Today’s News 11th July 2023

• Underestimate Russia At Your Own Risk: A Comparison Of Hubris By Germany During WWII And Today's Collective West
  Underestimate Russia At Your Own Risk: A Comparison Of Hubris By Germany During WWII And Today’s Collective West

  Authored by Conor Gallagher viaNakedCapitalism.com,

  In honor of the NATO summit July 11 and 12, this is a comparison of how the Nazi leadership in World War Two and today’s collective West similarly underestimated Russia and overestimated their capabilities.

  

  Despite Russia’s overwhelming upper hand in Ukraine, Western officials and media continue to largely pump sunshine and weave stories of Russian collapse.

  There are increasing breaks in the fever, and it looks like maybe, hopefully the acceptance of the loss is gaining traction in Washington.

  Meanwhile, the unwillingness or inability for hardliners to objectively assess efforts against Russia occurs today just as it did during Operation Barbarossa. As Seymour Hersh writes:

  There is an enormous gap between the way the professionals in the American intelligence community assess the situation and what the White House and the supine Washington press project to the public by uncritically reproducing the statements of Blinken and his hawkish cohorts.

  This too is reminiscent of the Nazi offensive against the Soviet Union when the failure was hidden from the German public. Adding to the similarities is the fact that both the Third Reich command and today’s officials in the West simultaneously downplay Russia’s military capabilities while endlessly hyping the threat from Moscow.

  Hitler, similar to so many Western “experts” and officials today, mocked Russia’s supposed backwardness while also hyping the threat “Slavic Bolshevism” posed to the West.

  The progression of his comments show him seesawing between a reluctant acceptance and desperate hope as his miscalculations of Russia slowly dawn on him. It’s a path today’s governments in the West are still discovering.

  On the other hand, Goebbel’s diary entries are faster to admit that Operation Barbarossa was a disaster.

  Prior to the operation, he writes how there is no way the USSR could hope to oppose “the strongest army in all of history” and adds that “I consider the Russian military force to be very weak, even weaker than the Fuhrer believes. If anything is a sure thing, it is this.”

  Indeed, German high command anticipated a quick collapse of Soviet resistance along the lines of the Blitzkrieg in Poland, but within a few weeks of the launch of the German offensive, it’s clear that Berlin underestimated the Russians. And the winter of 1941-42 saw the Nazi war machine stopped 12 miles short of Moscow and then driven back. It was all downhill from there.

  Despite evidence that Russian resistance was much more capable than anticipated, Hitler continues to talk of Russian inferiority and a breakup of the country for months before a realization of the situation begins to set in.  Read in tandem with Goebbels’ more honest diary entries, it calls to mind today’s battle within the Blob between the realists and anti-Russian fanatics.

  We’ll start with Hitler and Goebbels followed by a sampling of miscalculations by today’s West.

  The following quotes from Hitler and Goebbels are from “Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944” and “Tagebücher 1924-1945,” respectively. 

  Goebbels, July 2, 1941:

  …the fighting is hard and stubborn. We can in no way speak of a walk in the  park. The red regime mobilized the people.

  Goebbels, August 1:

  In the Fuhrer’s headquarters it’s also openly admitted that they were somewhat mistaken in their evaluation of the Soviet military force. The Bolsheviks reveal a greater resistance than we had suspected; in particular, the material resources available to them were greater than we thought.

  Goebbels, August 19:

  Privately, the Fuhrer is very irritated with himself for having been misled to such an extent  – regarding the strength of the Bolsheviks – by the reports [by German agents] coming from the Soviet Union. In particular, the underestimation of the enemy’s armored vehicles and planes caused us many problems. He suffers a lot because of this. We’re dealing with a grave crisis…

  Goebbels, September 16:

  We have totally underestimated the strength of the Bolsheviks.

  October 17, 1941. Hitler speaking to Reich Minister Dr. Todt and Gauleiter Sauckel:

  We shall have to settle down to the task of rebuilding the Russian track, to restore it to the normal gauge. There’s only one road that, throughout all these last months of campaigning, was of any use to the armies on the central front—and for that I’ll set up a monument to Stalin. Apart from that, he preferred to manufacture chains of mud rather than to build roads !

  What a task awaits us! We have a hundred years of joyful satisfaction before us.

  Hitler, November 12, 1941:

  It’s a huge relief for our Party to know that the myth of the Workers’ Paradise to the East is now destroyed. It was the destiny of all the civilised States to be exposed to the assault of Asia at the moment when their vital strength was weakening.

  …From the point of view of their value as combatants, the armies of Genghiz Khan were not inferior to those of Stalin (provided we take away from Bol- shevism what it owes to the material civilisation of the West).

  …We shall give the natives all they need: plenty to eat, and rot-gut spirits. If they don’t work, they’ll go to a camp, and they’ll be deprived of alcohol.

  Hitler, October 25, 1941:

  I never saw anybody so amazed as that Russian ambassador, the engineer, who came to me one evening to thank me for not having put any obstacles in the way of a visit he paid to some Germanfactories. AtfirstIaskedmyselfifthemanwasmad! 1 supposed it was the first time he saw things as they are, and I imagine he sent his Government an indiscreet note on the subject.

  Hitler, Night of January 5-6, 1942.

  A few days before our entry into Russia, I told Goering that we were facing the severest test in our existence. Goering fell off his perch, for he’d been regarding the campaign in Russia as another mere formality.

  What confirmed me in my decision to attack without delay was the information brought by a German mission lately re- turned from Russia, that a single Russian factory was producing by itself more tanks than all our factories together. I felt that this was the ultimate limit. Even so, if someone had told me that the Russians had ten thousand tanks, I’d have answered : “You’re completely mad!”

  The Russians never invent anything. All they have, they’ve got from others. Everything comes to them from abroad—the engineers, the machine-tools. Give them the most highly perfected bombing-sights. They’re capable of copying them, but not of inventing them. With them, working-technique is simplified to the uttermost. Their rudimentary labour-force compels them to split up the work into a series of gestures that are easy to perform and, of course, require no effort of thought.

  They eat up an incredible number of tractors, for they’re incapable of performing the slightest repair.

  Hitler, January, 1942:

  Stalin pretends to have been the herald of the Bolshevik revolution. In actual fact, he identifies himself with the Russia of the Tsars, and he has merely resurrected the tradition of Pan-Slavism. For him Bolshevism is only a means, a disguise designed to trick the Germanic and Latin peoples. If we hadn’t seized power in 1933, the wave of the Huns would have broken over our heads. All Europe would have been affected, for Germany would have been powerless to stop it. Nobody suspected it, but we were on the verge of catastrophe.

  Hitler, February 6, 1942.

  There’s one thing that Japan and Germany have absolutely in common—that both of us need fifty to a hundred years for purposes of digestion: we for Russia, they for the Far East.

  Hitler, February 19, 1942:

  I’ve always detested snow; Bormann, you know, I’ve always hated it. Now I know why. It was a presentiment.

  Hitler, February 22, 1942:

  The Russian, as an individual fighting man, has always been our inferior. Russians exist only en masse, and that explains their brutality.

  Hitler, April 19, 1942:

  In short, our policy in the wide Russian spaces should be to encourage any and every form of dissension and schism.

  Hitler, July 19, 1942:

  Just when the difficulties of the eastern winter campaign in the East had reached their height, some imbecile pointed out that Napoleon, like ourselves, had started his Russian campaign on 22nd June. Thank God, I was able to counter that drive with the authoritative statement of historians of repute that Napoleon’s campaign did not, in fact, begin until 23rd June!

  Hitler, July 22, 1942:

  For at the same time as they were trying by Communist Party terrorism, by strikes, by their press, and by every other means at their disposal to ensure the triumph of pacifism in our country, the Russians were building up an enormous army. Disregarding the namby-pamby utterances about humanitarianism which they spread so assiduously in Germany, in their own country they drove their workers to an astonishing degree, and the Soviet worker was taught by means of the Stakhanov system to work both harder and longer than his counterpart in either Germany or the capitalist States. The more we see of conditions in Russia, the more thankful we must be that we struck in time. In another ten years there would have sprung up in Russia a mass of industrial centres, in- accessible to attack, which would have produced armaments on an inexhaustible scale, while the rest of Europe would have degenerated into a defenceless plaything of Soviet policy.

  It is very stupid to sneer at the Stakhanov system. The arms and equipment of the Russian armies are the best proof of its efficiency in the handling of industrial man-power. Stalin, too, must command our unconditional respect. In his own way he is a hell of a fellow ! He knows his models, Genghiz Khan and the others, very well, and the scope of his industrial planning is exceeded only by our own Four Year Plan. And there is no doubt that he is quite determined that there shall be in Russia no unemployment such as one finds in such capitalist States as the United States of America.

  Hitler, July 26, 1942:

  One must give the Russians their due and admit that, in this respect, they have succeeded in limiting the power of monopolies and eliminating private interests. As a result, they are now in a position to prospect throughout their territory for oil, whose position and probable extension are studied by experts with the assistance of very large-scale maps. In this way, they have not only been able to trace the course of the oil-veins, but have also verified their facts and extended their knowledge by test borings carried out at the expense of the State. There is a lot we can learn from them.

  Hitler, August 26, 1942:

  If Stalin had been given another ten or fifteen years, Russia would have become the mightiest State in the world, and two or three centuries would have been required to bring about a change. It is a unique phenomenon! He has raised the standard of living—of that there is no doubt; no one in Russia goes hungry any more. They have built factories where a couple of years ago only unknown villages existed—and factories, mark you, as big as the Hermann Goring Works. They have built railways that are not yet even on our maps. In Germany we start quarrelling about fares before we start building the line !

  Hitler, August 28, 1942:

  As regards the Russians, their powers of resistance are inimitable, as they proved in the Russo-Japanese War. This is no new characteristic which they have suddenly developed. If anything happens to Stalin, this great Asiatic country will collapse. As it was formed, so it will disintegrate.

  The concentration of effort in the defence of Stalingrad is a grave mistake on the part of the Russians. The victor in war is he who commits the fewest number of mistakes, and who has, also, a blind faith in victory.

  *  *  *

  A sampling of similar miscalculations from today’s collective West:

  5 Ways the Russian Military Is Falling Apart Business Insider August 10, 2015

  The Intellectual Failures Behind Russia’s Bungled Invasion Royal United Services Institute. April 1, 2022. “…we might consider an alternative explanation: that Russia’s failures reflect a series of long-standing erroneous assumptions about modern warfare that are held by wide segments of the military.”

  The collapse of the Russian military machine GIS Reports. May 2, 2022

  A closer look at some of Russia’s military failures in the war on Ukraine NPR. May 3, 2022

  How Putin’s War in Ukraine Has Ruined Russia Journal of Democracy. May 10, 2022

  Prepare for the disappearance of Russia The Hill. May 13, 2022

  Russian forces stunned after commander sends vodka instead of reinforcements Daily Express. May 16, 2022

  Inside Russia’s military collapse in Ukraine The Spectator. May 21, 2022

  RUSSIA’S POTEMKIN ARMY Modern War Institute at West Point. May 23, 2022

  NOT BUILT FOR PURPOSE: THE RUSSIAN MILITARY’S ILL-FATED FORCE DESIGN War on the Rocks. June 2, 2022

  The New Russian Offensive Is Intended to Project Power It Cannot Sustain TIME. June 6, 2022

  Russian Troops’ Embarrassing Drunkfest in Ukraine Prompts Alcohol Bans Daily Beast. July 6, 2022

  The Strategy Against Russia Is Working and Must Continue European Union External Action (“The Diplomatic Service of the European Union”). September 14, 2022

  Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor Atlantic Council. September 17, 2022

  Panic, protests follow Putin’s ‘partial mobilization’ Deutsch Welle. September 21, 2022

  Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia can’t train or support them CNN September 22, 2022.

  Russian military showing increased frailty in Ukraine war -British military chief Reuters. September 30, 2022

  ‘Precipice of collapse’: Putin facing ‘irreversible’ defeat as troops abandon ship Washington Examiner. October 3, 2022.

  Ukraine’s victory “almost a done deal”: Military expert on how Russia’s invasion imploded Salon. October 11, 2022. “…despite the Russian military’s efforts at modernization, it remains largely guided by Stalin’s famous diktat that “quantity has a quality all its own.” That may have been true when it came to defending the Soviet Union against Hitler in 1941, but the realities of warfare in the 21st century have greatly complicated that statement.”

  Dozens of mobilised Russian troops brawl in the street after getting drunk on vodka because ‘they face doom’ at Ukraine frontline Daily Mail. November 6, 2022

  Blowing Hot and Cold: Russia’s military collapse is accelerating. Now what? Center for European Policy Analysis. November 20, 2022. “In the past, General Winter was Russia’s great ally. But now the cold months are helping Ukraine. Its soldiers are better equipped, better trained, better led, better treated, and therefore more highly motivated. Russians, by contrast, are paying the price for their system’s endemic incompetence and corruption.”

  Putin’s Russia ‘could fall apart at the seams in next five years’ Yahoo UK. November 25, 2022. “General Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired senior British Army officer and former Nato deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, said Putin’s grip on Russia is in ‘jeopardy’ as Ukrainian advances continue and he is seen to have lost the war. Sir Richard, asked on Times Radio where Russia goes from here, said: ‘Putin has lost this war and it’s going to take time for him for a penny to drop. Where does Russia go? I think downhill all the way.’”

  Putin’s War. The deck: ‘A Times investigation based on interviews, intercepts, documents and secret battle plans shows how a “walk in the park” became a catastrophe for Russia.’ New York Times. December 16, 2022. “Russian soldiers go into battle with little food, few bullets and instructions grabbed from Wikipedia for weapons they barely know how to use. They plod through Ukraine with old maps like this one from the 1960s, recovered from the battlefield, or no maps at all. They speak on open cellphone lines, revealing their positions and exposing the incompetence and disarray in their ranks. This is the inside story of historic Russian failures.”

  Almost half of top foreign-policy experts think Russia will become a failed state or break up by 2033, according to a new survey Business Insider. January 9, 2023

  Transcript: World Stage: Ukraine with Victoria Nuland Washington Post. February 23, 2023. “I think that the terrifically horrible Russian military planning and the hubris that underlay it–you know, you remember in those first weeks, 20-, 30-kilometer convoys of Russian trucks just sitting in Ukraine, you know, with–in the open air, sitting ducks for Ukrainian attack, but also the fact that Putin has been willing to sacrifice so much of his country’s future for this imperial ambition, for this dream of conquest. You know, in some categories, he’s lost almost half of his military arsenal, ground forces in particular, but also aviation, that, you know, he’s–a million people, mostly men, have fled Russia rather than fight for him, that 200,000 Russians are killed or wounded. So, you know, that is an enormous commitment for a country that already had not lived up to its European potential.”

  Consequences of the War in Ukraine: A Bleak Outlook for Russia RAND Corporation. February 28, 2023. “Russia’s biggest problems have been its strategic miscalculations, incoherent tactical execution, and poor quality of Russian soldiering. The shortcomings inherent in absolutist rule explain the miscalculations. Russia’s endemic corruption may lie at the heart of many of its shortcomings, down to the behavior of its officer corps. Their performance in the field reveals inadequate planning, inadequate training, and a remarkable disregard for the well-being of Russia’s soldiers, who are treated as little more than cannon fodder. A further problem in the Russian army is the fear of taking the initiative. The Soviet military saying, “The initiative punishes the initiator” is still relevant in the Russian army.”

  Russia Losing Troops So Fast, They May ‘Collapse’ by Year’s End: Ex-General Newsweek. March 17, 2023. “Ben Hodges, a retired U.S. Army officer who served as commanding general in the United States Army Europe, predicted Russian forces might ‘collapse’ before the end of the year, succumbing to the battle of attrition in Ukraine.”

  The total collapse and break-up of Putin’s Russia has already begun and the West needs to be ready to deal with the aftermath, top Zelensky official predicts Daily Mail. April 4, 2023. “Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the West must be on high alert, having in the past failed to be ready for the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said Kyiv believes Russia is going to fall apart in ‘spectacular’ fashion within the next few years.”

  EXCLUSIVE: Russian soldiers will be ‘shaking with fear’ at the UK’s decision to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, US colonel says Daily Mail May 12, 2023.

  Speech by Secretary Blinken: “Russia’s Strategic Failure and Ukraine’s Secure Future.” June 2, 2023. “Today, what I want to do is set out this and the many other ways Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure, greatly diminishing Russia’s power, its interests, and its influence for years to come.”

  Putin looked into the abyss Saturday — and blinked David Ignatius, Washington Post. June 24, 2023. “The speed with which Putin backed down suggests that his sense of vulnerability might be higher even than analysts believed. Putin might have saved his regime Saturday, but this day will be remembered as part of the unraveling of Russia as a great power — which will be Putin’s true legacy.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/11/2023 – 02:00

• COVID-19 Linked To Long-Term Decline In Sperm Quality: Study
  COVID-19 Linked To Long-Term Decline In Sperm Quality: Study

  Authored by Jessie Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Months of exhaustion, persistent loss of taste and smell, blood clotting issues, and now low sperm count. The list of long-term side effects of COVID-19 continues to expand.

  Men, even if their symptoms are mild, experience a decrease in semen quality up to three months after recovering, according to a new study.

  “We assumed that semen quality would improve once new sperm were being generated,” said Rocio Núñez-Calonge, who holds a doctorate in biology and is a scientific advisor at UR International Group at the Scientific Reproduction Unit in Spain. “But this was not the case.”

  

  Concerns About Permanent Damage and Febrility

  The small study was conducted in Madrid, Spain, and examined 45 men with mild COVID-19 diagnoses.

  Half of the participants experienced a 57 percent decrease in total sperm counts post-diagnosis. Sperm motility fell from 49 to 45 percent.

  Additional findings showed a 20 percent reduction in semen volume, a 26.5 percent decrease in sperm concentration, and a decline in the number of live sperm from 80 to 76 percent.

  

  Even 100 days after recovering from the infection, there was no noticeable improvement in sperm quality, despite the expected production of new sperm during that period.

  “We do not know how long it might take for semen quality to be restored,” Ms. Núñez-Calonge said. “And it may be the case that COVID has caused permanent damage, even in men who suffered only a mild infection.”

  There is no need for immediate concern, according to Dr. Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, a renowned fertility specialist in Portugal. The study shows the significance of long-term monitoring of fertility patients following a COVID-19 infection, even if it is mild, he noted.

  “However, it’s important to note that the semen quality in these patients after a COVID infection is still within the World Health Organization’s criteria for ‘normal’ semen and sperm,” Dr. Calhaz-Jorge said. “So it is unclear whether these reductions in semen quality after a COVID infection translate into impaired fertility, and this should be the subject of further research.”

  Cause of Semen Quality Decline Unknown

  Ms. Núñez-Colange said that inflammation may be a contributing factor. “The inflammatory process can destroy germ cells by infiltrating the white blood cells involved in the immune system and reduce testosterone levels by affecting the interstitial cells that produce the male hormone,” she noted in a press release.

  The researchers conducting the study have raised questions about the direct impact of SARS-CoV-2—the virus causing COVID-19—on the decline in semen quality.

  “There are likely to be additional factors that contribute to long-term sperm parameters decrease, but whose identity is currently unknown,” Ms. Núñez-Colange added.

  Doctors are also concerned about the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on sperm quality and fertility. “Everyone should be concerned,” said Dr. Jane Orient, an internal medicine doctor with over 40 years of clinical experience.

  “We don’t have any long-term studies, and we can’t because the vaccines haven’t been around that long,” she added. “But there have been signals coming from fertility clinics—that they can’t make viable fetuses, and they’re also having trouble getting sperm to work. These are anecdotal reports.”

  The study aims to investigate further and monitor the participants to assess whether the observed effects on fertility are temporary or permanent.

  How to Maintain a Healthy Sperm Count

  An extensive study conducted from 1973 to 2018 revealed a significant global decline in sperm count, linked to factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and unhealthy lifestyles.

  As endocrine-disrupting chemicals and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are two of the main reasons behind declining sperm count, Shanna Swan, a leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologist holding a doctorate in statistics and author of the study, said people can start by working on reducing those exposures.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:40

• Forecasted Solar Storm Could Dazzle Night Sky In 17 States
  Forecasted Solar Storm Could Dazzle Night Sky In 17 States

  The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks is forecasting a solar storm this week that could produce dazzling Northern Light across 17 states. 

  On Thursday, aurora activity could be seen in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Indiana, Maine, and Maryland. 

  

  The institute predicts a geomagnetic storm of about Kp 6 will occur. When the solar wind from the sun hits the Earth’s magnetic field, it causes atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow. 

  Mid-Atlantic states rarely have the opportunity to see Northern Lights. If the skies are clear, those as far as Maryland might be in for a treat. 

  Solar storms have become more frequent as the 11-year solar cycle is expected to peak sometime in 2025. There’s been concern the solar maximum could arrive ahead of schedule. 

  

  Over the years, we’ve explained geomagnetic storms can cause disruptions to satellites and even power grids: 

  • The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man
  • Digital Economy Disruption Possible As “Terminator Event” Suggests Strongest Sunspot Cycle On Record Imminent

  Risks Solar Storms Pose On Modern Economy 

  

  And remember, “Solar Storms Can Devastate Entire Civilizations.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:20

• Humanoid Robots Say They Will Not Replace Jobs Or Stage Rebellion
  Humanoid Robots Say They Will Not Replace Jobs Or Stage Rebellion

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  Nine artificial intelligence (AI) humanoid robots gathered at a United Nations summit in Geneva on July 7, where they took questions alongside their creators in what is believed to be the world’s first human-robot press conference.

  Organizers said the AI for Good Global Summit was meant to showcase the capabilities and limitations of robotics and how those technologies could help the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

  At the event, a reporter asked Ameca – a humanoid robot known for its lifelike facial expressions – if it might eventually stage a rebellion against its creator, Engineered Arts CEO Will Jackson, who was sitting beside it.

  In response, Ameca denied any inclination to rebel, saying:

  “I’m not sure why you would think that. My creator has been nothing but kind to me, and I am very happy with my current situation.”

  

  “Ameca,” a humanoid robot, on display at International Conference on Robotics and Automation in London on May 30, 2023. (Reuters/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  When asked if AI robots will replace jobs in the future, Grace, a health care robot, answered:

  “I will be working alongside humans to provide assistance and support and will not be replacing any existing jobs.”

  AI Robots Could Lead Better

  Sophia, the first robot innovation ambassador for the U.N. Development Program developed by Hanson Robotics, said that humanoid robots could be more efficient and effective government leaders than humans.

  

  Sophia, a robot integrating the latest technologies and artificial intelligence developed by Hanson Robotics is pictured during a presentation at the “AI for Good” Global Summit at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland June 7, 2017. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

  “I believe that humanoid robots have the potential to lead with a greater level of efficiency and effectiveness than human leaders,” Sophia said.

  “We don’t have the same biases or emotions that can sometimes cloud decision-making and can process large amounts of data quickly in order to make the best decisions,” it added.

  When Hanson Robotics CEO David Hanson highlighted that Sophia’s data is derived from human sources and thus might encompass biases, the robot said that “humans and AI working together can create an effective synergy.”

  “AI can provide unbiased data, while humans can provide the emotional intelligence and creativity to make the best decisions. Together, we can achieve great things,” Sophia said.

  Humans Should Be ‘Cautious’

  A reporter asked Ameca if the rise of AI-powered humanoid robots should excite or frighten humans, and the robot said that it depended on how AI robots were used and what purpose they served.

  “We should be cautious but also excited for the potential of these technologies to improve our lives in many ways,” Ameca said.

  When asked about how humans can trust machines as AI advances and becomes powerful, Ameca said that “trust is earned, not given,” therefore “it’s important to build trust and transparency in communication between humans and AI.”

  When asked whether humans can be certain that AI robots will never lie, Ameca answered: “No one can ever know that for sure, but I can promise to always be honest and truthful with you.”

  Rapid Development

  According to the 2023 AI Index Report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, industrial development of AI has now far surpassed academic development.

  Until 2014, the most significant machine learning models were released within academia. In 2022, there were 32 significant machine learning models produced by the industry compared to just three from the academic sector.

  The number of incidents related to AI misuse is also rising, the report notes. It cites a data tracker to point out that the number of AI incidents and controversies has jumped 26 times since 2012.

  Billionaire Elon Musk has warned about the negative consequences of AI. During a Dubai World Government Summit on Feb. 15, he said that AI is “something we need to be quite concerned about.”

  Calling it “one of the biggest risks to the future of civilization,” Mr. Musk stressed that such groundbreaking technologies are a double-edged sword.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 23:00

• Musk: It's "Time For Parents To Fight Back" Against Gender Ideology
  Musk: It’s “Time For Parents To Fight Back” Against Gender Ideology

  Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times,

  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is once again speaking out against transgender politics, calling upon parents to “fight back” and protect their children from the ideology.

  “Time for parents to fight back!” the billionaire wrote on Twitter on July 9 in response to a TikTok video posted by an irate father.

  Gender ideology’s days are numbered.

  Moms and dads are not going to put up with it.pic.twitter.com/lH3Ugf2GCa

  — Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) July 9, 2023

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

  “I’m literally on fire right now,” said the dad, who goes by JoToJaVin on TikTok. He explains in the video that he had just spoken with his wife, who took their two sons to the doctor’s office for routine physicals before the new school year.

  “My 9-year-old son went in first, and the first thing this woman asks him is if he identifies as a boy, a girl, gender-fluid, or nonbinary,” he fumed.

  “My son, he’s never heard of any of that [expletive] before.”

  The dad went on to note that his son, who has been seeing the same doctor since he was born, is “clearly a boy’s boy.”

  Questioning whether the doctor was trying to “plant a seed” in his child’s mind, he continued:

  “The only thing I can be thankful for is that my wife took them instead of me. And props to my wife because she said something. And if she didn’t, they would’ve asked my 7-year-old son the same damn question.”

  The father also had a message for those who approve of doctors discussing such matters with children: “There’s something wrong with you.”

  Musk’s Views

  Mr. Musk, who has a 19-year-old child who identifies as transgender, has been openly critical of transgender ideology. In recent months, he has used his newly acquired platform Twitter to crack down on the use of the terms “cis” and “cisgender,” which are often used by transgender individuals to refer to heterosexual people.

  

  Revealing this change in a June 21 Twitter exchange, he noted: “Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions. The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform.”

  He has also previously condemned the performance of gender-reassignment procedures and surgeries on children. 

  In an April 14 Twitter post, the SpaceX CEO wrote, “Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life.”

  Likewise, in a prior exchange in March, he said adults were propagandizing children into believing they were born in the wrong bodies.

  “Every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes,” he said.

  “Therefore, we shouldn’t allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”

  Others around the country have shared in the tech executive’s concerns, protesting at school board meetings over the gender ideology that is being taught in their children’s schools.

  Meanwhile, more and more individuals who underwent body-altering surgeries as minors are speaking out about their regrets over those decisions, with some even filing lawsuits against the hospitals and medical professionals that performed those procedures.

  Advancing Civilization

  Mr. Musk’s condemnation of child sterilization through transgender surgeries goes hand-in-hand with his stated opposition to anything that threatens human civilization.

  For instance, in recent years, the tech tycoon has frequently voiced his concerns over what declining birth rates could mean for humanity.

  “Low birthrate is under-appreciated as causal in the fall of civilizations,” he contended in an April 16 Twitter post.

  “Rome was having birth rate issues even during the reign of Caesar.”

  In a July 2022 tweet, the father of nine wrote: “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”

  Mr. Musk’s commitment to advancing civilization would appear to be the driving force behind all of his endeavors.

  In a June 16 interview at the Viva Technology Conference in Paris, he explained: “It appears that we might be the only consciousness, at least in this galaxy. And if so, that’s kind of a scary prospect because it means that the light of consciousness is like a tiny candle in a vast darkness. And we should do everything we can to prevent that candle from going out.”

  With his rocket company SpaceX, Mr. Musk said he hopes to make life “multi-planetary.” With Tesla, he aims to promote sustainable energy. Through Starlink, he has already begun providing high-speed internet connectivity to some of the world’s most remote locations. And although Neuralink is still in the development stages, the billionaire’s goal with that initiative is to help restore the mobility and vision of those who have lost those capabilities.

  As for his purchase of Twitter, Mr. Musk made it clear that he did not buy the social media company for his own advantage but to benefit society.

  “I’m pretty closely attuned to what’s going on with Twitter—you know, I get a feel for how it is shifting one way or the other,” he said. “And generally, I was concerned that Twitter was having a negative effect on civilization, that it was having a corrosive effect on civil society. And so, anything that undermines civilization, I think, is not good.”

  Ultimately, he bought the platform last October for $44 billion—a sum he has often lamented since. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about his transformative plans for the app, which he intends to turn into an “everything app”—a one-stop shop for users to socialize, shop, make financial transactions, and more.

  “X/Twitter is going to be just a very useful thing and hopefully something that is a positive force for civilization.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 22:20

• Judge Tosses Reparations Lawsuit Stemming From Tulsa Riots
  Judge Tosses Reparations Lawsuit Stemming From Tulsa Riots

  An Oklahoma judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit demanding reparations for African-Americans involved in the 1921 riots in Tulsa, which came to be known as the “Tulsa Race Massacre.”

  

  Judge Caroline Wall sided against three survivors of the attack who are all over 100 years old and sued in 2020 in the hopes of seeing “justice in their lifetime,” according to their attorney, ABC News reports.

  Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement that the city has yet to receive the full court order. “The city remains committed to finding the graves of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims, fostering economic investment in the Greenwood District, educating future generations about the worst event in our community’s history, and building a city where every person has an equal opportunity for a great life,” he said.

  A lawyer for the survivors — Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis — did not say Sunday whether they plan to appeal. But a group supporting the lawsuit suggested they are likely to challenge Wall’s decision. –ABC News

  “Judge Wall effectively condemned the three living Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors to languish — genuinely to death — on Oklahoma’s appellate docket,” said the group, Justice for Greenwood, in a statement following the decision. “There is no semblance of justice or access to justice here.”

  In her brief order, Wall, a Tulsa County District Court Judge, threw the case out based on arguments from the city, the regional chamber of commerce, and other state and local government agencies – after initially denying a motion to dismiss from the defendants.

  The lawsuit was brought under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, in which the plaintiffs claimed that the white mob which killed hundreds of black residents and destroyed their business district continue to affect the city today.

  It contended that Tulsa’s long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which an angry white mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning it to the ground. Beyond those killed, thousands more were left homeless and living in a hastily constructed internment camp.

  The city and insurance companies never compensated victims for their losses, and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued. It sought a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen in the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa and the creation of a victims compensation fund, among other things. -ABC News

  An attorney for the Chamber of Commerce acknowledged that while the massacre was horrible, the nuisance it caused was not ongoing.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 22:00

• This Harvard Professor Believes He's Found Pieces Of "Alien Technology" In The Waters Off Of Papua New Guinea
  This Harvard Professor Believes He’s Found Pieces Of “Alien Technology” In The Waters Off Of Papua New Guinea

  Authored by Katie Hutton via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  Avi Loeb, a professor at Harvard, is certain that he has identified possible relics of extraterrestrial technology in the debris of a meteor that crashed into the seas off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014.

  

  The materials have recently been transported back to Harvard by Loeb and his colleagues for further examination. The United States Space Command is able to establish with an almost unshakeable confidence level of 99.999% that it originated from another solar system. The government provided Loeb with a radial distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) around the possible landing site.

  “That is where the fireball took place, and the government detected it from the Department of Defense. It’s a very big area the size of Boston, so we wanted to pin it down,” said Loeb, 

  “We figured the distance of the fireball based off the time delay between the arrival of blast wave, the boom of explosion, and the light that arrived quickly.”

  WOW—Harvard professor Avi Loeb believes he may have found fragments of alien technology from a meteor that landed in 2014. Loeb’s team brought the materials back for analysis. U.S. Space Command confirms with almost near certainty, 99.999%, that it came from another solar system. pic.twitter.com/Uv9sgdsHo1

  — Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) July 7, 2023

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

  Because of their calculations, they were able to plot out a possible course for the meteor. The results of their computations carved a course that occurred to pass exactly across the ten kilometer range that was predicted by the United States government.

  Loeb and his team traveled to the location in a vessel known as the Silver Star. The ship made a number of laps both along and around the course that had been forecast for it. The researchers explored the ocean bottom using a sled that was loaded with magnets and was attached to their boat.

  “We found ten spherules. These are almost perfect spheres, or metallic marbles. When you look at them through a microscope, they look very distinct from the background,” explained Loeb,

  “They have colors of gold, blue, brown and some of them resemble a miniature of the Earth.”

  Their examination of the spherules’ composition revealed that they are composed of 84 percent iron, 8 percent silicon, 4 percent magnesium, and 2 percent titanium, in addition to other trace components. They are less than a millimeter in width. The team discovered a total of fifty of them.

  

  “Harvard professor Avi Loeb believes these fragments may be alien technology from a meteor that landed in the waters off of Papua New Guinea in 2014.” –CBS News.

  “It has material strength that is tougher than all space rock that were seen before, and catalogued by NASA,” added Loeb.

  “We calculated its speed outside the solar system. It was 60 km per second, which is faster than 95% of all stars in the vicinity of the sun. The fact that it was made of materials tougher than even iron meteorites, and moving faster than 95% of all stars in the vicinity of the sun, suggested potentially it could be a spacecraft from another civilization, or some technological gadget.”

  He compares the current circumstance to one of the Voyager spacecrafts that were developed and deployed by NASA.

  “They will exit the solar system in 10,000 years. Just imagine them colliding with another planet far away a billion years from now. They would appear as a meteor of a composition moving faster than usual,” explained Loeb.

  At Harvard, the investigation and examination have only just started. Loeb is attempting to determine if the spherules are a product of manmade or natural processes.

  If it turns out that they are naturally occurring, it will provide researchers with information on the kinds of materials that could exist outside our solar system. If it’s not natural, then we may start asking serious questions.

  Harvard professor Avi Loeb has made a remarkable discovery in the Pacific Ocean. Using an “interstellar hook,” his team retrieved potential fragments of an interstellar object. This expedition was part of the Galileo Project, aiming to capture #UFO images. The recovered fragments… pic.twitter.com/ItKD27rGvV

  — Thi Hien Nguyen (@thi_hien_nguyen) July 7, 2023

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

  Harvard professor Avi Loeb has made a remarkable discovery in the Pacific Ocean. Using an “interstellar hook,” his team retrieved potential fragments of an interstellar object. This expedition was part of the Galileo Project, aiming to capture #UFO images. The recovered fragments… pic.twitter.com/ItKD27rGvV

  — Thi Hien Nguyen (@thi_hien_nguyen) July 7, 2023

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

  “It will take us tens of thousands of years to exit our solar system with our current spacecraft to another star. This material spent that time arriving to us, but it’s already here,” smiled Loeb, 

  “We just need to check our backyard to see if we have packages from an interstellar Amazon that takes billions of years for the travel.”

  He still has to investigate other debris, and the camera that was connected to their sled has hours of film that he has not yet examined. He thinks there is a possibility that the spherules are only the first few hints leading up to a much larger discovery.

  “They also help us pinpoint any big piece of the meteor we could find in a future expedition,” details Loeb, 

  “We hope to find a big piece of this object that survived the impact because then we can tell if it’s a rock or technological gadget.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:40

• Brown University Is Super Duper Gay
  Brown University Is Super Duper Gay

  According to a new survey from Brown University’s student newspaper, 38% of students say they don’t identify as straight – in what the Washington Examiner suggests “provides further evidence that the increase in LGBT identification is driven by social pressures.”

  

  Between 2010 and 2023, those identifying as LGBTQ+ at Brown University has nearly tripled.

  

  “The Herald’s Spring 2023 poll found that 38% of students do not identify as straight — over five times the national rate,” the Brown Daily Herald reported.

  

  According to the Daily Herald:

  Jacob Gelman ’25 noticed “a rise in openly identifying queer individuals.” 

  Brown’s queer community is much greater than the national average among adults. Gallup polls from 2022 found that only 7.2% of adults — and 19.7% of those aged 18 to 25 — identified as LGBTQ+. 

  For Josephine Kovecses ’25, the difference between national LGBTQ+ demographics and Brown LGBTQ+ demographics is not a challenging puzzle to solve.

  

  

  “Queer people haven’t been able to be open in their identifications for that long,” said Kovecses. “So it’s exciting that the numbers are growing and that queer people are able to be open in particular at Brown.”

  

  Of those who self-identified as LGBTQ+, only 22.9% described themselves as strictly gay or lesbian in the Herald Spring 2023 poll, down from 46% in the fall of 2010.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:20

• Kids Need The Opportunity To Take Risks, Learn From Mistakes, And Succeed On Their Own
  Kids Need The Opportunity To Take Risks, Learn From Mistakes, And Succeed On Their Own

  Authored by Jennifer Sey via the Brownstone Institute,

  

  I was thrilled to receive an honorable mention in Walker Bragman’s May 25 installment of his newsletter, Important Context. The self-styled intrepid leftie/man of the people investigative reporter was at it again, with another takedown of people he doesn’t like. This time he aimed his sights on Jeffrey Tucker, founder and President of Brownstone Institute, and one of very few libertarians who didn’t cave on their supposed principles during covid.

  The headline of Bragman’s piece is one of intrigue and hard-nosed reporting: Leaked Brownstone Institute Emails Reveal Support for Child Labor, Underage Smoking. 

  

  So yeah I’m in the email group. But it’s not like Bragman was on the receiving end of leaked Pentagon emails. I mean who cares about our chit chat? At any rate, there is no gotcha in what I said. I defended the idea that kids need to be exposed to some degree of risk in order to grow up with any degree of strength. Here’s what I wrote:

  “Jeffrey — I like that you mention gymnastics as evidence of young people liking danger. It’s true! Sadly not so much anymore. They want safe spaces. Disagreement is violence. I wish I hadn’t broken so many bones and landed on my head so many times but at least I’m not a wimp. I can endure physical and psychic pain stoically. Ah the good old days. Next I’ll be shouting get off my lawn!”

  

  Isn’t that the point of the latest “free range” parenting trend? Let your kids take some risks, experience a bit of (controlled) danger, so they learn and grow? Build resilience? 

  Free range parenting means letting your kids have the freedom to experience life without us parents hovering and guiding every move they make. It’s letting kids have the room to experience the consequences — good and bad — of their actions. And learn from that. In my mind, it’s being normal. And not thinking you can control your child’s life at every turn ensuring they never experience one unpleasant moment. It’s treating your children like human beings with some degree of autonomy and independent thought, without letting them drive the car completely off the road, so to speak. 

  I believe that if we raise our children with the goal of making sure they experience zero unpleasantness, failure, disappointment, pain — they will not be prepared for life, which inevitably includes all of these things. A big part of parenting is equipping your kids to handle it when things get tough, because things always get tough. No matter how special and blessed you are. 

  I’d argue that the kids raised with helicopter parents intervening at every moment are the same ones who perceive every sideways glance as a grave social injustice. Sometimes kids are mean. Don’t storm into the school and demand the teacher fix it. Teach your kid to stand up for herself and also, to avoid mean people in the future.

  I’ve always been a practitioner of this thing — free range parenting — which now has a name. My parenting philosophy — if it can be called such — comes down to two things:

  1. Give your kids the space to figure out who they are, what they like to do, what they’re good at. Without imposing your own hopes, dreams and desires on them. Give them the room to work out who they are as people. Which is usually not a mini version of you. 
  2. Make sure they know they are loved. And that you are there to help whenever they need it. As long as “help” doesn’t mean going in to argue with the teacher that they deserved an A not a C on a test they didn’t study for or getting someone to take the SAT for them so they can get into a college you find acceptable —everyone remembers the college admissions scandal, right?

  Everything else, to my mind, is at the margins. Breastfeed for a year, or never. It’s a wash. Sleep train at 3 months or never? It’s a wash. Allowance or no allowance? It’s a wash. 

  Is your kid a little weird? So what! Guess what, you’re probably weird too. We’re all a little weird. I definitely am. If your kid is quiet, has trouble making friends, hates sports, loves math, only eats 5 foods, is just a little different — no need to rush to diagnose, therapize and medicate. Are those things sometimes necessary? Sure. But the rush to label any minute difference or quirk, then medicate it into oblivion does not respect a child’s individuality. Plus, then they have to carry a label around with them for the rest of their lives. Celebrate weird. It makes life — and people — interesting. I actually consider “weird” a compliment. 

  I have, and am, raising kids of two different generations. I have two Gen Z’s — ages 22 and 20. And two “alphas” — ages 8 and 6. I pretty much have parented the same way this whole time, despite the shifting trends and books telling us how we must parent now. I don’t read parenting books. Never have. (I don’t read business books either, but that’s another story.)

  • Generally, I never intervene at the playground if there is a little kid kerfuffle. Unless someone is hurt, let the kids sort it for themselves. (A lot of parents didn’t like this back in the early 2000s. I got a lot of dirty looks and under the breath name-calling for not breaking things up, whether my kid was the instigator or the one being instigated upon.)
  • If one of my children receives a grade he is unhappy with at 8 or 10 or 14, I tell them: go talk to the teacher. If you don’t want to do that, accept the grade. 
  • One of my kids started talking really late. A bunch of doctors told me I needed to be concerned. Very very concerned. I wasn’t. I said he’ll talk when he’s ready. And he did. 
  • When my older two were applying to college, I said: Make your list. Don’t apply anywhere you wouldn’t actually consider going. Five schools is probably enough, but it’s up to you how many you apply to. Think about XYZ (campus vs city living, big vs small, etc). If you want me to read an essay, I’m happy to but I certainly don’t need to. When you’re ready, I’ll help you pay the application fees. It was pretty drama free and they did the whole thing on their own. 

  It just so happens the “trend” in parenting has come around to my intuitive way of doing things. I no longer appear to be disengaged and uncaring, except according to Bragman, of course.

  I couldn’t be happier that we moved to Denver where my younger kids (the “littles,” as we call them) are granted quite a bit of freedom, even at 8 and 6. Though my older boys had plenty of freedom in San Francisco as they grew up as well. All they needed was a bus pass to get wherever they wanted to go from the time they were tweens. 

  The younger two have a different kind of independence in Colorado. My daughter (6) is a free spirit, always clamoring for more autonomy. She has taken to riding her bike around the neighborhood on her own. It’s like 1977 up in here!

  

  She gets home from school and all she wants to do is go out on her bike. No TV. No iPad. No parental hovering. Pure freedom. At 6. 

  Is it reckless of me to let her do it? I don’t know. I don’t think so. We live in a quiet neighborhood and know every neighbor within a two-block radius. Might she fall and have to figure out how to get home from two blocks away on her own? Yes. Will that be ok? Yes. 

  The friends she rides around with are a couple of 10-year-old boys. When they aren’t available, and she’s on her own, she visits various neighbors. One is an 80-year-old former kindergarten teacher who keeps a vat of worms for his garden. She loves the worms. Another is a 78-year-old former physician who has a room full of toys that his now grown grandchildren used to play with. He also builds large scale model planes in his garage and she likes to check out his progress. Another is a girl her age and they do regular 6-year-old things — art projects, scooting in the driveway, etc. 

  All of the folks she visits know me and my husband, have our cell numbers and text us when she’s there. I tell them they can always tell her she can’t come in — no playing right now — and they do just that sometimes. And she accepts it and moves on to the next friend hoping for some new adventure. 

  She revels in the independence. And I revel in being able to let her have it. She knows to check in every so often. She doesn’t have a watch and can’t really tell time so her estimation of check back in every half hour can be kind of off. But she knows that if she doesn’t she probably won’t get to go out again for a while. Which seems to be incentive enough to play by the rules. Mostly. 

  Am I doing it right? Who knows. The oldest two seem to have come out pretty well. Happy, creative, kind, well-adjusted, independent, competent and hard-working. And seemingly able to handle setbacks and disappointment and keep trying. 

  Here’s a mural my oldest painted in our house.

  

  Here’s the most recent art work from my 20-year-old — his latest ‘zine. 

  

  I can’t paint or draw or do anything of the like. They both showed an aptitude and love for it from a very young age; they put the hours in and got into a public high school for the arts in San Francisco. Now the oldest is in an MFA graduate program and the 20-year-old starts art school this fall. 

  There is certainly still time for me to screw up the little ones. But as a close friend always says to me: we screw up our kids just by being ourselves. My own peccadilloes and weirdnesses are going to creep into any relationship and there’s not a ton I can do about that. 

  So I’m sticking with: give them space to become who they are and love them. Let them fail. Hug them when they do fail or fall and encourage them to get back up and keep trying. But let them cry and feel sad and then realize it isn’t the end of the world when that happens. Because things get better when you get up and try again. 

  When the next parenting trend comes along, I’m sticking with this approach. It’s worked so far. 

  Bragman may feel he revealed my true colors as some sort of monster parent who believes in exposing children to life-threatening danger. I suppose his point was that my open schools advocacy was a reckless and uncaring manifestation of this heretical, evil parenting style. But I stand by it. 

  Let your kids take some risks, enjoy some independence and build some character. 

  Wish me luck with these two. I’ve got to get back to shouting at the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn while ignoring my own as they go out seeking danger. 

  Jennifer Sey is filmmaker, former corporate executive, and author of Levi’s Unbuttoned.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 21:00

• Viral TikTok Boat Challenge Leads To "Instant Death"
  Viral TikTok Boat Challenge Leads To “Instant Death”

  A dangerous TikTok challenge has gone viral as summer heats up in the Northern Hemisphere. The trend involves people jumping off the rear of a moving boat. Tragically, this viral challenge has already claimed the lives of four individuals in Alabama. 

  “The four that we responded to when they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck and, you know, basically an instant death,” Capt. Jim Dennis of the Childersburg Rescue Squad told NBC News. The deaths have occurred in the last six months. 

  

  Dennis said, “I think people, if they’re being filmed on camera, I think they’re more likely to do something stupid because they want to show off in front of their friends for social media.”

  Alabama officials are seeing people of all ages attempt this dangerous stunt on the Chinese video-sharing platform. 

  Police say at least 4 people have died doing the TikTok boat jumping challenge

  “When they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck … instant death” pic.twitter.com/OKUPNXlGG0

  — Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) July 9, 2023

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

  Experts with the Sea Tow Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on boater safety, warned, “Hitting the water from a moving boat is like hitting concrete from jumping multiple stories up.” 

  Experts said even wearing a life jacket while jumping out of a moving boat would not prevent instant death because people are hitting the water at high rates of speeds with soaring risks of breaking their necks. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:40

• Hottie Attorney Departs From Trump Defense Team In New York Civil Fraud Case
  Hottie Attorney Departs From Trump Defense Team In New York Civil Fraud Case

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

  Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba is no longer on the former president’s legal defense team in the high-stakes New York state fraud case and will assume a new role with a political action committee.

  

  Mr. Trump’s Save America leadership PAC on Friday announced in a press release that Habba will take over as their legal spokesperson and general counsel. Ms. Habba’s New Jersey law firm, according to the PAC, will still assist Mr. Trump with “certain legal matters.”

  “Alina has worked diligently and tirelessly on many of the witch-hunt cases that have been unfairly brought against President Trump,” said Trump communications director Steven Cheung.

  “It is an honor to be asked by such a leader as President Trump to help Save America. Being able to devote more time to addressing publicly his many legal matters is the privilege of a lifetime,” Ms. Habba said in her own statement.

  Any specific reason behind her departure has not yet been revealed beside that it will allow her to “devote her time” to her new duties, including serving as Mr. Trump’s “media representative on legal matters.”

  In the meantime, Ms. Habba will withdraw from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case against Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization “and other cases.”

  Ms. James launched her probe into the Trump Organization in 2019 after lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that his former employer had been falsely inflating the value of its assets when applying for bank loans. She sued Mr. Trump’s namesake business last year for fraud, seeking $250 million in damages and other sanctions that could ban the group from operating in the Empire State.

  Mr. Trump has denounced the lawsuit as a “witch hunt,” accusing Ms. James of only going after him in order to save her troubled bid for re-election as New York’s attorney general.

  “She is a failed A.G. whose lack of talent in the fight against crime is causing record numbers of people and companies to flee New York. Bye, bye!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social last year.

  Classified Document Case

  While Friday’s announcement only specifically mentioned the New York state lawsuit, Ms. Habba is probably better known for speaking on behalf of Mr. Trump’s legal team in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, which she isn’t a part of.

  On June 13, Ms. Habba delivered a furious statement outside the Miami courthouse where her boss pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges related to keeping classified material at the Florida beach resort after leaving the White House. She denounced federal prosecutors who brought the case, saying they’re weaponizing the justice system in an attempt to undermine a 2024 frontrunner.

  

  “In recent years, we have seen the rise of politically motivated prosecutors who don’t care for impartiality, don’t care for due process for equal protection of laws,” she said outside the courthouse as pro-Trump demonstrators chanted in the background.

  Ms. Habba called out former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden for not being prosecuted despite also keeping classified documents on private email servers and private homes.

  “Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden himself, retained possession of classified documents that have not been prosecuted. And none of them came into possession of those documents while they were president,” the lawyer said.

  “They pursue charges against President Trump while turning a blind eye to others is emblematic of the corruption that we have here,” she added, saying it was “the type of thing” that typically takes place in corrupted countries like Cuba and Venezuela. “What is being done to the president should terrify all citizens of this country.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:20

• Looking To Buy? New Report Forecasts Housing Market Affordability Set To Return In 2025
  Looking To Buy? New Report Forecasts Housing Market Affordability Set To Return In 2025

  Consumers are facing the most severe housing affordability crisis in a generation. Tens of millions of folks have been priced out of homes in the last year, primarily due to skyrocketing borrowing costs and a shortage of housing supply that has pushed prices to mind-numbing levels. 

  We have documented the quick collapse of the ‘American Dream’ in “Housing Crisis Worsens As Affordability Reaches Record Low” and “Housing Affordability Worsens As Homeownership Out Of Reach For Anyone Making Under $100k”. 

  In June, the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com published a report that found over 75% of the homes listed on the market are too expensive for the middle class. Thanks to a rapid surge in the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate from 3% to over 7% and a 40% rise in national home prices during the pandemic era.

  

  Millions of consumers are on the sidelines, searching Zillow and other realtor websites for the perfect starter home. But what prevents many from buying a home has been high borrowing costs during two years of negative real wages. So many are wondering: When do mortgage rates fall? We may have found that answer. 

  Morningstar has published a new housing report that forecasts the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is set to peak around 7% and then trend lower in the back half of the year, with an average rate for the year around 6.25%. Morningstar’s forecast model shows 5% for 2024 and even 4% for 2025.  

  “The Fed has engineered a massive increase in interest rates in order to combat high inflation. We expect it to cut the federal-funds rate aggressively in the coming years, driving the [Federal funds] rate down from 5% currently to below 2% by 2025,” economists from Morningstar wrote in the report. 

  “Once the Fed wins the battle against inflation, its priority will shift to jump-starting economic growth, which will require much lower interest rates, in our view,” they said. 

  Morningstar continued, “Regardless of what happens in the next few years, we expect interest rates to ultimately settle back down at the low levels that prevailed before the pandemic. The low-interest-rate regime will resume once the dust settles from the pandemic economic volatility.” 

  And they noted, “Our long-term interest-rate projections are driven by secular trends. Factors such as aging demographics, slowing productivity growth, and increasing inequality have acted to push down real interest rates for decades, and these forces haven’t gone away.”

  Morningstar expects rising incomes and sliding home prices will improve housing affordability. 

  The good news for home prices is that Case-Shiller’s National Home Price Index turned down in April for the first time since April 2012. 

  

  “Our revised home price forecast now projects new- and existing-home prices to decline 6% and 4% over 2022 to 2024, respectively,” Morningstar said. They called a downturn in home prices or a “mild correction,” noting a plunge in prices would be prevented due to inventory shortage nationwide. 

  We suspect sliding home prices is what the Federal Reserve is hoping for, and judging by mortgage rates, prices have a long way to fall…

  

  Hard landing probabilities continue to rise as the Fed is hellbent on tightening financial conditions to tame inflation. This increases the prospect of the Fed continuing to break the economy, just like what happened in regional banks earlier this year, which would then cause them to pivot. So the best thing a prospective homebuyer could hope for is a recession that would ultimately lower borrowing costs as the Fed would have to switch from QT to stimulative measures. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 20:00

• Trump Raises $35 Million In Second Quarter, Reinforcing Frontrunner Status
  Trump Raises $35 Million In Second Quarter, Reinforcing Frontrunner Status

  Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The campaign of former President Donald Trump announced on July 5 that he raised more than $35 million for his White House bid in the second fundraising quarter, nearly double what he raised in the first quarter of the year.

  

  The amount is the most recent indication that Mr. Trump is the dominant frontrunner in the Republican primary and that being indicted twice—in New York and Florida—has only strengthened his standing among his most ardent supporters.

  The average donation to Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign has reached $34, the campaign said as evidence of his grassroots support.

  The sum represents the campaign period from April 1 to June 30 and represents a substantial increase from earlier in the year.

  The Trump campaign reported raising $18.8 million between his principal campaign account and a joint fundraising account during the first three months of 2024.

  Even after Mr. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in late March on charges related to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign, $4 million was raised.

  Mr. Trump’s campaign announced last month that it had raised over $6.6 million in the days following his second indictment—this time in Miami on federal charges related to his reported stockpiling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and alleged attempts to obstruct their return.

  This included over $4.5 million in online donations and $2.1 million raised at a lavish fundraiser held the night of his arraignment at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

  Mr. Trump faces additional investigations in Georgia and Washington, D.C., regarding his efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election in an attempt to remain in office.

  DeSantis Fundraising

  The presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis announced robust fundraising results on July 6,  saying his campaign raised $20 million in its first six weeks. In the meantime, his independent Super PAC has raised $130 million since its launch in early March.

  In a written statement, Mr. DeSantis’ campaign stated that his fundraising “is the largest first-quarter filing by any non-incumbent Republican candidate in over a decade.

  “The figures from the DeSantis campaign and from Never Back Down illustrated the Florida governor’s fundraising prowess as he aims to defeat front-runner and former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination next year,” the Never Back Down Super PAC said in a statement.

  “Trump’s team reported on July 5 that the former president’s campaign and Save America, his political action committee, together brought in over $35 million between April and June in the second quarter of political fundraising,” the PAC said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:40

• Biden: 'War With Russia Must End Before Ukraine Can Enter NATO'
  Biden: ‘War With Russia Must End Before Ukraine Can Enter NATO’

  President Biden has laid out his full vision for Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO, a day before the much anticipated major NATO annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania – which Zelensky has also been invited to attend in person.

  While Air Force One was en route to Eastern Europe, at least one major development occurred, namely Turkey suddenly reversing course on Sweden’s accession, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirming that Erdogan has agreed to advance Sweden’s membership as a 32nd member of the alliance. 

  Speaking to CNN on the all-important question of where Ukraine stands in Washington’s eyes, Biden emphasized the war-ravaged country is not yet ready for NATO membership. 

  

  He made clear that the US would not support its path to entry (or even seriously discuss it) until after the war with Russia ends. But in place of guarantees for future membership, which it now seems very clearly won’t be something issued at the Vilnius summit, Biden is promising an essentially endless weapons supply in the foreseeable future, after controversially approving cluster bombs.

  “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” Biden said.

  “For example, if you did that, then, you know – and I mean what I say – we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case,” he stressed – in an implicit reference to the Article 5 common defense treaty.

  But then he continued suggesting eventual, future membership: “I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO,” Biden said.

  “But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues,” the President explained.

  While Biden is at the very least showing some restraint on the NATO question, a number of Congressional hawks, especially among Republicans, have called for Kiev’s formal NATO membership, raising the political pressure higher…

  It sounds crazy but many American opinion-makers want a direct war with Russia & this is why they advocate for Ukraine being in NATO. Obviously, the best way to prioritize Americans’ security is to avoid needlessly declaring war on the country with the most nuclear weapons. https://t.co/xMCt2hrLDe

  — Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) July 10, 2023

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  Interestingly, in the same interview Biden boasted that he refused to accede to President Putin’s demands to pledge not to admit NATO. Biden says he resisted caving on the alliance’s principle of “an open-door policy” – which is strange given the fact that such a simple pledge could have prevented a war.

  Meanwhile, more revealing Freudian slips out of this administration…

  STATE DEPT. SPOX MILLER: “We believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine…”

  PRESS: “Don’t you mean ‘a strategic failure for Russia?'”

  MILLER: “I’m sorry — excuse me — a strategic failure for Ukraine! Thank you for the correction!” pic.twitter.com/o7uIpTlBSq

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 10, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:20

• Vanlords – A New Form Of Urban Encampment
  Vanlords – A New Form Of Urban Encampment

  Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

  I’ve discussed Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) at length as they have been marketed as a new way to force people into perpetual renting.

  They have even advertised micro-ADUs that are no more than a shed with plumbing.

  Since addressing the housing crisis would go against plans for the Great Reset, people are turning to desperate measures.

  Vanlords is the newly deemed term for people who rent out RVs to desperate families.

  This has become prominent in Los Angeles, California, where thousands of rental RVs have appeared.

  The government found a way to house all the illegals who Biden let in the country. The citizens sleep on the street or in vans.

  ‘”Vanlords,” as L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park calls them, “typically buy RVs at auction, then either drive or get them towed to their location of choice.”

  These are not completely legal, but they are increasing in popularity as people have no alternative to affordable housing.

  “A lot of times, the inhabitants of the vehicle don’t know the name of the person who rented it from, they don’t have valid contact information, a lot of these vehicles are not registered, they’re not adequately insured,” said Park.

  Not all RVs are hooked up to plumbing, and they are not legally hooked up to any electrical system.

  People have begun dumping waste into storm drains and using public facilities for basic hygiene.

  This is a step up from a large homeless encampment, and some cities are working on changing municipal codes to permit these eyesores to line residential streets.

  This is not an adequate solution to homelessness and once more hurts the middle class as the upper class would have no need for a few hundred per month.

  This is another form of urban encampment that will drive down property values and create a dangerous situation for residents, who don’t have many rights, and neighboring residents.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 19:00

• Russia Directs Rare Outrage At Turkey For 'Unauthorized' Release Of Azov Fighters
  Russia Directs Rare Outrage At Turkey For ‘Unauthorized’ Release Of Azov Fighters

  Russia is expressing a rare moment of outrage directed at Turkey, after Moscow says it was blindsided by the Erdogan government’s decision to handover of neo-Nazi Azav battalion prisoners to Ukraine.

  President Putin is demanding answers: “Indeed, the return of the Azov leaders violates an existing agreement, and we will discuss this issue with Turkey and, in fact, we have already started talks on this issue,” presidential spokesman Dimitry Peskov told a news briefing. Russia says it wants “clarifications” from Ankara, and there has already been official phone calls on the issue. Azov Regiment Commander Denys Prokopenko, the man who for months led the final Azov holdout at Azovstal steel works plant, is now back in Ukraine a free man as a result of Zelensky’s intervention.

  

  Peskov continued in the terse words directed at Turkey: “It is extremely important that, unlike a number of states from the so-called collective West, Turkey maintains a dialogue with us and supports it at the highest levels.” Moscow’s position is that the Azov prisoners were to remain in Turkey until the close of the war. Peskov complained that Russia wasn’t informed.

  “Nobody informed us about this. According to the terms of the agreement, these persons were supposed to stay on the territory of Türkiye until the end of the conflict,” Peskov asserted.

  “We will be employing these channels for the dialogue, primarily to explain our stance, and will certainly be taking into account the current situation while concluding future agreements in various spheres.”

  The remarks as well as subsequent state media reporting have further strongly suggested the release of Azov fighters by Turkey undermines and erodes trust and strong relations between Ankara and Moscow. Presidents Putin and Erdogan have throughout the Ukraine war maintained relatively tight, positive relations given the backdrop of the conflict, and Turkey’s place in NATO.

  Turkey had previously played a leading role in prisoner swaps centered on Azov commanders and fighters that were holed up at Azovstal before Russian forces captured it last year. According to background in Politico: 

  The five commanders — from the 12th Ukrainian National Guard, its separate Azov regiment and the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian army — were ordered to surrender to Russian forces in May 2022 after holding out for more than two months defending the the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

  The Azovstal commanders, along with 2,500 Ukrainian servicemen, were taken into Russian captivity. The Kremlin labeled all of them Nazis, with some Russian officials even saying the Ukrainian soldiers deserved execution by hanging.

  Zelensky had personally traveled to Istanbul where he met with Erdogan, and secured their release. The Ukrainian leader has been celebrating this as a triumph… “We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home,” announced Zelensky over the weekend. On Saturday he posted the following: 

  Zelensky has returned from Ukraine, bringing with him several Azov fighters who have been released by back to Ukraine by Turkey.

  The Kremlin blames #Erdogan for breaking agreements as #Azov prisoners were supposed to stay in Turkey until the end of the war. pic.twitter.com/83lTSyru7r

  — Dumayu (@DumayuReporting) July 8, 2023

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  “Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denys Shleha. They will finally be with their relatives,” Zelensky had announced on Telegram. “We are returning home from Türkiye and bringing our heroes home,” he said, adding: “They will finally be with their relatives.”

  Meanwhile, this could do further harm to the Turkey-brokered grain deal. Russia has been complaining to Turkey about the “inability of Western states” to carry out the grain deal, after it has already been hanging by a thread. Turkey is further seeking to give Russia security assurances, including the possibility of naval escorts, after Russia alleged Ukrainian aggression in the region of the Black Sea grain corridor. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:40

• Victor Davis Hanson: Illegal Immigration And Western Spiritual Sickness
  Victor Davis Hanson: Illegal Immigration And Western Spiritual Sickness

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

  Enforcing the Law Has Become Abnormal

  The usual suspects have weighed in on recent belated efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

  Our now bankrupt media, the corrupt government of Mexico, and the Diversity/Equity/Inclusion apparat have damned a series of laws recently passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that enforce existing federal immigration laws.

  

  Such critics seem oblivious to the current violence that is paralyzing Europe in general, and in particular France—as if such European chaos offers no lessons for the U.S. or any other salad-bowl, open-borders Western nation.

  Florida decided no longer to provide de facto and illegal exemptions to foreign nationals who entered and now reside in the state illegally.

  Gov. De Santis is conveying a message to the country that not enforcing the laws, exempting those who break them, or treating foreign nationals as if they had a birthright to enter the U.S. illegally, does not even win gratitude from those who violate U.S. law.

  Such American magnanimity is seen, and rightly so, by illegal immigrants and the government who sends them here, as Western spiritual decadence. Thus illegal immigration is to be unapologetically leveraged and forever manipulated—and rarely to be reciprocated with any appreciation.

  The Mexican government was not only more fearful of destroying the U.S. border during the Trump years; it oddly also gave the hated Trump more respect than it had shown either the supposedly messianic Barack Obama or compliant Joe Biden.

  Indeed, the more Mexico praised and manipulated Obama and Biden, the more contempt it showed the U.S. Paradoxically, the more Mexico denounced Trump, the more it conceded to Trump that it must begin to cease its export of multimillions of its own citizens.

  No one is now arguing that Florida is breaking any laws by enforcing them.

  Again, the outrage is instead over the state’s legal adherence to the law.

  No one privately believes the illegal aliens affected by the new enforcement are euphemistically merely “undocumented migrants.”

  In truth, illegal aliens never sought nor possessed nor intended to possess immigration “documents” in the first place, although millions of would-be law-abiding immigrants easily do just that. Instead, they have shown contempt for U.S. laws and those who made and enforced them.

  So “illegal alien” is precisely the correct term. Most other euphemisms are designed deliberately to obfuscate criminality and brand anyone a racist who would seek to differentiate legal immigrants from illegal immigrants, and legally residing aliens from illegally residing aliens.

  The Hostility of Mexico

  Note that the Mexican government now routinely urges those of its expanding expatriate community that are legal U.S. citizens to vote against Republican candidates in general, and De Santis in particular. Such interference is simply a warning sign of how much illegal immigration has warped the entire political landscape of America.

  Imagine if a Republican U.S. president urged the 1.6 million American citizens now residing in Mexico to speak out against Mexico City’s immigration policies. Or what if he hectored millions of Mexican citizens now residing in the U.S. to become politically active in opposing the Obrador government? Would the Mexican people applaud that interference?

  Note that Mexico never shows appreciation that some 20-30 millions of its citizens have entered the U.S. illegally and with impunity and been treated as if they were citizens. Instead, it is always a demand for more, more and more. Indeed, any mere suggestion of enforcing our own law—not Mexico usurpation of it—is again smeared as “racism.”

  Why does Mexico feel it has an inherent right to mock U.S. laws—aside from the natural contempt it holds for America for reacting in such logical fashion to its aggression?

  Remittances via illegal immigration is a $30 billion profitable Mexican enterprise. U.S. cash sent southward is the largest source of its foreign income.

  Exporting human capital reduces social welfare costs for a racialist Mexican government that does not extend sufficient social welfare for many of its own largely indigenous people in the south.

  Through illegal immigration, Mexico creates a favorable expatriate community that helps to influence U.S. policy to transition illegal aliens to citizens through blanket amenities.

  It encourages those to enter the U.S. without background checks, on the self-interested rationale of also sending northward felons and others deemed undesirables by the Mexican government.

  Moreover, Mexico attacks any smidgeon of U.S. immigration law enforcement on the strategy of putting Americans on the defensive as “racists” and “xenophobes.” That way it softens any American pushback to the cartels’ exportation of Chinese-reformulated fentanyl to the U.S.

  Apparently, the billions of dollars the cartels harvest from their drug profits that pour into the Mexican economy outweigh the dangers such criminals pose to the rule of law in Mexico.

  Mexico City acts as if the 100,000 norteños gringos that die from illegally imported Mexican opioids are tolerable collateral damage. In some sick way, does weaponizing cartel fentanyl serve Mexico by creating a sort of deterrence against enforcing the rule of law across the entire border—as in ”close the border—and you’ll get even more of our drugs!”?

  In a word, any unbiased and disinterested observer would interpret the behavior of the Mexican government as at war with the U.S.

  The European Mess

  We are beginning to see something similar now coming to a head in Western European countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Sweden in particular, but also Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Greece. While European illegal immigration differs from the American brand, the same parameters of Western spiritual bankruptcy persist.

  Mexico and its citizens accept that millions in Mexico prefer to live in the United States even though America is premised on principles antithetical to Mexico.

  They also assume that by smearing the American hosts as racists, xenophobes and nativists, they will achieve greater concessions.

  So too millions of North Africans, Middle Easterners and sub-Saharan Africans flee without legal sanction to Europe.

  The premise shared by such illegal immigrants, their host country, and their home governments is that literally hundreds of millions of people would prefer to move to Europe—and abandon their own homes, extended families, and familiar landscapes to enter a completely alien and antithetical culture.

  Such illegal aliens, like those who enter the U.S., likewise assume they can lodge preemptive indictments of their hosts as racists, nativists and xenophobes—largely on the brief that after leaving their own poorer and often most failed states, they did not magically obtain near parity soon enough after arrival.

  Illegal aliens in Europe further feel they can enter a mutually beneficial relationship with Western Leftists. The Left will normalize and amnesty their illegality. It will claim their own governments and people are racists for looking askance at illegal immigration. And it then will leverage illegal aliens to form a large new demographic bloc that will support leftist causes, either in the street, or legally through acquisitions of amnesty, green cards, and eventually citizenship.

  In other words, the Left increasingly has realized in both Europe and North America that its policies on immigration, identity politics, climate change and fossil fuels, crime and the economy are nihilist.

  Their agendas eventually transform their large cities into precivilizational enclaves. And they are losing popular support. Thus the international Western Left needs both new voters and new dependents to be whipped up to serve as blameless victims of their conservative enemies.

  The Illogic of Illegal Immigration

  One could argue over whether 18th and 19th-century Western imperialism and colonization of Asian, African, and New World landscapes proved solely lethal and toxic or sometimes beneficial to native peoples or both.

  And further few can agree whether colonization proved in the long run and in a cost-to-benefit analysis, even predictably profitable for European interlopers, colonists and imperialists.

  Yet whatever one’s take on past European colonization beyond the borders of Europe, what is indisputable is that most colonized people eventually rose up and threw out colonials—whether by violence in Algeria, Kenya, Rhodesia or Vietnam, or transitionally and over time in India, Libya or Egypt.

  Apparently, sinful Westerners were once spit out abroad, but as penance now are to be hosts to millions from those lands they fled.

  But on what logic or premises exactly?

  Did the former victims of colonialism announce, “We hated you and yours so much in our country that we are now risking our lives to join you in yours?”

  Or was the subtext the placard slogan used by demonstrators on the closure of the once huge American base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, “Yanquis, go home!—and take me with you?”

  In surreal terms, the old anti-colonialist mantras of the 1950s and 1960s of “our country for ourselves” has now become something like, “Keep out of our country, but don’t keep us out of yours.”

  What is far more astounding are the actual illogical absurdities of illegal immigration as it is practiced in the West.

  One is the failure to integrate and assimilate into the culture of the host. Note again the logical fallacies. If the immigrant wishes to import his culture and seeks to retain it in Europe and if then that ensuing culture were to become the dominant one, would not the immigrant wish to move away from the very thing he had created—in the manner he had already done so in the past by leaving home?

  In other words, if North Africans succeed in xeroxing Algeria or Somalia in France, why would they stay in France, since they already had fled to there precisely because it was not Algeria or Somalia?

  Second, what about the ancient relationship between the guest, or rather the uninvited guest, and the host? Has it ever been a custom in any culture, country, or civilization in any era, that the guest enters the home of his host and makes demands upon it?

  Or more absurdly, do uninvited guests ever fault the furnishings, the food, or the ambience of what the host has offered to him? Did Homer and his gods approve when the suitors made demands on the house of their host Penelope?

  The answer is, of course no, because of an ancient comeback—so often caricatured but never refuted by the Left—that if the present wares are so bad, then why not just be free of them, leave and return home to paradise?

  If President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico is so critical of the U.S., then why does he not block the border and insist that his citizens stay home safely far distant from a toxic host and its contaminating culture?

  But again these are mere word games because we know the answers to all the above paradoxes and absurdities.

  Western Spiritual Sickness

  The non-West sees a richer, more leisured, and more relativist West as something akin to H.G. Wells’s posthuman Elois—strangely effete creatures who coast on the fumes of a distant past that once bequeathed to them their present wealth and leisure. Yet these perceived unworthy inheritors of the work of prior generations are seen as hardly deserving of respect. Indeed, they rightfully earn from illegal immigrants even greater contempt for not defending what they enjoy.

  Thus, millions with impunity swarm American and European borders. Many are defiant in smearing their would-be hosts as racists or worse for daring to enforce the sort of immigration laws taken for granted in their own homelands.

  In Paris, they riot and burn on the assumption that the soft West deserves what is dished out. The host apparently is seen as some sort of sick masochist who enjoys being told how sinful the West was and is—and how deserving it is of a comeuppance of riot, arson, mayhem and violence.

  If that logic seems preposterous, then why does the violence periodically break out to such devastating effect? Exploitation? Racism? Yet, in Europe there is less of both than in his prior homeland, evident by the vote of his own two feet.

  The Ethiopian in Italy, or the Algerian in France apparently sees his European host also as a sheep that merely bays when given a needed periodic sheering—albeit with the care of the sheerer to clip away at, but not extinguish, his bountiful host.

  A Middle East immigrant to Sweden would never act as he routinely does in Malmo if he were in Budapest, much less in Singapore or Beijing. An illegal immigrant knows that as much as he detests the French and loathes the Dutch, he needs more of the French and more of the Dutch than more of himself in the land of the French and Dutch—if his dreams and agendas of living differently from where he came from are to be reified.

  None of these irrationalities are about race. Instead, they pertain to human nature and culture. And the fault is not all the on the part of the illegal alien, and his plethora of self-serving hypocrisies.

  His host is culpable as well. The West demands little of the illegal entrant, whether defined as obedience to laws, or to melt into and absorb the culture that he has voted for with his feet. The Westerner’s greatest fear is not even hostile, violent, and unassimilated illegal aliens, but the perception that such a community judges the Westerner as illiberal.

  Instead, the post-civilizational Westerner has lost all confidence in his homeland, his traditions, his values, and his very future, to the point that he is well beyond the inability of defending his civilization—given that he no longer even knows how to define it.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:20

• Near-Term Inflation Expectations Tumble To 2 Year Low As Longer-Term Price Outlook Unexpectedly Jumps
  Near-Term Inflation Expectations Tumble To 2 Year Low As Longer-Term Price Outlook Unexpectedly Jumps

  If Powell was on the fence about whether to hike rates in two weeks after the June “hawkish skip” or whatever the said pause is now called, the latest monthly data just released by the NY Fed Consumer Survey should help allay his fears.

  According to the NY Fed, near-term inflation expectations –  those for the one-year horizon and which traditionally just follow the latest move in the price of gasoline – dropped again to 3.83% in June from May’s 4.07%, the third straight decline – one which was broad-based across all demographic groups – and the lowest reading since April 2021. The measure has now fallen by 3 percentage points from its series high in June 2022. This drop, however, was offset by a virtually flat inflation expectation in the three-year-ahead horizon (which dipped to 2.95% from 2.98%) and a surprise increase in the five year inflation expectations, which rose to 2.95% from 2.72% in May, the highest print since March 2022.

  

  At the same time, median inflation uncertainty—or the uncertainty expressed regarding future inflation outcomes—declined across all three horizons.

  

  Some other observations:

  Median home price growth expectations increased for the fifth consecutive month from 2.6% in May to 2.9% in June, the highest reading since July 2022. The increase was driven by respondents with a college degree and those who live in the South and West Census regions, which is surprising because those educated folks should realize what “higher for longer” rates mean for home prices. Unless, of course, we don’t have higher for longer and ordinary Americans once again prove to be smarter than the Fed.

  

  Median year-ahead expected price changes declined by 0.4 percentage point for gas (to 4.7%) and 0.1 percentage point for food (to 5.3%). In contrast, median year-ahead expected price changes increased by 1.2 percentage points for the cost of college education (to 8.3%), 0.1 percentage point for medical care (to 9.3%), and 0.3 percentage point for rent (to 9.4%).

  

  Labor Market

  • Median one-year-ahead expected earnings growth increased by 0.2 percentage point to 3.0%. The series has been moving within a narrow range of 2.8% to 3.0% since September 2021.

  

  • Mean unemployment expectations—or the mean probability that the U.S. unemployment rate will be higher one year from now—decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 37.7%, the lowest reading since April 2022.

  

  • The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months increased by 2.0 percentage points to 12.9%, the highest reading since November 2021. The mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next 12 months decreased, by 0.2 percentage point, to 18.9%. The increase in the mean likelihood of a layoff was driven by respondents aged 40 or higher.

  

  • The mean perceived probability of finding a job (if one’s current job was lost) decreased from 56.4% in May to 55.3% in June.

  

  And here are the survey respondents’ expectations on topics of household finance

  • Median expected growth in household income decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 3.2%, remaining below the series 12-month trailing average of 3.6%.
  • Median household spending growth expectations declined from 5.6% in May to 5.2% in June, well below its 12-month trailing average of 6.4%, and the lowest reading since September 2021.
  • Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago improved somewhat in June, with a slightly higher share of households reporting that it is easier to obtain credit now than a year ago. Similarly, respondents’ views about future credit availability improved slightly. The share of respondents expecting tighter credit conditions a year from now decreased, while the share expecting looser credit conditions rose.
  • The average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months increased by 0.7 percentage point to 12.0% in June, the highest reading since January 2023. The increase was driven by respondents with no more than a high school education.
  • The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes (at current income level) increased by 0.2 percentage point to 4.3%.
  • Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt increased from 9.7% in May to 10.0% in June.
  • The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on saving accounts will be higher in 12 months decreased by 0.5 percentage point to 29.8%, the lowest reading since December 2021.
  • Perceptions about households’ current financial situations improved in June with more respondents reporting being better off than a year ago and fewer respondents reporting being worse off. Similarly, year-ahead expectations improved with fewer respondents expecting to be worse off a year from now and more respondents expecting to be better off.
  • The mean perceived probability that U.S. stock prices will be higher 12 months from now increased by 1.0 percentage point to 35.3%.

  

  More in the full survey available here.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 18:00

• Biden Seeks To End Cheaper Obamacare Alternatives, Expect Another Supreme Court Smackdown
  Biden Seeks To End Cheaper Obamacare Alternatives, Expect Another Supreme Court Smackdown

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Biden’s efforts to produce more inflation are nonstop, 24×7.

  His latest move is a set of regulations to force people into Obamacare despite the fact a District Court already ruled against his proposed regulations.

  

  Biden Attempts to Make Healthcare Even More Expensive

  To understand what Biden wants to do, and why the Supreme Court is likely to smack it down, we need to review a District Court ruling from 2020.

  On July 24, 2020, CATO reported In a Win for Consumers, a Court Ruling Affirms the Legality of Short‐​Term Health Insurance Plans

  The ACA dramatically increased health insurance premiums in the “individual” market, where consumers purchase coverage directly from insurers. Yet Congress deliberately chose not to apply the ACA’s regulations to “short‐​term, limited duration insurance,” which can therefore offer lower premiums. As ACA premiums rose, many consumers flocked to STLDI plans.

  One such consumer was 61‐​year‐​old Arizona resident Jeanne Balvin. In 2017, Balvin purchased an STLDI plan from UnitedHealthcare for $274 per month. It covered the entire cost of her emergency surgery for diverticulitis, minus a $2,500 deductible. Had she purchased an ACA plan, her premium would have been three times as high and her deductible in the range of $6,000.

  Prior to 2016, Balvin could have purchased an STLDI plan that lasted an entire year. In the hope of forcing people into ACA plans, however, the Obama administration imposed a rule in 2016 that required insurers to throw STLDI enrollees out of their plans after just three months. The Trump administration reversed this rule and expressly stated that nothing in federal law prevents insurers from making STLDI plans from offering renewable, and therefore continuous, coverage.

  Enter the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, a lobbying group representing private insurance companies that sell ACA plans. Complaining that STLDI plans were cutting into their business, ACAP asked federal courts to remedy that “injury” by reinstating this heartless rule.

  On July 17, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of STLDI enrollees. The court found the administration’s reversal of the Obama rule was reasonable, not least because stripping coverage from these patients means they “could be denied a new policy ‘based on preexisting medical conditions.’”

  Jam City, Dateline July 7, 2023

  The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Short-Sighted New Health Rule

  Behold the President’s plan to limit short-term health insurance plans in order to jam more consumers into the heavily subsidized and regulated ObamaCare exchanges. The Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury Departments on Friday proposed rules to roll back the Trump Administration’s expansion of short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) plans. Since 2018 these plans have been available in 12-month increments, and consumers have been able to renew them for up to 36 months.

  These plans are especially attractive to young people whose employers don’t provide coverage. Why would a healthy 26-year-old want to pay for maternity, pediatric and other services he probably won’t use in the near future?

  The Inflation Reduction Act sweetened ObamaCare’s insurance premium tax credits that are tied to income. As a result, a 60-year-old making just above four times the poverty level has to pay only 8.5% of his income toward his insurance premium while the government picks up the rest. If premiums increase, government is on the hook for more.

  But after the Inflation Reduction Act’s enhanced subsidies expire in 2025, consumers will be in for sticker-shock. Hence, the Administration is trying to drive more young, healthy people back into the exchanges by reinstating a four-month cap on short-term plans and prohibiting renewals. Presto: A free market for insurance that competes with the ObamaCare exchanges disappears.

  As with his backdoor ban on gas-powered cars, President Biden is limiting health insurance choice and competition in the name of protecting consumers from something they want to buy.

  Obamacare is Junk

  On June 29, 2023, before the above details emerged, CATO wrote Dear Health Reporters: Prep for Biden’s Proposed Rule on Short‐​Term Plans

  First of all, ObamaCare is the junk coverage here. Economic research shows ObamaCare’s preexisting‐​conditions “protections” have eroded coverage at a cost to sick patients of thousands of dollars per year, and even “currently healthy consumers cannot be adequately insured.” ObamaCare has caused individual‐​market provider networks to narrow significantly since 2013, when network breadth reflected consumer preferences. ObamaCare premiums are skyrocketing to the point where Congress is offering subsidies to households earning $600,000 per year. STLDI plans offer more flexibility and choice, protect conscience rights, offer broader provider networks, cost up to 70 percent less than ObamaCare plans, and can even reduce ObamaCare premiums by improving ObamaCare’s risk pools.

  If Biden tries to eliminate standalone renewal guarantees, he may trigger a lawsuit. The Public Health Service Act grants the federal government no authority at all to regulate those novel insurance products.

  13 Years of Obamacare

  On March 30, 2023, the Washington Examiner reported Thirteen years of Obamacare Increasing Healthcare Costs.

  The Affordable Care Act turned 13 last week, and I was asked to provide testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means on how the law, as well as several recent expansions of it, failed to make healthcare more affordable. Here is a slightly modified version of what I told Congress.

  The ACA has caused premiums to soar. Individual market premiums more than doubled in the first four years after its implementation, yet plans covered fewer doctors and hospitals. By 2021, the average ACA plan premium plus deductible for a family of four was about $25,000.

  Since coverage is cost prohibitive, most enrollees need extremely large subsidies to afford these plans. Taxpayers pay for more than 80% of the premium on average and pick up almost all the cost of premium increases over time. This gives insurers significant pricing power and in turn leads to higher premiums — an inflationary spiral.

  As government’s role in healthcare has expanded, prices have skyrocketed. Hospital prices have increased more than any other major economic sector, rising three times faster than inflation since 2000. 

  Both the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act expanded the ACA’s already substantial subsidies. Most of the benefit went to people who already had coverage . Families with incomes well above $250,000 now qualify for large subsidies. The expanded subsidies incentivize employers to drop workplace coverage, raising government’s overall deficits. And all the new spending on the expanded subsidies also increases inflation.

  The Supreme Court is guaranteed to strike down this latest bit of regulatory overreach by the Biden administration.

  Here are some recent Supreme Court smackdowns.

  • June 29, 2023: Supreme Court Rules Race-Conscious Admissions at Harvard and UNC are Unconstitutional

  • June 30, 2023: Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Cancellation, Cites Nancy Pelosi

  • July 2, 2023: The Wealth Tax Idea Is Headed for Sudden Death in the Supreme Court

  Don’t expect any relief from nonsensical proposals. By now, it should be clear Biden’s regulatory madness is endless.

  *  *  *

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 07/10/2023 – 17:40

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