Nov 13

Today’s News 13th November 2024

  • Supreme Court Denies Mark Meadows's Request In 2020 Election Interference Prosecution
    Supreme Court Denies Mark Meadows’s Request In 2020 Election Interference Prosecution

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

    The Supreme Court on Nov. 12 turned away former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s request to transfer his election interference case from a Georgia state court to federal court.

    Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Sept. 23, 2020. Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

    The justices issued the court’s new unsigned order without explaining why, as is its custom when rejecting petitions.

    Meadows filed his petition with the Supreme Court on July 26, arguing that the case should be heard in federal court because he was performing his duties as a federal officer when he disputed election results.

    Meadows was indicted by a state grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, in August 2023, over his role in President Donald Trump’s challenge to the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, a state he ultimately lost in that election.

    Meadows was accused of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act during the period from Nov. 4, 2020, which is the day after that year’s presidential election, to Sept. 15, 2022, for his allegedly illegal efforts to contest the presidential results in the state.

    He argued that the case should be heard in federal court because, “for nearly two centuries, Congress has provided a federal forum for federal officers facing criminal charges brought by state and local officials,” according to the petition.

    “Over time, Congress has consistently expanded access to federal forums for federal officers invoking federal defenses,” he argued.

    A federal district court in Georgia refused to stay the prosecution in September 2023.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled against Meadows in December 2023, allowing the prosecution in Fulton County to proceed.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 23:30

  • Pennsylvania Came Through For American Energy
    Pennsylvania Came Through For American Energy

    Authored by The Empowerment Alliance via RealClearPennsylvania,

    We wrote a few weeks ago that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was ground zero for selecting the next president of the United States. Our rationale was that energy affordability is a key issue to millions of voters there.

    Pennsylvania’s energy voters turned out strong, helping Republican Donald Trump form a massive red wave on election night. 

    Trump received more Republican votes in the state than any candidate ever. He tallied 3.48 million votes and, as a result, the accompanying 19 electoral votes.

    His pro-drilling and anti-regulatory message hit home in rural areas of the state, as well as with working class residents and minorities.

    Speaking to voters at a rally in State College last month, Trump vowed to lift the U.S. pause on liquefied natural gas export terminals, embrace fracking and otherwise undo what he described as the “disastrous” energy policies enacted under the Biden administration. 

    Flips Senate seat

    The turnout enabled a pro-American energy candidate to knock out an incumbent Senator, with Republican challenger Dave McCormick winning the high-profile race by a razor-thin margin over third-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey, who led the race in most polls throughout the campaign. 

    McCormick received more than 3.3 million votes. 

    He embraced energy in his campaign, and it certainly resonated with voters from Washington County to Wayne County. McCormick spoke often about preserving the state’s “energy legacy.”

    This carried through on several key House races.

    Ryan Mackenzie, 7th district, and Rob Bresnahan Jr., 8th district, each flipped Democratic-held seats. Mackenzie employed “America First” messaging and both candidates received the highest grade possible on The Empowerment Alliance’s (TEA) energy scorecard.

    Incumbent Republican Scott Perry, 10th district, held his seat by a slim margin.

    By the numbers:

    •  Data compiled by TEA revealed Pennsylvania with 3.2 million American Energy Patriots, or about 39% of its 8.7 million registered voters.

    • Those voters prioritize energy affordability in their voting decisions. They will support candidates who champion cost-effective energy policies.

    • Trump received more than 3.4 million votes to edge Vice President Kamala Harris by two percentage points. It’s clear that Affordable, Reliable and Clean energy was a key factor in Trump’s victory in the Keystone State. 

    ‘Strategic ambiguity’ failed

    For those living and working in the Marcellus Shale regions this election was quite personal. And they voted as if their livelihoods were at stake.

    Harris was destined to fail here. Her campaign devised a plan of what aides labeled “strategic ambiguity” on energy policy to avoid alienating environmental activists and moderate voters. 

    That just wasn’t good enough. Pennsylvania voters are resilient, hard- working people — and are not uninformed. They saw through the smoke-and-mirrors facade and voted for candidates who are pro-energy and pro-economic growth.

    Natural gas matters

    In the end, Harris’s team and the Democratic Party grossly underestimated Pennsylvania voters, and they discounted the important role that energy in general, and natural gas in particular, plays in your state. Here’s a reminder:

    • In 2021, the oil and natural gas industry contributed $75 billion to the state’s economy.

    • Pennsylvania is second only to Texas in estimated total proved natural gas reserves. 

    • In 2022, about 3.1 million residential and business customers used natural gas in Pennsylvania.

    Pennsylvanians, you showed them by your votes what’s important to you.

    This was a significant win for Donald Trump and a huge victory for Pennsylvania’s households, businesses, farmers and energy producers. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 22:40

  • Conrad Black: What A Trump Presidency Means For Canada
    Conrad Black: What A Trump Presidency Means For Canada

    Authored by Conrad Black via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Contrary to widely expressed fears in Canada, there is plenty of room for the Canadian government of either major party to work cooperatively with the new American administration on most fronts. A couple of months ago, I had occasion to ask then-candidate Donald Trump whether Canada had anything to fear if he were elected. He said: “Your trade negotiators are better than ours, but all I’m asking is fair trade which is not a big problem with Canada.” He added that he knows the country well, has done lots of business here, and has nothing but liking and goodwill for Canada.

    Canadian and American flags are pictured at the Peace Arch Historical State Park at the Canada-U.S. border in Blaine, Washington, in a file photo. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

    A poll several months ago by The Hub found that 64 percent of Canadian conservatives think Trump will increase oil and gas production if elected, and 59 percent think he will insist that Canada increase its military spending to meet the NATO commitment of 2 percent of GDP, which it has ignored up to now. The percentage of conservatives who think Trump will cut aid to Ukraine is 54 percent, according to the poll, while 52 percent think the Trump administration will impose new tariffs and 51 percent think it will restrict immigration to the United States from Canada. A renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal is expected by 45 percent of Canadian conservatives, and 49 percent expect a decrease in financial support for electric vehicles. More broadly, 38 percent think Trump will have a negative effect on the flow of goods between Canada and the United States, the poll showed, and 37 percent think Trump will have a negative effect on the future of NATO.

    I’ll deal with these concerns in the order they were mentioned. First, since Trump has said that on Inauguration Day he will propose to reactivate the Keystone XL pipeline—which is in itself a good thing for Canada and would be welcomed in Alberta and Ottawa—and put in place incentives for the immediate expansion of American production of oil and natural gas, he will certainly increase American oil and gas production. But he has also said that he will put economic pressure on unfriendly oil-exporting countries, particularly Iran and Venezuela, and will invite other friendly countries to join the United States in decreasing the oil revenues of those countries. He specifically includes Canada in this, and the XL pipeline, if it goes ahead, will end at the Gulf of Mexico in direct competition with Venezuela.

    It is expected that Trump will reimpose heavy sanctions on Iran and extend those sanctions to any other countries that defy them. It will be the position of the Trump administration that Iran is a terrorism-supporting state conducting aggressive war against a number of other countries and that in international law, the United States is right to impose sanctions upon Iran and has the complete right to enforce its sanctions by any non-violent methods that it wishes. That was the policy of his first administration, and it was very successful in strangling the flow of money and arms to the Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthi terrorist clients of Iran. There is nothing in any of that to arouse legitimate concern with Canadians. It is the morally correct policy and will be profitable for us.

    Trump will undoubtedly urge Canada to raise its defence spending to the level it has already committed to, and which Justin Trudeau has recently pledged to achieve within a few years. There is nothing harmful to Canada in this, and indeed we shouldn’t need any threats from the United States to do it. We have been appalling freeloaders in NATO for many years, and have allowed our military capability to deteriorate to the level of a small and poor country. Defence spending is among the most advantageous for a country’s well-being, with a high multiplier effect on the economy.

    President-elect Trump has pledged to end the Ukraine War, but has made it clear that he will not accept Russian President Putin’s peace terms. It is clear that he will require a partial retirement from Ukraine of the Russians, but accept some accretion of Russian territory and leave Putin in no doubt that if Russia does not accept this, the United States will arm Ukraine with weapons that will carry the destruction of Russia’s aggressive war into Russian civilian areas, as the Russians have done to Ukraine almost with impunity for over two-and-a-half years.

    At some early point, Putin will accept these terms and Trump, presumably with the backing of NATO, will inform Ukraine that that is the best that can be done, but that Ukraine may join NATO and the European Union as soon as it is ready, that everyone in the former borders of Ukraine will be free to move to Ukraine in its reduced borders, and that the massive military assistance it has been receiving will be replaced by comparable amounts of economic reconstruction assistance. This is the best peace that can be made, and Trump will make it. Then the West can gradually, and at no expense to any country, impress upon Russia that it is better off in alliance with the West than with China. Getting Russia out of the Chinese embrace is the other strategic objective of the West in the Ukraine war, apart from preventing Russia’s reabsorption of Ukraine.

    As for tariffs, there could be some increases but they are unlikely to be drastic, and the Canadian custom is to cushion this by fine-tuning the relationship between the U.S. and Canadian dollars. The same reasoning applies to a renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. Trump has extensive grievances against the conduct of Mexico but minimal complaints about Canada, and to the extent that the United States requires more equitable conduct for Mexico, Canada will also benefit from that.

    There is no reason to believe that Trump will restrict immigration from Canada; in fact he will probably welcome it as he is in favour of legal immigration.

    There will certainly be a reduction in financial support for building electric vehicles, but this too should be a welcome development in Canada. Both incumbents in Canada and the United States have plunged into the climate hysteria and severely retarded the economic progress and competitiveness of the two countries. To the extent that Trump provides a counter-pressure, all Canadians should rejoice and even throw their hats (and toques and earmuffs) in the air.

    The great plus factor in the new Trump presidency will be the sharp acceleration of U.S. economic growth and per capita disposable income. As half of Canada’s GDP is connected to the United States, this will be an overwhelmingly positive development for us: The Americans will have more and not less money to spend with us. It is very unlikely the flow of goods between Canada and the United States will decline.

    Lastly, the final point about the United States being a negative force in NATO belies the facts. Trump will reinvigorate the alliance and assist it in becoming more selective in where it intervenes by a joint agreed definition of the NATO collective interest, while ensuring that we have the military force to protect that interest.

    Canadians have no reason for anything except optimism about the consequences of the second Trump administration, not only for Canada but also for the world.

    Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 21:50

  • Drought-Plagued US Northeast Under Red Flag Alerts As Wildfires Rage 
    Drought-Plagued US Northeast Under Red Flag Alerts As Wildfires Rage 

    Dangerous wildfires were ripping through parts of the Northeast US. At least five states in the arid region are now under fire warnings. 

    On Tuesday morning, parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts had Fire Weather Warnings. 

    Per Fox Weather… 

    Per AccuWeather… 

    Moderate drought conditions plague much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with some pockets experiencing extreme drought this fall. 

    “Northeast fire threat increasing again today as cold front sucks the moisture straight out of the atmosphere. Winds pick up and relative humidity levels drop as 25 million+ people are under red flag alerts,” CNN’s Meteorologist Derek Van Dam wrote on X. 

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    Wildfires rage from northern Alabama to eastern Kentucky, Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

    The largest wildfire is the Jennings Creek fire, burning along the New York-New Jersey border. Winds have sent smoke into NYC. 

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    Fox Weather noted, “The threat of wildfires will continue into Wednesday as northeast winds bring in a very dry airmass.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 21:25

  • Fired FEMA Supervisor Claims Avoiding Trump Homes Was A Widespread Practice Due To 'Political Hostility'
    Fired FEMA Supervisor Claims Avoiding Trump Homes Was A Widespread Practice Due To ‘Political Hostility’

    Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor accused of directing workers to skip hurricane-ravaged homes in Florida with Trump signs, claimed in an interview Monday that the policy was widespread and that she was being scapegoated.

    Marn’i Washington was fired on Saturday after whistleblowers told the Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were passed over at the end of October into November due to the guidance, depriving them of the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. She had worked for the agency since 2019.

    According to internal FEMA messages obtained by the Daily Wire, Washington directed workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida looking for residents who could qualify for federal aid.

    This happened in Highlands County, “a deep-red area located in south central Florida that backed Trump by 70 percent on Tuesday,” the Daily Wire reported. The area was  ravaged by tornadoes, torrential wind, rain, and flooding after Milton made landfall at Siesta Key on October 9 as a category 3 hurricane.

    Washington’s directive was one among multiple “best practices” the agency recommended, along with “practice de-escalation and preventative measures,” “bring a towel with you tomorrow in the field” and take “frequent breaks and drink water.”

    During an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin Monday, Washington,39, explained that she had just been following FEMA’s policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes. She said her supervisor had approved the message, explaining: “FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance.”

    “Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas,” said Washington, adding that the incident reports would substantiate that FEMA workers were being met with “hostility” at homes with Trump Campaign signs.

    “If you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend, and it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team—and I was on two different teams during this deployment—they just so happened to have the Trump Campaign signage,” Washington asserted.

    “Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know, but if you ask the crew leads and specialists what they’re experiencing in the field, they will tell you,” she continued. “Demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports, they will substantiate what is happening to us in the field.”

    “FEMA’s very well aware of the incidents that take place, not just with my crew, but with all the crews in the states,” Washington added.

    The embattled former FEMA worker claimed that she knew of houses in the past had also been marked “politically hostile” when they had Harris-Walz signs or no political signs at all.

    “We omitted these homes for safety precautions, not because of political play,” she insisted.

    “If you greet any of our team members with hostility or aggression, we will deescalate and disengage and move on,” she said. “We cannot take the risk and deal with that type of behavior.”

    Washington told Martin that she was fired from her job with a private real estate firm in the wake of the controversy, and had to move from her home due to threats.

    A former FEMA official told the New York Post, however, that the policy of “openly” avoiding Trump-supporting houses had “been practiced by agency workers for years,” and suggested that the practice had noting to do with perceived “hostility.”

    The ex-FEMA source said current employees told him that disaster assistance teams skip openly Trump-supporting houses in the name of DEI.

    The unofficial policy is to “prioritize the most under resourced, marginalized communities first,” the source said.

    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has launched an investigation into the practice, calling it  “blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days” in a statement Friday.

    “At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump,” DeSantis said. “New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”

    The House Oversight Committee meanwhile launched an investigation into FEMA on Friday and sent a letter to Criswell requesting she testify at a hearing to answer questions about the agency’s response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.

    Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on X Tuesday that the Senate Homeland Security Committee also needs to investigate the matter.

    “The Homeland Security Committee needs to launch an immediate investigation and call this individual to testify. Under oath. In public,” Hawley said.

    With Republicans retaking the Senate, Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is line to take the HSGAC gavel early next year.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 21:00

  • Banks Report Tighter Standards, Weaker Loan Demand But Some Improvement As Financial Conditions Continue To Ease
    Banks Report Tighter Standards, Weaker Loan Demand But Some Improvement As Financial Conditions Continue To Ease

    The last time we looked at the senior loan officer survey (SLOOS) several months ago, we found “tighter standards and weaker demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes over the third quarter” in addition to tighter standards and less demand for most other loan categories.

    So fast forward to today when the latest closely watched SLOOS report for Q3 was published, and which found that there has been little change because regarding loans to businesses during the third quarter, survey respondents reported, “basically unchanged lending standards for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to large and middle-market firms and tighter standards for loans to small firms. Meanwhile, banks reported weaker demand for C&I loans to firms of all sizes. Furthermore, banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for all commercial real estate (CRE) loan categories.”

    For loans to households, banks “unchanged lending standards and weaker demand across most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans.”

    In addition, banks reported basically unchanged lending standards and demand for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Moreover, standards reportedly tightened for credit card loans and remained basically unchanged for auto and other consumer loans, while demand weakened for auto and other consumer loans and remained basically unchanged for credit card loans.

    In short, less demand, tighter supply.

    Separately, the October SLOOS looked at that demand for credit card loans across borrowers with different credit scores. Banks reported that they were more likely to approve credit card loans to prime or super-prime borrowers and less likely to approve credit cards for near-prime and subprime borrowers, compared with the beginning of the year.

    The survey also found that banks reported that the level of demand for credit card loans was stronger in the third quarter of 2024 than before the pandemic (end of 2019) across most credit score categories and all dimensions of credit card demand (that is, demand for new cards, requests for increased credit limits, and utilization of existing credit).

    Banks forecast further strengthening in demand over the next six months, with an expected increase in borrower spending, as the most cited reason for their outlook. Which makes sense now that virtually all consumer savings have been wiped out.

    And yes, for those wondering, loan tightness is almost entirely a function of financial conditions: as the next chart shows, financial conditions have become far less tight in the past two quarter, tracking the sharp easing in financial conditions.

    Putting it all together, banks anticipate further tightening lending standards across most categories, even as consumer fight with each other for what little loan availability exists while scrambling to load up their credit cards with as much debt as possible before the next bust.

    Source: Fed

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 20:40

  • "America's Enemies Are On Notice" – Trump Taps Bronze Star Recipient, Fox News Host Pete Hegseth For SecDef
    “America’s Enemies Are On Notice” – Trump Taps Bronze Star Recipient, Fox News Host Pete Hegseth For SecDef

    President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated veteran, author, and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of Defense for his second administration.

    Hegseth, who has spent the past eight years as a host on Fox News’ “FOX & Friends Weekend,” has been a major advocate for veterans and the military.

    “I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense,” President-Elect Trump wrote in a statement on X. (emphasis ours)

    “Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country.

    Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.

    Pete is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University.

    He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

    For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two Bronze Stars, as well as a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

    Pete has been a host at FOX News for eight years, where he used that platform to fight for our Military and Veterans.”

    Trump also commented in his statement on Hegseth’s best-selling book, which advocated for veterans:

    Pete’s recent book, “The War on Warriors,” spent nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.

    The book reveals the leftwing betrayal of our Warriors, and how we must return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence.

    Pete has also led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans.

    Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our “Peace through Strength” policy.”

    The Hill reports that Fox News confirmed Hegseth’s deal with the network ended on Tuesday and he will not host its popular morning program “Fox and Friends Weekend,” a program he had presided over since 2017.

    “Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade,” a spokesperson for the cable channel said.

    “His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”

    Trump’s pick of Hegseth was somewhat unexpected, as his name had not been circulated among those likely to be considered for the job, but his resumé speaks for itself.

    Of course, none other than Senator Liz Warren apparently decided not to actually look into Hegseth’s background and dropped one of her most clueless tweets ever (and that is saying something)…

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    Asking for a friend, Lizzy, how many Bronze Stars do you have and what is your military background for the position you so proudly crow about?

    The responses on X were, ummm… unilaterally telling…

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    If you want to get a sense of who Hegseth, we highly recommend watching his appearance on an episode of The Shawn Ryan Show released November 7.

    HEGSETH: There’s a chance to course correct it, but, it would take the new a new Trump administration going after it really hard.

    RYAN: How would they correct it? Well, first of all, you got a fire.

    HEGSETH: “You’ve got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and obviously, to bring in a new Secretary of Defense, but any General that was involved, General, Admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI woke sh*t has got to go.”

    “Either you’re in for war fighting and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about. You got to get DEI and CRT out of military academies. You’re not training young officers to be baptized in this type of thinking. And then, you know, whatever the standards, whatever the combat standards were, say, and, I don’t know, 1995, let’s just make those the standards. And as far as recruiting to hire the guy that, you know, did Top Gun Maverick and create some real ads that motivate people to want to serve.”

    “And there’s lots of other ways in which you could identify who gets promoted and what. But there’s an ethos change, I mean, there’s a reason we’re not, people don’t want to serve because they don’t trust that their senior leaders are going to have their best interest in mind in combat.”

    “I know there were mistakes made on our tours all over the place. But I, at least for the most part, had a sense that my senior leaders were committed to the completion of the mission for the right reasons, and maybe there were strategic differences and all that other stuff. And it wasn’t always perfect, but now that trust is broken. And you have to reestablish that trust by by putting in no nonsense warfighters in those positions who aren’t going to cater to the socially correct garbage.“

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 20:20

  • "The Manhattan Project" Of Our Time: Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy To Head Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
    “The Manhattan Project” Of Our Time: Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy To Head Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

    Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where they will “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” according to an official release from the Trump-Vance transition team, which called this “potentially, the “Manhattan Project” of our time.”

    According to the statement, “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026” – the nation’s 250th anniversary.

    Musk previously predicted he could cut at least $2 trillion from the US federal budget, while Ramaswamy suggested firing federal workers based on their social security numbers.

    “Here’s how: if your [Social Security number] ends in an odd number, you’re fired,” he wrote on X.

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    In September, Ramaswamy told podcaster Lex Fridman: “Get in there on day one, say that anybody in the federal bureaucracy who is not elected, elected representatives obviously were elected by the people, but the people who are not elected, if your social security number ends in an odd number, you’re out, if it ends in an even number, you’re in. There’s a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your social security number starts in an even number, you’re in and if it starts with an odd number, you’re out. Boom. That’s a 75% reduction done. Literally, stochastically, okay, one of the virtues of that, it’s a thought experiment, not a policy prescription, but one of the virtues of that thought experiment is that you don’t have a bunch of lawsuits you’re dealing with about gender discrimination or racial discrimination or political viewpoint discrimination.”

    More:

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    He also said:

    So the way I would do it, 75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist, rescind every unconstitutional regulation that Congress never passed. In a true self-governing democracy, it should be our elected representatives that make the laws and the rules not unelected bureaucrats. And that is the single greatest form of economic stimulus we could have in this country, but it is also the single most effective way to restore self-governance in our country as well. And it is the blueprint for, I think, how we save this country.

    …

    …most people who have run a company, especially larger companies know this, it’s 25% of the people who do 80 to 90% of the useful work, these government agencies are no different.

    And how many government workers do we have?

    Watch the entire interview here:

    “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said on Tuesday in a statement provided by the Trump transition team.

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    Earlier in the day, Trump said the new government efficiency effort would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments,” conducting a “complete financial and performance audit” of the federal government. Trump also said that the panel would partner with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

    In the last fiscal year, the federal government spent more than $6.75 trillion – of which more than $5.3 trillion was spent on Social Security, health care, defense and veterans’ benefits.

    Related:

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    Read the full press release below:

    Here we go?

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 20:00

  • Lame Duck Commander-in-Chief Suggests Bodily Harm To Journalist Asking Tough Question
    Lame Duck Commander-in-Chief Suggests Bodily Harm To Journalist Asking Tough Question

    Earlier in the day Tuesday Biden’s special envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein told reporters that he is working diligently on achieving a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. He expressed that this could be achieved soon and that the White House believes that “there is a shot” to secure a peace deal.

    However, within hours after, President Biden contradicted him – in so many words – by shooting back angrily at a journalist who asked whether a deal related to Gaza or Lebanon is realistically achievable by the end of his term. The moment, which apparently Biden thought was not being filmed ‘live’ while sitting in the Oval Office is illustrative of just how “serious” Biden is about Middle East peace (…not very serious, considering his answer below).

    Israeli White House correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 news Neria Kraus asked simply, “Do you think you can get a hostage deal by the end of your term?” His “joking” response was to essentially threaten her with bodily harm. This tells us everything we need to know about what Biden hopes to achieve during the rest of his lame-duck session. America’s hostile and senile Commander-in-Chief is on full display here in this somewhat disturbing clip captured Tuesday…

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    The answer to the below is: Umm No…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 19:40

  • Waste Of The Day: Million-Dollar Cheating-Ring At Houston Schools
    Waste Of The Day: Million-Dollar Cheating-Ring At Houston Schools

    Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

    Topline: Five people, including three Houston school employees, were indicted in October for allegedly running a million-dollar cheating ring that allowed over 200 educators to falsify their teaching certifications.

    The three Houston employees collectively earned $1.3 million in taxpayer-funded salary between 2017 and 2023, according to data obtained by OpenTheBooks.com.

    Two employees from the privately-owned Houston Training and Education Center were charged, but their salaries are not subject to federal disclosure.

    Key facts: Vincent Grayson, the boys’ basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School, allegedly organized the scheme. Aspiring teachers would pay Grayson $2,500 to guarantee a passing grade on their certification exam, according to an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Criminal Investigations Division.

    The teachers would show up to the testing center, sign in, and leave immediately. Nicholas Newton, an assistant principal at Booker T. Washington, would then show up and take the test for them, prosecutors claim.

    The results were reportedly upheld by Tywana Gilford Mason and Darian Nikole Wilhite, two test proctors who allegedly received a 20% cut of the money.

    LaShonda Roberts, assistant principal at Yates High School, allegedly helped recruit interested teachers.

    Grayson made $400,750 in salary between 2017 and 2023, OpenTheBooks found. Newton earned $448,205 and Roberts made $409,455. All three were arrested and fired, and Houston has promised to take “swift action” against any teachers who used their services.

    The group made over $1 million from the cheating scandal, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. She told CNN the full extent will “never be known,” but that at least 200 teachers took at least 400 fake tests.

    Background: Houston Independent School District is the largest in Texas. As in many other nearby districts, a large pay gap exists between teachers and higher-level officials.

    Superintendent Millard House earned $350,000 last year. But of the nearly 25,000 employees on the payroll, only 777 made six figures.

    Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

    Critical quote: “The most important thing to me is the ringleaders have been identified and are being rooted out of our home school district … and the fact that they held positions of power there, where they were held in esteem by the children, is the very worst part of this crime,” Ogg told CNN. “They didn’t deserve those kids’ respect and I think it leaves children feeling betrayed, not knowing who to trust.”

    Summary: Aside from paying three potentially corrupt employees, Houston has spent an untold amount on salary for teachers that were never certified.

    The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 19:15

  • "Warrior For Truth & Honesty" – Trump Names John Ratcliffe As CIA Director
    “Warrior For Truth & Honesty” – Trump Names John Ratcliffe As CIA Director

    President-elect Donald Trump has announced he has selected John Ratcliffe as director of the CIA.

    “John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump wrote in a message sent on the evening of Nov. 12, the latest in a flurry of Tuesday evening appointments.

    “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation’s highest Intelligence positions.

    He will be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans, while ensuring the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

    Ratcliffe, an attorney, served as director of national intelligence during the first Trump term.

    As Nathan Worcester reports, via The Epoch Times, Ratcliffe was previously a Republican congressman from Texas and an anti-terrorism and national security chief for Eastern Texas.

    Originally from Illinois, Ratcliffe earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame before obtaining a law degree from Southern Methodist University.

    He was later U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and, from 2004 until 2012, mayor of Heath, Texas, a community in metro Dallas-Fort Worth.

    While in Congress, he was a member of the House Intelligence Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.

    During Trump’s first term, Ratcliffe made a name for himself as a staunch Trump loyalist.

    Trump dropped an early attempt to elevate Ratcliffe to the director of national intelligence position in 2019.

    But the following year, he renewed the effort, nominating him in May against the backdrop of the COVID-19 response.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 18:50

  • Senate Majority Leader Candidates Agree To Trump's Demand For Recess Appointments
    Senate Majority Leader Candidates Agree To Trump’s Demand For Recess Appointments

    Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Candidates for Senate majority leader have said they will honor President-elect Donald Trump’s request to make appointments when the Senate is in recess.

    (Left) Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.); (Center) John Thune (R-S.D.); (Right) John Cornyn (R-Texas). Andrew Harnik; Samuel Corum; Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

    Ahead of the Senate leadership election on Nov. 13, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) have said they would support recess appointments.

    “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump said in a post on X. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”

    “100% agree,” Scott wrote on X, sharing Trump’s post. “I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.”

    Thune said in an X post: “We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments. We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people.”

    “It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet appointments,” Cornyn wrote on X. “If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent. Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments.”

    Recess appointments would allow the president to nominate executive and judicial personnel who would likely not receive Senate confirmation. Recess appointments have not happened in years due to the Senate meeting in pro forma sessions, meaning that although the Senate is meeting, it is only for a few minutes and therefore no legislative business is conducted.

    The recess appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution states that “the President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”

    In 2012, President Barack Obama made recess appointments, including appointing Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    “The convening of periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is to be conducted does not have the legal effect of interrupting an intrasession recess otherwise long enough to qualify as a ‘Recess of the Senate’ under the Recess Appointments Clause,” the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel wrote at the time. “In this context, the President therefore has discretion to conclude that the Senate is unavailable to perform its advise-and-consent function and to exercise his power to make recess appointments.”

    However, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2014 that recess appointments cannot be made when the Senate is in a pro forma session.

    Then-Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that “the Recess Appointments Clause is not designed to overcome serious institutional friction. It simply provides a subsidiary method for appointing officials when the Senate is away during a recess.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 18:25

  • "I Was Paid Nothing": Oprah Denies Million Dollar Payment By Harris Campaign
    “I Was Paid Nothing”: Oprah Denies Million Dollar Payment By Harris Campaign

    A TMZ reporter confronted Oprah Winfrey about claims she was paid a million dollars to host a town hall for Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign. Oprah rejected those claims. While she may be correct that she did not receive a personal fee, her production company did receive campaign funds from the Harris team.

    The TMZ reporter asked Oprah: “How did you think the election went?” 

    Oprah responded: “Not talking about the election. Thank you very much.” 

    TMZ reporter then asked: “Is it true they [Harris campaign] paid you a million dollars for the endorsement of Kamala?”

    Oprah responded: “Not true. I was paid nothing – ever.” 

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    On Sunday, in a note titled “FEC Filings Show Kamala Harris Team Blew Funds On Hollywood Stars, Private Jets,” we cited Federal Election Commission filings that show Harpo Productions, which, after searching through public records, Oprah is a director, member of the board and officer of the production company, received a million dollars from the campaign. 

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    Per the FEC filing…

    Meanwhile, a Harpo spokesperson told Variety that the Harris-Walz team never “paid a personal fee” to Oprah.  

    “The campaign paid for the production costs of ‘Unite for America,’ a live-streaming event that took place Sept. 19 outside Detroit, Mich.,” the spokesperson said, adding, “Oprah Winfrey was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo.” 

    “Sounds like this should be a bigger scandal,” one X user said. 

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    That’s right. 

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    Oprah’s presence on the campaign trail, as well as that of many other leftist Hollywood stars, had zero impact on the election outcome. Trump’s message on inflation and illegal aliens trumped Democrat’s message about gender and women’s rights.

    Trump won 312 electoral votes. Republicans have majorities in the Senate and House.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 18:02

  • Liberal Elite At UN Climate Conference Calls For Meat Tax 
    Liberal Elite At UN Climate Conference Calls For Meat Tax 

    The UN Climate Change Conference, known this year as COP29, kicked off on Monday and will last through the 22nd of this month. Many of the usual climate grifters have skipped the event as de-growth ‘green’ policies in the US are being prepared to be rolled back to some degree under a Trump presidency. Even Swedish far-left activist Greta Thunberg skipped the event (pre-occupied with pro-Palestine protests?). 

    On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the world leaders who attended the event that last year’s meeting was a “master class in climate destruction,” adding, “The sound you hear is the ticking clock.”

    Guterres also said the transition to clean energy “won’t be stopped by no group, no business, and no government.” He was likely referring to Trump’s plan to roll back certain climate policies that are strangling the economy and simultaneously boosting inflation, making US companies unable to compete in international markets. At the same time, China operates free of these de-growth policies. 

    One particular speech by Willem Branten, the public affairs officer of True Animal Protein Price (TAPP) Coalition, a non-profit foundation focused on taxing real meat out of existence to reset the global food supply chain into a planet-based future, caught the internet’s attention given radical far left and their billionaire funders have been pushing fake meat and insects as a way to solve the so-called ‘climate crisis.’ 

    LoL.

    WEF propaganda non-sense. 

    TAPP’s Branten said the quiet part out loud: using policy warfare, such as the “greenhouse gas emission price mechanism” – or a meat tax – to fund their climate crisis agenda and eventually end the overconsumption of animal protein.

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    Calling for a meat tax while US retail ground beef prices are soaring shows just how out-of-touch liberals are with concerns of the working class. That’s why they lost the election in the US. 

    In other words, the themes of de-growth and de-population promoted by the UN are being pushed by radical leftists who want to control every facet of life—what you eat, drive, and how you live. Trump’s victory last week was a vote by the American people that rejects radical climate grifters and their Marxist friends that have sparked the worst inflation storm in a generation. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 18:00

  • Price Controls And Alcoholism – The Buzz First, The Hangover Later
    Price Controls And Alcoholism – The Buzz First, The Hangover Later

    Authored by Raushan Gross via The Mises Institute,

    Just ignore the economists, says a recent article in The Atlantic.

    Well, what about listening to economists concerning the devastating effects of price controls? If we ignore economists, then it would be easy to ignore market interventionists’ uncontrollable and intoxicating need to impose price floors and ceilings in marketplaces and the effects of these controls on society at large. What economists know that The Atlantic author does not know is that there are finite resources in this world, and everyone is out to get their share.

    You want a car; I want a car; while this could be a zero-sum game, if car producers decide not to produce cars anymore, if they produce less, supply goes down, and prices rise. Simple enough. Scarcity, the first law of economics, is apparent in everyday life—goods are finite. The increased prices signal to entrepreneurs to make more goods. Finite jobs are also available. The problem is that those who see price controls as the right thing to do are misleading everyone else because they are under the allure of their good effects.

    Price controls are akin to alcoholism. When drinking, it is easy to drink too much. Price controls and other interventions can similarly feel good at the beginning too.

    For them, there is always the temptation to control prices, so they continue to control more prices in every sector of the economy. The control does not end with wage floors, price ceilings, interventions responding to shortages, and so on. Interventionists only perceive the good effects of imposing price controls, but little do they know that bad effects will result from later price controls and ani-price gouging policies.

    Folks lamenting “price gouging” do not consider this simple economic law: with artificially-low prices, shortages occur; businesses may not survive selling products and or services at artificially-imposed price controls.

    Less is supplied overall. As a result, producers no longer produce those products and services, and consumers go elsewhere.

    The cure, however, is leaving market prices alone, which is difficult because the bad effects come first, and the good ones come later. The problem is that interventionists are intoxicated with the perceived good effects of policies related to price gouging, price floors, and price ceilings. Price intervention leads to more price intervention. However, price controllers—like alcoholics—tend to overdo the control of market pricing policies and want more good effects. But, as we know, the good effects of price ceilings and floors lead to scarcity, market inefficiency, decline in innovation, entrepreneurial scarcity, and scarcity of goods.

    Historically, we have seen the cause and effect of price controls on food and many other economic goods. We know price controls have led to utter disasters in places such as Soviet Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and the French Revolution. With long lines waiting for food, famine resulted from price ceilings and floors. For example, manufacturers in Soviet Russia could not produce enough nails to construct new homes because of price control interventionists.

    Keep in mind that unhampered market prices reflect what is supplied, what is demanded, and how sellers and buyers respond to market adjustments. While a casual shopper might be outraged by higher grocery prices, these price hikes signal to the buyer that other people are bidding for the same goods and/or that there might have been a decline in supply. It should be clear that there are never enough goods to satisfy all alternative wants, which natural prices reflect until controllers impose upon them. The only way for everyone to get what they want is for natural prices to emerge in the voluntary marketplace, a reliable and efficient system for resource allocation. This emphasis on natural prices should reassure us about the effectiveness of the market system in allocating resources.

    The Atlantic and the rest of their ilk must be unaware of the simple fact that entrepreneurs cannot “set prices” at whatever rate they want, whenever they want; consumers do that, either by buying or not buying at a certain price point. Business owners establish prices based on consumer demand—consumers bidding for the same economic goods—and the market competitive pressure from other suppliers. Therefore, price controls are unpopular amongst economists because, while they legally control the price of a good, they do not add to the supply nor do the laws require anyone to supply any good. Price controls contribute to shortages. And, the fewer products or services available, the higher the price tends to rise. Also, producers and entrepreneurs alike may move out of price-controlled industries and go into others, further reducing supply.

    Since there is no money helicopter that can equally spread money to everyone simultaneously, then control how that money is spent and when (which would only worsen the situation anyway), it should be obvious as to why price control policies do not work. When price controls are in effect, they force the business to sell goods at artificially-low prices, thus forcing products to be purchased below market value. Naturally, rising prices are understandably unpopular, but prices reflect real-time market realities.

    If prices of goods rise unhampered, it signals the buyer to practice a bit of self-control, while a decline in price signals the buyer to buy more. However, let us put this logic on the back burner and assume economic goods are under price control. The logic of price controls rests upon the illusory magic of infinite amounts of goods for everyone to consume at the same time. Operating under this falsehood is destructive

    Further, it is a tall order for an economy to keep inflation and wage rates up and force prices downward through the hand of price controls. So, The Atlantic says not to listen to economists, however, in the words of Ludwig von Mises on price controls:

    If it fixes prices of all goods and services of all orders and obliges all people to continue producing and working at these prices and wage rates, it eliminates the market altogether. Then the planned economy, socialism of the German Zwangswirtschaft pattern, is substituted for the market economy.

    No one wants to encounter the bad effects of a “hangover,” so the cure never happens. Price controls have a long history and have been shown to bring disastrous effects to the market economy that only show up later. Artificially-imposed price controls lead to entrepreneurial decline. Selling goods at artificially-low or -high prices sends mixed messages to the producers.

    What is the cure? Should economists be listened to or not? In other words, do we keep drinking to feel the good effects and avoid the hangover, or deal with the hangover by bringing about the bad effects?

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 17:40

  • Beirut Suffers Under Biggest Daytime Airstrikes As Israel Says Time Not Right For Ceasefire
    Beirut Suffers Under Biggest Daytime Airstrikes As Israel Says Time Not Right For Ceasefire

    Israeli warplanes are again pounding the Lebanese capital of Beirut, unleashing one of the heaviest daytime attacks yet on Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs.

    Israel’s defense ministry has thus far ruled out a ceasefire, which has been backed by both the US and Russia, until its military goals are met. It also remains that Hezbollah has continued unrelenting missile fire into Israel’s north, and on Tuesday rockets targeted a base near Tel Aviv.

    The efforts to strike Tel Aviv briefly resulted in a total halt in air traffic at Ben Gurion international airport. Sirens also sounded throughout central Israel towns and communities. The Shia group backed by Iran said it targeted an “air base south of Tel Aviv… with a salvo of quality missiles.”

    Result of prior strikes on Beirut: AP

    Israeli media has detailed Tuesday that one of the drones sent by Hezbollah hit a kindergarten in the northern town of Nesher, which shattered windows and scattered debris in a playground area. No children or staff were hurt as they had all moved to a bomb shelter as a precaution.

    But elsewhere there were casualties from the dozens of missiles launched from Lebanon, including two Israelis killed when missiles struck a residential building in Nahariya.

    The casualties in Lebanon have remained much higher, with at least 44 people killed and 88 wounded in attacks across mainly the south of the country on Monday.

    On Tuesday Israeli jets hit the capital hard:

    Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

    At this point Israeli leaders have touted that the military has destroyed or degraded almost all of Hezbollah’s weapons production capabilities.

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    Most Lebanese civilians are believed to have fled the hard-hit southern suburbs of Beirut. Residential towers continue to be taken out by the Israelis, amid claims that Hezbollah keeps weapons storehouses under them.

    According to more of the latest developments via Reuters:

    An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

    Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 stories, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

    The last week saw a number of international reports which said ‘progress’ has been made in reaching a US-backed ceasefire; however, those reports seem to have been premature.

    Impact of Hezbollah rocket in Nahariya:

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    This is especially as Israel’s new defense minister Israel Katz explained the following: 

    “Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon – disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes,” he said.

    Hezbollah has in turn defended its right to defend Lebanese territory, and fears that ceding ground south of the Litani would give Israeli forces permanent control of Lebanese land. There are more rumors of a ceasefire being ‘close’ on Tuesday:

    BIDEN ADVISER HOCHSTEIN SAYS HE THINKS ‘THERE IS A SHOT’ TO GET A CEASEFIRE DEAL IN LEBANON SOON -AXIOS

    Neither side is in the mood for ceasefire, but civilians on either side continue to bear the brunt of the suffering, and whole swathes of northern Israel and south Lebanon remain evacuated.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 17:20

  • "Remember, Remember, The 5th Of November": Democrats Seem To Be Moving On From Democracy
    “Remember, Remember, The 5th Of November”: Democrats Seem To Be Moving On From Democracy

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Democracy appears to be losing its appeal on the left. After campaigning on panic politics and predicting the imminent death of democracy, some on the left are now calling to burn the system down in light of Republicans not only taking both houses and the White House but Trump likely winning the popular vote.

    Some seem to believe that what happened on November 5th is a license to become a modern version of Guy Fawkes

    (“Remember, remember, the 5th of November; Gunpowder, treason and plot; I see no reason; Why gunpowder treason; Should ever be forgot”).

    Protesters after the election called for tearing down the system as a whole, insisting that “Trump is not an individual. He’s a figurehead of a system that’s rotten.”

    Even before the election, law professors and law deans called for a break from the Constitution. Those voices will likely be amplified after the massive electoral loss by Democrats.

    Others are seeking to evade the results of the election to still bring Harris to power.  CNN’s Bakari Sellers wants to pressure Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign and replace her with Harris. Former Harris aide Jamal Simmons wants Biden to resign to allow Harris to become president despite the vote of the majority.

    It is an ironic twist after Democratic politicians and pundits repeated the mantra that, if we did not elect Harris, this might be our last election. After losing that election, democracy appears to be the problem. The majority of Americans voting for Trump have been called “anti-American” by Gov. Hochul. Other politicians and pundits have called them racists, misogynists, or weaklings seeking domination by strongmen and bullies.

    The problem is now with young and minority voters.  Trump won white women voters by eight points at 53 percent. Harris actually fell slightly in the support of women overall. Conversely, roughly 43 percent of men voted for Harris. Forty percent of women under 30 voted for Trump. Even CNN reports that Trump’s performance was the best among young people (18-29 years old) in 20 years, Black voters in 48 years, and Hispanic voters in more than 50 years.

    So, it appears that it is time to move on. The call for Biden to simply do what the public did not want to do (in making Harris president) is particularly ironic. Many voters were repulsed by the Democrats simply making Harris the nominee after all the primaries were over. This was the candidate who could not garner any appreciable votes in the prior presidential primaries before being made Vice President by Biden.

    Now, the idea is that she would be elevated by the unilateral act of Biden.

    Without a hint of self-awareness or recognition of the hypocrisy, Simmons insisted that this would “Fulfill [Biden’s] last promise — to be transitional.” Most people understood that to mean democratically transitional in opening the way for the election of new leadership. He did so after he was forced to step aside after winning every Democratic primary and tens of millions of votes.

    Nevertheless, Simmons argued that “Democrats have to learn drama and transparency and doing things that the public wanna see is the time.” That would certainly be dramatic as well as anti-Democratic.  Yet, Simmons explained that “this is the moment for us to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate.”

    Indeed, it would. It would confirm that the Democratic Party is an effective oligarchy, the very thing that they just campaigned against.

    Sellers is more modest.

    He just wants Harris on the Supreme Court. At no point in history has anyone suggested that Harris was a leading legal mind. Nothing in her history suggests that she is a competent, let alone promising, candidate for the highest court.

    Harris has previously suggested her support for possible radical changes on the Court, including court packing. She is also a decidedly anti-free speech figure in American politics.

    None of that matters any more than the results of the election.

    Harris would be put on the Court not due to any specific talents or skills but because it would be “consequential.” He wrapped up by saying “let Republicans go crazy, ape, I’m even mentioning that option.”

    Others are not pushing Harris but are pushing Sotomayor to resign to allow for one of the fastest confirmations in history. Under this theory, a lame duck president would muscle through a confirmation before Trump could come into power.

    Of course, that ignores the possibility that you could vacate the seat and then fall short in the sharply divided Senate. That includes the possible loss of senators who might balk at such a maneuver, including outgoing Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

    The one option that does not appear to be popular is to listen to the voters and actually return the Democratic Party back toward the center of our politics. The problem is now the voters themselves.

    French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau once famously insisted that “War is too important to be left to the generals.” The Democrats appear to be working on a new view that democracy is too important to be left to the voters.

    *  *  *

    Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 17:00

  • Trump 'Warrior Board' Would Purge 'Woke Generals' From US Military Leadership
    Trump ‘Warrior Board’ Would Purge ‘Woke Generals’ From US Military Leadership

    After years of feminizing the US military through DEI initiatives, a new executive order under consideration by the Trump transition team would establish a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel which would be granted the power to review three- and four-star officers and recommend any removals of those deemed unfit for leadership.

    Army Gen. Mark Milley

    A draft review of the Executive Order seen by the Wall Street Journal could fast-track generals and admirals found to be “lacking in requisite leadership qualities,” given President-elect Donald Trump’s past vow to fire “woke generals” who have promoted diversity among the ranks at the expense of military readiness.

    As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals. 

    The draft order says it aims to establish a review that focuses “on leadership capability, strategic readiness, and commitment to military excellence.” The draft doesn’t specify what officers need to do or present to show if they meet those standards. The draft order originated with one of several outside policy groups collaborating with the transition team, and is one of numerous executive orders under review by Trump’s team, a transition official said. -WSJ

    The board would be made up of retired generals and noncommissioned officers, who would send their recommendations to Trump. Those identified for removal would be retired at their current rank within 30 days. 

    “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman, who declined to directly comment on the potential executive order.

    Trump has called for the purging of those he views as failed generals – including those involved in the Biden administration’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump has previously said he would ask all generals involved in the withdrawal to resign by “noon on Inauguration day.”

    In October, Trump told an audience that he would create a task force to monitor the “woke generals” and to get rid of diversity training in the military.

    One such woke general set for a purgin’ could be Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to two defense officials.

    The EO would fit with plans by the Trump team for major reforms at the DoD, particularly when it comes to the size of the joint staff, according to the report.

    “It’s gotten way too big,” said one person with knowledge of the transition. “Trump also expects that many of the generals, the three- and four-star generals that have been under performing will basically be retired.”

    The draft executive order cites as precedent for the move Gen. George C. Marshall’s creation of a “plucking board” in 1940, led by retired general officers, to review the files of senior serving military officers and “remove from line promotion any officer for reasons deemed good and sufficient.” The goal of Marshall’s board was to make room to promote promising junior officers.

    The president has the power to fire generals but rarely does so for political reasons. President Harry Truman fired Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur for publicly challenging the administration’s Asia security strategy. President Obama fired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal as his Afghanistan commander after the military leader’s subordinates were quoted as criticizing the administration in a magazine article. -WSJ

    The new order also puts Army Gen. Mark Milley in the crosshairs – however we don’t think the board will be necessary for that purge. Milley notably told ‘journalist’ Bob Woodward that Trump was a “total fascist.” 

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 16:40

  • Uniparty Establishment War On MAHA Heats Up
    Uniparty Establishment War On MAHA Heats Up

    Authored by Brian Robertson via American Greatness,

    “Trump really could empower RFK Jr. to wreck public health” proclaims the headline in Vox.

    “RFK Jr. Wants to Reshape US Health Policy. Good Luck With That” mocks a banner in Wired.

    Likewise, the Wall Street Journal joined the frenzy, noting that “industry, doctors, and their supporters in Congress probably will resist Kennedy’s unconventional health ideas.”

    The alarmist reporting exposes the strategy to discredit Kennedy, claiming he’s a “conspiracy theorist and vaccine skeptic” who supports “dubious and unproven therapies,” and if Trump follows his dangerous agenda, “preventable diseases like measles and polio could make a comeback.”

    These hit pieces, the first two dropping a week before Trump’s victory, were a red light flashing the abject fear of the revolving-door lobbyists and their corporate media allies over the prospect of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ending the K-Street scam that has led to the capture of our federal agencies by the very industries they are supposed to be regulating.

    The palpable fear crosses party lines.

    As the Washington Post notes: “The prospect of Kennedy holding any senior administration role has increasingly alarmed public health leaders and federal workers who say that he should not be allowed anywhere near the nation’s public health infrastructure.” The reason for the dread: Kennedy’s goal of liberating the federal agencies from the grip that corporate and financial interests, from Big Pharma to Big Food, have exerted over them for decades. He’s Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the lobbyists and bureaucrats who have been complicit in the continuing degradation of American health.

    Kennedy has insisted that he would do nothing to prevent access to vaccines; he only pledged to carry out the safety studies that the pharmaceutical industry has prevented the health agencies from conducting with objectivity. Thus, armed with “informed consent,” Americans could weigh the risks and make the decisions for themselves and their children without compulsion. That’s a welcomed change from the current regime of a federally decreed vaccine schedule for children, enforced via hospital and school mandates.

    Ironically, the same health establishment—sounding alarms about potential harms resulting from Trump giving RFK Jr. a central role in ending the conflicts of interest determining health policy in the United States—remains utterly silent about exploding autism rates among children in recent decades, the mental health crisis and soaring rates of teens on mood-altering prescription drugs, and a new USDA study revealing that a shocking 38 percent of teens now suffer from pre-diabetes. The same crowd panicking over the alleged dangers to public health were RFK Jr. able to remove conflicts of interest in the system show absolutely no interest in determining the cause of our epidemic of chronic childhood disease in this country.

    While skepticism about the oversized influence of the pharmaceutical industry used to be standard on the political left, the Democratic Party is now the locus of pro-Big Pharma propagandizing. The COVID pandemic, coupled with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, seemed to change that skeptical attitude virtually overnight, to the point that today we take it for granted that the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for the latest unsafe and ineffective Pharma product will be found on the left.

    We should therefore not be surprised by liberals taking potshots at RFK Jr.’s planned reforms. Zeke Emanuel, a key architect of Obamacare and COVID lockdown advocate, warns that “appointing RFK Jr. to a major public health leadership role could have serious and damaging consequences…making him a disastrous choice.” Dr. Paul Offit, a critic of Kennedy’s who had a leading role in amplifying Dr. Fauci’s COVID measures, cautions that “his science denialism makes him the wrong person for any kind of progress.”

    But the Republican Party establishment forms a more insidious political opposition. Many in the old guard with strong ties to Big Pharma exerted an outsize role in the first Trump administration—they have much to lose in a disruption of the dysfunctional status quo. Now they are preemptively calling wolf: “It will be hard for a Trump administration to focus on other priorities, if government agencies are busy dealing with resource intensive and preventable measles and polio outbreaks” claims former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, echoing the scaremongering on the pro-Pharma left. RFK Jr. shaping health policies raises “concerns about misinformation and harm,” he warns. Other GOP players are anonymously quoted in the Washington Post article urging “the Trump transition team to consider more traditional options to lead federal health agencies,” naming several options who toed the Big Pharma line in the first term.

    The GOP opposition also includes members of the “conservative” punditry who hearken back to a pre-Trump brand of Republicanism. The institutionalist Right, already hostile to Trump for his apostasy from the post-Reagan “conservative” consensus in favor of mass immigration, globalist trade schemes that subsidized the mass movement of U.S. manufacturing overseas coupled with the easy importation of cheap foreign goods and labor, and interventionist adventurism abroad. Add to that a Make America Healthy Again agenda of directly tackling the corporate capture of government, and these self-appointed gatekeepers start seeing red more than they would at a MAGA rally. Curbing Big Pharma in setting policy and in buying off any potentially critical news coverage (through the intimidation factor of their enormous investment in advertising) is characterized as an attack on the sanctity of the Free Market.

    While these political fossils may be failing to read the populist room after the electoral victory for MAGA and MAHA last week, no one should underestimate the ability of Big Food and Big Pharma – and their allies in the corporate-backed think tanks and media outlets – to gin up opposition to the very health agenda Kennedy has been given the mandate to advance. But the campaign may fail to gain political traction in the wake of the collapse in public trust for the healthcare establishment after the COVID debacle. Appeals to credentialed health experts no longer carry much weight with a public that was lied to and manipulated by this same crowd over the last four years. Many Americans are waking up to the fact that blind faith in medical and scientific experts lies at the very root of the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our once-healthy nation.

    The time is opportune for a radical revamping of our corrupt health establishment, and RFK Jr. is just the right person at the right time under Trump to pull it off.

    *  *  *

    Brian Robertson served for over a decade in the U.S. Senate as a senior policy advisor and worked for the Trump administration at both HHS and the Department of State.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/12/2024 – 16:20

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