Today’s News 17th June 2023

• Toronto's Wide-Ranging Mayoral Race Even Includes A Dog Named Molly
  Toronto’s Wide-Ranging Mayoral Race Even Includes A Dog Named Molly

  Toronto’s mayoral race is so robust with candidates, Bloomberg is reporting that even a dog is running.

  While candidate Olivia Chow is widely recognized to be the front-runner in the race, there is no shortage of people who want to compete for the spot. And among the 102 candidates is even one man, Toby Heaps, who is running on behalf of his dog named Molly.

  Their official campaign page says: “It may sound strange to run for the highest office of North America’s fourth-largest city alongside a dog (to be clear, I am the human candidate on the ballot and Molly would be Toronto’s first honorary dog mayor, following in the footsteps of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and cities in California, Colorado, Kentucky and Minnesota), but I have always fought for the underdog and I believe we make more compassionate decisions with animals in the room.”

  Chow on the other hand is focused on a multitude of issues. On housing, she recently told Bloomberg: “The market is completely skewed. It’s just sad. There’s no affordable housing — hardly any rental units, no co-operative housing.”

  The report runs down her list of proposed solutions, which include “25,000 new rental homes over eight years; a higher tax on luxury homes and vacant properties; a fund that would take thousands of homes off the private market and give them to not-for-profits and community land trusts.”

  

  66 year old Chow is the widow of former New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton and, while she is the current front-runner, anything still seems possible. Her top two competitors are city councilors Josh Matlow and Ana Bailao.

  Myer Siemiatycki, professor emeritus of politics at Toronto Metropolitan University, told Bloomberg: “To some observers, it looks like they’ve seen this movie before: Olivia Chow gets an early lead but can’t sustain it, and gets overtaken by someone else in the field.”

  “I think that’s going to be harder this time around. The issues are just more complicated and wide ranging,” Siemiatycki continued.  

  Another concern is that conservative candidates Toronto police chief Mark Saunders and ex-city councilor Brad Bradford could have a path to victory if progressives wind up splitting the vote. 

  Siemiatycki added: “As we approach the finish line of this election, and depending on what the polls look like, there will be pressure within those different ideological camps to drop out and support another candidate whose orientation is fairly similar. And that could happen both on the right and the left.”

  But hey, we don’t expect Molly to bend to anyone’s will. Unless, of course, they’ve got treats. Regardless, she gets our vote…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 23:40

• Escobar: Putin And What Really Matters On The Chessboard
  Escobar: Putin And What Really Matters On The Chessboard

  Authored by Pepe Escobar,

  It’s fascinating to see how Russian war correspondents are now playing a role similar to the former political commissars in the USSR.

  

  President Putin’s meeting with a group of Russian war correspondents and Telegram bloggers – including Filatov, Poddubny, Pegov from War Gonzo, Podolyaka, Gazdiev from RT – was an extraordinary exercise in freedom of the press.

  There were among them seriously independent journalists who can be very critical of the way the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense (MoD) are conducting what can be alternatively defined as a Special Military Operation (SMO); a counter-terror operation (CTO); or an “almost war” (according to some influential business circles in Moscow).

  It’s fascinating to see how these patriotic/independent journalists are now playing a role similar to the former political commissars in the USSR, all of them, in their own way, deeply committed to guiding Russian society towards draining the swamp, slowly but surely.

  It’s clear Putin not only understands their role but sometimes, “shock to the system-style”, the system he presides actually implements the journalists’ suggestions. As a foreign correspondent working all over the world for nearly 40 years now, I have been quite impressed by the way Russian journalists may enjoy a degree of freedom unimaginable in most latitudes of the collective West.

  The Kremlin transcript of the meeting shows Putin definitely not inclined to beat around the bush.

  He admitted there are “operetta Generals” in the Army; that there was a shortage of drones, precision munitions and communication equipment, now being addressed.

  He discussed the legality of mercenary outfits; the necessity of sooner or later installing a “buffer zone” to protect Russian citizens from systematic Kiev regime shelling; and he stressed that Russia will not answer Bandera-inspired terrorism with terrorism.

  After examining the exchanges, a conclusion is imperative: Russian war media is not staging an offensive even as the collective West attacks Russia 24/7 with its massive NGO/soft power media apparatus. Moscow is not – yet? – fully engaged in the trenches of information warfare; as it stands Russian media is only playing defense.

  All the way to Kiev?

  Arguably the money quote of the whole encounter is Putin’s concise, chilling evaluation of where we now stand in the chessboard:

  “We were forced to try to end the war that the West started in 2014 by force of arms. And Russia will end this war by force of arms, freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine from the United States and Ukrainian Nazis. There are no other options. The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West. The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians and what used to be Ukraine will remain. Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome. But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe. It looks like the US is ready for that too.”

  In a nutshell: this will only end on Russia’s terms, and only when Moscow evaluates all its objectives have been met. Anything else is wishful thinking.

  Back on the frontlines, as pointed out by the indispensable Andrei Martyanov, first-class war correspondent Marat Kalinin has conclusively laid out how the current Ukrainian metal coffin counter-offensive has not been able to reach even the first Russian line of defense (they are a long – highway to hell – 10 km away). Everything NATO’s top proxy army ever assembled was able to accomplish so far was to get mercilessly slaughtered on an industrial scale.

  Meet General Armageddon in action.

  Surovikin had eight months to place his footprint in Ukraine and from the beginning he understood exactly how to turn it into a whole new ballgame. Arguably the strategy is to completely destroy the Ukrainian forces between the first line of defense – assuming they ever breach it – and the second line, which is quite substantial. The third line will remain off limits.

  Collective West MSM is predictably freaking out, finally starting to show horrendous Ukrainian losses and giving evidence of the utter accumulated incompetence of Kiev goons and their NATO military handlers.

  And just in case the going gets tough – for now a remote possibility – Putin himself has delivered the road map. Softly, softly. As in, “Do we need a march on Kiev? If yes, we need a new mobilization, if not, we do not need it. There is no need for mobilization right now.”

  The crucial operative words are “right now”.

  The end of all your elaborate plans

  Meanwhile, away from the battlefield, the Russians are very much aware of the frantic geoeconomic activity.

  Moscow and Beijing increasingly trade in yuan and rubles. The ASEAN 10 are going all out for regional currencies, bypassing the US dollar. Indonesia and South Korea are turbo-charging trade in rupiah and won. Pakistan is paying for Russian oil in yuan. The UAE and India are increasing non-oil trade in rupees.

  Everyone and his neighbor are making a beeline to join BRICS+ – forcing a desperate Hegemon to start deploying an array of Hybrid War techniques.

  It’s been a long way since Putin examined the chessboard in the early 2000s and then unleashed a crash missile program for defensive and offensive missiles.

  Over the next 23 years Russia developed hypersonic missiles, advanced ICBMs, and the most advanced defensive missiles on the planet. Russia won the missile race. Period. The Hegemon – obsessed by its own manufactured war against Islam – was completely blindsided and made no material missile advances in nearly two and a half decades.

  Now the “strategy” is to invent a Taiwan Question out of nothing, which is configuring the chessboard as the ante-chamber of no holds barred Hybrid War against Russia-China.

  The proxy attack – via Kiev hyenas – against Russophone Donbass, egged on by the Straussian neocon psychos in charge of US foreign policy, murdered at least 14,000 men, women and children between 2014 to 2022. That  was also an attack on China. The ultimate aim of this Divide and Rule gambit was to inflict defeat on China’s ally in the Heartland, so Beijing would be isolated.

  According to the neocon wet dream, all of the above would have enabled the Hegemon, once it had taken over Russia again as it did with Yeltsin, to blockade China from Russian natural resources using eleven US aircraft carrier task forces plus numerous submarines.

  Obviously military science-impaired neocons are oblivious to the fact that Russia is now the strongest military power on the planet.

  In Ukraine, the neocons were hoping that a provocation would cause Moscow to deploy other secret weapons apart from hypersonic missiles, so Washington could better prepare for all-out war.

  All those elaborate plans may have miserably floundered. But a corollary remains: the Straussian neocons firmly believe they may instrumentalize a few million Europeans – who’s next? Poles? Estonians? Latvians? Lithuanians? And why not Germans? – as cannon fodder as the US did in WWI and WWII, fought over the bodies of Europeans (including Russians) sacrificed to the same old Mackinder Anglo-Saxon power grab.

  Hordes of European 5th columnists make it so much easier to “trust” the US to protect them, while only a few with an IQ over room temperature have understood who really bombed Nord Stream 1 and 2, with the connivance of the Liver Sausage German Chancellor.

  The bottom line is that the Hegemon simply cannot accept a sovereign, self-sufficient Europe; only a dependent vassal, hostage to the seas that the US control.

  Putin clearly sees how the chessboard has been laid out. And he also sees how “Ukraine” does not even exist anymore.

  While no one was paying attention, last month the Kiev gang sold Ukraine to $8.5 trillion-worth BlackRock. Just like that. The deal was sealed between the Government of Ukraine and BlackRock’s VP Philipp Hildebrand.

  They are setting up a Ukrainian Development Fund (UDF) for “reconstruction”, focused on energy, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and IT. All remaining valuable assets in what will be a rump Ukraine will be gobbled up by BlackRock: from Metinvest, DTEK (energy) and MJP (agriculture) to Naftogaz, Ukrainian Railways, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo.

  What’s the point in going to Kiev then? High-grade toxic neoliberalism is already partying on the spot.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 23:10

• Mercedes-Benz Rolls Out ChatGPT For 900,000 US Vehicles To Answer "Complex Questions" While Driving
  Mercedes-Benz Rolls Out ChatGPT For 900,000 US Vehicles To Answer “Complex Questions” While Driving

  Mercedes-Benz rolled out a new beta program for over 900,000 US vehicles equipped with the MBUX infotainment system. Drivers can activate the new voice assistant that integrates Microsoft’s “generative artificial intelligence” on Friday.

  By adding ChatGPT, voice control via the “Hey Mercedes” MBUX Voice Assistant will be like talking to a chatbot. Some of those conversations include asking “for details about their destination, to suggest a new dinner recipe, or to answer a complex question” — all “while keeping their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.”

  The rollout of the beta program will happen over the air on Friday. It’s as simple as saying, “Hey Mercedes, I want to join the beta program.”

  

  We’re surprised other automotive manufacturers like Tesla didn’t first integrate AI language models that power systems like ChatGPT into its voice assistant software. The Mercedes update indicates vehicles are getting more intelligent and will be able to hold conversations with their drivers. There’s a clear benefit to this technology: Keep the driver’s eyes on the road instead of fumbling through a smartphone. 

  The Verge noted the update would be free of charge and comes at a time when automakers have been finding new ways to make money via in-car subscriptions, such as charging for heated seats and accelerator mode. 

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 22:50

• Milley Predicts Long, 'Very Violent' Ukrainian Counteroffensive
  Milley Predicts Long, ‘Very Violent’ Ukrainian Counteroffensive

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley predicted Thursday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will be long and “very violent” following a meeting of military officials in Brussels.

  Milley made the comments when asked how long he expects the counteroffensive to last, saying it was “premature” to put a timeline on the battle. “This is a very difficult fight. It’s a very violent fight, and it will likely take a considerable amount of time and at high cost,” Milley said.

  

  The Biden administration has been pushing for the violent counteroffensive as it’s explicitly opposed to a ceasefire and peace talks, a position Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined earlier this month.

  Milley claimed Ukraine has been making “steady progress,” but the battle lines have not changed much since Ukraine launched the assault early last week. According to The New York Times, it’s been three days since Ukraine claimed any gains, and Ukraine’s deputy defense acknowledged it was “very difficult to advance” in the southeast.

  Asia Times reported on June 10 that American and European military observers in Ukraine described Ukraine’s attempted counteroffensive as a “suicide mission” because of the way they were attacking Russia’s positions.

  “If you want to conduct an offensive and you have a dozen brigades and a few dozen tanks, you concentrate them and try to break through. The Ukrainians have been running around in five different directions,” a senior European officer told Asia Times.

  “We tried to tell them to stop these piecemeal tactics, define a main thrust with proper infantry support and then do what they can,” the officer added. The report said Ukraine lost 38 tanks, including numerous German-made Leopard 2 tanks, on June 8 by sending them into minefields without deploying mine-clearing vehicles first.

  The US has already announced a new weapons package to replace Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles that Ukraine has lost in the offensive, and Ukraine has been asking for more tanks, including the Leopard 2.

  Speaking alongside Milley on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin downplayed Ukraine’s losses, claiming that Russia was showing different pictures of the same damaged vehicles. “This is a war, so we know that there will be battle damage on both sides … I think the Russians have shown us that same five vehicles about a thousand times from 10 different angles. But quite frankly, the Ukrainians have — still have a lot of combat capability — combat power,” he said.

  At the conference in Brussels of military officials from more than 50 countries, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Austin stressed the need to support Ukraine for the long-term. He said the Netherlands and Denmark shared the progress they’ve made on training Ukrainians on F-16s, but it’s still unclear how many of the US-made fighter jets Ukraine will receive.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 22:25

• 700,000 People Without Clean Water As Fallout From Nova Kakhovka Flooding Mounts
  700,000 People Without Clean Water As Fallout From Nova Kakhovka Flooding Mounts

  While much media reporting on the June 6th destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has focused on the ‘whodunnit’ aspect to the explosion, many thousands of people downriver continue to suffer, after an nearly five cubic miles of water has submerged villages and farmland in the Kherson oblast. 

  Basic infrastructure and utilities have been destroyed in much of the region, leaving an estimated 700,000 people in the broader area in need of clean water.

  

  Al Jazeera writes that “Among displaced communities along the banks of Ukraine’s Dnipro River, bottled water has become the most coveted commodity.”

  “It is all poisoned,” a representative with the NGO Project Hope told the publication, describing the impacted population as “very tired” and “very stressed” due to the ongoing humanitarian disaster.

  Al Jazeera observes that “The man-made flood washed away chemical fertilisers from cultivated fields, flushed away pollutants from the riverbed, submerged cemeteries and released at least 150 tonnes of machine oil from the breached dam with additional fuel and industrial waste likely to have been discharged from plants around it.”

  There are growing fears the floodwaters could bring waterborne diseases based on decomposing bodies – both human and animal – which were killed during the initial massive flooding. Health workers are concerned over possible cholera outbreaks in particular.

  Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has continued to maintain that Russia had deliberately blown up the dam as “an act of terrorism”, calling it a “brutal ecocide”. 

  But the Kremlin has pointed out it would have no reason to blow up a critical piece of infrastructure vital to sending water to the Crimea. Western officials and media reports too have grown largely quiet in terms of any potential “investigation” into which side was behind the sabotage.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 22:00

• Why JFK Was Deemed A Threat To National Security
  Why JFK Was Deemed A Threat To National Security

  Authored by Jacob G. Hornberger via the Future of Freedom Foundation,

  June 10 was the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy’s Peace Speech at American University. Reading or listening to the speech today, it is not difficult to see why the U.S. national-security establishment deemed Kennedy to be a grave threat to national security, just as it did with certain foreign leaders, such as Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran, Congo leader Patrice Lumumba, Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz and, later, President Salvador Allende of Chile. 

  

  For some 150 years, the federal government had been a limited-government republic. After World War II, however, the federal government was converted to a national-security state. 

  The difference was day and night.

  With a limited-government republic, there was openness and transparency in governmental operations. Moreover, there was only a relatively small, basic military force. No Pentagon, no vast military-industrial complex, no CIA, no NSA, and no empire of foreign military bases. Governmental powers were limited and tightly constrained. No power to assassinate, kidnap, torture, or indefinitely detain people. No power to initiate coups or regime-change operations in foreign countries. No power of mass secret surveillance. 

  With a national-security state, dark-side secrecy became everything. “National security” became the two most important words in the American political lexicon. A large, permanent military establishment, along with the CIA and the NSA, came into existence. This vast national-security establishment vested itself with omnipotent, totalitarian-like powers, including assassination, torture, coups, secret surveillance, kidnapping, and indefinite detention. It established a vast empire of military bases, both foreign and domestic, and initiated a program of regime change in foreign nations. Foreign wars in faraway lands, such as Korea and Vietnam, became the norm.

  The Cold War was actually one great big racket, one that became a cash cow for the vast military-intelligence complex and its ever-growing army of “defense” contractors who loved feeding at the public trough. This enormous racket was justified under the rubric of keeping America safe from a supposed vast communist conspiracy that supposedly was based in Moscow, Russia. Yes, that Russia!

  There was no possibility whatsoever of a peaceful resolution of the forever war between the United States and Russia, U.S. oficials said. There could never be peaceful coexistence, they maintained. The war against the Russian Reds, U.S. national-security officials held, was a war to the death. That was why the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended to Kennedy that the United States initiate a surprise nuclear attack against the Russians, a recommendation that Kennedy indignantly rejected.

  Having achieved a “breakthrough” after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy had decided that he was going to lead America in an entirely different direction from that of the national-security establishment. In his Peace Speech, Kennedy threw down the gauntlet against what had now become his enemy — the national-security establishment. Kennedy essentially declared an end to the Cold War racket and announced that henceforth Russia and the United States would live in peaceful coexistence. He declared an end to to the extreme anti-Russia hostility that the national-security establishment had inculcated in the American people, and he even praised the Soviet Union.

  The very next night — June 11 — Kennedy delivered a nation-wide speech expressing support for the civil-rights movement, which the national-security establishment was convinced was controlled by the Russian Reds. That’s why the FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King and used blackmail with the aim of inducing him to commit suicide.

  Kennedy then followed up his words with actions. Over the fierce opposition of the Pentagon and the CIA, he negotiated the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviets. He also ordered a pull-out of troops from Vietnam. He proposed a joint trip to the moon with the Russians, which would have meant sharing U.S. rocket technology with the Reds. On the day he was killed, he had an emissary having lunch with Fidel Castro with an intent to normalize relations with Cuba, which was anathema to the national-security establishment. 

  What would have happened if Kennedy had lived? The national-security establishment would have immediately become irrelevant and immaterial. They would have been left twiddling their thumbs, with nothing to do. Remember, after all, that the supposed threat from the Russian Reds was why the federal government was converted to a national-security state in the first place. Peaceful coexistence with the communist world would have meant no more justification for a national-security state. The Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA would have been dismantled and America’s founding system of a limited-government republic would have been restored.

  Keep in mind something else. Kennedy would never have permitted the Pentagon and the CIA to go into the Middle East and begin killing people, as they did after the Cold War finally came to an end in 1989. That would have meant that there never would have been terrorist retaliation for U.S. interventionism and, therefore, there never would have been a “war on terrorism.”

  In other words, if Kennedy had lived, we’d be living in a totally different society today, one characterized by a limited-government republic rather than a national-security state — one without the militarism, forever wars, conflicts, hostilities, crises, chaos, coups, assassinations, torture, and indefinite detention that have become regular and permanent features of American life.

  For its part, the military-intelligence establishment considered Kennedy to be a weak leader — a coward — an appeaser — Neville Chamberlain —  a traitor — a president who was leading America to doom at the hands of the communists. Kennedy was deemed to be a grave threat to national-security. As far as it was concerned, the national-security establishment had no choice but to do what was necessary to save America.

  Kennedy knew the danger that he faced in the war between him and the national-security establishment for the future direction of America. He had listened to President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, when Ike warned the American people of the dangers that the national-security state apparatus posed to the rights and liberties of the American people and to America’s democratic processes. 

  The war between President Kennedy and the national-security establishment came to an end on November 22, 1963. And Americans have been paying the price for that “victory” ever since.

  See:

  An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story by Jacob Hornberger

  JFK’s War with the National-Security Establishment by Douglas Horne

  The Kennedy Autopsy by Jacob Hornberger

  The Kennedy Autopsy 2 by Jacob Hornberger

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 21:35

• San Fran Exodus: AT&T Closing Flagship Store, Citing 'Changing Consumer Habits'
  San Fran Exodus: AT&T Closing Flagship Store, Citing ‘Changing Consumer Habits’

  AT&T is preparing to close its flagship store in downtown San Francisco, citing ‘changing consumer shopping habits,’ according to local news website SFGATE.

  “Consumer shopping habits continue to change, and we’re changing with them. That means serving customers where they are through the right mix of retail stores, digital channels, and our phone-based care team,” said AT&T spokesperson Chris Collins. He said the store at 1 Powell St. will close on Aug. 1.

  

  AT&T will have eleven remaining stores in the metro area, including one on Market and Fremont streets. So not a total exodus. 

  Last month, T-Mobile closed its flagship store in the downtown area. It told SFGATE, “We recently reshaped our retail strategy.” 

  The main reason why AT&T, T-Mobile, and many other stores, such as Office Depot, The Container Store, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, Disney Store, Armani Exchange, CB2, Saks Off 5th, and others, are closing up shop is that progressive city leadership failed to enforce law and order, sparking a tsunami theft wave. 

  A combination of remote work, companies scaling back office footprints, and no one wanting to have operations based in a Marxist shit (covered) city have forced some of the highest office vacancy rates in the country. The local economy can’t thrive without office workers, a doom loop that crushes retailers. 

  As retailers leave because of a lack of sales and theft, this hits building owners who can’t find tenants, forcing some to default on the buildings (see: here). You can see the chain of events is creating a perfect storm. 

  Earlier this week, Westfield and its partner Brookfield Properties stopped making payments on the metro area’s largest shopping mall after “challenging operating conditions.” 

  Wow, ABC actually admitted San Francisco is falling apart due to rampant crime and drug use.

  The network failed to mention that the city’s purely leftist policies are the source of the problem.

  Read more from @NickFondacaro https://t.co/OLubnnzhzV pic.twitter.com/qrLVVK95s0

  — Media Research Center (@theMRC) June 15, 2023

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

  This comes after Nordstrom, which occupies 312,000 square feet in the mall at 865 Market St, isn’t renewing its lease in August after nearly four decades of operations. When Nordstrom closes, the mall only be 55% leased, well below the average 93% of other Westfield malls across the US. 

  Bloomberg obtained a letter to employees from Jamie Nordstrom, the retailer’s chief stores officer, who said the closing of Nordstrom is due to a slump in sales because of lower foot traffic, adding “dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years.” We suspect Nordstrom is referring to the out-of-control crime.

  Listen to the homeless. They’ll tell you they are on the streets for the drugs, and that assault is commonplace. San Francisco attracts addicts from across the US because it lets them buy and use drugs openly. Video by @lwoodhouse pic.twitter.com/Rx7iJWPoL2

  — Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) June 16, 2023

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

  And on Thursday, Cinemark Theater announced it would be closing its location at the mall. 

  Can you see how failed progressive policies have sparked a vicious doom loop, forcing businesses to shut down and subsequently putting pressure on property owners? In these high-interest-rate environments, these owners struggle to find financing and tenants, leaving some with no alternative but to default.

  What a mess the Democrats have created. 

  FAILURE: The collapse of San Francisco is accelerating at an alarming pace. Each day another employer shuts down. Today AT&T announced it is closing its downtown San Francisco flagship store. London Breed is presiding over a failed city. https://t.co/NGSnfuYUJs pic.twitter.com/3RWPoYx0pa

  — @amuse (@amuse) June 16, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 21:10

• Victor Davis Hanson: Indict Walt Nauta? Why Not The Biggest Liars First?
  Victor Davis Hanson: Indict Walt Nauta? Why Not The Biggest Liars First?

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

  Walt Nauta is a 10-year-Navy veteran and served as an aide to former President Trump both in and out of office.

  Special Counsel Jack Smith has now indicted him for allegedly “making false statements in interviews with the FBI.” The indictment’s subtext is that Nauta refused to cooperate with, and turn state’s evidence to, the special counsel in its efforts to convict the former president.

  But why stop the indictments with a man who loyally served and followed the orders of the former president of the United States, was a Navy veteran, and a hard-working immigrant from Guam?

  Are there not far bigger fish to fry to remind Americans that justice is blind?

  

  After all, when Special Counsel Smith announced his indictments of Trump, he lectured America on the rule of law and the cherished notion that no one is above it.

  So let us start with the former interim director of the FBI itself, Andrew McCabe.

  McCabe admittedly lied four times about his illegally leaking sensitive information to witnesses and mishandling classified information.

  Have those crimes suddenly ceased being felonies?

  Or is it now the policy of the United States government that an FBI director can lie with impunity, and leak, and mishandle sensitive classified information?

  Yet Walt Nauta may be sent to prison while McCabe will continue to earn a fine salary at CNN as a paid “expert” to deplore . . . what exactly?

  What McCabe knows best from his own experience with the deed—the “mishandling of classified information”?

  Nauta reportedly is being indicted for claiming he “did not know” what he supposedly did know in relation to the movement of the president’s papers.

  His denial was proffered with nearly the exact phraseology that another FBI director, James Comey, used under oath when he stonewalled congressional inquisitors on 245 occasions.

  Was the FBI director ever indicted for feigning ignorance or amnesia before Congress?

  Did Nauta ever record a private, and likely classified, conservation he had with the president of the United States in the White House, and then leak it to the New York Times?

  That is precisely what James “Higher Loyalty” Comey bragged about doing.

  Most recently, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm admitted that she, too, recently lied while under oath to Congress when she denied owning private stocks.

  Was Nauta’s “I don’t know” a greater threat to the rule of law and the security of the republic than the lies of the secretary of Energy? She deliberately misled Congress about potential conflicts of interest involving her stock portfolio.

  Then we come to Joe Biden, the current president of the United States. He has sworn that he never discussed business with his son, Hunter Biden, currently under suspicion for tax improprieties and leveraging foreign governments by selling them supposed Biden influence.

  Yet plenty of witnesses have contradicted Joe Biden’s statement. Photos even reveal him side-by-side with his son’s business associates.

  For nearly 20 years, Senator, Vice President, private citizen, and President Joe Biden has concealed the fact he unlawfully took classified documents home and moved them about in various unsecured locations.

  Was Mr. Biden’s movement of classified documents for the last 20 years less egregious than what Nauta is accused of having done?

  Was the Biden Corvette garage more secure than the closets and bathrooms inside the Mar-a-Lago gated estate?

  Biden’s lawyers, after nearly two decades, only came forward because of the media hype surrounding the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in search of classified documents.

  Is there some law that states that a senator, vice president, and president can improperly remove classified documents, move them about to various unsecured locations, and avoid the sort of felony indictments now facing Nauta and Trump?

  Let us end with the greatest exemptions of all—those accorded to Hillary Clinton.

  She has variously committed the following likely major felonies.

  One, she illegally transmitted classified information involving national security over her own unsecure server while secretary of state.

  Two, she destroyed both email records and communication devices that were under government subpoena.

  Three, she was untruthful about both the use and destruction of said subpoenaed items.

  Four, she illegally hired a foreign national, Christopher Steele, to work on her campaign as an opposition researcher.

  Five, she conspired to disseminate false documents among top government intelligence and investigatory agencies as well as the media, for the sole purpose of destroying her presidential opponent Donald Trump and thereby warping the 2016 election process.

  And?

  Clinton—like self-confessed liars or dissimulators John Brennan, former CIA Director,  James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, and former FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe—was exempted from all legal jeopardy. She, too, continues to monetize her past notorieties and controversies.

  The last thing this country needs is any more bottled-piety lectures on the rule of law from Special Counsel Jack Smith, Joe Biden, and the array of admitted lying former high government officials.

  They, not Walt Nauta, should be ashamed.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 20:45

• Russia To Seize 'Naughty' Western Companies As Putin Rails Against "Medieval" Asset Seizures Abroad
  Russia To Seize ‘Naughty’ Western Companies As Putin Rails Against “Medieval” Asset Seizures Abroad

  Putin is hitting back in retaliation after Western governments have frozen some $300 billion in Russian central bank assets since the Ukraine war began. The Russian president told an audience at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday that it was theft and reveals a “medieval” mindset on the part of the Western allies.

  “Many businessmen were stunned to see that their accounts in the West were frozen. It never crossed anyone’s mind. This is simply robbery! They closed it, took it away and won’t even explain why. It’s shocking. It’s like the Middle Ages,” Putin stated, according to a translation in RT.

  

  He also underscored the growing risks for Russians who held their assets abroad, “Our people have a good saying: ‘Where you were born is where you should conduct your business’,” he said.

  But Moscow is doing more than just issuing threats and condemnations, as last week the Kremlin took definitive legal action against Western companies still doing business in Russia, in retaliation for US and European sanctions. 

  The FT reported this week:

  Russia is to adopt powers to seize assets of “naughty” western companies and will make it harder for them to exit the country, as Vladimir Putin seeks ways to retaliate against US and European sanctions. The Kremlin last week secretly ordered legislation to enable western assets to be appropriated at knockdown prices and is discussing even more draconian measures to fully nationalize groups, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

  The push is being described as a carrot-and-stick approach which chiefly uses the threat of nationalization.  According to more from FT: “The confidential Kremlin decree, seen by the Financial Times, would give the Russian state priority rights to buy any western asset for sale at a ‘significant discount’ so they could later be sold at a profit.”

  Additionally, “Putin’s order to his cabinet, signed last week, also requires all private Russian buyers of western assets to be fully Russian-held or in a process to exclude all foreign shareholders, further complicating any exit procedure.”

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described that Western companies had in many cases exited the country altogether at a huge loss, or else in some cases they simply stopped paying salaries.

  The Russian government is launching mechanisms to return the assets of foreign companies owned by Russians – Putin

  The President of Russia focused on the fact that Western countries do not release Russian businesses to Russia. Nevertheless, special zones for such companies have… pic.twitter.com/ZNHyFMZneE

  — Sprinter (@Sprinter99880) June 16, 2023

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

  “If a company doesn’t fulfil its obligations, then, of course, it goes in the category of naughty companies,” Peskov told the FT. “We say goodbye to those companies. And what we do with their assets after that is our business.”

  A senior businessman with holdings in Russia told the publication, “I think nationalization is inevitable. It is only a matter of time” as the way things are going: “The state will need money.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 20:20

• First Busload Of Illegal Immigrants Arrives In Los Angeles From Texas
  First Busload Of Illegal Immigrants Arrives In Los Angeles From Texas

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) announced on Wednesday that Texas has transported a group of illegal immigrants to Los Angeles for the first time, a move described as a “despicable stunt” by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

  “Texas just dropped off the 1st bus of migrants in Los Angeles,” Abbott wrote on Twitter.

  

  Around 40 illegal immigrants, including families with children, arrived in Los Angeles via bus on Wednesday afternoon around 4 p.m. They were provided care and support services at St. Anthony’s Croatian Catholic Church near downtown, according to officials and service providers.

  In a statement, Abbott repeated his justification for the relocation, saying that Texas border towns are overwhelmed as thousands of individuals cross the U.S.-Mexico border under President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

  “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status,” Abbott said in a statement.

  One of the arrivals, a man from Honduras, has an immigration parole court date in New York, according to migrant advocate Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications for CHIRLA, who expressed doubt about the appropriateness of bussing the man to California in comments to the Los Angeles Times.

  Under Abbott’s direction, the Texas Division of Emergency Management has transported over 21,600 illegal immigrants from border towns to Democrat-led sanctuary cities, including Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and most recently, Denver, since April 2022. The leaders of these cities, which have been unprepared for the arrivals, have criticized the strategy as racist and a political stunt.

  

  LA Mayor Says City Prepared

  Video footage shared by Fox News shows the group of illegal immigrants, including families with young children, arriving in Los Angeles with luggage and soft toys. They made a stop at Union Station before being taken to a welcoming center where they were provided by city agencies and nonprofits with food and other services, such as attorneys.

  “They left yesterday and it was 23 hours on the bus,” said Cabrera, who claimed they didn’t have a chance to eat or drink water.

  “They are being fed; they’re taking shelters; they’re talking to attorneys,” he added. “These are migrants that have been allowed by the U.S. to enter because they have credible fears. They have not yet received asylum.”

  The Epoch Times has contacted Cabrera for further comment.

  Upon their arrival, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement emphasizing the human aspect of what is a divisive political issue.

  “This evening, more than 40 people were sent by the Governor of Texas to our City of Los Angeles. Shortly after I took office, I directed City Departments to begin planning for an event like this. This did not catch us off guard. We are now executing our plan,” she wrote on Twitter.

  “Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives,” she continued. “For everything that we do, we will continue to lock arms and we will continue to lead—and we will always put people’s health and wellbeing over politics.”

  This comes a week after a separate group was flown from Texas to Sacramento by Florida, which drew criticism from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), who said it was inhumane. California Attorney General Rob Bonta characterized the actions as “state-sanctioned kidnapping” and accused Florida of exploiting vulnerable individuals.

  Conservatives Highlight Sanctuary Cities

  Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has argued that sanctuary jurisdictions like California share the blame for the illegal immigration crisis.

  “These sanctuary jurisdictions are part of the reason we have this problem because they have endorsed and agitated for these types of open border policies. They have bragged that they are sanctuary jurisdictions,” DeSantis said.

  He also criticized the lack of federal action in safeguarding U.S. sovereignty and territorial integrity.

  Since Biden assumed office, illegal immigration at the U.S.–Mexico border has surged. Florida has also witnessed arrivals by boat at its maritime border from countries like Haiti.

  However, some sanctuary cities, including New York and Chicago, have struggled to manage the influx of illegal immigrants sent by border states via buses and planes.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 19:55

• Most Famous Whistleblower & Leaker In US History Dies At 92
  Most Famous Whistleblower & Leaker In US History Dies At 92

  The man who was arguably the most famous whistleblower and leaker of classified documents in US history has died Friday. Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the “Pentagon Papers” which exposed long-running lies about Vietnam War, has passed at the age of 92, according to The Washington Post, citing a family statement.

  

  Earlier this year he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was reportedly told by doctors he would have only months to live.

  A statement released his family said, “Early this morning, Daniel Ellsberg died peacefully in his home in Kensington, California. His cause of death was pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed on February 17.”

  “He was not in pain, and was surrounded by loving family,” it continued. “In the months since his diagnoses, he continued to speak out urgently to the media about nuclear dangers, especially the danger of nuclear war posed by the Ukraine war and Taiwan.”

  Below is a recent tribute and look back on his life written by Norman Solomon shortly after the cancer diagnosis [emphasis ZH]…

  * * *

  In just a few words — “those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future” — George Orwell summed up why narratives about history can be crucial.

  And so, ever since the final helicopter liftoff from the U.S. Embassy’s roof in Saigon on April 30, 1975, the retrospective meaning of the Vietnam War has been a matter of intense dispute.

  The dominant spin has been dismal and bipartisan. “We went to Vietnam without any desire to capture territory or to impose American will on other people,” Jimmy Carter declared soon after entering the White House in early 1977. “We went there to defend the freedom of the South Vietnamese.”

  During the next decade, presidents ordered direct American military interventions on a much smaller scale, while the rationales were equally mendacious. Ronald Reagan ordered the 1983 invasion of Grenada, and George H.W. Bush ordered the 1989 invasion of Panama.

  In early 1991, President Bush triumphantly proclaimed that reluctance to use U.S. military might after the Vietnam War had at last been vanquished. His exultation came after a five-week air war that enabled the Pentagon to kill upwards of 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

  “It’s a proud day for America,” Bush said. “And, by God, we’ve kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all.”

  Two decades later — delivering what the White House titled “Remarks by the President at the Commemoration Ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War” — Barack Obama did not even hint that the U.S. war in Vietnam was based on deception.

  Speaking in May 2012, after he had more than tripled the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Obama said: “Let us resolve to never forget the costs of war, including the terrible loss of innocent civilians—not just in Vietnam, but in all wars.” Moments later, Obama flatly claimed: “When we fight, we do so to protect ourselves because it’s necessary.”

  Such lies are the opposite of what Daniel Ellsberg has been illuminating for more than five decades. He says about the Vietnam War: “It wasn’t that we were on the wrong side; we were the wrong side.”

  Outlooks like that are rarely heard or read in U.S. mass media. And overall, news outlets have much preferred to make only sanitized references to Ellsberg as a historic figure.

  Much less acceptable is the Daniel Ellsberg who, since the end of the Vietnam War, was arrested nearly a hundred times for engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience against nuclear weapons and other aspects of the warfare industry.

  After working inside the U.S. war machinery, Ellsberg became its highest-ranking operative to opt out — bravely throwing sand in its gears by revealing the top-secret Pentagon Papers, at the risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. The 7,000-page study exposed lies about U.S. policies in Vietnam told by four successive presidents.

  During the 52 years since then, Ellsberg has continually provided key information and cogent analysis of pretexts for U.S. wars. And he has focused on what they’ve actually meant in human terms.

  Ellsberg has explained, most comprehensively in his 2017 landmark book The Doomsday Machine, what is worst of all: The nation’s military-industrial-media establishment refuses to acknowledge, let alone mitigate, the insanity of the militarism that is logically headed toward nuclear war.

  

  Helping to prevent nuclear war has been an overriding preoccupation of Ellsberg’s adult life. In The Doomsday Machine—subtitled “Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner”—he shares exceptional insights from working for the doomsday system as an insider and then working to defuse the doomsday system as an outsider.

  An upsurge of media attention to Ellsberg resulted from the emergence of other heroic whistleblowers. In 2010, U.S. Army private Chelsea Manning was arrested for leaking a vast quantity of documents that exposed countless lies and war crimes.

  Three years later, a former employee of a National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, went public with proof of mass surveillance by a digital Big Brother with mind-boggling reach.

  By then, Ellsberg’s stature as the Pentagon Papers whistleblower had risen to near-veneration among many liberals in media and others happy to consign the virtues of such whistleblowing to the Vietnam War era.

  

  But Ellsberg emphatically rejected the “Ellsberg good, Snowden bad” paradigm, which appealed to some eminent apologists for the status quo (such as Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote a specious New Yorker piece contrasting the two). Ellsberg has always vigorously supported Snowden, Manning and other “national security” whistleblowers at every turn.

  Ellsberg disclosed in a public letter in early March that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, with a prognosis of three to six months to live. Now, in the closing time of his life, he continues to speak out with urgency, in particular about the need for genuine diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia, as well as the U.S. and China, to avert nuclear war.

  Read the rest of the tribute here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 19:30

• New Jersey Schools Report More Than 4,200 Percent Increase In Nonbinary Students In Four Years
  New Jersey Schools Report More Than 4,200 Percent Increase In Nonbinary Students In Four Years

  Authored by Jackson Elliott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  In just four years, the number of “nonbinary” students in New Jersey public schools rose by 4218 percent, figures from the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) show.

  People who identify as nonbinary say their “gender identity” does not conform to exclusively male or female.

  This massive increase in students identifying as nonheterosexual isn’t thanks to “business as usual,” says New Jersey parental rights activist Nik Stouffer. She believes the jump in nonbinary cases springs from both COVID-19 restrictions and a new education program starting in 2020 that normalizes sex changes, she told The Epoch Times.

  “This isn’t even changing your gender—we don’t have a number on that,” Stouffer said of the state statistics.  “They’re only collecting the number of nonbinary students because they collect ‘male’ and they collect ‘female.‘”

  She wonders how many NJ students now identify as transgender or homosexual. The state doesn’t provide those numbers in the report.

  Exponential Rise in Nonbinary Students

  The NJDOE figures show that in just four years, the number of nonbinary students in NJ schools jumped from 16 to 675, state student surveys show.

  In the 2019 -2020 school year, of the 16 nonbinary students in New Jersey schools, 10 were in high school. The youngest was in second grade, state records show.

  In the 2020-21 school year, there were 85 nonbinary students. The two youngest two were in pre-kindergarten classes.

  By the 2021-22 school year, the number had soared to 376 nonbinary students, with eight in pre-kindergarten.

  And in the 2022-23 school year, there were 675 nonbinary students reported. Of those, 41 were in 5th grade or below.

  As of now, nonbinary students make up less than 1 percent of all 1,371,921 public school students in the state.

  Of the state’s 406,120 high school students, 497 identify as nonbinary. That’s approximately one in 1,000 students.

  Though the percentage is low, the speedy jump in the number of nonbinary students is what alarms Stouffer.

  The Epoch Times called the NJDOE for comment, but no one replied by publication time.

  Children are Sexually and Socially Malleable

  During COVID-19, government protocols shattered normal child development, Stouffer said.

  Child development psychologist Leonard Sax backed her concerns. Research suggests children are far more sexually and socially malleable than previously thought, he told The Epoch Times.

  “Almost every culture of which we have any record has taught girls to be women and boys to be men,” Sax said. “We don’t do that. Instead, we undermine that. And the results are not good. And we’re seeing an explosion in anxiety and depression among American kids.”

  If children grow up being shown that a transgender or nonbinary identity is normal, it will seem normal to them, he said.

  “Kids are not born knowing what normal is, and they need to be taught,” Sax said. “It’s not hardwired.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 19:05

• Politicians In Our Major Cities Have Decided The Solution To The Crime Wave Is To Help Criminals Commit More Crimes
  Politicians In Our Major Cities Have Decided The Solution To The Crime Wave Is To Help Criminals Commit More Crimes

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

  Should we just go ahead and give free needles and free crack pipes to everyone in America?  After all, if New York City and Los Angeles plan to solve their raging drug problems by handing out free drug paraphernalia to addicts, perhaps we can solve our nationwide drug crisis the same way.  Let’s make the entire country one big “harm reduction zone” and then everything will return to normal, right? 

  Unfortunately, that is not the way that the real world works.  If you give addicts what they need, they will thank you.  And then they will go ahead and do drugs right in front of you.

  

  I don’t know why politicians can’t understand that this sort of approach is doing far more harm than good.  On Monday, New York City unveiled their new vending machines which will allow addicts to get drug paraphernalia for free…

  Big Apple officials unveiled a street vending machine Monday that covers it all when it comes to catering to drug-users, offering free handy paraphernalia such as crack pipes and lip balm — and also Narcan for overdoses.

  The vending machine, one of four set to be placed in some of the city’s most drug-infested neighborhoods, swaps out what would be more typical offerings such as candy bars and potato chips for the drug-related freebies to try to combat the surge in overdoses in the five boroughs, city Health Department bigs said.

  The pipes that come with the “safer smoking” kits can be used to smoke both crack and crystal meth.

  At least they are versatile.

  Needless to say, addicts are quite enthusiastic about the new program.  In fact, the first vending machine was completely empty less than 24 hours after it was unveiled…

  New York City’s first public health vending machine giving out free crack pipes, condoms and Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug, was already empty less than 24 hours after being unveiled by officials.

  But eager city officials determined to keep residents in rich supply of clean drug apparatus were quick to revisit the site on Tuesday afternoon with more.

  Elan Quashie, the Opioid Overdose Program Director at Services for the Under Served, said: ‘We’re going to restock every day. Probably multiple times a day.’

  Are they really planning to restock the machine “multiple times a day”?

  I find that hard to believe, because I have never seen such a high level of customer service from government bureaucrats anywhere that I have ever lived.

  It turns out that Los Angeles County has a similar program.

  But instead of vending machines, social workers actually go around and give “supply kits” to addicts that contain “glass pipes, needles, fentanyl test strips and naloxone”…

  Los Angeles County’s Harm Reduction Program has drawn attention for its controversial approach to tackling the fentanyl epidemic.

  As part of the program, outreach workers distribute harm reduction supply kits containing glass pipes, needles, fentanyl test strips and naloxone, a drug used to counteract an overdose.

  The program comes at a significant cost to taxpayers, with the county spending over $31 million this year, a sharp increase from the previous year’s approximately $5 million expenditure.

  That sounds like quite a good deal for the addicts.

  But what about the rest of us?

  In order to fund their addictions, the addicts have to steal stuff.  Retailers have become a primary target, and a new bill that has been going through the California legislature would actually “ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores”…

  Lawmakers in California are hoping to push through controversial legislation that would ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores.

  Senate Bill 553, which was submitted by State Senator Dave Cortese, has been passed by the State Senate and will now progress to policy committees in the State Assembly. Cortese hopes the proposed law will prevent workplace violence and protect staff from being forced by their employers to step-in during robberies. But some store bosses are furious about the plans, with the California Retailers Association mocking the move as an open invitation for thieves “to come in and steal.”

  Seriously?

  It is already ridiculously easy to shoplift in California, and the politicians want to make it even easier?

  Are they insane?

  The theory is that there will be fewer violent confrontations if the crooks are just allowed to do whatever they want.

  Of course the overworked and overwhelmed police rarely get there in time either.

  And the few thieves that are caught are let go with just a slap on the wrist as long as they keep their shoplifting under a certain dollar amount.

  California is getting dangerously close to legalizing shoplifting, and I am sure that is what many of the politicians would like to see.

  But if you use the wrong pronoun or make an “offensive” statement on social media, that could get you into really big trouble.

  All over the western world, authorities are really cracking down on such “crimes”.  In fact, a new law in Australia would put people in prison for up to three years for making “offensive” statements on social media…

  A sweeping law could see Australians jailed for three years for posting what’s deemed ‘offensive’ on Facebook in an attempt to protect minority groups.

  Queensland’s Labor government has introduced a bill that would dramatically increase the maximum prison sentence for racist, anti-gay, anti-trans or seriously bigoted statements.

  Making such statements already carry a maximum six-month jail term, but that would be increased to three years under the new bill.

  This is where the entire western world is going.

  Drug addicts, thieves and violent criminals are now considered to be “victims” that must be treated with compassion, but those that express “offensive” views on social media are considered to be a massive threat to “democracy” and must be dealt with ruthlessly.

  We live in a society that has been completely turned upside down, and it is only going to get worse in the years ahead.

  Once upon a time we were the greatest society on the entire planet, but now we have become a bad joke to the rest of the world.

  Is there still any hope that we could turn things around even at this late hour?

  *  *  *

  Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 18:15

• Jeffrey Epstein Paid Tuition For US Virgin Islands First Family, Was Asked To Help Craft Sex Offender Law: JPMorgan
  Jeffrey Epstein Paid Tuition For US Virgin Islands First Family, Was Asked To Help Craft Sex Offender Law: JPMorgan

  JPMorgan hit back against the US Virgin Islands this week, which is suing the bank over its relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein – accusing the former USVI governor and first lady of accepting a gift in the form of tuition for Skidmore College. Of note, the former USVI governor’s wife, Cecile de Jongh, acted as Epstein’s office manager.

  

  Cecile de Jongh, wife of then-USVI Governor John de Jongh Jr., sent Epstein an August 2011 email with the subject line “Please Approve,” attaching a $25,000 tuition bill for Skidmore, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. The email is among dozens of previously sealed documents the bank filed late Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. –Bloomberg

  The move is part of an “unclean hands” defense by the bank.

  In May the bank accused de Jongh, of acting as his “primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI,” however the emails revealed in Wednesday’s filing provide additional context in terms of the relationship between Epstein and the USVI first family.

  The filing also reveals that JPMorgan intends to defend this to the end despite announcing on Monday that it had agreed to settle with a group of Epstein accusers for $290 million.

  The USVI, meanwhile, has asked the judge in the case to stop JPMorgan from asserting this “unlclean hands” defense, as they claim it doesn’t apply to government actors.

  JPMorgan claims that the tuition paid for de Jongh’s children boosted her 2009 overall compensation as an office manager to $200,000. The bank claims that in return for the tuition, de Jongh provided Epstein access to the USVI’s political elite – who extended tax benefits and allowed him to take part in crafting laws that might affect him.

  In one email exchange from May 2011 between Epstein and de Jongh, the two discussed the USVI’s plans to update its sex offender registry laws, as it directly impacted the convicted pedophile due to his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

  

  “Maybe we should distinguish between offenders and predators,” Epstein wrote, suggesting that the USVI might revise the law to more narrowly apply to a category of sex offenders he didn’t consider himself part of. Epstein also suggested a provision for waivers from the requirements of the revised law, which “should be broader” to avoid affecting his business and his privacy.

  It’s not clear how widely the email was shared, though de Jongh’s reply asked if Epstein wanted to wait for other people to respond. She later wrote that the matter “needs to be settled” in a few days because the attorney general needed to submit something by the end of the month.

  …

  According to JPMorgan, Epstein wasn’t happy with the law that passed in June 2012, and de Jongh promised she would find ways for him to get around the restrictions. According to the emails released Wednesday night, the two expressed frustration that a USVI politician identified only as “Russell” had betrayed them. -Bloomberg

  “I know this was a horrible week and I am really sorry about how things panned out,” de Jongh wrote to the disappointed Epstein. “Not being able to take someone at their word is incredibly frustrating,” she continued in a likely reference to her husband.

  De Jongh also allegedly helped Epstein obtain student visas for young women by arranging their enrollment at the University of the Virgin Islands, according to the report.

  “Did the ladies enroll?” she wrote Epstein in June of 2013. “It is not too late for the fall semester? As we discussed, they need to go down and enroll and show the ability to pay.”

  What’s more, emails show USVI officials panicking after Epstein’s 2019 arrest for sex trafficking.

  “I personally think the questions are opening us up to public scrutiny,” wrote USVI official Margarita Benjamin.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 17:50

• HPV Ignites Unexpected Cancer Surge In Middle-Aged Adults
  HPV Ignites Unexpected Cancer Surge In Middle-Aged Adults

  Authored by Sheramy Tsai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  A mounting wave of throat and mouth cancers is sending ripples through the medical community. Adults above the age of 45 are at the epicenter of this health alarm, as their vulnerability to the illness is becoming starkly evident. Dr. Matthew Old, head and neck surgeon at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, points directly to human papillomavirus (HPV) as the main catalyst of this surge.

  The stark reality is that nearly 55,000 Americans are diagnosed with mouth or throat cancer each year, and this number is unfortunately climbing. In a spotlight study from JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, a surge of more than 3 percent in yearly oropharyngeal cancer cases has been underscored, chiefly among white males above the age of 65.

  Older adults grappling with oropharyngeal cancer are now being seen as the new face of the HPV epidemic. Current trends paint a sobering picture, with medical experts cautioning that this particular cancer could soon rank among the top three affecting older adults in the United States. Even more concerning is that it may even become the most common cancer in this age group within the coming decade, signaling a significant public health concern on the horizon.

  Unraveling HPV and Its Role in the Surge of Cancer Rates

  HPV is a sprawling family of more than 100 related viruses. It’s typically characterized as a sexually transmitted disease. It is passed along through intimate contact with others, whether skin-to-skin or oral.

  While these viruses have garnered a reputation as significant contributors to the prevalence of cervical cancer, they cast a wider shadow than previously recognized. High-risk HPV is emerging as a considerable driving force behind head and neck cancers, notably those affecting the mouth, base of the tongue, and throat—the swath of conditions commonly categorized as oropharyngeal cancers.

  Remarkably, an encounter with HPV is a shared experience for many of us. By the age of 45, approximately 80 percent of people will have encountered HPV. However, not everyone who comes into contact with the virus will face cancer down the line. The spotlight falls on specific strains—particularly HPV 16 and HPV 18. Known as the ‘high-risk’ duo, these strains have a notorious correlation with various cancer types.

  As explained by the American Cancer Society, HPV manufactures two key proteins, E6 and E7. These proteins have the ability to switch off important genes that generally help to keep cell growth in check, namely Rb and p53. When HPV makes itself at home in the throat, these proteins run rampant, potentially setting the stage for abnormal cell growth that has the potential to lead to cancer.

  The chances of developing oropharyngeal cancer are linked strongly to one’s sexual history—specifically the number of lifetime partners with whom oral sex was practiced. A 2021 study in the medical journal Cancer sheds light on these startling connections. Those who have had oral sex with five or more partners in their lifetime face a risk of HPV-related cancer that’s 2.5 times greater than individuals with fewer partners. Shockingly, this risk jumps to 4.3 times higher for those with 10 or more partners.

  HPV’s Dormant Threat and Its Impact on Cancer Risk

  Studies indicate that the body’s immune system is able to purge most HPV infections within a couple of years. Yet, in about 1 in 10 cases, the virus plays a longer game, laying low within the body for many years, sometimes even decades.

  In these instances, after the initial contact and infection, the virus turns into a silent invader. It lays dormant, showing no noticeable symptoms nor causing health issues, until it springs back to life, potentially manifesting as cancer many years down the line. This period of dormancy is why HPV-related cancers are often diagnosed in middle-aged adults, despite the initial infection likely occurring much earlier in life.

  Scrutinizing the Vaccine’s Role in the HPV Cancer Landscape

  Some medical experts attribute the significant rise in HPV-related cancers to lack of immunization; While others have an opposite view.

  “We have a long way to go in educating the public about the importance of HPV vaccination in youth, and of the risk factors and warning signs of HPV-related cancers for adults who did not have an opportunity to get vaccinated in childhood,” Old said. “Data increasingly show this is a powerful tool to prevent cancers later in life.”

  HPV is a risk factor for both men and women, experts say.

  The HPV vaccine, typically administered in two doses to those aged 9 to 14 and three doses to those aged 15 to 26, is a preventive measure against the virus. In October 2018, the FDA expanded use of the vaccine to include women and men aged 27 through 45.

  Since introducing the HPV vaccine, strides have been made in controlling HPV infections and cervical pre-cancers. Vaccines have demonstrated a high level of effectiveness, between 90 to 98 percent, in combating the rapidly growing, abnormal cells that could potentially lead to cancer.

  A 2021 systematic review of nine studies involving 48,777 participants found a significant decrease in vaccine-type oral or oropharyngeal HPV infections among those vaccinated, with a relative prevention percentage of around 83 percent and nearly all participants developing HPV-16 IgG antibodies in oral fluids post-vaccination, indicating a potentially strong protective effect.

  However, the vaccine may not provide the comprehensive solution or panacea anticipated. Research spearheaded by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health proposes that HPV vaccination for individuals above the age of 26 might not be the most financially sensible approach. The study indicates that the health benefits tend to diminish with age while the expense attached considerably surpasses the quality-adjusted life years acquired, questioning its cost-effectiveness.

  “Our study found that the added health benefit of increasing the vaccination age limit beyond 26 years is minimal, and that the cost-effectiveness is much lower than in pre-adolescents, the target age group for the HPV vaccine,” Jane Kim, K.T. Li professor of health economics and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 17:25

• Border Agents Intercept "Cloned" FedEx Vans Full Of Migrants.
  Border Agents Intercept “Cloned” FedEx Vans Full Of Migrants.

  President Joe Biden may be claiming victory at the southern border as the next presidential election cycle nears, but the crisis is far from over. The president’s open border policies have been short of disastrous, transforming parts of the border into a warzone as cartels fight over drug routes into the US. Cartels have also made big bucks by smuggling migrants into the US. 

  US Border Patrol officials revealed the crisis isn’t over this week. They announced this week human smugglers used “cloned FedEx delivery vans” to transport migrants in El Paso, Texas, according to a new report from the local newspaper El Paso Times. 

  On June 9, Border Patrol agents arrested four suspected smugglers, two from the US and two from Mexico, who operated three delivery vans full of migrants. Two of the vehicles were “cloned FedEx vans. Agents said 26 migrants from Mexico and Guatemala were found inside the three vehicles. 

  Express Consequence Delivery!#SantaTeresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit agents along with @TxDPSWest intercepted a smuggling scheme involving 26 smuggled migrants. Of the 3 vehicles involved, 2 were cloned FedEx vans. The smugglers will face charges!@cbp pic.twitter.com/kCP5tvtgR4

  — Anthony “Scott” Good (@USBPChiefEPT) June 14, 2023

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  Border Patrol agents made the bust with the Santa Teresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

  “El Paso Sector Border Patrol Agents continue to successfully disrupt smuggling schemes and the illegal operations of the transnational criminal organizations,” Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good said in a statement.

  Migrants are taken over the border by guides and then picked up by transport vehicles to stash houses across the country. 

  Vice News said smugglers are using cloned FedEx vans because the transport company “has a location very close to the actual [US – Mexico] border, so agents are used to seeing FedEx vans pulling up around that area.” 

  Authorities are still trying to find out how many vans are in the transport network and if smugglers are using other vehicles with fake logos, such as Amazon or UPS, to haul migrants to other states.

  El Paso Times said there had been nearly 308,000 migrant encounters in the El Paso Sector this year alone, including the discovery of 203 stash houses containing 2,871 migrants. Border agents have seen more than 2,000 migrants daily in the week leading up to the end of Title 42 pandemic-era restrictions on May 11. But reports of migrant flows to the El Paso-Juárez region have declined since (well, at least that’s what official government data says). 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 17:00

• Restart Of Student Loan Payments To Slash Household Spending By $15.8 Billion Every Month
  Restart Of Student Loan Payments To Slash Household Spending By $15.8 Billion Every Month

  Two weeks ago, in “The Great Student Loan Nonpayment Boondoggle Is Over And Household Spending Is About To Collapse“, we showed how the three year-long payment forbearance had artificially boosted disposable incomes by tens of billions. And, more importantly, with repayment on said loans set to resume in a few months, personal spending was set to collapse.

  Today, in a note from Barclays economist Adirenne Yih (available to pro subscribers in the usual place), the bank has published a detailed calculation of just how much disposable spending would shrink by as a result of the student loan payment restart. In a nutshell, the bank estimates a potential aggregate $15.8bn monthly headwind – or $190 billion per year – to US spending as the average student debt holder sees an incremental monthly payment of ~$390 beginning this fall. This represents an ~8% headwind to monthly personal income, affecting 16% of the US population, and adding pressure to not just consumer discretionary and apparel, but all retail spending.

  For those who missed it the first time, here is the background:

  Student loan payments are set to resume in the coming months. For more than 40 million Americans carrying student loan debt, the timeline to resume making payments is now on the horizon. The debt ceiling deal passed earlier this month paves the way for student loan payments to resume as early as August 29, 2023, per the latest update from the U.S. Department f Education: Federal Student Aid. For most, this will be the first time making payments since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020

  

  Logically, Barclays regards the “essential” nature of the debt payments as reducing discretionary spending by an equal amount. As such, the bank estimates a potential aggregate $15.8bn monthly headwind to U.S. spending, as the average student debt holder sees an incremental monthly payment of ~$390 (more details below).

  The analysis is based on federal student loan data for the aggregate $1.4 trillion balance across the 40.5mn borrowers by age cohort. Utilizing a 10-year payment period and a 5.8% interest rate, the bank calculates an approximate $390/month payment across cohorts.

  Compared to a median pre-tax personal annual income of ~$57k, this payment represents an approximate 8% headwind to monthly income. In aggregate, this amounts to an “additional” (or rather, original, as the payments were there and then three years ago, they just stopped) $15.8bn in monthly payment for federal student loans affecting approximately 15.5% of the U.S. adult population (and 32% of the 25- to 34-year-old cohort).

  As an aside, Barclays’ monthly estimate of $15.8bn in incremental payments is conservative as the analysis only takes into account federal student debt (Direct Loans), which is 87.2% of total student debt.

  Some more details on who owes what:

  • As of March 31, 2020, there were 38.4mn recipients of Federal Student Aid (Direct Loans) equaling $1,315bn outstanding.
  • As of March 31, 2023 these numbers have increased and there are now 40.5mn recipients and $1,430bn  outstanding.
  • Additionally, the 25-34 age group has the largest amount of borrowers at 14.7mn recipients (36%), while the 35-49 age group has the largest amount of Federal Student loans outstanding at $533bn (37%)

  

  

  

  Average monthly repayment amount by age group:

  • Federal Student Loans have 10 types of repayment plans that vary based on time frame and income

  

  • Barclays is basing its analysis on a 10-year fixed monthly payment as it is the highest % of repayment plans by recipients (33%), and utilizing a flat assumed interest rate of 5.8%.
  • From this, the bank calculates the approximate $390/month payment across age group

  

  

  Cost impact of student loan repayment by age cohort

  • Comparing the calculated monthly cost of student loan payments above to the median annual pre-tax personal income reveals an aggregate 8% monthly headwind to income across age group

  

  

  Estimated spending impact to consumer discretionary

  • Based on our analysis, the Barclays economists estimate the total impact from the resumption of federal student loans to consumer discretionary spend to be ~$15.8bn (monthly), derived by aggregating the total cost among all Federal loan holders and the Federal loan repayments.

  

  Next, the economists calculated the total percentage of the adult U.S. population that will be impacted by the resuming of Student Loan Repayment (using U.S. Census estimates as of 2022 to calculate the total population size vs. the total amount of recipients of Federal Student Loans, and then further disaggregated that by age group). Based on calculations, 15.5% of the adult (18+) US population will be effected and will need to resume paying their student loans, with an outsized impact among the 25-34 year old cohort (32%)

  

  Education Level by Income Bracket

  • Higher household incomes are more likely to have attended college and carry higher student debt. An analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey indicatess that higher incomes are more likely to have attended college.
  • While this relationship is known intuitively, it implies higher HH incomes are thus more likely to carry higher student debt compared to, say, the ‘Less than $15,000’ cohort, in which the majority of constituents did not attend college.
  • In this context, and rather counterintuitively, the bank has a favorable view of companies exposed to lower HH income cohorts. For these companies, the relative insulation from the resumption of student debt payments will serve as a welcome offset to the inflation-driven spending pressure which has previously had an outsized impact on lower income HHs.

  

  More details in the full note available to pro subscribers in the usual place.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 16:51

• Student Loan Payments Will Restart Soon: Here's The Timeline Borrowers Should Know
  Student Loan Payments Will Restart Soon: Here’s The Timeline Borrowers Should Know

  Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Federal student loan payments have been on pause since March 2020. But that will change soon.

  

  The U.S. Department of Education, which oversees a $1.6 trillion portfolio in federal student loan debt owed by about 43 million Americans, has posted a notice at the top of its student aid website confirming when borrowers should start paying their bills again.

  According to the notice, interest will kick in starting Sept. 1, but borrowers won’t need to make payments until October.

  “Congress recently passed a law preventing further extensions of the payment pause,” the department stated. “Student loan interest will resume starting on Sept. 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October. We will notify borrowers well before payments restart.”

  The pause on federal student loan payments and the accumulation of interest was first ordered by then-President Donald Trump at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to ease the financial pressure Americans were facing. It has since been extended many times by both the Trump and Biden administrations.

  As part of the recent bipartisan deal that suspended the U.S. government’s borrowing limit, the Biden administration is prohibited from extending the pause again.

  There has been some confusion over exactly when student loan payments would resume. The Biden administration previously stated that the payment freeze would end either 60 days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on the so-called forgiveness plan or 60 days after June 30, whichever came first.

  The debt-ceiling deal, which gained final approval from Congress earlier this month, mandates that the student loan payments restart 60 days after June 30, or Aug. 29.

  The June 13 clarification also comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to give its blessing to the Biden administration’s attempt to “forgive” hundreds of billions of dollars of debt.

  At the core of the legal challenge is the question of whether President Joe Biden has the authority to implement his $400 billion plan, which would erase up to $10,000 in student loan debt for every borrower who earns less than $125,000 per year while canceling up to $20,000 for each Pell Grant recipient who meets that income standard.

  It’s unclear when the Supreme Court will rule on the case. Supreme Court justices typically go into recess as soon as they issue their last decision of the current term in late June or early July, and they won’t be back to work until Oct. 2, the official start of the new term.

  A scenario in which the high court’s conservative majority strikes down Biden’s plan could mean financial hardship for millions of people, according to an analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency within the Federal Reserve.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 16:25

• Stocks Dump As Massive Triple-Witch OpEx Punks Euphoric Markets
  Stocks Dump As Massive Triple-Witch OpEx Punks Euphoric Markets

  Heading into today’s huge, $4.2 trillion triple-witching opex…

  

  … stocks sprinted out of the gate, only to immediately run out of steam, hitting session highs at the cash open which is also the moment when $2.3 trillion in S&P options expired…

  lols pic.twitter.com/w2bytPrtcm

  — SpotGamma (@spotgamma) June 16, 2023

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  … and setting off on a long, boring grind lower, to close at session lows some 40 points lower…

  

  … with all sectors sliding into the close…

  

  … as the SPX 4,400 Call Wall – which the market steamrolled earlier this week in its euphoria sprint higher – exerted its magnetic influence lower on risk assets…

  

  … just as we discussed last night…

  

  … and also as we observed after the latest Fed balance sheet release showed that reserves had started to slide again, even as risk assets continued their melt-up with oblivious abandon (but not for long).

  Divergence in Fed reserves vs equity froth gap entering redline territory pic.twitter.com/W0vaApd3TK

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 15, 2023

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  Curiously, not even a constant push of delta buying by both 0DTE and regular option traders was able to reverse the slide in the index…

  

  … nor the continued covering of the (formerly) record emini S&P future shorts, who were squeezed for a 2nd week in a row after the net short position hit a record at the end of May.

  

  Curiously, as stocks fell so did the VIX, which tripped the moment the cash market opened, sliding lower with stocks…

  

  … and extending the bizarro super-positive correlation between stocks and vol, which as Goldman said earlier has “rarely been this positive“…

  

  … yet which also sows the seeds of the market’s next puke, as Goldman’s next chart showed (more on this correlation here).

  

  To be sure, it wasn’t just the greeks, and after they were kicked to the pavement in recent weeks, small caps (RTY) saw a clear rotation out of tech (QQQ) in the last hour, although as others have observed, if this is indeed the start of the “everything else” rotation, then we have a lot to go.

  

  That said, don’t cry for the S&P: despite today’s drop, the index closed the week 2.6% higher, its biggest gain since the Fed stepped in with a massive “emergency” stimmy after the bank crisis in March, and the fifth consecutive weekly increase, the longest stretch since Nov 2021.

  

  While stocks failed to catch a bid after the recent meltup, other more beaten down sectors finally pushed higher, with WTI pushing back over $70 after hitting a one-month lower earlier this week.

  

  Likewise, gold and silver ramped higher after getting clubbed in recent days…

  

  … and even bitcoin finally caught a bid one day after news hit that the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, had filed for a spot bitcoin ETF, a move which sets up for an interesting confrontation between the most important man on Wall Street and the most useless Liz Warren henchman at the SEC, Gary Gensler.

  

  Finally, while Treasuries did nothing notable today, the divergence between the two duration classes – 10Y paper and the QQQs – has extended its divergence to levels not seen in years.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/16/2023 – 16:09

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