Today’s News 18th July 2024

• A Time Of Shame And Sorrow: When It Comes To Political Violence, We All Lose
  A Time Of Shame And Sorrow: When It Comes To Political Violence, We All Lose

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “Whenever any American’s life is taken by another American unnecessarily—whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence—whenever we tear at the fabric of life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.”

   – Robert F. Kennedy on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)

  There’s a subtext to this assassination attempt on former President Trump that must not be ignored, and it is simply this: America is being pushed to the brink of a national nervous breakdown.

  

  More than 50 years after John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, America has become a ticking time bomb of political violence in words and deeds.

  Magnified by an echo chamber of nasty tweets and government-sanctioned brutality, our politically polarizing culture of callousness, cruelty, meanness, ignorance, incivility, hatred, intolerance, indecency and injustice have only served to ratchet up the tension.

  Consumed with back-biting, partisan politics, sniping, toxic hate, meanness and materialism, a culture of meanness has come to characterize many aspects of the nation’s governmental and social policies. “Meanness today is a state of mind,” writes professor Nicolaus Mills in his book The Triumph of Meanness, “the product of a culture of spite and cruelty that has had an enormous impact on us.”

  This casual cruelty is made possible by a growing polarization within the populace that emphasizes what divides us—race, religion, economic status, sexuality, ancestry, politics, etc.—rather than what unites us: we are all Americans, and in a larger, more global sense, we are all human.

  This is what writer Anna Quindlen refers to as “the politics of exclusion, what might be thought of as the cult of otherness… It divides the country as surely as the Mason-Dixon line once did. And it makes for mean-spirited and punitive politics and social policy.”

  This is more than meanness, however.

  We are imploding on multiple fronts, all at once.

  This is what happens when ego, greed and power are allowed to take precedence over liberty, equality and justice.

  This is the psychopathic mindset adopted by the architects of the Deep State, and it applies equally whether you’re talking about Democrats or Republicans.

  Beware, because this kind of psychopathology can spread like a virus among the populace.

  As an academic study into pathocracy concluded, “[T]yranny does not flourish because perpetuators are helpless and ignorant of their actions. It flourishes because they actively identify with those who promote vicious acts as virtuous.”

  People don’t simply line up and salute. It is through one’s own personal identification with a given leader, party or social order that they become agents of good or evil. To this end, “we the people” have become “we the police state.”

  By failing to actively take a stand for good, we become agents of evil. It’s not the person in charge who is solely to blame for the carnage. It’s the populace that looks away from the injustice, that empowers the totalitarian regime, that welcomes the building blocks of tyranny.

  This realization hit me full-force a few years ago. I had stopped into a bookstore and was struck by all of the books on Hitler, everywhere I turned. Yet had there been no Hitler, there still would have been a Nazi regime. There still would have been gas chambers and concentration camps and a Holocaust.

  Hitler wasn’t the architect of the Holocaust. He was merely the figurehead. Same goes for the American police state: had there been no Trump or Obama or Bush, there still would have been a police state. There still would have been police shootings and private prisons and endless wars and government pathocracy.

  Why? Because “we the people” have paved the way for this tyranny to prevail.

  By turning Hitler into a super-villain who singlehandedly terrorized the world—not so different from how Trump is often depicted—historians have given Hitler’s accomplices (the German government, the citizens that opted for security and order over liberty, the religious institutions that failed to speak out against evil, the individuals who followed orders even when it meant a death sentence for their fellow citizens) a free pass.

  This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.

  None of us who remain silent and impassive in the face of evil, racism, extreme materialism, meanness, intolerance, cruelty, injustice and ignorance get a free pass.

  Those among us who follow figureheads without question, who turn a blind eye to injustice and turn their backs on need, who march in lockstep with tyrants and bigots, who allow politics to trump principle, who give in to meanness and greed, and who fail to be outraged by the many wrongs being perpetrated in our midst, it is these individuals who must shoulder the blame when the darkness wins.

  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,” Martin Luther King Jr. sermonized.

  The darkness is winning.

  It’s not just on the world stage we must worry about the darkness winning.

  The darkness is winning in our communities. It’s winning in our homes, our neighborhoods, our churches and synagogues, and our government bodies. It’s winning in the hearts of men and women the world over who are embracing hatred over love. It’s winning in every new generation that is being raised to care only for themselves, without any sense of moral or civic duty to stand for freedom.

  John F. Kennedy, killed by an assassin’s bullet five years before King would be similarly executed, spoke of a torch that had been “passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

  Once again, a torch is being passed to a new generation, but this torch is setting the world on fire, burning down the foundations put in place by our ancestors, and igniting all of the ugliest sentiments in our hearts.

  This fire is not liberating; it is destroying.

  We are teaching our children all the wrong things: we are teaching them to hate, teaching them to worship false idols (materialism, celebrity, technology, politics), teaching them to prize vain pursuits and superficial ideals over kindness, goodness and depth.

  We are on the wrong side of the revolution.

  “If we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution,” advised King, “we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.“

  Freedom demands responsibility.

  Freedom demands that we stop thinking as Democrats and Republicans and start thinking like human beings, or at the very least, Americans.

  JFK was killed in 1963 for daring to challenge the Deep State.

  King was killed in 1968 for daring to challenge the military industrial complex.

  Robert F. Kennedy offered these remarks to a polarized nation in the wake of King’s assassination:

  “In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. [Y]ou can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization…filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort … to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love… What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.”

  Two months later, RFK was also killed by an assassin’s bullet.

  Fifty-plus years later, we’re still being terrorized by assassins’ bullets, but what these madmen are really trying to kill is that dream of a world in which all Americans “would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

  We haven’t dared to dream that dream in such a long time.

  But imagine…

  Imagine what this country would be like if Americans put aside their differences and dared to stand up—united—for freedom.

  Imagine what this country would be like if Americans put aside their differences and dared to speak out—with one voice—against injustice.

  Imagine what this country would be like if Americans put aside their differences and dared to push back—with the full force of our collective numbers—against government corruption and despotism.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, tyranny wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 23:40

• Short Bursts Of Intense Exercise For 6 Months Can Reduce Cognitive Decline: Research
  Short Bursts Of Intense Exercise For 6 Months Can Reduce Cognitive Decline: Research

  Authored by Monica O’Shea via The Epoch Times,

  High-intensity interval exercise for just six months could be enough to improve cognitive function in older adults for up to five years, Australian scientists have found.

  

  Researchers at the University of Queensland’s Brain Institute recruited a large group of healthy adults aged 65 to 85 for a six-month exercise program.

  The volunteers undertook cognition testing as part of the study, along with high-resolution brain scans.

  Five years later, researchers followed up with these older volunteers and found they had better cognition, even if they ceased exercising at the conclusion of the study.

  Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett said six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to “flick the switch.”

  “If we can change the trajectory of ageing and keep people cognitively healthier for longer with a simple intervention like exercise, we can potentially save our community from the enormous personal, economic, and social costs associated with dementia,” he said.

  The research, published in Aging and Disease, involved examining the results of three different types of exercise—low, medium, and high intensity.

  The low-intensity exercise involved balance and stretching, while medium-intensity exercise involved brisk walking on a treadmill.

  The high-intensity exercise, however, involved four cycles of running on a treadmill at near-maximum exertion.

  The participants were randomly assigned to one of these three exercise interventions and attended 72 sessions during a six-month time frame.

  Qualified exercise physiologists supervised all sessions to ensure personalised target heart rates were reached and maintained during the sessions.

  In earlier pre-clinical work, the researchers discovered exercise can activate stem cells and boost the production of neurons in the hippocampus, where long-term memories are stored, thus improving cognition.

  However, this study was the first of its kind to their knowledge that found “exercise can boost cognition in healthy older adults not just delay cognitive decline.”

  High-Intensity Exercise Led to Cognitive Improvement

  Queensland Brain Institute research fellow Daniel Blackmore explained that only high-intensity interval exercise resulted in a cognitive improvement that lasted five years.

  “On high-resolution MRI scans of that group, we saw structural and connectivity changes in the hippocampus, the area responsible for learning and memory,” he said.

  “We also found blood biomarkers that changed in correlation to improvements in cognition.”

  Biomarkers can indicate how the body is responding to a disease or treatment.

  Mr. Blackmore was optimistic about the findings, as they could inform exercise guidelines for older adults.

  The researcher noted one in three people aged over 85 were likely to develop dementia, meaning the impact of the research is “far-reaching.”

  Further research could look at varying types of exercise and how they can be incorporated into aged care, he explained.

  “We are now looking at the genetic factors that may regulate a person’s response to exercise to see if we can establish who will and will not respond to this intervention,” he said.

  “The use of biomarkers as a diagnostic tool for exercise also needs further research.”

  The paper highlighted ageing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, could impact more than 130 million people around the world by 2050.

  “Delaying the onset of dementia by five years would result in a decreased prevalence of 41 percent by 2050,” the paper stated.

  “Therefore, it is critical to identify approaches that delay, slow, or even reverse age-associated cognitive decline. Modifiable lifestyle factors such as physical activity have been proposed to be effective at altering the trajectory of aging dementia.”

  The study received support from the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation.

  Exercise and Cognition Link ‘Weak’

  Meanwhile, a separate review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February 2024 found physical activity was linked to better life cognition. But this association was “weak.”

  However, even a weak association is important from a population health perspective, the authors noted.

  “This systematic review and meta-analysis found that the association between physical activity and cognitive decline was very small, with no evident dose-response association,” the paper states.

  “With that said, even weak associations can be clinically significant from a population health perspective when physical activity continues over decades.”

  The authors said not very many “high quality” studies had been included in the review and suggested longer follow-up times.

  “Further high-quality cohort studies with follow-ups longer than 10 to 20 years, fine-grain measures of physical activity and cognition at baseline, and high participation and follow-up rates are needed to solidify the evidence base in this area,” they stated.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 23:15

• Trump's Churchillian Moment: How The Near-Miss Assassination Hit The Mark With Press & Pundits
  Trump’s Churchillian Moment: How The Near-Miss Assassination Hit The Mark With Press & Pundits

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Winston Churchill once famously said that “nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

  

  For Donald Trump, the failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania could prove politically exhilarating. After rising with a fist pump and a call to fight on, Trump seems to have gone from being a movement to a mythological figure with his supporters.  All he needs now is a big blue ox named Babe to return to the campaign trail.

  This assassination attempt should also concentrate the minds of everyone on the escalating rhetoric in this campaign, particularly the media in maintaining inflammatory narratives. Yet, the hateful and unhinged language has continued unabated from academics declaring that the assassination attempt was staged to those who complain that the only problem was that Thomas Matthew Crooks missed.

  For years, Democrats have repeated analogies of Trump to Hitler and his followers to brownshirted neo-Nazis.  Indeed, defeating Trump has been compared to stopping Hitler in 1933.

  The narrative began as soon as Trump was elected when the press and pundits uniformly and falsely claimed that Trump had praised neo-Nazis and Klansmen in 2017 as “fine people” in Charlottesville.

  Watching Trump’s statement at the time, it was clear to most of us that Trump condemned the neo-Nazis and that the statement about “fine people on both sides” was in reference to the debate over the removal of historic statues.

  It took six years for Snopes to finally have the courage to do a fact check and declare the common attack to be false.

  It did not matter. The press and politicians have hammered away at the notion that Trump is seeking to end democracy and that everyone from gay people to reporters will be “disappeared.”

  After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity, Rachel Maddow went on the air with a hysterical claim that “death squads” had just been green lighted by conservatives. Democratic strategist Jame Carville insists that Trump’s reelection will bring “the end of the Constitution.”

  It is all what I call “rage rhetoric” in my new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” The book explores centuries of rage politics and political violence. This is not our first age of rage but it could well be the most dangerous.

  Two years before the assassination attempt, I appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on the expansion of domestic terrorism investigations. Democrats were seeking to pressure the FBI to focus on far-right groups as potential terrorist groups. The use of political views rather than conduct has been used historically to crackdown on groups from socialists to anarchists to feminists.

  The narrative that the threat of violence is coming primarily from the Right is demonstrably false but consistently echoed in the media.

  We have seen a growing level of leftist violence in the last decade. That includes riots in cities like Portland and Seattle where billions of dollars of damage occurred, hundreds of officers injured, and many citizens killed. In 2020 alone, 25 people were killed in the protests.

  The Democrats often raise the Jan. 6th riot and it is important to acknowledge that the damage extended to an attack on our constitutional process. However, the preceding protest around the White House caused more injuries and more property damage. Then President Trump had to be removed to a safe location as Secret Service feared a breach of the White House.

  There were a reported 150 officers injured (including at least 49 Park Police officers around the White House) in the Lafayette Park riot. Protesters caused extensive property damage including the torching of a historic structure and the attempted arson of St. John’s Church.

  Mass shootings by leftist gunmen have repeatedly occurred but those are treated as one offs while any conservative shooter is part of a pattern of right-wing violence.

  Keith Ellison, the Democratic attorney general of Minnesota, mocked the notion of liberal violence. In one tweet, he declared  “I have never seen @BernieSanders supporters being unusually mean or rude. Can someone send me an example of a ‘Bernie Bro’ being bad. Also, are we holding all candidates responsible for the behavior of some of their supporters? Waiting to hear.”

  Republican Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana replied dryly: “I can think of an example.” Scalise was severely wounded at the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball game practice by a Sanders supporter.

  Ellison was a particularly ironic Democratic politician to repeat this mantra. When he was the Democratic National Committee deputy chair, Ellison praised Antifa, a violent anti-free speech group that regularly attacks conservatives, pro-lifers, and others.

  Ellison said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany.

  Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer. When confronted about Antifa’s violence, then House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler denied that the group existed. Likewise, Joe Biden has dismissed objections to Antifa as just “an idea.”

  In the meantime, Biden has called Trump and his supporters “enemies of the people.” He recently said that the threat to democracy was so great that debates are no solution: “we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

  Even after the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the media has failed to see a pattern while stoking the claim of a right-wing violent movement.

  In the meantime, Democrats previously filed to strip Secret Service protection from Trump. The former Chair of the J6 Committee and the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee introduced the legislation, called Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED).

  The press and pundits continue to tell Americans that Trump and his supporters are going to kill democracy and probably those they love. While most people dismiss the rage rhetoric, there are some who take it as a license to take the most extreme action.

  We are still learning about Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was killed after trying to assassinate Trump.

  A registered Republican, Crooks gave money to ActBlue to support Democratic candidates.

  Yet, we know him all too well. He is likely to be found to be a lonely, unhinged individual who found meaning in an attempted political murder.

  Thomas Crooks like Nicholas Roske (who tried to kill Justice Kavanaugh) are the faces that watch from the political shadows. They hear leaders telling them to stop the Nazis before democracy dies . . . and they believe them.

  As for Democrats, the anger evident every night on cable networks may reflect a degree of insecurity about becoming the very thing that they are campaigning against. It is time for the party to look around to take stock of its anti-democratic policies.

  Democratic secretaries of state have sought to block not just Trump but third-party candidates from ballots to prevent voters from supporting them.

  They have called for cleansing ballots of over 120 other Republicans. They have supported censorship, blacklisting, and other attacks on free speech.

  As a lifelong Democrat, I have repeatedly asked what we have become in this age of rage. If we embrace groups like Antifa, oppose free speech, and cleanse ballots, we will have little beyond our rage to sustain us.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 22:50

• Hundreds Of Failing Water Systems In California Need Funding For New Infrastructure
  Hundreds Of Failing Water Systems In California Need Funding For New Infrastructure

  Authored by Summer Lane via The Epoch Times,

  Nearly 400 public water systems in California have failed to meet recommended safety standards for drinking water, according to a report last month from the State Water Resources Control Board, but a new climate bond measure recently joined the state’s November ballot may help.

  

  Some 913,000 Californians, approximately 2 percent of the state’s population, are potentially affected by 385 failing public water systems according to the report.

  Fifty-six of those systems “serve disadvantaged communities and 67 percent serve majority communities of color.”

  The annual report identifies California drinking water challenges, part of an effort to improve access to safe drinking water started by former Gov. Jerry Brown. He signed Assembly Bill 685 into law in 2012, establishing that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for cooking consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.”

  The water board defines a failing water system as one that does not provide “an adequate and reliable supply of drinking water which is at all times pure, wholesome, and potable.”

  The report provided an example of two water systems where they found both exceeded the maximum contaminant level for 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a man-made carcinogenic chemical sometimes found in hazardous wastes.

  Failing water system areas tend to have a “higher percentage of households in poverty” and are mostly larger households, according to the report.

  The number of failing systems has increased over the past two years. A 2022 report from the water board found that 347 such systems in California were failing, affecting over 846,000 people.

  The highest concentration of failing water systems is in Kern County, for example, where small water systems and domestic wells are already located in areas with a “high risk” of contamination and water shortages.

  Rural and disadvantaged areas are hardest hit by water quality problems, and it’s an issue that ultimately comes down to poor planning, according to Don Wright, the founder of the agricultural water policy news site WaterWrights.

  Disadvantaged communities like Cantua Creek in Fresno County “were packed in too tight together,” with septic systems planted nearby. The region was formerly a migrant labor camp and was never set up to support the water needs of over 500 residents.

  Mr. Wright called it a “failure of zoning management” and said places like that were “not designed to be municipalities.”

  Many of the failures of these small water systems are simply the result of outdated equipment. Wells may often exceed their usable life and need to be replaced with new ones, he said.

  

  Water pumped up from an underground well flows into a cistern on a farm in Fresno, Calif., on July 24, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

  Mr. Wright also pointed out that some of the chemicals found during water testing were the result of nature. “Arsenic is naturally occurring in the soil [in the valley],” he said.

  “Farmers don’t fertilize with arsenic, these things happen naturally,” he stated.

  Echoing the concerns of Mr. Wright, state water board’s spokesman Dmitri Stanich told The Epoch Times there is a “multitude of reasons small systems can fail” as many of them are out of date without outside water sources or adequate resources for proper maintenance.

  “Smaller and rural systems are at most risk of failing as they typically do not have the resources to mitigate contamination incursion, cannot maintain their systems to needed technological standards, nor do they have alternative sources of water,” he said.

  Earlier this month, California lawmakers passed a proposal to place on the November ballot a $10 billion environmental bond addressing water, wildfire, and air quality concerns. According to experts, it could be a step toward a solution to water problems plaguing the state.

  If approved by voters, the bond would fund safe drinking water infrastructure, climate solutions, flood and water resilience initiatives, and clean air programs, its co-author Democrat Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia told The Epoch Times.

  

  Crops are flooded after a storm outside of Fresno, Calif., on March 12, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

  Mr. Garcia called the bond “historic” because it allocates 40 percent to disadvantaged communities.

  The largest concentration of failing water systems in California is in Kern County in the Bakersfield region, with 58.

  The Kern County Health Department declined to comment on the report.

  Madera County, near Fresno, has the highest proportion of systems on the verge of failing whereas Bay Area counties like San Francisco and Alameda have the least.

  The Community Water Center, a water quality advocacy group based in San Joaquin Valley, said in June in response to the water assessment report that $15 billion was needed to improve California’s water infrastructure.

  They told The Epoch Times July 9 the funding was “not on par with the needs outlined by [the board]” but was nevertheless“crucial” for communities.

  If approved by voters, the climate bond will allot $3 billion to developing safe drinking water systems, as well as drought, flood, and water resilience programs—significantly less than what advocacy groups have recommended.

  Representatives for advocacy groups declined to comment after the climate bond was approved for the ballot.

  Last month, the state water board also proposed plans to distribute $855 million in financial assistance over the next year to safe drinking water projects in the state, according to a June 25 statement.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 22:00

• In 2025, Global Emoji Count Could Grow To 3,790
  In 2025, Global Emoji Count Could Grow To 3,790

  Emojis have become a staple of electronic communication since their inception in the 1990s and people of all ages and on all continents love to use them. While their number keeps on growing every year due to new releases by the Unicode Consortium, the pictograms are increasingly vying for users’ attention as other forms of visual communication – think gifs, stickers and avatars – are experiencing their heyday.

  With myriads of emojis released over the previous years, new batches have become smaller. A recently suggested update that would grow the number of emojis to almost 3,800 next year only contains eight new pictograms – the smallest release in more than 10 years. While 2022 had seen the release of 112 new emojis, that number was just 31 in 2023, while rising again to 118 in 2024 due to emojis that allow users to pick different skin colors or genders (which are counted individually) driving up the size of releases.

  However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz shows in the chart below, the number of non-customizable emojis has decreased with each release.

  New 2025 icons would include the beetroot, the shovel and the flag of British Channel Island Sark – showing how emoji makers are seemingly running out of ideas (despite taking submissions from the public). The Unicode Consortium has recommended the emojis for release, but the final decision is still outstanding.

  What emojis appear on people’s phones and on their social media platforms is not arbitrary but has been coordinated by the Unicode Consortium since 1995, when the first 76 pictograms were adapted by the U.S. nonprofit. The Consortium has been overseeing the character inventory of electronic text processing since 1991 and sets a standard for symbols, characters in different scripts and – last but not least – emojis, which are encoded uniformly across different platforms even though illustration styles may vary between providers.

  Despite the first Unicode listings predating them, a 1999 set of 176 simple pictograms invented by interface designer Shigetaka Kurita for a Japanese phone operator is considered to be the precursor of modern-day emojis. The concept gained popularity in Japan and by 2010, Unicode rolled out a massive release of more than 1,000 emojis to get with the burgeoning trend – the rest is history…

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Different skin colors have been available for emojis since 2015.

  The first regional flags came to the service in 2017.

  The first same-sex couples have been available since the major emoji release of 2010, but more versions were added in 2015.

  The 2017 release also included the rollout of the first non-binary options, while interracial couples first appeared in 2019.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 20:45

• RussiaGate 2.0: Donald Trump Has Opted For "Real Peace" Negotiations With A "Foreign Adversary"
  RussiaGate 2.0: Donald Trump Has Opted For “Real Peace” Negotiations With A “Foreign Adversary”

  Authored by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky via GlobalResearch.ca,

  Introduction

  Normalization of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation had first been proposed by Donald Trump in 2017.

  

  Under RussiaGate (2016), President-elect Donald Trump had been accused of treason “after President Obama announced new sanctions [in late December 2016] against Russia and Trump praised Vladimir Putin’s response to the sanctions.” (Daily Caller, December 30, 2016, emphasis added)

  Former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leo Panetta had already intimated prior to the elections that Trump was a threat to national security. 

  Even prior to the inauguration of president Trump, the US media in liaison with US intelligence had launched successive waves of smears directed against President-elect Donald Trump.

  The objective from the very outset was to discredit president Trump, presenting him as a Manchurian candidate serving the interests of the Kremlin.

  

  Vanity Fair November 1 2016

  

  Donald Trump, The Manchurian Candidate: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Campaign to Destabilize the Trump Presidency. Regime Change in America

  The Atlantic October 8 2016

  RussiaGate 2.0

  The RussiaGate objective as formulated in 2016 was: 

  “to get rid of a President who intended to normalize relations with Russia, thus curtailing the budget and power of the military/security complex.”

  (Paul Craig Roberts, emphasis added)

  In January 2019, the FBI Russia investigation was quoted by the media as “evidence” that Trump was “wittingly or unwittingly” an agent of the Kremlin.

  What is the stance of the FBI today in regard to the candidacy of Donald Trump? The FBI played a key role in sustaining RussiaGate. (P. C Roberts). I should mention that the FBI is also responsible (coincidentally) for the investigation of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

  Let us wake up to REALITY.  

  The levels of political manipulation, fraud and criminality have reached their pinnacle.

  The ultimate intent of the campaign against Trump in 2016-19, led by the Neocons and the Dems Clinton faction was to destabilize the Trump presidency.

  

  From RussiaGate 1.0 to RussiaGate 2.0

  There is continuity: Under RussiaGate 2.0 (2024) which we are currently experiencing, various accusations of treason against Trump will once more go into high gear, ultimately with a view to sabotage the peace process as well as destabilize Trump’s candidacy to the presidency of the U.S. 

  Trump has confirmed: …

  “that if reelected, he would swiftly bring an end to the war in Ukraine by speaking with Putin.

  “I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelensky as president-elect before I take office on January 20.

  I’ll have that war settled,” Trump said on June 27 during a debate with Biden, adding,

  “I’ll get it settled fast, before I take office.”

  (Quoted by Newsweek)

  Speaking with Putin is regarded as an act of treason. This courageous statement, reminiscent of Donald Trump –the alleged Manchurian Candidate— is unlikely to be accepted by the “Deep State”, the Military Industrial Complex and the powerful financial groups which support the Democratic Party leadership.

  What will be the ultimate outcome? 

  

  Real peace negotiations are an integral part of Trump’s election campaign.

  Trump’s national security advisory team has prepared a balanced plan: if the Kiev regime does not enter into peace talks with Moscow, the U.S. would (under a Trump presidency) immediately suspend the flow of US weapons to Ukraine:

  “Under the plan drawn up by [General Keith] Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said.

  They have presented their strategy to Trump, and the Republican presidential candidate responded favorably”. (Reuters, June 23, 2024)

  It is worth noting that this peace proposal – which is part of his election campaign – was formulated barely a few weeks prior to the failed attempt to assassinate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 20:45

• Escobar: Iwo Jima 2.0 – What Story Is This Picture Telling?
  Escobar: Iwo Jima 2.0 – What Story Is This Picture Telling?

  Authored by Pepe Escobar,

  The Iwo Jima 2.0 pic, immortalizing the Trump fist surviving an assassination attempt, has taken the world by storm – generating everything from a meme tsunami on China’s Weibo to fresh anime in Japan. Not to mention the deluge of hats and T-shirts.

  

  This carefully composed pic changes everything – in more ways than one. So let’s engage in a first attempt to deconstruct it.

  We start with the major losers.

  The combo running Crash Test Dummy’s teleprompter/earpiece set up is essentially composed by Mike Donilon, Steve Richetti, Bruce Reed and Ted Kaufman.

  Government functionaries like Jake Sullivan and Little Blinkie, for their part, are placed at the heart of what is known in Washington as the “inter-agency” racket, better described as The Blob.

  The inestimable Alastair Crooke has explained how Sullivan and Little Blinkie’s deliberations are “spread through a matrix of interlocking ‘clusters’ that includes the Military Industrial Complex, Congressional leaders, Big Donors, Wall Street, the Treasury, the CIA, the FBI, a few cosmopolitan oligarchs and the princelings of the security-intelligence world.”

  Yet the key – invisible – point is who (italics mine) tells Sullivan and Blinkie what to do.

  These are the people who really (italics mine) run the show: the Big Families, and the Big Donors – old money and especially new money (as in invisible Vanguard shareholders).

  They are all stunned.

  They never thought it would come to this debacle – even if Joe Biden was expressly chosen for what he is: a crude, corrupt, easily-manipulated lackey, and head of a crime family. Everyone in a position of real power in the Blob knew he was becoming a zombie ages ago.

  There’s fierce debate across the Beltway over how many factions are at war with each other inside the Dem blob.

  There are at least three:

  1.The Biden crime family – on which tens of thousands of people with cushy jobs and fat salaries depend.

  2.The down-ballot Dem machine – an “extended family” of other tens of thousands who will lose badly, in elections or re-elections, in the event of a Trump 2.0. These are the ones who want to throw Crash Test Dummy under the – retirement home – bus and replace him with a Dem they hope and pray might win (the number one candidate is the uber-incompetent Kamala Harris).

  Needless to add, these two factions not only are at vicious Hot War against each other but also at war with…

  3.The ones who really matter: the actual Deep State – from the “intelligence community” to webs woven inside the CIA and the FBI. This is the infernal machine that actually gave the White House on a platter to Biden in 2020.

  Dem Chuck Schumer once famously proclaimed: if you cross this faction, they have “Six Ways from Sunday” to get to you, destroy you, or whack you. With total impunity.

  Enter Six Ways from Sunday

  So this is what might happen next – way beyond Iwo Jima 2.0 and the irresistible pull of the Trump-Vance ticket. If the Deep State cannot influence the outcome of the November elections, they can find Six Ways from Sunday to cancel it, by invoking a “national emergency”. Anything goes – from false flag terrorism to war.

  Extrapolating from a quite cool analysis by a crack fintech expert in Berlin, it’s possible to characterize the bipartisan War Party arrangement in the Blob as two real Mafioso enterprises fighting over an Exceptionalistan on the brink of abysmal bankruptcy – and forced to choose its final Forever Wars.

  The Six Ways from Sunday faction is determined to go all the way – employing every imperial means – to conquer what could be dubbed the El Dorado in the black soil of Novorossiya, whose resources could buy it, maybe, another 50 years of power.

  On the other side, the MAGA group doesn’t care about those Slavlands, and is convinced that the real existential threat is the Middle Kingdom. And as it is beholden to the Book of Joshua racket, the MAGA group also believes that “something must be done“ about Iran.

  Either group, by the way, is de facto fully devoted to the Book of Joshua racket.

  The Empire – of Chaos – happens to be run under a quite peculiar governance, in which a very complicated voting system decides which group gets access to the means for pursuing their obsession.

  As long as there was enough gold in the vaults of the Empire – illegally appropriated or otherwise – the two groups alternated Power Possession without too much fuss.

  But then all those Forever Wars lost over the years against militarily insignificant adversaries started to take their toll. And the financial times now are really, really tough.

  The imperial voting system holds an extremely bizarre characteristic: under roughly equal voter affiliation to either group, the votes cast in just five cities in five states in the midwest Heartland actually determine the fate of those dwindling imperial resources fiercely fought over by the two main groups.

  The Six Ways from Sunday group happens to control the voting in those five cities.

  Already in the past elections, the Six Ways from Sunday group pre-empted a certain victory of the MAGA group in the Heartland to the tune of 10 million votes, most of them cast in truckloads of forged ballots in those five cities, plus related electronic tampering.

  What the MAGA group now clearly sees is the possibility to finally grab those five cities in five states.

  And yet 10 million excess votes and trying to conquer those five states may not be enough in the face of the massive fraud machine.

  So in 2024 MAGA calculates that they must win another five states typically leaning towards the Six Ways from Sunday universe, and win by an excess of at least 20 million votes to pre-empt the all but certain massive fraud.

  That’s where Iwo Jima 2.0 come in – graphically formatting the ticket for a landslide victory.

  Six Ways from Sunday may be beyond dazed and confused at the current incandescent juncture. The trillion dollar question is: how will they change the narrative and regain the initiative?

  They have made the lethal mistake of picking as their candidate a walking dead. In contrast, MAGA parades the quintessential narcissistic pop superstar, now supercharged and re-energized, and carrying global appeal.

  It seems that the landslide is inevitable. Six Ways from Sunday is mired in total panic – knowing they are about to lose control.

  Yet the fat lady has not yet sung.

  Three and a half months is a galactic eternity in politics. And a cornered Six Ways from Sunday is all set to roar with more ferocity than ever.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 20:20

• CCP Expands Great Firewall With Socialist AI Bots To Ensure Population Remains Obedient To Xi 
  CCP Expands Great Firewall With Socialist AI Bots To Ensure Population Remains Obedient To Xi 

  China’s ruling Communist Party has been implementing bold new guidelines across ChatGPT-style large language models at major domestic tech firms. These measures aim to prevent the models from generating content that could subvert state power or criticize the communist political system. Chinese authorities’ efforts to control AI and use it as a mass censorship tool are essentially an extension of their two-decade-long “Great Firewall” policy.

  A new Financial Times report states that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s top internet regulator, is reviewing LLMs from tech companies and AI start-ups, including ByteDance, Alibaba, Moonshot, and 01.AI. The goal is to ensure these LLMs “embody core socialist values.”

  According to those with direct knowledge of CAC’s overview process, officials are batch-testing LLM’s responses to a series of questions, including China politics and President Xi Jinping. 

  The team overseeing this process is highly trained in the AI field. An employee of a Hangzhou-based start-up, who asked not to be named, said, “A special team doing this, they came to our office and sat in our conference room to do the audit.” 

  “We didn’t pass the first time; the reason wasn’t very clear so we had to go and talk to our peers,” the person said, adding, “It takes a bit of guessing and adjusting. We passed the second time but the whole process took months.”

  FT pointed out that censorship begins “with weeding out problematic information from training data and building a database of sensitive keywords. China’s operational guidance to AI companies published in February says AI groups need to collect thousands of sensitive keywords and questions that violate “core socialist values,” such as “inciting the subversion of state power” or “undermining national unity.” The sensitive keywords are supposed to be updated weekly.” 

  Censorship is visible to users of China’s AI chatbots. For instance, queries about the Tiananmen Square massacre and whether Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh have been scrubbed. 

  Baidu’s Ernie chatbot informs users to “try a different question” when asking about politically sensitive topics, while Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen responds: “I have not yet learned how to answer this question. I will keep studying to better serve you.”

  In the CCP’s view, open, unfiltered AI bots constitute a significant threat to the communist party’s governance. Beijing is building itself an expanded “great firewall” to create socialist AI and continue blocking incoming foreign technology. 

  Remember, David Sacks warned in early 2023 that “trust & safety” teams at big tech firms, especially the ones in the US, have immense censorship power. He warned this censorship will go into hyperdrive with AI

  If you didn’t like censorship when it was practiced by the “trust & safety” team, just wait until the AI does it. From the latest @theallinpod. pic.twitter.com/agAzSuCfK9

  — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) February 19, 2023

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  If President Trump wins the presidential elections in November, a dramatic shift in AI policy could be on the horizon for the US next year. He aims to “Make America First in AI,” which could involve scrapping some of the “unnecessary and burdensome regulations” on AI development. A more open approach to AI would foster innovation, contrasting with China’s closed approach of embedding socialist values into their models.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 19:55

• The New Gold Rush: Unlock Uranium's Soaring Demand
  The New Gold Rush: Unlock Uranium’s Soaring Demand

  Authored by Nomi Prins via Prinsights substack,

  “Nothing exists except atoms and space, everything else is opinion.” 

  – Democritus, Ancient Greek Philosopher

  Certain geopolitical events unleash unstoppable global re-alignments and national policy shifts.

  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was one of them. 

  The escalation of the Russia-Ukraine War made it clear to the U.S. that energy independence is critical for national and economic security.  Nowhere is that more apparent than with nuclear energy. Russia supplies 35% of U.S. nuclear fuel. Kazakhstan supplies 25%.

  Since 2022, legislators on both sides of the aisle, along with the White House and the Departments of Energy and Defense have accelerated discussions over nuclear energy and uranium supply chain policies.

  Now, nuclear energy is familiar to the U.S. In fact, nearly 20% of U.S. electricity comes from nuclear power.  Nuclear power also provides about 10% of the world’s electricity and 18% of electricity in OECD countries.

  The truth is that no country, large or small, is looking for less energy. Electricity demand is increasing about twice as fast as overall energy use, and it will likely rise by 50% by 2040. Nuclear power capacity is forecast to grow in tandem.

  

  Source: Carbon Credits

  That’s why nuclear energy is an increasingly essential part of national defense and energy policy. Those who understand this resource will also be able to unleash its potential.

  Let me explain…

  Nuclear Energy Is (Back) in Vogue

  Nuclear energy is the “Switzerland” of energy sources. It is increasingly popular with both sides of the political spectrum for several reasons.

  First, nuclear energy is the most reliable baseload power source. That’s because it has the highest capacity factor, which measures how often a power plant runs at its maximum power.

  Nuclear power can step in when other sustainable energy sources like wind and solar power can’t meet power needs.

  Second, nuclear energy is nearly carbon-free, making it ideal to meet clean energy goals.

  By increasing its nuclear energy use while also limiting its vulnerability to supply chains, the U.S. can lower its exposure to geopolitical tensions, price manipulations and foreign energy dependence.

  The only way to achieve that is to secure domestic and reliable allied uranium supply sources and production. This would also require the development of more efficient technologies to refine uranium and convert it into nuclear energy.

  Transformational U.S. Nuclear Energy Bills

  After taking nearly two years to develop, several crucial bipartisan bills supporting nuclear energy, domestic and allied uranium supply, and technologies became law starting in late 2023.

  The three you should know about are:

  1. The Nuclear Fuel Security Act  

  This bill was signed into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 22, 2023. It establishes a strategic uranium reserve to ensure domestic uranium supply for national defense.

  The Act creates new programs and expands existing ones to increase domestic supplies of certain types of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for nuclear energy, including high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) used by advanced reactors.

  2. The Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act

  This Act passed the House on May 8, attached to S. 870, the “Fire Grants and Safety Act,” by a vote of 393-13. The Senate passed it by a vote of 88-2 on June 18. With votes like those, it should be clear that nuclear is popular across the aisle (a rarity in the D.C. Beltway).

  The legislation invests in advanced nuclear technologies for efficient energy production. That includes the continued development of small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors.

  The overwhelming bipartisan support for advancing nuclear energy as a clean and reliable power source will only serve to enhance energy independence and national security.

  It was just signed into law on July 9th.

  3. The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act

  After Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating its war that started with its invasion of Crimea in 2014, the U.S. banned imports of certain Russian energy products like oil and coal. But it didn’t ban uranium due to a lack of domestic and allied supply.

  In December 2023, the House passed H.R. 1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, by voice vote. Two months before that, I met with the senior staff of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), who chairs the Energy and Commerce committee. She championed the bill. We discussed its importance for overall energy and national security.

  

  Following productive meetings on Capitol Hill

  The Senate passed its version by unanimous consent on April 30.

  On May 13, the bill was signed into law.

  The bill bans low-enriched uranium (LEU) produced in the Russian Federation or by a Russian entity, fuel used in domestic nuclear reactors.

  It also allocates $2.72 billion to domestic and allied uranium companies to further advance domestic enrichment capabilities.

  Uranium is More Powerful Than Gold

  Those policy developments are boosting uranium prices and domestic uranium producer shares.

  Uranium prices rose 3-fold since early 2020.

  They more than doubled from July 2023 through January 2024 to $107 per pound before settling to current levels near $80-85 per pound, which are still up 60% since then.

  That’s compared to gold at 19% and silver at 28% over that period.

  Given the growing global need for uranium, I see uranium prices doubling over the next two years and surpassing the 2007 levels shown in the chart below.

  

  Source: Trading Economics

  Countries are now recognizing nuclear power’s energy potential, economic implications and clear national security benefits. Government investments and initiatives for uranium and nuclear energy companies include financial subsidies, tax incentives, grants and loan guarantees.

  More than 20 countries at COP28, including the U.S., signed a declaration to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. That would add 740 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity to the existing stock of 370 GW. For reference, one gigawatt is equal to one billion watts. To put that into perspective, one gigawatt is enough to power an entire medium-sized city. 

  The World Nuclear Association reports that 68 GW of nuclear capacity is under construction. Another 109 GW is in the planning stages, and another 353 GW is proposed beyond that. 

  Plus, 29 GW of new capacity is expected to be in operation by 2026. China and India represent more than half of that. They will need more uranium to accomplish this.

  

  Source: Carbon Credits

  That means that the U.S. is in a race for uranium supply to fuel its own nuclear capacity growth, and the world is taking notice.

  Several domestic miners have restarted operations across five states to meet growing demand and favorable policy. Those include IsoEnergy, Uranium Energy Corporation and Energy Fuels Inc.

  Domestic U.S. and allied uranium producers, especially those with operating mines, will benefit in the coming months and years. So will nuclear energy technology companies.

  You’ll be hearing much more from us on this mega-trend soon.

  One way to take advantage of uranium and nuclear energy trends is to consider investing in the Global X Uranium ETF, URA.  Many of the ETF’s top holdings are U.S.-based, or U.S allied uranium or nuclear technology companies.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to Prinsights with Nomi Prins

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 19:30

• Schumer Says "Best For Biden To Drop Out Of Race" As President Tests Positive For COVID
  Schumer Says “Best For Biden To Drop Out Of Race” As President Tests Positive For COVID

  Update (1927ET):

  Moments ago, ABC News reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., advised President Biden to end his reelection for the greater good of the country and the Democratic Party. 

  Only eight days ago, Schumer had a different opinion on Biden: “I’m with Joe.” 

  Chuck Schumer repeats the same thing each of the three times he’s asked about the scandal around Biden’s cognitive decline: “I’m with Joe” pic.twitter.com/e6wjtHyTru

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 9, 2024

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  Earlier, according to Fox News, citing multiple sources, Schumer pushed for the Democratic National Convention’s delay as questions soared about the president’s 2024 candidacy. 

  According to Axios, the delay “signals that the congressional leaders sympathize with rank-and-file Democrats who want more time to address concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat former President Trump.” 

  Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination odds for the party now stand at 50, while Biden’s is at 38.  

  

  Democratic lawmaker have been urging Biden to drop out since his disastrous debate with former President Trump last month. 

  *   *   * 

  Just hours after President Biden mentioned in an interview that he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if diagnosed with a “medical condition,” the elderly president tested positive for Covid-19 this afternoon. 

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  UnidosUS president Janet Murguía informed the audience at the organization’s national conference in Vegas about Biden’s diagnosis.

  Biden allegedly can’t give his speech in Nevada because he “tested positive for COVID.”

  He was greeting restaurant patrons just an hour ago. pic.twitter.com/hFU4t4t9yG

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 17, 2024

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  White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden was delivering speeches in Las Vegas when he “experienced mild symptoms.” 

  

  KJP said the president “will be returning to Delaware, where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.”

  She noted, “The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”

  Biden’s doctor reported that the president developed a runny nose and a “non-productive cough” on Wednesday afternoon.

  “He felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for COVID-19 was conducted, and the results were positive for the COVID-19 virus,” the doctor wrote in a statement shared by the White House. 

  The doctor said, “The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid,” adding that Biden’s symptoms “remain mild.” 

  Biden boarded Air Force One in Vegas this evening, the White House pool reported.

  Where is the president’s mask?? 

  Biden boarding a plane to head to the beach house in Delaware cancelling his Las Vegas visit to ‘self-isolate’ himself after testing positive for Covid.#BREAKING #Trump #TrumpAssasinationAttempt #BidenHarris2024 pic.twitter.com/YkhZO77slD

  — Target Reporter (@Target_Reporter) July 17, 2024

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  Sigh. 

  This was Joe Biden yesterday which includes touching and sniffing various people.

  Joe Biden has tested positive for ‘Covid’.

  Joe Biden is a ‘Super Spreader’. pic.twitter.com/AfTqbMpzh8

  — Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) July 17, 2024

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  Earlier today, the president said in a pre-taped interview with BET News: 

  “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem.” 

  PredictIt data shows Biden’s election odds are cratering once again. 

  

  X users are asking…  

  President Biden has covid.

  Is this the first stage of stepping down?

  — Graeme Pearce (@GraemePearce3) July 17, 2024

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  Biden this morning: I would consider stepping down if a doctor told me i had a medical condition requiring me to do so.

  Biden this afternoon: I have COVID.

  — Aeson Keel (@AesonKeel) July 17, 2024

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  Ha. 

  When you hear Biden tested positive for COVID pic.twitter.com/8k3xOLLLlm

  — The Right To Bear Memes (@grandoldmemes) July 17, 2024

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  *Developing…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 19:25

• 1000s Of Marylanders Furious About Eminent Domain Risk For New Transmission Line Powering AI Data Centers 
  1000s Of Marylanders Furious About Eminent Domain Risk For New Transmission Line Powering AI Data Centers 

  Thousands of Marylanders are discovering firsthand the dark side of ‘The Next AI Trade,’ in which power grids must be upgraded and expanded to handle increased load demand from AI data centers and other electrification trends. This expansion involves eminent domain and the destruction of farmland and forests.

  Strict climate change rules from progressive lawmakers in Annapolis are some of the main drivers in the chaos unfolding across three counties in the blue state, as these rules discourage the development of new fossil fuel power plants, forcing power companies to expand transmission systems to import electricity from surrounding states versus building clean NatGas power generators with carbon capture systems near areas where AI data centers are being constructed. 

  Pro-subs are all too familiar with our ‘powering up America’ theme dubbed the “The Next AI Trade.” However, the situation playing out in Maryland has revealed a dark side to this theme, which we were the first to report last week in a note titled “Dark Side Of ‘The Next AI Trade’: Seizing Private Property For Transmission Lines.” 

  

  The evolving situation in Maryland involves a group called “Stop MPRP.” MPRP stands for “Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project,” which is a project that plans to upgrade the region’s 500,000-volt transmission system that runs across three counties: Frederick, Baltimore, and Carroll. The upgrades will ensure enough power is imported from surrounding states to supply new AI data centers coming online in southern Frederick County. 

  

  Stop MPRP has over 8,000 furious Marylanders who are quickly organizing to oppose the MPRP project because they say it’s a massive “land grab that will not benefit our community while devastating businesses, farms, and property values.” 

  

  In recent weeks, hundreds of Marylanders, if not more, in all three counties have met with local government and power company officials to discuss the project – as many are concerned about plunging land values, destruction of farms and forests, and high risk of eminent domain. 

  I’m here at another PSEG event about the proposed 70-mile transmission line. The session officially starts at 2, but the lines are already long, and residents are in the building talking w/ reps. Many are concerned about what this project means for their properties & losing money pic.twitter.com/XZMxKhoqvr

  — Jessica Babb (@jess_babb) July 11, 2024

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  Local news WMAR interviewed second-generation farmer Brandon Troy, who said the high-voltage power lines will run directly through his farm. 

  “What they basically want to do is come from over the hill there and come straight across everything, come across the crop land, across the wetlands and up in here to our pastures to basically cross us,” Troy told WMAR, adding, “You couldn’t pick a wider swath through our farm.” He warned his property value would tank if these power lines were built. 

  In a recent note titled “Maryland ‘Can’t Import Itself Out Of Energy Crisis’ Amid Urgent Need To Boost In-State Power Generation,” we discussed Maryland’s struggling energy utility system. Due to strict green policies, the state attempts to resolve its power crisis by importing energy from neighboring states rather than developing in-state power generation capabilities.

  The dark side of the Next AI Trade will involve land grabs, and Marylanders are some of the first to figure out this unfortunate reality. However, we suspect if Annapolis had common sense, there wouldn’t be a need for new massive transmission lines because NatGas power generators could be built down the street from the data centers. 

  “Current views along the proposed route,” one landowner said. 

  

  Another person said, “Here is what they intend to ruin for me…” 

  

  “Just a couple of views that we will lose if this happens,” another landowner said. 

  

  Great job, Democrats. Your green policies are backfiring, causing anxiety among landowners.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 19:05

• China's State-Controlled Rare Earth Companies Stung By Declining Prices
  China’s State-Controlled Rare Earth Companies Stung By Declining Prices

  Rare earth mineral companies in China have been stung by declining prices at the same time the government “tightens its grip” on the industry, according to Nikkei Asia.

  Companies like Rising Nonferrous Metals, a rare-earth miner listed in Shanghai, are losing money this year, a stark contrast to last year’s profitability. 

  The company is blaming “drastic slide in sales prices of its major rare-earth products,” according to the report. They sell dysprosium, terbium and didymium, a mix of neodymium and praseodymium.

  This company belongs to central government-owned platform China Rare Earth Group, which was established in December 2021 when three state owned miners merged. It was then designated a “central company”, designating it as controlled by the State Council.

  Nikkei reports that another arm of the central company, China Rare Earth Resources and Technology, is also expecting a net loss for 1H 2024. Fuijan province controlled Xiamen Tungsten also said revenue had dropped 22% on the year. 

  

  China holds the world’s largest reserves of 17 rare-earth elements, vital for tech products like smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and missile defense systems. 

  Amid rising U.S. tensions, China is increasingly leveraging these resources. Last month, the central government mandated state control over rare-earth resources to ensure national resource security and industrial security.

  This new directive aligns with President Xi Jinping’s focus on a “holistic approach to national security.”

  Despite increased sales, suppliers are struggling. Shenghe Resources Holding, supported by the Finance Ministry, forecasts a significant interim net loss, citing a “substantial decline” in rare-earth prices. Shenghe is expanding through acquisitions, notably purchasing Strandline Resources UK for 43 million Australian dollars to gain control over Tanzanian mineral projects.

  China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech, the top rare-earth miner by volume, barely turned a profit in the first half of the year, with a sharp profit decline of 95% to 97%. The company’s board attributes this to falling prices due to higher production, increased imports, and more recycling, while demand growth has lagged.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 18:15

• Is College Education No Longer Worth It?
  Is College Education No Longer Worth It?

  Authored by Mark Ford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Years ago, I argued with my libertarian friends about the value of a college education. They saw it as a waste of time and a senseless expenditure of money. They thought this was especially true for anyone who majored in the liberal arts, which was my chosen field.

  

  My argument came from my own experience. In studying literature for nearly seven years, I had developed skills that I believed were invaluable to becoming successful in life, regardless of one’s chosen occupation: analytical thinking, for example, which is necessary for problem-solving, and the ability to speak and write effectively, which is necessary for getting one’s ideas accepted in any competitive environment.

  I still believe in the value of those skills and of a liberal arts education in general. But back then, a degree from a public college cost less than $10,000 and a private college might have cost five or six times that much.

  Today, it is much, much more expensive. And because it is so high compared with the financial benefits it provides, the cost is no longer justifiable.

  So I find myself sympathetic to the charge that a college education has become, for many, a scam.

  The Jaw-Dropping Cost

  According to U.S. News & World Report, the average tuition for the 2023–2024 school year for a public college is $10,662 for in-state students, with out-of-state tuition averaging $23,630. For private colleges, the average is $42,162, and for elite private colleges, the numbers are worse. On average, elite private colleges exceeded the $90,000-per-year threshold. That’s for one year!

  Millions of college students are taking out loans to finance all or part of their expenses. Many of those loans come with relatively high interest rates (6.5 to 7 percent), which makes it increasingly difficult for them to keep up with the payments. Some are simply giving up and declaring personal bankruptcy. Thus, in 2023, bankruptcy filings by young college graduates in the United States hit an all-time high. This is happening at a very inconvenient time—just a few years post-graduation, when these young people are trying to begin their careers and their families.

  You might argue that the investment in a college degree, however expensive, will eventually “pay off” because college graduates typically earn more than high school graduates. And that’s true. Male college graduates earn, on average, about $500 per week more than male high school graduates, which amounts to about $900,000 over their lifetimes. (The financial advantage of a college education for women is less, just $630,000 over a lifetime. One study suggests that gender differences in occupation and industry are important to explain the gap, and so are women’s workforce interruptions and shorter hours in high-skilled occupations.)

  On the face of that, you might think that getting into $200,000 to $500,000 worth of debt is still “worth it” because of the lifetime financial advantage. However. the debt figures reported are misleading. They don’t include the cost of interest, which, depending on the interest rate and length of the loan, can add another 30 percent to the total indebtedness.

  Furthermore, these are gross numbers. And like the numbers used to demonstrate a pay gap between men and women, the comparison is between the average compensation of all men and all women, without accounting for the fields that men choose to enter as compared with women, or how many hours men work as compared with women.

  When you measure the pay gap correctly—comparing like professions and like hours—you discover that there is no gap at all.

  If, instead of comparing the gross numbers, we compare the average compensation of college graduates versus high school graduates with skills—such as the mechanical trades or the dangerous jobs that are predominantly done by men—it’s a different story. Here’s an example: plumbers versus doctors.

  On top of that, some of the world’s biggest companies—including Google, Apple, and Netflix—no longer require a college degree for most new employees. This, according to those businesses, is because so many young people today are able to self-educate in the necessary entry skills and then fill in the gaps after they have been hired.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 17:50

• Cops Radioed "Blanket Tactical Channel" About Shooter After Rooftop Confrontation, Yet Nothing Was Done
  Cops Radioed “Blanket Tactical Channel” About Shooter After Rooftop Confrontation, Yet Nothing Was Done

  Evidence continues to mount that Saturday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump by shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was allowed to happen, despite ample warning from bystanders, local PD, and even the shooter’s parents.

  

  To review:

  • Three hours before the shooting, security for the rally caught Crooks with a rangefinder and let him go.

  • 40 minutes before the shooting, law enforcement circulated a picture of Crooks crawling around on the ground.

  • Local PD notified the Secret Service that they had inadequate resources to monitor the building used by Crooks.

  • The parents of Thomas Matthew Crooks called law enforcement before the assassination attempt to warn them that their son was “missing” and they were “worried” about him.

  WTH is this about pic.twitter.com/lR6ypitfqo

  — Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) July 17, 2024

  • Local law enforcement observed Crooks leave the area and return three times, during which they took two pictures of him and reported the suspicious activity.

  • A Secret Service agent in charge of security for the event was on the phone with local and state police about the threat while the shooting took place.

  • Crowds were shouting at the police to do something about the guy on the roof with a rifle for several minutes.

  And now for the kicker: 

  After Crooks was positioned on the roof, one cop boosted another cop up to the roofline – only for Crooks to point his weapon at him. At that point, the boosted cop fell.

  

  Both of them radioed the threat on a “blanket tactical channel” before the shooting, on which “everyone who was on the tactical channel heard it” according to Butler Township manager, Tom Knights.

  “The boosting officer and the officer that fell were both on the radio indicating that there was an individual on the roof that did, in fact, have a weapon,” said Knights. “There was a blanket tactical channel being used. Everyone who was on that tactical channel heard it.”

  Watch (via @KanekoaTheGreat):

  The officer who confronted Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof radioed a “blanket tactical channel” that there was “an individual on the roof with a weapon” before the assassination attempt on President Trump.

  Why wasn’t President Trump immediately evacuated?

  Was the Secret… pic.twitter.com/c2J0KlQEwF

  — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) July 17, 2024

  It is unknown how much time passed between that radio communication and when shots rang out – or whether the Secret Service was on the “blanket tactical channel” (one would assume). But there was ample knowledge of the armed guy trying to kill Trump before he began shooting. 

  BREAKING: Secret Service knew about threat before Trump took stage at Pennsylvania rally, source sayshttps://t.co/SYSzuDHWjQ

  — Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2024

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

  3:00 — Assassin under suspicion when range finder sets off metal detector.

  5:45 — counter-sniper spots assassin on roof. Radios it in.

  6:02-6:04 — They still allow Trump to take the stage

  6:11 — after enjoying seven minutes to set up his shot, assassin brandishes rifle at…

  — John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) July 17, 2024

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

  We’re sure Congress will get to the bottom of this…

  …or not:

  COVER-UP: “According to House Speaker Mike Johnson, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is attempting to block Cheatle from testifying. Johnson called on Cheatle to resign during an interview with Fox News Wednesday morning.” – Townhall pic.twitter.com/yWuyOHdTV9

  — Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) July 17, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 17:25

• Judge's Dismissal Of Classified Document Case Against Trump Explained
  Judge’s Dismissal Of Classified Document Case Against Trump Explained

  Authored by Sam Dorman via the Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Justice Department’s classified documents case against former President Donald Trump on July 15, ruling that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment violated two key provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

  

  In a 93-page ruling, Judge Cannon wrote that Mr. Smith’s prosecution of the former president “breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law.”

  The ruling raises questions about the Justice Department’s use of special counsels.

  Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mr. Smith, said the Justice Department had authorized an appeal.

  “The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a special counsel,” Mr. Carr said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

  Here are some key takeaways on the ruling and its implications.

  Special Counsels and the Appointments Clause

  Judge Cannon ruled that Mr. Smith’s position was unconstitutional under the appointments clause of the Constitution, which states that Congress can, through law, allow department heads to appoint “inferior” officers.

  The judge ruled that Mr. Smith was an inferior officer, which requires Congress to authorize the attorney general to appoint him as special counsel, which didn’t happen.

  Her ruling pointed to how Congress let the Independent Counsel Act, which allowed the Justice Department to appoint special prosecutors, expire in 1999. While Mr. Smith pointed to other laws to justify his appointment, Judge Cannon rejected those arguments.

  Judge Cannon’s ruling conflicts with a 2019 judgment by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which upheld former special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment.

  

  The Florida judge also declared his funding illegitimate in her opinion.

  “Special Counsel Smith’s office—since November 2022—has been drawing funds from the Treasury without statutory authorization, in violation of the Appropriations Clause,” she wrote.

  The appropriations clause reads, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

  Judge Cannon said the court “has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed,” she said.

  The ruling is limited to the prosecution of former President Trump in the Southern District of Florida but could be cited in other cases.

  Appeal to 11th Circuit

  Mr. Smith is expected to appeal Judge Cannon’s decision to dismiss the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The 11th Circuit will likely hear the case with a three-judge panel, which could either affirm or reject Judge Cannon’s ruling.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if her order is overturned by the Eleventh Circuit or the Supreme Court,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told The Epoch Times in an email. “Justice [Clarence] Thomas is the only justice who seems persuaded by this type of argument.”

  Mr. Rahmani was referring to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurrence in Trump v. United States, which held that the former president enjoyed some immunity from criminal prosecution. That concurrence focused on the legality of special counsels and was quoted by Judge Cannon in her July 15 decision.

  By contrast, John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both Bush administrations, told The Epoch Times that Judge Cannon’s opinion was “well-reasoned and well-written.”

  If the 11th Circuit rejects Judge Cannon’s ruling, it will presumably send the case back to the district court level to continue pretrial proceedings.

  

  Replacement Prosecutor?

  While Mr. Smith pursues an appeal, Attorney General Merrick Garland could assign a U.S. attorney to bring charges against the former president in Florida. Doing so would require that attorney to once again obtain an indictment from a grand jury.

  The U.S. attorney for that district is Markenzy Lapointe.

  Mr. Shu said appointing Mr. Lapointe would be problematic from a public relations perspective for the Justice Department, given that Mr. Garland had justified his appointment of Mr. Smith on the grounds of maintaining “both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”

  With the appeals process afoot, even if the decision is overturned by a higher court, it is now extremely unlikely that a trial will occur before the November election.

  Mr. Shu, who is also a former clerk for the 11th Circuit, said that “if Smith appeals, there’s no way the 11th Circuit can hear this case before the election; it’s not logistically possible.”

  Supreme Court Appeal

  Mr. Smith could also request that the Supreme Court skip the appellate level and take on Judge Cannon’s dismissal in an expedited fashion. It seems unlikely, however, that the top court would grant that request, given that it refused to do the same for former President Trump’s immunity appeal in his federal election case.

  In the event that the 11th Circuit overturns Judge Cannon’s ruling, it is likely that former President Trump will appeal to the Supreme Court.

  If the high court takes up an appeal, it would mark the third time that it has taken up a major constitutional question surrounding former President Trump in the 2024 election cycle.

  Judge Cannon’s decision added to a year of major court rulings on the nation’s separation of powers.

  The 6–3 Supreme Court decision in the Trump v. United States presidential immunity case ordered reconsideration of the issue by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. That case involves former President Trump’s reaction to the 2020 election, as well as his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021.

  “If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people,” Justice Thomas wrote in the majority opinion, referring to the prosecution in Washington. “The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the Special Counsel’s appointment before proceeding.”

  Read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 17:00

• CNN Admits Trump On Course For Landslide Win
  CNN Admits Trump On Course For Landslide Win

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  CNN’s John King highlighted Tuesday how Donald Trump is on course for a historic landslide victory in November, and could get as many as 330 electoral votes (only 270 are needed to win).

  

  “If Donald Trump won, what we have here, dark red states, solid Republican. Light red states, leaning Republican. If he won just those right there, he would already have the path to 270. He would have 272 electoral votes,” King explained.

  He continued, “Look what is different. We have Wisconsin as a toss-up. We have Pennsylvania as a toss-up. Two critical states for Joe Biden. Michigan right now, another critical state for Biden, leaning Republican. Georgia, a state Biden flipped, leaning Republican. Arizona, a toss-up state. That was a state Biden flipped. Nevada, a state he won, leaning Republican.”

  “This is the dire strait for Joe Biden right now on the first night of the republican convention. Tomorrow is 16 weeks to Election Day. Sixteen weeks from tomorrow, we count the votes. It is tough to change a map like this in that amount of time,” King further urged.

  King went on to explain how Trump is winning in so many States and districts and is competitive in areas that are traditionally Democratic.

  “So, the warnings to the White House are Donald Trump could conceivably, if the current dynamics in the race hold, get 330 or more electoral votes. That’s what they believe,” King explained.

  “It’s a very narrow path for Joe Biden. He … has essentially one, maybe two narrow paths to 270,” King highlighted, urging that “Donald Trump has so many. There are viable paths to get him as high as 330, which means you can take some states away, Jake, and he would still get to 270.”

  “Donald Trump, on the first night of his convention, and Democratic people who are studying the data closely say it keeps getting worse for the president. Donald Trump opened his convention tonight in a commanding position in this race, period,” the analyst concluded.

  Watch:

  Even CNN admits Trump is on course for a historic landslide victory in November, and could get as many as 330 electoral votes (only 270 are needed to win). Full report here: https://t.co/RxslypnFXc pic.twitter.com/06aGcHfrYa

  — m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 17, 2024

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

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 16:55

• Billion Dollar Companies Like Apple And Nvidia Are Swiping YouTube Content To Train Their AI
  Billion Dollar Companies Like Apple And Nvidia Are Swiping YouTube Content To Train Their AI

  Apple, Nvidia and Salesforce are using content on YouTube to train their AI. 

  Subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos spread across 48,000 YouTube channels were used by these companies as training data despite YouTube’s rules against harvesting information, according to Proof News and Wired. 

  The dataset – called YouTube Subtitles – includes transcripts from educational channels like Khan Academy, MIT, and Harvard, as well as media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the BBC.

  Late-night shows like The Late Show, Last Week Tonight, and Jimmy Kimmel Live were also used, thge report says.

  Additionally, Proof News found that popular YouTubers like MrBeast, Marques Brownlee, Jacksepticeye, and PewDiePie had their videos included. 

  David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show, which sports more than 2 million subscribers and more than 2 billion views, commented: “No one came to me and said, ‘We would like to use this.” 

  “This is my livelihood, and I put time, resources, money, and staff time into creating this content. There’s really no shortage of work,” he added, arguing that if AI companies are paid, he should be compensated for his data.

  

  Dave Wiskus, the CEO of Nebula, didn’t mince words: “It’s theft. Will this be used to exploit and harm artists? Yes, absolutely.” 

  The data was part of ‘The Pile’, a compilation of data released that includes content from YouTube, the European Parliament, English Wikipedia and corporate emails. 

  Apple utilized the Pile for OpenELM before adding new AI features to its products. Bloomberg and Databricks also leveraged the Pile, according to their publications. Anthropic, an AI company backed by a $4 billion Amazon investment, confirmed its use of the Pile for its AI assistant, Claude, while emphasizing compliance with YouTube’s terms, Wired wrote. 

  Salesforce used the Pile for an AI model intended for academic and research purposes, releasing it publicly in 2022. This model has been downloaded over 86,000 times. 

  Litigation against companies using unauthorized data for AI training is ongoing. Authors have sued over the use of works in datasets like Books3, another Pile component. Tech companies argue their actions fall under fair use, but legal battles are ongoing.

  Read Wired’s full story here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 16:40

• We Need An Energy Policy That Promotes Our National Security
  We Need An Energy Policy That Promotes Our National Security

  Authored by Robert O’Brien & Neil Auerbach via RealClearEnergy,

  Energy policy is not just a matter of governing approach, it is fundamental to our national security posture and economic resilience. The United States stands at a crossroads, and it is imperative we adopt an energy strategy that prioritizes our national interests, promotes clean air and water and economic growth, and ensures America’s global leadership. As the former National Security Advisor to President Trump, I have seen firsthand the critical importance of energy policy in safeguarding our national security and economic prosperity. President Trump stands poised to reshape the nation’s energy posture through an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that is right for America.

  

  We cannot ignore the central role that domestic oil and gas production plays in our nation’s economy and that it will continue to do so long into the future.  Thus, we must facilitate further growth of this vital industry by confronting the impact of regulations that stymie growth. In a world where Europe and Asia are striving to stabilize their energy supplies amidst growing demands, the United States’ decision to pause new Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export approvals has serious implications for global stability. American energy dominance over our adversaries necessitates an approach that spans all sectors. This policy must include dramatic increases in drilling for oil and gas, the restoration of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which was needlessly drained for political reason, the revitalization of our nuclear power industry, particularly through encouraging the building of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and a reclaiming of American leadership in the clean energy sector. Such a strong all-of-the-above energy strategy ensures a diversified and secure energy supply and will foster peace and prosperity for America and our allies.

  Domestic Production and Regulation

  Global energy demand is poised to grow significantly as AI growth, crypto mining, and emerging markets lead to demand for more energy. Despite recent increases in domestic oil production—gains which have occurred in spite of the Biden administration’s policies, not because of them—the United States must continue to increase petroleum production. Under the current administration, we have seen a slew of regulations and prohibitions on drilling on federal lands and offshore. These constraints have stifled what could be a significantly higher American production rate. Without these suffocating regulations, the United States could be producing millions of barrels more per day, reinforcing our energy security and reducing dependency on foreign oil. Energy independence is not just an economic issue, it is a national security imperative given our geopolitical struggles with global production giants – Russia and Iran – and the world’s largest consumer and polluter – China.

  Rebranding as an Energy Exporter

  The current pause on new LNG export approvals is both an environmental and geopolitical disaster. LNG is a cleaner alternative to coal and oil, and its export can help reduce global carbon emissions while providing a strategic advantage to the United States in global energy markets. Cleaner air and water in the world is dependent on US LNG leadership. Restarting and expanding LNG exports should be a priority for any administration that truly values both the environment and our geopolitical standing. By resuming LNG exports, we can provide our allies with a reliable and clean energy source, reduce their dependence on hostile nations, and strengthen our own economic position. Furthermore, expanding LNG exports will create jobs across the energy and transportation sectors while boosting our GDP, enabling the U.S. to reduce its debt and enhance its economic resilience. Failure to support the growth of the LNG market will be a gold-plated gift to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

  Keystone XL Pipeline

  One of the first actions of a future Trump administration should be the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, with the goal of completing it by December 2025. This pipeline is crucial for transporting Canadian crude oil to U.S. refineries cleanly, efficiently and safely, enhancing North American energy integration and security. The alternative will be the shipment of Canadian oil from North America across Canada and the Pacific Ocean to be refined in China by the world’s biggest polluter. The Keystone XL pipeline not only represents a significant infrastructure investment but also a step toward energy independence and renewed strength in North American security. Its completion should be a day-one priority and accomplished by the end of the first year of the administration. President Trump demonstrated his ability to lead innovative and complex projects in his first term. A future Trump administration will deliver success for America thru completing the Keystone XL pipeline.

  Strategic Petroleum Reserve

  The SPR is a critical component of our national security infrastructure. It serves as a buffer against global supply disruptions and ensures that we have access to energy in times of crisis. The Biden administration’s decision to raid the SPR was a shortsighted and politically motivated move to lower gas prices for a news cycle or two, jeopardizing our national security. We must stop raiding the SPR and focus on replenishing it to optimal levels. By maintaining a robust reserve, we can safeguard our energy security and protect our economy from volatile global markets.

  Low Carbon Economy and the Role of Nuclear Power

  In 2023, low carbon energy sources supplied 40% of global electricity supply, 30% of which came from renewable energy and 10% of which came from nuclear energy. The growth in renewables over the last decade has been spectacular and has been accompanied by significant reductions in cost. Market forces will continue to propel the growth of renewables for decades to come. The share of global electricity supply coming from nuclear energy, on the other hand, has been stagnant, despite the advances in nuclear technology, particularly with SMRs. Fueled by advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and coupled with additional demand from crypto mining, global energy demand is expected to skyrocket through 2050. If the U.S. and the rest of the world are serious about emissions reduction, increasing investment in SMRs is an essential part of a low carbon power generation portfolio. SMRs provide a reliable, low-carbon energy source that can support the increased baseload needs from data centers and other technology-driven sectors. By embracing nuclear power as an integral part of the low carbon economy, we can ensure a stable and sustainable energy supply with incredible flexibility in meeting tomorrow’s energy needs.

  All-of-the-Above Approach to Energy Dominance

  Embracing an all-of-the-above energy strategy means that the U.S. is true to its core value of promoting competition in markets, and benefits consumers as well as efficient producers. Our fossil fuel industry is the envy of the world and has produced incredible advances in fracking technology. The U.S. also happens to lead the world in reducing the CO2 emissions intensity of its oil and gas sector. The U.S. can and must continue to invest in expanding our global leadership in oil and gas production, which remains a cornerstone of our energy supply, and expand domestic production of clean energy and low-carbon emission solutions, such as wind, solar, hydropower, hydrogen and nuclear—all produced in the United States with equipment manufactured in the United States.

  The world needs more energy and fossil fuels will remain the largest contributor to the global energy supply for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, that future holds the exciting possibility that carbon capture and methane abatement technology may effectively erase the dividing line between low-carbon and fossil fuel energy sources as continued technology advances decrease cost and improve efficiency and reliability.

  There is no economically rational way to eliminate fossil fuels from our global energy supply. However, as the energy industry continues its inexorable shift in favor of low-carbon energy, the U.S. would be wise to diversify its own energy portfolio.

  By diversifying our energy portfolio, we can ensure a stable and affordable energy supply for all Americans. This approach also aligns with our national security interests by reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources and enhancing our energy resilience. The United States has the potential to be as dominant a force in low carbon energy as we are in fossil fuel energy production.

  A look back at the history of U.S. involvement in the clean energy sector makes it clear that we took our eye off the ball to our national detriment.  The United States is the birthplace of both the solar and wind industries, dating back to the 1950s and 1980s, respectively.  The U.S. was also once the dominant player in the extraction of rare earth minerals.  However, over the past decade, we have all but ceded dominance of this multi trillion-dollar industry to China for a variety of reasons, including IP theft and unfair trade practices. China’s use of slave labor and currency manipulation has made matters even worse.

  As of 2011, the U.S. still maintained a lead over China in installed solar and wind energy, but by 2023, China had installed over three times the capacity as the U.S.  Almost none of that installed capacity in China had U.S. made components whereas China had sizable chunks of our domestic market.  The U.S. must recognize both the threat and the opportunity created by the emergence of China as the dominant clean energy manufacturer and rare earth mineral producer. 

  Addressing China’s Role in Global Emissions

  China is the root of global CO2 emission problems. While the United States has been a leader in reducing carbon emissions, China continues to be the world’s largest polluter. The United States should not pursue unachievable climate initiatives that harm our national and economic security. Instead, we should focus on pragmatic solutions that enhance our energy security and maintain our leadership in emission reductions. By holding China accountable for its emissions and promoting American innovation, we can lead the world in sustainable energy practices.

  The United States has abundant mineral resources critical to the low-carbon economy. Chinese dominance of both manufacturing and mineral extraction and processing for the low-carbon economy is a geopolitical concern that is rapidly becoming a geopolitical threat to the future. By unleashing American innovation and production of clean technologies, we can export these products around the world, both reducing emissions globally and reducing China’s stranglehold on clean energy supply chains. President Trump’s record proves he is the right person at the right time to address the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Xi.

  Conclusion

  Republicans can adopt a winning energy policy and political strategy by emphasizing market-driven solutions that support our national interests over government mandates. The United States has been blessed from on high with abundant energy resources in both fossil fuels and renewables, and a diverse energy policy will lower domestic energy costs while strengthening our position as a net energy exporter. By focusing on energy security and pragmatic environmental stewardship, we can ensure a prosperous and secure future for America and our friends.

  Market realities must drive Republicans back to a renewed sense of enthusiasm for an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that recognizes the importance of the low-carbon sector to our economy without forsaking oil and gas resources, as the Biden administration has. This approach will allow the United States to dominate the world’s energy markets once again. This strategy will lead to cleaner air and water for our people, while at the same time delivering economic prosperity and national security to our country. Ours is a commonsense approach to integrating our national security, energy security, economic and environmental interests, and is certain to appeal to voters across the political spectrum. It is a winning message for the GOP to take into November.

  Robert O’Brien served as the 27th U.S. National Security Advisor from 2019-2021.

  Neil Auerbach is the founder and CEO of Hudson Sustainable Group, an investor in sustainable energy, and a former partner of Goldman Sachs. Neil is a senior advisor for the American Conservation Coalition. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 16:20

• Nasdaq Pukes To Worst Day In 19 Months, Bonds & Black Gold Bid
  Nasdaq Pukes To Worst Day In 19 Months, Bonds & Black Gold Bid

  So much for the “broadening out of the rally” bullshit!

  

  Semis were slammed – their biggest drop since the COVID lockdowns – as the market had trouble with weaker than expected 3Q guidance from European semi bellwether, ASML (and headline chatter of further crackdowns on chip exports to China)

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The Nasdaq damn broke today as it suffered its biggest single-day drop since Dec 2022…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Small Caps actually had a down day today (though outperformed Nasdaq) as The Dow hit a new record high…

  

  The last five days have seen Small Caps (Russell 2000) outperform Large Caps (Russell 1000) by the largest amount in history (going back to 1979)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The Magnificent 7 stocks have lost a staggering $1.1 Trillion in market cap in the last five days…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But that’s still a drop in ocean in context of how far they have come…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Under the hood, Goldman’s trading desk noted that volumes +17% vs the trailing 20 days and can feel it flow-wise on the desk. S&P top of book tracking much higher as well +11%. Our floor is skewed much better for sale (-8%) with most moving their feet in TMT. Across Semis, we have seen significant supply most concentrated in AI winners. We have also seen supply across rideshare names (UBER, LYFT) + ADRs.

  • LO activity concentrated in tech, followed by Hcare but slow elsewhere.

  • HFs also moving their feet in tech, but also active across Consumer Discretionary on the buy side, vs selling Fins, and Hcare. Short ratios elevated across staples.

  For context, in cumulative notional terms, the de-grossing activity over the past 5 sessions is the largest since Nov ’22 and ranks in the 99th percentile on a 5-year lookback…

  

  Dovish comments from Fed’s Waller were largely ignored – though did provide some juice for the initial short squeeze on Small Caps at the cash open…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasuries were mixed today with the long-end very modestly outperforming overall (2Y +1bps, 30Y -1bps). Weakness overnight gave way to a strong bid during the US session as equities sold off…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Rate-cut expectations remained dovish with 2025 expectations rising today…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The dollar tumbled further below June Payrolls lows today, back near two-month lows…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Much of the dollar weakness was the further implosion of the yen carry trade (which strengthens the yen vs the dollar)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Crude prices soared today, helped by a big inventory decline…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Bitcoin ETFs continued to see stronger inflows…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But bitcoin was weighed down modestly today by the overall tech turbulence (notably strong relative performance though)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Gold dipped back from record highs but spot found support at $2450…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, if you thought you had a bad day in the markets, President Biden’s odds of getting the nomination collapsed… again…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Kamala’s awful quiet, eh?

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/17/2024 – 16:00

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