• Fighting Monsters
  Fighting Monsters

  Authored by CJ Hopkins via off-guardian.org,

  

  So, I gave a little speech about art, and war. The Internationale Agentur für Freiheit, a Berlin art and cultural association, asked me to do that to open their exhibition, Make Art Not War. I couldn’t turn them down.

  As my readers may have noticed, I haven’t had very much to say about “The War on Hamas,” or “The War on Gaza,” or “The Liquidation of Gaza,” or whatever you want to call it. (It doesn’t look like much of a “war” to me, but then, nothing really has for quite a while.)

  I wrote about it in October and November of last year. And I said a few things about it in my speech. But, mostly, I’ve been trying to keep my mouth shut. I don’t have much to contribute to the … well, I can’t really call it a discussion, or debate, or an argument. It feels like people screaming slogans into each other’s faces, accusing each other of this and that, and calling each other names, and so on. Which … I get why people are inclined to do that. I’m not. But I get why other folks are. So, I think it’s best if I just shut my pie hole (as much as possible) and let folks do that.

  It isn’t going to change what’s happening. GloboCap (or whatever you call the system we’re all living under) has been occupying, destabilizing, and restructuring the Middle East for decades. It’s not going to stop. It is going to continue. As the restructuring of the West is going to continue.

  GloboCap doesn’t have anything else to do.

  Anyway, before I ramble on any further, here’s the English version of the speech I gave at the exhibition. Many thanks to those of you who attended … and apologies again for my German. I’ll get the hang of it one of these days.

  Fighting Monsters

  The name of this exhibition is “Make Art not War.” So I’m going to say a few things about art, and war. You’re not going to like all of them. Or at least I hope not. If you did, I wouldn’t be a very good artist, but I might be a pretty good propagandist.

  I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. In the USA. The war was on television. In Vietnam. Cambodia. Cuba. The Middle East. Then in El Salvador. Nicaragua. Iran. Libya. Yugoslavia. Afghanistan. Iraq. The list goes on and on. I am almost 63 years old. All my life we’ve been at war. Not just Americans. All of us. People. Someone always at war with someone. And all my life there have been other people calling for peace. Protesting the war. Whatever war it was at the time.

  If you read a little history, as I like to do sometimes, you will learn that someone has been at war with someone over something since the dawn of civilization. Certainly Western civilization. The history of Western art and literature begins with war. Genocidal war. The Illiad is a poem about a genocidal war. Rape. Mass murder. The slaughter of children. Most of Shakespeare’s plays are about war, or are set during a war, or have something to do with someone killing someone over something.

  Some of that history happened right here. There are bunkers below us where people sheltered during the bombing raids in the Second World War. Legend has it the Stasi operated listening stations right here in these rooms. When I first arrived in Berlin, twenty years ago, I lived in a sublet on this street. This was my neighborhood, the Bötzowviertel. There were still bullet holes in the facades of buildings. People died here. Civilians. Children. Women were raped here. Families were dragged out of their homes and sent to the death camps here. This is Berlin. You know the history. I don’t need to recite all the details.

  What’s my point? Well, my point is … that is war. Indiscriminate killing. Rape. Mass atrocities. That’s what war is. That is what it has always been. And we’ve been doing it to each other since the dawn of civilization. It is not going to stop. We are not going to stop it. Art is certainly not going to stop it. We are, whether we like it or not, a violent species, human beings. It isn’t all we are, but it is part of what we are. We are also lovers, teachers, healers, artists, and other beautiful things. But sometimes we are vicious killers. Monsters. Genocidal monsters.

  A crazy old German philosopher once warned us, “beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.” He was joking, of course. There are no monsters. Or, rather, there are only monsters, on every side of every war. In a war, there are no good guys and bad guys. There is just our side and the other side. Our atrocities and their atrocities. And whoever wins gets to write the history.

  That’s it. The rest is propaganda. Their propaganda and our propaganda. Of course, our propaganda is not propaganda. Our propaganda is just the truth. Because we’re not monsters. They are the monsters.

  This is Day 202 of Israel’s war on Hamas, or its liquidation of Gaza, depending on your perspective. I haven’t said too much about it publicly. I said a few things about it when it began. That didn’t go well. No one was listening. The propaganda from both sides was already deafening. I described the Hamas attack as mass murder. My pro-Palestinian readers didn’t like that. I described Israel as a typical mass-murdering nation-state, no different than the United States of America, Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, the Soviet Union, the British empire, the Ottoman empire, the Holy Roman Empire, or any other mass-murdering nation-state or empire. My pro-Israeli readers didn’t like that. Neither side wanted to hear about history. The history of asymmetric warfare, or terrorism, depending on your perspective. The history of nation-states and empires. They wanted to hear a story about monsters. About the monsters on the other side.

  I told you you weren’t going to like everything I said, right?

  OK, let me say a few things about art now. If you didn’t like what I said about war, maybe you’ll like what I say about art. I can’t speak for other artists, but I’ll tell you why I think I became an artist, and what I have been trying to do as an artist.

  I haven’t been trying to stop any wars. Or to pacify the human species. I don’t know how to do either of those things. And I am not a fan of propaganda. I confess, I have engaged in it from time to time, but mostly what I’ve been trying to do is deprogram minds, starting with my own.

  We are all, by the time we realize we exist, the products of programming, ideological conditioning. I believe it is the job of artists to undo that, or at least to marginally interfere with it. That’s what art, and artists, did for me. They introduced me to my mind. My programmed mind. They forced me to think, and to see, and listen. They taught me to question, to pay attention. They dared me to deprogram my mind, and provided me with the tools to do it. OK, sure, some mind-altering drugs also helped, but it was artists that introduced me to those drugs. Then they introduced me to the monster I’ve been fighting.

  I have been fighting this monster, in my art, in my mind, and out in the world for as long I remember. You have to fight it everywhere at once. To fight it in your mind, you have to fight it out in the world. And to fight it out in the world, you have to fight it in your mind.

  Let me tell you about the monster.

  The monster is legion. It goes by many names. It wears many faces. They change over time. William S. Burroughs called it “The Control Machine.” Some people call it the corporatocracy. I call it global capitalism. The monster doesn’t care what we call it. It doesn’t care who we are, what our politics are, or which side of what war we think we are on. It doesn’t care what we believe, which religion we profess. It couldn’t care less how we “identify.”

  All it cares about is power. All it cares about is control.

  It is everywhere, and nowhere. It has no country. No nationality. It doesn’t exist. It is everything, and nothing. It is the non-existent empire occupying the entire planet. It has no external enemies because there is no outside, not anymore. So there is no real war. There are only insurrections, carried out by rebels, traitors, terrorists.

  The monster, our non-existent empire, is the first global empire in human history. It is not a group of evil people. It is maintained by people, but they are all interchangeable. It has no headquarters. There is no emperor. There isn’t any “Bastille” to storm. It is a logos. A system. An operating system.

  It has no politics, no ideology. Its official ideology is “reality.” Thus it has no political opposition. Who would argue against or oppose “reality”? Lunatics. Extremists. The terminally deranged. And thus there are no dissidents, no opposing political parties. There are only apostates, heretics, blasphemers, sowers of discord, “reality” deniers.

  It manufactures “reality.” Whatever “reality” it needs. The War on Terror. The War on Populism. The War on the Virus. The War on the Weather. The War on Hate. The War on Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It is all the same war. The same “Clear-and-Hold” op. The same counterinsurgency. It has been for about 30 years.

  If things seem crazy, if you’re wondering what’s happening, that is what’s happening. That is all that is happening. That is all that has been happening since the end of the Cold War.

  The empire is eliminating internal resistance, any and all forms of internal resistance. The monster is monsterizing everything and everyone. Transforming societies into markets. It doesn’t have anything else to do. It is erasing values. It is dissolving borders. It is “sensitivity-editing” culture. Synchronizing everything and everyone in conformity to its only value … money. Rendering everything a commodity.

  It is the apotheosis of liberal democracy, the part where the monster does away with democracy, with the simulation of democracy, and proclaims itself “democracy.” It is global-capitalist Gleichschaltung.

  That’s the monster I have been fighting.

  Which makes me a terrorist. A conspiracy theorist. A Russian propagandist. A Covid denier. A right-wing extremist. An anti-vaxxer. An anti-Semite. A transphobic racist. An enemy of “democracy.” A Hamas supporter. A Donald Trump supporter. An AfD supporter. Whatever the official enemy happens to be today.

  It makes me a criminal. A thought criminal. An art criminal.

  Which I literally am. The German authorities are prosecuting me for disseminating art. For tweeting art. Pictures. Words. They banned one of my books. So maybe I’m marginally interfering with their ideological conditioning, with their programming, with their New Normal Gleichschaltung op.

  If so, good, because, if I can quote another German, “art is not a mirror held up to reality, it is a hammer to shape reality with.”

  And I’ll go a little further than Brecht. Every work of art we make shapes reality one way or another, whether we intend it to or not. It either feeds the monster or it fucks with the monster. The monster out there, and the monster in here, inside us, all of us … because it’s all the same monster.

  Thank you, all of you who are fucking with the monster. That is all. Let’s keep it up.

  CJ Hopkins is an award-winning American playwright, novelist and political satirist based in Berlin. His plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. His dystopian novel, Zone 23, is published by Snoggsworthy, Swaine & Cormorant. Volumes I and II of his Consent Factory Essays are published by Consent Factory Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Content, Inc. He can be reached at cjhopkins.com or consentfactory.org.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 05/02/2024 – 02:00

• China Humiliated Blinken But Blinken Kept Begging
  China Humiliated Blinken But Blinken Kept Begging

  Authored by Gordon Chang via The Gatestone Institute,

  It is not clear whether a Chinese official was at the Beijing airport to bid farewell to Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he ended his three-day visit to China on Friday, but the send-off was in any event low-key and Chinese leader Xi Jinping slighted America’s top diplomat at the end of his troubled stay.

  Also, China, literally and figuratively, did not roll out the red carpet for his arrival in Shanghai on Wednesday. Only a low-level official was on hand to greet Blinken as he stepped off the plane.

  “The Chinese government flouted international protocols at the airport on the secretary of state’s arrival in Shanghai and departure from Beijing,” Charles Burton of the Prague-based Sinopsis think tank told Gatestone.

  “It was petty.”

  “This was more than a slight,” Burton, a former Canadian diplomat who served in Beijing, said.

  “Aside from a calculated insult to the dignity of the United States, the move indicates Xi Jinping is making clear that the accepted norms of diplomacy will not be respected by China anymore.”

  

  Blinken was in China to discuss the growing list of disagreements between Washington and Beijing. Not surprisingly, he did not accomplish anything there other than register America’s complaints on matters such as Beijing’s support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine and unfair treatment of U.S. companies. On every major issue, the U.S. and China take different sides, and the Chinese have clearly dug in. Blinken was reduced to begging.

  As a result, America is resorting to the dialogue-is-progress narrative. “I think it’s important to underscore the value—in fact, the necessity—of direct engagement, of sustained engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences which are real, seeking to work through them, as also looking for ways to build cooperation where we can,” Blinken said to Chen Jining, Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, ahead of his talks in the Chinese capital.

  After the end of fruitless sessions in Beijing—Blinken met with, among others, President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi—all the secretary of state could do is highlight new dialogue issues.

  “I’m pleased to announce that earlier today, we agreed to hold the first U.S.-PRC talks on artificial intelligence to be held in the coming weeks,” he said at a press availability on April 26, as he wrapped up his trip to China.

  “We’ll share our respective views on the risks and safety concerns around advanced AI and how best to manage them.”

  Blinken’s comments repeated those of President Joe Biden after his November 15 meeting with Xi Jinping in Woodside, California. In substance, therefore, Blinken in Beijing continued talking about talking.

  There is no question that AI is an important topic, especially when it comes to the control of nuclear weapons. Yet this does not mean the U.S. should seek an agreement with China on that topic.

  “The latest shambolic display by the Biden administration comes in the form of Secretary of State Antony Blinken groveling before China’s Ruler-for-Life Xi Jinping for a new set of protocols for governing the development of artificial intelligence between America and China, the two nations contributing the most to both the advancement of AI and its weaponization,” Brandon Weichert, a national security analyst at The National Interest, told Gatestone.

  “Although creating such protocols may sound like a good idea, it seems like a bad idea for Washington to unilaterally agree to limit its own activities.”

  “Unilaterally”? Burton and Weichert point out that China never honors agreements, so any deal with Beijing is akin to a unilateral promise.

  “China is deeply committed to the weaponization of AI and would be counting its lucky communist star if the Americans basically deterred themselves with such a protocol,” Weichert, also author of Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, added.

  He suggests the United States spend its time getting the world to restrict tech trade with China “rather than pleading with Xi Jinping for mercy.”

  On the AI front, the Biden administration to its credit has been restricting sales of chips and chip-making equipment and has been coercing cooperation from others, most notably the Netherlands, the home of equipment-maker ASML.

  Nonetheless, Biden needs to do more: China has been able to buy chips on the black market. For instance, Reuters reported this month that ten Chinese entities were able, despite U.S. rules, to acquire Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips through resellers.

  The risk now is that the Biden administration will trade away its restrictions for meaningless promises from China’s Communists.

  Biden is willing to sign agreements with China’s regime because he believes it is merely a “competitor,” refusing to label it an adversary and certainly not using the term that the Chinese Communist Party reserves for America: enemy. He and his predecessors have not wanted to acknowledge that the Party, as it openly proclaims, seeks the destruction of the United States.

  Enemy? In May 2019, People’s Daily, the Party’s self-described “mouthpiece” and therefore the most authoritative publication in China, carried a landmark piece declaring a “people’s war” on America.

  This phrase has special meaning. “A people’s war is a total war, and its strategy and tactics require the overall mobilization of political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, military, and other power resources, the integrated use of multiple forms of struggle and combat methods,” declared a column carried in April 2023 by PLA Daily, an official news website of the People’s Liberation Army.

  Therefore, Biden’s measures, like those of presidents before him, have been inadequate.

  America still suffers from an inability to appreciate the hostility and maliciousness of the Communist Party. Blinken left China talking about how it was in America’s interest for China to prosper. China’s regime, however, fueled with American investment and trade, has been waging “unrestricted warfare” against the United States for decades. Beijing’s unrestricted warfare has included the killing tens of thousands of Americans each year with fentanyl, the equivalent of one plane crash every day and more American deaths than in the Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars combined.

  Now, Xi thinks he has the upper hand. From the moment Blinken touched down in Shanghai to the moment he left, China’s ruler went out of his way to humiliate the secretary of state. The secretary of state, however, exhibited inexhaustible patience for humiliation.

  Unfortunately, acceptance of rough treatment has consequences, because the meekness leads the Chinese to think they can do what they want, making them even more arrogant and aggressive. Biden has yet to figure that out.

  Xi met Blinken on Friday, but China’s leader let the cameras record his disdain for his visitor. Seconds before the secretary of state walked half-way across the room to shake hands, Xi asked an aide, “When will he leave?”

  “Not soon enough,” Blinken should have replied.

  The secretary of state should never have gone to China in the first place.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 23:45

• Visualizing The Size Of The Global Senior Population
  Visualizing The Size Of The Global Senior Population

  The growth of the senior population is a consequence of the demographic transition towards longer and healthier lives. Population aging, however, can pose economic and social challenges.

  Here, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu maps the size of the world’s population aged 65+ for 1980, 2021, and 2050 (projected). The data is from the World Social Report 2023 by the United Nations.

  

  Global Aging

  Currently, population aging is most advanced in Europe, Northern America, Australia, New Zealand, and parts Eastern and Southeastern Asia.

  According to the UN, in most countries in these regions, the proportion of older persons exceeds 10%, and in some cases, 20% of the total population.

  

  Most parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) are still in an early stage of this transition, while most countries in Central and Southern Asia, Western Asia and Northern Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean are at an intermediate stage.

  The size of the world’s senior population isn’t just growing in absolute numbers; it’s also growing as a share of the overall total. For example, in 2021, 1 in 10 people worldwide were over 65. By 2050, this is likely to be around 1 in 6.

  While the shift towards older populations is largely irreversible, some critical measures are necessary to guarantee this transition. These include financial support for the senior population through pension plans, budgeting healthcare and long-term care costs, and implementing measures to adapt and innovate in labor markets to include seniors.

  The Global Senior Population in 2100

  What will the global senior population look like in the future? For more on that, look at this chart which highlights aging projections by country based on data and projections from the United Nations.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 23:25

• Japan's Warning For America
  Japan’s Warning For America

  Authored by Michael Wilkerson via The Epoch Times,

  Last week, Japan saw its currency, the yen, rapidly depreciate against the U.S. dollar and other world currencies to near record low levels. This drew the attention of financial markets and other observers, and—in some quarters—led to panic. There was concern that Japan, a formerly great nation now increasingly viewed as the “sick man of Asia,” was on the brink of a currency and financial markets crisis.

  

  It wasn’t so long ago that Japan was the envy of the world. Japan’s postwar recovery and subsequent economic miracle produced by the 1980s the world’s second-largest economy after the United States. Numerous Japanese multinational corporations were admired by the business world as a result of their growth, efficiency, and managerial discipline. The state and big business were closely aligned in what appeared an unstoppable formula. Flush with cash and confidence, Japanese companies and investors were aggressively expansionist, acquiring market share, trophy properties, resources, and businesses in the United States and elsewhere. Much like concerns about China today, fears then abounded that Japan would overtake the United States as the global economic leader.

  These fears were unfounded. “Japan Inc.” was a house built on a faulty foundation. Overly accommodative easy money, along with high leverage throughout the financial and corporate sectors, facilitated a massive stock market and real estate bubble, which eventually burst in 1990. The crash led to a depression from which Japan has never recovered, even after three decades. The question is, why not? Herein lies a lesson for the United States.

  Repeated government bailouts of failing financial and industrial companies have perpetuated Japan’s crisis. Japan’s leaders and policies have repeatedly blocked the process of creative destruction, which—if allowed to run its course and cleanse the system—would have been a massive stimulus to entrepreneurship and economic vitality. However, rather than allow capitalism to work, the Japanese system doomed the country to a generation of stagnation.

  As a result, Japan has endured three “lost decades” of weak economic growth, diminished purchasing power, lower and lower standards of living, loss of prestige and influence in the global community, and an aging population that the island nation’s resources are straining to support.

  Japan now has the world’s highest government debt-to-GDP ratio, at 264 percent. Japan’s banks are walking zombies, unable to grow or lend because they have never restructured their balance sheets to clean up massive piles of debt left over from excesses of previous decades. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) holds government bonds and other assets equal to 127 percent of Japan’s GDP, the highest ratio of any central bank in the world. This portfolio resulted in over $70 billion in unrealized losses for the BOJ in six months of 2023 alone.

  The Japanese yen has devalued against the U.S. dollar by more than 30 percent in just three years since 2021. Since the global financial crisis 2008–09, the yen has lost 75 percent of its value against gold. Because of Japan’s high reliance on imports, this loss of purchasing power has translated directly into a substantially lower standard of living for the Japanese people. In theory, Japan could support the yen by raising interest rates, but this is a political, monetary, and fiscal impossibility.

  Decades of easy money policies are a central culprit and cause of this slow-moving trainwreck.

  The Bank of Japan only began raising interest rates this March, some three years after the United States and the European Union brought their own easy money policies to an end. This was the first time the BOJ has raised rates since 2007, a move that pulled the official rate out of negative territory. Nonetheless, with inflation now approaching 2 percent, a short-term policy rate of zero to 0.1 percent means that real rates remain around negative 2 percent. This serves as an additional tax on Japanese households and an intended stimulus to spend today rather than save for tomorrow.

  Money essentially is free in Japan, but no one can afford to borrow it, even if the banks can manage to lend it. The BOJ and the entire banking system stand in the penumbra of insolvency. Only Japan’s decade-long zero interest-rate policy has allowed Japan’s decrepit financial system to continue to stand following the 2008 financial crisis and the effects of COVID economic shutdowns. Japan cannot afford to raise interest rates to support its currency more than nominally above the zero bound without substantially raising debt service costs and exploding losses. This would bring the entire rickety system to the ground.

  A growing economy might help ease the burden, but Japan’s economy is moribund. This is not surprising, as meaningful growth is impossible under mountains of debt. GDP shrank by 0.8 percent in the third quarter and eked out 0.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter. While the country thus barely escaped technical recession (two consecutive quarters of GDP decline), Japan hasn’t posted GDP growth above 2 percent in more than 20 years, save for two rebound quarters after the global shocks of the financial crisis and COVID.

  Japan represents a slow-moving demographic disaster. Japan has the oldest median population of any major country in the world and the lowest fertility rate at 1.37. Japan’s fertility rate has been below the minimum population replacement rate (2.1) for 40 years, meaning that the country is both aging and losing economic productivity, and it is probably too late to reverse it.

  This all represents a grave warning to the United States.

  The U.S. government is chasing Japan for the ignoble title of most indebted nation. Overly indebted nations cannot grow. With federal government debt to GDP of 129 percent, a ratio which is increasing rapidly, the United States is now the fourth most indebted country in the world. Debt is growing more quickly now because the federal government refuses to wean itself off of deficit spending, including an additional $1.7 trillion in 2023, which must be funded by new debt, as must over $1 trillion in interest expense. This debt—and the cost to service it—acts as a drag on our economy. Deficit spending and the borrowing required to support it crowds out private market investment and financings.

  Rather than let more insolvent banks and unprofitable firms fail, U.S. monetary policy since at least the 2008 financial crisis has propped up bad business models—and the asset values of otherwise worthless investments—by subsidizing the cost of capital well below the natural rate of interest. In a nation that has been the standard bearer and exporter of capitalism for more than two centuries, socialistic government policies are preventing capitalism from working at home. This will eventually catch up with our financial markets and economy, just as it did for Japan.

  It is not just shortsighted monetary and financial policy that threatens U.S. competitiveness.

  If Americans’ worsening attitudes toward the importance of marriage and children do not reverse course dramatically, the United States will face the same demographic fate as Japan. The fertility rate in the United States has been in decline since at least 2008, and reached a record low of 1.62 in 2023. This is well below the replacement rate, and thus unsustainable.

  Progressives point to declining fertility rates and aging populations to justify mass illegal immigration, but this is a red herring. Bringing tens of millions of unskilled, uneducated, and culturally unassimilated migrants into the nation is not a benefit but rather an untenable burden on social infrastructure, an enervating drain on economic productivity, and an unbearable tax on legal citizens.

  At least Japan got that part right.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 23:05

• South Koreans & Lithuanians Have The Highest Rate Of Suicide In the World
  South Koreans & Lithuanians Have The Highest Rate Of Suicide In the World

  May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States.

  According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, participants use the month to focus efforts on “eradicating stigma, extending support, fostering public education and advocating for policies that prioritize the well-being of individuals and families affected by mental illness.”

  The topic of suicide is an important part of this conversation. As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, it is a truly global issue, even though estimated rates vary around the world. For example, according to OECD data, out of every 100,000 men in the United States an average of 23 committed suicide in 2021, while for women the average was close to six per 100,000. In several countries these figures are even higher, such as in South Korea, Lithuania and Hungary.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  While there are significant differences between countries, one pattern is clear to see: the rates of men taking their own lives are higher than women in each of the 15 countries selected here.

  South Korea and Lithuania had the highest rates of suicide among men in 2022 (out of the countries reporting data), at 34.9 and 33.1 cases per 100,000 population, respectively.

  For women, South Korea and Japan had the highest rates of the selected countries, with 14.9 and 9.8.

  If you or somebody you know are in need of help, you can find a list of suicide crisis lines and website for countries around the world here.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 22:45

• CDC Found Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Caused Deaths
  CDC Found Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Caused Deaths

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

  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials found evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines caused multiple deaths before claiming that there was no evidence linking the vaccines to any deaths, The Epoch Times has learned.

  

  CDC employees worked to track down information on reported post-vaccination deaths and learned that myocarditis—or heart inflammation, a confirmed side effect of the vaccines—was listed on death certificates and in autopsies for some of the deaths, according to an internal file obtained by The Epoch Times.

  Myocarditis was also described as being caused by vaccination in a subset of the deaths.

  In other cases, the CDC workers found that deaths met the agency’s definition for myocarditis, that the patients started showing symptoms within 42 days of a vaccine dose, and that the deceased displayed no virus-related symptoms. Officials say that after 42 days, a possible link between the vaccine and symptoms becomes tenuous, and they list post-vaccination deaths as unrelated if they can find any possible alternative causes.

  In cases with those three features, it’s “absolutely” safe to say that the vaccines caused the deaths, Dr. Clare Craig, a British pathologist and co-chair of the Health Advisory and Recovery Team Group, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  Despite the findings, most of which were made by the end of 2021, the CDC claimed that it had seen no signs linking the Moderna and Pfizer messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to any deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

  CDC officials in a letter to The Epoch Times dated June 13, 2023, said that there were no deaths reported to the VAERS for which the agency determined “the available evidence” indicated Moderna or Pfizer vaccination “caused or contributed to the deaths.”

  The agency also said that evidence from seven deaths from thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome following the Johnson & Johnson vaccination suggested that the vaccine led to people dying.

  “That’s a scandal, where you have information like this and you continue to put out this dishonest line that there’s only seven deaths and they’re all unrelated to the mRNA vaccines,” Dr. Andrew Bostom, a heart expert based in the United States, told The Epoch Times.

  The CDC is “concealing these deaths,” he said.

  A CDC spokeswoman, presented with the file and dozens of questions about it, said that “determining a person’s cause of death is done by the certifying official, physician, medical examiner, or coroner, who completes the death certificate.”

  The spokeswoman declined to explain why the CDC doesn’t consider autopsies or death certificates as evidence of causality, the criteria that would establish vaccine-caused deaths, or whether the numbers have been updated since 2023. She also declined to answer questions about specific deaths outlined in the file, citing “privacy and confidentiality.”

  People who die in the United States with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 are counted as COVID-19 deaths. That count has included a number of deaths from unrelated causes. The CDC also in 2023 advised death certifiers to include COVID-19 on certificates even if the deaths happened years after COVID-19 infection.

  “They are taking the exact opposite approach to COVID deaths! Every death after a test was a COVID death. No death after a vaccine is a vaccine death!” Dr. Craig said. She questioned what it would take for the CDC to admit that the vaccines have caused some myocarditis-related deaths.

  

  More People Died

  The file, acquired by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, has never before been reported. The file was obtained after U.S. authorities rejected another Freedom of Information Act request for the autopsies themselves. The file outlines the agency’s investigation into reports submitted to VAERS of suspected cases of myocarditis or a related condition, pericarditis, following COVID-19 vaccination.

  CDC employees, starting in April 2021, contacted health care providers and other agencies to obtain medical records, death certificates, and autopsies as they sought to confirm whether each report was legitimate.

  The file shows the CDC examined 3,780 reports through April 13, 2023, a small number of which were duplicates. Among the reported cases, 101 resulted in death.

  In one instance, a 37-year-old man started suffering symptoms that can be caused by myocarditis, such as shortness of breath, shortly after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 shot. The man collapsed three days after vaccination and was soon pronounced dead.

  Dr. Darinka Mileusnic, the medical examiner who examined the man, said in an autopsy report that the patient died of “post vaccination systemic inflammation response” which caused, among other problems, acute myocarditis, according to the CDC file.

  The CDC worker who was assigned to look into the death wrote that it was “evident of a sudden death post second dose of Moderna vaccine.”

  “One of the factor[s] to death [sic] is acute myocarditis. There are other findings related to VAE [vaccine adverse event] and non vaccine related. Thus, it can’t be distinguished that only vaccine may have caused the death,” the CDC employee wrote.

  Dr. Mileusnic declined a request for comment through her employer, the Knox County Regional Forensic Center in Tennessee. The center said it would only provide an autopsy report if the decedent’s name and date of death were provided. The CDC file did not include names.

  

  After another man, 24, died on Oct. 27, 2021, about two months after receiving a second Pfizer injection, his health care provider diagnosed him with myocarditis. An autopsy listed “complications of COVID-19 vaccine-related myocarditis” as the cause of death, according to the file.

  A post-mortem test for COVID-19 returned negative, there were no viral organisms found in post-mortem testing of the heart, and there were no other signs of viruses causing the myocarditis, the notes show.

  Another vaccine recipient, a 77-year-old man, was found dead at home on Nov. 14, 2021. The autopsy confirmed the man had pericarditis and listed the cause of death as “complications from the COV-19 booster,” according to the file.

  The CDC worker who looked at that case said it met the CDC’s definition of pericarditis based on the autopsy and death certificate but noted there were comorbidities such as coronary artery disease that were listed as contributing to the death. The patient also received shots against influenza and shingles about two months before death, so “it is difficult to say that COV-19 vaccine alone caused pericarditis,” the worker wrote.

  A voicemail left for the man’s doctor was not returned.

  Among other deaths in the CDC file are:

  • A male, whose age was redacted, suffered sudden cardiac death in April 2021 following a Johnson & Johnson vaccination. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, which was confirmed by the medical examiner. A CDC worker stated that the case did not technically meet the agency’s case definition, but they would “consider probable subclinical myocarditis, given the histopathological findings.”
  • A 21-year-old woman who died in 2021 after seizures and cardiac arrhythmias following Pfizer vaccination was found on autopsy to have lymphocytic myocarditis. The CDC listed her case as confirmed myocarditis with no evidence of viral causes.
  • A 45-year-old man was found dead in his bed in 2021 after Moderna vaccination but testing for myocarditis and pericarditis was not performed.
  • A 55-year-old woman who was “found unresponsive in [a] field” in 2021 after Johnson & Johnson vaccination was confirmed on autopsy to have myocarditis and to have suffered a cardiac arrest. The death met the CDC’s case definition but concurrent upper respiratory infection “makes viral myocarditis a potential alternative cause,” a CDC worker stated. The medical examiner declined to comment.

  

  Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson did not return requests for comment.

  Lot numbers for the vaccines injected into people who died were among the information in the file redacted by the CDC. Some vaccine lots have caused significantly more problems than others, according to CDC data obtained by the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network.

  Deaths in other countries from vaccine-induced myocarditis have been reported in journals, including deaths among young people. More deaths from vaccines in cases that didn’t include myocarditis have been confirmed by international authorities. Death certificates obtained by The Epoch Times from several U.S. states have also listed the COVID-19 vaccines as causing or contributing to dozens of deaths.

  

  Overruling

  The file and a tranche of emails also obtained by The Epoch Times shows the agency started intervening shortly after the vaccines were introduced in post-vaccination cases that led to death and sometimes overruled the certifier.

  Take the case of a 23-year-old man who left home on April 13, 2021, to go for a jog and was found dead on the side of the road. His death occurred four days after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 22:25

• Colombian Government Severs Relations With Israel
  Colombian Government Severs Relations With Israel

  It’s been no secret that the fiercest and most sustained criticism of Israel’s military operation in Gaza has come from Global South countries. Many of these have also supported South Africa’s taking Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on allegations of genocide.

  But now the next big step is taking place: governments are formally severing ties with Israel and expelling diplomats. On Wednesday Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that his country will cut relations with Israel over what he called its “genocidal” war against Palestinians. He said this will be formally initiated starting Thursday.

  

  “Tomorrow (Thursday) diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed… for having a genocidal president,”  Petro told a May Day rally in Bogota.

  “If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we will not let it die,” he said at one point in the speech. Petro is Colombia’s first ever leftist president, and he proclaimed that “democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to reestablish itself in international politics.”

  However, Bloomberg has noted that his motives could partly be to distract from the ongoing economic crisis in the country:

  Petro is looking to counter large anti-government rallies that took place on April 21 and said his administration will send a package of bills to congress meant to boost economic growth.

  The package will include measures that force the financial sector to provide cheap financing to productive sectors, Petro said.

  “It will consist of bills that generate forced investment in the Colombian private financial system aimed at credits for small, medium, and large industries, agriculture, and tourism in Colombia, to reactivate the country,” he said.

  President Petro has for months been a fiery vocal critic of Israel, having first threatened to sever relations with Israel back in March. Already Bolivia had cut ties with Israel by the end of October as the Gaza offensive entered full swing.

  NOW – Socialist president of Colombia: “Tomorrow diplomatic relations will be broken with Israel due to having a genocidal president.”pic.twitter.com/FbkVBnaHIn

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 1, 2024

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

  At that time Foreign Minister Israel Katz had condemned the Colombian leader’s call to cut ties, writing on X that his support for “the Hamas murderers who carried out terrible acts of slaughter and sexual crimes against babies, women and adults is a disgrace to the Colombian people.”

  “Israel will continue to defend its citizens and will not give in to any pressure or threats,” Katz had declared at the time. Israel has already halted security exports to Colombia as of last year following the worsening rift with Bogota in the wake of Oct.7.

  Tel Aviv fears that such dramatic actions by Global South and non-aligned governments could spread, damaging trade in some corners of the globe and its standing on the world stage. A similar domino-effect momentum also happened in the late 20th century with apartheid-era South Africa.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 22:05

• 'Unacceptable': Trump Campaign Slams Commission's Refusal To Hold Earlier Debates
  ‘Unacceptable’: Trump Campaign Slams Commission’s Refusal To Hold Earlier Debates

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

  The Trump campaign on Tuesday issued a rebuke of the Commission on Presidential Debates’ refusal to move up its debate schedule until after millions of Americans have already cast their ballots, calling it “unacceptable” and a “grave disservice” to the electorate.

  

  In a statement, former President Donald Trump’s campaign representatives Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles intensified criticism of the body that sponsors all general election presidential debates. Previously, they had requested debates to be held “much earlier” than the commission’s planned first debate in mid-September.

  The Trump campaign repeated its argument that voters deserve to hear from both candidates before they begin casting their votes.

  “The Presidential Debate Commission’s schedule does not begin until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots. This is unacceptable, and by refusing to move up the debates, they are doing a grave disservice to the American public who deserve to hear from both candidates before voting begins,” the statement read.

  The statement comes after the nonprofit commission told Fox News that it would stick with its debate schedule, which was released last November. Four debates are planned: three presidential and one vice presidential.

  The first presidential debate takes place on Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos; the second takes place on Oct. 1 at Virginia State University in Petersburg; and the third takes place on Oct. 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

  The commission said that it “is proceeding with production and broadcast plans at its four debate sites as also announced on November 20, 2023.”

  The Trump campaign had pressed the commission to provide debates sooner and with greater frequency, particularly now that both 2024 contenders have secured the necessary delegates to become their respective parties’ presumptive nominees.

  In a letter penned to the commission earlier this year, the Trump campaign wrote: “The Commission must move up the timetable of its proposed 2024 debates to ensure more Americans have a full chance to see the candidates before they start voting, and we would argue for adding more debates in addition to those on the currently proposed schedule.”

  The Trump campaign’s push for earlier debates comes as President Trump applies pressure on President Joe Biden to engage in head-to-head debates.

  The Biden campaign has largely avoided addressing debates directly with President Trump, but last week, President Biden said that he’s “happy” to debate President Trump.

  “I am, somewhere, I don’t know when,” President Biden said when asked about debating his Republican opponent during an interview with radio personality Howard Stern. “I’m happy to debate him.”

  Following these remarks, President Trump took to Truth Social to press the president for a debate.

  

  “Crooked Joe Biden just announced that he’s willing to debate! Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE, an old expression used by Fighters,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

  In March, following his State of the Union address, President Biden said that a debate with President Trump “would depend upon his behavior.” The Biden administration has also cited concerns over finding a fair moderator.

  Last week, following President Biden’s remarks agreeing to debate, President Trump suggested any location, including the White House, as a venue.

  President Trump, according to the campaign’s Tuesday statement, remains committed to debating President Joe Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.”

  His campaign suggested on Tuesday that he could circumvent the body that’s sponsored all general election presidential debates for decades.

  “We are committed to making this happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission. We extend an invitation to every television network in America that wishes to host a debate, and we once again call on Joe Biden’s team to work with us to set one up as soon as possible. The American people deserve it,” Mr. LaCivita and Ms. Wiles added.

  The commission’s schedule includes a vice presidential debate on Sept. 25 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

  The Epoch Times contacted the Commission on Presidential Debates for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 21:45

• "It Was Brutal": 2nd Boeing-Linked Whistleblower Dies
  “It Was Brutal”: 2nd Boeing-Linked Whistleblower Dies

  A whistleblower at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems died Tuesday morning following a struggle with a ‘sudden, fast-spreading infection,’ the Seattle Times reports.

  

  45-year-old Joshua Dean, a former mechanical engineer and quality auditor from Wichita, Kansas, alleged that Spirit leadership ignored manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX, including ‘mechanics improperly drilling holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of the MAX.’ When he brought this up with management, he said that nothing was done about it. So he filed a safety complaint with the FAA – and said that Spirit had used him as a scapegoat while they lied to the agency about the defects.

  “After I was fired, Spirit AeroSystems [initially] did nothing to inform the FAA, and the public” regarding the bulkhead defects, said Dean in his complaint.

  In November, the FAA suggested to Dean in a letter that his claims had merit, writing “The investigation determined that your allegations were appropriately addressed under an FAA-approved safety program,” adding “However, due to the privacy provisions of those programs, specific details cannot be released.”

  Dean also gave a deposition in a Spirit shareholder lawsuit.

  The shareholder lawsuit alleging that Spirit management withheld information on the quality flaws and harmed stockholders was filed in December. Supporting the suit, Dean provided a deposition detailing his allegations.

  After a panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX plane in January, bringing new attention to the quality lapses at Spirit, one of Dean’s former Spirit colleagues confirmed some of Dean’s allegations. -Seattle Times

  He had been in good health, and ‘was noted for having a healthy lifestyle,’ according to the report.

  He had been in critical condition for two weeks, according to his aunt Carol Parsons, who said he became ill and went to the hospital due to breathing difficulties. He was intubated, after which he developed pneumonia and then MRSA, a serious bacterial infection.

  His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was airlifted from Wichita to a hospital in Oklahoma City, Parsons said. There he was put on an ECMO machine, which circulates and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, taking over heart and lung function when a patient’s organs don’t work on their own. -Seattle Times

  Doctors had considered amputating both hands and both feet.

  “It was brutal what he went through,” said Parsons. “Heartbreaking.”

  Dean was fired in April 2023, after which he filed a complaint with the Department of Labor, alleging he had been terminated in retaliation for blowing the whistle.

  

  He was represented by the South Carolina law firm that represented Boeing whistleblower John “Mitch” Barnett, who was found dead in an ‘apparent suicide’ in March in Charleston.

  

  Barnett was in the middle of giving depositions suggesting that Boeing retaliated against him over complaints related to quality issues when he was found dead from a gunshot wound.

  The Charleston County Coroner’s Office reported Barnett’s death appeared to be “from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” Almost two months later, the police investigation into his death is still ongoing. -Seattle Times

  “Whistleblowers are needed. They bring to light wrongdoing and corruption in the interests of society. It takes a lot of courage to stand up,” said Brian Knowles, one of Dean’s lawyers. “It’s a difficult set of circumstances. Our thoughts now are with John’s family and Josh’s family.”

  In March, Boeing was rumored to be in talks to buy Spirit, as both companies have come under increasing pressure from airline customers and federal regulators to shore up quality issues following a January 5th incident in which a door plug blew out mid-flight on a 737 MAX 9.

  Alaska Airlines flight #AS1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, experienced a rapid decompression after the loss of a large panel that included an emergency exit door on the left side of the plane.
  The flight made a safe return to Portland (PDX).pic.twitter.com/KH4gs0X4o6

  — Aviation Safety Network (ASN) (@AviationSafety) January 6, 2024

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

  Four days later, United Airlines found “loose bolts” on 737 MAX doors following an emergency inspection.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 21:25

• Google Workers Sacked Over Israel Protests File Federal Labor Complaint
  Google Workers Sacked Over Israel Protests File Federal Labor Complaint

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  Dozens of Google workers who were fired for protesting the tech giant’s cloud deal with the Israeli government filed a complaint on Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over their termination.

  The complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, alleges that Google violated the workers’ rights by “terminating and/or placing them on administrative leave in response to their protected concerted activity, namely, participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work.”

  

  The workers are seeking reinstatement of their jobs and back pay, alleging that Google had “unlawfully retaliated” against them for engaging in “peaceful” protest, Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid, was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

  No Tech for Apartheid, the group organizing the protests, claimed that Google fired over 20 workers on April 23, including non-participating bystanders.

  This adds to the 30 workers fired last week for their involvement in sit-in protests at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, bringing the total number of terminated workers to over 50 people.

  Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  The protests targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus that provides artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli government.

  The fired workers contend that the system is being lethally deployed in the Gaza war.

  “Google’s aims are clear: the corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers, and reassert its power over them,” the group said in an April 23 press release.

  “In its attempts to do so, Google has decided to unceremoniously, and without due process, upend the livelihoods of over 50 of its own workers,” it added.

  The activist group has vowed to continue organizing until their demands are met: for Google to “drop Project Nimbus and stop powering Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza now.”

  Project Nimbus was signed in 2021. It involves joint cloud computing and AI services provided by Google and Amazon to the Israeli government. Google has said that the program is not being utilized for military or intelligence purposes.

  Google has said that it fired the workers after gathering details from coworkers who were “physically disrupted” and it identified employees who used masks and didn’t carry their staff badges to hide their identities. Google didn’t specify how many were fired.

  In a blog post on April 18, Google CEO Sundar Pichai hinted that workers will be on a short leash as the company intensifies its efforts to improve its AI technology at a pivotal moment in the industry and, potentially, humanity. He did not openly refer to a specific incident.

  “But ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” Mr Pichai wrote.

  “We have a duty to be an objective and trusted provider of information that serves all of our users globally,” he added.

  It’s not the first time Google workers have protested against some of the company’s ventures and its approach to AI development.

  A previous protest by employees in 2018 resulted in Google’s termination of a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense called “Project Maven.” The contract was largely focused on assisting armed forces with military video analysis.

  Despite this, Google has remained largely unaffected by the internal uproar.

  From a financial perspective, the company continues to flourish through revenue obtained through its main sources, primarily digital advertising and a dominant search engine.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 21:05

• The Countries Where The Most People Buy Organic
  The Countries Where The Most People Buy Organic

  According to the Statista Market Insights, more than 15 percent of food sales in Denmark are of organic products, making the country the biggest market for organic food in relative terms.

  As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz shows in the chart below, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland are the only other countries achieving a share above 10 percent, showing that in a global context, food marketed as organic is still a somewhat of a niche despite all the hype surrounding it.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Taking into consideration only foods marketed as organic (and not those which are not sold as such, for example in countries with less formalized food markets), the global share of organic products in total food revenue was just 1.9 percent.

  With Germany in rank 7, a strong preference for organic food in German-speaking countries is visible. Interestingly, Benelux and Scandinavian countries are not consistingly achieving rates above 5 percent. Statista analysts also took a look at the development of the market and concluded that it is only growing slowly in most places as price remains a (perceived) hurdle for many consumers.

  Also taking into account country size, the United States still had the largest market for organic food out of any country despite a lower share of organic food at 7.2 percent of all food sales in 2023.

  This is the equivalent of around $70 billion of the $975 billion U.S. food market (excluding out-of-home).

  In comparison, all of Europe generated food revenues almost $2 trillion but lower organic uptake in Eastern and Southern Europe led to a share of 3.9 percent organic food sales overall – the equivalent to an organic food market only slightly bigger than that of the U.S. at $77.6 billion.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 20:45

• California's Perpetual Drought Is Manmade And Intentional
  California’s Perpetual Drought Is Manmade And Intentional

  Authored by Roger Canfield via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) last week released its next five-year plan for the State Water Project—Update 2023. After years of meetings, California’s premier water agency has decided to focus on “three intersecting themes: addressing climate urgency, strengthening watershed resilience, and achieving equity in water management.”

  

  Water supplies for California’s 40 million people and the planet’s most productive agriculture have third- to fifth-level priority.

  There is nothing new here, except to publicly admit to betraying the public trust. Really?

  Over several decades, the public has been deceived into voting for water bonds that have little new water in them—phony promises to build new water storage and aqueducts. About 12 percent of bond funds are spent on new water storage. The rest of the bond funds have been squandered on scores of local and special-interest environmental projects, e.g., tearing down four Klamath-area dams—killing fish to save them—and opposing substantial new water projects, e.g., raising Shasta Dam and building Auburn Dam.

  Further, by California law, water must be equitably distributed, pumped “equally”—half to human beings (if you count agriculture) and half to fish (the water-short Pacific Ocean, 187 quadrillion gallons). During the big rains of 2024, about 90 percent of the water was flushed to the Pacific through the gills of perhaps a half dozen delta smelt.

  Farmers call it a manmade drought.

  The politicos halted humans “taking” water, “diverting” it, from fish. Under the U.S. Constitution, the taking of private property requires just compensation—not mass confiscation. Water rights are a complex species of property.

  “Our findings show that atmospheric river activity exceeds what has occurred since instrumental record keeping began,” said Clarke Knight, a U.S. Geological Survey research geographer.

  Still, DWR scheduled 2024 meetings of the Drought Resilience Interagency & Partners (DRIP) Collaborative for April, July, and October.

  The DRIP fantasy continues despite a deluge of 2024 water from two winters of giant “rivers in the sky” dumping excesses of water and creating massive floods and landslides.

  Recent massive atmospheric rivers, Ark events, are small compared to ancient monster storms that occurred long before human beings had any impact whatsoever on climate, let alone weather.

  Despite plentiful rainfall, DWR continued to limit pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Central Valley agriculture to 30–40 percent to protect native fish. Nonnative bass are likely the greatest dangers to native fish. DWR insisted that its ability to move water south has been “impacted by the presence of threatened and endangered fish species.”

  Those water districts’ contractors, paying the full cost of State Water Project (SWP) water, thought otherwise.

  Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors, stated: “While we are glad to see this modest allocation, it is still far below the amount of water we need. There is a lot of water in the system, California reservoirs are full, and runoff from snowpack melt is still to come. Even in a good water year, moving water effectively and efficiently under the current regime is difficult.”

  California’s drought fixation is entirely manmade. In the past, in wet years, the waters of the Sacramento River, greater than the mighty Colorado, turned the Central Valley into an inland sea.

  For over a century, California visionaries followed the lead of the Mesopotamians, Assyrians, Romans, and Nabataeans as well as the Aztecs before them. C.R. Rockwood, William Mulholland, Michael O’Shaughnessy, Gov. Pat Brown, and Gov. Ronald Reagan built dams and aqueducts to store and distribute water and to provide flood protection and hydroelectricity “too cheap to meter.”

  As I have said before, California wastes tens of billions of dollars’ worth (at a conservative $100–$200 an acre-foot) of precious fresh water to save handfuls of delta smelt and “restore” salmon runs where salmon never ran before.

  As I’ve also mentioned before, tyrannical water police order city folk, who use only 8 percent of California’s water, to drink recycled toilet water and to live on 55 gallons a day. The serfs may bathe every other Saturday whether they need it or not. California demands that its residents take a water conservation pledge: And to the utopia for which it stands. Neighbors turn neighbors in for “wasting” water, not to mention life, liberty, and property.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 20:25

• 'Intel Insidious' – Here's All The 'Grants' Given By Biden's US CHIPS Act
  ‘Intel Insidious’ – Here’s All The ‘Grants’ Given By Biden’s US CHIPS Act

  This visualization shows which companies are receiving grants from the U.S. CHIPS Act, as of April 25, 2024. The CHIPS Act is a federal statute signed into law by President Joe Biden that authorizes $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors.

  The grant amounts visualized in this graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, are intended to accelerate the production of semiconductor fabrication plants (fabs) across the United States.

  

  Data and Company Highlights

  The figures we used to create this graphic were collected from a variety of public news sources. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) also maintains a tracker for CHIPS Act recipients, though at the time of writing it does not have the latest details for Micron.

  

  BAE Systems was not included in the graphic due to size limitations

  Intel’s Massive Plans

  Intel is receiving the largest share of the pie, with $8.5 billion in grants (plus an additional $11 billion in government loans). This grant accounts for 22% of the CHIPS Act’s total subsidies for chip production.

  From Intel’s side, the company is expected to invest $100 billion to construct new fabs in Arizona and Ohio, while modernizing and/or expanding existing fabs in Oregon and New Mexico. Intel could also claim another $25 billion in credits through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Investment Tax Credit.

  TSMC Expands its U.S. Presence

  TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry company, is receiving a hefty $6.6 billion to construct a new chip plant with three fabs in Arizona. The Taiwanese chipmaker is expected to invest $65 billion into the project.

  The plant’s first fab will be up and running in the first half of 2025, leveraging 4 nm (nanometer) technology. According to TrendForce, the other fabs will produce chips on more advanced 3 nm and 2 nm processes.

  The Latest Grant Goes to Micron

  Micron, the only U.S.-based manufacturer of memory chips, is set to receive $6.1 billion in grants to support its plans of investing $50 billion through 2030. This investment will be used to construct new fabs in Idaho and New York.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 20:05

• A Low Sodium Diet May Be Stressing You Out
  A Low Sodium Diet May Be Stressing You Out

  Authored by Jennifer Sweenie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  There is a link between salt intake and stress, and it’s probably not what you think. While we are well aware of the purported dangers associated with a high-sodium diet, many of us are not aware that too little sodium comes with its own set of issues. When it comes to stress, salt plays an important role in helping flush cortisol from the body.

  

  A study published in Clinical Endocrinology in 2020 showed that an increase in salt consumption leads to a rise in cortisol levels in your urine and lower cortisol levels in your bloodstream. What does this potentially mean? Restricting your sodium intake may lead to higher levels of circulating cortisol.

  Salt is often vilified, and many physicians instruct their patients to adopt a low-sodium diet for health reasons. However, not consuming enough of it may interfere with the removal of cortisol from our bloodstream. Sodium helps flush the stress hormone from the body, and avoiding it may ultimately lead to chronically elevated blood cortisol levels. If left untreated, high cortisol levels can lead to a variety of bothersome symptoms and potentially serious complications. Most people are experiencing some symptoms of elevated or dysregulated cortisol from life stressors, and abstaining from salt may be exacerbating the situation.

  What Is Cortisol?

  Cortisol is an essential steroid hormone the adrenal gland produces in response to stress. It is often referred to as the stress hormone because the body releases it in higher amounts during the fight-or-flight response to a stressor. Cortisol helps release stored glucose from our cells so we have the energy to run away from a perceived threat.

  The stress hormone has many vital functions, including regulating blood sugar levels, managing metabolism, controlling inflammation, and assisting with your sleep and wake cycle. It is an important hormone, however, high cortisol levels over a prolonged period of time can negatively affect health—including weight gain, high blood pressure, and weakened immune function.

  The Difference Between Salt and Sodium

  People often use the words salt and sodium interchangeably, but there is a marked difference between the two. Sodium is a mineral found in many foods and is essential for our bodies to function properly. Salt is a combination of sodium and chloride. It is a chemical compound comprised of 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride, hence its moniker. Ultimately, sodium is one of two elements that salt is made from.

  Sodium is an essential mineral that helps regulate the body’s fluid balance and maintain normal nerve and muscle function. It is also involved in the absorption and transportation of nutrients throughout the body. Essential means your body cannot make it, and you must get adequate amounts from the food you eat. What is our primary source of sodium? Salt.

  The Salt and Cortisol Connection

  The findings of the 2020 study are not new. A separate study published earlier in the same year found that, “On a high-salt, as compared with a low-salt, diet, urinary aldosterone excretion decreased, whereas urinary cortisol and cortisone excretion increased.” In 2013, a study published in Cell Metabolism determined that “[A] high-salt diet increases cortisol excretion in humans.”

  A study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2003 stated, “In healthy subjects, dietary salt loading increases and sodium restriction decreases urinary free cortisol excretion” and “​​changes in cortisol metabolite excretion after salt loading were accompanied by a decrease in plasma cortisol concentration.”

  Prior to that, a 1998 study concluded, “This study supports the notion that sodium restriction decreases urinary cortisol excretion.”

  Although more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between salt intake and cortisol excretion, the 2020 study raises a few points. Increased dietary sodium intake may cause false positives in urinary-free cortisol excretion tests, and low-sodium diets may make cortisol blood tests inaccurate. Additionally, a low-sodium diet may raise cortisol, and incorporating high-quality sources of sodium into your diet comes with benefits in terms of cortisol regulation.

  The Type of Salt Matters

  When it comes to salt consumption, the type of salt matters. Table salt is the most commonly used salt. It is heavily processed and stripped of many of its natural minerals. Chemicals are often added to keep it from caking in humidity.

  Table salt is also usually fortified with iodine. Iodine can be beneficial for thyroid health. However, some experts argue that the processing of table salt can make it more difficult for the body to process and use and may lead to potential health issues. Sometimes dextrose, a form of sugar, is added to table salt.

  Sea salt is a more natural form of salt harvested from evaporated seawater. It retains many natural trace minerals, including magnesium, potassium, and calcium. It is not refined or processed. Himalayan pink sea salt is a popular type of salt mined from ancient salt beds in the Himalayan Mountains. It is known for its pink hue and is rich in minerals.

  Kosher salt is pure sodium chloride and contains no trace minerals, iodine, or unhealthy additives.

  Foods That Can Help Lower Cortisol

  In addition to high-quality salt, the best foods for lowering cortisol are those that are anti-inflammatory. Any foods that lower inflammation will, in turn, lower cortisol levels. Several foods can help reduce cortisol levels in the body, including:

  • Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate contains flavonoids and studies have shown it can reduce cortisol levels.
  • Berries: Berries are rich in antioxidants, which can help reduce inflammation and lower cortisol levels.
  • Fatty fish: Fatty fish such as salmon and tuna contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that omega-3s can reduce cortisol levels.
  • Nuts: Nuts are a great source of magnesium, which can help lower cortisol levels.
  • Leafy greens: Leafy greens such as spinach and kale are also rich in magnesium and antioxidants and can help reduce inflammation and lower cortisol levels.
  • Fermented foods: Fermented foods, including kimchi and sauerkraut, contain probiotics. Probiotics have been shown to help reduce cortisol levels.
  • Herbal teas: Research supports that herbal teas, such as chamomile and lavender, have calming properties that can help reduce cortisol levels.
  • Ashwagandha: A plant that has been used for centuries in traditional Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha is believed to reduce cortisol levels in the body. It has treated a variety of conditions, including stress, anxiety, fatigue, and depression.

  Some studies suggest that ashwagandha also has anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. However, ashwagandha can be unsafe for some people and should be discussed with a physician.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 19:45

• Ukrainian Drones Hit Major Rosneft Refinery In Russia
  Ukrainian Drones Hit Major Rosneft Refinery In Russia

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

  Just as Russia had started to bring back some refinery capacity damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks earlier this year, a new wave of drone attacks hit a major refinery owned by Rosneft, for a second time.

  Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery southeast of Moscow caught fire after the overnight drone attack, an anonymous Ukrainian military source with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

  The refinery in the region of Ryazan, whose main city of the same name is some 120 miles southeast of Moscow, was first attacked by drones in the middle of March. The first attack also led to a fire.

  Drones attacked the Ryazan oil refinery, and a fire started there

  According to local residents, the attack on the plant took place around 3 am. In social networks report that at first a strong rumble of drones was heard, and then there were two explosions. According to… pic.twitter.com/RczhoYPhFo

  — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 1, 2024

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  This year, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on oil refineries in Russia, which have reduced Russian refining capacity, and, reportedly, have the White House concerned about rising international prices.

  The United States has repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries due to Washington’s assessment that the strikes could lead to Russian retaliation and push up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported in March, citing sources familiar with the exchange.

  As of mid-April, Russia had brought back online some oil refining units, reducing the capacity taken offline by Ukrainian drone hits to around 10%, from 14% at the end of March.

  The refining capacity in Russia that was offline due to drone attacks was estimated by Reuters in mid-April at around 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to 907,000 bpd offline at the end of March.

  Russia said in early April it can repair all damaged units within two months.

  🔥💥 In addition to the Ryazan Refinery, 2 UAVs also attacked the Voronezhnefteprodukt Refinery, — ASTRA

  ❗1 UAV fell on the territory of “Voronezhnefteprodukt” in the village of Staraya Pokrovka. The other seemed to have been shot down in the suburbs of Voronezh. pic.twitter.com/B5gGZGGYAp

  — MAKS 23 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) May 1, 2024

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  Russia’s Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said that all damaged refineries in the country would be restarted by the beginning of June.

  “Repairs are underway at the refineries. We plan to re-launch a number of refineries after repairs in April-May, possibly before the beginning of June,” Russian news agency Interfax quoted Shulginov as saying.

  “All facilities that were damaged will be re-commissioned,” the minister added.  

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 19:43

• US Imposes Sanctions On Chinese Companies Vital To Russia's Defense Industry
  US Imposes Sanctions On Chinese Companies Vital To Russia’s Defense Industry

  The Biden administration and US Treasury on Wednesday unveiled nearly 300 new anti-Russia sanctions which especially target third party entities which are said to help Moscow in sanctions-busting activities.

  “The almost 300 targets being sanctioned by both Treasury and the Department of State include sanctions on dozens of actors that have enabled Russia to acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad,” the Treasury Department said in a press release.

  So-called dual-use items out of China are a key focus of the action, which is being hailed as one of “the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington’s sanctions aimed at Russia.” 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong were named.

  

  Companies in Turkey, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also targeted.

  “Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war, and the U.S. is imposing them today on almost 300 targets,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

  It also marks the furthest reaching action that seeks to specifically degrade Russia’s military-industrial base, as well as its biological and chemical weapons programs. For example, companies involved in manufacturing precursor materials for Russia to make explosives are listed.

  Last week during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China he warned about Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Blinken had claimed provocatively, while also asserting China is the “top supplier” of Russia’s defense industrial base – albeit not in terms of lethal aid (but instead “dual use” technologies).

  This support to Russia’s defense industry additionally constitutes a “medium to long-term threat that many Europeans feel viscerally that Russia poses to them,” Blinken had asserted.

  Meanwhile, as Ukraine forces continue getting pushed back from frontline positions by the better-armed Russian force, hawkish threats out of Congress are getting more frantic…

  🤡We must be prepared to strike back at Putin on Russian soil – Congressman Scott

  “Supporting Ukraine means defeating Vladimir Putin in Russia. We must be prepared to hit him back on Russian territory. And when I see the Biden administration, which does not want to comply with… pic.twitter.com/B3UlXzV5ak

  — Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) April 30, 2024

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  He warned last week that the Biden administration stood ready to introduce more sanctions against China if dual-use goods and technologies continue to be sent to Russia, including things previously identified by Washington as problematic: semiconductors, machine tools, chemical precursors, ball bearings, and optical systems. Based on Wednesday’s Treasury action it is clear that the sanctions were already being prepared even as Blinken was on the three-day trip, which including a meeting with President Xi.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 19:25

• Study Finds Elevated Risk Of Eye Inflammatory Disorder Following COVID-19 Vaccination
  Study Finds Elevated Risk Of Eye Inflammatory Disorder Following COVID-19 Vaccination

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

  People with a history of uveitis may experience a recurrence of the eye inflammatory disorder following COVID-19 vaccination, especially in the early postvaccination period.

  

  A recently published study in JAMA Ophthalmology found that about 17 percent of nearly 474,000 vaccinated individuals with a history of uveitis experienced a recurrence within one year after vaccination.

  Uveitis is inflammation inside the eye that occurs when the immune system is fighting an infection or attacks healthy tissue in the eyes. It can cause symptoms including pain, redness, and vision loss while damaging the uvea and other parts of the eye.

  Researchers collected data on all individuals diagnosed with uveitis in South Korea between January 2015 and February 2021 to determine the risk of recurrence after COVID-19 vaccination. Data was retrieved from the Korean National Health Insurance Service and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency databases. The incidence of uveitis was assessed from Feb. 26, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2022. The cases were classified according to the onset at three months, six months, and one year, the type of uveitis (anterior or nonanterior), and vaccine type.

  Individuals included in the study received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or Johnson & Johnson and did not test positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the study period.

  Study Findings

  Of the 473,934 individuals included in the study, the cumulative incidence of postvaccination uveitis was 8.6 percent at three months, 12.5 percent at six months, and 16.8 percent at one year—primarily of the anterior type, which affects the iris at the front of the eye. Moreover, the risk of uveitis reoccurrence was highest in the first 30 days after vaccination, peaked between the first and second vaccine doses, and decreased with subsequent vaccinations.

  According to the researchers, the first dose of the vaccine may activate inflammatory pathways leading to initial inflammation in people who are prone to autoimmune reactions or have a history of uveitis. However, there’s a declining risk with repeated vaccination that may be due to the immune system’s adaptation to the vaccine antigen, although further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

  Additionally, the risk of experiencing the condition increased among recipients of all four vaccine types, especially among those who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. These patients were more likely to experience uveitis recurrence during the early-onset period. Likewise, those who received Moderna were at a higher risk of experiencing uveitis after the first vaccination and during the early-onset period.

  Notably, there were variations in the types of uveitis observed in the periods before and after vaccination. Among patients with infectious uveitis prior to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, nearly 54 percent had noninfectious uveitis after being vaccinated, whereas most of the individuals with noninfectious uveitis before vaccination had a recurrence of the same type after vaccination.

  Most patients with uveitis were 60 to 79 years old, followed by those aged 40 to 59. Among those with comorbidities, high blood pressure, diabetes, and rheumatic diseases were the most common.

  “Although uveitis following vaccination is rare, our findings support an increased risk after COVID-19 vaccination, particularly in the early postvaccination period,” the authors wrote. “These results emphasize the importance of vigilance and monitoring for uveitis in the context of vaccinations, including COVID-19 vaccinations, particularly in individuals with a history of uveitis.”

  Other Studies of Vaccine-Associated Uveitis

  Other studies have found an association between uveitis and COVID-19 vaccination, including a February 2023 study published in Ophthalmology. The study provided insights into a possible temporal association between reported vaccine-associated events and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

  Moreover, ocular adverse events have been reported following COVID-19 vaccination in addition to uveitis, including facial nerve palsy, retinal vascular occlusion, acute macular neuroretinopathy, thrombosis, and new-onset Graves’ disease.

  In a June 2022 paper published in Vaccines, researchers analyzed ocular adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to provide clinicians and researchers with a broader picture of ocular side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations.

  VAERS is a voluntary reporting system comanaged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is designed to detect vaccine safety signals, although it is estimated to represent less than 1 percent of actual adverse events.

  During the analysis period of December 2020 to December 2021, VAERS received 55,313 reports for ocular adverse events, 6,688 of which met the inclusion criteria. Of those reports, 2,229 were related to eyelid swelling, ocular hyperemia, and conjunctivitis, 1,785 were reports of blurred vision, and 1,322 were reports of visual impairment.

  Females accounted for 74 percent of the reports, and eye conditions affected primarily individuals between the ages of 40 and 59 who had received either the Johnson & Johnson shot or Moderna’s vaccine.

  Of the patients who reported ocular-related complications, 50 percent received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, 38 percent received Moderna, and 12 percent received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

  Although the study’s authors said they could not determine whether the vaccines were associated with an increased risk of adverse events, their data suggests a “possible association between COVID-19 vaccines and ocular adverse events.”

  “Physicians are cautioned not only to be aware of this potential problem, but to check any underlying patient conditions, and to carefully document in VAERS within a few weeks of vaccination,” they wrote.

  According to current VAERS data, 734 cases of uveitis, 539 cases of eye inflammation, 2,781 cases of retina disorders, 11,641 cases of facial nerve disorders, and 3,909 reports of eyelid swelling, ocular hyperaemia, and conjunctivitis were reported following COVID-19 vaccination between Dec. 14, 2020, and March 29.

  Potential associations between uveitis and other vaccinations have been reported, including influenza, human papillomavirus, and varicella zoster virus vaccines. However, these studies did not necessarily establish a causal link.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 19:05

• FOMC Leaves Rates Unch, Says (Bigger Than Expected) QT Taper To Start In June
  FOMC Leaves Rates Unch, Says (Bigger Than Expected) QT Taper To Start In June

  Tl;dr: The Fed just told the market that ‘yields are too damn high‘.

  *  *  *

  Since the last FOMC meeting, on March 20th, gold has been the biggest outperformer (interesting along with dollar strength), while stocks, bonds, and crude (and crypto) have all been sold (with bonds and oil equally ugly)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And since March 20th, US macro data has serially disappointed…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  More problematically, since the last FOMC meeting, inflation data has dramatically surprised to the upside and growth data to the downside – screaming stagflation in the face of the Fed…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Rate-cut expectations (for 2024 and 2025) have plunged significantly since the last FOMC (that is now just one 25bps rate-cut priced in for 2024)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Expectations are fully priced for a nothing-burger today on rates…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  … with a slight hawkish bias in the language-changes in the statement (and the possibility of QT-taper signaling). But it will be Powell’s press conference that everyone will be focused on.

  So what did The Fed say?

  Rates unchanged…

  • *FED HOLDS BENCHMARK RATE IN 5.25%-5.5% TARGET RANGE

  Key statement changes

  Fed adds following sentence:

  “In recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent inflation objective.”

  Fed also replaces

  “The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are moving into better balance“

  with

  “The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals have moved toward better balance over the past year.

  And the QT Taper is here – and its bigger than expected (-$35BN/mth vs -$30BN expected):

  Beginning in June, the Committee will slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings by reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion.

  The Committee will maintain the monthly redemption cap on agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities at $35 billion and will reinvest any principal payments in excess of this cap into Treasury securities

  This means $105BN less gross issuance needed in Q3, with The Fed implicitly saying ‘yields are too high’.

  Just as we said…

  The big question for today: how much will Fed taper QT by?

  If Taper goes to $30BN (from $60BN/month), that means less funding needed in Q3 (most likely from Bills), and means less pressure on issuance. Yields should slide

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 1, 2024

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  Read the full redline below:

  

  What happens next (on average)?

  

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 18:55

• House Approves 'Antisemitism Awareness Act' Aimed At Cracking Down On Campus Protests
  House Approves ‘Antisemitism Awareness Act’ Aimed At Cracking Down On Campus Protests

  Late in the afternoon Wednesday the House approved a bill which seeks to crack down on antisemitism on college and university campuses following days of protests and unrest driven by pro-Palestinian activists.

  The Antisemitism Awareness Act has been approved in a 320-91 vote and will now head to the Senate. But the central question is: how and by what measure will federal authorities crack down on speech deemed “antisemitic”?

  Will criticism of the government of Israel be deemed antisemitic? Will highlighting alleged war crimes or human rights abuses by the IDF be considered so? Will involvement in the BDS movement be deemed anti-Jewish? Will slogans such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” be illegal according to federal law? Will criticizing the US $3+ billion in annual foreign aid be considered anti-Jewish? 

  And what of the many Jewish protesters who are engaged in speech condemning the nation-state of Israel? 

  

  Already, active participation in causes boycotting Israel is ‘illegal’ in a number of US states (typically taking the form of prohibiting state agencies from engaging with companies involved in BDS).

  According to an explanation of the definition of antisemitism outlined by the new House-passed bill: 

  The bill would require the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism when enforcing antidiscrimination laws.

  The group defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews” and says “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

  The organization provides a number of examples for what qualifies as antisemitism, including calling for the harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion, and accusing Jewish individuals as inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

  By this measure, even theoretical historical discussions or interpretation could be considered illegal (such has long been the case in some European countries).

  The legislation itself never says what the definition is. All it says is that the definition is whatever this other group says it is. Which is batshit bonkers already because it grants the force of law to whatever the IHRA happens to decree on the subject. But it gets worse.

  — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 1, 2024

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  Like with any attempt to legislate limits related to the 1st Amendment, this is certainly going to prove very slippery — especially if it gets signed into law and then comes the question of actual enforcement on the ground.

  A tiny minority of Republicans are voicing fierce opposition to the bill…

  Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.

  Read the bill text and… pic.twitter.com/Y0eeOiVfnw

  — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 1, 2024

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  Currently and historically, pro-Israel hawks who advocate for sending billions in American taxpayer dollars to Israel each year tend to accuse any and all opponents of such policies of being antisemitic. Some independent journalists say they’ve struggled to find blatant examples of people being targeted in antisemitic attacks on campuses for the sole reason of being Jewish. 

  

  So if the federal government gets involved in these polemical and semantic games, where will it end? 

  The vast majority of Republicans just voted for a bill to criminalize criticisms of the Israeli government. If the bill passes you will be guilty of hate speech if you “apply double standards” to the government of Israel or accuse it of genocide. This is honestly one of the most… https://t.co/5SPRT0I0jk pic.twitter.com/2k6n9A3hiY

  — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 1, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 18:45

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• Maté: What 10 Years Of US Meddling In Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler Alert: Not Democracy)
  Maté: What 10 Years Of US Meddling In Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler Alert: Not Democracy)

  Authored by Aaron Maté via RealClear Investigations,

  In successfully lobbying Congress for an additional $61 billion in Ukraine war funding, an effort that ended this month with celebratory Democrats waving Ukrainian flags in the House chamber, President Biden has cast his administration’s standoff with Russia as an existential test for democracy.

  “What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas,” Biden declared in his State of the Union address in March. “History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th.”

  

  While Biden’s narrative is widely accepted by Washington’s political establishment, a close examination of the president and his top principals’ record dating back to the Obama administration reveals a different picture. Far from protecting democracy from Kyiv to Washington, their role in Ukraine looks more like epic meddling resulting in political upheaval for both countries.

  Over the last decade, Ukraine has been the battleground in a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia – a conflict massively escalated by the Kremlin’s invasion in 2022. The fight erupted in early 2014, when Biden and his team, then serving in the Obama administration, supported the overthrow of Ukraine’s elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. Leveraging billions of dollars in U.S. assistance, Washington has shaped the personnel and policies of subsequent Ukrainian governments, all while expanding its military and intelligence presence in Ukraine via the CIA and NATO. During this period, Ukraine has not become an independent self-sustaining democracy, but a client state heavily dependent on European and U.S. support, which has not protected it from the ravages of war.

  The Biden-Obama team’s meddling in Ukraine has also had a boomerang effect at home.

  As well-connected Washington Beltway insiders such as Hunter Biden have exploited it for personal enrichment, Ukraine has become a source of foreign interference in the U.S. political system – with questions of unsavory dealings arising in the 2016 and 2020 elections as well as the first impeachment of Donald Trump. After years of secrecy, CIA sources have only recently confirmed that Ukrainian intelligence helped generate the Russian interference allegations that engulfed Trump’s presidency. House Democrats’ initial attempt to impeach Trump, undertaken in the fall of 2019, came in response to his efforts to scrutinize Ukraine’s Russiagate connection.

  This account of U.S. interference in Ukraine, which can be traced to fateful decisions made by the Obama administration, including then-Vice President Biden and his top aides, is based on often overlooked public disclosures. It also relies on the personal testimony of Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat and Democratic Party-tied political consultant who worked closely with U.S. officials to promote regime change in Ukraine. 

  Although he once welcomed Washington’s influence in Ukraine, Telizhenko now takes a different view. “I’m a Ukrainian who knew how Ukraine was 30 years ago, and what it became today,” he says. “For me, it’s a total failed state.” In his view, Ukraine has been “used directly by the United States to fight a [proxy] war with Russia” and “as a rag to make money for people like Biden and his family.”

  The State Department has accused Telizhenko being part of a “Russia-linked foreign influence network.” In Sept. 2020 it revoked his visa to travel to the United States. Telizhenko, who now lives in a western European country where he was granted political asylum, denies working with Russia and says that he is a whistleblower speaking out to expose how U.S. interference has ravaged his country. RealClearInvestigations has confirmed that he worked closely with top American officials while they advanced policies aimed at severing Ukraine’s ties to Russia. No official contacted for this article – including former CIA chief John Brennan and senior State Department official Victoria Nuland – disputed any of his claims.

  A Coup in ‘Full Coordination’ With the U.S.

  The Biden team’s path to influencing Ukraine began with the eruption of anti-government unrest in November 2013. That month, protesters began filling Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) after then-President Viktor Yanukovych, a notoriously corrupt leader, delayed signing a European Union (EU) trade pact. To members of what came to be known as the Maidan movement, Yanukovych’s decision was a betrayal of his pledge to strengthen Western ties, and a worrying sign of Russian allegiance in a country haunted by its Soviet past.

  The reality was more complex. Yanukovych was hoping to maintain relations with both Russia and Europe – and use competition between them to Ukraine’s advantage. He also worried that the EU’s terms, which demanded reduced trade with Russia, would alienate his political base in the east and south, home to millions of ethnic Russians. As the International Crisis Group noted, these Yanukovych-supporting Ukrainians feared that the EU terms “would hurt their livelihoods, a large number of which were tied to trade and close relations with Russia.” Despite claims that the Maidan movement represented a “popular revolution,” polls from that period showed that Ukrainians were evenly split on it, or even majority opposed.

  After an initial period of peaceful protest, the Maidan movement was soon co-opted by nationalist forces, which encouraged a violent insurrection for regime change. Leading Maidan’s hardline contingent was Oleh Tyahnybok of the Svoboda party, who had once urged his supporters to fight what he called the “Muscovite-Jewish mafia running Ukraine.” Tyahnybok’s followers were joined by Right Sector, a coalition of ultra-nationalist groups whose members openly sported Nazi insignia. One year before, the European Parliament condemned Svoboda for “racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views” and urged Ukrainian political parties “not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with this party.”

  Powerful figures in Washington took a different view: For them, the Maidan movement represented an opportunity to achieve a longtime goal of pulling Ukraine into the Western orbit. Given Ukraine’s historical ties to Russia, its integration with the West could also be used to undermine the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  As the-late Zbigniew Brzezinski, the influential former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, once wrote: “Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.” Two months before the Kyiv protests erupted, Carl Gershman, head of the National Endowment for Democracy, dubbed Ukraine “the biggest prize” in the West’s rivalry with Russia. Absorbing Ukraine, Gershman explained, could leave Putin “on the losing end not just in the near abroad” – i.e, its former Soviet satellites – “but within Russia itself.” Shortly after, senior State Department official Nuland boasted that the U.S. had “invested more than $5 billion” to help pro-Western “civil society” groups achieve a “secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”

  Seeking to capitalize on the unrest, U.S. figures including Nuland, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy visited Maidan Square. In a show of support for the movement’s hardline faction, which went beyond supporting the EU trade deal to demand Yanukovych’s ouster, the trio met privately with Tyahnybok and appeared with him on stage. The senators’ mission, Murphy said, was to “bring about a peaceful transition here.”

  The Maidan Movement’s most significant U.S. endorsement came from then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Nothing would have greater impact for securing our interests and the world’s interests in Europe than to see a democratic, prosperous, and independent Ukraine in the region,” Biden said.

  According to Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian government official who worked closely with Western officials during this period, the U.S. government’s role went far beyond those high-profile displays of solidarity.

  “As soon as it grew into something, into the bigger Maidan, in the beginning of December, it basically was full coordination with the U.S. Embassy,” Telizhenko recalls. “Full, full.”

  When the protests erupted, Telizhenko was working as an adviser to a Ukrainian member of Parliament. Having spent part of his youth in Canada and the United States, Telizhenko’s fluent English and Western connections landed him a position helping to oversee the Maidan Movement’s international relations. In this role, he organized meetings with and coordinated security arrangements for foreign visitors, including U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, Nuland, and McCain. Most of their briefings were held at Kyiv’s Trade Unions Building, the movement’s de-facto headquarters in the city’s center.

  Telizhenko says Pyatt routinely coordinated with Maidan leaders on protest strategy. In one encounter, the ambassador observed Right Sector members assembling Molotov cocktails that would later be thrown at riot police attempting to enter the building. Sometimes, the U.S. ambassador disapproved of his counterparts’ tactics. “The U.S. embassy would criticize if something would happen more radical than it was supposed to go by plan, because it’s bad for the picture,” Telizhenko said..

  That winter was marked by a series of escalating clashes. On February 20, 2014, snipers fatally shot dozens of protesters in Maidan square. Western governments attributed the killings to Yanukovych’s forces. But an intercepted phone call between NATO officials told a different story.

  In the recorded conversation, Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet told EU foreign secretary Catherine Ashton that he believed pro-Maidan forces were behind the slaughter. In Kyiv, Paet reported, “there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new [opposition] coalition.”

  In a bid to resolve the Maidan crisis and avoid more bloodshed, European officials brokered a compromise between Yanukovich and the opposition. The Feb. 21 deal called for a new national unity government that would keep him in office, with reduced powers, until early elections at year’s end. It also called for the disarmament of the Maidan forces and a withdrawal of riot police. Holding up its end of the bargain, government security forces pulled back. But the Maidan encampment’s ultra-nationalist contingent had no interest in compromise.

  “We don’t want to see Yanukovych in power,” Maidan Movement squadron leader Vladimir Parasyuk declared that same day. “… And unless this morning you come up with a statement demanding that he steps down, then we will take arms and go, I swear.”

  In insisting on regime change, the far-right contingent was also usurping the leadership of more moderate opposition leaders such as Vitali Klitschko, who supported the power-sharing agreement.

  “The goal was to overthrow the government,” Telizhenko says. “That was the first goal. And it was all green-lighted by the U.S. Embassy. They basically supported all this, because they did not tell them to stop. If they told them [Maidan leaders] to stop, they would stop.”

  Yet another leaked phone call bolstered suspicions that the U.S. endorsed regime change. On the recording, presumably intercepted in January by Russian or Ukrainian intelligence, Nuland and Pyatt discussed their choice of leaders in a proposed power-sharing government with Yanukovich. Their conversation showed that the U.S. exerted considerable influence with the faction  seeking the Ukrainian president’s ouster.

  Tyahnybok, the openly antisemitic head of Svodova, would be a “problem” in office, Nuland worried, and better “on the outside.” Klitschko, the more moderate Maidan member, was ruled out as well. “I don’t think Klitsch should go into government,” Nuland said. “I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” One reason was Klitschko’s proximity to the European Union. Despite her government’s warm words for the European Union in public, Nuland told Pyatt: “Fuck the EU.”

  The two U.S. officials settled on technocrat Arseniy Yatsenyuk. “I think Yats is the guy,” Nuland said. By that point, Yatsenyuk had endorsed violent insurrection. The government’s rejection of Maidan demands, he said, meant that “people had acquired the right to move from non-violent to violent means of protest.”

  The only outstanding matter, Pyatt relayed, was securing “somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.” Nuland replied that Vice President Joe Biden and his senior aide, Jake Sullivan, who now serves as Biden’s National Security Adviser, had signed on to provide “an atta-boy and to get the deets [details] to stick.”

  Just hours after the power-sharing agreement was reached, Nuland’s wishes were granted. Yanukovich, no longer protected by his armed forces, fled the capital. Emboldened by their sabotage of an EU-brokered power-sharing truce, Maidan Movement members stormed the Ukrainian Parliament and pushed through the formation of a new government. In violation of parliamentary rules on impeachment proceedings, and lacking a sufficient quorum, Oleksandr Turchynov was named the new acting president. The Nuland-backed Yatsenyuk was appointed Prime Minister.

  In a reflection of their influence, at least five post-coup cabinet posts in national security, defense, and law enforcement were given to members of Svoboda and its far-right ally Right Sector.

  “The uncomfortable truth is that a sizeable portion of Kyiv’s current government – and the protesters who brought it to power – are, indeed, fascists,” wrote Andrew Foxall, now a British defense official, and Oren Kessler, a Tel Aviv-based analyst, in Foreign Policy the following month. While denying any role in Yanukovich’s ouster, the Obama administration immediately endorsed it, as Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “strong support” for the new government.

  In his memoir, former senior Obama aide Ben Rhodes acknowledged that Nuland and Pyatt “sounded as if they were picking a new government as they evaluated different Ukrainian leaders.” Rather than dispel that impression, he acknowledged that some of the Maidan “leaders received grants from U.S. democracy promotion programs.”

  In 2012, one pro-Maidan group, Center UA, received most of its more than $500,000 in donations from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and financier George Soros.

  By its own count, Soros’ International Renaissance Foundation spent over $109 million in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014. In leaked documents, a former IRF board member even bragged that its partners “were the main driving force and the foundation of the Maidan movement,” and that without Soros’ funding, “the revolution might not have succeeded.” Weeks after the coup, an IRF strategy document noted, “Like during the Maidan protests, IRF representatives are in the midst of Ukraine’s transition process.”

  Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor who advised Ukraine on economic policy in the early 1990s, visited Kyiv shortly after the coup to consult with the new government. 

  “I was taken around the Maidan where people were still milling around,” Sachs recalls. “And the American NGOs were around there, and they were describing to me: ‘Oh we paid for this, we paid for that. We funded this insurrection.’ It turned my stomach.” Sachs believes that these groups were acting at the behest of U.S. intelligence. To go about “funding this uprising,” he says, “they didn’t do that on their own as nice NGOs. This is off-budget financing for a U.S. regime-change operation.”

  Weeks after vowing to bring about a “transition” in Ukraine, Sen. Murphy openly took credit for it. “I really think that the clear position of the United States has in part been what has helped lead to this change in regime,” Murphy said. “I think it was our role, including sanctions and threats of sanctions, that forced, in part, Yanukovych from office.”

  The Proxy War Gets Hot

  Far from resolving the unrest, Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster plunged Ukraine into a war.

  Just days after the Ukrainian president fled to Moscow, Russian special forces stormed Crimea’s local parliament. The following month, Russia annexed Crimea following a hasty, militarized referendum denounced by Ukraine, the U.S., and much of the world. While these objections were well-founded, Western surveys of Crimeans nonetheless found majority support for Russian annexation.

  Emboldened by the events in Crimea, and hostile to a new government that had overthrown their elected leader Yanukovych, Russophile Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region followed suit.

  On April 6 and 7, anti-Maidan protesters seized government buildings in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv. The Donetsk rebels declared the founding of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Luhansk People’s Republic followed 20 days later. Both areas announced independence referendums for May 11.

  As in Crimea, Moscow backed the Donbas rebellion. But unlike in Crimea, the Kremlin opposed the independence votes. The organizers, Putin said, should “hold off on the referendum in order to give dialogue the conditions it needs to have a chance.”

  In public, the Obama administration claimed to also favor dialogue between Kyiv and the Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. Behind the scenes, a more aggressive plan was brewing.

  On April 12, CIA chief John Brennan slipped into the Ukrainian capital for secret meetings with top officials. Russia, whose intelligence services ran a network of informants inside Ukraine, publicly outed Brennan’s visit. The Kremlin and Yanukovych directly accused Brennan of encouraging an assault on the Donbas.

  The CIA dismissed the allegation as “completely false,” and insisted that Brennan supported a “diplomatic solution” as “the only way to resolve the crisis.” The following month, Brennan insisted that “I was out there to interact with our Ukrainian partners and friends.”

  Yet Russia and Yanukovych were not alone in voicing concerns about the CIA chief’s covert trip. “What message does it send to have John Brennan, the head of the CIA in Kiev, meeting with the interim government?” Sen. Murphy complained. “Does that not confirm the worst paranoia on the part of the Russians and those who see the Kiev government as essentially a puppet of the West?… It may not be super smart to have Brennan in Kiev, giving the impression that the United States is somehow there to fight a proxy war with Russia.”

  According to Telizhenko, who attended the Brennan meeting and spoke to RCI on record about it for the first time, that’s exactly what the CIA chief was there to do. Contrary to U.S. claims, Telizhenko says, “Brennan gave a green light to use force against Donbas,” and discussed “how the U.S. could support it.” One day after the meeting, Kyiv announced an “Anti-Terrorist Operation” (ATO) against the Donbas region and began a military assault.

  Telizhenko, who was by then working as a senior policy adviser to Vitaliy Yarema, the First Deputy Prime Minister, says he helped arrange the Brennan gathering after getting a phone call from the U.S. embassy. “I was told there was going to be a top secret meeting, with a top U.S. official and that my boss should be there,” he recalls. “I was also told not to tell anyone.”

  Brennan, he recalls, arrived at the Foreign Intelligence Office of Ukraine in a beat-up gray mini-van and a coterie of armed guards. Others in attendance included U.S. Ambassador Pyatt, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, foreign intelligence chief Victor Gvozd, and other senior Ukrainian security officials.

  After a customary exchange of medals and souvenir trophies, the topic turned to the unrest in the Donbas. “Brennan was talking about how Ukraine should act,” Telizhenko says. “A plan to keep Donbas in Ukraine’s hands. But Ukraine’s army was not fully equipped. We only had stuff in reserves. They discussed plans for the ATO and how to keep Ukraine’s military fully armed throughout.” Brennan’s overall message was that “Russia is behind” the Donbas unrest, and “Ukraine has to take firm, aggressive action to not let this spread all over.”

  Brennan and Pyatt did not respond to a request for comment.

  Two weeks after Brennan’s visit, the Obama administration offered yet another high-level endorsement of the Donbas operation when then-Vice President Biden visited Kyiv. With Ukraine facing “unrest and uncertainty,” Biden told a group of lawmakers, it now had “a second opportunity to make good on the original promise made by the Orange Revolution” – referring to earlier 2004-2005 post-electoral upheaval that blocked Yanukovych, albeit temporarily, from the presidency.

  Looking back, Telizhenko is struck by the contrast between Brennan’s bellicosity in Donbas and the Obama administration’s lax response to Russia’s Crimea grab one month prior.

  “After Crimea, they told us not to respond,” he said. But beforehand, “the Americans scoffed at warnings” that Ukraine could lose the peninsula. When Ukrainian officials met with Pentagon counterparts in March, “we gave them evidence that the little green men” – the incognito Russian forces who seized Crimea – “were Russians. They dismissed it.” Telizhenko now speculates that the U.S. permitted the Crimean takeover to encourage a conflict between Kyiv and Moscow-backed eastern Ukrainians. “I think they wanted Ukraine to hate Russia, and they wanted Russia to take the bait,” he said. Had Ukraine acted earlier, he believes, “the Crimea situation could have been stopped.”

  With Russia in control of Crimea and Ukraine assaulting the Donbas with U.S. backing, the country descended into a full-scale civil war. Thousands were killed and millions displaced in the ensuing conflict. When Ukrainian forces threatened to overrun the Donbas rebels in August 2014, the Kremlin launched a direct military intervention that turned the tide. But rather than offer Ukraine more military assistance, Obama began getting cold feet.

  Obama, senior Pentagon official Derek Chollet recalled, was concerned that flooding Ukraine with more weapons would “escalate the crisis” and give “Putin a pretext to go further and invade all of Ukraine.”

  Rebuffing pressure from within his own Cabinet, Obama promised German Chancellor Angela Merkel in February 2015 that he would not send lethal aid to Ukraine. According to the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Peter Wittig, Obama agreed with Merkel on the need “to give some space for those diplomatic, political efforts that were under way.”

  That same month, Obama’s commitment gave Merkel the momentum to finalize the Minsk II Accords, a pact between Kyiv and Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels. Under Minsk II, an outmatched Ukrainian government agreed to allow limited autonomy for the breakaway Donbas regions in exchange for the rebels’ demilitarization and the withdrawal of their Russian allies.

  Inside the White House, Obama’s position on Ukraine left him virtually alone. Obama’s reluctance to arm Ukraine, Chollet recalled, marked a rare situation “in which just about every senior official was for doing something that the president opposed.”

  One of those senior officials was the State Department’s point person for Ukraine, Victoria Nuland. Along with allied officials and lawmakers, Nuland sought to undermine the Minsk peace pact even before it was signed.

  As Germany and France lobbied Moscow and Kyiv to accept a peace deal, Nuland addressed a private meeting of U.S. officials, generals, and lawmakers – including Sen. McCain and future Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference. Dismissing the French-German diplomatic efforts as an act of appeasement, Nuland outlined a strategy to continue the war with a fresh influx of Western arms. Perhaps mindful of the optics of flooding Ukraine with military hardware at a time when the Obama administration was claiming to support to a peace agreement, Nuland offered a public relations suggestion.  “I would like to urge you to use the word ‘defensive system’ to describe what we would be delivering against Putin’s offensive systems,” Nuland told the gathering.

  The Munich meeting underscored that while President Obama may have publicly supported a peace deal in Ukraine, a bipartisan alliance of powerful Washington actors – including his own principals – was determined to stop it. As Foreign Policy magazine reported, “the takeaway for many Europeans … was that Nuland gave short shrift to their concerns about provoking an escalation with Russia and was confusingly out of sync with Obama.”

  As Nuland and other officials quietly undermined the Minsk accords, the CIA deepened its role in Ukraine. U.S. intelligence sources recently disclosed to the New York Times that the agency has operated 12 secret bases inside Ukraine since 2014. The post-coup government’s first new spy chief, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, also revealed that he established a formal partnership with the CIA and MI6 just two days after Yanukovych’s ouster.

  According to a separate account in the Washington Post, the CIA restructured Ukraine’s two main spy services and turned them into U.S. proxies. Starting in 2015, the CIA transformed Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, so extensively that “we had kind of rebuilt it from scratch,” a former intelligence official told the Post. “GUR was our little baby.” As a benefit of being the CIA’s proxy, the agency even funded new headquarters for the GUR’s paramilitary wing and a separate division for electronic espionage.

  In a 2016 congressional appearance, Nuland touted the extensive U.S. role in Ukraine. “Since the start of the crisis, the United States has provided over $760 million in assistance to Ukraine, in addition to two $1 billion loan guarantees,” Nuland said. U.S. advisers “serve in almost a dozen Ukrainian ministries,” and were helping “modernize Ukraine’s institutions” of state-owned industries.

  Nuland’s comments underscored an overlooked irony of the U.S. role in Ukraine: In claiming to defend Ukraine from Russian influence, Ukraine was subsumed by American influence.

  Boomeranging Into U.S. Politics 

  In the aftermath of the February 2014 coup, the transformation of Ukraine into an American client state soon had a boomerang effect, as maneuvers in that country increasingly impacted U.S. domestic politics.

  “Americans are highly visible in the Ukrainian political process,” Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky observed in November 2015. “The U.S. embassy in Kyiv is a center of power, and Ukrainian politicians openly talk of appointments and dismissals being vetted by U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt and even U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.”

  One of the earliest and best-known cases came in December 2015, when Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid unless Ukraine fired its prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, whom the vice president claimed was corrupt. When Biden’s threat resurfaced as an issue during the 2020 election, the official line, as reported by CNN, was that “the effort to remove Shokin was backed by the Obama administration, European allies” and even some Republicans.

  In fact, from Washington’s perspective, the campaign for Shokin’s ouster marked a change of course. Six months before Biden’s visit, Nuland had written Shokin that “We have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government.”

  And as RCI recently reported:

  An Oct. 1, 2015, memo summarizing the recommendation of the [U.S.] Interagency Policy Committee on Ukraine stated, “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its [anti-corruption] reform agenda to justify a third [loan] guarantee.” … The next month, moreover, the task force drafted a loan guarantee agreement that did not call for Shokin’s removal. Then, in December, Joe Biden flew to Kyiv to demand his ouster.

  No one has explained why Shokin suddenly came into the crosshairs. At the time, the prosecutor general was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm that was paying Hunter Biden over $80,000 per month to sit on its board.

  According to emails obtained from his laptop, Hunter Biden introduced his father to a top Burisma executive less than one year before. Burisma also retained Blue Star Strategies, a D.C. consulting firm that worked closely with Hunter, to help enlist U.S. officials who could pressure the Ukrainian government to drop its criminal probes.

  Two senior executives at Blue Star, Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano, formerly worked as top aides to President Bill Clinton.

  According to a November 2015 email sent to Hunter by Vadym Pozharsky, a Burisma adviser, the energy firm’s desired “deliverables” included visits from “influential current and/or former US policy-makers to Ukraine.” The “ultimate purpose” of these visits would be “to close down” any legal cases against the company’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. One month after that email, Joe Biden visited Ukraine and demanded Shokin’s firing.

  Telizhenko – who worked in Shokin’s office at the time, and later worked for Blue Star – said the evidence contradicts claims that Shokin was fired because of his failure, among other things, to investigate Burisma. “There were four criminal cases opened in 2014 against Burisma, and two more additionally opened by Shokin when he became the Prosecutor General,” recalls Telizhenko. “So, whenever anybody says, ‘There were no criminal cases, nobody was investigating Burisma, Shokin was fired because he was a bad prosecutor, he didn’t do his work’ … this was all a lie. No, he did his work.”

  In a 2023 interview, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, said Shokin was seen as a “threat” to Burisma. Both of Shokin’s cases against Burisma were closed after his firing.

  Ukraine Meddling vs. Trump

  While allegations of Russian interference and collusion would come to dominate the 2016 campaign, the first documented case of foreign meddling originated in Ukraine.

  Telizhenko, who served as a political officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., before joining Blue Star, was an early whistleblower. He went public in January 2017, telling Politico how the Ukrainian embassy worked to help Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign and undermine Trump’s.

  According to Telizhenko, Ukraine’s D.C. ambassador, Valeriy Chaly, instructed staffers to shun Trump’s campaign because “Hillary was going to win.”

  Telizhenko says he was told to meet with veteran Democratic operative Alexandra Chalupa, who had also served in the Clinton White House. “The U.S. government and people from the Democratic National Committee are approaching and asking for dirt on a presidential candidate,” Telizhenko recalls. “And Chalupa said, ‘I want dirt. I just want to get Trump off the elections.’”

  Starting in early 2016, U.S. officials leaned on the Ukrainians to investigate Paul Manafort, the GOP consultant who would become Trump’s campaign manager, and avoid scrutiny of Burisma, as RCI reported in 2022. “Obama’s NSC hosted Ukrainian officials and told them to stop investigating Hunter Biden and start investigating Paul Manafort,” a former senior NSC official told RCI. In January 2016, the FBI suddenly reopened a closed investigation into Manafort for potential money laundering and tax evasion connected to his work in Ukraine.

  Telizhenko, who attended a White House meeting with Ukrainian colleagues that same month, says he witnessed Justice Department officials pressing representatives of Ukraine’s Corruption Bureau. “The U.S. officials were asking for the Ukrainian officials to get any information, financial information, about Americans working for the former government of Ukraine, the Yanukovych government,” he says.

  By the time Telizhenko spoke out, Ukrainian officials had already admitted intervening in the 2016 election to help Clinton’s campaign. In August, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) released what it claimed was a secret ledger showing that Manafort received millions in illicit cash payments from Yanukovych’s party. The Clinton campaign, then in the early stages of its effort to portray their Republican rival as a Russian conspirator, seized on the news as evidence of Trump’s “troubling connections” to “pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine.”

  The alleged ledger was first obtained by Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko, who had claimed that he had received it anonymously by mail. Yet Leshchenko was not an impartial source: He made no effort to hide his efforts to help elect Clinton. “A Trump presidency would change the pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy,” Leshchenko told the Financial Times. For him, “it was important to show … that [Trump] is [a] pro-Russian candidate who can break the geopolitical balance in the world.” Accordingly, he added, most of Ukraine’s politicians were “on Hillary Clinton’s side.”

  Manafort, who would be convicted of unrelated tax and other financial crimes in 2018, denied the allegation. The ledger was handwritten and did not match the amounts that Manafort was paid in electronic wire transfers. Moreover, the ledger was said to have been stored at Yanukovych’s party headquarters, yet that building was burned in a 2014 riot by Maidan activists.

  Telizhenko agrees with Manafort that the ledger was a fabrication. “I think the ledger was just made up because nobody saw it, and nobody got the official documents themselves. From my understanding it was all a toss-up, a made-up story, just because they could not find any dirt on the Trump campaign.”

  But with the U.S. media starting to amplify the Clinton campaign’s Trump-Russia conspiracy theories, a wary Trump demanded Manafort’s resignation. “The easiest way for Trump to sidestep the whole Ukraine story is for Manafort not to be there,” Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a Trump campaign adviser, explained.

  The 2016 Russian Hacking Claim

  The release of the Manafort ledger and cooperation with the Democratic National Committee was not the end of Ukraine’s 2016 election interference.

  A recent account in the New York Times revealed that Ukrainian intelligence played a vital role in generating CIA allegations that would become a foundation of the Russiagate hoax – that Russia stole Democratic Party emails and released them via WikiLeaks in a bid to help elect Trump. Once again, CIA chief Brennan played a critical role.

  In the Times’ telling, some Obama officials wanted to shut down the CIA’s work in Ukraine after a botched August 2016 Ukrainian intelligence operation in Crimea turned deadly. But Brennan “persuaded them that doing so would be self-defeating, given the relationship was starting to produce intelligence on the Russians as the C.I.A. was investigating Russian election meddling.” This “relationship” between Brennan and his Ukrainian counterparts proved to be pivotal. According to the Times, Ukrainian military intelligence – which the CIA closely managed – claimed to have duped a Russian officer into “into providing information that allowed the C.I.A. to connect Russia’s government to the so-called Fancy Bear hacking group.”

  “Fancy Bear” is one of two alleged Russian cyber espionage groups that the FBI has accused of carrying out the 2016 DNC email theft. Yet this allegation has a direct tie not just to Ukraine, but to the Clinton campaign. The name “Fancy Bear” was coined by CrowdStrike, a private firm working directly for Clinton’s attorney, Michael Sussmann. As RealClearInvestigations has previously reported, CrowdStrike first accused Russia of hacking the DNC, and the FBI relied on the firm for evidence. Years after publicly accusing Russia of the theft, CrowdStrike executive Shawn Henry was forced to admit in sworn congressional testimony that the firm “did not have concrete evidence” that Russian hackers took data from the DNC servers.

  CrowdStrike’s admission about the evidentiary hole in the Russian hacking allegation, along with the newly disclosed Ukrainian intelligence role in generating it, were both kept under wraps throughout the entirety of Special Counsel Robert Muller’s probe into alleged Russian interference. But when Trump sought answers on both matters, he once again found himself the target of an investigation.

  In late September 2019, weeks after Mueller’s halting congressional testimony – which left Trump foes dissatisfied over his failure to find insufficient evidence of a Russian conspiracy – House Democrats kicked off an effort to impeach Trump for freezing U.S. weapons shipments in an alleged scheme to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens. The impeachment was triggered by a whistleblower complaint about a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky two months prior. The “whistleblower” was later identified by RealClearInvestigations as Eric Ciaramella, an intelligence official who had served as Ukraine adviser to then-Vice President Biden when he demanded Shokin’s firing and to the Obama administration’s other key point person for Kyiv, Victoria Nuland.

  Yet Trump’s infamous July 2019 phone call with Zelensky was not primarily focused on the Bidens. Instead, according to the transcript, Trump asked Zelensky to do him “a favor” and cooperate with a Justice Department investigation into the origins of Russiagate, which, he asserted, had Ukrainian links. Trump specifically invoked CrowdStrike, the Clinton campaign contractor that had generated the allegation that Russia had hacked the Democratic Party emails. CrowdStrike’s allegation of Russian interference, Trump told Zelensky, had somehow “started with Ukraine.”

  More than four years after the call, and eight years after the 2016 campaign, the New York Times’ recent revelation that the CIA relied on Ukrainian intelligence operatives to identify alleged Russian hackers adds new context to Trump’s request for Zelensky’s help. Asked about the Times’ disclosure, a source familiar with Trump’s thinking confirmed to RCI that the president was indeed referring to a Ukrainian role in the Russian hacking allegations that consumed his presidency. “That’s why they impeached him,” the source said. “They didn’t want to be exposed.”

  Trump’s First Impeachment

  The first impeachment of Donald Trump once again inserted Ukraine into the highest levels of U.S. politics. But the impact may have been even greater in Ukraine.

  When Democrats targeted Trump for his phone call with Zelensky, the rookie Ukrainian leader was just months into a mandate that he had won on a pledge to end the Donbas war. In his inaugural address, Zelensky promised that he was “not afraid to lose my own popularity, my ratings,” and even “my own position – as long as peace arrives.”

  In their lone face-to-face meeting, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried to encourage Zelensky to negotiate with Russia. “I really hope that you and President Putin can get together and solve your problem,” Trump said, referring to the Donbas war. “That would be a tremendous achievement.”

  But Ukraine’s powerful ultra-nationalists had other plans. Right Sector co-founder Dmytro Yarosh, commander of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, responded: “No, he [Zelensky] would lose his life. He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk [Kyiv’s main street] – if he betrays Ukraine” by making a peace with the Russian-backed rebels.

  By impeaching Trump for pausing U.S. weaponry to Ukraine, Democrats sent a similar message. Trump, the final House impeachment report proclaimed, had “compromised the national security of the United States.” In his opening statement at Trump’s Senate trial, Rep. Adam Schiff – then seeking to rebound from the collapse of the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory – declared: “The United States aids Ukraine and her people, so that we can fight Russia over there, and we don’t have to fight Russia here.”

  Other powerful Washington officials, including star impeachment witness William Taylor, then serving as the chief U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, pushed Zelensky toward conflict.

  Just before the impeachment scandal erupted in Washington, Zelensky was “expressing curiosity” about the Steinmeier Formula, a German-led effort to revive the stalled Minsk process, which he “hoped might lead to a deal with the Kremlin,” Taylor later recounted to the Washington Post. But Taylor disagreed.  “No one knows what it is,” Taylor told Zelensky of the German plan. “Steinmeier doesn’t know what it is … It’s a terrible idea.”

  With both powerful Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and Washington bureaucrats opposed to ending the Donbas war, Zelensky ultimately abandoned the peace platform that he was elected on. “By early 2021,” the Post reported, citing a Zelensky ally, “Zelensky believed that negotiations wouldn’t work and that Ukraine would need to retake the Donetsk and Luhansk regions ‘either through a political or military path.’”

  The return of the Biden team to the Oval Office in January 2021 appears to have encouraged Zelensky’s confrontational path. By then, polls showed the rookie president trailing OPFL, the opposition party with the second-most seats in parliament and headed by Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian mogul close to Putin.

  The following month, Zelensky offered his response to waning public support. Three OPFL-tied television channels were taken off the air. Two weeks later, Zelensky followed up by seizing the assets of Medvedchuk’s family, including a pipeline that brought Russian oil through Ukraine. Medvedchuk was also charged with treason. 

  Zelensky’s crackdown drew harsh criticism, including from close allies. “This is an illegal mechanism that contradicts the Constitution,” Dmytro Razumkov, the speaker of the parliament and a manager of Zelensky’s presidential campaign, complained.

  Yet Zelensky won praise from the newly inaugurated Biden White House, while hailed his effort to “counter Russia’s malign influence.” 

  It turns out that the U.S. not only applauded Zelensky’s domestic crackdown, but inspired it. Zelensky’s first national security adviser, Oleksandr Danyliuk, later revealed to Time Magazine that the TV stations’ shuttering was “conceived as a welcome gift to the Biden Administration.” Targeting those stations, Danyliuk explained, “was calculated to fit in with the U.S. agenda.” And the U.S. was a happy recipient. “He turned out to be a doer,” a State Department official approvingly said of Zelensky. “He got it done.”

  Just days after receiving Zelensky’s “welcome gift” in March 2021, the Biden administration approved its first military package for Ukraine, valued at $125 million. That same month, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council approved a strategy to recover all of Crimea from Russian control, including by force. By the end of March, intense fighting resumed in the Donbas, shattering months of a relatively stable ceasefire.

  Russia offered its own reaction. Two days after its ally Medvedchuk’s assets were seized in February, Russia deployed thousands of troops to the Ukraine border, the beginning of a build-up that ultimately topped 100,000 and culminated in an invasion one year later.

  The Kremlin, Medvedchuk claimed, was acting to protect Russophile Ukrainians targeted by Zelensky’s censorship. “When they close TV channels that Russian-speaking people watched, when they persecute the party these people voted for, it touches all of the Russian-speaking population,” he said.

  Medvedchuk also warned that the more hawkish factions of the Kremlin could use the crackdown as a pretext for war. “There are hawks around Putin who want this crisis. They are ready to invade. They come to him and say, ‘Look at your Medvedchuk. Where is he now? Where is your peaceful solution? Sitting under house arrest? Should we wait until all pro-Russian forces are arrested?’ ”

  A Whistleblower Silenced
  on Alleged Biden Corruption

  Along with encouraging a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, the first Trump impeachment also promoted the highly dubious Democratic Party narrative that scrutiny of Ukrainian interference in U.S. politics was a “conspiracy theory” or “Russian disinformation.” Another star impeachment witness, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who leaked the Trump/Zelensky phone call to Ciaramella, testified that Telizhenko – who had blown the whistle on Ukrainian collusion with the DNC – was “not a credible individual.”

  Telizhenko was undeterred. After detailing reliable evidence of Ukrainian’s 2016 election interference to Politico, Telizhenko continued to speak out – and increasingly drew the attention of government officials who sought to undermine his claims by casting him as a Russian agent.

  Beginning in May 2019, Telizhenko cooperated with Rudy Giuliani, then acting as Trump’s personal attorney, in his effort to expose information about the Bidens’ alleged corruption in Ukraine. During Giuliani’s visits to Ukraine, Telizhenko served as an adviser and translator.

  That same year, Telizhenko testified to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a probe into whether the DNC’s 2016 collusion with the Ukrainian embassy violated campaign finance laws. By contrast, multiple DNC officials refused to testify. Telizhenko then cooperated with a separate Senate probe, co-chaired by Republicans Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, on how Hunter Biden’s business dealings impacted U.S. policy in Ukraine.

  By the lead-up to the 2020 election, Telizhenko found himself the target of a concerted effort to silence him. As the Senate probed Ukraine, the FBI delivered a classified warning echoing Democrats’ talking points that Telizhenko was among the “known purveyors of Russian disinformation narratives” about the Bidens. In response, GOP Sen. Johnson dropped plans to subpoena Telizhenko. Nevertheless, Telizhenko’s communications with Obama administration officials and his former employer Blue Star Strategies were heavily featured in Johnson and Grassley’s final report on the Bidens’ conflicts of interest in Ukraine, released in September 2020.

  The U.S. government’s claims of yet another Russian-backed plot to hurt a Democratic Party presidential nominee set the stage for another highly consequential act of election interference. On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published the first in a series of stories detailing how Hunter Biden had traded on his family name to secure lucrative business abroad, including in Ukraine. The Post’s reporting, based on the contents of a laptop Hunter’s had apparently abandoned in a repair shop, also raised questions about Joe Biden’s denials of involvement in his son’s business dealings.

  The Hunter Biden laptop emails pointed to the very kind of influence-peddling that the Biden campaign and Democrats routinely accused Trump of. But rather than allow voters to read the reporting and judge for themselves, the Post’s journalism was subjected to a smear campaign and a censorship campaign unparalleled in modern American history. In a statement, a group of more than 50 former intelligence officials – including John Brennan, the former CIA chief – declared that the Hunter Biden laptop story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter prevented the story from being shared on their social media networks.

  The FBI lent credence to the intelligence veterans’ false claim by launching a probe into whether the laptop contents were part of a “Russian disinformation” campaign aiming to hurt Biden. The bureau initiated this effort despite having been in possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which it had verified as genuine, for almost a year. To buttress innuendo that the laptop was a Russian plot, a CNN report suspiciously noted that Telizhenko had posted an image on social media featuring Trump holding up an edition of the New York Post’s laptop story.

  In January 2021, shortly before Biden took office, the U.S. Treasury Department followed suit by imposing sanctions on Telizhenko for allegedly “having directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign influence in a United States election.”

  Treasury, however, did not release any evidence to support its claims. Two months later, the department issued a similar statement in announcing sanctions on former Manafort aide Konstantin Kilimnik, whom it accused of being a “known Russian Intelligence Services agent implementing influence operations on their behalf.” Treasury’s actions followed a bipartisan Senate Intelligence report that also accused Kilimnik of being a Russian spy. As RealClearInvestigations has previously reported, neither the Treasury Department or Senate panel provided any evidence to support their allegations about Kilimnik, which were called into question by countervailing information that RCI brought to light. Just like Telizhenko, Kilimnik had extensive contacts with the Obama administration, whose State Department treated him as a trusted source.

  The U.S. government’s endorsement of Democratic claims about Telizhenko had a direct impact on the FEC investigation into DNC-Ukrainian collusion, in which he had testified. In August 2019, the FEC initially sided with Telizhenko and informed Alexandra Chalupa – the DNC operative whom he outed for targeting Paul Manafort – that she plausibly violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by having “the Ukrainian Embassy… [perform] opposition research on the Trump campaign at no charge to the DNC.” The FEC also noted that the DNC “does not directly deny that Chalupa obtained assistance from the Ukrainians nor that she passed on the Ukrainian Embassy’s research to DNC officials.”

  But when the Treasury Department sanctioned Telizhenko in January 2021, the FEC suddenly reversed course. As RealClearInvestigations has previously reported, the FEC closed the case against the DNC without punitive action. Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub even dismissed allegations of Ukrainian-DNC collusion as “Russian disinformation.” As evidence, she pointed to media reports about Telizhenko and the recent Treasury sanctions against him.

  Yet Telizhenko’s detractors have been unable to adduce any concrete evidence tying him to Russia. A January 2021 intelligence community report, declassified two months later, accused Russia of waging “influence operations against the 2020 US presidential election” on behalf of Trump. It made no mention of Telizhenko. The Democratic-led claims of Telizhenko’s supposed Russian ties are additionally undermined by his extensive contact with Obama-Biden administration officials, as journalist John Solomon reported in September 2020.

  Telizhenko says he has “no connection at all” to the Russian government or any effort to amplify its messaging. “I’m ready,” he says. “Let the Treasury Department publish what they have on me, and I’m ready to go against them.  Let them show the public what they have.  They have nothing … I am ready to talk about the truth.  They are not.”

  Epilogue

  Just as Telizhenko has been effectively silenced in the U.S. establishment, so has the Ukrainian meddling that he helped expose. Capturing the prevailing media narrative, the Washington Post recently claimed that Trump has “falsely blamed Ukraine for trying to help Democratic rival Hillary Clinton,” which, the Post added, is “a smear spread by Russian spy services.” This narrative ignores a voluminous record that includes Ukrainian officials admitting to helping Clinton.

  As the Biden administration successfully pressured Congress to approve its $61 billion funding request for Ukraine, holdout Republicans were similarly accused of parroting the Kremlin. Shortly before the vote, two influential Republican committee chairmen, Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Mike McCaul of Texas, claimed that unnamed members of their caucus were repeating Russian propaganda. Zelensky also asserted that Russia was manipulating U.S. opponents of continued war funding: “When we talk about the Congress — do you notice how [the Russians] work with society in the United States?”

  Now that Biden has signed that newly authorized funding into law, the president and his senior aides have been handed the means to extend a proxy war that they launched a decade ago and that continues to ravage Ukraine. In yet another case of Ukraine playing a significant role in domestic U.S. politics, Biden has also secured a boost to his bid for reelection. As the New York Times recently observed: “The resumption of large-scale military aid from the United States all but ensures that the war will be unfinished in Ukraine when Americans go to the polls in November.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 02:00

• US, Philippines Working On Intel Sharing Deal Amid Clashes With Chinese Vessels
  US, Philippines Working On Intel Sharing Deal Amid Clashes With Chinese Vessels

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  The US and the Philippines are working on a new intelligence-sharing deal as tensions are soaring between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea.

  The Defense Post reported that US and Philippine officials discussed the potential agreement, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), during talks held in Washington last week.

  

  In a joint statement, the two nations said they wanted to conclude the GSOMIA by the end of 2024. The agreement would formalize intelligence sharing between the two militaries and create protocols for top-secret information.

  The US and the Philippines are currently conducting the Balikatan exercise, a major military drill the two nations hold annually. This year’s iteration is being billed as the most “expansive” yet and includes exercises in Luzon, a northern Philippine province that faces Taiwan, and Palawan, a province on the South China Sea.

  The South China Sea has become a potential flashpoint for a war between the US and China as Washington has committed to intervening if Philippine vessels come under attack in the waters.

  Chinese and Philippine boats often have tense encounters near disputed rocks and reefs, which sometimes end in collision.

  The US has been increasing its military presence in the South China Sea and is encouraging its allies, including Japan and Australia, to do the same. Alliance building in the region is a major aspect of the US military buildup that’s being done to prepare for a future war with China.

  The latest clash among rival coast guard patrols happened Tuesday…

  VIDEO: The Philippines said the China Coast Guard fired water cannon Tuesday at two of its vessels, causing damage to one of them, during a patrol near a reef off the Southeast Asian country. pic.twitter.com/Ro5kxk5DqW

  — AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 30, 2024

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  In the joint statement released last week, the US and the Philippines committed to “expanding multilateral cooperation with likeminded countries, including through maritime cooperative activities, bilateral and multilateral exercises, and security cooperation coordination.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 05/01/2024 – 00:00

• Senate Passes Ban Of Russian Uranium Imports, Risking Market "Havoc" And Soaring Prices
  Senate Passes Ban Of Russian Uranium Imports, Risking Market “Havoc” And Soaring Prices

  With shares of CCJ tumbling earlier today after the company reported soggy Q1 earnings, despite its recent initiating coverage report by an enthusiastic Goldman Sachs which sees the Uranium company at the forefront of the “Next AI trade” and slapped it with a $55 price target (as we reported previously), the uranium trade suddenly found itself in need of a miracle.

  It got that after hours, when the Senate voted late on Tuesday to approve legislation banning the import of enriched uranium from Russia – the same Russia which supplies 25% of the uranium used by the 90 US commercial nuclear reactors – and sending the measure to the White House which has said it supports efforts to block the Kremlin’s shipments of the reactor fuel and is expected to sign the deal, guaranteeing that uranium prices will soar.

  

  The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, approved by unanimous consent and which must be sign by Biden before becoming law –  would bar US imports 90 days after enactment while allowing temporary waivers until January 2028.

  Some context for what this ban would mean for the US: Russia provided almost a quarter of the enriched uranium used to fuel America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors, making it the No. 1 foreign supplier, according to US Energy Department data. Those sales provide an estimated $1 billion a year to Russia, but replacing that supply could be a challenge and risks raising the costs of enriched uranium by about 20%.

  

  The White House had called for a “long-term ban” on Russian imports, which is needed to unlock some $2.7 billion to stand up a domestic uranium industry made available by Congress earlier this year, contingent on there being limits on the import of Russian uranium in place.

  “This is a national security priority as dependence on Russian sources of uranium creates risk to the US economy and the civil nuclear industry that has been further strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine,” the White House said earlier in a fact sheet. “Without action, Russia will continue its hold on the global uranium market to the detriment of US allies and partners.”

  The House bill was approved by voice vote in December amid growing congressional support to cut off Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. The US has banned imports of Russian oil and worked with Group of Seven allies to impose a price cap on seaborne exports of crude and petroleum products.

  To be sure, there are loopholes: the legislation, which expires at the end of 2040, permits the Department of Energy to issue waivers authorizing the entire volume of Russian uranium imports allowed under export limits set in an anti-dumping agreement between the Department of Commerce and Russia through 2027.

  Without those waivers, an approximate 20% jump is possible from the current enrichment spot price of $165 per separative work unit to a record high of as much as $200 per SWU, according to Jonathan Hinze, president of nuclear fuel market research firm UxC. Enriched uranium is measured in separative work units, or SWU, which account for the volume and enrichment density of the radioactive metal.

  “But if there is an immediate ban it could be even more extreme,” Hinze said. “There are very limited supplies available.”

  Still, since the government is now intimately involved in every aspect of the uranium procurement, it is virtually guaranteed that prices will soar, which is why CCJ stock recouped almost all of its losses after hours.

  And while the Biden admin’s decision may be mostly posturing, it’s possible Russia will respond with a unilateral export ban if the US bars imports. Last December, Tenex, a Russian state-owned uranium company, warned American customers that the Kremlin may preemptively bar exports of its nuclear fuel to the US if lawmakers in Washington pass legislation prohibiting imports starting in 2028.

  Tenex’s US subsidiary told electric companies including Constellation Energy Corp., Duke Energy Corp. and Dominion Energy to prepare for such an outcome.

  “Tenex completely refutes as inaccurate the information regarding the alleged ‘warnings’ of a potential ‘pre-emptive’ ban on enriched uranium supplies to the United States,” Rosatom’s press office said in an emailed statement.

  As Bloomberg reported at the time, “a move to bar exports would risk wreaking havoc in uranium markets, causing prices to spike for the nuclear reactor fuel that may be harder for smaller utilities to absorb.”

  An import ban will take some time to affect operators of US nuclear power plants. Reactors are typically refueled every 18 months to 24 months, and fuel purchases are negotiated long in advance. That means most but not all utilities have already lined up enough uranium to keep their reactors running for at least the next few years. Still, negotiations for subsequent commodity procurement take place all the time, and while there is no immediate risk of scarcity, once the 2026 refueling negotiations take place, watch as Uranium stocks explode to new all time high.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 23:40

• NYPD Raids Columbia, Protesters Arrested
  NYPD Raids Columbia, Protesters Arrested

  Update (2335ET):

  The NYPD stormed Columbia University Tuesday evening at around 9pm local time, where they began arresting students occupying Hamilton Hall and cleared a nearby protest encampment on the college’s lawn.

  

  BREAKING 🚨

  Massive amounts of NYPD officers have entered the @Columbia campus to clear out pro-Hamas occupiers. pic.twitter.com/Ujj2Dxz30w

  — Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) May 1, 2024

  Around 50 students were arrested and moved out of Hamilton Hall after activists took it over nearly 24 hours earlier amid two weeks of campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war. 

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  🚨#BREAKING: New York police tactical teams can be seen raiding and clearing out students and protesters inside the Hamilton Hall building⁰⁰📌#Manhattan | #Newyork ⁰⁰New footage has been released by the New York Police Department, showing tactical teams fully equipped in riot… pic.twitter.com/kC93cAlN3a

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 1, 2024

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  🚨#BREAKING: The New York Police Department has just announced that they have declared a riot as they make their way into Columbia University, where violent protests are expected to break out as mrap swat vehicle can be seen rolling into the University pic.twitter.com/0MdnAhhErO

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 1, 2024

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  While early reports suggested the use of tear gas, NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Public Information, Carlos Nieve, denied it – telling Axios, “The NYPD does not use tear gas.”

  🚨#BREAKING: Police have begun entering the Hamilton Hall building through a second-floor window, deploying tear gas inside. Reports indicate there is an unconscious student in front of Hamilton Hall pic.twitter.com/IgoXOi6ZI6

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 1, 2024

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  NYPD Riot Cops are officially storming Columbia University! I was just chased off the sidewalk! Thank you so much for keeping us all safe from non-existent Anti-Semitism! ⁦Hopefully now Israel can continue to pulverize Gaza in peace! @JoeBiden⁩ ⁦@SpeakerJohnson⁩⁩ pic.twitter.com/jf4E7NKZvY

  — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 1, 2024

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  Columbia officials said that the hall was “occupied, vandalised and blockaded,” and that “we were left with no choice.”

  Some of the kids are being a tad dramatic…

  NYC — As police attempt to clear the violent siege of Hamilton Hall at @Columbia, far-left rioters pretend to be injured in slapstick-style performances for cameras. A person rolls down the stairs while another on the ground snaps to her feet to fight. pic.twitter.com/udWcHg0rus

  — Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) May 1, 2024

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  NYC man speaks out against college protesters:

  “The majority of these college students are here on a government loan”

  “They are studying something unbelievably stupid”

  “These are 10,000 people with nowhere else to be”

  “The average person at these protests is the kid that’s… pic.twitter.com/bl2j6OQYjj

  — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) May 1, 2024

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  *  *  *

  Dozens of Columbia University students broke into Hamilton Hall on the New York campus early Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside, hours after the school began suspending students who violated a deadline to disperse from a pro-Palestinian encampment.

  

  “The safety of every single member of this community is paramount,” said Ben Chang, vice president for communications at Columbia University, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, adding “In light of the protest activity, we have asked members of the University community who can avoid coming to the Morningside campus to do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy.”

  Holy…. pic.twitter.com/42Lw4kaRHY

  — Jessica Schwalb (@jessicaschwalb7) April 30, 2024

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  Taking over Hamilton Hall as done in 1968, Columbia students unfurl a banner that reads “Hind’s Hall,” in reference to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces.
  Hundreds of students cheer as the banner is revealed, erupting into chants to “Free Palestine.” pic.twitter.com/Oi8WgdZmqf

  — Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) April 30, 2024

  As the Epoch Times‘ Katabella Roberts notes further;  According to The New York Times, the students began occupying the hall at around 12:35 a.m.

  The protesters linked arms and blocked off the main entrance to the building at the Ivy League institution after previously marching around campus to chants of “free Palestine,” according to the publication.

  A statement shared on the social media platform Instagram by student groups said the protesters had “taken matters into their own hands,” and would remain in the building until the university “divests from death.” Protesters have been urging the university to pause its investments in companies that, they claim, are profiting from Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

  The statement included video footage that appeared to show the students carrying metal barricades into Hamilton Hall as other students cheered them on.

  “This escalation is in line with the historical student movements of 1968, 1985, and 1996 which Columbia repressed then and celebrates now,” the statement read. “This action will force the university to confront the blood on its hands.”

  In the statement, the student group further accused the university of having been “complicit” in “Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on the Gaza strip” for the past seven months.
  “The students are on the right side of history,” the statement continued. “We know that the university will remember them as anti-apartheid, anti-genocide activists with moral clarity.”

  Protesters Make Demands

  According to Politico, protesters hung a sign reading “intifada,” which is Arabic for uprising, from the front of the building.

  A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told Politico that law enforcement officers were outside the university campus as of Tuesday; however, they declined to elaborate further on exactly how many officers were on site or whether they had authorization to enter the school grounds.

  The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson at Columbia University and the New York Police Department for further comment.

  The takeover of Hamilton Hall occurred just hours after the university confirmed that it had begun suspending some students. The pro-Palestinian students failed to disband before Monday’s 2 p.m. deadline.

  

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  Students have occupied the lawn in the middle of campus—in which graduation ceremonies are scheduled to take place for roughly 15,000 students on May 15—for nearly two weeks while calling on the university to disclose and divest from any of its financial ties to Israel.

  They are also calling for an end to alleged “land grabs” in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and Palestine, no more policing on the university campus, and no academic ties with Israeli universities.

  However, negotiations between university officials and student protest leaders broke down earlier in the day when the university rejected their demands, prompting officials to issue the 2 p.m. deadline.
  In a statement, Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president, said that ultimately, the university will not divest from Israel, adding that the school is committed to maintaining its core principles and shared values, which include ensuring no students suffer from harassment and discrimination and no anti-Semitic language is used.

  

  School, Students Fail to Reach Agreement

  “Both sides in these discussions put forward robust and thoughtful offers and worked in good faith to reach common ground,” Ms. Shafik said. “We thank them all for their diligent work, long hours, and careful effort and wish they had reached a different outcome.”

  While the University will not divest from Israel, it has offered to “develop an expedited timeline for review of new proposals from the students by the Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing, the body that considers divestment matters,” Ms. Shafik noted.

  “The University also offered to publish a process for students to access a list of Columbia’s direct investment holdings, and to increase the frequency of updates to that list of holdings,” she added.

  Ben Chang, vice president for communications at Columbia University, confirmed the suspensions had begun in a press conference late Monday, USA Today reports.

  He added that students had been notified in advance that they would face disciplinary action, including suspension if they did not vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. ET and sign a form committing to abide by student politics until either June 30, 2025, or until their graduation, whichever came first.

  The site of the protests has created an unwelcoming environment for many Jewish students and faculty members, he said. It has also been a source of loud noise.

  “We’ve been suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on campus,” Mr. Chang said.

  Mr. Chang did not provide further details regarding how many students from Columbia and its affiliate Barnard College have been disciplined. However, he confirmed that those suspended would not be able to finish the semester or graduate, Axios reports.

  They will also be banned from entering any campus housing or academic buildings, he added.

  Juliette Fairley contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 23:34

• Biden Considering Bringing Some Refugees From Gaza To The US
  Biden Considering Bringing Some Refugees From Gaza To The US

  With scenes like this spreading across the country, as standoffs at various liberal campuses turn increasingly more violent…

  PANDEMONIUM IN NYC pic.twitter.com/6E6na2r14k

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 1, 2024

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  … the Biden administration appears to have gotten its Soros marching orders to pour gasoline into the fire, with CBS reporting that the White House is considering bringing “certain Palestinians” to the U.S. as refugees, a move that would offer a permanent safe haven to some of those fleeing war-torn Gaza, and would also drastically escalate what has already been the 2024 equivalent of the 2020 BLM summer of violence, only this time with spoiled, rich Marxist kids pretending they live in the 1960s and their actions can stop the war in Vietnam Middle East.

  According to the report, in recent weeks senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents.

  One of those proposals involves using the decades-old United States Refugee Admissions Program to welcome Palestinians with U.S. ties who have managed to escape Gaza and enter neighboring Egypt, according to the inter-agency planning documents.

  Top U.S. officials have also discussed getting additional Palestinians out of Gaza and processing them as refugees if they have American relatives, the documents show. The plans would require coordination with Egypt, which has so far refused to welcome large numbers of people from Gaza.

  Those who pass a series of eligibility, medical and security screenings would qualify to fly to the U.S. with refugee status, which offers beneficiaries permanent residency, resettlement benefits like housing assistance and a path to American citizenship.

  While the eligible population is expected to be relatively small, the plans being discussed by U.S. officials could offer a lifeline to some Palestinians fleeing the Israel-Hamas war, which local public health authorities say has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

  Needless to say, this comes from the same admin which a few days ago decided against a ban of menthol cigarettes over fears it would alienate the black vote, and today targeted the pot-smoking voters with a report the DEA was preparing to reclassify marijuana to a less dangerous drug category. The same admin which in the past 2 years has welcomed over 20 million illegals with the hope that they will illegally vote for Biden and the Democrats, and thus enshrine the current kleptofascist regime in perpetuity. So it is hardly a surprise that Biden, desperate to avoid losing the vote of the ultra-left progressive wing of the Democrat party which just happens to sympathize with Hamas, will pander to this group whose votes may end up deciding the November election.

  Naturally, news of the proposal spread like wildfire with prominent republicans slamming the idea…

  Biden wants to bring to America the same Gazans who elected and support Hamas?

  This may be his worst idea yet.

  — Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) April 30, 2024

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  … although as with most things republicans oppose, or at least pretend to oppose, it is guaranteed that Biden will once again get his way, even though – as so many have noted – the US is on the verge of accepting Palestinians from Gaza when not a single Arab nation is doing so.

  The Biden Administration is considering bringing in Palestinians from Gaza as refugees into the US. But not a single Arab nation is welcoming their own brothers from Gaza. Why is that?

  Let’s find out. pic.twitter.com/srdNjNb4N5

  — Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) April 30, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 23:20

• Meet The Lawyers Taking Big Government To The Supreme Court… And Winning
  Meet The Lawyers Taking Big Government To The Supreme Court… And Winning

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  As the administrative state implements more regulations on Americans, a team of legal veterans has come together to fight the expansion of unelected government agency power.

  

  Sometimes, they even win.

  The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which consists of a team of 27 lawyers and support staff, including former judges, had four of the cases they litigated go before the Supreme Court in 2023. One case was decided in their favor, the remaining three are pending.

  Founded by Columbia Law professor Philip Hamburger six years ago, the NCLA targets cases where they believe federal agencies have blatantly overstepped their authority or violated civil liberties..

  “Normally, administrative power is understood as a separation of powers question, but it’s also a civil liberties problem because it dilutes our voting rights,” Mr. Hamburger told The Epoch Times. “We all get to vote, but the ability to make legislation is no longer in the hands of the people we elect.”

  The U.S. Constitution vests Congress with law-making authority. However, government agencies are not only making laws today, he said, they also enforce those laws, then act as judge and jury over alleged violations. Taking a historical view on this issue, Mr. Hamburger argues that such administrative “absolutism” is not a new phenomenon, but merely a modern expression of absolute power once wielded by medieval kings.

  The group’s clients include Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Aaron Kheriaty, and Ms. Jill Hines, plaintiffs in the case of Murthy v. Missouri, which is currently before the Supreme Court. This case involves alleged violations of the doctors’ First Amendment rights by the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Surgeon General.

  “It deprives us of the right to a jury; it deprives us of ordinary burdens of proof; it deprives us of having an unbiased judge,” he said. “We have ALJs and commissioners instead.”

  ALJ’s are “executive judges for official and unofficial hearings of administrative disputes in the federal government,” according to a Cornell Law School definition.

  “Administrative law judges are considered part of the executive branch, not the judicial branch, and ALJs are appointed by the heads of the executive agencies.”

  In this way, Mr. Hamburger said, the administrative state has not only accumulated powers explicitly vested in other branches of government; it has consolidated within itself the power of all three branches.

  Supreme Court Taking Notice

  The NCLA’s actions have been resonating in America’s court system, particularly the Supreme Court.

  

  “In 2018, we started filing briefs at the Supreme Court and almost immediately we were having an effect on the discussions of administrative power,” Peggy Little, senior counsel at the NCLA, told The Epoch Times.

  In one case, SEC v. Cochran, which Ms. Little led, appellate courts took the side of the SEC. This case challenged the lifetime tenure of ALJs, who act as judges for federal agencies.

  “We battled that for five years, and we had six circuit courts of appeals against us,” she said. “We got to the Supreme Court and we won unanimously.”

  Ms. Little said she is optimistic that the tide of expanding agency power can be turned back.

  “I think we are in a very important time for rethinking how our government should operate,” Ms. Little said, “and restoring the separation of powers and guardrails on agency power, that limit it to what Congress has actually empowered the agency to do, not what the agency itself thinks would be a good idea.”

  Mr. Hamburger said the NCLA has several advantages when arguing their cases.

  “We have the truth on our side, and I think the justices understand that,” he said. “Second, we take the Constitution seriously, while many agencies view it as a minor impediment to what they want to do in regulation.”

  In addition, “the administrative state has changed,” he said..

  “It isn’t like the 1930s where it was just an addition to the law; it is now the primary mode of controlling us,” he said. “It may eventually unravel our republic.”

  The End of ‘Chevron Deference’?

  One of the pivotal court decisions behind the expansion of the administrative state was the 1984 ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.

  The Supreme Court decision in that case gave broad discretion to federal agencies to interpret for themselves how much authority Congress had given them. This led to a concept known as “Chevron deference,” where courts tended to defer to agencies regarding the scope of their power.

  There appeared to be a reversal of this doctrine with the 2022 Supreme Court Decision in West Virginia v. EPA, in which the court ruled that “the Government must point to ‘clear congressional authorization’ to regulate.” This case involved the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attempt to regulate CO2 emissions by power generators, effectively compelling them to shift from coal and gas to so-called renewables, like wind and solar energy.

  But while this ruling may have slowed the expansion of the administrative state, it has by no means halted it. On April 25, the EPA set down a new regime for CO2 emissions, mandating that new gas and existing coal plants cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2032.

  

  While many U.S. presidents have pushed for greater powers for the executive branch, the Biden administration has been particularly aggressive. This includes a 2021 edict from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requiring employees of large companies to take the COVID-19 vaccine; a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandate requiring all listed companies to submit audited reports on greenhouse gas emissions; EPA mandates designed to phase out coal plants and gas-fired cars and trucks; new restrictions on consumer appliances from the Department of Energy; and several executive orders to transfer student loan debt to taxpayers.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 23:00

• "House Destocking": China Politburo Hints New PLan To Fix BIggest Drag On The Economy
  “House Destocking”: China Politburo Hints New PLan To Fix BIggest Drag On The Economy

  China’s Politburo meeting on economic policy took place today, and as SocGen’s Wei Yao reports, the most important takeaway from the meeting is that policymakers are shifting their attention to housing destocking, as they pledged to ‘study measures’.

  As usual about 3 years behind the curve, Beijing policymakers – who burst China’s housing bubble sparking unprecedented wealth destruction across the country once the world’s largest asset class (as the chart from Goldman shows)…

  

  … went into freefall 3 years ago, have been alarmed by the drop in housing sales and home prices in recent months, and finally sense the urgency to provide more measures to avoid a sustained downturn, which can be harmful for household wealth and confidence, not to mention can lead to sporadic revolutions which overthrow the ruling “communist” kleptocracy made up of billionaire oligarchs.

  According to the SocGen strategist, “this change of attitude is important and with sufficient measures could help put a floor on housing. This may be THE catalyst to extend the recovery in confidence and equity markets, at least cyclically.“

  Below we excerpt several more key points from the SocGen report:

  Growth has improved but it’s not the time to reduce support. Policymakers acknowledged that the economy has improved, but demand remains insufficient and external uncertainty has risen notably. That is probably related to recent complaints from various countries on China’s overcapacities and the upcoming US election. Hence, economic policies need to avoid tightening too quickly. So we shouldn’t be concerned that policies will be less accommodative even with the improvement in 1Q GDP.

  The focus is on faster implementation of announced policies. Policymakers pledge to frontload and effectively implement macro policies that have been announced. That is in line with our expectations that no fresh stimulus will be added. These involve speeding up the utilisation of special CGBs and special LGBs, flexibly using interest rates and RRR cuts to lower financing costs, as well implementing the replacement of consumer goods and equipment. Therefore, we should see a continued recovery in infrastructure investments, while the strength of replacement policies is more uncertain as it depends on local policies. We also expect the PBoC to cut the the RRR and the 5y LPR further.

  Government to help on housing destocking? Beside countercyclical policies, the most important change is on the property sector. Policymakers pledge to study policies to support housing destocking, with no details announced. This is mentioned by policymakers for the first time, and follows more easing measures at a local level recently (e.g. relaxing purchase restrictions in Chengdu and promoting new home sales by tasking local SOEs to purchase existing homes from potential buyers). While it remains to be seen how the policies will be funded with local governments under fiscal pressure, this change of attitude is important, and can help reduce the chance of a sustained decline in house prices.

  The statement also mentioned other key policy goals, such as resolving local government debt risks (good luck). The government is focusing on reducing debt in high risk provinces, but it also stresses on growth stability, which means it will not push too hard since all growth in China is debt-funded.

  It is also interesting to note that the tasks to support low-income groups and to build a social safety net are mentioned, but without concrete details. Other tasks include promoting new productivity, resolving smaller banks’ risks, promoting capital market development and implementing measures to reach peak carbon.

  Separately, it was also announced that the Third Plenum, which had been delayed, will take place in July and will discuss reform directions to promote “modernization of the economy.” The confirmation of the date in itself is likely to be viewed as a positive sign, even though we do not have high expectations from the plenum yet.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 22:40

• The World Health Organization’s Pandemic Treaty Ignores Covid Policy Mistakes
  The World Health Organization’s Pandemic Treaty Ignores Covid Policy Mistakes

  Authroed by Kevin Bardosh & Jay Bhattarcharya via RealClearPolicy,

  The World Health Organization is urging the U.S. and 193 other governments to commit next month to a new global treaty to prevent and manage future pandemics. Current estimates suggest over $31 billion per year will be needed to fund its obligations, a cost most lower income countries cannot afford. But that isn’t the only reason to oppose it. Validating this treaty is a vote for the disastrous policies of the Covid years. Rather than taking time for deep reflection and serious reform, those pushing the pandemic treaty are set on ignoring and institutionalizing the WHO’s mistakes.

  

  From the Spring of 2020, many experts warned that the panic begun in Wuhan’s unprecedented lockdown would cause wide-ranging damage—and indeed they did. School closures deprived a generation of children—especially poor children—of access to basic education. Businesses were shuttered. Vaccine and mask mandates made public health an authoritarian exercise of power devoid of science. Border quarantines promulgated the idea that the rest of the world is unclean.  

  But few experts care to seriously dissect these errors. How many schools of public health—in America or Europe—held serious debates during the Covid response, or since? Very few.

  Opposing the treaty is a signal to the WHO and global health community that they cannot whitewash these mistakes. Next time, we need to ensure a better balance between trade-offs, evidence-based policies, and democratic rights. Such a view seeks to restore the WHO’s own definition of health into pandemic response: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

  Yet the governing philosophy of the WHO emergency program is the exact opposite. Its leaders chastise the world to “move faster’ and “do more.” Bill Gates, the agency’s single largest private donor, is convinced lockdown benefits vastly outweighed their harms. He’s wrong. 

  Read through the current draft of the treaty itself and you will find a whole section dedicated to “fighting misinformation.” There is no section focused on preventing harm. Those speaking out about these dangers have been subjected to harsh censorship. Once esteemed professionals were summarily fired for describing the reality of what was happening. The authors of the anti-lockdown Great Barrington Declaration—professors at Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford—were subject to a “devastating takedown” at the hands of Dr. Fauci and top scientific bureaucrats at the National Institutes of Health and the WHO. 

  Public health came to resemble the police, and those pushing the new WHO treaty want to go further. It calls for more mandates, more vaccine passports, and more censorship—our new global health “Lockdown Doctrine.”

  Proponents of the treaty would have you believe that it is merely a tool that countries can use to guide future pandemic response efforts, that it cannot trump national sovereignty or be used to force failed policies on entire populations. But the lifeblood of international treaties is not in the dried ink. Treaties are constantly ignored. Nonetheless, they do one thing very well: they create an illusion of consensus, signaling to those with power and influence. These priorities are then filtered down into national laws and plans where they can do tremendous damage. 

  How can national governments seriously endorse an international agreement when their own domestic Covid evaluations are ongoing? The UK Covid Inquiry is set to end in 2026. Australia’s commission is ongoing. Italy and Ireland have only recently announced them. Most have none planned. 

  The rush needs to slow down. The U.S. should avoid signing until a thorough, bipartisan review of WHO’s Covid pandemic management is accomplished. Until then, a vote for a pandemic treaty is a vote against real, positive change. 

  Kevin Bardosh is Director and Head of Research at Collateral Global. Jay Battacharya is a Professor at Stanford School of Medicine.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 22:20

• Meet The Lifelong Felon Who Killed Four Cops In North Carolina 
  Meet The Lifelong Felon Who Killed Four Cops In North Carolina 

  A neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, was transformed into a warzone on Monday afternoon when a lifelong felon, illegally owning firearms, ambushed a US Marshals Fugitive Task Force and police officers as they were serving a warrant. 

  Three US Marshals and an officer from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were killed in the shootout. Additionally, four police officers and one Marshal were injured.

  During a Monday evening press conference, police identified lifelong felon 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., who was also killed in the shootout. 

  Meet the deceased Charlotte shooting suspect: Terry Clark Hughes, Jr. pic.twitter.com/UjOjVZ33Si

  — Unbiased Crime Report (@UnbiasedCrime) April 30, 2024

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

  Has leftist corporate media identified the felon? Maybe not, because it doesn’t fit the narrative. 

  CNN has not. Fox News has. 

  

  According to police, US Marshals attempted to serve Hughes a warrant for firearm possession. He was also wanted for two counts of felony flee to elude out of the Charlotte area. 

  Police believe there were two other shooters in the home. A 17-year-old and a woman, both of them, were taken into police custody. 

  “We have two people of interest at the police station that are being questioned right now,” Police Chief Johnny Jennings told reporters. 

  Jennings said, “And we have confirmed that the individual that was set up that we were serving the warrant on was the individual who fired the initial shots and was deceased in the front yard at the end of all of this.” 

  America needs to restore law and order, and leftist corporate media outlets must report the news fairly. Perhaps this is why their ratings are imploding, as everyday Americans begin to see through their narrative control of misinformation and disinformation.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 22:00

• Health Canada Asked Pfizer For DNA Fragments Size In COVID Shots, Linked To 'Probability' Of Genomic 'Integration'
  Health Canada Asked Pfizer For DNA Fragments Size In COVID Shots, Linked To ‘Probability’ Of Genomic ‘Integration’

  Authored by Noé Chartier via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Canada’s drug regulator asked Pfizer to provide data on the size of DNA fragments in its COVID-19 vaccine, due to genomic integration concerns, shortly after learning the pharma giant withheld information on DNA sequences contained in its product.

  “Concerning the residual plasmid DNA in the drug substance, provide data/information characterizing […] the size distribution of the residual DNA fragments [and] residual intact circular plasmid,” says a request for clarification Health Canada issued to Pfizer on Aug. 4, 2023.

  

  The information was released as part of records obtained through an access-to-information request. It shows, in part, that a Health Canada official was keeping the department’s counterparts in the United States and Europe apprised of the department’s interactions with Pfizer, in a bid to harmonize the regulators’ approaches regarding the recently discovered DNA fragment impurities.

  “As you are aware, the fragment size is related to the probability of integration, and the WHO guidance assumes a fragment size of generally less than 200 bp,” Dr. Dean Smith, a senior scientific evaluator in Health Canada’s Vaccine Quality Division, wrote in an October 2023 email to counterparts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

  DNA plasmids are used in the manufacturing process of mRNA vaccines and residual elements are supposed to be cleaned out below a certain threshold. Pfizer said DNA in its products is below the 10ng/dose guideline established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and followed by Health Canada, according to the official records.

  This assertion has been challenged by independent scientists, who found quantities of DNA in the vaccines to be above the threshold. They have also found the DNA fragments are larger than 200 base pairs (bp).

  Virologist Dr. David Speicher, who has studied Canadian mRNA vials, told The Epoch Times the average size of fragments his study found is 214 base pairs (bp), with some as large as 3.5 kilobase (kb).

  While small fragments frequently integrate spontaneously into the genome, these mutations are stopped through either DNA repair mechanisms or cellular death, Dr. Speicher said.

  “Larger fragments are much more problematic, especially if attached to an SV40 enhancer, because they can integrate into the genome where they can get transcribed and then translated into proteins,” he added. Independent scientists like Dr. Speicher found the undisclosed SV40 enhancer in Pfizer shots, a piece of biotechnology used to drive gene expression.

  Depending on the DNA fragment size, it can produce functional or aberrant proteins, Dr. Speicher explains. “These proteins can affect cellular metabolism, an immune response, as well as an increased risk for cancer. The risk of integration and associated health problems increases with the number of shots.”

  The Florida State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo has called for a halt of mRNA shots, citing concern about these risks. Dr. Philip Buckhaults, professor of cancer genomics and director of the Cancer Genetics Lab at the University of South Carolina, has initiated a study to investigate the risks.

  Health Canada has not studied those risks, but told The Epoch Times last summer “the presence of residual plasmid DNA in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines does not change the safety assessment of these vaccines.”

  Seeking Clarifications

  Despite providing this answer to media in the summer of 2023, Health Canada scientists were privately discussing working with international partners to have Pfizer remove DNA fragments and SV40 sequences from its vaccines and they prepared several requests for clarification to the company.

  In an August 2023 email to a colleague providing information to relay to Pfizer, Health Canada senior biologist evaluator Dr. Michael Wall said his department would “continue to work with international regulatory partners to achieve harmonization regarding removal of these sequence elements from the plasmid for future strain changes.”

  Records show Health Canada was blindsided by the presence of undisclosed genetic substances in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, almost four years after the initial emergency authorization.

  After Pfizer filed its submission for the authorization of its updated Omicron XBB.1.5 shot on July 21, 2023, Health Canada sent the company several Quality Clarifax—requests for additional information if deficiencies are identified in drug submissions—with the first one dated Aug. 4, 2023.

  Regarding the residual plasmid DNA in the COVID-19 vaccines, Health Canada asked Pfizer to provide data on the size distribution of the DNA fragments and on residual intact circular plasmid.

  Pfizer said this data was “not readily available and will require time to generate,” in a response on Aug. 11, 2023. The pharma giant added that Pfizer, the drug sponsor, and BioNTech, the manufacturer, had not been previously requested to provide this data across global markets.

  Pfizer committed to provide the data by Dec. 1, but the response is not captured in the information package released under the access-to-information regime.

  In a subsequent request for information sent on Aug. 22, 2023, Health Canada noted Pfizer’s commitment to provide the information and added a request by asking Pfizer to address “whether the residual DNA plasmid is capable of replication in bacteria.”

  Virologist Dr. Speicher, commenting on the agency’s request, noted that plasmids need to be circular to be replicated in a bacterial host, and that fragments can’t do so.

  “So if they were intact circular plasmids and injected, they could be taken up by our host bacteria, especially in the gut,” he said. “If the plasmid could propagate in bacteria into our body it could lead to a bacterial spike factory and drive kanamycin/neomycin resistance.”

  “This would cause an increase in antibiotic resistance of the bacteria including pathogens and increase spike production, and we know that spike is toxic on so many levels,” he said.

  Dr. Speicher added that Pfizer should have tested for this before putting its products to market. The fact that it did not have the data indicates it did not test for it, he said.

  SV40 Enhancer

  The request for information that Health Canada sent to Pfizer mainly focused on the presence of the Simian Virus 40 (SV40) enhancer-promoter in the Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

  Health Canada and other regulators like the FDA and EMA were not aware of its presence, since Pfizer “chose not to” disclose it, according to a separate email from Health Canada scientist Dr. Smith.

  Many sections of the Clarifax are redacted under the Access to Information Act, with reasons such as content containing proprietary information or which could lead to a material gain or loss for a third party, in this case Pfizer and BioNTech.

  The information disclosed shows that Health Canada challenged Pfizer on SV40 and asked for a “justification for the SV40 regulatory elements in the plasmid.”

  Pfizer responded that the “SV40 regulatory region sequences [redacted] in the submission since this [redacted] is relevant neither for plasmid production in E. coli nor for production of mRNA.”

  This is the position that has been adopted by Health Canada. In response to questions by the media and parliamentarians, the regulator has stated the SV40 enhancer-promoter is “inactive” and has “no functional role.”

  But Pfizer and Health Canada have not addressed why the SV40 enhancer-promoter is present in the vaccine if it is not used in the production of mRNA and has no functional role. Genomics expert Kevin McKernan has questioned this when faced with responses from regulators.

  Mr. McKernan made the initial DNA and SV40 fragments discovery and published his study in April 2023. His pre-print paper on the matter appears twice in the Health Canada information package released via access-to-information.

  Mr. McKernan has pointed out that regulators could have discovered the SV40 sequences themselves had they run the plasmid through a computer annotation tool.

  “If you ever used plasmid annotation tools, they annotate everything on the map and they don’t leave anything unannotated,” he told the International Covid Summit in February. 

  He provided his assessment to the summit of why Pfizer went this route. “They’re hiding the fact that this tool [SV40 enhancer] is used as a gene therapy tool and would classify their system as a gene therapy,” he said. “Because it’s a nuclear targeting sequence it moves DNA directly to the nucleus within hours in all cell lines.”

  The American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) classifies the mRNA injections as gene therapy, whereas Health Canada does not.

  “The mRNA from the vaccines does not enter the cell nucleus or interact with the DNA at all, so it does not constitute gene therapy,” said Health Canada in a response to a parliamentarian on Dec. 13. The ASGCT also says the mRNA doesn’t alter the “recipient’s generic material” and is only present in the body “transiently.” However, because the vaccine introduces “new genetic material into cells for a short period of time to induce antibodies,” the American organization considers it gene therapy.

  Pfizer said in a response to the Aug. 4 Health Canada request for information that the “SV40 promotor/enhancer DNA does not contain known oncogenes, infectious agents, or regions that could lead to functional transcripts, the DNA does not present any specific safety concerns.”

  Health Canada also said in a document tabled in Parliament in March that “any claims the presence of the SV40 promoter enhancer sequence is linked to an increased risk of cancer are unfounded.” Health Canada itself has not studied the risks.

  ‘Drive Gene Expression’

  A senior Health Canada’s scientist’s view on the role of SV40 fragments is captured in an Oct. 26 email written in response to questions from Chief Medical Officer Dr. Supriya Sharma.

  Dr. Tong Wu of Health Canada’s Vaccine Quality Division responded that the “SV40 promoter enhancer is widely used to drive gene expression in mammalian cells.” He added, however, that it “serves no purpose in the manufacturing of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.”

  Dr. Wu said it was unexpected to find the sequence in the finished product, since “Pfizer did not identify the presence of SV40 promoter enhancer on the plasmid template used to produce mRNA, in their original filing.”

  Dr. Wu also said that “to the best of our knowledge,” no other vaccine approved in Canada contains the SV40 sequence.

  Pfizer was contacted for comment, but the company hasn’t responded to inquiries.

  Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 21:40

• Employers Must Honor Preferred Pronouns, Bathrooms For Employees Identifying As Transgender: Feds
  Employers Must Honor Preferred Pronouns, Bathrooms For Employees Identifying As Transgender: Feds

  Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Biden administration has rolled out a set of new guidelines, under which an employer would be deemed liable for harassment for referring to a worker by an unwanted pronoun or requiring the worker to use a restroom that aligns with his or her biological sex.

  

  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published the new workplace harassment guidelines on Monday after approving them in a party-line 3–2 vote on Friday. The new document enshrines gender identity as a category protected against harassment, just like sex, race, religion, or disability.

  “Harassing conduct based on sexual orientation or gender identity includes … repeated and intentional use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s known gender identity (misgendering) or the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity,” the new guidelines state.

  Joining Chairwoman Charlotte Burrows to vote in favor of the updated harassment guidance were two other Democrat commissioners, Jocelyn Samuels and Kalpana Kotagal. The two Republican members, Keith Sonderling and Andrea Lucas, voted against the changes.

  “Women’s sex-based rights in the workplace are under attack—and from the EEOC, the very federal agency charged with protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination at work,” Ms. Lucas said in a statement on Monday.

  “The commission’s guidance effectively eliminates single-sex workplace facilities and impinges on women’s rights to freedom of speech and belief,” she added, accusing her Democrat colleagues of disregarding “biological realities, sex-based privacy and safety needs of women.”

  Legal Implications

  A guideline is not legally binding in the same way as laws passed by Congress or rules issued by government agencies. The EEOC website describes guidance as “official agency policy and explains how the laws and regulations apply to specific workplace situations.”

  However, Monday’s guidance communicates the EEOC’s position on legal issues, meaning an employee could potentially refer to the new guidelines in the event of a restroom or pronoun dispute.

  “Harassment, both in-person and online, remains a serious issue in America’s workplaces,” said Ms. Burrows in a statement Monday. “The EEOC’s updated guidance on harassment is a comprehensive resource that brings together best practices for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifies recent developments in the law.”

  The new federal guidance comes about three years after the EEOC suffered a legal defeat in its attempt to create exceptions for employees identifying as LGBT from workplace policies on restrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes.

  In August 2021, a coalition of attorneys general from 20 states sued to have the LGBT exception blocked, arguing that authority over such policies “properly belongs to Congress, the States, and the people.”

  “The guidance purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues such as whether employers … may maintain sex-separated showers and locker rooms, … and whether individuals may be compelled to use another person’s preferred pronouns,” the complaint read. “But the agencies have no authority to resolve those sensitive questions, let alone to do so by executive fiat without providing any opportunity for public participation.”

  The lawsuit was led by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery. He was joined by attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

  In July 2022, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled in favor of the coalition to enjoin the EEOC guidance from going forward. Later that year, a separate federal court in Texas vacated and set aside the proposed guidance, determining that the EEOC misinterpreted the scope of the U.S. Supreme Court landmark 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which concluded that it is unconstitutional for sexual orientation and gender identity to be considered as factors in employment decisions.

  The EEOC did not appeal those rulings.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 21:00

• Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Caught Trafficking Fentanyl For Sinaloa Cartel
  Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Caught Trafficking Fentanyl For Sinaloa Cartel

  A former Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy, who was apprehended last year as part of an investigation into the Sinaloa cartel, has been found to have been working for “El Chapo” himself. 

  25 year old Jorge Oceguera-Rocha resigned from his position with the Sheriff after being caught with over 100 pounds of fentanyl pills and a firearm during a traffic stop in Calimesa, in September of last year, KTLA reports.

  Authorities did not specify how they discovered his alleged involvement in drug trafficking, but he was identified as a “corrupt Riverside County Correctional Deputy” mentioned in a press release about Operation Hotline Bling.

  

  Operation Hotline Bling “culminated last week with 15 arrests and significant drug seizures, including methamphetamine and quantities of fentanyl that potentially could produce 10 million lethal doses,” according to the DEA:

  In March 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration Riverside District Office and the Riverside Police Department, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service, initiated Operation “Hotline Bling.” During the investigation, agents seized a total of approximately 376 pounds of methamphetamine, 37.4 pounds of fentanyl, 600,000 fentanyl tablets, 1.4 kilograms of cocaine, and seven firearms. The drugs seized in this investigation have an estimated “street value” of $16 million.

  This operation targeted Sinaloa cartel activities in the Inland Empire, resulting in 15 arrests and the seizure of $16 million worth of narcotics. The Sinaloa cartel, once led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is renowned for its influence akin to that of Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and early ’90s.

  Oceguera-Rocha faces multiple local felony charges and the Sheriff’s Department confirmed his involvement in trafficking narcotics within Riverside County while off duty.

  Although federal prosecutors didn’t press charges, Riverside County officials charged him with possession and transportation of narcotics, with enhancements for the drug’s weight, and possession of a firearm in connection with narcotics.

  The initial report on the arrest noted he was being detained at the John Benoit Detention Center with a $5 million bail, justified by the drug’s weight and potential flight risk. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in jail.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 20:40

• First Cases Of HIV Transmitted Through Cosmetic Needles Identified: CDC
  First Cases Of HIV Transmitted Through Cosmetic Needles Identified: CDC

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

  Multiple people contracted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through cosmetic needles after receiving facials at an unlicensed spa in New Mexico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  

  Three women who received platelet-rich plasma (PRP) microneedling facials, also known as vampire facials, at the spa contracted HIV and an investigation pointed to the facials as the method of transmission, a new paper from CDC scientists states.

  The spa in question, the since-shuttered VIP Salon, was dubbed spa A in the paper.

  “This investigation is the first to associate HIV transmission with nonsterile cosmetic injection services. A common exposure to spa A among clients without behaviors associated with HIV acquisition helped identify a possible cluster association, and analysis of additional data suggested that HIV transmission likely occurred via receipt of PRP with microneedling facial procedures,” said the scientists, who worked with New Mexico health officials.

  The source of the contamination remains unknown, they said.

  PRP microneedling facials involve taking blood from a person and separating out PRP. Then, a microneedle makes holes in the person’s skin, and the PRP is applied to the holes.

  The procedure is said to help treat acne and have other health benefits.

  New Mexico authorities announced in 2019 that they were investigating the VIP Spa after people contracted HIV following visits to the spa. Officials were providing free testing of any people who received treatments, including the microneedling facials, at the spa.

  An inspection by authorities led to the closure of VIP Spa after the identification of unsafe practices.

  Maria de Lourdes Ramos de Ruiz, former owner of the spa, was later hit with felony charges, including practicing medicine without a license. She pleaded guilty in 2022 to five counts.

  “This is a warning to those who place profit over the health and safety of New Mexico consumers, and I remain highly concerned that these procedures are not being regulated at the state and federal level,” New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said at the time.

  Investigation

  New Mexico officials described two HIV cases among spa visitors previously. A wider investigation identified additional patients, scientists with the state and the CDC said in the new paper.

  Through calls, surveys, and other methods, authorities found five people with HIV, four of whom received microneedling at the spa in 2018. The fifth was in a sexual relationship with a spa client. Analysis of the patients’ blood showed that their cases were all related to the facility.

  The cases involving the man and woman in a sexual relationship were stage 3 or chronic HIV, which suggests “that their infections were likely attributed to exposures before receipt of cosmetic injection services,” according to the scientists.

  But no alternative explanations for the infections among the other three female patients were discovered.

  “The other three patients in this cluster had no known social contact with one another, and no specific mechanism for transmission among these patients was confirmed,” scientists said. “Evidence suggests that contamination from an undetermined source at the spa during spring and summer 2018 resulted in HIV-1 transmission to these three patients.”

  HIV is a virus that attacks immune systems and can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) if not treated. Symptoms include sore throat, fatigue, and ulcers in the mouth. Most people who contract the illness are gay or bisexual. While there is no cure for HIV, it can be controlled through available treatments.

  Nearly 200 other spa clients and their sexual partners were tested through 2023 as part of the investigation but none tested positive for HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C, according to the paper.

  The findings highlight the importance of looking at “novel sources of HIV transmission among persons with no known HIV risk factors,” the scientists said.

  They also encouraged facilities to implement practices to control infections to try to prevent the transmission of bloodborne pathogens.

  Inspection Results

  When the spa was inspected in 2018, authorities saw troubling practices.

  Lying on a kitchen counter, for instance, were a centrifuge, a heating dry bath, and a rack of unlabeled tubes containing blood.

  In a refrigerator, stored with food, authorities found tubes of blood without labels, as well as medical injectables such as Botox.

  Unwrapped syringes were located in multiple places, including in drawers.

  No steam sterilizer was present and certain items designed to be disposable were cleaned and reused by staffers at the spa, authorities said.

  The investigation was hindered by disorganized records, including the lack of a system for scheduling appointments, according to the paper. Such systems usually include contact information for clients. Investigators combed through handwritten records and other documents to identify people who may have undergone the microneedling procedure.

  “Incomplete spa client records posed a substantial challenge during this investigation, necessitating a large-scale outreach approach to identify potential cases, as opposed to direct communication with all clients,” researchers said. “Requiring maintenance of sufficient client records to ensure adequate traceback by regulated businesses that provide injection services could ensure adequate capability to conduct traceback.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 20:20

• Independent Candidate RFK Jr. Clinches Spot On California Presidential Ballot
  Independent Candidate RFK Jr. Clinches Spot On California Presidential Ballot

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. secured his spot on the California presidential ballot after receiving a nomination from the American Independent Party (AIP).

  

  Mr. Kennedy said in a video released Tuesday that he and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, are officially qualified to appear on the ballot in California, the most populous state in the United States.

  Huge news! Kennedy-Shanahan on the California ballot! Watch the video below to hear how it happened ⬇️ #KennedyShanahan24 pic.twitter.com/wV2R4P9y8Q

  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 29, 2024

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

  He said that “ironically” the AIP was initially the party of Alabama’s former Gov. George Wallace, known for his segregationist politics in the 1960s, but that the party had undergone “its own rebirth” before he came along.

  “It’s been reborn as a party that represents not bigotry and hatred, but rather compassion and unity and idealism and common sense,” Mr. Kennedy said in the video posted on social media platform X.

  “When they learned about my candidacy, they had just drafted a new charter for their reborn party where they could use their battle line for good for helping independent candidates to unite America without being blocked by the two-party duopoly,” he added.

  The AIP is California’s third-largest qualified political party, with more than 835,000 registered voters in the state, according to the party’s press release.

  AIP state chairman Victor Marani said he had filed all the necessary paperwork with the California Secretary of State to put Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Shanahan on the state’s ballot.

  “Our party is pleased to provide the opportunity for all 22 million voters in California to vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for President. Voters crave a real leader who will unite America,” he said in a statement.

  Joe Cook, the regional field director-west for the Kennedy Campaign, said the AIP has “redefined its purpose and offers inspirational candidates a pathway to elected office outside the major parties.”

  “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the perfect candidate to embody this new shift to independent leaders that serve the common good,” he added.

  Since announcing last October that he would leave the Democrat Party’s presidential primary and run as an independent, Mr. Kennedy has said multiple times that he would appear on the general election ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

  To combat anticipated challenges from Democrats and Republicans regarding the validity of signatures, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign has said they are collecting 60 percent more signatures than required in every state.

  Some members of Mr. Kennedy’s family have previously denounced his decision to run for president as an independent candidate, calling it “perilous” and “dangerous to our country.”

  During an interview with CNN on March 25, his sister, Rory Kennedy, explained that they viewed his independent bid as dangerous because they believed his campaign was “siphoning” votes from President Joe Biden, potentially bolstering former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning.

  

  2024 presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks with his vice presidential pick Nicole Shanahan in Oakland, Calif., on March 26, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

  “I feel strongly that this is the most important election of our lifetime. And there’s so much at stake, and I do think it’s going to come down to a handful of votes and a handful of states,” she told the news outlet.

  “And I do worry that Bobby just taking some percentage of votes from Biden could shift the election and lead to Trump’s election,” said Ms. Kennedy, the youngest daughter of late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 19:40

• South Korea's Central Bank Says May Buy Gold In The Mid To Long-Term
  South Korea’s Central Bank Says May Buy Gold In The Mid To Long-Term

  Back in 2011, around the time gold hits its previous cycle high, South Korea surprised the fiat world when it revealed that it had spent more than a billion dollars in its first gold purchase in more than a decade, as uncertainty about global growth and sovereign debt push central banks around the world to diversify foreign reserves. It then proceeds to buy a lot more gold (relatively speaking) for the next year and a half before halting purchases indefinitely once again in 2013. It now holds 104.4 tonnes of gold in its foreign exchange reserves, or $4.8 billion, accounting for 1.1% of its total $419.3 billion in reserves at the end of March.

  

  That may change soon, however, because with gold hitting a new all time high in recent weeks, South Korea’s central bank may consider buying more gold in the mid- to long-term, even if it is not thinking of immediately buying more after a recent surge in prices of the precious metal, a bank official said on Tuesday.

  The bank’s rare comments come after this month’s record high of $2,431.29 an ounce in spot gold as growing Middle East tension drove investors to seek safe-haven assets. The metal has risen 13% this year, building on a gain of 13% in 2023.

  “We don’t have any immediate plans to buy gold now,” Kwon Min-soo, head of the Bank of Korea’s reserve management group told Reuters, adding that numerous factors needed to be weighed to ensure the right circumstances for such purchases.

  “Foreign exchange reserves must be on a sufficiently increasing trend, and the foreign exchange market must be stable in order to ‘consider’ purchasing additional gold as an asset, which is why we would consider them only in the mid- to long-term,” he said.

  Translation: South Korea will buy more gold, but only after spot prices have jumped another several hundred dollars.

  In a blog post earlier, the bank’s Reserve Management Group said it needed to be cautious when investing in gold, but advantages offered by the precious metal included its role as a hedge against inflation and an alternative to the US dollar.

  Recent gains in gold prices were due mostly to purchases by central banks of countries such as China, Russia and Turkey, which are trying to become less dependent on the US currency or guard against war, the bank said.

  The thaw in sentiment toward gold is a reversal from the BOK’s June 2023 position when the central bank said it was more desirable to maintain dollar liquidity than boost its gold holdings, after its first inspection of gold holdings at the Bank of England.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 19:20

• Appeals Court Says State Health Policies Excluding Transgender Surgeries Violate Constitution
  Appeals Court Says State Health Policies Excluding Transgender Surgeries Violate Constitution

  Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times,

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled against two state-level health policies that exclude so-called “gender-affirming” treatments, teeing up potential review by the U.S. Supreme Court…

  

  Judge Roger Gregory, an appointee of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, wrote in his majority opinion that the policies’ exclusion of surgeries such as vaginoplasties for certain diagnoses violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

  “The coverage exclusions facially discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity, and are not substantially related to an important government interest,” he said.

  The 8–6 decision affirmed lower court decisions against West Virginia’s Medicaid policy and the North Carolina State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees. Both aimed to preclude coverage of procedures or treatments pursuant to attempts at changing one’s gender.

  During oral arguments in September, at least two judges said it’s likely the case will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

  Judge Gregory’s opinion rejected the idea that the policies didn’t discriminate on the basis of gender identity merely because they focused on diagnoses rather than individuals experiencing that condition.

  “Appellants argue that the district courts’ equal-protection analyses were flawed because, they say, the exclusions distinguish on the basis of diagnosis,” he said.

  He added that “in this case, discriminating on the basis of diagnosis is discriminating on the basis of gender identity and sex.”

  Later in the opinion, Judge Gregory wrote that “gender dysphoria is so intimately related to transgender status as to be virtually indistinguishable from it. The excluded treatments aim at addressing incongruity between sex assigned at birth and gender identity, the very heart of transgender status.”

  He later added that in “addition to discriminating on the basis of gender identity, the exclusions discriminate on the basis of sex.”

  “Certain gender-affirming surgeries that could be provided to people assigned male at birth and people assigned female at birth are provided to only one group under the policy. Those surgeries include vaginoplasty (for congenital absence of a vagina), breast reconstruction (post-mastectomy), and breast reduction (for gynecomastia).”

  Criticism

  Judge Gregory’s opinion encountered three separate dissents, including one in which Judge Harvie Wilkinson, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, argued “the science behind gender dysphoria care is far from settled.”

  He suggested the majority overstepped its authority in encroaching on state decisions about health care.

  “Providing the best possible care to adults and youth struggling with gender dysphoria is a challenging task for our States,” he said.

  “But it is one that they are entitled to perform without premature judicial interference.”

  Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the Conscience Project, said in a statement to The Epoch Times that the decision “cries out for reversal from the Supreme Court.”

  She warned that Judge Gregory’s reasoning “surely will be cited in attempts to force private insurance plans to do the same.”

  Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said the majority “improperly” declared statements from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health “to be facts.”

  “Individually and combined, these missteps improperly stack the deck, effectively ignoring the fair-minded debate about the medical necessity and efficacy of the treatments the plaintiffs seek,” he added.

  Lambda Legal, which challenged both states’ policies, declared victory.

  “We are pleased with the Court’s decision, which will save lives. It confirms that discriminating against transgender people by denying critical medical care is not only wrong but unconstitutional,” Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli said in a press release.

  “No one should be denied essential health care, but our clients in both cases were denied coverage for medically necessary care prescribed by their doctors just because they’re transgender.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 19:00

• Apollo Slapped With Lawsuit Alleging "Widespread Fraudulent Human Life Wagering Conspiracy" 
  Apollo Slapped With Lawsuit Alleging “Widespread Fraudulent Human Life Wagering Conspiracy” 

  Apollo Global Management has been entangled in a scandalous lawsuit and accused of acquiring illegal life insurance policies on senior citizens through a complex web of shell trusts. 

  The company allegedly used an affiliate, Financial Credit Investment, to manage about a $20 billion portfolio of stranger-originated life insurance policies, effectively engaging in what the lawsuit claims:

  “In short, Apollo has been carrying out a widespread fraudulent human life wagering conspiracy designed to not only hide its involvement, but to create the false appearance that the policies it owns are somehow legitimate.” 

  The complaint continues:

  “Worse still, when Apollo senses a claim is going to be brought, it attempts to dissolve its shell entities to give itself yet another layer of protection.”

  This scheme was designed to give the policies the illusion of legitimacy. Martha Barotz’s estate initiated the legal action filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court last Friday. It raises serious questions about Apollo’s ethical practices.

  

  “In this way, the senior citizens have no idea who owns a policy on their life, and who wants them dead,” the suit said, adding, “Apollo was fraudulently and illegally using these shell entities to perpetuate human life wagers not only on the life of Mrs. Barotz, but on the lives of hundreds (if not thousands) of other senior citizens.”

  

  Bloomberg first reported on the lawsuit. Responding to BBG’s note, Joshua Rosner, a  Graham Fisher & Co. managing partner, wrote on X that Apollo’s actions are “mind-bending and horrifying.” 

  Even as a co-author of “These are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs and Wrecks America”, which details how rapacious Apollo is… this is mind-bending and horrifying! They should be fried. https://t.co/6NxzpaXRSR pic.twitter.com/TPx2GUvnpS

  — joshua rosner (@JoshRosner) April 30, 2024

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

  “Apollo should have its insurance licenses pulled in every state by the @naic. They predate retirees and pensioners through pension risk transfers and now we find they take out life insurance policies against seniors. @AARP,” Rosner said. 

  #athene #appollo should have its #insurance licenses pulled in every state by the @naic. They predate #retirees and #pensioners through #pension risk transfers and now we find they take out life insurance policies against seniors. @AARP https://t.co/OdthIMcrCo

  — joshua rosner (@JoshRosner) April 30, 2024

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

  Rosner asks one heck of a question: “With Apollo managing hospitals, nursing & hospice facilities & also the retirement accounts of seniors, are they essentially taking a straddle position on seniors by buying life insurance policies on them?” 

  One has to ask: with Apollo managing hospitals, nursing & hospice facilities & also the retirement accounts of seniors are they essentially taking a straddle position on seniors by buying life insurance policies on them? @naic @AARP @BenSasse @HawleyMO @GovRonDeSantis… https://t.co/OlTYQop1t4

  — joshua rosner (@JoshRosner) April 30, 2024

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

  One X user asks: “Did they take out life insurance on Alfred Villalobos and Jeffrey Epstein?” 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 18:40

• DoJ Charges 'Bitcoin Jesus' With Tax Fraud
  DoJ Charges ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ With Tax Fraud

  Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com,

  The early crypto investor, often called ‘Bitcoin Jesus,’ faces extradition to the U.S. after being charged with evading nearly $50 million in taxes.

  

  Officials with the United States Department of Justice announced charges against early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, known by many as ‘Bitcoin Jesus.’ 

  In an April 30 notice, the Justice Department said authorities in Spain had arrested Ver based on criminal charges in the United States, including mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

  

  The U.S. government alleged Ver defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of roughly $48 million with his failure to report capital gains on his sale of Bitcoin and other assets.

  According to the indictment filed on Feb. 15 but unsealed on April 29, Ver allegedly took control of roughly 70,000 BTC in June 2017 – before the now famous bull run – and sold many of them for $240 million. U.S. officials said they planned to extradite Ver from Spain to the United States to stand trial.

  Reactions to Ver’s arrest on social media were mixed.

  However, Bitcoiner Dan Held, the former growth lead at Kraken, claimed Ver “deserves everything that he’s about to get” after he “nearly destroyed Bitcoin.”

  “Roger attacked my livelihood by trying to get me fired, called up others to hurt my relationships, and attacked my reputation,” said Held on X.

  “He misaligned expectations around Bitcoin so much that it led to a civil war.”

  A cryptic message was Ver’s most-recent post on X, reading:

  

  Source: Roger Ver

  Ver was also a proponent of Bitcoin Cash.

  In 2022, he became embroiled in a scandal with crypto investment platform CoinFlex, which claimed he owed them $47 million in USD Coin.

  He had not commented on social media regarding the Justice Department charges at the time of publication.

  Ver has previously pleaded guilty and served time for selling explosives on eBay.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 18:20

• Blackrock's Larry Fink Jumps On "Next AI Trade", Warning World Will Be "Short Power"
  Blackrock’s Larry Fink Jumps On “Next AI Trade”, Warning World Will Be “Short Power”

  At the start of April, we penned a lengthy report for premium subs discussing why artificial intelligence data centers, the electrification of the economy, and onshoring trends will result in a major upgrade of the nation’s power grid. We followed the note up on Monday with a report titled Everyone Is Piling Into The “Next AI Trade.” 

  Now , BlackRock Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Fink has jumped on the “Next AI Trade” theme at a World Economic Forum event on Monday. 

  “I do believe to properly um build out AI. We’re talking about trillions of dollars of investing. So data centers today could be as much as 200 megahertz – and they’re now talking about data centers being one gigawatt. That powers a city,” Fink told the audience. 

  He pointed out that he spoke with the head of one tech company, who said their data centers currently require about 5 gigawatts of power. By 2030, the person told Fink that number could jump to 30 gigawatts. 

  “The amount of power that’s needed to use AI has a huge impact on society,” Fink said. 

  He then asked: “So where’s that power going to come from? Are we going to take it off the grid? What does that mean for elevated energy prices?” 

  Fink then said the surge in power demand because of AI data centers is a “huge investment opportunity.” 

  He warned: “The world is going to be short power – short power – and to power these data companies you cannot have this intermittent power like wind and solar.” 

  “You need dispatchable power because they can’t turn off and on these data centers,” he continued. 

  So what kind of clean, reliable energy could Fink be hinting at? 

  Well, nuclear, as we’ve explained to readers as early as December 2020: “Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze.”

  This week, the nuclear power industry appears to be gaining a major comeback. The federal government is expected to continue restarting shuttered nuclear power plants in the coming years, according to Jigar Shah, director of the US Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, who spoke with Bloomberg on Monday. 

  In March, Shah’s office approved a loan to Holtec International Corp. to reopen the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. This was a historical shift, and it was the first nuclear power plant to be reopened in the US, setting a precedent for atomic energy to make a triumphal comeback. The plant could begin producing power as early as the second half of 2025.

  Shah said, “A lot of the other players that have a nuclear power plant that has recently shut down and could be turned back on are gaining that confidence to try.” He declined to give specifics about which plants were slated to reopen. 

  

  Now, the head of the world’s largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management, is a believer in the “Next AI Trade,” as everyone is seriously piling in. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 18:00

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• "Remarkable Turn Of Events" – Alleged Chinese Spy Working For AfD MP Was Informant For German Intelligence For Years
  “Remarkable Turn Of Events” – Alleged Chinese Spy Working For AfD MP Was Informant For German Intelligence For Years

  Authored by John Cody via ReMix News,

  The news about Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah’s assistant and his arrest for suspected espionage on behalf of China continues to make national headlines, but as more information comes out, the more German intelligence and the political establishment continue to look worse and worse.

  

  Now, news reports have revealed that Krah’s employee, Chinese-German national Jian G., worked for the German domestic intelligence service for years before joining the AfD politician.

  Krah has since commented on the new bombshell information, writing on X:

  “Remarkable turn of events!”

  

  https://twitter.com/KrahMax/status/1783917894159458787

  Much is at stake, as Krah is the top candidate for the AfD in the run-up to the EU parliamentary elections in June. The latest report shows that the powerful Office for the Protection of Constitution (BfV) not only recruited Jian G. as a spy, but also dropped him as an informant because there were concerns he was a double agent for China.

  However, despite these suspicions, Jian G. gained German citizenship, became a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), and even passed the EU parliament’s security clearance.

  Former minister Mathias Brodkorb questioned the story on X, writing:

  They are really funny. Let’s assume the story is true:

  1. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is working with the man.

  2. Then, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution ends the collaboration because the man could be a double agent.

  3. Then the German state naturalizes this agent.

  Intermediate question: Where was the Office for the Protection of the Constitution at that time?

  4. Then, Krah wants to hire the man as an employee of the EU parliament. That cannot be done without a security check. So the EU parliament should actually have asked the German security authorities whether there was anything against the man. But apparently they didn’t. Otherwise, the man would not have been cleared and could not have been hired.

  Intermediate question: Where was the Office for the Protection of the Constitution at that time? And you are now seriously asking what the problem is? Seriously?

  One of the main questions is why the Office for the Protection of the Constitution never informed Krah or the AfD about their suspicions, which is standard operating procedure, and one designed to protect the country’s parties from foreign infiltration. Notably, allowing Jian G. to work for Krah created a favorable political scenario for the establishment to later arrest him in order to smear the AfD. Notably, Jian G. was arrested right before EU parliamentary elections.

  The question now is whether the BfV purposefully kept the AfD in the dark for years about the information it knew in order to damage the party.

  Working for the BfV all the way back in 2007

  According to Bild newspaper, Jian G. was an informant for the Saxon Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) since 2007 at the earliest. Previously, he had unsuccessfully offered to work for the federal branch of the BfV, but he was rejected, and referred back to the Saxon branch of the BfV.

  Jian G. reportedly worked with the intelligence service on his own initiative, including supplying information that dealt with Chinese state actors taking action against Chinese exiles in Germany. Eight years after joining the Saxon BfV as an informant, the Saxon branch was informed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution that G. could be a double spy.

  In 2015 and 2016, G. was then directly observed by the counterintelligence department of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Officers also questioned him about their suspicions but were unable to prove that he was a spy for China. He was therefore listed as a “suspected case” during that period.

  In 2018, G. was finally removed as an informant by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

  However, by that time, Jian G. had already made contact with Krah and then went on to work as his employee in the EU parliament beginning in 2019. He was then intensively monitored by the domestic intelligence service from 2020 and finally arrested in April 2024.

  As noted above, despite the suspicion of espionage, the Chinese national was granted a German passport, was also a member of the SPD for a time, and was able to pass the security check for the EU parliament.

  In addition, the BfV under Thomas Haldenwang (CDU), who is notoriously anti-AfD and publicly working against the party, failed to inform Krah or the AfD about the suspicion of espionage against Jian G.

  As Remix News has documented, Haldenwang has made numerous remarks against the AfD, including on state-funded television, all in violation of neutrality. Haldenwang belongs to the CDU party.

  Notably, this is standard procedure in such cases, which means the Office for the Protection of the Constitution withheld this information from the AfD in violation of past precedent and procedure.

  Read more here

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/30/2024 – 02:00

• Does The CIA Run America?
  Does The CIA Run America?

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  We’ve all surely had dark thoughts that the CIA is really running the United States, including many media venues. Maybe that’s been true for decades and we just didn’t know it. If so, let’s just say that it would explain a tremendous amount of what has otherwise been clouded in secrecy.

  

  How would this be possible? Knowledge is power while secret knowledge is full control. Even fake knowledge means power and control, such as we found out in the phony Russiagate investigation early in Trump’s term. They hounded the new administration for years under a completely fake scenario in which Russia somehow got Donald Trump elected.

  Yes, that was an intelligence operation all along, one directly designed to overthrow an election, a “color revolution” on our own soil.

  How dare an agency not elected by the people, and evading oversight and public accountability, put itself ahead of the Constitution and the rule of law? It’s been going on for many decades as the agencies have gained ever more power, even to the point of forcing a full lockdown of America and even the world under false pretense.

  None of this is verifiable precisely because of the secrecy involved. It’s not as if the intelligence community is going to send out a press release: “Democracy in America is an illusion. We know because we control nearly everything, plus we aspire to control even more.”

  The incredulous among us will shoot back: look at what you are saying! Your conspiracy theory is non-falsifiable. The less evidence you have for it, the more you believe it. How in the world can we argue with you? Your position is not really plausible but there is nothing we can do to convince you otherwise.

  Let’s grant the point. Still, let’s not dismiss the theory completely. Based on a New York Times (NYT) piece that appeared last week, it contains more than a grain of truth. The article is titled: “Campaign Puts Trump and the Spy Agencies on a Collision Course.”

  Quote: “Even as president, Donald J. Trump flaunted his animosity for intelligence officials, portraying them as part of a politicized ‘deep state’ out to get him. And since he left office, that distrust has grown into outright hostility, with potentially serious implications for national security should he be elected again.”

  Ok, let’s be clear. If the intelligence community led by the CIA is not the “deep state,” what is?

  Further, it is proven many times over that the Deep State is in fact out to get him. This is not even controversial. Indeed, there is no reason for these journalists to write the above as if Donald Trump is somehow consumed by some kind of baseless paranoia.

  Let’s keep going here: “Trump is now on a possible collision course with the intelligence community …. The result is a complicated and possibly destabilizing situation the United States has never seen before: deep-seated suspicion and disdain on the part of a former and perhaps future president toward the very people he would be relying on for the most sensitive information he would need to perform his role if elected again.”

  Wait just a moment. You are telling us that all previous presidents have had a happy relationship with the CIA? That’s rather interesting to know. And deeply troubling too, since the CIA has been managing regime change the world over for a very long time, and is now directly involved in U.S. politics at the most intimate level.

  Any president worth his salt should absolutely have a hostile relationship with such an agency, if only to establish clear civilian control over the government, without which it’s not possible to say that we live in a Constitutional republic.

  And now, according to the NYT, we have one seeking the Presidency who does not defer to the agency and that this is destabilizing and deeply problematic. Who does that suggest really rules this country?

  Is the NYT itself guilty of the most extreme conspiracy theory imaginable, or is it just stating facts as we know them? I’m going to guess that it is the latter. In this case, every single American should be deeply alarmed.

  Crazy huh? As for the phrase “never seen before,” we have to push back. What about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, and Calvin Coolidge? They were all previous presidents, according to the history books that people once read.

  There was no CIA back then. If you doubt this, I’m pretty sure that your favorite AI engine will confirm it.

  One must suppose that when the NYT says “never seen before,” it means in the post-war period. And that very well might be true. John F. Kennedy defied them. We know that for certain. The mysteries surrounding his murder won’t be solved fully until we get the documents. But the consensus is growing that this murder was really a coup by the CIA, a message sent as a lesson to every successor in that office.

  Think of that: we live in a country today where most people readily admit that the CIA probably killed the president. Amazing.

  It’s intriguing to know at this late date that the Watergate “scandal” was not what it appeared to be, namely an intrepid media holding government to account. Even astute observers at the time believed the mainstream narrative. Now we have plenty of evidence that this too was nothing but a deep state attack on a president who had lost patience with it and provoked another coup.

  All credit to my brilliant father who speculated along these lines at the time. I was very young with only the vaguest clue about what was happening. But I recall very well that he was convinced that Richard Nixon was set up in a trap and unfairly hounded out of office not for the bad things he was doing but for standing up to the Deep State.

  If my own father, not a particularly political person, knew this for certain at the time, this must have been a strong perception even then.

  You hear the rap that these agencies—the CIA is one but there are many adjacent others—are not allowed by law to intervene in domestic politics. At this point and after so much experience, this comes across to me like something of a joke. We know from vast evidence and personal testimony that the CIA has been manipulating political figures, narratives, and outcomes for a very long time.

  How involved is the CIA in journalism today? Well, as a traditionally liberal paper, you might suppose that the NYT itself would be highly skeptical of the CIA. But these days, they have published a long string of aggressively defensive articles with titles like “It Turns Out that the Deep State Is Awesome” and “Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe.” We can add this last piece to the list.

  So let’s just say it: the NYT is CIA. So too is Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Slate, Salon, and many other mainstream publications, including major tech companies like Google and Microsoft. The tentacles are everywhere and ever more obvious. Operation Mockingbird was just the beginning. The network is everywhere and the practice of manipulating the news is wholly normalized.

  Once you start developing the ability to see the markings, you simply cannot unsee them, which is why people who think and write about this can come across as crackpot crazy after a while.

  Have you considered that maybe the crackpots are exactly right? If so, shouldn’t we, at bare minimum, seek to support a Presidential candidate with a hostile relationship to the intelligence community?

  Indeed, that ought to be a bare minimum standard of qualification. There is simply no way we can restore civilian control of government and constitutional government until this agency can be thoroughly reigned in or abolished completely.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 23:40

• Have Fun Staying Poor: Washington Announces $45 Million Subsidy For Low Income Families To Buy EVs
  Have Fun Staying Poor: Washington Announces $45 Million Subsidy For Low Income Families To Buy EVs

  Just when you thought you’ve already witnessed a lifetime’s worth of examples of the government being excellent capital allocators with your tax money, one more shining example comes along. 

  Last week it was reported that Washington Governor Jay Inslee has announced $45 million worth of subsidies that is going to allow “low income” families to purchase an electric vehicle. 

  The initiative offers families the opportunity to receive financial assistance for either leasing or purchasing electric vehicles, with up to $9,000 allocated for leasing and $5,000 for purchasing, according to Must Read Alaska.

  The program is open to individuals earning 300% or less of the federal poverty level and extends to both new and used EVs. Approximately 9,000 people can benefit from the grant, with the potential for either 9,000 individuals to opt for the $5,000 deal or 5,000 individuals for the $9,000 option.

  

  “Washingtonians really get it when it comes to electric vehicles,” Inslee said at a press conference last week. 

  Governor Inslee characterized the initiative as a means to “democratize EVs,” emphasizing a broader goal of advancing the electrification of transportation. He expressed optimism about widespread adoption, anticipating significant participation and benefit from the program.

  However, the program has faced criticism, notably from Washington Policy Center Environmental Director Todd Myers. Myers contends that the subsidies fail to effectively curb carbon emissions and represent a misallocation of taxpayer funds that could be better utilized for other environmental priorities like (we swear we are not making this up) salmon recovery.

  Hey Todd, two wrongs don’t make a right! But we digress. Despite the controversy, the grant funds are slated to become available to eligible low-income residents in August.

  Myers wrote in a blog post: “This is one more example of how wasteful and ineffective Washington’s climate policy is.”

  He continued: “It also reveals the disingenuousness of claiming that climate change is an ‘existential crisis’ while wasting tens of millions of dollars on projects that do nothing to address that crisis.”

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 23:20

• China & The US: What Matters That's Overlooked
  China & The US: What Matters That’s Overlooked

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  Parsing geopolitics is fun but our attention is better directed to the limits and second-order effects of legacy systems in each of the rival states.

  Geopolitics, like any conflict, is dramatic: rivals jostle for hegemony on a 3-D chessboard, war threatens, etc. The focus of this drama is on the leaders’ calculations and the pieces being moved around the board in the complex battle for hearts, minds, resources and the high ground.

  This is the conventional context of history, and so accounts of the rivalry between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire read like contemporary accounts of the rivalry between China and the U.S.: the actors and scenery changes, but the dramatic plot remains the same.

  A less dramatic but closer reading of history tells a different story: imperial decline stems not from external rivalries but from internal limitations. Externalities–plague, drought, invasion–are not causes so much as events which reveal the limits of the empire’s internal legacy institutions.

  These rigidities can be structural–economic or political–or cultural / social. There are two dynamics in play here:

  1. Once solutions are institutionalized, they become legacy systems that focus not on flexibly solving problems but on sustaining and defending the interests of the institution and its insiders. The solution becomes the problem.

  2. Whatever is viewed as a solution generates unanticipated second-order effects which the system is ill-equipped to resolve.

  There are many examples of these dynamics in both China and the U.S., and indeed, in every nation / polity.

  Consider the goal of increasing homeownership, a laudable ideal that the U.S. pursued after World War II by institutionalizing the heretofore unavailable innovation of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and government-agency backed mortgages (Veteran Administration-backed mortgages for veterans, FHA, etc.).

  Once the institutions promoting homeownership became self-sustaining legacy systems, they changed from “solution” to “problem.” As homeownership rates reached 65% of American households, the institutional drive to increase homeownership led to the development of subprime mortgages designed for households that did not qualify for conventional mortgages.

  To grease the skids, lending standards were stripped to the point of irrelevance, liar loans took center stage and ratings agencies rubber-stamped risky mortgages as low-risk.

  The net result of this institutional self-serving inertia was the collapse of subprime securities and the near-collapse of the global financial system as the dominoes of default and obscured risk started falling.

  Turning to China, consider this chart of what happens when a one child per family state policy is enforced for three generations:

  

  The policy was institutionalized with a sensible goal of limiting population growth to increase living standards, but without consideration of the second-order effects down the road.

  In three generations, there are four grandparents and two parents who are all single children without siblings, uncles or aunts, and a single child who could be tasked not just with caring for two aging parents but four even older grandparents, should they live beyond the ability of their own aging offspring to care for them.

  China has acquired the markers of a great power–missions to the moon and Mars, a mighty military and global economic influence–but it lacks a state-funded universal social welfare system that provides a substantial pension and medical care for every retiree regardless of their employment or earnings. This leaves much of the care of China’s rapidly aging generations on the shoulders of the third generation of single offspring.

  As in other nations, China’s birthrate has declined precipitously as the financial pressures on parents mount, especially on young mothers who desire career opportunities equal to those available to young men.

  Social welfare programs become increasingly costly and burdensome as populations age. Any state-funded solution will require diverting enormous sums currently spent elsewhere to the care of a large aging cohort.

  The sources of brittleness and failure that are overlooked are internal, not external. Parsing geopolitics is fun but our attention is better directed to the limits and second-order effects of legacy systems in each of the rival states.

  *  *  *

  Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  Subscribe to my Substack for free

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 23:00

• Senator Tells Taxpayers On Gaza Pier: "Cost Has Not Just Risen, It Has Exploded"
  Senator Tells Taxpayers On Gaza Pier: “Cost Has Not Just Risen, It Has Exploded”

  An initial US Navy ship has reached Eastern Mediterranean waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip where its crew has begun constructing a floating platform for the ambitious Gaza humanitarian pier project ordered by President Biden, new satellite images published by Planet Labs show.

  USNS Roy P. Benavidez is now some 5 miles from the shoreline location which serves as the base of operations, overseen by the Israeli military. The Associated Press writes that “A satellite image from Sunday by Planet Labs PBC showed pieces of the floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea alongside the vessel.”

  

  Both US and Israeli officials have voiced that they hope to have a mobile pier in place and humanitarian deliveries being offloaded via maritime routes by sometime in the first part of May.

  The causeway is expected to be at a length of 550-meters (1,800 feet) and will have Israeli military protection. US Army and Navy engineers are expected to remain at sea, especially after days ago the pier site came under mortar shelling by Palestinian militants who have warned against foreign forces stepping foot inside Gaza.

  A new Reuters report meanwhile indicates the pier will cost US taxpayers at least $320 million to finish. This is double the early estimates which were floated earlier this year.

  “The figure, which has not been previously reported, illustrates the massive scale of a construction effort that the Pentagon has said involves about 1,000 US service members, mostly from the Army and Navy,” writes Reuters.

  “The cost has not just risen. It has exploded,” Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee, has complained.

  “This dangerous effort with marginal benefit will now cost the American taxpayers at least $320 million [US dollars] to operate the pier for only 90 days,” he continued.

  Earlier this month, USAID director Samantha Power said that famine already exists in some parts of the Gaza Strip. WSJ has underscored this as well in its reporting last week: “Some U.S. officials have said the pier, which will float several miles off Gaza’s shore, will help get more aid into northern Gaza, where some residents are already living in famine-like conditions, according to estimates released last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an international initiative tasked with assessing the risk of famine around the world.”

  Many government officials especially from Global South countries have highlighted Washington’s contradictory approach to Gaza – on the one hand the US has been funding the Israeli military machine, sending controversial weaponry like 2,000-pound bombs, while on the other Biden has condemned the soaring civilian death toll and humanitarian catastrophe. Ironically, to some degree the United States is funding both sides of the conflict.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 22:40

• Columbia Begins Suspensions After Demonstrators Ignore 2PM Deadline
  Columbia Begins Suspensions After Demonstrators Ignore 2PM Deadline

  Update (2230ET): Columbia University announced Monday evening that it has begun suspending students who wouldn’t leave an pro-Palestine encampment by a 2pm deadline.

  

  Students in the encampment along with hundreds of supporters spent Monday afternoon rallying in support of the movement, however by 4pm most of the protesters began to disperse after there was no sign of police action to arrest protesters or remove tents. Around 80 students remained by early evening.

  And now, they’ll be suspended.

  “We have begun suspending students as part of the next phase of our efforts to ensure the safety of our campus,” said University spokesman Ben Chang. 

  

  At present, a core group of students remain.

  At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Sueda Polat, a student organizer with the encampment, said that the university had not made significant concessions to the protesters’ main demand: divestment from companies with links to the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Columbia had also stopped negotiating. As a result, she said, the students inside the encampment “will not be moved unless by force.”

  “We’ve been asked to disperse, but it is against the will of the students to disperse,” she said. “We do not abide by university pressures. We act based on the will of the students.” –NY Times

  Earlier in the day faculty members, many wearing masks, were getting in on the action.

  NOW: Columbia University faculty link arms and form a wall in front of the entrance to the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ as hundreds of students encircle the both lawns

  Students remaining in the encampment were told they could face disciplinary action after 2PM pic.twitter.com/C1XRgHzs8b

  — katie smith (@probablyreadit) April 29, 2024

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  Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

  *  *  *

  Columbia University has given protesting students until 2pm to leave their encampment and sign a form committing to abide by university policies through June 30, 2025, or by their graduation. Failure to do so will disqualify students from graduating this spring, or from participating in academic and extracurricular activities, Axios reports.

  

  “It is important for you to know that the university has already identified many students in the encampment,” reads the Monday letter that was shared by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. “If you do not leave by 2pm, you will be suspended pending further investigation.”

  ACTION ALERT:
  – Columbia University admin threatens MASS SUSPENSIONS and DISCIPLINARY PROBATION (until June 2025) to Gaza Solidarity Encampment participants who don’t leave by 2 PM.
  – Do not sign anything with administration.
  – Show up at NOON to protect the encampment! ❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/v1Qw5gXu0q

  — Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) April 29, 2024

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  “Sanctions include probation, access restriction, suspension for a term or more and expulsion,” reads the Monday notice – which doesn’t look like it’s going well.

  Columbia University has threatened the students in the Gaza solidarity encampment with mass suspensions if they do not sign waivers by 2pm today. The students’ response: pic.twitter.com/SIJkWJWvji

  — Palestinian Youth Movement (@palyouthmvmt) April 29, 2024

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  According to the letter, talks between university leaders and student leaders at the encampment are at an impasse and the unauthorized encampment and associated disruption to the campus has created an “unwelcoming environment” which violates various school policies – including rules governing disruptive behavior and harassment.

  “Please promptly gather your belongings and leave the encampment,” reads the letter. “If you voluntarily leave by 2 p.m., identify yourself to a University officials, and sign the provided form where you commit to abide by all University policies through June 30, 2025, or the date of the conferral of your degree, whichever is earlier, you will be eligible to complete the semester in good standing (and will not be placed on suspension) as long as you adhere to that commitment.”

  Well something is about to go down a Columbia. pic.twitter.com/ws6Ztpw8en

  — Jarrett Stepman (@JarrettStepman) April 29, 2024

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  Officials say they hope the protesting students will sign the form and leave by the deadline. Those who refuse will be put on disciplinary probation.

  Meanwhile, things are starting to get spicy:

  And there he goes. pic.twitter.com/3e0sv1qke5

  — Jarrett Stepman (@JarrettStepman) April 29, 2024

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  As the Epoch Times notes further, efforts to dismantle the encampment have failed, as university president Minouche Shafik has faced an outcry from many students, faculty, and outside observers for summoning New York City police to take down the unauthorized encampment, resulting in more than 100 arrests.

  Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment unless three demands are met: divestment from Israel, transparency in Columbia’s finances, and amnesty for students and staff disciplined for taking part in the protests.

  Ms. Shafik said in her Monday statement that Columbia would not divest from Israel but that the university has offered to publish a process for students to access a list of its direct investment holdings, in the interest of transparency. Columbia has also offered to make investments in health and education in Gaza. And the letter sent to protesters promises an amnesty of sorts.

  She said that the campus has been roiled by divisions over the war in Gaza and, despite the fact that the school has provided space for protests and vigils that did not disrupt academic life, the encampment has gone too far.

  “We must take into account the rights of all members of our community,” she wrote. “The encampment has created an unwelcoming environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty. External actors have contributed to creating a hostile environment in violation of Title VI, especially around our gates, that is unsafe for everyone—including our neighbors.”

  “With classes now concluding, it represents a noisy distraction for our students studying for exams and for everyone trying to complete the academic year,” she continued, adding that Columbia would allow protests to continue on campus—by application with two-days’ notice in authorized locations—after the exam period and commencement.

  “We have no intention of suppressing speech or the right to peaceful protest,” Ms. Shafik wrote, adding that the protesting students had been asked to commit to following the university’s rules, including those on the time, place, and manner of demonstrations.

  “We urge those in the encampment to voluntarily disperse,” she added.

  Various streets are being blocked. Sounds like they are creating a corridor to shuffle the protesters out. pic.twitter.com/vH8WutuQ7O

  — Jarrett Stepman (@JarrettStepman) April 29, 2024

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  It comes as a group of 21 House Democrats criticized the “anti-Israel, anti-Jewish” encampment at Columbia in an April 29 letter to the school’s trustees.

  “We, the undersigned, write to express our disappointment that, despite promises to do so, Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus,” the lawmakers said in their letter.

  “As a result of this disruption on campus, supported by some faculty members, many students have been prevented from safely attending class, the main library, and from leaving their dorm rooms in an apparent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”

  The group, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), is different from calls condemning the protests that have mostly come from GOP leaders. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republican colleagues visited the campus last week and called for Ms. Shafik to resign.

  Chase Smith contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 22:30

• Von Greyerz: The Real Move In Gold & Silver Is Yet To Start
  Von Greyerz: The Real Move In Gold & Silver Is Yet To Start

  Authored by Egon von Greyerz via VonGreyerz.gold,

  Since the October 2023 gold low of just over $1,600 gold is up but is anyone buying?

  Well no, certainly none of the normal players.

  Gold Depositories, Gold Funds and Gold ETFs have lost just under 1,400 tonnes of their gold holdings in the last 2 years since May 2022. 

  

  But not only gold funds are seeing weak buying but also mints such as the Perth Mint and the US Mint with its coin sales down 96% year on year. 

  Clearly gold knows something that the market hasn’t discovered yet. 

  RATES MUCH HIGHER 

  For the last few years I have been clear that there will be no lasting interest rate cuts. 

  As the chart shows below, the 40 year down trend in US rates bottomed in 2020 and since then rates are in a secular uptrend.  

  

  I have discussed this in many articles as well as in for example this interview from 2022 when I stated that rates will exceed 10% and potentially much higher in the coming inflationary environment, fuelled by escalating deficits and debt explosion.

  “But the Fed will keep rates down” I hear all the experts call out!

  Finally the “experts” are changing their mind and  believe that cuts will no longer happen. 

  

  No central bank can control interest rates when its government recklessly issues unlimited debt and the only buyer is the central bank itself. 

  PONZI SCHEME WORTHY OF A BANANA REPUBLIC

  This is a Ponzi scheme only worthy of a Banana Republic. And this is where the US is heading.  

  So strongly rising long rates will pull short rates up. 

  And that’s when the fun panic starts. 

  As Niall Ferguson stated in a recent article:

  “Any great power that spends more on debt service (interest payments on the national debt) than on defence will not stay great for very long. True of Habsburg Spain, true of ancien régime France, true of the Ottoman Empire, true of the British Empire”.

  So based on the CBO (Congressional Budget Office), the US will spend more on interest than defence already at the end of 2024 as this chart shows: 

  

  But as often is the case, the CBO prefers not to tell uncomfortable truths. 

  The CBO forecasts interest costs to reach $1.6 trillion by 2034. But if we extrapolate the trends of the deficit and apply current interest rate, the annualised interest cost will reach $1.6 trillion at the end of 2024 rather than in 2034. 

  

  Just look at the steepness of the interest cost curve above. It is clearly EXPONENTIAL. 

  Total Federal debt was below $1 trillion in 1980. Now, interest on the debt is $1.6 trillion.

  Debt today $35 trillion rising to $100 trillion by 2034.

  The same with the US Federal Debt. Extrapolating the trend since 1980, the debt will be $100 trillion by 2036 and that is probably conservative.

  

  With the interest trend up as explained above, a 10% rate in 2036 or before is not unrealistic. Remember rates back in the 1970s and early 1980s were well above 10% with a much lower debt and deficit.

  US BONDS – BUY THEM AT YOUR PERIL  

  Let us analyse the current and future of a US treasury debt (and most sovereign debt):

  • Issuance will accelerate exponentially 

  • It will never be repaid. At best only deferred or more probably defaulted on

  • The value of the currency will fall precipitously

  HYPERINFLATION COMING

  So where are we heading? 

  Most probably we are facing an inflationary period leading to probable hyperinflation 

  With global debt already up over 4x this century from $80 trillion to $350 trillion. Add to that a Derivative mountain of over $2 quadrillion plus unfunded liabilities and the total will exceed $3 quadrillion. 

  As central banks frenetically try to save the financial system, most of the 3 quadrillion will become debt as counterparties fail and banks will need to be saved with unlimited money printing. 

  

  BANCA ROTTA – BANKRUPT FINANCIAL SYSTEM 

  

  But a rotten system can never be saved. And this is where the expression Banca Rotta derives from – broken bench or broken bank as my article from April 2023 explained. 

  But neither a bank nor a sovereign state can be saved by issuing worthless pieces of paper or digital money. 

  In March 2023, four US banks collapsed within a matter of days. And soon thereafter Credit Suisse was in trouble and had to be rescued. 

  The problems in the banking system have just started. Falling bond prices and collapsing values of property loans are just the beginning. 

  This week Republic First Bancorp had to be saved. 

  Just look at US banks’ unrealised losses on their bond portfolios in the graph below.

   Unrealised losses on bonds held to maturity are $400 billion.

  And losses on bonds available for sale are $250 billion. So the US banking system is sitting on identified losses of $650 billion just on their bond portfolios. As interest rates go up, these losses will increase.

  

  Add to that, losses on loans against collapsing commercial property values and much more.

  EXPONENTIAL MOVES 

  So we will see debt grow exponentially as it has already started to do.  Exponential moves start gradually and then suddenly whether we talk about debt, inflation or population growth. 

  The stadium analogy below shows how it all develops:

  

  It takes 50 minutes to fill a stadium with water, starting with one drop and doubling every minute – 1, 2, 4, 8 drops etc. After 45 minutes the stadium is only 7% full and the last 5 minutes it goes form 7% to 100%.

  THE LAST 5 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM

  So the world is most probably now in the last 5 minutes of our current financial system.

  The coming final phase is likely to go very fast as all exponential moves do, just like in the Weimar Republic in 1923. In January 1923 one ounce of gold cost 372,000 marks and at the end of November in 1923 the price was 87 trillion marks!

  The consequences of a collapse of the financial system and the global economy, especially in the West can take many decades to recover from. It will involve a debt and asset implosion plus a massive contraction of the economy and trade.

  The East and South and especially the countries with major commodity reserves will recover much faster. Russia for example has $85 trillion in commodity reserves, the biggest in the world. 

  As US issuance of treasuries accelerate, the potential buyers will decline until there is only one bidder which is the Fed. 

  Even today no sane sovereign state would buy US treasuries. Actually no sane investor would buy US treasuries. 

  Here we have an already insolvent debtor that has no means of repaying his debt except for issuing more of the same rubbish which in future would only be good for toilet paper. But electronic paper is not even good for that. 

  This is a sign in a Zimbabwe toilet: 

  

  Let us analyse the current and future of a US treasury debt (and most sovereign debt):

  • Issuance will accelerate exponentially 

  • It will never be repaid. At best only deferred or more probably defaulted on

  • The value of the currency will fall precipitously

  That’s all there is to it. Thus anyone who buys US treasuries or other sovereign bonds has a 99.9% guarantee of not getting his money back. 

  So Bonds are no longer an asset of value but just a liability for the borrower that will or can not be repaid.

  What about stocks or corporate bonds. Many companies won’t survive or experience a major decline in the stock price together with major cash flow pressures. 

  As I have discussed in many articles, we are entering the era of commodities and especially precious metals. 

  The coming era is not for speculation but for trying to keep as much of what you have as possible. For the investor who doesn’t protect himself, there will be a wealth destruction of an unprecedented magnitude. 

  There will no longer be a question what return you can get on your investment. 

  Instead it is a matter of losing as little as possible. 

  Holding stocks, bonds or property – all the bubble assets – are likely to lead to massive wealth erosion as we go into the “Everything Collapse”.

  THE NEW ERA OF GOLD AND SILVER

  For soon 25 years I have been urging investors to hold gold to preserve their wealth. Since the beginning of this century gold has outperformed most asset classes. 

  Between 2000 and today, the S&P, including reinvested dividends, has returned 7.7% per annum whilst gold has returned 9.2% per year or 8X.

  In the next few years, all the factors discussed in this article will lead to major gains in the precious metals and falls in most conventional assets. 

  There are many other positive factors for gold. 

  As the chart below shows, the West has reduced its gold reserves since the late 1960s, whilst the East is growing its gold reserves strongly. And we have just seen the beginning of this trend.

  

  The US and EU sanctioning of Russia and the freezing/confiscation of the Russian assets in foreign banks are very beneficial for gold. 

  No sovereign states will hold their reserves in US dollars any more. Instead we will see central bank reserves move to gold. That shift has already started and is one of the reasons for gold’s rise. 

  In addition, gradually the BRICS countries are moving away from the dollar to trading in their local currencies. For commodity rich countries, gold will be an important part of their trading. 

  Thus there are major forces behind the gold move which has just started and will reach further both in price and time than anyone can imagine. 

  HOW TO OWN GOLD

  But remember for investors, holding gold is for financial survival and protection of assets. 

  Therefore gold must be held in physical form outside the banking system with direct access for the investor. 

  Also gold must be held in safe jurisdictions with a long history of rule of law and stable government. 

  The cost of storing gold should not be the primary consideration for choosing a custodian. When you buy life insurance you mustn’t buy the cheapest but the best.

  First consideration must be the owners and management. What is their reputation, background and previous history. 

  Thereafter secure servers, security, liquidity, location and insurance are very important. 

  Also, high level of personal service is paramount. Many vaults fail in this area. 

  Preferably gold should not be held in the country where you are resident, especially not in the US with its fragile financial system. 

  Neither gold nor silver has started the real move yet. Any major correction is likely to come from much higher levels. 

  Gold and silver are in a hurry so it is not too late to jump on the gold wagon.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 22:20

• Major Dollar Tree Warehouse Demolished By Tornado, May Spark Supply Chain Chaos
  Major Dollar Tree Warehouse Demolished By Tornado, May Spark Supply Chain Chaos

  A tornado outbreak on Saturday night across southern Oklahoma decimated a major distribution center for budget retailer Dollar Tree. The facility supplies stores across the Oklahoma-Texas area, plus other surrounding states, which may spark supply chain issues. 

  Professional storm chaser Aaron Rigsby posted several aerial images of the Dollar Tree distribution center in the Marietta area on X. The photos show the damage left behind after a tornado ripped through the center of the massive warehouse. 

  Images from Marietta, OK Tornado. Would appear as if cars and semis were tossed off the interstate last night next to the Dollar Tree DC that was impressively shredded to bits. #OKwx pic.twitter.com/2y46FeJfdF

  — Aaron Rigsby (@AaronRigsbyOSC) April 28, 2024

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  Another storm chaser, Brandon Clement, posted an up-close drone video of the wreckage, showing millions of products that won’t arrive on store shelves anytime soon.

  A tornado hit Matietta, OK. Destroying the Family Dollar Distribution center. It also hit a Dollar store, hospital and flipped cars and semis on I-35. #Tornado #Damage #OKWX #Oklahoma #WXTwitter pic.twitter.com/7AF7bgBcQ0

  — WxChasing- Brandon Clement (@bclemms) April 28, 2024

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  Marietta is located in Love County. The country’s sheriff’s office posted on Facebook that “power lines everywhere and buildings have been destroyed.” 

  “Significant damage to dollar tree warehouse, homeland, dollar general, nursing home, and part of the hospital,” the sheriff’s office said. 

  With the Marietta distribution center offline, this may spark significant disruptions in the supply of goods to stores located in Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding states. 

  Dollar Tree operates 25 distribution centers nationwide, serving over 15,500 stores.  

  

  There is no official statement from the company specifying supply chain impacts. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 22:00

• What, No Bitcoin? How "Hundreds Of Billions" Are Laundered With Cash On Airplanes
  What, No Bitcoin? How “Hundreds Of Billions” Are Laundered With Cash On Airplanes

  Will anti-bitcoin crusader Liz Warren demand that British Pounds be banned next?

  shut up https://t.co/7ytElXwXR5 pic.twitter.com/AiTKkB6aKJ

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 22, 2024

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  Jo-Emma Larvin navigated through London’s Heathrow Airport on a fateful day in August 2020, pushing a cart laden with seven suitcases. Traveling business class to Dubai, Larvin and her companion passed through security, seemingly no different from the throngs of other travelers. Yet, unbeknownst to airport authorities, her bags held a clandestine cargo: millions of British pounds, wrapped in rubber bands and sealed in plastic.

  Their destination? An international money launderer, adept at converting cash into gold or other currencies, the Wall Street Journal reports, without mentioning bitcoin once, because let’s face it: 99% of all money laundering involves not crypto but cold, hard cash!

  

  The money launderer, who charges a hefty fee to clients to exchange cash for gold and other currencies, has been operating via Heathrow to Dubai – the former doesn’t scan outbound luggage for cash, while the latter welcomes sacks of it. They’re also the #1 and #2 of the world’s busiest airports for international passengers.

  The UK mandates passengers declare amounts exceeding $10,000 to customs authorities. Larvin, however, risked arrest by not disclosing her precious cargo, not that anyone would notice. The suitcases slid through Heathrow’s baggage-handling system and its 3-D scanner, designed to detect explosives rather than contraband currency.

  The next morning in Dubai, the women calmly collected their bags, declaring $2.8 million at customs, a practice fully permitted by UAE law. While the UAE allows any amount of cash to enter its borders, the laxity of international airports in monitoring money flows has created a loophole, one exploited by money launderers worldwide.

  Each year, more than $2 trillion in proceeds from illegal enterprises enters the global financial system, with a significant portion smuggled across borders by air. According to estimates by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Financial Action Task Force, “hundreds of billions in illicit cash” fly out of the UK and other nations to countries with fewer regulations.

  One of the reasons for so much airline smuggling is that banks around the globe have stepped up the reporting of suspicious transactions, making it more difficult to launder money using traditional wire transfers. So it’s back to even more traditional ways of money laundering.

  “You just can’t walk into a bank with this much money without being flagged,” said George Voloshin, of ACAMS, an industry group for financial crime-fighting professionals. “You will be arrested at the next branch.“

  Larvin and her boyfriend became two operatives in an intricate web of money launderers working for a UAE-based kingpin. Over a few months in 2020, this network smuggled around $125 million, primarily from the UK to Dubai. “How did they manage so much money in such a short time?” wondered Ian Truby, a senior officer at the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Security isn’t designed to detect such activities.”

  Three weeks after her initial journey, Larvin returned to Heathrow with her boyfriend, carrying eight suitcases filled with cash. “It’s fucking ridiculous,” he texted, voicing concern about drawing attention. “Talk about conspicuous.”

  The pair’s operation ultimately contributed to unraveling a broader international laundering scheme.

  

  The Kingpin

  Documents, court records, and interviews reveal how a man named Abdulla Alfalasi spearheaded the smuggling operation, transporting cash from Heathrow to Dubai since 2017. He expanded during the pandemic, once departing with 11 suitcases weighing 463 pounds and reporting $850,000 in Dubai. Alfalasi’s connections, including his father-in-law’s involvement in developing Dubai’s airport, provided an air of legitimacy.

  

  He recruited Michelle Clarke, an executive assistant from Leeds, who soon began recruiting others, including Larvin. The scheme enticed participants with promises of easy money, business-class flights, and luxurious accommodations. Yet the allure was short-lived for many.

  In October 2020, two couriers were intercepted at Heathrow, and a subsequent investigation uncovered a vast network of 36 international couriers. Clarke was arrested in Zanzibar in December, carrying $9 million in gold on a private plane.

  Authorities eventually arrested Alfalasi and several couriers, unveiling details of the operation. Alfalasi pleaded guilty to money laundering and received a 9-year, 7-month prison sentence. His assets, including vehicles and watches, were seized. Clarke remains under investigation in Dubai for money laundering.

  In texts to the Journal, Larvin’s boyfriend, Jonathan Johnson, said that he and Larvin were simply two ordinary people who were hoodwinked. He suggested that if what they did was such a big crime, why aren’t airports scanning luggage for cash?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 21:20

• Falling From Grace
  Falling From Grace

  Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

  Years ago, Doug Casey mentioned in a correspondence to me, “Empires fall from grace with alarming speed.”

  Every now and then, you receive a comment that, although it may have been stated casually, has a lasting effect, as it offers uncommon insight. For me, this was one of those and it’s one that I’ve kept handy at my desk since that time, as a reminder.

  I’m from a British family, one that left the UK just as the British Empire was about to begin its decline. They expatriated to the “New World” to seek promise for the future.

  As I’ve spent most of my life centred in a British colony – the Cayman Islands – I’ve had the opportunity to observe many British contract professionals who left the UK seeking advancement, which they almost invariably find in Cayman. Curiously, though, most returned to the UK after a contract or two, in the belief that the UK would bounce back from its decline, and they wanted to be on board when Britain “came back.”

  This, of course, never happened. The US replaced the UK as the world’s foremost empire, and although the UK has had its ups and downs over the ensuing decades, it hasn’t returned to its former glory.

  And it never will.

  

  If we observe the empires of the world that have existed over the millennia, we see a consistent history of collapse without renewal. Whether we’re looking at the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Spanish Empire, or any other that’s existed at one time, history is remarkably consistent: The decline and fall of any empire never reverses itself; nor does the empire return, once it’s fallen.

  But of what importance is this to us today?

  Well, today, the US is the world’s undisputed leading empire and most Americans would agree that, whilst it’s going through a bad patch, it will bounce back and might even be better than ever.

  Not so, I’m afraid.

  All empires follow the same cycle.

  They begin with a population that has a strong work ethic and is self-reliant. Those people organize to form a nation of great strength, based upon high productivity.

  This leads to expansion, generally based upon world trade. At some point, this gives rise to leaders who seek, not to work in partnership with other nations, but to dominate them, and of course, this is when a great nation becomes an empire. The US began this stage under the flamboyant and aggressive Teddy Roosevelt.

  The twentieth century was the American century and the US went from victory to victory, expanding its power.

  But the decline began in the 1960s, when the US started to pursue unwinnable wars, began the destruction of its currency and began to expand its government into an all-powerful body.

  Still, this process tends to be protracted and the overall decline often takes decades.

  So, how does that square with the quote, “Empires fall from grace with alarming speed”?

  Well, the preparation for the fall can often be seen for a generation or more, but the actual fall tends to occur quite rapidly.

  What happens is very similar to what happens with a schoolyard bully.

  The bully has a slow rise, based upon his strength and aggressive tendency. After a number of successful fights, he becomes first revered, then feared. He then takes on several toadies who lack his abilities but want some of the spoils, so they do his bidding, acting in a threatening manner to other schoolboys.

  The bully then becomes hated. No one tells him so, but the other kids secretly dream of his defeat, hopefully in a shameful manner.

  Then, at some point, some boy who has a measure of strength and the requisite determination has had enough and takes on the bully.

  If he defeats him, a curious thing happens. The toadies suddenly realise that the jig is up and they head for the hills, knowing that their source of power is gone.

  Also, once the defeated bully is down, all the anger, fear and hatred that his schoolmates felt for him come out, and they take great pleasure in his defeat.

  And this, in a nutshell, is what happens with empires.

  A nation that comes to the rescue in times of genuine need (such as the two World Wars) is revered. But once that nation morphs into a bully that uses any excuse to invade countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria, its allies may continue to bow to it but secretly fear it and wish that it could be taken down a peg.

  When the empire then starts looking around for other nations to bully, such as Iran and Venezuela, its allies again say nothing but react with fear when they see the John Boltons and Mike Pompeos beating the war drums and making reckless comments.

  At present, the US is focusing primarily on economic warfare, but if this fails to get the world to bend to its dominance, the US has repeatedly warned, regarding possible military aggression, that “no option is off the table.”

  The US has reached the classic stage when it has become a reckless bully, and its support structure of allies has begun to de-couple as a result.

  At the same time that allies begin to pull back and make other plans for their future, those citizens within the empire who tend to be the creators of prosperity also begin to seek greener pastures.

  History has seen this happen countless times. The “brain drain” occurs, in which the best and most productive begin to look elsewhere for their future. Just as the most productive Europeans crossed the Pond to colonise the US when it was a new, promising country, their present-day counterparts have begun moving offshore.

  The US is presently in a state of suspended animation. It still appears to be a major force, but its buttresses are quietly disappearing. At some point in the near future, it’s likely that the US government will overplay its hand and aggress against a foe that either is stronger or has alliances that, collectively, make it stronger.

  The US will be entering into warfare at a time when it’s broke, and this will become apparent suddenly and dramatically. The final decline will occur with alarming speed.

  When this happens, the majority of Americans will hope in vain for a reverse of events. They’ll be inclined to hope that, if they collectively say, “Whoops, we goofed,” the world will be forgiving, returning them to their former glory.

  But historically, this never occurs. Empires fall with alarming speed, because the support systems that made them possible have decamped and have become reinvigorated elsewhere.

  Rather than mourn the loss of empire that’s on the horizon, we’d be better served if we focus instead on those parts of the world that are likely to benefit from this inevitability.

  *  *  *

  Socialist ideas are becoming increasingly popular in the US. At the same time the US government is printing money hand over fist. All while the US empire continues to overstretch itself across the world. It’s all shaping up to be a world-class disaster… one unlike anything we’ve seen before. That’s exactly why New York Times bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent video showing how it all could go down. Click here to watch it now.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 21:00

• "A Lot Of Shuttered Nuclear Power Plants Could Be Turned Back On", Fed Energy Official Says
  “A Lot Of Shuttered Nuclear Power Plants Could Be Turned Back On”, Fed Energy Official Says

  The United States is about to experience a resurgence in nuclear energy. The federal government is expected to continue restarting shuttered nuclear power plants in the coming years to meet the increasing demand for clean, dependable energy essential for powering the economy of tommorrow. 

  “There are a couple of nuclear power plants that we probably should, and can, turn back on,” Jigar Shah, director of the US Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, told Bloomberg in an interview.

  In March, Shah’s office approved a loan to Holtec International Corp. to reopen the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. This was a historical shift, and it was the first nuclear power plant to be reopened in the US, setting a precedent for atomic energy to make a triumphal comeback. The plant could begin producing power as early as the second half of 2025.

  Shah said, “A lot of the other players that have a nuclear power plant that has recently shut down and could be turned back on are gaining that confidence to try.” He declined to give specifics about which plants were slated to reopen. 

  

  Nuclear power is the largest single source of carbon-free electricity. Given onshoring trends, electrification of transportation and buildings, and, of course, as we’ve noted in “The Next AI Trade,” the proliferation of AI data centers will overload power grids nationwide unless a significant upgrade is seen.

  We again highlighted the enormous investment opportunity early Monday titled “Everyone Is Piling Into The “Next AI Trade””, which lists companies powering up America for the digital age.

  Nearly 3.5 years ago, we provided readers with a straightforward investment thesis: “Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze.” Back then, it became apparent to us that the resurrection of the nuclear power industry was imminent. 

  And the trend is only gaining steam as the revival of nuclear power plants will continue benefiting some of the largest uranium producers, such as Cameco. We told readers to buy uranium stocks, such as Cameco around the $10 handle – now it’s nearing $50 a share. 

  As a whole, uranium stocks have soared… 

  

  We’ll leave readers with recent comments from Patti Poppe, the chief executive officer of Pacific Gas & Electric.

  Poppe told a Stanford University forum that nuclear power should continue to be part of California’s power generation mix as efforts to decarbonize the grid. 

  “Nuclear should be part of the future,” she said, noting that the state’s only nuclear power plant – Diablo Canyon – could be granted a license extension through the 2030s by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

  So there it is: Nuclear is being revived at a time when the nation’s grid is nearing a major upgrade due to rising power demand. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 20:40

• California State Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Ban Excessive Homework
  California State Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Ban Excessive Homework

  Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

  A state lawmaker in California has introduced legislation that would severely restrict a teacher’s ability to hand out homework assignments to students that are deemed to be too much.

  

  As reported by Breitbart, State Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo (D-Calif.) introduced AB 2999, formally known as The Healthy Homework Act, in February.

  The bill would mandate public school officials to “develop, adopt, and update” their policies regarding homework “at least once every five years.”

  The bill would also require schools to take into account research which allegedly shows the physical and mental health impacts of homework.

  “I think this is going to make a huge impact for the students,” said Schiavo.

  “The times have changed and our homework policies don’t always change with the times, so we need to make sure we are addressing issues that are effective and also don’t harm kids.”

  Schiavo was partially influenced by the fact that her sixth-grade daughter, Sofia, hates homework; she described homework as “exhausting” and “overwhelming.”

  “It’s depressing that my whole day, from when I wake up to when I go to bed, is nearly all taken up with schoolwork,” said Sofia.

  Several alleged “experts” have agreed with Schiavo’s view that homework largely needs to be banned. Harris Cooper, professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, claimed that “there is a limit to how much kids can benefit from home study,” and that students should have no more than 10 minutes of homework per day.

  A recent survey by Stanford University found that, of over 300,000 student respondents, 45% said that homework was their top source of stress.

  “If it’s such a source of stress for kids, and we know taking stress off kids’ plates will make a difference in their mental health, this is something that can practically impact kids’ mental health overnight,” Schiavo continued.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 20:20

• Cocoa Crash Unfolds As "Liquidity Evaporates" 
  Cocoa Crash Unfolds As “Liquidity Evaporates” 

  Cocoa futures in New York crashed Monday in their biggest daily drawdown on record, driven mostly by improved weather forecasts and sliding liquidity. 

  “Cocoa prices are melting down. New York and London cocoa futures are down ~15% today (that’s, by far, the largest one-day % drop in data going back nearly 65 years),” Bloomberg’s Javier Blas wrote on X. 

  CHART OF THE DAY: Cocoa prices are melting down. New York and London cocoa futures are down ~15% today (that’s, by far, the largest one-day % drop in data going back nearly 65 years). #cocoa #chocflation https://t.co/hzcOgHkC2U pic.twitter.com/a3BxC9XjCw

  — Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) April 29, 2024

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

  Futures fell 15% to $8,931 a ton, having hit a record high of $11,722 on April 19. 

  

  On April 9, during the surge from $9,000 to nearly $12,000, Blas warned: “Liquidity in cocoa markets is quickly evaporating.” 

  

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

  Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy, Ole Hansen, explained to Dow Jones Newswires that today’s selloff was triggered by an improving weather forecast for rain in West Africa, the mecca of cocoa farming. This will only boost the bean outlook for mid-season crops. He also noted that the front contract showed strong signs of ‘buyer fatigue.’ 

  “Liquidity in the market due to the intense volatility of cocoa’s prices has also disappeared, so any kind of news–good or bad–will trigger strong fluctuations in price,” Hansen said, adding that the latest commitment of traders report exhibited broad selling from commercial traders, with the long exposure sliding to a 14-month low as traders panic exit the chaotic market. 

  Despite the cocoa plunge, London-based trading and agricultural consultant Paulo Torres told Bloomberg, “The shortage is not over” and “the elephant in the room is the fact that Ivory Coast and Ghana do not have cocoa, so there is no way prices can fall significantly.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 20:00

• California's Tax Revenue Projections Weakening As Newsom's Budget Revision Deadline Looms
  California’s Tax Revenue Projections Weakening As Newsom’s Budget Revision Deadline Looms

  Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  With the state facing a record-high budget deficit, tax collections are failing to meet California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal projections, which could put further pressure on the state’s finances.

  

  As of April 25, the state’s franchise tax board is showing personal income tax collections on track to approximately match estimates for the month.

  However, corporate tax revenues of $4.16 billion equate to more than $500 million below forecasts for the month and are off by $1.4 billion for the fiscal year.

  Some economists point to disruptions in the technology industry—with thousands of California jobs slashed across several companies in recent months—as a contributing factor in declining corporate and personal income taxes.

  “The loss of tech jobs has also hurt California’s public finances, which have grown heavily dependent on Silicon Valley,” Joseph Politano, independent writer for online data and economy newsletter Apricitas Economics, posted April 14 on Substack. “It will mean less future potential revenue—forcing the state to raise tax rates or pare back spending on investment, social services, and more.”

  Sales and use taxes are also driving the shortfall, missing estimates by $1 billion since November.

  In March, such receipts came in $653 million below forecast, which the finance department said, “reflect ongoing weakness in taxable sales.”

  Data analysts blamed inflation and high-interest rates, in part, for the lackluster sales tax collections, as cash-strapped consumers are managing their finances by reducing spending on some items.

  “This decline reflects consumer challenges balancing higher prices and financing costs with essential household needs,” Andy Nickerson, president and CEO of HdL Companies—a data and consulting services provider for local governments—said in an April 16 tax report summary. “As the Federal Reserve considers a delay in softening rates, [we anticipate] consumer spending may continue to stagnate, delaying a return to normal historical growth trends in 2024.”

  Cumulative March tax receipts came in $243 million below estimates and contributed to a $5.8 billion shortfall since November—representing a 4 percent miss—according to a recently released report from the state’s Department of Finance.

  While personal income tax receipts exceeded expectations in March, estimated payments since November were down $4.7 billion, suggesting weakness in tax collections for the 2023 tax year, the finance department reported.

  With the income tax due date of April 15, more details will be available in the first week of May once calculations are complete. Preliminary information from the state’s controller’s office suggests the governor’s estimate could be $6 billion or more higher than actual revenues collected.

  While Mr. Newsom’s January proposal was based on forecasts, a revision due in May will be able to incorporate receipts received, which should provide more clarity.

  “All of these results suggest that April revenues, in the aggregate, may come in several hundred million dollars below monthly estimates,” Jason Sisney, budget director for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, said in a Substack post April 25. “It is virtually certain that the May Revision will downgrade revenue projections from those the Governor released in January.”

  Mr. Newsom is expected to provide the revision on or before the May 14 deadline.

  The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office predicted earlier this year after weak tax collections in January that revenues would miss the governor’s estimates by about $16 billion for the 2023–2024 fiscal year and another $9 billion for 2024–2025.

  But following personal income tax revenues in February and March that were closer to estimate, Mr. Sisney believes the shortfall will not be as large as the analyst’s office suggested.

  “Based on revenue trends to date … it is difficult for me to see revenues dropping quite that much,” he said.

  Disparities in estimates between the governor and the analyst’s office have existed since January regarding the severity of the budget deficit.

  Mr. Newsom estimates a $38 billion shortfall, while analysts forecast a $73 billion gap in funding. Some of the differences lie in the governor’s calculation of solutions proposed, which the analyst’s office says accounts for about $20 billion of the discrepancy.

  With the numbers in flux, lawmakers and policy experts are awaiting final totals so that budget proposals can be debated in earnest.

  Mr. Newsom recently approved a “budget bill junior” crafted by Democratic lawmakers as an early action plan to address a portion of the deficit.

  Approximately $17 billion to chip away at the deficit—including deferrals, delays, borrowing, and some $3.6 billion cuts—primarily to one-time funding—were enacted by his signing of Assembly Bill 106 on April 15.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 19:40

• "The Only Safe Asset" – Chinese Consumers Overtake India In Gold-Buying Frenzy
  “The Only Safe Asset” – Chinese Consumers Overtake India In Gold-Buying Frenzy

  Who could have seen this coming?

  ICYMI from Nov 2023, when gold was still 1900

  Behind The Mysterious Explosion In Gold Prices: China’s “Massive Accumulation Of Gold”https://t.co/6Yg2HPmMwf

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 28, 2024

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

  In November 2023, with gold trading around $1900/oz, we highlighted the beginning of a precious metal buying-binge from China, noting that the prcie for physical gold had never been more expensive at the time (while western gold prices were still below their prior record highs).

  Additionally we noted the total lack of demand for so-called ‘paper gold’ via ETFs as holdigs underlying these vehicles was declining, as investors rotated from paper to physical:

  “The rising interest in gold bars and coins was primarily driven by investors’ safe-haven demand, supported by global geopolitical instability and weak performance of investment products denominated in Chinese yuan.”

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Now, a few months later, we get confirmation as The South China Morning Post reports that consumers in China bought 308.9 tonnes (10.9 million ounces) of gold in the first quarter, representing a 5.9% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

  Having burned out in Chinese gold ETFs, we recetly noted that, amid a notable pick up in capital flight that the Chinese had “grabbed gold by the throat.”

  Sure enough, as SCMP points out, Chinese consumers are increasing their appetite for gold, seeking to protect their assets amid a volatile stock market, a depreciating yuan and property doldrums, which analysts said would continue to boost international gold prices coupled with geopolitical uncertainties.

  

  Purchases of gold bars and coins, which largely reflect investment and hedging demand, surged by 26.8 per cent year on year to 106.3 tonnes, while gold jewellery sales declined by 3 per cent from a year earlier to 183.9 tonnes.

  “Gold represents the only safe asset for [Chinese consumers] to protect their wealth against domestic inflation, asset price declines as well as against geopolitical risks,” said Chen Zhiwu, the chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong.

  “I expect Chinese household demand for gold to rise more in the future. And the Chinese central bank will also continue to purchase more gold to prepare for more geopolitical turmoil ahead.”

  China’s central bank bought 160,000 ounces of gold bullion in March, marking its 17th consecutive monthly purchase and bringing its total reserves to 2,262 tonnes (72.74 million ounces), as it aims to diversify holdings away from US bonds amid strained bilateral relations.

  “The escalation in gold holdings by global central banks, coupled with heightened gold demand in the Chinese market, has emerged as significant drivers propelling recent gold prices beyond market expectations,” the Bank of China said on Friday.

  “In the future, gold prices are expected to sustain their robust upwards trajectory, driven by ongoing global central bank efforts to de-dollarise, escalating geopolitical uncertainty, and shifts in the [US] Federal Reserve’s monetary policy,” the report said.

  China eclipsed India as the largest purchaser of gold jewellery in 2023, with consumption totalling 630 tonnes last year, representing an annual increase of 10 per cent.

  “The China story is one of the reasons supporting gold prices, but the global risk-off sentiment is also fuelling the demand,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, who expected China’s demand for gold to remain resilient in 2024.

  “Beyond China, whether the US can take inflation is another determinant for future gold prices, which is probably the biggest uncertainty.”

  However, as TD Securities’ Daniel Ghali points out another potential source of gold strength.

  With little trace in exchange data, buying activity must be OTC. However, price action in basis, forwards, and BoE gold suggest the buying program is price insensitive, has a sense of urgency, and deep pockets. This mysterious bid may point to curiously aggressive OTC buying activity, which appears to be highly correlated with acute currency depreciation pressures.

  

  Ongoing currency pressures could explain the sense of urgency behind this bid, with a high correlation with the CNY’s deviation from its fix inching towards its fixed band.

  

  Historically, this has been associated with a significant outperformance as the exceptional buying activity underpins a squeeze from those using the traditional playbook.

  Finally, US election dynamics are a positive for gold, according to TD Securities’ Bart Malek.

  A Republican administration is likely to push lower taxes, with spending largely unchanged. The resulting higher deficit projections, from the already very high numbers, should help gold, as it suggests higher inflation, lower real rates and continued central bank buying. A likely even more adversarial stance toward China and Iran taken by a Republican administration would also contribute to gold’s good fortune and should see oil well supported.

  

  Simply put, gold remains a good sanction-proof private- and central-bank-diversifier.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 19:20

• Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Activists
  Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Activists

  Authored by Roger Simon via The Epoch Times,

  I am writing this column in the hopes you will pass it around.

  To be honest, I write every column in the hopes it will be passed around, times being what they are. I’m arrogant enough to think what I have to say is at least somewhat needed. More humbly, G-d gave me a modicum of writing skill I have concluded for a reason and, more than ever in my life, I, at the age of 80, seem constrained to use it. I rarely stop, and when I do, all I seem to think about is what I’m going to write next, except when I’m playing tennis… And even then…

  

   

  Today’s title is, of course, a knock-off of “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” written by Ed and Patsy Bruce, but made famous, as these things go, by others—the estimable Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. If you’ve been living under the proverbial rock and haven’t heard their fabulous recording—and even if you have; I listen to it all the time—it’s right here.

  It begins: “Cowboys ain’t easy to love/And they’re harder to hold.” If you replace “Cowboys” with “Activists,” it still makes sense, maybe more. Trust me—I’ve been there myself, years and years ago. We were wrong then. They’re worse now.

  This is all a long way around to what my theme is – the cause of the civilization-threatening unholy mess we are in with so many of our supposedly premier institutions of higher learning – indeed the world’s supposedly premier institutions of higher learning – Ivy League on down, turned into satanic campgrounds celebrating a group of bloodthirsty maniacs that make the Nazi Party seem like… well, let’s just leave it there.

  Except that 1939 has come back. From Wikipedia:

  “On February 20, 1939, a Nazi rally took place at Madison Square Garden, organized by the German American Bund. More than 20,000 people attended, and Fritz Julius Kuhn was a featured speaker. The Bund billed the event, which took place two days before George Washington’s Birthday, as a pro-‘Americanism’ rally; the stage at the event featured a huge Washington portrait with swastikas on each side.”

  Déjà vu all over again? The proverbial canary in the coal mine come back for yet another bow?

  Yes, but now it’s arguably worse. No more wrapping themselves in the flag. George Washington, no longer revered, is just another statue to be toppled. It’s “Death to America” all the way down at our leading universities and it’s spreading.

  It’s Rashida Tlaib’s world. We just live in it.

  Mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be activists—see what I mean?

  I’m not talking about the loyal readers of this site. I’d be astonished if they were the kind of parents or grandparents who would countenance that kind of thing. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they (you) know plenty who are.

  Also, I know many fine people who have done their bests with their progeny only to find that years of critical race theory (flagrant or masked) and other assorted “woke” excrescences in the schools, not to mention the inability to concentrate brought on via the supposed gifts of Silicon Valley, have made it impossible anyway.

  When looking for blame for what happened to this generation of college students, half or near of whom seem to prefer Hamas to Israel, most point at the educational system itself, so neo-Marxist “woke” from kindergarten up it’s hard to imagine how they could be more so, and to the media who cheer it along, amplify it, and excuse its excesses.

  But it all starts in the home. In other words, someone was not home to give these young people guidance and rein in at least some of their excesses—the parents.

  It’s not been just an abdication of responsibility. In more cases than we would like to know, the parents may also have cheered them on, seeing in their rebellious children the vindication of their own, much more tepid, rebellions years ago.

  In yet other cases it’s more direct, and worse.

  As illustration, recall how, back in 2020, former president Barack Obama proudly announced his daughters’ participation in protests led by Black Lives Matter, an organization that proved to be a financial rip-off not just of other blacks, but of all who contributed to their racialist con game. (That link, by the way, comes to you via the oh-so-chic folks at Harper’s Bazaar.)

  Of the three causes mentioned, the parents may, in the end, be the most to blame, though needless to say a fourth element, our government, has its portion too, an amazingly large one, fomenting what Christopher Rufo sees as internal “color revolutions” via such amusements (for children yet) as “Drag Queens for Palestine.”

  It’s impossible to know how many of these protestors come from single-parent homes, but it’s almost certain to be a high percentage. This is a national disaster in itself.

  It’s hard to know in general how many of them there are or even who they are because they wear masks or keffiyehs covering their faces (for fear of COVID or, more likely, identification by future employers).

  What we are seeing on our campuses is the product of a family environment imploding or, sadly, already imploded. Much of this is and has been intentional.

  I apologize to all of you for being so “hobbyhorsical,” as Laurence Sterne termed it hundreds of years ago, on this topic, but the situation we are in is indeed civilizational. One can only praise the few governors—Texas, Florida—who have stood up to the onslaught and properly used the National Guard to return their universities to what was supposedly their real purpose—something called education.

  So let’s end with some good news. It was long overdue, but the Ivy League and similar institutions are finally losing their luster. It is being widely reported that many students and their families—not just Jewish ones—are deciding to go elsewhere, to the Midwest and South, for their studies that might be more even-handed.

  Others are deciding that college isn’t such a great thing after all and are going to trade schools. Good on them. (I wonder how many of those trade schools are having pro-Hamas demonstrations. Not many, I’d wager.)

  Finally, a word about a word—“activists.” It is used as well to characterize adherents of what we often think of as good causes. I say—bag it. Let’s leave that term to the Left. That way you don’t have to let your babies grow up to be “activists,” because, chances are, they’re not going to be the kind you want.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 19:00

• "Do Not Disclose This Is An Ad": OnlyFans Creator Says Biden Admin Paid For "Full On Political Propaganda"
  “Do Not Disclose This Is An Ad”: OnlyFans Creator Says Biden Admin Paid For “Full On Political Propaganda”

  OnlyFans creator and TikTok star Farha Khalidi says that the Biden administration paid her to push “full on political propaganda,” and asked her not to disclose that she was advertising for them.

  

  Speaking with commentator Richard Hanania, Khalidi said she’d been asked to boast about Ketanji Brown Jackson after Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Biden.

  “I was doing full-on political propaganda,” she said, adding “The funny thing is they’re like, do not disclose this is an ad because technically it’s not a product so you don’t have to disclose it’s an ad. Because I think they just wanted, like, some edgy girl of color to just tell people — like when they nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, they’re, like, ‘Can you say “as a person of color,” you know, that you feel “reflected”?’”

  Watch:

  NEW: OnlyFans creator Farha Khalidi says she was paid by the Biden Administration to spread “political propaganda” & was told to not disclose her videos were ads.

  Everything about Biden is fake.

  Khalidi says the Biden admin reached out to her because they wanted someone with… pic.twitter.com/CQ40K5IHID

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 28, 2024

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

  Khalidi has 1.8 million TikTok followers.

  

  Speaking of propaganda, and we’ll save you the eye bleach by not posting his picture… director Steven Spielberg is also helping the Biden campaign with reelection, NBC News reported on Friday.

  The filmmaker will help to “convey the president’s successes and his vision for the country” to delegates and viewers of the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place August 19-22 in Chicago. Spielberg has been meeting event organizers, who expect more than 5,000 delegates from across the country to officially select Biden as the presidential nominee.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 18:40

• The Travesties Of The Trump Trials
  The Travesties Of The Trump Trials

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

  Do not believe the White House/mainstream media-concocted narrative that the four criminal court cases – prosecuted by Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis – were not in part coordinated, synchronized, and timed to reach their courtroom psychodramatic finales right during the 2024 campaign season.

  

  These local, state, and federal Lilliputian agendas were designed to tie down, gag, confine, bankrupt, and destroy Trump psychologically and physically. They are the final lawfare denouement to years of extra-legal efforts to emasculate him.

  Indeed, the nation is by now worn out by these serial assaults on constitutional norms: the Hillary-funded Steele dossier subterfuge; the pre-election Russian laptop disinformation campaign; the two impeachments without special counsel reports; the impeachment Senate trial of a private citizen; the effort to remove Trump’s name from state ballots; the ongoing attempt to emasculate the Electoral College; or the radical opportune changes in state election laws to ensure massive mail-in balloting.

  Recently, Andrew McCarthy has reviewed in depth this coordination between White House personnel and prosecutors, long known and long denied by the left.

  Biden, for example, had complained to aides about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s tardiness in getting special federal prosecutor Smith appointed – and thus apparently ensuring Trump was convicted before the election.

  Nathan Wade, Fani Willis’s now-fired paramour prosecutor, visited and consulted with the White House counsel’s office when he was acting supposedly as a purely local county prosecutor. The January 6th left-wing-dominated congressional committee consulted with the Biden administration in sending forth its criminal referrals about Trump’s purported role in the protests. And to handle his pseudo-indictment against Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hired Biden Justice Department official Vincent Colangeio.

  Two, the prosecutors’ delayed criminal indictments and E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit were predicated only on Donald Trump running for reelection. After his 2020 defeat, the loss of the two Republican senate seats in Georgia, and the January 6 demonstrations/riot, Trump was written off by pundits as politically toxic.

  Then his historic comeback in the subsequent year terrified the left. The reboot prompted the subsequent indictments and suits years after the purported crimes. It was left unsaid that had Trump not been a conservative Republican and leading presidential candidate, he would have never been indicted.

  Three, most of the indictments either had no prior precedent in criminal law or will likely never be used again, at least against anyone left-wing. Moreover, many of the writs relied on manipulation of statutes of limitations.

  Neither Bragg nor any other local prosecutor had previously transformed a supposedly local affidavit misdemeanor into a supposed federal campaign finance violation, a gambit so preposterous that it had been passed on by federal attorneys.

  Letitia James was the first New York Attorney General to indict a state resident for the supposed crime of overvaluing real estate to obtain a loan, which was paid back timely and in full, to the profit of lending institutions. No bank, after auditing Trump’s assets and viability to pay back loans, was unhappy to loan to him. But all were quite happy to profit from the hefty interest—and would likely be happy to loan to him again.

  James sought to make Trump a criminal without ever finding a crime, much less a victim. Nor, until the checkered and unethical career of Fani Willis, had any local prosecutor ever indicted an ex-president for a supposedly improper phone call questioning whether all the state’s votes had been fully counted.

  Alvin Bragg’s case was nonexistent given the statute of limitations on supposed misdemeanors committed over six years prior—until Bragg transmogrified the accusations of minor crimes into felonies and, with them, extensions granted supposedly due to the COVID lockdowns.

  In Carroll’s case, her unsubstantiated accusations of a sexual assault were also well past the statute of limitations until a left-wing New York legislator and unapologetic Trump hater passed a special law—a veritable bill of attainder aimed at Trump—waiving the statute of limitations for a year in cases of accusations of long-past sexual assault in the state of New York.

  Four, all the indictments and suits took place in either blue cities, counties, or states. And most of the jury pools in or near New York, Atlanta, or Miami were or will be heavily Democrat. So far, the New York judges who have overseen Trump’s civil and criminal trials—Justices Engoron, Kaplan, and Merchan—were all liberals, appointed by Democrat or liberal politicians, and some have donated to Democrat causes. They were not shy about expressing disdain for defendant Trump. No changes in venues were ever allowed.

  Five, all the prosecutors, Bragg, James, Smith, and Willis, are likewise either Democrats or associated with liberal causes. In the case of Bragg, James, and Willis, all three ran for office and raised money on promises and boasts of getting Donald Trump. And all three have now set the precedent that local and state prosecutors can warp the law and use it to go after an ex-president and leading presidential candidate of the opposite party for naked political purposes.

  Six, all these cases were equally applicable to high-profile Democrat politicos. E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit was the most laughable of all the court dramas, but its outline and protocols just as easily could have applied to Tara Reade. She came forward to accuse candidate Biden of having sexually assaulted her years earlier—roughly about the same period’s as Carroll’s fluid timelines. Her story is about as believable or unbelievable as Carroll’s. But the difference was that whereas the media canonized the delusional and self-contradictory Carroll as a useful anti-Trump tool, it demonized Reade as a crazy loon and liar—and a potential impediment to Biden’s 2019-20 primary campaign.

  Bragg had to torture the law to fabricate a federal campaign finance indictment against Trump. But Hillary Clinton clearly violated federal campaign statutes—and was variously fined—when she tried to hide her “opposition research” payments to Christopher Steele as “legal expenses.” In truth, Steele was hired and paid to concoct a fake anti-Trump dossier and likely should have been barred from working for a presidential campaign given he was not a U.S. citizen.

  In the case of Smith, simultaneously with his case against Trump, his twin special prosecutor, Robert Hur, found that Joe Biden had unlawfully removed classified files for much longer than Trump (30 years plus), in a much less secure location (his rickety garage), and without a president’s authority to declassify his documents. Moreover, he had disclosed their contents to his ghostwriter, who destroyed evidence under subpoena by Hur. Yet unlike Trump, Biden was not charged, given that Hur claimed that Biden, in his opinion, was so old and amnesiac that he might win sympathy rather than a conviction from a jury.

  Willis indicted Trump for supposedly trying to pressure officials to “find” missing Trump ballots, thus supposedly violating “racketeering” statutes, as he oversaw an attempt to find troves of ballots he thought had been cast for him. Of course, in the same state, Stacy Abrams, after losing the gubernatorial race of 2018, claimed she had actually won, despite losing by over 50,000 votes. She sued to overturn the election and then made a celebrity-political career touring the nation, falsely claiming she was the real governor and her victorious opponent was an illegitimate governor.

  For that matter, in 2016, left-wing organizations, celebrities, and thousands of political operatives sought to overturn the Trump victory by appealing to the electors to renounce their states’ popular vote tallies and thus become “faithless electors.” In sum, there was a true conspiracy, or, better, a “racketeering” scheme, to use Willis’s parlance, to coordinate various groups to overturn the constitutional duties of electors to throw the election to Hillary Clinton. Clinton, along with the likes of ex-president Jimmy Carter and soon-to-be House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, would continue to deny that Trump was the legitimately elected president.

  In sum, the number of suits against and indictments against Trump grew in correlation to his political fortunes. They were designed in the election year 2024 to do what Democrat voters likely cannot. They are ridiculous and sui generis, and will never be used against anyone other than Trump. They have done more damage to democracy, the rule of law, and equal justice to the law than all of the antics that Trump is accused of.

  Moreover, they will set in motion a dangerous tit-for-tat cycle of weaponization that threatens the very constitutional order of the United States.

  If Trump is elected to restore the rule of equal justice, will a Republican special counsel revisit Robert Hur’s work and find ex-President Biden quite capable of standing trial for the crimes Hur has already investigated and confirmed?

  Will then a new Republican-appointed FBI director order a SWAT-like raid, with Fox News forewarned and Newsmax reporters on the scene, to descend into the Biden beach house?

  Will county and state prosecutors in Utah, Montana, and Oklahoma feel that to stop this cycle of illegality, they must charge the Biden family members by bootstrapping local indictments onto federal crimes?

  Will conservative women in the future come forward in Arkansas, Idaho, and Alabama to claim that in their past, they now suddenly remember that decades ago a prominent Democrat candidate harassed them? Will their right-wing lawyers cherry-pick the proper red-state judge?

  Will conservative district attorneys find ways to indict Joe Biden on the various imaginative bookkeeping and “loan repayments” used to disguise the fact his corrupt family received well over $20 million from illiberal foreign interests, much if not all of it camouflaged to avoid income taxes?

  Will some South Carolina legislator get a bill of attainder passed in the legislature, ending the statute of limitations for a year for all those in 2016 who sought to undermine the electors and flip them to Hillary Clinton?

  In August or September, will a right-wing state prosecutor and a conservative judge find that Joe Biden’s creative bookkeeping warrants a $450 million fine, payable before appeal?

  And will Republican officials and judges in purple states move to get Biden’s name off the ballot?

  Such scenarios are endless and, given the current precedents, could all be justified as desperate deterrent measures to shock the left into ceasing their efforts to sabotage our constitutional system and rule of law.

  A final note.

  There is a divine order of balance in the world, one known variously by particular civilizations as kismet, nemesis, karma, or what goes around, comes around payback. We’ve already seen such forces at work: Sen. Schumer at the head of a mob at the doors of the Supreme Court, calling out threats to justices by name, only now finding pro-Hamas thugs circling his own home. Or Democrats during the Trump years straining to find ways to invoke the 25th Amendment, now humiliated into claiming a non-compos-mentis Joe Biden is “sharp as a knife.”

  Tragically for the country, to stop this left-wing madness, the Trump travesties may not be the end, but the beginning of precisely what the Founders feared.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 18:20

• Blinken Urges Hamas To Take 'Extraordinarily Generous' Ceasefire Deal
  Blinken Urges Hamas To Take ‘Extraordinarily Generous’ Ceasefire Deal

  Israeli officials have reportedly given Hamas an ultimatum, saying the group has “one last chance” to reach a deal, according to Axios. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, “If there is a deal, we will suspend the operation” – in reference to the planned Rafah ground offensive.

  He added that “The release of the hostages is a deep priority for us.” Following Oct.7 and the first hostage/prisoner swap which took place on November 22, the number of Israeli hostages (and dual nationals) which remain in Hamas captivity stand at 129. However, Israeli leaders have long acknowledged the likelihood that many of these are already deceased.

  

  Hamas is still pressing for a full and permanent cessation of all hostilities, along with full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, while Tel Aviv is just pushing for a temporary pause in fighting.

  According to Al Jazeera, this is ultimately unlikely to sway Hamas negotiators:

  Israel wants to “have its cake and eat it too. They want to get their captives back out of Gaza and into Israel. But then they want to be able to continue the war on Gaza after a brief pause,” Mohamad Elmasry, media studies professor and political analyst at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera.

  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia on Monday, his first stop in a broader Middle East tour focused primarily in Gaza, but he’s pushing Saudi-Israel normalization.

  Blinken has called on Hamas to accept Israel’s latest and “extraordinarily generous” proposal for a Gaza truce. “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” the US top diplomat said.

  “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide and they have to decide quickly,” Blinken said from Riyadh. “I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision.”

  This is where things stand via Reuters:

  A source briefed on the talks said Israel’s proposal entailed a deal to accept the release of fewer than 40 of the roughly 130 hostages believed to be still held in exchange for freeing Palestinians jailed in Israel, and a second phase of a truce consisting of a “period of sustained calm” – Israel’s compromise response to a Hamas demand for permanent ceasefire.

  Among these 40 would be any remaining children, women, sick and elderly hostages. Both sides have been this close before, but never with Washington applying this much pressure to see a deal through to the finish line.

  Blinken has sought to assure Arab states and Palestinian leaders that the US cannot support an attack against Rafah “in the absence of an (Israeli) plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed.” 

  ⚡️Leaked Video: Several casualties among the Israeli army were transferred from the Gaza Strip to several hospitals via helicopters. pic.twitter.com/vjRrk9mvhS

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) April 28, 2024

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

  Blinken and the Biden administration are still hoping to secure a broader deal involving Saudi Arabia, which he says is “potentially very close to completion.” It hinges on Saudi-Israeli diplomatic recognition, and in return the basis for recognition of a Palestinian state by Israel.

  “To move forward with normalization, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said in fresh remarks.

  However, Hamas is believed to have several intact battalions inside Rafah, and the Netanyahu government has vowed to see through its operation until it has accomplished the total eradication of Hamas. To do this, Israel believes it must got into Rafah with full ground and air might, but it will result in humanitarian catastrophe for the over one million civilians currently taking refuge there.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 18:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Who's In Favor Of A Potential TikTok Ban?
  Who’s In Favor Of A Potential TikTok Ban?

  As part of a larger national security and foreign aid package, President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law legislation that forces TikTok parent ByteDance to divest the U.S. arm of its popular social media platform within 270 days or be banned from operating in the United States. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” seeks to cut any ties between TikTok, its current parent company and the Chinese government, which allegedly abuses the platform to “surveil and influence the American public” in a way that poses a threat to national security.

  As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, compared to an earlier standalone bill that had passed the House in March but then failed to gain traction in the Senate, the newly passed bill extends the time given to ByteDance from 180 to 270 days, with the possibility of a 90-day extension if the president finds that significant progress towards a “qualified divesture” has been made. This means that TikTok’s Chinese owner now has until after the U.S. presidential election to find a suitable buyer, turning the question of whether or not TikTok should be divested or banned into a potential election issue.

  Sure enough, former president Donald Trump told young voters to remember that “crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok,” when they vote in November, omitting the fact that he tried to ban TikTok himself during his time in office.

  And while Trump was right in his view that young Americans would be more likely to oppose legislation against TikTok, he ignored the fact that the vast majority of Republican voters is in favor of a potential ban. According to a recent YouGov/The Economist survey, two thirds of Republicans strongly or somewhat approve the forced divesture/potential ban of TikTok versus just 20 percent who oppose such legislation. Democratic voters are almost evenly split on the issue, with 40 percent of respondents in favor of legislative action against TikTok and its parent company.

  Looking at different age groups, the trend is clear: the younger the respondents the more likely they are to oppose a potential TikTok ban, which is easily explained by the fact that young people are much more likely to be TikTok users.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  So what happens next?

  If ByteDance fails to find a suitable buyer within the given timeframe, it would be unlawful for app stores and web hosting companies to distribute the app in the United States.

  Finding a buyer will be hard though, as any company with an interest and deep-enough pockets to acquire a platform of TikTok’s stature will almost certainly face intense scrutiny from the FTC for antitrust reasons.

  It’s also unlikely that ByteDance will go down without a fight.

  “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in a video posted on Wednesday, claiming that the ultimate goal of the legislation is to ban TikTok, not sell it.

  “We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts,” he said, addressing the platform’s 170 million U.S. users directly.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 02:45

• Ukraine's Top Five Challenges Are Unsolvable
  Ukraine’s Top Five Challenges Are Unsolvable

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  It’s beginning to dawn on most Westerners that the US’ long-delayed aid to Ukraine isn’t all that it was hyped up to be and will only at most temporarily slow down the pace of Russia’s increasingly rapid advances. The conflict’s tempo has gradually intensified as Russia exploited Ukraine’s disastrous counteroffensive to regain the military-strategic initiative. Ukraine’s problems are immense and multifaceted, but they’re all connected one way or another to the five following factors:

  

  1. Russia’s Military-Industrial Complex Continues Outproducing NATO’s

  Russia won the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” with NATO long ago and that’s why it continued gaining ground over the past 18 months. The sanctions failed to bankrupt the Kremlin, required resources for production remain readily available, and sabotage had no impact on the assembly lines. Not only has NATO been unable to stop Russia’s military-industrial complex, but it couldn’t ramp up its own during this time either, thus creating an unbridgeable gap that weakens Ukraine more by the week.

  2. Ukraine Is Struggling To Replenish Its Depleted Military Ranks

  NATO’s loss in the abovementioned military-industrial competition with Russia, the consequent failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and Russia’s subsequent on-the-ground gains combined to scare Ukrainian men away from joining the armed forces and helping to replenish their depleted ranks. Without enough soldiers, Ukraine can’t confidently hold off Russia’s advances, thus risking an impending collapse along the front. At the end of the day, it’s just a numbers game, and Ukraine’s continue trending downward.

  3. Less Equipment & Troops Mean More Difficulty Building New Defenses

  The pace with which Russia has recently gained ground in Donbass is stressing Ukraine’s existing defensive lines like never before, thus compelling it to build newer ones further behind the front lines. Although Zelensky demanded this be done late last year, little progress has been made due to the lack of equipment and troops for holding off the Russian advance while simultaneously accomplishing this task. The breakthrough that the Ukrainian Intelligence Committee warned about is now more likely than ever.

  4. Political Instability Is Still A Damocles’ Sword Hanging Over Ukraine

  The Committee also warned in their same message from February that political unrest might explode next month around the time that Zelensky’s term expires on 21 May. They of course claimed that Russia would be behind it, which he also preconditioned his partners to falsely believe late last year, but this would actually be a genuine response to growing problems. Authoritarianism, corruption, forcible conscription, serious economic troubles, and the lack of a realistic endgame all enrage Ukrainians.

  5. Ukraine Continues Thinking That It Knows Better Than The US

  The Washington Post’s two–part post-mortem report on last summer’s failed counteroffensive revealed that one of the reasons why it flopped was because Ukraine refused to listen to the US’ advice. This problem is attributable to Zelensky and most recently took the form of him ordering his forces to attack Russian energy infrastructure in defiance of the US at the expense of more tactically significant targets. It’s actually the US’ own fault, though, since their media convinced him that he was a “god among men”.

  *  *  *

  These unsolvable challenges have converged to create a full-fledged crisis for Ukraine that Commander-in-Chief Syrsky is unable to resolve, which is why he candidly informed Ukraine’s partners that “the difficult operational and strategic situation…has a tendency to get worse.” Unless Ukraine agrees to demilitarize the regions still under its control east of the Dnieper and turn them into a buffer zone, the front might collapse by summertime, which could either lead to capitulation or a NATO intervention.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 02:00

• US Space Force General Says China's Military Developing Space Assets At "Breathtaking Speed"
  US Space Force General Says China’s Military Developing Space Assets At “Breathtaking Speed”

  Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

  Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, recently warned about China’s “breathtakingly fast” development of space military capabilities, following his trips to South Korea and Japan.

  “We are seriously focused at U.S. Space Command on our pacing challenge, which is the People’s Republic of China,” Gen. Whiting told reporters during a call from Japan on April 24.

  “The People’s Republic of China is moving at breathtaking speed in space, and they are rapidly developing a range of counter-space weapons to hold at risk our space capabilities,” he added.

  “They’re also using space to make their terrestrial forces—their army, their navy, their marine corps, their air force—more precise, more lethal, and more far-ranging.”

  Gen. Whiting was on his first Indo-Pacific trip after becoming the head of U.S. Space Command in January, succeeding Army Gen. James Dickinson. During his trip, he met with top military leaders from South Korea and Japan, including Adm. Kim Myung-Soo, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara.

  

  One particular concern was the number of Chinese satellites in orbit, Gen. Whiting said.

  “Over the last six years, they have tripled the number of intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance satellites on orbit, and they have used their space capabilities to improve the lethality, the precision, and the range of their terrestrial forces,” he said.

  “And so that obviously is a cause for concern and something that we are watching a very, very closely.”

  China’s satellite fleet stood at 359 systems as of January, according to his prepared remarks for a hearing of the Senate Armed Service Committee in February. He also noted that Beijing is developing hypersonic glide vehicles along with other advanced space weaponry to “overcome U.S. traditional missile warning and ballistic missile defense systems.”

  China’s ambitions with regard to the Moon are also among Space Command’s concerns.

  “We’ve seen the announcements of China’s ambitions to go to the Moon. And those appear to be exploratory and scientific on the surface, but the Chinese aren’t very transparent with what they do in space,” he said.

  “And so we hope there’s not a military component to that, but we would certainly welcome more transparency.”

  A U.S. military report published in January warned that China and Russia are putting up dual-use satellites in space while hiding their military applications. One example is a Chinese satellite equipped with a giant robotic arm, which could be used to grapple other satellites in the future.

  China is aiming to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030. Pakistan, South Africa, Belarus, and Nicaragua are among a group of nations that have signed up for a planned moon base led by China and Russia. The moon project is officially known as the International Lunar Research Station.

  Gen. Whiting said he visited Japan’s Space Operations Group and emphasized the importance of the two nations working together in space.

  “Their focus on space domain awareness along with ours to keep track of those threats in space that we see—and many of those are emanating from China—has put an impetus on us developing improved space domain awareness capability,” he said.

  Japan is working to bring on board a deep-space radar, Gen. Whiting said, adding that the radar will benefit both nations once it archives initial operational capability.

  “We expect that will provide both of our countries an enhanced understanding of what China is doing in space,” he said.

  Japan and the United States are also partners in launching new satellites that will be used to conduct space domain awareness missions, according to Gen. Whiting.

  In November last year, the United States, Japan, and South Korea agreed on a mechanism to share missile warning data to better track North Korea’s missile launches. The mechanism went into effect in December.

  “We need to continue the excellent work in the trilateral agreement between the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan to share missile warning information so that that all three countries fully understand anytime North Korea launches a missile where that missile is headed, and we can provide warning to our national leadership, to our military forces, and to our populations,” Gen. Whiting said.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/29/2024 – 00:05

• Relentless Chinese Bond Rally Hints at Yuan Challenge Ahead
  Relentless Chinese Bond Rally Hints at Yuan Challenge Ahead

  By Charlie Zhu and Helen Sun, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. China’s bond rally seems unstoppable amid a shortage of quality assets for investments. From government bonds to corporate debentures, traders keep hunting for yields in all maturities.

  • After pushing the yield on 30-year sovereign debt to the lowest since 2005, investors flocked to the notes issued by local government financing vehicles, once deemed as the riskiest instrument in Asia. That helped to drive LGFV companies’ borrowing costs to record lows.

  • In light of a decline in mortgage loans, long-term sovereign bonds become a good alternative for banks as long-term assets and provides support to the bond rally until the trend changes, said Becky Liu, head of Greater China macro strategy at Standard Chartered Plc.

  • As the central bank warned the market again about the potential risks in long-term bonds and pointed to signs of stabilizing economic growth, funds rotated out of the back-end of the curve. The yield on two-year sovereign notes slid to the lowest level since mid-2020. That widened its gap with US Treasury to about 317 basis points, the biggest ever.

  

  2. Market speculation about a devaluation of the yuan emerged. To investors onshore, this is an unlikely scenario given the authorities’ emphasis on maintaining stability, but some offshore traders see signs that the pressure is building.

  • In addition to the record interest rate gap, China’s stockpiling of commodities including gold and copper has prompted conjecture that policymakers may weaken the yuan in a one-off move.

  • The central bank has been using the daily reference rate to limit the depreciation of the yuan, effectively making it one of the best-performing emerging-market currencies this month. However, the steady fixing kept the spot exchange rate remain close to the 2% daily limit on the weaker side, spurring concerns over the sustainability of the strategy.

  

  3. The US decision on TikTok may bring headwinds to stabilizing relations between Beijing and Washington. President Joe Biden has signed a bill forcing TikTok to find a new owner within a year or face a ban. The move, designed to cut off China’s access to the video app used by 170 million Americans, raised concerns that US firms with large exposure to China’s market, including Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc., may be retaliation targets.

  • While China’s response was rather restrained compared with last year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned his US counterpart Antony Blinken Friday that “negative factors” were rising between the world’s biggest economies.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 23:40

• 'FX Vigilantes' Strike – Yen Suddenly Crashes To April 1990 Lows Against The Dollar
  ‘FX Vigilantes’ Strike – Yen Suddenly Crashes To April 1990 Lows Against The Dollar

  The yen crashed in early Asia trading, tumbling to match is exact lows from April 1990 in what is being blamed on a ‘fat finger’ trade or multiple barrier-option trades being triggered, by sources that have literally no idea.

  The plunge extended Friday’s big drop which followed BoJ Governor Ueda’s apparent lack of interest in doing anything about the yen’s decline, claiming it had ‘no impact’ on the currency’s inflation picture.

  “Currency rates is not a target of monetary policy to directly control,” he said.

  “But currency volatility could be an important factor in impacting the economy and prices. If the impact on underlying inflation becomes too big to ignore, it may be a reason to adjust monetary policy.”

  In fact, policymakers have repeatedly warned that depreciation won’t be tolerated if it goes too far too fast.

  Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterated after the BoJ meeting that the government will respond appropriately to foreign exchange moves.

  Potential triggers for interventions are public holidays in Japan on Monday and Friday next week, which bring the risk of volatility amid thin trading.

  “Should the yen fall further from here, like after the BOJ decision in September 2022, the possibility of intervention will increase,” said Hirofumi Suzuki, chief currency strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

  “It is not the level but it’s the speed that will trigger the action.”

  Well currency volatility is what he has now…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The sudden drop pushed USDJPY perfectly to its April 1990 highs to the tick…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The currency pain was all focused in the Japanese market as EUR and GBP strengthened against the USD…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Perhaps even more notably, the yen puked relative to the Chinese yuan, hitting 22 for the first time since 1992 and putting further pressure on Beijing to potentially do something…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The question is, of course, what will Japan’s MoF/BoJ do now – if anything as their recent excuses about ‘velocity’ or some such spin are now out of the window after a 6-handle standalone surge in their currency in a few short days (when the rest of the world’s currencies are not).

  “Authorities may say they don’t target levels per se, but they do pay close attention to the trend and the rate of change and current levels suggest they have to act soon or risk facing a credibility crisis,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd.

  “The FX market is almost taking them on like the bond vigilantes of old.”

  Specifically as SocGen’s FX strategist Kit Juckes noted on Friday, the yen’s decline is becoming disorderly, which points to a final, potentially sharp, decline before it finds a floor.

  However, as we detailed last week, the problem with intervention is that once the genie is out of the bottle… it’s hard to put it back in.

  In other words, the onus should be on the BOJ to step in with a much more hawkish move than the market expects.

  As Viraj Patel from Vanda Research goes on to note that “we’re at a stage where MoF/BoJ have no choice but to intervene. The best way would be for BoJ to hike 25bps this week. It’s not about the macro anymore (BoJ should’ve normalized policy faster last year).”

  Instead, what is going on is that Japan’s disastrous handling of its currency has evolved into a game between speculators and officials: Specs are short yen for good fundamental reasons (carry). At this stage, a “surprise” hike to send a signal to markets that they are concerned about ongoing FX weakness (and don’t test us) would be less costly to the economy vs. a further devaluation in the yen. It also adds an additional level of uncertainty to the BoJ/MoF reaction function – which speculators (long carry trades) don’t like.

  Meanwhile, FX intervention – which unfortunately looks to be the MoF/BoJ’s preferred route based on recent history – is not even a short-term fix anymore. USD/JPY dips would be quickly bought into based on recent market chatter. A hike goes a bit further towards solving the root cause of yen weakness – even it’s only a marginally better option.

  

  However, not everyone is convinced intervention is imminent.

  In a note late last week, Deutsche Bank says the currency’s decline is warranted and finally marks the day where the market realizes that Japan is following a policy of benign neglect for the yen.

  We have long argued that FX intervention is not credible and the toning down of verbal jawboning from the finance minister overnight is on balance a positive from a credibility perspective. The possibility of intervention can’t be ruled out if the market turns disorderly, but it is also notable that Governor Ueda played down the importance of the yen in his press conference today as well as signalling no urgency to hike rates. We would frame the ongoing yen collapse around the following points.

  1. Yen weakness is simply not that bad for Japan. The tourism sector is booming, profit margins on the Nikkei are soaring and exporter competitiveness is increasing. True, the cost of imported items is going up. But growth is fine, the government is helping offset some of the cost via subsidies and core inflation is not accelerating. Most importantly, the Japanese are huge foreign asset owners via Japan’s positive net international investment position. Yen weakness therefore leads to huge capital gains on foreign bonds and equities, most easily summarized in the observation that the government pension fund (GPIF) has roughly made more profits over the last two years than the last twenty years combined.

  2. There simply isn’t an inflation problem. Japan’s core CPI is around 2% and has been decelerating in recent months. The Tokyo CPI overnight was 1.7% excluding one-off effects. To be sure, inflation may well accelerate again helped by FX weakness and high wage growth. But the starting point of inflation is entirely different to the post-COVID hiking cycles of the Fed and ECB. By extension, the inflation pain is far less and the urgency to hike far less too. No where is this more obvious than the fact that Japanese consumer confidence are close to their cycle highs.

  3. Negative real rates are great. There is a huge attraction to running negative real rates for the consolidated government balance sheet. As we demonstrated last year, it creates fiscal space via a $20 trillion carry trade while also generating asset gains for Japan’s wealthy voting base. This encourages the persistent domestic capital outflows we have been highlighting as a key driver of yen weakness over the last year and that have pushed Japan’s broad basic balance to being one of the weakest in the world. It is not speculators that are weakening the yen but the Japanese themselves.

  The bottom line, Deutscxhe concludes, is that for the JPY to turn stronger the Japanese need to unwind their carry trade. But for this to make sense the Bank of Japan needs to engineer an expedited hiking cycle similar to the post-COVID experiences of other central banks. Time will tell if the BoJ is moving too slow and generating a policy mistake. A shift in BoJ inflation forecasts to well above 2% over their forecast horizon would be the clearest signal of a shift in reaction function. But this isn’t happening now.

  The Japanese are enjoying the ride.

  Finally, it goes without saying that the only true circuit-breaker for yen weakness is lower US yields/weak US macro, which is unlikely until the election if, as so many now speculate, there has been a directive by the Biden admin to make the economy look as good as possible ahead of the elections, even if that means manipulating the data to a grotesque degree.

  One added complexity for MoF/BoJ is that their two options for tackling yen weakness indirectly adds upward pressure to global rates/yields. They’re caught between a rock and a hard place… and speculators know (enjoy) this.

  And finally there is China: the longer BOJ/MoF does nothing to curb the collapse of the yen, a move which is seen a pumping up the country’s exporting base at the expense of other mercantilist nations such as China, the higher the probability Beijing will retaliate against Tokyo by devaluing its own currency. At which point all hell will break loose.

  But, one way or another, as Goldman noted, it’s crunch time for USDJPY.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 23:15

• Stablecoin Volumes Are Tracking A Record $15 Trillion On Ethereum Alone
  Stablecoin Volumes Are Tracking A Record $15 Trillion On Ethereum Alone

  By Marcel Kasumovich, Deputy CIO of Coinbase Asset Management

  Crypto sparked a renaissance in real-time payments. Sleepy you say? Time for a wake-up call – payment solutions are at the cutting edge of crypto’s integration into the mainstream, and it has plenty of competition.

  “You’re probably used to crypto transactions, expecting me to bring out another guest for an eight-minute commentary while we wait for confirmation. But that’s old crypto. Are you ready for the new crypto world? Watch very closely…don’t blink…and that’s it,” John Collison exclaimed while illustrating a transaction on crypto rails with Stripe, a leading payment network that he co-founded. It was a seamless user experience, unlike the company’s initial foray into bitcoin in 2014.

  Both PayPal and Stripe are now harnessing the power of stablecoins into their familiar user interfaces. This strategic move effortlessly brings users onto the blockchain – point, click, and it’s done. It’s the new trend, too. Traditional companies are bringing users onchain. There’s the crypto we see in noisy headlines and those working quietly to monetize the technology, like PayPal and Stripe. And they combine for a staggering 62% share of online payment software processing.

  Digital payments may not seem like the exciting promise of the future. Yet, they are at the cutting edge. Digital payments are taking a rising share of a rapidly growing market as the world moves away from cash. Global payments are measured in the hundreds of trillions, and the digital payment market has risen from a modest $10 billion in 2017 to a projected $200 billion in 2030. We all live it, and the bulk of the transactions are small value, a coffee here, a donut there.

  The process is so seamless that we seldom pause to consider how it actually works. Poorly, as it happens. Users expect to be able to pay whenever it’s convenient. Settling your restaurant bill, you don’t care that it’s outside of banking hours. You just want a simple form of payment – and that’s not cash. During the time between you tapping your card and accounts being settled, a middleman provides credit to make sure it all clears. And it’s expensive at 2.3% of transaction value.

  One man’s profit margin is another’s invitation to disrupt. The typical narrative of disruption involves a wildly successful company losing its innovation edge, and missing market inflection points. Polaroid made the first instant camera in 1948 and dominated markets from floppy disks to film. Revenue peaked in 1991 and the company was unable to pivot to the new digital era, declaring bankruptcy ten years later. Learning from such histories, companies are now more adaptive.

  We see this clearly in payments. Efficiency is precisely what brought PayPal and Stripe back to crypto. Transaction speeds have improved exponentially, now clocking at milliseconds, and costs have plunged to fractions of a cent. It helps that crypto tech fails fast – revealing resilience and weakness quickly. For instance, the resilience of USDC is now supporting its entry into the mainstream while Bored Apes Yacht Club weakness persists, down 90% off previous cycle highs.

  Why now? Why not! Stablecoins are demonstrating their prowess as payment tools. Transaction volumes are tracking new highs this month, running at ~$15 trillion annualized on Ethereum alone (Figure 1). The efficiency gain is clear – instant and final settlements mean that your late-night coffee and donut purchases bypass the need for credit intermediaries. The middleman is dead, although living vibrantly through tools like Stripe that deliver users a familiar experience.

  

  Users don’t care that it’s crypto. They want a great experience. Businesses don’t care, either. They are optimizing operating efficiency for profit. As crypto matures, so too does its value proposition. Crypto is the protagonist of real time payments and like any great innovation, it fosters competition. What’s unique with payments is that the competition comes from both private and government organizations, with regulatory stagnation working in favor of both.

  Look beyond regions traditionally seen as leaders in innovation. The United States remains a beacon of creative talent behind innovation. But users are moving slowly, lagging in fintech adoption. After all, US users are accustomed to fees, don’t mind the service, and paying for points on expensive intermediation is a pastime. Real-time settlement systems adopted, like FedNow, are for business applications, not for consumers. It’s new players like India at the cutting edge.

  The Unified Payment Interface (UPI), India’s real-time payment solution, was developed by the central bank in 2016. It integrates peer-to-peer real-time payments, directly competing with crypto technologies. Last year, UPI integrated 522 commercial banks covering 300 million active users and 117 billion transactions. Different from developed regions, intermediaries were not disrupted as these are largely new users. Cash was disrupted at the expense of the central bank.

  Payments stand at the cutting edge of crypto’s future. User experience is paramount. Integrating into the regulatory mainstream will accelerate users onchain, just as service providers did for the internet. Crypto unlocked the real-time settlement innovation, but will face competition. It is a world that argues for being chain-agnostic. The data between Ethereum, Bitcoin and UPI will integrate to the highest of standards and security. That’s the road to making onchain the new online.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 22:40

• Justice Thomas Raises Scrutiny On Special Counsel Jack Smith's Appointment In Trump Hearing
  Justice Thomas Raises Scrutiny On Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Appointment In Trump Hearing

  Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has asked former President Donald Trump’s lawyers about whether they challenged special counsel Jack Smith’s authority to bring charges against the president.

  

  On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about President Trump being immune from prosecution for official acts carried out during his presidency. During the hearing, Justice Thomas asked John Sauer, the attorney who represented Trump in court, “Did you, in this litigation, challenge the appointment of special counsel?” Mr. Smith was appointed to the case by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

  Mr. Sauer said that Trump attorneys have not raised such concerns “directly” in the current case at the Supreme Court. However, “it points to a very important issue here, because one of [the prosecution’s] arguments is, of course, that we should have this presumption of regularity,” Sauer stated.

  “That runs into the reality that we have here an extraordinary prosecutorial power being exercised by someone who was never nominated by the president or confirmed by the Senate at any time. … We hadn’t raised it yet in this case when this case went up on appeal.”

  Mr. Sauer said he agrees with the “analysis provided by Attorney General [Edwin] Meese and Attorney General [Michael B.] Mukasey,” referring to the amicus brief the two former attorneys general submitted to the Supreme Court on March 19.

  In it, the two attorneys general noted that irrespective of what one thinks about the immunity issue, Mr. Smith “does not have authority to conduct the underlying prosecution.”

  “Those actions can be taken only by persons properly appointed as federal officers to properly created federal offices. Smith wields tremendous power, and effectively answers to no one,” they wrote.

  “However, neither Smith nor the position of special counsel under which he purportedly acts meets those criteria. And that is a serious problem for the rule of law, whatever one may think of the conduct at issue in Smith’s prosecution.”

  Attorney General Garland appointed Mr. Smith as Special Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) citing several statutes.

  However, none of these statutes even “remotely authorized the appointment by the Attorney General of a private citizen or government employee to receive extraordinary criminal law enforcement power under the title of Special Counsel.”

  The two attorneys general added there are times when the appointment of a special counsel would be appropriate and that the U.S. Constitution allows for such appointments.

  However, “the Attorney General cannot appoint someone never confirmed by the Senate, as a substitute United States Attorney under the title ‘special counsel,’” they added.

  “Smith’s appointment was thus unlawful, as are all actions flowing from it, including his prosecution of former President Trump.”

  The Case Against Trump

  The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing President Trump’s immunity case as part of Mr. Smith’s indictment of the former president alleging an attempt to subvert the transfer of presidential power following the 2020 election. President Trump is charged with four criminal counts in the case.

  President Trump had requested the lower courts to back his claims of presidential immunity as the actions were undertaken while he was serving as president.

  After the lower courts refused to grant the request, the 45th president appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that his actions as president are covered by presidential immunity.

  The Supreme Court agreed to consider the following question—“Whether and, if so, to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”

  In court, Mr. Sauer warned the justices against giving a judgment that undermines presidential immunity, noting that an American president would no longer be able to carry out his job properly if he was unsure whether his actions would trigger prosecution years after leaving office.

  “The implications of the court’s decision here extend far beyond the facts of this case,” he said. “For 234 years of American history, no president was ever prosecuted for his official acts. The framers of our Constitution viewed an energetic executive as essential to securing liberty.”

  “If a president can be charged, put on trial, and imprisoned for his most controversial decisions as soon as he leaves office, that looming threat will distort the president’s decision-making precisely when bold and fearless action is most needed.”

  Moreover, a lack of presidential immunity will denote that every president becomes a potential candidate for extortion by political rivals while still in office, Mr. Sauer added.

  “Prosecuting the president for his official acts is an innovation with no foothold in history or tradition, and is incompatible with our constitutional structure,” he said.

  The Supreme Court Justices appeared skeptical about President Trump’s claims that he has the right to absolute immunity for his actions as president. However, the justices also appeared to be open to accepting that presidents have some level of immunity.

  The court could decide to remand the case back to the Washington district court, with instructions for differentiating between official and private acts of a president so that additional fact-finding proceedings can be done.

  Such a move would delay the former president’s trial in Washington and potentially proceedings related to three other cases as well. This gives President Trump a strategic win as he attempts to hold off cases until after the elections.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 22:10

• "What Is The Sound Of One Hand Clapping" Asks BOJ Head Ueda As The Yen Collapses
  “What Is The Sound Of One Hand Clapping” Asks BOJ Head Ueda As The Yen Collapses

  By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

  “What is the sound of one hand clapping,” asked Kazuo Ueda, sitting alone in seiza. The dollar had just crossed above 158 to the yen, a level not seen in 34-years, back when he joined the University of Tokyo as professor of economics.

  

  “What is the sound of one hand clapping,” asked Ueda, letting the question drift gently across his mind. It is one of the great Zen koans, a question without answer, a tool to help us achieve satori, awakening.

  After its utter destruction in the war, Japan had become an economic wonder. By 1989 its Nikkei 225 equity index had surged to 38,915, the yen followed, and the governor’s palace was estimated to be worth as much as California.

  “What is the sound of one hand clapping,” asked Ueda, desperate to tap into the power of being fully present, but unable to calm his mind. From that wild 1989 market peak, it all came crashing down. Had policy makers and politicians allowed a short depression, the nation would have experienced something profoundly different from its lost deflationary decades.

  “What would have happened,” asked Ueda, instantly angry his attention had drifted from the koan. It had been one year since he became Bank of Japan Governor. He had restored simplicity to policy, returning interest rates to positive from negative, letting go of yield curve control. He accomplished this without compromising government finances, which are so vulnerable after decades of the stunningly large deficit spending required to maintain economic and social stability, that even a modest interest rate rise would prove catastrophic.

  “What is the sound of one hand clapping,” whispered Ueda.

  In his year at the helm, the Nikkei 225 had surged to finally reclaim the 1989 highs, driven in part by the collapsing yen, which showed no signs of stabilizing in the absence of material interest rate hikes. And this, of course, risks devastating Japan’s government finances.

  “What is the sound of one hand clapping.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 21:00

• Joe Biden's Brother Embroiled In High-Ranking Qatari Scheme To "Provide Wealth Of Introductions" Through "My Family": Politico
  Joe Biden’s Brother Embroiled In High-Ranking Qatari Scheme To “Provide Wealth Of Introductions” Through “My Family”: Politico

  Qatar has had a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. While we knew about the EU’s ‘Qatargate,’ investments with the Kushner family, and of course Sen. Bob Menendez advancing Qatar’s interests, Politico reports that the Biden family’s ties to Qatar “would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government,” if courtroom testimony about Jim Biden’s foreign fundraising efforts is substantiated.

  

  In June 2017, Qatar’s neighbors – led by Saudi Arabia, banded together and cut diplomatic ties with the country, citing its alleged support for terrorism. As a result, the country was thrown into a sustained crisis.

  To dig themselves out, Qatari rulers began showering well-connected Westerners with gifts and financial benefits, according to Politico, “sometimes in the form of investment funding.”

  Around this time, Jim Biden was trying to raise $30 million for embattled hospital chain Americore – teaming up with Florida businessman Amer Rustom, CEO of the Platinum Group, who boasted of his ties to officials in the Middle East, as well as fund manager Michael Lewitt. Together, the three sought investment funding from various Middle Eastern sources for Americore and other ventures – “which came to focus largely on Qatar,” according to a former Americore executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  According to public records obtained by the outlet, Jim Biden leveraged ties to his older brother and “sought workarounds to restrictions on international money movements,” including one discussion about trying to move money across a Middle Eastern border in the form of gold bars that may or may not have happened.

  “My family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency,” Jim Biden and Rustom wrote in a draft letter to an official at the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. “On behalf of the Biden family, I welcome your interest here,” the draft continues.

  Transactions related to the efforts are central to a recently-settled fraud case brought by the SEC, and are under fresh scrutiny as part of a federal criminal investigation in South Florida.

  Jim Biden suggested to congressional investigators in February that his fundraising efforts stalled for lack of viable projects to back. But the previously unreported testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt about the ownership of the two companies — the Platinum Group USA and Obermeyer Engineering Consulting — indicates that Jim Biden forged closer ties to Qatar’s government than previously understood. -Politico

  In February of this year, Jim Biden told impeachment inquiry investigators that roughly $600,000 in payments from Americore were for his role in arranging a series of bridge loans – of which $200,000 was transferred to Joe Biden in March 2018 for what the White House claims is a repayment of an unrelated loan between brothers.

  In a March 10, 2018 draft presentation emailed from Jim Biden’s wife, Sara Biden, to a Platinum Group executive, Julie Lander, Americore touted Jim as “Brother and Campaign Finance Chair of former Vice President Joe Biden.”

  One month later, Lander emailed Jim Biden about the fundraising efforts – referencing an apparent meeting with a high-ranking Qatari official.

  

  “I am following up from the meeting we had with the Minister,” wrote Lander. “Your approach with him was flawless. He requested more information on Americore.”

  In the previously unreported email, Lander suggested a potential request of $200 million and asked Jim Biden to provide more information on the potential benefits to Qatar of an investment deal.

  Lander’s email came five days after a large delegation of Qatari officials and business leaders visited Miami. It is not clear which minister Lander, who did not respond to requests for comments, was referring to. -Politico

  “Snags”

  Despite Lander’s upbeat email to Jim Biden, fundraising efforts hit a ‘series of snags,’ according to Politico‘s anonymous former Americore source, who said that they were facing restrictions on moving investment funds across borders, and that the former executive “recalled discussion at one point of trying to move money across a Middle Eastern border in the form of gold bars, but said they were not aware of any action taken on the idea.”

  In order to solve their problem, Jim Biden explored working with payment processing company “Billerfy,” described as an “open network for global payments,” for which Jim Biden could be their “chief global banking emissary” – until Americore’s outside counsel, Christopher Anderson, shot it down. 

  With progress in Qatar slowing in mid-May of 2018 during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, tensions grew between Jim Biden and his comrades – with Jim Biden venting to Americore CEO Grant White in a May 17 email that he had “agreed to go to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China (at my own expense).”

  A week later, Jim Biden complained to Rustom over the unsecured funds – writing that “The $30 million was committed to over two months ago and we made moves predicated on that available line of credit,” adding “Things have happened in the interim that are completely understandable, but the fact remains that the $5 million at this point in time is critical in order to get by for the big picture.”

  Then in late June, Lewitt emailed Jim Biden and White about trying to move money from Dubai to Qatar, referencing an unspecified “blockage” that was hindering the process.

  “Amer would like me to join Jim for the presentation to the Finance Minister in Doha so as soon as we have the date I will plan my travel,” the email concluded.

  The former Americore executive said that Jim Biden and Lewitt traveled to Qatar in mid-2018 as part of the fundraising efforts, but it is not clear whether any meeting between Jim Biden and Qatar’s then-finance minister, Ali Sharif Al Emadi, took place.

  Al Emadi left his post in 2021 after Qatar’s attorney general ordered him arrested on suspicion of corruption. In January, Reuters reported that he was convicted on charges that included laundering more than $5 billion and sentenced to 20 years in prison. -Politico

  Efforts to secure funding continued into August of 2018, as Jim Biden continued to work with Lewitt and Rustom to secure financing from the Qatar Investment Authority for other health care ventures, according to filings in a since-settled federal court case in Tennessee in which the three were named as co-defendants.

  As they continued to work together, Jim Biden’s financial ties to Lewitt deepened – with Lewitt’s investment fund, Third Friday, paying Jim Biden’s company, Lion Hall Groujp, $225,000 over the course of 2019. While Biden testified that this was a forgiven loan, Lewitt disputed it – telling Politico that Jim Biden’s debt was assumed by an unnamed third party.

  At the end of the day, Qatar and everyone else balked at the deal.

  “We weren’t able to show the financial bona fides of any one particular project,” said Jim Biden during his impeachment inquiry interview. “We got pretty far down the road on several hotel complexes, but they never came to fruition.”

  Meanwhile, in 2022, investors in Third Friday sued Lewitt, accusing him of embezzlement through Americore to Jim Biden and others. Lewitt has denied wrongdoing in the ongoing case, while Jim Biden has not been named a defendant.

  Lastly, the partners are now locked in a bitter legal dispute. During the course of Americore’s bankruptcy litigation, documents produced by Lewitt included an agreement between his fund and a Delaware company, Obermeyer Engineering Consulting – which calls for Obermeyer to purchase Third Friday’s loans to Americore, along with a 35% stake in the hospital chain, for $30 million.

  The agreement includes a signature from Azzam Rustom as Obermeyer’s “authorized signatory,” which Amer Rustom – Obermayer’s ‘manager,’ contested – saying it the signature was faked.

  Lewitt said during testimony that Amer Rustom ‘verbally authorized’ him to fake his signature on the disputed documents.

  Towards the end of the hearing Lewitt was asked why, if the agreements he produced were valid, the Rustoms were contesting them.

  Lewitt testified that the Rustoms owned both Obermeyer and the Platinum Group with “members of the Qatari government.” He speculated that the brothers had not cleared the agreements with the Qatari officials, whom he did not name. “I don’t think they expected these to become public,” he testified, “and I think they were trying to cover themselves.” -Politico

  According to the judge in the case, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” adding “and this is a black haze right now.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 20:25

• A Chipotle Double Steak Bowl Is Now $39 In California
  A Chipotle Double Steak Bowl Is Now $39 In California

  By Mish Shedlock of MishTalk

  Food away from home has risen at least 0.3 percent for 34 out of the last 36 months

  

  Sticker Shock in California

  Higher state minimum wage went into effect April 1; chains say burritos and burgers are getting more expensive in response.

  The Wall Street Journal reports California Fast-Food Chains Are Now Serving Sticker Shock

  Since September, when California moved to require large fast-food chains to bump up their minimum hourly pay to $20 in April, fast-food and fast-casual restaurants in California have increased prices by 10% overall, outpacing all other states, the firm found in an analysis of thousands of restaurants across 70 large chains.

  Prices at Chick-fil-A, Domino’s, McDonald’s (MCD) Burger King (BKC), Pizza Hut (YUM), Jack in the Box (JACK ) and other fast-food chains have increased since September, the firm found. Chipotle (CMG) said in an investor call Wednesday that prices at its nearly 500 California restaurants climbed 6% to 7% during the first week of April compared with last year, playing out across its menu.

  “The state isn’t making it easy,” Chipotle Chief Executive Brian Niccol said in an interview.

  In Los Angeles on a recent April afternoon, Seth Amitin, a 39-year-old therapist, said his usual $16 meal that he picks up weekly at the Chick-fil-A in Hollywood, Calif., now costs $20. The price for a spicy chicken sandwich at that location had gone up to $7.09 from $6.29, or 13%, since mid-February, according to research by Gordon Haskett Research Advisors. Chick-fil-A’s prices increased 10.6% on average in California during that time period, Gordon Haskett found.

  California restaurants already had some of the highest fast-food prices in the country, according to market-research firm Revenue Management Solutions. Every month since October, California fast-food and fast-casual restaurants have raised prices across a greater percentage of their menus compared with restaurants in the rest of the country, Datassential found. 

  When I was in California for the Nuggets game on Thursday, we stopped at Chipotle. The same double steak bowl I get for $17 in Nevada is now $39 in California. The new minimum wage law is insane. Not even the rich will be able to afford to eat out anymore. Thank you Gavin Newsom!

  — Mike Alfred (@mikealfred) April 28, 2024

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

  Auto and Home, Insurance & Maintenance Costs Soaring and People Are Angry

  Insurance, repairs, and maintenance costs are up for both homes and autos.

  

  On April 19, I noted Auto and Home, Insurance & Maintenance Costs Soaring and People Are Angry

  Some homeowners are skipping home insurance. What’s going on and who is to blame?

  Growth in Spending Exceeds Growth in Income for Most of the Last 10 Months

  A deeper dive into personal income and outlays for March shows significant signs of consumer stress to maintain standards of living.

  

  For discussion, please see Growth in Spending Exceeds Growth in Income for Most of the Last 10 Months

  Would you believe …

  

  On April 20, I noted Truflation Claims Inflation is 2.06 Percent

  Would you believe believe year-over year inflation is barely over two percent? That’s the Truflation claim as of April 17, 2024.

  Some otherwise bright people on Twitter whom I follow actually believe that Trufltion nonsense. Click on the above link for details.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 19:50

• New Bombshell Evidence Emerges: Was Trump Set Up In Classified Docs Saga?
  New Bombshell Evidence Emerges: Was Trump Set Up In Classified Docs Saga?

  Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

  This week in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed a trove of new documents that Jack Smith fought to keep hidden. And you’ll soon find out why. Among the documents unsealed were extensive exhibits, motions, and other filings shedding light on the intricate web of communication between the Biden White House and the National Archives and Records Administration in the lead-up to Trump’s indictment.

  

  Investigative journalist Julie Kelly found something interesting in the documents that could change everything.

  The first things is testimony from an FBI agent who testified that the General Services Association (GSA) had been in possession of Trump’s boxes in Virginia before ordering Trump’s team to come get them.

  WELL WELL WELL I am pretty sure we never heard this part of the “classified documents/box” story!

  More from unredacted motions in FLA–this is from an unsealed transcript of witness interview.

  FBI agent says GSA was holding large quantity of Trump’s boxes in VA and then ordered… pic.twitter.com/0i4tGdWZ9A

  — Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) April 27, 2024

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

  “So an entire pallet full of boxes that had been held by GSA somewhere outside of DC is dumped at Mar-a-Lago,” Kelly notes. “Apparently these are the boxes that ended up containing papers with ‘classified markings.'”

  “I will double check indictment but I don’t recall this event in the timeline,” she added.

  So, it appears that the Biden administration may have been responsible for shipping classified information to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. This development is significant because Trump has previously blamed the GSA for packing the boxes that contained the classified documents, only to later accuse Trump of essentially stealing them and using that as pretext for sending the  FBI to raid his Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022.

  “It was a set-up from the get-go,” remarked Tom Fitton, the founder of Judicial Watch.

  Meanwhile, Joe Biden had classified information that he was never entitled to have stored in boxes in his garage for years, but was not charged. Biden blamed staffers for packing the classified information. 

  While this may not prove the Biden administration set up Trump in the classified documents case, considering the way the Biden administration has abused the legal system against Trump, no one can confidently say they wouldn’t.

  Even so, it still raises other legitimate questions.

  For example, if the GSA had been in possession of the boxes, why wasn’t a review of the materials conducted before they instructed Trump’s team to get them?

  When it comes to classified information, they wouldn’t have expected Trump and his staff to be responsible for ensuring that classified documents weren’t among the records.

  Perhaps they did review the contents of the boxes and knew classified documents were contained in them before they told Trump’s people to come get them.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 19:15

• Is 10% The New 1%
  Is 10% The New 1%

  By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

  I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the first lessons I was taught as a junior trader. We were warned that when something happens, say a piece of economic data comes out, and the market doesn’t respond as you expected, to cut positions and be very careful. It is a sign that “something” is wrong in how you are thinking.

  On Friday, Treasuries rallied strongly on data that didn’t seem that great for rates. But the reality is (or so I believe) that Thursday’s sell-off was overdone, the “whisper” number was much worse than what came out, there are no longer term Treasury auctions, and the month-end index “extension” is usually good for bonds. So that doesn’t bother me much. What bothers me is that we had:

  • NVDA, a $2.2 trillion market cap company, drop 10% last Friday.

  • TSLA, a $500 billion market cap company, rise 10% on Wednesday.

  • META, a $1.1 trillion market cap company, drop 10% on Thursday.

  • GOOG, a $2.1 trillion market cap company, rise 10% on Friday.

  Four “megacap” companies moved around 10% (or more) in a day!

  

  I understand small cap companies do that. I understand that periodically something happens that is highly unusual – M&A, a scientific breakthrough, FDA approval, fraud, or something so unusual (but so profound) that a well-followed company gaps by that much. This was “just” earnings. Maybe I’m being overly dramatic? Maybe I haven’t adjusted my thought process to how large companies really are (probably part of the issue)? In any case it feels completely strange (even unnatural) for such large companies to move so much in a single session (let alone seeing it occur 4 times in 6 days)!

  I am willing to believe that this is just my perception, and maybe it is more common than I perceive, but it is so different than how I’ve been thinking, that I have to respect it. As a “macro” strategist, I think about broad indices. Normally that is quite “macro,” but when some of the largest components of these indices (and associated ETFs) move so much more than I tend to think they can, then I need to question if it is still macro.

  I can hear my first boss telling me that it is time to cut, sit back with less risk on the table, and think about what is going on. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe it is the new norm? Maybe 10% is the new 1%? Maybe moves close to 10% have always happened with market leaders and I just failed to notice that? I find it hard to believe, but knowing the T-Report audience, someone will likely send me a chart showing how common it is and that I need to “get over it.”

  But I don’t think in terms of megacaps moving like that. To me, it reduces the macro, and is highly relevant as we have some other megacaps reporting this week. Should I assume 10% in either direction is a valid range? MSFT, for example, followed a more “normal” pattern. Some wild swings post-earnings in the after-market and pre-market. Stops getting triggered. Options at play. Digesting the first headlines, reading the details, listening to the call. All things that have conditioned me to see reasonably large moves in after-hours sometimes continuing into the next day of trading, typically ending with a meaningful change, but not a 10% change – especially for megacaps.

  If this T-Report sounds like a broken record fixating on something that maybe isn’t important, I apologize, but it is bothering me a lot.

  China

  For the past 3 months, the CSI 300 (one measure of Chinese stocks) is up 8.5% versus 3.5% for the S&P 500 and 2% for the Nasdaq Composite.

  One could look at this and say that:

  • The Chinese economy has turned the corner, helping stocks.

  • If China is doing better, it should help the global economy and sales into China, which should be good for all markets.

  I remain firmly in the camp that:

  • Investors were too pessimistic on the Chinese market and positioning was too underweight or short. The unwind of structured notes sold to retail (that had leverage) was happening, but that has slowed.

  • It hasn’t taken much on the economic side to help the stock market (and there are some direct intervention techniques being used to help the stock market, without doing much for the economy). Less about the market.

  • Some of this is also linked to the performance of Chinese companies. Some are selling more products (Huawei phones in China, for example).

  Since I think:

  • The reasons for the Chinese market rise have little to do with the economy (and I have recommended to clients to cut exposure here to FXI/KWEB).

  • The Threat of Made By China 2025 is real, so any rebound in China is not going to benefit global companies as much as it would have in prior years.

  I have to caution against betting on global stocks because of what we are seeing in China.

  Geopolitics

  The pressure from global leaders calling on Israel to be cautious is mounting.

  Iran, assuming they had hoped for a modicum of success with their 300+ missile and drone strike, is unlikely to do anything while they figure out why their attack was such a failure. See my base case in Should I Stay or Should I Go.

  It would be a surprise if a geopolitical event caused problems for the markets this week, but then that is often the case. It is interesting that last weekend’s question of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is as relevant as before, with some new factors added to the mix.

  Bottom Line

  Rates.

  I am most comfortable with my view on rates.

  • We will get some “soft” data and Powell won’t be hawkish enough to convince the market that we are only going to get 1 cut (basically what is currently priced in). I do not see how we get to 0 and think that we could see the case for 2 to 3 (what the dots had, depending on whether you use median or average). Buy 2s at 5% (or 4.98% as the case may be).

  • While I expect fears of the deficit, supply, etc. to push us higher at some point, I like owning 10s above 4.6% and think that 4.45% is a reasonable near-term target. As mentioned earlier, there are a number of factors that could take us there as early as this week.

  Equities

  Since I’m bullish on Treasuries, should I in theory be bullish on equities? Maybe, but that correlation has been weak to nonexistent of late. We’ve addressed this in Changing Times Impacting Signals and Correlations and Rorschach Test. I’m hesitant to be bearish stocks, but bullish on Treasuries. More importantly, I’m reluctant to be too committed in any direction until I can make better sense of these large, single day moves for megacaps. When something is bothering me and I should have a better idea of what is going on (but I don’t), then it is prudent to be cautious.

  So, I will remain bearish on equities and expect us to break the lows set on April 19th. It briefly looked like that was possible as recently as Thursday morning, but it seems less realistic now as the S&P gained 2.7% and the Nasdaq rallied 4.2%. I just cannot be too aggressive on this because I could easily see some additional 10% moves, which I’ve never really accounted for. Those moves could go in either direction.

  The one thing that does make some sense about 10% moves is that if we really are on the cusp of a viable revolution in technology, the entire market seems cheap. But, if the cost/benefit ratio is not great right now (less than revolutionary improvements at rapidly rising prices), then we could move down rapidly. So maybe 10% moves, even in megacaps, is normal when we are at an inflection point in technology and potential valuations? That is plausible, though I’m not sure how to incorporate that into my framework, other than moving more and more into options to express long and short bets.

  Credit.

  Yawn. Not a lot of room to tighten. Can widen a bit more, but primarily as a function of stocks going down than any obvious change in fundamentals. With supply likely slowing, relative to cash earmarked for new issues, I’m biased to be mildly bullish credit spreads, even while moderately bearish equities.

  May the stocks you own all go up 10% every day. I don’t completely understand it, but cannot ignore it, and might as well hope people benefit!

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 18:05

• The Struggle For The Soul Of The GOP
  The Struggle For The Soul Of The GOP

  Authored by Kevin Roberts via The Epoch Times,

  The Republican establishment doesn’t know it yet, but last weekend was a watershed moment for their party.

  

  On April 20, House Republican leadership facilitated passage of a foreign-aid package that sends roughly $60 billion to Ukraine, $26 billion to Israel and Gaza, $8 billion to Taiwan, and exactly zero dollars to the southern border. The bill has since passed the Democrat-led Senate and was signed by President Joe Biden.

  The vote will be remembered for the choice Republican leadership made to brazenly reject its own voters in favor of the “uniparty” in Washington, DC.

  In a move that can only be described as “McConnell-esque,” House Republican leadership teamed up with Democrats to overrule the position of their own conference, their voters, and the will of the American people. Democrats on the House Rules Committee made an unprecedented move by crossing the party line and overruling Republican opposition in committee, signaling an end to the typically Democrat versus Republican battle and the beginning of the conservative versus “uniparty” war.

  The disconnect between the Swamp and small-town America could not be more profound. How can a political party be so tone-deaf to the plight of the everyday American suffering under inflation, crime, and societal rot? How can a Republican-led House prioritize the borders of another country over our own border, even as American citizens are killed by illegal immigrants? How can so-called fiscally responsible Republicans sign off on what is now $174 billion in direct Ukraine aid with a national debt of $34 trillion, more than $250,000 for every American household? And how can House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had pledged repeatedly that no foreign-aid legislation would advance without first securing the border, so quickly be steamrolled by the Establishment?

  In their desire to send billions of dollars to a conflict that our commander-in-chief has still, to this day, offered no plan for winning, the GOP’s leadership not only spurned their party’s own supporters but overlooked an opportunity to appeal to independent Americans frustrated by both political parties.

  According to recent polling that The Heritage Foundation conducted with RMG Research, an overwhelming three out of four swing voters opposed sending any additional aid to Ukraine without also allocating funds for our own border. A majority (56 percent) of swing voters in key battleground states thought that the $113 billion the United States had already committed to Ukraine was too much.

  The entire Heritage enterprise fought for over a year and half on this issue. Heritage Action engaged our millions of grassroots members to voice their concerns to their representatives. Scholars at The Heritage Foundation presented a national security alternative package that included limited military aid to Ukraine but made border security the central focus. In an unprecedented move, we even issued a “key vote” on our legislative scorecard against Speaker Johnson’s convoluted rule, which was a gimmick that lowered the threshold to a simple majority (not a supermajority under suspension) and provided political cover for members to vote against individual pieces without jeopardizing the package.

  Powerful interests were aligned against us, however, and we lost on the day. Though we lost this battle, all signs indicate that we are winning the war for the soul of the GOP. A majority (112) of Republicans voted against Ukraine aid on April 20. Younger and newer members are particularly fed up with leadership’s conciliatory approach and manipulative tactics that have led us to this point. The average age of the Senate Republicans who voted “nay” is 59, while the average age of those who voted “yea” is 66. The average “nay” vote has been in office since just 2016, while the average “yea” vote has been in Washington since 2010. The same dynamic was true with the recent $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill.

  This generational shift can be ignored by the “uniparty,” but it’s not going away. Newer, younger representatives want a choice, not an echo, and increasingly they’re adopting a populist form of conservatism that champions “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” above all else. In other words, they want a GOP that puts America first, something a government in any healthy republic would do. They want a GOP that acknowledges the reality that America is a nation in decline but is not yet too late to save.

  As Ronald Reagan said in his 1980 address accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, “For those who have abandoned hope, we’ll restore hope and we’ll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again!”

  And that brings us to the importance of this year’s election.

  In 2016, despite staunch opposition from the GOP leadership, Donald Trump rejected the Washington consensus and initiated a generational realignment in American politics. If the conservative movement leans into the politics and policies President Trump made successful, the American people will again have the opportunity this fall to accelerate a new consensus in Washington, DC. This is why I remain optimistic about the future of our great nation.

  The GOP establishment’s actions this past week portend the end of the GOP establishment, not its survival. Conservatives will win the soul of the GOP and with it the hearts of the American people.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 17:30

• Putin Did Not Order Alexei Navalny's Death, US Intelligence Finds
  Putin Did Not Order Alexei Navalny’s Death, US Intelligence Finds

  In a surprising turn, The Wall Street Journal has issued a new weekend report saying that US intelligence agencies do not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned or ordered the death of opposition activist and politician Alexei Navalny.

  “U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed at the notoriously brutal prison camp in February, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that deepens the mystery about the circumstances of his death,” writes the Journal.

  

  “The assessment doesn’t dispute Putin’s culpability for Navalny’s death, but rather finds he probably didn’t order it at that moment,” WSJ continues. “The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit, the people said.”

  And yet it must be recalled that Western officials and media pundits alike had immediately upon reports of the 47-year old Navalny’s death rushed to declare that he had been ‘assassinated’ by Russian authorities upon Putin’s order.

  This led to a new wave of US-led sanctions on Russia, and even disrupted momentum toward a hoped-for prisoner swap between Moscow and Kiev at the time.

  President Biden had asserted in a statement issued on the very day of his Feb.16 death that “Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death” and that it was “proof of Putin’s Brutality” – but ultimately that the ‘democratic future’ Navalny believed in was worth “dying for” – according to the president’s words at the time.

  Russian prison authorities had officially listed his demise as from “sudden death syndrome,” which is how natural causes such as heart attacks are typically described.

  Navalny’s team is not happy with the fresh WSJ report which is being seen as essentially an exoneration of Putin:

  In a statement to the Journal, Leonid Volkov, a longtime Navalny ally, rejected the U.S. intelligence assessment and said those who assert that Putin wasn’t aware of Navalny’s death “clearly do not understand anything about how modern day Russia runs.”

  “The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous,” he said.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Below, journalist and geopolitical commentator Aaron Maté explains that despite news of Navalny’s life and death having driven world headlines, he was still largely an unknown within broader Russian politics and society especially on a national level [emphasis ZH].

  * * *

  Navalny was a marginal opposition figure who polled at around 2%. Putin didn’t fear him; it served Putin to have him seen in the West as his main opposition.

  The Russian gov’t meanwhile has just barred anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin. A Russian court has also issued a draconian prison sentence to anti-war sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky. We don’t hear about people like Nadezhdin and Kagarlitsky in the West nearly as much for one reason: unlike Navalny, they don’t collaborate with Western governments.

  Navalny worked with NATO intel cutout Bellingcat and went through the “Yale World Fellow” program, a regime change training ground. For this reason, we also don’t hear that Navalny was an unrepentant xenophobe who compared Muslim immigrants to cockroaches and rotten teeth. 

  His death is a tragedy. He was undoubtedly mistreated. But because he served US interests, US state media will make him into someone he was not. And just compare their fawning coverage to their silence on, or even support for, the ongoing persecution of Julian Assange. Or their complete silence on the mistreatment and death of US citizen Gonzalo Lira in Ukrainian custody — universally ignored in US media.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 17:12

• NY Home Depot Hires Guards And Dogs To Combat Aggressive Parking Lot Migrants
  NY Home Depot Hires Guards And Dogs To Combat Aggressive Parking Lot Migrants

  A Home Depot in New York has hired armed security guards and K-9 units to protect shoppers from aggressive migrants and thieves in the parking lots, the NY Post reports.

  

  According to City COuncilwoman Kristy Marmorato, “Everybody is well aware of the culture here at Home Depot, that we have day laborers just trying to make an honest living, and they just started to feel like it just started to become a little more aggressive.”

  “Where people are walking from the store with stuff in their cart, individuals were coming up to them and literally taking stuff out of their carts to help them and they just felt very concerned, very unsafe.“

  Two men wearing MSA Security caps and bulletproof vests with a German shepherd in tow patrolled the Home Depot in New Rochelle on Tuesday.

  “It’s more about omnipresence,” one guard said, explaining that the company was contracted a few weeks ago. “It’s not like we let them go bite anyone or anything.”

  The guard said the store hired them for a number of reasons.

  “It’s not just because of [migrants], but because of a myriad of other things too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff,” he said.  -NY Post

  A reporter for the Post observed at least 30 male migrants hovering near the doors of the Throggs Neck, Bronx location – with several day laborers aggressively confronting shoppers, trying to sell them fake Apple Airpods or trying to earn unsolicited tips for lifting items from shopping carts into cars. 

  “You come out and you’re a woman by yourself, they literally leech onto your wagon, and you’re like, ‘No, I don’t need any help,'” said one employee. “And when they’re following you to your car, it’s unnerving.”

  The employee said that a female supervisor saw one of the men washing his dick and balls with a water bottle in the lot, and that several women have called Home Depot customer service to complain of being robbed by migrants.

  “I came to work one day and there had to be 100 guys out here,” she told the Post. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, my God!'”

  A regular customer at the store, who asked to be identified only as Cheryl, said she and her husband had a frightening encounter last month.

  A man “practically runs over and he goes to point like, ‘Can I take the stuff,’ and my husband said, ‘No, thank you,’” she recalled, noting that they only had a couple of boxes and a paint scraper.

  “He’s still keeps following, like on top of us,” she said. “I said, ‘No, thank you.’” 

  When her husband turned around to open the car door, the man “put his hand” on one of the boxes in their cart. “My husband said, ‘Don’t touch anything.’”

  But the man didn’t stop. -NY Post

  “It’s come to the point where they’re invading personal space, touching people’s belongings, just harassing,” said Home Depot customer service employee, LaurieAnn Masciocco. “I get it, you’re trying to make a buck. But when it becomes aggressive and harassing, there’s a major issue.“

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 16:55

• NY Judge Claims '2nd Amendment Doesn't Exist In Her Courtroom' In Case Against Gunsmith
  NY Judge Claims ‘2nd Amendment Doesn’t Exist In Her Courtroom’ In Case Against Gunsmith

  Dexter Taylor, a software engineer and resident of Brooklyn, NY, took on gunsmithing as a hobby during the Covid-19 lockdowns.  He was already familiar with machining and found himself fascinated by the project, so he set out to learn the skills needed.  Taylor researched ATF rules regarding the building of firearms and wanted to follow them carefully.  Sadly, however, the state of New York has its own laws which leftist governments believe supersede federal law and the Constitution.  

  Because Taylor was apparently not officially licensed as a gunsmith in NY, authorities decided to raid his home and arrest him for possession of gun parts (including 80% lowers) which are legal federally but require a smithing certificate in the state (a legal gray area which is being contested).  Taylor was easy to find because he purchased all the parts with his own credit cards thinking he was protected under ATF rules.

  ATF rules state that the building of guns for personal use including 80% lowers and related parts is legal as long as the person does not build those weapons to sell.     

  Taylor’s lawyer, Vinoo Varghese, noted that the case is a difficult one in New York, hinting at the leftist bias within NY courtrooms when it comes to the 2nd Amendment.  In fact, Varghese suggested that when Judge Abena Darkeh took over the case she was oddly hostile towards the defense.  He mentions that she interrupted his opening statements multiple times, claiming that he could not use 2nd Amendment arguments in her courtroom:

  “She told us, ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.'”

  Of course, the 2nd Amendment and the Bill of Rights surpasses the authority of the State of New York and the courtroom of Judge Abena Darkeh.  New York progressives might like to think their state is a separate country from the US with its own rules, but it’s not.  It’s clear that this is a situation in which an activist judge is seeking to make an example out of a law abiding citizen with no previous criminal record.  The goal is to send a message that blue states are going to fabricate their own rules when it comes to gun rights regardless of constitutional precedent. 

  Varghese hints in a recent interview that the Judge is married to the “biggest fundraiser” for the Brooklyn DA, which may present a conflict of interest.  Also, Joe Biden has made the issue of “Ghost Guns” a primary target for his administration the past few years.  To date, the use of ghost guns in criminal acts in the US is statistically negligible.  It’s simply not a problem that needs the attention of the White House. 

  NEW: Brooklyn man convicted over his gunsmithing hobby after the judge says that the 2nd Amendment ‘doesn’t exist in this courtroom’

  ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.’ – Judge… pic.twitter.com/cgfPO4ANnm

  — Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) April 23, 2024

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  The defense also asserted that the Judge pressured the jury to come back with a guilty verdict, which they did, convicting Taylor of a list of offenses including: 

  Second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.  Two lesser charges, including third-degree criminal possession of three or more firearms and third-degree possession of a weapon, were not voted on.

  Keep in mind that in the vast majority of states in the US all of these charges sound ridiculous.  Possession of a loaded weapon?  Unlawful possession of pistol ammunition?  What?

  Taylor now faces 10-18 years in prison and he awaits sentencing in Rikers Island, one of the worst prisons in the country.  The case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, where a number of gun cases involving 80% lowers are awaiting decision.  New York’s habit of punishing good people while letting criminals go free is becoming an epidemic, and it’s likely a primary reason why the state is now suffering a net loss of hundreds of thousands of residents every year.     

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 15:45

• "Explain To Me Why We Don't Have The Right To Exist?" – Eva Vlaardingerbroek Warns Whites Against Massive Demographic Changes In Their Native Countries
  “Explain To Me Why We Don’t Have The Right To Exist?” – Eva Vlaardingerbroek Warns Whites Against Massive Demographic Changes In Their Native Countries

  By John Cody of RMXNews.com

  In an exclusive interview with Remix News, Dutch political commentator and lawyer Eva Vlaardingerbroek warns Europeans that they must take a stand against rapid demographic change or become a minority in their native countries.

  

  You’ve spoken a lot about White rights and the White replacement. But of course this kind of opens you up to these accusations of racism. So, how do conservatives deal with this Catch-22 of not wanting to be replaced in their native countries, but also not wanting to be attacked with this term?

  You can’t. That’s the thing, you can’t. So you have to pick a side. Of course, you’re going to be attacked if you say, “Hey, this continent, Europe, has been predominantly White for the entirety of its history, and now suddenly within one generation, a few bureaucrats have decided against the will of the people that we should suddenly be a minority. Why do we agree with that, or why do we allow that to happen?” If you say that, you are going to be attacked.

  But the only other option then you have is saying nothing and have it happen, so the choice is yours, and I’ve made my choice. I think there are many ways in which you can defend yourself, of course, against this ridiculous attack, so I’m sure that they’re going say about me that I’m a terrible racist again. No, that’s not true. I don’t think that any race is superior to another. I just think that mine is also not inferior to that of others.

  🚨 EXC: “The choice is yours and I’ve made mine!”@EvaVlaar tells Remix News she has accepted she will be attacked by the establishment for calling out attempts to make indigenous White Europeans a minority on their own continent.#CPACHungary2024 pic.twitter.com/faAE298zv3

  — Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) April 26, 2024

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  So, I don’t have to be pointed at as the root of all evil, as the Neo-Marxist critical race theory does. I don’t have to become a minority in my own country, as Joe Biden said would be “a good thing,” would be “our strength.” No, why actually? Who was the racist here? Explain to me why we don’t have the right to exist, why we’re not allowed to be a majority in the continent, in the countries that we have been a majority in since forever? Explain it to me. Turn the question around.

  A lot of right-wing parties here are willing to talk about illegal immigration, but unwilling to address legal immigration. Some conservative parties even promote legal immigration. What do you think about this development?

  Well, the problem is of course that if you have tons of illegal immigration, and then you slap the label “legal” on it, then nothing changes. So that’s something that we’ve seen in the past few years that illegal immigration has been made legal in a way, so it’s been made really easy for certain people to come to Europe and also not so easy for others to go through the regular system. I think this problem exists in America to a certain degree as well, that it’s quite hard to immigrate legally to the United States, but illegally it’s not so difficult across the Mexican border.

  So, if you look at the problem of immigration, I think you have to look also at demographic change. That’s why I took this dance today on stage. We have to look at the reality rather than the term that they put on immigration. Do we agree with what’s happening here, with what is happening with this rapid change in our demographic makeup? If the answer is no, then something needs to change. It’s as simple as that.

  🇳🇱‼️ @EvaVlaar: “If we don’t start to fight for our continent, the time in which we live will go down in history as the time Western nations didn’t need to be invaded to be conquered. Our corrupt elite invited the invaders in!” #CPACHungary2024 pic.twitter.com/DmtQcXbFoU

  — Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) April 26, 2024

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  You converted to Catholicism approximately a year ago. How has your Catholicism influenced your politics, if at all?

  It has influenced my politics in the sense that my faith has become such a huge part of my life, that even more so than before, I feel like it would be completely disingenuous and wrong for me to exclude my faith from my political messaging. So, as it has such a massive influence on me as a person, I think it’s noticeable to people that I let it seep through a lot more in my speeches and in my discourse than maybe I did before. So, it just inspires my ideas and my ability to go on stage. I pray to God before I go on stage, that is something that I didn’t use to do a few years ago, but it immediately calms me just asking God for guidance and help, you know, to give me the strength to do his will on stage.

  What do you think about the fact that most Northern European right-wing parties are shying away from religious messages in their party platform? The AfD, Sweden, Democrats, a lot of Dutch parties keep it in the background, perhaps because people are leaving the church, and many young people are leaving the church. So, how do conservatives reach young people in Northern Europe while maintaining their convictions?

  I think it’s a big mistake to leave religion and to leave the Christian faith out of your political messaging, especially if you want to reach the youth. I think that we’ve been brainwashed to believe that if we preach the Gospel, if we call upon our Lord during our speeches, if we speak proudly and openly about the fact that we’re Christians, that we’re then going to scare away the youth. I think the opposite is actually true.

  I think there is a moral vacuum that’s either going to be filled with climate insanity or woke nonsense or some other subversive left-wing ideology, or it’s going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, you have two choices, and I think that people are looking for truth. People are looking for answers and the best gift that you can give someone is to point them in the direction of the truth rather than to dance around it and sugarcoat it, which I think is what we’ve been doing in Northwestern Europe for a long time and look where it got us.

  Continue reading on RMXnews.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 15:44

• Watch: Biden Lectures Press To Get Behind His Campaign
  Watch: Biden Lectures Press To Get Behind His Campaign

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  In an incredible moment at the annual White House correspondent’s Dinner Saturday, Joe Biden lectured reporters, telling them they need to “rise up” and get behind his campaign, insinuating that if they don’t there will no longer be a free press in America.

  

  Biden addressed the press, stating that “the most urgent question of our time is whether democracy is still the sacred cause of America. That is the question the American people must answer this year and you, the free press, play a critical role in making sure the American people have the information they need to make an informed decision.”

  Biden again calls on journalists to defend democracy (i.e. crush Republicans):

  “Move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments, and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics and focusing on what’s actually at stake. I… pic.twitter.com/bdGSSCTgUr

  — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 28, 2024

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  First of all, Biden appears to be saying that he is ‘Democracy’ and if people do not vote for him that is somehow undemocratic.

  Secondly, he is telling the press that they are capable of swaying public opinion in his favour, which is completely undemocratic.

  He isn’t asking the press to report facts neutrally and let the people decide, as evidenced by his next sentence, which was replete with the usual disinformation about Donald Trump.

  “The defeated former President has made no secret of his attack on our democracy. He said he wants to be a dictator on day one and so much more. He tells supporters he is the revenge and retribution. When in God’s name ever heard of another president say something like that? And he promised a bloodbath when he loses again,” Biden asserted.

  While claiming he is not asking the press to “take sides,” he did exactly that.

  “We have to take this seriously. Eight years ago, it could have been written off as just Trump talk but no longer, not after January 6. I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides, but asking a rise up to the seriousness of the moment,” Biden persisted.

  “Move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments, and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics and focusing on what’s actually at stake,” he continued, adding “I think in your hearts, you know what’s at stake.”

  “The stakes couldn’t be higher every single one of us has roles to play — a serious role, to play in making sure democracy endures, American democracy. I have my role, but with all due respect, so do you,” he lectured reporters.

  He then had the gall to instruct reporters to provide “credible information,” rather than “disinformation,” while toasting the “free press.”

  “In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can trust is more important than ever and that makes you, and I mean this with the bottom of my heart, makes you more important than ever. So tonight, I’d like to make a toast — to a free press, to an informed citizenry, to an American where freedom and democracy endure. God bless America,” Biden concluded.

  A “free press” but I’m gonna tell you what to write about and what not to.

  — Chrissy (@Chrissys067) April 28, 2024

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  So he’s saying don’t write anything about me, just go after Trump.

  — linda thompson (@lthomps54) April 28, 2024

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  It’s a campaign rally. These are his constituents.

  — Janice (@jannyfayray) April 28, 2024

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  In other words, take sides 🙄

  — Jeff Trent (@JLTrent86) April 28, 2024

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  This all comes in a week when Biden has managed to ignite a war with The New York Times.

  The Times is annoyed with Biden’s complete disinterest in providing interviews or access for reporters, while his administration is angry that the Times isn’t falling into line as a propaganda arm against Trump.

  Biden ‘joked’ about it, Saturday. It’s funny because it’s true.

  In other words, take sides 🙄

  — Jeff Trent (@JLTrent86) April 28, 2024

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  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 15:10

• Watch: Arizona State Fraternity Students Tear Down Pro-Palestine Encampment And Boot Out Activists
  Watch: Arizona State Fraternity Students Tear Down Pro-Palestine Encampment And Boot Out Activists

  After years of leftist activists disrupting the speech of groups and individuals they disagree with and threatening people with “cancellation” for having the “wrong” opinions, it’s hard to find sympathy for them when they finally get a taste of their own medicine.  Woke protesters have recently sought to bring back the old Seattle CHAZ model of taking over public property and declaring it their own territory; in this case the territory is college campuses around the US. 

  The problem of western progressives hijacking causes in order to insert their own agendas has been noted by many in the independent media.  While some people may be approaching the Gaza protests in good faith, there are many others who are not.

  Apologists might argue that the goal of a protest is to “disrupt” but there are still laws in place that activists must follow.  These include laws that make it illegal to obstruct other citizens from using public property, public roads and public buildings (the insane actions of anti-oil protesters come to mind).  Regardless of how you might feel about the Israel/Hamas conflict, the reality is that it has nothing to do with students trying to go to classes at universities across the country, and stopping them from doing so violates their rights.  

  This is something that the Gaza protesters seem to have forgotten; their cause is not the only important matter at hand.  If they are merely speaking their minds and engaging in fair discourse then they have every right.  Once they start taking over colleges and acting as if they own the place, then there’s going to be a problem.  It has also been reported that more than half of these activists are not even members of the colleges in question.   

  

  Various states have handled the matter differently.  Texas Governor Greg Abbot received criticism for what some argued were heavy handed tactics when removing protesters from campuses after declaring a no-tolerance policy for “antisemitism.”  Many conservative commentators suggested that even though they don’t like the activists involved, antisemitism is not a valid reason to remove them.  

  In other states police have been mostly de-fanged and can do very little even when protesters block other students from attending classes.  However, they may have found a way around this.  At Arizona State University fraternity members stepped in and tore down protester encampments while police stayed out of their way.

  Early this morning police at ASU, with help from fraternity members, tore down the pro-Hamas encampment.

  An extremist watching whined because she wasn’t being allowed to continue to break the law.

  Imagine the embarrassment of being this girl’s parents.pic.twitter.com/CU4IwuuCYb

  — Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 27, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsIn other words, this is not a case of police interfering with protester activities, this is members of the student body cleaning up their own campus. 

  One has to wonder why campuses are being targeted over a war on the other side of the world that does not directly involve them in any way?  If funding of Israel is the issue, then why aren’t these protestors on the front lawn of the Biden White House?  It only makes sense if the goal is to exploit the Gaza issue in order to get visibility for other agendas.   

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/28/2024 – 14:35

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• Iran's Nightmares
  Iran’s Nightmares

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

  Details of the recent limited Israeli retaliatory strike against Iranian anti-aircraft missile batteries at Isfahan are still sketchy. But nonetheless, we can draw some conclusions.

  

  Israel’s small volley of missiles hit their intended targets, to the point of zeroing in on the very launchers designed to stop such incoming ordnance.

  The target was near the Natanz enrichment facility. That proximity was by design. Israel showed Iran it could take out the very anti-missile battery designed to thwart an attack on its nearby nuclear facility.

  The larger message sent to the world was that Israel could send a retaliatory barrage at Iranian nuclear sites with reasonable assurances that the incoming attacks could not be stopped. By comparison, Iran’s earlier attack on Israel was much greater and more indiscriminate. It was also a huge flop, with an estimated 99 percent of the more than 320 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles failing to hit their planned targets.

  Moreover, it was reported that more than 50 percent of Iran’s roughly 115-120 ballistic missiles failed at launch or malfunctioned in flight.

  Collate these facts, and it presents a disturbing corrective to Iran’s non-stop boasts of soon possessing a nuclear arsenal that will obliterate the Jewish state.

  Consider further the following nightmarish scenarios: Were Iranian nuclear-tipped missiles ever launched at Israel, they could pass over, in addition to Syria and Iraq, either Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, or all four. In the cases of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, such trajectories would constitute an act of war, especially considering that some of Iran’s recent aerial barrages were intercepted and destroyed over Arab territory well before they reached Israel.

  Iran’s strike prompted Arab nations, the US, the UK, and France to work in concert to destroy almost all of Iran’s drones. For Iran, that is a premonition of the sort of sophisticated aerial opposition it might face if it ever decided to stage a nuclear version.

  Even if half of Iran’s ballistic missiles did launch successfully, only a handful apparently neared their intended targets—in sharp contrast to Israel’s successful attack on Iranian missile batteries. Is it thus conceivable that any Iranian-nuclear-tipped missile launched toward Israel might pose as great a threat to Iran itself or its neighbors as to Israel?

  And even if such missiles made it into the air and even if they successfully traversed Arab airspace, there is still an overwhelming chance they would be neutralized before detonating above Israel.

  Any such launch would warrant an immediate Israeli response. And the incoming bombs and missiles would likely have a 100 percent certainty of evading Iran’s countermeasures and hitting their targets.

  Now that the soil of both Iran and Israel is no longer sacred and immune from attack, the mystique of the Iranian nuclear threat has dissipated.

  It should be harder for the theocracy to shake down Western governments for hostage bribes, sanctions relief, and Iran-deal giveaways on the implied threat of Iran successfully nuking the Jewish state.

  The new reality is that Iran has goaded an Israel that has numerous nuclear weapons and dozens of nuclear-tipped missiles in hardened silos and on submarines. Tehran has zero ability to stop any of these missiles or sophisticated fifth-generation Israeli aircraft armed with nuclear bombs and missiles.

  Iran must now fear that if it launched 2-3 nuclear missiles, there would be overwhelming odds that they would either fail at launch, go awry in the air, implode inside Iran, be taken down over Arab territory by Israel’s allies, or be knocked down by the tripartite Israel anti-missile defense system.

  Add it all up, and the Iranian attack on Israel seems a historic blunder. It showed the world the impotence of an Iranian aerial assault at the very time it threatens to go nuclear. It revealed that an incompetent Iran may be as much a threat to itself as to its enemies. It opened up a new chapter in which its own soil, thanks to its attack on Israel, is no longer off limits to any Western power.

  Its failure to stop a much smaller Israel response, coupled with the overwhelming success of Israel and its allies in stopping a much larger Iranian attack, reminds the Iranian autocracy that its shrill rhetoric is designed to mask its impotence and to hide its own vulnerabilities from its enemies.

  And the long-suffering Iranian people?

  The truth will come out that its own theocracy hit the Israeli homeland with negligible results and earned a successful, though merely demonstrative, Israeli response in return.

  So Iranians will learn their homeland is now vulnerable and, for the future, no longer off limits.

  And they will conclude that Israel has more effective allies than Iran and that their own ballistic missiles may be more suicidal than homicidal.

  As a result, they may conclude that the real enemies of the Iranian nation are not the Jewish people of Israel after all, but their own unhinged Islamist theocrats.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 23:20

• Americans Are Increasingly Negative About China
  Americans Are Increasingly Negative About China

  Data by Gallup shows that Americans’ views of China have continued to worsen after 2018.

  The deterioration started with the U.S.-China trade war under President Donald Trump, continued during the coronavirus pandemic that originated in China and has recently taken on yet another dimension among concerns about widespread Chinese tech and industrial espionage and subversion as well as continued human rights abuses and tension surrounding Taiwan.

  As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, among American adults in 2024, unfavorable views of China were voiced by 77 percent of respondents after having reached a high of 84 percent in early 2023. In 2005, that figure had stood at just 47 percent.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In 2023, 77 percent of Americans said the viewed Taiwan very or mostly favorable. At the same time, 66 percent saw the military power of China as a critical threat, up from 41 percent in 2016.

  64 percent said the same about the economic power of China.

  Republicans voters saw China more critical with just 6 percent who had a favorable view in 2023, compared to 18 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Independents.

  That year, favorable views of China in the U.S. reached an all-time low of just 15 percent overall. Again, Republicans were more critical of China’s military and economic prowess, with 80-81 percent seeing it as a major threat.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 22:45

• The Scramble For Antarctica
  The Scramble For Antarctica

  Authored by Gregory Copley via The Epoch Times,

  The “scramble for Antarctica” is slowly gathering steam, and it is not unrelated to a new “scramble for the Americas.” The ramifications for the Indo-Pacific and, indeed, for the global strategic balance are also profound.

  

  By 2024, Antarctica had at least 82 bases from more than 30 countries. China has five bases, three built within the past decade (the latest in February), and three with year-round manning.

  Antarctica, in its own right, is home to many mineral and oceanic riches, but it is also key to a number of military, navigational, and other resources. The revival of interest in global-reach fractional orbital bombardment systems (FOBS), for example, relying on polar orbit delivery of hypersonic weapons, depends on having assets in both polar regions. The region may have certain properties that are ideal for collecting signals intelligence.

  But the case of Antarctica is particularly interesting because it is, in essence, “no man’s land,” truly a terra nullius; it is the last major landmass that is essentially outside the realm of the “ownership” of national governments.

  Significantly, the “scramble for Africa,” which reached its zenith in the 19th century, is now facing the prospect of a widespread and not necessarily peaceful “undoing” as the great powers comprehensively lose their influence there. But that is another story. What is significant now is the competition of the major powers and others for dominance in Antarctica, and this is not unrelated to interest in the Arctic.

  Change throughout the global systems of governance was accelerating through 2024, with the main focus on the internal divisions of most societies, the decline in trust in—or prestige of—almost all nation-states and their governance, and a breakdown in transnational governance bodies. In macro terms, it is a period of conflict between globalist totalitarianism and nationalism.

  But if Africa was perceived in and before the 19th century as a region ripe for conquest and exploitation, and many areas of the world were then only beginning to be opened to a new, industrialized world, then Antarctica today is the great treasure open for seizure, if only for the fact that it has no native inhabitants capable of speaking for themselves.

  The tenets of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty are being largely honored in the breach. The treaty primarily spells out the demilitarization of the continent. While it is true that there are no formal combatant forces there, it is not true that the landmass is free from military and strategic usage. The Antarctic Treaty, initially proposed by the United States, was adopted in 1959 by 12 nations: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A number of other nations acceded to the treaty, among which Brazil, (then) West Germany, India, and Poland were the most actively engaged in Antarctic research. The treaty supposedly ensured the non-militarization of the continent and freedom of scientific investigation.

  Nothing in the treaty was, the 1959 document said, to be interpreted as “a renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Party of any basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.” Thus, the seven nations that have outstanding (and often overlapping) claims to Antarctica emanating outward like slices of a pie—Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK—may harbor hopes to have their claims recognized internationally “at some future time.”

  That future time has begun.

  The claims have been staked, and the next decade may see some of these claims become concrete. At the time of the Antarctic Treaty’s creation, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) claimed the right to acquire the entire Antarctic. The Russian Federation, which succeeded the USSR, has not renounced that option.

  A widely accepted but not fixed concept on which nations have territorial rights to Antarctica is based on sovereign land exposure to the continent. Thus, the exposure is determined by a “pie-chart” set of lines from the South Pole to the eastern and western extremes of the facing landmass. Under this arrangement, Australia is the largest stakeholder in Antarctica, and the South Atlantic British territories, such as the Falkland Islands and South George, give the UK exposure to the continent. Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and France also have claims under this formula. It would not be unexpected for South Africa to stake a claim under this arrangement.

  But thus far, it has all been based on the 1959 Treaty and “understandings.” Nothing has been defined and tested by conquest or the increasingly frail “international courts.” We are in an age when Cold War and post-Cold War treaties are being discarded—often wisely because they have been overtaken by history—while we plunge further into the age when supposedly binding treaties are being interpreted as “suggestions.” And global governance mechanisms, such as the United Nations and regional organizations, are unable to halt unilateral power projection by force.

  Significantly, communist China does not see Antarctica in isolation but as a component of its global—and globalist—projection.

  China on Feb. 7 inaugurated its Ross Sea scientific research station near the Ross Sea region and the U.S. McMurdo station and those of New Zealand, South Korea, Italy, Germany, and France, starting operations in an outpost in a part of the Antarctic due south of Australia and New Zealand for the first time. The Qinling station will be staffed year-round with quarters sufficient to house as many as 80 people in the summer months. China has four other research stations in other parts of Antarctica built from 1985 to 2014—Zhongshan, Taishan, Kunlun, and Great Wall—with two year-round stations like Qinling.

  

  Chinese ice-breaker Xuelong, or “Snow Dragon,” sets off from a port in Shanghai on Nov. 8, 2017. Xuelong steamed south from Shanghai on Nov. 8, bound for Antarctica to establish China’s newest base as Beijing strives to become a polar power. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

  Construction of Qinling first broke ground in 2018, but its launch was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2023, China sent its biggest Antarctic fleet and more than 460 personnel to the site to help complete the station.

  However, in the broader sense, the 2020s began to see the unraveling of those Cold War and immediate post-Cold War treaties, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, largely because they constrained the Western alliance and Russia but did not put limitations on Beijing.

  The result is that the world is entering an era when not only are formal arrangements governing military behavior disintegrating, and the so-called rules-based world order is being repudiated (particularly by the Chinese regime), but so, too, is the influence of regional bodies, such as the African Union (AU), the Organization of American States (OAS), and so on.

  The OAS has, in fact, become meaningless. This links to the Antarctica question because China has not only been building its polar capacities but has also built linked installations in South America for its space capacities.

  China’s Espacio Lejano Station, which, according to Wikipedia, “is a radio station located in Loncopué Department, Neuquén Province, Argentina, and is operated by the Chinese National Space Administration as part of the Chinese Deep Space Network, in collaboration with Argentina’s National Space Activities Commission (CONAE). The Chinese Deep Space Network is managed by the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), which reports to the People’s Liberation Army [PLA] Strategic Support Force.” No Argentine officials, including those from CONAE, are permitted access to the 200-hectare facility, which has been operating since 2018.

  Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, was reported in 2024 to be anxious to ensure Argentinian access to the base. China is also known to utilize South America for other space-related activities.

  

  Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, speaks to the crowd from a balcony of the Casa Rosada government palace during his inauguration day in Buenos Aires on Dec. 10, 2023. (Cezaro de Luca/AFP via Getty Images)

  The Argentine Congress did not approve the 50-year lease to China of the land for the station until February 2015, but work had already begun on it in 2013, and it was completed in 2017.

  Meanwhile, the Chinese regime’s penetration of the entire Caribbean network of small countries, as well as much of the Western Hemisphere south of the United States, has been completed for some time. The old U.S. Monroe Doctrine, initiated in 1823 to give Washington the “right” to keep European powers out of the southern Americas, has completely given way to the influence of Beijing.

  So what happens when China breaks apart strategically, and how will this happen?

  China is becoming increasingly preoccupied with internal difficulties and threats. Its economy, never as large as Beijing claimed in recent years, is now in tatters. The fact that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views the internal threat as greater than the external challenge is exemplified by the reality that it spends more on internal security forces than the People’s Liberation Army.

  While building its gold reserves to diversify away from the U.S. dollar (Beijing is quietly moving out of its holdings of U.S. debt), China is facing a shortage of funds and is, in any event, facing the prospect of a leadership challenge. This portends an open question, but what is clear is that a period of chaos can be anticipated.

  It may be true that the United States has gradually absorbed the impact of a reduced dependence on the Chinese market and funds, but the rest of the Americas have not, and neither has Australia, for example. In a period of transformation, China may well attempt some external adventures that could mark the end of the present strategic framework. This could well unravel Antarctica’s special status.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 22:10

• "A Marriage Of Ineptitude & High Self-Esteem" – Tucker Exposes The Liberal Cognoscenti
  “A Marriage Of Ineptitude & High Self-Esteem” – Tucker Exposes The Liberal Cognoscenti

  “The marriage of ineptitude and high self-esteem is really the marker of our time,” explains Tucker Carlson as part of his wide-ranging discussion with Joe Rogan.

  

  Reflecting on the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Karine Jean-Pierre, Carlson remarks that “I’ve nothing against dumb people at all. My dogs are dumb and I love my dogs…”

  “I’m not attacking [AOC] for being dumb, and the White House Press Secretary is in the same category, but the idea that dumb person has no idea she’s dumb, she really thinks like she won the prize, she’s the most impressive, like:

  “I’m White House Press Secretary because I’m the best talker in America.”

  It’s so crazy and yet the smartest people I know are very often sort of, they have humility.”

  Watch the brief discussion below:

  Tucker Carlson about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Karine Jean-Pierre: “The marriage of ineptitude and high self-esteem is really the marker of our time. I’ve nothing against dumb people at all. My dogs are dumb and I love my dogs….I’m not attacking her for being dumb but the… pic.twitter.com/aL9PyyWyyf

  — Camus (@newstart_2024) April 26, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 21:35

• How The Supreme Court's Immunity Decision Could Limit The Cases Against Trump
  How The Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision Could Limit The Cases Against Trump

  Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times,

  The Supreme Court indicated on April 25 that it would issue a narrow ruling refining the scope of presidential immunity while leaving the details of former President Donald Trump’s other legal battles up to lower courts.

  

  The most immediate effect of their decision on President Trump’s legal battles would be to delay his Washington case, where his immunity appeal originated. That trial was scheduled to start on March 4 but, more recently, observers have been questioning whether it will even start before the election.

  Sending the case back to D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan would presumably force her to continue pre-trial proceedings with an added layer: Determining how to square Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment with the Supreme Court’s new definition of immunity.

  Based on their April 25 questions, the justices are expected to distinguish between official and unofficial acts while ruling that presidents enjoy some immunity for the official ones. But it’s unclear how specific they will be in their description and whether they’ll provide enough instructions for the lower court to avoid yet another appeal that could once again reach the Supreme Court.

  “The Supreme Court could remand the immunity case with very little, if any, instruction, let the district court come up with its opinion, and then let the appellate court deal with it again,” John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both Bush administrations, told The Epoch Times. He added, “I certainly hope that doesn’t happen, because we’d end up right where we are today.”

  Even if the case does proceed to trial, it’s questionable how effective it will be without some of the indicted actions that President Trump’s attorney, D. John Sauer, said were private and therefore outside the scope of immunity. Michael Dreeben, who argued for Mr. Smith, said the Justice Department was willing to proceed with a weakened indictment.

  Perhaps previewing the court’s opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts worried that without official acts, the trial court may be proceeding with a “one-legged stool.” Mr. Sauer responded that he didn’t think the case “would be able to go forward.”

  Mark Miller, senior counsel at the Pacific Legal Foundation, told The Epoch Times that Justice Roberts could require a special interrogatory verdict form in which the jury is asked to distinguish between official and nonofficial conduct in weighing President Trump’s case.

  State of Trump’s Other Cases

  It’s difficult to predict how the court’s decision would impact President Trump’s other ongoing criminal cases. Their future may hinge on the justices’ particular phrasing rather than merely distinguishing between official and non-official acts.

  The Georgia election case is the most likely to be impacted by the decision since the accusations are most similar to the Washington trial, which will likely loom large in the justices’ deliberations.

  But as the court indicated, their eventual opinion will have long-lasting impacts on other cases. “We’re writing a rule for the ages,” Justice Neil Gorsuch told Mr. Dreeben. The opinion would presumably ripple through multiple levels of the justice system as well. In an exchange with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Mr. Dreeben acknowledged that immunity would apply to both state and federal prosecutions.

  On the day of the oral argument, President Trump was facing state charges related to his purported attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election with a “hush money” payment to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford. In that case, he tried raising presidential immunity as a reason to exclude certain evidence since it came from his official communications channels as president.

  New York Judge Juan Merchan said the motion was filed too late but it nevertheless highlighted the complicated nature of President Trump’s cases as they relate to immunity. While the alleged payment to Ms. Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, was made before the election, the purported falsification of documents didn’t occur until after he took office.

  President Trump theoretically could appeal a conviction in New York based on the Supreme Court’s decision. It’s unclear, however, whether the payments would fall under the type of immunity that the Supreme Court eventually granted.

  

  Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Feb. 15, 2024. (Alyssa Pointer/Pool via Getty Images)

  Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested the Georgia trial start in August but that seemed increasingly unlikely after information surfaced about her affair with Nathan Wade, one of her top prosecutors.

  “That’s not even going to … start before the election,” Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain told The Epoch Times.

  Kevin O’Brien, a former assistant U.S. attorney, similarly told The Epoch Times that “no one” knows when the Georgia trial will start. “Even under the best of circumstances, it wasn’t going to start until next year,” he said.

  Post-Election Fallout

  If the Georgia trial proceeded, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee would presumably need to parse out that indictment like Judge Chutkan would with the one in Washington.

  Besides President Trump, more than a dozen others were named in the Georgia indictment. Those included former aides like former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Experts like South Texas College of Law Professor Josh Blackman and Mr. Chamberlain suggested it was unlikely the immunity decision would afford substantial protection to defendants other than President Trump.

  Mr. Meadows filed an amicus brief in which he told the Supreme Court that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution made him immune from charges in Fulton County because they “arise from his official acts as Chief of Staff.” It’s unclear how the court will rule or affirm criminal immunity for advisers, if at all.

  “The Court should therefore take care to ensure that it leaves intact the robust immunity from state prosecution afforded under the Supremacy Clause, particularly as it relates to subordinate federal officials,” he said.

  

  Then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows talks to reporters at the White House in Washington, on Oct. 21, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

  President Trump’s remaining federal case in Florida involves his handling of classified documents and was initially scheduled to start on May 20, but that appeared to be in limbo. The Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion in June, meaning that a delayed trial in Florida could see an attempt by President Trump to raise legal arguments from the justices’ opinions.

  As in the New York case, it appeared that President Trump could appeal a would-be conviction depending on the scope of immunity provided by the Supreme Court’s decision. “It would definitely impact [the Florida and Georgia cases] because both of those deal with what Trump and his lawyers would argue are official acts,” constitutional attorney Gayle Trotter told The Epoch Times.

  In February, President Trump asked Florida Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss 32 counts in his indictment based on presidential immunity. She has yet to issue a decision on that motion.

  Regardless of how the justices rule on immunity, oral argument raised the prospect that presidents can override the effects of state and federal prosecutions by pardoning themselves.

  Assuming any of his trials extend past his would-be inauguration, it’s questionable whether he could use his pardon authority on himself.

  Justice Gorsuch noted that “happily,” the question of a president’s self-pardoning “has never been presented to us.” Mr. Dreeben told the court: “I don’t believe the Department of Justice has taken a position [on self-pardoning]. The only authority that I’m aware of is a member of the Office of Legal Counsel wrote on a memorandum that there is no self-pardon authority. As far as I know, the Department has not addressed it further.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 21:00

• Adam Schiff Robbed In San Francisco
  Adam Schiff Robbed In San Francisco

  Via the Post Millennial,

  

  Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff’s luggage was stolen out of his parked car in a downtown San Francisco parking garage on Thursday. He later attended speaking event and dinner in a shirt and hiking vest.   

  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the left-wing Senate hopeful was at the event to thank high-profile lawyer Joe Cotchett for his support to replace the late Dianne Feinstein.    

  The outlet reported that Schiff’s car had been parked in the garage to visit the area.  

  Cotchett’s press agent Lee Houskeeper, who was at the dinner at Ristorante Rocca and warned Schiff not to leave anything in the car, reportedly said, “I guess it’s ‘Welcome to San Francisco.’”    

  Cotchett said Schiff was not fazed by the incident and went about his business during the visit and acted as if everything was normal.     

  The congressman told the Chronicle, “Yes, they took my bags. But I’m here to thank Joe.”    

  Schiff ended up speaking without a suit jacket during the event and instead donned a shirt and hiking vest.   

  “Maybe he can go out with Willie Brown to choose a new suit from one of the many fine clothing establishments in San Francisco,” Houskeeper joked, mentioning the former San Francisco mayor.  “Willie knows them all.”    

  Schiff grew up in the city and has been in the California delegations for over 20 years while crime has become a growing issue for Californians.    

  Crime has in San Francisco has led a mass exodus of retailers from the downtown core. This includes the likes of stores such as J. Crew, Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, and entire malls closing up shop.    

  Last year a CNN crew that was reporting on the rampant crime had their vehicle broken into and equipment stolen. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 20:25

• Bitcoin Is Built To Last: How The Network Defends Against Attacks
  Bitcoin Is Built To Last: How The Network Defends Against Attacks

  Via Bitcoin Magazine,

  Bitcoin is one of the most robust distributed systems in the history of mankind. For fifteen years it has ticked along block by block with only two disruptions in its first few years that were very quickly handled by responsive developers the minute they manifested themselves. Aside from that, it has ticked along producing a block roughly every ten minutes with no interruptions.

  

  This reliability has set a golden standard of expectations for Bitcoin users, encouraging them to view it as a completely unstoppable system.

  In many peoples’ minds, Bitcoin has already won, and the world is just catching up with that realization. “Bitcoin is inevitable” as many would say.

  This doesn’t mean that Bitcoin is literally unstoppable though, there are possible events that could cause massive damage or disruption to the network if they were to occur. We’re going to go through a few of these examples today and see how they would likely play out.

  GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

  Bitcoin represents a serious conundrum for governments worldwide in multiple ways. First, it functions as a system allowing global payments to flow from one user to another, irrespective of borders or financial controls.

  But while governments can’t stop the overall Bitcoin system from continuing to function, they can introduce regulations to impact its participants. In order to really disrupt the Bitcoin network itself governments would have to go after the miners that actually add new blocks to the blockchain to keep the system progressing forward.

  This was done before in 2021, when the Chinese government banned bitcoin mining. Almost 50% of the network hashrate went offline as Chinese miners began migrating to the rest of the world.

  The network kept on ticking.

  In the worst-case scenario, the Chinese government could have enforced confiscation of mining hardware. That would have left the CCP in control of all of those miners, which could have been put to use engaging in a 51% attack on the network. But that didn’t happen. Even if the confiscatory approach had been taken, rather than simply enforcing a mining ban, it would have been deeply unlikely to succeed in attacking the network given the complexity of coordination among collaborators.

  For example, one of the places large amounts of hashrate migrated to was Iran. Lots of rumors circulated at the time of miners bribing Iranian military officials in order to get their machines past customs into the country.

  If governments attempted to seize mining equipment and closed borders preventing equipment from being shipped internationally, the possibility of bribing government officials or illegally smuggling them out is very real given the financial incentive to do so. For such a seizure event to present an existential risk to the network itself, a government would need to be able to seize over 51% of the active network hashrate. All it would take is a small enough percentage to sneak through the borders to ensure that what was left to be seized did not surpass that 51% threshold and the network would remain safe.

  As hashrate further decentralizes around the globe, the possibility of such an action creating a risk to Bitcoin itself continues to shrink. While it still remains a possibility, the more governments that would be required to cooperate to pull off such a move, the less likely such an event is. Bitcoin’s resilience shines through, as empirically demonstrated by the actions of the CCP in 2021.

  POWER GRID FAILURE

  Bitcoin miners cannot function without electricity. They’re computers at the end of the day, so that’s an obvious reality. This presents a big risk to miners who depend on power generation and delivery infrastructure.

  Many natural disasters can cause power failures and issues with the grid. Hurricanes, wildfires, extreme weather events like cold snaps can disrupt power infrastructure. A prime example of a of such events impacting hashrate was seen in Texas during winter storm Uri in 2021. The scale of these events, however, do not directly pose a systemic risk to the Bitcoin network. Texas losing power, even with ~30% of the network hashrate located within the state, would not bring down or destroy the Bitcoin network.

  As shown in 2021 during the Chinese mining ban, even with ~50% of the network hashrate going offline in an incredibly short period of time, the network continued to function. Yes, the blocktime interval increased dramatically and induced a large spike in transaction fees to confirm transactions quickly, but the network itself continued functioning and processing transactions without interruption.

  Even if we were to imagine a much larger scale event, such as a massive solar storm knocking out power for half of the entire planet, the other half would still have functioning power. The miners located in that half of the globe would continue mining, continue confirming transactions, and the network would march along functioning just fine for half of the planet. Even people on the half of the globe without power, as long as they have maintained a physical backup of their seed phrase, will still have access to their funds whenever power is restored or they can make their way to a place with a functioning grid.

  Power would need to be taken out for essentially the entire planet to actually kill Bitcoin, otherwise, it will keep chugging away in a corner somewhere until power is brought back online and it can “regenerate” itself expanding back around the globe.

  INTERNET DISRUPTIONS

  While the internet is composed of decentralized protocols in a similar fashion to Bitcoin, the actual infrastructure underlying it is owned mostly by large multinational corporations and governments (again similar to Bitcoin infrastructure like miners). The ownership of this infrastructure is still relatively distributed among many players globally, but it is not the same degree of distribution as a highly decentralized system like a mesh network.

  There are still rather large chokepoints and bottlenecks that if disrupted or attacked can cause a massive degradation of reliability and functionality. Almost everyone connects to the wider internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), this market is dominated in most of the world by a handful of large providers in any given region. There isn’t much choice between providers, and this represents a large chokepoint for people interacting with the internet. If an ISP filters or denies you access and there isn’t another provider to choose from, you’re in trouble.

  Similarly, your ability to talk to someone on the other side of the world is due to larger “backbone” networks run by major corporations, and underwater fiber-optic cables along the ocean floor. These cables are highly centralized chokepoints for communications between different countries and continents. If the operators were to begin filtering information passing through them, or someone were to physically sever the cables themselves, it could cause massive disruption of global internet traffic.

  So what could actually be done if either of these things happened? If an ISP started filtering Bitcoin traffic to users, people would have their nodes disconnected from the network. Broadcasting transactions might be impossible, depending on how harshly the ISP filters traffic. But the rest of the network would keep chugging along. Services like Blockstream’s satellite feed exist, and a bitcoin transaction is such a small piece of data that any momentary connection to an unfiltered network would be enough to broadcast your payments.

  Even larger-scale interruptions of connections between countries or regions amount to a simple irritation in the grand scheme of things. Let’s say a country like Russia had its internet connection to the outside world completely severed. If Russian miners didn’t shut down, the blockchain would fork into two separate chains because miners inside and outside Russia would not receive each others’ blocks. Whenever that connection was repaired, whichever group of miners had mined a longer chain would simply “overwrite” the shorter one, erasing the transactions that took place on the other shorter chain.

  There is also a high possibility such a chainsplit doesn’t even occur in such a situation. Blockstream’s satellite service offers a way for people even without the internet to continue receiving blocks in real time from the rest of the network. This, in combination with satellite uplinks (which are not as simple to block), or even radio relays, could allow Russian miners to continue mining a single blockchain with the rest of the network through an outage.

  Yet again, Bitcoin’s resilience can find a way.

  WRAPPING UP

  Bitcoin is not quite literally invincible, or unstoppable, but it is unbelievably resilient in the face of disruption or adversarial attack on the network. It was literally designed to function this way. The entire point of decentralized networks is to be robust in the face of threats and disruptions, and Bitcoin has succeeded amazingly in that design goal.

  The world has, and will continue to see, incredibly massive destructive events. Whether that entails weather events or cosmic events, acts of intentional sabotage or warfare, or just plain old government regulation, Bitcoin has survived many of them already. It will most likely continue to survive everything thrown at it into the future.

  It’s not invincible, but it is resilient. The type of event or disaster it would take to actually take Bitcoin offline permanently would be something of such a massive scale of destruction, that in the unlikely event it does occur, we will all have much bigger problems than Bitcoin ceasing to function. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 19:50

• Which City Has The Most Billionaires In 2024?
  Which City Has The Most Billionaires In 2024?

  Some cities seem to attract the rich. Take New York City for example, which has 340,000 high-net-worth residents with investable assets of more than $1 million.

  But there’s a vast difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire. So where do the richest of them all live?

  Using data from the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao ranks the top 20 cities with the highest number of billionaires in 2024.

  

  A caveat to these rich lists: sources often vary on figures and exact rankings. For example, in last year’s reports, Forbes had New York as the city with the most billionaires, while the Hurun Global Rich List placed Beijing at the top spot.

  Ranked: Top 20 Cities with the Most Billionaires in 2024

  The Chinese economy’s doldrums over the course of the past year have affected its ultra-wealthy residents in key cities.

  Beijing, the city with the most billionaires in 2023, has not only ceded its spot to New York, but has dropped to #4, overtaken by London and Mumbai.

  

  In fact all Chinese cities on the top 20 list have lost billionaires between 2023–24. Consequently, they’ve all lost ranking spots as well, with Hangzhou seeing the biggest slide (-5) in the top 20.

  Where China lost, all other Asian cities—except Seoul—in the top 20 have gained ranks. Indian cities lead the way, with New Delhi (+6) and Mumbai (+3) having climbed the most.

  At a country level, China and the U.S combine to make up half of the cities in the top 20. They are also home to about half of the world’s 3,200 billionaire population.

  In other news of note: Hurun officially counts Taylor Swift as a billionaire, estimating her net worth at $1.2 billion.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 19:15

• Chinese Nationals Charged With Conspiracy to Export US Technology
  Chinese Nationals Charged With Conspiracy to Export US Technology

  Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times,

  The Department of Justice has arrested two Chinese nationals who allegedly plotted to export U.S. technology to advance the People’s Republic of China’s military operations.

  

  Han Li, 44, and Lin Chen, 64, have been charged with several counts of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), in addition to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), for attempting to export a machine used to process silicon microchips.

  “The export restrictions at issue in this case were put in place to prevent the illicit procurement of commodities and technologies for unauthorized military end use in the People’s Republic of China,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Ismail Ramsey said in a press release on the arrests.

  “This office will continue to vigorously enforce the nation’s export laws, including those pertaining to advanced technologies, to protect our national security.”

  Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olson explained that the defendants “sought to evade export controls to obtain U.S. semiconductors” that they were then going to ship to a Chinese company.

  In 2014, the Department of Commerce placed restrictions on the Chengdu GaStone Technology Company (CGTC) based in China, which made it “ineligible to receive exports of certain U.S. technologies and services.”

  “As alleged in the indictment, between at least May 2015 and August 2018, Li and Chen conspired to evade the export restrictions imposed by the Department of Commerce on CGTC by using intermediary companies,” the DOJ said.

  “Specifically, the defendants sought to illegally obtain for CGTC a DTX-150 Automatic Diamond Scriber Breaker machine from Dynatex International, a Santa Rosa, California company.”

  The DOJ said the defendants purposefully avoided getting the Department of Commerce’s authorization to export the CGTC, the DOJ said.

  “The defendants sought to obtain the machine through an intermediary company called Jiangsu Hantang International (JHI), which they fraudulently represented as the purchaser and end user, a proxy they fraudulently represented as the purchaser and end user,” the DOJ said.

  “To avoid detection, Li and Chen instructed Dynatex International to ensure that the export information associated with the sale did not list CGTC as the ultimate consignee of the shipment.”

  Li, the DOJ said, is suspected to be in China.

  Both Li and Chen are charged with counts of conspiracy to violate IEEPA, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and a count of false electronic export information activities, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. They are also charged on a count of smuggling, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and IEEPA violations, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the DOJ’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control department will prosecute the case.

  “This arrest highlights the importance of interagency collaboration in preventing illegal exports that could compromise sensitive technologies and our national security as well as undermine our American economy,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Tatum King.  

  Brent Burmester, a special agent in charge with the Department of Commerce, said stopping “the flow of U.S. semiconductor technology” that goes to advance the People’s Republic of China’s “military modernization efforts” is key to protecting the country’s national security.

  FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp suggested that businesses in the U.S. should establish a relationship with their local FBI field office “to help protect against the pervasive threat of criminals looking to steal American technology.”

  “We will aggressively pursue anyone who violates export control laws designed to protect our national and economic security,” Mr. Tripp said.

  In a 2023 report on FBI Director Christopher Wray’s roundtable discussion on CBS News, Mr. Wray called the Chinese Communist Party “the defining threat of this generation.”

  He said in the discussion that the FBI has 2,000 active investigations “just related to the Chinese government’s effort to steal information.”

  “There is no country that presents a broader, more comprehensive threat to our ideas, our innovation, our economic security, and ultimately our national security,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 18:40

• These Are The Countries That Have Become 'Sadder' Since 2010
  These Are The Countries That Have Become ‘Sadder’ Since 2010

  Can happiness be quantified?

  Some approaches that try to answer this question make a distinction between two differing components of happiness: a daily experience part, and a more general life evaluation (which includes how people think about their life as a whole).

  The World Happiness Report – first launched in 2012 – has been making a serious go at quantifying happiness, by examining Gallup poll data that asks respondents in nearly every country to evaluate their life on a 0–10 scale. From this they extrapolate a single “happiness score” out of 10 to compare how happy (or unhappy) countries are.

  More than a decade later, the 2024 World Happiness Report continues the mission, and Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao visualizes the latest findings below to show which countries have become sadder in the intervening years.

  

  Which Countries Have Become Unhappier Since 2010?

  Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world right now, and is also 60% unhappier than over a decade ago, indicating how much life has worsened since 2010.

  In 2021, the Taliban officially returned to power in Afghanistan, after nearly two decades of American occupation in the country. The Islamic fundamentalist group has made life harder, especially for women, who are restricted from pursuing higher education, travel, and work.

  On a broader scale, the Afghan economy has suffered post-Taliban takeover, with various consequent effects: mass unemployment, a drop in income, malnutrition, and a crumbling healthcare system.

  

  Nine countries in total saw their happiness score drop by a full point or more, on the 0–10 scale.

  Noticeably, many of them have seen years of social and economic upheaval. Lebanon, for example, has been grappling with decades of corruption, and a severe liquidity crisis since 2019 that has resulted in a banking system collapse, sending poverty levels skyrocketing.

  In Jordan, unprecedented population growth—from refugees leaving Iraq and Syria—has aggravated unemployment rates. A somewhat abrupt change in the line of succession has also raised concerns about political stability in the country.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 18:05

• Office Market Availability Rate Hits Record High In San Francisco
  Office Market Availability Rate Hits Record High In San Francisco

  Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

  A confluence of factors continues to impact San Francisco’s office market, with vacancy and availability rates reaching record highs in the first quarter of 2024, according to commercial real estate analysts at global companies Avison Young and CBRE.

  

  Availability – the combination of vacancy and sublease opportunities in the market – reached 36.7 percent of all office square footage from January to April, according to recently released market analyses from the leading commercial real estate firms.

  “We’re at mostly record levels, and I say that kind of cautiously optimistic,” Dina Gouveia, west region market intelligence manager for Avison Young, told The Epoch Times April 25.

  According to Ms. Gouveia vacancies only saw a “slight uptick” during the first quarter which might mean such is slowing.

  “[I]f we can continue that slower velocity of additional vacancies … then it would be a very good indicator of us being near a bottom,” she said.

  Much of the issue, experts say, is the city’s reliance on the tech industry, with more than 44 percent of its office space housing technology companies.

  Additionally, tech firms lead the list of upcoming lease expirations—accounting for 45.8 percent, according to Avison Young.

  San Francisco’s office market was deeply affected as the number of work-from-home employees skyrocketed during the pandemic, though recent trends show a slight return to the office.

  Remote job postings fell more than 5 percent to 22.2 percent in the first quarter compared to the end of last year, according to the Avison Young report.

  Job postings increased 22.7 percent in the first quarter following seven consecutive quarters of decline. The listings were led by legal services, engineering, consulting, research, accounting, and recruiting companies. Media and tech industries, however, both experienced declines, according to the report.

  Unemployment, however, ticked up to 4.4 percent in the first quarter, a sharp increase from its low of 2.3 percent in June 2022.

  According to the report, slightly less than 1 million total square footage was leased in the first quarter—a 63.3 percent drop from the five-year pre-pandemic average.

  Analysts noted signs they deemed optimistic, including Netherlands-based payment company Adyen’s sublease of space at 505 Brannan Street—in the city’s South of Market district—and multinational accounting company KPMG’s lease renewal at 55 2nd Street, in the city’s financial district. Combined, those leases total 300,000 square feet, experts said.

  Sublease opportunities offer lower rents than signing new leases that require build outs and significant capital to develop properties, which is spurring the sector of the market, while also allowing businesses with existing leases to rent out some of their vacant space.

  “The amount of sublease activity that we’ve seen has increased a lot because tenants are looking for plug-and-play opportunities,” Ms. Gouveia said. “A lot more activity is happening because tenants … want to take advantage of pre-built spaces and lower rents.”

  High interest rates are making it harder for companies with limited cash to refinance loans. At the same time, rates are also slowing down new purchases, according to analysts.

  With an uncertain market—in part due to conflicting signals from the Federal Reserve about the future of interest rates—prospective tenants are seeking flexibility when looking to renew leases or relocate.

  “Interest rates are a huge catalyst,” Ms. Gouveia said. “We’re hearing a little bit of two different stories that interest rates are going down and then they’re not. If the interest rates do come down … that will stimulate the commercial market quite a bit.”

  In response, the highest quality properties have seen lease term lengths decrease from quarter-to-quarter to make them less risky.

  Such wariness from tenants is forcing some landlords to lower rents and offer concession packages to attract business, though a disparity still remains between what tenants want to pay and what landlords can offer given their current debt load.

  Many landlords are working with their lenders to restructure debt before loans come due, and analysts expect rent prices to become more favorable for tenants once such is realized.

  “Rents will definitely come down,” Ms. Gouveia said. “And once that debt workout happens, there’s going to be a larger reset.”

  Distressed properties at risk of default are creating buying opportunities of which private buyers are increasingly taking advantage. Industrial investors and real estate investment trusts, however, are on the sidelines, with 100 percent of all investment activity coming from private buyers in the first quarter, according to the report.

  On the other hand, the percentage of private sellers also increased to begin the year compared to prior years, with analysts pointing to uncertainty that their debt can be restructured due to high interest rates and limited financing opportunities.

  Refinancing has proven challenging because lenders are reluctant to write loans for office buildings because defaults are looming and valuations are plummeting, with true market values unclear, according to analysts.

  A pending election is also slowing activity, as many firms want more certainty before making large capital decisions.

  “Because we’re coming up on an election year, a lot of companies go dormant on their expansion plans, and servicers are also in that wait-and-see mode,” Ms. Gouveia said.

  Another global commercial real estate leader, CBRE, found that San Francisco’s office market is facing unique challenges given crime and homelessness impacting the city.

  According to Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, more office tenants are signing new leases, showing a willingness to recommit to the city, but are still somewhat tentative when doing so.

  “This dynamic is still somewhat tenuous as employers and their employees still have concerns about public safety and the cost of doing business,” he told The Epoch Times by email.

  Noting that some workers are returning to the office for more days a week he suggested such is not enough for a recovery, which, he said, will require a desire to compete in a robust economic environment.

  “Additional mandates are unlikely to increase office attendance materially at this point, but rather a booming economy will compel more people to want to be in the office and be better connected to the next growth cycle,” Mr. Yasukochi said.

  While artificial intelligence could play a significant role in buoying the tech sector that the city relies on, a fast recovery, he said, is not anticipated.

  “The San Francisco office market is beginning to transition out of its four-year downturn,” Mr. Yasukochi said. “While it will take many years to rebalance supply and demand, we are starting to see positive signs.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 17:30

• Putin Did Not Order Alexei Navalny's Death, US Intelligence Finds
  Putin Did Not Order Alexei Navalny’s Death, US Intelligence Finds

  In a surprising turn, The Wall Street Journal has issued a new weekend report saying that US intelligence agencies do not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned or ordered the death of opposition activist and politician Alexei Navalny.

  “U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed at the notoriously brutal prison camp in February, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that deepens the mystery about the circumstances of his death,” writes the Journal.

  

  “The assessment doesn’t dispute Putin’s culpability for Navalny’s death, but rather finds he probably didn’t order it at that moment,” WSJ continues. “The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit, the people said.”

  And yet it must be recalled that Western officials and media pundits alike had immediately upon reports of the 47-year old Navalny’s death rushed to declare that he had been ‘assassinated’ by Russian authorities upon Putin’s order.

  This led to a new wave of US-led sanctions on Russia, and even disrupted momentum toward a hoped-for prisoner swap between Moscow and Kiev at the time.

  President Biden had asserted in a statement issued on the very day of his Feb.16 death that “Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death” and that it was “proof of Putin’s Brutality” – but ultimately that the ‘democratic future’ Navalny believed in was worth “dying for” – according to the president’s words at the time.

  Russian prison authorities had officially listed his demise as from “sudden death syndrome,” which is how natural causes such as heart attacks are typically described.

  Navalny’s team is not happy with the fresh WSJ report which is being seen as essentially an exoneration of Putin:

  In a statement to the Journal, Leonid Volkov, a longtime Navalny ally, rejected the U.S. intelligence assessment and said those who assert that Putin wasn’t aware of Navalny’s death “clearly do not understand anything about how modern day Russia runs.”

  “The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous,” he said.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Below, journalist and geopolitical commentator Aaron Maté explains that despite news of Navalny’s life and death having driven world headlines, he was still largely an unknown within broader Russian politics and society especially on a national level [emphasis ZH].

  * * *

  Navalny was a marginal opposition figure who polled at around 2%. Putin didn’t fear him; it served Putin to have him seen in the West as his main opposition.

  The Russian gov’t meanwhile has just barred anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin. A Russian court has also issued a draconian prison sentence to anti-war sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky. We don’t hear about people like Nadezhdin and Kagarlitsky in the West nearly as much for one reason: unlike Navalny, they don’t collaborate with Western governments.

  Navalny worked with NATO intel cutout Bellingcat and went through the “Yale World Fellow” program, a regime change training ground. For this reason, we also don’t hear that Navalny was an unrepentant xenophobe who compared Muslim immigrants to cockroaches and rotten teeth. 

  His death is a tragedy. He was undoubtedly mistreated. But because he served US interests, US state media will make him into someone he was not. And just compare their fawning coverage to their silence on, or even support for, the ongoing persecution of Julian Assange. Or their complete silence on the mistreatment and death of US citizen Gonzalo Lira in Ukrainian custody — universally ignored in US media.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 16:55

• From Bird Flu To Climate Snakes
  From Bird Flu To Climate Snakes

  Authored by Breeauna Sagdal via The Brownstone Institute,

  Seasoned veterinarians and livestock producers alike have been scratching their heads trying to understand the media’s response to the avian flu.

  Headlines across every major news outlet warn of humans becoming infected with the “deadly” bird flu after one reported case of pink-eye in a human. 

  

  The entire narrative is predicated upon a long-disputed claim that Covid-19 was the result of a zoonotic jump—the famed Wuhan bat wet-market theory. 

  While the source of Covid is hotly contested within the scientific community, the policy vehicle at the center of this dialectic began years prior to Sars-CoV-2 and is quite resolute in force and effect. 

  In 2016, the Gates Foundation donated to the World Health Organization to create the OneHealth Initiative. Since 2020, the CDC has adopted and implemented the OneHealth Initiative to build a “collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach—working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.”

  In the aftermath of Covid-19, the OneHealth Initiative began taking shape, due largely in part to millions of tax dollars appropriated through ARP (American Rescue Plan) funding. 

  Through its APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Investigation System) the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) was given $300 million in 2021 to begin implementing “a risk-based, comprehensive, integrated disease monitoring and surveillance system domestically…to build additional capacity for zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention,” globally. 

  “The One Health concept recognizes that the health of people, animals, and the environment are all linked,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. 

  According to the USDA’s press release, the Biden-Harris administration’s OneHealth approach will also help to ensure “new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices,” by “making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America.” 

  In other words, the federal government is using regulatory enforcement to intervene in the marketplace, in addition to subsidizing corporations with tax dollars to direct a planned economic outcome—ending meat consumption. 

  Climate-Smart Commodities – Planning the Economy through Subsidized Intervention

  Under the recently announced Climate-Smart Commodities program, the USDA has appropriated $3.1 billion in tax subsidies to one hundred and forty-one new private Climate-Smart projects, ranging from carbon sequestration to Climate-Smart meat and forestry practices.

  Private investors such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – who just committed $1 billion to the development of lab cultured meat-like molds, and meat grown in petri dishes, to

  Ballpark, formerly known for its hot dogs but is now harvesting python meat, is rushing to cash in on this new industry, and the OneHealth/USDA certification program. 

  Culling The Herd – Regulatory Intervention in the Marketplace 

  Meanwhile, the last vestiges of America’s food freedom and decentralized food sources are quietly being targeted by the full force of the federal government. 

  The once voluntary APHIS System is poised to become the mandatory APHIS-15, which among many other changes, “the system will be renamed Animal Health, Disease, and Pest Surveillance and Management System, USDA/APHIS-15. This system is used by APHIS to collect, manage, and evaluate animal health data for disease and pest control and surveillance programs.”

  Among those “many changes” that APHIS-15 is undergoing, one should be of particular interest to the public—the removal of all references to the voluntary* Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program. 

  “Updating the authority for maintenance of the system to remove reference to the Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program.” 

  In addition to removing references to the once-voluntary herd culling program, the USDA is also implementing mandatory RFID ear tags in cattle and bison.

  According to the USDA/APHIS-15, expanded authority places disease tracing in their jurisdiction and the radio frequency ear tags are necessary for the “rapid and accurate recordkeeping for this volume of animals and movement,” which they say “is not achievable without electronic systems.”

  The notice clearly spells out that RFID tags “may be read without restraint as the animal goes past an electronic reader.” 

  “Once the reader scans the tag, the electronically collected tag number can be rapidly and accurately transmitted from the reader to a connected electronic database.”

  However, industry leaders and lawmakers alike have said the database will be used to track vaccination history and movement, and that this data may be used to impact the market rate of cattle and bison at the time of processing. 

  Centralized Control of Processing/Production via Public-Private Partnership Agreements

  In addition to the vast new authority of the USDA funded through the OneHealth Initiative, and the ARP, the EPA has also created its own unique set of regulatory burdens upon the entire meat industry. 

  On March 25, 2024, the EPA finalized a new set of Clean Water Act rule changes to limit nitrogen and phosphorus “pollutants” in downstream water treatment facilities from processing facilities. While the EPA’s interpretation of authority and jurisdiction over wastewater is concerning long-term, the broader context of consolidated processing under four multinational meat-packing companies is of much greater concern for the immediate future. 

  With few exceptions, in the United States it is illegal to sell meat without a USDA certification. Currently, the only way to access USDA certification is through a USDA-certified processing facility. 

  According to the EPA, the new rules will impact up to 845 processing facilities nationwide, unless facilities drastically limit the amount of meat they process each year. 

  With processing capabilities being the number one barrier to market for livestock producers, and billions of dollars in grants being awarded to Climate-Smart food substitutes, the amount of government intervention into the marketplace becomes very clear. 

  The Rise of Authoritarianism and Economic Fascism – Control the Supply

  The United States, once a consumer-demand free market society, is currently witnessing the use of government force, and intervention tactics to steer and manipulate the marketplace. Similar to 1930’s Italy, this is being achieved by the state within the state, through the use of selectionism, protectionism, and economic planning between public-private partnership agreements. 

  The long-term and unavoidable problem with economic fascism is that it leads to authoritarian and centralized control, from which escape is impossible. 

  As each industry becomes centralized and consolidated under the few, consumer choice simultaneously disappears. As choice disappears, so does the ability of the individual to meet their specific and unique needs. 

  Eventually, the individual no longer serves a role outside of its usefulness to the state—the final exhale before the last python squeeze. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 16:20

• NHTSA Probes Tesla Autopilot Again After 20 Crashes Since Update Remedy
  NHTSA Probes Tesla Autopilot Again After 20 Crashes Since Update Remedy

  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla’s Autopilot (again) to determine if the over-the-air update to the automated driving system was enough to keep drivers on the road. 

  The new probe comes after the NHTSA closed a multi-year investigation into Autopilot. The prior report found evidence that “Tesla’s weak driver engagement system was not appropriate for Autopilot’s permissive operating capabilities,” which resulted in a “critical safety gap.”

  On Friday, NHTSA said the original Autopilot investigation was opened to see if “Tesla’s Autopilot contained a defect that created an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety,” adding that it discovered similar findings with Tesla’s voluntary recall (Recall 23V838). 

  The initial investigation found at least 13 crashes involving one or more fatalities, many more involving severe injuries, in which “foreseeable driver misuse played an apparent role,” NHTSA said. 

  The new investigation covers two million Model Y, X, S, 3, and Cybertruck vehicles equipped with Autopilot produced between 2012 and 2024. 

  The federal agency is concerned about whether the company’s remedy was enough, partly because 20 crashes have occurred since the over-the-air software update earlier this year. 

  

  One ZH reader reached out to us about Autopilot, explaining that the automated driving system has become increasingly aggressive in making sure the operator is paying attention since the update. The individual told us he was suspended from using Autopilot earlier this week for what he says were ‘minor’ distractions while driving, adding that the warning system is getting more strict by the update. 

  

  During a call with investors earlier this week, Elon Musk said, “I actually do not think that there will be significant regulatory barriers, provided there is conclusive data that the autonomous car is safer than a human-driven car,” adding that those who doubt Tesla’s ability to “solve” autonomy shouldn’t invest in the company. 

  Meanwhile, the Biden administration has weaponized federal agencies against Musk’s companies, such as SpaceX and Tesla. This is mainly over Musk’s ‘free speech’ platform, “X,” which the Biden administration despised because it has been unable to suppress the First Amendment on the platform through the censorship-industrial complex. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 15:45

• DOJ Continues To Refuse Handing Over Audio Recording Of Special Counsel's Interview With Biden
  DOJ Continues To Refuse Handing Over Audio Recording Of Special Counsel’s Interview With Biden

  Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times,

  The Department of Justice (DOJ) stands its ground on its refusal to surrender the audio recording of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden to the House Oversight Committee.

  

  Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.), chairmen of the House Judiciary and Oversight Accountability committees, warned Attorney General Merrick Garland that he would hold him in contempt of Congress unless he handed over the recording of Mr. Hur’s interview stemming from a probe into President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified information.

  In the letter, signed on April 25, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte told Mr. Jordan and Mr. Comer that despite the committees’ threats of contempt proceedings, the DOJ has adequately responded and sees no reason to give the audio to the committees.

  “We have repeatedly invited the Committees to identify how these audio recordings from law enforcement files would serve the purposes for which you say you want them,” the letter stated.

  “We have also repeatedly urged the Committees to avoid unnecessary conflict and to respect the public interest in the Department’s ability to conduct effective investigations by protecting sensitive law enforcement files.”

  Mr. Uriarte said the DOJ has already complied with the committees’ request by providing Mr. Hur’s report and testimony in addition to transcripts of the interview.

  “This is consistent with our strong record of cooperation this Congress,” Mr. Uriarte said.

  The committees have failed to articulate “a legitimate congressional need” for the audio recordings, which Mr. Uriarte said the DOJ is withholding to protect “the confidentiality of law enforcement files.”

  “The Department will continue to cooperate reasonably and appropriately, but we will not risk the long-term integrity of our law enforcement work,” Mr. Uriarte said.

  Mr. Uriarte elaborated on Mr. Jordan’s and Mr. Comer’s request for the audio recording by questioning the necessity.

  Among the committees’ expressed concerns as reviewed by Mr. Uriarte are whether President Biden is linked to “troublesome foreign payments,” whether he “retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involved in his family’s foreign business dealings,” and whether the DOJ has acted impartially by avoiding prosecuting President Biden while targeting former President Donald Trump.

  Mr. Uriarte said there’s no evidence found in the transcripts that suggests discussions of these issues will be revealed in the audio recording.

  ‘Severely Chilling’

  “You have offered no explanation of how these specific files would provide any information pertinent to the Committees’ stated purposes,” Mr. Uriarte said. “And even if they did have pertinent information, you have not explained how that information isn’t already available from the transcripts we produced as an extraordinary accommodation to the Committees.”

  Mr. Uriarte classified the audio as “sensitive law enforcement information” that, if made public, would send a message “to the public that the Department cannot be trusted to keep law enforcement files confidential.”

  “It would be severely chilling if the decision to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation required individuals to submit themselves to public inquest by politicians, particularly because congressional investigations are not subject to the same standards and checks as the Department’s,” he said. “Indeed, the Committees have frequently objected to even the suggestion that your investigative powers are subject to any requirement to justify your requests according to objective standards or limit your demands to avoid harming other values and interests.”

  Mr. Uriarte added that the threat of contempt proceedings is “unjustifiable” considering the DOJ’s past cooperation with the committees’ investigations.

  “We urge the Committees to deescalate and to work with the Department in the same mode of cooperation and respect that we have shown Congress for over a year,” he said. “Furthermore, the Department is eager to make good use of the remaining time in this Congress, such as by working together with the Committees on legislative priorities that can make real, tangible progress for the American people.”

  The committees issued the first subpoenas on Feb. 27 requesting notes, audio files, video, and transcripts related to Mr. Hur’s investigation.

  The DOJ responded by providing transcripts, but no recordings.

  After his probe into President Biden’s handling of classified documents spanning his over four decades in politics, Mr. Hur said in February that President Biden would not be charged and that a jury would probably not convict him partially due to his cognitive decline.

  “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Mr. Hur wrote.

  ‘With Respect to National Security’

  In an April 16 testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on the DOJ’s 2025 budget request, Mr. Garland echoed Mr. Uriarte, stating that the reasons for not giving the audio was due to “privileges with respect to national security.”

  When asked about Mr. Hur’s observations of President Biden being an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Mr. Garland said he has “complete confidence” in the president based on his own observations.

  “I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and Cabinet members on issues of foreign affairs and military strategy and policy in this incredibly complex world in which we now face, and in which he has been decisive—decisive in instructions to the staff, and decisive in making the decisions necessary to protect the country,” Mr. Garland said.

  The Epoch Times has contacted the subcommittees for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 15:10

• White House Uses "Walkers" To Conceal Biden's Old-Man Shuffle
  White House Uses “Walkers” To Conceal Biden’s Old-Man Shuffle

  With the presidential election still more than six months away, President Biden’s handlers are under increasing pressure to divert Americans’ eyes from his obvious and accelerating mental and physical decline. 

  Where his deteriorating mental abilities are concerned, we’ve already seen them using tactics like drastically minimizing his spontaneous interactions with reporters and excessively stage-managing his rare press conferences — down to furnishing him with answers to questions submitted in advance. 

  

  Now comes news that Team Biden’s latest stage-management innovation is focused on obscuring his frailty: Uncomfortable with the way Biden looks as he unsteadily shuffles across the White House lawn, one or more staffers now walk at his side, helping to prevent close scrutiny of his gait. 

  

  Biden advisors have told Axios they’re uneasy about how he looks when walking and shuffling by himself, particularly across the White House lawn. The outlet analyzed video of Biden’s navigation to Marine One helicopters and pegged when the new hide-the-invalid routine started:

  • In March, Biden’s five walks shuffles to Marine One were by himself or family members only
  • After April 16, nine of his 10 treacherous traverses of the lawn had him obscured by accompanying staffers or legislators

  Can’t Make It Up: The President of the United States has been assigned “walkers.”

  You heard that right. The man that has access to nuke codes now requires aides to escort him across a lawn.

  These handlers now walk between Biden and the pool cameras, “to draw less attention to… pic.twitter.com/RO81Dvufb6

  — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) April 26, 2024

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

  In addition to acting as visual screeners, the aides might also be beneficial in grabbing him if he starts falling to the ground. Biden’s advisors and doctors have had him embrace other tools and techniques to minimize physical disasters like his falls on the Air Force One stairs…

  …and this wipeout at last spring’s Air Force Academy graduation: 

  The extra measures include wearing black sneakers instead of business shoes, and now walking up a shorter set of stairs to board Air Force One.  The mental side of the ledger is constantly being filled with new debit entries. The latest came this week, when — not for the first time — Biden read his stage directions off the teleprompter. In a Wednesday speech to North America’s Building Trades Unions, he weakly delivered a line meant to draw applause, then read the word “PAUSE” off the prompter:  

  NOW – Biden: “Four more years. Pause.” pic.twitter.com/PW1HBgaCVu

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 24, 2024

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

  As we detailed Friday, Biden’s latest approval rating is the worst for any president at this point in a term in 70 years. Just 38.7% of Americans approve of his performance, according to Gallup. A February poll found 76% of Americans have moderate or major concerns about Biden’s mental and physical fitness to advance to a second term. 

  

  One thing’s for sure: Biden’s handlers are in for an agonizingly tense time as the remaining 191 days until the Nov. 5 general election slowly grind away.  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 14:35

• US Should Adopt UK's 'Rwanda Plan' To Address Illegal Immigration
  US Should Adopt UK’s ‘Rwanda Plan’ To Address Illegal Immigration

  Authored by Simon Hankinson via The Epoch Times,

  After nearly two years of legal and political challenges, Britain’s parliament has finally passed a law confirming that Rwanda is a safe place to send people who arrive in the UK illegally by sea. This is a major policy win for the Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and a victory for common sense. Britain, like the United States and Europe, is experiencing mass illegal migration in the guise of asylum claims. The British devised the Rwanda plan in response, but the U.S. already has successful equivalents that can be resurrected when there is a will to once again control America’s borders.

  

  Like those coming to the United States by land, most people illegally arriving in Britain by boat are economic migrants. Britain’s asylum system has been swamped by growing demand, and backlogs for processing cases stretch into years.

  In 2018, only 300 people arrived illegally in the UK by small boat from France across the English Channel. In 2022, it was more than 45,000. And in August 2023, the UK received its 100,000th illegal boat-borne immigrant, one of 700 who arrived each day. Nearly all of the 100,000 are still in Britain, joined by ever-increasing numbers.

  From Jan. 1 to April 21 this year, 6,265 small boats arrived in the UK carrying illegal immigrants, with the largest numbers being from Afghanistan and Vietnam.

  Having left the European Union, the British are unable to return asylum-seekers to the first safe country in the EU under what are called the Dublin Regulations. By mid-2023, 96 percent of asylum-seekers who arrived in 2021 had not received final decisions in their cases, and around 50,000 were being housed in hotels, costing the United Kingdom the equivalent of more than $8.8 million U.S. a day. The limitless liability of illegal immigration to the UK is an important electoral issue for Conservative Party voters.

  Sound familiar?

  In August 2023, Sunak’s government passed an Illegal Migration Act that barred people who entered illegally by sea from applying for asylum. The act requires British officials to return inadmissible aliens—without appeal—back to their birth country, if possible, or if not, to a safe third country.

  To implement the act, Britain needed a safe third country to house putative asylum-seekers pending case processing. Britain does not have any developing-country neighbors, so they struck a deal with Rwanda in 2022 in which that Central African country would be compensated to take up to 1,000 putative asylum applicants over five years.

  Anyone sent to Rwanda could opt at any time to return to their home country or to be resettled in Rwanda as refugees, but they could not return to Britain. The British government fought a series of legal challenges to its policy, but passage of the new law should clear the way for removal flights to Rwanda within weeks from now.

  Sunak says he means business. “The only way to stop the boats is to eliminate the incentive to come, by making it clear that if you are here illegally, you will not be able to stay,” he said at a press conference. “We are ready. The plans are in place.”

  The government has also set aside judges and courts on standby to handle the inevitable legal challenges.

  The Rwanda plan is Britain’s attempt to regain control over its borders and national sovereignty.

  The goal is to cut off the possibility of asylum from boat arrivals, thus both destroying the business model of maritime smugglers and saving lives. This past week, five people died when over 100 illegal migrants attempted to cross the English Channel in an overcrowded boat.

  The Rwanda plan has many opponents. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees argues that if the UK is successful, it will set a “worrying precedent for dismantling asylum-related obligations that other countries, including in Europe, may be tempted to follow …” Perhaps so, but the alternative is to cede control over immigration to foreign actors in perpetuity.

  The British hope to emulate the success of Australia, which in 2001, started turning back boats carrying illegal migrants. The idea was to give “no advantage” to asylum applicants arriving illegally by boat over those arriving by air.

  Australia set up detention and asylum processing centers on the island nation of Nauru, and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Eventually, Australia adopted a strict rule that no asylum-seeker arriving by boat and processed offshore would ever be resettled in Australia. The policy faced considerable political opposition but was highly effective in reducing demand.

  The message was quickly understood by would-be boat migrants and migrant traffickers across Southeast Asia. “Arrival numbers went off a cliff once the Australians started to deport … because ‘news spreads like wildfire among refugees,’” wrote Matthew Paris in the Spectator.

  When a later Australian government closed the Manus and Nauru centers, illegal migration soared again. In 2012, more than 600 people drowned when boats carrying illegal migrants capsized. In response, Australia reopened the offshore centers and resumed sending back all illegal aliens who arrived or attempted to arrive in Australia by sea.

  As before, the putative asylum applicants remained in the offshore centers for the entire time, pending the adjudication of their cases. The offshoring policy and an unbending Australian government destroyed the market for maritime migrant smugglers. For example, in 2014, only a single boat carrying migrants made it to Australia.

  At its peak in 2014, Nauru’s camp had 1,233 asylum applicants living there. By June 2023, only three remained. Though the boat-borne illegal migration virtually stopped, a credible ability to restart offshore processing is vital to Australia maintaining its current control over seaborne illegal immigration. Therefore, Australia is paying the equivalent of $288,000 U.S. a year to Nauru to keep the detention/processing option open in reserve.

  The United States does not have the advantage of being an island. But as recently as the Trump administration, we had Safe Third Country agreements in place with Central American countries and the Migrant Protection Protocols with Mexico. Under these agreements, any asylum applicant coming to the U.S. and first passing through a third safe country to get here would be sent back to that country if he or she had not applied for asylum in that country. For example, all those who crossed illegally into the U.S. from Mexico were returned there pending their case adjudication.

  The United States needs to use all the economic and diplomatic leverage at our disposal to revive those agreements. Meanwhile, similar to the UK and Australia, we should prohibit asylum applications from those illegally crossing between ports of entry to discourage frivolous and fraudulent asylum claims.

  *  *  *

  Reprinted by permission from The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 14:00

• Sierra Nevada Awarded DoD Contract To Build Next-Gen 'Doomsday Plane'
  Sierra Nevada Awarded DoD Contract To Build Next-Gen ‘Doomsday Plane’

  Aerospace and defense company Sierra Nevada Corporation won the $13 billion Pentagon contract to develop a successor to the “Doomsday Plane” that serves as a mobile command post in the event of nuclear war. 

  The current 1970s-era Boeing E-4B “Nightwatch” serves as the National Airborne Operations Center and is a key component of the National Military Command System for the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

  However, the fleet of E-4B Nightwatch, which can withstand nuclear blasts and electromagnetic effects, is aging and needs to be replaced. 

  

  That’s where Sierra Nevada comes in with the new Survivable Airborne Operations Center project, which will replace the E-4B Nightwatch by 2036. 

  “In case of national emergency or destruction of ground command and control centers, the aircraft provides a highly survivable command, control, and communications center to direct US forces, execute emergency war orders, and coordinate actions by civil authorities,” explained an E-4B Nightwatch fact sheet produced by the US Air Force. 

  

  In December, Reuters sources said Boeing – the incumbent manufacturer of the E-4B Nightwatch, could not agree with the Air Force on data rights and contract terms for the replacement plane. 

  Currently, the Air Force operates four E-4B Nightwatch planes, with at least one on full alert at all times. 

  Given Boeing’s string of problems at its commercial jet unit, it’s probably best that Sierra Nevada was awarded the project for one of the nation’s most important aircraft. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 13:25

• The Teams Are Set For World War III
  The Teams Are Set For World War III

  Authored by Toby Rogers via The Brownstone Institute,

  I’ve seen some crazy things over the last few years but this is off-the-charts insane.

  Last week, Michael E. Mann spoke at the EcoHeath Alliance: Green Planet One Health Benefit 2024. Just to recap who each of these players are: 

  • Michael E. Mann is the creator of the “hockey stick graph” that has driven the global warming debate for the last 25 years. 

  • EcoHealth Alliance is the CIA cutout led by Peter Daszak that launders money from the NIH to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to create gain-of-function viruses (including SARS-CoV-2 which killed over 7 million people). 

  • “One Health” is the pretext the World Health Organization (WHO) is using to drive the Pandemic Treaty that will vastly expand the powers of the WHO and create economic incentives for every nation on earth to develop new gain-of-function viruses.

  So a leader in the global warming movement spoke at an event to raise money for the organization that just murdered 7 million people and the campaign that intends to launch new pandemics in perpetuity to enrich the biowarfare industrial complex. 

  And then just for good measure, Peter Hotez reposted all of this information on Twitter, I imagine in solidarity with all of the exciting genociding going on. 

  Mann’s appearance at this event is emblematic of a disturbing shift that has been years in the making. Serious and thoughtful people in the environmental movement tried to address industrial and military pollution for decades. Now their cause has been co-opted by Big Tech and other corporate actors with malevolent intentions — and the rest of the environmental movement has gone along with this, apparently without objection. So we are witnessing a convergence between the global warming movement, the biowarfare industrial complex, and the WHO pandemic treaty grifters. 

  I wish it wasn’t true but here we are. 

  Before I go any further I need to make one thing clear: the notion that pandemics are driven by global warming is complete and total bullsh*t. The evidence is overwhelming that pandemics are created by the biowarfare industrial complex including the 13,000 psychopaths who work at over 400 US bioweapons labs (as described in great detail in The Wuhan Cover-Up). 

  Unfortunately “global warming” has become a cover for the proliferation of the biowarfare industrial economy. 

  Mann’s appearance at an event to raise money for people who are clearly guilty of genocide (and planning more carnage) made me realize that this really is World War III. They are straight-up telling us who they are and what they intend to do. 

  The different sides in this war are not nation-states.

  Instead, Team Tyranny is a bunch of different business interests pushing what has become a giant multi-trillion dollar grift.

  And Team Freedom is ordinary people throughout the world just trying to return to the classical economic and political liberalism that drove human progress from 1776 until 2020. 

  

  Here’s how I see the battle lines being drawn: 

  TEAM TYRANNY 

  Their base: Elites, billionaires, the ruling class, the biowarfare industrial complex, intelligence agencies, and bougie technocrats.

  Institutions they control: WEF, WHO, UN, BMGF, World Bank, IMF, most universities, the mainstream media, and liberal governments throughout the developed world.

  Economic philosophy: The billionaires should control all wealth on earth. The peasants should only be allowed to exist to serve the billionaires, grow food, and fix the machines when necessary. Robots and Artificial Intelligence will soon be able to replace most of the peasants. 

  Political philosophy: Centralized control of everything. Elites know best. The 90% should shut up, pay their taxes, take their vaccines, develop chronic disease, and die. High tech global totalitarianism is the best form of government. Billionaires are God.

  Philosophy of medicine: Allopathic. Cut, poison, burn, kill. Corporations create all knowledge. Bodies are machines. Transhumanism is ideal. The billionaires will soon live forever in the digital cloud. 

  Their currency: For now, inflationary Federal Reserve policies. Soon, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that will put the peasants in their place once and for all. 

  Policy vehicles to advance their agenda: One Health; WHO Pandemic Treaty; social credit scores; climate scores; vaccine mandates/passports; lockdowns and quarantine camps; elimination of small farms and livestock; corporate control of all food, land, water, transportation, and the weather; corporate control of social movements; and 15-minute cities for the peasants. 

  Military strategy: Gain-of-function viruses, propaganda, and vaccines.

  TEAM FREEDOM

  Our base: The medical freedom movement, Constitutionalists, small “l” libertarians, independent farmers, natural meat and milk producers, pirate parties, natural healers, homeopaths, chiropractors, integrative and functional medicine doctors, and osteopaths.

  Aligned institutions: CHD, ICAN, Brownstone Institute, NVIC, SFHF, the RFK, Jr. campaign, the Republican party at the county level…

  Economic philosophy: Small “c” capitalism. Competition. Entrepreneurship. 

  Political philosophy: Classical liberalism. The people, using their own ingenuity, will generally figure out the best way to do things. Decentralize everything including the internet. If the elites would just leave us alone the world would be a much more peaceful, creative, and prosperous place. Human freedom leads to human flourishing. 

  Philosophy of medicine: Nature is infinite in its wisdom. Listen to the body. Systems have the ability to heal and regenerate. 

  Our currency: Cash, gold, crypto, and barter. (I don’t love crypto but lots of smart people in our movement do.) 

  Policy ideas: Exit the WHO. Boycott WEF companies. Repeal the Bayh-Dole Act, NCVIA Act, Patriot Act, and PREP Act. Add medical freedom to the Constitution. Prosecute the Faucistas at Nuremberg 2.0. Overhaul the NIH, FDA, CDC, EPA, USDA, FCC, DoD, and intelligence agencies. Make all publicly-funded scientific data available to the public. Ban insider trading by Congress. Support and protect organic food, farms, and farmers’ markets. Break up monopolies. Cut the size of the federal government in half (or more). 

  Our preferred tools to create change: Ideas, love for humanity, logic and reason, common sense, art and music, and popular uprising. 

  What would you add, subtract, or change in each of these lists? 

  *  *  *

  Republished from the author’s Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/27/2024 – 12:50

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• Bird-Flu, Censorship, & 100 Day Vaccines: 7 Predictions For "The Next Pandemic"
  Bird-Flu, Censorship, & 100 Day Vaccines: 7 Predictions For “The Next Pandemic”

  Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

  Earlier this month the White House published its new “Pandemic Preparedness” targets.

  

  They are far from alone in covering this. Back in March, Sky News was asking: “Next pandemic is around the corner,’ expert warns – but would lockdown ever happen again?”

  On April 3rd, the Financial Times asked something similar: “The next pandemic is coming. Will we be ready?”

  Less than an hour ago, the Daily Mail invited us inside “the world’s deadliest cave that could cause the next pandemic”.

  Just two days ago a professional panic spreader wrote for CNN:

  The next pandemic threat demands action now!!!

  OK, I added the exclamation points, but they are very much implied in the original text.

  So, while Iran and Israel rattle their sabres on the front pages, I thought we should take a look at the quieter back pages to see what we can learn, and help us predict how “the next pandemic” will unfold.

  WHAT IS “THE NEXT PANDEMIC”?

  I mean…I feel like that’s fairly self-explanatory.

  Seriously though, it’s the one they’ve been predicting from pretty much the moment Covid started. First it was going to be monkey pox – sorry MPox – but that fizzled.

  Of course by “pandemic”, we really mean “psy-op”, because nothing about the next pandemic will be any more real than the last pandemic. Hell, given the leaps forward in AI technology, it could be considerably less real next time.

  We don’t know any of the details yet, but there’s enough vague coverage to tease out some guesstimates.

  WHAT DISEASE WILL THEY USE?

  Probably the most important question. We already mentioned monkey pox, but that doesn’t look likely anymore.

  Right now they are mostly talking about “disease X” – a term which caused a little panic in certain sections when it first appeared on the scene – but that isn’t some top secret gain of function super disease, it’s literally a place holder name.

  And it’s a placeholder name which does its job, for the time being.

  After all, they don’t really need an actual name yet, any more than they need an actual disease, they just need the idea of a disease to hold over people’s heads while they construct the legislative rules of their health-based tyranny.

  Indeed, the vagueness “Disease X” provides is helpful, as it keeps the legislation vague too.

  That said, they will likely want and/or need to produce an actual disease at some point.

  When that time comes around, it will almost certainly be another respiratory disease, because they are easy to “fake” using pre-existing endemic diseases and their uniform symptoms.

  The prime candidate is bird flu, which has been slow-boiling in the news for two years now and has recently got a big uptick in coverage due to it allegedly passing to people from cows.

  The UN reports “pandemic experts” are “concerned over avian influenza spread to humans”. Just yesterday, Jeremy Farrar of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that “[the] threat Of Bird Flu spreading to Humans is a great concern”

  Prompting gleefully sensationalist headlines like this from the Daily Star:

  New pandemic ‘expected’ as human-to-human bird flu of ‘great concern’ to WHO

  Bird flu is a convenient pick because it enables them to push their health tyranny and their food transition at the same time. They can claim that dairy, beef, chicken and eggs have become “dangerous” as an excuse to ration them or at least force scarcity while they drive the prices up.

  They will then push the idea that veganism and/or lab grown meat “prevents pandemics”. Something they’ve been claiming since at least 2021.

  The Daily Mail reported just a few hours ago:

  H5N1 strain of bird flu is found in MILK for first time in ‘very high concentrations,’ World Health Organization warns

  The downside to bird flu is that it’s hard to work the climate change angle into the narrative, so maybe they’ll go with something else.

  WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?

  Probably not until the winter, I would guess January 2025 at the earliest, for two reasons:

  1. They need it to be flu season so they can co-opt normal seasonal deaths into their “pandemic” narrative.
  2. I think they’ll want to wait until after the “big election year” is over so there are fresh governments in place.

  That second point is not just a hunch, but based on the article from Sky I mentioned above. It asks “would lockdown ever happen again?”, and an “expert” answers [emphasis added]:

  …if another lockdown was needed, the current Tory government would either have to minimise scandals over their own rule-breaking – or change hands completely to keep the public on board. If we had a new government, people would be far more likely to have faith in them because they would be less likely to say, ‘it’s the same bunch as before – why should we do it again?’

  Which I think is correct.

  That would also explain the raft of sudden political resignations – including Covid stars Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern – which swept the world in Covid’s wake. They were aware then, and are still aware now, their players were spent and they needed a fresh roster before coming back for the second leg.

  So, elections first – with all the nonsense that entails – then maybe the “next pandemic”.

  HOW WILL IT BE DIFFERENT FROM “COVID”?

  Any future pandemic psy-op will be unlikely to follow the covid pattern beat-for-beat, for one thing the Covid narrative spent itself before achieving everything it was meant to achieve.

  You can bet the farm that, in the four years since, there have been working groups and researchers poring over the pandemic data to figure out what went wrong and how they can fix it next time.

  There seem to be three recurring themes.

  1. Vaccines not lockdowns There will be a focus on securing vaccines rather than lockdowns. Indeed, part of the whole “aw shucks lockdowns were damaging who’d have thunk it” rigmarole is about setting up the dynamic that “next time” we need to do anything we can to avoid lockdowns.

  Lockdowns will become a threat rather than a fact.

  “We HAVE to mandate vaccines, because the economy can’t afford another lockdown.”

  “Take the vaccine, you don’t want to have another lockdown do you?”

  So there will be more testing, more masks and more vaccine mandates…and/or quarantine camps for the unvaccinated. And if they DO have lockdowns, they will be entirely blamed on the “anti-vaxxers”, of course.

  2. Speed speed speed The main failing of the Covid narrative was that it ran out of steam. By the time the vaccines rolled out in early 2021 the pandemic fatigue was already setting in. And by the time the third boosters and fourth waves were in the headlines nobody really cared.

  The propaganda blitzkrieg of early 2020 was arguably the greatest and most wide-reaching misinformation campaign of all time – and it was almost overwhelmingly effective. But it slowed, stalled, stopped and staled.

  Next time, they know now, they need to be faster. Bill Gates said as much at the 2022 Munich Security Conference. They need to get the disease out the deaths up and vaccines in before people even realise what happened.

  Hence the “100 day vaccines” plan. As the ever-reliably-hysterical Devi Shridar writes for the Guardian:

  most governments are working towards the 100-day challenge: that is, how to contain a virus spreading while a scientific response, such as a vaccine, diagnostic or treatment, can be approved, manufactured and delivered to the public.

  The “100 Day Mission” is the brainchild of CEPI, the Gates and WHO-backed NGO. Its main aim is to make it possible to produce new vaccines for previously unknown pathogens in 100 days.

  In the US, the target is 130 days from pathogen discovery to nation-wide vaccine coverage.

  It should go without saying that real, reliable, “safe and effective” vaccines cannot be produced in 100 days. Whatever they make, sell and force you to inject in that time…it won’t be a vaccine

  3. Free Speech is Dangerous. The slow development of the narrative post-2020 may have hindered the health tyranny agenda, but it was the independent media that really hurt it. The impromptu network of dissident experts, independent researchers and social media movements spread “misinformation” faster than the powers-that-be could fact-check it.

  We have seen perpetual messaging about the dangers of “misinformaion and disinformation” since then, including prominently at the most recent DAVOS summit earlier this year, where it was labelled one of the “three greatest dangers” facing the planet.

  Last week, a UK Parliamentary Committee published “recommendations” headlined:

  Government should learn lessons from pandemic to improve communications and counter misinformation

  Only a few days ago, Gordon Brown was quoted in the news “warning” that:

  “fake news’ risks preparations for next pandemic”

  Which heavily implies they will move to counter this “fake news” before the “next pandemic” begins.

  WILDCARD PREDICTION: The multipolar angle. Whatever form the “next pandemic” takes, they will likely avoid the monolithic messaging of 2020, where total global conformity to “the message” was one of the real telltale signs of deception. Next time prepare for countries like India, China and Russia to forge their own pandemic strategy – focusing on some new treatment or technology that the West refuses to endorse.

  There are no sources to back this one, yet. It’s just a gut feeling.

  *

  So what am I officially predicting for the “next pandemic”?

  1. It will won’t be launched until after the major elections this year, because they want new politic faces untarnished by Covid
  2. It will likely be bird flu or some other respiratory disease, launched in the winter to hijack the real flu season again
  3. The chosen disease will fit into one or more pre-existing agenda – either impacting food or originating from some forced “climate change” connection or both
  4. They will move faster, producing “vaccines” in 100 days to stop people getting wise to the deception as they did with Covid
  5. They will try and avoid lockdowns, but use them as a threat to enforce vaccine mandates more rigorously
  6. They will clamp down harder on “mis- and dis-information” before launching the new narrative.
  7. The next pandemic will have a multipolarity angle to establish a fake binary

  That’s how I see it. Feel free to bookmark this post for future reference.

  Even if I’ve guessed the details wrong here, there’s no question they are planning to roll out another pandemic at some point in near future. A covid sequel that learns from past mistakes.

  While, in some ways, it will likely be worse than Covid was – the good news is that this time we can be ready for it.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:40

• It's Entirely Legal To Own "Thermonator" 
  It’s Entirely Legal To Own “Thermonator” 

  For those curious, owning a flamethrower is broadly legal across the United States, with Maryland being the exception, as the state has effectively banned these devices. In California, flamethrowers are legal but require a permit. 

  

  With the legality all sorted out. What’s been making headlines this week is a Unitree Go2 quadruple robot equipped with a flamethrower. 

  “Thermonator is the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog. This quadruped is coupled with the ARC Flamethrower to deliver on-demand fire anywhere!” Throwflame, the company behind the robot flamethrower, wrote on its website. 

  

  Called the “Thermonator,” the flamethrowing robot retails for $9,420 and can shoot napalm upwards of 30 feet. 

  

  Throwflame says Thermonator is mainly used for “wildfire control and prevention,” “agricultural management,” “ecological conservation,” “snow and ice removal,” and “entertainment and SFX.” 

  Over the years, we have covered the proliferation of this technology, from ‘cute’ dancing robo-dogs from (Japanese-owned) Boston Dynamics to the Chinese version of ‘spot’ with a machine gun strapped to its back. 

  

  Even an armed robo-dog deployed by a drone. 

  Blood-Wing, a Chinese defense contractor, demonstrates drone-deploying an armed robodog.

  The Future is Now. pic.twitter.com/tRKnKa8xvp

  — Lia Wong (@LiaWong__) October 4, 2022

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

  Meanwhile, just days ago, Boston Dynamics unveiled its new humanoid robot that creepily moves like no other robot has moved before. 

  We promise this is not a person in a bodysuit. https://t.co/S9FgfpqvrW pic.twitter.com/G30sXHQ93C

  — Boston Dynamics (@BostonDynamics) April 17, 2024

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

  The militarization of robot dogs is terrifying. We’re surprised these robots have yet to be deployed in Ukraine.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:20

• San Diego Official Says City Is "New Epicenter" Of Border Crisis
  San Diego Official Says City Is “New Epicenter” Of Border Crisis

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

  A San Diego County official has branded the city the “new epicenter” for illegal immigration and claimed that Border Patrol has become “the ‘Uber’ for migrants” entering the county.

  “San Diego is the new epicenter for migrants and illegal immigration,” San Diego District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond posted on the social media platform X on April 25.

  “The surge in illegal crossings has propelled San Diego to the unfortunate position of leading all nine southern border sectors in April, a trend unseen since the 1990s.”

  On Wednesday alone, Border Patrol apprehended 2,000 illegal immigrants within the San Diego sector, according to Mr. Desmond. Among them were 206 Chinese nationals, he said.

  

  Since Oct. 1st, there have been nearly 215,000 apprehensions representing individuals from 75 different countries in the San Diego sector, Mr. Desmond wrote in the post.

  “Moreover, the closure of the processing center has led to over 30,000 migrant drop-offs in the past two months alone, with projections of more than 1,000 drop-offs expected today,” he continued.

  “This doesn’t account for the frequent occurrences of boats washing ashore, averaging three to four incidents weekly. ”

  Mr. Desmond appeared to be referencing the $6 million Migrant Welcome Center that shut down in San Diego in February due to a lack of funding.

  The District 5 supervisor went on to state that human smugglers have identified California—and in particular the San Diego border sector—as “the path of least resistance” for illegal immigrants.

  “Border Patrol has inadvertently become the ‘Uber’ for migrants entering San Diego County, and the County is the travel agent,” he concluded.

  Illegal immigrants ‘Just Walking Across the Border’

  Speaking to Newsnation later on April 25, Mr. Desmond claimed that people are “just walking across the border” and Border Patrol agents “are not empowered to stop them.”

  “All they’re doing is processing them once they … walk across the border,” he told the publication.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to San Diego Border Patrol for further comment.

  Mr. Desmond’s comments come after he and other San Diego County leaders called on the state and federal governments to bolster security at the border and remove sanctuary city policies amid the ongoing immigration crisis.

  Speaking at a press conference alongside several mayors on April 15 near Carlsbad State Beach, Mr. Desmond said more than 125,000 illegal immigrants have entered since September, of which more than 25,000 had been released onto the streets in the past two months.

  The county official stressed those figures did not include known “gotaways,” those known to have entered the country illegally while evading Border Patrol.

  He further blamed California’s sanctuary city policies for prohibiting law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration Customs and Enforcement to hand over illegal immigrants, even if they are identified as suspects in crimes other than entering the United States illegally.

  

  California Governor Gavin Newsom, on April 17, 2024. (Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times)

  Newsom Praises Biden’s Border Efforts

  Mr. Desmond criticized the state for providing “free health care to illegal immigrants,” along with “free legal defense to those here illegally seeking asylum … no matter what crime they commit.”

  He and other Republican county officials, including Carlsbad Mayor Keith Blackburn, Vista Mayor John Franklin, and San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, called upon the state of California and the federal government to do more to address the influx of illegal immigrants while calling for harsher penalties on human smugglers.

  “We need to make major changes for the safety of our people, the safety of all of San Diego County,” Mr. Desmond said. “We need the state and federal officials to bring more resources, whether it’s more Coast Guard or National Guard … We’ve got to come together and allow law enforcement to communicate with ICE. We need to be able to deport criminals out of the country.”

  In contrast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has defended the state’s response to the ongoing immigration crisis while praising the Biden administration for providing millions in federal grants to address the issue.

  “Let’s be clear: President Biden is doing all he can to fund border security and humanitarian efforts while Republicans in Congress are choosing border chaos for political gain,” he said in an April 12 statement.

  The Democrat went on to accuse congressional Republicans of trying to “undermine opportunities to advance border security” and modernize the immigration system for political gain.

  “The Newsom Administration is working in partnership with the Biden-Harris Administration and California Congressional leaders, along with state and local officials, to advocate for federal funding for communities as they support the federal government with a safe and orderly process, further enhancing border security,” the governor said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:00

• Disgruntled School Employee Uses AI To Frame Principal With Racist Rant 
  Disgruntled School Employee Uses AI To Frame Principal With Racist Rant 

  A disgruntled ex-athletics director at a northern Baltimore County Public School used artificial intelligence to impersonate the voice of his boss, the high school’s principal, then posted the racist and antisemitic hate rant on social media to share with the world.

  Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters his investigators worked with FBI agents and experts from the University of California at Berkeley to determine that a recording of Pikesville High School principal Eric Eiswert, circulating on social media since January, was generated with AI tools by Dazhon Darien, the school’s athletic director, to retaliate against the principal for not renewing his work contract and an investigation into the mishandling of school funds.   

  On Thursday, McCullough said his investigation found that “Dazhon Darien, the school’s athletic director, produced the recording to retaliate against Principal Eiswert, who had initiated a probe into the mishandling of school funds.”

  Local media outlet WBFF’s investigative i-Team arm, Project Baltimore, originally obtained the audio recording, which is 41 seconds long, beginning with racially charged language about black students. 

  “I seriously don’t understand why I have to constantly put up with these dumb***** here every day,” the AI impersonated voice of the principle said, adding, 

  “Between these ungrateful black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag or these teachers who don’t get it. How hard is it to get these students to meet their grade level expectations?”

  🚨#WATCH: As a High School Athletic Director Arrested for Attempting to Frame Principal with AI-Generated Audio Fabricating Anti-Black and Antisemitic Conversation

  📌#Pikesville | #Maryland

  At Pikesville High School’s a 31-year-old athletic director, Dazhon Darien, was… pic.twitter.com/T2VAfuR4sj

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 26, 2024

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

  On Thursday morning, Darien was arrested 30 miles south at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on an outstanding warrant. ABC 13 News said he now faces charges that include stalking, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness. He’s being held in custody on a $5,000 bond. 

  The principal was removed from his position as the investigation played out. BCPS officials said he would not return for the remainder of the school year. 

  Eiswert denied responsibility for the audio during the multi-month investigation, telling police Darien was the culprit. 

  According to charging documents, Darien’s attempt to sabotage the principal with AI was motivated by “his contract not being renewed next semester due to frequent work performance challenges” and the unauthorized use of school funds. 

  Just wait until AI is weaponized against a politician or presidential candidate. It’s coming.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:40

• Competition, The American Way
  Competition, The American Way

  Authored by Jack Miller via RealClearEducation,

  Our K-12 educational system is designed to serve much less than 50% of American students.

  

  For decades the cry has been that “all kids must go to college.” Yet, only a minority do so and fewer graduate.

  Our high schools have been turned into college prep schools. Shop classes have been eliminated, along with other useful courses. Most students who don’t go to college have been deprived of the education they need to be successful. And businesses looking for hungry, well-prepared personnel have been deprived of good candidates.

  A 2022 report from American Compass suggests that “for every young American on the idealized path, there are ten who never enroll in college or else fail to complete a degree.” Various studies show different percentages, but all show that most students don’t complete, or even enter, college. Studies also show that fewer young people are even applying to college.

  This is a real, self-imposed crisis. It also has a major impact on many of those in poorer circumstances or who get bored with college prep courses and drop out of school before graduating.

  Given this well-documented reality, why has our K-12 education system not reformed itself to address this glaring problem?

  Once you understand the problem, it is not difficult to figure out how to fix it. In the K-8 system, every student should be taught the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic, plus some civics and history to start them on the road to being good citizens.

  When students get to high school, they should be offered a two-track program. Keep the college prep program going for those who want to go on to postsecondary education. Also, another track should be introduced for the majority who don’t plan to go to college.

  In addition to the basics such as English, history, civics, and a few others, students should have the option to take various kinds of vocation-based classes that teach the skills that are needed in the job market. We should be preparing all our young people to be good citizens, but also for good-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree.

  Then, we need to strengthen our trade schools, the community college system, and internships, which would further prepare these young people to be successful in their careers. During the four to six years others are spending in college, young adults who take this track would be able to work and earn money instead of accumulating debt. In many cases they could make as much, or even more, than many college graduates.

  The benefits of creating a two-track system would be immense. First, we could expand our labor pool quite a bit. Our country is facing a labor shortage. The birth rate has been down for a number of years, so fewer young people are entering the workforce, and an increasing number of people are retiring. Our immigration policies are not allowing enough skilled labor into the country.

  The answer to these problems is to tap into that large, untrained, unmotivated pool of talent our schools are leaving behind. Doing so would have many benefits, both for the individuals and for the country.

  For the individuals, it would provide them with a good middle-class, or higher, lifestyle. It would give them a sense of pride, of accomplishment. It would keep many of them from committing crimes and staying out of jail, and it would lead to much happier lives.

  For the country, it would provide a large pool of trained workers. It would add to our gross national product. It would reduce the amount of money we spend on law enforcement and incarceration. It would prevent the enormous waste that results from theft and other crimes.

  For a great many jobs, a two-year certificate from a community college or additional trade school training is all that may be needed to get a good start in a career. And, from there, meritocracy determines the rest.

  This project should be taken on by the states. Education is a state responsibility and should not wait for the federal government to shoulder this responsibility. The fastest, most efficient method is for the states to act now.

  Of course, those states that do act would be creating the best-trained workforces and would be growing their economies and attracting businesses. A little competition, the American way, is always a good thing.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:20

• Worst In 70 Years: Biden Approval Rating Absolutely Dismal
  Worst In 70 Years: Biden Approval Rating Absolutely Dismal

  President Joe Biden has the worst job approval rating since Eisenhower during his recently completed 13th quarter in office, according to a new poll by Gallup.

  

  While Biden clocks in at 38.7%, the previous low was set by George H.W. Bush at 41.8% in 1992. Donald Trump and Barack Obama averaged 46.8% and 45.9% respectively during the same point in their presidencies. Prior to Bush, Jimmy Carter is the only other president with a sub-50% average in his 13th quarter.

  

  Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush averaged between 51% and 55% approval in their 13th quarters, while Dwight Eisenhower had the highest average for a president during his 13th month at 73.2%.

  What’s more, Biden’s most recent approval rating places him 277 out of 314 presidential quarters in Gallup history dating back to 1945, placing him in the bottom 12% of all presidential quarters. Biden’s score is technically the lowest of his presidency, which has been dragging in the low 40% range since Q4 of his term.

  

  Put another way:

  This union worker says what much of America is thinking right now…..😂🙌🏼🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/b4BOEchMBh

  — Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) April 25, 2024

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  By political affiliation, Gallup’s poll found that 2% of Republicans approve of Biden’s job in office, while independents have him at 33%. The vast majority of Democrats, 83%, think Biden’s doing an awesome job.

  Meanwhile an Axios ‘vibes survey‘ / Harris poll found that most Americans want mass deportations, including 42% of Democrats.

  

  The poll also found that 30% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans say they’d end birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.

  As Axios notes further:

  Americans are open to former President Trump’s harshest immigration plans, spurred on by a record surge of illegal border crossings and a relentless messaging war waged by Republicans.

  • President Biden is keenly aware the crisis threatens his re-election. He’s sought to flip the script by accusing Trump of sabotaging Congress’ most conservative bipartisan immigration bill in decades.
  • But when it comes to blame, Biden so far has failed to shift the narrative: 32% of respondents say his administration is “most responsible” for the crisis, outranking any other political or structural factor.

  “I was surprised at the public support for large-scale deportations,” said Mark Penn, chairman of The Harris Poll and a former pollster for President Clinton, adding “I think they’re just sending a message to politicians: ‘Get this under control,'” suggesting that this is a clear warning to Biden that “efforts to shift responsibility for the issue to Trump are not going to work.”

  Drilling down, when asked to identify their greatest concern surrounding illegal immigration, Americans most frequently cited:

  1. Increased crime rates, drugs, and violence (21%).
  2. The additional costs to taxpayers (18%).
  3. Risk of terrorism and national security (17%).

  The survey also found that 64% of those polled believe immigrants receive more in welfare and benefits than they pay in taxes, and 54% believe that immigration is linked to spiking US crime rates, which Axios refutes.

  Bottom line: “The tradeoff here in the poll is, people would take expanded legal immigration if they saw there’s a crackdown on the border,” according to Penn.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:00

• California's New Minimum Wage: A Cure That Exacerbates The Sickness
  California’s New Minimum Wage: A Cure That Exacerbates The Sickness

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  The solution to a problem shouldn’t make the problem worse.

  

  But apparently, California’s policy makers missed that memo.

  On April 1st, the state instituted a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, the highest in the US. With California’s absurdly high cost of living, the policy appeared to make life more manageable for low-income residents. Unfortunately, as the adage goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” California’s new minimum wage is poised to hurt the same fast-food workers it aims to help.

  The Economic Problem of a Minimum Wage

  The counterproductivity of a minimum wage is demonstrated by a simple analysis of the labor market. Companies “purchase” labor from workers through a wage. The more value a worker adds to a company, the more they will be paid. If employers are allowed to set wages freely, and the labor market is competitive, workers can expect to be paid close to their value added to the company.

  A minimum wage hijacks this process. If a worker is worth $15 an hour to an employer, but a $20 minimum wage is introduced, the company will no longer hire the worker, and both parties are harmed. A $20 wage floor means that workers must at least add that much value to the company. For many laborers, this means saying goodbye to their industry and hello to unemployment.

  The Effects of California’s Minimum Wage

  The ripple effects of California’s $20 minimum wage have proved these dismal predictions all too true. Several chains, including Pizza Hut and Starbucks, have laid off workers in response to the wage increase. Michaela Mendelsohn, the CEO of El Pollo Loco, claimed the company would have to reduce employee hours due to increased labor costs. McDonald’s employees are likewise seeing their hours substantially reduced. In the tight margins of the fast-food industry, where even a small increase in the price of labor can destabilize a production chain, the effects of the wage hike have been exacerbated.

  Fast-food workers are particularly susceptible to layoffs because of the rise of automation within the industry. Automation creates a simple alternative for companies struggling to meet the wage requirement. Many fast-food restaurants have already implemented mobile ordering stations, and if labor costs continue to rise, the incentive to further automate will increase. Restaurants around the world have already introduced machines to replace waiters, cashiers, and cooks.

  A higher wage also increases the risk of hiring new, untested workers. In service industries, such as fast food, it can be difficult to distinguish the productivity of individual workers. It can take a while to find the weak link at the root of a location’s unproductivity, and this delay equals lost revenue. While an untested applicant may potentially boost productivity, a heightened minimum wage increases the risk of giving that worker a chance.

  Proponents of the new minimum wage argue that food chains will absorb the wage increase by raising prices. Some companies, such as Chipotle and Jack in the Box, have already raised their California prices in response to the new policy. However, this is not a concrete solution. Any price increase will necessarily decrease consumer demand, which could harm profits further. A step too far and the workers’ already dire plight will be exacerbated.

  If California’s economic and political conditions continue to worsen, many franchises might simply leave the state. While California has a massive potential market, if labor costs become prohibitively high, chains could simply focus their resources on more economically-friendly states. Leading the way are MOD Pizza and Starbucks, who respectively closed five and seven of their California locations in April.

  The Minimum Wage: A Cure that Exacerbates the Sickness

  The ethos of the minimum wage is to support the poor and lessen wealth inequality. Social class discrepancy is not a trivial issue, as a lack of generational wealth constrains the opportunities of millions of Americans. Children of parents without college degrees are more likely to not obtain a degree themselves, and less educated workers are on average less productive than their educated counterparts. However, the minimum wage increases inequality by cutting off anyone who falls below a mandated productivity threshold. This means removing many of the underprivileged from the workforce altogether, causing families already hampered by societal constraints to see their opportunities shrink even further. It’s like a hospital diverting its care from its sickest patients to pamper the healthy.

  Interventionist policies usually sound good. Politicians love to swoon about how their measures will reduce inequality and to paint opponents as money-grubbers who don’t care about assisting the poor. The cold reality is that when the government institutes a sweeping economic reform, there will always be unintended consequences. In the case of the minimum wage, the “cure” exacerbates the sickness.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:40

• Pentagon Chief Trolls Iran On Effectiveness Of Weapons After Israel Attack
  Pentagon Chief Trolls Iran On Effectiveness Of Weapons After Israel Attack

  US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday weighed in on the April 13 Iranian attack on Israel, which was the Islamic Republic’s first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state.

  It included some 300 drones and missiles launched at Israel – the vast majority of which were intercepted by Israeli anti-air defenses, but also with US and Western help, and the deployment of warplanes which shot inbound drones out of the sky. Austin in a press briefing appeared to mock the Iranian attack as weak and ineffective. This comes following Tehran officials deriding Israel’s apparent ‘limited’ retaliation which came on April 19.

  “They should be questioning the effectiveness of their weapons systems and their planning,” Austin told reporters in reference to the Iranians and their military.

  

  “Hopefully they don’t walk away from this over-confident that they can do this at will, because I think Israel has demonstrated that it has a significant ability to defend itself,” Austin added.

  While it’s clear that some of Iran’s ballistic missiles did hit a couple of Israeli airbases in the central and south of the country, many more were intercepted or fell harmlessly in the desert.

  A fresh report in Jerusalem Post notes that people are still randomly finding nearly intact missiles in the Negev desert:

  …the missiles launched towards Nevatim and other targets in the Negev fell in the South but far from the targets they were aimed at. When they are lying in the Negev devoid of the warheads, they are just metal scraps, which the IDF slowly collects for research and analysis of the enemy’s capabilities.

  Travelers who were walking in the Arad area of the Judean desert, enjoying the starry night, were surprised to find themselves standing next to a ballistic missile, a remnant of the major attack that Tehran launched against Israel, which included more than 300 suicide drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

  This is not the first missile discovered in the south since the attack. Similar missiles were discovered nearby in the Dead Sea area immediately after.

  Below via Reuters/JPost: A man stands next to the apparent remains of a ballistic missile, as it lies in the desert near the Dead Sea, following a massive missile and drone attack by Iran on Israel, in southern Israel April 21, 2024

  

  Despite Austin’s criticisms and mockery aimed at Tehran, the Biden administration is breathing a sigh of relief that the whole thing ended in a one-off tit-for-tat which subsided after each side got its strikes in, and not runaway escalation leading to major war. Both sides telegraphed their responses and limited them, in order to ensure the likelihood of avoiding a bigger regional war.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:20

• UCLA Students Forced To Take Mandatory 'Fat Positivity' Class
  UCLA Students Forced To Take Mandatory ‘Fat Positivity’ Class

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  UCLA medical school is under fire for forcing students to attend ‘health equity’ classes where ‘fat positivity’ is promoted, and reading material claims that the medical term ‘obesity’ is a slur “used to exact violence on fat people.”

  

  Yes, really.

  The Washington Free Beacon obtained the  entire syllabus for the mandatory course, titled Structural Racism and Health Equity, which one medical expert who has reviewed it describes as “education designed to ideologically indoctrinate physician-activists.”

  As part of the required course, all first year medical students are made to read an essay by ‘fat liberationist’ Marquisele Mercedes (pictured), who uses made up terms like “fatphobia” to argue that the medical profession is biased against fat people, and that trying to lose weight to be more healthy is a “hopeless endeavor” because it is a disability that cannot be reversed.

  ‘Pedagogical Malpractice’: Inside UCLA Medical School’s Mandatory ‘Health Equity’ Classhttps://t.co/lucuX8hFbM

  — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 24, 2024

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

  The essay titled ‘No Health, No Care: The Big Fat Loophole in the Hippocratic Oath,’ claims that weight has become “pathologized and medicalized in racialized terms,” and that fatties are discriminated against by the medical profession, particularly “Black, disabled, trans, poor fat people.”

  

  Unhinged.

  The syllabus states that the essay provides guidance on “resisting entrenched fat oppression.”

  WFB writer Aaron Sibarium breaks down the syllabus, which is replete with extreme Marxist, gender ideology, and critical race theory positions, in this thread (click through to read):

  NEW: UCLA medical school’s mandatory health equity class teaches students that weight loss is a “hopeless endeavor” and that “ob*sity” is a slur “used to exact violence on fat people.”

  The full syllabus has shocked prominent doctors—the former dean of Harvard Medical School.🧵

  — Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) April 24, 2024

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  The findings have been slammed by Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard Medical School, who warned that the curriculum “promotes extensive and dangerous misinformation.”

  Flier charges that UCLA “has centered this required course on a socialist/Marxist ideology that is totally inappropriate,” adding that “As a longstanding medical educator, I found this course truly shocking.”

  “This is a profoundly misguided view of obesity, a complex medical disorder with major adverse health consequences for all racial and ethnic groups,” Flier further urged, adding that indoctrinating medical students with such “ignorant” notions constitutes “malpractice.”

  Earlier this month, UCLA’s ‘Structural Racism’ course also mandated first-year medical students to sit through a crackpot lecture by a screaming masked up pro-Hamas activist who told them pray to ‘mama Earth’.

  In a mandatory course on “structural racism”, UCLA Med School lecturer Lisa Gray-Garcia, forced students to kneel down and pray for “black,” “brown,” and “houseless people” who die because of the “crapatalist lie” of “private property.”

  SOURCE: https://t.co/4MLFxmhpsE pic.twitter.com/dbJekwenld

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 3, 2024

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  The Washington Free Beacon reported that when one student refused to participate, a faculty member “inquired about the student’s identity, implying that discipline could be on the table.”

  UCLA Med School Requires Students To Attend Lecture Where Speaker Demands Prayer for ‘Mama Earth,’ Leads Chants of ‘Free Palestine.’https://t.co/P0d9MD2brJ pic.twitter.com/6IwQ8V62Z3

  — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 3, 2024

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  The course also prompted a civil rights complaint back in January after students were separated into race-based discussion groups, with one for white students, another for African Americans, and a third for “Non-Black People of Color.”

  It was only when a Wall Street Journal editorial publicised the complaint, that UCLA moved to cancel the exercise.

  Last month, The Daily Wire also published portions of the course’s openly socialist syllabus, including units on “settler colonialism” where students were made to read an essay titled Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor that describes the “epistemic, ontological, cosmological violence” of “the settler.”

  2/ These emails come from a mandatory class called “Structural Racism and Health Equity.” UCLA med students are told to read about wars of “Indigenous resistance” – in which Native Americans killed thousands of white people – to “imagine what liberation could look like.” pic.twitter.com/0E9RWS7C5w

  — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 1, 2024

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  4/ The emails from this first-year class also reveal that students are encouraged to listen to a podcast entitled “Indigenae,” which covers an array of unscientific nonsense, including people identifying as “two-spirit” and “womxn.” pic.twitter.com/0Y8tRh1VqV

  — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 1, 2024

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  6/ In the context of a medical school, these materials aren’t just irrelevant — they put lives at risk. Medical students are being taught to disregard science, and instead to build resentment towards many of their patients.

  — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 1, 2024

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  This is all just the tip of the iceberg as far as DEI on college campuses goes. Yale, Stanford and Columbia all have similar programs in place, to name just three institutions.

  Imagine the fallout of this when today’s students become part of the fabric of the workforce and government of the country.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:00

• Drizzle Drizzle? 'Soft Guy Era' Parody Trend Sheds Light On Feminist Hypocrisy
  Drizzle Drizzle? ‘Soft Guy Era’ Parody Trend Sheds Light On Feminist Hypocrisy

  First, the feminists claimed that they “don’t need no man” and promoted a culture of “strong independent women,” the idea being that men were holding women back from their true potential.  The “patriarchy” conspiracy was an all prevailing issue for woke activists for years, and their answer was to attack and sabotage men and masculinity with a terroristic fervor.  Masculinity, they argued, is the root of all historic evils.

  However, as feminists gained the backing of governments and massive corporate financiers the idea of women being “oppressed” in western countries seemed even less probable than it did before.  What rights under the law do men have that women don’t have?  Ask a feminist this question and she’ll have no idea how to answer.  Feminism and woke movements in general rely on the image of being the underdog; a heroic revolutionary effort by people who are fighting to gain a voice.  But woke activists aren’t fighting “the man”, they are “the man.”  You can’t be a revolutionary when you’re the oppressor.

  In response, men started giving feminists exactly what they said they wanted:  Equal treatment.  The old days of chivalry and the expectations for men to support women financially quickly faded, and suddenly feminists discovered that men were no longer spending their cash as freely as they used to.  Everything is half-and-half today, and feminists don’t like that.

  So, hypocritically, the same woke promoters that once pontificated about women being treated equally took to the internet to attack men who embraced the idea.  The “Sprinkle Sprinkle” narrative was born, with feminists demanding that men submit to feminism while also paying for everything a woman desires as if they are walking ATMs.  Those men that don’t are accused of being “broke losers” who don’t deserve companionship.

  Yes, it’s bewildering, but this is the nature of Cultural Marxism – The goal of activists is to break down the target population until they are slaves to collectivist whim.  No matter what you do, no matter how you accommodate them, it’s never good enough because the true purpose is control.  In the case of feminism, being a man is the same as original sin and every man must pay the price for that sin for as long as they live.  Meaning if men want access to women they can’t just treat them equally, they also have to pay.

  This philosophy has led to a flurry of online trends, mainly on websites like TikTok, in which feminists give women relationship advice on how to view men as an easy income source while squeezing them for every available penny.  The term “foodie call” became ubiquitous as social media activists laughed about having various categories of men in their roster, some for sex and some for free food.  This is where the now infamous “Restaurant Refusal List” came from; a list of eateries that feminists say women should never go to on a first date because they are “cheap.”

  List of restaurants women refuse to go on a first date to is going viral 👀 pic.twitter.com/4myU4nsL0O

  — Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) October 24, 2023

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

  And don’t think for one second that these internet fads have no bearing on the real world, because they absolutely do.  The ignorance of older generations to the online social ecosystem is one of the reasons why the woke movement seemed to strike out of nowhere a decade ago.  Everyone thought it was fringe and funny until it suddenly began dominating every element of the web and pop-culture. 

  The Sprinkle-Sprinkle trend blew up, with scores of women taking to TikTok to complain about how men don’t fulfill their needs monetarily and proudly boasting about the privileges they’re entitled to.  The double standard was now complete.  Women were all victims all the time.  Men were all victimizers all the time.  But women were also “powerful” and independent, yet they required men’s finances to feel respected.  Meaning, under feminism men can truly never win, even if they give in.    

  Thankfully, grassroots counter-movements are learning and adapting to the online environment that woke activists have been thriving in, often with hilarious results.  Instead of “Sprinkle Sprinkle”, now it’s “Drizzle Drizzle” – The “Soft Guy Era” movement parodies feminist talking points, taking those arguments and flipping them around to show how ridiculous these women sound.

  Men demand equal treatment, and feminists better have their cash and credit cards handy or they get no access. Men are now “the prize.”

  Obviously these are all jokes and none of the men are serious, but not surprisingly a lot of feminists are furious anyway.  As the saying goes, the left can’t meme and they’re incapable of laughing at themselves.  

  If you take, for example, common BLM arguments about white people and you flip the script by replacing the word “white” with the word “black”, those same arguments come out sounding incredibly racist.  Activists don’t like it when you use their methods against them.  The guys out there making Drizzle-Drizzle videos are using a similar debate technique, only with feminists.  

  At bottom, feminism is a narcissistic and sociopathic ideology that is destroying western relationships and the nuclear family.  It is at the core of the current downfall of civilization and should not be taken lightly.  That said, sometimes ridicule is the most effective weapon for stopping social saboteurs.  Drizzle Drizzle, kings.   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 20:40

• Immunity For Me But Not For Thee
  Immunity For Me But Not For Thee

  Authored by William Woodruff via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Whether Presidential Immunity is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing Shouldn’t Depend Upon Party Affiliation

  “Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office?” That is the question the Supreme Court will answer when it hears oral argument in Trump v. U.S.  on April 25, 2024.

  Legacy media and the ladies of “The View” nearly lost their collective minds when the Court agreed to hear Trump’s appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s decision denying him immunity for his actions surrounding the events of Jan. 6, 2021. However, even Jack Smith, the Special Counsel prosecuting the case, argued that it was of “imperative public importance” that the Court resolve the immunity question before trial.

  But forget about Trump for the moment. The issue is bigger than Trump and his legal woes. As the partisan divide between the left and the right grows larger, there is a real risk that the criminalization of policy differences could raise our current state of “lawfare” to a new level.

  Several retired four-star generals and admirals, as well as former cabinet officials, have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that granting immunity to former presidents for actions within the outer perimeter of their official duties would raise questions about the ability of the United States to peacefully transfer power from one administration to another, and thereby pose a grave risk to national security.

  The retired officials’ brief also argues that granting immunity would undermine civilian control of the military and undermine trust and confidence in the military as an institution.

  The “parade of horribles” in the retired officials’ brief assumes that a future president would instruct subordinate military officers to carry out illegal orders for which they, but not the president, would be criminally liable. The brief also suggests that an unrestrained incumbent would use the military to retain power and, thus, destabilize America’s diplomatic and military standing among nations.

  Of course, none of the hypotheticals feared by the brief writers occurred in the case pending before the Court. Apparently, they are afraid not of Donald Trump but of some unidentified future president.

  

  To analyze the pros and cons of immunity, however, there is no need to speculate about what some future president might do. We need only look at actual events from our recent history.

  Situation #1

  President Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and Islamic Imam critical of American foreign policy in the Middle East. Before releasing the drones that killed al-Awlaki and two others, the White House sought and received a Memorandum from the Department of Justice providing legal justification for the attack.

  Several questions come to mind.  Should the memo from DoJ authorizing the killing of an American citizen abroad without judicial due process immunize President Obama for violating the federal criminal statute that imposes criminal penalties for the extra territorial killing of an American citizen?

  Could a subsequent President, a member of the opposing political party, direct a new Attorney General to investigate whether the killing of the U.S. citizen by drone attack in Yemen violated federal criminal law? If an indictment is returned against the now former President for that killing, should President Obama be allowed to claim immunity or be forced to stand trial?

  Situation #2

  President Biden revoked many of President Trump’s Executive Orders addressing border security when he took office. He also halted construction of physical barriers intended to secure the southern border and stem the flow of illegal border crossings and the smuggling of dangerous drugs.

  The number of illegal border crossings skyrocketed. Instead of remaining in Mexico until asylum claims were adjudicated, migrants were “paroled” into the interior of the United States and given a court date for their asylum claim years into the future.

  The quantity of illegal drugs, and the deaths of American citizens from accidental drug overdoses smuggled across the southern border, escalated astronomically. Federal law imposes criminal penalties on those who enter the United States illegally. It also punishes conspiracies to violate federal law.

  So, if the White House switches parties when President Biden leaves, should the new president’s Attorney General seek an indictment against Biden for conspiring with the Secretary of Homeland Security to violate U.S. immigration laws by facilitating the illegal entry of millions of migrants into the United States? Or should those policy choices be protected by a cloak of immunity?

  Situation #3

  Eager to deliver on a campaign promise, President Biden announced a policy to “forgive” billions of dollars in student loan debt. The Supreme Court struck down the President’s plan and held that Congress had not authorized the Executive to unilaterally forgive student loan debt.

  Instead of seeking legislative authority, President Biden reworked his plan to rely upon a different statute for authority. Assume the courts dismissed lawsuits challenging Biden’s “Plan B” because the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. “Plan B” went forward and billions of dollars in federal student loans became “grants” instead of loans that had to be repaid.

  The federal Anti-deficiency Act imposes criminal penalties on anyone who authorizes the expenditure of federal funds without a valid congressional appropriation. When President Biden leaves office, can he be indicted and tried because his “Plan B” loan scheme violated federal law?

  Presidential Immunity Analysis

  Each of the foregoing situations illustrates how  a former President could be subject to indictment for actions taken within the outer perimeter of his official duties as President. Never happen, you say? Surely, no one would try to force these facts into violations of existing law. But Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and Jack Smith have all engaged in creative lawyering to bring novel criminal charges against Trump. Apparently, some see creative lawyering as a feature and not a bug in our legal system.

  While the former Presidents have substantive defenses to the charges and the novel theories advanced in the indictments may be rejected by the courts or nullified by a jury, should the former presidents and the country be put through the spectacle of a criminal trial?

  One of the major attributes of immunity is that it avoids the trial in the first place. Instead of placing one’s fate in the hands of a jury and hoping they will accept one or more defenses or justifications for the alleged violations, immunity prevents the trial at the outset. In other words, if the process is the punishment, immunity avoids the process.

  Presidential immunity for actions within the outer perimeter of official duties allows a president to make difficult policy and operational decisions without concern for his personal liberty once he leaves office. It also eliminates the temptation to exact a tit for tat when the next election goes to the opposition party.

  On the flip side, the existence of presidential immunity may provide unwarranted protection for the actions and decisions of a president who does not really have the best interests of the country at heart. But the Constitution provides two significant checks on that unseemly circumstance: impeachment and the ballot box. Furthermore, the Constitution specifically provides that upon conviction by the Senate in an impeachment trial the person impeached “shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.”

  It is tempting to favor or disfavor presidential immunity in criminal cases depending upon the political or personal like or dislike one may have for the indicted former President. Republicans get immunity but Democrats don’t; or vice versa. But if we are to be a nation of laws every former president should be entitled to presidential immunity for alleged criminal acts committed within the outer perimeter of official duties, or no former President should be so immune.

  The issue before the Supreme Court is one of first impression. While immunity has been litigated in the context of civil claims, no former President has been indicted for criminal acts while in office, until now. In an ideal world, the answer to the question presented in Trump v. United States would remain nothing more than an interesting topic of discussion among law professors.

  But if the last seven or eight years have proved anything it is that we are not living in an ideal world.

  William A. Woodruff is a retired Army lawyer who, as Chief of the Army Litigation Division, was responsible for defending Army policies, programs, and operations in federal courts around the country. He retired from active duty in 1992 and taught law for 25 years at Campbell University School of Law in North Carolina.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 20:20

• Why You Can't Afford Most Hotels In New York City
  Why You Can’t Afford Most Hotels In New York City

  Authored by Fred Roeder via RealClearMarkets,

  On a Friday night in March 2011, I stayed at an upscale W Hotel on Lexington Avenue in New York City for $124. That hotel later became The Maxwell, but sadly it didn’t survive the pandemic and is now permanently closed. Today the average hotel stay in that same neighborhood costs between $400 and $500 on a Friday night. The surge in hotel prices, particularly for upmarket accommodations, has caught the attention of travelers and investors worldwide. What led to this spike in hotel rates post-pandemic?

  

  Several factors have been at play for the hospitality industry since COVID entered the rearview, resulting in higher prices for travelers.

  Supply and Competition

  Competition within hospitality plays a crucial role in determining hotel prices. While it might appear that there’s no shortage of lodging options for travelers, the regulatory crackdown on platforms like Airbnb in big cities has redirected travelers back into the arms of traditional hotels, thereby increasing demand. 

  As the Consumer Choice Center has pointed out, 80 percent of properties were already delisted from Airbnb by October 2023 thanks to New York City’s stringent new short-term rental policies. Because of the new restrictions on temporary rentals, which state that only two paying guests at most can stay for up to 30 days under certain conditions (unobstructed access to the whole residence, short-term registration, owner present on site), many families have no choice but to look for a hotel room during their NYC stay. 

  Not to mention the massive buying up of hotel room blocks by the city in order to house newly arrived migrant populations. This warps the market for hotel rooms in profound ways. NYC has at least 140 active contracts with city hotels to fill all their vacant rooms, normally valued around $110 per night, but marked up by 73 percent to $190 for a room. Vacancies mean lower prices, but if surrounding inns are full, hotel prices rise for consumers. 

  This arrangement may not be what hoteliers had in mind for their business, but it has proven highly lucrative for the properties cooperating with the city in these contracts. 

  Closures of smaller hotels along with industry consolidation reduce the number of options for consumers, which empowers larger hotel chains to raise prices. Moreover, high interest rates on financing discourage the construction of new hotels, leading to an even more constrained supply of rooms. All the while, prices creep even higher. 

  Consolidated hotel groups have found innovative ways to manage yields and hence increase revenue. This would explain higher average daily rates despite similar or even lower occupancy rates for NYC hotels pre-pandemic.

  Traveler’s Tastes Change 

  Higher prices are also related to consumer preferences, which have evolved significantly in recent years. The pandemic prompted a shift towards safer and more luxurious options, with travelers prioritizing enhanced safety measures and amenities. This shift, coupled with pent-up demand from periods of lockdown, has resulted in a willingness among travelers to pay a premium for upmarket hotels. 

  Consumers also tend to book closer to their travel dates and are proving reluctant to commit far in advance. A few years of uncertainty around travel has created a more cautious average traveler. On top of that, the normalization of remote work has blurred the lines between business and leisure travel, leading to longer average stays. 

  People are taking personal vacations and then staying there longer while they transition back into work mode.

  Supply Chains and Labor

  Amidst all these trends, operational costs rise with minimum wage hikes, labor shortages, crunched supply chains overseas, and ever-increasing taxes in America’s largest cities. The labor shortfall is not insignificant and leaves hotels struggling to meet the high demand for rooms. The costs are likely being passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. 

  It’s also very possible that hotels are eager to recoup losses incurred during the pandemic period, driving them to maximize revenue through price adjustments as demand rebounds in major travel markets. 

  It’s a perfect storm of industry trends, regulatory pressures on competitors, and consumer behavior driving up the average price of a hotel stay in NYC and other large cities. Is there anything that can be done? 

  Ideally, as prices rise, consumers will see a new wave of entrepreneurial competition offering market solutions and testing out new models for lodging travelers. For the sake of all our wallets, let’s hope that happens sooner rather than later.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 19:40

• Mainstream Media Misrepresenting Crime Statistics In Order To Protect Biden
  Mainstream Media Misrepresenting Crime Statistics In Order To Protect Biden

  Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

  With the November election less than 7 months away, mainstream media outlets are now choosing to misrepresent the current state of crime in the United States, claiming that crime is declining without providing full context or key details.

  

  As the Daily Caller reports, there are two ways in which the federal government measures crime in the United States: The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR).

  Whereas the NCVS asks roughly 240,000 Americans whether or not they’ve been a victim of crime in the last year, the UCR focuses on crimes that have been reported to police within the last year and shared with the FBI.

  While more people are reporting to the BJS that they have been the victims of crime, the FBI is reporting fewer crimes through the UCR.

  The UCR claims that violent crime dropped by 2% from 2021 to 2022, while the NCVS shows the exact opposite, reporting that the number of victims of violent crime increased by a staggering 42.4% from 2021 to 2022; this constitutes a rise from 16.5 victims per 1,000 people to 23.5 victims per 1,000.

  Nevertheless, many mainstream media outlets such as CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Reuters, and The Hill have all turned to the FBI’s data to claim, falsely, that crime is on the decline. All such reports have failed to mention the crucial data from the NCVS.

  Even Joe Biden himself has turned to deliberately misrepresenting the facts by relying solely on the FBI’s data.

  “This week, the FBI released data showing that crime declined across nearly every category in 2023,” said Biden recently.

  “Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which every Republican in Congress voted against, we made the largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime at any time in our history.”

  This directly contradicts broad public sentiment in the United States, with a Gallup poll in December finding that 77% of Americans believe crime is getting worse.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 19:15

• Bank Failures Begin Again: Philly's Republic First Seized By FDIC
  Bank Failures Begin Again: Philly’s Republic First Seized By FDIC

  Who could have seen that coming? (here, here, here, and most detailed here)

  March will be lit:

  1. Reverse repo ends
  2. BTFP expires
  3. Fed cuts (allegedly)
  4. QT ends (allegedly)

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 8, 2024

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

  Admittedly, we were a couple of weeks off, but trouble has been brewing in the banking sector and tonight – after the close – we get the first bank failure of the year.

  The FDIC just seized the troubled Philadelphia bank, Republic First Bancorp and and struck an agreement for the lender’s deposits and the majority of its assets to be bought by Fulton Bank.

  

  Republic Bank had about $6 billion of assets and $4 billion of deposits at the end of January, according to the FDIC (considerably smaller than the $100-200BN assets with SVB and Signature).

  The FDIC estimated the failure will cost the deposit insurance fund $667 million.

  As The Wall Street Journal reports, Republic First had for months struggled to stay afloat.

  Around half of its deposits were uninsured at the end of 2023, according to FDIC data. 

  Its total equity, or assets minus liabilities, was $96 million at the end of 2023, according to FDIC filings.

  That excluded $262 million of unrealized losses on bonds that it labeled “held to maturity,” which means the losses hadn’t counted on its balance sheet.

  Its stock, which was delisted from Nasdaq in August, had been near zero.

  

  Republic Bank’s 32 branches across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank on Saturday, according to a statement from the FDIC.

  Depositors of Republic Bank will become depositors of Williamsport, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank, the regulator said.

  You should not be surprised given that rates are higher now than they were at the start of the SVB crisis – which means, unless banks have hedged hard or dumped their bonds at a loss, they are even more underwater…

  U.S. Banks finished the year with almost $400 billion of unrealized losses on held-to-maturity assets. The assumption is this wouldn’t be a problem because the Fed would cut A LOT this year but what if that doesn’t happen? pic.twitter.com/fsfMCisEd3

  — Barchart (@Barchart) April 25, 2024

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

  Add to this the fact that last week – seasonally-adjusted for tax-season – US banks saw the largest deposit outflows since 9/11 (yes, that 9/11)…

  

  …and, as we showed earlier, absent the $126BN outstanding in The Fed’s BTFP bailout fund (which is now terminated and slowly running down as the term loans mature)…

  

  …the banking crisis is back and now the question is “who’s next?”

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:45

• Watch: Trump Challenges Biden To Debate 'Tonight At The Courthouse' In NY
  Watch: Trump Challenges Biden To Debate ‘Tonight At The Courthouse’ In NY

  In a Friday interview with Howard Stern, President Joe Biden said he’d be “happy to debate” Donald Trump, telling Stern: “I am, somewhere, I don’t know when, but I am happy to debate him.”

  

  Biden’s remarks appeared off the cuff, rather than something his handlers approved, according to the NY Times, citing a top Democratic official familiar with the campaign’s thinking.

  🚨 Crooked Joe Biden says he’s “happy to debate” President Trump.

  His handlers must be furious! pic.twitter.com/eOS9zm0G0U

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

  Trump responded on Truth Social, posting: “Crooked Joe Biden just announced that he’s willing to debate! Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”

  Trump suggested next Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening in Michigan, “a State that he is in the process of destroying with his E.V. Mandate.”

  The former President also suggested doing it on Friday – writing “In the alternative, he’s in New York City today, although probably doesn’t know it, and so am I, stuck in one of the many Court cases that he instigated as ELECTION INTERFERENCE AGAINST A POLITICAL OPPONENT – A CONTINUING WITCH HUNT!”

  Trump says the lawsuits are “the only way he thinks he can win.”

  To that end, the former president said “let’s do the Debate at the Courthouse tonight – on National Television, I’ll wait around!”

  Watch:

  BREAKING: President Trump has officially invited Biden to debate, stating he is open any day of the week, including tonight.
  pic.twitter.com/Y3RRSK853k

  — Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) April 26, 2024

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:30

• Biden Holds Off On Sanctioning IDF Unit In Apparent Reversal 
  Biden Holds Off On Sanctioning IDF Unit In Apparent Reversal 

  Via The Cradle

  The government of US President Joe Biden has decided against imposing sanctions on Israeli army units responsible for human rights violations against Palestinians, despite initial plans to do so. 

  ABC News reported on Friday that a government assessment determined that three battalions in the Israeli army committed “gross human rights violations” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank “but will remain eligible for US military aid regardless because of steps Israel says it’s taking to address the problem.” 

  

  The assessment, which has not been made public, was outlined in a letter written by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson, which the news network obtained. 

  The rights violations committed by Israeli forces “will not delay the delivery of any US assistance and Israel will be able to receive the full amount appropriated by Congress.” Billions in US aid to Israel was approved by Biden just two days ago after passing in the Senate on Tuesday.

  The violations in question were committed prior to October 7 and took place in the occupied West Bank. They include the execution of Palestinians by Israeli border police, as well as torture and rape during interrogation. 

  None are related to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children. 

  Yet the decision is expected to frustrate many critics of the Biden administration who believe Washington has not done enough to hold Israel accountable for war crimes. Under the US Leahy Law, Washington should withhold military aid to states committing severe human rights abuses. Yet the law allows exceptions if measures are taken to punish those responsible. 

  An informed source told ABC that Israel and the US have a “special agreement” that Washington must consult with Tel Aviv over any decision relating to foreign assistance. The source added that these consultations are ongoing. 

  Blinken’s letter states that four of the Israeli army units have undergone “remediation” steps, meaning that those within the units that are responsible for the crimes have been internally held accountable. 

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 21: “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF, I will fight it with all my strength.”

  According to Hebrew news site Ynet, Israeli pressure on the US helped shape the decision not to impose sanctions on the units. “The reasonable estimate is that we will be able to convince the US not to impose these sanctions,” an Israeli official told the outlet. 

  In addition to Netanyahu, opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid both called on the US not to proceed with the decision. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly promised Blinken that “steps” would be taken. 

  How we got here: IMPUNITY. U.S. cancels sanctions against IDF units suspected of blatant war crimes. Because Israel pledged to do its own investigation. History show these “investigations” go nowhere except to find excuses; exonerate suspects.https://t.co/HfwJGcOwCj

  — Jim Clancy (@ClancyReports) April 26, 2024

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

  A special State Department panel proposed months ago to bar certain Israeli police and army units from receiving US funds over human rights abuses. A ProPublica report from last week indicates that Blinken disregarded the panel’s recommendations for action against the units. 

  The Guardian reported in January, citing interviews and State Department documents, that “special mechanisms have been used over the last few years to shield Israel from US human rights laws.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:20

• UK Navy Reports Two Vessels Attacked In Red Sea, One Damaged 
  UK Navy Reports Two Vessels Attacked In Red Sea, One Damaged 

  Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels may have launched attacks on two vessels transiting southwest of Mukha, a port city on the highly contested southern Red Sea. 

  Bloomberg says the UK Navy has confirmed two attacks on vessels in a series of headlines hitting the Terminal around 1400 ET. 

  • UK NAVY: REPORTS 2 ATTACKS ON VESSEL SW OF AL MUKHA, YEMEN

  There are also reports that one of the vessels is “damaged.” 

  • UK NAVY SAYS ATTACKS RESULTED IN DAMAGE TO VESSEL

  The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirmed an incident 14 nautical miles from Mukha earlier. 

  

  The Houthis, who support the Palestinian terror group Hamas, have been launching drone and missile attacks on Western vessels since November, disrupting a critical maritime chokepoint known as “Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.” 

  About a week ago, 16 maritime industry associations and social partners co-signed an open letter to the United Nations urging increased military patrols on heavily traveled shipping routes. This comes after commandos seized a container ship affiliated with Israel as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz two weeks ago. 

  We have diligently published notes highlighting how maritime chokepoints across the Middle East are under threat, including the Suez Canal, Bab-El Mandeb Strait, and Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of all global trade flows. 

  

  The Red Sea disruption is far from over. The United States and its allies in the West are losing the battle in defending the world’s major shipping lanes, as Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian has been an absolute failure. 

  All of this symbolizes the world fracturing into a multipolar state, one full of chaos. And it will only get worse from here, hence why military spending worldwide is in a massive bull market. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:00

• Emergency-O-Rama…
  Emergency-O-Rama…

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  “We’ll certainly never forget the dark days of June 6… January 6th, excuse me.”

  – President “Joe Biden”

  The plum blossoms are ready to pop here. You can feel your blood rising. The evening sun lingers a little longer every day. Normally you’d celebrate, but not this year of roaring portents and evil juju. History doesn’t stop to catch its breath for a moment. The tiny glowing diode deep in “Joe Biden’s” brain dims a bit more each day (pause) while low men and women in high places trifle with the fate of the nation. Everyone dreads what’s coming.

  Which, judging by events of the week just past, looks like a worse summer of civil chaos than 2020 was.

  

  Some entity — say, the checkbook of George and Alex Soros, maybe? — has funded the spring mustering of student mobs in support of Hamas seeking to drive wicked Israel into the choppy Mediterranean.

  What you’re seeing, though, is probably not what you think you are seeing in all that. The kids are mere digits in a cultural algorithm playing out as New Age dumbshow.

  I doubt that three-quarters of them actually give a flying fugazy about the Palestinians, and even fewer could find Gaza on a map if you water-boarded them.

  They affect to be intersectional victims of the universal oppressor, but in so far as many of the rioters are girls of the Ivy League, or comparable redoubts of privilege— little blue-eyed, blonde-haired muffins raised on pony club, Hermes, and artisan granola — there must be something else going on.

  That something else is probably sex, which is so problematical now in any traditional frame of a man getting it on with a woman that the American birth-rate is going to zero.

  How does a young woman get it on with so many collegiate men vying for gay brownie points these days, or going for the grand prize in transitioning?

  Why, it’s a non-starter. So, instead, you go slumming among the savages, those hairy, dumb brutes on twerk-alert, dripping testosterone — illegal aliens, student third-worlders, BLM alumni, hardcore hoodlums. They don’t know nuthin ‘bout no pony club, but they will rut like Bilberry rams until the ladies fall away crosseyed. Affecting to be a lesbian only makes the game more piquant. And if you forgot your birth control, for some reason, there’s always the abortionist.

  Any time there are brownie points at stake, you know the game is actually for status, and where status is the game, fashion is the currency.

  Thus, the dress-up in Arab keffiyehs, the charming head-scarf denoting allyship with Hamas. Beats the heck out of those flitty N-95 masks from the 2020 Covid nights of roistering in the Seattle CHOP and trying to burn down the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland.

  Rioting gives young men of the toxic persuasion opportunities to flaunt their moxie in acts of derring-do, brawling with the cops, dancing on top of cars, ripping down chain-link fences, flinging gasoline bombs.

  So much the better for getting the ladies’ attention. Look what I can do! And the keffiyeh accessorizes well with black bloc riot garb. For the muffins, wearing it is great practice for the utopia-to-come when they must don burkas under submission to Sharia. Will Hermes put out a burka?

  So far, the spring rioting has mostly been fun for the rioters. Unlike the J-6-21 “paraders,” locked up in the putrid DC jail for years pending trial, the Hamas frolickers are at near-zilch risk of any serious consequences.

  Few will even be suspended from school.

  They are doing exactly what the schools trained them up for: destroying Western Civ, one acanthus leaf at a time.

  According to the shadowy stage-managers behind “Joe Biden,” this will save our democracy.

  That and stuffing Donald Trump in jail for the rest of his natural life.

  Alas, the lawfare cases cooked up toward that end appear defective to a spectacular degree. It really says something about the true authors of these beauties brought by Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Fani Willis, and Jack Smith. I speak of the behind-the-scene blob lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Matt Colangelo, and Mary McCord, who wrote the scripts for all four of this year’s big elephant trap cases against the former president. You have to wonder how that bunch made it through their law boards. The current extravaganza in Manhattan that centers on alleged book-keeping errors in furtherance of an unstated federal offense is due to go on a few more weeks. The howling errors of both the prosecution and Judge Juan Merchan are so extravagant that the proceeding looks like it was cribbed from the pages of Lewis Carroll.

  Yet, there is near unanimous sentiment that the Trump-deranged New Yawk jury will convict, no matter how much more idiotic the case turns out to be. By then, we will be verging on summer. The college campuses will be shuttered and the youth-in-revolt action will necessarily move to the regular streets. Whichever way the verdict goes in the Alvin Bragg case, epic looting and rioting will commence.

  Sometime this summer, I predict, the Mar-a-Lago documents case will get tossed on something like malicious prosecution. Jack Smith’s DC case, kneecapped by SCOTUS, won’t start before the November election (or maybe ever) and ditto the Fani Willis fiasco in Atlanta.

  George and Alex Soros will pour millions into box lunches for the kids burning down what’s left of the cities and the demure gals of the Ivy League Left will find plenty of love in the ruins.

  The two major party conventions in July (Republican) and August (Democrat) are sure to out-do the 1968 lollapalooza in Chicago (I was there) in mayhem and property damage. “Joe Biden” – really the blob behind him – will ache to declare a national emergency, perhaps even a second emergency after the recently unveiled “climate emergency” supposedly pending any day.

  The USA will be in an historic horror movie you could call Emergency-O-Rama.

  If you think the financial system, and the US economy that has become the tail on the finance dog, can survive all this, you will be disappointed.

  The army may have to step in and put an end to these shenanigans. Don’t think it can’t happen.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 17:40

• US Bank Deposits Suffer Biggest Weekly Decline Since 9/11 As Tax Man Cometh
  US Bank Deposits Suffer Biggest Weekly Decline Since 9/11 As Tax Man Cometh

  It’s that time of year again and US bank deposits sure showed it…

  While money-market funds’ total assets fell over $100BN, on a non-seasonally-adjusted (NSA) basis, total bank deposits crashed by a stunning $258BN as Tax-Day cometh. That is considerably more than the $152BN decline last year but less than the $336BN plunge in 2022…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  This makes some sense though as the Treasury Cash Balance rose by around the same amount as taxpayers did their duty and paid their ‘fair share’…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  However, on a seasonally-adjusted (SA) basis (i.e. adjusted by the PhDs for the fact that we get large deposit outflows at this time of year to pay taxes), total deposits dropped $133BN – the biggest weekly plunge (SA) since 9/11!

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Excluding foreign deposits, domestic bank deposits plunged on both an SA (-$119BN: Large banks -$99BN, Small banks -$21BN) and NSA (-$241BN: Large banks -$188BN, Small banks -$53BN) basis…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  For context, that is the largest weekly drop in SA deposits since 9/11 and the largest NSA deposit drop since April 2022 (Tax Day).

  Interestingly, despite the deposit dump, loan volumes increased last week with large banks adding $5.8BN and small banks adding $2.5BN…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  All of which pushed the un-bailed-out ‘Small banks’ back into ‘crisis mode’  (red line below constraint absent the $126BN still in the BTFP pot at The Fed which is slowly being unwound)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And so, with rate-cuts off the table – and tapering QT very much back on – we wonder just how much jockeying between Janet (Yellen) and Jerome (Powell) is going on ahead of next week’s QRA and FOMC news…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/26/2024 – 17:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• The Great Game Returns To Central Asia
  The Great Game Returns To Central Asia

  Via EurasiaNet.org,

  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reanimated US and EU interest in Central Asia.

  • China has eclipsed Russia as the region’s largest trade partner.

  • Central Asian trade is diversifying away from Russia and towards the West.

  The Great Game is playing out once again in Central Asia, but it is getting a new name and adopting a different set of rules. Economics, not politics, is defining the terms of the current superpower competition for regional influence, according to a report prepared by a Kazakh research institute. 

  

  There is a key difference governing the global rivalries in Central Asia in the 19th and 21st centuries: these days, regional states, not outsiders, wield the more influence over potential outcomes, according to the report, titled Pursuing Multi-Vectorism Through Business Diplomacy: The Path for Central Asia. The report was published by the Talap Center for Applied Research. 

  “The region, previously the theater of the Great Game in the confrontation of superpowers, is now trying to become an opportunity zone,” the report states.

  Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine in 2022, and the imposition of Western sanctions to punish Russian aggression, changed Central Asia’s geopolitical dynamics by reanimating US and European Union interest in the region. By extension, Russia’s actions encouraged the diversification of trade and investment, changing East-West trade patterns connecting China and Europe. Sanctions have diminished the utility of the Northern Corridor via the trans-Siberian railway, while providing impetus for the growth of the Middle Corridor via Central Asia.

  These changes have shifted Central Asia’s center of geo-economic gravity. China has eclipsed Russia as the region’s largest trade partner, while the overall trend is toward diversification of trade partners. The West’s share of Central Asian trade under the present dynamic is set to keep rising.

  “The trade and investment dynamics in the region show a significant shift of diversification with non-traditional markets of Europe, North America, South Asia, and the Middle East since 2022,” the Talap report notes.

  “This has become possible due to a traditional, multi-vector policy for the region, which, under the stress of escalating conflicts, was transformed into a policy of emphatic non-alignment – a firm rejection of any involvement in the conflict.”

  The report notes that the contacts between the European Union and Central Asian states have “have gained a special dynamism” since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

  It also notes that public opinion in the region indicates that a majority of regional residents do not want to get dragged into the confrontation between the West and Russia, which is supported by China. 

  The prevailing circumstances have forced Central Asian states to “balance a genuine interest in developing their ties with the Western world while being surrounded by Iran, Afghanistan, China, and Russia, countries with which the West has strained and even tense relations,” the report says.

  Maximizing economic multi-vectorism will require some work by Central Asian governments to enhance the predictability of the regional business climate. Vaguely defined trade rules and property rights, along with the unreliability of regional judicial systems, remain big impediments to Western investment. The lack of mechanisms to enforce contracts or resolve corporate disputes also constitutes an investment barrier. In addition to bolstering the independence of the judicial system, the Talap report recommends reforms to regional tax codes to foster more “equitable” business environments. 

  “The investment climate in Central Asia reflects a difficult balance between the determination of governments to take advantage of growing interest in the region and the inertia of institutional barriers,” the report states.

  “To take advantage of these opportunities, the countries of the region have to address existing institutional and regulatory barriers for both domestic and international companies and investors, strengthen the rule of law, enforce fair and open competition, implement business friendly tax regulations, and align trade, customs and logistical standards.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 23:45

• Gaza Aid Flotilla With 1,000 Passengers, Tons Of Supplies Poised To Sail – As IDF Awaits
  Gaza Aid Flotilla With 1,000 Passengers, Tons Of Supplies Poised To Sail – As IDF Awaits

  A flotilla of ships packed with a thousand activists, human rights observers and more than 5,500 tons of food and medical supplies is ready to sail from Istanbul to for Gaza. To do so, they’ll need the Turkish government to let them leave the port, and then run the risk of being subjected to a deadly Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack — as their predecessors were in an infamous 2010 incident.  

  “The Freedom Flotilla has the support of millions around the world who are outraged at the failure of our governments to protect the Palestinians people from Israel’s genocidal actions, including the deliberate starvation of over two million people,” said the organizing coalition’s Zohar Chamberlain-Regev. 

  The group has three ships ready to go: one packed with food and medical supplies, and two ships for passengers who hail from 40 different countries. The cargo ship also has eight ambulances and a fire truck aboard — a grim reminder of the IDF’s Nov 3 bombing of an ambulance convoy next to Al-Shifa hospital that killed 15 and wounded dozens. 

  

  CodePink’s Medea Benjamin is among those hoping to set sail, but says she’s worries about diplomatic interference. “The Turkish government might cave to pressure from Israel, the United States and Germany, and prevent the boats from even leaving Istanbul,” she wrote on Tuesday. 

  “We expect that Turkey will not be bought off and we will indeed sail,” Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf optimistically said at a press conference hosted on one of the ships. “Anything less than this is collaborating with the illegal siege on Gaza, and we don’t think that is what the Turkish government will do.”

  

  While the IDF has said little, an Israeli news outlet reported that the Israeli military has already started “security preparations” for commandeering the flotilla. In an infamous 2010 incident, the IDF killed 10 activists aboard a Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessel, the Mavi Marmara. 

  With that precedent in mind, organizers have been giving volunteers “non-violence training” and educating them on what the Israeli forces may use on them — such as tear gas and concussion grenades. 

  The Freedom Flotilla Coalition was founded in 2010 to circumvent economically-devastating travel and trade restrictions imposed by the State of Israel on the 25-mile-long Gaza strip. Long before the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, the Zionist state has blocked the people of Gaza from having an airport or even a seaport.  

  From the first days of Israel’s post-Oct. 7 attack on Gaza, Israel made clear its intentions to cause widespread devastation in the strip. “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Oct. 9. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

  

  On Tuesday, US Special Envoy for Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield belatedly acknowledged that the risk of famine in Gaza is “very high.” This comes long after a various news outlets and humanitarian organizations have reported on increasingly desperate measures Gaza residents have resorted to, including boiling weeds and eating animal food. Acute malnutrition among young children is soaring, and UNICEF says the entire population is in increasing peril:

  “The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projected that 1.1 million people face catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5) and are at risk of famine in the Gaza Strip, the highest number of people ever recorded in this category by the IPC system.”

  

  On Wednesday, President Biden signed off on a controversial foreign aid package that included another $26 billion for Israel. In his State of the Union address, Biden announced that the Pentagon would create a floating port off the Gaza coast to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid. Some six weeks later, construction hasn’t even started, but a spokesman on Tuesday said it should begin “in the coming weeks.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 23:25

• "Taken Out By The FBI, CIA, & Bob Woodward" – Tucker Carlson Says Watergate Was Orchestrated To Remove President Nixon From Office
  “Taken Out By The FBI, CIA, & Bob Woodward” – Tucker Carlson Says Watergate Was Orchestrated To Remove President Nixon From Office

  Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

  I have several times reported the same…

  Nixon was removed because he was making arms limitation agreements with the Soviets and opening to China.

  This was normalizing the enemy that the military/security complex needed for its budget and power.

  

  It was for the same reason that President Kennedy was assassinated by the military/security complex.

  The growing suspicion about Kennedy’s assassination meant that the military/security complex could not risk a second violent assassination, so Nixon was politically assassinated.

  The same strategy was applied to Trump.

  When Trump said he intended to normalize relations with Russia, he presented himself as the same threat to the military-security complex as Kennedy and Nixon.

  That is what Russiagate was about, and what documentsgate, Jan 6 Insurrection, and two failed impeachments are all about.

  When Russiagate and the impeachments failed, they decided to steal the election.

  When Trump’s support survived all of this, they decided on the indictments.

  In the least, the indictments will keep Trump off the campaign circuit and use up his resources in legal fees.

  It is the determination and ability of the military/security complex to protect its budget and power that makes peace impossible and wars our way of life…

  Watch Tucker Carlson discuss this below (with key quotes via @CollinRugg):

  “Richard Nixon was taken out by the FBI and CIA, and with the help of Bob Woodward.”

  “[Woodward] was that guy. And who is his main source for Watergate? Oh, the number two guy at the FBI. Oh, so you have the naval intelligence officer working with the FBI official to destroy the president. Okay. So that’s a deep state coup.”

  “Richard Nixon was elected by more votes than any president in American history in the 1972 election.”

  “The most popular president in his reelection campaign, and two years later, he’s gone, undone by a naval intel officer, the number two guy at the FBI and a bunch of CIA employees.”

  “You tell me what that is. Those are the facts. Those are not disputed facts.”

  NEW: Tucker Carlson explains how the FBI and CIA conducted a coup to take out President Richard Nixon with help from journalist Bob Woodward.

  “Richard Nixon was taken out by the FBI and CIA, and with the help of Bob Woodward.”

  “[Woodward] was that guy. And who is his main… pic.twitter.com/K8Yt9zy9Qk

  — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 20, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 23:05

• Tennessee Is First State To Criminalize Adults Who Help Minors Receive "Gender-Affirming" Care Without Parental Consent
  Tennessee Is First State To Criminalize Adults Who Help Minors Receive “Gender-Affirming” Care Without Parental Consent

  Tennessee’s GOP-controlled Statehouse on Thursday approved approval criminalizing adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, clearing the way for the first-in-the-nation proposal to be sent to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his signature.

  As the AP reports, the bill mirrors almost the same language from a so-called anti-abortion trafficking proposal Tennessee Republican lawmakers approved just a day prior. In that version, supporters are hoping to stop adults from helping young people obtain abortions without permission from their parents or guardians.

  Supporters of Lee, a Republican, are certain he will sign them into law. Lee eagerly approved a sweeping abortion ban and a ban on gender-affirming care for children. He has also never issued a veto during his time as governor.

  While the Republican supermajority touted the proposed statutes as necessary to protect parental rights, critics – most of whom likely have purple hair and some oh whom occasionally enjoy child porn in a secret folder on their computer – warned about the possible broad application (as in what, the minor child’s parents will know what their child is up to?). Violations could range from talking to an adolescent about a website on where to find care to helping that young person travel to another state with looser restrictions on gender-affirming care services.

  “This is a parent’s rights bill, nothing more, nothing less,” Republican Rep. Bryan Richey, the bill’s sponsor, said during House debate earlier this week. “At the end of the day, parents should have final say what medical procedures their children are receiving, and nobody else.”

  The Human Rights Campaign says Tennessee has enacted more anti-LGBTQ+ laws more than any other state since 2015, identifying more than 20 bills that advanced out of the Legislature over the past few months.

  That included sending Gov. Lee a bill banning the spending of state money on hormone therapy or sex reassignment procedures for prisoners — though it would not apply to state inmates currently receiving hormone therapy — and requiring public school employees to report transgender students to their parents, as if requiring parents to know that their child – having undergone years of criminal brainwashing and propaganda as even Bill Mahr now admits – has mental problem is some kind of crime.

  It turns out for pedophiles in Hollywood, “It’s A Small World After All.” pic.twitter.com/4qUtOhXZYL

  — Bill Maher (@billmaher) April 20, 2024

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

  Tennessee Republicans previously also passed a measure that would let LGBTQ+ foster children be placed with families that hold anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs. Lee signed it into law this month.

  “Tennessee lawmakers are on the verge of enacting more than twice as many anti-LGBTQ+ laws as any other state, a staggering assault on their own constituents,” Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.

  To date, no state has placed restrictions on helping young people receive gender-affirming care, despite the recent push among more than 20 Republican-led states — including Tennessee — to ban such care for most minors.

  Instead some Democratic-led states have been pushing to shield health care providers if they provide services that are banned in a patient’s home state. Most recently Maine’s Democratic governor signed a bill Wednesday protecting providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from legal action brought by other states.

  The proposal has created a disagreement between Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and attorneys general in several other states, including Tennessee. The other states have warned of legal action over the law; Frey dismissed such threats as “meritless.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 22:45

• Excess Deaths In Japan Hit 115,000 Following 3rd COVID Shot; New Study Explains Why
  Excess Deaths In Japan Hit 115,000 Following 3rd COVID Shot; New Study Explains Why

  Authored by Joe Wang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A new study on harms resulting from the COVID vaccine was published on April 8 in the U.S.-based peer-reviewed medical science journal Cureus. It represents the largest study to date on adverse effects of the COVID vaccine, and the results are shocking, to put it mildly.

  

  In the study, titled “Increased Age-Adjusted Cancer Mortality After the Third mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticle Vaccine Dose During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan,” five Japanese scientists used an entire dataset of the country’s 123 million population (Japan has the highest vaccination rate in the world) to study excess cancer mortalities coinciding with mass COVID vaccination.

  The authors also provide a sound explanation as to why these deaths occurred after the mRNA injection.

  As a former vaccine researcher, I read the Cureus article with great interest. My fellow Epoch Times columnist, Megan Redshaw, has written an excellent article on this study. Here, I would like to highlight some points that I think are worth reiterating.

  Excess Deaths Following the Third Shot

  The study shows there were 1,568,961 total deaths in Japan in 2022. About 1,453,162 deaths were expected based on statistical predictions using pre-pandemic information, which means there were 115,799 excess deaths in 2022.

  The 115,799 “age-adjusted excess number of deaths” in 2022 occurred after two-thirds of the Japanese population had received the third dose of COVID vaccine.

  Based on Japan’s Ministry of Health data, I calculated that there were 39,060 COVID deaths reported in 2022. So, the majority of Japan’s excess deaths in 2022 were not caused by COVID infection, but rather are strongly associated with the vaccination.

  Harm Done by the Vaccine, Not the Virus

  The study shows that in 2020, after COVID-19 began to spread in Japan but before vaccination was available, the age-adjusted number of deaths was 28,000 fewer than what was predicted. And in 2021, as the virus continued and there was limited COVID-19 vaccination (it started in February), there were 25,000 more deaths than what was predicted.

  Based on the number of excess deaths in 2022, the Japanese scientists concluded: “Statistically significant increases in age-adjusted mortality rates of all cancer and some specific types of cancer, namely, ovarian cancer, leukemia, prostate, lip/oral/pharyngeal, pancreatic, and breast cancers, were observed in 2022 after two-thirds of the Japanese population had received the third or later dose of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-LNP vaccine.”

  “These particularly marked increases in mortality rates of these ERα-sensitive cancers may be attributable to several mechanisms of the mRNA-LNP vaccination rather than COVID-19 infection itself or reduced cancer care due to the lockdown,” the authors wrote.

  In plain English, this study revealed the mRNA COVID jab is likely the cause of the extra deaths that occurred in Japan.

  6 Types of Cancer Had Significant Excess Deaths

  The study presented the numbers for all-cause death, but also looked into the details of deaths caused by cancer. It found that of the 20 types of cancer, six of them—ovarian, leukemia, prostate, lip/oral/pharyngeal, pancreatic, and breast cancer—had statistically significant excess mortalities in 2021 and increased further in 2022.

  The significant increase in mortalities for the six specific cancer types cannot be blamed on a shortage of health-care services during the pandemic. Reduced cancer screening and health care due to lockdowns should increase deaths for all cancers. However, such an increase was not observed in other types of cancers in Japan in 2022.

  So what is so special about the six specific cancer types? They are all known as estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-sensitive cancers.

  The scientists explained why these cancers not only occurred after vaccination, but also killed people in a short period of time after they received the shot.

  Cancer After the Jab: A Scientific Explanation

  I worked as a research scientist at Sanofi Pasteur, one of the world’s largest vaccine companies, for more than 10 years. As the person who spearheaded Sanofi’s SARS-CoV-1 vaccine development in 2003, I personally found the hypothesis presented by the Japanese scientists very reasonable.

  Please bear with me on the scientific terms, because they are important in understanding the possible roles the mRNA vaccine may have played in cancer development.

  ERs (estrogen receptors) are a group of proteins found inside cells. They are receptors that can be activated by the sex hormone estrogen. ERα is one of the two classes of ERs, an important regulator in the body’s reproductive system.

  Research published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances in November 2022 screened 9,000 human proteins to see which protein binds better with the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, and found the S protein specifically binds to ERα. The binding “upregulates the transcriptional activity of ERα.”

  In other words, the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 (from infection or vaccination), when introduced into the human body, binds to ERα and functions as a nuclear receptor coregulator, interfering with the cell’s normal function and leading to malfunction of the cells and organs.

  This may explain why death caused by the six types of ERα-sensitive cancers increased in 2022 in Japan after two-thirds of the population received the third dose of the mRNA vaccine.

  The vaccine carries the S gene of SARS-CoV-2, hijacking the host cells to produce S proteins. The S proteins produce inside the cell, then bind to ERα, disrupting the cell’s normal function and leading to cancer development.

  Cancer is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.

  For any healthy person, some cells die, some age, and some become cancerous. All this happens without the person knowing it because the body’s immune system is constantly working to deal with such problems. However, if the immune system is compromised, illness then develops, including cancer.

  Plenty of evidence has started to emerge showing that the COVID-19 vaccine has the potential to severely interfere with the human body’s immune system. This new Japanese study provides further evidence of the extent of this phenomenon.

  Vaccination and Suppression of Cancer Immunosurveillance

  It has been shown the mRNA vaccine not only has the potential to cause cancer, it may also weaken the immune systems’ ability to recognize and repress cancerous tumours.

  In a study published last October, Konstantin Fohse and colleagues reported vaccination with BNT162b2 modulated innate immune responses, resulting in a weakened cancer immunosurveillance.

  The damage caused by COVID vaccines would have been less if the vaccination wasn’t as widespread, and the dosage of the vaccines were not as high due to boosters.

  The Japanese scientists found that for each Pfizer-BioNTech dose, there are about 13 trillion SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-LNP molecules. For Moderna, the number is 40 trillion. Since the average human body has about 37.2 trillion cells, one COVID-19 mRNA-LNP dose would have enough molecules to spread into each and every human cell.

  As I wrote previously, contrary to what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s claim that “after the body produces an immune response, it discards all of the vaccine ingredients” because uridines in normal RNA are now replaced with pseudo-uridines in this COVID-19 mRNA-LNP, we know the modified RNA now lives in the body for months and can even find its way into babies through breast milk.

  The Japanese study was written before October 2023 using information from 2022 and earlier. As COVID vaccination continues in many countries, it is scary to think how many people may die or develop cancer if the 2022 trend continues.

  Uncertain Future

  As authorities across the world still claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is “safe and effective” and continue pushing vaccination, it is uncertain what the future holds.

  This is because the COVID-19 mRNA-LNP molecules already in the bodies of hundreds of millions of people will remain there and continue producing the S protein, interfering with the immune system and causing cancer and other diseases.

  Studies like the one by the Japanese scientists should have been undertaken in countries such as the United States, Canada, and the UK and published in top medical journals without censorship so that we can learn from mistakes and prevent the mistakes from happening again. Unfortunately, that has not happened.

  However, hopefully more and more scientists and researchers will be brave enough to point out the very obvious: that the COVID-19 vaccine is not safe.

  It is worth noting that the Cureus medical journal was recently acquired by the Springer Nature Group in December 2022. The group also owns renowned scientific publications such as Nature and Nature Medicine.

  COVID vaccine injury has been a taboo subject for scientists and medical journals. Many people were cancelled when they tried to defy the censorship. It is refreshing to see Springer Nature publish the Japanese study.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 22:25

• Palmer Luckey's Anduril & General Atomics Selected By USAF For Next Round Of AI Drone Program 
  Palmer Luckey’s Anduril & General Atomics Selected By USAF For Next Round Of AI Drone Program 

  The US Air Force’s hot pursuit of drone wingmen, known as collaborative combat aircraft, flying alongside piloted stealth fighter jets such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, is a major effort to modernize its fleet and advance defensive and offensive capabilities in a world erupting into chaos.  

  On Wednesday, the USAF announced that Palmer Luckey’s defense tech startup Anduril and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems were selected to build and test wingmen drones for the next phase of the CCA program. This means the pool of competitors has shrunk from five to two, eliminating Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. We don’t think the military is ready for 737 Max drones. 

  “The companies not selected to build these production representative CCA vehicles, and execute the flight test program, will continue to be part of the broader industry partner vendor pool consisting of more than 20 companies to compete for future efforts, including future production contracts,” the service wrote in a press release. 

  USAF wants to deploy more than 1,000 wingmen drones that can carry out a wide range of missions, including electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and dogfighting. 

  Commenting on the announcement, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said the CCA started “just over two years ago” as part of his “Operational Imperatives, to pursue collaborative combat aircraft.”

  “The progress we’ve made is a testament to the invaluable collaboration with industry, whose investment alongside the Air Force has propelled this initiative forward. It’s truly encouraging to witness the rapid execution of this program,” Kendall said.

  General Atomics has pitched the Air Force on its autonomous collaborative drone known as “Gambit.” 

  

  While Anduril has submitted a high-performance autonomous air vehicle called “Fury.”

  

  “There is no time to waste on business as usual,” Anduril chief executive Brian Schimpf said in a release, adding, “With the CCA program, Sec. Kendall and the Air Force have embraced a fast-moving, forward-looking approach to field autonomous systems at speed and scale. … Anduril is proud to pave the way for other non-traditional defense companies to compete and deliver on large-scale programs.”

  We’ve been saying for years that the next major conflict will be fought with hypersonic weapons and drones. And that’s precisely the technology being used in Ukraine. 

  Luckey’s startup, Anduril, aims to cement America’s lead in the military technology race, as the bloated military-industrial complex risks blowing the lead. 

  “We need a new breed of defense technology companies to reboot the arsenal of democracy,” Anduril states on its website.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 22:05

• Hertz Increases The Number Of Electric Cars It Wants To Get Rid Off To 30,000 From 20,000
  Hertz Increases The Number Of Electric Cars It Wants To Get Rid Off To 30,000 From 20,000

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

  Hertz raised the number of electric vehicles it plans to sell this year as it is cutting its EV fleet to reduce losses that have weighed on the car rental giant’s earnings.

  

  In the first quarter, Hertz upsized its EV disposition plan by 10,000 vehicles, for a total of 30,000 EVs intended for sale in 2024. Most of these EVs will be Teslas.

  The company incurred a $195 million charge to vehicle depreciation to write down the EVs held for sale which were remaining in inventory at quarter-end to fair value and recognize the disposition losses on EVs sold in the period, Hertz said in a statement on Thursday

  Vehicle depreciation in the first quarter of 2024 increased by $588 million, or $339 on a per unit basis. Of the $339 per unit increase, $119 was related to EVs held for sale, the company said. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

  Hertz reported a much larger loss for the first quarter than analysts had forecast. Adjusted net loss stood at $392 million, or $1.28 loss per diluted share.

  This compares with an analyst consensus estimate of a loss of $0.45 per share.

  Following the earnings release on Thursday, Hertz’s stock crashed by 21% on the NASDAQ but ended off the lows, still down 19%…

  

  Hertz was an early mover in buying EVs to rent to customers, but it and other car rental companies have recently started to sell the EVs they had previously purchased due to weaker customer demand for EV rentals. 

  Hertz, unlike other rental firms, has a more risky approach because it fully owns all the EVs it has bought and is losing money if the resale value slumps.

  As it did.

  Earlier this year, Hertz said in a regulatory filing to the SEC it is selling roughly one-third of its electric vehicle fleet, highlighting the risk of its first-mover strategy when it comes to EVs.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 21:45

• President With Crackhead Son Frees 5 Crack Dealers, Ditches Promise To Release All Pot Criminals
  President With Crackhead Son Frees 5 Crack Dealers, Ditches Promise To Release All Pot Criminals

  President Biden has granted clemency to five crack dealers, ordering their early release for dealing the drug in recognition of Second Chance Month.

  Yes, this guy…

  In honor of the new government crack pipe program, here’s Joe & Hunter on crack pic.twitter.com/VWCBw9svai

  — obedient worker (@lmazzeiphotos) February 9, 2022

  Meanwhile, the Biden administration has made zero progress on a campaign promise to release “everyone” in prison for marijuana offenses, the NY Post reports.

  “America is a Nation founded on the promise of second chances. During Second Chance Month, we reaffirm our commitment to rehabilitation and reentry for people returning to their communities post incarceration,” whoever writes Biden’s statements said on Wednesday.

  “We also recommit to building a criminal justice system that lives up to those ideals and ensures that everyone receives equal justice under law. That is why today I am announcing steps I am taking to make this promise a reality.”

  Biden, who wrote or cosponsored some of the nation’s harshest federal drug laws in the 1980s and ’90s, said that he chose to issue commutations to the five crack offenders because they would have been given more lenient sentences today — continuing a long-running effort dating to the Obama administration to identify and retroactively reduce such sentences.

  It’s unclear why Biden chose to free none of the estimated 2,700 federal marijuana-dealing inmates, as he promised to do at a Democratic primary debate in 2019. -NY Post

  Biden has defended his broken promise to free all marijuana offenses, citing his 2022 mass pardon for people convicted of simple marijuana possession (none of whom were actually in prison), counts. Cannabis advocates call bullshit, however, saying that they understood “everyone” to mean incarcerated dealers as well.

  

  Biden also pardoned 11 people who have already completed their prison sentences, allowing them to vote and own guns again.

  “I am using my clemency power to pardon 11 individuals and commute the sentences of 5 individuals who were convicted of non-violent drug offenses,” said Biden’s writer. “Many of these individuals received disproportionately longer sentences than they would have under current law, policy, and practice. The pardon recipients have demonstrated their commitment to improving their lives and positively transforming their communities. The commutation recipients have shown that they are deserving of forgiveness and the chance at building a brighter future for themselves beyond prison walls.”

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 21:25

• Senate GOP Must Seize Opportunity To Expand Trump Tax Cuts
  Senate GOP Must Seize Opportunity To Expand Trump Tax Cuts

  Authored by Stephen Moore and Adam Brandon via RealClear Politics,

  President Joe Biden came into office promising to repeal President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – a law that turbocharged American job growth and U.S. national competitiveness. In the first two years of the Biden administration, there was a chance that the president could have succeeded in undermining the law.

  

  Yet, today, as Biden finishes his term, the Trump tax cuts are not only still standing but may be strengthened.

  That is, if Senate Republicans seize the opportunity before them.

  In January, the House overwhelmingly passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024), a major new tax relief package that builds on the successes of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Its relief targets the engines of American productivity including full deductibility for Research and Development costs, full and immediate expensing, as well as interest deductibility and restoration of deductibility of depreciation and amortization costs.

  Passing this bill enhances American competitiveness with China, boosts job creation, increases wages for workers, and promotes new investment and innovation.

  As Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers put it, “Remember the 2017 tax reforms? They were rocket fuel for our industry. We kept our promises to raise wages, hire workers, and invest in our communities. We would not be outpacing other countries without them.”  

  But it also does something else: The bill extends important cost recovery provisions of the 2017 Republican tax cuts signed by President Trump, an essential step in achieving full permanency of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

  Without congressional action, President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire at the end of 2025.

  While Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo and some colleagues have raised objections about provisions of the bill that would expand the Child Tax Credit, Crapo and other GOP senators need to keep sight of the significance of this measure in a larger fight.

  Passing the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would vastly improve Republicans’ bargaining position going into the fight over the future of the Trump tax cuts.

  And right now, advocates for job growth and competitiveness must be prepared for this fight.

  At a March 12 hearing on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) declared, “This set of policies isn’t going to be on the table in 2025 if this bill stalls out.” It’s understandable for Republicans to dismiss this as empty talk, given that the GOP faces a highly favorable Senate map in this year’s elections.

  But, in politics, nothing is certain. Remember the “red wave” that wasn’t? Even if Republicans retake the Senate, Wyden and allies could follow through on their threat if Democrats retain the White House or take back the House.

  Conservative Republicans have every reason to support the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. The bill would be financed by repealing the employee retention tax credit, a COVID-era program that has been rife with fraud. Over 40 conservative and free-market organizations have urged lawmakers to pass the pro-growth legislation. Other organizations and leaders from across the conservative movement have strongly backed the bill. At the same time, far-left Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have railed against the legislation.

  If GOP senators want to save their signature economic success of the past decade, they must get to yes on this tax reform.

  Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and is the author of “Govzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring America.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 21:05

• SEC Expected To Deny Spot Ether ETFs In May, Consensys Sues Over 'Security' Status
  SEC Expected To Deny Spot Ether ETFs In May, Consensys Sues Over ‘Security’ Status

  There are increasing doubts among industry insiders that the SEC will approved Spot Ether ETFs in May, according to a report from Reuters.

  

  According to four people who participated, recent meetings between issuers and the SEC have been one-sided and agency staff have not discussed substantive details about the proposed products.

  That is in contrast to the intensive and detailed discussions between issuers and the agency in the weeks before its landmark approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January, said the people who declined to be identified because the talks are private.

  As CoinTelegraph reports, before the historic approval, the SEC rejected spot BTC ETF filings for over a decade.

  It only changed its stance after Grayscale Investments won a court victory against the securities regulator in August 2023.

  Many analysts agree that the SEC is likely to further delay possible approval of Ether ETFs.

  “It seems more likely that approval will be delayed until later in 2024, or longer,” VettaFi ETF data analyst Todd Rosenbluth reportedly said, adding that the regulatory landscape is still too “cloudy.”

  Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas previously estimated chances of the SEC approving a spot Ether ETF in May at around 35% in March.

  

  He also noted that he’d sourced “good intel” to suggest that the SEC may be giving the silent treatment to prospective fund issuers on purpose.

  Price action has sown ETH relatively underperforming BTC from the initiation of the spot bitcoin ETFs as hope fades for ETH… for now…

  

  Balchunas also mentioned that SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s stance on Ether could also impact the decision process as he has refused to give clarity on whether Ether was a security.

  We have detailed the furore over the classification of Ether as a security (or not) a number of times (most recently here and here), but today saw the situation escalated as Consensys, a major backer of the Ethereum blockchain, filed a lawsuit against the agency in Texas federal court, asking the court, among other things, to resolve one of the biggest legal uncertainties hanging over the crypto industry by stating that Ethereum’s digital token, Ether, is not a security.

  Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts reports that in its 34-page legal filing, Consensys uses dramatic language to argue that the SEC’s efforts to exert jurisdiction over Ethereum is both illegal and a threat to blockchain technology more broadly.

  “The SEC’s unlawful seizure of authority over ETH would spell disaster for the Ethereum network, and for Consensys. Every holder of ETH, including Consensys, would fear violating the securities laws if he or she were to transfer ETH on the network,” the complaint states.

  “This would bring use of the Ethereum blockchain in the United States to a halt, crippling one of the internet’s greatest innovations.”

  Gensler’s tactics have angered many in the crypto industry who have complained the SEC has failed to provide clear rules or to create a regulatory model that accounts for the distinct features of blockchain technology.

  

  The controversy over Ethereum has been especially heated since the SEC has signaled repeatedly in the past that the blockchain’s tokens, like Bitcoin, are not securities and therefore outside its jurisdiction.

  This includes a landmark 2018 speech where a senior official stated that Ethereum had become “sufficiently decentralized” as well as the agency’s decision last year to allow Ethereum futures trading—an implicit acknowledgement that Ether is a commodity. Meanwhile, video has surfaced of Gensler himself, in his role as a private citizen, telling hedge funds in 2018 that Ethereum is not a security.

  However, as we detailed here, these precedents (and his own words) have failed to dissuade Gensler, who appears to be using a recent feature of Ethereum, known as staking, as grounds for the recent legal campaign.

  As a reminder, the release of so-called ‘Hinman documents’ last June had revealed the role of network decentralization in the SEC’s thinking on whether a digital token should be classified as security or not.

  In particular, JPMorgan points out that SEC officials had acknowledged in the past that tokens on a sufficiently decentralized network are no longer securities because there is no “controlling group˙ in the Howey sense (the Howey Test relates to the U.S. Supreme Court case to determine whether a transaction qualifies as an investment contract).

  “If there is no spot Ethereum ETF approval in May, then we assume there is going to be a litigation process after May,” Panigirtzoglou told The Block earlier in the month.

  “We believe that the most likely scenario is that the SEC eventually loses this litigation (similar to what happened with the Grayscale and Ripple legal battles last year), which means that eventually, the SEC will approve spot Ethereum ETFs (but not as soon as this May).”

  In an interview with Fortune, Consensys founder Joe Lubin described as “preposterous” the theory that staking transformed Ethereum from a commodity into a security.

  “The act of staking is really just posting a security bond so you can get paid to contribute labor and resources to help operate the Ethereum protocol. Now they’re trying to turn that into some sort of investment contract,” Lubin said.

  Lubin also stated that Gensler’s legal position appeared to be an attempt to halt the overall growth of crypto, and to justify the SEC blocking pending applications by companies to launch spot ETFs for Ethereum following the huge popularity of Bitcoin ETFs.

  “They are trying to regulate a technology on its merits, which the SEC shouldn’t be doing. They’re trying to stifle certain kinds of innovation. And they’re trying to do that because probably they see Ether spot ETFs as a floodgate that’s going to bring a lot of capital into our ecosystem,” said Lubin.

  As Fortune notes, the Consensys lawsuit was filed in Texas, which dovetails with a broader strategy of the crypto industry to tee up eventual legal appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

  The circuit has shown greater skepticism of agency actions than other courts and, if the industry can win a favorable judgment, it would likely tee up an appeal for the Supreme Court.

  Meanwhile, against that clearly politically-motivated push by Gensler (anything to placate Warren after he was forced to acquiesce over spot bitcoin ETFs); on April 24, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) officially approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, including three BTC and three ETH ETFs by China Asset Management, Harvest Global Investments and Bosera.

  HK spot bitcoin/ether ETFs officially approved to begin trading on April 30th. Fees are 30bps, 60bps and 99bps which is on avg lower than we thought, good sign. We doing an Analyst Q&A in an hour on this w/ local HK team. Register here, bring your qs: https://t.co/GzzCZailx3 https://t.co/AvJ6dv2Xha

  — Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 24, 2024

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  Following approval, Hong Kong’s crypto ETFs are expected to start trading on April 30.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 20:45

• Taxing Unrealized Gains Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy
  Taxing Unrealized Gains Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  Having used up all of the rest of the batshit, insane, counterintuitive economic dirty tricks left in the “we’ll literally do anything but cut spending” bag, the Biden administration is pushing what could be the most destructive idea for our country since prohibition: taxing unrealized gains.

  As part of its budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year, the Biden administration is trying to raise an addition $4.3 trillion over 10 years in the worst way possible: imposing a minimum tax equal to 25 percent of a taxpayer’s taxable income and unrealized capital gains less the sum of their regular tax, for taxpayers with wealth over $100 million.

  Putting aside the fact that this high-risk idea only amounts to a pittance, $430 billion per year (25% of which we just sent to foreign nations over the weekend in one fell swoop of a pen and it’s only April), the introduction of taxing unrealized gains could be one of the worst slippery slopes we ever dare to roll our country’s economy down.

  I mean, shit, we could save $1 trillion just by not sending $100 billion a year to other nations for starters. But I digress. For an outline of exactly what an unrealized gains tax is, here’s the American Institute on Economic Research:

  A tax on unrealized capital gains means that individuals are penalized for owning appreciating assets, regardless of whether they have realized any actual income from selling them. 

  If you purchased a stock for $100 this year, for example, and it increased to $110 next year, you would pay the assigned tax rate on the $10 capital gain. You didn’t sell the asset, so you don’t realize the $10 appreciation, but must pay the tax regardless.

  Taxing unrealized capital gains contradicts the basic principles of fairness and property rights essential for a free and prosperous society. Taxation, if we’re going to have it on income, should be based on actual income earned, not on paper gains that may never materialize.

  AIER notes that implementing such a tax not only deeply infringes upon personal liberty and private property rights — but I can’t help but think about how it also sets a destructive wrecking ball rolling down a slippery slope for the first time in our nation’s history.

  And, given the precarious state of our nation’s finances, it doesn’t seem like the best time to start spitballing about new risky ideas that may or may not catch on only because they sound like they are addressing the problem of a widening wealth gap that Federal Reserve policies created and continue to exacerbate to begin with.

  If the administration really wanted to address the problem of wealth inequality, it would be setting its sights on the central bank that sacrificed price stability so it could spray trillions of dollars in “stimulus” toward financial assets, while cutting American families paltry checks of just $600, during COVID. When I did the math during COVID, the total amount spent to bail out the country when we decided to shut down the economy and have the Federal Reserve replace it with a fiat house of cards amounted to something like $17,500 per every citizen in the United States.

  Except, again, only $600 of that went to each individual. The rest went to the financial sector, in turn widening the inequality gap further as billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos saw tens of billions of dollars added to their net worth in a matter of months.

  And so now, rather than take tangible, decisive action to actually address the problem, the Biden administration is putting forth a plan that won’t just be negative for the country, it could very well be the hill that our country’s economy dies on. And to be honest, I’m not being hyperbolic.

  Over the last few years, we have seen an extraordinary exodus from places like New York and California, to places like Florida and Texas, because the former states were essentially taxing far too much relative to the benefits of what they were providing for citizens.

  

  Source: Daily Mail

  Ergo, places like California have seen people like Joe Rogan and Elon Musk move to Texas, while states like New York have seen businesses like Ken Griffin’s Citadel move to Florida. There’s nothing to read between the lines about when it comes to this capital flight out of one state and into another. It is simple cause and effect: at some point, people simply don’t think it is worth living in these states due to the taxes being too high.

  It’s a quintessential example of the Laffer Curve. Tax too much, people are disincentivized to generate productivity, or in this case, live in your state.

  

  Biden’s proposal to raise regular capital gains taxes is one thing, albeit still egregious; it is far lesser noxious of the two proposals. Taxing unrealized gains is an exponentially worse type of taxation that introduces not just a higher tax rate and a 3rd type of income tax, but a completely new system for taxation – one that taxes people’s assets as they appreciate, not just when they realize the gains of said appreciation.

  “But it will only be against people worth more than $100 million,” proponents of the idea will exclaim. Hell, I’m not worth 1% of that, so why should I even care?

  First off, it can’t be understated how earth-shattering it is to put this terrible idea into motion, regardless of who it is going to affect. You can’t justify a stunning overreach on people’s constitutional rights and civil liberties just because they sit in a certain tax bracket. And it is a line that, once crossed, the government won’t backtrack on. Once taxing unrealized gains makes its way into the zeitgeist, it sticks around for good. And, if it sticks around, it’ll only be another meaningful step moving the U.S. economy closer to an anemic corpse of a state-planned economy.

  A tax of this nature creates a vacuum that does nothing but suck the vibrancy out of an economy. In addition to setting a new moral hazard standard, the tax directly targets the people with the most capital at work in our country. By specifically targeting the people that have the means to create new enterprises and invest using this capital, and then driving them out of the country, the tax is a surefire way to suck the lifeblood out of what’s left of the United States economy.

  Make no mistake: it will be a clarion call for billionaires to simply move out of the United States and into tax havens. And think about it — these are the people that have the means to up and simply leave the country and relocate anytime they want. For them, if it makes financial sense, they will do it. Implementing this unrealized gains tax will set the ball in motion, you can mark my words. The rich will be as good as gone.

  ---

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  And when billionaires decide to up and leave the United States, all of the tax revenue they were generating otherwise — not just the unrealized gains tax — leaves with them. In other words, an unrealized gains tax will push them past their limit and result in catastrophic consequences for the country’s tax revenue as a whole. It’ll literally do far more harm than good. If I can understand why, a fifth grader can. That means the ultra-rich, who are much smarter than I am, definitely understand it. They’re not going to be interested in hanging around and forking over this much more cash “for the good of the cause”. They already likely have a plan in such case this tax is passed, and — as a hint — it isn’t to happily hand over a check to the Biden administration and say “thanks for being such great stewards of my capital, keep up the good work”.

  In reality, it likely involves yachts, dual passports, “investments” in places like Bermuda and Mauritius, attending F1 races and tennis matches, expensive champagne and Eastern European escorts (hereinafter referred to as: “The Hunter Biden Experience”).

  But seriously, setting aside the billionaires for a moment, the tax is going to dampen everybody’s incentive to try and earn and invest to begin with. Who wants to invest in the market if they’re going to be taxed on their gains the very next day?

  Possibly the worst part of this idea is its timing. The country is running a massive deficit now that looks to continue to widen because of our government’s refusal to cut spending on both sides of the aisle. As a reminder, you can only push the tax base so far before they turn tail and run. I know I’ve made jokes in the past (read: yesterday) about our government going through all of the solutions mandatory before arriving at any solution that works in the slightest, but this would be the granddaddy of all examples if implemented.

  The timing of this proposed solution couldn’t be worse. We are at a point in our country’s fiscal history where we need balance more than ever.

  We have the largest deficit and the most debt relative to GDP we have had in recent history.

  The BRICS nations, including Russia, China, and India, are actively pursuing ways to break off of the Western banking system and challenge the U.S. dollar.

  Inflation is running rampant and high interest rates are more than likely to cause our economy to slow down in marked fashion.

  We’re running deficits, but we need the tax revenue we are currently bringing in if we have any hope of cutting spending to balance our budget and right the country’s ship economically. The loss of tax revenue as a result of capital flight from the United States responding to this proposed unrealized gains tax would be catastrophic and would accelerate the country’s financial and monetary demise, not help it.

  ---

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  QTR’s Disclaimer: I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR, reprinted under a Creative Commons license or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 20:25

• How Hard Is It To Get Into An Ivy League School?
  How Hard Is It To Get Into An Ivy League School?

  Ivy League institutions are renowned worldwide for their academic excellence and long-standing traditions. But how hard is it to get into one of the top universities in the U.S.?

  In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu details the admission rates and average annual cost for Ivy League schools, as well as the median SAT scores required to be accepted. The data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics and was compiled by 24/7 Wall St.

  

  Note that “average annual cost” represents the net price a student pays after subtracting the average value of grants and/or scholarships received.

  Harvard is the Most Selective

  The SAT is a standardized test commonly used for college admissions in the United States. It’s taken by high school juniors and seniors to assess their readiness for college-level academic work.

  When comparing SAT scores, Harvard and Dartmouth are among the most challenging universities to gain admission to. The median SAT scores for their students are 760 for reading and writing and 790 for math. Still, Harvard has half the admission rate (3.2%) compared to Dartmouth (6.4%).

  

  *Costs after receiving federal financial aid.

  Additionally, Dartmouth has the highest average annual cost at $33,000. Princeton has the lowest at $11,100.

  While student debt has surged in the United States in recent years, hitting $1.73 trillion in 2023, the worth of obtaining a degree from any of the schools listed surpasses mere academics. This is evidenced by the substantial incomes earned by former students.

  Harvard grads, for example, have the highest average starting salary in the country, at $91,700.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 20:05

• Judge Shoots Down Effort To Identify FBI, Undercover Police On Jan. 6
  Judge Shoots Down Effort To Identify FBI, Undercover Police On Jan. 6

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A federal judge in Washington D.C. has denied seven motions from a defendant seeking to identify FBI agents in Jan. 6 crowds and gain access to undercover videos shot by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, at least one of whom incited the crowds at the U.S. Capitol.

  

  In a 22-page order, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled against William Pope on a range of motions filed in his Jan. 6 criminal case since May 2023.

  Judge Contreras partially granted a government cross-motion to modify the evidence protective order in the case. “I now have the most restricted discovery access conditions of any Jan 6 defendant,” Mr. Pope wrote on X.

  “All I’m asking for is a fair fight in court, but he’s denying me rights to defend myself Pro Se that aren’t denied to attorneys,” Mr. Pope told The Epoch Times in a statement. “Even though some January 6 attorneys have filed highly sensitive materials as public exhibits, or leaked them on social media, I have not released a single sensitive or highly sensitive file governed by the protective order.”

  Mr. Pope, 38, publisher of the news website Free State Kansas, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, covering the protest and subsequent violence.

  Federal prosecutors charged him with civil disorder, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, impeding ingress or egress in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

  He faces a July 22 trial.

  Sought FBI Agents

  Mr. Pope most recently asked the court to compel federal prosecutors to identify all FBI special agents or other employees who were “material witnesses” at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and produce “all photographs, videos, and records related to their presence.”

  In that motion, Mr. Pope cited two suspected FBI agents who attended Jan. 6 events at the Capitol with former special agent John Guandolo, who once served as the Bureau’s liaison with U.S. Capitol Police.

  Mr. Guandolo “has said in interviews that he was with several active-duty FBI agents on January 6, and that he and those agents have been interviewed by the FBI regarding their observations,” Mr. Pope wrote in his Feb. 12 motion.

  One of the men was seen on security video clapping enthusiastically as a large crowd of protesters rushed up the east steps to the Columbus Doors. “Oh, oh, oh man, this is huge,” the man said, heard on Mr. Guandolo’s cell phone video that showed the crowd ascending the steps.

  The other suspected agent was seen on Capitol Police security video meeting with an FBI SWAT team shortly after its BearCat tactical vehicle rolled onto the House Plaza at about 2:30 p.m. Twenty minutes later the SWAT team responded to the South Door after the shooting of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

  Federal prosecutors argued they have no obligation to investigate the identity or roles of FBI agents on Jan. 6. The judge concurred.

  “The Court agrees with the government and finds that defendant has failed to show that the government has an obligation to produce the requested material,” Judge Contreras wrote.

  In another motion denied by Judge Contreras, Mr. Pope sought to compel the U.S. Department of Justice to inventory and provide access to all Capitol Police security video it has had in its possession.

  Mr. Pope said footage is missing from some of the 1,800 USCP security cameras, and prosecutors have only produced 6,000 hours of security video in discovery. A U.S. House committee that oversees Capitol Police has released 20,000 hours of an expected 40,000 hours it will post publicly.

  

  Mr. Pope wrote that the importance of the security video—thousands of hours of which are now available on Rumble—is underscored by an investigation suggesting two Capitol police officers perjured themselves in the first Oath Keepers trial in the fall of 2022.

  Video obtained by Blaze Media showed that a supposed confrontation between Officer Harry Dunn and the Oath Keepers could not have occurred as he described under oath. Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who testified that he witnessed the confrontation, was in another part of Capitol grounds at the time.

  ‘Not Beneficial’

  “While Pope asserts that the missing camera footage is ‘highly relevant to January 6 cases, including [his] own,’ … he does not explain what he expects the footage to show or why that footage would assist in his defense,” Judge Contreras wrote. “Much of the camera footage that Pope requests depicts areas where Pope never set foot. That footage is therefore not beneficial to Pope’s case.”

  The judge also denied Mr. Pope’s Aug. 21, 2023, motion seeking video shot by more than two dozen members of the MPD Electronic Surveillance Unit on Jan. 6. He first requested access to the Electronic Surveillance Unit videos in March 2023.

  

  The August 2023 motion cites MPD internal affairs investigations of MPD officers Nicholas Tomasula and Lt. Zeb Barcus. Hundreds of pages of documents on Mr. Tomasula were heavily redacted, Mr. Pope said, and “the two reports have led to more questions about misconduct by undercover police.”

  Mr. Tomasula was identified as the MPD officer heard on video encouraging protesters on the Northwest Steps to keep going and enter the Capitol. He was heard participating in crowd chants such as, “Whose House? Our House!”

  At the foot of the Northwest Steps, as a protester climbed up a makeshift ladder onto the balustrade, Mr. Tomasula shouted: “C’mon, man, let’s go! Leave that [expletive],” his video showed. Mr. Tomasula got help from a protester climbing onto the balustrade, then shouted to protesters moving up the steps, “C’mon, go, go, go!”

  Federal prosecutors admitted in 2023 that Mr. Tomasula acted as a provocateur embedded in the crowd on Jan. 6.

  Judge Contreras concluded Electronic Surveillance Unit video is only relevant to the extent Mr. Pope can identify an undercover officer whose path he crossed.

  “While evidence of undercover officers instigating the riot on January 6 could—hypothetically—be helpful and material to Pope’s case, Pope’s motion ‘never identifies a single individual he interacted with whom he now suspects to be an undercover actor,’” Judge Contreras wrote.

  “Pope does not say that he himself spoke with or was induced by any undercover officer,” the judge wrote. “Therefore, he cannot make an entrapment defense with the evidence he seeks from the government, and the material he seeks is irrelevant and immaterial.”

  Mr. Pope complained that prosecutors restricted his access to some of the investigative materials, which he described as “highly explosive” and “exculpatory.”

  In previous filings, Mr. Pope described several self-identified Antifa supporters who were intercepted by undercover MPD officers on Jan. 6, including one who was carrying a gun.

  

  MPD officers made a traffic stop at 10:15 a.m. on Jan. 6 of a vehicle containing three Antifa operatives: Jonathan Kelly, Logan Grimes, and Dempsey Mikula.

  “Undercover officers who stopped their vehicle said they had received reports that the individuals were carrying weapons,” Mr. Pope wrote. “No footage of this incident has been produced by the government in discovery. However, Kelly live-streamed part of the police stop to Facebook.”

  Metropolitan Police arrested Mr. Grimes—who identifies as a woman and uses the name Leslie—for carrying a pistol without a license and being in possession of a high-capacity magazine and unregistered ammunition, according to Mr. Pope. The charges were dropped on Jan. 7, 2021.

  In a previous filing, Mr. Pope identified undercover MPD officer Ryan Roe, who encountered a still-unidentified protester seen cutting down green plastic temporary fencing on Capitol grounds. Mr. Roe said to #FenceCutterBulwark, “Appreciate it, brother,” according to his video.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 19:45

• Luxury DC Apartment Building Replaces Front Desk Staff With Amazon Lockers, Sparking Tenant Protest 
  Luxury DC Apartment Building Replaces Front Desk Staff With Amazon Lockers, Sparking Tenant Protest 

  Tenants of a luxury apartment building blocks from the White House were furious this week after they discovered the building’s management company fired all front desk workers and replaced them with Amazon delivery lockers.

  Journalist Samuel Breslow of the media outlet The Forward wrote on X about tenants of CityCenterDC, a mixed-use development consisting of two condominium buildings, two rental apartment buildings, two office buildings, and a luxury hotel, on 10th St NW, or about a five-minute walk to the White House, “protested the surprise decision to fire front desk staff, replacing them with Amazon delivery lockers.”

  Tenants of the @CityCenterDC luxury apartments are protesting a surprise decision to fire front desk staff, replacing them with Amazon/@minnowpod delivery lockers.@Hines management prepared a presentation to try to appease; they didn’t get beyond the first slide.#CityCenterDC pic.twitter.com/Zx4wK0Ov8I

  — Samuel Breslow (@sdkb42) April 23, 2024

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  The building described the move to replace human workers with Amazon lockers as a “technology advancement aimed at enriching your stay.” 

  

  Apartments.com shows that CityCenterDC’s rent ranges from $2,500 a month for a studio to $15,300 for a luxury apartment. 

  

  On Instagram, user washingtonianprobs posted Breslow’s story. Folks there weren’t thrilled: 

  “All the crime and violence goin around the last thing they should do is leave the front desk unattended,” one Instagram user said. 

  Someone asked: “How did the property management company think that replacing the front desk ppl with lockers is the same?”

  “Goes to show how disconnected they are with people outside of their status. They don’t realize that replacing front desk staff with storgage boxes is taking away jobs from people and altering folks livelihood,” another user said.

   For ZH readers, this example of AI automation job loss is not surprising. Recall this Goldman note: “AI Will Lead To 300 Million Layoffs In The US And Europe.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 19:25

• Saudi Arabia's Massive Futuristic Vanity Projects Falter Amid Gaza War
  Saudi Arabia’s Massive Futuristic Vanity Projects Falter Amid Gaza War

  Authored by Giorgio Cafiero via The Cradle

  Launched in 2017, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, a sprawling high-tech development on the northwestern Red Sea coast, was introduced as the crown jewel of Vision 2030. This futuristic desert megaproject, extending over some Jordanian and Egyptian territory, was cast as a bold leap toward economic diversification under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). But, recent geopolitical setbacks have raised significant concerns about the viability of some of NEOM’s components.

  Initially celebrated for its revolutionary design, The Line, a linear city within NEOM, was to redefine urban living. Yet, recent reports suggest a dramatic scaling back. Earlier this month, Bloomberg revealed a massive reduction in the metropolis’ scope – from 105 to 1.5 miles – and a decrease in likely inhabitants from 1.5 million to fewer than 300,000 by 2030. Furthermore, funding uncertainties and workforce reductions indicate a project in jeopardy.

  While this adjustment does not signify a wholesale failure of Vision 2030, it does prompt a re-evaluation of the project’s most ambitious elements. 

  

  Experts suggest that The Line’s original scale was overly optimistic, lacking the necessary urban infrastructure for such an innovative endeavor. Financial and geopolitical challenges, including regional instability and insufficient foreign direct investment, further complicate NEOM’s future.

  Not so straight-forward 

  The drastic downsizing of The Line “appears to be a reassessment of timeline feasibility,” Dr Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, tells The Cradle. “There are many experimental, world-first dimensions within the NEOM gigaproject, and some are eventually going to need rightsizing or rethinking.”

  Also speaking to The Cradle, Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University, believes the project’s contraction to be a good thing:

  Reports that The Line may be scaled back significantly is actually a positive move if it injects greater realism into a project whose initial scale appeared fanciful and difficult to translate into reality. Greater pragmatism in designing and delivering the gigaprojects associated with Vision 2030 is a good thing and means there is a greater likelihood of the projects making it off the drawing board.

  Given financial and economic factors, The Line was never feasible as initially presented. Ultimately, the amount of wealth the Saudis generate from oil is not enough to finance the most ambitious of MbS’ Vision 2030 projects. And Riyadh has not been able to lure the levels of foreign direct investment needed to make these extremely expensive vanity projects realizable. 

  “The vast scope of [The Line] always struck me and many other observers as aspirational rather than realistic,” explains Gordon Gray, the former US ambassador to Tunisia. 

  Some analysts have pushed back against the recent avalanche of negative media coverage…

  All the gloating about NEOM getting scaled back misses the point.

  NEOM is a “moonshot” that has already succeeded.

  It totally shifted the parameters of acceptable ambition in Saudi Arabia and made people see the kingdom within a paradigm of development.https://t.co/UjAX5CSdfM

  — Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (@yarbatman) April 20, 2024

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  Speaking to The Cradle, Ryan Bohl, a Middle East and North African analyst at risk intelligence company RANE, says: 

  I’d argue that the goals for The Line were unrealistic from the start, given that there’s virtually no urban infrastructure in the area, and it’s very difficult for cities to be started from scratch like that, regardless of the amount of investment poured in. Even if Saudi Arabia had, for example, done something extreme like declare NEOM to be their new capital city, it would still probably struggle to attract residents as we’ve seen from other historical examples like Brazil’s shift of its capital to Brasília.

  Nonetheless, The Line and other singular projects had a purpose that was not necessarily about actually implementing the projects themselves. “The point of The Line, in particular, was to create a raison de parler – for people to actually talk about Saudi Arabia, to create a massive public debate globally where people are saying there’s something amazing happening in the desert,” Dr Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London, tells The Cradle. 

  It attracts attention. That sort of discourse – positive or negative – creates a buzz. That buzz was supposed to attract investors who wanted to be a part of this, help Saudi Arabia build a city of the future, and try to do something completely outlandish and absolutely unconventional.

  Gaza: a wrench in the works

  The leadership in Riyadh has understood that the success of Vision 2030 heavily depends on attracting substantial foreign direct investment into the Kingdom. Ultimately, stability in Saudi Arabia and the wider West Asian region is crucial.

  Consequently, Riyadh’s recent foreign policy has been less ideological, focusing instead on maintaining amicable terms with all major players in West Asia to advance Saudi business, commercial, and economic interests. 

  Within this context, Riyadh has worked to reach a peace deal with Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, made an effort to preserve the Beijing-brokered 2023 Saudi–Iranian détente, restored relations with Qatar and Syria, and mended fences with Turkiye.

  Therefore, beyond financial and economic constraints that require a reassessment of the most ambitious Vision 2030 projects, such as The Line, Israel’s brutal six-month war on Gaza and the expansion of that conflict into the Red Sea have created headwinds for Saudi Arabia’s geoeconomic plans.

  As Arhama Siddiqa, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, explains to The Cradle:

  Given the current instability in the Red Sea region, investors may hesitate to support a large-scale project like NEOM due to perceived risks. Even if the direct security threat to NEOM is minimal, the overall instability in the area can deter investors from committing substantial resources to a long-term venture. Additionally, the broader [West Asia] conflict further complicates the situation, adding another layer of uncertainty. Addressing these security concerns could require Saudi Arabia to allocate more resources to regional security measures, potentially diverting funds from the NEOM project.

  There is no denying that Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification agenda is vulnerable to naval operations in the Red Sea. NEOM and other Red Sea projects require vessels to be able to freely travel from the Gulf of Aden through the Bab al-Mandab and up to Saudi Arabia’s west coast. 

  THE LINE, @NEOM ‘s groundbreaking vertical city, reimagines urban living: no roads, cars, or emissions – just 5 minutes to all you need. Powered by the world’s latest tech for sustainability, connectivity, lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/If1mGAM3wV

  — Wyatt Roy (@MrWyattR) April 25, 2024

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  The Gaza war’s potential spillover into this vital waterway continues to raise concerns for Saudi officials about the impact on the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. These dynamics help explain Riyadh’s frustration with the White House for not leveraging its influence over Israel to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. It has led to Saudi Arabia’s decision to abstain from joining any US-led security initiatives and military operations in the Red Sea and Yemen.

  The Israel–NEOM connection 

  Israel’s geographic proximity to northwestern Saudi Arabia, its technological advancement, and its vibrant startup culture position the occupation state as a promising partner for Vision 2030 and the NEOM project, particularly in biotechnology, cybersecurity, and manufacturing. 

  Writing in March 2021, Dr Ali Dogan, previously a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, went as far as arguing that “relations with Israel are necessary for Saudi Arabia to complete NEOM.” 

  Dr Mohammad Yaghi, a research fellow at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, similarly stated that NEOM “requires peace and coordination with Israel, especially if the city is to have a chance of becoming a tourist attraction.” However, Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the Islamic world, exemplified by the monarch’s title as the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” makes any formal normalization of relations with Tel Aviv highly sensitive. 

  Initially, it was thought that while the UAE and Bahrain could establish overt relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia would continue to engage covertly, ensuring essential collaborations like those rumored in the tech sector could progress discreetly. 

  An example being in June 2020, when controversy arose over Saudi Arabia’s alleged engagement with an Israeli cybersecurity firm, which the Saudi embassy later denied.

  Yet, almost seven months into Israel’s campaign to annihilate Gaza, can Saudi Arabia still look to Tel Aviv as a partner in NEOM? It appears that amid ongoing crises in the region, chiefly the Gaza genocide, Riyadh must be careful to avoid being seen as cooperating with the Israelis in covert ways, and full-fledged normalization seems off the table for the foreseeable future. 

  Nonetheless, after the dust settles in Gaza and the Red Sea security crisis calms down, Saudi Arabia will likely maintain its interest in fostering ties with Israel as part of an “economic normalization” between the two countries. This could be important to Vision 2030’s future, particularly in NEOM. But Israel’s unprecedented military campaign in Gaza will likely alter West Asia in many ways for decades to come. Even after the current war in Gaza is over, anger toward Israel and the US will continue.

  Without a doubt, the Israeli–NEOM connection will be increasingly sensitive and controversial, both in the Kingdom and the wider region – a factor that the leadership in Riyadh cannot dismiss.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 19:05

• Secret Service Agent Assigned To Kamala Harris Hospitalized After Fighting Other Agents
  Secret Service Agent Assigned To Kamala Harris Hospitalized After Fighting Other Agents

  A Secret Service agent assigned to protect Vice President Kamala Harris got into a physical altercation with several other agents Monday morning around 9 a.m. near Joint Base Andrews, located near Washington DC.

  

  The agent in question was immediately “removed from their assignment,” the Secret Service told the NY Post.

  “A US Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing,” said Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications.

  According to CBS News, “the agent spouted gibberish, was speaking incoherently and provoked another officer physically,” and “pushed the special agent in charge while they were near the lounge of Joint Base Andrews.”

  They were immediately handcuffed and detained by other Secret Service agents who intervened, and ambulances were called to the scene. An initial medical evaluation concluded that there was no indication of substance abuse.

  The USSS remains in a temporary holding pattern until further information becomes available, the sources said. After the agent receives additional medical attention and further evaluation, it will be determined if they can return to work. An internal review will be conducted and the USSS will assess if the agent’s top secret security clearance will be removed for medical or disciplinary reasons, sources explained. -NBC News

  Harris was at the Naval Observatory at the time according to the USSS, and the incident had “no impact on her departure from Joint Base Andrews” on the day in question.

  According to RealClearPolitics journalist Susan Crabtree, “there are DEI concerns among the USSS community about the hiring of this agent,” adding “Other agents and officers within the USSS are asking questions about the agent’s hiring process, whether the USSS did enough to look into the agent’s background and monitor the agent’s mental well-being…”

  Other details: Sources say the agent in question was acted erratically upon showing up for a traveling shift at Joint Base Andrews. The agent ended up tackling the Senior Agent in Charge of the VP detail, got on top of him and started punching him. At this point, I’m told, the…

  — Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) April 24, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 18:45

• The Fallacy That Rules The World
  The Fallacy That Rules The World

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  Smart people know to avoid fallacies.

  One of them is known as the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc.

  It’s Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.”

  The classic example concerns the rooster and the sunrise.

  Every morning before the sun comes up, the rooster does his crazy crowing routine, waking up everyone around. Shortly after, the light begins to appear on the horizon.

  If you knew nothing else, and you watched this happen over and over, you might conclude that the rooster is causing the sun to rise.

  

  Of course, this is testable. You could kill the rooster and see what happens. The sun still comes up. But wait just a moment. Just the fact that this one rooster is dead doesn’t mean that all roosters are gone. Some rooster somewhere is crowing and causing the sun to rise. So your little experiment doesn’t disprove the theory.

  What a conundrum, right?

  If someone is convinced that a bird is controlling the sun, there is probably no way to convince him otherwise.

  We can laugh at this example. How can someone be so dumb? Actually, this basic fallacy affects all science in all times, all places, and all subjects. The presumption that a regular pattern showing something happens and then something else happens with regularity implies causation is baked into human thinking. Now and always.

  It’s a fallacy, meaning that it is not necessarily true. It could be true, however, subject to serious investigation. And therein lies the real problem. We need to figure out what causes what. But discerning causal agents from accidental ones is the biggest issue in all thinking.

  The need to know is baked into what it means to be a rational creature. We just cannot help ourselves. That’s why this fallacy persists everywhere.

  There is also the famous case of malaria. It was once believed that infections were worse at nightfall, so the theory was that it was caused by cold air at night. Not crazy, right? Except that the real reason was that the mosquitoes came out in the evenings. They were the real culprit. But a bad theory based on fallacy prevented many people from seeing it.

  My goodness, we were overwhelmed by this during the COVID-19 experience. The fake science was overwhelming.

  Day after day, we saw loads of fake science of this sort being dumped on the world.

  Look, California’s cases are down and California bans gatherings, therefore coercive measures are controlling virus spread!

  Not so fast.

  These factors could be completely unrelated. We might not even have good data on infections at all. Those are subject to testing (accurate or not) and might be completely wrong on a population level. Even if the data were correct, the low infections could be caused by weather, prior immunity, or something else that we have not considered.

  Early on, I can recall looking at these amazing real-time charts of infections and deaths and believing that I had a window into reality. Several times, I even posted things along the lines of “See, Arizona has achieved herd immunity,” without understanding that the data were wildly inaccurate and subject to testing, reporting, and a host of other factors. Even the data were suspect: Misclassification was rampant.

  And here too, the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc bit everyone extremely hard. But most of us went along with it.

  So crazy did it all become that people including bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started inventing nutty theories such as that masking protects against virus spread, which science had long proven to be untrue. It became even crazier: You can sit without a mask but walking and standing causes viruses to spread, so that’s when you have to wear a mask!

  Absolutely nuts!

  It was the same after vaccination.

  Countless famous people took to social media to announce they had COVID-19 but it was a mild case thanks to the vaccine. There is simply no way they could know that. They knew for sure that they had the vaccine and they knew for sure that their case of COVID-19 was mild. But believing that one caused the other was simply a matter of faith. It might have been mild regardless. It might have been milder. As time went on, we encountered many studies showing that more vaccination was associated with more infection. Did one cause the other? It’s hard to say.

  And yet vast numbers of vaccine studies in the past several years have been affected by this problem. Particularly vexing is the problem of the “healthy user bias,” which is that people who were vaccinated tend to be more compliant and conscientious in other ways too, which meant that initially, it seemed like they had better health outcomes from COVID-19 vaccination, but the results were actually attributable to this bias.

  This was revealed in later studies. But the problem of discerning cause and effect from random noise still persists.

  The field of medicine has long dealt with this problem. We are mortified that the practice of bleeding patients persisted for centuries even up to the 19th century. How could they have been so stupid? Well, they had a theory that disease was caused by bad humors in the blood so it needed to be drained. Then they observed that the patient got better.

  Well, the patient might have gotten better anyway and even faster without bleeding. But it took many centuries to finally realize that. Many non-allopathic medicine people had been screaming about this issue for a long time, but they were ignored as cranks. That’s because bleeding was a conventional practice endorsed by the people with the most professional prestige.

  Once you see this fallacy at work, you cannot unsee it. It’s everywhere in medicine but also in economics, health, horticulture, law and sociology, and all the physical world sciences. The gun debate is a good example. There is high crime and there are lots of guns, so people conclude that the guns cause the crime, whereas the presence of guns might simply be a response to crime and a means of protection. Without them, the crime would be far worse.

  The fallacy in question drives vast amounts of politics today. There is a tendency to blame any existing president for all existing economic conditions, but the real cause might date further back in time. Still, nearly every debate follows the same lines: This happened; therefore, his actions or inactions caused it. It could be true or it might be the same as the rooster and the sunrise.

  We flatter ourselves now that we are beyond such fallacies. They belong only to the superstition-ridden ages of the past. That’s complete nonsense. We are probably more inundated by this fallacy now than ever. Whatever it is that people trust and believe in at any particular time is what people identify as the key to curing whatever malady is around.

  Today, people believe in pharmaceuticals. Whatever the issue is, it can be solved by a new lab-created potion. As a result, we are soaked as a society in these, even though the evidence for many of them is scant. The more you look at, for example, the effect of psychiatric drugs, the less it becomes clear whether and to what extent these help or actually may worsen the real problem.

  It’s even true with antibiotics. All parents use amoxicillin on childhood ear infections today. But my grandmother swore by putting warm mineral oil in the ear and avoiding conventional meds completely. It took me only a few minutes to discover a 2003 study that randomized whether kids got herbal oils with or without antibiotics. Results: no difference.

  The implications are profound. We are so attached to pharma and allopathic strategies that we might be overlooking vast naturopathic and homeopathic methods that work better.

  Seizing on one solution and sticking with it prevents the human mind from being creative about other possible and better solutions. Generations can go by in which fallacies rule the day. We can laugh about roosters and sun, bleeding and disease, dances and rain, but how many times do we commit these fallacies in our world today but our dogmatic attachments prevent us from seeing them?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 18:25

• Houthis Launch Attack On US Cargo & Navy Ships Following Two Weeks Of Quiet
  Houthis Launch Attack On US Cargo & Navy Ships Following Two Weeks Of Quiet

  Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis have announced new aggressive actions in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea regions, saying late Wednesday that projectiles were launched against more US and Israeli-owned commercial vessels, and that a US warship was also targeted. This follows a period of relative quiet this month.

  Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video address that an antiship ballistic missile was launched against the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in a direct hit.

  The US military subsequently confirmed the fresh attack on the “US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members”; however, the statement indicated no casualties or damage. The projectile may have exploded near the ship without hitting it.

  

  “There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in the statement, without indicating whether there was any level of an actual direct strike on the ship. Commenting further, Maritime Executive details:

  They received a report from a vessel of an explosion in the water approximately 72 nautical miles southeast of the port of Djibouti. The statement only said that there had been an explosion “at a distance,” and that the crew and vessel were reported safe. 

  CENTCOM further described that within hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, US forces “successfully engaged and destroyed” four drones over Yemen.

  The government of Greece this week also said it has been engaged in fresh counter-Houthi actions:

  The Greek Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen.

  The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.

  These kind of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and off Yemen’s coast have somewhat waned of late, compared with the near daily intensity of the prior months, and some analysts have speculated that the Houthis are running low on their missile and drone arsenal. 

  Prior to Wednesday’s new incidents, the last significant Houthi attacks prior to that came two weeks ago. This could also be due to the prospect of some kind of Red Sea truce negotiations which have been reported of late.

  UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 065 – ATTACK#MartimeSecurity #MarSechttps://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/mQ3nmxwGj7

  — United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 25, 2024

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  A Yemeni official has been cited in regional outlet The National as saying, “In response to the Yemeni group’s attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivize the militants to stop their attacks.”

  “Messages containing incentives were sent from the Americans to Sanaa in recent weeks. These messages were delivered through envoys and mediators, including western officials, with the Omani capital, Muscat, also playing a significant role,” the source added.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 18:05

• Get Ready To Be Hammered By Property Taxes
  Get Ready To Be Hammered By Property Taxes

  It’s not just record capital gains taxes that Americans have to look forward to if they choose “4 more years, pause” of the senile occupant in the White House: As Epoch Times’ Jeffrey Tucker reports, property taxes are also about to soar.

  Below we excerpt from his latest report on where the Biden tax tsunami sill strike next:

  

  Get Ready to Be Hammered by Property Taxes

  There have been very few points of financial solace in the past few years apart from rising financial markets. Part of that has been an incredible increase in home valuations. This comes from inflation, yes, but also from shifts in supply and demand for home purchases. Demand is as it always was but realizing it is another matter.

  The problem is on the supply side. In most places around the country, homes are not going on the market at the same and predictable pace they once were. This is for reasons of soaring costs of new mortgages. Many homeowners purchased back when interest rates were absurdly low and negative in real terms, perhaps 2 or 3 percent.

  Selling now means paying huge capital gains taxes and then applying for a new mortgage at 7.5 percent. The implications of that seemingly small change are actually gigantic, and making it work without paying drastically more in monthly bills means moving to a cheaper area of the country or downsizing the quality and size of the home.

  Rather than make that choice, many homeowners are stuck living right where they are even if they would prefer some other job or home elsewhere. They are frozen in place but, hey, at least these people have homes that they own, right?

  Not only that but the valuation that you see on Zillow is going up and up. Yay!

  Not so fast. In the United States, you pay property taxes on your home. This reality gives rise to the perennial question: do you really own your home if maintaining that title requires paying huge property taxes on the place annually? If you don’t pay, the house is taken over by the state, period. It feels a bit like renting doesn’t it? Indeed, the difference between renting and owning can get a bit blurry.

  Property taxes are the way schools are funded in the United States generally speaking and with some exceptions. Taxes are organized according to school districts, the lines of which are extremely strict. The identical home one street from the next can have a big difference in price based entirely on market perceptions of quality of the schools in the relevant district.

  This is a major reason why “school choice,” whereby anyone from any district can attend any other, has never made much progress politically in the United States. It means a tremendous scrambling of ownership valuations. No one wants that.

  You pay these taxes whether you use the schools or not and whether or not you even have children at all. That’s what makes them public schools. The public shares in the expense but the reality is that it is not the public but just property owners from one district to another, with subsidies added by state governments and the federal government, plus “booster” organizations formed by parents.

  If you are living in a district and stuck in a home because you cannot move due to expense, you are still stuck paying taxes regardless. These are assessed annually based not on the price at which you purchased the home but on the value of the home at present market value. That doesn’t seem fair either. Why should you continue to have to pay more and more in taxes based on valuation that you are not actually seeing in any kind of profit?

  You are a sitting duck, forced to cough up whatever the assessors and tax collectors decide you have to pay.

  This year alone, we are seeing huge increases in market valuations that are reflected in taxes you have to pay whether you use public schools or not. The taxes on many mid-sized homes in Texas, for example, are going up thousands of dollars right now. The fear in Georgia is so large that some activists have put on the ballot an initiative to cap property taxes to insulate them from market pressures.

  Adding to the frustration here is the terrible reality of school closures from 2020–2022. Even if you wanted to use the schools, you could not because the authorities said that there were viruses in the schools that the children would spread and bring home. There was never any evidence at all that schools were uniquely guilty of viral spread but the perception was used as the excuse to force everyone into Zoom school, which taught the kids nothing.

  We are now faced with years of learning loss that keeps getting worse, not to mention soaring absenteeism. The routines of an entire generation were disrupted and not returned to normal.

  Continue reading at Epoch Times

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/25/2024 – 17:45