Jan 18

Today’s News 18th January 2024

  • A Primer For American Patriots And Preppers Facing An Uncertain Future
    A Primer For American Patriots And Preppers Facing An Uncertain Future

    Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

    This article contains excerpts from Alt-Market’s survival newsletter – The Wild Bunch Dispatch

    The average patriot (or prepper) is usually a middle class conservative or libertarian with a tendency towards independent thinking and some experience with economic struggle in their past. Most of us have made something of ourselves from very little, or, we had parents that made something of themselves from very little and we watched as children while they climbed their way up the ladder through hard work and merit.

    Our philosophy is based on experience and a willingness to look beyond the veil. Most of the western public is bombarded with endless messaging about how stable and safe and “prosperous” our society is. We are constantly slapped in the face with propaganda telling us that patriots are not only crazy, but also dangerous.  We are the bumbling bad guys in every film and TV show.  We’re the “extremists” that refuse to accept that the system works, and if we would just stop trying to be independent from the system, we will find safety and happiness.

    We are told a lot of things that aren’t true, and this is really the first thing that sets the preparedness culture apart from everyone else – A healthy sense of skepticism when it comes to establishment claims and mainstream assumptions. We will NOT be sitting idle listening to the band play while the Titanic sinks. We understand, however, that there’s a considerable number of people out there that are content to do so…

    There are numerous and unique motivations for people who delve into the patriot life and I think there’s a perception that it requires some kind of abnormal shift in routine or a complete upending of one’s existence.  If you become a patriot or prepper you have to live in a compound and wear army garb everyday and be suspicious of everyone.  It’s really a very simple addition to the daily grind, a hobby more than anything else.  No one is joining a cult; all we are doing is seeking self sufficiency wherever possible and taking a second look at the claims made by people in power.

    Which behavior is more bizarre? Being prepared and aware? Or, being willfully ignorant and constantly vulnerable?

    It’s also about realism, not pessimism. It’s not about living under a cloud of constant doom, only accepting that there are extreme problems in the world that may require extreme solutions. All I can say is, as I balance the good with the bad I find that I still remain an optimist. I believe free people have a chance to turn the tide and dismantle the cabal of influence that has created the instabilities we now face.

    But, to do this requires something beyond a vague understanding of freedom and a will to live. To change the path of our civilization requires a significant level of dedication to something greater. We need a personal foundation, a mantra, a philosophy that adds structure to our efforts. In other words, preparedness is not only about you.  Survival is not the end game. Preparedness is just a means to an end, which is why patriotism is also essential – We prepare so that we can fight for a better future, a future some of us may not live to enjoy.

    To this point, I will list what I believe are the top most important ideals for the modern patriot/prepper. These are the rules that I plan to follow in the chaotic world going forward, and I think that if a majority of those dedicated to liberty do the same we may just make it through the pyre with the majority of our humanity intact.

    Rule 1: Prepare For Others, Not Just Yourself

    In the midst of crisis there will come a time when you will have to help other people. You may not like other people, you may not trust other people, you might feel better crawling into a bunker and never dealing with another living soul until the breakdown has run its course. It doesn’t matter. If you have a conscience then you will be faced with the reality of need – Other people’s need.

    Do they deserve what they get? Maybe some of them do, while others do not. Knowing which is which will be up to you. Having the means to aid the innocent is paramount. Trust me on this – You DO NOT want to find yourself in a situation where good people need your help and you are incapable because you failed to plan ahead. You do not want that weighing on your spirit.

    Rule 2: Survival Alone Is Not Victory

    If you are alive but the rest of the world is enslaved, then you have ultimately lost. “Winning” is not possible until the root enemy is erased from existence. If the oligarchy that sabotages us is able to use a collapse to gain power while avoiding consequences, then they have prevailed and no matter how well you think you can hide eventually they will find you too.

    Do not think for a second that your life is worth more than the freedom of humanity as a whole. It’s not.

    Rule 3: Fear Is Transitory, Regret Is Forever

    Many people’s lives are ruled by fear. They are incessantly worried about what they could lose if they take action, if they deviate from the norm, if they upset the wrong people or rock the wrong boat. Human beings naturally seek acceptance and validation from their peers and from society. We want to belong to a tribe. We also want to remain comfortable and secure, avoiding struggle and conflict at all costs.

    But there are worse things than struggle and pain and disapproval, such as regret. Knowing that we could have done something profound, yet we chose instead to sit on our ass and do nothing because standing up is scary. That kind of regret is a poison that eats most people alive, especially in old age when we are less physically able to intervene in the course of history.

    Personally, I don’t really understand the fear of death, or the fear of confrontation or conflict, or the fear of facing adversity. I don’t get it. None of us is going to live forever, so we do what we can to make this life count. What I do fear, perhaps more than anything, is being useless when I’m called to make a difference. Do not let fear hold you back from what you know is right.

    Rule 4: You Do Not Need To Become The Monster To Defeat The Monster

    War is hell, that’s not in question. And make no mistake, we are in the middle of a war right now. But, ask yourself what you are fighting for in the first place. Is it a set of principles and beliefs, or is it simply to win no matter the cost?

    On the other hand, there are also people with a tendency to use the “turn the other cheek” mantra to argue against taking any action in self defense. Sometimes they are afraid, sometimes they truly believe that principles must be held to the letter, even to the detriment of everything else.

    It’s a razor thin line to walk between righteous non-violence and monstrous indifference. My position? When someone declares war on you, you fight back and put them down flat. Just make sure you don’t lose your soul in the process.

    Rule 5: Be Invisible When You Must, Be Visible When You Must

    Many preppers and patriots are obsessed with the concept of invisibility; the concept of the “Gray Man” and the tactic of blending in and going unnoticed. While this serves a purpose in some situations there are also advantages to being seen, to being visible.

    There is an old story of a Roman General talking to a Roman Senator as they walk around the markets of the capitol. The Senator takes note that many of the slaves within Rome looked like regular citizens and lamented the fact that he could not tell them apart from everyone else. He suggested to the General that they force the slaves to wear armbands as identification.

    The General spoke up, saying that the idea was a foolish one.

    The Senator was shocked by the General’s opposition and asked why? The General explained – “The slave population is vast, but the slaves have no idea. As you say, they blend in with the citizens and the leadership. If we give them all armbands they will see how many of them there are. They will realize they greatly outnumber us and will be tempted to revolt. Better that they not know.”

    There are times when visibility is more important that invisibility. There are times when invisibility is the path to defeat.

    Rule 6: In Every Moment Of Chaos There Is A Moment Of Peace

    Chaos is mostly a product of a mental reaction, a subconscious decision to panic instead of remaining calm and lucid. Chaos is created by people more than events; it’s how we process those events that makes them a disaster or a moment of triumph. That is to say, in every moment of chaos there is a moment of peace. The question is, can you restrain your impulse to panic and instead act with conscious and deliberate calm?

    To be sure, preparedness has a lot to do with this. There is a common misconception about preppers that we are “always afraid and paranoid.” The reality is the opposite – We are rarely afraid or paranoid because we have trained ourselves to be ready for most dangers. The people that are afraid, the people who usually panic, are those that are unprepared.

    Beyond this, though, is a deeper mindset that has embraced the inevitability of chaos. We know that the world is built upon a precarious house of cards and history shows us that this house of cards will inevitably fall. To assume otherwise is naive or insane.

    Rule 7: What We Do Now Echos In Eternity

    I can’t help but quote this piece of wisdom from Marcus Aurelius; I don’t think I could say it any better. Understand that the future is a summation of the actions we take today. Whether we are personally remembered or not is irrelevant; tomorrow is decided by what we do or don’t do. There is nothing that can stop this. We are the decision makers – Not the globalists, not governments, WE are the people who decide what the next era will look like.

    There are moments in history, rare moments, when the confluence of events and crises rest at the point of a fulcrum. It is a nexus, a crossroads that will determine the course of civilization for centuries to come. There are people who will encounter this storm and do nothing more than sit back and drift along with the tides of fate. There are others who are battling for the chance to control the rudder of the ship, aiming humanity to either free shores or the depths of the abyss.

    When all our lives are tallied in the great beyond we each may be faced with the terrible question: “What did you contribute?” As patriots and freedom fighters, I hope when that moment comes we will be able to say that we left nothing undone. That we conducted ourselves with honor. That we set the world right again.

    *  *  *

    If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 23:25

  • Trump Vows To "Never Allow" A Central Bank Digital Currency
    Trump Vows To “Never Allow” A Central Bank Digital Currency

    Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to never allow the use of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), as it would “give the government absolute control over your money.”

    “This would be a dangerous threat to freedom – and I will stop it from coming to America. We are also going to put in place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to de-bank you for your political beliefs. That will never happen while I am your president,” Trump told a crowd in Portsmouth, New Hampshire – as first reported by The National Pulse.

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    Trump’s comments come hours after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) revealed that federal agencies have been flagging financial transactions using politically sensitive words such as “MAGA” and “Trump” in yet another egregious example of the establishment targeting political rivals.

    As we’ve reported for years, CBDCs – touted by globalists such as French Central Bank deputy governor Denis Beau as “the catalyst for improving cross-border payments by enabling the build-up of a new international monetary system” – are in fact the ultimate tools of oppression.

    Even Fed Governors know ‘this way lies danger’:

    “In thinking about the implications of CBDC and privacy, we must also consider the central role that money plays in our daily lives, and the risk that a CBDC would provide not only a window into, but potentially an impediment to, the freedom Americans enjoy in choosing how money and resources are used and invested,” Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman told a Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems last year.

    Central bank digital currencies are part of a broader “war on cash.”

    A cashless society is sold on the promise of providing a safe, convenient, and more secure alternative to physical cash. We’re also told it will help stop dangerous criminals who like the intractability of cash.

    But there is a darker side – the promise of control.

    The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and control consumer spending. Digital economies would also make it even easier for central banks to engage in manipulative monetary policies such as negative interest rates.

    But they seem to be an inevitability, as according to data from the Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker, 130 countries – representing over 98% of global gross domestic product – are exploring or developing CBDCs, marking an outsized increase from just a few years ago.

    Via cbdctracker.org

    They’re even starting to experiment with them for international settlement… In November, Zurich issued a CHF 100 million ($113m) digital bond via the SIX Digital Exchange – the most distinctive aspect of which is that it settles using a wholesale central bank digital currency (wholesale CBDC) issued by the Swiss National Bank (SNB).

    Resistance!

    Last April, Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who is now working to create a new political party to qualify for the ballot in various states), vehemently opposed the Fed’s announcement of a “FedNow” CBDC, calling it a “slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny.”

    “While cash transactions are anonymous, a #CBDC will allow the government to surveil all our private financial affairs. The central bank will have the power to enforce dollar limits on our transactions restricting where you can send money, where you can spend it, and when money expires,” he wrote on X. “A CBDC tied to digital ID and social credit score will allow the government to freeze your assets or limit your spending to approved vendors if you fail to comply with arbitrary diktats, i.e. vaccine mandates.”

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    In July, Kennedy promised to back the US Dollar with Bitcoin if he’s elected president.

    Also in July, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) vowed to kill FedCoin on “day one” of his presidency, telling Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, “If I am the president, on day one, we will nix central bank digital currency. Done. Dead. Not happening in this country,” adding “They want to get rid of cash. They want no cryptocurrency. They want [CBDCs] to be the sole form of legal tender. It will allow them to prohibit ‘undesirable purchases’ like fuel and ammunition.”

    More recently, several states opposed to CBDC have launched bills which would prohibit classifying digital currency as money.

    If successful, Utah, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee would become the first states to exclude CBDC as a medium exchange – potentially creating significant roadblocks to CBDC in the United States.

    Finally, for those still unsure, we don’t need to look as far as China to understand the implications here in the West. As Laura Dodsworth wrote in October of the dystopian nature of CBDCs, via The Brownstone Institute:

    In 2019, Mastercard and Doconomy launched a credit card with a carbon footprint calculator that can switch off your spending when you reach your carbon max. This functionality is voluntary, but it could be an automatic aspect of a CBDC.

    Tom Mutton, a director at the Bank of England, said that the Government would be required to make the final decision on whether a UK CBDC should be programmable. Sir Jon Cunliffe, a deputy Governor at the Bank, said:

    “You could think of giving your children pocket money, but programming the money so that it couldn’t be used for sweets. There is a whole range of things that money could do, programmable money, which we cannot do with the current technology.”

    As this quote reveals, CBDCs won’t just alter our relationship with money but with government. Governments around the world have shown increasingly authoritarian tendencies during the management of the Covid pandemic, and more recently to discourage driving in cities. Behavioural science has been leveraged to manipulate, incentivise and coerce us into behaving as model citizens. Do we want to negotiate with Daddy State to be allowed to spend our ‘pocket money’ as we wish?

    An account-based CBDC would give the government enormous power over your money as your identity is connected to the money. A 2020 Bank of England discussion paper gave examples of programmability, for example that smart cars could automatically pay for fuel directly at the dispensing pump, with automated taxation and charitable donations at point of sale.

    That all sounds very convenient. But politicians pushing Net Zero goals on an unwilling population could choose to go a step further. If you insist on keeping your private car, despite the inconvenient 20 MPH speed limits, the ULEZ and congestion charges, and the Low Traffic Neighbourhood barriers, they could simply dictate a maximum fuel spend in a given time period. Just ten of your Britcoins on petrol this month, Sir, no more driving for you.

    Interestingly, we have not heard from the Biden administration with regard their support (or lack thereof) of CDBCs. Given their recent authoritarian over-steps, it shouldn’t be too hard to guess which side of the ‘more centralized power and control’ vs ‘freedom and personal sovereignty’ fence they might come down on.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 23:05

  • A Technicality Could Sink South Africa's Genocide Case vs. Israel At The Hague
    A Technicality Could Sink South Africa’s Genocide Case vs. Israel At The Hague

    Via Consortium News

    In its defense last Friday before the World Court against allegations by South Africa that it is committing genocide in Gaza and must be stopped, Israel made a legal argument that could torpedo the case if the court buys it. In order for a claim to reach the International Court of Justice, there must be an established dispute between two states. Israel’s argument is that such a dispute was never established and thus the ICJ lacks jurisdiction to hear South Africa’s claim. 

    There would be a political outcry from those who seek to stop Israel’s ongoing slaughter in Gaza if the Court decides to dismiss the case on this technicality. But given the pressure the Court is no doubt feeling from the United States, Germany and other allies of Israel it might be the best, if not the only way for the Court to escape without having to decide that it’s merely plausible that Israel is committing genocide.

    The World Court in The Hague hearing South Africa v. Israel. (ICJ)

    That is the bar that needs to be met at this preliminary stage of the case for the Court to issue provisional measures to order Israel to cease its military operation.

    The Dispute Over a Dispute

    Last Thursday, South Africa tried to build a case, probably in anticipation of Israel’s bid, that this was indeed a dispute between Israel and South Africa and it indeed belonged before the World Court.  

    John Dugard, a South African professor of international law, told the Court:

    “The South African Government repeatedly voiced its concerns, in the Security Council and in public statements, that Israel’s actions had become genocidal. On 10 November, in a formal diplomatic démarche, it informed Israel that while it condemned the actions of Hamas, it wanted the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the leadership of Israel for international crimes. 

    On 17 November South Africa referred Israel’s commission of the crime of genocide to the International Criminal Court for ‘vigorous investigation’. In announcing this decision President Ramaphosa publicly expressed his abhorrence ‘for what is happening right now in Gaza, which is now turned into a concentration camp where genocide is taking place’.

    To accuse a State of committing acts of genocide and to condemn it in such strong language is a major act on the part of a State. At this stage it became clear that there was a serious dispute between South Africa and Israel which would end only with the end of Israel’s genocidal acts.

    South Africa repeated this accusation at a meeting of BRICS on 21 November 2023 and at an Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on 12 December 2023. No response from Israel was forthcoming. None was necessary. By this time, the dispute had crystallized as a matter of law. This was confirmed by Israel’s official and unequivocal denial on 6 December 2023 that it was committing genocide in Gaza.”

    Dugard argues that there is a dispute between Israel and South Africa. Dugard added that “as a matter of courtesy” before filing the case with the ICJ on Dec. 29, South Africa sent a “Note Verbale to the Embassy of Israel to reiterate its view that Israel’s acts of genocide in Gaza amounted to genocide — that it, as a State party to the Genocide Convention, was under an obligation to prevent genocide from being committed.”

    “Israel responded,” Dugard said, “by way of a Note Verbale that failed to address the issues raised by South Africa in its Note and neither affirmed nor denied the existence of a dispute.”

    On Jan. 4, South Africa sent another Note Verbal highlighting Israel’s failure to respond adequately to South Africa’s concerns, and concluded that the dispute between the nations was “plainly not capable of resolution by way of a bilateral meeting.” In addition, on Nov. 20 Israel recalled its ambassador to South Africa in protests over South Africa calling Israel’s operation in Gaza “genocidal,” which can clearly be interpreted as a dispute. 

    Israel Says There is No Dispute

    For its part, Israel on Friday argued that no such dispute exists and therefore the Court lacks jurisdiction over the case. Quoting from Article IX of the Genocide Convention, British attorney Malcolm Shaw KC, representing Israel, told the Court:

    “Whether or not a dispute in these terms exists at the time of the filing of the Application is a matter for objective determination by the Court, ‘it is a matter of substance, and not a question of form or procedure’. The Court will ‘take into account in particular any statements or documents exchanged between the Parties as well as any exchanges made in multilateral settings’, the Court has said.

    The key point here is the use of the term ‘exchange’ between the parties. Unilateral assertion does not suffice. There needs to be some element of engagement between the parties. The element of interchange and bilateral interaction is required. A dispute is a reciprocal phenomenon.”

    Shaw made clear Israel does not believe such an exchange took place:

    “South Africa cites only a couple of general public statements by Israel referencing merely a press report by Reuters and a publicity release from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These responses were not addressed directly or even indirectly to South Africa. There is no evidence of ‘positive opposition’ as required by the Court.

    Further, South Africa cites no relevant exchange between the Parties, which would be the normal fashion for the expression and determination of a dispute between States. This actually typifies how South Africa has approached this matter. It seems to believe that it does not take two to tango. It is sufficient if one State determines there is a dispute, leaving the other party flummoxed.

    It is thus disingenuous for Professor Dugard to conclude that ‘Israel must have been aware from South Africa’s public statements, démarche and referral to the International Criminal Court of Israel’s genocidal acts that a dispute existed between the two States’. This is not a dispute, it is a ‘unispute,’ a one-sided clapping of hands.” 

    Shaw said Israel did respond to the Notes Verbale on Dec. 26 by offering to arrange a meeting between the two foreign ministries at South Africa’s “earliest convenience.” The Israeli embassy tried to deliver this note on Dec. 27 to the South African foreign ministry but the ministry was closed because of a holiday, Shaw said.

    He claims Israel was informed by the South Africans on Dec. 28 that the note should be hand-delivered on Jan. 2, but on Dec. 29 filed the case with the ICJ, allowing no time for the states to have a dialogue. That South Africa did not wait for this bilateral meeting before filing with the court puts its case at risk.  

    Legal Experts Weigh In

    “There does have to be a position stated by one side and rejected by the other before there is a dispute,” John Quigley, professor emeritus at the Moritz College of Law of Ohio State University, told Consortium News. “But there was probably sufficient statement by [South Africa] that it thought Israel was committing genocide, and sufficient statement by Israel that it was not committing genocide for there to be a ‘dispute” between the two.’”

    Quigley added, “If the court wants to avoid giving provisional measures, it could use this.” He made clear, however, that he thought this was unlikely to happen. 

    Analyst Alexander Mercouris concurred. He told CN: 

    “In a sane world it should not defeat the claim.  After all, in what sense has Israel been prejudiced? And given that the case is about genocide there is a strong case for acting with urgency.  However if the Court wants to find some way out of hearing the case, this lapse has provided it.   

    If the Court were to take this view, South Africa would have the option of requesting the Israeli response, and then re-filing, either when Israel provided its reply or, in the event that Israel inordinately delayed its reply, when that became clear.”

    American academic Norman Finkelstein, told an interviewer: “It will completely discredit the Court if they issue a decision — we have decided not to pursue this case of genocide because we don’t think there is a dispute. That just can’t work.” 

    Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, represented Bosnia-Herzogovina at the ICJ where he brought a case of genocide against Yugoslavia in 1993. “To the best of my knowledge the [Yugoslavs] did not know of my genocide lawsuit until the Registrar informed them of it,” Boyle said in an email. “Again, this created no problems for me with the Court on winning my first Order of Provisional Measures of Protection on April 8 [1993].” 

    Boyle added that Bosnia’s then president, Alija Izetbegovic was at the time “pretty busy negotiating” the Vance-Owen peace deal at U.N. headquarters in New York. “I don’t think he said anything about my genocide lawsuit to the [Yugoslavs] there before I sued them.” Thus the fact that Sarajevo and Belgrade never directly disagreed about a genocide claim did not affect the Court’s decision to issue provisional measures against Yugoslavia. 

    In an article published on Consortium News on Sunday, former British diplomat Craig Murray, who was in the public gallery for both days of the hearing, wrote that simply refusing to respond to an allegation of genocide cannot become a way for a nation to continue committing it with impunity. He wrote:

    “The case could be technically invalid, and then [the judges] would neither have to upset the major Western powers nor make fools of themselves by pretending that a genocide the whole world had seen was not happening. For a while, they looked visibly relieved.  Israel is hoping to win on their procedural points about existence of dispute …

    The obvious nonsense [Israel] spoke about the damage to homes and infrastructure being caused by Hamas, trucks entering Gaza and casualty figures, was not serious. They did not expect the judges to believe any of this. The procedural points were for the court. The rest was mass propaganda for the media.”

    Murray added: “I am sure the judges want to get out of this and they may go for the procedural points. But there is a real problem with Israel’s ‘no dispute’ argument. If accepted, it would mean that a country committing genocide can simply not reply to a challenge, and then legal action will not be possible because no reply means ‘no dispute’. I hope that absurdity is obvious to the judges. But they may of course wish not to notice it…”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 22:45

  • 2024: Too Many Things Going Wrong
    2024: Too Many Things Going Wrong

    Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

    It will be an interesting year.

    We know that the age of peak performance for humans varies, depending upon the activity. Peak performance for an athlete tends to come between ages 20 and 30, while peak performance for a person writing academic papers seems to come between ages 40 and 50 years. By the time people are 80 years old, they have a strong suspicion that health and other aspects of performance will deteriorate in the next 20 years.

    Economies, in physics terms, are similar to human beings. Both are dissipative structures. They require energy of the appropriate kinds to keep their systems growing and operating normally. For humans, the main source of this energy is food. For an economy, it is a mixture of energy that the economy is specifically adapted to. Today’s economy requires a certain mixture of energy directly from the sun, plus energy from fossil fuels, burned biomass, and nuclear energy. Electricity is a carrier of energy from different sources. It needs to be available at the right time of day and the right time of year to allow today’s economy to continue.

    Most people don’t realize that economies grow and eventually collapse. For example, we know that the Roman Empire started its growth in 625 BCE and reached its peak extent in 211 CE. It declined somewhat between 211 CE and 456 CE, when it finally collapsed after several invasions. The growth and collapse of economies is very much expected because of their nature as dissipative structures.

    In 2024, the world economy is acting more and more like an 80-year-old man than like a young vigorous economy. Perhaps the economy can continue for quite a few more years, but it increasingly looks like it is in danger of falling apart, or of succumbing as a result of what might be regarded as minor problems.

    Trying to predict precisely what will happen in the year 2024 is difficult, but in this post, I will examine some of the things that are going wrong in this increasingly creaky old economy.

    [1] Too many parts of the world economy are changing from growth to shrinkage.

    The blue circles can illustrate many different things:

    • The total goods and services produced by the economy;

    • The quantity of energy required to produce the total goods and service produced by the economy;

    • The total population that is supported by these goods and services (which will generally be rising or falling, too);

    • Goods and services per person (which tend to rise during periods of growth and fall in a shrinking economy);

    • And, strangely enough, the ability of the economy to maintain complexity. Without enough energy, structures such as governments tend to fail.

    As the economy moves away from growth, toward shrinkage, major changes can be expected.

    [2] In a growing economy, repaying debt with interest is very easy. In a shrinking economy, repaying debt with interest becomes close to impossible.

    If an economy is growing, there will likely be an increasing number of jobs available over time, and they will pay relatively more. If a person loses his/her job, it is not very difficult to get a position that will pay as much or more. Paying back a loan on a house or an automobile tends to be easy.

    A corresponding situation occurs for businesses. If the business can count on an increasing number of customers, overhead becomes easier and easier to cover with a growing consumer base.

    The reverse is obviously true in a shrinking economy. Jobs may be available if a person loses his/her current job, but the jobs don’t pay very well. Businesses may face periods with suddenly lower demand, as in 2020. There is a sudden need to reduce overhead, such as payments for office space, if the space is no longer being utilized by employees.

    Clearly, if interest rates rise, it becomes increasingly difficult for borrowers of all kinds to repay debt with interest. Raising interest rates is thus a way to intentionally slow the economy. If the economy is growing too quickly (like a 20-year-old sprinter), then such a change makes sense. But if the economy is behaving like an 80-year-old, hobbling along on a walking stick, it becomes likely the economy will figuratively fall and become severely injured. This is the danger of raising interest rates when the world economy is having difficulty growing at an adequate rate.

    [3] The physics of the system dictates that as the system shifts in the direction of shrinkage, the wealth of the system is increasingly distributed toward the rich and very powerful, and away from those of modest means.

    Physicist Francois Roddier writes about this issue in his book, The Thermodynamics of Evolution. He likens energy (and the goods and services produced using this energy) as being like energy applied to water. When energy levels are low, the less wealthy members of the economy tend to be squeezed out, just as (low energy) frozen water turns to ice. The reduced amount of energy available (and goods and services produced using this energy) increasingly bubbles up to the small number of economic participants at the top of the economic hierarchy. This issue tends to make the already rich even richer.

    In some sense, the self-organizing economy seems to preserve as much of the economy as it can, when energy supplies are inadequate. The wealthy seem to be important for keeping the whole system operating, so the physics tends to favor them.

    Inflation, in general, is a problem, especially for people with limited income. Higher interest rates also take a big “bite” out of spendable income. This problem is greatest for low income people. The benefit of higher interest rates, and of capital gains, tends to go to high income people. 

    High food prices especially affect the poor because, even in good times, food tends to be a high share of their income. For example, in a poor country, if food costs amount to 50% of a person’s income when food prices are moderate, a 20% increase in food prices will lead to food prices costing 60% of income. Such a situation quickly becomes intolerable because there is not enough income left for other essential goods. 

    Figure 2. Chart by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis showing the Share of the Total Net Worth Held by the Top 1% of US Citizens (99th to 100th percentile).

    The figure above shows that between 1990 and 2022, the share of total wealth held by the top 1% of US citizens rose from 23% to 32%. This means that other citizens were increasingly squeezed out of the benefits of the growing economy.

    [4] With their newfound power (arising from the growing concentration of wealth), the wealthy are tempted to exert increasing control over the economic system.

    The fact that the world economy was likely to reach annual limits of fossil fuel extraction about now has been known for a very long time. I have referred to a 1957 speech by US Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover pointing out this bottleneck many times. Wealthy individuals have known about this bottleneck for a very long time. They have been asking themselves, “How can we increasingly benefit from this change?”

    Clearly, reducing the population growth rate has been one of the goals of some of these wealthy individuals. With fewer people to share the resources available, everyone will benefit.

    But the wealthy can also see that hiding the energy bottleneck would be of huge benefit in keeping the current system operating as usual. These individuals, through the World Economic Forum and other organizations, have pushed for zero global warming emissions. They have tried to reframe the problem of inadequate inexpensive-to-produce fossil fuels as a problem of too large a quantity of fossil fuels for the system to handle. In their view, we can decide to transition away from fossil fuels without significantly adverse impacts.

    By hiding the energy bottleneck, companies selling vehicles can claim they will be useful for many years. Educational systems can claim that we are well on our way to finding substitutes for fossil fuels, and that there will be good jobs available in the new systems. With the bottleneck problem hidden, politicians do not have to present citizens with a very concerning and intractable issue. Since a happily-ever-after narrative is desired by all, it is easy for the wealthy (and politicians who want to be reelected) to influence the major news outlets to present only this view to readers. 

    [5] Major cracks in the economy are likely to start showing soon. The energy bottleneck is already pulling the economy down, even if major news media are reluctant to discuss the problem.

    The problem displays itself in several different ways:

    (a) The economy has moved toward two widely differing views regarding today’s energy situation.

    The narrative presented in the press is that we have an excessive amount of fossil fuels. In this view, any shortage of fossil fuels (or any other resource) would be quickly accompanied by rising prices. These rising prices would allow an increasing quantity of these materials to be extracted, quickly solving the problem. But the real story, for anyone who examines the details, is quite different. Affordability becomes very important, holding prices down. History shows that nearly every civilization has collapsed. Populations tend to grow but the resources supporting the economies don’t grow quickly enough. Rising prices don’t fix the problem!

    People who work with fossil fuels know how essential they are for our current civilization. The story about intermittent wind and solar substituting for fossil fuels sounds very far-fetched if a person thinks about the need for heat in the winter and the difficulties associated with long-term storage of electricity. The two widely differing narratives surrounding our energy future sound like they could have come from the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

    (b) Repaying debt with interest gets to be an increasing problem.

    Strange as it may seem, added debt can temporarily act as a placeholder for additional energy. Debt is a promise for goods and services that will be made with future energy. This placeholder can allow capital goods, such as factories, to be made which allow more goods and services to be made in the future. This placeholder can also be used as the basis for money to pay workers, so that they can afford to purchase more goods.

    At some point, the debt becomes too much for the system to sustain. We are seeing some of this in China, where there have been debt defaults in the real estate market. In the US, the commercial real estate market is experiencing high vacancy rates. There is increasing concern that, in many places, commercial real estate can only be sold at a huge loss. In this situation, the holders of debt are likely to sustain massive losses.

    (c) Political parties start differing widely on whether to increase government debt. 

    The more conservative parties do not want to keep adding more debt, but the more liberal parties insist that there is no other way out: If there isn’t enough energy of the right kind, the added debt can perhaps be used to fund projects in the renewable energy sector that will create the illusion of progress toward an adequate supply of energy of the right kind at the right price. The added debt can also be used to continue the many social programs promised to citizens and to provide support for activities such as the war in Ukraine.

    So far, adding debt has worked for the US because the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency and because the US has tended to keep its target interest rates high, encouraging other countries to invest in US securities. If other countries try to add substantially more debt, their currencies will tend to fall, leading to inflation. 

    The US may soon also run into an inflation problem because of added debt. This happens because it is possible to “print money,” but it is not possible to print goods and services made with inexpensive energy products. For example, the temptation is to bail out failing banks and pension plans with added debt. To the extent that this debt gets back into the money supply, but there aren’t added goods to match, the result is likely to be inflation in the prices of the goods and services that are available.

    (d) Broken supply lines are another sign of an economy reaching limits.

    When there aren’t quite enough goods and services to go around, some would-be buyers of goods have to be left out. 

    In the last three years, all of us have experienced at least some problems with empty shelves in stores and the unavailability of needed parts for repairs. Many kinds of drugs are in short supply around the world. Heavy industry has been encountering problems, as well. In 2022, Upstream Online wrote, “Drill pipe shortages causing headaches for US producers [of oil and natural gas].” 

    If we are reaching the limit of inexpensive fossil fuel available for extraction, an increasing number of these problems can be expected. These supply line problems tend to raise costs in a different way than “regular” inflation. Often, a more expensive product must be substituted, or a higher cost workaround is needed. For example, a person may need to use a rental vehicle while his current vehicle is being repaired because of unavailable replacement parts. 

    (e) Conflicts arise when there are not enough goods and services to go around.

    Part of the conflict comes from wage and wealth disparity. For example, an increasing number of people are finding reasonably-priced housing impossible to find. The combination of high interest rates and high housing prices tends to make home-buying a luxury, available only to the rich. An increasing share of young people are also finding automobiles too expensive to afford. One way “not-enough-goods-and-services-to-go-around” manifests itself is by many people not being able to afford the products in question. 

    There is often a belief that a more equitable distribution of income would solve the problem. But, if the economy cannot build more cars or homes because of energy shortages, this doesn’t fix the problem. Providing more money to the poor would instead cause inflation in the price of the goods that are available.

    Another way this conflict manifests itself is in conflicts among countries. Countries selling fossil fuels, such as Russia, would like higher fossil fuel prices, so that the standards of living of their own people can be higher. However, if fossil-fuel-importing countries, such as those in Europe, are forced to pay higher prices for the fossil fuel they use, it becomes difficult for companies in these countries to manufacture goods profitably. Also, the higher fossil fuel prices make the cost of growing food higher. Customers often cannot afford higher food prices.

    In the case of the fight between Israel and Gaza, at least part of the conflict relates to the natural gas field that Israel is developing, but which arguably belongs to Gaza. If Israel can develop this resource, it may be able to keep its own economy expanding for a while longer. The people of Gaza will remain very poor.

    (f) Manufacturing around the world seems to be reducing in quantity. It definitely is not rising to keep up with population growth.

    The big shortfall today is in goods, rather than in services. This is what a person would expect if an energy problem is giving rise to the problems we are currently experiencing.

    The organization S&P Global Market Intelligence puts out an index called the Purchasing Managers Index, for 15 countries, including a global average. The manufacturing portion of this index is in contraction on a worldwide basis, as of the latest data available. The extent of this manufacturing contraction is especially significant for the US, the European countries included, for Japan, and for Australia. The countries that are not in contraction are India, Russia, and China. 

    If manufacturing is in contraction, we would expect more broken supply lines in the months and years ahead.

    [6] How will all this turn out, in 2024 and long term?

    I don’t think we know. Things are likely to get worse economically, but we don’t know how much worse. We know that an elderly person can easily succumb to some illness. In the same way, we know that if the economy has enough weak points, a major collapse might occur, even without a huge decline in energy availability.

    At the same time, the economy seems to have a lot of resilience. Leaders of the US, and perhaps of other countries, as well, seem likely to take the route of adding increasing amounts of debt, to bail themselves out of whatever problems arise. If banks get into trouble, some new funding facility will be developed. If Social Security or private pensions need more funding, it will likely be provided by more government debt. This leads me to suspect that in the US, at least, there is likely to be a higher risk of hyperinflation (lots of money but very little to buy) rather than deflation (very little money, but also very little to buy).

    The Universe came into being, apparently out of nothing. The Universe has grown and continues to grow. Eric Chaisson, in his 2001 book, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, shows that the trend in the Universe has been toward ever greater complexity. 

    Figure 3. Image similar to ones shown in Eric Chaisson’s 2001 book, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature.

    Together, it appears that the Universe, itself, acts like a dissipative structure. Self-organization leads the Universe to grow and become more complex, as long as it has adequate energy. The question becomes, “Where is the expanding energy supply for the Universe as a whole coming from? Can the expanding energy supply continue indefinitely, or until whatever force started it, chooses to stop it?”

    It seems to me that there is something from outside pushing the whole Universe along. Economists talk about “an invisible hand.” People from a religious background might say that there is a God who created the Universe, and is continuing to create it every day, through involvement in the things that take place on Earth, including the strange happenings in 2020. 

    If I am correct that there is an outside force influencing the economy today, perhaps Earth’s problems are temporary. One possibility is that eventually a new type of energy solution will be found. There is also the possibility that, at some point, whatever force started the Universe may cause the operation of the Universe to cease. A replacement (which we can think of as heaven) might be provided instead. 

    The popular narrative tends to see ourselves as having a great deal of power to manage problems with our current economy, but I don’t think that we have very much power to influence the system we find ourselves embedded in. The economic system behaves on its own, based on market forces, just a child grows up, matures, and eventually dies. The system within which we live is very much guided by what we call self-organization, which is outside our power to control.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 22:05

  • New Jersey Adds MTA As Defendant In Lawsuit Over Planned NYC "Congestion Fee"
    New Jersey Adds MTA As Defendant In Lawsuit Over Planned NYC “Congestion Fee”

    New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has added New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to an amended lawsuit complaint that the state had filed against the US Department of Transportation.

    The lawsuit has argued that New York’s plan to charge drivers a congestion fee for driving through Manhattan’s central business district is unconstitutional and discriminatory against New Jersey residents, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

    New Jersey argues in the revised complaint that the congestion pricing policy breaches the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, the report says. This clause restricts states from implementing legislation that unfairly discriminates or places excessive strain on interstate commerce.

    The complaint points out that the plan does not allocate any of its generated revenue to New Jersey, nor does it provide tax breaks to its residents. Furthermore, it doesn’t impose the same charge on district residents, who are New Yorkers, for driving within the area.

    According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit reads: “New Jersey will not receive any of the revenue from the tolling scheme. Instead, the congestion pricing scheme solely benefits in-state economic interests, the MTA Capital Program, based on revenue it receives from out-of-state commuters, including New Jersey residents.”

    New Jersey is requesting both preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent the MTA from carrying out construction or imposing new tolls related to the plan, as stated in the amended complaint.

    This direct approach seeks to suspend the plan’s progress and halt MTA’s activities pending a more extensive environmental review.

    On Tuesday, Governor Murphy said: “The federal government and the MTA can no longer be permitted to fast-track a proposal that solely benefits New York’s transportation system at the expense of hardworking New Jerseyans.”

    The MTA plans to start tolling drivers by late May or June, with E-ZPass users paying $15 during peak times to access the area south of 60th Street in Manhattan. The toll is projected to generate $1 billion annually.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 21:45

  • US Coalition In Another Wave Of Strikes On Houthi Positions To Thwart Red Sea Launches
    US Coalition In Another Wave Of Strikes On Houthi Positions To Thwart Red Sea Launches

    Update 2143ET: In the overnight and early morning hours (local), the Pentagon has announced another round of strikes against Houthi launch positions, reportedly as the militants were preparing more attacks on Red Sea shipping:

    The U.S. has launched a new retaliatory strike against Houthi targets in Yemen amid the group’s continued attacks on international ships in the area, officials said Wednesday.

    Five areas were targeted in the U.S. strikes on Yemen: the governorates of Hodeidah, Taiz, Dhamar, Bayda and Saada, according to the Houthi state media, the Sanaa-Saba press agency.

    US Central Command detailed of the fresh attack, which marks at least the third or fourth round of such an assault, as follows:

    In the context of ongoing multi-national efforts to protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on U.S. and partner maritime traffic in the Red Sea, on Jan. 17 at approximately 6 p.m. (EST), U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi controlled areas in Yemen.

    These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting U.S. forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves. These strikes, along with other actions we have taken, will degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to continue their reckless attacks on international and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.

    * * *

    On Wednesday, just as the Biden administration has redesignated Yemen’s Houthis (or Ansar Allah movement) a global terrorist organization, the group has again launched an attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea, which suffered a direct hit.

    The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) issued a new alert describing an incident 60 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Aden. The report indicates that “vessel has been hit on the port side by an uncrewed aerial system.”

    This marks a handful of serious attack incidents in the vital waterway since the weekend, also following the US conducting a third round of missile strikes on Houthi launch sites on Tuesday, but which were smaller than the prior waves of attacks.

    A spokesman for the Yemeni group has specifically responded to Washington’s terror designation, telling Reuters that the “attacks on ships in the Red Sea heading to Israel will continue despite the designation.”

    The Wednesday announcement from the White House reverses a 2021 decision wherein the Iran-linked group was delisted, as part of efforts to achieve peace between the rebels and Saudi-UAE coalition, which have been waging a brutal war since 2015.

    According to details of the Wednesday terror designation:

    Officials said the “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) designation, which targets the group with harsh sanctions, was aimed at cutting off funding and weapons the Houthis have used to attack or hijack ships in vital Red Sea shipping lanes, as a response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

    “These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism,” said one of three administration officials who briefed reporters ahead of the announcement, on condition of anonymity.

    The White House’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the designation, which comes into effect in 30 days, could be reevaluated if the Houthis stop their attacks in the Red Sea.  

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    With Gaza’s civilian death tolls till soaring, the Iranians are likely to also remain undeterred in funding and assisting the Houthis. In the meantime, US coalition airstrikes on Yemen are likely to continue – and simultaneously Houthi drone and missile launches will persist. 

    Maritime monitoring source Tanker Trackers has observed that vessels have increasingly opted for an interesting security measure: “There are now close to 50 vessels worldwide which broadcast AIS messages stating that they have nothing to do with Israel (some; even USA), including one which won’t even pass through the Red Sea area at all as it is heading to Malaysia from the Atlantic Ocean.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 21:43

  • Gun Rights Face Whirlwind Of Federal Action In 2024
    Gun Rights Face Whirlwind Of Federal Action In 2024

    Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

    Eighteen months after it was enacted, President Joe Biden credited the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) for “saving lives.”

    “I am proud to have taken more executive action than any president in history to combat gun violence in America, and I will never stop fighting to get even more done,” President Biden said in a Jan. 5 statement. 

    “Congress must enact universal background checks, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, end the gun industry’s immunity from liability, and pass a national red flag law.” 

    President Biden credited the enhanced background checks in the BSCA for denying “more than 500 illegal gun purchases by people under 21 years old who presented a danger to our communities.” 

    He has also touted the disbursement of $1.5 billion to schools to add safety measures, and an increase in prosecutions of gun dealers due to a “revised definition” in the BSCA. 

    Second Amendment advocates, on the other hand, say that the BSCA has done nothing but restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans.

    Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said the Biden administration has used the BSCA “as a launching point for executive overreach.”

    He said the president has issued executive orders, promoted new laws, directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to write new rules, and changed legal definitions to get the gun control he wants. 

    “And that, of course, would be illegal. The executive branch cannot gin up or just miracle out of thin air their own criminal law,” Mr. Oliva told The Epoch Times.

    White House officials didn’t respond to an email from The Epoch Times seeking comment for this story.

    A San Mateo County sheriff’s deputy enters the crime scene area as law enforcement officials investigate a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Jan. 23, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    Federal officials said that violent crime involving firearms was on the rise, especially from 2019 to 2022 during the pandemic, and the BSCA was crafted to address the problem.

    According to FBI crime statistics, violent crimes, including homicides, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery spiked during the pandemic.

    Homicides increased from 14,678 in 2019 to 18,965 in 2020, according to FBI data. In 2022, they had reached 19,200 nationwide.

    Many experts blame lockdowns, school closures, business shutdowns, and other pandemic-related issues for the increase.

    In addition, the May 2020 death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers sparked riots and calls to defund the police. Many of America’s largest cities heeded those calls, either cutting police department budgets or diverting funds to other programs.

    This resulted in fewer officers on the streets and a hesitancy by some police officers to interact with citizens, out of concern over how the action might be portrayed in the media.

    Protesters hold signs in support of defunding the police in Oakland, Calif., on July 25, 2020. (Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)

    Those localized issues may have skewed the numbers, according to a research group.

    A study by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) found that 2 percent of U.S. counties accounted for 56 percent of murders in 2020. The study, published in January 2023, showed that the vast majority of communities didn’t have a serious violent crime problem.

    Homicides fell by an average of 14 percent nationally in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the year-earlier period, according to FBI data, although the agency says not all law enforcement agencies supplied data. And the homicide rate remains higher than pre-pandemic 2019.

    The 2023 decrease is one of the statistics that the Biden administration hails as proof of the BSCA’s success.

    “There’s more work to do, but we’re making real progress: there was a significant drop in crime in 2023—including one of the largest-ever yearly declines in homicides in history,” President Biden said in the Jan. 5 statement.

    But, several factors other than the BSCA could have played a role, said Second Amendment rights advocate Alan Gottlieb, the founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation.

    A woman prepares to fire a rifle at a gun range during the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival in Greeley, Pa., on Oct. 9, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

    He said that even before the BSCA was enacted, courts and local and state governments had been affirming and expanding gun rights. And, changes that had been made in the wake of the 2020 riots were being rolled back in some areas.

    Many cities, including Chicago, New York, and Portland, Oregon, that had downsized their police department budgets, reversed course as crime increased.

    According to the National Association for Gun Rights, 27 states now allow so-called “Constitutional carry,” the carrying of firearms without a license. So, criminals in those states know their intended victims are more likely to be armed than previously had been the case.

    Between 2019 and 2023, 14 states adopted Constitutional carry laws. Six of those states, Alabama, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Florida, and Georgia, adopted Constitutional carry in 2022.

    “I don’t think [the BSCA] has had much impact other than to provide [President Biden] with talking points,” Mr. Gottlieb told The Epoch Times.

    Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) talks to reporters as he walks through the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington on June 23, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    In addition, changes in how the FBI gathers crime data means that fewer police departments reported data for 2021 and 2022, including those in some of the nation’s largest cities such as Los Angeles and New York.

    The FBI said that in 2022, 15,724 agencies submitted data out of the 18,884 eligible “state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies.”

    Republicans who supported the BSCA promised the law would address violent crime without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

    Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) took heat for helping broker the deal with Democrats. In a Jan. 2 email to The Epoch Times, Mr. Cornyn’s press secretary, Tatum Wallace, wrote that the senator stands by his decision.

    “Since the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act became law in June 2022, Texas colleges, universities, school districts, and community organizations have received nearly $40 million for school safety, community violence prevention, and mental health resources,” Ms. Wallace said.

    In addition, she wrote that the BSCA has led to nearly 20 indictments of violent offenders in jurisdictions across the country and provided $200 million in new Byrne JAG formula grant funding for crisis intervention programs, mental health courts, veterans treatment programs, and drug treatment courts.

    “Every state, including states with Republican governors, has accepted this funding pursuant to an implementation plan,” Ms. Wallace wrote.

    In September 2023, barely 16 months after the BSCA was signed, Mr. Cornyn and 16 other senators were criticizing a decision by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to cut funding for archery and hunter safety programs in public schools to comply with the BSCA. According to a letter signed by Mr. Cornyn and 16 other senators, Mr. Cardona misread the law.

    In response to Mr. Cardona’s decision, Mr. Cornyn, Sen. Kyrstyn Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act to clarify that students may have programs and activities such as archery and hunting safety education under the BSCA.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 21:25

  • Watch: The Most Ridiculous 75 Seconds Of Bullshit From Davos Yet On "Ecocide"
    Watch: The Most Ridiculous 75 Seconds Of Bullshit From Davos Yet On “Ecocide”

    Just when you thought you had heard it all…

    This lady (we are presuming she/they is/are a lady) – who looks like she has not missed a meal in her life – explains – with no sense of irony or shame – that farming the land, fishing for food, and worse still ‘making money’ is now on par with mass murder or genocide.

    Jojo Mehta – founder of ‘Stop Ecocide Now’ – explains in her upper-class English accent to her ultra-rich peers in Davos that:

    “We have this cultural, very ingrained habit of not taking damage to nature as seriously as we take damage to people or property.”

    Her goal is to have “mass damage and destruction of nature” legally recognized as “a serious crime.”

    “With human rights, mass murder and genocide are serious crimes, but there is no equivalent in the environmental space.”

    “Unlike an international crime like genocide that involves a specific intent, with ecocide, what we see is that people are trying to do is make money, is farm, is fish… and what’s missing is an awareness of the side effects and collateral damage that happens…”

    Enjoy…

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    You literally cannot make this shit up! The socials quickly responded…

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    “Do as I say, not as I do…”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 21:05

  • OPEC Sees Strong Oil Demand Growth In 2025
    OPEC Sees Strong Oil Demand Growth In 2025

    Higher global economic growth and solid Chinese activity will lead to a strong rebound in global oil demand, which will grow by 1.8 million barrels per day in 2025, OPEC said on Wednesday in its first detailed assessment and outlook of next year’s demand levels.  OPEC expects global economic growth at 2.8% in 2025, up from the 2.6% growth predicted for 2024, according to the cartel’s closely-watched Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) today. 

    “With this, global oil demand in 2025 is set to grow by a robust 1.8 mb/d, y-o-y, sustained by continued solid economic activity in China, and expected firm growth in other non-OECD countries,” OPEC said.

    Oil demand growth next year will be driven by nearly 1.7 million bpd growth in non-OECD countries, mostly in China, the Middle East, and India.

    Growth in 2025 is primarily set to come from the U.S. liquids production, expected to expand by 600,000 bpd, mainly from Permian crude, non-conventional NGLs, and the Gulf of Mexico. Other main growth drivers are expected to be Brazil, Canada, Norway, Kazakhstan and Guyana, with new field start-ups, ramp-ups, or the optimization of existing projects, OPEC said.    

    OPEC brought forward its first outlook for the next year by several months to provide longer-term guidance to the market.

    For 2024, OPEC left demand growth forecast unchanged from the previous month’s projection, at 2.2 million bpd, according to OilPrice.com.

    “The undertaking to reach beyond the previously established time horizon of short-term forecasting serves to support the understanding of market dynamics and to support the continued commitment of the OPEC and non-OPEC Participating Countries in the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) to achieve and sustain a stable oil market, and to provide long-term guidance for the market,” OPEC said.

    In terms of supply, non-OPEC production is set to rise by 1.3 million bpd in each of 2024 and 2025, according to the organization.  

    Non-OPEC oil supply in 2025 will be supported by expected healthy demand and upstream investment, OPEC said. Oil and gas upstream capital expenditure in non-OPEC countries is expected at around $473 billion next year, according to the cartel.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 21:05

  • Biden Is Fast-Tracking His Student-Loan-Forgiveness Plan
    Biden Is Fast-Tracking His Student-Loan-Forgiveness Plan

    Via CreditNews.com,

    Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a plan to accelerate the forgiveness timeline for the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.

    Starting next month, eligible borrowers – those who have made at least 10 years of monthly payments and initially borrowed $12,000 or less for college expenses – will have their entire balances forgiven.

    The Education Department is fast-tracking this debt relief months ahead of the original July 1, 2024 date.

    “Beyond being the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever available, the Biden-Harris Administration designed the SAVE Plan to put community college students and other low-balance borrowers on a faster track to debt forgiveness than ever before,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

    The Education Department urges all borrowers who originally borrowed $12,000 or less to apply for SAVE as soon as possible.

    The loans of eligible recipients will be discharged automatically, requiring no action on their part.

    “I want folks to recognize [that it takes] 10 minutes to fill out the SAVE plan, and you could be getting an email as early as February telling you that your debt is cleared out,” Cardona said.

    SAVE enrollments are on the rise

    SAVE—an income-driven repayment plan that adjusts borrowers’ monthly payments based on income and family size—has seen a massive surge in enrollment lately.

    As of early January, 6.9 million borrowers had already enrolled in the SAVE Plan, more than double the number of people who enrolled in the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan that the SAVE Plan replaced in August.

    Borrowers on SAVE are repaying an estimated $374 billion in federal student loans, which amounts to nearly 30% of all Direct Loans dollars in repayment, deferment, or forbearance.

    SAVE enrollees have been reporting significant financial benefits compared to the previous REPAYE Plan, with 3.9 million reportedly having a $0 payment and others saving an estimated $117 a month.

    “With lower monthly payments, protection from runaway interest, and faster timelines to debt forgiveness, President Biden’s SAVE plan is not only benefiting millions of current borrowers but also providing the students of today and tomorrow with a more affordable pathway to college degrees and credentials,” Cardona said.

    More forgiveness to come?

    The SAVE Plan forgiveness is yet another initiative by the Biden-Harris Administration to take the burden of student debt off Americans’ shoulders.

    According to Creditnews Student Debt Tracker, the administration has already approved nearly $132 billion in targeted relief for over 3.6 million borrowers.

    Next up are the 6.9 million SAVE borrowers, with potentially more to come as Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign goes into full swing.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 20:45

  • Judge Threatens To Kick Trump Out Of Courtroom; Trump Says He Would 'Love It'
    Judge Threatens To Kick Trump Out Of Courtroom; Trump Says He Would ‘Love It’

    A Manhattan judge overseeing the defamation case against Donald Trump warned that he would toss the former president out of the courtroom if he kept making snarky comments that the jury could hear.

    (Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images)

    “Mr. Trump has a right to be present here,” said Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. “That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me, and if he disregards court orders.”

    Kaplan then addressed Trump directly, saying: “Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial,” to which Trump replied: “I would love it.”

    “I understand you’re probably very eager for me to do that because you just can’t control yourself,” Kaplan replied, to which Trump shot back “You can’t either.“

    The exchange followed an objection raised by Shawn Crowley, one of E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys, over the issue of Trump speaking loudly enough to potentially be within earshot of the jury, after Trump told his attorney that Carroll’s allegation “really is a con job” and a “witch hunt,” Crowley told the judge.

    Carroll has been testifying under direct examination for hours Wednesday, telling jurors that her life was upended by Trump’s defamatory statements about her after she accused him in 2019 of raping her in the mid-1990s. 

    Judge Kaplan also repeatedly admonished Habba during the proceeding, including during a testy exchange at the beginning of the day before the jury entered the courtroom. –The Messenger

    Kaplan also told Habba to “sit down” after she requested an adjournment tomorrow so Trump could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral – a request Kaplan had previously denied.

    Wednesday’s trial began after Trump denied Carroll’s claim that he had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump claimed he didn’t know Carroll, and said that she only branded him as a rapist to boost sales of her memoir.

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    Carroll, 80, testified that Trump’s lies destroyed her reputation for telling he truth, and is seeking $10 million on top of a May award of $5 million.

    “I am here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened,” Carroll said, adding “He lied, and it shattered my reputation.”

    She fought back tears when her lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, showed her a message from an unknown sender suggesting that she stick a gun in her mouth and pull the trigger.

    “I was attacked on Twitter, I was attacked on Facebook, I was attacked on news blogs, I was brutally attacked in messages,” Carroll said. “It was a new world.”

    Carroll said she now gets just eight letters a month from readers seeking advice, down from 200, and that the attacks haven’t let up.

    “Yesterday I opened up Twitter, and it said ‘hey lady, you’re a fraud,'” Carroll said. “Now I’m known as a liar, a fraud and a whack job.“

    Asked if she regretted speaking up, Carroll said: “Only momentarily. I am very glad I took action.” -Reuters

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    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 20:40

  • Iran, Pakistan On Brink Of Military Conflict Following Missile Strike – China Urges Calm
    Iran, Pakistan On Brink Of Military Conflict Following Missile Strike – China Urges Calm

    Iran’s Tuesday missile and drone strikes targeting Sunni jihadists in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province have as expected unleashed a diplomatic war between Tehran and Islamabad.

    Pakistan started its response by recalling its ambassador from the Iranian capital Wednesday, while also booting the Iranian ambassador from Pakistan. Pakistani officials say that two children were killed in what Iran said was a response to the January 3rd suicide bombings of Kerman city, which killed over 100 people.

    Illustrative via Fars News

    “Last night’s unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has stated. “It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran.”

    “Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act. The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” the spokeswoman added. “We have conveyed this message to the Iranian Government. We have also informed them that Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and that the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan who is currently visiting Iran may not return for the time being.”

    Iranian state media has said the attack destroyed two sites belonging to the terrorist organization Jaish al-Adl. It is a region that Tehran authorities have long viewed as a hotbed of terrorism and the source of frequent cross-border attacks: 

    Authorities in Balochistan province told CNN two girls had died and at least four people were injured. The girls, aged eight and 12, were killed in houses that were damaged in the attack in the village of Koh-e-Sabz in Kulag, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Panjgur district, on Tuesday evening, according to the district’s deputy commissioner Mumtaz Khetran. Khetran also said a mosque near the homes was targeted and hit in the strikes.

    Koh-e-Sabz — about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Pakistan’s border with Iran — is known to be the home of Jaish al-Adl’s former second-in-command Mullah Hashim, who was killed in clashes with Iranian forces in Sarawan, an Iranian region adjacent to Panjgur, in 2018.

    Interestingly, China has intervened diplomatically, urging both sides to react with calm and restraint. The Chinese Foreign Ministry Wednesday urged for both sides to “avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability in the region.”

    Map source: BBC

    To review of fast-moving events Wednesday, according to a regional correspondent:

    • Pakistan recalls ambassador in Tehran, kicks out Iran ambassador
    • Iranian reports on border clashes
    • IRGC commander killed 
    • China mediation failed: local media 
    • Unconfirmed reports that border shut 
    • Saudi mediating 
    • India statement backs Iran

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    The United States was among those countries that condemned Iran’s attack which was deep into Pakistani territory. The situation remains dangerous also because Pakistan is a nuclear power. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 20:25

  • Parents Are Winning The Battle For School Choice
    Parents Are Winning The Battle For School Choice

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

    Florida mother of five Nicole Andrews puts it bluntly when asked why she sends her children to a charter school instead of the assigned public school for their community.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

    She “absolutely, desperately” wants her youngsters in charter school because it has “a different culture,” she told The Epoch Times. Other parents feel the same way.

    “There is a different level of expectation and rigor” at St. Johns Classical Academy, Ms. Andrews said.

    “There is a different value set. There is a different mindset as to the value of education.”

    There’s also a waiting list for slots at both of the school’s campuses, in Fleming Island and Orange Park, in the northeastern area of the state. The school opened in August 2017 and is free to attend.

    Ms. Andrews is among hundreds of thousands of parents across America who are making the switch from public schooling to some other form of education as part of a nationwide rallying cry for “school choice.”

    In general, school choice allows parents to request that the taxpayer dollars assigned to their child for education be used for other options. That could mean transferring the money to a charter school, using it for tuition for a private school, or taking it as reimbursement for homeschooling expenses.

    Recently, many states have adopted legislation to put into place some form of school choice program.

    Presently, 10 states have what’s known as universal school choice, meaning it’s open to any child. Those states are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina.

    Many other states have a school-choice program for at least some children, with a range of criteria to qualify. Some serve children in a low socio-economic demographic. Others offer assistance to children with learning disabilities or other special needs.

    In some states, programs allow public dollars set aside for each child’s education to follow a child leaving public school. Then, that money can be used for tuition for private schools. Or the money may be transferred to fund that child’s slot at a charter school.

    Charter schools are publicly funded, but operate independently from the public school system.

    In some states, school choice means that even parents who choose to homeschool can use public dollars allotted to educate their children on things like curriculum and tutoring.

    The options vary from state to state. And the amount of public money set aside for each child usually ranges from between $5,000 to $8,000, depending on the state.

    A school crossing sign warns drivers in front of an elementary school in Miami on April 19, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    The Department of Education reports that the government spent an average of $14,295 per student in public schools from elementary through 12th grade in the 2020–2021 school year.

    Many conservatives support the idea of school choice, saying it will force failing public schools to improve or lose students. And more importantly, they say, those failing schools will lose the funding they receive to educate the children who leave.

    Some parents who’ve previously paid for their children’s private school tuition or homeschooling expenses on their own, with no government assistance, say school-choice programs bring about much-needed fairness.

    That’s because—by paying taxes—those parents contribute to the public money used to pay for public education. But they’ve received none of the benefit, and still have to cover the costs of their children’s education.

    There’s also a strong lobby movement that’s against school choice.

    Public schools are deeply connected to some of the most potent activist groups in American society—the teachers’ unions.

    And though polls show parents strongly favor school choice, unions are adamant in their opposition.

    “Vouchers take scarce funding from students in public schools and give those resources to unaccountable private schools,” the National Education Association (NEA) states on its website.

    The NEA also say that vouchers, used in school choice programs, don’t support disabled students, don’t protect the human and civil rights of students, and “exacerbate segregation.”

    The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) states on its website that evidence “does not support the argument that vouchers and other methods to establish a market system of schools will improve school or student performance.”

    The NEA and AFT are two of America’s largest unions, with a combined total of more than 4.7 million members.

    The Epoch Times contacted both unions but received no response by publication time.

    Parents told The Epoch Times they hope school choice and the competition it creates will eventually make education better for everyone.

    “I think that once you take an institution, and make it a public institution, and have large governmental control over it, you’re going to lose some quality,” Ms. Andrews said.

    “Lord willing, public institutions will have to change their game a bit, and everyone will benefit.”

    School Choice Options

    School-choice programs vary widely.

    Some states, such as Indiana, Iowa, and West Virginia, offer the use of an education savings account (ESA). An ESA gives money to parents in a bank account, and funds can be spent on educational expenses, such as school tuition, textbooks, private tutoring, and school supplies.

    Other states, such as Florida, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, offer vouchers, which take the money set aside to educate children in public schools and allow parents to spend it on tuition for private schools. Voucher money also can be transferred to a charter school.

    Aisha Thomas (R) is learning teaching skills with the teacher Alexxa Martinez, in her classroom in Nevitt Elementary School, in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 26, 2022. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

    Still others offer tax-credit scholarships. These allow taxpayers to receive tax credits when they donate to nonprofits that provide scholarships to private schools. Parents can apply for these scholarships for their children.

    In other states—including Alabama, Illinois, and Louisiana—qualifying parents receive tax credits for paying for their children’s private schooling.

    Alaska offers state funding for some private schooling through “correspondence study programs.” These programs allow a student to receive an individualized learning program and options normally unavailable in public schools, such as resources from religious groups or private tutoring.

    Many states allow families to open college savings investment accounts to help with educational expenses. These accounts allow families to deposit pre-tax money into investment accounts. Recently, some states have changed the rules on these accounts so parents can spend some of this money on childhood education expenses.

    In 1990, school-choice options like these were practically nonexistent.

    As of 2023, America had about 700,000 school-choice programs, according to statistics from EdChoice, an Indiana nonprofit that promotes school choice.

    With so many Americans increasingly taking advantage of school-choice options, this may be just the beginning of a movement that would fundamentally reshape American public education, EdChoice president Robert Enlow told The Epoch Times.

    “This year has been the year of universal choice, where we now have 10 states that basically allow every single student in the state to attend whatever setting works best with them—public, private, charter, at home, or online,” Mr. Enlow said. “We’re really excited about that growth.”

    For homeschooling parents, receiving state money can make a huge difference, homeschooling mother Kimberly Ebbers told The Epoch Times.

    She quit her job to give her three sons an education at home. She’s been teaching them for 22 years.

    “In the beginning, we didn’t take vacations and buy new clothes and eat out,” said Ms. Ebbers, who lives in Florida. “We sacrificed so that I could stay home.

    “It was just important to us to be with our children and for our children to be with each other.”

    In 2023, Florida passed legislation allowing for universal school choice, which means even homeschooling children are eligible for funding from the state for educational expenses.

    Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during an event in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 30, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

    But surprisingly, the Ebbers family isn’t interested in using the state’s money.

    State money can mean state control over education to some degree, Ms. Ebbers said.

    “In the future, it may lead to them choosing our curriculum or other choices like that,” she said.

    However, money from the state could be a blessing to families with children with disabilities, she said.

    “I do have friends that have kids with special needs that have to have services, like speech pathology, or physical therapy, or occupational therapy. And it’s expensive, going every week to those appointments and paying out-of-pocket costs.”

    Florida homeschooling mother of five Michelle Jernigan told The Epoch Times she greatly appreciates new laws that give homeschoolers aid in educating their children.

    “I’m very grateful to the state for making it so we’re able to afford things we were never able to afford before for my kids,” Ms. Jernigan said. “And it has made a big difference in their education.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 20:05

  • Cold Blast Takes Half Of North Dakota's Oil Production Offline
    Cold Blast Takes Half Of North Dakota’s Oil Production Offline

    Bone-chilling temperatures in the US Midwest have forced oil and gas producers in North Dakota to curb output because of operational disruptions stemming from freeze-offs and shut-ins. 

    Bloomberg reports 650,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil output a day have been taken offline. The state, home to the Bakken shale formation, produced 1.2 million barrels a day on average in October. 

    Average temperatures across the state have averaged below zero for nearly a week. The good news: Temps are expected to rise to 30-year norms by the end of the month, but forecasts at the moment show another possible cold blast slated for early Feb. 

    Average temps across the Midwest region are expected to rise from about zero to the 30-year trend of around 30F by next week. 

    In natural gas markets, energy research firm Criterion Research said Rockies NatGas production is set to return to normal levels following operational disruptions.  

    Within the Rockies production areas, temperatures remain brutally cold in the Williston Basin for the next three days. The DJ Basin (Colorado/Wyoming) will see a return to the 15-20F range as well by the end of the week, whereas San Juan/New Mexico temps gradually warm into the weekend.

    As of today, Rockies supply levels remain at lows of 9.36 Bcf/d.

    Besides disruptions to oil and NatGas production, several power grids have been under strain because cold weather has boosted heating demand to record highs. Texas’s power grid had issues earlier this week, while the Tennessee Valley Authority asked customers Wednesday morning to conserve power.

    Also, in Texas, critical energy export terminals in the Gulf were disrupted earlier this week due to the cold. 

    News today: Motiva Enterprises’ Port Arthur Refinery, the largest oil refinery in North America, with a capacity of 630,000 barrels per day, in Port Arthur, Texas, suffered disruptions due to cold weather. 

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    Someone needs to tell the unelected officials at WEF that folks in the Western Hemisphere would like more global warming ASAP.  

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 19:45

  • DNA Contaminants In COVID Vaccines Are 'Beyond The Pale': Florida Surgeon General
    DNA Contaminants In COVID Vaccines Are ‘Beyond The Pale’: Florida Surgeon General

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

    On Jan. 3, the office of Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo issued a statement calling for the halt in the use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, citing the recent discovery of DNA contaminants in the vaccine vials.

    On the Jan. 12 episode of EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders,“ Dr. Ladapo explained why he called for a halt, saying that while there are also safety concerns with the COVID mRNA vaccines linking them to a multitude of adverse events, the recent discovery is ”beyond the pale.”

    “DNA is a common contaminant of many biological products,” he told the show’s host, Jan Jekielek. “We can use DNA to produce different drugs like insulin, other biologics—and that’s a wonderful innovation, and normally, that DNA doesn’t pose a problem.”

    Human cells are resistant to DNA entry, and this prevents harming the integrity of the cell’s DNA.

    However, since the mRNA vaccines use lipid nanoparticles, which deliver mRNA into the cells directly, DNA contaminants could also be able to enter the cells. Some scientists, like Dr. Ladapo, are concerned that the DNA from the vaccine may integrate with the human genome.

    Prominent officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disagree.

    On Dec. 6, Dr. Ladapo sent a letter to FDA commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, Dr. Mandy Cohen.

    In his letter, he asked if there have been risk assessments of the vaccine DNA integrating into human DNA, especially regarding the controversial SV40 promoter/enhancer region found in Pfizer’s vaccine.

    Other questions included whether risk assessments have been done on DNA integration in reproductive cells and if the current levels of DNA residuals are acceptable under the FDA’s standards.

    Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, replied to Dr. Ladapo on Dec. 14.

    “We’ve gotten … lengthy responses that don’t answer the question,” Dr. Ladapo said.

    In his response, Dr. Marks wrote that DNA integration “is quite implausible,” adding that animal studies show “no evidence indicative for genotoxicity.”

    No tests were mentioned that would assess if DNA integration is occurring.

    Dr. Ladapo believes it would be reckless not to test for DNA integration, a potential risk once DNA enters the cell.

    “Their position is, oh, no, it’s fine. Everything’s fine; safe and effective. That’s not only not good enough, but it’s completely unacceptable,” Dr. Ladapo said. “And that’s why I made that determination, and it’s absolutely the correct call.”

    DNA Contamination: The SV40 Promoter Controversy

    Both Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines contain DNA contaminants, but only the Pfizer vaccines have also been found to contain SV40 promoter/enhancer DNA, which has since become a topic of debate.

    SV40, or simian vacuolating virus 40, is a DNA virus that sometimes causes cancer in animals.

    However, the SV40 promoter/enhancer found in the vaccines is only a tiny section of the DNA; it is not equivalent to the entire SV40 virus or its protein.

    Promoter-enhancers are sections of DNA that can control the activity of other DNA.

    “With DNA, there are different regions that tell other parts of DNA whether to be active or not,” Dr. Ladapo said. “This type of control process is very important … The absence of control can, for example, lead to cancer … [and] other metabolic abnormalities.”

    In his letter to the FDA, Dr. Ladapo asked about the additional risk of the SV40 promoter/enhancer region’s DNA integration.

    Dr. Marks answered that there were no genes for SV40 proteins nor SV40 proteins themselves present in the vaccine.

    But Dr. Ladapo believes Dr. Marks is intentionally not answering the question.

    “No one’s talking about SV40 protein … we talked about the promoter/enhancer region. They have to be doing it intentionally,” Dr. Ladapo said.

    The Risks of DNA Integration

    It is currently unknown whether DNA introduced into the body is being integrated into the cell’s human genome; and if it’s integrated, what impact will it have.

    Only around 1 percent of the human DNA produces protein; the job of the other 99 percent of DNA is mostly unknown.

    “There’s … a lot of uncertainty about our genome—what it does, how it supports life and creates life, and creates the miracle of each individual human being,” Dr. Ladapo said. “What we do understand is that some of the potential risks of DNA integration include development of cancers, because … of the regulation of different aspects of DNA and cell growth.

    “Other possibilities include the disruption of the normal expression of some proteins, which then subsequently could lead to disruption of normal human function.”

    Since biodistribution studies in rats have shown that the mRNA vaccines can accumulate in the reproductive organs, Dr. Ladapo’s letter expressed concern that there may also be DNA integration of reproductive cells.

    “We are the most complex beings—the most complex machines, if you will—living machines that exist on this Earth. So I do believe that our genome is part of our connection to God. So that is to say that there’s quite a lot at risk in terms of not taking proper precautions and sensible precautions, with maintaining the integrity to the best that we can—life ain’t perfect, but to the best that we can with our human genome.”

    Note: Lapado appeared with Tucker Carlson as well this week

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    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 19:25

  • Jim Jordan Demands Answers After Biden Admin Caught Flagging "MAGA" And "Trump" To Track Political Opponents' Financial Transactions
    Jim Jordan Demands Answers After Biden Admin Caught Flagging “MAGA” And “Trump” To Track Political Opponents’ Financial Transactions

    Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Wednesday, announced that it had obtained documents revealing that federal agencies have flagged financial transactions for financial institutions for people using politically sensitive words such as “MAGA” and Trump.”

    In a letter to Noah Bishoff – who was a former FinCEN Director (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) – and now an Anti Money Laundering (AML) officer at fintech company Plaid, Inc. Jordan described situations in which Americans buying bibles or shopping at sporting good stores might find their transactions flagged.

    New documents obtained by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government reveal that the federal government flagged terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” for financial institutions if Americans used those phrases when completing transactions. Individuals who shopped at stores like Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts like a bible, may also have had their transactions flagged. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the FBI’s respect for fundamental civil liberties. -Judiciary.house.gov

    “The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained documents indicating that following January 6, 2021, FinCEN distributed materials to financial institutions that, among other things, outline the ‘typologies’ of various persons of interest and provide financial institutions with suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement,” reads the letter.

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    “These materials included a document recommending the use of generic terms like ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA’ to ‘search Zelle payment messages’ as well as a ‘prior FinCEN analysis’ of ‘Lone Actor/Homegrown Violent Extremism Indicators,” the letter continues. “According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of ‘extremism’ indicators that include ‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel to areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.’ In other words, FinCEN urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression.”

    The Committee announced that it’s seeking interviews with senior intelligence officials, including Bishoff.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 19:05

  • Yet Another Recession Red Flag: Net Saving Is Negative
    Yet Another Recession Red Flag: Net Saving Is Negative

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    Net saving as a percentage of gross national income has been negative since the first quarter of 2023.

    The current period of negative net savings is only the third time that net saving has gone negative in more than 75 years.

    Looking back to the late 1940s, we find that the overall trend in net saving increased during the post-war period of economic retrenchment in the 1950s and early 60s.

    With the Guns and Butter era of the late 1960s, however, net saving went into decline, and the general downward trend has continued ever since, following a similar trend to mounting federal deficits. 

    The only other times net saving has gone negative is in the lead-up to the great recession, and during the covid recession.

    In general, net saving tends to fall steeply in the early periods of recessions, and this can be seen in the graph, going back several cycles. (A similar trend exists for gross saving as a percent of GNI.) This likely reflects a few different trends, one being the fact that the federal government continues to go more deeply into the red when tax revenues are weak as they are now.

    But one thing is clear: net saving has worsened rapidly since the fourth quarter of 2020, dropping from 2.9 percent in that quarter to -0.7 percent in the third quarter of last year.

    Such a rapid drop virtually always indicates the US has either entered a recession or will soon enter one. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 18:45

  • "The Western World Is In Danger": Milei Warns Of DEI Doom, As Dimon Touts Trump On 'Critical Issues'
    “The Western World Is In Danger”: Milei Warns Of DEI Doom, As Dimon Touts Trump On ‘Critical Issues’

    Argentina’s President Javier Milei had a warning for those attending the annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland; ‘the Western world is in danger’ from ‘collectivist experiments’ such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and has called on the world to reject socialism and instead embrace “free enterprise capitalism” to end global poverty.

    Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images

    “Today, I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger,” Milei toild the audience. “And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and thereby to poverty,” he added.

    The self-described “anarcho-capitalist” criticized Davos itself for its “socialist agenda, which will only bring misery to the world,” according to Reuters.

    “The main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world — rather they are the root cause,” Milei said, adding “Do believe me, no-one [is] better placed than us Argentines to testify to these two points.”

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsDimon: Trump was right

    Also at Davos, of course, was JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who told CNBC that people are voting for Donald Trump because he was right about the economy, immigration, and China, and that people should be respectful of MAGA.

    “I don’t like how Trump said things, but he wasn’t wrong about those critical issues. That’s why they’re voting for him. People should be more respectful of our fellow citizens…I think this negative talk about MAGA will hurt Biden’s campaign,” said the billionaire.

    Watch:

    We’re sure Davos elites are listening with bated breath.

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    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 18:25

  • OpenAI Attempts To Dispel Fears Of AI-Meddling In Elections
    OpenAI Attempts To Dispel Fears Of AI-Meddling In Elections

    Authored by Savannah Fortis via CoinTelegraph.com,

    As 2024 anticipates a global election cycle, OpenAI says it wants to prevent AI misuse, bring transparency, and enhance voter access to accurate voting information.

    OpenAI, the creator of the popular chatbot ChatGPT, released a new blog post outlining its approach to the 2024 elections on a global scale. 

    Its main emphasis is to bring transparency, enhance access to accurate voting information and prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI).

    While highlighting the need to protect the integrity of the collaborative nature of elections, OpenAI wants to make sure its AI service “is not used in a way that could undermine this process.”

    The company said protecting the integrity of elections is an effort involving everyone, and it wants to make sure its technology “​​is not used in a way that could undermine this process.”

    “We want to make sure that our AI systems are built, deployed, and used safely. Like any new technology, these tools come with benefits and challenges.”

    OpenAI says it has a “cross-functional effort” dedicated explicitly to election-related work that will quickly investigate and address potential abuse.

    Among these efforts include preventing abuse, which it defines as “misleading deep fakes,” chatbots impersonating candidates or scaled influence operations. It said one of its measures has been implementing guardrails on Dall-E to decline requests for image generation of real people, including political candidates. 

    In August 2023, regulators in the United States were even considering regulating political deep fakes and ads generated using AI before the 2024 presidential elections.

    Politicians in the U.S. have expressed skepticism that tech companies will be able to rein in their powerful AI systems.

    At a congressional hearing in May where OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman testified, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) used a demonstration of his AI-generated voice reading a statement to highlight the risks.

    “What if it had provided an endorsement of Ukraine surrendering or Vladimir Putin’s leadership?” he said.

    Altman responded to some of the concerns by asserting that OpenAI’s chatbot was “a tool, not a creature,” and “a tool that people have great control over.”

    OpenAI said building applications for political campaigning and lobbying is currently not allowed.

    Already, a politician running for U.S. Congress already employs AI as a campaign caller to help reach more potential voters.

    The AI developer said it’s also working on constantly updating ChatGPT to provide accurate information from real-time news reporting around the globe while directing voters to official voting websites for more information. 

    AI’s influence on elections has been a major topic of discussion already, with Microsoft even releasing a report on AI usage on social media having the potential to sway voter sentiment.

    Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot has already been under scrutiny after Europe-based researchers found that it gave misleading election information.

    Google has been particularly proactive in its stance regarding AI and elections. In September, it made AI disclosure mandatory in political campaign ads, along with limiting answers to election queries on its Bard AI tool and generative search.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 01/17/2024 – 18:05

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