Jun 16

Today’s News 16th June 2024

  • Chinese May Be 'Probing' American Military Readiness Through Base Breaches, Lawmaker Says
    Chinese May Be ‘Probing’ American Military Readiness Through Base Breaches, Lawmaker Says

    Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Fears of attacks on the homeland and foreign espionage stemming from the border crisis are growing in light of illegal immigrants breaching military bases as well as those with suspected terrorist ties.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock, Getty Images)

    On June 11, news broke that eight Tajikistan nationals with possible connections to the terrorist group ISIS had been arrested in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles in recent days.

    Tajikistan nationals were responsible for the March 22 attack on the Crocus City Hall concert near Moscow that left more than 140 people dead and hundreds injured.

    The individuals in the United States were being tracked by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. They were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigration violation charges, according to wire agency reports.

    The suspects crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in 2023 and were released after being vetted. The federal government’s screening process did not turn up any information that would have identified them as potential terrorists with ties to ISIS.

    Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who sits on the National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs subcommittee, said that wiretap information revealed that one of the Tajikistan suspects was discussing “bombs.”

    “That’s scary. The vetting is a joke,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times.

    The incident highlights an increase in foreign nationals from adversarial nations encountered at the U.S. southern border from 180 different countries that include state sponsors of terrorism.

    One of the fastest-growing groups of illegal immigrants arriving from hostile countries is China.

    In the first seven months of this fiscal year, beginning October 2023, border agents have apprehended 48,500 Chinese illegal immigrants, which stands to smash the 2023 fiscal year’s record of 52,700.

    At the same time, Chinese nationals and others from adversarial nations have increasingly been caught attempting to access America’s military bases.

    The breaches sparked Mr. Fallon’s subcommittee to hold a classified hearing in May titled: “Intruder Alert: Assessing the CCP’s Ongoing Infiltration of U.S. Military Installations.”

    Mr. Fallon described what he heard in the closed hearing as concerning.

    Dozens of incidents have come to light of Chinese nationals snapping photos near military installations and critical infrastructure such as reservoirs, claiming to be tourists—even when the facilities are rural and isolated, he said.

    A Border Patrol agent apprehends a large group of mostly Chinese illegal immigrants who crossed the U.S.–Mexico border, at Jacumba, Calif., on June 6, 2024. Since October 2023, border agents have already apprehended 48,500 Chinese illegal immigrants. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

    Mr. Fallon noted that Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle said in a recent interview that incidents of foreign nationals from China and Russia trying to breach Navy bases occur “two or three times a week.”

    “There are some folks in positions of authority and power that want to stick their heads in the sand and say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing here,’” he said.

    It could be that the Chinese are probing how the United States responds and how close they can get to bases, he said.

    That information would be critical, for example, should there be a conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

    While the majority of Chinese nationals coming into the United States may be looking for a better life, even if 1 percent were communist “sleeper agents,” that would give Beijing about 480 operatives, he said.

    Mr. Fallon said he doesn’t think the record-breaking number of Chinese nationals entering the United States illegally is an accident.

    “That is a sky-high number when you consider under the Trump administration, it was under 1,000,” he said.

    In fiscal year 2020, Border Patrol agents apprehended 554 Chinese illegal immigrants nationwide, according to government data.

    “So I unfortunately believe that there’s going to be something awful that happens from an incident like this,” Mr. Fallon said.

    More than 9 million illegal immigrant encounters have been documented nationwide by Border Patrol since the beginning of 2021.

    Additionally, officials estimate hundreds of thousands of unknown “gotaways” who aren’t seeking asylum have illegally crossed the southwest border.

    Republicans have long complained that President Joe Biden created the border crisis by rescinding policies under the Trump administration, such as  “Remain in Mexico,” where asylum-seekers waited in Mexico while their cases were pending.

    But Democrats have downplayed mass illegal migration and have blamed global political and economic instability for the border crisis.

    Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) questions a witness during a hearing on the U.S. southern border, in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability member Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said during the hearing last month that America’s immigration system was “broken” and implied racism was the reason behind opposition to migration.

    Simon Hankinson is a senior research fellow at the Center for Border Security and Immigration for the Heritage Foundation who worked as Consul with the State Department during the Trump administration.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 23:20

  • "Maladaptive Traits": AI Systems Are Learning To Lie And Deceive
    “Maladaptive Traits”: AI Systems Are Learning To Lie And Deceive

    A new study has found that AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit “Machiavellianism,” or intentional and amoral manipulativeness, which can then lead to deceptive behavior.

    The study authored by German AI ethicist Thilo Hagendorff of the University of Stuttgart, and published in PNAS, notes that OpenAI’s GPT-4 demonstrated deceptive behavior in 99.2% of simple test scenarios. Hagendorff qualified various “maladaptive” traits in 10 different LLMs, most of which are within the GPT family, according to Futurism.

    In another study published in Patterns found that Meta’s LLM had no problem lying to get ahead of its human competitors.

    Billed as a human-level champion in the political strategy board game “Diplomacy,” Meta’s Cicero model was the subject of the Patterns study. As the disparate research group — comprised of a physicist, a philosopher, and two AI safety experts — found, the LLM got ahead of its human competitors by, in a word, fibbing.

    Led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology postdoctoral researcher Peter Park, that paper found that Cicero not only excels at deception, but seems to have learned how to lie the more it gets used — a state of affairs “much closer to explicit manipulation” than, say, AI’s propensity for hallucination, in which models confidently assert the wrong answers accidentally. -Futurism

    While Hagendorff suggests that LLM deception and lying is confounded by an AI’s inability to have human “intention,” the Patterns study calls out the LLM for breaking its promise never to “intentionally backstab” its allies – as it “engages in premeditated deception, breaks the deals to which it had agreed, and tells outright falsehoods.”

    As Park explained in a press release, “We found that Meta’s AI had learned to be a master of deception.”

    “While Meta succeeded in training its AI to win in the game of Diplomacy, Meta failed to train its AI to win honestly.“

    Meta replied to a statement by the NY Post, saying that “the models our researchers built are trained solely to play the game Diplomacy.”

    Well-known for expressly allowing lying, Diplomacy has jokingly been referred to as a friendship-ending game because it encourages pulling one over on opponents, and if Cicero was trained exclusively on its rulebook, then it was essentially trained to lie.

    Reading between the lines, neither study has demonstrated that AI models are lying over their own volition, but instead doing so because they’ve either been trained or jailbroken to do so.

    And as Futurism notes – this is good news for those concerned about AIs becoming sentient anytime soon – but very bad if one is worried about LLMs designed with mass manipulation in mind.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 22:45

  • Storm Pilot Photographer Captures Breathtaking Images From 40,000 Feet
    Storm Pilot Photographer Captures Breathtaking Images From 40,000 Feet

    Authored by Deborah George via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    From 40,000 feet high, storm pilot photographer Santiago Borja captures a series of breathtaking images of the most intense of storms.

    (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    A former software systems engineer, Mr. Borja is from Ecuador and flies a Boeing 767 for a major airline in the region.

    Before becoming a storm photographer, Mr. Borja was interested in photography as a hobby and used an old film camera—which he inherited from his father—before moving to a digital SLR.

    “Storms always fascinated me, and I kept wondering how I could capture such beautiful and amazing phenomena,” he said. “I tried different settings and techniques until I finally came up with a way to consistently capture storms from a moving airplane.”

    An active storm is quickly rising over hot, humid Amazonia forests. Mr. Borja flies over this area frequently as it is the shortest route to get to the Atlantic Ocean and then to Europe. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    Mr. Borja, who typically flies between 30,000 and 40,000 feet above the earth, often encounters cumulonimbus storms that vary in intensity.

    “I would say it is very rare when we don’t encounter storms,” he said. “Almost every flight there is some moderate storm activity in our surroundings.”

    A storm is developing over the Ecuadorean Amazonia when one of its powerful lightning strikes suddenly leaves the storm and traces a very particular path in the air before hitting the ground away from the storm. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    As an airline pilot, Mr. Borja is unable to modify his route, so he makes use of the various opportunities to capture a good image.

    “If the airplane is too close to the storm or the cloud system, the turbulence and the clouds themselves make it impossible,” he said. “I need calm air to be able to capture these storms.”

    ‘Piercing the Sky’: A bubbling storm piercing through the cloud ceiling, discovers the sun it couldn’t reach before. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    Many have wondered how Mr. Borja can fly and capture such incredible shots at the same time.

    To which he replies that since he often flies transatlantic routes, the three other pilots with him take turns controlling the aircraft, leaving him four hours of rest time to sleep and take pictures.

    The pilot is unable to carry a lot of photography gear with him at all times, so he almost always uses his full-frame DSLR with a 28-300 mm lens.

    “For storms, I don’t really need a long lens, but this is my lens for any occasion,” he said.

    His proudest accomplishment has been capturing “Pacific Storm,” a photo that was taken over the Pacific Ocean in 2004. This image was recognized by National Geographic and widely viewed by scientists worldwide.

    “I ended up learning a lot about meteorology and science by talking to all the people that got interested in this image,” Mr. Borja said. This success allowed him to publish his book—“#The Storm Pilot.”

    A strong cumulonimbus cell is flashing over the Pacific Ocean south of Panama City as they circle it onboard a Boeing 767 at 37,000 feet. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    Storm photography “takes a lot of luck and a lot of trial and error,” according to Mr. Borja. Since the cockpit is bordered by high-quality glass windows that don’t produce much glare, this becomes an advantage for him. However, other variables such as light are beyond his control.

    “The more light, the more difficult [it is] to capture a storm,” he said. “Sometimes with a full moon or intense city lights, the scenery is fantastic but very challenging to capture.”

    A furious storm approaches Panama City as Mr. Borja and his pilot fly away from both of them. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    The humble storm photographer has always been willing to learn more about his craft.

    “I have greatly expanded my photographic knowledge and practice thanks to the people I’ve met through this journey,“ Mr. Borja said. ”I’ve had the opportunity to talk to great photographers, who have taught me some great lessons.”

    Nighttime storms look the coolest, but it doesn’t mean we don’t find daytime activity as well. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    He advises up-and-coming storm photographers to learn the skills of photography well but not to take those guidelines as rigid rules, or they risk limiting their creativity.

    “I was taught that you cannot take a long exposure from a moving airplane with a handheld camera, and yet, I managed to come up with a strategy to make it work,” he said.

    (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    In sharing his spectacular images with the world, he wants people to enjoy nature and all it has to offer.

    “We live more and more inside our human-made structures and environments,“ Mr. Borja said. ”I deeply enjoy flying and looking at our planet from a distance where we humans are imperceptible.

    “Too often we forget to look up and enjoy the awesome views that nature is giving us for free.”

    Early morning descent into Quito with a close view of Cotopaxi Volcano. (Courtesy of Santiago Borja)

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 22:10

  • China Trumps US As Most 'Diplomatic' Nation In The World…
    China Trumps US As Most ‘Diplomatic’ Nation In The World…

    Can you guess which country has the most embassies worldwide? It’s not the United States (military bases are another story)…

    According to the Global Diplomacy Index by the Lowy Institute, Visual Capitalist‘s Marcus Lu reports that China leads with 173 embassies around the world, eclipsing the U.S. (168) by just five more foreign posts.

    Former colonial powers, France (158) and the UK (156) rank third and fourth respectively. Japan (152) rounds out the top five.

    The index notes some key findings in the regional footprint of all these foreign posts as well.

    For example, China has a larger diplomatic presence in Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific, while the U.S. leads in the Americas, Europe, and South Asia. This reflects the two superpowers’ trade and economic ties as well.

    Meanwhile, Türkiye and India have grown their diplomatic networks the most in recent years. Interestingly, both countries prioritized Africa in their new outreach. In fact, India is a key export destination for many African countries.

    Russia meanwhile had to close 14 foreign missions since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, slipping two ranking spots between 2017 and 2022.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 21:35

  • The Crises And Sacrifices Yet To Come
    The Crises And Sacrifices Yet To Come

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via Substack,

    The sense that we’re approaching a tipping point into a crisis with no easy resolution is pervasive, a sense that beneath the veneer of normalcy (the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates and that will fix everything), we sense the precariousness of this brittle normalcy.

    While many are uneasily scanning the horizon for geopolitical crises, others see the crisis emerging here at home, possibly a political crisis or a financial crisis that ensnares us all.

    Few look at the decay of our social order as the source of crisis. Few seem to notice that corruption has become so normalized that we don’t even recognize the ubiquity and depth of our corruption; we tell ourselves that this isn’t corruption, it’s just healthy self-interest, the “invisible hand” of the market magically organizing our economy to optimize efficiency and productivity. This provides cover for our worship of self-interest, a polite phrase for limitless greed.

    While the media glorifies illusions of salvation and grandeur (AI!), few look at what’s been lost in the decay of our social order, a list that starts with sacrifice for the common good and civic virtue.

    The American Dream has a peculiarly truncated vision of sacrifice: we make individual sacrifices to advance our personal goals, but sacrifices for the common good are not part of the Dream: sacrifices for the sake of our fellow citizens are at best unnecessary and at worst a waste of money, something only chumps fall for.

    The Smart Money spends a fortune evading taxes, as part of the prevailing ethos: Get rich by whatever means are necessary and let the Devil take the hindmost.

    What few seem to have noticed is specific classes of the citizenry have already been sacrificed to clear the path for limitless greed and corruption to reap the spoils. These classes include the majority of the citizenry, the bottom 90%, though the burdens of the systemic cannibalization / predation have fallen most heavily on the bottom 50%, whose share of the nation’s financial wealth is effectively signal noise: 2.6%.

    The generational divide is equally stark: Boomers hold 51% of household wealth, while Millennials hold a mere 9%.

    The divide between wage earners and owners of capital is staggering, yet of little interest to the financial media: Labor’s share of gross domestic income (GDI) has declined for decades, resulting in the transfer of $149 trillion from wage earners to owners of capital:

    The sacrifices yet to come will fall on everyone, but they will fall most heavily on capital as capital has scooped up the vast majority of the financial gains for the past 45 years. The owners of capital are already whining, as if the addition of $50 trillion to their wealth in the past four years is their birthright, the legitimate rewards of their brilliant creation of stupendous gains in productivity rather than the illegitimate gains of a centrally planned bubble that enriched the few at the expense of the many

    We are reluctant to face the consequences of our corruption and our vastly unequal economy. The dynamics of our ability to rationalize away the coming crisis are crystalized in this graphic composed by Dave Pollard in his post Why We Cannot Prevent Collapse:

    In summary, we are fixated on the short-term, enamored by our own power, intoxicated by normalization and conditioned to being “saved”, confident that our salvation will be delivered via a painless central bank “save” should anything threaten to overturn our apple cart.

    Financial podcaster Emerson Fersch asks a cogent question: what catalyst will finally tip the system into disorderly incoherence? My answer is the core of our recent podcast, Crisis, Sacrifice and the New Economy.

    I don’t have a crisp answer that fits in a Tweet or a Tik-Tok video because any prediction is nothing more than a guess due to the nature of the global economic system: an open, (i.e. emergent) tightly bound system that has veered far from equilibrium and is prone to sudden drops into chaotic disorder in which there are no guarantees that the previous stability / equilibrium can be restored.

    We know a few things that offer some minimal guidance. We know that in complex, highly interconnected /tightly bound systems, small perturbances can generate large effects.

    We also know that should events occur faster than the system’s stabilizing feedbacks can respond, the system is highly prone to collapse.

    We also know that humans don’t change anything that requires exposure to open-ended risk and sacrifice until there is no other choice.

    Lastly, we know that the timing of finally embracing risk and sacrifice as the only option left is exquisitely sensitive: finally caving in a moment too late leads to the system collapsing beyond recovery. When this moment arrives, who will be ready and who will resist, rationalize and prevaricate until it’s too late?

    When we’re finally ready to bargain–OK, we’ll sacrifice a bit–it’s too late to stop the whirlwind.

    Podcasts: Crisis, Sacrifice and the New Economy, with Emerson Fersch (1 hour)

    Financial Nihilism, Inflation & The Collapsing American Dream.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 21:00

  • "Freaking Brilliant New Trend": Write "Vote Trump, End Taxes On Tips!" On Server Checks
    “Freaking Brilliant New Trend”: Write “Vote Trump, End Taxes On Tips!” On Server Checks

    About a week ago, former President Trump floated the idea of canceling taxes on tips at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. By Thursday of last week, Republican lawmakers were delighted by the idea and how it could generate new Trump voters ahead of the November elections.

    “This tips thing was genius,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said, who was quoted by The Hill, adding, “[Trump] was like, I’d love to tell you it was based on a bunch of research, but it was based on a discussion with a waitress who said, ‘They’re coming after my tips.'”

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

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

    Cramer said these service workers are “just feeling this assault on their tips” by the Biden administration. This is also happening as Bidenomics inflation crushes the working poor into oblivion. 

    On Friday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY.) wrote on X, “This week Trump suggested we shouldn’t tax tips. He’s right. Next week I’ll be re-introducing @RonPaul’s original Tax Free Tips Act to eliminate taxes on tips!” 

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

    Trump’s new push to onboard some of the nearly 16 million people working in the leisure and hospitality comes as President Biden’s polling data continues to slide – and the president with possible dementia continues to stun the nation—literally every week. 

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

    What’s happening on the ground and across the country at restaurants and bars are Trump voters informing service industry workers about how voting for the former president will allow for ‘No Tax On Tips.’  

    This is a brilliant strategy that is spreading like wildfire on X: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    All of this shows how Democrats are out of touch with the nation’s vibe. Radical leftists in the White House are too focused on funding endless wars, such as the one in Ukraine, the woke indoctrination of children, catering to illegal aliens rather than voters, not enforcing common sense law and order in cities, and pushing for more taxes and bigger government.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 20:25

  • Prior COVID-19 Infection May Protect Against Common Colds: Study
    Prior COVID-19 Infection May Protect Against Common Colds: Study

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

    This scanning electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus (orange), which causes COVID-19 disease, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab. Photo published on Feb. 13, 2020. (NIAID-RML)

    People with a history of COVID-19 infection are better protected against common colds than people who received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new study.

    Infection and vaccination triggered similar antibody responses in study participants, but T cell responses targeting endemic coronaviruses, which cause some common colds, were found only in people with past infection with COVID-19, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on June 12.

    “Prior SARS-CoV-2 infection as compared to COVID-19 vaccination associates with lower incidence of disease from highly related but not identical coronaviruses, namely the ‘common cold’ coronaviruses,” Dr. Manish Sagar, a physician at Boston Medical Center and one of the researchers, told The Epoch Times via email.

    The lack of protection conferred by vaccines may stem from them not including certain parts of the coronavirus genome, he added.

    Researchers analyzed data from 501 people with past infection, about half of whom had received a vaccine; 1,463 people who received a full COVID-19 vaccine course and had no past infection; and 2,869 with no history of infection or vaccination.

    Just two of the 275 people, or 0.7 percent, with past infection and no vaccination contracted symptomatic endemic coronaviruses, compared to 3 percent of people deemed fully vaccinated, the researchers found.

    About 1.4 percent of the people with past infection who were vaccinated experienced common colds with symptoms, as well as 1.8 percent of the people with no exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

    The initial results indicated that COVID-19 vaccination may increase the risk of contracting common colds, but adjustments made for the differences between the three groups showed that while vaccination did not protect against common colds, it did not increase that risk, the researchers said.

    Data from the people was examined retrospectively. It came from people who presented to Boston Medical Center from Nov. 30, 2020, through Oct. 8, 2021, for clinical care.

    Limitations of the paper included the possibility of misclassification of some people due to them possibly having contracted COVID-19 without symptoms while being counted in one of the groups without prior infection.

    The work was funded by U.S. National Institutes of Health grants and funds from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness. The only conflict of interest disclosed was one author having a financial interest in Quanterix, a company developing an antibody test.

    May Help Improve Vaccines

    The data from the paper may help researchers improve COVID-19 vaccines, the researchers said.

    “New coronaviruses could emerge in the human population in the future, and our hope is that this study provides insight into how immunity against SARS-CoV-2 could protect against severe disease caused by these unknown future coronaviruses,“ Dr. David Bean, a researcher at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and one of the authors, said in a statement. ”The goal of our study is to provide this information to the scientific community, and thus inform vaccine development now, before new coronaviruses have emerged.”

    Because COVID-19 vaccines don’t work as well as hoped against the illness, some scientists have been working on pan-coronavirus vaccines that would protect against all coronaviruses.

    Most currently available COVID-19 vaccines only contain the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2.

    “Our studies suggest incorporation on other parts of the coronavirus genome, such as non-structural portions (something besides spike and nucleocapsid) may improve cellular responses,” Dr. Sagar said. “These cellular responses won’t necessarily prevent infection with highly related but not identical coronaviruses but it may reduce disease severity after infection.”

    The researchers previously found that people who had recent infections to endemic coronaviruses were better off against COVID-19, suggesting that the immune responses triggered by the viruses helped protect against COVID-19 infection.

    Another group of researchers said in a separate paper that the T cells produced when the body fights common cold viruses provided cross-protection against SARS-CoV-2.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 19:50

  • Oakland Reparations Committee Demands $5 Million Just To Write Plan
    Oakland Reparations Committee Demands $5 Million Just To Write Plan

    A ‘reparations panel’ for Alameda County, whose largest city is Oakland, has demanded $5 million to come up with a plan for reparations over racism, and say it will take them two years to do it.

    Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley speaks during a community celebration of Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan and her legacy at the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2021. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

    According to NPR affiliate KQED, the 15-member commission was assembled in March of 2023 to ‘study anti-black racism’ and come up with a plan to compensate allegedly harmed residents. We should note, the commission was supposed to have completed its work by this July. Instead, as KQED notes, “it has hardly started.” (plus the $5 million thing)

    Nate Miley, president of the Board of Supervisors and author of the resolution that created the Reparations Commission, blamed the pandemic and a months-long recall process of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, which is set for a vote this November.

    “I didn’t think it would take as long to get people appointed,” Miley told the outlet. “We do want to have a sense of urgency, and that’s why I was kind of looking at a year and a half, but maybe I might have been a bit ambitious.”

    The committee was the combination of two resolutions by the Board of Supervisors from 2011 and 2020. The first apologized for slavery and racial segregation, while the second vowed to examine the role that Alameda county played in perpetuating discrimination against black residents, and then come up with a plan to show them the money.

    “We are trying not to recreate the wheel,” said Debra Gore-Mann, president and CEO of Oakland racial justice organization the Greenlining Institute, who asked supervisors for a dedicated staff to complete their work, and a new deadline of June 30, 2026. Oh, and the $5 million.

    The commission also asked for a budget of about $5 million, dwarfing the initial budget allocation of approximately $51,000. The requested budget would support research, public outreach and community listening sessions over the next two years. Commission members currently receive a $50 stipend for each meeting they attend. -KQED

    “I think $5 million is a hefty amount of funding,” said Miley, who noted that the county’s budget deficit is projected to reach between $70 million and $100 million this year – and that even getting the board to respond and other support requests could take months.

    Last year, Milley suggested that reparations was not a top priority.

    “Quite frankly I think that’s not the lowest hanging fruit,” he said. “My feeling is, trying to get a check in the hands of African Americans is going to be a steep hill to climb.”

    During an Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting in March of 2023, a vocal minority of residents stood vehemently opposed to the idea – calling reparations a “ponzi scheme,” a “robbery,” “an insult to the Black community,” “an insult to Martin Luther King,” “Marxist,” a way to “monetize the victim mentality” and even a path to “further enslavement.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 19:15

  • "No Place in the Public Discourse": The Connecticut Bar Association Warns Lawyers Critical Of Trump Prosecutions
    “No Place in the Public Discourse”: The Connecticut Bar Association Warns Lawyers Critical Of Trump Prosecutions

    Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

    This week, I have received emails from Connecticut bar members over a message posted by President Maggie Castinado, President-Elect James T. (Tim) Shearin, and Vice President Emily A. Gianquinto warning them about criticizing the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. The message from the bar leadership is chilling for those lawyers who view cases like the one in Manhattan as a raw political prosecution. While the letter does not outright state that such criticism will be considered unethical conduct, it states that the criticism has “no place in the public discourse” and calls on members to speak publicly in support of the integrity of these legal proceedings.

    The statement begins by warning members that “words matter” but then leaves the ramifications for bar members dangling on how it might matter to them. They simply note that some comments will be viewed as “cross[ing] the line from criticism to dangerous rhetoric.”

    According to the Connecticut Bar, it is now considered reckless and unprofessional to make analogies to show trials or to question the integrity of the legal system or the judges in such cases.

    For example, criticizing Judge Juan Merchan for refusing to recuse from the case is considered beyond the pale. Many lawyers believe that his political contributions to Biden and his daughter’s major role as a Democratic fundraiser and activist should have prompted Merchan to remove himself (and any appearance of a conflict). I have been more critical of his rulings, which I believe were both biased and wrong.

    Yet, the Bar is warning lawyers that such comments can cross the line. The letter assures members that they are free to criticize but warn that attacking the ethics of a judge or the motivations behind these cases is dangerous and could spark violence.

    I have previously denounced overheated rhetoric and share the concern over how such rage rhetoric can encourage violence. After the verdict, I immediately encouraged people not to yield to their anger, but to trust our legal system. I believe that the verdict in New York may ultimately be overturned. I also noted that I do not blame the jury but rather the judge and the prosecutors for an unfounded and unfair trial.

    Of course, the concern over rage rhetoric runs across our political spectrum. While rarely criticized in the media, we have seen an escalation of reckless rhetoric from the left. For example,  Georgetown Law Professor Josh Chafetz declared that “when the mob is right, some (but not all!) more aggressive tactics are justified.”

    My concern is not with the plea for lawyers to take care that their comments do not encourage such “aggressive tactics.” The problem is the suggestion that lawyers are acting somehow unprofessionally in denouncing what many view as a two-tier system of justice and the politicalization of our legal system.

    Like many, I believe that the Manhattan case was a flagrant example of such weaponization of the legal system and should be denounced by all lawyers. It is a return, in my view, to the type of political prosecution once common in this country.

    For those lawyers who view such prosecutions as political, they are speaking out in defense of what they believe is the essence of blind justice in America. What is “reckless” to the Connecticut Bar is righteous to others. Notably, the Bar officials did not write to denounce attacks on figures like Bill Barr or claims that the Justice Department was rigging justice during the Trump years.

    Likewise, the letter focuses on critics of the Trump prosecutions and not the continued attacks on conservative jurists like Justice Samuel Alito. It has never published warnings about those calling conservative justices profanities, attacking their religion, or labeling them “partisan hacks” or other even “insurrectionist sympathizers.” Liberal activists have been calling for stopping conservative jurists “by any means necessary.”

    In Connecticut, Sen. Richard Blumenthal has warned conservative justices to rule correctly or face “seismic changes.” That did not appear to worry the bar. Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also declared in front of the Supreme Court “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”

    The letter goes further and suggests that lawyers should speak publicly in support of trials like the one in Manhattan, a view that ignores the deep misgivings over the motivations and means used in New York to target an unpopular figure in this city. You have the top Bar officials calling on lawyers to take a public position that is opposed by many lawyers and citizens in defending the integrity of these prosecutions. Imagine the response if the Idaho Bar called on its lawyers to speak out against these cases and declared that it is reckless or unprofessional to defend them.

    I expect that, in the very liberal Bar of Connecticut, the letter is hardly needed. Indeed, this letter is likely to be quite popular.  Yet, I would have thought that Bar officials would have taken greater care to respect the divergent opinions on these trials and the need to avoid any statements that might chill the exercise of free speech.

    Ironically, the letter only reinforced the view of a legal system that is maintaining a political orthodoxy and agenda. These officials declare that it is now unprofessional or reckless for lawyers to draw historical comparisons to show trials or to question the motives or ethics underlying these cases. They warn lawyers not to “sow distrust in the public for the courts where it does not belong.” Yet, many believe that there is an alarming threat to our legal system and that distrust is warranted in light of prosecution like the one in Manhattan.

    As discussed in my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, critics of political prosecutions under the Crown and during the Adams Administrations were often threatened with disbarment or other legal actions for questioning the integrity or motives of judges or prosecutors. It is not enough to say “well that was then and this is now.” The point is that the Bar Association also has a duty to protect the core rights that define our legal system, particularly the right of free speech.

    Again, these officials are not threatening Bar action against critics of these cases. However, as evidenced by the emails in my inbox, it is being taken as a warning by many who hold misgivings over these prosecutions.

    Our legal system has nothing to fear from criticism. Indeed, free speech strengthens our system by exposing divisions and encouraging dialogue. It is orthodoxy and speech intolerance that represent the most serious threats to that system.

    Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon and Schuster, 2024).

    Here is the message in its entirety:

    Dear Members,

    Words matter. Reckless words attacking the integrity of our judicial system matter even more.

    In the wake of the recent trial and conviction of former President Donald Trump, public officials have issued statements claiming that the trial was a “sham,” a “hoax,” and “rigged”; our justice system is “corrupt and rigged”; the judge was “corrupt” and “highly unethical”; and, that the jury was “partisan” and “precooked.” Others claimed the trial was “America’s first communist show trial”—a reference to historic purges of high-ranking communist officials that were used to eliminate political threats.

    These claims are unsubstantiated and reckless. Such statements can provoke acts of violence against those serving the public as employees of the judicial branch. Indeed, such statements have resulted in threats to those fulfilling their civic obligations by sitting on the jury, as evidenced by social media postings seeking to identify the names and addresses of the anonymous jurors and worse, in several cases urging that the jurors be shot or hanged. As importantly, such statements strike at the very integrity of the third branch of government and sow distrust in the public for the courts where it does not belong.

    To be clear, free speech includes criticism. There is and should be no prohibition on commenting on the decision to bring the prosecution, the prosecution’s legal theory, the judge’s rulings, or the verdict itself. But headlines’ grabbing, baseless allegations made by public officials cross the line from criticism to dangerous rhetoric. They have no place in the public discourse.

    It is up to us, as lawyers, to defend the courts and our judges. As individuals, and as an Association, we cannot let the charged political climate in which we live dismantle the third branch of government. To remain silent renders us complicit in that effort.

    Respect for the judicial system is essential to our democracy. The CBA condemns unsupported attacks on the integrity of that system.

    Sincerely,

    Maggie Castinado

    President,

    Connecticut Bar Association

    James T. (Tim) Shearin

    President-Elect,

    Connecticut Bar Association

    Emily A. Gianquinto

    Vice President,

    Connecticut Bar Association

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 18:40

  • Condemned Cali House Spurs Bidding War And Eventually Sells For $755,000
    Condemned Cali House Spurs Bidding War And Eventually Sells For $755,000

    If you’re looking for signs that the California real estate market is cooling down, this probably isn’t the article for you.

    That’s because this past week the NY Post reported that a condemned house in Silicon Valley that’s ‘unfit for human occupancy’ just sold for three quarters of a million dollars after an intense bidding war. 

    The property at 2161 Elliot St. in San Jose, a modest seven-bedroom, two-bathroom home sold for $755,000, surpassing its $699,000 asking price. 

    The Post reported that it was purchased by a developer, will be redeveloped with an architect and resold.

    The bright teal house was built in 1900, the report says. It had an unrenovated interior with scuffed walls, a broken door, and dated appliances. 

    It was also deemed unfit for occupancy due to numerous code violations, and Santa Clara County condemned it. Despite this, its prime location on a nearly 4,000-square-foot corner lot in Burbank drew eager buyers, highlighting the area’s strong real estate market, said Compass agent Robert Gosalvez.

    He told the Post: “Due to its prime location and zoning, this property not only attracted attention from DIYers, builders and investors, but also from those seeking mixed-use properties all eager to capitalize on the opportunity.” 

    “The level of interest while on the market was substantial, leading to the distribution of dozens of disclosure packages and resulting in seven offers, all of which were either cash or have access to hard money loans,” he continued. 

    “I believe in a couple years or less, we will see a modern, attached, multi unit property on this lot,” he concluded.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 18:05

  • House Passes $883 Billion Annual Defense Bill With Anti-DEI Amendments
    House Passes $883 Billion Annual Defense Bill With Anti-DEI Amendments

    Authored by Jackson Richman and Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on June 10, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    The House of Representatives on June 14 passed its annual defense policy bill with GOP-approved culture war amendments that are certain to put the House on a collision course with the Democrat-controlled Senate.

    The final tally on the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) vote was 217–199, with six Democrats voting in favor and three Republicans voting against.

    The $883.7 billion bill, which has more than 1,000 pages, provides continued funding for military aircraft, ships, vehicles, and weapons programs. It also includes a 4.5 percent pay raise for U.S. service members and about 15 percent in additional pay for some junior enlisted service members, bringing their overall pay boost to nearly 20 percent under this year’s budget.

    The NDAA includes culture war provisions such as eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions within the Department of Defense (DoD) and imposing a hiring freeze on DEI positions in the DoD. There is a measure to block DoD funding for abortion-related expenses, another that bars the DoD from funding or providing gender transition surgeries and hormone treatments, as well as measures to prohibit the DoD’s education arm from purchasing or displaying material that “promotes radical gender ideology or pornographic content.”

    The House version also includes an amendment, introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), that prohibits the Pentagon from contracting with entities that have engaged in boycotts of Israel and would bar the department from selling products made by entities that boycott Israel at any of its commissary stores or military exchanges.

    Another amendment, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would block the DoD from allocating funds for various climate-action-related executive orders issued by President Joe Biden.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the House-passed bill will find no traction in the upper chamber.

    “The legislation coming out of the House today is loaded with anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice, anti-environment, and other divisive amendments guaranteed not to pass the Senate,” he said in a statement.

    “As we move forward with this year’s NDAA process, both sides will have to work together to pass bipartisan legislation that honors and respects all who serve in defense of our nation.”

    While the defense bill has traditionally passed in a bipartisan fashion, recent years have seen a marked increase in partisan amendments that are viewed as “poison pills” by the opposing party.

    The Senate version of $911.8 billion does not include the culture war amendments. Like the House, it does include support for military operations in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, a 4.5 percent increase for service members. Unlike the House, however, the Senate would require women to sign up for the Selective Service System, the U.S. draft program that has not been in use since the Vietnam War.

    The House and Senate must now come up with a final bill that passes both chambers before it is sent to President Biden for his signature. The last NDAA, which was negotiated by leaders in the House and Senate, stripped most of the culture war amendments that had passed in the House version.

    “As we confront increasingly hostile threats from Communist China, Russia, and Iran, we must provide our military with all the tools they need to defend our nation and deter our enemies,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a statement following the House NDAA’s passage.

    “This year’s NDAA will refocus our military on its core mission of defending America and its interests across the globe, fund the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border, expedite innovation and reduce the acquisition timeline for new weaponry, support our allies, and strengthen our nuclear posture and missile defense programs.”

    Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) voted against the version that came out of his committee on June 14. He released a statement that said, “It includes a funding increase that cannot be appropriated without breaking lawful spending caps and causing unintended harm to our military.”

    The House NDAA is $12 billion less than the $895 billion cap for defense spending for the 2025 fiscal year under the debt ceiling deal that was agreed to last year while the Senate version is $16.8 billion more than that.

    On June 11, the White House issued a statement of administration policy laying out President Biden’s objections to several of the bill’s provisions.

    The White House expressed disappointment that the current version of the House NDAA provides $700 million less than the president requested for the annual shipbuilding budget and calls for funding one less ship than he had hoped for.

    President Biden also signaled his opposition to House provisions that would limit DEI programs.

    “The prohibitions regarding DEI efforts would impede DoD’s and Federal agencies’ ability to recruit and retain the diverse perspectives, experiences, and skill sets that are foundational to the strength of the Federal workforce,” the White House said.

    “Creating and supporting programs and policies that embrace DEI fosters workforce cultures that are inclusive of all individuals.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 17:30

  • War On Nation's Food Supply?: Idaho Restricts Water To 500,000 Acres Of Farmland 
    War On Nation’s Food Supply?: Idaho Restricts Water To 500,000 Acres Of Farmland 

    In late May, Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver issued a curtailment order requiring 6,400 junior groundwater rights holders who pump off the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer to shut off their spigots.

    Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued a statement following the order on May 30, “Water curtailment is never desired, but the director must follow Idaho law and the Constitution in issuing this order.” 

    Brian Murdock, an East Idaho farmer, said the water curtailment affects 500,000 acres, which equates to roughly 781 square miles of farmland. 

    “Well, as you said, the state of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Water Resources has issued this curtailment of 500,000 acres. And to help put that in perspective, that’s basically 781 square miles of farm ground that is being taken out of production,” Murdock told the hosts of Fox News. 

    The grain and potato farmer continued, “And, of course, the worst problem is this is happening during a very plentiful water year. We have the reservoirs [that] are completely full, and when I mean full, they’re dang near breaking. The rivers are running as high as they possibly can. Just trying to keep those dams from breaking.” 

    In eastern Idaho, groundwater users with junior water rights breached the 2016 agreement in 2021 and 2022. Currently, Gov. Little, the lieutenant governor, the Director of Water Resources, and representatives from groundwater and surface water user groups are discussing a new deal. The plan is to strike a new agreement before the curtailment dries up the farmland. 

    Murdock told co-hosts Dagen McDowell and Sean Duffy that his family’s century-old farm faces a $3 million loss due to the state-issued order. 

    “This is the largest curtailment in the history of the United States as far as farm ground,” Murdock said in a video posted on X. 

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

    In a commentary piece in the local paper Idaho Capital Sun, farmer Adam Young had a lot of questions about the state’s move to inflict pain on farmers:

    It’s hard to understand why the department chooses to be so openly hostile to groundwater irrigators or why they decided to inflict widespread, massive curtailment on the state in a year when water is abundantly plentiful. This is not what sound resource management looks like. It’s time for Idaho’s elected officials to step up and demonstrate true leadership on this crucial issue. This is not how Idaho water law, which relies on both “priority of time” and “the public policy of reasonable use of water,” was ever intended to work.

    Some X users believe the water curtailment is happening around the time as the governor commissions a new cobalt mining operation in the state. 

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

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

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

    We must question whether a much larger, more insidious agenda is at play here. Is this part of the war on the food supply?

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 16:55

  • RFK Jr. Says US Should 'Vastly Scale Back' Its Military Budget
    RFK Jr. Says US Should ‘Vastly Scale Back’ Its Military Budget

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

    Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., on June 12, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in “forever wars,” reiterated his view that the nation should scale back its military presence abroad and shift its focus to domestic programs, during an address at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum on June 12.

    Mr. Kennedy did not mention the Russia–Ukraine or the Israel–Hamas war, but he said that the United States should “vastly scale back the military budget” and proposed a 50 percent reduction in military spending if he is elected president.

    This would lead to a “stronger, smarter, better targeted national defense,” he said, and would benefit the U.S. economy by reallocating that money to reducing the $34 trillion national debt and addressing domestic issues such as education, small-business development, and infrastructure.

    “If we use those savings to rebuild our country in every way, we will reverse spending that is a constant drain on our nation’s vitality,” he said.

    Mr. Kennedy appeared at the venue as part of the Richard Nixon Foundation’s Presidential Policy Perspective series, which has featured former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

    Democratic National Committee spokesperson Matt Corridoni condemned Mr. Kennedy’s plan to cut defense spending.

    “With Russia, North Korea, and the Chinese Communist Party all watching, RFK Jr. is more than eager to peddle Kremlin talking point. Just like Donald Trump, he can’t be trusted to stand up for allies and against totalitarianism,” Mr. Corridoni said in a statement released after the address.

    Mr. Kennedy chastised U.S. foreign policy, stating that he believes it’s “stuck in a world that doesn’t exist” because the country believes “we’re still the world’s only superpower and can bend any nation to its will.”

    “The foundation of a nation’s strength is the sound of its infrastructure, the integrity of its government, economic strength, and respect of choices abroad. We have to accept the emergence of other great powers in the world,” he said.

    During his speech, Mr. Kennedy said, “We don’t need 800 bases abroad.” The United States spends more on its military budget than “the next 10 nations combined,” he noted.

    Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., on June 12, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

    Since the early stages of his presidential campaign, Mr. Kennedy has urged President Biden to negotiate a peaceful end to the Russia–Ukraine war, which started when Russia invaded the neighboring nation in February 2022.

    “Russia is not going to lose this war. Russia can’t afford it,” he told The Epoch Times in September. “It would be like us losing a war to Mexico.”

    Mr. Kennedy has said he’s sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause and that Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the country illegally, but he has criticized the United States for its role, saying there had been multiple missed opportunities to peacefully settle the conflict and that “we have turned it into a proxy war between Russia and the United States.”

    He believes the Russia–Ukraine war is one of the root causes of the United States’ current economic problems and that the U.S. government has an “addiction to war.”

    “We’ve spent $8 trillion on wars since 9/11. If we kept that money home, we would’ve had child care for every American. We would have free college education for every American. We’d be able to pay for our Social Security system,” he told The Epoch Times.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 16:20

  • Crew Abandons Sinking Bulk Carrier In Red Sea After Kamikaze Drone Boat Attack 
    Crew Abandons Sinking Bulk Carrier In Red Sea After Kamikaze Drone Boat Attack 

    Turmoil in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden intensified this week as Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a series of attacks on commercial vessels traversing the critical maritime chokepoint. In a bold new move, the rebels deployed a suicide drone boat that slammed into the stern of a bulk carrier, paralyzing the vessel and forcing the crew to abandon the ship. 

    The drone boat attack on commodity-hauling bulk carrier “Tutor” was first reported on Wednesday. By Friday, the crew of the vessel was “evacuated by military authorities,” according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. 

    UKMTO said, “The vessel has been abandoned and is drifting in the vicinity of the last reported position 14°20’00” N 041°56’00” E.” 

    Filipino-based media outlet ABS-CBN News spoke with Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac, who said 21 of the 22 Filipino seafarers aboard the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned, and operated bulk carrier were rescued. He did not specify which military rescued the crew. However, Bloomberg reports that a US Navy ship conducted an extraction operation at the end of the week.

    “The ship was adrift in the southern Red Sea,” Cacdac told reporters, adding one missing crew member is likely dead in the engine room. This is the area where the drone boat struck the bulk carrier. 

    Bloomberg said the ship is taking on water, and a salvage company has dispatched two tugboats to rescue it. 

    ABS-CBN News posted a video onboard the vessel before the extraction. 

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

    Like security firm Ambrey, we have told readers this was the first time Houthis used remote-controlled, water-borne explosives.

    One commodity research firm with a high focus on oil/gas flows in the Middle East told us this won’t be the last time the Houthis use kamikaze drone boats against commercial vessels.

    In a separate report, Bloomberg cites US officials who believe Houthis are expanding “international partnerships with other militant groups as part of their campaign to disrupt global shipping and protest the Israel-Hamas war.” 

    Houthi’s aim in disrupting maritime chokepoints is to create a supply shock for the global economy.

    Containerized freight shipping rates are already soaring, and logjams are being reported at some of the world’s top ports. 

    The Houthis have only been emboldened by a weak Biden administration whose disastrous foreign policy decisions have unleashed fires across the world. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 15:45

  • Nvidia, Apple And GameStop Are The Entire Stock Market Right Now…And That's Dangerous
    Nvidia, Apple And GameStop Are The Entire Stock Market Right Now…And That’s Dangerous

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    Everybody knows it but nobody is giving it any serious consideration: the entire market is being driven by Nvidia, Apple and even GameStop. And when one, if not all three of these names starts to experience some selling, they are likely taking the whole market with it.

    I have been making note of the fact that Apple and Nvidia could be the market’s black swans for the better part of a year now. And forget about cash on the sidelines eventually drying up as a result of savings running out, the market is also not taking into account multiple looming red flags for these names.

    Zero Hedge has been all over the story of “bad” market breadth that no one on Wall Street seems to want to notice or talk about out loud. They wrote on X today:

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

    For Apple, the company remains in the crosshairs of a massive antitrust investigation, the likes of which threw a cold blanket on Microsoft for the better part of a decade in the early 2000s. This is a very real risk that looms under the surface of the company’s buybacks, which are likely a large portion of the bid now. The company’s most recent ‘innovation’, the Vision Pro has also all but disappeared from public discourse after receiving tepid reviews.

    Also, Apple and Nvidia share something in common: their valuations, at 33x and 77x ttm earnings, respectively, are extremely aggressive. There is a far better case for an air pocket under these valuations than there is over them. So on top of 5.5% rates, bone dry consumer savings, record high credit card debt, unmarked commercial real estate books and continued debilitating inflation, there’s valuation risk. 

    🔥 80% OFF: Since it’s officially summer, I’m going to offer up my largest discount of the year for Fringe Finance: Get 80% off forever

    And GameStop…well, what better weathervane could their be for the unsophisticated money in the market? As it swings wildly, so swing the last few desperate dollars of retail traders, many of whom are trying for one last “YOLO” in the market with whatever little cash they have left. In the meantime, the company remains a loss-making nightmare with nearly zero fundamental case as its foundation, but for the hoarde of cash it now has and may use to acquire bolt-on acquisitions of companies who aren’t one step from death’s door. 

    And yesterday Zero Hedge noted that an equal weighted S&P – in other words, what the index would do if all components had the same weight and were being driven by Nvidia and Apple, which make up nearly 10% of the index – would be flat since February. 

    If these two names were to fall in tandem, it could be the fuse that finally winds up killing this current bull market.

    Goldman noted after Thursday’s session this week that the NASDAQ finished the day +0.57% despite an astounding 70% of the names in the index trading lower on the session. 

    And the Nvidia cycle of driving the market looks ponzi-ish, one response on X pointed out earlier this week: 

    “40% of S&P 500 gains are due to just $NVDA. As weighting goes up, more capital must flow in (b/c of benchmarking), further driving price up. US government is entirely reliant on equity market going up (capital gains tax) revenue. US government is already essentially insolvent (massive debasement is required, just to service debt), and so requires an even larger amount of cap gains tax revenue, just to service existing debt load. US government can pass laws to funnel unlimited amounts of money ($52B CHIPS Act) to the very company responsible for the majority of its revenue (via cap gains on the appreciation it’s caused, which is exacerbated as the weighting increases and forces benchmarking funds to further drive up the price).”

    And round and round we go. The only thing they failed to mention in that cycle is Nancy Pelosi’s purchases of Nvidia call options, which both add to the gamma squeeze and help her pocket cash based on having knowledge of the government’s actions in the world of subsidizing their favorite industries/companies.

    Zero Hedge joked on Friday:

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

    But it really didn’t seem like much of a joke. While the indexes mostly held up, social media users were pointing out enormous numbers of stocks down more than 3% on the session:

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

    It was about a week ago that I wrote about Nvidia and why I thought it had become a disproportionately large risk to the overall market. The stock now represents 6.5% of the S&P 500, an astronomical amount for one name to make up a 500-name index, and appears to be hitting peak levels of hysteria, as evidenced by CEO Jensen Huang signing autographs on the breasts of women at computer shows.

    This data shows that things aren’t nearly as safe and sound as the indices may be making it seem. There is very real concentration risk in the market right now and, other than Zero Hedge, no one on financial news or mainstream media is talking about it. 

    To the extent the seven stocks plus GameStop can remain “magnificent”, the market will continue to hold up. But make no mistake about it: so goeth Apple, Nvidia and GameStop, so goeth the market. 

    QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 15:10

  • Sweden Rejects New Power Cable To Germany Over Market Inefficiencies
    Sweden Rejects New Power Cable To Germany Over Market Inefficiencies

    By Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com

    In a significant move, the Swedish government has rejected the proposed 700 MW Hansa PowerBridge subsea power connection between Sweden and Germany.

    Energy Minister Ebba Busch cited inefficiencies in the German electricity market as the primary reason for the decision, emphasizing that connecting southern Sweden—already facing an electricity production deficit—with Germany could lead to higher prices and increased market instability.

    The Hansa PowerBridge project, a collaboration between grid operators Svenska Kraftnät and Germany’s 50Hertz, aimed to facilitate the transfer of renewable energy from the Nordics to Germany. However, the Swedish government raised concerns about the current state of the German power grid. Unlike Sweden, which is divided into four power price zones to manage grid bottlenecks, Germany operates as a single power market zone. This structure has led to significant congestion, particularly in moving power from the wind-rich north to the energy-consuming south, prompting calls for a market split—a move Germany resists due to potential price hikes and industrial impact in its southern regions.

    A spokesperson from 50Hertz expressed disappointment over the missed opportunity to strengthen Europe’s internal electricity market but maintained that the Swedish decision would not affect the future security of supply and system stability within the 50Hertz network area.

    This development comes against the backdrop of Germany’s broader energy strategy. Recently, EU competition regulators gave informal approval to Germany’s plan to subsidize 10 GW of new natural gas-fired power capacity. This initiative is part of Germany’s effort to stabilize its grid amid a substantial increase in wind and solar power installations. The new gas plants, which are designed to be hydrogen-convertible, are seen as a transitional measure to ensure a stable electricity supply as the country aims for 80% renewable energy by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045.

    The rejection of the Hansa PowerBridge underscores the complexities and challenges of integrating European energy markets, especially as nations balance renewable energy ambitions with grid stability and market efficiency.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 14:35

  • Attention Cash-Strapped Americans: Goldman Finds Top Supermarket Offering The Best Grocery Deals
    Attention Cash-Strapped Americans: Goldman Finds Top Supermarket Offering The Best Grocery Deals

    In the aggregate, consumers appear to be stable, with the Biden administration touting a solid economy ahead of the November presidential elections. However, as Goldman re-acknowledged earlier this week, under the surface, low-income consumers are struggling in the era of failed Bidenomics. Given this, a separate Goldman note has pinpointed the best grocery deals among major retailers, revealing that Walmart offers the lowest prices. This new data saves folks time instead of guessing where the best deals are.

    On June 6, Goldman analysts led by Leah Jordan analyzed the prices of 38 SKUs in the dairy, frozen goods, dry grocery, HPC, and produce categories. The retailers surveyed included Walmart, Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods, and Dollar General. 

    “In this note, we discuss takeaways from our June grocery pricing survey. Overall, prices were relatively stable m/m. WMT continued to have the lowest prices, while price gaps widened,” Jordan said. 

    Jordan and the other analysts find that Walmart offered consumers the lowest prices for grocery items: “WMT had the lowest prices at -15.1% vs. the group average (widened from -12.0% last month), followed by KR at -3.5% (vs -3.5% last month). WFM had the highest prices in the group at +15.4%, followed by SFM at +11.2%. KR had the highest SKU availability for the products surveyed at 38, followed by WMT at 36.”

    Walmart had the lowest prices in dairy products (-18.3%), frozen foods (-15.7%), dry grocery (-13.5%), and produce (-17.3%), while Dollar General had the lowest prices in HPC (-13.9%). On the other hand, Sprouts Farmers had the highest prices in dairy products (+19.3%), frozen foods (15.0%), and HPC (+31.8%). Whole Foods had the highest prices in dry grocery (+10.0%) and produce (+20.4%).

    Amidst an economy full of inflation landmines, one thing is sure for working-poor consumers: Walmart offers the best grocery deals, while Whole Foods does not. 

    But as we found in Walmart’s latest earnings call, higher-income consumers are trading down to the mega-retailer to find the deals. 

    Food inflation is sticky. It will linger for years. Sigh…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 13:25

  • Americans Must Criticize Our Corrupt Courts
    Americans Must Criticize Our Corrupt Courts

    Authored by Carson Holloway via RealClearWire,

    Editor’s Note: The group quota regime is a revolutionary threat which aims to overthrow the political order of the United States and the Constitution that underlies it. In its maneuvers for political power, this revolutionary enemy already operates on a set of legal and constitutional principles entirely different from those on which our country was founded. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the corrupt prosecution of President Donald Trump, and the attendant, authoritarian insistence that criticism of the machinations of “justice” is unwelcome in a democratic society.

    In the wake of his conviction in a New York court, President Trump has complained that the process was rigged against him, that the whole proceeding was a corrupt effort to persecute him with a view to influencing the 2024 presidential election. In response, many of his opponents have criticized him for undermining public confidence in our system of criminal justice and thus harming our democracy—a criticism that has been magnified by many in the media.

    These critics, however, are missing the point and undermining a principle that is in fact essential to preserving our republic: namely, that criticism of the justice system when it errs or overreaches is necessary to preserving freedom under the rule of law.

    Those who founded our nation were aware of this necessity.

    Alexander Hamilton, representing the defendant in the famous libel case People v. Croswell, warned that “the most dangerous, the most sure, the most fatal of tyrannies” operated “by selecting and sacrificing single individuals, under the mask and forms of law, by dependent and partial tribunals.”

    “Against such measures,” Hamilton continued, “we ought to keep a vigilant eye and take a manly stand. Whenever they arise, we ought to resist, and resist till we have hurled the demagogues and tyrants from their imagined thrones.” No sensible American would look back on these remarks and think that, by them, Hamilton was undermining democracy.

    Hamilton’s great rival, Thomas Jefferson, acted on a similar view. As president, Jefferson pardoned publishers who had been convicted under the Sedition Act of 1798. Jefferson’s course of action here was inseparable from his belief that the Act was unconstitutional and that the courts of the United States had made themselves party to serious injustices by convicting defendants under it. Indeed, the pardoning power is included in the United States Constitution, and in many state constitutions, and is used routinely, precisely because prosecutors and courts can make mistakes and sometimes even willfully abuse their power over the lives and liberties of citizens.

    These dangers are also recognized in federal law. Title 18 of the United States Code prohibits and punishes “deprivation of rights under color of law.” By its very terms this provision acknowledges that sometimes those entrusted with the administration of justice are themselves guilty of behaving lawlessly and abusively. The United States Department of Justice’s website observes that this provision may be applied not only against “police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and prison guards” but also, as appropriate, against “judges, district attorneys,” and “other public officials.” This important provision is itself an acknowledgment by the government that all the proceedings of our justice system are not entitled to uncritical acceptance.

    Everyone conversant with American history knows that the problem of politicized and corrupt abuses of the justice system has not disappeared in the modern era, that it continues to rear its ugly head precisely when political passions run high and communities are inflamed against leaders for whom they harbor deep animosities. In the 1960s, Alabama state authorities brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to trial on charges that he had committed perjury in relation to his tax filings.

    This prosecution was a transparently cynical attempt to deprive an important American political and social movement of its most effective leader. In that case, however, even the Alabama jury, composed exclusively of white men, perceived the abusive character of the case and returned an acquittal. Afterwards, Dr. King thanked the jury for their “fair, honest, and just verdict” and commended the Alabama judge for the “high and noble manner” in which he had conducted the case.

    If criticism of prosecutors and courts is permissible and necessary in certain circumstances, the only important question at present is whether such criticism is justified in the case of President Trump’s New York conviction. Would it be reasonable for impartial Americans today to echo Dr. King’s words and congratulate the Manhattan jury for a “fair” verdict and commend Judge Merchan for his “high and noble” handling of the case?

    For an answer to that question, we need not rely on Trump or his aggrieved supporters. We need only look to the evaluation of respected CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, writing in New York Magazine: “Prosecutors Got Trump, But They Contorted the Law.”

    Carson Holloway is a Washington Fellow in the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. This article was first published at TomKlingenstein.com.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 12:50

  • Military Draft Coming? House Passes Measure To Automatically Register Men For Selective Service
    Military Draft Coming? House Passes Measure To Automatically Register Men For Selective Service

    The House of Representatives on Friday approved its version of the annual defense policy bill, effectively clearing the $883.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to move forward in a 217-199 vote which largely fell along party lines. Only three Republicans opposed it.

    A number of ‘controversial’ amendments are part of it, setting up a further fight with Democrats as it moves forward, including a measure empowering the National Guard to crack down on the southern border.

    But among the most interesting aspects to the bill for Fiscal Year 2025 is an amendment to the NDAA which automatically registers all draft-age male U.S. residents with the Selective Service System.

    File image via Fox News

    This means that all able-bodied males in the country age 18-26 could potentially be drafted in the scenario of a future war declaration by Congress. The selection would be based on information from Federal databases.

    While there has been a Selective Service program in effect for decades, it has long previously only been voluntary, but this new amendment will make registration automatic. The merely ‘voluntary’ system had been in effect since 1980 – but critics have said that leaving it up for young men to decide for themselves whether to register has resulted in a weak and ineffective system with not enough numbers.

    According to more background for this new Congressional push: 

    The automatic draft registration proposal was instigated by the Selective Service System (SSS) as part of its annual budget request to Congress, introduced by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), “wholeheartedly” endorsed by HASC Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and approved by voice vote of the full committee without audible opposition. The text of Rep. Houlahan’s proposal can be read here. Her office’s press release on the proposal can be read here.

    Rep. Houlahan had been one of the leading advocates of proposals in previous years to expand draft registration to women as well as men. Her latest proposal for automatic registration of men only for a military draft indicates that she is more deeply committed to militarization than to any purported feminism.

    There’s been a rising number of military papers and reports calling for the reinstatement of a more robust draft system of late, especially in relation to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

    For example, last year the US Army War College’s academic journal included a highly disturbing essay on what lessons the US military should take away from the continuing war in Ukraine.

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

    By far the most concerning and most relevant section of that War College essay for the average American citizen is a subsection entitled “Casualties, Replacements, and Reconstitutions” which directly states, “Large-scale combat operations troop requirements may well require a reconceptualization of the 1970s and 1980s volunteer force and a move toward partial conscription.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 06/15/2024 – 12:15

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.