Today’s News 16th April 2023

• The Disruptive Military Technologies The Pentagon Is Spending Nearly $150 Billion On
  The Disruptive Military Technologies The Pentagon Is Spending Nearly $150 Billion On

  Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Joe Biden’s $886.3 billion Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) defense budget request includes $145 billion for research and development into emerging technologies to create new weapons systems using Artificial Intelligence (AI), hypersonic munitions, and electromagnetic swarms.

  

  The Department of Defense (DOD) and its subsidiary military branch technology laboratories, working in tandem with universities and high-tech contractors that increasingly include small businesses, have produced such big-ticket splashes as newly deployed directed-energy weapons systems and hypersonic/ballistic sensors.

  Among prospective products and systems seeking funding in the FY24 spending request is a ‘Rocket Cargo’ transport that can move 100 tons of cargo anywhere on Earth within an hour; a counter-swarm electromagnetic weapon that can disable drones and be powered from a wall plug; a rotating detonation engine without moving parts; a “pop-up hide” that can make Marines disappear in plain sight; a Predictive Vehicle Activity for Identification and Location (PreVAIL) program that “will bring a novel approach to automated target detection and recognition.”

  There are also less sexy utilitarian products being tested in the budget, such as a Portable Fluid Analyzer, a ship-to-ship system that converts Morse code into text messages, and an assembly line of bigger, faster, better-armed unmanned aircraft, from micro-drones to the latest Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA.)

  All have survived, or must soon traverse, “The Valley of Death.”

  Unlike notable valleys in American military history—Valley Forge, the Chosin, Khe Sanh, the Korengal—this “Valley of Death” is not a place on a map but that dreaded moment of realization on a military product development timeline when a cutting-edge weapon that will deliver a decisive battlefield advantage cannot advance out of prototype to production and get onto the battlefield in time.

  

  ‘The Valley of Death’

  Integrating new, still-maturing technologies into existing programs and platforms without “radical disruption” to multi-year procurement and acquisitions systems is among the most tweaky of challenges confronting the military, Pentagon officials said during a two-hour April 13 webinar presented by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).

  The DOD’s Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering Heidi Shyu and the DOD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Director, Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, noted the proposed $145 billion Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) budget is up 12 percent from this year with the Air Force receiving one-third of the requested outlay.

  Shyu said the Science and Technology component of the RDT&E budget request is $17.8 billion, up 8.3 percent over this year’s $16.5 billion budget.

  The annually updated National Defense Science & Technology Strategy is on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s desk, she said.

  Shyu said the strategy will focus on joint mission; creation and deployment of capabilities at speed and scale; establishment of an enduring advantage in talent, infrastructure, research, and collaboration; directed energy weapons; and hypersonic/ballistic sensors.

  Technology leaders for three military branches—Army Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research & Technology William Nelson, Naval Research Chief Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, Air Force Research Laboratory Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle—outlined cooperative ventures with industry and workforce development plans, especially in currying bids and participation in projects by small businesses.

  The $886.3 billion FY24 defense request includes $842 billion for the Pentagon with emphasis on the “growing multi-domain threat posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” which the DOD has again named the nation’s most pressing “pacing challenge.”

  March and April is typically when DOD and military command officers testify before congressional panels about their spending requests during the annual budget cycle leading up to Oct. 1, the official start of the federal fiscal year.

  All five of the panelists at the NDIA webinar have been making the rounds on Capitol Hill to meet with congressional bean-counters to discuss funding for new whiz-bang weapons, such as fusion-based target recognition systems, to such relatively mundane innovations as snow tires for Humbles, since February.

  But on April 13 before the NDIA, a Washington-based nonprofit that represents 1,800 corporations and nearly 60,000 individuals working in the defense manufacturing industry, it was all about “The Valley of Death.”

  

  ‘Moats of Despair’

  Delivering new technologies developed in the commercial sector under DOD contract into the field in a seamless transition, especially when so many weapons systems are interrelated, is a daunting challenge, the officials said.

  In fact, in June 2022, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks called transition discord “one of our biggest problems—the so-called ‘Valley of Death,’ scaling up to full-scale production and fielding” new weapons systems.

  Selby said there isn’t just one “Valley of Death” but at least three, which he described as “moats of despair.”

  “The first ‘Valley of Death’” is the stage where “the first identified prototype” is manufactured and tested and “it didn’t pan out or we failed internally” to properly build and test it, he said.

  “That ‘Valley of Death’ is within my control” at that point, Selby said.

  The next “Valley of Death” is moving a product from prototype to production, he said, which is when other factors come into play, such as costs and manufacturing capabilities, which can make further development unfeasible. “This is a deep valley,” where many projects go to die, he said.

  The final ‘Valley of Death” is “getting that production to scale,” Selby said. “You got something, something that is ready to go onto a platform, as part of a modernization package” but you don’t control production schedules especially for an item that was previously manufactured at a “low rate production.”

  “The warfighter is screaming, ‘I need that and need that tomorrow’—that is [a problem] we have to solve. We have not solved it,” he said. “How do I rapidly go to scale? That’s the question. That’s how you win.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 23:30

• Watch: Beyond The Reset
  Watch: Beyond The Reset

  This excellent animated short film about the not-too-distant-but-very-dystopian future is at once humorous and terrifying.

  

  It speculates on the potential consequences of the infamous Great Reset, medical tyranny, woke culture, and green agenda.

  

  Everything, that World Economic Forum (WEF) is planning for us.

  If you’d like to buy the creator a beer, his PayPal address is oleg@3depix.com

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 23:00

• They Must Have A Good Reason
  They Must Have A Good Reason

  Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org,

  There is a strange idea hovering about that if you don’t know something then it doesn’t exist.

  

  Kind of like the image of the proverbial ostrich with his head in the sand. But it goes beyond denial. Ignorance is when you don’t know something at all, denial is when you know it, but you ignore it.

  What I am talking about here is when you know something and do not deny it, but simply rationalize it away with a statement like “they must have a good reason for doing that,” or similarly, “maybe we don’t know all that there is to know about that.” Which is often followed with, “and I don’t have the time, (inclination, care, interest, curiosity, ability, intelligence, etc.) to look into it further.”

  This has always bugged me to some extent, but I must admit I have been marginally guilty of this sort of thinking myself. I mean, do we really have the time to check everything? Well, now I think we have to make the time, and, of course, not everything is important enough to require vetting it for truth. That is an awful thing to say, but I am afraid it is the truth.

  Part of this “gullibility” that causes many people to just brush things off assuming that all is ok comes from indoctrination from an early age. I grew up in a culture that seemed to be really obsessed with people’s safety—particularly the safety of children. Think of all the recalls of toys and such. If some toy comes out that has the slightest bit of uncertainty about how it might harm your child, it is pulled.

  I should not say I “grew up” with this because most of the crap I played with as a kid would be considered a lethal weapon today—Lawn Darts, BB and pellet guns, Vac-U-Forms, chemistry sets, Easy Bake ovens (this was my sister’s toy, she was a little girl, I was a little boy—I tell you this for clarity). The “safety craze” didn’t really start until a decade or so later. I even remember some kid I knew got an “Atomic Energy Lab” toy that had actual uranium ore in the kit.

  I would have died (literally) to get my hands on one of these.

  Those were the days.

  So over the decades, due to these recalls and safety concerns, we have developed a false sense of security. What regulation agency would bother to recall Lawn Darts but at the same time allow an unsafe vaccine to reach the unwilling arms of children? Well, toys are toys, vaccines are medicine. There ‘ya go.

  The government, and other regulatory agencies, know what’s right, right?

  Being born into a culture (US) that was known for its integrity, truthfulness, righteousness, and a penchant for character and goodness (ha, ha), no one would ever think that the CIA would have been actively trying to assassinate Fidel Castro, among others, for decades.

  I remember first hearing a rumor about this when I was about 15. “No way,” I thought to myself. “Assassinations are illegal! My country would never be involved in such a thing!” Especially attempting to murder a leader of a country that really was just minding their own business. At least so it seemed. (Today, when we hear of such things, we shrug our shoulders and say, “They must know what they are doing.”)

  And what about Iran’s Mosaddegh? He was minding his own business overseeing the affairs of Iran as Prime Minister from 1951 to 1953. The US wasn’t happy with him for a number of reasons (primarily economic, like, for example, Mosaddegh wanted Iran to get a bigger share of oil profits that the US and UK were sucking out of his nation’s oil fields, imagine that! What audacity!). The CIA bopped him off as well—indirectly with a CIA created insurrection, which led to Mosaddegh’s imprisonment and more than likely contributed to his health issues, then he died). Sure there is detail here I am not presenting, but you get the picture.

  The US Government must have had a good reason.

  How about Obama’s drone war? Killing a whole whack of people, including children (I would say “women and children” but I might get in trouble for that).

  He must have had a good reason.

  Personally, I don’t think there is any “good” reason to kill children—even if as collateral damage or unintentionally.

  I am presenting here only a few examples among thousands…more than we even know of course. And this is just government actions, what about pharmaceutical actions, or other medical actions? They all must have good reasons.

  As a whole most people seem to think that atrocities cannot happen in the US (or Canada, or the UK, or other countries in the “civilized” West). We are just too sophisticated for that. The irony here is the official spokespeople for the US, for example, actually present themselves as do-gooders. They either keep their actions covert and Top Secret, or they present them as “good things.” We only have to look to people like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden to see how the US treats whistleblowers who seek to expose the fact the US really doesn’t have a good reason to do much that it does—at least no reason that benefits us.

  If you ever corner a sheep and throw this sort of stuff at them, they will first hit you with the statement, “why do you have to be so negative? Why can’t you just trust your government to take care of business in our best interests as a nation?” They will say that the government has to have secrets in order to keep us safe, and those people who break the law (Assange and Snowden, among many others. Since we are counting, let’s include the truckers of Canada as well) are criminals, and it doesn’t matter if your intention is good, if you break the law you are a criminal and should be punished.

  If you try to argue with these sheep about anything more complex, like the CIA’s intervention into Middle Eastern affairs, they will just blow it off and say something like, “All that overseas stuff is just too complicated to sort out. And those Middle Eastern countries (except Israel) are all bad guys, I don’t really care what the US does to them, they know what they are doing.”

  Sheep are funny that way. “La, la, la, la, la, la” with fingers plugging their ears. It is easy to push them to this point. Sheep poking. Try it some time for fun and pleasure.

  One good way to get them there really quickly is to bring up some false flag issue that has been in the big time news within the last few decades. The 9-11 fiasco is my favorite. You’ll get the sheep fingers into the ears really quickly with the “la la la’s” going full blast. Don’t try something too far out there though, like the moon landing, or the hot ticket now, germ vs. terrain theory. You’ll only just get eye rolls for those whacko topics.

  I am curious though…speaking of 9-11… what will happen when that incident is exposed for what it was? (Assuming that will ever occur.)

  I will bet you money, no matter how ludicrous it would be, their first response to the realization that their own government was responsible for the destruction of those buildings at the World Trade Center, will be, “They must have had a good reason.”

  Actually they did, but it wasn’t a good reason for us.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 22:30

• US Criticizes China's Death Sentence Of 'Wrongfully Detained' American Citizen
  US Criticizes China’s Death Sentence Of ‘Wrongfully Detained’ American Citizen

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The United States on Thursday expressed its “disappointment” over China’s decision to uphold a death sentence of an American man who had been “wrongfully detained” for over a decade on drug-related charges.

  

  Mark Swidan, a Houston resident, was detained on Nov. 13, 2012, while on a business trip to China. He was accused of being a part of a network involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of drugs.

  Swidan pleaded not guilty to all charges but was denied by the Jiangmen Intermediate Court, which upheld his death sentence with a two-year suspended sentence, according to the U.S. Department of State.

  “We are disappointed by this decision and will continue to press for his immediate release and return to the United States,” Vedant Patel, a Department of State spokesman, said in a statement.

  “U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed their concerns to senior PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials about Swidan’s treatment, medical care, and his inability to send or receive mail in a timely manner,” he added.

  Patel said that President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will “continue to remain personally focused” on the release of Swidan and other U.S. nationals who were “wrongfully detained” or held hostage around the world.

  Lack of Evidence

  Swidan was aged 37 at the time of his arrest. He was sentenced to death in 2018 despite a lack of evidence presented against him.

  No drugs were found on Swidan’s body or in his hotel room when he was arrested, according to a report [pdf] released by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2020.

  The prosecution failed to produce forensic or telecommunications evidence, such as emails, phone call records, or letters. His passport records showed that Swidan was not in China when the alleged offense occurred.

  U.S. officials had previously called for his release. In February, Texas Republicans—including Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn, and Congressman Michael Cloud—introduced a resolution demanding his release ahead of Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing.

  “They’ve sentenced him to death on charges for which they have little to no evidence, and I had been urging Tony Blinken when he was going to Beijing to raise Mark’s case and to make the case for Mark to be released,” Cruz said in a statement.

  Blinken indefinitely postponed his visit after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was detected flying over the continental United States. A U.S. military jet later shot down the balloon on Feb. 4.

  “Bringing Mark Swidan home to his family should be a top priority for this administration,” Cloud said. “Too many innocent Americans remain wrongfully imprisoned by authoritarian regimes who are happy to collect human lives as a capital for future political bargaining.”

  ‘Badly Mistreated’

  According to the U.N. report, Swidan was “badly mistreated” while in detention and exposed to “poor sanitary conditions.” He was denied medical treatment and barred from communicating with his family or U.S. Consulates.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 22:00

• Hacking Humanity: Transhumanism
  Hacking Humanity: Transhumanism

  Authored by Michael Rectenwald via The Mises Institute,

  The notion that the world can be replicated and replaced by a simulated reality says a great deal about the beliefs of those who promote the metaverse [treated in the previous chapter]. The conception is materialist and mechanistic at base, the hallmarks of social engineering. It represents the world as consisting of nothing but manipulable matter, or rather, of digital media mimicking matter. It suggests that human beings can be reduced to a material substratum and can be induced to accept a technological reproduction in lieu of reality. Further, it assumes that those who inhabit this simulacrum can be controlled by technocratic means. Such a materialist, mechanistic, techno-determinist, and reductionist worldview is consistent with the transhumanist belief that humans themselves will soon be succeeded by a new transhuman species, or humanity-plus (h+)—perhaps a genetically and AI-enhanced cyborg that will outstrip ordinary humans and make the latter virtually obsolete.

  

  The term transhumanism was coined by Julian Huxley, the brother of the novelist Aldous Huxley and the first director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In an essay entitled “Transhumanism,” published in the book New Bottles for New Wine (1957), Huxley defined transhumanism as the self-transcendence of humanity:

  The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself—not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.

  One question for transhumanism is indeed whether this transcendence will apply to the whole human species or rather for only a select part of it. But Huxley gave some indication of how this human self-transcendence might occur: humanity would become “managing director of the biggest business of all, the business of evolution . . .” As the first epigraph to this Part makes clear, Julian Huxley was a proponent of eugenics. And he was the President of the British Eugenics Society. It was in his introduction of UNESCO, as the director-general that he suggested that eugenics, after the Nazi regime had given it such a bad name, should be rescued from opprobrium, “so that much that now is unthinkable may at least become thinkable.” As John Klyczek has noted, “In the wake of vehement public backlash against the atrocities of the Nazi eugenic Holocaust, Huxley’s eugenics proper was forced to go under-ground, repackaging itself in various crypto-eugenic disguises, one of which is ‘transhumanism.’” Transhumanism, Klyczek suggests, is “the scientific postulate that human evolution through biological-genetic selection has been largely superseded by a symbiotic evolution that cybernetically merges the human species with its own technological handiwork.”

  Contemporary transhumanist enthusiasts, such as Simon Young, believe that humanity can take over where evolution has left us to create a new and improved species—either ourselves, or a successor to ourselves:

  We stand at a turning point in human evolution. We have cracked the genetic code; translated the Book of Life. We will soon possess the ability to become designers of our own evolution.

  In “A History of Transhumanist Thought,” Nick Bostrom details the lineage of transhumanist thought from its prehistory to the present and shows how transhumanism became wedded to the fields of genomics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR), where robotics is inclusive of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is the last of these fields that primarily concerns us here. The transhumanist project has since envisioned the transcendence of humanity via technological means. In the past thirty years, this technological transcendence has been figured as “the singularity.”

  Vernor Vinge, the mathematician, computer scientist, and science fiction author introduced the notion of the technological singularity in 1993. The singularity, Vinge suggested, is the near-future point at which machine intelligence will presumably supersede human intelligence. Vinge boldly declared: “Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” Vinge predicted that the singularity would be reached no later than, you guessed it, 2030. The question Vinge addressed was whether, and if so, how, the human species might survive the coming singularity.

  The inventor, futurist, and now Google Engineering Director Raymond Kurzweil has since welcomed the technological singularity as a boon to humanity. Kurzweil, whose books include The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999), The Singularity Is Near (2005), and How to Create a Mind (2012), suggests that by 2029, technologists will have successfully reverse-engineered the brain and replicated human intelligence in (strong) AI while vastly increasing processing speeds of thought. Having mapped the neuronal components of a human brain, or discovered the algorithms for thought, or a combination thereof, technologists will convert the same to a computer program, personality and all, and upload it to a computer host, thus grasping the holy grail of immortality. Finally, as the intelligence explosion expands from the singularity, all matter will be permeated with data, with intelligence; the entire universe will “wake up” and become alive, and “about as close to God as I can imagine,” writes Kurzweil.

  Thus, in a complete reversal of the Biblical creation narrative, Kurzweil posits a dumb universe that begins with a cosmic singularity (the Big Bang) and becomes God by a technological singularity. This second singularity, Kurzweil suggests, involves the universe becoming self-aware, vis-à-vis the informational, technological agent, humanity. Thus, in the technological singularity, the technological and the cosmic converge, as Kurzweil resembles a techno-cosmic Hegelian. (Hegel figured collective human self-consciousness progressing in self-actualization and self-realization, finally becoming and recognizing itself as God, “through the State [as] the march of God in the world.”) Incidentally, according to Kurzweil, our post-human successors will bear the marks of their human provenance. Thus, the future intelligence will remain “human” in some sense. Human beings are the carriers of universal intelligence and human technology is the substratum by which intelligence will be infinitely expanded and universalized.

  More recently, Yuval Noah Harari—the Israeli historian, WEF-affiliated futurist, and advisor to Klaus Schwab—has also hailed this singularity, although with dire predictions for the vast majority. According to Harari, the 4-IR will have two main consequences: human bodies and minds will be replaced by robots and AI, while human brains become hackable with nanorobotic brain-cloud interfaces (B/CIs), AI, and biometric surveillance technologies. Just as humans are functionally replaced, that is, they will be subject to the total control of powerful corporations or the state (or, what’s more likely, a hybrid thereof, a neo-fascist state). Rather than a decentralized, open-access infosphere of exploding intelligence available to all, Singularitarian technologies will become part of the arsenal for domination. The supersession of human intelligence by machine intelligence will involve the use of such data and data processing capabilities to further predict and control social behavioral patterns of the global population. In addition, the biotechnical enhancement of the few will serve to exacerbate an already wide gulf between the elite and the majority, while the “superiority” of the enhanced functions ideologically to rationalize differences permitted by such a division. That is, Harari suggests that if developments proceed as Vinge and Kurzweil predict, this vastly accelerated information-collecting and processing sphere will not constitute real knowledge for the enlightenment of the vast majority. Rather, it will be instrumentalist and reductionist in the extreme, facilitating the domination of human beings on a global scale, while rendering opposition impossible.

  In an article in Frontiers in Neuroscience, Nuno R. B. Martins et al. explain just how such control could be implemented through B/CIs, which the authors claim will be feasible within the next 20 to 30 years:

  Neuralnanorobotics may also enable a B/CI with controlled connectivity between neural activity and external data storage and processing, via the direct monitoring of the brain’s ~86 x 109 neurons and ~2 x 1014 synapses. . .

  They would then wirelessly transmit up to ~6 x 1016 bits per second of synaptically processed and encoded human–brain electrical information via auxiliary nanorobotic fiber optics (30 cm3) with the capacity to handle up to 1018 bits/sec and provide rapid data transfer to a cloud-based supercomputer for real-time brain-state monitoring and data extraction. A neuralnanorobotically enabled human B/CI might serve as a personalized conduit, allowing persons to obtain direct, instantaneous access to virtually any facet of cumulative human knowledge (emphasis mine).

  Such interfaces have already reached the commercialization stage with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, Kernel, and through DARPA, among others.

  When neuralnanorobotic technologies that conduct information and algorithms that make decisions interface with the brain, the possibilities for eliminating particular kinds of experiences, behaviors, and thoughts becomes possible. Such control of the mind through implants was already prototyped by Jose Delgado as early as 1969. Now, two- way transmission of data between the brain and the cloud effectively means the possibility of reading the thoughts of subjects, interrupting such thoughts, and replacing them with other, machine-cloud-originating information. The desideratum to record, label, “informationalize,” rather than to understand, let alone critically engage or theorize experience will take exclusive priority for subjects, given the possibilities for controlling neuronal switching patterns. Given the instrumentalism of the Singularitarians— or, as Yuval Harari has called them, the “Dataists”— decisive, action-oriented algorithms will dominate these brain-cloud interfaces, precluding faculties for the critical evaluation of activity, and obliterating free will. Given enough data, algorithms will be better able to make decisions for us. Nevertheless, they will have been based on intelligence defined in a particular way and put to particular ends, placing considerable emphasis on the speed and volume of data processing and decision-making based on data construed as “knowledge.” Naturally, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World comes to mind. Yet, unlike Huxley’s mind-numbing soma, brain-cloud interfaces will have an ideological appeal to the masses; they are touted as enhancements, as vast improvements over standard human intelligence.

  Harari peels back the curtain masking transhumanism’s Wizard of Oz promises, suggesting that even before the singularity, robotics and machine intelligence will make the masses into a new “useless class.” Given the exorbitant cost of entry, only the elite will be able to afford actual enhancements, making them a new, superior species—notwithstanding the claim that Moore’s Law closes the technological breach by exponentially increasing the price-performance of computing and thus halving its cost per unit of measurement every two years or less. How the elite will maintain exclusive control over enhancements and yet subject the masses to control technologies is never addressed. But perhaps a kill switch could be implemented such that the elite will not be subjected to brain-data mining—unless one runs afoul of the agenda, in which case brain-data mining could be (re)enabled.

  In a 2018 WEF statement, Harari spoke as the self-proclaimed prophet of a new transhumanist age, saying:

  We are probably among the last generations of homo sapiens. Within a century or two, Earth will be dominated by entities that are more different from us, than we are different from Neanderthals or from chimpanzees. Because in the coming generations, we will learn how to engineer bodies and brains and minds. These will be the main products of the 21st century economy (emphasis mine).

  No longer capable of mounting a challenge to the elite as in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and having no function, the feckless masses will have no recourse or purpose. Exploitation is one thing; irrelevance is quite another, says Harari. And thus, as Harari sees it, the remaining majority will be condemned to spend their time in the metaverse, or worse. If they are lucky, they will collect universal basic income (UBI) and will best occupy themselves by taking drugs and playing video games. Of course, Harari exempts himself from this fate.

  As for the elite, according to Harari, their supposed superiority to the masses will soon become a matter of biotechnological fact, rather than merely an ideological pretension, as in the past. The elite will not only continue to control the lion’s share of the world’s material resources; they will also become godlike and enjoy effective remote control over their subordinates. Further, via biotechnological means, they will acquire eternal life on Earth, while the majority, formerly consoled by the fact that at least everybody dies, will now lose the great equalizer. As the supernatural is outmoded, or sacrificed on the altar of transhumanism, the majority will inevitably forfeit their belief in a spiritual afterlife. The theistic religions that originated in the Middle East will disappear, to be replaced by new cyber-based religions originating in Silicon Valley. Spirituality, that is, will be nothing but the expression of reverence for newly created silicon gods, whether they be game characters, game designers, or the elites themselves.

  Harari’s pronouncements may amount to intentional hyperbole to make a point, but his statements are remarkable for the cynicism and disdain for humanity they betray. They are revelatory of the unmitigated gall of believers in the transhuman future. Coupled with the neo-Malthusian impulses of the elite, centered around the UN and the WEF, a picture emerges of an elite whose objective is to reduce the population of “useless eaters,” while keeping the remainder in their thrall.

  [This piece is an excerpt from The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty.]

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 21:30

• Stunning Satellite Images Show Rare "Superbloom" Blanketing California's Hillsides
  Stunning Satellite Images Show Rare “Superbloom” Blanketing California’s Hillsides

  After a deluge of atmospheric rivers that dumped 78 trillion gallons of water on California, effectively ending a severe multi-year drought within several months, a rare superbloom has emerged in the state’s southern region across hillsides, and it’s even visible from space.

  CBS News reported new photos via NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite show a rare wildflower superbloom in Southern California after years of drought. The wet conditions spurred the germination of flower seeds all at once, leading to large swaths of land covered in various colors. 

  

  Maxar Technologies also published satellite photos showing the hillside outside Palmdale covered in yellow and orange flowers.

  

  Another image shows a hillside covered in purple. 

  

  And another shows hillsides covered in yellow. 

  

  The rare desert botanical phenomenon has captured the attention of Southern California residents. Many have taken day trips to see the colorful hillsides. 

  Although severe drought conditions have largely subsided and wildflowers blanket the hillsides, this abundance of vegetation could potentially serve as fuel for fires when drought conditions reemerge. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 21:00

• Contentious COVID-19 Drugs Are All Anti-Malarial: May Not Be A Coincidence
  Contentious COVID-19 Drugs Are All Anti-Malarial: May Not Be A Coincidence

  Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The COVID-19 recommendations hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and now artemisinin all have one thing in common: They are antimalarial drugs or have such properties.

  Yet studies suggest that this may not be a mere coincidence; malaria and COVID-19 may be more similar than people may realize.

  

  Malaria Versus COVID-19

  From the outset, malaria and COVID-19 are very distinct diseases.

  Malaria is a parasitic disease. An infection starts when an individual is bitten by a mosquito carrying a parasite from the Plasmodium genus. Upon infection, the parasite first goes to the liver and multiplies in liver cells. Then it migrates to the bloodstream, invades and proliferates in red blood cells, and causes these cells to expand and burst.

  Common malaria symptoms such as fever, chills, and sweating occur during the blood-stage infection. Complications include anemia, and on rare occasions, cerebral malaria, liver failure, fluid buildup in the lungs, and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

  COVID-19, on the other hand, is a viral disease. Infection occurs primarily through the inhalation of contaminated droplets. The virus invades the body through the nasal cavities, entering the upper and then lower respiratory tracts.

  Inflammation of the lungs ensues as the body’s immune cells fight off the infection. The person’s oxygen levels start dropping as inflammation worsens in the advent of a cytokine storm, and the lungs become damaged. Some of the virus can also go into the bloodstream and invade other organs, causing systemic inflammation and damage.

  Several Commonalities

  While one mainly affects blood cells and the other primarily affects the lungs, both diseases are characterized by a strong inflammatory response early in the infection, according to a 2022 paper in Frontiers in Immunology.

  Symptoms-wise, both infections from malaria and COVID-19 can lead to fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhea, and muscle pain.

  If inflammation is prolonged, the body will experience a significant increase in cytokines, and individuals can become severely injured or even die.

  The two diseases are also similar in that they both sequester iron, use the same receptors in their pathogenesis, and even share similar structures in their proteins.

  Iron Storage

  Both the Plasmodium parasite and the SARS-CoV-2 virus require iron to proliferate. Therefore, both the parasite and the virus need to store iron inside the ferritin protein within infected cells. High or increased levels of ferritin are therefore an indication of severe disease and inflammation.

  Drugs that are capable of targeting iron storage or preventing proliferation may therefore be successful in treating both malaria and COVID-19.

  Similar Receptors

  The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor is involved in both malaria and COVID-19 infections.

  In COVID-19, the virus binds to ACE-2 to invade cells. ACE-2 is ubiquitous within the human body, present within at the very least:

  • Lungs
  • Blood vessels
  • Muscles
  • The gut
  • Nerves
  • Stomach
  • Heart
  • Kidneys
  • Pancreas
  • Testes
  • Uterus

  Organs that have a high number of ACE-2 receptors are therefore at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection.

  The significance of ACE-2 in malaria is uncertain. However, one study, as well as the one published in Frontiers in Immunology, showed that people who have their ACE-2 receptors reduced due to genetic predispositions are more resistant to malaria.

  According to the Frontiers in Immunology study, malaria parasites use the CD147 receptors on red blood cells to gain entry into the cell. The COVID-19 virus also uses CD147 in the absence of ACE-2 receptors. CD147 has also been linked to the formation of blood clots in COVID-19 infections.

  Therapeutics that can target CD147 and ACE-2 may be successful in treating both malaria and COVID-19.

  Similar Protein Structures

  Additionally, both pathogens share a degree of overlap in their protein structures. The COVID-19 surface N protein has at least 40 percent structural similarity with important malarial proteins in charge of transport, attachment, and invasion.

  This means that drugs that can target malarial proteins may also be able to target SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins.

  Antimalarial Drugs Used in COVID-19

  Early in the pandemic, many studies recommended antimalarial and anti-parasitic drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, ivermectin, and artemisinin as potential treatment options for COVID-19. These recommendations, however, soon received backlash, with one reason being that malaria and COVID-19 seem to be very different diseases.

  But many doctors and studies found these therapeutics helpful in treating acute COVID-19. Professor Jose Luis Abreu, whose specialty is in plant science at The State University of Nuevo León, used the proposition of “parallelism between malaria and COVID-19” as an explanation for why antimalarial drugs such as ivermectin, artemisinin, and hydroxychloroquine may be applied to COVID-19 in his protocol.

  Block COVID-19 Receptors and Proteins

  In simulation studies, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and artemisinin can bind to SARS-CoV-2 N proteins, which have structural similarities with malaria proteins. In treating malaria, hydroxychloroquine and artemisinin have been shown to block malarial proteins from replicating and proliferating.

  All three drugs can also bind to CD147 and ACE-2 receptors, as previously reported by The Epoch Times. These drugs can also bind to COVID-19 spike proteins directly to prevent viral attachment to cell receptors and also prevent viral proliferation by blocking proteins that take part in viral replication.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 20:30

• Have Internal-Combustion-Engine Vehicle Sales Already Peaked?
  Have Internal-Combustion-Engine Vehicle Sales Already Peaked?

  Electric vehicle (EV) sales have grown rapidly over the past few years, but have they managed to make a dent in the global market?

  To find out, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualized data from BloombergNEF that breaks down annual vehicle sales by three categories:

  • Internal combustion (including traditional hybrids)

  • Plug-in hybrids

  • Battery electric

  

  From this, we can see that EVs are definitely building up market share. In fact, combustion vehicle sales appear to have peaked in 2017.

  Growth in EV Market Share

  The following table lists global EV sales, as well as their relative market share.

  Year	EV Sales	EV Market Share (%)
  2013	206,000	0.2
  2014	320,000	0.4
  2015	543,000	0.6
  2016	791,000	0.9
  2017	1,262,000	1.3
  2018	2,082,000	2.2
  2019	2,276,000	2.5
  2020	3,244,000	4.2
  2021	6,768,000	8.3
  2022	10,522,000	13.0

  *Includes plug-in hybrids. Source: EV Volumes

  We can see that EV sales really picked up steam around 2019. This is likely due to various government subsidies and a growing list of models to choose from.

  EV ranges, once a major limiting factor, are also becoming less of a concern as battery technology improves and more charging stations become available.

  Will Combustion Vehicle Sales Stage a Comeback?

  It seems unlikely that combustion vehicles will be able to reclaim much of their lost market share.

  China, the world’s largest car market, is leading the world in terms of EV adoption. As of 2022, one in four new cars sold in the country is electric. The U.S. and EU are transitioning slower, but should catch up thanks to government subsidies and a planned phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles.

  In the EU, the sale of new internal combustion vehicles will be banned by 2035. However, an exemption was recently made on behalf of Germany to allow the sale of cars that run on synthetic fuels.

  In the U.S., the 13 states that adhere to California’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Program are aiming for 100% of cars sold in 2035 to be ZEVs. These states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 20:00

• How AI Can Track, Manipulate Voters
  How AI Can Track, Manipulate Voters

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  How well do artificial intelligence (AI) programs know us humans?

  

  In most cases, it’s quite well and, in some ways better than we know ourselves.

  A study by AI experts at Brigham Young University, titled “Out of One, Many: Using Language Models to Simulate Human Samples,” found that predictive AI programs exhibited a striking degree of what they call “algorithmic fidelity,” or precise mapping to actual human behavior.

  “Because these AI tools are basically trained on stuff that humans produce, things that we write, documents we make, websites we write, they can reflect back to us a lot of interesting and important things about ourselves,” Ethan Busby, political psychologist and co-author of the study, told The Epoch Times. “Kind of like if someone read your diary from start to finish, they would know a lot of things about you, and you’re not going to like every single thing.

  “In a similar way,” Busby said, “these tools have read so many things that humans have produced, and they can replicate or say back to us things about ourselves that we didn’t necessarily know.”

  The study sought to analyze human behavior in the context of elections and asked how accurately a GPT-3 language model could predict voting patterns based on socio-demographic factors like a person’s gender, age, location, religion, race, and economic status. The authors used these factors to create “silicon samples,” or composite personas based on varying combinations of these attributes.

  “You can basically ask these tools to put themselves in a specific frame of mind and pretend to be essentially this person, pretend to have these characteristics,” Busby said. They asked the program how these “silicon samples” would vote in specific campaigns, then they compared the results to actual voters’ behavior in elections between 2012 and 2020, using data from the American National Elections studies.

  For example, Busby said, regarding the 2016 election, “We could say what kinds of groups are going to be pivotal in Ohio?” What they found was that AI quickly learned to accurately predict how people would vote, based on their attributes.

  Left and Right Decry AI, When It Costs Elections

  Artificial intelligence is highly useful to organizations that want to target things like political messaging campaigns or fundraising efforts. But some political analysts have raised red flags about this, inferring unfairness and election interference. Their degree of outrage, however, largely depends on whether their candidates or causes succeeded or failed.

  In 2017, The Guardian, a left-wing British newspaper, wrote a series of articles claiming that conservative tech entrepreneur Robert Mercer, whom it called “the big data billionaire waging war on the mainstream media,” had financed a campaign strategy using AI to circumvent mainstream media narratives. This, the paper alleged, illicitly swayed voters in favor of Donald Trump, resulting in his victory in the presidential election in 2016.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 19:30

• Data-Centers & Small Nuclear Reactors – A Match Made In Heaven?
  Data-Centers & Small Nuclear Reactors – A Match Made In Heaven?

  Authored by Brian Gitt via RealClear Wire,

  Most of us don’t think about the huge data centers that enable our constant internet usage. But they’re essential to our civilization—and they consume enormous amounts of electricity 24/7.

  

  Powering these data centers is fast becoming a problem. Northern Virginia, for instance, hosts the largest concentration of data centers in the world. Tech giants like Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google have invested $126 billion in Virginia data centers. And the region’s insatiable appetite for power continues to grow due to surging demand for cloud computing services. 

  Without reliable power, cloud service providers can’t grow to match the pace of increasing demand. But the electrical grid can’t keep up. Right now, power transmission bottlenecks in Northern Virginia could delay new data center development into 2026.

  Data center developers across the pond are facing the same problem. Microsoft and Amazon halted plans to build new data centers in Dublin, Ireland, because of power shortages and threats of rolling blackouts. And British officials paused construction on new houses in West London until 2035 because data centers had already maxed out the local grid’s capacity. 

  And it’s not just power consumption that is sparking opposition to data centers. Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, noise pollution, and the overall sustainability of data centers are fueling local opposition that is constraining where—or even whether—data centers get built. 

  Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook have responded to the demand for clean energy by investing heavily in wind and solar projects. But wind and solar alone can’t solve the problem. Those energy sources simply can’t deliver the uptime that data centers need. Consider the European wind drought of 2021 that cut wind power in the UK by 32 percent for 6 months. The need for round-the-clock uptime presents a serious—perhaps insurmountable—obstacle to data centers relying solely on sources of power like wind and solar that don’t generate power at night, or on cloudy days, or when the wind doesn’t blow.

  Some people hope we’ll eventually be able to store surplus wind and solar energy in batteries. But the reality is that batteries are too expensive to store enough energy to supply reliable power for weeks (let alone months) of uncooperative weather. 

  The good news is that there’s a solution—a power source reliable enough to provide uptime round-the-clock at low cost and with zero emissions: a small onsite nuclear power plant dedicated to supplying power to a data center. 

  Small modular reactors (SMRs) supply between 10 and 300 MW of power 24/7. A data center supplied by an SMR would face no more competition for power with local communities. No more waiting for new transmission lines or power plants to be built. And no more emissions. When we consider the full lifecycle of different power sources (including mining, manufacturing, and disposal), solar emits four times more carbon than SMRs.

  SMRs differ from large conventional nuclear plants as much as modern smartphones differ from old rotary phones. Conventional plants are large and complicated, and cumbersome US and European regulations make them expensive to build. Two units (1,117 MWs each) currently being built in the US state of Georgia have cost upwards of $30 billion. Construction on them, moreover, is six years behind schedule, and when they finally come online in 2023, they will have taken 14 years to complete. These kinds of costs and delays present a capital risk factor for large conventional nuclear plants. 

  Large nuclear reactors are also land-intensive. They typically require over 800 acres and usually need to be sited near a lake, river, or the ocean to access water for cooling. Plus, they don’t recycle spent fuel.

  SMRs are simpler and much less expensive to construct. Off-the-shelf components and factory prefabrication bring construction costs as low as $60 million. SMRs have a small footprint—about two acres for the smallest reactors, which is less than 0.5% of the land used by traditional reactors. Most don’t use water for cooling and therefore don’t have to be sited near a lake, river, or ocean. They can be installed on site or at a nearby location in under a year, and developers needn’t put capital at risk as some SMR companies offer power purchase agreements (PPAs).

  Oklo, for instance, owns and operates the power plant and sells 24/7 clean power at costs equal to or less than traditional energy sources. Oklo’s streamlined regulatory approach and extensive experience working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission minimizes the time required to get a license to operate. The expected timeline from a signed PPA to powering servers (including licensing, permitting, and constructing) is two to three years. Plus, SMRs can be designed to recycle spent fuel—both their own fuel and fuel from large nuclear plants.

  SMRs promise data centers what they’re looking for: a reliable, low-cost, carbon-free energy source that yields round-the-clock uptime. Data centers of all sorts (hyperscale, colocation, or telecom) can use SMRs to secure the energy independence they need to overcome bottlenecks in the grid and to avoid competition for energy with local communities. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 19:00

• The E. Coli Super-Pathogens You Should Know About
  The E. Coli Super-Pathogens You Should Know About

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

  Foodborne illnesses, also known as food poisoning, are a serious public health issue. Each year, they make 48 million people get sick, hospitalize 128,000, and cause the death of 3,000. Pathogenic E. coli is one of the most common known foodborne pathogens. However, the severity of various E. coli strains varies tremendously and the public should be cautious about one particularly dangerous type of E. coli.

  

  E. Coli 101

  Escherichia coli, also known as E. coli, is one of the most common types of bacteria known to mankind. From helping with digestion in your stomach to being a producer of artificial insulin, the bacteria discovered in 1885 have been studied countless times and improved our understanding of the microscopic world.

  The E. coli we infamously know from the news belong to the group Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and are pathogens responsible for food poisoning. Foodborne illnesses also include Salmonella and Norovirus (responsible for the recent cruise ship outbreaks). Typically, an E. coli infection occurs when a person comes into contact with contaminated food, animals, or water. It usually only causes mild abdominal pain or brief diarrhea. Other symptoms include stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and fever.

  Typical treatment usually involves rest, hydration, and nutritional support. The disease is usually self-limiting as the body can normally clear it. The use of antibiotics is common in treating E. coli, yet antibiotic resistance is also a problem worldwide. However, severe forms of E. coli are the Shiga toxin-producing variants of the bacteria that can have dire consequences.

  STEC Variants Severely Damage Intestinal Linings and Kidneys

  The variants of E. coli that produce Shiga toxins (Stx) are called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC. They have gained a lot of attention in the past few decades, as they are known for causing severe disease.

  STEC belongs to the EPEC group. STEC strains are capable of producing toxins named Shiga toxin type 1 (Stx1), type 2 (Stx2), or both, encoded by stx1 and stx2 genes, respectively.

  The toxins are named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who first described the bacterial origin of dysentery caused by Shigella dysenteriae. Historically, the toxin produced by E. coli was named Shiga-like toxin (SLT). Now, Shigella dysenteriae and STEC are regarded as the most common sources of Shiga toxins.

  Symptoms of a STEC infection include abdominal pain and watery diarrhea. There are also severe—possibly life-threatening—cases characterized by hemorrhagic colitis. These types of E. coli are also called Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). Shiga toxins are also associated with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

  In particular, the STEC O157:H7 and STEC O104:H4 are the two most notorious STEC strains. One could say these STEC groups are something like super soldiers in the E. coli army.

  

  The Shiga toxin does most of its work in small blood vessels, as it is rather ineffective in large vessels such as major veins and arteries. This is how the toxin can specialize against the digestive tract, kidney, and lungs. For example, the Shiga toxins are good at destroying clusters of nerve endings or small blood vessels in the kidneys, which can lead to kidney failure and even HUS. It can severely damage the lungs as well, so food poisoning associated with Shiga toxins is often also associated with lung and nervous system damage.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 18:30

• Visualizing Air Pollution Levels Around The World In 2022
  Visualizing Air Pollution Levels Around The World In 2022

  The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution leads to 7 million premature deaths every year.

  Out of the six common air pollutants, particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter, or PM2.5, is accepted as the most harmful to human health. This is due to its prevalence in the atmosphere and the broad range of adverse health effects associated with its exposure, such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

  With that context in mind, this visualization from Visual Capitalist’s Selin Oğuz and Miranda Smith uses IQAir’s World Air Quality Report to map out the 2022 average PM2.5 concentrations in select major cities around the globe, expressed in micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³).

  

  Understanding the WHO Air Pollution Guidelines

  Did you know that in 2019, only 1% of the global population lived in places where WHO global air quality guidelines were met?

  Designed to protect public health from the harmful effects of air pollution, the guidelines cover a range of air pollutants, including particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide.

  The healthy limits for PM2.5 are set at an annual average of 0-5 μg/m³.

  WHO Classification	Annual Average PM2.5 Concentration (μg/m³)	% of countries within classification, 2022*
  WHO Air Quality Guideline	0 – 5	9.9%
  Interim Target 4	5.1 – 10	18.3%
  Interim Target 3	10.1 – 15	19.8%
  Interim Target 2	15.1 – 25	28.2%
  Interim Target 1	25.1 – 35	9.9%
  Exceeds Target Levels	35.1 – 50	7.6%
  Exceeds Target Levels	> 50	6.1%

  *Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the 131 countries that had sufficient air quality data and were included in IQAir’s World Air Quality Report in 2022.

  According to IQAir’s World Air Quality Report, only 13 countries or territories met the recommended concentration of PM2.5 in 2022. Among them were Australia, Finland, Puerto Rico, Iceland, Bermuda, and Guam.

  Above this guideline, many countries fell within the four interim targets, while nearly 14% recorded air pollution levels that exceeded all target levels.

  The Effects of Air Quality on Mortality

  While it can be a little difficult to grasp what the above concentrations represent, thinking of them in terms of their effect on mortality can shed some light on their significance.

  According to the WHO, non-accidental mortality rates multiply by 1.08 per 10 µg/m³ increase in PM2.5 concentration, but only up to 35 μg/m³. Above that, mortality growth rates may not be linear, resulting in many more deaths.

  Here is an example to highlight what that means.

  • Say that, for a population living within the WHO PM2.5 guideline, the non-accidental mortality rate is arbitrarily set to 100 deaths for a given period.

  • If this area’s PM2.5 concentration goes up to 10 μg/m³, putting them at Interim Target 4, they would see 104 deaths in that same amount of time.

  • At Interim Target 3, where their PM2.5 concentration would be 15 μg/m³, they would see 108 deaths.

  • At Interim Target 2, they’d see 117.

  • Finally, at Interim Target 1, they’d see 126.

  Beyond Interim Target 1 (above 35 μg/m³), deaths would potentially grow much faster. As of 2022, around 14% of countries report levels above this threshold, including Chad, India, Pakistan, Qatar, and Nigeria.

  The State of Air Pollution Around the World

  While many cities in North America and Europe have seen steady and relatively lower PM2.5 concentrations during the last few years, many cities (especially those in Asia) have been making strides in lowering their air pollution levels.

  Nonetheless, many of them still record PM2.5 concentrations that are more than six times the WHO guideline.

  City	2022 annual average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³)	2018 annual average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³)
  🇪🇬 Cairo, Egypt	47.4	N/A
  🇮🇳 Mumbai, India	46.7	58.6
  🇦🇪 Dubai, UAE	43.7	55.3
  🇮🇩 Jakarta, Indonesia	36.2	45.3
  🇳🇬 Lagos, Nigeria	36.1	N/A
  🇨🇳 Beijing, China	29.8	50.9
  🇵🇪 Lima, Peru	25.6	28
  🇲🇽 Mexico City, Mexico	22.1	19.7
  🇨🇳 Guangzhou, China	21.3	33.2
  🇵🇭 Manila, Philippines	14.6	N/A
  🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, Argentina	14.2	12.4
  🇸🇬 Singapore, Singapore	13.3	14.8
  🇮🇹 Rome, Italy	12.6	N/A
  🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya	11.5	N/A
  🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia	10.8	10.1
  🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	10.6	N/A
  🇺🇸 Los Angeles, USA	10.5	14.4
  🇺🇸 New York, USA	9.9	N/A
  🇬🇧 London, UK	9.6	12
  🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan	9.2	13.1
  🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada	8.5	7.8
  🇨🇦 Vancouver, Canada	7.6	N/A
  🇳🇴 Oslo, Norway	6.9	8.2
  🇿🇦 Cape Town, South Africa	6.7	N/A
  🇺🇸 Miami, USA	6.4	7.8
  🇦🇺 Perth, Australia	4.9	N/A
  🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia	3.1	7.6

  Most parts of the world did not meet the annual WHO recommendation for clean and healthy air in 2022.

  However, the cost of inaction toward cleaner air is very high. In addition to the millions of premature deaths each year, the global cost of health damages associated with air pollution currently sits at $8.1 trillion.

  Unfortunately, things that are integral to our quality of life, such as industrial activities, transportation, energy production, and agricultural practices, are also the leading causes of air pollution around the world.

  As such, a multi-faceted approach to lowering pollution is essential to protect lives, especially to benefit those already more vulnerable to poor air quality, such as kids and the elderly.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 18:00

• Lula: Peace Club To De-Dollarization
  Lula: Peace Club To De-Dollarization

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via The Automatic Earth blog,

  Brazilian President Lula was successful in reaching an agreement to de-dollarize his country’s trade with China, the significance of which was earlier explained in the context of his country’s grand strategy here, but failed to convince his counterpart to join a so-called “peace club” on Ukraine during their summit. This is no small shortcoming either since it was promoted by his Foreign Minister as one of the reasons behind his trip in an interview that he gave to the Financial Times (FT) late last month.

  

  Globally prominent outlets such as Bloomberg, France24, the US Government-run “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty” (RFERL), and others all accordingly reported that this issue would be high on the agenda during Lula’s talks with President Xi. His supporters on social media also went wild getting everyone’s expectations up about this as well, even though “Brazil & China Are Poles Apart When It Comes To Their Envisaged End Games In Ukraine” so it was never likely that anything would come of this.

  While China, India, and South Africa have consistently abstained from anti-Russian UNGA Resolutions, Brazil bucked the BRICS trend by always voting against Russia except when it came to suspending it from the Human Rights Council. Lula became the first BRICS leader to personally condemn Russia in his joint statement with Biden back in February, after which he ordered his diplomats to vote in support of the latest anti-Russian UNGA Resolution later that same month.

  Foreign Minister Vieira was obviously well aware of the sharp differences between Brazil and China’s officially envisaged end games to this conflict yet he still made it seem to FT like there was a chance that the People’s Republic would tacitly support his country’s position via participation in the “peace club”. That was nothing more than wishful thinking, which belied Brazilian diplomats’ refusal to acknowledge China’s principled approach to this conflict since they in hindsight seemed to assume that it was flexible.

  Reality slapped them and their supporters in the face upon the publication of the joint Brazilian-Chinese communique on Friday, which can be read in English on the official website of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. The ninth paragraph of that document will now be shared in full so as to prove Lula’s failure to sway President Xi to his country’s side contrary to the unrealistic expectation that Vieira set for his trip when talking to the FT late last month:

  “Both parties stated that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out of the crisis in Ukraine and that all efforts leading to a peaceful solution to the crisis must be encouraged and supported. Brazil received in a positive way the proposal by China that offers reflections conducive to the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis. China received in a positive way the efforts by Brazil in favour of peace. The parties made an appeal for more countries to play a constructive role in the promotion of a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine. The parties decided to keep in contact on this matter.”

  As can be seen, absolutely nothing of tangible significance came from Lula’s over-hyped “peace club” proposal. This paragraph of their joint statement is purely perfunctory and simply acknowledges their shared interest in peace without touching upon their sharp differences in terms of how this should be achieved. The “positive way” in which China “received” “the efforts by Brazil in favour of peace” is similar in spirit to Russia’s reported support of the optics connected to Lula’s peace rhetoric.

  What’s meant by this was explained more in detail here last week but just refers to Russia and China’s interest in showing the world that the international community wants peace as soon as possible instead of indefinitely perpetuating this proxy war. Their soft power interests in no way even remotely imply endorsement of Lula’s envisaged end game as articulated in his joint condemnation of Russia with Biden and the anti-Russian UNGA Resolution that he ordered his country’s diplomats to vote in support of.

  China wasn’t ever going to be manipulated into de facto taking the US’ political side in this conflict against Russia by dint of joining Lula’s “peace club” and thus extending credence to his hostile demand that their shared BRICS partner immediately withdraw from all the territory that Kiev claims as its own. Doing so would have discredited President Xi’s signature peace proposal that his diplomats unveiled on the one-year anniversary of the conflict and which he discussed at length with President Putin in March.

  Lula therefore failed in his function as Biden’s “Trojan Horse” for tricking the Chinese leader into informally adopting an anti-Russian policy, but this unfriendly gamble didn’t spoil their much larger success in agreeing to de-dollarize bilateral trade. About that, while it’s indisputably a positive development that’ll accelerate the global systemic transition to multipolarity, his Finance Minister Fernando Haddad made it clear that neither this nor the trip in general were aimed against the US.

  In his own words, “It doesn’t make sense to get closer to China and move away from the United States. We want the best relations with the United States and the European Union.” This aligns with the insight that was hyperlinked to in the introduction regarding Brazil’s grand strategy, which was elaborated upon in this piece here from Friday that discusses the significance of Lula’s reported plans to launch a global influence platform in joint partnership with the US Democrats.

  To summarize, he believes that Brazil can “balance” – however clumsily and imperfectly – between de-dollarizing with China and aggressively propagating liberal–globalism across the world with the US, thus enabling his country to preemptively avert potentially disproportionate dependence on either. Relations with Russia are limited in this paradigm to commodities (including energy investments) and cooperation on BRICS’ new reserve currency, which are important but pale in comparison to China and the US’ roles.

  All told, the grand strategic significance of Lula’s de-dollarization success with China far outweighs his failure to trick it into tacitly adopting an anti-Russian policy by joining his proposed “peace club”, but the second-mentioned outcome still deserves to be discussed. Those who expected this to happen must cogently account for the fact that it didn’t occur, though without resorting to the conspiracy theories that have become popular among his supporters, if they want to retain a semblance of credibility.

  *  *  *

  Support the Automatic Earth via Patreon.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 17:30

• Thieves Steal 2 Million Dimes Worth $200,000 From Big Rig Parked In Philadelphia Walmart
  Thieves Steal 2 Million Dimes Worth $200,000 From Big Rig Parked In Philadelphia Walmart

  Talk about taking QE to another level.

  Today in “if Fed policy was an 18-wheeler” news, a trailer containing 2 million dimes was broken into and looted in Northeast Philadelphia this week.

  The trailer contained “hundreds of thousands of dollars” worth of dimes, 6ABC reported.

  After a discovery of the trailer was made at 6AM on Thursday morning, police commented that roughly 2 million dimes, worth about $200,000 were stolen. 

  The truck had $750,000 in dimes in it altogether. Many were found strewn about in a Walmart parking lot where the trailer was parked. 

  The dimes had been picked up at the Philadelphia Mint on Wednesday, but the driver of the truck went home to sleep before planning to drive the next day to Florida. 

  

  Capt. Jack Ryan of Northeast Detectives commented: “This is common practice – to pick up a load going to Florida and go home for the night, get to sleep, and get on the road in the morning.”

  He didn’t comment on the driver’s decision to leave $750,000 in dimes in a trailer in the Walmart parking lot overnight, however. 

  “They were trying to cross-load the dimes into other things. There are dimes all over the parking lot,” Ryan added, telling 6ABC.

  Police are reviewing camera footage to try and get a suspect description.

  One bystander asked: “I feel like if they try to go to the bank and cash it in, they’re going to get caught. They’ll be like, ‘Well, where did you get all of these dimes from?'”

  Oh and don’t worry: we’re sure by next week the incident will be used as an example of why we absolutely must use central bank digital currencies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 17:00

• US Arms Industry Planning 1st Taiwan Trip In Years To Talk Joint Production
  US Arms Industry Planning 1st Taiwan Trip In Years To Talk Joint Production

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Around 25 US defense contractors plan to send representatives to Taiwan next month, marking the first time the arms industry will send a delegation to the island since 2019, Nikkei Asia reported this week.

  Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US Taiwan Business Council, said the delegation will look to boost cooperation with Taiwan’s industry and wants to explore jointly producing weapons. The arms that Taipei is interested in producing include drones and ammunition.

  

  The planned arms industry trip to Taiwan comes as the US is looking to ramp up arms sales and general military cooperation with Taiwan, which will further exacerbate tensions with Beijing.

  The delegation plans to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who recently provoked major Chinese military drills by meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

  When asked about the prospect of US companies jointly producing arms with Taiwan, a Biden administration official expressed support for the idea.

  “From a very high-level perspective, we think that co-production arrangements make sense, but we need to take a look at them on a case-by-case basis, and it has to be at the request of US industry,” the official told Nikkei.

  Since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979, the US has always sold weapons to Taiwan. But the US is now looking to expand support by providing billions in military aid included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

  Some of the Taiwan aid has hit a snag with the appropriations committees, but the Pentagon has said it plans to use the $1 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority to start arming Taiwan. The authority is what President Biden has been using to arm Ukraine by sending weapons directly from US military stockpiles.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 16:30

• The Biden Administration Is Once Again Tightening Rules On Vehicles Emissions
  The Biden Administration Is Once Again Tightening Rules On Vehicles Emissions

  It’s a case of Joe Biden versus the free market. 

  Recall, just yesterday, we wrote about how, despite enormous subsidies, EV adoption in the United States was slowing. In other words, it turns out, not everybody shares the virtue signaling stance of blindly switching to a more expensive method of driving with more complex refueling demands…just because the government “said so”.

  Enter the Biden administration, yet again, which is now unveiling what Fox News is calling “the most aggressive tailpipe emissions ever crafted” to try and further the push into EVs.

  The new rules proposed by the EPA and White House “will impact car model years 2027 through 2032”. The White House claims they will result in “carbon emission reductions of nearly 10 billion tons by 2055 and would save consumers an average of $12,000 over the lifetime of vehicles,” the report says.

  The White House stated: “Cars and truck manufacturers have made clear that the future of transportation is electric. The market is moving.”

  It added: “As a car enthusiast and self-proclaimed car guy, President Biden is seizing the moment. His Investing in America agenda is expanding domestic manufacturing and accelerating adoption of zero-emission vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and fuel cell electric vehicles.”

  

  The administration also estimates that the new rules will “reduce oil imports by 20 billion barrels”.

  Meanwhile, critics state the obvious: that new rules on emission standards will make the cost of all vehicles rise. If its rules are enacted, “67% of new sedan, crossover, SUV and light truck purchases could be electric by 2032,” the White House predicts. 

  Myron Ebell, the director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment told Fox News: “The Biden administration is trying to bend every federal rule they can find to force people into buying EVs. There is still a market that allows drivers to buy the vehicles of their choice, but government coercion is rapidly limiting those choices.” 

  He concluded: “If Biden policies are successful, we will soon have a choice between buying an EV and not being able to afford a vehicle at all.”

  Conspicuously, the White House didn’t mention any restrictions or concerns about the way that heavy metals are being mined for use in EV batteries, because – well, child labor and toxic work conditions in continents in Africa aren’t in vogue, popular, trendy talking points.

  But…but…carbon!

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 16:00

• SEC Sides With Conservatives Over Launching PayPal Discrimination Probe
  SEC Sides With Conservatives Over Launching PayPal Discrimination Probe

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sided with conservative investors this week in their request to investigate what they say is PayPal’s systematic political and religious discrimination against customers.

  

  Over the objections of PayPal’s management, the SEC allowed a proposal by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) to go to a shareholder vote at the company’s next annual meeting. This decision follows a similar decision on March 29, in which the SEC green-lighted a proposal regarding alleged political and religious discrimination at JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank.

  In an April 10 letter to PayPal’s attorneys, the SEC stated that NCPPR’s proposal “requests that the board conduct an evaluation and issue a report within the next year evaluating how it oversees risks related to discrimination against individuals based on their race, color, religion (including religious views), sex, national origin, or political views, and whether such discrimination may impact individuals’ exercise of their constitutionally protected civil rights.”

  Responding to PayPal’s request to block the proposal from going to a shareholder vote, the SEC stated: “We are unable to concur in your view that the Company may exclude the Proposal under Rule 14a-8(i)(7). In our view, the Proposal transcends ordinary business matters.”

  PayPal had argued that its shareholders should not consider NCPPR’s request because the issue of viewpoint discrimination is part of the company’s “ordinary business operations” and that “the proposal seeks to ‘micro-manage’ the company by probing too deeply into matters of a complex nature upon which shareholders, as a group, would not be in a position to make an informed judgment.”

  The NCPPR proposal stated, among other things, that “companies that provide banking or financial services are essential pillars of the marketplace. On account of their unique and pivotal role in America’s economy, many federal and state laws already prohibit them from discriminating when providing financial services to the public. And the UN Declaration of Human Rights, consistent with many other laws and the U.S. Constitution, recognizes that ‘everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.’”

  Conservatives Charge Viewpoint Discrimination

  “We know from news stories that PayPal has been discriminating on the basis of viewpoints, shutting down accounts that differ from their ‘woke’ political principles,” Scott Shepard, a director at NCPPR and co-author of the proposal, told The Epoch Times. “We’re giving them a chance with this to consider ways to rectify those problems.”

  PayPal has scored well in terms of its support for progressive causes. Standard & Poor’s ranked it a 49 out of 100 in the social-justice category of its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score, more than double the industry average of 22, though below the industry best of 90. Its overall ESG rating increased steadily from 18 in 2018 to 58 today.

  

  PayPal scored a perfect 100 percent on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), published by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The HRC publishes various corporate indices that it says are “benchmarks of LGBTQ-inclusive policies, practices, and benefits of our nation’s employers.” Noting left-wing philanthropist George Soros’s funding of the HRC, some analysts have suggested that campaigns such as Bud Light’s endorsement of trans activist Dylan Mulvaney were part of a standard corporate practice of pursuing high scores from ESG rating agencies and progressive organizations like the HRC. Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Bud Light beer, scored 100 on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 15:30

• Anheuser-Busch Transitions Into Damage Control Mode – And People Aren't Buying It
  Anheuser-Busch Transitions Into Damage Control Mode – And People Aren’t Buying It

  After rolling out a Bud Light ad campaign featuring flamboyant transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney – whose ditzy caricature of a woman mocks decades of actual progress by feminists (who have apparently been wokeshamed into silence), Anheuser-Busch’s damage control team kicked into action on Friday after the Mulvaney ad sparked a massive backlash.

  

  “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” said Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Brendan Whitworth in a carefully crafted, heavily focus-grouped press release which failed to mention Mulvaney, Bud Light, or transgender issues. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

  “I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others,” the statement continued. “Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.”

  Translation: Let’s all forget about this over a beer.

  The company then went with a ‘hey fellow beer drinkers’ ad campaign, tweeting “TGIF” along with a picture of a Bud Light can. It was received about as well as one would imagine… with a massive ratio of people commenting vs. ‘liking’ it.

  

  The campaign was mocked mercilessly.

  This is the beer can we wanted pic.twitter.com/MBKMEsgK7P

  — Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) April 15, 2023

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

  Waiting for a REAL apology from Bud Light, along with an announcement that they have fired their marketing team.

  — The Gay Republican (@GayRepublicSwag) April 15, 2023

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

  New sponsor for Pisswater Light pic.twitter.com/YjOrjLTjIT

  — Big Ray Hernandez (@BigRayHernandez) April 14, 2023

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

  More via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Brand Damage

  Some analysts and investors said that the damage likely won’t sink Anheuser-Busch, but the damage has been done to the Bud Light brand.

  

  “I simply don’t understand why they hired the person who was doing the marketing,” Oxygen Financial CEO Ted Jenkin told Fox News Thursday. “I mean, if your target customer is Kid Rock, and then all of a sudden you decide to go to RuPaul, that just doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  Because Bud Light generally targets “blue-collar workers and younger adults that are 25 to 29 years old,” the campaign should be problematic for the firm. “So, I don’t think that this one campaign is going to colossally destroy the brand,” it said.

  “But certainly short term, it puts doubt into their loyal drinkers of Bud Light to say, ‘Do I want to continue to be drinking Bud Light based upon who they’re showing representing Bud Light?’” he asked. “Anytime a company puts on a national spokesperson that has backlash, it certainly can affect your business.”

  A research fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research wrote this week that Anheuser-Busch is owned by InBev, a multinational conglomerate worth tens of billions of dollars. One product, he wrote, won’t do a huge amount of damage to the brand or value.

  “But that seems like a plausible result. The Venn diagram of people interested in drinking Bud Light and those eager to support the issue at the sharp edge of the wokist culture war is pretty much just two circles vaguely near one another,” Shepard wrote. “While InBev investors won’t suffer too much, distributors of AB products and others who do business with the company surely will.”

  Shepard further stipulated in the article that the “bottom-line effects of wokeness are clearer at other American companies that have abandoned fiduciary duty for politics,” referring to large corporations’ having adopted left-wing talking points and narratives around race and sex.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 15:00

• Fungal Outbreak Affects Over 90 Workers At Michigan Paper Mill
  Fungal Outbreak Affects Over 90 Workers At Michigan Paper Mill

  Authored by Jane Ngyuen via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Nineteen confirmed cases of blastomycosis, a type of fungal infection, have been linked with a northern Michigan paper mill, with a further 74 people believed to be probable cases, according to local health authorities.

  

  Public health officials said on April 7 that both confirmed and probable cases are workers at Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill infected with Blastomycosis after showing symptoms. A probable case is a person with symptoms with a positive antigen or antibody test.

  Blastomycosis is an infection caused by a fungus called blastomyces that live in soil and decaying wood.

  Earlier on Feb. 28, the Public Health Delta and Menominee Counties (PHDM) was first alerted of several atypical pneumonia infections in individuals employed at the mill.

  On March 3, the mill learned of the infections from the PHDM.

  The exact source of the fungus has not yet been found. However, it is believed that it arrived on damp and rotten wood at the mill.

  “Although the source of the infection has not been established, we continue to take this matter very seriously and are following recommendations from health and government officials and implementing numerous, proactive steps to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and visitors,” Brian Peterson, the mill’s vice president of operations, said in a statement.

  An investigation into an outbreak of blastomycosis is ongoing and includes health and safety officials at the local, state, and federal levels.

  Experts said that an outbreak that affects a large number of people is highly unusual as the fungal disease is not usually transmitted from person to person.

  Workers at the mill are now being asked to wear company-provided N95 masks. Deep cleaning of ventilation systems in the plant is underway, as advised by health officials, to avoid disease spreading.

  Billerud AB, an American subsidiary of the Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer, operates the mill.

  About Blastomycosis

  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Blastomyces fungus lives in moist soil and decomposing matter.

  People can get blastomycosis after breathing in fungal spores from the air, which can infect the lungs.

  Most people who breathe in the spores don’t get sick, but some might experience the following symptoms: cough, fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, night sweats, fatigue, weight loss, muscle aches, and joint pain.

  In severe cases, the fungus spreads from the lungs to other organs, including the muscles, bones, and brain. It can take anywhere from three weeks to three months for symptoms to appear after exposure to the fungus, the CDC says.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/15/2023 – 14:30

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