Apr 12

Today’s News 12th April 2023

  • Australian And UK Politicians Call On The US To Drop Julian Assange’s Extradition
    Australian And UK Politicians Call On The US To Drop Julian Assange’s Extradition

    Authored by Rebecca Zhu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange supporters hold placards as they gather outside Westminster Magistrates court In London, on April 20, 2022. (Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

    Politicians from Australia and the UK, from all political leanings, have asked U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland to end all extradition attempts for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

    In an open letter, 48 Australian parliamentarians from the government, opposition, and crossbench said extradition would set a “dangerous precedent” for freedom of the press and be “needlessly damaging” for the United States as a world leader in freedom of expression.

    “If the extradition request is approved, Australians will witness the deportation of one of our citizens from one AUKUS partner to another—our closest strategic ally—with Mr Assange facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison,” the letter reads.

    The MPs and senators noted that Assange has been “effectively incarcerated” for over a decade, while the person who leaked the classified information, Chelsea Manning, has “been able to participate in American society since 2017.”

    “A clear majority of Australians consider that this matter has gone on for far too long and must be brought to a close,” the letter says.

    “We implore you to drop the extradition proceedings and allow Mr Assange to return home.”

    Assange’s father, John Shipton, previously said that his son’s incarceration was “excoriating and scarring” for him and his family.

    “After 14 years, you no longer use the term hope,” he said in March.

    But he was heartened at the growing support for his release from across the political spectrum.

    “The incoming tide is now turning into a tsunami of support,” he said.

    “You don’t need to be a weatherman to see which way the wind’s blowing.”

    Similarly, 35 UK MPs and Lords from six parties have written to Garland requesting that the attorney general uphold the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and drop the extradition proceedings to allow Assange to return to Australia.

    “This April 11 marks the fourth anniversary of Mr Assange, an award-winning journalist and publisher, being detained in His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh in London, where he awaits a decision on extradition to the United States of America,” the letter says.

    The parliamentarians said extradition to the United States would have a “chilling impact” on journalism and set a dangerous precedent for other journalists and media organisations.

    Assange, an Australian citizen, is wanted by the United States on 18 criminal charges of breaking an espionage law and conspiring to hack government computers after WikiLeaks published a U.S. military video in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed multiple civilians, including two Reuters news staff. He faces up to 175 years behind bars if convicted.

    Dragged On For Too Long

    Greg Barns, the spokesperson for the Australian Assange Campaign, told the AAP that legislators from around the world were eager for the case’s conclusion.

    It was especially critical for Washington to understand the level of support for Assange among Australian MPs for the extradition proceedings to an end.

    “There has been bipartisan support for a long period of time, but what this letter says in print is the extent of that diversity,” Barns said.

    “That is a reflection of the Australian community [because] a lot of people think no matter what Assange has done, enough is enough.”

    He noted that he was unaware of anyone else subject to “inhumane” conditions while yet to be formally charged with a criminal offence.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Assange’s release was not an issue the Australian government could resolve.

    “We have, at the prime minister’s level and at foreign minister level, been very clear in our views that this matter has dragged on too long and it should be brought to a close,” she told the Senate on March 30.

    “But I again make the point that there is a legal process that is in accordance with the tradition of the separation of powers, which I regard as an important part of democracy.

    “We are doing what we can between government and government, but there are limits to what that diplomacy can achieve.”

    In 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that it was “time that this matter be brought to a close.”

    “The government will continue to act in a diplomatic way, but can I assure [you] that I have raised this personally with representatives of the United States government,” he said.

    “I don’t have sympathy for Mr Assange’s actions, on a whole range of matters. But, having said that, you have to reach a point whereby what is the point of this continuing, this legal action, which could be caught up now for many years into the future?

    “So I will continue to advocate, as I did recently in meetings that I have held.”

    Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 04/12/2023 – 01:45

  • Top Swedish Pension Fund Fires CEO After Big Losses On US Banks
    Top Swedish Pension Fund Fires CEO After Big Losses On US Banks

    Sweden’s largest pension fund fired its Chief Executive Officer on Tuesday after a bad bet on US banks led to billions of dollars in losses, reported Bloomberg. 

    Alecta, which has $115 billion of assets under management and oversees the savings of 2.6 million Swedes, published a statement on Tuesday that the board decided CEO Magnus Billing would leave immediately to “restore trust” after his investment strategy “seriously damaged confidence.” 

    Deputy CEO Katarina Thorslund has been appointed acting CEO, and the Swedish fund has started the process of finding a new leader. 

    The firing of Billing comes as the pension had “investments in three American niche banks led to large losses,” the fund said. It had large positions in Silicon Valley Bank parent SVB Financial Group, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank. As a result of the bank failures, it lost SKr19.6bn ($1.9bn), or about 2% of its capital. 

    “No other pension fund had bet on the three niche US banks to the extent that Alecta had,” Bloomberg pointed out. 

    Last week, the fund’s head of equity portfolio management, Liselott Ledin, was placed on leave. Alecta said it would reduce stakes in companies “far away from home.” 

    Chairman Ingrid Bonde called Ledin’s overseas investment strategies “unusually inept.” Sweden’s financial regulator is looking into the losses. 

    Billing has admitted the investment in the US banks was a “big failure,” but he’s responded to critics by saying the losses were only 2% of the fund’s capital. However, the Swedish National Pensioners’ Organization wasn’t happy with his comments, saying the money is “people’s wages,” implying that every loss ought to be treated with seriousness. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 04/12/2023 – 01:00

  • Spilling American Blood & Treasure For Semiconductor Chips
    Spilling American Blood & Treasure For Semiconductor Chips

    The below is an incredibly revealing interview clip featuring Republican Representative from Texas Michael McCaul. In the exchange with Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, McCaul bluntly states (or perhaps inadvertently admits) that he’s willing to go to war with China over Taiwan based on protecting the world’s semiconductor supply. Importantly, he is the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    “Make the basic case for why Americans not only should care about what happens in Taiwan, but should be willing to spill American blood and treasure to defend Taiwan,” Todd asked at the outset of the interview. Rep. McCaul responded immediately that “no one wants that” and this it’s about “deterrence”.

    But then he did get to directly addressing the question, and he began by emphasizing that “About 50 percent of international trade goes through the international straits, but I think more importantly, Chuck, is that [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] manufactures 90 percent of the global supply of advanced semiconductor chips. If China invades and either owns or breaks this, we’re in a world of hurt globally.” So he fundamentally responded to a question over whether the US “should be willing to spill blood and treasure” by stressing that it’s about protecting semiconductor chips.

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

    Todd then points out that McCaul essentially just said that American troops should go fight and die merely to protect industrial resources, questioning, “Congressman it almost sounds like the case that would be made in the 60s, 70s, and 80s of why America was spending so much money and military resources in the Middle East.”

    “Oil was so important for the economy. Is this sort of the 21st century version of that?” Todd posed. McCaul then hesitantly changed his response, saying it’s more about “protecting democracy and freedom”. 

    McCaul was being challenged on comments he recently made about US troops being on the table in order to stand up to China…

    We should note that it’s very likely that the majority of Americans might have trouble finding Taiwan on a map, and after two decades of ‘forever wars’ in the Middle East, and now at the moment of many tens of billions of taxpayer dollars being handed over to Ukraine, opening up a new conflict “front” with China over Taiwan would be deeply unpopular, to say the least.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 23:45

  • Boston FBI Raids Wrong Hotel Room, Detains And Interrogates Innocent Man For 45 Minutes
    Boston FBI Raids Wrong Hotel Room, Detains And Interrogates Innocent Man For 45 Minutes

    Few FBI blunders of late likely compare to what just happened in Boston last week, when Federal Agents on a training mission wound up barging into the wrong hotel room and inadvertently interrogating an innocent hotel guest who was sleeping for nearly 45 minutes.

    The bizarre mistake, outlined by NPR last week, occurred during a training exercise at a Boston hotel.

    An innocent guest was sleeping at his room at the Revere Hotel when Federal Agents began banging on his door “and demanding to be let in”, the report says. Agents then handcuffed the innocent man, isolated him in the shower and interrogated him for more than 45 minutes before ever realizing they had made a mistake. 

    Lt. Col. Mike Burns, spokesperson for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, commented on the blunder: “First and foremost, we’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise.”

    The U.S. Army Special Operations Command was in tow with the FBI conducting “essential military training”. Burns continued: “The training was meant to enhance soldiers’ skills to operate in realistic and unfamiliar environments. The training team, unfortunately, entered the wrong room and detained an individual unaffiliated with the exercise.”

    The FBI-Boston Division said they were “mistakenly sent” to the wrong room “based on inaccurate information”, NPR wrote. The man in the hotel room was in his 30s and was an employee of Delta Air Lines. 

    Boston Police were eventually called to the building and officers confirmed it was a training exercise that had gone wrong. 

    Delta said it was looking into “reports of an alleged incident in Boston that may involve Delta people.” They added: “We have nothing further to share at this time other than to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our people.”

    “The safety of civilians in [the] vicinity of our training is always our number one concern,” Burns continued. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 23:00

  • Whole Foods' Flagship San Francisco Store Closing Due To "High Theft" And "Hostile Visitors"
    Whole Foods’ Flagship San Francisco Store Closing Due To “High Theft” And “Hostile Visitors”

    Adding to the ever-growing list of retail stores panic exiting Downtown San Francisco is one of the largest supermarkets, the Whole Foods Market at Eighth and Market Streets. A combination of soaring retail theft, out-of-control violent crime, and lawless streets are some of the reasons for its closure.

    “We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being. 

    “If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location,” a Whole Foods spokesperson told The San Francisco Standard in a statement.  

    A city government insider told The Standard that Whole Foods’ decision to close up shop at the Trinity location was entirely based on “deteriorating street conditions around drug use and crime near the grocery store.” 

    The beleaguered grocery store on Market Street slashed its operating hours due to “high theft” and hostile visitors in October of last year, according to one of the store’s managers. And in November, the store enforced new bathroom rules after syringes and pipes were found in the restroom. — The Standard.

    There’s no one else to blame but San Francisco’s progressive leaders, who have turned a blind eye to crime and championed criminal justice reform. Due to these unsuccessful policies, the downtown district’s streets have become unsafe, and some streets almost resemble third-world countries. 

    Whole Foods is one of many businesses shuttering retail outlets in the struggling progressive city. Walgreens Pharmacy has been one of the most high-profile names, closing at least 17 stores, if not more, due to a significant rise in retail theft. 

    Some San Franciscans have had enough of failed city leadership. Last year, residents voted Soros-Backed Uber-Progressive Chesa Boudin out of office. 

    And the reality of hard-left governance is only hurting the everyday law-abiding San Franciscans who have no means to defend themselves against criminals and now have to travel even more distance to other retail stores because ones in their neighborhood are closing up shop. 

    Maybe with Boudin out, San Franciscans are finally learning the ‘liberal utopia’ isn’t any utopia but a hellhole, equivalent to Baltimore or Detroit. 

     

     

     

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 22:30

  • The Chicago Teachers Union Now Runs The Mayor’s Office
    The Chicago Teachers Union Now Runs The Mayor’s Office

    Authored by Matt Paprocki via RealClear Wire,

    Socialism hasn’t always been mainstream. It started off as radical: too hot to touch. So in 2010, radical new leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union started slowly.

    “Convincing our members to wear a red T-shirt on Friday was a task,” said Brandon Johnson, who on April 4 became mayor-elect in Chicago. He was speaking at the Socialism 2013 conference about his push to normalize radical progressive politics among rank-and-file Chicago teachers. “Took us a year to convince [Chicago Teachers Union] members that it’s OK to associate yourself with labor. The baby Socialists would just wear the buttons, right? You gotta start them off gently. And so eventually, they started putting on red T-shirts.”

    Those red shirts flooded the city of Chicago in 2012, as teachers union members packed city trains, crowded city streets, and abandoned city schools during one of the most militant and contentious teacher strikes in the city’s history. 

    The red shirts have become a constant symbol of CTU’s growing power. Since the 2012 strike, CTU has only grown stronger under the watchful eyes of uber-progressive leaders such as Karen Lewis, Jackson Potter, Jesse Sharkey, and current CTU president Stacey Davis Gates.

    CTU leadership’s brand of union politics has little to do with students and teacher representation and more to do with an expansive political agenda that includes defunding the police, hiking taxes (on “the rich,” broadly), and pumping more city resources into the Chicago Public Schools system, where classroom spending is way up and student outcomes way down since the Caucus of Rank and File Educators rose to power.

    Since 2010, CTU has drawn the blueprint for how to seize control over America’s largest cities. The union runs the schools, holding as hostage Chicago kids and families whenever union bosses are unhappy with management. They also donate to the bulk of the Chicago City Council, having contributed financially to 34 of Chicago’s 50 current aldermen.

    But their reach expands beyond the city to politicians in the Illinois statehouse. In total, CTU since 2010 has spent at least $19 million on politics in Illinois, including over $2.5 million to Illinois Senate and House candidates.

    Even Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker likes to cater to the CTU, passing a law that gave the union more leverage in contract negotiations and more opportunities to go on strike. By contrast, eight of the nation’s 10 largest school districts prohibit teacher strikes.

    The consequences of increased CTU power and the ideology they’ve pushed on Chicago are clear. 

    There have been five work stoppages – in 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2022 – since CORE took over. The city has increased spending by 55% since then, but nearly 80% of Chicago 11th graders could not read or perform math at grade level, according to state data from 2022. Meanwhile, nearly half of CPS students are chronically absent. Nearly 90,000 students have left the district since 2010, and nearly one-third of CPS schools are half full.

    With results like that, the union still clamors for more power. And they take out anyone who stands in their way. After beloved CPS teacher Joe Ocol refused to walk out on his students during the 2016 teacher strike, he was kicked out of CTU and asked to give up his pay.

    Ifeoma Nkemdi refused to leave the classroom during the 2019 walkout, too. She said union members vulgarly threatened and harassed her, surrounding her in the parking lot as she crossed the picket line. 

    “Students need to be in the classroom,” Nkemdi said. “We can negotiate while teaching.”

    The political ambition of union leadership has gotten so out of hand that a handful of teachers have taken the brave step of suing their union, filing an unfair labor practice claim because the union won’t stop violating its own rules by taking member dues and funneling them into political spending – namely, Johnson’s mayoral campaign.

    Chicagoans started to catch on to CTU’s political ambitions and corruption as the election cycle played out, with CTU favorables dropping precipitously from +17 to +2 during election season. Parents already knew how bad CTU’s influence could be – 52% of Chicago parents polled just weeks before the election said CTU had too much power over city government. Unfortunately, it was too late to stop CTU from seizing the mayor’s office.

    So what now? Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, invested heavily in Johnson after an embarrassing loss in the Virginia gubernatorial election. She spent time stumping for the CTU’s candidate ahead of Election Day.

    Why? She smells opportunity to replicate teachers union efforts to win major political offices in other cities. What union boss wouldn’t want to sit across from one of their own at the bargaining table? Winning the mayor’s office in Chicago is the perfect way to cut out the middleman. The Chicago election made one thing very clear: Teachers union leadership is more political than ever, and their focus has shifted from kids and teachers to gathering power.

    Chicago is the first city to hold major mayoral elections in 2023. Others will follow later this year, including Houston and Philadelphia.

    “From Philly to Chicago, a movement of educators fought against decades of austerity, anti-teacher, school closing policies and now we are remaking our cities,” tweeted Philadelphia mayoral candidate Helen Gym, a former teacher turned social justice movement leader, after Johnson declared victory. Like Johnson, she has the backing of her city’s local AFT union affiliate. “Joyful for Chicago. We got next Philly!”

    Voters in those cities should keep an eye on Weingarten’s travel itinerary. They may be next.

    Matt Paprocki is president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, a free market think tank based in Chicago.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 22:00

  • Salmonella: From Drug Resistant To Extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR)
    Salmonella: From Drug Resistant To Extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR)

    Authored by Dr. Sean Lin and Jacky Guan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Salmonella is perhaps the most common cause of food poisoning. It has the advantage of being able to infect a wide range of hosts and survive in habitats ranging from animal fur to lettuce leaves. However, a rising trend of drug-resistant Salmonella cases (pdf), as indicated in a review published in the journal Foods, points to the need for improved detection and prevention methods.

    Salmonella Essentials

    As a key cause of diarrheal diseases and the cause of typhoid fever, Salmonella strains are responsible for causing 1.2 million illnesses annually. First and foremost, the gram-negative bacteria are known for causing stomach pains and diarrhea when a person eats something that has “gone bad.” Salmonella has about 2,500 variants and is responsible for the hospitalization of more than 25,000 people, as well as the deaths of over 400 each year in the United States alone.

    Aside from stomach cramps and diarrhea, Salmonella infection can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, and a rather formidable headache. In addition, an infection caused by Salmonella Typhi could lead to typhoid fever. Along with the other aforementioned symptoms, typhoid fever leads to a skin rash and muscle weakness, and a fever as high as 103 to 104 F (39 to 40 C).

    Salmonella bacteria are especially difficult to address due to the wide range of hosts and environments in which they can survive. They are nearly ubiquitous as they can live within birds, reptiles, amphibians, and most household pets. Aside from that, they can survive in frozen, fresh, and even processed goods, which is why you hear about Salmonella outbreaks popping up here and there in everything from salami sticks to “raw frozen breaded stuffed chicken products.”

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recorded a long list of Salmonella outbreaks starting from 2006. Usually, symptoms begin to appear six hours to six days after infection and last anywhere from four days to a week. However, people may also experience a lengthy period of symptoms that extends across many weeks, or no symptoms at all.

    Salmonella diagnosis is usually performed in a laboratory and requires individual samples of blood, body tissue, or fluids. The diagnosis might take anywhere between one and five days, depending on the samples.

    Salmonella treatment is usually supportive rather than targeted because, most of the time, drugs actually don’t help much. Fluid restoration is crucial as diarrhea caused by the disease tends to dehydrate the body. Plenty of rest is also highly recommended.

    Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and ceftriaxone are sometimes needed to treat patients with severe Salmonella infections. However, Salmonella infections with drug-resistant strains can be severer and have higher hospitalization rates.

    Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella: What Do We Do?

    The rise of drug-resistant strains of Salmonella is also part of the reason why Salmonella treatment is usually only supportive. The doctor can prescribe you anti-diarrhea medicine or antibiotics, but you’ll run some risks while taking those drugs. For one, diarrhea medication might prolong the duration of symptoms while the infection runs its course. Antibiotics aren’t usually recommended either, as they may be unnecessary and cause more harm than positive results.

    Salmonella usually infect the intestines and usually won’t land in the bloodstream. Antibiotics, on the other hand, are usually for treating diseases that infect the bloodstream, which means that there essentially is no point in taking them in the first place. Additionally, excessive use of antibiotics has led to an increase in drug-resistant Salmonella.

    At least 100,000 infections in the United States alone are due to antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, including strains that are resistant to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin, according to the Foods review. There have also been Salmonella outbreaks that involved strains resistant to multiple antibiotics, including ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 21:00

  • Liftoff Imminent: China Injects Record Credit To Kickstart Economy
    Liftoff Imminent: China Injects Record Credit To Kickstart Economy

    One would think that judging by last night’s weaker than expected CPI print (which the Fed would kill for), China is done flooding its economy with loans and various shadow debt instruments. One would be wrong.

    First things first, on Tuesday China Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that March CPI fell to +0.7% yoy (vs. +1.0% consensus estimate and 1.0% in February ) and the lowest monthly increase since Sept 2021 due to a high base.

    • Food CPI: +2.4% yoy in March (+5.1% mom annualized*) vs. +2.6% yoy in February, primarily due to a high base of vegetable prices from cold weather and Covid restrictions last year. Inflation in fresh vegetables fell to -11.1% yoy in March from -3.8% yoy in February, while inflation in pork prices rose to +9.6% yoy in March from +3.9% yoy in February.
    • Non-food CPI: +0.3% yoy in March (+7.6% mom annualized*) vs. +0.6% yoy in February on falling crude oil prices and automobile price cuts. Specifically, fuel cost inflation fell to -6.4% yoy in March (vs. +0.5% yoy in February). Inflation in transportation equipment fell to -3.3% yoy in March (vs. -1.8% in February).

    Core CPI inflation (headline CPI excluding food and energy) edged up to +0.7% yoy in March (vs. +0.6% in February), and inflation in services rose to +0.8% yoy in March (vs. +0.6% in February).

    At the same time, PPI inflation fell to -2.5% Y/Y in March from -1.4% yoy in February, in line with consensus, and the lowest since June 2020 primarily on a high base of commodity prices. PPI inflation in producer goods fell to -3.4% yoy in March from -2.0% yoy in February, and PPI inflation in consumer goods edged down to +0.9% yoy in March (vs. +1.1% yoy in February). NBS commented that improved demand and accelerated infrastructure projects drove up PPIs of cement and steel sectors sequentially, but year-over-year PPI inflation fell due to a high base last year.

    As Goldman summarizes, the data have continued to surprise to the downside and companies appear to be reluctant to raise prices (in order to stay competitive), and so the bank has revised down its full-year 2023 forecasts of headline CPI and PPI inflation to 1.8% yoy and -1.0% yoy, respectively vs. 2.2% and -0.5% previously. Looking ahead, the bank expects headline CPI inflation in year-over-year terms to accelerate modestly in the coming months on an economic rebound, though it should remain well below the PBOC’s 3% target. PPI deflation may continue in the coming months.

    Ok so if both CPI and PPI missed and continued to slide, that’s hardly the sign of an economy that is about to rebound, or one that is seeing an active credit stimulus. Maybe, but it’s not for lack of trying because as China also reported overnight in March loans and Total Social Financing data came in well above expectations, a sign that the central bank’s moves to unleash more long-term liquidity into the economy and support bank lending is rapidly fueling investment activity.

    Specifically, total RMB loans surprised the market to the upside mainly on stronger medium to long term loans – both households’ medium to long term new borrowing (mostly mortgages) and corporates’ medium to long term new borrowing improved in March. In contrast, bill financing and households’ short-term loan growth slowed in March vs February.

    Here are the main numbers reported by the PBOC:

    • New CNY loans 3890bn yuan in March vs. Bloomberg consensus: RMB 3300 bn
      • Outstanding CNY loan growth: 11.8% yoy in March up from 11.6% yoy in February
    • Total social financing (TSF) 5,387bn yuan in March, vs. consensus 4565bn yuan. This was a record high TSF injection for the month of March
      • TSF stock growth: 10.0% yoy in March, vs. 9.9% in February. The implied month-on-month growth of TSF stock: 14.4% in March vs. 17.8% in February.
    • M2: 12.7% yoy in March vs. Bloomberg consensus: 12.7% yoy and down from February’s 12.9% yoy.

    New corporate mid and long-term loans — an indicator of their willingness to invest in new projects and capacities — jumped from a year ago. Government bond issuance remained robust, as local authorities have announced plans to raise spending on major construction projects by 17% this year.

    While credit growth usually picks up at the end of each quarter as banks rush to meet lending targets. But lending and financing activities were also stronger than expected in the first two months of this year, as government bond issuance surged and corporate credit demand began to recover following the abandonment of Covid restrictions.

    This composition of loan data suggests further improvement in credit demand in the month, although news reports suggested some signs of financial re-leveraging amid falling loan interest rates. Total social financing month-over-month annualized growth slowed from the very fast pace in February, mainly on the back of lower corporate and government bond issuance. M2 month-over-month growth accelerated in March on the back of strong credit data.

    As noted above, in a sign of recovering housing demand across the country, new household mid- and long-term loans, a proxy for mortgages, picked up strongly to the highest level since January 2022.

    That’s right, China is quietly reflating the world’s biggest asset class bubble.

    While this continuous injection of massive amounts of credit into the economy has failed to manifest itself in faster growth and higher prices so far, it’s only a matter of time now: after all, it is now clear that Beijing wants a full-blown economic liftoff and it is willing to risk reflating another credit bubble to get there. 

    Indeed, the PBOC has stepped up cash injections to help banks cope with tighter liquidity. It unleashed 500 billion yuan of long-term cash into the banking system by cutting the reserve requirement ratio last month, according to estimates by Bloomberg Economics. The central bank also added the most cash in over two years through its monthly medium-term loans operation in March.

    “If the trend in credit growth extends into April and May, it would translate into significant support for the economy’s recovery through investment financing,” said Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, quoted by Bloomberg.

    “The figures show firms are making greater use of the government’s loan supports. They also show a recovery in household demand for mortgages — another sign that the property market slump is starting to ease. We see credit growth continuing to climb in 2Q, albeit gradually, supported by a looser policy stance and a broader recovery in demand” said Bloomberg economist Eric Zhu.

    As if RRR cuts and injecting record loans into the economy was not enough, some economists, including Bloomberg Economics’ David Qu, forecast continue easing by Beijing and forecast a cut in the policy interest rate in the second quarter. Policy easing expectations continued to grow Tuesday after authorities reported weak inflation data, with bonds rallying as the yield on 10-year government notes booked the biggest one-day drop since the middle of December.

    Bottom line: the 2008 deja vu meter just went off the charts, because while the US is about to sink into a recession with commercial real estate set to fall all off a cliff, it is once again China that is – willingly or otherwise – set to serve as the world’s growth dynamo at a time when the entire developed world is about to max out at the same time. This is precisely what happened in 2008 when China unleashed the biggest credit expansion in modern history, sparking not only historic growth spree but also an exponential debt increase that sent China’s debt to over 300% of GDP.

    What happens next? Keep an eye on China’s credit impulse – this most leading indicator of the global reflationary cycle – which is about to rise above its two year highs after which it will again be on its way to new all time highs.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 20:40

  • Online Grocery Prices Up 10.3 Percent In March As Inflation Continues To Bite
    Online Grocery Prices Up 10.3 Percent In March As Inflation Continues To Bite

    Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Cartons of eggs are seen for sale in a store in this file photo. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

    Online grocery prices continued to rise by double-digits in March, as inflation continues to bite.

    Although online grocery prices have eased over the past six months, costs were up 10.3 percent in March from the previous year, according to the Adobe Digital Price Index on April 10.

    Adobe analyzed 1 trillion visits to retail sites and more than 100 million items across 18 product categories to track price changes.

    There was a 0.4 percent rise in the growth of food prices from February, which had been slowing since their height last September, when they hit a record 14.3 percent year-over-year increase.

    Online grocery prices closely follow the food category in the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index (CPI).

    Hit With Persistent Inflation

    Online food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 compared to the previous year, but still above historical averages, according to Adobe.

    The March CPI report projected that food prices would increase by 7.5 percent in 2023, particularly for nine additional food categories, which have experienced consistent growth since last year.

    The category expected to see the largest surge in prices is eggs, which saw an estimated rise of 29.6 percent, after taking into consideration the volatility of the industry.

    Costs are expected to rise for poultry by 3.4 percent, dairy products by 6.4 percent, fats and oils by 15.4 percent, processed fruits and vegetables by 11.4 percent, sugar based products by 11.1 percent, cereals and bakery products by 11.7 percent, nonalcoholic beverages by 10.7 percent, and other foods by 8.5 percent.

    Meanwhile, beef and veal prices are predicted to decrease by 1.0 percent in 2023, while pork prices would fall by 0.8 percent.

    Fresh fruit and vegetable prices are projected to see continuous growth by the end of the year, with fruit to grow by 0.6 percent and vegetables by 1.3 percent.

    Despite persistent inflation, customers are still buying groceries online, with Adobe reporting last month the biggest jump in sales for that category last year, with spending rising by 10.8 percent, to $86.8 billion.

    A separate report by Coresight Research on April 9, also said that despite inflation, online grocery sales are continuing to grow, despite a slowdown in expansion.

    It notes that the COVID-19 pandemic made consumers more habitually used to shopping online for non-food grocery categories “to a greater extent” than food.

    Coresight cited research revealing that grocery inflation boosted foot traffic at discount grocery stores such as Aldi and at large warehouse sized retailers like Walmart, Kroger, and Costco.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 20:20

  • Blackstone Raises $30 Billion For "Largest Ever" Real Estate Drawdown Fund To Capitalize On Commercial Real Estate Crisis
    Blackstone Raises $30 Billion For “Largest Ever” Real Estate Drawdown Fund To Capitalize On Commercial Real Estate Crisis

    Blackstone may have blocked investor redemptions from its REIT fund for the fourth month in a row, but that does not mean the CRE giant and world’s largest commercial landlord is sitting on its hands as the CRE crisis goes from bad to worse.

    On Tuesday, Blackstone announced it had raised $30.4 billion for its latest global real estate fund – the largest private equity drawdown fund ever raised – targeting opportunistic deals across sectors such as rental housing, hospitality and data centers as the private equity behemoth looks to double down on the industry. The fund, called Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, is 48% bigger than the asset management giant’s previous real estate fund which closed in 2019, and is the largest of that type, according to PitchBook data going back to 2002.

    Ken Caplan, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, said, “We believe the current market is tailor-made for Blackstone Real Estate. We have made some of our best investments in periods characterized by the market volatility and dislocation we see today. Furthermore, sector selection has never been more critical as we witness the bifurcation of performance within real estate, which is favoring our high-conviction themes.” There was no mention of the ongoing redemption halt at the company’s massive BREIT fund.

    “Pullback with all forms of capital will create opportunities,” said Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate. “We can use our capital and expertise to capitalize on the moment for our investors.”

    In other words, even as existing Blackstone investments are deeply underwater, the PE giant which now has $326 billion of investor capital under management – will seek to purchase distressed CRE assets during the coming downcycle,  becoming even more entrenched and an even greater monopoly in the sector.

    Blackstone – the largest owner of commercial real estate globally – has been focusing its portfolio on logistics, rental housing, hospitality, lab office and data centers, shifting away from assets like traditional office and malls that are facing headwinds from a post-pandemic adoption of flexible work and surge in e-commerce, Reuters reported.

    As we have been reporting extensively, the commercial real estate market – especially the office and mall segments – have come under huge stress over the past year due to a pullback across commercial-property lending, as borrowing costs skyrocketed. At the same time, the stocks of public real estate investment trusts have also suffered amid the uncertainty in the market and increasing concerns about certain property types such as offices.

    The firm started to raise money for the large property drawdown fund last year. Three of its strategies – global, Asia and Europe – now have a total of $50 billion in capital commitments, the firm said.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 20:00

  • IRS, Americans Unprepared To Shoulder Burden Of New Tax Laws, Republicans Warn
    IRS, Americans Unprepared To Shoulder Burden Of New Tax Laws, Republicans Warn

    Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The IRS building is seen in Washington on Sept. 28, 2020. (Erin Scott/Reuters)

    With Tax Day looming just days away, two Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are warning that neither the IRS nor the American people are prepared to shoulder the burdens imposed by new reporting requirements.

    Voicing their concerns in an April 4 letter (pdf) to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) asserted that the amount of paperwork and tax preparation required to comply with new rules and regulations will be unmanageable for all involved.

    “In Fiscal Year 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) received over 4.7 billion information returns—reports provided to the IRS to track business or trade payments and transactions—filed by third parties, most of which were filed electronically,” the lawmakers noted. “In addition, recent legislation drastically lowered the threshold to $600 for reporting certain types of payments, such as those made using a third-party platform like PayPal or Venmo. New regulations related to information reporting for transactions occurring across these digital assets could lead to the filing of billions more information returns.”

    The new $600 reporting threshold was implemented through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which passed along party lines in both Democrat-controlled chambers of Congress.

    Under previous law, platforms like PayPal and Venmo were only required to report a user’s transactions to the IRS if, over the course of a year, the individual completed more than 200 commercial transactions and made more than $20,000 in payments.

    Although the new requirement was initially set to impact 2022 filings, the IRS announced in December that it would delay implementation of the rule for one year to “help smooth the transition”—a move the congressmen characterized as a “tacit acknowledgement” of the burden the rule imposes on taxpayers and IRS employees alike.

    “Processing this large amount of information is already a significant undertaking at the IRS—an agency that has struggled to modernize or adequately exercise its customer service responsibilities,” the Republicans noted. “As such, the extent to which the IRS uses, or can even process, third-party information to identify and prevent fraud and noncompliance through its matching and other compliance programs is of particular interest.”

    Backlog

    Since 2020, the IRS has been working to reduce a backlog of paper returns and taxpayer correspondence, which the agency has attributed to the COVID-19 stimulus payments and staff shortages. That backlog resulted in the agency’s March 2021 decision to destroy roughly 30 million paper-filed information return documents.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 19:40

  • Weight Watches Parent's Stock Soars Again On Obesity-Drug, Goldman Turns Bull
    Weight Watches Parent’s Stock Soars Again On Obesity-Drug, Goldman Turns Bull

    WW International, previously known as “Weight Watchers,” jumped 46% Tuesday morning after the company said it completed the acquisition of a telehealth provider that will help it tap into the booming market for new obesity drugs. Adding more bullishness today was a note by Goldman Sachs, upgrading the stock to a “buy” from “neutral.” 

    WW’s deal for subscription telehealth platform “Sequence,” which prescribes weight-management and diabetes drugs, was first announced in March. Back then, shares soared more than 79% to a seven-month high of around $7 handle on March 7 but quickly fell back to the $4 handle as shorts piled in.

    In combination with the deal closing, Goldman Sachs analyst Jason English upgraded his rating on the stock to buy from neutral following the acquisition of Sequence. 

    “With the now completed acquisition of Sequence, WW will begin to offer a pharmaceutical based clinical subscription service that it can integrate with its legacy behavioral based weight management offering.

    “With this new service offering we expect a cohort of consumers to turn to it for help navigating what is poised to be an increasingly complex field of pharmaceutical solutions given its legacy brand equity/credibility in the weight management field and its ability to reach an extensive database of current (4M) and lapsed (20M) WW program users who have previously demonstrated a willingness to pay for help,” English wrote. 

    The WW turnaround emerges as the GS team estimates peak obesity market sales will be north of $30 billion by 2032 for certain pharmaceutical products. Several big pharma companies, including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Zealand, among others, have trials and product launches of their obesity drugs planned this year. 

    “Our top-down build suggests over 15mn addressable users today and likely doubling by 2030,” English wrote. 

    WW is at a pivotal point where it’s building new capabilities that expand its market to offer new drugs to ‘make America slim again.’ 

    English revised GS’ 12-month price target for WW to $13.00, a significant increase from the previous $3.80, in light of the sweeping changes at the company.

    Shares of WW soared as high as 46% this morning, the most significant gain since the March 7 surge. Propelling the move today is also an abundance of shorts who piled in after shares peaked around the $7 handle last month. About 8.2 million shares are short, equating to about 15% of the float. 

    With the now-completed acquisition of Sequence, WW will be able to capitalize off tens of millions of obese Americans with new pharmaceutical drugs to tackle weight loss. 

    WW should consider an advertising campaign titled: ‘Make America Slim Again’… 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/11/2023 – 19:20

  • Watch: Body Cam Video From Officers Responding to Louisville Rampage
    Watch: Body Cam Video From Officers Responding to Louisville Rampage

    Update (1925ET): Louisville police have released footage captured by body cameras worn by two police officers responding to Monday’s mass shooting at an Old National Bank office in the city’s downtown. Both were wounded by gunfire, one of them — Nickolas Wilt — critically, as he was shot in the head and has undergone brain surgery.   

    In the press conference that accompanied the initial release of the video, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey noted that these first responding officers were hampered by a lack of visibility due to the difference between the bright outdoors and the darkened interior lobby where killer Connor Sturgeon had been waiting to ambush them.

    Glare from the floor-to-ceiling windows also made it difficult to pinpoint the threat. After Sturgeon’s shots at subsequent responding officers shattered the glass, Officer Cory Galloway was able to engage and kill him. 

    * * *

    The 25-year-old employee of Old National Bank who killed five people and wounded nine more in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday morning livestreamed his rampage on Instagram. A city official has related specifics of the stream to CNN, while many new details about the attack and its perpetrator have emerged.

    Connor Sturgeon, whose LinkedIn profile says he was a “syndications associate and portfolio banker,” wrote to his parents and a friend of his intent to shoot up the bank, but it’s not clear yet whether that communication was physical or electronic, or whether the recipients received them before he opened fire with an AR-15 rifle around 8:30 am.    

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

      While there’s no official confirmation of it so far, Louisville’s WDRB reported that the last three posts on Sturgeon’s apparent Instagram account on Monday morning were:

      • A meme of Star Wars character Kylo Ren saying “I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” 
      • Accompanied by the label “MONDAY VIBES,” a meme of a character from the movie Office Space saying “I could burn this whole place down.” 
      • Sturgeon’s apparent own words: “THEY WON’T LISTEN TO WORDS OR PROTESTS. LET’S SEE IF THEY HEAR THIS.”

      Screenshot of what’s believed to be Sturgeon’s final Instagram posts (WDRB)

      Citing a police source, CNN reported that the shooter had learned that he was going to be fired after working at Old National for two years and previously interning there for three summers.  

      His attack began before the bank’s operating hours, and he livestreamed it on Instagram. The platform has since taken the video offline, but police have a copy.

      A Louisville official tells CNN the stream begins with a view of his AR-15. A woman greets the shooter with a “good morning,” and he replies “you need to get out of here.” Sturgeon attempts to shoot her but the weapon on is on safe and doesn’t have round chambered. He corrects those issues and shoots her in the back. 

      Security camera image of Sturgeon inside Old National Bank (LMPD)

      He then proceeds to shoot many other employees who try to outrun him, before sitting down in the lobby and seemingly waiting for police. That wait lasts about 90 seconds, and the then is hit and killed in the gun battle. 

      An employee meeting had been underway, with some attending in person and others via video. Manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims told CNN she attended remotely, and saw her coworkers being gunned down on her computer screen: “I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that…I’m just as much in shock and disbelief and was in disbelief as I watched it unravel.”

      via Reuters

      Employee Tammy Madigan told the Daily Beast of her rush to find shelter: “The bathrooms on our floor have keycode entry, so it was probably the safest place we could think of to hide. So the six of us went into the men’s room, turned off all the sound on our phones, tried to be as quiet as we could.” Others hid in a vault. 

      The first cops arrived on the scene within three minutes of being dispatched. Dispatchers told officers to look for a 6′ 4″ white male in dark pants, adding that he’d left a voicemail for a friend declaring his intent to “kill everyone at the bank,” reports Heavy.  

      Seven employees and two officers were wounded. The five dead are Joshua Barrick (40), Thomas Elliot (63), Juliana Farmer (45), James Tutt (64) and Deana Eckert (57).  

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

      Police officer Nickolas Wilt, a 26-year-old rookie who graduated just 10 days before the shooting, was critically wounded with a gunshot to the head and underwent brain surgery. The other wounded officer has not been identified. 

      As with every mass shooting, people raced to discern the shooter’s political orientation. Some of his social media posts reflected support for the Black Lives Matters protests and criticism of police and Donald Trump. Trying to reach conclusions about his sexuality, others highlighted the fact that the shooter’s LinkedIn profile said he uses “he/him” pronouns. 

         

        A 2020 University of Alabama graduate with a masters in finance, Sturgeon is described as a star multi-sport athlete in high school. Amid the shock of learning what Sturgeon did, a former classmate told Daily Beast:

        “The big thing I keep going back to is that in the first year of high school, we played football together in eighth grade, he was out most of the year because he had multiple concussions. Then he had a couple more in high school. I’m not saying it’s the cause but I always think back to that… There were times I’d wonder, will this catch up with him? But never in this way. He’s the last person I’d expect would do this.” 

        Having suffered multiple concussions, Sturgeon wore a helmet when playing high school basketball (Courier Journal-USA Today Network)

        An autopsy would be needed to determine if Sturgeon had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The degenerative brain disease caused by multiple episodes of head trauma, CTE leaves people prone to aggression, mood swings, depression and paranoia. Murderous New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez is perhaps the most infamous example. 

        High school friends described Sturgeon as smart and popular. However, in an introspective 2018 essay at the the University of Alabama, Sturgeon wrote,

        “My self-esteem has long been a problem for me. As a late bloomer in middle and high school, I struggled to a certain extent to fit in, and this has given me a somewhat negative self-image that persists today. Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone.”

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

        Jim Ryan, CEO of Chicago- and Evansville-based Old National Bank, immediately traveled to Louisville along with other senior executives. “As we await more details, we are deploying employee assistance support and keeping everyone affected by this tragedy in our thoughts and prayers,” said Ryan. 

        At a Tuesday morning press conference, Louisville’s police chief said Sturgeon acquired his rifle legally from a local dealer on April 4.   

        On Monday, President Biden issued a statement calling for gun control measures that seemingly have no relevance whatsoever to Monday’s shooting: 

        “How many more Americans must die before Republicans in Congress will act to protect our communities? It’s long past time that we require safe storage of firearms. Require background checks for all gun sales. Eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.” 

        Not letting a crisis go to waste, Team Biden also threw in a thinly-veiled opportunistic shot at potential 2024 presidential opponent Ron DeSantis, as the statement condemned Republican officials “from Florida to North Carolina to the U.S. House of Representatives, [who’ve] double[d] down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe.”

        Presumably that statement refers to laws enabling law-abiding citizens to carry firearms into those places. Does the White House really think the people at Louisville’s Old National Bank would have been worse off if some of the bankers were carrying pistols?

        Sadly, they were prohibited to do so — by CEO Ryan and Old National Bank — without “proper authorization.” Per page 49 of the bank’s employee handbook:   

        “Firearms, weapons, and other dangerous or hazardous devices or substances are prohibited from the premises of Old National without proper authorization. Firearms may be kept in parking areas in accordance with state law where recognizing such possession is required by state law.”

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 19:15

      • Dangerous Overreach In Manhattan And Tennessee
        Dangerous Overreach In Manhattan And Tennessee

        Authored by Charles Lipson via RealClear Wire,

        To sustain a constitutional democracy, public officials must do more than obey written laws. They must respect the unwritten ones that have cumulated over the years. Together, they are the cement of our society. Unfortunately, in recent weeks, we’ve seen two disturbing cases of elected officials smashing those unwritten rules. One was a Democrat, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg; the other was Tennessee’s Republican legislature.

        Both were exercises in bad judgment. Although the actions seem to have been legal, they trampled over informal norms of long standing. Crushing those norms not only invites retaliation, it undermines public confidence in the fairness and good sense of elected officials, if any still lingers.

        Alvin Bragg had every legal right to convene a grand jury, present them with his case against Donald Trump, and work to indict the former president. It’s not hard to convince grand juries, and Bragg succeeded. If the trial is held in Manhattan, he will present the case to a Trump-hating jury, ready to mete out punishment.

        Still, the case is thin and tendentious. That’s why Bragg’s predecessor declined to move forward with it. Not Bragg. He has collected several alleged misdemeanors and ramped them up to a felony by linking them to another alleged crime. What is that other crime? Bragg won’t say. Apparently, New York law doesn’t require him to say, so he won’t, despite the obvious national interest.

        Bragg also has the right to try to show that New York State election laws were violated, even though specialists in that field at the Department of Justice and Federal Election Commission decided there were no violations. Ignoring the statutes of limitation, which expired long ago on these alleged crimes, is a tougher sell, but the courts will have to rule on all these issues. All that will take time, however. Meanwhile, the case hangs over the 2024 presidential campaign.

        There is also the troubling question of unequal treatment. The conduct Bragg alleges to be criminal is not the salacious act of making hush payments to a porn star. It is that Trump hid those payments as a business expense, and did so to help his presidential campaign. If so, he’s not alone. Another New York resident, who lives in Chappaqua, listed all her payments to create the Russian collusion hoax as “legal expenses.” They’ll find Jimmy Hoffa’s body before New York ever investigates that crime.

        When prosecutors pursue political vendettas, as Bragg has, they undermine two pillars of our legal system. First, the law should be impartial. That’s especially important when the targets are controversial political figures. Second, law enforcement should begin with a crime and then look for the perpetrator, not the reverse. It should never begin with a target and then look for a crime to pin on him.

        Bragg’s approach is fundamentally different from the cases being developed in Georgia and Florida. Those cases appear much stronger, but that’s not their only difference. They began with specific allegations of felonies. In Georgia, there were recorded phone calls from Trump and his allies to senior state officials, pressuring them to find enough additional votes to win Georgia’s presidential contest. At issue is whether Trump and his supporters were seeking legitimate votes which had not been properly counted (his position), or non-existent votes to fraudulently pad his total. In Florida, there are really two issues. Did the former president have a right to retain certain documents from his White House years or was he required to turn them over to the National Archives, as they demanded? Second, did he obstruct justice when he later declared he had turned over all relevant documents? Despite that formal declaration, a subsequent FBI search found he had retained many of the requested documents at Mar-a-Lago.

        Special Counsel Jack Smith is pursuing yet another angle, this one involving Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6 and perhaps other issues. The problem with all special counsels, including this one, is that they fall somewhere between “starting with a crime” and “starting with a target.”

        Bragg’s indictment poses two additional difficulties, perhaps the most serious of all. It breaks a long-standing precedent and sets a new one. The broken one is prosecutors declining to indict former presidents. If that precedent is to be broken, the case should be formidable, involve a major crime, and be grounded in well-established law. Bragg’s case fails on all those criteria, which is why it looks like a partisan witch hunt.

        Because Bragg leveled these charges as a local prosecutor, he has set a precedent of his own – a very bad one. He has opened the door for similar actions by Republican district attorneys across the country, who could go after former Democratic presidents for their own partisan reasons.

        Still, Bragg has the legal authority to take the actions he has. So does Tennessee’s Republican legislature, which expelled two Democrats for breaking the House’s basic rules. There’s no question the legislators flagrantly violated those rules and blocked all business for an hour. There’s no question the Tennessee legislature has the authority to punish them.

        The punishment they chose, however, goes too far. It’s legal but unwise. That’s not an excuse for the expelled members’ behavior. No legislature can tolerate its members seizing control of the House well, yelling into a bull horn, and disrupting all other business. To compound the problem – and the danger – the members’ disruption came in support of a mass demonstration inside the capitol building itself.

        Still, expelling state legislators for breaches of House rules is an exercise in bad judgment unless the breaches are repeated or violent. These were not. They were serious, first-time offenses, and they were non-violent. Some sanctions are certainly appropriate, but expulsion goes too far for several reasons.

        First, it deprives constituents of their elected representatives, at least until replacements are named.

        Second, the case seethes with racial tension because the two expelled members were black. Race should not matter in dealing with these violations, but, inevitably, it does. It certainly affects how people see the expulsions, which only deepens our national divisions over race.

        Not surprisingly, Democratic leaders have jumped on the story, decried the punishment, and moved to support the expelled representatives. Their party counts on near-unanimous support from black voters, so Democrats look for opportunities like this to demonstrate their solidarity. Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t miss her chance. She immediately flew to Nashville to offer her backing. Others are sure to follow.

        Like-minded friends in the legacy media were quick to note that a white legislator was not expelled, even though she had joined her two black colleagues in the well of the House. They say she got better treatment because of her race. Others respond that her case was different because she stood silently and was not disruptive. (She held onto her seat by a single vote.)

        Third, expulsions like this encourage other elected bodies to act the same way. State legislators, city councilmen, and school board members don’t always stick to the rules or observe decorum, so tit-for-tat treatment could proliferate as each party considers expelling its opponents.

        Finally, expulsions like the one in Tennessee undermine the informal rules and procedures that preserve our democracy. Granted, the expelled legislators had violated the rules themselves. Important rules. But excessive punishment represents more than an eye-for-an-eye. It is two eyes. Its aim may be to restore order but its practical effect is likely to be the opposite.

        The overall message, both in Tennessee and Manhattan, is more than “both sides do it.” The deeper message is that preserving our democracy requires prudence, good judgment, and some self-restraint by elected leaders and judges. Those qualities are now endangered species, killed by the bitter politics of payback and revenge, cloaked in self-righteous contempt for opponents. The tide of vitriol is rising. That’s another swamp that needs draining.

        Charles Lipson is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he founded the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security. He can be reached at charles.lipson@gmail.com.

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 19:00

      • Intel Leaks Confirm Sabotage Attacks In Belarus, Russia Were Conducted By Ukrainian Military Agents
        Intel Leaks Confirm Sabotage Attacks In Belarus, Russia Were Conducted By Ukrainian Military Agents

        More information from the trove of highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online continues to confirm what in many instances was already strongly suspected, but remained unproven.

        “Ukrainian agents have pursued drone attacks inside Belarus and Russia, contrary to U.S. and Western wishes, and leaders in Kyiv have considered further targets outside Ukraine, according to a batch of leaked U.S. documents that appear to expose national security secrets,” NBC writes after analyzing the batch of 50 that it has in its possession.

        AP/VOA: In this photo taken by an anonymous source, oil storage facilities burn in Bryansk, Russia, April 25, 2022.

        “Two documents appear to show Ukraine launching operations inside other countries, though some allied nations have said any such actions might cause them to reconsider their ongoing support for Kyiv,” NBC continues.

        Back in late February into March especially, Russia had seen multiple instances of swarms of drones breach its airspace spanning multiple days. These targeted an oil facility, air bases, as well as civilian infrastructure across various cities, villages and military areas.

        Additionally, drone attacks in Russia’s Belgorod region have come semi-regularly over the course of the past months. The Russian defense ministry for example, stated of one attack at the end of February, “The Kyiv regime attempted to use unmanned aerial vehicles to attack civilian infrastructure in the Krasnodar region and the Adygea Republic.”

        One of the more brazen of the cross-border sabotage incidents was widely reported at the time, and resulted in damage to a large Russian spy plane parked at the Machulishchy airbase in Minsk Oblast in Belarus. A large explosion had rocked the base. It was believed at the time that pro-Ukrainian Belarusian opposition operatives reportedly used a small explosive-laden drone to carry out the targeted attack of the stationary A-50 surveillance plane.

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

        The episode is referenced in the online trove of leaked documents, as NBC describes in its Tuesday report: 

        One document, marked “Top Secret,” notes two separate attacks allegedly orchestrated by Kyiv that appear to have minimally damaged two Russian targets outside of Ukraine: a military airfield outside Minsk, Belarus, and a gas compressor station in the Moscow suburbs. 

        In the first instance, officials with Ukraine’s Security Service, Kyiv’s main intelligence agency, assessed that their agents in Belarus had disobeyed orders and attacked a Russian surveillance aircraft at a Belarusian airfield on Feb. 26, according to the document.

        The document alleges the agents used a quadcopter drone and caused “minor damage” to the plane, a RUS A-5OU, which the Russian state-owned weapons developer Rostec calls a “flying radar” that is capable of operating as a mobile command center.

        As a result of the attack, President Lukashenko had warned this he could send his troops into Ukraine if Belarusian territory kept coming under direct threat.

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

        The sabotage incident also caused Belarus to lash out angrily at Washington, and generally heightened the potential for broader war given the rhetoric: 

        A week later, according to the state news agency Belta, Lukashenko said that a “terrorist” trained by Washington and Kyiv had orchestrated the attack and that “more than 20 accomplices who are in Belarus have been detained. The rest are hiding.”

        “If you think that by throwing down this challenge, you will drag us into a war tomorrow,” Lukaschenko said in comments aimed at the U.S. and Ukraine, “you are mistaken.”

        Concerning the leaked Pentagon report, the angle of Ukrainian agents acting “contrary to US and Western wishes” is interesting. It may be that including this detail in a now leaked US intelligence document could be an attempt to inject some ‘plausible deniability’ into the reporting surrounding the sabotage attacks.

        In short, while Washington might officially be dissuading the Ukrainians from such risky attacks, it may also be that the Pentagon is quietly willing to look the other way when they do occur. The important thing for Biden administration decision-makers is to distance themselves from the more brazen and controversial of Ukraine’s tactics, particularly the ‘dirty war’ style operations that could drag NATO into direct conflict with Russian forces.

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 18:40

      • 22-Year-Old National Guard Soldier Suffers Two Heart Attacks, Neurological Issues After Moderna Vax
        22-Year-Old National Guard Soldier Suffers Two Heart Attacks, Neurological Issues After Moderna Vax

        Authored by J.M. Phelps via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

        An undated photo of Karolina Stancik, an Army National Guards member who suffered two heart attacks after taking the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. (Courtesy of Stancik)

        A 22-year-old Army National Guard member has suffered an array of health issues—including two heart attacks that pushed her to the brink of death—after receiving two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

        Karolina Stancik once considered herself “very healthy,” playing multiple sports from adolescence through early adulthood. At 21 years old, she chose to serve the country by joining the U.S. Army in February 2021.

        “We were told that it was going to be required and we should take it before we shipped out to basic training,” she said, which was before Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s August 2021 announcement of the military vaccine mandate.

        This messaging, according to Stancik, made the new recruits feel like, “You’re a bad person if you don’t get the vaccine, and you don’t care about the people around you.”

        “As a young, new soldier, I and a lot of others around me, did what we were told,” Stancik said.

        “We were too new to know all the rules and possible loopholes,” she added. “I pretty much blindly took it because I didn’t know you could get exemptions” for medical or religious reasons.

        Stancik ended up taking the Moderna vaccine in March and April 2021; since then, “life has been an uphill battle,” she said.

        First, came the breathing issues.

        “I was dealing with what doctors considered asthma at the time without a diagnosis, and I had never had any lung issues at any other point in my life,” she said.

        Stancik also experienced what felt like a cold or sinus infection, pressure in her head, and dizziness.

        Next came a fever, as well as numbness and tingling throughout her body. But she was told by a doctor that these symptoms were normal.

        At one point, her command threatened to accuse her of insubordination for not participating in physical training. However, “a doctor’s order kept me from getting in trouble with my command,” she said. The Epoch Times viewed that order, as well as other medical documentation and Stancik’s Army permanent medical profile, to corroborate her claims.

        Problems with visual processing and what she described as neurological issues began in October 2021. These included numbness, tingling, stabbing pains throughout her body, loss of motor function, tremors, and more.

        “It all progressively got worse, and never stopped,” Stancik said.

        In October 2021, she found herself in an emergency room, following her first heart attack. Things only escalated after that as she started experiencing nausea, a high heart rate, stabbing pains, and blacking out, she said. In February 2022, she had a second heart attack.

        In addition to these two heart attacks, Stancik said she’s been diagnosed with severe asthma and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a blood circulation disorder that causes a higher heart rate when transitioning from sitting or lying down to standing up.

        In November 2022, her doctor told her she had “signs of a mini-stroke,” she said. After that incident and the onset of impaired eyesight, she was finally advised to see a neurologist. She’s now waiting for the results of tests for neuropathy, dysautonomia, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and others.

        Stancik’s neurological problems have continued this year.

        “As I wait for results about my neurological issues, I’m also experiencing increasing problems with my visual processing,” she said.

        With health issues on the rise, she said, “Half together is put together for me right now.”

        Read more here…

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 18:20

      • Dramatic Footage Shows Massive Russian Volcano Spewing Ash 12 Miles High
        Dramatic Footage Shows Massive Russian Volcano Spewing Ash 12 Miles High

        A massive volcano erupted early Tuesday in the Kamchatka Peninsula located in Russia’s far east, spewing a column of ash 65,000 feet into the sky. 

        According to Reuters, the eruption of Shiveluch, one of the most active volcanoes in Kamchatka, is one of the biggest in sixty years. 

        “The ash reached 20 kilometers high, the ash cloud moved westwards, and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey.

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

        The ash cloud measured more than 300 miles long and triggered an aviation warning in the region. 

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

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

        “The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year… and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now,” Chebrov said.

        Located about 30 miles from the volcano, the village of Klyuchi was covered in more than 3 inches of ash. 

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

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

        Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is home to 300,000 residents. The region is about 4,000 miles east of Moscow. 

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 18:00

      • US Deems WSJ Reporter 'Wrongfully Detained' – Paving Way For Possible Swap
        US Deems WSJ Reporter ‘Wrongfully Detained’ – Paving Way For Possible Swap

        Following last month’s detention of US citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by Russia’s Federal Security Service on charges of espionage, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a rare phone call in early April with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to open up discussions over the detention, which Washington immediately condemned. 

        Despite the constant media attention that Brittney Griner’s arrest and imprisonment received throughout last year, Gershkovich’s case is much more serious, as he faces 20 years in prison. The FSB claimed he got caught “red-handed” in an attempt to obtain “information amounting to a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

        Image source: evangershkovich.com

        But the US State Department is already moving faster on Gershkovich’s case (again, compared to either Griner or ex-Marine Paul Whelan), given Secretary Blinken on Monday declared Gershkovich to be “wrongfully detained” by Russia.

        “Today, Secretary Blinken made a determination that Evan Gershkovich is wrongfully detained by Russia,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in the statement.

        “Journalism is not a crime.  We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth.”

        Patel continued, “The U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family. We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich.”

        The change of an imprisoned citizen’s status to “wrongfully detained” means the US can legally approach the case as a hostage negotiation and thus use all available means to obtain their release, including potential prisoner swap, as was controversially done with the WNBA’s Griner. At this point, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs can get involved, utilizing interagency resources as well.

        Interestingly, it took some months for Griner to be declared wrongfully detained, which is what ultimately led to her being swapped for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout; but in Gershkovich’s case, it has only taken a few weeks. This suggests the US administration wants to see him back quickly.

        Is another high-profile prisoner swap with Russia already being negotiated and planned?

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 17:40

      • Biden Signs Bill Formally Ending COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
        Biden Signs Bill Formally Ending COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

        Three years and one month after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic, President Joe Biden on Monday signed a bill which formally ends the public health emergency in the United States.

        So, after forced vaccinations (or face unemployment, travel restrictions and public ostracism), mask mandates, destroyed businesses, lockdowns, and Covid-19 still circulating as the rest of society has moved on, the US Government has finally surrendered.

        Former President Donald Trump first issued a national emergency declaration regarding the coronavirus in March 2020, as the virus that was discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 ripped through America.

        The emergency was extended over and over, making it easier to expand health services and for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to mobilize personnel and funding to help state governments combat the virus. But the American public is unlikely to see any major changes in their day-to-day lives from its termination. –Washington Times

        The move comes one month ahead of the May 11 expiration of the emergency designation, and after Biden signaled to Senate Democrats last month that he would sign a GOP bill to end the Covid-19 national emergency – despite the White House urging Democrats to do the exact opposite when it came up for a vote in February.

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

         

        Tyler Durden
        Tue, 04/11/2023 – 17:20

      Digest powered by RSS Digest