- Continental Shift Coming: The World's Most Populous Countries
Continental Shift Coming: The World’s Most Populous Countries
According to United Nations’ latest projections of global population, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous country in April 2023.
Having gradually closed the gap to China from more than 200 million people in 2000 to little more than 10 million in 2022, Statista’s Felix Richter reports that the UN Population Division predicts India’s population to reach 1,429 million in July 2023, surpassing long-time leader China by 3 million people.
In recent years, China’s population growth has slowed down notably due to its one-child policy before reaching an inflection point in 2022, when China’s population declined for the first time since 1961, when three years of famine had decimated the country’s population.
You will find more infographics at Statista
For India, which is currently expected to continue growing until the 2060s, its new position as the world’s most populous country will come with a new set of challenges, both domestically and internationally. These challenges include providing access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities to an ever-growing number of people, all while finding its role in the global political and economic landscape.
Looking beyond India and China, the UN predicts a continental shift in population growth over the next few decades.
With Europe’s population already declining and Asia’s and Latin America’s growth expected to turn negative in the 2050s, Africa is set to be the largest driver of global population growth for decades to come.
By 2100, five African nations are expected to join India, China, and the United States among the world’s 10 most populous countries, with Nigeria projected to reach a population of half a billion before 2080.
This demographic shift at the global level will require new approaches to managing resources, promoting sustainable development, and addressing issues such as poverty, inequality and access to healthcare and education.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 07/14/2023 – 02:45 - Rampant Corruption Is One Reason Behind Ukrain's Failed NATO Bid
Rampant Corruption Is One Reason Behind Ukrain’s Failed NATO Bid
The EU wants Ukraine to clean up its act…
Ukraine must implement reforms to fight corruption and strengthen its institutions if it wants to be eligible to join NATO, said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, during the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Von der Leyen encouraged Ukraine to implement further reforms and pledged the support of the European Union. According to Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, von der Leyen’s statement “said in plain language that there was still so much corruption and opacity in Ukraine’s institutions that it could not yet get the green light to join NATO or the European Union.” However, the paper also noted that von der Leyen noted the country’s efforts were appreciated and it had made a lot of progress.
Ukraine needs long-term security.
At the @NATO Summit we are discussing how to best provide for this.
The EU contributes with investments, weapons, training and support to the reforms that can lead Ukraine into the EU and NATO. pic.twitter.com/0HRIPcAg36
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 12, 2023
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The European Commission already identified systemic corruption in Ukraine in 2021. Although the EU had launched a number of initiatives to reduce the potential for corruption and proposed a wide range of measures, the EU commission’s report at the time found that no progress had been made on this issue in 2021.
At that time, there was a significant decline in the judiciary, and anti-corruption institutions were also under threat, according to the report. The authors also noted that oligarchs and vested interests are the biggest problem, as they are an obstacle to the rule of law and economic development in Ukraine.
Brussels is keen to bring Ukraine into the European Union. However, even EU officials do not dare mention in their reports anything concrete or substantial to suggest that Ukraine is ready for integration, and Von der Leyen’s remarks indicate that the situation has still not improved.
As Remix News reported last week, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, representing Ukrainian entrepreneurs, issued an appeal to President Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding action to curb the abuse of power by government officials. The abuse of power by military officials and judges has crossed all lines, according to Ukrainian entrepreneurs, who are calling for the establishment of a public registry to identify corrupt officials. They further argue that corruption on an unprecedented scale is eroding Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 07/14/2023 – 02:00 - Democrats Baseless Lies Are Responsible For Today's Divisiveness
Democrats Baseless Lies Are Responsible For Today’s Divisiveness
Authored by ‘Carpe Diem’ via American Greatness,
For as long as I can remember, the Democratic Party has claimed to be a champion for all Americans, particularly for the working class, minorities and for those who are considered marginalized, oppressed or downtrodden.
But somewhere between fighting to keep slavery alive (Andrew Johnson); deliberately reducing the number of black civilian employees from the federal workforce and airing a film that glorified the Ku Klux Klan at the White House (Woodrow Wilson); throwing Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II (Franklin Delano Roosevelt); promoting a culture of government dependence, poverty and fatherlessness (Lyndon Johnson); creating racial tension by declaring cops racist—leading to further destruction of our inner cities, while mocking legitimate concerns of disgruntled blue collar midwesterners frustrated by decreasing wages, lack of employment opportunities—and an opioid epidemic hollowing out their communities (Barack Obama); the intentional failure to enforce our country’s immigration laws, contributing to a four decade high of inflation by spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on Democrat pet projects that mostly help special interest groups, referring to roughly half the country as violent extremists and weaponizing the Department of Justice—to throw his leading political rival in prison (Joe Biden); it seems fair to say the Democratic Party has fallen well short of being a champion for anyone, except for its own desperate attempt to stay in power at any and all costs.
For a party that abhors the Founding Fathers and seeks to delegitimize their contributions, rejects and regards the principles of the Constitution as meaningless, and regularly criticizes the country for failing to live up to its stated goal of forming a more perfect union, perhaps it might be time for the Democratic Party to look itself in the mirror.
The entirety of the Democratic Party platform in 2023 is predicated on fear mongering and based on easily verifiable lies about the Republican Party.
It typically sounds something like this: Republicans want to make it harder for minorities to vote, they only want to give tax breaks to the wealthy, they’re banning books and ignoring inconvenient aspects of American history, they don’t want poor kids to be able to go to college, they’re anti-immigration, they want to deprive Americans from receiving healthcare, they don’t believe trans people exist, they don’t think women have a right to make their own medical decisions, and police are writ large racist and randomly hunting down black people, etc.
Not a single one of those absurd claims, which are promulgated regularly in the pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other leftist propaganda outlets has one iota of credibility. But that hasn’t prevented Democrat politicians, Hollywood, academia and the legacy media from repeating these erroneous charges into ad nauseum.
Take, for instance, the ridiculous claim that Republican led states like Georgia want to make it harder for minorities to vote. Considering that the Peach State just set a record for voter turnout in the Midterms—in which over one million people voted—Republican leaders did a pretty poor job of discouraging citizens from casting their ballots.
It is hardly discriminatory to require every single American to present a valid form of ID that clearly verifies who the individual is. Nothing about that is inherently racist, but it certainly is racist to imply that black people for some reason either do not have an ID, or do not possess the means to obtain a driver’s license. If the DMV is suddenly denying licenses to black people—one would imagine the Biden DOJ would have started an investigation.
But I digress.
What about the Democrats’ fallacious charge that Republicans only want to give tax breaks to the wealthy? Once again, that is simply not borne out by any shred of evidence.
An analysis of IRS tax data showed that the Trump tax cuts disproportionately benefited those earning less than $50,000 per year. Those with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 saw an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, while those who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break between 15 percent to 17 percent.
Those earning between $100,000 to $500,000 in AGI saw their personal income taxes decrease by around 11 percent to 13 percent and no one with an AGI of at least $500,000 received an average tax cut above 9 percent. The average tax cut for those in income brackets starting at $1 million was less than 6 percent.
In other words, under Trump’s tax plan, the more money an individual earned, the higher their income was effectively taxed. But don’t let the facts get in the way of the Democrats narrative.
How about the Biden White House’s specious claim that Republicans are banning books and refusing to teach about slavery? In reality, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis removed books from libraries and classrooms in 23 school districts across the state that contained pornographic content and other types of violent and inappropriate material. One would think the Democrats would be fine with keeping pornography away from elementary schools, but apparently not.
Furthermore, under statute, s. 1003.42(2)(f), F.S. It is a requirement for Florida schools to teach African American history. But teaching students about slavery is different from segregating a classroom along racial lines into groups of evil white “oppressors” and “oppressed,” groups, while pontificating to seven year olds that America remains an irredeemably racist country. Sadly that remains the Democrats preferred view of this country.
What about the now irrelevant Bernie Sanders and his ilk who claim Republicans don’t want poor kids to be able to go to college. For starters those from upper income families would have likely benefited more than lower income households if Biden’s failed attempt to unconstitutionally cancel billions of dollars of student loan debt had passed—so it would not have even helped those who it was intended to benefit.
Second, not everyone wants to go to college, but for those who do wish to go, the taxpayers should not be subsidizing those who obtain useless degrees in topics like feminist, gender and sexuality studies, which will almost certainly lead to graduates becoming dumber, while remaining unemployed without any tangible skills.
How about the Democrats’ sophist charge that Republicans are anti-immigration? In reality they’re not against immigration, they’re against illegal immigration! It is not compassionate to let millions of unvetted migrants pour across our country, while they suppress our wages, overwhelm public resources, commit violent crimes, and traffic in drugs and humans. It is not a serious argument to justify support for illegal immigration by proclaiming that migrants are more willing to do jobs other Americans are less likely to want to do. There is nothing humane about failing to secure our southern border or treating citizens from other countries better than we treat our own.
What about the Democrats who foolishly claim Republicans want to deprive Americans from receiving healthcare? The reality is, socialized healthcare is a disaster that will cause millions of Americans to lose their healthcare plans, while lowering the quality of care. It will almost certainly raise the cost of coverage and increase wait times. Just ask all the Canadians who would rather spend money and travel to the U.S. so they can be treated for cancer or surgery sooner.
How about the Democrats who claim that Republicans don’t believe trans people exist? For starters, anyone can identify as whatever they want, but that does not make it reality. I can go around telling people I’m a giraffe, but I do not have the right to compel people to believe me. Second, when the delusions of a small group of people threaten the competitive nature of women’s sports, and can lead to inappropriate locker room interactions, that is when the charade should immediately end. The Democratic Party has long claimed to care about empowering women, but lately they seem to be more interested in empowering men who say they are women.
What about the Democrats who claim Republicans don’t think women have a right to make their own medical decisions? Most of the American public supports a 15 week ban on abortion—which means most people are in favor of protecting the innocent life of an unborn child—while also ensuring the safety of the mother. Unfortunately, the Democrats do not view an unborn child as a human, even if it has a heartbeat. The party that supposedly cares about human beings supports abortion on demand, up until and including the birth of a child. That does not seem too charitable.
How about the Democrats false claim that police are writ large racist and randomly hunting down black people? This is simply not borne out by the data. There is zero evidence that black people are killed by police at a higher rate than white people are. In fact the evidence shows that a police officer is 18 ½ more likely to be killed by a black male, than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. but that hasn’t stopped Democrat demagogues from repeating the lie anyway to further divide the country for political gain.
So which groups benefit from Democratic policies?
Outside of Democrat special interest groups, the president’s corrupt son, and our chief adversaries around the world, I can’t think of anyone. But it’s clearly not me or you.
Do children living in inner cities who attend failing public schools controlled by Democrat teachers unions who wanted to keep them home during COVID? How about those living in high crime areas where the police are nowhere to be found after Democrat politicians spent years defaming and defunding them? How about Jewish communities, who have faced a rise in antisemitic attacks, while Democrat politicians consistently side with Israel hating terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah? What about the Asian community that the Democratic Party now penalizes for scoring too high on standardized exams in order to achieve a more “equitable” racial quota. How about those who support pro-life groups? How about everyday Americans who have been crushed by Bidenflation and the Left’s war on American energy production? What about those who did not want to lose their job or business—due to their refusal to take a COVID vaccine that does not appear to work the way the “health experts” told us it would.
The Republican Party is far from perfect, but the Democratic Party is plain evil.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:40 - Endgame: US Federal Debt Interest Payments About To Hit $1 Trillion
Endgame: US Federal Debt Interest Payments About To Hit $1 Trillion
There was a shocking number in today’s latest monthly US Budget Deficit report. No, it wasn’t that US government outlays unexpectedly soared 15% to $646 billion in June, up almost $100 billion from a year ago…
… while tax receipts slumped 9.2% from $461 billion to $418 billion, resulting in a TTM government receipt drop of over 7.3%, the biggest since June 2020 when the US was reeling from the covid lockdown recession; in fact never have before tax receipts suffered such a big drop without the US entering a recession.
Needless to say, surging government outlays coupled with shrinking tax revenues meant that in June, the US budget deficit nearly tripled from $89 billion a year ago to $228 billion, far greater than the consensus estimate of $175 billion. One can only imagine which Ukrainian billionaire oligarch’s money laundering bank account is currently enjoying the benefits of that unexpected incremental $50 billion US deficit hole: we know for a fact that the FBI will never get to the bottom of that one, since they can’t even figure out who dumped a bunch of blow inside the White House – the most protected and surveilled structure in the entire world.
And with the monthly deficits coming in higher than expected and also far higher than a year ago, it is also not at all surprising that the cumulative deficit 9 months into the fiscal year is already the 3rd highest on record, surpassed only by the crisis years of 2020 and 2021: at $1.393 trillion, the fiscal 2022 YTD deficit is already up 170% compared to the same period last year.
Again, while sad, none of the above numbers are surprising: they merely confirm that the US is on an ever faster-track to fiscal death, but not before the Fed is forced to monetize the debt once again (one wonders what financial crisis the Jekyll Island folks will invoke this time to greenlight the next multi-trillion QE).
No, the one number that was truly shocking was found all the way on page 9, deep inside Table 3 of the latest Treasury Monthly Statement: the only highlighted below, and which shows that in the 9 months of the current fiscal year, the US has already accumulated a record $652 billion in gross debt interest.
This number was more than 25% higher compared to the Interest Expense payment for the comparable period a year ago, which amounted to $521 billion.
Soaring interest rates, driven by the panicked Fed’s scramble to undo its epic policy failure of 2020 and 2021 when the Fed kept rates at zero for far too long while injecting trillions into various asset bubbles, have been the key driver of the deficit, with the Federal Reserve boosting its benchmark rate by 5% since it began hiking in March last year. Five-year Treasury yields are now about 3.96%, versus 1.35% at the start of last year. As lower-yielding securities mature, the Treasury faces steady increases in the rates it pays on outstanding debt: that’s right – even when the Fed starts cutting rates, due to the delay of rolling over maturing debt, actual interest payments will keep rising for the foreseeable future.
For context, the weighted average interest for total outstanding debt at the end of June was only 2.76%, a level that’s not been surpassed since January 2012, according to the Treasury. That’s up from 1.80% a year before, the department’s data show, and if the Fed indeed keeps rates “higher for longer”, the blended rate on the debt will surpass 4% in one year.
That would be a complete disaster for the US, and it would mean that interest payments on total US debt of $32.3 trillion would hit $1.3 trillion within 12 months, potentially making interest on the debt the single biggest US government expenditure and surpassing social security!
But we don’t even have to wait that long until the exploding interest on US government debt becomes a major talking point ahead of the coming presidential elections. According to the St Louis Fed’s FRED and the BEA, the interest payments by the Federal Government have now surpassed $900 billion for the first time ever, and within a quarter will hit probably rise above $1 trillion, a historic benchmark that will probably begin the countdown to the US Minsky Moment.
Source One of the most incompetent puppets in the Biden admin (and there are countless), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, has played down concerns about higher rates. She has instead flagged that the ratio of interest payments to GDP, after adjustment for inflation, remains historically low. The problem with Yellen’s argument is that GDP will crater after the next recession (which will also spark the next financial crisis, one which Yellen will not live to see), but US debt will never again drop in either absolute or relative terms, as the good folks at the CBO have been so kind to make clear to even such intellectual midgets as the former Fed chairwoman.
In short, the endgame has now arrived, and all the US can do now is rearrange the deck chairs .
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:20 - Former NBA Player Says He Lost $50 Million In Earnings After Speaking Out Against CCP
Former NBA Player Says He Lost $50 Million In Earnings After Speaking Out Against CCP
Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has claimed to have lost roughly $50 million in salaries and possible endorsements after his career ended abruptly when he spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom, looks towards his team’s bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game, in Boston, on Dec. 1, 2021. (Charles Krupa/AP Photo) The basketball player made the claims in a hearing on July 11 before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which is chaired by both Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
Tuesday’s hearing, titled “Corporate Complicity: Subsidizing the PRC’s Human Rights Violations,” centered on the alleged human rights abuses taking place in China, including genocide, forced organ harvesting, forced labor, internet censorship, and mass surveillance.
It also focused on how international businesses and corporations that seek to operate in China or maintain access to the Chinese market often find themselves at risk of being complicit in such human rights abuses.
“According to my manager, I lost around $50 million dollars, with all the NBA contracts and endorsement deals that I could’ve signed,” the sportsman said.
“I sleep in peace at night knowing that I did the right thing. My only question is: How can the biggest dictatorship in the world, China, control an 100 percent American-made company and fire an American citizen?” he added.
China’s ‘Brutal Dictator’
During Tuesday’s hearing, Mr. Kanter told lawmakers that he has, over the past 11 years, often spoken out about the human rights violations in his home country of Turkey, where he said there were “many innocent people being prosecuted” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime, including his own relatives.
He later moved into activism toward China following a “simple basketball camp” in New York, during which he was asked by the parent of one child why he had not spoken out about the CCP’s alleged abuses against members of the Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups.
A 2022 report published by the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) found a number of “serious human rights violations” may have been committed against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. The United States has also accused the CCP of genocide. China has repeatedly dismissed the claims as a smear campaign.
Enes Kanter Freedom, human rights advocate and former NBA basketball player, testifies before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China at a hearing about “Corporate Complicity: Subsidizing the PRC’s Human Rights Violations” in Washington on July 11, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) Mr. Kanter told lawmakers that after being questioned by the parent, he began researching the CCP’s alleged human rights abuses against members of the Uyghur group and others, at one point speaking to a concentration camp survivor who detailed her experience of torture, gang rape, forced sterilization, and abortion methods in such camps.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 23:00 - Did Costco Hit Bud Light With "Death Star"?
Did Costco Hit Bud Light With “Death Star”?
Social media users have noticed a mysterious “asterisk” in the upper-right-hand corner of Bud Light price tags at various Costco stores. Some users have referred to this asterisk as the “death star,” suggesting that the discount retailer might not replenish its stock once the inventory is depleted.
At Costco this morning, practically giving away Bud Light. pic.twitter.com/tsyymCZjT5
— colleen 🗣 (@plineytheelder) July 1, 2023
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COSTCO says… STAR OF DEATH for Bud Light * it will not be restocked. 🍻 pic.twitter.com/hWYTXEckDA
— SHARKINTHEWATER (@s_h_a_r_k_e_y) July 11, 2023
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Even Costco is getting out of the game… pic.twitter.com/cUHE0CnPzr
— Brian Henderson (@aztraveldude) July 3, 2023
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There are numerous confirmations that the asterisk on price tags at Costco stores is a sign that the particular item won’t be restocked. KrazyCoupon Lady and Marie Clark, editor of the shopping site CostContessa, confirmed this over the years.
What needs to be confirmed is if the members-only warehouse retail chain is abandoning Bud Light products due to the possibility of collapsing demand and worsening backlash after Bud Light sponsored trans-TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney ‘celebrating’ one year of womanhood in April.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:40 - FDA Approves 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Amid Falling US Birth Rates
FDA Approves 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Amid Falling US Birth Rates
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, Md., on June 5, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, which will let people purchase contraceptive drugs from the same store aisles as Tylenol and aspirin as the birth rate in the United States continues to drop.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it cleared Perrigo’s once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription. It’s the first such drug that can be used over-the-counter, and there are no age restrictions.
Hormone-based pills, the most common form of birth control in the United States, have been used by tens of millions of women since the 1960s, with all of them requiring a prescription—until Thursday.
“Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, the head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement Wednesday. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.”
The pill’s manufacturer, Perrigo, called the FDA action a “milestone” as well as a “giant leap for women’s empowerment” in a statement posted online after the agency’s approval. The firm said that it would make it “accessible and affordable to women and people of all ages.”
“Today’s approval is a groundbreaking expansion for women’s health in the U.S., and a significant milestone towards addressing a key unmet need for contraceptive access,” Frederique Welgryn, a Perrigo official, said in the statement.
But Ireland-based Perrigo did not announce a price. Over-the-counter medicines are generally much cheaper than prescriptions, but they typically aren’t covered by insurance.
Forcing insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control would require a regulatory change by the federal government, which left-wing groups are urging the Biden administration to implement.
Elaborating, the FDA said that it approved the pill, in part, because it may reduce the number of “unintended pregnancies.”
“Nonprescription availability of Opill may reduce barriers to access by allowing individuals to obtain an oral contraceptive without the need to first see a health care provider. Almost half of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the U.S. each year are unintended,” the agency said. “Unintended pregnancies have been linked to negative maternal and perinatal outcomes, including reduced likelihood of receiving early prenatal care and increased risk of preterm delivery, with associated adverse neonatal, developmental and child health outcomes.”
The drug’s availability “may help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and their potential negative impacts,” the FDA added in the statement.
Declining US Birth Rates
Over the year, there have been numerous studies in the United States and other countries suggesting that increased access to contraception such as birth-control pills can lead to a decline in fertility and birth rates. A 2021 study published in JAMA Network found that birth rates among women with employer-given health insurance dropped significantly after the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, eliminated the need for copays and other patient fees for birth control.
“The study results suggest that free, reliable birth control reduced unintended pregnancies, the authors note. About half of all pregnancies in the population at large are unintended, and birth rates from unintended pregnancies are much higher among low-income women than other income groups,” says a UCLA writeup of the JAMA study.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:20 - Hummer EV Hype Fades In One Chart
Hummer EV Hype Fades In One Chart
The hype around the GMC Hummer EV is quickly fading. Secondary markets, such as the popular car-selling website Bring A Trailer had people listing these “supertrucks” in early 2022 for lofty premiums versus MSRP. Demand was red hot, and production was limited, which drove up values but more than a year later, prices have tumbled.
On April 1, 2022, months after the Hummer EV was released, a Hummer EV Pickup Edition 1 was sold on Bring A Trailer for a whopping $275,000. Those who locked in reservations bought the EV for around $100,000 MSRP (and the smart ones sold on the secondary market). And in the months ahead, these supertrucks were still being bought for over $200,000 and have sustained prices around $150,000 since.
The question remains whether secondary prices can hold up at high premiums at a time when GM’s Factory Zero plant in Michigan ramps up production.
GM Authority has learned that GMC Hummer EV production increased considerably this past April, with more than 3,000 units produced over the course of the 2023 calendar year. –GM Authority
With the production of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV underway, those older models might have trouble commanding such lofty values.
Yet another sign the EV bubble is deflating. We noted the other day that the “number of unsold electric vehicles at dealers in the second quarter tripled compared to the past year, signaling a weakened demand for the segment.” Sliding demand could be due to high borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, Tesla appears to be winning the EV price war, forcing competitors to shift prices lower. Those who paid substantial markups to be the first to own the Hummer EV but didn’t have a reservation and bought on the secondary market might regret their purchases at some point as prices will continue to slide.
Just wait until people realize the cost associated with charging a Hummer EV…
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 22:00 - Ray Epps To Be Criminally Charged For Role In January 6th, Blames Tucker
Ray Epps To Be Criminally Charged For Role In January 6th, Blames Tucker
Ray Epps, a man who was seen goading Trump supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, will be criminally charged, according to Epps’ attorney.
The impending charges were revealed in a Wednesday lawsuit filed by Epps against Fox News, which accuses former host Tucker Carlson of defaming him.
“…in May 2023, the Department of Justice notified Epps that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January 6, 2021—two-and-a-half years later,” reads the filing. “The relentless attacks by Fox and Mr. Carlson and the resulting political pressure likely resulted in the criminal charges.”
In March, Epps hired attorney Michael Teter – formerly of Perkins Coie, the firm notorious for helping the Clinton campaign hatch the Steele dossier and collaborating with the FBI to push the Trump-Russia hoax. Teter immediately sent a letter to Carlson demanding that the former Fox News host retract “false and defamatory statements” that Epps was a J6 government plant.
Epps, 62, was identified as a key instigator of the riot who has long been suspected of being a fed (or a fed asset), told his nephew in a text message: “I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.“
This is the only Jan 6 participant Adam Kinzinger will defend!
Still not arrested… pic.twitter.com/v7nOggQUID
— Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) June 9, 2022
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Last year he told Congressional investigators: “At that point, I didn’t know that they were breaking into the Capitol,” adding “I didn’t know anybody was in the Capitol. … I was on my way back to the hotel room.”
In two interviews with the FBI in 2021, Epps explained his actions on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. He admitted he was guilty of trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds and confessed to urging protesters to go to—and into—the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Epps also told members of the Committee that he found himself playing peacekeeper between Trump supporter “Baked Alaska” and the police – who called Epps a Fed.
“I was trying to find some common ground,” said Epps. “This guy was trying to turn people against me…he was calling me ‘boomer,’ and it’s his generation’s fault that we’re in the position we’re in.”
Despite the admissions, the FBI never arrested Epps and he was not charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with any Jan. 6 crimes. The non-action has fueled a crop of theories that he might have been working for the FBI or another agency.
Epps has repeatedly denied those suggestions through his attorney.
Speculation that Epps was a ‘fed’ intensified after a Revolver News reported with the headline: “Meet Ray Epps: The Fed-Protected Provocateur Who Appears To Have Led The Very First 1/6 Attack On The U.S. Capitol“
Revolver also determined, and will prove below, that the the FBI stealthily removed Ray Epps from its Capitol Violence Most Wanted List on July 1, just one day after Revolver exposed the inexplicable and puzzlesome FBI protection of known Epps associate and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. July 1 was also just one day after separate New York Times report amplified a glaring, falsifiable lie about Epps’s role in the events of January 6.
Lastly, Ray Epps appears to have worked alongside several individuals — many of them suspiciously unindicted — to carry out a breach of the police barricades that induced a subsequent flood of unsuspecting MAGA protesters to unwittingly trespass on Capitol restricted grounds and place themselves in legal jeopardy. -Revolver News
And so, according to Epps’ legal team, Tucker Carlson is the reason the Biden DOJ is about to charge him.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:45 - Biden Mobilizes 3,000 Reservists To Europe To Augment 'Operation Atlantic Resolve'
Biden Mobilizes 3,000 Reservists To Europe To Augment ‘Operation Atlantic Resolve’
President Joe Biden today issued an executive order approving the mobilization of select reserve forces with up to 3,000 personnel, augmenting the armed forces in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 121 and 12304 of title 10, United States Code, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.
In furtherance of this operation, under the stated authority, I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, not to exceed 3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve, as they deem necessary, and to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.
This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Here’s the Atlantic Council’s description of Operation Atlantic Resolve:
Defense.gov reports that this operation will be designated as a contingency operation, said Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, Joint Staff director of operations, during a press briefing today.
“This new designation benefits troops and families with increases in authorities, entitlements and access to the reserve component forces and personnel,” Sims said.
“This [executive order] reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to defend NATO’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine,” Sims said.
So, first Abrams tanks were ‘no’, then F-16s were a red-line we wouldn’t cross, then cluster bombs were a war-crime, and now as close to ‘boots on the ground’ as we have been in a war against Russia?
Many questions arise about this action – Why reservists and not active military? (is it somehow less ‘boots on the ground’-ish if they are reservists?) Why now? (is another major Hunter Biden headline about to drop?)
At first blush, this may appear to be nothing significant to the casual observer. Maybe the reserves will just be there in a “support” or “advisory” capacity. But they will be there.
And as Lincoln Brown warns via PJ Media, one must ask oneself if a precedent is being set.
It takes an act of Congress to declare war. Historically, the president must go to the legislature and ask for a declaration. But Biden is taking advantage of his office to mobilize select portions of the military and send them to Europe, bypassing the need to even so much as consult with Congress. Is it an attempt to hide or secure something? Or is it merely an act of a self-obsessed and deluded president and cabinet?
Whatever the case may be, one should be disturbed at the thought of Joe Biden and his advisors pushing toy soldiers around a map of Europe. All the while oblivious to what is at stake. Not just for the nation but for the world. In a worst-case scenario, this is not going to be like D-Day, as horrific as that was. This will not be General Patton racing across Europe with his tanks to be the first to cross the Rhine. This will not even be like Vietnam or any of the recent conflicts in the Middle East.
This could potentially be unlike anything we have experienced before. And it is past time that cooler and saner heads on both sides of the aisle made this terrible old man and his ambitious, tone-deaf sycophants stand down.
Finally, bear in mind that Congressman Matt Gaetz has been warning that the Biden administration of “sleepwalking our great country into a world war.”
Is this the next escalatory move? Yet another prod of the bear?
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:39 - These Are The Safest Cities In America
These Are The Safest Cities In America
The phrase “small town America” often conjures up images of white picket fences, well-trimmed lawns, and big houses. But how safe is modern-day suburbia in America?
Some of the smallest places in the country can actually be among the most dangerous. Take for example Bessemer, Alabama, with a population of around 26,000 and a violent crime rate of 33.1 per every 1,000 residents.
That said, there are many small cities that are true havens for families across the United States. Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop uses this map to showcase the safest cities in the U.S., using FBI data and Census Bureau populations compiled by NeighborhoodScout in 2023.
Note: The source only considered cities with a population of 25,000 or higher. This report is based on total index crimes reported in each city, which includes arson, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.
Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S.
40% of the cities in the ranking are located in Northeastern states, which are typically rated the “safest” based on FBI data.
Here’s a closer look at the Top 10:
One quarter of the safest cities are located in Massachusetts, with the vast majority clustered around Boston.
The median population of the cities and towns in the top 100 is just 32,000, and few widely-recognized cities make the list. Carmel, Indiana (#60) is the only city with a population above 100,000 to make the rankings. This would seem to follow the logic that bigger cities are more dangerous, but our map covering the most dangerous cities in America shows that many small cities were just as dangerous, and some even more.
Regardless, small towns can truly be idyllic. For example, a person’s chance of falling victim to crime in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the safest ranked city in the U.S., is just 1-in-510. That’s an overall rate of fewer than two incidents of crime per every 1,000 residents.
One surprising observation from the data is that many of the safest U.S. cities are in very close proximity to some of the most dangerous.
One example that illustrates this is Detroit, which ranks as the sixth most dangerous city in America. Despite this, as shown on the map above, there are four communities nearby that have some of the lowest crime rates in America.
In other words, America’s metro areas contain much contrast, and these insights provide valuable information for individuals and families seeking secure places to live across the country.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:20 - US Government Moves Nearly 10k Bitcoin Worth Over $300 Million Related To Silk Road Seizure
US Government Moves Nearly 10k Bitcoin Worth Over $300 Million Related To Silk Road Seizure
Authored by Tristan Greene via CoinTelegraph.,com,
The government previously promised to liquidate approximately 40,000 remaining BTC from the seizure in “four more batches” over the remainder of the calendar year…
A cryptocurrency wallet associated with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) moved approximately 9,825.25 Bitcoin worth around $299 million in a series of transactions on July 12.
It’s unclear at this time whether the transactions, which appear to have ultimately propagated to at least 101 new wallets, were sent to exchange addresses for sale or remain in the custody of the Justice Department.
DOJ Bitcoin transactions. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com
Initially, approximately 9,825 of the Bitcoin associated with the Silk Road seizure moved in a pair of transactions sent to three addresses at around 1:00 pm UTC. The bulk of the coins — 8,200 BTC worth nearly $250 million as of the time of this article’s publication — were sent to a single address, which subsequently split the total amount across 101 separate addresses a little over an hour later:
An 8,200 BTC transaction from a wallet that received coins originating from the DOJ. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com
The U.S. government previously revealed that it had plans to offload the rest of its BTC from the Silk Road seizure over the course of four batch transactions throughout the remainder of the calendar year.
According to current on-chain data, it’s possible the U.S. government could be testing liquidity strategies. One account associated with batch transactions conducted on March 7, 2023 appears to have profited in the amount of $237,934,919 on 30,174.7 in BTC holdings not currently associated with the July 12 batch of transactions.
However, another account that received 9,825.6 BTC from the DOJ during the March 7 batch distributed those coins among 101 accounts. The same account later joined 599 other accounts to send a total of approximately 0.1 BTC (about $3,032 as of the time of this article’s publication) to yet another account, which then spread its holdings of approximately 51 BTC across 37 addresses.
An approximately 51 BTC transaction from a wallet that received coins originating from the DOJ. Source: Screenshot via Blockchain.com
While speculation abounds about the exact nature of the transactions, which now span some 800-plus wallet addresses, the sheer number of transactions and associated wallets makes tracking exactly what the U.S. government is doing with each coin an increasingly challenging endeavor.
This lack of certainty has led some members of the crypto community to fear that BTC is being “nuked” or that the U.S. government’s wake-inducing coin movement will ripple throughout the cryptocurrency economy and cause investors to abandon what some see as the early stages of a bull run.
Bullish CPI and #bitcoin nuked
Not a good sign
— Algod (@AlgodTrading) July 12, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Other enthusiasts have dismissed such commentary as unnecessary fear, uncertainty and doubt based on the lack of tidal movement — more than six hours after the transactions were clocked, BTC has seen less than 1% of market movement.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 21:00 - Chipotle Tests "Autocado" Robot To Streamline Guacamole Prep
Chipotle Tests “Autocado” Robot To Streamline Guacamole Prep
From drive-thru to kitchens to automated kiosks, major restaurant chains are testing artificial intelligence and automation to streamline operations with one goal: eliminating unreliable low-wage and low-skilled workers.
Everyone’s favorite Chipotle Mexican Grill is the latest example of technology pouring into its kitchen. The company announced it was testing “Autocado,” an avocado-processing robot that cuts, cores, and peels avocados in half the time.
“Chipotle currently has individuals dedicated to cutting, coring, and scooping avocados. On average, it takes approximately 50 minutes to make a batch of guacamole,” Chipotle wrote in a press release. Autocado, developed in collaboration with Vebu Labs, a California-based robotics startup, can prep a batch of avocados in as little as 25 minutes.
This is the Autocado — Chipotle’s new avocado-prepping robot. 🥑 https://t.co/k27IsUJeKF pic.twitter.com/qOqhoO0rfR
— CNBC (@CNBC) July 12, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Across North America and Europe this year, the company estimates it’ll use 4.5 million cases of avocados, equivalent to more than 100 million pounds of fruit. The manpower used to make guacamole is enormous, and it appears Autocado is a move by the company to streamline costs.
“We are committed to exploring collaborative robotics to drive efficiencies and ease pain points for our employees,” said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer at Chipotle.
Garner continued, “The intensive labor of cutting, coring, and scooping avocados could be relieved with Autocado, but we still maintain the essential culinary experience of hand mashing and hand preparing the guacamole to our exacting standards.”
In addition to Autocado, Chipotle is testing Chippy, an autonomous tortilla chip maker created by Miso Robotics. The goals are simple: leverage automation technology to streamline kitchen operations to save costs.
The end goal of every major restaurant chain is to incorporate vast amounts of automation to eliminate human workers. Robots can’t get sick, nor can they form unions and strike.
Goldman told clients in late March that AI could spark millions of job losses in the coming years. The full report is available to pro subscribers in the usual place.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:40 - DC Council Passes Emergency Bill As Crime Rates Soar
DC Council Passes Emergency Bill As Crime Rates Soar
Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,
Washington, D.C. Council voted on July 11 to pass an emergency public safety bill granting judges and law enforcement officials more power as part of efforts to address soaring crime rates in the area.
The bill, known as the “Prioritizing Public Safety Amendment Act,” was put forward by Councilmember Brooke Pinto and passed Tuesday in a 12–1 vote.
Just one council member—Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat—voted against the measure, which will remain in effect for 90 days after it is signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a news conference in Washington, on March 15, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)
Under the emergency public safety bill, council members aim to prevent crime and violence by establishing a “rebuttable presumption in favor of pre-trial detention” system for adults who previously committed a violent crime.
Through that system, it will be deemed necessary to detain such individuals who commit new violent crimes, pending their trial date, if a court finds there is “probable cause” that the individual committed the crime of violence.
Similarly, juveniles who commit specific dangerous crimes or crimes of violence, regardless of whether or not they were armed, will also be detained pending trial under the new measure.
The district will allow increased access to private security cameras throughout the district under the measure, and raise the amount of reimbursement residents can get for installing private security cameras outside of their homes.
New Firearm Offence
Additionally, the bill clarifies that pretrial GPS monitoring data can be used as evidence against defendants in court, and makes misdemeanor arrest warrants extraditable when suspects leave the District after committing a crime.
Perhaps one of the biggest elements of the bill is that a new offense of “endangerment with a firearm” will be created, making it a felony for someone to fire a gun in public.
A string of other measures are included in the bill aimed at protecting victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and generally bringing down crime levels.
Ms. Pinto praised the passing of the “common-sense legislation” in a statement late Tuesday where she thanked government leaders for taking “tangible steps” to help keep the city safer over the summer.
A Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police vehicle is parked on the other side of police tape on March 23, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
“Today’s vote sends a clear message that the current state of crime and violence cannot be tolerated and that our government is working together to make DC residents safer,” Ms. Pinto said.
“We must continue to build on the legislation we passed today to better invest in preventative tools and interrupt cycles of violence. However, this legislation is a major step forward in our efforts to create a safer DC for all our residents,” the council member added.
In a separate statement, Ms. Bowser said the new legislation will “fill gaps in our criminal justice system and, in doing so, will increase accountability for violent and criminal behavior and make our city safer.”
“We know that a safer DC is possible and our community is in agreement that the status quo is unacceptable,” Ms. Bowser said.
“People getting killed on our streets is unacceptable. People getting their cars or property stolen at gunpoint is unacceptable. Parents being afraid to let their children play outside or seniors being afraid to walk to the bus stop is unacceptable.”
The passing of the new safety bill comes as crime rates have soared across D.C. according to police data, with homicides up 17 percent year-on-year, and sexual abuse up 35 percent.
Robberies are also up 52 percent annually and violent crime is up 33 percent overall, according to the Metropolitan Police Department data. Motor vehicle theft and arson are also up 117 percent and 300 percent, respectively.
Police and demonstrators clash in downtown Washington after a limo was set on fire following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Opposition to Safety Bill
However, not everyone welcomed the new measure. During Tuesday’s vote, Ms. George argued the legislation would likely do little to substantially reduce crime in D.C. and branded the pretrial detention aspect of the bill “reckless,” telling fellow council members that she fears the provision could see more people being held in jail.
“There is no credible evidence that pre-trial detention would make D.C. safer. We’re doing the same thing we did in 1994,” said Ms. George.
“We have books on this, we have scholarly articles on this. It’s the same reaction … we cannot make the same mistake. This is how mass incarceration happens. Bit by bit. We do not need to choose between bad strategies or nothing.”
Despite her objections, an amendment introduced by Ms. George to strike out the pre-trial detention for adults provision was voted down by council members.
Criminal justice reform organizations including the D.C. Justice Lab also opposed the measure.
“Every summer, crime goes up. Every summer, someone tries to introduce an emergency bill to do something about it. And every summer, these bills fail to make any difference. And it’s because they’re not tailored to what actually works to reduce crime,” said Emily Cassometus, the director of government and external affairs for D.C. Justice Lab.
“In D.C., we know that locking more people up and that having big, sweeping generalizations doesn’t work. We know that having really specific targeted interventions does, and that giving people support and resources does,” Ms. Cassometus added.
The passing of the bill follows a string of shootings in D.C. in July, including that of Ahmad Yar, a former interpreter who served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade before fleeing his native country when the Taliban rose to power.
Mr. Yar was shot last week while working his shift as a Lyft driver. He was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:20 - These Are The World's Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
These Are The World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military.
When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars.
And as Visual Capitalist’s Pallave Rao and Joyce Ma detail below, almost 80 years later, modern day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets.
The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.
In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.
The Largest Military Budgets in 2022
The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion.
Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:
Rank Country Military Budget (Billions) % of World
Military Spend1 🇺🇸 U.S. $876.9 39.0% 2 🇨🇳 China $292.0 13.0% 3 🇷🇺 Russia $86.4 3.9% 4 🇮🇳 India $81.4 3.6% 5 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia $75.0 3.3% 6 🇬🇧 UK $68.5 3.1% 7 🇩🇪 Germany $55.8 2.5% 8 🇫🇷 France $53.6 2.4% 9 🇰🇷 South Korea $46.4 2.1% 10 🇯🇵 Japan $46.0 2.1% 11 🇺🇦 Ukraine $44.0 2.0% 12 🇮🇹 Italy $33.5 1.5% 13 🇦🇺 Australia $32.3 1.4% 14 🇨🇦 Canada $26.9 1.2% 15 🇮🇱 Israel $23.4 1.0% 16 🇪🇸 Spain $20.3 0.9% 17 🇧🇷 Brazil $20.2 0.9% 18 🇵🇱 Poland $16.6 0.7% 19 🇳🇱 Netherlands $15.6 0.7% 20 🇶🇦 Qatar $15.4 0.7% 21 🇹🇼 Taiwan $12.5 0.6% 22 🇸🇬 Singapore $11.7 0.5% 23 🇹🇷 Türkiye $10.6 0.5% 24 🇵🇰 Pakistan $10.3 0.5% 25 🇨🇴 Colombia $9.9 0.4% 26 🇩🇿 Algeria $9.1 0.4% 27 🇮🇩 Indonesia $9.0 0.4% 28 🇲🇽 Mexico $8.5 0.4% 29 🇳🇴 Norway $8.4 0.4% 30 🇰🇼 Kuwait $8.2 0.4% 31 🇬🇷 Greece $8.1 0.4% 32 🇸🇪 Sweden $7.7 0.3% 33 🇧🇪 Belgium $6.9 0.3% 34 🇮🇷 Iran $6.8 0.3% 35 🇨🇭 Switzerland $6.1 0.3% 36 🇴🇲 Oman $5.8 0.3% 37 🇹🇭 Thailand $5.7 0.3% 38 🇨🇱 Chile $5.6 0.2% 39 🇩🇰 Denmark $5.5 0.2% 40 🇷🇴 Romania $5.2 0.2% China, ranked second in absolute terms, accounts for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.
Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add in the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spend.
Comparatively, the lowest budgets on the top 40 ranged include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course there are many countries with even smaller spends.
Largest Military Budget Increases in 2022
Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spend had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates.
On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.
Country % Change
(2021-2022)Rank Change
(2021-2022)🇺🇦 Ukraine 640% +25 🇶🇦 Qatar 27% +2 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 16% +3 🇧🇪 Belgium 13% 0 🇳🇱 Netherlands 12% 0 🇸🇪 Sweden 12% -1 🇵🇱 Poland 11% 0 🇷🇺 Russia 9.2% +2 🇩🇰 Denmark 8.8% +3 🇪🇸 Spain 7.3% -1 🇳🇴 Norway 6.2% 0 🇮🇳 India 6.0% -1 🇯🇵 Japan 5.9% -1 🇮🇷 Iran 4.6% +5 🇨🇳 China 4.2% 0 🇬🇧 UK 3.7% -2 🇨🇦 Canada 3.0% -1 🇸🇬 Singapore 2.8% +1 🇩🇪 Germany 2.3% 0 🇮🇩 Indonesia 1.3% 0 🇨🇴 Colombia 1.1% -1 🇺🇸 U.S. 0.7% 0 🇫🇷 France 0.6% -2 🇬🇷 Greece 0.6% -1 🇨🇭 Switzerland 0.4% -1 🇹🇼 Taiwan 0.4% -1 🇦🇺 Australia 0.3% -1 🇵🇰 Pakistan -2.0% -3 🇰🇷 South Korea -2.5% +1 🇷🇴 Romania -2.6% +1 🇴🇲 Oman -3.0% +1 🇩🇿 Algeria -3.7% -1 🇮🇱 Israel -4.2% -1 🇮🇹 Italy -4.5% -1 🇨🇱 Chile -6.2% -3 🇧🇷 Brazil -7.9% -1 🇲🇽 Mexico -9.7% 0 🇰🇼 Kuwait -11% -4 🇹🇭 Thailand -11% -5 🇹🇷 Türkiye -26% -6 Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict.
Although no other country comes close in matching Ukraine’s surge in defense spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.
On the flipside, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel.
The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.
The Specter of War in Europe
With an ongoing conflict in the region and large financial powerhouses, its no surprise that eight of the top 10 countries with the most significant increases in military spending are located in Europe.
Consequently, European military budgets have reached levels not witnessed since the end of the Cold War.
And amid escalating geopolitical concerns, countries in Asia such as India, Japan, and China have also ramped up their defense spending. This is an indication of simmering global flashpoints such as India and China’s border skirmishes, the longstanding South China Sea territorial conflict, and concerns surrounding Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 20:00 - Does Anyone Care Anymore?
Does Anyone Care Anymore?
Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,
Is Ukraine still a thing for Americans? Of course, a brutal and tragic war is going on there with momentous geopolitical consequences. But do Americans care?
Attention spans are short, and Americans have already moved on to stories about political scandals, the next election, and the usual celebrity glamour gloss. Outside of the U.S. warmonger elites and a few critics (myself included), Americans don’t seem to care.
That’s a mistake. The war is as hard fought as ever and the geopolitical stakes are even higher than at the start of the war as we keep climbing up the escalation ladder.
Today I’ll look at the military situation, the economic sanctions, the bigger picture of global recession, and the impact of the war on energy prices.
Almost nothing in this report is being covered by The New York Times, the Washington Post or other legacy media. Their coverage consists almost exclusively of lies propagated by the State Department, CIA or MI6 and should not be taken seriously except by counterintelligence experts interested in knowing what the U.S. and UK are lying about.
The Counteroffensive Disaster
On the battlefield, Ukraine is losing badly and is in danger of having its offensive military capacity annihilated. The famous Ukrainian spring counteroffensive has met with disaster and been reduced to a series of impotent pinprick attacks.
The original Ukrainian plan was to punch through Russian defenses with an “iron fist” armored attack, retake the city of Melitopol, and from there reach the Sea of Azov. This would cut Russia’s land bridge (from Rostov-on-Don to Crimea) and divide Russian forces into two groups that could not reinforce each other.
This would open the way for Ukraine to take more territory and possibly retake Crimea itself.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4. The iron fist quickly turned into a piñata. From the outset, Ukrainian armor was badly mauled in Russian minefields. Additional damage was done by Russian artillery, missiles and aviation.
Over a month into the offensive. Ukrainians are still fighting in a gray zone short of the first of three Russian fortified lines. If the offensive went according to plan, the Ukrainians would have broken through these forward positions in the first couple of days. But here they are.
They claim to have taken a few villages, but some are no more than a single farmhouse. None are of strategic importance.
The Russians are repelling the Ukrainians, in most cases inflicting high casualties and loss of Ukrainian armored vehicles and tanks. It’s a war of attrition that Ukraine will certainly lose.
Western Duds
What about all those advanced weapons the U.S. and its NATO allies have been sending to Ukraine?
Well, they don’t work as expected, they’re easily destroyed by the Russians, the training periods take too long to be of any short-term use, or that they haven’t yet been manufactured or delivered.
Look at the fancy Patriot air defense systems we sent Ukraine. The Patriot systems cost $1 billion each, but at least two have been destroyed by Russian hypersonic missiles.
And after some initial successes, the HIMARS precision artillery systems we gave Ukraine have proven ineffective because the Russians have successfully jammed the GPS transmissions, so the missiles go off-course. Eventually they’re destroyed by Russian artillery.
In some cases, reportedly, the Russians have actually been able to redirect the projectile back in the direction of where it was launched. Talk about a boomerang!
The bottom line is that while the U.S. military was knocking down mud huts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Russia was developing high-tech weapons to counter the best weaponry that NATO has on hand. NATO tanks and other armored vehicles have certainly not made much impact.
Kill the Children!
The U.S. is now promising to deliver cluster munitions to the Ukrainians. These are heavy bombs (shells in this case) loaded with hundreds of smaller bomblets that detonate shrapnel in all directions. They’re banned by almost every country in the world because they kill and maim civilians indiscriminately.
A certain percentage of these bomblets fail to detonate initially, but remain active. Civilians come along later, often children, who trigger the explosions. The U.S. will send older cluster munitions, meaning the dud rate will be even higher, leaving behind even more unexploded bomblets that will kill civilians.
But the U.S. still will be sending them to Ukraine on orders from Joe Biden.
The military failures by the U.S. and NATO go beyond losses on the battlefield. By supplying so much equipment to Ukraine, the U.S. has depleted its own arsenals. It’ll take years to retool assembly lines and restock the arsenals.
Shooting Yourself in the Foot
In the meantime, the U.S. will find itself short of weapons and ammunition in case of a war with China or a wider war in Europe.
Meanwhile, the impact of economic sanctions on Russia has been the reverse of what the U.S. intended. I advised my seminar at the U.S. Army War College of this likely outcome over a year ago, and I repeated the warning at my seminar last month.
Russian oil sales are near all-time highs; they have simply shifted their sales from Europe to India and China. Russian financial reserves are at all-time highs also, despite asset freezes by the U.S. The Central Bank of Russia has moved its asset allocation toward physical gold along with Chinese yuan and Indian rupees.
The Russian economy is expected to outperform the U.S. economy in 2023 based on World Bank estimates. The EU and Japan are already in recession and the U.S. is likely entering one, if not there already.
The sanctions have failed badly and have hurt the U.S. economy more than the Russian economy. Since U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen does not understand international economics or the impact of sanctions, one should expect the damage imposed on the U.S. to get worse.
Escalate, Escalate, Escalate
Despite military and economic losses suffered by Ukraine and its Western backers, many want to double down rather than negotiate a possible peace settlement. They simply cannot entertain the possibility of a Russian victory.
This means the greatest danger now is not losing ground, but instead engaging in escalation that might lead to World War III. For example, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute has recommended giving Ukraine tactical nuclear weapons.
Given Russia’s success (at high cost) and U.S. escalation, the short-term prospects for peace talks are low. More likely the war will drag on into late 2023 before actual talks begin.
By then, Russia will have the upper hand because the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be badly depleted, Russia will have taken additional territory and Biden will be looking for a face-saving way out of the fiasco ahead of the presidential elections.
The ace in the hole for Putin will be the coming winter of 2024. Last winter was unusually mild in Europe and the EU muddled through with the energy supplies it could muster. The weather may not be so cooperative next year. Russia may be more ruthless when it comes to actually turning off the natural gas supplies.
The Only Winner in a 1970s-Style Economy
This convergence of factors could lead to much higher energy prices even as the U.S. and EU fall into a severe recession. The combination of weak growth and high prices is called stagflation, last seen in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It could happen again.
This is one of the worst economic outcomes possible. It means losses for stocks (because of recession), losses for government bonds (because of inflation), losses for corporate bonds (because of business failures), and major losses for commercial real estate (because of low occupancy rates and mortgage defaults).
The only winner, as was the case from 1977 to 1980, is gold.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:40 - "Not Some Fringe Theory": Flip-Flopping Virologist Thought Lab Leak "Highly Likely" Before Toeing Fauci's Line
“Not Some Fringe Theory”: Flip-Flopping Virologist Thought Lab Leak “Highly Likely” Before Toeing Fauci’s Line
Dr. Kristian Andersen, the virologist who initially told Anthony Fauci that Covid-19 appeared to have been ‘engineered,’ only to flip-flop 72-hours later after Fauci ‘prompted‘ Andersen and other scientists to create a paper arguing against the lab-leak theory, told colleagues that a lab leak was ‘highly likely’ and ‘not some fringe theory.’
Andersen notably appeared before Congress on Tuesday, where he carefully bullshitted his way through a minefield of questions from Republican lawmakers, while Democrats – apparently uninterested in anything except tribal narratives, provided cover.
In advance of Anderson’s testimony, House Republicans published a cache of messages as part of a government report, however the Daily Mail has received several damning Slack messages from February 2, 2020 – the day Twitter banned Zero Hedge for suggesting a lab leak – that weren’t part of that release, in which Andersen told colleagues “The main issue is that accidental escape is in fact highly likely – it’s not some fringe theory.”
He also admitted that he found it “strange” that Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan, China – located hundreds of miles from a cave where the closest strain to COVID-19 was found.
During testimony, Andersen said that ‘facts’ changed his opinion on the lab leak – though he couldn’t point to anything specific.
The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate. Some studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbour Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time. -Daily Mail
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is notably a 40-minute drive from the Hunan wet market in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The city itself is more than 800 miles from the Yunnan cave where Covid-19’s closest relative was found, making natural transmission less likely.
Andersen was a co-author of the Proximal Origin report, which was published days after a conferenced call with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins and others – who had been funding research to manipulate bat Covid to make it more transmissible to humans.
Fauci notably offshored banned gain-of-function research to make bat coronaviruses more transmissible to humans.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:20 - Homicides Soar 96% In Washington State After Passage Of Gun Restrictions
Homicides Soar 96% In Washington State After Passage Of Gun Restrictions
Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times,
Data shows that the number of homicides in Washington State skyrocketed after Second Amendment Rights were restricted.
According to a report released July 10 (pdf), the rate of murders, violence, and property crimes rose across Washington state in 2022, while the number of law enforcement officers available to respond and protect citizens decreased.
Specifically, the report revealed there were 394 murders in 2022, an increase of 16.6 percent over 2021 and the highest number of murders since the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs (WASPC) began recording this data in 1980. In addition, homicides increased 96 percent since 2019 and violent crimes increase by 8.9 percent.
During a July 10 press briefing, WASPC Executive Director Steve Strachan said that residents are more concerned about crime because it’s starting to affect them “in a real way in their real life.”
He specifically addressed the rise in homicides, up 16.6 percent, with an all-time high number of 394 people being murdered in 2022.
“With that increase of 16.6 percent, compared to 2021 to that all-time high of 394, that is 96 percent more murders than we had in 2019,” Strachan said.
A slide shown during a media availability session hosted by the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs on July 10, 2023. (WASPC/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Strachan also noted that Washington State suffered a net loss of nearly 500 police officers or 4.4 percent of its force in 2021. The per capita loss in officers per 1,000 citizens was down to 1.38, “which was the lowest on record and also the lowest in the nation.”
Things did not improve in 2022.
Strachan said net statewide law enforcement staffing went down by an additional 70 officers, bringing the per capita number down to 1.36 per thousand, “again the lowest on record and again the lowest in the nation.”
It was the 13th straight year that Washington State had the lowest police staffing numbers in the country.
A slide shown during a media availability session hosted by the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs on July 10, 2023, reflecting the decrease in the number of law enforcement officers per capita. (WASPC/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Assaults on officers went up 20 percent, rising from 1,968 incidents in 2021 to 2,375 incidents in 2022. There was a 5-year trend of increased assaults on law enforcement, going down only slightly (by 59 incidents) during the pandemic lockdowns.
While the total population of Washington State increased by 93,262, the number of law enforcement officers decreased from 10,736 to 10,666 in 2021. This placed Washington in last place nationwide for the number of officers per thousand residents. There were also 2,375 reported cases of officers assaulted in 2022—an increase of 20.7 percent. Two officers were killed on duty.
In the meantime, Seattle’s City Council cut the police budget by nearly 20 percent in 2020, falling short of their goal to gut law enforcement funding by 50 percent. According to reports, “the agency has been in a tailspin ever since.”
‘Backfired’
In a July 10 press release in response to the WASPC report, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, says the 96 percent increase in homicides since 2019 is “damning proof that billionaire-backed gun control measures were, as we predicted, false pie-in-the-sky promises.”
“Passage of Initiative 594 in 2014 and I-1639 in 2018 have accomplished nothing other than to create massive impairments, which we believe are unconstitutional, for law-abiding Washington citizens,” Gottlieb said further.
Initiative 594 (pdf) imposes background checks on firearms purchasers and mandates that only licensed dealers may sell or transfer firearms to unlicensed persons.
Initiative Measure No. 1639 (pdf), filed on May 2, 2018, places restrictions on the purchase of “semiautomatic assault rifles,” requires the purchaser to have “undergone training within the past five years,” and subjects the purchaser to a waiting time between 10 to 60 business days. The law further mandates that gun dealers may not deliver a pistol to a purchaser “until the purchaser produces a valid concealed pistol license and the dealer has recorded the purchaser’s name, license number, and issuing agency” in “triplicate.”
Gottlieb says the WASPC data proves that all of that has “backfired.”
“These findings really validate everything we’ve said about all of the gun control measures that the State of Washington has passed, either by initiative or legislative process,” Gottlieb asserted, noting how the numbers prove that gun violence and homicides escalated after the state passed measures to restrict gun rights.
“This was the highest homicide rate recorded since 1980,” He said.
“So all of these so-called gun control measures that were going to stop violence in the State of Washington have backfired.”
He also proposed that when Americans are allowed to exercise their Second Amendment Rights freely, crime rates go down, specifically in Constitutional Carry states.
An analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data by the United States Conceal Carry Association and released in October of 2022 showed that states that allow some form of permitless or Constitutional Carry have “fewer total and gun-related homicides.”
Conversely, Gottlieb said crime rates in “Democrat-controlled states” where gun control laws restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens from bearing arms go up dramatically.
“Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, we’re seeing it all over the country,” Gottlieb reflected.
“You are less safe when you do not have a means of self-defense.”
For Gottlieb, one of the primary struggles faced by gun rights advocates is that they are competing against “a legacy media with a gun-control agenda, and they only push one side of the equation.”
“They don’t let our data flow out to the public so the average citizen doesn’t know that all of the gun violence they’re hearing about is happening because gun laws don’t work,” he explained.
“The data doesn’t lie. But you won’t see the Sheriff’s report or our press release in response to the report on the legacy media.”
Gottlieb also discussed how most mass shootings take place in “gun-free” zones.
Data compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center confirmed that 97.8 percent of all mass shootings between 1950 and 2018 occurred in gun-free zones.
Not much has changed.
In May of 2022, the Crime Prevention Research Center reported that 96 percent of mass shootings occurred in gun-free zones.
“These numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Gottlieb said. “They always tell us we’ll see all kinds of carnage without gun control. But we’re not going to see that because we aren’t seeing it in the 26 states that have permitless carry.”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 19:00 - Republicans Accuse Biden of 'Anti-Israel' Policies As Relations Hit Low Point
Republicans Accuse Biden of ‘Anti-Israel’ Policies As Relations Hit Low Point
At a moment the relationship between the Biden White House and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing to deteriorate over what the US admin has called the latter’s ‘extreme’ stances, Republicans have lashed out, charging Biden with ‘anti-Israel’ Policies.
Fourteen Republican US senators are holding up confirmation of State Department officials, they have announced, until the White House reverses its “antisemitic boycott of Israel”.
Image source: Politico Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, James Risch, and Tom Cotton penned a letter addressed to Biden and Secretary Blinken which said, “It is untenable for State Department officials to continue testifying to Congress that they support the US-Israel relationship and then – once out of view – to push policies designed to undermine that relationship.”
The Biden administration has recently made moves to in effect boycott Israeli goods and technology which are based in occupied West Bank locations. This as the president and his top officials have denounced Israeli settlement expansion.
Axios reported last month that the Biden administration “notified Israel two weeks ago that it was reimposing a ban that prohibits U.S. taxpayer funding from being used in any research and development or scientific cooperation projects conducted in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to three U.S. and Israeli officials.”
Further, Axios described, “The Biden administration’s decision reverses a Trump administration policy from late 2020 that allowed U.S. taxpayer funding to be used for science and technology projects in the settlements for the first time since 1967.”
The White House has also criticized Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul initiative, which Israeli opponents as well as tens of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets say will destroy checks and balances and given the ruling far-right coalition unprecedented power over the judiciary.
The GOP Senators wrote further, “This guidance in particular puts Americans’ safety, security, and prosperity at risk because it politicizes and undermines cooperation on science and technology, including in areas such as defense and medicine where also our Israeli allies have proven themselves critical partners.”
They are urging for the Biden administration to immediately repeal the policy and restore the Trump-era one.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/13/2023 – 18:40
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