Today’s News 10th February 2023

• Rogers Vows To Expel All Chinese Goods From Defense Supply Chains
  Rogers Vows To Expel All Chinese Goods From Defense Supply Chains

  Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is vowing to expel all Chinese goods and materials from the United States’s defense supply chains.

  Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said that he would lead the effort to expunge China-sourced goods during a Feb. 8 hearing of the committee on the subject of defense-industrial base security.

  “The greatest concern I have with the defense industrial base is our continued reliance on China as the source of raw materials,” Rogers said.

  “I won’t stop until we’ve completely rid the defense supply chain of Chinese goods and materials.”

  Rogers said that communist China still inadvertently controlled too many parts of the supply chains required to equip the military and conduct security operations.

  He singled out the United States’s continued reliance on China for rare earth minerals and non-advanced semiconductor chips and said that the regime’s grip on such supplies would need to be broken.

  “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains a tight grip on many of our material supply chains including critical minerals and semiconductors,” Rogers said.“We will never prevail in a conflict with China if they’re the source of our military supply.”

  US Must Move Dependencies

  Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said that the continued role of China in providing elements for the United States’s defense industrial supply chains was part of a greater legacy of irresponsible investment by U.S. corporations seeking to make an easy profit.

  “Starting roughly in the late 1990s into the early 2000s, China became the global corporate easy button,” Smith said.

  “That’s where you went to make stuff. Huge market, not much in the way of labor costs, certainly not environmental regulations. It was cheap, it was easy, it was the way to go.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 23:40

• US Real Yields Pose Risks To Oil Rally
  US Real Yields Pose Risks To Oil Rally

  By Nour Al Ali, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

  While there are many reasons to be bullish on oil, a contrarian view signals prices may fall in coming months so long as real interest rates keep rising.

  The breakdown in the relationship between crude and real interest rates may result in a decrease in oil prices. Take a look at the correlation between WTI contracts and US 10-year real rates (ie the 10-year yield adjusted for inflation), measured on a 120-day basis. The relationship between the two assets has weakened after it was positive last year, when energy was the main driver of inflation and central banks kept raising rates in an effort to control price pressures.

  

  Investors are now concerned about higher rates impacting demand for energy, leading to a supply surplus that could potentially leave more oil out there than buyers want. While there’s a growing chorus that believes the Fed will pivot, policymakers have kept up their hawkish calls for further rate increases despite a recent moderation in inflation. This is because inflationary pressures have become more ingrained in daily life and are no longer solely driven by temporary factors.

  There are plenty of other factors that are influencing oil prices, mainly OPEC+’s control over supplies to maintain market stability, and an increase in expected demand out of China. Although traders have already taken these bullish factors into account, the risk remains that rising oil prices may be vulnerable to rising interest rates. The “don’t fight the Fed” concept may become increasingly relevant in this sector of the market.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 23:20

• House Votes To End Vaccine Mandate For Foreigners Traveling To US
  House Votes To End Vaccine Mandate For Foreigners Traveling To US

  Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The House of Representatives on Feb. 8 passed a bill that would end a vaccine mandate on foreign travelers entering the United States.

  H.R. 185, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), is a brief bill.

  “A BILL [to] terminate the requirement imposed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for proof of COVID–19 vaccination for foreign travelers,” the top of the legislation reads.

  The legislation would forbid federal agencies from using any congressionally apportioned funds to enforce such a vaccination mandate.

  In addition to overruling the CDC’s April 2022 order, the bill would prohibit the imposition of any similar vaccination requirement for foreign travelers entering the United States in the future.

  The bill passed in a 227-201 vote.

  “Life has returned to normal across the country,” Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) said in support of the bill. “Despite the rest of the world moving on from COVID, this administration persists in maintaining an unnecessary vaccination requirement for those entering the United States.”

  The day before, the bill had easily glided through the House Rules Committee in a 9-3 vote. All nine committee Republicans voted to advance the bill. The committee’s Democrats, excluding an absent member, voted against the bill.

  In an Oct. 25, 2021, proclamation, President Joe Biden announced a ban on entry to the United States for foreigners not vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, a ban which the administration said was a “science-based public health measure.”

  Biden called specifically for a ban on unvaccinated “covered individuals”—non-citizens seeking to enter the country temporarily—being allowed entry by air travel.

  In April 2022, the CDC announced the “Amended Order Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID–19 Pandemic,” which put Biden’s rule into effect.

  

  Less Strict for Illegal Aliens

  The CDC’s April 2022 order is stricter on those temporarily entering the United States for travel than on illegal aliens.

  Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), in comments during the Rules Committee hearing, noted that COVID restrictions on foreigners legally entering the United States for travel are harsher than those imposed on illegal aliens.

  Namely, Burgess relayed a conversation he had had during a visit to the border with Customs and Border Patrol agents.

  He said the agents told him that unvaccinated illegal aliens are allowed into the country under the “catch and release” policy. This policy describes a procedure whereby illegal aliens apprehended at the border are released into the country to await their day in court. Statistics, however, show that many who cross the southern border illegally never show up for this date.

  Burgess described vaccination as “purely voluntary” for illegal aliens entering the country.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 23:00

• The Continued Wrecking Of New York City
  The Continued Wrecking Of New York City

  Authored by Natalya Murakhver via The Epoch Times,

  It’s been nearly 11 months since the end of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Key to NYC” vaccine mandate and public-school masking requirements. And President Joe Biden recently announced an end to the pandemic-related state of emergency on May 11. Yet many private businesses, cultural institutions, and schools continue to cling to COVID-era restrictions.

  

  The remnants of pandemic policies are hodgepodge and nonsensical, ranging from vaccine and mask mandates to testing and isolation.

  They do little to promote safety, but much to continue disruption.

  Even though it is now widely accepted that vaccines don’t prevent transmission, some mandates persist. New York state has a teacher shortage, yet the city has fired nearly 2,000 unjabbed teachers and staff, thanks to the city’s vaccine mandate. It only today ended the mandate for city workers—but has no plans to rehire those fired.

  Children and adolescents have suffered from unprecedented levels of depression and anxiety during the pandemic, yet unvaccinated parents are still banned from city schools, performances and games. Parents miss out on full participation in school experiences.

  Some public schools enforce their own rogue restrictions because… science! Special Music School, a public specialized K-8 school, limits capacity at student recitals to only one parent per child, even while there are no restrictions in the same concert venue during non-school concerts.

  Parent-teacher conferences remain virtual through the end of 2022–23 school year. Presumably this is due to the requirement that parents be vaccinated to enter school buildings, potentially creating inequity for unjabbed parents. In December, after two years, the Department of Education finally shut down its Situation Room, which informed school communities about positive cases. Yet related school emails still arrive in parents’ inboxes, along with rapid tests sent home by schools.

  On the college front, SUNY, which lets individual campuses adopt their own restrictions, requires young, healthy students to be fully vaccinated—but only “strongly recommends” jabs to faculty and staff, who are older and more at risk (but have a union). NYU requires students to be both vaccinated and boosted.

  Some cultural institutions, including museums and theaters, many of which receive taxpayer funding, also continue to enforce their own set of made-up mandates. NYU Skirball Theater requires audience members, including children, to be both vaccinated and boosted. Columbia’s Lenfest Center for the Arts requires proof of vaccination.

  The Joyce Theater requires masks, as does City Center, though only on Tuesday evenings and during Sunday matinees, not at other times. Alvin Ailey requires them for all dance classes, and still practices social distancing.

  Programs designed for children seem to be extra restrictive, especially dance schools, which are popular with young girls. The Upper West Side’s Steps on Broadway forces visitors and participants six months and up to be vaccinated, no medical exemptions permitted. Though masks are theoretically optional, teachers may request them “in some classes.”

  NYC Ballet requires all dancers to mask during class and rehearsals and musicians (with the exception of horn players) to mask during performances.

  Kid-focused museums, including MoMath, still maintain their mask mandates under the guise of “protecting the public.” The Whitney has largely made masks optional, except for family days, when everyone 2 and over must mask.

  NYC Transit Museum is still offering virtual programs to autistic children, while claiming to “support peer-to-peer interaction.” Older kids who have the privilege of going onsite at NYCTM must still mask. The Children’s Museum of the Arts has permanently closed its Charlton Street Space and is still doing virtual programs.

  Broadway dropped its audience mask mandate July 1, 2022, yet staff continue to be masked.

  Saddest of all, masks are still required at nursing homes, so the elderly, in their golden years, continue to be deprived of facial cues and the comfort of smiles, whether they like it or not.

  This means countless older adults with hearing loss, dementia and other age-related limitations have been forced to live in a faceless, isolated, masked world for nearly three years now; there’s no reason whatsoever it should be that long, yet they have little power to effect change.

  As New Yorkers fed up with the never-ending COVID restrictions know well, this is not an all-inclusive list. There are many other remnants—from testing trucks on every corner, to endless rapid tests sent home from school, to mask requests from teachers.

  And the list goes on.

  Though the pandemic is over, the restrictions clearly are not.

  On Monday, Biden said we needed an “orderly transition” out of the public-health emergency. We New Yorkers also need an urgent return to normal.

  *  *  *

  A version of this article appeared in the New York Post; reposted from the Brownstone Institute

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 22:40

• GOP-Led House Panels Shift Gears, Goes Full Throttle For Domestic Energy Production
  GOP-Led House Panels Shift Gears, Goes Full Throttle For Domestic Energy Production

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

  

  It is standard procedure for committees at the start of a new Congressional session to outline their goals for the next two years, especially when a chamber is under new management.

  With Republicans assuming control of the United States House of Representatives following November’s midterm elections, the newly installed GOP leadership has been doing just that across the chamber’s 20 standing permanent committees and their 104 subcommittees and select temporary panels.

  That transitional shift-change has been clearly evident this week in seminal session meetings of the 52-member House Energy and Commerce Committee and its six subcommittees and in the 45-member House Natural Resources Committee and its five subsidiary panels.

  During four years of Democratic control, climate change, environmental protection, and “green” energy development were among primary policy drivers in adopting legislation designed to coax the nation away from reliance on oil and gas, including the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and $740 billion Infrastructure Reduction Act (IRA).

  During two days of nearly eight hours of hearings before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Feb. 7, and before the full House Natural Resource Committee on Feb. 8, Republicans made it clear that many initiatives passed under the Biden administration promoting electric vehicles, carbon capture, green energy, and environmental protection are on the proverbial block.

  

  Energy Panel Plots New Course

  During the near-six hour House Energy and Commerce Committee meeting, six witnesses testified on a raft of 17 Republican-sponsored bills that proponents argue are key to “restoring American energy dominance.”

  Among the proposed measures that will dominate the committee’s and its subsidiary panels’ agendas in the coming months are bills prohibiting restrictions on hydraulic fracking without Congressional approval; expanding natural gas exports; repealing the IRA’s Green House Reduction Fund; and amending the Clean Air, Toxic Substances Control, Solid Waste Disposal, and National Gas Tax acts.

  Within the tranche of proposed legislation on the committee’s “unleashing American energy agenda,” are bills calling for permitting reform, promoting development of “critical minerals,” and prohibiting the import of Russian uranium.

  In kicking off the day-long hearing, Republicans argued that “unleashing American energy, lowering energy costs, and strengthening supply chains” must be a priority if the United States is to be economically competitive in the 21st century and beyond.

  “America has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources. We should be working towards developing a predictable regulatory landscape across-the-board that inspires innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological leadership, hydropower, nuclear, fossil energies, wind, solar, and batteries,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Cathy Rodgers (R-Wash.) said in opening the proceedings.

  The nation needs an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, she and others insisted, claiming the Biden administration’s pro-green agenda is promoting technologies that either aren’t feasible or don’t have the domestic raw materials and processing capacity to now sustain.

  Case in point, they note, is the promotion of electric vehicles (EVs) when more than 80 percent of the lithium needed to power EV batteries, and the capacity to manufacture them, are in China.

  “Rush-to-green energy policies—both state and federal—have curtailed reliable energy and infrastructure, resulting in everything from blackouts to spiking prices,” Rodgers said. “These policies are unsustainable and lead to greater reliance on countries like Russia, or in our case, China. This is not a future any of us want.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 22:40

• N.Korea Showcases New ICBM, Warns Of "Nuke For Nuke, Confrontation For Confrontation"
  N.Korea Showcases New ICBM, Warns Of “Nuke For Nuke, Confrontation For Confrontation”

  North Korea held a rare nighttime large parade through the capital Wednesday evening, featuring what many observers believe to be a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). 

  It was also a rarity to see leader Kim Jong Un with wife and young daughter by his side presiding over the parade, which marked the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s army. State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) touted Pyongyang’s ability to stand against enemies “nuke for nuke, confrontation for confrontation!” – according to an official statement.

  

  Additionally, KCNA cited that a variety of nuclear-capable weapons were being showcased which will assist the country in bolstering the north’s “power-to-power, all-out confrontation” against enemies.

  Further international news monitors counted at least 11 Hwasong-17 ICBMs, which is believed to be a record number ever shown at once, given that the prior highest was four Hwasong-17s being paraded at once, in 2020.

  Also interesting was the pendant around Ri Sol Ju’s neck, the wife of the North Korean leader. The Telegraph describes: 

  Kim Jong-un’s wife has been spotted wearing a pendant in the shape of North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile ahead of a military parade to flaunt the pariah regime’s nuclear firepower. 

  The silver pendant was a centerpiece of Ri Sol Ju’s accessories on Tuesday night as she smiled serenely at a banquet table while flanked by decorated military chiefs. It appeared to mirror the Hwasong-17 ICBM, which was test-launched last year, and which could be capable of striking the United States. 

  

  As for the new ICBM, the Associated Press observes that “It was not immediately clear whether the missile was a mockup or an actual rocket.”

  The report cites Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, who said the missile was “likely a version of a solid-fuel ICBM the North has been trying to develop for years.”

  And professor Dong-yub added that “the unprecedented number of Hwasong-17s paraded in Wednesday’s event suggests progress in efforts to mass produce those weapons.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 22:00

• CDC Director Defends Mask Mandates After New Study Shows Masking Has Little Effect
  CDC Director Defends Mask Mandates After New Study Shows Masking Has Little Effect

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

  

  The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Feb. 8 defended her agency’s promotion of masking after a new study found that protective masks had little effect on the spread of respiratory viruses such as COVID-19.

  The Cochrane review analyzed randomized controlled studies, considered the gold standard by U.S. officials and others, but limitations undermined the conclusions, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

  “One of the limitations of that study, in addition to the fact that it included randomized trials from before COVID-19, is that it stated in the study that people actually had limited update of using masks,” Walensky said during a hearing in Washington. “Of course, randomized trials that look at mask use by people who aren’t wearing them are going to have limited utility.”

  The CDC imposed mask mandates on public transportation users, including plane passengers, and on children in Head Start programs as young as 2, contradicting policies from other countries that left younger children maskless, if mandates were imposed at all.

  The agency also repeatedly recommended that children, teachers, and others in schools wear masks, as well as people in common settings, such as grocery stores.

  Multiple members of Congress pressed Walensky on the Cochrane review, which concluded that the available evidence shows a lack of effect in mask wearing against the spread of influenza or flu-like illnesses.

  “While acknowledging the limited data pool, it found no clear sign of a reduction in transmission when using either medical or surgical masks,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said. “Yet today, CDC still recommends masks in schools for all ages, even though the emotional, mental, physical, and educational toll masking has had on our kids is widely recognized.”

  Walensky told Rodgers, “You actually have to wear a mask for it to work.”

  The CDC’s mandates and guidance on masks relied on cohort studies, Walensky said.

  That included a non-peer-reviewed study that the agency published in its quasi-journal that compared the incidence of COVID-19 case clusters in schools located in districts with mask mandates with schools in districts without forced masking. Only two Arizona counties were studied.

  A follow-up study that expanded on the number of districts involved and the time frame found that there was no link between school masking and COVID-19 cases.

  The CDC also cites other studies in a scientific brief on the subject, including a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that found that masking had little effect on COVID-19 spread and a Chinese study of just 124 households.

  Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) brought up the Cochrane study and said doctors have informed him that masks aren’t effective.

  He asked Dr. Lawrence Tabak, acting director of the National Institutes of Health, whether that agency funded any trials examining mask efficacy in schools. Tabak said he wasn’t aware of any.

  Walensky defended the lack of research.

  “So many studies demonstrated … that masks were working,” during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, “that I’m not sure anybody would have proposed a clinical trial because in fact there weren’t equipoise.”

  Apart from the Bangladesh trial, the two other randomized, clinical trials conducted in other countries provided little data to support masking against COVID-19.

  Walensky also said this week that “now is not the moment” to drop mask mandates in schools. Many states have already lifted their mandates and others have recently announced that they’ll rescind their mandates.

  Lockdowns

  During the hearing, Walensky also defended the lockdowns imposed in the United States during the pandemic.

  “I agree that we should do everything in our power not to have it happen [again],” she said, referring to school closures and other lockdown policies.

  But she recounted how being a clinician in 2020, there was a morgue outside her hospital. When hospitals are overwhelmed and unable to take care of brain tumors and car accident victims, “extraordinary measures are necessary,” Walensky said.

  “I do think when there are lockdowns, there’s decreased need for things like motor vehicle accident care,” she said, disagreeing with Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) on the issue.

  When members pointed out that the COVID-19 vaccines don’t stop transmission, undercutting the rationale for vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration, Walensky pushed back, claiming that the vaccines prevent severe disease and death. It “doesn’t prevent transmission as well as it did for prior variants, but it does still prevent some,” Walensky said, referring to all vaccines as one type.

  The CDC was consulted before the mandates were issued, she confirmed.

  “What we have though is a modest prevention, like a 50 percent prevention, of risk of getting infected if you’re up to date on your vaccination, and that’s very important for frontline workers of all types to stay healthy, for children not to infect their grandparents that may be at risk,” said Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

  “If you’re up to date, your risk of dying is reduced by 80 percent.”

  Califf was referring to the updated bivalent vaccines, for which there’s no clinical data half a year after the administration authorized them. The U.S. government and outside researchers have said in observational studies that the bivalents provide a subpar boost against infection and a better boost against severe illness.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 21:40

• Billionaire Bets On South Florida Amid NYC Wealth Exodus
  Billionaire Bets On South Florida Amid NYC Wealth Exodus

  The billionaire founder whose company developed Manhattan’s Hudson Yards is making a big bet on South Florida amid a surge in wealth migrating from the Northeast.

  

  Stephen Ross, of Related Cos, is actively looking to build projects located outside of West Palm Beach and Miami, where he’s already established several projects, Ross told Bloomberg.

  “People are looking from the Northeast and relocating for jobs — not retirement — and companies are looking” for offices, he said, adding “It’s tax issues, and there’s the security issues. There’s just the ease of living.“

  In the past two years, major technology, finance and law firms have moved or expanded to South Florida, drawn by the lower taxes and warmer weather. Ken Griffin’s Citadel has relocated its headquarters to Miami from Chicago, while companies including Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Inc. have taken space in the region.

  One of Related’s mixed-use projects in West Palm Beach, dubbed The Square, has attracted the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management. Other financial companies have signed leases at One Flagler, also in West Palm and set to be ready in 2024. Last year, Related and Swire Properties Inc. unveiled plans to build one of the tallest skyscrapers in Miami. -Bloomberg

  And while South Florida is booming, major cities such as New York and San Francisco are seeing a giant exodus – causing demand for commercial office space to dwindle.

  “New York will continue to grow, but it has its challenges, and a lot of people who don’t have to be there are looking not to be there,” said Ross. “It’s changing, it’s getting younger, the older people are moving out, the wealthier people are moving out.”

  Ross’ Related, meanwhile, is pitching a casino resort on a site once slated for offices and housing, as the second phase of its $25 billion Hudson Yards project.

  “We have huge investments, we’re still doing tremendous developments in New York,” the 82-year-old Ross said, adding “But I think Florida is going to capture an awful lot of people.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 21:20

• Prostitution, Pimping Rises In California After Prohibitive Laws Repealed, "Scared" Families Plead With Officials
  Prostitution, Pimping Rises In California After Prohibitive Laws Repealed, “Scared” Families Plead With Officials

  Authored by Naveen Anthrapully via The Epoch Times,

  Multiple cities in California are now seeing rampant, public prostitution activities, pushing residents in many places into stress and fear, with critics blaming the situation on a Democrat-supported bill that repealed a law against loitering for prostitution purposes.

  

  East 15th Street, a neighborhood in Oakland, used to be a quiet area. However, things changed after prostitution activity rose. Resident Estefani Zarate worries about how this will affect her young children. “I’m scared for them to see (the women) in inappropriate clothes, (then ask) me questions and I don’t have answers for them,” she said to CBS News.

  “It shouldn’t be introduced at the age of 4 years old that you’re going down the street and you’re seeing women dress like this (or) you need to learn ‘oh, if you hear gunshots, duck down,’” said Estefani’s sister Marlen Zarate.

  Residents from the Capp Street neighborhood in San Francisco are pleading for officials to intervene after prostitution activity rose.

  Following resident requests, city officials are reportedly planning to install barriers along a strip of Capp Street which is said to be where prostitution activities are the most concentrated.

  In multiple cities across California, scenes of thong-wearing women on street corners, prostitutes twerking at traffic, and pimps tailing mothers who take their kids to school are becoming common.

  Democrat Bill Against Loitering

  Senate Bill 357, introduced by Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, was signed into law last year by California Democrat governor Gavin Newsom. The bill repealed a law that prohibited loitering for prostitution activities. It came into effect on Jan. 1.

  Some Republicans are blaming the law for making life difficult for families. “California Democrats’ policy of legalizing crime is creating more victims by the hour,” GOP Assembly leader James Gallagher said in a statement, according to Fox.

  “Under Democratic rule, families and businesses are moving out, while human traffickers are moving in. It was clear from the get-go that this law would encourage and enable human trafficking, but that was apparently an acceptable result for the lawmakers who backed it.”

  “[The law] hinder[s] law enforcement efforts to identify and prosecute those who commit crimes related to prostitution and human trafficking,” Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Carrie Braun told The Epoch Times in November 2022.

  “Additionally, it could hinder the ability of identifying those being victimized.”

  Vanessa Russell, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Love Never Fails, said that legalizing loitering for prostitution has created an increase in demand in Californian cities.

  In areas like San Francisco and Oakland, there has reportedly been a tripling in the number of exploited people, she said.

  “The anti-police sentiment that was leveraged to push this bill through touting safer streets for all … [is] unfortunately harming these populations much more than it helps because the police are no longer able to conduct early intervention with violent exploiters and buyers,” Russell stated.

  Violence, California Prostitution Law

  It is not just the presence of prostitution activities that is troubling the minds of residents. Some are disturbed by gunfire as well as public beatings.

  “From the window right there, I’ll see three [people] ganging up on a girl,” a resident from Capp Street said to San Francisco Chronicle, gesturing toward a bay window that overlooks a busy intersection.

  “They’ll be hitting her … I call the cops; no one comes. There’s nothing I can do.”

  According to California law, prostitution is illegal. Charged as a misdemeanor crime, a first offense carries up to six months of jail time and $1,000 in fines. Subsequent offenses can carry higher penalties.

  Before Senate Bill 357, those who loitered with an intent to commit prostitution also attracted similar punishment. Senate Bill 357 has not only decriminalized loitering but has also allowed people who have been convicted on these charges to petition a court to get these offenses sealed from their records.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 21:00

• Corporate America Splurges On Super Bowl Ads Despite Recession Threat
  Corporate America Splurges On Super Bowl Ads Despite Recession Threat

  Corporate America isn’t buying the notion that the US economy could achieve a soft landing this year, as the Federal Reserve spent all of last year combating inflation with oversized interest rate hikes. Despite tremendous economic uncertainty, advertising spending for the Super Bowl is expected to hit a record high. 

  Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Geetha Ranganathan and Kevin Near wrote a note that shows companies locking in slots to advertise during the big game is over $6.5 million for 30-second spots, in line with NBC from last year. Some slots are topping $7 million. 

  “Sold-out ad inventory, surging sports bets and expectations for strong ratings are all helping support ad prices,” the analysts noted.

  The total ad time for the Super Bowl runs approximately 52 minutes. Factor in unpaid ads, such as one from Fox and the National Football League, and the total air time for paid ads is around 42 minutes. 

  Ad insight firm Kantar said ad revenue from the game could bring in $570 million of in-game revenue for Fox. Then count pre/post ad revenue of around $75-$80 million. This could mean a record $650 million payday for Fox. 

  “NBC’s $636 million last year was an 18% jump from the prior year, and though ads are still robust, a slowing economy has weighed on sales,” the analyst said. 

  

  Tens of millions of Americans tune into the Super Bowl just to watch the iconic ads. 

  “According to an August 2021 survey among viewers in the United States, 43 percent of respondents said they tuned in to the Super Bowl to watch the commercials. When it came to women, this figure rose to 60 percent, while 24 percent of men said they tuned in to the big game in order to watch ads,” Statista wrote. 

  

  The threat of recession? Corporate America doesn’t care. They want the most valuable ad space in the world to reach consumers. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 20:40

• Biden Admin Asks Supreme Court To Drop Title 42 Immigration Case
  Biden Admin Asks Supreme Court To Drop Title 42 Immigration Case

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The Biden administration urged the Supreme Court on Feb. 7 to dismiss 19 states’ challenge to the cancellation of the pandemic-era Title 42 policy that allows rapid expulsion of would-be migrants at the border.

  The administration argued that its plan to terminate the public health emergency on May 11 would make the case moot. The high court will hear the appeal on March 1.

  Open-borders and humanitarian groups say the Title 42 policy prevents those fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries from obtaining legal due process when they arrive in the United States; however, the states say withdrawing the policy would flood already overburdened border facilities with even more illegal aliens.

  The states previously told the high court that failing to uphold the policy “will cause a crisis of unprecedented proportions at the border” and that “daily illegal crossings may more than double.”

  Before he left office in early January, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, one of the architects of the legal strategy to keep the policy alive, told The Epoch Times that the states were intervening because the federal government was failing to maintain order at the border.

  “And the bottom line is … that if [President] Joe Biden is not going to do his job, then [we] have to do everything we can. Because what is going on at our southern border, obviously, is costing us not only fiscally, but it’s costing us in human lives lost. And so it is a life and death issue,” Brnovich, a Republican, said at the time.

  Days before that, the Supreme Court blocked the rescission of the policy, which has been used to expel more than 2 million individuals, and scheduled oral arguments in the case, Arizona v. Mayorkas, for March 1.

  “The anticipated end of the public health emergency on May 11, and the resulting expiration of the operative Title 42 order, would render this case moot,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar stated in a filing (pdf) with the court on Feb. 7.

  Responding to Republican proposals in Congress to end the national emergency and public health emergency that were declared by the Trump administration three years ago, Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said on Jan. 30 that it would extend the soon-to-expire emergencies to May 11 “and then end both emergencies on that date.”

  Ending the twin emergency declarations would curb some of the federal agencies’ expansive powers in managing the government’s response to the COVID-19 virus and return agency operations to something closer to normal. Republicans, who took over the U.S. House of Representatives last month, say the emergencies aren’t justified and should be ended sooner.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 20:20

• China Blasts US Balloon Accusations As "Information Warfare" – Still Insists It Was For Weather
  China Blasts US Balloon Accusations As “Information Warfare” – Still Insists It Was For Weather

  The Chinese government has rejected fresh US accusations over the recently downed alleged spy balloon off America’s east coast, blasting Washington’s “information warfare” while continuing to insist it wasn’t a surveillance vehicle, but instead a weather balloon for collecting research which blew off course.

  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning further on Thursday described that China did not intend to violate any country’s sovereignty or airspace. She dismissed the US claims as “irresponsible” and asserted it “may be part of the U.S. side’s information warfare against China.”

  The ministry also took a swipe at President Biden’s Tuesday night State of the Union comments directed at China, wherein the US leader said Chinese President Xi Jinping faces “enormous problems” due to the balloon incident.

  

  Mao Ning separately in a PBS Newshour interview described the latest US assertions as “highly irresponsible and violate basic diplomatic protocols,” saying specifically of Biden’s anti-China rhetoric: “We are firmly opposed to that and condemn that.”

  Biden had laid out bluntly that the US and allies must focus on winning the “competition” with Beijing, which should “unite all of us.”

  “Before I came to office, the story was about how the People’s Republic of China was increasing its power and America was falling in the world. Not anymore,” the president said. Biden then asserted he makes “no apologies” for the US investing in “industries that will define the future, and that China’s government is intent on dominating.”

  On Thursday the US State Department issued an update of its findings related to the capabilities of the shot-down Chinese balloon, describing that it was equipped with antennas and other gear “likely” used to sweep up communications.

  According to the officials cited in The Wall Street Journal:

  The Chinese balloon that crossed the U.S. was outfitted with antennas likely capable of collecting communications, a senior State Department official said Thursday, adding that the Biden administration is preparing to take action against China’s surveillance program.

  Providing details the U.S. has gathered since tracking and shooting down the balloon, the official said the balloon was also equipped with large solar panels capable of powering an array of intelligence-collection sensors. The manufacturer of the balloon has a direct relationship with the Chinese military, the official added.

  The Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. shot down over the Atlantic Ocean last weekend carried high-tech equipment capable of collecting communications signals and other sensitive information, the U.S. government said Thursday. https://t.co/w1MKgFHyDQ

  — CBS News (@CBSNews) February 9, 2023

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  However, Beijing will likely zero in on all of these qualifications, given there’s yet to be smoking gun evidence presented for public view. The State Dept. is still using words such as “likely” and merely that the balloon merely “capable” of surveillance. This stops short of the US asserting definitively that it is a proven spy balloon based on the recovered debris.

  China has instead called it a “civilian climate research vehicle” and has this week asked for the debris to be returned.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 20:00

• Billions In Stolen COVID Assistance Funds Likely Gone Forever: Rep. Smith
  Billions In Stolen COVID Assistance Funds Likely Gone Forever: Rep. Smith

  Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times,

  A rush to provide financial assistance to Americans forced out of their jobs in the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a $191 billion bonanza for fraudsters, according to chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.).

  “There’s no question folks needed help, which is exactly why Congress should have protected this program and those who needed it against the criminals who exploited it to commit fraud,” Smith wrote in a statement released at a hearing on Feb. 8.

  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in April 2020, the unemployment rate reached a record high of 15 percent after lockdowns to slow the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, closed many businesses. Between March 14, 2020, and April 18, 2020, weekly unemployment claims increased dramatically from 225,500 to 5.3 million.

  

  Cars unsold due to the autos market slowdown caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen stored in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Penn., on April 28, 2020. (Mark Makela/File Photo/Reuters)

  Smith said the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Recovery Act was an attempt to help. But Congress should have done more to protect the millions of tax dollars distributed under the Act.

  Three expert witnesses told the committee some things could and should be done to prevent future problems. But, when it comes to recovering the billions of tax dollars lost to criminals, they held out little hope. Much of that money was lost to organized fraud rings in Nigeria, China, Russia, and other countries.

  “To find the overseas fraudsters could be a challenge,” said Michael Horowitz, chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee for the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice.

  Most state unemployment agencies were unprepared for the crush of calls and applications that flooded their offices. Overtaxed office workers, many using 1980s-vintage technology, cut corners and bypassed safety measures to deliver benefits to the newly unemployed and underemployed.

  Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.) said the situation was dire from the start.

  “We had a five-alarm fire raging out of control, and we were fighting it with water passed in buckets, and the buckets had holes in them,” Schneider said.

  Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said she was told that up to 80 percent of calls to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development went unanswered at the height of the pandemic.

  “No one was ready for this pandemic,” she told the Committee.

  According to the experts, many applicants were allowed to “self-certify.” In essence, when the applicant provided identifying information, such as a Social Security Number, the state took their word for it.

  The Social Security Administration keeps a “Death Master File Index,” a record of Social Security Numbers for people who have died.

  

  Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) looks at federal prosecutor Kevin Chambers (right) after appointing him to be the Justice Department’s chief pandemic fraud prosecutor during a meeting of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force at the Justice Department in Washington on March 10, 2022. The U.S. Secret Service recovered $286 million in fraudulently obtained pandemic funds to the Small Business Administration on Aug. 26, 2022. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP, File)

  However, not all agencies have access to the index, and each state handles its own unemployment insurance program. Most state systems are not compatible with other states or the federal government.

  Gene Dodaro, comptroller general for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), summed the situation up this way: “Using a Social Security Number is an easy way to get money. My own mother received a payment.”

  Dodaro said the money his mother received was from someone else using her information to file a fraudulent claim. He had her return the money but said it was an example of how easy it is to defraud the system.

  But Social Security numbers weren’t the only means used by fraudsters.

  According to the Department of Justice, 16 people in Texas either pleaded guilty for their involvement in a plan to defraud the Paycheck Protection Plan administered by the Small Business Administration. The program provided millions in forgivable loans to businesses to help them continue to make payroll during lockdowns.

  According to the press release, Abdul Fatani, 57, of Richmond, Texas, was part of a ring that submitted fraudulent loan applications that contained false information on their business’s number of employees and monthly payroll expenses. The co-conspirators filed over 80 fraudulent applications for $35 million in loans.

  Fraud Ring Stopped

  The group took in $500,000. They laundered the illegal proceeds by transferring them among various bank accounts.

  Dodaro told the Committee that such fraud is not a new problem. He said that in 2010, an official in New York warned the state that it had a serious problem. The pandemic only exacerbated that problem.

  Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said that as a business owner, she was familiar with some of the issues. She said that while the money was taken from the government, the government was not the victim.

  “Our taxpayers, our employers, our employees, have all paid the price for this fraud,” she said.

  Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) agreed. She said New York lost at least $11 billion to fraudulent payments. That money, combined with funds from other states, paid for a $10 million villa in the Dominican Republic, a gold Rolex watch, sports cars, and other luxury items.

  Luxury Items Purchased

  “One person even received $1.5 million over ten months,” Malliotakis said.

  The Committee asked the witnesses what could be done to prevent future problems. Larry Turner, with the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General, said data analytics is vital to the solution. And this would come from states being able to work together with federal officials.

  According to Turner, a central database would enable officials to catch fraudulent applications before they went too far. In his written statement to the committee, Turner said his office had been warning that unemployment insurance fraud was a problem, outlining several investigations and audits that exposed fraud in the system.

  Dodaro recommended a closer relationship between state auditors and federal officials. Using a uniform computer system and requiring more audits of easily defrauded programs like unemployment insurance and Medicare, Dodaro said officials could put a dent in the problem.

  All three witnesses said it would likely be years before the full extent of the damage is known.

  Horowitz noted that recovering even most of the stolen funds is highly unlikely. He told the committee that states are starting to work together, and many have updated their technology due to the crisis.

  “The good news is, things are improving; the bad news is, we’re not there yet,” Horowitz said.

  Rep. Gregory Murphy (R-N.C.) was blunt in his assessment of the problem.

  “Congress did not do its job. If we don’t know where (money) goes or how it’s going, we’re out of business,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 19:40

• Why People Move From Blue States: It's Not Just High Taxes
  Why People Move From Blue States: It’s Not Just High Taxes

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  Simply put, people are moving not just to escape unaffordable housing and high taxes. They’re moving to escape fiscally irresponsible, ineffective, unaccountable governance.

  Defenders of high state taxes like to point out that surveys find few high-net-worth households move primarily to lower their tax bills. This may be so, but it misses the point: high-income, high-net-worth households don’t move away from high tax states if they’re getting fair value for their taxes. But if services and infrastructure are crumbling around them even as their taxes keep ratcheting higher, then the benefits of moving become much more compelling.

  In other words, if you’re getting good value for your high taxes, then high taxes are not sufficient motivation to move. The problem is not high taxes per se, any more than a high cost of living is the reason to move from a world-class city with great amenities: world-class cities with great amenities have always cost more than less desirable locales, even in the 1600s.

  The reason blue states are losing population isn’t just high taxes; it’s a lack of fiscal discipline and accountability, and insanely unaffordable housing costs. Immense floods of tax revenues sluice into the state coffers but the outcomes of all that spending diminish rather than improve. Problems don’t seem to get solved even as the permanent “solution”–throw more money at it–fail due to the decay of fiscal discipline and accountability, and the rise of a “stakeholders” mentality where dozens of entrenched interest groups each hold a veto in every decision.

  As I’ve explained before, straightforward government processes like getting a building permit have become Kafkaesque nightmares of delays and soaring costs, partly because every agency benefits from stretching the process out by finding reasons to demand a resubmittal: more delays means more hours of work and more fees.

  Nobody benefits from a speedy permit process except the general public, and they have no political power. The same political class gets re-elected despite their poor performance, so there’s no incentive to enforce any discipline or accountability. Failure is the New Normal as every “stakeholder” finds reasons to meddle with or nix any plan that might disrupt the self-serving, inefficient, ineffective status quo.

  A great many city and county officials are doing their best to solve local problems and improve core services, but there’s only so much they can accomplish if the state creates a culture of entrenched-interests dysfunction, skims most of the tax revenues and malinvests public borrowing.

  As the excerpts below highlight, most middle-income people leave blue states because they will never be able to afford to own a home. But since middle-income households pay a modest percentage of income and capital gains taxes, the state machinery grinds on even as the priced-out-of-home-ownership middle class moves away.

  But when the few who pay most of the income taxes have finally had enough and start leaving, the fiscal consequences quickly accumulate. The Everything Bubble has generated fantastic capital gains for the wealthiest class, and they’ve paid a disproportionate share of blue state income tax revenues on these gains.

  (Note that California taxes long-term capital gains at the same rate as any other income: no long-term capital gains tax break for you, bucko.)

  High-income earners fleeing California (by Dan Walters):

  After 170 years of population growth — occasionally explosive growth — California is now experiencing population loss for the first time. As foreign immigration and birth rates declined, they no longer offset net losses in state-to-state migration. Since 2010, 7.5 million people have left California while 5.9 million people have come from other states.

  “Most people who move across state lines do so for housing, job, or family reasons,” Hans Johnson, a demographer for the Public Policy Institute of California, wrote earlier this year. Johnson also notes that those who leave California tend to be poorer and less educated than those who migrate to the state, which is not surprising given that housing and jobs dominate motivations.

  There is, however, a less obvious subset of those who leave California — high-income families seeking relief from the state’s notoriously high taxes.

  The newspaper found that 39,000 San Franciscans who had filed federal tax returns for 2018 had moved out of the city before filing 2019 returns. Collectively, they took $10.6 billion in income with them while people who moved to the city during that period reported just $3.8 billion in income.

  Favored new homes are often in states that levy little or no personal income taxes. No-tax states include Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Texas and Florida. Utah has a flat 4.85% rate.

  Income taxes account for three-quarters of California’s general fund revenues and the top 1% of taxpayers generate nearly half of those taxes.

  That’s just 150,000 taxpayers in a state of 40 million, so even a trickle of departures has a potentially huge impact on the budget.

  Why the Middle Class Flees States That Tax the Rich:

  A recent survey found that 37 percent of Californians are thinking of leaving the state for this reason alone. California has the highest housing costs among the 48 continental states, and government has much to do with that.

  Costs are astronomical, even for government-favored, heavily subsidized affordable housing. The cost of building a subsidized unit of housing in California can be as high as about $700,000 a unit, according to a recent study by the Government Accountability Office.

  Fueled by its taxes on high earners and on businesses, California has an enormous budget. Its general fund alone tops $200 billion. You might expect, for that money, top-notch services from government, but the opposite is true. One essential public-sector responsibility that heavily influences quality of life for everyone is basic infrastructure.

  California consistently ranks low on that crucial measure, and it’s not alone. Other high-tax states like New York also sit near the bottom of rankings for essentials like roads, bridges, and airports, while states with moderate and low taxes like Arizona and Nevada rank near the top. Money alone is clearly not the deciding factor in what kind of quality-of-life a government can help deliver, and residents notice.

  Simply put, people are moving not just to escape unaffordable housing and high taxes. They’re moving to escape fiscally irresponsible, ineffective, unaccountable governance that always wants more tax revenues while delivering diminishing quality services and infrastructure. There’s nothing like a homeless encampment a few yards from your million-dollar cottage to modify one’s calculation of the benefits of staying put. Throw in decaying public transportation, library hours being slashed and random crime, and all the supposedly great amenities start losing their luster.

  The heavily subsidized lower-income households have every reason to stay. The top 5% who pay most of the taxes and who have more options are reaching the point where all the advantages of moving are starting to outweigh the advantages of staying. Should the trickle of wealth leaving turn into a flood, blue states will no longer be fiscally viable.

  

  Note the extremely high cost of housing in California even as the primary workforce populace plummets. 

  

  The soaring cohort of elderly won’t be engines of growth; they’ll increasingly be drawing benefits and subsidies from the state coffers. That’s not a formula for fiscal solvency.

  *  *  *

  My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.  Read the first chapter for free (PDF)

  Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 19:25

• After Ordering Shootdown, Biden Casually Says China Spy Balloon "Not A Major Breach"
  After Ordering Shootdown, Biden Casually Says China Spy Balloon “Not A Major Breach”

  Update(1920ET): Unexpected statements from President Biden on Thursday, who ordered the Chinese balloon to be shot down in the first place:

  Biden says China spy balloon ‘not a major breach’ President Biden on Thursday said that the suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over much of the U.S. last week was “not a major breach,” comparing it to intelligence gathering conducted by countries around the world.

  “It’s not a major breach. Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming,” Biden said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.

  “It’s our airspace. And once it comes into our space, we can do what we want with it,” the president said.

  But the narrative dissonance on display out of the same administration is interesting: first, a potentially weaponized ‘spy’ balloon is hyped by Biden officials; second, a national media panic ensues complete with national security officials scrambling amid non-stop major network coverage; and three, an advanced fighter jet is dispatched to shoot the balloon down over the American east coast with a sidewinder missile. 

  Something isn’t adding up here.

  Meanwhile, during a closed-door House briefing on Thursday, sparks flew…

  A classified House briefing on the Chinese spy balloon turned tense Thurs when MTG went after admin officials for waiting to shoot down the balloon.

  “I chewed them out just like the American people would’ve,” @RepMTG told @thehill. “I tore ‘em to pieces.”https://t.co/5UeMKOBClC

  — Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) February 9, 2023

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  * * *

  Update(1317ET): The US is looking very determined to seek retribution against China for the ‘spy balloon’ saga, with the FBI now talking criminal charges in an early afternoon announcement.

  The FBI confirmed it is now in the process of “decontaminating some balloon remains” by removing sea water and salt. Further the FBI backed an earlier State Dept statement in describing the evidence from the balloon’s components “could be used for intelligence” and “possible criminal charges” could result.

  At the same time, the House has unanimously approved a resolution which formally condemns China’s use of a spy balloon over US soil, calling it “a brazen violation of United States sovereignty.” The Hill details of the resolution: 

  The resolution — which cleared the chamber in a bipartisan 419-0 vote — came to the House floor five days after the U.S. shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast, intensifying tensions between Washington and Beijing.

  “An event like this, Mr. Speaker, must not happen again. And it cannot go unanswered,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and sponsor of the measure, said on the House floor during debate Thursday.

  “They only understand one thing and that is force, and that’s projecting power, and we need to project power and force and strength against the Chinese Communist Party,” he added. “They must understand that we do desire peace, but infringing upon our sovereignty leads us down a dangerous path. Our adversaries must believe that any future incursion into American airspace by a spy balloon or any other vehicle will be met with decisive force. And that is why the House should pass this resolution.”

  Meanwhile, as NYT wrote yesterday, this has plunged US-China relations to a new low in terms of open communications. A mere days ago Secretary Blinken was supposed to meet with President Xi, which the balloon saga disrupted, given the US side called off the important meeting.

  Chinese officials rejected a request from the U.S. defense secretary to speak with his counterpart after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon. https://t.co/DYjh01pM5z

  — New York Times World (@nytimesworld) February 8, 2023

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  Meanwhile, more from unnamed US officials:

  “High resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations,” an official with the State Department, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Epoch Times.

  “The high altitude balloon’s equipment was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons. It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors,” the official added.

  * * * 

  As debris from the shot-down Chinese balloon recovered from the Atlantic Ocean presumably continues to be analyzed, US officials have been cited in Reuters and The Wall Street Journal to describe that the alleged spy balloon was part of a much bigger than previously believed “balloon surveillance program” by China which has targeted over 40 countries. 

  “The United States will also explore taking action against PRC entities linked to the PLA that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. airspace,” a senior State Department official said in a statement released Thursday.

  “We are confident that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the PLA, according to information published in an official procurement portal for the PLA,” the official said.

  

  But notably, the State Department did not reveal whether ongoing examination of the actual wreckage from the balloon that passed over the United States late last week before it was shot down Saturday off the South Carolina coast is primarily informing the current assessment. 

  However, The Wall Street Journal does hint that the recovered debris points in the direction of it being a spy balloon:

  The Chinese balloon that crossed the U.S. was outfitted with antennas likely capable of collecting communications, a senior State Department official said Thursday, adding that the Biden administration is preparing to take action against China’s surveillance program.

  Providing details the U.S. has gathered since tracking and shooting down the balloon, the official said the balloon was also equipped with large solar panels capable of powering an array of intelligence-collection sensors. The manufacturer of the balloon has a direct relationship with the Chinese military, the official added.

  The statements provide less than certainty, given the official used qualifiers such as it being “likely capable” of collecting communications, and further that its solar panels are “capable” of powering intelligence-collection sensors. At this point it seems a smoking gun has yet to be presented for public view based on the actual balloon shot down.

  According to more via Reuters, describing the Chinese balloon manufacturer, “The company also advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least U.S. airspace and the airspace of other countries, the official said, without naming the business.”

  “The official said the United States has collected high-resolution imagery of the balloon from U-2 aircraft flybys that revealed it was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations, the report continues. The official then said, “China had conducted similar surveillance flights over more than 40 countries on five continents.” 

  China has sarcastically quipped that the US has launched a “war on weather balloons” – continuing to reject that it was for spying…

  That’s actually a pretty good one by the Chinese embassy in France :

  “America declares war on weather balloons… as a way to fight climate change!” https://t.co/W2JzdIlnUz

  — Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 6, 2023

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  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also weighed in, telling CBS news that the Pentagon’s driving concern was protecting US nuclear capabilities. Confirming that Chinese balloons have flown over places like Texas and Florida in prior years, he said, “Certainly all of our strategic assets, we made sure were buttoned down and movement was limited and communications were limited so that we didn’t expose any capability unnecessarily.”

  China has meanwhile blistered at President Joe Biden’s words related to the balloon incident, per Bloomberg:  

  Beijing lashed out at President Joe Biden for saying Chinese leader Xi Jinping faces “enormous problems,” underscoring the renewed tensions between the two nations since the US downing of a balloon in its airspace.

  China’s Foreign Minister hasn’t wavered from its initial position expressed last week that it was nothing but a sophisticated weather “research” balloon which traversed errantly over North America. Beijing has claimed it simply blew off course, and that Washington exploited the incident for political purposes.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 19:20

• Zelensky Lashes Out After Starlink Cuts Off Ukrainian Drones
  Zelensky Lashes Out After Starlink Cuts Off Ukrainian Drones

  Elon Musk’s SpaceX has blocked the Ukrainian government and its military from using Starlink technology to fly and control drones, after earlier in the war SpaceX gifted thousands of Starlink dishes to Ukriane to help the population stay connected to the internet.

  SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell in a statement asserted that Starlink technology was “never meant to be weaponized”. According to BBC, “She made reference to Ukraine’s alleged use of Starlink to control drones, and stressed that the equipment had been provided for humanitarian use.”

  

  Shotwell confirmed that the ‘surprise decision’ was taken due to it never being the company’s intent to allow Starlink to be used “for offensive purposes” in remarks given before a conference in Washington DC. Shotwell further said Ukraine had utilized the technology—

  “in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” according to Reuters.

  After Musk provided the Starlink systems, the Ukrainian military quickly became dependent on them given the extreme battlefield conditions, including damage to existent communications infrastructure and frequent power outages. Additionally the Russians would often jam signals, thus Starlink allowed Ukrainian troops to circumvent these factors.

  The Wednesday announcement from SpaceX was met with anger in Kiev, after already there’s been an avalanche of Ukrainian government criticism aimed at Musk personally over his ‘Russia-Ukraine peace poll’ offered in October. As Bloomberg observed during that prior spat and tensions, Musk’s tweets were “drawing the wrath of Ukrainians” merely for his proposing a negotiated solution which involved territorial concessions for the sake of lasting peace.

  

  Zelensky’s office issued a denunciation on Thursday, complaining that Musk’s company has failed to understand or acknowledge Ukraine’s right of self-defense in making the decision.

  Presidential spokesman Mykhailo Podolyak suggested Musk is playing into Putin’s hands, stating SpaceX must decide whether it’s “on the side of the right to freedom” or “on the Russian Federation’s side and its ‘right’ to kill and seize territories”.

  It must be remembered that soon after last year’s Russian invasion, Ukrainian officials essentially begged Musk to come to the rescue. A direct plea by Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, at the time resulted in confirmation from Musk himself: “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” Musk affirmed in reply.

  A year of 🇺🇦 resistance & companies have to decide:
  -Either they are on the side of 🇺🇦 & the right to freedom, and don’t seek ways to do harm.
  -Or they are on RF’s side & its “right” to kill & seize territories.#SpaceX (Starlink) & Mrs. #Shotwell should choose a specific option

  — Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) February 9, 2023

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  But when tensions arose after Musk expressed ‘unpopular’ opinions regarding the war, including a plea for both sides to reach compromise rather than see the world spiral into WW3, the US-based billionaire asserted that he is ‘obviously’ pro-Ukraine given SpaceX had spent $80 million on Starlink in the country, or essentially a massive wartime donation.

  Musk recently pointed out he’s “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” when it comes to SpaceX policy in Ukraine…

  SpaceX Starlink has become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines. This is the damned if you do part.

  However, we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes. This is the damned if you don’t part.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2023

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  From there, a debate ensued over whether the Pentagon would foot the bill for further Starlink development and maintenance in the country. The systems were increasingly seen as essential to the Ukrainian military’s effective operations if it hoped to push back Russia. However, Musk acknowledged that his company couldn’t just keep picking up the tab ‘indefinitely’. 

  But after all of this, Ukrainian officials alongside pundits in the West echoed tired old Russiagate-style smears of Musk somehow being “Putin’s puppet”. Some mainstream publications went so far as to claim Musk was receiving orders from the Kremlin, at a moment the controversy reached the height of absurdity.

  Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk

  — Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) October 3, 2022

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  A low point was reached in the October saga when Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany told Musk to “fuck off” in a reply on Twitter. And yet, awkwardly despite these intense public attacks the Ukrainian government has of necessity remained heavily reliant on the services Musk provides.

  It goes without saying that Ukraine’s government might want to be careful about biting the hand that feeds it. Without doubt, SpaceX has the capability to further reduce Kiev’s military reliance on the technology, which again the company has stressed was only meant for humanitarian purposes.

  After all, Starlink + armed drones?…

  Becuase if you did allow it, Starlink becomes SkyNet…🤔

  — Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) January 31, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 19:15

• Tucker Carlson Slams MSM Silence On Seymour Hersh Reporting: "We Were Attacked For Asking Questions"
  Tucker Carlson Slams MSM Silence On Seymour Hersh Reporting: “We Were Attacked For Asking Questions”

  Fox News was the only mainstream news network to give serious coverage to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s bombshell investigative report out this week entitled, How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline. On his prime time show Wednesday night, Tucker Carlson reviewed the handful of times top Biden administration officials, including the president himself, issued what appeared to be veiled admissions of US involvement – such as repeat promises that Nord Stream 2 would never move forward. “We were attacked for asking questions about this,” the Fox host pointed out.

  “It’s probably the most comprehensive news story you will read this year… you should read it,” Carlson said of the detailed report. And he lamented that journalists in the White House press pool aren’t even broaching it with the administration. Yet it remains that “No one in the high level of the US government is denying it with any level of specificity, instead the White House is dismissing it as ‘utterly false’,” Carlson continued. Watch the segment below: 

  However, the afternoon following Carlson’s segment, a reporter in the State Department’s daily briefing room did inquire of the Hersh report.

  Watch State Department spokesman Ned Price attempt a response below.

  Price at one point calls Hersh’s reporting “utter and complete nonsense” and which should “be rejected out of hand by anyone looking at it through an objective lens.”

  State Dept. Denies Latest Allegations that US Government Blew up Nord Stream

  Sy Hersh charges the US military was behind the explosion. Ned Price dismisses claims despite US government statements. Says administration abides by WPR:

  Full video:https://t.co/1B7IQnPUXQ

  Clip: pic.twitter.com/hy8JnzZzxQ

  — Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) February 9, 2023

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

  Glenn Greenwald meanwhile highlights one of the many times that American officials have appeared to boast about the Nord Stream sabotage and that it’s been destroyed.

  Victoria Nuland said in Senate testimony she and the administration are “very gratified” the Russia-to-Germany pipelines were turned into a “hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea” – in her words…

  Western security agencies directed their media corporations to tell their populations that Russia blew up its own pipeline. Those media outlets obeyed, as always.

  And now Victoria Nuland just all but openly boasts with Ted Cruz about how proud they are that they destroyed it: https://t.co/zfjeu26C9b

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 9, 2023

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

  …and see our full coverage of the Hersh report here.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 19:00

• February Cargo Imports Expected To See Big Drop As Retailers Take Cautious Stance
  February Cargo Imports Expected To See Big Drop As Retailers Take Cautious Stance

  By Marianne Wilson of Chain Store Age

  Import cargo volume at the nation’s major container ports in February is expected to drop to nearly its lowest level in nearly three years, or since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

  

  That’s according to the Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.  The slowdown comes as retailers are importing less merchandise amid the slowing U.S. economy and consumer concerns about rising interest rates and still-high inflation, said NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold.

  “February is traditionally a slow month, but these are the lowest numbers we’ve seen in almost three years,” he added. Retailers are being cautious as they wait to see how the economy responds to efforts to bring inflation under control.”

  In some ways, 2023 is reminiscent of 2020, when the world’s economies shut down because of the pandemic and “no one had a clue where we were headed,” added Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett,

  “Cargo volumes are down, and the economy is in a contradiction of rising employment and wages that promise prosperity at the same time high inflation and rising interest rates threaten a recession,” he explained. “The economy is far from shut down, but the degree of uncertainty is very similar.”

  U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.73 million twenty-foot equivalent units – one 20-foot container or its equivalent – in December, the latest month for which final numbers are available.

  The total was down 2.6% from November and down 17.1% from December 2021. That brought 2022 – which broke multiple monthly records in the first half of the year but saw significant drops in the second half – to an annual total of 25.5 million TEU, down 1.2% from the annual record of 25.8 million TEU set in 2021.

  Ports have not yet reported January numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 1.78 million TEU, down 17.6% year over year. February is forecast at 1.57 million TEU, down 25.6% from the same month last year for the slowest month since 1.53 million TEU in May 2020, when many factories in Asia and most U.S. stores were closed by the pandemic.

  Since the beginning of the pandemic, only the 1.51 million TEU recorded in February 2020 and 1.37 million TEU in March 2020 have been lower.

  March is forecast at 1.76 million TEU, down 24.8% year over year, April at 1.87 million TEU, down 17.3%, and May at 1.92 million TEU, down 19.9%.

  June is forecast at 2 million TEU, the first time imports are expected to be that high since October, but down 11.3% from last June. Those numbers would bring the first half of 2023 to 10.9 million TEU, down 19.4% from the first half of 2022.

  Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by Hackett Associates, provides historical data and forecasts for the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 18:40

• Before We End Up In Wars With Russia And China Simultaneously, Let's Review The Nuclear Balance Of Power…
  Before We End Up In Wars With Russia And China Simultaneously, Let’s Review The Nuclear Balance Of Power…

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  It has been said that there are no winners in a nuclear war, but the Russians and the Chinese have been feverishly preparing to fight one anyway.  When I was growing up, I was taught that nobody would ever dare start a nuclear war because both sides would fire their missiles and everyone would die.  In those days the doctrine of “mutual assured destruction” was universally accepted in the United States, and once the Cold War ended our politicians saw no more need to upgrade our missiles or to develop cutting edge anti-missile technologies.  Unfortunately, the balance of power has changed dramatically over the past decade.  Russia and China have both made enormous leaps forward, and that puts us in a very precarious position.

  

  In recent days, Republicans in Congress have been buzzing about a new report “from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces” that says that China now has more launchers for land-based nuclear missiles than the U.S. does…

  Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are raising alarms over news that China has surpassed the U.S. in its number of launchers for land-based nuclear missiles — and arguing for the U.S. to expand its own arsenal to keep pace.

  Four GOP leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said the revelation about China’s nuclear capability, made in a Jan. 26 letter from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces, is a warning that Beijing’s arsenal is expanding faster than anticipated, though the U.S. still has more warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

  This wasn’t supposed to happen.

  We all knew that the Chinese were upgrading their arsenal, but it turns out that they were even busier than we had anticipated.

  In fact, they “have doubled their number of warheads in just 2 years”…

  “The [Chinese Communist Party] is rapidly expanding its nuclear capability. They have doubled their number of warheads in just 2 years,” Rogers said at the outset of Tuesday’s hearing. “We estimated it would take them a decade to do that.”

  I was stunned when I saw that.

  The Chinese were not supposed to catch up with us that quickly.

  Meanwhile, the Russians have developed a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is the most advanced in the world by a wide margin.  It is called “the Sarmat”, and it is absolutely frightening…

  The Sarmat is a three-stage, silo-based, liquid-fuel, heavy ICBM with a reported range of 18,000 kilometers. Dubbed “Satan II” by NATO, the missile is a Russian-built replacement of the Soviet-era SS-18 “Satan” ICBM, which is reaching the end of its life cycle. The Sarmat reportedly can carry a 10-ton payload consisting of 10-plus multiple independent reentry vehicles along with penetration aids used to evade missile defenses. Moscow says the new missile can also carry several Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles.

  A single Sarmat can carry enough firepower to destroy an area the size of Texas.

  If the Russians or the Chinese fire their missiles at us, can we shoot them down?

  The answer is no.

  In fact, a study that was just released concluded that our anti-missile defenses are so feeble that we couldn’t even do much “to stop a relative handful of old-fashioned North Korean ICBMs” from reaching their targets…

  While the United States could do very little to stop a sky full of Russian or Chinese hypersonic boost-glide vehicles from finding their targets on American soil… it could do just as little to stop a relative handful of old-fashioned North Korean ICBMs from reaching those targets either.

  And that’s not media sensationalism or journalistic hyperbole. A bit more than a month ago, a team of 13 physicists and engineers with the American Physical Society released a 54-page study exploring this very question, and they came to some disconcerting conclusions.

  So on our side of the equation, “mutual assured destruction” still applies.

  If our enemies fire their missiles at us, we will be in all sorts of trouble.

  Unfortunately, the Russians have been working very hard to develop very sophisticated anti-missile systems.

  Until the S-500 was developed, the A-135 was the best system that the Russians had for intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles…

  The A-135 was designed to intercept US intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as submarine-launched ballistic missiles. This anti-ballistic missile system has discrimination ability and can identify real re-entry vehicles from decoys and fake warheads.

  The A-135 is superior to anything that we have, but it is far from perfect.

  But now the S-500 is here.

  It went into service last year, and there is no other system in the world that is even worth comparing to it.  The following information about the S-500 comes from Wikipedia…

  The S-500 is designed for intercepting and destroying intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as hypersonic cruise missiles and aircraft, for air defense against Airborne Early Warning and Control and for jamming aircraft.[citation needed] With a planned range of 600 km (370 mi) for anti-ballistic missile (ABM) and 500 km (310 mi) for air defense,[22] the S-500 would be able to detect and simultaneously engage up to 10 ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 kilometres per second (3.1 mi/s)[23][24] to a limit of 7 km/s (4.3 mi/s).[25][26] It also aims at destroying hypersonic cruise missiles and other aerial targets at speeds of higher than Mach 5, as well as spacecraft. The altitude of a target engaged can be as high as 180–200 km (110–120 mi).[27] It is effective against ballistic missiles with a launch range of 3,500 km (2,200 mi), the radar reaches a radius of 3,000 km (1,300 km for the EPR 0,1 square meter).[28][29] Other targets it has been announced to defend against include unmanned aerial vehicles, low Earth orbit satellites, space weapons launched from hypersonic aircraft, and hypersonic orbital platforms.[30]

  The system is mobile and has rapid deployability. Experts believe that the system’s capabilities can affect enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles at the middle and end portions of flight,[22] but reports by Almaz-Antey say that the external target-designation system (RLS Voronezh-DM and missile defence system A-135 radar Don-2N) will be capable of mid-early flight portion interceptions of enemy ballistic missiles, which is one of the final stages of the S-500 project. It is to have a response time of less than 4 seconds (Compared to the S-400’s less than 10).[31]

  Sadly, the U.S. has not developed new land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in decades.  At this point, the backbone of our land-based arsenal consists of just 400 extremely outdated Minuteman III missiles.  The following comes from the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense…

  Up to 400 Minuteman III missiles make up the most responsive leg of the nuclear triad. America’s ICBM force has remained on continuous, around-the-clock alert since 1959. The Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program will begin the replacement of Minuteman III and modernization of the 450 ICBM launch facilities in 2029.

  These Minuteman III missiles first went into service in the early 1970s, and the silos for these missiles can be found in the states of Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming…

  In 1970, the Minuteman III became the first deployed ICBM with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV): three smaller warheads that improved the missile’s ability to strike targets defended by ABMs.[8] They were initially armed with the W62 warhead with a yield of 170 kilotons.

  By the 1970s, 1,000 Minuteman missiles were deployed. This force has shrunk to 400 Minuteman III missiles as of September 2017,[9] deployed in missile silos around Malmstrom AFB, Montana; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming.[10]

  Would you want to use a computer that was made in the 1970s?

  If not, then why would we want to fight a nuclear war with missiles made in the 1970s?

  If a nuclear war with Russia erupts, we will be sending 400 hopelessly outdated land-based missiles against the extremely sophisticated anti-missile systems that the Russians have now developed.

  Are you sure that our missiles will get through?

  Needless to say, our land-based missiles are only one-third of our “nuclear triad”.

  Our strategic bombers are another leg of the triad.  The B-52 bomber has been around for a long time, and it is capable of carrying nuclear weapons…

  The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions. It can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional weapons with worldwide precision navigation. The B-52 is slated to be in service beyond 2040.

  Unfortunately, I wouldn’t count on B-52 bombers doing much, because they would get absolutely shredded by Russian anti-aircraft systems.

  Our stealth bombers are much better choices…

  The B-2 Spirit is a multirole stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons. The B-21 Raider will first supplement, then eventually replace, the B-2 beginning in the mid-2020s.

  Of course if the Russians destroy our airbases in a devastating first strike from their subs before we can even get our bombers loaded and off the ground, this leg of the triad won’t be of much use either.

  The final leg of our nuclear triad is made up of just 14 Ohio-class submarines…

  Fourteen Ohio-class SSBNs make up the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad. Their stealth design makes finding an SSBN an almost impossible task, giving pause to potential adversaries. The Columbia-class SSBN program will begin to replace the Ohio-class SSBNs starting in the early 2030s.

  As the Department of Defense has noted, these submarines are definitely “the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad”.

  If the Russians nuke us, we should be able to send sub-based missiles back at them.

  But once again, those missiles are outdated.

  Right now, our Ohio-class subs are carrying Trident II missiles that first went into service in 1990…

  The UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the American and British navies. It was first deployed in March 1990,[6] and remains in service. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad and strengthens U.S. strategic deterrence.

  I believe that Trident II missiles are a more viable threat than Minuteman III missiles are, but they are still more than 30 years old.

  Are you sure that our aging Trident II missiles will be able to get through the cutting edge anti-missile systems that the Russians have now developed?

  By the way, the Chinese have been working very hard to develop sophisticated anti-missile systems as well.

  Meanwhile, we continue to pretend that the doctrine of “mutual assured destruction” will magically save us even though the balance of power has fundamentally shifted.

  As I have repeatedly warned my readers, we could soon find ourselves involved in wars with Russia and China at the same time.

  Before we do that, perhaps we should take a really hard look at our own capabilities.

  Many of the old paradigms no longer apply, and we are far more vulnerable than most people realize.

  *  *  *

  It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/09/2023 – 18:20

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