Jan 15

Today’s News 15th January 2024

  • 'Just Say No!' – Non-Compliance Is The Answer
    ‘Just Say No!’ – Non-Compliance Is The Answer

    Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via DailyReckoning.com,

    Just Say No

    The train wasn’t scheduled for another 20 minutes, so I had a chance to contemplate the official sign on the door of the huge elevator leading to the platform.

    It said that only four people are allowed in because we must all practice social distancing. There was a helpful map of the interior of the elevator with stick figures telling people exactly where to stand.

    Yes, these stickers are still everywhere. I recall when they first went up, sometime in April 2020. They seemed oddly uniform and appeared even permanent. At the time I thought, oh, this is a huge error because within a few weeks, the error of the whole of this idiocy is going to be known by all.

    Sadly, my worst fears came true: It was designed to be a permanent feature of our lives.

    Same with the strange arrows on the ground telling us which way to walk.

    They are still everywhere, stuck on the floor, an integral part of the linoleum. If you walk this way, you will infect people, which is why you have to walk that way, which is safe.

    As for masks, the mandates keep popping up in strange places and strange ways. My inbox fills with pleas for how people can fight this stuff.

    Orwell Couldn’t Even Imagine It

    The essential message of all these edicts: You are pathogenic, a carrier, poisonous, dangerous, and so is everyone else. Every human person is a disease vector. While it’s fine you are out and about, you must always create a little isolation zone around you such that you have no contact with other human beings.

    It’s so odd that no dystopian novel ever imagined a plot centered on such a stupid and evil concept. Not even in 1984 or The Hunger Games or Equilibrium or Brave New World or Anthem, was it ever imagined that a government would institute a rule that all people in public spaces must stand six feet away in all directions from any other person.

    That some government would insist on this was too crazy for even the darkest imaginings of the most pessimistic prognosticator. That 200 governments in the world, at roughly the same time, would go there was unimaginable.

    And yet here we are, years after the supposed emergency, and while governments are not enforcing it, for the most part, many are still pushing the practice as the ideal form of human engagement.

    Except that we’re not doing it.

    No One Takes It Seriously

    In this train station, no one paid any attention to any of the signage. The exhortations were entirely ignored, even by those who are still masked up (and, one presumes, boosted seven times).

    When the moment arrived for people to get into the elevator, a crowd began to pour in, quickly beyond four, then eight, then 12. I stood there shoulder to shoulder with fully 25 other people in one elevator with a sign that demanded only four people get in at any one time.

    I sort of wanted to ask the crowd if they saw the sign and what did they think. But that would have been absurd, because, actually, no one even cares. In any case, one guy asking a crowded elevator such a question would have raised suspicions that I was deep state or something.

    It was never clear in any case who was enforcing this. Who issued the rule? What are the penalties for not complying? No one ever said. Sure, there was in the past usually some flunky bureaucrat or Karen who yelled at people and said do this and don’t do that. But those people seem long ago to have given up.

    It’s not even a thing anymore. And yet the signs still exist. Probably they will stay forever.

    There is an enormous disjunction that still persists between what we are told to do and what we actually do. It’s as if incredulity toward official diktat is now baked into our daily lives.

    Making Sense of It All

    My first thought is that it doesn’t make much sense at all, even from the point of view of those who aspire to control our lives, to issue commands to which no one listens or obeys.

    On the other hand, there might be some meta-rationale for this, as if to say, “We are nuts, you know we are nuts, we know you know we are nuts, but we are in charge and can continue to do this anyway.”

    In other words, edicts to which no one complies serve a certain purpose.

    They’re really a visual reminder of who is in charge, what those people believe, and the presence of a Sword of Damocles hanging above the whole population: At any point, anyone can be snatched away from normal life, made a criminal, and be forced to pay a price.

    The nuttier the edicts, the more effective the message.

    Thus do we live in insane times. There seems to be a huge and widening gulf separating the rulers from the ruled, and this gulf pertains to values, aims, methods and even vision for the future.

    Whereas most of the population aspires to live a better life, we cannot shake the sense that someone out there who has more power than the rest of us aspires for us to be poorer, more miserable, more afraid, more dependent and more compliant.

    After all, we are just barely shaking off the most grandiose experiment in universal human control in the historical record, the attempt to micromanage the whole of everyone belonging to the human race in the name of gaining control over the microbial kingdom.

    The effort petered out over time but how in the heck does anyone with ruling-class power expect to maintain any credibility after such a destructive experiment?

    They’ll Never Admit They Were Wrong

    And yet there is a reason we have heard precious few concessions that it was all bogus and unworkable, and why there is still a dripping sound of papers telling us that the whole scheme worked pretty well and that people who say otherwise are disseminators of disinformation.

    There are still publishing opportunities out there to trash repurposed generics and praise the shots and boosters. The power is still with the crazy people, not with those who question them.

    And the people who threw themselves into COVID controls as the greatest years of their lives are still at it. Hardly a day goes by when there is not a freshly written hit piece on the resistance and efforts to trash those with enough sagacity to see through all the baloney.

    Far from being rewarded, those who protested and opposed are still living under a cloud that comes with being an enemy of the state.

    We all know that it is not just about these dumb stickers and these virus controls. There is more going on.

    Noncompliance Is the Answer

    Coincident with the pandemic restrictions came the triumph of woke ideology, the intense push for EVs, a wild ramp-up in weather paranoia with the discovery that climates change, a rampant gender dysphoria and denial of chromosomal reality, an unprecedented refugee flood that no one in power is willing to mitigate, a continued attack on gas including even stoves and a host of other inane things that are driving rational people to the brink of despair.

    We long ago gave up the hope that all of this is random and coincidental, any more than it so happened that nearly every government in the world decided to plaster social distancing signs everywhere at the same time.

    Something is going on, something malevolent.

    The battle of the future really is between them and us but who or what “them” is remains opaque and too many of “us” are still confused about what the alternative is to what is happening all around us.

    Noncompliance is an essential start regardless.

    That crowded elevator, assembling spontaneously in open defiance to the blasting signage, is a sign that something in the human longing to be free to make our own decisions still survives.

    There are cracks in the great edifice of control.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 23:20

  • Dems Hatch "Republicans For A Day" Scheme To Boost Haley Vs. Trump In Iowa Caucuses
    Dems Hatch “Republicans For A Day” Scheme To Boost Haley Vs. Trump In Iowa Caucuses

    Iowa Democrats and independents have a plan to make a dent in former President Donald Trump’s massive lead over the rest of the GOP field – help Nikki Haley by becoming “Republicans for a day” during the Iowa caucuses.

    According to Axios, “crossover” voting is a low-key tradition in the Iowa event, as the state allows day-of party registration for voters, while Democrats aren’t holding in-person presidential  caucuses this year – providing the perfect opportunity for uniparty Democrats to support yet another perpetual war candidate.

    As Don McLeese of west Des Moines told Axios, the crossover voting scheme gives anti-Trumpers “a chance to diminish Trump’s inevitability,” adding “I’ll hold my nose and caucus for Haley.“

    Iowa Republican precinct captain for Haley, Lyle Hansen, acknowledged that “there could be a good crossover” vote for Haley, because Democrats “get to come over and pick the candidate for Biden to oppose.”

    Des Moines Democrat Jonathan Neiderbach told the outlet “I believe all Americans should cast a vote against Donald Trump every chance we have.”

    Reality bites…

    As Axios notes, the crossover votes are “are highly unlikely to help Haley catch Trump, who’s consistently had a big lead in Iowa polls.”

    • But GOP strategist David Kochel said that if crossovers see Haley as the best Republican alternative to Trump, they could help her finish a solid second in Iowa, ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
    • “If you even had 5,000 or 7,500 people across the state cross over for her, that might be the difference between her and Ron DeSantis,” Kochel said.

    The intrigue: There’s some risk for Iowa’s Democratic Party if many of its members cross over to vote with Republicans.

    • People who switch parties to participate in a caucus sometimes don’t switch back, Tim Hagle, a political scientist at the University of Iowa, tells Axios.

    Responding to the ‘threat,’ Trump senior adviser Chrris LaCivita brushed aside any concerns. 

    “If that is something they are relying on to get through the night, then poor people, I feel bad for them,” he told Axios.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 22:45

  • The Deception Of Today's Push For Diversity
    The Deception Of Today’s Push For Diversity

    Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org,

    “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal…”

    Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

    A recurring theme in movies, television, and literature, is the “big lie.”

    We’ve always heard the adage, “if you tell a lie big enough, and keep repeating it, more people will believe it.” I think the original version of that quote is attributed to the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Although like with most historical references, Goebbels may never have said this.

    Anyway, might as well say he did, eh? Easy enough.

    “Diversity” and the efforts toward achieving it, as described by the agenda, is a lie. A Big Lie. So is “inclusion” and “equity”—nice ideas, and in a sane world, nice ideals to work toward. But in our current “Bizarro World,” all lies. In fact, as you well know, most of everything out there instigated and implemented by the “government” are lies. Big ones.

    Sad but true.

    Why are these things labelled “Big Lies” and not just plain ‘ol little lies?

    The “woke culture” calls anyone who points out diversity as a bigot or racist. For example, if a person comments on the unique apparel of an ethnic group he runs the risk of being called a racist. A person who comments on an attribute of a particular race (good or bad), he is called a profiling bigot. If someone recognizes diversity and points it out, he is a racist. You don’t honour diversity by cancelling anything that is culturally diverse. That doesn’t make sense. Since these things have worked their way into the culture so deeply, identifying them and labelling them the way the culture does, qualifies as a big lie.

    I wrote a previous article about this titled: “Pseudo-diversity”. The points I made then are slightly different than the points I am making now, but all similar. Here is a quote from that article that falls more in alignment with today’s thoughts:

    It seems I am stumbling with the term “diversity.” Isn’t that what all the fuss is about these days? Everyone seems to want to be identified and seen as unique, but at the same time they wish to have no uniqueness at all. The culture seems to be wanting to cancel out any thought, thing, idea, concept, skill, culture, biology, gender/sex, that claims uniqueness, a strength or weakness, a difference good or bad, but at the same time wants a unique title for all this as well as a recognized exclusivity. Inclusivity and exclusivity: there seems to be no tolerance for sameness, but also no tolerance for difference. Now THAT’S the formula for a mess.

    At the time that I wrote this, I was a bit perplexed as to why such a thing was happening. As with most stuff happening these days, it just didn’t make sense. Why would they say one thing and then do another?

    Why would the “woke culture” be so ready to decimate someone for a “non-inclusionary” remark, yet at the same time advocate the blind acceptance of such unique and eclectic views, not understanding that such unique and eclectic people are by their very nature are “not included.”

    Am I the only one who sees this paradox?

    For a culture to truly be accepting of diversity, that culture must first allow diversity and not be so focused on making everyone the same—and thus unnoticeable. There is a fine line between bigoted prejudice and tolerance.

    Tolerance is the operative word in a stabilized society.

    Tolerance, flexibility, and resilience are on the side of the “unique, diverse, individual or group.” As well as with the “majority” group which may be accused of cultural bigotry.

    Yes, hateful prejudice is a trait to attempt to eliminate, but not a realization that people are different. We must encourage an awareness of differences, and along with awareness of differences, people should be allowed, within reason, to express their awareness of those differences. “Oh look, that man is black, that person has a penis but is dressed like a woman, these people are different than I am, I notice that, and I accept it, but some of it may make me uncomfortable.”

    Maybe some of it I don’t like, and if I feel it encroaches on my own quality of life, I may express that fact without violence or hate.

    (A clear example of this is the plethora of trans “storytelling” events in elementary schools. Cannot we reject such activities without being labelled hateful toward trans persons?)

    To force people (through shaming) to love every lifestyle choice people make, and if they don’t, to then be accused of being bigots, or worse, are arrested for a human rights violation, is not a good thing. People should be allowed to be different. This axiom does not only apply to people who are attempting to be contrary to the “middle of the bell curve majority,” but also to people who are in the “middle of the bell curve majority.” They have just as much right to be accepted for who they are, including their own beliefs about self and worldview, and not be bullied or legally threatened into agreeing with choices they simply do not agree with (such as a requirement to address people by their chosen pronoun.)

    Yes, there is a grey area with all of this, and I do not mean to be bulldozing through this grey area with my sweeping comments. Although in my own personal worldview, I believe people even have the right to be racist, as long as they do not hurt anyone through their bigotry. I also believe a “better society” is created if these bigotries are eliminated. I believe the core of bigotry is a natural suspicion of differences. More integrated humans are less threatened by other people’s differences. Although we may have a “right” to be threatened, it generally makes for a better society if we are not.

    “Live and let live” is the fundamental model for peaceful co-existence here. And we have, throughout our human history, tried to make a go of it. It is only recently that we seem to be making some serious inroads in this regard—until the agenda came along and mucked it all up. In other words, I do not believe that what we are experiencing regarding this insane “woke” crap is a natural organic phenomenon. The devil is making us do it, maybe quite literally.

    Once again, the carrot-to-stick tactic is being used. The carrot is the noble ideal of diversity, equity, and inclusion to all people of all cultures and ethnicities. Yeah, that’s nice, we can go along with that! But then tell us all that we are despicable human beings for thinking men with penises and testicles should not be competing in women’s sports, or that a person of colour should not get the top brain surgeon position when they are not the most competent.

    Tell us we are bigots and transphobic if we don’t believe we should be required to guess someone’s fantasy pronouns and wind up in jail or with a hefty fine if we fail. Tell us we are wrong to think of certain cultures as having certain identifiable traits, particularly from different periods in history (such as a person born and raised in the Chinese tradition having particular dress attributes) without being accused of extreme insensitivity and a disgusting violator of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

    Then we are punished for actually recognizing that people are different.

    And we are being punished for believing that not everyone is entitled to every prize out there, but indeed some people who have worked hard, or shown a particular skill are “included” in a special group exploiting those gifts, and others are indeed excluded.

    That is equity.

    Where is the equity in making everyone the same, everyone, regardless of their specialness or uniqueness or skill or talent or hard work, being herded into a singular “sameness” with everyone else?

    Don’t fall for this DEI carrot. It is a big lie and a nasty one at that. It creates resentment, anger, frustration, confusion, and sadness. And above all, it creates the opposite of what it claims to create.

    Just what the doctor ordered, and we all know where orders from the doctor lead us.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 22:10

  • Law-Abiding Americans Reject Biden's Border Invasion & Imploding Cities By Buying More Guns
    Law-Abiding Americans Reject Biden’s Border Invasion & Imploding Cities By Buying More Guns

    New data shows that 2023 firearm purchases among law-abiding Americans remain elevated. This comes as the Biden administration floods the nation with millions of illegals on the southern border, and Democrats controlling major metro areas have sparked a violent crime crisis in recent years due to failed social justice reforms. 

    Americans know the country is in big trouble. The government is allowing an invasion of the southern border, and Democrat-run metro areas resemble scenes from the violent video game ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ 

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    Folks are waking up that stripped-down police forces (remember, Democrats pushed ‘defund the police’) aren’t going to rescue them in a time of need, and they must rely on what the Founding Fathers granted them: Second Amendment.

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    That’s why new data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation shows nearly 16 million gun sales in 2023, with December alone seeing upwards of 1.7 million. 

    “Further, 2023 continued a 53-month-long running trend of consumers purchasing over a million firearms per month,” website Gun.com wrote. 

    Mark Oliva, NSSF’s director of public affairs, had this to say about elevated gun buying:

    “Americans showed they want their Second Amendment rights by the millions – once again.

    “These are solid figures that reflect the mood of Americans and the desire to exercise Second Amendment rights. These figures are a reminder of the importance law-abiding citizens place on their personal safety and freedoms, even as the Biden-Harris administration is using a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to chill and ultimately eliminate those rights.”

    Meanwhile, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System ended the year with 29,854,186 checks, which surpassed 2022’s figure of 28,904,713. 

    Former President Trump was correct last year when he said the US is a “third-world hellhole” run by “pervert criminals and thugs.”

    “Millions of illegal aliens have stormed across our borders, it is an invasion, like a military invasion. Our rights and liberties are being torn to shreds,” Trump said, adding, “Your country is being turned into a third-world hellhole, run by censors, perverts criminals and thugs.”

    It sure looks like an invasion.  

    Here’s more from Trump… 

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    Lawful firearm possession is the only deterrent against criminals as Democrats shred common-sense law and order for chaos – if that is on the southern border or in imploding progressive metro areas. 

    We’ll leave readers with this quote: “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life,” Robert A. Heinlein.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 21:35

  • Jim Jordan Says Democrat Border Proposal DOA
    Jim Jordan Says Democrat Border Proposal DOA

    Update (2130ET): While word of a stopgap seemed like a done deal over the weekend, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) warned that it’s unlikely to be smooth sailing – telling Bloomberg Television that there’s no way the Senate border compromise would pass the House, and that he’s confident Speaker Mike Johnson will reject it as such.

    “We’ve got to see the plan, but based on what’s leaked out thus far, there’s no way I’m going to go for that. There’s no way Speaker Johnson’s going to go for that,” said Jordan.

    On Saturday, Johnson suggested that he wasn’t having it…

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    According to the report, lawmakers aren’t quite as close as previously reported – though they are laying the groundwork for a possible stopgap funding deal that would keep the lights on until sometime in March.

    House Republicans will speak tonight via conference call to discuss concerns over the border and a path forward on spending, Jordan told the outlet.

    Meanwhile, Jordan said he and his staff are working to reissue a subpoena for Hunter Biden to testify in private as part of his committee’s investigation into the Biden family business dealings.

    *  *  *

    You’ll never guess what happened…

    That’s right, folks! Our wise and benevolent lawmakers have once again averted debt ceiling disaster – after lawmakers in the House and Senate reached a bipartisan spending deal that will extend two major deadlines and keep the government operating … for six more weeks!

    Until we get to do this all over again.

    According to NBC News (so who knows), “The deal would keep the government funded until March, buying legislators more time to craft longer-term, agency-specific spending bills, following the agreement last weekend to set the overall spending level for fiscal year 2024 at $1.59 trillion.”

    The new agreement moves upcoming government funding deadlines for different departments from Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 to March 1 and March 8.

    The short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution or “CR,” will need to pass both the House and Senate before Friday at 11:59 p.m. to avoid a partial government shutdown.

    Speaker Mike Johnson is set to hold a call with fellow House Republicans at 8 p.m. Sunday to discuss spending negotiations. Several hard-right Republicans have objected to the top–line spending deal he previously cut with Senate Democrats and have urged Johnson to go back on it, though he said Friday that the agreement remains intact. -NBC News

    “The bipartisan topline appropriations agreement clears the way for Congress to act over the next few weeks in order to maintain important funding priorities for the American people and avoid a government shutdown,” said Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries – the top Democrats in both chambers.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 21:31

  • Gonzalo Lira, Who Claimed Ukraine Tortured Him, Confirmed Dead By State Department
    Gonzalo Lira, Who Claimed Ukraine Tortured Him, Confirmed Dead By State Department

    Update (2106ET): The US State Department has confirmed the death of journalist Gonzalo Lira, who was arrested in Ukraine, which claimed that he “publicly justified” Russia’s invasion.

    According to journalist Breanna Morello, the State Department ‘confirmed the death of U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine.”

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    During Lira’s first stint in Ukrainian prison, he claimed that he was tortured, explaining that “two thugs held my head and used a toothpick to scratch the whites of my left eye, while asking me if I could still read if I had just one.”

    He was re-arrested while making a run for the Hungarian border. More recently, he wrote in a letter to family that: “I have had double pneumonia (both lungs) as well as pneumothorax and a very severe case of edema (swelling of the body). All this started in mid-October, but was ignored by the prison.”

    If Lira’s claims are accurate, Ukraine tortured him, then ignored a severe health crisis, and now he’s dead. Don’t hold your breath for the MSM to demand justice as they did with Jamal Khashoggi.

    And again, we’re sure this asshole is happy.

    *  *  *

    Journalist Gonzalo Lira has died while in Ukrainian custody, according to his father.

    “Gonzalo Lira, Sr. says his son has died at 55 in a Ukrainian prison, where he was being held for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments,” wrote Tucker Carlson on X. “Gonzalo Lira was an American citizen, but the Biden administration clearly supported his imprisonment and torture.”

    In May, Lira was arrested by Ukrainian authorities because he “publicly justified” the Russian invasion, according to a press release by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

    The statement from Kiev said that Lira “has the citizenship of one of the countries of Latin America” but omitted that he is also California-born U.S. citizen, as ZeroHedge contributor Space Worm reported at the time.

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    Following his release, Lira said he was tortured in a Ukrainian prison, explaining that “two thugs held my head and used a toothpick to scratch the whites of my left eye, while asking me if I could still read if I had just one.” Lira informed followers that he was making a mad-dash via motorcycle towards the Hungarian border:

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    According to journalist Alex Rubernstein, Lira said that he had double pneumonia (both lungs), which was ignored by the Ukrainian prison holding him.

    “I have had double pneumonia (both lungs) as well as pneumothorax and a very severe case of edema (swelling of the body). All this started in mid-October, but was ignored by the prison. They only admitted I had pneumonia at a Dec. 22 hearing,” reads the letter. “I am about to have a procedure to reduce the edema pressure in my lungs, which is causing me extreme shortness of breath, to the point of passing out after minimal activity, or even just talking for 2 minutes.”

    In response to Lira’s reported death, his father allegedly wrote: “I cannot accept the way my son has died. He was tortured, extorted, incommunicado for 8 months and 11 days and the US Embassy did nothing to help my son. The responsibility of this tragedy is the dictator Zelensky with the concurrence of a senile American President, Joe Biden.”

    We’re sure this asshole is happy.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 21:07

  • Canceled! Are You At Risk Of Losing Your Home Insurance?
    Canceled! Are You At Risk Of Losing Your Home Insurance?

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Insurance costs are soaring and companies are canceling policies and upping rates. Don’t blame climate change. I address the real reasons for this mess.

    Dropped

    I had been working on this insurance idea for a few days. The tweet below by Adam drives the message, but only for fire insurance. I added hurricane and river flooding. 

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    There are other flood zones along any major river or low areas. Hurricanes also cause flooding. People need wind and flood insurance in some zones. Judging from the map, some places in Florida are at risk for several reasons.

    The link in the above Tweet is paywalled.

    Buying Home and Auto Insurance Is Becoming Impossible

    The Wall Street Journal reports Buying Home and Auto Insurance Is Becoming Impossible

    After Allstate suffered billions of dollars in losses and failed to get the rate increases it wanted, it resorted to the nuclear option.

    The insurance giant threatened last fall to stop renewing auto insurance for customers in three states that hadn’t given in to its demands, which would have left those policyholders scrambling for coverage. The states blinked.

    In December, New Jersey approved auto rate increases for Allstate averaging 17%, and New York, a 15% hike. Regulators in California are allowing Allstate to boost auto rates by 30%, but still haven’t decided on its request for a 40% increase in home-insurance rates after the insurer refused to write new policies.

    Farmers Insurance Group increased home-insurance rates by more than 23% last year for tens of thousands of policyholders in both Illinois and Texas, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Nationwide Mutual said it won’t renew 10,525 home-insurance policies in hurricane-prone areas of North Carolina.

    State Farm racked up $13 billion in property-casualty underwriting losses in 2022, its worst ever. Last year, it stopped writing new home-insurance policies in California. The state’s regulators last month approved a 20% home-insurance rate increase.

    In California’s wildfire-prone San Bernardino County, insurers in 2021 refused to renew 1,355 policies in a zip code that abuts Lake Arrowhead, north of San Bernardino, up sharply from 157 refusals in 2015, according to an analysis by research firm First Street Foundation.

    In November, Chaucer Group, a London-based reinsurer, named several regions once considered low risk for wildfires that it said are “quickly becoming areas of concern for catastrophic wildfire insurance losses.” They include mountainous areas between Salt Lake City and Denver, and the Appalachian Mountains from Tennessee to New York. 

    Another concern is Texas, partly because of increased development on the fringes of metropolitan areas stemming from migration from California, the report said.

    Despite some concessions from regulators, insurers are bracing for a tough future. Allstate’s Wilson said that everywhere in the country is at some risk from increasingly severe weather. “There is no place that’s safe,” he said, “and no place that’s not going to be impacted.”

    Reinsurers to the Rescue?

    Also consider the WSJ report The Insurance Market Is Healing

    Going into last year, rising interest rates helped lead to a slower influx of capital into reinsurance, which is the backstop that insurers use to protect against so-called tail risks such as hurricanes and earthquakes. That finally gave the upper hand to reinsurers in pricing negotiations, after several years of seeing their pricing struggle to keep up with the rising losses on global catastrophes. That in turn led primary insurers that sell coverage to individuals and businesses to bear more of their own risk.

    Global reinsurers posted a return on equity of 21% on average in the first nine months of 2023, up 18 percentage points from the prior year, according to Fitch Ratings. Meanwhile, primary carriers have cited higher reinsurance costs for decisions such as halting sales of new homeowners policies in places like California. Property-casualty insurers overall are projected to have seen a drop in underwriting performance and returns in 2023, according to Fitch.

    Is the Market Healing?

    In Florida, the insurer of last resort is now the main provider of home coverage.

    Perhaps one can make a claim “the market is healing” but customers facing 30 percent rate hikes likely will not see it that way.

    Climate Change Nonsense

    Politicians will be all over this story, but none of this has anything to do with climate change.

    In nature, fire is a natural occurrence. Decades of fire suppression coupled with decades of accumulation of dead brush created these tinder boxes such that once big fires start, they are difficult to extinguish.

    Please note blatant incompetence by PG&E, California’s electric utility.

    PG&E equipment has repeatedly been linked to major wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people. PG&E has faced several fines in relation to its connection with wildfires, including a $150 million settlement for the 2020 Zogg Fire. That fire burned 56,338 acres, or roughly 88 square miles.

    On top of PG&E and California regulatory incompetence, please factor in home prices

    Consumer Price Index Items

    Since 2020, home prices are up 45 percent. It’s safe to assume the price of labor fixing things after any kind of storm or fire damage is up even more.

    Consumer Price Index Change Since January 2020 Key Items

    • Home Prices (Through October): +45 Percent

    • CPI: +19 Percent

    • CPI Excluding Food and Energy: +18 Percent

    • Rent of Primary Residence: +21 Percent

    • Food: +25 Percent

    Assessing the Insurance Fiasco Blame

    • Inflation

    • PG&E

    • Failure to clear brush

    • Building in flood and hurricane zone

    • Climate change policy Itself (not failure to address climate change)

    If insurance has doubled or tripled or cancelled, blame inflation, regulators in California and elsewhere for allowing homes to be built in flood zones and for not clearing brush in fire zones.

    None of this has a damn thing to do climate change. It’s a combination of inflation coupled with poor policies, building in flood zones, and not clearing accumulated brush.

    North Carolina

    A reader just sent this story on North Carolina: Insurers ask NC to hike homeowners rates by 42.2%

    Is Inflation Down? That’s What President Biden Says

    To highlight the discussion, I ask Is Inflation Down? That’s What President Biden Says

    The irony is Biden’s climate change regulations coupled with his free money policies that are stoking inflation everywhere that’s to blame for this insurance mess, not climate change itself.

    Nonetheless, have no fear, this insurance mess will all be blamed on “climate change”.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 21:00

  • Debt-Saddled Consumers Embracing Even More "Doom Spending"
    Debt-Saddled Consumers Embracing Even More “Doom Spending”

    Via SchiffGold.com,

    In a disturbing (but unsurprising) trend, more than 1 out of 4 US consumers are throwing in the towel with defeatist “Doom Spending” sprees — despite already being saddled with crippling levels of debt. This behavior is akin to someone who, feeling overwhelmed, indulges excessively in a habit they know isn’t beneficial. In a similar vein, these Americans, perhaps feeling a sense of despair, are accumulating unprecedented levels of new debt through spending sprees that are beyond their financial means.

    In fact, the average household owed a staggering, unsustainable $103,358 last year, with Q2 consumer debt totaling $16.84 trillion nationally according to Experian.

    The result is a deeper and more terminal state of consumer financial decline than ever, but don’t tell that to National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay. He was unsurprisingly delighted to find a record number of shoppers turned out for Black Friday deals in 2023 despite ballooning consumer debt and broader economic and political uncertainty.

    “Shoppers exceeded our expectations with a robust turnout. Retailers large and small were prepared to deliver safe, convenient, and affordable shopping experiences with the products and services consumers needed, and at great prices.”

    Never mind that many of these shoppers took out loans to pay for it all. With last year’s reports of a return to pre-pandemic holiday spending, an optimistic outlook appeared superficially tempting. However, inflation isn’t likely to be calmed in 2024. That means that the usual New Year’s resolutions to spend less and save more aren’t going to be enough to stop the credit-fueled doom spending trend. 

    One major reason is that so-called “resilient” consumers still haven’t paid off their debt from last year’s holidays, have blown through their savings, and are now going deeper in debt than ever. With little hope left, doom spending has become a self-contradictory psychological palliative and, in some cases, a way for despondent consumers to trick themselves into presenting a veneer of normalcy.

    While politicians love calling high spending a sign of economic strength, they tend to neglect to mention important facts, such as that consumers are maxing out their credit cards in the process. Ironically, a large subset of consumers respond to financial stress by digging an even deeper hole for themselves, but perhaps they’re just following the example set by the US government and central bank. 

    Ignoring the specter of trillions in post-Covid money still swirling around in the economy, the Fed claims that it has sufficiently reduced inflationary pressures and can start to lower rates again next year. After declaring inflation “transitory” in 2023, Jerome Powell blamed everything but Federal Reserve monetary policy for rising prices:

    “It was a combination of very strong demand, without question, and unusual supply-side restrictions, both on the goods side but also on the labor side, because we had a [labor force] participation shock.” 

    Now we’re led to believe that rate cuts are on the horizon. And while cheaper borrowing in 2024 may be a good sign for the price of gold, it’s a terrible choice for a central bank claiming to have won its war against inflation after such an unprecedented historic frenzy of Covidian money printing. As Peter Schiff remarked about 2023’s final FOMC meeting,

    “The Fed surrendered. Inflation won the fight…it is a pivot in defeat. The Fed stopped hiking rates because it can’t hike them anymore…now that the Fed has said, “Mission Accomplished, the dollar is going to tank.”

    Unable to stuff the inflation genie back in the bottle, consumers aren’t likely to get the relief they need to start actually saving again this year. And while a tanking dollar may be good for gold, for doom spenders, diminishing purchasing power coupled with the availability of cheaper debt will only reinforce their habit. The psychology of doom spending indicates that a lower cost of borrowing will only tempt them to feed their addiction with more borrowed money. Meanwhile, the last of their savings are being wiped out, they’re hitting their current cards’ credit limits, and previous debts are increasingly being left unpaid.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 19:50

  • When DEI Becomes DIE: FAA Now Hiring People With "Severe Intellectual And Psychiatric Disability"
    When DEI Becomes DIE: FAA Now Hiring People With “Severe Intellectual And Psychiatric Disability”

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    Americans were stunned on Sunday afternoon after Fox News reported the Federal Aviation Administration, overseen by Mayor Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s Transporation Department, rolled out a new “Diversity and Inclusion” program to hire people with “severe intellectual disability” and “psychiatric disability” (among various other disabilities), just days after the latest mid-air near-disaster involving a Boeing 737 Max heightened the public’s attention to the potentially deadly impact of woke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies in the skies.

    “Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website read.

    “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.”

    The FAA’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) hiring plan claims that “diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.” 

    When satire becomes a reality… 

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    This is scary. 

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    We hope that the purpose behind the FAA’s DEI hiring spree isn’t aimed at addressing the air traffic controller shortage. This won’t end well. 

    This development comes after a Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner’s door ripped off the plane while flying over Portland earlier this month. X users have said Boeing prioritizes DEI initiatives, which could jeopardize safety. 

    “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety?” Elon Musk wrote on X last week. “That is actually happening.”

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    Welcome to the new society of the clown world (thank the Marxists in the White House pushing the woke agenda – while mega-corporations do the same). 

    At this point, DEI is clearly going too far… or do people first have to DIE for this to become common knowledge?

    Musk is correct: “DEI must DIE.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 18:40

  • NBC News Admits 'Deep State' Exists… To Save Us From Trump's Return
    NBC News Admits ‘Deep State’ Exists… To Save Us From Trump’s Return

    The last time Donald Trump got within striking distance of the Oval Office in 2016, the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration, and various foreign accomplices invented a hoax accusing the real estate tycoon of being a secret Russian agent, who would use the power of the United States to do Vladimir Putin’s bidding (Which begs the question; why wouldn’t Putin have just invaded Ukraine when his ‘puppet’ Trump wouldn’t have waged a proxy war?).

    And when Donald Trump asked Ukraine about obvious corruption by the Biden family, one of the key ‘deep state’ players in his impeachment behind the scenes was none other than Mary McCord – who went from taking down Michael Flynn after the FBI set him up, to helping Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to peddle a “whistleblower” complaint about Trump’s Ukraine call.

    McCord is back with a new hoax to peddle, telling NBC News that the Deep State is preparing for Trump’s return – and is taking action to limit his ability to ‘become a dictator’ and use the military to those ends.

    “We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” McCord – executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law – told the outlet.

    The quotes from this fine piece of yellow journalism from NBC are simply hilarious…

    • “Donald Trump is sparking fears among those who understand the inner workings of the Pentagon that he would convert the nonpartisan U.S. military into the muscular arm of his political agenda as he makes comments about dictatorship and devalues the checks and balances that underpin the nation’s two-century-old democracy.”

    • “A circle of appointees independent of Trump’s political operation steered him away from ideas that would have pushed the limits of presidential power in his last term.”

    • “In a new term, many former officials worry that Trump would instead surround himself with loyalists unwilling to say no.”

    • “He’s a clear and present danger to our democracy.“

    • “His support is solid. And I don’t think people understand what living in a dictatorship would mean.”

    • “There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act.”

    • “The military is hundreds of thousands of people strong, and ultimately Trump will find people to follow his legal orders no matter what … The Insurrection Act is a legal order, and if he orders it there will be military officers, especially younger men and women, who will follow that legal order.“

    This one might be the best: “We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy,” said William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration. “I think that’s how close we’re coming to it when you have a presidential candidate who can be indicted on 91 counts, who can be [found liable for] sexual aggression, who we have seen lies pathologically, who has flouted every rule in the book.”

    Wow!

    Narrative: Trump is going to appoint loyal peons to subvert democracy and declare himself a dictator.

    But wait, the deep state cavalry is here!

    “Now, bracing for Trump’s potential return, a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers is quietly devising plans to try to foil any efforts to expand presidential power, which could include pressuring the military to cater to his political needs.”

    Part of the aim is to identify like-minded organizations and create a coalition to challenge Trump from day one, those taking part in the discussions said. Some participants are combing through policy papers being crafted for a future conservative administration. They’re also watching the interviews that Trump allies are giving to the press for clues to how a Trump sequel would look.

    Other participants include Democracy Forward, an organization that took the Trump administration to court more than 100 times during his administration, and Protect Democracy, an anti-authoritarian group.

    …

    Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is crafting a bill that would clarify the act and give Congress and the courts some say in its use. Its chances of passage are slim given that Republicans control the House and are largely loyal to Trump.

    You tell us what that sounds like… 

    deep state
    noun

    • a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.

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    “We are preparing for litigation and preparing to use every tool in the toolbox that our democracy provides to provide the American people an ability to fight back,” according to Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. “We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy and it’s incumbent on everybody to do their part.”

    Ah yes, another ‘existential moment.’

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    Remember, the first rule of ‘Deep State’ is you do not talk about ‘Deep State’.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 18:05

  • The Propaganda That Is Selective Science
    The Propaganda That Is Selective Science

    Authored by Lori Weintz via The Brownstone Institute,

    I am calling for a halt of the use of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.

    Dr. Joseph Ladapo
    Florida Surgeon General
    January 3, 2024

    It is hard to believe Dr. Ladapo actually issued that statement.

    Dr. Paul Offit
    Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
    January 5, 2024

    For those who are not doctors, which happens to be most of us, we depend on those few who have dedicated years of their lives to the scientific and medical fields to help inform us so we can make good decisions about our own health. Heading into the pandemic, a public largely jaded toward media and the government still placed high trust in their doctors. That trust has largely been betrayed during the Covid-19 pandemic years. CDC and FDA consultant Dr. Paul Offit’s response to concerns that the mRNA Covid shots may not be safe is an example of that betrayal.

    In this specific case, the Florida Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, called for an end to the use of Pfizer and Moderna mRNA Covid-19 shots, due to the discovery of DNA fragments in the vaccines, including the SV-40 promoter, which is associated with cancer. The concern is integration, which is when foreign DNA becomes incorporated into chromosomal DNA, becoming part of the human genome. 

    Dr. Ladapo wrote to the FDA on December 6, 2023 asking if the proper assessments have been conducted on the mRNA shots to address the following risks, identified by the FDA in a 2007 publication about plasmid DNA vaccines:

    • DNA integration could theoretically impact a human’s oncogenes – the genes which can transform a healthy cell into a cancerous cell.

    • DNA integration may result in chromosomal instability.

    • The Guidance for Industry discusses biodistribution of DNA vaccines and how such integration could affect unintended parts of the body including blood, heart, brain, liver, kidney, bone marrow, ovaries/testes, lung, draining lymph nodes, spleen, the site of administration and subcutis at injection site.

    The FDA’s December 14, 2023 response was basically this: That 2007 document you cite is irrelevant because mRNA vaccines aren’t DNA vaccines, besides “it is quite implausible that the residual small DNA fragments…could find their way into the nucleus…and then be incorporated into chromosomal DNA.” The FDA claims to have made a “thorough assessment of the entire manufacturing process” and is “confident in the quality, safety, and effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines.” 

    The FDA sounds like a parent telling a child, “Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.” But we are not children, and the concerns the FDA so arrogantly dismisses are valid. For example, a 2023 study of people suffering from Long Covid analyzed their cellular DNA, and unexpectedly found genes uniquely specific to the Pfizer Covid vaccine in their blood cells. In other words, mRNA Covid vaccines permanently integrate into the DNA of some Covid-vaccinated people.

    Yet the FDA claims to have “global surveillance data on over one billion doses of the mRNA vaccines that have been given, and there is nothing to indicate harm to the genome, such as increased rates of cancers.” When an ostrich buries its head in the sand, the danger isn’t gone. The FDA completely ignores the millions of Covid vaccine injuries and deaths that continue to be reported around the world, and instead claims that the real danger is the “ongoing proliferation of misinformation and disinformation about these vaccines which results in vaccine hesitancy that lowers vaccine uptake.”

    Dr. Ladapo notes the FDA’s failure to provide data or evidence to support its claims, and correctly states, “If the risks of DNA integration have not been assessed for mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings.”

    But Dr. Paul Offit, advisor to the FDA during the Covid-19 vaccines approval process, says Dr. Ladapo is wrong. In a January 5 rebuttal to Ladapo’s call for a halt to mRNA vaccination, Offit provides a stark example of propaganda – long on claims and short on facts. Offit either ignores or denies the shocking rise in myocarditis, pericarditis, strokes, neurological injuries, rapidly progressing and/or returning cancers, and lowered birth rates worldwide since the rollout of the vaccines. Offit continues to call the vaccines “safe and effective” and claims that the benefits of Covid vaccination outweigh the risks.

    So there. That’s all you need to know, as far as Dr. Offit is concerned. He sounds much like then prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern who said during the pandemic, as she enforced unprecedented and unscientific brutal Covid policies on her citizens, that they should consider the government and its mouthpieces their “single source of truth,” and should “dismiss everything else.”

    But the FDA, Dr. Paul Offit, and the others whose reputations and financial benefits are entwined in the official Covid narrative, practice Selective Science. That is, they tell us only what they want us to hear, and they present only the data that supports their narrative, which is in a word: Propaganda.

    Physician and biochemist Dr. Robert Malone, a pioneer in mRNA technology in the 1980s, has been an outspoken critic of the failed Covid-19 vaccines, which do not prevent infection or transmission of disease. Malone notes that Offit apparently has no detailed training in molecular virology, gene therapy technology, or genetic vaccines. Malone finds Offit’s supposed “debunking” of Dr. Ladapo’s concerns both “childish and absurd…It is hard to imagine that this person has been trusted to provide FDA or CDC advice on these mod-mRNA products.”

    Dr. Malone points out that the lipid nanoparticle delivery system, new to the mRNA shots, does indeed carry the DNA fragments into the human cells. Retired professor of microbiology in the UK, Dr. David Livermore, notes that most DNA fragments that reach the cytoplasm are likely degraded; however if some of the nanoparticles remain intact within the cytoplasm, transfection could occur.

    Dr. Malone states, “The issue is whether there is a safe threshold for DNA fragment contamination when co-delivered via self-assembling cationic lipid nanoplexes together with modified-mRNA. If so, show us the data which proves that this is a safe level of adulteration. [Dr. Ladapo] asked the FDA to show those data, and FDA’s director of CBER (Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research) Peter Marks responded with lies, falsehoods, gaslighting and a complete failure to disclose such data – which apparently do not exist. Much like the approach used here by Offit.”

    Dr. Offit seeks to put DNA fragments into perspective as harmless, by pointing out that the trillions of bacteria living on your body are also foreign DNA. “Assuming you live on this planet and you eat animals or plants on this planet,” says Offit, “you are ingesting foreign DNA.” Offit also states that all vaccines are made in cells, and “any viral vaccine that’s made in cells will have residual quantities of DNA…There is no avoiding that.”

    Dr. Livermore counters that Dr. Offit is essentially comparing apples to oranges. Naturally occurring DNA is not the same thing as the fragments found in the Covid shots. Livermore states, Dr. Offit “omits the point that the mRNA and any contaminating DNA [from the Covid mRNA shots] is contained inside lipid nanoparticles, designed to cross biological membranes. These deliver their payload into cells. Ergo any contaminating DNA reaches the cytoplasms.” Transfection is not only possible, it is a reality. (see here and here)

    However, Dr. Livermore believes that the Covid shots are of concern for greater and more common reasons than transfection:

    [T]he simpler good reasons to avoid these vaccines and to stop their use in the vast majority of people are that (i) they simply don’t provide any lasting protection, (ii) repeated boosters may distort innate immunity so as to increase vulnerability and (iii) most of us have achieved, through infection, the same sort of immune equilibrium we ‘enjoy’ with other respiratory coronaviruses. Why take anything with some potential hazard and no lasting benefit?

    Gastroenterologist Dr. Lisbeth Selby states, “The most fundamental reason to dispute the way the COVID vaccines were used is that the studies were not conducted to assess even medium term safety signals since the placebo groups were basically dissolved way before the proposed end dates for the studies….If the [pharmaceutical] companies cannot be trusted to follow the plans they laid out for initial study, why would they feel compelled to follow good manufacturing practices?” (see here and here)

    The continuing controversy of the Covid mRNA shots centers on multiple regulatory agency failures to comply with long-established protections for the public. From the truncated clinical trials and the suppression of serious adverse reactions that occurred in 1 out of every 800 shots given, to the concerted effort to ignore abundant proofs of massive vaccine harms, to the dogged (and incorrect) claim that Covid vaccines have saved millions of lives, the public has been denied accurate information regarding the Covid-19 shots.

    Retired physician Steven Kritz notes that there are valid reasons why full vaccine evaluation, prior to release for general use, usually takes 5-10 years. Operation Warp Speed was not a miracle of modern medicine. It was a rush job to release a product that still needed years of work before being proven safe for mass administration to the population. Dr. Kritz states, “To recommend/mandate the jab for people at virtually zero risk from the virus, and it was known early on who was at greatest risk and who was at almost zero risk…amounts to assault and battery.”

    Internal medicine physician Clayton J. Baker says the matter of whether or not the Covid shots should continue to be administered is a simple “No,” for two main reasons: 

    1) The jabs are adulterated with the DNA that isn’t supposed to be in there…Adulterated medical products, by law and by any ethical standard, should be pulled from the market. 

    2) Nobody, not Paul Offit or anyone else, really knows the dangers of this DNA contamination. Anyone can say they do, or can say injury is highly unlikely, or conjure up odds of harm, but they don’t know. The burden of safety is on the MANUFACTURER, not the consumer. Full stop.

    We are in an information war, and medicine is one of the battlegrounds. It might be easy to dismiss Dr. Offit as simply an incompetent government official, and move forward. However, Offit is part of something very ugly that seeks to control the population of the world through top-down “emergency mandates” declared due to a virus, or climate change, or civil unrest, or international conflicts. Any emergency will do.

    Evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein points out in a January 5, 2024 interview that the mistake the elites made during Covid is that they “took all of the competent people, all of the courageous people, and shoved them out of the institutions where they were hanging on.” They “created in so doing, the Dream Team – every player you could possibly want on your team to fight some historic battle against a terrible evil.”

    The small group of dissidents upended their narrative. Uptake rates on the new boosters are in the low single digits…Now I’m troubled by the fact that at the same time, we don’t see a massive majority acknowledging the vaccination campaign was a mistake in the first place…It’s important to stand up and say “I was had,” and I think all of us were.

    Bret Weintsein, PhD
    Evolutionary biologist

    The deciding factor is distilled down to this: Do you want your future ability to participate in the public square to be based on which medicines and injections you take?

    If that sounds like a preposterous question to you, you have forgotten that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ability to work, to travel, and to participate in society, was largely based on two medical interventions: wearing a face mask, and showing proof of Covid vaccination. Many complied so as to not make waves, or in the hopes that if they conformed, they would get their lives back. But unfortunately, a pattern was set by those who will try it again. 

    The World Health Organization is attempting to revise the International Health Regulations treaty in a manner that dissidents will be silenced the next time there is a pandemic (see here and here). Weinstein explains that the WHO’s pandemic plan is designed to be confusing and hard to understand, making the changes sound minor and procedural, but they’re not minor. Weinstein states, 

    I think it is fair to say that we are in the middle of a coup…We are actually facing the elimination of our national and our personal sovereignty…

    That is the purpose of what is being constructed…

    Come May of this year your nation is almost certain to sign onto a [WHO] agreement [in which] a public health emergency which the director general of the World Health Organization has total liberty to define in any way he sees fit, in other words nothing prevents climate change from being declared a public health emergency that would trigger the provisions of these modifications…

    …the provisions that would kick in are beyond jaw dropping.

    Weinstein says what has been proposed are a number of measures that would be imposed by the WHO in the event of an arbitrarily declared “public health emergency,” including mandated gene therapy injections, vaccines, no travel without a vaccine passport, and forbidding the use of medications other than those authorized by the WHO. Central to the plans under discussion is the control of “misinformation,” which of course, is anything that goes against the official narrative.

    People like Dr. Paul Offit are squarely in the camp of silencing dissent and mandating medical interventions as soon as they can drum up the next emergency. However, there are more people who do not want the life that the technocrats, corrupt government officials, and globalists are planning for us, than those who do. As tired as we are of thinking about the pandemic, we have a moral responsibility to push back and preserve our freedoms and way of life for ourselves, and especially for future generations.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 17:30

  • Two Navy Seals Missing Off Somali Coast After Nighttime Boarding Mission
    Two Navy Seals Missing Off Somali Coast After Nighttime Boarding Mission

    There has been more bad news to come out of the already chaotic waters of the Middle East region, as over the weekend it’s been widely reported that two US Navy Seals have gone missing off the cost of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden.

    The missing Seals “fell into the water during a nighttime boarding mission” on Thursday, according to US military officials, with the incident only being disclosed this weekend after the search and rescue mission has yielded no results. The fact that they went overboard in the dark would make it very hard for rescuers to immediately locate them.

    Illustrative: US Navy/Military.com

    The search and rescue mission is said to be ongoing, but given the vastness of these waters, each day that passes makes it less likely that they survived.

    According to military statements printed in The Associated Press: 

    A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public, told the Associated Press the missing SEALs were on a mission not related to Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S. and international mission to provide protection to vessels in the Red Sea.

    The SEALs were on an interdiction mission, the official said, when one of them fell off a ship after high waves hit the vessel, prompting another SEAL to go after him to attempt a rescue.

    The Seal boat had reportedly been headed toward a suspicious vessel off the Somali coast when the elite operators went overboard.

    The Gulf of Aden has become dangerous for commercial vessels and tankers due to Somali piracy, which in the last couple decades has remained a significant problem and danger. 

    The New York Times issued further details as follows:

    Navy ships and aircraft were immediately dispatched to the scene, where search and recovery efforts have been underway, the officials said. The military’s Central Command noted the rescue operations in a statement on Friday, but made no mention of the sailors being members of a SEAL team or any details of the incident.

    Military officials have started the process of notifying the families of the commandos involved in the episode, a former official said.

    Somali militants have long threatened these waters, but given that the bulk of diverted Red Sea traffic must now travel via the Cape of Good Hope around Africa due to ongoing Houthi attacks, this could result in an increase of maritime traffic nearer the Somali coast, leading to more ‘opportunity’ and ample potential targets for piracy.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 16:55

  • US Secretly Sent 'Targeting Officers' To Aid Israel's War In Gaza
    US Secretly Sent ‘Targeting Officers’ To Aid Israel’s War In Gaza

    Via The Cradle,

    The US Air Force is discreetly providing Israel with intelligence for its brutal assault on Gaza and has deployed “intelligence engagement officers on the ground,” The Intercept has reported, citing a deployment order obtained under Washington’s Freedom of Information Act. 

    “The information used to conduct airstrikes and fire long-range artillery weapons — has played a central role in Israel’s siege of Gaza. A document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests that the U.S. Air Force sent officers specializing in this exact form of intelligence to Israel in late November,” the outlet wrote. 

    Illustrative: IDF/US Army

    Just days after Hamas’ Oct.7 attack, US President Joe Biden announced that his administration would share intelligence and deploy experts from across the US to “advise the Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts.”

    But on November 21, the US Air Force issued deployment guidelines for officers being sent to Israel, which The Intercept said would be used “to provide satellite intelligence to the Israelis for the purpose of offensive targeting.” 

    Lawrence Cline, a former US intelligence engagement officer in Iraq, told the outlet that those being sent are “targeting officers.” The document cited by The Intercept provides specific instructions to US Air Force officers – some of whom specialize in providing sensitive intelligence to the Israeli army. 

    Rights groups say the US is complicit in Israeli war crimes by aiding it militarily and providing it with intelligence to help it target Palestinians in Gaza. 

    “As a general matter, US officials who are providing support to another country during armed conflict would want to make sure they are not aiding and abetting war crimes,” said Brian Finucane of the Crisis Group NGO. 

    In mid-November, a New York-based rights group filed a suit against Biden’s government for “failure to prevent and complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide” in Gaza. Nonetheless, despite publicly urging Israel to protect civilians, Washington continues to fuel the Israeli war effort. 

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    As of early December, Washington had already provided Tel Aviv with roughly 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells. This includes 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs which have killed scores of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 16:20

  • Americans Identifying As Democrats Hits Record Low
    Americans Identifying As Democrats Hits Record Low

    A Gallup poll released on Friday reveals that a record low percentage of Americans who identify as Democrats in 2023 hit a record low, when independent ‘leaners’ are excluded.

    Just 27% of Americans self-identify as Democrats, the smallest figure in the party’s history according to the survey. That said, self-identifying Republicans also hit 27%, though it did not mark the lowest figure in the party’s history – which was in 2013 when just 25% of Americans identified as such. The previous low for Democrats was in 2017 and 2015 at 29%.

    Independents, meanwhile, take the cake – with 43% of Americans identifying as such.

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    More via Gallup:

    Independent Leanings Give Republicans a Slight Edge in Party Preferences

    All Gallup survey respondents who identify as independents are then asked whether they lean more toward the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Last year, slightly more independents leaned Republican than leaned Democratic. As a result, a combined 45% of U.S. adults identify as Republicans or lean toward the GOP, while 43% are Democrats or Democratic leaners.

    The 2023 figures are similar to those from 2022, when Republicans had a one-point advantage (45% to 44%). Republican advantages have been rare since Gallup first began measuring independent political leanings on a regular basis in 1991. In fact, 2023 is just the third time Republicans have had even a slight edge, along with 1991 and 2022.

    In most years, there have been more Democrats and Democratic leaners than Republicans and Republican leaners, though the two partisan groups were tied in 2002, 2003 and 2011.

    Conservatives, Moderates Tie for Top Ideological Identification

    In addition to measuring their affiliation with either of the major political parties, Gallup asks Americans in each survey to describe their political views on a liberal to conservative spectrum. In 2023, on average, 36% of U.S. adults described their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate and 25% as liberal. Ideological identification has changed little in recent years; the latest figures essentially match the averages over the past 10 years.

    From a longer-term perspective, the notable change has been the increase in liberal identification, which was under 20% from 1992 to 2000 and in 2002 and 2004. Both conservative and moderate identification have dipped slightly over the past two decades, but there has been a larger drop for moderates than conservatives since the trend began — moderates were the biggest group from 1992 to 2002.

    As Gallup has previously documented, the increase in liberal identification reflects big shifts in how Democrats describe their political views. Last year, 53% of Democrats identified as liberal, 35% as moderate and 11% as conservative. While similar to the level in 2022, the 53% liberal figure is up from 43% in 2013, 32% in 2003 and 25% in 1994 (the first year Gallup analyzed ideology by party identification).

    Nearly three-quarters of Republicans, 73% (essentially unchanged from 2022, but also up long term), describe themselves as conservative, with most of the rest, 22%, saying they are moderate.

    Following the normal pattern for independents, the plurality of this group, 48%, identify as political moderates, while 30% are conservatives and 20% liberals.

    Implications

    As 2024 begins, the parties are closely matched based on political party identification and leanings. However, Democrats are clearly in a weaker position than they have been in any recent election year. This is based on the new low percentage of U.S. adults identifying as Democrats, as well as the Republican advantage in leaned party identification. In the past four presidential election years, Democrats had at least a five-point advantage in leaned party identification. They won the popular vote each of those years, though Republican Donald Trump won the 2016 election based on the Electoral College vote.

    This presidential election year is likely to see a drop in the percentage of political independents, as has occurred in six of the past seven presidential election years (all but 2012), amid intense focus on national politics and the two major parties. Still, even with a slight election-year drop — which has ranged from two to five points — independents will remain the largest, and arguably most persuadable, group of voters. In what is expected to be a close election contest, it is critical for each party, but especially Democrats, to nominate a candidate who can appeal to independent voters.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 15:55

  • COVID-19 Shots Linked To Autism In Vaccinated Rats: Study
    COVID-19 Shots Linked To Autism In Vaccinated Rats: Study

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A study from Turkey discovered that female rats injected with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines gave birth to offspring exhibiting symptoms of autism and lower neuronal counts in the brain.

    A 6-year-old child is comforted by her mother as she receives her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Novi, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2021. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

    The peer-reviewed study, published in the Neurochemical Research journal on Jan. 10, examined the links between COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, with a focus on autism. It analyzed the offspring of pregnant rats injected with Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during gestation. Researchers found that the vaccines had a “profound impact on key neurodevelopmental pathways,” with the male offspring exhibiting “pronounced autism-like behaviors, characterized by a marked reduction in social interaction and repetitive patterns of behavior.”

    “Furthermore, there was a substantial decrease in neuronal counts in critical brain regions, indicating potential neurodegeneration or altered neurodevelopment. Male rats also demonstrated impaired motor performance, evidenced by reduced coordination and agility.”

    In the study, female rats were randomly assigned into two groups. Those in Group 1 received an intramuscular saline injection on the thirteenth day of gestation, while rats in Group 2 received Pfizer shots on the same day. There were seven female rats in Group 1 and eight in Group 2, totaling 15 rats.

    A total of 41 offspring were born—20 among the saline group and 21 among the vaccinated. The offspring were subjected to multiple behavioral tests 50 days after their birth, with researchers noting down their performances:

    • Open Field Test, which tested for general locomotor activity and anxiety.
    • Novelty-Induced Rearing Behavior, which evaluated the offspring for their exploratory behaviors.
    • Three-chamber Sociability and Social Novelty Test, which assessed the offspring’s sociability.
    • Rotarod Test, which analyzed the offspring’s motor skills and endurance.

    Researchers found a “significant difference” between males and females in the vaccine group in terms of motor coordination and balance, with the male offspring exhibiting “more pronounced” impaired abilities.

    However, no such sex-based differences in motor coordination and balance were observed in the offspring born from rats administered with saline.

    In sociability tests, the male offspring in the vaccine group were seen spending “significantly less time” with rats who were strangers to them compared to the male offspring of the saline group.

    This difference did not exist when comparing the vaccine group’s female offspring with the saline group’s female offspring.

    The findings “underscores the importance of considering sex as a biological variable in vaccine research and highlights the need for targeted studies to further explore the implications of these sex-specific effects.”

    The study was funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye, with authors declaring no conflicts of interest.

    Brain Analysis

    After the offspring rats were tested, researchers euthanized them, extracted their brains, and subjected them to biochemical and histological evaluations. Histology refers to the microscopic structure of organs, tissues, and cells.

    Similar to behavioral tests, the biochemical and histological evaluations also found that the male offspring in the vaccine groups were affected.

    These offspring had “significantly decreased neuronal counts” in certain regions of the hippocampus compared to the males from the saline group. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is tasked with forming new memories, learning, and emotions.

    Similarly, the Purkinje cell count in the cerebellum was also “significantly lower” in the male offspring of the vaccine group. Purkinje cells are a type of neuron located in the brain.

    “No significant differences” were found between females of the vaccine and saline groups in terms of neuronal counts in the hippocampus or in Purkinje cell counts.

    The researchers also looked at brain BDNF levels and WNT gene expression among the offspring.

    BDNF is a protein that influences brain functions, such as inducing new neuronal growth, preventing the death of existing brain cells, and supporting cognitive functions. Low BDNF levels have been linked to poor neural development, Alzheimer’s, and neurotransmitter dysfunction.

    Meanwhile, WNT has been linked to the secretion of signaling proteins involved in neurodevelopment.

    In both male and female offspring of the vaccine group, brain BDNF levels were found to be “significantly decreased” when compared to their counterparts from the saline group.

    WNT gene expression was “significantly decreased” in male offspring of the vaccine group compared to males from the saline group. In females, offspring from the vaccine group showed “non-significantly higher” WNT gene expression than the saline group.

    “The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine seems to induce autism-like behaviors in male rats, impacting the WNT and BDNF pathways in both genders,” the study said. “This gender-specific outcome emphasizes questions on the vaccine’s influence on brain function and structure.”

    “There’s a notable higher prevalence of ASD (autism spectrum disorder) in males than females, pointing to innate biological factors affecting the manifestation of neurodevelopmental disorders differently between sexes.”

    The authors asked that further research be conducted on these topics to “validate these findings in human populations and to unravel the complex mechanisms underlying the observed effects.”

    ‘Shocking’ Study

    The study evoked intense reactions from the scientific community. Radiologist and cancer researcher William Makis called study findings “shocking” in a Jan. 12 X post.

    “It’s time to immediately halt COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines and begin assessing the incalculable damage done to the next generation,” he said.

    Citing the study, journalist Sally Beck pointed out that media outlet BBC “relentlessly pushed covid vax on pregnant women.”

    The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) shared the study through their X account. Last month, AAPS called for COVID-19 injections to be “withdrawn from the market.”

    “COVID-19 genetic injections have not been shown in randomized, controlled trials to be effective in preventing infection, transmission, hospitalization or death,” it said in a Dec. 31 statement.

    “There are numerous safety signals, including excess sudden deaths, that would in the past have prompted immediate withdrawal of vaccines or drugs from the market.”

    A study published in the journal Vaccines in October also linked COVID-19 vaccines with neurological issues.

    The study found that about 31.2 percent of vaccinated individuals developed post-vaccination neurological complications, particularly among those injected with the AstraZeneca jab.

    The neurological risk profile of the AstraZeneca vaccine included headaches, tremors, muscle spasms, insomnia, and tinnitus, while the risk profile of the Moderna vaccine included sleepiness, vertigo, diplopia (double vision), paresthesia (a feeling of numbness or itching on the skin), taste and smell alterations, and dysphonia (hoarseness or loss of normal voice).

    As for Pfizer vaccines, researchers found “an increased risk” of cognitive fog or difficulty concentrating.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 15:10

  • Trump Wrecks Ramaswamy Ahead Of Iowa Caucus, Calls Him "Deceitful", "Sly", And "Not MAGA"
    Trump Wrecks Ramaswamy Ahead Of Iowa Caucus, Calls Him “Deceitful”, “Sly”, And “Not MAGA”

    Vivek Ramaswamy has apparently flown too close to the sun, drawing the ire of the leader of the Republican party – like it or not – Donald J. Trump.

    While Ramaswamy has been making headlines for dicing MSM journalists into bite-sized pieces (though, oddly not reflected in polling), and more recently predicting that the establishment is about to position Nikki Haley as Trump’s chief GOP rival into primaries, Trump – perhaps sensing Vivek’s growing popularity among his base – has drawn a line.

    “Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, ‘the best President in generations,’ etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks,” Trump said in a Saturday night statement on Truth Social.

    “Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the “other side” — don’t get duped by this,” adding “Vote for ‘TRUMP,’ don’t waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA.”

    Questions abound. Does Trump fear that Vivek will siphon enough ‘MAGA’ votes to give Haley the nomination, amid growing calls for Ramaswamy to pull out of the race and throw his full weight behind Trump?

    Or does Trump want to quash all notions that Vivek would be the logical choice as his VP, given that Ramaswamy has no chance of winning the primary?

    But the most obvious answer is Vivek’s new campaign tactic – seen just days before the Iowa Caucus in which he is posing next to supporters wearing shirts that say “Save Trump, Vote Vivek” (via Modernity.news) – as opposed to “I’m dropping out and supporting Trump.”

    Now people are posting that Ramaswamy ‘funded the lipid nanoparticles‘ used in mRNA vaccines.

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

    Ramaswamy responded Saturday night with a lengthy post on X, which he called “an unfortunate move by his campaign advisors,” adding “I don’t think friendly fire is helpful.:

    He goes on to note that he’s “stood up against the persecutions against Trump, and I’ve defended him at every step,” and that he’d ” pledged to remove myself from Maine’s & Colorado’s primary ballots if they remove Trump, calling on DeSantis and Haley to do the same.”

    Yet, “we have to open our eyes. Last time it was a man-made pandemic & Big Tech election interference. Now, the same billionaires funding the lawsuits against Trump are the ones trying to prop up Nikki Haley,” his post continues.

    In short – vote for Vivek because the establishment won’t let Trump win.

    Meanwhile, Pollster Frank Luntz (who was recently seen leaving a ‘Nikki Haley for President’ campaign event), thinks Trump will win the election in November.

    “If you had to bet $150,000 dollars on who was going to win in November, who would you bet on?” Luntz was asked.

    “I never dreamed I would say this, but I would bet on Trump,” he responded, adding “I never…I thought he was done, I thought it was over.”

    “You don’t come back from an impeachment, you don’t come back from January 6, you don’t come back from any of this, but he’s come back,” said Luntz, adding that Trump is a “survivor,” and Biden is “having so much trouble.”

    Watch:

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

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 14:35

  • Kyle Bass Blasts US Gov't For Giving China 'Micro Nuclear Battery' Tech
    Kyle Bass Blasts US Gov’t For Giving China ‘Micro Nuclear Battery’ Tech

    Dallas-based hedge fund manager Kyle Bass blasted the US Department of Energy in a post on social media X for transferring nuclear battery technology to China. 

    “What’s going on in the US Department of Energy? Why did we hand this technology over to the Chinese Government?” Bass wrote on X while commenting on Hu Xijin’s, the editor-in-chief of Chinese state media Global Times, post. 

    Bass pointed out, “The Chinese company didn’t steal this technology. It was given to them — by the US Department of Energy. First in 2017, as part of a sublicense.” 

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

    “In 2021, as part of a license transfer. An investigation by NPR and the Northwest News Network found the federal agency allowed the technology and jobs to move overseas, violating its own licensing rules while failing to intervene on behalf of US workers multiple times,” the China Hawk hedge fund manager continued. 

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

    The Chinese company in focus is “Betavolt,” It recently announced it had created an “atomic energy battery that mainly uses nickel-63 as the energy source and diamond semiconductor as the energy converter.” 

    According to tech blog Tom’s Hardware, Betavolt’s nuclear battery will have a lifespan of 50 years and will target aerospace, AI devices, medical, MEMS systems, intelligent sensors, small drones, and robots. 

    This means that charging a smartphone may become obsolete in the future. 

    If Bass’ claims are correct, why did DoE allow China to obtain such a game-changing technology? 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 13:25

  • Air Force Whistleblower's Concerns "Legit" Over US Govt UFO Program Cover-Up; House Oversight Committee
    Air Force Whistleblower’s Concerns “Legit” Over US Govt UFO Program Cover-Up; House Oversight Committee

    Authored by Wim De Gent via NTD News,

    A classified briefing on UFOs delivered to members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Friday elicited a mixed response, with some saying they were dissatisfied by the fragmented information presented, while others were grateful to receive some more clarity.

    Interest in UFOs, which officials now call unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), surged in July 2023 when the Oversight Committee invited Air Force veteran David Grusch to speak after he’d filed a formal complaint with the Inspector General of the U.S. intelligence community, claiming “the U.S. government is operating with secrecy—above Congressional oversight” on the subject.

    David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative on the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force, arrives to testify during a House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs hearing titled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security Public Safety and Government Transparency,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 26, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

    During that hearing, Mr. Grusch accused the Pentagon and its private contractors of covering up a “multi-decade” program to reverse-engineer technology retrieved from crashed UFOs piloted by “non-human” beings, or “biologics” as he called them.

    He also mentioned knowledge of people harmed or injured in efforts to cover up or conceal the extraterrestrial technology program.

    Though apparently only limited information was disclosed during Friday’s 90-minute briefing at the Capitol Building in Washington, the attendees agreed that the hearing seemed to confirm Mr. Grusch’s claims.

    “Based on what we heard,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said, “many of Grusch[’s] claims have merit!”

    “I think everybody left there thinking and knowing that Grusch is legit—if they didn’t think that before,” attested Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).

    The Tennessee legislator, one of the stronger voices calling for transparency on the issue of UAPs, nevertheless left the meeting somewhat frustrated, saying the meeting was just “more of the same.”

    “By design this issue is very compartmentalized,” he explained. “It’s like looking down the barrel of a .22 rifle. All they know is just right in that little circle.”

    “Now it’s just whack-a-mole—you go to the next [briefing], until we get some answers.”

    For Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) the limited information presented only proved there was a “concerted effort to conceal as much information as possible—both in Congress and to the general public.”

    “I asked very specific questions and was unable to get specific answers,” he said. “And so that’s a problem, and we’re not going to stop until we get the truth.”

    Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mont.) was a bit more optimistic, calling the briefing a step in the right direction.

    “I think that some people were looking for things,” he said. “This was not the venue to determine those things, but for me, I got a lot of clarity,” he added.

    Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) was glad that “everyone that was in the room received probably new information.”

    Earlier this week, Mr. Garcia introduced the Safe Airspace for Americans Act, along with Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin), a bill that enables civilian pilots and personnel to report UAP sightings with the Federal Aviation Administration.

    During the July hearing, Mr. Grusch said he hoped that unearthing the non-human reverse engineering programs will act as “a catalyst for a global reassessment of our priorities.”

    A Pentagon spokesperson replied at the time that it has not found “any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”

    “This is not about whether there are aliens or there are not aliens,” Mr. Moskowitz, a member of the UAP Caucus, said in early December. “The problem is when we ask those questions, rather than being provided information that would prove it false, they stonewall the information, and that is what piques the interest.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 12:50

  • Over 50% Of All Buildings Damaged Or Destroyed In Gaza Strip
    Over 50% Of All Buildings Damaged Or Destroyed In Gaza Strip

    Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip has reached 100 days, throughout which time cities in the north and south have been relentlessly bombed, and in some places entire neighborhoods, streets, and city blocks have been wiped out almost as if they were never there.

    A new report in Axios has made the shocking claim that over half of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, based on fresh satellite data.

    Palestinians there have increasingly said there’s no place to go, after much of the northern half of the Strip has been largely emptied out, and an estimated 85% of the population remains displaced. 

    “Damage is greatest in the north, where between 70-80% of buildings are damaged or destroyed, according to the analysis of satellite data, which was conducted by Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University and Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center,” writes Axios, while offering the below visual…

    Israel’s military (IDF) is heavily reliant on US munitions, even including mammoth 2,000 pound bombs capable of obliterating large buildings.

    This month, Israel has declared its forces have moved to a third phase of the war, which reportedly will see bombings and airstrikes scaled back in intensity, in favor of more “targeted” operations. Currently, there’s still heavy fighting and air raids focused on Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip. 

    This “shift” in IDF strategy and tactics comes after weeks of requests from Washington for the IDF to reign in the indiscriminate air campaign as international pressure mounts over the immense Palestinian death toll.

    Israel has also said it is calling many reservists back home at this point; however, the ground war rages on. Even the largest of bombs dropped from the air cannot dismantle the sprawling network of tunnels used by Hamas for ambushes. Israel has been pumping sea water into many of them; however, they are so vast that it’s likely impossible to flood all of them. 

    This means the ground war is likely to press on for months, with prior Israeli government statements foreseeing that fighting will continue through this entire year.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 01/14/2024 – 12:15

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