Today’s News 17th December 2023

• Long-Term Use Of Statins Linked To Heart Disease: Studies
  Long-Term Use Of Statins Linked To Heart Disease: Studies

  Authored by Vance Voetberg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  For decades, statins have been heralded as the reliable heroes in the battle against heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States and globally. However, this seemingly flawless reputation has been called into question.

  A new expert review suggests that long-term use of statins may be inadvertently aiding the enemy by accelerating coronary artery calcification instead of providing protection.

  

  Statins Deplete Heart-Protecting Nutrients 

  The review, published in Clinical Pharmacology, suggests statins may act as “mitochondrial toxins,” impairing muscle function in the heart and blood vessels by depleting coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), an antioxidant cells use for growth and maintenance. Multiple studies show statins inhibit CoQ10 synthesis, leading many patients to supplement.

  CoQ10 is vital for producing ATP, the cell’s fundamental energy carrier. Insufficient CoQ10 inhibits ATP production, resulting in an energy deficit that the review authors say “could be a major cause for heart muscle and coronary artery damage.

  “We believe that many years of statin drug therapy result in the gradual accumulation of mitochondrial DNA damage,” according to the authors.

  A 2022 study published in Biophysical Journal linked reduced ATP to heart failure.

  A 2008 study published in BioFactors reaffirms the statin–CoQ10 link. Researchers evaluated 50 statin patients for side effects like fatigue and muscle pain. All then stopped statins and supplemented CoQ10 for 22 months on average.

  

  Heart function improved or held steady for the majority of patients. The researchers conclude statin side effects, including statin cardiomyopathy, “are far more common than previously published and are reversible with the combination of statin discontinuation and supplemental CoQ10.”

  Statins Deplete Vitamin K, Raising Heart Calcification Risk

  Statins impair the production of vitamin K, an essential vitamin in managing calcification, according to the review. Optimal vitamin K2 intake helps avoid plaque buildup of atherosclerosis—thickening or hardening of the arteries—and keeps calcification risk low.

  Coronary calcification happens when calcium accumulates in the walls of the coronary arteries that provide oxygen to the heart. This plaque buildup is a sign of early coronary artery disease, which can block blood flow and trigger a heart attack.

  A 2021 study published in the Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences found a connection between statin use, coronary artery calcification, and vitamin K2 deficiency. The results shed light on how statins may spur arterial calcium accumulation by inhibiting vitamin K. The study’s findings were “in agreement with the existing evidence about positive association between statins and vascular calcification,” the authors added.

  Statins also damage selenoproteins, carriers of the mineral selenium essential for heart health.

  Statins were also linked to increased calcification in a 2022 study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. However, the authors proposed that statins may encourage calcification by heightening inflammation rather than nutrient deficiency.

  Physicians Overlook Statins as Driver of Heart Failure: Experts

  Based on emerging evidence on statins’ potential cardiac downsides, the authors of the new review warn that “physicians in general are not aware that statins can cause heart failure and are clearly not recognizing it.” Though doctors readily diagnose heart failure in statin users, they usually attribute it to factors like age, high blood pressure, or artery disease.

  Doctors prescribing cholesterol drugs “cannot ignore the moral responsibility of ‘informed consent,’” the researchers wrote, noting that patients deserve full disclosure of side effects like cardiovascular disease or heart failure.

  With over a million annual heart failure hospitalizations in the United States, the condition is often referred to as an epidemic—and it may be that “statin drug therapy is a major contributing factor,” according to the review.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 12/17/2023 – 00:20

• Americans Are Getting Married Older Than Ever
  Americans Are Getting Married Older Than Ever

  Americans are delaying (or putting off altogether) getting married for longer than before, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, the median average age for men to first get married has risen to 30.2 years in 2023, while for women the figure is 28.4 years.

  As the following chart shows, there has been a pretty steady upward trajectory to the present day since the 1950s, when the lowest median figures of 22.5 years for men were reached and just 20.1 years for women.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Data from Pew Research Center highlights how young adults in the U.S. are reaching other key life milestones later than before too.

  For 25 year olds in 2021 versus those of 40 years ago, the gap is particularly apparent for the social milestones of living on their own, being married and having children, while there is less of a difference between the two groups for the financial milestones of having a full-time job and financial independence.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 23:45

• Is Free Speech A Relic In America?
  Is Free Speech A Relic In America?

  Authored by James Bovard via The Brownstone Institute,

  Is the First Amendment becoming a historic relic? On July 4, 2023, federal judge Terry Doughty condemned the Biden administration for potentially “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” That verdict was ratified by a federal appeals court decision in September 2023 that concluded that Biden administration “officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government.”

  In earlier times in America, such policies would have faced sweeping condemnation from across the political spectrum. But major media outlets like the Washington Post have rushed to the barricades to defend the Biden war on “misinformation.” Almost half of Democrats surveyed in September 2023 affirmed that free speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” Fifty-five percent of American adults support government suppression of “false information” – even though only 20 percent trust the government.

  

  Biden’s War on Free Speech

  The broad support for federal censorship is perplexing considering that courts have vividly laid out the government’s First Amendment violations. Doughty delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning, and coercion of social-media companies. Doughty ruled that federal agencies and the White House “engaged in coercion of social media companies” to delete Americans’ comments on Afghanistan, Ukraine, election procedures, and other subjects. He issued an injunction blocking the feds from “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

  Censors reigned from the start of the Biden era. Barely two weeks after Biden’s inauguration, White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty demanded that Twitter “immediately” remove a parody account of Biden’s relatives. Twitter officials suspended the account within 45 minutes but complained they were already “bombarded” by White House censorship requests at that point.

  Biden White House officials ordered Facebook to delete humorous memes, including a parody of a future television ad: “Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled….” The White House continually denounced Facebook for failing to suppress more posts and videos that could inspire “vaccine hesitancy” — even if the posts were true. Facebook decided that the word “liberty” was too hazardous in the Biden era; to placate the White House, the company suppressed posts “discussing the choice to vaccinate in terms of personal or civil liberties.”

  Flaherty was still unsatisfied and raged at Facebook officials in a July 15, 2021, email: “Are you guys f–king serious?” The following day, President Biden accused social-media companies of “killing people” by failing to suppress all criticism of COVID vaccines.

  Federal Censorship

  Censorship multiplied thanks to an epic bureaucratic bait-and-switch. After allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Act was created to protect against foreign meddling. Prior to Biden taking office, CISA had a “Countering Foreign Influence Task Force.” In 2021, that was renamed the “Mis-, Dis- and Mal-information Team (‘MDM Team’).”

  But almost all the targets of federal censorship during the Biden era have been Americans. Federal censorship tainted the 2020 and 2022 elections, spurring the suppression of millions of social-media posts (almost all from conservatives). During the 2020 election, CISA targeted for suppression assertions such as “mail-in voting is insecure” — despite the long history of absentee ballot fraud.

  CISA aims to control Americans’ minds: A CISA advisory committee last year issued a report that “broadened” what it targeted to include “the spread of false and misleading information because it poses a significant risk to critical function, like elections, public health, financial services and emergency responses.” Thus, any idea that government officials label as “misleading” is a “significant risk” that can be suppressed.

  Where did CISA find the absolute truths it used to censor American citizens? CISA simply asked government officials and “apparently always assumed the government official was a reliable source,” the court decision noted. Any assertion by officialdom was close enough to a Delphic oracle to use to “debunk postings” by private citizens. Judge Doughty observed that the free-speech clause was enacted to prohibit agencies like CISA from picking “what is true and what is false.”

  Covid-Inspired Censorship

  “Government = truth” is the premise for the Biden censorship regime. In June 2022, Flaherty declared that he “wanted to monitor Facebook’s suppression of COVID-19 misinformation ‘as we start to ramp up [vaccines for children under the age of 5].’” The FDA had almost zero safety data on COVID vaccines for infants and toddlers. But Biden announced the vaccines were safe for those target groups, so any assertion to the contrary automatically became false or misleading.

  Biden policymakers presumed that Americans are idiots who believe whatever they see on Facebook. In an April 5, 2021, phone call with Facebook staffers, White House Strategy Communication chief Courtney Rowe said, “If someone in rural Arkansas sees something on FB [Facebook], it’s the truth.”

  In the same call, a Facebook official mentioned nose bleeds as an example of a feared COVID vaccine side effect. Flaherty wanted Facebook to intervene in purportedly private conversations on vaccines and “Direct them to CDC.” A Facebook employee told Flaherty that “an immediate generated message about nose bleeds might give users ‘the Big Brother feel.’” At least the Biden White House didn’t compel Facebook to send form notices every 90 seconds to any private discussion on COVID: “The Department of Homeland Security wishes to remind you that there is no surveillance. Have a nice day.” Flaherty also called for Facebook to crack down on WhatsApp exchanges (private messages) between individuals.

  Federal agencies responded to legal challenges by portraying themselves as the same “pitiful, helpless giants” that President Richard Nixon invoked to describe the US government when he started bombing Cambodia. Judge Doughty wrote that federal agencies “blame the Russians, COVID-19 and capitalism for any suppression of free speech by social-media companies.” But that defense fails the laugh test.

  Federal agencies pirouetted as a “Ministry of Truth,” according to the court rulings, strong-arming Twitter to arbitrarily suspend 400,000 accounts, including journalists and diplomats.

  The Biden administration rushed to sway the appeals court to postpone enforcement of the injunction and then sought to redefine all its closed-door shenanigans as public service. In its briefs to the court, the Justice Department declared, “There is a categorical, well-settled distinction between persuasion and coercion,” and castigated Judge Doughty for having “equated legitimate efforts at persuasion with illicit efforts to coerce.”

  Biden’s Justice Department denied that federal agencies bullied social-media companies to suppress any information. Instead, there were simply requests for “content moderation,” especially regarding COVID. Actually, there were tens of thousands of “requests” that resulted in the suppression of millions of posts and comments by Americans.

  Team Biden champions a “no corpse, no delicta” definition of censorship. Since federal SWAT teams did not assail the headquarters of social-media firms, the feds are blameless. Or, as Justice Department lawyer Daniel Tenny told the judges, “There was a back and forth. Sometimes it was more friendly, sometimes people got more testy. There were circumstances in which everyone saw eye to eye, there were circumstances in which they disagreed.”

  It’s irrelevant that President Joe Biden publicly accused social-media companies of murder for not censoring far more material and that Biden appointees publicly threatened to destroy the companies via legislation or prosecution. Nope: It was just neighborly discussions between good folks.

  The Courts Strike Back

  At the appeals court hearing, Judge Don Willett, one of the most principled and penetrating judges in the nation, had no problem with federal agencies publicly criticizing what they judged false or dangerous ideas. But that wasn’t how Team Biden compelled submission: “Here you have government in secret, in private, out of the public eye, relying on … subtle strong-arming and veiled or not-so-veiled threats.” Willett vivified how the feds played the game: “That’s a really nice social-media platform you’ve got there, it would be a shame if something happened to it.”

  Judge Jennifer Elrod compared the Biden censorship regime to the Mafia: “We see with the mob … they have these ongoing relationships. They never actually say, ‘Go do this or else you’re going to have this consequence.’ But everybody just knows.”

  Yet the Biden administration was supposedly innocent because the feds never explicitly spelled out “or else,” according to the Justice Department lawyer. This is on par with redefining armed robbery as a consensual activity unless the robber specifically points his gun at the victim’s head. As economist Joseph Schumpeter aptly observed, “Power wins, not by being used, but by being there.”

  In its September decision, the appeals court concluded that the White House, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Surgeon General’s office trampled the First Amendment by coercing social media companies and likely “had the intended result of suppressing millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens.”

  The court unanimously declared that federal officials made express threats…. But, beyond express threats, there was always [italic in original] an “unspoken or else.” The officials made clear that the platforms would [italic in original] suffer adverse consequences if they failed to comply, through express or implied threats, and thus the requests were not optional.

  The appeals court also took a “real-world” view of the nation’s most feared law enforcement agency: “Although the FBI’s communications did not plainly reference adverse consequences, an actor need not express a threat aloud so long as, given the circumstances, the message intimates that some form of punishment will follow noncompliance.” The federal appeals court upheld part of the injunction while excluding some federal agencies from anticensorship restrictions.

  The Biden administration quickly appealed the partial injunction to the Supreme Court, telling the court: “Of course, the government cannot punish people for expressing different views…. But there is a fundamental distinction between persuasion and coercion. And courts must take care to maintain that distinction because of the drastic consequences resulting from a finding of coercion.”

  The Biden brief bewailed that the appeals court found that “officials from the White House, the Surgeon General’s office, and the FBI coerced social-media platforms to remove content despite the absence of even a single instance in which an official paired a request to remove content with a threat of adverse action.” But both the federal district court and the appeals court decisions offered plenty of examples of federal threats.

  The New Civil Liberties Alliance, one of the plaintiffs, scoffed: “The Government argues that the injunction interferes with the government’s ability to speak. The Government has a wide latitude to speak on matters of public concern, but it cannot stifle the protected speech of ordinary Americans.” And the injunction impedes federal officials from secretly coercing private companies to satisfy White House demands.

  As the Biden administration pressured the Supreme Court, the anticensorship lawyers on September 25 secured an en banc rehearing of their case, which consists of a panel of all 17 active Fifth Circuit judges. The plaintiffs were especially concerned that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Act was excluded from the injunction. CISA and its array of federal censorship contractors have sowed far too much mischief in recent years. The appeals court modified the injunction to put a leash on CISA.

  Censorship could cast the deciding vote in the 2024 presidential election. Judge Doughty issued his injunction in part because federal agencies “could use their power over millions of people to suppress alternative views or moderate content they do not agree with in the upcoming 2024 national election.”

  Much of the mainstream media is horrified at the prospect of reduced federal censorship. The Washington Post article on Doughty’s decision fretted, “For more than a decade, the federal government has attempted to work with social media companies to address criminal activity, including child sexual abuse images and terrorism.” The Post did not mention the Biden crusade to banish cynicism from the Internet. Journalist Glenn Greenwald scoffed, “The most surreal fact of U.S. political life is that the leading advocates for unified state/corporate censorship are large media corporations.”

  Fifty years ago, philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote of the “most essential political freedom, the right to unmanipulated factual information without which all freedom of opinion becomes a cruel hoax.” The battle over federal censorship will determine whether Americans can have more than a passing whiff of that political freedom. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost joined the lawsuit against censorship and commented in September: “The federal government doesn’t get to play referee on the field of public discourse. If you let them decide what speech is OK, one day yours might not be.”

  On October 20, the Supreme Court announced that it would rule on this case, with a decision expected within a few months. Stay tuned for plenty of legal fireworks and maybe even good news for freedom.

  *  *  *

  This article was originally published in the December 2023 edition of Future of Freedom.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 23:10

• Four Major Shipping Firms Halt Red Sea Route After Houthi Attacks  
  Four Major Shipping Firms Halt Red Sea Route After Houthi Attacks  

  Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have launched a series of attacks on commercial vessels in the highly trafficked Red Sea strait as retaliation for Israel’s Gaza operation and Washington’s support of Israel. In light of these developments, shipping giants A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S – also known as Maersk – and Hapag-Lloyd halted their container ships from sailing in these highly contested waters on Friday. Two other major shipping firms followed suit on Saturday.

  The number of major shipping firms that have suspended sails through the Red Sea due to elevated missile and drone attacks near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait has jumped to four. 

  AFP News reports that Italian-Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and French-based CMA CGM halted container ship sails through the Red Sea on Saturday, citing mounting risks due to Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 

  Spillover risks of the Israel-Hamas war are already being recognized, as the Red Sea is responsible for 40% of the world’s international trade. 

  

  “We are deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” Maersk said in a statement. 

  Maersk continued, “The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers.”

  Hapag-Lloyd spokesman Nils Haupt said its container ships were drifting outside the strait and waiting for further instructions. This stretch of water is a crucial transit point for vessels traveling through Egypt’s Suez Canal. 

  On Saturday morning, US Central Command wrote in a post on X that the Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS CARNEY shot down 14 Houthi drones in the Red Sea. 

  In the early morning hours of December 16 (Sanna time) the US Arliegh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS CARNEY (DDG 64), operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The UAS were… pic.twitter.com/Rjkzng5LxW

  — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 16, 2023

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

  Some shipping companies have already rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the conflict area. 

  

  As de-globalization accelerates and the old world order shreds apart, former NY Fed repo guru and former Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar warned earlier this year that a multipolar world would usher in the need for increased use of militaries around the world to ensure safe maritime shipping lanes. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 22:35

• Pumping Seawater Into Gaza Tunnels Proves 'Successful' But Majority Of Hamas Still Intact: Report
  Pumping Seawater Into Gaza Tunnels Proves ‘Successful’ But Majority Of Hamas Still Intact: Report

  Via The Cradle,

  The Israeli daily The Times of Israel reported late in the week that the attempt to pump seawater into the vast network of tunnels built by Hamas in Gaza was proving to be a “success.”

  “The tunnel flooding had indeed begun, albeit in a limited trial capacity …,” and that “it was understood to have been a success,” the newspaper said on Thursday.

  

  Days ago, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the Israeli military had already begun pumping seawater into tunnels used by Hamas. Citing US officials familiar with the Israeli military operation, the WSJ had reported that the move to flood the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean was in its early stages. A spokesperson for the Israeli defense minister had declined to comment, saying tunnel operations were classified. 

  When asked, however, if the tunnel flooding tactic might pose a threat to Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press conference on Thursday that the military operates on “intelligence” regarding where prisoners are being kept, adding that Israel “will not take steps that harm them.”

  In another press conference in Beirut on Thursday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that the tunnels were built to withstand flooding, and that Israel’s plans have been taken into account. 

  “The tunnels were built by well-trained and educated engineers who considered all possible attacks from the occupation, including pumping water,” Hamdan said, adding that the underground network is “an integral part of the resistance, and all consequences and expected attacks have been taken into account.”

  At the start of the war in October, officials were quoted as saying that soldiers should “under no circumstances” attempt to enter the tunnels. 

  The report by The Times of Israel comes as Israel is no closer to its goal of destroying Hamas. “Israel is still far from toppling Hamas. The majority of its fighters are still alive; it still possesses rockets,” said Michael Millstein, a Palestinian studies expert, on 12 December. 

  Clashes continue to rage between Israel and the Palestinian militants in both north and south Gaza, with resistance fighters ambushing Israeli troops on a daily basis. At least 10 Israeli soldiers were killed in the Shujaiya neighborhood of north Gaza and elsewhere on 12 December in coordinated ambushes laid by Hamas and other groups. 

  Israeli media referred to the ambush as “one of the deadliest” since the ground war was launched in late October. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 22:00

• Which Countries Are Most Interested In Generative AI?
  Which Countries Are Most Interested In Generative AI?

  In the past two years, AI’s ability to produce text, images, audio, and video has become massively widespread.

  With millions of people worldwide now embracing tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney to bring their ideas to life, billions of dollars are being invested to take AI technology to the next level.

  But so far, AI interest by country varies, at least according to search data. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes, sheds light on the countries most interested in generative AI tools using data compiled by ElectronicsHub.

  

  To determine interest in different generative AI technologies, ElectronicsHub first determined the top 10 tools in each category based on their global monthly search volumes.

  They then recorded the monthly Google search volumes for each tool, combined the overall volumes of each country, and scaled the results by population (per 100,000 people) and Google’s search engine market share in each respective market.

  According to the compiled data, the highest search volume for generative AI tools was seen in the Philippines (5,288) followed by Singapore (3,036) and Canada (2,213).

  Let’s take a closer look at the different generative AI tools nations worldwide seem to prefer.

  Generating Text with AI

  

  The launch of ChatGPT last year turned the world’s attention to the world of generative AI. However, some tools, like QuillBot, have helped users check grammar, edit, and summarize text for over five years.

  Generative AI tools used for tasks ranging from drafting emails to creating job application packages have been most sought after in Asian nations like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and other parts of the world including Canada, and the UAE.

  Generating Images with AI

  

  A picture speaks a thousand words. And the launch of generative Image AI tools like DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have created a whole new world of storytelling. Once used only by designers, these text-to-image tools are now being used in science and medicine.

  Israel and Singapore, the two nations leading the global interest in generative image AI, seem to prefer using Midjourney, the most-searched tool in 92 nations worldwide.

  Generating Audio with AI

  

  While the use of generative AI is not as established in audio generation, it has already begun making its mark. From its uses in voice-to-text transcription platforms to the music industry, generative AI in audio is growing worldwide.

  While this may pose challenges in the music industry, tools like FakeYou and VoiceGPT, which allow mimicry of the voices of celebrities and artists, are growing increasingly popular in the South American nations of Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, and Peru in 2023.

  Generating Video with AI

  

  From movies and TV shows to TikTok reels and YouTube content, videos are often the fastest way of capturing an audience’s attention. Despite this, generative AI’s video generation tools are not as developed as other generative media tools, yet.

  While nations including Singapore and the UAE are searching the most for video-generation tools like InVideo and Synthesia, the world is looking for what emerges next in this field.

  Generative AI is Just Starting Out

  Much like how the printing press changed the way we disseminate information, generative AI is revolutionizing the way we produce and use information.

  As the world of generative AI blurs the line between what’s real and what’s not, and what’s fake and what’s true, an intriguing path unfolds.

  While businesses and users seek to harness the full potential of AI, governments and lawmakers are simultaneously grappling with the challenge of comprehending its regulation to curb potential drawbacks and misuse.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 21:25

• CDC Issues Health Advisory Over 'Low Vaccination Rates' Across US
  CDC Issues Health Advisory Over ‘Low Vaccination Rates’ Across US

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

  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent out a “health advisory” on Dec. 14 regarding “low vaccination rates” for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and COVID-19.

  

  The agency stated that the relatively low vaccination rates “could lead to more severe disease and increased healthcare capacity strain in the coming weeks” and “reports of increased respiratory disease have been described in multiple countries recently.”

  “Healthcare providers should administer influenza, COVID-19, and RSV immunizations now to patients, if recommended,” the CDC stated.

  The CDC is tracking “increased respiratory disease activity in the United States for several respiratory pathogens,” but it made no mention of China or a rise in mysterious pediatric pneumonia cases in the country in recent weeks. The agency mentioned only influenza, RSV, and COVID-19.

  “In the past 4 weeks, hospitalizations among all age groups increased by 200 percent for influenza, 51 percent for COVID-19, and 60 percent for RSV,” it stated.

  Historical data show that the recent increase COVID-19 hospitalizations appear to be relatively low compared with previous increases during the pandemic.

  “Infants, older adults, pregnant people, and people with certain underlying medical conditions remain at increased risk of severe COVID-19 and influenza disease. Infants and older adults remain at highest risk of severe RSV disease; it is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States,” the CDC bulletin reads.

  Other than vaccines, health care providers should recommend antiviral medications for influenza and COVID-19 for all eligible patients, especially older adults and people with certain underlying medical conditions, according to the CDC.

  Vaccine Fatigue?

  However, recent surveys have shown that Americans appear to be showing signs of vaccine fatigue. One from the health policy research group KFF found that about three-fourths of respondents said they weren’t concerned about getting COVID-19.

  “With fall and winter holidays coming up, the possibility of a further wave of COVID-19 infections is looming with increased indoor gatherings and time with friends and family. Yet, most of the public is not worried about spreading or catching COVID-19 over the coming months,” the KFF stated.

  It noted that 54 percent are “not too worried” or “not at all worried” about COVID-19 increases or hospitalizations.

  There were 7.4 million fewer influenza vaccine doses administered to adults in pharmacies and physician offices than were administered during the 2022–23 influenza season, according to the CDC.

  Nearly 16 percent of U.S. adults aged 60 and older were reported to have taken an RSV vaccine, and 36 percent of U.S. adults aged 65 and older took a COVID-19 vaccine for the 2023–24 period.

  The CDC also stated in December that COVID-19 booster uptake is lower than it had anticipated for this season, and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s panel of experts said in September that he won’t take the latest booster shot and wouldn’t advise a healthy American younger than 70 to get it either.

  “I think the goal of this vaccine is to keep people out of the hospital, keep them out of the intensive care unit and keep them from dying. That’s the goal. That was always the stated goal. It remains the goal,” Dr. Paul Offit told a media outlet. “So who is it that’s getting hospitalized? Who is it that most benefits? People who are elderly, people who have multiple comorbidities, health problems that put them at high risk, chronic lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc. People who are immunocompromised and pregnant people. I think that those are the ones who most benefit.”

  Recent CDC Study Results

  Earlier this month, a CDC study found that children who reported to pediatric center emergency departments with respiratory illness and were hospitalized were more likely to have taken COVID-19 vaccines.

  The overwhelming majority of the young children in the study never received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That group of 6,377 far outnumbered the 281 children who received one dose and the 776 children who received at least two doses. Across the United States, most young children are unvaccinated. Of the unvaccinated children in the study, 44 percent were hospitalized. Of the vaccinated, 55 percent were hospitalized.

  The study focused only on COVID-19 vaccines, not vaccines for influenza or RSV.

  

  Pfizer Stock Drops

  Pfizer has COVID-19 and RSV vaccines that are approved in the United States, while Moderna and Novavax have “bivalent” COVID-19 vaccines that are also approved by federal agencies.

  “We are in the middle of the COVID fatigue,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during an investor call on Oct. 16, according to media reports. “Nobody wants to speak about COVID.”

  Notably, Pfizer’s stock recently fell to 10-year lows after reporting this week that its 2024 sales could be as much as $5 billion below Wall Street expectations, in part because of its weakened ability to move COVID-19 products such as vaccines and treatment drugs.

  Zachary Stieber and Reuters contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 20:50

• Jewish Teacher Charged For Threat To Behead Muslim Girl Who Said Israel Flag Offensive
  Jewish Teacher Charged For Threat To Behead Muslim Girl Who Said Israel Flag Offensive

  A Jewish Georgia teacher has been arrested for threatening to kill a Muslim middle school student who took offense at the Israel flag displayed in his classroom. He’s been charged with cruelty to children and making terroristic threats. 

  According to accounts collected from more than 20 witnesses — including other teachers — 7th-grade social studies teacher Benjamin Reese went into a rage on the afternoon of Dec. 7th at Warner Robins Middle School. Three students say they were walking down the hall after school when one noticed a flag of the State of Israel in Reese’s classroom and asked him why it was on display. 

  

  According to the student’s account recorded in a police report reviewed by 13WMAZ, Reese said “he was Jewish and has family members still there.”

  The female Muslim student told Reese the country’s flag was “offensive due to Israelis killing Palestinians” in the Israeli-Hamas war, which caused him to become angry and call her antisemitic.

  They left and Reese followed the three down the hallway, yelling at them along the way.

  The mildest quote: “You don’t make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew!”

  However, several teachers say the 51-year-old Reese also unleashed vivid threats of violence: 

  • “You motherfucking piece of shit! I’ll kick your ass! I should cut your motherfucking head off!”

  • “She is a stupid motherfucker, and I will drag her by the back of my car and cut her fucking head off for disrespecting my Jewish flag!”

  • “I’ll slit her fucking throat!”

  One of the teachers told police that, as Reese went ballistic, she feared for her own safety. Security video captured Reese following the students. When the principal and a school security officer tried to question Reese about the incident, he became agitated and aggressively kicked a door-stopper before “invok[ing] his civil rights” and walking away.

  I’ve been skeptical of claims that Jewish college students are so “unsafe” that they need special protections, just as I’ve been skeptical of that narrative for other groups.

  But here’s a student definitely justified in feeling unsafe due to a teacher’s statements on Israel: pic.twitter.com/QFsVe8RibP

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 15, 2023

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

  In the biography that’s still posted on the school’s website, Reese says he’s a Navy veteran and that “over the course of the last 8 years [teaching], I have been challenged far beyond anything 17 years of military service had prepared me for, and I love it.”

  Reese is out of jail, having met the bond requirements set by the judge: $5,000 for the cruelty to children charge and $2,500 for the alleged terroristic threat. In a statement to 13WMAZ, the Houston County School District carefully distanced itself from Reese: 

  While we are not able to discuss specific personnel matters, we can share that Mr. Reese has not been on the campus of Warner Robins Middle School since Dec. 7, 2023. Safety and the well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority.”

  The Georgia middle school incident comes alongside allegations that antisemitism is running rampant on college campuses, with Jewish students claiming they feel unsafe and some filing lawsuits charging school administrations with breach of contract for failing to bar speech about the Israel-Palestine conflict that they interpret as threatening. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 20:15

• This Bill Of Rights Day Has Come And Gone, Let's Celebrate The Preamble
  This Bill Of Rights Day Has Come And Gone, Let’s Celebrate The Preamble

  Authored by Hans Zeiger via RealClear Wire,

  December 15th marked Bill of Rights Day, which commemorated the 232nd anniversary when the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were ratified.

  December 15th should be a day all Americans reflect on the unique blessings the Bill of Rights safeguards – the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and being protected from undue searches and seizures, to name just a few.

  

  But Bill of Rights Day also offers us the opportunity to reflect upon another unique aspect of our republic: the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

  Originally penned by Gouverneur Morris, the Preamble states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain this Constitution for the United States of America.”

  And although today we can find little to argue with in such beautiful – and familiar – language, at the time of its framing, and immediately after, the Preamble was the subject of much debate, all intimately tied to the deliberations that resulted in the Bill of Rights.

  Following the ratification of the Constitution, James Madison turned over a package of recommendations for a Bill of Rights to a House Select Committee on Amendments in 1789. In the committee’s initial report, dated July 28, 1789, the very first proposal was an amendment to the Preamble. As the report put it, “In the introductory paragraph before the words, ‘We the people,’ add, ‘Government being intended for the benefit of the people, and the rightful establishment thereof being derived from their authority alone.’”

  Why amend the Preamble? It turns out that members of Congress from New York, Virginia, and North Carolina felt that “We the People” on its own was inadequate. According to these congressmen, some further explanation of the source of “rightful” government was in order, more explicitly connecting the Preamble back to the words of the Declaration of Independence to make clear that the people are the source of all legitimate governments.

  In this proposed amendment, new text was to be incorporated into the body of the Constitution. Madison favored this approach, while Roger Sherman of Connecticut – the only Founding Father to have signed the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution – opposed it.

  Madison, always the moderate, favored the approach mainly for the sake of compromise and harmony. Sherman, meanwhile, felt that the Preamble was sufficient as is. In fact, its worth had been demonstrated by the practical results of the Constitution’s adoption. Now, Madison and others were asking for new language that would “give [the people] a right to do what they did” and “to let them know that they had a right to exercise a natural and inherent privilege.” After all, the Constitution had been ordained and established on the basis of popular consent. Moreover, the Constitution already contained the language justifying the consent of the people to govern themselves. It was right there at the beginning – three words, full of meaning, and perfectly succinct. “The words ‘We the people,’ in the original Constitution, are as copious and expressive as possible; any addition will only drag out the sentence without illuminating it,” said Sherman. 

  Sherman was not the only Founder who perceived the Preamble’s depth and meaning. As early as the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention in 1787, James Wilson asserted the Preamble as the basis for his opposition to a Bill of Rights. If rights belonged to the people and the people were sovereign, clearly declaring themselves to be the source of the Constitution in its opening words, there was no need to enumerate a list of rights in the Constitution.

  Wilson lost the argument, but he was correct to note the sufficiency of “We the People” as the Constitution’s philosophical foundation. And Sherman’s point about the sufficiency of the Preamble’s wording seems to have stood the test of time. Indeed, it is hard to imagine an economy of words fuller with meaning than the combination found in the Preamble.

  So as we celebrate the ratification of the Bill of Rights this December 15th, let us remember that these ten great amendments only serve as an additional layer of protection. The Preamble itself, and the entire structure of our Constitution, already protects these rights. They are rights inherent in us as citizens. We have enumerated them only as an extra guard against tyranny – against a power which would seek to destroy the “We the people” of which our Preamble speaks.

  Hans Zeiger is the President of the Jack Miller Center.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 19:40

• Virtue Un-Signaled: San Francisco Halts Reparations Office Due To Budget Cuts
  Virtue Un-Signaled: San Francisco Halts Reparations Office Due To Budget Cuts

  San Francisco has committed a dastardly act of racism, putting a halt to its virtuous office of reparations amid budget cuts.

  Apparently there are more important things than transferring wealth to black people, despite everything we’ve been told. The office, which was set to launch this year, was eliminated as part of Mayor London Breed’s $75 million cuts to the city’s budget in preparation for a major deficit in 2024.

  

  The cuts come despite a fight from supervisor Shamann Walton, who called the cuts “disheartening,” in a statement to the SF Examiner.

  “I understand the importance of no cuts to existing programs, but the Black community will continue to pursue justice and equity through reparations here in San Francisco,” said Walton. “My hope is that the city’s deficit is eliminated quickly so that we can fund the Office of Reparations and fulfill the commitment made to address the historical injustices and inequities that have persisted for generations for Black San Franciscans.”

  San Francisco Human Rights Commission Director, Sheryl Davis, told the outlet that despite cuts to the office of reparations, the city will continue to work on several related initiatives spawned from the effort – including locating a satellite campus in one of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities in San Francisco, and collaborating with city officials to utilize vacant storefronts.

  

  “A lot of the work, it’ll be tight but we’ll leverage some of the funding we had in our budget,” said Davis.

  The Office of Reparations was viewed as a key step in implementing the reparations plan, which was drafted by the African American Reparations Advisory Committee and accepted by the Board of Supervisors earlier this year. The $2 million would be used to hire staff who would begin to form and fund programs enumerated in the plan. -SF Examiner

  In July, San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee issued their final report (pdf) with a lengthy list of recommendations, including a $5 million lump sum payment to each eligible person and additional $97,000—adjusted to median income—each per year for the next 250 years; home, renters, and commercial insurance paid by the city; selling condominiums for $1 to eligible residents; and tax abatement on sales tax for the next 250 years.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 19:05

• Pro-Vaccine Journalist Who Called for Punishment For Refusing Jab Dies Suddenly
  Pro-Vaccine Journalist Who Called for Punishment For Refusing Jab Dies Suddenly

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A Canadian journalist who took strong positions in support of COVID-19 vaccines—including calling for vaccine passports and terminating police officers who refused the jab—has died suddenly.

  

  Ian Vandaelle, a 33-year-old business journalist who worked at the Financial Post and earlier at BNN Bloomberg, was declared brain dead and taken off life support earlier this month, his partner, Stephanie Hughes, said in a post on X.

  “I haven’t been on Twitter for a while because my partner, @IanVandaelle, has been in the hospital since Nov. 18,” Ms. Hughes wrote. “It’s with a heavy heart today that I say he was declared neurologically deceased this week and taken off life support this morning.”

  Mr. Vandaelle’s death—the cause of which has not been disclosed—drew an outpouring of condolences among his current and former colleagues, many of whom took to social media to praise him for attributes like being kind and smart.

  “Journalism has lost a great reporter, editor, producer, mentor, and all around great guy,” Ms. Hughes wrote in a post on X.

  But Mr. Vandaelle’s death also stirred recollections of his ardent support for the COVID-19 vaccination push.

  ‘Bring the Carrot and the Stick’

  Mr. Vandaelle’s public platform as a journalist led people to take note of his social media posts, especially those related to the controversial matter of COVID-19 vaccines and Canadian government measures that pushed shots in ways that many saw as draconian.

  “I, for one, advocate we bring the carrot and the stick,” Mr. Vandaelle stated in a social media post in July 2021. “Incentivize getting the vaccine however we like – ice cream, lotteries, literally whatever, I don’t care – and require vaccination to do non-essential things. Wanna go to a bar to watch the game? Passport.”

  Vaccine passports were introduced in all Canadian provinces in 2021, though some allowed proof of a recent COVID-19 tests instead of a passport to access non-essential services or engage in non-essential activities. They were discontinued by April 2022.

  In another post from August 2021, Mr. Vandaelle urged the Toronto Police to get rid of officers who declined the vaccine: “Take the jab or resign; anything else is moral and ethical cowardice. You take an oath to protect citizens? You get vaxxed. Shameful that we have to say this.”

  In November 2021, over 100 Toronto police employees who refused the jab or did not reveal their vaccination status were placed on unpaid leave. In June 2022, the Toronto Police Service ended its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for all members.

  Dr. William Makis, a Canadian physician who has been critical of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and expressed concern about the safety of mRNA vaccines, wrote on Substack that he saw Mr. Vandaelle’s pro-mandate social media posts as problematic, accusing him of having “supported medical fascism, tyranny and some of the worst abuses of our lifetime.”

  There were a number of other critical reactions on social media to Mr. Vandaelle’s pro-vaccine remarks in the wake of his death, suggesting the wounds of the Canadian government’s heavy-handed pandemic response are still raw.

  ‘Instill Fear’ to Break Down Resistance to Vax

  A recent report from a citizen-led effort to probe Canada’s pandemic response accuses the government of colluding with mainstream media to spread fear about the COVID-19 pandemic while pushing people to get vaccinated under threat of potential reprisals.

  “The pandemic was a textbook case of the collaboration of government and industry to subvert the democratic institutions and convince the citizens of the validity and truthfulness of a narrative that was objectively false from the start,” reads the Nov. 28 report from the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI).

  The report accuses the government—along with figures in the mainstream media—of having “embarked on an information campaign designed to instill fear in the hearts of the citizens and ensure that they did not resist any and all draconian measures that were announced.”

  Sweeping lockdowns, business curbs, mask mandates, and other restrictions on rights and freedoms were adopted quickly and with little room for public debate, the group said.

  “Many people lost their lives due to fear, loneliness, and depression. Many others had scheduled surgeries cancelled,” the report reads.

  “Many had adverse reactions to an experimental biologic injection that many were forced to take against their will,” the report continues, while accusing the Canadian government or resorting to name-calling and public shaming, and of having altered the social fabric and of tearing communities apart.

  “Society, as it was known, had now become toxic and, in many ways, dangerous. As a result, the incidence of suicide, violence, and despair increased to unprecedented levels.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 18:30

• Number Of Americans In Upside-Down Auto Loans Continues To Worsen 
  Number Of Americans In Upside-Down Auto Loans Continues To Worsen 

  Consumers face increasing financial difficulties due to elevated inflation, a generational high in interest rates, maxed-out credit cards, lack of personal savings, and two years of negative real wage growth amid the mounting failures of ‘Bidenomics.’ The latest distress is that the number of Americans in upside-down auto loans has reached the highest level since 2020. 

  According to automotive research firm Edmunds.com, the number of Americans with auto loans “underwater” or “negative equity” in November reached an average of $6,054, the highest level since April 2020. 

  

  “It’s a precarious spot for many Americans, coming after a twin surge in car buying and interest rates has strained finances and fueled an uptick in automobile repossessions,” Bloomberg explained, adding the average rate for a new car loan is 7.4% and 11.6% for a used car. 

  

  Earlier this year, when discussing the “perfect storm” hitting the US auto market, we showed that according to Fitch, “More Americans Can’t Afford Their Car Payments Than During The Peak Of Financial Crisis“… The average new car loan has reached a record high of $40,000. 

  

  … which was to be expected: after all, the latest consumer credit report from the Fed revolving credit shows high-interest rates have bogged down student and auto loans; in other words, consumer is stretched. 

  

  “We’re in this situation where combined with the cost of the vehicles being so high and the interest rates being so historically high, you have a lot of people who are in bad car loans,” Joseph Yoon, consumer insights analyst for Edmunds, told Bloomberg. 

  To Yoon’s point, the percentage of subprime auto borrowers at least 60 days past due in September topped 6.11%, the highest ever. 

  

  The bear market in used car prices will only accelerate the number of auto loans underwater into 2024. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 17:55

• DOJ To Charge Blaze Journalist Steve Baker Over Jan. 6
  DOJ To Charge Blaze Journalist Steve Baker Over Jan. 6

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Journalist Steve Baker of Blaze Media, who captured some of the most dramatic news footage at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been ordered to surrender to federal authorities on Dec. 19 on as-yet-unknown charges.

  

  Mr. Baker, whose Jan. 6 videos and photos have appeared on HBO and the BBC, as well as in The New York Times and The Epoch Times, told his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, that his North Carolina attorney notified him on Dec. 14 that he would be arrested.

  He said in March that he had been warned that his aggressive Jan. 6 coverage had gotten noticed at the Department of Justice, “and they’re not happy about it at all.”

  At the time, he said he had been questioned by the FBI for two hours.

  “Like many other reporters and photojournalists—both independents and those working directly for established media companies—I followed the story that day where it went,” he wrote in an opinion article in The Blaze on Oct. 2.

  Mr. Baker wrote that he “did no violence or property destruction on January 6” and that he “certainly did not interfere with the election certification.”

  However, his outspokenness that day was on full display. Following reports that someone had been shot outside the Speaker’s Lobby and that the building was on high alert, he challenged two officers who had drawn their service weapons and were shouting at unarmed protesters.

  “Are you going to use that on us?” Baker asked one U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officer who charged at the group. “None of us have a gun. We’ve got cameras.”

  As the officer explained why the dozen or so law enforcement officials in the lobby had weapons ready, Mr. Baker intoned dryly, “The only shots fired have been fired by you guys.”

  Baker isn’t the only independent journalist to have faced DOJ prosecution; others include J.D. Rivera, Sam Montoya, Stephen Horn, Will Pope, and Shawn Witzemann.

  “The most obvious characteristic of that list is that none of those that worked for major media, left-wing sources, have been prosecuted,” Mr. Baker previously told The Epoch Times. “But you can’t say the same on the other side of the ledger.”

  Mr. Baker was on Capitol Hill, meeting with House lawmakers regarding his Jan. 6 investigations, when he received word about the impending charges.

  “This is outrageous retaliation on the part of the federal government against a journalist,” Matthew Peterson, editor-in-chief of The Blaze, wrote on X. “[Mr. Baker] was an independent journalist on J6; he’s now investigating the events of that day for @theblaze. We must all rally and end this totalitarian madness.”

  Attorney Brad Geyer, who will represent Mr. Baker in his criminal case, vowed to “unearth all the buried bodies” as part of “a vigorous defense.”

  

  “Steve Baker’s involvement in the OathKeepers 1 trial, his blogging, and subsequent investigation exposed crucial false testimony from key government witnesses,” Mr. Geyer said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “Their false and implausible testimony played a pivotal role in wrongfully convicting the Oath Keepers.”

  Mr. Baker in October published a story at Blaze Media that alleged that Capitol Police CCTV security video shows that USCP Special Agent David Lazarus couldn’t have witnessed an alleged confrontation between a group of the quasi-militia Oath Keepers and USCP officer Harry Dunn because Mr. Lazarus was nowhere near the scene at the time.

  In January 2021, Mr. Lazarus was a member of the dignitary protection detail for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, he said he assisted with the evacuation of senators and staff from the Senate Chamber through the tunnels and subways leading to nearby office buildings.

  The alleged confrontation was key evidence in the trial because it contradicted accounts from Oath Keepers that they stood in front of officer Dunn as a buffer to protect him from an angry crowd of protesters and prevent what they feared could lead to a shooting.

  The Epoch Times has previously reached out to Capitol Police for comment on the testimony by officer Dunn and Special Agent Lazarus but didn’t receive a reply.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 17:20

• US & UK Warships Down At Least 14 Houthi Drones In Red Sea
  US & UK Warships Down At Least 14 Houthi Drones In Red Sea

  Capping off a week which saw daily attacks and threats on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, US and coalition warships have once again intervened against inbound Houthi projectiles.

  US Central Command announced Saturday that its guided-missile destroyer shot down 14 drones launched by the Houthis in a fresh attack.

  A British warship was also involved in staving off attacks, with UK defence secretary Grant Shapps stating: “Overnight, HMS Diamond shot down a suspected attack drone which was targeting merchant shipping in the Red Sea. One Sea Viper missile was fired and successfully destroyed the target.”

  

  “The ship recently arrived in the region to bolster international efforts to maintain maritime security,” he added.

  “The recent spate of illegal attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security in the Red Sea. The UK remains committed to repelling these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade.”

  Friday saw two Liberia-flagged vessels suffer missile and drone damage. Currently, the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier is getting closer to the Middle East while traversing the Mediterranean, after earlier this month and last being in the Persian Gulf. 

  The latest US statement detailed the following incident: “In the early morning hours of 16 December the US Arliegh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64), operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” according to CENTCOM.

  “The UAS were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries. Regional Red Sea partners were alerted to the threat,” it added.

  Germany-based Hapag-Lloyd has joined Denmark’s Maersk liner in halting all its Red Sea container ship traffic until at least Monday, following a Houthi attack on one of its vessels. “Hapag-Lloyd is interrupting all container ship traffic across the Red Sea until Monday,” Hapag-Lloyd confirmed in a statement.

  

  Iran is meanwhile warning against a Western naval coalition in the Red Sea. But already US and other warships have increased their presence in regional waters, with the US Navy especially directly engaging Houthi projectiles. The incidents are becoming more frequent, even daily. The Western coalition and Houthis are headed for a likely major showdown.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 16:45

• Supreme Court Declines To Block Illinois 'Assault Weapons' Ban
  Supreme Court Declines To Block Illinois ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block a Democrat-backed “assault weapon” ban, leaving the restrictions in place—at least for now.

  In a Dec. 14 order, the Supreme Court denied an emergency application for a writ of injunction that would have frozen the Illinois prohibition on certain types of semiautomatic rifles and magazines, with no justices dissenting.

  The decision leaves in place the law—called the Protect Illinois Communities Act—making it illegal for the general public to own weapons like the AR-15 and ammunition magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds.

  The National Association for Gun Rights, along with gun store owner Robert Bevis, filed the emergency petition at the end of November, after a lower court denied their bid for a preliminary injunction against the statewide ban.

  “We won’t stop fighting for our members,” the National Association for Gun Rights said in a post on X, reacting to the news.

  

  Reactions

  Hannah Hill, the group’s executive director, said in a post on social media that the high court has taken “serious notice” of this case on two occasions now, and that “we look forward to giving them the opportunity to weigh in on the merits.”

  In May, at an earlier stage of the case, the Supreme Court also rebuffed the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction. At that time, like now, no justice publicly dissented from the decision.

  Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law in early 2023, hailed the Supreme Court’s latest decision.

  “Taking on the gun lobby and passing an assault weapon ban was never going to be easy, but it was always the right thing to do,” the Illinois governor said in a post on X. “Today is a historic win for Illinois communities and families.”

  Some commenters objected to Mr. Pritzker’s framing of the Supreme Court decision as a “historic win” given that there was no decision on the merits of the case, merely a denial of emergency injunctive relief.

  While there was some praise online for the court decision—and for Mr. Pritzker himself for pushing hard for the ban—others raised objections.

  “Good job Boss—criminals will still have guns but the communities and families won’t,” one objecting commenter wrote on X. “That’s not the right thing to do—that’s backwards.”

  

  Illinois ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban In Focus

  In January 2023, Mr. Pritzker signed into law the Protect Illinois Communities Act, banning the sale and distribution of many types of high-powered semiautomatic firearms that he and other Democrats deemed to be “assault weapons.”

  The ban covers such firearms as the AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, as well as magazines that take more than 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns.

  The only exceptions to the ban are for “trained professionals,” such as law enforcement officers, and people who already owned the guns before the law is set to take effect in January 2024.

  The governor’s signature came months after a man used an AR-15-style rifle to shoot and kill seven people and injure dozens more at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

  In a statement on Jan. 10, Mr. Pritzker touted it as one of the “strongest assault weapons bans” in the United States and that it “will stop the spread” of such firearms.

  Arguing that the ban covers firearms that are commonly possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful reasons, including self-defense, The National Association for Gun Rights, joined by Mr. Bevis and his store (Law Weapons & Supply), filed suit to block the law.

  

  More Details

  A district court rejected the plaintiffs’ request, and a divided three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit also refused to halt the ban.

  U.S. Circuit Judge Diane Wood, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote for the 2–1 majority in the ruling that the plaintiffs needed to prove that the weapons banned under the Illinois law “are arms that ordinary people would keep at home for purposes of self-defense, not weapons that are exclusively or predominantly useful in military service, or weapons that are not possessed for lawful purposes.”

  Under a Supreme Court decision in 2022, the government is required to justify the imposition of Second Amendment-related regulations by showing that they are “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

  The appeals court judges then considered whether the firearms that were banned by the Illinois law are covered by the Second Amendment, with Judge Wood pointing to a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined the Second Amendment only applies weapons “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.”

  “We conclude the answer is no,” Judge Wood said in the ruling, referring to whether the firearms banned by the Illinois law are covered by the Second Amendment.

  “We come to this conclusion because these assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are much more like machine guns and military grade weaponry than they are like the many different types of firearms that are used for individual self-defense (or so the legislature was entitled to conclude),” she wrote.

  Lawyers for the plaintiffs had argued in court that there are important distinctions between AR-15-style rifles and M16s, a similar looking gun used by the military, but Judge Wood said the answers were “unconvincing.”

  Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 16:10

• Senate Staffer Caught Making Gay Porn Video In Judiciary Hearing Room
  Senate Staffer Caught Making Gay Porn Video In Judiciary Hearing Room

  Update (19:00 ET): According to a statement issued by the office of Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate. We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.””

  * * *

  A Democratic Senate staffer shot a gay porn video in a Senate hearing room and posted it to a private group chat for homosexual men working in politics, according to various reports on Friday. The video was first obtained by Daily Caller, and social media pundits including Laura Loomer, say the staffer is Aidan Maese-Czeropski, a legislative aide to Democratic Maryland Senator Ben Cardin.

  

  The video shows a still-unidentified naked man on the receiving end of anal sex. The camera then reveals that he’s positioned on the elevated dais used by senators in one of the largest and most familiar hearing rooms in the Capitol complex. From the reporting so far, it isn’t clear who’s playing which role in the video.  Daily Caller says Maese-Czeropski appears on all fours and gazes into the camera. 

  The Advocate reported that Capitol Police “are investigating reports of two men having sex in public on Capitol grounds.” The LGBT news outlet also asked Cardin’s office for comment. “We have seen media reports emanating from the right-wing media. As this is a personnel matter and under review, we will not be commenting further at this time,” said a spokesperson.  

  

  While stopping short of explicitly admitting he’s the one behind the video, Maese-Czeropski took to LinkedIn on Friday evening to say he was going through “a difficult time” as he is “attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda.” He assures readers that he “would never disrespect [his] workplace,” and vaguely adds that he is exploring “legal options.” 

  

  According to his LinkedIn profile, Maese-Czeropski attended high school in Palo Alto before studying at Johns Hopkins for two years and then graduating from Cal-Berkeley with a degree in “society and environment” in 2020. He’s worked for the 80-year-old Cardin since 2020. 

  Eagle-eyed political observers say Maese-Czeropski has been featured in campaign videos for President Biden, including one that was tweeted with a message from Biden saying, “From the bottom of my heart: thank you.”  

  

  The action reportedly took place in Hart 216, a room that’s been used for many memorable hearings, from Supreme Court justice confirmations to the 9/11 Commission and former FBI director James Comey’s testimony on Russiagate. It was most recently used this week by the Judiciary Committee for a hearing titled, “Cleaning Up the C-Suite: Ensuring Accountability Ensuring Accountability for Corporate Criminals.” Speaking of clean-ups, we’re guessing Hart 216 may get a little extra attention this weekend from Capitol Hill janitors.

  

  Believe it or not, this was the second controversy involving Maese-Czeropski in a single day. Earlier on Friday, Jewish Ohio Rep. Max Miller said Maese-Czeropski approached him and, “visibly shaking,” said “free Palestine.”

  In knee-jerk fashion, some condemned the remark as “antisemitic.” However, Miller is an ardent supporter of Israel and defender of its intensely destructive assault on Gaza, to the extent of saying — oddly using first-person plural — that “we’re gonna turn [Gaza] into a parking lot.” 

  I would think that Max Miller’s extreme anti-Palestinian rhetoric, like calling to turn Gaza “into a parking lot,” is the operative context herepic.twitter.com/c5CoaPBxoY

  — Austin Ahlman (@austinahlman) December 13, 2023

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

  Maese-Czeropski denies saying anything to Miller. “As for the accusations regarding Congressman Max Miller, I have never seen the congressman and had no opportunity or cause to yell or confront him,” wrote Maese-Czeropski in his Friday evening LinkedIn post. If that’s true, it’s a shame for Maese-Czeropski that’s it’s one impassioned Capitol Hill encounter that isn’t on video.  

  Naturally, social media is having a field day…

  So much decency pic.twitter.com/K1oSXvNRHS

  — Marc 🇺🇸 (@gopher_marc) December 16, 2023

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  Tfw McConnell watches the video of the Cardin Staffer pic.twitter.com/8BKjlJfjdO

  — Long Monkeypox (@podiatristdon) December 16, 2023

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  BREAKING: Dems seen celebrating as conservatives fall for elaborate prank to place gay porn on everyone’s computer pic.twitter.com/XkW4PNeYPc

  — American Populist 🇺🇲 (@USPopulistMan) December 16, 2023

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

  pic.twitter.com/SmuptI7Epe

  — 🇺🇸 𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐫 🇺🇸 (@woodhull_abe) December 16, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 15:35

• Tucker Carlson Sends Trucks Emblazoned With 'Corporate Media Is Dead' Near Media Offices
  Tucker Carlson Sends Trucks Emblazoned With ‘Corporate Media Is Dead’ Near Media Offices

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

  Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson reportedly parked billboard trucks emblazoned with “corporate media is dead” outside the offices of major media outlets on Thursday after launching his own streaming service.

  

  Mr. Carlson sent trucks to the offices of MSNBC, CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times on Dec. 14, the Daily Mail reported.

  The trucks also advertised “a limited time offer” for people to access “exclusive content” through a $72 annual subscription fee and to become the “founding members” of his new website, Tucker Carlson Network.

  During an interview with the Daily Mail on Dec. 14, Mr. Carlson suggested that “the era of dominance by a few big media companies” is over now “because they misused their monopoly.”

  He also emphasized the need for new institutions to fill in the role.

  “And on some level, they know they’re doomed, which is why they’re hysterical. The era of dominance by a few big media companies, the era of total control over all information by, you know, nine people—that’s done.”

  Mr. Carlson said the reason behind him sending those billboard trucks to major media companies was to warn them about the situation.

  “It’s important. We’re not doing it out of cruelty and hope we’re not rubbing this in anyone’s face or making the people who still work there feel bad, but they’re doomed,” he remarked.

  This came just days after the launch of his subscription-based streaming video service website on Dec. 11. The platform features interviews and is priced at $9 per month, according to the website.

  Mr. Carlson took to X to announce his new website on Dec. 9, saying that his team would be “launching a brand-new thing very soon.”

  “We’ve been out of work for seven or eight months now, hard to know. Time flies when you’re unemployed,” Mr. Carlson said in a video message.

  “But, actually, we have been working in secret and producing an awful lot of material for months now, interviews, et cetera,” he added.

  

  The former top-rated host “parted ways” with Fox News in April, although neither party has released many details about why he left. When reached for comment multiple times this year, multiple Fox spokespeople redirected The Epoch Times to the initial news release announcing his departure.

  Mr. Carlson and his team had explored launching the streaming service through X, but the social media company was not able to move quickly enough to build out the technology needed for the service, The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 10.

  He will continue to post the service’s free content on X, the report said.

  Other than former President Donald Trump, Mr. Carlson has interviewed influencer Andrew Tate, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Douglas MacGregor, InfoWars host Alex Jones, and many others.

  Mr. Carlson began airing episodes for a new show on X in early June. Fox News sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr. Carlson shortly after the show first launched, according to Axios, after the network argued Mr. Carlson was violating his contract.

  Meanwhile, Neil Patel will be the new venture’s chief executive officer, according to the statement. Mr. Patel was chief policy adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and with Mr. Carlson co-founded the conservative Daily Caller news site, of which he remains publisher.

  Justin Wells, Mr. Carlson’s former executive producer at Fox, will serve as president, overseeing all programming and content.

  Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 15:00

• CNN Town Hall Host Tries To Disrupt Vivek Ramaswamy As He Reveals Truth Behind J6
  CNN Town Hall Host Tries To Disrupt Vivek Ramaswamy As He Reveals Truth Behind J6

  Whether one supports the presidential candidacy of Vivek Ramaswamy or not, it’s impossible to deny that some of the best red pill moments of the election cycle so far have been his debates with establishment spin doctors.  During a Town Hall discussion in Iowa hosted by CNN, anchor Abby Phillip tried a new tactic to defuse Ramaswamy and disrupt his ability to convey the facts:  She simply kept talking over top of him, contradicting his statements and then refused to give him an opportunity to answer back.  

  The strategy did not work quite as well as she might have hoped, as Vivek trampled her expertly.  

  I can’t stop watching this. pic.twitter.com/LDfBKk1jGj

  — Phenomenology (@BerryRazi) December 14, 2023

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  The initial exchange started with Ramaswamy’s assertion that the evidence supports the claim of federal agent manipulation of protest crowds at the Capitol Building on January 6th.  The CNN anchor immediately launched into a steady droning tirade, suggesting there is no such evidence.  Despite numerous videos showing capitol police opening the doors and inviting protesters into the building, the narrative that the protest was an “insurrection” continues to be perpetuated by the corporate media.

  In terms of FBI plants and provocateurs within the crowd, FBI officials actually refuse to address their existence while under oath.  In a congressional hearing on J6, senior FBI official Jill Sanborn was asked point blank by Senator Ted Cruz if there were FBI agents mixed with the J6 protestors participating with or directing the crowds.  Her response was to deflect, saying she could not confirm or deny.    

  Furthermore, newly released footage of capitol police firing rubber bullets and tear gas grenades into the peaceful crowds proves that there was in fact no violence until police started it.  The same two dozen clips of protesters fighting law enforcement officers circulated ad nauseum on establishment media platforms were all recorded after the attacks by police.  

  Look at all this early J6 footage @TuckerCarlson could show the world, but won’t.

  His producer @gregg_re and his team at Fox were given all of this last year. #J6CoverUp

  J6 protestors were fired upon with NO warning. USCP Chief Waldow lied saying he gave warnings but never did. pic.twitter.com/xNNsB8XfBy

  — InvestigateJ6 (@InvestigateJ6) September 6, 2023

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  CNN’s attempt to “fact check” Ramaswamy in real time appeared more like an attempt to silence him and they immediately lost the crowd.  Debate is supposed to be an exchange of ideas and information, not a disruption of information to stop the audience from hearing both sides.  Vivek’s root position is a sound one that no one can reasonably argue against:  The government lies, and it lies often.  Given this fact, it is perfectly logical to question the establishment narrative surrounding J6 and to continue to push for the exposure of government operations during the event.       

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 14:25

• Watch: Joyless Leftists Kill Santa With COVID To Push Masks & Vaccines
  Watch: Joyless Leftists Kill Santa With COVID To Push Masks & Vaccines

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  A morose leftist ‘activist’ group has produced a festive video in which Santa Claus catches COVID and dies on Christmas Eve.

  

  Yes, really.

  The piece, produced by The John Snow Project, which describes itself as “Reliable, honest information on COVID-19 from public health, clinical, and research experts,” is filmed in the form of a children’s book.

  It reads “Twas the night before Christmas and Santa took a deep breath,” with the next page showing a large coffin surrounded by sad elves and distraught children.

  The creepy voice over states “Twas the night before Christmas. Santa took a deep breath. If only he’d known it would lead to his death. Santa always listened when the famous doctors spoke. Too bad they didn’t mention that the virus spreads like smoke.”

  The video then pushes pushing “respirators (masks), clean indoor air, the latest vaccines, and regular testing,” and instructs “Don’t let COVID ruin Christmas.”

  Didn’t intend to, but you seem to be doing a fine fucking job of it.

  Watch:

  Comments are turned off on the YouTube video, and on X comments are restricted only to accounts mentioned by the organisation. Wonder why that is?

  This latest miserable modern trend seems to be usurping, attacking, destroying or even killing Christmas in this case.

  They’ve ruined practically everything else, so why not go after what little joy is left in the world.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 12/16/2023 – 13:50

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