate not seen since the late 1960s.

  This combination of high inflation and low unemployment seemed to confirm the validity of the Phillips curve, which posits an inverse correlation between inflation and unemployment. When unemployment is low, inflation is high and vice versa.

  The Case for Deflation

  The deflation narrative, which includes disinflation, is also straightforward. By late 2021, the Federal Reserve became increasingly concerned about inflation and decided to act. The Fed began tightening monetary policy in early 2022, reducing the base money supply by not rolling over maturing mortgages and U.S. Treasury securities.

  They tightened further with a policy of 10 straight interest rate hikes beginning last March and continuing until this May. (The Fed skipped a rate hike in June 2023 but is keeping the option to hike further on the table for now.) This took the Fed’s policy rate to 5.25%, one of the fastest increases of that magnitude in Fed history.

  The Fed’s monetary tightening seemed to work. Inflation has dropped from 9.1% last June to 4.0% this May. That’s still well above the Fed’s target inflation rate of 2%, but it does represent significant progress toward that goal.

  It seems all the Fed has to do is raise rates one more time, perhaps this month, and wait patiently and inflation will soon fall to the Fed’s target rate. If a mild recession and higher unemployment are the price of this success, then that’s a price Fed Chair Jay Powell is prepared to pay.

  If this two-year inflation-deflation narrative seems too neat and tidy, it is.

  The standard economic models and simple explanations break down in a number of places. In fact, the breakdown is so extensive it calls in question whether the Fed and mainstream economists have any idea what they’re doing.

  The best evidence is that they don’t.

  The Phillips Curve Is Junk Science

  To begin, the Phillips curve says the falling inflation should have been accompanied by higher unemployment. That hasn’t happened. The unemployment rate rose in May to 3.7% from 3.4% the month before, but the current rate is still at levels not seen since the 1960s.

  The March unemployment rate was 3.5% and February’s was 3.6%. The fact is the unemployment rate has not risen much at all even after 16 months of monetary tightening.

  The 1930s were a period of high unemployment and low inflation. The 1960s were a period of low unemployment and low inflation. The late 1970s were a period of high unemployment and high inflation.

  History and data show that there is no correlation between unemployment and inflation.

  We have to look elsewhere for explanatory factors that have real predictive value. Likewise, recession has not turned up in the data despite Fed tightening. It has been 38 months since the end of the last recession. Average annual growth during that period has been 5.88%.

  Growth for the first quarter of 2023 was 1.3%. Projected growth for the second quarter of 2023 is 2.1% according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow forecast. These recent growth figures are weak, but they are not recessionary.

  There are ample warning signs of recession including inverted yield curves and I expect a recession soon. But it’s not here yet.

  If unemployment remains low, the economy continues to grow and stock indexes are in a bubble despite the Fed’s historic monetary tightening, this calls into question the Fed’s models as well as the mainstream Neo-Keynesian consensus.

  What’s going on?

  The first flaw in the model-based forecasts is the failure of analysts to distinguish between inflation that emerges from the supply side and that which emerges from the demand side. The difference is crucial from a forecasting perspective.

  The Psychology of Consumer Behavior

  The inflation of 2021–2023 was real but it was caused by supply chain bottlenecks and shortages of critical goods and industrial inputs. The supply chain disruptions were exacerbated by unprecedented economic and financial sanctions because of the war in Ukraine.

  This kind of supply-side inflation tends to be self-negating. The high prices cause reduced demand, which in turn tends to lower prices. We’re seeing this every day starting at the gas pump where the record high prices of the summer of 2022 have come down significantly (although still higher than 2021).

  We see further evidence in OPEC’s decision to cut oil output as a way to prop up prices. In short, the inflation was real, but it’s already fading for reasons that have nothing to do with the Fed.

  The second flaw in the models is the failure to understand the process by which inflation can shift from the supply side to the demand side if inflation persists long enough. This is a change in the psychology of consumers and plays out in behavioral responses. Neither the psychology nor the behavior is accounted for by standard models.

  If inflationary psychology takes hold in the general public, it can feed on itself despite recession and declining real wages. The models don’t show this but history does. This is exactly what happened in the 1970s.

  Inflation Can Be a Stubborn Thing

  The inflation then began from the supply side with the Arab oil embargo of 1973 after the Yom Kippur War. The U.S. suffered a severe recession from 1973–1975 with peak unemployment of 9.0%. The U.S. had another recession in 1980, and a third in 1981–1982 in which unemployment hit 10.8%. That last recession was the most severe at the time since the Great Depression.

  Despite three recessions in nine years, double-digit unemployment and two stock market crashes, the mid-to-late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed the highest inflation since the end of World War II. By 1981, inflation had reached 15% and interest rates were raised to 20% to combat the inflation.

  The term for this combination of low growth and high inflation was “stagflation.” The inflation that began on the supply side in 1973 had moved to the demand side by 1977 and was out of control. Recessions couldn’t stop it.

  Even in periods of economic stress, consumers respond to inflation in ways that make sense. They accelerate purchases because they expect prices to rise further. They use leverage to buy hard assets and stocks because they see these as safe havens against inflation.

  Retailers raise prices to meet higher wage costs and to maintain margins. The entire process feeds on itself. And this self-help can continue even in recessionary conditions as it did in 1975 and 1981.

  Stagflation has already emerged in the U.K. CPI inflation in the U.K. is 8.7%. At the same time, the U.K. is bordering on a recession with growth of 0.1% in Q4 22 and Q1 23, and forecast growth turns negative after that. Stagflation is not just an historical outlier. It’s a present-day reality.

  Are we at that point? Are we in a world where human nature dictates inflationary defense tactics that feed on themselves despite possible recession and monetary tightening?

  We’re seeing some evidence of this, including a new five-year contract for unionized teachers in New York City that offers back pay and signing bonuses and raises wages by 20%.

  There’s no need to debate whether teachers deserve this raise. The plain fact is they got it. And there are many similar examples. How long before the pay raises to teachers and others get pushed into more consumer demand and higher retail prices that inflate away the wage gains.

  The economy could party like it’s 1979.

  Use the Barbell Strategy to Combat the Inflation/Deflation Tug-of-War

  The odds of a recession and stock market decline are high. Still, the odds of persistent inflation and high interest rates are also high. Those two phenomena are not inconsistent despite what the standard models say.

  We’ve seen them go together before in the late 1970s and in prior episodes.

  We could be witnessing a case of inflation and interest rates higher for longer than Wall Street and the Fed expected. (By the way, if you’re interested in a much more in-depth analysis of this inflation-deflation conundrum, please see Chapters 4 and 5 of my most recent book Sold Out.

  Given the uncertainties of the inflation/deflation struggle, the best approach for investors is a diversified barbell strategy that protects against both.

  A model portfolio could have gold, natural resources and energy stocks as inflation hedges, with Treasury notes as deflation hedges, and a healthy allocation to cash between the two ends of the barbell to provide liquidity and optionality as conditions become more clear.

  I’ll continue to follow these developments and keep readers informed. Stay tuned.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 20:00

• Dutch Government Collapses Amid Deadlock Over Immigration Policy
  Dutch Government Collapses Amid Deadlock Over Immigration Policy

  It has not been a good month for the WEF private jet-setting globalists: first the French riots, and now the (latest) fall of the government of Dutch PM Mark Rutte, and what makes this an especially painful drubbing is that it was over an issue near and dear to the billionaire globalists’ heart: immigration.

  On Friday, the Dutch government collapsed after it failed to reach a decision how to limit the flow of asylum-seekers into the country. The crisis boiled over after Rutte’s government realized it couldn’t progress beyond a stalemate over a plan proposed by the prime minister’s conservative VVD party to separate refugee families and limit the number of migrants entering the Netherlands, which two of his four-party government coalition refused to support.

  “It’s no secret that the coalition partners have differing opinions about immigration policy. Today we unfortunately have to conclude that those differences have become insurmountable. Therefore I will tender the resignation of the entire cabinet to the king,” Rutte said in a televised news conference.

  Rutte, the longest-service premier of the nation, resigned in the wake of the collapse, but will remain in office until a new prime minister is chosen.  News agency ANP, citing the national elections committee, said elections would not be held before mid-November. A caretaker government cannot decide on new policies, but Rutte said it would not affect the country’s support for Ukraine.

  

  Friday’s collapse followed two days of late-night meetings between the coalition over the issue of immigration, which – like at all other Western nations – has put a strain on the already densely populated country’s housing infrastructure.

  The Netherlands already has a one of Europe’s toughest immigration policies but under the pressure of right-wing parties, Rutte had for months been trying to seek ways to further reduce the inflow of asylum seekers.

  The four-party coalition had been trying to hash out a deal for months on how to handle the dramatic influx of thousands of migrants seeking refuge, including from African nations and Ukraine.

  As the Post reports, among the various proposals considered by the coalition was the creation of two classes of asylum, a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for people trying to escape persecution, and capping the number of family members allowed to join asylum-seekers in the Netherlands.

  Rutte had been pushing for a controversial proposal that would limit the entrance of children of war refugees already in the country and make families wait at least two years before they can be united. However, centrist parties D66 and Christian Union said the suggested policy went too far and rejected all plans that supported a strict crackdown on migration.

  After several nights without progress, the parties decided unanimously that they could not reach an agreement on the issue and could no longer remain together in the coalition.

  The immigration issue has become a key political concern and will likely be a focal point in the new election cycle. More than 21,500 non-Europeans sought asylum in the Netherlands in 2022, but that pales to what is coming: asylum applications in the country are projected to surpass 70,000 this year, topping the previous record high of 2015.

  Last year, the country’s reception center turned refugees away from its overcrowded housing complexes, forcing them to sleep outside in squalid conditions.  Hundreds of the homeless asylum-seekers were left with little or no access to drinking water, sanitary facilities or health care.

  The Netherlands is now suffering the consequences that scandal-ridden Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom warned about many years ago, and who was mocked and isolated by the establishment despite his widespread popular support. 

  Rutte’s coalition will continue serving until the next election, which might not be held before mid-November, News agency ANP reported. But don’t he will be back. After all, this will be the third time his government has collapsed; the first time was in 2012 over disagreements about austerity measures, and then again in 2021 when he resigned over a childcare subsidy debacle.

  Rutte, 56, is the longest-serving government leader in Dutch history and the most senior in the EU after Hungary’s Viktor Orban. He is expected to lead his VVD party again at the next elections.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 19:25

• Who Is Funding 'Drag Story Hours' At California Public Libraries?
  Who Is Funding ‘Drag Story Hours’ At California Public Libraries?

  Authored by Orlean Koehle via The Epoch Times,

  …continued from Groups Protest at Drag Story Hours in California Part II

  On the evening of July 5, about 30 concerned parents and grandparents showed up at the Sonoma County commissioners meeting held at the Rohnert Park Library. About 20 of us spoke and stated why we were so opposed to their sponsoring and paying for the recent four drag story hours held on Fathers’ Day weekend.

  The story hours were sponsored and paid for by the Sonoma County Library Commission using our tax dollars to the tune of $500 per hour, thus $2,000 in total.

  

  By attending the meeting, we learned that, for the most part, the 10 commissioners agreed that the drag story hour performances went well and they are proud of themselves for holding them; they are pleased that they were able to “affirm” the LGBT community. They were happy that a total of 322 parents and children attended them.

  One commissioner, who is an attorney, was able to attend the story hour held at Petaluma. He borrowed a friend’s 11-year-old child so he could sit in on it. (You had to have a child with you, or you were not allowed in, even as a commissioner.)

  He said that there was nothing sexual about the presentation and there were no sexual movements. The storyteller just read her books and led the children in songs and dances. Another commissioner stated that he was pleased that the protests were peaceful on both sides.

  The 20 of us who were part of the protests spoke and gave a whole different view. We told of the disrespect shown to us, especially at the Santa Rosa downtown library, where someone from the pro-trans group used a loud mega horn and called us every derogatory name she could think of: bigots, fascists, hateful, fascist grandmothers, etc. Our signs were blocked by big black umbrellas, or large people stood in front of us so no one could see us or our signs.

  The commissioners only gave us two minutes each to speak, so I made copies of what I wanted to say and gave them each a copy after I spoke. I spoke briefly about the history and purpose of drag story hours and my concern that many of the people telling stories to our innocent children are anything but good role models for them.

  The following is part of the content of the handout that I gave to the commissioners. I had also given it to people at the drag story hour events, but most of the people of the LGBT community refused to take it.

  History

  According to Wikipedia, the idea for a drag queen story hour was started in San Francisco in 2015 by author Michelle Tea, who identified as “queer.” She came up with the idea after attending children’s library events with her young son and finding them welcoming but not really “affirming” of LGBT families.

  Tea wanted a library hour that would be inclusive to LGBT families. Her first event was held at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. It featured several drag queens who were all well received.

  The idea quickly spread, and Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) chapters formed across the nation and some internationally.

  As of February 2020, there were 50-plus official nonprofit chapters, and drag storytellers were holding events at libraries, schools, bookstores, and museums. In October 2022, the name was officially changed to Drag Story Hour (DSH) to be more inclusive and “reflect the diverse cast of storytellers,” since there are both “queen and king” presenters now.

  Wikipedia states that DSH aims to “capture the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.”

  DSH leaders actually admit that they want children to have “queer role models.”

  Attack on the Family

  Christopher Rufo, who writes for City Journal, believes the real purpose of DSH and the transgender movement is far more subversive than just creating queer role models. He stated, “The drag queen [or king] might appear as a comic figure, but he/she carries an utterly serious message: the deconstruction of sex, the reconstruction of child sexuality, and the subversion of middle-class family life.”

  Not only are many of these “drag queen” or “king” readers also performers in striptease bars and nightclubs (as Vera, our reader, was), some are even pedophiles.

  Newsweek reported in 2019 that the drag queen storyteller in Houston, Texas, who had been performing at the public library from 2017–2019, turned out to be a registered sex offender, a pedophile. The National Pulse reported in 2021 that Brette Bloome, the head of the drag queen story hour in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was arrested for multiple possessions of child pornography.

  Is that the kind of person you want your child to be around or to someday become?

  Notice the choice of books. They all have something to do with transgenderism—to affirm to a small child that the transgender, gay, or lesbian lifestyle is perfectly normal and acceptable. Experts call this “grooming” the child. The more grooming that occurs, and the more exposure to such presentations, the more the child will accept the indoctrination that he or she is receiving.

  What effect did our protests and words have on the library commissioners? None at all, it seemed.

  We noticed on the agenda that their next story hour will be the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence coming to Guerneville on July 29. This will not only endanger innocent children; it will be a total mockery of Catholic nuns and the Catholic religion. Some of the Catholics in our group of protesters are threatening a lawsuit.

  Who Is Funding the Presentations?

  Much funding comes from taxpayer dollars. Some of the story hours have been held on military bases, supported by our taxes. Some funds come from public libraries themselves (as in the case of our Sonoma County libraries), who invite the presenters in the spirit of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

  The funds buy books; some DSH events give books away for free. Of course, all the books are promoting their agenda.

  The funds also pay the “queens” and “kings” for their performances and for the training they receive to ensure they can “talk effectively to children and parents about gender identity and drag,” according to Wikipedia.

  Funding also comes from big foundations and corporations. Much money comes from wealthy billionaires like George Soros and his Open Society Foundation and from the Warren Buffett Foundation.

  Both of these men believe the world is overpopulated and the population must be drastically reduced. What better way than to make sure young people cannot reproduce? They know that transgender children who have had body parts cut off will never be able to have children of their own.

  The Federalist reported in 2018 that another big billionaire family that is giving much money to drag story hours and other transgender causes is the Pritzker family. This family created the Hyatt Hotel chain with its leader Jennifer Pritzker, who identifies as transgender. Mr. Pritzker used to be named James and even served in the military. Now as a transgender woman, he is very supportive of transgender causes.

  But could it be more because of financial interests than ideological ones? Some of the organizations Mr. Pritzker owns and funds are especially noteworthy, for they are all promoting the rapid induction of transgender ideology into medical, legal, and educational institutions.

  Mr. Pritzker owns Squadron Capital, an acquisitions corporation with a focus on medical technology, medical devices, and orthopedic implants; and the Tawani Foundation, a philanthropic organization with grants that focus on gender and human sexuality.

  Other wealthy people who have invested a lot of money in the transgender movement are Martine Rothblatt (a male who identifies as transgender and transhumanist), Tim Gill (a gay man), Drummond Pike, Jon Stryker (a gay man), Mark Bonham (a gay man), and Ric Weiland (a deceased gay man whose philanthropy is still LGBT-oriented). Most of these billionaires fund the transgender lobby and organizations through their own organizations, including corporations.

  According to the Federalist, many other wealthy donors use other foundations to hide their names—such as the Tides Foundation.

  Then there is Big Pharma. Who stands to make the most money if children fall for all the indoctrination that they hear and decide they, too, were born in the wrong body and end up transitioning themselves?

  According to PJ Media, Big Pharma companies are also pouring money into the transgender movement because they know they will get that money back with all the puberty blockers and hormones that the transitioning persons will need for the rest of their lives to keep them in their transgendered state.

  The transgender business is very lucrative, bringing in lots of money for the hospitals and doctors performing the surgeries, plus the cost of expensive hormones and the cost of counseling.

  According to the Daily Wire, it is expected that the money earned will be $5 billion at the end of 2023 and maybe $11 billion in future years.

  Concerned Parents

  We who protested the story hours are a group of concerned parents and grandparents. Some of us even have children who have suddenly—seemingly out of the blue—decided they identify strongly with the opposite sex and are at various stages in their transitioning.

  This is a new phenomenon that has only recently been identified. Researchers are calling it “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD), and it is becoming an epidemic among our most vulnerable youth.

  We are horrified at the growing number of young people whose bodies have been disfigured and whose physical and mental health have been destroyed by transitioning, only to discover—too late—that it did little to relieve their dysphoria.

  Contrary to popular opinion, data shows that the highest rate of thoughts of suicide is among transgender youth (82 percent) who realize there is no going back—they cannot regrow those body parts that were removed. They will never be able to have children of their own.

  Our children are young, naïve, and impressionable. Many of them are experiencing emotional or social difficulties. They are strongly influenced by their peers and by the media, and these sources promote the transgender lifestyle as popular, desirable, and the solution to all of their problems.

  And they are being misled by authority figures such as teachers, doctors, counselors, and librarians who rush to “affirm” their chosen gender without ever questioning why.

  We concerned parents do not hold any hate for the LGBT community. We just love our children and do not want them indoctrinated into making decisions at an early age that can harm them for the rest of their lives.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 18:50

• White House Spox Defends Admissions Discrimination As 'Important Constitutional Right'
  White House Spox Defends Admissions Discrimination As ‘Important Constitutional Right’

  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared on MSNBC last week, where she took a clear stance against the recent Supreme Court decision in favor of Asian Americans who sued Harvard over racial discrimination in their affirmative action-based admissions system.

  

  Speaking with host Ari Melber, the self-described ‘historic figure‘ said the conservative-majority court had made “unprecedented” rulings regarding abortion, and that last week’s ruling on affirmative action was again “taking away important constitutional rights that have been in place for a long time.“

  “Let’s not forget this… the president was, when he was a Senator, he was the chair of Judiciary Committee. He is an expert on this. He understands how this works a lot of these uh you know a lot of these unprecedented decisions that this SCOTUS has made, they have been held up in the past by Republicans, by democrats, right? And so there’s so much changes that have happened in the past year and it is it is you know unheard of it is really wrong what we’ve seen…”

  Melber then asked her about preferential treatment for legacy admissions, to which KJP bizarrely pivoted to nominating ‘diverse’ judges.

  “As I mentioned, the president takes this very seriously he’s an expert at this when it comes to judges and getting judges through… as we’re nominating judges and getting them through … we’ve done about 136 federal judges who are diverse and represent this country and that is also important so we’re going to keep that afoot make sure that we continue to focus on that.”

  Watch and enjoy the word salad:

  Yes Karine, it’s an ‘important constitutional right’ to keep the top performing students – who gave up a social life in High School for straight A’s so they could attend America’s (formerly) most prestigious institutions – from achieving their dreams.

  How insane did Harvard’s affirmative action policies get?

  An African American student in the 40th percentile of their academic index is more likely to get it than an Asian student in the 100th percentile.

  Black students in the 50th percentile are more likely to get in that… pic.twitter.com/9vvBuQXA24

  — Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 29, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 18:15

• BIS: CBDC Roll-Outs May Require Changing The Constitution
  BIS: CBDC Roll-Outs May Require Changing The Constitution

  Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

  The IMF is warning that with all these CBDCs about to launch, there need to be global inter-operability standards between them all, and they’re working on a global platform to facilitate just that.

  

  Speaking at a conference of African central banks in Rabat, Morocco, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that there needs to be agreement among CBDC implementations,

  “on a common regulatory framework for digital currencies that will allow global interoperability. Failure to agree on a common platform would create a vacuum that would likely be filled by cryptocurrencies”

  Not to be outdone, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) worked with seven central banks to publish YARP (Yet Another Research Paper) on CBDC policy, entitled “Central Bank Digital Currencies: ongoing policy perspectives”… (*yawn*).

  The central banks involved were: Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, England, the United States, Canada, and the European Union.

  The paper is mostly a snoozer:

  “Development of CBDC work requires careful consideration and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including the private sector and legislators”… 

  “To successfully meet its public policy objectives, a CBDC ecosystem should allow a wide range of private and public stakeholders to participate and, in doing so, deliver services which benefit end users.”…

  “The complex design questions and the potential risks arising from the implementation of any CBDC require careful consideration.”

  Until you get to the rather innocuous sounding Annexes, like “Box 2: Legal Considerations”.

  This is where it starts to get interesting.

  What are retail CBDCs, exactly?

  The paper wonders: Are they cash? Deposits? Or something else entirely?

  This is quite the question, because if CBDCs aren’t cash, there has to be a reason why they wouldn’t be. When you start to see where CBDCs are going: expiry dates, programability, social credit scores – what we’re talking about is almost a kind of anti-cash (my observation, not the paper’s).

  Further, the paper wonders, would there need to be changes to banking charters, legislation or even the constitutions of the countries issuing them:

  “Legislation may need to be enacted or adjusted to specifically authorise the issuance and distribution of a retail CBDC (eg changes to central bank charters/statutes, legislation in other areas related to payments or to the constitution itself)”

  Who had “new Constitutional convention” on their bingo card for the roll-out of CBDCs? We do now.

  Box 3:  What tools may be needed to manage stressed conditions?

  Here we truly get a peak behind the curtain – and it’s all dressed up in that Davos-dialect of benign-sounding euphemisms that belie a Brave New World (like how “recontextualizing food chains” basically means banning the peasants from eating meat).

  They get right to it:

  “When considering potential tools and policies to manage stressed conditions (eg limiting or managing fund outflows from bank deposits), there are price and quantity control approaches, with a mix of the two also being possible”

  Those would be your bank deposits. In this section they’re gaming out how to contain bank runs. 

  “Quantity holding limits have the advantage of directly limiting the extent of potentially harmful levels of disintermediation (eg structural changes resulting from CBDC adoption that increase the cost or availability of credit across the economy), and being relatively simple to implement.

  However, they also have disadvantages, such as potentially impacting adoption; this may happen if holding limits increase the risk of failed transactions occurring, or make CBDC transactions less convenient, especially if alternative forms of digital money (eg stablecoins) do not present similar limits.”

  Translation: We can cap how much money SerfCoin you’re permitted to hold, so we don’t blow up the system with too much SerfCoin issuance, but if we do that, you may not want to hold SerfCoin, opting for stablecoins (and cryptos) instead – where no such limits would apply.

  Implementing limits may also have knock-on effects on the potential functionality of CBDC. 

  Technical solutions such as “waterfall” or “cascade” functionality, whereby CBDC holdings or payments that would breach a limit would automatically be transferred into other deposits, could be considered to ease the effects of being close to any holding limit/threshold. 

  Translation: We can build in safety valves that would automatically move your money SerfCoin into other accounts, and even make such transfers obligatory. But that could get tricky, because that might technically be, well… theft. 

  When I read what comes next:

  Price-based measures like fees and tiered remuneration have the advantage of being more flexible by allowing for any size of transaction or holdings, albeit at increasing costs.

  In principle, the decision about the amount of CBDC transferred or held above a certain level is influenced via incentives but still relies primarily on each user’s preference. However, price-based measures may permit larger inflows into CBDC in stress situations compared with holding limits as the fee or scale of negative remuneration required to dissuade runs may be very large.

  Those are again quite benign-sounding terms, however if you look into it, it becomes apparent that terms like  “tiered remuneration” have very specific meanings within the body of academic thought around CBDCs.

  Tiered Remuneration: eliminating cash, privacy and the ability to save

  The ECB’s Ulrich Bindseil discusses this at length in a 2019 paper “Controlling CBDC through tiered remuneration” (in fact my money is on Bindseil being the main author of this BIS paper; only the central banks involved are cited on the cover page).

  In his paper, the tools of “two-tier remuneration” are examined to mitigate “risk of facilitating systemic runs on banks in crisis situations”.

  The paper acknowledges the CBDC role in the elimination of cash (banknotes) and that they effectively end anonymity in transactions and prevent both “illicit transactions” and “store of value”, because CBDCs – through tiered remuneration – “Allows overcoming the ZLB as one may impose negative interest rates on CBDC”.

  To wit,

  if digital cash is used to completely replace physical cash, this could allow interest rates to be pushed below the zero-lower bound…By allowing overcoming the zero-lower bound (“ZLB”) and therefore freeing negative interest rate policies (“NIRP”) of its current constraints, a world with only digital central bank money would allow for – according to this view – strong monetary stimulus in a sharp recession and/or financial crisis. 

  This could not only avoid recession, unemployment, and/or deflation but also the need to take recourse to nonstandard monetary policy measures which have more negative side effects than NIRP.

  However,

  Opponents of NIRP will obviously dislike this argument in favor of CBDC, and will thus see CBDC potentially as an instrument to overcome previous limitations of “financial repression” and “expropriation” of the saver.”

  Wow.

  Later in the paper we get to what tiered remuneration means: the more SerfCoin you have, the lower your interest rate, even going negative beyond a certain point. It’s like a built-in wealth cap and tax at the same time, where the only way to avoid it, presumably, would be to spend it – thus shoring up money velocity.

  It overlooks the obvious: that those with any meaningful amount of wealth would have the incentive to avoid storing any of it in a CBDC at all.

  The BIS paper dropped around the same time a copy of the EU’s “Digital Euro Bill” was leaked and details published by Coindesk; notable in that is the provision that any digital Euro must function in an offline mode, protect privacy (i.e. be like cash) and must not be programmable.

  It will be interesting to see which vision of CBDCs prevails (although the proponents of the BIS model could profess that tiered remuneration is more structural than programmable, but automatic and obligatory swaps of deposits to other accounts seems harder to rationalize)

  That said, Christine Lagarde also clarified in April that “programability” will be done at the retail banking level:

  “For us [central banks], the issuance of a digital currency that would be central bank money would not be programmable […] Those who can associate the use of digital currency with programmability would be the intermediaries — would be the commercial banks” 

  …which gives us a hint at something else we’ve been pondering in our monthly coverage of CBDCs in The Bitcoin Capitalist (“Eye On EvilCoin” section): how will the big banks avoid being disintermediated out of existence when central banks create CBDC accounts directly to the consumer?

  Maybe they’ll be the ones enforcing the expiry dates, negative interest rates, social credit scores and personal carbon footprint quotas and that will become the raison d’être of the Too Big To Fail Banks.

  *  *  *

  Today’s post is an excerpt from the my premium newsletter The Bitcoin Capitalist. Try it for a month here.

  My next e-book The CBDC Survival Guide should be out this summer sign up for The Bombthrower list and get it free when it drops, and receive The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto in the meantime. You can also connect with me on Nostr or Twitter.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 17:40

• Giant Dust Cloud In South US; Another Round Of Canadian Wildfire Smoke In Northeast
  Giant Dust Cloud In South US; Another Round Of Canadian Wildfire Smoke In Northeast

  AccuWeather meteorologists say massive dust clouds from Africa’s Sahara Desert will traverse the Caribbean and the southeastern US this weekend. 

  “Saharan dust is common most years across parts of the Atlantic basin and sometimes spreads as far west as the Caribbean and Florida,” said AccuWeather Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin.

  NOAA’s weather satellites have spotted two dust plumes. The first is over the eastern Caribbean Sea and the southern Gulf of Mexico. There’s an even larger one behind it. 

  7/7: A plume of Saharan Dust will arrive across our region late this weekend into the upcoming work-week. Strong upper-level winds carry these small sand particles originally from the Saharan Desert far across the Atlantic ocean. More info on how this affects air quality below! pic.twitter.com/jCY0WSfMWZ

  — NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) July 7, 2023

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  AccuWeather meteorologists forecast coastal areas of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will be impacted by the dust and worsen air quality. 

  Saharan dust makes its way into the Lower 48 over the next few days.

  In addition to suppressing tropical activity over the Atlantic, dust may impact air quality, slightly lower temperatures, and allow for brilliantly colored sunrises/sunsets.https://t.co/JQwv4VoIiL
  MG pic.twitter.com/EnEUxXh8vC

  — Weather.us – Weather Forecasts For Professionals (@WeatherdotUS) July 8, 2023

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  Simultaneously, forecast models from The Weather Channel show the possibility that the third round of Canadian wildfire smoke will blanket parts of the Northeast. 

  

  Dust clouds in the southern US, while smoke invades the northern US. Prepare for a continuation of corporate media pushing climate apocalypse headlines, some of which have been labeled as ‘nonsense’ even by a Wall Street Journal editorial titled, “Hottest Days Ever? Don’t Believe It.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 17:05

• Xi Tells China Military To Deepen War, Combat Planning Amid Tensions With US, Taiwan
  Xi Tells China Military To Deepen War, Combat Planning Amid Tensions With US, Taiwan

  By Alex Wu of The Epoch Times

  Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping urged the regime’s military to deepen war and combat planning, as Sino-U.S. relations continue to sour and the tension in the Taiwan Strait intensifies.

  Xi inspected the Eastern Theater Command on July 6 and met with representatives of officers and soldiers when he made the comments, according to state media Xinhua. Xi claimed that the world has entered a new period of turmoil and change and China’s security situation has become more unstable and uncertain. He required the military to “deepen war and combat planning to increase the chances of victory in actual combat.”

  

  The Eastern Theater Command was established in February 2016 after the CCP’s military reform. It mainly governs the armed forces in East China (Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Anhui provinces). Headquartered in Nanjing of Jiangsu Province, it’s responsible for the security of eastern China, including the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the Pacific Ocean. In the past 7 years, the Eastern Theater has performed many military exercises and cruises targeting Taiwan.

  Aiming at Taiwan

  Chang Yanting, former deputy commander of Taiwan’s Air Force and visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on July 7 that Mr. Xi’s emphasis on military readiness and preparation for war is closely related to the current international environment. “It’s including the military tensions between the United States and mainland China, as well as economic wars, financial wars, trade wars, technology wars, and so on. The CCP is now emphasizing ‘deepening war and combat planning,’ which is envisioning the United States as its opponent, intending to deter the United States from intervention in the Taiwan Strait.”

  

  Mr. Chang said, “He [Xi Jinping] wants to strengthen preparations for war, and the Taiwanese cannot take it lightly. Especially the United States believes that from 2025 to 2027 is the most dangerous time for Taiwan. I don’t think we should take it lightly, and we must strengthen our military preparations.”

  However, Mr. Chang pointed out that if the CCP wages a war over Taiwan, it will face a very complicated international situation.

  “Once war breaks out, the CCP is not just facing Taiwan. Warships from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, the United States, and even Europe, including France and Germany will all come to join the fight. Will they fire at these warships or not? They are in the Taiwan Strait over there. Once the CCP hit any of them, according to the North Atlantic Treaty, if one country is attacked, it will be regarded as all countries are attacked. As long as the United States has a warship attacked in the Taiwan Strait, the other 30 countries will support the United States,” Mr. Chang said.

  Stabilize Morale

  Military commentator Yang Wei told The Epoch Times on July 6 that Mr. Xi’s sudden visit to the Eastern Theater Command could not be ruled out to demonstrate his control of the CCP military. “After the Wagner mutiny in Russia, the leaders of the CCP seemed to be frightened. They may intend to show that [their] military power is stable and show the outside world that there will be no mutiny or coup,” Mr. Yang said.

  Former Lieutenant Colonel Yao Cheng of the Chinese Navy Command told The Epoch Times on July 6 that both the Southern Theater Command and the Eastern Theater Command are responsible for the fight in the Taiwan Strait. “But the CCP’s military is not monolithic. Because Xi is now cleansing the military, the morale of the military is not stable, and he wants to win the hearts of them.”

  Mr. Xi told the military officers in the Eastern Theater Command during his tour that they should “adhere to the direction and enhance the awareness of urgency,” “dare to fight and be good at fighting,” etc.

  Mr. Yao said that the sense of urgency is Mr. Xi’s own sense of urgency, not the military’s. “The military and Xi Jinping are not of one mind in fighting wars. They are unwilling to fight battles that cannot be won,” he said.

  Continue reading at the Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 16:30

• WSJ Blames Abysmal Recruitment Numbers On Military Veterans
  WSJ Blames Abysmal Recruitment Numbers On Military Veterans

  Authored by Jack Hellner via AmericanThinker.com,

  The Wall Street Journal published a piece heaping the blame for the military recruitment crisis on those who have served – yes, you read that right, military veterans are the problem.

  

  Not the drag queens, not the anti-white rhetoric and policies of Lloyd Austin, not coerced participation in experimental drug trials, but those who enlisted and served.

  It is appalling that our media blames low recruitment numbers on people who sacrificed and risked their lives for their country. The headline and teaser read as follows:

  The Military Recruiting Crisis: Even Veterans Don’t Want Their Families to Join

  Pentagon scrambles to retain the main pipeline for new service members as disillusioned families steer young people away[.]

  Maybe reporter Ben Kesling should have questioned whether current government policies might be causing the problem instead of just repeating the government talking points.

  Maybe the veterans look at the disaster at the Kabul airport in August of 2021, and they don’t want their children to report to so many incompetents.

  Maybe they’re disillusioned because they gave limbs or lost friends in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, only to watch Joe Biden leave people and equipment behind for the benefit of the very forces against which Americans fought.

  Maybe they find a commander-in-chief who fails to accept responsibility and acknowledge he is to blame for leaving so many behind, unworthy of serving.

  Maybe they don’t trust a “leader” who pretends to care about the Americans who died, but can’t help from checking the time as their remains are brought home and bragging about how successful the exit was.

  Maybe the veterans don’t want their children to sacrifice for a regime that seems to work so hard to appease and enrich Iran as the nation still pledges death to America and her people.

  Maybe the veterans would like the military to focus on defending the country instead of focusing time and effort on DIE, pronouns, and Pride.

  Maybe the veterans were unhappy that the government was using taxpayer money for drag shows, and only stopped when Republicans raised a stink.

  Why have news reports on current conditions in Afghanistan essentially stopped? Could it be that the media doesn’t want to remind the voters how bad it is?

  Why isn’t the military able to fill the gap in recruitment with young cross-dressing wokesters, since those are the people to whom it is catering, instead of blaming veterans?

  Maybe the veterans are angry that so many healthy young people were betrayed and expelled from the military for exercising their free will and inalienable rights to abstain from being a lab rat.

  Maybe some veterans are angry that the military is violating federal law by using taxpayer money to pay for abortions.

  Maybe the veterans are aggravated that the military, along with the entire government, is more focused on pretending they can control the climate, than in defending ourselves against real-world foes like China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — nations that are hyper-focused on building their military power. My guess is that veterans, many who have seen combat, are more worried about unchecked evil than fabricated doomsday predictions.

  Did you see Lockheed Martin’s Pride parade banner? What else can one infer except a concerted agenda by the powers that be to promote war as fun, silly, and colorful. How eco-friendly and sustainable it would be if we were to use battery-operated ships, planes, and tanks! Can we call a truce every time we have to recharge the batteries? (Afterall, our enemies are sticking with gas-powered transportation.)

  It would be like America is taking a peashooter to a machine gun fight. What could go wrong?

  Maybe the veterans want a commander-in-chief who doesn’t appoint so many people who can’t tell the difference between men and women.

  Think of all the money we could save if we just housed everyone together and labeled all facilities for they/them since they can’t seem to tell the difference! What could go wrong?

  We should also get rid of all academic and physical standards because they clearly discriminate. Our fighting force would be so much better if we didn’t have standards…wouldn’t it? Our adversaries will destroy and subjugate us, but at least we will have much higher DIE and ESG scores.

  I bet China, Iran, Russian, and North Korean leaders can tell the difference between men and women, and don’t worry about “misgendering.”

  Maybe it worries veterans that the military leader only acknowledges six of his seven grandchildren. If he doesn’t care for the littlest members of his own family, how much less those in whom he has no familial bond?

  Joe Biden and the entire left love to blame others for their failures:

  Biden and Kamala Harris blame the massive influx of illegals on President Trump instead of the fact that they refuse to enforce immigration laws and secure the border.

  Biden and his cabinet of Party “economists” blame the massive inflation increase on COVID and Russia, instead of Democrat policies like the destruction of reasonably priced energy and massive spending programs (especially the supposed green energy ones).

  And, Biden blamed the smackdown of his illegal attempt to buy votes with a student loan giveaway on MAGA Republicans, and a rogue Supreme Court, instead of that pesky Constitution and its stupid separation of powers requirement. Those darn founding fathers!

  Now, media allies like Keslng blame the great shortfall of military recruitment on those who gave great sacrifice to our country — that is the thanks they get from leftists.

  Here’s a novel concept for the media: Report the news and facts instead of regurgitating talking points…maybe your poll numbers will go up.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 15:30

• Even NOAA "Runs Away" From 'Hottest Day Ever' Claim After Media Hysteria
  Even NOAA “Runs Away” From ‘Hottest Day Ever’ Claim After Media Hysteria

  Last week the global warming industry and its corporate media cheerleaders made a concerted effort to declare July 3-4 the hottest days on Earth ever. Media outlets like ABC, The New York Times, Axios, and Bloomberg each cited the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer computer model, which has since been questioned. 

  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told AP News, “Although NOAA cannot validate the methodology or conclusion of the University of Maine analysis, we recognize that we are in a warm period due to climate change.” 

  In response to NOAA throwing cold water on the model’s unverifiable findings, environmental attorney Steve Milloy tweeted:

  “NOAA runs away from ‘hottest day’ claim.” 

  NOAA runs away from ‘hottest day’ claim.https://t.co/BQv0VpuE5r pic.twitter.com/IaeOIGj5xE

  — Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) July 7, 2023

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

  On Friday evening, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Milloy 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,” Milloy wrote.

  Despite concerns about the model’s reliability, Axios’ Thursday headline read, “Earth sees three hottest days on record,” while Bloomberg ran with “The World Recorded Its Hottest Days Ever This Week.” 

  Heads of the global warming industry have spent the last three decades frantically running around the globe in private jets, prophesying how the world would imminently end because of emissions from fossil fuel engines. 

  Al Gore

  

  Michael Bloomberg

  

  In 2018, remember, climate alarmist child Greta Thunburg tweeted some ‘scientist’ who claimed “all of humanity” would be “wiped out” unless “we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” 

  

  We’re still typing and using fossil fuels — the world has not ended. Last week, we noted, “New Month, Another Movement: Corporate Media Refocuses Energy On Climate Doom.” 

  

  Full disclosure, we don’t discount climate change because the climate has been constantly changing for 4.54 billion years. 

  Last week was a media blitz campaign by the global warming industry to push ‘misinformation’ with a model that even NOAA has warned is not dependable.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 15:00

• Crunching The Numbers: Justice Jackson's Dissent On Affirmative Action Doesn't Add Up
  Crunching The Numbers: Justice Jackson’s Dissent On Affirmative Action Doesn’t Add Up

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  The last week’s historic decisions from the Supreme Court led to an array of factual objections from critics.

  In Justice Neil Gorsuch’s major free speech ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a man who believes that he is “Stewart” referenced in the case (as asking for a website for a same sex marriage) never made such a contact with the company. In Justice Sotomayor’s dissent to that case, the justice falsely claims that the Pulse mass shooting (“the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history”) was an intended anti-LGBT attack. (The shooter apparently was unaware of what type of nightclub it was).

  Those mistakes, however, had little impact on the reasoning.

  That is not the case with a mathematical challenge raised to the dissent of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in the North Carolina affirmative action case.

  

  In a Wall Street Journal column, lawyer Ted Frank objects to what he argues is a “mathematically absurd claim” about black newborns in Jackson’s dissent. Jackson was arguing that affirmative action has been shown to “save lives” by allowing black doctors to give better care for black people than white doctors.

  “It saves lives. For marginalized communities in North Carolina, it is critically important that UNC and other area institutions produce highly educated professionals of color. Research shows that Black physicians are more likely to accurately assess Black patients’ pain tolerance and treat them accordingly (including, for example, prescribing them appropriate amounts of pain medication). For high-risk Black newborns, having a Black physician more than doubles the likelihood that the baby will live, and not die.”

  Frank objected:

  “A moment’s thought should be enough to realize that this claim is wildly implausible. Imagine if 40% of black newborns died—thousands of dead infants every week. But even so, that’s a 60% survival rate, which is mathematically impossible to double. And the actual survival rate is over 99%.”

  The claim is based on a 2020 study cited in a footnote, which Justice Jackson appears to have taken from an amicus brief by the Association of American Medical Colleges.  However, Frank again objects that the study is not only “flawed” but does not make that claim:

  “The study makes no such claims. It examines mortality rates in Florida newborns between 1992 and 2015 and shows a 0.13% to 0.2% improvement in survival rates for black newborns with black pediatricians (though no statistically significant improvement for black obstetricians).”

  Frank says that “the AAMC brief either misunderstood the paper or invented the statistic.” He also notes that the study is flawed by relying on a linear regression given the small differential of 10 newborns a year. Instead, he claims that study did the accepted logistic model analysis in such cases but put the results in an appendix:

  “There, the most highly specified model still shows an improvement in black newborn survival. But if you know how to read the numbers—the authors don’t say it—it also shows black doctors with a statistically significant higher mortality rate for white newborns, and a higher mortality rate overall, all else being equal.”

  I cannot claim any particular skill at “reading the numbers.” However, this controversy captured my attention because I have always been leery of so-called “Brandeis briefs” before the Supreme Court where amici dump studies into the record.

  Before joining the court, Justice Louis Brandeis filed such a brief in his brilliant challenge to work place conditions. It is now a common feature in briefing of cases as groups and associations push studies as determinative or substantial evidence on one side or another. My opposition to the brief is that the justices are in a poor position to judge the veracity or accuracy of such studies. They simply pick and choose between rivaling studies to claim a definitive factual foundation for an opinion.

  It is also frustrating that, as a litigator, you fight over every entry into the record at trial. However, when you are before the Supreme Court, everyone is free to just dump statistics and studies into the record and the Court regularly uses such material to determine the outcome. It produces more of a legislative environment for the court as different parties insert data to support their own view of what is a better policy or more serious social problem. There is only a limited ability of parties to challenge such data given limits on time and space in briefing.

  The result is that major decisions or dissents can be built on highly contested factual assertions. In this case, critics believe that the Jackson argument literally does not add up.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 14:30

• Indian Tribe Demands America-Hating Ice Cream Commies Ben & Jerry's Return 'Stolen' Land HQ Built On
  Indian Tribe Demands America-Hating Ice Cream Commies Ben & Jerry’s Return ‘Stolen’ Land HQ Built On

  Members of a Vermont Indian tribe are demanding that the owner of Ben & Jerry’s give back ‘stolen’ land that the company’s headquarters is built on, after the ice cream company tweeted an America-hating reminder on the Fourth of July holiday that it was “high time we recognize that the U.S. exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.”

  This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now: https://t.co/45smaBmORH pic.twitter.com/a6qp7LXUAE

  — Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) July 4, 2023

  The ice cream maker further details their call to action on their website – saying that America needs to start by returning Mount Rushmore. “The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights,” the post alleged.

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsDon Stevens, Chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation, told Newsweek that his tribe is “always interested in reclaiming the stewardship of our lands,” but that the ice cream company – owned by Unilever, has yet to contact them to return the land its headquarters now occupies.

  

  “If and when we are approached, many conversations and discussions will need to take place to determine the best path forward for all involved,” said Stevens, who is a descendant of the Abenaki Nation, a confederacy of several tribes which at one time controlled an area of America that spans from northern Massachusetts to Bew Brunswick, Canada – meaning the Ben & Jerry’s Burlington, VT headquarters is now sitting on the very land the company is trying to wokeshame the country into giving back.

  “If you look at the [Abenaki] traditional way of being, we are place-based people. Before recognized tribes in the state, we were the ones who were in this place,” Stevens said, claiming that the Abenaki see themselves as “stewards of the land.”

  The company’s 4th of July message has sparked a nationwide boycott of the America-hating communist ice cream slingers.

  @Ben&Jerry’s
  It’s time to boycott Ben and Jerry’s until they give back the land that belongs to the native Americans. This is ancestral barrial grounds. Ben and Jerry’s build over the Graves of the elders of the tribe. If you want to give Reparations, give it to the Indians.#KAG pic.twitter.com/PXIzUyk0CJ

  — Stephen.j.Olko (@j_olko1) July 6, 2023

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

  Boycott Ben and Jerry’s until they return the land!!!

  — steve (@scanx55) July 7, 2023

  BEN & JERRYS SHOULD GIVE ALL THEIR ICE CREAM FACTORIES BACK TO THE NATIVE INDIANS. IF THEY DON’T THEN THEY ARE HYPOCRITES. pic.twitter.com/6M4jsDJ9ci

  — ALPHA BIG DOG (@ALPHABIGDOG2) July 5, 2023

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

  Meanwhile, the pain gets worse for Ben and Jerry’s owners, as the Epoch Times reports, Unilever stock has lost around $2 billion in market capitalization amid calls to boycott the company.

  Shares of parent Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch multinational company, dropped about 0.5 percent on Friday, 0.8 percent on Thursday, and 0.5 the previous day. It’s not clear if the drop was due to the calls to boycott Ben & Jerry’s, which has been owned by Unilever since 2000.

  “Make @benndjerrys Bud Light again,” country singer-songwriter John Rich wrote in response, responding to the several-week-long boycott targeting Bud Light that has seen the beer company’s year-over-year sales plummet. While Bud Light didn’t attack the founding of the United States, the company was panned for producing a can of beer with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face on it.

  

  “Long overdue for the Bud Light treatment. You hate the country, fine. We won’t buy your product. All good,” another wrote in response. “When is Ben & Jerry’s giving up their land?” Jenna Ellis, a former attorney to President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter.

  Several newspapers like the New York Post and Washington Examiner, too, called for a consumer-led boycott after the Twitter post.

  “The brand backed bad-joke Occupy Wall Street, for crying out loud; it aligns with the anti-Israel BDS movement. Co-founder Ben Cohen funds groups opposed to US military aid to Ukraine,” the NY Post’s editorial wrote before calling for a boycott of the ice cream company. “Remember, America, you don’t have to accept woke preening from corporate elites. Speak up—with your wallets,” it said.

  The Examiner said, “It may be fun to imagine, but, of course, Ben & Jerry’s will never actually give back the land its corporate office sits on. It will simply exert pressure on others to give up their land.”

  

  It’s now Americans’ “job to try and turn the tide” against the company, the paper said.

  The company, however, is no stranger to controversy and boycott calls. Over the years, the founders of Ben & Jerry’s have taken left-wing or anti-U.S. stances, and have also often been critical of American foreign policy efforts, including Washington’s decision to provide military aid to Ukraine in the war against Russia.

  Years ago, some called for a Ben & Jerry’s boycott after it refused to sell its ice cream in Israel’s West Bank and Gaza Strip, alleging those areas are being occupied by Israel.

  In June, Ben & Jerry’s announced it wouldn’t pay to advertise on Twitter and claimed that “hate speech” is on the rise across the platform since Elon Musk purchased the company last year. In a blog post weeks ago, the company wrote that changes at Twitter are causing it “great concern” and that “hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent.”

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 14:00

• All Dreams End: The Collapse Of Keynesian Economics
  All Dreams End: The Collapse Of Keynesian Economics

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  Now that debt is rising faster than “growth,” and “growth” is dependent on speculative credit-asset bubbles, the collapse of the Keynesian dream looms large.

  Unbeknownst to economists, the Keynesian bedrock of modern economics–using financial repression and government spending funded by debt to manage the business cycle of growth and recession–is an artifact of a century of expansive cheap energy and virtuous demographics.

  Presented as quasi-scientific “laws of economics,” Keynesian policies of suppressing interest rates and funding stimulus with debt were only possible in an era in which energy per capita (per person) always became more abundant and affordable in terms of the purchasing power of wages, i.e. how many hours of labor does it take to buy the energy to fuel a vehicle, prepare a meal, etc.

  

  The demographics of the 100 years of Keynesian supremacy were also uniquely favorable. The workforce paying taxes and funding pay-as-you-go social benefits to retirees (Social Security and Medicare) and the less fortunate (welfare, Medicaid) expanded smartly decade after decade, expanding government revenues and spending as the natural result of an expanding workforce.

  A third uniquely favorable condition was the vast pool of natural capital that had not yet been financialized, i.e. turned into a commodity that could be used as collateral for new debt and leverage. Tapping this untapped pool of capital enabled the vast expansion of debt, public and private. (See charts below)

  

  

  A fourth uniquely favorable condition was globalization, a benign-sounding term for the brazen exploitation of the planet’s remaining reserves of resources and cheap labor. Profits swelled as these last pockets of easy-to-exploit sources of wealth were tapped.

  These four conditions have all topped out and are now reversing. The cheap-to-access energy has been consumed, the workforce has shifted from expansion to stagnation while the populace of retirees explodes, globalization has run its course, having stripmined the planet and human populace, and every potential source of new collateral has been financialized / leveraged to the hilt.

  Keynesian policies of pushing interest rates to near-zero to boost private debt and government deficit spending morphed from being “emergency policies” to permanent status quo. Given that greed and laziness are the human default settings, it was always unrealistic to think that the “emergency tools” of borrow-and-spend would be reserved for recessions / depressions. Now consumption, private and public, depends entirely on the permanent expansion of debt to fund not only consumption but the rising costs of servicing the ballooning debt.

  

  The Keynesian fantasy always rested on one dynamic: we can expand production and consumption faster than we’re expanding debt and the cost of servicing that debt. With the four virtuous conditions now reversing, the cost of debt is rising far faster than the tepid increases in production and consumption generated by debt-funded spending.

  The final desperate trick of the Keynesian fantasy is the wealth effect generated by speculative credit-asset bubbles, in which assets that were once grounded in utility and costs escape gravity and soar into the stratosphere, generating trillions of dollars in “free money” for those fortunate to have bought the assets before the bubble inflated.

  The consumption afforded by this bubble-generated “free money” was the last source of Keynesian “growth”: just suppress interest rates to juice private borrowing, flood the financial system with liquidity, and voila, trillions in unearned “free money” flows to those who were already rich enough to own the assets catapulted to the moon.

  But all dreams end, even the Keynesian one. The risks and costs of rising debt cannot be dreamed away, and the inevitable result is the cost of capital rises along with the risks and costs of soaring debt. Bubbles inflated by policies encouraging speculative leverage all pop, devastating those who thought the “free money” would never end.

  

  The planet has already been stripmined of cheap-to-access resources and cheap labor. Costs are rising and playing financial games with interest rates can’t reverse real-world costs or the rising costs of capital. Demographics can’t be reversed by financial trickery, either.

  The Keynesian fantasy is drawing to a close. Financialization and endless debt-funded stimulus were artifacts of four unique conditions (cheap, abundant energy, demographics, globalization and financialization) that have all topped out and are now sliding down the backside of the S-Curve. AI can put lipstick on the mirror but it is incapable of reversing the end-game decay of these four unique conditions.

  

  Since there’s no alternative to the Keynesian dream of eternal “growth” funded by magic, we’re doing more of what’s failed until the system collapses in a heap: we’ll do more of what’s failed until it fails spectacularly.

  It’s worth recalling Peter Drucker’s observation that enterprises don’t have profits, they only have costs. The same can be said of governments and entire economies. Borrowing to pay rising costs has a short-half life because debt accrues its own costs and piles up risks which have their own uniquely asymmetric dynamics.

  Now that debt is rising faster than “growth,” and “growth” is dependent on speculative credit-asset bubbles, the collapse of the Keynesian dream looms large. Plan accordingly, i.e. reduce your own exposure to risk via Self-Reliance.

  *  *  *

  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
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 13:30

• AI Is Being Over-Hyped: "Those Who Believe Artificial General Intelligence Is Imminent Are Almost Certainly Wrong"
  AI Is Being Over-Hyped: “Those Who Believe Artificial General Intelligence Is Imminent Are Almost Certainly Wrong”

  “The intelligence of AI systems is being overhyped and, while we could get there eventually, we are currently nowhere near achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).”

  Those are the words of Gary Marcus, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, as he pours cold water on the ‘AI Boom’ that has almost single-handedly supported the entire stock market for the last month.

  We have seen these hype-cycles before…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  In a conversation with Goldman Sachs’ Jenny Grimberg, Marcus explains how generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools actually work today?

  At the core of all current generative AI tools is basically an autocomplete function that has been trained on a substantial portion of the internet.

  These tools possess no understanding of the world, so they’ve been known to hallucinate, or make up false statements.

  The tools excel at largely predictable tasks like writing code, but not at, for example, providing accurate medical information or diagnoses, which autocomplete isn’t sophisticated enough to do.

  Contrary to what some may argue, the professor explains that these tools don’t reason anything like humans.

  AI machines are learning, but much of what they learn is the statistics of words, and, with reinforcement learning, how to properly respond to certain prompts.

  They’re not learning abstract concepts.

  That’s why much of the content they produce is garbage and/or false.

  Humans have an internal model of the world that allows them to understand each other and their environments.

  AI systems have no such model and no curiosity about the world. They learn what words tend to follow other words in certain contexts, but human beings learn much more just in the course of interacting with each other and with the world around them.

  Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of creating intelligent machines. AI is a broad concept that encompasses several different subfields, including machine learning, natural language processing, neural networks, and deep learning.

  

  So, is the hype around generative AI overblown?

  Marcus responds like any good academic – “Yes and no.”

  Generative AI tools are no doubt materially impacting our lives right now, both positively and negatively.

  They’re generating some quality content, but also misinformation, which, for example, could have significant adverse consequences for the 2024 US presidential election.

  But the intelligence of AI systems is being overhyped.

  A few weeks ago, it was claimed that OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model (LLM) passed the undergraduate exams in engineering and computer science at MIT, which stirred up a lot of excitement. But it turned out that the methodology was flawed, and in fact my long-time collaborator Ernie Davis pointed that out around a year ago, yet people still proceeded to use it.

  We are nowhere near achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). Those who believe AGI is imminent are almost certainly wrong.

  Here’s how we got here…

  

  Finally, Marcus explains that his biggest concern is that we’re giving an enormous amount of power and authority to the small number of companies that currently control AI systems, and in subtle ways that we may not even be aware of.

  The data on which LLMs are trained can have bias effects on the model output, which is disquieting given that these systems are starting to shape our beliefs. Another concern is around the truthfulness of AI systems – as mentioned, they’ve been known to hallucinate.

  Bad actors can use these systems for deliberate abuse, from spreading harmful medical misinformation to disrupting elections, which could gravely threaten society.

  Be wary of the hype, Marcus concludes, AI is not yet as magical as many people think.

  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s too early to invest in AI; some investments in companies with smart founding teams that have a good understanding of product market fit will likely succeed. But there will be a lot of losers. So, investors need to do their homework and perform careful due diligence on any potential investment. It’s easy for a company to claim that they’re an AI company, but do they have a moat around them? Do they have a technical or data advantage that makes them likely to succeed? Those are important questions for investors to be asking.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 13:00

• Jobs Data Highlights More Recessionary Behavior
  Jobs Data Highlights More Recessionary Behavior

  Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

  Employers continue to cut back on temporary employment, something typically seen in the run-up to recessions.

  Temporary help services is one of the most leading components of the payrolls report. Employers typically let temporary staff go first in a slowdown before full-time employees.

  Temp help fell again in June and has been contracting on an annual basis for several months, anticipating the slowing trend in payrolls we are currently seeing.

  

  As the chart above shows, there is more to come, with total payrolls potentially contracting on an annual basis by the end of the year.

  Firms are not only cutting temporary employees, they are reducing hours worked, also typical of what happens before firms start to fire people. The average weekly hours worked of all employees has been steadily falling.

  

  Stocks and yields are currently roughly back to where they were prior to the jobs date release, suggesting the market continues to believe the Fed will prioritize inflation over growth.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/08/2023 – 12:30