Feb 16

Today’s News 16th February 2025

  • Liberal Women Are Lonely And Unhappy According To Recent Polls
    Liberal Women Are Lonely And Unhappy According To Recent Polls

    The news must come as a shock to most, but it turns out that liberal women in the US are very unhappy.  A recently released poll from the American Family Survey held in 2024 shows that only 12% of liberal women are satisfied with their lives and that they are three times more likely to experience loneliness compared to conservative women.

    The data reinforces a number of surveys over the years which reveal a continuing plunge in relative happiness among progressive western women despite their admission that they have more independence than ever before.

    Brad Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia and fellow at the Institute for Family Studies who analyzed the survey’s data, said he believes there are a couple of reasons why conservative young women are more likely to be happier than their liberal counterparts. 

    “We’ve seen in the research that conservative women tend to be more likely to embrace a sense of agency and to have the sense that they are not, in any way, the victim of larger structural realities or forces,” he told Fox News Digital.  “They’re also less likely to catastrophize about public events and concerns,” and “more likely to think of themselves as captains of their own fate,” Wilcox added.

    The survey also notes that conservative women are more likely to accept biological and social differences between males and females.  The ideal was thought to be common sense for thousands of years but has come under fire from feminists in the past decade as a “social construct of the patriarchy”.  The deconstruction of societal norms has been so pervasive, governments across the western world have tried to encode intersectional feminist taboos into law and punish people who remain skeptical.  

    One side effect of the rise of feminist authority that liberals apparently did not expect is the decline in relative happiness of women.  The issue was fist noticed around 2009 when a study out of the University of Pennsylvania stunned the mainstream media – Despite decades of greater access to the jobs market, institutional influence and life options since the 1970s, young women have become increasingly less happy compared to their counterparts of past generations.  Though the study avoids addressing the problem of feminism directly, it does suggest that modern constructs may play a major role in creating anxiety for women.  

    While men’s personal happiness has also been in sharp decline in recent decades, their financial opportunities have remained relatively static.  For women, financial and social opportunity has skyrocketed (along with access to college education), but their decline in happiness is even more dramatic than men. 

    The American Family Survey helps to clarify the source of the happiness decline by separating out women according to their ideological leanings.  It’s not conservative women that are dragging those numbers down, it’s leftist women. 

    It makes sense.  Before the 1970s the role of men as breadwinners was well established while women’s primary concerns focused on the household and family.  Men are more psychologically inclined to compartmentalize problems associate with risk and anxiety, especially when in the role of provider and protector.  The thing that drives men to unhappiness is not hard work and sacrifice, but not being able to fulfill the roles they are designed for.  

    By extension, it may be that liberal women today are suffering from a similar affliction; they are unhappy because they are not fulfilling the roles they are biologically designed for.  In other words, both men and women were happier under the “patriarchy”, when men protected and provided while women took care of the home and nurtured their children.    

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 22:45

  • DOGE Vs USAID: "A Remarkable And Definite Victory"
    DOGE Vs USAID: “A Remarkable And Definite Victory”

    Authored by Thaddeus McCotter via American Greatness,

    After years of battlefield defeats, on November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill’s resolute voice filled the Mansion House during the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon to announce the outcome of the Battle of El Alamein: “Now, however, we have a new experience. We have victory—a remarkable and definite victory. The bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers, and warmed and cheered all our hearts.”

    One cannot help but wonder if Republican-populists and/or MAGA supporters felt the same way upon learning of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) revelations regarding the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) unconscionable expenditures and, subsequently, President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio’s swift shuttering of what constituted the Democrat Party’s taxpayer-subsidized, over $32 billion (2024) international and domestic political slush fund.

    But USAID is not the only taxpayer-subsidized slush fund the Democrats enacted to fuel their party and, indeed, the entire political infrastructure of the left. One need only look at the multi-trillion-dollar spending spree, including bills such as the deceptively named “Inflation Reduction Act,” to understand how the then-Democrat majority and Mr. Biden skyrocketed both the federal debt and inflation for their own partisan gain at the expense of the American people.

    As the unearthed revelations cascade into the avalanche that felicitously sweeps and buries USAID in the dustbin of history, one can limn the outline of the monster it created. Over the past several years, the public has become increasingly aware of how the Democrats have weaponized the police and surveillance powers of the state against their political enemies for partisan gain. Within this public awakening, the focus has been understandably upon which powers and positions the Democrats had weaponized. What DOGE has done with USAID is to commence closing the loop by investigating how the Democrats and their Deep State have weaponized government funds.

    The emerging contours of USAID’s unaccountable and injurious weaponization of public funds for progressive aims are a repulsive entity using the American people’s money to wage war against Americans and our allies around the world. Using passthroughs, both internationally and domestically, USAID has foisted progressive imperialism upon our more culturally traditional nations, including the United States; interfered in elections and otherwise destabilized allies who were not leftist enough; created media echo chambers by subsidizing leftist information outlets; and even underwriting groups designated as extremist/terrorist organizations. In sum, USAID has knowingly, willfully, and deliberately abetted the undermining of America’s domestic unity, prosperity, security, and tranquility, and that of many of our allies.

    Eyes welling with crocodile tears and cynically cradling the poor as props to shield their rampant malfeasance, the paymasters of USAID claim removing their control of these tens of billions of dollars will wreak havoc on indigent peoples. It will wreak havoc on USAID’s NGOs and sundry Democrat Party cohorts’ taxpayer-subsidized funding streams. But the harsh truth is that USAID’s multibillion-dollar laundry mat of passthroughs and unconscionable expenditures cheats the poor and the hungry. Every dollar USAID’s now-fired partisan political progressive hacks siphoned off for their faddish left-wing projects at home or to foment instability in an ally of America abroad was another dollar’s worth of food stolen from the mouths of starving children in a developing nation.

    Perhaps it is a tender mercy that these administrative state mountebanks’ hubris renders them immune to self-awareness. For if they were capable of it, they would die of shame.

    Nonetheless, these brazen zombies of the Deep State lumber into the federal courtrooms of their judicial activist cronies and beseech them to forestall the destruction of USAID, to allow them to keep their grubby, self-entitled mitts on your hard-earned money; and to persist in reigning supreme and impervious over the sovereign citizenry.

    Consequently, carrying the historical analogy further, in the struggle to reassert the sovereignty of the citizenry over their servant government, by creating and directing the DOGE, President Trump has won a battle against a well-entrenched bastion of the Administrative State. But, as with the Battle for North Africa, other engagements in even more well-fortified theaters remain to be stormed.

    Recognizing the hard slog ahead is not meant to diminish the present gleam of victory against the federal Leviathan or chill the warmed and cheered hearts of MAGA supporters and Republican-populists. The Battle of El Alamein was a key step in rolling back and ultimately defeating the Axis.

    Thus, it is wise to also recall the caution the Prime Minister advised in the warm glow of an initial victory: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

    Fight on!

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 22:10

  • Watch: Rachel Maddow Caught In Massive Self-Own With 'Armored Cybertruck' Fake News
    Watch: Rachel Maddow Caught In Massive Self-Own With ‘Armored Cybertruck’ Fake News

    Liberals are frothing at the mouth over Elon Musk and DOGE’s access to sensitive information as they sift through expenditures at the US Treasury, USAID, and other departments.

    And after weeks of throwing the most transparently telling tantrums over auditing the US government and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, the left thought they’d NAILED Musk, DropSiteNews – a spinoff founded by former reporters from “The Intercept” 

    According to DropSite, the State Department was “forecast” to pay for a $400 million contract for armored Teslas in 2025, referencing a State Department spreadsheet that referenced $400 million worth of “Armored Tesla” vehicles. The spreadsheet was then mysteriously changed to exclude “Tesla” from the line item. 

    The report was soon picked up by NPR and the New York Times,

    Except, nobody did basic journalism until it was too late – because it was the Biden administration that originally included the potential procurement, and the spreadsheet was wiped of Tesla references in December 2024 – also by the Biden administration.

    And of course, MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow peddled the lie that “Musk has convinced the government to spend $400 million on armored Tesla’s. Definitely not corrupt and ripping us all off?”

    Except, That was all done under Biden.

    Watch:

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 21:35

  • "Break Some Sh*t": Democrats Find Relief From Sanity & Reality In Profanity And Hyperbole
    “Break Some Sh*t”: Democrats Find Relief From Sanity & Reality In Profanity And Hyperbole

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Teddy Roosevelt once said, “profanity is the parlance of the fool.” Democrats appear to be increasingly finding relief from both reality and sanity in profanity. Democratic members have been complaining that left-wing groups have been targeting them to be more aggressive and “fight harder” in the face of the fast-paced actions of President Donald Trump. 

    Their response appears to be ratcheting up “rage rhetoric” with profanity and violent language. 

    Last week, Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) captured the new norm by yelling at a rally that “I don’t swear in public very well, but we have to f**k Trump. Please don’t tell my children that I just did that.”

    The key, it appears, is for her constituents to hear it. She is not alone. (Warning: profane language)

    Politicians and pundits have seemingly tried to outdo each other in proving their bona fides to the far left. MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki pledged on Jon Stewart’s “The Weekly Show” podcast  that she has “retired from the world of Democratic messaging” and ” speaking in a manner that was so academic and Ivory Tower.” She promised to drop “the disconnected academic Ivory Tower elite language that is too often used by Democrats, sometimes on cable television.” Instead, Psaki called on the left to “break some s–t.”

    This is not a new trend. Law professors and legal pundits have long struggled to maintain a certain decorum and professionalism. However, during the Trump years, there was a similar race to the bottom as figures like Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe regularly engaging in name calling and profanity.

    Just last week, a professor was restored to his teaching duties after being suspended for profane attacks on Trump. It is now considered required virtue signaling to use violent or profane language to show that you are no milquetoast moderate.

    Many on the far left like former CNN anchor Don Lemon have turned the same profanity of members of the media who are not sufficiently aggressive and open in opposing Trump.

    What is most striking about this race to the bottom is that it is a concession to the far left that writes off any effort to appeal to moderate and independent voters who supported Trump. The Democrats found their party captured by the most extreme elements of their base and alienated most of the country. Now, politicians and pundits are rushing to protect themselves by joining the mob.

    In some cases, the effort is painfully awkward like Schumer’s effort to become a rabble-rousing populist. Even CNN has been unable to hold back:

    When Democrats are not stringing together lines of profanity, they appear to be creating a new unintelligible language:

    George Washington once referred to cursing and swearing as a “foolish and wicked practice” and a “vice so mean and low” that no self-respecting politician would stoop to use such language.

    The rise of rage rhetoric is a measure of how politicians are now surrendering to the most extreme voices in their party. It is a matter of simple survival. These politicians believe that they cannot stay in office if they allow anyone to move to the left of their positions. To maintain their power, they are willing to join the mob before it turns on them.

    We saw the same pandering with members embracing the violent group Antifa. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump.

    It will not work. Today revolutionaries often become tomorrow’s reactionaries. As rage and violent rhetoric become normalized, the expectations of the far left simply shift to demand greater demonstrations of fealty. As figures like Psaki call for Democrats to “break some sh*t,” the ruin and rampage is unlikely to end with a marginal increase in ratings at MSNBC. At some point, breaking stuff becomes insatiable and uncontrollable.

    That is the point, discussed in my new book, where rage rhetoric becomes state rage where free speech is often the first casualty.

    *  *  *

    Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 21:00

  • Hamas Frees 3 Hostages, Including American Dual Citizen, As Trump Demands All
    Hamas Frees 3 Hostages, Including American Dual Citizen, As Trump Demands All

    After nearly 500 days in captivity, three Israeli hostages – including an American dual citizen, were released by Hamas on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons.

    They include American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexandre Troufanov and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn. They were freed in a handover ceremony amid a crowd of Hamas militants and supporters in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in the sixth such exchange of the ceasefire.

    Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, via Reuters

    “There’s no place like home,” Dekel-Chen was heard telling medical staff, after being handed over to the Red Cross. Various reports said the freed looked healthier than the last hostages let go, who were very emaciated and gaunt.

    But President Trump quickly chimed in after this latest exchange, saying that all Israeli captives must be released from Gaza today.

    “Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages,” he wrote on Truth Social account.

    The statement added, “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!“

    This timeline has now come and gone. Trump previously warned (Monday) that all “hell” would break out if all captives aren’t freed by noon. But he seems to have backed off this language Saturday, saying instead Washington is ready to “back” whatever future action Israel takes.

    But it seems Trump gave Netanyahu political cover to break the ceasefire – though who knows what parallel messages might be being communicated behind the scenes by the White House and US diplomats.

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    Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said Saturday it remains his and the military’s “duty to bring everyone back” and the IDF is “investing in many efforts for this purpose, and at the same time, we are preparing offensive plans.”

    As for the Palestinians freed on Saturday, one told Al Jazeera, “The Israelis told us to ‘Welcome to hell.’ It was a hell,” he said. “From the first day, we were beaten badly. The beatings were brutal, tough and unbearable.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 20:25

  • Trump And Musk Laugh At Pathetic Media Attempts To Create Rift
    Trump And Musk Laugh At Pathetic Media Attempts To Create Rift

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    During a joint interview Friday, Elon Musk and President Trump laughed together at how bad the media are at attempting to drive a wedge between them.

    The pair sat down with Sean Hannity and expressed amusement at desperate efforts by the press to derail the DOGE train by suggesting Musk is usurping Trump’s authority.

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    Hannity reasoned the criticism is an attempt to “divorce” the executive partnership and get the pair to “start hating each other.”

    Trump described the attempts to “drive us apart,” noting “I see it all the time… Actually, Elon called me — he said, you know, ‘They’re trying to drive us apart.’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

    “It’s not working. I’ve seen all the headlines. ‘President Musk’,” he continued.

    “It’s just so obvious. They’re so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it. They’re actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I’d never be president,” Trump said.

    “You know what I have learned, Elon. The people are smart. They get it,” Trump told Musk, noting that no one is falling for the leftist media bullshit anymore.

    The full interview airs Tuesday.

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    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 19:50

  • Department of Veterans Affairs Fires Over 1,000 Employees
    Department of Veterans Affairs Fires Over 1,000 Employees

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has terminated more than 1,000 workers, the agency said on Feb. 13.

    VA Secretary Doug Collins in Washington in an undated file photograph. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    Some of the employees who were fired were probationary employees, or had been with the agency for less than two years. None of the terminated workers were in “mission-critical positions,” the agency said in a statement.

    The VA expects the terminations to cut costs by more than $98 million per year.

    “At VA, we are focused on saving money so it can be better spent on Veteran care. We thank these employees for their service to VA. This was a tough decision, but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said.

    “To be perfectly clear: these moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”

    The terminations were attributed to President Donald Trump’s focus on making the government more efficient.

    The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, has been reviewing various agencies in recent weeks as part of the effort.

    The Trump administration also offered buyouts to government workers. About 75,000 workers accepted the buyouts before the program closed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.

    Trump signed an executive order earlier in the week that said the administration would hire no more than one worker for every four employees that depart.

    The order also said that each agency head shall work with DOGE to ensure that new hires are in high-need areas and that vacancies should not be filled if DOGE advises against it.

    “Now, agency heads will coordinate and consult with DOGE to significantly shrink the size of the federal workforce and limit hiring to essential positions only,” Leavitt told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.

    VA employees who accepted the buyout offer, which keeps workers employed and paid through Sept. 30, were exempt from the new round of terminations, Collins said.

    Among those fired at the VA were researchers who were “told to immediately stop their research and pack their bags,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a former chairwoman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

    She accused Trump and Musk of enacting “indiscriminate cuts and arbitrary mass firings” and said she’s demanding the VA provide her with details about the terminations.

    “For years the VA has been grossly understaffed, which has only made it harder for our nation’s veterans to receive care. These reckless firings will only exacerbate this issue,” the American Federation of Government Employees said in a statement posted to social media platform X.

    Musk and Trump have defended the moves.

    “It’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses. It’s essential. It’s essential for America to remain solvent as a country, and it’s essential for America to have the resources necessary to provide things to its citizens and not simply be servicing vast amounts of debt,” Musk told reporters at the White House this week.

    “What we’re trying to do is reduce government. We have too many people,” Trump added later.

    The VA had about 472,000 employees as of early 2024, including part-time and seasonal employees. The VA still has more than 43,000 probationary employees, Collins said on Thursday.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 18:40

  • Zelensky Rejects Trump's Draft Deal To Take Half Ukraine's Mineral Reserves
    Zelensky Rejects Trump’s Draft Deal To Take Half Ukraine’s Mineral Reserves

    Financial Times is reporting Saturday that Ukraine has rejected the Trump administration’s bid to take a 50% ownership stake in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for continued US defense and budgetary aid.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with President Zelensky Wednesday to review a draft deal, but no details were given. Bessent reportedly handed Zelensky the written proposal to consider, but no other details were given.

    AFP/Getty Images

    It appears still early in the negotiations, however. “We are still talking,” Zelensky said from Munich Saturday. “I have had different dialogues.”

    The thrust of Trump’s complaint about Ukraine and plans to rectify the situation was seen in his earlier comments, saying, “We’re telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earth (minerals). We want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee. We want a guarantee. We’re handing them money hand over fist.”

    “I want to have security of rare earth. We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth, and I want security of the rare earth (minerals). And they’re willing to do it,” he had explained.

    Trump and top officials later articulated that the US wants a guarantee of $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s estimated trillion dollars of rare earth wealth.

    FT writes Ukraine’s rejection of Bessent’s proposal as follows: 

    Zelenskyy wants American and European security guarantees to be tied directly to any deal on the mineral reserves, according to four people familiar with the US-Ukraine negotiations. He is also keen for other countries, including EU states, to be involved in future natural resource exploitation.

    But the deal proposed by Trump and delivered by Bessent only referenced the US getting Ukrainian resources in exchange for past military assistance, and did not contain any proposals for similar future assistance, according to a person familiar with the document.

    If accurate, then this is indeed all about Trump recouping US losses, after months ago mocking Zelensky as the “world’s greatest salesman” for his ability to procure billions in US taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile…

    ZELENSKIY: UKRAINE’S MARTIAL LAW PREVENTS HOLDING ELECTIONS

    The now rejected proposal reportedly laid out that Ukraine would transfer transfer partial control of its valuable mineral resources to Washington in place of making financial repayments.

    Zelensky now sees himself as having a little leverage with the Trump administration, amid fears of a ‘bad’ peace deal with Russia…

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    The war-ravaged country is known for having one of the largest confirmed reserves of lithium, and also has semiconductor-grade neon gas that is critical for chip production – as well as beryllium, uranium, manganese, zirconium, apatite, iron ore. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 18:05

  • "Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, & Polar Vortex Is Coming For You"
    “Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, & Polar Vortex Is Coming For You”

    The polar vortex is coming back across large swaths of the Lower 48 this weekend and through next week. 

    “Bitterly cold Arctic air will pour into the central U.S. next week, bringing record-breaking low temps, dangerous wind chills (30-50 below zero), and possible heavy snow from the Plains to the Northeast,” NWS Weather Prediction Center wrote on X. 

    For everyone hoping for the first signs of spring, meteorologist Ryan Maue squashed those hopes—at least for now—with his post on X: “Don’t even bother next week. It’s going to be too cold to go outside. A week-long Polar Vortex event will crush your soul.”

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    “Roses are red, violets are blue, and the polar vortex is coming for you! The most unusually cold blob of air on the planet will be over the United States next week as the polar vortex returns for the second time this year,” said Ben Noll, a meteorologist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research. 

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    Bloomberg data shows that the last polar vortex sent the entire nation into a deep freeze, with snow even in New Orleans. 

    Meteorologists are already chatting about blizzard risks for next week across the Mid-Alantic and Northeast states.

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    This winter has been harsh across much of the Lower 48 (read here & here & here & here).

    So why have global warming alarmists remained silent about these cold blasts? Could it be that their USAID-funded propaganda budget has dried up? 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 16:55

  • How Justin Trudeau Helped Donald Trump Get Elected
    How Justin Trudeau Helped Donald Trump Get Elected

    Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

    “Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences”

    –  Robert Louis Stevenson

    From the “Karma’s a bitch” dept…

    Today is three years to the day that the Canadian government under Justin Trudeau and deputy PM Chrystia Freeland invoked the Emergencies Act which claimed unprecedented powers and authority (which a federal court later found to be unconstitutional)  including the  seizure of citizens’ bank accounts – not only of those who were present at the demonstrations in Ottawa, but even anybody who contributed funds to the protestors.

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    It sent shockwaves throughout the world – this was sort of heavy-handed action one expected to see in communist, totalitarian shitholes.

    But such actions in Canada, a purported bastion of civil society and a liberal democracy within the “rules-based” global order was unthinkable. It nearly crashed the Canadian banking system, and behind the scenes it looked like the Senate wasn’t going to play ball.

    Trudeau hastily rescinded the order, after brutally suppressing the demonstrations on the ground in Ottawa. “Declare victory and withdraw”, as Kissinger would have framed it. A few weeks later the RCMP began unfreezing the bank accounts, and a couple of the banks apologized for seizing their customers funds.

    But that bell could not be unrung.

    It was a seminal moment that would have many far reaching consequences, including the election of Donald J Trump as the 47th president of the United States of America.

    Here’s how Trudeau helped re-elect Trump:

    For want of a nail, the horse was lost
    For want of a horse, the rider was lost. 
    For want of a rider, the battle was lost,
    For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

    Step 1: It orange-pilled RFK Jr.

    First, invoking the Emergencies Act and seizing bank accounts of lawful citizens appalled countless international observers, among them, a certain Robert F Kennedy Jr, in fact in RFK Jr’s case, it flat-out orange-pilled him.

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    A year later RFK Jr gave the keynote address at Bitcoin2023 in Miami, and the very first words out of his mouth were:

    “I became a Bitcoiner when I saw what the Canadian government did to the truckers.” 

    I was there and it was a powerful moment. I was messaging Steve Bannon some of the bullet points as they were being delivered and he was hanging on every text. Bannon, I had noticed, had seemed transfixed by RFK Jr for nearly a year.

    A few months later Bannon floats the idea of a Trump / RFK ticket, saying it would bring about a “massive landslide”.

    Step 2: RFK Jr. Orange-Pills The Bad Orange Man

    When Donald Trump embraced Bitcoin isn’t exactly certain. Someone changed his opinion on it, as he wasn’t a fan as late as 2019…

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    The Bitcoin Magazine crew who brought RFK Jr to Miami certainly had talks with Trump ahead of Nashville, but it was clear that RFK Jr and Trump were talking to each other and seemed practically fated to wind up on the same side in the coming electoral showdown.

    At the following year’s Bitcoin conference, this time in Nashville, Trump also gave a keynote (as did RFK, again). Trump had adopted RFK’s pro-Bitcoin positions point-for-point, and going one further with the idea of a National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

    Like RFK Jr. in 2023, Trump came out against Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) saying he would ban their development – Bitcoin was freedom money, CBDCs were serfcoin.

    Step 3: RFK Jr throws in with Trump

    They don’t end up as running mates, as Bannon floated – but after the first assassination attempt (where I think we for real flipped into an alternate reality) – RFK Jr joins Team Trump. The game theory of RFK Jr splitting off votes from Trump (as some of the pundits hoped would be the case), goes away.

    Now the two deep state wrecking balls are playing for the same team, and at least one of them was orange-pilled by Justin Trudeau.

    Step 4: The Crypto Lobby Gets Behind Trump

    At this point the crypto folks pile on with the Bitcoin crew, they all learn the political playbook fast, and start getting behind team Trump, which now includes RFK Jr and this starts to look like a crypto bros vs nocoiners election.

    Hey, if that’s the way the political game is played, then let’s play.

    The Bitcoiners may not like that team crypto caught the tailwind, but it doesn’t matter now. At the time they were all pushing for the Republican ticket because the Dems, personified by Elizabeth Warren and her “Anti-Crypto Army” had been outright hostile to the entire industry for years, running Operation Chokepoint 2.0 against them, and serving up non-stop Wells notices…

    The Dems actually read the room for a change and try to effect a panic pivot to tone down the Bitcoin Derangement Syndrome, but the best they could do was some weird woke crypto pronouncement called “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” (since deleted from the Kamala Harris website) that promised $20K forgivable loans to black men, and – because they’re black, I guess – access to weed.

    It was a stunning condescension that basically framed blacks as mentally ill, deadbeat potheads. As I wrote in The Bitcoin Capitalist Letter just before the election:

    These smug libs still don’t get how paternalistically racist they are being every time they promote a policy that says, in effect, “Blacks are hopeless, deadbeat, stoners: here’s a policy that will help them get their shit together”.

    Also, $20K isn’t entrepreneurial seed funding, it’s asswipe money.

    Fucking morons.

    We all know what happened next.

    Step 5: Landslide

    The election was a total blowout – my Polymarket bets hit across the board. I cleaned up.

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    Now I have an RSS feed setup in my mail reader and I just marvel at the tempo and wildness of the EO’s coming out of the Trump admin: renaming the Gulf of Mexico America, mass firings, budget freezes, DOGE, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, et al – and irony of ironies, a tariff war against Canada that’s thrown this country’s political class into chaos.

    Trudeau has since announced his resignation – arguably precipitated by the crisis that erupted with he tried to oust his Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland over differences on how to handle the Trump tariffs. 

    What goes around, comes around…

    Karma’s a bitch.

    *  *  *

    Sign up for the Bombthrower mailing list and get a free copy of the Crypto Capitalist Manifesto here »

    Follow me on Twitter here or Nostr: npub1elwpzsul8d9k4tgxqdjuzxp0wa94ysr4zu9xeudrcxe2h3sazqkq5mehan

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 16:20

  • "Elon Musk Is The Father": Ashley St. Clair Reveals Secret Birth Five Months Ago
    “Elon Musk Is The Father”: Ashley St. Clair Reveals Secret Birth Five Months Ago

    Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer known for ‘America First’ views, revealed on Friday evening that she had given birth to a child fathered by Elon Musk. 

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    “Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father. I have not previously disclosed this to protect our child’s privacy and safety, but in recent days it has become clear that tabloid media intends to do so, regardless of the harm it will cause,” St. Clair wrote on X. 

    She continued, “I intend to allow our child to grow in a normal and safe environment. For that reason, I ask that the media honor our child’s privacy, and refrain from invasive reporting.” 

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    Musk has not confirmed St. Clair’s claim. However, if true, this would mean the special government employee running DOGE and juggling SpaceX and Tesla, among other companies, now has thirteen children. 

    Well not officially… 

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    In a separate post on X hours later, St. Clair thanked followers and said she would be logged off the social media platform “for a while.” 

    “In all sincerity, appreciate the kind words. Wish I did not feel the need to make a statement. Kids should be off limits for journalists,” she wrote, adding, “Will be spending time with my family & logging off for a while.” 

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    Daily Mail noted, “Musk has at least 12 other children with three women: Justine Wilson, Claire Elise Boucher AKA Grimes, and Shivon Zilis.” 

    Musk has been one of the loudest voices on the demographic timebomb unfolding across the Western world. 

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    In 2022, he said: “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.” 

    “We’re not overpopulated, we’re underpopulated … need to have babies by whatever means, whether it’s IVF, surrogacy, whatever the case may be,” Musk told a crowd on the campaign trail last fall. 

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    Also, on the campaign trail last August, President Trump said in-vitro fertilization would either be covered by the government or insurance companies. 

    “We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said before adding, “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”

    Several weeks ago, Vice President JD Vance declared he wants “more babies in the United States of America.” 

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    VP Vance noted that the US had “failed a generation” by celebrating abortion.

    He added: “We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not a GDP number or our stock market, but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families, in our country.”

    Trump’s second term will focus on restoring the family unit – something Marxists within the Democratic Party have been hellbent on destroying for half a century. 

    As for St. Clair’s claim, we’re sure Musk will be lining up a post for that …

    … and maybe even with a meme.

    Oh. And this: Who is next? 

    Time for a Polymarket bet?

    * * *

    Any gents looking to catch up to Elon can check out Male Enhancement and Ultra Testosterone Booster at ZH Store.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 15:45

  • Trump Establishes Make America Healthy Again Commission
    Trump Establishes Make America Healthy Again Commission

    Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gained Senate confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order establishing the President’s Commission to Make America Healthy Again.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined by his wife Cheryl Hines and his family is sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services by Associate Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    Trump made the announcement on Feb. 13 in the Oval Office, where Kennedy was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

    Kennedy will serve as chair of the task force, which will investigate the “root causes of America’s escalating health crisis,” including childhood chronic diseases, according to a White House fact sheet.

    Within 100 days, an assessment of the childhood chronic disease crisis will be released, the executive order said.

    The investigation will target the “over-utilization of medication” and also highlight the impact of food ingredients and chemicals along with “certain other exposures.”

    The impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antipsychotic drugs, mood stabilizers stimulants, and weight-loss drugs will also be studied.

    According to the executive order, the commission will look into contributing causes to childhood chronic diseases like “the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.”

    Federally funded health research should “avoid conflicts of interest” by transparency and open-source data, a White House fact sheet said.

    The commission will demonstrate “gold-standard research on why Americans are getting sick in all health-related research funded by the federal government,” the fact sheet said.

    Upon completion of the research, a strategic report based on the assessment will be released, according to the executive order.

    “The commission shall not reconvene, following submission of the strategy, until an updated mission is submitted to the president through the executive director,” the executive order reads.

    Kennedy ran for president as a Democrat and then as an independent before leaving the race in August 2024 and backing then-former President Donald Trump.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., waves to reporters as he rides the train to go to meet with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

    After ending his White House bid, Kennedy established the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement and vowed to end the nation’s chronic disease epidemic.

    HHS manages 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health.

    In the Oval Office, Kennedy thanked Trump before a pool of reporters.

    “I have prayed each morning for the past two decades for God to put me in a position to solve the childhood chronic disease epidemic, and now, thanks to you Mr. President, we will make this promise a reality,” Kennedy said.

    Addressing Trump, Kennedy added: “And I’ve told you before, genuinely believe that you are a pivotal historical figure, and you are going to transform this country.”

    The commission will include Trump’s Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Vince Haley, Office of Management and Budget lead Russel Vought, and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who was also confirmed on Feb. 13.

    Department heads from the EPA, Veterans Affairs, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and several economic advisers will also compose the task force as will the commissioner, and CDC and NIH directors.

    Before Kennedy was sworn in, Trump said Kennedy is “absolutely committed to getting dangerous chemicals out of our environment and out of our food supply, and getting the American people the facts and the answers that we deserve after years in which our public health system has squandered the trust of our citizens.”

    *  *  *

    You can help MAHA by purchasing high quality supplements at ZH Store

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 15:10

  • Zelensky Admits He Begged Trump To Meet In Person, Also Defends Canceled Elections
    Zelensky Admits He Begged Trump To Meet In Person, Also Defends Canceled Elections

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed more details of the content of his Wednesday call with US President Donald Trump, in Saturday remarks given before the Munich Security Conference.

    Zelensky disclosed that he repeatedly urged Trump to meet with him in person, and there was no assent from Trump on the matter.

    Via AFP

    “I think I said first that we have to meet. But we understood each other because I didn’t say (anything) about it once,” the Ukrainian leader said.

    Zelensky as well as European leaders have expressed deep frustration that Trump chose to call Russia’s President Putin first, wherein they talked for 90-minutes, amid fears that Zelensky will be cut out from US-Moscow negotiations to end the war.

    French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Zelensky be at the table, and that nothing can be decided regarding a future peace deal without consulting Ukraine.

    Also on Saturday, Zelensky said that his country can’t hold elections as martial law is still in effect, amid growing criticism that he’s extending martial law to stay in power, and establishing anti-democratic norms.

    His term expired in May 2024, but he asserted, “I’m focusing on the survival of our country, and I am doing it really all my term.”

    “I’m ready to speak about elections if you want,” he said, claiming that “Ukrainians don’t want, totally don’t want, because they are afraid, because otherwise we will lose the military loan, the war loan, our soldiers will come back home, and (Russian President) Putin will occupy all our territory.”

    He argued that he has maintained the unity of the country amid the Russian invasion…

    “So it’s not about myself. It’s about the future of our country. The question is to survive to save Ukraine, our independence, our people, (and) our homes. And if somebody doesn’t like (it), they can choose another citizenship,” he said.

    He was also asked about the question of the US taking NATO membership off the table, somewhat shocking European allies this week.

    “If we are not in NATO, then as I said, NATO has to be in Ukraine. We will need an army comparable with soldiers of Russia; it’s 1.3 or 1.5 million soldiers,” he said.

    Zelensky claims: only Putin and ‘few voices in US’ want elections in Ukraine

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    Of course, such a scenario would certainly lead to runaway escalation with Russia, which Trump has vowed to seek to avoid at all costs. Zelensky has stood accused of fearmongering in order to induce greater US and Western intervention in the conflict.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 14:35

  • Louisiana To End Mass Vaccine Promotion, Surgeon General Announces
    Louisiana To End Mass Vaccine Promotion, Surgeon General Announces

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Louisiana Department of Health said it will no longer promote mass vaccination, according to a memo released by the state’s surgeon general this week.

    A 13-year-old receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from a registered nurse at the UHealth’s pediatric mobile clinic in Miami, Fla., on May 17, 2021. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    A spokesperson for the Department of Health (LDH) confirmed that Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham had ordered his staff to stop engaging in media campaigns and community health fairs to encourage vaccinations and shared the memo with The Epoch Times on Friday.

    “The State of Louisiana and LDH have historically promoted vaccines for vaccine preventable illnesses through our parish health units, community health fairs, partnerships and media campaigns,” the memo said. “While we encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider, LDH will no longer promote mass vaccination.”

    Louisiana state officials will still provide and stock vaccines, according to the memo, which stressed that healthcare providers talk about the benefits and risks posed by vaccines with patients and answer all questions based on scientific evidence.

    In a separate letter posted on the state health department’s website on Feb. 13, Abraham was critical of blanket government mandates for vaccines and said that federal officials were erroneous in how they pushed for COVID-19 vaccines. He said individuals should make their own decisions instead.

    His letter chided what he called “inaccurate and inconsistent guidance on masking, poor decisions to close schools, unjustifiable mandates on civil liberties, and false claims regarding natural immunity.”

    “But the greatest missteps were on vaccines and some continue to this day,” the Republican surgeon general wrote. “Within months of their approval, COVID vaccines were shown to have no third-party benefit in terms of reduced transmission, yet they were still mandated—through both policy and social pressure.”

    Describing that as an “offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome,” he was then critical of current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that recommend 6-month-old children get vaccines for COVID-19.

    “Government should admit the limitations of its role in people’s lives and pull back its tentacles from the practice of medicine,” Abraham said, noting that he wants to regain the “public trust” by “acknowledging past missteps, refocusing on unbiased data collection, and providing transparent, balanced information for people to make their own health decisions.”

    In Democrat-controlled New Orleans, the city council passed a resolution on Thursday vowing to continue supporting vaccination efforts.

    The city’s health department director, Jennifer Avegno, said state-supported efforts have led thousands of people to receive vaccines in the past. However, she anticipates vaccination rates for preventable diseases will drop due to the state’s new policy and asserted that vaccines are most effective when they are widespread.

    “‘[The Louisiana Department of Health] will no longer promote mass vaccination.’ Now, I don’t know what that means. Every year I’ve been here, and before me, the New Orleans Health Department and the state Health Department has worked together on really successful mass vaccination events,” Avegno told local TV station Fox8.

    Avegno also said that it’s not clear what vaccinations the state health department will not promote.

    Both the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have said that COVID-19 vaccines’ benefits outweigh their risks. As recently as mid-January, the CDC released a study that asserted that 2023–2024 booster shots had “reduced the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization among older adults” by around 50 percent and that children who got the vaccines saw a reduction in COVID-19-associated emergency room and urgent care visits.

    However, over the past several years, a number of studies have cast doubt on COVID-19 vaccines’ effectiveness and questioned whether they can lead to more long-term health issues. The FDA and CDC say that mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna are associated with a higher risk of developing myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, which is inflammation of the outer sac that lines the heart.

    This week, the U.S. Senate confirmed former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees both the FDA and CDC. Kennedy has long been critical of certain vaccines, including ones for COVID-19 and childhood illnesses.

    Kennedy said during the Senate confirmation hearing that he is not anti-vaccine but only wants vaccines to be rigorously tested as well as more transparency for federal health agencies.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 14:00

  • Sheryl Crow Sells Her Tesla To Fund NPR; FCC's Carr Hilariously Responds
    Sheryl Crow Sells Her Tesla To Fund NPR; FCC’s Carr Hilariously Responds

    Sheryl Crow and other white liberal women across the nation have melted down in recent weeks over President Trump and special government employee Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has uncovered vast amounts of fraud and corruption with moves to dismantle the Deep State (DC Swamp Uniparty “Unmasked” As These Seven NGOs) and streamline the federal government. 

    On Friday evening, Crow posted a video on Instagram from what appears to be a wealthy neighborhood, with some houses lined with tall iron fences and gates. She informed her followers that she had sold her Tesla SUV to support the public news organization NPR, citing concerns that DOGE could defund the taxpayer-funded news network.

    “There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla,” the musician wrote on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform. 

    She noted, “Money donated to @npr, which is under threat by President Musk, in hopes that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth.” 

    So Sheryl, what is “truth” in MSM?

    Is your version of the truth a taxpayer-funded censorship blob pushing misinformation and disinformation campaigns about anything that is optically displeasing to the federal bureaucracy? 

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    Last year, NPR CEO Katherine Maher made some bizarre comments about truths… 

    “The Wikipedians who write these articles aren’t focused on finding the truth. For our most tricky disagreements, seeking the truth isn’t the best place to start. Reverence for the truth might have become a bit of distraction that is preventing us from finding consensus and getting important things done,” Maher said. 

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    In terms of NPR, some of the so-called truths the public broadcaster pushed out over the years were found to have “blatantly ideological and partisan” coverage, according to a recent House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Delivering DOGE. 

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    A senior NPR editor revealed about a year ago how the public broadcaster “turned a blind eye” to the Hunter Biden laptop story because “it could help Trump.” Again, truths… 

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    Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr chimed in: “I know celebrities are hesitant to weigh in on hot-button issues, so I appreciate Sheryl Crow making an argument here—not through words alone, but through her actions—that Congress should not force taxpayers to subsidize NPR.” 

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    “She got rid of the best car to support the worst  “news” organization,” an X user said in response to Carr’s post. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 13:25

  • DOGE Workers 'Energetic And Dug In' Despite Threats: Source
    DOGE Workers ‘Energetic And Dug In’ Despite Threats: Source

    Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    WASHINGTON—After reporters revealed the names of multiple Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees, threats have proliferated against them and the department’s head, Elon Musk.

    Sources familiar with DOGE staff described a mood of resilience among those working to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge for government reform.

    Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images

    “The young DOGE engineers seemed surprised and initially unprepared to be personally targeted by so much animus,” one source familiar with DOGE’s operations, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were unauthorized to speak to the media, told The Epoch Times. “But they are energetic and dug in.”

    Even as DOGE faces criticism from many congressional Democrats and is beset by lawsuits seeking to restrict its access to government data, its early results—including billions in cuts identified to The Epoch Times by the White House—may just be the tip of the iceberg.

    DOGE aims to deliver $2 trillion in federal spending cuts during its 18-month lifespan. It ends in 2026 on the 250th anniversary of July 4th, 1776.

    A source familiar with DOGE said it was “still in the sorting stage.”

    As DOGE seeks to overcome hurdles, billions could be just the beginning.

    The Mood Amid Threats

    The Epoch Times has reviewed numerous posts on the social media platform Bluesky that are aimed at DOGE and its reported staff members. Many disseminated personally identifiable information, including names, ages, and home addresses.

    A source told The Epoch Times that federal law enforcement was dispatched to protect family members of DOGE employees after their names were leaked. As of publication time, the Department of Homeland Security had not confirmed that with The Epoch Times.

    On Bluesky, an anonymous user called DOGE workers “Nazi scum,” adding, “The only good nazi is a dead nazi.” The post listed the reported names of several DOGE workers.

    A Bluesky user whose name matched that of an employee at Boston University’s business school posted a “Wanted” graphic with DOGE employees’ names, faces, and the words “Dead or Alive.”

    A statement from the university described the post as one from “an employee on his personal social media account,” adding, “the views expressed do not reflect the values of Questrom School of Business.”

    The Bluesky app is displayed on a cell phone and computer monitor in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov. 14, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Members of Congress, including DOGE oversight leaders, voiced shock and anger at the threats.

    “That’s horrible,” Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), co-chair of the House DOGE Caucus, told The Epoch Times. “I haven’t really seen the severity of it, but that’s horrible.”

    On the other side of the aisle, a spokesperson for DOGE critic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) told The Epoch Times that she “strongly opposes political violence toward anyone, for any reason, in all forms.”

    A spokesperson for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said the congressman “condemns threats against DOGE employees.”

    Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), who is also concerned about DOGE’s impact, told The Epoch Times, “I unequivocally condemn violence of any kind.”

    Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who oversees the House DOGE Caucus’s defense and veterans’ affairs portfolio, told The Epoch Times that “if those people broke the law by doxxing these folks and doing that and threatening them, they should be thrown into prison.”

    “I don’t mean jail. I don’t mean a fine,” he added. ”People that are doing these death threats need to go to prison, or it’s not going to stop.”

    Under the Privacy Act, agency officials or others who disclose the personally identifiable information of federal employees could be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined up to $5,000. Threats on social media may also cross the line into threatening interstate communications, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

    Read the rest here…

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 12:50

  • Saudi Arabia To Host Arab Summit To Discuss Trump's Gaza 'Takeover' Plan
    Saudi Arabia To Host Arab Summit To Discuss Trump’s Gaza ‘Takeover’ Plan

    Saudi Arabia has revealed it plans to host leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to consider President Donald Trump’s US ‘takeover’ plan for the Gaza Strip, officials told AFP Friday.

    “The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, to take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo one week later on the same issue, the source said,” as also cited in Al Jazeera.

    Via Reuters

    Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas is also expected to attend, at a moment the fragile Gaza truce deal could collapse at any moment, particularly after some of Trump’s inflammatory statements on turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Mediterranean” which would require removal of all Palestinians.

    Proposals to be considered at the summit could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund, as well as a political deal for Hamas’ exit from power, according to several officials.

    Trump has been pressuring Egypt and Joran in particular, threatening to cut off crucial foreign and defense aid if they don’t come on board his plan. He wants these neighboring states to absorb over 1.2 displaced Palestinians.

    Yesterday in an extraordinarily surprising development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Washington signaled the possibility of removing all Palestinians from Gaza, in accordance with Trump’s controversial Gaza plan.

    UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba in an interview called the plan “difficult but inevitable” and said he’s sees “no alternative” but Trump’s plan to expel Gaza’s population and undertake massive economic redevelopment of the Strip. He had been asked by a reporter whether the UAE is working on a separate plan, to which he responded no, there’s no other plan.

    It was in September 2020 that the UAE announced the Trump-sponsored Abraham Accords for normalization with Israel. UAE has long been a close regional US-ally, but the ambassador’s words are still deeply surprising and might actually contradict the UAE’s current official stance.

    Huge decline in life expectancy for Palestinians in Gaza:

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

    But it seems the Saudi hosted Arab summit is precisely about coming up with an ‘alternative’ plan which could be offered instead of Trump’s – which has sparked global backlash given the ethnic cleansing aspect of it.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 12:15

  • Democrats Introduce Legislation To Fine Men For Ejaculating
    Democrats Introduce Legislation To Fine Men For Ejaculating

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Two Democratic State Representatives in Ohio have introduced legislation that would see men fined for ejaculating if they don’t intend on having a baby.

    Yes, this is real. It sounds insane because it is.

    Democratic State reps Anita Somani and Tristan Rade brought forward the bill which they’ve named the ‘Conception Begins at Erection Act’.

    Ohio 19 News reports that Men would be charged with a felony under the law if they engage in unprotected sex without the intent of impregnation.

     

    <!–*/

    <!–*/

    */

    /*–>*/

    /*–>*/

    Men would be charged $1,000 for the first offense, $5,000 for the second offense and $10,000 for any offense after under the legislation.

    The lawmakers acknowledge that the bill is utterly stupid, saying the intent is to “call out the hypocrisy” of “bills that regulate women’s bodies.”

    In an op-ed, Somani wrote “I know how ludicrous my bill sounds,” adding “What I am doing is making a point.”

    “Is my bill offensive because it dares to attack men? Maybe, but again, as an OB/GYN, I’m against regulating anyone’s reproductive rights,” she continues, adding “as representatives, we are here to work for you, not for special interests like the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 or the Center for Christian Virtues.”

    Perhaps the funniest thing about this entire debacle is that exceptions under the law would include people “ejaculating in the LGBTQ community,” as well as sperm donation, and masturbation.

    This is almost as stupid as the Democrat who sterilised herself to protest President Trump’s non-existent powers to ban abortions.

    Democrats are not serious people. They’re never winning anything again until they realise this and sweep out the infestation of TDS suffering DEI brain addled lunatics.

    *  *  *

    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 11:40

  • How Much Gold Exists For Every Person On Earth?
    How Much Gold Exists For Every Person On Earth?

    Desired for millennia because of its shine and rarity, gold is still the safe haven asset (with fairly decent returns) in times of uncertainty.

    This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, examines a hypothetical question of how much gold there is in the entire world for every person. It divides all known reserves by current global population.

    Data for this graphic is sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey and from the UN’s World Population Prospects 2024.

    There’s Not a Lot of Gold for 8 Billion People

    Turns out, there really isn’t a lot of gold in the world.

    To date, only 244,000 metric tons of gold have ever been discovered. This includes historical production and current known discoveries.

    That works out to about 30 grams (about one troy ounce), or six gold rings, for every single human being on the planet.

    Jewelry isn’t the only use of gold (though it does account for the largest share of above-ground use).

    Central banks have quite a bit in their reserves, with the U.S. holding the most at roughly 8,000 tonnes. At sixth place China (2,200 tonnes) has been steadily increasing its reserves in the past year, in a bid to diversify foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. Treasury bonds.

    Largest Gold Producers

    And then there’s all the gold beneath the ground, spread out in massive mines across the world. Of them, Australia is home to two in the top 10, and is also the second-largest producer.

    Who’s the largest producer? That’s China—even though it doesn’t have any large mines on the same scale as those found in the U.S. and Australia. Instead it has numerous smaller ones, and coupled with efficient smelting infrastructure, ends up producing more volume.

    Finally, South Africa held the top supplier spot between 1900–1970. Its production peaked at about 1,000 metric tons annually, the most by any country in a single year.

    Need even more gold graphics? Good thing we have a few. Check out: Visualizing Gold Consumption vs. Domestic Supply to see which countries use the most gold.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 02/15/2025 – 11:05

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