- What's Behind Belarus' Military Buildup Along The Ukrainian Border?
What’s Behind Belarus’ Military Buildup Along The Ukrainian Border?
Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,
Belarus announced late last week that it shot down several Ukrainian drones over its airspace, which it later discovered were full of NATO electronics, and subsequently decided to strengthen defenses along its southern border.
It’s also considering shutting down the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk too. This follows their border crisis from a little more than a month ago after Ukraine’s military buildup back then and comes amidst Ukraine’s sneak attack against Russia’s Kursk Region, both of which were analyzed below:
* 30 June: “Keep An Eye On Ukraine’s Military Buildup Along The Belarusian Border”
* 8 August: “Five Lessons For Russia To Learn From Ukraine’s Sneak Attack Against Kursk Region”
* 10 August: “Last Year’s Pentagon Leaks Proved That Zelensky Was Plotting To Invade Russia Since January 2023”
In brief, the first crisis de-escalated after Kiev reportedly removed its troops first and then Minsk naively assumed that its neighbor thus had no aggressive intentions so it followed suit, while the second is the natural culmination of those aforesaid attacks. It should also be said that Belarus’ decision to de-escalate border tensions with Ukraine inadvertently freed up more of the latter’s forces for invading Russia even though that’s of course not what Lukashenko intended to have happen.
The fog of war makes it difficult to accurately assess the situation in Kursk Region, but most reports indicate that Ukraine’s offensive has halted and that it might be digging in for the long run. This adds context to its drone incursions over Belarus by suggesting that its General Staff could be probing for weaknesses all along the Union State’s border. The swiftness with which Ukraine broke through the Russian border might embolden it to try replicating this against Belarus as a diversionary tactic.
It’s premature to jump to conclusions, but that could further stretch Russia’s forces and help advance Ukraine’s goal of coercing its foe to transfer some of them from the Donbass front if it happens, which is widely thought to be the primary objective behind its sneak attack against Kursk Region. Likewise, Ukraine’s reported probing into Belgorod Region and its latest attack against the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) complement these efforts, all of which aim to keep Russian on edge and guessing.
The military-strategic situation is curiously similar to the days before Ukraine’s ultimately failed counteroffensive last summer when “The Union State Expected That The NATO-Russian Proxy War Will Expand” to possibility include Belarus, Moldova, and/or Russia’s pre-2014 territory. That didn’t happen as is now known, perhaps due to urgently improved border defenses at the time that might have since been scaled back due to complacency, but Ukraine certainly seems to be seriously considering it now.
As for the Moldovan option, it’s always been a wildcard that Kiev has thus far held off on playing despite prior Russian concerns, though that doesn’t mean that it should be forgotten about. One argument against expanding the conflict to that front is that it could inadvertently stretch Ukraine’s own forces even further and thus facilitate a possible Russian breakthrough in Donbass, which is precisely what Ukraine is trying to prevent or delay as long as possible through various means.
The same goes for attacking Belarus or launching another sneak attack against a different region within Russia’s pre-2014 territory, let alone all at the same time, whereas more attacks against the ZNPP wouldn’t entail the same military risks even though the environmental ones are much greater. At the same time, however, the Belarusian option might be more enticing for Ukraine to contemplate than any other when recalling what Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reported earlier in the spring.
They claimed that Belarus’ direct involvement in the conflict would trigger the tripwire for a conventional NATO intervention, which could relieve pressure on Kiev while provoking a Cuban-like brinksmanship crisis that might see Russia freeze its advance in Donbass. Of course, neither can be taken for granted: NATO might decline to conventionally intervene if Ukraine provokes Belarus to respond, and Russia might not freeze its offensive in Donbass as part of some mutual de-escalation deal with NATO.
Nevertheless, Kiev might still gamble that it can get NATO to directly intervene on its side by provoking Belarus to respond, including through a potentially forthcoming conventional attack. The conflict’s military-strategic dynamics continue to favor Russia even in spite of what’s happening in Kursk Region so Ukraine might soon become desperate enough to implement its own “Samson Option” of trying to expand the conflict in every direction possible if its leadership comes to believe that defeat is inevitable.
In that scenario, it might also finally play the Moldovan wildcard and attempt Kursk-like sneak attacks against other Russian border regions, though even then it couldn’t be taken for granted that NATO would conventionally intervene or that their intervention would result in preventing Ukraine’s defeat. Moreover, the US might calculate that frantically trying to expand the conflict in every direction possible isn’t in its interests, in which case it could try to dissuade Ukraine of this or covertly stop it if it still does.
In connection with that, it’s relevant to reference Bloomberg’s hit piece from earlier this month against Zelensky’s hawkish chief of staff Andrey Yermak, which this analysis here argues could be the beginning of an American campaign for weakening that grey cardinal’s influence. This radical ideologue is a major obstacle to the resumption of peace talks and he might even be the one who put Zelensky up to invading Russia. So long as he retains the president’s ear, then Ukraine’s “Samson Option” can’t ever be ruled out.
It therefore follows that the US might want to drive a wedge between them in order to reduce the chances that Yermak convinces Zelensky to go all out if he believes that defeat is inevitable, and thus risk provoking a NATO-Russian hot war, instead of resuming peace talks in that event. After all, Ukraine might have wanted to expand the conflict into Belarus, Moldova, and/or Russia’s pre-2014 territory as part of its counteroffensive, but the US could have advised against it out of an abundance of caution.
Last year would have been a much better time to do that than now when Ukraine still had tens of thousands more troops, hundreds of more Western vehicles, and much higher morale. Going this route one year later after so many losses doesn’t make military-strategic sense except if Ukraine is seriously flirting with the “Samson Option”, which the US might either begrudgingly agree to go along with or might soon intervene behind the scenes to stop in some way if it’s against that happening.
This insight enables observers to better understand Belarus’ military buildup along the border, which is a reaction to Ukraine’s latest drone incursions. Ukraine carried them out in order to prompt this response from Belarus as Yermak-advised Zelensky considers whether it’s worth expanding the conflict in the hopes that NATO would then conventionally intervene in his support should that happen. Whatever he decides to do will have an outsized influence on events as everything rapidly approaches the end game.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 – 02:00 - Britain Is Proof: Globalists Plan To Use Migrants As A Mercenary Army Against The West
Britain Is Proof: Globalists Plan To Use Migrants As A Mercenary Army Against The West
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,
Why do western officials insist on gaslighting the public on illegal border crossings?
Why do they attempt to destroy anyone that publicly opposes mass immigration from the third world?
The laws on the books support the public’s majority position on immigration – Come here legally or don’t come here at all.
In Europe, the UK and the US polls show a majority of citizens want reductions in immigration and better border security.
Yet, government officials, who often claim to be “protecting democracy,” brazenly ignore these majority concerns. Why?
For many years now I have offered a specific theory on the true agenda behind open border policies in western countries and I believe this theory answers most of questions surrounding illegal immigration.
The common claim within the Liberty Movement is that this is all part of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy”: A social engineering method which uses large scale relocation of migrants into a society in order to destabilize that nation. The goal is to import people with a incompatible or hostile ideology and, eventually, the target culture will break down and be forced to accept a new system of governance (i.e. from free markets and liberty to communism and slavery).
If western populations are unified in opposing the globalist ideology then the task of deconstruction becomes impossible for them. So, they simply destroy the west from within by introducing millions of people that will NEVER assimilate or unify.
My theory goes beyond the Cloward-Piven explanation, though.
I think there is a deeper and even more sinister purpose to the introduction of third world migrants to the US and Europe.
I summarized my position in my article ‘Cultural Replacement: Why The Immigration Crisis Is Being Deliberately Engineered’ published in January. I noted:
“I have mentioned this in previous articles and I continue to believe that one of the main purposes for the establishment to leave borders open and entice illegals to enter is to create a migrant army; a situation in which millions of illegals will be offered easy citizenship in exchange for service. I also believe that this migrant army will be used against the American public (the real citizenry) to impose martial law measures in the wake of a national disaster…”
In other words, my argument was that migrants from the third-world are not merely being used as unwitting tools for cultural saturation of the west. They’re not being shipped in by the millions to simply live off the fruits of our labor and our ancestors’ labors. I believe they are being brought into the US, the UK and Europe as enforcers for the establishment.
Think about it – They are essentially bought and paid for. They are mercenaries recruited with offers of easy citizenship, government handouts and the opportunity to brutalize the very western (and generally white) populations they despise. And, they are allowed to do this while hiding behind government law enforcement agencies for protection.
With a two tier policing system in place, the migrants can do whatever they want without much fear of repercussions. In Europe there is the added problem of expanding Islamic immigration which is directed by religious doctrine to conquer non-believers. From the Quran:
Quran [9:29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.
Third world migrants are hired muscle for the political elites. They can terrorize the populace, and if the native population takes action to defend itself the government can step in, call them hateful racists and declare martial law. It’s a win-win. The migrants then help with the enforcement of that martial law as the government doubles down on two-tier policing.
There are those that insist the anti-immigration position is a “false paradigm.” The notion of “false paradigms” has become a plague among liberty movement thinkers that needs to be abandoned. The reality is that we are not just fighting the globalists, we also have to fight the people that wittingly or unwittingly aid the globalists. The elites help instigate conflicts, but many of these divisions already exist without their influence.
For example, third-world cultures are intrinsically violent and authoritarian. The top 20 most violent nations and most oppressive nations in the world are also the same nations sending caravans of migrants our way. Progressives will claim that’s a good thing and that we need to help these people. It’s not a good thing and most of them can’t be helped because they aren’t coming here to be free, they are coming here to take whatever they can take.
The majority of people from these regions will never be able to coexist peacefully within western communities. They don’t understand freedom, they don’t understand diplomacy, they don’t understand compromise. For them, tolerance is not a virtue, it’s a weakness that can be exploited to their advantage. This is a fact proven time and time again as mass migrations accelerates and I think my theory has recently been vindicated by events in the UK.
British citizens have been victimized for over a decade by migrant attacks and organized crime. The two-tier policing system in the UK continues to protect these migrants from retribution while the government hides statistics that show how much violence is being committed by non-citizens.
The British riots last week were a rare moment when patriots finally spoke out on open borders and took to the streets, only to be declared “Nazis” and “racists”. The use of riot police to quell property damage and fighting would be understandable to a point, except that aggressive migrant protests had been ongoing for months with very little police interference. Again, the two-tier policing is obvious.
Then, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a statement admonishing patriot protests and defending migrants. No referendum on immigration has been offered. He has not once acknowledged the problem of rising migrant crime and has essentially declared war on patriots.
In July the Labour Party was reportedly in the process of creating of a new “Muslim leadership group” intended to become the primary point of engagement between Keir Starmer’s government and Muslim communities in the UK. A draft document setting out plans for the network describes its core objectives, including “to influence public policy in a way that safeguards and promotes the rights of British Muslims”, and “to influence the media debate around Muslims in Britain”. In other words, propaganda to silence native dissent.
Muslim migrant gangs, calling themselves the “Muslim Defense League” (MDL) saw Starmer’s speech as an invitation to stalk the streets of British towns armed with knives and machetes; moving from street to street attacking white Brits at random.
The migrants made it clear that their purpose was to “assert dominance” over Brits and frighten them into submission. So far UK officials deny that the Muslim gangs exist. The media has refused to cover most of the activities of migrant gangs and has placed all blame on native patriots. One of the only places you can see any video evidence exposing migrant gangs is on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Musk as also been attacked by UK officials for “fomenting unrest”, simply because he doesn’t censor the footage.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer and other government officials have been meeting with Muslim groups to reassure them that the government is on their side. The migrants are now emboldened to do as they please while the Brits face the reality that if they fight back, the government will put them in prison. The migrants are now, in the most basic sense, a mercenary wing of the UK government.
This dynamic is even more undeniable when we look at the move by the UK government to remove Christian-related events from the British military while encouraging Muslim recruiting. Keep in mind, last week the UK government threatened the possibility of the military being used on the British people. Corrupt empires throughout history have preferred using foreign mercenaries to suppress their own citizens. It’s no coincidence that such a large percentage of the people coming from the third-world (around 80%) are military age men.
The post-war British populace has long lived without a relationship to true violence. Sure, they have football riots and brawls, but I’m talking about cold, calculated ethnic warfare designed to subjugate. Alien migrants coming from Africa and the Middle East are intimately familiar with such violence. They know it well and have embraced it totally as a part of their culture.
Not very many Brits are capable of comprehending a knife attack on a children’s dance recital, or the mass stabbing of toddlers playing in a park, or the operation of organized rape gangs that kidnap teens. When you first experience this kind of demonic will, it can be petrifying. I fear the British people are facing something so far outside of their wheelhouse that they may not know how to deal with it. The combination of organized migrant crime and government oppression might browbeat Brits into devastating apathy.
I suspect that the situation in the UK is just a precursor to what we will soon see in the US. Starmer is a die-hard advocate of the World Economic Forum and he is following their program to the letter. The conditions in the UK are what the Davos crowd wants everywhere.
Regardless of the outcome of the US elections in November the illegal immigration crisis will be central to everything we do in the next couple years. If leftists remain in political power then it is likely that we will see a similar attempt at a crackdown on patriots from an arrogant Harris Administration.
I believe Harris will most definitely offer citizenship to every illegal already in the country (many of them in exchange for military service), buying a mercenary force and a progressive voting block at the same time, ending any chance of conservatives ever participating in government again.
In the case of a second Trump Administration the situation changes. The removal of illegal migrants will be the top issue and leftists in the US will try to prevent it. They view the migrants as the key to their kingdom; the way to “destroy capitalism” and bring in woke socialism. Removal of illegals would set them back decades. Leftists will riot rather than lose. It’s a certainty.
The difference is, US patriots are armed (50 million strong with over 400 million guns and hundreds of billions of rounds of ammunition). I’m now receiving a lot of emails these days from UK and European readers who say they are desperate for the same firearms rights we have in the US. They all tell me, “never give up your guns.” Don’t worry, we won’t. We know what’s coming thanks to the events in the UK.
* * *
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Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 23:25 - SpaceX Plans "First Human Spaceflight To Explore Earth From Polar Orbit"
SpaceX Plans “First Human Spaceflight To Explore Earth From Polar Orbit”
With Boeing’s Starliner stuck at the International Space Station, SpaceX is forging ahead, announcing that the “first human spaceflight mission to explore Earth from a polar orbit” will launch later this year.
“As early as this year, Falcon 9 will launch Dragon’s sixth commercial astronaut mission, Fram2, which will be the first human spaceflight mission to explore Earth from a polar orbit and fly over the Earth’s polar regions for the first time,” SpaceX wrote in a press release.
SpaceX said the Fram2 mission will be commanded by Chun Wang, an entrepreneur and adventurer from Malta.
Joining Wang will be Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway, who will serve as vehicle commander; Eric Philips of Australia, the vehicle pilot; and Germany’s Rabea Rogge, mission specialist. Musk’s space company said, “This will be the first spaceflight for each of the crewmembers.”
“Throughout the 3-to-5-day mission, the crew plans to observe Earth’s polar regions through Dragon’s cupola at an altitude of 425-450 km [249 to 264 miles], leveraging insight from space physicists and citizen scientists to study unusual light emissions resembling auroras,” SpaceX noted.
The company added, “The crew will study green fragments and mauve ribbons of continuous emissions comparable to the phenomenon known as STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), which has been measured at an altitude of approximately 400-500 km [249 to 311 miles] above Earth’s atmosphere.”
Fram2 crew will also study how spaceflight affects the human body; this study includes capturing the first-ever X-ray image of a human in space.
Returning to Boeing’s stranded Starliner, NASA could soon decide to have SpaceX rescue the two-person crew on the ISS.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 23:00 - Is 'Mean Girls' A Winning Script For Kamala?
Is ‘Mean Girls’ A Winning Script For Kamala?
Commentary by Richard Porter via RealClearPolitics,
With stunning swiftness, Donald J. Trump knocked President Biden out of the presidential campaign with the one, two, three of a dominating debate, a near-death experience, and a compelling convention.
Then, also with stunning swiftness, the entire Democrat media/cultural complex coalesced around Joe Biden’s famously vacuous veep, best known for her meaningless word salads, inappropriate giggles, and utter ineffectiveness at dealing with the chaos at the border.
Yet in August, Democrats are coronating June’s misfit as their new queen bee, forcing Trump to win the election by beating Kamala Harris, who’s trying a different strategy and who offers different challenges and opportunities.
Harris’ strategy is to win by being cool, not by being competent. Democrats aren’t even trying to prove that she has the brains, judgment, and gravitas to be the leader of the free world. Instead, they’re embracing her skin-deep nature, highlighting her energy and appearance, and building her campaign on a foundation of social memes, social standing – and social ridicule, too.
For example, when British pop star Charlie XCX said that “Kamala is brat” – cool-girl slang for someone who’s disorganized and says dumb things, but powers through it and gets what she wants anyway – Kamala’s campaign immediately embraced the meme.
Call it Kamala’s “Mean Girls” strategy: Turn the 2024 presidential campaign into an election for prom queen. (“Mean Girls” is Tina Fey’s brilliant political allegory about a high school girl named Regina George who leverages her looks, gossip, and adolescent insecurities and cravings to rule over the student body – until the uncool kids topple her to restore their freedom.)
The Harris campaign isn’t even subtle about its strategy. Campaigns choose rally music to reinforce campaign themes. So, who did the campaign ask to headline its Atlanta rally? Megan Thee Stallion, who calls herself the “Black Regina George” and mimics the movie in her “Not My Fault” video.
It’s crazy to think that the leader of the free world could be elected with tactics high school bullies use to dominate a student body, but her skin-deep strategy closed the Biden chasm by co-opting other cool people and controlling the gossip, turning this back into a close contest.
Kamala wasn’t cool in June before the Hollywood/media/cultural clique unified around their newly anointed leader. But her social standing soared when glamorous Hollywood stars showered her with money and love, and beautiful anchors and hip commentators on all mainstream media outlets gushed over her in unison while burying any talk of previous policies and statements.
Her first anti-Trump riposte is right out of the movie, too, as she and her parroting cool clique seek to make Trump and J.D. Vance as socially toxic as high school Mathletes. “They’re weird!” the Queen and her acolytes say in unison (and everyone knows it’s social suicide to like people who are weird)!
So, how should the Trump team bring Kamala George down? The 2004 movie and the 2016 campaign (when Clinton’s “deplorables” social cut backfired) offer suggestions.
First, undermine the Democrats’ standing by ridiculing their nominee’s skin-deep strategy. Team Trump has always been adept at labeling and defining opponents, and they are already hard at work. Social media memes are flying on the right, almost all of which highlight the many vapid things Harris has said or done; keep updating these to mock her strategy now.
Second, remind voters why they didn’t take Kamala seriously as recently as June: She has no common sense, and her policies help her rich friends at our expense. J.D. Vance is already laser-focused on highlighting all the ways in which Harris’ policies make us worse off today than we were four years ago.
Third, force the vice president onto a stage where she can be questioned about how the current administration’s policies have affected real lives; people will want to know what she’s got going on up there, to paraphrase Kamala’s spirit animal Charli XCX. This will work as well for Kamala as it did for Regina George.
Finally, remember that Democrats live in a make-believe world. Donald Trump can climb into that world and ridicule it, but the real world always intervenes, and when it does, Republicans should contrast Trump’s toughness with Kamala’s fluff.
As the movie ends, the “Mean Girls” queen is hit by a bus because she literally lacks street sense. Trump needs to reassure America that he has the common sense to manage our very real problems and the courage to fight for us – and that no bus will take America down when he’s president again.
Richard Porter is a lawyer in Chicago and National Committeeman to the RNC from Illinois.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 22:35 - Colbert's Own Audience Laughs At Him Seriously Stating CNN Is "Objective"
Colbert’s Own Audience Laughs At Him Seriously Stating CNN Is “Objective”
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,
There was an awkward but amusing moment when Stephen Colbert seriously stated that CNN was “objective” and “just reports the news as it is,” prompting his own audience to laugh hysterically at the notion when they weren’t supposed to.
The incident occurred during Colbert’s interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who has repeatedly betrayed her anti-Trump bias, including infamously during a town hall event she hosted with Trump last year.
Collins claimed Trump was on the back foot because he didn’t know how to “go after” Kamala Harris due to her being a non-white woman.
“It’s kind of been this moment where he has not been able to coalesce behind a single attack line,” asserted Collins.
NEW: Audience starts cracking up after a serious Stephen Colbert tells CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that CNN “just reports the news as it is.”
Remarkable.
Colbert: “I know you guys are objective over [at CNN], you just report the news as it is.”
Audience: *Laughs hysterically*… pic.twitter.com/9R8iv2UXeN
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 13, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Colbert responded: “I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is,” to which his audience reacted by laughing.
A surprised Collins responded, “Was that supposed to be a laugh line?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be but ah, I guess it is,” said Colbert.
Whoops.
How revealing that Colbert’s own virulently NPC audience even knows instinctively that claiming CNN is “objective” is utterly hilarious.
“Lmaooo, the public knows,” commented Elon Musk.
* * *
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Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 21:45 - Taiwan To Launch Live-Fire Exercises Off East Coast Using US-Supplied Missiles
Taiwan To Launch Live-Fire Exercises Off East Coast Using US-Supplied Missiles
After a series of recent threatening Chinese PLA military drills near Taiwan and in the Taiwan Strait over the last several months, the self-ruled island backed by the United States is about to embark on own muscle-flexing with provocative drills along its east coast aimed at defending against China.
It will launch a series of missile drills later this month, starting August 27-29. More exercises will then follow in the first week of September, involving air-to-air firing drills, specifically involving American advanced missile systems.
AIM-9X Sidewinder, via Navair The South China Morning Post (SCMP) detailed that “A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drills would test the precision of all three types of Taiwan’s main combat aircraft: its Indigenous Defence Fighters, French Mirage 2000s, and upgraded F-16Vs.”
“Similar to last year, the IDF, Mirage, and upgraded F-16V jets will be equipped with AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, Mica multi-target missiles, and Tien Chien-2 (Sky Sword II) beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, respectively,” the source told the publication.
These missiles were only recently received by Taiwan, and China isn’t going to look too kindly on the island flexing its new hardware given by Washington and its Western partners.
According to more from the regional SCMP:
The F-16V fleet at Chiayi Air Base has already been equipped with AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles, which feature an advanced imaging infrared seeker capable of hitting targets behind the launching aircraft, offering aircrew first-shot, first-kill opportunities. Taiwan has bought 100 of these missiles from the United States, with some already delivered. Full delivery is expected by 2030.
The upcoming drills will further involve Taiwan’s navy deploying warships outfitted with medium-range Hsiung Feng-2 and 3 supersonic missiles as part of live-fire exercises to test combat readiness against potential Chinese attacks.
“The growing presence of PLA warplanes, ships, and drones near eastern Taiwan has necessitated strengthening military readiness in this region,” a source told the publication.
As for PLA drills, they have stepped up going back to the spring inauguration of Taiwan’s recently elected new president, Lai Ching-te. Within days after the swearing in, PLA navy ships and aircraft were “surrounding the island of Taiwan.“
New: China’s Shandong carrier group entered the Western Pacific — its 2nd “far east” transit of the year & hot on the heels of drills in July
The location, ~250 miles SE of Taiwan, & composition of the 4-ship group are similar
Also in WESTPAC: the America Amphibious Ready Group pic.twitter.com/fBow665BBw
— Ian Ellis (@ianellisjones) August 12, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Lai had underscored in his 30-minutes inaugural speech, “I have always believed that if the leader of a country puts people’s welfare above all, then peace in the Taiwan Strait, mutual benefits, and prosperous coexistence would be common goals,” and that “I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China’s existence.”
While China regularly sends jets to buzz Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the start of those prior May drills had marked an escalation akin to when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei in 2022.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 21:20 - Why Corporate America's Retreat From Social Activism Is Good For Everyone
Why Corporate America’s Retreat From Social Activism Is Good For Everyone
Authored by Jon Miltimore via The American Institute for Economic Research,
In January, Axios reported a developing trend in corporate America: corporations across the United States were backing away from DEI, which had become a “minefield” for companies.
Following a multi-year boom in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space following the 2020 death of George Floyd, corporations were pulling back on DEI initiatives.
The risks were too great — especially in what was expected to be a politically charged election season amid growing attacks from conservatives targeting “woke” corporations.
“It’s hard to imagine with the amped up rhetoric of an election year that people really want to stick out their neck more,” Kevin Delaney, co-founder of media and insights company Charter, told markets correspondent Emily Peck.
Axios wasn’t wrong about the trend, which has only picked up steam this summer.
In July, John Deere announced that it was stepping away from DEI efforts and would cease sponsoring “social or cultural awareness” events. The announcement came a week after Business Insider reported that Microsoft had laid off its entire DEI team. Microsoft’s action, in turn, had come just weeks after Tractor Supply, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based company, decided to pull the plug on its social activism efforts in the face of a social media campaign targeting the company.
The backlash against DEI has been so intense that the term itself appears to be going the way of the dodo. The Society for Human Resource Management recently announced it was ditching the word equity from its acronym.
Preaching to Consumers
DEI is just one form of corporate social activism, which comes in various forms and includes its cousin Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). Both ideas fall under, to some degree, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the idea that corporations have a duty to take social and environmental actions into consideration in their business models.
If you’re wondering why Burger King has commercials on climate change and cow farts, and why Bud Light’s commercials went from featuring Rodney Dangerfield and Bob Uecker to trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, it’s because of CSR.
The idea that corporations should fight for social causes has skyrocketed in recent years to such an extent that activism is inhibiting companies in their primary mission: generating profits by serving customers.
“Firms leveraging situations and social issues is not new, but showcasing their moral authority despite a disinterested consumer base is,” Kimberlee Josephson, an Associate Professor of Business at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, has observed.
Bud Light’s decision to feature Mulvaney cost them an estimated $1.4 billion in sales, and it revealed the danger of corporations leaning into social activism, particularly campaigns and policies that alienate their own consumer bases.
Not very long ago, companies like Chick-fil-A faced backlash from progressive activists for supporting traditional marriage. Culture war advocates on the right have responded in similar fashion.
Conservative influencers have made a point of raising awareness around “woke” corporate initiatives — white privilege campaigns, climate change goals, LGBTQ events, etc. The most successful ones, such as Robby Starbuck who pioneered the campaign against Tractor Supply and John Deere, made a point of targeting corporations with conservative consumer bases.
“If I started a boycott against Starbucks right now, I know that it wouldn’t get anywhere near the same result,” Starbuck recently told the Wall Street Journal.
One can support Robby Starbuck’s tactics or oppose them. What’s clear is that corporations increasingly face risks for participating in social activism campaigns, and the threats now come from both sides of the political aisle.
Social Responsibility and ‘Social Justice’
The idea that businesses have responsibilities that go beyond their shareholders, workers, and consumers stretches back at least to Howard Bowen’s 1953 book Social Responsibilities of the Businessman. Bowen, an economist who served as president of Grinnell College and the University of Iowa, is widely considered to be the godfather of corporate social responsibility.
“CSR can help business reach the goals of social justice and economic prosperity by creating welfare for a broad range of social groups, beyond the corporations and their shareholders,” he wrote.
This is a version of “stakeholder capitalism,” an idea that says corporations must look beyond serving customers to generate profits for shareholders. Various other “stakeholders” must be considered.
Over time, other incantations of stakeholder capitalism emerged, including ESG, which stemmed directly from a 2004 report — “Who Cares Wins” — spearheaded by the United Nations, asset management groups, and banks. Its purpose was “to develop guidelines and recommendations on how to better integrate environmental, social and corporate governance issues in asset management, securities brokerage services and associated research functions.”
These “guidelines and recommendations” eventually morphed into a global ESG framework which graded publicly traded companies on “social responsibility.” Though ESG scoring is notoriously opaque, what’s clear is that a small number of rating firms were allowed to determine what values corporations should have, and penalized them if they deviated. A bad score could see a company cut from a trillion-dollar index fund.
This no doubt explains why companies like Tractor Supply, known for selling farming equipment and animal feed to farmers, had carved out ambitious plans to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve a “net zero” carbon footprint by 2040 (in addition to various other social objectives).
Those plans are now scrapped, and media outlets are aghast, pointing out that not very long ago Tractor Supply argued that these initiatives made “great business sense for Tractor Supply.”
But this analysis misses the reality that social activism now carries greater potential risks and rewards, particularly in light of the collapse of the ESG movement, which earlier this year saw an exodus of $14 trillion, as asset managers like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs fled for cover.
The Problem with Taking Sides
Many Americans likely feel that corporations should have social responsibilities. They just tend to have different views on what those values should be.
I was in church recently, and a pastor spoke of an entrepreneurial friend who was excited to realize how he could use profits from his business to spread the gospel. I suspect that many people who support CSR would be appalled at corporations using their business to spread religion, just like many religious Americans are appalled at corporations embracing what they see as “woke” agendas.
While corporations are free to inject values into the workplace and support social and religious programs, they have no societal responsibility to do so. In fact, there are compelling reasons they should not be doing so.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote what is perhaps the most famous rebuttal to CSR. In a 1970 New York Times article titled “A Friedman Doctrine — The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” Friedman accused champions of CSR of “preaching pure and unadulterated socialism” and being “puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society.”
Friedman understood that corporations don’t have a social responsibility (or a religious one) beyond serving their consumers and generating profits. This is their raison d’être, and how they best serve society. They don’t have a responsibility to spread religion or to champion diversity or to stop climate change or to promote equity. These values might be good, but it’s not the responsibility of corporations to promote them.
“[T]here is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits,” Friedman wrote, “so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”
This is the most famous element of the Friedman Doctrine, but I don’t think it’s the most important one. The most important line is Friedman’s warning on the dangers of straying from this model, which he makes at the beginning of the same paragraph:
[T]he doctrine of ‘social responsibility’ taken seriously would extend the scope of the political mechanism to every human activity. It does not differ in philosophy from the most explicitly collectivist doctrine. It differs only by professing to believe that collectivist ends can be attained without collectivist means.
This is the true danger of CSR, stakeholder capitalism, or any of the alphabet soup acronyms that seek to replace capitalism with collectivist systems that seek to undermine the rights of property owners: it risks extending politics into our private lives beyond its proper scope.
One of the hallmarks of a totalitarian society is that public and private levers of power are utilized to enforce adherence to state dogmas, and Friedman wasn’t the first to recognize the potential dangers of corporate social activism.
Writing in Harvard Business Review in 1958, the German-born American economist Theodore Levitt warned of replacing the profit motive with corporate do-goodism in an article titled “The Dangers of Social Responsibility”:
The trouble with our society today is not that government is becoming a player rather than an umpire, or that it is a huge welfare colossus dipping into every nook and cranny of our lives. The trouble is, all major functional groups — business, labor, agriculture, and government — are each trying so piously to outdo the other in intruding themselves into what should be our private lives. Each is seeking to extend its own narrow tyranny over the widest possible range of our institutions, people, ideas, values, and beliefs, and all for the purest motive — to do what it honestly believes is best for society.
This is precisely what stakeholder capitalism has done, and it’s a primary reason why culture today is saturated with politics and political messaging. Corporations, by embracing Bowen’s idea that corporations have a duty to pursue “social justice,” have helped blur the line between private and public life.
Though many Americans are alarmed by corporate America’s retreat from social activism, it’s actually a sign that nature is healing.
The move likely will not only help the bottom lines of companies like John Deere and Tractor Supply, but it will allow them to serve their customers more effectively. Keeping politics and “social responsibilities” out of corporate boardrooms, charters, and messaging is likely to result in a more harmonious society.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 20:55 - Putin Appoints Ex-Bodyguard & Aide To Oversee Defense Of Kursk As Zelensky Boasts Of 74 Towns Captured
Putin Appoints Ex-Bodyguard & Aide To Oversee Defense Of Kursk As Zelensky Boasts Of 74 Towns Captured
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said his military has seized dozens of Russian settlements and towns spanning hundreds of kilometers in Russia’s Kursk oblast.
The surprise offensive is now one week in, and Zelensky boasted in an X post: “Ukraine controls 74 communities.” This is a significantly higher figure than the Kremlin has publicized, and there remain deeply contrasting accounts of what is going on in the war-ravaged border region, or whether Russian forces have yet repelled the invasion.
“Despite the difficult and intense battles, our forces continue to advance in the Kursk region,” Zelensky added, saying that many Russian border troops have been captured and can be used to eventually get Ukrainian POWs back.
Kiev says that the ultimate purpose of the high-risk operation is to protect its populace from Russian strikes, many of which happen from across the border. Currently, it is unclear the amount of territory the Ukraine invading force actually holds. By all accounts, Russian border posts were poorly manned and armed at the time of the attack which started Tuesday morning a week ago.
“Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi has stated.
Things are still desperate on the Russian side amid a state of emergency in southern oblasts along the border. Well over 100,000 citizens have been evacuated.
“There is no light, no connection, no water. There is nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet, and you are left alone. And the birds stopped singing,” an elderly man identified as Mikhail told Russian state television on Tuesday. “Helicopters and planes fly over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.”
Acting Kursk Region Governor Aleksey Smirnov has announced that at least 12 Russian civilians have been killed and another 121 injured, including ten children, amid the ongoing Ukraine military incursion.
President Putin has meanwhile reportedly appointed a special official to take charge of efforts to restore order to Kursk and the border regions. He’s been identified in regional press as the president’s personal aide and former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin.
Alexander Dyumin, via Kremlin.ru One report details:
“Indeed, Alexei Gennadyevich Dyumin was summoned yesterday and tasked with supervising the counterterrorist operation,” State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Ivanov, whose district is in the Kursk region, told the RTVI broadcaster.
Dyumin was the only non-cabinet member not connected with the military or security services who was present at a televised meeting with Putin on Monday. During that meeting, which was focused on the fighting in the Kursk region, the Kremlin leader ordered the military to “dislodge” Ukraine’s forces from Russian territory.
Later, an anonymous Telegram channel claiming insider knowledge claimed that Putin directed Dyumin to “coordinate all agencies currently operating in the Kursk region.”
However, the Kremlin has not officially verified whether Dyumin has indeed been put in charge of Kursk operations.
At this moment a United Nations agency is trying to gain access to the region. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued formal request for Moscow to grant access to the Kursk Region to investigate Russian allegations of abuses and war crimes committed by invading Ukrainian troops.
More dumb takes from hopelessly inept washed up politico. https://t.co/Zsz0f6t5VK
— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) August 13, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
“We are trying to gather information about the situation in Kursk Region, but without access it is very difficult,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a fresh statement. “We have requested access to Russia to be able to obtain additional information.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 20:30 - Pushing Back Against Viewpoint-Based Discrimination By Banks
Pushing Back Against Viewpoint-Based Discrimination By Banks
Authored by Michael Ross via RealClearMarkets,
On paper, Zulfat Suara and Steve Happ don’t have much in common.
One, a Muslim woman, immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria in the 1990s and now serves on the Nashville City Council. The other, a Christian man, is a Memphis native with a background in software who began a ministry partnering with Ugandan non-profit charities that care for orphaned and at-risk children in 2015.
But they do have at least one thing in common: Both were canceled by large national banks with little warning and virtually no explanation.
Suara, who like Happ, is also involved in non-profit work, received a vaguely worded notice of cancelation from Regions Bank earlier this year, giving her 30 days to find a new bank. Happ’s cancelation by Bank of America came in 2023 shortly before he made a trip overseas—forcing him to scramble for solutions and delay hard-earned paychecks to Ugandans.
Happ’s notice said he was operating in the wrong “business type.” As we reported in this year’s report for our Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, which measures corporate respect for free speech and religious liberty, these problematic policies are present in at least 69% of the country’s largest financial institutions.
Incidents like these are a small sample of a larger trend of viewpoint-based discrimination in financial services—known as “de-banking”— which has also affected firearms and fossil fuels because of radical net zero emissions commitments and government initiatives like Operation Choke Point. It has also garnered the attention of both sides of the political aisle.
These incidents propelled Tennessee lawmakers to adopt a landmark legislative solution aimed at curbing this dangerous weaponization of the financial system. Like a similar law that recently went into effect in Florida, the legislation is a first-of-its-kind consumer protection bill that prohibits big banks from canceling customer accounts based on their constitutionally protected speech and religious exercise.
The Tennessee law applies to banks with at least $100 billion in assets—which includes both Regions and Bank of America—the latter of which has also been exposed by U.S. House oversight as working hand-in-hand with the U.S. Department of Treasury to profile as domestic terrorist threats my organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, and everyday Americans who committed the sin of shopping at Bass Pro Shops or buying “religious texts.” It should come as no surprise that this same government entity has now spoken out in opposition to these state-level attempts to protect the God-given freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In a recent letter lauded in these pages by Hispanic Leadership Fund president Mario H. Lopez, the Treasury makes a series of false assertions about Tennessee and Florida’s laws. Chief among these specious claims is that the laws prevent Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from dealing with money launderers and terrorist threats.
There’s no need to provide a nuanced answer to this accusation. It’s simply untrue. Twenty state attorneys general recently responded to this letter and rightly observed that the standards the Treasury is attacking in the state laws are the exact same standards the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed—and the Treasury did not object to—only a few years ago.
Likewise, Lopez’s reactionary appeal to free market principles fails. Banks don’t operate in a free market. ESG is avowedly anti-free market. And the market is not free if access depends on your political and religious views.
First, banks are highly regulated. But in exchange for those regulations, they benefit from a wide spectrum of government subsidies. Those include bailouts, tax credits, property tax abatements, and grants at the state and federal levels. Since 1998, for example, JPMorgan Chase has received over $1.7 trillion from American taxpayers in the form of subsidies.
Second, ESG activists, and even government regulators, are introducing non-financial and subjective factors into decision-making by classifying groups like mine as domestic terrorist threats and denying service to ministries that support orphans and widows for being the wrong “business type.” Someone should explain how these groups, or those of Christian broadcaster Lance Wallnau or U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback, present national security threats. Of course, one of the features of the state laws is that customers like Wallnau and Ambassador Brownback can demand a written explanation from the banks.
Third, the market is not free if it does not support a free society. There are numerous antidiscrimination laws that apply specifically to financial services, from the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to state fair lending laws—because every American deserves equal access to financial services. If we allow financial services to become politicized, we undermine the democratic process and deny businesses the ability to focus on what they do best, create excellent goods and services for their customers.
The Treasury cannot profile half of America as domestic terrorists, institute Orwellian financial surveillance, and then hide behind the fig leaf of national security when the states push back.
Banks, insurance providers, and others in the financial sector need to make tangible changes to their policies to protect their customers from discrimination. States like Tennessee and Florida have a critical role to play—not only in adopting laws to ensure their citizens’ freedoms are protected but also in enforcing these laws so that no one else has to fear financial discrimination because of their religious or political beliefs.
Michael Ross is legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal).
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 20:05 - Tesla's 1950s-Style Drive-In Supercharger In Hollywood Takes Shape
Tesla’s 1950s-Style Drive-In Supercharger In Hollywood Takes Shape
The next generation of Tesla Supercharger stations could feature a restaurant, drive-in movie theater, and dozens of charging bays. Tesla seems eager to spice up the currently dull charging experience and possibly open up new revenue streams for the company.
Auto blog Drive Tesla Canada has been tracking the progress of Tesla’s Hollywood Diner and Supercharger project, located at 7001 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.
Source: JoshWest247 “Plans reveal the company is building unique destination for Tesla owners, including a two-story restaurant with seating for over 200 diners and a separate theater area that accommodates up to 77 guests,” Drive Tesla Canada said, adding, “Those guests, and Tesla owners plugged in at one of the Supercharger posts, will be able to watch movies on two towering 45-foot LED screens located in the parking lot.”
Construction began about one year ago, and as the project draws closer to completion, Tesla recently published its first job opening for the diner.
A video published days ago by YouTuber JoshWest247 shows the 1950s-esque drive-in Supercharging station has taken shape.
This new deluxe Tesla charging station prototype could eventually be rolled out across major metro areas, enhancing the charging experience for drivers and creating a new revenue stream for the company.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 19:40 - Geopolitical Tensions Are Transforming The Rare Earth Market
Geopolitical Tensions Are Transforming The Rare Earth Market
Authored by Rystad Energy via Oilprice.com,
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China’s dominance in the rare earth market is gradually declining as other countries ramp up production.
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Western governments are incentivizing domestic rare earth production to reduce reliance on China and mitigate supply chain risks.
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Despite recent price volatility and oversupply, rare earth demand is expected to remain strong due to their essential role in high-tech and green technologies.
The rare earth market is undergoing a shift in geographical supply chain concentration, spurred by Western efforts to reduce reliance on China off the back of growing demand, focus on national security, and the strategic importance of the materials. Over the last decade, annual rare earth supply has tripled, setting global production records almost every year – from 142,000 tonnes in 2013 to 359,000 tonnes of rare earth oxide equivalents mined last year.
The rare earths market is in a state of flux, finding itself at the crossroads of technological innovation and geopolitical tension. China’s long-standing dominance remains strong but is gradually waning with its share of global production declining from 98% in 2010 to 78% in 2015 and down to 67% last year as producers in Australia and the US, backed by substantial government support, ramp up activity.
China is still dominant, although its market share is declining
Despite a decline in China’s market share in the upstream mining sector, its absolute supply output is still rising. More importantly, its control across the complex midstream to downstream processing and manufacturing stages is proving harder to shake. Although relatively geologically abundant, rare earths are deemed rare because extracting and separating the ores into individual oxides needed for use in manufacturing is difficult. This makes economically viable deposits rare. The consolidated state-controlled Chinese market is at the forefront of industrial and technologically demanding operations related to rare earths processing. Last December, China imposed export control of technologies for rare earth extraction, separation, refining and magnet production, potentially slowing down new development outside of the country. Continued financial backing will be required from Western governments to loosen China’s mature grip and increase its market share across the rare earth processing value chain.
Regional policies to boost domestic rare earths supply
The US is promoting the development of its domestic rare earths value chain through research funding and project financing via the Inflation Reduction Act. Australia has long supported rare earths projects through tax incentives, meanwhile, Europe aims to build out supply through domestic targets for supply quotas through its Critical Raw Materials Act. In May this year, both the US and Australia announced policies to combat competition from China. Australia announced the extension of incentives in the 2024-2025 budget plan through a 10% production tax credit and pre-feasibility project funding for all critical minerals, including rare earths. At the same time, the Biden administration in the US imposed a 25% import tariff on rare earth magnets from China, effective from 2026.
There are several countries with abundant rare earth ore reserves, and with global reserves measuring around 115 million tonnes, the world has enough to last over 300 years, based on last year’s production volumes. With more reserves likely to be discovered, a shortage of resources is not a realistic concern.
Although small in volume compared to the over 3 billion tonnes of metals mined annually, rare earth elements are crucial to society, and their unique properties have proven extremely difficult to substitute. Demand for the 17 lustrous silvery-white metals has risen recently due to their essential role in buoyant energy transition-related sectors, as well as in high-tech equipment within defense, artificial intelligence and consumer electronics. Permanent magnets, required for any device related to electric motion such as wind turbines and electric vehicle (EV) motors, is the largest application for rare earths, making the magnetic rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and samarium among the most in-demand and highly valued rare earths. We expect the magnetic rare earths to remain principal, propelled by technological advancements and the electrification of society.
The race between China and the West will continue
A dramatic rise in supply has outpaced demand over the last few years, resulting in an oversupply of rare earth products. This has created an erratic low-price environment where many producers are operating at a loss. Rare earth prices are notoriously volatile and difficult to predict, partly due to their high susceptibility to geopolitical risk and ongoing global trade disputes. A volatile price environment is challenging early-stage initiatives launched by an expanding supplier landscape aiming to capitalize on the emerging globalized supply chain.
Rare earths have become a key battleground in the ongoing technological and economic rivalry between China and the West as the race continues for control to ensure its reliable supply.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 19:15 -
- GM Cutting Jobs Amidst "Larger Structural Overhaul" In China
GM Cutting Jobs Amidst “Larger Structural Overhaul” In China
General Motors has been cutting staff in China and eventually will meet with its local partner SAIC to explore a “larger structural overhaul” of the business oversees.
The shift indicates that GM likely won’t eclipse its peak sales in the country it set in 2017, according to Bloomberg.
GM is reducing staff in its China-focused departments, including research and development. In coming weeks, GM and its partner SAIC will discuss potential capacity cuts as part of a strategic shift for American brands in China.
Bloomberg writes that this marks a significant change for GM, which once made billions in the Chinese market. The automaker is scaling back as foreign brands struggle with intense competition and overcapacity in the world’s largest car market.
GM is shifting its focus to producing electric vehicles, particularly upscale models, and importing premium vehicles. The company is considering reducing factory capacity and further job cuts, though these plans haven’t been publicly disclosed yet.
Despite these changes, GM will still produce affordable vehicles and EVs locally in partnership with SAIC Motor and Wuling Motors, with some of these models being exported from China, according to the report.
GM’s 30-year contract with state-owned SAIC expires in 2027, and the company aims to restore profitability before then. The goal is to strengthen the SAIC-GM partnership, which produces Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet vehicles, so it can self-fund operations and development.
A second partnership, SAIC-GM-Wuling, which makes small, affordable vehicles, has fared better, particularly with the Hongguang Mini EV. However, GM lost $104 million in its Chinese operations in the most recent quarter, contributing to a $210 million loss for the first half of the year.
In the latest quarter, GM’s China sales dropped 29% to 373,000 vehicles, with steep declines across its U.S. brands like Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. In contrast, sales from the SAIC-GM-Wuling partnership fell only 12%, as it produces compact EVs that remain in high demand in China, which GM views as a stronger growth opportunity.
Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson commented earlier this month: “We’ve got to remain competitive and that means that we’ve got to take a look at the business with our partner to ensure that we can restore it to profitability and that we can restore it to self-sustaining cash flow going forward. China can be a good asset for us and remains a good asset for us.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 18:50 - The DNC Is Coming To Chicago, The Nation's Homicide Capital 13 Years Running
The DNC Is Coming To Chicago, The Nation’s Homicide Capital 13 Years Running
By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner of Wirepoints
When the DNC delegates come to Chicago, they’ll be visiting the city that for more than a decade has experienced the most murders in the country. Chicago suffered 617 total homicides in 2023, marking the 12th year in a row it has led the country.
And it will be 13 years in a row if Chicago’s 2024’s homicide numbers continue at their current pace. The below chart shows how the top five cities nationally for total homicides may change from year to year, but what always remains true is Chicago’s position at the very top – often the extreme outlier.
That’s just one of the findings from Wirepoints’ analysis of publicly-available 2023 homicide data from the nation’s 75 largest U.S. cities.
St. Louis was the nation’s other murder capital in 2023 when based on homicides per capita. The Gateway City suffered 60 homicides per 100,000 residents, taking the top spot away from 2022’s capital, New Orleans.* The city was struggling even before George Floyd, with a homicide rate of 64.5 in 2019.
Looking at homicides on a per capita basis is the most logical way to measure the weight crime imposes on a given community. It also allows for an apples-to-apples comparison across cities. However, ranking cities by the number of homicides is also important due to the sheer number of murders that occur in big cities. St. Louis may have a homicide rate that’s much higher than Chicago, but it suffered less than a third of the murders Chicago did. They both deserve to be crowned murder capitals.
Below we list the nation’s top 20 cities by total homicides and per capita homicides and in Appendix A and B we list out all 75 cities.
Homicides have continued their year-on-year decline in most cities across the nation. That lessening bloodshed is good news, but it doesn’t change the fact that homicide rates remain far above their 2019 pre-covid, pre-George-Floyd levels.
The report below includes the following sections:
- A look at total homicides in 2023
- A look at homicides rates in 2023
- A comparison of 2023 homicides to their 2019 levels
- A comparison of 2024 homicides to 2023 YTD
- The DNC and the reality of Chicago crime
Chicago, New York, led the nation in number of homicides
Chicago led the nation in criminal homicides 617 murders in 2023. That was by far the most among the nation’s top 75 cities. Not even New York, which is three times bigger than Chicago, or Philadelphia came close, with those two cities suffering 391 and 389 murders, respectively.
Rounding out the top ten were Memphis (367), Houston (351), Los Angeles (327), Washington D.C. (274), Dallas (268), Baltimore (263), and Detroit (252). See Appendix A for the complete 75-city ranking.
The good news in 2023 vs. 2022 was the 10% drop in homicides across the surveyed cities. Since the massive jump in 2021 after George-Floyd, homicides have fallen the last two years (see Appendix C for full data).
Notable in 2023 was Philadelphia’s 24% decrease in homicides – a fall of 121 murders – which allowed the City of Brotherly Love to drop from the number 2 position in total homicides to number 3. New York City, which dropped 11% in homicides, went up to the second position.
Other key cities which had been battered by violence in 2020 and 2021 also saw drops. For example, New Orleans, Baltimore, St. Louis and Milwaukee all dropped by 20% to 24%.
Two cities were particularly notable for moving in the wrong direction in 2023. Memphis and Washington D.C. had increases in homicides of 37% and 35% respectively. Memphis’ increase of 100 murders pushed the city into 4th-place nationally.
St. Louis, Memphis led the nation in homicide rates
St. Louis’ 20% drop in homicides in 2023 wasn’t enough to help the “Gateway to the West” avoid suffering the nation’s worst homicide rate – 60.0 homicides per every 100,000 in population. As mentioned above, Memphis finished second with a rate of 59.3. New Orleans, last year’s top city for homicides per capita, came in third with 52.7 murders per 100,000.
Rounding out the top ten were Baltimore (46.5), Cleveland (42.5), Washington D.C. (40.4), Detroit (39.8), Kansas City (35.6), Milwaukee (30.6), and Oakland (28.9). Those homicide rates are all multiples higher than the 2020 national average of 6.5 per 100,000, the most recent reliable national calculation available.
The list of the cities with the top homicide ratios among America’s 75 largest cities includes those with relatively smaller populations, like Greensboro, New Orleans and Cleveland. It’s worth looking at, then, how their homicide ratios performed in 2023 vs 2022.
Greensboro, NC suffered the worst increase, with its homicide rate jumping 75% to 24.5 per 100,000 – a consequence of the city of 300,000 people experiencing 74 murders in 2023. Memphis also suffered a dramatic jump of nearly 40%.
A majority of America’s most murder-prone cities saw their homicide rates fall. Some declines were modest, such as Cincinnati’s rate falling 9% over the year or Las Vegas’ 12% decline. But a number of other cities experienced far larger drops. Cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Baltimore all had their homicide rates drop by nearly 20% or more. New Orleans experienced the biggest drop of 24%, though its 2023 rate was still a sky-high 52.7 per 100,000.
It’s also important to compare homicide rates across the big cities because that’s where most of the nation’s murders occur. Among the nation’s 20 biggest cities, Philadelphia suffered the highest homicide rate of 25.1 per 100,000 residents in 2023. Chicago was second with a rate of 23.2, followed by Dallas at 20.6, Indianapolis at 19.4 and Columbus at 16.2.
Notable is just how low the homicide rate is in many big cities, including Los Angeles, Austin and New York City.
While homicides continue to fall, many city rates are still above 2019 levels
Despite the drop in homicides in most major cities in 2023, homicide rates still remained above those in 2019. Chicago, for example, saw murders drop by nearly 200 compared to its 2021 spike. Nevertheless, its homicide rate remained 25% above that in 2019 (23.2 vs. 18.5). Ditto for New York City’s homicide rate, up 23% over 2019. And Houston’s rate remained 27% higher.
Of the top 15 cities with the highest 2023 homicide rates, 12 were higher than they were in 2019. And eight of those cities had homicide rates that were 60% higher or more compared to 2019. For example, Milwaukee’s 2023 homicide rate of 30.6 was 87% higher than its 2019 rate. And Memphis’ homicide rate of 59.3 was 103% higher.
Looking at the nation’s other murder capital, St. Louis’ homicide rate was 7% lower than in 2019. But that was of little comfort to residents of St. Louis. The rate was dramatically high back then, with the recent drop making little difference.
The continued decline of homicides in 2024
Year-to-date data for 2024 show that homicides are continuing their downward trend this year, with many of the nation’s biggest cities experiencing a drop in total murders of about 30% or more.
Philadelphia has endured far less bloodshed so far in 2024, with homicides dropping 41% compared to the same period in 2023. Jacksonville homicides are down 38%. San Antonio has recorded 61 murders as of the end of July. That’s 29% fewer than the same time last year. Dallas homicides have fallen by 21% YTD.
Chicago officials can also point to a decline in homicides in 2024, but the decrease is one of the smallest among cities with populations over 1 million. Windy City homicides are down just 10% compared to last year – the 2nd-lowest reduction behind only Los Angeles’ 2% decline and just behind New York City’s own 10% reduction.
It’s important to note, however, that while Los Angeles and New York have small declines like Chicago, both those cities experience a far lower number of homicides to begin with.
The DNC in Chicago
Count on Chicago’s leadership to tout the city’s recent decline in homicides as an achievement of the city’s commitment to equity and social justice. Chicago experienced a 12% decline in homicides in 2022, another 13% drop in 2023 and a further 10% reduction so far in 2024.
But that drop in homicides must be taken within the context of the massive surge in murders Chicago experienced post George Floyd. In 2021, they jumped to 804 from just 500 two years earlier, a 62% spike.
And even with the recent declines in homicides, Chicago is still on track in 2024 to exceed its 2019 murder levels, considering that YTD homicides are running 23% higher than they were in the same period in 2019.
Chicago’s murder record must also be compared to that of its two big-city peers: New York and Los Angeles. Chicago is the extreme outlier among the three, especially when viewed on a per capita basis over time.
All three cities had nearly identical homicide rates in the late 1980s before experiencing a decline in homicides during the 1990’s. New York and Los Angeles’ declines were far deeper and more sustained, however, leading to the disparity in homicide rates seen today: Chicago’s 2023 homicide rate, at 23.3 per 100,000, is 5 times higher than New York’s (4.7 per 100,000) and 2.7 times higher than LA’s (8.6 per 100,000).
Even worse, Chicago’s soft-on-crime policies continue to encourage more crime.
Banned police foot and car chases have emboldened criminals to go on robbery sprees. An increased felony-theft threshold has incentivized shoplifting and other crimes. The elimination of cash bail has resulted in a drop in the number of offenders held behind Cook County bars to the lowest level in 40 years. And the overall failure to prosecute crimes of all types has led to an ever-faster revolving door. Criminals are not deterred from committing crimes.
It’s no surprise then, that violent crimes have hit a six-year high in 2024 despite the 10% drop in murders this year, and that the number of victims of violent crime is at a 13-year high.
While the DNC will do its level best to promote Chicago as a triumph of city management and progressive policy, the constant bloodshed is a reminder of the city’s many failures – and an example of criminal justice policies that other cities would do well to ignore.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 18:25 - EU Disavows "Attention-Seeking Politician" Thierry Breton Over 'Electoral Interference' Letter Threatening Musk
EU Disavows “Attention-Seeking Politician” Thierry Breton Over ‘Electoral Interference’ Letter Threatening Musk
With Monday night’s unfiltered discussion between Donald Trump and Elon Musk generating a reported billion views, it’s no wonder the left collectively freaked out.
Not only did the Washington Post ask the White House if there was anything they could do to stop the conversation from taking place…
The Washington Post’s Cleve Wootson: “One more, @ElonMusk is slated to interview [@realDonaldTrump] tomorrow — tonight on — on @X. I don’t know if the president is going to — feel free to say if he is or not — but I — I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign… pic.twitter.com/zKxJNF1zbf
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 12, 2024
…The EU’s Thierry Breton, the current Commissioner for Internal Market of the EU, sent a letter to Musk threatening X with punishment if they didn’t crack down on “content that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation.”
It seems that Breton’s warning to Musk has surprised many within the Commission. | Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images Musk responded appropriately:
To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible! https://t.co/jL0GDW5QUx pic.twitter.com/XhUxCSGFNP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2024
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For the uninitiated:
Theory Fucks His Own Face After All…
In a harsh rebuke, Brussels has accused Breton of going rogue with the letter to Musk – saying he never sought approval from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to send the letter.
“The timing and the wording of the letter were neither co-ordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners],” the Commission said in a Tuesday statement reported by the Financial Times.
“Thierry has his own mind and way of working and thinking,” said one EU official who asked not to be named.
As the Times notes (lol), “Musk responded to the letter from Breton with a meme from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, that showed one character yelling: “Take a big step back and literally fuck your own face.”“
Politico Europe reports that four separate EU officials said that Breton’s threat to Musk caught many off guard within the Commission.
“The EU is not in the business of electoral interference,” said one of those officials. “DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job.”
Meanwhile, a Trump campaign spokesperson responded by saying “The European Union should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the US presidential election,” while Musk later posted that he would be “happy to host” Kamala Harris for a similar discussion.
In response to Breton’s letter, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said it was an “unprecedented attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe to political activities in the US,” while Trump campaign official Chris LaCivita said that the “European Union is attempting to meddle in the US Election,” adding “They can go to hell.”
European Union is attempting to meddle in the US Election …they can go to hell https://t.co/d9ullhN0N2
— Chris LaCivita (@LaCivitaC) August 12, 2024
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Never go full Thierry…
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 18:00 - The Federal Reserve Does Not Own Gold
The Federal Reserve Does Not Own Gold
Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,
Historically – as during the days of the classical gold standard – central banks maintained stocks of gold to facilitate the conversion of gold-backed national currencies. Those days are long gone, but in modern times, many central banks continue to own gold, and many central banks buy gold as part of their open-market operations. For example, in his article last week—”Central banks purchase gold to offset their own money destruction“—Daniel Lacalle writes:
The rising purchases of gold by central banks are an essential factor justifying the recent increase in demand for the precious metal. Central banks, especially in China and India, are trying to reduce their dependence on the dollar or the euro to diversify their reserves.
The US’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, is not among these banks buying gold. Obviously, the Fed has no interest in buying up gold as a means of “de-dollarization.” Moreover, the Fed is presently concerned with purchasing more dollar-denominated government debt to keep interest rates low on the Federal government’s huge deficits.
But we must also note that another reason the Fed isn’t buying gold is that the Fed hasn’t been in the gold-owning business for a very long time.
That is, the Fed has owned no gold since 1934, when the Fed handed over all its gold in exchange for gold certificates. This is how the Fed’s Board of Governors summarizes the situation:
The Federal Reserve does not own gold.
The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 required the Federal Reserve System to transfer ownership of all of its gold to the Department of the Treasury. In exchange, the Secretary of the Treasury issued gold certificates to the Federal Reserve for the amount of gold transferred at the then-applicable statutory price for gold held by the Treasury.
Gold certificates are denominated in U.S. dollars. Their value is based on the statutory price for gold at the time the certificates are issued. Gold certificates do not give the Federal Reserve any right to redeem the certificates for gold.
The statutory price of gold is set by law. It does not fluctuate with the market price of gold and has been constant at $42 2/9, or $42.2222, per fine troy ounce since 1973. The book value of the gold held by the Treasury is determined using the statutory price.
Although the Federal Reserve does not own any gold, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York acts as the custodian of gold owned by account holders such as the U.S. government, foreign governments, other central banks, and official international organizations. No individuals or private sector entities are permitted to store gold in the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or at any Federal Reserve Bank.
A small portion of the gold held by the U.S. Treasury (roughly $600 million in book value)–about five percent–is held in custody for the Treasury by the Federal Reserve Banks, as fiscal agents of the United States. The vast majority of this gold is located in the vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a very small portion is on display in several Federal Reserve Banks. The remaining 95 percent of U.S. Treasury gold ($10.4 billion in book value) is held in custody for the Treasury by the U.S. Mint.
It is possible to imagine that the Fed could start buying gold, but it’s hard to see why the Fed would be motivated to do so.
Moreover, given that the Fed’s gold certificates have essentially no connection to the actual market price of gold, changes in the price of gold have virtually no effect on the value of the Fed’s assets.
The only way gold prices would become relevant to the Fed’s portfolio would be for the Congress to change the statutory price of gold from $42.2222. If the Fed wanted to actually take possession of that gold, the Congress would also have to authorize the Fed to redeem its certificates in gold.
This is all very unlikely barring a very big change in the ideology of the ruling regime.
Indeed, barring said ideological change, I suspect that in a true crisis, the Fed’s extremely tenuous claim to owning its pre-1934 gold stockpile would be null and void altogether.
If the Treasury finds itself truly strapped for cash, the Congress would only have to declare the Fed’s gold certificates permanently unredeemable.
Or, the Treasury could simply buy back the gold certificates at the ridiculously low statutory price. Then there would be no doubt about who owns that gold.
The Treasury could then simply sell off all the gold to Wall Street banks in exchange for dollars that would go to luxury hotels for illegal immigrants or more bombs for the State of Israel.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 17:40 - UAW Files Charges Against Trump, Musk For 'Strike' Comments During X Conversation
UAW Files Charges Against Trump, Musk For ‘Strike’ Comments During X Conversation
The United Auto Workers union – which has endorsed Kamala Harris’ 2024 bid – said on Tuesday that it took umbrage with comments regarding worker strikes made by former President Trump and Elon Musk during Monday night’s conversation on X, and have filed federal labor charges against the pair.
In a Tuesday statement, the UAW said that Trump and Musk engaged in “illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes” – pointing specifically to a comment in which Trump said “You walk in, you say, You want to quit? They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.”
Trump was apparently referencing the 2022 gutting of Twitter staff afteR Musk took over the company and renamed it X.
Musk’s crime was apparently laughing at Trump’s comment.
It is illegal to threaten to fire workers for going on strike, or to actually do so, according to the union.
“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly,” said UAW president Shawn Fain in a statement. “It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”
“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,” Fain continued. “When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes called it a “frivolous lawsuit” and “shameless political stunt intended to erode President Trump’s overwhelming support among America’s workers.”
As Axios notes, When labor charges are filed, the National Labor Relations Board decides whether to investigate the allegations. If it concludes there were violations, it could impose penalties.
Trump’s praise of union busting is notable because the Republican presidential nominee is currently fighting to win support from organized labor in a tight race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
The UAW, which represents more than 400,000 autoworkers, has already endorsed Harris. But another major U.S. labor union, the Teamsters, has yet to make an endorsement.
A spokesman for the Teamsters did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump’s support for union busting.
In July, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention.
He said his attendance was intended to underscore that the union’s powerful political endorsement was still available to whichever candidate pledges to champion workers’ interests.
“Companies fire workers who try to join unions, and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations,” O’Brien said at the RNC in Milwaukee.
“This is economic terrorism at its best,” said O’Brien.
Musk, meanwhile, is no stranger to labor battles – with Tesla having clashed with unions for years – and the NLRB finding in 2021 that the company violated labor laws when it fired a union activist.
SpaceX has also been accused of labor violations for firing eight employees for what they said was an internal open letter criticizing Musk and his public conduct.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 17:20 - Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion, Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High
Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion, Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The backlog of payment actions at the Social Security Administration (SSA) is now at a “record-breaking” level, causing the agency to make more than a billion dollars in improper payments to beneficiaries, according to the SSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Oct. 14, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) The SSA’s backlog of pending actions hit an “all-time high” of 5.2 million as of February, the OIG said in an Aug. 8 statement, citing an analysis published in June. Pending actions at the agency’s claims processing centers that remain unresolved for a long period of time have resulted in “larger improper payments, including growing underpayments or increasing overpayments to beneficiaries.”
Overpayments put social security beneficiaries under a great burden since the agency will ask them to pay back the overpaid amount at any time. Some recipients may not be in a financial position to repay.
Meanwhile, underpayments mean beneficiaries do not receive their correct monthly payment, which is financially challenging for many recipients.
The delay in resolving pending actions caused the SSA to make $1.1 billion worth of improper payments by February, the OIG stated.
“Customer satisfaction has been an ongoing concern for SSA,” Michelle Anderson, acting inspector general for SSA, said. “This report continues to highlight the urgency for SSA to reach its pending actions performance goal and to ensure beneficiaries receive their proper payments as promptly as possible.”
SSA blamed the “record-breaking” backlog on increased workload, staff reductions, and lower-than-expected funding for overtime. Overtime funding could be used to pay workers to resolve more pending actions, thus reducing the backlog, the agency said.
The SSA had reviewed the draft version of the OIG report and sent a response to the watchdog in June. The agency agreed on the need to cut down the processing centers’ pending actions backlog and processing delays. However, this would require “additional resources,” it said in its response.
The SSA pointed out that the agency has “over 650 fewer employees working on processing centers’ workloads now than we did eight years ago, while our beneficiary count has risen from roughly 64 million people to nearly 72 million in that same time period.”
Moreover, the SSA is experiencing staffing challenges with high separation rates in key roles. Without adequate funding, the agency is “left to prioritize growing workloads with our current resources in mind.”
Improper Payment Issue
The OIG pointed out in its report that the SSA failed to reduce its processing center pending actions over the past six years, causing the backlog to rise from 3.2 million in fiscal year 2018 to 4.6 million last year.
As the backlog kept growing, pending actions remained unresolved for longer periods, the report stated. Of 139 actions by processing centers (PCs) analyzed by the OIG, almost three-fourths were pending for 300 days or more, with 43 percent unresolved for 500 days or longer.
“Once processed, PC pending actions can result in improper payments,” the report reads.
“The longer it takes SSA to process PC pending actions, the longer beneficiaries wait for underpayments due or they receive larger overpayments to pay back.”
In one instance, the SSA initially identified an overpaid beneficiary in June 2021 when the person had received $9,000 in excess money from the agency. However, the SSA only took action to collect overpayments about two years later, in May 2023. During this time, the overpayments continued, with the overpaid amount totaling $62,000.
Even though the beneficiary sought a waiver arguing that the agency was at fault and that the individual could not afford to pay back the money, the person had to agree to make partial payments to resolve the case, the report stated.
For improper payments, the SSA has taken certain actions. In March, the agency announced a new rule easing burdens on overpayment recipients.
Earlier, the SSA would have withheld 100 percent of a beneficiary’s monthly benefits until the overpaid amount was collected.
However, the new rule dismissed this practice. Instead, the agency now collects 10 percent or $10, whichever is greater, of the overpaid amount from the monthly benefits to recover overpayments.
“Social Security is taking a critically important step towards our goal of ensuring our overpayment policies are fair, equitable, and do not unduly harm anyone,” Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said at the time.
In February, the SSA proposed a rule for using information from payroll data providers in its calculations. The proposed Payroll Information Exchange is expected to reduce manual reporting errors, which could then reduce improper payments, the agency stated.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 17:00 - Harris Campaign Busted Spoofing News Outlets In Headline-Altering Ad Scheme
Harris Campaign Busted Spoofing News Outlets In Headline-Altering Ad Scheme
Despite corporate media’s unabashed u-turn to support Kamala Harris, her campaign has been busted creating made-up headlines next to the names of real news outlets to trick people into thinking they’ve stumbled upon the real thing, Axios reports.
Upon hearing the news, The Guardian lost their shit, telling Axios: “While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”
The ads include links to real articles from the outlets, however the headlines and supporting text were altered.
Spokespeople for other spoofed outlets such as CNN, USA Today and NPR, said they had no idea their brand was being featured this way.
Examples include The Independent UK, NPR, AP, The Guardian, USA Today, PBS, CNN, CBS News, Time and others, including local outlets like North Dakota radio station WDAY Radio.
- For example, an ad that ran alongside an article from The Guardian shows a headline that reads “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom” and then includes supporting text underneath the headline that reads, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”
- An ad featuring a link to an NPR story reads, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” with supporting text that says, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.”
For example:
Meanwhile, according to Google’s ad transparency center, the Trump campaign isn’t running these types of ads – and says that because ads on Search are prominently labeled as “Sponsored,” they’re “easily distinguishable from Search results.” A Google spokesperson added “we’ve provided additional levels of transparency for election ads specifically.”
Nevermind that news outlets pay to promote their own articles all the time.
And nevermind that there was a “glitch” which hid the ad disclosure.
A source familiar with the Harris campaign’s ads team said the campaign buys search ads with news links to give voters searching for information about Vice President Harris more context.
- The campaign has complied with all of Google’s rules, although a technical glitch in Google’s Ad Library made it appear as though some ads lacked the necessary disclosures Google requires when they ran. (A Google spokesperson confirmed the glitch and said it’s investigating what happened.)
- “Election advertisers are required to complete an identity verification process and we prominently display in-ad disclosures that clearly show people who paid for the ad,” the spokesperson said. -Axios
That said, according to Google the ads don’t violate its rules – however other platforms have taken action against such deception. Facebook, for example, banned advertisers from editing text from Instant Article news links in their ads in 2017, citing its “continuing efforts to stop the spread of misinformation and false news.”
A candidate so good they have to deceive voters…
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 – 16:40 - 4 Ways To Inoculate Your Children Against Marxism
4 Ways To Inoculate Your Children Against Marxism
Authored by Jeff Minick via The Epoch Times,
In 2007, President George W. Bush dedicated a memorial in Washington DC to the 100 million people murdered by communism over the past century. Here is a portion of what he offered in remembrance of those victims:
“They include innocent Ukrainians starved to death in Stalin’s Great Famine or Russians killed in Stalin’s purges; Lithuanians and Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet communism. They include Chinese killed in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot’s Killing Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale the Berlin Wall in order to make it to freedom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest and Ethiopians slaughtered in the ‘Red Terror’; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua’s Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny.”
This horrific record doesn’t include the countless millions who were imprisoned, tortured, or saw their dreams and potentialities ruined by Marxism. Yet not only do countries like China and North Korea remain communist, but here in the West, where we should know better by now, we have professors, teachers, corporate personnel, politicians, and ordinary citizens who salute the Red Star. They may not answer to the name of Marxist, but they go along with the movement.
This being the case, it’s up to parents, grandparents, and mentors to inoculate the young against falling prey to this ideology. Below are some vaccines we can give our young people to help prevent infection from this virus.
Read the Right Books
George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” is appropriate for middle schoolers. His classic “1984” should be on every high schooler’s reading list. Ayn Rand’s “We the Living,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” Ruta Sepetys’s “I Must Betray You,” and other novels will give readers a look into life under communism. For a truly chilling look at how Marxism works in schools, read James Clavell’s overlooked short story “The Children’s Story,” now available online for free. YouTube also has a video drama of this story.
Teach them the truth about totalitarianism and communism through books such as these.
Listen to Real-Life Stories
If you know someone who grew up in a former communist country or who has escaped from a country like China or Cuba, invite them to speak to your children. These first-hand accounts can provide a powerful witness.
If you don’t have access to such people, you can find interviews with freedom fighters and survivors online at the Victims of Communism Memorial Witness Project. Here men and women from around the world share the stories of their ordeal and the miseries of life under Marxist governments.
Kitchen Table Learning
Discuss the daily news with your teens, both events abroad and here at home. Turn on the evening news and critique it. Point out that words like “privileged,” “marginalized communities,” “the oppressed,” “gender identity,” and more are all terms associated with the left.
Within the United States are far-left groups that either declare themselves Marxist or follow Marxist precedents. Others conceal themselves under innocuous titles. The Party for Socialism and Liberation, for instance, takes an “old-fashioned” approach to Marxism with its radical support of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong. Other far-left groups fly under a variety of banners, often seeking these days to forward radical agendas of race and gender. Make your children aware that these groups are rarely concerned about liberty or human rights for all people.
This election year provides the perfect opportunity to compare the platforms and candidates of our political parties. Make the most of this opportunity to teach your children about the issues debated and how they reflect on such concepts as freedom, collectivism, and tradition.
The Best Antidote of All
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Teach those words from our Declaration of Independence to your children. Explain that no government can grant or take away their unalienable rights, that they are a core part of what it means to be human.
Teach your children about the men and women who built this country, who fought against injustice where they found it and who loved freedom. Teach them early on the stories of American explorers, scientists, soldiers, poets, and all the others whose work and sacrifices gave us the privileges we enjoy today.
Teach them that liberty and its many benefits demand responsibility. Do not let them confuse, as so many do today, liberty with license. Liberty means having the freedom to do the right thing, not simply to do as we wish. Responsibility implies duty, the obligation to be accountable for our actions, and to step up when necessary and defend our rights as a free people.
Do these things with love, and the torch of American liberty will never be extinguished.
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, 08/13/2024 – 16:20
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