May 18

Today’s News 18th May 2024

  • Sen. Cruz Urges DOJ, FBI To Investigate Whether Foreign Adversaries Are Behind Gaza War Protests In US
    Sen. Cruz Urges DOJ, FBI To Investigate Whether Foreign Adversaries Are Behind Gaza War Protests In US

    Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

    Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called for U.S. federal authorities to investigate whether foreign actors are promoting contentions within the United States, including recent protests over the war in Gaza taking place on U.S. college campuses and other venues around the country.

    During a Wednesday, May 15 episode of his personal podcast “The Verdict,” Mr. Cruz noted a recent report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) alleging connections between the the “Shut It Down for Palestine” (SID4P) movement and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

    The NCRI report specifically alleges that convenor organizations that formed the SID4P protest movement, People’s Forum, the International People’s Assembly, and ANSWER Coalition, “serve as the conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S., advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda.”

    “If you look at this report from NCRI, it details how China is spending millions upwards of potentially $100 million funding these protests that are occurring on campuses that are shutting down bridges that are shutting down airports,” Mr. Cruz said.

    “And you might think, okay, ‘What does China care about Hamas? What does China care about Israel?’ And the truth of the matter is they don’t, but they care about America, they care about tearing our country apart, they care about chaos and fomenting dissent and dissension that paralyzes our country.”

    During the podcast episode, Mr. Cruz also noted a recent article by the New York Post alleging ties between Manolo De Los Santos, a 35-year-old New York-based activist involved in recent pro-Palestinian activism, and Cuba. Mr. De Los Santos was born in the Dominican Republic and now works with The People’s Forum.

    Report Says Protest Group May Be Tied to Terrorist Group

    The NCRI report also states some Western intelligence assessments indicate Samidoun, an organization that has endorsed SID4P, is connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The U.S. government has designated PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization.

    The German government banned Samidoun from operating in the country in October.

    The NCRI report derives its claims that Samidoun may be linked to PFLP from a November article in the German newspaper Deutsche Welle, which itself cites unnamed intelligence sources for the alleged PFLP connection.

    NTD News reached out to Samidoun for comment on these allegations but did not receive a response by press time. The group did, however, publish a statement criticizing the German government’s decision to ban them in October.

    “If the German Chancellor and his government support the genocidal war on Gaza being carried out as we speak, it can be no surprise that they also seek to criminalize the ability of Palestinians and people of conscience to act against that war, to speak out, to organize, and to express support for the Palestinian people’s drive and struggle for freedom, justice and liberation,” Samidoun’s October statement reads.

    Samidoun said in October that it was committed to challenging the German government’s ban.

    Cruz: DOJ and FBI Should Investigate

    Mr. Cruz and 15 other Republican U.S. senators signed a letter last week, calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to begin investigating whether various nonprofit organizations involved in organizing protests over the war in Gaza should lose their tax-exempt status on the grounds that their activities may constitute prohibit support for terrorist organizations.

    The Republican Texas senator took his calls for investigation a step further during the Wednesday podcast, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to also begin investigating these activist groups.

    “The Department of Justice should be investigating this. The FBI should be investigating this,” Mr. Cruz said. “We’ve got money coming from communist China, behind these protests, behind these anti-American anti-Israel protests. We’ve got money coming from organizations that have close ties to designated terrorist organizations. And so, whether it is Hamas and Hezbollah pushing this, whether it is affiliated allies of theirs pushing this, whether it is Iran pushing this, or whether it’s Communist China pushing this, the FBI ought to be all over it.”

    NTD News reached out to the SID4P convenor organizations for comment about the NCRI report and Mr. Cruz’s calls for investigation but they did not respond by press time.

    NTD News also reached out for comment from Mr. De Los Santos but did not receive a response.

    In addition to his calls for FBI investigations, Mr. Cruz also advocated for deporting foreign nationals engaged in certain protest activities.

    “As far as I’m concerned, if you have a student on a student visa, who gets out there and is burning an American flag and chanting Death to America, you should deport him that day,” Mr. Cruz said. “We have no obligation to allow people to come on student visas, which is permissive, and it is a choice that is a discretionary choice if they are going to tear down this country.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 23:40

  • NOTAM Sparks Confusion Over Possible Russian Hypersonic Missile Test Off California Coast
    NOTAM Sparks Confusion Over Possible Russian Hypersonic Missile Test Off California Coast

    There’s been quite a stir on X as some users speculate that a NOTAM, or aviation notice to airmen, suggests a potential Russian Navy hypersonic missile test off the coast of Southern California. However, that’s not the case. According to The War Zone, the NOTAM is actually in anticipation of a Russian space booster splashing down in the Pacific. 

    Let’s begin with the misguided hype on X about the threats of Russian missile testing off the California coast. These posts collectively have generated more than a million views. 

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    Meanwhile, two US defense officials told TWZ the NOTAM is in place through May 26 because of the re-entry of a “Russian space launch booster.” 

    “It is not for a launch or a military exercise,” the officials said, commenting on the social media hype. 

    Concerns about the Russians in the Pacific surfaced earlier this week in a NOTAM posted on May 13 advising pilots to avoid a large block of airspace between May 16 and May 26 “for Russian Federation impact area by at least 50 nautical miles.”

    “This notice is for all aircraft transiting from Hawaii to North America and North America to Hawaii. The following restrictions are due to the Russian Federation rocket firing impact area,” the NOTAM read, which sparked mass confusion. 

    US defense officials weren’t entirely sure which Russian rocket booster would splash down in the Pacific. However, Russian media outlet TASS reported earlier today that a Soyuz-2.1b rocket equipped with satellites launched Friday. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 23:20

  • Drug Overdose Deaths Drop For First Time Since 2018
    Drug Overdose Deaths Drop For First Time Since 2018

    Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times,

    The rate of death by overdose declined in 2023, marking the first decrease in five years. Data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics show the decline mainly attributed to a drop in deaths from synthetic opioids, specifically fentanyl.

    The number of drug overdoses in 2023 was predicted to be 107,543, down from 111,029 in 2022, indicating a 3 percent drop. Deaths from all types of opioids dropped by 3.7 percent.

    The good news, unfortunately, stops there, as death rates from stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine rose. Deaths from cocaine overdose were up 5.2 percent, while the death rate for methamphetamine was up nearly 2 percent.

    Some states saw decreases in overdose death rates. Indiana, Kansas, Maine, and Nebraska experienced declines of 15 percent or more. Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, however, experienced significant spikes in overdose deaths, with rates increasing by at least 27 percent.

    However, drug overdose-death trends seem to be leveling off after a drastic spike from 2019 to 2020. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the overdose death rate increased 31 percent that year, marking the biggest spike since 2002. Drug overdoses remain one of the leading causes of injury death in adults, the CDC reports.

    Narcan’s Wider Availability May Be Behind the Dip

    The report gave no definitive reason for the slight decrease in drug overdose deaths. However, naloxone, more commonly known as Narcan, has become more widely available and used. In 2023, Narcan became more available in public places, including schools and federal buildings, as part of the Biden administration’s National Drug Control Strategy.

    “These lifesaving medications should be as readily available as fire extinguishers or defibrillators in all public spaces, from schools, to housing communities, to restaurants, retail, and other businesses,” Human Health Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press release.

    Additionally, test strips became available for people looking to test their drugs for fentanyl. Community clinics also operate programs to hand out sterile syringes to help reduce transmission of infections such as hepatitis C and HIV among those who inject drugs.

    Despite the dip in death rates, drug overdose deaths remain at an all-time high, as does illicit drug use. Results of the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) showed that 48.7 million Americans 12 or older struggled with drug addiction in the past year, including 29.5 million who were addicted to alcohol, 27.2 million who were addicted to drugs, and 8 million with an addiction to both.

    “The National Survey on Drug Use and Health provides an annual snapshot of behavioral health nationwide,” Mr. Becerra said in an NSDUH press release. “This data informs knowledge, policy and action, and drives our shared commitment across government, healthcare, industry and community to offer resources and services to those in need.”

    Drug Use, Mental Illness Go Hand in Hand

    In 2022, 70.3 million Americans aged 12 and older admitted to using an illicit drug in the past year. The NSDUH also found that nearly one in four adults 18 and older had a mental illness within the past year and that just under 5 million adolescents experienced a major depressive episode.

    Moreover, one in 20 adults had harbored serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, while 3.8 million had made a serious plan; another 1.8 million had attempted to end their lives. Adolescents were not immune to suicidal ideation. Over one in eight adolescents between 12 and 17 years old entertained suicidal thoughts, one in 15 made plans, and one in 25 attempted suicide.

    “To tackle the behavioral health crisis in this nation, we need to fully understand the issues surrounding mental health and substance use, and the impact they have on people and communities,” Human Health Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm said in a press release.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 23:00

  • Watch: Houthis Shoot Down A 4th US Reaper Drone
    Watch: Houthis Shoot Down A 4th US Reaper Drone

    Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis have announced that they have shot down yet another $30 million American military drone. 

    Footage is widely circulating of what appears to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper drone in Yemen, but the Pentagon has not yet confirmed. 

    Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree described that the drone was conducing “hostile actions” over Yemen’s Marib province when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

    The Associated Press has commented of footage released by the Houthis:

    The Houthis later released footage they claimed showed the surface-to-air-missile being launched at night, along with night-vision footage of the missile hitting the drone.

    A man, whose voice had been digitally altered to apparently prevent identification, chanted the Houthi slogan: God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

    Though the US had not confirmed prior shootdowns in every case, this would mark the fourth Reaper downing by the Houthis since Gaza-related hostilities began in the wake of Oct.7.

    Over the last half-decade many more have been lost, in connection with the prior Saudi-US-UAE coalition war against the Yemeni rebels.

    “Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the U.S. military has previously lost at least five drones to the rebels,” the AP report notes.

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    We described previously that literally hundreds of US and British missile strikes on Yemen have done nothing to deter the Houthis, who insist the campaign will only stop once there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.

    The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 that involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the Houthis only became more of a capable fighting force during that time.

    New images of the downed drone wreckage from Yemen:

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    So ultimately, the Pentagon’s Yemen adventurism over a period of years has cost American taxpayers billions, and yet Congress has never officially authorized combat operations there.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 22:40

  • US Power Grid May Become Unreliable This Summer, Watchdog Warns
    US Power Grid May Become Unreliable This Summer, Watchdog Warns

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

    Parts of America could face difficulties in meeting electricity demand during the summer season, with renewable energy sources like wind and solar power posing a potential risk to reliable power supply, according to a report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

    The NERC report classifies several parts of the country as facing an “elevated” risk of summer electricity reliability for the upcoming June-September period.

    Elevated risk means there is “potential for insufficient operating reserves” when the region faces above-normal demand conditions. Such regions include parts of Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Illinois, and Iowa. The determination of elevated risk is based on various factors, including potential low wind or solar energy condions that could lead to a lower electricity supply.

    The North American power bulk power system (BPS) is made up of six regional entities—Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO), Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC), ReliabilityFirst (RF), SERC Reliability Corporation (SERC), Texas Reliability Entity (Texas RE), Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC)—with elevated risk upcoming in certain regions.

    Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which manages the electricity capacity market, operates in 15 U.S. states, including Texas, Illinois, Montana, Arkansas, and Kentucky. MISO is expected to have “sufficient resources” to meet normal summer peak demand, the NERC report said.

    However, if MISO were to face above-normal peak demand conditions at a time when wind and solar output is lower than expected, it could be “challenging” for the transmission organization to meet demand.

    “Wind generator performance during periods of high demand is a key factor in determining whether there is sufficient electricity supply on the system or if external (non-firm) supply assistance is required to maintain reliability.”

    The Texas RE ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) interconnection, which handles approximately 90 percent of Texas’ electrical load, faces potential emergency conditions in summer evening hours “when solar generation begins to ramp down.”

    Under certain grid conditions, power transfers from South Texas to the San Antonio region have to be restricted, which contributes to “elevated risk” of supply. Such grid conditions occur when “demand is high and wind and solar output is low in specific areas, straining the transmission system.”

    In areas serviced by the WECC covering 14 states, including California and New Mexico, challenges to electricity reliability are estimated to be under “above-normal demand and low-resource conditions.” Such a situation happens when there is low solar output or below-normal imports, the report said.

    Commenting on the NERC report, Michelle Bloodworth, the CEO of America’s Power, a partnership of industries involved in producing electricity from coal, said the assessment reveals that the American electricity grid is “increasingly reliant on weather-dependent sources of electricity” like solar and wind power.

    This puts “one-third of the country at elevated risk of blackouts this summer,” she said, adding that such risks are only poised to increase because of regulations imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

    “Delayed coal plant retirements are playing a key role in supporting grid reliability. However, this is only a temporary band-aid because EPA regulations will cause more coal retirements that cannot be delayed. These regulations, especially the recently announced Carbon Rule, increase the chance of blackouts,” Ms. Bloodworth said.

    “With electricity demand exploding, our country needs a strategy for ensuring a healthy long-term electricity supply that doesn’t depend on the sun and the wind and is not dictated by EPA regulations.”

    The EPA backs renewable energy, noting it “produces no greenhouse gas emissions” like fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution. Renewable can also reduce America’s “dependence on imported fuels.”

    Last month, the EPA announced $7 billion in grants under the “Solar for All” scheme to deliver residential solar projects to more than 900,000 homes across the United States. The grants are awarded to 60 selectees.

    “The selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change,” EPA administrator Michael S. Regan said.

    New EPA Rule

    The NERC report comes as the EPA announced a suite of final rules on April 25 aimed at reducing pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

    The new standards require all coal-fired plants that intend to run in the long term as well as all new baseload gas-fired plants to curb 90 percent of their carbon pollution.

    The rules also tighten the coal plant emissions standard for toxic metals by 67 percent and mandate a 70 percent reduction in the emissions standard for mercury from existing lignite-fired sources. Additionally, rules regarding wastewater discharge at coal plants and the management of coal ash are strengthened.

    The EPA claims the new standards deliver on the Biden administration’s commitment to protect the health of all communities. The agency said the rules will deliver “hundreds of billions of dollars in net benefits.”

    “The regulatory impact analysis projects reductions of 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution overall through 2047, which is equivalent to preventing the annual emissions of 328 million gasoline cars, or to nearly an entire year of emissions from the entire U.S. electric power sector. It also projects up to $370 billion in climate and public health net benefits over the next two decades,” the EPA said.

    The agency also estimates that the rules will avoid up to 1,200 premature deaths, 1,900 cases of asthma onset, 360,000 instances of asthma symptoms, and 57,000 lost workdays in 2035 alone.

    “By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” Mr. Regan said.

    The energy regulations have been criticized by Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a trade association of electrical cooperatives.

    “The path outlined by the EPA is unlawful, unrealistic, and unachievable,” he said. “It undermines electric reliability and poses grave consequences for an already stressed electric grid. This barrage of new EPA rules ignores our nation’s ongoing electric reliability challenges and is the wrong approach at a critical time for our nation’s energy future.”

    Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) called EPA rules proof that President Biden has “doubled down” on his plans to shut down the “backbone of America’s electric grid.”

    “Electricity demand is set to skyrocket thanks in part to the EPA’s own electric vehicles mandate, and unfortunately, Americans are already paying higher utility bills under President Biden,” she said.

    “Despite all this, the administration has chosen to press ahead with its unrealistic climate agenda that threatens access to affordable, reliable energy for households and employers across the country.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 22:20

  • First Images Of American Taxpayers' $350 Million Completed Gaza Pier 
    First Images Of American Taxpayers’ $350 Million Completed Gaza Pier 

    The Pentagon is ‘proud’… and so is the Biden administration. But the US taxpayer?…

    “Today we began delivery of aid from the temporary pier on to the beach of Gaza for further distribution to the people by our partners,” US Central Command announced Friday. “This unique logistics capability facilitates the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid enabling a shared service for the international community to use to serve the people of Gaza.” Below are some of the first overhead images since its completion. 

    It’s “unique” we’re told… and only costs about $350 million. 

    But critics have pointed out the grim irony and contradictions which abound in that the Biden administration has very publicly criticized the way that Israel’s military is waging war in Gaza (and especially the high civilian death toll) while simultaneously Washington is funding it, ultimately to the tune of billions.

    So the US is funding the weapons used to execute the war and risky projects (it remains high risk in that US personnel could come under attack by Hamas) like of US Army-built pier for the sake of delivering humanitarian aid.

    In short the US taxpayer is on the hook for both the bombs and humanitarian aid, even as all parties have seemed to essentially give up on finding a political solution or reaching a truce deal.

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    The Ron Paul Institute’s Daniel McAdams has pointed out: “Reminder to American taxpayers: This floating pier cost you $350 million (and counting), while using existing roads for aid delivery remain the most practical solution.”

    “The question is…why?” he wrote.

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    As for US Progressives, they’ve decried that the Democratic administration is aiding in active war crimes. Biden is fast losing a key part of his base going into November where he faces Donald Trump. 

    For example The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill says, “The fact that the US is establishing a pier off the Gaza coast because the genocidal Israeli government, which the US funds, arms, politically bolsters & shields from international & US law, won’t allow aid into Gaza by land is a damning statement about the Biden administration.”

    At the same time America’s own bridges, roads, border, energy infrastructure… continue to remain neglected. And again, this while we erect complicated piers and loading zones in foreign hot conflict zones.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 22:00

  • Santa Monica Homeless Man Slapped With Felony Charges After Dragging Jogger By Ponytail
    Santa Monica Homeless Man Slapped With Felony Charges After Dragging Jogger By Ponytail

    Authored by Sophie Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A homeless man in Santa Monica was arrested earlier this week after allegedly dragging a female jogger by her ponytail across a beach path in what the victim believes to have been a failed attempt at sexual assault.

    Malcolm Jimmy Ward, Jr., 48. (Courtesy of Santa Monica Police Department)

    Malcolm Jimmy Ward, Jr., 48, is currently being held without bail, the Santa Monica Police Department said in a May 16 statement.

    Officers responded to reports of an assault on the 2000 block of Ocean Front Walk around 7 a.m. May 13. Upon arrival, they found both the victim and suspect near public restrooms, and the suspect was taken into custody without incident, police said. He has been charged with felony counts of kidnapping, assault with intent to commit rape, and violation of parole.

    According to CBS News, the victim, identified as a Venice resident, was jogging at around 7:15 a.m. in the 2000 block of Ocean Front Walk, when the suspect approached her from behind and grabbed her ponytail, causing her to fall to the ground.

    The suspect allegedly dragged her several feet toward the restroom. Several witnesses intervened in the attack and contacted the police, according to authorities. The woman suffered minor injuries.

    “The victim believed that the suspect intended to sexually assault her,” police said.

    According to police, Mr. Ward was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon at the time of the arrest and is homeless.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 21:40

  • 25 Year Old BofA Analyst Dies Suddenly Of Cardiac Arrest While Playing Soccer At Industry Event
    25 Year Old BofA Analyst Dies Suddenly Of Cardiac Arrest While Playing Soccer At Industry Event

    A credit trader from Bank of America who was just 25 years old died suddenly on Thursday night while playing soccer at an industry event, a report by Yahoo/Bloomberg on Friday confirmed. 

    The credit portfolio and algorithmic trader, Adnan Deumic, reportedly “collapsed of a suspected cardiac arrest” and did not respond to medical treatment, including CPR, the writeup says. 

    The bank commented: “The death of our teammate is a tragedy, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of a popular, young colleague. We are committed to providing our full support to Adnan’s family, his friends and to our many employees grieving his loss.”

    Working out of Bank of America’s London office, the trader was “active in sports”, the report says, noting that he was a native of Sweden and also played ice hockey. 

    The recent death marks the second loss of a young employee in the firm’s Wall Street divisions. Leo Lukenas, an investment banking associate in New York, passed away earlier this month.

    It is unclear if work contributed to Lukenas’ death, and Bank of America is not formally investigating it, Bloomberg reported. The bank stated it is focused on supporting the family and the team, who are devastated.

    As the article notes, this incident has sparked discussions within the industry about the demanding, long hours in investment banking. We’re sure there one other topic that it isn’t sparking discussions about…

    As has been reported, it is still uncertain what contributed to Lukenas’ death, and Bank of America is not formally investigating it.

    The company’s said its focus “doing whatever we can to help and support the family and our team who are devastated,” it commented.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 21:20

  • 2 House Panels Clear Contempt Resolutions Against AG Garland
    2 House Panels Clear Contempt Resolutions Against AG Garland

    Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Attorney General Merrick Garland appears at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on April 16, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

    Republicans on two House committees voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Thursday night despite President Joe Biden’s intervention to block them from obtaining his recorded interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.

    After a spirited debate, members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 18–15 on May 16 to approve a resolution to hold Mr. Garland in contempt for refusing to provide impeachment investigators with the recordings in defiance of congressional subpoenas.

    The House Oversight Committee followed suit hours later, voting 24-20 to approve their own resolution.

    The measures would need to pass the full House before a referral is made to the Justice Department, but whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will bring the resolutions to the floor is unclear.

    The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

    The vote came hours after the president, at Mr. Garland’s request, asserted executive privilege over the recordings, precluding prosecution of the attorney general for his noncompliance.

    The tapes were recorded during Mr. Hur’s investigation of President Biden’s handling of classified documents. Although the special counsel concluded that the president had willfully retained and disclosed classified materials in violation of the law, he ultimately decided not to prosecute, reasoning that a jury would be sympathetic toward an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

    On May 16, Republicans pointed to that decision as a reason for them to hear the recordings for themselves.

    “If our commander-in-chief is so incompetent that he cannot stand trial—if he’s not fit to stand trial—then he’s too incompetent, for God’s sake, to be the leader of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said.

    “And if President Biden is competent and special counsel Hur’s assessment was incorrect, then President Biden should face a jury for his crimes of mishandling classified materials.”

    ‘What’s the Big Deal?’

    While the Justice Department has provided the Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability committees with transcripts of the solicited recordings, the department has refused to turn over the recordings themselves.

    Democrats on the Judiciary Committee argued that investigators don’t need the recordings as they already have the transcripts of the interviews. But transcripts, Republican members argued, can be altered, and do not convey other information, such as the speaker’s inflections or tone of voice.

    “Transcripts alone are not sufficient evidence of the state of the president’s memory, right? Because the White House has a track record of altering the transcripts,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said, citing the White House’s past scrubbing of the president’s gaffes from transcripts of his speeches.

    Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), however, argued that there was “no evidence whatsoever” that the transcripts had been doctored.

    “This transcript was produced by Robert Hur’s office. Robert Hur was appointed by Donald Trump. He is a Republican appointee. The notion that somehow this transcript is fake is a wild, insane conspiracy theory,” he said.

    Mr. Lieu went on to suggest that Republicans only wanted the transcripts so they could “smear” President Biden over his stuttering problem.

    Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) charged that the move to hold Mr. Garland in contempt was a political stunt to benefit former President Donald Trump.

    “This is about doing everything to help Donald Trump, who you see as your client, who a New York criminal trial sees as a defendant, to help him win an election. So, I have no interest in playing this game; the American people have no interest in playing this game,” Mr. Swalwell said.

    But Mr. Van Drew dismissed the mention of President Trump as a distraction.

    “That’s not why we’re here,” he said, holding that President Biden’s fitness for office is a pressing concern that the committee needs to scrutinize.

    “And by the way, if it’s no big deal, as the other side says, because we have the transcripts. Well, we do have the transcript, so why do you care so much about us getting the audio? What’s the big deal?”

    Mr. Johnson seemed to provide his own answer to that question earlier in the day at a news conference.

    “President Biden is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes,” he said. “They obviously confirm what the special counsel has found, and would likely cause, I suppose, in his estimation, such alarm of the American people that the president is using all of his power to suppress their release.”

    Moving Forward

    President Biden’s legal counsel, Ed Siskel, advised both committees on the morning of May 16 that executive privilege had been invoked and accused the chairmen of political partisanship.

    “The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal—to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes,” he wrote. “Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate.”

    In his letter to President Biden, the attorney general’s cited reason for withholding the recordings was that their release would have “deleterious effects” on the integrity of similar law enforcement investigations down the road.

    Urging the president to assert executive privilege, Mr. Garland added that he did not think that the House committees could overcome such an assertion if the matter wound up in court.

    Typically, with the full House’s approval, a contempt of Congress citation would be sent to the appropriate U.S. attorney to pursue charges. But in this case, the assertion of executive privilege means that Mr. Garland will be shielded from prosecution pending a legal challenge.

    The Oversight and Accountability Committee is slated to hold its own markup of another resolution to hold Mr. Garland in contempt at 8 p.m.

    Jackson Richman contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 21:00

  • China Unveils A Housing Market Bailout: Here's What's In It, And Why It Is Still Not Enough
    China Unveils A Housing Market Bailout: Here’s What’s In It, And Why It Is Still Not Enough

    More than four years ago, when China first launched its latest “deleveraging” campaign targeted at bursting the country’s housing bubble in a controlled fashion, which coincidentally was the single largest asset for China’s massive middle class, we – and many others – said that this experiment was doomed and that all China is doing is delaying the inevitable bailout of the property sector with another metric asston of new debt. Well, as the news overnight confirmed, we were right… but not before China saw all of its largest domestic real estate developers collapse, push its housing market into a deflationary tailspin from which the country has not yet recovered, and suffered five years where its economy stagnated and pushed social tension to the edge.

    So what happened?

    On Friday, Chinese policymakers unveiled a fresh batch of easing measures for the housing market, including:

    1. clear top-down guidance for local governments to purchase existing housing inventory for public housing provision,
    2. an RMB300bn relending quota for destocking the housing market,
    3. reductions in downpayment ratios and mortgage rates,
    4. more policy support to secure the delivery of pre-sold homes.

    Needless to say, local government (which is really just an extension of the central government) purchases of existing housing inventory is for lack of a better word, nationalization, and as Goldman writes in its post-mortem (pdf available to pro subs), if implemented at scale, can help stabilize home sales, prices and completions, but the boost to new starts and land purchase would be limited.

    And while lower downpayment ratios and mortgage rates may boost home sales to some degree, the magnitude of downpayment ratio reductions was relatively small this time, and the pace of cuts to effective mortgage rates could be somewhat constrained by bank net interest margins.

    In total, Goldman expects more housing easing efforts down the road — especially on the demand-side — and view funding and implementation as key for the effectiveness of any property market rescue plan. Besides the RMB300bn relending quota, the PBOC’s pledged supplementary lending (PSL), local government special bonds (LGSB), policy bank bonds and commercial bank loans could be potential funding sources for housing destocking. Upcoming policy events will be worth monitoring closely, especially on solutions to address funding and implementation bottlenecks.

    1. What’s new today? Following the April Politburo meeting, Chinese policymakers have significantly stepped up their easing efforts to help stabilize the property sector, on both funding and policy solutions. There were a batch of fresh housing easing measures unveiled today (17 May):

    • At a video conference today on securing home completions, Vice Premier He Lifeng required to clearly understand the people nature (“人民性”) and political nature (“政治性”) of real estate work, and called for more forceful policy measures to secure the delivery of pre-sold homes and digest unsold commodity housing. He specifically mentioned that for cities with high housing inventory, local governments can purchase part of commodity housing to convert into public housing, based on the local situation and at reasonable prices. He required continued policy efforts on the risk disposal of property developer debt, and the “Three Major Projects” for the property sector (i.e., urban village renovation, public housing provision, and emergency public facilities).
    • At the State Council press conference this afternoon, a PBOC spokesman announced an RMB300bn relending program to support local government purchase of existing housing inventory and converting into public housing (“保障性住房再贷款”). The relending interest rate will be set at 1.75%, and the tenor will be 1yr, eligible for rolling over four times if necessary. As banks will receive relending funds amounting to 60% of the principal of their loans to qualified projects, PBOC expects the RMB300bn relending quota to support RMB500bn in bank lending for housing destocking. On the implementation, PBOC highlighted that local governments should appoint local SOEs as agents to purchase housing inventory, but these agents should not engage in local government implicit debt (LGFVs are not qualified). Housing inventory purchase eligible for the relending support should be completed but unsold commodity housing, per the PBOC’s requirement.
    • According to the PBOC’s announcements released today, the nationwide floor for mortgage interest rates will be removed, implying local governments have more discretion to lower their local effective mortgage rates if needed. If there is any major change in the supply-demand dynamics of the property market, PBOC would consider resuming the nationwide floor for mortgage rates. PBOC also lowered the minimum down-payment ratio by 5pp, to 15% for first-time buyers and to 25% for second-home buyers. Housing provident fund loan rates will also be lowered by 25bp, effective 18 May.
    • National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) pledged to support property projects in the “whitelist” through both new loan issuance and existing loan extensions, with due risk management. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) required local governments to push forward the implementation of “whitelist” projects, and commercial banks to increase lending to these projects.

    2. Why now? Despite the previous round of housing easing measures, property headwinds are still strong: new home sales have remained around 30% below year-ago levels in recent months…

    …  housing inventory has stayed elevated, secondary home prices declined further in April…

    … and some private developers (e.g., Vanke, Agile) continue to face challenging funding conditions. Here, Goldman asserts that “recent developments suggest to us that the prolonged property sector weakness has likely breached policymakers’ pain threshold, pushing them to step up housing easing and to shift the strategic focus towards digesting existing housing inventory.”

    3. What’s the likely impact? Local government purchase of existing housing inventory, if implemented at scale, can help stabilize home sales, prices and housing consumer sentiment, improve property developers funding conditions to some degree, and thus facilitate home completions and property sector rebalancing. However, the boost to new starts and investment will likely be limited, as property developers’ funding conditions will remain tight, given falling new home sales, potential price discounts during local government housing purchases, and the policy priority on ensuring completions (implying less funding for land purchases and new starts). Lower downpayment ratios and mortgage rates may also boost home sales to some degree (a 10pps cut to downpayment ratio raises sales by around 7%), although the magnitude of downpayment ratio reductions was relatively small this time, and the pace of cuts to effective mortgage rates could be somewhat constrained by bank net interest margins (NIM). Furthermore, though it’s crucial to prevent significant risk spillovers from the property sector to the banking sector and the real economy, policymakers appear to have no intention to turn the sector from a growth drag to a driver, given the shift in their policy focus towards high-quality growth. PBOC’s highlight on a potential exit mechanism for the effective mortgage rate cuts underpins this view

    4. Examples from recent local pilot programs. While some cities (e.g., Chongqing, Jinan) have already experimented pilot programs to clear excess housing inventory with the help of state funding, the amount of previous purchase was at a very small scale. Recent pilot programs, including in Lin’an district of Hangzhou city, indicate local governments appear more willing to purchase small and medium-sized housing units with little completion risk at lower-than-average prices, and mostly in large cities (with net population inflows). Specifically, Lin’an district announced that the total floor space to be purchased this round will be capped at 10,000 sqm; housing units eligible for the purchase include completed housing and uncompleted ones able to be delivered in one year, with floor space no higher than 70 sqm per unit; the purchase price will not exceed comparable market rates; it would purchase housing units and car parking spots on an entire building basis.

    5. What to watch next? Expect more housing easing efforts down the road — especially on the demand side — with funding and implementation as key for the effectiveness of the property rescue plan. On the funding, a recent Goldman analysis suggests any game-changing housing easing measures (including those for housing destocking) would require significantly more funding than available thus far, while many inland local governments remain financially stretched after the three years of zero-Covid policy and amid the prolonged property downturn. This will require a larger top-down funding scheme from the central government, beyond the RMB300bn relending quota. Moreover, strengthened fiscal discipline and financial regulation may dampen some officials’ incentives for more concerted and forceful policy efforts. Upcoming policy events — such as the July Politburo meeting, the Third Plenum, and ad hoc meetings/announcements by major authorities (e.g., the State Council, NDRC, MOF, MOHURD, PBOC, SASAC) — will be worth monitoring closely, especially on solutions to address funding and implementation bottlenecks (Exhibit 3).

    6. Other potential funding sources. Besides the RMB300bn relending quota, PBOC’s pledged supplementary lending (PSL), local government special bonds (LGSB), policy bank bonds and commercial bank loans could be potential funding sources for housing destocking:

    • PSL is designated to fund property-related stimulus packages, including the large-scale shantytown renovation during 2015-18, and the “Three Major Projects” for the property sector most recently. Goldman assumes PSL net issuance will rise to RMB700bn in 2024 from RMB99bn in 2023, although there are some uncertainties if policymakers prefer to use more relending (funding costs at 1.75% pa) relative to PSL (2.25%) to fund housing destocking.

    • LGSB was a funding source for shantytown renovation and land reserves in 2018-19, although there was a temporary ban on LGSB proceeds spending in these areas in late 2019 and early 2020. Local governments have only used ~RMB900bn out of the RMB3.9tn full-year LGSB issuance quota so far this year (as of late May), much slower than previous years. This implies an RMB3tn quota available for the remainder of this year, part of which could be used for supporting the ongoing housing easing package. In early 2024, policymakers allowed LGSB proceeds to be used as equity capital to fund public housing related projects, which suggests a likely larger multiplier effect if implemented well.
    • Policy banks were major players in the 2015-18 PSL-backed shantytown renovation, and in theory they have no explicit constraint for external financing. Hence, more policy bank bond issuance and related lending could be possible.
    • Commercial banks, especially the large ones, may also provide more funding support if needed. Moreover, there is a possibility for the PBOC to increase the relending quota for housing destocking if needed.

    By comparison, the ongoing issuance of ultra-long-term central government special bonds (ULT CGSB; 超长期特别国债), which are designated for funding key projects in strategically important areas (e.g., high-tech manufacturing), may not be a financing tool customized for the property sector. That said, purchasing housing inventory well below market prices and requiring banks to increase lending to projects launched by some troubled POEs could lead to increased burden for banks, which in turn could require the government to enhance support to the banking system.

    In a follow up post this weekend, we will look specifically at what it would take to clear China’s housing inventory, and why the proposed program falls short.

    More in the full Goldman report available to pro subs.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 20:40

  • CBO Report Obscures Negative Impact Of 'Bidenomics': House Budget Committee Chairman
    CBO Report Obscures Negative Impact Of ‘Bidenomics’: House Budget Committee Chairman

    Authored by Indrajit Basu via The Epoch Times,

    The chairman of the House Budget Committee has cast doubt on a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which he says glosses over the failures of President Joe Biden’s economic policies.

    The White House has said its policies have led to economic growth “from the middle out and bottom up—not the top down.”

    The report, released Wednesday, was entitled An Update About How Inflation Has Affected Households at Different Income Levels Since 2019.”

    Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), House Budget Committee Chairman, said in a May 14 press release that the report covers up the downsides of Bidenomics, while taking a “partisan” turn seemingly aimed at bolstering President Biden just six months before an election.

    The report by the CBO, a federal agency that describes itself as “strictly nonpartisan,” was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). An update to a September 2022 report, it shows the cumulative effects of inflation on households since 2019.

    However, it does not provide a year-by-year breakdown of the five year period. Further, because it includes the period 2019 to January 2021, before President Biden took office, it conflates the favorable effects of the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “with the destructive economic and fiscal policies of the Biden Administration,” said the press release from the House Budget Committee.

    Mr. Arrington said the CBO report “intentionally skewed the results to be more favorable to Biden by including the low inflation, high wage growth, economic benefits of 2019 and the large stimulus of 2020.”

    “This CBO report conflates years of low inflation and rising wages with Bidenflation, which began after the passage of the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan (ARP) in March of 2021,” according to the press release.

    The CBO analysis looked at the 2019 “consumption bundles” of U.S. households—that is, goods and services representing consumption in a typical year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    It highlighted that in households across all income quintiles, the proportion of income required to cover their 2019 “consumption bundle” decreased on average, because income outpaced prices over the four-year span.

    During this period, households in the highest income quintile experienced the most significant reduction in the share of income required for their consumption bundle, the report noted.

    Nonetheless, “The fiscal reality under Bidenomics is grim,” said Mr. Arrington.

    Pointing to a concerning trend, he pointed out that the cumulative inflation rate is steadily climbing, having increased by 18.9 percent over four years. Inflation once again rose to 3.5 percent in March, its highest level in six months.

    The press release also emphasized the erosion of families’ purchasing power. Families have to spend nearly $17,000 per year “to maintain the same standard of living they could afford before President Biden took office,” it said.

    Rising Energy Costs Behind Inflation Surge

    According to Mr. Arrington, even as the CBO paints a rosy picture, the U.S. economy is bogged down by a surge in general inflation. In an April statement on the rising inflation rate, he attributed the rise primarily to increasing energy expenses, particularly gasoline and electricity.

    There were significant increases in clothing prices and transportation services as well, the House Budget Committee noted.

    For an average family of four, according to the committee’s April statement, this translates to an additional expenditure of $16,726 per year or $1,393 per month to buy the same products and services they bought in January 2021.

    The April report underscored the growing pessimism among Americans regarding future job prospects and income outlook, with 18.2 percent anticipating a decrease in job availability and 13.8 percent foreseeing a decline in their incomes in the short term.

    Wednesday’s press release noted that consumer confidence for April fell for the third consecutive month this year, reaching its lowest level since July 2022.

    “Despite the blatant attempts to pad Biden’s economic numbers, whether it’s at the gas station or the grocery store, the American people know all too well the cost of Bidenomics,” Mr. Arrington said Wednesday.

    Bidenomics Drives Debt, Says Committee Chairman

    Promoting “Bidenomics” has also made the country deeply indebted, says Mr. Arrington.

    According to his committee’s April statement, on assuming office, President Biden inherited a total gross debt of $27.75 trillion, which has since ballooned by $6.86 trillion.

    Experts including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne warn that the U.S. debt position is steadily deteriorating, with the country on the verge of a fiscal disaster unless efforts are taken to lower the federal budget deficit and limit debt growth.

    “If current policies were left on autopilot, U.S. debt-to-GDP would near double over the next 30 years. It’s widely understood that this cannot go on,” Mr. Bourne told The Epoch Times in an email in April.

    In its latest World Economic Outlook on April 16,  the IMF cautioned that while the United States’ economic performance is “impressive,” its long-term fiscal stance is unsustainable.

    Has ‘Bidenomics’ Failed?

    “Bidenomics” is the catchphrase for President Biden’s economic agenda, which includes his administration’s policy efforts, gains, and future intentions in the economic domain.

    The phrase was coined by the media, but not in a complementary context; rather than dismissing it, President Biden has opted to accept and embrace the term.

    Bidenomics has become a cornerstone of President Biden’s narrative about the economy’s strength under his leadership. It is expected to play an important part in his November re-election campaign.

    The White House champions Bidenomics as a vision centered on three core pillars. These encompass making focused public investments to attract more private sector involvement, empowering and educating workers to bolster the middle class, and fostering competition to reduce expenses and support the growth of entrepreneurs and small businesses.

    However, “the majority of Americans have a drastically lower standard of living thanks to Bidenomics,” according to a December LinkedIn post by Armstrong Economics, a global markets and geopolitical strategy think-tank. “Some estimates believe 63% of Americans now live paycheck to paycheck,” the post said.

    According to a February CNN poll, 55 percent of Americans feel Biden’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the United States.

    In a CNN survey conducted last May—as President Biden was stressing the achievements of Bidenomics—two-thirds of Americans expressed disapproval of his handling of the economy, while slightly over three-quarters believed that the economy was in poor condition.

    According to a May Poll by ABC and market research firm Ipsos Group, the economy and inflation remain the most important issues for Americans when determining who they may support for president in November.

    On these matters, more Americans trust former President Donald Trump on most issues than President Biden, and believe they were financially better off under the Trump administration, according to the poll.

    “Enough is enough,” said Mr. Arrington in his April comments. “ We need to step back from the fiscal cliff and restore fiscal sanity in Washington by doing two simple things: cutting spending and growing the economy.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 20:20

  • Texas Governor Pardons Man Convicted For Shooting Armed BLM Protester
    Texas Governor Pardons Man Convicted For Shooting Armed BLM Protester

    Defend yourself against violent BLM protesters and face an endless salvo of character assassination, not to mention potential prison time.  That was the message being sent by far-left activists and the establishment media from 2020 to 2023, specifically in their efforts to destroy the image of Kyle Rittenhouse and veteran Army Sergeant Daniel Perry. 

    In both cases the men involved were conservative and fired on protesters who were in the process of threatening their lives.  The political left wanted Rittenhouse badly but didn’t get him in court; they needed to make an example and they thought they had the opportunity with Perry.  

    Daniel Perry made the mistake of stumbling into a Black Lives Matter protest In Austin, Texas while driving an Uber on July 25, 2020.  Activists claimed that Perry ran a red light and tried to “ram the crowd.”  This was later proven to be false when footage was released showing Perry simply stuck in the crowd waiting for them to move.  He apparently honked his horn and this is what led to the eventual altercation with Garret Foster, one of the protesters armed with an AK47.  As the crowd angrily surrounded and attacked Perry’s car, shots rang out.

    A mob surrounding and attacking a person’s car is already grounds for self defense.  Perry alleged that Garret Foster approached his vehicle yelling at him to lower his window and then raised the muzzle of his rifle as if getting ready to fire.  Perry, also armed, shot the man believing his life was in danger.  Images show Foster in a mask with his rifle in a tactical “low ready” position standing in the way of Perry’s vehicle, but witnesses (all BLM protesters) claim he did not directly aim the weapon at Perry. 

    Perry’s texting history showed discussions with friends indicating that if he was confronted by rioters while working he might have to shoot them.  These texts were presented to the jury as “premeditation.”  Perry, like Rittenhouse, was labeled a “racist” from the start even though he shot another white man (to this day there are still leftists who believe Rittenhouse and Perry shot black protesters).  The veteran was put through the ringer and painted as a monster “looking for a reason” to kill protesters (the same strategy the prosecution used with Rittenhouse).  

    For Rittenhouse the strategy failed, but Perry’s trial was in Austin, a famously progressive enclave in the middle of Texas.  Daniel Perry’s murder conviction despite extenuating circumstances was the left’s answer to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.  They cheered his 25 year prison sentence as a political and ideological victory, arguing that this would teach conservatives a lesson.

    Governor Greg Abbott, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, has now addressed the Perry case and decided a pardon is necessary after the Texas Board of Pardons issued a unanimous recommendation.  The full text of the pardon can be read here.  Daniel Perry was released from prison within an hour of the message from Abbott.  The corporate media is outraged, producing a flurry of articles calling the move a “political stunt.”

    But here’s the bottom line:  Perry was working as an Uber driver, meaning he was doing his job at the time which requires him to make rounds throughout the city of Austin.  Protesters deliberately blocked the roads (which is illegal), then surrounded and attacked Perry’s vehicle for doing nothing more than honking his horn at them.  We have seen this same scenario thousands of times across the US from far-left mobs and they seem to believe this behavior is protected by free speech laws; it’s not. 

    During the trial a lot of attention was focused on whether or not Garret Foster raised the muzzle of his rifle enough to present a threat, but Perry was already under threat by an angry crowd blocking the road and thrashing his car.  At the very least, Perry’s sentencing should have taken the frightening nature of the situation into account.  But again, he was being made into an example.  Greg Abbott has been accused of playing politics, but the conviction of Daniel Perry was political from the very beginning.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 20:00

  • Hezbollah Launches First-Ever Airstrike On Israeli Territory
    Hezbollah Launches First-Ever Airstrike On Israeli Territory

    Via The Cradle

    Hezbollah launched the first-ever Lebanese airstrike on an Israeli target on Friday, using a never-before-seen drone for the operation. 

    “In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their brave and honorable resistance, the Islamic Resistance attacked at 1:38 pm on Thursday the Metulla site, its garrison, and its vehicles with an offensive drone armed with two S5 missiles,” Hezbollah said in a statement Thursday afternoon, marking the sixth of 13 operations that day. 

    “When it reached its designated point, it fired missiles at one of its vehicles and the elements gathered around it, killing and wounding them. After that, it continued its assault on its designated target and hit it accurately,” the statement added. 

    Hezbollah released footage of its drone strike on Metulla. Two missiles are seen being fired from each side of the drone, which then descends towards its final target and explodes.

    Watch the newly published Hezbollah footage of its first ever “airstrike” operation in action:

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

    Three Israeli soldiers were reportedly injured – with one seriously wounded – in the drone attack. Coinciding with Israel’s brutal assault on Rafah and its relentless attacks across the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has stepped up its operations in recent days. 

    While it has increasingly deployed the use of attack drones in its operations over the past several months, this is the first time a drone equipped with missiles has been used to attack targets from above – not only since the start of this war but for the first time in Lebanon’s history. 

    Hebrew news outlet Channel 13 noted this week that Hezbollah’s attacks have become bolder and more sophisticated, and are resulting in more Israeli casualties. 

    In response to Israeli airstrikes on eastern Lebanon the day prior, Hezbollah also announced on Thursday a drone attack on Elbit Systems, the Israel-based international military technology company. 

    The Lebanese Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran has been rolling out increasingly sophisticated weaponry used against northern Israel…

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

    It also targeted the David Cohen factory in Tel Hai, north of the Kiryat Shmona settlement. One of Hezbollah’s many operations on Wednesday targeted Israel’s Sky Dew aerostat at the Ilania base west of Tiberias. The Israeli army confirmed that a “sensitive” facility was hit. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 19:40

  • "The Economics Just Don't Work": Demand For Electric Semis Plunges Due To High Costs
    “The Economics Just Don’t Work”: Demand For Electric Semis Plunges Due To High Costs

    For the last year, we’ve been writing extensively about how high costs and low demand have made EVs uneconomical – and, as a result, unpopular to produce – for the auto industry.

    It turns out unionized employees extorting you on labor costs while the government mandates you produce a money-losing product isn’t a combination that leads to prosperity and profit. Go figure. 

    Now, it isn’t just car manufacturers that are balking from the idea of all electric vehicles: the trucking industry, once expected to eventually make the shift to all electric as well, is seeing tepid demand for new rigs, according to a new Wall Street Journal article. 

    “The economics just don’t work for most companies,” Robert Sanchez, the chief executive of Ryder, said earlier this month. 

    Ryder’s experience highlights the difficulties state and federal governments encounter in encouraging truckers to transition from polluting diesel rigs to zero-emissions vehicles, the report says.

    It also indicates that significant improvements in battery weight, range, and charging times are necessary for battery-electric trucks to effectively compete with diesel rigs in the cost-sensitive freight industry.

    Rakesh Aneja, head of eMobility at Daimler Truck North America, told Wall Street Journal: “Quite frankly, demand has not been as strong as what we would like.”

    Aneja said orders for its Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric semi truck are about the same this year as they were in 2023. 

    Battery-electric trucks are about three times more expensive than diesel rigs, the Journal notes. And while federal and state programs help offset purchase costs, significant hurdles remain due to high operating costs and setup challenges.

    Truckers find these electric trucks difficult and costly to run, with installation of on-site charging facilities taking years. These trucks travel less than half the distance of diesel rigs per charge and require several hours to recharge.

    Ryder launched a service a year ago to assist companies in setting up and maintaining battery-powered fleets. So far, it has sold only 60 vehicles, mostly light-duty trucks. Three companies use five battery-electric heavy-duty trucks, but only within yards for shuttling trailers.

    Sanchez noted that unlike individual electric car buyers, companies will only switch to battery-electric trucks when they can compete with diesel on operational costs.

    The cost of changing a fleet over is also expensive. Using data from 13,000 vehicles, Ryder analyzed the annual operating expenses of battery-electric commercial trucks and found they are significantly higher than those of diesel rigs. The analysis, assuming existing fast-charging infrastructure, considered costs like vehicle purchase, maintenance, labor, and fuel.

    Ryder found that light-duty battery-electric vans increase annual operating costs by several percentage points, with the gap widening for heavier trucks. Operating battery-electric big rigs costs about twice as much annually as diesel trucks.

    In California, converting a fleet of 25 commercial vehicles, including 10 heavy-duty trucks, from diesel to battery power would raise annual operating costs by 56%, or $3.4 million. In Georgia, the increase would be 67%, or $3.7 million. Ryder stated that these higher costs would add 0.5% to 1% to inflation.

    The American Trucking Associations said of the U.S. EPA’s new rules mandating more BEV semi truck sales by the end of the decade: “Considering that 96% of U.S. trucking companies operate 10 or fewer trucks, these mandates are simply cost-prohibitive for most truckers.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 19:20

  • Why The Dollar Will Lose Its Status As Global Reserve Currency
    Why The Dollar Will Lose Its Status As Global Reserve Currency

    Authored by James Hickman via SchiffSovereign.com,

    By the early 400s, the Roman Empire was coming apart at the seams and in desperate need of strong, competent leadership. In theory, Honorius should have been the right man for the job.

    Born into the royal household in Constantinople, Honorius had been groomed to rule, practically since birth, by the finest experts in the realm. So even as a young man, Honorius had already accumulated decades of experience.

    Yet Rome’s foreign adversaries rightfully believed Honorius to be weak, out of touch, divisive, and completely inept.

    He had entered into bonehead peace treaties that strengthened Rome’s enemies. He paid vast sums of money to some of their most powerful rivals and received practically nothing in return. He made virtually no attempt to secure Roman borders, leaving the empire open to be ravaged by barbarians.

    Inflation was high. Taxes were high. Economic production declined. Roman military power declined. And all of Rome’s foreign adversaries were emboldened.

    To a casual observer it would have almost seemed as if Honorius went out of his way to make the Empire weaker.

    One of Rome’s biggest threats came in the year 408, when the barbarian king Alaric invaded Italy; imperial defenses were so non-existent at that point that ancient historians described Alaric’s march towards Rome as unopposed and leisurely, as if they were “at some festival” rather than an invasion.

    Alaric and his army arrived to the city of Rome in the autumn of 408 AD and immediately positioned their forces to cut off any supplies. No food could enter the city, and before long, its residents began to starve.

    Historians have passed down horrific stories of cannibalism– including women eating their own children in order to survive.

    Rather than send troops and fight, however, Honorius agreed to pay a massive ransom to Alaric, including 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, and literally tons of other real assets and commodities.

    (The equivalent in today’s money, adjusted for population, would be billions of dollars… similar to what the US released to Iran in a prisoner swap last year.)

    Naturally Honorius didn’t have such a vast sum in his treasury… so Romans were forced to strip down and melt their shrines and statues in order to pay Alaric’s ransom.

    Ironically, one of the statues they melted was a monument to Virtus, the Roman god of bravery and strength… leading the ancient historian Zosimus to conclude that “all which remained of Roman valor and intrepidity was totally extinguished.”

    Rome had spent two centuries in the early days of the empire– from the rise of Augustus in 27 BC to the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD– as the clear, unrivaled superpower. Almost no one dared mess with Rome, and few who did ever lived to tell the tale.

    Modern scholars typically view the official “fall” of the Western Roman Empire in the year 476. But it’s pretty clear that the collapse of Roman power and prestige took place decades before.

    When Rome was ransomed in 408 (then sacked in 410), it was obvious to everyone at the time that the Emperor no longer had a grip on power.

    And before long, most of the lands in the West that Rome had once dominated– Italy, Spain, France, Britain, North Africa, etc. were under control of various Barbarian tribes and kingdoms.

    The Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, Angles, Saxons, Burgundians, Berbers, etc. all established independent kingdoms. And for a while, there was no dominant superpower in western Europe. It was a multi-polar world. And the transition was rather abrupt.

    This is what I think is happening now– we’re experiencing a similar transition, and it seems equally abrupt.

    The United States has been the world’s dominant superpower for decades. But like Rome in the later stage of its empire, the US is clearly in decline. This should not be a controversial statement.

    Let’s not be dramatic; it’s important to stay focused on facts and reality. The US economy is still vast and potent, and the country is blessed with an abundance of natural resources– incredibly fertile farmland, some of the world’s largest freshwater resources, and incalculable reserves of energy and other key commodities.

    In fact, it’s amazing the people in charge have managed to screw it up so badly. And yet they have.

    The national debt is out of control, rising by trillions of dollars each year. Debt growth, in fact, substantially outpaces US economic growth.

    Social Security is insolvent, and the program’s own trustees (including the US Treasury Secretary) admit that its major trust fund will run out of money in just nine years.

    The people in charge never seem to miss an opportunity to dismantle capitalism (i.e. the economic system that created so much prosperity to begin with) brick by brick.

    Then there are ubiquitous social crises: public prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law; the weaponization of the justice system; the southern border fiasco; declining birth rates; extraordinary social divisions that are most recently evidenced by the anti-Israel protests.

    And most of all the US constantly shows off its incredibly dysfunctional government that can’t manage to agree on anything, from the budget to the debt ceiling. The President has obvious cognitive disabilities and makes the most bizarre decisions to enrich America’s enemies.

    Are these problems fixable? Yes. Will they be fixed? Maybe. But as we used to say in the military, “hope is not a course of action”.

    Plotting this current trajectory to its natural conclusion leads me to believe that the world will enter a new “barbarian kingdom” paradigm in which there is no dominant superpower.

    Certainly, there are a number of rising rivals today. But no one is powerful enough to assume the leading role in the world.

    China has a massive population and a huge economy. But it too has way too many problems… with the obvious challenge that no one trusts the Communist Party. So, most likely China will not be the dominant superpower.

    India’s economy will eventually surpass China’s, and it has an even bigger population. But India isn’t even close to the ballpark of being the world’s superpower.

    Then there’s Europe. Combined, it still has a massive economic and trade union. But it has also been in major decline… with multiple social crises like low birth rates and a migrant invasion.

    Then there are the energy powers like Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia; they are far too small to dominate the world, but they have the power to menace and disrupt it.

    The bottom line is that the US is no longer strong enough to lead the world and keep adversarial nations in check. And it’s clear that other countries are already adapting to this reality.

    Earlier this month, for example, China successfully launched a rocket to the moon as part of a multi-decade mission to establish an International Lunar Research Station.

    By 2045, China hopes to construct a large, city-like base along with several international partners including Russia, Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Egypt. Turkey and Nicaragua are also interested in joining.

    This is pretty remarkable given how many nations are participating, even if just nominally. Yet the US isn’t part of the consortium.

    This would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. But today the rest of the world realizes that they no longer need American funding, leadership, or expertise.

    We can see similar examples everywhere, most notably in Israel and Ukraine. And I believe one of the next shoes to drop will be the US dollar.

    After all, if the rest of the world doesn’t need the US for space exploration, and they can ignore the US when it comes down to World War 3, then why should they need the US dollar anymore?

    The dollar was the clear and obvious choice as the global reserve currency back when America was the undisputed superpower. But today it’s a different world.

    Foreign nations continuing to rely on the dollar ultimately means governments and central banks buying US government bonds. And why should they take such a risk when the national debt is already 120% of GDP?

    In addition, Congress passed a new law a few weeks ago authorizing the Treasury Department to confiscate US dollar assets of any country it deems an “aggressor state.”

    While people might think this is a morally righteous idea, the reality is that it will only turn off foreign investors. Why should China, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else buy US government bonds when they can be confiscated in a heartbeat?

    All of this ultimately leads to a world in which the US dollar is no longer the dominant reserve currency. We’re already starting to see signs of that shift, and it could be in full swing by the end of the decade.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 19:00

  • America's Dairy Cow Replacement Inventory Collapses To Two-Decade Low 
    America’s Dairy Cow Replacement Inventory Collapses To Two-Decade Low 

    The nation’s food supply chain remains under stress. We’ve been sounding the alarm on America’s beef cattle supply dwindling to the lowest levels in over half a century.

    Now, Bloomberg reports that dairy farms are pivoting breeding programs toward beef-on-dairy hybrids, capitalizing on the low beef herds amid last year’s crushing milk glut. However, this comes with mounting risks as the nation’s dairy herd begins to crack.

    Hybrid calves are produced by artificially inseminating a dairy cow with semen from a beef bull. This has created a massive upside for struggling dairy farmers battered by volatile milk prices and an unforgiving glut in recent years. Midwest farmers last year were forced to dump tens of thousands of gallons of milk down the drain. 

    “Milk prices are up and down and so farmers are always looking for a way to offset costs to be as efficient as possible,” said Amy Penterman, the owner of Dutch Dairy, which breeds approximately 70% of its 900-cow milking herd for beef.

    Penterman explained the new revenue stream is “rewarding because the beef supply has diminished over the last few years. We’re able to add that extra supply into the market to keep the cost down for our consumers.”

    The latest USDA data shows the nation’s beef cattle herd plunged to its lowest level since 1951, primarily due to persistent droughts across the Midwest, surging diesel and feed costs, and high interest rates. Higher costs have forced ranchers to cull an increasing number of beef cows. 

    On Wednesday, Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King told the audience at the BMO Global Farm to Market Conference in Toronto that he’s still uncertain when US ranchers will rebuild beef herds meaningfully.

    One major problem with dairy farms pivoting towards beef-on-dairy hybrids to capitalize on soaring beef prices is the collapse of the replacement dairy cow inventory. 

    Data from the USDA already shows that the number of available replacement cows for dairy herds in January 2024 plunged to lows not seen since 2004. 

    Source: Bloomberg

    Rabobank’s Lucas Fuess warned that if milk prices were to jump, low inventories and higher prices for replacement cows could cause farmers to experience severe margin compression. 

    Nate Donnay, the director of dairy market insight at StoneX Financial, said the number of replacement dairy cows is already “down to the minimum level” needed to maintain the dairy herd.

    “Ten years from now, the beef herd’s probably going to get too big again and prices will be terrible and maybe they don’t want these dairy animals anymore,” Donnay said, adding, “But for the next couple of years, that demand for dairy animals into the beef herd is probably going to stay strong.”

    Yet another rolling disaster for the nation’s food supply chain. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 18:40

  • Full Fifth Circuit Hears Arguments Over the Fate Of Texas' Floating Border Wall
    Full Fifth Circuit Hears Arguments Over the Fate Of Texas’ Floating Border Wall

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times,

    The legal saga over the fate of a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande has entered a new phase.

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last summer ordered the deployment of the string of giant orange buoys in the river near Eagle Pass. As a part of Operation Lone Star, the Republican governor’s signature initiative aimed to curb illegal border crossings from Mexico into his state, the buoys are anchored to the bottom and themselves rotate so that people can’t climb over or swim under them.

    Following the installation of the barrier, the Biden administration sued Texas, demanding that it be taken down. Attorneys for Texas invoked the Constitutional right for each state to defend itself against “invasion”—in Texas’ case, by those illegally crossing the river, but that self-defense argument was rejected by the lower court, as did by a split three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Arguing on Wednesday before a full, 17-member Fifth Circuit, attorneys for both Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice largely focused on the question of whether Mr. Abbott’s floating wall violates a Reconstruction-era law regulating the use of waterways.

    The law, dubbed the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, prohibits the “creation of obstruction … to the navigable capacity of the waters” unless approved by Congress and permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—the entity responsible for the maintenance of the country’s waterway system to ensure safe passage of vessels.

    The Rio Grande is not subject to the 125-year-old law, Texas told the court, arguing that the stretch of river is too rocky and shallow to be reasonably called a “navigable waterway.”

    “For most of its length and much of its storied history, the Rio Grande has been little more than a creek with an excellent publicist,” said Lanora Pettit, the principal deputy solicitor general of Texas.

    “If the U.S. is right, then any body of water would be deemed navigable and thereby subject to federal jurisdiction.”

    Ms. Pettit further argued that, for more than a century, the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act had been interpreted as applying only to waterways that, “in their ordinary or natural condition, serves [as] the artery of interstate commerce across which trade or travel can be or is conducted.”

    That interpretation apparently does not fit the Rio Grande, which “has too many rocks and not enough water,” she argued. “The only reason we have water in that stretch [where the buoys were installed] is because of the irrigation, and irrigation infrastructure only puts it about 18 inches deep.”

    Arguing for the Justice Department, attorney Michael Gray urged circuit judges to uphold the district judge’s ruling that the Rio Grande was historically navigable. He pointed to past ferry traffic in the area, as well as the use of patrol boats by border enforcers.

    “The most prominent [evidence] being ferry traffic, which is expressly foreign commerce conducted on the river by floating structures, boats,” Mr. Gray told the court. “That foreign commerce is sufficient to bring the area within Congress’s power … to regulate that commerce.”

    Mr. Gray also claimed that the floating wall, which was expected to deter illegal immigration, interfered with the U.S. Border Patrol officers performing their duties.

    “The Border Patrol is on the river basically every day,” he said, emphasizing that the Border Patrol had conducted 249 rescues on the Rio Grande between 2018 and 2023. “There was evidence here that any obstruction to the river, including this obstruction could impair response times of the Border Patrol as the Border Patrol does rescues on the river.”

    The attorneys also briefly made their case on whether the floating barrier counts as a constitutional means of defending Texas against an invasion.

    “Assuming that the question of invasion is not justiciable, then under what circumstances can the United States thwart that attempt at self defense?” Chief Judge Edith Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee, asked Mr. Gray.

    “You need some organized hostile force,” the DOJ lawyer replied, arguing that the influx of illegal immigrants is not the same kind of “invasion” the Constitution’s framers had in their minds.

    “[Texas government’s] argument is, once they say invasion, ‘We can do anything we want for as long as we want,’” he said. “We don’t think that’s right.”

    The Fifth Circuit did not indicate when they would rule.

    The Fifth Circuit, headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, is also handling another dispute between Texas and the U.S. government. This separate case centers around Shelby Park, a 47-acre public park in Eagle Pass that the federal government had been using as a staging area to process illegal immigrants.

    In January, Texas National Guard soldiers deployed by Mr. Abbott took control of Shelby Park, and have since used roadblocks and concertina wires to prevent Border Patrol officers from processing migrants in the area.

    “The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” Mr. Abbott said after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security demanded that he grant Border Patrol agents access to the park. “Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 18:20

  • Jeff Currie, The Copper Bull: "Most Compelling Trade I've Seen In My 30-Year Trading Career"
    Jeff Currie, The Copper Bull: “Most Compelling Trade I’ve Seen In My 30-Year Trading Career”

    Jeff Currie, who led commodities research at Goldman Sachs for nearly three decades and now serves as the chief strategy officer of the energy pathways team at Carlyle Group, appeared on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots to discuss why copper is the best trade he has seen in his entire career.

    The drive towards electrification, whether that’s electric vehicles and data centers powering artificial intelligence, as well as reshoring manufacturing trends, the need to expand the nation’s power grid to handle surging load demand is in full swing but comes as new copper mining capacity has dwindled, and a squeeze on the Comex exchange has sent prices to record highs. 

    Odd Lots’ Joe Weisenthal began by introducing Currie and referencing his past comments from as early as 2021 about the beginning of a commodity supercycle: 

    We’re going to talk to Jeff Currie. So we’ve had him on the podcast at least a couple of times before, back in 2021. We talked to him and he talked about this idea of like a new commodity supercycle, and of course oil was surging and all these commodities were surging as the global economy was reopening.

    Then we talked to him again in 2022 and he said that copper specifically may end up being one of the, the tightest commodity markets he’s ever seen. So real issues with supply and again, looking pretty good these days.

    So we are back with Jeff Currie, who is now in a new role. So when we talked to him before, he was the head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, but today he’s the chief strategy officer of Energy Pathways at the Carlyle Group. So Jeff, thank you so much for coming back on Odd Lots. 

    A little more than 11 minutes into the conversation, Odd Lots’ Tracy Alloway asked Currie: 

    Alright, I have a very important question for Jeff, which is, are you wearing a copper bracelet right now?

    The commodities veteran responded:

    You know, it is the most compelling trade I have ever seen in my 30 plus years of doing this. You look at the demand story, it’s got green CapEx, it’s got AI, remember AI can’t happen without the energy demand and the constraint on the electricity grid is going to be copper.

    And then you have the military demand. So unprecedented demand growth against unprecedented weakness in supply growth because we have not been investing, it’s teed you up for what I would argue is the most bullish commodity that I actually, I just quote many of our clients and other market participants say, you know, it’s the highest conviction trade they’ve ever seen.

    Currie’s comments come as a historic Comex copper short squeeze is underway this week. 

    It all started one month ago, when we reported “US, UK Banned Deliveries Of Russian Copper, Nickel And Aluminum To Western Metals Exchanges.” This sparked a massive dislocation for copper prices traded in New York and other commodity exchanges has rocked the global market for the base metal and prompted a frantic dash for supplies to ship to the US.

    We have discussed the fundamental case for copper:

    And most notably in the “the Next AI Trade“… 

    Back to Currie’s Odd Lots interview. He pointed the acronym “RED” summarizes the three major structural tailwinds driving copper demand forward (summarized by Bloomberg);

    The ‘R’ stands for redistribution policies: As he argues, lower-income groups have been consuming “a greater share of commodities than the higher-income groups. That’s very much alive and kicking. You look at the low unemployment rate, who’s the biggest benefactor of that? It is the lower-income groups, and policies still very much in play all over the world right now reinforcing these lower-income groups in the consumption of commodities.”

    The ‘E’ stands for environment policy, which Currie describes as having been “turbocharged” in recent years.

    “You have the IRA, the REPowerEU, China,” he says. “Now, part of the reason why copper’s rallied recently [is that] China’s growth was over 100% in green CapEx last year, 30% this year. So everywhere you look in the world, we see environmental policy through green CapEx stimulating demand for commodities.”

    And finally, the ‘D’ stands for deglobilization, though it could also stand for defense.

    “Look at the potential military spend in the US — $95 billion on munitions,” he says. “We look at what’s going on in places like Germany, $100 billion dollars of military spend. So you’ve got all three going much stronger than what we would’ve thought two-to-three years ago.”

    As for the beginning of the upswing in the commodity supercycle, well, the  Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index this week reached its highest point in a year. 

    And this is not great news for Fed Chair Powell’s inflation fight. However, for the time being, the OER component of the CPI basket will continue to pressure inflation. 

    What’s ominous is the surge in spot commodity prices. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 18:00

  • NBC Animal Documentary Claims "This Is A Queer Planet"
    NBC Animal Documentary Claims “This Is A Queer Planet”

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    A documentary set to be broadcast by NBC asserts that we live on a “queer planet,” in which homosexuality is widespread in the animal kingdom and there are more than two genders.

    Yes, really.

    The documentary, set to be aired on June 6, features one “expert” stating, “Everything you were taught as a kid is wrong.”

    “Gay penguins, bisexual lions, sex changing clown fish,” the narration, voiced by gay actor Andrew Rannells, claims are all evidence that “this is a queer planet.”

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

    The trailer then shows two women, one with blue hair, asserting that “Queerness has always existed” and that “It’s only in humans that we have such a stigma about it.”

    Apparently, this “stigma” revolves around having it shoved in your face 24/7 on television, TV commercials, within the education system, and publicly shaming or even arresting and prosecuting anyone who doesn’t embrace it.

    “The idea of just having two fixed sexes is clearly out of style,” the narration continues, with another short haired woman with tattoos claiming, “Mother nature is pretty open minded.”

    Nature is apparently “full of queer surprises,” according to the documentary.

    I’m not sure that aspiring to behave like animals is quite the win that LGBT activists think it is.

    Animals practice all kinds of behaviors which if they were mimicked by humans would lead to the collapse of civilization.

    Lions practice infanticide and many other species eat their own offspring, should we start normalizing that too?

    Dolphins torture and murder porpoises for fun, should we do the same?

    Sea otters rape and murder baby seals, should we follow suit?

    Explorer George Murray Levick documented how Adelie penguins gang-rape females and have sex with the ground, other males, and dead females lying frozen. Should we normalize necrophilia?

    Tiger sharks kill their own siblings in the womb, while hyena cubs start fighting and killing each other as soon as they are born, is that to be celebrated?

    Cats and other animals engage in wilfully sadistic behavior for fun, should humans emulate that too?

    The narrative used to be that while homosexuality does occur within the animal kingdom, it is more about base sexual gratification and has little to do with advancing a species.

    In order to abolish the “stigma” surrounding homosexuality in humans (which doesn’t exist since it’s promoted everywhere), that narrative is now apparently changing.

    *  *  *

    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
    Fri, 05/17/2024 – 17:40

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