- Schweizer: "Does This Compromise President Biden?"
Schweizer: “Does This Compromise President Biden?”
Authored by Peter Schweizer via The Gatestone Institute,
China is a rival power. They are supplanting the United States on the global stage, both in terms of their economic capability and in terms of their military capability.
They also talk openly about wanting to reorient the world — to move it away from an American‑led Western coalition. They want to create something very different, and everybody essentially recognizes that, with the exception, it seems, of President Joe Biden.
Now, that is a pretty bold statement. If you look at Biden, what he has said publicly and some of the actions he has taken, he is on an island by himself.
Biden repeatedly says, “China is not a threat. We should welcome the rise of China. It is good not only for China but good for the United States that China is becoming more powerful. The fact is that they are not a threat to us.”
This has been Biden’s consistent position over the last decade. When he chose to set up the Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania, very interesting, there is a list of threats that they list.
This is a Biden Center that is focused on foreign policy, national security. They say the three biggest threats that the United States faces in the world today are global terrorism, climate change and Russia.
To put that in the context of what we know is going on in the world stage today. We have had the Chinese government, and Chinese government entities, that have hacked numerous databases in the United States, including those of the US Office of Personnel Management.
There have been reports that the Chinese were hacking into our research centers that were studying information related to COVID. We know that the way that China handled COVID was certainly poor and damaging to the United States. We know that they challenged US military actions in the South China Sea.
It is a glaring omission for the Biden Center, focused on foreign policy diplomacy, to exclude China as one of the three major threats. When you compare it to, for example, Russia…
I’m not suggesting that Russia is not a world power that needs to be watched.
But the notion that a declining power like Russia, which has domestic problems, a shrinking economy, a shrinking demographic base, is somehow a bigger threat than China is laughable.
It is indicative of a larger issue, which is that Biden essentially has a soft spot for Beijing.
The question, of course, is why?
It is impossible to answer that question without looking at the commercial ties that Biden has with China. They are extensive. They are lucrative. They are unique. They speak to one of the oldest realities in American politics, which has followed him.
It seems that in American media — which focuses on Wall Street firms holding fundraisers that focus on the role that big oil plays on Capitol Hill because of their lobbying but also because of their campaign contributions –we ought to have room to discuss, not campaign contributions to the Biden family, but money going into the Biden family’s pockets, in this instance, from China.
When I say money going to the Bidens’ pockets from China, do I mean an American company in China? No. Do I mean a Chinese company in China? No. What I mean directly and clearly is the Chinese government itself, which is run, of course, by the Chinese Communist Party.
That is what makes what the Bidens have done commercially with Beijing unique compared to anything that relates to corruption. I’ve been covering corruption for more than a decade. I’ve called out Republicans and Democrats. The Biden case, to me, is unique because it is not just rank‑and‑file corruption where somebody gets a paving contract for their business.
We are not just talking about some American company giving a sweetheart job to a politician’s relative. We are talking about a foreign government, which happens to be our chief rival on the global stage, engaging in lucrative commerce with the family of the then‑vice president, now the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
This is different and unique in the realm of this kind of stuff I’ve seen before. What are these relationships? How do they work? What is the relationship between the Biden family and China? What are the details? Why is it a concern?
Let me break this out in a couple of phases. First of all, what is the actual commercial relationship between the Biden family and the Chinese? Second of all, what are the implications of it? This is a commercial relationship that not only has made the Bidens money. It has advanced the strategic and military interests of the Chinese government itself.
What are the relationships?
The first one is a private equity arrangement or deal that Hunter Biden has with the Chinese government itself. This is a deal that began and was finalized in December of 2013. It led to the creation of something called Bohai Harvest RST or BHR Partners.
Essentially, the Chinese government poured in a billion dollars. They later expanded that to a-billion-and-a-half dollars for BHR, a private equity investment firm. One of the partnering firms that created BHR was Hunter Biden’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Hunter Biden was put on the board of directors of BHR Partners. His partner Devon Archer became the vice chairman and sat on the investment committee. What is astonishing about this is, first of all, that the Chinese government funded this venture. Again, these are not individual Chinese companies. This is Chinese government money.
Second of all, it is astonishing that Hunter Biden joined the board of directors of this firm. His firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, got an equity stake of 20 percent in this firm even though Hunter Biden had zero background in private equity and zero background in China. It begs the question, why did they choose to do business with Hunter Biden? It is pretty clear why.
Only a few months before this deal was finalized, then Vice President Joe Biden became the point person on Obama administration policy towards China. The timing here is also quite astonishing. That is the first tie you have, this billion-and-a-half dollar, now more than two‑billion‑dollar private equity firm, BHR. Hunter Biden gets an equity stake in the firm and joins the board of directors.
In 2017, his lawyers admitted that he also took a personal stake. In addition to the firm that he owned part of, he took a personal stake in these deals. That is deal number one. Then there is deal number two with the Chinese government. This involves a real estate firm called Rosemont Real Estate, of which Hunter Biden was a co‑founder.
Again, Hunter Biden has no background in commercial real estate. He has no background in China. What happens is, in 2013, a Chinese firm called Gemini, which is registered on the Hong Kong stock exchange ‑‑ it is closely linked to the Chinese military, specifically the People’s Liberation Army – shows up and becomes a partner with Hunter Biden’s real estate firm.
Rosemont then becomes Gemini Rosemont Realty. The Chinese government is later to put in more than $100 million in cash. They publicly say that they are going to put billions of dollars of equity into this entity to make it even more successful. Here you have two large deals.
There are several others we could talk about that relate to the Chinese government doing business with the son of the sitting vice president, who clearly has no experience and has no reason even to be at the table with the Chinese government. Alas, here he is. Those are the deals.
We do not know how much money Hunter Biden made. We can assume, based on the private equity deal, that it is probably in the tens of millions of dollars. There is no requirement for them to disclose any of these deals.
That is part of the problem, and I think it needs to be changed. Those two are the nature of the deals. Here is why these deals are even more troubling and why this is not just a case of corruption.
Hunter Biden is a willing participant. He is on the board of directors of this private equity firm. When you look at what that private equity firm does, the first thing they do is they become an anchor investor in a Chinese firm called China General Nuclear (CGN).
Why is this interesting? This is a nuclear energy firm that about eight months after Hunter Biden’s BHR becomes an anchor investor, they are charged by the FBI in the United States.
That firm was stealing nuclear secrets in the United States. In particular, CGN is trying to gain technologies related to the small nuclear reactors that are put on submarines, which provide a huge military advantage to the United States.
Already you have this remarkable fact that the son of the sitting vice president is on the board of directors of a Chinese government‑funded firm that buys into another Chinese firm that is engaged in nuclear espionage in the United States. It goes further.
Another acquisition they make is that Hunter Biden’s BHR firm buys half of a company called Henniges in Michigan — and another Chinese entity buys the other half. That other half is bought by AVIC, which is the Chinese state‑owned aviation military contractor.
AVIC builds all the military aircraft for the Chinese military. These two entities, Hunter Biden’s BHR and AVIC, buy Henniges in Michigan, which produces machine‑tool‑related systems. They are dual‑use technologies, which means the anti‑vibration technologies they make can be used for civilian purposes and also for military application.
You have a case the son of the sitting vice president on the board of directors of a firm that has bought American precision machine tool company whose acquisition is going to literally benefit the Chinese military.
What I think is important about the Biden story is not simply the fact that the Biden family made money because of the Chinese military and that Joe Biden speaks very kindly about the Chinese since those deals have gone down, but also that the Biden family involving the son of the vice president directly benefit the Chinese military.
It is said that by 2030, the Chinese Communist Party’s goal is to achieve military parity with the United States with the goal, eventually, according to President Xi Jinping, of achieving superiority over the United States.
To me, this is a central issue of concern that we should have in this country. China is a power that has demonstrated over the last decade that they want, by 2025, to supplant the United States as the major economic power in the world. Then by 2030, they want to match the United States militarily.
The Chinese government has also spoken openly about their desire to upturn and change the global order for their benefit. What we have in the Biden family is a family that has become wealthy by enabling, helping, aiding and abetting the Chinese in doing exactly that.
In terms of Hunter Biden doing nothing wrong, it does not seem that there has been anything illegal. I have always contended that the problem in Washington DC is that some of the worst crimes or worst acts of corruption are done by people who engage in legal behavior. In Washington DC, the political class gets to make their own rules.
They get to rig the game, as it were, to ensure that the real lucrative stuff that is corrupt — and should be illegal — is the very stuff that they engage in. To me, they did something profoundly wrong, which is set up a business enterprise with our chief rival on the global stage and make money with them.
Hunter Biden has stepped off the board of directors of BHR. Here is the problem: he still retains his equity stake with this Chinese firm. He still has other deals that he conducted with the Chinese from which he benefited.
The fact is: he got caught, not necessarily with his hand in the cookie jar but with an empty cookie jar and a pile of cookies on the table.
The manner in which the Bidens have handled this scandal speaks to me to the fact that there is something here that needs to be explored. Joe Biden has not answered questions related to this very well.
The Biden team has lied repeatedly. I can go into greater detail if people want me to. They have lied repeatedly about what the nature of this relationship has been. They have had to correct the record later. They have had to modify their answers later. This is and should be a central part of the national conversation we are having in the country.
A couple of examples: The first is a December 2013 trip that Joe Biden took on Air Force Two to Beijing, and Hunter Biden tagged along with him.
The Bidens’ response was that Hunter Biden was there purely as a private citizen and did not engage in any business activity while he was there. That was the first position. Then, lo and behold, it turned out that a reporter with The New Yorker talked to a Chinese business executive that was involved in setting up BHR.
That Chinese executive told The New Yorker, “Well, actually, Hunter came and got me, and we went and met with the vice president. I shook the vice president’s hand on that trip.” Already you have the fact that they were claiming that there was no commercial side to this trip, that Hunter Biden engaged in no commercial behavior.
We now know that his Chinese partner was introduced to the vice president of the United States and they discussed whatever they discussed on that trip. Here is the second lie that they made. We highlighted the fact that December 2013, Joe Biden and his son go to Beijing on Air Force Two. About 10 days later, the BHR, the private equity deal is finalized.
They responded by saying, “Well, no. This is a coincidence. They are not connected. Hunter was not really involved in setting up BHR. That took place in June of 2013. It did not take place during this December 2013 trip with the vice president.” That was their position. Then our friends at Judicial Watch got a hold of all his travel logs.
The Secret Service has the travel logs of where Hunter Biden went. Remember, they said BHR was set up in June of 2013? Where was Hunter Biden in June of 2013? He was in Beijing, China.
The point is, they have lied about this repeatedly. They have tried to downplay it and say, “Well, he was not really that heavily involved in BHR,” and then had to admit that he was on the board of directors.
It has been subterfuge from the beginning. They need to be called out on it. They seem quite concerned and nervous about this. The American people understand if somebody’s giving you a sweetheart deal, particularly an actor like China, they are not doing it without getting something in return. They are not that stupid.
This is the problem we have had in Washington for quite some time. We have issues with people on both sides of the aisle. It is not just one side of the aisle.
This sort of effort by foreign governments and foreign entities to strike bargains with members of the American political elite and members of the political elite, first and foremost, the Bidens, their willingness to strike these deals ought to appall people. Generally, when they learn about them, they do.
The problem is the way that rules are written in Washington DC, they are written by the political class themselves. They carve out certain things. Think about this for a second. If Joe Biden owns $2,500 in General Electric stock, he is required to disclose that based on the disclosure rules that were passed by Congress.
If he gets a $250 campaign contribution from a GE executive, it is disclosed by the FEC. If his adult son flying on Air Force Two, clearly close with the vice president, strikes a series of deals with a foreign government that are lucrative and beneficial to him, there is no requirement for disclosure — which, to me, is shocking.
One of the things that has to change is that we need greater transparency. The political class in Washington is very corrupt. They are very creative. It is like water running downhill. You put up a barrier and it finds a way around it.
That is what they often do with these rules and laws. If you create a ban on certain types of commercial activities involving members of the political class’ family, they find a way around it.
The great gold mine that they have discovered are these foreign entities. With Hunter Biden, you have these deals in China. You also have the deal in Ukraine that everybody’s familiar with. Again, where he gets a million dollars a year from a foreign, corrupt energy company in Ukraine right after his father is appointed point person on Ukraine policy.
He is given a million dollars a year by a company even though he has no background in Ukraine and no background in energy. Everybody knows what is going on. Unfortunately, it is legal.
There ought to at minimum be a requirement that you disclose any foreign dealings involving the family members of politicians, Republican, Democrat, executive branch, legislative branch. That would be very, very helpful. The way you discuss this and you explain this to people is: It is not a question about what is legal.
There are lots of things that are legal in Washington that are highly corrupt.
The key thing is, does this compromise Joe Biden? The fact that his son has a series of deals that they tried to cover up, and that they have lied about, with a foreign government, our chief rival on the global stage, does that put the president of the United States in a compromised position?
Has he done favors for that foreign power? One of the things that the great Roger Robinson has been working on. He does a lot of work in the equities markets. He is looking into the fact that in 2013, the Obama administration signed a letter which said that the Chinese companies listed in the New York Stock Exchange did not have to conform to Sarbanes‑Oxley auditing and some of the other requirements that US and other foreign firms do.
It is quite a cutout for the Chinese. They are still trying to figure out who is at the bottom of it. There are indications that there are Biden fingerprints.
In addition, President Biden talks very favorably towards China, he does not challenge them in the South China Sea and elsewhere, you have something very tangible of benefit to China that Joe Biden has done while his son was given these sweetheart deals by the Chinese government.
The Chinese Communist Party wanted Joe Biden elected. They did not want President Donald Trump. In the words of, I think, the Global Times publication from Beijing, they think that Biden is smoother than Donald Trump, which is probably the understatement of the week.
Clearly, they do not like Trump’s posture towards them. Trump continued to send ships to navigate the South China Sea much to their consternation. He strengthened our ties with Taiwan. He strengthened our ties with other allies in Asia. He took aggressive postures related to trade, technology transfer.
He was very clear and outspoken about the fact that COVID‑19 has origins in China and that China certainly did not act as an international partner in the way that they alerted or failed to alert us regarding that virus. The question about blackmail, to be blunt about it, is, are they going to need to blackmail Joe Biden? Joe Biden’s posture towards China is incredibly soft.
Something may emerge but I am not sure there is something that they want that he is not already prepared to give them. He certainly has a very different attitude towards trade with China than President Trump did.
He has been far less outspoken on the South China Sea. He continues to insist, “Oh, they are friends, we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
I’m not sure that the Chinese would have to blackmail the Bidens to get a lot of what they want. China has flexed its muscles with politicians in Australia, in New Zealand. This is the way they work. They are very shrewd.
They do not strike partnerships or collaborate on commercial relationships with political elites in the West unless they are getting something in return. They are not running a charity. President Xi is not running a Biden charity. He is running a country that wants to surpass the United States strategically. They are going to pull those levers if they need to. Generally, Biden’s posture towards them is the posture they want.
There is no question that the Obama White House would have to know about that, and that President Biden would have to know about that. CGN, you can google it now and it will give you the case information. They had engineer executives that pled guilty in the case.
Joe Biden is well aware of what is going on. He clearly understands what is going on. What we need is on Capitol Hill for the Senate committees, where the Republicans are in control, to look seriously at this stuff.
It is like a lot of other countries that are highly dependent on the United States. In this particular case, they very aggressively struck a deal with the vice president’s son to make money, but it is far more important in my mind to look at what is our chief rival China done.
The VAT Committee is spending a lot of time on China. The China stuff demands further attention. There has been zero curiosity by the mainstream media.
On Capitol Hill, there have been far too many people sitting on their hands, not wanting to discuss it, either because perhaps they are looking for similar types of deals themselves, or they do not have the stomach to go there because they are concerned about issues that might reflect poorly on them.
I think with the Chinese funding of over $20 million of the Biden Center of the University of Pennsylvania is deeply troubling. This has been the strategy that China has adopted. We need to remember that China is a Leninist State. They do not have the Marxism Leninism that the Soviet Union had in some respects. They have a more vibrant private sector than the Soviet Union ever did even under Gorbachev.
There is no question that the Communist Party of China runs China, and commercial ventures in China need to be approved by the party. All major companies have party committees that are embedded in them.
If I understand the ruling correctly, the Chinese Communist Party, just recently, a couple of years ago required the CEO of any company to be on that Chinese Communist Party committee that is embedded within their own company.
It should not surprise us that they are going to employ Leninist strategies for their strategic advantage. Not only for the Bidens. You see people on Wall Street. You see some of the big firms.
I would put Goldman Sachs and Blackstone in that category; they are entities that have been willing to turn a blind eye, and to say wonderful things about China that are simply not true — given the way that the Chinese Communist rule — in exchange for access and making money in the Chinese market.
It is a huge problem. The Bidens are complicit in it. The Bidens cashed in while he was vice president of the United States. He did not have any of these deals until he became vice president.
I think at that point, the Chinese realized, “This is a guy we want to do deals with. This is a guy that will be helpful to us in advancing our interest. Let’s strike a bargain,” and that is why they struck a bargain with the Biden family.
Let’s be honest about it. If Donald Trump Jr. flew over on Air Force One to Beijing, China with his father and got a billion‑and‑a‑half‑dollar deal, let’s say in the energy sector, where he has no experience, the mainstream media would be all over that story.
I would be all over that story for good reason, but there has been a complete lack of curiosity by the media, and even, as we have seen, suppression.
My hope is that people will start paying attention to this issue. We will start being a lot more aware that members of our political class are doing these kinds of deals overseas, and they are being paid by the foreign government. It should not be tolerated. Even if it is legal, it should not be tolerated just because they have written the rules in such a way to benefit themselves.
* * *
Peter Schweizer, President of the Governmental Accountability Institute, is a Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of the new book, Red Handed: How American Elites are Helping China Win.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 23:30 - 'Assault Weapon' Ban Passes WA Senate – Governor Signals Support
‘Assault Weapon’ Ban Passes WA Senate – Governor Signals Support
The Washington state senate on Saturday approved a measure that would ban the sale of so-called “assault weapons.” It does not, however, ban possession.
HB 1240 will make it illegal to sell, transfer, distribute, manufacture or import a long list of prohibited firearms. The bill bans several broad categories such as the AK-47 and AR-15 “in all its forms,” and then lists dozens of specific product lines, such as the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 and Bushmaster XM-15.
It also bans the weapons by defining them as semiautomatic, centerfire rifles that accept a detachable magazine and also have at least one of many other listed features, such as a folding or telescoping stock. It also bars such weapons if they have an integral 10-round magazine.
The bill was amended by the senate, so it now returns to Washington’s House of Representatives for a final vote. The House passed the original bill on a 55-42 vote, and Governor Jay Inslee previously signaled his support, saying, “Passing an assault weapon ban will be a momentous step forward for Washington state.” Tacoma-based firearm component-manufacturer Aero Precision begs to differ:
Extremely sad day for gun owners of Washington. More updates to come soon, but one thing we know for sure is that this fight is far from over pic.twitter.com/5F4vv8C3Hr
— Aero Precision (@aero_precision) April 9, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The bill’s supporters “don’t own firearms and don’t know anything about firearms,” said Republican Senator Keith Wagoner, who was able to amend the bill to explicitly exempt active duty military personnel who are ordered to duty in Washington, along with military retirees moving to the state.
Violations will be considered “gross misdemeanors,” carrying a penalty of up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
The “assault weapon” bill is one of several measures advancing in the Washington legislature. On Friday, the Senate approved an already-House-approved bill that puts a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases and requires buyers to prove they took a safety class.
The impending infringements on gun rights triggered a surge in gun-buying as residents raced to beat the legislature: Background checks in the state rocketed 70% higher in April.
Washington is poised to become the 10th state to impose such an “assault weapon” ban, joining California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, along with the District of Columbia.
There’s a distinct possibility all of those bans will be obliterated by the Supreme Court in the not-too-distant future. Keep an eye on two cases making their way through the federal court system: Bianchi v Frosh, which challenges Maryland’s ban, and Miller v Bonta, which targets California’s.
After last summer’s Supreme Court Bruen ruling, gun control laws can only be upheld if they are consistent with the “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” That new standard has resulted in an ongoing series of gun control laws being rejected. Most recently, a federal judge applying that framework blocked California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act,” which among other things, requires that handguns must stamp a unique identifier onto fired bullets, with the intent to facilitate police investigations.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 23:00 - The Point Of No Return
The Point Of No Return
Authored by Josh Hammer via The Epoch Times,
The Roman historian Suetonius described Julius Caesar as timid and noncommittal as he initially approached the Rubicon River – a shallow and narrow waterway that, at the time, demarcated the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy proper – in January 49 B.C.E.
In fact, the historian ultimately attributed Caesar’s decision to cross the waterway, precipitating a four-year civil war and ultimate Caesarian dictatorship, to the supernatural. Prior to crossing, again according to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the now-infamous phrase: “The die has been cast.”
While we cannot know for certain whether New York County, New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s catastrophic decision to successfully indict and arraign a former president of the United States was partially attributable to an intervening apparition, we can reasonably conclude that the actions of this past week have cast a most woeful die for the trajectory of our decadent, declining republic. The 34-count formal indictment of former President Donald Trump, laughably meritless on the legal merits and scandalously imprudent on the broader political judgment, represents a genie that cannot, and will not, ever be returned to its bottle.
Much ink has already been spilled on the glaring legal deficiencies in Bragg’s case, which ought to be evident to any competent first-year law student and which had led Bragg’s predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr., U.S. prosecutors and—in the not-so-distant past—Bragg himself to eschew prosecution. The underlying New York State crime that Trump allegedly violated and which is the exclusive crime invoked in the formal indictment, falsifying business records in the first degree, has a two-year statute of limitations under New York criminal law. The final alleged criminal bookkeeping action—a “hush money” payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels by former Trump “fixer,” and more recent convicted felon, Michael Cohen—was on Dec. 5, 2017. The statute of limitations thus tolled over three years ago. That alone should suffice to dismiss the case.
Bragg’s theory appears to be that he can somehow evade this, and simultaneously enhance the misdemeanor to a felony, by proving—beyond a reasonable doubt, naturally—that Trump’s bookkeeping falsifications were done in furtherance of another crime. But Bragg, remarkably, has not said what that crime is. It appears to be some amorphous combination of skirting federal campaign law and/or New York State election law, in the context of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential run; but the former has a five-year statute of limitations (thus also tolled) and is also well outside Bragg’s legitimate prosecutorial jurisdiction as a county district attorney, and the latter should not properly apply to a U.S. presidential candidate. Moreover, even ignoring the dispositive statute of limitations and jurisdictional issues, the very thing Bragg would need to prove to a jury “beyond a reasonable doubt” to secure the felony enhancement—that Trump directed Cohen to make the payments with the specific intent to benefit his 2016 presidential campaign—is rebutted by Cohen himself, who has testified under oath that Trump requested the payments to be made furtively to spare his family personal embarrassment.
Alvin Bragg, lest it go unstated, is the same George Soros-funded “reform prosecutor” who has overseen a 22 percent year-over-year increase in New York City’s crime rate, even as he has downgraded a whopping 52 percent of felonies to misdemeanors. In the Big Apple, homicides are spiking, illegal guns are everywhere, single women are afraid to walk the streets of Manhattan alone, and commuters are terrified to ride the subway lest insane homeless persons push them into oncoming trains. Yet this is how Alvin Bragg, who, along with New York State Attorney General Letitia James, ran on an open and explicit “Get Trump” campaign platform, chooses to spend his time, expend his prosecutorial resources and seek misdemeanor-to-felony enhancements.
But the deed is done. If not dismissed beforehand, a trial would likely not unfold until later this year or early next. And in the interim, other ambitious prosecutors investigating Trump in Georgia and Washington, D.C., have now watched Bragg shatter the hitherto unbroken precedent of the ruling political party never criminally indicting a former and defeated president of the opposite political party, which had been—until this past week—one of the few remaining things to which we might point to distinguish our late-stage republic from its third-world banana republic equivalents the world over. Perhaps additional indictments in those jurisdictions will indeed follow. Either way, the political ramifications for the 2024 Republican presidential primary are legion.
With the precedent forever shattered, the onus now falls on the “deplorables” of the American Right to sober up and recognize that the United States is now at the point of no return when it comes to weaponizing governmental powers and partisan prosecutorial apparatuses to reward political friends and punish political enemies within the (sometimes highly debatable, as is the case here) confines of the rule of law. There is simply no choice but for the Right, and for Republican prosecutors in deep-red jurisdictions across the country, to prudentially and reasonably respond in kind, upping the ante further in the short- to mid-term in an attempt to ultimately de-escalate toward a long-term “mutually assured destruction” footing. Surely there is some creative and ambitious right-wing prosecutor in the Oklahoma Panhandle or West Texas who would like to summon Hunter Biden or Anthony Fauci out to “flyover country,” right?
Sometimes, the only way out is through.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 22:30 - Echoes Of New Century's Collapse Amid Sudden Firesale Of Real Estate Loans As One Bank Sees 40% Downside
Echoes Of New Century’s Collapse Amid Sudden Firesale Of Real Estate Loans As One Bank Sees 40% Downside
Those who peaked below the surface of the latest H.8 statement which, as discussed previously, saw the biggest drop on record in bank loans and leases in the last two weeks of March…
… found another, perhaps even bigger surprise. As we detailed over the weekend when breaking down the weekly change in small bank loans and leases by their subcomponents, we found that whereas in the first week after the bank crisis (the one ending March 15) the bulk of the collapse in loans was in the traditionally volatile C&I space, the latest week was a surprise: that’s because while the plunge in C&I loans moderated substantially to just $6.9BN from $25BN the week before, the biggest slide was in one of the anchor pillars of the small bank sector: real estate loans.
In fact, while the biggest drop among small bank loans in the latest week was the $18.7BN decline in real estate loans, this was a continuation of the $19.2BN drop in the previous week. Combining the two weeks adds to a $37.8BN plunge in real estate loans in the second half of March. This number is notable because it is the biggest since the collapse of the country’s then-second largest subprime lender, New Century Financial in March 2007, which as most traders over 40 recall, was the catalyst that ushered in the global financial crisis, and within the year led to the collapse of Bear Stearns and, eventually, Lehman.
Of course, for the past month we have been warning that real estate and especially Commercial Real Estate is the ticking solvency time bomb within both large and small banks, now that the liquidity crisis that crushed several “small” banks has been contained courtesy of nearly half a trillion in reserve injections by the Fed. And while we previously discussed at length the coming multi-trillion CRE maturity wall, (see “New “Big Short” Hits Record Low As Focus Turns To $400 Billion CRE Debt Maturity Wall“)…
… increasingly more are also seemingly starting to notice and, what is far more ominously, are taking a page out of the Margin Call playbook and quietly selling out of their real estate loan exposure: or to quote Kevin Spacey, “this is what the beginning of a firesale looks like.”
To be sure, it’s no longer just us that are focusing on the potential of CRE to be the next market crash catalyst. As Bloomberg wrote over the weekend, “almost $1.5 trillion of US commercial real estate debt comes due for repayment before the end of 2025. The big question facing those borrowers is who’s going to lend to them?”
Well, there is another even bigger question as the video clip above suggests, but we’ll get back to it in a second.
Bloomberg quotes a recent must-read note by Morgan Stanley titled “Scaling Maturity Walls” (available to pro subs in the usual place) in which the bank’s credit strategists write that “refinancing risks are front and center” for owners of properties from office buildings to stores and warehouses, adding that “the maturity wall here is front-loaded. So are the associated risks.”
Looking at the charts below, Morgan Stanley’s James Egan writes that “roughly $400-450bn worth of CRE loans are scheduled to mature in 2023. This is on par with 2022, and both of those years are the largest on record ( Exhibit 12 ). From there it doesn’t get any easier, as maturities climb each year until 2027, reaching over $550bn.” And “while the maturity walls within other asset classes might not be very front loaded, the issue within commercial real estate is happening right now.”
As these maturities come due, Egan warns that he is left many more questions than answers, “chief among them: who is going to be responsible for refinancing these loans as they mature? That story differs depending on property type. The multifamily space has grown very reliant on the GSEs over the years. From 2023 through 2027, 46% of maturities are currently guaranteed by the GSEs. As a reminder, in the GSE space, borrowers will ask lenders for a loan, and if the property meets the eligibility criteria for agency guarantee, then the lender should generally feel comfortable that the loan will be guaranteed by the agency when quoting a rate lock. The agencies will inspect the property at different times depending on the exact program, but given that the majority of agency guaranteed multifamily properties are held by borrowers with multiple properties, there is incentive to continue to work with the agencies.”
But the real punchline is that as these maturities are picking up, the single largest lender in the Commercial Real Estate landscape is the one that is now under the most scrutiny: regional banks, something we have been warning about for months. As Morgan Stanley notes in the next chart, in the years since the GFC, origination volumes and the share of that volume has varied, but since 2014 the trend has clearly been away from CMBS and toward regional banks.
Meanwhile, as we discussed previously, rising rates and worries about defaults have already hurt CMBS deals. Sales of the securities without government backing fell about 80% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations.
“The role that banks have played in this ecosystem, not only as lenders but also as buyers,” will compound the wave of refinancing coming due, the analysts wrote.
Unfortunately, when apartment blocks are excluded, the scale of the problems facing banks becomes even starker. As much as 70% of the other commercial real estate loans that mature over the next five years are held by banks, according to the Morgan Stanley report.
“Commercial real estate needs to re-price and alternative ways to refinance the debt are needed,” the analysts said.
To be sure it’s not all doom and gloom, and as Bloomberg notes, there are some slivers of good news. Conservative lending standards in the wake of the financial crisis provide borrowers, and in turn their lenders, with some degree of protection from falling values. Additionally, sentiment toward multifamily housing also remains much more positive as rents continue to rise, one reason why Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust had a positive return in February even as rising numbers of investors lodge withdrawal requests. The availability of agency-backed loans will help owners of those properties when they need to refinance.
Alas, with regional banks now undergoing cardiac arrest, and unlikely to reboot their lending activity as long as deposit flight continues – which as discussed last week has slowed modestly but remains an existential risk to the regional banks and which is unlikely to be resolved as long as the Fed refuses to cut rates and remove depositors’ preference from shifting funds from banks to safer, and higher yielding money markets (see “JPM Asks If The Fed Will Restrict Reverse Repo Use To Short Circuit $1.5 Trillion Bank Run“)…
…. it doesn’t take rocket science to realize that, just like in March 2007 when the collapse of New Century finally shocked everyone into a state of brutal realization that the party was over, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.
How much worse? Well, according to Morgan Stanley office and retail property valuations could fall as much as 40% from peak to trough, creating a feedback loop of liquidations, bank failures, defaults and from there even more liquidations:
US securitized credit – CRE: $1.35-1.46 trillion (30-32%) of CRE debt matures by YE 2025 and banks hold ~42-56% of maturing debt. Recent attention on US CRE is understandable as the asset class faces a trifecta of risks:
- (1) Maturity walls are front loaded. Acknowledging the variance in the numbers reported by different sources, we estimate that nearly $566-615 billion (22-24%) of the outstanding $2.6 trillion core CRE debt (excluding multifamily) matures by year-end 2024 and another $275-340 billion (11-13%) is due in 2025.
- (2) Bank dependence is high – both as direct lenders to the asset and also as buyers of both agency and non-agency CMBS. Banks hold 36-64% of debt maturing each year and account for nearly half the agency CMBS and 10-15% of the non-agency CMBS investor base.
- (3) Valuation concerns have increased in specific sectors such as office and retail.
Our equity colleagues expect a 30-40% peak to trough correction in both asset classes.
We are glad that one month after we called CRE the “BIg Short 3.0”, one of the largest and most respected US banks agrees. We are not glad that if, or rather when we are proven right that with trillions in loan maturities which nobody wants to roll CRE is about to become the next Subprime, the US financial system will suffer another existential shock, or as some call it “credit event.”
Morgan Stanley’s conclusion: “commercial real estate needs to re-price and alternative ways to refinance the debt are needed.”
And while it may not have been Morgan Stanley’s intention, yelling “re-pricing” in a burning theater can be even worse than yelling fire: it’s the green light for everyone else to start selling… something the collapse in real estate loans suggest may have already started.
Much more in the must-read MS notes (here and here) available to pro subs.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 22:02 - AI Therapy Is Here, But The Oversight Isn't
AI Therapy Is Here, But The Oversight Isn’t
Authored by Kate Farmer via RealClear Wire,
Since ChatGPT’s buzzy entrance into the tech world in late 2022, artificially intelligent text generation models have exploded in popularity, prompting one of history’s largest tech booms since the debut of the World Wide Web. AI is now popping up in every corner of modern life — even therapy.
Patients frustrated by long wait times and high prices in mental healthcare are increasingly turning to AI apps, websites, and chatbots for therapy. But despite their novelty, consumers should be wary. These young AI systems lack the regulatory oversight essential to ensure their safety, which can put vulnerable users at risk.
While the technology has rapidly developed in recent months, AI chat therapy is not new. The first computerized forms of AI therapy came in the 1960s and 70s, where programs like Eliza and ALICE could respond to basic user inputs and offer a rudimentary form of a ‘listening ear.’ Their creators, pessimistic about the ability of computers to recreate actual human conversation, generally regarded them as satire. But more advanced modern-day Natural Language Processing (NLP) models can generate highly convincing dialogues that pass the Turing test with flying colors.
AI therapy systems have since left the realm of scientific experimentation and entered public markets, advertising their services as would a real clinic. Today, dozens of apps such as Woebot, Wysa, and Limbic offer a wide range of therapy services, mostly for free or at a small subscription fee. They exercise what Alexandrine Royer of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute calls “emotionally intelligent computing,” engaging empathetically with user inputs and responding with established therapy techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The sites all present the same disclaimers: that they are not a substitute for a real professional, that they cannot diagnose conditions or prescribe medicine, and to please seek emergency help in times of crisis. They also emphasize that the content of users’ sessions will be kept private.
But this unique “non-professional” space occupied by AI therapy apps and websites is almost entirely unregulated. AI therapy services, even highly sophisticated sites like Woebot, are still classified by the FDA as “general wellness” products — the regulatory category for “low risk products that promote a healthy lifestyle.” General wellness products are not subject to oversight in the way foods, cosmetics, or medical care are. They are held only to a set of vague “nonbinding recommendations” published by the FDA for suggested use (and that haven’t been updated since 2019). As long as AI therapy sites continue to disclaim the ability to treat specific conditions like anorexia or anxiety disorders, they are allowed to allege certain mental health benefits without verification from the FDA.
It’s no secret AI makes mistakes. Every month, high-profile AI systems make news with laughable blunders. But the stakes are higher for mental health. AI therapists, and AI chatbots in general, cannot understand a user’s nuance and precise meaning every time, so they are forced to guess. Typically, this guesswork results in dialogue that is clunky and frustrating. At their worst, however, they can accidentally give out harmful advice — errors that can be life-threatening when issued to vulnerable users. High-profile AI therapy companies are aware of these blunders: some, like Woebot, have even issued press releases condemning other AI therapy models, while continuing to defend their own.
But the confidentiality of user data, combined with the lack of transparency measures for AI therapy sites, makes it difficult for users and regulators to determine the safety and effectiveness of care. AI therapy systems often advertise positive statistics proving the effectiveness of their product, but the data is self-reported, and the studies are usually conducted internally by the companies themselves. Because of their FDA status as “general wellness products” (GWPs), not legally marketed devices, they are not held to any federal transparency requirements over the claims they make. Traditional FDA approval requires sufficient, valid scientific evidence assuring a product’s safety and efficacy — but no such requirements apply for GWPs. Without this oversight, AI therapy providers can make unsubstantiated claims about their model’s safety and benefits without repercussions.
This isn’t to say AI therapy services should be abandoned entirely. When actually used for “general wellness” — not for serious conditions, and certainly not for crisis episodes — they have the potential to offer unique, on-demand benefits that a regular therapist cannot. Their high degree of confidentiality, ease of access, zero wait times, and extremely low cost can make AI therapy sites a decent option down the line. However, until better user protections are in place, we cannot fully trust AI therapy systems to provide safe and effective care.
AI systems, as a whole, are popping up faster than the speed of regulation. It remains up to the FDA and other federal agencies to determine where and how AI therapy services will be subject to oversight. But, as in any period of great technological advancement, the oversight will eventually catch up, along with mechanisms for systems transparency and user protection. For now, however, the best medicine for users is probably to wait.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 21:30 - The Renewable Intermittency Challenge
The Renewable Intermittency Challenge
The U.S. has a dynamic electricity mix, with a range of energy sources generating electricity at different times of the day.
At all times, the amount of electricity generated must match demand in order to keep the power grid in balance, which leads to cyclical patterns in daily and weekly electricity generation.
The graphic below, via Visual Capitalist’s Govind Bhutada and Sabrina Lam, tracks hourly changes in U.S. electricity generation over one week, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The Three Types of Power Plants
Before diving in, it’s important to distinguish between the three main types of power plants in the U.S. electricity mix:
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Base load plants generally run at full or near-full capacity and are used to meet the base load or the minimum amount of electricity demanded at all times. These are typically coal-fired or nuclear power plants. If regionally available, geothermal and hydropower plants can also be used as baseload sources.
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Peak load or peaking power plants are typically dispatchable and can be ramped up quickly during periods of high demand. These plants usually operate at maximum capacity only for a few hours a day and include gas-fired and pumped-storage hydropower plants.
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Intermediate load plants are used during the transitory hours between base load and peak load demand. Intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar (without battery storage) are suitable for intermediate use, along with other sources.
Zooming In: The U.S. Hourly Electricity Mix
With that context, the table below provides an overview of average hourly electricity generation by source for the week of March 7–March 14, 2023, in the Eastern Time Zone.
It’s worth noting that while this is representative of a typical week of electricity generation, these patterns can change with seasons. For example, in the month of June, electricity demand usually peaks around 5 PM, when solar generation is still high, unlike in March.
Natural gas is the country’s largest source of electricity, with gas-fired plants generating an average of 176,000 MWh of electricity per hour throughout the week outlined above. The dispatchable nature of natural gas is evident in the chart, with gas-fired generation falling in the wee hours and rising during business hours.
Meanwhile, nuclear electricity generation remains steady throughout the given days and week, ranging between 80,000–85,000 MWh per hour. Nuclear plants are designed to operate for long durations (1.5 to 2 years) before refueling and require less maintenance, allowing them to provide reliable baseload energy.
On the other hand, wind and solar generation tend to see large fluctuations throughout the week. For example, during the week of March 07–14, wind generation ranged between 26,875 MWh and 77,185 MWh per hour, based on wind speeds. Solar generation had stronger extremes, often reaching zero or net-negative at night and rising to over 40,000 MWh in the afternoon.
Because wind and solar are often variable and location-specific, integrating them into the grid can pose challenges for grid operators, who rely on forecasts to keep electricity supply and demand in balance. So, what are some ways to solve these problems?
Solving the Renewable Intermittency Challenge
As more renewable capacity is deployed, here are three ways to make the transition smoother.
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Energy storage systems can be combined with renewables to mitigate variability. Batteries can store electricity during times of high generation (for example, in the afternoon for solar), and supply it during periods of peak demand.
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Demand-side management can be used to shift flexible demand to times of high renewable generation. For instance, utilities can collaborate with their industrial customers to ensure that certain factory lines only run in the afternoon, when solar generation peaks.
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Expanding transmission lines can help connect high-quality solar and wind resources in remote regions to centers of demand. In fact, as of the end of 2021, over 900 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity (notably more than the country’s current renewable capacity) were queued for grid interconnection.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 21:00 -
- The Media-Deep State Mind-Meld
The Media-Deep State Mind-Meld
Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com,
Elon Musk’s Twitter recently officially branded NPR “state-affiliated media.”
The label is not only undeniably true, but probably an understatement. Nonetheless, the designation predictably caused John Lansing, National Public Radio’s CEO, to clutch his pearls and attempt to un-bunch his panties.
By way of reply, Lansing issued this laughably preposterous statement:
NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable.
Now tell us the one about the three bears, John. Sometimes Babylon Bee articles almost write themselves.
While the mainstream media have leaned liberal since Moby-Dick was a pup, it has recently gone full-on Marxist in lockstep with the Democrat party.
Nearly every outlet uses virtually the same phrases to denounce conservatives and further its agenda.
Guns bad. Abortion rights good. “Toxic masculinity” bad. “Trans women” good. Appropriation bad. Men in women’s locker rooms and bathrooms good. Climate change bad. Fundamentally transforming the United States good. And on and on, ad infinitum.
The mainstream media will vociferously proclaim any conspiracy theory to be true, and any truth to be a conspiracy theory. Doubt that? They aggressively and shamelessly promoted the “Russian Collusion” fallacy for well nigh two years but reported that the Hunter Biden laptop story “had all the earmarks of Russian disinformation.” Then came their reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, and the subsequent mask, social-distancing, and vaccine mandates. Etc., etc., etc.
ABC recently went so far as to blur out the front of the podium at which Donald Trump was delivering his post-indictment speech, so those watching couldn’t see the number placed there for them to text if they wanted to receive official campaign notifications and updates. Yet no network has ever deigned to prevent people from reading any message on any podium at which Joe Biden was speaking, before or after he became president.
If the Democrat party were to proclaim — tomorrow — that the Earth is flat, within minutes, MSNBC would solemnly aver, “The Earth is flat.”
CNN would breathlessly announce, “The Earth is flat.” NBC would report, “The Earth is, indeed, flat.” CBS would cry, “Turns out the Earth is flat.” ABC would declare: “The science is now settled. The Earth is flat.”
The New York Times would run a front-page banner headline, above the fold, stating unequivocally, “Experts Say Earth Is Flat, Far-Right Flat-Earth Deniers a Danger to Humanity.”
The Washington Post would run with “Far-Right Flat-Earth Deniers a Danger to Humanity, Experts Say.”
If former President Trump — and his roughly 75 million supporters — disagreed with the now conventional wisdom that the Earth is flat, the media would haughtily sniff: “Trump’s baseless claim that the Earth is not flat is part of ‘The Big Lie’ which he and his radical-right supporters traffic in and expound.”
Mainstream journalists would report that “far-right Republicans cling to their long-debunked belief that the Earth is round.”
The “ladies” on The View would say something like, “Whacko conspiracy theorists on the right claim that the Earth isn’t flat. But that ship has long since sailed. It is an irrefutable fact that it is as flat as a pancake that Donald Trump sat on.” (The ladies would then smirk and giggle.)
The mainstream media are indeed “state-affiliated” when Democrats reign. It would more properly be termed “Deep State–affiliated” when they don’t.
Unfortunately, “fake news” is all too real.
Mainstream media outlets have made themselves a joke.
Albeit a bad one.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 20:30 - Embattled Soros-Backed St. Louis Prosecutor Sanctioned By Judge Amid New Complaints
Embattled Soros-Backed St. Louis Prosecutor Sanctioned By Judge Amid New Complaints
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
A St. Louis judge sanctioned St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office last week for allegedly withholding evidence in a double-murder case, while allowing the suspect out on bond, amid rising criticism about left-wing prosecutors allowing crime to flourish in major U.S. cities.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner appears at her disciplinary hearing in St. Louis, Mo., on April 11, 2022. (T.L. Witt/Pool via Missouri Lawyers Media/AP Photo)
Alex Heflin, 23, was held without bond since January after he was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, local media reported. But those charges were recently reduced to involuntary and voluntary manslaughter before he was released, while his April 17 trial has been postponed until June 12.
Judge Theresa Counts Burke ruled in favor of Heflin’s lawyers after they filed a motion accusing a prosecutor under Gardner of violating discovery rules. They alleged that her office did not turn over evidence, including a 911 call recording and DNA evidence.
“The court finds that there have been repeated delays by the state in obtaining discovery and providing it to the defense,” Burke wrote, according to local reports.
“There has been a lack of diligence on the part of the state in following up and providing discovery to the defendant in a timely fashion. As a result of the state’s actions and lack of diligence, the court grants defendant’s second motion for sanctions.”
Under Burke’s order, Heflin will have to remain on GPS monitoring. She also ordered the circuit attorney’s office to hand over their list of witnesses within 24 hours, provide DNA test results within 24 hours, or ask a crime lab for the DNA results.
The Epoch Times has contacted Gardner’s office for comment.
In a statement, Gardner said that it is working with police “to bring justice on behalf of the people of the City of St. Louis, victims, and their families.” It added that her office “is dedicated to doing everything in its power to hold the defendant accountable … and will continue to work to ensure justice is served.
While the St. Louis Police Department did not comment on the case and said it is working with Garnder’s office, the St. Louis Police Officers’ Association accused Gardner of misconduct.
“The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association would like to address the unfounded claims made against our members in a recent news article concerning State vs. Heflin. Kim Gardner’s office has once again failed to accept responsibility for the mistakes made within her office and chose instead to blame the hard-working men and women of the St. Louis Police Department,” the statement said.
“These repeated problems are due to the incompetence of the Circuit Attorney’s office, not from the actions of police officers.”
The union added that “in this case, all the evidence had been turned over to the Circuit Attorney’s office for nearly a year prior to trial. Police officers shouldn’t be made scapegoats for an overworked, backlogged, and mismanaged Circuit Attorney’s Office.”
It comes days after Gardner, a Democrat, said she will run for reelection in 2024 – even as she tries to fend off an effort by Missouri’s attorney general to force her out of office. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey in February filed a lawsuit asking a judge to remove Gardner from office, accusing her of incompetence.
Bailey cited a low rate of convictions in homicide cases, accused Gardner of failing to keep crime victims and their families updated, and said her office is too slow to take up cases brought by police.
Gardner, 47, was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020. She is among several left-wing Democratic prosecutors across the country who have taken steps such as ending the prosecution of certain crimes and seeking mental health treatment over incarceration for non-violent criminals.
Republicans have accused her of receiving money from groups tied to left-wing billionaire financier George Soros, who was accused of providing funding to left-wing groups during the Black Lives Matter-related unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, nearly 10 years ago. In 2016, she received campaign funding from Soros’s Safety and Justice Committee, according to the Missouri Times, while in 2017, she worked with The Vera Institute of Justice, which itself received $11 million from Soros’s Open Society Foundations, it was reported.
Soros has been accused of providing funding to other left-wing district attorneys, which was highlighted by tech billionaire Elon Musk last month.
“Soros figured out a clever arbitrage opportunity: The many small political contests, such as DAs & judges, have much higher impact per dollar spent than the big races, so it is far easier to sway the outcome,” he wrote in response to claims that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received Soros cash.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of Missouri ordered Gardner to be disciplined for misconduct in the 2018 prosecution of then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 20:00 - Biden Admin Asks Supreme Court To Restore Bump Stock Ban
Biden Admin Asks Supreme Court To Restore Bump Stock Ban
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The Biden administration on Friday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that halted a federal ban on “bump stocks,” with the Justice Department requesting the high court reimpose a ban on the devices until it hears the case.
A bump stock is installed on an AK-47 and its movement is demonstrated at Good Guys Gun and Range in Orem, Utah on Feb. 21, 2018. (George Frey/Getty Images) Bump stocks, which are accessories that let semi-automatic firearms boost firing speed, were banned in 2019 when the Department of Justice (DOJ) amended regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), classifying bump stocks as equivalent to machine guns and making them illegal.
The ban prompted a lawsuit by Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin, who was handed a victory when the Fifth Circuit ruled recently to invalidate the ATF prohibition on bump stocks.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the Fifth Circuit’s decision that reversed the ban.
“Their appeal—what they call a writ of certiorari—to the Supreme Court, asking the Supreme Court to hear this case, also asks that the lower court in Austin actually do a stay, meaning that keep bump stocks banned until this case is heard in front of the U.S. Supreme Court,” Cargill said in a statement posted on social media in response to the DOJ’s latest action.
A bump fire stock that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate is seen at Good Guys Gun Shop in Orem, Utah, on Oct. 4, 2017. (George Frey/Reuters) The petition for a writ of certiorari—a formal request made to a higher court to review and potentially overturn a lower court decision—was filed with the Supreme Court by Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar on behalf of the DOJ.
“The government maintains only that bump stocks are machineguns under the best interpretation of the statute,” the petition reads (pdf). “The Fifth Circuit erred in holding otherwise, and this Court should grant review and reverse” the lower court’s decision.
That decision “threatens significant harm to public safety,” the DOJ said in the appeal. “Bump stocks allow a shooter to fire hundreds of bullets a minute by a single pull of the trigger. Like other machine guns, rifles modified with bump stocks are exceedingly dangerous.”
Before the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Cargill, three other federal courts upheld the bump stock ban. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review those cases.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 19:30 - Are 'Woke' Companies Sponsoring Golf Pros That Fly Around In Private Jets?
Are ‘Woke’ Companies Sponsoring Golf Pros That Fly Around In Private Jets?
The weather-delayed Masters at Augusta National will resume on Sunday morning. The third round is set to continue at 0830 ET. If there are no further issues, the final round will start around noon. Unpredictable weather, including a falling tree on Friday, disrupted play in recent days.
It is business as usual for pros who have corporate sponsorships stitched all over their golf swag. Companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, to stamp their logo on the shirts, hats, plants, and bags of pros — it’s fantastic advertising since millions tune into one of the greatest golf tournaments in the world.
📸 From @reuterspictures: Views from The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia pic.twitter.com/yerPBZMK5x
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 9, 2023
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It is also important to note that major sponsors like ‘woke’ Nike (and there are many others), with their all-important ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) social credit scores, might be sponsoring some players who arrived at Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) by private jet.
Ahead of the tournament, AGS had been transformed into a parking lot for jets. Not all jets are chartered or owned by pros, but there are some.
Fun fact. 3/4 of the total amount of Private Jets in the 🇺🇸 are at Augusta Regional Airport this week 😳 🛩️#themasters #masters #golf #TigerWoods #MONEY pic.twitter.com/nP45zQuKHU
— Conal Duffy (Duff) (@Theecog) April 7, 2023
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Masters in Full Swing at Augusta Regional Airport! Private jets as far as the eye can see pic.twitter.com/4YhVqztgXS
— 𝔼𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕙 𝔾𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕤 🛫 (@LizCreekGirl) April 7, 2023
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Companies like Nike, which maintains all sorts of feel-good social credit scores, such as those catering to the LGBTQ+ community, have plowed millions of dollars into virtue-signaling marketing to boost their scores.
Golf pros flying in private jets while sponsored by ‘woke’ companies may not portray a favorable image. So what do these companies need to do?
Quick, give more money to trans-TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney to boost social credit scores…
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 19:00 - "Recession Probabilities Are Going Up At This Point": Larry Summers
“Recession Probabilities Are Going Up At This Point”: Larry Summers
Authored by Naveen Anthrapully via The Epoch Times,
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers believes the probability of the United States entering a recession has spiked, pointing to tightening credit conditions.
“Recession probabilities are going up at this point,” Summers said in an interview with Bloomberg.
The U.S. economy averaged 345,000 monthly job additions in the first quarter of 2023 while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in March, indicating a robust economy. However, Summers discounted the report, stating that it only reflected the nature of the economy from the first quarter.
Now, the data is less relevant due to the prospects of a credit tightening, he said.
“We’re getting a sense that there is some substantial amount of constriction in credit.”
After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March, almost $174.5 billion in deposits left the banking system the following week, according to data from the Federal Reserve. Most of the money went into money market funds. The banking crisis triggered by SVB’s collapse has raised concerns about access to credit.
“More problems in financial institutions or other sectors of the economy will eventually result in lending being unavailable or only accessible at exorbitant rates. And that will constitute a credit crunch,” Peter Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told The Epoch Times in March.
A credit crunch is one of the factors economists consider when deciding whether it’s an economic recession.
Business activity is indicating a slowdown, adding to worries of recession. In March, the Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing activity gauge fell to its lowest level since May 2020. This is also the lowest reading since 2009 once the pandemic is excluded.
Bankruptcy filings have spiked across major industries. In March, 42,368 new bankruptcies were filed, up 17 percent from a year back. It was also the third straight month of bankruptcy increases.
Meanwhile, venture capital funding for start-ups declined by 55 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago. This is the lowest level in over five years.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the United States fell for the 11th straight month in February, which is the longest slump since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
“While the rate of month-over-month declines in the LEI have moderated in recent months, the leading economic index still points to risk of recession in the US economy,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager at The Conference Board, according to a March 17 press release.
Fed Rate Decision
The Federal Reserve had raised its benchmark interest rates multiple times in the past year, pushing it up from around 0.5 percent to a range of 4.75 to 5 percent. However, the current banking crisis poses a challenge to this policy of rate hikes.
“I think the Fed’s got very, very difficult decisions ahead of it—with very much two-sided risk,” Summers said. These two-sided risks are a reflection of the consequences of the American economy overheating, he added.
The former Treasury Secretary pointed out that the Fed’s internal models failed to anticipate the rising inflation which kicked off in 2021 as well as risks emerging in the banking system as a result of SVB’s collapse.
“Business as usual at the Fed has not been successful over the last two and a half years.”
Some Fed officials, like St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, are pushing the central bank to continue the policy of rate hikes. Summers is not sure about the Fed continuing such a policy. “What’s pretty clear is that we’re in the very late innings of the current tightening cycle,” he said.
“Whether there’s going to be another move necessary or not, I think that’s a judgment they should be holding off on until the very last kind of moment,” he said about the Fed policymakers.
The upcoming Fed meeting to decide interest rates is scheduled for May 3.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 18:30 - Ports Of Los Angeles And Long Beach Close Due To Widespread Worker Shortages During Contract Talks
Ports Of Los Angeles And Long Beach Close Due To Widespread Worker Shortages During Contract Talks
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have closed due to widespread worker shortages apparently linked to ongoing contract talks, ABC7 news reported. Unions representing workers at the two ports are in talks for a new contract.
The ILWU Local 13 withheld workers from their shifts starting Thursday evening, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping employers on the West Coast.
“The action by the Union has effectively shut down the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – the largest gateway for maritime trade in the United States,” the PMA said. The union, however, released a statement making no mention of any formal work action.
The organization said Thursday several thousand members were in attendance at the organization’s regular monthly meeting, at which a new president was sworn in. It said on Friday many members were observing religious holidays with their families.
“On Friday, April 7, 2023, union members who observe religious holidays took the opportunity to celebrate with their families,” read a statement from ILWU. “Cargo operations are ongoing as longshore workers at the Ports remain on the job.”
Port officials and shippers, however, believe the absences are a deliberate, if unspoken, message from the union to put pressure on the talks. The union has been working without a new contract since July.
The closures come as cargo volumes have already dropped from peak levels a year ago.
Trade experts say some shippers have already started diverting cargo traffic away from the two ports.
“A lot of the cargo has been shifted away from the West Coast ports, into the middle of our country and the East Coast,” said Nick Vyas, executive director of the Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Southern California. “So we have a seen a significant drop in volume at our West Coast ports, which is not a good sign.”
He noted that some 40% of the foreign goods arriving to the United States are processed through the two ports.
The Port of Los Angeles released a statement saying it is continuing to communicate with the ILWU and the PMA to support a return to normal operations.
“Resuming cargo operations at America’s busiest port complex is critical to maintaining confidence to our customers and supply chain stakeholders,” Port of Los Angeles officials said.
Port officials remain optimistic that operations will resume Saturday.
Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero released a statement: “Four of the Port’s container terminals are closed for the day, today, April 7. Terminal operators at the affected sites said they made the decision to close when workers did not report for their shifts this morning. We have no further information as to the situation, but it is expected that normal, regularly scheduled hours and operations will resume tomorrow.”
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 18:00 - Don't Let Them Memory-Hole This
Don’t Let Them Memory-Hole This
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,
On a video podcast the other day, I made reference to the lockdown orders of March 2020. The host turned off the recording. He said it was fine to talk about this subject but from now on please refer to “the events of March 2020” with no specifics.
Otherwise, it will be taken down by YouTube and Facebook.
He needs those platforms for reach, and reach is necessary for his business model.
I complied, but I was spooked.
Are we really now in the position that talking about what happened to us is verboten on mainstream venues?
Sadly, that seems to be where we headed. In big and small ways, and throughout the culture and the whole world, we are bit by bit being trained to forget and hence not learn and thus repeat the whole thing.
This makes no sense since nearly every public issue in play today traces to those fateful days and the fallout thereof, including censorship, the entrenchment of industry-government oligarchs, the corruption of media and tech, the educational upheaval, the abuse of courts and law, and the developing financial and banking crisis.
And yet hardly anyone wants to speak about the topic frankly. It is too upsetting.
There is too much at stake. We cannot risk being canceled, the single greatest fear of every aspirational professional in today’s world. Plus too many powerful people were in on it and don’t want to admit it. It would appear that the whole subject is being memoryholed in ways of which they all approve.
For nearly two years, or longer, respectable intellectuals knew not to dissent from the prevailing norms and challenge the whole machinery. This was true of Washington think tanks, which went on their merry way from March 2020 either celebrating the “public health response” or just remaining quiet. The same was true of the leadership of major political parties and third parties.
Most religious leaders stayed quiet too, even as their doors were padlocked for as long as 2 holiday seasons. Civic organizations played along. If you thought that the job of the ACLU was to defend civil liberties, you were wrong: they one day decided that lockdowns, mandatory masks, and forced shots were essential to their mission.
So many were compromised over 3 years. These same people now just want the whole subject to go away. We find ourselves in an odd position, having experienced the biggest trauma in our lives and in many generations and yet there is precious little open talk about it. Brownstone was established to fill this void but we’ve become a target as a result.
The search engines have been gamed for the better part of 3 years to keep the science channeled in only one direction. If web platforms step out of line, it is easy enough for search engines and social-media companies to tag them as problematic and thus throttle their reach. But for Substackers – and they are being targeted now too – it would be hard to find out anything other than what the oligarchs want you to believe.
This silent treatment is filtering down to every aspect of our lives and becoming entrenched in the political culture too.
Here is an example from this week.
When Donald Trump returned from his theatrical and ridiculous indictment on nothing in New York, he flew immediately back to Mar-a-Lago where he told his story to people gathered in a pastiche-baroque ballroom. He told of the fake news, the attempted impeachments for Russia and Ukraine, the plots and schemes, and onward to the fake ballots and the FBI raid on his home, and now this preposterous new thing.
It was a solid narrative overall. But his story left out a hugely important detail. He said not one word about Covid lockdowns and Operation Warp Speed that was supposed to be the great fix for the virus but flopped. This was a rather important detail to leave out since it wrecked the economy, the Bill of Rights, education, and led to a massive demographic upheaval in addition to the continuing fallout in terms of culture, economics, and everything else.
It also caused him to lose the presidency, whether because the shock resulted in mass demoralization (this was certainly not a path to making America great again) or because of the mail-in ballots made possible by Covid restrictions, or probably both. However you look at it, it was the most disastrous decision of his presidency or possibly any presidency in history.
How in the world are we just supposed to pretend that this did not happen? And yet he is playing along simply because he does not want to admit error. He thinks it makes him appear weak. Nor does he still slam the successor presidency for mask and shot mandates even though hundreds of millions were affected by them. He would rather not bring up the topic at all, lest doing so raises questions about his own judgment in those fateful days of March 2020.
Meanwhile, the DNC does not want to admit that it celebrated and built on Trump’s biggest disaster while the RNC does not want to discuss that the policies they decry from the DNC actually began under the RNC. And so you have a kind of “mutually assured destruction” pact between them that needs no plot or contract. In silencing all talk about this, each party is only doing what is in its interest.
We can fully expect that these issues will be locked out of the campaign narratives in 2024 just as they were in 2020 and 2022. Everyone seems to agree: the less said the better. And this is precisely why the announced candidacy of Robert Kennedy, Jr., has triggered the usual and expected gaslighting from the mainstream media. The plan is to flog him into marginalization. And if that doesn’t work, they will flog and flog again.
We are seeing a real-time example of how history is really written. The narrative is more self-serving than we knew. If all the power centers in society get something tremendously wrong, an informal conspiracy of silence develops around it, with the hope of just wiping it from the history books.
As Michael Senger has written, “Lockdowns met little resistance in part because they reinforced existing power structures. The rich got richer, the Zoom class got a vacation, workers got stimulus, while some business owners, their employees, and the most vulnerable had to sacrifice everything for this fantasy.”
And we can add to that: government gained vastly more power. In fact, Covid became the template for the biggest expansion of government power over the population in world history, more effective than ancient myths about god-like rulers, heresy trials and witch burnings of the Middle Ages, sedition purges of the 18th and 19th centuries, red scares of the 20th centuries, the Cold War, or even the wars on terror. Fear of infectious disease was more effective than all of them for ratcheting up despotism.
When something works this well for the most powerful people in society, why not just keep quiet about it?
The tellers of tales can write stories but they cannot invent their own realities.
There will be no restoration of liberty, rights, and truth until we come to terms with what happened, why, and how to prevent it in the future.
Playing along with this conspiracy of silence surrounding a policy that effectively blotted out every advance in human rights since the Magna Carta is a disastrous error that could lead to the entrenchment of a new dark age.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 17:30 - Augusta National Golf Shop Makes "$1 Million In Revenue Every Single Hour" During Masters
Augusta National Golf Shop Makes “$1 Million In Revenue Every Single Hour” During Masters
Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most renowned sports venues. Conversations with attendees at this weekend’s annual Masters Tournament reveal the second most important thing besides watching the pros is to purchase as much merchandise as they can.
Joe Pompliano outlined in his Substack that the merchandise shop at Augusta sells “$1 million in revenue every single hour.”
“The Masters has perfected its merchandise business. They are one of the only large-scale sporting events to limit merchandise sales strictly to in-person attendees only, and that feeling of exclusivity generates about $70 million in sales each year,” Pompliano said.
This is why we noted earlier that attendees flooded the golf shop to purchase as much gear as possible.
“For context, if the store is open 10 hours a day, that means Augusta National is selling $10 million of merchandise a day, $1 million of merchandise an hour, $16,000 worth of merchandise every minute, and $277 worth of merchandise every second,” Pompliano continued.
Take a look at the line to get into the shop.
And this merchandise is so sought after that some people pay ridiculous markups on secondary markets to sport the swag.
Absolutely insane.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 17:00 - CDC Partners With 'Social And Behavior Change' Initiative To Silence Vaccine Hesitancy
CDC Partners With ‘Social And Behavior Change’ Initiative To Silence Vaccine Hesitancy
Authored by Katie Spence via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a Stanford-educated ear, nose, and throat doctor, isn’t afraid to voice her beliefs. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she repeatedly used her platform on Twitter and TikTok to question the vaccines, promote ivermectin as a treatment, and call out pharmacists for refusing to dispense it.
But her efforts resulted in significant backlash. On Nov. 7, 2021, Dr. Danielle Jones, an OBGYN who posts under the handle @MamaDoctorJones on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter—and has millions of followers—put out a video accusing Bowden of “grifting,” rejecting science, and profiting from those who questioned the vaccine.
The video received thousands of comments, including from Team Halo members, Dr. Zachary Rubin, a pediatrician, and Christina Kim, an oncology nurse practitioner. Team Halo is a social media influencer campaign formed as part of the United Nations Verified initiative and the Vaccine Confidence Project to increase vaccine uptake.
“That doc is problematic,” Rubin wrote. Kim followed with, “Wow. That ‘doctor’ should have her license revoked.”
The logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat on mobile devices in a combination of 2017–2022 photos. (AP Photo) On Nov. 12, 2021, five days after the video, Bowden received a text message from the Houston Chronicle, “Hi Dr. Bowden, I’m told you’ve been suspended from Houston Methodist pending further investigation because of your comments on social media. I plan to report that this afternoon but wanted to give you an opportunity to comment.” Stunned, Bowden responded that the text was the first she had heard of the suspension.
The suspension turned out to be the tip of the iceberg. Over the following months, Bowden’s life was thrown into chaos as multiple social media influencers targeted her. However, the most dogged was a pharmacist named Savannah, who posts under the handle @rxOrcist.
“Savannah has over a million followers. She made a video about me because I have been calling out, online, pharmacists that were refusing to dispense ivermectin,” Bowden told The Epoch Times. “The majority of them happen to be Asian. So, she, therefore, concluded that I was racist against Asians and called me a ‘xenophobic, racist [expletive],’ among other things.
“Because she has so many followers, when she makes a video about you, you get an army of people coming after you. A lot of fake people [writing] reviews. That’s one of the biggest things. You can’t get them removed. I’ve tried to get them removed, and I can prove that they’re not my patients.”
Bowden added that she’d been kicked off of TikTok, is on probation on YouTube, had complaints filed against her, and has even had to call security when someone came to her office and threatened her.
In the video, Savannah showed that she reported Bowden to the Texas Medical Board. The board declined to investigate her specific complaints. Still, they are pursuing two other complaints—one filed by Houston Methodist claiming a violation of patient care and one filed by Texas Health Huguley Hospital for prescribing ivermectin.
In the comments of Savannah’s video, Tyler Kuhk, a nurse and previous Team Halo member according to web archives, and who posts under @thatsassynp, stated, “How these loons still have licenses is beyond me. Why is an ENT even treating COVID?”
Savannah is part of a group called Shots Heard, which calls itself a “rapid-response digital cavalry dedicated to protecting the online safety of health care providers and practices.” Kuhk is also a member. Savannah joined Shots Heard on Aug. 6, 2020, and Kuhk joined on Feb. 13, 2021.
According to its website, Shots Heard is an initiative under The Public Good Projects (PGP), a “public health nonprofit specializing in large-scale media monitoring programs, social and behavior change interventions, and cross-sector initiatives.”
Another of PGP’s initiatives is the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC), which sits within the CDC Foundation—a nonprofit arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established by Congress.
The goal of the communications collaborative, according to PGP, is to decrease misinformation and increase vaccine demand worldwide. And it’s using social media influencers to silence vaccine detractors.
A Tangled Web
PGP is headquartered in New York and was founded in 2013. Its current CEO is Dr. Joe Smyser, who holds a Ph.D. and master’s in public health and completed his postdoctoral training at the CDC.
The Tennessee Department of Health states about Smyser and PGP, “Dr. Smyser has designed some of the United States’ most influential and impactful health campaigns to date in partnership with the CDC, FDA, Kaiser Permanente, Rockefeller, and Humana.”
According to its website, the CDC Foundation is “the sole entity created by Congress to mobilize philanthropic and private-sector resources to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s critical health protection work.”
The Emergency Operations Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., on March 19, 2021. (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images) Since its creation, the CDC Foundation has launched over 1,300 “health protection programs” and raised over $2 billion in support for the CDC.
One of those health protection programs is PGP partner PHCC, which according to its website, was formed in August 2020 to “provide unbiased communication about the COVID-19 pandemic.” And one of the ways PHCC accomplishes that is by putting out “Misinformation Alerts,” which are powered by PGP.
For example, on March 23, PHCC posted on its website that a “well-known anti-vaccine physician” claimed that COVID-19 vaccines caused an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths. It labeled it a “high-risk alert” and recommended, “directly addressing and debunking the misinformation.”
That “debunking,” according to PHCC, includes using a “strong, robust social mobilization” to amplify messages from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, encouraging social media organizations to flag “misinformation,” and promoting “trusted pro-vaccine voices.”
Enter, Shots Heard.
Shots Heard and Team Halo
On its homepage, Shots Heard states, “If you stand up for vaccine science, we’ll stand up for you.” It includes a link for people to apply to “sign up to defend vaccine advocates.” It also provides a link to “Alert the Shots Heard Cavalry,” plus a link to a members-only Facebook group, which currently has 1,176 members.
An insider in the group who requested to remain anonymous for fear of being kicked out supplied The Epoch Times with screenshots and messages of the Shots Heard Facebook group.
In one “alert,” a Shots Heard member named Bernadine Huff posted, “It’s important for all of us to stop the insanity and to call out other healthcare workers that don’t believe in science.” She encouraged Shots Heard members to “report” a graduate nurse named Megan to the Ohio Nursing Board for providing information on how to get a medical exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine. The replies from numerous Shots Heard members simply state, “reported.”
In another “alert,” Shots Heard group administrator Jeff Sykes posts, “Hey Shots Heard, it’s been brought to our attention that Dr. Scott Jensen has been using his online platforms to spread misinformation about COVID-19. … We need your help reporting him.”
Shots Heard member Marcia Fiamengo posted this alert, “Need help reporting this group,” and linked to a group promoting ivermectin. Among the many who replied was New York’s Suffolk County Department of Health account, which wrote, “Reported.”
Fiamengo also posted on Dec. 29, 2021, “Fantastic news,” and attached a screenshot of Dr. Robert Malone’s suspended Twitter account. Shots Heard member Angie Anderson states in the comments, “Ooooh, I just reported a few of his posts yesterday. So satisfying when you see real results.”
On March 24, 2022, Fiamengo encouraged Shots Heard members to report Bowden. Again, Suffolk County Health responded, this time with “Done.” On May 2, 2022, Fiamengo again made a celebratory post. This time for an American Frontline Doctor being stripped of all state licenses after prescribing ivermectin. “Wooooo!!!! Another one bites the dust!” she said.
Shots Heard doesn’t limit itself to reporting single healthcare practitioners. On Sep. 12, 2021, Shots Heard member Liz Ditz “reported” a preprint by researchers Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, Allison Krug, Josh Stevenson, and Dr. John Mandrola, which found vaccine-induced myocarditis might be worse than COVID-induced myocarditis. Shots Heard members were outraged.
The Twitter sign is seen at their headquarters in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2022. (Constanza hevia/AFP via Getty Images) Moreover, Shots Heard doesn’t limit itself to simply “reporting.” When Bowden posted on Twitter, “Are Americans supposed to take this [expletive]? We don’t want your shot, and we especially don’t want it for our kids,” her post was flagged and flooded with Shots Heard member comments.
Such tactics are called “gang stalking,” Nicole Sirotek, a registered nurse in Nevada and the founder of American Frontline Nurses, told The Epoch Times. “[Shots Heard members] make videos about [the offending health care worker] saying they need to be delicensed, then [Shots Heard] followers go and hunt down the nurse and swarm the licensing board.”
Sirotek has been the victim of many such attacks from Shots Heard and Team Halo—the two groups share many of the same members.
For example, in December 2022, Team Halo member Jess, who posts under the TikTok handle @jesss2019, doxed Sirotek on TikTok by revealing a previously court-sealed name change. Jess is a “Featured Influencer” for The Health Influencer Council, another PGP project that includes Shots Heard, and This Is Our Shot — a “diverse coalition of health heroes” who engage on social media to combat misinformation and build vaccine trust, according to its website.
An Inside Look
Tyler Hardy, a previous Team Halo member known as “your favorite field epidemiologist” until he ignited a social media firestorm for lying about some of his credentials, told The Epoch Times he’s seen both sides of the social initiates.
“I joined Team Halo at the beginning of 2022, in January. I was invited by nurse Jess [@jesss2019],” Hardy said. “I wanted to educate, and that was why I thought Team Halo would be good because it would give me the exposure to do that.
“As I got behind the scenes of these big creators, right, these people like Dr. Cat and Dr. Jon, Jess, @thatsassynp, I learned that they were, pardon my French, just [expletive]. And they let that stardom of being part of Team Halo get to their head.”
During his time at Team Halo, Hardy said Team Halo members communicated over a private WhatsApp chat. Anytime a Team Halo member disagreed with someone online, “You just put it in the chat, and then every single person in Team Halo would instantly jump on them. Get them fired,” Hardy said.
Read the rest here…
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 16:30 - Meet The "Woke" Rating Score Prompting Brands Like Nike And Bud To Hire Trans Influencers For Ads
Meet The “Woke” Rating Score Prompting Brands Like Nike And Bud To Hire Trans Influencers For Ads
We may finally have an answer to why Budweiser knowingly decided to torch its brand and its customer base by entrusting its marketing and ad strategy to a man in a women’s clothing drinking beer in a bubble bath. Like everyone else, it appears it’s simply to try and appease the “woke” lobby, likely in hopes of preventing them from “turning” on their brand for not being diverse enough.
Now, during the slow ongoing death of ESG – there’s apparently yet another scorecard that companies are striving to abide by in order to make sure they are adhering to society’s expectations as it relates to virtue signaling.
It’s called the Corporate Equality Index — or CEI — score, according to a new report from the NY Post. And it’s the reason that companies like Nike and Anheuser-Busch are
committing brand suicidehiring people like trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.As the Post notes, the score is monitored by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ political lobbying group in the world. So, in other words, keep your score high or expect this at the front door of your corporate headquarters…
And of course, the HRC has “received millions from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation”, the report notes. It can award or subtract points for companies based on its rating criteria, which includes “Workforce Protections,” “Inclusive Benefits,” “Supporting an Inclusive Culture,” “Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Citizenship.”
The goal is to ascertain the top score of 100 points and earn the coveted (pause for laughter) title of “Best Place To Work For LGBTQ Equality.” 15 of 20 Fortune top ranked companies got 100% ratings last year, the report notes. More than 840 companies total had high CEI scores.
The scores are, of course, based on meeting the “demands” of the HRC, the Post wrote:
A company can lose CEI points if it doesn’t fulfill HRC’s demand for “integration of intersectionality in professional development, skills-based or other training” or if it doesn’t use a “supplier diversity program with demonstrated effort to include certified LGBTQ+ suppliers.”
James Lindsay, a political podcaster who runs a site called New Discourses, told The Post that the Human Rights campaign administers the CEI ranking “like an extortion racket, like the Mafia.
Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy commented: “The big fund managers like BlackRock all embrace this ESG orthodoxy in how they apply pressure to top corporate management teams and boards and they determine, in many cases, executive compensation and bonuses and who gets re-elected or re-appointed to boards.”
He concluded: “They can make it very difficult for you if you don’t abide by their agendas.”
Thus…
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 16:00 - Biden Invites Expelled Tennessee Democrats To Visit White House
Biden Invites Expelled Tennessee Democrats To Visit White House
Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
President Joe Biden on Friday invited the three Tennessee Democrats who faced expulsion for protesting on the state House floor to visit the White House.
President Joe Biden adjusts his microphone during a meeting with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington on April 4, 2023. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo) After several hours of debate on Thursday, two of three state Democrats were expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The lawmakers were accused of participating in “disorderly behavior” that brought “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives,” according to a resolution introduced by Tennessee Republicans.
State Representatives Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis were expelled. Gloria Johnson of Knox County was the sole member to participate in the protest to escape expulsion after eight Republicans crossed the floor to save her.
During a video conference call from Camp David on Friday, Biden thanked the lawmakers for their act of protest. The president also expressed disappointment over their expulsion from the Tennessee Assembly.
“Earlier, I spoke to Reps Jones, Pearson, and Johnson to thank them for their leadership and courage in the face of a blatant disregard of our nation’s democratic values,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “Our country needs to take action on gun violence—to do that we need more voices like theirs speaking out.”
The White House said in a statement that the trio of Democrats thanked the president for his “leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values” and for his support as they faced “unprecedented attacks” over their actions.
No official date was given for the White House visit.
The two expelled Democrats can be appointed to their seats by officials in their respective counties. Both members represent Democrat strongholds in Nashville and Memphis. They cannot be expelled again for the same offenses, members said during debate Thursday.
Gun Restriction Protest
In a further statement released by the White House, Biden claimed most Americans want tighter gun control.
“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” Biden said in the statement. “Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
Biden also took to Twitter to express his support for the lawmakers.
“Our country needs to take action on gun violence—to do that we need more voices like theirs speaking out,” Biden wrote. He further condemned the expulsion of the lawmakers as “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”
Only two other Tennessee state lawmakers have been similarly expelled since the Civil War. However, those votes were largely bipartisan, while the vote on Thursday was mostly along party lines.
Jones, Pearson, and Johnson had been officially censured for their protest and stripped of their committee appointments on April 3. This came after hundreds of chanting demonstrators crowded the state Capitol and its gallery on March 30.
The protesters called for tighter restrictions on gun rights in the wake of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, where Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, who police said identified as transgender, opened fire at the school, shooting dead three 9-year-old children and three adults.
The three Democrats defied convention by moving to the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn, where they cheered on the crowd in the gallery and led chants, marking a breach of chamber rules as they hadn’t been recognized to speak.
In his statement, Biden urged Congress to ban “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and require background checks for all gun sales. He also called on state officials to do the same.
The president argued that most Americans want lawmakers to enact more restrictions on gun rights and accused Republican officials across America of doubling down on bills that he said make schools, places of worship, and communities less safe.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 15:30 - Led By "Fat Activists", New York Considering Bill To Ban Weight Discrimination
Led By “Fat Activists”, New York Considering Bill To Ban Weight Discrimination
As if being overweight wasn’t already enough of a virtue in the United States nowadays, New York will soon be looking to approve a bill that would ban “weight discrimination in hiring and housing”.
Victoria Abraham, referred to multiple times as a “fat activist” by the New York Times, who reported the story, says her cause isn’t to lose weight – but rather to make sure people don’t get the wrong perception about fat people.
A proponent for the legislation, she told the Times: “There is a perception that you’re lazy or unable to do the work. People don’t even realize that they have that bias.”
She said she proudly displays her body on her LinkedIn profile, so “prospective employers know whom they are considering hiring.”
The bill will add weight to the list of protected groups, which also includes race, gender, religion and disability, the report notes, stating that obesity rates are up over the last 2 decades and accelerated during lockdowns, when people were forced to stay home. More than 40% of Americans are obese, the Times writes.
We have to ask, though: if that number breaches 50%, can’t obese people no longer be considered a minority? We digress.
Abraham / Photo: NYT Abraham testified on behalf of the bill, which could be approved as soon as May. “We should never treat people differently because of their weight,” Mayor Eric Adams, who famously lost 35 pounds on a plant based diet (and wrote a book about it), said about the bill.
“Even when I was heavier, I was still a good-looking guy,” the Mayor joked last week.
While the nation continues its incessant and never-ending fight against all types of discrimination – gender, race, sex, etc. – weight has now been added to the discussion. Michigan and Washington State already have similar bills enacted and New Jersey and Massachusetts are considering it.
The councilman sponsoring the bill, Shaun Abreu, said he gained 40 pounds during the pandemic and “noticed a change in how people treated him”.
“What you look like should not impact your ability to get a job. We should embrace body positivity and inclusion. It’s so important for people to feel comfortable,” he told the Times.
Not everyone is sold on the idea, however. Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, said: “This is another mandate where enforcement will be primarily through litigation, which imposes a burden on employers, regulators and the courts.”
Joseph Borelli, the City Council’s minority leader and a Republican who has documented his weight loss online, said it would “empower people to sue anyone and everything.”
He concluded: “I’m overweight, but I’m not a victim. No one should feel bad for me except for my struggling shirt buttons.”
so… if you don’t hire fat people you are automatically sued? https://t.co/VPcKx8bxgH
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 6, 2023
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 15:00 - SFSU Responds To Alleged Assault On Riley Gaines… By Praising The Protesters
SFSU Responds To Alleged Assault On Riley Gaines… By Praising The Protesters
We previously discussed the disgraceful attack on former swimmer Riley Gaines who was reportedly assaulted when she tried to speak on her views on transgender issues at San Francisco State University (SFSU).
This is terrorism, kidnapping, and extortion.
ARREST ALL OF THEM!
The trans movement is out of control and a danger to children and our society.
Transgender terrorists attacked @Riley_Gaines_ causing her to lock herself into a room for fear of her life.
Then they held her… pic.twitter.com/K4JJ6YYe3D
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 7, 2023
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Gaines had to be removed to a locked room for hours by police for her own protection. It is now clear why students believed that they had license to engage in such disruptions.
SFSU has issued a statement that was conspicuous in its failure to condemn the mob or promise accountability for these actions.
The event was only the latest example of protesters “deplatforming” speakers with opposing views by shouting them down. The mob, however, was so unruly that police had to rush Gaines to safety.
“Tell her to pay us, then she can go.”
Violent extremist #trans activists demanded money after creating a hostage situation over women’s sports advocate @Riley_Gaines_ at @SFSU on April 6. Those involved in the attempted kidnapping have not been arrested. pic.twitter.com/BzaBY1WRyk
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) April 8, 2023
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One would think that this would be an easy call for any institution of higher education. Denying free expression and threatening those with opposing views is the very antithesis of core principles.
Instead, SFSU issued issued a statement that seemed to express sympathy for the protesters and expressed concern for those were exposed to her views.
After beginning by expressing concern for the transgender community, the statement of Jamillah Moore, Vice President for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management, repeatedly commends students for their protest and says “Thank you to our students who participated peacefully in Thursday evening’s event. It took tremendous bravery to stand in a challenging space.”
At no point does SFSU express concern for Gaines or the students who arranged for the event. At no point does SFSU promise to hold students responsible for shouting down the speaker or endangering her.
At best, the statement shows a lack of courage to stand firm in the face of this mob. At worst, it is complicit in the incident by enabling such conduct.
It is reminiscent of events at schools like Northwestern. A Sociology 201 class by Professor Beth Redbird was supposed to examine “inequality in American society with an emphasis on race, class and gender.” To that end, Redbird invited both an undocumented person and a spokesperson for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is the type of balance that it now considered verboten on campuses.
Members of MEChA de Northwestern, Black Lives Matter NU, the Immigrant Justice Project, the Asian Pacific American Coalition, NU Queer Trans Intersex People of Color and Rainbow Alliance organized to stop other students from hearing from the ICE representative. However, they could not have succeeded without the help of Northwestern administrators (including Dean of Students Todd Adams). The protesters were screaming “F**k ICE” outside of the hall. Adams and the other administrators then said that the protesters screaming profanities would be allowed into the class if they promised not to disrupt the class.
Of course, that did not happen. As soon as the protesters were allowed into the classroom, they prevented the ICE representative from speaking. The ICE representatives eventually left and Redbird canceled the class to discuss the issue with the protesters that just prevented her students from hearing an opposing view.
SESP sophomore April Navarro publicly rejected that faculty should be allowed to invite such speakers to their classrooms for a “good, nice conversation with ICE.” She insisted such speakers needed to be silenced because they “terrorize communities” and profit from detainee labor.:
“We’re not interested in having those types of conversations that would be like, ‘Oh, let’s listen to their side of it’ because that’s making them passive rule-followers rather than active proponents of violence. We’re not engaging in those kinds of things; it legitimizes ICE’s violence, it makes Northwestern complicit in this. There’s an unequal power balance that happens when you deal with state apparatuses.”
No students were ever punished. Similarly, in the outrageous shouting down of an appellate judge at Stanford Law School, the Dean voiced support for free speech but refused to sanction any of the students responsible for the disruption.
The message from these universities is clear: students will not be held accountable for the denial of free speech. That knowledge fuels the sense of license to bar opposing views.
The actions of the students will likely find equal support from many in the California legislature. However, it is the position of the university that will cause that most lasting damage.
Here is the statement:
Dear SF State community,
Today, San Francisco State finds itself again at the center of a national discussion regarding freedom of speech and expression. Let me begin by saying clearly: the trans community is welcome and belongs at San Francisco State University. Further, our community fiercely believes in unity, connection, care and compassion, and we value different ideas, even when they are not our own. SF State is regularly noted as one of the most diverse campuses in the United States—this is what makes us Gators, and this is what makes us great. Diversity promotes critical discussions, new understandings and enriches the academic experience. But we may also find ourselves exposed to divergent views and even views we find personally abhorrent. These encounters have sometimes led to discord, anger, confrontation and fear. We must meet this moment and unite with a shared value of learning.
Thank you to our students who participated peacefully in Thursday evening’s event. It took tremendous bravery to stand in a challenging space. I am proud of the moments where we listened and asked insightful questions. I am also proud of the moments when our students demonstrated the value of free speech and the right to protest peacefully. These issues do not go away, and these values are very much at our core.
This feels difficult because it is difficult. As you reflect, process, and begin to heal, please remember that there are people, resources and services available and ready to receive our Gator community, including faculty, staff members, coaches and mentors who are here to support you.
Campus resources are also available:
- Equity and Community Inclusion
- Counseling and Psychological Services
- Dean of Students Office
The well-being of the SF State campus community remains our priority.
Sincerely,
Jamillah Moore, Ed.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management
Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/09/2023 – 14:30
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