Jun 10

Today’s News 10th June 2024

  • France Seeks 'Direct' Entry Into Ukraine War: Kremlin
    France Seeks ‘Direct’ Entry Into Ukraine War: Kremlin

    The Kremlin says that NATO member France is fast becoming a ‘direct’ participant in the Ukraine war, which threatens to drastically inflame tensions and escalate the conflict further, possibly beyond Ukraine’s borders.

    French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday committed to transferring Mirage fighter jets to Kiev, as well as set up a French training program for Ukrainian pilots. He said this while Zelensky and Biden were in France commemorating and attending D-Day 80th anniversary events. Macron went so far as to repeat his call for Western countries to be willing to send troops directly into Ukraine.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted as follows: “Macron demonstrates absolute support for the Kyiv regime and declares readiness for France’s direct participation in the military conflict.”

    Via Reuters

    “We consider these statements to be very, very provocative, inflaming tensions on the continent and not conducive to anything positive,” Peskov said Friday on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

    Macron has pressed ahead undeterred despite repeat Moscow warnings, as The Washington Post observed: 

    The comment, made in a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is the latest sign that France and other allies may now be willing to put NATO country troops on Ukrainian soil — an idea that some allies, including the United States, have long considered potentially escalatory.

    Macron on Friday called Ukraine’s request for in-country training “legitimate” and said several partners have “already given their agreement.”

    “We are going to use the coming days to finalize a coalition, as broad as possible,” he said.

    Some reports have claimed President Biden has talked Macron out of putting Western boots on the ground in Ukraine; however, Biden’s message appears to more simply be that this action can’t be taken without consensus withing NATO.

    Indeed such a plan would run the risk of triggering NATO’s Article 5 common defense treaty, and see nuclear-armed confrontation between Russia and the Western alliance.

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    The below recent analysis by Responsible Statecraft shows why Macron’s plan to get allies on board at this sensitive moment politically are likely doomed to failure [emphasis ZH]…

    * * *

    Macron stated that Russia must not “win” the war; but, like all the other leaders of NATO, he has never defined what he means by this. Perhaps he means fighting Russia to a standstill followed by a compromise peace. In private conversations, however, French officials simply echo the U.S. line that only the Ukrainians can make peace — and the Ukrainian terms for peace require not a stalemate, but the complete military defeat of Russia.

    The need for Europe to develop a capacity for self-defense should be obvious. Having nailed themselves to the Biden administration, European governments have very belatedly woken up to the realization that the next president may well be Donald Trump, and that the U.S. commitment to Europe may radically diminish. Indeed, given U.S. problems at home and in the Middle East, plus growing tension with China, this commitment is likely to diminish in future whether or not Trump is elected.

    However, Macron’s hope that the supposed threat from Russia will prompt Europe to unite militarily behind French leadership vastly exaggerates both French military power and European willingness to follow France’s lead. After years of budget cuts, the French army is far too weak to intervene in Ukraine without full U.S. support. When in 2011 President Nicolas Sarkozy of France tried to take the lead in the “humanitarian intervention” in Libya, within a very few weeks he was begging an unwilling President Obama to take over the operation on behalf of NATO, for fear of a humiliating Anglo-French failure.

    In terms of appealing to other European countries, Macron’s hawkish stance on Ukraine is targeting East European partners. These governments, however, are precisely the countries with the most deeply-rooted determination to oppose European strategic autonomy and maintain until the bitter end the closest possible alliance with the United States.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 06/10/2024 – 02:45

  • Germany Is A Naive Pawn Of The USA With No Power To Turn Things Around
    Germany Is A Naive Pawn Of The USA With No Power To Turn Things Around

    By Peter Hansler, author of Voice From Russia

    Disorientated, erratic, weak: Franz Halder – Olaf Scholz

    Introduction

    In Germany, Orwellian conditions prevail in terms of domestic politics and the Germans are being led into the abyss by a bunch of dilettantes in terms of economic policy. When Chancellor Scholz once again publicly criticises a further escalation against Russia and calls for a halt, his words don’t hold water because he regularly gives in to pressure.

    Germany has still not realised that the US are not its friends, but are cold-bloodedly driving the proud and great (former) industrial nation to ruin in order to achieve their own goals.

    There is a pattern to this. Germany has been controlled from Washington since the end of the Second World War. I am firmly convinced that Germany would be perfectly capable of standing up and putting an end to this madness. The Anglo-Saxon plans would have no chance without Germany’s participation.

    Many people who are indoctrinated by the media and politicians do not realise the increasingly tangible risk of a third world war. I refer you to my article “Escalation towards World War 3 – Analysis“. This danger is not new and is constantly growing. Back in February 2023, I pointed out this dangerous trend in “Sleepwalkers at work: World War 3 has probably already begun” and concluded even then that World War 3 had already begun in purely material terms.

    In addition, there are no longer any important voices in German politics or the media that could oppose this madness, as they are not even published by the major media or are labelled as Russia-lovers or Nazis.

    It would take strength and courage to turn the tide. The last time the Germans were driven into the abyss by psychopaths, they did not find this courage and were completely destroyed. Only then did they spit in their hands and phenomena such as the “Trümmerfrauen” led the country back to prosperity.

    Warmongering

    As a representative of the warmongers, it should be briefly noted that Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) has called for the 900,000 reservists in Germany to be activated. The reason for the “defence politician’s” call is Russia’s possible attack plans against the West. The flaw in this plan: There is not the slightest evidence of any attack plans by Russia. A catastrophe is being conjured up here that is based on invented dangers.

    In medicine, we speak of delusions when a doctor hears from his patient that he is afraid of being poisoned by his wife, even though the man in question is not married.

    President Putin’s answer to a question from a journalist at his press conference in St. Petersburg shows the usually thoughtful president to be really angry:

    Have you completely lost your minds?
    Stupid as a table?
    They invented that Russia wants to attack NATO.
    Have you completely lost your minds?
    Dumm wie dieser Tisch?
    Who came up with this?
    It’s nonsense, utter rubbish.
    It would be rubbish, if it wasn’t a plan to just trick their own population by saying, “Help, Russia is going to attack soon, we must arm ourselves urgently, send weapons to Ukraine!”
    In reality it is done to preserve their own imperial standing and might, that what it’s done for.
    Look at NATO’s potential and Russia’s potential.
    Did you decide, we are crazy or something?

    A few days ago, NATO also announced its preparations to deploy 300,000 American troops to the European fronts in the event of a full-blown conflict with Russia. The spiral of madness is accelerating.

    By comparing President Putin with Hitler, the Second World War is used to analyse the situation, although the situation of continuous warfare shows striking parallels to the events that took place before the First World War and triggered a war that nobody actually wanted and plunged humanity into an apocalypse.

    This war merely paused between 1918 and 1939 and flared up again in Europe 21 years later. There are many signs that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are the overture to a major catastrophe. Escalation is the motto – everyone in the West agrees on this; the peace conference in Switzerland, without Russia as a warring party and with “peace goals” that are grotesque, merely serves as a fig leaf for the aggressive West to be able to say that everything has been tried when a major conflict breaks out. This conference will fail and is designed to do so. The Swiss Federal Council does not seem to have realised this; the formerly neutral country is acting just as naively as Germany and, with the help of the Swiss media, has quickly become a vile warmonger under the guise of “neutrality”, a term that has degenerated into a meaningless label.

    No education and no historical awareness on the part of the government

    In addition, the German leadership lacks education. If you don’t understand history and the strategy of the Hegemons, you are in a poor position, because a lack of historical awareness leads to wrong decisions in the present.

    The main thrust of the hegemons has not changed in the last 120 years or so. It is somewhat surprising that many people still believe today that Germany was solely responsible for the First World War. Even then, every conceivable effort was made internationally to prevent the Germans from focussing on peace and prosperity in the long term and with all their social power.

    Germany was becoming too strong economically for the then hegemon Great Britain. The construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, for example, threatened the British Empire not only industrially, but also in terms of trade routes. If you understand Mackinder’s Heartland Theory, which saw the British Empire in danger as early as 1905, and internalise the strategy of Brzesinski and Friedman, the First World War and today’s tensions make much more sense. However, this requires a minimum of knowledge and education, which the German government clearly lacks. On this topic, I refer you to the article by Karl Eckstein “Anglo-Saxon geopolitical strategy – unchanged for 120 years“. We will return to this topic below.

    Back to the top with courage, stubbornness and discipline

    The economic miracle after the Second World War was an impressive achievement by the Germans after the Second World War. Through hard work and a skilful economic policy, Germany brought itself back to the top of the world. The Marshall Plan launched in 1947 certainly helped, but the Germans achieved their rise primarily through their own efforts. Determined, stubborn and skilful. Ludwig Ehrhard, the first Economics Minister after the war, epitomised the right policy. He had the courage to abolish rationing and price controls as early as 1948; the British, who won the war after all – albeit as the junior partner of the USA – did not abandon the last rationing regulations until 1954. If politics and business make the right decisions, Germany flourishes. Until a few years ago, it was Germany that was the world’s leading exporter.

    Trümmerfrauen – a symbol of the rebuilding of Germany

    That’s the positive side of this determined marching and stubbornness, which was necessary to catch up with the top after humanity’s greatest war disaster to date.

    Stubbornness and overconfidence lead to hell

    However, with the same stubbornness, the Germans also managed to lead their own country – and many others – into the apocalypse and failed to put a stop to it even when any cool-headed observer could see – see, not guess – the catastrophe long before the collapse.

    After the great military successes that culminated in the victory over France in 1940, the German army leadership under Adolf Hitler decided to conquer the Soviet Union. Many generals who survived the war and wrote their memoirs afterwards wrote themselves into heroes after the war and claimed that it was Hitler alone who wanted this campaign – they had warned and opposed it.

    That is not true. The German army command and the majority of the German people – especially after the French campaign in 1940 – were in such a frenzy of victory that they believed themselves to be invincible and took a bite that they choked on.

    The logisticians were the only ones who really warned and rightly argued that the supply of the troops could only cope with such a huge campaign for a few weeks. Almost four million soldiers invaded the Soviet Union, three million Germans and many Romanians, Italians and other allied units. Hitler was convinced that all they had to do was kick down the door and the whole rotten structure would collapse. Disillusionment came very quickly, however.

    Biographies of the great German generals are embellished marketing brochures and are in no way suitable for a fact-based analysis. Everything that did not make the gentlemen look good was deliberately omitted. For example, these gentlemen were very well informed about what was happening to Jews and other parts of the civilian population behind the front line, because the genocide required coordination between the ” Einsatztruppen” and the combat troops. The megalomania, in which many generals were in no way second to Adolf Hitler, was also rewritten in the biographies.

    However, if you browse through the war diaries of the military leadership, you will find the truth. I read the war diary of the Chief of the Army General Staff, Colonel General Franz Halder. It reveals the truth, written down directly on the day of the events in question. The author did not believe that these records would ever be made public and therefore these records are to be rated significantly higher in terms of honesty than the embellished biographies.

    Reading this work, one is surprised that the Chief of the General Staff clearly lacked an accurate overview. He noted down fragments of information, many figures and individual reports. How a war could be waged on the basis of such information is beyond me.

    Furthermore, the erratic nature of the overall assessment on the Eastern Front is more than astonishing and confirms the impression of a lack of oversight, which would have been essential for the success of warfare in various theatres.

    On 3 July 1941, less than two weeks after the start of “Barbarossa”, the great German offensive against Russia, Halder reported that Russia would probably be finished in a fortnight, only to report just over a month later, on 11 August, that the “colossus” Russia had been underestimated. By the summer of 1941, the dream of a quick victory was already over and the difficulties warned of by the logisticians were already materialising. In October, the Germans were once again confident of victory before the “Typhoon” offensive – the final advance on Moscow – and announced the defeat of the Soviet Union. Things turned out differently. Only a few motorbike patrols made it as far as Khimki, a suburb of Moscow, which today lies on the MKAD ring road, a good 20 kilometres from the Kremlin.

    A memorial “Monument to the Defenders of Moscow” was erected. Will the memorial bear fruit?

    Moscow not only survived, the Russians went on the offensive for the first time. On 8 December 1941, Adolf Hitler issued directive no. 39 and the offensive was halted.

    When Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Wehrmacht High Command, was asked by the Soviet prosecutor Major Iona Timofeyevich Nikitchenko at the first Nuremberg war crimes trial when he thought the war against Russia had been lost, Keitel replied with one word: “Moscow”.

    Continuing the war even though militarily defeated

    Germany’s strategy: fight on until the end

    After the defeat before Moscow, the German Wehrmacht was so weakened, even in the opinion of German generals, that a victory against the Soviet Union was no longer conceivable. Nevertheless, the war continued for almost another three and a half years. In the history books, the defeat of the Wehrmacht is linked to later lost battles: Stalingrad (1942), Kursk (1943), Bagration (1944) and even Berlin (1945). Most of the losses were suffered by both sides after 1941, but the fact that the Wehrmacht still managed to continue causing damage for almost three and a half years despite its strategic defeat in front of Moscow should be borne in mind when assessing wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and ultimately Ukraine and Gaza. These conflicts were and continue to be waged despite the aggressor’s realisation that military victory was and is impossible. Why?

    There are probably several reasons why the Germans did not call off the operation in Russia in 1941. Firstly, it was the Nazis’ declared aim to exterminate the Soviets, whom they saw as sub-human. They were quite successful in doing so, as they managed to kill around 15 million civilians. Secondly, an armistice with Stalin would have been difficult, as the military reputation of the Wehrmacht would have suffered, the genocide of the population would have become known worldwide and, after an armistice, a strengthened Russia would have stood on the borders of the German Reich. There were therefore many reasons for the Nazis not to seek peace with Stalin. It is important to note that the Germans did not gain any advantage from this strategy, but rather caused their downfall.

    US strategy: lose militarily – win strategically

    The Americans also continue to fight lost wars, but achieve strategic goals that benefit their geopolitical strategy.

    Since the Second World War, it has been observed that the US has also continued military conflicts for a long time despite regular military defeats. However, they do this by managing to keep their own losses very low, as their weapons systems were vastly superior to their weak opponents until recently, they had air superiority and regularly sent third parties into the fire as proxies.

    The reasons for this strategy are multi-layered: firstly, war is a huge business for the USA – or rather for the military-industrial complex. Secondly, the main aim of these wars is to weaken strategic opponents; this can be achieved even if one is ultimately defeated militarily.

    As I am now in Iran and studying its history, the Iran-Iraq war is a prime example of this strategy, in which the USA even managed not to be involved militarily; Iraq was used as a proxy. The war lasted eight years. Although the Iranians ultimately prevailed militarily, they were completely bled dry financially, militarily and in terms of population. Many well-educated men died in this conflict, who were then missing for reconstruction. The Americans succeeded in making the rise of an Iran independent of the USA after the Shah impossible in the long term and to this day – goal achieved.

    Is the US strategy working in Ukraine?

    Fakten

    In my opinion, NATO’s military defeat in Ukraine has been a fact since September 2023. We already discussed this last September in “Ukraine is militarily finished“. Since then, the Russian territorial gains have been steadily increasing and for a few weeks now, the Russians have opened a new front from the north against Kharkov, which has led to the front being extended once again, thinning out the Ukrainians’ forces even further. The Russians do not need to launch a major offensive – and have not done so to date – but are instead wearing down the Ukrainian forces on the ever-lengthening front line with small advances. Ukrainian losses per day are steadily increasing and have long since passed the point where these losses were still replaceable. The weapons arriving in Ukraine from the West will not solve the problem – there is not only a lack of soldiers, but above all a lack of will on the part of the Ukrainian population to go to their deaths for the US. Furthermore, President Zelensky has been ruling without a legal basis since May. He has not allowed any elections to take place as he would have been voted out of office. This fact alone makes negotiations with the legalistic Russians impossible.

    The facts are on the table; whether you like them or not is irrelevant. Russia will prevail militarily in this conflict. The Russian people are united, the military and civilian infrastructure is functioning, the economy is booming.

    This time the USA misses its target – or does it?

    The USA has failed against Russia in several ways: firstly, it has missed its military target and this failure is damaging America’s prestige as the greatest military power. Secondly, the sanctions war against Russia was a complete failure. The West was weakened and Russia was strengthened. The IMF figures speak volumes. Germany doesn’t even make the list.

    The USA did not succeed in weakening Russia. However, the US strategy is much more cynical. Let’s come back to Mackinder: let’s talk about George Friedman, the current head of American geostrategy, the successor to Mackinder and Brzesinski, so to speak:

    “The primary interest of the United States through the last century-that is, the First War, the Second War, and the Cold War-has been the relationship between Germany and Russia, because united, those two would be the only power that could threaten us-and so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

    George Friedman

    The aim is therefore to prevent Germany from teaming up with Russia. If it is not possible to weaken Russia as a major opponent, there is the option of preventing the alliance by turning Germany and Russia into enemies and/or destroying Germany. Today, Germany is hostile to Russia and massively weakened by this conflict. A military conflict with Russia would probably destroy Germany once again. The USA is therefore on the “right” path – for the third time after 1918 and 1945.

    Germany’s turnaround unlikely

    The German population has lost its way

    Just like 80 years ago, the Germans have lost their way. The soul of the people has been poisoned by the media’s hate propaganda and the population is misinformed about its own economic and military situation – the Second World War sends its regards. Only after the German people have been given a honest talking to would they be able to properly assess the situation and exert pressure on the government, whose members are incompetent but masterfully pursue their personal interests.

    Those in power want to maintain their position and their standard of living

    There is a complete lack of competence in the government itself. I don’t even need to discuss this at this point, as it is so obvious.

    From an American perspective, the government’s line-up is a good choice: Scholz, Habeck, Baerbock and whatever their names are.

    Due to their lack of education and character weaknesses, such people would have no chance whatsoever of obtaining a post in the free economy that would allow them so much money, flights in private jets, trips in limousines and overnight stays in the best hostels in the world. I can’t think of any business owner who would hire Mrs Baerbock as an employee in any company for any function.

    These politicians know this very well and they do everything they can to continue to lead this life. Instructions from Brussels or Washington are therefore followed in order to guarantee their own job security. They want to be re-elected or receive a new post due to their “loyalty” to Washington, which secures their standard of living. There is currently even speculation that Mrs Baerbock could possibly become Ursula von der Leyen’s successor in Brussels. It can therefore be ruled out that the current government would decide to make a U-turn – their own interests prohibit them from doing so.

    New elections will not bring any change

    Neither the people nor the current government will therefore want or be able to make a U-turn. Would new elections change the picture?

    I am extremely pessimistic about that too. The only political groups that could dare to reassess Russia are the AFD and the Sarah Wagenknecht alliance. The powers that be are aware of this and are using every means at their disposal, with or without a legal basis, to destroy the AFD and ridicule Wagenknecht.

    Without having to enter into legal analyses, the accusations against the AFD are already absurd in and of themselves. The AFD is accused of right-wing extremism and its members are labelled Nazis. Even the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution is looking into these issues. The situation is therefore as follows: The warmongers from the CDU/CSU to the Greens, i.e. from left to right, are calling the AFD, which alongside the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance is the only party in favour of negotiations with Russia and is against the war, Nazis and want to ban it. Terms are being confused and history seems to have been lost.

    You can sense that there are people in Germany who oppose the warmongering of the government and the media and are taking to the streets, but even if the AFD were to achieve a brilliant result, this will not bring about a turnaround.

    According to the latest figures from the Sunday Bundestag election poll, the AFD would achieve between 14% and 19%, depending on the polling organisation, and the Sarah Wagenknecht alliance between 5% and 8%. Although these are good results compared to the 2021 elections (AFD: 10.3%, Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance was only just formed), they will not be enough to tip the balance of power in the Bundestag towards peace.

    Worse still, the CDU/CSU will probably win the elections and Friedrich Merz, whom the USA no longer needs to buy, as this already happened years ago due to his Blackrock mandate, will become the next Federal Chancellor on the basis of today’s figures. More pro-USA and therefore more pro-war is not possible. Depending on the outcome of the elections, there will either be a coalition with the SPD or another three-party coalition with the Greens. A great deal would have to change in order to prevent this outcome.

    Cautionary voices are silenced

    Internal forces that would bring about a turnaround are therefore lacking in Germany. Voices that oppose this are already being systematically silenced by the system (government and media). The parallels between the actions of those in power today and the 1930s are astounding and worrying. From 1933 onwards, a similar approach was taken, first gently and then increasingly harshly against journalists who asked questions, until the final destination was murder or concentration camp. The fact that Scott Ritter was denied permission to leave his own country a few days ago shows that illegal practices are already a fact of life in the USA and will soon be a reality in Germany too.

    Dangerous upcoming wake-up calls

    Coming financial collapse as a wake-up call

    It is interesting in this context that no one seems to care about the instability in the Western financial markets. The situation is very similar to the domestic and geopolitical situation. People think they have everything under control, although the reality speaks a different language. The entire system could collapse any day and that day will come. Such a collapse could be a wake-up call that forces a reassessment of the overall situation or will lead to a complete escalation.

    Russia’s strike against NATO as a wake-up call

    The war against Russia has already begun, Russia has not yet reacted kinetically against NATO. Western politicians often bluff and draw red lines in the sand, which are moved once they are crossed. The West does not recognise that the Russians operate differently: they are systematic, clear and do not bluff: they do things differently. The escalation in the use of long-range weapons against targets in Russia is not at all to the liking of the Russians and President Putin has announced consequences. These consequences will come. This could involve a strike against NATO facilities outside Ukraine, including in Germany; see our comments on this in “The consequences of the intercepted German air force conversation mean war“. The chatter about a Russian nuclear attack in the West is a distraction from this conventional danger.

    This could also be a wake-up call. The West has obviously not considered that NATO would not have an adequate response to such a strike by Russia. If the Russians come to the conclusion that such a strike will be followed by apathy, it will come and serve as a wake-up call. Nevertheless, it is a dangerous game.

    Conclusion

    It is obvious that Germany is misjudging the threat situation and its chances and is being completely controlled by the USA. The incompetent and erratic assessment of the situation is nothing new – as a comparison with Franz Halder’s diary shows – and the longer the Bonmôt that history will not repeat itself, the more critically one should assess it. Keitel’s statement confirms that Germany is perfectly capable of walking into disaster with its eyes wide open. In this context, the ability of the Germans to work their way out of even the greatest ruin is little consolation. The chances of Germany achieving a turnaround are minimal.

    Mass events such as the Olympics would certainly be valuable catalysts for coming to the conclusion that the whole thing could be reconsidered in the peaceful confrontation of a sporting event with the “enemies”. However, the Olympic Committee is aware of this and is doing everything it can to prevent such an outcome. René Zittlau reported on this in his article “Sport is the continuation of diplomacy by other means“.

    To prevent a global war, it would take a wake-up call of the martial kind, such as the collapse of the financial system or a military response from Russia. However, it is impossible to judge whether such events would lead to reflection or escalation.

    In my opinion, however, the main responsibility for this situation lies with the leading media in the West. Objective reporting over the last 10 years would have made this development in politics and among the people impossible.

    The fourth estate has degenerated into a myth.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 06/10/2024 – 02:00

  • Connecticut Democrats Use Pride Flag To 'Honor' State Trooper Killed On Duty
    Connecticut Democrats Use Pride Flag To ‘Honor’ State Trooper Killed On Duty

    Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

    Democrats in Wethersfield, Connecticut refused to fly the ‘thin blue line’ flag in remembrance of a state trooper who was killed while on duty, instead insisting that flying an LGBTQ ‘pride’ flag at half staff was enough of an honor.

    Yes, really.

    Trooper Aaron Pelletier was killed while conducting a routine traffic stop, with one Alex Oyola-Sanchez arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter.

    Police said Oyola-Sanchez was under the influence of several types of drugs when he drove into Pelletier, his squad car and the vehicle he had pulled over.

    The trooper died from fatal injuries at the scene. Oyola-Sanchez Drove off but was later apprehended.

    Democrat council members voted down a motion to fly the thin blue line flag in the trooper’s honor.

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    Emily Zambrello, one of those members, told reporters that the decision was taken because the flag represents “racism and antagonism.”

    Zambrello further claimed that a compromise had been made by having the LGBTQ pride flag “already up at half staff in honor of [Pelletier’s] passing.”

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

    Absolutely incredible.

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

    Compare this pathetic ‘Pride’ gathering to the way the State Troopers honored Pelleteir:

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    Connecticut GOP chairman Ben Proto slammed Democrats for failing to properly honor the fallen trooper.

    This epitomises the utter state of towns and cities under Democrat control.

    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 23:20

  • Massie Slams AIPAC, Censorship, Surveillance, Debt Crisis, And Insane Government Regulations: New Tucker
    Massie Slams AIPAC, Censorship, Surveillance, Debt Crisis, And Insane Government Regulations: New Tucker

    Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) sat down with Tucker Carlson for a little over two hours, where the two discussed a variety of topics, including the grip that lobbies such as AIPAC has have over legislative agendas, freedom of speech, government surveillance, and the influence of the media when it comes to the political polarization of American politics.

    (If you click into the tweet below you can navigate to various sections)

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    Massie began by opining on the US National Debt, which currently stands at just under $35 trillion.

    You know, it’s hard to comprehend 14 digits of debt. But when you see the last five digits are moving so fast, you can’t, you know, perceive them with your eyes, then you kind of understand. Whoa, we are problem here. I mean, it’s a $100,000 a second, roughly. So imagine we had this catapult and we were launching, cyber trucks once a second into the ocean. That’s how much debt we’re taking on, continuously.

    He noted a troubling tendency by Congress to treat the debt as a mere abstraction vs. an urgent reality that requires immediate and decisive action, telling Carlson “I am trying to make people feel very uncomfortable” so a to raise awareness.

    Lobbyists Rule DC

    Massie then went into his views on lobbying and his stance on foreign aid – in particular, his consistent record of voting against funding for Israel. He explained that his opposition to these measures is not rooted in animosity towards Israel but stems from a broader philosophical and fiscal responsibility perspective against excessive foreign aid and involvement in overseas conflicts.

    “Look, we haven’t named three post offices like in the last month. We voted like 15 or 16 times on issues related to Israel. And, you know, I’ve been hit because I voted no on all of them.“

    His repeated votes against funding Israel reflect his commitment to reducing U.S. expenditures overseas, which he views as contributing to the national debt and entangling the U.S. in foreign issues that do not directly serve American interests. Massie’s larger concern is the implications of US foreign policy decisions and the use of US taxpayer funds to achieve them.

    He then delved deep into the workings and influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on the legislative processes of the United States Congress – and in particular, how the organization shapes the agenda in Washington DC, often overshadowing domestic priorities.

    According to Massie, AIPAC effectively places “minders” on GOP members to monitor and influence their actions and voting – saying that each Repuiblican seems to have an “AIPAC person” or babysitter.

    “I have Republicans, you come to me on the floor and say, ‘I wish I could vote with you today. Yours is the right vote, but I would just take too much flak back home,” adding “And I have Republicans who come to me and say, ‘That’s wrong, what a PAC is doing to you. Let me talk to my AIPAC person.’ By the way, everybody but me has an AIPAC person.”

    MASSIE: It’s like your babysitter. Your AIPAC babysitter who is always talking to you for AIPAC. They’re probably a constituent in your district, but they are, you know, firmly embedded in AIPAC.

    CARLSON: And every member has something like this.

    MASSIE: Every Re– I don’t know how it works on the Democrats’ side. But that’s how it works on the Republican side. And when they come to D.C., you go have lunch with them. And they’ve got your cell number and you have conversations with them. So I’ve had like–

    CARLSON: That’s absolutely crazy.

    MASSIE: I’ve had four members of Congress say, “I’ll talk to my AIPAC person.” And like that’s clearly what we call them, my AIPAC guy. I’ll talk to my AIPAC guy and see if I can get them to, you know, dial those ads back.

    CARLSON: Why have I never heard this before?

    MASSIE: It doesn’t benefit anybody. Why would they want to tell their constituents that they’ve basically got a buddy system with somebody who’s representing a foreign country? It doesn’t benefit the congressman for people to know that. So they’re not going to tell you that.

    “They pay for trips for congressmen and their spouses to go to Israel,” Massie continued. “I’m not the only Republican who hasn’t taken the AIPAC trip to Israel, but I’m probably one of a dozen that hasn’t taken that trip and the other ones just haven’t got around to it.”

    Censorship and Freedom of Speech

    Massie also addressed concerns related to censorship, particularly focusing on legislation that impacts freedom of speech on university campuses. For example, he was critical of a bill that proposed to combat anti-Semitism in educational institutions but, according to him, used an overly broad and externally defined criterion that could potentially limit free speech, pointing out the problematic aspects of using an external definition of anti-Semitism from a website, which he felt could lead to censorship of legitimate academic discussions and expressions. He questioned the rationale behind not including the definition directly in the bill, which could lead to ambiguities and potential misuse:

    “They brought a bill to Congress, and this was actually a binding bill, not a non-binding resolution… the problem with this bill is they use some international definition of anti-Semitism on a website somewhere. My first question is, why don’t you just put the definition in the bill?”

    He then said that referencing an external source for defining what constitutes hate speech could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated censorship, particularly in educational settings where freedom of speech is crucial.

    “For instance, saying that, Jews kill Jesus, which is, you know, in the Bible, he was he was not welcome among his own people. Okay. And so that would be anti-Semitism. And if you engaged in that on campus or just offered that as a thought, let’s say in a classroom, you would be anti-Semitic and you would run afoul of the Department of Education and some federal laws.”

    Out-of-control Government

    Massie also discussed his concerns over government surveillance, privacy, and overreach, specifically focusing on legislative measures that would allow more intrusive government control. One of the main examples he brought up was related to automotive regulations that would permit remote deactivation of vehicles.

    For example, a law that mandates new cars sold by 2026 must have the capability to be remotely turned off by authorities. Massie criticized this capability as a significant overreach, saying, “By 2026, every new automobile sold has to be able to turn itself off if it doesn’t like you’re driving… How do you appeal this conviction at the roadside?” This statement underscores his concerns about the potential for misuse and the erosion of individual freedoms and privacy.

    Massie suggests a call to action for policymakers, technologists, and the public to consider the long-term implications of short-term safety measures.

    His message is based in libertarian principles, and focuses on the trade-offs between security measures and personal freedoms. With the car example above, Massie slams  the lack of recourse or transparency in how these technologies are applied. For him, the principle of autonomy—being able to control one’s movement without unwarranted interference—is paramount.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 22:45

  • Jim Jordan Reacts To Shocking Report Of Potential Juror Misconduct in Trump Trial
    Jim Jordan Reacts To Shocking Report Of Potential Juror Misconduct in Trump Trial

    Authored by Ben Sellers via Headline USA,

    During a visit to Monroe, N.C., to support conservative congressional candidate Mark Harris on Friday, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was surprised by a reporter’s question about fresh allegations from former President Donald Trump’s New York lawfare trial that could potentially result in a mistrial.

    Earlier in the day, Judge Juan Merchan wrote a letter to Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, notifying them of a Facebook comment that was discovered under a routine court post dated May 29, the day before a jury convicted Trump of 34 felonies.

    The commenter, identifying himself as a juror’s cousin by the name of Michael Anderson, appeared to offer some advance inside knowledge about the verdict.

    “Well, if that happened, that’s wrong,” Jordan responded when asked about the breaking news. “I have not heard that and I don’t know if it’s true, but you obviously aren’t supposed to be doing that, so we’ll have to see.“

    In his letter, Merchan claimed he had just learned of the comment.

    “Today, the Court became aware of a comment that was posted on the Unified Court System’s public Facebook page and which I now bring to your attention,” the judge wrote. “The comment, now labeled as one week old, responded to a routine UCS notice, posted on May 29.”

    Merchan’s letter did not clarify whether the person who posted the comment was indeed related to a juror.

    The judge, a Biden donor, was widely criticized for his biased rulings throughout the trial and was even suspected of receiving bribes through his daughter, whose digital marketing firm drew millions of dollars from Democrat politicians—some of whom became involved directly in the case.

    Merchan’s brief letter did not outline any sort of follow up steps, although it stands to reason that the court will investigate the matter and would declare a mistrial if, in fact, juror misconduct were established.

    The concern provides yet another avenue for appeal to Trump, whom many legal experts believe will ultimately see the case overturned, although the disruption to his campaign and political fallout from the conviction have yet to be determined.

    At the Friday night fundraiser in North Carolina, Jordan offered high praise for Trump, with whom he has formed a close bond, touting his tenacity in particular.

    “His attitude in light of everything they’ve done to him is just phenomenal,” Jordan told the audience.

    The charter chairman of the House Freedom Caucus recalled an anecdote from the night Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by the FBI—an unprecedented abuse of power at the time—which took place shortly before the 2022 midterm election.

    “There are certain times where you think, ‘This is not supposed to happen in this country,’” Jordan said of his reaction after seeing the news unfold on television with his wife.

    When he called Trump, however, the reaction was far from what one might have expected:

    “Jim, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to our party,” Trump reportedly told him. “My numbers are gonna go up.”

    During an exclusive interview with Headline USA, Jordan said House Republicans had received a response on Friday after sending a letter last week to Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg and his lead prosecutor, requesting that they testify before the House Weaponization Subcommittee.

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    “They just sent us a letter back today saying they’re willing to talk to us, so we’ll see,” said Jordan. “But we may have to, you know, go with a subpoena to get him [Bragg] to testify as well.”

    The House is also investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has publicly quarreled with Jordan and leveled ad hominem attacks against him for his oversight efforts.

    Jordan noted, however, that as of this week, “Willis’s case is falling apart” following an appellate court’s decision to suspend the trial until October while evaluating whether she is ethically fit to continue as prosecutor.

    The House is also attempting to impose accountability on special counsel Jack Smith. However, a proposed bill likely faces steep odds of clearing the Democrat-run Senate, even though it ironically vests greater authority in the upper chamber to close a constitutional loophole exploited by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    “We’re trying to get legislation out to say that any special counsel who wasn’t approved by the Senate gets no funds,” Jordan said. “It‘s the way to get at this Jack Smith and the ridiculous things he’s done.”

    Florida Judge Aileen Cannon has similarly scheduled a June 21 hearing for Trump and his co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago case to argue that Smith’s appointment was unlawful since he was never confirmed by the Senate—a legal theory first floated by former Attorney General Ed Meese.

    Jordan downplayed calls for the House to rescind two contempt of Congress resolutions passed by Democrats in the previous session, saying the move was unlikely to have any effect on the already prosecuted cases.

    Two former Trump advisers—Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon—became the first people prosecuted and convicted under the law in roughly four decades, fueling more outrage and allegations of two-tiered justice. Navarro is currently incarcerated, and Bannon is expected to report to jail by the end of the month.

    In the wake of Trump’s felony convictions, House Republicans have faced brutal criticism from some for their inaction, with Jordan, in particular, bearing the brunt of it over his failure to live up to his promise as a GOP attack dog—instead becoming the champion of the “strongly worded letter.”

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    Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.

    The Center Square’s Brett Rowland contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 22:10

  • Mapping Illegal Immigrants By State
    Mapping Illegal Immigrants By State

    U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced actions to bar immigrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally.

    In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti maps the number of unauthorized immigrants by state, based on 2021 estimates from the Pew Research Center based on calculations using U.S. Census Bureau data.

    Undocumented Immigrants Concentrated in Certain States

    The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States was estimated at around 10 million in 2021 after peaking at 12.2 million in 2007.

    California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois had the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2021. These six states were home to 56% of the nation’s unauthorized immigrants in 2021, down from 80% in 1990.

    Between 2017 and 2021, the unauthorized immigrant populations in Florida and Washington increased, while those in California and Nevada decreased.

    The most common country of birth for people without legal status is Mexico. In recent years, however, there have been increases in immigrants from nearly every other region of the world—Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Asia, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa.

    In addition, around 5% of U.S. workers are unauthorized immigrants.

    If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Why Do People Immigrate to the U.S.? This visualization shows why immigrants choose to come to America.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 21:35

  • Illegals Marching in NYC Usher In Next Phase Of Biden’s Color Revolution
    Illegals Marching in NYC Usher In Next Phase Of Biden’s Color Revolution

    Submitted by Ben Sellers via Headline USA,

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    Commentary

    Pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is the 2024 election heist all began fitting together Friday as illegal immigrants took over New York City’s Times Square to demand the abolishing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to what was already a toothless and symbolic executive order from President Joe Biden.

    And so begins the long foretold Cloward–Piven strategy that will not only secure for the radical Left another election cycle, but perhaps a permanent toppling of the capitalist/democratic system via Marxist revolution.

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    In retrospect, it may seem clear all along that it was the “newcomers” and not the Hamas-indoctrinated college kids who would be the George Floyd rioters of the current season, after having invaded the country to the tune of some 11 million.

    The earlier protests were, of course, a test run for Soros-funded organizers to dust off their riot gear and update their four-year-old call lists for when a spontaneous flash-mob is needed, the underlying cause being moot (as many of the terrorist sympathizers demonstrated in on-the-scene interviews).

    Once all is said and done, it would not be the least bit surprising if the corrupt Biden administration has not only declared martial law, but granted de-facto citizenship and enfranchisement to all of the foreign interlopers, using the pretext that blanket amnesty will be the only way to placate these paid, well-organized rioters.

    However, American citizens may be too distracted dealing with other things to put up a political fight over the issue. Looming on the horizon is the prospect of a new pandemic-level shutdown that is now being advocated by both the World Health Organization and the United Nations over the livestock-borne bird flu. No matter that the one human fatality thus far documented is likely a hoax.

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    When one’s basic human needs are in question—such as the nation’s food supply, and access to friends and family—things like freedom and civil liberties may suddenly seem trivial.

    Meanwhile, the great MAGA champion himself, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, will be in jail, if that is where they want him to be.

    Doing so inevitably would result in an uprising of some kind from conservatives, which is the one thing that the Left could not control—although with AI-operated F-35 drones they might contain it fairly well.

    A united conservative front actively rallying against them is, nonetheless, a bad look for the illegitimate U.S. administration, particularly if the vast majority of the people sympathize with and support the movement.

    Rather, the Trump thread is likely to merge in the near future with the incessant efforts by ethically bankrupt Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., to discredit the U.S. Supreme Court, which will be forced to intervene in order to prevent the constitutional crisis that results from a local district attorney in a deep-blue city attempting to lock up the leading presidential candidate on spurious federal charges that not even the judge and jury seem to be clear on.

    Enter the aforementioned flash-mob rioters to threaten and intimidate the SCOTUS justices, having recently doxxed Samuel Alito by plastering pictures of his home in every leftist media outlet. Nothing is keeping these unhinged, bloodthirsty Bolsheviks from actually following through on “releasing the whirlwind,” to use the euphemism for assassination coined by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

    Such an act, in their warped minds, would be payback for having been deprived of their due when Merrick Garland was prevented from stealing the seat held by the late, great Antonin Scalia; and when Amy Coney Barrett replaced their own icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a true dose of poetic justice, Garland would be complicit in the foul deed by failing to enforce the federal laws preventing it.

    Nonetheless, swapping out a single justice will not deliver them what they desire, which is to own the entire court system, so they will proceed to use whatever public outrage they engineer to push through more court oversight hearings, efforts to pack the court and even to put it under the direct purview of Garland’s Justice Department.

    The one saving grace might be the refusal of centrist Sens. Sinema, Manchin, Fetterman, etc., to go along with the ploy. But with brute force as the alternative, what choice will there be?

    Suffice it to say, the 11 million extra votes will be just the boost that the eventual Democrat candidate needs to prevail, and at that point, if Trump hasn’t had the good sense to flee, he will have at least three more show trials to look forward to while in Rikers Island.

    Don’t think for a moment that, as America slept, leftists haven’t spent the last half century gaming out such a sequence of events and waiting for their moment to come. And they will stop at nothing now that it has arrived.

    Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 21:00

  • Teton Pass Collapse In Landslide Could Spark Worker Shortage In Jackson Hole 
    Teton Pass Collapse In Landslide Could Spark Worker Shortage In Jackson Hole 

    On Saturday morning, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WY DOT) shared a Facebook post from Governor Mark Gordon. The post included footage of a landslide that swallowed a section of Teton Pass, which connects Jackson Hole with the communities around Victor, Idaho. 

    “This morning I met with state officials from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to coordinate a response to the catastrophic landslide that has closed Teton Pass,” Gov. Gordon wrote in the post on Saturday. 

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    The governor said, “WYDOT geologists and engineers will be on site today to conduct an assessment and develop a long-term solution to rebuild the roadway,” adding, “At this point, we do not have an estimated timeline for the road to reopen.” 

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    “The buzz is it will be closed for several weeks or months,” Teton County Commission Chairman Luther Propst told local media outlet WyoFile. 

    With the closure of Teton Pass, a once convenient 35-minute journey now stretches to a grueling 1 hour and 35 minutes, or even longer if there are any detours. This is a big blow to the low-skilled workers of J-Hole who rely on this route due to the unaffordable living costs in the resort town. The new detour will only compound the challenges for these workers – and who knows – some may quit over the new commute.

    Propst noted, “The county’s looking at camping options at the fairgrounds” for Idaho commuters who work in Jackson Hole.

    Here’s what X users are saying…

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    Could J-Hole elites experience a worker shortage? Maybe Biden could send them some illegal aliens.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 20:25

  • Politico Nukes 'Biden Business Dealings' Lie
    Politico Nukes ‘Biden Business Dealings’ Lie

    While President Joe Biden has repeatedly insisted he has nothing to do with his family’s business dealings – going so far as to say he’s never so much as discussed them with relatives, a new report from Politico completely destroys that lie.

    Illustration by Bill Kuchman/POLITICO (source images via AP, Getty Images, iStock)

    “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses. Period,” said Biden. “

    “And what I will do is the same thing we did in our administration. There will be an absolute wall between personal and private [business interests] and the government. There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there. And I’m going to propose the same kind of strict, strict rules. That’s why I never talked with my son or my brother or anyone else — even distant family — about their business interests. Period.“

    As Politico notes, Joe Biden’s political journey, stretching back to his first Senate bid, has always been a family affair. His first campaign was significantly supported by his family, setting a precedent for how his personal and professional lives would intertwine. Throughout his career, Biden’s relatives have not only been a staple in his campaigns but have also engaged in business ventures that at times involved his political patrons, converting some business partners into campaign supporters.

    This longstanding blend of family, business, and politics has made it an absurd notion that Biden has distanced himself from the actions and ventures of his relatives, particularly his son Hunter Biden and his brother Jim Biden, whose foreign business dealings have been a continual source of controversy.

    Meanwhile…

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    What’s more, for years, Joe Biden shared key professional services with his family members: a bookkeeper with his son and a personal lawyer with his brother. This overlap extends beyond service providers to the very core of his advisory circle. Many of Biden’s closest staffers and advisers have, at different times, doubled as business associates for his relatives. These overlaps suggest an all-in-family approach that has persisted despite Biden’s assertions that he has kept a professional distance from his family’s business dealings.

    Investigations and Ethical Questions

    Particularly revealing is the hiring of the former head of Biden’s Secret Service detail by Jim Biden to investigate a Chinese executive, Patrick Ho, who Hunter Biden was doing business with in 2017. Despite claims of maintaining a professional distance, this move, ahead of a significant business meeting in Hong Kong, highlights how deeply enmeshed personal and professional lines can become. Jim Biden’s assertion during his February impeachment inquiry interview that he did not discuss business specifics with Hunter during the trip only adds layers to the opaque nature of the family’s business dealings.

    “10 for the Big Guy”

    One phrase found in a series of alleged emails linked to Hunter Biden — “10 for the big guy” — has become a focal point of controversy, drawing scrutiny to the business dealings of the president’s son and the implications for Biden. These emails, reportedly related to Hunter Biden’s interactions with the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC, have raised questions about potential influence peddling and conflicts of interest.

    This email came to light as part of a larger trove of data discovered on a laptop that Hunter Biden left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved – and was recently entered into evidence as authentic by federal prosecutors during Hunter Biden’s ongoing trial for a federal firearms offense.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 19:15

  • Will Hunter Take The Stand? He May Want To Think Twice Before Checking That Box
    Will Hunter Take The Stand? He May Want To Think Twice Before Checking That Box

    Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

    This weekend, the Hunter Biden team is reportedly debating whether to have him take the stand on Monday, a move rife with risk. Most criminal defendants avoid such appearances given the potential damage of a withering cross examination. Those risks were evident in the recent testimony of Hunter’s daughter, Naomi, which backfired badly on key points.

    I have sometimes been in the minority among defense attorneys and legal commentators on this question. In celebrity trials, a jury can feel alienated or even disrespected by a defendant not taking the stand. That was the case, in my view, with Martha Stewart. When a defendant brings forth a host of others to speak for him or her, the refusal to testify can become more glaring and concerning.

    Hunter Biden is in that position. He has had a host of relatives testify, including his daughter Naomi. When you put your daughter on the stand and subject her to a tough cross examination, many jurors can wonder how you can stay safely behind the defendant’s table.

    Yet, Naomi’s testimony is precisely why defense counsel are risk adverse on the question. She gave moving testimony on her love for her father and his struggle with addiction. However, her attempt to establish that Hunter was not using drugs at the time of his gun purchase fell apart on cross examination.  She testified that she was thrilled during this period with how “healthy” and clean her father appeared: “He seemed like the clearest I had seen him since my uncle died…I told him I was so proud of him and I was proud to be able to introduce Peter to him.”

    Prosecutors showed her text messages that told a different story. In some, Naomi appears alarmed by her father’s conduct and lack of responses. On October 18, for example, she texted “I’m sorry daddy, I can’t take this, I don’t know what to say.” That message coincides with messages from Hunter seeking to score drugs from a guy named Mookie and stating that he was doing crack in a car. In other messages, Naomi complains that he was not responding. She finally received a response when, at 2 a.m, Hunter asked her to have her boyfriend drop off keys to a truck for him in Manhattan. Naomi was asked if she saw the drug residue or paraphernalia in the truck.

    Any cross examination would focus less on Naomi than it would on Mookie.

    Any decision to put Hunter on the stand is obviously dependent on your defense strategy. As I have previously written, all of the defenses suggested by Abby Lowell in his opening argument collapsed within two days. That includes the suggestion that someone else checked the box on the form denying that Hunter was using drugs. These claims seem so unbelievable and unsupported that they might insult a jury. However, the real strategy in this open-and-shut case appears to be simple jury nullification. The defense is trying to get one or more jurors to ignore the law and the evidence to acquit Biden.

    Nullification efforts in the case appear to be a combination of both political and social association. First and foremost, this is Bidentown. It is the hometown of President Joe Biden and voted overwhelmingly for him in past elections. It is the opposite of the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump. This is the best possible jury pool for a Biden.

    Second, all of the jurors testified to knowing someone with drug problems. Hunter has written moving accounts of his struggle with addiction. Some jurors may resist convicting someone who has seemingly overcome the scourge of addiction.

    So, if this is a nullification strategy, does Hunter testifying help or hurt? The answer is that it could seal the deal or shatter it with jurors. Hunter will make a good witness on his struggle to overcome drugs and alcohol abuse. He can claim little or no memory of the gun store purchase. Hearing from him directly can establish a connection, even a bond, with jurors that could reinforce a nullification vote.

    However, it will also subject him to cross examination by prosecutors who have been lethal in their well-planned and well-executed case. They can delve into his texts and the later intervention by his family to deal with his self-destructive lifestyle. He also faces the potential of triggering new criminal offenses through perjury.

    That latter concern is particularly real after the formal referral of three House committees to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Hunter is accused of lying to Congress in his recent testimony on key issues under investigation. While many expect Garland to ignore the referral to protect the President and his family, the allegations are compelling and the Justice Department has previously prosecuted individuals in cases with far less support. This would appear a relatively easy perjury prosecution, but the politics may be insurmountable for Garland.

    Most attorneys would advise Hunter to remain behind the defense table and not take the stand. After all, this is a great jury rendering a verdict on a Biden in Bidentown with the First Lady seated behind him for much of the trial. They just need one. The risk of testimony is that Hunter could burst into flames on the stand and torch any chance to nullify the crime.

    We will know soon. However, if Hunter checks this box and testifies, it is the one decision that he will not be able to blame on others.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 18:40

  • Bird Flu Triggers Supply Chain Snarls In Dairy Industry As "Farmers Increasingly Culled Cows" 
    Bird Flu Triggers Supply Chain Snarls In Dairy Industry As “Farmers Increasingly Culled Cows” 

    The latest US Department of Agriculture data shows bird flu has infected at least 80 dairy herds across ten states. There are growing concerns about rising cow mortalities from the virus and the risk of farmers culling cows to stop the spread. This could ignite economic stress across the farm belt and unleash a supply shock. 

    Reuters spoke with a USDA spokesperson who was aware of H5N1 virus-related deaths among cow herds but said that most cows recovered. No official figures have been provided on the number of cow mortalities in South Dakota, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, and Colorado. 

    Here’s more on the cow deaths: 

    In South Dakota, a 1,700-cow dairy sent a dozen of the animals to slaughter after they did not recover from the virus, and killed another dozen that contracted secondary infections, said Russ Daly, a professor with South Dakota State University and veterinarian for the state extension office who spoke with the farm.

    “You get sick cows from one disease, then that creates a domino effect for other things, like routine pneumonia and digestive issues,” Daly said.

    A farm in Michigan killed about 10% of its 200 infected cows after they too failed to recover from the virus, said Phil Durst, an educator with Michigan State University Extension who spoke with that farm.

    Michigan has more confirmed infections in cattle than any state as well as two of three confirmed cases of US dairy workers who contracted bird flu.

    In Colorado, some dairies reported culling cows with avian flu because they did not return to milk production, said Olga Robak, spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture.

    Ohio Department of Agriculture spokesperson Meghan Harshbarger said infected cows have died in Ohio and other affected states, mostly due to secondary infections.

    The Texas Animal Health Commission also confirmed that cows have died from secondary infections at some dairy operations with avian flu outbreaks.

    Officials could not provide figures for the number of statewide cow mortalities.

    New Mexico’s state veterinarian, Samantha Uhrig, said farmers increasingly culled cows due to decreased milk production early in the outbreak, before the US even confirmed bird flu was infecting cattle. Culling decreased as farmers learned that most cows gradually recovered, she said. -Reuters 

    Last month, the USDA informed farmers lactating dairy cattle are not eligible for interstate transportation, which has snarled the dairy supply chain. 

    Southern dairy farms that raise baby calves from more northern states until they’re ready to be returned and milked have been impacted the most by delays in shipping when a herd tests positive for the virus, according to Joe Armstrong, a professor of cattle production at the University of Minnesota.

    “Some of these systems are built to constantly move animals, and if you can’t move them, you run out of space really fast,” Armstrong said. “This is big money.” –Bloomberg

    Shipping delays could intensify following the USDA’s announcement of expanded testing for dairy cows, which is likely to reveal more infections.

    “What’s clear is this disease has really slowed down the interstate movement of cattle,” Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) told Bloomberg’s Skye Witley. 

    Traders are watching rising milk futures in Chicago, up more 27% since early April.

    Here’s a larger timeframe for milk futures. 

    The dairy industry could be in the beginning stages of a mess as farmers cull cows and supply chains become snarled due to bird flu.

    One major concern is whether the virus jumps from dairy to beef cows. If that’s the case, then culling beef cows to stop the spread could catapult retail prices even higher because the nation’s total herd population has collapsed to 1951 levels.

    Can you guess which billionaire has been advocating to ban cow farts?

    He also has fake meat to sell.

    Meanwhile…

    As we noted days ago, if the government starts claiming that culling the nation’s dairy and beef cows is the only way to combat bird flu, it will raise alarm bells that there might be an underlying agenda at play. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 18:05

  • It's Time To Investigate The Virginia Retirement System
    It’s Time To Investigate The Virginia Retirement System

    Authored by Thomas Jones via RealClear Wire,

    Documents obtained by the American Accountability Foundation have revealed that Virginia retirees’ pension funds are being used to implement a far-left agenda. This is an outrageous betrayal. Pension fund managers should be focused on maximizing returns, not on pursuing ideological goals.

    The Virginia Retirement System (VRS), a state agency that manages the pensions of hundreds of thousands of state residents, holds voting rights at the annual shareholder meetings of companies in which they are invested.

    Typically, voting at these meetings focuses on shareholder resolutions related to furthering good corporate governance practices and maximizing returns for shareholders. But these shareholder meetings have become ideological battlefields, as woke liberal groups (left-wing nonprofits, unions, progressive state treasurers, and others) have adopted a strategy of purchasing just enough stock in big corporations to put forward proposals of their own geared toward imposing their leftist Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) vision. Sadly, on this battlefield, the bureaucrats at VRS are fighting alongside the woke Left.

    AAF’s review of proxy votes cast by VRS or its asset managers since 2022 found 74 votes supporting extreme leftist policies such as racial and gender pay-gap reports, efforts to defund conservative candidates and pro-business trade associations, radical climate policy, and pro-abortion initiatives.

    Here are just a few examples:

    • On May 24, 2023, VRS, advised by proxy advisor ISS, voted for Proposal 13 at Amazon, which called for additional reporting on gender and racial pay gaps at the company. This type of request for a “report” is a tactic used often by the Left to shame and intimidate corporations into adopting its preferred policies – in this case, racial and gender quotas. The proposal, brought forward by Arjuna Capital, chastised Amazon for “alleged unfair pay and working conditions” and claimed that “diversity in leadership is linked to superior stock performance and return on equity.” The proposal noted that “minorities represent 70 percent of Amazon’s workforce and 34 percent of leadership. Women represent 45 percent of the workforce and 23 percent of leadership.”
    • On May 31, 2023, VRS, advised by ISS, voted in favor of a resolution at Meta Platforms that called for a “report on data privacy regarding reproductive healthcare.” The resolution derided the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision as “the revocation of the constitutional right to an abortion” and requested that Meta “issue a public report assessing the feasibility of diminishing the extent that the Company will be a target of abortion-related law enforcement requests.”
    • At the May 2022 annual shareholder meeting of supermajor oil and gas company Shell PLC, VRS’s investment manager, Lansdowne Partners, voted for a resolution calling for Shell to set and publish emissions targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. This is a stunning betrayal of the nearly 200,000 Virginians who depend on energy jobs for their livelihoods. But the resolution didn’t just affect the energy industry itself—it aimed to limit use of energy by everyone, requesting that Shell adopt emissions-reduction targets that apply not only to the company’s operations but also to the end use of its energy products.

    Laws and regulations covering racial issues, gender issues, abortion, and the environment should be decided by American voters – not by leftist activists and faceless corporate bureaucrats. But these are the forces that have come to be known as the ESG movement. They seek to circumvent our constitutional system of government in order to impose a far-left agenda that goes against the interests and values of the American people.

    The Virginia Retirement System’s complicity in this disgraceful scheme should be investigated fully and corrected immediately.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 17:30

  • Warren Buffett Controls 3% Of Treasury Bill Market, More Than "International Organizations, Stablecoin Issuers …" 
    Warren Buffett Controls 3% Of Treasury Bill Market, More Than “International Organizations, Stablecoin Issuers …” 

    Berkshire Hathaway has struggled to find sizable deals in recent quarters, leaving Warren Buffett sitting on a mountain of cash and cash equivalents. According to JPMorgan analysts, Buffett now wields control over a staggering 3% of the entire US Treasury Bill market.

    At Berkshire’s annual meeting in May, Buffett told the audience, “It’s a fair assumption” that its cash pile would exceed $200 billion at the end of this quarter amid the dearth of big-ticket deals due to very few opportunities. 

    Buffet’s growing cash and or cash equivalents stockpiles intrigued fixed-income analysts at JPM, including a team led by Teresa Ho, who wrote in a recent note to clients that Berkshire Hathaway keeps excess cash primarily invested in T-bills. 

    “Over the years, their T-bill position has grown so large that, as of March-end, it owned $158bn in T-bills, comprising 3% of the market,” Ho said. 

    She continued, “Berkshire Hathaway currently holds more T-bills than international organizations, stablecoin issuers, offshore MMFs, or LGIPs.” 

    Berkshire Hathaway’s current cash position is about 17.5%, which is in line with its long-term average when measured against the firm’s total assets. Since 1997, the firm has kept cash on its balance sheet at an average of 13%. 

    Current figures from Bloomberg show Berkshire’s cash and cash equivalents total $188 billion. 

    “We’d love to spend it, but we won’t spend unless we think there’s really something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money,” Buffett said at last month’s annual meeting. 

    Buffett and his companies are cautious about finding deals as the high-for-longer interest rate environment unfolds, especially after Friday’s screaming hot payrolls data forced Citi to shift its first rate cut forecast from July to September. 

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    Fed swaps are only pricing in 1.58 cuts through the end of the year. 

    The absence of deals will only mean Berkshire’s giant cash and cash equivalents pile will continue growing until valuations become more attractive. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 16:55

  • Right-Wing Tsunami: France "Stunned" After Macron Announces Snap Elections Following Crushing Defeat In European Parliament Vote
    Right-Wing Tsunami: France “Stunned” After Macron Announces Snap Elections Following Crushing Defeat In European Parliament Vote

    Update (4:20pm ET):

    Following a historic loss to Marine Le Pen’s right-wing party in European elections on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he is dissolving the French parliament.

    Macron said France will hold new elections on June 30 and July 7, a high-stakes maneuver that the WSJ said “stunned” the nation after projections based on early ballot counts came in for Sunday’s elections for the European Parliament. The projections showed National Rally garnering around 31% of the vote, twice the support for Macron’s Renew Party.

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    “This is a serious, weighty decision, but above all it’s an act of trust,” Macron said. “Confidence in you, confidence in the ability of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations.”

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    National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said Sunday’s results marked an “unprecedented rout for the powers that be,” adding that it was “day-one of the post-Macron era.”

    Macron’s decision to call parliamentary elections opens the door for his party, which is deeply unpopular at the moment, to shed even more seats to rival parties in France’s National Assembly, the country’s lower house of Parliament.

    If that occurs, Macron could be forced to appoint a prime minister from another party, such as the center-right Les Républicains, in a power-sharing arrangement known in France as a “cohabitation.”

    “A dissolution means a cohabitation,” said Alain Duhamel, a prominent political analyst.

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    The shocking news in France comes after Europe’s right wing parties put on a show of strength in this weekend’s EU elections, which also reinforced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s position lagging two rival parties.

    Sunday’s results still appeared to leave the mainstream pro-EU parties with a lock on power in Brussels, if only for the time being. The center-right EU political grouping that now leads the bloc looked set to win the most seats in the European Parliament, boosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s hopes of keeping her job for a second term. She has forged a close working relationship with the Biden administration.

    Still, France’s far-right opposition party National Rally looked set to be among the pan-European election’s biggest winners. Marine Le Pen’s party is on target to become the largest single party in the European Parliament. Projections based on early ballot counts on Sunday evening suggested National Rally had gained roughly 31% of the vote, twice the support for Macron’s Renew Party.

    After the French results, Macron announced he was dissolving parliament to call fresh elections. His party already lacked a majority in the National Assembly. The first round of the elections will take place June 30, followed by a second on July 7, Macron said.

    As reported earlier, the Social Democratic Party of German chancellor Scholz also apparently faced a drubbing. According to national exit polls, it was running third behind the far-right Alternative for Germany and the clear winner, Germany’s opposition center-right alliance.

    The elections, held from Thursday through Sunday, were for the 720 members of the European Parliament. Up to 370 million voters were eligible according to EU figures, although turnout in the elections is usually modest. While the European Parliament’s main powers are to approve or amend EU rules, laws and trade deals, the twice-decade vote offers a potent indicator of Europe’s political mood. The legislature also gets to approve the EU’s new leadership team.

    As the WSJ notes, “Sunday’s results point to trouble for the EU leadership’s ability to pursue its environmental goals and indicate that pressure will mount to tighten migration rules under right-wing pressure. The vote is also likely to give a greater voice—at least within the parliament—to nationalist and left-wing critics of EU support for Ukraine.”

    Despite pro-EU parties’ setbacks, they appeared to hold enough seats to cobble together a majority of lawmakers to approve their priorities. An assessment from exit poll-aggregator Europe Elects suggested that center-right, centrist and center-left political blocs would secure 413 seats in the new parliament, a clear majority. Right-wing nationalist parties look set to secure at least 160 votes.

    While the results push European politics to the right, divisions among the nationalist and far-right EU parties are likely to blunt the impact of their gains. Some right-wing leaders have called for an alliance across the movement, but that appears unlikely.

    Meanwhile, markets are not too happy: European bonds are down as are European futures, while according to Macquarie, the Euro faces downside risks after latest developments from parliamentary elections at the weekend,

    “The bottom line is that while political uncertainty may mount as an issue in the US this summer, we didn’t discount that the same will happen in Europe too,” said Thierry Wizman, strategist in New York, who had flagged deepening political uncertainty in Europe as an “underappreciated risk” to markets three weeks ago

    “Between this, anticipation of the National Assembly election in France, after which the National Rally could get to install their own Prime Minister, and potentially high CPI in the US, we’re sticking to our view that EUR/USD could get to 1.05 and stay around there.”

    * * *

    Earlier

    As we await the results from the European Parliament vote (previewed here), the exit polls from Germany are already in and they are a disaster for both the alliance of French president Macron, who was steamrolled by Marine Le Pen, and for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, which crashed to their worst-ever result in European Parliament elections Sunday, as conservative and right-wing parties soared across the old continent, a result which will help tilt the European parliament further towards a more anti-immigration and anti-green stance.

    According to preliminary results from five countries, right-wing parties are estimated to have won at least 33 of the 174 seats available in Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands, according to official exit polls from those countries, up from 19 seats at the last election in 2019. And – as the ultraliberal FT admits – “the surge, at the expense of liberal and Green parties, would complicate European commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second term as head of the EU’s executive.”

    In Germany, Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democrats crashed to their worst-ever result, falling to third place with 14% of the vote behind the populist and nationalist Alternative for Germany, which has become the second-largest German party in the European Parliament with 16.4%. The conservative CDU/CSU alliance was on course for a comfortable win with 29.6%, according to an exit poll Sunday from public broadcaster ARD. The other two parties in Scholz’s ruling alliance — the Greens and the Free Democrats — got 12% and 5% respectively.

    As reported overnight, the German exit polls are among the first results from the European election, which started Thursday and culminates Sunday, and will determine the make-up of the bloc’s legislative assembly. The outcome will establish which leaders have the most leverage to claim the EU’s top jobs, including the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council.

    The catastrophic showing for Scholz’s coalition underscores the increasing difficulty the German government faces in leading European policy. Support for Scholz’s ruling alliance in Berlin has dropped to record lows in recent months, with the three parties’ combined support currently around 35%, down from more than 50% in the 2021 federal election.

    As Bloomberg reports, CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann questioned whether Scholz retains the authority to lead the country and blamed the ruling coalition’s policies for the rise of the AfD. “He was the one on the election posters so really he should submit to a vote of confidence,” Linnemann said.

    The AfD managed to post substantial gains despite experiencing a series of setbacks in recent weeks involving bribery and spying scandals. The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, or BSW, which she co-founded in January after splitting from the Left party, got 5.7%.

    Kevin Kuehnert, the SPD general secretary, said the party won’t be seeking “scapegoats” and insisted that it had been the right decision to make Scholz a central figure in the election campaign despite his relatively low approval rating.

    “For us this is an extremely bitter result,” Kuehnert said in an interview with ARD. “We will have to look at where we weren’t good in our mobilization,” he added. “The promise now is that we’ll fight back from this.”

    Kuehnert said the priority for the coalition in coming weeks is to broker an agreement on next year’s budget, which has been another source of infighting in the three-party alliance.

    Amid continued losses for the establishment, right-wing and conservative parties in Europe are slated to pick up more seats compared with the last election five years ago, as migration swings to the top of the political agenda, while the EU’s ambitious climate goals may face greater hurdles.

    Still, at the EU level, centrist parties on the left and right are due to maintain their grip on the majority. That means a degree of continuity on key policies at a time of immense geopolitical uncertainty with Russia’s war on Ukraine raging to the east and China becoming ever more assertive.

    As further discussed overnight, the EU is also confronting challenges including how to maintain fiscal sustainability while investing in a greener future, boosting the competitiveness of European manufacturing and strengthening defense capabilities amid the prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency, which could impact everything from trade to environment policy.

    Germany’s next national vote is due in the fall of next year. The ruling parties are expected to fare just as poorly in their next major electoral test — three regional ballots in September in the eastern states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg with the AfD is leading in the polls in the three states, but is unlikely to get into government as all other parties have ruled out joining it in coalition.

    In the Netherlands, Dutch conservative Geert Wilders notched significant gains on Thursday, though fell short of winning the most Dutch seats in the European Parliament. That victory was claimed by a coalition of left-wing parties.

    In perhaps the biggest shock of all, however, the French right-wing has inflicted a staggering defeat on the Macron alliance: with Le Pen’s gathering 32-33% of the vote to Macron group’s 15% according to pollsters.

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    According to AFP, voter turnout in France was up two points as of 5pm, with 45.26% of eligible voters casting ballots compared with 43.29% in 2019. The turnout for EU elections is generally low, but the last elections in 2019 showed the first uptick in 30 years with a turnout of 50.7 percent.

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    In Austria, the right-wing, national-conservative anti-immigrant Freedom Party was in the lead with an estimated 27 percent, Austrian national broadcaster ORF said. If the number is confirmed later Sunday, it would be the first time the OFP wins the European Parliament election in Austria.

    The conservative People’s Party (OVP) and the Social Democrats (SPO) are currently too close to call, it said, estimated to have raked in 23.5 percent and 23 percent of the votes respectively.

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    Finally in Spain, more of the same anti-establishment, anti-liberal, anti-immigrant tsunami:

    • *SPAIN’S OPPOSITION CONSERVATIVES LEAD IN EU VOTE: EXIT POLL

    About 360 million people are eligible to vote for the 720 lawmakers who will serve in the EU assembly for the next five years, 96 of them from Germany. A majority of the 27 member nations are holding their ballots on Sunday, with results due to trickle in throughout the evening. Results from France are due after 8 p.m. local time.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 16:25

  • Did Roaring Kitty Just Kill The Bull Market?
    Did Roaring Kitty Just Kill The Bull Market?

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    My intuition is telling me this is it. This is the end of the bull market.

    Before I get into my reasoning, I want to remind my readers that this is not financial advice, and I have been wrong about the market being overdue for a pullback over the last 2 1/2 years since interest rates have started to rise.

    About a year ago, I corrected myself and began a series of mea culpas, explaining that it was my timing that was off, but also that I still believed the mathematics of 5.5% interest rates were all but a guarantee that the market and other financial assets, including things like real estate and commodities, at some point would have to deflate.

    I didn’t set out this past weekend with premeditated intentions of writing an article about why I think the market has peaked for the time being. Rather, it was a string of events that took place over the last 48 to 72 hours that have my spider senses tingling.

    I think the shark has been jumped, the tab has come due, and the American consumer, as well as the retail investor, are completely exasperated, out of options, and out of ideas. Here’s my reasoning.

    It was just a day or two ago that I wrote about Nvidia and why I thought it had become a disproportionately large risk to the overall market. The stock now represents 6.5% of the S&P 500, an astronomical amount for one name to make up a 500-name index, and appears to be hitting peak levels of hysteria, as evidenced by CEO Jensen Huang signing autographs on the breasts of women at computer shows.

    On top of Nvidia’s mind-numbing S&P concentration, single-handedly driving broader market moves, I raised the question of whether or not the growth that the market expects from the company could be far overshooting the company’s actual trajectory in years to come, despite the fact that artificial intelligence will likely remain in a secular bull market for years to come.

    No sooner did I publish that article than all eyes turned to “Roaring Kitty” on Friday.

    For those unfamiliar with Roaring Kitty, also known as Keith Gill, he is the man that stoked the flames of excitement with GameStop’s astronomical short squeeze higher some years back, and the man who profited the most handsomely — about $40 million to $50 million in the first run up — as a result.

    He has become somewhat of a legend among retail investors and saw his fellowship increase exponentially in the days, weeks, months, and years after the initial GameStop squeeze higher. They even made a movie out of his story, called Dumb Money, with Paul Dano in the starring role.

    At this blog and at QTR central, we have no beef with Gill. I though the movie Dumb Money was great and I generally find any type of anomaly in the system that temporarily shifts the power back to the people interesting (hence my curiosity around bitcoin). And I generally root for any story that takes away from Cathie Wood’s CNBC airtime.

    GameStop stock has been bubbling higher over the last couple of weeks, making retail investors wonder whether a repeat of history—and subsequently their chance of getting rich—is possible again. Hell, on Thursday night last week, GameStop shares had reached all the way into the $60 range before it was announced Friday morning that the company would be selling stock to raise cash at the company’s inflated prices.

    As usual, price becomes a rationing mechanism, and GameStop is getting the deal of the century by selling into this retail euphoria. The company added more supply to the market and GameStop wound up finishing the day on Friday at $28.

    But the last few runs up in GameStop haven’t stopped roaring Kitty from taking what used to be around a $50 million bankroll and parlaying it into what appears to be a nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar bankroll.

    It’s difficult to try and figure out how he could have amassed such wealth without trading in the name after recently reactivating himself on his Twitter account and posting this Tweet-gone-round-the-world.

     

    One thing driving the euphoria in GameStop shares heading into Friday was the expectation that Gill might do something crazy on his live stream. Would he come out and buy another couple million shares live? Would he introduce some grand plan that would help shares skyrocket even higher and punish shorts even further? Is it possible he would exercise his options live on the air, leading to the entire stock market breaking? People were waiting with bated breath to see what his plan was.

    But while everybody was waiting for Gill to answer this question, reality was already setting in with GameStop shares. The company’s issuance of new stock was diluting existing investors and making it more difficult for the stock to move higher.

    As the stock percolated around the $30 to $35 level before the live stream began, a queue of interested investors, analysts, and market participants lined up to see what Gill had to say. By the time he went live at about 12:20 Eastern time on Friday, there were over 600,000 people watching his live stream.

    The format was reminiscent of the original live stream Gill used to do before the first GameStop run-up: the screen was structured in the same way, he poured himself a beer, he gave everybody a look at his portfolio holdings, and he ran back a half-assed thesis on why he thinks GameStop could turn around its business for the long term.

    It was what he didn’t do that made his appearance a “sell the news” event. He didn’t say anything unexpected, he didn’t offer up a war cry or a price target, nor did he reveal some intricate trickery to try to further stick it to “the man” in the hedge fund industry. The appearance was devoid of hype, devoid of actual analysis, and uninteresting enough that the number of live viewers started to dwindle as quickly as 10 or 20 minutes into it.

    I’m not saying there won’t be an audience for Gill in the future, because there will be. And chances are, it’ll always be a multiple of my outreach. His stream sits at the intersection of the stock market, the roulette table, a late night Mountain Dew fueled Dungeons and Dragons game and the underdog plots of the movies Rudy and Rocky combined. And there’s always going to be an audience for that.

    But there was something about watching the number of viewers on his stream dwindle in real-time that caused a thought to wash over me with a calm resolve as though I had been a Buddhist monk in seclusion, meditating about it for years:

    “If this isn’t the absolute peak of this market cycle, I don’t know what is.”

    Leading into the stream, I was taken back by how 600,000 people could be watching.

    🔥 24 Hours Only: 80% OFF: Offering up my largest discount of the year for Fringe Finance. Subscribe in the next 24 hours and you can take 80% off an annual plan. 

    I am never going to offer a larger discount than this and the discount stays for as long as you remain a subscriber: Get 80% off forever

    The enormity of the number of people tuning in to watch somebody host their own version of stock-market-ComicCon was fascinating to me.

    On one hand, I loved it because it was probably 10 times the amount of viewership CNBC got at any point during the day Friday, which furthers my long-held belief that the mainstream financial media is generally useless and can be easily replaced, but on the other, I started to wonder if this could be the biggest “sell the news” event in retail investor history.

    If one wanted to generalize and put a bow on the retail investor base from this most recent market cycle, there would be no better way to do it than the people that hang out on r/WallStreetBets.

    The Reddit crowd and the people who started the meme stock frenzy are the quintessential examples of the everyday investor for this particular market cycle. And, frankly, they’re outright amusing: they have a gripe with “the man”, they love a good underdog story, they’re slightly less informed than they probably should be but are doing their damndest to learn, they ridicule the industry’s norms and they’re self-deprecating — all of which, the last two especially, make them tough for me to hate.

    But they’re still arguably the lowest rung of retail money on the Wall Street totem pole — a designation I’m sure they’d embrace.

    I’m not trying to poke fun at them in the slightest, but only to make the objective point that its fair to think that once they have fired their last bullets or have psychologically capitulated, we could be seeing this lowest rung of market investors lead the charge of others out of the market. Once the necessity of raising cash and de-leveraging starts, it has a tendency to snowball as price pressure comes in. First it’s the meme stocks — and then its very easy to see how it can move to more serious names like Nvidia, which, again, I’ve said is basically the entire S&P 500. Here’s a post from r/WallStreetBets this weekend:

    Now, multiply that by a couple million investors who just got trounced by GameStop to end last week.

    I couldn’t quite put my finger on what felt different about this last GameStop run-up, but now I know.

    While the first squeeze higher in the name was fueled by a tidal wave of excess liquidity and downtime as a result of the Covid pandemic, the latest run-up felt like one last desperate attempt to chase losses.

    While the first run-up felt like it may have been motivated to make some type of statement against Wall Street, however misguided, this second run-up feels like the sole purpose is to try for everybody to repeat the rare success that Gill himself had during the first run-up.

    This time around, it feels as though hundreds of thousands, or millions, of retail investors are simply hoping that history will repeat itself and they will be positioned at the right place at the right time for one last bite of the apple.

    Put simply, as is the case when trying to relive any great moments of days past, it simply isn’t the same the second time around.

    And in the wreckage of the failed experiment this time around, people are not going to be replete and flush with cash like they were at the end of Covid. As I have consistently pointed out on this blog, consumer credit and personal savings metrics look nothing short of atrocious, with consumer credit ballooning to all-time highs and personal savings hitting lows.

    Source: Zero Hedge

    And as this below chart about retail sales indicates, the American consumer is simply tapped out.

    There is a huge difference between taking a wildcard shot on GameStop and still having a job or savings to fall back on and firing your last bullets of desperation with literally no other plan and no other option for replacing the capital destroyed as a result.

    The entire idea that short sellers were repressing the company to begin with and that manipulating GameStop stock higher was somehow going to save the company was partially misguided to begin with. Now, in order for GameStop to save itself as a result of its ballooning stock price, it has to issue shares and dilute holders.

    The more shares it issues, the tougher the squeeze becomes, and it soon becomes very clear that “investors” following Roaring Kitty now are one half of a Chinese finger trap that, at some point, they’re not going to be able to get out of.

    I can’t predict what’s going to happen to GameStop over the next few weeks: maybe we do some type of repeat of history, maybe Roaring Kitty becomes a billionaire. But extrapolated over a longer period of time than a couple weeks, reality, mathematics, and the macroeconomic environment are going to take hold and eventual gains for those who hold will, in my opinion, be limited.

    There’s always ways out of bear markets. It used to just be recession and then eventual growth in productivity. Nowadays it’s excessive money printing. I’m not saying we’re heading into a Great Depression that will last decades. But its foolish to think there won’t be any rough road ahead for markets. And Friday’s fiasco was a warning sign, in my opinion.

    In fact, Friday was a shining beacon at the very peak of the mountaintop for the market if you ask me. What better way to justify attempting to call a short-term market top than watching those who can least afford it shell out what little cash they have left? When you combine this with the backdrop of pure euphoria in Nvidia, the one stock that is seemingly driving the market by itself, combined with lackluster retail sales data, rising delinquencies, defaults, supply and demand in the housing market starting to rebalance, and the fact that any cuts to rates to “save” a crash will likely take 18 to 24 months to work their way through the system – you have, in my opinion, the best case yet for arguing the worst is yet to come.

    Now read:

    QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 16:20

  • Israel's Gantz Quits Coalition Government, Charges Netanyahu With Making "Total Victory Impossible"
    Israel’s Gantz Quits Coalition Government, Charges Netanyahu With Making “Total Victory Impossible”

    Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz on Sunday announced that he is quitting Israel’s emergency government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

    In a statement he blamed Netanyahu for making “total victory impossible” and further accused him of neglecting achieving the release of the remaining hostages. Gantz blasted Netanyahu and urged him to prioritize returning the hostages above his own “political survival”. Netanyahu’s coalition still holds a 64-member majority in the Knesset, and won’t immediately fall apart, but this is expected to unleash destabilization toward an unclear outcome.

    Gantz was initially expected to announce his departure Saturday, but postponed it amid news of the successful IDF hostage recovery operation in central Gaza, which resulted in the return of four Israelis in good health.

    Below are Gantz’s words wherein he called on other coalition leaders as well as members of the Knesset to join him in forming a new government, and to hold new future elections: 

    Exiting the coalition, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz calls on all members of the Knesset “who understand where we are going” to join forces with him and “obey the command of your conscience,” particularly Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

    “Yoav, we have known each other for many years. Even when there were tensions between us, I always respected and appreciated you. In this war – I learned to appreciate you even more,” he says of his now-erstwhile war cabinet colleague.

    “You are a brave and determined leader and above all – a patriot. At this time, leadership and courage are not only saying what is right – but doing what is right,” he adds.

    He tells the nation he is not a conman and nor is he a politician who will put his political career above the needs of the state. “I will promise you one thing: I’m prepared to die for your children,” he says. “My colleagues and will always stand up and be counted when the country needs us… at any political price. I risked my life for the state in the line of fire dozens of times,” he says, and vows he won’t be deterred by political risk.

    Gantz also apologizes to the families of the hostages for failing to save their loved ones. “We did a lot [but] failed when it came to results,” he says. “We haven’t been able to get many of them back home yet. The responsibility is also mine.”

    Gantz has also previously punched hard against the more extreme members of Netanyahu’s coalition, calling them “fanatics”…”If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” he has warned in prior weeks leading up to Sunday.

    The centrist politician had already previously verbalized a plan to hold new elections by October, and three weeks ago he demanded in a provocative ultimatum that Netanyahu had until June 8 to present a clear strategic plan for the Gaza war.

    Gantz hopes to inspire a domino effect of departures, eventually collapsing the Netanyahu war government…

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    Huge anti-Netanyahu protests have continued in Tel Aviv and in front of government buildings and even Netanyahu’s residence, and have been led by hostage victims’ families. They are outraged there’s been lack of clarity or prioritization of getting the rest of the hostages home, also as truce negotiations with Hamas have all but collapsed.

    Gantz’s Tamano-Shata party has previously stated that “The 7th of October is a disaster that requires us to go back in order to receive the public’s trust, to establish a broad and stable unity government that can lead us safely in the face of the enormous challenges in security, the economy and, above all, in Israeli society. Submitting the bill now will allow us to bring it up in the current session.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 15:45

  • It Leaked From A US-Backed Lab
    It Leaked From A US-Backed Lab

    Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

    For The New York Times, which started this whole fiasco dating from Feb. 27, 2020, with a podcast designed to drum up disease panic, it’s been a drip, drip, drip of truthiness ever since.

    A fortnight ago, the paper finally decided to report on vaccine injury from shots that vast majorities never needed and that stop neither infection nor transmission. And now, as of June 3, we have as decisive an article as one can imagine that shows that “a laboratory accident is the most parsimonious explanation of how the pandemic began.”

    “Whether the pandemic started on a lab bench or in a market stall, it is undeniable that U.S. federal funding helped to build an unprecedented collection of SARS-like viruses at the Wuhan institute, as well as contributing to research that enhanced them,” the article reads.

    “Advocates and funders of the institute’s research, including Dr. Fauci, should cooperate with the investigation to help identify and close the loopholes that allowed such dangerous work to occur. The world must not continue to bear the intolerable risks of research with the potential to cause pandemics.”

    The author is scientist Alina Chan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For purposes of documentation, let’s go through the points she makes.

    1. The SARS-like virus that caused the pandemic emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, the Chinese city where the world’s foremost research lab for SARS-like viruses is located.

    2. The year before the outbreak, the Wuhan Institute, working with U.S. partners, had proposed creating viruses with SARS‑CoV‑2’s defining feature.

    3. The Wuhan lab pursued this type of work under low biosafety conditions that could not have contained an airborne virus as infectious as SARS‑CoV‑2.

    4. The hypothesis that COVID-19 came from an animal at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan is not supported by strong evidence.

    5. Key evidence that would be expected if the virus had emerged from the wildlife trade is still missing.

    Keep in mind that people saying exactly this from the very outset of the crisis were censored by social media at the behest of government agencies. Media personalities ridiculed this view. It was called a wild conspiracy theory, unworthy of any respectable and responsible person. This went on for three years, with brutal results. People lost large channels and social media followers and accounts. This ruined whole livelihoods.

    Now, here we are four years later, and we have the paper of record willing to admit that it was true all along.

    Yes, it is infuriating.

    Why does this matter? Because it is the turning point in the history of modern civilization. All the top public health officials had suspicions of this from the very outset. We know this from their own writings.

    Instead of opening a clear and open investigation, they pursued a different path: Deny the leak, roll out the supposed antidote (vaccine), use experimental technology, and lock down the world’s population to stop the spread so that the vaccine would get the credit for ending the pandemic.

    That’s the summary of what happened, based on my four years of research into this. In other words, to deflect blame, these people hatched an audacious plot to wreck rights and liberties the world over, in a futile attempt to prohibit natural exposure from ending the pathogenic wave (as always happened before). Instead, they would use the crisis to shove through approval of a technology that had never before received regulatory approval.

    This explains the disparagement of natural immunity, the absence of seroprevalence tests, the removal of repurposed generics from the market that could have helped people, the rise of censorship of any dissident scientists, and the complete absence of any serious research into early spread in the last quarter of 2019. It’s quite simply an astonishing plot of immense importance to the whole of the world, all stemming from an attempt to cover up a lab leak.

    That’s why the topic is important. This is not just a technical point. It is the first chapter of a wild and seemingly fictional novel of apocalyptic implications. The House subcommittee now investigating the public health response is barely scratching the surface in public, but behind the scenes, there is plenty of knowledge among investigators that there is much more going on.

    Here’s the key point. The national media does not want this discussed. The agencies don’t want this investigated. The tech companies that censored people all along do not want this considered. The Democrats certainly don’t want this subject pursued. Many Republicans don’t want to examine this in any detail.

    There is only one force at work that is pushing any of this forward, and that is public opinion, which, in turn, is fed by the handful of writers, researchers, scientists, moms, and many other grassroots people who correctly refuse to let this go.

    This is the only reason these hearings are happening. It is the only path to getting the truth.

    Of this, I’m thoroughly convinced. If we think the American people have already lost trust in public health and government, we haven’t seen anything yet. Once the whole story is out in the open, and we are headed in this direction, we’ll see a collapse without precedent.

    The timeline is going far too slowly. There is no excuse for why we are only getting clarity on the basics fully four years later. Meanwhile, there is absolutely no basis for approving any more funding for these agencies or biodefense research and no basis for approving any new treaties or agreements from the World Health Organization (WHO).

    Let’s not forget that it was the WHO that pushed hard for the world to copy the Chinese Communist Party in its crazy virus-control methods of violating human rights on a scale that should never have been tolerated in the West. And yet based on that advice, the United States, the UK, the European Union, and nearly every nation in the world adopted these policies, in contradiction to all laws and human rights.

    Out of nowhere, our Constitution and Bill of Rights were overridden by bureaucracies about which most Americans knew absolutely nothing.

    It boggles the mind that this happened, and we are still paying an egregious price in terms of inflation, learning loss, excess death, collapse of public health, expansion of government, pervasive censorship, and much more.

    It felt like martial law at the time, and it is not clear that this ever went away. We absolutely must know the truth. More than that, we need to repudiate every bit of the COVID-19 response, including the mandates to get a vaccine that was, in fact, never proven to be safe or effective.

    So yes, it matters that this virus likely leaked from a U.S.-funded lab. That was the beginning of the story. There is much more to it.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 15:10

  • Yale Law Professor Shreds Trump Verdict, Cites "Serious" Constitutional Problems
    Yale Law Professor Shreds Trump Verdict, Cites “Serious” Constitutional Problems

    Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld (whose wife is the “Tiger Mom“) says that Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ conviction has serious legal issues, giving the former president multiple legal avenues to overturn the verdict.

    In his new show, Straight Down the Middle, Rubenfeld notes three obvious issues for Trump’s legal team to use;

    • Selective Prosecution: The possibility that the prosecution was driven by political motives against Trump, which if true, could constitute selective prosecution—a practice deemed unconstitutional as it involves targeting an individual for prosecution based on discriminatory reasons.

    • Vagueness of Charges: The indictment did not clearly specify the secondary crime Trump was accused of concealing through falsified business records, potentially violating the Sixth Amendment right of an accused to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations against him.

    • Non-unanimous Jury Verdict: The judge’s instruction allowing the jury to be non-unanimous regarding the specifics of the secondary crime could infringe upon the constitutional requirement for unanimous verdicts in criminal prosecutions, challenging the fairness of the trial.

    “The indictment charged Trump with a two-step crime falsifying business records to conceal a second crime but never said what that second crime was,” he said, adding “Under the Sixth Amendment every criminal defendant has a right to know the charges against him.“

    He also suggested that Trump could sue Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and other state actors in federal court and ask for an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) against Judge Juan Merchan against entering a judgement of guilt.

    “You’re not a convicted felon because of a jury verdict. You’re not convicted unless the judge enters a judgment of guilt against you. The judge still has the power, as I told you before, to throw out that verdict and enter a judgment of acquittal. You are not convicted until the judge enters that judgment of guilt,” he said.

    “So what would this federal case be about? In this federal action, Trump would sue District Attorney Bragg and other state actors and ask the judge, the federal judge, for an emergency temporary restraining order halting Judge Merchan from entering that judgment of guilt until the federal courts have had an opportunity to review and rule on the serious constitutional arguments that exist here.”

    Watch:

    According to Rubenfeld, the Trump case is a “very bad look for this country,” adding that it’s “an especially bad look when the folks bring in the case and the judge deciding it are members of the opposing political party. And it’s an even worse look when the crime is so unclear that the state is hiding the ball about what the actual charges are right up through the trial and indeed into the trial.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 14:35

  • From Bloody Biden Head To Code Pink 'War Criminal' Display, White House Protest Gets Heated
    From Bloody Biden Head To Code Pink ‘War Criminal’ Display, White House Protest Gets Heated

    Update (2000ET): Thousands of demonstrators surrounded the White House on Saturday to protest President Joe Biden’s response to Israel’s military strikes on Gaza.

    Chants of “Free Palestine!”, “Genocide is our red line”, and “Israel bombs, your taxes pay” could be heard from protesters – many of whom were bussed in from over two dozen cities.

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    Footage posted on X shows protesters getting rowdy as police attempted to make an arrest. As a crowd chants, “Let her go!” officers deployed pepper spray (at 17 seconds).

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    The woman was not arrested, and the cops were chased away, with one protester saying “get out of here motherfuckers.“

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    The demonstration featured a coalition of groups, including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Code Pink, which featured protesters dressed as Biden, Antony Blinken, Netanyahu, and Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

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    It was a diverse crowd to say the least…

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    One pro-Hamas group even featured a Biden mask covered in blood.

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    Smoke bombs were lit:

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    And protesters threw bottles at a police officer, breaking into a chant of “Fascist!”

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    Oh, and there was a giant pride parade a few streets over.

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    *   *   *

    President Biden loves taxpayer-funded walls, except for former President Trump’s southern border wall. The elderly president has a beautiful taxpayer-funded wall around his beach home in exclusive Rehoboth Beach (a destination for rich liberals), where the poors and illegal aliens are not allowed. On the topic of walls this weekend, another taxpayer-funded wall was quietly erected around the White House in recent days.

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    Biden’s ‘White House Wall’ was erected on Friday ahead of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), an anti-war group founded three days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, along with other activist groups, including CODEPINK and the Council on American Islamic Relations, who are all planning to surround the White House for Palestine on Saturday. 

    Photo: Craig Birchfield

    ANSWER posted on X numerous videos that show busses of pro-Palestinian protesters en route to Washington, DC, Saturday morning. 

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    “In preparation for the events this weekend in Washington, DC, that have the potential for large crowds to gather, additional public safety measures have been put in place near the White House complex,” a US Secret Service spokesperson told Reuters. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 06/09/2024 – 14:11

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